What are you watching this summer?

[Cyclenall]

its faster but there are more commercials.

I don't notice any increase in the amount of commercials from other nights.

[JonathanBelles]

Grentz wins Duel-S2K style for the night
Cyclone1 and I tied for the win last night.

[grentz7721]

Yeah, I can't believe I won.

[Brent]

Duel seemed better tonight... and it may seem like there are a lot of commericals, but it's no worse than any other currently airing 1-hour network show.

Some of the needless talk between questions was gone, which helped.

[Brent]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The People's Choice Awards had the red carpet yanked out from under it Wednesday as fallout from the Hollywood writers strike grew.

The ceremony, which typically airs live, will be taped for a Jan. 8 telecast on CBS, a spokeswoman for the show said. Queen Latifah, who previously was announced as host, will be part of the new format.

The Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for seven weeks, already had flexed its muscle by refusing to participate in the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, the ceremonies that represent Hollywood's biggest promotional showcases.

"We realize there are pressing issues facing the entertainment industry, including the WGA strike, and out of respect for everyone involved this provided an opportunity to pilot a new format this year," awards spokeswoman Jeannie Tharrington told The Associated Press.

The show will include pre-recorded acceptance speeches by winners as well as their responses to questions sent in by fans, according to a People's Choice statement.

The "new approach will give fans a more personal glimpse into the lives of their favorite actors and musicians," awards President Fred Nelson said in a statement.

The People's Choice ceremony gives the public the chance to choose its favorite music, television and film entertainment. The show is produced by Sycamore Production, a wholly owned subsidiary of Procter & Gamble Productions.

"The show will go on," CBS, the ceremony's longtime home, said in a brief statement. "The People's Choice tradition on CBS will continue and we plan to introduce some new ideas in the process."

This year's ceremony drew 11.3 million viewers.

With the Screen Actors Guild preparing for its own negotiations with producers next year and stars showing firm support for striking writers, the question has been whether presenters — or even nominees — would show up for an awards show boycotted by writers.

The guild's action is an attempt to bring the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers back to the table and reach a favorable deal on issues that include compensation for digital media, labor experts said.

and then there's this

NBC delays 'Apprentice' premiere
By Nellie Andreeva

Dec 20, 2007
NBC is taking the premiere of "Celebrity Apprentice" out of the cross-hairs of the last original episode of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"... or so it seems.

NBC on Wednesday said that it will push the launch of "Apprentice" from Jan. 3 to Jan. 10, expanding "Deal or No Deal" to two hours on Thursday, Jan. 3.

The move follows ABC's midseason schedule announcement Friday that included the last original episode of "Grey's" airing Jan. 3, leading into the premiere of the new drama "Cashmere Mafia."

But then later in the day Wednesday, ABC said that it would move the premiere of "Cashmere" from Jan. 3 to Jan. 6 where it will air after the last original episode of "Desperate Housewives."

And there is speculation that ABC is also mulling moving the original "Grey's" from Jan. 3, the night of the Iowa caucus, possibly to Jan. 10 where it may again go against the premiere of "Apprentice."

Even without a first-run "Grey's," "Apprentice" is facing an uphill battle in the Thursday 9 p.m. slot where ABC is launching the abbreviated new season of "Lost" Jan. 31.

On Jan. 6, "Cashmere" will replace an original "Brothers & Sisters," which will now air Jan. 15.

In other NBC scheduling news, the network will expand the Dec. 20 finale of "Clash of the Choirs" to two hours.

[Brent]

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- It's official: ABC is once again sending "Grey's Anatomy" after NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice."

A network source has confirmed the Alphabet will move the January 3 installment of "Grey's" - the last episode filmed before the strike - to January 10. The news comes after yesterday's announcement the Peacock was shifting "Apprentice" to said date (read the story).

Making things more complicated - ABC has shuffled the dates for the premiere of "Cashmere Mafia" (read the story) and new episodes of "Ugly Betty" (read the story) and "Brothers & Sisters."

And if that wasn't enough - new dates have also been set for "Women's Murder Club," "My Name Is Earl" and "30 Rock's" de facto finales.

Here's a round-up of the various changes on ABC:

Thursday, January 3
8:00/7:00c - "Ugly Betty" (R)
9:00/8:00c - "Grey's Anatomy" (R)
10:00/9:00c - "Desperate Housewives" (R)

Friday, January 4
8:00/7:00c - "Grey's Anatomy" (R)
9:00/8:00c - "Women's Murder Club" (Last Pre-Strike Episode)
10:00/9:00c - "20/20"

Sunday, January 6
7:00/6:00c - "America's Funniest Home Videos"
8:00/7:00c - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
9:00/8:00c - "Desperate Housewives" (Last Pre-Strike Episode)
10:00/9:00c - "Cashmere Mafia" (Series Premiere - Special Night)

Thursday, January 10
8:00/7:00c - "Ugly Betty"
9:00/8:00c - "Grey's Anatomy" (Last Pre-Strike Episode)
10:00/9:00c - "Big Shots"

Sunday, January 13-27
7:00/6:00c - "America's Funniest Home Videos"
8:00/7:00c - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (Two Hours)
10:00/9:00c - "Brothers & Sisters" (Last Pre-Strike Episodes)

Edit: LOL! NBC has now moved The Apprentice BACK to the 3rd.



PREMIERE OF NBC'S 'THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE' WILL NOW BE TELECAST ON JANUARY 3

NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice," which was previously scheduled to premiere on Thursday, January 10 (9-10 p.m. ET), will now debut on Thursday, January 3 (9-10:01 p.m. ET). The series will be preceded that night by an original episode of "Deal or No Deal" (8-9 p.m. ET) and followed by an original episode of "ER" (10:01-11 p.m.). For its seventh season, "The Celebrity Apprentice" returns to New York City as Donald Trump welcomes an all-star celebrity lineup of candidates who will work to raise over $1 million for various charities.

[JonathanBelles]

Duel-S2k style starts in 15 mins.

[lurkey]

Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Show will resume production in January.

[lurkey]

Striking Writers Will Do Spirit Awards

Posted: Today at 7:54 a.m.

LOS ANGELES — The Writers Guild of America says its members will be allowed to work for the Spirit Awards honoring independent film despite uncertainties surrounding other awards shows because of the Hollywood writers strike.

The guild said in a statement Thursday that its members may work for the Spirit Awards because the show's producers asked for permission before the strike began seven weeks ago.

The guild already has refused to participate in the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, which represent Hollywood's biggest promotional showcases. Labor experts have said it's an attempt by the guild to bring the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers back to the bargaining table and reach a favorable deal on issues that include compensation for digital media.

Producers of the People's Choice Awards said Wednesday that they are revamping the format for their awards because of the strike. The ceremony typically airs live but this year will be taped for a January 8 telecast on CBS.

The Spirit Awards will be presented February 23, the day before the Academy Awards.

[JonathanBelles]

Very high scoring Duel-s2k style game tonight with MSH winning 16 points and winning. Anyone who left Duel, should come back. This game is much more interesting now than it was on Monday or Tuesday.

[JonathanBelles]

I've got the chatroom watching Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central now. LOL

[JonathanBelles]

Final scores for week 1 of Duel-Storm2k Style

Fact789-45 MississippiHurricane-40 Grentz7721-27 Brent-22 TrekkerCC-18 Cyclone1-12 Opalstorm-11 Category5-10 Moriarty-6

[lurkey]

Old media hits the skids as new models roil market

Broadcast networks, newspapers, music labels struggle while Internet rises
December 22. 2007 12:28PMBy: Joyce Hanson

Leave it to a group of Hollywood screenwriters to script a perfect scene showing the struggles that old media faces in the digital era. When the Writers Guild of America went on strike in November, it drummed up sympathy by posting countless videos of rallies and marches on YouTube—and received no compensation for the content.

From broadcast to print to music, New York's old media companies stumbled in the face of the chaos brought about by new media in 2007. The future of some of the city's most venerable companies and brands looks suddenly shaky.

Not enough network hits

Facing increased competition from cable and new forms of entertainment on the Internet, the broadcast networks have seen their hold on the American psyche slipping. This trend continued in 2007, when after a fairly promising upfront early in the year, the networks failed to produce the hits they needed to re-establish themselves. As of December, the networks' prime-time ratings in the key 18- to 49-year-old age category were all down: at NBC by 11%, at CBS by 10% and at ABC by 5%.

Newspapers also struggled mightily in 2007, in ways that hinted at underlying problems in the business. The New York Times canceled its Times Select online tool because not enough viewers were willing to pay for content.

The Times may be about to face a street fight from the new owner of The Wall Street Journal. In another sign of the chaos overtaking the print world, the Bancroft family sold its controlling interest in Dow Jones & Co. for $5.6 billion to media baron Rupert Murdoch, causing a hue and cry among observers who worry that the owner of Fox News and the New York Post will dumb down the Journal.

Some of the city's most well-respected magazine brands got into in trouble as the year wore on. The world's largest magazine company, Time Inc., saw ad pages decline at Time, Fortune, Money and Business 2.0 and finally killed the last title. Critics said Time Inc. had been too slow in developing a Web presence for its magazines.

Meanwhile, the future of Time's giant parent, Time Warner, remains unsettled. Time Warner said last month that Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Bewkes will take over the company when Chief Executive Richard Parsons steps down Jan. 1. Mr. Bewkes is charged with the tough task of reinvigorating the company—and preparing Time Inc. for a possible sale.

Sad songs

The old media business suffering the most in the new media upheaval may be music labels. In 2007, companies were beset by plunging album sales and shrinking profit margins. While sales of single songs have been rising, sales of traditional albums had fallen a whopping 15% through Dec. 16, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

[lurkey]

Hollywood 2.0: Why the TV Industry Might lose 28% of its Audience Forever

It’s no big secret that the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike is bound to change the future of television, as we know it. Will it boost internet TV? Will our favorite TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, 24 ever come back? Will the strike ever end? Will there be any way of turning back for the Hollywood studios?

Story continues here

Effect on shows by the strike -- A Complete List Most of the information we knew about, but there was some new information. . .1) at least two shows are written by WGA-Canada (Stargate Atlantis -- SciFi and Degrassi High -- Nickelodeon) and might not be affected by the strike 2) Matt Stone and Trey Parker aren't union members and are still producing South Park episodes.

EXCLUSIVE: Attempt Fails To Restart WGA-AMPTP Talks; Outlook Very Grim

[Cyclone1]

I'll be watching American Idol.

And that's it.

[lurkey]

Letterman, Ferguson returning to TV WGA strikes deal allowing late night shows


The WGA and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants have reached an agreement that will allow "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson" to return to the air next week with their writers.

Letterman-produced shows will return Wednesday, people familiar with the situation said. A rep for Worldwide Pants declined comment.

Talks between WWP and the WGA weren't looking fruitful. But that changed within the last 48 hours, sources said.

Interim agreement is the first deal struck by the WGA with a studio since the strike began last month.

[lurkey]

Strike hiatus prompts Hollywood writers to go it alone

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Friday December 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Forget Warner Brothers, Universal and Disney. Say goodnight and good luck to CBS, NBC and Fox. The Hollywood studio model is about to be turned upside down.

Leading film and TV writers, accompanied by actors, directors and Silicon Valley investors, are poised to announce the creation of new ventures aimed at bypassing the studios.

"It's a whole new model to bring content directly to the masses," said screenwriter Aaron Mendelsohn. "We're gathering together a team of A-list TV and film writers, along with their A-list equivalent from Silicon Valley."

Mendelsohn is not alone. Seven groups are thought to be working on forming companies to challenge the dominance of the studios. The new companies plan to create programmes and films and distribute them via the internet, circumventing the old model of big studios owned by even bigger parent companies churning out content and controlling when and where it is seen.

More at the link.

Striking Writers May Work on Games

[Ptarmigan]

The only thing I will be watching will be the remaining episodes of Prison Break. Also, I will probably watch Sarah Connor Chronicles.

[Ptarmigan]

Hollywood 2.0: Why the TV Industry Might lose 28% of its Audience Forever

It’s no big secret that the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike is bound to change the future of television, as we know it. Will it boost internet TV? Will our favorite TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, 24 ever come back? Will the strike ever end? Will there be any way of turning back for the Hollywood studios?

Story continues here

Effect on shows by the strike -- A Complete List Most of the information we knew about, but there was some new information. . .1) at least two shows are written by WGA-Canada (Stargate Atlantis -- SciFi and Degrassi High -- Nickelodeon) and might not be affected by the strike 2) Matt Stone and Trey Parker aren't union members and are still producing South Park episodes.

EXCLUSIVE: Attempt Fails To Restart WGA-AMPTP Talks; Outlook Very Grim

The 1988 WGA strike is felt even today. TV ratings never recovered. It dropped by 10%. This strike is going to be worse.

[Miss Mary]

FYI, TV Guide's list of how many new shows are left for "current" TV shows. Some are out of new material. My apologies if this update/column was posted already, back on Dec. 20th.

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry ... /800026937

Ausiello Report

UPDATED Strike Chart: How Long Before Your Shows Go Dark?

[UPDATED 12/20/07] There seems to be little doubt that the writers' strike will result in a shorter TV season, but just how short are we talking? Well, as you might've guessed, it varies from show to show. Those programs that are either highly efficient (Friday Night Lights) or have entered the season with a backlog of episodes (Men in Trees, Law & Order: SVU) will be in originals well into the new year. But series with tighter production schedules (i.e., nearly every half-hour comedy) will go dark almost immediately. Of course, figuring out how many episodes remain in your favorite shows' arsenals requires a lot of numbers crunching — and as I've come to learn, the only thing you Ausholes despise more than a Wednesday without AA is mathematics. With that in mind, I pulled together this incredibly handy (and 85 percent complete) cheat sheet. Keep in mind: The information below is subject to change, particularly if both sides get back to the bargaining table and resolve this frakkin' thing! (For ongoing WGA strike coverage, read TVGuide.com's Strike Watch blog.)

30 Rock: Ten episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there is one left.

Aliens in America: Seventeen episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are seven left.

Back to You: Nine episodes will be produced. Seven episodes have aired, so there are two left.

The Big Bang Theory: Eight episodes were produced. Eight episodes have aired, so there are zero left.

Bionic Woman: Eight episodes will be produced. Eight episodes have aired, so there is zero left.

Bones: Twelve episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are three left.

Boston Legal: Fourteen episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are four left.

Brothers & Sisters: Twelve episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are three left.

Carpoolers: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Six episodes have aired, so there are seven left.

Cavemen: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Six episodes have aired, so there are seven left.

Chuck: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there are two left.

Criminal Minds: Roughly twelve episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there is roughly one left.

CSI: Eleven episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there is one left.

CSI: NY: Fourteen episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there are three left.

Desperate Housewives: Ten episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there is one left.

Dirty Sexy Money: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are three left.

ER: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are four left.

Friday Night Lights: Fifteen episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are six left.

Gossip Girl: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there are two left.

Greek: Eight new episodes will be produced. None have aired yet, so there are eight left.

Grey's Anatomy: Eleven episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there is one left.

Heroes: Eleven episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there is zero left.

House: Twelve episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are three left.

How I Met Your Mother: Eleven episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there are zero left.

Jericho: Seven episodes will be produced. None have aired yet, so there are seven episodes left.

Las Vegas: Nineteen episodes will be produced. Eleven have aired, so there are eight left.

Law & Order: SVU: Fourteen episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are four left.

Life is Wild: Twelve episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are three left.

Lost: Eight episodes will be produced. None have aired yet, so there are eight episodes left.

Medium: Nine episodes will be produced. None have aired yet, so there are nine episodes left.

Men in Trees: Nineteen episodes will be produced. Eight episodes have aired, so there are 11 left.

My Name is Earl: Thirteen episodes will be produced (that includes two one-hour eps, which count double). Twelve episodes have aired, so there is one left.

The New Adventures of Old Christine: Eight episodes have been produced. No episodes have aired, so there are eight left.

Numbers: Twelve episodes will be produced. Ten have aired, so there is two left.

The Office: Twelve half-hour episodes will be produced. Twelve half-hour episodes have aired, so there are zero half-hour episodes left.

One Tree Hill: Twelve episodes will be produced. None have aired yet, so there are twelve episodes left.

Prison Break: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Eight episodes have aired, so there are five left. (On hiatus 'til Jan. 14)

Private Practice: Nine episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are zero left.

Pushing Daisies: Nine episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are zero left.

Reaper: Twelve episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are two left.

Samantha Who?: Twelve episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are three left.

Scrubs: Eleven episodes will be produced. Six episodes have aired, so there are five left.

Shark: Twelve episodes will be produced. Eleven episodes have aired, so there is one left.

The Shield: All 13 season-seven episodes will be completed. None have aired (the final season gets underway in '08), so there are 13 left.

Smallville: Fifteen episodes will be produced. Nine episodes have aired, so there are six left.

Supernatural: Ten to 12 episodes will be produced. Seven episodes have aired, so there are two to four left.

Ugly Betty: Thirteen episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are three left.

Without a Trace: Twelve episodes will be produced. Ten episodes have aired, so there are two left.

• If your favorite show isn't included above, don't panic — it's not because I hate you. It's because I'm still trying to track down the info. As soon as I get it, I'll add it to the list. [Michael Ausiello speaking.... not me....LOL]