Something interesting I’ve just seen on Youtube. Local TV stations in the vicinity of the Washington DC area produce local versions of Its Academic - WJZ (CBS O&O) in Baltimore, Maryland, WVIR (NBC affiliate) in Charlottesville, Virginia and WRC (NBC O&O) in Washington DC produce their own local versions.
The Washington DC one is notable for being the longest running quiz TV show in history, and they probably have a record for the longest continuous use of a graphics package on TV in history…
Washington DC’s It’s Academic in 1993:
and in 2015 they’re still using almost identical graphics!
Geez…even though I don’t think the On-Air Presentation has changed at all since it (re)launched in 2005, the national (or predominantly Sydney/NSW-centric version which is/was a national program) version of “It’s Academic” on Channel Seven and later 7TWO here in Australia with Simon Reeve looks positively modern compared with those examples from the US!
USA Network has given the green light to a spinoff of Suits centering on Jessica, played by Gina Torres. Suits’ season 7 finale on April 25 in the US will serve as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff.
Deal or No Deal is being revived, too. Howie Mandel is coming back to host the show later this year and it’ll air on CNBC during primetime. It was part of NBC’s primetime schedule from 2005-2009.
I hope Seven didn’t throw away those 26 brief cases. They may need to bring back this classic should their reality shows keep tanking in the ratings.
CNBC (USA) revamped their primetime lineup about five years ago to appeal to a more mainstream audience. They’ve experimented with talk shows and reality shows and have run repeats of game shows like Deal and 1 vs 100 in the past.
Some of the episodes have missed the mark but I’m pleased to see Will and Grace has been renewed. Still plenty of LOL moments in the episodes I’ve seen.
Eric McCormack must be busy. I remember reading he has been shooting another show in Canada.
Will and Grace has just been renewed for an 11th season consisting of 18 episodes. The upcoming 10th season also got it’s episode order increased from 13 to 18. This means that Will and Grace will run through to 2020.
Roseanne premiered to huge ratings with 18 million viewers and a 5.1 in the demo. That’s the highest non sports rating in the 18-49 demo apart from the post Super Bowl This is US. As a result, ABC’s whole schedule got a lift in ratings. Expect a renewal announcement any day now.
