The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage. Mason started in show business as a social director at a resort in the Catskills. In 1961, the pint-sized comic got a big break, an appearance on Steve Allen’s weekly television variety show. His success brought him to The Ed Sullivan Show. On TV, Mason became a reliable presence, usually with a cameo on such shows as 30 Rock or The Simpsons or as a reliable guest on latenight chat shows.
Storage spaces as broadcast booths, Orlando hotels as family-cheering sections and other oddities mark the broadcast of the 2021 improvisational Games. Above, an area of NBC Sports’ Stamford, Conn., offices where highlights will be cut during the Tokyo Olympics.
The CW’s Walker this week drew 1.2 million total viewers — its largest audience in 10 episodes (dating back to March 18) — while also ticking up to a 0.2 demo rating. CBS’s Big Brother (3.7M/0.9) was steady week-to-week and led Thursday in both measures.
When the day came to tape the first of LeVar Burton’s week’s share of episodes as one of a succession of guest hosts, the show’s pace and the challenge of following in Alex Trebek’s much-admired footsteps threw Burton off stride. It made for a rough start to the five back-to-back tapings that begin airing Monday, said the veteran actor known for Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Reading Rainbow. He turned for advice to wife Stephanie Cozart Burton, who as his makeup artist was on hand to play coach during a production break.
Exclusives
The Cleveland Indians new name is. . .The Guardians. The Indians announced the new name on Twitter on Friday morning. They have been called the Indians since 1915. The franchise announced the name change in a video narrated by Cleveland fan Tom Hanks with music supplied by The Black Keys from the Akron area. There will be a press conference on Friday afternoon at Progressive Field to officially announce the name change.
HBO and its streaming service, HBO Max, have attracted 67.5 million customers, and the company expects to reach 73 million by year end.
ESPN will retake the ice for the first time since 2004 when it airs an NHL opening-night doubleheader in the fall. And the league’s other new TV partner, Turner Sports, also revealed its inaugural games on TNT. The league unveiled its 82-game 2021-22 regular-season schedule today
The canceled NBC series again ranks No. 1 in Nielsen’s metric for the week of June 21-27. For the second week in a row, the first two seasons of Manifest recorded more than 2 billion minutes of watch time on Netflix — marking some of the highest tallies for an acquired show since Nielsen began releasing weekly rankings 10 months ago.
CBS Television Stations will serve as the launch group. The recently canceled ABC sitcom has been sold to other station groups for 85% U.S. coverage. It launches in fall 2022.
Unscripted programs ruled Wednesday evening as CBS’s Big Brother and ABC’s The $100,000 Pyramid marked the evening’s highest-rated and most-watched titles, respectively.
Add Legendary Entertainment to the list of media companies that may capitalize on the burgeoning desire for high-end Hollywood content. Bloomberg reported in April Legendary had tapped investment bank LionTree LLC to explore possible deals, including merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). But talks appear to be heating up in recent weeks, with the company exploring something separate and apart from a SPAC, according to insiders.
Molly Solomon, NBC Olympics executive producer, says that the network will not add additional crowd noise to its coverage. The hope is that fans will hear the Games as they haven’t been able to before, whether it is the action in the pool during swimming or conversations between competitors and coaches during gymnastics.
Warner Chappell Production Music (WCPM), creative partner to content creators, technology platforms and the TV/film, streaming, broadcast, sports and advertising industries, today unveiled a top-to-bottom rebrand complete with a new […]
Just months after the major pro sports leagues resumed play after the pandemic forced an unprecedented shutdown of live sports for nearly a year, COVID-19 is still having an adverse effect on the live sports event business. While the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines has paved the way for a return of most pro sports events in 2021 — and has allowed fans to attend events at full capacity in many venues — observers said the industry has not yet declared victory against the virus.
The Television Academy has once again canceled the post-Emmys Governors Balls, and has also announced that the Creative Arts Emmys will return to the weekend before the Primetime Emmys telecast, and take place on Saturday, Sept. 11, and Sunday, Sept. 12. Just like the plans for this year’s Primetime Emmys ceremony, the live audience for the Creative Arts Emmys will be limited to nominees and their guests, and be held at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles’ LA Live complex.
This 44th class of honorees for lifetime achievement in the creative arts is heavy on musical performers. The honorees also include Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, actress-singer Bette Midler, opera singer Justino Diaz and folk music legend Joni Mitchell. All will be honored on Dec. 5 with a trademark program that includes personalized tributes and performances that are kept secret from the honorees.
ABC’s coverage of the sixth and deciding NBA Finals match-up Tuesday drew nearly 9 million viewers along with a 2.8 demo rating (per Nielsen fast affiliates), easily marking the series’ best numbers. That’s up sharply from last year’s Game 6 clincher (which aired in October), but on pace to be a far cry from 2019’s numbers.
The industry group that represents major television networks is calling on the nonprofit Media Rating Council to strip Nielsen’s accreditation in an unprecedented escalation of a months-long feud centered on the accuracy of Nielsen ratings. On Wednesday morning, the Video Advertising Bureau, which counts A+E Networks, Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS (among others) as members, delivered a letter to the MRC demanding that it suspend its accreditation of Nielsen’s national ratings service due to the measurement firm’s handling of its in-home panel. That panel, which serves as the backbone of Nielsen’s television measurement products, has been cast into doubt since at least March 2020.
The Good Doctor ties Savannah Guthrie for the lowest guest host rating; Ken Jennings still tops.
Just weeks after NBC canceled the sci-fi drama after three seasons, TVLine confirms that the network has restarted talks with Warner Bros. Television about a possible Season 4. As an added twist, Deadline reports that Netflix is also taking part in the renewal talks, signaling a possible mutually beneficial arrangement between NBC and the streamer.
Imagine Entertainment, the production banner run by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, has been the subject of renewed acquisition talks in recent weeks, according to multiple sources. Investors and potential buyers include an undisclosed sovereign wealth fund from the Middle East, which has been quietly exploring American media investments of late. Also kicking the tires on Imagine are Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, the former Disney executives who have a bankroll of up to $2 billion from private equity giant Blackstone to buy up independent content companies; as well as international banks.
The CW‘s The Republic of Sarah this Monday drew 330,000 total viewers and a 0.1 demo rating, improving on last week’s series lows. Over on ABC, The Bachelorette (3.7M/0.9) led the night in both measures.
