Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free

If I were to sit down and think about it, I would guess that I’ve watched five or six hours of TV each single day since 1970.

Now, that might seem like an outlandish number to many people. After all, didn’t I go to school and later work? Yes I did. But I can honestly state that when I got home from school I watched Television until 11 at night, every single night, and a lot more during the summer (and I even found time to go outside to play baseball!). Today I have the Television on from approximately 8 AM until well after midnight. That’s a lot of TV watching over the years.

I thought of that when I read this article that says Americans are watching more television than ever.

Continue reading America loves television!

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Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, OpEd, The Apprentice, Survivor

Executive TV producer Mark Burnett is being sued by his former business partner Conrad Riggs for $70 million. Burnett, a British TV producer, is ideal known for kick-starting the reality television genre in the United States. He’s been on the producer and creator train for shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, Rock Star, The Contender, Martha Stewart Apprentice, Pirate Master, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, On the Lot (with Steven Speilberg), and more.

So, why is he being sued for the large bucks? Read on past the jump.

Continue reading TV producer Mark Burnett sued for $70 million

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Filed under: Industry, Daytime, Game Show, Ratings, Reality-Free

Drew Carey and company recently wrapped up shooting Season 36 of The Price is Right — Drew had pizzas delivered to the studio from his favorite place in Cleveland — but when the crew comes back to tape Season 37 in a few weeks, they’re going to be faced with a number of changes.

The first change is that Roger Dobkowitz, who’s been the producer of the show since it started its run, won’t be there. According to Golden-Road.net, a TPiR message board, Fremantle Media let Dobkowitz go after Season 36 wrapped up; a replacement has yet to be named.

But there might be other changes afoot, namely with the look and format of the show, whose ratings declined 15% in the first season after Bob Barker’s retirement. Rumors are swirling that the changes will include new pricing games and a video wall, all the way up to a rumor — published on a TVGuide.com fan blog but later pulled — that the show will be absolutely overhauled to make it look more like Fremantle’s money-making machine, American Idol (or their new money-making machine, Million Dollar Password).

Continue reading Big changes coming to The Price is Right?

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Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free

Nothing is exempt from betting, including TV shows. According to Horizon Media’s annual TV report, Fox’s new show Fringe and CBS’ sci-fi drama Eleventh Hour will fare best of the new wave of freshman TV shows. Doing worst would be NBC’s Kath & Kim and CBS’ Worst Week.

The report produced some unsurprising claims, such as that Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and Survivor will continue to kick butt in the ratings. The report did produce some surprises such as ABC overthrowing CBS on Friday nights and the Fox sitcom Do Not Disturb finding success. I guess we’ll have to wait until the fall season to see how correct the report is.

What irks me is that after combing through the article I found no mention of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. Did they forget to review that one? Is this a sign of things to come that Horizon Media didn’t even find the show important enough to rank?

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Filed under: Industry, Reality-Free

In a piece of news that should surprise very few people, Lehman Brothers has cut the stock ratings on the Walt Disney Company, Time Warner and several other top entertainment companies. The reasons behind this include the rise of legal digital downloading cutting into advertising revenue and the concern of piracy cutting into primary profits such as DVD sales.

“To be clear, our fear is that the damage that digital distribution inflicted on the music industry will replicate itself in the movie industry, and our fears are too great to justify keeping neutral or positive ratings on the creators and distributors of motion picture and TV content,” wrote analyst Anthony DiClemente.

Continue reading Analyst says Television industry facing dark days ahead

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Filed under: Other Reality Shows, News, Industry, Celebrities

This weekend Andrew Firestone, former star of The Bachelor, wed model Ivana Bozilovic. The two exchanged vows at St. Mark’s in the Valley Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, California where his family’s vineyard is. The wedding festivities took place over three days with family and friends enjoying a Western-style barbeque and an al fresco rehearsal dinner. Firestone, grandson of Harvey Firestone of Firestone Tire and Rubber, Co., got engaged to Bozilovic back in September.

Continue reading Ex-Bachelor finds love … not on network Television

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