Category — TV Analysis

TV: Controversial exec new president of network — Jim Samples, the executive VP/GM of Cartoon Network forced out in February when a guerrilla-marketing stunt threw Boston into a terrorist-alert panic, has landed the job of president of HGTV.

TV: Vivid to distribute Mojica sex tape — “American Idol” has seen plenty of headline-making scandals, but now it’s facing the reality of a hardcore-porn DVD featuring Olivia Mojica, a contestant who didn’t make it to the finals on the show’s second season.

TV: Growing pains create strange labels — Cable nets are known for refining their pitches more often than Don Imus issues apologies. But finding one that works is no easy task. Consider these branding efforts by the nets to differentiate themselves in the 500-channel universe:

TV: Viewers’ rants lack polish — Say what you will about the Parents Television Council’s relentlessly methodical campaign of FCC indecency complaints. Their form letters at least articulate the point.

TV: New slate puts focus on women, dramas — NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly is fond of describing his programming strategy for NBC as “mass with class.” With shows such as “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights” and “My Name Is Earl” snagging Emmy noms, Peabody Awards and critical kudos, he’s doing OK on the “class” front.

TV: Animal Planet, TV Land embracing movies — The major studios are breaking out the noisemakers and party hats, jazzed by the announcement that two unlikely cable networks, Animal Planet and TV Land, are embracing movies in a big way, each carving out a weekly primetime theatrical showcase.

TV: League determined to keep network afloat — The initial season of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” was a big success, and the NFL seems determined to keep the fourth-place Peacock afloat during the fall months again this year.

TV: After quiet period, mogul shifts into high gear — Just why is John Malone stirring life back into Liberty Media? The famously idiosyncratic Malone — a Connecticut-raised Yalie who made his fortune as a Denver-based cable magnate — has made a series of high-profile moves of late.

TV: ‘Scarred’ is a look at injuries of daredevils — After being at the forefront of the genre that might be called masochist video, Viacom has been forced to play catch-up. But with the new MTV series “Scarred,” which bows this week in the coveted primetime spot after “Punk’d,” it has come up with an idea to out-YouTube YouTube.

TV: Online episodes take a toll — In their rush to get shows online, webheads may be inadvertently strangling TV’s golden goose: repeats. Viewers hate ‘em, but for 50 years, reruns have been a bedrock of the network TV business model. But now, ratings for on-air repeats are eroding — and a key reason is the relatively new phenomenon of networks letting audiences watch full episodes of shows online.

TV: Critics mostly panned this year’s batch — The second half of every television season offers ample and unique opportunities for new shows to make some noise. But this year, the nets once again seemed to treat midseason as a dumping ground of sorts for shows that didn’t make it on the fall sked.

TV: Mixed martial arts events draw millions — Ken Shamrock isn’t a household name, but last fall 4.2 million people tuned in to watch him exchange punches and kicks with an opponent named Tito Ortiz in an octagon-shaped cage.

TV: Every so often a TV idea comes around that’s ahead of its time. Think all those pre-”ER” pilots starring George Clooney, Jon Stewart’s failed latenight program before “The Daily Show,” or ABC’s 1974 series “My So-Called Life,” the teen drama that would have run for years on the WB had that network existed back then.

TV: Voiceover: Does Gigi Levangie go home at night and rub Pond’s Time Rewind all over her face? It’s a question many women may soon ask of the attractive fortysomething writer-producer. After all, the cosmetics company is a partner in Levangie’s first novel to TV project, which begins airing in May on USA Network.

TV: Network’s audience has declined in last year — Will Blighty’s tyro terrestrial web Five still be around in five years? It’s a question a lot of British web heads are asking as the station marks 10 years on air.

TV: SET’s commercial slots worth less — It’s a bit like holding a losing betting slip to a race that is already run. The Indian cricket team was ejected early from the Cricket World Cup a week ago after failing to reach the quarterfinals of the six-week marathon being played in the West Indies until April 28.

TV: Channel looking for must-see hit — Santiago Segura, the scumbag cop of Spain’s “Torrente” film saga, zaps frantically among TV channels. He’s got days to piece together his latenight yakker “Sabias a lo que Venias” for broadcaster La Sexta. Clueless, he’s slavishly copying other hits.

TV: Trends such as DVR have altered landscape — Five weeks before the broadcast upfronts, network execs and Madison Avenue agree on one thing: This will be the most chaotic struggle for ad dollars in decades.

TV: ‘CSI’ is most-watched show of night — Fox won the night Thursday behind the strength of “American Idol” and “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” while CBS remained competitive with solid performances from its crime dramas. NBC saw the return of several series that were on par with pre-writers strike averages.

TV: Ambitious shows and messages on the decline — Hollywood and Washington share numerous parallels — power, money, creative sex scandals — but the presidential race’s preoccupation with demographic-based voting has made the similarity even more striking.

TV: ‘Men,’ ‘Guy’ to debut in reruns this fall — The players in TV syndication are unusually upbeat for this time of year as they hammer out their presentations to advertisers in advance of the summer upfront selling season.

TV: Networks looking toward digital deals — It’s shaping up as the year digital makes a real impact in the network upfronts. Last year the networks made quite a bit of noise about digital advertising. But when advertisers came to the table, they found few concrete opportunities.