WWE Raw-related stories
Posted Sep 24th 2009 11:27AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free, Community
On tonight's hilarious second episode of
Community, we see the first appearance of Ken Jeong, who's joining the cast as Spanish professor Señor Chang. Chang has a bit of a chip on his shoulder because he always has to fight against Asian stereotypes.
He's a welcome addition to the cast, and he's been having a hell of a summer. Besides his memorable turn in the massive summer hit
The Hangover, he was also in
All About Steve and
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. To promote the latter movie, Jeong and co-star Jeremy Piven bounced around the ring on
WWE Raw in August. Imagine a tiny guy like the 40-year-old Jeong trading blows with huge wrestlers and you can see the comic potential.
When I talked to Jeong at NBC's party at the TCA press tour, we were interrupted by WWE's The Miz, and the exchange between them was just too funny for me to keep on my hard drive. Audio is after the jump.
Continue reading Ken Jeong relives his WWE stint with The Miz
Posted Aug 31st 2009 3:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Sports, Industry, Programming, Music and Variety, Reality-Free
Before it became all cooking, gossip, fashion and interior decorating, Bravo used to be a fine arts network that aired classic drama, music, opera, etc.
TV viewers everywhere are hoping such sophistication returns to television with the news that World Wrestling Entertainment chairman
Vince McMahon wants to create his own cable network.
McMahon wants to launch the WWE-dedicated channel for basic tier rates within the next two years. While a return to fine arts TV is unlikely, McMahon's wrestling product has been greatly softened in tone over recent months -- looking to attract a more family-based audience.
Continue reading Vince McMahon wants to muscle in his own cable network
Posted Aug 28th 2009 11:03AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Sports, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Back in the halcyon days of NBC's Bob Hope TV specials, the comedy legend would march out a list of the most bizarrely unrelated pseudo celebrities you could imagine.
You'd hear something like, "Join me this Sunday on NBC for 'Bob Hope's All-Star Salute to Existence' with great stars like Loni Anderson, Pink Lady and Jeff, the UPI All-American Football Team, Billy Carter, Steve Reeves and Brooke Shields!"
It looks like World Wrestling Entertainment is shooting for something equally bizarre with its list of upcoming
Monday Night Raw guest hosts. Vince McMahon and company plan to continue the guest general manager routine through the end of 2009 and possibly all the way to
Wrestlemania 26 next March.
Continue reading WWE unveils unlikely list of guest hosts for RAW
Posted Aug 15th 2009 1:01PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Sports, Celebrities
The problem with reporting real news originating in the professional wrestling world is that you never know if you're being played as part of a story angle designed to drive up ratings or pay-per-view buys.
However, since the following hasn't been mentioned on any of World Wrestling Entertainment's television shows, it might be legit.
According to the WWE: "Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is considering a run for the United States Senate representing the state of Connecticut. Should she decide to run, Linda would step down as CEO, and Vince McMahon would assume the duties of CEO in addition to his current position as WWE Chairman."
Continue reading WWE says Linda McMahon considering Senate run
Posted Aug 10th 2009 12:04PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Sports, Music and Variety, Reality-Free
To drive ratings up -- and to drive devoted pro wrestling fans up a wall -- Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment recently began welcoming guest hosts to take over Monday Night Raw -- the WWE's flagship show -- every week.
So far, everyone from the
NBA's Shaq to Entourage's Jeremy Piven to ZZ Top has taken over the live two-hour wrestling show.
It seems that when the show producers can't find a celeb to fit the bill, they bring in a wrestling star from the past -- like The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase or Sergeant Slaughter.
Continue reading TV celebs bouncing off the ropes to host WWE Raw
Posted Jun 19th 2009 12:03PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Sports, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
What started out as just a TV wrestling stunt could have Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment in a headlock from federal authorities.
As we reported earlier this week, the WWE's
Monday Night Raw is running an angle in which
Donald Trump purchased the show from McMahon. It's all a big wrestling "work" -- a story element to drive the weekly show and entertain fans.
The trouble is that both WWE and
Raw's parent network (USA) sent out official press releases announcing Trump's "purchase." And,
WWE publicly held shares fell nearly 7% the next day.
Continue reading WWE needs to calm down the SEC ASAP
Posted Jun 16th 2009 1:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: The Apprentice, Celebrities, News and Gossip
On a three-hour edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's
Monday Night Raw on USA, CEO Vince McMahon announced he had sold the show to Donald Trump.
Before a shock wave ripples through the sports entertainment and reality show worlds, it's safe to say this is "a work" -- as they say in grappling circles. Trump has his orange-topped mug back on TV as an on-screen performer with WWE. Behind the curtain, when the arena goes dark, McMahon is still in charge.
According to McMahon,
Trump will take over running the show in person next Monday night when a special, commercial-free
Raw originates from Green Bay, Wisc.
Continue reading Trump grapples with WWE as new 'owner' of RAW
Posted Dec 7th 2007 3:39PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, Pickups and Renewals
Monday, WWE Raw will be celebrating 15 years with a special three-hour episode. On the eve of this celebration, Reuters tells us that the wrestling program's contract has been extended another two years, guaranteeing more chair smashing, smack talking through 2010. The overall deal includes a continuation of the twice yearly NBC Saturday night specials, the A.M. Raw weekend USA show, as well as a Spanish-language edition for the growing Telemundo networks.
After fifteen years, Raw remains one of cable's strongest programs, currently averaging 5.1 million viewers weekly. And since it doesn't go into reruns, that's strong programming year-round, which at this time has to look pretty enticing to the network. If things continue with the strike, we might even see more WWE programming come to NBC proper.
Continue reading WWE Raw celebrates 15 years with renewal
Posted Jan 31st 2007 4:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, The Five
1. How much air time should TV news give to Barbaro dying? Um, how about a quick mention during sports and that's it? In the grand scheme of things, it's really not that important. One of the Boston news anchors said that the horse was "a great athlete" twice within five minutes. The horse's death was not only talked about over and over and over and over again on the major networks and all the 24 hour news channels, ABC
led their nightly newscast with it. What, nothing happening in Iraq on in Washington? And they say Katie is doing fluff.
Continue reading The Five: Random TV thoughts
Posted Sep 14th 2006 8:12AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
1.
College Football - Florida State vs. Miami (ESPN)
2.
The Closer (TNT)
3.
Nextel Cup - Richmond (TNT)
4.
Nip/Tuck (FX)
5.
WWE Monday Night RAW (USA)
6.
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (Disney)
7.
WWE Monday Night RAW (USA)
8.
The Parent Trap (Disney)
9.
The Closer - Labor Day Special (TNT)
10.
Fairly Odd Parents (Nickelodeon)
Posted Aug 11th 2006 8:29AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
1.
The Closer (TNT)
2.
WWE RAW - Mon, 10pm (USA)
3.
Monk (USA)
4.
WWE RAW - Mon, 9pm (USA)
5.
Psych (USA)
6.
SpongeBob SquarePants - Mon, 5pm (Nickelodeon)
7.
SpongeBob SquarePants - Sat, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
8.
Jimmy Timmy Powerhour 3: The Jerkinators (Nickelodeon)
9.
Saved (TNT)
10.
Fairly Odd Parents - Sat, 10pm (Nickelodeon)
Posted Jul 27th 2006 6:40PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
1. Nextel Cup, Poconos (TNT)
2. The Closer (TNT)
3. WWE RAW - Mon, 10pm (USA)
4. Monk (USA)
5. High School Musical (Disney)
6. Read It and Weep (Disney)
7. Nextel Post-Race Show (TNT)
8. The Parent Trap (Disney)
9. WWE RAW - Mon, 9pm (USA)
10. Psych (USA)
Posted Jun 15th 2006 8:03AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
1.
WWE RAW - Mon, 10pm (USA)
2.
WWE RAW - Mon, 9pm (USA)
3.
The 4400 (USA)
4.
WWE RAW Special - Weds (USA)
5.
Freaky Friday (Disney)
6.
Fairly Odd Parents - Sat, 10:30am (Nickelodeon)
7.
Fairly Odd Parents - Sat, 10am (Nickelodeon)
8.
SpongeBob SquarePants - Sat, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
9.
Fairly Odd Parents - Sun, 10am (Nickelodeon)
10.
Hannah Montana (Disney)
Posted Apr 24th 2006 4:21PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
At 8, ABC has a repeat Wife Swap,
followed by new eps of Supernanny and What About Brian?- CBS has a repeat King of
Queens, followed by new eps of How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old
Christine, and CSI: Miami.
- NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, followed by new
episodes of The Apprentice and Medium.
- FOX has new eps of Prison Break and
24.
- The WB has a new 7th Heaven at 8, followed by a new Everwood, while UPN has
new eps of One on One, All Of Us, Girlfriends, and Half & Half.
- There's a new American Chopper on Discovery at 8.
- Bravo has last night's West Wing
at 8, if you missed it.
- At 9, ABC Family has a new Beautiful People.
- USA has a new
WWE RAW at 9.
- Also at 9: TLC has a new Honey, We're Killing The Kids, followed by a new
Shalom in the House.
- At 10, MTV has a new Punk'd.
- There's a new Pros
vs. Joes at 10 on Spike.
- At 11, HBO2 has Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Posted Apr 22nd 2006 6:10PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
1.
The Sopranos (HBO)
2.
WWE
RAW - Monday, 10pm (USA)
3.
WWE RAW - Monday, 9pm (USA)
4.
Fairly Odd Parents -
Sunday, 10am (Nickelodeon)
5.
Fairly Odd Parents - Saturday, 10am (Nickelodeon)
6.
Hannah
Montana (Disney)
7.
SpongeBob SquarePants - Saturday, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
8.
SpongeBob
SquarePants - Sunday, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
9.
Big Love (HBO)
10.
SpongeBob SquarePants
- Friday, 8:30am (Nickelodeon)
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