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'Vampire' gets pickup Other shorts: Life & Style goes 100 percent Jon & Kate free Oct 22, 2009 Fang-tastic: ‘Vampire’ gets full-season pickup Having hit books (“Twilight”), movies (“Twilight”) and cable (“True Blood”), the blood-sucking craze has officially caught on broadcast. "The Vampire Diaries" has become the latest new show to earn a pickup, the CW said yesterday, with the network giving the show an official, and expected, full-season order. "Diaries" drew the largest series debut audience in the channel's four-year history last month, and its most recent outing drew its largest audience, 3.9 million total viewers, since its premiere. It has become the network's most-watched show and is delivering double-digit percentage increases over last year's Thursday 8 p.m. show, "Smallville," in all the network's key demos. But the CW doesn't have as much love for "Melrose Place." The revival of the '90s Fox show did get a back order for five more scripts yesterday, but the network seems to be holding off on a full-season order, perhaps until it sees whether Heather Locklear's much-anticipated guest appearance next month can goose ratings for the show, which is losing a big chunk of its "90210" lead-in. Life & Style goes 100 percent Jon & Kate free Having achieved Paris Hilton-level annoyingness, Jon and Kate Gosselin are being blacked out by the media. The current issue of celebrity magazine Life & Style Weekly is completely Gosselin free, with no mentions of the “Jon & Kate Plus 8” parents after a poll of 1,000 readers showed 94 percent were fed up with the reality couple’s antics in the press. In a release, Life & Style editor in chief Dan Wakeford said, “We’re listening to our readers who have overwhelmingly asked us to take a break from Jon and Kate. We believe, for the sake of their children, they need some time to solve their problems behind closed doors.” The couple begged paparazzo for privacy earlier this year when they first separated, which struck many as hypocritical after inviting cameras into their home. The Gosselin blackout mirrors one imposed on another reality TV star, Hilton, in early 2007. Associated Press entertainment editor Jesse Washington banned all mentions of Hilton for a short period after experiencing Paris overload. Later that year Us Weekly did the same, with editor Janice Min telling the AP, “When it came down to it, the staff and I felt what I believe a lot of people in America are feeling. Which is just enormous Paris fatigue.” WSJ.com ramps up its premium business offerings Rupert Murdoch has been pretty vocal about his intent to charge for access to all of News Corp.’s news sites, and he apparently won’t miss a chance to charge extra for the ones that are already walled off. After quietly raising the price for a subscription to WSJ.com, which now costs $197 per year, the Journal is now launching The Wall Street Journal Professional Edition, a new web offering aimed at executives looking for more in-depth coverage of markets, archives dating back two years, and Dow Jones Newswires and Factiva content. The souped-up subscription will cost $49 per month, targeting businesses that can buy a so-called site license to distribute to employees for a bit extra. Murdoch has been saying for months that News Corp. can no longer afford to give away its news and suggested that any outlets that continue to do so are foolish. The newspaper industry as a whole has been looking for new and creative ways to increase revenue with ad spending declining, and walling off web sites and offering extras look to be one of the first answers. Yet another on-air swear in New York City Former New York Police Department commissioner Bernie Kerik has bigger issues, but he couldn’t have liked what he was called on live TV earlier this week. In a live report, WABC anchor Bill Ritter mistakenly called Kerik New York’s former “top cock,” before quickly correcting his words to “top cop.” Kerik is in jail right now awaiting trial on conspiracy and fraud charges. There may be something in the water New York anchors are drinking, as Ritter isn’t the first to swear on the air recently. Just last month WNYW anchor Ernie Anastos meant to say “Keep plucking that chicken,” but replaced “plucking” with a word that rhymes and begins with the letter F. Last year WNBC’s Sue Simmons yelled “What the fuck are you doing?” while shooting a live promo for her show. Reporters aren’t immune from the slip-ups, either. A few years ago WCBS reporter Arthur Chi'en was fired after he lashed out at a couple of guys who interfered with his live shot. After delivering his report, but before the camera cut away from him, Chi'en turned to the men and said, “What the fuck is your problem?” Comcast putting cable shows online Comcast will become the first cable carrier to offer TV series online, but it undoubtedly won’t be the last. The company will start offering streams of cable shows from networks including AMC and HBO, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said at a conference earlier this week where he demonstrated the device. The cable carrier said it was developing such a service earlier this year, and Time Warner Cable is also planning a similar service. The networks will decide how much of their content is made available at the Comcast hub, whether it’s one season or an entire library. The content will be available only to Comcast customers, who must verify their identities before receiving access to any of the shows. Comcast is still determining how much access a household will have, i.e. how many different computers one person could access content on. The idea was spurred by a desire to protect its content as networks increasingly make their shows available for free online.
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