With the Delta variant surging, nothing is back to normal, but syndicated productions are giving it their best shot. Debmar-Mercury’s Nick Cannon and Fox’s You Bet Your Life, starring Jay Leno, are debuting in September, and veteran shows, such as NBCUniversal’s Kelly Clarkson, are returning to live in-studio audiences. To promote the shows, marketers are touching all bases — on-air, online and outdoor — to get the word out.
Pandemic Speeded Trends Away From Live TV
Nearly two-thirds of people said in June that they viewed free video on demand content on their televisions once a week, up from 46% in February 2020, according to Hub Entertainment Research. Last week, in an otherwise quiet frame, ABC led with an average of 2.69 million viewers in primetime. NBC had 2.65 million, CBS had 2.4 million, Fox had 2.2 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million. Fox News Channel led the cable networks, with an average of 2.2 million viewers in primetime.
TBS said Tuesday that it has completed a deal with WarnerMedia sibling Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution to acquire off-network rights to the CBS/Warner Bros Television comedy Young Sheldon, and will now premiere in syndication on the cable network beginning Sept. 27. It joins the lineup at TBS that already includes fellow WBTV-produced shows The Big Bang Theory and Friends.
Mike Muriano joined the tech giant Tuesday as executive producer of live sports for Prime Video, where he will oversee production of Thursday Night Football.
The former entertainment chairman at WarnerMedia and NBC has launched a production company, The Green Room, and signed a first-look TV deal with Lionsgate Television. Under the deal, Greenblatt will develop and produce premium projects for the studio via The Green Room. The former Showtime boss has also enlisted Jon Wu to serve as head of filmed content for The Green Room.
Exclusives
ABC’s Bachelor in Paradise — which didn’t air last summer — opened Season 7 with 3.1 million total viewers and a 0.9 rating, marking series lows on both counts but still easily leading Monday in the demo. NBC’s American Ninja Warrior (3.33M/0.5) scored Monday’s biggest audience.
‘Live’ Comes Alive In Second Olympics Week
The morning favorite raced ahead 14% to a 1.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, shrugging off the second and final Olympics week and blowing away its talk show competition for the 13th week in a row.
CBS will mark 50 years of contestants comin’ on down for The Price Is Right with a two-hour primetime special next month. Set for 9-11 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, the special will look back at the biggest winners, never-before-seen outtakes and feature a salute to 35-year host Bob Barker.
CBS ruled Sunday ratings with the latest episode of Big Brother. The network kicked of its Sunday lineup in the 8-9 p.m. time slot with the Big Brother, which took home a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo and aired to 3.71 million viewers, per fast affiliates. The reality series, which returned from the weekend slightly lower from last Thursday (1.0, 4.58M), was the highest-rating program Sunday.
The decades-old game show, TV comfort food for many, has been rocked by drama over who would replace the late Alex Trebek.
Education tech company SpectraRep is teaming with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s One Media 3.0 and its WIAV-CD Washington, D.C., to deliver EduCast, a broadcast Internet solution to meet the needs of K-12 and college learners without access to sufficient broadband Internet services in their homes.
“CBS This Morning” needs all the help it can get. The daily talk and news program ranks third out of the big three broadcast networks’ morning shows, and really isn’t even all that close in viewership to NBC’s “Today” show or ABC’s “Good Morning America.” But it’s made progress.
In the latest TV ratings, Fox’s primetime coverage of the MLB’s “Field of Dreams” game between the Yankees and White Sox averaged 5.2 million total viewers and a 1.3 demo rating (in fast nationals), topping Thursday in both measures.
ESPN will be using young broadcasters as part of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The first of two KidsCast presentations will be the MLB Little League Classic between the Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Indians on Aug. 22. This is the second time the network has done a KidsCast from the Little League World Series.
The Television Academy said Thursday that Debbie Allen will receive the 2021 Governors Award, bestowed on the dancer-choreographer-actress-writer-producer-director “for her unprecedented achievements in television and her commitment to inspire and engage marginalized youth through dance, theater arts and mentorship.”
Allen will be recognized during the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast September 19 on CBS and Paramount+.
The CW’s already-renewed In the Dark drew 291,000 total viewers and a 0.0 demo rating, ticking down from its last fresh outing to hit and tie series lows. CBS’s Big Brother (3.8M/0.9) delivered a best-since-premiere audience and easily led Wednesday in the demo, while NBC’s America’s Got Talent (5.4M/0.6) was down sharply from Tuesday’s outing, but easily scored the night’s biggest audience.
Nielsen said Thursday it would move forward without the backing of the media industry’s Media Rating Council, the latest eyebrow-raising maneuver in a months-long feud between the media-measurement giant and the TV networks whose viewers it has counted for decades.
NBCUniversal, Disney and ViacomCBS, along with tech giants like Amazon, are shifting resources to snap up live programming from major leagues in a new arms race to fuel direct-to-consumer services.
Muhammad Ali called himself the greatest, and filmmaker Ken Burns, director of the upcoming PBS documentary series about the boxing champion, “global icon and inspiration,” is not one to disagree. The four-part, eight-hour series titled simply Muhammad Ali airs on consecutive nights on PBS beginning Sept. 19. (AP photo/John Rooney)
Melanie Frankel is leaving ABC Signature where she served as head of comedy for the past two years. According to sources, Frankel opted to depart before the end of her contract. She has not yet decided what she will do next. Meanwhile, ABC Signature, part of Disney Television Studios, is searching for a new head of comedy, with Frankel staying on as a consultant until a replacement is found.
The search for new permanent host of Jeopardy is officially over. The show’s executive producer Mike Richards has been named the new permanent host of the the venerable syndicated game show,, succeeding the late Alex Trebek. Additionally, Sony Pictures Television announced that The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik will host Jeopardy’s primetime and spinoff series, including the upcoming Jeopardy National College Championship set to air on ABC next year.
The CW’s already-renewed DC’s Stargirl opened Season 2 with 750,000 total viewers and a 0.1 demo rating, down from both its freshman averages (860K/0.2) and finale (860K/0.2), though not quite hitting its smallest audience. NBC’s America’s Got Talent (6.9M/1.0) dominated Tuesday in both measures, matching this season’s demo high following the Olympics break.
