Letterman Gets Four More Years
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, CBS, NBC, Renewals,
David Letterman has reached an agreement with ABC that will keep the late-night host around for four more years. His contract extension keeps Dave on the Late Show through the 2009-2010 season. Interestingly enough, this is one year past the plan for Leno to step down from the Tonight Show and pass the torch to Conan O’Brien. According to Nielsen Media Research, Leno continues to be the ratings winner, averaging 5.71 million viewers nightly, versus 4.16 million per night for Letterman. The rivalry has been ongoing since Leno took over Johnny Carson’s post on the Tonight Show—and it looks like the competition will now continue against O’Brien. CBS Entertainment and Letterman spokespeople had no comment about the negotiations since the deal is not official yet. Even after all these years, I still prefer Letterman to Leno—Leno is more corny than anything, but Letterman’s goofy persona wins me over. Goofy beats corny in my book any day, but what to do when Letterman and O’Brien go head to head? Two goofs—don’t make me choose!
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| Yahoo! News
Gallery: Letterman Gets Four More Years
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TiVo and CBS Bring Early Preview of The Class
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, CBS, DVR, Ratings,
One of CBS’ new (and heavily promoted) fall shows is about to get a one week bump for TiVo subscribers. The Class, an ensemble sitcom that includes Jason Ritter, will be available to TiVo subscribers as a free preview. This type of partnership is a first, and will likely be the first of many. George Schweitzer, head of marketing for CBS, commented that “CBS’ partnership with TiVo is a creative new way to use DVR technology to help drive television network viewing. Our goal is to introduce our fresh new comedy The Class... to a broad, diversified, receptive audience that has the ability to start trends and generate buzz, which is exactly what TiVo offers.”
CBS also has agreed to give TiVo users previews of three other new series: Jericho, Smith and Shark. TiVo users total around 4.4 million, while the number of households in the U.S. with DVRs is somewhere in the 8 to 12 million range. This type of arrangement could allow TiVo to set themselves apart from the other DVR services.
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: TiVo and CBS Bring Early Preview of The Class
Rock Star: INXS Contestant Gets Record Deal
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Reality, CBS, Rock Star, Talent,
If you’ve been following along with this season’s Rock Star and wondering what ever happened to last year’s Rock Star: INXS contestants, this one’s for you. Fans of last season’s MiG, one of the three finalists, has signed a record deal. His self-titled debut will be released in January and will feature covers of “A Kiss From A Rose,” by Seal, David Bowie’s “Life On Mars,” The Police’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” He also recorded “Baby I Love Your Way,” with Peter Frampton—the first single is already available for download on Yahoo!
If you recall, MiG grew up in Australia, but lived in London, appearing in the musicals Rent and We Will Rock You. Then he took on the challenge of Rock Star: INXS, proving to be a worthy competitor. No word yet on whether or not the entire album will be covers (let’s hope there’s something original in there) or when it will be released.
Read More | People
Gallery: Rock Star: INXS Contestant Gets Record Deal
Survivor Loses GM Sponsorship
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Prime Time, Reality, CBS, Survivor,
General Motors has decided to no longer sponsor Survivor, despite their six year run with the series. The timing of this decision seems to coincide with the series’ new twist to pit races against each other, however, GM says that it had nothing to do with their decision to pull sponsorship. GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney told the Associated Press, “I think it’s just a coincidence. I know it’s not cause and effect.” Instead, GM insisted that Survivor simply did not fit in with their current marketing strategy—“to focus more on product placement and big-ticket live events, like sporting competitions and award shows.”
While most would agree that the news does seem to be a direct effect of this season’s segregated tribe format, CBS did confirm that GM announced the end of their sponsorship several months before the new season’s twist was announced. CBS spokesman Chris Ender said, “GM had no knowledge of [this season’s] ethnic format.”
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: Survivor Loses GM Sponsorship
Family Ties Dad Joins How I Met Your Mother
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, CBS,
In casting news, it’s been announced that Michael Gross will be joining the cast of How I Met Your Mother, playing Ted’s (Josh Radnor) father. Gross is perhaps best known for his role as the father of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties in the 80s. Gross is set to appear on the show’s third episode, airing in early October. Christine Rose of Charmed and Picket Fences will be playing Ted’s mother. The episode will introduce his parents at a brunch that Ted brings his girlfriend (Cobie Smulders) and his other friends to. Neil Patrick Harris commented that the episode will showcase flashbacks to show that while everyone appears happy at the brunch, that isn’t necessarily the case. You may have also caught Gross in the cult classic Tremors, Law & Order and ER.
Additional talent to look out for on How I Met Your Mother include funk musician George Clinton on the season premiere, as we see the outcome of Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily’s (Alyson Hannigan) season ending relationship shocker. The season premiere of How I Met Your Mother airs on Monday, September 18th.
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: Family Ties Dad Joins How I Met Your Mother
The 2006 Emmy Awards
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Award Shows, Comedy, Drama, ABC, CBS, NBC, 24, Amazing Race, The, Daily Show, The, Desperate Housewives, Entourage, Grey’s Anatomy, House, King of Queens, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, Talent, The Office, West Wing, The, Features,
As some of you might remember, TV Envy brought you live remarks during the 2006 Oscars. I had so much fun last time - I thought I would do it again for the 58th Annual Emmy Awards. Unfortunately, since I live on the West Coast, live blogging is not possible. I could cheat and write this while reading the online reports—but I won’t. I will keep my eyes focused on the TV screen before me and make catty remarks as I think of them in Pacific Standard Time.
Although I’m still a bit bitter that neither Lost or Desperate Housewives were nominated this year (apparently due to the recent changes in the nomination process), my annual viewing must go on. If someone can manage to eke out a win for either Entourage, The Office or Scrubs, I may be able to forgive and forget.
Okay—let the time-delayed festivities begin!
Click to continue reading The 2006 Emmy Awards
Gallery: The 2006 Emmy Awards
K-Fed Gets Acting Gig on CSI
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Reality, CBS, UPN,
Let’s just hope his acting is better than his rapping… Kevin Federline will be appearing on an upcoming episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, according to People magazine. The announcement comes shortly after his debut rapping at the Teen Choice Awards, which was panned by many critics and people with good taste. This of course isn’t his first time on the small screen, as he and wife Britney Spears experimented with the reality TV genre with their show Chaotic on UPN last year (Did anyone watch that?). The CSI appearance will be his first official acting gig, playing a “menacing, arrogant teen who harasses investigators Nick Stokes (George Eads) and Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) on a job.” Be on the lookout for the episode in October and pray there is no rapping involved.
Read More | CBS News
Gallery: K-Fed Gets Acting Gig on CSI
Survivor Plays the Race Card
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Prime Time, Reality, CBS, Survivor, News,
I had read a couple of days ago that the new season of Survivor would pit races against each other, but quickly dismissed it as rumor. Now I see the story has been confirmed by People magazine, reporting that Survivor‘s new twist this season will be to divide the contestants by ethnicity. The cast of Survivor: Cook Islands will have 20 contestants divided into four tribes: black, white, Asian and Latino. Said creator and executive producer, Mark Burnett, “We’re going to take some heat for it, but it’s a great cast.” Take some heat for it? It may generate a lot of discussion and, therefore, more interest (translating to higher ratings), but it also may come back to bite them. Since the show is in its 13th season, perhaps there are fewer innovative twists to introduce, but this seems a drastic approach. Host Jeff Probst said of the new season, “Some people will think this is controversial. Others will think, ‘What’s the big deal?’ Either way, it’s going to be very interesting.”
The diversity of this season’s cast was a result of ridicule that the show has been largely comprised of white contestants. Said Probst of the lack of diversity, “Most of the people who apply are white—that’s just a fact.” This season will pit the races against each other and perhaps have each group tackling racial stereotypes. With a pirate theme, tribal councils are set to take place on a shipwreck built on the coast of the island.
Survivor premieres on September 14th.
Read More | People
Gallery: Survivor Plays the Race Card
Study Finds Fewer Gay Characters on TV
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Drama, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, Desperate Housewives, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, The CW, The Office,
OK, so here’s a curious study—finding that the number of homosexual characters on television has decreased for the 2006-2007 season. Only nine homosexual characters will be on network-TV series, down from 10 last year. This information was released from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Interesting, I suppose, since the study looked at 679 series lead or supporting characters in the new season, and only about 1.3 percent are gay, lesbian or bisexual. GLAAD looked at the 95 new prime-time comedies and dramas from six major networks. While shows like Ellen and Will & Grace paved the way for more diverse roles, the numbers are still relatively low when looking at the total number of characters that the study analyzed. The characters were identified on the following shows: Help Me Help You (ABC), The Class (CBS), Brothers & Sisters (ABC), Fashion House” (MyNetworkTV), and Hidden Palms on the CW network. Returning shows include Desperate Housewives (ABC), The Office (NBC), and ER (NBC). Recurring gay, lesbian or bisexual characters are also in the series Ugly Betty, Big Day, The Simpsons, The War at Home and Grey’s Anatomy. GLAAD president Neil Giuliano commented on the study, saying, “It’s clear that the broadcast networks have a long way to go before they accurately reflect the diversity of their audience and our society.”
Read More | CBS News
Gallery: Study Finds Fewer Gay Characters on TV
CBS Will Offer Full-Length Episodes on Innertube
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Reality, CBS, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Survivor,
CBS will soon be adding full-length episodes of prime-time series this fall. Did I mention they’ll be free? CBS’ broadband channel, Innertube, launched in May on their website. Beginning in September, CSI (all three varieties), Survivor, NCIS, Numb3rs, and Jericho will be available on Inntertube the day after they are aired on the network. Each will be available for four weeks, with the exception of Jericho and Survivor, which will be available all season. Larry Kramer, president of CBS Digital Media, said that it will “further help us extend the reach of the CBS brand [and] provides a new avenue for advertisers to engage with our programming, which in turn creates a new source of revenue for our company.” Commercial-free versions of CBS’ shows are also available at iTunes for $1.99 per episode. You may recall that ABC first started offering free episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives last season—this was an initial test to see how much interest the downloads would generate.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: CBS Will Offer Full-Length Episodes on Innertube
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