West Wing deal still in limbo

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NBC and Warner Bros. were still trying to close a deal for NBC's
critically acclaimed drama, The West Wing, at press time Thursday night
in an attempt to have an announcement ready for NBC Entertainment president Jeff
Zucker's presentation at the winter press tour in Hollywood Friday.

Sources confirmed that the show will cost NBC around $7 million per episode.

The West Wing, which has won three Emmy Awards for best drama, has
faced declining ratings this year, as ABC's The Bachelor and The
Bachelorette have taken away a fair chunk of the 18-through-34 and
18-through-49 audience.

This past Wednesday, the second episode of The Bachelorette beat an
original episode of The West Wing by 73 percent in the key 18-through-49
demographic, with The Bachelorette scoring an 8.5 rating/20 share versus
The West Wing's 4.9/12.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.