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Pretty pic of what NBC5's new home is supposed to look like

Ground got officially broken Friday -- it probably was already cracked by the broiling sun -- on NBC5's future new home at the CentrePort Business Park in Fort Worth. We've got a pic and more specs on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Ewings will ride higher with more episodes in Season 2

TNT green-lighted a Season 2 of Dallas Friday, with five more episodes to boot. Plus, a network spokeswoman confirms to unclebarky.com that the series again will be shot on location in Dallas. Details are on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Oh Savannah for Today; Sheen sets some national comedy ratings records for FX

As anticipated, NBC officially has named former White House correspondent and current third-hour-of-Today co-host Savannah Guthrie to succeed Ann Curry. She'll officially start on July 9th. More details are on the TV Bulletin Board page, where you'll also find news of Charlie Sheen's latest ratings bonanza and other reasonably nutritious tidbits.
Ed Bark

Sheen shoots, scores in D-FW Nielsen ratings

Charlie Sheen's prime-time return Thursday, via FX's Anger Management, made a substantial impression in the D-FW Nielsen ratings. So much so that the first two episodes of his sitcom beat all prime-time programming among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. Get the details on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page, where we also have a couple of local early morning TV news notes.
Ed Bark

Showtimes Episodes back in even finer form

Matt LeBlanc continues to excel as a heightened version of himself in Showtime's Episodes, which returns on Sunday, July 1st with a nine-episode Season 2. He's also surrounded by one of TV's best comedy ensembles. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

Ann Curry says goodbye, figuratively fingers Matt; two out of three cable news nets screw up Supreme Court health care reform ruling

Ann Curry tearfully walked the Today show plank Thursday while her closing body language dissed co-host Matt Lauer. Our take is on the Network News & Reviews page.

Also, CNN messes up Supreme Court ruling on "Obamacare," with Fox News Channel following suit. Images and video are here.
Ed Bark

Bomb squad: FX's Brand X with Russell Brand is the network's first mega-eyesore

We all fail at times. And FX looks to have its first really miserable failure in Brand X with Russell Brand. It's hard to see how it can be salvaged. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

Louis C.K. excels anew in Season 3 of FX's Louie

His best is yet to come -- and it's arriving Thursday night (June 28th) in Season 3 of Louie. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

East Texas murders revisited in first episode of ABC's Final Witness

The 2008 Caffey family murders near little Emory, TX are exhumed in network TV's latest true crime series, Final Witness. Our review is here.

Plus, Tuesday's D-FW Nielsen ratings are another Yu hoo for the Texas Rangers.
Ed Bark

Dombeck confirms she's leaving NBC5; hopes to be back on the air in D-FW in time for February "sweeps"

Veteran early morning traffic reporter Tammy Dombeck on Wednesday confirmed an earlier unclebarky.com report that she'll be leaving Fort Worth-based NBC5 after a twelve-and-a-half-year stay. Our report is on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Sheen shows up for FX's Anger Management

Charlie Sheen segues from his Violent Torpedo of Truth tour to a new FX sitcom Thursday night. Our review of Anger Management is here.
Ed Bark

Fox4 names new weekend weathercaster -- Jennifer Myers of El Paso

Dallas-based Fox4 announced Tuesday that it's adding a fourth meteorologist. More details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.

Also, Monday's D-FW Nielsen ratings show a slight bump up for the debut of CBS11's new early morning anchor team.
Ed Bark

Veteran traffic reporter Tammy Dombeck on exit ramp at NBC5

Tammy Dombeck, NBC5's time-tested "Gridlock Buster" on early morning newscasts, is likely to be leaving the Fort Worth-based station -- perhaps this week -- after more than 12 years of traffic reporting. But there's more. Get the details on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Another new dawn for CBS11 with Higgins/Bankert debut

CBS11 unveiled its new early morning anchor team Monday in hopes of someday digging out of the ratings basement it's occupied forever it seems. So how well did Brendan Higgins and Adrienne Bankert play together? Our review is on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

TNT's The Great Escape has too many boring interludes

TNT takes its first plunge into the "reality" genre with the Sunday, June 24th premiere of The Great Escape. Our not nearly so enthusiastic review is here.
Ed Bark

Second Michigan judge issues bench warrant for arrest of WFAA8's Shon Gables after she's again cited for contempt

Anchor-reporter Shon Gables of Dallas-based WFAA8 now has two outstanding warrants for her arrest after a second Michigan judge cited her for contempt of court earlier this week. The latest details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Lifetime's Tall Hot Blonde -- already interested?

Watch Lifetime's Tall Hot Blonde for the articles -- which in this case is an interesting lead performance by Garret Dillahunt of Raising Hope and Deadwood fame. Our review is here.

Plus, get the complete D-FW ratings picture for Thursday night's climactic Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Numbers are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

This just in: HBO's The Newsroom begins its run Sunday night

TV/movie auteur Aaron Sorkin, whose writings range from The West Wing to The Social Network, creates his own fictional cable news network in HBO's The Newsroom. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

Lone Star shootout: Dallas vs. Rangers

The last half-hour of the Texas Rangers game collided head-on with the first half-hour of Dallas Wednesday night. See who won on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

From the same sitcom hymnal: TV Land's The Soul Man

Cedric the Entertainer and Niecy Nash star in TV Land's latest broadly executed sitcom. That makes five of them, beginning with the network's signature Hot In Cleveland. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

Med evac for WFAA8 reporter Craig Civale

WFAA8 reporter Craig Civale, who joined the ABC affiliate in January 2007, confirmed Tuesday that he is leaving to take a corporate position in Dallas with Baylor Health Care System. Further details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Early morning war zone -- the sequel

It's been seven springs since your friendly content provider trudged on four sequential mornings to the dawn-breaking news programs on D-FW's Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11. What's changed since then? Not much, except that the stakes are even higher. We take a closer look on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page as CBS11 gets ready to start from scratch again.

Plus, some news and views on Arsenio hall's return to late night TV.
Ed Bark

Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp: Lifetime throws another lifeline

Oh those Palins. Bitchin' about media mistreatment while craving more exposure. Lifetime's Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp is the latest wretched excess. Our review is here.

Plus, live sports rule the Thursday-Sunday D-FW Nielsen ratings.
Ed Bark

TNT's Falling Skies resumes where it left off -- impressive special effects, mundane scripts

TNT's big summer rollout continues with the Sunday, July 17th return of Falling Skies. Spec. effects still wow, but the scripts still clunk. Our review is here.

Plus, see the first joy-to-the-world promo for Katie Couric's new Katie talk show, which in D-FW will be slotted at 4 p.m. weekdays on WFAA8.
Ed Bark

Dallas wins time slot nationally, but is no Hatfields & McCoys in family feud division


An alternate universe version of Mavs Man made the pre-game festivities more festive before Mavs-Thunder rolled. Photo: Ed Bark

By ED BARK
ESPN pretty much had the only game in town Tuesday night -- namely the Dallas Mavericks' opening game Western Conference Finals home win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Led by Dirk Nowitzki's 48 points and record-setting 24-out-of-24 free throws, Mavs-Thunder soared past the three-quarter million mark in averaging 803,381 D-FW viewers.

A peak crowd of 1,018,078 watched the final 15-minute increment of the game, which stretched to 10:53 p.m. thanks to referee Joey Crawford's penchant for whistle-blowing and in a sense, tooting his own horn. But it's hard to complain when Nowitzki goes to the foul line more often than Lady Gaga changes her look.

Mavs-Thunder also harvested a bumper crop of advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with an overall average of 450,812 viewers in this key age range. Over on Fox Sports Southwest, the struggling, injury-riddled Texas Rangers barely came up for air during their road loss to the White Sox, averaging just 76,183 total viewers with 32,906 within the 18-to-49 motherlode.

The broadcast arena still did some good business Tuesday night, with CBS' NCIS getting its episode safely out of the way before the Mavericks tipped off at 8:09 p.m. NCIS drew Tuesday's biggest non-sports audience, averaging 415,542 total viewers. CBS also rode to time slot wins -- against ABC, Fox and NBC programming -- with NCIS: Los Angeles (353,211 viewers) and the season finale of The Good Wife (283,954 viewers).

ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show slumped to second place at 8 p.m., coming up short of NCIS: L.A. with 325,508 viewers.

NBC's 9 p.m. hour of its late season hot commodity, The Voice, likewise stumbled a bit by running third in total viewers behind both Good Wife and ABC's Body of Proof. But Voice again won its time slot among 18-to-49-year-olds, even though many of them by that time had abdicated to the Mavs-Thunder game. Dancing took the 8 p.m. hour in the 18-to-49 demographic, narrowly outdrawing the second hour of NBC's The Biggest Loser.

The 10 p.m. local newscast ratings were depressed -- and station managers might have been, too -- by competition from the closing stages of the Mavs game. It's the heart of the May "sweeps" after all, and you'd like viewers to sit up and take a little more notice of all those extra-special reports.

Nevertheless, WFAA had narrow wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming on most stations. With six weekdays to go in the sweeps, both 10 p.m. races are still way too close to call.

Fox4 has no such worries at 6 a.m. It again rang up twin wins and is now cruising toward comfy sweeps victories in both measurements, particularly among 25-to-54-year-olds.

WFAA8 and CBS11 tied for first place in total viewers at 6 p.m., with WFAA8 alone atop the 5 p.m. Nielsens. But Fox4 again logged big wins at both early evening hours in the 25-to-54 demographic. It has those sweeps wins locked up, too, making Fox4 the market's demographic darlin' everywhere except at 10 p.m.

Dallas re-marks its territory in D-FW Nielsens

TNT's two-pronged Southfork re-launch Wednesday night did big business as expected in the D-FW viewing area. No other prime-time program came close to matching the audience for Dallas. For a complete report, go to our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.

Plus, catch a glimpse of WFAA8 anchor Shelly Slater in her winning performance over the weekend at a celebrity dance competition benefiting Paws In the City.

Ed Bark

HBO's 41 takes a very selective trip down George H. W. Bush's memory lane

HBO's latest "In Their Own Words" documentary gives voice to George H.W. Bush in Hallmark card fashion. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

Completing the trilogy: a look at the inaugural media session with the old/new cast members of TNT's Dallas

An expanded review of TNT's new Dallas was posted Tuesday on unclebarky.com. As was a Top 10 list of intrigues/oddities tied to the original CBS version.

Our third act is a look at the inaugural gathering of the old/new cast during a mid-January interview session at the Television Critics Association semi-annual "press tour." Hope you enjoy. The TNT re-start of Dallas is on Wednesday, June 13th at 8 p.m. (central), with the first two episodes airing back-to-back.
Ed Bark

Mondo Dallas: a Top 10 time travel

Out with the old, in with the new -- and the old. In connection with TNT's Wednesday, June 13th re-launch of Dallas, we offer a Top 10 list of intrigues and oddities from the original. It's all on our "Making A List" page, including a video clip of baby-faced Brad Pitt getting a stern lecture from ranch foreman Ray Krebbs.
Ed Bark

TNT re-does Dallas -- and does it well

TNT's big, bold re-launch of Dallas, with charter cast members Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy reporting for duty with their new offspring, gets going with back-to-back episodes Wednesday night. The network provided seven of Season One's 10 episodes for review. And our extended review is here.
Ed Bark

Adios Belo, hola MundoFox for KFWD-TV

Official announcements are coming, but unclebarky.com has confirmed that MundoFox will have KFWD-TV as its D-FW affiliate when the new Spanish language network launches on Aug. 13th. Dealt out: Belo-owned WFAA8's "strategic alliance" with the "Classic TV" station, which also re-aired WFAA8's 10 p.m. newscasts. Details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

CBS11 again turns to former competitor in hopes of waking up in early mornings

Scott Sams didn't work out. Now CBS11 will try anew with Brendan Higgins, who last worked in D-FW television more than two years ago as NBC5's early morning male anchor. The details and incumbent Keith Garvin's fate are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

NBC5/KXAS makes CentrePort move official

After lengthy negotiations, Fort Worth-based NBC5/KXAS has reached an agreement to leave the only home it's ever known in favor of a new "state-of-the-art media facility in the CentrePort Business Park. Details are on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

Fox4 bringing in new reporter; ex-WFAA8 traffic reporter Jane Slater seems to be enjoying new surroundings

Dallas-based Fox4 has hired reporter Calvert Collins to join its news department, beginning on June 18th. She has an interesting back story that wasn't mentioned in the official publicity release.

Plus, Jane Slater looks considerably happier at The FAN (105.3 FM) than she was as a briefly glimpsed traffic reporter at WFAA8. Proof is in the pictures.
Ed Bark

NBC hopes you'll take your meds and watch Saving Hope

What's this? A new summertime series on a Big Four broadcast network that has a script and actors? The made-in-Canada medical drama Saving Hope premieres Thursday, June 7th on NBC. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

Retracking to Dallas: former Good Day reporter Casey Stegall returns after five years in L.A.

Casey Stegall, formerly with Dallas-based Fox4's Good Day, is returning to the city to be a correspondent for Fox News Channel. He had been in L.A. for the past five years, also with FNC. More details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark

The Choice happily chides The Voice

Rascally Fox is a bit too canny to simply rip off a rival network, as ABC hopes to do with Glass House in answer to a suing CBS's Big Brother.

Instead Fox plays a rhyming dating game while using swivel chairs and blind taste tests. Our review of The Choice is here.

Also, Tuesday's D-FW Nielsen ratings are in.
Ed Bark

Ya durned possum-lickin' sidewinder: Hatfields & McCoys makes TV history for History network

This has never been done before by a cable network. Check out our TV Bulletin Board page for details on the major achievement of the History network's Hatfields & McCoys.
Ed Bark

Lifetime's The Week the Women Went: so terrible on so many "reality" fronts

Yemassee, S.C. is the guinea pig for a "daring social experiment" that cluelessly (presumably) conjures up images of the Holocaust while also busily portraying the small town's real-life residents as bumpkins or worse. It's on Lifetime for the next four Wednesdays, and our review is here.
Ed Bark

Buy & sell car rehab the hook on Discovery's Dallas-set Fast N' Loud

Discovery's latest reality series gambit originates from the Gas Monkey Garage in Dallas, where junked classic cars are rehabbed and resold. It premieres on Wednesday, June 6th, and our review is here.

Also, the Oklahoma City Thunder's pivotal Game 5 win over the San Antonio Spurs ruled Monday's D-FW prime-time ratings.
Ed Bark

Ampersand Tuesdays on TNT with pairing of Rizzoli & Isles, Franklin & Bash

TNT has rearranged Tuesday nights so that its only two ampersand-titled dramas can complement one another. We take a closer look at the new seasons of Rizzoli & Isles and Franklin & Bash.
Ed Bark

World premiere of TNT's new Dallas in Dallas: a blend of soap opera & opera house

The official June 13th TV premiere of TNT's Dallas reboot is looming larger as the month begins. But Dallas got first dibs during Thursday night's world premiere of the first two episodes at the Winspear Opera House. Our story and pictures are here.

Also, the Wednesday and Thursday D-FW Nielsen ratings are in. And we have a review of CMT's Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Brides, a one-hour confection premiering Saturday.

Plus, since it's the start of a new month, here's another gentle reminder to support your friendly local unclebarky.com website by first clicking on one of our Amazon ads before making the buys you were going to make anyway. That way, a few pennies come our way. Or even a few bucks if the purchase is large enough. It all helps.

Again, thanks for your encouragement and readership.
Ed Bark