Nielsen Employees: Oldsmar

"Nielsen Media Research warned its Oldsmar employees Tuesday that more layoffs are coming as the company continues to shift technical work to contract companies abroad.

Through 2009, the TV ratings giant will shed 170 technical support and software jobs in Oldsmar, moving the work to TATA Consultancy Services, an Indian-owned global services company that has taken over local positions at Nielsen.

"What we're trying to do is enlarge our capacity and strengthen our cost effectiveness," said spokesman Gary Holmes.

The cuts come on the heels of Nielsen and the City of Oldsmar last week ending an economic development deal that gave Nielsen incentives for adding jobs in the region — a deal that helped secure Nielsen's operations in the area.

When that phase of job cuts is complete, the company's local employment will drop to 1,300, from about 1,500 this spring. There are about 235 contract employees on the site as well."

Jennie Sword In The Basement

The lovely and talented Jennie Sword visited Margie and Edna's Basement and a great time was had by all. It's not the usual kind of interview so please check it out.



"Marketers are already scrambling to figure out how best to adjust their 30-second TV spots for viewing via the web and on iPod screens. But as the nation prepares for the big shift from analog to digital TV on Feb. 17 next year, what could be a major conundrum has opened up for advertisers who love to make use of the wider high-definition screen.

While "standard definition" -- read "old-fashioned" -- TV sets have for decades featured a 4:3 screen-size proportion, high-definition sets and the programming created for them have a much more rectangular 16:9 scope. Thus, ads crafted for high-definition broadcasts that show up on standard-definition sets could have their right and left sides digitally sliced off."

Supernatural: Kripe and Padalecki

"Supernatural executive producer Eric Kripke has scored an overall deal at Warner Bros. TV.

According to Variety, in the two-year exclusive pact, Kripke will continue to exec produce and showrun CW's Thursday staple Supernatural, which enters its fourth season this fall.

Kripke also will start to develop new projects under the deal. There's no word if one of the new titles might be a Supernatural spinoff; Kripke has said in the past that he's interested in doing a prequel of sorts that takes place in the Old West and centered on the show's mythology."



"SUPERNATURAL star Jared Padalecki is feeling a little snug in the pants. His bags were misplaced en route to Australia and he arrived without even his undies.

As a result his first stop when he arrived in Sydney was to pick up some new underpants, but for a guy who spends most of his time battling the paranormal on the Network Ten hit show Supernatural as Sam Winchester, buying grundies proved quite a challenge.

"I had to go buy clean underwear with the crazy Australian sizes that I didn't understand," he said in Sydney today."



"Episode five already? Wow, time is flying toward September, er October, er we really don’t know. Just to keep everyone in the loop about the latest controversy, we don’t know exactly what date Supernatural will be back in the fall. Initial reports had it the same week as when all the other CW shows premiere, the first week of September. Then, TV Guide reported last week the date for Smallville and Supernatural was actually TBA. Now Spoilerfix and The Futon Critic have it listed tentatively as October 2nd."

Supernatural: The Ride of Your Life

What a wild ride it has been watching my Supernatural DVD's. I usually hate starting a show then trying to catch up but I didn't mind doing that here. I watched the last few episodes of Season 3 on TV and knew I had to buy the DVD's. (Thank you, LisiBee)!

If you aren't watching this show then you are missing the best series on TV today. The writing is the best and there are no characters elsewhere like the Winchester boys. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are excellent actors and they make Dean and Sam come to life. Well, I'd better not talk about them or this post won't be about the show.

What I do want to mention is that everyone who has a role on this show does an amazing job. Look at Samantha Ferris who plays Ellen. Ellen is a strong woman who isn't afraid to say exactly what she thinks. There's no nonsense about her. You may remember Samantha from the 4400. The only problem here is that Ellen is not in Season 3 and we never know what happened to her.


Ellen has a daughter named Jo who is played by Alona Tal. I admit I wasn't too impressed with Jo in the beginning. Maybe it was because of her interest in my Dean? I did come to like Jo and I think Alona was perfect for that part. Once again, though, there's that nasty disappearing act where Jo just isn't seen again and we arent't told what happened to her. Kripke, that's a bad habit. Could we get some closure here?


You just have to love Ash. Chad Lindberg does such an outstanding job. You'll have to watch him to believe how he pulls off Ash to perfection. He's just brilliant!


What can I say about Jim Beaver who plays Bobby Singer? Another fine actor. Not only is Jim loved for Supernatural but he's a man of many talents. Read more about him here.


Last but not least is the yellow-eyed demon. Well, his real name is Fredric Lehne and I enjoyed his role a lot. Fredric has appeared in over 200 films, mini-series, and television shows plus many stage productions.



This is truly a great show and I can't wait for Season 4. Give it a shot and I think it will surprise you. It has definitely surprised me. I love this show.

Who could possibly not fall in love with Jensen and Jared?

P.S. Mr. Kripke, may we please have the Roadhouse back? And Ellen, Jo, Ash, Bela, and Meg?

Actors Strike

"Reuters reports as Hollywood recovers from a tumultuous writers walkout that ended in February, U.S. TV networks are bracing for a possible actors strike that could delay the upcoming fall TV season. Jitters over renewed labor unrest have mounted in recent days as contract talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the major film and TV studios have grown increasingly rancorous with little or no sign that a settlement is near.The three-year labor pact covering film and prime-time TV work for 120,000 SAG members is due to expire in two weeks. "

Look Out Nielsen

"The Microsoft-Google war has moved from the web to the TV. Microsoft today announced it will buy Navic Networks, an addressable advertising technology provider that enables marketers to dynamically target and measure audiences based on patented technology available in 35 million set-top boxes nationwide.

Scott Ferris, general manager of Microsoft's advertiser and publisher solutions group, told Ad Age the Waltham, Mass.-based Navic allows the company to "take advantage of new-media formats through interactive TV and the measurement of TV viewing for the purpose of having a more efficient marketplace for buyers and sellers." Neither company could disclose specific financial terms of the acquisition.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer believes that all media will be digital within the next 10 years -- and that means TV content will be delivered over IP networks.

"Within 10 years, no consumption of anything we think of as media today -- print, TV -- will in fact be delivered over internet technology. It will all be digital," said Mr. Ballmer at the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference in October."

Hulu

"IN A very short time, Hulu has rocketed from nothing to being one of the top video destinations on the Internet. We've all heard the years of trade-show claptrap about television-Web "convergence," but Hulu has come as close as possible to turning your computer into a TV without actually sending a tech to monkey around with the hardware and wiring.

Maybe more important, it's also shaping up as a key proving ground in the ongoing philosophical debate about what people want from Web-based entertainment.

How do you Hulu? You don't have to pay anything, download a special player or even register your name or e-mail address. The site, which went up in mid-March, is free; in exchange for watching relatively brief ads, you get access to complete high-resolution episodes of top TV series such as "24" and "30 Rock," as well as impressively cataloged clips from "Saturday Night Live" and other shows. (The movie roster is somewhat less formidable, unless you consider "The Payaso Comedy Slam" or "Snake Eater" the apex of cinematic art.)"