News: New Life in the "ER"?

By Frank Macek

The Director's Cut is hearing loud rumors that this may not be the final curtain for "ER," the medical drama that was supposed to wrap up its 14th and final season this year.

With NBC still struggling to find footing with many of its newest shows this year, NBC is said to be considered keeping the show in production. "ER" has been doing very well again in its Thursday Night 10 PM timeslot against "Life on Mars" from ABC and "Eleventh Hour" for CBS.

We'll probably get some sort of announcement by the end of the month as negotiations are continuing between NBC and Warner Brothers, the show's production arm.

Fall Premiere: "Crusoe" on Friday, 10/17/08 @ 8 PM

It's that time of the year again when the Fall TV Season is about to kick into high gear. And once again, the Director's Cut Blog will give you a sneak peak at what you'll be seeing this fall.

From Power, Muse and Moonlighting Films comes an ambitious adaptation of Daniel Defoe's masterpiece, "Crusoe," a new primetime series for a 21st Century audience. Following the novel and its treasured tale of adventure, this high-action, fast-paced, thirteen-part series will combine for the first time the pace and energy of network television while remaining faithful to the author’s original classic story.

The drama explores the perils and challenges facing the world's most famous castaway as Crusoe (Philip Winchester, "Flyboys," "Thunderbirds") and his native friend Friday (Tongayi Chirisa) struggle to survive on a desert island with little more than their wits. Overcoming marauding militias, hungry cannibals, wild cats, starvation and apocalyptic lightning storms, Crusoe dreams of the day he will be reunited with his beloved family.

Allowed to develop away from the bonds of 17th Century life, the ingenious Crusoe builds a breathtaking and altogether modern home high up in the trees to elude his enemies. Friday and Crusoe's deep friendship is pushed to the limit as opportunities to escape their island paradise, and the people they meet there, consistently challenge them to choose between loyalty and freedom.

As the series develops, the love story between Crusoe and his wife Susannah (Anna Walton, "The Mutant Chronicles," "Hell Boy II: The Golden Army") left behind in England will unfold from meeting to marriage, as will his relationship with his mentor and patron, the mysterious Jeremiah Blackthorn (Sam Neill, "The Tudors," "Jurassic Park").

"Crusoe" is being executive produced by Justin Bodle for Power, Jeff Hayes for Bluewater Productions Inc., Michael Prupas for Muse, Genevieve Hofmeyr and Phillip Key for Moonlighting and Stephen Greenberg and Jean Bureau for Incendo Productions.

Source: NBC.COM

Fall Premiere: "Heroes" on Monday, 9/22/08

It's that time of the year again when the Fall TV Season is about to kick into high gear. And once again, the Director's Cut Blog will give you a sneak peak at what you'll be seeing this fall.

From creator/writer Tim Kring (NBC's "Crossing Jordan") comes the award-winning "Heroes," an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities. In its first two seasons, "Heroes" was honored with a People's Choice Award, an AFI Award, a Multicultural Prism Award, a TV Land Future Classic Award, the TV Critics Association Awards' Outstanding Program of the Year, and the International prize at this year's BAFTA Television Awards and Choice TV Show Action Adventure at the Teen Choice Awards, as well as nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, NAACP Image Awards, WGA Awards and Satellite Awards. On Monday, September 22, "Heroes" returns for its third season, with a brand-new chapter, "Volume 3: Villains," which will explore the nature of good and evil in all the characters, as a cadre of villains is unleashed upon the world.

Previously in "Volume 1: Genesis" and "Volume 2: Generations," when a total eclipse cast its shadow across the globe, a multitude of everyday men and women with special powers seemingly were called forth. To prevent grim predictions of the future, a handful of these individuals banded together to save the cheerleader, New York City, and the world. Now, as ominous, new signs signal catastrophe ahead, new and familiar adversaries begin to gather...

With his abilities returned to him, serial killer Sylar (Zachary Quinto) relentlessly continues to accumulate other people's abilities, which leads him to the Bennet house. Bound to a secret company with a keen interest in people like his daughter, "H.R.G.," a.k.a. Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman), finds new purpose when his most dangerous, fantastic foes break out of custody and must be dragged back. Reeling from recent events and revelations, Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), an indestructible high school cheerleader, struggles to define her identity and place in the world.

An act of heroism unveils an amazing secret about Niki Sanders (Ali Larter), a Las Vegas single mother with astonishing strength -- and an unknown, hidden family. In Japan, Yamagato Industries heir Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) continues to use his ability to pierce the space-time continuum and manipulate time to leap into wild, international adventures with his best friend, Ando Masahashi (James Kyson Lee).

Nathan Petrelli's (Adrian Pasdar) attempted assassination leads several Heroes on a stunning spiritual quest to explain his power of flight. For his younger brother, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), the future and present collide as his many absorbed powers lead him to discover that the only way to end the catastrophic moment facing the world is to do the unimaginable. Meanwhile, their ruthless mother Angela (Cristine Rose) and her associates continue their ongoing, complex machinations to change the world from the shadows.

Former LAPD officer Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) is taught new ways to use his expanding ability to hear and manipulate other's thoughts by an unlikely guide. Dr. Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), a genetics professor from India, takes a dangerous step into darkness as his research into those with extraordinary abilities living among us continues. Far from her Dominican Republic home, Maya Herrera (Dania Ramirez), who causes death when filled with fear or anger, begs Suresh to cure her - only to watch helplessly as he embraces his darker side.

Their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world...

Joining Kring as executive producers are Dennis Hammer (NBC's "Crossing Jordan"), Allan Arkush (NBC's "Crossing Jordan") and Greg Beeman ("Smallville"). The drama is produced by Universal Media Studios in association with Tailwind Productions.

Watch the show on Monday, then give us your feedback by posting your comments below.

Take a look at the preview:



Courtesy: NBC

News: Olympics a BIG hit on WKYC and NBC

Just as Tiger Woods is good for golf ratings, Michael Phelps is great for Olympic ratings. Saturday night, as Phelps went for his historical 8th Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics and his 14th Gold in his swimming career, NBC enjoyed its most viewed Saturday night in 18 years with 31.1 million tuning in, and jumping to 40 million during the half hour Phelps swam.

NBC has averaged 30 million viewers each night since the Olympics kicked off on August 8th, thanks in large part to Phelps and the gymnastics teams. NBC certainly is looking for its Week #2 darling as the Olympics heads into its second week.

What did NBC air 18 years ago that drew that kind of audience? It was an episode of "Empty Nest."

News: The Olympics on WKYC and NBC

WKYC is proud to offer our viewers unparalleled coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing, China. And for the first time ever, the games are being completely presented in high definition from start to finish.

NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage across its various networks, the most ambitious single media project in history.

NBC's coverage features the most live coverage in the United States (75 percent in all), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history when the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

WKYC will air the the NBC network schedule which is divided into three dayparts: afternoon, primetime and late night - for a total of 225 hours of coverage over 17 days beginning with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m. ET.

Primetime on NBC will feature live coverage of all 32 swimming gold medal finals; four key nights of men's and women's gymnastics led by the women's and men's team gold medal finals, as well as the women's and men's individual gold medal finals; beach volleyball; and, for the first time ever, both men's and women's marathons. The first week of the Olympics features gymnastics and swimming, two sports in which the USA is especially strong this year.

The USA's women's gymnastics team, led by 2007 world all-around champion Shawn Johnson and nine-time world medalist Nastia Liukin, and the USA men's gymnastics team should be strong competitors for Olympic gold. In swimming, the USA is as solid as ever. Michael Phelps, the 23-year-old phenom, looks to make Olympic history and, by the end of the first week, could break the records for most career gold medals by any Olympian (nine) and most golds in one Games (seven), famously held by Mark Spitz. Five-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin leads the women and continues to be the 100m gold medal favorite.

In 2004, the Athens Olympic Games on NBC earned ratings gold. NBC's unprecedented 1,210 hours of coverage from Athens (Aug. 13-29) were watched by 203 million total viewers and earned the distinction of the most watched non-U.S. Olympics in history.

In addition, WKYC will once again present local coverage called "The Olympic Zone" nightly from 7:30 until 8 pm leading into primetime coverage of the game hosted by WKYC Sports Anchors Jim Donovan and Dave Chudowsky.

We'll get you ready for that night's live coverage, profile local athletes and give you a unique perspective of the Olympics Games from Cleveland's own olympic athlete Diana Munz.

WKYC also is providing reports from our embedded blogger, Clevelander Adam Miller, who is reporting for the Today Show. You can find his exclusive blog reports on WKYC.COM: CLICK HERE

You don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest news coming from the games and daily schedule of events with WKYC's Olympic page. It's all the information you need in one place: CLICK HERE

So, just us for the Olympic Games beginning this Friday, August 8th ONLY on WKYC-TV and NBC.

Director's Alert: Leno to sign off May 29th

NBC announced this morning that Jay Leno's last day as host of the "Tonight Show" will be on Friday, May 29th.

Conan O'Brien will take over the following Monday, June 1st, for a smoothless transition according to NBC Entertainment Co-Chairs Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff.

Speculation continues to have Leno going to ABC as host of a new show at 11:35 p.m. that will displace Nightline.

Still, we scratch our head as to why NBC would jeopardize losing their late night leading position with a move at this time. While Conan does well, he isn't Leno.

Your thoughts...post them under "comments" below.

Spotlight Feature: NBC stations getting ready to pay to be an affiliate

by Frank Macek

In another sign that times are changing in the television industry, NBC executives have decided that NBC affiliate stations will begin paying reverse compensation for network programming, beginning with the renewal of their affiliation agreements after this Labor Day.

In the past, networks would pay stations to be one of their affiliates. This often had the advantage of being an additional revenue stream for local stations and helped the network keep their affiliations with stations they considered critical to their success.

With the increasing cost of production for shows and the high price of big sporting events, NBC has been forced to go the way of FOX which began the reverse compenstation process about 10 years ago. According to TV News Day, CW affiliates also pay reverse compensation to their network.

What could this mean for a station like WKYC - one of NBC's top performing stations? It really depends. In bigger markets like Cleveland, NBC would be likely to charge less than underperforming stations it sees as weak and draining their bottom line.

High performing stations not only help the network with make bigger sales, but NBC wouldn't wish to jeoparidize losing stations, like WKYC, as an affiliate.

Smaller and underperforming stations are likely to take a bigger hit. Some may even be forced to change affiliates, or reduce their local news budgets to pay for the higher affiliation agreements.

And this leads us to another point, I first talked about on the Director's Cut many months ago.. Could NBC be finally ready to decrease the amount of hours it programs in prime time?

NBCU's President and CEO Jeff Zucker left open that possibility when he made the reverse compensation about a month ago at the NBC affiliates convention in California.

This leads us to wonder, again, if NBC affiliates, like WKYC would benefit from having the 10 pm hour to locally program news - and a new possible show to start late night by 10:35 pm hosted by someone, like Jay Leno, who apparently isn't quite ready to give up the "Tonight Show" to Conan O'Brien next year.

We continue to follow this one carefully. But it is another piece of a puzzle that could prove interesting as the February 17, 2009 all digital deadline turns into an attractive opportunity for TV to re-write the rules both at the local and the network level.

We welcome your comments and thoughts. You can post them here or email to: fmacek@wkyc.com

Disclaimer: The opinions of the Director's Cut blog are those of Frank Macek and do not necessarily reflect those of WKYC or Gannett Broadcasting.

Spotlight Feature: Could NBC's woes be cured with less?

By Frank Macek

Anyone who follows the Nielsens has no doubt noticed that NBC still lags in prime time ratings and late news numbers are falling for the 11 p.m. time slot across the country. The trend started several years ago and will eventually force broadcasters to re-think their late night strategies.

Broadcasters feel that to win late night, means the ability to win earlier mornings as well - with the belief that whatever channel a viewer is on at bedtime will be the channel they begin the new day with.

The new world reality is viewers are working longer days, getting home later and going to bed earlier. This trend is not likely to change anytime soon as a worsening economy forces people to change their lifestyles to fit their increasing work demands.

Could this be an opportunity for NBC to re-define itself now, using the highly successful FOX model that has turned that network, and it's local news operations, into a powerhouse?

I think so. And here's why...

The Reality:

*NBC is facing an internal battle between Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. Jay says he isn't really ready to give up "The Tonight Show" to Conan O'Brien next year. If fact, Leno is seeing his best numbers for the network, thanks in large part to the Writers Guild strike that proved to viewers Leno still has the right stuff, while Conan came off as less than polished. It will be a $40 million penalty for the network if Conan isn't given the job in 2009.

*NBC is facing higher production costs for its prime time programming. And with an Actor's strike looming - the network may well find itself running Law & Order episodes a hundred times a week. Even NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker calls the looming strike a potential "devastating" hit.

*Local NBC affiliates 11 p.m. news ratings are quickly on the decline. Fortunately for WKYC, we have remained strong thanks to a consistent news product - while other stations across the nation have seen dramatic nosedives after being unable to combat lower NBC primetime numbers.

In fairness to the network, prime time numbers have improved - but not to the levels where NBC will become #1 again in the forseeable future. And that's a problem.

The Solution:

*NBC should consider cutting its primetime schedule to 2 hours from 8 to 10 p.m.

*Local news moves to 10 p.m. - one full hour earlier to help stations recapture the lost news audience from 11 p.m.

*Jay Leno gets a brand new show at 10:30 p.m. which keeps him at NBC and gets late night programming, which is cheaper to produce, started earlier.

*Conan O'Brien succeeds Jay as host of "The Tonight Show" at 11:30 p.m. - as planned next year.

Whether NBC seriously considers the success that FOX is having with a shortened primetime schedule, plus the opportunity to strengthen our late night schedule still remains to be seen.

But for local stations, this could be the one big chance to replenish our late news numbers with a shift to 10 p.m.

Your thoughts are welcome. You can email me at: fmacek@wkyc.com

Disclaimer: The comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WKYC.

NBC bids farewell to "Las Vegas"

Looks like the hot, sexy love party is over for the NBC show "Las Vegas."

TV Guide is reporting today that the network has decided to pull the plug on the series after its 5 season run.

Apparently, last week's episode was the last - and surprisingly the finale - for the show which had not performed well in the ratings for the network on Friday nights.

According to TV Guide editor Michael Ausiello, "NBC had hoped this season's cast shake-up - Thomas Magnum replacing Sonny Corleone - might re-energize the show, but instead, it led to a double-digit ratings decline. Of course, the Friday time slot didn't help."

So no more from Sin City on NBC. Hope you enjoyed the hot ride while it lasted.

News: NBC announces return dates for shows

With the Writer's Strike finally ending, NBC has laid out its plans to introduce new episodes of its popular shows back into the mix.

April 3: "My Name Is Earl" with one-hour episode

April 10: "30 Rock," "The Office," "Scrubs" and "ER"

April 15: "Law & Order: SVU"

April 23: "Law & Order"

"Medium" continues its current run and the network will announce plans for other series soon.

In addition, NBC picked up two freshman dramas "Chuck" and "Life" as well as "Heroes" for the 2008-2009 season. NBC will re-launch all three series next year.

News: And the Winner Is????...Nobody

The Golden Globes ceremony won't look the same this year. The traditional ceremony has been canceled and will be replaced with a news conference format. The move came after striking writers threatened to picket the event.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which owns the Globes, says it's disappointed viewers won't see their favorite stars celebrate the achievements in movies and TV, but at least winners will be announced on the ceremony's original date.

The Association had been working on reaching an agreement on a revamped format with NBC, which is to air the show this coming Sunday. The award show regrouped when actors threatened to boycott the ceremony rather than cross the writers' picket lines.

The Golden Globes ceremony provides the unofficial kickoff to the Hollywood awards season, and has served as an informal bellwether to the Academy Awards.

VIDEO FEATURE
To watch a package on the Golden Globes: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: The Associated Press and NBC

News: NBC very interested in "The Weather Channel"

Media trade publications are reporting today that Landmark Communications is putting its high profile network, "The Weather Channel," on the auction block - and NBC is licking its lips.

The New York Times says, "Among the Weather Channel's suitors, NBC is expected to compete aggressively, people involved in the auction said. NBC has a weather-related unit called NBC Weather Plus, a joint project of NBC News and NBC affiliates, but the venture has never taken off. NBC Weather Plus includes a cable channel, frequently available only on digital cable platforms and high on the dial, along with a Web site, weatherplus.com."

"The Weather Channel" has a staff of 800 employees; 125 are meteorologists.

This could make for an interesting marriage between NBC and a network that at one time was seen as a fledgling network that was not going to make it. But it did and has remained as one of the last remaining independent cable networks not goggled up by big media.

The deal could be worth $5 billion including the channel and the website, weather.com (currently the 18th largest media website by traffic).

Other possible players include News Corporation, Comcast, Time Warner and Yahoo.

Some information courtesy: The NY Times

Meet the NBC All Stars: Tina Fey

Let's take a moment to get to know another one of NBC's big name celebrities. This month in our "Meet the Stars" feature, we spotlight "30 Rock" star Tina Fey.

Tina writes, executive-produces and stars as Liz Lemon in NBC's Emmy Award-winning "30 Rock," currently in its second season on NBC. Prior to creating "30 Rock," Fey completed six seasons as head writer, cast member and co-anchor of the "Weekend Update" segment on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Fey is an Emmy winner and two-time Writers Guild Award winner for her writing on "Saturday Night Live." Since her transition to being in front of the camera, she has won much acclaim -- including being named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year, one of People Magazine's "Most Beautiful People" (twice), and one of Time magazine's "Prestigious Time 100." She has also won a Gracie Award, a Made in New York Award, and most recently was nominated for two Emmy Awards, including: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Liz Lemon on "30 Rock" and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

"30 Rock" is told through the comedic voice of Tina Fey (Liz Lemon) and features Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy) as a top network executive and Tracy Morgan (Tracy Jordan) as the unpredictable star of Lemon's hit variety show, "TGS with Tracy Jordan." Lemon had her hands full this past season, juggling corporate interference from Donaghy and off-the-wall star antics from Jordan, all while attempting to salvage her own personal life.

Fey expanded to feature films in Spring 2004 as both a screenwriter and an actress opposite Lindsay Lohan in the hit comedy "Mean Girls," which earned her a nomination for a Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She is currently working on the film "Baby Mama," alongside "SNL's" Amy Poehler.

Fey lives in New York with her husband, Jeff Richmond, and their daughter.

Catch "30 Rock" Thursday Nights on WKYC.

Courtesy: NBC

Meet the NBC All Stars: Al Roker

The Director's Cut Blog proudly presents another brand new & exclusive feature called "Meet the Stars" - our insider information on the TV stars you see on NBC and WKYC-TV. We'll kick it off with our hometown favorite Al Roker, who was a big hit here at WKYC before leaving for the network in 1983.

Al Roker has been the weather and feature reporter on NBC News' "Today" since January 1996. Until January of 2000, Roker also served as the weekday weather forecaster for News Channel 4's early evening newscast "Live at 5" on WNBC-TV, NBC's flagship owned and operated station in New York City.

New York magazine has twice named Roker Best Weatherman. He came to WNBC-TV as a weekend weathercaster in December 1983 from WKYC-TV, the NBC Television Station in Cleveland. Roker began his broadcasting career while still in college by landing a job as a weekend weatherman WTVH-TV in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1974. After graduation he moved on to weathercasting jobs in Washington, D.C. (1976-1978) and Cleveland, Ohio (1978-1983). He is a recipient of the American Meteorological Society's prestigious Seal of Approval and has been a pioneer in the use of computer graphics for weathercasting.

Among his interview highlights, Roker conducted an exclusive interview with Peanuts creator Charles Shultz shortly before his death from colon cancer. Since 1985, he has served each holiday season in midtown Manhattan as co-host for the annual "Christmas at Rockefeller Center." The seven time Emmy Award winner also co-hosts "The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" and "Rose Bowl Parade" and appears on various specials for NBC.

In 1994, he founded Al Roker Productions, Inc. The company is involved in the development and production of network, cable, home video and public television projects. Two of the most successful projects include the critically acclaimed special on PBS about severe weather, "Savage Skies," and a highly rated travel series called, "Going Places." His company is also producing a series of specials for The Food Network. Roker is the author of "Don't Make Me Stop This Car! Adventures in Fatherhood," and "Al Roker's Big Bad Book of Barbeque."

Roker is a member of several professional organizations including the Friars Club, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Meteorological Society.

Raised in Queens, New York, Roker received his B.A. in Communications from the State University at Oswego in 1976, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the school in 1998. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News "20/20" Correspondent, Deborah Roberts, and has two daughters and one son.

Catch Al weekday mornings from 7 - 10 PM on the "Today Show" right here on WKYC, Channel 3.

Courtesy: NBC

News: NBC Launching New Download Service

NBC.com is launching a new service to allow users to download full episodes of NBC shows directly to their desktops. Using NBC Direct, due out for Windows PCs in October, will eventually be like setting your Tivo's Season Pass in that you can "subscribe" to a show once then automatically receive it each week.

The software client will store each ad-supported episode for up to one week, after which the license expires. Heroes, The Office, Life, Bionic Woman, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno will be available at launch.

Future plans include developing DRM-protected versions of shows that can be downloaded to an iPod, installing a P2P system to enable high definition downloads and experimentation with download-to-own, rental and subscription models.

News: NBC's Keith Olbermann Undergoes Emergency Surgery

Update: 9/19/07

Keith is at home and recovering well. He plans to return to his MSNBC show on Friday and Sunday Night Football this weekend.
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MSNBC's & NBC Sunday Night Football's rising prime-time star Keith Olbermann was still hospitalized Monday after undergoing an emergency appendectomy Friday.

Mr. Olbermann's appendix apparently ruptured Wednesday, but he wrote it off as a stomach ailment and soldiered on. Though still feeling ill, he nonetheless reported for work Thursday night, when he anchored MSNBC's analysis of President Bush's prime-time address on the war in Iraq.

It wasn't until Friday afternoon that he decided it was time to seek medical attention, according to an MSNBC spokeswoman.

Mr. Olbermann's medical emergency benched him from NBC's "Football Night in America" Sunday, but it's hoped he may be able to return to "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" some time this week. In the meantime, former MSNBC anchor Alison Stewart is expected to fill in for him.

Courtesy: TV Week

News: Just In Case You Miss 'em on WKYC

Four new NBC series this fall including "Bionic Woman," "Chuck," "Journeyman" and "Life" will get a second airing on the NBC cable networks: USA, Bravo and Sci-Fi.

"Bionic Woman" will replay on Sci Fi two days after the NBC airing.

"Life" will rebroadcast on USA later the same night of its NBC airing.

Both "Chuck" and "Journeyman" will have additional airings on all three NBC cable nets at various times.

For a schedule of this year's regular NBC Primetime lineup on WKYC, including season premiere dates, CLICK HERE

News: NBC to Sell Shows Through Amazon

NBC Universal said Tuesday it will sell episodes of its new fall television shows using Amazon's Unbox digital download service, after the network failed to reach an agreement with Apple Inc. last week to offer the shows on iTunes.

Amazon.com Inc. and NBC Universal said that episodes of programs such as "The Office" and "Heroes" are currently available for $1.99 on Unbox, and that new episodes will be added to the site they day after they air. Customers will be able to buy an entire season of a show at once.

Free pilot episodes of NBC's new fall shows, such as "Bionic Woman" and "Chuck," will appear starting Sept. 10.

The NBC content can be played, without commercials, on the computer screen, or on a TV through a Web-enabled TiVo set-top box.

On Friday, Apple said it will not sell any of NBC's programs for this fall season on iTunes. NBC and Apple have a contract that expires at the end of the year; Apple said NBC wanted to raise the prices for its content, a claim NBC has denied.

Courtesy: WKYC.com/Associated Press

News: Faith Hill to sing NBC's "Sunday Night Football" Theme

It is the beginning of a new "day" - though that day is Sunday at WKYC and NBC - as the network has announced that country star Faith Hill will be performing her version of "Waiting All Day For Sunday Night" - as the opening theme song this season NBC's "Sunday Night Football."

Hill will perform the song before each game.

The song, which pop singer Pink sang last season, is set to the tune of Joan Jett's '80s hit, "I Hate Myself for Loving You." Hill says she loves football and is married to someone who schedules his life around games. That's singer Tim McGraw.

A couple of years ago, McGraw sang the music to his "I Like It, I Love It" with the lyrics rewritten to go with the halftime highlight reel on "Monday Night Football."

Another country star, Hank Williams Junior, has performed the opening song for "Monday Night Football" for years.

News: NBC Picks Up 2 New Shows

From the world of NBC Universal -

NBC has picked up two news projects that may be worked into the schedule at some point, depending on how the Fall Season performs.

The first is a drama called "Mafia Wives" about the women who take over the family business, from writer Lynda LaPlante.

Also, NBC is developing an untitled comedy project about a fading hairdresser who is trying to maintain his career and raise his kids, from columnist Jane Bussmann.

We'll share more details as we get them.

News: NBC picks up Amen$ia for Mid Season

NBC has picked up a new game project from Mark Burnett Productions called Amne$ia.

The show tests a contestant memory about key events in his or her past, after researching the questions with people from his/her past.

Reportedly, NBC is looking to bring the show to primetime by midseason 2008.

News: Hosts Named for 4th hour of "Today"

Update: 8/14/07 @ 6:45 PM

As we reported yesterday, NBC has indeed made the official announcement regarding the new hour of "Today" confirming what we first reported yesterday. Read more details at WKYC.COM: CLICK HERE
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The Director's Cut Blog has learned that Ann Curry, Natalie Morales and Hoda Kotb (all pictured) will be named hosts of the fourth hour of NBC's "Today" Show beginning September 10th on WKYC. The network is expected to make an official announcement tomorrow, August 14th.

Sources also say that a rotating list of guest hosts include the Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis and New York Giant running back Tiki Barber, who became a "Today" correspondent in April.

Regular "Today" Show co-hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer will NOT be part of the 4th hour. Vieira contractually can not appear past 10 AM because of her work on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

Therefore, the new fall lineup on WKYC will be:
7 to 10 AM: "Today" Show
10 AM: "Good Company"
11 AM: "Today" Show (4th Hour)
Noon: Channel 3 News Midday

News: The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on WKYC

Preparing a year in advance, NBC Universal announced it will showcase round-the-clock coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games over 17 days, beginning exactly one year from today: 8-8-08 at 8 PM on WKYC/TV 3.

The plan, totaling 3,600+ hours, offers more televised coverage than all previous Summer Olympics combined in U.S. history (from 1960 to 2004). Coverage from Beijing will be seen on NBC, USA Network, MSNBC and CNBC, along with high-definition coverage on USA HD and Universal HD. Spanish-language coverage will be seen on Telemundo.

Additionally, NBCU will offer live streaming Olympic broadband video footage for the first time in the U.S. via NBCOlympics.com, and approximately 3,000 hours of highlights, rewinds and encores will be available on-demand.

Despite a 12-hour time zone difference, NBCU will feature must-see events in primetime from live swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball.

To See the new Olympics Video Trailer: CLICK HERE
To Go to the NBC Olympics Website: CLICK HERE