MSG to Exit

Richard Sandomir reports that Time Warner Cable subscribers in New York are on the verge of losing MSG at midnight. Update: MSG did go dark last night.

Mary Sue & Sexism

From earlier this month: The blogger at Adventures of Comic Book Girl proposes that the fanfic concept of Mary Sue is sexist.

All-American Muslim on 9/11

The next episode of All-American Muslim will address the cast's thoughts on the impact of 9/11.

Cable Changes

Cable bills have almost tripled over the last decade, but at least the cable guy has cleaned himself up.

2012 Looking Forward

Some pieces from earlier this week looking ahead to 2012: Midseason questions, midseason ratings matchups, paidContent on what's coming, VideoNuze predictions, Lost Remote's social TV predictions, anticipated premieres and returns.

2011 Looking Back

Some pieces from this earlier week looking back on 2011: top cable channels, top social TV networks of the year, Nielsen's top digital, Guardian 2011 TV in review, Adweek's top TV stories, football ruled ratings, Stewart beat Fox News, key moments, Deadline looks back.

Best TV of 2011

The year-end Best TV list is almost complete; I put the critics of (likely) greatest interest at the top, the rest are listed alphabetically after the jump. Please fill me in on any I've missed.

AV Club: Best TV, Critics' Ballots, Awards, Discussion, Other Episodes, Worst TV, Favorite Moments
Daniel Fienberg: Top Ten, Second Ten, Worst
Futon Critic: Best Episodes
Jace Lacob & Maria Elena Fernandez: Best & Worst Shows
Ryan McGee: Top 10
James Poniewozik (Time): Top Series & the rest, Top Episodes & the rest, Cincys, Worst
Maureen Ryan: Best Shows, Best Lines
Matt Zoller Seitz: Best Shows, Best Episodes
Alan Sepinwall: Top 10 (or 11), Best Returning Shows, Best New Shows, Best of Rest, Worst
Ken Tucker:  6 thru 10 Best Shows, 1 thru 5, 11-20

Slow Week

I'm leaving town for the rest of the week, unfortunately headed to a land of limited internet (dad's house), thus I probably won't be able to blog much, if at all, so hopefully it'll be a slow news week. I'll return on the weekend and try to catch up with any worthy bits of news I missed. Until then, have a happy end of 2011!

Reality Employment

Joe Parkinson describes a reality TV show in Georgia (the one in Eurasia, not the US) that an American Idol-style competition show focused on combating unemployment.

TV Set Revenue

TV set prices are falling, which  is hurting manufacturers and sellers, and Sony is pulling out of a joint venture with Samsung to save money.

Season Surprises

Joe Flint analyzes the fall season's surprises and disappointments.

Hell on Wheels Renewed

Hell on Wheels will be back for a second season on AMC

Good TVeets

mileskahn 

Dear Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food"- you had me at 'this food looks like diarrhea and the sad man will eat it for our pleasure.'

ishirakumar 

The British accent makes soapy moments seem less hokey. "They aren't being dramatic, they're just enunciating correctly!" #Misfits

TVMcGee 

Was excited for The Food Network's "Rachel vs Guy: Celebrity Cook Off" until I learned Rachel & Guy aren't cooking the celebs. Oh well.

Fuse as Flash Point

In addition to MSG, Fuse is caught in the carriage fee battle with Time Warner Cable.

Israeli TV Politics

Ethan Bronner reports on a TV channel caught in the political crossfire in Israel.

Netflix's UK Problem

Netflix is launching in the UK with a key show missing: Downton Abbey.

AHS Zeitgeist

Amy Rubens interprets American Horror Story in terms of America's current insecurities.

2012 Predictions

Phillip Swann came up with 50 predictions for TV in 2012.

Dodgers Lose

Fox Sports won a key court ruling against the Los Angeles Dodgers, putting the sale of media rights on hold.

Misfits Genius

I'm a big fan of the UK show Misfits, and the episode that just went up on Hulu (S3E2) is an all-time great, especially in terms of its insightful exploration of gender norms. Rowan Kaiser at the AV Club does a fine job of explaining why this episode is "going to launch a thousand conference papers" yet still entertain fans of this excellent series.

Sunday Ratings

Marc Berman's summary:
-Sunday’s Winners: Sunday Night Football: Chicago at Green Bay (NBC)
-Sunday’s Losers: Nothing…60 percent of the schedule was in repeats.
-Total Viewers: NBC: 17.33 million, CBS: 5.39, ABC: 4.76, Fox: 1.59
-Adults 18-49: NBC: 5.5 rating/18 share, ABC: 1.7/ 6, CBS: 0.8/ 2, Fox: 0.7/ 6

Network numbers from TV By the Numbers. I'm sorry to see that a lot of people watched my beloved Chicago Bears play football last night (or whatever it was they were trying to play).

Grantland on 2011 TV

The staff writers of Grantland, one of the great new arrivals of 2011, look back on TV in 2011 with intriguing show pairings (like Downton Abbey vs. Keeping Up With the Kardashians): Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3.

Parenthood Praise

Emily Nussbaum discusses why Parenthood is worth watching (It "risks corniness, tiptoes up to the edge of conventionality, then delivers real emotion. Its strength is arguably as valuable as the ability of other series to agitate their fans: it manages to be warm, even sentimental, without being dumb"), and also puts in a good word for the web series Husbands.

Charlie Brown Analysis

If you're not ready to let go of Christmas just yet, or just like to read thought-provoking essays all year round, check out Todd VanDerWerff's take on the the Charlie Brown Christmas special's aesthetics and religious overtones.

Old Footage in New Ads

Jeremy W. Peters looks at how political candidates are using previous footage of opponents to attack them anew.

New Ways We Watch

David Carr outlines some of the new traditions of media consumption: "Even as some of the old truisms in media still obtain — content wears the crown and strong brands break through clutter — a few new rules are taking shape."

War Coverage

Brian Stelter finds that news coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2011 was relatively low. You can compare this to Stelter's year-end war coverage reports from 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Rise of The Five

Over at Fox News, The Five has survived effectively in Glenn Beck's old slot.

Lemon & CNN

Wyatt Williams analyzes Don Lemon's role at CNN: "Cable news doesn't need another voice to yell over everyone else, it needs someone who can ask questions and be frank about the fact that the status quo is broken. Could Lemon be the guy to fix it?"

ESPN for Women

Kelly McBride checks out espnW, a website and branding effort targeting female sports fans. (Apparently women don't like capitalization as much as men?) There's some really interesting stuff in here about research efforts by ESPN into how men and women differ in their sports consumption: "The network has invested a lot of resources into researching the female audience, trying to figure out what female fans want and how to give it to them. The answer: It’s complicated. Women have a different relationship to sports than men do, and there’s no magic bullet."

2011 in TVeets

The only way you can truly experience all the best TVeets of the year is to go back and read each and every post, because there's so much greatness in there. But there isn't time for that, so I offer instead this condensed list of the funniest, most insightful, most memorable TV-related tweets of the year.

This was made feasible with the generous assistance of a group of TVeets devotees; I list them below, and you should follow each and every one on Twitter to reward them for taking on a challenging task. Each volunteer was given ten posts, from which they painstakingly picked 10-15 of the best tweets and also selected one as the best of their lot, from which I put together a Top 20.

The top 20(ish – a few are two-parters) are listed on this page, and then the TVeets chronology of the year is after the jump. We had to leave out some true gems just to make this manageable (and even then, there are 300+ tweets), and a small handful are text-only because I couldn't find the original links, but I trust that these tweets provide a delightfully funny and maybe even vaguely profound snapshot of what it meant to watch and tweet about TV in 2011 (minus the summer, when I was overseas and not keeping track).

Thanks a million to all of you who tweet about TV and who read tweets about TV. This is why Twitter rules. 

Awesome TVeets volunteers who you should all follow: @andydaglas, @noelrk, @p00rrichard, @corybarker, @digifreak642, @AndrewDaar, @ishirakumar, @theshoresofme, @aboleyn, @HurricaneAmon, @LostCadence, @stringertheory, @Aseroff, @jlschaefer, @frazbelina, @michelleangusTV, @MrNoncents, @inessentials, @Lesismore9o9. And lastly but not leastly: @GoodTVeets.

Night Before Murphymas

Here's a dopey little ode I wrote up in honor of the season and of Ryan Murphy, whose work has launched a thousand Good TVeets. Which also makes this a good time to mention: the selections of the Best TVeets of 2011 will be posted here tomorrow morning. Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the land
Not a creature was stirring, not even Rubber Man.

The tweets were saved in Storify with care,
In hopes that St. Murphy soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Mike Chang & Britney S. Pierce danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down to read a thoughtful @tvoti Glee recap.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But Ryan Murphy and eight sunken-eyed writers trembling with fear,

"Now, Falchuck! Now, Brennan! Now, Adler and Noxon!

On Aguirre-Sacasa! On Hitchcock! On Maxwell and Hodgson!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Write me some nonsense, then dash away! dash away all!"

Down the chimney Ryan Murphy came with a bound.
He was dressed like Curt Hummel, in a style that confounds,

His eyes -- how maniacal! Obsessed with residual wealth,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know exactly what I did dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
Leaving a new episode of Glee on my DVR, the unrepentant jerk.

Laying his middle finger aside his nose in a style all morose,
And giving a sneer, up the chimney he rose;

I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good TVeets night!”

Reality Star Deaths

John Jeremiah Sullivan brings perspective to four reality TV star deaths in 2011.

Christmas TV

Scott Collins and Joe Flint discuss Christmas TV past, specifically the Christmas variety special, while Jack Kibble-White says British Christmas TV present suffers from predictability, but actress Arabella Weir wishes Christmas TV future continues to include Doctor Who specials.

Good TVeets

kevingchristy 

the next time someone says to you "I don't watch television" say "what's television?" It's the checkmate of pretentious lies.

SnoopDogg 

Shout out to @louisck 4 his web game ya digg! May have 2 take sum notes. Goodlookn out on the givebacc.

JeffreySconce 

DALLAS is returning to TNT and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Infallible Authorities

Alyssa Rosenberg considers the implications of the notion that network TV writers are told to make cops and doctors infallible.

NFL Deal Impact

Joe Flint reports that the new NFL deals could hurt smaller and non-sports cable channels in terms of lower distribution fees.

Why SOPA is Bad

Danny Kimball describes the extreme downsides of the SOPA bill.

Crowd-Funded Movie

Producers of the German version of The Office have raised around $1.3 million from fans for a movie.

Thursday Ratings

Marc Berman's summary:
-Winners: The X Factor (Fox)
-Losers: Who’s Still Standing? (NBC), Prime Suspect (NBC)
-Total Viewers: Fox: 12.45 million, CBS: 8.00, NBC: 3.91, ABC: 3.29, CW: 1.42
-Adults 18-49: Fox: 3.8 rating/11 share, CBS: 1.8/ 5, NBC: 1.1/ 3, ABC: 1.0/ 3, CW: 0.5/ 1

Network numbers from TV By the Numbers. Final ratings. Cable ratings.

Academy, Academia, YouTube

Jamie Cohen discusses how online video is affecting both the television academy and the academic community that teaches television and new media.

Yule Log TV

Jill Pellettieri presents a video history of the Yule Log TV tradition.

Friday Fun

To those who have found it tough to watch Mrs. Coach in American Horror Story, this is for you. (Some bits of this might constitute AHS spoilers.)

Good TVeets

sepinwall 

Murphy probably making wise move rebooting AHS. He loses interest in characters so quickly; might as well start over w/new ones.

noahhawley 

to understand what a pain in the ass Act Breaks are to TV writers, imagine telling a story and having to add a car chase every few minutes

TVMcGee 

I want a montage of historical tragedies w/ Nicole Scherzinger photshopped into them. The Black Plague, Great Depression, etc. #Xfactor

Women & The Funny

Meghan Daum says Christopher Hitchens was sorta right about women not being funny, at least in terms of what they're willing to let other people, especially men, see. Among other interesting sentences, she writes, "Women avoid funny because they're afraid of what they'll have to give up in exchange, for instance the coy mysteriousness that men supposedly prize above all else."

Ex-Wives on TV

Anne Trubek observes that the divorced wife is a prominent character on TV these days.

Ownership Rules

Expect to hear more about the FCC & media ownership rules today; John Eggerton reports: "According to various sources, the Federal Communications Commission was expected Thursday to announce that a majority of commissioners had voted to propose scrapping the radio-TV cross-ownership rules, but leave in place the radio and TV local market ownership caps."

UPDATE: Michael Copps's "no" was the only FCC opposition to the rules changes, which brought swift reaction. Brian Stelter reports.

AJE Wins

In reporting on Al Jazeera English winning a prestigious journalism award, Eric Deggans asks why it isn't more widely available in the US (it's only in about 5 million US households, 250 million worldwide).

Fake Websites

Vulture lists some of the fake website names made up by TV shows this year.

Community Flashmob

The Community flashmob outside 30 Rock today grabbed some attention through song, but was a modest-sized crowd.

AHS Changes

American Horror Story will change it up next season: new setting, new family, new horrors. Alan Sepinwall likes this move.

Last Man Standing Defended

June Thomas says Last Man Standing has gotten watchable.

Wednesday Ratings

Marc Berman's summary:
-Winners: The X Factor (Fox)
-Honorable Mention: Modern Family R (ABC), Criminal Minds R (CBS), CSI R (CBS)
-Losers: A Home for the Holidays (CBS), I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox)
-Total Viewers: Fox: 9.83 million, CBS: 6.12, NBC: 4.70, ABC: 4.52, CW: 821,000
-Adults 18-49: Fox: 3.0 rating/9 share, ABC: 1.4/ 4, CBS: 1.3/ 4, NBC: 1.2/ 4, CW: 0.3/ 1

Network numbers from TV By the Numbers. Final ratings. Cable ratings.

HBO's Comedy Problem

Andy Greenwald discusses the challenges HBO has had with developing comedies.

Social TV Efforts

Natan Edelsburg tracks how Stazr is using social media, and Alex Ben Block checks out Discovery's efforts.

Jingle Status

Robert Everett-Green looks at the decline of the ad jingle.

Weather Channel Advertising

David Goetzl reports on how the Weather Channel is devising new ways to schedule ads: "It’s enlisted a former Air Force meteorologist, who helped plan missions in Operation Desert Storm, to advise advertisers on optimal times to run ads as they look to take advantage of weather patterns to pump sales."

MSG v. TWC

The latest carriage battle to get nasty is between MSG and Time Warner Cable. Update: The sniping is escalating.

Netflix Subscribers

Peter Kafka updates us on Netflix subscriber levels and attitudes. He also says Netflix is still dedicated to making us not want DVDs anymore.

Louis Update

Louis C.K.'s online special has reached the $1 million sales mark; here's his post about it.

Update: Ben Dolnick throws cold water on the Louis phenomenon.

Kelly Holding Up

Live With Kelly is holding up in the ratings post-Regis.

Retrans Scramble

A few retrans battles are coming down to the Dec. 31 wire.

Canadian Top Tens

CTV lists various categories of highest-rated shows in Canada this year.

BET Up

BET has seen a boost in its ratings this year, as a move to more scripted series has worked out.

GoodTVeets

junethomas 

Do we really need movies and TV shows when we have Hallmark ads?

elgray 

GLAAD telling ABC "Work It" will hurt transgender people. Who else it'll hurt: people with eyeballs who don't look away fast enough.

HitFixDaniel 

The "AHS" finale was like "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" of "American Horror Story."

Work It Backlash

Even before it's aired, transgender groups and GLAAD are objecting to Work It. GLAAD has published a full-page ad in Variety.

UGC on CNN

CNN's use of user-generated content, such as iReport submissions, is having an impact on news coverage, unfortunately also including layoffs of professionals.

Tuesday Ratings

Network numbers from TV By the Numbers. Final ratings. Cable ratings.

Cable News Orientation

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has released a study of cable news coverage in 2011 and found that MSNBC and Fox News covered the economy in similar measure, while CNN had more international coverage. Elsewhere, Rachel Maddow insists MSNBC is not the liberal Fox News.

Nielsen 2011 Rankings

Nielsen has released top ten lists for various ratings categories. Also, Ed at Spotted has a top ten in ratings moments, 10-6 & 5-1.

Good TVeets

bnowalk 

Enlightened got renewed, Web Therapy got renewed. They're just taunting poor Community at this point.

ErinHill2 

Giving Terriers a chance (on my Netflix). Doing the Terriers dance (on my carpet). (Singing) Go Terri-, Go Terri-, Go Terri..ers.

JeremyMonjo  

Ryan Murphy is to Crazy Internet People as Richard Nixon was to the Silent Majority.

Writer Resources

I wanted to draw your attention to the great work Gray Jones is doing at TV Writer Podcast, which, as you might guess, features podcasts with TV writers and also a huge list of TV writers on Twitter. Anyone who wants to write for TV or who wants to study TV writing can find much to draw from at Jones's site. You can also follow him on Twitter to keep up with the site's additions.

Lowe's Holds

Following a meeting with interfaith ministers, Lowe's insisted it still won't advertise on All-American Muslim. And the ratings for the show have been going down.

Illicit Substance Shows

Matt Diehl checks out Weed Wars and a few other shows focusing on illegal substances.

Glee Supporting the Arts

Lesley Goldberg checks out what Glee and its cast members are doing for the arts and for charity.

Time Shifting Activities

Louis Gray discusses how time-shifting is coming to be the norm.

Piers a Problem

Richard Adams looks at CNN's recent problems with Piers Morgan.

Writer's Perspective

Justin Halpern, creator of Sh*t My Dad Says, offers the writer's perspective on cancellation.

Chrismukkah in The O.C.

As part of the AV Club's Advent Calendar series, Carrie Raisler looks back at The O.C.'s holiday episodes.

Game, Set, Match

Tennis Channel won its carriage discrimination case against Comcast, giving Bloomberg TV new hope.

Where Terra Nova Went Wrong

Maureen Ryan deconstructs Terra Nova's problems.

Fox News Card

Fox News' Christmas card offers a dig at CNN and MSNBC.

Men Don't Matter

Chris Harnick uses the HBO cancellations to lead into a larger claim: women are dominating TV screens lately.

HBO Announcements

Back to blogging after a day of travel, and here's the news that broke just as I left: HBO has renewed Enlightened and cancelled Bored to Death, Hung, and How to Make It in America. Alan Sepinwall and Jaime Weinman offer thoughts.

Monday Ratings

Marc Berman's summary:
-Winners: 2 Broke Girls R (CBS), Two and a Half Men R (CBS), Mike & Molly R (CBS), Fear Factor (NBC)
-Losers: Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special (ABC), A Chipmunk Christmas (ABC), You Deserve It (ABC), Who’s Still Standing? (NBC), Rock Center With Brian Williams (NBC)
-Total Viewers: CBS: 7.43 million, Fox: 7.18, NBC: 5.38, ABC: 4.54, CW: 1.20
-Adults 18-49: CBS and Fox: 2.2 rating/6 share each, NBC: 1.7/ 4, ABC: 1.1/ 3, CW: 0.3/ 1

Network numbers from TV By the Numbers. Final ratings. Cable ratings.

Louis CK Gets Dinner Gig

Louis C.K. will be the featured speaker at the June Congressional Correspondents' Dinner.

Top Ads of 2011

Nielsen ranks the top ads of 2011 in various categories. Abe Sauer analyzes the product placement results.

Top-Rated British Shows

The Guardian has a list of the top-rated shows of 2011 on British TV.

Community Flash Mob

Cougar Town is trying viewing parties; Community fans are trying a flash mob.

Free Shows

Sony is giving away Pan Am episodes on iTunes, trying to hook new viewers for its midseason return. Also, NBC will be streaming previously aired new show episodes online.

Hulu Growth

Hulu saw its audience grow about 23% this year.

Streaming Super Bowl

NBC Sports has announced it will make the Super Bowl available online. Richard Sandomir reports, Ryan Lawler analyzes. Tim Carmody considers the larger impact. Will Richmond says this isn't a big deal yet.

EpicMealTime to TV

Another web series is making the jump to TV, as EpicMealTime has been picked up by G4.

Local & Social in 2012

Carrie Brown Smith predicts that 2012 will be a good year for local television, especially due to greater adoption of social media.

Producer Cards Moving

MTV is moving producer credit titles from the ends of shows to their last ad break to more seamlessly connect shows.

Occult Rules

Ofcom has issued new rules relating to the depiction of the occult in psychic ads on British TV.

Cougar Town Parties

Cougar Town showrunner Bill Lawrence is organizing viewing parties to keep fan interest up until the show's return to TV.

Regulating FCC Regulation

Eliza Krigman looks at how GOP reform bills are aimed at handcuffing the FCC.

Netflix UK Launch

Netflix is launching in the UK with a new deal for BBC shows.

DVR Bonus

Bill Carter looks at the impact of timeshifting on network ratings.

Rutledge at Charter

Tom Rutledge will try to fix what's wrong at Charter Communications. One analyst knocks Cablevision for letting Rutledge go.

2011 Cable News Ratings

Though Fox News lost some viewers this year, it remained dominant over MSNBC and CNN. CNN is hoping some digital acquisitions will help boost them heading into next year.

Homeland Set Record

Homeland's finale was the highest-rated for a freshman show in Showtime history.

BCS Green for ESPN

College bowl season makes ESPN big money.

Most DVR'd

TiVo has released its annual list of the most DVR'd moments and shows of the year.

No More Choose or Lose

MTV has dropped its usual election-season slogan.

Good TVeets

DamonLindelof 

Awoke to learn that while most of us found HOMELAND finale spectacular, a disgruntled minority vowed never to watch again. Shocker.

danieltwalters 

In all the commercial hubbub, don't forget the reason for the season: The Doctor Who Christmas Special.

TVMcGee 

HAHAHAHA. Oh man. That was funny. Wait, that wasn't supposed to be? Oh. #TerraNova

TV Holding Up

TV ad spending is holding up, especially in cable and syndication.

New ABC News

ABC News has a new slogan and a new political news website.

Cablevision Has HBO Go

Now Cablevision has reached an HBO Go deal, which means most pay TV subscribers can now access it.

Kim Coverage

Brian Stelter assesses how the cable news channels covered Kim Jong-il's death.

Sunday Ratings

Marc Berman's summary:
-Winners: 60 Minutes (CBS), Sunday Night Football: Baltimore at San Diego (NBC), Survivor: South Pacific (CBS)
-Losers: Allen Gregory (Fox)
-Total Viewers: CBS: 15.86 million, NBC: 11.77, ABC: 4.78, Fox: 4.06
-Adults 18-49: CBS: 4.5 rating/11 share, NBC: 4.3/11, Fox: 1.7/ 4, ABC: 1.3/ 3

Network numbers from TV By the Numbers. Final ratings. Cable ratings.

Viacom & Nielsen

David Goetzl calls on Viacom to be transparent about the results of Nielsen's investigation into its ratings shortfalls.

More Alaska

TLC is in talks with Sarah Palin for another season of her Alaska show.

Hammer Profile

Bill Carter profiles Bonnie Hammer, chairwoman of NBCU's cable division.

New NBC Sports Head

Richard Sandomir profiles the new chief at NBC Sports, Mark Lazarus.

History's Rise

Brian Stelter tracks History's rise to the top-rated tier of cable channels.

Homeland Coverage

All things Homeland: Reviews from Alan Sepinwall, Andy Greenwald, Haglund & Thomas, James Poniewozik, Alyssa Rosenberg, Matt Zoller Seitz, Todd VanDerWerff, Ken Tucker, Eric Deggans (also Dexter spoilers in that one). Interviews with Claire Danes, Claire Danes, Damien Lewis, the producers, Alex Gansa. Also, watch Angela Chase react to Carrie Mathison cursing.