television – News Stories About television - Page 51

Nov 15, 2008 1:45 PM CST

TRL Going Out With a Bang

(Newser) - After 10 years of screaming fans, frantic voting, and celebrity appearances, MTV’s Total Request Live is finally going off the air. A star-studded 2-hour finale will air tomorrow, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sinking ratings for the music video show are behind its demise—about 322,000 watch the...

Lively Not Really That Gossipy

GLOSSIES

Nov 13, 2008 2:45 PM CST

Lively Not Really That Gossipy

Gossip Girl star waxes poetic on her career, clothes, co-stars

(Newser) - Blake Lively might be the "hottest senior ever to roam the halls" of hit show Gossip Girl, but the 21-year-old is a far cry from the "boozy party girl she plays on TV," writes Dana Wood in W. "I don't really like to go out,"...

Fox Cancels Mad TV

Nov 12, 2008 5:50 PM CST

Fox Cancels Mad TV

Fox cancels comedy show after 14 years

(Newser) - Mad TV will bid adieu after 14 seasons of Saturday night sketches, the final nail in its coffin coming from a failure to boost ratings during the presidential campaign, reports Defamer. Fox's Saturday Night Live competitor, which has been on the chopping block for years, will finish up the season...

Gee, Beav, Sculpture
by Wally at the Louvre

Nov 11, 2008 6:08 PM CST

Gee, Beav, Sculpture by Wally at the Louvre

(Newser) - Eat your heart out, Eddie Haskell. Tony Dow, best known as the actor who portrayed the Beav's big brother, Wally, in the '50s TV series Leave It to Beaver, will have one of his abstract sculptures on display at the Louvre. Several sculptors from the Karen Lynne Gallery, including Dow,...

ABC Slates Lost Premiere

Nov 8, 2008 4:45 PM CST

ABC Slates Lost Premiere

(Newser) - After months of speculation, ABC insiders say that season five of Lost will premiere on ABC January 21, with an hour-long refresher and two new episodes, Entertainment Weekly reports. The 3-hour special will air on a Wednesday, setting up Lost to compete with American Idol on Fox. But regular episodes...

Oprah Set to Bolt ABC

Nov 8, 2008 10:02 AM CST

Oprah Set to Bolt ABC

(Newser) - Oprah is getting ready to say goodbye to ABC and take her legendary talk show to her OWN cable network, the New York Post reports. The CEO of Discovery Communications, which is teaming up with Winfrey to create OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) says he expects Winfrey’s eponymous show...

Critic John Leonard Dead at 69

Nov 6, 2008 4:15 PM CST

Critic John Leonard Dead at 69

Lung cancer claims Vonnegut's 'smartest man who ever lived'

(Newser) - Critic and author John Leonard died last night after a long battle with cancer. Leonard, whom Kurt Vonnegut once called "the smartest man who ever lived," was 69. A brilliant but not flashy stylist, an unapologetic liberal, and a mentor to countless younger writers, Leonard worked at various...

Saved by Zero? Or Sick to
Death of It?

Nov 6, 2008 2:30 PM CST

Saved by Zero? Or Sick to Death of It?

Toyota's relentless 0% APR ads wear thin ... and will continue

(Newser) - “Saved by zero?” Try bored. Toyota’s 0% APR ad campaign has left TV viewers annoyed—by both the jingle and the fact that it airs seemingly incessantly, AP reports. Though some might appreciate the extension of 0% financing, originally set to expire this week, most viewers are bemoaning...

Obama Owes Her Big Time

Nov 6, 2008 2:07 PM CST

Obama Owes Her Big Time

Winfrey's endorsement gave candidate huge boost, especially during primaries

(Newser) - As an early backer of Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey may have made the difference in the close primary contest against Hillary Clinton, Jake Tapper writes for ABC’s Nightline. One statistician estimates Winfrey—whose choices for her book club, for example, have an astronomical impact on book sales—delivered between...

Oprah on
Obama Win:
'We Did This'

Nov 5, 2008 9:40 AM CST

Oprah on Obama Win: 'We Did This'

TV host plans special election show today

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey began to open up about the election last night in Chicago, and today on her show, she’ll “unleash” her views on Barack Obama’s victory, her website says. “This happened because we did this,” she told Mark Halperin at Obama’s rally. "We...

Edwards' ER
Check Funds
African Hospital

Nov 4, 2008 12:36 PM CST

Edwards' ER Check Funds African Hospital

Anthony Edwards asks for charity donation for cost of guest appearance

(Newser) - In lieu of a paycheck for his return to ER as the deceased Dr. Mark Greene, with scenes shot in flashbacks, Anthony Edwards asked Warner Bros. to donate $125,000 to help build a 250-bed hospital in Africa, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Steven Spielberg matched that money, and ER's executive...

Grey's Axes Lesbian Doc

Nov 4, 2008 12:09 PM CST

Grey's Axes Lesbian Doc

Brooke Smith's last show airs Thursday

(Newser) - ABC is ending Callie and Erica's lesbian romance on Grey's Anatomy—and Brooke Smith's role as Dr. Erica Hahn along with it. Though Grey's executive producer said Smith's firing was due to a lack of "magic and chemistry," not her character's sexual orientation, insiders told Entertainment Weekly that...

Could Rain Trigger Autism?

Nov 4, 2008 9:50 AM CST

Could Rain Trigger Autism?

Surprise link between autism and rainfall

(Newser) - US counties with higher rates of rainfall also have higher rates of autism, according to a controversial new study published by the American Medical Association. Pollutants in the precipitation, longer periods spent watching television, lower levels of vitamin D, or some other environmental factor linked to rainfall may trigger autism...

TV's Gimmickry
Diminishes Election

OPINION

Nov 3, 2008 1:27 PM CST

TV's Gimmickry Diminishes Election

News operations aim for ratings, shoot viewers instead

(Newser) - Tomorrow night will be a high-water mark for TV news gadget gimmickry as the networks try to hook some of the millions of viewers who will tune in for election coverage, Rick Kushman writes in the Sacramento Bee. Some, like the technology that will allow TV networks to have instant...

Maddow's Success
Defies TV's Formula

GLOSSIES

Nov 3, 2008 12:57 PM CST

Maddow's Success Defies TV's Formula

MSNBC's unlikely hit powered by brains, drive

(Newser) - Rachel Maddow is an unlikely cable-news pundit: butch lesbian, holder of a doctorate from Oxford, erstwhile drive-time radio sidekick. But her MSNBC show, launched in September, has been wildly successful, not least because of her good humor and outsider credentials. She plays well with Pat Buchanan, and still snags a...

CBS 'Comfort Food' Wins Over Younger Viewers

Nov 3, 2008 12:39 PM CST

CBS 'Comfort Food' Wins Over Younger Viewers

Though all networks see viewership dip, Eye boasts much smaller slide

(Newser) - CBS isn’t supposed to jockey for the much-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic—it’s supposed to be the network of cop shows starring 50-year-olds. But it’s creaming its rivals during the fall TV season, the New York Times reports, and exec Les Moonves has a theory: “comfort food.”...

Teen Pregnancy
Tied to Steamy TV

Nov 3, 2008 9:37 AM CST

Teen Pregnancy Tied to Steamy TV

Kids who watched most sex content twice as likely to face issue

(Newser) - Teenagers who watch more sexual content on TV are far more likely to face pregnancy, a new study suggests. Of 700 teens interviewed over 3 years, those who watched the most sexual material—on shows such as Friends and Sex and the City—were about twice as likely to get...

Betty's Ugly Charms Wear Thin

OPINION

Oct 31, 2008 3:30 PM CDT

Betty's Ugly Charms Wear Thin

Star Ferrera's rumored off-set cattiness isn't helping, either

(Newser) - When she lost the poncho, she lost the charm: America Ferrera’s Ugly Betty character “seems to be losing her very Betty-ness,” lament the Fug Girls in New York. “Ferrera and her scrappy, brace-faced alter ego” once brought “surprising heart” to ABC’s show, but “...

Is Don Draper Hooking Up With Tina Fey?

Oct 31, 2008 12:38 PM CDT

Is Don Draper Hooking Up With Tina Fey?

Rumor has it Mad Men star will play love interest on 30 Rock

(Newser) - Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better for Tina Fey, she’s about to get a hot, albeit fictional, new beau. A “Rock-solid mole” tells Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello that Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame has signed on for a multi-episode stint on 30 Rock....

Real McCain Set for SNL

Oct 31, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

Real McCain Set for SNL

Exec won't deny rumor that Obama will be on, too

(Newser) - John McCain will take a page from Sarah Palin's book and appear on Saturday Night Live tomorrow, aides tell the AP. It will be his first appearance on the show since May. Meanwhile, rumors continue to fly that Barack Obama will stop, too, but SNL reps aren't confirming or denying...