Viewers by the millions declared the war in Iraq over well before President Bush was ready to do the same.By the fourth week of April the year-to-year viewership comparisons were no longer coming with exclamation points attached to 300 percent…
John Stossel’s catchphrase these days is “Give me a break,” which is the title of his weekly contribution to 20/20. The Insider hears that Mr. Stossel, a 22-year veteran of the magazine, is on the verge of getting the best…
“Of course not. Advertisers, and thus network execs, don’t want their audiences to get so excited [they don’t] watch and internalize the ads. If a slight variation on last year’s hit family comedy is ready to go, the brilliant dramedy…
Six half-hours culled from Spike and Mike’s Sick & Twisted Animation Festival, for years a fixture on the late-night cult-movie circuit, are coming to Spike, Viacom’s newly named cable network for men.The network also has put into development A.F.U. (a…
After last February’s meeting between advertisers and members of the Syndicated Network Television Association-a gathering syndicators deemed triumphant in raising the profile of syndicated shows-distribution executives are waiting to see if dividends will roll in for the upfronts.Early projections indicate…
Lorenzo Lamas recently made headlines with a bitter divorce and with risque comments such as, “I’ve got a burrito cooking down here,” as a judge on ABC’s Are You Hot? Now he’s set to parlay his notoriety into being the…
The war with Iraq has affected TV advertising and programming in Phoenix. KNXV-TV, the ABC affiliate, had a commercial-free hour during a local town hall meeting with Peter Jennings. And popular independent KTVK-TV is airing promotional spots.The town hall meeting…
The broadcast upfront marketplace is expected to bring between $8.6 billion and $8.8 billion this year, marking a 5 percent to 7 percent year-to-year increase, media buyers and sellers told TelevisionWeek last week.That broadcast tally would be at least $200…
This week will rank among the busiest of the year for network executives as they huddle in screening rooms, making new series selections and putting finishing touches on their fall schedules.In advance of next week’s upfront presentations, where the networks…
TiVo has often been regarded by programmers, advertisers and others in the television business as a poison pill.Marty Yudkovitz’s job is to be the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down and in so doing radically broaden the…