A new study concludes that happy people watch less TV and have more sex than unhappy people, TV by the Numbers reports. TV provides some short-term pleasure, but comes at the expense of other things. “What viewers seem to be…
The New York Times calls a new quiz show on GSN sponsored by Meow Mix “one of the most embarrassing half-hours in the history of television” and “a lame attempt to use game-show trapping to disguise what is nothing more…
Marvel Animation is working on a new animated TV series based on the upcoming “Thor” theatrical release, the Hollywood Reporter says. Marvel will self-produce the 26-episode series and plans on debuting the show in the fall of 2010 after the…
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is expected to continue to push rules opposed by cable operators until he’s replaced by President-elect Barack Obama, according to Bloomberg. Possible actions range from loosening cable’s hold on sports programming to raising the…
New York newscasts aren’t doing sweep stunts the way they used to. Or the way they’re still being done in Los Angeles, the New York Daily News says. The lowest sweeps story in New York was WCBS-TV’s about undergarments that…
Former Aegis Media CEO Mainardo de Nardis was named CEO of media agency OMD Worldwide, filling a vacancy left by Joe Uva, who went to Univision last year, Advertising Age reports. “The business is clearly going in the direction of…
A nightclub fire will threaten the lives of characters on “Desperate Housewives,” the Associated Press reports. The sweeps stunt was shot on the back lot of Universal Studios, away from the show’s usual Wisteria Lane street set. The fire is…
IM Global is working with Platinum Studios to develop a live-action series based on D.J. Coffman’s “Hero by Night,” the Hollywood Reporter says. “Hero” is Platinum’s 2006 Comic Book Challenge contest winner and is based on a landlord who discovers…
Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb, the two executive producers recently fired from NBC’s “Heroes,” will still attend a Screenwriting Expo panel Saturday, Daily Variety reports. Creator and fellow executive producer Tim Kring, however, has said he will not be participating…
Television networks’ online video destinations are girding for the economic slowdown by focusing on advertising metrics and proven programming, executives at sites including Hulu.com and ABC.com said at the NewTeeVee conference in San Francisco today. Advertiser interest in ABC.com remains…