With Sunday's Super Bowl being the most viewed TV programeever, it is probably not surprising that the game also delivered the most viewed advertisement in TV history.

A Doritos commercial showing two men attacked in a gym in retaliation for stealing Doritos was seen by about 116.2 million viewers, according to The Nielsen Company. The ad ran in the 4th quarter of the game.

“For an advertiser to make its pitch to more than 116 million viewers at once shows that the Super Bowl remains the single largest television platform for marketers,” Pat McDonough, senior vice president for Nielsen, said in a statement. “And with Super Bowl advertisers adding thousands – if not millions – of commercial views through online and social media exposure, they are able to extend their multi-million dollar investments beyond the game itself.”

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Posted by David Zurawik at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Remember the pilot for a Fox series about reincarnation that filmed in Baltimore last year? It was based on the book, The Reincarnationist," by MJ Rose, and it starred Kelli Giddish, of the soap opera "All My Children," as a psychologist who specializes in past life regression?

Well, it premieres Tuesday night at 9 on Fox as a new weekly drama titled "Past Life," but don't expect to be bowled over by a lot of Baltimore landmarks and imagery in the pilot. As reported in the "Sun," Fox and the producers chose to film in Atlanta rather than Baltimore once the pilot was given the green light as a series.

And it is obvious that any image or scene that could only be from Baltimore has been scrubbed, blurred or edited from the pilot that will air tonight. As you watch, count how many times the camera focuses on the two stars, Giddish and Price Whatley, and purposefully blurs the background in front of which they stand.

But even though the pilot moves from Connecticut to New York to Washington, and strong establishing shots are used for the latter two, there is still some Baltimore-ia to be witnessed if you have a very quick eye.

Continue reading "Baltimore, premise a little blurry in Fox's 'Past Life'" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

The Nielsen Co. estimates that Sunday's Super Bowl between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts was seen by 106.5 million people, making it the most watched program in TV history topping the 1983 finale of “M-A-S-H."

The “M-A-S-H” finale was seen by 105.97 million viewers -- but that was a time in TV history when there were far fewer TV sets and homes.

The previous Super Bowl record was 98.7 million viewers for last year’s game between Arizona and Pittsburgh.

While snow-bound viewers in Mid-Atlantic cities like Washington and Baltimore surely played some role in the new record, it was not a major one, according to analysts who attributed the huge audience to a "compelling narrative" of the underdog Saints coming back against the Colts much as the city of New Orleans itself came back since Hurricane Katrina.

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Posted by David Zurawik at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Continue reading "A poll: What did you think of Tebow, Letterman ads?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (90)
        

The most successful reality TV shows are those that connect to larger societal trends.

As more and more Americans started to focus on healthy eating, along came NBC's "The Biggest Loser." As the concept of globalization took hold of American thinking, "The Amazing Race," with its international treks and challenges, took off on CBS.

But of all the many reality series that have come and gone since the debut of "Survivor" on CBS in 2000, I cannot remember one that did a more efficient job of trying to plug itself into the culture than "Undercover Boss," the new CBS show that premieres tonight after the Super Bowl to what will surely be an audience of tens of millions of viewers.

Continue reading "'Undercover Boss' - Reality TV bites into economy" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

Sarah Palin could not have had a friendlier crowd than the one she spoke to at the Tea Party Convention at Opryland Saturday night. But friendly confines or not, she delivered the goods for the controversial $100,000 speakers fee she earned -- at least for the TV audience watching at home.

First of all, the fact that four cable channels (CNN, MSNBC, Fox and C-SPAN) gave her live coverage is a victory and testament to her power in and of itself. In that respect, she was a winner before she ever said a word.

But the words she did say in a 45-minute speech surely resonated beyond the hotel ballroom, particularly the words that focused frustration and anger against what she successfully painted as an arrogant, ineffectual and highly partisan Obama administration.

The forceful, yet colloquial tone that she so effectively sounded is best suggested by the line she threw down on the Democrats, "So, how's that hopey, changey stuff working out for you?"

Continue reading "Sarah Palin delivers the goods in Tea Party speech" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (83)
        

For the second week in a row, ABC's "20/20" scored big ratings with sex, scandal and cheating politicians.

Last week, 8.1 million viewers tuned in for Bob Woodruff's report and interview with Andrew Young, former aide to John Edwards. The report was done in connection with Young's book on the Edwards sex scandal, "The Politician."

Friday night, 8.6 million tuned in for Barbara Walters interview with Jenny Sanford, estranged wife of disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. The Walters report on political wives and their cheating spouses was done in connection with the release of Jenny Sanford's book, "Staying True."

Continue reading "'20/20' wins big ratings with Jenny Sanford " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

It's a weekend of air mattresses, sleeping bags, couches, pets and even some kids in TV newsrooms as Baltimore's network owned and affiliate stations went to "all hands on deck" to try to cover one of the area's biggest storms in decades.

"Covering a storm like this is energizing and frustrating at the same time," Michelle Butt, news director at WBAL-TV, said in an email Saturday morning.  "... The magnitude of the coverage keeps everyone 'up' -- multiple live shots and extended newscasts are no big deal for my folks. ... However, when you have a storm like this, it takes a toll on your equipment and your people. Things break, people get stuck out in worsening conditions and you worry for your staff's safety.  After all, we're telling everyone to stay in, and I keep sending them out."

So far, the bad weather has been met with some very good work by Baltimore's TV news community. WBAL, WBFF, WJZ and WMAR were all offering extra hours of storm-related coverage by Friday.

Continue reading "Big Storm gets big, strong coverage on Baltimore TV" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Blame it on the snow, but while waiting for the late, local wall-to-wall coverage Friday night, I couldn't help but tune in to ABC's "20/20" featuring Barbara Walters' "Stand By Your Man? Sex & The Political Wife." It focused on Jenny Sanford, estranged wife of South Carolina Governor and famous hiker Mark Sanford, and her memoir "Staying True."

I probably tuned in because last week's "20/20" program featuring Andrew Young, the former aide to former Senator and famed baby daddy John Edwards, was such a successful mix of sex, lies, scandal, reprehensible male behavior and politics that I couldn't turn away. Riding the big ratings and its sudden commitment to book culture, "20/20" couldn't turn away either apparently, and was back for another bite of the apple.

It was just as much of a nasty delight. Same theme as with Edwards last week: Narcisisstic and sanctimonoius southern political male acting like an infatuated adolsecent in the thrall of his first infatuation wrecking lives, lying his butt off and turning your stomach. And all of it seen through the eyes of the spurned wife. Last week, 8.1 million tuned in to see Edwards chewed to pieces.

Continue reading "'20/20' hits the books - on lying, cheating politicians" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Remember when I questioned the rumor in December about Kate Gosselin getting a reality TV dating show in 2010? It came from the New York Daily News, which laid it off on popeater.com. as the source of the story. Kate getting the dating show was all over the Web, remember? So, where's the show?

We have a similar rumor Friday from the celebrity gossip mongers who are willing to print items planted by publicists or just make stories up out of thin air for page views on slow days. They disguise the game by using anonymous and unnamed sources as if this was Watergate.

The rumor: Jon Gosselin will let TLC film his kids again if the Silver-Spring-based cable channel will drop its suit against Jon. This one comes from RadarOnline, the outfit that gave us the infamous Octomom tapes last fall. Remember that? Oh, and guess who else printed it? The New York Daily News Web site, again totally laying it off on the celebrity gossip Web site.

Continue reading "Is Jon Gosselin willing to let his kids back on TLC?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (109)
        

Former reality TV star Kate Gosselin has at least one day lined up to be back in the limelight in 2010. 

ABC's "The View" announced Thursday that the cancelled TV mom will appear as a guest host on March 11. She last appeared on the show as a guest host for three days in September. But at that time, she and her eight children were still on the air and she had a TV following. Since her estranged husband, Jon, went to court to keep their children off the TLC airwaves, the show has been cancelled.

While the Silver-Spring-based TLC channel has said Kate Gosselin will have her own show in 2010, nothing concrete has been established, and the one-time TV mom has fallen out of the tabloid and Internet eye.

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin to be guest host on 'The View' " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (195)
        

Let's not get cosmic about Bill O'Reilly interviewing Jon Stewart Wednesday night on "The O'Reilly Factor."

It was fun -- quite a bit of fun -- and sometimes even enlightening to see two of the most authentic cablecasters in the history of the medium sit down together, spar a little and deconstruct their conversation even as they were having it.

Continue reading "Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly: A bit of authentic fun" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)
        

He's baaaack. TV Obama is everywhere -- again.

Friday, the White House asked for TV coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to Baltimore for the GOP retreat. Saturday, he showed up at halftime on CBS for its coverage of the Georgetown-Duke basketball game. Tuesday, he did a town hall meeting in New Hampshire with the good citizens of the Granite State sitting there like a TV audience. Sunday, he'll be interviewed by Katie Couric before Super Bowl. 

Trying to buck up Brand Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama was interviewed Wednesday on NBC's "Today" by Matt Lauer. Too bad Jay Leno's such a mess these days, or the president would probably be back there as well this week.

Yes, the president did indeed get the message from Massachusetts, but it might not be the one angry and frightened Americans meant to send. The message he appears to have received: Get back on TV like it's 2008 and you are running for president. Because while this governing thing has not been working out too well during the first year, the one thing you can do is perform in front of the camera like no other politician since Ronald Reagan. Work it, baby, work it.

(Pool Photo -Getty Images)

Continue reading "He's baaack: TV Obama is everywhere -- again" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

After laying very low for the past few weeks, Kate Gosselin has surfaced in a couple of tabloid photos taken near her home. One shows her at a supermarket parking lot in a baseball hat with her new hair extensions looking like they are taking on a life of their own. A second image shows her heading in for a manicure -- again near her home, not in New York or Los Angeles.

What matters is what we are not seeing: anything meaningful about Kate's new show.

Which leads me to the poll question of the day. I am starting to believe that TLC does not have a new show for Kate that the channel is comfortable with. I think they shot a pilot for her working different jobs, and it bombed with test groups. Then they floated the premise of a dating show, and the Internet yawned.

The question: Do you think something is going on with TLC NOT putting Kate in the news and not putting out anything concrete about her new show? It was supposed to debut in March, and it is already February and hardly a peep following the pilot taping in North Carolina with Kate as a waitress. The only thing since has been the dating show trial balloon and the hair extensions.

Continue reading "Is Kate Gosselin's new TLC series DOA?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (178)
        

Here's a conversation worth going out of your way to see: Comedy Central's Jon Stewart being interviewed by Bill O'Reilly on the top-rated Fox News Channel.

The interview, which will mark Stewart's second visit to O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone," will air Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

The interview will cover "President Obama, the political landscape and media bias," according to a Fox News Channel press release.

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Posted by David Zurawik at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Give Sean Hannity credit: At least, he had James O'Keefe, the ACORN video boy, on his show Monday night. Unlike some other folks at Fox News, he didn't act like this comic-book crusader was suddenly dead to him after O'Keefe was arrested for entering the office of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu under false pretenses.

On the other hand, maybe he should have ditched O'Keefe, too. What a sorry excuse for an interview and a lame defense O'Keefe offered for his actions. Hannity struck one of his favorite interview poses in such situations -- that of a defense attorney trying to establish his client's version of the facts of the case. But the 25-year-old O'Keefe wasn't able to even do the light lifting that his half of the game required.  

Several times as Hannity rolled out the carpet for O'Keefe to lay down a favorable narrative of events in Landrieu's office, O'Keefe told him there was an ongoing investigation, and that he could not talk further about what happened. He insisted his arrest was just a "misunderstanding."

Continue reading "On Fox: Hannity, O'Keefe and 'new age journalism'" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

Prime-time TV series do not regularly deal very well with death. By and large, death is a surefire way to drive away viewers.

But "Men of a Certain Age" offered a wise and subtle exploration of the way death can enrich and inform life -- and it was one of the strongest episodes in an outstanding first season for the TNT drama.

Owen's diabetes and eating disorder make for a deadly overweight condition. But it isn't until Owen's son stays up all night to tape his father compulsively eating junk food that Owen sees what he is doing to his family. The boy's fear of his father's death drives Owen to commit to a more healthy lifestyle -- and injects a new vitality into his home and work lives. 

Continue reading "Death means new life for 'Men of a Certain Age'" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)
        

Check out this exchange from Sunday's "This Week," with Barbara Walters sitting in the anchor chair. Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post has had its share of journalistic lapses, starts to quiz Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the Fox News Channel.

Continue reading "This is rich: Arianna Huffington plays media critic" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

Sunday night's Grammys telecast was seen by an average audience of 25.8 million viewers, the largest audience for the show in six years, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings supplied by CBS.

But before you get too excited about that number, here is some context: Last week's NFC championship game on Fox between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints was viewed by an average audience of 57. 9 million.

I guess the concept of a "big event" is relative.

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Over the weekend, I wrote about ABC News and the public shaming of former presidential candidate John Edwards. You can read my most recent post on the role media can play in helping re-instill the concept of shame in American life here.

"Good Morning America" is staying on the case and continued the process Monday with Andrew Young, the former aide to Edwards who tells all and then some in his new book, "The Politician." I want to re-iterate something in reaction to those commenters who I fear are missing a crucial point that I am trying to make: What's going on now in the media is not so much about reporting the so-called facts of Edwards debasement. This is instead a cultural process -- like making Edwards walk through the town square with a sign around his neck that says, "I sinned against my wife in horrible ways." It's deeper and more profound, and I think this sense of shame is missing in our culture today, which is why it so hard to find a few moral women in men in Washington, Wall Street or Hollywood.

Here's one video from GMA. There's another after the break.

Continue reading "Public shaming of John Edwards: Does it matter?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)