Oprah and the Olympians

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Daytime, Sports, Talk Shows, Syndication, Oprah Winfrey Show, News

Next week, Oprah Winfrey will piggyback off the success of the Beijing Games to help kick off her program’s new year.

On Wednesday, the talk show queen will gather over 150 US Olympians for a celebration in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The event will be taped to air on Monday, September 8, the premiere date for The Oprah Winfrey Show‘s 23rd season.

Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, Nastia Liukun, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh and Dara Torres are amongst the athletes scheduled to appear.

Those hoping to attend the “welcome home celebration” can find information on tickets here.

Read More | Chicago Sun-Times

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Saturday Ratings: Michael Phelps Had the Country Watching

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Specials, Sports, NBC, Ratings

USA’s Olympic golden boy helped the Peacock network earn ratings gold this weekend.

Viewers, eager to see MIchael Phelps win his 8th gold medal turned, gave NBC its largest Saturday audience since 1990.

That evening’s coverage drew an average of 31.1 million for the entirety of the sports coverage. Meanwhile, Phelps’ actual event - the 4x100m medley relay - drew approximately 40 million sets of eyeballs at the 11 p.m. hour.

Interested to know which program had couch potatoes watching on that Saturday 18 years ago? You can find out the surprising answer after the jump.

Click to continue reading Saturday Ratings: Michael Phelps Had the Country Watching

Read More | Futon Critic

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This Week on TV (8/18-8/24)

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Drama, Food & Home, Music, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, Sports, Bravo, Cable, MTV, NBC

(You can view TV Envy’s Summer Television Programming Schedule here.)
(You can navigate NBC’s Olympics schedule here.)

MONDAY (8/18)

• I Want to Work for Diddy (VH1, 9pm):  “Two members from each team must go to Paris and convince a model that Diddy saw in a magazine to come back to NYC with them and pose for Sean John.” If you want to flatter a girl, don’t send one assistant - send four.
• The Hills (MTV, 10pm): Season 4 premiere. I’m ashamed to say that I know what a ‘Lo’ is.
• Paranormal State (A&E, 10pm):  “A family in Shrewsbury, Mass., claims to have been living with a spirit for 40 years, and all but one family member believe the spirit is malicious.” If they’ve managed to live with it for 40 years, how bad could this spirit possibly be?
• Date My Ex: Jo & Slade (Bravo, 10pm):  “Juvenile tomfoolery back at he house irks Slade and may mean the expulsion of a suitor.” Had this been simply adult tomfoolery, things would have been fine.

Click to continue reading This Week on TV (8/18-8/24)

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Friday Ratings: Olympics Ceremony Brings the Gold to NBC

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Specials, Sports, NBC, Ratings

Let’s face it. Viewers probably weren’t watching Swingtown last night. So let’s just focus on the one event the world was glued to: the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Although a lot of controversy has surrounded this year’s games, the ratings - at least for the tape-delayed opening ceremony - surpassed expectations:

• Beijing’s opening day was the most-watched summer ceremony held outside the United States.
• The 2004 Athens games scored a 18.0 rating/30 share; Friday’s event earned a 21.5 rating/37 share.
• In comparison, the 1996 Atlanta games pulled in a 23.6/45 on its opening day.

NBC is planning up to 3600 hours of coverage through August 24.

Read More | Variety

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