Television

In an annual rite known as Upfront Week, NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and the CW just presented their lineups for the 2012-13 TV season to advertisers in New York. The ceremonies took place in some of the city's most august concert Halls (Carnegie, Avery Fisher, Radio City Music) over four days. The broadcast companies introduced only 20 new series for the fall (down from 27 last season). NBC led the pack with six new shows. Fox and the CW had half that many. Like it or not, an awful lot of familiar faces will be returning in the fall.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Steve Addazio called the three proposals on divisional alignment presented to the Big East football coaches and athletic directors at the conference's spring meetings a win-win-win situation for Temple. One proposal would split the league into East and West divisions beginning in 2013. Another called for North and South divisions. And the third would have a non-geographic alignment, splitting the West Coast schools, the Texas schools, and the Florida schools.

Today: ESPN, 4-7:30; 8-11, replay Tomorrow: ESPN, 4-7:30; 8-11, replay Saturday: CBS, 3:30-7 Sunday: CBS, 2-7 ON THE WEB Masters.com will have live daily coverage of a featured group; Amen Corner (holes 11, 12, 13 at 11:45 a.m.-7 p.m.); and holes 15 and 16 (3-4 p.m. today; 10:45 a.m.-7 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday). ON PHILLY.COM For an updated leaderboard and live scoring updates, go to: philly.com/masters

Editor's note: This week, through Sunday, is TV Turnoff Week (www.tvturnoff.org). Families are encouraged to substitute playing, reading, creating and interacting for some of the more than 1,000 hours a year kids spend with SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, and other fantasy friends. Here is one writer's thoughts on our love-hate relationship with TV. So many channels. So many choices. So little time. I'll bet my remote control that there are many more people who feel this way than will dare to admit it. Why do Americans have such a contentious and schizophrenic approach to television?

If a quick survey of public opinion in Center City this morning is any indication, the TV networks won't be setting any ratings records by broadcasting the congressional hearings on the Iran-contra affair. More than half of 25 people surveyed by the Daily News were either totally unaware of the hearings or had only a vague idea that the hearings were beginning. "I heard something about it on the radio this morning," said a middle- aged man stopped by a reporter on Market Street near 8th. "I have no comment.

As a reading specialist, Valerie Denton works with children who struggle to understand the written word. Her students often have short attention spans and difficulty making decisions. A major reason, Denton believes, is too much television viewing. "Parents don't always see what happens to children who spend a lot of time watching television. They don't recognize how it hurts their ability to learn," said Denton, who works for the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. "I've talked to parents about it. Some are apathetic.

If you tune in at 8 tonight to Channel 12, you will see a pulsing image with several horizontal lines going through it. That the image looks like a piece of avant garde art is not strange, because it is a copy of the first image 60 years ago of that most avant garde of arts, television. "Televison avant garde?" you smirk. Well, yes, in the strictest sense of the phrase, since where but in television have we fashioned as many images to hurt, inspire, outrage and thrill us before any other medium could?

Chance circumstances converted Malcolm Bonner, a mild-mannered 46-year-old Temple University administrator, into a zealous campaigner urging African American high school students to shut off their TVs before it's too late. Back in 1995, Bonner was browsing at Borders in Chestnut Hill when he came upon Four Arguments For the Elimination of Television by renegade advertising executive Jerry Mander. The book has had a cult following that has kept it in print since it first came out more than 20 years ago, despite a prolix prose style and tendentious left-wing viewpoint that make it a tough read.

Jane King Hall, 92, of Wyndmoor, who made commercials and cohosted talk shows in the early days of television, died March 21 at her home. Mrs. King began her broadcasting career making radio commercials for 50 cents a minute in Albany, N.Y. She later appeared in a weekly radio drama, The Newlyweds, in Albany, and acted on radio programs in Hartford, Conn. In 1937 she moved to Philadelphia, where she made radio commercials, modeled, and did commentary for fashion shows sponsored by Strawbridge & Clothier and John Wanamaker.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Saving the Big East Conference is the highest priority here at the conference's spring meetings. Quite an agenda item. But in reality, the decisions that will determine the league's fate will be made by other conferences. "Somebody in the Big 12 decides, 'This is what we're going to do,' " Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma said. "Everybody in the Big East is going, 'Holy [shoot]. What happens to us?' It's just the craziest thing.

IT HAPPENS every May: The broadcast networks announce their schedules for the following season and it's as if we're seeing double. It usually takes three to declare a trend, but TV seasons tend to get filled like Noah's Ark, with new (or recycled) ideas arriving in pairs. A year ago, it was '60s dramas — NBC's "Playboy Club" and ABC's "Pan Am" — and shows in which fairy tales turned out to be true — NBC's "Grimm" and ABC's "Once Upon a Time. " If there was any surprise, it wasn't that the "Mad Men" wannabes didn't make it to Season 2, but that the other two did. (And that CBS ordered its own '60s drama, "Vegas," for this fall.)

In an annual rite known as Upfront Week, NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and the CW just presented their lineups for the 2012-13 TV season to advertisers in New York. The ceremonies took place in some of the city's most august concert Halls (Carnegie, Avery Fisher, Radio City Music) over four days. The broadcast companies introduced only 20 new series for the fall (down from 27 last season). NBC led the pack with six new shows. Fox and the CW had half that many. Like it or not, an awful lot of familiar faces will be returning in the fall.

For TV lovers, this is the best time of the year, right after the networks have trotted out all their programming for next fall to entice the advertising agencies in New York. Everything has that new-show smell. All the pilots are beautiful, and hope springs eternal. By all means, enjoy this honeymoon period. Just don't get carried away. What look like gems in May often get raked away with the leaves in November. As a reminder of how unreliable first impressions can be in television, let us travel in the way-back machine, Mr. Peabody, to this exact time a year ago. There was one universally acknowledged "sure thing": The X Factor was going to be the season's biggest hit. Not only had the format already proved enormously successful in Britain, but Simon Cowell, the bloody Pied Piper of singing contests, was at the helm besides.

Jake's Sandwich Board (122 S. 12th) is seeking a few hungry garlic lovers. These brave souls will attempt the shop's 5 Pound Philly Challenge from noon to 2 p.m. Friday while the Travel Channel's "Food Paradise" documents the experience. The challenge features a supersized 2-foot-long, 3-pound version of Jake's Garlic Bomb — a cheesesteak with roasted garlic spread, sautéed garlic and deep-fried garlic cloves — accompanied by 24 Peanut Chews, 12 Tastykakes, four soft pretzels and one Champ cherry soda.

Howard Stern is in such a good mood, he got all touchy-feely with Today host Matt Lauer Thursday on live TV, jumping into Matt's lap and gifting him with a big wet smooch. Stern, 58, later said he's dead serious about his new job as a judge on America's Got Talent, which returns Monday. Stern, who reportedly pockets $15 mil a year for the gig, joins Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel at the judge's table. "You know I love playing God," Stern told the crowd at a recent New York audition.

EVERYONE brings something different to Twitter, and TV writers are no exception. Here are 10 I follow, and why you might want to: @DamonLindelof What's "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof doing since the show ended? Well, besides writing movies — "Prometheus," for instance — he seems to be watching a lot of TV. King of the 140-character one-liner. @HartHanson Hart Hanson, Creator of "Bones" and "Tce Finder," mixes promotional and personal tweets with sprinklings of funny.

"Twitter is the new water cooler, folks — if you come to get a drink, you're gonna hear people talking about last night's TV. " —"Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof to his more than 176,000 followers on Twitter.   THE LATE Dr. Samuel Johnson, who said that "no one but a blockhead ever wrote except for money," couldn't have anticipated Twitter, much less that more than two centuries after his death, a Twitter handle in his honor, @DrSamuelJohnson , would have more than 40,000 followers.

WHAT'S REALLY hot on Internet TV? Roku CEO Anthony Wood recently shared the top 10 channels on his platform. Netflix remains No. 1, followed by Pandora, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, the ad-supported Crackle movie channel, HBO Go, the casual video game Angry Birds (playable on the top Roku 2 XS box), Disney, NBC News and Glenn Beck TV. Let me tack on some personal faves. AOL HD: This polished hub serves up tech news from Engadget, scenic reviews of hot European cars, trailers from Moviefone and the chance to stream full albums from AOL Music.

"PARTY ROCKERS" is the latest in a long line of produced-in-Philly TV dance-party shows (many of which ultimately gained national distribution) dating to the earliest days of commercial broadcasting. Here's a look at some of the others that are part of the local (and in many cases, national) pop-culture fabric: "Bandstand" The granddaddy of all TV dance-fests was inspired by the popular afterschool radio show hosted by WPEN-AM disc jockeys Joe Grady and Ed Hurst. It debuted on what was then WFIL-TV (Channel 6)