Election helps Anderson Cooper secure narrow ratings win

When the final Nielsen television ratings came out this week showing that CNN’s Anderson Cooper edged out his Fox News competition in a key demographic in 2008, the network was quick to crow about it.

On Wednesday, CNN ran full-page ads in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal touting the fact that the first hour of “Anderson Cooper 360” won the time period among 25- to 54-year-old viewers, the age group most sought after by advertisers who buy time during news programs.

“#1 in 2008,” the ad declared in large type over a photo of Cooper, looking intensely into the distance.

The network’s heavy emphasis on a relatively narrow victory speaks to CNN’s eagerness to show that it is competitive with Fox News, which has dominated the cable news race for the last seven years.

It’s the first such win for Cooper, who continued to place second in total audience behind Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” which averaged 1.79 million viewers for the year, the most the program has ever drawn. “AC 360” attracted 1.32 million viewers and MSNBC’s repeat airing of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” pulled in 725,000, according to Nielsen data provided by Fox News.

CNN was more interested in highlighting the viewership in the key advertising demographic, however. “AC 360” drew an average of 474,000 viewers ages 25 to 54 during the 7 p.m. PT hour, compared with 457,000 delivered by “On the Record.” “Countdown” drew 284,000 viewers in that age group.

Cooper’s win in the demographic can in part be ascribed to the clever way that CNN harnessed interest in the presidential election. While other networks often preempted their regular programming on big political nights to cover the primaries and debates, CNN frequently kept Cooper on as its main anchor during that hour and labeled the show “AC 360.” That enabled the network to include the large viewership for those events in the program’s overall ratings.

According to data from CNN and Fox News, “AC 360” was preempted on just five primary nights, while “On the Record” was off during 11 big political events, including the New Hampshire primary and the State of the Union. Cooper’s show also ran after CNN’s widely watched debates, while Van Susteren’s show was bumped after Fox News’ Jan. 10 debate in South Carolina.

That helped boost Cooper’s overall audience by 63% compared with 2007, while Van Susteren was up 35% year-to-year.

-- Matea Gold

'The City': Whitney Port's dream or nightmare?

Our intrepid TV reporter Denise Martin is on a much-needed vacay, so until her regularly scheduled Show Tracking of "The City" begins, we figured we'd round up some reax from around the blogosphere of Whitney Port's spinoff debut.

New York Magazine's review was the most glowing. It notes that viewers are in for "one slutty series" and wonders whether "The City" is, in fact, "television's new heroin."

Entertainment Weekly said watching the show was "refreshing" but still had lots to say about its hits and misses.

TV Guide summed up "The City" by saying "the girls are rich and the boys are hot."

But what about the couch potatoes at Television Without Pity? They're wondering if the spinoff is change or more of the same?

Film.com thinks the latter. Their blogger says: "It's pretty much like 'The Hills,' but with more dialogue, less vacant stares and equal amounts of hair-fiddling."

The Hartford Courant says "The City" portrays fashion-maven Port as "refreshingly normal."

Normal might not be the word we'd want to hear about our TV debut, but it's better than being called "both painful and completely unaffecting."

Youch. What do you think? Was last night's premiere a TV winner or loser?

Photo credits: MTV

'Battlestar Galactica': Questions for the cast

As you're snuggled at home by the chimney with care this holiday season, think about others, think about the troops, and think about the fact that we have only three frakking weeks until "Battlestar Galactica's" final episodes air!!!!

We'll do our best here at Show Tracker to talk to some of the magic makers, including Ron Moore and everyone in the cast that we can get to. Yes, they've moved on to other shows, like Jamie Bamber in "Law & Order: UK," Mary McDonnell in "Grey's Anatomy," Grace Park in "The Cleaner" and Tahmoh Penikett in "Dollhouse." But they've still got their hands in the Cylon bowl with projects like "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan," upcoming telefilms and online story lines.

Speaking of webisodes, if you haven't been watching Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy," starring Grace Park and Alessandro Juliani, then you've been missing out on a good "Galactica" fix.  Even a simple ship-to-ship raptor run on this show can be dramatic.

If you have questions to ask the cast or favorite characters you want us to go after, please leave them in the comments section below and we'll see what we can do. So say we all. (You've seen the following promo, but it's just to refresh your memory. Though Sci Fi's 13-minute "Catch the Frak Up!" summary is better. And, isn't Laura Roslin pretty scary here?)

-- Jevon Phillips

-- James Callis on the final episodes
-- << A chat with Tory Foster the Cylon, a.k.a. Rekha Sharma
-- Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff rev up their motorcycles
-- Hollywood A-Z: "Battlestar Galactica"

'The Hills': Freezing finale party in New York yielded worst red carpet ever

In the whipping cold night, under the spiny black ice-trees of Central Park, a pack of photographers stamped the snow-crust and howled. They were facing an empty red carpet with blue backdrops that said "The Hills" and "MTV." Behind them, two men each held the two tethers of giant floating light globes. "I'd like to know who the brain surgeon is who set this up," said one photographer. Three Marines were forced to stand outside by a Christmas tree at the end of the red carpet. They looked like they'd rather be in Afghanistan.

In truth, this was the worst red carpet in the history of red carpets.

Slowly, one by one, L.A. reality-show blonds were led out before these wild animals in this spooky winter Narnia. Inside, at Tavern on the Green, would be the semi-live season finale/after-show of "The Hills."

First came Stephanie Pratt. Her tiny baby-doll dress had a cut-out between her breasts. "I actually don't really care about Stephanie," said a disappointed tourist.

What happened on the red carpet is that the little Los Angeles imports had to do some time travel. They were working carefully with a narrative that is delayed for broadcast, and so they have to keep track of what they are supposed to know and what we already know. For instance, some told the reporters that they were not sure that there will be a Season 5 of "The Hills," but of course there will be.

DVD Review: "Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Collection"

Though you may not believe it to look at them now, premium cable networks used to take an active interest in programming for young people. Nowadays, of course, they're more concerned with talking dirty and getting women naked; but once upon a time Shelley Duvall's "Faerie Tale Theater" was the single best reason to subscribe to Showtime, and HBO was home for five seasons to Jim Henson's "Fraggle Rock."

All 96 episodes of "Fraggle Rock" were recently collected, with a documentary bonus disc for each season, in a 25th anniversary DVD edition. Like all Henson productions, the series is something for the whole family, not because it's studiously inoffensive, but by being unrelentingly smart. (The writing staff -- not made up wholly of children's TV professionals -- included poets, a novelist and a playwright.) Most of the episodes do contain some lesson about personal behavior or social interaction, contained within a larger idea about the often unacknowledged interdependence of species. (Much as you may regard the bees, say, whose work affects you though you might never think to thank them.)

With their feather-boa hair and Muppet-brand ping-pong-ball eyes, the Fraggles are a society of the young-at-heart, who work and play in inverse relation to humankind. As their Venerable and Eminent Council of Sages sings, "When there's trouble on the Rock / Do we hold our heads in shock? (No!) / We hold each other's noses and we hum." (There are a couple of original songs in every episode -- nothing as evergreen as "Rubber Duckie" or "It's Not Easy Being Green," but generally good stuff.) Still, they aren't immune to worry or fear, and they make plenty mistakes about each other, about their cave-and-tunnel world, and about the world beyond them.

'The Hills' finale: Happy endings for all

With finales like these, do we really need a fifth season of "The Hills"? MTV hasn't given the go-ahead, in spite of what certain cast members have said to the contrary. But now that we've seen the goods, we kind of think maybe another 20 episodes are not necessary.

There was closure all around! It's almost as though MTV or Lauren or whoever "The Hills" powers-that-be are ordered the cast members to sew up their storylines, and pronto.

Also, with Whitney Port's "The City" revving up for a premiere next week, didn't Lauren look down for the count by comparison? Whitney's beaming in the ads for the new show, while Lauren on Monday night's finale looked pretty ready to leave the cameras behind.

Actually, didn't that whole episode seem tailored to serve as a launch pad for a countdown to "I do" for the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Pratt? A reality show following the planning of Heidi's dream wedding, perhaps?

I don't know. I could be wrong, but, the evidence was there. Just take a look at what happened:

Fox execs speak — on 'American Idol,' 'Dollhouse' and more

Fox has a lot at stake next month. Thanks in large part to "American Idol," America's most-watched show, the network has for four straight seasons been No. 1 in the ad-friendly demographic of adults ages 18 to 49 — a reign that's beginning to summon memories of NBC's extraordinary run atop prime time in the 1980s and '90s.

But the TV business is changing and so is "Idol" as producers attempt to renew the show creatively and halt a modest ratings dip last season. Fox is also unveiling two new dramas: "Lie to Me," with Tim Roth as a "human lie detector," and Joss Whedon's latest sci-fi outing, the much-anticipated "Dollhouse."

Channel Island asked Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori and Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly about the challenges of the months ahead. An edited version:

Channel Island: You're changing "Idol" at a crucial time for the show. Last year the ratings were off, and the show's headed into Season 8.

Liguori: Last year we were down 9%. But toward the end of the season, our ratings were every bit as strong as they were the year before.

Reilly: Down 9% on a 7-year-old show: That becomes a headline about decline. But very few shows that age can remain that strong.

Chuck Todd named NBC's chief White House correspondent

NBC political director Chuck Todd, who was considered a contender to succeed Tim Russert as moderator of “Meet the Press,” has been given another plum assignment: chief White House correspondent.

Todd, who will continue to serve as NBC’s political director, will be the network’s lead correspondent covering the Obama administration, the network announced today. He will be joined on the beat by correspondent Savannah Guthrie.

“Chuck truly made his mark in the 2008 presidential election season where he offered unmatched political analysis,” NBC News President Steve Capus said in a statement. “His objective, smart, real reporting has been honed through the years in Washington and makes him uniquely qualified to lead our White House coverage team.”

Todd replaces David Gregory, who was named earlier this month as the newest moderator of “Meet the Press.” Todd will also make frequent appearances on the Sunday show as contributing editor, NBC announced today.

Gregory drew strong viewership during his first week leading the program, attracting an average of 4.75 million viewers last Sunday. CBS' "Face the Nation" placed second with 3.47 million, while ABC's "This Week" drew 3.2 million and "Fox News Sunday" delivered 1.46 million.

— Matea Gold

'Friday Night Lights': Welcome the East Dillon Giraffes?

Well, that was fun. As the third season of "Friday Night Lights" nears its end on DirecTV -- and beginning on NBC --  writers and producers certainly aren't making it easy on us. With only two more episodes to go before the waiting begins -- the annual "FNL" guessing game as to whether or not the series will nab another season -- things are already getting a bit tearful.

Saying goodbye to graduating friends is easy compared to what went down in the third season's 11th episode. Child abuse and caring for the elderly were just two of the pivotal plots of the episode -- one that also dealt with the end-of-the-world drama that are the modern-day SATs, as well as a father who essentially gambled away his daughter's college dreams.

The rundown follows.

Can pro wrestling save Rupert Murdoch's MyNetwork?

Once upon a time, pro wrestling helped save UPN. And now it's serving largely the same function for its successor network, MyNetworkTV. There's a larger message here somewhere, and it's not just that a lot of young men like to watch beefy guys in posing suits smash each other's heads with choreographed fight moves. 

A couple of years ago, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. launched MyNetwork with a full slate of low-cost telenovelas, such as the campy "Fashion House" with Bo Derek. The experiment got a lot of media attention because pundits were curious whether Americans would turn to nightly serialized soaps the way they do in some other countries.

The answer, alas, was no. Ratings stank, and News Corp. reportedly lost $2 million per week on the telenovela strategy. So the cheap soaps were replaced with theatrical movies and cheap reality. And in October, the network began airing "WWE Friday Night SmackDown," which it signed following previous gigs on UPN and the CW. As a result, MyNetwork, launched to skew heavily female with all those soaps, suddenly swerved to become a young-male destination, at least on Fridays.

The results have been pretty dramatic. Season to date, MyNetwork is up a whopping 73% in total viewers, to 1.7 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. Last week it hit an all-time high, averaging 2.4 million viewers. Season to date, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all down compared with last year.

Obviously, much of that is due to "SmackDown." Fridays are up 150% in households compared with last season, far more than any other night. But it's not just a wrestling story. Even without "SmackDown," MyNetwork is still up 39%, to 1.4 million viewers.

Whether MyNetwork can keep up this momentum, however, is a very big question mark. The network is piling up big gains now because (1) the early ratings were so terrible that even a small increase in absolute terms yields a large fluctuation percentage-wise, and (2) wrestling, no matter what its detractors say, is a proven magnet for young males.

Next season, of course, the comparisons won't be as favorable. And ultimately MyNetwork will face the same problem that UPN and the CW did: While wrestling can help draw audiences, getting those young guys to stick around to sample other programming is by no means assured. Shows like "Street Patrol" — which is essentially the outakes from "Cops" — and the Flavor Flav sitcom "Under One Roof" have not exactly electrified the crowds.

Can MyNetwork survive long-term? Well, it's too soon to tell. But the odds remain daunting, with or without wrestling. Competition is increasing. Programming continues to be expensive. The Internet is siphoning off viewers. Hits are few. MyNetwork is happily touting its progress this fall, but it's basically elevated itself to basic-cable-type numbers. And unlike basic cable networks, MyNetwork can't count on subscriber fee income to supplement its ad revenue.

Broadcast TV is a tough business, in other words, and it's about to get a lot tougher. Like the wrestlers on "SmackDown," the broadcasters these days have to scramble to avoid getting caught by a pile-driver.

—Scott Collins