Appended the Omniture campaign tracking variable to each of the URLs http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=ccf04de0c3fa301c9cffb5671c1eae59 Thu, 31 May 2012 07:01:06 +0000 http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/ http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/angry-jesse-stone-harrys-law-fans-weigh-in.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Today's column deals with what a lousy job networks, and even many mainstream newspapers, do in conveying why they make decisions to cancel programs like "Harry's Law" or discontinue the "Jesse Stone" movies because of their older audience profile. For... Wed, 30 May 2012 13:48:24 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/cbs-summer-originals-go-to-the-dogs.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV When is it OK for CBS to look a lot like Animal Planet or Discovery? Right after Memorial Day, naturally. Enter "Dogs in the City," a breezy summer fill-in CBS will unleash May 30 at 8 p.m., featuring "dog guru"... Tue, 29 May 2012 19:01:51 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/rethinking-the-idol-x-factor-ratings-connection.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Not to say I told you so (seriously, what kind of jerk would do that?), but I'm wondering if the New York Times has any regrets about rather prematurely stating "The X Factor" -- despite falling short of expectations --... Thu, 24 May 2012 18:04:28 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/animal-planet-mermaids-dive-deep-for-nonsense.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Animal Planet's "Mermaids: The Body Found" is complete BS, a full helping of salty poppycock dressed up as science. And I actually mean that in the most complimentary way. Using CGI and reenactments, the two-hour production -- premiering May 27,... Thu, 24 May 2012 01:21:57 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/in-a-perfect-world-glee-would-have-graduated.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV TV can be a cruel master. In a perfect world, "Glee" would be over. We've followed these characters through high school. They won nationals (finally) last week, and spent Tuesday night dealing with graduation and contemplating what they'll do next.... Wed, 23 May 2012 06:46:20 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/with-reel-crime-id-goes-back-to-the-movies.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Investigation Discovery has stumbled onto a pretty savvy formula for helping its audience -- most of whom clearly learn pretty much everything they know from TV and movies, just like the rest of us -- process its shows: Explicityly or... Tue, 22 May 2012 23:01:36 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/jesse-stone-exposes-an-age-old-problem.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV CBS drew an estimated 12.7 million viewers Sunday with its latest Jesse Stone movie, starring Tom Selleck, which on its face ought to be cause for cartwheels. Drill a little deeper, though, and the movie's geriatric skew -- with adults... Mon, 21 May 2012 17:26:47 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/upfront-scorecard-cult-of-cw-needs-new-blood.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV On the plus side, the five new dramas the CW unveiled at Thursday's upfront presentation all looked pretty good. On the down side, if the netlet can't get some traction this season -- in what CW Prez Mark Pedowitz called... Thu, 17 May 2012 20:26:20 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/upfront-scorecard-cbs-revels-in-its-stability.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Clearly reveling in its stability, CBS will introduce just four new programs in the fall, and didn't even bother talking about midseason during its upfront presentation. And while the newcomers don't all look great, it's not hard to envision scenarios... Wed, 16 May 2012 21:56:50 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/upfront-scorecard-tnttbs-build-out-on-brands.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV The Turner networks hit some technical glitches when they put on their big-boy pants and joined the major networks in last year's upfront week, which provided the basis for most of their opening shtick. Once they got past the gags,... Wed, 16 May 2012 15:18:39 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/upfront-scorecard-abc-desperate-for-revenge.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Once upon a time, ABC was really desperate and lost. Then "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" came along, and helped set the network on a road to recovery. In TV, though, happy endings don't last forever, so Tuesday's upfront presentation needed... Tue, 15 May 2012 21:34:30 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/stern-quickly-makes-nbcs-talent-his-showcase.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV So how was Howard Stern? That was the only question anyone really cared about regarding the return of “America’s Got Talent,” with NBC having already braved sponsor pressure by the Parents Television Council over its decision to tap the radio... Tue, 15 May 2012 05:39:05 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/upfront-scorecard-fox-worships-falling-idol.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV After sitting through Fox's upfront presentation on Monday afternoon, I might owe an apology to NBC. Let's set aside the shows for a second and discuss style points, and enough bad choices to fill a week of "Dr. Phil" episodes.... Mon, 14 May 2012 22:23:12 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/upfront-scorecard-nbc-seeks-to-build-on-voice.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Sadly, no one would take my bet that Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee would sing at NBC's upfront presentation on Monday, which was about as sure a thing as one could imagine going into this week-long carnival, other than perhaps... Mon, 14 May 2012 19:19:55 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/desperate-housewives-makes-a-semi-graceful-exit.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Spoiler alert: If you still want to watch the "Desperate Housewives" finale and have it on your DVR, read no further. Well, at least the ladies of Wisteria Lane weren't in purgatory. But for the last season or two their... Mon, 14 May 2012 08:38:25 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/dan-curtis-and-the-odd-curse-of-dark-shadows.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV As a cub reporter, I had a chance to interview Dan Curtis, who was busy finishing the massive miniseries "War and Remembrance," a sequel to "Winds of War" whose cost had reportedly ballooned to more than $100 million. That represented... Sun, 13 May 2012 18:40:40 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/before-upfronts-a-word-from-brandon-tartikoff.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV As the networks hunker down to finalize their primetime schedules for the fall, I'd like to offer a few free words of advice. From Brandon Tartikoff. Almost exactly 15 years ago, and only a few months before his death in... Fri, 11 May 2012 16:42:09 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/desperate-times-call-for-desperate-measures.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Other than the courtroom drama surrounding Nicollette Sheridan's lawsuit against series creator Marc Cherry, the final season of "Desperate Housewives" has been sort of a slog, including its own (yawn) trial over the killing of Gabrielle's stepfather. Before the series... Thu, 10 May 2012 17:49:36 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/some-tips-for-assembling-the-next-avengers.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV My colleague Josh Dickey has a good story today on the challenges posed in assembling the sequel to "The Avengers." As a recovering comic-book geek, some free advice to Disney and Marvel. Although the temptation will be to bring together... Wed, 09 May 2012 18:30:56 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/dictator-one-more-reason-not-to-watch-today.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV While I appreciate Sacha Baron Cohen's marketing savvy, the willingness of news organizations to happily cooperate -- and interview him in character as he promotes his new movie "The Dictator" -- is one more reason I can't watch "morning news"... Tue, 08 May 2012 19:08:39 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/nbc-dilemma-smash-stumbles-into-second-season.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Nobody around the office will take my bet that Katharine McPhee -- and probably "Smash" co-star Megan Hilty -- will sing at the NBC upfront presentation next week, which happens to coincide with the show's season finale. Nor should they.... Mon, 07 May 2012 17:26:29 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/comic-book-confidential-a-not-misspent-youth.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Honest, when I was a kid reading and collecting comic books -- and rushing, time and again, to be disappointed by movies and TV shows based on them -- it didn't seem like a particularly savvy career move. More like... Fri, 04 May 2012 23:43:44 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/from-abc-news-to-hub-bad-week-for-synergy.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Acts of numbing corporate media synergy are so common there's a tendency at this point to let them slide without notice. Sort of like spitting into a windstorm, why even bother? Still, when they come washing up around the same... Thu, 03 May 2012 22:15:04 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/05/girls-roots-go-deeper-than-sex-and-the-city.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Watching episodes No. 4-10 of "Girls" -- shrewdly provided to critics by HBO to capitalize on their rhapsodic reaction to the first three, which even spilled over onto op-ed pages -- provided enhanced perspective on the Lena Dunham series. With... Tue, 01 May 2012 22:21:30 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/04/carrying-a-torch-for-pbs-jesse-owens-doc.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV “Jackie Robinson stood on the shoulders of Jesse Owens,” sociologist Harry Edwards suggests in “Jesse Owens,” a terrific “American Experience” documentary devoted to the Olympic star, premiering on May 1. Of course, most people are (hopefully) familiar with Owens’ four-Gold-medal... Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:55:57 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/04/fox-25th-anni-spec-long-on-clips-zero-context.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Condensing 25 years of any network into a two-hour special qualifies as a tall order, and perhaps especially for Fox, whose outrageous lows were often as significant in defining the enterprise as its highs. Yet the most egregious absence in... Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:10:33 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/04/what-not-to-learn-from-rich-ross-disney-stint.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV When Rich Ross was tapped as chairman of Walt Disney Studios in 2009 there were the customary gasps about a TV executive being thrown to the wolves on the feature-film side. The announcement that the former Disney Channel exec would... Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:34:58 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/04/rip-dick-clark-a-major-player-behind-the-music.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV Most people who knew of him only from "American Bandstand" and hosting "New Year's Rockin' Eve" probably have no idea what a significant figure Dick Clark was in the TV business as a producer. Clark, however -- who died Wednesday... Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:04:36 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/04/girls-mania-reflects-special-kinds-of-media-bias.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV We hear a lot about "media bias." But in the tons of coverage being showered on HBO's "Girls," we're seeing some very particular kinds of bias, all coming together in one neat little package. For starters, there's a bias in... Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:49:08 +0000 http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2012/04/ids-engrossing-the-woman-who-wasnt-there.html?cmpid=RSS|Blogs|BLTV An extraordinary story, "The Woman Who Wasn't There" is an almost-hypnotic 90-minute documentary, which will air on Investigation Discovery April 17 at 8 p.m. Turned into a book released earlier this month, this companion doc chronicles the strange tale of... Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:02:17 +0000