FOX

Next Year on FOX: The Joe The Plumber Reality Series

October 29, 2008 by Jim Connelly

Well, it’s now official: Joe The Plumber — thrust in the spotlight by his newfound close personal friend John McCain — has officially endorsed Senator McCain for President. This should be a surprise to absolutely nobody. While Mr. The Plumber has heretofore demurred as to whom he was supporting, he continually undermined those demurrals by saying how much worse his life would be if Senator Obama became President Obama.

However, Medialoper has it on good authority that Mr. The Plumber — real name Samuel J. Wurzelbacher — should actually be rooting for Senator Obama. Because the FOX network is going to put his beliefs to the test!!

That’s right, if Obama wins, look for The Joe The Plumber’s Real America Show reality series on FOX next year! According to our sources, it will be “in the tradition of The Hills,” as we follow Wurzelbacher’s attempt to actually earn more than $250,000 in 2009, and thereby qualify to have his taxes raised by Obama.

If he makes that much money and has his taxes raised, then he wins!

That’s What I Like: Postseason Baseball

October 13, 2006 by Jim Connelly

I’ve always kinda loved October. I grew up in California’s Central Valley, so after four or five months of ridiculous heat and smog; October felt like the beginning of the new year. Even now, there is a coolness, wetness and clearness to the air and the sky that no other time of the year seems to have.

But most of all, I love October because it has Major League Baseball’s postseason.

NBC: Getting Smarter

July 25, 2006 by Jim Connelly

When faced with the world of 21st Century Television, different networks do different things to bring audiences to their shows. In the past couple of weeks we’ve learned that FOX will continue to ruin the baseball playoffs; ABC wants to disable the fast-forward button on DVRs and CBS is going to advertise on food.

Lame lame lame. (Actually, I recognize that the FOX/MLB partnership is shrewd from the marketing standpoint; it’s just that I’m a lifelong baseball fan who recoils in horror at being faced with Tim McCarver, those dopey “Sounds of the Game” and sitcom stars in box seats every goddamn October until 2053 or whenever it is.)

So just when you’d figure that NBC would also come up with some kind of dumbass stunt or idea of their own, they actually go in the complete opposite direction and do something very very smart.

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Upfronts: I Was Lost And Now I Am Found

May 17, 2006 by Jim Connelly

ABC, who once was blind, now can see.

ABC has announced that Lost, a show that is either (take your pick):

intricately plotted by insidious masterminds
completely cobbled together by panic-stricken monkeys
both

will air next season with no repeats, the plethora of which this season has taken some of the wind from its sails.

Good! Of course, FOX has been doing this with 24 for a couple of seasons now. However, unlike 24 — which derives at least part of its adrenaline rush from the fact that the airing of its episodes is as relentless as the beep-boop! beep-boop! beep-boop! beep-boop! that powers it — next season of Lost will air in two disparate chunks.

Some people see that as a problem. I don’t.

Will Online Programming Kill Local Television Affiliates?

April 16, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Last week Fox announced it plans to make 100% of its prime time programming available online within the next three years. While this is the most ambitious move yet by a major network to embrace online programming, what sets Fox apart from the other networks is the way it has dealt with its local affiliates.

While NBC, ABC, and CBS have been selectively testing limited programming downloads (to the dismay of their local affiliates), Fox has been working to obtain affiliate buy-in before making any moves online. The result is an agreement that has Fox sharing online revenue with local affiliates in exchange for the right to eventually make all of its programming available on the web.

Presumably the other networks are in similar negotiations, but one has to wonder whether those negotiations will be any easier now that the networks have made their initial move without first consulting their affiliates.

While Fox’s approach might look like a win for local affiliates, the nature of online programming raises questions about the very concept of network affiliates. In a world where consumers can obtain programming from the web, iTunes, cable, and satellite, do networks still need local broadcast affiliates?

TeeVeePedia

April 3, 2006 by Jim Connelly

As ever, there were dozens upon dozens of April Fools sites up this year. Many of them involved new looks for established sites, or new products or services. While we would never mess with our audience this way, we sampled several others — no way to get them all, of course — but one I really enjoyed is the TeeVeePedia, done by the people at TeeVee.org.

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