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| washingtonpost.com - The TV Column (washingtonpost.com) |
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| Rosie O'Donnell Describes Strife on 'The View' |
(Thu, 20 Nov 2008)
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| Rosie O'Donnell, promoting her forthcoming NBC Thanksgiving Eve variety special/backdoor pilot, told reporters yesterday that being on "The View" -- from which she departed hastily and publicly -- left her with something akin to post-traumatic stress disorder. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Rosie |
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| The Obamas' Post-Election '60 Minutes' Scores Top Ratings |
(Wed, 19 Nov 2008)
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| The future First Couple and a faux psychic handed CBS the biggest weekly audience of any network this season -- 12.3 million viewers. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: The |
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| How to Cope When the Network Drops Your Favorite Show |
(Tue, 18 Nov 2008)
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| This time of year can be especially depressing for serious students of TV series that are reaching the end of their first production cycle. Some of your favorite broadcast series are being canceled even as you read. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: How |
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| NBC Takes an Ax to 'Enemy' and Wipes Off 'Lipstick' |
(Fri, 14 Nov 2008)
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NBC has whacked both its Christian-Slater-as-Walter-Mitty-2.0 drama, "My Own Worst Enemy," as well as its Brooke-Shields-couldn't-be-more-annoying-soap "Lipstick Jungle," which can only mean that it's time for NBC's programming chief, Ben "Teflon" Silverman, to get (a) a contract renewal or (b) a promotion.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: NBC |
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| Three Years After Failed Audition, A Tragic Note For 'Idol' Singer |
(Thu, 13 Nov 2008)
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| And now -- the dark side of the four-week-long Bad Auditions portion of "American Idol" that traditionally kicks off each season of the country's No. 1 television show. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Three |
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| The Electorate Stays Tuned for '60 Minutes' |
(Wed, 12 Nov 2008)
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| The race for the White House made for some strange ratings last week. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: The |
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| A Day of Gaffes, Brought to You By Live TV |
(Tue, 11 Nov 2008)
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| It's National Awkward Moments on TV Talk Shows Day! -- a.k.a. Why We Love Live TV Day. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: A |
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| 'Grey's' Lesbian Doc Fails the 'Chemistry' Test |
(Fri, 07 Nov 2008)
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Dr. Erica Hahn was cast out of the horny halls of Seattle Grace Hospital on "Grey's Anatomy" last night, a mere two weeks after consummating her relationship with Callie, a.k.a. Sara Ramirez.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Grey's' |
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| CNN Ratings, Beamed Up by Hologram |
(Thu, 06 Nov 2008)
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| Nearly 71 million viewers watched the United States elect its first African American president, across 14 television networks Tuesday night. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: CNN |
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| An Obama Bonanza, and Fey's Heyday |
(Wed, 05 Nov 2008)
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| Barack Obama became a prime-time star last week by reaching across NBC, CBS, Fox, Univision and three cable networks. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: An |
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| Hockey Mom Scores (Even More) for 'SNL' |
(Tue, 04 Nov 2008)
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| Sarah Palin -- even hotter than we thought. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Hockey |
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| Will McCain Be on 'SNL'? How 'Bout Some Straight Talk, NBC? |
(Sat, 01 Nov 2008)
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GOP presidential candidate John McCain will try to drum up some votes with a visit to "Saturday Night Live" tonight, his camp said yesterday.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Will |
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| Obama Enters the League of Must-See TV |
(Fri, 31 Oct 2008)
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| "The Barack Obamamercial" is the first hit of this otherwise pretty dull television season. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Obama |
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| He's Everywhere: Obama Wraps Small-Screen Barrage With 'Daily Show' Appearance |
(Thu, 30 Oct 2008)
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| "This is the Obama infomercial!" Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama conceded to Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" last night of his 30-minute time buy on CBS, NBC, Fox, MSNBC, Univision, BET and TV One. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: He's |
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| Obama's Ad 'Roadblock' Gets Traction |
(Wed, 29 Oct 2008)
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| Univision, BET and TV One are joining CBS, NBC and Fox to carry Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's paid half-hour TV address tonight -- just six days before the election. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Obama's |
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| ABC Jumps Too Late On Obama's 'Buy' |
(Tue, 28 Oct 2008)
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ABC finally offered Barack Obama's camp the 8 p.m. half-hour in its Wednesday lineup for his campaign-related program -- which will air at that time on the other major broadcast networks.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: ABC |
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| In Other Ratings-Gambit News, a Former Bush Aide Will Make an Endorsement |
(Fri, 24 Oct 2008)
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| CNN's D.L. Hughley-hosted comedic news show will debut this weekend with former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan announcing he's backing Barack Obama for president. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: In |
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| 'Private Practice' Has Its Prescription Refilled by ABC |
(Thu, 23 Oct 2008)
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| ABC has picked up the so-called back nine episodes of its "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff, "Private Practice," after seeing ratings on just two new episodes -- and less than stellar ratings at that. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Private |
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| CBS Holds the Key to a Lock on the Ratings Race |
(Wed, 22 Oct 2008)
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| CBS won its third consecutive week in the prime-time ratings race and the die is cast for the rest of 2008. Television schedules are going to hold fairly steady for the next couple of months because the networks don't have much else to go to: Midseason shows won't be ready until early next year, thanks to that 100-day writers' strike. With nothing on the horizon to suggest radical change, CBS will continue to stay out front. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: CBS |
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| CBS to Turn Dying Wishes Into Reality TV |
(Tue, 21 Oct 2008)
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Finally, a network has found the perfect way to cast a reality series free of all those wannabe actors/wannabe "The View" hostesses who are doing so much to make viewers so cynical about the "reality" of reality TV.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: CBS |
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| Last Debate Is Not a Winner, In the Ratings |
(Fri, 17 Oct 2008)
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| Nearly 60 million viewers watched the third and final -- and most contentious -- debate between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Last |
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| VP Debate Appears to Be Most-Watched of 2008 Election |
(Thu, 16 Oct 2008)
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| The third and final debate between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama last night appears to have attracted fewer viewers than their second face-off, although more than their first. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: VP |
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| MLB to Delay Start of World Series' Game 6 by 15 Minutes |
(Thu, 16 Oct 2008)
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| Major League Baseball has agreed to postpone the first pitch of Game 6 of the World Series by about 15 minutes in order to enable Fox to join CBS and NBC in running Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's 30-minute infomercial Oct. 29. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: MLB |
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| Will Gloves Come Off When McCain Faces Letterman? |
(Thu, 16 Oct 2008)
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Presidential candidate John McCain gets his second on-air grilling this week when he has his makeup date with David Letterman tonight, a day after debating Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Will |
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| CBS Can Take Stock in These Numbers |
(Wed, 15 Oct 2008)
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| In these troubled times -- presidential race rancor, tanking economy -- viewers clung to their CBS procedural crime dramas, contributing mightily to the network's second consecutive win of the new TV season. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: CBS |
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| Run, Tina, Run! 'SNL' Repeat Draws Big Numbers |
(Tue, 14 Oct 2008)
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| Hard to believe "Saturday Night Live" would air a repeat when it's on such a roll, but the strain of putting out a twenty-some-minute prime-time special -- a spoof of the town-hall, Tom Brokaw-wrangled presidential debate and an expanded "Weekend Update" bit -- was too great to allow an actual Saturday night original episode to be cranked out as well. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Run, |
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| Obama Buys a Half-Hour Block From Networks; 'SNL's' Fauxbama Draws 11 Million Viewers |
(Sat, 11 Oct 2008)
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| Barack Obama's presidential campaign is getting a bargain for the half-hour of prime time it's bought on CBS and NBC, and is in talks about buying on ABC and Fox. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Obama |
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| A Big Turnout For Debate 2 |
(Thu, 09 Oct 2008)
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Held on a Tuesday and in the midst of a nerve-rattling Wall Street free fall, the second presidential debate between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama clocked at least 63 million viewers.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: A |
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| Veep Debate Landslide: The Battle for No. 2 Was the Week's No. 1 |
(Wed, 08 Oct 2008)
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| CBS won the second week of the new TV season, but Joe Biden and Sarah Palin made television history. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Veep |
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| Can the Product Pitches -- Viewers Like Their Stories |
(Tue, 07 Oct 2008)
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| Turns out, when a network puts fewer, and shorter, ad breaks in a TV series, you like it, and tend to be more inclined to sit through those commercials. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Can |
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| Biden and Palin Draw Record 73 Million To the Veep Show |
(Sat, 04 Oct 2008)
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| More than 73 million people watched the vice presidential debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on Thursday night, making it the most watched vice presidential debate in U.S. history and very likely the second-most-watched political debate of any kind -- including presidential face-offs. It ranks behind only the Oct. 28, 1980, debate between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, which logged nearly 81 million viewers. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Biden |
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| 'Fringe' Gets Full Support; 'Do Not Disturb' Is Shown the Door |
(Fri, 03 Oct 2008)
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Fox has picked up half of its new fall scripted series for the rest of the TV season.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Fringe' |
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| 'Survivor' Reveals a Bit Too Much for Watchdog Group |
(Thu, 02 Oct 2008)
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| CBS, the network that gave us the Nipple That Knicker-Knotted a Nation, now brings us the Peekaboo Penis. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Survivor' |
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| ABC's MVPs: Docs, 'Desperate' and Dancers |
(Wed, 01 Oct 2008)
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| Self-absorbed doctors, housewives five years more desperate and a whopping five hours of dancing with D-listers catapulted ABC to its second consecutive Premiere Week win, this time with a million-viewer lead over its closest competitor. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: ABC's |
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| It's Not Debatable: McCain-Obama Ratings Fall Far Short of Predicted Record |
(Tue, 30 Sep 2008)
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| In spite of navel-gazers' forecast that last Friday's presidential debate might become the most watched telecast in TV history, cracking 100 million viewers, the face-off between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama wound up drawing only about 52.4 million people. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: It's |
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| 'Dive of Death' Plummets With Viewers |
(Fri, 26 Sep 2008)
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Magician David Blaine made audiences disappear with his "Dive of Death" special on ABC.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Dive |
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| News of the Day Gets in Networks' Way |
(Thu, 25 Sep 2008)
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| Collapsing Wall Street is wreaking havoc on the broadcast networks during Premiere Week. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: News |
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| The Cowboys Win: Bad News for D.C. and ABC |
(Wed, 24 Sep 2008)
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| A Sunday football faceoff between Dallas and Green Bay kicked the stuffing out of the Primetime Emmy Awards, sending football-casting NBC to its seventh consecutive weekly win, and Emmycasting ABC to an ignominious fourth-place finish for the final week of the summer. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: The |
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| The Emmy Awards' Harsh Reality |
(Tue, 23 Sep 2008)
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| After broadcast TV execs received word about the ratings on their beloved Emmy Awards yesterday morning, they flung themselves on casting couches and chewed the cushions in an ecstasy of grief. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: The |
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| Basic Ingredients: Cable Shows Join Emmy Elite |
(Sun, 21 Sep 2008)
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Tonight's 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be one we tell our grandchildren about, and not just because it's the year Sarah Silverman's late-night TV duet with film star Matt Damon, titled "I'm [Shagging] Matt Damon," was declared television's best original music and lyrics.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Basic |
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| 3 QUESTIONS |
(Sun, 21 Sep 2008)
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| Welcome to the rest of the previous TV season. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 3 |
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| So, America's Going Steady With 'Survivor' |
(Fri, 19 Sep 2008)
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| Of all the series returning to the broadcast networks' prime-time lineups in the fall, CBS's "Survivor" has the most emotionally attached 18-to-49-year-old viewers. This according to a new study from a leading market research company that goes by the ridiculously long name: Marketing Evaluations Inc., the Q Scores Co. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: So, |
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| A Second Episode Brings 'Fringe' Benefits |
(Thu, 18 Sep 2008)
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| Starting at a later hour -- and with a big lead-in audience from the season debut of "House" -- J.J. Abrams's second series about the pitfalls of plane travel clocked 13.3 million viewers in its second episode, sparking "Fringe Explodes!" headlines in trade Web reports. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: A |
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| Pigskin Weather Gives NBC the Ratings Edge |
(Wed, 17 Sep 2008)
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Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers-vs.-Cleveland Browns square-off, and three servings of "America's Got Talent," pushed NBC to the top of the ratings heap -- the beleaguered network's sixth consecutive weekly ratings win.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Pigskin |
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| Why Did 'Fringe' Unravel? Blame It on the TV God |
(Thu, 11 Sep 2008)
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| Is the Church of J.J. losing members? |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Why |
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| My 38.9 Million Fellow Americans . . . |
(Wed, 10 Sep 2008)
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| Viewers flocked to Republicans and rich kids last week, but vampires did not fare so well. We're sure that's pregnant with meaning -- we'll get back to you on that. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: My |
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| My Friends, That's a Record Audience for a Convention Speech |
(Sat, 06 Sep 2008)
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| It was a nail-biter of a finish, but Republican presidential candidate John McCain edged out Democratic candidate Barack Obama by 500,000 people to win the 2008 Presidential Political Convention Ratings Race. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: My |
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| When Sarah Palin Talked, People Listened |
(Fri, 05 Sep 2008)
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The hockey mom may be running for the wrong office.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: When |
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| Viewers Flock to a Ritzy Zip Code; CNN's Obama Coverage Makes Cable News History |
(Thu, 04 Sep 2008)
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| With the two-hour season debut of "Top Model" yet to come -- featuring the reality series's very first transgender contestant! -- execs at under-the-gun CW felt comfortable taking their necks out of the guillotine after a second night of encouraging numbers. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Viewers |
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| 'Raising the Bar' and Clearing It in the Ratings |
(Wed, 03 Sep 2008)
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| Steven Bochco set a new record Monday when his premiering TNT lawyer drama, "Raising the Bar," clocked 7.7 million viewers. It was the biggest audience ever for a new-series launch on an ad-supported cable network. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Raising |
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| We Know Zip About '90210,' but That Won't Stop Our Speculating |
(Tue, 02 Sep 2008)
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| CW network's "Beverly Hills 90210" spinoff, "90210," debuting tonight, is one of the most eagerly anticipated series of the season, but you will not see or hear reviews of the teen soap today. That's because CW suits decided a couple of weeks ago they would not allow TV critics to preview any episodes. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: We |
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| Unconventional Ratings: Obama's Speech Draws Record 38 Million Viewers |
(Sat, 30 Aug 2008)
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John McCain will have to do better than naming Tina Fey his vice presidential choice if he expects to attract 38.4 million people to watch his acceptance speech next week, as Barack Obama clocked Thursday night.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: Unconventional |
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| It's a Nasty Convention Ratings War, and CNN Claims Victory Over the Big Guys |
(Fri, 29 Aug 2008)
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| Things are getting very down and dirty at the Democratic National Convention -- and we're just talking about the television networks. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: It's |
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| 'Cupid' Is Reincarnated as ABC Announces Five New Series |
(Thu, 28 Aug 2008)
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| At ABC, where August is the new May, they just announced the pickup of five new series for the 2008-09 TV season, which starts next month. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'Cupid' |
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| NBC Goes for the Gold In Beijing, Then Denver |
(Wed, 27 Aug 2008)
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| By offering a bajillion hours of Beijing Olympics, more than any of its previous Games telecasts, NBC was able transform its coverage into the most-watched event in the history of the universe. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: NBC |
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| 'American Idol' Adds a Leg to The Judges' Table |
(Tue, 26 Aug 2008)
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Because when ratings dip on non-scripted TV shows, network and studio suits always shuffle around the women (see "Today" show, e.g.), Fox is adding a younger, female judge to the country's most popular show, "American Idol," when its eighth season begins in January.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'American |
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| In the Convention Ratings Race, We Already Have a Winner |
(Fri, 22 Aug 2008)
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| More of you will watch the Democratic National Convention next week than will watch the Republican National Convention that follows. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: In |
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| D.C.'s a Party Town? On Lifetime, It Is. |
(Thu, 21 Aug 2008)
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| Finally, Washington is getting its own rich white blond party chicks reality series. Hooray! |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: D.C.'s |
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| NBC Pins Its Hopes on Phelps and His Olympics Cohorts, and They Deliver -- Big Time |
(Wed, 20 Aug 2008)
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| Opposite NBC's Michael Phelps-fueled coverage of the Beijing Games, ABC, CBS and Fox all hit their lowest ratings in about two decades last week. |
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: NBC |
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| 'CSI's' 'Professor' Fishburne Has A Lot to Learn |
(Tue, 19 Aug 2008)
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Laurence Fishburne is thrilled to be joining the cast of CBS's "CSI," a TV series he'd never been interested in enough to watch, to play a character he doesn't seem to know much of anything about, including the name. The Oscar-nominated actor is supposed to start shooting early next month.
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Author: Lisa de Moraes |
Category: 'CSI's' |
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