On Sunday, just after the season finale of AMC's hit "The Walking Dead," much of a shocked and emotional audience will covet conversation. They'll want to know what fellow viewers think. They'll want analysis and answers. Probably comfort and comic relief from the intensity and insanity. And, AMC will try to deliver with its "Talking Dead," a live post-show with commentary and attempts to break down the action. Why then after the season premiere of the boozy and debaucherous "Mad Men" next Sunday, won't there be a similar viewer companion? Why no show called "Nightcap" or "Sex, Lies & Deep …

Theater owners continue to be concerned about how Hollywood's fascination with online, on-demand viewing. Hardly a day goes by without an announcement about a distribution entity launching a service or acquiring more content. Netflix, Amazon, Comcast, Verizon, Redbox, Hulu have had a heavy presence on the press release circuit - beaming about streaming. Over-the-top TV options and TV Everywhere could be the biggest threats the movie business has ever faced. The quality of shows from AMC to CBS to HBO have become so engaging and the options to watch with a simple click-and-play at a low price has become so …

The bet is more than a few TV executives spent Wednesday morning analyzing every word of a Wall Street Journal piece with the diligence of a losing lawyer parsing through a decision hoping to find grounds for appeal. This, after all, was a Q&A with the top marketer at the company that has long controlled much of the advertising market and the subtext wasn't exactly "tell us why you love TV so much." Procter & Gamble, which fills sportscasts with all kinds of Gillette ads and might fund a reality series if a brand can be a "character," has been …

As the FCC mulls a rule change with major implications for networks and local stations, it needs to evaluate what the word "public" means. Right now, with regards to public disclosure of political ad spending, the interpretation on the books is an embarrassment. Broadcasters are required to maintain a "public file" with an assortment of information about how a station is serving a community. Not much is that interesting, save the logs showing how much political candidates and interest groups pay for ad time.

It's staggering just how unending producers believe the public's hunger for video content is. Some are still trying to launch cable networks or multicast channels. But, of course most of the action is on the Web - whether via a YouTube channel, digital shorts or even a live stream of a Little League game. But if this boundless optimism was once the province of up and comers, there is no doubt the establishment is fully on board. On Monday alone, came word of TV everywhere initiatives involving talk show legend Larry King and long-time entertainment executives Barry Diller and Michael …

This week was a bit sad for New Yorkers who found out that one of the true characters of the city's TV news corps-Sue Simmons-would be departing from WNBC-TV when her contract is up in June. Local TV news usually hires Barbie and Ken lookalikes as anchors because God forbid viewers should have to watch an ugly fat person deliver the news. So good looks, earnest demeanors, and bright smiles (the latter for the seemingly endless news team promo campaigns) are usually required traits. And of course, the ability to read a teleprompter in an urgent tone that suggests the …

Two of the most significant developments for the TV industry this week took place not on Broadcast Row, or even Madison Avenue, but out west in Silicon Valley: The disclosure that Google plans to spin off the set-top box division of its Motorola Mobility acquisition to focus on its new "Google Play" play; and Apple's overhaul of Apple TV. Both will help accelerate the migration of TV viewing from coax, satellites and over-the-air to their operating systems. In the case of Google Play, its Google's push to finally turn the Android Marketplace into the kind of one-stop entertainment marketplace that …

Now is the time of year all broadcast networks focus on program renewals, cancellations, or those TV shows they can't figure out what to do with. Mostly we are talking about all those broadcast network shows only doing say two million or four million viewers in a particular episode -- leaving out specific demographics aside for just a moment.

Where is Edward R. Murrow when you really need him? Oh right, He died a few decades back of lung cancer after smoking about five packs a day during his illustrious radio and TV news career. One of the things Murrow is most remembered for is taking on Joe McCarthy, the right wing, paranoid Senator from Wisconsin who believed there was a communist behind every misdeed in America and certainly at least one on every backlot in Hollywood.

Facebook and Twitter don't like the word "advertising". Instead, we get other references for commerce connected with media, like "promoted tweets." It's not just Twitter; Facebook tends to avoid the word. At a recent event, "advertising" was conspicuously absent concerning a new messaging format: "Premium on Facebook," according to one Times of India report.