I read a lot of TV network press releases (so you don’t have to!). What continues to strike me are the number of obvious, meaningless filler phrases stuck into them to attempt to increase the perceived level of achievement for their shows.

Like:

“FACING FIRST-RUN SERIES,” This in the third week of the season. Of course you’re going to be facing first-sun series.

“won its intensely competitive hour” Which then are the “poorly competitive, layup hours”?

“against tough competition” “despite the tough competition” Pray tell, which of the competition isn’t so tough? Press releases never mention them.

I thought hey, I can do that too…

“With most viewers able to quickly change channels by remote control, Show X delivers outstanding 18-49 demo performance!”

“With reading a book always an attractive option, Show Y increased its audience by 12 percent!”

And on a seasonal note, “While those damn trick or treaters were ringing the doorbell every 2 minutes, Show Z had it’s best audience of the season!”

Think you’re up for it? Go for it in the comments

Variety is reporting that, to no ones surprise, USA has renewed both Psych and Burn Notice for a full 16 episode season.

NBC’s America’s Toughest Jobs will relocate from Friday night to the broadcast TV equivalent of Siberia on Saturday at 8pm for its final 2 episodes on October 18 & October 25.

The 2 hour premiere of Crusoe will take the 8pm Friday slot on October 17, and Deal or No Deal will take the 8pm slot beginning on October 24.

Apparently the damage being done on Friday night by America’s Toughest Jobs could not be continued.

It had the worst relative performance for adults 18-49 by any show among English broadcast networks for the first week of the broadcast season from September 22-28.

Variety is reporting that Fox has ordered a full season of Fringe.

“Fringe” has gone mainstream, scoring a full-season order from Fox on Wednesday.Fox’s back nine pick up comes as “Fringe” has so far ranked No. 1 among all new shows in the adults 18-49 demo (with several more entries yet to bow).

“Fringe” bowed to lukewarm ratings, but made a stunning bounce in week two. After four segs, the show has averaged a 4.2 rating and 11 share, and 10.7 million viewers overall.

Read the rest here.

Note that in our first Renew or Cancel Index Fringe came in as the new series most likely to be renewed.

Robert and I both believe that live events like sports will become relatively more valuable in the future because they are more “DVR-proof”. It seems as if the head of content at ESPN agrees (via MediaWeek):

ESPN’s content guru John Skipper says he is going to make a concerted effort to add even more live sports coverage across all of the network’s media platforms while cutting back on scripted series, reality shows, original movies and other types of more general sports entertainment programming.

“We have found that what sports fans really care about, and why they come to ESPN properties is to watch live games,” said Skipper, the company’s vp of content. ESPN’s Sept. 16 Monday Night Football telecast drew 18.6 million viewers, the largest cable audience ever.

Skipper said he will continue to pursue deals for more major college games, and will look to get additional rights to major professional tennis and golf events when they become available. Reclaiming the National Hockey League is also on his to-do list. The NHL is slated to run on Versus through the 2010-2011 season.

Of course, Skipper’s biggest quarry is the Olympics; Skipper is working on a major pitch on behalf of ESPN and sister network ABC to wrest the Olympics’ rights away from NBC when the bidding for the ’14 and ’16 Games come up next year. As the incumbent, NBC will have some advantages. And after its success in Beijing, it’s not going to give up without a fight. Skipper, without offering specifics, said “we are pretty good at finding ways to acquire rights to major events if we want them.”

Read the rest here.

MediaPost is reporting:

Prime-time product placement occurrences on broadcast network programs increased overall by almost 12% during the first and second quarters of 2008.  The top 10 programs featured 21,427 occurrences between January and June of this year-compared to 17,370 occurrences in the same time period in 2007.

The increase in the overall broadcast occurrences can primarily be attributed to “Biggest Loser” and “Hell’s Kitchen.” During the first half of 2008, “American Idol,” was the top program, in terms of the number of placements.  Four of the top 10 programs aired on NBC.

Top 10 Programs for January - June 2008: Product Placement on Broadcast TV
Program	Network	Total # Occurrences
American Idol	FOX	4,636
Biggest Loser	NBC	4,364
Deal or No Deal	NBC	2,122
Extreme Makeover Home Edition	ABC	1,776
Apprentice	NBC	1,646
Hell’s Kitchen	FOX	1,596
Big Brother 9	CBS	1,514
One Tree Hill	CW	1,308
America’s Next Top Model	CW	1,259
Last Comic Standing	NBC	1,206
Total: Top Ten		21,427
Source: Place Views, Nielsen Product Placement Service

The top 10 featured brands on prime-time broadcast network television increased by 38.5% in the first half this year, from 6,848 occurrences in the first half of 2007 to 9,485 between January and June of 2008.  Coca-Cola was again the top brand. 24-Hour Fitness Centers and Chef Revival cooking apparel rounded out the top three brands on broadcast television.

Top 10 Brands for January - June 2008: Product Placement on Broadcast TV
Brand	Product Category	Total # Occurrences
Coca-Cola	Soft Drinks	2,990
24-Hour Fitness	Fitness Centers/Clubs	1,765
Chef Revival	Apparel	1,308
AT&T	Wireless Telephone Services	701
Pussycat Dolls Lounge	Nightclubs	602
Nike	Sporting Footwear	575
Freemotion Fitness	Exercise Equipment	409
Chicago Bears	Football Team	383
Nike	Apparel	378
Precor	Exercise Equipment	374
Total: Top Ten		9,485
Source: Place Views, Nielsen Product Placement Service

Read the rest here (free registration required).

9/26 Update: It’s official, Do Not Disturb is cancelled.

Michael Ausiello at EW.com is reporting that:

Sources confirm to me exclusively that the critically savaged sitcom, starring a slumming Jerry O’Connell and Niecy Nash, has been axed after three low-rated episodes. The show’s Wednesday time slot will be filled with repeats of ‘Til Death, which upgrades the network’s 9 to 10 p.m. comedy block from excruciatingly painful to unbearably painful. (And yes, that is an upgrade, albeit a very slight one.)

A Fox insider insists no official decision has been made re: Do Not Disturb’s fate.

And to think that I called it the most likely new fall show to be a big flop. And the fact that Fox has made no comment is meaningless. The “stealth” cancel is typical of them.

Check out its first and second weeks numbers, and the overnights for its presumably final episode.

An interesting report was released by  Nielsen analyzing some of the viewership trends for the Republican and Democratic conventions. Here are a few highlights:

• Nearly two thirds of all U.S. households (64.5% or 73.2 million homes) tuned into at least one of the 2008 political conventions (Graph 1). This equates to 120.1 million people ages 2+ watching a convention. Viewership levels for the two conventions were essentially tied, with about half of all households watching each one.

• 15.0% of all households tuned to just the RNC, and 15.7% tuned to just the DNC. Another 33.9% of all households tuned to both conventions.

• Homes that watched both conventions were more likely to be headed by someone 65 years or older. They also completed the most formal education: nearly one-third (32.3%) graduated from college. Those watching only one convention were fairly comparable on both education and HOH age, within a point or two.

• Homes that only tuned to the RNC were more likely to have higher incomes ($100K+), to have a larger household size (4+), to be white, to own a DVR, and to have a head of household with
higher education (4+ yrs college) and aged 35-54.

• Homes that only tuned in to the DNC were more likely to have a lower income (<20K), to have a smaller household size (2), to be African American, and to have a head of household who is
younger (<35) and who has less education (1-3 Yrs College).

• About one-fifth (21.2%) of the DNC-only homes were headed by an African American. 83.5% of the RNC-only homes were headed by someone who is white.

• Over 70% of African American homes tuned to at least one of the conventions, including 35.7% that tuned into both, more than each of the other ethnic breaks. Meanwhile 27.4% tuned in only to the DNC and 8.1% tuned in only to the RNC.

• White homes had the second highest reach to both conventions (34.5%), and were the only
ethnic break to have a higher percentage of partisan tuning to the RNC (16.2%) than the DNC
(13.6%).

You can download the entire report here.

©2008 The Nielsen Company