Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Fox Sports South recently revamped its studios and execs brought me in to check out the new digs.
It's not a terribly large space for a studio: 1,800 square feet. But Fox Sports Media Group executive vice president and creative director Gary Hartley gave the place a more modern feel, modeling it after the national Fox sports sets. There is interchangeable LED lighting for consistent team branding and colors as the set shifts from show to show, be it college football or the Atlanta Hawks.
There is a separate "mini" court area where analysts can demonstrate strategy and plays. For basketball, as shown below, it resembles a tiny court. (There are baseball and football templates.)
The set is used for both Fox Sports South (once FSN South) and SportSouth (once Turner South), which are two separate networks despite similar sounding names. SportSouth generally airs NBA games. Braves are split on both. College games generally go on Fox Sports South, which covers Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and parts of Kentucky. (Fox Sports Carolinas and Fox Sports Tennessee work out of Atlanta as well.)
Currently, two ACC shows, a broader college football show and Braves and Hawks live pre and post shows are shot there. A college football recruiting show starts its new season in January.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
TNT has renewed its most popular drama "Rizzoli & Isles" for a sixth season and 18 episodes starting in the summer of next year.
That's the largest episode order in TNT's history for any show.
It has been a top 5 basic cable show since day one. This past summer, it averaged 7.6 million viewers, including a week of DVR usage. Counting viewing on demand and digital on demand, the show reached 13.6 million viewers per episode.
The cop show's remaining season five episodes are set to air in early 2015.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Sister Atlanta-based truTV renewed "The Carbonaro Effect," which shot its first season in Atlanta, and "Fake Off," a competition show which produced its first season in Hiram and features Atlanta's TLC member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas as a judge.
And like a lot of networks (see History, WE-TV and Bravo), truTV is dipping into scripted fare with a comedy tentatively called 'Those Who Can't" about three high school teachers not much mature than their students. In late October, truTV launched a major brand refresh with the new slogan "Way More Fun."
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The Atlanta Falcons brought in relatively big ratings last night for "Monday Night Football," helped no doubt by closing the gap in the second half before losing to the Green Bay Packers. (They! They at least beat the spread!)
The Falcons-Packers game last night on ESPN and WSB-TV combined drew a solid 19.6 ratings points in Atlanta, which is equal to about 465,000 households (and more than 700,000 viewers).
Milwaukee, the closest major market to Green Bay, brought in a whopping 50.2 rating, or about 465,000 households. Despite a metro area about 40 percent the size of Atlanta, Milwaukee drew virtually the same number of viewers as our town.
Compared to other hometown markets in recent weeks, the Falcons only outdid the woeful Jets in the New York market and the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte.
Dolphins-Jets game … MIA: 17.7 and NYC: 10.0
Ravens-Saints game … BAL: 35.2 and NOLA: 43.6
Steelers-Titans game … PIT: 38.3 and NASH: 26.5
Panthers-Eagles game … CLT: 18.7 and PHI: 28.4
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