primetime TV news stories on Newser

Two and a Half Men Gets 10th Season

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:47:12 CDT

Ashton Kutcher still has a job: CBS has officially picked up Two and a Half Men for a 10th season, reports the Hollywood Reporter . The renewed deal gives Kutcher and co-stars Jon Cryer and Angus T Jones raises, with Kutcher reported to now be making $725,000 an episode, up...

ABC Cancels Desperate Housewives

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:21:06 CDT

Things might have just gotten a little more desperate than usual over on Wisteria Lane: ABC is canceling longtime stalwart Desperate Housewives, the network confirmed today to the AP. "We want to make sure it has its victory lap," ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee said in making the announcement that...

Parenthood Has Room to Grow

Kevin Spak — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:07:21 CST

Can the new Parenthood , a remake of the Ron Howard flick of the same name, help repair NBC’s 10pm timeslot? Maybe, critics say, but it’s got some problems. Here’s what they’re saying about the show, which premieres tomorrow: It’s a “credible dramedy with the misfortune of arriving after the similar—...

Tape Delay an Olympic Dilemma

Jane Yager — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:33:58 CST

The good news for NBC is that the North American location of this year's winter Olympics means far less tape-delaying of events than usual; the bad news is that in an era when Twitter can tell you instantly who won the gold medal, delayed broadcasts annoy audiences more than ever....

NBC's Next Challenge: Fixing Prime Time

Nick McMaster — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:55:00 CST

Now that NBC is nearly past the Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien fiasco, the network is refocusing on the job at hand: correcting a 5-year slide in ratings. The Leno gambit, which CEO Jeff Zucker described as an experiment in the "economics" of network television, represented the network's hope that Leno could...

NBC Confirms Leno's Move to 11:35pm

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 12:38:50 CST

NBC confirmed that the Jay Leno primetime television experiment is over, saying today that Leno's nightly primetime show will end with the beginning of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 12. NBC exec Jeff Gaspin says NBC wants Leno to do an 11:35pm show, a return to his old time...

Leno Ends Ratings Freefall

Harry Kimball — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:30:24 CST

A turning point for Jay Leno? For about two weeks now, episodes of the Leno Show have either held steady in the ratings or improved, reversing a trend that started soon after the program’s debut in September. On the eve of Thanksgiving, for instance, every broadcast program was down—except...

John King Will Replace Lou Dobbs

Harry Kimball — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:09:20 CST

CNN political reporter and State of the Union host John King will replace the abruptly departed Lou Dobbs in CNN's 7pm weekday slot starting early next year. Aside from hosting the network's Sunday political gabfest, King is known for using a touch-screen “magic map” to illustrate his election analysis. “There...

Debate Rages Over Leno Move

Kevin Spak — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:46:17 CDT

Jay Leno’s primetime takeover has sparked furious debate in the TV business, as its ripple effects begin to be felt. Shows that thrived at 10pm, like Law & Order SVU , are dying in other slots; at least one, Southland , has been canceled outright. Anonymously, producers are calling the move a...