What do you do when you have a soccer channel that no one watches?
News Corp. decided it will attempt to double its success on FX, by creating FXX this fall. Call it a fix of a broken Fox channel. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," returning for its 10th season, will slide over to the new channel come September. "The League" will also make the move.
FX will retain "Louie" and its ratings-winning dramas "The Americans" and "Sons of Anarchy."
At a presentation in New York for advertisers on Thursday, FX executives also announced that "Justified" has been renewed and a new series based on the film "Fargo" has received a green light.
"For years, people have tried to adapt this Academy Award-winning gem into a TV series with no success," FX president and GM John Landgraf said. "I have always loved ‘Fargo’ and I was skeptical about this as a series, but Noah Hawley’s script made me a believer. This script is so good and so true to the tone of the original movie."
MORNING TEAM: CNN and new president Jeff Zucker announced this week that it will launch a new morning show this spring. Chris Cuomo will host along with the "Situation Room" congressional correspondent Kate Bolduan. The network has also tapped morning anchor Michaela Pereira from KTLA to be the main news anchor.
Jim Murphy, a former senior news producer at ABC who worked with Cuomo on "Good Morning America," will be the executive producer of the still unnamed program.
SEASIDE: Fox News anchor Shepard Smith will be broadcasting from Seaside Heights, N.J., on Monday, reporting on the rebuilding progress nearly six months after Hurricane Sandy devastated the coast.
"Studio B" from 2 to 3 p.m. and "The Fox Report" from 6 to 7 p.m. will feature live reports from the scene, as locals get to work to prepare for the upcoming tourism season. Smith will also look at Sandy’s impact on New York by taking a helicopter tour with WNYW-TV chopper reporter Jim Smith of some of the areas that were most heavily affected by the storm, including, Breezy Point, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island as well as parts of Manhattan.
COMING BACK: "X-Factor" judge Demi Lovato has agreed to return to the judges’ chair alongside producer Simon Cowell.
"I couldn’t be happier that Demi wants to come back this year," said Cowell in a statement. "She’s a superstar in her own right and was a fantastic mentor last year. Even though she can be really, really annoying – I truly enjoyed working with her and so did the artists. I’m especially pleased she’s back even during her world tour!"
Lovato and Cowell are the only two set to return. Producer L.A. Reid and singer Britney Spears said that they will not come back next season.
"I am so excited to return as a judge and mentor on The X Factor," Lovato said. "Last season was an unbelievable experience and I really enjoyed developing personal relationships with the contestants and the panel. I look forward to taking my previous experience and applying it to make this season even better!"
Media is bombarding us everywhere.
Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.
The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.