Archive for December, 2009

What are your and your family's holiday viewing, listening, and/or reading rituals?
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Canadian characters and jokes seem to be all the rage in American sitcoms, but why is 30 Rock missing the mark?
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The early arrival of the obligatory “this year’s best” lists and even some that note this as the end of the first decade of the 21st century left me thinking about what can be said of television programming of the past ten years.
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Your current Antenna editors join forces to bring to your attention ten media-related tidbits you might have missed this week.
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It's December, TV fans, and you know what that means: holiday-themed episodes. Now, we're not talking about holiday specials like "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown"--we're talking about when your favorite TV characters celebrate the holidays to hilarious or moving effect. What are some of your all-time favorite holiday episodes?
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Popularity is also about cultural salience, about a show’s place in popular culture, and about whether it really matters to people
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A deal that will indelibly alter our media landscape, throw the future of broadcast into question, promise new distribution models, expand interactive and “addressable” advertising… a deal that will fundamentally redefine television. No, I’m not talking about the Comcast-NBC Universal announcement that made waves last week. This was the hype surrounding the...
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The world stops spinning September 2010! It's not the apocalypse, but it is the end of another Procter & Gamble, long-running soap opera with a loyal fan base. What does this mean for the future of the daytime "sudser"?
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A radio station that signs on and off with the phases of the sun? Well that's something I haven't experienced since. . . well, ever.
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Lately, it seems like TV shows are hitting the road with increasing frequency. This trend started several years ago with American Idol's "American Idols Live" show, and continued with the annual So You Think You Can Dance tour. But it's not just made-famous-by-TV singers and dancers hitting the road--TV chefs Anthony Bourdain...
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It's official: Comcast has purchased a majority share of NBC-Universal from parent conglom GE, owning 51% to GE's 49%. Today's New York Times reports that the papers have been signed and the deal has been made, though the purchase still needs to be approved by regulatory bodies--a process that could take up to...
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With the first sweeps weeks of the television season now behind us, the numbers suggest that it was a pretty lousy month. Indeed, far more shows experienced their lowest ratings of the season than did better.
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