News Round-up: Ratings, Stagecoach, McKinsey

Grading the Networks: Ratings Don’t Tell the Whole Story in Broadcast Anymore
With less than a month left to go before this season ends, four of the five major networks find themselves attracting fewer viewers than this time last year. It’s a particularly disappointing state of affairs because many observers thought it would be easy for the networks to improve over last season, when repeats and reality shows replaced original episodes of shows whose seasons were shortened by the writers’ work stoppage.

To render a verdict on the performances of the Big Five this season, TelevisionWeek decided to go beyond the Nielsen numbers to examine how broadcasters are holding up. The raw data remains a key component of any judgment, but it’s also important to consider whether a network launched a new hit, how their veteran series are holding up, the depth of their new-media efforts and the general level of chaos or calm in their executive suites.

INTERVIEW: Veteran Soap Director Scott McKinsey
"My mom (Beverlee McKinsey) played two characters for extended periods of time who were very little like her, Iris Carrington on ANOTHER WORLD, and Alexandra Spaulding on GL. Her portrayal of Alexandra meant that she had to command scenes as the powerful matriarch of her family, the Spauldings. She had to fight toe to toe with her enemies and family while simultaneously holding her company and household together. My mom was a smart, funny and generous person who brought those qualities to the part of Alexandra. But she was not personally familiar with most of the ingredients which made up Alexandra, so it was a tribute to her tremendous talent that she made the character so believable to the audience as though she had walked in Alex's shoes all her life."

BBC One's BAFTA broadcast brings in 4.3 million viewers
BBC One's live coverage of the Bafta television awards ceremony last night saw an average audience of 4.3 million tuning in across the two-hour broadcast, hosted by comedian Graham Norton, almost 18% of the available audience.

Susan Boyle tops MSN TV moments poll, EASTENDERS wins three categories
EASTENDERS took the top spot in in the MSN Entertainment in three categories, with Stacey Branning picked as the female character we are most likely to turn on the TV to see, Jack Branning the equivalent male character, and Danielle Jones's road accident was voted best soap death.

ABC O&Os Launch Digital Network
ABC's 10 owned stations will launch a new digital channel, Live Well HD Network, April 27 with three hours of daily original programming produced primarily by the stations themselves. The network is ad-supported; stations represent major markets such as New York and Los Angeles. The female-targeted, hi-def network focuses on home, health and lifestyle.

A look at Stagecoach '09
Entertainment Weekly's Whitney Pastorek writes: "Somewhere between the blacksmith stand and the Soap Network promotional tent, I decided that what Stagecoach lacks in drug culture, it makes up for in freebies, and wondered if the two weren't somehow connected."

Otalia - Where Do We Go From Here
"In the immortal words of Hugo-award winning author John Varley: This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. It’s the end of the beginning."