TRIBUTE: Phil Donahue
People used to think no one would want to watch a bunch of talking heads in the daytime. I mean, talk shows, by their nature, are not very visually exciting. It took us a long time to re-orient the thinking…
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Studios Hoping NBA Playoffs Deliver Demo
Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox, scanning the TV dial for a cache of young male action-movie fans, have inked separate deals with Time Warner’s cable network TNT to promote summer thrillers “Van Helsing” and “The Day After Tomorrow” during…
TRIBUTE: Reuben Cannon
I first met Oprah on a cold Sunday afternoon in Chicago in 1985. Quincy Jones suggested that I interview Oprah for a role in “The Color Purple.” He felt she had the perfect look for the character of Sofia. When…
Gigs
ROLESChristopher Plummer, right, will star in Showtime’s “Our Fathers.” Mr. Plummer will play Boston’s controversial Cardinal Bernard Law. The telefilm is based on Newsweek Editor David France’s book “Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age…
Guest Commentary: The Vast Parallel Culture
A cosmic shift in the United States’ societal center of gravity is evolving entertainment values that are significantly out of sync with what has been the executive thinking along the Avenue of the Americas and Sunset Boulevard. Start with this…
MindShare, ABC Choose ‘The Days’
The family drama “The Days” will air on ABC this summer as the first production under a unique agreement with media agency MindShare North America that is being hailed as a new economic model for programming. The six-episode one-hour series…
On-Demand Advertainment: Push Finally Comes to Pull
As video-on-demand finally comes into its own, expanding to include content beyond boxing, movies and porn, advertisers are getting into the act with long-form advertainment-content that sells a product but is sufficiently appealing that customers want to watch it.For instance,…
Pearls of Wisdom
In another ABC product placement deal, the May 7 episode of “Hope & Faith” will feature Hope (Faith Ford) receiving a necklace for Mother’s Day from one of her daughters, played by Macey Cruthird. The gift is from Zales, a…
`She Was the Best I Had Ever Seen’
It was August 1983 and it was my first day on the job as the new general manager of WLS-TV Chicago.The host of the station’s morning show walked into my office about 7 a.m. and asked out of his contract…
SOUND IMPROVEMENTS
A list of currently scheduled shows, movies and specials that will air in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound:ABC: “10-8,” “8 Simple Rules,” “According to Jim,” “Alias,” “Dragnet,” “George Lopez,” “Hope & Faith,” “I’m With Her,” “It’s All Relative,” “Less Than…