|
|
CBS's powerful Tuesday block was stopped short Tuesday night by a celebrity edition of NBC's "Fear Factor" and its 9 p.m. sitcoms. "Fear Factor" handily won the 8 p.m. hour among adults 18-49, while CBS's "JAG" won households. At 9 p.m., the NBC sitcoms "Frasier" and "Scrubs" won each of their half-hours among adults 18-49. "Frasier" also won its half-hour in households, and ABC's "NYPD Blue" won the 9:30 p.m. half-hour in households, upsetting CBS's previously winning "The Guardian." Fox's "24" finished the hour third among adults 18-49 and fourth in households. At 10 p.m., CBS's "Judging Amy" swept the hour in both households and adults 18-49. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Tuesday were: CBS 10.5/16 and 3.9, NBC 8.9/14 and 6.0, ABC 7.6/12 and 4.3, and Fox 5.8/9 and 4.6.
Coming soon: The New York Sun, a new daily
The lid is off plans by two conservative editors to launch a new daily New York newspaper to compete with The New York Times. In January, an editorial team headed by Seth Lipsky and Ira Stoll will publish the first issue of the New York Sun, a five-days-a-week broadsheet that is expected to have the same neoconservative viewpoint Lipsky articulated as editor in chief of The Forward, the Jewish weekly. Stoll, who served as Lipsky's deputy at The Forward, has been running a web site, SmarterTimes.com, that he uses to critique the Times for what he sees as a liberal bias. The Sun will be backed by a group of investors including Canadian media mogul Conrad Black, who has made a number of previous attempts to buy his way into the New York newspaper market, according to the New York Observer.
Cops search Pee-wee's house in kiddie-porn raid
Acting on a tip, Los Angeles police have raided the Hollywood house of Paul Reubens, better known as Pee-wee Herman, in search of some pretty weird stuff--and we don't mean talking furniture. Reubens, who hosted the short-lived ABC game show "You Don't Know Jack," is reportedly suspected of owning large amounts of child pornography. A story in the upcoming issue of the National Enquirer claims that police seized magazines, books, three computers and nearly 2,000 videotapes and discovered more than 20 pornographic Polaroids of underage boys in the Nov. 16 raid. A spokesman for Reubens acknowledged that the actor is a collector of "erotic art" but said the kiddie porn allegations are part of a blackmail scheme, according to the New York Post. Reubens lost his job hosting the Saturday morning children's show "Pee-wee's Playhouse" after he was arrested in 1991 for masturbating in an adult movie theater.
Canadian gov't warns reporters of kidnap plot
Pinned down in the harsh terrain of southern Afghanistan, the Taliban is looking for any leverage it can get. On Monday night Canada's Foreign Affairs Department learned of a Taliban plan to lure journliasts into the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and use them as bargaining chips in exchange for the release of Al-Qaeda prisoners and a halt to the U.S. bombing campaign. Governmental officials quickly spread the report to news organizations everywhere, warning them not to accept any offers for safe passage from the Taliban. Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said the Islamic fundamentalist state would begin killing journalists if its demands were not met, according to Canada's The Star. The Taliban expelled over 100 foreign journalists last Friday before a tour of Kandahar could be arranged. In related news, the BBC, the Associated Press, the Washington Post and the major U.S. broadcast networks are pulling their reporters out of northern Afghanistan after a Swedish cameraman was shot to death in an apparent robbery. He is the eighth foreign journalist to be killed.
Post's Kelly plays spy game with Hearst
Relations between journalists and publicists are fraught even at the best of times, but for Keith Kelly, trying to get a little information out of Hearst has started to feel like running the Moscow bureau of the CIA in 1985. Kelly, who writes the New York Post’s Media Ink column, says Hearst Magazines President Cathleen Black has repeatedly ordered "witch hunts" in an attempt to stop employees from leaking inside gossip to the Post. One leaker told Kelly that her interrogator confronted her with phone records all but proving her guilt. Fortunately, Kelly has advice for those still wishing to break Hearst’s code of silence: "For future reference, call after hours, from a pay phone or from your personal cell phone or your home phone--and we'll give you our cell number. Needless to say, all calls will be kept confidential."
SF Chronicle to eliminate 220 jobs
A year after Hearst Corp. promised to usher in a new era for the San Francisco Chronicle, the paper announced plans to reduce its staff by 220, or 8.5 percent, yesterday. Layoffs will account for about half the reduction, although employees who started at the paper before July 27, 2000--when Hearst took over--are protected. The rest will be bought out, with severance payments equaling up to two years' salary, depending on seniority. In announcing the cuts, the Chronicle cited a steep 20 percent drop in advertising revenue, largely caused by a loss of Silicon Valley dot.com ad money. The cutbacks follow recent news that the paper's Sunday magazine would only be published every other week. Over at the Examiner, the ad slump might be just as bad, but at least Ted Fang has his job as publisher back, courtesy of the owner of the paper, his mom. He was reinstated Monday after being fired by her two weeks ago.
November 28, 2001
© 2001 Media Life
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
