The advertisement for “Southland” that NBC placed on the front page of the Los Angeles Times last week is either brilliant or inept—or accidentally a little of both. Before we dissect this “Southland” ad—a print version of what would be considered a product-placement ad in the TV world—some caveats are...
Difficult times spur the greatest innovations, and television stations are proving the point. The recession is choking off revenue for stations, their newscasts face ever more ratings challenges as young viewers drift to the Web, and local newspapers are challenging their in-market video supremacy. Some...
Cheers to NBC for shaking up the business last week. Under the leadership of Jeff Zucker, NBC announced the stripping of a new talk/variety show with Jay Leno at the 10 p.m. hour, starting next fall. The reaction from many in the business is that it’s either going to succeed brilliantly or fail miserably...