WTSP-Ch. 10 morning anchor Ginger Gadsden to leave St. Petersburg's CBS affiliate June 30

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WTSP

Ginger Gadsden, morning anchor at St. Petersburg CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10, is leaving the station at the end of June.

Ginger Gadsden, morning and noon anchor at St. Petersburg CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10, will be leaving the station when her contract expires on June 30.

But at this time of layoffs and cutbacks in media, Gadsden, who has tired of working the morning shift, has no other job lined up. And she’s still committed to leaving.

 

 

“You know that feeling you get when you’ve made up your mind and you’re at peace with it?” said Gadsden, who came to work at WTSP in 2006. “That’s what I’m feeling. For me, it’s not sad, it’s exciting.”

After seven years of waking up at 2 a.m., Gadsden explained, she decided it was time to leave the morning shift. But WTSP, which placed former Miami anchor Charles Billi alongside longtime anchors Heather Van Nest and Reginald Roundtree in the station’s evening newscasts, declined to move her to a later schedule.

“I don’t think your body is made to wake up at 2 a.m., no matter how long you do it,” she said. “But (WTSP) has solid anchors in the evening; if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, I understand. I’m just grateful I got a chance to work with such great people.”

Gadsden has been the most consistent element of WTSP’s morning show, which has changed co-anchors and format during her tenure while struggling in the ratings against rivals. She came to WTSP after a stint anchoring USA Today Live from Virginia. 

WTSP news director Peter Roghaar said weekend morning anchor Allison Kropff would succeed Gadsden; the station is currently looking for someone to replace Kropff, who came to the station from WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2011.

“Ginger’s a wonderful person and we’re sad to see her go,” Roghaar said. “We offered her an opportunity to remain as the morning anchor and she chose differently."

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As world mourns death of Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, my story on helping with his memoir

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AP

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for the classic rock band The Doors, died in Germany today.

As the music world expresses sorrow over the death today of Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, I can’t help remembering a personal story about my brief time working with a member of one of the best classic rock bands in history.

The short version: I think I convinced Manzarek to write his best-selling 1998 autobiography, Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors.

 

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New Charlie Rose Weekend show likely won't derail airtime for WEDU-Ch. 3's Florida This Week

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WTTW/PBS

Anchor Charlie Rose to host new prime time show for PBS on Friday nights.

When I first saw that Charlie Rose would be hosting yet another television interview show, my reaction was likely a bit different than many other media critics nationwide.

Because PBS suggested stations nationwide air the program at 8:30 p.m. Fridays, which just happens to be the timeslot of Tampa PBS affiliate WEDU-Ch. 3’s local politics show Florida This Week.

But fear not, local politics fans; a spokeswoman for WEDU says the station likely will not adjust FTW’s timeslot to air Charlie Rose Weekend, a half-hour show pieced together with new interviews and material from Rose’s 20-year archive of talks, due to begin in July.Full Story

Mad Men recap: Drug-fueled antics in "The Crash" may leave some fans out in the cold

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Don Draper stumbles trough a drug-fueled weekend on Sunday's Mad Men episode, "The Crash."

Mad Men fans can be a fickle, exacting bunch.

Two weeks after swooning over an episode featuring a merger of the Sterling Cooper ad firm with a competitor, some Mad Maniacs online were already fed up with the series, courtesy of Sunday’s surreal, drug-fueled episode, “The Crash.”
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As SNL says goodbye to Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis I wonder: Why don't they get better finales?

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NBC

Bill Hader, who played James Carville and many others on Saturday Night Live, appeared in his final episode Saturday.

No James Carville. No Barack Obama. No Joe Biden. No unctuous game show host leading a bizarro competition, like “What's My Name?” ($10 million to provide the name of your apartment building doorman.)

Still, Saturday Night Live’s presumed farewells to three of its most prominent players did manage to be touching in an odd way, offering backhanded goodbyes to guys who have been on the show since the Bush administration.Full Story

See clips from new CBS fall shows featuring Robin Williams, Dylan McDermott, Kal Penn and J.B. Smoove

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CBS

Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar star in new fall CBS series, The Crazy Ones.

We Are Men

Tony Shaloub, Kal Penn and Jerry O'Connell are among the guys in an apartment complex filled with divorcing or divorced guys.

 

 

The Crazy Ones

Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar are a father/daughter team running an advertising firm in Chicago; Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley is one of the producers.

 

 

Intelligence

Lost alum Josh Holloway is a CIA agent who gets an chip implanted in his head allowing him to access the Internet and information networks. St. Petersburg native Rene Echevarria is among the executive producers.

 

 

Hostages

Dylan McDermott is an FBI agent who takes a physician's family hostage to force her into killing the president. Toni Collette is the surgeon.

 

 

The Millers

Arrested Development's Will Arnett is a divorced TV reporter whose split encourages parents Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale to divorce, too.

 

 

Mom

Anna Faris is a single mother just out of rehab with a supremely dysfunctional Allison Janney as her mother. Two and Half Men creator Chuck Lorre is executive producer.

 

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New trailer unveiled for final Dexter season, starting June 30

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Showtime

Michael C. Hall plays serial killer Dexter Morgan in Showtime's Dexter, beginning its final season June 30.

Showtime has finally released an official trailer for the final season of its groundbreaking drama Dexter, due back at 9 p.m. June 30, much earlier than usual.

 

 

The premium cable channel has moved Dexter’s final season out of the crosshairs of fall, when all the broadcast networks and AMC’s popular The Walking Dead are all competing for viewers.

It’s an interesting move, because Dexter was one of the first cable shows to buck the trend of avoiding network TV in the fall, moving its start of new episodes to the end of September. Moving back to summer feels like a full circle turn, along with an acknowledgement of how the series’ popularity may have slipped.

In the clip, we see Michael C. Hall's serial killer Dexter Morgan watch as his police officer sister Deb unravels following the climax of last season, where she killed a fellow cop who had discovered her brother’s secret.

Will she finally turn him in and stop the madness? The trailer sure makes it look that way.

Check it out below:



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As American Idol picks its best singer in years, here's five reasons why no one cares anymore

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Fox

American Idol finalists Kree Harrison (left) and Candice Glover vie for the ultimate prize at 8 tonight on Fox.

Whether soul belter Candice Glover or country crooner Kree Harrison is crowned winner of American Idol tonight, two things are clear:

The show will welcome one of its best singers in years into the winners' circle.

And fewer people than ever will actually care.Full Story

See extended trailer for CBS' version of Stephen King's Under the Dome

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CBS

CBS offers a miniseries version of Stephen King's Under the Dome June 24.

Whenever it comes to television, I've grown used to Stephen King breaking my heart.

Time and again, he's brought adaptations of interesting and compelling novels to TV, only to wind up with stuff that is too uninspired (Steven Weber trying to outdo Nicholson in a remake of The Shining?) too boring (Pierce Brosnan moping through a limp redintion of Bag of Bones) or too dumb (The Langoliers. 'Nuff said.)

Still, I have high hopes for the latest attempt to turn King's quality pages into quality television, CBS' Under the Dome.

Not only does it have TV's greatest character actor, Breaking Bad's Dean Norris, playing the story's narcissist bad guy, the extended first look the network just released looks awesome. And by putting such a seemingly well-done miniseries on in summer -- it debuts June 24 -- CBS can send an important signal about trying to compete year-round. (colleague Josh Gillin reminds me that 1993's The Stand was pretty good, giving us Gary Sinise and Jamey Sheridan in amazing performances. ABC's Storm of the Century was okay, with Colm Feore in a typically compelling performance.)

So, I'm hoping Uncle Stevie does me right this time. Check out the trailer below and see what you think.

 

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See clips from new ABC shows including Avengers spinoff Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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ABC continues comic book adventures from the Avngers movie in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff.

Agents of SHIELD:

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See clips from new Fox shows planned for fall, including modernized Sleepy Hollow and Andy Samberg/Andre Braugher comedy

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FOX

Greg Kinnear is a dysfunctional defense attorney in Rake

Here's clips previewing several new shows coming to the Fox network this fall:

Almost Human

Half-human robot and half-machine cop team up to fight crime 35 years in the future.

 

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See Clips of NBC's new fall shows, including new Michael J. Fox comedy and new Ironside

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NBC

Blair Underwood revives classic TV character Ironside on NBC's fall schedule.

Here's video clips from some of NBC's new shows planned for fall 2013.

The Blacklist

James Spader is former FBI agent-turned-fugitive seeking a master terrorist.

 

The Michael J. Fox Show

Michael J. Fox plays WNYC anchor with a family and Parkinson’s disease.

 

 

Dracula

Jonathan Rhys-Myers is the classic vampire, Dracula.

 

 

Ironside

Blair Underwood is modern version of legendary detective in a wheelchair, Robert Ironside.

 

 

Sean Saves the World

Sean Hayes is a gay dad single parenting with Linda Lavin as his mom.

 

 

Welcome to the Family

 

Latino and anglo families forced together by kids who get pregnant.

 

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New Fox fall schedule taking chances with live-action Seth MacFarlane show and 24 revival in summer 2014

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FOX

Kiefer Sutherland will return in summer 2014 as special agent Jack Bauer in a revival of Fox adventure series 24: Live Another Day.

Of all the TV networks looking to claw back its audience in the era of Netflix and Duck Dynasty, Fox may have taken the most chances in its new fall schedule, summed up in a single sentence.

24 returns next summer.

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NBC fall schedule taps old TV stars Michael J. Fox, Sean Hayes and James Spader for new series

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NBC

TV star Michael J. Fox leads roster of new shows coming to NBC this fall

There could not be a more precarious time for network TV outlets, especially NBC.

Competition from cable and online providers has never been fiercer. And broadcasters are still locked into a cycle of shoving their best shows on in a rush during the fall and going mostly dormant during summer that cable has used to its advantage.

So when NBC announced its new schedule Sunday, analysts were looking for clues that the former 800-pound gorilla of the network TV business would be ready to reinvent itself at a time when such innovation was needed most.

Instead, with a raft of new shows featuring Michael J. Fox, X-Files alum Gillian Anderson, former ‘80s heartthrob James Spader, ex-L.A.Law star Blair Underwood and Will & Grace alum Sean Hayes, NBC seems to be counting on old school TV stars to rescue a network which plunged from first to worst in a single season.Full Story

Three Tampa area Survivor contestants reflect on rivalries, rashes and whether they'd ever do the show again

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Brendan Fitterer, Times Staff

Jan Gentry, Mikayla Wingle and Monica Culpepper (left to right) are the only Tampa residents ever to compete on CBS-TV's long-running reality TV competition, Survivor.

They seem, at first glance, to be the oddest trio you could find to take up space together in one room.

At age 64, Jan Gentry is a wiry, good-natured firecracker, partial to wearing overalls and full of enthusiasm for the first graders she teaches at McKitrick Elementary School in Lutz. Next to her, Monica Culpepper, 42, sits like a well-sculpted version of the perfect soccer mom, directing the conversation with an earnest energy while sprinkling anecdotes about her kids and NFL player-turned lawyer husband.

Across from Culpepper at Gentry’s right hand, 23-year-old Mikayla Wingle is a statuesque beauty who towers over her two new friends; a model and lingerie football player who also tends bar at a local watering hole.

But when these three ladies finally met for the first time at the Tampa Bay Times’ Tampa offices, the conversation flowed easily, as if they had known each other for years.

That’s because these three Tampa Bay area residents have all accomplished something few others have managed.

They’ve competed on CBS-TV’s Survivor.Full Story