TV with MeeVee

Network TV Audience Has Fallen And It Can't Get Up

It's rare for TV viewers to care about demographics. But this is a killer. A new report from research firm Magna Global shows that the network TV audience as a whole has aged out of the demographic most desired by advertisers. The median age of the broadcast audience is now 50, while ad buyers want to reach viewers aged 18-49. This might be an awesome time to sell your network stock. You can read the report yourself by clicking to this TV By The Numbers item and downloading the PDF.

Median age means half the audience is younger and half is older. The half-century mark was reached because the audiences for ABC, NBC and Fox have gotten older, while the traditionally old CBS has stayed steady. The Magna Global study pegs CBS at 53, followed by ABC at 49 and NBC at 48, while Fox's median age is 43 and CW's is 34. The median age for the U.S. population, by the way, is 38.

What are the oldest-skewing shows? ABC's canceled "Women's Murder Club" came in at a median age of 57, followed closely by "Dancing With The Stars" at 55. On CBS, the oldest show was "60 Minutes," at, ironically enough, 60. NBC's "Monk" came in at 58. Fox's oldest was "Canterbury's Law" at 55. CW's was the canceled  "Life Is Wild" at 45.

The youngest? CW's "One Tree Hill" and "Gossip Girl" came in between 36 and 29, depending on the night. Fox's "American Dad" and "Family Guy" at 29. For NBC, it was "Scrubs," at 34. For CBS, "How I Met Your Mother," at 45. For ABC, "Supernanny" at 41 and "Lost" at 43.

Interestingly, time-shifted viewer (by DVR etc.) drops the median age for some shows significantly. "Lost" drops to about 38 when the 22 percent of its audience who time-shift their viewing are considered.

Not surprisingly, Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" is the oldest-skewing late-night program, with a median age of 54 for NBC. But Conan O'Brien's "Late Night", who follows Leno, has the youngest audience of the major shows, at 46.

All of this suggests that either the five broadcast networks - and especially the big three - will become less and less attractive to advertisers. Their saving grace, though, might be the baby boomers, the demographic pig in the python, who are also aging.

Emmy Semi-Finalists Announced

In what's either a thrilling new sign of openness in its voting procedures or a naked attempt to whip up hype, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences tonight announced the semi-finalists for best drama and best comedy in this year's Emmy awards. Tell us what you think of the lists!

The press release:

Top 10 Drama and Comedy Finalists Announced

The lists below represent the 60th Primetime Emmy® Awards’ top ten vote-getters for outstanding drama series and outstanding comedy series, as voted on by the entire Television Academy.
Step two in the process will be the Blue Ribbon Panel screenings, which will be conducted throughout this weekend of June 28-29.
The results of those panels, who will watch and judge the work of each finalist, represent 50 percent of the vote. Both results will be averaged together to come up with our five nominees in each category.
Those nominees will be announced by the Television Academy at 5:40 a.m. on Thursday, July 17.
Panel participants have been confirmed and the panels are currently closed.
The accounting firm of Ernst & Young oversees tabulation of Primetime Emmy® nominations.

Top 10 Comedy Series Finalists

• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords
• The Office
• Pushing Daisies
• 30 Rock
• Two and a Half Men
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds

Top 10 Drama Series Finalists

• Boston Legal
• Damages
• Dexter
• Friday Night Lights
• Grey’s Anatomy
• House
• Lost
• Mad Men
• The Tudors
• The Wire

Lunchtime Reading

• The N.Y. Times is surprised to find that advertisers are now comfy using edgy characters like the Griffins of "Family Guy" in advertising.
• Jimmy Kimmel will be fucking Ben Affleck through at least 2010. (TV Squad)
• Zac Efron is totally gross about not showering, say on-set "High School Musical 3" gossips. Or maybe he's just trying to counteract the rumors that he's girly and fastidious and loves wearing makeup. Whatevs. (Buddy TV)
• Disney's plan for tween-world domination continues with "Camp Rock." (THR)
• Apparently legislators in Australia haven't got enough to do with their time, because they had a big to-do about swearing on "Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares." (AP)

Fox Schedules Fall Premieres

Fox just emailed out a press release with all their fall premiere dates, with the action beginning with a two-hour "Prison Break" on Sept. 1 and many shows having two-hour openers. Fox abandoned an earlier plan that had some shows bowing in late August. J.J. Abrams' "Fringe," with Joshua Jackson (right), bows Sept. 9; "House" doesn't return until Sept. 16. "The Simpsons" and the rest of the "animation domination" lineup reappear on Sept. 28.

The complete list is after the jump.

Animation Domination: Family Guy Vs. The Office?

All those years "The Simpsons" was the best comedy on television, or second only to "Seinfeld," it never won an Emmy nomination for best comedy, having to content itself with best animated series. Apparently TV Academy rules mean that shows had to pick one category and stick to it; knowing that the best-comedy odds were long, especially in the neanderthal times of the early 1990s, the creators of "The Simpsons" and other shows generally contented themselves with the statuary from the cartoon category. When they did try for the regular comedy categories, there were no nominations forthcoming. But now, once again going where other animated shows have feared to tread, "Family Guy" is going to take a whack at it.

As reported by Variety, Seth MacFarlane and company reclassified their hourlong season opener - "Blue Harvest," a "Star Wars" parody - as a special, and entered that in the animation category, while putting the series itself up for best comedy. Of course, they still have to get a nomination from the notoriously fickle academy voters.

There's also a report that the "Simpsons" voice cast has cut a new deal with producers, earning a reputed $400,000 an episode each. Why didn't I go into voice acting? D'oh!!!!

Fox Announces 2008-09 Season Plans

Fox wants you to feel their electricity. No, really. "“Broadcast television needs a jolt. We feel it’s our responsibility, as the No. 1 network for the last four seasons, to provide that electricity,” Fox Broadcasting Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori says in remarks  prepared for his upfront presentation to advertisers in New York today.

The schedule announced this morning puts the most focus on dramas from J.J. Abrams ("Lost") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). The network is not exactly reinventing the wheel, but they are putting something besides repeats on Friday night. And the bloated "American Idol" results show gets cuts back to a half hour in '09.

Fox executives on a conference call with reporters this morning admit that, like the other networks, Fox has fewer new shows due to the writers strike's disruption of the development cycle. Of course, when you're the most-watched network among total viewers as well as viewers 18-49 ...no worries mon. And they say they actually have shows in development now for all the way to the start of 2010.

Two new series debut in the fall:

"Fringe" (above), a thriller from Abrams, stars newcomer Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble as allies thrown together to investigate weirdness emanating from a mysterious Boston plane crash. Think "Lost" meets "The X-Files." It will air behind "House" on Tuesday nights in the fall.

"Do Not Disturb" is a comedy with Jerry O'Connell as a manager at an upscale New York hotel; Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" will direct some episodes.

The "24" prequel also airs in November, as we reported earlier this morning. One Fox exec on the call just termed it "a really cool piece of standalone business."

Coming after the first of the year - along with "24" and "American Idol" - are four more new series, including another giving-it-away reality show, called "Secret Millionaire."

The year's most anticipated drama is Whedon's "Dollhouse" (right). Eliza Dushku, who enlivened the final seasons of "Buffy," stars as one of an underground group who have their personalities "wiped" and replaced with new ones in order to better carry out their secret missions.

In the spring we'll see two comedies, the unlikely "Family Guy" spinoff "Cleveland" and the animated "Sit Down, Shut Up," from "Arrested Development" creator Mitchell Hurwitz. That's about a group of less-than-dedicated teachers, with Bateman leading the voice cast.

Tidbits from the conference call:

Someone just asked the execs how they decided whether to give "Fringe" or "Dollhouse" the fall launch. Entertainment President Kevin Reilly - I think it was him, anyway - said it was "a high-class problem to have." Whedon had seven scripts written from the get-go, but Abrams finished pilot production sooner. Whdeon welcomed the extra time, the execs said.

Morning links busted with pot, Ecstasy, steroids, underaged country singer

No, no, no, we're not Gary Dourdan OR Roger Clemens. We're just good old morning links. We kid because we crave your attention...

• Early word on"Family Guy" spinoff "Cleveland" (right) and other pilotless fall pickup probables. (Hollywood Reporter)
• The return of "House" gives Fox a boost. (TV Decoder)
• And more on Monday ratings. (Televisionista)
• A loooooot of kids want to be in "High School Musical." Like, no kidding. (Buddy TV)
• Coming this fall on the "24" prequel: Jack Bauer in Africa. Cool! (Buddy TV)
• Big episode for "Reaper" Tuesday. C'mon, CW, renew this show! (TV Squad)
• Lucille Bluth and other "90210" casting news. (TV Addict)
• Katie's ratings still suck to the max. (TV Week)

Lois Griffin And Alex Borstein: Got MILF?

Apparently a lot of people who visit our website are looking for "Sexy Pictures Of Alex Borstein." Borstein, the voice of "The Family Guy" MILF Lois Griffin, is most often seen live in occasional reruns of "Mad TV," where she played characters like The Gap Troll, so it's a little tricky to find really sexy pictures of her.

Fortunately, we have skills and resources, and found this photo of Borstein from a "Family Guy" promotional event. Cheers to you, our loyal, pervy readers!

Spinoff City: "Prison Break" And "Family Guy" To Get Relatives

According to the Hollywood Reporter, both "Family Guy" and "Prison Break" are set to have spinoffs on Fox. The "Family Guy" one will be based on the character of Cleveland Brown. The one with the deli. You know... the, uh, token black character on the show. Yeah, that guy.

It could be pretty funny, but since Cleveland's the only character on "Family Guy" with any common sense, I don't quite see it moving in the same wacky-hijinks vein as "Family Guy." It would be brilliant if they made Cleveland's interactions with his unfaithful and domineering wife, Loretta, into a heartbreaking drama worthy of HBO. That could work pretty well.

Meanwhile, the Prison Break spinoff will be set at a women's prison. I imagine it will be something like this:

"House," "Bones" And Other Fox Series Back In Business

Dr. House will once again be insulting the deathly ill. Why do we love him so.

Booth and Brennan will be flirting inappropriately over the grotesque remains of innocent crime victims. And Peter Griffin will be back sobbing into his beer at the Drunken Clam.

Fox has announced resumed production and post-strike premiere dates for a bunch of shows. Among those that will be back on the set is "24," which will finish up production on its seventh season, even though it won't return until Jan. 2009.

"Bones" will be back with new shows April 14, while "House" follows two weeks later. The much-ballyhooed Julianna Margulies courtroom series "Canterbury's Law" finally sees the air March 10. The complete press release with all the details is after the jump.

"Family Guy" Highlights: Meg's Worst Moments

Adult Swim has a top ten list (with video!) of Meg's most humiliating moments from "Family Guy." Two are from the makeover episode, which I'd totally forgotten about.

I particularly like this one, which highlights the way Lois is a nice mom in all the wrong ways:

"Family Guy" Celebrates 100th Episode with Matricide

It's a big TV night, beginning with the Patriots-Colts battle of the undefeateds on CBS at 4, and including the annual week-late-due-to-baseball "Simpsons" Treehouse of Horror Halloween special. But the other important show tonight is a milestone, the 100th episode of "Family Guy," which was canceled once by Fox, brought back due to enormous DVD sales, and now reigns as a genuine hit. The episode has a lighthearted approach, with Stewie finally getting up the gumption to machinegun his mom, blowing her over the side of a cruiseship. That's not a spoiler, because it's all over the ads. And I will warn you now that tonight's ep also ends with the dreaded words "To be Continued."

The plot - don't like spoilers? Skip to the next graf - erupts when Brian the Dog gives Lois two cruise tickets for her birthday, and is surprised when she takes husband Peter instead of him. He eggs on Stewie, who is feeling abandoned and once again muttering about killing her. So Stewie takes a speedboat out to the cruise ship, brandishing a gun...

What was most fun about watching this episode is that I've already seen it performed live by Seth McFarlane and his crew this summer at press tour, at a mock table read Fox put up to entertain us critics during lunch one day. As always with "Family Guy," there were things that were blow-soup-out-your-nose funny, and also things that you couldn't believe they put in a script much less on TV. There's a Rosie O'Donnell gag tonight that left me sputtering, and I don't sputter easily.

McFarlane made a point of noting to us that it wasn't a final script because he was still negotiating with Fox what could stay in. Having watch the air version of the episode now, I'm baffled, because the Rosie gag and numerous other bits of often hilarious yet wince-inducing raunch remain. But they actually cut my favorite joke, which I will now share with you here.

Peter has embarrassed Lois at the captain's table on the ship but topping the captain's picturesque anecdote with a somewhat less appropriate one of his own. Lois complains. Peter says the captain should be the one embarrassed - "His story was gay!" But Lois is enraged and sinks to his level. "You're gay!" she sputters back and exits stage left in a huff. All that's in the show. What's missing from the script version is what peter said to her back as she left: "Pleasuring a man with a socked foot one time doesn't make me gay."

Now that's comedy.

Halloween Specials: "Grey's Anatomy," "Bones," "Simpsons," More!

"Grey's Anatomy" had its Halloween special last week, and BuzzSugar has the talk about it.

"Big Bang Theory" is celebrating Halloween tonight, and you can find out more at Seriously OMG.

"Bones" is up for a Halloween special tomorrow night, and TubeTalk is all over that one.

On Sunday, "The Simpsons" will have "Treehouse Of Horror XVIII" and Wikipedia has the best details I've found so far: Parodies of "Mr. And Mrs. Smith" and "E.T." and a story about Flanders punishing the town's kids for their naughtiness.

Oddly, the "Family Guy" episode also involves a bit of "Mr. And Mrs. Smith" parody, although it's not a Halloween special. It is, however, the 100th episode, "Stewie Kills Lois," in which Stewie actually makes a serious attempt on his mother's life. Yeah, matricide is always hilarious.

Totally Frakked: "Family Guy" May Make Star Wars A Regular Affair

The "Star Wars" episode of "Family Guy" was more than just good comedy, it was also a huge success for the little show, garnering the highest ratings for the show since its return to Fox.  The episode was so successful that there's talk of coming back for an "Empire Strikes Back" spoof for next year's season.

If the "Empire" spoof goes well, the show may make it a regular tradition, like the halloween episode of "The Simpsons."  Well, for six seasons, anyway, then they run out of movies to spoof.  I can't decide if spoofs of the prequels will be better or worse; on the one hand the movies are less iconic, on the other hand, they're terrible.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Totally Frakked: "Family Guy" Kicks Off The (Geek) Season With Style

It's not easy to get permission from George Lucas to do a serious "Star Wars" parody. How "Family Guy," easily one of the most perverse and irreverent shows on TV, talked Lucas into the "Return Of The Griffins" episode for its season opener is anyone's guess, but it was absolutely worth the price of admission. The episode did what "Family Guy" does best, pop-culture references (what "Star Wars" parody would be complete without a "Doctor Who" joke?) and jaw-droppingly crude humor.

Plenty of that crude humor is provided by the ultra-creepy old pedophile Herbert, who fills in as the Obi-Wan of the story, including a performance of "(I Had)The Time Of My Life" addressed to Chris.  All of the humor comes in the traditional "Family Guy" 60-gags-a-minute style, and even throwaway lines like Peter's "Hey kid, don't get penis-y" are clever. Wikipedia has a giant page of the pop-culture references in the episode, and even culture geeks like me couldn't catch them all. Even the episode title, "Blue Harvest," is a nod to the original code name of Star Wars.

Many of its detractors will be quick to point out that "Family Guy" wouldn't exist without the benefit of "The Simpsons' " influence. True, but that doesn't mean the show has nothing unique to bring to the table. The humor of "Family Guy" is distinctly its own, and it's showcased perfectly in the season opener.  One of the problems with "Family Guy" has always been inconsistency, but if this episode is any indication, we're in for a hot ride this season.

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday? We don't need stinkin' Saturday. Watch college football on ABC, or "Torchwood" on BBC America, and forget about "Cops" and the endless reruns on the other networks. Sunday, though, is as always another story, featuring the season's most bizarre new show ("Viva Laughlin," right) and several returning favorites.

ABC's trio of hits - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers & Sisters" - returns on Sept. 30. The big excitement here has to be Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion joining the cast of "Desperate," a show that seems in definite though not desperate need of some fresh fuel. It will be interesting to watch the ratings here.

CBS will still have "60 Minutes" at 7 and "Cold Case" at 9, and it's swapping in James Woods as "Shark" at 10. The show has curdled a little as Woods' bracingly hard-edged character has gotten soft around the edges; we'll see if that trend slows or accelerates as Jeri Ryan's character becomes his co-worker instead of his boss. Kevin Pollack as the new DA ought to be good, though. But the big news here...

Fox Popcorn. "Family Guy" Movie Spoof.

Don't believe bloggers or old-school journos when they tell you they can't be bought. There is one price we all have: Food. I mean, what are you going to do, send it back? It'd spoil. So I should probably tell you that I am sitting here munching from a giant-ass can of Fox Sunday Animation popcorn as I write this. The Fedex guy brought it the other day with a DVD of upcoming episodes of "The Simpsons," "Family Guy" and the rest. It's in four flavors: Regular, Cheese, Caramel and, uh...Orange. (That's not the flavor, that's the color.) Anyhoo, all that's prep to telling you that the ever-hilarious and deeply sick "Family Guy" has a season premiere on Sept. 23 you won't want to miss. It's called "Blue Harvest," and it's a "Star Wars" parody. I think we can all agree that Lois looks hot in the Princess Leia haircut, no?

"Family Guy" Cracks Up The TCA

Seth MacFarlane and the rest of the "Family Guy" cast just gave a live reading of their upcoming 100th episode, "Stewie Kills Lois," mostly convulsing the lunching critics with laughter and only once or twice stunning us into silence. The episode finds Lois sailing off with Peter on a cruise, and psychopathic infant Stewie getting his revenge for being left behind. It's part one of two, and the last words we heard from the folks on stage were "to be continued." But it's hard not to like an episode in which James Brolin wants to go shopping, so wife Barbra Streisand puts a finger aside her ginormous honker and blows cash out her nostril with a sound-effects ATM whir. That was about the only clean joke.

MacFarlane cuts a distinctive figure with his black eyebrows and vaguely Stewie-shaped head. The other four guys wouldn't get a second look at Home Depot. But also on the stage were Mila Kunis of "That 70s Show" and the lovely and hilarious Alex Bornstein, who wore a snazzy red dress that required her to give her boobs a little flourish as she climbed on stage.  

Fox warned us that not everything in the script by David A. Goodman (who narrated) had passed the standards and practices department - thus we might be offended. MacFarlane, for his part, referred repeatedly to passages that Fox had ordered trimmed.

LOIS: You're totally ruined this trip for me! I am mortified to even show my face around this ship!
PETER: Hey, the captain's the one who should be embarrassed. His story was gay!
LOIS (sputtering with rage): You're gay!
PETER: Pleasuring a man with a socked foot one time does not make a person gay!