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In Depth

Hollywood Notes

ABC Family President Angela Shapiro is negotiating her exit from the cable channel. As reported by TelevisionWeek on Oct. 13, Disney reorganized its cable holding, resulting in Ms. Shapiro reporting to ABC Cable Networks Group head Anne Sweeney, an arrangement…

Scripps Presents VOD Cheer

Scripps Networks will provide a record 51 video-on-demand holiday-themed titles to cable operators from the beginning of November through the first weeks of January as part of its regular VOD release of 150 titles. The breakdown of holiday-related material by…

Ideas Spice Season’s Fare

The November sweeps are upon us, which means the holidays are fast approaching. This year’s lineup of holiday-themed instructional programming ranges from the predictable (decorating and cooking tips) to the highly anticipated (Oprah Winfrey’s annual gift extravaganza) to the unexpected…

Breaking News Archives

NBC, CBS Split First Night of Sweeps NBC and CBS each claimed victory on the first night of sweeps last night, with NBC winning adults 18 to 49 and CBS taking total viewers. CBS had the highest-rated show of the…

Breaking News Archives

ABC Picks Up Freshman Shows ABC gave full-season orders to all of its freshman sitcoms and two freshman dramas. “Hope & Faith,” “I’m With Her,” “It’s All Relative,” “Married to the Kellys,” “10-8” and “Threat Matrix” all received back-nine episode…

Breaking News Archives

NBC Gives ‘Whoopi,’ ‘Family’ Full Season Orders NBC picked up Tuesday night sitcoms “Whoopi” and “Happy Family” for a full season of 22 episodes. “Whoopi,” from Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, has averaged a 3.3 rating/10 share among adults 18 to 49 and 9.4…

Breaking News Archives

NAACP Study Reports Continuing Lag in Minority Hires The broadcast networks have made progress hiring minority on-air talent but still lag in hiring minority talent behind the scenes, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s new…

Ivory soap floats, but cash sinks to the bottom line

“Nip/Tuck” may be one of cable TV’s most-watched new series, but some advertisers have stayed away. It isn’t hard to see why. A disclaimer warns viewers that the show contains scenes of violence, strong language, adult situations and nudity. That…

Calling for Laughter

Don’t bother to tell the creators of Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!,” the wacky cops-and-perps sendup heavy on trailer park trash and precinct love affairs, that its unscripted format has whiffs of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”“Neither Ben nor I have cable TV-we…

ESPN Experiments With ABC ‘Look-Ins’

Can promotions on ESPN or ESPN2 drive viewers to college football games on Disney sibling ABC? That was one of the questions behind an experiment over the weekend that, if deemed successful, may be extended through the rest of the…