Big broadcaster Sinclair in dire straits

Another big broadcaster may be on the verge of bankruptcy.

Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which is controlled by David Smith and his family and operates 58 television stations, said if it can't restructure its heavy debt load it will have to file for bankruptcy. The company, which has about $1.3 billion in debt, is trying to negotiate terms on notes of $500 million that are coming due in the next 18 months.

If Sinclair files for bankruptcy it will be bad news for Hollywood, which counts on the broadcaster to spend heavily on programming for its stations. With 58 stations to program, Sinclair is one of the biggest buyers of reruns, movies, talk shows and game shows.

Sinclair is the latest broadcaster to be feeling the pinch of a poor economy and a changing media landscape. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said auto advertising used to represent 25% of its ad revenue and now accounts for only about half that.

Other broadcasters who have filed for bankruptcy this year include Young Broadcasting Inc. and ION Media. Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times and a major group of TV stations, has been operating in bankruptcy since late last year.

Also darkening Sinclair's prospects is Cunningham Broadcasting Corp., a small broadcaster operated by Sinclair that is actually owned by trusts established by David Smith's mother Carolyn. Cunningham, Sinclair said, is at risk of defaulting on its loans at the end of the month. If Cunningham has to file for bankruptcy, that would mean the loss of $77 million in revenue it kicks back to Sinclair annually.

Sinclair has gained notoriety in the industry. Smith is a colorful and aggressive broadcaster who with his brothers inherited two stations from his father and built it into one of the biggest operators in the country.

Smith made national headlines in 2004 when his stations that were affiliated with the ABC network refused to air a "Nightline" broadcast featuring then-anchor Ted Koppel reading the names of those who had died in Iraq. Later that year, Sinclair aired a controversial documentary challenging Sen. John Kerry's war record.

-- Joe Flint

TNT's 'Dark Blue' cops vs. 'Leverage' robbers: Who's more fun?

Torture, illegal boxing and gunplay? Yes, this must be the Lifetime network!

I kid, of course. "Dark Blue" (9 p.m. Central Wednesday, TNT; two stars) is the last thing you'd ever see on Lifetime. This is a show about the world of men: They're tough, they're undercover and they speak almost exclusively in cliches.

Given that this is a Jerry Bruckheimer drama -- his production company also created the "CSIs" and a number of other crime procedurals -- you won't be surprised to find that "Dark Blue" starts out with tough guys being tortured by even tougher guys in a dark warehouse with water-slicked floors. The color palette is full of, yes, dark blues and blacks, the dialogue comes in terse bursts and there's little that's feminine about the few female characters.

Illegal fighting rings, tattered yet photogenic diners and dive bars -- this is where the undercover cops led by Lt. Carter Shaw (Dylan McDermott) hang out. And it comes as no surprise that the workaholic Shaw, the biggest rebel in the Los Angeles Police Department, wears fashionably unkempt hair, stubble and a world-weary look.

"Some of us like to sleep, eat -- you know, normal human behavior," one of Shaw's co-workers protests. "You ever get tired of all this?"

"All this" is the undercover-cop lifestyle, which demands total commitment, as we learned from "The Beast," an A&E show that covered similar territory in a similarly predictable way.

"Dark Blue" takes itself even more seriously than "The Beast" did, which at least had Patrick Swayze's electric performance going for it. Here, McDermott fails to make much of an impression as a man who "sees everything that needs to be fixed" (those are his own words). And the show's somber tone is faintly laughable, given that it makes its cast say and do so many cliched things.

At least "Leverage" (8 p.m. Central Wednesday, TNT; three stars) is going for laughs.

It's not really a comedy -- "Leverage" is about a slick criminal gang involved in a series of help-the-little-guy capers. But there is a humorous tone threaded throughout much of "Leverage" -- a tone that can be excessively hammy, sometimes gratingly so.

Timothy Hutton, who plays the leader of the gang, is subtle, as is Aldis Hodge, who plays the gang's tech expert. They're two big reasons to watch the show, and at least Beth Riesgraf, who plays the gang's resident thief, is less irritating than she was when the show premiered.

To its credit, in Wednesday's episode, "Leverage" managed to do something that "Dark Blue" didn't -- "Leverage" kept me guessing about where the story would go. There's something to be said for that.

"Burn Notice" tends to do this sort of caper escapism with more elegance, inventiveness and wit, but despite the TNT show's flaws, there's a place for "Leverage" in the summer schedule. At least it's trying hard to entertain, and it hits the mark more often than not.

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