Eddie Van Halen Engaged FNL News Strike Induced Ratings

October 6, 2008 by Katy Hart
Filed under What's Hot

Welcome to a Monday morning What’s Hot.

Eddie Van Halen, the lead singer for his epinominous band, is engaged. The front man proposed to his girlfriend/publicist Janie Liszewski back in August, according to People magazine. He apparently dropped to one knee in a private room at Tiffany’s while they were vacationing in Hawaii. This is the second marriage for the rock star who was married previously to Valerie Bertanelli with whom he shares a son, Wolfgang, 17. It’s the first marriage for Liszewski. They plan to wed next June.

Exciting news for fans of NBC’s Friday Night Lights. Direct TV will be offering extended, commercial free episodes that will eventually be trimmed for air on the regualr network. The critically acclaimed show is in it’s third season on NBC. It is likely that the extended episodes will be available either online or on the third season DVDs when they are released. Fear not, all major events will likely be kept intact for airing on the network.

Did the shortened season due to the writer’s strike cause lower ratings for some premiere’s this fall? It’s quite possible. ABC and NBC tabled several freshman series after the strike was resolved, they also may have made an error in delaying the return of serialized shows such a Pushing Daises and Heroes. With so much time between the end of those shows and their return may have created viewer apathy and led to lower ratings when they finally premiered this fall. Ratings for Heroes were down 41 percent, Daises was down 51 percent, which is certainly not encouraging for ABC. CBS seems to be the only winner in all of this. They fired up its regular schedule right after the strike and regained the momentum it lost during the labor dispute. As a result, most of its veteran shows have posted double-digit gains in viewers since returning for the new season. One can only hope that an actor’s strike doesn’t happen as it may further damage the ratings for some great shows and could ultimately lead to cancellation.

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