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Posts tagged as “CBS”

Out and About

Looks like Rod “Lego Man” Blagojevich won’t be part of NBC’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here after all.

A federal judge has just rejected Blago’s wish to join the reality show set in Costa Rica.

I guess the flight risk was way too important.

Also on NBC, Debra Messing is coming back to the network starring in a still-untitled comedy written by The Starter Wife‘s Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott.

Moving on to Chuck stuff:

I don’t believe that Chuck needs saving, but if you want to send in stuff:
Jericho had its peanuts, and Chuck must have its Nerds (the candy)!

Or so says Joss Schwartz:

A couple years back, “Jericho” was briefly spared the axe when its fans sent peanuts to CBS. What should “Chuck” fans send to NBC?
In lieu of peanuts, I would ask our fans to send Nerds. The candy. Not actual nerds that they can find on the street. Don’t go to MIT, put them in a box, send that over to Burbank.

You heard it here first folks.
Well, maybe not, but I want my ego to be tamed.

Passing the buck

After being right for a day, it looks like I (and everyone else) is wrong.
Showtime has not picked up Tim Robbin’s pilot which he both wrote and directed (Possible Side Effects).

Rumors are flying around that the pass on Possible Side Effects is due to its subject matter (the pharmaceutical drug industry) and pharmaceutical corps are among the top advertisers over at another Viacom network: CBS.

So, ultimately, out of the 4 pilots ordered by Sho, none of them were picked up.
Cash thrown out the window?

Variety has a piece up discussing how the networks are trying to minimize the spendings by co-producing or buying international properties instead of investing in pilots that won’t ultimately be picked up.
Overall, a pretty interesting read which takes a look at why certain shows are currently on the bubble.

In other TV news, TNT meanwhile has canceled Trust Me.

As for the recent Dollhouse/13-episode matter, I’ll be talking about that in more detail very soon in my follow-up article to the Four Reasons why Dollhouse might be Renewed.

They Are A-Changin'

This morning were unveiled the 2008 Peabody Award winners, including HBO’s Entourage (!) & John Adams, ABC’s Lost, and AMC’s Breaking Bad.

The award ceremony will take place on May 18 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and will be hosted by NBC’s Brian Williams.

What is most peculiar is that among the winners is non other than YouTube.
Add to that The Onion’s online news-network, and the NY Times’ website, and you’ve got yourself the first time Web entities actually receive the coveted prize.

Interestingly enough, the Peabody Award has now become an “International Competition for Electronic Media, honoring achievement in Television, Radio, Cable and the Web.”

The technological shift continues as Disney just got itself a 30% share in Hulu, making it equal partner with NBC-U and News Corp.
Providence Equity Partners still has its 10%.

The following seemed odly appropriate:

Everyone is trying to get on board now it seems.

CBS is still on the sideline though, sticking with YouTube who is launching April 16 its premium content site and Hulu’s main competitor, Sling.

Somewhat ironically, only clips of ABC’s shows will be available on YouTube.

In the meantime, Business Week has just posted an article in why Hulu attracts eyes, but not advertisers.

Venture Beat notes another ironic subtext: Apple’s Steve Jobs is also the largest shareholder at Disney’s table as well as on the board of directors. Ultimately it seems that Hulu’s free ad-supported streaming will have to go head to head with the iTunes’ ad-free pricey content.

Let the fighting continue (or is it begin?).
The times, they are a-changin’.