television

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Billy Mays, 'Hendrix' of Pitchmen, Is Buried

(Newser) - TV pitchman Billy Mays was laid to rest today in his hardscrabble hometown of McKees Rocks, Pa., the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Friends described his determined rise from the mill town to the malls of New Jersey to the hallowed heights of the Home Shopping Network. “If there was a...

A Little Bit Cloudy, a Little Bit Rock 'n Roll

Weather Channel abandons smooth jazz for harder-edged music

(Newser) - The Weather Channel has ditched its familiar smooth jazz background music for the likes of the Rolling Stones—to the delight of watchers and advertisers alike. “People would have it on but they wouldn’t be watching and they wouldn’t be listening,” the exec who pushed the...

Manufacturers Drop Plasma TVs as LCD Takes Over

Pioneer, Vizio axe plasma production lines; retailers slash prices

(Newser) - TV buyers are increasingly choosing liquid-crystal-display over plasma as LCD manufacturers beef up the technological capabilities of their sets, the Wall Street Journal reports. With 30 million LCDs sold in North America in 2008, compared with 4 million plasmas, Pioneer and Vizio are discontinuing their plasma lines. The shift means...

Emmys Line Up Harris to Host
 Emmys Line Up Harris to Host 
Jul 2, 2009 1:14 PM CDT

Emmys Line Up Harris to Host

Mother star moves to TV after hosting Tonys

(Newser) - Neil Patrick Harris is likely to be the host of the next Emmy Awards ceremony, sources tell Variety. The How I Met Your Mother star is in negotiations with CBS and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to front the broadcast Sept. 20. Harris was a hit hosting the...

Fox Has Top 10 Cable News Shows

(Newser) - More evidence of Fox News' growing domination of cable TV: The network now has the top 10 programs in terms of total viewers, reports Mediabistro's TVNewser blog. Bill O'Reilly still leads the way, followed by Sean Hannity. Glenn Beck is in third, but his viewership of about 2 million is...

Top 5 Billy Mays Infomercial Wares
 Top 5 Billy Mays 
 Infomercial 
 Wares 
OPINION
Jun 29, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

Top 5 Billy Mays Infomercial Wares

(Newser) - Many of the As Seen on TV goods hawked by the late Billy Mays were reviewed in the pages of Popular Mechanics; Harry Sawyers runs down the bellowing talent's top five infomercial products.
  1. Hercules Hook: A heavy painting and a sack of books were no match for a hollow-wall anchor
...

Impressionist Travalena Dead at 66
 Impressionist 
 Travalena Dead at 66 
OBITUARY
Jun 29, 2009 11:58 AM CDT

Impressionist Travalena Dead at 66

(Newser) - Fred Travalena, a master impressionist whose catalog of voices ranged from US presidents to Frank Sinatra doing Boy George, has died at 66 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the Los Angeles Times reports. The actor-singer-mimic, known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces," opened for the likes of Shirley...

Infomercial Icon Mays Dead at 50

TV Pitchman wasn't wearing a seatbelt: FAA

(Newser) - Television pitchman Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, Fla., home today, the St. Petersburg Times reports. He was 50. The promoter of everything from baking soda to cleaning supplies said he felt unwell last night after landing in a 737 airplane that blew out a front tire. Mays...

Gigolo Comedy Pays Off for HBO
 Gigolo Comedy 
 Pays Off for HBO 
TV REVIEW
Jun 26, 2009 3:39 PM CDT

Gigolo Comedy Pays Off for HBO

HBO's newest is more than a sex gag, but needs to develop further

(Newser) - Critics are split on Hung, HBO's new series starring Thomas Jane as a down-on-his-luck dad who becomes a gigolo. Though it's deeper than its salacious premise, the show, which makes its debut Sunday, isn't living up to its potential.
  • Hung "represents a wonderfully positive step for HBO, which has
...

'I'm Terribly Sorry, But David Gregory Had a Fit'

Scarborough cancels on Stephanopoulos

(Newser) - The highbrow news shows are seeing a little soap-opera drama—and a good old-fashioned hissy fit: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had to cancel an appearance on George Stephanopoulos' This Week on ABC, reports the New York Post. "I'm terribly sorry," he told Stephanopoulos, "but David Gregory had a...

Farrah: 'America's Ideal of Itself'
 Farrah: 
 'America's Ideal of Itself'  
APPRECIATION
Jun 25, 2009 2:58 PM CDT

Farrah: 'America's Ideal of Itself'

(Newser) - Farrah Fawcett’s time as a superstar may have been short, but she played her entire life—and career—with grace, Richard Corliss writes in Time. And no one can forget her 1970s heyday. “If the big, bulky computers of the day could have programmed America’s ideal of...

Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62
 Farrah 
 Fawcett 
 Dead at 62 
obituary
Jun 25, 2009 12:31 PM CDT

Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62

'Charlie's Angels' star diagnosed with cancer in 2006

(Newser) - Farrah Fawcett died this morning in Los Angeles after the battle with cancer that followed her 2006 diagnosis, Entertainment Tonight reports. The Charlie’s Angels star, 62, was a 1970s fashion idol who began her career in commercials and shot to fame after posing in an iconic portrait wearing a...

No Sex (After 9), Please—We're the BBC

Survey prompts British channel to cut back on racy content, swearing

(Newser) - Responding to viewers’ concerns, the BBC will no longer give free rein to potentially offensive material after 9pm, the Telegraph reports. A network survey of 2,700 people age 11 and up found that its audience, especially older viewers, is unhappy with the content. Now, foul language may be subject...

Gosselin 'Rich Kids' Get $28K Playhouses

(Newser) - While Jon and Kate discussed their painful decision to divorce on the latest episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8, their kids were frolicking in their four new, custom-made playhouses that cost a whopping $28,000, reports ABC News. The super-pricey haunted house, pirate ship, veterinary clinic, and garden shop...

Bolivian TV's Flight 447 Photos Actually From Lost

News program apologizes after gaffe

(Newser) - In what was either a bizarre prank or heinous gaffe, a Bolivian TV station broadcast two photographs last week from the ABC series Lost as exclusive photos from the final moments of Air France Flight 447, the Telegraph reports. The first shows passengers in an aircraft cabin using oxygen masks,...

Iconic Sidekick Ed McMahon Dead at 86
 Iconic Sidekick 
 Ed McMahon 
 Dead at 86 
obituary
Jun 23, 2009 8:11 AM CDT

Iconic Sidekick Ed McMahon Dead at 86

Former Tonight Show sidekick fought cancer

(Newser) - Ed McMahon died last night in Los Angeles. The former Johnny Carson sidekick, 86, had long fought cancer and was recently admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, WAPT reports. Besides his Tonight Show role, McMahon was known for hosting Star Search and appearing on commercials handing giant checks to American...

NBC, CBS At Odds on How to Survive
 NBC, CBS 
 At Odds on 
 How to Survive 
ANALYSIS
Jun 22, 2009 2:45 PM CDT

NBC, CBS At Odds on How to Survive

Zucker trumpets new model; Moonves aims for hit shows

(Newser) - America’s oldest TV broadcasters see very different roads ahead as they navigate today’s world of splintering audiences, Advertising Age reports. NBC is carving a new path, dropping five hours of potential scripted shows a week for a nightly Jay Leno show, and banking on its cable channels. CBS,...

Kate Defends Spanking Daughter

Mom under fire in latest brouhaha to hit Jon & Kate Plus 8

(Newser) - In the latest brouhaha to hit Jon & Kate Plus 8, the brood's beleaguered mom is defending her controversial spanking of daughter Leah that was captured by paparazzi. The series of still shots show Kate Gosselin jerking the arm of the 5-year-old, reaching around Leah's backside, and finally, Leah clutching...

TR Knight Leaving Grey's Anatomy

(Newser) - It won't come as a huge shock to Grey's Anatomy fans, but TR Knight—aka Dr. George O'Malley—is leaving the show, reports Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly. Knight has been unhappy with his shrinking role and has reportedly clashed with creator Shonda Rhimes. Knight's character was seriously injured in...

PBS Bans New Religious Programming
PBS Bans New Religious Programming
Jun 17, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

PBS Bans New Religious Programming

Channels that already carry church services allowed to continue

(Newser) - PBS has voted to enforce its longstanding prohibition on sectarian broadcasts and ban its stations from carrying any new religious programming, the Washington Post reports. As a compromise, the few stations that already air church services and religious lectures will be allowed to continue to do so. Religious discussions that...

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