@Ed Papazian: The U.S. definitely is still characterized as a liberal democracy, but its ranking has fallen precariously in V-Dem's index. In terms of skewing democracy's weight,.the U.S. is only 4.5% of the world population.

Joe, if the U.S. is characterized as a "democracy" , which, temporarily may not be the case, wouldn't that tilt the stats unduly in favor of "democracies"?

I don't know what a rebrand would be for CNN maybe CBS News Cable or Eye On America News. CNN until Jeff Zucker ran it into the ground was liberal but fair and went a little too liberal in my opinion and the last two presidents did try and get it back to it's roots in my opinion. I know always been talks that CBS News and CNN would combine but never happen.

David, yep, it's all in my new book, "TV: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". 

Adam, just to keep the record straight, CBS' first foray into the late fringe daypart was "The Merv Griffin Show" (previously a syndicated show) which premiered on August 18, 1969. Before that, local affiliates had programmed the time period, primarily with old theatrical movies.

Adam, just to keep the record straight, CBS' first foray into the late fringe daypart was "The Merv Griffin Show" (previously a syndicated show) which premiered on August 18, 1969. Before that, local affiliates had programmed the time period, primarily with old theatrical movies.

The Ellisons et al might want to take a look at "Citizen Kane..." Jus' sayin'...

Yay!!

@Dan C. from MS Enterainment: That's the thing you zero in on? I don't understand why you always comment on some personal slight instead of commenting on the overall substance of something we publish. It's like you're always looking to make a dig, and I suspect that's your real objective.

Personally, I tolerate that when you do that with my commentary, because I'm editor-in-chief, but I don't understand why you're always looking to stir up some kind of personal criticism about someone posting something on MediaPost. In any case, you're entitled to express your own opinion about "sauce" vs. "gravy," but that's literally why I put the word "gravy" in quotes. It was an homage to my Italian American ancestors, not what I personally use to describe tomato sauce.

In fact, my article referred to "sauce" five times and referenced "gravy" only once, and that one was in quotes.

But I suppose you'll pick a fight over those quants too.

Come on, Joe. Buy your own admission, sauce versus gravy is always a hotly debated topic. My comment is not a personal attack.

Sauce or gravy refers to a Ragu which is completely different than marinara. I'm sure your friends at Dell'Amore can back me up on this one and perhaps you can share some vino with them while discussing.

Cin cin!

@Dan C. from MS Entertainment: Not sure why you always personalize your comments, but gravy is what the old school Italian Americans I grew up with called tomato sauce. Some of them from Arthur Avenue.

https://share.google/323C3d3YEA3JySfLX

A bit disappointed for a kid from the Bronx to call marinara "gravy."

I think the guys down on Arthur Avenue would agree :-p

My opinion is secondary TV station should air say Lions, Colts than having to have to go to a streaming service in my opinion. That most of the state should get to see their teams in my opinion, since I'm a night owl when the Lions are on late at night I'll watch it if it is a close game win or lose but if it's a blowout loss then I'll not watch which I didn't when they were on Christmas Day and lost to the Vikings since it wasn't a close game.

Vermont is home to some amazing brands: Ben & Jerry's, Dell'Amore, Cabot Creamery, Shelburne Farms, and Darn Tough socks!

The end of an era(another one)

Great stories Joe.

Wait.........George The Animal Steele could speak actual proper English....no f-in way.

Thanks for checking in, Joe. Of all the things you just described -- I can't decide which is better -- witnessing Hulk Hogan lifting Vanna White over his head or seeing Cloris Leachman drunk. It's a toss-up!

Nice obit, Adam.

NATPE was something else.

I remember arriving at my first one in Las Vegas in the early 1980s, checking into the Hilton and seeing Hulk Hogan lift Vanna White over his head in the lobby. Had a dinner with some of the WWE wrestlers too, and was surprised how erudte George The Animal Steele was. I once inadvertently hit "Bud" in the groin with a metal folding chair while posing for a photo with the cast of "Married With Children." Had dinner with the drunken cast of "Facts of Life," including Cloris Leachman. Got served jambalaya straight from Chef Paul Prudhomme while sipping hurricanes and watching Chubby Checker twisting and shouting on a Mississippi steam boat in New Orleans. Got held up at gun point while walking the back allies of the French Quarter with the late great trade reporter John Higgins. And those are just the stories I can talk about.

It's amazing what a spectacle it once was, but oldtimers told me it started as programmer/station sales meeting in hotel suites, long before it took over giant convention halls.

Good way to frame it, Gord. It's kind of a sad conclusion that even this kind of a "loss" won't be meaningful enough to truly hurt. 

Thanks, Tony. Looking forward to youir upcoming report.

Ed: Just posted this on LinkedIn in response to Dr. Tracy Adams', ARF, excellent observations on the complex barriers facing media measurment in the US. I believe it underlines the concerns we have both expressed regarding the critical importance of people-based real exposure measurement for too long. 
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tracy-adams625_cimmeast2026-cimmeast2026-measurement-activity-7444879478142439424-_Jnw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAKo4FUBIAk90m3xtqphku7ECsUhBCx676Y

"I would add a caution that relying on device-based ("content rendered counts on the glass" aka "viewable impressions") measurement essentially takes the industry back years to circulation/distribution metrics that we seriously left behind after the seminal Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) Media Model was published, 2003. Understanding how advertising works and the most relevant metrics to use has continued its sophistication with Attention metrics. No Attention. No outcomes!"

I have a piece coming out imminently on ARF's Evaluation of Attention Measurement, Phase III that was driven by Tracy together with Paul Donato at ARF.  Terrific work on this critical media dimension by ARF.  

Very comprehensive report, Tony. I gather that there wasn't much interest in determining whether anyone was watching TV content or ad messages---which still continues to amaze me.

Gord ... come to us Aussies!

Hmmm?

So ARF DASH is based on 10,000 interviews, and it appears that many media people consider 10k PER ANNUM is sufficient.

10k per annum equates to 10,000 people in a population of 349,000,000.   Don't hold your breath ... that is one-in-34,900.   Each survey is generally based on a current day up to the latest week.

Pffft.