Time Warner Cable's on the verge of launching another slew of high-definition channels, with testing going on between Channels 1980 and 1995.
The 16 new channels include Fox Business Network, a series of sports channels, E!, Style, the Weather Channel, MSNBC, We, TV1, Planet Green, G4 and IFC. Not all were in operation this morning in their temporary test locations. They'll be moved when they're formally launched.
Last month, Time Warner, southeast Wisconsin's dominant TV service, added a few more high-def channels, including Turner Classic Movies and HLN, the channel formerly known as CNN Headline News.
When fully implemented, Time Warner will offer more than 75 high-definition channels to subscribers with the right equipment and level of service.
Satellite TV continues to offer more HD channels, but Time Warner has been increasing its array of channels in the ultra-clear, wide-screen format.
Yes, that was Windell: The artist best known as the Miller High Life delivery guy -- Windell Middlebrooks -- had a cameo in Tuesday night's second episode of the revamped "Scrubs." He was a security guard who caught J.D. (Zach Braff) as he fell out of a tree.
On TV: The list is out for Barbara Walters' annual list of "most fascinating people," and along with Adam Lambert and Sarah Palin, she's included Brett Favre. Well, he is fascinating. The special will air at 9 p.m., Dec. 9.
- It looks like ABC is moving to save "Ugly Betty" by moving it off the Friday night death list to the 9 p.m. Wednesday slot vacated by the axing of "Eastwick." It's likely to happen after the first of the year.
- FX has announced its mid-season plans, with "Nip/Tuck" returning Jan. 6 in the 9 p.m. Wednesday slot for its final nine episodes. Glenn Close's "Damages" will be back Jan. 25 in the 9 p.m. Monday slot for a 13-week run.
- Charlie Gibson will sign off as anchor of ABC's "World News" on Dec. 18, with Diane Sawyer taking the helm on Dec. 21. There's still no word on who will replace her on "Good Morning America."
- Hollywood Reporter says Monday night's season premiere of "Hoarders" set a Nielsen ratings record for A&E, with 3.2 million viewers, 1.9 million of them in the key 18-49
You think our TV news is weird: All the obsessive TV coverage of Tiger Woods' mess has lacked a key component: animation.
This report from Taiwanese TV offers one way to tell a story when there's no actual video.
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
