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Chuck Ross 38,865 Entries
Chuck Ross

Chuck Ross is the managing director of TVWeek.com. He's been involved in the TV business ever since he sold cable TV subscriptions in Santa Monica, Calif., door-to-door in the mid-to-late 1970s. He's had regular gigs reporting and/or editing about TV and advertising for Cablevision magazine,The Hollywood Reporter, the San Francisco Chronicle, Inside Media and Advertising Age. He first joined the predecessor to TVWeek, Electronic Media, in 2000.

Good News for Hollywood: Cable Channel Not in Scripted Game Orders up Two Sitcom Pilots

Between NBC’s Jay Leno move and the popularity of reality shows, Hollywood scribes have complained about the dearth of scripted programming. Now, from an unlikely source–basic cabler TV Land–home of many vintage sitcoms over the years–comes a pilot order for two…

How the Fort Collins Sheriff Knew the Balloon Boy Story Was a Hoax: the Mother of the Boy Told Him

The reason the sheriff who serves the Fort Collins area of Colorado knew the Balloon Boy story was a hoax was because the mother of the boy told him so, the Fort Collins Coloradoan, reported on Saturday,Oct. 24th. The Coloradoan…

ESPN Fires Baseball Analyst Steve Phillips After it was Revealed He Had An Affair With A 22-Year-Old ESPN Production Assistant

The New York Times is reporting that former Mets general manager and ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips has been fired from the network. Recently the New York Post had published that Phillips had had an affair with a 22-year-old production…

NBC Developing Two Series: African-American Sitcom Plus Drama From ‘Medium’ Scribe

NBC is developing a show that’s been pitched as "Mad About You" meets "The Cosby Show," reports The Hollywood Reporter.   The show, called "Ordinary People, is based on the real-life experiences of " ‘America’s Next Top Model’ co-developer Kenya Barris," THR says. The…

Jeff Probst Called it the Scariest Moment He’s Had in 19 Rounds of ‘Survivor’; Read How Contestant Russell’s Mind Played Tricks on Him About What Really Happened

During last week’s "Survivor" one of the strongest players of this season, Russell Swan, the captain of one of the teams on the show, collapsed during a challenge. It was scary to watch, and in this fascinating People account, Russell…

VIDEO: Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes on Why the Company Should Have Never Merged with AOL; and the Lessons That Has For Comcast-NBCU Talks

TIme Warner Chairman and CEO surprised attendees at TVWeek’s recent Innovation360 Conference by saying that even at the time it happened the merger of AOL and Time Warner was a a bad idea. In this video clip from the conference…

From Time Warner’s TV Everywhere to Disney’s Keychest, with DVD Sales Falling, Studios Are Desperate to Figure Out New Video Strategy

This piece in the New York Times talks about the various video strategies the studios are playing with as they find their current methods coming up short. Says the article, "[B]usiness currents have shifted. While DVD and Blu-ray will remain…

Popular Discovery Channel Series Becoming Video Games

Two of the most popular shows on the Discovery Channel are coming to Nintendo’s Wii and DS formats, as well as to Playstation 3. One of the two shows, "Deadliest Catch," previously appeared as an XBox 360 game, but this…

‘Top Chef’ Preparing Yummy Spinoff

Bravo has come up with a spinoff for its popular "Top Chef" reality series. The new show, which will air next year, will be called "Top Chef: Just Desserts," according to Variety. According to the report, " ‘Just Desserts’ will…

Character Actor Lou Jacobi, Mainstay of TV and Movies and Broadway, Dies at 95

Lou Jacobi, the veteran character actor who first appeared on TV in 1953 and last appeared on a television show in 1992, has died at 95 at his home in Manhattan, the Associated Press reports. Among dozens of TV roles…