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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: prime time

prime time stories: 13 news summaries
Analysis

Leno Ratings Doomed...as Is the Future of Network TV 

Ratings may stink, but bottom line will be strong for NBC

Sep 21, 09 11:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - No one expects the Jay Leno Show to maintain the pumped-up ratings it got this week—not even NBC. But the low-key talk show might represent the future of network TV anyway, simply because it’s so darn cheap, writes Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age. With viewers breaking... More »

MORE ABOUT:
NBC • Jay Leno • late night host • TV industry • network television • prime time • The Jay Leno Show

REVIEW ROUND-UP

 New Leno Show 
 Numbingly 
 (or Pleasantly) 
 Familiar 

It's pretty much the Tonight Show in a new time slot

Sep 15, 09 6:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Jay Leno Show won't disappoint Leno fans looking for more of the same, say critics, but the only thing new or ground-breaking about it is the 10pm time slot.
  • James Poniewozik, Time: Leno and NBC aren't "out to win over critics who liked Letterman better. Instead, they're
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
NBC • Jerry Seinfeld • Kanye West • Jay Leno • talk show • Tonight Show • prime time • The Jay Leno Show

Networks Complain About Obama Hour

Broadcasters say 'overexposed' prez wastes valuable time

Aug 3, 09 10:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Networks are not happy about the primetime hour that President Obama's July 22 news conference took up, reports Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. Rahm Emanuel called the top brass at all three networks to ensure they carried the event. The networks both resent the pressure and complain that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • television • Barack Obama • NBC • CBS • ABC • press conference • Rahm Emanuel • health care reform • network television • George W. Bush • television news • Obama administration • President Obama • prime time

(Newser) - President Obama will take to the airwaves tonight in his fourth prime-time news conference with a familiar message: Health care reform is not only long overdue, it's a "central" part of the plan to keep the economy on track. In excerpts released in advance of tonight's 8pm EST address,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care costs • health care reform • speech • President Obama • prime time

(Newser) - Fans of Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” segment won't have to wait for the weekend to get their update, as NBC plans to air up to 13 primetime, half-hour episodes on Thursday nights next season, the New York Times reports. Seth Meyers will reprise his usual hosting gig,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Saturday Night Live • entertainment • NBC • Tina Fey • Seth Meyers • Amy Poehler • Weekend Update • Weekend Update Thursday • prime time

 Fox Nixes Obama's 
 Airtime Request 

Network decides Tim Roth trumps president in sweeps programming

Apr 28, 09 6:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Fox is passing on President Obama's news conference tomorrow night in favor of a new episode of Tim Roth’s drama Lie to Me, reports the Los Angeles Times. The president's requests for airtime—tomorrow makes four in under 100 days—have caused some griping among networks worried about their... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Rupert Murdoch • Fox • President Obama • Lie To Me • prime time • Tim Roth

Middle-of-the-Road CNN 
Slips Into Last Place 

Network is prime-time ratings loser

Apr 27, 09 10:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - Based on cable news ratings, CNN's "no bias" strategy seems to be backfiring. The network, which sticks to the middle in its news coverage, has had an average of 271,000 primetime viewers in April, behind both conservative Fox News (668,000) and lefty MSNBC (300,000), the New ... More »

MORE ABOUT:
MSNBC • Fox News • CNN • TV ratings • cable news • prime time

ANALYSIS

Obama Blanked Top Papers But Took Tough Questions

But president endured tougher questioning than last conference

Mar 25, 09 6:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama bypassed reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and other major papers last night, instead taking questions from Spanish-language TV station Univision and military newspaper Stars and Stripes. Yet the president faced tougher questions than at his first press conference, often in the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • New York Times • Washington Post • Wall Street Journal • Univision • press conference • CNN • Obama administration • President Obama • prime time

ANALYSIS

'Professor in Chief' Stern on Recovery

Hammers budget as
key to turnaround in prime-time presser

Mar 25, 09 5:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Last night's prime-time news conference showed Barack Obama at his most serious; tempering his trademark oratorical skills, he became a "placid and unsmiling professor in chief," write Peter Baker and Adam Nagourney in the New York Times. After the frenzy of the previous week, the president went out... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • president • press conference • AIG • economy • prime time

(Newser) - President Obama took to the primetime airwaves last night to make the case that his economic recovery plan is showing "signs of progress," the Washington Post reports. "We will recover from this recession," he asserted, emphasizing repeatedly that his budget is "inseparable" from that recovery,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
recession • speech • economy • President Obama • prime time

Leno Doesn't Know When
You Go to Bed

Sorry Jay, Americans aren't turning in earlier —quite the opposite

Dec 17, 08 12:28 PM CST
(Newser) - Despite what Jay Leno may think, Americans aren't going to bed earlier, the blog TV by the Numbers reports. Nielsen ratings confirm that more people watch TV at 10pm than later on, but that's nothing new. "What the data shows is a decreasing trend of viewership between 10 and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
NBC • Nielsen Ratings • Jay Leno • network television • prime time

Leno Looking Forward to Earlier Nights

NBC aims to
snag viewers in
prime-time experiment

Dec 16, 08 2:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Jay Leno isn't losing any sleep over his upcoming exit from the late-night world, he tells the New York Times. The announcement by the Tonight Show host that he's moving to the 10 pm spot at NBC stunned many who expected him to switch to ABC. Leno's excited about the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
NBC • ABC • Jay Leno • late night talk show • late night host • Conan O'Brien • Tonight Show • network television • prime time

Fickle Election Audience Threatens Network Shows

Election blamed for disrupting viewing, hurting programs like 'Lipstick Jungle'

Nov 10, 08 3:31 AM CST
(Newser) - Election coverage disrupted America's viewing habits, playing havoc with the ratings of some network shows that could soon be cut if they don't recover their audiences, reports the Los Angeles Times. ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, NBC's Lipstick Jungle and the new critically acclaimed CBS comedy Worst Week,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
NBC • CBS • ABC • TV ratings • election coverage • network dramas • sitcoms • David Poltrack • cancellations • prime time

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