The Ratings Wizard
Monday, Oct. 13, 2003-Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003TV Season Week No. 4Powered by stellar Major League Baseball playoff game ratings, Fox won six of the seven nights last week in adults 18 to 49 and total viewers. Fox finished first for…
In Depth
A ‘Schmo’ Is Born
Executives of nearly every network told the producers of “The Joe Schmo Show” that they loved their pitch. Then nearly every one turned them down. The faux reality series-where producers and actors trick an average schlub into believing he’s participating…
Sanderson Seeks Venue For Bomb Victims’ Tales
A woman in Jerusalem is standing at a bus stop when a terrorist detonates a suicide bomb. The woman’s mother and vivacious 5-year-old daughter are killed before her eyes, and she is severely injured. Five young boys are traumatized by…
Encoda Refocuses as Customers Stray
Encoda, a prominent provider of sales, traffic, programming and financial systems for the broadcast industry, has had to redirect its energies due to heightened competition over the past three years from next-generation traffic providers such as WideOrbit, VCI, OSI and…
Cable Vets Ready New Gaming Network
Former executives from E!, Speedvision and The Travel Channel are rolling the dice on a new digital network called Casino and Gaming Television. “We’re confident our audience will be large enough and passionate enough to support a 24-hour network centered…
12 Shows With Buzz
It’s all about the buzz.A show may be launched with a lot of noise through publicity, marketing and promotion, but it has buzz only when its reputation is enhanced through critical acclaim and word of mouth among friends, around the…
Editorial: Schwarzenegger a Blessing in Disguise?
Whatever the Arnold Schwarzenegger era brings to California’s state government, his election as governor is already bringing one positive effect: Broadcasters, at least in California, have begun to pay closer attention to government affairs.Evidence that stations are moving in that…
Children’s Attention Divided
It’s no secret that people often do other things while watching TV. What isn’t as well known is how those other activities impact the attention viewers pay to TV programming and, more important for media planners, TV commercials.Market researchers might…
ALL I WANTED WAS A SIMPLE TALE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT
I was kidnapped at knifepoint a few months back, by a fat guy who looked like Roger Ailes and a thin guy who looked like Bill O’Reilly-though I certainly do not mean to state, imply or even raise the possibility…
‘Hours’ Powers Cable Nets
Continuing efforts to aggressively ramp up their theatrical acquisition activity, A&E Networks and Lifetime Television have cut deals with Paramount Domestic Television to share the broadcast window for the feature film “The Hours,” which received nine Academy Award nominations and…