ABC is offering such new programs as a reality show featuring the Most Powerful Woman on Television, Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give (March 2), and a Dancing with the Stars spin-off, Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (tomorrow). The network will also bring back Lost for a fourth season (Jan. 31), even though only eight of the planned 16 new episodes have been completed.
At WMAR, the chronic third-place finisher among Baltimore's network affiliates, officials see the vagaries of programming caused by the strike as an opportunity. With so many network dramas and comedies going on hiatus, maybe audiences will sample shows on WMAR that they had never tried previously.
"You may have some channel surfers out there who may be interested in seeing some new programming," says News Director David Silverstein. "We're going to make sure that we have a chance to promote ourselves."
Of all the networks, Fox is best-positioned to weather a prolonged writers' strike. Its all-animated Sunday-night line-up (The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad) is not affected by the strike, says WBFF General Manager William Fanshawe. Likewise, its existing Thursday and Saturday night programs are not covered by the writers' guild contract.
And beginning Jan. 15, Fox has ratings super-heavyweight American Idol coming back for another season. Under any circumstances, Idol tends to trounce the competition -- and provide a super-sized audience for WBFF's 10 o'clock news.
In February 2007, for instance, average ratings for the news jumped 63.3 percent when Idol aired, at times making Fox's 10 p.m. broadcast the most-watched late-night news program on local TV. Going up against a mixture of new reality and game shows and series reruns, Idol's ratings should do nothing but climb.
Add to that the college bowl games, football playoff games and the Super Bowl, all slated to air on Fox, and the folks at WBFF believe they're sitting pretty.
"We're in a great situation," says Fanshawe. "Due to the strike, we expect that lead [for Idol] to even widen."
chris.kaltenbach@baltsun.com
