Tom Brokaw by Scott Gries/History Channel
You didn't need reality TV in 1968. The evening news provided one cataclysmic unscripted event after another, as assassinations, riots and the Vietnam War kept viewers transfixed every night. Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw was working at KNBC in Los Angeles at the time. His new History Channel special 1968 With Tom Brokaw, (debuting Dec. 9 at 9 pm/ET) combines his own reflections with compelling interviews of witnesses and participants of the era. Brokaw, also on the bestseller list these days with Boom! Voices of the Sixties, told The Biz why what happened in that tumultuous year still matters today.TVGuide.com: Why is 1968 the hot year right now?Tom Brokaw: So much of who we are now was formed in that year. The FDR coalition became unraveled. The Republican Party reorganized itself in a way that allowed it to win six of the next eight Presidential elections. You had the rise of the modern conservative movement, which had a profound effect on American politics. You have an enorm...
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Jay Leno by Paul Drinkwater/NBC
The strike by the Writers Guild of America is just two weeks old and there's already been a lot of fretting about what fans will do when first-run episodes of their favorite shows run out. So what will happen if, despite the recent agreement to resume talks on Nov. 26, it goes on for 22 weeks like the last work stoppage in 1988?According to Shari Ann Brill, a senior vice president at the ad-buying firm Carat, this strike is going to hurt a whole lot more. "Television as a medium will survive this, but the days of powerful rule by the broadcasters over audiences and advertisers could suffer a crippling blow from a prolonged disruption," she says.The 1988 strike, she noted, occurred in early March. This was before the official TV season included the May sweeps, so most series had completed production for the season. Even though there was no end in sight for the work stoppage, the networks went ahead and presented a new fall schedule for the 1988-89 season and sold time on it to advert...
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Peter Jennings and Kayce Freed by Jemal Countess/WireImage.com
It's been more than two years since ABC News anchor Peter Jennings succumbed to lung cancer. Yet his presence in TV news was so powerful, it's hard not to expect him to show up when a big story breaks. Within two days after Jennings died on August 7, 2005, the news division that he dominated went to work interviewing his friends and colleagues. Those voices have been collected in a new book from PublicAffairs called Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life. It brings back memories of Jennings' warmth, dedication and even his ability to stress out coworkers with his intensity. Kayce Freed Jennings is now a partner in the Documentary Group, which evolved out of her late husband's production company. She recently shared her thoughts about Jennings with the Biz.TVGuide.com: It's been more than two years since you lost Peter. I think people want to know how you've been doing.Freed Jennings: My life is good. He left me with a lot of good things. He's still with me all the time. I hope and assume...
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Brian Williams courtesy NBC
If you've ever seen NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on a late-night talk show, you already know he can be a very funny guy. But does he have the comedy chops for Saturday Night Live? We'll find out on Nov. 3, when he's scheduled to become the first active news anchor to ever host. (NBC News veteran Edwin Newman was retired when he was a host in the mid-'80s.) Williams insists the news still comes first — he won't start SNL rehearsals until after he's finished moderating the Democratic presidential candidates' debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. But The Biz hears that a digital short starring Williams has already been shot. We asked him a few questions about his upcoming gig.TVGuide.com: So what would Edward R. Murrow say if he knew you were hosting a comedy show?Brian Williams: It all has to be taken in context. Saturday Night Live has been an American institution for three decades. It's been the center of the Zeitgeist and trends and has contributed innumerable exp...
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Hollywood has been generously giving to candidates making a 2008 run for the White House — and some of those contributions are coming from your favorite TV stars. The Biz recently took the data filed with the Federal Election Commission to find out where they stand before the presidential primary season begins.Senator Barack Obama has been neck and neck with Democratic nomination rival Senator Hillary Clinton in showbiz fundraising, but he's got a longer list of TV actors who've opened their checkbooks for his bid. The list includes Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy), Zack Braff (Scrubs), Melina Kanakaredes (CSI: NY), Adrian Pasdar (Heroes), Adam Arkin (Life), Rob Morrow (Numbers), Dennis Haysbert (The Unit), Isaiah Washington (Bionic Woman), Tate Donovan (Damages), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) and Will Forte (Saturday Night Live). Chris Rock, Tyra Banks and Oprah Winfrey are also in the Obama camp along with writer-producers J.J. Abrams, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Steven Bochco, Chuck ...
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Chris Matthews by Lisa Berg/NBC
Chris Matthews recently celebrated his 10th year as the host of MSNBC's Hardball, and he spent a few decades in politics before that tenure. He's distilled his observations into a new Random House book, Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation and Success. Ah, but can politics teach you how to handle Daily Show host Jon Stewart when he calls your book "sad," as he did when Matthews recently appeared to get a plug? Matthews tells The Biz how he survived what he called "the worst interview I've ever had in my life."TVGuide.com: What made you think your experience in politics would make a good advice book?Chris Matthews: It's what I know. You write what you know. I've spent 36 years watching politicians, and I've learned the traits that work with people. The absence of those traits usually suggests the failure of a career. I'm talking about people who get elected time and time again and succeed in American politics: Generally they have a set ...
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Sarah Michelle Gellar by Richard Cartwright/FOX
It seems like a more innocent time, when a haircut could rock an entire network. But that's what happened when Felicity star Keri Russell's trademark curly locks were shorn during a summer hiatus in 1999. The early WB fave was never the same after that follicle debacle. Susanne Daniels, who was the creative executive behind many of the network's early successes, and Variety deputy editor Cynthia Littleton have recounted the wild ride of the short-lived six network era in Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN (Harper Books). When reading the story, it's hard to believe two over-the-air broadcast networks were launched only a dozen years before we made a habit out of watching TV on our computers. Both UPN and the WB (which merged to become the CW last year) were born out of their studio-owners' fear that once the government allowed the established networks to produce their own series, they would be shut out of prime time. That never happened. But the youth-orie...
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Back to You by Sam Jones/Fox
A time-period-winning 9.5 million viewers watched Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton return to prime time Wednesday in their new Fox sitcom, Back to You. Most of them surely tuned in to see two stars from two of their favorite shows, Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond. But the industry insiders are watching carefully for another reason: They’re curious as to whether the series about two over-the-hill local TV news anchors with a past can prove that the multi-camera comedy has a future. Steve Levitan, executive producer, writer and creator of the show with partner Christopher Lloyd, offered his thoughts to The Biz about meeting the challenge. TVGuide.com: Do you feel the future of the multi-camera sitcom is riding on this show?Steve Levitan: I hate the thought of that. We have enough pressure trying to do a funny show. But some people are saying it, and it does start to weigh on you. I’m not sure that’s fair. The No. 1 comedy on TV is a multi-camera show in Two and a ...
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Jon Tenney, Kyra Sedgwick and JK Simmons by Andrew Eccles/TNT
Judging from the press cable networks were able to get this summer, you'd think the broadcast networks went out of business. TNT's The Closer set a ratings record for a scripted cable drama and helped launch a new hit in Saving Grace. Lifetime's Army Wives and FX's Damages scored strong numbers and good reviews for their networks. Even movie channel AMC was able to establish an appointment show with Mad Men. And, oh yeah, there was a little movie on the Disney Channel called High School Musical 2. But the ratings for this past summer are not out of line with what's gone on in past years. Every summer broadcast-network audiences drop off substantially from what they draw during the TV season, while cable sees a spike. But the influx of originals on cable should have been an added ratings boon this summer, right? Yes, the broadcast networks were off 13 percent from last summer among the advertiser-coveted audience of viewers ages 18 to 49 (exclude sports and the decline was 9 percent)...
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Kate Walsh by Eric Ogden/ABC
The 2007-08 season is starting soon and there are many questions looming. After consulting a few network insiders, The Biz is going to try to answer a few of the big ones.Will Private Practice be the next Joey?Ah, the much maligned spin-off. The answer is no. The audience still has a lot of goodwill towards Grey's Anatomy. ABC has surrounded it on Wednesday with two of its strongest pilots, Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money. It has a solid night, with Private Practice as a presold tent pole to hold it up. But expect the veteran cast on PP to attract an older audience than the Grey's mother ship.Will the recent controversy over Kid Nation help or hurt the show?Help — but only for the first week. "The publicity is not about the show, it's about the making of the show, not about the content," said one exec at a competing network. "Viewers are not going to stay around for three or four weeks just to see if CBS has been doing something unethical." That being said, network researc...
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