By Alan Pergament
Before he came back to Buffalo in 2009, Channel 2 morning co-anchor John Beard was a hot shot news anchor in Los Angeles for 26 years with celebrity admirers.
Working at the Fox affiliate in town led to Beard being hired to make 16 cameo appearances as himself on the critically-acclaimed, award-winning but little-watched situation comedy "Arrested Development" on Fox.
And now that "Arrested" returns Sunday with 15 episodes on Netflix, Beard reportedly is back in 12 scenes scattered throughout as many as seven episodes.
By Alan Pergament
It is no surprise that Channel 2 News dominated in the early morning and early evening time periods during the just-concluded May sweeps.
The trends of the first three weeks were reported here and nothing much changed in the final week.
Once again, I'll try to keep the numbers to a minimum even though once upon a time I was a math major.
By Alan Pergament
Boy am I glad I kept the rabbit ears antenna that Time Warner Cable gave out in 2008 when it was in a financial dispute with Channel 4's owners that pushed the CBS affiliate and little-watched sister station CW 23 off of cable for almost a month.
Because here we go again.
On the 6 p.m. Wednesday newscast, Channel 4 ran a lengthy statement advising viewers of the possibility that the station and CW 23 will be off TWC when the present contract runs out at 5 p.m. May 31. That's still eight days away -- plenty of time to make a deal -- but the owner of both stations wants viewers to be aware of the possibility.
By Alan Pergament
Does anyone in the Erie County Legislature have time to watch reality TV?
I certainly wondered if they watched this season's "The Amazing Race."
WNYers Katie and Max Bichler, the newlyweds who finished second in the Emmy Award-winning series, will accept a proclamation at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Legislature.
By Alan Pergament
This is what I'm thinking:
You may have read that viewership for the two-hour season finale of "American Idol" fell 33 percent from a year ago.
Not so on Buffalo's Fox affiliate, WUTV.
By Alan Pergament
The differences in news philosophies between Channel 2 and Channel 7 were on display Monday during coverage of the devastating Oklahoma tornado that grabbed the attention of the national morning shows today and the cable networks Monday night.
Channel 7, the third-rated news station, gave 11 p.m. viewers Team Coverage for more than seven minutes, more than twice as long as Channel 2 gave the story.
Of course, Channel 7 has the smallest staff in town, and team coverage fills time. But this national event, certainly deserved the extra coverage at 11 p.m.
By Alan Pergament
It isn't always wise to ask viewers to speculate on surprising news because the truth can be a little disappointing and the guesses have the potential to be embarrassing.
On Sunday night, Channel 2's "Daybreak" co-anchor Melissa Holmes sent out a Facebook message telling viewers that there was going to be "big news about one member of the 'Daybreak' family" on the No. 1 morning program in Western New York. Naturally, that led to speculation.
By Alan Pergament
As many of you know, I continued to blog about local and national television during my three-year sabbatical from The Buffalo News.
I did it for a variety of reasons. The primary reason was because I enjoy writing about television.
By Alan Pergament
Former Buffalo Bills defensive end Marcellus Wiley, who has become a TV star, didn't exactly sell Western New York to Bills rookie quarterback EJ Manuel Friday night on ESPN's "Sports Nation."
To his credit, Manuel wasn't buying Wiley's negativity.
Co-host Charissa Thompson told Manuel on the set that the good news is the Bills need QB competition and the bad news is that Buffalo is "not a thriving metropolis." Then she asked Wiley how his four seasons in Buffalo went.
By Alan Pergament
If you were watching "Grey's Anatomy," "American Idol" or the New York Knicks Thursday night when the series finale of "The Office" was playing, head to On Demand or Hulu in the next few days.
Writer-producer Greg Daniels somehow found time to give all the series' 100 or so characters (OK, I exaggerate slightly) a decent send-off and even was able to get himself in a staged photo of the cast. Daniels was the tall guy standing next to Pam (Jenna Fischer) when she organized the group photo that matched an oil painting she had drawn to celebrate the occasion.
By Alan Pergament
This is what I'm thinking:
Judging by local ratings, the one cancelled network series that Western New Yorkers will miss is ABC's "Body of Proof" starring Dana Delany.
In what could be called the battle of cancelled shows at 10 p.m. Tuesday, "Proof" scored a decisive local victory over CBS' canceled "Golden Boy," 6.0-3.7.
NBC's "Grimm," which recently was moved to 10 p.m. Tuesday, finished second in the time slot with a 5.6 rating here. It is being moved to Fridays next fall when "Chicago Fire" starring Jesse Spencer moves to 10 p.m. Tuesday.
