Actor agrees to return next season
By JOSEF ADALIAN
After weeks of speculation about his fate, "Law & Order" star Jesse L. Martin has agreed to return next season for at least 13 segs of the long-running show.
In advance of May's last-minute deal to save the show, there had been word that Martin would be leaving whether or not it was renewed. Ultimately, however, Martin and his team were able to work out a compromise with "L&O" creator Dick Wolf.
While Martin is signed on for only 13 segs, there's a provision for him to do more. He's played Det. Green on the show since 1999.
Deal to bring back Martin, even in a diminished role, comes after a slew of cast changes on "Law & Order." Fred Thompson is ankling for a likely presidential bid, while Milena Govich is out after just a year on the series.
6/25/2007
Martin stays on 'Law & Order'
'Shark' chief in Fox's tank
Biederman signs deal with studio
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Twentieth Century Fox TV will be swimming with "Shark" creator-showrunner Ian Biederman for up to three more years.
Studio has signed the scribe to a rich two-year overall deal, with an option for a third. Deal, his first overall pact with 20th, keeps Biederman aboard as "Shark" showrunner and includes a provision for developing projects.
Move to lock up Biederman's services comes after James Woods starrer "Shark," a collaboration between 20th and Imagine Television, marked one of the few frosh success stories of the 2006-07 campaign. It's also the only CBS series from last fall to receive a full-season renewal."Ian has created a larger-than-life character in Sebastian Stark that not only earned him a pilot order from CBS but captured the imagination of the amazing Jimmy Woods, a feature actor who'd never done a television series," said 20th Century Fox TV prexy Dana Walden. "The result was this year's most watched new drama and a hugely important series to the studio and to CBS."
Biederman said 20th has been "supportive all the way through" the development and evolution of his series. "They and Imagine were at the ground level trying to make things work," he added.
Scribe said his goal for season two of "Shark" is to broaden the show beyond its procedural roots.
"We want to make it a combination of provocative drama and interesting characters," he said. "We want to make it not just a procedural."
Among the planned changes come fall: Jeri Ryan's character will ditch the D.A.'s office and join the legal team headed by Woods' character. "These two guys have a great chemistry, and we want to put them in a lot more scenes together," he said.
Biederman also wants the show to be more of an ensemble, and thus plans to give the supporting cast meatier storylines. The character of Woods' ex-wife will also return.
During a phone interview with Daily Variety last week, Biederman was on a break from ... jury duty.
"It's bitterly ironic," the scribe said of his unplanned detour into the real criminal justice system.
Biederman had thought he wouldn't land on a jury given that he writes a TV show which paints prosecutors in such a positive and heroic light. Instead, he ended up on a trial that, as of last Friday, was expected to take nearly a week to complete.
Before creating "Shark," Biederman worked on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Crossing Jordan" and "Party of Five." His first big TV gig was a three-year stint on 20th/David E. Kelley-produced "Chicago Hope."
Biederman is repped by Paradigm.
Producer to raise 'Cane'
Bookstaver pacts with CBS Paramount
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Sanford Bookstaver ("Jericho") has signed on with CBS Paramount Network TV to serve as a supervising producer and director on the Eye's upcoming drama "Cane."
Series, from CBS Par and ABC Studios, stars Jimmy Smits as the adopted son of a rum and sugar titan in south Florida.
Bookstaver's credits also include Fox's "Bones" and "Standoff," as well as Sci Fi Channel's "Painkiller Jane."
Bookstaver was also a producer on Fox's "Fastlane" and has directed segs of "One Tree Hill," "Prison Break," "The OC" and "Dawson's Creek."
Cynthia Cidre, Jonathan Prince, Jimmy Iovine and Polly Anthony exec produce "Cane," which also stars Hector Elizondo, Nestor Carbonell and Rita Moreno.
"Cane" will air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS this fall.
Is Rosie right for 'Price'?
Barker pitches O'Donnell for gameshow
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
Rosie O'Donnell has begun campaigning to become the next host of "The Price Is Right," days after retired host Bob Barker endorsed her for the job.
Execs at FremantleMedia North America, however, which owns the show, have told insiders that they don't have much interest in seeing her come aboard.
And sources close to O'Donnell believe that while she loves the idea of doing the show, it's unlikely she would uproot her family and move to the West Coast, where the show is produced.
Yet asked by a fan on her personal blog, O'Donnell seemed enthusiastic about hosting the show. "If they asked me, I sure would," she wrote.
On her blog, O'Donnell indicated a meeting would take place this week. "Rosie is meeting with several networks about a lot of different things," said spokeswoman Cindi Berger.
If O'Donnell does audition, she will be the first woman to have taken the mic on the Bob Barker Stage at CBS Television City and tried her hand at explaining the rules of "Plinko."
Others who have auditioned include "CBS Early Show" weatherman David Price, "Entertainment Tonight" co-host Mark Steines, Mario Lopez, George Hamilton, John O'Hurley, Todd Newton, Mark Kriski of L.A.'s "KTLA Morning News" and, most recently, Ian Ziering, who auditioned last week.
Barker endorsed O'Donnell backstage at the Daytime Emmys Friday night and told reporters that CBS had approached the former moderator of "The View" to become the next host of the durable gameshow.
"I believe they're going to have a meeting with Rosie," Barker told the Associated Press after winning his 19th Emmy. "There's no doubt in my mind she could do the show. Now, whether they want a lady host, I don't know."
Asked by a fan on her blog if she had read Barker's comments, O'Donnell replied, "I know. Fantastic. I love 'The Price Is Right.' "
It's crunch time for CBS and Fremantle as a new season of "Price" starts shooting at the end of July and they're still without a host to replace Barker, who retired Friday at the age of 83. At least 10 different potential hosts have auditioned so far.
CBS declined to comment on any overture to O'Donnell or any other part of the "Price" audition process.
There's little doubt the gamer would receive huge amounts of publicity and possibly a ratings bump with O'Donnell named to take over for Barker, but CBS and Fremantle may not want to deal with the controversies that often accompany her as well.
NBC News tops in Murrows
'Dateline NBC' takes three honors
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
NBC News walked away with seven Edward R. Murrow Awards, more than any other network and including the top trophy for its overall perf as a news org.
The awards, which recognize excellence in electronic journalism, will be given by the Radio-Television News Directors Association at a gala in Gotham in October.
In addition to the laurel for overall excellence, NBC News took three honors for "Dateline NBC," including best hard news feature, best investigative reporting and best videography.
NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams" earned Murrow awards for best newscast and best spot news coverage. NBC's "Today" won for best writing.
NBC was followed by CBS News, which took three Murrows for "60 Minutes," "Evening News" and "Sunday Morning." ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" won a Murrow award for feature reporting.
In radio, ABC News led with six Murrows, followed by CBS with three.
Among station groups, Hearst-Argyle took four Murrow awards for local newscasts in Boston, Des Moines and Baltimore.
Seuss gives ABC sitcom new name
Clearance issues affect Applegate comedy
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Clearance issues with the estate of Dr. Seuss has caused ABC to change the name of its new Christina Applegate laffer.
In May, Alphabet introduced the show to advertisers and the press as "Sam I Am." Title played on the fact that Applegate's character, Samantha Newly, has amnesia and can't remember anything about her life.
As good as the title may have been, it also drew on the first lines of the classic Dr. Seuss work "Green Eggs and Ham." Neither ABC nor producer ABC Studios would comment Monday, but it's believed the Seuss estate didn't take kindly to the Alphabet's literary allusion (or at the very least wanted too much coin to authorize its use).
So now, ABC has opted to call the show "Samantha Be Good."
New title may not have the same ring as "Sam I Am," but it still reflects one of the show's themes. Turns out that, before she lost her memory, Applegate's character was a not very nice person. Now that she's got a chance to start over, she'll be trying to be good.
'Closer' premiere breaks cable record
TNT show brings in 8.8 million viewers
By JOHN DEMPSEY
TNT's "The Closer" did it again, chalking up more total viewers -- 8.8 million -- Monday night at 9 than any other original-series telecast in the history of ad-supported cable.
The network hoped that most of these viewers would hang around to catch the 10 o'clock premiere of TNT's new scripted medical series "Heartland," starring Treat Williams. But "Heartland" held onto less than half of its "Closer" lead-in, a total of 4.3 million viewers.
In isolation, 4.3 million is an excellent sampling for a new series, and Turner Entertainment Networks prexy Steve Koonin said the episode ran afoul of a high-rated one-shot "Dateline" hour on NBC featuring Matt Lauer's interview with Prince William and Prince Harry, the sons of Princess Diana.
By contrast, "Closer," which stars Kyra Sedgwick as a tough, offbeat L.A. police chief, broke its own record and delivered 11% more adults 18-49 than last season's "Closer" premiere and 6% more adults 25-54. It didn't hurt that the premiere "Closer" hour ran commercial-free, sponsored by Toyota.
Fox taps Brady to host 'Lyrics'
Apploff gameshow to launch in July
By STUART LEVINE
Fox has tapped Wayne Brady to host its new half-hour gameshow "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" launching at 9:30 p.m. on July 11 and then returning the next night at 8:30.
Skein is from reality shingle RDF USA and Brad Lachman Prods., and created by Jeff Apploff, who is exec producer, along with Chris Coelen and Greg Goldman.
After the initial half-hour viewings, Fox will continue to sked the gamer on Wednesdays and Thursdays and eventually increase the running time to an hour starting July 26.
Contestants, backed by a studio band, will be asked to sing along with the studio audience as lyrics are projected on a large screen. Then, suddenly, the band stops playing, the words disappear and the contestant is forced to continue singing.
After each correct response, players must decide to "stay and play" or "take the money and run." If they can recite the lyrics from nine songs correctly, they're presented with a No. 1 hit and a missing lyric. If they can recall that final lyric, they'll win $1 million.
"This is not a talent show -- everyone loves music and anyone can play," Coelen said. "We feel the opportunity to work with great creative partners in (Fox alternative programming chief) Mike Darnell and Fox gives us the chance to deliver a big, broadly skewing demographic hit."
In April NBC committed to a musical-themed gameshow, "The Great American Singing Bee," from producers Phil Gurin and Bob Horowitz.
Fox launched the most successful gameshow of the past season, with "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" premiering in February after "American Idol" on Wednesdays with 26 million viewers. It continued to play well throughout the season, averaging 13 million viewers, and is now winning its time period on Thursdays at 8.
Brady hosted ABC's improvisational series "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and won two Daytime Emmys as host of "The Wayne Brady Show." He's also appeared on "Everybody Hates Chris," "How I Met Your Mother" and "30 Rock."
'Office' sets videogame deal
MumboJumbo licenses rights to NBC sitcom
By BEN FRITZ
In a rare deal to turn a network live-action sitcom into a videogame, casual gamemaker MumboJumbo has licensed rights to "The Office" from NBC Universal.
Peacock net comedy will be the first-ever Hollywood license for the publisher, which makes inexpensive arcade-style games. It plans to turn "The Office" into a humorous game in which players have to handle jobs and play pranks at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch.
"We were anxious to expand our audience with a property that has broad appeal and works well as a game," said MumboJumbo VP of product development Mike Suarez. "It will help us to demonstrate that casual games are the true mass videogame market."
MumboJumbo has likeness rights to the show's cast, who will be portrayed as bobblehead-type dolls. Game will also feature audio and video clips from the show.
Because of its simplicity and low cost, "Office" videogame won't be available for high-powered consoles like the Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 when it bows in the fall. Instead, MumboJumbo is making it for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP handheld consoles, as well as the PC. Gamers will be able to download it from a number of Web sites, including, quite likely, NBC.com.
Deal also envisions MumboJumbo making several sequel games in the near future.
Reality takes new twist in '30 Days'
Spurlock, Cutler defend real-world mission
By JON WEISMAN
During their appearance spotlighting the FX series "30 Days" at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills on Tuesday evening, executive producers Morgan Spurlock and R.J. Cutler defended their program as a different kind of reality show — one that's actually based in the truth.
The reason related to a point Cutler made that seems obvious but often gets lost: Reality TV is a term that has become shorthand for a large grouping of unscripted genres, several of which differ from each other more than "The Sopranos" from "The Knights of Prosperity."
"The only misnomer about grouping ("30 Days") with reality is that it deals with reality," said Cutler, who won a 2001 Emmy for the documentary series "American High." Added Spurlock: "Very few reality TV shows take place in the real world."
More than most, "30 Days" does. Essentially an ongoing sequel to Spurlock's 2004 Oscar-nommed doc "Super Size Me," the show challenges its protagonists (sometimes Spurlock, sometimes not) to live in a situation uncomfortable or antithetical to their natures for a month. The 2005 series premiere, in which Spurlock and his future wife struggle to live on minimum wage, has been credited with helping to convince lawmakers to increase their minimum wages in several states.
Unlike many other reality shows that offer cash or fame at the end, Spurlock emphasized that the "30 Days" experience is its own reward. Pay for the show's participants is enough to compensate them for their time away from their usual lives but nothing that's going to make them rich.
"You don't want people who are coming on a TV show to be on TV," Spurlock said. "You want someone who is interested in this; you want someone who is brave enough to let their guard down."
Spurlock recalled that when first shopping "30 Days," the question broadcast network execs kept asking him was, "Who wins this show?" Spurlock replied that viewers would win just by watching -- a pitch that quickly fell flat. The network's need for an onscreen celebration or catharsis pushed the show toward cable.
Presumably, "30 Days" might have gotten a better reception on NBC today, now that one of the series' executive producers, Ben Silverman (a last-minute cancellation from Tuesday's symposium), has just been installed as NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios co-chair. Spurlock, who called himself a fan of all television growing up, nevertheless contended that networks prefer to challenge audiences only through fiction, precisely so they can say it's not real if sponsors or viewers complain about content.
"For reality shows, (networks) don't want to go to that world," Spurlock said, though he noted that other countries have begun adapting the format.
Spurlock pleased fans at the Paley Center by revealing the subject of the third season's opening episode: Spurlock will work as a coal miner in his native West Virginia. Preproduction has begun with filming to commence in approximately four weeks, though Cutler noted that it takes five months for an episode to go from conception to delivery.
As many as 175 hours of footage are shot, with editing taking up to 10 weeks. Production on a season's six episodes overlaps, making the series' execution its own kind of reality challenge.
Spurlock concluded the evening commenting that despite the show's title, experience has taught him that the key date of each episode comes about three weeks in, as participants who have been living on the edge start to hit the proverbial wall.
"That's when one of two things happens," Spurlock said. "At day 21, there will either be a breakdown or a breakthrough."
China's film, TV output rises
Number of local-made films up 27%
By CLIFFORD COONAN
China's revenue from radio, TV and film rose 18% during 2006 to ¥110 billion Yuan ($14.4 billion) in 2006, with film revenues up 19%, according to film and TV watchdog, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
A report released by the powerful body showed the number of China-made movies was up 27% to 330 in 2006.
There were also signs that a campaign to boost the amount of domestic cartoons was paying off -- China produced 82,300 minutes of cartoons, nearly double the number the previous year.
"China's broadcasting, film and TV industry is experiencing a deep reform extending to unprecedented areas and with far-reaching effects," said Sarft deputy director Zhao Shi.
The report, carried on the official Xinhua news agency, noted that regulations introduced in 2004 on foreign investment in the film and TV industry allowed foreign investors to hold 49% of film and TV production joint ventures. However, it did not mention the follow-up measures that restricted foreign involvement in Chinese media.
Revenues from the radio and TV sector were up 17%. At the end of 2006, TV had 96% penetration of China's 1.3 billion population, while radio covered 95%.
The report mentioned various innovations in the sector during the year, including the introduction of China's own digital TV standard, which will be implemented from Aug. 1.
Albrecht wants 'Sex' to screen
Former HBO chief hopes to adapt hit series
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Although former HBO chief Chris Albrecht exited the executive suites in May, he's not completely gone from the picture.
While Albrecht is expected to resurface in a splashy manner -- likely at the helm of a production company that will hatch film and TV with private financing -- he has quietly been helping guide the screen version of the HBO series "Sex and the City" to the starting line.
Albrecht's involvement is unofficial so far because the picture is just in the discussion stage with distributors. When a distrib deal is in place, the company and Albrecht will figure out if he'll be a credited producer.
The "Sex and the City" film got close to a production start during the height of Albrecht's exec tenure, but halted reportedly because of a rift among the cast. Fences have since been mended, and Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon are ready to star in a film scripted and directed by the show's exec producer, Michael Patrick King.
HBO declined comment.
Networks wrap upfront sales
Rate increases mark strong TV market
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
The networks' hopes for a strong upfront appear to have materialized as ABC, CBS and Fox wrapped deals with the major ad buying firms with rate increases in the 7% to 10% range.
NBC was lagging behind the other three on Wednesday, but still well on its way to finishing its upfront sales by the end of the week at increased rates of between 5% and 6%.
Robust rate increases are a change from the past few years when total upfront money was down and the networks had trouble achieving any increase. A struggling NBC suffered significant price drops amid a weak TV ad market -- and last year, total dollars decreased from the year before.
Confusion over ad metrics added another layer of uncertainty, but high rates in the last-minute "scatter" ad market this spring gave the nets some hope that demand in the upfront would be strong. ABC, CBS and Fox are expected to book additional dollars due to CPM (cost per thousand) increases.
As expected, ABC appears to have secured the highest rate increases in the upfront, with a roster of returning hits such as "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," and "Ugly Betty," and total sales of $2.4 billion, a 5% increase over last year.
"We had more returning shows this year than in the last five years with good time periods to launch new shows right after them," ABC sales prexy Mike Shaw said.
ABC registered CPM increases in the 8% to 10% range for primetime, where the network already had strong shows with high rates. In news, early morning and daytime, CPM increases were higher, helped by strong increases by "Good Morning America," "The View," and "World News with Charles Gibson."
Following ABC in terms of rate increases was Fox, which inked deals in the 7.5% to 9% range. Sources said Fox expected to finish at $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion in upfront ad commitments. Fox has one less hour per night to sell in the upfront than the other nets and its total is lower accordingly.
Both networks said they did the vast majority of their upfront ad deals on Nielsen's "live plus three" commercial ratings standard, an estimate of the number of viewers who watch commercials on programs within the first three days of initial broadcast.
One sector that did not do deals exclusively on that standard were the Hollywood studios, which bought on a variety of metrics including "live plus one," depending on when the ad was to air relative to the release date. Sources said the studios also paid extra for "pod exclusivity," meaning only one movie ad per group of commercials within a show.
Fox opted to sell less inventory in the upfront than last year, a hedge that the "scatter" market -- last minute advertising buys later in the year -- will remain strong as it was this year.
CBS had rate increases just below Fox but like last year likely will have the highest total with close to $2.5 billion in sales, a 5% increase from last year. It's good news for the Eye, which took a $200 million hit in last year's upfront because of weak demand and advertiser uncertainty over the impact of DVRs.
Sources said CBS had finished talks with all the major ad agencies and had written deals in the 8% to 9% range.
Fox makes 'Dad's' day
Network picks up fourth season of 'American'
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Fox is giving "American Dad" a belated Father's Day present, picking up the show for a fourth season.
Net has ordered another 22 episodes of the 20th Century Fox TV-produced animated laffer, which has proven to be a solid companion to exec producer Seth MacFarlane's other Fox hit, "Family Guy." Because of the long lead time needed in producing animation, the new batch of segs won't air until the 2008-09 season.
Greenlight is also significant since as it will bring the total number of "American Dad" segs to 84. That's enough for 20th's sister company, Twentieth Television, to begin packaging the off-net rights to the show.
Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman created and exec produce "Dad" with MacFarlane, while David Zuckerman, Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz are exec producers.
"Dad"-- which revolves around a paranoid-yet-patriotic CIA agent and his crazy family -- averaged a 3.6 rating/8 share among adults 18-49, retaining nearly 80% of its lead-in when it followed "Family Guy."
Nielsen numbers for "Dad" are particularly strong with men and teens. Skein is the No. 5 show in TV among auds 12-17, and No. 9 with men 18-34.
"Dad" returns for its third season Sundays at 9:30 this fall.
Television tests its taboos
Broadcast networks push limits
By BRIAN LOWRY
The new battlefronts in the culture wars:
* Male characters on TV series cavorting with transvestites.
* Teens musing about deflowering female classmates.
* Amorous monkeys joining in on human sex play.
Yes, the fall season has plenty of treats in store for TV viewers.
Networks and series creators regularly test boundaries of what is permissible, and the latest examples of this are found in the 25 primetime series scheduled to premiere this fall. Viewing those pilots underscores how subtly the bar this year is being raised (or lowered) in the effort to surprise and titillate viewers in ways that can confound the schemes of federal regulators, pandering legislators, watchdogs and occasionally the networks themselves.
The content in some fall shows will undoubtedly fuel those who claim TV is creating a decline in moral values -- fretting that will surely grow louder the closer we get to the 2008 election.
The saucy shows will also be used as further evidence that TV is undermining "family values" by such groups as the Parents Television Council, which fumed recently when an appeals court overturned a Federal Communications Commission indecency ruling. The council lamented that the decision "cleared the way for television networks to use the F-word and S-word in front of children at any time of the day."
Not to suggest that the watchdog group is full of "S," but the often-discussed envelope -- that invisible barrier writers relish pushing -- isn't being breached or bent in quite that way.
Instead, it's subtler, with content that's racy enough to lure viewers, but rarely so extreme as to upset them beyond a vocal minority.
Content guidelines that the late Motion Picture Assn. of America chief Jack Valenti helped stitch together in the mid-'90s -- relying upon the program-blocking "V-chip" to bar objectionable fare -- include sex (S), violence (V), language (L) and suggestive dialogue (D).
No one at the time thought to come up with a classification for scenes involving transvestites, which occurs in two new ABC programs, "Big Shots" and "Dirty Sexy Money." (Those pilots arrived on the same review DVD, creating a back-to-back impression of the most unexpected TV "trend" yet.)
It makes the concept of gay characters, a la "Will & Grace," seem so 1999.
But that's not all. Where do you file Fox's comedy "The Rules for Starting Over," which features an amorous monkey -- his vital areas conspicuously obscured -- pouncing upon a naked man who's in the middle of a sexual encounter with a woman, in what might be TV's first instance of genus Cebus interruptus.
A thornier arena involves the sexualization of teenagers -- hardly a new subgenre, but one that's become more a river than a trickle since parents first winced at the adult-sounding kids on "Dawson's Creek."
Not surprisingly, the CW network is again in the thick of this tide, with the current series "Hidden Palms" and upcoming "Gossip Girl" -- a high-school soap where one teen advises his pal regarding a female student to "tap that ass," later musing about the joys of deflowering freshman girls. Even in the comedy "Aliens in America," a young girl casually tells her mother she's going on the pill.
Very little in the 2007 freshmen class is as overtly challenging to TV conventions as the exposed bottoms and salty language displayed on "NYPD Blue" (though there is a bare-ass gag in one pilot). And the resurgence of science-fiction and fantasy -- from NBC's "The Bionic Woman" revival to Fox's "Terminator" spinoff "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" -- ups the quotient of make-believe violence, generally deemed less grisly and disturbing than more grounded crime.
Even without resorting to anything so provocative as bare skin or four-letter words, though, these new series keep pressing against TV's imaginary, ever-shifting parameters. There's even a bathroom sex incident in ABC's Geico commercial-inspired "Cavemen," a sign of TV comedy's ongoing evolution or, perhaps, genetic regression.
Where does this leave cultural warriors? Fed up and frustrated, if a new study from the Culture and Media Institute -- like the aforementioned PTC, a subdivision of the conservative Media Research Center with a neutral-sounding name -- is any indication.
In a survey titled "The Media Assault on American Values," the "institute" quotes findings that claim two-thirds of Americans believe the media not only play an important role in shaping moral values but actively harm them. In fact, the report contends that watching TV fosters more permissive attitudes about extramarital sex, abortion rights and homosexuality, highlighting the attitudinal distinction between "light" and "heavy" TV viewers.
Betraying their own bias, the researchers stress that infrequent TV viewers are far more likely than heavy ones to believe television undermines American morality, which they characterize as a sign of TV's "seductive effect." However, they are ignoring a more intriguing possibility: That people who actually watch TV have a clearer sense of whether its content is genuinely "harmful" than those basing their opinions on an uninformed hunch.
Speaking of uninformed, legislators and regulators are again girding to tackle the question of media violence, tethering their arguments to a rallying cry so powerful that few dare object or question the logistics: the notion of protecting children. Democrats have been particularly intent in championing this "family values" issue, with the expectation that the build-up toward an election year will yield renewed political focus on media content.
The impetus behind TV content guidelines, after all, is not to safeguard easily offended adult palates but ostensibly to help shield kids from unsuitable material -- a task that goes beyond network television, especially given the technological explosion of new means to distribute programming.
On the plus side for TV execs, last week brought more good news after their recent court victory, in which the Second Circuit Court of Appeals deemed broadcasters shouldn't be held accountable for unplanned exclamations at live events, such as Bono's exuberant use of an expletive during the Golden Globes in 2003. The court's decision is a rational one that seemingly falls far short of transforming NBC or CBS into the wilds of HBO or Showtime.
In addition, 65% of parents said they "closely" monitor what their kids watch -- a figure skewed, no doubt, by knowing what the "right" answer should be.
In short, parents still worry, but feel that they have a better handle on what kids see today than a decade ago. Nevertheless, much of the coverage accentuated a more sound-bite-friendly statistic from the Kaiser survey -- namely, that three-fifths of parents still say they are "very concerned" about children's exposure to raunchy or violent material.
So it invariably goes in TV's so-called "culture war." Take the time to watch the shows, and the battle to define acceptable taste inches ahead like trench warfare, which doesn't prevent the usual aerial assaults of spectacular, condemning rhetoric. Because whatever cautionary labels the networks use, there's really no good way to spin transvestite hookers or amorous monkeys -- even if there's nary an S- or F-word in sight.
'Office,' 'Earl' land at TBS
Shows find home for reruns
By JOSEF ADALIAN, JOHN DEMPSEY, JOSEF ADALIAN
Michael Scott and the gang at Dunder Mifflin may soon be getting raises.
NBC Universal's syndication wing has orchestrated an unusual deal to sell the rerun rights to the Peacock's Emmy-winning comedy "The Office" to TBS in cable and to 10 Fox O&O stations in a shared-window deal valued at more than $130 million. At the same time, TBS has also picked up the rerun rights to "The Office"'s NBC skedmate "My Name Is Earl," from Twentieth TV.
Thee pact for "Office" is notable for giving TBS an early window on running repeats of the show twice a week in primetime starting this fall, a full two years before the Monday-Friday strip-rerun rights kick in for both TBS and the Fox O&Os in fall 2009. The granting of that early-syndie window to TBS on "The Office" is a first for a comedy series, though it happens often in syndie deals for dramas, including Lifetime with Disney's "Desperate Housewives" and TNT with NBC U's "Las Vegas."
The "Office" repeats to air on TBS this fall will come from the show's first three seasons, not current ones from the 2007-08 season, the show's fourth on NBC. TBS' deal for "Earl" does not include an early repeat window before its fall-2009 debut as an off-net strip.
Pickups of "Office" and "Earl" solidify TBS' bench of off-net comedies for the foreseeable future. It's likely that TBS will pair the two offbeat single-camera half-hours in 2009 just as viewers have become accustomed to watching them as a pair on NBC, though that changes this fall when "The Office" moves to the 9-p.m. anchor slot, while "Earl" remains at 8.
" 'Earl' and 'Office' may be the last of the big-money sitcom deals until 2011, or later," said Steve Koonin, president of the Turner Entertainment Networks.
The parties declined to discuss dollar figures, but TBS will pony up about $650,000 an episode for "Office" and slightly less than that for "Earl." The 10 Fox stations will collectively fork over about $300,000 a half-hour for "Office."
The "Office" pickup by the Fox stations came as no surprise because Tribune, Fox's main station-group rival, had bought rerun rights to the last two high-visibility sitcoms, "Two and a Half Men" and "Family Guy." The 10 Fox stations include its Fox Network outlets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and Dallas. One of the Fox-station buyers of "The Office," WUTB Baltimore, is a My Network TV outlet.
Bob Cook, president of Twentieth TV, said he's holding back from selling "Earl" to TV stations until the end of the year because Tribune wants to wait until it gets some Nielsen numbers on its most recent sitcom purchases, CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and Fox's "Family Guy," whose reruns kick off in September. If one of the two falters, Twentieth figures that Tribune will get into the bidding for "Earl."
TBS boasted in its "Office" announcement that it will get other rights beyond broadcast beginning the fall '09, including broadband streaming, TBS on demand and wireless. TBS' sister network TNT engineered similar rights to reruns of NBC U's "Las Vegas" in a pre-buy more than a year ago.
For "The Office," TBS and the stations get five-year license terms to 130- or-more half-hours. Lead thesp Steve Carell has committed to six years of the series even though his movie career has taken off; he's a profit participant in the series.
In the case of both "Office" and "Earl," the distributors will hold back three 30-second spots within each run on TBS and on the stations for sale to national advertisers.
Bill Carroll, VP of programming for Katz TV, which represents hundreds of TV stations, said broadcasters will have to painfully absorb that fact that a cable network has locked up simultaneous windows for two of the most anticipated sitcoms in the marketplace. In the past, TBS had to wait four years before getting "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Friends" and other sitcom repeats.
The new arrangement could make "The Office" and "Earl" less attractive to some station buyers; for NBC U, it was likely a risk worth taking: The distrib gets a rich deal out of TBS and the added bonus of extra "Office" exposure on TBS' solidly performing primetime sitcom platform, which could help juice the show's numbers on the Peacock in the coming season.
Indeed, "The Office," a remake of the British series of same name, started slowly on NBC in 2005 but gained steam after NBC U made segs available for download on Apple's iTunes platform. Series is executive produced by newly appointed NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman, along with writer-producer Greg Daniels, who developed the U.S. adaptation; Brit creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant; and Howard Klein.
Hilton in talks for NBC interview
Imprisoned socialite mulling network deal
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
NBC is in talks with imprisoned socialite Paris Hilton to do a primetime show when she is released from prison.
No deal had been reached late Thursday, and it was unclear whether the deal was for a straightforward interview or some kind of special that could include an interview on "Today."
"We have no agreement in place with Paris Hilton," said an NBC Entertainment spokeswoman late Thursday.
The New York Post reported Thursday that NBC was set to pay Hilton up to $1 million to appear on "Today" and talk with co-anchor Meredith Vieira.
NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust denied that any payment from the news division would be made to Hilton or her family. Speculation was that any fee from NBC would be for the rights to use the celebutante's private photos and vids.
"NBC News has not and will not pay for interviews," Gollust said.
Yet NBC did pay the British royals $2.5 million for the broadcast rights to a tribute concert for Princess Diana on what would have been her 46th birthday, a fee that was donated to the late princess' charity.
Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, appeared on "Today" for an exclusive interview on Monday with anchor Matt Lauer. Slices of that interview were repurposed on newsmag "Dateline NBC" and on cable channel MSNBC.
As for Hilton, E!'s Ryan Seacrest landed a telephone chat with Los Angeles County's most glamorous inmate behind bars. Cabler turned the interview into a two-night event for its "E! News Daily."
"I'm so much more grateful for everything that I have, even just to have a pillow at night or food," Hilton told Seacrest. "You know my gratitude has gone up so much, and I just realize that the media used me to make fun of and be mean about it."
NBC wraps upfront primetime sales
Network meets expectations amid low ratings
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
NBC wrapped its upfront primetime sales by booking an expected $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion, managing to match last year's total despite decreased ratings.
NBC U started the upfront deal-making with a nearly $1 billion pact with media-buying firm Group M, which included cable as well as broadcast and helped establish commercial ratings "live plus three" as the de facto industry standard.
NBC said ad rate increases came in at 5% to 6%, a vast increase from last year when the network took price cuts after coming in fourth in the ratings for a second consecutive year.
The Peacock was able to match last year's take, despite lower ratings again this year, due to a confluence of factors.
Demand for television was reasonably strong this year after several years of weakness. Also, money shifted back to the upfront from the last-minute "scatter" market because prices for scatter rose higher than advertisers expected during the spring.
"We're extremely pleased with the result; clients responded to our willingness to work with them in ways that extended beyond the 30-second spot and also saw value in the entire NBC U portfolio," NBC U sales prexy Mike Pilot said.
NBC's wrap concludes the network upfront, aside for the CW, which is still negotiating with the major agencies.
The emerging consensus is that commercial ratings have helped the broadcast networks somewhat in their battle for dollars with cable because ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox retain more of their viewers during the commercials than the top cable networks.
"I'd say the demand for network television is stable -- and that's a victory," said Jason Maltby, president of national broadcast at MindShare.
Now the major buying firms turn to cable, where a battle over commercial ratings looms. Cable retains about 90% of its aud during commercials, on average, compared with 95% for broadcast TV. Some younger-skewing networks, such as Viacom's MTV and VH1, have poor commercial retention rates and those networks are digging in their heels on commercial ratings.
"Cable is inherently a niche medium; some nets do fine, and other nets don't translate as well," Maltby said.
ABC passes on Paris interview
Jailed Hilton had agreed to Walters talk
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
NEW YORK—In the wrangling for Paris Hilton’s first post-prison interview, all parties are in damage-control mode.
Stung by accusations that she jilted ABC’s Barbara Walters for a near $1 million from NBC, Hilton backtracked Friday morning by calling Walters personally at 2am to agree to an interview.
Hilton's mother, Kathy Hilton, also called Walters in what appears to be an attempt to diffuse criticism that the family was set to profit from Paris Hilton’s prison term.
But after considering Hilton’s request with producer "20/20" producer David Sloan, ABC decided to pass on Paris altogether.
The latest twist came a day after reports that Paris’ father Rick Hilton rejected an offer from ABC News to compensate the family $100,000 for the use of family photos and videos, in favor of a richer offer from NBC, said to be in the $750,000 to $1 million range.
The Hilton family had also demanded that Walters submit questions beforehand, a violation of ABC News policy.
NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust said that the news division "has not and will not pay for interviews," but that wouldn’t stop the network entertainment division from doing a deal with Hilton.
Sources confirmed that NBC had conducted talks with the Hiltons about a deal for their participation in a primetime special that would have included an interview with "Today" co-anchor Meredith Vieira.
But the notion that Hilton would attempt to profit from her jail sentence, a result of a DUI arrest, triggered a day of unflattering coverage on cable news and syndicated entertainment shows.
On Thursday the Hilton family released a statement through crisis management expert Michael Sitrick stating the Hilton would receive no financial compensation for her interview or for "collateral material," including personal photos or videos.
It was unclear Friday if NBC is continuing to pursue a business deal with the Hiltons or of the Hilton interview would end up on NBC's "Today" or any other NBC News program.
ABC News cutting 35 jobs
Cuts part of planned restructuring
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
ABC News will trim 35 jobs as part of a divisionwide restructuring that also will include the reallocation of resources to digital from traditional broadcast.
In a memo to the news division, ABC News prexy David Westin outlined what he called a "two-year process to take a fresh look at ABC News from top to bottom."
"We will be consolidating some operations, we will be asking some of you to take new assignments, and, yes, some positions will be lost where that makes sense," Westin wrote.
Westin declined to comment further, and ABC News did not say how much money the network hopes to save as a result of the cuts. Net also declined to say which particular shows would be affected.
Announcement comes a year after NBC embarked on the restructuring of NBC News as part of CEO Jeff Zucker's NBC 2.0 initiative, which resulted in dozens of cuts from "NBC Dateline" and the shedding of some big-money contracts in anchors John Seigenthaler and Stone Phillips.
An ABC News exec said total jobs affected, including cuts and those shifted, would be less than 100. Westin said the network is hiring new correspondents in India, Australia, Iran and Brazil.
ABC News is reducing its news programming next year, converting "Primetime" to a series of specials rather than a weekly show.
ABC News' "20/20" returns next season, and the net is going to experiment with "iCaught," a magazine show based on user-submitted video, in a six-week run at the end of the summer.
NBC moves up 'Singing Bee'
Musical quiz show set to beat out Fox rival
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Fox and NBC are at it again.
The Peacock has decided to move up the premiere date for its musical quizzer "The Singing Bee" just days after Fox said it would bow its own tune-themed gameshow in July.
"Singing Bee," announced at NBC's May upfront, had been slated to air in the fall. On Friday, however, NBC said it will premiere "Bee" on July 10 at 9:30, following a 90-minute edition of "America's Got Talent."
That's one day before Fox is scheduled to debut "Don't Forget the Lyrics," its own take on a singing competition in which knowledge of song lyrics is key.
What's more, both nets are planning two-night premieres for their respective shows. NBC will run "Singing Bee" on Tuesday and Wednesday, while Fox will air "Lyrics" on Wednesday and Thursday.
If this song and dance sounds familiar, there's a reason.
A few years ago, Fox and NBC found themselves in a kerfuffle over similarly themed boxing shows. Fox rushed to get its show on the air first, angering NBC execs at the highest levels.
In the end, it didn't matter: Both shows failed to find an audience on network TV (though NBC's project, "The Contender," found a second life on ESPN).
King lands Paris Hilton interview
Heiress won't be paid for post-jail chat
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
When the fighting was finished this weekend, CNN's Larry King wound up as the unlikely beneficiary of a booking war between ABC and NBC that got unusually nasty, even for these frequent combatants, in the face of Paris Hilton's impending release from jail.
ABC pulled out all the stops to get Hilton, deploying Barbara Walters, one of its best-connected correspondents, to leverage her personal relationship with mother Kathy Hilton to seal the deal.
But then NBC, with new management at the top of its entertainment division, came in with a reported near-$1 million offer.
ABC's "Good Morning America" is in a constant ratings dogfight with NBC's "Today" in the hyper-competitive morning show wars.
"Today" is having a down spring in the ratings, but "GMA" has been unable to capitalize, and the previous week, NBC's Matt Lauer had scored the "get" of the spring: an exclusive interview with Princes William and Harry of the British royal family.
All spring the two morning shows have been trading big-time exclusives in order to gain ratings advantage, but the dollar figures and involvement of top execs at both ABC and NBC appear to have raised the ante for future booking competitions.
Walters had already fielded a phone call from the jailed Paris Hilton in which the latter said the experience had made her "much more spiritual," and Walters had every reason to expect to land the interview.
But that was before money started talking.
For the rights to family photos and videos, ABC News had offered the Hilton family $100,000 -- a small sum given the millions paid by photo agencies and magazines for access to the family.
NBC News insists it doesn't pay for interviews, but it does routinely pay vast expenses to land competitive interviews, and NBC's entertainment division was in talks to do a deal with the family with a potential $1 million lure.
News of that deal broke in the New York Post and triggered a wave of bad publicity for the Hilton family, which appeared to be attempting to profit from Paris Hilton's jail sentence for violating her probation after a DUI conviction.
The negative publicity drove the Hiltons back to ABC, but after a night of frenzied phone calls between Paris and Kathy Hilton and Walters, the network decided to wash its hands of the interview in Friday -- and told the world it had done so.
Later that day, NBC News pulled itself out of the running as well, deciding that the bad publicity outweighed any competitive advantage that could be achieved.
CBS never pursued Paris Hilton, leaving her with cable as the best option to begin to rehabilitate her image.
Hilton will appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" to talk about the 23 days (give or take a few hours for court appearances) she spent in a Los Angeles County jail cell. The interview will air Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.
King spokeswoman Bridget Leininger said, "As always with Larry, there are no ground rules and no compensation for this interview whatsoever."
Hilton, whose case was being managed by crisis management expert Michael Sitrick, claimed to have a change of heart after the family had spent much of the week playing ABC and NBC off one another.
"I am thrilled that Larry King has asked me to appear on his program to discuss my experience in jail, what I have learned, how I have grown and anything else he wants to talk about," Hilton said through a publicist.
6/16/2007
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/4/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 4.6/8; adults 18-49: 3.0
House(r): 4.3/7; adults 18-49: 2.3
Hell's Kitchen: 5.0/8; adults 18-49: 3.6
CBS: 5.8/10; adults 18-49: 2.6
Creature Compforts: 4.2/8; adults 18-49: 1.8
The New Adventures of Old Christine(r): 4.0/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
Two and a Half Men(r): 7.3/12; adults 18-49: 3.3
How I Met Your Mother(r): 5.9/10; adults 18-49: 3.0
CSI: Miami(r): 6.6/11; adults 18-49: 2.8
ABC: 4.3/7; adults 18-49: 2.4
Wife Swap(r): 4.5/8; adults 18-49: 2.6
The Ex-Wives Club: 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 2.2
Supernanny(r): 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 2.5
NBC: 2.1/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Game 4: 2.1/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
The CW: 1.5/3; adults 18-49: 0.8
Everybody Hates Chris(r): 1.3/3; adults 18-49: 0.7
All of Us(r): 1.5/3; adults 18-49: 0.9
Girlfriends(r): 1.4/3; adults 18-49: 0.9
The Game(r): 1.4/3; adults 18-49: 0.8
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/3/2007
Fast Nationals:
CBS: 5.9/10; adults 18-49: 1.7
60 Minutes(r): 6.1/12; adults 18-49: 1.5
Without a Trace(r): 5.2/9; adults 18-49: 1.4
Cold Case(r): 6.3/10; adults 18-49: 2.0
Without a Trace(r): 6.1/11; adults 18-49: 2.0
FOX: 2.6/5; adults 18-49: 1.7
The War at Home(r): 1.7/3; adults 18-49: 1.0
Movie: Bad Boys 2(r): 1.9/3; adults 18-49: 1.1
Movie: Bad Boys 2(r): 2.7/5; adults 18-49: 1.7
Movie: Bad Boys 2(r): 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 2.3
ABC: 3.1/5; adults 18-49: 1.6
America's Funniest Home Videos(r): 3.7/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition(r): 4.0/7; adults 18-49: 2.2
Desperate Housewives(r): 2.7/4; adults 18-49: 1.4
Brothers & Sisters(r): 2.3/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
NBC: 2.8/5; adults 18-49: 1.2
Dateline: 3.2/6; adults 18-49: 1.2
Dateline: 4.0/7; adults 18-49: 1.7
Friday Night Lights(r): 1.5/3; adults 18-49: 0.7
Law & Order: SVU(r): 2.7/5; adults 18-49: 1.5
The CW: 0.8/1; adults 18-49: 0.4
7th Heaven(r): 0.8/2; adults 18-49: 0.4
Hidden Palms(r): 0.8/1; adults 18-49: 0.5
Supernatural(r): 0.8/1; adults 18-49: 0.5
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/2/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 3.2/6; adults 18-49: 1.6
Cops: 2.3/5; adults 18-49: 1.2
Cops: 3.1/6; adults 18-49: 1.6
America's Most Wanted: 3.6/7; adults 18-49: 1.6
CBS: 3.8/8; adults 18-49: 1.5
Saturday Movie: Ocean's Twelve: 3.5/8; adults 18-49: 1.3
Saturday Movie: Ocean's Twelve: 3.7/7; adults 18-49: 1.5
Saturday Movie: Ocean's Twelve: 4.2/9; adults 18-49: 1.9
ABC: 1.8/4; adults 18-49: 1.0
Movie of the Week: Minority Report(r): 1.8/4; adults 18-49: 1.0
Movie of the Week: Minority Report(r): 1.6/3; adults 18-49: 1.0
Movie of the Week: Minority Report(r): 2.1/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
NBC: 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
NHL Stanley Cup: Anaheim at Ottawa: 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
NHL Stanley Cup: Anaheim at Ottawa: 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
NHL Stanley Cup: Anaheim at Ottawa: 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/1/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 3.7/7; adults 18-49: 1.9
TV's Funniest Moments: 3.2/7; adults 18-49: 1.6
TV's Funniest Moments: 4.3/8; adults 18-49: 2.3
ABC: 3.7/7; adults 18-49: 1.7
America's Funniest Home Videos(r): 3.5/7; adults 18-49: 1.4
National Bingo Night: 3.2/6; adults 18-49: 1.6
20/20: 4.4/9; adults 18-49: 2.0
CBS: 4.2/8; adults 18-49: 1.6
Ghost Whisperer(r): 3.7/7; adults 18-49: 1.4
Close to Home(r): 4.3/8; adults 18-49: 1.4
Numb3rs(r): 4.7/9; adults 18-49: 1.9
NBC: 3.6/7; adults 18-49: 1.3
1 vs. 100(r): 3.3/7; adults 18-49: 1.3
Law & Order: Criminal Intent(r): 3.3/6; adults 18-49: 1.2
Law & Order(r): 4.2/8; adults 18-49: 1.7
The CW: 2./5; adults 18-49: 1.2
Friday Night Smackdown!: 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 1.1
Friday Night Smackdown!: 2.5/5; adults 18-49: 1.4
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/31/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 6.1/10; adults 18-49: 3.5
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?: 5.6/10; adults 18-49: 3.2
So You Think You Can Dance: 6.5/11; adults 18-49: 4.3
CBS: 6.4/11; adults 18-49: 2.6
Pirate Master: 4.6/8; adults 18-49: 2.3
CSI(r): 8.0/13; adults 18-49: 3.3
Shark(r): 6.5/12; adults 18-49: 2.4
ABC: 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 1.9
The 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee: 4.2/8; adults 18-49: 1.7
The 2007 Scropps National Spelling Bee: 4.7/8; adults 18-49: 2.2
Grey's Anatomy(r): 3.1/5; adults 18-49: 1.6
NBC: 2.8/5; adults 18-49: 1.7
My Name Is Earl(r): 3.3/6; adults 18-49: 1.8
30 Rock(r): 2.7/5; adults 18-49: 1.5
The Office(r): 2.6/4; adults 18-49: 1.8
Scrubs(r): 2.5/4; adults 18-49: 1.9
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 1.7
The CW: 1.3/2; adults 18-49: 0.7
Smallville(r): 1.5/3; adults 18-49: 0.9
Supernatural(r): 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/30/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 5.7/10; adults 18-49: 4.1
So You Think You Can Dance: 4.9/9; adults 18-49: 3.4
So You Think You Can Dance: 6.5/11; adults 18-49: 4.8
CBS: 5.6/10; adults 18-49: 2.4
King of Queens(r): 3.6/7; adults 18-49: 1.7
King of Queens(r): 3.7/6; adults 18-49: 2.0
Criminal Minds(r): 6.1/10; adults 18-49: 2.5
CSI: NY(r): 7.1/13; adults 18-49: 3.0
ABC: 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 2.0
The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?: 5.0/9; adults 18-49: 2.5
Traveler(r): 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 1.5
Traveler: 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 2.1
NBC: 3.8/6; adults 18-49: 1.9
Most Outrageous Moments(r): 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 1.5
Most Outrageous Moments(r): 3.9/7; adults 18-49: 1.9
Most Outrageous Moments(r): 4.3/7; adults 18-49: 2.3
Most Outrageous Moments(r): 4.6/7; adults 18-49: 2.5
Medium(r): 3.3/6; adults 18-49: 1.5
The CW: 1.4/2; adults 18-49: 0.8
Hidden Palms: 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.7
One Tree Hill: 1.5/2; adults 18-49: 1.0
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/29/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 6.3/11; adults 18-49: 4.3
On the Lot: 2.6/5; adults 18-49: 1.8
House: 10.1/16; adults 18-49: 6.8
NBC: 5.3/9; adults 18-49: 2.3
Law & Order(r): 4.6/8; adults 18-49: 2.1
Law & Order: Criminal Intent(r): 5.3/8; adults 18-49: 2.2
Law & Order: SVU(r): 6.1/11; adults 18-49: 2.7
ABC: 4.4/7; adults 18-49: 2.3
George Lopez(r): 3.1/6; adults 18-49: 1.7
George Lopez(r): 3.2/5; adults 18-49: 2.0
According to Jim(r): 3.4/5; adults 18-49: 2.1
According to Jim(r): 3.5/5; adults 18-49: 2.2
Boston Legal: 6.7/11; adults 18-49: 2.8
CBS: 4.7/8; adults 18-49: 1.7
NCIS(r): 6.7/12; adults 18-49: 2.3
The Unit(r): 4.1/7; adults 18-49: 1.6
Flashpoint: Kimberly Dozier: 3.3/6; adults 18-49: 1.4
The CW: 0.9/2; adults 18-49:0.5
Gilmore Girls(r): 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Veronica Mars(r): 0.9/1; adults 18-49: 0.4
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/28/2007
Fast Nationals:
CBS: 5.4/9; adults 18-49: 2.7
How I Met Your Mother(r): 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 1.8
The New Adventures of Old Christine(r): 4.0/7; adults 18-49: 2.0
Two and a Half Men(r): 6.8/11; adults 18-49: 3.5
King of Queens(r): 5.6/9; adults 18-49: 3.0
CSI: Miami(r): 6.4/11; adults 18-49: 2.9
ABC: 3.8/6; adults 18-49: 2.2
Wife Swap: 4.1/7; adults 18-49: 2.4
The Ex-Wives Club: 3.6/6; adults 18-49: 2.0
Supernanny: 3.7/6; adults 18-49: 2.2
NBC: 3.8/7; adults 18-49: 2.1
The Real Wedding Crashers: 2.5/5; adults 18-49: 1.5
Miss Universe Pageant: 4.0/7; adults 18-49: 2.2
Miss Universe Pageant: 5.0/9; adults 18-49: 2.7
FOX: 1.8/3; adults 18-49: 1.3
On the Lot: 1.8/3; adults 18-49: 1.3
On the Lot: 1.8/3; adults 18-49: 1.3
The CW: 1.0/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Everybody Hates Chris(r): 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.7
All of Us(r): 1.0/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
Girlfriends(r): 1.0/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
The Game(r): 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/27/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 4.9/10; adults 18-49: 2.9
NASCAR Nextel Cup: 4.9/10; adults 18-49: 2.9
CBS: 5.2/10; adults 18-49: 1.6
60 Minutes: 4.8/11; adults 18-49: 1.2
Cold Case(r): 4.3/9; adults 18-49: 1.3
Cold Case(r): 5.9/11; adults 18-49: 2.0
Without a Trace(r): 6.1/12; adults 18-49: 2.1
ABC: 2.6/5; adults 18-49: 1.3
America's Funniest Home Videos(r): 2.6/6; adults 18-49: 1.3
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition(r): 3.2/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
Desperate Housewives(r): 2.3/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
Brothers & Sisters(r): 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 1.1
NBC: 2.6/5; adults 18-49: 0.9
Dateline: 3.0/7; adults 18-49: 0.9
Dateline: 3.5/7; adults 18-49: 1.2
Friday Night Lights(r): 1.6/3; adults 18-49: 0.7
Law & Order: SVU(r): 2.5/5; adults 18-49: 1.0
The CW: 0.8/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
7th Heaven(r): 0.8/2; adults 18-49: 0.4
Smallville(r): 0.9/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
Supernatural(r): 0.9/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/26/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 3.2/7; adults 18-49: 1.6
Cops(r): 2.9/6; adults 18-49: 1.4
Cops 2(r): 3.5/7; adults 18-49: 1.7
America's Most Wanted: 3.2/6; adults 18-49: 1.7
ABC: 2.9/6; adults 18-49: 1.5
NBA Playoffs: San Antonio at Utah: 2.9/6; adults 18-49: 1.5
CBS: 3.9/8; adults 18-49: 1.4
Crimetime(r): 2.8/6; adults 18-49: 1.0
48 Hours Mystery: 2.8/8; adults 18-49: 1.2
48 Hours Mystery: 5.0/9; adults 18-49: 2.0
NBC: 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 0.8
Saturday Night Movie: Chicago: 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 0.8
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/25/2007
Fast Nationals:
ABC: 3.7; adults 18-49: 1.7
America's Funniest Home Videos(r): 3.7/8; adults 18-49: 1.8
National Bingo Night: 3.5/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
20/20: 3.9/8; adults 18-49: 1.7
NBC: 4.0/8; adults 18-49: 1.6
1 vs. 100(r): 3.7/8; adults 18-49: 1.5
Law & Order(r): Criminal Intent: 4.0/8 adults 18-49: 1.6
Law & Order(r): 4.4/9; adults 18-49: 1.7
CBS: 4.3/8; adults 18-49: 1.4
Ghost Whisperer(r): 3.9/8; adults 18-49: 1.4
Close to Home(r): 4.5/8; adults 18-49: 1.3
Numb3rs(r): 4.7/9; adults 18-49: 1.6
The CW: 2.4/5; adults 18-49: 1.3
Friday Night Smackdown!: 2.4/5; adults 18-49: 1.3
FOX: 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
Movie Special: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 5/24/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 5.2/9; adults 18-49: 3.3
So You Think You Can Dance: 5.7/11; adults 18-49: 3.5
On the Lot Preview: 4.9/8; adults 18-49: 3.2
CBS: 6.9/12; adults 18-49: 3.0
King of Queens(r): 4.0/8; adults 18-49: 1.9
King of Queens(r): 4.6/8; adults 18-49: 2.4
CSI(r): 9.1/16; adults 18-49: 4.1
Shark(r): 7.4/13; adults 18-49: 2.9
ABC: 3.8/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
Ugly Betty(r): 3.8/7; adults 18-49: 1.7
Grey's Anatomy(r): 3.9/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
Grey's Anatomy(r): 3.9/7; adults 18-49: 2.1
NBC: 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 1.8
My Name Is Earl(r): 3.5/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
30 Rock(r): 2.8/5; adults 18-49: 1.6
The Office(r): 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 2.1
Scrubs(r): 2.5/4; adults 18-49: 1.8
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: 2.7/5; adults 18-49: 1.6
The CW: 1.4/2; adults 18-49: 0.8
Smallville(r): 1.7/3; adults 18-49: 0.9
Supernatural(r): 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.7
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/14/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 6.2/11; adults 18-49: 3.5
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?: 5.9/11; adults 18-49: 3.2
So You Think You Can Dance: 6.5/11; adults 18-49: 4.0
ABC: 4.9/9; adults 18-49: 2.9
Fast Cars & Superstars: The Young Guns Celebrity Race: 3.6/7; adults 18-49: 1.9
NBA Countdown: 3.8/7; adults 18-49: 2.1
NBA Finals, Game 4: 5.6/10; adults 18-49: 3.4
CBS: 5.3/10; adults 18-49: 1.9
Pirate Master: 3.7/7; adults 18-49: 1.6
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation(r): 6.4/11; adults 18-49: 2.4
Shark(r): 5.8/11; adults 18-49: 1.9
NBC: 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 1.8
My Name Is Earl(r): 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 1.8
30 Rock(r): 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 1.6
The Office(r): 3.0/5; adults 18-49: 2.1
Scrubs(r): 2.6/4; adults 18-49: 1.9
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: 3.0/6; adults 18-49: 1.7
The CW: 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Smallville(r): 1.3/2; adults 18-49: 0.7
Supernatural(r): 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/13/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 5.7/10; adults 18-49: 3.6
So You Think You Can Dance: 5.2/10; adults 18-49: 3.2
So You Think You Can Dance: 6.2/11; adults 18-49: 4.0
NBC: 4.7/8; adults 18-49: 2.5
Deal or No Deal: 5.3/10; adults 18-49: 1.9
Last Comic Standing: 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 2.5
Last Comic Standing: 4.6/8; adults 18-49: 3.2
ABC: 3.6/6; adults 18-49: 1.8
Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?: 4.1/8; adults 18-49: 2.0
American Inventor: 4.0/7; adults 18-49: 2.1
Traveler: 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 1.4
CBS: 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 1.7
Creature Comforts(r): 2.6/5; adults 18-49: 1.2
Creature Comforts(r): 2.2/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
Criminal Minds(r): 4.6/8; adults 18-49: 1.8
CSI: NY(r): 5.6/10; adults 18-49: 2.2
The CW: 1.4/2; adults 18-49: 0.8
Hidden Palms: 1.0/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
One Tree Hill: 1.8/3; adults 18-49: 1.1
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/12/2007
Fast Nationals:
NBC: 7.0/12; adults 18-49: 3.5
America's Got Talent: 7.0/13; adults 18-49: 3.6
America's Got Talent: 7.9/13; adults 18-49: 4.3
Law & Order: SVU(r): 6.1/11; adults 18-49: 2.6
ABC: 4.8/8; adults 18-49: 2.8
Fast Cars & Superstars: 3.5/7; adults 18-49: 1.8
NBA Countdown: 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 1.9
NBA Finals, Game 3: 5.4/9; adults 18-49: 3.2
CBS: 5.4/9; adults 18-49: 2.0
NCIS(r): 6.5/12; adults 18-49: 2.2
The Unit(r): 4.7/8; adults 18-49: 1.9
48 Hours Mystery: 5.1/9; adults 18-49: 2.2
FOX: 3.0/5; adults 18-49: 1.7
On the Lot: 1.9/4; adults 18-49: 1.2
House(r): 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 2.2
The CW: 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Gilmore Girls(r): 1.4/3; adults 18-49: 0.7
Veronica Mars(r): 0.9/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
Daily Ratings Breakdown - 6/11/2007
Fast Nationals:
FOX: 4.1/4; adults 18-49: 3.2
Hell's Kitchen(r): 3.1/6; adults 18-49: 2.2
Hell's Kitchen: 5.1/9; adults 18-49: 4.2
CBS: 5.0/9; adults 18-49: 2.3
Creature Comforts: 3.0/6; adults 18-49: 1.4
The New Adventures of Old Christine(r): 3.1/6; adults 18-49: 1.5
Two and a Half Men(r): 6.0/10; adults 18-49: 2.7
How I Met Your Mother(r): 4.9/8; adults 18-49: 2.4
CSI: Miami(r): 6.3/11; adults 18-49: 2.8
NBC: 4.4/7; adults 18-49: 2.1
America's Got Talent(r): 4.3/8; adults 18-49: 2.0
America's Got Talent(r): 4.2/7; adults 18-49: 1.9
Dateline: 4.9/8; adults 18-49: 2.4
ABC: 3.3/6; adults 18-49: 1.7
Wife Swap(r): 3.5/6; adults 18-49: 1.7
The Ex-Wives Club: 2.9/5; adults 18-49: 1.5
Supernanny(r): 3.4/6; adults 18-49: 1.9
The CW: 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
Everybody Hates Chris(r): 1.2/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
All of Us(r): 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
Girlfriends(r): 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.5
The Game(r): 1.1/2; adults 18-49: 0.6
10 dramatic moments from the 2006-07 TV season
Variety staffers select drop-dead drama scenes
By BRIAN LOWRY, JON WEISMAN
1. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
"Crossroads, Part 2" -- March 25
As music plays in their heads, building toward the jarring revelation of who is and isn't human, four of the five missing Cylons are revealed. If you're not a fan, this won't make a lick of sense; if you are, it was a frakkin' great moment.
-- Brian Lowry
2. DEADWOOD
"The Catbird Seat" -- Aug. 20
The standoff between the camp's leaders and mining baron George Hearst (Gerald McRaney) erupts when Hearst has one of them killed, prompting the prostitute Trixie (Paula Malcomson) to impulsively seek revenge. "A bare-breasted woman shot me!" says Hearst -- another one of those "Deadwood" lines never heard on "The Virginian."
-- Brian Lowry
3. DEXTER
"Born Free" -- Dec. 17
One of the year's most engrossing series builds toward a payoff when the blood analyst/serial killer Dexter (Michael C. Hall) finally meets the gruesome murderer with whom he's been engaged in a riveting game of cat and mouse -- his long-lost brother -- forcing him to decide what really qualifies as "family" ties.
-- Brian Lowry
4. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
"Black Eyes & Broken Hearts" -- Feb. 14
In a thoughtful look at race within this smart, spare, multilayered drama, a showdown on the high school football team along racial lines culminates in a standoff outside the team bus as out-of-town cops try to arrest one of the black players, Smash (Gaius Charles). When the belaguered Panthers collapsed on the bus driving them home, you could feel viscerally how overwhelming the flood of emotions was.
-- Brian Lowry
5. GREY'S ANATOMY
"Wishin' and Hopin' " -- Feb. 1
Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) has the chance to talk to her mother (Kate Burton), who temporarily snaps out of her Alzheimer's and becomes lucid before drifting back into her perpetual fog. It's a stark, wrenching exchange about choices and priorities -- the most haunting moment of the series.
-- Brian Lowry
6. HEROES
"Collision" -- Oct. 16
A future version of Hiro (Masi Oka) appears on the subway and utters the line to Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) that becomes the show's signature -- "Save the cheerleader, save the world" -- confirming Hiro as the heart of the show, ratcheting up the stakes for everything that followed, firmly establishing that this is not your father's comicbook serial.
-- Brian Lowry
7. LOST
"Through the Looking Glass" -- May 23
Hurley (Jorge Garcia) roars out of the trees in the VW van he resurrected earlier in the season, saving five of his friends and keeping their rescue dreams alive. Not only was it a leap-from-your-seat moment, but that and the flash-forward revelation with Jack (Matthew Fox) reminded us that rather than criticize the writers of "Lost," we should praise them for being so adept at laying pipe well in advance of future payoffs.
-- Jon Weisman
8. ROME
"Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus" (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man) -- March 18
Former Roman soldier Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) exacts vengeance against his mistress, Gaia (Zuleikha Robinson), after discovering the role she played in his wife's death -- part of a second season that ended on a perfect note.
-- Brian Lowry
9. THE SOPRANOS
"Made in America" -- June 10
The controversial unfade to black polarized die-hard viewers of the landmark series -- some finding it on the money, others the height of aggravation -- but either way, the tension of that final scene, in which the fate of Tony and his family hung in the balance in an ode to their quixotic bid for peace of mind, was heartstopping.
-- Jon Weisman
10. THE WIRE
"That's Got His Own" -- Dec. 3
Take your pick of great scenes in this one-for-the-ages crime drama's intricately woven fourth season, but the nod here goes to Detective Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) realizing that Baltimore's drug kingpin Marlo (Jamie Hector) has been stashing bodies of his "disappeared" victims in vacant houses. Adding the school system to the show's dysfunctional institutions brought a heartbreaking element to the densely layered story.
-- Brian Lowry
Quality TV doesn't translate into Emmy nominations
Cable gets the win knocked out of it
By MICHAEL VENTRE
John Landgraf echoes what many in the television industry have expressed at one time or another about awards in general.
"It's pretty hard to say one TV show is the best," says the FX net topper. "I have a personal dubiousness in declaring what is best in a particular category. It's all about taste."
Yet he doesn't hesitate when the topic of broadcast nets vs. cable arises.
"In scripted television programming," he explains, "in the absence of a clear winner and a clear market winner, the tendency is to go with incumbents. And the incumbents in this case are the broadcast networks and HBO."
Cable has generated critical praise and audience kudos for the quality of its shows. It has attracted top-shelf talent, in front of the camera and behind. Most cable series have more creative freedom than network-run shows, and they operate at a more meticulous pace than broadcast.
But when it comes to the grand prize -- outstanding drama series -- HBO's "The Sopranos" in 2004 stands as the only nonbroadcast show to win it.
"When you have 20 million people watching 'Grey's Anatomy,' the chances are better that a significant number of Academy members are part of that 20 million," notes Rich Licata, head of corporate communications for Showtime. "That makes it much easier for 'Grey's' to end up in the top five."
Writer-producer James Manos Jr. has the distinction of having won both a CableACE Award (in 1994 for "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom") and an Emmy (for the "College" episode of "The Sopranos" in 1999). He has worked steadily before and during the cable renaissance, and currently is executive producer of Showtime's "Dexter." He agrees that size matters when it comes to Emmy attention.
"The real issue has to do with subscriptions, which determine how broad an audience a show will get," he says. "Showtime has less of an audience than HBO. HBO has won lots of awards, but it doesn't mean Showtime is not as good. They (HBO) just have more subscribers.
"And broadcast has more of an ability to market their shows and advertise their shows. All of that plays into the nominations and wins, I think."
Cable programming has certainly snagged individual nominations and wins in recent years. In 2002, Michael Chiklis of FX's "The Shield" won lead actor in a drama series, and Alan Ball grabbed a directing Emmy for "Six Feet Under." Blythe Danner nabbed back-to-back Emmys in the supporting actress category for Showtime's "Huff" in 2005 and 2006.
James Duff, exec producer of TNT's "The Closer" (which brought Kyra Sedgwick a lead actress nom last year), feels basic cable shows have an even more obstacle-laden path to Emmy's red carpet because they haven't yet acquired the same level of prestige as subscription cable series like HBO offers.
"One of the reasons basic-cable shows have not been nominated for Emmys and are oftentimes ignored," he believes, "is because people don't want to acknowledge that there is genuine competition on cable and genuinely great storytelling.
"We're not going to be nominated," he adds. "They don't nominate basic-cable shows. They're not ready to do that yet."
Each show submits one episode for consideration. Last year, there was a popular vote among all of the approximately 13,400 voters, which whittled down the field so a blue-ribbon panel of Academy members could sit through an entire weekend, watch all the shows presented to them by the popular vote and then determine the top five.
But John Leverence, senior VP of awards at the Academy, explains there was a tweak in the voting process this year that will provide for an even split, so 50% of the outcome will be determined by a popular vote and the other 50% will come out of the blue-ribbon panel.
In other words, a show still has an advantage if voters in general watch it and are fans of it before the voting process even begins.
"Honestly, I don't understand the Emmy process," Duff says. "It's so weird -- how are we supposed to submit one episode that represents the whole show?"
Landgraf offered one observation that may sum up the process better than most.
"A lot of it is about luck and timing," he says. "I always imagine in my own mind a nominee vs. a non-nominee, or an Emmy winner vs. a non-Emmy winner, separated by one vote or a small handful. So a certain amount of luck is involved."
Date in print: Thurs., Jun. 14, 2007,
Emmy Contender: Robin Hood
Drama: The freshman class
By JON WEISMAN
When it came time to re-create the character of Robin Hood for the BBC, writer-exec producer Dominic Minghella looked within himself for inspiration.
And he found it -- sort of.
"If I were Robin Hood," Minghella recalls wondering, "what kind of Robin Hood would I be? And I thought I'd be a pretty useless Robin Hood."
That's even if Minghella had granted himself Robin's unimpeachable ability with an arrow.
"Even though I had this super skill, I wouldn't actually want to (use it)," Minghella says. "I wouldn't want to kill anybody."
So Minghella's "Robin Hood," which airs Stateside on BBC America, features an expert bowsman with loads of swash in his buckle but one arm tied behind his back.
"I didn't want it to be Errol Flynn -- I didn't want it to be a cozy, British, safe show," Minghella says. "(But when) you've got an easy solution, but you don't want to deploy it -- what kind of character does that give you?"
The restraint in this setup for Robin (played by Jonas Armstrong) dovetails with another larger ambition for the show -- to make its tales relevant to present-day audiences. Robin has just returned from fighting in the Crusades, and any parallels between those conflicts and modern-day battles are not coincidental.
"There are some pretty obvious and I guess a little bit blunt political analogies," Minghella says. "We drove that maybe a little bit harder than we needed to, but when you're spending public money, you have to be able to answer the 'why now' -- why are we telling a Robin Hood story now. I think there are valid questions, particularly out of Iraq, about what we do with our military strength. There are moral questions there, which 'Robin' is in microcosm.
"I think it would become ridiculous if we were trying to draw direct analogies. It's Saturday-night entertainment for the families. But we are at war, so it would be (difficult) to ignore that."
Ultimately, as relevant as the show needed to be, Minghella didn't want anything to get in the way of "Robin" being a good time.
"I loved 'The A-Team' when I was young," he says. "I love shows that know what they are."
THE WRAP
Best episode: "We lost a regular character early on," Minghella says, "the character played by William Beck, and he looked like he was going to be a regular. We killed him off, and we did that deliberately so we felt like there was proper jeopardy. So you couldn't be sure that people wouldn't die in a fight. We hated to do it when it came to it."
Underappreciated character: "I particularly enjoy Much -- played by Sam Troughton -- who hasn't really had a screen presence before now but comes from a long line of actors -- his grandfather (Patrick) used to be a 'Dr. Who.' I love him, because his part could be throwaway because he's a comic foil, but actually he's got real integrity underneath. But at the same time, he doesn't shy away from playing the character in a vivid way."
Great line: "Underneath the haughty, there's a bit of naughty," says the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Date in print: Thurs., Jun. 14, 2007,