Tuesday 18 September 2007

TV coverage lacking

UPDATED
Toronto Sun readers who watch a lot of television must be feeling like second class citizens.

Sun TV coverage has been wanting since the forced departure of Bill Brioux, but that is not the fault of Bill Harris, who can only do so much as the Sun's solo TV writer.

The Sun, to date, has shortchanged readers in the fall preview department. Sun Television on Sunday had zero coverage. Not a word. Ditto for ENT.

The Globe and Mail got it right with new and renewed TV shows outlined in its Friday TV/film guide and on Saturday with almost two pages by TV writer John Doyle.

The Toronto Star had full coverage in its Saturday StarWeek TV magazine - plus an eight-page Fall TV Preview pullout section in Monday's paper, with reviews by Rob Salem.

Maybe the Toronto Sun is planning a fall preview for next weekend - a week into the new fall season. Or not.

And then there was the Sun's AP coverage of the Emmy Awards. We learned from the Larry King show that Kathy Griffin (Jesus comments) and Sally Fields (anti war comments), among others, were censored by in the U.S. by Fox , not just Ray Romano.

The censor's delete button was busy on a night that saluted The Sopranos, HBO's recently departed mob family series that was peppered with George Carlin's famous seven words.

(Thanks to Good Morning America on ABC, we learned the CTV feed from the Emmys was not censored and Canadian viewers heard most of the comments bleeped by Fox. Maybe a TV writer in T.O. can explain how does that work.)

Meanwhile, did you notice the large four-column Global TV colour ad on Page 45 of Monday's Sun, the one promoting the series premiere of Back To You?

"Tonight 8:00 Back To You, Series Premiere," the ad reads.

It is a good looking ad, but it was published on the wrong day. The series debuts on Wednesday.

The errant ad and the lack of fall preview coverage are signs the once well-oiled Toronto Sun is hurting following years of cutbacks and staff reductions.

Kudos to the Star and Globe for their Fall Preview coverage. We can now accurately program our PVRs and settle in for for another season.

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