Quick Takes
“Only if Tony Soprano whacked some Emmy voters. Or people from `Real Sex’ roamed around nude. The Emmys have always been a bore, and HBO wouldn’t fix that. Plus, it would only make the net heads whine, and who needs…
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Roberts’ rules of order
The first time you see Brian Roberts you think of the young, lanky Jimmy Stewart with the boy-next-door demeanor. As chief executive officer of Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable operator with a mind-boggling 21 million subscribers, he’s the successful…
Ad pricing soars for 1st quarter
If you’re in television ad sales these days, life is good.Consider this scatter snapshot: Insiders say first-quarter cost-per-thousand pricing at the broadcast networks is up by as much as 30 percent, and perhaps even more, over upfront prices, while at…
At Press Time
Los Angeles-Twentieth Television has renewed its two top first-run strips, court shows “Divorce Court” and “Texas Justice.” The two series have now cleared 55 percent and 45 percent of the country, respectively for the 2003-2004 season. The strips have been…
Swept off our feet by ‘Bachelor’
Talk about a weak sweeps! In terms of quality and magnitude of sweeps events-if not in terms of numbers-November has been a real bust. Maybe the networks are, in phases, taking the advice of a recent EM editorial and doing…
Syndication Ratings: Veteran talk shows post across-the-board gains
Entering the thick of the November book, a number of syndicated series continued to reach new highs for the season, especially within the weekend and talk ranks, according to Nielsen Media Research data for the week ending Nov. 10.Every veteran…
Editorial: Memo provides a peek behind the Fox facade
Fox News chief Roger Ailes says he did nothing wrong when he sent a memo to President George W. Bush in the days following the 9/11 attacks. The note, as described in the new Bob Woodward book “Bush at War,”…
Hollywood Notes
”Grounded for Life” is switching networks. The sitcom, currently airing on Fox, will move to The WB early next year. The WB has picked up six new episodes of the family comedy, starring Donal Logue and Megyn Price, and has…
The Little Picture: New privacy act is a headache for TV
Hospitals. What would your local TV newscast do without them? They’re not just handy for live shots. Inside every hospital is a special room called the press office. There you’ll find people who are more than happy to put your…
Briefly Noted
Count Andy Lack, NBC president and chief operating officer, among those who are skeptical about a proposal to merge ABC News with cable’s CNN. “It looks like two guys are jumping into each other’s arms because they want to save…