The week that was
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/21/2002
B&C at NATPE
As ever, BROADCASTING & CABLE will be all over NATPE this week in Las Vegas. Attendees staying in convention hotels will receive special daily editions of B&C delivered to their room on Tuesday and Wednesday, and there will be more at convention periodical bins. Our newsroom is Room N219 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, or you can reach us by calling 702-943-3818, 3819 or 3820. Fax us at 702-943-3817.
BREAKING NEWS: NO TERRORIST TV TRIAL
Late Friday, Federal District Judge Leonie Brinkema turned down CourtTV's petition to televise the trial of alleged terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, saying Congress, not the court, should be responsible for deciding whether to lift the ban on cameras in federal courtrooms. The Justice Department argued against opening the trial to TV. ..
NO REGIS IN SYNDIE
Regis Philbin won't host the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, his agent told The New York Post, although he was offered the gig. That's bad news for Buena Vista as it brings the show to NATPE. ...Paramount Domestic Television has sold its new daytime reality series Life Moments in more than 50% of the country for the fall, including clearances on the NBC O&Os. Life Moments is a first-person, cinéma vérité-style series that features inspirational stories pertaining to women. Clearances include WNBC-TV New York, KNBC-TV Los Angeles and WMAQ-TV Chicago. ...
Twentieth TV talker The Rob Nelson Show has been sold in more than 60% of the country for its fall debut. New markets for the one-hour daily show include WCCB(TV) Charlotte, N.C.; WFTX(TV) Cape Coral, Fla.; and XETV(TV) Tijuana, Mexico. It has already been sold on the co-owned Fox TV stations. Twentieth TV is also reconsidering its initial in-house deal for Ally McBeal. Insiders say Twentieth executives talked with other suitors for the off-network rights to the drama, which debuted late last year on co-owned FX to sluggish ratings. Insiders say Twentieth TV execs have talked with Lifetime, Oxygen and others. Twentieth had no comment. ...
Carla Pennington was named executive producer of Paramount Domestic TV's new Dr. Phil show. Pennington, a 12-year veteran at Paramount, produced Entertainment Tonight. ...
Buena Vista canceled Iyanla after only six months. The freshman syndicated talk show with self-help expert Iyanla Vanzant had averaged only a 1.1 since its Aug. 13 debut, according to Nielsen Media Research. In adults 18-49, the talk show averaged only a 0.5 rating. ...
Tribune Entertainment has renewed syndicated action series Gene Roddenbery's Andromeda for two more seasons. The second-year series, starring former Hercules star Kevin Sorbo, has been sold on 39 of the top 40 stations, covering 78% of the U.S. through 2004, Tribune executives say. Tribune's own station group has two-year commitments, including renewals on WPIX(TV) New York, KTLA(TV) Los Angeles and WGN-TV Chicago. ...
FROM THE PRESS TOUR
The WB renewed Gilmore Girls for a third year and new hits Smallville and Reba for the 2002-03 season. And Turner Broadcasting head Jamie Kellner wants more repurposing between The WB and Turner's networks.
He told TV critics in Los Angeles last week, "I would love to see Smallville, I'd love to see a bunch of the shows being repeated, once, twice or even three times during the week to be able to aggregate as much possible viewership as they can get." ...
ABC renewed Alias, According to Jim and My Wife and Kids for next season. ABC Entertainment Chairman Lloyd Braun said ABC has work to do: "Clearly. we are in the midst of a very disappointing season. We've made our share of mistakes, most notably, our failure to develop new hits behind Who Wants to Be a Millionaire when it was blazing hot." He says the gap between ABC, which has fallen to fourth place in adults 18-49 this season, and the other networks can be quickly overcome.
