Jamie Kellner has lost 14 pounds in six months and his blood pressure is down. That is about how long it has been since he chose to end his tenure in a pressure-cooker post running Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting…
From a distance, the marquee in the etching of the old Rigas Theatre appears to read “Shame.” But it’s an optical illusion. The marquee actually reads “Shane,” the title of the classic 1953 Western. But “Shame” would be a logical…
Most people have heard of the Stanford Prison Experiment, social psychology’s version of reality TV, which was conducted in the early ’70s. In this experiment, 12 paid volunteer students were “arrested” at their homes and driven by the Stanford University…
As if ABC didn’t have enough problems already, the untimely death of “8 Simple Rules” star John Ritter earlier this month presented the ratings-challenged network with yet another hurdle, casting doubt over the future of one of its more successful…
Proponents of a Senate resolution to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s media ownership deregulation were threatening to force a vote in the House of Representatives on the issue last week-if House GOP leaders refuse to bring the measure to the…
ABC and David E. Kelley have armed this Sunday’s relaunch of “The Practice” with a marketing push more akin to a brand-new show than a seven-year veteran drama series. The promo campaign, which will cost considerably more than a typical…
“One minute to launch,” Deb Miller, the director of “Living It Up! With Ali & Jack” announced to the engineers, King World executives, publicists and producers packed in the control room the morning of the show’s debut. “I feel like…
Five years ago, a group of executives at Warner Bros. made television history. With fledgling network The WB in hand and a lack of Federal Communications Commission licenses to take it nationwide, they chose to do the near impossible: create…
National advertisers will support in the short term ABC’s decision to keep “8 Simple Rules … for Dating My Teenage Daughter” on the schedule-but down the road it will need to perform just as any other show. “Most advertisers will…
Long regarded as a soft-focus channel for tearful melodramas, Lifetime has taken on activist causes with increasing dedication and fervor in recent years, perhaps more visibly than any other basic cable network. The network, which received the prestigious Governor’s Award…