Sold: All CBS' Super Bowl Ad Spots

Don't expect your average cop shows and sitcoms

(NEWSER) - As they ready their fall lineups for advertisers, the major networks are stepping off last season's beaten path of struggles and flops. “We were looking for fresh,” says NBC Entertainment’s new president. “I really want people to see the concept for a show and go: ‘Oh wow. What’s that?’” To that end, his network is planning shows like Smash, the big-budget story of a Broadway musical’s creation. The series will have original songs penned by Broadway legends—and it’s getting some help from Steven Spielberg. More»

From election-night snafus to the WGA strike

(NEWSER) - It’s been an embarrassing decade for TV networks, as the Hollywood Reporter proves with its list of the aughties’ biggest industry mistakes:

1. Hollywood writers’ strike: It was unnecessary and “mutually destructive”—and for viewers, “has there ever been a longer 14 weeks?”
2. ABC’s rejection of CSI: The show has scored $6 billion for CBS and prompted spurned producer Jerry Bruckheimer to walk out on Disney.

To fill seats, league holds local TV broadcasts hostage

(NEWSER) - High ticket prices and the recession are taking their toll on attendance at pro football games. But if you can’t afford the stadium, at least you can watch at home, right? Wrong. The NFL is sticking to its “blackout” policy—no local broadcast if the stadium doesn’t sell out 3 days before a game—designed in 1973 to keep attendance up, Time reports. But if no one can afford the seats, does a blackout make sense? More»

Southland , Parks and Recreation lead upturn

(NEWSER) - After years of poor ratings, NBC may be on the rebound with the help of two new series: cop show Southland and Amy Poehler’s comedy Parks and Recreation. Parks scored only 6.9 million total viewers, but it maintained 88% of The Office’s coveted young-adult audience. Southland topped CBS’ Harper’s Island in the 18-to-49 demographic and beat expectations by almost equaling Harper’s Island's total viewership. More»

Technical issues keep baseball playoff, NFL game off air long enough to drive fans nuts

(NEWSER) - Power problems had fans hoping to catch the baseball playoffs and the NFL on TV this weekend howling, the AP reports, with a malfunction at TBS headquarters keeping the first 20 minutes of Tampa Bay’s Game 6 loss to visiting Boston off the airwaves Saturday. Yesterday, balloons snagged a transformer and cut power CBS needed to broadcast most of the first half of Chargers-Bills from Buffalo. More»