3 DOESN’T GET PAST TWO

After drawing the lowest ratings for the network for any show in modern ratings history, CBS has yanked its Sunday-night dating/reality show 3 after just two episodes. While the new show faced an overwhelming challenge from the Olympics, the network apparently felt that the core group of viewers at which it was aimed — women […]

CBS WORKS TO RETAIN “MYSTERY” OF KUTCHER’S MEN

Ashton Kutcher was nowhere to be seen on Wednesday as CBS programmers discussed his role as the replacement for Charlie Sheen on CBS’s Two and a Half Men. Meeting with TV writers at the annual Television Critics Association tour in Beverly Hills, CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler would reveal only this about Kutcher’s character: “He’ll […]

KUTCHER: “I WON THE LOTTERY”

At CBS’s upfront presentation to advertisers on Wednesday, Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer made their first appearance together since last week’s announcement that Kutcher had been selected to replace Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men. Joked Cryer to CBS programming chief Nina Tassler: “Did you have to get such a tall guy?” (Kutcher […]

GAY CBS EMPLOYEES WANT TO ADVISE PRODUCERS

Gay employees at CBS in New York and Los Angeles have formed an affinity group and have offered to consult with producers of the network’s television shows that include or are about to include gay characters, the gay publication The Advocate reported on its website Thursday. Calling themselves CBS Angle (for Affinity Network for Gay […]

CBS PRESIDENT VOWS TO ADD MORE GAY CHARACTERS

CBS President Nina Tassler conceded Wednesday that she is “very disappointed” with her network’s progress in incorporating gay characters into its scripted shows. Asked about the failing grade that CBS received from the gay activist group GLAAD, Tassler told television critics meeting at their annual “tour” in Beverly Hills, CA, “We know, and we will […]

ASK A SILLY QUESTION — GET A SILLY COLUMN

Washington Post TV columnist Lisa deMoraes made fun of one of her fellow critics attending the TV critics summer “tour” in Beverly Hills, CA, where TV program execs discuss their plans for the fall. At a news conference for CBS’s Nina Tassler, one reporter, referring presumably to the decision by ABC’s Steve McPherson to quit, […]