Broadcasting & Cable Blogs
Probst is the real Survivor
Survivor’s Jeff Probst has re-signed as the show’s host and executive producer through the 21st and 22nd installments, taking him through one more year, CBS said today (Tuesday, Feb. 9). In the past, Probst has made a longer commitment to the show, agreeing to four more cycles over two years, according to Entertainment Weekly. Don’t read too much into that, Probst tells the ma ... More
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More People Watch Doritos Spot Than Game
And the winner for most-watched Super Bowl commercial is…Doritos’ gym guys! According to Nielsen, more than 116 million viewers watched the spot which featured two hapless guys attacked for stealing a bag of Doritos from another guy’s gym locker, making it the most viewed television commercial of all time. That’s more people than watched the game itself, whi ... More
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Commentary, analysis and observations on the business of television from the staff of Broadcasting & Cable. Edited by Senior Editor Joel Topcik.
KING-Size Approach to Olympic Coverage
KING Seattle has budgeted around $250,000 for its Olympic coverage this month, reports the Seattle Times, and expects huge ratings to make the whole Vancouver shebang profitable for the station. Headed by Peter O’Connell, some 25 staffers will make the 150 mile trip north at various times; KING prez Ray Heacox told us last month that ten reporter-types will be there at all times. O ... More
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Station to Station covers the odds, ends, ups and downs of the local television business across America
Super Bowl Ads: Everyone's a Critic
Monday after Super Bowl is a tough day to get any work done, unless you’re writing about Super Bowl ads and the whole office provides an unscientific focus group of what connected and was just plain stupid or insulting. And these days everybody’s got an opinion, a poll and a megaphone in the shape of Twitter and Facebook feeds. Mars’ Snickers commercial starring Golden Girl B ... More
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Commentary and analysis on the business of television advertising—from the upfront and scatter markets to TV events like the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Olympics—courtesy of Broadcasting & Cable Business Editor Claire Atkinson.
Olympics Brought To You By Eh?-D.C.
There will be some bundled-up, out-of-home viewing to NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympic Games opening ceremonies Feb. 12 in our nation’s capital. With the help of NBC and parent General Electric, the Embassy of Canada, which is only a curling stone’s push from the Capitol dome, is throwing a big bash to celebrate the games from Vancouver, B.C. According to an invite to the ... More
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BC/DC is the media executives\' must-see view from Washington, delivered by yours truly without the aid of rose-colored glasses and without the need, quite yet, of bifocals.
TCA 2010: Pie ‘n Burger ‘n Brian Williams
The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, which is host this week to the TCA press tour (Complete Coverage of the Winter Press Tour), is a luxury hotel set on 23 acres and features a Michelin star restaurant and a world-class spa. But none of the landmark estate’s offerings are apparently as compelling to NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams as a local burger joint. The anchor, who is known to ... More
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Interviews with TV industry figures over their favorite meals.
TV Review: ABC's 'The Middle'
ABC’s The Middle debuts Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m. The following are reviews from TV critics around the Web, compiled by B&C. “Imagine Malcolm in the Middle told from the mom’s point of view. That’s ABC’s The Middle, a funny, fast-moving celebration of harried family life in middle America. –Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “In short, The Middle is ... More
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BC Review offers one-stop shopping for TV fanatics, with a roundup of the latest reviews from the leading critics.
Twitter's TV Drama
While I was off playing Rock Band all day yesterday, apparently other journalists were working. What the …? That gives all of us a bad name, people. Variety’s venerable (but very young) Cynthia Littleton decided to take advantage of everyone being off and post this scoop about a potential Twitter TV show. You can click the link and see what she wrote but I’m going to quote som ... More
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A blog covering the world of multiplatform video, including mobile TV, IPTV, user-generated video and video blogs.
The Judge
Judge Penny and I both received great feedback following our recent promotional tour on the east coast. We connected with lots of different station personnel and people were genuinely touched by spending time with the Judge. Here’s what one station manager had to say in an email to Judge Penny: “It was an absolute pleasure hosting you at our station last week! Our e ... More
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Blog sponsored by Family Court Written by Monday is Ritch Colbert, Principal for Program Partners and the Honorable Judge Penny Brown Reynolds and Thursday is Judge Penny Brown Reynolds
A Welcome Voice
I often describe Marie as a “person in full,” borrowing from Tom Wolf. She is a single, working mother of eight children, seven of them living with her at home. Years ago she had a very public bout with post-partum depression. In the past year alone she experienced a divorce (her second), the death of a parent, a teenage son going through rehab, a new move and a new job (Donny ... More
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Blog sponsored Marie Osmond Monday is Ritch Colbert, Principal for Program Partners and Thursday is Marie Osmond









