News Round-up

Daytime Ratings Week of January 12-16, 2009
Total Viewers (versus last week/versus last year)
1. Y&R 5,423,000 (+93,000/-176,000)
2. B&B 3,735,000 (+31,000/-360,000)
3. DAYS 2,982,000 (+100,000/+19,000)
4. GH 2,867,000 (+111,000/-267,000)
5. ATWT 2,690,000 (-54,000/-417,000)
6. AMC 2,635,000 (-80,000/-92,000)
7. OLTL 2,603,000 (-51,000/-164,000)
8. GL 2,179,000 (+133,000/-307,000)

Obama fuels a swing toward 'hip' optimism
Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of GREY'S ANATOMY, says she and the writers—all Obama supporters—are feeling so encouraged by Obama's victory that they're creating more hopeful story lines in which doctors are accomplishing more surgical victories and "more patients are living."

Molly Ringwald's pregnancy will be written into SECRET LIFE
The star of SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER is expecting twins. It will be the second daughter and first son for Ringwald, 40, and husband Panio Gianopoulos, 33. They have a 5-year-old daughter Mathilda Ereni. The babies are due in August.

DirecTV Raises Its Sights for a Channel
Beyond the deals for premium network shows, executive vice president for entertainment Eric Shanks said that DirecTV, which has 17 million subscribers, has also acquired repeats of a long-running Canadian comedy series, TRAILER PARK BOYS. In addition, Mr. Shanks said, “I am also going to pitch an idea for a spinoff of a popular series that just ended.” He said he could not yet name the show.

And Mr. Shanks said DirecTV is seeking to produce other original material, starting with eight television movies that will serve as pilots for potential series.

Peter Berg, the creator of both FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and WONDERLAND, said his experience with DirecTV had been so positive that “we’re trying to own the programming on the 101 Network — we’d like to keep doing shows for DirecTV.”

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: One Final Shot At Glory?
Between the product placement, the DirecTV deal and some production belt-tightening, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is getting another crack at finding an audience beyond its cult fan base.