Whoopi Goldberg joins “The View” today, locally on KMGH-Channel 7 at 10 a.m.
Oscar winner (“Ghost”) and nominee (“The Color Purple”), multiple Emmy nominee (for Academy Awards hosting duties, “Comic Relief” and her one-woman show “Back to Broadway,” among others), and daytime Emmy winner (“Hollywood Squares”), Whoopi has promised to be less divisive than Rosie O’Donnell.
Whoopi should have no trouble hitting the right note, somewhere between politically outspoken and totally overboard. Danny DeVito is the first guest.
Before the networks roll out their new primetime schedules, here’s a look at the local weekday slate beyond “The View,” from the perspective of who has picked up what in Denver. The newcomers begin Monday.
More “Today”
For KUSA-Channel 9, picking up NBC’s fourth hour of “Today” was a no-brainer (“Passions” was canceled). Fully 99 percent of NBC affiliates will carry the additional hour of the network’s biggest moneymaker. Scheduling it was a bit tricky.
The infomercial masquerading as a local magazine show, “Colorado & Company,” continues to make too much money for KUSA to bump it. Have we mentioned lately that some segments of “C&C” are sponsored? “C&C” stays on the schedule at 10 a.m., followed by the fourth hour of “Today” at 11 a.m.
“‘C&C’ has been there for three years, doing very nicely,” said Mark Cornetta, KUSA general manager. “We wanted to keep change to a minimum.”
NBC is allowing affiliates to schedule the fourth hour seamlessly or separate from the first three. Eventually, we suspect, they’ll have their own “Today All Day” digital channel for the fifth through 24th hours of the show.
For now, the fourth-hour co-anchors are Ann Curry, Natalie Morales and Hoda Kotb.
“Family Guy” reruns
This year’s most eagerly anticipated off-network syndication deal (reruns, that is) is “Family Guy,” which will air on KWGN-Channel 2 weekdays at 6:30 p.m. (Monday-Saturday) and 10 p.m. (Sunday-Friday).
Channel 2 also scored “Two and a Half Men” in reruns, which it will play at 6 p.m. (Monday-Saturday) and 10:30 p.m. (Sunday-Friday). “The Steve Wilkos Show,” featuring Jerry Springer’s former bouncer, is slated at 1 p.m. weekdays.
Channel 2 picked up “Dead Zone” from USA cable, airing at 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and “DeGrassi: The Next Generation,” from The N, with multiple episodes airing in a block on Saturdays, noon-2:30 p.m.
Looking ahead, Channel 2 boasts it has nabbed the 6 p.m. Dec. 13 Broncos game to be played at Houston.
“It’s our first Broncos game in 55 years on the air,” according to Jim Zerwekh, KWGN general manager. The single game was sold through the NFL network. “We simply outbid our competitors.” Like its network, CW, Channel 2 should have a strong season.
The new entertainment/celebrity show “TMZ” is slated weekdays at noon and 11 p.m. on KDVR-Channel 31. If you spend your time tracking the DUIs of the stars, that’s your show. Channel 31 also has “Law & Order: SVU” weekdays at 4 p.m.
The new “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords” will air at 1 p.m. weekdays on KTVD-Channel 20, followed by “Temptation,” described as a sort of “Sale of the Century,” at 1:30 p.m.
KCNC-Channel 4 is sticking with its afternoon lineup of “Rachael Ray,” “Dr. Phil” and the powerhouse, “Oprah.”
Channel 31 is empaneled with robes and gavels, “Divorce Court,” “Cristina’s Court,” “Judge Alex” and “Judge Joe Brown.”
Ratings-rich reruns of “Everybody Loves Raymond” continue on Channel 2 at 11 p.m., and the block of “The Simpsons” and “Seinfeld” at 10 and 10:30 p.m. continues on Channel 31.
Radio ratings
Industry insiders caught a couple of errors in last week’s story about the local radio market.
A radio marketing executive noted that, while KYGO has been knocked out of first place, and the hip-hop listening battles are heating up, the combined KYGO and KWLI “country” format, for listeners age 12 and up, still leaves country in first place as Denver’s favorite format.
The numbers cited are from the spring Arbitron book, ended June 27. The new people meters aren’t scheduled to be in use in Denver until 2009.
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
