Update+2

='Two and a Half Men' ratings huge! Ashton Kutcher Debut Delivers Series High= [|Entertainment Weekly Article]

By: Maria Taravella

Many people awaited CBS’s season premier of Two and a Half Men this past week. With the exit of Charlie Sheen’s character, Ashton Kutcher was set to take over his role. Despite Sheen’s absence in Two and a Half Men, viewers still tuned in to see if Kutcher could compare to Sheen. Two and a Half Men debuted it’s ninth season with a 10.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic and reached over 27.7 million viewers. These types of ratings and viewers are not usually seen by season premiers unless the show is titled American Idol. Two and a Half Men doubled its ratings and viewers 110% this season as compared to last fall’s premier. Two and a Half Men took home the highest rated season premier of any network since the second season debut of Desperate Housewives in September 2005. Two and a Half Men was not the only CBS show to have high ratings. How I Met Your Mother had ratings that were higher then it’s premier last fall and the new comedy 2 Broke Girls followed by Two and a Half Men had better ratings than any other scripted new series this fall. CBS dominated the ratings and viewers of fall premiers leaving shows like Dancing with the Stars on ABC and the new series The Playboy Club on NBC in the dust. I think this is relevant to our class because CBS made a great decision to place Two and a Half Men, their best show, in the middle of the night, also known as tent poling. CBS figured that the people that wanted to watch Two and a Half Men would watch their network all night, and that is exactly what they did.

="You're Not Keeping Up With The Kardashians Either"=

By: Courtney Mazurek
This article I found in the //Huffington Post// caught my attention for a two reasons. First off, because I am a fan of everything Kardashian and I am not ashamed to say it. The second (and most important) reason is because I'm sick of hearing people complain about the direction that media (especially reality television) is taking. In this article, Lorraine Wilke criticizes the way people become famous nowadays; and she uses the Kardashian sisters as her main example and target. Lorraine says that the only way to be famous nowadys is " // You just have to be Hot (the K Girls), Stupid (any of the Jackass bunch), Narcissistically Competitive (almost all competitive reality shows, i.e., Survivor, Big Brother ), Psychotically Delusional (any of Housewife // //franchises; in fact, any show with "wives" in the title at all); Just Plain Delusional (the rest of the competitive reality shows), Aggrandized (all bloviating political talk shows), or Generically Fame Hungry (any show on TV that isn't a sitcom or drama and requires a camera in the home).//" However, no matter what your opinion on entertainment television is-- bottom line, this is what sells and this is the new trend for media and entertainment. This is especially relevant for our class because one of our projects feeds into the idea that you have the ability to create a name for yourself just by posting videos of yourself on websites like You Tube. Over the years, we've seen people become overnight sensations and like it or not, people are capitalizing on this movement.

= Google Wallet trial looks set to launch in the US today = Thomas Newton on Recombu.com


 * By Annalisa Guidone**

This week, Google was sent to trial and was accused of placing their search results over competitors. US Senates accused Eric Schmidt from Google that when one searches for something over the web, Google gave itself the search priority before others.

Here is the link to the video: []

Although that i see that this practice is unethical and unfair, it does make sense to me that any search service like Google would put itself first among its competitors, but exactly how skewed it makes one's search results is questionable. It relates to this week in class because the more interconnected we get in this world, the more intricate and complex the rules are.

=This Year’s Hot TV Trend Is Anatomically Correct= Bill Carter - New York Times

By Astrid Perez As the long awaited fall season premieres so does a new trend. In this article Bill Carter points out that it is a new era for network television. The word vagina is the star of the jokes of the new comedies such as " Two Broke Girls", "Suburgatory" and "Whitney". Network telvesion has been allowing common curse words for years therefor there should not be a problem with talking about body parts in an anatomically correct way. But that is the big question. Is the public ready for this humor on networks? With all the competition out there and trying to get new viewer where are writers supposed to turn to. This new trend is something that we will have to wait and see if it is accepted and can be kept on our regular scheduled programs. This is relevant to our class because it is all about new revelations that are being implemented into our society and the effects that they create. Vagina comedy brought to our network television is new to our society and the effects, we will have to wait for those.

= Ratings Rat Race: 'New Girl' Opens Big, Tops Night, 'Unforgettable' Debut Solid = [|New Girl Rating]

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Fox has a reason to celebrate this week due to the ratings for the debut of their new comedy //New// //Girl//. This is great news because people were concerned how the show would debut because Fox’s marketing team followed through with the idea of releasing the show two weeks prior to its debut on iTunes and VOD. The unofficial estimates of the number of streams are at about to 2 million, but this number can be added to the staggering average of 10.1 million viewers on Tuesday. //New Girl//, starting Zooey Deshanel, is now posted at Fox’s highest rated live action fall comedy debut in a decade. The debut exceeded expectations drawing a 4.7 rating/12 share among 18-49. This is a was a great premiere for a show and far exceeded expectations and much thanks and validation can be given to the Fox’s marketing team who pushed for the shows pilot to be available two weeks prior. This move created the buzz and awareness of the show which ultimately landed the show the nightly win in the 18-49 demo. ======

=**Still "Winning"**=

[]

By Adriana Blakely

We all remember Charlie Sheen's great breakdown interview when he fiercely explained that he has tiger blood and super human powers. Also, who can forget the WORD-OF-THE-YEAR...."winning". We've been bashing Sheen to our friends and daily acquaintances, but this time the bashing was about to get serious. Comedy Central premiered "The Roast of Charlie Sheen" this past Monday, coinciding with Ashton Kutchers's "Two and a Half Men" premiere. The roasting was quite entertaining, since the past 46 years of Charlie Sheen's life has given them endless material to work from, the roasters had a pretty good go at Sheen and his constant "oop-si-daisies" in his life. The thing that I found particularly interesting about this roast is who cares? Who cares that this man lost his wife, does not see his children, his career is in the toilet and he could very well drop dead at any moment? A growing number of people all over the world just cannot wait to see what Sheen will do next because people are enjoying the idea of following his story the way one would follow a swimmer crossing the Grand Canal. People have developed a "relationship" with him and want to try to imagine what could make someone lose it so bad. This shows that people have come to depend on technology as if it is an essential need, that they cannot distinguish between what is real and relevant and what is not.

=Is reality TV getting too real??= By: Michelle Moore

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/thebrownandwhiteblog/index.ssf/2011/09/the_unnerving_reality_of_reali.html

Reality TV has been around since the early 90s; "Cops" and "The Real World" were hits with audiences and did well in the ratings. However, once "Survivor" premiered in early 2000, reality TV became a phenomenon. There is not a major network that doesn't have a reality show on it. Whether it's a competitive cooking show or a bunch of middle-aged women fighting over absolutely nothing, it's all around us. Most of the viewing audience is aware that these "reality" shows aren't in fact real, but as this article highlights, these shows lead to real problems for it's so-called stars. Divorce, bankruptcy, and suicide are real issues that several reality celebrities have had to deal with over the past years. I'm a reality TV junkie (it's a personal problem, don't judge me) and I've watched these problems play out on screen with mixed feelings. On the one hand, these shows are entertaining, on the other, is it really worth giving up so much for such little fame? I feel this article is relevant to our class because it shows the direct effects the media can have on people's personal lives. Tabloids and blogs rip apart the people on these shows and it's difficult to see. When reality TV first appeared on the scene the Internet was still being developed so it was easy for reality stars to stay somewhat unknown. Now, there's entire websites devoted to these shows and constant news and updates about the people on them. These people have been essentially thrown under a microscope for the entire world to judge in more ways than just on TV. For one man, Russell Armstrong, it seemed to be too much. The husband of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast member Taylor Armstrong, committed suicide this past summer after appearing on only one season. Granted this is not a cause and effect situation, the reality show didn't cause him to commit suicide, but the question lingers, did it play a part? Like I said, I love reality TV, but at the same time if more unfortunate incidents occur I'll have to reconsider my viewing choices and the producers should also reconsider their motives.