In a thinly veiled threat to NBC, CBS warned that "anyone attempting to salvage a flagging summer performance by two weeks of special-events programming was simply talking through their hats."
Talking through their hats -- don't you wonder where that expression came from? I mean, why would you talk through a hat?
The outlaw Mike Wallace: In case you haven't heard the news yet, he's an 86-year-old man.
(Jennifer Graylock -- AP)
|
| | | | | | | | | | ___ Arts & Living___ News about the television industry, reviews of shows and more can be found on our Television page. See what's on TV today, tomorrow or next week with the TV Grid. | | | | | | |
|
"We certainly don't think anybody who knows anything about anything will be fooled by those kinds of shenanigans, even if they are being carried out on an Olympic scale," concluded Moonves.
Contacted for comment, NBC jumped into the fray late yesterday with its own acidic news release:
NBC Announces Support for CBS Proposal to Declare Aug. 13 Start of New Season
In it, Zucker congratulated CBS for finishing "a strong No. 2 for the summer among 18-49 year olds."
"Looking at these results, it's easy to see why advertisers made CBS a solid #2 at the upfront this year," Zucker said. (Note to non-pros: This is intended to score off Moonves; it's a reference to NBC bagging more money than CBS did last spring, when advertisers committed billions of dollars to the new TV season "upfront.")
Zucker went on to say he supported "CBS's position that including ratings for such anomalous events as the Super Bowl, NCAA Basketball Tournament and NFL football overruns [note to non-pros: all of these air on CBS] amounts to 'shenanigans' when those results are used to compare the performance of each network's entertainment lineup."
Contacted for comment on NBC's comment, a CBS exec noted dryly that "clearly NBC is No. 2 in humor."
Wow -- has this been a great day or what?
