The beginning of the 1980s was considered a desert for fans of unscripted daytime television, After a decade where game show production, both for broadcast networks and first-run syndication, reached an all-time high, the success of only a scant few, coupled with many of the 70s hits running their course, resulted in pivots on the … Read more
I was never invited by anyone to storm the Capital, certainly not on January 6, 2021. But slightly more than a decade before that, I was forcefully requested by a superior to “napalm Oldsmar”. Oldsmar, Florida is the Tampa suburb that at the time housed the Nielsen Company. I worked directly for FX, and tangentially … Read more
I’ll admit it, I like Kelly Ripa more than I should. I was not a fan of ALL MY CHILDREN, where she captivated daytime audiences for a decade as the troubled party girl Hayley Vaughn, but I knew darn well an awful lot of women 25-54 who watched ABC stations did. When she married her … Read more
I once worked for The Family Channel, and as many already know I was involved in several attempts to rename it, for a variety of business and personally motivated reasons when my management took control. At the time, despite those wishes results consistently emerged that indicated a halo effect between the channel’s name and its … Read more
I’m sometimes amused by the degree of imagination and energy trade organizations like the Television Bureau of Advertising put into some of the analyses they do. Defending legacy broadcast television, particularly local television, in a landscape where media and tech companies continue to pour billions of dollars into growing streaming services, often at the expense … Read more
Happy Valentine’s Day to those of you fortunate enough to have someone in your life who loves you and who allow you to love them back who may be close by, if not right next to you. Since the closest example I have to that these days is more than a thousand miles away, and … Read more
Seems like every time the Super Bowl is held in Glendale, Arizona a really amazing afternoon unfolds. Certainly, the football and the drama that unfolded last night during the Kansas City Chiefs’ thrilling 38-35 comeback victory against the Philadelphia Eagles–only the second time in the game’s 57-year history where a team trailing at halftime came … Read more
It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and that always means a day devoted slavishly to watching TV. And for many of my onetime friends and colleagues at FOX Sports, who are carrying today’s event, they are especially eager to see this day come. It’s the first-ever post-season matchup of Philadelphia and Kansas City, two teams with only … Read more
So Roseanne Barr’s on the comeback trail, and she’s making the rounds to promote her first stand-up special in 17 years. But because her special will debut on FOX Nation, her “making the rounds” includes interviews with the likes of Tucker Carlson, and she’s frankly sounding a tad embittered. Even to an outlet more left-of-center … Read more
In the aftermath of the still puzzling decision for Paramount+ and SHOWTIME to come together and for all intents and purposes diminish a brand synoymous with quality pay scripted television to an afterthought, the news that cooler heads have seemed to prevail in the Warner Discovery camp was a needed positive sign that even in … Read more