Thanksgiving Programming Changes

It’s time to talk turkey: as in Thanksgiving. Because of special programming, some of your favorite shows won’t be shown on Thursday or Friday. Here’s a look at what to expect:

THANKSGIVING DAY
Starting at 9:00am, LIVE 5 WCSC will carry THE THANKSGIVING PARADE ON CBS. Then, there’s LIVE 5 NEWS AT NOON, followed by THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS in their normal time periods.

We’ll then air two episodes of LET’S MAKE A DEAL starring Wayne Brady at 1:30pm and 2:30pm before our special Thanksgiving Day NFL game. (Fans of THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL and AS THE WORLD TURNS don’t have to worry about missing anything: those shows did not produce episodes for Thursday or Friday, so they’ll pick up right where they left off.)

At 3:30pm, a special NFL TODAY gets you ready for Oakland @ Dallas. The game is scheduled to run until 7:30pm.

TWO AND A HALF MEN will air in its normal slot, though it may be pre-empted or delayed if the game runs long.

The prime time lineup is normal this Thanksgiving night:

• 8:00pm – SURVIVOR: SAMOA
• 9:00pm – CSI:
• 10:00pm – THE MENTALIST
• 11:00pm – LIVE 5 NEWS AT 11

FRIDAY, NOV. 27
LIVE 5 WCSC will air its normal morning lineup through THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.

At 1:30pm, catch a one-hour CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR on the best of college football. At 2:30pm, it’s Alabama at Auburn, which takes us to LIVE 5 NEWS AT 6.

Our regular Friday night prime time lineup is normal:

• 8:00pm – GHOST WHISPERER
• 9:00pm – MEDIUM
• 10:00pm – NUMB3RS
• 11:00pm – LIVE 5 NEWS AT 11

All of us at LIVE 5 WCSC hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Super Bowl Near Sell-Out

Have a message you want the huge Super Bowl audience to see? If so, there are two things you need to do:

First, make sure you’ve got about three million bucks in the bank. CBS, which will carry the big game on February 7, 2010, is seeking between $2.5-$3 million for a thirty-second commercial.

Second, don’t wait to long to buy. The network says it’s approaching a 90% sell-out for the broadcast, which means that almost all of the roughly 62 slots for commercials that will air nationally for the game are filled.

Ad experts often watch Super Bowl advertising because many believe it is a good reflection of how the economy is doing. Last season, there were no U.S. automakers advertising during the Super Bowl. No word this year on whether any of them have signed on, so we may just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, if you’re a local advertiser who’s interested in reaching the Lowcountry and not the rest of the country, the news is much better: it won’t cost you anywhere near as much to advertise on Live 5 WCSC, even during the game itself. Get more info on how to reach us at our main website’s contact page if you’d like to know more about advertising.

As for the rest of us, it’s good to see that ad sales are going well. Your blogger is usually more interested in watching the commercials than in the game itself, and some of the most beloved commercials in television history made their debut during Super Bowl games of years past.  We can’t wait to see what the ad industry comes up with to make us laugh this time around!

Study: TV Viewership At All-Time High

How much time do you spend in front of the tube each day?

If the answer is “More than you used to,” you’re not alone.

A new Nielsen Company study confirms that the average American spends an average of four hours, 49 minutes a day in front of the television. This figure includes shows recorded and viewed within seven days of their broadcast and cable.

What’s really interesting is that this figure represents an all-time high for television viewing in the U.S.

The figures are for the 2008-09 television season, the most recent completed season.

The average household, according to the same study, watches more than eight hours of television a day. Your blogger’s own viewing habits are more like an average household than an average individual, in case you were curious.

A great deal of that time, naturally enough, is spent watching LIVE 5 WCSC. I hope yours is, too.

Twitter Inspires New CBS Show

Twitter is everywhere these days, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the social networking site has even turned up as the inspiration for a new CBS sitcom.

A particular Twitter account created by a 29-year-old San Diego man, which we will euphemistically call “Stuff My Dad Says,” has garnered 700,000 followers since its launch in early August.

The account, as the name implies, highlights quips and jokes the account holder’s father says. Its creator, Justin Halpern, recently signed a book deal to make a printed version of his dad’s sayings, will co-write the series.

If the show does make it to CBS’s schedule, it’s a safe bet that the title won’t be the same as the Twitter account.

And that’s definitely a good thing.

CSI Airs Special Trilogy

Laurence Fishburne has a lot of travelling to do this week. His character, Dr. Ray Langston, on CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION will travel from Las Vegas, where the show is set, to Miami and then New York as part of an ongoing, three-part murder investigation that features all three of the CSI programs.

It’s the first time a three-part crossover has ever been done on the popular crime show.

On tonight’s episode of CSI: MIAMI, Horatio Caine (David Caruso) calls Dr. Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) to come to Miami when a severed leg found in the Everglades is discovered to belong to a girl who went missing in Las Vegas a week earlier.

Then on Wednesday’s episode of CSI: NEW YORK, Langston rushes to the Big Apple when Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and his team identify a woman hidden in a big rig following an accident as someone he interviewed in Miami related to the same missing person case. Though the woman disappears after the accident, Langston and Mac discover they’re onto an interstate trucking ring with a dark secret.

The storyline then continues on Thursday’s episode of CSI where Langston makes it back to Vegas in the search for the missing woman.

It all begins tonight at 10:00pm on CSI: MIAMI. CSI: NEW YORK airs Wednesday night at 10:00pm, and CSI: airs Thursday at 9:00pm.

The Price is Right Celebrates 7,000!

Television’s longest-running game show, THE PRICE IS RIGHT, celebrates 7,000 episodes on CBS today.

Drew takes the 7,000 cake! Image courtesy priceisright.com.

Expect big prizes and the number 7,000 to have a recurring theme throughout the episode. Games played will include those played on the very first episode, and there will also be a showcase designed to “remake” the very first showcase offered on the very first episode from September 4, 1972, with updated prizes that reflect today’s tastes and trends.

That first showcase featured a pair of roller skates, an exercise bike and a Mazda 808 sedan. The total value for that showcase — believe it or not — was just $2504.

How times have changed. One of the prizes, for example, offered in today’s “remake” is a Segue vehicle, which take the place of the roller skates. One can only imagine what they plan to do for a car.

As of the 7,000th show, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in prizes to almost 62,000 contestants has been given away. In addition, over two million people have been welcomed to the studio audience. The contestants have ranged in age from 18 to 99 years old, and from all 50 states, as well as multiple countries. The phrase “A new car!” has been shouted over 15,000 times and over 7,000 cars have been given away. The 7,000th episode will also be host Carey’s 415th episode and announcer Rich Fields’ 1,001st episode.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT is now in its 38th season, and Drew Carey is in his third as host, following in the footsteps of Bob Barker, who retired in 2007 after hosting the show for 35 years.

Rich Fields became the announcer in 2004, succeeding Rod Roddy, who began announcing the show in 1986. Roddy took over from Johnny Olson, who was the announcer from 1972 until his death in 1985.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT airs weekdays at 11:00am, followed by LIVE 5 NEWS AT NOON.

CBS Soap Wraps SC Shoot

The CBS Soap AS THE WORLD TURNS just wrapped up a special shoot in the Upstate of South Carolina.

As part of the show’s three-city “Never Surrender” tour, crews taped on location at the Greenville Pickens Speedway on Tuesday. Actors Michael Park (who plays Jack) and Maura West (who plays Carly) appear along with Mark Collier (who plays Mike).

The tour began in September when AS THE WORLD TURNS conducted casting calls in three cities: Greenville, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Ten locals were selected in each city to appear in upcoming episodes.

In the storyline, Detective Jack Snyder travels the country trying to make amends after accidentally shooting his own brother to death in a warehouse ambush. Although beaten down by the turn of events, the audience has come to expect that will Jack “never surrender,” and will watch him grapple with his own guilt. The episodes taped in Greenville begin airing on Wednesday, November 11.

AS THE WORLD TURNS airs weekdays at 2:00pm on LIVE 5 WCSC.

Braeden Works Out Deal to Stay on Y&R

Actor Eric Braeden, who shocked soap fans by announcing he was leaving THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS over a contract dispute, now says that his fans helped him change his mind.

The 68-year-old, who has portrayed villian Victor Newman for 29 years on the show, was approached about taking a pay cut before the end of his current contract. A clause in all AFTRA contracts allows producers of a television show to renegotiate details of the agreement, including salary, every 26 weeks, Braeden says.

The actors have no such authority in their contracts, and that led to some bitter moments at the negotiation table.

During an appearance on Fox’s Good Day Los Angeles, Braeden said he was willing to take a pay cut on his next contract, but not the current one. He thought his mind was made up.

“As an actor, when you work in a studio, you work in a cocoon,” Braeden said. “You don’t realize that what you do has an affect on people.”

The fan reaction to the news that he was vacating the role, a reaction he called “overwhelming” helped him rethink things.

“One is, in the end, thankful to have a job,” he said.

His new deal is a three-year contract, but he declined to reveal details about his salary and any other aspects of the agreement.

In the current storyline, Victor is preparing to leave Genoa City to spend time in an overseas rehabilitation clinic after surviving a heart transplant. His final episode was to have aired November 2nd, but there is no word as yet on when Braeden will appear.

The show is taped roughly one month or so in advance. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS airs weekdays at 12:30pm on LIVE 5 WCSC, immediately following LIVE 5 NEWS AT NOON.

Price Catches Halloween Spirit

Drew Carey and company are celebrating halloween this Friday in an unusual way on THE PRICE IS RIGHT.

For the first time in the history of the 37-year-old game show, the host, announcer and models will dress up in costume as their favorite pricing games.

Carey will dress up as “Hans,” the yodeling mountain climber in the popular “Cliffhangers” game. Announcer Rich Fields will dress up as the show’s famous Big Wheel.

Model Rachel Reynolds will wear a Plinko chip costume, while Amber Lancaster will appear as the “Range Game” and Lanisha Cole will dress up as the cash register from “The Grocery Game,” one of the oldest pricing games on the show.

Also for the first time in the show’s history, the audience will appear in costume. Costumes have always been discouraged for audience members, though custom shirts with messages like “Pick Me” have always been allowed.

This special episode airs Friday at 11:00am on LIVE 5 WCSC, followed by LIVE 5 NEWS AT NOON.

Stay Eye-lerted!

We know that there’s nothing non-sports fans hate more on a Sunday night than missing their favorite CBS prime time show because football or other sporting events run long.

Now, there’s an easy way to be notified when a sports runover will postpone the start time of shows like 60 MINUTES and THE AMAZING RACE. Just go here to CBS.com and sign up for their alerts, which they’ve cleverly called “Eye-Lerts.”