Programming

Amid the ongoing probe into comments made by Sharon Osbourne during a heated exchange between her and fellow The Talk co-host Sheryl Underwood, CBS is further extending the daytime talk show’s hiatus through at least this week, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Big Bang Theory producer Chuck Lorre’s latest — the midseason series United States of Al — is being criticized for casting a non-Afghan actor in its titular role, and for the character’s depiction in general, while one of the show’s executive producers has issued a staunch defense.

“Our plan is that this year’s Oscars will look like a movie, not a television show,” said show producers Jesse Collins, Stacy Sher and Steven Soderbergh in a statement Friday. They’ve enlisted Emmy and Tony Award winning director Glenn Weiss to direct the live broadcast on ABC on April 25.

Perhaps a sign that consumers are longing for the good times, they are literally watching shows like Good Times. It’s true, the growing abundance of media choices is helping people across the country find something to smile about when they want to turn away from the news and get that happy feeling again. And comedy programs are coming to the rescue.

Shelly Palmer: “Whenever I’m asked about the fate of the television business, I always answer, ‘As goes the next NFL deal, so goes TV.’ Well, as everyone with even the slightest interest in the subject already knows, the NFL/TV deal is done—but times have changed. The NFL deal makes it very clear that it is time for the FCC to think seriously about reclaiming the spectrum gifted to the local broadcast industry. It is also time for Congress to craft policies that not only respect the state of today’s technology but aspire to leverage the technology of tomorrow.”

The new rights deal that include streaming rights “ends the retrans gravy train,” says analyst Rich Greenfield, while Moffett Nathanson says the biggest losers “will be the non-O&O affiliates of NBC and CBS.”

Roku has recruited another former employee from Quibi, the now-defunct mobile streaming subscription startup that closed its doors in 2020 just six months after launching. Lisa Flores, previously marketing lead at Quibi, is now overseeing social media for The Roku Channel, the company’s streaming service that aggregates free, ad-supported and subscription content.

“The NFL is following the path we have seen first in scripted TV, then original films, followed by kids and unscripted content, and increasingly news and now sports,” writes one Wall Street expert.

A crew member for ABC’s The Conners died on set on Thursday. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, had also worked on Roseanne.

Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen (with 2.6 million viewers and a 0.8 rating) and Last Man Standing (2.3M/0.5) ticked up in both measures and each tied their season highs in the demo. Over on ABC, Station 19 (4.9M/0.7) slipped to new series lows.

It’s case closed for Burden of Truth. The Canadian legal drama, which airs in the U.S. on The CW, will end with the current season. The show’s official Facebook page announced the news, revealing that Thursday’s episode (on Canadian broadcaster CBC) will serve as the series closer.

Entertainment Tonight has found its newest co-host, elevating Nischelle Turner to the top job alongside current host Kevin Frazier. With the promotion, Turner makes history as the first Black woman to serve as co-host of ET.

Three weeks before its fourth season premiered on NBC, Good Girls became the most watched show on Netflix in the United States. That’s according to Nielsen’s streaming rankings for the week of Feb. 15-21, during which U.S. Netflix viewers watched nearly 1.08 billion minutes of the drama starring Christina Hendricks, Retta and Mae Whitman. The show’s third season made its Netflix debut on Feb. 16.

The league took in $5.9 billion a year in its current contracts. It will get $113 billion over the 11 seasons of the new deals that begin in 2023, an increase of 80% over the previous such period. Amazon has partnered with the league to stream Thursday night games since 2017, but it will take over the entire package from Fox, which has had it since 2018. Games will continue to air on CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN, while ABC will have a limited schedule of games as well as returning to the Super Bowl rotation for the first time since the 2005 season. Above, CBS, with lead anchors Tony Romo (l) and Jim Nantz, will continue to carry its traditional package of games.

NBC’s Chicago Med on Wednesday drew 6.8 million total viewers and a 0.7 demo rating, down 10% and 30%, respectively. to mark series lows. Fox’s The Masked Singer (4.8M/1.1) slipped 16% and two tenths, yet still dominated Wednesday in the demo.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is preparing to rebrand its regional Fox Sports networks in the U.S. under the banner of Bally Sports, taking the name of casino operator Bally’s Corp. as sports media continues to establish closer ties with the gambling industry. The TV-station giant has begun a marketing campaign promoting the role the regional television networks play in delivering fans live games and other sports content about their local teams and players.