TVSquad

I think this was a demise that you could see coming. Remember, back in April, when Chicago Sun-Times film reviewer Roger Ebert and the star of At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper announced he would never be able to return to the TV show because of his health? You knew it then. Now comes the news that the other half of the show, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper, is leaving the program. He's been co-host for eight years, having assumed the seat across the aisle that was originally held by the late movie critic Gene Siskel.

"Several months ago, Disney offered to extend my contract, which expires at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season," Roeper told the Associated Press.

In a piece of news that should surprise very few people, Lehman Brothers has cut the stock ratings on the Walt Disney Company, Time Warner and several other top entertainment companies. The reasons behind this include the rise of legal digital downloading cutting into advertising revenue and the concern of piracy cutting into primary profits such as DVD sales.

"To be clear, our fear is that the damage that digital distribution inflicted on the music industry will replicate itself in the movie industry, and our fears are too great to justify keeping neutral or positive ratings on the creators and distributors of movie and TV content," wrote analyst Anthony DiClemente.

I know you've all been wondering if the Jonas Brothers squash the machine that is Zac Efron. Well, they can ... kind of. Camp Rock averaged 8.9 million viewers on Friday night. That's more viewers than High School Musical, which had 7.8 million for its debut. However, 8.9 million pales in comparison to last summer's 17.2 million (ZOMG!) viewers for High School Musical 2. And it proves that the Efron is unstoppable and more bankable. In fact, High School Musical 2 is the most watched non-sports program on cable.

Joal Ryan of E! Online points out that Camp Rock could still beat High School Musical overall, "The Jonas Brothers are far bigger stars than Efron or any of his costars were in January 2006, when the first HSM premiered." He goes to say that the real test of Camp Rock will be if it has the ability to rule the ratings in the inevitable many, many reruns.

ABC will be airing Disney favorites this summer every Saturday evening. John Goodman, the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and Jamie Lee Curtis are just a few of the special guest hosts who will be hosting these "movie nights."

From the looks of the schedule, ABC is showing mostly newer Disney films. While I love films like Monsters Inc., I wish ABC would pay tribute to the older Disney movies like Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, and Cinderella.

I have the full schedule after the jump. The Disney extravaganza starts this coming Saturday, June 14th.

TiVo has announced plans to offer customers the option of renting Disney movies directly from their set top box. The company has already partnered with Amazon to offer Unbox video downloads. But Disney titles aren't available through Amazon Unbox, so TiVo is instead partnering with CinemaNow.

Some movies will be available in standard definition only, while some titles will be available in high definition. Rentals will be viewable for up to 24 hours.

There's no word on pricing, but CinemaNow typically charges $3.99 to rent a new release, and $1.99 for an older video. I suspect Disney movies will be offered for a similar price when the service is launched. According to the press release, the service will go live "soon," but it's not clear whether that means today, next week, or sometime before the end of the year.

I hope Hannah Storm enjoyed sleeping late since she's been off the CBS Early Show because her new gig will be on the AM shift once again. And she'll be back talking sports. ESPN is going to announce tomorrow that Hannah Storm will anchor a new, revamped SportsCenter morning edition. SportsCenter is already on every morning, so you have to assume that by adding Storm to the mix, the folks at Disney (ESPN's parent company) are looking to pump up the old format and maybe bring in some new viewers -- like maybe those who used to watch Hannah on CBS.

Of course, there's already two other competing morning shows on the ESPN family of channels, Mike & Mike in the Morning which stars Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, and First Take (formerly known as Cold Pizza) with Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson.

There is an interesting little bit over at the NY Times about research the Disney-ABC Television Group is working on. That research involves inserting multiple commercials into ad breaks for the online versions of their prime time shows. Well, you had to see this one coming, right?

It's understandable that they would want to increase the revenue from the medium. Just as it's understandable that if it's a success we'll see the other networks follow suit. But, they do need to be careful that they don't chase those fans they do have away by annoying them. Although, admittedly, I would not be one to complain about more Rachel Specter commercials.

In the pictures, taken by Annie Leibovitz, 15 year old Miley appears to be topless, covered by a blanket. Now hackles are raised in all corners. Vanity Fair insists that Miley's parents were on set and approved of the photos. Other sources say her parents left before those shots were taken. Disney weighs in saying Miley was manipulated in order to sell magazines. And the voice of reason, oddly enough me in this case, would like to add, "Who the hell takes topless, or implied topless, pictures of a 15 year old girl in the first place?" Right? Shouldn't the whole thing have been avoided with basic common sense?

Are you still trying to figure out what to do when all of your favorite programs leave the air for the summer? I was thinking about maybe going outside. I'm told it's nice. ABC has other plans for our eyeballs though. They've signed up Nick Lachey to host a new reality show (I know... boo reality) based on the hit Disney franchise, High School Musical.

At the moment the show is called High School Musical: Summer Session, but apparently that isn't official. Casting calls kick off this weekend, with a premiere set for June 20th. The network is obviously hoping to cash in on some of the success their sibling Disney has seen with the movies. I wouldn't be surprised to see Disney sweetheart Miley Cyrus guesting on the show to bring in her throngs of fans.

Well, this is just poor timing. Today is Earth Day and now comes word that Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) plans to kill thousands of trees by writing a memoir.

Is this really necessary? Talk about a waste of paper. Typically, I expect someone to be a seasoned individual with years of experience behind them before they tackle writing a book like this. Isn't that what usually dictates the necessity of a memoir? Years and years of endless stories coupled with expert and unique wisdom? Miley Cyrus hasn't even turned 16 yet!

According to the AP, the memoir will focus on the solid relationship that Cyrus shares with her mother, Leticia. I'm sure it's really great. Between her TV gig, the concert tours, and now this book deal, I bet Miley has oodles of time to spend with her mother fostering a relationship that all young girls can look up to. No word on whether or not the book will address how Cyrus' father, Billy Ray, has expertly branded his daughter into a household name that fits right in with Coca-Cola, Kleenex, and Microsoft.

[via AOL TV]

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

I just realized that I don't watch any of the shows in this week's top ten cable ratings. I mean, yeah, I've seen episodes of Law and Order: SVU and SpongeBob SquarePants in the past but they aren't shows I watch regularly. As for Monday Night RAW, Hannah Montana, iCarly, and Ella Enchanted...well, they're not really made for me I guess.

I think the last time something was in the top ten here that I watch regularly was Burn Notice.

1. Monday Night RAW (USA)
2. Monday Night RAW (USA)

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

OK, now this looks like the weekly cable ratings that we're used to seeing. Recent weeks have seen shows such as college basketball and election coverage get into the top 10, but this week we're back to the normal dominance of wrestlers and Nickelodeon stars.

1. Monday Night RAW (USA)
2. Monday Night RAW (USA)

Are you kidding me? In a bold new way, ABC has come up with a way to keep viewers from fast-forwarding through the commercials! Okay, it's only in the video-on-demand universe (VOD), but it feels like what was once a convenient, fast way to catch up on episodes of your favorite shows is now going to be invaded with ads you cannot avoid unless you walk out of the room.

In a move they're touting as a win-win, ABC/Disney announced today an arrangement that "allows local affiliates to participate in the fast-forwarding disabled VOD offering." The network agrees to provide episodes of their top shows for use in local advertising supported VOD services as long as those operators agree to disable the "fast-forwarding" capability so viewers can't zap through the commercials. There'll be ads inserted, both local and national, but not as many as the on-air broadcasts of shows like Ugly Betty, Lost and Desperate Housewives.

NBC is going classic, with a twist. The network has ordered 13 episodes of a new drama series based on the Daniel Defoe classic Robinson Crusoe. This is far from the first time Defoe's 1719 novel has been filmed. The most recent incarnation was a 1997 Pierce Brosnan feature. In 1964, it was the basis for a French TV series.

This version is going to be a new take on the old story of a man who sets sail from England, his ship is wrecked in a storm and he's thrown overboard winding up alone on a deserted island where he has to fen for himself. In time, he is joined by an escaped slave whom he names Friday. Ben Silverman, NBC's head honcho, described the proposed series in this way: "It's part MacGyver, part contemporary morality tale about race and personal discovery, part comedy and part Castaway meets Survivor." As envisioned, this Robinson Crusoe will need to be clever indeed. It's going to keep the time period 1650's, but when Crusoe finds Friday, he'll presumably be treating him as if it were today with regard to race relations.

We all know that how people watch TV has been changing dramatically in the last few years, but now comes this news from TorrentFreak.com: 50% of all people using BitTorrent at any given point in time are downloading a TV series. More than anything else, it's TV content they want.

What this means is that TV fans aren't just watching TV shows live or using DVRs and TiVos alone. They're just as apt to download a show to view on a laptop, desktop or iPod. According to the article, "over a billion TV shows are downloaded every year and this number continues to rise."