Adam Murphy made a name for himself on CBS Atlanta for eight years with "Restaurant Report Card," highlighting both highly-rated restaurants and those that fail to make the grade.
But in 2012, his bosses decided to give his feature a break.
Good news for fans of the weekly segment: Murphy, a reporter who has been at the station longer than almost anybody else, will be back with his first "Restaurant Report Card" in two years on January 16. The weekly story will air every Thursday during the 11 p.m. news and eateries with failing grades will get called out. (Murphy himself has outlasted many a news director at CBS and the latest one Lane Michaelsen shepherded the report card's return "Viewers still ask Adam about Restaurant Report Card and it is very useful information," Michaelsen wrote me.)
Murphy, a Dunwoody native and Marist High grad, said as in the past, he will feature restaurants with perfect health inspection scores.
But viewers tend to remember the bad ones, the ones where rats reside, where employees don't wash their hands and where food is left at improper temperatures.
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BET's first dramatic series "Being Mary Jane," shot in Atlanta, opened strong Tuesday night with 3.3 million viewers and another 1.8 million catching the repeat. Like any new show, the question is: can it hold up those numbers in the coming weeks?
In other Atlanta-based reality shows, OWN's "The Haves and the Have Nots" Tuesday drew its series best 2.8 million viewers.
And VH1's 'Single Ladies' Monday opened up 51 percent from its season 2 debut despite a 16 month hiatus, with 2.6 million viewers.
The new Lifetime reality show "Kim of Queens" held about two-thirds of the "Dance Moms" audience January 1 with 1.6 million viewers. On January 8, the show drew 1.285 million, holding 59 percent of the "Dance Moms' lead in.
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Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder, the "Vampire Diaries' stars who dated for years while shooting the show here in Atlanta, broke up last May. On "The People's Choice Awards" last night, they won best chemistry and joked about it here:
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CNN International had to be off the air for 40 minutes overnight because of a fire alarm at CNN Center. But there was no fire, according to TVNewser.
TVNewser also noted that Atlanta-based Kyra Phillips is returning to CNN after a short foray at HLN. She will be an investigative reporter and fill-in anchor.
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