As time goes on, more viewers will no longer know the difference between broadcast and cable networks (just ask Conan O'Brien). The disparity in ratings is disappearing, too. Here are the channels that provided the big ratings successes — and busts — of 2010...
CBS is making sweeping changes to its third place morning program The Early Show. The network is moving ...
NBC will soon have a new owner, a new entertainment chief — and a long road back to prime-time ratings success.Once the government gives its stamp of approval to cable company Comcast's deal to buy a controlling interest in NBC Universal, former Showtime chief Robert Greenblatt will try to restore the luster of NBC's entertainment division. While NBC is a powerhouse in TV news and its cable networks are a profit machine (current executives in both divisions will remain in place when Comcast takes over), the most visible aspect of its business — the broadcast network's prime-time lineup — has deteriorated steadily throughout the decade. The once proud peacock has not turned out a new major ratings hit in five years, and its biggest shows — The Office, Law & Order: SVU and The Biggest Loser — are aging and in decline.New management is looking for a rescue effort from Greenblatt, who in seven years at Showtime stewarded such lauded series ...
Since the late 1990s, British imports such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Dancing With the Stars and American Idol have become ratings blockbusters in the United States. But stateside success has eluded one of the biggest Brit hits of them all.It's Top Gear, the rollicking reality/talk-show hybrid from the BBC that features three British automotive journalists gabbing about cars and performing elaborate and occasionally breathtaking stunts and challenges. The series, which has been shown here on BBC America, has been a worldwide sensation for almost 10 years and was recently the subject of a 60 Minutes profile. The studio ...
Every day, 1.2 million viewers are waking up with Fox News' Fox & Friends, an audience that towers over other cable-news morning shows. But the breezy style of the three coanchors — Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade — has also made the program fodder for the likes of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and The Soup's Joel McHale. TV Guide Magazine talked to the trio to find out if they're in on the joke.
The set for Conan O'Brien's new TBS late-night show is just two miles from where the host served his ill-fated stint on NBC's The Tonight Show. But O'Brien's longtime sidekick Andy Richter says the mood feels a million miles away. "It's kind of like...
Aisha Hinds, who plays Lt. Maureen Mason on ABC's Detroit 1-8-7, was feeling the love recently while at a Trader Joe's in Royal Oak, Michigan. "A woman wanted to give me her entire cart of groceries," she says. "I just came in for a bottle of water." That's a typical reaction in the Detroit area ...
It's not easy being a traditional TV newsman in a new-media world. But Brian Williams, who grew up worshipping Walter Cronkite, remains the most watched anchor as NBC Nightly News averages 8 million viewers ...
Get ready for a kinder, gentler American Idol. That was the first impression from the new panel of judges that Fox finally made official on September 22. Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler and pop-music diva/actress Jennifer Lopez will join Randy Jackson at the dais when television's top-rated show returns for its 10th season in January. "I believe in tough love, but ...
You can't blame broadcast news for having a bad case of cable envy. Fox News Channel has seen its profits double this year, thanks to growing ratings and higher fees from cable systems. NBC News can share its news-gathering costs with MSNBC, which has also turned into a big moneymaker. Even CNN, beleaguered by declining audiences and under pressure to bolster its program lineup, rakes in ...
ABC News president David Westin is calling it quits.In an e-mail message, Westin told colleagues late Monday "there are some other things I want to do professionally — things that I can't explore while fulfilling my responsibilities here." He has agreed to remain at ABC News until a successor is named.While the announcement came suddenly, news industry insiders heard that ABC recently hired an executive search firm to scout out replacements for Westin...
If you're an actor who lands a lead role on a TV series, you can count on a big payday. But it won't be as big as it used to be.Network and studio executives tell TV Guide Magazine they've adopted a get-tough policy on salaries for stars of the new fall shows. While the salary for a lead has been $150,000 to $200,000 per episode in recent years, most deals for stars of new series were between $75,000 and $125,000. "No one broke the bank on anything this year," says one former studio head.A case in point is a negotiation with a veteran film actor who for years has been coveted by several networks to do series TV. He was in discussions for a lead role in one of the new dramas that made the fall schedule. His asking price was $250,000. The network and the studio said no way. When the actor refused to go below $200,000, the network and studio moved on and hired someone else...
There's a chance Conan O'Brien could return to NBC's airwaves—albeit very briefly. ...
During more than two decades as a globe-trotting correspondent for CNN, Christiane Amanpour was often asked why she rarely smiles on camera. "Well, that's because you often see me covering genocide, civil war and things like that," she would answer. Don't expect her demeanor to change much when she takes the anchor chair at ABC's political roundtable program This Week on Sunday (August 1, 9am/8c)...
Monday is the day when American Idol changes forever.According to an industry source close to the situation, Fox and Idol's production company, 19 Entertainment, have made their decision on a replacement for departing judge Simon Cowell — and will make an ...
In cable TV, summer is the new fall. For the broadcast networks, it's "Let's throw it against the wall and see if it sticks" time. So what's working as we wait for the curtain to rise on the fall schedules? WinnersCanada American networks can get Canadian-made series for as little as 25 percent of what they pay for Hollywood shows. Of course, it only makes economic sense if you can get somebody to watch them (which wasn't the case with CBS' quickly axed The Bridge). Now that ABC's Rookie Blue is averaging 7 million viewers, you can bet there will be a lot more imports next summer.
There will never be another Larry King. Gone are the days when a guy from Brooklyn who addictively plays the horses and gets married eight times can fall into TV stardom. CNN is hunting down some big names to fill King's suspenders in prime time. Here's the lowdown on who is being considered and why...
CNN took the first step in rebuilding its struggling primetime lineup by naming former New York governor Eliot Spitzer and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker as the co-hosts of a new roundtable discussion program. The still to be named show will replace Campbell Brown in the 8 p.m. ET hour in the early fall. Spitzer resigned from his office in 2008 amid a sex scandal that revealed he used prostitutes. Is America's cable news audience ready to embrace him as a liberal commentator sitting across from the Pulitzer Prize winner Parker? The Biz chatted with the pair shortly after the new show was announced...
There sure is a hell of a lot of foul language on television these days.You may have noticed some profanity if you sat through the MTV Movie Awards on June 6. Always a rollicking event where celebrities can cut loose in a way they wouldn't on a traditional trophy show, the telecast was laced with so many vulgarities that whoever was in control of the "bleep" button couldn't keep up...
It seems like yesterday that The Jay Leno Show was going to revolutionize the TV business. That didn't happen. But the 2009—10 television season did have its share of triumphs—and a few tribulations...
It's getting hotter... on TV. Several new cable shows are cranking their sex scenes up a notch, daring to bare more skin than viewers have been accustomed to seeing. Leading the way is the new HBO series Tell Me You Love Me (premiering Sept. 9), which features Jane Alexander as a relationship therapist. The show has caused a stir because of the amount of full-frontal nudity and explicit sex acts among the three couples she counsels. Showtime is moving the needle as well with the provocatively titled Californication (Mondays at 10 pm/ET). David Duchovny plays a debauched writer who spends much of the first episode in flagrante delicto. Both pay-cable
You can make a nice living in TV. Just ask Simon Cowell, who pulls in $45 million per year (for American Idol and other TV projects). Even the folks who serve chow to the cast and crew can make $3,000 over the eight days it takes to shoot an hourlong drama. Here's a sample of who makes what, from Oprah to a production assistant just breaking into the biz. NETWORK PRIME TIME (salary per episode)William Petersen, CSI $500,000Zach Braff, Scrubs  
