Quadsville

No, not me. (There's a sign of the apocalypse right there.)

The new royalty is Sir David Chipperfield, the London architect whose first designs in the United States included the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, followed by work in Des Moines and St. Louis. The 59-year-old was on the list of the Queen's 2010 New Years Honours. (Yes, I did use the British spelling.)

Here's more:

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=708403

A new late night show with Conan O'Brien on the Fox TV network? You've got John Bain's attention.

"They are talking about it. Everybody says it's a good possibility, and what a great fit," Bain, program manager for KLJB/KGCW said from the floor of the National Association of Television Programming Executives, or NATPE, in Las Vegas on Monday afternoon.

Since O'Brien's final "Tonight Show" on Friday -- and I can never hear "Free Bird" again without thinking of it -- the speculation has begun about where he might land, and Fox seems to be the leading contender.

The only disadvantage, Bain said, were that local stations would lose their programming -- and in turn some of their local ad revenue -- at that hour. (Currently Fox 18 runs two episodes of "The Office" at 10 and 10:30 p.m., followed currently by "My Name is Earl.")

"When the network schedules something, it takes your local real estate, your commercial (time) is less, and that's something to think about," Bain said.

Bain said he's heard various rumors that a Conan show would run at 10, getting a jump start on the network competitors, or 10:30, putting him head-to-head-to-head with Jay Leno and David Letterman.

"If Conan were to end up on Fox, we'd be good affiliates and add it to the schedule," Bain said. "Then you hope he really jumps out of the gate and gets good ratings, and the ratings would make up for less (local ads)."

Bain is at the NATPE convention making deals for shows to run on Fox 18 and the Quad-Cities CW, as well as the rest of the Grant Group of stations, to air in the 2010-11 season. Already he's picked up reruns of "How I Met Your Mother" and "Real Housewives."

All sorts of TV execs and stars were roaming around the hotel, he said. As we were talking, Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath -- who will host a new version of the game show "Don't Forget the Lyrics" this fall -- passed by him on the convention floor.

The Harlem Globetrotters have appeared at the i wireless Center every winter since The Mark of the Quad-Cities opened in the mid-'90s. And judging by a news release I got from the Trotters PR agency last week, there's a darned good reason.

The iwC was one of four arenas in the country (along with Chicago, Cleveland and Cincinnati) to receive golden Spalding basketballs from the team for consecutively breaking attendance records over the years. The Jan. 9 date was the largest crowd yet for a Trotters game.

The moment you hear the first notes, you know they’re playing your song.
Is there a favorite love song that best captures the relationship between you and your significant other?
Is there special meaning to the song? Was it your first dance or your wedding dance? Was it playing on the jukebox during your first date?
Whatever the case, we’d like to hear about it and share the story with Quad-City Times readers.
In our Valentine’s Day issue, we’ll help you relate some of the memories attached to your favorite song. Please limit your thoughts to about 100 words and have it to us by Wednesday, Feb. 3.
Either e-mail it to dburke@qctimes.com (with “love songs” in the subject line), mail it to Quad-City Times, 500 E. 3rd St., Davenport, IA 52801, to the attention of David Burke, or respond here.
One entrant, chosen at random, will receive two gift certificates for productions at Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island.

Two of the certificates cover the full cost of dinner and a show, while the third is valued at $43.34 and can be applied toward any Circa presentation.

There's great news for "American Pickers," the Quad-City-produced series on cable's History.

The show's debut Monday drew 3.1 million viewers, including 1.6 million in the adults 25-54 demographic. That's the highest-rated premiere on History (I so still want to call it the History Channel, but they've stopped that) since "Ice Road Truckers" in 2007.

Of course it got a lot of buzz around here (can't count how many people have asked me about it in the past month), but it's nice to see it generate a lot of interest nationwide as well.

This year's grandstand lineup at the Mississippi Valley Fair had been set, but not fully announced, The act set for Wednesday, Aug. 4 -- Darius Rucker -- couldn't be announced until his opening set at the i wireless Center in Moline, prior to the Feb. 20 Rascal Flatts concert.

But, fair general manager Bob Fox said today, Rucker (previously known as the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish before turning country) has signed on through the summer as the opening act for Brad Paisley's tour.

Nice try, NBC.
That sums up the feelings of Mark Antonitis, interim president and general manager of KWQC-TV6, about the five-day-a-week, 9 p.m. “Jay Leno Show,” which was canceled by the network this week.
“I thought NBC did what they needed to do. I thought it was a smart thing to try,” he said.
Now’s the time when network television needs to take chances, the KWQC boss added.
“This is a tough time in the industry, and it takes some bold moves and people willing to experiment,” he said. “And when you’re willing to experiment, you’ve got to be willing to fail.
“You admit it didn’t work out the way it wanted and you go try something else.”
The next step, he said, is to find a way for Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon to co-exist in NBC’s late-night lineup.
It’s all, Antonitis said, a reward for a loyal company man.
“Leno is the poster child for the best employee anybody could want. The guy’s cooperative, all joking aside at the expenses of his bosses at NBC, but the guy’s a wonderful employee,” he said.
While other NBC stations had noticed a strong dip in their 10 p.m. newscast ratings with Leno as a lead-in, Antonitis said that wasn’t the case with KWQC.
“People will tune to this television station regardless of what’s on (at 9),” he said. “This is a dominant station.”
A former general manager with Young Broadcasting stations in San Francisco and Sioux Falls, S.D., as well as a former news consultant and newsroom boss in Des Moines and Chicago, Antonitis said his time in the interim role is coming to a close and that he’ll soon be leaving KWQC.

With "Avatar" promised sometime later this spring, the Putnam Museum IMAX Theatre is filling the time by bringing back an audience favorite.

It's just up to the audience to determine which one that is.

Voters can go to http://www.putnam.org/imaxpoll.html until Jan. 18 to vote on their choice of "The Dark Knight," "U23D," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Superman Returns," "I Am Legend" and the original "Night at the Museum."

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