• Comcast is "close" to a deal to take control of NBC Universal. [NYT]
• Scripps Networks, which controls the Food Network and HGTV, is close to taking over the Travel Channel for the low, low price of $1 billion. [NYT]
• The critically-acclaimed cop drama Southland is coming back. Although NBC canceled the show, TNT…
Southland Will Live: TNT Grabs the Cancelled NBC Police Drama
Just because NBC can't make it work, doesn't mean somebody can't. TNT, announced this morning they will pick up Southland, the critically acclaimed cop drama Executive Produced by ER's John Wells, which NBC cancelled a few weeks back.
The Summer People Stopped Watching Network TV
Already in a down-trend this whole year, network television is suffering from drastically low ratings this summer. ABC, for example? They just posted their lowest. ratings. EVER—ever!—in the 18-49 demographic. Other nets aren't doing much better.
Put On Your Overalls but Leave One Strap Off, Because It's 1992 Again
Oh, so much happens today. A new 1990s begins on The CW. Another wonderful movie about smart alec animals lurches into fruition. TNT makes its big, crime-ridden power play. The Real World will soon date rape you. And the clouds of war gather and loom.
New Mad Men Ripoff Lacks Sex Appeal, Cigarettes
Because every excellent, original TV series must have an inferior ripoff on another network: forget Mad Men, the new advertising-centric drama is Trust Me. On TNT! Your new Don Draper: that guy from Ed.
TNT Announces 'Will & Ed' At Upfronts
· TNT's upfronts at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York announce three new original series to premiere in the coming year—Steven Bochco's Raising the Bar, Dean Devlin's Leverage and Truth in Advertising, starring Will & Grace's Eric McCormack and Ed's Tom Cavanagh. Will's totally going to get laid this time, we can…
TNT to Endlessly Recycle Series Online
TNT — the network famous for running the same programs or movies end-to-end for weekends at a time — is taking the art of infinite repetition a step further with the launch of DramaVision, their own online free (i.e. ad-supported) video channel. The first offering will be all 552 turgid minutes of Spielbergian epic…
Anthony Lane's DIY awards dinner
The New Yorker's Anthony Lane dissects the TNT-broadcasted cook-along for the SAG awards dinner. (You, too, can eat like a nominee!) "Chantarelle dust""not something you snort but a handful of mushrooms that you torch at insane heat until they are begging for mercy"is required, as are "endive leaves overlapping each…
