Jon & Kate Ratings Slip-Slidin' Away

Both Battleground and Lilyhammer get mixed reviews, as streaming services branch out

(NEWSER) - Online streaming sites Hulu and Netflix both launched original series this week, as both services take baby steps toward competing with regular television, reports Gigaom . A look at each:

• Hulu's Battleground is the more conventional of the two, a 13-episode comedy about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin that started today, with a new 22-minute episode airing each Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has solid praise for Battleground, saying it is "a smart, well-written comedy series you might find on a premium cable network." The AP is less kind, however, calling it "a light, watered-down knockoff of The Office," while the New York Daily News comes down somewhere in-between.

Police believe the 75-year-old committed suicide

(NEWSER) - Soul Train creator and longtime host Don Cornelius was found dead this morning in his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home, in what police are calling an apparent suicide. Law enforcement sources say the 75-year-old died from a single gunshot wound to the head, which they believe was self-inflicted. Cornelius' Soul Train holds the title of the "longest-running first-run nationally syndicated show in television history," reports the Los Angeles Times . Its 35-year run began in 1971, and in 2010 Cornelius told the paper that he was working on a sort of biographical movie about the show. More»

1.1M tune in, but Winfrey will likely need to boost that audience

(NEWSER) - Oprah's new talk show debuted Sunday night, and just 1.1 million people watched. That may sound like a lot at first—and, in fact, it is the second largest audience for any show on the struggling Oprah Winfrey Network—but not when you consider Winfrey averaged 6.5 million viewers in the last season of her old daytime show, Piers Morgan premiered in Larry King's old slot to an audience of 2.1 million, and the History Channel's Pawn Stars averaged more than 5 million viewers last month. More»

Adding insult to injury, Home Depot stops selling her paint

(NEWSER) - Martha Stewart is not having a good 2012 so far. The Martha Stewart Show will end in April due to poor ratings, and Home Depot won't even sell her paint anymore, the New York Post reports. Stewart's flagship show, currently on the Hallmark Channel, averaged 225,000 viewers last year, and just 41,000 in the key demographic: females from 25 to 54 years old. Making matters worse, it's very expensive to produce. More»

Gosselin goes from reality TV to the Internet

(NEWSER) - What a relief: Kate Gosselin and her eight children will not go hungry, because the former reality TV star has found a new job as … a part-time blogger for a coupon website, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gosselin is “a longtime advocate of couponing,” according to the CouponCabin.com press release obtained by the Washington Post . Gosselin adds, “No matter what your financial situation is, there’s no reason not to use coupons. It’s like free money in your pocket!” Her first day on the job is Nov. 22, and her first topic will be Black Friday. Click for more on her new gig . More»