by Peter M. Gordon

Two questions for your consideration: “What are the networks looking for?” I also ask cable networks a similar question — “What shows do you want to air?”

Once serious but lately comedic actor Leslie Nielsen died last weekend at age 83. Famous for his Airplane and Naked Gun appearances, he once tried to compete with the other Nielsen — according to this 1998 April Fool’s article.

Detective Frank Drebin, we’re going to miss you.

At Thanksgiving dinners across the country this weekend, travelers asked, “Is airport scanning designed to creep out the tourists or the terrorists?

Would stratified sampling be a better way to root out the bad guys without lessening our collective confidence in the TSA?

A religious hurricane forecast to hit a suburban NYC community in November, 2010 changed course at the last minute, allowing a high school production of The Laramie Project to take the stage with no worries about religious fundamentalists disrupting the play.

But to end the story there would be to miss “a teachable moment” about the averted storm – and why local reporters needed to write about it.

Fox News’ slant on Comedy Central’s Sanity/Fear rally raises questions about what is fair and balanced. But is the joke on us for even asking the question?

“Jailbreaking” an iPhone will soon be a thing of the past now that the Library of Congress gave Apple smartphone users a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Comcast will launch a network version of their VOD Fearnet channel — suggesting that VOD-only distribution isn’t ready for prime time. Or that prime time is still the best time for ad supported content.

As the 2010 Tour de France prepares to climb the Pyrenees, TV ratings are up while TDF numbers are down. Crashes and injuries have forced 20 cyclists to drop out.

But riders’ pain may be cable’s gain. Versus’ live morning coverage is setting ratings records.

One of this summer’s “hottest” new shows is a reality based sports drama featuring daily updates each morning. It raises the usual reality fare a few notches, including spontaneous fistfights, a psychopath who has been kicked off the island, illicit drug use and egos which dwarf anything that Hollywood could imagine. This production uses real world class athletes competing for big prizes. And instead of unseen producers manipulating the circumstances to imitate reality…it uses reality.

Nielsen has announced organizational changes which will give set top box data greater visibility in the ratings company as well as testing to see how STB data compares to the ratings currency.