The Law of Unintended Consequences

You  might think that the fact that I have a TV in my office is proof that I am a little addicted was always destined for a place called TV Bacon. Actually, my office television is only ever activated for one of two purposes: some kind of ghastly breaking news or the first two days [...]

Sci Fi, USA Benefit from DVR Viewing

In an attempt to keep up with the rising number of time-delayed viewers, the Nielsen Co. has issued a list of television programs that saw the biggest increases in DVR use in 2008.
The DVR top ten doesn’t differ significantly from the overall top ten, with the Tuesday and Wednesday airings of Fox’s American Idol [...]

NBC Slips Further Under the Waves

Close on the heels of Jeff Zucker questioning whether 4th-place network NBC could afford to keep programming three primetime hours per night, seven nights a week (insert your own joke here about whether they program that much now), several news outlets are reporting that the Peacock will give Jay Leno the last hour of primetime [...]

Sigh. PUSHING DAISIES, ELI STONE, and DIRTY SEXY MONEY Go the Way of All Flesh

Boo. This really isn’t a surprise, and as ABC is a for-profit business, they can make a decent argument for this decision. Still, leaving aside the demise of one of television’s most innovative and enchanting shows, we’re going to make a counter-argument that it’s a bad idea financially, too. The end of Pushing Daisies (as [...]

Why Won’t America Watch FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS The Way It Was Meant To Be Played?

Last night’s episode of Friday Night Lights caps an inferior and incomplete (perhaps forever) second season in which more and more unlikely circumstances drove what had been a nuanced and tender look at small-town life farther into the arms of soapy improbabilities. Starting with Landry and Tyra’s misadventures in murder and extending to Riggins’ missteps [...]

Prolonged Strike Taking Its Toll

In the latest fallout from the writer’s strike, the Television Critics Association has canceled their winter press tour. The fate of the event–where networks and cable channels promote their upcoming programming–has been hanging in the balance since NBC pulled out last month. But in the face of the breakup of contract negotiations and mounting logistical [...]

NBC Partners with TiVo for Time-Shift Data

NBC Universal has become the first large network to take advantage of TiVo Inc.’s advertising services to track how television viewers are using their DVRs and potentially to introduce interactive commercials to the masses. Under the deal, announced Tuesday, NBC Universal’s 14 television networks and 10 NBC owned-and-operated TV stations will be able to sell [...]

If They Build It, Will You Come?

How many people actually watch network TV anymore? Last week’s highest rated network show, Dancing with the Stars (really, America?), had a little over 19.6 million viewers. In the same October week five years ago, CSI: The Early Years drew almost 30.7 million viewers. That’s a loss of more than 22 million eyeballs attached to [...]