television – News Stories About television - Page 64

Dec 24, 2007 9:47 AM CST

TV Run for Web-Dud 'Quarterlife'

NBC hopes made-for-web show can defy so-so traffic numbers

(Newser) - YouTube buzz is tough to manufacture, and so far NBC’s “Quarterlife,” the network's experiment in TV-quality production for the web, hasn’t managed. The last dozen episodes have each drawn around 100,000 views between MySpace and YouTube combined, which isn’t many eyeballs in the TV...

Jury Whacks 'Sopranos' Lawsuit

Dec 20, 2007 4:04 AM CST

Jury Whacks 'Sopranos' Lawsuit

Bada bing! Retired judge won't get cut of hit series' profits

(Newser) - A New Jersey jury took less than two hours to put a retired judge's lawsuit against "Sopranos" creator David Chase in concrete boots, E! Online reports. The ex-judge, who claimed he was owed money for helping Chase come up with ideas for the hit series, had been pursuing Chase...

Teary 'Sopranos' Creator on Lawsuit: Fuhgeddaboudit

Dec 19, 2007 8:55 AM CST

Teary 'Sopranos' Creator on Lawsuit: Fuhgeddaboudit

Emotional Chase defends creation against ex-judge after a cut

(Newser) - "Sopranos" creator David Chase took the stand in a New Jersey courtroom yesterday and testified that hearing he was being sued over his hit TV series made him want to cry, E! News reports. A retired judge who took Chase on a tour of wiseguy hangouts, many of which...

Police: Wife Aimed at Hubby But Decked TV

Dec 19, 2007 5:10 AM CST

Police: Wife Aimed at Hubby But Decked TV

'He pushed me over the edge,' says woman

(Newser) - A Michigan woman allegedly aiming a gun at her husband killed the couple’s flat-screen TV instead, the Detroit Free Press reports. The woman, 61, explained to a police dispatcher that her husband "pushed me over the edge" but insisted she wasn't trying to hurt him. She said her...

Scribe Strike May Shake
Up TV Biz

Dec 16, 2007 5:36 AM CST

Scribe Strike May Shake Up TV Biz

Bigwigs have long wanted to cut costs, stagger show debuts

(Newser) - TV bigwigs are looking on the bright side of the scribe strike, they say, vowing to finally make overdue changes to boost the bottom line. Slashing costs, staggering show debuts, and making network TV look and act more like cable are notions that have been kicked around for years. Now...

Writers Guild Files Complaint Against Studios

Dec 14, 2007 7:30 AM CST

Writers Guild Files Complaint Against Studios

Striking Hollywood writers say studios illegally broke off talks

(Newser) - Striking Hollywood writers, charging that studios acted illegally when they broke off negotiations Dec. 7, yesterday filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The goal is to force producers back to the table, reports the AP, but experts say it could backfire, shutting down any...

'American Idol' Most-Watched Show of 2007

Dec 13, 2007 1:06 PM CST

'American Idol' Most-Watched Show of 2007

Super Bowl again is top single broadcast in Nielsen year-ender

(Newser) - Nielsen released its top-10 ratings for everything from TV to consumer goods this week. Once again, "American Idol" was the most-watched regular show, while the Super Bowl drew the most viewers for a single event. Although "Lost" didn't rank among the top 10 shows during its regular airings,...

And Now, South Korea Gets
a Word From Its Sponsors

Dec 13, 2007 10:55 AM CST

And Now, South Korea Gets a Word From Its Sponsors

Long a holdout, Seoul legalizes commercials within programs

(Newser) - South Koreans long accustomed to watching uninterrupted boob tube are about to get a jolt of commercial reality—the Korean broadcasting agency has bowed to years of pressure and will at last legalize ads during TV shows. Laws had forbidden even private channels from commercial interruptions, and ads were screened...

TiVo Changes Tune, Plays
Nice with Media

Dec 10, 2007 1:13 PM CST

TiVo Changes Tune, Plays Nice with Media

Banner ads, ratings welcome additions for network partners

(Newser) - TiVo isn’t a media pariah anymore, the New York Times reports, thanks to a series of moves to buddy up with networks it once scared. TiVo recently signed a deal to provide NBC with second-by-second ratings of programs, showing exactly which ads people are watching. It has also developed...

Writers' Strike Deals Strong Dose of Reality

Dec 9, 2007 2:46 PM CST

Writers' Strike Deals Strong Dose of Reality

If no deal comes soon, expect more dancing, survivors, idols on TV

(Newser) - Reality will likely strike primetime TV with a vengeance if stalled talks between screen scribes and networks don't kick into gear, the New York Times reports. With most popular dramas on hiatus for lack of scripts, reality shows are about to explode onto the airwaves—and they may well stick...

TV Nets Hope Games Will Hook Viewers

Dec 7, 2007 2:51 PM CST

TV Nets Hope Games Will Hook Viewers

CBS multimedia contest offered clues online and off

(Newser) - TV networks are using scavenger hunt-style games to attract viewers to their shows. Hundreds of players searched for clues online and offline, including on billboards in San Francisco and Minnesota, to crack a game linked to the CBS show "Numb3rs" last month. The network plans to promote more shows...

Farnsworth is 'Clumsy,' 'Shallow'

NEW RELEASE

Dec 4, 2007 1:10 PM CST

Farnsworth is 'Clumsy,' 'Shallow'

Critics are unimpressed by Sorkin's historical play

(Newser) - “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin’s play The Farnsworth Invention, starring "Simpsons" stalwart Hank Azaria and Jimmi Simpson as rival television pioneers, opened last night to mixed reviews. The New York Post’s Clive Barnes finds it better suited to the screen and criticizes the business of the...

Writers Reject Producers'
New Offer

Nov 30, 2007 10:38 AM CST

Writers Reject Producers' New Offer

Two sides can't agree on internet pay as picketers march on

(Newser) - Striking writers angrily rejected a new offer from producers to resolve the biggest sticking point in negotiations—compensation for internet use. The producers said they offered $130 million more in annual compensation to writers, who dismissed the deal as a "massive rollback." Talks to end the 3-week strike...

I Swear!
And More and More, in Public

Nov 27, 2007 2:55 PM CST

I Swear! And More and More, in Public

Profanity has moved beyond private discourse, experts say

(Newser) - Profanity seems to be more and more widespread, but linguists suggest people aren't actually swearing more—they're just swearing more publicly. The tide of athletes and musicians who pepper their language with choice four-letter words is meeting a surge of media avenues that aren't regulated by the government, resulting in...

NBC Looks to TiVo to Help Sell Clients

Nov 27, 2007 12:22 PM CST

NBC Looks to TiVo to Help Sell Clients

Network is hoping to corral ad zappers by tapping DVR data

(Newser) - NBC Universal will begin using viewership data gleaned from TiVo digital video recorders beginning in January, making it the first of the major networks to have access to second-by-second ratings of programming and commercials from TiVo, reports the Wall Street Journal. The network hopes TiVo will help it develop effective...

Reality Woes Add to Scribe Strike

Nov 24, 2007 4:15 PM CST

Reality Woes Add to Scribe Strike

Studios deny overtime, meal breaks to reality TV writers, guild says

(Newser) - With negotiations in the Hollywood writer's strike coming Monday, a new survey shows that writers for "unscripted" TV are denied overtime pay and meal breaks, the Los Angeles Times reports. Reality TV is a major sticking point in the strike, as studios insist that writers be classified as editors...

Dad: Predator Stalked Us, Snatched Maddy

Nov 19, 2007 3:10 AM CST

Dad: Predator Stalked Us, Snatched Maddy

British TV airs father's taped statement

(Newser) - The father of missing toddler Madeleine McCann says he thinks a "predator" was watching his family during a vacation in Portugal and snatched Maddy after seeing her parents leave their hotel for a nearby restaurant. "They've watched me go in, come back out and then they've thought, 'That's...

NBC picks up 'quarterlife'

Nov 19, 2007 12:42 AM CST

NBC picks up 'quarterlife'

Creators will retain creative control

(Newser) - The made-for-Internet show "quarterlife," created and largely financed by the brains behind "My So-Called Life" and "thirtysomething," will be appearing on TV thanks to a deal with NBC signed this week. The show will most likely hit old-media screens early next year, after all 36...

NBC Prez Will Party for His Right to Fight

Nov 17, 2007 3:07 PM CST

NBC Prez Will Party for His Right to Fight

Fixing the network is Ben Silverman's day—and night—job

(Newser) - Whether it's his tendency to casually insult other executives, his "totally sick" parties, or his precocious ascension from independent producer to network boss, NBC President Ben Silverman has acquired a devoted posse of friends—and an ample group of enemies. Esquire profiles the brash 37-year-old, self-styled the "luckiest...

Americans Turn to Web TV, And Advertisers Too

Nov 16, 2007 12:56 PM CST

Americans Turn to Web TV, And Advertisers Too

Madison Avenue product placements court cyber-audiences

(Newser) - As broadband Internet access becomes all-pervasive, more Americans are turning from the tube to YouTube—and Madison Avenue is taking notice. The New York Times looks at the advertising industry's foray into online television, eager to get their products in front of the young, male, affluent audiences of Internet channels...