CBS Delivers 12 of Top 20 Shows for the Week

NBC’s Sunday Night Football franchise—which saw New England take on Indianapolis this past weekend—was on the top of the weekly ratings chart for the broadcast networks for the week ending Nov. 15, drawing 22.4 million viewers to watch the pigskin showdown. But the overall winner on the Top 20? Without question: CBS, which served up 12 of the shows in the Top 20. The No. 2 spot went to the high-performing network, as TV’s top scripted show, NCIS, drew 21.0 million viewers. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars was still strong, though, and landed at No. 3, with a still-distant-from-NCIS 17.6 million viewers.

The rest of the Top 20, however, packed few surprises, and is instead filled with the usual suspects, including CBS’ The Mentalist (No. 6), ABC’s Desperate Housewives (No. 10), CBS’ Two and a Half Men (No. 12), CBS’ newbie The Good Wife (No. 14), and even ABC’s long-running Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (No. 20). The one out-of-the-ordinary special that did make the list was the country star-studded CMA Awards, which landed in a plum spot at No. 5, drawing a very healthy 17.2 million viewers.

read the entire article from Hollywood Insider

CBS Plans Super Bowl Halftime and… What Comes On After the Game

"Did you hear who’s going to play during the Super Bowl halftime show?"

"No, who?"
"That’s what I just said. Who."
"No, seriously. Which is the band that’s going to appear?"
"It’s Who."
"I’m not talking proper English. Which band will be on CBS’s halftime show on February 7 at Landshark Stadium in Miami?"
"The Who — you know, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend. ‘Tommy, can you hear me?’"
"Oh! Why didn’t you just say that!"

Okay, I couldn’t resist the nod to Abbott and Costello’s Who’s On First. But the fact is that Sports Illustrated has spread the word that The Who will star in the Super Bowl big, overblown half-time pageant. This follows the safe pattern the NFL has been employing since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake costume malfunction; that is, stick with classic rock stars who are guaranteed to do their hits and not disrobe. That’s why we’ve had Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and now The Who. All superstar acts, no controversy.

read the entire article from TV Squad

Over 100 Jobs Cut At A&E, Lifetime

The consolidation between A&E Networks and Lifetime has begun.

With more than 100 pink slips passed over the past week across the A&E Television Networks landscape. Layoffs are across the board, with Lifetime departments like legal, human resources, publicity and marketing particularly hard hit.

Out in the shuffle are Lifetime head of reality Jessica Samet and head of casting Rick Jacobs.

AETN has been mapping out its consolidation plans for weeks, and looking at ways to remove some redundancies and merge certain areas. As part of that process, several execs had already opted to exit, including Pat Langer, Lifetime’s exec VP for business affairs, legal and human resources, and Lifetime exec VP-chief financial officer James Wesley.

Meanwhile, Lifetime research chief Mike Greco has been named the head of research for all of AETN, replacing Dave Marans, who has departed.
And Lifetime digital topper Dan Surratt will now head up digital for all of AETN.

read the entire article at Broadcast Union News

Craig Ferguson Draws More 18-49 Viewers Than Jimmy Fallon for First Time

by Tanner Stransky

In a first in the late-night talk show world,

CBS’ Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson beat NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in the coveted 18-49 demo, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Ferguson has been inching closer to this for a while: In five of the last seven weeks, he’s tied Fallon. But this is the first time since Ferguson’s 2005 premiere that he’s beaten his competitor from NBC in the advertiser-coveted demo. Jimmy Kimmel Live! managed to tie Late Night last week, too.

from Entertainment Weekly dot com

AFTRA Ratifies Vidgame Deal

Voice work pact previously rejected by SAG

Members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists have approved a new deal for videogame voice work — two weeks after SAG members rejected the same pact.

AFTRA, which made the announcement Thursday, said the deal received backing from 66% of those casting ballots. The pact was sent out to AFTRA’s 2,200 members who work under the contract.

AFTRA covers the lion’s share of unionized voice work for vidgames. SAG, which has asked the companies to return to the bargaining table, had no immediate response to Thursday’s announcement.

The two performers’ unions have generally made little headway with vidgame companies; an estimated 75% of the voice work performed goes to non-union performers.

read the entire article from Variety

CBS Makes Big Changes At The Top

Head of WCBS-New York takes over all 29 stations, reporting to new GM Peter Dunn

The same week CBS Corp. said it would promote WCBS-New York president and general manager Peter Dunn to head of the company’s television stations, the Eye has announced a number of other management restructuring moves as the media company looks to have a stronger foothold in local television markets.

Among the changes, Anton Guitano will become the chief operating officer of CBS Local Media, the company’s new local broadcasting segment, according to a release. Guitano was chief financial officer and senior executive vice president of operations for CBS Radio.

Guitano will report directly to CBS Corp. head Les Moonves as well as CBS Radio chief Dan Mason, and Dunn. Guitano is expected to lead CBS’ efforts to capitalize on local news and Internet properties collection throughout the country.

read the entire article from Inside Blip

CBS Hints at Better-Than-Expected 4Q

NEW YORK (TheStreet) – Even as Oprah Winfrey reportedly mulls leaving the network for her own cable channel, CBS(CBS Quote) boss Leslie Moonves hinted late Thursday that the company’s fourth-quarter results will come in better than expected, receiving a big boost from strengthening spot rates for television ads.

In response to questions during a conference call to discuss third-quarter results with analysts, Moonves explained that CBS decided to not sell ad inventory earlier in the year, when prices were weak. The company has been rewarded, evidently, as rates for spot TV ads have climbed 25% compared with earlier in the year, during the so-called "upfronts," when the networks hawk their fall shows to advertisers.

read the entire article from The Street.Com

British Companies Adopt Digital Theatre

Five leading British theatrical companies have signed on to a new online service called Digital Theatre that will make stage productions available for high-definition download.

Stage director Robert Delamere and producer Tom Shaw, partners in Altered States Media, founded the company, which launched Oct. 26 with the English Touring Theatre production of "Far From the Madding Crowd" in a new adaptation by Mark Healy. Downloads cost £8.99 ($14.69).

The Young Vic will follow with a production of Clare Bayley’s "The Container" in association with Amnesty International. The Almeida Theatre, the Royal Court, and the Royal Shakespeare Company will also participate, and the venture has the support of U.K. unions Equity and BECTU.

Delamere and Shaw said they aim to make digitaltheatre.com, which they said works on all major browsers and operating systems, "the focal point for theatre-based entertainment online."

from Backstage

Winds Darken Ferguson Set

Host forced to finish taping by flashlight

"Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson had to finish taping his program by flashlight on Tuesday after high winds knocked out power at CBS Television City in central Los Angeles.

Show publicist Katie Barker says lights started dimming and then suddenly went black about 5:45 p.m. as Ferguson was interviewing actress Alicia Silverstone, leaving both in the dark as to what was going on.

Producers decided to keep the blackout as part of the show and handed Ferguson a flashlight.

With wind gusts reaching up to 70 mph (112 kph), scattered power outages have been reported around the greater Los Angeles region.

from Variety

Composers Consider Unionization

SCL mulling affiliation with Teamsters Local 399

For the first time in more than a decade, composers and lyricists working in film, TV and videogames are considering unionization.

The Society of Composers & Lyricists was scheduled to announce at its annual membership meeting Tuesday night that an "informational meeting" about the possibility of affiliating with Teamsters Local 399 will be held Nov. 16 at the Pickwick Gardens Conference Center in Burbank, Calif.

The SCL, a nonprofit group whose estimated 1,200 members include many of the composers who work in pics, TV and vidgames, has not taken a position about union representation, SCL officials said.

Emails alerting members of SCL; performing rights orgs ASCAP, BMI and SESAC; and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences were expected to go out this morning. A website has also launched at Composersguild.org.

Composers and lyricists are among the few creatives left without a collective bargaining agreement. Services like orchestration, conducting and music performance are covered by American Federation of Musicians (AFM) agreements, but not the act of writing music or lyrics.

read the entire article from Variety