:p Yea right, how many people picture Carla sitting at home, by herself, eating a frozen dinner. Well, ok, I'd be happy to rescue her from such a dull existance.

Didn't realize she was the lead. Miss Karen Cisco. Looking forward to seeing her back on the screen (in 100" hi-def).

(Thanks Freda)

Yeah, a woman who looks like her sitting home alone eating a frozen dinner is what's known as "dramatic license". That may be the most preposterous thing we're going to be asked to accept in Threshold. I'm aboard! :D

That opening where Carla is whisked off to a top secret government facility, and assembles an eccentric team of experts, sounds an awful lot like The Andromeda Strain.

Brands bet on new casino in NBC's 'Vegas'

By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter

The sprawling new set of the NBC series "Las Vegas" could be mistaken for an actual casino, but there's nothing real about it -- except in one respect.

It's not the genuine felt on the blackjack tables inside the lavish gambling palace recreated on six soundstages at Culver Studios in Culver City. It's not the faux marble walls or even the 30 different surveillance cameras installed in the ceilings that spy on the 40,000-is-foot space.

But one of the new additions to the Montecito Resort & Casino is not entirely fictional. While you can't actually buy vehicles from the Aston Martin dealership inhabiting one of the storefronts on a new wing of the set, the automaker is one of a growing list of real-life brands posing as a Montecito tenant in "Vegas" story lines.

To help ease the financial burden of what may be the largest set in TV series history, executive producer Gary Scott Thompson turned to marketers.

"We have a set that cost us a fortune," said Thompson, who declined to disclose estimates. "We're a high-budget show; we need help. By help, I mean, we'll put your shop into our casino. We'll need some help building that shop."

NBC declined comment on which other brands are participating in the in-house brand integration besides Aston Martin, which also will provide vehicles for "Vegas." Also unknown is whether the deals encompassed advertising buys or separate integration fees.

But "Vegas" is busy lining up marketers in several categories including clothing, jewelry and food; in addition to the Montecito's new mall, an entire restaurant space sits empty awaiting a brand. General Motors and Hewlett-Packard, which integrated their products in previous "Vegas" seasons, will return but without a retail presence on the set.

The reconstruction of "Vegas," produced by NBC Universal TV Studios and DreamWorks TV, has turned it into one of the most marketing-friendly series on scripted television. Reality shows have largely driven the upswing in product integration in recent years, but sitcoms and dramas have gradually gotten into the act, including ABC's "Desperate Housewives" and Fox's "Stacked."

Building replicas of retail outlets into a set is not unprecedented in Hollywood. Two recent Steven Spielberg films, "Minority Report" and "The Terminal," featured a multiplicity of brands (HR 5/5/04). It is a rarer sight on TV, though gourmet chain Dean & DeLuca was something of a recurring character on the WB series "Felicity," serving as the site for the title character's part-time job.

"It's not very common," Mike Malone, vp at branded entertainment and marketing firm Alliance, said. "It's been done for features but not so much for television."

Not every brand integrated into "Vegas" will command its own actual space. In the case of Aston Martin, the dealership depicted is actually just a storefront with branded signage; shots of the facade will be mixed with footage taken from a real Aston Martin outlet.

As a brand bombarded with requests from all sorts of productions for use of its vehicles, Aston Martin was keen to get involved with "Vegas" because it could convey its retail presence, according to Geno Effler, the automaker's brand communications manager.

"That's a key reason that got us over the hump and enticed us to participate in this," Effler said. "It's not just a car sitting out in front of the hotel."

As part of the deal, Aston Martin also is handing over the keys to its most expensive model -- a $250,000 DB AR1 convertible -- for inclusion in the show as the pet vehicle for "Big Ed" Deline, the casino boss played by James Caan. The car occasionally will get its own story line, like an upcoming episode in which Deline lends his beloved vehicle to an employee trying to impress a date, only for it to wind up at a chop shop.

If putting a fancy car dealership in a casino seems familiar, that's not an accident: Ferrari has set up shop in hotel magnate Steve Wynn's eponymous new palace. Thompson wants "Vegas" to keep step with the real city, which has seen retail outlets and other entertainment rival gambling as the main attraction.

"We couldn't accurately portray what true Vegas was," he said. "So when we decided to move to the new studio, we said to NBC that we needed to get real brands into the casino."

The brands will find themselves in pretty spacious new digs. The "Vegas" set is three stories high, making room for new features including a sports book with multiple large-screen TVs and an elevator bank fronted by stained glass with working elevators. But don't be fooled by stunning shots of the Montecito's exterior; its designed in CG, from the heliport to the waterfall spilling over the facade.

"Vegas's" setting provides a more organic ground in which marketers can integrate than the less commercial-friendly shows featuring forensic investigators and alien invaders that dominate the primetime schedule. "We are an anomaly," Thompson said. "This is the one show you can get away with doing it."

Brand involvement helps ease the cost of an expensive series. "Vegas" minders are mum on how much the series costs, but it's informally known to be north of the $2 million price tag on most hourlong dramas.

It is an important series for NBC, which has few young shows still capable of building audience. With departed CBS hit "Everybody Loves Raymond" out of its Monday 9 p.m. time slot, there's hope for growth when the third season of "Vegas" kicks off Sept. 19.

Gail Schiller contributed to this report.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001137426

hi everyone,

each year I do a full Fall Preview and I thought some of you might like to see it.

http://www.letterten.com/fallpreview/2005

enjoy.

(note - i make exactly zilch off of the site.)

Brands bet on new casino in NBC's 'Vegas'

By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter

<snip>

But one of the new additions to the Montecito Resort & Casino is not entirely fictional. While you can't actually buy vehicles from the Aston Martin dealership inhabiting one of the storefronts on a new wing of the set, the automaker is one of a growing list of real-life brands posing as a Montecito tenant in "Vegas" story lines.

<snip>




TiVo strikes again. Too many people are skipping over commercials, so they're doing high profile (in your face) product placement during more and more shows. Soon we'll have a drama about an ad agency and their clients are real companies.

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
'Survivor' Gets Physical in Guatemala

By Rick Porter (zap2it.com)

In the 10-season life of "Survivor," it's widely held that the third game in Africa was the most physically demanding on its contestants.

Not anymore, says the man who's been there for all 10.

"It's a physical, physical, physical season," host Jeff Probst says of "Survivor: Guatemala," which premieres Thursday (Sept. 15) on CBS. "It's probably the most physical of any we've ever done." He later calls the "Guatemala" season "the toughest, period."

The players get that message right from the start, beginning the game with an 11-mile hike through dense rainforest in the Central American country, with their pick of camps and fire-making tools on the line. "They're smart enough to know that there's a reason everything happens on 'Survivor,' and if we put this on day one, it's because we want you to understand something -- this is gonna be tough," Probst says.

The physically demanding nature of this season's location -- with temperatures that averaged 105 degrees, off-the-charts humidity and a crocodile-infested lake nearby -- may serve to change the game some as well. The oft-repeated pattern of eliminating physically strong players early might not be a good long-term strategy, Probst says.

"[The opening trek] sent a clear message, which is you better think twice about voting off the strong because you're afraid they're going to hurt you," he says. "Without them, it's only a matter of time before your tribe dwindles."

"Guatemala" also has the much-discussed twist of bringing two former players into the game. Probst naturally won't reveal who they are, and stops short of saying they'll be competing for the $1 million prize, but he's happy to discuss the ways in which it might affect the 16 new players' strategy.

"I think socially it's a really great question," he says. "Some people will say, 'No, no, no, you had your chance. Go away.' In my thinking, that's short-sighted. That's putting some silly ego or pride thing ahead of the goal, and the goal is, how do I get further in the game?

"Depending on what I think of this person and how you played, I'd go up to you on the first day and say, 'Listen, your head is on the block already. Team up with me, and let's get a couple other people.' ... That's how I'd play the game."

How much longer he'll host the game is up in the air. His contract with the show is up after the 12th edition, which is also as much as CBS has picked up for now. He assumes the network will order more seasons, but he's uncertain how much longer he'd like to commit to the show.

"I don't want to be the David Caruso of reality," he says. Still, "signing another long-term deal would be hard. ... Then what goes through my head is you leave, and the new person is better than you."

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/utils/tve_article_print/1,1144,,00.html?x=37&y=16&current_url=271%7C97529%7C1%7C&search_id=1&cntn_id=97529

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Dancing With The Stars” Run Off Runs Over

ABC announced today the John O’Hurley-Kelly Monaco dance off will last 91 minutes next Tuesday night (Sept. 20th). It begins at 8:30 ET/PT and will end at 10:01.

Coincidentally -- :) -- that will take it one minute into the season premiere of NBC powerhouse Law and Order:SVU.

Sunday Night TV Note
“Emmy Awards” Previews

Note: Throughout the weekend, I’ll be posting a number of Emmy Awards previews for your Sunday night enjoyment. (The show will be on CBS 8 PM ET/PT.)

So, even if you don’t usually log on over the weekend, be sure to check out the thread a few times Saturday and Sunday to get yourself ready for the annual TV extravaganza.

(End of commercial message.)

David Spade, Again Insulting the Hand That Feeds Him

By LOLA OGUNNAIKE The New York Times

LOS ANGELES - The celebrity funny bone can be quite a sensitive one, and no one knows that better than the comedian David Spade, who earned his share of enemies in the 1990's skewering celebrities during his Hollywood Minute sketches on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." "There were a lot of agents getting word to my agents," Mr. Spade recalled, "and they were saying stuff like: 'Tell him to watch it. He's making a big mistake.' "

Which explains why Mr. Spade was reluctant to be the face of Comedy Central's new series "The Showbiz Show With David Spade," which mercilessly ridicules the entertainment industry at large, leaving no celebrity unturned. "I didn't want to deal with people's hurt feelings again," Mr. Spade said. "I'm thinking, 'Do I want to start all that up again?' " He grinned slyly. "The answer is, 'Yes, I do.' "

Those who relished the playful viciousness of Mr. Spade's Hollywood Minute takedowns will be beyond delighted with his new half-hour series, which makes its debut Sept. 15 at 10:30 p.m. The program - Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" meets Weekend Update of "S.N.L." - consists of man-on-the-street reports, one-man riffs and recurring characters, like a bitter production assistant, played by a band of actors. A team of nine writers produces the well-timed one-liners, sideswipes and below-the-belt barbs that make up the weekly series.

Initially Comedy Central wanted the show on nightly, but Mr. Spade balked. "There was no way I could make it funny every night," he said one recent evening in his offices here. "Once a week is hard enough."

"The Showbiz Show" is bound to ruffle a few feathers and could even hurt some feelings. Cool! Still, Mr. Spade, 41, may want to consider checking into the witness protection program at the completion of the first season.

Hugh Fink, an Emmy Award-winning writer and the creator of "The Showbiz Show," said that his fundamental notion when he pitched the idea to Comedy Central was that if the show didn't infuriate some people, it would have failed. "There are no sacred cows," said Mr. Fink, who worked with Mr. Spade at "Saturday Night Live."

Mr. Spade more than proved that point at a show rehearsal Sept. 7 when he, with ninjalike precision, sliced and diced his way through boldfaced names like George Clooney, Courtney Love, Angelina Jolie, and Paris Hilton. "Hilary Swank and husband Chad Lowe have sparked speculation that they're trying to have a baby after buying a family size mansion in Washington," Mr. Spade said to the packed house, "and also after announcing that Chad is going off the pill."

Britney Spears, who is pregnant, and her husband, Kevin Federline - a twosome who must have kick-me-baby-one-more-time stickers taped to their backs - also took a beating. "The couple was going to name the child after the place it was conceived, but it was too hard to say Olive Garden Bathroom Floor," Mr. Spade joked. The audience roared. Barely able to suppress a chuckle, he continued. "In TV news, another survivor has been kicked off the island," he said as a photo of Bob Denver, who played the titular character Gilligan, flashed on a jumbo screen. The crowd was not pleased. "You're supposed to boo that," Mr. Spade said, chuckling. "You're good. You're smart."

His worst, however, was reserved for Gwyneth Paltrow (wife of Coldplay's front man, Chris Martin, and mother of Apple), whom he giddily savaged in a three-minute harangue. "Gwyneth, years ago you told Harper's Bazaar that you always somehow knew you were destined to be famous," Mr. Spade said. "It takes a real Magic 8-Ball to guess that when your mom is a famous actress and your dad is a big director and the man you call uncle Mortie is Steven Spielberg, you might have a shot at landing a part."

Unfortunately for Ms. Paltrow, Mr. Spade was just getting started. "Of course, your big moment came in 1998 when you won an Oscar for 'Shakespeare in Love,' which made Marisa Tomei's award for 'My Cousin Vinny' seem legit."

Doug Herzog, president of Comedy Central, did not appear put off by Mr. Spade's antics. In fact, he spent the entire rehearsal, alongside Lauren Corrao, the channel's executive vice president for original programming, laughing quite loudly. In an interview, he compared "The Showbiz Show" to an "ongoing weekly roast."

"In this culture where celebrity takes up an unimaginable share of the oxygen," he said, "the time is ripe for this type of show. It's hard to believe that nobody has done something like this before."

Actually, some people have. For years, "Talk Soup," on the E! Network, has had hosts like Greg Kinnear and Aisha Tyler eviscerate daytime talk shows. And VH1's "Best Week Ever" invites quipsters to poke fun at the pop culture events of the week. But neither of these shows has ever featured a bona fide celebrity, an insider, torpedoing his colleagues.

Just an hour before rehearsal that evening, Mr. Spade, dressed in jeans, T-shirt and leather bomber jacket, was in his office behind a desk not nearly as grand as the one on his set, floors below. With his blond hair flipped to perfection, the diminutive Mr. Spade could have easily passed for Ellen DeGeneres's twin brother. "You know, I used to have a crush on her," Mr. Spade said, "until I got the news."

Photocopied pictures of himself with several A-list buddies who attended his birthday bash in July decorated the walls. There was Mr. Spade smiling with Pamela Anderson, Bruce Willis, Teri Hatcher, Adam Sandler and other high-wattage stars. Who among them would be spared? None, Mr. Spade said, before quickly revising his statement. "Sandler is pretty safe," he said. "I do all of my movies with him."

Born in Michigan and raised in Scottsdale, Ariz., Mr. Spade has been in the business of making people laugh for nearly two decades. In 1986, after a talent scout discovered him at the Improv comedy club in Los Angeles, he was offered a role in "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol." Small parts in big shows like "The Facts of Life," "Alf" and "Baywatch" soon followed. In 1990, he hit pay dirt, joining the cast of "S.N.L." When not impersonating Michael J. Fox or Tom Petty, Mr. Spade played a nasty flight attendant who rudely dismissed fliers with the catchphrase "buh-bye" and an overzealous receptionist who refused to allow anyone to see his boss.

He eventually graduated to feature films. "Tommy Boy," "Black Sheep," "Joe Dirt" and "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" are among his most notable works. On NBC's "Just Shoot Me," he played the sniveling, skirt-chasing assistant Finch, and on ABC's "8 Simple Rules" he was the trouble-making nephew C. J. His Capital One credit-card commercials are ubiquitous.

"They're huge fun," Mr. Spade said.

His days are now spent scouring tabazines like Us Weekly and In Touch, visiting gossip sites and watching frothy shows like "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood."

"We spend hours and hours slogging through that stuff," Mr. Fink said.

Mr. Spade admitted to being nervous, and he seemed a bit conflicted about the tone of his new show. Were bits too mean? Were they not mean enough? "I'm not as smooth as I should be yet," he confessed. "I've got to get on myself to be sharp, funny and loose."

Although it's hard to tell, Mr. Spade feels for the celebrities he slams, he said. "When I left 'Saturday Night Live,' they did a piece about me two weeks later," he recalled. He did not like it. Said Mr. Spade: "It's a lot easier to throw stones."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/arts/television/15spad.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
Seinfeld Who? NBC Pursuing the Heartland

By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times September 16, 2005

KENNESAW, Ga., Sept. 12 - The cash register at Goody's clothing store here flashed $106.01 - for a dress shirt and three pairs of Levi's - but as Lori Smith reached for her credit card, a nearby voice brought the transaction to a halt.

"Tell you what, why don't you let me take care of it?" said Scott Evans, his delivery as smooth as a car salesman's as he directed Ms. Smith to a partner brandishing stacks of $1 bills.

Mr. Evans explained that they were there on behalf of NBC, promoting an unscripted show, "Three Wishes," which will have its premiere on the network on Sept. 23. In the series, the singer Amy Grant travels to a different town each week in an effort to fulfill the heart's desire of needy families and community groups.

For a network that dominated the prime-time ratings for a decade with sophisticated urban comedies like "Cheers," "Seinfeld," "Frasier" and "Friends," only to tumble to fourth place last season without them, Ms. Grant's show is a radical departure. "Three Wishes" is aimed, in no small part, at a churchgoing rural and suburban audience. And its marketing plan, evocative of a red-state presidential campaign, bears scant resemblance to any NBC has crafted before.

In advance of the new prime-time television season, NBC sent more than 7,000 DVD's of the show's first episode to ministers and other clergy members, along with a recorded message to their congregants from Ms. Grant. ("At its core, 'Three Wishes' is faith in action," she tells them.) The network has also booked Ms. Grant - a pop singer who vaulted to fame singing Christian songs, crossed over to mainstream radio and recently released an album of hymns titled "Rock of Ages" - for interviews on Christian radio and taken out advertising in small-town newspapers.

And, perhaps most seductively, NBC has been stuffing cash registers at stores here like Goody's and others in or around Nashville, Salt Lake City, Des Moines and Milwaukee with tens of thousands of $1 bills used for groceries and other basics. The dollars are affixed with yellow stickers (removable, consistent with Treasury Department guidelines) that ask, "What's your wish?," and implore people to watch the show. All told, the network expects to give away 150,000 of those dollar bills in 15 cities and towns.

Though NBC hopes the show will have broad appeal - it also took its dollar bill campaign to New York and Los Angeles - Barbara Blangiardi, the network's vice president of marketing and special projects, said that "absolutely the Christian community was a target audience."

Indeed, Ms. Grant brings an established following to NBC, instantly making her one of its biggest stars. Her show is consistent with other efforts the network has made to reach viewers outside major cities, including its telecasts of Nascar races and periodic visits by the "NBC Nightly News" anchor, Brian Williams, beyond the Northeast.

Though NBC is using more conventional tactics to promote much of its lineup - advertisements for "My Name Is Earl," a comedy about a ne'er-do-well who wins a lottery, have appeared in stadiums and movie theaters - it is taking a grass-roots approach to "Earl" and several other shows in addition to "Three Wishes." These include "The Biggest Loser," a returning reality series about weight loss. Last week, the network sponsored parties for "Loser" in 1,000 homes.

Here in Kennesaw, a suburb of Atlanta with 22,000 residents and a Civil War battlefield, NBC had little difficulty finding people who had tuned out its prime-time lineup since its glory days.

"I loved 'Seinfeld,' " said Ms. Smith, 40, who works at a Hobby Lobby store. "I watched 'Cheers' and 'Friends,' " said her boyfriend, Paul Perry, 34, who is out of work while recuperating from shoulder surgery.

But when asked to name a show on the network's prime-time schedule last year, neither could.

Instead, they, along with nearly a dozen other recipients of NBC's largess, cited shows they liked on other networks, including "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (which "Three Wishes" resembles) and "Desperate Housewives" on ABC; the "C.S.I." shows on CBS; and "American Chopper," a Discovery Channel series about motorcycles.

NBC executives refused to say how much they were spending to raise the network's profile this fall, other than that it was roughly a third more than what they spent last year at this time. (The popularity of "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" on ABC last fall has been attributed in part to the network's targeted marketing, including dry-cleaning bags with the "Desperate" logo.)

One of the architects of NBC's strategy, John D. Miller, chief marketing officer of the NBC Universal Television Group, said the network had organized its priorities this year into two tiers. The first includes "Earl"; "E-Ring," a Pentagon drama; and "Surface," about organisms rising from the deep, which are each receiving more marketing support than any show last year. The second tier, also the beneficiary of heavy promotion, includes "Three Wishes," "Biggest Loser" and the Martha Stewart "Apprentice" offshoot.

Mr. Miller said he expected that "Three Wishes" (to be broadcast on Fridays at 9 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times; 8 p.m., Central time) would play a "sleeper" role in helping improve the network's fortunes. But he also said he wanted to help the show because of his emotional reaction to it. Set in Sonora, Calif., the first episode shows Ms. Grant helping a young girl recovering from a car accident, a boy seeking to thank the man filling the void left by his late father and a high school trying to replace its waterlogged football field. And yes, Ms. Grant sings - twice.

"This show makes me feel good," Mr. Miller said.

At the root of NBC's strategy for "Three Wishes" is raising its visibility in smaller counties.

It has bought advertising for the series in Sunday magazine inserts like American Profile, which appears in weekly and biweekly newspapers. The DVD copies of the pilot were distributed to churches, as well as some synagogues and mosques, through a California public relations firm, Grace Hill Media, that specializes in religious audiences. The $1 bill promotion was conceived by another California firm, this one an advocate of promotional stunts, called Impact.

Though the "Wishes" campaign has been in the works for months, the hurricane that displaced tens of thousands of people has put the network in a bit of a bind: will the wishes the show is trying to fulfill pale in comparison? NBC figures that the hurricane, by touching off a national spirit of charity, could actually draw viewers. (One wish will now concern a family devastated by the storm.)

As luck would have it, one of the people randomly picked to have her Goody's order paid by NBC - at an even $80 - was a woman who said she had promised to help about 100 children relocated to Georgia after the storm. She was Catherine Love, 36, a hairstylist, who said she was struggling to fulfill that pledge.

"I would watch 'Three Wishes' because there's so much bad going on in the world," said Ms. Love, who works at a salon, Kids Kuts, in nearby Marietta. "It's refreshing to see good things happen to people who deserve it."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/business/media/16nbc.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold” and “Surface”
Inspired by the Movies, and Buoyed by Terror

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY The New York Times September 16, 2005

In the network race to find another "Lost," NBC went underwater and came up with "Surface." But the problem with sea monsters is that they are not that scary: they live deep down in a vast ocean, and we don't.

CBS looked into outer space and found more frightening subject matter. "Threshold" is the code word for a secret government contingency plan for dealing with alien contact. There are no sightings of little green men; the National Security Agency becomes involved because something has inexplicably caused a change in the DNA of crew members on a Navy freighter. The two-hour premiere of "Threshold" tonight wisely adheres to Hitchcock's first rule of horror: "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

"Surface" instead borrows a lot from Steven Spielberg movies like "Jaws" and "E.T.," but not enough. Monday night's pilot tries to reel in viewers with a few distant, watery glimpses of the creature of the deep, and instantly kills the suspense. It looks like a whale with arms, or Charlie the Tuna in a very bad mood.

The fact that these pilots - and several other science fiction horror series, like ABC's "Invasion" - can be likened to movies is a good sign, however. "Lost," ABC's series about plane-wreck survivors stuck on a spooky tropical island, broke a lot of network taboos . Until "Lost," television executives would have spurned a series with more than 10 central characters. They certainly would not allow the writers so many flashbacks and foreign subtitles and so few costume changes.

"Lost," which is filmed on location in Oahu, also raised the bar on production values, and both "Surface" and "Threshold" look and sound as if they could have been just as easily released in theaters.

"Threshold" begins in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, aboard a Navy cargo ship, where Ping-Pong and routine deck chores are disrupted by a bright light and weird noises. Sure enough, as soon as a crew member says, "You hear that?," bad things start to happen.

Carla Gugino, a velvet-eyed actress who starred in a short-lived ABC series, "Karen Sisco," plays Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey, an analyst who specializes in devising government response plans for worst-case scenarios. (FEMA, schmema.) Molly is a single woman and a loner; she lives with her dog in an apartment filled with cartons and a fridge neatly stocked with labeled plastic containers of dinners for one.

She is walking her dog, Monster, when a government helicopter lands on the lawn, and a strapping agent known only as Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt) instructs her to come with him because her "Threshold" plan has been activated. She, it seems, is needed. "You've just become the most important person on the planet," Cavennaugh tells Molly.

There is some hazing on her way to the top, however. The deputy national security adviser, J. T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton), greets her and Monster with the words, "I take it you and Toto have been briefed?," and says, somewhat sneeringly, "The Oval Office seems to think you are some kind of genius."

Molly ignores the jibes and calmly proceeds to carry out her plan, which includes assembling a handpicked team of eccentric specialists, includingDr. Nigel Fenway (Brent Spiner), a former 1960's radical and embittered NASA microbiologist, and Lucas Pegg (Rob Benedict), a meek, somewhat nerdy physicist who reads First Corinthians on his BlackBerry. (Devout Christians are the television minority group du jour. There is also one on the crime show "Wanted.")

The most fractious of all is Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf with a penchant for strip clubs who is a brilliant mathematician and linguistics expert. "If our E.T. tries to phone home," Molly tells Cavennaugh, "he'll translate the call for us."

Molly's serene self-confidence verges on smugness, but she, too, starts looking rattled when the team discovers that after a brief inspection of the ship, where they find one badly traumatized survivor and a video recording of a bizarre object emitting strange sounds, their internal workings have also been slightly altered. They don't look different, but they start having the same bad dream.

"Threshold" holds back more than it reveals, and that is the right contingency plan for a successful science fiction thriller.

"Surface," on the other hand, is its own worst-case scenario: it offers a ho-hum monster and the kind of stock characters that we've seen too many times before. Lake Bell ("Boston Legal") plays Laura Daughtery, a plucky single mother and oceanographer who explores the ocean floor in a tiny submarine probe and is shaken, literally, by a mysterious aquatic life form.

Her effort to stay on the case is thwarted by a sinister scientist, Dr. Aleksander Cirko (Rade Sherbedgia), who seems intent on leading a government cover-up. But other civilians also get a glimpse of a strange underwater creature. A Louisiana deep-sea fisherman, Richard Connelly (Jay R. Ferguson), loses his brother to a huge thing with fins. A boy named Miles (Carter Jenkins) sneaks an unusual turtle-shaped egg into his family's fish tank.

The monster sightings stretch from the South Antarctic Sea to San Diego and Sullivan's Island in South Carolina. "Surface" tries hard to get under the viewer's skin, but its premise is not very promising.

Ominous tag lines like "there's something in the water" beg for a simple retort: so get out.

Threshold

CBS, Friday at 9 PM ET/PT

Surface

NBC, Monday at 8 PM ET/PT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/arts/television/16tvwk.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold”
By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Friday, Sep. 16 2005

Carla Gugino, some other humans and the world's cutest dog star in a thriller
that's just one of several new fall shows seemingly determined to scare us to
death. The plot of this one, which is both too good and too serialized to be
airing on Friday nights - you'll need to watch every week to keep up - has
Gugino as a government official in charge of response scenarios for various
cataclysmic events.

As the story opens, bad things ("X-Files"-type bad things) are happening on a
freighter at sea. Gugino, as Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey, then gets word that one of
her worst-case plans, called Threshold and having to do, we soon learn, with an
alien invasion, has been activated. She rushes into action, taking along the
aforementioned pooch, a white French bulldog named Monster. Drama ensues, with
the canine star more than holding its own in a strong cast that also includes
Charles S. Dutton, Brent Spiner ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") and Peter
Dinklage ("The Station Agent").

With its ensemble, mystery-solving cast and occasional dark humor, "Threshold"
could be nicknamed "CSI: UFO." By the end of the absorbing two-hour premiere,
prepare to be scared silly. Watch with the lights on, and preferably with a
cute dog nearby.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Centertainment%5Cstories.nsf&docid=98A0AE62EB1757868625707D00645E34

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold”
Mysterious aliens aim to scare and disturb you

By Tom Jicha Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Molly Pearson makes her living scaring people. This may qualify her to be a TV weather person in Miami, but actually she's a government "contingency agent." A master of disaster, she paints worst-case scenarios to spur preparations for cataclysmic events.

One of her projects -- code name Threshold -- involves response to the first encounter with alien beings. It's probably the one she least expected to ever put into motion. But that's why her job exists. One minute she's walking her French bulldog, Monster, the next she's scooped up by a helicopter dispatched by her boss.

An alien spacecraft has made contact with a freighter in the North Atlantic. It falls upon her to investigate what's going on, and do it before the North Koreans, who also are aware of the UFO.

Her first challenge, as daunting as any she will face, is assembling a support team. Her recruits, each the best in their field, have to be coerced into participating. Dr. Nigel Fenway, an ornery microbiologist, has mistrusted our government since the '60s. Astrophysicist Lucas Pegg is afraid of his own shadow. Arthur Ramsey, a crack linguist and math whiz, is a devoted hedonist reluctant to disrupt la dolce vita.

Molly makes it clear that participation isn't optional. Now that the experts know what's going on, the government will not risk them setting off a panic by alerting the masses. Either they go along or they go to a very remote prison, never to have contact with the outside world.

Their first experience is cause to wonder if the latter alternative isn't preferable. All but one of the ship's crew died in a grotesque manner. Merely watching a videotape of a blindingly illuminated orb shot by one of the crew causes their noses to bleed uncontrollably. But there's no sign of even a single alien.

"We've endeavored to depict this alien visitation in a different way," said executive producer Brannon Braga, whose resume includes three Star Trek TV series as well as the movies Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. "It's not going to be the traditional `ship lands, people come out' kind of stuff. We're trying to do it in ways that would be very strange. A ship hasn't necessarily landed here. There's some other way they've done it. What they're doing to us is very unusual and kind of not quite any way that scientists predicted."

Carla Gugino, who was terrific (to no avail) as Karen Sisco, shines again in Threshold as the self-confident, independent, efficient and very feminine Molly. She's loving life in her new role. "It's very cool to play an empowered woman," she said. "There's a lot of depth to this woman. She's very capable and smart, yet she is thrown into waters that are unknown to her. So she is fighting to gain control. That's much more interesting to me to watch and play than someone who is in control."

Her co-stars each create unique characterizations. Peter Dinklage stands out as Ramsey. As difficult as he chooses to be, he gradually grows on the viewer. Rob Benedict imparts a cowardly-lion appeal to the neurotic Lucas. As embodied by Brent Spiner (Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation), Nigel is the most difficult to warm to, but eventually there are signs of a thaw in his icy personality. Charles S. Dutton is customarily solid as the curt but supportive superior, Deputy National Security Advisor J.T. Blaylock. Brian Van Holt completes the regular ensemble as a covert operative named Cavennaugh, who also seems to be a potential romantic interest for Molly.

Co-executive producer David Goyer says Threshold has a simple goal, which does not stress social allegories. "Our show is meant to be disturbing and genuinely scary, because I think if something like this did happen, it would be disturbing and scary."

Threshold gets off to a riveting start in fulfilling this mission statement.

http://www.southflorida.com/movies/sfl-tvtjthresholdsep15,0,2042192.column

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold”
A new generation of sci-fi drama

By Jeanne Jakle San Antonio Express-News

I doubt the Enterprise would let on such a ragtag team of geeks.

But that shouldn’t stop fans who miss “Star Trek” from checking out CBS’ “Threshold” — debuting Friday with a two-hour premiere — if only to see what one of the men who wrote a chunk of TV’s most famous franchise is beaming down now.

Brannon Braga, creator of “Enterprise” and a writer on “Star Trek: Voyager” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” now joins with two other producers to bring us a new sci-fi drama full of questions and secrets. Oh, and there’s a “Star Trek” bonus: Brent Spiner, best known for playing Data on “Next Generation,” also is a regular on this one.

The suspense builds after the U.S. Navy makes a frightening discovery: an extra-terrestrial craft has made contact with a military vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Summoned immediately is Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey (the ever-appealing Carla Gugino of “Spy Kids”), a government contingency analyst who devises response plans for worst-case scenarios such as, well, invaders from outer space. She handpicks a team of scientists — here’s where the geeks come in — to help her handle this specific crisis.

They consist of a cynical NASA microbiologist and perennial radical named Dr. Nigel Fenway (Spiner); Lucas Pegg (Rob Benedict, “Two Days”), a neurotic Bible-spouting physicist who was one of the top scorers in “Jeopardy”; and Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage of “The Station Agent”), a little person with a huge brain, who’s a whiz in math and languages. That is, when he isn’t caught up in his vices of gambling, booze and topless dancers.

All are plucked against their will to participate in this mission headed by Deputy National Security Advisor J.T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton, “Something the Lord Made” and “Roc”) and enforced by a brawny covert operative, Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt).

There’s no question, however, who’s the leader of this challenge: Caffrey, whom the government welcomes as “the most important person on the planet.” Gugino’s loner — and dog-loving — character, who’s part of a season full of empowered women, is one of the draws of the series.

Others are its special effects. Those of the pilot are eerie and memorable. The huge and frightening sphere, which makes sounds like knives being sharpened and seems to drive people over the edge, is a very different entry into the sci-fi arena. The characters, particularly the trio of quirky scientists, also have potential, though none of them managed to be at all likable in the first episode.

The humor and use of music seems a bit forced as well. I rolled my eyes — and my 12-year-old did, too — at the line about “Star Trek” and its Klingons in the season opener.

“Threshold” has some tough competition. The fall list of fantasy, sci-fi and horror series is a relatively long one. There’s “Invasion,” “Night Stalker,” “Surface,” “Supernatural” and the second season of “Lost.” It’ll be interesting to see which ones survive.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/jjackle/stories/MYSA091105.0Z.jakle.3fd2033c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Twins”

By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Friday, Sep. 16 2005

Poor Sara Gilbert. How did this interesting actress ("Roseanne," "ER") wind up
playing straight woman to two dumb blondes in the ridiculous and crude new
sitcom "Twins"? Molly Stanton is Gilbert's gorgeous, dim twin sister and
Melanie Griffith is their ultra-dim mother, with the family's underwear
business providing lots of tacky double entendres.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Centertainment%5Cstories.nsf&docid=98A0AE62EB1757868625707D00645E34

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold”
An alien life form in the Friday night wasteland -- a good show

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

In an honest world, and heaven knows we don't live in one of those, your TV guide would simply leave the network schedule blank on Fridays.

Better still, it would simply have "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here" under the prime-time entries for NBC, ABC, CBS and the rest. It has been a long time since people really watched broadcast television on Fridays or Saturdays. The number of viewers around on Saturdays is so minuscule, in fact, that everybody simply surrendered the night to butchered-for-TV movies, "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted."

Friday, however, they refuse to cede to cable, the Internet, video games or that most formidable of enemies, DVD rentals. That is why almost every network is bombarding viewers with new shows that each is hoping can turn Friday around.

Won't happen. Friday is still the night that worker drones yabba-dabba-doo their way to bars and multiplexes. Those who scamper home run to the twin revolutions of DVD and DVR, not network TV.

Having seen what the networks are peddling, I can assure you this night will never be "Ghost Whisperer" night, or "Twins" night or, unless you're a descendent of Ed Gein, "Killer Instinct" night.

"Threshold" night? Could happen.

Being the most successful of all the science-fiction-flavored programs debuting this fall isn't the reason "Threshold" has a shot. What may save the CBS thriller is its savvy presentation. Like "Lost," the two-hour premiere (tonight at 9 on KIRO/7) unfolds like an action-horror flick. What better way to battle movie rental night than with a series that mimics the very popcorn fare you would rent?

Producers Brannon Braga, David Heyman and David S. Goyer play their hand very well, creating a pilot that invites comparisons to classic space horrors such as "Alien" and "Event Horizon," but transitioning it to television in the final scenes by borrowing from "The X-Files" and possibly "The 4400."

Yes, that's a lot of name-dropping, but that's precisely what's going to allow "Threshold's" longevity. Come for the pop culture cues, stay for the cutie pie, as in Carla Gugino.

Don't mean to be condescending, especially since Gugino stars as Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey, genius. The contingency analyst who designed the "Threshold" protocol, a manual delineating what to do if aliens come to Earth, is the most important person on Earth -- although not immune to being barked at by Deputy National Security Adviser J.T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton). Assisting her against their will is a red team consisting of grumpy microbiologist Nigel Fenway (Brent Spiner), high-strung young physicist Lucas Pegg (Rob Benedict) and perpetually horny, boozing linguist and mathematics expert Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage).

They're a fine team of actors, especially Dinklage, a refreshing choice to play the Lothario because he does angry and smoldering very well.

Although Ramsey's pathology demands he continually make passes at Molly, the beefcake covert operative Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt) is the one we're supposed to hope gets into her pants. They don't have much chemistry, but it's nothing to worry about because the smoking Gugino can create chemistry with a brick.

First there's the matter of alien contact. That happens unexpectedly near a Navy cargo freighter, and the crew captures the unidentifiable object on film. It looks like a very pretty Christmas ornament, and sounds like knives sharpening. Then everybody begins bleeding from various orifices.

Molly and her team find them in a particularly grisly state and, in addition to evaluating the strangeness of the single survivor (played by William Mapother), discover a weird fractal pattern left behind, influencing everything from the ship's equipment to the roaches surfacing on the deck.

As if that's not bad enough, Molly and two of her team are exposed to the presence as well, which we soon find out has lasting effects. Thus begins their quest into the longest X-file yet.

That's the best part about "Threshold": It presents alien invasion as something most of us never would expect, and in spite of the elaborate explanations and casual mentions of chaos theory and genetic strands, it makes perfect sense.

The producers also have found a way to give "Threshold" an arc while making the series sustainable over the long haul. Without telling you how or why, it appears the alien presence is already among us, and containment's going to take a long time.

Considering all that it has going for it, "Threshold" has a more formidable foe in Friday night apathy. Out of all the shows that could possibly conquer that, though, you couldn't place your faith in a better choice than this excellent proof of intelligent TV life.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/240901_tv16.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold” and “Surface”
Last year's surprise hit, 'Lost,' provides networks a bandwagon

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

There's comfort in knowing that the television industry remains as blindly dumb and loyal to the idea of stealing as the legend says. But this fall, networks may find that ripping off -- expanding upon, borrowing, being inspired by -- "Lost" is not as foolproof it sounds.

Before "Lost" became a monster hit last year, conventional wisdom as evidenced on your TV screens was that Americans preferred a "closed-ended" drama over anything else. Someone gets killed, the cops find evidence, they track down and jack up the perp, he goes to jail and is convicted -- all in 60 minutes.

Then ABC crashed a plane on a remote tropical island that had polar bears and Weird Things on it. Each episode led to the next. Barely anything was resolved at the end of the season. People went wild for it.

So in network corridors up and down the tacky Los Angeles towns the networks call home, scurrying drama development executives conked heads like Keystone Kops, all in a vain search to give America what it wanted post-"Lost." Which was, um, paranormal phenomena. Big Mysteries about the Big Bad.

Boo.

Two from the pack are CBS's "Threshold" and NBC's "Surface." The first is about some seriously cutting-edge aliens -- four dimensional -- arriving here unannounced and leaving eye- opening carnage in their wake. The second is about curious sea creatures that are found floating in the water all over the world but, just to cover all the bases, may in fact be aliens, not sea blobs.

These shows and their Big Bads are not to be confused with the monsters on the WB's "Supernatural," the "bright lights" that arrive in a hurricane on "Invasion" or the unidentified animals -- they're animals, right? -- that kill on "Night Stalker."

And none of them answer what's down the hatch in "Lost."

The good news is that two of these series look like keepers. The bad news is that one of them is not "Surface." It used to be called "Fathom." A name change is a sure sign something has gone terribly wrong in the planning process, which means something has gone wrong in the concept and execution process, too. And, on "Surface," in the writing process.

But let's go from good to bad -- let's stay positive because, as these shows posit, the world is a scary place and you better have hope, divine intervention or a good plan.

In "Threshold," there's a really good plan. It was devised by Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey (Carla Gugino) who works as a "contingency analyst" for the government. Her area of expertise is worst-case scenarios and she's developed a how-to strategy for the arrival of extraterrestrials. She doesn't exactly think they're coming, but she wrote it.

One night, out walking her dog, down comes a helicopter. Guess what? They're not just coming, they're here -- a four-dimensional hovering ball of danger in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, giving off some painfully obtrusive vibes.

Suddenly she's the most important person in the world. The first hour of the two-hour pilot does a keen job of moving beyond Gugino and onto the supporting cast -- including Charles Dutton as the deputy national security adviser.

Caffrey has to assemble a team. She gets who she wants since, well, the world is in peril and she's the only one who wrote a thesis on what to do about it. The government goes out and forcibly recruits her picks: Nigel Fenway (Brent Spiner), "a disillusioned NASA microbiologist"; Lucas Pegg (Rob Benedict), "a brilliant but neurotic physicist"; Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage), a math and languages genius and Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt), "a highly trained covert operative with a mysterious past."

Dinklage ("The Station Agent") is particularly good here and the whole idea of trying to hide from the public the fact we've been invaded is intriguing fare. As usual, Gugino is both lovely and confident (traits that couldn't save "Karen Sisco," her last TV show, but did wonders for her in "Sin City").

None of these high-concept series will ultimately be decided on the pilot. There are just too many figurative black holes for them to fall down in the early going. Viewer interest will be decided by the ability of the writers to keep things unexpected, memorable and water-cooler worthy.

That will be a particular difficult task for "Surface," which rolls out a pilot that gets ever more complicated (and, uniquely enough, mundane) as it goes. Sea creatures of an unidentified nature are popping up in the waters of the world. We know this because "Surface" jumps frenetically across the globe setting up the same idea: People are in or near the water, they look around and, whoa. Shot after shot of that.

We get it.

This redundancy stalls the story and makes you wonder how long it will be before arriving at The Point. That's not the feeling you want to create. Viewers like to go on rides -- the journey is often the thing in this genre. But boring them along the way -- or, worse, taunting them -- usually backfires.

In "Surface," Lake Bell stars as Laura Daughtery, an oceanographer who discovers something creepy under the surface, then has her project taken over by the government.

A-ha!

Meanwhile, others are either being killed or, conversely, taking these sea creatures home as pets. All the while there's menacing music.

It's almost never good when there's menacing music.

Are they bad sea creatures or good sea creatures? Aliens? No answer comes in the pilot. Except this one: You won't really want to spend another hour with these people.

Most telling in a series like this is whether the producers know where it's going. You get the sense that those behind "Threshold" know what they're doing and what they want to convey. Writer Brannon Braga penned so many episodes in the "Star Trek" franchise ("The Next Generation," "Voyager," "Enterprise") he's a sci-fi icon. Producer David Goyer wrote "Batman Begins." And executive producer David Heyman (the "Harry Potter" films) is no rookie. That's pedigree that gives you confidence.

On the other hand, Josh and Jonas Pate, executive producers of "Surface," don't have nearly the credentials and, more damning, when they met with TV critics recently they couldn't really articulate what the series was about or where it was going.

Historically: a bad sign.

Here's hoping "Threshold" gets ever more dimensional, but there's little hope that "Surface" will do anything but sink in its own slop.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/15/DDGKGEN5QU1.DTL&type=printable

“Twins”
Kinda two-bit

By David Bianculli New York Daily News TV Editor

* 1/2 out of four

The new sitcom "Twins" comes from "Will & Grace" creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, and it shows.

The supporting actors are at least as interesting as the leads, character is sacrificed for a punch line, and there's a tired determination to shock or at least be shockingly juvenile.

"Twins," premiering tomorrow night at 8:30 on The WB, stars Sara Gilbert and Molly Stanton as fraternal, very non-identical twins.

Gilbert, formerly of "Roseanne," plays brainy Mitchee; Stanton, who terrorized people as part of the supernatural silliness of "Passions," plays blond, beautiful Farrah.

Both these actresses are good, and the actors playing their parents are even better.

Melanie Griffith is their mom, who is as scatterbrained and looks-obsessed as Farrah; Mark Linn-Baker of "Perfect Strangers" is their dad, who's as smart and slow-burning exasperated as Mitchee.

The parents have run an underwear company for a generation, with Griffith's Lee as their top lingerie model; now they're planning to turn the company over to their dissimilar daughters, and hilarity is supposed to ensue.

But it doesn't, because "Twins" plays too much of its game too sloppily, and aims far too low.

If you think "Will & Grace" got lazy and tired after a few years, with its broad punch lines and broader plots - and you should - "Twins" accelerates the process by starting out that way.

It's too bad, because the way Linn-Baker reacts to Griffith's ditsy remarks, it's clear that better scripts would give them a shot at playing a modern-day George Burns and Gracie Allen. (Trust me, kids, they were funny.) And when Gilbert and Stanton are given a good line to deliver, they can hammer it home.

"You're an inspiration," Mitchee tells the barely costumed Farrah, "for women everywhere to starve themselves."

Farrah takes that as a compliment. On the other hand, she knows how to hurl an insult. When Mitchee says to her, "You know why you're jealous of me? Because I have something you will never have," Farrah shoots back a brutal one-word reply.

"Sideburns?"

That's the smarter side of "Twins."

On the dumber side, which dominates, there's an obsession with language about body parts. The word "butt," by my count, is used in the pilot no fewer than 24 times. Butt who's counting?

And when Griffith, as Lee, describes the delivery of her twin daughters as "It was like pooping two watermelons," any realistic hope that "Twins" would level off at higher ground goes out the window.

The cast of "Twins" is appealing; the show's sensibility and sense of humor are a lot less so.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/v-pfriendly/story/346390p-295639c.html

BTW, I was flipping through the channels last week and I noticed COPS appeared to be in HD.

Xesdeeni

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Threshold” and “Twins”
Lame-brains, intentional and otherwise, in two shows

By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

A couple of lame-brained shows join the fall TV lineup tonight, but only one of them has a problem. The other's supposed to be silly.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good for the human race," says a pontificator on CBS's Threshold, premiering at 9. He's not talking about the show, but if he were really smart, he would be. It's a deadly mishmash of space zombies, Washington crisis contingency experts, and triple-helix DNA that makes

things - cockroaches, blood on the floor, whatever - line up in a weird pattern reminiscent of Prince's erstwhile symbol signature.

One of the siblings on Twins, debuting at 8:30 on the WB, might actually know about genes and what triple-helix DNA is. The other knows lots about jeans because she fills them out so fine. And maybe she dated a guy named Gene. But the DNA chain to her brain has way too many weak links.

Twins is the story of mismatched sisters. Mitchee is a shlubby genius. Farrah is a striking fanny model. They take over the lingerie business founded by their mom and pop.

And, wouldn'tcha know? Mom's a low-brain-octane fanny model and pop's a shlubby genius. Mark Linn-Baker (Perfect Strangers) is great as the father, and Melanie Griffith imbues the mother with a cheerful cluelessness.

"I know one thing I'm not ordering," she says, perusing the menu, her contact lenses forgotten at home and her vanity prohibiting any specs. "Chile, seasoned with ass."

Yes, it's Chilean sea bass, and the joke is dopey, and, oh, the withering stares I received from colleagues at our California convention this summer whenever I told them how much I liked it.

David Kohan and Max Mutchnick (Will & Grace) provide the funny firepower, and Sara Gilbert, queen of the deadpan, drolly carries the weight of her mother's and sister's lunacy. It's almost as if Mitchee and Sara together can barely stand to be associated with all this risque numskullery. Yet the actress/character's skepticism sends a signal that there's no reality intended here, a comedic structure that makes Twins more inviting than the usual run of sitcom idiocy.

There's nothing inviting about the ponderous Threshold. Portentous music plays. Scared smart guys, rounded up by the government to figure out what's really happening, say smart-guy stupid stuff.

For instance: "What's happening is bad, really bad," and, no, they're still not talking about the show.

One of them was an all-time Jeopardy! champ. Another is a dwarf who's partial to booze, broads and blackjack.

The fetching Carla Gugino plays the head contingency expert. "I deal in worst-case scenarios, the unthinkable," she explains.

Nope. Still not the show.

But it is pretty unthinkable how this overblown sci-fi shoot-'em-up (one thing about zombies, you get to plug them a million times, and they keep on coming) got on the air.

"We're dealing with an intelligence so far advanced that it's bordering on the supernatural," Gugino says. This time, you know she's not talking about the people who created Threshold.

You probably won't bleed spontaneously from the ears and nose as you watch, the way some of our stalwarts did as they eyeballed a video of a spaceship from the four- or maybe even five-dimensional world of its designers.

But you may be tempted to imitate one of the action heroes and grab your six-gun to blast the TV screen to smithereens and stop the madness.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12657611.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Thurssday’s network prime-time ratings have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

Sunday's Emmys: Betting on a big night for ABC

MediaLifeMagazine.com---After years of struggling, ABC should clean up at this weekend’s Emmy Awards. The network, which received 18 more nominations this year than last, is Media Life’s pick to win Best Comedy for “Desperate Housewives” and Best Drama for “Lost.”

Though the acting categories are a little less clear-cut, Marcia Cross will ride a wave of late support to edge fellow “Housewife” Teri Hatcher as Best Actress in a Comedy while “Lost’s” Terry O’Quinn will win Best Supporting Actor in a Drama.

Media Life’s other picks (who will win, not necessarily who should win):

Best Actor in a Comedy, “Arrested Development’s” Jason Bateman;

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, “Entourage’s” Jeremy Piven;

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, “Everybody Loves Raymond’s” Doris Roberts;

Best Actress in a Drama, “The Shield’s” Glenn Close;

Best Actor in a Drama, “House’s” Hugh Laurie;

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, “Judging Amy’s” Tyne Daly.

Ellen DeGeneres, who brought class and restraint to the post-9/11 2001 Emmy Awards, returns to host another somewhat subdued ceremony. DeGeneres, a Louisiana native, is expected to mention Hurricane Katrina victims in her monologue.

Note: This thread will contain many pre-Emmy stories before Sunday’s telecast, so be sure to check it out a few times over the weekend before the ceremonies begin at 8 PM ET (and tape delayed in the West – except for those who can get the DNS SD CBS signal from DirecTV).

Is it too much to ask for a section at the top of this thread dedicated to episode pre-emption, cancellation, and/or rescheduling? Or some kind of sticky thread that announces last minute changes to regularly scheduled episodes of primetime shows.

It's way too difficult to search the thread for this information. Just a suggestion:)
Hammer

If you check the last page (or two) I usually post pre emptions and schedule changes as they become available.

Changes in premiere date schedules are posted in the top post -- toward the end with the network premiere schedules.

I'll try to figure out an easier way for you to access them, though.

If you check the last page (or two) I usually post pre emptions and schedule changes as they become available.

Changes in premiere date schedules are posted in the top post -- toward the end with the network premiere schedules.

I'll try to figure out an easier way for you to access them, though.
What you might try is to commandeer or ask nicely if CPanther95, BostonT and Rakesh.S to delete their posts in the very beginning of this thread. That way you will have the first 3 posts in the thread. You could use each one for something different and then just link them in your signature like you do with the very first post.

Or you could just use the 3 existing spots and edit them with new/current info and link them...

Just a thought, there may even be a better way...

Good thoughts..I'll get to work on them.

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
DEVOTED VIEWERS, REJOICE.
At last, new episodes of your favorite shows
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Saturday, September 17, 2005

New episodes of your favorite shows, a lot of them answering questions that chewed on your brain all summer, soon will be on your tube.

For some it already has happened: "Gilmore Girls" addicts already know how Luke answered Lorelai's marriage proposal, and have a clue as to the subsequent problems arising from it. "House" sitters got a taste of what's in store for the prickly doctor and his ex-lover/current co-worker.

Anxiety may peak on Sunday, however, when the Emmy Awards toss some golden weight to last year's best programs, producers, actors and actresses -- according to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Along with the winners ( we expect "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" to be among them) to the unexpected (Zach Braff and Jeremy Piven, we're just ecstatic that you were nominated), we'll hug it all out on Monday, when the fall season officially begins.

To hold you over, taste a little scoop of what to expect from a few of the year's most anticipated prime-time appointments.

"Lost" premieres at 9 PM ET/PT Wednesday on ABC.

Additional proof that TV critics don't have nearly the juice you think we do? As it stands, most of us won't see the season premiere before you do. Painful -- just like you, we're dying to know the answers to the myriad questions still stumping us.

"The answers to those questions were a beginning instead of a payoff," co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof explained in a July interview. "And as a result of that, those answers are coming in the first three episodes of season two. Because they lay out the groundwork for what that entire season is about. Including the numbers."

For the record, they're 4-8-15-16-23-42, Hurley's accursed winning lottery digits, which keep popping up everywhere, including on the hatch.

May's finale hinted at a coming battle between Locke and Jack along the lines of faith vs. fact. Don't forget that Jin, Sawyer and Michael are floating in the ocean after their raft was blown to bits by the "Others," who took Michael's son, Walt, and shot Sawyer.

"I always get frustrated with movies and television shows that cheat," Lindelof said. "For example, if our season premiere started with those guys washing up on the beach? I would be like, wait a minute. Those guys were about 10 miles offshore. How did they get to the beach? I don't want to cheat."

That's why season two starts three seconds after season one ends. "That raft will blow up, and we will see everything that happens in real time. So if they survive, we'll see how they survive, and if they don't survive, we'll see how they don't survive." In case some don't, the group has fresh recruits: Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Watros and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

"Desperate Housewives" premieres at 9 PM ET/PT Sunday, Sept. 25, on ABC.

Alfre Woodard joins the cast as a former concert pianist who is hiding a secret Marc Cherry would only describe as gothic. Among the more interesting developments from everything left hanging last season (Rex Van De Kamp's death, Mike's possible paternity of Zach, Zach's kidnapping Susan, and the questionable parentage of Gabrielle's baby) is Lynette's return to the work force while Tom stays with the kids.

In July, Cherry said it won't turn out to be the bowl of his namesake fruit that Tom is expecting it to be.

"Alias" premieres at 8 PM ET/PT Thursday, Sept. 29, on ABC.

It answers whether Michael Vartan (Vaughn) has been written off the series, as was speculated last summer. I'd worry less about that than how the writers are going to handle Jennifer Garner's pregnancy, and how Sydney's "protege," played by Rachel Nichols, will stack up.

"Arrested Development" premieres at 8 PM ET/PT Monday, Fox.

The Bluth family's modest but faithful audience will be happy that the show has been picked up for a full 22-episode third season. That same group also may remember it had a full pickup last season, which was unceremoniously cut to 18, and that "Arrested" does not appear on the January schedule.

Series creator Mitch Hurwitz, genius, remains optimistic. "Schedules are often in flux, so what ends up happening is a lot of the stuff they unveil at the start of the year doesn't stick around." While that could include his comedy -- "The choice is always theirs. They always have the option of cutting it back" -- he's confidant "Arrested" is marked to slide into a slot left open by one of fall's dead leaves. (Keep an eye on that "Head Cases" time slot, kids!)

On to happier news. As the family seeks out a mole, Michael is going to start dating a British woman with a secret. "Part of the fun for the audience is the surprise of the show," he said. "We're not really big into mystery for the sake of mystery, but definitely for the sake of laughs. We knew Buster was going to lose his hand all last year." This year's game of Comedy Clue is no different, so let's hope the network doesn't ruin it in the promos.

Elsewhere at Fox: Calm down, I'm begging you -- "24" has not been canceled. It returns midseason.

"The West Wing" premieres at 8 PM ET/PT Sunday, Sept. 25, NBC.

The issue of term limits, bane of a politician's existence, ended up giving this long-running NBC political drama the pick-me-up it needed last year. Instead of simply ending the series with Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) exit, executive producer John Wells set up an election season, pitting Democratic Rep. Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) against Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and shuffling Bartlet's staff, notably making C.J. (Allison Janney) chief of staff, to keep the current administration relevant.

The show's move to a Sunday night slot ruled by "Cold Case" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," not to mention the arrival of a new "Commander in Chief" on ABC, means "The West Wing" needs all the help it can get. That explains why, according to reports, we won't see the actual election until the spring.

Other NBC stuff you may want to know about: You won't have to wait much longer to see whether Captain Push, last seen in mortal peril, will be talking to Allison in the flesh or the spirit on "Medium" (10 PM ET/PT Monday). Chris Noth's Detective Logan begins splitting duties with Vincent D'Onofrio's Goren on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" at 9 PM ET/PT Sunday, Sept. 25.

"Veronica Mars" premieres at 9 PM ET/PT Wednesday, Sept. 28, UPN.

Not to brag or anything, but I know who's at the door. By the end of the premiere, that morsel may be all but forgotten in the wake of all the bombshells exploding around dear Veronica -- including one, possibly two, new mysteries.

We'll worship at Miss Mars' feet in more detail a little closer to the premiere, but here's a little temptation for ambivalent, would-be male viewers: Charisma Carpenter, playing Kendall Casablancas, makes a bikini and bathing robe look obscene from the very first episode.

Also on UPN: You won't want to miss "Girlfriends" (9 PM ET/PT Monday), because everyone's facing a fresh start, for better or worse, which should make first-timers more comfortable getting in on the action. Then you can augment the subsequent addiction by catching the reruns.

"7th Heaven" premieres at 8 PM ET/PT Monday, The WB.

Oh, Lucy, you've got some 'splaining to do. What happened with that first sermon? Yep, the new minister in the family makes her pulpit debut with unintended results, which is less interesting than Martin's mistake with Sandy (Haylie Duff), referred to in the title of the drama's 10th season premiere: "It's Late." The episode's final moments also look bad for Lucy's law-enforcement husband, Kevin. We're not sure whether anything will happen to him, but he utters a line many veteran couch potatoes recognize as a portent of doom.

What else is hopping at the network formerly known as The Frog? On "Smallville" (8 PM ET/PT Thursday, Sept. 29), Aquaman washes into town, as does Brainiac, played by James Marsters. In another small town, Jake soon reveals a hidden side, Ephram comes back from Europe and finds himself at the local community college and Amy goes off to Colorado A&M on "Everwood," now in a bleak time slot (9 PM ET/PT Thursday, Sept. 29).

"Without a Trace" premieres at 10 PM ET/PT Thursday, Sept. 29, on CBS.

Know what I love about CBS's procedurals? They don't really hold over the mystery when a season ends. Sure "Without a Trace" has a gun battle slopping over from last season and you're pretty sure somebody's going to get hurt. (A thought confirmed, by the way, in a recent Entertainment Weekly. ) That's the rule of post-Moldavian Massacre TV; if you end the season with a storm of gunfire, at least one character you care about must emerge with holes.

Similarly, being buried alive in the Quentin Tarantino-directed finale of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" means Nick's going to experience the effect this season (9 PM ET/PT Thursday) -- especially with Q.T. returning to the director's chair this year. Topping both of those, "NCIS" (8 PM ET/PT Tuesday) threw its audience for a loop when the producers knocked off Kate. It was not a dream, she really is dead. To make up for the loss, Cote de Pablo and Lauren Holly are joining the cast.

As you can see, there aren't many new shows on the fall weekend schedule.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/241049_tv17.html

THE EMMYS
Who should win — and who will win
By Gail Pennington St. Louis Post Dispatch Television Critic

Oh, those wacky Emmy voters. Attempting to read their minds is as futile as
trying to escape from the "Lost" island on a boogie board.

Nevertheless, here's my annual exercise in humiliation, in which I declare who
should win and then predict who actually will win. Feel free to poke fun Monday
morning.

DRAMA SERIES

The nominees: "Deadwood," HBO; "Lost," ABC; "Six Feet Under," HBO;
"24," Fox; "The West Wing," NBC.
Last Year’s Winner: "The Sopranos," HBO (not eligible this year).
Should Win: "Lost." Not a bad list, although I'd have substituted
"House" for "The West Wing" and "Without a Trace" for "Six Feet Under." I love
"Deadwood," and "24" had a terrific season, but the addictive, absorbing "Lost"
was the freshest drama on the networks last season.
Will Win:"Lost." Most Emmy voters work in broadcast TV, and many
feel cable (particularly deep-pocketed HBO) doesn't play on a level field. So
they're always looking for an alternative to honoring a premium cable show;
witness how long it took "The Sopranos" to win.

COMEDY SERIES

The nominees: "Arrested Development," Fox; "Desperate Housewives,"
ABC; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; "Scrubs," NBC; "Will & Grace," NBC
Last Year’s Winner: "Arrested Development."
Should Win: "Arrested Development." Yes, I love "Desperate
Housewives," too, but it's not a comedy. Exhibit A: The scene in the season
finale in which Bree (Marcia Cross), alone, finally broke down over the
unexpected death of husband Rex. Hilarious, wasn't it?
Will Win:"Desperate Housewives." There might be some sentiment for
honoring "Raymond" for its final season, but the "Housewives" steamroller is
too powerful.

ACTOR IN A DRAMA

The nominees: James Spader, "Boston Legal," ABC; Ian McShane,
"Deadwood," HBO; Hugh Laurie, "House," Fox; Hank Azaria, "Huff," Showtime;
Kiefer Sutherland, "24," Fox.
Last Year’s Winner: Spader.
Should Win: No arguments accepted here - Hugh Laurie is the best
actor currently working in TV drama. Ian McShane, of course, is brilliant on
"Deadwood," but he hardly carries that show as Laurie does "House." If you want
to campaign for Spader, campaign to have him nominated in the comedy category
for his over-the-top shtick.
Will Win:Laurie. See above for anti-HBO sentiment, and also
consider that Laurie is British. We love our Brits.

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
The nominees: Jennifer Garner, "Alias," ABC; Mariska Hargitay, "Law
& Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Patricia Arquette, "Medium," NBC; Glenn
Close, "The Shield," FX; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO.
Last Year’s Winner: Allison Janney, "The West Wing."
Should Win: Kristen Bell of UPN's "Veronica Mars," but boo - she's
not nominated. Second choice: Arquette. Close and Conway, fabulous though they
are, were supporting actresses. Garner carries her show, but how much acting
she does is disputable. Arquette, on the other hand, is so believable both as a
housewife and a psychic that she made "Medium" an unexpected hit.
Will Win:Close. Emmy can't resist a movie star slumming on TV.

ACTOR IN A COMEDY

The nominees: Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development," Fox; Ray
Romano, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk," USA; Zach Braff,
"Scrubs," NBC; Eric McCormack, "Will & Grace," NBC.
Last Year’s Winner: Kelsey Grammer, "Frasier."
Should Win: Bateman. As the "Arrested" straight man, he keeps the
crazy comedy from flying too far out into left field. Shalhoub, by contrast, is
amusing in a drama; McCormack's time has passed; and Braff's never really
arrived. (At least he has movies to fall back on.)
Will Win:Romano. His Emmy will be a symbolic farewell to the show
built around his stand-up act.

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

The nominees: Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman,
"Desperate Housewives," ABC; Patricia Heaton, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS;
Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox.
Last Year’s Winner: Sarah Jessica Parker, "Sex and the City."
Should Win: The choice among five housewives is frustrating. Heaton
has been doing the same performance for years, as has Kaczmarek. The three
"Desperate" nominees, meanwhile, aren't truly doing comedy. Or, if they are, so
is Lauren Graham. I hate to keep harping on this, but she and "Gilmore Girls"
were robbed again.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/columnists.nsf/gailpennington/story/07932DFF32A62C7C8625707C006557E5?OpenDocument

THE EMMYS
Challenges are her specialty
Ellen DeGeneres hosted the Emmys just after 9/11 and she'll be at the helm again Sunday
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

By Lynn Smith Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

In the shock and sorrow of national tragedy, America has, coincidentally and unintentionally, turned to an unlikely healer — television comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

The first time she was asked to host the annual Emmy Awards show, it was just before 9/11. This year, it was before Hurricane Katrina.

"I'm going to think twice before I agree to host something again, I can tell you that," she said wryly in a recent interview.

Over the last few weekends, in between working on her hit daytime talk show, DeGeneres has been drafting a monologue for Sunday's telecast hoping to again strike the right note in a time of tragedy.

"I have to acknowledge it," DeGeneres, 47, a native of New Orleans, said of hosting the Emmys while the nation struggles to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "At the same time, I have to make sure people are relaxed and want to laugh."

DeGeneres said even her own friends and family who are recovering from the effects of the flooding have managed to fit humor in among their stages of grief, acceptance or bewilderment.

"For me, it's the only thing we can do. You help people as much as you can. If you don't have some break from it, some relief, it's too much."

Her "Ellen DeGeneres Show Hurricane Relief Fund" has raised more than $5 million.

Hosting the 2001 Emmy Awards show was a particularly delicate assignment, because it had been postponed twice after the terrorist attacks and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. DeGeneres won critical praise for giving the nation a way to laugh at a time when many people wondered whether laughing at all was appropriate.

In her monologue, she told the audience that the terrorists "can't take away our creativity, our striving for excellence, our joy. Only network executives can do that." She went on to say that she was an ideal host "because, think about it: What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?"

While the moment was seen as bolstering the national mood, DeGeneres was herself at the start of a personal and professional healing process that would result in one of television's most striking comebacks. Two failed sitcoms, a backlash to her public coming out as a lesbian, and a high-profile breakup with actress Anne Heche had left her reeling and desperate for work.

Looking back, DeGeneres sees her low point as a decisive, Lance Armstrong sort of moment. "Everything that defined me was taken away. I had no way to express my creativity. What comes out is anger and resentment and bitterness and all that stuff that is really bad for you."

Then she decided to try a daytime talk show. "This was not something like, 'Oh, well, if this fails, I'll do something else,' " she said. "I don't think there was a whole lot left."

Now entering its third season, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," has become one of those rare programs that's both a critical favorite and mainstream hit. Her self-deprecating observations about everyday life, improvised dancing, and high-profile, though frequently self-promoting, celebrity guests, have attracted 10 million viewers per week and won several daytime Emmys. "Ellen" is the fastest-growing talk show with women in two coveted demographics: 18 to 49 and 25 to 54.

On Monday, her NBC show will continue Emmy festivities with behind-the-scenes footage and live taping from New York.

" 'Ellen'" has found an audience. It's crossed that line to where it's a long-term franchise," said Jim Paratori, president of Telepictures Productions, which produces the show. "It will be around as long as she wants to do it." But in the beginning, he admits it was a "hard sell."

"After the coming out and the Anne Heche relationship and the onslaught of publicity that followed, there was a perception that Ellen was a controversial person.

"It took some persuading for people to take her back."

It also required therapy and inner work. DeGeneres, a slight, short, breathless woman in pants and a jacket, had raced into the interview at her production offices. Asked if she might want to relax, she looked surprised. "This is me relaxed," she said, adding she's much more calm than she used to be. "I've thought a lot about life and what matters and why people act a certain way and judgments. I've got to a place where I'm proud of myself, I know I'm a good person."

Before signing on for the talk show, DeGeneres wrote herself an HBO special "to prove to people I'm more than this gay person that people made me, that I'm funny and smart and the things that everyone didn't want to see."

It wasn't until "Finding Nemo," the G-rated 2003 blockbuster animated film, that DeGeneres felt the tide begin to turn. The role of Dory, a well-intentioned but bumbling fish, was written with her in mind. At that point, she said, "I could feel the momentum."

Like other awards shows, the ratings for the Emmys have been dropping in recent years. This year, producers are trying new things, such as a sing-off with celebrities like Donald Trump, William Shatner and Kristen Bell. Hopes are also pinned on DeGeneres to set the tone and draw in the audience.

Ken Ehrlich, the Emmy's executive producer this year, said "I think that Ellen and Billy Crystal are innately the two most perfect people to do these shows because they bring an intelligence to it. You really get the feeling that they like what they're talking about."

For both of them, he said, "it's not about scoring as a comic. It's about being the team leader for three hours."

(Times staff writer Maria Elena Fernandez contributed to this story.)

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-ellen16sep16,0,2015416,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

As Emmys loom, it's time to accept that rage is futile

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

Doris Roberts.

The name sits there, like a taunt. It clangs off the tongue like an annoyance. You know her as the mother on "Everybody Loves Raymond," screeching white noise out of your television, season by season, the humor eroding and the words becoming more shrill.

Doris Roberts!

The fact that she may win another Emmy is so aggravating, it steals anger from a reserve still bothered that "The West Wing" -- that flavorless, worked over piece of gum of a show -- is nominated as best drama. Standing on the precipice of an apoplectic, vein-bursting fit, vexed again by Emmy voters, it's almost as if exploding into pink powder is a given.

But no. Anger at the Emmys is pointless. The Emmys manage to defuse rage by having so many outlandish oversights that one cannot muster up the energy to scream bloody murder. Instead, noting that "Desperate Housewives" is nominated as a comedy when, clearly, it is not and, even more clearly, was put in that category only to ensure ABC's companion series, "Lost," a better chance against other dramas, merely deadens any reflexive kill-kill-kill impulse left inside.

So, on that note (OK, they got some things right), here's who will win, should win and all the glaring omissions as we head into Sunday's big wet kiss for the TV industry.

Drama: "Lost" (ABC), "24" (Fox), "West Wing" (NBC), "Deadwood" (HBO), "Six Feet Under" (HBO). Will win: "Lost." Should win: "Deadwood." Glaring omissions: "Rescue Me," (FX), "The Wire" (HBO), "The Shield" (FX).

It was a weak year for "Six Feet Under," and though it also was considered a comeback year for "West Wing," it didn't come back far enough. "Deadwood" is genius, end of discussion. That said, "Lost" winning won't hurt.

Comedy: "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS), "Desperate Housewives" (ABC), "Will & Grace" (NBC), "Arrested Development" (Fox), "Scrubs" (NBC). Will win: "Desperate Housewives." Should win: "Arrested Development." Glaring omission: "Entourage" (HBO).

"Desperate Housewives" is a drama that leavens its soapy, sexy and murderous parts with humor. Let's be clear on that. (Series and actors can choose which categories they want to enter.) Last year's winner, "Arrested Development," is still the undisputed best comedy on television, but it won't be enough to repeat against the blockbuster "Housewives." (In case you're wondering, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was not eligible.) Here's hoping "Housewives" goes back where it belongs, because next year there will be more than just "Entourage" waiting to be acknowledged, as television mounts a revival of the sitcom.

Actor, drama: Kiefer Sutherland, "24" (Fox); James Spader, "Boston Legal" (ABC); Hugh Laurie, "House" (Fox); Ian McShane, "Deadwood" (HBO); Hank Azaria, "Huff" (Showtime). Will win: Laurie. Should win: McShane. Glaring omission: Anyone from "The Wire" -- close your eyes, throw a dart; Denis Leary, "Rescue Me"; Michael Chiklis, "The Shield."

Spader's a fine actor, but last year's win was a head-scratcher. McShane wasn't even nominated last year but deserved to win it outright. This is a mostly great lineup -- quibbles with Azaria, given those who were snubbed -- but McShane's performance had no peers. None. Better Laurie, by the way, than the others.

Actress, drama: Jennifer Garner, "Alias" (ABC); Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC); Patricia Arquette, "Medium" (NBC); Glenn Close, "The Shield" (FX); Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under" (HBO). Will win: Hargitay. Should win: Close. Glaring omission: Joely Richardson, "Nip/Tuck"; Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls"; Kristen Bell, "Veronica Mars."

This is one of the true no-brainers of the night, and though Close has a shot, FX needs miracles to get attention. Felicity Huffman should be in this category, not hanging out with the "Housewives" in comedy.

Actor, comedy: Ray Romano, "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS); Eric McCormack, "Will & Grace" (NBC); Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Zach Braff, "Scrubs" (NBC); Tony Shalhoub, "Monk" (USA). Will win: Bateman. Should win: Bateman. Glaring omission: Jeremy Piven, "Entourage."

With "Housewives" blunting the sentimental farewell to "Raymond," there's no chance that nonactor Romano will ruin Bateman's overdue recognition. Look, without Bateman as the anchor, the funniest show on television doesn't work half as well. That's Emmy worthy.

Actress, comedy: Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Huffman, all "Desperate Housewives" (ABC); Patricia Heaton, "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS); Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox). Will win: Hatcher. Should win: Kaczmarek. Glaring omission: Sarah Chalke, "Scrubs."

A pox on Emmy voters. Hatcher and her predicaments are amusing, that's all. Cross and Huffman -- not funny. Are they supposed to be? You want funny: Kaczmarek should have a whole shelf lined with Emmys.

Supporting actor, drama: Naveen Andrews, "Lost" (ABC); William Shatner, "Boston Legal" (ABC); Alan Alda, "The West Wing" (NBC); Terry O'Quinn, "Lost" (ABC); Oliver Platt, "Huff" (Showtime). Will win: Alda. Should win: O'Quinn. Glaring omission: Anyone from "The Wire" -- close your eyes, throw a dart.

Alda is good. O'Quinn is better. Platt, by the way, is inspired in a series no one is watching. Still, "The Wire" could fill this category and leave five actors from the same cast snubbed. It's that deep. Oversight? Crime is more like it.

Supporting actress, drama: Stockard Channing, "The West Wing" (NBC); Tyne Daly, "Judging Amy" (NBC); Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC); CCH Pounder, "The Shield" (FX); Blythe Danner, "Huff" (Showtime). Will win: Daly. Should win: Pounder. Glaring omission: Sonja Sohn, "The Wire"; Callie Thorne, "Rescue Me" and "The Wire."

Some good performances here -- Oh is a compelling dark horse -- but Pounder has a few years of snubs to her credit. It's makeup time. Hers is a muscular performance in a show that drips testosterone.

Supporting actor, comedy: Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace" (NBC); Peter Boyle and Brad Garrett, "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS); Jeffrey Tambor, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Piven, "Entourage" (HBO). Will win: Piven. Should win: Piven. Glaring omission: Will Arnett, "Arrested Development"; David Cross, "Arrested Development"; John C. McGinley, "Scrubs"; Kevin Dillon, "Entourage." Like Bateman, Piven could be the critical pick and the miracle Emmys pick all in one. The mojo is there in a category that reeks of rubber-stamping.

Supporting actress, comedy: Roberts, "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS); Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace" (NBC); Holland Taylor and Conchata Farrell, "Two and A Half Men" (CBS); Jessica Walter, "Arrested Development" (Fox). Will win: Walter. Should win: Walter. Glaring omission: Portia de Rossi, "Arrested Development"; Graham, "Gilmore Girls" (that's cheating, but hell, she's so overdue it's shameful).

This is infinitely less difficult and more easily just than the Emmy voters will make it. Listen closely: Walter should have won last year but wasn't even nominated. You can't snub that talent. She's perfectly brilliant enough for two statuettes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/16/DDG6AENT7M16.DTL&type=printable

THE EMMYS
In this horse race, the network fare's an also-ran

"Deadwood," "The Daily Show" and "The Shield" are among our critical favorites.
September 18, 2005

The Los Angeles Times---Old favorites ("Everybody Loves Raymond"), new hits ("Desperate Housewives"), veteran movie stars (Glenn Close of "The Shield") and relative unknowns (Naveen Andrews of "Lost") all compete tonight for an Emmy Award. We asked The Times' TV critics, Paul Brownfield and Robert Lloyd, to make their choices in some of the top categories.

Drama

DRAMA SERIES

Nominees: "Deadwood," HBO; "Lost," ABC; "Six Feet Under," HBO; "24," Fox; "The West Wing," NBC.

Paul Brownfield's pick: "Six Feet Under." It's hard not to acknowledge "Deadwood," which is only deepening in story and character in its imagining of the Old West. But "Six Feet Under" rose to the challenge of its themes and took chances that paid off.

Robert Lloyd's pick: "Deadwood." A more ambitious series than most, and one that manages to be deeply strange without sacrificing reality.

ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES

Nominees: James Spader, "Boston Legal," ABC; Ian McShane, "Deadwood," HBO; Hugh Laurie, "House," Fox; Hank Azaria, "Huff," Showtime; Kiefer Sutherland, "24," Fox.

P.B.'s pick: Ian McShane. It's a battle of Brits: On "House," Laurie is fun to watch, but McShane as saloon boss Al Swearengen continues to take the dichotomy of the pleasingly unlikable character to surprising places. Plus, he spent several episodes passing a most difficult gallstone.

R.L.'s pick: Hugh Laurie.

ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES

Nominees: Jennifer Garner, "Alias," ABC; Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Patricia Arquette, "Medium," NBC; Glenn Close, "The Shield," FX; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO.

P.B.'s pick: Frances Conroy. As the alternately bottled-up, grief-stricken and liberated Ruth Fisher, Conroy journeyed emotional distances without losing a consistency of tone.

R.L.'s pick: Frances Conroy.

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES

Nominees: William Shatner, "Boston Legal," ABC; Oliver Platt, "Huff," Showtime; Naveen Andrews, "Lost," ABC; Terry O'Quinn, "Lost," ABC; Alan Alda, "The West Wing," NBC.

P.B.'s pick: Oliver Platt. Andrews and O'Quinn helped give "Lost" some needed depth of character, but Platt, as a self-indulgent, spiraling-out-of-control attorney on "Huff," was a consistent scene-stealer on a show that otherwise seemed to be looking for its identity in Season 1.

R.L.'s pick: Oliver Platt.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES

Nominees: Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Blythe Danner, "Huff," Showtime; Tyne Daly, "Judging Amy," CBS; CCH Pounder, "The Shield," FX; Stockard Channing, "The West Wing," NBC.

P.B.'s pick: CCH Pounder. "The Shield" is all about grit and tension-fueled square-offs between stressed-out cops and detectives. In this world, Pounder's ability, as Det. Claudette Wyms, to convey authority and humanity consistently enriches the show.

R.L.'s pick: Blythe Danner.

Comedy

COMEDY SERIES

Nominees: "Arrested Development," Fox; "Desperate Housewives," ABC; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; "Scrubs," NBC; "Will & Grace," NBC.

P.B.'s pick: "Everybody Loves Raymond." Executive producer Phil Rosenthal is accustomed to vying for Emmys in the shadow of hotter shows ("Sex and the City," "Will & Grace") and this year is no exception, with the appearance of "Desperate Housewives" in the best comedy category. But "Everybody Loves Raymond" went off the air with the same aplomb with which it came on, making it deserving of recognition.

R.L.'s pick: "Arrested Development" — always finding unexpected uses for interesting actors.

ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES

Nominees: Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development," Fox; Ray Romano, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk," USA; Zach Braff, "Scrubs," NBC; Eric McCormack, "Will & Grace," NBC.

P.B.'s pick: Jason Bateman. The show might be over-hyped, but as the moral center of a twisted family, Bateman isn't.

R.L.'s pick: Jason Bateman.

ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES

Nominees: Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Teri Hatcher, "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Patricia Heaton, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox.

P.B.'s pick: Felicity Huffman. She brings a touch of acting class to this comedy soap.

R.L.'s pick: Felicity Huffman.

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES

Nominees: Jeffrey Tambor, "Arrested Development," Fox; Jeremy Piven, "Entourage," HBO; Peter Boyle, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Brad Garrett," "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace," NBC.

P.B.'s pick: Jeremy Piven. As Ari Gold, Piven's performance is a festival of tics and biting insults, an actor accessing his arsenal to deliver a mad agent's need, greed and neuroses.

R.L.'s pick: Jeremy Piven.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES

Nominees: Jessica Walter, "Arrested Development," Fox; Doris Roberts, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Holland Taylor, "Two and a Half Men," CBS; Conchata Ferrell," "Two and a Half Men," CBS; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace," NBC.

P.B.'s pick: Big, out-there performances being the general order of the day here, the pick goes to the reliably out-there Mullally.

R.L.'s pick: Jessica Walter.

VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES

Nominees: "Da Ali G Show," HBO; "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central; "Late Show With David Letterman," CBS; "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," NBC; "Real Time With Bill Maher," HBO.

P.B.'s pick: "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." A national presidential election gave "The Daily Show" a natural platform for its comedy, and the show delivered an antidote to media coverage of a summer of conventions, polls, swift boats, spin and counter-spin.

R.L.'s pick: "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." How I spell "relief."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-emmycrit18sep18,0,4582982,print.htmlstory?coll=cl-tvent

THE EMMYS
DeGeneres should rise to challenge
Memorable '01 host returns; Emmy voting may surprise
By Dusty Saunders Rocky Mountain News

Emmy Awards shows rarely go down as memorable television events. The gowns, statues and acceptance speeches all run together after a while.

Quick, who said the following after an accepting an Emmy in 1992? "Now I'm leaving because I really have to go the bathroom." (Answer below).

But the 2001 Emmy Awards were different after being postponed twice because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The mood was solemn when the awards finally were presented on Nov. 4.

And yet the '01 Emmy show remains more memorable than most, mainly because of the host. Ellen DeGeneres struck theright tone, mixing show- business humor with a reverential tone.

In the show-must-go-on tradition, DeGeneres asked: "What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?"

She added: "It's important for us to be here tonight. They (the terrorists) can't take away our creativity, our struggle for excellence, our joy.

"Only the networks can do that," she added with a grin.

So it's appropriate DeGeneres returns as host of Sunday's 57th annual ceremony, airing from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath have damaged the nation's psyche. Thus DeGeneres, named as host before the hurricane hit, is faced again with being funny and reverent.

After watching her discuss Katrina on her daytime talk show - an aunt lost everything when her Mississippi home was destroyed - I think DeGeneres will be up to the challenge.

The ceremony should have more surprises than last year, which was dominated by HBO's Angels in America and The Sopranos. HBO still has the most nominations (91) and probably will take home the most statues. But the honors should be more equally spread. CBS has 59 nominations, followed by NBC (54), ABC (51), Fox (49) and PBS (17).

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Warm Springs, both HBO movies, have the most nominations - 16. They're followed on the network level by ABC's Desperate Housewives and NBC's Will & Grace (both with 15).

Answer: Dana Delany rushed to the ladies' room after accepting her Emmy for best series for China Beach in 1992.

Dusty's picks

The Emmy voters have made their decisions. Does Dusty Saunders agree? Here's a look at his favorites and probable winners in major categories:

Drama series
• My pick: Lost (ABC), a hot series that appeals to everybody and has created a "monster-sci-fi" atmosphere that set the tone for the new season.
• Probable winner: Lost
• Other nominees: Deadwood (HBO), Six Feet Under (HBO), 24 (Fox), The West Wing (NBC)

Comedy series
• My pick: The goofy activities of the dysfunctional family on Arrested Development (Fox) were even funnier during the sophomore season.
• Probable winner: Desperate Housewives (ABC)
• Other nominees: Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), Scrubs (NBC), Will & Grace (NBC)

Miniseries
• My pick: HBO's Empire Falls because of the superb ensemble cast. There are only four nominees in this category, as miniseries have lost impact.
• Probable winner: Empire Falls
• Other nominees: Elvis (CBS), The 4400 (USA), The Last Prince (PBS Masterpiece Theater)

Made-for-TV movie
• My pick: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (HBO) worked because it was an in-depth study of a troubled, if talented performer. The usual Hollywood sheen wasn't there.
• Probable winner: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
• Other nominees: Lackawanna Blues (HBO), The Office Special (BBC America), Warm Springs (HBO), The Wool Cap (TNT)

Variety music or comedy series
• My pick: Nothing and no one is sacred to David Letterman and his Late Show crew. The series enjoyed one of its better years - and so have viewers.
• Probable winner: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
• Other nominees: Da Ali G Show (HBO), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (NBC), Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Lead actor, drama series
• My pick: Ian McShane of HBO's Deadwood. I wonder if the language in his acceptance speech would be anything like the dialogue he uses on the Western series.
• Probable winner: Hugh Laurie (House).
• Other nominees: Hank Azaria (Huff), James Spader (Boston Legal), Kiefer Sutherland (24)

Lead actress, drama series
• My pick: Glenn Close (The Shield), who added a needed feminine dimension to the rough-and-tough cop series with a bravura performance as a strong but sensitive police executive.
• Probable winner: Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU)
• Other nominees: Patricia Arquette (Medium), Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Jennifer Garner (Alias)

Lead actor, comedy series
• My pick: Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) provides the subtle, underplayed humor that keeps the series head and shoulders above all network sitcoms.
• Probable winner: Tony Shalhoub (Monk)
• Other nominees: Zach Braff (Scrubs), Eric McCormick (Will & Grace), Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond)

Lead actress, comedy series
• My pick: Felicity Huffman is the most realistic (and humorous) performer in all the dark comedy on Desperate Housewives.
• Probable winner: Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives)
• Other nominees: Marcia Cross, (Desperate Housewives), Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle)

Supporting actor, drama series
• My pick: Alan Alda (The West Wing), who brought a GOP vitality to the political series.
• Probable winner: William Shatner (Boston Legal)
• Other nominees: Naveen Andrews (Lost), Oliver Platt (Huff), Terry O'Quinn (Lost)

Supporting actress, drama series
• My pick: CCH Pounder (The Shield). It's about time the academy honored this distinguished performer.
• Probable winner: Tyne Daly (Judging Amy)
• Other nominees: Stockard Channing (The West Wing), Blythe Danner (Huff), Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy)

Supporting actor, comedy series
• My pick: Jeremy Piven on HBO's Entourage provides the perfect picture of the Hollywood jerk who always puts personal gain above loyalty or friendship.
• Probable winner: Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves Raymond)
• Other nominees: Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) Sean Hayes (Will & Grace), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development)

Supporting actress, comedy series
• My pick: A veteran, accomplished dramatic actress, Jessica Walter has displayed agile comedy skills as the always dipsy, often tipsy mother of the Bluth clan on Arrested Development.
• Probable winner: Walter
• Other nominees: Conchata Ferrell (Two and a Half Men), Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond), Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men)

Lead actor, miniseries or movie
• My pick: Geoffrey Rush, who in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers literally became the noted actor.
• Probable winner: Rush
• Other nominees: Kenneth Branagh (Warm Springs), Ed Harris (Empire Falls), William H. Macy (The Wool Cap), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Elvis)

Lead actress, miniseries or movie
• My pick: S. Epatha Merkerson stepped out of her Law & Order police office to instill life, love and music into Lackawanna Blues.
• Probable winner: Cynthia Nixon (Warm Springs)
• Other nominees: Halle Berry (Their Eyes Were Watching God), Blythe Danner (When We Were Grownups), Debra Winger (Dawn Anna)

A nod to reality
I'll end by giving some recognition to the often tacky reality genre. My favorite in the reality-competition category: CBS' The Amazing Race. In the regular reality competition, here's a vote for Bravo's Project Greenlight which featured Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/entertainment_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_84_4086477,00.html

THE EMMYS
`57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards'

By Charlie McCollum San Joae Mercury News

The television industry holds its annual orgy of self-congratulation Sunday night (tape-delayed, as usual, on the West Coast). Ellen DeGeneres is back as host, which is a very good thing. T

he casts of ``Desperate Housewives'' and ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' will present awards. There will be a tribute to retired anchors Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather and the late Peter Jennings.

There will undoubtedly be several opportunities to hoot at Emmy voters out of touch with logic and good taste.

But, personally, I can't wait for the big musical number featuring the Donald singing the ``Green Acres'' theme with Megan Mullally of ``Will & Grace,'' and William Shatner doing a duet with Frederica von Stade of the theme from ``Star Trek.''

Now, that's entertainment.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12671208.htm

'Twins': Doubly bad

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

I will now recreate the first 60 seconds of "Twins",an early contender for the title of Worst New Comedy of the Year:

Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker. Butt pucker.

Yup, the phrase "Butt pucker" comes up 17 times in that opening minute. At least, I think it was 17 times; my DVD player automatically starts fast-forwarding in protest every time I try to go back and check that scene.

Anyway, "Twins" actually goes downhill from that point, with Sara Gilbert and Molly Stanton trading every Plain Jane/dumb blonde joke you've ever heard as mismatched siblings; one designs lingerie (including a line of panties called the Butt Pucker), the other models it.

Gilbert used to be really funny on "Roseanne." Similarly mismatched TV parents Mark-Linn Baker and Melanie Griffith (he's a geek, she's a bimbo) have also been funny in the past, and "Twins" was created by the guys responsible for the original, good years of "Will & Grace." It's like their talents all crashed into each other to create a massive black hole. Get away while you can.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1126765977235780.xml&coll=1

'Survivor' tricks

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

JEFF PROBST was miserable during the "All-Stars" season of "Survivor." Hated seeing contestants who had once been humble civilians behave like spoiled celebrities. Hated seeing these people, all of them friends in real life, respond so bitterly to being voted out by each other. Hated seeing all the smart players voted out early, so that most of the season was a victory lap for Boston Rob and Amber.

So why was Probst such a big supporter of bringing back two former "Survivor" players to compete in "Survivor: Guatemala -- The Maya Empire" (8 p.m., Ch. 2)?

"'All-Stars' was very different in that everybody had played the game before," the veteran "Survivor" host argued in a conference call with reporters. "Here you have a brand new crop of people... For me, the fascinating question is, who in their right mind would let someone who's played this game stick around? On the other hand, who would get rid of someone who's played this game, since you haven't?"

Like all "Survivor" twists, this one was hotly debated by Probst and the other producers. One idea quickly dismissed was letting the audience vote on who would get to come back, since "You can't trust America to vote in two people that have the qualities we need."

(Sounds like Team Survivor is still unhappy about CBS' idea to follow the "All-Stars" season with a public vote to give a second million-dollar prize to one of the players -- a blatant excuse to give some cash to the wildly popular Rupert.)

There were two criteria for whom to bring back: "Who would the audience like to see again, and secondly, what's the justification for bringing them back. If you can make the argument that this person deserves a second chance because, then that person was on the list."

Possible spoiler alert: Probst wouldn't name the two returning alums, but Internet speculation has been heavy that they're Stephenie and Bobby Jon, the last two members of the worst team in show history, the "Survivor: Palau" group that failed to win a single immunity challenge. Stephenie is certainly popular, but since they contributed to their team's pitiful showing, neither really qualifies in the "deserves" category.

Nor would Probst clarify what he meant when he said the two would be returning "in some capacity." When pressed to say whether or not they would be competing for the million bucks like everybody else, he hemmed, hawed and invited people to read between the lines. (In other words, no.)

This year's cast includes another celebrity of sorts: journeyman NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom, who tried to disguise his relative fame and fortune from the other contestants by using a fake name. One problem: The cast also includes a sport radio hostess, Danni Boatwright, possibly the only player in "Survivor" history who would both know who Gary Hogeboom is and recognize his face. (Probst said she unraveled the mystery a couple of days into filming, but wouldn't say whether she outed him or blackmailed him with the info.)

Of bigger concern than the presence of so many semi-big names -- a controversy that dogged the Rob and Amber season of "Amazing Race" -- is Probst's description of this season as physically grueling, with temperatures upwards of 120 degrees and "the hardest land-based challenges we've done."

Making life hard on the contestants is important to a point, but the harsher the conditions, the duller the season. "Survivor: Africa," which Probst said was the title holder for toughest season until "Guatemala," featured contestants too exhausted to do anything more interesting than complain about the heat.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1126765977235780.xml&coll=1

THE EMMYS
EMMYS PROMISE A SERIES OF LAUGHS
Ellen DeGeneres will host,
Donald Trump will sing,
and the cast of 'Desperate Housewives' will slug it out

BY MIKE DUFFY DETROIT FREE PRESS TV CRITIC

Count your Emmy blessings.

Thanks to the breakout success of spunky newcomers "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," the 2005 edition of TV's celebration of itself should enjoy some fresh energy and sizzle when the statuettes are handed out at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

But that's not the only upbeat thing going for the 57th annual Emmyfest, televised live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Ellen DeGeneres is the host. She's always fun.

And the producers have their cockeyed mojo working with "Emmy Idol," allowing viewers to vote online for their favorite rendition of four classic TV theme songs, including a Donald Trump and Megan Mullally duet on "Green Acres."

On a more bittersweet note, there will be Emmy memorials to Johnny Carson and Peter Jennings.

Meanwhile, tension builds down on Wisteria Lane, where "Desperate Housewives" stars Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman square off as lead actress nominees.

Hoo, boy. Enjoy.

http://www.freep.com/cgi-bin/forms/printerfriendly.pl

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Kitchen Confidential” (Monday 8:30 PM, Fox)
His Secret's Out: Hartford Experience Helps Shape Producer's Take

By ROGER CATLIN Hartford Courant TV Critic

Both in the sleek restaurant and the down-home bar that are the primary sets for the new Fox comedy "Kitchen Confidential," executive producer Dave Hemingson has thrown in bits of his Connecticut past.

"The Snakepit is this bar we built that's based on bars I knew in Hartford, in New York," says Hemingson, who is also co-creator. The comedy, starring Bradley Cooper, starts Monday.

And while there are traces of New York landmarks such as P.J. Clarke's, McSorley's and the Lion's Head, he also had in mind a bar near Trinity where he threw darts and the old 880 Club, where, he notes, "I was able to drink underage."

In the details of the restaurant set that dominates Soundstage 17 on the Fox lot in Los Angeles, there are homages of other Hartford places he loved.

"Like Brown Thomson," Hemingson says. "I brought my prom date from Watkinson there. Seeing those jackalopes and stuffed lizards in there, I just thought it was the coolest thing. I made sure we had stuffed lizards hanging in the corners of our restaurant sets, too."

Hemingson's love for restaurants, and his behind-the-scenes knowledge, came from years of work as a bartender, from 1986 to '87, at Tunxis Plantation Golf Course in Farmington and at the old Shenanigan's.

"It was a small core of people and a constantly rotating staff," he recalls of the downtown bistro. "It was a time and place in Hartford that was cool."

Hemingson, 41, who grew up in West Hartford, worked in local restaurants while attending Watkinson School, Trinity and Yale (graduating in 1986).

When he abruptly switched careers from law to comedy writing, he could relate to Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" when it was first printed in 2000 - enough so that he put up all his household money to try to secure the rights for it.

"It had just come out in hardcover, and because I had all this restaurant experience in Hartford, I got out $50,000 and didn't tell my wife," he says. "Of course, word came back that it had been snapped up in galleys for 10 times that amount."

Hemingson put his money back in the bank, and the project kicked around Hollywood for a few years. At one point, Brad Pitt was set to star in a feature version. Eventually it landed at New Line Productions, where Darren Starr was looking for something new after "Sex and the City" ended.

Hemingson didn't give up on his "Kitchen Confidential" dreams. He told his agent, "Put me in a room with the guy."

"It had been five years, and I was willing to secretly bankrupt my family to get this book, I believed so much in it," he says.

By that time, Hemingson had amassed an impressive résumé in TV comedy after quitting a lucrative job in entertainment law, in the Century City firm Loeb & Loeb. He had been inspired in part by an old friend, also a lawyer, with whom he used to confide career dreams. When his friend died suddenly in a climbing accident, Hemingson realized how short life could be.

Having written and starred in many of the annual law school shows at Columbia University, where he got his law degree, he decided to quit and write comedy full time. Almost immediately, he got a job as story editor at the highly regarded Nickelodeon comedy "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" before moving on to three years at "Just Shoot Me!" and the first season of "American Dad."

"I was very grateful he chose me," Hemingson says of Starr, who shares co-creator and executive producer credits for "Kitchen Confidential."

Not that the show necessarily needed Hemingson's restaurant expertise. It was based, after all, on Bourdain's best-selling tell-all. And the author has since sat in with writers to share his insider information. "One of his principal concerns is: Does the food look good enough?" Hemingson says.

To that gourmand's demands, Hemingson says, "I give a grunt's perspective," drawing not only on memories from Tunxis Plantation and Shenanigan's but his years at the Yale dining hall and a London pub where he worked during a summer abroad.

"Being on the line in the dining hall, that's food service at its most down and dirty," he says. "You get to know the most unsavory aspects of feeding large quantities of people. It was crazy. My main gig, from 7:30 to 9:30 each night, was to power-hose everything down.

"The English restaurant experience was fantastic," he says. "It was completely unhinged, very much like the United Nations, except for all the alcohol and casual sex."

That same kind of raucous tone infuses the new comedy "Kitchen Confidential," which he says benefits from its strong cast, led by Cooper ("Wedding Crashers") and including Bonnie Somerville, Nicholas Brendon, Jaime King and John Francis Daley.

"It's such a good cast," Hemingson says. "They're so charismatic and so much fun to write for."

To get the show ready, he has been putting in 17-hour days. "I'm lucky I only live a mile away," he says. That way he can see his wife of seven years, Tori, and two sons, Nicholas, 4, and Ian, 10 months.

"It's all about time management," he says. But he's got another problem come Monday, with the show's debut. It's also his wedding anniversary.

Hemingson says he's hosting a premiere party at a restaurant but hopes to steal some private time with his wife later.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-kitchen.artsep16,0,6258293,print.story?coll=hce-headlines-tv-top

As we get ready for the Emmys tomorrow night, a look back at television is in order:

TV of 50 years ago is stiff competition for today's shows
'Honeymooners' might never be topped

By Roger K. Miller For the Deseret Morning News

Time and changes in televised entertainment are eating away at the long-standing concept of the television season that traditionally begins in the early fall, though it still is observed to some extent by the networks and some of the cable channels. Whether anything good and long-lasting will come out of the new season that is upon us no one can know at this point.

One thing is certain, however: It will have to go a long way to beat or even match the fall season of 50 years ago, when television was entering its "Golden Age."

The fall of 1955 saw the premiere of eight programs whose renown will last probably as long as the history of television continues to be written. Some are periodically seen in re-runs to this day, and one could make a good claim to being the best sitcom ever produced.

Add to them a number of memorable programs that were already on the air before 1955, and then recollect that they all emerged from only three channels and not scores, and you have quite an achievement indeed. (That fall the airwaves were dominated by the three national networks that for three succeeding decades were virtually synonymous with American television — ABC, CBS and NBC — the DuMont network having ceased operations in May.)

The eight great premieres were "Gunsmoke," "The Lawrence Welk Show," "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," "The Millionaire," "The $64,000 Question," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Phil Silvers Show" and "The Honeymooners."

"The Honeymooners" might take the prize for all-time best sitcom if it were not for "I Love Lucy," which had been on CBS since Oct. 15, 1951, and which four years later was still in the top 10 programs, according to Nielsen ratings. Lucille Ball, who won the Emmy for best actress in a series that season, will never die, not as long as there are enterprises like TV Land and Nick at Nite.

"The Honeymooners" never dies, either, though strictly speaking its birth did not take place on Oct. 1, 1955. That was its inauguration as a weekly series, the one that we see in reruns.

"The Honeymooners" had always been a pet project of Jackie Gleason. It was first seen as a sketch on DuMont's "Cavalcade of Stars" in 1951, and when Gleason moved to CBS, he took it with him. As a weekly series it lasted only one season (39 episodes), but Gleason revived it again and again as part of future programs.

Of those eight premieres, only two did not belong to CBS: "Lawrence Welk" and "Wyatt Earp," which were ABC's. This was the year that CBS for the first time passed NBC to become the leading network, a position it held for two decades.

ABC was barely in the running. It began life as a radio network spun off from NBC, and for years struggled to cobble together a TV schedule. When it finally found its legs, they belonged to a horse.

ABC was the oater network at a time when all three networks had practically every third actor in the saddle. "Wyatt Earp," starring Hugh O'Brian, was its first Western entry, and once it found its niche, it busted it wide open. If it weren't for the prominence of CBS's "Gunsmoke," "Wyatt Earp" and other ABC Westerns might be better remembered, shows like "Maverick," "Tombstone Territory" and "Cheyenne."
But "Gunsmoke," starring James Arness, which originated as a radio program, was and is th
e benchmark Western. Like most of these 1955 premieres and other top shows of the time, it had considerable staying power. In fact, it had the most staying power. It ran for 20 years, longer than any other series with continuing characters, and when it left the air in 1975, it was the last Western on network television.

Others were no slouches. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (retitled "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" in 1962 when it was expanded to an hour) ran for 10 years, jumping from CBS to NBC and then back to CBS and then to NBC again. "The Lawrence Welk Show" ran on ABC until 1971, when it left the network to produce new programs for syndication for 11 more years. It apparently will dance forever on PBS.

Some of the programs that were already established in 1955 also had impressive runs. Most impressive is "The Ed Sullivan Show" (original title, "Toast of the Town"), which lasted from 1948 to 1971 on CBS. "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" began on ABC in 1952 and stayed there until its ending in 1966. And this at a time when the TV season commonly was more than 30 episodes, sometimes as many as 39.

"Wyatt Earp" and "Gunsmoke" brought the adult Western to TV. "The $64,000 Question" (which began in June rather than the fall) introduced another new concept in 1955 — that of the big-time quiz show. It spawned several imitators, including "Twenty-One," "The Big Surprise," and its own spin-off, "The $64,000 Challenge." The national scandal surrounding revelations of show-rigging in 1958 killed them off.

The stature of the 1955 season cannot be measured solely by these new programs. Wonderful programs continued from earlier years. This was the time of great live television drama, programs such as NBC's "Kraft Television Theatre" and "Robert Montgomery Presents," and CBS's "Climax" and "Studio One" (on which Mike Wallace appeared in two plays). The greatest of them all, CBS's "Playhouse 90," did not arrive until the next year.

Some of the great names of show business, former stars of vaudeville and movies, were at the peak of their fame at this time and enjoyed long runs on TV. George Burns and Gracie Allen started their show on CBS in 1950 and ended it in 1958 only because Gracie decided to retire. Groucho Marx's NBC comedy/quiz show, "You Bet Your Life," began on NBC the same year and lasted even longer, until 1961. It had originated on radio in 1947, and for a time it was broadcast over both media.

Another movie notable, Bob Cummings, also got his television start in 1955, though in his case it was in January rather than October. "The Bob Cummings Show" (the first of two under that name) premiered on NBC, jumped to CBS in the fall, and then in 1957 moved back to NBC where it stayed until 1959. This show, by the way, was a training ground for a young actor, Dwayne Hickman, who played Cummings' nephew and who went on to star in one of the most clever and innovative sitcoms of the 1960s, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." At least a baker's dozen of other programs, veterans of the airwaves that had not yet lost their luster, added to the distinction of this remarkable television season, among them "Dragnet," "The Perry Como Show," "Father Knows Best" and "The Danny Thomas Show" (originally called "Make Room for Daddy").

And lest we make the mistake of thinking that the daily TV schedule ran only from 7 to 11 at night: On the same day that year — Oct. 3 — two programs debuted, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, that probably have had as profound an effect on our popular culture as any prime-time show ever. The first was "Captain Kangaroo" and the second was "The Mickey Mouse Club."

( Roger K. Miller, a journalist for many years, is a free-lance writer and reviewer for several publications, and a frequent contributor to the Deseret Morning News.)

http://www.desnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,605154742,00.html

Empty Screens
If cable's Video-On-Demand is so hot, where are all the good shows?

By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable

To hear cable operators talk, video-on-demand is the future of television: any movie, news, event, sitcom or concert whenever you want—for a price, of course.

But you won't find cable's hottest shows on VOD. Of the thousands of hours of programming available on cable operators' growing video-on-demand services, very little of it is TV's top and freshest product. TNT On Demand, for example, doesn't offer hits such as Steven Spielberg-produced epic Into the West or police procedural The Closer, but made-for-TNT movies such as 1995's The Avenging Angel (starring Tom Berenger as a Mormon commando) are on the menu. There's NFL Network's Lost Treasures but not ABC's Lost, Bravo's Queer as Folk but not NBC's Will & Grace.

VOD—long pursued as the killer application of cable television—is at a strange crossroads. Even as most TV executives agree that a technology that frees viewers from the shackles of the schedule is a sure-fire success, nobody can yet figure out how to make a dime off of it. Even so, a fight has already broken out between content providers and distributors, each fearful of setting bad financial precedents that they'll suffer with for years. While programmers and cable operators bicker over how the new service should be marketed, priced and sold, some worry that the cable industry may be passing up a golden opportunity.

“It's a great opportunity to change the way we watch television,” says David Zaslav, president of NBC Universal's cable division, “but it's in danger of becoming an also-ran.”

Of course, pay channels, such as HBO and Showtime, sell big movies through VOD as an add-on to their subscription fee. But VOD is largely hitless.

Why the disconnect? Cable operators are salivating over the prospects of VOD, in large part because they stand to gain the most from it. The benefits are substantial: Advertisers, which are just beginning to experiment with VOD programs, would know for the first time whether their commercials were actually watched and could eventually tailor their pitches virtually household by household. VOD reduces customer churn, and it's an individualized product that DBS rivals simply can't offer on their national satellites.

But national programmers, including both cable and the Big Four broadcast networks, are less excited because they don't see a business model. TNT and others complain that operators aren't willing to pay much for on-demand content. Also, networks can't generate much ad revenue, in part because the system to measure audiences is still primitive.

Many network executives fear that feeding strong product to VOD will cannibalize their main networks and give them little in return. “You can't put any food on the table now from VOD,” NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright declared last spring.

Cable executives dismiss that skepticism, saying that, at just two years old, VOD is young but surging. The technology works, and thanks to the $80 billion rebuild over the past decade, no major expenditures are required. Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator, reaches a third of the nation's 24 million VOD subscribers. According to President Steve Burke, each VOD home watched around 6 hours of on-demand programs last month, calling up 125 million different programs. That's more than double the 50 million “streams” summoned monthly last year. By year-end, traffic should hit 200 million.

“This product is in the third inning, and people love it,” Burke says. “What will happen when it's in the sixth inning or ninth inning?” More than 53 million homes are expected to have access to VOD by 2009.

Operators argue that, if hit shows are available on VOD—where operators can make it tougher for subscribers to skip through commercials—viewers will gravitate away from TiVos and other digital video recorders, on which ad-skipping power is a central feature. They also argue that programmers can use VOD as a brand extension, promoting their main networks.

Comcast is the most aggressive of all cable operators, leaning hard on cable networks to acquire better programming. One of the major reasons the system operator attempted a hostile takeover of Walt Disney Co. last year was to secure premium VOD content. Even so, says Burke, “we'll get it someday. Do we need it? No.”

PAY TWICE FOR CONTENT

Still, the shallow programming slate is evident to cable customers. Greg Bertler, a computer tech in Green Bay, Wis., taps Time Warner's VOD just a few times a month. “The programming content is somewhat limited,” he says, adding that “the programs that I want to watch most of the time are already loaded in on my DVR, so there is no need to look further.”

VOD has long been a dream of the cable industry. Since the days of Time Warner's much hyped “Full Service Network” in the early 1990s, operators have talked of empowering subscribers to call up a movie or sitcom on their TV as easily as they summon a Web page on their computers. The mantra is: Whatever they want to watch, whenever they want to watch it.

Upgrading systems took years longer than predicted, but cable has delivered on its promises. Today, cable systems serving 56 million basic subscribers offer VOD services, says Brian Wieser, director of industry analysis for ad buyer MagnaGlobal. About 24 million of those customers actually pay $10-$15 monthly for a tier of digital cable services that includes VOD.

The hottest VOD products are kids shows and home-grown music-video services: AOL Music on Time Warner Cable and Music Choice on Comcast. (Three videos by hip-hop's Ciara were summoned 6.5 million times this year on Music Choice.) And Time Warner reports that VOD users buy 69% more movies than subscribers limited to pay-per-view schedules. Still, research firm In-Stat (owned by B&C parent Reed Elsevier) estimates that VOD will generate only $1.3 billion in revenue in 2008, a blip in a $70 billion industry.

Despite the potential, no one is quite sure how to sell the service. The main problem is that cable still doesn't get recent movies quickly. Studios are so afraid of cannibalizing their lucrative DVD sales and more modest rental businesses that hit movies are on the shelves of Blockbuster and Wal-Mart 30-45 days before they show up on cable VOD (or old-school pay-per-view) menus.

Subscribers buy VOD services in several different ways. One is subscription VOD, in which they pay $5-$10 monthly for a regular dose of programming. World Wresting Entertainment, gay-movie channel here! and Howard Stern are launching SVOD-only “channels.” Some operators, like Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable, charge subscribers already paying for pay networks like HBO an additional $5 monthly for a package of HBO shows and movies. On others, Comcast among them, VOD is part of a pay-channel package.

The pay-cable networks aggressively program and promote their VOD feeds as a tool to retain subscribers. Time Warner Entertainment & Networks Group Chairman Jeff Bewkes gloats that HBO On Demand generates half of all VOD traffic.

Besides pay choices, digital-cable subscribers are offered thousands of freebies, such as bite-size celebrity profiles from E!, FitTV's Caribbean Workout or parenting lessons from VOD-only “channel” Alpha Mom.

Says CBS research chief David Poltrack, “There are hundreds and hundreds of things you don't want to watch.”

Broadcast programming is nearly absent, though, because networks see no money in it right now. Some Comcast systems get national and local newscasts from NBC and CBS stations. But that's disposable programming: It has nearly zero value as library product.

Why aren't major series available? In many cases, broadcast networks don't own the rights. Even though HBO started writing VOD rights into its programming contracts a decade ago, broadcast networks started doing so only in the past two years. So getting all the producers and talent involved in older hits like Law & Order and CSI opens up a can of contractual worms.

But even for programming they do own, networks say they don't get paid enough. Cable executives don't want to pay for VOD content the way they license networks or pay-per-view movies. They figure they're already paying for The Real World when they pay MTV a 50¢-per-subscriber monthly license fee. Why should they pay again to offer that show on VOD?

“When a programmer says we want you to pay twice for the content, it seems like it's a little unbalanced,” says Peter Stearn, Time Warner Cable executive VP of product development.

Moreover, it's hard to see significant advertising revenues. Networks say operators like Comcast and Time Warner require three to four weeks to ensure that a commercial is available to every subscriber—a lifetime compared with the day or two it takes to deliver an ad on a regular cable network. Why so slow? VOD was initially designed for movies and required just a handful of new titles monthly. The flood of new programming and advertising is more than the systems can handle.

The biggest impediment to advertising is the rudimentary measurement system for VOD audiences. Nielsen Media's ratings are based on a sample of only about 5,000 homes, whereas digital-cable set-tops are capable of providing an unprecedented census of each home and every click of a remote control affecting a VOD program. One major drawback: They can't tell the demographics of anyone who was actually watching. Man or woman? Old or young? For that, they need a people meter like Nielsen's. The ratings service says it will start tracking VOD viewing late next year.

“TERABYTES OF DATA”

Measurement service Rentrak monitors VOD for Comcast but currently reports just four pieces of data, including how many subscribers watched a particular show and for how long—data collected at a cable system's central server. The American Association of Advertisers is demanding much more detail from each individual set-top, including the amount of “trick play”: fast-forwarding and rewinding through commercials. Collecting and processing that data is a massive job—”terabytes of data,” says one cable ad executive—and Rentrak can't deliver that level of detail.

SOME NETWORKS ARE HAPPY

Industry executives believe that measurement issues will be resolved, but it may take a while. Says MagnaGlobal's Wieser, “It's hard to negotiate for the rights when there's no ad model. It's hard to negotiate an ad model when there are no standards yet.”

Not all programmers are griping. Discovery—which owns the bulk of its programming—is aggressively exploiting VOD's potential, using the service as a lure for upcoming premieres on its main networks. And Scripps Networks executives are using HGTV and Food Network VOD as leverage for wider carriage of startup networks Fine Living and DIY. “We traded distribution for product,” says Channing Dawson, senior VP, emerging media, Scripps Networks. “That's how we got distribution on Comcast. If you look at it, that was a pretty good business decision.”

Still, few programmers are willing to bite. Says NBC's Zaslav, “I'm convinced that, ultimately, the different political dynamics and struggles of who makes more money will be set aside.” Understandably, he's just not inclined to go first.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6257810

THE NEW TV SEASON
Channel Surfing, Erosion & Networks Treading Water

By Paul Farhi Washington Post Staff Writer

First it was the VCR. Then came the proliferation of cable, satellite TV and DVDs.

Despite wave after wave of new competition, America's broadcast networks, the most popular purveyors of television for six decades, have maintained their primacy among viewers, diminished but not defeated.

But the worst may be yet to come.

As a new fall TV season dawns, the nation's big broadcasters -- ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and two smaller networks, UPN and WB -- face a challenge from a host of potentially landscape-changing new technologies.

These technologies not only threaten the networks' increasingly tenuous hold on the mass audience, but could fundamentally alter the experience of watching TV itself.

The very function of the networks -- picking the shows and dictating the day and time viewers have to watch them -- is gradually giving way to an age in which viewers take over those roles, with a much broader selection of programs.

Some of these new competitors are already in springlike bloom:

• By the end of the year, according to Kagan Research, 23.9 million cable and satellite TV homes will have access to video on demand (VOD), which enables viewers to order programs for instant viewing at any time. Once restricted to movies, VOD now includes a growing menu of recently aired TV programs, such as HBO's "The Sopranos."

• About 5.5 million homes, according to CBS, now have digital video recorders (DVRs), the newfangled devices that greatly simplify the apparently mystifying task of recording and playing back programs. DVRs such as TiVo also enable viewers to "pause" live broadcasts, and skip commercials -- a function that threatens broadcast television's economic underpinnings.

• TV is increasingly going mobile. New video-capable cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) can play brief news and sports clips, as well as short entertainment serials known as "mobisodes." The phones are common enough that they're being advertised on network TV, and major producers such as the Walt Disney Co. are exploring the mobisode market.

• Phone companies, which have been promising to enter the TV business for more than a decade, may actually start doing so soon. Verizon and SBC, once known as Baby Bells but now diversified telecommunications giants, have each begun testing fiber optic-based systems that could deliver an alphabet soup of TV products and services -- from VOD to DVRs to hundreds of high-definition programs -- to household customers next year. While regulatory questions remain, "we're moving very, very aggressively to enter this market," says Jeff Weber, SBC's vice president of product and strategy. Verizon, the Washington area's dominant local phone company, won a franchise for its souped-up TV service in Herndon this summer and is applying for similar approvals in 200 communities across the country.

Still another challenge is bubbling up from the Internet. With high-speed connections in nearly 60 percent of the country's homes, video files are beginning to fly around cyberspace just as text and music files have for years, auguring a day when old "Simpsons" episodes will be traded as easily as the latest 50 Cent or Mariah Carey song. Some Web video content has already proved more popular than its televised equivalent; the streaming audio and video of the recent Live 8 concerts, for example, drew more viewers online than they did on MTV.

At the same time, the Internet is giving rise to a grass-roots video revolution. So-called video logs, or "vlogs" (pronounced vee-logs) are Internet-delivered video clips, usually created by people from outside the TV mainstream. The current king of the form may be Rocketboom.com, which offers a daily three-minute Webcast of slightly snarky news, quirky features and (Democratic-leaning) commentary. Produced with off-the-shelf equipment by two full-time employees -- co-owners Andrew Baron, a Web designer and grad-school teacher, and host Amanda Congdon, an actress -- the New York-based vlog first appeared in October. It now attracts about 60,000 viewers daily from around the world. The venture has proved so popular that Baron and Congdon are considering selling subscriptions and advertising and linking up with other citizen vloggers to create "an Internet CNN or ABC," says Congdon, 24. "One of the great things about this is that people can watch [the daily program] anytime, anywhere," she says, decisively adding, "unlike regular TV."

People have been turning away from broadcast TV for years, of course, as the number of TV channels grew. The erosion has been gradual, like beach sand disappearing in the pounding surf, but the cumulative effect has been substantial. A decade ago, when "Seinfeld" and "Home Improvement" rode atop the Nielsen ratings, nearly two of every three viewers (65 percent) were tuned to network shows each night. Last season, the average was 47 percent--an all-time low. In fact, the average has hit all-time lows in nine of those 10 years.

The networks still have some unrivaled competitive advantages. Their signals reach into virtually every home in America, a claim no other medium can make. What's more, after a decade of dealmaking, each is part of a conglomerate that owns a major movie and TV studio (ABC-Disney, CBS-Paramount, NBC-Universal, etc.), which gives the networks first claim on the best Hollywood has to offer.

But with audio and video content in digital form, the barriers protecting conventional TV networks fall away, says Jeff Jarvis, a former TV Guide critic and media executive who writes a popular blog on the media called Buzzmachine.com. Now, he says, ordinary people can create and produce their own programs and distribute them without the help of a giant network of TV stations or cable systems.

"The networks aren't going to die tomorrow," says Jarvis, "but they're not going to grow. The fact that they are such cash cows will distract them from the reality that the mass market is dead, and it's being replaced by a massive number of niches."

If Jarvis and his ilk are correct, it suggests some profound changes in more than just viewer behavior. Since their inception, the broadcast networks have entertained and informed, and have played an important economic role, too. By regularly attracting the attention of tens of millions of people each day, they have facilitated the marketing of everything from toothpaste to cars to politicians. Advertisers, in turn, have provided the money to underwrite the ever-increasing production costs of TV programs.

"There's no question the outlook is and has been challenging for a number of years," says Garth Ancier, a former top executive at Fox and NBC who is now chairman of the WB network, home to series such as "Gilmore Girls" and "Smallville." "There are opportunities ahead," he says. "but there's also no doubt the picture will become more complicated."

The networks' economic model still works -- one 30-second ad on "American Idol" or "Desperate Housewives" reaches as many as 25 million people at once. But the gradual defection of viewers has made network advertising less efficient and effective with each passing year.

In another five or 10 years, network television could reach a tipping point in which advertisers no longer find it cost-effective to spend millions of dollars on 30-second spots that reach relatively few people, says Bob Garfield, a critic for Advertising Age. With the mass audience scattered across a thousand, or perhaps a million different "channels," the traditional network TV ecosystem would fall apart.

The problem, he suggests, is that none of the new technologies emerging now may be sufficiently developed by then to replace the old networks. Garfield caused a stir in advertising circles earlier this year by projecting a "chaos scenario" -- a world in which advertisers, who now pour $70 billion into local and national commercials each year, no longer have any effective way to tell masses of consumers about their products. While viewers might appreciate not being bombarded by ads, Garfield says such a scenario would roil the national economy. At the very least, the makers of expensive network programs, such as "CSI" or "West Wing," would have to find a new way to pay for their productions.

Broadcasters say that day isn't likely to arrive soon. Even as network audiences shrink, they point out, the ad market is still fundamentally strong. During the advance ad-buying period known as the "upfronts" this spring, for example, advertisers committed $9.3 billion to network programs this fall, essentially the same amount as in 2004, a boom year. Among the six broadcasters, only NBC, whose ratings plummeted 17 percent last season without "Friends" and "Frasier," suffered a decrease in ad sales.

Moreover, network officials aren't panicked about the future. The WB's Ancier says broadcasters can capitalize on VOD by convincing cable and satellite operators to offer network affiliates as pay-per-view options -- creating, say, "WB50 on demand" in the Washington area.

"If I was in the car business, I'd ask myself the same question: Who are our customers and what do they want?" says Ancier. "The answer, I think, is they want to watch what they want on a timetable they [set]. This is a direction we have to move in."

The key may be the networks' ability to produce hits, shows that people will want to watch on whatever new device hits the market, says David Poltrack, CBS's top researcher. His network, for example, has found that the programs most often recorded by DVR users are the same broadcast programs that typically rate as the most popular in the weekly Nielsens, such as "CSI," "Desperate Housewives" and "The Apprentice."

As new technologies proliferate, the networks can use those hits to stand out in a field cluttered with vlogs, mobisodes and other upstarts. As Poltrack's boss, CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves, recently told Wall Street analysts, "Where others see adversity, we see opportunity."

Ultimately, it's not just the ability to distribute a program over a network that counts, but the ability to produce and own the hit shows that run on those networks, says Douglas Gomery, a University of Maryland professor of media studies who is writing a history of American broadcasting. By merging with Hollywood studios, he says, the networks have ensured themselves access to the best programming. As long as these studios continue to supply a steady stream of highly polished programs, Gomery says, their network TV subsidiaries will do just fine.

"My argument has always been that [the networks] perform the same function in the TV industry as movie theaters do in the movie industry," Gomery says. "The studios don't make any money from the movie theaters. But if they can create a hit there, they'll have a hit all the way down the line -- in home video, in DVDs and so on. It's the same way in TV. If you can create a hit series on a network, the reruns will play for the rest of eternity."

And that, he says, will be just as true in the brave new TV world to come as in the old one now fading.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091600367_pf.html

THE EMMYS
Don't Be Lost About Who Will Win Emmys
By WALT BELCHER Tampa Tribune

Emmy night could belong to ABC with "Lost" as the best drama and "Desperate Housewives" as the best comedy.

Those are my picks, but you never can tell how the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voters will go. Winners are selected by those who work in the industry -- not those who critique it.

There could be some surprises at the "57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards," and HBO might not grab all the post-Emmy headlines as the biggest winner this year.

With three stars of "Desperate Housewives" competing for a best actress statuette, who cares if HBO wins anything?

Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher might have to put forth their best fake smiles when Felicity Huffman gets this one -- if I'm right.

HBO is overrated as an Emmy winner. The network usually sweeps the movies and miniseries categories because the broadcast networks have just about given up on those formats.

Expect a pleasant night with likable Ellen DeGeneres as host. The awards show begins at 8 on CBS.

Red-carpet coverage will be on E! Entertainment Television (6 p.m. with Star Jones Reynolds and comedian Kathy Griffin) and TV Guide Channel (6 p.m. with Joan and Melissa Rivers). CBS is sticking with "60 Minutes" and isn't providing pre-show coverage.

Expect as many tears as laughs tonight.

Presenters and performers will be wearing magnolias (the state flower

of both Louisiana and Mississippi) in tribute to survivors and victims of Hurricane Katrina. Information on how to donate to relief efforts will be provided throughout the telecast.

News anchors Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and the late Peter Jennings will be honored in a special tribute. I always get choked up when they recall TV folk who passed away during the past year.

Candice Bergen, Billy Crystal, Charles S. Dutton, Michael J. Fox, Lisa Kudrow and John Travolta are among those who will share memories of past Emmy shows.

At the 1977 awards, Travolta accepted a supporting actress Emmy on behalf of his girlfriend, Diana Hyland, who died that year. She won for "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble," playing Travolta's mom.

On the lighter side, the Black Eyed Peas and Earth, Wind & Fire will open the show.

And William Shatner will sing. He's part of the "Emmy Idol" contest that will feature celebrities singing favorite TV theme songs: "Green Acres" "Fame," "Movin' on Up" (from "The Jeffersons") and the "Star Trek" theme.

Also performing: Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars"), Gary Dourdan ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"), Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace"), singer Macy Gray and mogul Donald Trump.

Trump is nominated for an Emmy for his "The Apprentice" reality show.

Here are my picks for winners:

•"Lost" gets the top drama prize if "Deadwood" doesn't steal it. "24" is also a contender, but "Six Feet Under" and "The West Wing" are past their prime. Overlooked (not nominated): "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me."

•"Desperate Housewives" is the top comedy. The rest -- "Arrested Development," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Scrubs" and the overrated "Will & Grace" -- have a been-there, done-that feel.

•Lauren Graham of "Gilmore Girls" is my pick for best comedy actress; unfortunately, she's not nominated. So I say Huffman takes the prize over "Desperate" co-stars Hatcher and Cross. Also nominated: past winner Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") and Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle").

•Hugh Laurie would be a good pick for lead drama actor for playing the cranky doctor on "House," but Ian McShane is a safer bet because he elevated profanity to Shakespearean levels on "Deadwood." The others -- Hank Azaria ("Huff"), James Spader ("Boston Legal") and Kiefer Sutherland ("24") -- are worthy, too. Overlooked: Denis Leary of "Rescue Me."

•Glenn Close of "The Shield" gets one for lead drama actress because film stars almost always win. Her competition is Patricia Arquette ("Medium"), Frances Conroy ("Six Feet Under"), Jennifer Garner ("Alias") and Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"). Overlooked: Bell ("Veronica Mars").

•Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond") is my pick because I miss that show already and, well, I just don't care about the others in this category: Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development"), Zach Braff ("Scrubs"), Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace") and Tony Shalhoub ("Monk").

Other favorites: Shatner ("Boston Legal") for supporting drama actor; CCH Pounder ("The Shield") for supporting drama actress; Peter Boyle ("Everybody Loves Raymond") or Jeremy Piven ("Entourage") for supporting comedy actor; Holland Taylor ("Two and a Half Men") or Jessica Walter ("Arrested Development") for supporting comedy actress; "The Daily Show" for best variety, music or comedy series; and "The 4400" for best miniseries.

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THE NEW TV SEASON
This Season, a Softening Of Harsh Reality TV

By Chip Crews Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 18, 2005; N03

The state of the world seems especially grim of late, but reality is receding on network television -- even as it grows just a little bit sunnier.

We're talking reality TV, of course, and it would be a mistake to read too much into the notion of receding. Reality -- or "alternative" -- programming holds an utterly secure place at every network. However, perhaps mindful that most of last fall's reality debuts were DOA, schedule makers this season are relying more on scripted shows to fill vacancies: The fall lineup features a grand total of two new reality series, compared with six a year ago.

It's worth noting that those two shows -- "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" and "Three Wishes," both airing on NBC -- promise a gentler version of reality than some of their predecessors have delivered. Even NBC's "Fear Factor," a graybeard of the genre that began its life wreaking torment on contestants, is assembling what its creative team is calling "the season of change."

TV tea-leaf readers are always looking to identify trends, and some observers are calling this a year of kinder reality. Network programmers are generally leery of such labels.

"I just think it's expanding a little with more variety," says Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC Universal cable entertainment, digital content and cross-network strategy. "I think we're moving away from the contest shows that go on week after week and toward shows that begin and end in a single episode. . . . I think we probably have enough shows with back-stabbing at their core."

Nor does Mark Burnett, executive producer of, among many others, "Survivor" and both versions of "The Apprentice" -- Donald Trump's original and Stewart's newcomer -- see a particular shift in the genre.

"I think it's just moving to higher quality," he says. "Let's face it -- after 'Survivor' took TV by storm in a new direction, people rushed to the air with many, many half-baked ideas. I said all along that reality television would be held to the same standard as scripted. . . . It comes down to one thing -- quality."

A lot of the happy-reality talk has been inspired by ABC, whose "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has been a Top 20 hit, pulling in an average of nearly 14 million viewers a week last season. Ask Andrea Wong, the network's executive vice president for alternative programming, specials and late night, about reality trends, and she'll bring the conversation home to the trend at ABC.

"We've come up in the past couple of years with a brand that works for us," she says. "It's about wish fulfillment, escapism, strong emotional journeys, changing lives for the better."

That would seem to position "Extreme Makeover" -- disadvantaged family gets fabulous new custom-made house, courtesy of network elves and assorted volunteers -- as the emblematic ABC reality show.

"I think 'Dancing With the Stars' " -- the biggest hit of the past summer and, the network hopes, a long-term franchise -- "is also an emblematic show for us," Wong counters. "It's really positive and good clean fun and escapist. I think that's a real natural evolution for us."

ABC has plenty more in the pipeline for mid-season -- another edition of "Dancing," another "Bachelor," a Simon Cowell project seeking to identify the next great invention. And then there's "Miracle Workers," which sounds like a perfect ABC reality show: Each week staffers locate someone desperately in need of heavy-duty, highly expensive surgery and make it happen.

Of the network programmers interviewed, Wong was the only one to speak in terms of a network brand or imprint. But you can't copyright a mind-set, and ABC's competitors have taken note of its success.

Enter "Three Wishes," which is expected to find success of its own Friday nights on NBC.

The title says it all, just about: Gospel singer Amy Grant and a team of worker bees invade a different small town every week. They set up a tent and listen to various townspeople's hopes, dreams and troubles. Three wishes are chosen, and by show's end, they've been fulfilled.

If that sounds like "Extreme Makeover" by way of "Queen for a Day," it more or less is. Executive producer Andrew Glassman ("Average Joe") has heard it all before.

"The obvious question is, is this a takeoff on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'?" he says. "That's a really great show. . . . You have to give them credit for proving that there's a market for happy endings. But that said, I think our show is going to have its own voice. . . . It's easy to say it's all about feel-good, but there's a lot of comedy."

The impetus for the show, he says, predates "Makeover."

"I was a journalist for a long time," he says, "and had an idea for a show where journalists who encounter stories of this kind take it one more step." When NBC came looking for an answer to "Makeover," he was ready.

The fall's other new reality show sports a particularly high profile -- "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." With Trump's version still going, executive producer Burnett is doubling his franchise's airtime. Not, we're assured, that the shows will be interchangeable.

"The difference in tone is similar to the difference in tone between 'CSI: Miami' and 'CSI: New York,' " Burnett says. The original "is dictated by Trump's personality in the rough-and-tumble world of New York real estate. Martha, on the other hand, is in an artistic business. . . . Both people's personalities are reflective of their industries. . . . The shows mirror who they are."

So there will be a distinction. Now we can watch Trump snarling "You're fired!" at his humiliated rejects while Martha dismisses hers in a nurturing, artistic manner. Still, this is two ongoing "Apprentices." Is somebody pushing his luck?

Burnett doesn't believe so, although "I think I'd have to think very seriously about doing a third. . . . But two, especially two so-different hosts . . ." Suffice it to say, he's confident.

He is, however, less sanguine about some of NBC's scheduling. Stewart's show airs in a relatively cozy 8 p.m. Wednesday slot. But Trump's is returning to its 9 p.m. Thursday position, again opposite CBS's "CSI" juggernaut. The producer isn't complaining about that, but his lead-ins, this season as last, are "Joey," a sitcom that's never really caught on, and the fading "Will & Grace." The "CSI" lead-in, meanwhile, is Burnett's own "Survivor," another megahit.

It's enough to make a producer unhappy.

"Yeah," he says heartily. "Honest answer. But I don't run the network." He then offers up one of the vagaries of reality programming: "I'm sort of my own lead-in." This, he says, is because audience tracking data show that a certain percentage of reality viewers will consistently choose a reality show over a scripted one -- meaning that a share of the "Survivor" audience is expected to switch channels and watch Trump.

Still, he muses, "it's sort of a tough spot."

And speaking of tough spots: On an episode of "Fear Factor" that aired recently in syndication, contestants in pursuit of a $50,000 prize began their quest by bobbing for plastic rings in a vat containing a sickening sea of horse blood. The winners of that round were directed to chew up and swallow a clutch of moistly bloated white caterpillars. Then each aspirant had to crawl into a dark, claustrophobic grotto and try to round up a mess of dead skunks that had been deposited there.

That was an early installment. Executive producer Matt Kunitz, hard at work on the show's sixth season (it will probably air after the first of the year, NBC's Gaspin says), listens to the account and says brightly, "It often amazes me that nobody complains."

In fact, Kunitz and his team have been moving the show in somewhat different directions. "We don't want to be 'The Price Is Right' -- we don't want to be doing the same thing over and over again," he says. The show's stunt team has been replaced by the team from the movie "The Matrix," he says, meaning contestants can expect more exciting and telegenic challenges. And a new feature called "Home Invasion" at the close of every episode will find host Joe Rogan knocking on the door of an American home and challenging the occupants to perform a "Fear Factor" stunt right in the front yard. So far, Kunitz says, nobody's turned him down.

"We've never taken ourselves too seriously," he concludes. "I would say that perhaps we did get a little too gross, and we're shifting. . . . You can only eat so many gross items."

Of all the major networks, only CBS has kept last September's reality lineup intact: "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" have been among the reliably bright spots on the first-place network's schedule, but the new fare is all scripted. (CBS did air a couple of midseason reality flops last season, "Wickedly Perfect" and "The Will"; the latter was pulled after a single episode.)

The biggest contributor to last fall's glut of new reality shows was Fox, which offered up fully half of the crop: Remember "The Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best," "The Next Great Champ" and "The Partner"? (You might have a dim recollection of the first two -- they at least saw the light of day before expiring -- but "The Partner" never aired.)

This year the network has seven new series, all of them scripted.

Fall programming at Fox is particularly dicey because the network airs all of the baseball playoffs, including the World Series. That draws good numbers and brings in lots of money, but it creates problems for the entertainment side: If a promising new series debuts in September, it's going to be preempted when the playoffs begin, which threatens to kill the show's momentum.

"Last year was the fourth or fifth attempt to get fall launched till 'American Idol' comes in January," says Mike Darnell, Fox's executive vice president for alternative programming and specials. "To be honest, the reality programming we had on last year was considered filler until we could get to the good stuff. It was meant to hopefully get us to January and/or to November. To get past baseball. But -- didn't work very well."

Not that Fox has lost faith in reality.

" 'Idol' is still the driving force of the network," Darnell says. No surprise there: A 30-second commercial on the show's Wednesday edition will go for an average price of $705,000 this season, according to the trade publication AdWeek. It's believed to be a record for a prime-time series.

"And we've ordered backup episodes of 'Trading Spouses' and 'Nanny 911,' " Darnell continues, "because they were both successes for us."

Most new shows fail, he points out. Still, "when you look at reality compared to drama and comedy, it's still a better ratio of successes -- but it's catching up. With quantity comes failure."

Darnell and his counterparts have long known the truth of that, and often proved it. For them the search goes on for the Next Great Concept.

"People like what they like," he says. "It's not that their tastes shift. It's just finding something new that they like."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091600386_pf.html

THE NEW TV SEASON
Female Characters, Made To Suffer for Our 'Art'

By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 18, 2005; N01

Women play an enormous role in the new television season.

They're paralyzed by venomous bites of exotic spiders that crawl under their front doors, after which they can put up no struggle as they're raped and murdered.

They're locked in the house for a couple of years by a husband who chains them in the basement in a dog collar.

They're impaled on the ceiling, where they spontaneously combust.

They have strange unnamed things done to them by aliens during a hurricane and wind up, in shock and naked (naturally), in a swamp.

They are abducted while test-driving a vintage sports car they saw for sale on the Internet, have their mouths and eyes covered with duct tape, and are tossed into cages at a remote shipyard, where their terror is monitored and recorded via video camera for about a week before they're murdered.

And the pregnant ones get pulled out of the shower at night by huge, hideous, wolflike creatures who rip the fetuses out of their wombs.

Yes, there's lots and lots of work -- albeit short gigs -- for actresses on new series this TV season.

And these great roles were created by -- two guesses -- men, the little dears.

Trying to get them to discuss the Season of Die, Women, Die! can be difficult. Because the men who made the shows, and the suits who ordered them, while not timid about slicing and dicing up the female characters in these drama series, go shy all over when asked about the trend.

"Is it a bad thing to be a woman on this show?" one television critic asked the panel of creative minds behind WB's "Supernatural" at the summer TV Press Tour in Beverly Hills.

(That's the one in which Mom goes in to check on little baby Sam and winds up stuck to the nursery ceiling oozing blood -- a spectacular feat she then trumps by bursting into flame. Fast-forward 20 years; Sam's live-in girlfriend suffers the same fate. Sam is not good for a woman's health.)

"It's certainly dangerous, apparently," executive producer Eric Kripke replied. Then, remembering his prepping from the network before the Q&A session, he did a hasty 180 to get back on-message with "No, not at all, not at all.

"It's -- you know, we're going to be -- you know, every -- we just -- you know, this show to me is, there's kind of this mythic, you know, purity," continued Kripke, who is one of the writers (I know, hard to believe) on this series.

Jeff Davis had much the same reaction during a Q&A session for the show he created for CBS, "Criminal Minds."

(That's the one in which the would-be used-car buyer winds up in a cage with her eyes and mouth duct-taped, awaiting execution.)

Specifically, the question Davis took was: "One of the things we've noticed this season in all the pilots we've seen is the level of violence, particularly against women, has been ratcheted up to some really gruesome levels. You have the woman in the cage before she's raped and murdered. . . . Has that become necessary now, with so many shows on the air, that to become noticed, you've got to think up a crime that's so heinous that it's almost beyond imagination?"

"Actually, I don't think so," Davis responded, bravely ignoring the obvious.

"The most gruesome scene that we see [in the pilot episode] is this woman in the cage getting her fingernails clipped . . . . And when I wrote that scene, everybody told me I was sick. But it's just a woman getting her nails clipped."

Then the rest of the team jumped in and noted that the show's crimes are based on real ones.

Hey, It's Not Us, It's Reality was one of the first lines of defense tossed out by show creators and network suits; critics already had heard it several times before "Criminal Minds" had its news conference.

"That's something we've been hearing," one weary critic responded. "It's just that . . . we've seen about seven of [these types of shows] and to see them all in one season you have to wonder . . . is this what it takes to get noticed?"

"There was actually a mandate from the network saying we want only shows that perpetrate violence against women," executive producer Mark Gordon quipped. "We're just trying to get on the air. We're doing the best we can."

"Well, I don't find it as funny as you do," the critic shot back.

Series star Mandy Patinkin, sensing the lack of love, jumped in.

"If this show isn't fair to women, it won't make me happy, either. I don't think anybody is being funny up here," said Patinkin, an accomplished actor and singer, who has the voice of an angel but apparently hearing that leaves something to be desired.

"I hope what is osmosized through this piece is a moral code somehow, in our behavior," Patinkin continued. "I hope there's a message of ending suffering in our behavior, for the victim. . . . I hope a show like this heightens your awareness . . . that the next time you go online to buy something, you might be a little more aware. . . . The next time you're washing your dishes at a kitchen window and your 4-year-old is in the yard, before you go answer the phone you'll consider who might be able to get into that yard and take your child, et cetera. . . . And yes, we're doing it through an example of an explosive, neon-sign kind of behavior of serial violence."

The old We're Doing It for the Women ploy. Critics heard a lot of that, too.

Patinkin who, while having the voice of an angel, sometimes does wander when speaking at these Q&A sessions, informed critics that the FBI is grateful for shows like "CSI." The bureau has told him it has "absolutely changed the criminal justice system, in terms of people's attitudes towards DNA. It has convicted a number of killers because the juries understand this system better."

Which is interesting, because what we've heard is that prosecutors hate "CSI" because it has given juries unrealistic expectations about the quality, quantity and patness of evidence they'll be presented with in trials.

But Patinkin does bring up a good point. Almost all of these new crime dramas celebrating their debuts by doing heinous things to women are chasing "CSI," the Holy Grail of Broadcast.

What does "CSI" have that other shows lack? Besides a preponderance of story lines about kinky killings of lovely young women, that is.

Young men.

The entire television industry these days is obsessed with the pursuit of young male viewers. Young male viewers are the most elusive viewers. It's because they're so busy doing other things: playing Xbox, downloading music on their iPods, playing Internet poker, pimping their rides. Advertisers pay top dollar for ad time in a show that attracts more males 18 to 34 years old because it's so hard for advertisers to reach them.

And did you know that last season's highest-rated scripted, live-action series among males ages 18 to 34 were "Desperate Housewives," an ABC prime-time soap about a bunch of forty-something hotties on suburban Wisteria Lane, and "CSI"?

Surprising, huh?

From which, we conclude, young men like their older women in teddies having sex with teenagers who cut their grass (or, in the case of Teri Hatcher, naked and in the bushes), but they like their younger women -- well, dead.

Which explains why, on all of these new Die, Women, Die! series, the victims are pretty young women. Mostly white, too -- just like on the cable news networks.

Is it any wonder that CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler, when asked about the trend after one of her network's Q&A sessions, responded, "Perhaps we should take a look at the society as a whole.

"We're particularly sensitive," said Tassler, whose network boasts all three "CSIs" as well as the new "Close to Home," in which a boy sets the family house on fire with him, his little sister and his mom inside, in hopes the fire department will come and save them from Dad, who's kept them locked up there for a couple of years -- some of which time Mom has spent wearing a dog collar, leashed up in the basement.

"We look to programming practices [department], we look to our producers to be responsible. In future stories we're going to try to monitor things like that," she said.

"About 98 percent of this is about 'CSI' and its spinoffs, which also worked," notes Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel TV critic Tom Jicha, who was asking most of the Die, Women, Die! questions at the press tour.

At least once during a Die, Women, Die! show Q&A session, someone promised critics that in the course of the TV season, they'd show crimes perpetrated against men as well. But, as Jicha noted, "When they're looking to sell the show, they always put the women in chains."

It's true, in the pilot of "Invasion" -- that's the one in which unseen alien-things swoop into a Florida town during a hurricane and do unnamed things that leave some of the citizens, including the sheriff's wife and the local minister, smelling different -- it's the sheriff's wife who's found naked in the swamp, not the pudgy male minister. Wonder why that was?

Interestingly, other network suits didn't do much better than the show creators at answering the Die, Women, Die! questions.

Fox programming chief Peter Liguori was specifically asked about the opening episode of his new series "Killer Instinct" (formerly called "The Gate"), which was created by one of the guys who used to work on "CSI." (That's the one in which a guy sends big hairy spiders under the door of a woman's home so they can bite and paralyze her, so he can then rape and kill her.) Jicha noted that a trend is "emerging -- and it's happened on a Fox show in particular" in which "crimes are getting a little more grotesque" and he wondered, "Is that necessary to distinguish yourself from the crowd?"

"I think the goal should be to . . . expand the envelope with taste; it should be to expand the envelope with creativity," Liguori began.

"When you look to something like that, you know -- again, we're gearing those crimes to almost be popcornish. Suffering from arachnophobia myself, yes, I cringed also when I saw it. But the intent there is actually to create creative, fun crimes as opposed to attempting for -- "

"Would you like to reconsider that phrasing, talking about spiders and then getting raped and murdered?" the critic interrupted.

"Well, I was referring to the spider more than -- more than the aftermath of what occurs," Liguori said.

Aftermath?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091600360_pf.html

THE NEW TV SEASON
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, The Top Gun Of Prime Time

By William Booth Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 18, 2005; N01
SANTA MONICA, Calif. Jerry Bruckheimer's world headquarters for the near-total domination of network television is a warehouse on a dead-end street. The giveaway: The valet parking lot looks like a Porsche-Audi-Benz dealership. Inside, it's exposed beams and youthful assistants in $200 dungarees, and the coffee table in the reception zone displays books on suicidal abstract expressionists. Bruckheimer's own office is power leather meets Zen monastery, laboratory clean but calming, filled with a rich ambient light. In fact, the personal set for the most successful producer in TV resembles the moody palette of his hit "CSI" shows, and one half-expects a crime scene investigator with tweezers to enter and start talking about hair pulp and stage-3 insect pupae.

The entertainment press is running out of monikers for Bruckheimer. For a long time, he was called Mr. Blockbuster, responsible for big movies with big stars, big budgets, big explosions: "Beverly Hills Cop," "Top Gun," "Bad Boys," "Con Air," "Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor." And then, five years ago, the son of a Detroit clothes salesman did something unusual for a wildly successful feature film producer: He turned his eye to television. Now they call him "Jerry Bruckheimer, the megaproducer," and, the most honorific of all: "the man with the golden gut."

This season, Bruckheimer had 10 shows picked up for prime-time network television, unseating yesteryear's Aaron Spelling. This is a record for an executive producer. It is 9 1/2 hours of TV. That is almost half of the 22 hours of prime time that a major network provides each week. Seven of the shows are on CBS, where Bruckheimer's output is largely responsible for that network's turnaround from last to first place. When he says his prayers at night, CBS President Leslie Moonves must say a special one for the golden gut.

Bruckheimer produces the original "CSI," its offspring "CSI: NY" and "CSI: Miami," the returning dramas "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace," plus the reality show "Amazing Race." Now he has four new programs: "E-Ring," a Pentagon drama for NBC featuring Dennis Hopper and Benjamin Bratt; "Close to Home," a crime show set in the suburbs on CBS; "Just Legal," with Don Johnson as a cynical lawyer mentoring a young legal eagle for the WB; and finally "Modern Men," Bruckheimer's first sitcom, about three bachelors and their life coach, which will air mid-season on the WB.

His returning shows are among the top-rated on television. Critics have applauded the writing, directing and acting talent he marshals, and in the industry he is credited with bringing the high-end production values of the movies to the small screen. Part of his success has come from luring feature film actors -- such as Gary Sinise and William L. Petersen -- to TV, as well as established movie directors. Taylor Hackford, director of the Oscar-nominated biopic "Ray," for example, did the pilot for "E-Ring," and Andy Davis, director of "The Fugitive," did the same for "Just Legal."

In his office, Bruckheimer steers a guest away from his long desk, which is as orderly as a spreadsheet, to the leather couches and sits for a relatively rare interview. He speaks softly, so you have to lean forward to hear him. If his former producing partner, Don Simpson, who died from a massive overdose of cocaine and prescription drugs in 1996, was the extroverted showman, Bruckheimer is all discipline, as studiously forthcoming as a Supreme Court nominee.

His title on his television shows is executive producer, so what exactly does he do for a living? "We are a content company," he says. "We sit here and we create content."

Over Bruckheimer's 25-year career, the Hollywood Reporter estimates, his films have combined earnings of $13 billion.

So how does he spend his day?

Bruckheimer says he wakes at 6 a.m. and will leave the office after 8 p.m., and then he hopes to swing by the ice rink for an hour to slap around hockey pucks before he returns home.

"As you know, we have six ongoing series and four more were picked up, and there's always little bits and pieces of all those things that need your attention, and you also have to focus on what's next. We're constantly in production. We're producing a lot of different shows, and the movies, of course. We have four movies in the works now."

On this day, he took meetings with lawyers. "I met with Michael Bay today to try to get him back, to get a movie going with him." Bay is the director most recently of "The Island."

"There were some personnel issues to deal with. We have some scheduling problems with 'Pirates,' " as in the sequel to Johnny Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean." "I was also hearing some new ideas. And casting. I spent part of the day looking at some tapes. Right now, we have two things we want to bring to the networks" in the spring, "and we're making deals right now with the writers, and then we'll go and pitch them to the networks."

Does Bruckheimer do the pitch? Nope, that is for his executives and the show's writer-creators. One imagines that the megaproducer hears pitches all day long, but in fact he says he does not, that his fellow producers do most of the listening. "They know what the company does. They know what a good idea for a movie or a show is. And they understand the kinds of things that we do."

Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television, who is partner with Bruckheimer on his TV shows, explains: "What does Jerry do? What he does is make choices. Thousands of them a day." Roth believes that one of Bruckheimer's strengths is "he makes entertainment that pleases himself. He is the man with the golden gut. He is a man of the people, and I'm sorry that sounds corny, but he doesn't experience these shows as a Hollywood insider, but this guy from Detroit who wants to sit back and be entertained." At 59, "he's at the top of his game, not at all elitist. So many people in this town, I'm sorry to say, are charlatans and pretenders, who just want to make the money, make an impression, but [Bruckheimer] comes to it as a viewer, a consumer, first and foremost."

Bruckheimer says he reads the scripts of all his shows -- that's like a small phone book a week -- and is not shy about conveying his feelings, but does not overwhelm writers with notes. He watches all the shows, too, views the dailies and gives special attention to pilots, what he calls "the template" for a show.

Hackford, the film director who did the pilot for "E-Ring," remembers sitting in the editing room with Bruckheimer. "I was thinking let's see how this goes. But every comment he made was smart. We had to trim and his ideas were right on the money." Hackford says that the Pentagon refused to assist with the TV show (unlike the military's help with the filming of "Top Gun"). "But Bruckheimer didn't wilt. He said just do it without them. The great thing for me is that Jerry Bruckheimer and his team gave me all the help I needed and then they left me alone."

Bruckheimer says there's a style of show he won't do. Take reality TV. His "Amazing Race" is, if you can say this, "quality reality." But eating bugs on "Fear Factor" or trying to hook fat bachelors up with models? "I wouldn't watch it. Somebody can make it, but I wouldn't watch. That's what I'm talking about. I wouldn't enjoy it. I don't want to make a show that I wouldn't watch. It would be too painful." He pauses. "Look, I've made enough money that I never have to do another show, but I love what I do, and I'll keep doing it as long as I enjoy it."

Anthony Zuiker, creator of the original "CSI" (who pitched the show when he was a lowly tram operator at a Vegas resort), describes his boss as "ferociously commercial," and he means that in a good way. "He has the best eye, the best taste in the business."

Zuiker describes the "Bruckheimer style" of television this way: "His colors are richer, the palette, the lighting, dark and edgy, and the speed is quicker." He says Bruckheimer taught him to pace his shows with "valleys and peaks," a writing and editing approach "where you slow down and embrace a moment," then the action rushes forward with quick shots, with scenes often ending in a trademark "white pop," a visual flash of bleaching fadeaway, "and you're keeping the audience on its toes." Zuiker says the producer suggested he watch the German cult film "Run Lola Run," filled with quick cuts and flashbacks and -forwards, which taught the "CSI" creator that "I was dealing with fractured time," which is another hallmark of the "CSI" series and its clones.

With so many of his shows on the air (and many of them, critics say, feel quite similar in tone and content), is it a good thing for one man to serve as a kind of gatekeeper to prime time? Bruckheimer dismisses the idea. "I mean, everybody has an equal opportunity with their shows." And if you make the right decisions, "and the decisions add up, and you have the right pilot, it's going to take off and maybe become this supersonic jet and you have the number one drama on TV."

As for the success of his "CSIs" and their related fare, Bruckheimer explains that they are not traditional male-dominated cops-and-robbers shows, but "mysteries." He points out that the bestseller lists for novels are dominated by mysteries and that their biggest consumers are women, and so his shows pull in a strong female demographic, "and fortunately, the women control the remote."

He thinks his shows plug into a zeitgeist for "process, and I love process. I love being put in a place I know nothing about and showing how it actually works." Before the "CSIs," Bruckheimer says, he would watch a crime drama and often think "this is BS," so he wanted to show how a crime would be actually solved -- albeit in 47 minutes.

Here's a last bit of insight into the way the golden gut works. One of his new shows, "Close to Home," is about a district attorney in the suburbs. "I was recently called to jury duty," Bruckheimer says, "and you see these young women, these prosecutors, bright, smart, and you know they have families, they have wedding rings on, and so how do they deal with this tough job they have, this really ugly world that they live in, and take that home." At the same time, he was thinking about the Scott Peterson trial, where the murder takes place not in New York or Miami, but Modesto, where life is all very ordinary, until murder most foul intrudes. So he put it all together. Women. Suburbs. Crime. Process. And finally: hit?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091600399_pf.html

THE EMMYS
Emmy winners could be a critical success

By MARK McGUIRE Albany Times-Union Staff writer

The list of white-hot buzz shows that get snubbed on Emmys night is as long as Tony Soprano's rap sheet. But this is the year that the shows appearing on magazine covers and critics' best-of lists -- maybe even mine -- will score big with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Put another way, it's a lock that ABC's two rookie serials, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," will win a slew of hardware at the 57th Annual Emmy Awards (8 p.m. Sunday, WRGB Ch. 6).

"The critics will be real happy this year," said Tom O'Neil, author of the definitive study "The Emmys" and the pre-eminent Emmy historian/prognosticator. "We will see the cool, hip shows win. ... We will see new stars, new winners."

Of course, the Emmy voters could still get critics whining again. " 'Lost' could lose to 'The West Wing.' ... There's the groan," O'Neil said.

Here's something to keep in mind when watching the winners announced: The Academy votes on specific episodes submitted by the eventual nominees. Schlubs like me often base our revulsion over the awards on the strengths and weaknesses of an entire season.

So NBC's White House drama had a strong comeback -- but there's no way it can really win, right? Not like 2003, when "The West Wing" somehow beat out "The Sopranos"?

O'Neil thinks it might happen again. "The reason being is ('The West Wing') feels irresistibly important to a bunch of Hollywood phonies," said O'Neil, who will be keeping company with Joan and Melissa Rivers for TV Guide Channel's coverage of the Emmys pre-show starting at 6 p.m.

Academy voters "are such a shallow people in the way they think. They look at 'The West Wing' and, like the Oscar people, they want to vote for things that look important." (Bear in mind that this is coming from someone who will be hanging out with the Rivers gals on Sunday night.)

Ellen DeGeneres will host the (allegedly) three-hour ceremony from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. DeGeneres did a pitch-perfect turn as host during the 2001 ceremony, which was delayed twice by 9/11 attacks, and can be expected to put in another stellar performance in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina.

Here are some other projections and hopes in several major categories:

Best comedy: Reigning champ "Arrested Development" (Fox) is worthy, and departed "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS) will get some consideration. But if "Desperate Housewives" doesn't win, it will be one of the biggest upsets in recent Emmy history.

"It cannot lose," O'Neil said. "It has everything going for it, including being twice as long (as most comedies), a one-hour competing against a half-hour."

Best drama: "Deadwood" may get some votes, while its fellow HBO drama "Six Feet Under" is an also-ran. "24" (Fox) is a worthy nominee, but not a winner. And while "The West Wing" did have a strong year, the Academy can't be brain-dead enough to let it steal another best drama Emmy. ("The Sopranos," which won in 2004, was not eligible this year. The Academy has a silly rule that you actually have to be on TV to win an Emmy.)

This is the Year of "Lost" -- at least in the categories not inhabited by ABC stablemate "Desperate Housewives."

Lead comedy actor: I'd love to see an upset win by Zach Braff of "Scrubs" (NBC), an up-and-coming actor on an underappreciated show. Ray Romano, like several "Raymond" actors in different categories, will get strong lifetime achievement consideration. But I would have no complaints with another win for Tony Shalhoub for "Monk" (USA). He'll win.

Lead comedy actress: The most fascinating category of the night, since three of the five nominees hail from "Desperate Housewives." Marcia Cross, who plays the murderous and saccharine Bree Van De Camp, should get the nod.

Lead drama actor: What a great selection of talent. Hugh Laurie's performance as the acerbic, pill-popping Dr. Greg House on "House" (Fox) won him the best drama actor award from the Television Critics Association, and he very well could win here for his episode "Detox."

"Substance abuse," O'Neil said, "always wins Emmys."

The academy could go with the 2004 TCA award winner who was inexplicably snubbed last year at the Emmys: Ian McShane, who plays the singular saloon keeper Al Swearengen on "Deadwood."

Best drama actress: This could be a toss-up between two top-flight actresses: I'll go with Glenn Close for her one-year stint as Capt. Monica Rawling on "The Shield" (FX), over Frances Conroy for her performance as the brittle matriarch on "Six Feet Under."

O'Neil said based on the episodes submitted, don't be surprised with a win by Mariska Hargitay from "Law & Order: SVU" (NBC).

Some other quick selections: Peter Boyle ("Raymond") and Jessica Walter ("Arrested Development") for best supporting comedy actor and actress; Terry O'Quinn ("Lost") and Tyne Daly ("Judging Amy," CBS) for best supporting drama actor and actress; and "Lackawanna Blues" (HBO) for best TV movie.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=399578

Friday’s network prime-time ratings have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread. Sorry for their tardy addition.

hi everyone,

each year I do a full Fall Preview and I thought some of you might like to see it.

http://www.letterten.com/fallpreview/2005

enjoy.

(note - i make exactly zilch off of the site.)



Jay: thanks for the great charts!

While I don't necesarily agree with all your predictions, your hard work is very helpful -- and adds much-needed resource.

Thanks for sharing it!

Emmy Scorecard
Emmy nominations

If you missed this the other day when I first posted it, and want to follow along (or make your own picks) during Sunday’s Emmy show, (live 8 PM ET, tape delay 8 PM PT) here again are the major nominations:

Drama Series:
Deadwood, HBO
Lost, ABC
Six Feet Under, HBO
24, Fox
The West Wing, NBC.

Comedy Series:
Arrested Development, Fox
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
Scrubs, NBC
Will & Grace, NBC.

Miniseries:
Elvis, CBS
Empire Falls, HBO
The 4400, USA
The Lost Prince (Masterpiece Theatre), PBS.

Made-for-TV Movie:
Lackawanna Blues, HBO
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, HBO
The Office Special, BBC America
Warm Springs, HBO
The Wool Cap, TNT.

Variety, Music or Comedy Series:
Da Ali G Show, HBO
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central
Late Night With Conan O'Brien, NBC
Late Show With David Letterman, CBS
Real Time With Bill Maher, HBO.

Variety, Music or Comedy Special:
77th Annual Academy Awards, ABC
Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth, Showtime
Everybody Loves Raymond — The Last Laugh, CBS
The Games of The XXVIII Olympiad — Opening Ceremony, NBC
58th Annual Tony Awards (2004), CBS.

Actor, Drama Series:
James Spader, Boston Legal, ABC
Ian McShane, Deadwood, HBO
Hugh Laurie, House, Fox
Hank Azaria, Huff, Showtime
Kiefer Sutherland, 24, Fox.

Actress, Drama Series:
Jennifer Garner, Alias, ABC
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NBC
Patricia Arquette, Medium, NBC
Glenn Close, The Shield, FX
Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under, HBO.

Supporting Actor, Drama Series:
William Shatner, Boston Legal, ABC
Oliver Platt, Huff, Showtime
Naveen Andrews, Lost, ABC
Terry O'Quinn, Lost, ABC
Alan Alda, The West Wing, NBC.

Supporting Actress, Drama Series:
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy, ABC
Blythe Danner, Huff, Showtime
Tyne Daly, Judging Amy, CBS
CCH Pounder, The Shield, FX
Stockard Channing, The West Wing, NBC.

Actor, Comedy Series:
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development, Fox
Ray Romano, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA
Zach Braff, Scrubs, NBC
Eric McCormack, Will & Grace, NBC.

Actress, Comedy Series:
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives, ABC
Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives, ABC
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives, ABC
Patricia Heaton, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm In The Middle, Fox.

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series:
Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development, Fox
Jeremy Piven, Entourage, HBO
Peter Boyle, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
Brad Garrett, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
Sean Hayes, Will & Grace, NBC.

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: J
Jessica Walter, Arrested Development, Fox
Doris Roberts, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
Holland Taylor, Two And A Half Men, CBS
Conchata Ferrell, Two And A Half Men, CBS
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace, NBC.

Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Elvis, CBS
Ed Harris, Empire Falls, HBO
Geoffrey Rush, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, HBO
Kenneth Branagh, Warm Springs, HBO
William H. Macy, The Wool Cap, TNT.

Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
Blythe Danner, Back When We Were Grownups (Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation), CBS
Debra Winger, Dawn Anna, Lifetime Television
S. Epatha Merkerson, Lackawanna Blues, HBO
Halle Berry, Their Eyes Were Watching God, ABC
Cynthia Nixon, Warm Springs, HBO.

Supporting Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Randy Quaid, Elvis, CBS
Paul Newman, Empire Falls, HBO
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Empire Falls, HBO
Christopher Plummer, Our Fathers, Showtime
Brian Dennehy, Our Fathers, Showtime.

Supporting Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
Camryn Manheim, Elvis, CBS
Joanne Woodward, Empire Falls, HBO
Charlize Theron, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, HBO
Jane Alexander, Warm Springs, HBO
Kathy Bates, Warm Springs, HBO.

http://www.chiff.com/pop-culture/emmy-awards.htm#emmy_noms_winners

Emmy Scorecard
Emmy nominations

Drama Series:
Deadwood, HBO

Miniseries:

Empire Falls, HBO
(The 4400, USA)<--------------This show is mis-categorized isn't it?

Made-for-TV Movie:
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, HBO

Variety, Music or Comedy Series:
Late Show With David Letterman, CBS

Actor, Drama Series:
Hugh Laurie, House, Fox

Actress, Drama Series:
Patricia Arquette, Medium, NBC

Supporting Actor, Drama Series:
Oliver Platt, Huff, Showtime

Supporting Actress, Drama Series:
Blythe Danner, Huff, Showtime

Actor, Comedy Series:
Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA

Actress, Comedy Series:
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives, ABC

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series:
Peter Boyle, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: J
Conchata Ferrell, Two And A Half Men, CBS

Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Geoffrey Rush, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, HBO

Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
Cynthia Nixon, Warm Springs, HBO.


FWIW, those are my picks, removed categories where I didn't see all of them or really didn't have a preference. Actress in a comedy series was a tough one.

Saturday’s network prime-time ratings have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

My Emmy Scorecard

I doubt if anyone truly cares, (although it may let you spot a few of my own favorites and prejudices more clearly!) but if I were voting this year, these would be my Emmy picks:

Drama Series:
24, Fox

Comedy Series:
Desperate Housewives, ABC

Miniseries:
Empire Falls, HBO

Made-for-TV Movie:
Lackawanna Blues, HBO

Variety, Music or Comedy Series:
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central

Variety, Music or Comedy Special:
The Games of The XXVIII Olympiad — Opening Ceremony, NBC

Actor, Drama Series:
Hugh Laurie, House, Fox

Actress, Drama Series:
Patricia Arquette, Medium, NBC

Supporting Actor, Drama Series:
Terry O'Quinn, Lost, ABC

Supporting Actress, Drama Series:
CCH Pounder, The Shield, FX

Actor, Comedy Series:
Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA

Actress, Comedy Series:
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives, ABC

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series:
Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development, Fox

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: J
Jessica Walter, Arrested Development, Fox

Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Kenneth Branagh, Warm Springs, HBO

Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
S. Epatha Merkerson, Lackawanna Blues, HBO

Supporting Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Brian Dennehy, Our Fathers, Showtime.

Supporting Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
Joanne Woodward, Empire Falls, HBO

THE EMMYS
Funny choices at Emmys
The awards special will exhibit lots of fun but not much sense.

By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer TV Columnist

CBS is certainly trying to make the Emmys fun. Song and dance, high-profile jokesters, even a sort of game-show competition are all going in the mix of the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards show that begins at 8 tonight.

Too bad the prizes themselves are always so irrelevant.

Oh, sure, The Shield gets props one year, Arrested Development the next. South Park actually won the "creative arts" award this year for best cartoon series. Those prizes were handed out Sept. 10.

But the structure of the awards and the age of the voters, not to mention that most of them don't watch a lot of TV, usually add up to some pretty ridiculous choices.

When The West Wing gets named outstanding drama series tonight, don't say you weren't warned. At least they nominated Deadwood.

Ellen DeGeneres, about as down-to-earth and pleasantly amusing as you can get, hosts. Presenters range from some sexy O.C. youngsters to the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Give CBS credit for not packing the stage with stars from its new shows, as most networks in the awards show rotation do. Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother) are certainly cute enough.

The Black Eyed Peas join Earth, Wind & Fire in the opener. Clips from last season will play as the singers "ba de ya" their way from the EW&F classic "September" into the actual prize-giving.

Throughout the show, TV folk will sing famous TV themes. Viewers can log on to vote for the faves. Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell, a certified musical theater star, sings "Fame," and CSI's Gary Dourdan joins spacey songstress Macy Gray (she was in HBO's Lackawanna Blues), doing "Movin' on Up" from The Jeffersons.

Salvador Dali couldn't have imagined the other pairings: Will & Grace's Megan Mullally and Donald Trump crooning "Green Acres is the place to be," and William Shatner and aging diva Frederica von Stade trilling the theme from Star Trek.

Admittedly, the lineup has a few years on it, but if the awards themselves could be as original as those pairings, Emmy might seem like something more than a celebration of the hackneyed and obvious.

The Showtime musical starring Bell, Reefer Madness, was one of the fresh entertainments of last season. It got a total of three creative arts nominations, losing the choreography prize to Smucker's Stars on Ice 2005. MADtv got more nods. Bell pops up on the Emmy show most likely because the same folks who own CBS also own UPN. The little network itself got a grand total of three nominations. The WB picked up two. MTV, one.

Critics and cognoscenti universally mention WB's Gilmore Girls as one of TV's best shows, but not the Emmys. HBO's The Wire bristled with shattering acting performances. No nominations there.

But the numbness of the awards themselves frequently transcends the failures of the nomination process.

If you think the Emmy is given to the best work of a series or actors over a whole season, you're wrong. Voters look at six episodes for the shows, two episodes for supporting actors and just one for lead actors. If Peter Boyle can come up with a couple of funny installments, and he can, it doesn't matter if he's sour and clunky in the other 20. Plus, he's the only Raymond star not to have gotten an Emmy, and this is his last chance.

Emmy should be counted on to bestow not-necessarily-deserved awards on lots of the veterans of the dear, departed Raymond, though it hardly ever gives the best-show prize to a canceled series.

The joy of shows like Deadwood and 24 is virtually impossible to understand in a few episodes. In fact, Emmy rarely goes for serials that don't wrap up at least a part of their plot in one or two hours. It took The Sopranos, perhaps the best drama in television history, five years to finally win the Emmy.

Lost may grab the trophy just because its buzz is overwhelming, not because the voters actually get it.

Emmy's categories are another serious drawback. Desperate Housewives wins best comedy in a softball category going away, even though it's a one-hour show with comedic elements, rather than a half-hour comedy. Producers submitted it as comedy, and that's that. Ditto with Monk.

Housewives is better than Scrubs, for sure, and Tony Shalhoub is probably funnier than Zach Braff, but among the real comedies, Scrubs and Braff are the most worthy.

Forgive a little inconsistency in my selection of Teri Hatcher as comedy actress winner, but she's just so adorable. Besides, if Emmy makes a million cockamamie choices, I should get at least one.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//12651289.htm

THE EMMYS
Shatner will sing? Talk about desperate
That and other mysteries set the tone for the Emmys
Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic September 18, 2005

In saluting classic theme songs tonight, the Emmys will ignore The Mary Tyler Moore Show. That's just as well, because "you're gonna make it after all" doesn't fit this awards show.

The Emmys never have made it. They don't equal the Oscars or Grammys in prestige. The Emmy telecast usually lacks pizazz because too many trophies are handed out, and the same winner can be called year after year. Four victories in a row for NBC's The West Wing as top drama? That's an impeachable offense.

You'd think a few good nominees, such as ABC's Desperate Housewives and Lost, might be big draws this year. But CBS is banking on something oddball, even off-key, to lure viewers.



CBS is pushing the Emmys into the realm of American Idol, letting viewers pick their favorite in a singing contest. William Shatner and Frederica von Stade will warble the Star Trek theme. Donald Trump and Megan Mullally will tackle the Green Acres song.

For more marquee value, CBS has enlisted Ellen DeGeneres as host. An emotional moment will come when the telecast honors Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings.

Yet what should be a really big show could be a really big snooze. The telecast has to race through 27 categories, and suspense is just a sometime thing at the Emmys.

Oscar-style blowouts rarely materialize because the entire 13,000-member academy doesn't pick the winners. Rather, juried panels, ranging in size from 50 to 200, vote on each of the nearly 100 categories.

On top of that, this year some categories are baffling.

The mystery-serial Desperate Housewives is the favorite for comedy series. That nomination flummoxed Darren Star, creator of Sex and the City: "I just wish we had sold Melrose Place as a comedy."

Melrose alumna Marcia Cross is the likely winner for comedy actress as Bree on Desperate Housewives, a character who rarely leaves 'em laughing.

Then there's the strange case of ABC's Boston Legal, the spinoff of The Practice. James Spader and Shatner won Emmys last year for the final season of The Practice. They're nominated in drama categories this year for Boston Legal, although creator David E. Kelley acknowledges that series has become more of a comedy.

"When you try to categorize shows, it's kind of a futile exercise," Kelley says.

Picking the winners can be just as futile, with critics proving they'll never make it as soothsayers, but here goes:

Comedy series: Fox's Arrested Development won last year. NBC's Will & Grace has faded badly. NBC's Scrubs has yet to break through in the ratings. It's a race between Desperate Housewives and CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond, which was brilliant to the end of its nine-year run. The Emmys rarely honor concluded series, so look for the women of Wisteria Lane to collect the trophy.

Drama series: The West Wing didn't deserve a nomination. HBO's Deadwood and Six Feet Under will have a hard time in a season when broadcast dramas flourished. Fox's 24 told another gripping yarn, but look for influential Lost to find glory at the podium.

Lead comedy actress: One of the tightest races, with Desperate Housewives stars Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman in the running. Voters will see their work in three episodes. That setup dims the chances for two-time winner Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond and Jane Kaczmarek of Fox's Malcolm in the Middle. Tom O'Neil, who wrote the definitive history The Emmys, says Cross and Hatcher are the leaders. Hatcher plays the funnier character, but Cross has the trickier role. Actors appreciate tricky roles.

Lead comedy actor: Emmy has a nostalgic streak that could boost Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond. O'Neil picks Romano as the front-runner for an episode in which Ray Barone avoids intimacy with his wife. The strongest competition comes from Tony Shalhoub of Monk. The other nominees are Zach Braff of Scrubs, Eric McCormack of Will & Grace and deserving Jason Bateman of Arrested Development.

Lead drama actress: Mariska Hargitay of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit should have a speech ready. O'Neil says the actress, who plays Olivia Benson, is the likely winner for a psychiatric confessional scene. Her toughest competition is Glenn Close of FX's The Shield. The other nominees are Frances Conroy of Six Feet Under, Patricia Arquette of NBC's Medium and Jennifer Garner, who should have won years ago for ABC's Alias.

Lead drama actor: Last year's winner Spader is a dark horse for Boston Legal. It's a race between Ian McShane of Deadwood and Hugh Laurie of Fox's House. O'Neil says Laurie has the edge because Hollywood loves substance-abuse stories, and Laurie submitted the episode of Dr. Gregory House going off Vicodin. The other nominees are Kiefer Sutherland of 24 and Hank Azaria of Showtime's Huff.

TV movie: The probable movie winner is HBO's Warm Springs, the story of how politician Franklin Roosevelt (Kenneth Branagh) learned compassion when he contracted polio. HBO has two other entries, Lackawanna Blues and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. Rounding out the category are TNT's The Wool Cap and BBC America's The Office Special.

TV miniseries: In a weak field, USA's The 4400 was the most entertaining. The probable winner is HBO's Empire Falls, which has the pedigree as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and a cast led by Ed Harris, Helen Hunt and Paul Newman. The other nominees are CBS' Elvis and PBS' The Lost Prince.

Movie actor: Geoffrey Rush gave a showy performance as the title character in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. Actors like to watch movies about actors. In the voting, Rush will come out ahead of Branagh of Warm Springs, Harris of Empire Falls, Jonathan Rhys Meyers of Elvis and William H. Macy of The Wool Cap.

Movie actress: S. Epatha Merkerson has won many fans for Law & Order, but she'll receive an Emmy for Lackawanna Blues. That movie was produced by Halle Berry, a fellow nominee for ABC's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Their competitors are Cynthia Nixon of Warm Springs, Debra Winger of Lifetime's Dawn Anna and Blythe Danner of CBS' Back When We Were Grownups.

Supporting actors: Peter Boyle, who has never won for Everybody Loves Raymond, has an excellent shot this year, O'Neil says. This Emmy prognosticator picks Doris Roberts of Raymond and Tyne Daly of CBS' Judging Amy as other front-runners. Among dramatic actors, Terry O'Quinn seems the strongest candidate for playing John Locke on Lost. In the movie categories, Newman and spouse Joanne Woodward will be sentimental favorites for Empire Falls.

Reality competition: CBS' The Amazing Race will probably win for the third time in a row. It certainly deserves the honor more than CBS' Survivor, Fox's American Idol, Bravo's Project Runway or NBC's The Apprentice.

Best song rendition: The Trump-Mullally and Shatner-von Stade teams will compete against Gary Dourdan of CSI and Macy Gray, who will duet on "Movin' On Up" from The Jeffersons. But the singer who stands alone probably will triumph. Look for Kristen Bell to soar on "Fame." She should win something. The academy failed to nominate her for playing the namesake luminous girl gumshoe of UPN's Veronica Mars.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-emmys18x05sep18,0,7231052.story?coll=orl-caltvtop

THE EMMYS
And the Emmy favorite ... ABC
By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic

Welcome to fearless predictions, 2005 edition. No apologies, no disclaimers, just biased prognostications from the couch.

Tonight's Emmy Awards threaten to be the least suspenseful in years. The top winners will take their trophies in a walk:

ABC's "Lost" will win as outstanding drama.

ABC's "Desperate Housewives" will be named outstanding comedy. Of course it deserves to win in some hybrid category, but comedy will have to do. Like "Ally McBeal" before it, the hour-long "Desperate" is housed under the comedy label, illogically competing against traditional half-hour comedies like "Everybody Loves Raymond."

While often looking backward instead of being attuned to the present, Emmy voters can't help but acknowledge the two big shows of the year. Twin ABC wins are assured tonight when the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards beams from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, locally at 7 on CBS.

This was the breakout year for "Lost," which easily topped "Deadwood," "Six Feet Under," "24" and "The West Wing" in terms of sudden popularity, consistent suspense, terrific casting and slick production values. "24" had a great season, but there's no denying this is "Lost's" Emmy moment.

"Desperate Housewives" competes with half-hours "Arrested Development," "Scrubs," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Will & Grace" in the comedy category. "Arrested" deserves recognition, perhaps with its three writing nominations. But "Desperate" not only reinvigorated a network but also brought back buzz to network TV.

If Geoffrey Rush doesn't win for his performance as Peter Sellers in the HBO movie "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," there is no justice. He inhabited the character - and the character's many movie characters - in a stunning tour de force. Rush deserves to triumph over Kenneth Branaugh's portrayal of FDR in "Warm Springs," Jonathan Rhys Meyers' turn as "Elvis," Ed Harris in "Empire Falls" and William H. Macy in "The Wool Cap."

Hugh Laurie of "House" deserves to win as best actor in a drama for his contentious curmudgeon, Dr. House, one of the most memorable new characters of the season. He's up against the wonderful Ian

McShane of HBO's "Deadwood," but Emmy voters will tilt toward the Fox show. Hank Azaria of Showtime's "Huff," James Spader of ABC's "Boston Legal" and Kiefer Sutherland of Fox's "24" are in the running, but the newcomer should and will win.

Glenn Close, who passed through FX's "The Shield" in what was essentially an extended guest role, will win as best actress in a drama. She had a wonderful turn as Capt. Monica Rawling, but is it fair to stake her against Jennifer Garner in "Alias," Patricia Arquette" in "Medium," Frances Conroy in "Six Feet Under" and Mariska Hargitay in "Law & Order: SVU"? What's fairness got to do with it?

The final episode of "The Office" is nominated in the made-for-TV movie category, another uneasy fit. While that finale was poignant and funny, it wasn't really a movie. Branaugh was terrific in "Warm Springs," "Peter Sellers" was a great showcase for Rush, and "Lackawana Blues" was superlative. But "Empire Falls" boasts more major stars, starting with Harris, and will triumph. Either way, HBO will win the statuette. (Showtime's worthy "Our Fathers," a timely story of priests and pedophilia, wasn't nominated.)

Have you seen the promos featuring Emmy host Ellen deGeneres demanding, "Find out what Eva Longoria's wearing"? That shout-out is a consolation prize, since Longoria wasn't nominated.

In the best comedy actress showdown, "Desperate Housewives" showmates Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman and Teri Hatcher compete with perennials Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") and Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle"). Despite sentiment for the departed "Raymond" cast, Hatcher will take home the prize. That said, nobody should be unhappy if Cross somehow steals the moment for her portrayal of endearingly neurotic Bree.

"Raymond" nostalgia will be a factor in the best comedy actor category as well. Ray Romano joins Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development"), Zack Braff ("Scrubs"), Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace") and Tony Shalhoub ("Monk") as nominees. Braff's appealing innocence in the midst of the hospital insanity nicely offsets his comic antics. This is Braff's first nomination, and it should be a sweet one.

http://www.denverpost.com/ostrow

NewsCorp Selling Small Market Stations?

According to next week’s issue to the trade magazine MultiChannel News, “…News Corp. is considering the sale of all its smaller stations—representing a quarter of its station portfolio—for as much as $800 million, according to people familiar with the situation. Such a deal would relieve News Corp. of assets that aren’t crucial to its high-margin, big-reach strategy, cut down on overhead, and simplify its operations.

The targets are all Fox O&Os outside the top 25 markets. But “small” by News Corp.’s standards doesn’t mean they’re all small towns. Included in the potential sale: Kansas City, Mo. (the 31st-largest TV market), Milwaukee (No. 32) and Salt Lake City (36). One is minor: Gainesville, Fla., the 162nd-largest.
According to the article, these are the stations NewsCorp is looking to unload:

Mkt—City--Station
31---Kansas City, Mo. WDAF
33---Milwaukee WITI
36---Salt Lake City KSTU
40---Birmingham, Ala. WBRC
44---Memphis WHBQ
47---Greensboro-Winston Salem, N.C. WGHP
52---Austin, Texas 53 KTBC
162--Gainesville, Fla. WOGX

NewsCorp Selling Small Market Stations? (2)

And according to next week’s issue of Broadcasting & Cable:“…The idea of shrinking the broadcast group predates Roger Ailes’ ascent as chairman of both Fox Television Stations and Fox News Channel. He took charge of the station group—which generates more than $2 billion in annual revenues—after Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, quit in a funk in August. One Ailes goal is to create new national programming for the stations, including a morning news show, a late-night talk show and a crime-oriented show for other dayparts.

Executives at other station groups say News Corp. has considered selling smaller properties for a couple of years and still hasn’t assigned investment bankers to actually stage an auction. Nevertheless, Murdoch is clearly edgy: He recently pitched the stations to Liberty Media Chairman John Malone, according to two media executives familiar with the discussions. “

My Emmy Scorecard

I doubt if anyone truly cares, (although it may let you spot a few of my own favorites and prejudices more clearly!) but if I were voting this year, these would be my Emmy picks:


Of course we care.. :)

Your pick for Supporting Actress Drama Series is a good one, it was a toss-up for me between Pounder and Danner, and I can't really say why I picked Danner, they both were very good.

I love Blythe Danner, too -- I just think Pounder's work was the best. But it wouldn't surpirse me to see either of them win -- although I think Merkerson is the favorite.

Fredfa,
Great resource but I was disappointed that your report on the Emmys was false. This was NOT in HD.

I'm sorry Bill -- I just repeated some bad (obviously very bad) information.

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:MONDAY

“How I Met Your Mother”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Josh Radnor, Alyson Hannigan ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Jason Segel ("Freaks and Geeks"), Neil Patrick Harris ("Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," "Undercover Brother," "Doogie Howser, M.D." ), Cobie Smulders.

The premise: Witty flashback comedy, narrated from the future, in which decent-guy romantic Radnor seeks true love — and, to keep the series going, will not find it anytime soon. Notable for its "I Love the '90s" supporting cast, including, like "Kitchen Confidential" (below), one alum apiece from "Buffy" (Hannigan) and "Freaks and Geeks" (Segel), cutely coupled. Plus Harris, who was Doogie Howser, in a suit.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:MONDAY

“How I Met Your Mother”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

This is better than it sounds: A proud father, about two decades in the future, is telling his teens - who don't want to hear it - how mom and dad met, and, we hope, not much more if he doesn't want to pay for some serious counseling. Then, flash back to 2005 and join a sitcom about young people dating and looking for love.

What’s What: It's funny. Really. And sometimes stupid in a good way. The writing is bright; the cast, which includes Jason Segal, Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris, is zippy and well-matched, and the producers are witty guys. A conventional sitcom, but with promise.

Rickster Scale: 3

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“How I Met Your Mother”

The tagline you’ll never see: Are we more than just friends?

The basics: Learning his best pal is about to become engaged serves as a wake-up call for Ted (Josh Radnor), who sets out to find his true love. He's coached by the engaged (and engaging) couple -- played by Jason Segel ("Freaks and Geeks") and Alyson Hannigan ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") -- and his friend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris, "Doogie Howser, M.D."). Quirky Barney has a habit of introducing Ted to women by spinning him around and saying, "Hi. Have you met Ted?" In the pilot, Ted meets Robin (Cobie Smulders) and is instantly smitten.

The story that unfolds is actually a flashback told by Ted in 2030 to his two children. ("Are we being punished?" they ask.) Sharp viewers will realize the narrator's voice is not Radnor's, but Bob Saget's ("Full House").

The lowdown: CBS has been strong in comedy on Mondays, thanks to "Everybody Loves Raymond," which ended its run in May. "How I Met Your Mother" is solidly placed between "King of Queens" at 8 p.m. and "Two and a Half Men," which took the crucial "Raymond" slot at 9. Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas say they based the show on their lives and that of Craig's wife, Rebecca.

Reality check: If the synergy of the creators and cast is any indicator, this comedy will be a lot of fun to watch. The show is about the journey, Bays said, "and, like, being 27 and single, living in New York, and just the idea of waking up one day and saying, 'Gosh, maybe I should settle down.' " Hmmm. Could a comedy about the lives and loves of attractive twenty- and thirty-something friends in New York be a hit?

By Judith S. Gillies The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“How I Met Your Mother”

By Charlie McCollum San Joae Mercury News

Unfortunately, ``Confidential'' finds itself opposite ``How I Met Your Mother'' (8:30 p.m. Monday, Chs. 5, 46), much closer to a sure hit since it's nestled in the midst of CBS' well-entrenched Monday night comedy lineup.

That's too bad for viewers, too, because if you're still looking for the new ``Friends'' after ``Joey'' fell flat, this delightful romantic comedy about five friends looking for love in New York City could be it. Writers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, who earned their comedy stripes on ``The Late Show With David Letterman,'' have given a fresh spin to bits and pieces of the sitcom formula and have turned out something with real wit and considerable charm.

The framing device is an unseen Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) telling his two teenage children how he met their mother 25 years before. The show then flashes back to his younger days when (played by relative newcomer Josh Randor) he was a not-so-eligible bachelor in Manhattan, hanging out with newly engaged friends Marshall (Jason Segel of ``Freaks and Geeks'') and Lily (Alyson Hannigan of ``Buffy'') and snarky buddy Barney (a terrific Neil Patrick Harris, Doogie Howser himself.)

In the very first episode, Ted finds his wife-to-be Robin (Cobie Smulders from ``The L Word'') except . . . well, that would spoil the twist at the end.

As is the case with ``Confidential,'' this is a cast that jells immediately, hitting on all cylinders from the very first scene. If Bays and Thomas can keep up the writing -- and there's no reason to believe they can't -- this show could be a breakout creatively and with viewers.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12671207.htm

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Kitchen Confidential”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Superstar chef (Bradley Cooper) trashed his life with sex, drugs and, probably, rock 'n' roll. Now he's working in a dive. Then comes the phone call. A second chance. A new hot restaurant. Can he find the magic again?

What’s What: Maybe. Based on chef Anthony Bourdain's memoir, this seems pretty hokey and sanitized at first. Then it develops a few laughs. Maybe not enough. As they say, you can't always judge a restaurant on its first night.

Rickster Scale: 2.5

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Kitchen Confidential”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Bonnie Somerville, Owain Yeoman, Nicholas Brendon, Jaime King, John Francis Daley ("Freaks and Geeks").

The premise: Cooper plays a TV-friendly version of real-life bad-boy chef and author Anthony Bourdain, who has written of the restaurant kitchen as a place of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," not excluding himself. Here, after an unscheduled hiatus because of chronic overindulgence, half-renamed "Jack" Bourdain gets a second chance at the big time, assembling a team of misfit genius cooks. Somerville is his boss' bossy daughter, always on his case — that means she likes him, you know?

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Kitchen Confidential”

By Charlie McCollum San Joae Mercury News

“Kitchen Confidential” is based on the acerbic book by renowned New York chef Anthony Bourdain, who wrote, ``I love the sheer weirdness of the kitchen life: the dreamers, the crackpots, the refugees and sociopaths.''

Creators Darren Star (``Sex and the City'') and Dave Hemingson (``Just Shoot Me'') have changed Bourdain's first name to Jack but have kept intact his jaundiced view of what goes on behind those kitchen doors.

Jack Bourdain (Bradley Cooper from ``Alias'') is a culinary whiz kid who crashes and burns under the weight of booze, drugs and sex. When he gets out of rehab, the only work he can find is cooking at a tacky Italian restaurant (think the Olive Garden with really bad opera).

Then he gets a second chance -- at Nolita, a new upscale restaurant in desperate need of some kitchen glitz with opening night just days away. He assembles some of his old foodie posse and hastily throws together a menu, a kitchen crew and a wait staff.

The writing is sharp and sophisticated, avoiding the predictable sitcom cliches. What really sparks the show, though, is a fine ensemble that, like Cooper, has been drawn largely from drama: Bonnie Somerville (``NYPD Blue''), Nicholas Brendon (``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'') and grown-up, almost unrecognizable John Francis Daley (``Freaks and Geeks.'')

It's rare to see a cast click with comedy timing in a debut episode, but ``Confidential'' manages the trick.

[url]http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12671207.htm[/url

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Kitchen Confidential”

The tagline you’ll never see: Undercooked.

The basics: Chef Jack Bourdain (Bradley Cooper) knows his way around a kitchen. Now, if he can only figure out his own life. When we meet the dashing chef, he's at the top of his game cooking in New York's finest restaurants and cooking with New York's finest women. But before you can say "Soup's on!" Bourdain has lost it all, thanks to drug and alcohol abuse. We find him at the bottom again, slaving away miserably at a family-style Italian restaurant. He's given another chance when the owner of a classy new joint hires him as head chef. The catch: He's overseeing a staff full of eccentric characters.

The lowdown: The series has a few things that may bring an automatic audience to the table. First, it's based on the best-selling autobiography by renowned chef Anthony Bourdain, who's no stranger to television as the host of his own cooking shows. Second, the nation can't seem to get enough of the cooking-show genre, judging by the popularity of shows such as Food Network's "Iron Chef" and even the moderate success of the summer reality series "Hell's Kitchen." Lastly -- and most important for Fox -- the series boasts executive producer (and local boy) Darren Star, the brains behind the incredibly successful and oft-quoted "Sex and the City."

Reality check: Despite all of the right ingredients for a successful show, "K.C." doesn't quite make for a satisfactory meal. Many of the jokes fall flat, and the barbs traded between restaurant staffers become too much to take. Still, Cooper plays Bourdain's character with an alluring cockiness made all the more interesting by his fallibility. Cooper, who memorably played the obnoxious preppy in the summer box-office hit "The Wedding Crashers," is an appetizing lure to an otherwise hard-to-stomach entree.

By John Maynard The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Surface”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Lake Bell ("Boston Legal"), Carter Jenkins ("Bad News Bears," "CSI: NY"), Jay R. Ferguson ("Judging Amy"), Rade Serbedzija ("Snatch"), Leighton Meester.

The premise: Can you say "Loch Ness monster"? You can? OK, never mind then. It's much more alien-ish than that. Lake Bell stars as an oceanographer. There's also a government scientist, a bayou fisherman and a kid previously minding his own business in San Diego. It's a "Close Encounters" setup, all of them discovering that there's something at sea that isn't exactly of this world. Oh, sure, you can scoop one of its eggs out of the water, take it home and put it in your aquarium, but that's probably not a good idea.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Surface”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Dude, there're these mongo-sized things in the ocean, and this diver got eaten or something, and this kid was water skiing and found eggs, huge eggs, like, right off the beach and it could be an alien or some really gross species. A beautiful scientist (Lake Bell) - it's always a beautiful scientist - is the only one really freaked.

What’s What: The setup's a little screwy, but the tone and the mystery work. There's something sinister out there. It could be the government, could be aliens, could be just mongo fish. Producers insist this will have a family tone. Of the three alien/ mystery series, this is the toughest to judge on just its pilot.

Rickster Scale: 3 (But it's, like, so conditional.)
http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Surface”

The tagline you’ll never see: Don't hold your breath.

The basics: Four disparate but not exactly compelling story lines about bizarre new sea species converge in this show's pilot. Single mom Laura (Lake Bell), unpopular preteen Miles (Carter Jenkins), fisherman Richard (Jay R. Ferguson) and government scientist Aleksander (Rade Sherbedgia) all encounter the creatures, and each has a different reaction. Richard believes the encounter has changed him, Laura seeks to expose the truth and Aleksander wants the world to think this is all a big whale tale. Miles takes an egg home as his pet -- a very bad idea. He's going to need a bigger fish tank.

The lowdown: The series may have changed its name from the equally vague "Fathom," but the show has bigger problems than a confusing moniker. The sea monster is not seen but is merely alluded to, raising more questions for viewers: What is it? Where does it come from? Why is it electrically charged? How many are out there? And, more important, why should I even care?

Reality check: We have "Lost" to thank for the plethora of sci-fi and fantasy shows invading the airwaves this fall. And like the ABC hit, this cast has its share of little-known actors -- a risky move in today's TV landscape. Executive producers Josh and Jonas Pate are banking on the intricate plot being strong enough to pull in viewers. But something was lost in translation.

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Out of Practice”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Christopher Gorham ("Jake 2.0," "Popular"), Paula Marshall ("Cheaper by the Dozen"), Ty Burrell ("Dawn of the Dead," "Black Hawk Down"). With Henry Winkler ("Happy Days," "Arrested Development"), Stockard Channing ("The West Wing," "The Matthew Shepard Story") and Jennifer Tilly.

The premise: Psychologist Gorham, a relative low-achiever in a family of MDs — "real doctors" — gets estranged surgeon parents Winkler and Channing into the same room just as his own marriage breaks up. Brother Burrell is a cosmetic surgeon and failed ladies' man who thinks any girl who won't date him is a lesbian; sister Marshall is an ER physician, and actually a lesbian. Oh, they have their issues, but blood, you may know, is thicker than water.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Out of Practice”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Everyone in the family is a big-deal doctor, except our hero (Christopher Gorham), who's just a lowly psychologist. Of course, they won't let him forget he has no MD near his name. Yet he helps them through their petty, dysfunctional, self-destructive lives. Isn't it ironic?

What’s What: The attempt is a comedy of manners and wordplay. Think: "Frasier," since this is from the producers of "Frasier." Except it doesn't quite get there. It also has a good cast (including Stockard Channing, Henry Winkler and Paula Marshall) that should be funnier. It's OK.

Rickster Scale: 2

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

"Out of Practice"

The tagline you’ll never see: Trying to put the "fun" in dysfunctional.

The basics: Cutie psychologist and youngest son Ben (Christopher Gorham) must deal with his gastroenterologist father (Henry Winkler), his cardiologist mom (Stockard Channing), his ER doc sister, Regina (Paula Marshall) and his plastic-surgeon brother, Oliver (Ty Burrell). Ben thinks he'll never earn the respect of the family because he's the only one who's not a doctor. In the pilot, the family finds out that recently divorced dad is sleeping with his much younger assistant (Jennifer Tilly). But the worst part is that Ben's activist wife, Naomi, is leaving him -- and the family finds out before Ben does.

The lowdown: The series, from "Frasier" executive producers Joe Keenan and Christopher Lloyd, boasts a coveted time slot and a terrific cast. Now they just need a script that's as good as they are. The never-seen Naomi seems poised to become TV's next Maris, just like Niles's wife on "Frasier." Paula Marshall has the perhaps undeserved reputation of being a show-killer ("Hidden Hills," "Snoops," "Cupid" and, well, it seems cruel to go on). Has she finally picked a winner?

Reality check: Even when working with mundane material, the seasoned actors infuse the dialogue with pizazz and create a classic comedy of errors. The deadpan Burrell is a hoot as Ben's smarmy but well-meaning older brother, but there are only so many jokes he can make about giving women a surgically enhanced chest. Our prescription: The paramount rule in comedy is less is often more.

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Just Legal”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Don Johnson ("Nash Bridges," "Miami Vice"), Jay Baruchel ("Undeclared"), Jaime Lee Kirchner ("Rent"), Marika Dominczyk.

The premise: The season's mismatched-buddy-comedy-legal drama that isn't "Head Cases" features an appropriately haggard Johnson as a burned-out, sold-out Venice Beach attorney who finds himself teamed with teenage genius lawyer Baruchel, whose uncorrupted yen for justice restores the older's faith in the possibility of effective action. "Rio Bravo" without the horses.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Just Legal”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Doogie Howser-like lawyer prodigy (Jay Baruchel) can't get hired because, well, he's 19. So he teams with a burnout (Don Johnson). Turns out they need each other.

What’s What: Pretty dopey, and not exactly loaded with logic. But it's occasionally adorable. Geeky-but-eager Baruchel and cool-but-weary Johnson make a good pair, and if you're picking a show to throw your hands up and accept, this is it.

Rickster Scale: 3

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY

“Just Legal”

The tagline you’ll never see: Doogie Howser, J.D.

The basics: David "Skip" Ross (Jay Baruchel) is an uptight 19-year-old legal prodigy who dreams of becoming a top trial lawyer. The problem is that no law firm will hire him because he's too darned young. Heck, he's two years away from legally ordering his first drink. Enter run-down lawyer Grant Cooper (Don Johnson), a boozer who was a top lawyer until a tragic case sent one of his clients to the electric chair and made him the cynical court-appointed lawyer he is today. Cooper's looking for an assistant to do his dirty work, so Skip happily takes the job. The two couldn't be more different but, rest assured, each has something to learn from the other.

The lowdown: Jerry Bruckheimer, who has enough shows on television now to start his own network, is the brains behind this legal drama. It's a departure from his other current projects, including the visually exciting and sometimes gory "CSI" franchise and the heart-thumping "Amazing Race" series. Might he have another hit on his hands? The return of Mr. Miami Vice to television definitely will draw some eyeballs, and while more than enough legal dramas are out there, "Just Legal" at least provides a new twist to the genre.

Reality check: Johnson's return is a welcome one and the best part of the drama. He looks weathered and beaten, but it suits his grizzled, alcoholic character. The problem is there's just no chemistry with his teenage co-star, who has done some great work on film in last year's "Million Dollar Baby" and on Fox's brilliant but short-lived comedy "Undeclared." Combine that with a not very compelling, run-of-the-mill plot line (at least in the pilot episode), and "Just Legal" comes out "just okay."

By John Maynard The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

Do the Emmy voters even watch these shows, or do the nurses at the old folks home just poke them and have them point at something they recognize?

I agree with you on some of the votes, which I found bizarre. But I was very pleasantly surprised by several others.

Remember that the Emmys, in many if not most cases, seem to follow popular(and/or critical) tastes by a season or two -- or three.

Do you have some specific votes you found most egregious, Tabasco?

(That being said -- and asked -- I do believe a lot of nursing home pointing must go on in the voting process.)

THE EMMYS
Complete list of winners announced Sunday night:

(The Los Angeles Times)

Comedy series
"Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS

Drama series
"Lost," ABC

Actor, drama series
James Spader, "Boston Legal," ABC

Actor, comedy series
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk," USA

Actress, drama series
Patricia Arquette, "Medium," NBC

Actress, comedy series
Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives," ABC

Miniseries
"The Lost Prince (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS

Movies
"Warm Springs," HBO

Writing, comedy series
Mitchell Hurwitz, Jim Valley, "Arrested Development (The Righteous Brothers), Fox

Directing, comedy series
Charles McDougall, "Desperate Housewives (Pilot)," ABC

Actress, miniseries or movie
S. Epatha Merkerson, "Lackawanna Blues," HBO

Writing, miniseries, movie or dramatic special
Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," HBO

Directing, miniseries, movie or dramatic special
Stephen Hopkins, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," HBO

Actor, miniseries or movie
Geoffrey Rush, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," HBO

Writing, drama series
David Shore, "House (Three Stories)," Fox

Directing, drama series
J.J. Abrams, "Lost (Pilot)," ABC

Variety, music or comedy series
"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central

Supporting actress, comedy series
Doris Roberts, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS

Writing, variety, music or comedy program
"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central

Variety, music or comedy program
Bucky Gunts, "The Games of The XXVIII Olympiad — Opening Ceremony," NBC;

Supporting actress, miniseries or movie
Jane Alexander, "Warm Springs," HBO

Supporting actor, miniseries or movie
Paul Newman, "Empire Falls," HBO

Supporting actress, drama series
Blythe Danner, "Huff," Showtime

Reality-competition program
"The Amazing Race," CBS

Individual performance in a variety or music program
Hugh Jackman, "58th Annual Tony Awards," CBS

Supporting actor, comedy series
Brad Garrett, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS

Supporting actor, drama series
William Shatner, "Boston Legal," ABC

Nonfiction programming
James Miller, "Death in Gaza," HBO

http://www.calendarlive.com/custom/envelope/cl-emmys2005-list,0,2042047.htmlstory?coll=cl-tv-blurb

Tabasco: You are not alone......

THE EMMYS
'Lost,' 'Raymond' named top shows at Emmys
ANALYSIS: VOTING BORDERS ON EMBARRASSING

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

Let's start by noting that, in all fairness, the Emmy voters did get some things right Sunday night.

``Lost,'' the complex show about a group of airline passengers stranded on a mysterious island, took home the Emmy for best drama -- the first freshman series to win the award since ``The West Wing'' five years ago.

It may have been a surprise when Felicity Huffman beat out fellow ``Desperate Housewives'' Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross for best actress in a comedy, but she was excellent on the show.

But aside from those moments, and a few others, when there was some semblance of judgment, good taste and common sense, this was a long, rather embarrassing evening for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which is supposed to honor the best in television.

Here's how the telecast started: Brad Garrett of ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' somehow beat out Jeremy Piven (``Entourage'') for best supporting actor in a comedy. William Shatner (``Boston Legal'') inexplicably won best supporting actor in a drama. Hugh Jackman, host of the Tonys, snagged the Emmy for best performance in a variety show even though his competition included Jon Stewart of ``The Daily Show.''

That all took place before the first hour was up. And things didn't get much better as the evening wore on, climaxing in ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' taking the Emmy for best comedy away from ``Housewives'' and ``Arrested Development.''

Now, I was as sorry as anyone to see ``Raymond'' leave after nine seasons. But if ever an award was handed out for past glory instead of current artistry, it was that one.

The winners in three of the top acting categories weren't just surprises, they were embarrassments. James Spader of ``Boston Legal'' over Ian McShane (``Deadwood'') and Hugh Laurie (``House'') for best dramatic actor? Tony Shalhoub (the declining ``Monk'') besting Jason Bateman (``Arrested Development'') and Zach Braff (``Scrubs'') for comedy actor?

The biggest shocker: Patricia Arquette, who does a nice job on ``Medium,'' beating out favorite Glenn Close, who was terrific on ``The Shield,'' for best actress in a drama.

Doris Roberts won best supporting actress in a comedy, even though her work last season on ``Raymond'' was some of her weakest over the show's nine-year run. ``House'' creator David Shore won the Emmy for drama writing for an episode that was very good -- but it beat out such great ones as the pilots of ``Lost'' and ``Rescue Me.''

One particularly sublime moment of inconsistency came when HBO's ``Warm Springs'' won the best TV film award -- even though the same premium channel's ``The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'' took more Emmys than any other program, including those for best film direction, best writing and best actor (Geoffrey Rush, who played Sellers.)

Occasionally, though, things were right in Emmy world.

``The Daily Show'' won for best variety show and for best writing on a variety show for the second year in a row. (Which, if you think about it, makes the snub of Stewart even more of a head-scratcher.)

The marvelous S. Epatha Merkerson of ``Law & Order'' unexpectedly but deservedly took home the best actress in a TV film award for her compelling performance in HBO's ``Lackawanna Blues.''

Equally unexpected was the comedy writing Emmy that went to Jim Valley and show creator Mitchell Hurwitz for an episode of ``Arrested Development.'' Hurwitz took the opportunity to make a big pitch for the ratings-impaired sitcom, saying, ``We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that you've twice rewarded us for something people won't watch.''

In a major upset that actually made artistic sense, ``The Lost Prince,'' a beautifully-executed film that aired on PBS's ``Masterpiece Theatre,'' won for best miniseries over the heavily-favored, star-studded ``Empire Falls.''

Perhaps the ceremony's finest moment came when ``Late Show'' host David Letterman, who generally has avoided the Emmys throughout his career, came out for a tribute to the late, great Johnny Carson, who died in January. In an unusually serious speech, Letterman spoke movingly of how ``The Tonight Show'' under Carson was similar to the New York Times: ``the nightly television comedy of record.'' And he noted that people who did not have the opportunity to see Carson would now never have the chance to see television with ``such wit, charm, intelligence and grace.''

One running gag -- ``Emmy Idol,'' in which TV stars sang the theme songs from various shows -- actually turned out to be a pretty good idea, if only because it gave Kristen Bell from ``Veronica Mars'' the chance to show off her formidable musical chops on ``Fame.'' It also left viewers with the surreal memory of Shatner doing the theme from ``Star Trek'' with Frederica von Stade.

Come to think of it, the Academy should really hope viewers remember these Emmys for Shatner-von Stade duet. Better that than for Sunday's winners.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12682404.htm

THE EMMYS
'Lost,' 'Raymond' named top shows at Emmys

By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer

Surprise, surprise! The sure bet of the 57th annual Emmy awards -- "Desperate Housewives" -- failed to reverse the long-standing Emmy tradition of confounding expectations and predictions. Though widely assumed a lock for the best comedy Emmy, "Desperate" fell short, with the award instead going to the sentimental favorite, "Everybody Loves Raymond," which ended its nine-year run last season.

But where "Housewives" stumbled, "Lost" soared, picking up an Emmy for best drama, and, in the process, upsetting a handful of veteran shows, like Fox's "24," which have had multiple nominations, and losses, over the years.

Meanwhile, "Housewives" also scored in other key categories, with awards going to Felicity Huffman (best actress-comedy) and Charles McDougall, who directed the "Housewives" pilot episode and won for best direction. The hit that saved ABC was nominated for a total of 15 awards, and while that was hardly a record, it was also a clear signal that Sunday would be a "Desperate" night. Alas, it was not.

But that wasn't the biggest shocker of the night. This was: Patricia Arquette who plays Allison Dubois, a medium who can see ghosts on NBC's "Medium," won for best actress on a drama. Most professional Emmy watchers figured Frances Conroy of "Six Feet Under" was a lock. However, Paramount, the producer of "Medium," had heavily promoted the show to Emmy voters.

"I want to thank you for this honor, for putting me in this incredible company," Arquette said. She offered her "respect and gratitude" to volunteers helping Katrina victims and prayed that soldiers in Iraq "come home safe and sound." Among the key actor categories, James Spader, who plays Alan Shore on "Boston Legal" won best actor in a drama -- his second straight win -- while Tony Shalhoub won for best actor in a comedy series for his work in "Monk." He was nominated the last three years, and last won in 2003.

The night began well for an old and enduring favorite of Emmy voters -- "Everybody Loves Raymond" -- when Brad Garrett won his third for best supporting actor in a comedy series. An hour later, Doris Roberts won for best supporting actress on the show.

William Shatner also won his second consecutive best supporting actor in a drama series, for his portrayal of lawyer Denny Crane, in ABC's "Boston Legal." Blythe Danner won her first Emmy ever, as best supporting actress in a drama, for "Huff," the Showtime series that was heavily promoted this year, and also managed to sneak in a political message, saying, "Let's get the heck out of ."

Last night also belonged to Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show," winning the coveted best writing award for a variety series, and later the Emmy for outstanding variety, music or comedy series. And if the Emmys weren't exactly stuffed with surprises -- are they ever? -- there was at least a surprise appearance when David Letterman introduced the tribute for Johnny Carson, who died Jan. 23, saying that "for 30 years, he shimmered to a soft, steady brilliance." Letterman hasn't shown up at these awards, which he has dominated in the variety category, in memory, and in tribute to him, Stewart said, "the way he feels about Carson, is the way we -- comedians of our era -- feel about him."

"The Amazing Race" was named outstanding reality-competition program for the third time. The directing and writing awards for a drama series were split between two new hit shows. "Lost" won the former and "House" took the latter. Geoffrey Rush was honored as best actor in a miniseries or movie for "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," HBO's dramatic take on the comic actor that also claimed writing and directing awards.

S. Epatha Merkerson was named best actress in a miniseries or movie for "Lackawanna Blues," on HBO, and preceded to charm the audience by announcing her acceptance speech, which she'd tucked into her bosom, had slipped down and couldn't be retrieved.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-emmy0919,0,4082996,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
An Appealing “Just Legal”

With Thoughts on “Kitchen Confidential, "Surface" and “How I Met Your Mother”

Roger Catlin Hartford Courant

Though it's not likely to rank among TV's great law shows, the new "Just Legal" (The WB, 9 PM ET/PT) has an easy familiarity that makes it appealing.

Amid a field of shows that move forward as dryly as a legal brief, led by attorneys who more resemble well-dressed robots (or, as in "Boston Legal" and "Head Cases," robots gone haywire) the new drama offers an unlikely pair of lawyers at opposite ends of their careers.

Don Johnson returns to series TV as a grizzled lawyer past his prime and way past his ethics; Jay Baruchel ("Undeclared"), the whiz kid new to law, has to explain at every turn that it really is legal to practice law in California at age 18. His gumption clashes with Johnson's cynicism, but they're fun to watch in a series that succeeds by not taking itself too seriously.

Sure beats the other major new network drama starting tonight.

"Surface" (NBC, 8 PM ET/PT) is another of those alien-invasion shows booked after the success of "Lost," this one with unidentified creatures emerging from under water. The longer they're unidentified, the better - the mystery is the life support of these shows. For now, only three people are affected so far: a kid who brings something home to his aquarium, another who lost a pal while fishing and the third a beautiful oceanographer played by Lake Bell. They don't get far in finding out what it's all about tonight. You won't either.

Also New Tonight

For being the No. 1 network, CBS certainly doesn't have a steady hand at developing comedies. "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS, 8:30 PM ET/PT) comes close, with some appealing characters, but it also has some pretty off-putting banter and a twist in the pilot that proves the show isn't completely predictable yet. It's better than the network's other new offering, which plays like a way station for temporarily unemployed cast actors. Stockard Channing, Henry Winkler and Christopher Gorham all star in "Out of Practice" (CBS, 9:30 PM ET/PT), which is about a crumbling family of doctors who bicker at one another.

There is hope among sitcoms, though, with Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" (Fox, 8:30 p.m.), a sassy serialization of a tell-all book about behind the scenes at an eatery. The show works well with the network's recent successful reality series "Hell's Kitchen" even as it introduces a strong ensemble cast, led by Bradley Cooper, recently of "Wedding Crashers."

Returning Tonight

Harry Winkler has the distinction of being in both the best and worst network comedies tonight. Besides starring in the aforementioned "Out of Practice," he turns in another brief, but memorable role as the lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in "Arrested Development" (Fox, 8 p.m.). The high-flying series, still the best comedy on network TV, picks up on its new night where last season left off, with cousins George-Michael and Maeby all uncomfortable after their kiss, the elder Bluth still on the loose, after taking the Blue Man Group slot coveted by Tobias and an ongoing gambit about being left behind for a fishing trip that affects just about everybody.

With the Emmys over, today is the official start of the new fall TV season, if you haven't noticed.

That means the new season starts for the comedies "The King of Queens" (CBS, 8 p.m.) on a new day, "One on One" (UPN, 8 p.m.), "All of Us" (UPN, 8:30 p.m.), "Girlfriends" (UPN, 9 p.m.) and "Half & Half" (UPN, 9:30 p.m.) as well as new episodes of "Las Vegas" (NBC, 9 p.m.), "CSI: Miami" (CBS, 10 p.m.) and "Medium" (NBC, 10 p.m.).

By starting its 10th season tonight, "7th Heaven" (The WB, 8 p.m.) surpasses both "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie" as TV's longest-running family drama. Tonight's season premiere is also its 200th episode. All I can think about is how old Ruthie is nowadays.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-tveye0919.artsep19,0,5666036,print.column?coll=hce-utility-tv

THE EMMYS
'Lost' and 'Raymond' Garner Top Emmys
By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times September 19, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18 - "Lost," the mysterious drama about castaway life on a Pacific island after a plane crash, and "Everybody Loves Raymond," the comedy about a dysfunctional family that ended its nine-year run in May, were honored as the top series on television Sunday night during the 57th annual prime-time Emmy Awards.

"Lost," which helped revive the fortunes of ABC, was honored as top drama, and "Raymond," which leaves a hole in the CBS lineup, received the Emmy for best comedy, beating out another new ABC show, the dark satire "Desperate Housewives."

If those selections might have been predicted, though, many others qualified as surprises on a night when no program or network could be characterized as decisively dominant. Patricia Arquette, who plays the medium on "Medium" on NBC, won for best actress in a drama, her first such honor, beating out Glenn Close of "The Shield" and Frances Conroy of "Six Feet Under," as well as Jennifer Garner of "Alias" and Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

The award for best actor on a comedy went to Tony Shalhoub, who portrays a lovably neurotic detective on "Monk" on USA. In winning the second Emmy of his career for the role, he beat out Ray Romano of "Raymond," Eric McCormack of "Will & Grace," Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" and Zach Braff of "Scrubs."

"Boston Legal," the spinoff of "The Practice" on ABC, won two major awards, for James Spader (best actor in a drama) and William Shatner (best supporting actor). Each had won an Emmy before.

One of the biggest questions hovering over Sunday evening's ceremony concerned how the host, Ellen DeGeneres, would acknowledge the death and devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina while still giving Hollywood license to poke fun at itself.

Moments after stepping onstage at the Shrine Auditorium here, Ms. DeGeneres addressed the puzzle head on. Wearing a magnolia - the state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi - on her right lapel, Ms. DeGeneres said, "New Orleans is my hometown, and I have family in Mississippi."

Then, after acknowledging that it was the second time she had been host of the Emmys after a national disaster - the first was after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - she said, "It's times like this we really, really need laughter."

And with that, the tone of the evening was set. Lest there be any doubt, Ms. DeGeneres was soon followed by the sight of Donald Trump in denim overalls and straw hat, pitchfork in hand, singing a duet of the "Green Acres" theme with Megan Mullally of "Will & Grace" as the first entry in a running tribute to television themes called "Emmy Idol." (The pair won, as voted by viewers.) Mr. Shatner had been among those who challenged Mr. Trump in the "Emmy Idol" competition by performing a duet, of sorts, with the mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade of the theme from - what else? - "Star Trek," the show that made him a star.

The surprises had begun early in the evening. Brad Garrett of "Everybody Loves Raymond," who had won the award for best supporting actor in a comedy twice before, was acknowledged again, beating out Jeremy Piven, who had captivated Hollywood insiders with his dead-on portrayal of the talent agent Ari on HBO's "Entourage." Doris Roberts, who plays Marie, the smothering mother of Mr. Garrett's character, Robert, won the award for best supporting actress in a comedy. It was her fifth Emmy.

Like "Desperate Housewives" itself, the Emmy voters had pitted three of its female stars - Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman - against one another in the category of lead actress in the comedy category. Ms. Huffman won. (The academy had left out the show's two other co-stars, Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan, in favor of Patricia Heaton of "Raymond" and Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle.")

Blythe Danner won her first Emmy, for supporting actress in a drama, for "Huff" on Showtime.

"The Daily Show," Jon Stewart's irreverent fake-news show on Comedy Central, won two awards, including best variety, music or comedy series. "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," an HBO movie, won three awards early in the ceremony, including one for Geoffrey Rush as best actor. J. J. Abrams, a creator of "Lost," won for his direction of the ABC drama.

All told in ceremonies on camera and off, HBO received 27 awards; ABC, 16; CBS, 11; and NBC, 10, tying it with PBS. The Emmy Awards, which are voted on by writers, actors, directors and other members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, often serve as a telescope trained on the changing order of the television universe. The 57th ceremony was no exception, and not just in terms of the awards bestowed.

A somber David Letterman, in an appearance that had not been announced in advance, spoke at length about the impact of Johnny Carson, both on his own career and on American life. "Every night in four different decades, Johnny Carson put Americans to bed, making them feel a little better about how the day had been and perhaps even making it splendid," he said.

The broadcast also featured a tribute to the three anchors who dominated television news for two decades: Tom Brokaw of NBC and Dan Rather of CBS, who stepped down in December and March, respectively, and Peter Jennings of ABC, who died last month. Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Rather then appeared and received an extended standing ovation, after which they lauded both Mr. Jennings and television's coverage of the hurricane.

"Raymond" was recognized with 13 nominations, including one for each of its stars and co-stars. Only Peter Boyle has never won for his work on the show.

The academy gave even more comedy nominations, 15, to "Will & Grace," which will depart NBC's schedule next spring and is arguably the last in a line of smart, urbane NBC sitcoms that began with "Cheers" and continued with "Seinfeld," "Frasier" and "Friends."

But however much the academy may have tipped its cap to the old, it also recognized the new.

"Lost," which helped vault ABC's prime-time ratings by fusing elements of the film "Cast Away," "Survivor," "The Twilight Zone" and even a dash of "Gilligan's Island," had received 12 nominations, including two for supporting actors - Naveen Andrews and Terry O'Quinn. (They lost to Mr. Shatner.) "Desperate Housewives," the dark comedy about suburban scheming and sexual restlessness that was another new pillar of ABC's comeback strategy, received 15 nominations, tying with "Will & Grace" for the most for a network program. In the category of best drama series, two HBO series, "Six Feet Under," which concluded this summer after five seasons, and "Deadwood," which just completed its second outing, were up against "24" on Fox, "The West Wing" on NBC and the eventual winner, "Lost."

For best comedy, "Raymond" had been challenged by "Desperate," "Will & Grace" "Arrested Development" on Fox and "Scrubs" on NBC.

This year, two HBO movies tied as the most-nominated shows, "Peter Sellers" and "Warm Springs," each with 16 nominations. "Warm Springs" was named best made-for-television movie.

THE EMMYS
'Lost' and 'Everybody Loves Raymond' top winners at Emmys
"Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman wins lead comedy actress award.

By Scott Collins and Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

Old favorites and veteran performers won the hearts — and many of the top awards — at TV's 57th Annual Emmy Awards on Sunday, although voters still found room to reward "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," the two new hit series that helped rescue ABC from the ratings cellar last season.

Television viewers heard the ring of familiar names throughout the evening, as voters dispensed awards to the likes of Jane Alexander, Blythe Danner, William Shatner and Paul Newman as well as repeat winners such as Doris Roberts and James Spader.

"Lost," the ensemble drama about a group of plane-crash survivors on a mysterious Pacific island, won for best drama series, as well as for direction. Felicity Huffman won for best actress in a comedy for her role in "Desperate Housewives," but the show, a fan favorite, was upset in the best comedy series category by CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond," which ended its nine-year-run in May.

After winning the award, "Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal joked, "It's nice to remember the elderly. Thanks. We're grateful and shocked." "Raymond" cast members Roberts and Brad Garrett picked up their fourth and third respective Emmys for their supporting work.

ABC's performance was astonishing, given that the network was considered creatively moribund only one year ago, with "Monday Night Football" its highest-rated program. Including last week's Creative Arts awards, ABC earned 16 Emmys, second only to perennial Emmy leader HBO, which won 27. In perhaps the most closely watched race, Huffman of "Housewives" vaulted past her more glamorous co-stars, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross.

HBO took an early lead at the ceremony, telecast from the Shrine Auditorium on CBS and hosted by daytime TV host Ellen DeGeneres for the first time since the twice-delayed post-9/11 broadcast in 2001. The premium cable network's original biopics "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and "Warm Springs," about Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle with polio, each won multiple prizes.

But with critical favorite "The Sopranos" taking a hiatus this year and therefore ineligible for Emmy consideration, HBO found itself in a weaker position than years past. The network's best series performance came from its dark, revisionist western "Deadwood," which netted five technical awards.

But "Deadwood" was not able to surge in the major categories. Actor Ian McShane, who previously won a Golden Globe award for his critically acclaimed performance as the foul-mouthed, ruthless saloon keeper Al Swearengen, lost out to Spader, who plays the ethically challenged attorney Alan Shore on ABC's "Boston Legal." Spader won last year for playing the same character on the network's series "The Practice." Spader's co-star Shatner also won his second Emmy in a row for his role as the eccentric attorney Denny Crane.

HBO did much better in the long-form Emmy categories, thanks to its heavy investment in the format, which used to be dominated by broadcast network movies-of-the-week.

Oscar-winning Australian actor Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") won his first Emmy for playing Sellers, the tormented comic actor known for his roles in "Dr. Strangelove" and as Inspector Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" comedies. Rush earlier won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for his performance.

Stephen Hopkins of "Sellers" also won for best direction of a miniseries or movie. And writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely won for their "Sellers" script.

"Warm Springs" was named best made-for-TV movie, and veteran actress Alexander picked up the supporting actress award for her role as Roosevelt's mother. Alexander was nominated 28 years ago for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the TV miniseries "Eleanor and Franklin."

On Sunday, Alexander paid onstage tribute to the Roosevelts: "They were great leaders at a time when our nation needed great leaders."

HBO's star-laden miniseries "Empire Falls" also earned an outstanding supporting actor Emmy for Newman, the 80-year-old movie icon. Following his longtime habit, Newman did not attend the awards.

"Law & Order" regular S. Epatha Merkerson won her first Emmy for best actress in a miniseries or movie for HBO's "Lackawanna Blues." Merkerson ran to the stage tugging at her decolletage. "I actually wrote something ... and it went down [my dress] and I can't get it," the embarrassed actress told the crowd.

In addition to Huffman, "Housewives" took a prize for Charles MacDougall's direction of the pilot. But the comedy writing prize went, for the second year, to Fox's "Arrested Development," which has struggled in the ratings despite winning the best comedy statuette last year.

Another repeat winner, this time in the comedy acting category, was Tony Shalhoub, who took home his second Emmy for the title role as an obsessive-compulsive detective in USA's "Monk." Addressing his rivals from the stage, Shalhoub joked: "There's always a next year ... except for Ray Romano."

More surprising was Patricia Arquette's victory for best drama actress in NBC's midseason sleeper "Medium." Playing a woman who helps authorities solve crimes by communing with the dead, Arquette faced difficult competition, including Glenn Close in "The Shield," Frances Conroy in "Six Feet Under" and Jennifer Garner in "Alias."

Emmy voters gave a nod to "House," the Fox medical drama that became a surprise hit last winter when it followed "American Idol." David Shore won a writing award for the series, thanking title actor Hugh Laurie "for making me look like a better writer than I am."

For the third year in a row, CBS' "The Amazing Race" blazed past its unscripted rivals, this time in the reality competition category.

"The Lost Prince," a historical drama that ran on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre," won for best miniseries. The last time "Masterpiece Theatre" won in the category was eight years ago, for "Prime Suspect 5."

The Emmy telecast contained a few references to the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war. But often the show stressed the silly, including a send-up of "American Idol" that featured some unlikely singers belting out renditions of classic TV tunes, including an overall-clad Donald Trump and "Will & Grace's" Megan Mullally performing the theme from the 1960s sitcom "Green Acres." Shatner also joined mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade to sing the theme from "Star Trek," the '60s sci-fi series that made Shatner a household name.

But the few political references did stand out. Veteran actress Danner, winning her first Emmy for a supporting role in Showtime's drama "Huff," paid tribute to her late husband, producer-director Bruce Paltrow, saying, "I know Bruce would want me to pay tribute to New Orleans, his favorite city, and all the Gulf Coast and our kids in Iraq. Let's get the heck out of there."

Several presenters and winners also wore magnolias on their lapels and couture gowns in support of the victims of the hurricane.

Jon Stewart — whose "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central won for writing and for best variety, music or comedy program — got one of the biggest crowd reactions with a bit that criticized government officials for their response to Hurricane Katrina but censored out the many presumed expletives and insults.

"When I first said that I wanted to put together a late-night comedy writing team that would only be 80% Ivy League-educated Jews, people thought I was crazy," Stewart joked on accepting the writing prize. "They said you need 90%, 95%, but we proved them wrong."

The ceremony often took a somber turn, as when a surprisingly subdued David Letterman turned up to pay tribute to his longtime idol Johnny Carson, the former "Tonight Show" host who died in January.

Tom Brokaw, former anchor of "NBC Nightly News," and Dan Rather, who retired this year as anchor of "CBS Evening News," received a standing ovation from the crowd and paid tribute to "ABC World News Tonight" anchor Peter Jennings, who died Aug. 7.

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THE EMMYS
You Can't Spell Emmy Without 'Me'

By John Eggerton bcbeat.com

Since you can't spell Emmy without "m" and "y" and m" and e" here are my impressions about how the Emmy awards broadcast struck me. Think of it as a sort of sleepy writers' notebook.

These observations and a fivespot will get you a double latte, but here goes:

Last night's awards seemed to be as much about the past as they were the future.

The best comedy was not Desperate Housewives, but Everybody Loves Raymond, which ended its network run after nine seasons. The show also picked up best supporting actor and actress nods.

The biggest hand was not for Emmy winners, but a valedictory standing ovation for evening news anchors Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw (and the late Peter Jennings in absentia).

The longest speech was not by one of the many surprised-and-humbled-but-grateful or cocky-but-caring winners, but by funnyman David Letterman introducing a montage saluting the late Johnny Carson....

Maybe it was just me, but the show seemed sedate, and, despite the sparkler wielded by host Ellen DeGeneres at one point, pretty sparkle-free.

The dresses were black; the tribute to Carson, with Letterman being superserious and perhaps a tad long in his intro; the poigniant absence of Jennings; the Katrina relief pitches.

It all added up to a "let's just get on with it pace" that made for few high points.

One of mine was S. Epatha Merkerson, who won for Lackawana Blues but grasped for something to say after conceding she had stored her speech in the top of her dress only to have it migrate southward and out of reach.

The "Emmy Idol" may have once been a good idea, but it seemed to lack in execution, although the right pair prevailed. Donald Trump and Megan Mulalley doing the Green Acres theme got the strongest applause and wound up winning among the four theme songs performed by TV stars.

http://www.bcbeat.com/

'Extreme' tragedy

By MICHELLE CARUSO New York Daily News

LOS ANGELES - The producers of "Extreme Makeover" promised Deleese Williams "a Cinderella-like" fix for a deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and tiny boobs that would "transform her life and destiny."

But when the ABC reality show dumped the Texas mom the night before the life-changing plastic surgeries, it shattered her family's dream and triggered her sister Kellie McGee's suicide, says a bombshell lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court.

As part of the premakeover hype, producers coaxed McGee and other family members to trash Williams' looks on videotape, the suit alleges. When they suddenly pulled the plug on the project, and the promised "Hollywood smile like Cindy Crawford," a guilt-ridden McGee fell apart.

"Kellie could not live with the fact that she had said horrible things that hurt her sister. She fell to pieces. Four months later, she ended her life with an overdose of pills, alcohol and cocaine," said Wesley Cordova, a lawyer for Williams.

"This family is shredded. There is a human cost to this," Cordova said.

Williams, 30, and her husband, Mike, are raising McGee's two children, along with two kids of their own. The suit seeks unspecified money damages for breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other offenses.

"Deleese is so hurt and humiliated, she won't leave the house now. She grocery shops at midnight," Cordova says.

ABC declined to comment on the allegations.

The show announcing Williams' selection for a mega makeover had already aired on Jan. 7, 2004, when the producers abruptly dropped her because the dental surgeon told them her recovery time would be longer than expected, Cordova said.

Williams was alone in a Los Angeles hotel room reading her pre-op instructions when a producer showed up and dashed her dream of a new life with a "pretty" face, the suit alleges.

"You will not be getting an extreme makeover after all. . . . Nothing. It doesn't fit in our time frame. You will have to go back to Texas tomorrow," the suit alleges she was coldly told.

Williams broke down sobbing: "How can I go back as ugly as I left? I was supposed to come home pretty," the suit says.

The 31-page complaint begins with the line "Deleese Williams is considered ugly."

It details a horrendous tale of pain and humiliation that began when she applied for the reality show in December 2003 and had to submit a "full body shot" video showing "all of the body parts that need help."

For years, Williams' friends and family "didn't notice or pretended not to notice" her homely looks, but once she got picked for the show, they were coached to focus on nothing but her physical flaws, the suit says.

In McGee's taped interview, she tried to play up her sister's good points. But the hard-nosed producers "peppered Kellie with questions about her childhood with the ugly Deleese . . . and repeatedly put words in her mouth," the suit says.

To please the producers, Williams' mother-in-law also laid it on thick. "She said things like 'I never believed my son would marry such an ugly woman.' " Cordova says.

The family's comments never aired on TV, but Williams, who was in an adjoining room, heard them all.

The experience ruined her family life.

"Now that she returned in the same condition in which she left, there were no secrets, no hidden feelings, no reward," the suit says.

McGee's "guilt was overwhelming." She OD'd on May 25, 2004, four months after the show's producers sent her sister packing.

"These programs are cheap to produce - there are no actors or screenwriters to pay. But there is a very high human cost," Cordova said.

THE EMMYS
Complete list of winners announced Sunday night:

Actress, drama series
Patricia Arquette, "Medium," NBC

Writing, drama series
David Shore, "House (Three Stories)," Fox


I scored about 35% on the one's I picked. :p

I was especially happy to see the two above win. Arquette was fantastic all season long with a role that must have been very difficult to pull off and be close to being believable. That particular episode of House was an instant classic IMO and I believe it will stand up well years from now, truly a cut above.

I didn't want to get specific until you posted your updates on the winners. I was referring to the Raymond wins. It just seems that in a year when network television has obviously had a bit of a revival, giving Raymond all these awards based on nostalgia makes it seem like voters are out of touch, or at least more so than usual.

My complaint is that Raymond beat Arrested Development for the best comedy series. I thought Desperate Housewives would win (even though it's a drama), and could have lived with that. But seeing a show that's been well past its prime for years beat what I feel is the best sitcom (I know you're not an AR fan) since Seinfeld is pretty annoying.

Normally I'm not an award show guy, but I'm sure AR would've been canceled had it not won the Emmy last year. Since I doubt it's ratings will improve, and now not winning the Emmy, I'm scared Fox will axe the show after this year.

I know I shouldn't get worked up over TV, but I can't remember ever being this excited about a new TV season. As always, I appreciate your hard work on running this excellent thread and look forward to reading your thoughts on the Emmy results.

Edit: Completely forgot the biggest slight. Ian McShane losing to James Spader.

I agree on both counts, Jim, and was also delighted to see the Olympic Opening Ceremonies get honored.

There were a few winners, though, as Tabasco noted, which seemed (to be very charitable) to be a bit odd. :)

Thanks for the kind words, Tabasco.

I share your feeling about "Raymond". What a shameful waste of a vote for the various winners from that show.

Yes, they did nine seasons, and a number of them were pretty good TV, but to give the awards this year would have been laughable if it weren't so foolish.

Personally, I am not a big AR fan, but certainly could have understood if it won. How DH didn't -- given its impact on TV and even society as a whole -- leaves me without a clue.

(Which, based on a lot of the results announced last night, makes me about even with a great number of Emmy voters.)

One thing to remember in these days of greater media consolidation: there has been some grumbling in the past about pack voting either for fellow network shows or fellow production house programs.

And now that the networks own their own production houses, I would have to assume the pressure to do something to help your company's bottom line has only increased.

edit: I would have picked Hugh Laurie for best actor in a drama, but Spader would have ranked fifth on my list.

In case you neglected to keep score.....

THE EMMYS
Sunday’s Award Totals

Networks (16)
ABC 6
CBS 5
Fox 2
NBC 2
PBS 1

Basic Cable (3)
Comedy Central 2
USA Network 1

Pay Cable (9)
HBO 8
Showtime 1

Comcast Spending $6 Mil. on HD Campaign
September 19, 2005
By John Consoli

Cable giant Comcast is spending an estimated $6 million on a television ad campaign on ABC's Monday Night Football, which began on Sept. 12 and will continue with spots in each game throughout the regular season.

The move represents the first time a cable operator has promoted its services on a broadcast network in prime time. The campaign touts the quality of high definition telecasts on Comcast systems, and includes a 10-second spot just prior to kickoff, promoting the cable operator as a sponsor of MNF's HD telecast, and a first-half :30.

Marvin Davis, senior vp of marketing for Comcast, said now that the cable operator reaches 40 percent of U.S. cable households, noting “we have enough of a critical mass reach where it economically makes sense to run a national broadcast campaign.” He would not comment on the cost of the HD campaign.

Even though cable and broadcast do battle on many fronts, Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN/ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales, said the campaign was accepted because it touts HDTV's benefits. “We are in agreement that high definition is an important initiative, and that is the message in their campaign,” Erhardt said.

Davis said the campaign is designed to motivate current Comcast analog subscribers to step up to a digital/HD package, and to convince nonsubscribers that Comcast offers more and better HD programming than the satellite TV services. ABC will run nine different regional feeds of the ads, which allows Comcast to offer local phone numbers for interested viewers to call.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001138537

Networks Get a Jump on the Fall Season

By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com September 19, 2005

With more than a dozen new and returning shows premiering last week, several networks got a jump on the fall season’s official launch. The results were generally positive: Both Fox and the WB drew strong ratings for their Tuesday night lineups, while NBC Universal’s strip Martha got off to a solid—if not spectacular—start.

The week’s most notable ratings were for Fox’s Tuesday 8 p.m. launch on Sept. 13 of crime show Bones, followed by the second-season return of House at 9 p.m. Bones drew 10.8 million viewers, and scored a 3.9/11 among adults 18-49. House logged 15.9 million viewers, with a 5.9/15 in the demo. Preston Beckman, executive vp of strategic program planning at Fox, said House’s strong return proved that the show no longer needed American Idol as a lead-in. “We knew when the training wheels came off, it would do just fine,” he said.

The WB’s Tuesday night pairing of Gilmore Girls and new thriller Supernatural defied critics’ early predictions that the two shows may not be compatible. Gilmore drew 6.2 million viewers, and scored a 3.1/10 among its target audience of adults 18-34.

Supernatural retained almost 84 percent of that key demographic, scoring a 2.6/7 in it, and drawing 5.7 million viewers.

After a lackluster summer at the network, WB entertainment president David Janollari said Tuesday’s original fare “was a great way to turn the lights back on for the season.”

Also on Tuesday, NBC launched a second cycle of The Biggest Loser. The 90-minute premiere drew 7.8 million viewers, and a 3.3/9 among adults 18-49 (good enough for second place in the key demo). But with the heavily hyped comedy My Name Is Earl launching in the 9 p.m. slot Sept. 20, several advertisers said Loser may not serve as much of a lead-in.

“Part of NBC’s strategy this season was to get out of the gate strong at 8 p.m.,” said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, senior vp/director of Starcom Entertainment. “[Loser] could put the network at a disadvantage.” Several other launches proved disappointing as well, including Fox’s Sept. 14 premiere of Wednesday show Head Cases, which drew 6.2 million viewers and scored a 2.3/6 among adults 18-49.

Last week’s top-ranked debut likely will be CBS’ Thursday premiere of Survivor: Guatemala, which on Sept. 15 drew 17.8 million viewers and a 6.4/19 in adults 18-49, according to fast affiliate ratings. Those numbers are down from a year ago when Survivor: Vanuatu’s premiere drew 20 million viewers and a 7.8/22.

Also of note was Fox's Monday night broadcast of Prison Break. In its third week out, and up against ABC's dominant season premiere of Monday Night Football (Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles), the action drama drew 9.2 million viewers, and a 4.5/11 among adults 18-49.
Of the three new syndication launches last week—NBCU’s Martha, Warner Bros.’ Tyra, and Twentieth TV’s Judge Alex—Martha premiered to the strongest numbers, logging a four-day average household rating of 2.2/7. Given the publicity surrounding star Martha Stewart’s recent legal woes, some analysts suggested Martha’s ratings should have been higher. But NBCU execs remain content. “It’s a better business as a 3 or 4 rating,” said Barry Wallach, president of NBCU domestic TV distribution. “But at a 2, [Martha] will be around for a long time to come.”

[urlhttp://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001138541[/url]

MediaWeek’s Mr. Television Column
Season Opener

By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com September 19, 2005

TV viewers, start your tivos. after a summer flooded with nonscripted fare, I am ecstatic that the new TV season is about to begin. This week alone we'll see 17 series premieres, 40 season premieres, the return of Cybill Shepherd as Martha Stewart, and Kelly Monaco and John O'Hurley

facing off once again in ABC's Dancing With the Stars: Dance-Off. With so much to choose from, let me make a few viewing suggestions.

Let's start with Monday and the return of Fox's critically acclaimed, but minimally sampled Arrested Development. While it's unlikely the relocated Emmy-winning comedy will catch on opening the week, we can be grateful Fox is giving us at least one more year. And this season, the center of the Bluth insanity (Jason Bateman) will get some lovin' from Academy Award winner Charlize Theron.

Although I can't say I don't like Fox's Kitchen Confidential Monday at 8:30 p.m., CBS' competing, youth-drenched How I Met Your Mother is a better option, even if grating former Doogie Howser star Neil Patrick Harris is present. After can't-miss Two and a Half Men on CBS Monday at 9 p.m., my suggestion is to skip new CBS comedy Out Of Practice (I hope Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing kept their options open on Arrested Development and The West Wing) and head to Fox for the second half of the over-the-top, but still addictive, Prison Break. This could be the water-cooler show of the season.

Unless you're a fan of Monday Night Football (and don't forget, this is the last season ABC is airing it), it's a toss-up at 10 p.m. between CBS' veteran CSI: Miami and NBC's midseason surprise hit Medium. My suggestion: Tivo one and watch the other (or TiVo both if that's your style). Medium's Patricia Arquette is far more believable talking to dead people than Jennifer Love Hewitt is on CBS' upcoming Ghost Whisperer.

Fans of the WB's Gilmore Girls should not miss the show this season. I saw the first two episodes, and it's time Emmy took notice. I also applaud new Tuesday at 9 p.m. occupants Commander in Chief on ABC, and My Name is Earl on NBC. While I don't expect ratings to sizzle, in a sea of crime dramas and supernatural thrillers both are distinctive. If you're not addicted to the competing Amazing Race on CBS or House on Fox, give either new series a shot.

On Wednesday at 9 p.m., there's one place to be: ABC. That's when the season-premiere of Lost, arguably the best drama on TV, begins. I don't think I could wait another minute to find out what the heck is in that hatch—the best cliffhanger ending since ol' J.R. was shot on Dallas more than 20 years ago!

If you are bored with forensic crime solving, skip 10 p.m. shows Law & Order on NBC and CSI: NY on CBS, and check out ABC for Thriller, the one new science-fiction drama of the six debuting that will really suck you in (and scare the hell out of you).

While nothing would ever make me miss Survivor on Thursday, I will make sure to tape (am I the last person on Earth without TiVo?) the Chris Rock-narrated sitcom Everybody Hates Chris on UPN, which has the most buzz of any new series this season.

Although Alias, Smallville and Everwood have moved to Thursday, CBS' Survivor and CSI should not lose any sleep. Unless you're a die-hard fan of NBC's ER—the addition of Tony winner John Leguizamo is worth sampling—CBS is your best bet on Thursday, and that includes the underrated Without A Trace at 10 p.m.

After a long week of work, ABC's relocated Supernanny at 8 p.m., followed by the addition of Three Wishes, a wish-fulfillment show hosted by Amy Grant on NBC at 9 p.m., are the sort of mindless entertainment people need on a Friday night. And 20/20 on ABC at 10 p.m. is still a worthy way to cap off the week, despite the absence of Barbara Walters.

I won't even bother to discuss Saturday—why should I if the Big 3 refuse to program on the evening? Instead I'll head to Sunday for 60 Minutes at 7 p.m.—still a strong show as it begins its 37th season—followed by ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. Although NBC coined the phrase "must-see TV," ABC owns the rights to it on Sunday from 8 to 11 p.m.

My one hope is that Desperate Housewives does not burn out this season. The danger of being hot one season is that expectations can be unrealistic for the next. If Housewives can maintain its edgy, dark comedy, and restrain itself from going over the top, the ground-breaking series could live for years.

Hurricane Katrina Whips Up Spectrum Storm in D.C.

By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com September 19, 2005

Hearst-Argyle Television senior vp for news Fred Young has a message for the rising chorus of officials telling TV broadcasters to move, and soon, off the spectrum they’ve used for decades: Look at the example of WDSU in New Orleans, and think about whether it’s smart to take away TV signals that are a lifeline for many people.

Beginning two days before Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the city, the Hearst-Argyle NBC affiliate preempted all normal programming with bulletins about the approaching storm and how to survive it. “There were no car races, there were no sitcoms, no movies, no golf—nothing associated with television in the traditional sense,” Young told federal regulators on Sept. 15. Even after rising waters knocked WDSU off the air, staff fed a Web site that garnered 25 million page hits over several days. “The role that we play may not be fully understood by those who advocate premature return of the analog spectrum,” Young said.

“Premature” is not the word on the minds of some, notwithstanding Young’s presentation to the Federal Communications Commission, which met in Atlanta to mull lessons of Katrina. As the agency decided to set up its own bureau for public safety and homeland security, officials elsewhere were lining up to point at communications failures afflicting emergency workers responding to Katrina. A solution has long been mooted, but never enacted: Finish TV’s move onto the digital spectrum and use part of the vacated analog spectrum for emergency workers. It all had a frustratingly familiar ring for Thomas Kean, who headed the 9/11 Commission that concluded communications shortfalls hampered rescue operations during the attacks in 2001.

“It is a scandal … that four years after 9/11 we have not yet set aside spectrum” to ensure reliable communications during attacks or disasters, Kean told a Washington news conference on Sept. 14. “We cannot go through this again. If Congress does not act, people will die.”

Some in Congress appear ready. “What level of crisis must we endure before we act?” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) from the Senate floor on Sept. 13. Some congressional leaders have proposed ending analog TV broadcasts by 2009; McCain called for a switch by Jan. 1, 2007. He’ll get support from the likes of Kean, who called 2009 “totally unacceptable.”

Broadcasters are loath to publicly oppose the notion of hustling spectrum over to first responders. But they worry about losing chunks of their audience—the 21 million households who rely on over-the-air reception and would need new equipment to receive digital signals. Many of those people are not prosperous, like those stuck in New Orleans during Katrina. “We make the point that broadcasters play a critical role in times of peril,” said Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. “Broadcasters are undoubtedly a lifeline service.”

That notion should soon get a test before Congress, where lawmakers deluged with Katrina legislation have given themselves an extra month, until mid-October, for key budget votes. Legislation could set a date for the digital TV conversion so budgeteers can count on the billions of dollars to be reaped by auctioning analog spectrum to high-tech companies. An early indication of lawmakers’ eagerness could come Sept. 22 when the Senate Commerce Committee gathers to consider communications lessons left by Katrina.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001138525

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column of Monday, September 19, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
New Program Descriptions:

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER - comedy
Narrated through flashbacks from the future, a family man (Josh Radnor) looks back on his single life and how he fell in love and ultimately got married. With Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segal, Cobie Smulders and former Doogie Howser star Neil Patrick Harris.

OUT OF PRACTICE -comedy
A family of physicians (including Henry “The Fonz” Winker and West Wing star Stockard Channing) share the same profession but have very little else in common.

SURFACE – science fiction drama
A variety of individuals including a family in San Diego, naval officers in the South Antarctic Sea, scientists from the Oceanographic Institute, and fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico encounter not-so-innocent creatures living under the sea. The ensemble cast includes Lake Bell (Boston Legal), Jay R. Ferguson (Judging Amy), Rade Serbedzija (Snatch), and Carter Jenkins (CSI: NY).

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL – sitcom
After hitting rock bottom a young chef (Bradley Cooper) lands a job as the head chef at a top New York restaurant. Based on chef Anthony Bourdain’s best-selling autobiography.

JUST LEGAL - drama
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer shifts gears in this light legal drama with Don Johnson as a down-in-his-luck ambulance chaser who tries to mentor a young and brilliant legal prodigy (Million Dollar Baby’s Jay Baruchel).

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column of Monday, September 19, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards:

And the Winners Were...

On a night of multiple surprises at the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, HBO remained the most honored network for the third consecutive year, with 27 wins. First among the broadcast networks, and second overall, was ABC with 16 wins, followed by CBS with 11, and NBC with 10. PBS tied NBC at 10 trophies, followed by Cartoon Network (7), Fox (6), Comedy Central and Showtime (3 each), Nickelodeon (2), and one apiece for A&E, Discovery Channel, Hallmark and USA. The most honored program of the evening was original HBO movie, The Life and Times of Peter Sellers, with 9 Emmys, including Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

ABC’s Lost and Desperate Housewives scored the most Emmy wins of any broadcast network series, with 6 apiece, followed by HBO’s Deadwood and made-for television movie Warm Springs at 5 each.

Although ABC’s Desperate Housewives was considered a lock for Outstanding Comedy Series, the final season of CBS’ Everybody Loves Raymond pulled a major upset. The last comedy to win this category for its final season was ABC’s Barney Miller in 1982. Raymond’s Brad Garret and Doris Roberts were also named Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series for the third and fourth time, respectively.

While odds were either on Teri Hatcher or Marcia Cross of ABC’s Desperate Housewives winning as Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, co-star Felicity Huffman as harried housewife Lynette scored an unexpected victory. “I’m afraid I’m become one of those dramatic actresses,” said a teary eyes Huffman as she accepted her award.

Other notable surprises, and there were many, included wins by Patricia Arquette for NBC’s Medium over The Shield favorite Glenn Close as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; James Spader and William Shatner of ABC’s Boston Legal repeating their wins last season and Outstanding Lead Actor and Supporting Actor in a Drama Series; and Masterpiece Theatre’s The Lost Prince on PBS as Outstanding Miniseries. Two time Academy Award winner Paul Newman, who was not present, won the first Emmy of his career for his supporting turn in HBO miniseries Empire Falls.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

Sunday’s network prime-time ratings have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

THE EMMYS
Emmys up on 'Housewives' buzz
Pulls 18.8 million viewers for CBS telecast

MediaLifeMagazine.com--- “Desperate Housewives” didn’t win the Emmy for Best Comedy, but all the buzz over its chance to win may have helped revive the Emmys.

Last night’s Ellen DeGeneres-hosted telecast on CBS averaged 18.8 million total viewers from 8-11 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, the award show’s best showing since 2002.

That’s based on preliminary numbers that measure time slot performance. Final ratings, which will be out tomorrow, will measure the actual ceremony’s performance, though for once it stayed in the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. timeframe.

It's nearly 5 million more than the 13.96 million last year's telecast on ABC averaged, according to overnights.

That was down from 17.94 million on Fox in 2003 and 19.99 million on NBC in 2002. In 2001, the last time CBS aired the event, it averaged 17.12 million total viewers.

Whereas last year's show was relatively buzzless, this year there was tons of pre-show chatter over “Housewives,” ABC’s rookie sensation that most expected to win Best Comedy (“Everybody Loves Raymond” pulled the upset).

Much of the speculation was over who would take best actress, “Housewives’” Marcia Cross or Teri Hatcher. But in one of the night’s biggest surprises, castmate Felicity Huffman won.

Though the Emmys fared better than recent years, viewership declined steadily through the night. During the 8-8:30 p.m. half hour, CBS averaged 18.94 million viewers, which grew to 20.40 million during the 8:30-9 p.m. half hour.

But during the last half hour, the Emmys averaged 16.96 million viewers.

The telecast averaged a 6.0 rating among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, a 27.7 percent increase over the 4.7 overnight rating ABC averaged for the Emmys last year.

The telecast also led CBS to No. 1 for the night in the demo with a 5.8 average rating and a 15 share. Fox was second for the night at 3.9/10, ABC third at 2.6/7, NBC fourth at 1.8/5 and the WB fifth at 1.3/4.

CBS swept all four primetime hours last night, starting with a 5.0 average at 7 p.m. for NFL football runover and “60 Minutes.” Fox was second that hour with a 3.0 average for a repeat of “The Simpsons” (2.8) and the season premiere of “King of the Hill” (3.2) and NBC third with a 1.7 average for “Dateline.”

Among households, CBS led the night with an 11.8 average rating and a 19 share. NBC was second at 4.8/8, just edging ABC’s and Fox’s 4.7/8, with the WB fifth at 2.0/3.

A night that most thought would be a coronation of "Housewives" turned into a tribute to "Raymond." Despite a few imaginative choices in the actress categories, last night's Emmy telecast was mostly the same-old, same-old, with "Raymond" taking home three major awards and HBO leading all networks with 27 wins.

"Raymond" took Best Comedy and supporting actor and actress awards for Brad Garrett and five-time winner Doris Roberts.

The Best Comedy nod was a big surprise. ABC's "Housewives," last season's top new show, was considered a lock. But Emmy voters are long on sentiment, and in its final season, "Raymond" took its second trophy in three years.

But the Academy did deliver a few surprises, most notably in the acting categories. Felicity Huffman, who had been overshadowed by the showier performances from castmates Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross, won for her turn as a harried stay-at-home mom in "Housewives."

She seemed genuinely shocked by the win, as was Best Actress in a Drama winner Patricia Arquette ("Medium"), one of only two NBC individual winners last night.

It was still a big night for ABC, even if "Housewives" didn't deliver. As expected, "Lost" won Best Drama. Other acting surprises: "Boston Legal's" repeat victories for James Spader (Best Actor in a Drama) and William Shatner, who won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama a year after being recognized as a guest star on "The Practice."

That gave ABC 16 total Emmys, second to HBO. CBS was third with 11, including the third straight reality series nod for "Amazing Race," and NBC and PBS tied for fourth with 10.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/News2005/sep05/sept19/1_mon/news1monday.html

Comcast Spending $6 Mil. on HD Campaign
September 19, 2005
By John Consoli


Davis said the campaign is designed to motivate current Comcast analog subscribers to step up to a digital/HD package, and to convince nonsubscribers that Comcast offers more and better HD programming than the satellite TV services.
I'll betcha they won't even mention that all you need to get the local station's HD, like ABC(Monday Night Football) for example, is a basic cable subscription. This is clearly an effort to get subs/new-subs to purchase more expensive digital subscription packages using HD as a cover. Of course I wouldn't have expected anything less sneaky from the folks at Comcast.

NBC SPORTS WINS A TOTAL OF 9 EMMY AWARDS FOR THE ATHENS OLYMPIC GAMES
( September 19, 2005 )

NEW YORK – Sept. 19, 2005 – NBC Sports' Bucky Gunts won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Director of a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for his direction of the Opening Ceremony of the Athens Summer Games.

Gunts' Primetime Emmy win brings NBC Sports' Emmy total this year to eleven, nine for its coverage of the Athens Olympic Games, having previously been awarded two Primetime Emmy Awards last week, and having received eight Sports Emmy Awards this spring, six for its coverage of the 2004 Summer Games. Gunts accepted the Emmy Award last night during the live broadcast of the Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

NBC Sports' coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games previously took home Primetime Emmy Awards for:
-Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic, Multi-Camera) for Variety, Music or Comedy Programming
-Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special

This spring, NBC's coverage of the 2004 Athens Summer Games won Emmy Awards in the following categories:
-Outstanding Live Event Turnaround
-Outstanding Sports Documentary
-Outstanding Sports Personality - Studio Host (Bob Costas)
-Outstanding Technical Team Studio
-Outstanding Innovative Technical Achievement
-Outstanding Open/Tease

In addition to the Olympics, NBC also won the Emmys for Outstanding Editing for "Wimbledon on NBC" and Outstanding Edited Sports Special for "Ironman Triathlon World Championships."

I was glad to see Bucky win, George. He deserved it.

THE EMMYS

Perhaps the best Emmys coverage – at least the most extensive – is from today’s LA Times.

You can access whatever you want to see here:

http://www.calendarlive.com/custom/envelope/cl-emmys2005-sg,0,5594681.storygallery?coll=cl-tv-blurb

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
For CBS, Monday still seems a sure bet
Powerful primetime, even with 'Raymond' gone

By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com Staff Writer

When the fall television season begins tonight, it will be the first time since 1997 that “Everybody Loves Raymond” isn’t anchoring CBS’s long-dominant Monday lineup.

But while NBC suffered terribly from a similar loss on Thursdays last year, the first season after “Friends” finished its run, media researchers fully expect CBS to continue outperforming all competitors. Researchers explain that the solid ratings for returning hits “Two and a Half Men” and “CSI: Miami,” coupled with high expectations for new sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” virtually ensure CBS will retain its hold on No. 1, at least in the 25-54 demographic and most likely also among adults 18-49.

CBS last season averaged a 6.3 rating in the 25-54 demographic, far outpacing its nearest competitor on Mondays. NBC had a 4.7. ABC and Fox each had a 4.5 rating.

CBS had a 5.2 adult 18-49 rating, compared to 4.2 for NBC and a 4.1 for both ABC and Fox.

“They have a lock on Monday night,” says Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming at Carat.

“Their Monday night could conceivably be as good as a year ago or up because ‘King of Queens’ is returning to Monday nights. And they will be further bolstered by ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ which has the makings of a really great sitcom. ‘Out of Practice’ [at 9:30 p.m.] will benefit from a good time period. And ‘CSI: Miami’ fills out the night at 10 p.m.”

Until first quarter, CBS will be competing with ABC’s “Wife Swap” and Monday Night Football. NBC has the new science-fiction drama “Surface” and the returning “Las Vegas” and “Medium.” Fox has the low-rated comedy “Arrested Development” and the new “Kitchen Confidential,” followed by “Prison Break,” which two weeks ago ranked No. 8 among all shows. On the WB, “Seventh Heaven” is followed by the new “Just Legal,” while UPN continues with its comedy block.

Still, Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research at MediaCom, thinks CBS will retain a solid lead in key demographics.

“I absolutely think they will,” he says. “‘Two and a Half Men’ is a strong comedy in a [television] landscape with few solid new comedies. And if you look at the night, other than UPN’s African-American-skewing sitcoms, you only have Fox’s two comedies. Everything else is drama, and then there is football.”

Both Brill and Breslow note that CBS will face tougher competition after fourth quarter, but both think CBS will again maintain its lead.

On ABC, after football ends in January, the network will roll out a relatively weak lineup with the fading “Bachelor,” new sitcom “Emily’s Reasons Why Not,” with Heather Graham, and the returning but low-rated “Jake in Progress.” ABC wraps up the night against CBS’s “CSI: Miami” and NBC’s “Medium,” both hits, with new comedy-drama “What About Brian.”

“I don’t think CBS will have problems with ABC, but I do think they will have some problems against Fox,” says Breslow.

Fox will revamp its lineup in January by moving “House” from Tuesdays, which will be followed by the returning “24.” “House” premiered last week with a strong 5.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

“It will be a more competitive night for younger viewers, the 18-34 side of things,” says Brill. “There is way more choice for them. And ‘24’ loyalists will certainly go back for more when it returns in January.”

Meanwhile, NBC is expected to generate decent ratings on Mondays, but will likely be held down by anticipated weak ratings for “Surface.” And both UPN and the WB will be modest competitors, attracting mostly young viewers while CBS’s strength is in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 and 25-54 demographics.

“Come first quarter, I think Fox may make inroads in 18-49s and 25-54s,” says Breslow. “I think Fox has a chance of coming in at No. 2 [behind] CBS.”

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/News2005/sep05/sept19/1_mon/news2monday.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
'Just Legal': See it for its senior partner
Don Johnson takes an old-fashioned show and makes it his
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 19, 2005

On the new WB drama "Just Legal," Don Johnson plays a criminal defense attorney with a sea of lazy plea bargains in his past (he hasn't cross-examined a witness in 15 years) and an ocean of sorrow in his eyes. He's like Paul Newman in the opening scenes of "The Verdict," mournfully and drunkenly playing pinball in a Boston bar, in the winter of his career.

Johnson's kind of the Paul Newman of TV (his Don Johnson-ness comes before the role he's playing), and the part that's been given him — Grant Cooper, Esq. — is a gift. It's a gift in the same way that "Boston Legal's" whacked attorney Denny Crane is a gift for William Shatner. Once again, we find the hair of the old-guard TV actor strangely fascinating — in Johnson's case, it's a coif two shades less peacock than that of Michael Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau.

"Just Legal" comes from the machine of Jerry Bruckheimer and the legal pad of Jonathan Shapiro. His bio says he was a special assistant to U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno during hearings into the raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas; he also clerked for David E. Kelley on "Boston Legal" and "The Practice."

On its face, "Just Legal" isn't special. It's rather old-fashioned, except that there's something real about the chemistry — and a budding story, based in character — between Johnson and his costar, Jay Baruchel, who plays David "Skip" Ross.

Ross (in what I guess makes this a WB show) is an 18-year-old wunderkind fresh out of law school who can't get hired at a big downtown L.A. firm (reverse ageism) and goes to work doing "street law" for Cooper, who's holed up in a dusty, dark office above the Venice Boardwalk.

I didn't know there were lawyers there, but the show makes decent use of the environment, the juxtaposition of Johnson's loping shabbiness with the bikini-clad Rollerbladers whizzing by, Cooper only sporadically mustering the energy to look.

Baruchel, like Johnson, is interesting to watch — he hints at an old man's bent-forward posture, and he has an abashed way of speaking. This doesn't help in court, and with Cooper too defeated or tired or perverse to do the work himself, much of "Just Legal" is about watching Ross learn the ropes from chagrined judges, with Cooper (who, if he knows nothing else, knows juries) acting as his corner man.

But there's also a show-within-the-show, and it has to do with watching Johnson in another TV series go-around, after the salad days of "Miami Vice" and the strange durability of "Nash Bridges." Grant Cooper flatters the Don Johnson iconography. It's less in the impassioned speeches than in Cooper's throwaway lines ("She seems nice. She did stab a guy to death, though," he says of tonight's client) and in the scene, next week, in which Cooper reveals he's buddied up with the kid because maybe, just maybe, ole Skip'll reel in the big one.

Because as Cooper sees it, he's "one good murder away from being Mark Geragos or Johnnie C." Now that has the makings of an ongoing story. "Just Legal" needs to exploit this, Cooper's vigorous corruptibility, so that when he turns good — and he will, degree by degree, every week — we'll know it's also a momentary lapse in judgment, a slide toward the virtuous, like on Fox's "House."

http://www.calendarlive.com/cl-et-justlegal19sep19,0,203515,print.story?coll=cl-home-more-channels

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
'Just Legal,' with Don Johnson, is among several premieres

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

JERRY Bruckheimer, as nearly everyone who watches TV knows by now, can work wonders.

He has dead men - and women - telling all sorts of tales on "CSI," "CSI: Miami," "CSI:NY" and "Cold Case."

He's turned former "ER" viewers into missing persons with "Without a Trace."

And he runs an "Amazing Race." But can he make me watch Don Johnson?

Having managed to largely avoid "Miami Vice" and "Nash Bridges," I consider myself pretty much Johnson-proof, but on the WB's "Just Legal" (9 p.m., Channel 17) one of five, count 'em, five, new series premiering tonight, Johnson's portrayal of a washed-up lawyer who acquires an 18-year-old whiz kid of a partner (Jay Baruchel) goes down as easily as whatever that amber liquid he keeps swilling appears to.

Too bad Bruckheimer has Johnson and Baruchel playing on the WB, where, up against CBS' "Two and a Half Men," ABC's "Monday Night Football" and Fox's "Prison Break," they just may vanish without a trace.

Also premiering tonight:

• Fox's "Kitchen Confidential" , which stars Germantown Academy grad Bradley Cooper as a newly sober chef in a single-camera comedy loosely based on the life and times of chef Anthony Bourdain. Cooper ("Alias," "Jack & Bobby") is appealingly both arrogant and humble as a guy who's trying not to become a Don Johnson character, and the writing's as sharp as his kitchen knives.

• CBS' "How I Met Your Mother", whose scheduling proves that if network TV finally comes up with two decent new comedies, they're bound to be scheduled opposite one another.

Smartly written and cast - the ensemble of New York-based singles includes Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan - the pilot has a twist that will either charm you or turn you off completely.

• CBS' "Out of Practice" , which stars Stockard Channing, Henry Winkler and Paula Marshall as members of a dysfunctional family of physicians, and Christopher Gorham as a therapist who's the family's one non-M.D.

If you're fans of any of these people, you might want to avoid this one.

• NBC's "Surface", one of three alien-invasion series this fall, asks the age-old question, what lies below.

But after an hour of watching shadowy critters menace navigation and Lake Bell ("The Practice") mope, I was rooting for one or more of the former to eat the latter.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//12683585.htm

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
CBS scores with a pair of smart comedies

By Jonathan Storm [Philadelphia Inquirer[/B] TV Columnist
Official ratings for the 2005-06 TV season start tonight, and the Premiere Week traffic jam begins with the best new one-two comedy punch on a network in years.

CBS's How I Met Your Mother (8:30) looks an awful lot like the new Friends, and Out of Practice (9:30) combines the talents of some veteran actors with two of the chief writers from Frasier.

Sixteen series will debut by the end of the week, including three tonight. The sitcom Kitchen Confidential (Fox at 8:30) and the dramas Surface (NBC at 8) and Just Legal (WB, 9) fall into the same uninspiring category: Nice try, but better luck next time.

•

How I Met Your Mother is that rare TV comedy that relies more on character than jokes.

Like Friends, it's the tale of young love in the big city, and it starts with two teens sitting on a couch in 2030, as an off-camera voice explains:

"Kids, I'm going to tell you an incredible story."

Their faces fall a little bit.

"The story of how I met your mother."

The faces cave, and the boy asks, "Are we being punished?"

The story is anything but punishment.

Their dad is Ted, played in the 2005 flashbacks that make up virtually the entire show by Josh Radnor, who appeared in the Broadway version of The Graduate with Kathleen Turner. He's a sincere guy without a lot of fancy firepower for the dating wars.

His buddy Barney has more moves than Terrell Owens, and like Owens' football moves, they're not terribly productive in his personal life. Brash and immature, Barney is played by Neil Patrick Harris, the former Doogie Howser, M.D.

Ted's couple friends, Marshall and Lily, have been dating since the first minute of college, and tonight they get engaged. Alyson Hannigan (Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jason Segel (drummer Nick from Freaks and Geeks) complete a casting foursome that's awesome.

Tonight's installment examines Marshall's fear of champagne corks and Ted's fear of girls. Should he wait for "the signal" before kissing the beautiful and compassionate TV reporter? Is there even such a thing as "the signal"?

With plenty of laughs, but really no jokes to quote, How I Met Your Mother is not a TV critic's dream. It's better. It's a viewer's dream.

Out of Practice is a bit more normal.

"That suit must have cost you an arm and a leg," says Mom, the hard-driving cardiologist, to son Oliver, the smug plastic surgeon.

"No," he responds, "just a nose and a couple of chins."

Ben, the Mr. Normal non-physician in a family that also includes sister Regina, an E.R. adrenaline junky, and father Stewart, a gastroenterologist, is the center of the show.

Stockard Channing plays Mother Lydia, intensely competitive socially and professionally. Henry Winkler plays Stewart, who's sleeping with his receptionist. Was he doing that before they were divorced?

Paula Marshall, an empathetic comedy actress who, unfortunately, has appeared in a bucketful of series that didn't succeed, is Regina, and Christopher Gorham, also good though less famous as a series killer, is Ben.

Tonight's episode employs the same he's-talking-about-one-thing, she's-talking-about-another, and neither-one-knows-it farcical convention that was frequently featured in Frasier, and goes back at least to Moliere. These pros bring it off with panache.

Not the home run of How I Met Your Mother, Out of Practice nonetheless anchors a strong two-hour comedy block on Mondays that may make CBS's loss of Everybody Loves Raymond seem nothing more than a hiccup.

•

There are no hiccups on Kitchen Confidential, but the lead character vomits. Not exactly the best thing you can do if you're an ex-whiz-kid chef trying to make a comeback after a long trip with hard drugs, cheap booze and loose women as your traveling companions.

Confidential is a comedy hash - lots of heat, little taste. It won't make you regurgitate, but it might make you scratch your head and cancel any further reservations to watch.

•

In Just Legal, Don Johnson plays a low-rent, burned-out lawyer, and Jay Baruchel, the game but emotionally deficient amateur boxer in Million Dollar Baby, is the courtroom equivalent of Doogie Howser. He passed the bar at 18, and he has a passion for the law.

They team up to help the downtrodden in a series that's stunningly flat, especially for the WB. Better if they had added a compliment of the usual cute things that populate the network's shows and called this series Barely Legal.

•

This season, there are three new ocean-oriented dramas in which strange creatures threaten the world. One is good, and Surface is fathoms below the other one.

One of the lead characters is an evolutionary biologist, which makes sense, since there's not a lot of intelligent design here.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//12682078.htm

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
'How I Met Your Mother'

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

For anyone longing for the next Friends, CBS offers a worthy candidate in How I Met Your Mother.

The comedy, debuting Monday, jazzes up its storytelling with flashbacks, split screens and an unusual framing device. Ted (voice by Bob Saget) explains the show's title, which happens in 2005, to his two children in the year 2030.

Ted has a long story to tell about his New York pals. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) are blissfully in love. Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) dispenses wacky advice. Ted (Josh Radnor) wonders if he'll ever meet the right woman. Robin (Cobie Smulders) enters the picture and wows Ted.

Romantic comedies depend on appealing actors, and these five are irresistible. In this adult show, series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas shift easily from risque material to tenderness before supplying the biggest surprise on any new fall series.

That twist should keep viewers coming back to How I Met Your Mother.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-tvcomedy05sep18,0,4083280,print.story?coll=orl-ent-promos-tv

Murdoch’s Station Break
Fox Station Group may sell small-market outlets

By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/19/2005

News Corp. is considering the sale of all its smaller stations—representing a quarter of its station portfolio—for as much as $800 million, according to people familiar with the situation. Such a deal would relieve News Corp. of assets that aren’t crucial to its high-margin, big-reach strategy, cut down on overhead, and simplify its operations.

The targets are all Fox O&Os outside the top 25 markets. But “small” by News Corp.’s standards doesn’t mean they’re all small towns. Included in the potential sale: Kansas City, Mo. (the 31st-largest TV market), Milwaukee (No. 32) and Salt Lake City (36). One is minor: Gainesville, Fla., the 162nd-largest.

A News Corp. spokesman would not comment on any plans for the stations.
Based on revenue estimates from broadcast-station research firm BIA Financial, the stations might sell for as much as $800 million. If News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch moves forward, he’d be adding a little more fuel to a warming market for TV stations. Emmis Communications recently cut a deal to sell nine of its 16 stations for $600 million, or a fat 14 times annual operating cash flow. Station owner Raycom cut a deal to sell to Liberty Corp. for $877 million, or around 12 times operating cash flow.

That’s lower than the 16-18 times multiples seen during the go-go days of the late 1990s but still higher than the 7-8 times cash flow that the stocks of publicly traded station groups are fetching on Wall Street.

A sale would shrink Fox’s station count from 35 to 27. Based on available estimates from BIA Financial, the stations believed to be on the block generate around $215 million, less than 10% of Fox Stations’ total revenue, and about $85 million of operating cash flow, around 8% of the group’s total.

The idea of shrinking the broadcast group predates Roger Ailes’ ascent as chairman of both Fox Television Stations and Fox News Channel. He took charge of the station group—which generates more than $2 billion in annual revenues—after Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, quit in a funk in August. One Ailes goal is to create new national programming for the stations, including a morning news show, a late-night talk show and a crime-oriented show for other dayparts.

Executives at other station groups say News Corp. has considered selling smaller properties for a couple of years and still hasn’t assigned investment bankers to actually stage an auction. Nevertheless, Murdoch is clearly edgy: He recently pitched the stations to Liberty Media Chairman John Malone, according to two media executives familiar with the discussions.

Murdoch had tried to use the stations to defuse Malone’s moves on the company. Although Malone and Murdoch have long been partners, the Liberty chairman has accumulated 18% of the shareholder voting power in News Corp., alarming Murdoch, who sees Malone’s big stake as a threat to his own control. News Corp. recently strengthened its defenses against a hostile takeover.

Murdoch has attempted to neutralize the threat by swapping assets for some of Liberty’s shares. The executives say that, over the summer, Murdoch asked Malone if he wanted the small-market stations as part of the mix. Malone rejected the offer, noting that a group of small-market broadcast stations isn’t exactly a high-growth operation, one executive says.

A sale seems counterintuitive because size has clear benefits in the station business. Most important, it gives smaller stations more leverage in securing syndicated programming, riding the coattails of siblings in the big markets. Those dayparts can account for more than 20% of a station’s ad revenues. There are additional economies in producing local news and selling national advertising.

DROPPING TO THIRD

But Murdoch recently told one industry executive that he wants to streamline the TV unit’s operations, hoping it will run more efficiently. Fox doesn’t really need the extra reach; the company is the second-largest owner of TV stations in the country, owning properties that reach more than 45 million homes. Selling these smaller stations would shrink that reach by only 5 million and drop Fox back to No. 3. “If these were growth markets,” the executive says, “it might be different.”

Also, these cities don’t get as much lift from Fox’s most expensive programming, football. Fox has rights to the National Football League’s National Conference, so owning stations in cities with NFC teams—such as Detroit or Tampa, Fla.—is more important than owning one in Kansas City. (Small-market Milwaukee, however, is arguably a secondary hometown for the NFC’s Green Bay Packers.)

Getting smaller would also give News Corp. a little room under federal ownership limits. By purchasing Chris-Craft’s stations in 2001, News Corp. blew through the ownership cap to 37% of U.S. homes. Pesky laws aren’t a big deal to Rupert Murdoch, and Congress went into its customary bowing and scraping act, raising the ownership cap from 35% to 39%, a break that primarily benefits Murdoch and Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone. Shrinking to 34% would give Fox’s stations group space to do a big-market deal later.

Fox for Sale?
Broadcast stations that Rupert Murdoch is considering putting on the block

Market---------Rank-Station-Homes-Share of U.S. TV Homes
Kansas City, Mo. 31 WDAF 903,540 0.8%
Milwaukee 33 WITI 880,390 0.8%
Salt Lake City 36 KSTU 810,830 0.7%
Birmingham, Ala. 40 WBRC 716,520 0.7%
Memphis 44 WHBQ 657,670 0.6%
Greensboro-Winston Salem, N.C. 47 WGHP 652,020 0.6%
Austin, Texas 53 KTBC 589,360 0.5%
Gainesville, Fla. 162 WOGX 117,190 0.1%
Total 5,327,520 5%
Source: Nielsen Media, company reports


http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6257847.html?display=John+Higgins&referral=SUPP

Wow FOX predicted to rise to #2? That's fascinating.

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:MONDAY
How I met a great new show, and some wannabes

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

Primetime Monday offers bewildering options to West Coast viewers. The last hour of football or the first hour of family time? Yo-ho-ho adventure or cozy soap?

Your best bet for starters is to go for the funny. Scheduling changes and a fresh infusion of creativity into the perpetually moribund sitcom make this choice newly attractive.

On TV's checkerboard of life, the brilliant "Arrested Development" and stalwart "King of Queens" move from less friendly confines to tonight at 8, while CBS' enticing "How I Met Your Mother" debuts at 8:30. There, it competes with an aspiring laugher from Fox called "Kitchen Confidential."

Humor's infinite variations also get an airing. Don Johnson returns to TV at 9 in The WB dramedy "Just Legal," while Henry Winkler co-stars at 9:30 in CBS' dyspeptic "Out of Practice," the latest project from the former "Frasier" producing team.

Toss Johnson and Winkler with Neil Patrick Harris in "How I Met Your Mother" and you have a salad of nostalgia mellowed by time, maturity and breaking type. And you get a lot of Winkler, who reprises his oily guest role in tonight's season opener of "Arrested Development."

This evening also will test the fortitude of CBS' "Two and a Half Men," which takes over the 9 p.m. spot once held by "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Based on ratings last spring and all summer long, it's looking pretty good for Charlie Sheen and company. But in the interests of rooting, let's hope Fox's exciting "Prison Break" can lock down second place ahead of other male-skewing competitors like NBC's "Las Vegas."

NBC is the resolute holdout against funny Mondays. The Peacock sallies into the sci-fi thriller field at 8 p.m. with "Surface," which leads off an evening of one-hour dramas that conclude at 10 with "Medium" versus "CSI: Miami."

Got all that straight? Never mind. Here's the Critic Cliff's Notes on new series to keep you away from dull strangers:

"Surface," NBC: Yeah, I know Bugs Bunny once said monsters were the most in-teresting people. But "Surface" features a ragged script, stereotyped characters and a rubbery villain that could have reared its head in the beloved 1960s live action/puppet series "Diver Dan."

The pilot has the laborious pacing of a two-night miniseries. It takes a half-hour to set up multiple scenarios of folks that stumble onto evidence of a suspicious aquatic presence: the intrepid single-mom oceanographer; the sinister Head of An Institute; the adolescent boy whose late-night encounter morphs into an "ET"-like obsession.

It's all pretty mundane, because the producers give the big surprise away early on, and it's the only surprise they've got. Compared with the sophisticated, well-produced "Threshold," NBC's "Surface" is just that. That glub-glub-glub you hear is the sound of a ratings dive.

"How I Met Your Mother," CBS: NBC is coming to resemble the CBS of the bad old days; CBS is taking on attributes of NBC that go beyond No. 1 status.

The newest evidence of this trend is "How I Met Your Mother," a New York-set sitcom with drop-dead timing and a likable, invigorating cast of twentysomethings. It's the "Friends" successor that NBC couldn't find and the perfect show to break CBS out of its fat-boy-skinny-wife syndrome.

The pilot begins with Ted (Josh Radnor) narrating the story of the title to his kids. We flashback to years earlier, when a younger Ted displays mixed envy and joy as his friend Marshall (Jason Segel) announces he's proposing to girlfriend Lily (Alyson Hannigan).

Meanwhile, a perpetually Peter Pan-ish pal named Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is happy to help Ted find a girl but is adamantly opposed to marriage. The story's romance goes from there and climaxes tonight in an unexpected twist that blatantly teases us.

As "Friends" did, "How I Met Your Mother" banks on cast chemistry and elements of comfortable familiarity. It even has a headquarters — a bar instead of a coffee shop. If the script offers no big surprises, that matters less than the consummate execution of quick zingers leavened by affection.

All of the actors are adept. I especially enjoyed seeing Harris destroy what remains of his "Doogie"-like sincerity, and former "Buffy" acolyte Hannigan using comedy to kill.

As a bridge between the sweet-hearted "King of Queens" and the sardonic "Two and a Half Men," this new series exceeds expectations. CBS is determined to court viewers under 40, and the winsome and clever "How I Met Your Mother" is a very good start.

"Kitchen Confidential," Fox: Based on Anthony Bourdain's best-selling antidote to celebrity-chef worship, "Kitchen Confidential" tries to bring his bawdy autobiography to life. Alas, the script frantically jams together so many disparate bits, the result is less an amuse bouche than an amuse manque.

It's also — for Fox and executive producer Darren Star — curiously stiff and demure. Although an opening montage whisks Bourdain (Bradley Cooper) through the drugging and womanizing that landed him on the restaurant equivalent of Skid Row, he's reformed when the story begins.

What fun is that? Minus a rise-and-fall-and-rise-again framework, the show sags. The only suspense is whether Bourdain's new restaurant will succeed, and that's resolved in the pilot.

Some bold antics about the gritty side of cuisine might have compensated. But these elements from the book are toned down or scrubbed out. Even less forgivable is the virtual absence of Hispanic characters from a series about an industry where Mexicans and Ecuadorians reign.

Left lingering on our palates is some desperate slapstick and the possibility that the restaurant owner is mobbed up. With a paucity of food and sex, the only primary appetite that "Kitchen Confidential" fulfills is sleep. It was that, or the Food Channel.

"Just Legal," The WB: At first, I considered any show starring Don Johnson to be a discordant pairing with "7th Heaven," which returns at 8 for a wholesome and impressive 10th season.

That's before the screener arrived. It subsequently became clear that "Just Legal" is only partly about the humorous pairing of an earnest, 18-year-old lawyer named Skip Ross (Jay Baruchel) with Grant Cooper, an ex-trial whiz turned boozy reprobate (you know who).

Beneath the odd-couple veneer, "Just Legal" reveals a heartfelt venture that evokes the early, pre-Spader and Shatner days of "Boston Legal." What we can expect to see every week is a battle against a cynical legal system that rewards expedient deal-making and favors the rich and smart.

Tonight is a case study in point. After some delicious sparring that confirms comic compatibility between Baruchel and Johnson, the plot about a young woman wrongly accused of murder moves into more serious and sentimental waters.

Skip discovers that Cooper used to be a hotshot until he took on a case that confronted the police. He lost the trial and his reputation (though not a good golf swing or memory).

As we can guess, it's Skip's job to re-ignite Cooper's passion. And this is accomplished by such well-cast, talented actors that if "Just Legal" were a movie, I'd be thrilled to recommend it.

The problem — demonstrated by Episode 2 — is a rogue can only reveal his inner idealist so many times before the gimmick becomes maudlin and pat, especially when it's the overwhelming focus.

At a time when most TV law dramas favor prosecutors, "Just Legal" is a worthy endeavor undone by a custard heart. Maybe future shows will have more spice and some much-needed subplots.

"Out of Practice," CBS: A comedy about a family of physicians that have little in common may sound familiar. However, "Out of Practice" is no "Frasier," despite springing from two of the same creative sources.

This acidic series puts together some familiar faces without seeming to care if they're believable as doctors or even as relatives. Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing play divorced parents, with Christopher Gorham, Ty Burrell and Paula Marshall as their adult children.

There's a lot of competitive sparring and discontent that finds joy only in being proved right. Of course, "Frasier" contained plenty of similar vitriol. But it was balanced by a self-mocking awareness and an underlying affection wholly absent from "Out of Practice."

What's most off-putting is a crass script that produces punch lines like "You should come out with me some night. I'm like some dyke-sniffing truffle hog." Is it the 1990s again?

If CBS wants to learn from the glory years of NBC, just one little piece of advice: Stick to "Friends" and "Seinfield." Forget "Union Square" and "Veronica's Closet."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002504306&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay19&date=20050919

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:MONDAY
Just another mindless Monday for comedies
networks offer ratings grabbers over substance
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

Mitch Hurwitz should be satisfied that his sitcom "Arrested Development" is the misunderstood visionary in a field of wholly understood, seen-it-coming, laugh-track saturated lemmings.

All he has to do is look around -- even at his own network Fox -- for the cruelest evaluation of his series: We love it. We love the Emmys. Critics love it. We love you. We love your work. We're just not going to do anything like that again.

With three new comedies premiering tonight -- plus the third season of "Arrested Development" -- it's a like a compare-and-contrast slam dunk.

Fox's own "Kitchen Confidential," a companion piece to "Arrested Development," stops just shy of being a traditional sitcom while leaning on what must now be considered less than cutting-edge techniques: talking to the camera, voice-over, quick-cuts, etc.

"Kitchen Confidential," based on the life of chef-writer Anthony Bourdain, is funnier than most sitcoms, with little quirks and one-liners that hint at some sharper teeth underneath. In no way, however, is it in the same league as "Arrested Development."

That's probably why Fox chose it. There's a passable wackiness to "Kitchen Confidential" that gives it some street (or is that critical?) credibility when positioned next to, say, CBS' "Out of Practice," the second of Monday's offerings. But in that comparison, the freshness isn't earned. CBS likes its comedies safe, broad, easily understood, lacking in irony with a laugh track as ubiquitous as possible.

"Out of Practice" is comedy mush. Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler, as two divorced doctors with three kids -- all but one a doctor (that's the funny twist) -- deliver the goods to CBS in a manner that will wrap much of the audience in a cocoon of warmed-over jokes that don't demand much attention or participation. Compared with that, Mark Russell is Lenny Bruce.

(It's almost heartbreaking, by the way, to see Winkler reduced to tossing off predictable one-liners in "Out of Practice" when his cameos on "Arrested Development" as the bumbling, possibly gay but certainly transvestite-loving lawyer were so brilliant. Perhaps the lead gig pays too much to resist. Or maybe being on a cult hit wasn't satisfying enough for Winkler.)

The idea of the cult hit is key to Monday night. "Arrested Development," for all its genius, is now the go-to example for programmers across the network landscape. They can point to the low ratings numbers that painfully illustrate the lack of bottom-line heft of multiple Emmys. "Arrested Development" is loved by critics and savvy viewers. But what the network wants is, oh, about 10 million more viewers with a less discerning palate.

With "Kitchen Confidential," Fox has struck a balance between creativity and ratings suicide. Bradley Cooper stars as Jack Bourdain, a talented chef whose rise to the top hid an addiction to booze, drugs and women -- all revealed on his very public pratfall. No one will hire him despite his going straight -- until he finally gets his big comeback chance. Wanting not to blow it, Jack hires an eclectic cast of former kitchen mates and is this time determined to keep his demons at bay and his talent at the forefront.

The casting and pace of "Kitchen Confidential" (executive produced by Darren Star, "Sex and the City") are impressive. Cooper is likable; the writing is bright and with enough sharp edges to seem hip. It's a sitcom that works, a good offering in a good year.

The question is: Despite seeming downright mundane and middle-of-the-road in comparison with "Arrested Development," is what America really looking for in a sitcom something more along the lines of "Out of Practice," with a bigger-name cast (Paula Marshall and Jennifer Tilly are part of it), a formulaic patter (setup, punch line, setup, punch line -- commercial break) and a heavy-laugh track?

Maybe. The results are infinitely less funny than "Kitchen Confidential." Channing and Winkler might as well be robots. We've seen their type hundreds of times. Marshall as a lesbian is about as believable as Ty Burrell, who plays her brother the plastic surgeon, as straight. His character is clearly gay yet saddled with talking about women's breasts and how any woman who doesn't sleep with him must be lesbian.

Believable? Not this far west.

The star is Christopher Gorham ("Jake 2.0") as a psychologist without a doctorate, the family failure, who -- now this is a stunner -- is the only sane one. Despite the producer pedigree -- Joe Keenan and Christopher Lloyd of "Frasier" fame -- this is a laughless, cookie-cutter sitcom that doesn't yet match the worst of the "Frasier" episodes.

Unlike "Arrested Development," however, it's a sure hit in a cushy time slot. It won't get much good ink, doubtful any Emmy consideration next year but -- and what a big but this is -- people will probably love it and networks will make 56 more of these relatively the same shape and size.

Your laughter may vary.

A better bet is CBS' other sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," an original, funny and entertaining comedy that is, in CBS world, daringly original -- despite the oh-so-familiar patois of romantic comedy, the laugh track and the tight-and-bright approach. It is -- choking on the comparison here -- the "Arrested Development" of CBS' unhip but powerhouse Monday comedy lineup.

A flashback comedy with a big twist at the end, the title says it all. Ted (Josh Radnor) is a hopeless romantic who -- 25 years in the future -- is telling his kids how he met their mom. Though Radnor is engaging, and secondary couple Jason Segel ("Freaks and Geeks") and Alyson Hannigan ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") bring down the CBS demographic considerably, it's an old (young?) familiar face that gives the series its laughs: Doogie Howser. Well, Neil Patrick Harris. His geeky, jaded, wannabe ladies man is a fine foil to Radnor's romanticism. And it's true -- Harris delivers the laughs.

"How I Met Your Mother" is one of the fall's standout comedies (and wouldn't you know it, goes up against "Kitchen Confidential"). As funny as both series are, however, they are far removed from the fearless lunacy of "Arrested Development," proving how mainstream comedy really is in this country.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/19/DDGMKEP3641.DTL&type=printable

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
All but interest floats to 'Surface'

By Diane Werts Newsday Staff Writer September 19, 2005

"Surface" is a show that likes to build. Tonight's NBC pilot episode builds up suspense about something bursting forth from the sea, maybe even creepy monsters. It builds a list of unrelated characters that practically requires a lineup card to follow. It builds a geography-test assortment of locations: California, North Carolina, Louisiana, Maine, the Antarctic sea, the Caribbean. It builds an impressive array of big-boy toys: Navy ships, nuclear subs, research submersibles. It builds and builds and builds just about everything but interest.

Whether there's a "there" there to "Surface" remains unclear. The pilot ladles in tantalizing clues and varied stories, a half-dozen or more, without giving us much indication where our attention should focus. While fans of daytime soaps can follow that many story threads, new viewers of a weekly prime-time hour aren't likely to be quite that dedicated. Adventure freaks and curious kids may be the only ones still tuned in by the time all the loose ends get tied, if indeed they do.

The key one seems to be Lake Bell ("The Practice") as a busy single mom/marine biologist whose submersible deep-dive uncovers sea-floor craters with something zooming up out of them to produce lights and energy and screamy sounds. The effects reoccur for spear-fishing Jay R. Ferguson and his beer-chugging bayou buddies, for lonely nerd teen Carter Jenkins, and for mysterious Russian scientist and U.S. government consultant Rade Sherbedgia, who quickly circles the military wagons to shut out other inquisitors like Bell, who of course doesn't take kindly to the slight.

But military might can do nothing to stop young Jenkins, who, in a shameless steal from "E.T." decides he just might take one of those floating sea-creature eggs home to mom's aquarium. Will his nagging teenage sister squeal if she gets upset about all the goo it produces?

"Will we care?" seems the better question. The pilot serves up flashy ooh-ah instead of anything tangible to wrap our arms around. Not clearly showing the central creature may not be such a great notion, either. Delaying the payoff means it had better be better than we'd expect right off the bat. Twin creators Josh and Jonas Pate previously served up ABC's "youthful" remake of "L.A. Dragnet" and Sci Fi's gonzo "G vs E," which give us little indication where they're going here. Down for the third time, maybe, unless "Surface" floats something stronger fast.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettvtwo4432978sep19,0,5673086.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
Where’s “Raymond” When You Need Him?

By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer September 19, 2005

For reasons obscure except perhaps to network gurus, programmers, TV critics and other ne'er-do-wells, there are certain time periods on each network schedule that are either blessed or cursed and, but for some quirk of fate, these are occasionally right next door to each other.

A classic example is the CBS 9 p.m. hour where once reigned "I Love Lucy," "M*A*S*H," "Murphy Brown" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," and 9:30, where once flopped "House Calls," "George & Leo" and "The Brian Benben Show." Over the years, there were great shows cheek-by-jowl with unloved and unlovable beasts just a half-hour later, and while there was a major exception in recent seasons ("Two and a Half Men," which moves to 9 tonight), ancient TV curses have a way of returning at the worst possible moment.

Like perhaps tonight, when "Out of Practice," about a family of dysfunctional doctors, bows. If you expect the worst, your expectations will probably be met. CBS' 9:30 hammock hex is back!

The network has only two new sitcoms on its schedule this fall, this one and "How I Met Your Mother" (8:30). Both come out of the recent CBS sitcom tradition that yielded "Yes Dear" and "Still Standing," by-the-book laugh-track farces that are as progressive, fun and adventurous as a Ford Taurus. But where "Practice" is jaded, cynical and often vulgar - fulfilling the worst excesses of that tradition - "Mother" has some charm and freshness. One's a winner and the other's a bummer.

Indeed, CBS' Great Monday Night has a transitional feel to it this fall, beyond the obvious absence of "Raymond," which was such a huge crowd-pleaser that "Two and Half Men" stands to become the "Will & Grace" of the '05-'06 season. Starting in a few hours, the reality will hit hard and hit fast: "Raymond" is gone, and only those viewers on automatic pilot will want to drift to this schedule.

"How I Met Your Mother" could, however, become a very pleasant surprise. Starring relative TV newcomer Josh Radnor - whom some may remember from his 2002 role in Broadway's "The Graduate" opposite Kathleen Turner - the show is about a guy named Ted who tells his kids in a series of flashbacks about his early wild days in New York. Ted, of course, has friends - leading CBS execs to suggest during the recent press tour that this will be the next "Friends" - like extreme extrovert-ladies' guy Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Marshall (Jason Segel), who's getting married to Lilly (Alyson Hannigan, "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer"). And one day across a crowded bar, Ted falls for Robin (Cobie Smulders), who finds his foot-in-mouth boyishness irresistible.

Sounds innocuous, but the gimmick (and gambit) is to force viewers to guess who the real mother-to-be is each week. Think Fox's "Reunion," without the murder.

Meanwhile, "Out of Practice" is backed by TV royalty - Kelsey Grammer, as an executive producer, along with "Frasier" scribes Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan - which makes the leaden debut all the more mystifying. Christopher Gorham ("Jake 2.0") is Ben Barnes, a couples counselor and the only member of his family who's not an MD. He also seems to be the only one of them in a fulfilling relationship. There's his caustic sister, Dr. Regina Barnes (Paula Marshall), an ER doc, a lesbian who just broke up with her girlfriend. Brother Oliver (Ty Burrell), a playboy and plastic surgeon, has a taste for bimbos that he surgically remodels. Cardiologist mom Lydia (Stockard Channing, who will also appear in a few more episodes of "The West Wing" as the first lady) and a gastroenterologist dad, Stewart (Henry Winkler), are divorced.

Unfortunately, this all becomes fertile ground for lots of wrenchingly bad jokes about lesbians and large breasts. It seems as if CBS is making an attempt yet again to attract young adult urban viewers, a strategy that backfired in the early '90s (and would later be abandoned when "Raymond" came along in 1996).

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etledew4432943sep19,0,5884778,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
“How I Met Your Mother” 'Seinfeld's' hip replacement
TV has a Gen Y version of the classic in 'How I Met Your Mother.' Plus it's good to see Doogie, Willow and Nick again

By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 19, 2005

"How I Met Your Mother," which premieres tonight on CBS in a cozy spot between "The King of Queens" and "Two and a Half Men," is a considerably above-average Generation Y sitcom that manages to be both sharp and sentimental, like "Seinfeld" with feeling. And like that show, and "Friends" as well — another series whose influence is felt here — it's that very desirable thing: a three-camera comedy that also seems moderately hip and potentially attractive to the worshipped 18-to-34 set. And it's not even on NBC.

That it is narrated by an unseen Bob Saget from 25 years in the future is basically just a cute, dispensable device to make this relationship comedy seem less like other relationship comedies. (The more accurate title would be "How I Didn't Meet Your Mother Quite Yet.") "Is this going to take awhile?" the kids ask as voice-of-Saget Dad begins his apparently long-untold family tale. "Are we being punished for something?"

What makes the series immediately notable — and certainly has much to do with its quality — is a cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris, who was TV's Doogie Howser, and at 32 is what passes for an old pro here; Alyson Hannigan, who played Willow in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; and Jason Segel, who was Nick on "Freaks and Geeks." It's a Crosby, Stills & Nash of 1990s cult television. (Oddly, Fox's "Kitchen Confidential," which runs opposite, also includes in its cast "Buffy" and "Freaks" vets, respectively Nicholas Brendon and John Daley, but they have less to do.)

The romantic pairing of Segel and Hannigan is especially felicitous, and it finds them more or less playing characters they already know. He's a big, helpless doofus — it's a little hard to buy him as a second-year law student, as we're asked to — and she's capable and sensible, although still girlish and a little goofy.

"Did you know there's a Pop-Tart under your fridge?" she asks Segel after they've made love on his kitchen floor, by way of sealing their engagement.

"No, but dibs."

Nominal protagonist Josh Radnor has played the Dustin Hoffman part in the Broadway adaptation of "The Graduate," and his role here isn't far different, as a young man waking up to the seriousness of life, amusingly.

News of his friends' engagement puts him in a sudden rage to love, and by the end of the pilot, he has disastrously declared it to cast member Cobie Smulders (who will not be his wife). It's the hardest part to play: Radnor has the burden of being "real," where everyone else can fall back on being cute or quirky. But he stays afloat.

As his needy second-best friend, Harris has the Kramer role, the clown who takes himself seriously.

Kramer-like, he is full of dubious theories — that "Lebanese girls are the new half-Asians," that life is better when you wear a suit. ("Suit up" is his catch-phrase.) When he blackmails Radnor into putting one on, he says excitedly, "This is totally going on my blog."

They all hang out in a bar, rather than in a coffeehouse or a diner, which may say something about where the young are these days, and engage in the sort of pop-cultural, personal shorthand I am pretty sure was invented on "Seinfeld" and has since come to permeate the language of TV comedy: "the signal," "the olive thing."

It's the language of shared experience. Series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas (whose shared writing credits, for better and for worse, include "American Dad!," "Oliver Beene," "Quintuplets" and "Late Show With David Letterman"), have ostensibly based the Radnor and Segel characters on themselves, with Hannigan standing in for Thomas' wife, which may be "How I Met Your Mother" works as well as it does. The show glows with belief.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-howimetsep19,0,4904860,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

Broadcast stations that Rupert Murdoch is considering putting on the block

It's not often that news in this thread affects people reading it...

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
“Just Legal”
Standing on precedent

By Matt Zoller Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Monday, September 19, 2005

In a medium that's increasingly obsessed with serving up the dramatic equivalent of 12-course dinners, the WB's new comedy "Just Legal" (9 p.m., Ch. 11) is more like a box of Nilla Wafers: delicious junk food.

Created by Jonathan Shapiro, who modeled the young hero on his own early life as a wunderkind attorney, the show stars Jay Baruchel ("Undeclared") as David "Skip" Ross, a brilliant but unemployed 18-year-old lawyer mentored by burned-out legal legend Grant Cooper (Don Johnson), a boozing, womanizing scalawag. Cooper hires Skip to handle the dull aspects of his private defense practice, but ends up partnering with Skip on a murder case involving a young, gorgeous defendant.

The concept is so familiar -- ambitious youngster reawakens old cynic's dormant idealism -- that a dead person could guess what'll happen next. "Just Legal" is mainly notable as a showcase for Shapiro's snappy, literate dialogue and its pleasing lead performances.

Baruchel is one of the most original young actors working today, mixing geekiness, eloquence and righteous passion. Like Jeff Goldblum and other off-center leading men, he has such a screwy way of delivering lines that just hearing him speak is a thrill.

Johnson answers Baruchel's oddball energy with melancholy and warmth, emotions you don't normally associate with Johnson. The scene in the pilot where Cooper rejects the easy road and resolves to fight in defense of his client is proof that committed acting can freshen up the moldiest material. And the stars' quiet exchanges are sweet and funny.

"'A man does not always fight to win; better to fight in vain,'" Ross tells Cooper, then reveals it's a paraphrase from "Cyrano de Bergerac."

"It is?" says Cooper, bewildered. "I thought I made it up."

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1127105782149360.xml&coll=1

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
“Out Of Practice”
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Monday, September 19, 2005

Ayyyy????

It's a bittersweet night to be a Henry Winkler fan. On the one hand, he has his first regular series role in over a decade on the new sitcom "Out of Practice" (9:30 p.m., Ch. 2). On the other, to get that job, he had to give up his occasional "Arrested Development" role as kinky, grossly incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn, which he plays for possibly the final time in tonight's season premiere (8 p.m., Ch. 5).

As Zuckerkorn, Winkler got a laugh virtually every time he opened his mouth. As Dr. Stewart Barnes, the father in a family full of doctors, his material isn't half as good.

The cast includes Stockard Channing as Winkler's bitter cardiologist ex-wife, Paula Marshall as his lesbian trauma specialist daughter, Ty Burrell as his cad plastic surgeon son and Christopher Gorham as a couples counselor and the only member of the family without an M.D.

The creator is Joe Keenan, who wrote most of the classic farce episodes of "Frasier." He tries to recreate that tone here, with lots of half-overheard conversations and people walking into rooms when they shouldn't, but the jokes feel more labored. Gorham, last seen on "Medical Investigation," doesn't make enough of an impression in the lead role. The only actor who consistently makes the jokes work is Burrell, a theater vet new to TV.

With the talent on hand, this could be a decent comedy someday, but Winkler is leaving a show that was already brilliant. At least he gets an appropriate "Arrested" farewell, as Barry finally gets fired and ponders the only career left open to him: male prostitute. If only he knew how much to charge...

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1127105782149360.xml&coll=1

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
“Surface”

By Matt Zoller Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Monday, September 19, 2005

NETWORK TV'S wave of nautical sci-fi serials continues tonight with NBC's "Surface" (8 p.m., Ch. 4), in which strangers scattered throughout the hemisphere try to fathom uncanny events.

Like CBS' "Threshold," which premiered Friday, and ABC's "Invasion," which debuts Wednesday, "Surface" owes its existence to ABC's "Lost," which proved that strong yet simple characterizations and cryptic plotting could be money in the bank. To that end, "Surface" -- written, produced and directed by Joshua and Jonas Pate -- introduces unrelated characters whose lives are linked by encounters with mysterious sea beasts.

There's Dr. Aleksandr Cirko (Rade Sherbedgia), a scientist investigating odd goings-on aboard a submarine; Laura Daughtery (Lake Bell), an oceanographer who finds deep tunnels on the sea floor; teenage Miles (Carter Jenkins), who stashes freaky sea eggs in his parents' fish tank, and Richard Connelly (Jay R. Ferguson), a fisherman whose brother was abducted by a creature during a dive.

The Pates are obviously huge Spielberg fans; the aquatic suspense sequences are modeled on "Jaws," and the narrative spine is lifted from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," as is the ensuing federal cover-up that militarizes Daughtery's discovery and forces her to keep silent about it.

The pilot wisely refrains from offering much information about the creatures aside from suggesting they're intelligent mammals. But the show's unnerving yet benevolent tone and the Pate brothers' on-the-record pledges to deliver "heart" suggest that humanity's darkest fears will prove unfounded.

"Surface" is the second best of the nautical sci-fi pilots, more elegantly directed and emotionally credible than "Threshold," but not as dense and purposeful as "Invasion." But serials being serials, we'll have to withhold final judgment and wait, like patient scientists, for further developments.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1127105782149360.xml&coll=1

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
'Mother' has best pilot

By Scott D. Pierce (Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News

At this time of year, people tend to ask me, "What's the best new show?"

It's a natural question, what with me being a TV critic and all. But the answer isn't necessarily cut-and-dried. For one thing, I can only tell you what my favorite show is. (That's what critics do.) For another, when we're seeing only one episode of most of these shows, it's impossible to say whether the series will be as good, better or worse than the pilot.

Having now equivocated and wishy-washed, here's the bottom line: My favorite pilot among the 31 new fall series is "How I Met Your Mother." And I have high hopes for the series.

I've seen the first episode of the half-hour sitcom, which premieres tonight at 7:30 on CBS/Ch. 2, four times. I laughed every time. A lot.

The writing is bright and smart. The cast is hugely appealing. It's sweet, silly, touching, slap-stick, surprising and laugh-out-loud funny.

(Compared to a lot of what's on TV, "Mother" is not outrageously sexual. But, this being TV, there are plenty of "adult" jokes.)

"Mother" revolves around Ted (Josh Radnor), a 27-year-old guy whose best friend/roommate, the somewhat dorky Marshall (Jason Segal of "Freaks and Geeks"), proposes to his girlfriend, Lily (Alyson Hannigan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). Which makes Ted start to think he needs to find a nice girl and settle down.

Arguing against that notion is Barney (Neil Patrick Harris of "Doogie Howser, M.D."), a self-styled ladies' man who is, in his own way, dorkier than Marshall. Barney encourages Ted to play the field. But Ted suddenly thinks he's found the woman of his dreams when he meets Robin (Cobie Smulders).

Framing the narrative is a flash-forward — an older version of Ted (voiced by Bob Saget, of all people) narrates as he tells the story of "How I Met Your Mother" to his two teenage children in the year 2030.

And the pilot episode ends with a jaw-dropper — a stunning revelation that takes the show in a direction you don't see coming.

(I could say more, but it would ruin it for you. For fun, however, tape the episode, show it to somebody who hasn't seen it and watch their expression when the twist comes.)

I looooove this episode. But . . . I can't say that I'm completely confident about the series.

That narrative/framing device works extremely well in tonight's episode. But I'm not so sure how well it will hold up in the long run.

And — again without getting too specific because I don't want to ruin it for you — that surprise is going to force the show to take a bit of a U-turn. And, without having seen more episodes, I don't know if it will work, either.

The executive producers personally assured me it will. But then, what would they say?

At any rate, the pilot of "How I Met Your Mother" is great. We'll see how it goes after that.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,605155172,00.html

The Ad Industry Turns to the Web to Predict Hits

By BILL CARTER The New York Times

A year ago, executives at the media-buying agency Initiative Media, conducting what they called a buzz survey to try to determine which network television series had a chance to break out as the new season commenced, stumbled on some data that left them scratching their heads.

A new series the executives had all expected would have little chance of success - because it was an intense drama, scheduled at the early hour of 8 p.m., on a network nobody much was watching anyway - was suddenly the topic of excited chatter on Internet sites. The new drama on ABC was called "Lost."

As everyone now knows, "Lost" lived up to those early indications, bolting out of the blocks last fall with hit numbers from its first episode on. At the same time, another new ABC drama with strong early signs of viewer interest, "Desperate Housewives," also commanded big ratings in its first try - and every week thereafter.

That record of anticipating great early reaction to a couple of emerging hits has put new emphasis on the tracking surveys that networks and advertising agencies conduct to measure advance interest in the new crop of network series.

These surveys, which use personal and phone interviews, focus groups and Internet chat-room analyses, ask people to list new shows in terms of how aware they are of them and how strongly they intend to watch them (at least once). Initiative Media began looking at Internet chatter for the first time last year, adding a new element to the mix of methods of predicting early awareness of shows. Last year, when "Lost" defied all expectations by demonstrating a clatter of attention on the Web, Initiative began questioning whether the passive examination they were doing of the chat sites was simply not a proper way to measure advance audience interest in television shows, said Stacey Lynn Koerner, the executive vice president of global research for the agency, a unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

"I looked at the data for the show and it was No. 1 in terms of positive buzz," Ms. Koerner said. "I said, 'Ah, shoot, this thing doesn't work.' "

But the consistency of the information forced Initiative to re-evaluate, to the point where just before the television season began, Ms. Koerner said, she began gingerly suggesting to advertising clients that they might want to take an extra look at "Lost."

As most of this year's new series get set to start up this week, one question dominates the examination of the "intent to view" research: Is there another "Lost" or "Desperate Housewives" on the horizon?

Nobody really thinks so. According to several executives who have checked out their own new season tracking surveys, a number of shows have picked up some early interest, and several have good intent-to-view numbers. But as Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler for CBS, put it, "It doesn't look like there are any 'holy cow!' shows out there this season."

One of the more surprising developments is that the network with what may be the most anticipated show is UPN, the still part-time and usually negligible network, which has, to this point in its history, had exactly one semi-hit show, the reality beauty-off "America's Next Top Model." The new UPN show drawing attention is "Everybody Hates Chris," a comedy based on the childhood of comedian Chris Rock. (CBS and UPN are both owned by Viacom.)

Executives at three networks said their preseason surveys had placed Chris Rock's show, which begins on UPN this Thursday night at 8, among the shows most mentioned by viewers as one they want to check out. In Initiative Media's list, "Chris" had the highest "positive buzz" score, with 41 percent of those in the measurement having a favorable impression of the show.

Many of the other shows on Initiative's most-mentioned list also turned up on the tracking surveys by the networks. Among the shows with strong awareness going into this premiere week were "Commander in Chief," ABC's drama about a female president; "Criminal Minds," the latest CBS crime drama, starring Mandy Patinkin; "Ghost Whisperer," a CBS drama about a woman who talks with dead people, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt; "My Name Is Earl," the widely praised NBC comedy with Jason Lee; "Invasion," another ABC drama about alien body-snatchers; and NBC's new reality series "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart."

Several Fox shows also had strong awareness going into their season premieres, many of which Fox started early. "Prison Break" drew a lot of positive chatter and backed that up three weeks ago with some good initial ratings. "Bones" rolled onto the air last week with some word-of-mouth at its back and scored some respectable early results.

One show on the WB network also has been widely mentioned, "Supernatural," a scare series with two hunky male stars, Jensen Ackles and Jared Tristan Padalecki, who were featured in previous WB shows, "Smallville" and "Gilmore Girls." The positive score for the series in the Initiative survey was almost as high as "Everybody Hates Chris." That created questions, Ms. Koerner acknowledged, about a skew toward young women in the Internet chat sites it was examining.

Still, "Supernatural" is doing well in most of the network tracking studies as well. The series premiere last week met with middling success.

A few other new shows turned up here and there in some of the tracking studies, including the CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother," the NBC reality series "Three Wishes," and the CBS sci-fi thriller "Threshold."

Whether any of this translates into real ratings is still mainly guesswork. A number of network executives suggested that the tracking results always have to be taken with extreme caution. Preston Beckman, the executive vice president of the Fox network, a division of the News Corporation, noted that several things factor into how well shows track early with viewers, none having anything to do with how good the shows are.

"In a lot of cases, it has to do with the title," Mr. Beckman said. Viewers may only have a vague impression of what the new shows are about from a few promotions they have seen during the summer, but striking titles can help them remember, he said.

He noted that shows called "Criminal Minds," "Bones," "Invasion" and "Supernatural" tend to stick in people's minds, while bland titles like "Out of Practice" on CBS or "Hot Properties" on ABC make much less of an impression.

For that reason, Mr. Beckman said, many comedies don't do well in this preseason accounting. But, he added, early identification is much less important for comedies because most of them are placed in half-hour slots adjacent to already successful comedies, and so get the benefit of spillover from the hit show.

Mr. Kahl pointed out that CBS had made no extraordinary effort to raise the awareness of "Out of Practice," a medical comedy starring Henry Winkler, largely because it had been slotted on Mondays at 9:30 p.m., between the hit comedy "Two and a Half Men" and the hit drama "C.S.I.: Miami." Mr. Kahl said, "We pretty much know people will try it."

Mr. Beckman cited another potentially deceptive factor that can build early recognition for shows: stars. Shows with stars from previous TV hits or even movies almost always get a boost in viewers. Ms. Koerner said that Initiative was also monitoring "talent conversations" on the Web; not surprisingly, people like Martha Stewart, Geena Davis and Jennifer Love Hewitt were being talked about, and that helped their shows do well in the tracking surveys.

Ms. Hewitt and her CBS show "Ghost Whisperer" are doing well in just about every network's surveys, but Ms. Koerner said some other factors could be at work there. In the Initiative study, "Ghost Whisperer" had a big awareness number, but also the highest negative score of any new series. One reason, Ms. Koerner suggested, was that the show was being punished by the fans of "Joan of Arcadia," the show "Ghost Whisperer" has replaced on the CBS schedule.

"I think a lot of the 'Joan' fans are attacking the show in the chat rooms," Ms. Koerner said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/business/media/19adcol.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“My Name Is Earl”
The tagline you’ll never see: A trailer-park treasure.

By John Maynard The Washington Post

The basics: Earl (Jason Lee) is a lifelong loser whose hobbies include breaking into family minivans and playing games of beer can tag with his drinking buddies. He seems content with his go-nowhere life until one magical day when, seconds after learning he's won $100,000 in the lottery, he's run over by a motorist. From his hospital bed, he learns about karma (with help, oddly enough, from late-night host Carson Daly), the belief that bad things happen to those who do bad things, which he's done a lot of. Secure with that knowledge, Earl sets out to right all of the wrongs in his life, and he's got quite a list of wrongs that need righting.

The lowdown: You'd be hard-pressed to name a sitcom that's found success on NBC in recent years. Things have been especially dim on Tuesday nights, which has been a dead zone for the network since "Frasier's" demise. Executives hope some advance buzz on "Earl" could lead to a hit and help put the struggling network back in business after a pitiful season.

Reality check: "Earl" is a pearl and Lee is pure glee as the dimwitted, shiftless loafer who walks around with a dazed and confused stare on his unshaven face. The writers smartly avoid making Earl a completely sympathetic character: Despite his vow to do only good, his instincts for troublemaking still boil just below the surface, and that makes for great fun. Let's hope the absence of a laugh track and the show's skewed sensibility, which owes a lot to the Coen brothers' classic film "Raising Arizona," don't scare off viewers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
'My Name Is Earl'

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

Winning $100,000 in a lottery changes the life of Earl Hickey, small-time crook. With any luck, My Name Is Earl should change the fortunes of struggling NBC.

This energetic comedy, debuting Tuesday, illustrates the need for good karma. Earl realizes that if he wants a better life, he must do better. He draws up a list of 250-plus mistakes he plans to correct, starting with helping a lonely man he picked on when they were boys.

Under a rough, rambunctious exterior lurks a life-affirming show. Yet series creator Greg Garcia balances the goofiness and the uplift so deftly that the show avoids mushiness.

Earl can be ridiculously ignorant, then reveal wisdom. Jason Lee excels as scruffy Earl -- he's a Jed Clampett for the new millennium. In a colorful supporting cast, Ethan Suplee stands out as Earl's hard-drinking brother.

NBC hasn't done My Name Is Earl any favors by surrounding it with weak series. If Earl makes it in the ratings, it will have won the lottery.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-tvcomedy05sep18,0,4083280,print.story?coll=orl-ent-promos-tv

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“My Name Is Earl”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) is a low-life and general reprobate who decides he can fix his life - reverse his karma, actually - by undoing all the bad things he's done. He makes a list and gets to work. It's a really long list.

What’s What: Goofy, irreverent and silly in a surprisingly fun way. Lee's earnest dopiness is endearing, and the whole thing has a touch of "Raising Arizona's" unruliness and, yet, heart. Earl often does the right thing for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing for the right reason, or, really, who knows? Mostly it ends up the deadpan funny thing.

Rickster Scale: 3.5

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“My Name Is Earl”

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

This show has a much tougher road ahead of it, if for no other reason than it comes closer to shattering the network comedy mold.

Earl (independent film actor Jason Lee) is the kind of guy most people would cross the street to avoid: He's a scruffy, low-rent thief who lives in ratty motel. One day, he hits a lottery scratcher jackpot, gets run over by a car and finds a spiritual awakening in the words of Carson Daly. He then decides to right the wrongs he's done in his life -- all 258 of them.

Borrowing a bit from ``Raising Arizona,'' creator Greg Garcia (also responsible for ``Yes, Dear,'' but let's forgive him) has fashioned a comedy that manages to be crude and sweet, smart and splendidly stupid, all at the same time. Lee is perfect as Earl and he gets substantial support from Ethan Suplee (``The Butterfly Effect'') as his slow-witted brother Randy.

Now, the question is: If viewers would avoid Earl in real life, do they want ``Earl'' in their living rooms every Tuesday night?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12671207.htm

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“My Name Is Earl”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Jason Lee ("Almost Famous," "Chasing Amy"), Ethan Suplee ("Cold Mountain"), Jaime Pressly, Eddie Steeples, Nadine Velazquez.

The premise: Touched by a Cracker. In this variation on the good-Samaritan series, Lee, having a permanent bad hair day, stars as a comical, crooked sociopath, led by a winning lottery ticket, a car accident, a morphine drip and an edition of "Last Call With Carson Daly" to a moment of superstitious, imperfect semienlightenment: To keep his karma from killing him, he determines to right all his past wrongs — from littering to robbery to filling the world with secondhand smoke.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:TUESDAY
Three Shows to Watch

By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"My Name is Earl"
9 PM ET/PT on NBC

In a word, Earl (Jason Lee) is a loser. Not too bright and something of a
bully, he has spent his life taking advantage and being taken advantage of. His
marriage to the ironically named Joy (Jaime Pressly) ended hatefully. His only
real ally is his do-nothing brother Randy (Ethan Suplee), who's even more of a
loser than Earl.

Nevertheless, viewers should be looking forward to spending time with Earl
every week, because he's the hero, to use the term loosely, of a hilarious and
warm-hearted new sitcom that's one of the best of fall.

In tonight's opener, things change for Earl when he wins a $100,000 lottery
only to lose the ticket almost immediately. Via Carson Daly's late-late show,
he then learns about karma and has an epiphany: To change his luck, he needs to
make amends to everyone he's ever wronged.

That makes for quite a list, one I'm hoping that he won't finish for a long,
long time. And don't forget:

"Nip/Tuck"
8-9:30 PM ET/PT on FX

This outrageous drama about plastic surgeons begins its third season with
Christian (Julian McMahon) physically and emotionally scarred after being
attacked in the shocking season finale by "The Carver."

"Dancing With the Stars: Dance Off"
8:30-10 PM ET/PT on ABC

Ever since ABC's surprise summer hit ended with Kelly Monaco beating John
O'Hurley by a step, the silver fox and former "Seinfeld" bit player has been
talking smack about the "General Hospital" actress. Now, it's time to put his
dance shoes where his mouth is. The live performances, including lots and lots
of filler, will be followed by audience voting, with the results revealed at 9
PM ET/PT Thursday.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/tvradio/story/BE51EDE187E4A4368625708100607CE9?OpenDocument

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
No identity problem in 'My Name Is Earl'
The simple folk running through NBC's sitcom are funny but familiar Southern clichés
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 20, 2005

NBC appears to be betting its fourth-place farm on "My Name Is Earl." Billboards, bus ads, talking Entertainment Weekly ads. You can't stop at a red light without meeting Jason Lee's rogue-redneck mug over some obtuse but tempting tagline like: "Stole a car from a one-legged girl. I'm sorry."

Unfortunately, all this corporate muscle behind the series deprives you from taking any ownership of the show's underdog qualities. You can't blame NBC, of course: The network needs a new hit, and there's little time in the TV biz for word-of-mouth discovery. As befitting the guy in last place, the network's schedule is a pinch of this dramatic trend (an alien drama called "Surface") and a pinch of that one (a Pentagon caper featuring Dennis Hopper), but only "My Name Is Earl" (see, I'm drunk with the spin!) suggests that NBC will remind us that they once were about having the best and freshest comedies on network TV.

"Earl" is, in a way, a feature movie — it moves like one and thinks like one, with the ostensible spirit of an indie comedy. Lee stars as Earl Hickey, a two-bit thief and layabout who scratches off a winning lotto ticket only to be run over by a car while celebrating. In the hospital, lying in traction and doped up on morphine, he sees late-night personality Carson Daly on the TV talking about karma and decides to mend his ways.

You can feel the network note that apparently didn't get written or heeded ("Carson Daly? Will enough people know who that is?"). It contributes to a sense that creator Greg Garcia has been left alone to do the jokes here that he wants to do, and the first 10 minutes are a cartoon rush. Lee, whose films include "Almost Famous," is a cinematic presence; he immediately conjures a character you want to spend time with, riffing on a Coen brothers "Raising Arizona" type of antihero, a guy getting blown sideways through his miserable life while offering the pitch-perfect deadpan aside.

Once out of the hospital, Earl quickly compiles a list of all the people and places he's wronged and/or defiled lo his 30-odd years, as a means of redressing his past and ensuring his future. He begins with a kid he tormented in school and who has become, unbeknownst to Earl, a sad and lonely closeted gay man. Homophobia is a real thing in whatever pocket of the world "My Name Is Earl" is set (it's not clear, but the state of mind is red), but Earl, who has never come face-to-face with a "homosexual-American," doesn't come off as anything but daft, tender and willing to grow, even after we see him fleeing the gay man's house ("I understand now the running probably wasn't necessary," he says in a moment of reflection).

"My Name Is Earl" is smart-dumb comedy for a generation accustomed to seeing rednecks infused with slacker cool. By the end of the pilot, I did wonder how many weeks I would be willing to return to the premise of a goofball like Earl sticking to his self-invented philosophy, unless perhaps in a future episode he's going to be diagnosed — that Carson Daly karma thing isn't karma, Earl's an obsessive-compulsive, with an OC's way of magical thinking.

But the show's real zaniness appears to be grounded in the gallery of lovable skanks and losers, including Earl's brother Randy (Ethan Suplee) and his white trash ex-wife Joy (Jaime Pressly), and in the ironic visual jokes and the inflated comedic language with which the show treats these people and their lives.

Earl is the kind of guy who refers to a hangover as "recuperating from being a little over-served," and he describes himself, in a fit of self-awareness during the show's fun opening sequence, as "a sort of shifty-looking fella who buys a pack of smokes, a couple of lotto scratchers and a tall boy at 10 in the morning."

Watching "My Name Is Earl," you feel like you're in a movie, or at least a movie trailer. In ways more good than bad, it's immediately comprehensible. Competing with the originality is a certain overly tidy warmth, and there's something patronizing about the way Hollywood continues to cartoon up the South, neutering its lot into endearingly ill-informed as-seen-on-"Springer" types. But then, it's a sitcom, a blue state/red state pop-cultural exchange — like trading our fussy shrink Frasier Crane for your white-trash Earl Hickey, with funny sidekicks. Can't we all just play along?

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-earl20sep20,0,4475485.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
'My Name Is Earl'
Earl's Real Name Is Second Chance and Redemption

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY The New York Times September 20, 2005

Offbeat and utterly charming, "My Name Is Earl" is about a search for redemption after a fall from grace - NBC's fall from grace.

Last season, the network plunged from first to last place in the ratings, the television equivalent of watching a winning lottery ticket float away in the breeze. It's the kind of ill fortune - or karma - that would make even the sturdiest egos think twice about their choices.

Jason Lee plays Earl, a lowlife redneck who loses a lottery ticket and becomes convinced while watching Carson Daly on television that his luck won't change until he makes amends for all his bad deeds.

NBC executives must have had a similar epiphany.

"My Name Is Earl" is the network's first new sitcom that has wit and its own pace and tone, decidedly different and better than NBC's recent slew of "Friends" imitations or copycat versions of British hits like "Coupling" and "The Office."

NBC, which once championed shows like "Cheers," "Seinfeld" and "Frasier," was reduced last year to churning out multiple editions of "The Apprentice." But it has not yet reached the 12th step of its programming improvement: this season it is doubling down on the Trump card with two "Apprentice" series, one led by Donald Trump, the other by Martha Stewart.

The once haughty network has experienced the kind of humiliating comeuppance that almost rivals Ms. Stewart's, which could explain why she chose NBC as the place to stage her postprison redemption. Just as her new daytime talk show goes to improbable lengths to humanize its hostess (first she was rapping with Diddy and then she taught Diddy how to make his own wrapping paper), some of NBC's acts of atonement are quite shameless.

To promote "Three Wishes," a reality show with the Christian pop singer Amy Grant as host, NBC sent DVD's of the first episode to ministers and other religious leaders, praying that they will urge their rural and suburban flocks to tune in and watch Ms. Grant travel the country, fulfilling the wishes of needy families. NBC mixed its pious message with a little mammon: it also distributed tens of thousands of $1 bills to shoppers, bearing a sticker urging them to watch "Three Wishes."

NBC nevertheless deserves to be rewarded for heeding the better devils of its nature and taking a chance on "Earl," which is not by any means an obvious NBC kind of show; it would fit more naturally on Fox or on HBO.

For one thing, the series is filmed with a single camera, like a movie or "Arrested Development," not in the four-camera format that has dominated television comedy since "I Love Lucy." Mr. Lee ("Mallrats" and "Almost Famous") begins the pilot with a voice-over narration. "You know that guy you see goin' into the convenience store?" he says in a pleasant backwoods drawl. "Sort of shifty looking fellow who buys a pack of smokes, a couple of lottery scratchers and a tall boy at 10 in the morning? The kind of guy you wait to come out of the convenience store before you and your family go in? Well, that's me. My name is Earl."

Flashbacks show Earl being tricked into marriage to a pregnant sexpot, Joy, deliciously played by Jaime Pressly, and settling into contented delinquency with his cheating wife's two bratty children and with Randy (Ethan Suplee), his beer-sucking, do-nothing brother. When Earl buys a winning lottery ticket then loses it, ending up in the hospital and divorced, he realizes that something is not right.

After watching Carson Daly attribute his own success to karma ("What goes around, comes around"), Earl decides to change his life and makes a list of everyone he has harmed in the past, from the one-legged girl whose car he stole to the boy he tormented in elementary school. In each episode, Earl will try to cross someone off his very long inventory; one season will not begin to cover all his misdeeds.

"Earl" is not as spikily satirical and eccentric as "Arrested Development." The farce is softened by sentiment. But Mr. Lee has a lot of charisma and makes Earl endearing, as are his family and oddball friends. And luckily, the series has a wicked spirit coursing beneath its amiable do-good surface, with enough bite to entice viewers and maybe even to bring NBC back from the brink.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/arts/television/20stan.html?pagewanted=print

As Emmy Buzz Begins to Fade, Talk of a 'Raymond' Spinoff

By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times September 20, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 - Fans lamenting the absence of "Everybody Loves Raymond" from this season's prime-time schedule may not be feeling bereft for long.

In an interview after the Emmy Awards here on Sunday, Brad Garrett, who played Raymond's serially unappreciated brother, said that he and the creators of "Raymond" had made substantial progress toward a deal with CBS for a spinoff in which he would star. Mr. Garrett said the show could appear as soon as next fall.

An executive at HBO, which is a producer of "Raymond," said that Mr. Garrett's characterization of the negotiations was accurate and that Phil Rosenthal, co-creator and executive producer of "Raymond," had set a rough deadline of about a week for the parties to reach agreement. The executive would speak only on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the conversations.

Mr. Garrett, who on Sunday won his third Emmy for best supporting actor on "Raymond," said that the cast would include Monica Horan - who played his character's wife, Amy, and is married to Mr. Rosenthal - as well as the actors who played her character's parents, Fred Willard and Georgia Engel, and her brother, Chris Elliott. He said that if an overall deal were reached, Mr. Rosenthal would "run the show" and many of the "Raymond" writers would return.

Chris Ender, senior vice president of communications for CBS, confirmed the network's interest, saying that "Brad is a gifted comedic talent" and that "the potential series would be created by key members of the 'Raymond' writing team." He cautioned, though, that "an agreement has not been finalized." Mr. Rosenthal did not respond to a message left Monday morning at his home.

Among the sticking points is money, though how much separates the various sides was not immediately clear. Just reassembling much of the "Raymond" team could prove costly. The show ended its run ranked No. 10 in the Nielsen ratings, and on Sunday it won the Emmy for best comedy, its second.

Two years ago, the show's sibling rivalry became real when Mr. Garrett boycotted the "Raymond" set for several days to protest the disparity between his salary (then estimated at $150,000 an episode) and that of the program's star, Ray Romano (an estimated $1.5 million an episode). CBS countered by ordering the producers to write Mr. Garrett's character out of that season's first episode.

Ultimately, the two sides settled in time for Mr. Garrett to appear in that first show. Though terms were not disclosed at the time, he was said to have received a raise as well as some percentage of future profits.

Besides whatever ill feelings might still linger, the ownership of "Raymond" is complex, with both HBO and Worldwide Pants, David Letterman's production company, serving as co-producers.

Asked about the premise of the new series, Mr. Garrett said that "they don't want me to get into it: but that his character, Robert - who is forever tussling with Raymond for his parents' affections - would be undergoing "major logistical, geographical changes."

"He will be leaving the state," Mr. Garrett said.

There have been intermittent discussions between the producers and CBS for more than a year. Mr. Garrett said that Mr. Rosenthal had approached him about six months ago with a creative premise for the spinoff, but that intensive discussions had begun only last week.

"There's been some major movement over the last few days, and it's looking promising," Mr. Garrett said. "We're all very close."

If his character returns, Mr. Garrett would hardly be assured of success. Though he can look to "Frasier," the spinoff from "Cheers," as a recent example of a loyal audience embracing a popular character in a new setting, there is also "Joey," the offshoot of "Friends," which lost much of its predecessor's audience on NBC last year.

Mr. Garrett felt comfortable enough with the progress thus far that he joked about it on the Emmy telecast.

As the cast of "Raymond" reunited onstage, Mr. Garrett said, "You know, we should try to be a little funny because there may be a spinoff."

Mr. Romano responded: "Very good, congratulations. Yes, the spinoff. By the way, good luck, and if that does happen and you need the brother to make a guest appearance, I'm more than happy to help you."

After waiting a beat, Mr. Garrett told Mr. Romano: "Yeah. We're going to recast that."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/arts/television/20brad.html?pagewanted=print

One final Emmys column in honor of Tabasco….

THE EMMYS
What's love got to do with it?

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Leave it to the Emmy voters. They will do anything, whatever it takes, to remain out of touch and so very, very lame. They even missed the one sure thing, the most-talked about, photographed, buzzed over and praised show on TV, "Desperate Housewives," for best comedy.

On Sunday night, the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles were bizarre as usual. Strange. Unfathomable. Momentarily righteous with awards to Felicity Huffman and Patricia Arquette. Then back to lame.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences named ABC's "Lost" the best drama, a slam dunk for almost any other group but a coin-toss with this bunch, then went all sentimental, missing "Desperate Housewives" and giving best comedy to CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond," which ended a nine-year run this season.

"Raymond" is a terrific show, but it's not "Desperate Housewives," not this year, and it's not "Arrested Development" or "Scrubs," shows that would have made more deserving winners.

But the academy found Huffman, from "Desperate Housewives," and Arquette, from "Medium," as best comedy and drama actresses, two women who had outstanding - and overlooked - years.

Huffman, an enduring class act, was clearly the most stunned winner Sunday night. "I turned into one of those actresses," she said as she stammered around, trying to find the words. Then she thanked people like David Mamet for putting her in his plays, Aaron Sorkin for putting her in "Sports Night," Mark Cherry for putting her in "Housewives" and William H. Macy for marrying her.

Then the academy went back to its repetitive, nothing-too-risky mode. James Spader repeated his best drama actor win for "Boston Legal," although the two real best actors on TV, Ian McShane ("Deadwood") and Hugh Laurie ("House"), were in the field - and how the academy could miss Laurie's brilliance is inexplicable.

Tony Shalhoub won his second Emmy for best comedy actor, and that, at least, is defensible because he carries "Monk," but it still snubbed two terrifically funny guys, Zach Braff from "Scrubs" and Jason Bateman from "Arrested Development."

Sentiment, apparently, also ruled the supporting comedy categories, with "Raymond's" Doris Roberts winning her fourth Emmy and Brad Garrett winning his third.

Garrett showed he's far more contemporary than the academy. "I'd like to dedicate this to Britney and our baby," he said.

William Shatner from "Boston Legal" repeated as best supporting dramatic actor, over the likes of "Lost's" Naveen Andrews and Terry O'Quinn, while Blythe Danner, a longtime Hollywood favorite, won best supporting drama actress instead of CCH Pounder from "The Shield," who was the class of the field by a lot.

The show itself was equally erratic. "Emmy Idol" - a knuckleheaded idea if ever there was one - went predictably flat, though you have to think America was so ready for Donald Trump to jump the shark singing "Green Acres" with Megan Mullally. He was awful, but not awful enough to matter.

The rest were pretty good, but so what, though the Shatner-Frederica von Stade rendition of the "Star Trek" theme was freaky even for the Emmys. But Trump and Mullally won. Apparently the academy was voting.

There were pieces of the show that rose above the academy's general denseness. Ellen DeGeneres' dopey bits in the gaps were adorable, like her standing in line at the bar. "C'mon," she said, "Momma needs her scotch."

And there was the tribute and the cheers for retired network news anchors Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, and for the late Peter Jennings - and Brokaw and Rather's tribute, in turn, to the journalists still covering Hurricane Katrina.

Somewhat ironically, it was a couple of late-night hosts who supplied two of the classiest moments.

David Letterman, one of Johnny Carson's most devoted admirers, paid tribute to the man of "wit, charm and grace" who died in January.

"Johnny gave me and countless others validation, true status in showbiz, and a career," Letterman said. He quoted Carson when Johnny was asked what made him a star. "Johnny said, 'I started out in a gaseous state, and then I cooled.' ... With all due respect to the laws of physics, Johnny Carson's star never cooled."

Then later, when "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" won as best variety, music or comedy series, Stewart came back with his admiration for Letterman.

"I just wanted to say, the way (David Letterman) feels about Johnny Carson," Stewart said, "is the way that all of us, the comedians of our era, feel about him."

By the way, "The Daily Show's" two Emmys (it also got one for writing) came in one of the few areas that was academy-proof; all the nominees were smart and cool.

There are lots of reasons for the academy's voting behavior - they vote for friends, or their networks and studios, or they don't watch much TV so they vote on reputation. Those are just reasons, not excuses.

It seemed that Emmy voters were so regularly off the mark, you weren't exactly sure who was getting chided when "Arrested Development's" creator, Mitchell Hurwitz, won the best comedy writing Emmy and said, "We would be remiss not to mention that twice the academy has rewarded us for something you people won't watch."

He was talking, of course, about the rating problems for his show. But he might as well have been talking about the television academy that watches little TV, even less of it that's new or fresh, then wonders why more and more people are drifting away from network programs.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13589165p-14430017c.html

TV PREVIEW: TUESDAY
Stars' O'Hurley, Monaco go toe to toe
By Gary Strauss USA TODAY

Kelly Monaco and John O'Hurley talk as if Tuesday's Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 8:30 ET/PT) dance-off will be one big love fest.

Their training regimens and competitive streaks say otherwise.

"They've been training like lunatics," executive producer Conrad Green says. "They're taking this seriously. They've got something to prove."

Monaco and partner Alec Mazo last faced O'Hurley and Charlotte Jorgensen in the finale of Dancing's six-week summer run, which drew more than 22 million viewers July 6. But Monaco and Mazo's surprise win over the heavily favored O'Hurley and Jorgensen was called into question because of a complex judging system and suspicion the vote was tilted in Monaco's favor because she's in ABC soap General Hospital.

"I feel like I won, but I'm going in as the underdog because the results were disputed," says Monaco, 29. "Until I prove otherwise, that's the situation. This is supposed to be all in fun. I don't want to scratch anyone's eyeballs out. But I'm competitive by nature."

ABC says there was nothing inappropriate about Monaco's win, which was based on a combination of a three-judge panel's ratings of final performances and votes from viewers tabulated from the prior week's show. But heading into the launch of its prime-time fall lineup week, the network hopes the controversy will attract the kind of rematch audience that made Dancing the highest-rated summer series since CBS' Survivor in 2000. Winners will be announced Thursday (8 p.m. ET/PT).

Monaco and Mazo have been training four hours a day; O'Hurley and Jorgensen have been training six hours a day. O'Hurley, who shed 20 pounds training for the show last summer, took up Pilates to boost his strength and flexibility.

"Kelly's a sweetheart. And this is playful competition, but I felt a little ripped off losing to her," says O'Hurley, best known for playing catalog king J. Peterman on Seinfeld.

However fans vote, Dancingwith the Stars has rejuvenated both actors' careers. O'Hurley has a Larry David-style reality show in the works, three movies, a book deal and a Broadway show.

Monaco, prominently featured in September's Maxim magazine, says she's negotiating movie and television deals. "This has catapulted me to another level."

ABC, initially tentative about putting Dancing on its summer schedule despite the show's success in Britain and other countries, plans to bring the show back for a second season in early 2006. It also will add a second weekly "results" show à la American Idol.

Andrea Wong, ABC's alternative-programming chief, says there will be nine celebrity competitors. "It was a challenge to convince (stars) to take a risk for the first season," Wong says. "It has certainly gotten easier."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-19-dancing-rematch_x.htm

Bush Speech Delays "CSI" Season Debut

If you are waiting for the second season of "CSI", you’ll have to wait a week longer.

President Bush will speak to the nation Thursday night at 9 PM ET, and that was when CBS had scheduled a repeat of the two-hour Quentin Tarentino-directed season finale from last May.

Now the network will schedule a pair of CSI repeats to run after the President has finished his remarks and re-run the Tarentino episode Sept. 22nd.

The new season premiere will now be broadcast at 9 PM ET/PT Sept. 29th, a week later than originally scheduled.

For those that wanted to watch the 2 hour season finale from last season again (or the first time in my case) it will be shown Wednesday night (September 21) and the season premiere will be shown at the regular time slot on Thursday night, the 22nd. This is according to TitanTV, Yahoo's channel line-up and other reports I have heard.

CBS altered its schedule to allow it to run CSI run the original premiere date.

Thanks for catching the change, Scott!

TV PREVIEW: TUESDAY
Dancers Rev Their Engines for Celebrity 'Dance-Off'

By DEBORAH STARR SEIBEL The New York Times September 20, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18 - It's a shame that the four-time world heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield got the hook midway through ABC's surprise summer hit, "Dancing With the Stars." Because Tuesday night's "Dance-Off" special - a rematch between the last two couples standing - looks to be a memorable fight.

"When we were first approached to do this again, I was, like, 'No way, it's not going to happen,' " Kelly Monaco, a star of "General Hospital," said during a break in her rehearsals at a Los Angeles dance studio one day last week. Ms. Monaco, the unlikely champion, began the summer being skewered by the judges, only to end up scoring three perfect 10's in her final freestyle routine with her partner, Alec Mazo, a professional ballroom dancer. "We really can't gain any more and we can only lose our credibility," Ms. Monaco said. "So why would we put ourselves in this position?"

Possibly because more than 25 million fans tuned in the first time to see how Ms. Monaco, a feisty and impressively flexible 29-year-old, would fare against the poise, elegance and surprisingly nimble feet of John O'Hurley, a 48-year-old alumnus of "Seinfeld," and his partner, Charlotte Jorgensen, a ballroom dance pro. Mr. O'Hurley and Ms. Jorgensen were consistently solid and were repeatedly referred to as "the couple to beat" by one of the show's three judges, Carrie Ann Inaba. So there was instant controversy when the team did not prevail.

There were clear mistakes in Ms. Monaco's "perfect" performance. And the results of the audience vote, which counted for 50 percent of the total score, were never revealed.

Fuel for the fire was the fact that as a "General Hospital" soap star, Ms. Monaco was the only contestant who was an ABC employee. And one of the first things she said after winning was that she wanted to "go to Disneyland," which is owned by ABC's parent company. "I can't believe I said that," Ms. Monaco said. "First of all, I was so shocked that I'd won. And the only thing I remembered growing up was watching the Super Bowl. That's what the champions always said at the end."

ABC, scrambling to take advantage of its huge success by developing a second season, suddenly had a problem.

"We did a press tour after the show and the critics pretty much attacked us," Ms. Inaba said in a telephone interview. "The first question was, 'What were you thinking?' And I was shocked. I didn't see it coming."

Ms. Inaba, an actress, dancer and choreographer, has created dance moves for other reality competition shows, including "American Idol." She said the judges didn't play favorites because they weren't privy to the audience vote and therefore couldn't be swayed by popular appeal. And they were not able to view the routines from the eight camera angles available to the public. "I saw the tapes afterwards and was able to see more mistakes than from where we were sitting on the judges' panel," she said. "But that's how it worked for John, as well. Kelly just pulled out more: she just did a phenomenal routine. She took risks that even a professional dancer might not have taken. That's what sent her over the top." She added she didn't think a rematch was necessary.

"I have to say, I was surprised at how angry the press were," said Andrea Wong, the ABC executive vice president for alternative programming, specials and late-night shows. Ms. Wong said that ABC had been toying with the idea of a rematch even before the uproar. "We thought it would be really fun to have them come back and just let the viewers speak," she said. The rematch will be decided by audience vote only.

Ms. Monaco said she was upset over the uproar, particularly since Mr. O'Hurley added his criticism to the mix. "It was extremely insulting, and hearing it come from John was really disappointing because that alleges that in his eyes he didn't think we deserved it. That's what was hurtful."

Mr. O'Hurley said that when he and Ms. Jorgensen saw their competitors score three 10's, they were "floored, simply floored."

"I think I felt like the rug had been pulled from underneath us," he said. "And then people came to me saying it took them 24 hours to get their password verified on ABC.com so they couldn't vote. That type of stuff. I don't think it was rigged, but it was a bad voting template."

There was also the possibility that Ms. Monaco's built-in soap opera fan-club base gave her an advantage. "That's a bit unfair to Kelly, because she was very appealing on the show," Lynn Leahey, editorial director for Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly, said in a telephone interview. Ms. Leahey said she did not see any fan frenzy of organized voting on Ms. Monaco's behalf. "Maybe if it had been Luke and Laura in their heyday, it could've put them over the top," she said.

"Look at the numbers," Ms. Monaco said. "How can you compare 25 million people to my core fan base of 2 million? Does it help? Sure. But they aren't the deciding factor."

Nor, apparently, are the millions of devoted "Seinfeld" fans who could have voted for Mr. O'Hurley.

In their own rehearsals at a West Hollywood dance studio, Mr. O'Hurley and Ms. Jorgensen were pulling out all of their gymnastic stops. The fires of competition were red hot. "If we don't win," Mr. O'Hurley said, "it will be another kick in the gut."

And in her rehearsal hall, Ms. Monaco made it clear she was hoping to deliver that kick. As Pink's "Get the Party Started" reverberated off the dance studio walls, she leapt upward, her legs catching around Mr. Mazo's torso.

"John's not going to be kicking his legs up like that," Mr. Mazo said. Ms. Monaco smiled. "It's the only thing we have up on them," she said. "My incentive now is to prove that people voted for me for a reason."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/arts/television/20danc.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
Comedic gold worth digging for on NBC

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday, September 20, 2005

In the middle of NBC's new sitcom, "My Name Is Earl," when you've recovered from some of the fall's best and biggest laughs and are beginning to draw a bead on how good the show really is -- how star Jason Lee is absolutely perfect, how it echoes "Raising Arizona," a great American comedic film, and how the show already has an assured rhythm to it -- you may begin to get a sense of melancholy.

Because, well, take a step back and look at the schedule. This could be hopeless. NBC really isn't in the sitcom game, people. And it hasn't been for a while, after having the bulk of its schedule from the '80s to the mid-'90s littered with half-hour comedies.

And, not to put too fine a point on the mess NBC is in, but -- "Joey" and "Will & Grace" air Thursdays. You might make a pretty good argument that there are no comedies on Thursdays either.

"My Name Is Earl," the fall's funniest sitcom, airs Tuesday and is followed by the surprisingly scrappy, loyal-to-the-original and barely-seen "The Office." That's a series that aired all of six episodes last year -- hardly a known quantity to viewers. Reality schlock "The Biggest Loser" leads into these comedies, relentless downer "Law & Order: SVU" leads out.

Oh, and Tuesday from 9 to 10 p.m. is one of the biggest battlefields on network television. Recipe for failure? This might as well be a post mortem, not a review.

It's more than a little depressing that NBC has stuck these series out on an island. The network had the guts and vision both to make "My Name Is Earl" and keep "The Office." The former features a lovable loser and, though America does love those types, he might be more of a loser than people are used to, and there are no laugh tracks in "Earl" to help out Pavlovian audiences. The latter series deftly conveys the painful embarrassment comedy so artfully mastered in the British version and also lacks a laugh track -- not to mention being filled with awkward silences and taking as its subject matter a grindingly boring workplace.

But if you're going to take risks, why not give them a fighting chance to pay off? The best that can be said about the scheduling of "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" is that the network will have lower expectations and thus be less panicked when they tank.

Thinking positively, here's hoping these shows find an audience fast. In a season when the sitcom is back, "My Name Is Earl" leads the pack. Lee ("Almost Famous," "The Incredibles") seems so fully realized as slacker Earl Hickey that it's almost scary. Earl is a scruffy, beer-in-the-morning kind of guy with little ambition in life but mischief and petty thievery. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer and gets himself married to a woman six months pregnant. Things get worse after that. But Earl rolls with it, either channeling some lazy strain of Zen or perhaps thinking it's all too much trouble to undo.

Tapping into the vein of "Raising Arizona" and clearly enjoying the premise that creator Greg Garcia has laid out for him, Lee is convivial as no-class trash whose life of malice-free meanness and unaccountability suddenly changes when he wins the lottery ($100,000 -- enough to change a life, but not fix it) then promptly gets hit by a car.

Watching Carson Daly while drugged up in the hospital, Earl comes to understand the concept of karma, though he thinks Daly invented it (one of many inspired ideas from Garcia in this pilot). Determined to do good things for others so that those good things will be revisited upon him, Earl makes a list. A long list. Of all the bad things he's done in his past. And he sets out to right them.

Yes, things go sideways.

Garcia has built a series with big, ridiculous laughs. Side characters are rich and layered within the first episode and he has promised not to get roped into a series of episodes where Earl effortlessly whittles down his list. Earl will fail, Garcia said, and sometimes bad things he does will have to be added to the list. What we've got here, essentially, is a dim-bulb, belatedly big-hearted Sisyphus.

The problem will be finding Earl on the island NBC has dumped him on. But if you care about good sitcoms, this is a hunt worth making and a TiVo "season pass" worth adding.

Once there, since all the other networks are showing dramas and you just missed the first half of them, stay for "The Office," a comedy that, taken in context with "Earl," really makes you believe that NBC is committed to the idea of returning to comedy powerhouse status. (Better to put these series on Thursday night, where people still remember NBC being a destination channel. "Joey" is going nowhere creatively and "Will & Grace" is already played out. A forward-looking rebuild should have started here.)

For all intents and purposes "The Office" is like a new series, but now it has the added benefit of former "Daily Show" funnyman Steve Carrell coming off the summer movie hit, "The 40 Year-Old Virgin."

Whereas in last year's shortened season it was impossible not to compare him -- unfavorably -- to Ricky Gervais, whose deftly nuanced performance in the original could never be equaled, now Carrell has the benefit of distance and his own rising stardom.

If it drives people to "The Office," all the better. Because, judging it on its own, fully removed from the British version, you have to respect the daring approach of the series: to make mind-numbingly boring work situations and a clueless, oafish, inefficient boss seem hilarious.

Never mind that so many Americans might be excused for thinking "The Office" is a documentary. Or that the pacing and camera work are all purposefully off what viewers are accustomed to. What's truly brave is the comedy itself, which borrows a little bit of Dilbert and a whole lot of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as it celebrates awkward interpersonal relationships with no hint of escape.

Carrell is cringe-worthy as Michael Scott, manager of a paper products office in Scranton, Pa. He thinks he's funny -- everybody else loathes his lameness. But he's the boss and it's a joyless job, so you go along to get along, startled daily by Michael's inability to lead, his lack of political correctness and general cluelessness about people and their feelings.

All of this is being caught on camera by a documentary film crew -- that intrusive lens only makes things more awkward.

Receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer) and salesman Jim (John Krasinski) are still in denial about their feelings, and delusionally self-important Dwight (Rainn Wilson) remains as annoyingly meddlesome and prone to sucking up as ever.

Good times!

These comedies won't be for everybody, but each adds immeasurably to a formerly weak network-wide lineup of sitcoms. The only hard part now is overcoming all the obstacles to enjoying them that NBC has put up in front of you.

“Comeback” Won’t Be Back

Both entertainment trade papers “Variety” and “The Hollywood Reporter” are reporting the HBO Lisa Kudrow series “The Comeback: has been cancelled by HBO.

The series, about a former sitcom star who was trying to revive her career, was generally panned by the critics. Its first episode received a very weak (by HBO series standards) 1.5 million viewers and the audience seemed to dwindle away during the season. By the finale, just 920,000 tuned in.

In NBC lineup, scruffy 'Earl' holds promise

By Sid Smith Chicago Tribune arts critic September 20, 2005

"I'm that guy you see going into the convenience store," Earl warns us in narrating the opening moments of "My Name Is Earl".

"You know," he adds, "the shifty-looking fellow who buys a pack of smokes, a couple of Lotto scratchers and a tall boy at 10 in the morning. The kind of guy you wait to let come out before you and your family go in."

In fact, Earl is actor Jason Lee ("Chasing Amy," "Almost Famous"), scruffy, sporting unkempt hair and a threatening 5 o'clock shadow. He's not an unredeemable derelict, despite his looks and warning that he'll steal "anything not nailed down." He's a husband and father, thanks to a one-night stand courtship and Las Vegas instant wedding, where he was too intoxicated to notice that bride Joy was already six months pregnant.

Intent on progeny of his own, he named the next child Earl Jr., surprised yet again when this new baby turned out to be clearly African-American.

"People ask me how I can stay with a cheatin' wife and two terrible kids that aren't mine," Earl notes. "I guess I just believe in the sanctity of marriage."

But "Earl" only begins as a mix of "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Raising Arizona" and "Tobacco Road." One of Earl's lottery tickets pays off big-time. The larcenous but kind-hearted hayseed decides to atone for his sins and repay fate or whoever's responsible for his good fortune.

So, each week, in the manner of the old '50s chestnut "The Millionaire," Earl plans to track down those he has wronged and heap good deeds upon him, her or them. His first beneficiary is Kenny (Gregg Binkley), an acquaintance from high school that Earl and his buddies used to beat up for being gay.

Now, Earl, the devout heterosexual and back-woods philanthropist, will help the still-closeted Kenny come out and embrace his lifestyle.

Farfetched? Absolutely. Aping the manic nonsense of "Scrubs" and "Arrested Development"? All the way. But "My Name Is Earl" is cheeky, inventive and often bewitching in a TV season that so far is short on novelty and daring.

True, the gambit of the opener is shopworn and out of touch with small-town gay life today. And the likable Lee, so convincing as a smug, loquacious urbanite, at times seems miscast as a folksy, neighborly rube, uttering threats such as, "I know where your mama parks your house."

But the setup holds much promise, and creator Greg Garcia provides plentiful, unexpected laughs in the premiere. Earl and his two help-mates form a kind of postmodern Mod Squad, including dimwitted brother Randy (Ethan Suplee) and Catalina (Nadine Velasquez), maid at the motel Earl moves into -- right after Joy kicks him out of their trailer.

Nip/Tuck' to cut deeper

By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

As if there's not enough sex appeal in FX's edgy plastic-surgery drama Nip/Tuck, a new doctor is about to muscle in on the practice of Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) and Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh).

He's played by Bruno Campos, once one of People magazine's "sexiest men alive."

In Season 3, which begins tonight (10 ET/PT), creator Ryan Murphy says, viewers should expect the show to be "bigger" all around: "Everything has expanded. The cast is bigger, surgeries are bigger, locations are bigger." Making appearances this season will be Rhona Mitra (Boston Legal) and Anne Heche.

"With success comes growth," Murphy says.

Nip/Tuck has grown in two years into one of FX's biggest success stories and a pop-culture darling — as well as a lightning rod for controversy. The show won the 2005 Golden Globe award for best drama, just as TV Guide was dubbing it "The Coolest Show on TV." The Season 2 finale was the most-watched single episode of a series ever for FX, with 5.3 million viewers.

Nip/Tuck pushes the envelope with its daring and graphic surgery scenes and story lines, including a transsexual life coach who was sleeping with her son.

Last week, Parents Television Council president Brent Bozell sent a letter to Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, admonishing the corporate giant for sponsoring the premiere episode and calling Nip/Tuck "one of the most sexually explicit, profane and violent programs in the history of American television."

Murphy points out that there is only an average of 32 seconds of surgery in every hour-long episode, and this season will continue the show's message. "What this show says is that real change happens internally, that maybe you should book a consultation with a shrink instead of a plastic surgeon."

He added Campos, playing Dr. Quentin Costa, because every show needs an enemy. "I feel like every season is only as good as the adversary," Murphy says. "On 24, the adversary can be a nuclear bomb. Our adversary has to be a person."

Last season, it was Famke Janssen as Ava Moore, transsexual therapist. This year, Murphy says, it's the new doctor, who will bother both Sean and Christian as he reflects a side of each of them. "He's a better womanizer than Christian and a better doctor than Sean."

For Brazilian-born Campos, 31, it's a big break. "I was scouted for this arts school for young kids in Toronto. I was 8. I was a quiet, to-himself kind of boy. I won this little art competition.

"When I was there, there were a lot of girls in the theater class down the hall. It was my first encounter with these exciting girls. I wanted to go to do scenes with them. Now I'm doing hard-core Nip/Tuck."

The other adversary this season is The Carver, the mysterious masked maimer who ended Season 2 with a cliffhanger as he — or she — was about to slice Dr. Troy.

Once The Carver was introduced, there was a bump in ratings, so Murphy will play that mystery up this season. The cast members are so intrigued that each one has seen Murphy privately to find out. But he won't tell anybody; viewers will find out who it is in "the last shot of the last show this year," he says.

"We take the ride, just like someone who watches the show takes the ride," says John Hensley, 27, who plays Matt, the 18-year-old biological son of Dr. Troy who grew up as Dr. McNamara's son. "We live the show script by script."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-19-nip-tuck_x.htm

Monday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the first night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

CBS survives without 'Raymond'
Down just 13 percent versus last year's debut night

MediaLifeMagazine.com---One of the biggest questions about the broadcast season heading into premiere week was how CBS would fare on Monday nights without longtime comedy anchor “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

After one night, the not surprising answer is not as well as last year but perhaps better than CBS had anticipated against tougher than usual competition.

CBS averaged a 4.9 rating among viewers 18-49 last night, according to Nielsen overnights, a 13 percent decrease versus the 5.6 it averaged last season for its Monday premieres.

That came opposite the much-hyped Hurricane Katrina relief benefit on ABC’s “Monday Night Football,” which started at 7:30 p.m. and averaged a very strong 6.2 for the entire night. ESPN also had Katrina-themed coverage.

CBS needed “Two and a Half Men” to do well if it has any hope of staying strong on Monday, and it did.
“Men” posted a 5.2 overnight rating last night, down just 5 percent compared to a 5.5 overnight rating for last season’s premiere, and down 12 percent from the 5.9 “Raymond” premiered with in that slot last year.

“Men” was also down 5 percent versus the 5.5 rating it averaged last season, and down 9 percent from what “Raymond’ averaged in that timeslot last season. In all, not a bad dropoff.

CBS’s two-hour comedy block was as a weaker lead in for its hit drama “CSI: Miami,” whose premiere averaged a 6.5 overnight rating, down 18 percent versus a 7.9 overnight rating for last season’s premiere and down about 3 percent from last season’s 6.7 average rating.

Perhaps the night’s biggest disappointment was a so-so debut for the much-hyped new comedy “How I Met Your Mother” at 8:30 p.m. Though it bettered its lead-in, it only averaged a 3.6, behind the debut of NBC’s new drama “Surface.”

ABC led the night among 18-49s with a 6.2 average rating and a 15 share. CBS finished second at 4.9/12, NBC third at 4.2/10, Fox fourth at 2.7/7, UPN fifth at 1.5/4 and the WB sixth at 1.3/3.

At 8 p.m. ABC led with a 6.4 average for its coverage of the NFL game between the New York Giants and the New Orleans Saints. NBC was second with a 3.7 average for “Surface” and CBS third with a 3.5 average for premieres of the comedies “The King of Queens” (3.4) and “Mother” (3.6).

Fox’s “Arrested Development” and “Kitchen Confidential” debuted to a disappointing 2.0 apiece.

With the Giants-Saints game switching in most markets to ESPN for the game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, ABC led again at 9 p.m. with a 6.5 average rating. CBS was second with a 4.8 average for “Men” (5.2) and “Out of Practice” (4.4) and NBC third with a 4.6 average for the season premiere of “Las Vegas.” Fox’s “Prison Break” averaged a 3.8.

CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with its 6.5 average for the “CSI: Miami” premiere. ABC was second with a 5.8 average for “MNF” and NBC third with a 4.4 average for the season premiere of “Medium.”

Among households, ABC led the night with a 10.6 average rating and a 16 share. CBS finished second at 9.5/14, NBC third at 7.8/12, Fox fourth at 4.0/6, the WB fifth at 3.1/5 and UPN sixth at 2.6/4.

Murdoch’s Station Break
Fox Station Group may sell small-market outlets

By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/19/2005

Station owner Raycom cut a deal to sell to Liberty Corp. for $877 million, or around 12 times operating cash flow.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6257847.html?display=John+Higgins&referral=SUPP

I live in a market with TWO major network affiliates (not counting PBS or a (sorta) UPN), the NBC station (the number one station in my market) is owned by Liberty Corp., and the local FOX affiliate is owned by Raycom Media. By local NBC affiliate didn't say anything about this, but the FOX affiliate had it on their webpage, but they made it out like Raycom bought Liberty Corp.?!

~Alan

This fall, Tuesdays are Fox's to lose
With 'House' a hit, much will ride on 'Bones'

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com

Everyone knows that come January and the return of “American Idol,” Fox will dominate Tuesday nights. But this fall Fox may well dominate Tuesdays even before “Idol's” return.

Credit will go to the returning "House" and the new "Bones."

“House” became a big hit at 9 p.m. last year, leading out of the reality show, and last week it debuted to strong numbers, with the promise of providing Fox a major boost for the night this fall.

Citing shows like "House," many buyers have been predicting a winning fall for the network. And a strong fall would give Fox a huge advantage heading into first quarter.

Last year, with a far weaker Tuesday, it was in fourth place for the night and in fourth place in overall ratings going into January.

Against minimal competition last week, the return of “House,” paired with the premiere of “Bones,” averaged a 4.9 in 18-49s, more than enough to win the night. If those numbers hold, the two shows could well own the night into January.

As for the other Big Three networks, they’re making some very risky Tuesday moves in anticipation of Fox’s first quarter dominance, and how they fare will depend on how their new shows fare.

CBS could finish second on the strength of its gaining “NCIS” and the returning “Amazing Race.” Last year it tied for NBC for second with a 3.7 average on Tuesdays.

Its new 10 p.m. drama “Close to Home,” from Jerry Bruckheimer, hasn't excited media buyers, but it may improve on former timeslot occupant “Judging Amy’s” low 18-49 average.

NBC has the riskiest hour of the night at 9, one that could pull it into second or drop it to fourth. Much will depend on its “My Name Is Earl,” which debuts tonight.

Media buying agency Carat USA is so impressed by the new show that it's predicting that NBC will finish first among 18-49s on the night.

But others have their doubts. "Earl" is a sophisticated comedy much like “Scrubs,” which occupied the timeslot last season and averaged just a 3.1. NBC has struggled in the 9 p.m. hour since “Frasier” left in 2004. The night was not helped by “The Office,” which aired a 9:30 and averaged only a 1.9.

This fall "The Office" follows "Earl," and at least one researcher thinks it's a poor match.

“Whatever resulted in these comedies making the cut, they don’t seem at all compatible with one another, and seems to be a sign of weak comedy development at NBC,” writes Magna Global USA’s Steve Sternberg in his preseason preview.

Another bad sign: 8 p.m.’s “Biggest Loser” premiere was down 23 percent last week from last year’s 4.3 average. The 10 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” should easily win its timeslot and could make up for the night’s earlier miscues.

ABC has the night’s most extensive revamp. At 8 it’s pairing “According to Jim,” which averaged a 3.9 last year at 9, with second-year sitcom “Rodney.” The pair could finish second in the timeslot behind “Bones.”

But the female-focused “Commander” has received mixed reviews at 9 p.m. Carat predicts it will be ABC’s biggest new hit. Other media buyers, pointing to “House’s” continued strength, say it could fail big time.

At 10 p.m., “Boston Legal” relocates from Sunday. Though ABC calls the show a hit, it was losing a good portion of “Desperate Housewives’” lead-in, and it won’t have that padding here.

ABC could well finish fourth again on Tuesdays after averaging a 3.3 last season.

The WB is in great shape with “Gilmore Girls” stronger than ever and last week’s “Supernatural” holding more than 80 percent of its lead-in audience.

UPN has all but given up on Tuesday it seems, scheduling “America’s Next Top Model” repeats and the “Melrose Place” wannabe “Sex, Love and Secrets" at 9 p.m., which Media Life readers tabbed as one of the new shows with the least potential.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/News2005/sep05/sept19/2_tues/news2tuesday.html

I was especially happy to see the two above win. Arquette was fantastic all season long with a role that must have been very difficult to pull off and be close to being believable. That particular episode of House was an instant classic IMO and I believe it will stand up well years from now, truly a cut above.

Agreed! I only got to see the first two episodes of "Medium", but I thought PA did great at it!

I meant to try and watch "House", but I work late on Tuesday nights and taped "Scrubs", but after I got my HD-TiVo, I set a "Season Pass" for "House", and a repeat of that episode is the first episode I got to see of the show.

~Alan

I share your feeling about "Raymond". What a shameful waste of a vote for the various winners from that show.

Yes, they did nine seasons, and a number of them were pretty good TV, but to give the awards this year would have been laughable if it weren't so foolish.

"Raymond" was a GREAT show (a classic for sure), and while I can certainly understand why they got the awards this year, I do feel that this last season wasn't that spectacular. I probably would have given the OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES award to Peter Boyle, but then given the OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES to Jessica Walters.

edit: I would have picked Hugh Laurie for best actor in a drama, but Spader would have ranked fifth on my list.

Hugh Laurie would have gotten my pick for sure, but then I don't watch "Boston Legal", and William Shatner's win over Naveen Andrews and Terry O'Quinn surprised me, as did Felicity Huffman's win.

~Alan

“House” Gets Additions

Variety is reporting that Fox has ordered two more episodes of “House”. That would bring this season’s total order to 24 episodes of the Tuesday night drama.

(Of course that also means there still will be 28 weeks without an original "House" when other networks and cable competitors will be able to freely poach the "House" viewers.)

if it wasn't for this thread, i would never give some of these shows a chance. heck, i wouldn't even know what was coming and when they started.

sunday night i sat on my couch with my laptop on the first page of this thread setting up my season passes. I guess when you Tivo you need to get your information on the internet on what shows are coming, cause you skip all the ads for new shows.

By the way, Prison Break and Surface are keepers so far. I love the pace of Prison Break. I think Fox has a hit with that one.

'My Name is Earl,' urbane cornpone
NBC sitcom only looks dumb. That's by design

By Steven Rosen MediaLifeMagazine.com

On first description, “My Name Is Earl” sounds like an attempt by NBC to dumb down its heritage of classy, urbane sitcoms and improve its sagging ratings in the rural and conservative red states. Looks can deceive. This is a show so subversively, so outrageously cool that Larry David would appreciate it.

Jason Lee plays a blue-collar yahoo who drives a beat-up El Camino and steals from cars at convenience stores. He has a hot and trashy blonde ex-wife and a drunken and loutish brother who gets chased by cops a lot. When Earl’s not doing time himself, he’s scheming for a buck.

But this is not “Hee Haw” with a plot. Nor is it a hick version of the blue-collar “According to Jim.” Maybe it’s best thought of as a post-“Seinfeld,” post-modernist version of “Dukes of Hazzard.” Creator Greg Garcia’s show is hip and irreverent, sophisticated even when its characters do dumb things, and slyly winking at an audience bright enough to get its references and be intrigued by its stylishly cinematic production values.

In short, it’s another intelligent NBC comedy -- only in disguise. And that makes this brave, clever attempt to shake up the staid world of sitcoms both praiseworthy and risky. This is a major departure from the network’s stale world of big-city-singles shows, yet its zippy aesthetic can be appreciated by those very educated singles who identified with “Friends” or “Seinfeld.”

Its problem may be that it's so offbeat that it may have trouble connecting with the demographic most inclined to get its humor. In that regard, it may have a problem similar to the one facing the equally hip and offbeat NBC sitcom that follows it on Tuesdays, “The Office.”

But then again, maybe not. Unlike the dry, droll “Office,” “Earl” has an earthy, sexy, sometimes-foul-mouthed natural exuberance that is winning to anyone who sees it. It also has a terrific actor in Lee, a one-time professional skateboarder who has made a name for himself in films like “Vanilla Sky” and “Heartbreakers” as a weirdly friendly sidekick who may or may not be smarter than he looks.

In “Earl,” he accomplishes being both shifty and sincere. His Earl is a reprobate but also a teddy bear with his thick mustache, messy shock of hair and bright engaging smile. He’s not exactly harmless but appears likely to hurt himself as much as anyone else. And proving a good foil for him is Ethan Suplee as his fast-drinking, slow-witted brother, Randy.

The opening episode is about Earl finding karma, an indication of how hip the show really is. No sitcom going after a hardcore NASCAR audience would base its first episode around a Buddhist concept about seeking balance in life.

He discovers karma by watching Carson Daly discuss the concept on TV. He then decides to right all his past wrongs and gain positive karmic standing by becoming kind-hearted. He is helped on his road to recovery by winning $100,000 in a scratch-game lottery. This somehow leads to Earl attempting to make up to a timid former childhood nemesis by sending him an ugly hooker as a gift. Complications ensue.

There’s a goofball, put-on aspect that those familiar with indie films like “Bottle Rocket,” “Opposite of Sex” or “American Splendor” will recognize. It also has the cinematic structure of such fashionably edgy movies with its fragmented narrative, deadpan narration and an active camera that whooshes and slides in and out of flashbacks faster than Earl can rev his El Camino.

One might detect in “Earl” a satire on the quasi-religious do-gooder TV series like “Highway to Heaven,” “Touched by an Angel” and Amy Grant’s new “Three Wishes” (also on NBC). But if that’s the genesis, so to speak, of the show, it’s not the point of it. The point is just to have a good time, but to be very smart and original about achieving it.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/News2005/sep05/sept19/2_tues/news3tuesday.html

Thanks, slocko.

I am glad you are using this thread the way it was meant to be used.

And I am even happier if it has let you find some new shows you might have overlooked!

I'll get the Thursday, Friday, and Sunday premieres up soon -- probably later today

TV SEASON PREVIEW
Handicapping this season's shows

By Mark McGuire Albany Times Union

"Sons & Daughters" is a smart, inventive ABC comedy slated to debut at mid-season. Critics, as they say, are raving about the partially improvised comedy; many have said it's among the best pilots they've screened this year.

Which may mean it's dead before it even airs.

"I feel like I should be starting a 'Save this show' campaign now," Manuel Mendoza of The Dallas Morning News said to me. In July.

If television critics had their way, "EZ Streets" would be entering its 10th season, "Arrested Development" would be the most-watched show on television, and "According to Jim" would be a distant memory.

Sometimes critical and commercial success mesh, as with "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" or even "The Sopranos." But more often than not, critics bestow praise on shows because of their original or idiosyncratic qualities -- the very elements that make them long shots in the ratings game.

A multitude of factors contribute to the creation of a hit. Quality is one, but it's often less important than time slot, network, genre and good marketing.

I usually review shows based on what I like or dislike, and why. For a change-up, let's handicap the first-year network shows based on which ones have the best chance of commercial success or failure, regardless of quality:

C B S

Hit: "Close to Home" (10 p.m. Tuesdays). A crime drama about a female prosecutor who returns to work after becoming a mom; it's a smart procedural that will draw men and women.

Miss: "Ghost Whisperer" (8 p.m. Fridays). Anybody remember Jennifer Love Hewitt's last series, "Time of Your Life" (1999)? "Whisperer" is a bad show in a bad time slot.

Wait and See: "Threshold" (9 p.m. Fridays). With three serialized sci-fi dramas debuting this fall, will this be the one to catch on?

A B C

Hit: "Invasion" (10 p.m. Wednesdays). Another of the sci-fi dramas, and maybe the best. For a show like this, you can't do better than following "Lost."

Miss: "Freddie" (8:30 p.m. Wednesdays). There are worse comedies out there, but not many. The appealing Freddie Prinze Jr. is not enough here.

Wait and See: "Commander In Chief" (9 p.m. Tuesdays). The Geena Davis-as-president drama is in a tough time slot.

N B C

Hit: "Three Wishes" (9 p.m. Fridays). This feel-good reality show starring Amy Grant is perfect on what's often a tough night for luring viewers.

Miss: "Inconceivable" (10 p.m. Fridays). A fair drama in an awful time slot.

Wait and See: "My Name is Earl" (9 p.m. Tuesdays). Reminiscent of "Arrested Development." Will anyone besides critics watch?

Fox

Hit: "The War at Home" (8:30 p.m. Sundays). In the classic mold of a dysfunctional Fox family.

Miss: "Reunion" (9 p.m. Thursdays). Intriguing concept, but this serialized drama doesn't deliver the goods.

Wait and See: "Prison Break" (9 p.m. Mondays). Loved the pilot, but -- again -- is there enough time in the week for viewers to catch every episode, a must under the serialized format?

The WB

Hit: "Twins" (8:30 p.m. Fridays) As a comedy it's only middling, but it fits perfectly into the network's Friday night block.

Miss: "Related" (9 p.m. Wednesdays) There are a lot of changes to this show that seems to be cast and shot on the fly.

Wait and See: "Just Legal" (9 p.m. Mondays) Don Johnson does not fit into the WB star mold, but his series is pretty good.

UPN

Hit: "Everybody Hates Chris" (8 p.m. Thursdays). The comedy conceived, inspired and narrated by Chris Rock may be the best show of the season.

Miss: "Sex, Love & Secrets" (9 p.m. Tuesdays). Generic youthful soap that may catch fire or, more likely, crash and burn in one of the most competitive time slots on television.

Wait and See: "Love, Inc." (9:30 p.m. Thursdays). See: "Related."

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=400672

Hit: "Close to Home" (10 p.m. Tuesdays). A crime drama about a female prosecutor who returns to work after becoming a mom; it's a smart procedural that will draw men and women.

DANG!! I meant to set this to tape!

~Alan

Hugh Laurie would have gotten my pick for sure, but then I don't watch "Boston Legal",

Well initially Hugh would be my pick too ... OTOH, Spader takes "over-the-top" to sublimely new levels on "BL." Some of the Spader/Shatner bits had me laughing hystericaly ... I was just starting to really look forward to BL, when it got pulled for Grey's A. OTOH, perhaps Shatner and Spader were nominated in the wrong catagories :)

CooCoo for CoCo-puffs! ;)

An interesting take on tonight’s prime time schedule. (Note: all times are ET/ PT.)
TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
What Shows To Watch?
(You'll Be Channel-Hopping All Night Long)

By Walt Belcher Tampa Tribune

Put the remote control into overdrive tonight. We have a dance-off, three season finales and the return of "Nip/Tuck," "Boston Legal," "The Office," "NCIS," "Law & Order: SVU" and "America's Next Top Model."

Kelly Monaco and John O'Hurley square off at 8:30 tonight in a 90-minute rematch of the two favorites from ABC's summer hit "Dancing With the Stars."

It's a two-parter: They compete tonight; viewers vote and the winner will be crowned on Thursday night.

"General Hospital" star Monaco won the summer series in an upset over O'Hurley, who appeared to be an audience favorite. Monaco has her fans, too. Dancing skills may not mean as much as O'Hurley's hammy charm or Monaco's sexy outfits and good looks.

FINALES TONIGHT: CBS' "Big Brother 6" picks a winner at 9. Hurricane Katrina made this pitiful reality show about bickering, ego-driven fools who share a house seem all the more meaningless.

UPN's "R U the Girl" also names a winner at 9. This one had singers T-Boz and Chilli, of the group TLC, trying to pick a singer to make them a trio again. Original group member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was killed in a car accident in 2002. (It follows the return at 8 of "America's Next Top Model." )

CBS' "Rock Star: INXS" ends at 10. This competition finds a singer for '80s rock band INXS. The band's original lead singer, Michael Hutchence, died under mysterious circumstances in 1997.

L&O EMOTIONAL: NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" returns at 10 with a mission to win Emmys for its leads. Look for darker and more emotional stories this season. Detective Stabler (Chris Meloni) is headed for a major meltdown.

CBS' "NCIS" picks up on the cliffhanger season-two finale, in which Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) was gunned down. Alexander wanted to leave, and they really sent her off. She's back at 8 tonight for a guest appearance.

Lauren Holly joins the cast as the new NCIS director, a former lover of Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon).

NBC LAUGHS: A new season of "The Office" at 9:30 follows the highly touted "My Name Is Earl" (see story, BayLife-1). This remake of a British hit struggled to find an audience last season. NBC is hoping people will discover it. Steve Carell, who scored at the box office this summer in "The 40 Year-Old Virgin," plays the world's most insensitive boss.

NIPPING & TUCKING: The kinky, freaky "Nip/Tuck" returns to FX at 10 in all its gory detail. In the final moments of last season's season finale, the psycho known as "The Carver" was about to attack Miami plastic surgeon and woman chaser Christian Troy (Julian McMahon). Tonight's opening will give viewers a scare and a shock -- for a few minutes.

However, the really gross moments come during the graphic removal of some leaking breast implants. An extremely obese woman whose skin has bonded to the couch she has been sitting on for three years is also encountered.

This season, Troy's physician pal Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) will have a fling with the wife (Anne Heche) of a mob boss who asks Sean to alter her looks.

http://info.mgnetwork.com/printthispage.cgi?url=http%3A//walttv.tbo.com/walttv/MGBXKY2DTDE.html&oaspagename=www.tbo.com/walttv/story.htm&image=tbologo80x60.jpg

An Emmy moment for Peter Jennings
'ABC World News Tonight' wins three awards
By Heidi Dawley MediaLifeMagazine.com

One night after former news anchors Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and the late Peter Jennings were honored at the primetime Emmy Awards, they received similar kudos at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards last night.

CBS’s Rather, who retired last spring, received a lifetime achievement award and NBC’s Brokaw, who left in December 2004, was honored for “NBC Nightly News’” coverage of President Reagan’s funeral.

But Jennings’ “ABC World News Tonight” was the biggest winner. It collected three awards, the most for any nightly newscast. Two of them were for the international stories the former foreign correspondent was best known for.

“It was Peter Jennings' legacy to cover foreign news as aggressively as possible, and he forced us and his competition to do that for years,” said “World News” executive producer Jonathan Banner.

While Jennings, who died last month from lung cancer, received sentimental attention, Rather’s tributes were more pointed.

He spent the earlier part of the night excoriating newsrooms across the country for what he termed a climate of fear during an appearance at Fordham University Law School. He complained that politicians are applying pressure to the big companies that own the broadcasters, resulting in softer reporting. He also ridiculed cable news.

Rather was forced out from the CBS anchor chair after last year’s botched “60 Minutes II” report on President Bush’s National Guard service. He has insisted that the report was right, and last night several of those who paid tribute to him agreed.

“Nightline’s” Ted Koppel praised Rather and gave a slap at CBS for not standing behind him. Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy senior fellow Marvin Kalb said he thinks the Bush story was correct.

PBS had the night’s biggest showing, winning six awards, one each for “DNA,” “Frontline,” “National Geographic Specials,” “Nature,” “American Experience” and “Wide Angle.”

ABC, CBS and NBC all won four awards. Cable news was led by HBO with three and Discovery Channel, Discovery Times and Cinemax winning two each.

Winners of the News & Documentary Emmy Awards:


OUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCAST
ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings: Battle of Fallujah (ABC)


OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCAST
ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings: Hidden War: Genocide in Darfur (ABC)


OUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCAST
CBS News Sunday Morning: Net Gain (CBS)


OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCAST
The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather: The Enron Tapes (CBS)


OUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINE
ABC News Nightline: Anatomy of Beslan (ABC)


OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINE
CBS News 60 Minutes: The Murder of Emmett Till (CBS)


OUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINE
CBS News 60 Minutes II: Garden of Eden (CBS)


OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A NEWS MAGAZINE
Dateline NBC: Children for Sale (NBC)


OUTSTANDING LIVE COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY--LONG FORM
NBC News Special: The Death and Funeral of Ronald Wilson Reagan (NBC)


OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY—LONG FORM
Wide Angle: Ladies First (PBS)


OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM--LONG FORM
FRONTLINE: The Secret History of the Credit Card (PBS)


OUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL PROGRAMMING - LONG FORM
DOCday: In Rwanda We Say...The Family That Does Not Speak Dies (Sundance Channel)


OUTSTANDING HISTORICAL PROGRAMMING - LONG FORM
Reporters at War (Discovery Times Channel)


OUTSTANDING INTERVIEW
Dateline NBC: Bin Laden's Brother (NBC)


OUTSTANDING CULTURAL & ARTISTIC PROGRAMMING
Cinemax Reel Life: Bus 174 (CINEMAX)


OUTSTANDING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND NATURE PROGRAMMING
DNA: The Human Race (PBS)


BEST STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCAST
ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings: Iraq: Where Things Stand (ABC)


BEST REPORT IN A NEWS MAGAZINE
Dateline NBC: Children for Sale (NBC)


BEST DOCUMENTARY
America Undercover: My Flesh and Blood (HBO)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: WRITING
Nature: Pale Male (PBS)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: DIRECTION (TWO EMMYS AWARDED IN THIS CATEGORY)
National Geographic Specials: Arlington: Field of Honor (PBS)
American Experience: The Fight (PBS)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: RESEARCH (TWO EMMYS AWARDED IN THIS CATEGORY)
ABC News Productions/Discovery Times: Declassified: Nixon in China Discovery Times Channel
Decisions that Shook the World: LBJ Discovery Channel


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cinemax Reel Life: Balseros (Cinemax)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: EDITING (TWO EMMYS AWARDED IN THIS CATEGORY)
America Undercover: Capturing the Friedmans (HBO)
America Undercover: My Flesh and Blood (HBO)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: GRAPHIC AND ARTISTIC DESIGN
Virtual History: The Secret Plot to Kill Hitler (Discovery Channel)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: MUSIC AND SOUND
National Geographic ULTIMATE EXPLORER: On Thin Ice (MSNBC)


OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: LIGHTING DIRECTION & SCENIC DESIGN
Ten Days to D-Day (History Channel)


OUTSTANDING REGIONAL NEWS STORY: SPOT NEWS
WABC Eyewitness News at 11pm: Chopper 4 Crash


OUTSTANDING REGIONAL NEWS STORY:
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
WCAU NBC 10 News at 11pm: Dirty Little Secret


OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL NEWS STORY: BREAKING NEWS
Associate Press Television News (United Kingdom): Beslan


OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL NEWS STORY: CONTINUING COVERAGE
Netherlands Public Broadcasting (The Netherlands): Return to Beslan


http://www.medialifemagazine.com/News2005/sep05/sept19/2_tues/news4tuesday.html

“Comeback” Won’t Be Back


There is hope for HBO afterall...

Nip/Tuck' to cut deeper


I just got done watching the first 2 seasons of this on DVD, and it's a great show, very stylish with a very sharp edge(pun intended). Watched it upconverted to 1080i on a 73" display and it looked great, when oh when, is FX going to go HD?!?!

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“My Name Is Earl”
Will karma smile on NBC's 'My Name Is Earl'?
By David Zurawik Baltimore Sun Television Critic September 20, 2005

Remember when NBC used to be known for its sophisticated sitcoms - savvy series like Seinfeld and Friends?

Well, hold tight to that memory, because NBC's reputation for comedy may never be the same after tonight's debut of My Name Is Earl.
The show stars Jason Lee in the title role as a lowlife, petty criminal who suddenly gets religion (of a sort) when he discovers a TV version of karma. With it, NBC, which last season plummeted to fourth place among the networks, seems to be struggling to attract the young men of Spike TV - and, perhaps, the women of the NASCAR circuit.

The series' premise is succinctly delivered in voiceover by Earl at the very start of the pilot: "You know that guy you see at the convenience store, sort of a shifty-lookin' fella who buys a pack of smokes, a couple of Lotto scratchers and a 'tall boy' at 10 in the morning - the kind of guy you wait to come out before you and your family go in? Well, that guy is me ... "

Earl has been doing bad things most of his life: Breaking into cars, robbing houses, beating up weaker men, regularly getting drunk, routinely disparaging members of minority groups - in general, living like a poster boy for rude and crude behavior.

But one day, Earl wins $100,000 playing scratch-off lottery, only to be hit by a car and lose the ticket on the way home. While lying in the hospital with a morphine drip in his arm, he sees and hears NBC late-night host Carson Daly attributing his success to the principle of karma, which is simplified to a bromide: "Do good things and good things will happen."

Earl immediately believes that he lost the Lotto ticket because of his nasty ways and sets out to make amends. He begins by listing wrongs he will try to right: "Burned down a barn at camp. Stole a cooler with a donated kidney in it. Stole a car from a one-legged girl. Peed in a cop car. Replaced Sheridan Lang's birth control pills with Tic-Tacs. Beat up Joy's nitpicking Internet friend. ..."

Joy (Jamie Pressly) is Earl's ex-wife and the target of endless sexist jokes. Earl's efforts to right his wrongs as delineated by his list structures the series.

The pilot features Earl trying to help a gay former classmate whom he once tormented. The portrayal of this man as weak and frightened and the notion that he needs Earl's help to fashion a meaningful life is simply offensive.

My Name Is Earl is not a stupid sitcom - that is what makes its sexist and homophobic jokes so maddening. The sitcom cleverly depicts Earl as a Capra-esque everyman who has seen the error of his ways and is trying to do good in his own bumbling manner. One criticizes the character at the risk of being called elitist.

But there is an implied superiority - even a sneer - beneath Earl's populist veneer. Viewers aren't encouraged to laugh at Earl, as much as they are with him - at the people on his list.

That might just be a formula for success in these mean-spirited TV times.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-to.tv20sep20,1,422138.story?coll=bal-artslife-tv

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Nip/Tuck”
True beauty of 'Nip/Tuck' is how it fleshes out deviant extremes

By Matthew Gilbert Boston Globe September 20, 2005

Spoiler alert: This review reveals plot twists.

FX's ''Nip/Tuck," which is back for its third season tonight at 10, remains gorgeously slick. Every element of every frame of the Miami-set drama has been exquisitely composed -- the savvy camera angles, the silvery lighting, the hyper-modern interior design. Even the meticulously plucked eyebrows of Julian McMahon's Dr. Christian Troy. They all come together to form an eerily beautiful TV atmosphere, one that's as coolly futuristic as the show's plots.

And more important, ''Nip/Tuck" also remains gorgeously sick, which is exactly how fans like it. About the morally complex lives of two cosmetic surgeons, ''Nip/Tuck" returns with as much bold boundary-pushing as ever. It's not just that Christian and Dr. Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) will operate tonight to detach an obese woman from a couch she hasn't left for three years. And it's not just that Christian asks for Kimber's hand in marriage after watching the porn star's new movie; or that young Matt McNamara (John Hensley) is obsessed with life coach Ava without knowing she's transgender. It's that all of these extreme situations occur at the same time. The drama on ''Nip/Tuck" is heightened enough to make you dizzy, and happily so.

The series has become a ratings hit for FX (last season's finale drew a whopping 5.2 million viewers) which may be why FX has not asked creator Ryan Murphy to tone down the material. Conventionality and safety would destroy ''Nip/Tuck," which thrives on its outrageousness, particularly in the sexual arena. The basic-cable show goes places even pay-cable products avoid, even if it doesn't feature explicit nudity. Last season, Sean made love to a life-size doll, and Sean and Christian formed two sides of a sexual triangle. This season, when a new doctor joins the practice (played by Bruno Campos), more eye-widening sexual twists are clearly in store, since he promises to have his own unusual tastes. Also, Matt discovers some uncomfortable truths about his own preferences, and pursues them next week with the show's trademark intensity.

Beginning last season and stretching into this one, ''Nip/Tuck" has taken on a murder-mystery plot as the psychopathic Carver continues to attack victims and slice up their faces. Tonight, Christian is recovering from a Carver attack that has left him not only physically injured but -- true to the show's weightiness -- deeply spiritually scarred. It's a familiar whodunit crime twist, but one made resonant by the writers, who clearly play the Carver's knife-wielding against that of the surgeons'. The makers of ''Nip/Tuck" never keep it simple, which is simply excellent.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/09/20/true_beauty_of_niptuck_is_how_it_fleshes_out_deviant_extreme s?mode=PF

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“My Name Is`Earl”
A trailer-park hero shows a ton of heart

By Matthew Gilbert Boston Globe September 20, 2005

If you follow TV buzz, because it certainly follows you, you might already be a little burnt out on ''My Name Is Earl." It's the latest comedy the critics have been lavishing with advance praise all summer -- you know, the next ''Arrested Development" that you absolutely must watch or be doomed to a life of shame, despair, and aesthetic inferiority.

But if any sitcom can overcome your resistance to excessive hype, it will be ''My Name Is Earl," which premieres tonight at 9 on Channel 7. The NBC sitcom is so unpretentious and original, it will probably win you over on its own sweet merits. Like its hero, Jason Lee's Earl, it is askew, funny, scruffy, and unexpectedly touching. Interestingly, ''Earl" takes place worlds away from more familiar NBC urban sitcoms such as ''Friends" and ''Will & Grace," set instead in the heart of American trailer-park culture. If there's coffee involved here, it's served with Cremora and not steamed milk.

Lee, with a doltish mustache, is instantly likable as Earl, who narrates the show (which is made with no laugh track). You take one look at this guy, and you can tell his clothes smell like stale beer and crab cakes. Earl is a two-bit crook whose profound mellow borders on mental disability. One day he wins $100,000 in the lottery, then gets in a car accident and loses the ticket. On morphine in the hospital, he sees Carson Daly on TV (on NBC, natch) talking about karma -- ''You do good things, and good things happen to you" -- and he decides to change. And so Earl embarks on a journey to right all his wrongs, which range from littering to stealing trick-or-treat candy from kids.

Tonight's episode is filmed like a little indie movie -- it's being compared by some to ''Raising Arizona" -- with offbeat camera angles and comic edits. And it features vivid secondary characters who add to the eccentric vibe. Joy (Jaime Pressley) is Earl's soon-to-be-ex wife, a shrill opportunist who takes advantage of Earl's pronounced naivete. One drunken night six years ago, the two met and married -- but she conveniently forgot to tell him she was pregnant at the time. Earl's brother, Randy (Ethan Suplee), is a lump who lives on Earl's couch. And Sonny is a local dodo-brain who plays an ongoing game of beer-can tag with Earl. ''I know where your mama parks your house," Earl yells playfully at him.

The ''Earl" gang is loosely descended from the Clampetts of ''The Beverly Hillbillies," with Earl as Jed. We laugh at their stupidity and lack of sophistication, but then the show also makes them lovable and, in Earl's case, noble. Earl is a pickup-truck slacker who has been profoundly enlightened by a late-night TV host. Yeah, that's not the height of intelligence. But then he's wise enough to see the benefits of becoming a giving person, and so he's pursuing it in his unique way. Tonight, for his first act of penitence, he tracks down a guy he bullied as a kid, hoping to do him a favor. The resolution is slightly sentimental, but it's nonetheless hard to resist. When ''My Name Is Earl" does sentimental, after all, it still smells a little trashy.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/09/20/a_trailer_park_heroshows_a_ton_of_heart?mode=PF

Networks pursue the 'super fan'
Marketers are going to extremes, and even into nightclubs,
to reach people who will talk up shows for the fall season

By Meg James Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Maria Johnson, a bank teller from Memphis, N.Y., watches TV with a devotion that borders on the religious. On Sundays, pro football plays on her family's 25-inch set from noon until night. Thursday evenings revolve around "Survivor" on CBS, so she has to tape Fox's "The O.C.," which airs during the same hour, for later viewing.

Johnson, 31, not only watches a lot but also prides herself on spreading the word to get others to tune in. She hooked her husband, Corey, on ABC's hit drama "Lost" last season and they haven't missed an episode. Johnson also talked so much about Fox's "American Idol" and CBS' "Amazing Race" that a friend at work became addicted too.

"I'm really into TV, I know what shows are on and I plan out exactly what I'm going to watch," Johnson said. "And if there's a reality show on, I have to watch it right away so I can talk about it the next day."

Johnson gives new meaning to the term TV evangelist, and lately reaching people like her has become the Holy Grail of network executives. As the 2005-06 television season officially kicks off today, the six major networks have rolled out multipronged marketing campaigns to create the buzz that drives viewership.

But this year more than ever before, those campaigns have been aimed at "super fans" — a chatty, peer-influencing group that networks believe can help them win the ratings wars.

"They are the fuse that lights the firecracker, and really sets things on fire," said Lewis Goldstein, co-president of marketing for the WB network, which after two lousy seasons desperately needs to scare up a new hit.

So for "Supernatural," its new Tuesday night suspense thriller, the network — which is owned by Time Warner Inc. and Tribune Co. (which publishes the Los Angeles Times) — has gone beyond mere promotional ads. To reach the show's intended audience — young, hip horror fans — the WB installed special mirrors in about 200 nightclubs in three cities. The mirrors displayed a haunting image from the show's pilot: a terrified woman seemingly pinned to a ceiling.

The idea was simple, said the WB's other marketing president, Bob Bibb: to get people talking.

"Our best chance of success is getting the core group hooked up from the very beginning," said Bibb, who also sent "Supernatural" coffee cup sleeves to nearly 500 cafes around the country. When heated, the sleeves revealed the same spooky image of a floating woman.

This year's widespread push to try something different is fueled at least in part by a desire to mimic ABC's success last season. The network, owned by Walt Disney Co., won plenty of free publicity last year for the clever stunts it used to launch its most promising new shows.

To lure women to "Desperate Housewives," for example, the network supplied dry cleaners around the country with thousands of bags that carried the show's catchphrase: "Everyone has a little dirty laundry." To spark interest in the mysterious, trapped-on-an-island drama "Lost," ABC arranged for tiny bottles to wash ashore on beaches. Inside was a message: "Lost" could be "found" on Wednesdays.

"If you do things right, you get higher 'talk value,' " said Michael Benson, ABC's senior vice president for marketing. This season, he's at it again: to hype "Commander in Chief," a new drama starring Geena Davis as the first woman president, ABC got the U.S. Treasury to OK the circulation of an undisclosed number of dollar bills with stickers of Davis' face covering George Washington's.

"It's about creating something that you want to tell your friends about, and show your family members," Benson said, adding this caveat: "You've got to make sure it's organic to the show, original and unexpected."

This year, the networks together have spent more on marketing than ever before: $200 million, by some estimates.

In part, that expenditure is prompted by the fact that the networks are locked in a tighter-than-usual ratings race. In contrast to years past, when NBC was the undisputed leader, less than one ratings point separated the Big Four networks last season among the coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographic. As a result, the fight to pull ahead has gotten even more intense.

The battle to reach more eyeballs has also grown desperate as many people have left TV behind. This summer, network ratings plunged as millions turned to other entertainment options, including the Internet, video games and movies on DVD.

Stuart Fischoff, a media psychologist at Cal State L.A., said the decline in viewership meant the networks needed to be more creative. "What they have been doing hasn't been working," he said. "They are trying to staunch the hemorrhage."

That's where the super fans come in.

Consider "The Biggest Loser," NBC's weight-loss reality show, which began its second season last week. To ensure a strong kickoff, the network hired a firm to arrange 1,000 house parties across the country. Nearly 5,300 people showed up, some donning "Biggest Loser" T-shirts, and received gifts such as yoga mats and gym discounts.

The ratings for the 90-minute installment were solid, but not spectacular. The show averaged 7.8 million viewers. The hope, however, is that dedicated viewers will help those numbers grow.

"We are in a sense deputizing these people to help market the show," said Parker Reilly, president of House Party Inc., the firm that organized the "Biggest Loser" events. "The whole point is to find people who are obsessed with the show. We're empowering the choir to go out and spread the word."

Fox Broadcasting had the same goal when it targeted an unlikely group of proselytizers — tattoo artists — to promote the gritty new drama "Prison Break." The show centers on a young man who robs a bank so he can be sent to the prison where his brother sits on Death Row. Plotting escape, he has blueprints of the prison tattooed on his torso.

So Fox sent crews to about 100 tattoo parlors to give patrons a sneak peek of the show. Chris Carlisle, Fox's executive vice president for marketing, unleashed "chain gang" street teams that offered free head shaves and henna tattoos.

According to Carlisle, who in past seasons arranged private screenings for hair and nail stylists, "The best way to get your message out is word of mouth. The most important thing is to have someone [viewers] trust in their lives tell them that they have to watch a show."

Buzz has become so crucial to success that the ad-buying firm Initiative has designed a system to analyze chatter on the Internet about upcoming shows and to assess whether viewers' perceptions are positive or negative.

Stacey Lynn Koerner, an Initiative executive vice president, considers the denizens of Internet chat rooms "higher-order evangelists." To reach them, she said, "the networks need to create experiences around their core programs — rather than just putting shows out there. They need to feed that experience in order to survive."

How well does any one gimmick work? It's impossible to tell. George Schweitzer, CBS marketing group president, is philosophical, calling each promotion "part of the buzz-building. It's another reminder of the show."

Or at least, it's another coffee sleeve. CBS has one to promote its new comedy, "How I Met Your Mother." "You've got your Joe," it says, "but have you met Ted?" — a reference to the show's lead character. CBS also sponsored a "speed dating" event at New York's Grand Central Station and sent DVDs of the pilot episode to magazine subscribers.

Johnson, the New York bank teller, was among those who received a DVD. It worked: she's already slotted the Monday night show into her schedule.

"I would actually watch that show again," she said.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/ratings/cl-fi-tvbuzz19sep19,0,4659037,print.story?coll=cl-tvratings

Carat Releases Report Projecting ABC as Tops Among 18-19 Demo

By Jon Lafayette TVWeek.com September 20, 2005

Media buying firm Carat projects in a report released Tuesday that ABC will be the top-rated network among adults 18 to 49. According to the report, written by Shari Anne Brill, VP of programming, ABC will average a 4.2, followed by CBS with a 4.0, NBC with a 3.8, Fox with a 2.9, the WB with a 1.6 and UPN with a 1.5.

Ms. Brill expects eight new shows to be canceled by January. Those shows are ABC's "Night Stalker" and "Hot Properties," CBS's "Ghost Whisperer," NBC's "Inconceivable," Fox's "The War at Home" and "Killer Instinct," and UPN's "Sex, Love & Secrets" and "Love, Inc."

The top-rated shows among adults 18 to 49 will be "Desperate Housewives," "CSI," "Grey's Anatomy," "Survivor: Guatemala," and "ER." The top rated new show will be "Apprentice: Martha Stewart."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8570

Emmys, 'Survivor' Lead CBS To Weekly Title

(zap2it.com)--An improved showing by the Emmy Awards and the premiere of the latest "Survivor" helped CBS win the final week of TV's offseason while the rest of the Big Four fought it out for second.

CBS averaged a 6.9 rating/12 share and 10.49 million viewers in primetime for the week ending Sunday, Sept. 18. ABC and NBC tied for second in households at 4.9/8, narrowly beating FOX's 4.7/8. FOX, however, took the No. 2 spot in viewers with 7.49 million, beating out ABC's 7.31 million and NBC's 6.89 million. The WB (2.2/4, 3.37 million) finished fifth, ahead of UPN (1.7/3, 2.55 million).

CBS also held the top spot among adults 18-49 with a 3.6 rating for the week. FOX, 3.1, was second in the ad-friendly demographic, followed by ABC, 2.7, and NBC, 2.2. The WB averaged 1.4 and UPN 1.0.

(The numbers for CBS don't include Sunday's "60 Minutes," which aired an abbreviated episode in the eastern half of the country and its full hour out West.)

The first "Monday Night Football" game of the season was the week's No. 1 show, drawing a 13.0/22 for ABC. With most of its schedule still in reruns, though, the brief "MNF" pregame show (9.9/16, fifth) was the only other ABC program in the top 20. "Wife Swap," which has the difficult task of being football's companion on the night, began its second season with a 4.5/8, tied for 43rd overall.

The Emmy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, finished second for the week at 12.5/20, a huge improvement over last year's weak performance. The awards averaged close to 18.7 million viewers, nearly 5 million more than in 2004, when they aired on then-struggling ABC. On the flip side, "Survivor: Guatemala" (10.9/18), though it finished third overall, drew its smallest premiere audience since the show's first incarnation in the summer of 2000.

FOX's "House" proved its ability to stand tall without an "American Idol" lead-in, beginning its second season in fourth place overall with a 10.0/15. New Tuesday-night companion "Bones" also cracked the top 20, tying for 14th with a 6.7/11. "Prison Break," 5.8/9, snuck in just under the wire to tie for 19th.

A couple of other premieres -- CBS' "Threshold" (5.5/10) and NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (5.3/8) -- finished not far outside the top 20, tying for 23rd and 26th, respectively. The WB's "Gilmore Girls" (4.1/7) and "Supernatural" (3.6/6) also enjoyed healthy debuts, finishing 52nd and tied for 61st overall.

UPN's top show was "Friday Night Smackdown!," which finished 80th with a 2.3/4 -- down some from its previous average on Thursday nights.

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/utils/tve_article_print/1,1144,,00.html?x=29&y=12&current_url=271%7C97629%7C1%7C&search_id=1&cntn_id=97629

(The complete listing of last week's prime time programs and their Nielsen ratings will be posted when it becomes available later in the evening.)

TV SEASON PREVIEW:
Back in their prime
You'll see some familiar faces on television again this fall

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Geena Davis says her role as the United States' first female president in ABC's "Commander in Chief" is a natural progression from the strong characters she played in "Thelma and Louise" and "A League of Their Own." And maybe the best preparation was Davis' turn as an assassin in "Long Kiss Goodnight."

Neil Patrick Harris keeps moving away from his "Doogie Howser" days and is now in a group of friends in CBS' endearing "How I Met Your Mother." Harris is the well-intentioned bad influence, about as close as the show gets to a wacky neighbor.

Alfre Woodard is a new neighbor and, since her street is the lovely and teeming Wisteria Lane of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," you know she's come with heavy baggage. She's a single mom of an 18-year-old son, and she's got a secret.

TV loves Benjamin Bratt as an action hero. So on NBC's "E-Ring," he's a special forces major, fresh from the field, who's now at the Pentagon sending others into action while he monitors the doings. He does get to run down halls.

Don Johnson's burned-out lawyer on WB's "Just Legal" could be exactly the guy "Miami Vice's" Sonny Crockett would become if he let the job get to him. Now, Johnson plays the voice of experience and of living too large, too long.

Jennifer Love Hewitt is a newlywed and business partner who doesn't just see dead people, she solves their problems as the star of CBS' "Ghost Whisperer," a generally uplifting show with the nonetheless downbeat message that you can still have problems when you're dead.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573086p-14413404c.html

Last week’s network prime-time ratings have been posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

TV SEASON PREVIEW: WEDNESDAY
Government and alien infiltrations
In "Invasion," other- worldly creatures are among us.
"E-Ring" looks inside the Pentagon.

By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 21, 2005

After Hurricane Katrina, ABC pulled promos for its new sci-fi series "Invasion," which debuts tonight and opens with a storm ripping apart a coastal Florida town.

While "Invasion uses a hurricane only as its opening number, over at NBC they have an entire series, "E-Ring," set inside the Pentagon, which in its first installment makes only the most obscure gestures toward the war in Iraq.

I know the Pentagon is busy with threats the world over, but that gap is one of the reasons that "E-Ring" comes off right now as impossibly glib, whereas "Invasion," from writer-producer Shaun Cassidy ("American Gothic," "The Agency") is merely digging itself out from an accident of timing.

You might guffaw during tonight's episode when a local TV reporter tells a hurricane victim, "If FEMA isn't out here by tomorrow, call me," but "Invasion" isn't about a hurricane. It's an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-like serial with two competing themes going — the alien nature of aliens and the alienating nature of broken families. The first one involves more mystery but fewer awkward negotiations of visitation rights and parental responsibility.

The "Invasion" premiere follows the highly anticipated return of "Lost." Can you get mystery overload? Unlike "Lost," which ended its first season twisted around itself with mystery and mythology, "Invasion" doesn't seem poised to madden you that way. Its ambition is smaller and more self-contained; weirdness will visit a town and change relationships among an extended, and messy, family.

Our hero is a divorced father of two, park ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian). He's got an ex-wife, Dr. Mariel Underlay (Kari Matchett), a new wife who is pregnant, TV reporter Larkin Groves (Lisa Sheridan) and two kids from his marriage to Mariel, who has since married Sheriff Tom Underlay (William Ficht-ner).

As the hurricane approaches, family tension simmers. Mariel is portrayed as nettlesome and smothering in her distrust of Russell; she comes by the house as the storm picks up to check on son Jesse (Evan Peters) and daughter Rose (Ariel Gade), and when Rose can't be found, she and Russell have a row. If her concern for her children's welfare comes off as reasonable, the show doesn't seem to agree; the night of the hurricane she too disappears and is discovered the next morning, naked in a swamp, alive but different.

"How do you spend all night in a hurricane and not have a mark on you?" Russell understandably wonders. Soon, Rose is noticing that her mother "smells different," creepy Sheriff Underlay is telling her the "first days are the toughest," and Dave (Tyler Labine), Russell's brother-in-law, discovers a skeleton in a swamp.

Russell's perplexed, but what seems to give him greatest pause, what tips him off that something's truly amiss, is that his ex-wife is no longer on his case.

Dennis Hopper is not an alien, although we like him to play strange or eccentric or hubristic people; it's what makes him lovable. On "E-Ring," which, lands like a bad spinoff of "The West Wing," he plays Col. McNulty. McNulty works for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expert in clandestine missions; he has a German shepherd named Otto and likes classic rock.

It's Hopper, all right. The show gives him lines like, "Sunday mornings at the Pentagon, can't you just feel the love?" and "We are America; we can do anything we want. It's should we?" and "It's a group of tribes, 25,000 strong, all competing against each other for the sec-def's love, i.e. money. And the love often dictates the mission."

That line's pretty good. He's talking about the Pentagon, by the way. McNulty has the whiff of Donald H. Rumsfeld, I suppose, but in the end I'd rather watch the real guy give a briefing; it's more believable. "E-Ring," which refers to the outermost ring of the five rings of the Pentagon, the one where approval for military action must come, is about infighting and turf wars.

It's a veritable office of homeland insecurity. We're placed squarely on the side of McNulty and his new charge, hotshot Maj. Jim Tisnewski (Benjamin Bratt), who's just returned from a 14-month mission in Afghanistan.

Quickly, Bratt and Hopper emerge as can-do renegades, but these characters are really working for executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. In the pilot, which was directed by Taylor Hackford, McNulty and Tisnewski are going over heads and beyond protocol to try to save an endangered spy in China. Cue the dissenting bureaucrats and stern generals. As the mission's race against time ticks down, "E-Ring" thinks it's got you by the throat, and that's true, because you feel like you're being led around on a leash.

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“The Apprentice: Martha Stewart”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

As if you didn't know. Martha Stewart, fresh out of prison and freed from her ankle bracelet, plays the next Donald Trump, with 16 foolish, foolish people wanting to become an assistant to the ice queen of gracious living.

What’s What: Hard to believe this could be as fun as Trump's version. Stewart says she's chosen the challenges herself. Oh, the prison joke possibilities. (Jon Stewart says one chore will be fashioning a knife from a lamb shank.)

Rickster Scale: Unavailable for review.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“E-Ring”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Action drama set inside the Pentagon, where Benjamin Bratt is the fresh-from-action special forces guy now doing strategy and reporting to a cranky lieutenant. Wait, that's in cop shows. He reports to a cranky colonel (Dennis Hopper).

What’s What: Does the name Jerry Bruckheimer ring a bell? He produces this one, too. Which means it's snappy, pretty slick, generally satisfying. And a little rah-rah. It's decent escapism, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Bratt is appealing and Hopper is fun in anything. The E-Ring, if you care, is the outer ring of the Pentagon, where the important people work. And get windows.

Rickster Scale: 2.5

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Freddie”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Freddie Prinze Jr. plays a happy bachelor and hot chef - hot chefs are hot this year - whose life has gone cold, or at least domestic, because his sister, niece, sister-in-law and grandmother moved into his apartment. But, oh, the high jinks.

What’s What: So cliché yet mundane. At one point Freddie says, "Stupid works for me." It's going to need to. Best I can say is, it's probably not the worst new show. Close, though.

Rickster Scale: 1

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“E-Ring”

By Judith S. Gillies The Washington Post

The tagline you’ll never see: Lords of the E-Ring.

The basics: Maj. Jim "J.T." Tisnewski (Benjamin Bratt), a Green Beret, is newly arrived in the nation's capital when he's summoned to the Pentagon for an urgent situation. There, he meets Sgt. Jocelyn Pierce (Aunjanue Ellis), a no-nonsense Marine who makes it clear that her job is to keep him and their boss, Col. McNulty (Dennis Hopper), out of trouble. That's not an easy thing to do, because J.T. and McNulty are pretty independent guys.

The lowdown: "E-Ring" has seen some changes since its original pilot -- most notably, Bratt's character is now single. The stories are centered in the Pentagon -- and some scenes were shot locally -- but the covert action takes place all over the world. Despite being executive-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer ("CSI") and boasting the star power of Hopper and Bratt, "E-Ring" is in an incredibly tough time slot against ABC's runaway hit "Lost."

Reality check: Ken Robinson, co-creator and executive producer, writes what he knows: He's been a U.S. Army Ranger and has worked in the Pentagon. That said, he acknowledges that there's a fine line between fiction and fact in "E-Ring" (aka the Pentagon's outer ring). In the pilot, J.T. needs wheels -- so he borrows a bicycle and pedals to the Pentagon. That seemingly farfetched ride was based on a real trip Robinson took (eight-and-a-half minutes, all downhill from Columbia Pike, he says). But the show's ride is going to be uphill.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
"Invasion"

By Debra Leithauser The Washington Post

The tagline you’ll never see: They will survive.

The basics: The plot seems eerily prescient: A major hurricane slams into the United States, leaving in its wake ripped-up buildings and shell-shocked survivors. However, this tragedy takes place in Homestead, Fla., and might -- or might not -- be a cloak for something supernatural. In the aftermath of the storm, park ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian, "Third Watch") starts noticing some strange things: His ex-wife who disappeared during the hurricane reappears unharmed but is acting a bit peculiar. His daughter, Rose, says she saw lights coming down from the sky. And his brother-in-law's oddball theories start to sound strangely plausible.

The lowdown: If ABC goes ahead with airing this show so recently after Hurricane Katrina (at press time, the network still was considering its options), "Invasion" has a good chance of succeeding. It's about the paranormal -- a hot topic in TV land right now -- and "Invasion" has one of the best lead-ins of any show, airing after the powerhouse "Lost." It's got a great cast, including William Fichtner as the sheriff with a shady side.

Reality check: Executive producer Shaun Cassidy's wife's family is from Homestead and lived through Hurricane Andrew in 1992. And in creating this show, Cassidy says he was trying to capture the aftermath of surviving something so unreal. In the pilot episode, he succeeds in introducing compelling characters viewers will actually care about. But the real-life grief so many have faced might make this reality TV that hits too close to home.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“The Apprentice: Martha Stewart “

The Los Angeles Times

The premise: Stewart in a Trumpian image-remake exercise. Though the ostensible issue is who gets to be the next Martha, or at least Martha's new best friend, the real question is which of her many reported or reputed faces the doyenne of domestic invention will show. Tough boss, mad diva, nurturing mother-substitute, humbled ex-con? Will she cut contestants with relish or with regret?

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Freddie “


NOTE: This show was mistakenly posted here. Moderator's error. "Freddie" doesn't premiere until October 5. I'll leave it, but repost it on the proper day.)

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Freddie Prinze Jr. ("Scooby-Doo"), Brian A. Green ("Beverly Hills, 90210"), Jacqueline Obradors ("NYPD Blue"), Chloe Suazo, Jenny Gago, Mädchen Amick.

The premise: Prinze is a successful yet slow-to-mature Chicago chef living in a luxury apartment full of women: sister Obradors, sister-in-law Amick, niece Suazo, grandmother Gago (whose dialogue is all in subtitled Spanish, striking a blow for reading). They cramp his playboy style, keep him honest and make him store his pool table in his wine room, if you can imagine such an inconvenience. Green steals scenes as the star's dumbbell rich-kid neighbor/best friend.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“E-Ring”

By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News

Among the most surprising new shows of the year is NBC's "E-Ring." Surprisingly bad, that is.

It's shocking that producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose TV shows include "CSI," "Without a Trace" and "Amazing Race," could put out something this bad. That actors like Benjamin Bratt ("Law & Order") and Dennis Hopper could look this foolish.

But they do.

Bratt stars as Major Jim (J.T.) Tinewski (apparently because he looks so Polish), the new guy at the Pentagon whose job it is to solve big problems. He's earnest and true, and he'll do anything to do the right thing. In the premiere, that means getting a Chinese woman who's an American operative out of the country, no matter the risk.

But he runs up against the bureaucracy, and his boss, tough guy Col. Bob McNulty (Dennis Hopper), who's little more than a cartoon.

It's not that the plot of "E-Ring" is so awful. The spy stuff has the making of a good story.

But not one character rings true. And those characters are forced to speak hackneyed, unbelievable dialogue.

In one scene, Tinewski delivers a heartfelt speech that turns the American government around. Really. In another, McNulty hugs a subordinate in a scene that's laugh-aloud ludicrous.

Taylor Hackford, whose reputation went up when he was nominated for an Oscar for directing "Ray," directed this pilot. And he ought to be hoping nobody watches this, or his reputation will take a huge hit.

NBC moved "West Wing" to Sundays to make room for this piece of junk?

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,610152287,00.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Invasion”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: William Fichtner ("Crash," "Empire Falls"), Eddie Cibrian ("Third Watch", "Tilt"), Lisa Sheridan, Kari Matchett, Tyler Labine, Evan Peters, Ariel Gade ("Dark Water"), Alexis Dziena, Aisha Hinds.

The premise: Hurricane hits Florida town, causing devastation and new suspicions among loose family led by park ranger Cibrian. Post-hurricane quandaries include: Is local sheriff Fichtner for real or, you know, not of this place? And what's with the hundreds of lights that were seen floating toward the water? And how about the fact that after the hurricane, Fichtner's ex-wife, Matchett, is found alive but naked in a swamp? She's now married to the weird sheriff, so it's family dynamics meets "The Twilight Zone."

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

Winners and Losers
Emmy Wins and a Thwarted 'Comeback

The TV Column By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Wednesday, September 21, 2005; Page C07

A revitalized Emmycast and the kickoff of "Survivor" kept CBS firmly in first place for the final week of the full, 52-week 2004-05 TV season.

Here's a look at the week's tough and timid:

WINNERS

Primetime Emmy Awards . Ironically, a boatload of pre-Emmy buzz on two ABC series, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," is getting credit for helping this trophy show broadcast on CBS jump from last year's second-worst-ever 13.8 million viewers to Sunday's 18.7 million.

"Monday Night Football." Last week ABC aired the Monday opener of "Monday Night Football." That's as opposed to the previous week, when ABC aired what it called "the Thursday night season opener of 'NFL Monday Night Football,' " which defies even television logic. Anyway, last week's Monday opener clocked 19.6 million viewers, which is the most watched "Monday Night Football" telecast in almost three years.

"Survivor: Guatemala." Yes, the first episode of CBS's "Survivor: Guatemala" logged 18.4 million viewers, the smallest opening number for a "Survivor" since the first edition in May 2000 opened with 15.5 million. Yes, those are the only two "Survivor" series that did not crack 20 million viewers with their first broadcasts. Still, snagging 18.4 million viewers for the first episode of a reality series in its 11th edition is an achievement. We'll keep a close eye on its progress.

"House." The second-season premiere of Fox's hit doc drama more than doubled its series premiere -- 15.9 million viewers last Tuesday compared with 7.1 million viewers last fall.

"Bones." Right before the season debut of "House," Fox's new procedural crime drama, marking David Boreanaz's return to series television, delivered that network's most watched Tuesday drama series unveiling in four years -- 10.8 million viewers.

LOSERS

"The Comeback." HBO says it won't order a second season of its mockumentary series in which Lisa Kudrow played a formerly famous actress trying to jump-start her career with a role in a new series. The final episode averaged only 920,000 viewers in its first telecast, on Sept. 4. An HBO rep told the trades that the network had looked at its schedule and decided, given HBO's "future commitments," it would not be able to give the show "the support it needed."

"The Biggest Loser." Among the things slimmed down on NBC's reality series about losing weight was its opening audience -- 7.8 million people on Tuesday's second-season kickoff, compared with 9.9 million for its premiere last October. On the bright side, last week's 90-minute debut grew by 41 percent among 18- to 49-year-olds from its first half-hour to its last, which is usually a good sign.

"Head Cases." Fox's new odd-couple lawyer series, starring Chris O'Donnell and Adam Goldberg, finished fourth in its Wednesday premiere, with an audience of 6.2 million, after its lead-in had finished first in its time slot, with more than 8 million watching.

World Music Awards . ABC's broadcast of this franchise scored a lowest-yet 5.2 million viewers -- about 1 million fewer than last year. Back in '94, this franchise was attracting almost 20 million fans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092001729.html

TV SEASON PREVIEW: WEDNESDAY
“E-Ring”
A Perky Warrior Singing the Pentagon Blues

By NED MARTEL The New York Times September 21, 2005

Throughout the chest-pounding, inept new NBC series "E-Ring," Benjamin Bratt must run around the Pentagon like Theseus in the labyrinth. "Hey, fellas!" he says, by way of salute to passengers on an up escalator that he's running down. "How's it hangin', fellas?" he later asks a collection of men with far more stars and bars than he.

There's a quickness in his step and a larky quality to his patter because he refuses to be slowed by the bureaucratic torpor of the Building, as the Pentagon is called in the show. Fleet-footed and well rested after months in Afghanistan, Mr. Bratt's character, Maj. Jim Tisnewski, now bikes to the 'Gon and hunkers down in the outermost of its five concentric structures. Here, geopolitical shots are called, but that doesn't mean he has to give in to the presiding nonsense.

In fact, with his uniformed valor, he is constantly coming into conflict with the suits, those civilians who run the place - and the country. And while he's doing end runs and two-steps around procedure, these smarties, who have never pulled a trigger, keep getting in his way. Don't they get it? All he wants to do is save the lives of those his code of honor insists we never leave behind.

What's actually maddening is to see any complex institution reduced to the toils of one determined renegade, but that's the televised specialty of the Jerry Bruckheimer genre. Here Mr. Bratt gets to prove each week that diplomatic crises are just as simple and solvable as "Cold Cases" or "CSI" homicides. All it takes is someone with technology and normative clarity, and bad buys will get their due.

Though the pilot was directed by the accomplished film director Taylor Hackford ("An Officer and a Gentleman," "Ray"), "E-Ring" incorporates the rah-rah quality of last year's movie "Team America," but here it tries to be serious, not satyrical.

The plots of the first two episodes are pure first-world fantasia. Patronizing Pentagon types get to rule the globe by remote control. A Chinese intelligence "asset" needs to be removed from a danger zone in Shanghai, and an evil-doing nuclear scientist is making mischief in Uzbekistan. Only Major Tisnewski seems to understand the stakes at hand; only he has the command of the tools that can save the day or the world, as the case may be. Even as he breaks rules, Tisnewski gradually wins the applause of his commanding officer, Col. Eli McNulty (Dennis Hopper). One suspects that McNulty will eventually approve, as he indulges in Monday-morning quarterbacking with his bookie and cranks up Blue Oyster Cult on his office hi-fi. At first, he fears that Tisnewski will get them both court-martialed, but soon he admires the cut of the newcomer's jib. "You're a warrior," McNulty says. "That's why you're here."

In the office politics of the Building, a snooty naysayer impedes the Shanghai mission, and just to make sure contempt for him is emphasized, McNulty mocks his golf game: "I hope he gets skulled in the head by a golf ball real soon." Really, the aims of the show couldn't be simpler: give the macho dudes their weapons and get outta their way. Anyone who resists or doubts is made to look fussy or daft or feminized. One balking diplomat is, of course, French, and McNulty insults him by calling him Françoise instead of François. I sympathize, to a degree, with anyone who wants the debate club on "The West Wing" to give it a rest sometimes, but "E-Ring" sweeps away the subtleties as it raises the stakes. The plots so far are mere ploys to oversimplify big questions to a choice between the go-getters and the thumb-suckers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/arts/television/21ring.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEW: WEDNESDAY
“Invasion”
Exploring the Mysterious Aftermath of a Different Hurricane

By NED MARTEL B]The New York Times[/B] September 21, 2005

The suspense that ABC had hoped for with "Invasion," its skillful new body-snatcher series, has been undermined by menaces beyond the network's control. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the opening episode's terrestrial forms of terror prove far scarier than extraterrestrial ones. An immense hurricane hits South Florida! And oh, yeah, some aliens use it as a shield to invade the United States.

Since Katrina, the suspense has mounted: Would ABC executives broadcast this spooky glimpse at a storm's aftermath while the Gulf Coast is confronting the far-too-real equivalent? Should they? Tonight's broadcast suggests the network believes that it has something good enough to divert public concerns away from the real-life disaster and toward a larger, less-real horror story. It could be argued that the Katrina catastrophe is bad, but at least the survivors aren't playing host to other mind-altering life forms. (Well, the remaining muck might include some unsavory parasites, but let's move along.)

The network is mostly right because the show is mostly well done. The storm tests the mettle of a broken family, with the children blown between their parents, who have new partners. The father (Eddie Cibrian) is a rock-ribbed park ranger in the Everglades who is coupled with an on-air news reporter, while the mother (Kari Matchett) is a doting physician who is remarried to an untrustworthy sheriff.

The split-up couple's son and daughter tend to side with their father. "Why don't you go home and worry about your new husband and leave us alone?" the exasperated teenager, Jesse, asks his mother. But she has a hip stepdaughter, so that new household might have some allure. Still, with Mr. Cibrian's squinting, winning smile, the father is clearly the good guy, despite a willingness to let his oafish sidekick baby-sit. In the storm's onset, the young daughter, Rose, wanders off amid the clattering palm trees, in search of a lost cat.

Created by the onetime bubblegum pop star Shaun Cassidy, "Invasion" uses the yellow overcast of a major storm to an aptly eerie effect. This is no ordinary maelstrom, as weather-tracking pilots flying into the eye soon realize. Orange, otherworldly lights tumble into warm waters below, and these glowing things await warm bodies to occupy.

In one of several implausibilities, the unfortunate humans who fall prey to these visitors wind up naked yet unscathed in the twisted brush once the rain subsides. Even the local press doesn't look askance at such occurrences, when they happen to upstanding citizens like a kindly priest. At least the oaf has doubts and acts upon them, but he's off base at first: "The whole thing is a smokescreen," he insists. "A smokescreen cooked up by the military."

The interplanetary mischief has some profound but hidden effects on the domestic life of this splintered family. The wedge is bound to be that stepfather sheriff, played by the William Fichtner, who is as chilling and superb as he was in the feature films "Go" and "Contact."

By the end of the pilot, the melodrama of the series is well established, with a few surprises that will keep the audience worried about the welfare of the children, like the ones thrillers like "War of the Worlds" often resort to these days. The series has much in common with cinematic forebears, with expensive location shots and a solemn, postapocalyptic aura.

"Invasion" is a step up from many new offerings on the Sci Fi Channel, but never quite as intricate or engaging as the ABC hit "Lost." It's hard to know where the "Invasion" should colonize next. If the series were truly risk-taking, the writers would figure out something interesting to say about the post-Katrina anxiety about emergency preparedness, with the imaginary intruders as metaphors for America's actual enemies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/arts/television/21inva.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEW: WEDNESDAY SEPT. 21
As 'Lost' dawns, you'll find some answers

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist Wednesday, September 21, 2005

We're in the middle of a wild fall season premiere week, and it's like TV shows are coming out of the air. Actually, they are. That's how it works. Unless you have cable.

Anyway. Lots of TV. Let's get to some of it.

Tonight, last season's most electric series, "Lost," returns where it left off. The mysterious hatch with the mysterious lucky/cursed numbers has been blown open, Walt (Malcolm David Kelly) mysteriously kidnapped and the raft blown up by mysterious "others," and the whole island and the plane crash remain one massive mystery.

By the way, if you missed the "Lost" train last year, ABC is running a catch-up hour (at 8 PM ET/PT) called "Destination Lost" that will help get newcomers up to speed before the season premiere (at 9).

For what it's worth, and if you can trust those guys, co-creator Damon Lindelof and other producers said this summer that Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Jack (Matthew Fox) and company - and viewers - will learn tonight what's in that tough-to-open hatch. They do not promise that anyone will know what it means.

And they said whoever survived the raft incident - maybe Sawyer (Josh Holloway), maybe Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), maybe Michael (Harold Perrineau) -will be separated from the main group for a while. Producers also promise we'll learn why the plane crashed, and become fairly certain this is no random bunch of passengers. Like we didn't already know that.

What is straightforward, however, is that this tantalizing mix of character study, weird puzzle and twisted trip into myth was a great ride in its first season, and I'm hoping we learn just enough to stay fascinated for another year.

For an entirely different kind of mystery, may we present "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart."

Tonight (at 8 ET/PT) NBC gives us the ice queen of gracious living in her biggest move to rehab her image and career after that pesky little prison stint, though I know you're saying that Stewart would never have gotten this gig if she weren't a recovering con.

In any case, here we go tonight. Sixteen people - naive believers all - scramble and game to become her apprentice, and the mystery is, of course, why?

Would you really want to work for Martha Stewart? Though a lot of people wondered that about Donald Trump when "The Apprentice" started. The answer is, some folks will do anything for money or TV face time.

There are other questions to ponder. Can we handle two "Apprentices?" How will Donald, who returns with his "Apprentice" on Thursday (at 9 PM ET/PT) react if Martha does better? What kind of challenges will Stewart concoct for her charges? I'm thinking one ought to be standing stiffly while carefully enunciating every syllable in every word without showing a wink of humanity.

The big question is not whether viewers will watch - of course they will, at least at first; this is train-wreck city any way you look at it - but what will Martha say when she fires her kids?

Stewart has hinted that she won't have one phrase, but I'd like to suggest a few here anyway. How about: "Your bread don't bake," "You ruined my salad," "You are a bad thing" and, the obvious, "I said Merlot."

There's other new stuff tonight, including:

* "The E-Ring": NBC shipped "The West Wing" to Sundays and is filling the slot with an action thriller - in theory - starring Benjamin Bratt as a heroic Special Forces guy stationed at the Pentagon and doing strategy. His boss is a cranky colonel (Dennis Hopper) and it's all fairly conventional, if slickly produced.

* "Just Legal": WB is repeating Monday's pilot from this silly but adorable series that teams a 19-year-old lawyer prodigy (Jay Baruchel) - who can't get hired because he's, you know, 19 - with a burnout, former hotshot lawyer (Don Johnson), and they help each other grow.

It sounds dopey, and it is, but there's chemistry between the geeky Baruchel and the weary Johnson, and it makes for a nice bit of escapism.

* "Invasion": It's the most cryptic of the new sci-fi, aliens-are-coming shows, and ABC hopes people who love the ambiguity of "Lost" will stay for the confusion of this one.

"Invasion" has a hurricane raging through Florida - which now doesn't seem like such a fun idea in the wake of Katrina -as a cover for something strange happening, possibly aliens landing in the Everglades. Unless they're already there.

The tone is semi-"X-Files," but so far without the chemistry or humor, and semi-"Invasion of the Body Snatchers," where maybe no one can trust anyone. Creator Shaun Cassidy promises the tone will lighten some and that there are layers beyond, just, the question: Are they here?

For "Law & Order" fans, detective Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) returns to the beat tonight (at 10 on Channel 3) after getting shot toward the end of last season.

Producers threw in the shooting story line as an excuse for Martin to go off the show for the time he needed to shoot the feature film "Rent," reprising a role he played on Broadway.

Green will be back with his old partner, Det. Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina), after Fontana solved a few cases with a detective played by "The Sopranos'" Michael Imperioli. Producers say Green will have no ill effects from the shooting, though it's possible he may be limping from a case of dancer's toe.

Finally, a reminder that one of the most promising comedies of the season, "Everybody Hates Chris," premieres Thursday night (at 8 EP/PTon UPN).

It's the story, more or less, of Chris Rock's wonder years, and Rock narrates the show. It's a sterling cast besides Rock, led by 12-year-old Tyler James Williams, playing the young Chris, and the whole show is smart, slightly skewed and little bit slapstick, all with a nice little bite and a healthy dose of heart. And, yeah, it's on UPN. The best-looking comedy of the year is on UPN. What can I say?

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/story/13597938p-14438738c.html

Tuesday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the first night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

NBC TURNS ON THE 'LIGHTS'
By JOSEF ADALIAN, Daily Variety, 9/19/2005



Peacock says thank goodness it's 'Friday'



NBC is getting ready to turn up the "Friday Night Lights," pacting with helmer Peter Berg to turn his Universal-produced feature into a weekly drama series.

Project reps the most advanced example of cross-pollination between the Peacock and its feature sibling since the merger of NBC and Universal. Pilot will be produced by NBC U Television Studio in association with Imagine Television.

"Lights" is said to be on the development fast track at NBC, with an eye on a fall 2006 bow. That would coincide with the return of the NFL to NBC -- giving the Peacock a perfect promo platform for the project.

Berg directed and co-wrote "Friday Night Lights," the gritty 2004 drama starring Billy Bob Thornton as the coach of a small-town high school football team during the 1980s. U and Imagine Films produced the pic, which grossed just over $61 million.

According to NBC U Television Studio prexy Angela Bromstad, Berg's current plan is to set the TV take in the present day, thus reflecting the changes that have gripped small towns over the past two decades. He'll write and direct the pilot, exec producing with his Film 44 partners Sarah Aubrey and John Cameron.

"What Peter hopes to do is to make it even more relevant to today," Bromstad said, noting such trends as the rise of Wal-Mart. "It's going to be a good picture of an American small town and the lives of these people in this town where everything revolves around the sport of football."

A coach character like the one player by Thornton will be at the heart of the series -- "that underdog coach who has all the pressure to make the team a success," Bromstad said. The parents and coaches of students will also be central characters.

Bromstad said having Berg on board will help attract top thesp talent. While NBC hasn't made a formal pilot commitment to the project, Bromstad said the Endeavor-packaged "Lights" was a major priority for her and NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly.

NBC and U flirted with the idea of developing a TV series inspired by some of the characters in Universal's "Van Helsing," but the project stalled once the film flopped.

"Friday Night Lights" was one of the first U features to get a heavy promo push by the NBC broadcast and cable networks following the merger.

As for Berg, his feature credits as a helmer include "Very Bad Things" and "The Rundown." He created the ABC drama "Wonderland" and may be best known to TV auds for his work as a thesp on David E. Kelley's "Chicago Hope."

TV ARM RAMPING UP DEVELOPMENT
By JOSEF ADALIAN, MICHAEL SCHNEIDER, Daily Variety, 9/21/2005



DreamWorks Television offers full slate



Development season is just heating up, but DreamWorks Television has already set up nearly a dozen projects.

Slate for the NBC Universal Television Studio-based company --headed by Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey -- includes a one-hour dramedy from "Bernie Mac" creator Larry Wilmore that's based on an idea from DreamWorks partner Steven Spielberg.

Also, scribe Mike Werb ("Face/Off") and producer Bonnie Curtis ("Minority Report") are teaming for potential 10-hour NBC limited series "Tomorrow/Today." Set at a Los Angeles news station, project will span the lives of characters between the years 2010 and 2030.

Falvey and Frank (whose development roster is overseen by Jonathan Berry) said 2005 is shaping up to be one of the studio's busiest seasons in years.

"Last year we were so busy launching 'The Contender,' 'Father of the Pride' and 'Into the West' that it consumed a lot of our time," Falvey said. "This year we were more focused ahead of the curve, reaching out to some writers we've been wanting to be in business with for a while."

DreamWorks has a trio of comedy scripts in the works at NBC, including a blind script commitment for "Evan Almighty" scribe Josh Stolberg.

For another, DreamWorks has pacted with Jason Mulgrew for a half-hour script about a young New Yorker trying to make a go of it. Deal could rep one of the first examples of a blogger making the leap to primetime.

"It's hard to find an authentic twentysomething voice," Frank said. "And his was a blog we were tracking... (Blogs) are something you've got to look at and pay attention to."

Groundlings performer Mark Rizzo is also developing a coming-of-age laffer for NBC via DreamWorks.

Casting is also moving forward on "Baraboo 2010," the Cheryl Holliday-created half-hour from DreamWorks that Peacock entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly announced in July. Project now has a cast-contingent pilot order, and Allison Jones -- who cast "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Freaks and Geeks" -- has signed on as casting director.

Carol Leifer-penned half-hour "Never in My Wildest," which has a cast-contingent order from CBS, also remains in active development.

On the drama side, DreamWorks has five scripts in the works that are being targeted for NBC, including projects from Les Bohem ("Taken"), Kirk Ellis ("Into the West"), Chris Murphey ("Dead Lawyers") and Gardner Stern ("Las Vegas").

Bohem's serialized drama looks at "a very unique corporation," according to Falvey, who says the show has mystery elements in a serialized format.

Ellis is writing a project about an American family adjusting to life overseas, while Murphey's script revolves around international law. Stern is still finalizing his idea.

Then there's the Wilmore project; beyond hinting at Spielberg's involvement, DreamWorks is mum on details. Project is not yet officially set up at the network.

On the limited series front, besides "Tomorrow/Today," DreamWorks TV development is also heating up on "Nine Lives" for the Sci Fi channel (Daily Variety, Oct. 8, 2003). Project comes from Bohem, who wrote all 20 hours of DreamWorks' "Taken" for Sci-Fi.

This time out, he's on board to write and exec produce 12 hours of "Lives," a supernatural project about life, death and the world beyond. He's currently working on the first two hours of the script.

Frank and Falvey said they also have several other projects in the works, but in very early stages.

"We know our taste. We're driven by what we're passionate about," Frank said. He added that DreamWorks "is hitting our stride" with NBC Universal, working well with the exec team headed by prexy Angela Bromstad.

As for reality, DreamWorks is partnered with Renegade 83 on ABC's upcoming "Miracle Workers" and a second season of Mark Burnett's "The Contender" for ESPN.

Company currently produces the Peacock's "Las Vegas" via NBC U. Skein started its third season with strong ratings Monday.

DreamWorks is also partnered with Sony on "Rescue Me," which just snagged a third season order from FX. Over the summer, company produced the ambitious TNT limited skein "Into the West."

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
The race for drama isn't so amazing this season
Out of 4 contenders, Jerry Bruckheimer's 'Close to Home' appears to have legs

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic September 21, 2005

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer excels in television more often than he does in the movies. CSI, Without a Trace and Cold Case offer more humane, engrossing drama than Pearl Harbor, Armageddon or Con Air. As other producers rush to copy his crime dramas, Bruckheimer proves with CBS' new Close to Home that nobody does it better.

For sheer thrills, no Bruckheimer film delivers as consistently as CBS' The Amazing Race, which won its third consecutive Emmy Sunday as top reality contest.

But with NBC's E-Ring, debuting tonight, Bruckheimer tries to transpose his bombastic movie style to television with uneven results. He's going for a patriotic crowd-pleaser in the Top Gun mold with this drama about decision-making at the Pentagon.

The show's biggest problem is sharing a time slot with ABC's Lost, the Emmy-winning drama that begins its second season tonight. Lost is rarely predictable, yet E-Ring almost always is in two episodes made available to critics.

An agent must be extracted from China or a terrorist leader must be captured. The Joint Chiefs of Staff decide to act after hearing from Maj. Jim Tisnewski (Benjamin Bratt) of the Army. That leads to a screwy montage: the signing of top-secret forms, set to soaring music.

The Pentagon brass listen and watch from afar as the mission is carried out. Those scenes might be more involving if Bratt acted in them. Instead, his character and Pentagon officials sweat and pace as they wait for results. It's sort of like watching someone look at television.

A Pentagon drama these days could be topical and thought-provoking. E-Ring is a fast-moving, expensive-looking show that favors action over discussion. That action usually ends in rousing ways that are definitive and hopeful, a sharp contrast to real U.S. military policy that stirs debate on radio, television and opinion pages.

To put over its stirring plots, E-Ring relies heavily on its actors. Bratt swaggers through his scenes with a bravado that wins over superiors. In an earlier version of the premiere, his character was married. No more: Bachelorhood lets him be sexier. Bratt's dashing major makes his lover swoon and clashes with Samantha Liston (Kelly Rutherford), a former lover who's deputy general counsel for the Department of Defense.

Dennis Hopper portrays the major's boss, Col. Eli McNulty, who's renowned for putting together clandestine operations. This show doesn't want subtlety, and Hopper obliges with his customary bravura. McNulty explains to the major how various Pentagon tribes compete for money: "We ain't going to win every battle, but can win the war."

Aunjanue Ellis delivers the most-disciplined performance as a sergeant who assists McNulty. Ellis fumes convincingly as her character struggles to keep the fun-loving men focused.

Even with such first-rate actors, E-Ring might not win the renewal war. These military characters need more creative marching orders.

Crime drama

One revelation should come early in the new season: Are viewers tiring of crime drama?

A few new series fall into a lamentable rut by focusing on horrendous crimes against women. CBS has stocked its schedule with too many CSI versions from Bruckheimer. But that hasn't stopped top-rated CBS from turning to other producers for Criminal Minds, which debuts after CSI on Thursday. Next week, it moves to its regular slot opposite Lost and E-Ring.

Criminal Minds represents CBS' attempt to do The Silence of the Lambs on a weekly basis. An elite team of FBI profilers roves the country and scrambles to solve disturbing cases. This week it's the Seattle Strangler who has killed four; next week, it's an arsonist at an Arizona college.

This grim series exploits psychological problems for thrills and mysteries, which spawn convenient explanations. A stutter can say so much, according to this show, which uses it for cheap effect.

In the early going, the main question is whether Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) has recovered from a breakdown and can carry on as a behavioral analyst. Patinkin gives such a glum performance that the recovery hardly matters.

Weakly written roles limit Patinkin's co-stars, such as Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore. The scripts, however, do let Patinkin quote Samuel Beckett, Joseph Conrad and others. The show tells us that Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Imagination is what most crime dramas are lacking.

At least Criminal Minds transmits words of wisdom. Fox's Killer Instinct, debuting Friday, merely wallows in revolting cases. In the premiere, a San Francisco detective (Johnny Messner) scurries to unravel why young women are being tortured in their beds.

Killer Instinct isn't a Bruckheimer show; it plays like a bad knockoff of the producer's work. The drama wastes Chi McBride of Boston Public as the detective's boss, and Messner gives a performance that could charitably be called robotic. The series deserves no charity: It's the worst new drama of the fall.

With Close to Home, arriving Oct. 4, Bruckheimer and his colleagues inject some needed humanity into the crime formula. The drama follows a young prosecutor, Annabeth Chase (Jennifer Finnigan), who's returning to work after having her first child.

Annabeth takes cases that are happening close to her home in an Indianapolis suburb. The first is the dire story of a family in a burned home. The script supplies several smart twists that keep this awful story riveting.

The crucial ingredient, however, is Annabeth, played with eagerness and empathy by Finnigan, a three-time Emmy winner for daytime's The Bold and the Beautiful. Close to Home sharply draws workplace conflicts between Annabeth and her single-minded boss, Maureen Scofield (Kimberly Elise).

Close to Home inherits Judging Amy's old time slot and seems designed to appeal to fans of that canceled legal show. The new series also echoes Bruckheimer's underrated Cold Case and brandishes the cinematic look of the producer's best shows. Close to Home is no breakthrough, but it is competent, and that counts for a lot in drama this season.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-bruckheim05sep21,0,6071203,print.story?coll=orl-caltvtop

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“E-Ring NBC “

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Benjamin Bratt ("Traffic," "Miss Congeniality," "Law & Order"), Dennis Hopper ("24," "Blue Velvet," "Easy Rider," "Rebel Without a Cause"), Kelly Rutherford ("Melrose Place"), Aunjanue Ellis ("Ray").

The premise: Rule-bending Army major Bratt takes up new post at the Pentagon under unlikely commanding officer Hopper, his disinterest in protocol restoring the old man's faith in the possibility of effective action. (See also: "Just Legal.") Together they fight military bureaucracy and pesky civilian oversight to do the right, if not always the economical, thing by servicemen, spies and assorted other guardians of a homeland in continual international crisis. Also starring submarines, satellites, Navy SEALs.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY

“Everybody Hates Chris“

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Tichina Arnold ("On the One"), Terry Crews ("The Longest Yard"), Tyler James Williams ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"), Tequan Richmond ("Ray"), Imani Hakim, Vincent Martella. Chris Rock ("The Chris Rock Show," "Head of State"), narrator.

The premise: Narrator-creator Rock relives his Bedford-Stuyvesant adolescence in this sweet, smart, working-class "Wonder Years" (with a hint of "Malcolm in the Middle") set in the early '80s. Juggling jobs and sleep, young Chris (Williams) looks out for his taller younger brother (Richmond) and demanding little sister (Hakim) and for himself while taking care not to tax his busy parents (Crews, Arnold).

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
'Everybody Hates Chris'

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

The tagline you’ll never see: "The Wonder Years" in the middle.

The basics: Comedian Chris Rock reminiscences about his childhood in Brooklyn during the early 1980s. Thirteen-year-old Chris (Tyler James Williams) navigates his way through his predominantly white junior high school while crushing on the girl next door (Keisha Ridenhour) and dealing with his two younger siblings (Tequan Richmond and Imani Hakim). Chris's father (Terry Crews) works three jobs while Chris's mom (Tichina Arnold) dishes out advice and manages the family's frugal budget. In the pilot, Chris makes a new friend (Vincent Martella) and loses his lunch money to the school bully.

The lowdown: It's open season on Thursday night now that NBC's "Must-See TV" has become a thing of the past. (Sorry, "Joey" and "Will & Grace.") And what better show to pick up the comedy torch than this poignant new sitcom. Newcomer Williams is a true find: He deftly balances Chris's necessary bravado with adolescent awkwardness. His expressive eyes say more than most child actors can with pages of dialogue.

Reality check: Narrator Rock, who is known for his blunt humor, doesn't shy away from controversial topics, race-related comedy or taboo words. Yes, his parents didn't have much money and his neighborhood had a crack epidemic. Classmates called him bad names, and adults were afraid of him because of the color of his skin. But there is no sense of pity about his childhood. There are some social messages here, but laughs are the first priority.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
'Everybody Hates Chris'

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

Everybody Hates Chris, which debuts Thursday, has generated the most critical praise of any new fall series. Raves are deserved, and comparisons to The Wonder Years are apt.

Here's a family comedy that celebrates family, specifically Chris Rock's in 1980s Brooklyn. The show draws identifiable humor from everyday life. Series co-creators Rock and Ali LeRoi serve choice jokes about unpaid bills, dirty shoes and sibling rivalries.

Wonderful actors make this a TV family to embrace. Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews are dynamic as Rock's strict but loving parents. Tyler James Williams is convincing as Chris at 13. The other child actors are naturals: Tequan Richmond and Imani Hakim as Chris' siblings, Central Florida's Vincent Martella as Chris' new friend.

The main draw, however, is Rock's edgy narration. He talks frankly about family, race, bullies and school shootings. He confers a tart authenticity on Everybody Hates Chris, and a hugely likable sitcom is born.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-tvcomedy05sep18,0,4083280,print.story?coll=orl-ent-promos-tv

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
'Everybody Hates Chris'

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

With: Tyler James Williams, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold, Tequan Richmond, Imani Hakim, Vincent Martella

Premise: Executive producer and series narrator Chris Rock takes us back to Brooklyn, 1982, when Chris (played by Williams) turned 13. That means nothing to his no-nonsense, hard-working parents Rochelle (Arnold) and Julius (Crews), who look to Chris to take care of his little sister Tonya (Hakim) and brother Drew (Richmond) while they work. Skinny Chris also has to face down racist bullies at the junior high where he's the only black kid, has a single pal (Martella) and no backup other than quick thinking, superior comic timing and the ability to withstand frequent butt-kickings.

The Word According to Us: Real and relatable, "Chris" may be the best new comedy of a season filled with sitcoms worth viewing. Sharp, poignant and occasionally cruel as the humor can be, it hits viewers on multiple levels, working its sense of nostalgia, striking chords with families and singles alike. If coming episodes can meet or exceed the pilot, UPN has a hit on its hands.

Would We Watch Again? Yes. And should NBC's "Joey" watch out? Yes.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/240677_tv15.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
Chris Rock Hates Everybody's Fussing

By JOE RHODES The New York Times

LOS ANGELES—Chris Rock is pleased that "Everybody Hates Chris," the UPN comedy series that's kind of, sort of, but not-quite based on his less-than-idyllic adolescent years in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, is making its debut Thursday at 8 p.m. But he would have preferred that it not be preceded by the kind of critical superlatives and anticipatory hype usually reserved for the crowning of emperors.

So far they have included a wave of "best new show of the year" reviews, a billboard-and-bus placard marketing blitz, and talk that the series could single-handedly do for UPN what "The Simpsons" did for Fox, or even, as some of the more breathless reviews have suggested, resurrect and revitalize the family sitcom genre, much as "The Cosby Show" did more than 20 years ago.

"I'd rather be a midseason replacement," Mr. Rock said by telephone, uncomfortable with the raised expectations, but resigned to all the fuss. "Some little show where people go, 'Hey, that Chris Rock show is kinda funny.' I don't like to hear all this other stuff."

Then he probably ought to cover his ears. The promotional drumbeat for "Everybody Hates Chris" has been growing since last spring, when potential ad buyers got their first look at the pilot episode and started raving about the show's potential appeal for a wide audience.

"Look, the pilot is O.K. - it's good," Mr. Rock said. "But I think we're going to do better shows than that, a lot better shows than that. I think part of the reaction to the pilot is based on what everybody has come to expect from black people on television."

"We hold ourselves to a higher standard than that," he said, referring to himself and Ali LeRoi, the show's co-creator and his longtime collaborator. "It's not enough for us just to be on TV."

Indeed, Mr. Rock won't be on TV at all, at least not visibly so. Wary of being tied down by a long-term commitment to star in a series, Mr. Rock, 39, will serve as executive producer and off-screen narrator. A couple of years ago, he and Mr. LeRoi, 43, were suggesting possible sitcoms at Fox, and they came up with the idea for an urban "Wonder Years"-type comedy. (Fox decided to pass.) The original premise was for the series to be set in 1992 and be built around a fictional teenage protagonist from an inner-city family.

"And then it dawned on us: We've got a show about a kid. Why isn't that kid Chris Rock?" explained Mr. LeRoi, a former stand-up comic from Chicago who has known Mr. Rock for 17 years and who was a writer on his 1997 HBO talk series, "The Chris Rock Show."

"Here's the thing that separates this from every other show of this type that you've seen: you know how the story ends," Mr. LeRoi said. "That kid on 'The Wonder Years' could have ended up being a drug addict, he could have gone to jail for burglary, we don't know. But we do know where this kid ends up.

"We know that he became Chris Rock, this acerbic, wry and caustic comedian. What turned him into this guy? Where did he get the point of view that informs those observations? What was it about his mother and father and this difficult landscape, these experiences, that shaped him? For one thing he had a strong nuclear family, which is something that set him apart from the rest of his crowd. Does that mean everything in the show is using his particular experiences? Does he really have a hundred stories that are interesting enough for a series? Well, there might be 30. So we'll be using some poetic license. We're gonna fill in the gaps."

Although some of the details may be fudged (Mr. Rock, for instance, has six siblings; his 13-year-old television alter ego, played by Tyler James Williams, has only a brother and a sister), the essential truths of the show are taken from Mr. Rock's life: his family's move out of the projects and into Bed-Stuy at the end of the 1970's, when he was 13; his stern-but-loving father, Julius (played by Terry Crews), working multiple jobs to keep the family afloat; his proud and strict mother (played by Tichina Arnold) struggling to make the most of the money they had; and Chris, the oldest son, being bussed across Brooklyn to Bensonhurst, where he was the only black student in a white school, a circumstance that led to regular beatings, constant name-calling and the necessary development of a quick and cutting wit.

"It's kind of like 'Oz' with jokes," Mr. Rock said, when asked to describe the show. "Think of school as jail, the principal as warden and bullies as cellmates.

"The thing I try to get across to the writers - and I do a lot of the writing, too - is that when I do stand-up, nothing I talk about is funny. Everything is really sad and tragic and then I make it funny. So I'm trying to get people to follow that formula."

So TV Chris hears gunshots at the bus stop near his apartment, gets his bus pass stolen and is called racial names by the bullies at his new school. His parents ("At the end of the day, this show is a love letter to my parents, both of them," Mr. Rock said) constantly struggle with paying bills and keeping their children fed. The show, like Mr. Rock's provocative stand-up routines, is often brutally funny, but it's not cute.

"Had we known Bed-Stuy was gonna be the center of a crack epidemic, I guess we'd have moved somewhere else," he says in the pilot's narration. "Bed-Stuy even had a motto: Bed-Stuy, Do or Die. Those are some of the guys who are gonna die."

But, harsh as the context might seem, Mr. LeRoi stressed that the show really revolves around small, universal truths of family life: a kid's wanting a radio his father doesn't think he should have, trying to impress the cute girl next door, getting blamed for something your adorable little sister did.

"We're using different people's experiences," said Mr. LeRoi, who, like Mr. Rock, went to a mostly white junior high school. "If you were 13 and a nerd then you probably have a story that fits this show. When I was 12 my best friend was a little white guy, so that's in the show. I grew up in a family with a father who worked really hard and a mother who didn't have much money. So it's all in there."

While Mr. Rock, who now lives in New Jersey, has been on the Paramount back lot set frequently during the first few weeks of filming and has the final word on every script, it is Mr. LeRoi who runs the day-to-day production, sitting in a chair next to the director, his Powerbook at the ready, sometimes changing dialogue on the fly. Although Howard Gewirtz, a veteran sitcom writer whose credits range from "Taxi" and "Wings" to "Oliver Beene" is also listed as executive producer, it is clear that Mr. LeRoi serves as Chris Rock's eyes and ears.

"I have a lot of confidence in Ali," Mr. Rock said. "He's probably the only guy I know that can take my mumblings and make sense of it,'cause I'm all over the place. When we're writing a script, it's literally me walking around a room, pacing and talking, talking, talking with Ali writing down everything I say and adding his own jokes."

Mr. Leroi is also, he admitted, much better suited to the pressures and distractions of running a high-profile production, especially one where the network and studio have so much at stake and aren't shy about dropping by the set, sometimes just to check in, sometimes with notes and suggestions about the scripts. Mr. LeRoi, a tall, serene, athletic presence, seems to take the intrusions in stride. Mr. Rock would just as soon as avoid them.

"Comedy is like cocaine," Mr. Rock said, acknowledging that notes from executives are an unavoidable part of doing a network series. "Every time you cut it, it gets worse."

Mr. Rock stresses that "Everybody Hates Chris" is not a literal version of his childhood. "When you watched 'Fat Albert,' you weren't really thinking about Bill Cosby," he said. "This is just based on my life, which is a very broad term. I think it just requires we have a black kid. It doesn't even have to be a boy."

But he and Mr. LeRoi understand that, for the show to succeed, audiences have to buy into the notion that TV Chris , however fictionalized he might be, will some day become the real Chris Rock.

It's not, however, a transition that audiences will see. The real Chris Rock dropped out of high school and became a stand-up comedian by the time he was 19. However successful "Everybody Hates Chris" turns out to be, Mr. LeRoi and Mr. Rock are adamant that the show will end before the fictional Chris makes that leap.

"The show only works as long as he's a regular guy having regular problems," Mr. LeRoi said. "Nerdy guys can put themselves in the position of the guy not getting the girl. Mothers can put themselves in the position of trying to raise kids under difficult circumstances. But once he starts becoming a comedian, all that changes. Then it becomes the 'Roseanne' year when they hit the lottery. And people will go, 'That's got nothing to do with me.' "

"Nobody wants to see this kid with a microphone pretending he's Chris Rock," Mr. LeRoi continued. "I don't want to see that. And Chris doesn't want to see that. So, if I've got anything to say about it, the minute he walks into a comedy club, the show is over. Thank you. Good night. We're all going home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/arts/television/18rhod.html?pagewanted=print

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Invasion”
alien encroachment and group hugs

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

"Lost" returns at 9 this evening with the pressure on. What's in the hatch? Why can't anyone get off the island? And above all: Show me the monster.

The showing of the monster is a delicate matter. So far this fall, several new series — "Supernatural," "Surface" and "Threshold" — have demonstrated the merits of a striptease versus the perils of an immediate reveal.

"Lost" has leaned heavily on metaphor as a delaying tactic, which is another way to go. But even when the threat from without is matched by the demons from within, viewers eventually demand some tangible proof.

That brings us to ABC's "Invasion," which debuts at 10 tonight and is a companion piece engineered to keep the "Lost" audience from scattering to other networks.

"Invasion" cleverly proposes that the growing natural disasters the world has experienced of late actually mask the arrival of aliens. The plot that unfolds tonight follows the wake of a major hurricane that hits the Florida Everglades.

I'm not sure our withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol should be excused so easily. Regardless, it quickly becomes clear that "Invasion" hearkens to a 1950s mind-set in more than one way: It's an updated "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

Shaun Cassidy, executive producer of "Invasion," told critics last July that he's never seen the atomic-age classic. Perhaps it's merely testament to the film's permeating appeal that he's come up with something remarkably similar.

"Invasion" begins with the onset of the hurricane. The show's location filming has a glorious, National Geographic-like intensity and you almost wish people and a story weren't necessary.

It's hard to avoid echoes of Hurricane Katrina, which has made unwilling bad-weather connoisseurs of half the TV audience. So when characters who should have boarded up their windows two days ago only get around to it at the height of gale-force winds, the opening of "Invasion" seems contrived. The characters, in this case, are the series' main focus. A tangled web of spouses, ex-spouses, siblings, kids and stepkids establishes itself against the storm's fury and sets the tale rolling.

At the head of the group is heroic U.S. Park Ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian). He has a beautiful brunette wife (Lisa Sheridan) and a beautiful blonde ex-wife (Kari Matchett), who's now married to local sheriff Tom Underlay (William Fichtner).

Let's pause for a moment. When Fichtner arrives on the screen with his haunted expression and wraparound shades, it's practically a guarantee that something rotten is in the state of — well, Florida.

Nevertheless, the makers of "Invasion" had to make sure. As Underlay's teenage daughter frets about the coming storm, he tells her: "The roof's not gonna cave in." She asks how he knows and he ominously replies, "I know."

Cue the sawing bass notes. With the culprit established, a little suspense seeps away and a major flaw is exposed — the series' use of overly coy delaying tactics coupled with a contradictory impulse to hammer home every foreshadowing element.

But "Invasion" has a "Lost" card to play. The arrival of aliens isn't a sci-fi adventure; it's a journey into the dark recesses of our souls. The changes occurring in some characters will test community trust and, by extension, the nation's fiber.

There's nothing wrong with this old scenario, except that "Invasion" doesn't bring much that's new to it. Unlike "Threshold," which updates a classic theme with modern technology and a contemporary heroine, "Invasion" is slack and familiar.

It also leans toward the therapeutically soapy. The excellent cast is hampered by dialogue that derives its rhythm from emotional melodrama instead of taut thriller.

The original "Body Snatchers" was a rush into terror based on never knowing who exactly was the culprit. It was anybody and everybody, and at the end, you perhaps stood alone.

In "Invasion," the identification of heroes and villains and the soft skew toward family allays our paranoia instead of feeding it. What's a little extra-terrestrial encroachment compared to working out our issues?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002508553&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay21&date=20050921

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
"E" is for entertaining

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

He shoots, he scores. Jerry Bruckheimer is the most successful producer in television today, and NBC's "E-Ring," debuting at 9 tonight, is a good example of why.

I confess "E-Ring" is not my kind of program. It's an adventure tale set at the Pentagon and representing the military/covert-operative/CIA school of yarn-spinning. It also has the misfortune to air opposite "Lost."

But "E-Ring" is pretty superb as far as genre series go. If you want your throbbing fix of cinematically scaled, irreproachably timed action and a couple of ruggedly handsome leading men, this is the ticket.

"E-Ring" has the patented Bruckheimer rush: exotic locales, quick cuts, a pounding score and mano-a-mano conflict. It's also a technically interesting delve into the mysterious world of high-level decision-making — the "E" stands for the outer ring where Pentagon calls are finalized.

Benjamin Bratt plays an Army major now assigned to special operations at the Pentagon after a 14-month assignment in Iraq. There, he meets his new officer, a crusty colonel portrayed by Dennis Hopper.

"E-Ring" basically works like this: Each week, a plot is afoot that involves some dicey operation requiring Bratt's moral persuasion. Tonight, it's rescuing a Chinese undercover agent; next week, it's the pursuit of a long-sought terrorist leader in Uzbekistan.

The sets and photography are terrific. To be sure, some dialogue is hard to swallow, as in: "It's not a matter of could we. We are America; we could do anything we want. It's should we."

Nevertheless, fans of the canceled "JAG" and "24"-style thrills should find plenty to enjoy here. NBC will be happy to take the demographic of old-school viewers who otherwise are neglected on Wednesday nights.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002508553&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay21&date=20050921

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
"E-Ring” and “Invasion”

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

On a night when Martha Stewart will bring her own brand of drama to the small screen, two other new shows prove that you can make a lot of noise in the kitchen, but if you can't cook, you can't cook.

NBC decided not to send out a review copy of "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," most likely because in the past couple of years critics have been beating NBC fare over the head with a stick -- justifiably. There's also a rumor that NBC doesn't want critics to reveal what Martha's signature tagline will be -- whether it will trump Donald Trump's "You're fired!"

This assumes TV critics are so desperately vacuous and unaware that, post-Katrina, something as stupid as a tagline might be important in our universe. It also assumes we give a damn. What it fails to consider is how disappointed we'll all be if it doesn't top something we could have come up with on our own, like the Martha prison-time inspired "Now you're my (bad word!)" or "I've cooked dogs more worthwhile than you" or the slightly less abusive, "Die and make crafts in hell, (bad word!)."

But we digress.

After Martha lights the Wednesday 8 p.m. block on fire, NBC offers up what must have looked like a powerhouse series on paper -- "E-Ring," a drama about the Pentagon starring Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper, produced by can't-miss Jerry Bruckheimer, with the pilot directed by Taylor Hackford.

Bruckheimer probably envisioned "E-Ring" as this really cool look at how military decisions get made because, well, this country is making them all the time now. Even liberal anti-military types got a secret thrill on "The West Wing" when the action shifted to the situation room. But reality being what it is -- and CNN's Wolf Blitzer having his own highly annoying "Situation Room" -- the lines between fantasy and life in the Big Stick country make a show like "E-Ring" more than a little queasy, like a 60-minute commercial for the United States armed forces.

Not that a little special ops lust doesn't go a long way, but "E-Ring" sells the World's Policeman thing a little too religiously, and the combination of Hopper's hawkish insider and Bratt's gung-ho willingness to put his finger in the pie of the world ends up being unseemly.

That, plus CBS' "NCIS" is infinitely better.

Also this: "E-Ring" is boring. Outside of a few faux-location shots that "Alias" does a whole lot better, "E-Ring" doesn't make Bratt likable or sexy (the original pilot had him with a wife, but they scrapped that in a hurry so he could take his shirt off with some added value). Bruckheimer may think the Pentagon is the coolest place on the planet but the location doesn't translate. There are all these admiration-filled musings about "the building," but the context isn't there. You never feel like you're in the inner workings of a building that could decimate a foreign country at the flip of a switch.

"E-Ring" is also mysteriously flat. The action is lifeless outside "the building." Inside, there's only Hopper chewing scenery to shreds and Bratt's pent-up energy and man-in-uniform sexuality left to smolder pointlessly. Who is the audience for this thing anyway? Two full episodes prove "E-Ring" to be a failed experiment by Bruckheimer to turn militarism into some kind of porn for fat dads addicted to Tom Clancy video games on their PlayStation.

One hour later (ostensibly you could watch three new series tonight -- but the feeling here is, no, don't do it), ABC has a better go-round with its paranormal phenomenon series, "Invasion." Ah, the trouble with titles. Could be that aliens are coming. Could also be -- judging by the weird behavior of star William Fichtner, who plays a sheriff in a Florida town recently hit by a major hurricane -- that aliens may already be here.

The first obstacle "Invasion" needs to overcome is that its pilot revolves around a hugely devastating hurricane. That's bad timing. Do viewers want a fanciful sci-fi version of Katrina? We'll see. The second obstacle is that it follows "Lost" (same network ripping itself off), and people might be exhausted by the notion of suspending belief all season long for another series big on mysteries. Then again, they may crave more -- and what better series to follow than a monstrous hit?

Although "Invasion" has battled fellow freshman series "Threshold" for the buzz crown in this year of the paranormal, there is something too pat, too telegraphed in "Invasion" to rile up the blood. Eddie Cibrian plays Russell, a divorced father who's new girlfriend (pregnant) is the local TV reporter Larkin (Lisa Sheridan). He's just trying to take care of his two kids and restart a new life, but it's awfully annoying when your bossy ex-wife Mariel (Kari Matchett) is a hotshot doctor recently remarried to Fichtner's hotshot sheriff and the two of them are telling you how to parent.

Then the hurricane comes and your daughter gets lost in the storm (bad parenting!) and sees a whole bunch of bright lights falling into the water while everybody else is huddling under furniture. Russell's conspiracy theorist brother-in-law, Dave (Tyler Labine, who pretty much steals the pilot), immediately thinks, well, invasion. But he drinks too much.

"Invasion" has none of the initial pizzazz and storytelling hooks that "Lost" had, but in this genre it's hard to count out (or in) a series based on one episode. The good news for "Invasion" is that outside of this too-telegraphed pilot there's a cause for hope and trust. "Invasion" is the brainchild of Shaun Cassidy, whose earlier works ("American Gothic," "Cover Me," "Cold Case") were intelligent, creative and well-conceived. At a recent press tour with TV critics, his was the most thoughtful, authoritative take among all producers in this genre on where the series was headed and what it was all about.

That's helpful (and hopeful), because the first episode is mostly hot air blown over water.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/21/DDG94EQCTT1.DTL&type=printable

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
"E-Ring”

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

I wasn't ready to turn critical cartwheels over it, but the original pilot of this drama about the Pentagon's covert operations branch did seem to have some things going for it. That included a nice little husband-wife relationship with Benjamin Bratt as black-ops expert Jim Tisnewski and Sarah Clarke (``24'') as his CIA agent-wife. But now the pilot has been revised, and things seem to have gone from OK with potential to not-so-great. (Clarke and her character have vanished, for one thing.) Both tonight's opening episode and next week's installment are predictable, loaded with cliched dialogue and lacking in the tension you want in this kind of show. It's still amusing to watch Mr. Easy Rider, Dennis Hopper, play a career military guy, but that's hardly a compelling reason to tune in.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12701214.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
Tonight’s New Show Premieres

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

“Invasion” . Through no fault of its own, “Invasion” has lost a bit of its appeal in the last month. That’s because this enticing new thriller is set in the aftermath of a powerful hurricane. And just as 9/11 didn’t seem like appropriate story fodder in late 2001, neither does anything wet and destructive in the wake of Katrina.

Still, of all the new mystery-driven dramas aspiring to be this year’s “Lost” — and there are four of them —“Invasion” is the most absorbing and least hokey.

The first episode isn’t as skillfully drawn as “Lost’s” Emmy-winning premiere last year. The characters are not as racially diverse nor as interesting. Still, the hints “Invasion” throws out about what’s to come are all intriguing.

That hungry swamp creature that appears after the storm … the spectacular if ominous light show coming from the heavens … that fish-eyed sheriff (William Fitchner), his wife (Kari Matchett) and their extremely precocious little girl (Ariel Gade), who seem to have gotten a visit from the Pod People during the big rain … there’s a lot going on inside the laboratory run by Shaun Cassidy, the former teen heartthrob who created “Invasion.” Of course, his experiment may go awry in a few weeks. But for now this and “Lost” are a solid one-two on Wednesdays.

“The Apprentice: Martha Stewart”. I have not seen the first hour of this spinoff, but I am willing to make a prediction: Martha Stewart will make Donald Trump look like a neighborhood bully.

As anyone who has been watching her daytime talk show knows, Stewart is undergoing a rather painful on-air transformation from aloof homemaking expert into everyone’s Aunt Martha, that starchy but good-natured relative from Connecticut who just wants to be part of the family, insofar as she is emotionally equipped to be like us, which is to say not much.

But at least she’s trying. I was watching the synidacted “Martha” the other day and there she was, sitting on a stool chatting with a group of ordinary homemakers, all of them self-professed “bad cooks” that were flown in for a cooking lesson from Aunt Martha and her culinary friends. Stewart was working so hard at relating to her guests and trying not to sound like she was reading everything straight off her blue cards that she flubbed a cue. And she didn’t even ask for a retake! That would never fly with the old Martha.

So if not her, who’s going to play the bad cop on tonight’s “Apprentice”? My money is on Alexis Stewart, who will be at her mother’s right hand during the show, along with the chairman of Stewart’s business empire, Charles Koppelman. At a press conference this summer Martha was explaining why she wouldn’t be using anything like “You’re fired” as her line to departing contestants. Not very convincingly, she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever said ‘you’re fired’ to anybody.”

Just then Alexis, who hadn’t made a peep all day, said, “Even when you should have.”

Well, she is her mother’s daughter.

“E-Ring”. Remember when you settled in to NBC for a night of “The West Wing” and “Law & Order”? Times change.

And doesn’t Ben Bratt know it. The former “L&O” stud is seen riding a bicycle to the Pentagon, just one of several hoot-worthy scenes in this surprisingly brain-dead series from Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer who brought us “CSI” and “The Amazing Race” (but also the execrable “Skin,” billed as a modern retelling of “Romeo and Juliet” in a porn empire).

Dennis Hopper plays Bratt’s superior inside the military-intelligence complex, but the writing is distinctly inferior. And Bratt is just out of his element.

To compensate, “E-Ring” seems willing to push the catastrophe meter to 11 every week. In the middle of next week’s episode comes the Ultimate Storyline: terrorists with nukes!

“Weapons of mass destructions might end up in Iraq after all,” Hopper mutters. “Oh boy.”

More like “oh brother.” Yeah, WMD might be in Iraq … and viewers might keep watching this sorry excuse for a show. And Dennis Hopper might be forgiven for taking NBC’s money. But don’t bet on it.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/columnists/aaron_barnhart/12695294.htm

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

This is Chris Rock's story and has 12-year-old Tyler Williams playing young Chris, who's something of a hard-luck kid. His younger brother is cooler, his younger sister is his dad's favorite, and he gets sent to a Brooklyn middle school where he's the new guy and the only African American. Rock supplies a voice-over, "Wonder Years" style.

What’s What: Rock's slightly skewed, slightly slapstick, very smart take on childhood is handled with some bite and some heart. And a lot of funny. The writing, from co-creator Ali LeRoi, is sharp, surprising, sometimes plain weird, and Rock's voice-overs have all of Rock's usual snap. UPN thinks this will be the Thursday comedy of the future. Might happen.

Rickster Scale: 4

4http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Invasion”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

A cool park ranger (Eddie Cibrian) on the edge of the Florida Everglades begins to suspect something strange might be happening when his ex-wife (Lisa Sheridan) - who now lives with the creepy local sheriff (William Fichner) - disappears during a hurricane and is found later naked and, somehow, different. Not that she was a picnic before the storm.

What’s What: This show takes some risks with a big mystery that's something of a mess at first, and it may take some time to become appealing. If it does. The storm, it seems, was a diversion for whatever is out there in the Everglades, but that may be less an appealing idea, too, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Rickster Scale: 2.5

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

Murdoch Moving Ahead With Biz Channel Launch

By Jay Sherman TVWeek.com September 21, 2005

News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said Wednesday that his company is negotiating with cable operators to launch a business-themed cable channel, though the arrival might come later than he has predicted previously.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in New York, Mr. Murdoch said the launch of the Fox Business Channel would likely not happen in the early months of 2006, as he has indicated in the past, "but certainly soon."

Mr. Murdoch's comments were the clearest sign yet that he remains committed to launching a rival to NBC Universal's CNBC. There have been mixed signals about whether the company would press ahead with a plan to launch a business channel, in large part because Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, who would oversee the project, reportedly has been unsure whether a business channel could replicate the out-of-the-box success of Fox News Channel, particularly given the challenges facing the business news space.

Meanwhile, Mr. Murdoch said his company was "99 percent there" in terms of inking a content distribution agreement with telephone company Verizon Communications, which continued to beef up its programming offering by striking a deal earlier Wednesday with The Walt Disney Co.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8589

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
For NBC, tonight is all about Martha
If she's hot, the network could edge out ABC

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com

The big question on Wednesday nights, when it comes to gauging how the broadcast networks will do this fall, is just how many people are still interested in Martha Stewart.

The answer will go a long way to determining how NBC’s entire season goes.

Her “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” debuting tonight, anchors NBC’s Wednesday lineup at 8 p.m., and its performance will set the pace for new lead-out “E-Ring” as well.

Wednesday is really anyone’s night, with Fox’s “American Idol” off the air until January, and each network has made at least one primetime change to gain an edge going into January.

If Stewart's "Apprentice" edition is strong, pulling at least a 5 rating in 18-49s, that should bolster "E-Ring" and give NBC a solid lead for the night. If Stewart falters, doing only okay, ABC will take the night on the power of its hit "Lost."

If NBC can nudge ahead, it could help the network offset weakening lineups on Thursday and Sunday.

At the beginning of the summer, how people felt about Stewart would have seemed a silly question. She was getting lots of positive buzz over her two new shows and tons of public support in blogs, chatboards and opinion polls.

But after months of Martha saturation and not-so-hot initial ratings for her daytime talk show, media buyers are less certain that her “Apprentice” will become quite the hit many thought earlier in the summer.

Most think it will win its timeslot, which lacks a big hit. It will push NBC above last year’s fourth-place 3.3 nightly average, but the question is how much above.

“By moving ‘Lost’ to 9 p.m., ABC gave NBC an opening for the new ‘Apprentice: Martha Stewart.’ While not as strong as even a fading ‘Apprentice’ with Donald Trump (particularly among men and upscale viewers), this edition should manage to win its hour among most adult age groups,” predicts Magna Global USA’s Steve Sternberg in his fall primetime preview.

Even if “Martha” debuts big tonight, the real test is how much of that audience is still watching four weeks from now, when November sweeps loom.

Media buying agency Carat forecasts that, based on “Martha’s” strength, NBC will lead Wednesday in 18-49s. A more conservative guess is that ABC will maintain its pre-“Idol” lead thanks to “Lost,” even if new lead-out “Invasion” doesn’t perform well.

ABC comedies “George Lopez” and “Freddie” will probably average below a 4.0 at 8 p.m., but “Lost’s” 5.8 rating from last season helped balance weak timeslot performers, too. ABC averaged a 4.6 on Wednesday last year.

CBS, which finished third on the night last year, will probably stay there at least during the fall. Booting “60 Minutes II” for comedies “Still Standing” and “Yes, Dear” at 8 p.m. will give it a slight uptick in 18-49s, and 9 p.m.’s new “Criminal Minds” makes a much better companion for 10 p.m.’s “CSI: NY” than last year’s comedy block.

Fox won’t be a factor Wednesday until “Idol” returns. “That ‘70s Show” leads off at 8 p.m., but its ratings are expected to fall with the departures of series stars Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher. “Stacked” at 8:30 will dip from its lead-in, and the new “Head Cases” at 9 p.m. had an anemic debut last week. Until January, Fox will be in fourth place.

UPN has “America’s Next Top Model,” coming off a very strong season, at 8 p.m., though 9 p.m.’s “Veronica Mars” isn’t a very compatible lead-out. Many media buyers, who love the quirky high school sleuth show, worry that facing “Lost” could hurt “Veronica” among 18-34s.

The WB nudges “One Tree Hill,” a show that steadily grew behind “Gilmore Girls” on Tuesday, into the 8 p.m. anchor slot. Though it should maintain its audience in a weak timeslot until “Idol” returns, 9 p.m. rookie “Related,” which was reworked after the pilot was shot, may struggle.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/News2005/sep05/sept19/3_wed/news2wednesday.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris“
Finding the humor in a tough situation:
Chris Rock's sitcom, like his stand-up, keeps a sharp lookout

By Paul Brownfield , Times Staff Writer Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 22, 2005

The larger world of "Everybody Hates Chris" is the comedy of Chris Rock. This makes his new UPN comedy either as promising as "Seinfeld" or as limited as "Seinfeld" could have been.

Like early episodes of that benchmark show, the pilot of "Everybody Hates Chris" is an evocation-of-a-sitcom that crackles with Rock's comedic point of view, in this case on his Brooklyn childhood. If it leaves you a tad dubious about just where the conflicts and ongoing stories will arise, so did "Seinfeld," which at first seemed like little playlets based on his comedy routines, too static for the contemporary demands of TV.

"The Wonder Years," "Annie Hall," "A Christmas Story," "The Cosby Show" (the original, on NBC) — there's something of a little of each in the pilot of "Everybody Hates Chris," but the show thus far feels more observational than story-driven; it relies on our desire to listen to Rock talk.

And we do want to listen, because Rock is hilarious; he has the great comedian's ability to infiltrate our minds, getting us to re-see the world through his eyes. What Rock and longtime writing partner Ali LeRoi have done, in the warmhearted pilot, is conjure a single-camera family sitcom that cannily voices Rock's tough-love attitude about ghetto childhood, the stuff he's been saying onstage for years, packaging it in a half-hour as tenderly amusing as "Annie Hall's" Alvy Singer recalling his childhood home underneath a Coney Island roller coaster.

We're conditioned to view a comedian's childhood as a window into the reasons for the later life onstage (Were you the class clown? Picked on as a kid? Did you fight back with humor? seem to constitute the troika of predetermined queries every big-time comedian continues to be asked), but "Everybody Hates Chris" is not about why Rock became a comedian.

As Rock and LeRoi have set it up, the whole show is an extended riff on that classic Rock routine about black men who talk about parental responsibility as if it's an elective, bragging that "I take care of my kids" or "I never been to jail."

Rock's retort: "What do you want, a cookie?"

"Everybody Hates Chris," which stars Tyler James Williams as a 13-year-old version of Rock — or perhaps more accurately as a 13-year-old onto which the adult Rock projects his reminiscences — is most vivid in its portrayal of two working-class parents who've moved their three kids out of the projects in Brooklyn and over to Bedford-Stuyvesant, where, Rock tells us, a crack epidemic is on the way; the motto in 1982 was "Bed-Stuy: Do or Die."

Young Chris, the oldest of three, is a repository of his parents' admonitions and fears. His mother (Tichina Arnold) has "100 recipes" for whuppin' you-know-what ("I will slap your name out of the phone book and call Ma Bell and tell her I did it .... "), while his father (Terry Crews), a truck driver holding down two jobs, hounds his family about the cost of their every ounce of spilled milk but is also in their lives, to be believed when he comes by his son's bedroom before leaving for work at night and says: "I'll see you in the morning."

"He was one of four fathers on the block," Rock narrates. " 'I'll see you in the morning' meant he was coming home. Coming home was his way of saying, 'I love you.' "

Rock has said "Everybody Hates Chris" is not a literal version of his childhood, but it is a pretty literal version of his comedy; many of the scenes in the pilot play like illustrated Rock routines, as in: "Much like rock 'n' roll, school shootings were also invented by blacks and stolen by the white man."

It's his mother, the show makes clear, who's really working the system ("I run this house the way they run the country — on a deficit," she lectures her husband, explaining why you don't simply pay an entire bill).

The father's the sweet one, the mother fiercely protective, forcing Chris to take two buses to a white school in Brooklyn Beach populated by working-class Italian kids. There — predictably, in scenes you've seen a million times, just not with Chris Rock narrating — Chris gets bullied.

But he doesn't so much fight back with humor, he just fights back, losing his lunch money but recovering his bus pass, and when he comes home from school he gobbles the piece of chicken meant for his father but doesn't tell him why he was so hungry.

He doesn't tell him about the fight because "my dad went to school during the civil rights era," Rock says. "After hoses, tanks and a dog bites on your, ... , somehow Joey Caruso didn't compare."

As he talks we see newsreel footage of the hoses, the tanks and the dogs. A sitcom without earned comedic authority wouldn't be able to pull off this moment without seeming treacly. But even in its first half hour, "Everybody Hates Chris" has more than established its voice. Now it has to keep its story spinning outward.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-wk-everybody22sep22,0,7371198,print.story?coll=cl-tv-top-right

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Criminal Minds” and “Killer Instinct”
New police shows on CBS and Fox have similar characters, plots

By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 22, 2005

It strikes me as sad somehow that we are faced this season with two new shows as similarly titled and constituted as "Criminal Minds," which begins tonight (moving next week to Wednesdays) on CBS, and "Killer Instinct," which comes for you Friday on Fox. It's not just that the police procedural has reached such epidemic proportions that it may be time to get the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention involved, but that even in trying to break the mold their producers demonstrate how very little there is left to say on this subject.

In "Criminal Minds," Mandy Patinkin ("Chicago Hope") plays a spectacularly intuitive FBI profiler specializing in psychologically disturbed lawbreakers who is brought back to active duty after a nervous breakdown occasioned by the death of a colleague. There is some question as to whether he is really ready to return. In "Killer Instinct," Johnny Messner ("The O.C.") is a highly intuitive police detective specializing in psychologically disturbed criminals, who returns to active duty after a nervous breakdown occasioned by the death of his partner. There is some question whether he is ready for it. In an unusual and surprising twist, the pilot episode of "Criminal Minds" involves not a single serial killer but, as the authorities slowly realize, a pair of them, one older and controlling and one younger and submissive. In an unusual and surprising twist, the pilot episode of "Killer Instinct" involves not a single serial killer, but as the authorities slowly realize, a pair of them, one older and controlling and one younger and submissive. In "Criminal Minds," Patinkin frees a girl from a cage, just in time to save her from being the killer's next victim. In "Killer Instinct," Messner frees a girl from a cage, just in time.... Well, you get the idea.

Their makers would doubtless protest that their shows are not the same at all — the first girl in a cage has duct tape over her eyes, for example, while the second girl in a cage is covered in bugs. "Criminal Minds" will roam the country like the "X-Files," while "Killer Instinct" will exploit the hotbed of depravity that is San Francisco Babylon (read: Vancouver dressed with trolley cars). And it's true that a premise, although it is the hook upon which a series is sold, is in some ways the least distinctive thing a television show has to offer — mood and character and the particular flavor of the dialogue being what will ultimately distinguish it from the competition. And though both shows adopt similar strategies in their attempts to invigorate the form — making the perps crazier, and the cops crazier too — each accessorizes, as it were, in its own way.

Both series are good at being what they are, though I am not sure they are "good" in any broader or more meaningful sense of the word. "Criminal Minds," which is executive-produced by Mark Gordon ("The Day After Tomorrow") is the more "realistic" of the two, in its not particularly realistic fashion. Patinkin, an actor who goes over the top just sitting quietly in the chair, leads a more restrained ensemble cast that includes Thomas Gibson, late of "Dharma & Greg," Shemar Moore ("The Young and the Restless"), Lola Glaudini ("The Handler"), Matthew Gray Gubler and post-pilot addition AJ Cook. They are all geniuses and full of facts and statistics: Their dialogue often has the flavor of a Mensa mixer.

"Charon — that's the Greek mythological ferryman of the dead."

"It's also the name of Pluto's only moon."

From the first couple of episodes, I learned, among other things, that Moloch was the demon sun god of the Canaanites, that one in 7.4 drivers in Seattle drives an SUV, and that when you're flustered it's more difficult to control the articulatory musculature of the face. It makes you wonder what they're doing working for the FBI when they could be on "Jeopardy!" setting up their retirement funds. Patinkin's character, meanwhile, to show his depth quotes Emerson, Beckett, Faulkner, Conrad, Churchill and Nietzsche: "When you look long into the abyss, the abyss looks into you." Not sure what that means; perhaps he said "abbess."

"We're all evil," says Messner, meanwhile, over on "Killer Instincts." "Some of us choose to fight it." And he hints that he has personal reason to know. This series is actually the creation of a "CSI" executive producer, Josh Berman, suggesting that the wormy apple does not fall far from the tree. With its soundtrack full of metal and techno and its killers packing imported deadly spiders and home surgery kits, it aims for a Gothic moodiness not unrelated to the season's scary-monster shows: There is an inhuman something out there that means you no good.

Assisting Messner fighting the evil without him and within him are sensitive partner Kristin Lehman ("Century City"), who says of one troubled organ-stealer, "I know she's a homicidal maniac, but I feel sorry for her," and immediate superior Chi McBride, more or less reprising his role on "Boston Public," but with a gun. Characters in both series are forever crabwalking into dangerous situations with weapons drawn in that familiar two-handed grip; Patinkin looks especially unnatural in these scenes — just give that man a song to sing, I say, and let him do what he was born to.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-wk-criminal22sep22,0,1428045,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris“
A Boy Grows in Brooklyn, With a Voice-Over

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY The New York Times September 22, 2005

Comedians are angry people. Everybody knows that. And that is why "Everybody Hates Chris" on UPN is such a surprise. Chris Rock's new series, a memoir that he narrates, paints an affectionately wry portrait of a 13-year-old growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.

The show is not subversively funny or profane the way Mr. Rock's stand-up routines usually are. Instead, it is charming.

Whatever it was that shaped Mr. Rock's comic persona, it wasn't hate or neglect.

Humiliation, however, must have played a part. Tyler James Williams plays Chris and is delightful in the part of the eldest child who is saddled with the role of "emergency adult" to his younger, cooler brother, Drew (Tequan Richmond), and bratty baby sister, Tonya (Imani Hakim). Worst of all, his mother thinks the local school "breeds hoodlums," and she forces him to take two buses to one in an Italian neighborhood where he is the only African-American. "Those white kids, they get an education," she says in a voice that brooks no contradiction.

On the show, the school is named "Corleone Junior High School."

Chris's parents are loving but strict, and they don't have much money. When Chris, famished because a bully stole his lunch money, comes home from school and eats his father's big piece of chicken, there isn't anything else in the fridge.

There are no perfect childhoods on television anymore. By the 1970's and 80's, father not only did not know best, he was often dead. On many of the most popular sitcoms, from "One Day at a Time" to "Full House," at least one parent was absent. Nowadays, the fashion has swung back toward two parents raising their children under one roof, but the adults tend to be nutty and dysfunctional, as on "Malcolm in the Middle" or "Everybody Loves Raymond." (On that show, the adults were the children; Ray's small fry were basically props.)

And there is still an appetite for shows about single parents: on "Two and a Half Men," a divorced father moves in with his bachelor brother, and together they raise his son.

By contrast, "Everybody Hates Chris" is almost a throwback to "The Cosby Show," a series where even teenagers respect and appreciate their parents. "The Cosby Show" was considered a breakthrough in the 80's because it defied the stereotypes of "The Jeffersons" to depict an upper-middle-class black family. Chris's parents are not doctors or lawyers, and their neighborhood is at the center of the crack epidemic. "Much like rock 'n' roll, school shootings were also invented by blacks and stolen by the white man," Mr. Rock says in a voice-over.

His father, Julius (Terry Crews), works several jobs, including driving a truck at night, and his mother, Rochelle (Tichina Arnold), has a part-time clerical job. Chris feels oppressed at home and at school, but he understands why his parents are so strict. He is resigned to their foibles, not resentful.

His father is frugal. He can calculate the cost of wasted food or electricity down to the last penny, and does so at the top of his voice. "That's 49 cents of spilled milk dripping off my table," he hollers at no one in particular. "Somebody is going to drink that milk."

Chris's mother has an even more menacing way with her children. Warning her boys that she never wants to catch them spray painting graffiti on a wall, she says, "I'll put my foot so far up your behinds you'll have toes for teeth." Another time, she says, "I will slap the caps off of your knees."

Most comedies about the collision of parents and children are set in cozy middle-class America, where the adults are the protagonists at war with children who roll their eyes, talk back and fearlessly mock their parents' values. "Everybody Hates Chris" is the first show in a long time centered on a teenager whose main problem is not adolescent angst, but real life.

And Mr. Rock makes it funny, not maudlin or mean.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/arts/television/22chri.html?pagewanted=print

“Nip/Tuck” Premiere Sets Record for FX

By Jon Lafayette TVWeek.com

The season premiere of FX's "Nip/Tuck" on Tuesday drew a 4.4 household rating and 5.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched episode of any series in the network's history despite airing during the broadcast networks' premiere week.

"Nip/Tuck" attracted 3.7 million adults 18 to 49, beating shows on ABC, UPN and The WB. Ratings for the premiere of "Nip/Tuck" have increased in each of its three seasons. The special 90-minute episode was presented with limited commercial interruptions by Sony Pictures, which aired trailers for several of its films.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8590

Wednesday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the first night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”
UPN's hopes hitched to star

By Ed Bark Dallas Morning News September 22, 2005

LOS ANGELES – It only takes one star to lure an unusually large media gaggle to UPN's fall season press party on the Paramount Studios lot.

Not only that, Chris Rock's publicists are making him accessible rather than dropping him in and then quickly pulling him out.

"I'm glad to be here," Mr. Rock says when told that pumped little UPN is primed to have a "game-changer" this season with Everybody Hates Chris. "I like situations like this, where basically you're in a small college kind of setting. So you get better taken care of."

He's collaborating on his first broadcast TV series with longtime friend Ali LeRoi, who "knows me comedically better than anyone."

"He's my Larry David," Mr. Rock adds, referring to the off-screen co-creator of Seinfeld.

They're intent on making Everybody Hates Chris a "crossover" show.

"I don't think there's any such thing as white people's humor or black people's humor," Mr. Rock says. "When I was a kid, I didn't watch Rodney Dangerfield and go, 'Man, that white guy is funny!' Everybody on my block loved Rodney Dangerfield. In the 'hood, we thought he was the funniest thing ever."

While narrating Everybody Hates Chris, he's also hoping to make "the quintessential" sequel-worthy Chris Rock movie.

"I don't have one yet," he says. "I think I did pretty decent in Dogma and in The Longest Yard I did my thing as they say. But I still don't have anything like a Beverly Hills Cop."

Whatever happens, he won't take it home with him.

"I don't sit around and watch my stuff with my family. You go to my house, there are no awards anywhere and no show business pictures of me. That's not my style. You go to some stars' houses and it's like a shrine to them. I hate that stuff. It's just weird!"

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/entertainment/stories/DN-rocksidebar_0922liv.ART.State.Edition1.18c8dba7.html

Martha's 'The Apprentice' lays an egg
NBC Trump knockoff scores a 2.5 in 18-49s

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 22, 2005
For a new show, a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating is bad. For a new show that received as much hype as "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," it’s shockingly low.


The premiere of Stewart’s new NBC reality spin-off averaged just a 2.5 Nielsen overnight rating among viewers 18-49 last night, tying for No. 2 in the timeslot with Fox’s "So You Think You Can Dance."


ABC’s "Destination Lost," a primer leading into the second season premiere of "Lost," was No. 1 in the 8 p.m. timeslot with a 5.6 average. For sure, the "Lost" special took a bite out of "Martha’s" numbers, and she’ll usually compete with the much lower-rated ABC sitcoms "George Lopez" and "Freddie."


But consider this: "Apprentice: MS" was just a slight 8.7 percent better than a 2.3 overnight rating for the premiere of "Hawaii" last year in the same timeslot. "Hawaii" was canceled after only a few weeks. Stewart’s rating was a staggering 75.5 percent lower than the 9.4 overnight rating the first episode of Donald Trump’s version of "Apprentice" averaged in January 2004, though that aired out of "Friends."


Stewart averaged 7.7 million total viewers, barely a third of "Lost’s" 23 million at 9.


Many media people expected "Stewart" to win her timeslot among 18-49s this season if not post stunning numbers. That looks like it may not happen after week one.


The 9 p.m. "Lost" premiere came away as the night’s top-rated show among 18-49s with a 10.0 average, a 53.8 percent increase versus a 6.5 overnight rating for its series premiere last year.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_258.asp

Coming, NBC's bigger Thursday hurt

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 22, 2005

Two decades ago, NBC invented Thursday night as we've come to know it, Must See TV. Now, with the network in decline, all the others are mounting their most aggressive efforts to take what's left of NBC's audience.

It won't be pretty.

Since the upfront, all the buzz has been about the debut of UPN's “Everybody Hates Chris,” but NBC is at risk of losing viewers to a range of other shows as well.

Last season, its first without “Friends,” NBC's Thursday 18-34 audience fell by a third, hurt further by sharp declines for "Joey" and "Will & Grace" as the season wore on.

The network remained No. 1 for the night, but those declines were not lost on its competitors. This season, ABC, Fox and the WB, along with UPN, are counter-programming with shows very much aimed at 18-34s.

In this squabble, CBS has the least to worry about, since it targets an older viewer. Standing above the fray, it will easily remain No. 1 among 18-49s for the night.

“When the nets unveiled their schedules for the fall season ABC, Fox, WB and UPN had all made major Thursday night changes, putting some of their strongest prospects for next season on a night where most of them have historically not been aggressive,” notes the fall preview from media buying agency Carat.

Sensing NBC’s vulnerability, UPN put its most-buzzed-about show ever on Thursday instead of, say, Monday. “Chris” will hurt “Joey” while buoying the network’s other programs that night.

By contrast, the other three networks are pitting established shows opposite NBC’s struggling ones, much the way CBS did so successfully with “Survivor” five years back.

They see vulnerabilities not only with “Joey” and “Will & Grace” but with “Apprentice,” which also lost audience last season.

ABC is moving cult hit “Alias” to Thursday at 8 p.m. The show won’t do nearly as well as last season, when it followed “Lost,” but it does have an extremely loyal core audience that will follow the show anywhere on the schedule.

ABC learned last year, as ratings for “Alias” fell in late spring, that it would probably never be a mainstream hit, so why not throw it onto a night where the network has struggled for years? Even a diluted “Alias” will better what ABC had there last year.

The same can be said for the WB and “Smallville,” which moves to 8. Fox’s “The O.C.” proved last year that younger-skewing shows can indeed thrive opposite NBC and CBS at 8.

As for Fox, it finally has a good companion for “The O.C.” in “Reunion,” which held most of the latter’s 18-34 audience in its debut two weeks ago. That will hurt “Apprentice.”

Whither NBC in all this? That will surely be the big question on the minds of media buyers in these coming several weeks. Buyers were shocked at May’s upfront when the network returned its waning Thursday schedule intact. Many wondered why the network didn’t move “Will & Grace” or “Joey” to Tuesday night and instead lead off Thursday with the promising “My Name is Earl.”

Further, they couldn’t figure out why a fading “Apprentice” was returning along with a new Martha Stewart version.

Several scenarios are possible. One is that the network thinks Donald Trump’s edition won’t last much longer anyway and is hoping to get a few more miles out of the show as it transitions viewers to its newest mogul, Martha Stewart, and her Wednesday edition. If Martha is a huge hit, the decline of Trump will be an acceptable loss.

Another is that the network is hoping that if Stewart is a hit, it will revive interest in the fading Trump edition, or at least stem the losses. A third is that NBC simply lacked anything to slide in place of Trump.

Regardless, “Apprentice” will be weaker, and that in turn will hurt 10 p.m.’s “ER.” NBC will fall out of first place among 18-34s on Thursday behind CBS and perhaps one of the other four upstarts, something that seemed unimaginable even last year.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_239.asp

I really enjoyed Earl. I think it's going to provide me with some great laughs this season.

Did anyone notice any issues with the picture? It looked kind of soft with some ugly blocks in some scenes.

Lost started out with a bang. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that show. Only thing missing is my Amazing Race and Smallville. Then it's on to 24 and Idol.

Psss! Snooper 'CSI' returns on the QT

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 22, 2005

There has been some buzz about a good amount of shows heading into this fall TV season. We've heard all about Jason Lee's new show on NBC, Chris Rock's new show on UPN, Martha Stewart's new show on NBC and Martha Stewart's other new show in syndication.

But what we haven't heard much about is fall's top returning scripted show, CBS's "CSI." The show finished second only to the Tuesday night edition of Fox's "American Idol" in terms of total viewers last season, bringing in an average of 26.58 million each week.

It also finished No. 4 for the season with a 9.2 rating among viewers 18-49, behind the two "American Idols" and ABC's surprise hit "Desperate Housewives." And it has its season premiere tonioght at 9 PM ET/PT on CBS.

Coming off last year's kidnapper-driven, Quentin Tarantino-directed season finale, Grissom and the crew are back, investigating the deaths of two people found inside a burning trailer. Later, Catherine and Warrick look into the murder of a stripper then, in "CSI" fashion, come across even more bodies, giving viewers three times the murder cases for their bother.

Producers have promised that this season we'll find out what makes Grissom tick. Here's hoping it wasn't some long-past murder a la "CSI: Miami's" Horatio.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_230.asp

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
Not much to love in UPN series Love, Inc.

Tom Jicha Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel TV and Radio Writer September 22 2005

Matchmaking has come a long way since Fiddler on the Roof -- the wrong way, if you pay attention to Love, Inc. Fortunately, few people will. The lethal combination of a stupid show and a suicidal time slot makes this UPN series the early favorite to become the least watched of the fall's newcomers.

Busy Philipps, a secondary player as a tease on Dawson's Creek, gets star billing as Denise Johnson, a sparkplug at a full-service dating firm. Services include come-on lines to use and avoid; wardrobe and grooming hints, and conversation starters and stoppers.

The employees go so far as to serve as wingmen and women. For the un-hip, wing people go to clubs and, pretending to be strangers, build up their client's desirability to targets of their interest. It's as inane as it sounds.

Philipps, whose real first name is Elizabeth, inherited the role when Shannen Doherty was let go after the pilot was shown to advertisers last spring. Apparently the notion of the tempestuous Doherty helping people with relationships struck somebody as being as ridiculous as Ted Bundy lecturing on the dangers of hitchhiking.

In a sitcom this mindless, it practically goes without saying that all these dating experts have no love lives of their own.

Denise is still pining for the guy who dumped her in college.

Clea, who runs the company, is despondent because her husband just ran off with a younger woman.

Viviana, in a stereotypical characterization insulting to Latinos, has been trolling without success for any male who can help her get her green card.

Barry is the obligatory wacko, a space cadet so paranoid about the world around him that he doesn't trust store-bought toothpaste.

Holly Robinson Peete, who's far better than this role, plays Clea. Ion Overman is Viviana and Vince Vieluf is Barry. By this time next year -- maybe next month -- they all will be wishing you don't remember this.

http://www.southflorida.com/movies/sfl-tvtjlovesep22,0,6570928.column?coll=sfe-tv-headlines

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
“Love, Inc.”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

A full-service matchmaking operation - it offers advice on what to eat on a date and even provides a "wingwoman" - is run by the newly divorced Clea (Holly Robinson Peete), who could use a match herself, and by her wacky gang who could use, I dunno, less wackiness.

What’s What: Not as bad as it sounds. No, really. True, it's not great, but it has its moments and a bit of chemistry among the cast mebers. Guess that's worth something.

Rickster Scale: 2

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
“Love, Inc.”

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

The tagline you’ll never see: And starring Shannen Doherty as Denise!

The basics: Newly divorced Clea (Holly Robinson Peete) runs a matchmaking service with the help of her best gal pal, Denise (Busy Philipps). The ladies fancy themselves "wing women" -- out to find girlfriends for the most desperate of men. Clea, Denise, and Francine (Reagan Gomez-Preston) rid hapless men of their bad pickup lines, pocket protectors and sci-fi obsessions. The only problem is that unlucky-in-love Denise seems to be able to help everyone else but herself.

The lowdown: Usually Doherty leaves a series amid a rumors of on-set strife ("Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Charmed"). This time "Love, Inc." avoided possible conflict by booting Doherty soon after the show was picked up. The newly brunette Philipps ("Freaks and Geeks") brings more charm and less edge to the role. The entire cast seems to have followed her lead and taken their performance down a notch. And some of the best lines go to goofy Barry (Vince Vieluf), whose oddball observations ("Why are movie stars on the cover of 'TV Guide?'") could become the show's signature moment.

Reality check: "Love, Inc." has one of the few seamlessly integrated casts on TV. Alas, Ion Overman's Viviana is reduced to a one-note character. Every man she meets, talks to or hears about is a potential husband. Our advice for the lovelorn? Lose that shtick fast. The show has the potential to be much more clever.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
“Love, Inc.”

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

With: Holly Robinson Peete, Busy Philipps, Reagan Gomez-Preston, Ion Overman and Vince Vieluf

Premise: A matchmaking business founded and owned by Clea (Peete) takes a hands-on approach to helping clients find love by sending them out with wingwomen and/or a wingman. Topping the ranks is Clea's partner Denise (Philipps), who excels in hooking up others but can't get lucky herself. Also populating the office is fellow wingperson Francine (Gomez-Preston), Viviana, the unnaturally funny receptionist (Overman), and Barry the wingman (Vieluf).

The Word According to Us: Philipps was a late addition to the cast, replacing Peete's original co-star Shannen Doherty. We wonder whether the problem isn't in the casting but the paper-thin punch lines. No, wait, we don't wonder ... we know that's the problem.

Would We Watch Again? Life's too short, and the second half of "CSI" is on. Translation: no.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/240677_tv15.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
“Love, Inc.”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Reagan Gomez-Preston ("Beauty Shop"), Ion Overman, Vince Vieluf ("Grind"), Holly Robinson Peete ("For Your Love," "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper"), Busy Philipps ("Dawson's Creek," "Freaks and Geeks").

The premise: Robinson Peete and Philipps (replacing Shannen Doherty) run a dating service, though each is herself unlucky in love. (Yentas, match thyselves!) Wacky co-workers and crazy clients fill out the picture.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”

Whuppin' With Laughter

By Chip Crews Washington Post Staff Writer September 22, 2005

If you like Chris Rock -- and you really ought to -- you should be more than happy with "Everybody Hates Chris," the comedian's wonderfully original and very funny new sitcom. The UPN series, premiering tonight at 8 on Channel 20, depicts Rock's growing-up years, so he doesn't appear on it, but he narrates it to great effect. And the whole speedy half-hour is suffused with his rueful-quirky-goofy sensibility.

"Before I was a comedian, I thought the coolest thing that would happen to me was to be a teenager," Rock muses at the outset of tonight's episode. "Boy, was I wrong."

His remembrance is interrupted by the first appearance of his mother, Rochelle (Tichina Arnold).

"Chris! Get in the bathroom and wipe the pee off the toilet seat! Disgusting!"

Rochelle is scary -- a rough customer, more than able to stand up to her penny-counting husband, Julius (Terry Crews). ("That's 49 cent of spilt milk dripping all over my table," he cries after a kitchen accident. "Somebody gonna drink this milk!") It's Rock's gift, and the show's, that the two are depicted affectionately, but it's always clear that they weren't easy people to be around.

Young Chris is played by Tyler James Williams, who really seems as if he could grow up to be Chris Rock. The character can be mouthy with people his age, but even when he's living stoically through a siege of adult oppression, you can see the wheels turning -- this kid is smart and cunning. And Williams is a true discovery.

Chris is the firstborn, but his brother, Drew (Tequan Richmond), is taller and "so cool, he got girls at 10 that I couldn't get till I was 30." Their little sister, Tonya (Imani Hakim) -- Dad's favorite -- rounds out the brood. "Since I was the oldest, I had to be the emergency adult," Rock tells us.

The story opens in 1982, "the year I turned 13," and Rochelle has engineered a move from the projects to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The neighborhood turns out to be tougher than anybody realized, but Rochelle is ferociously determined that her three kids grow up the right way. Observing a graffiti artist at work, she announces, "If I ever catch any of y'all spraying on anybody's wall I'm gonna stick my foot so far up your behind, you'll have toes for teeth!"

Rock's narration sums it up: "She had a hundred recipes for whuppin' ass."

Rochelle's foot isn't the only threat to young Chris's behind. Disapproving of the nearby junior high, she sends her eldest to an otherwise all-white school in a distant part of the city where, he tells us, he could receive "not a Harvard-type education, just a not-sticking-up-a-liquor-store-type education." There he is beset by a pudgy and popular bully named Joey Caruso. "Nice shoes, Bojangles," the kid calls out to him -- an early salvo in what will become a very personal war.

Rock created the show with writer Ali LeRoi, and the two clearly cohabit the same wavelength. You could argue that the characters of Rochelle and Julius revert at times to stereotype, but only if you were determined to find fault. The cast is uniformly strong, and the foibled characters feel rooted in real life.

Through the history of the medium there have been classic TV families -- the Ricardos, the Petries, the Bunkers, the Huxtables, a few others. It's too early to say that the "Everybody Hates Chris" quintet will join that list. But it's a mark of the show's promise that the idea does come to mind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092102405_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
'Criminal Minds'

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Mandy Patinkin ("Dead Like Me," "Chicago Hope"), Thomas Gibson ("Dharma & Greg," "Chicago Hope"), Shemar Moore ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman"), Matthew Gray Gubler, Lola Glaudini, A.J. Cook.

The premise: The constitutionally intense, helplessly rabbinical Patinkin is well cast as the latest in what is turning into a long line of uncannily accurate, slightly disturbed criminal profilers, back in the saddle for the FBI from an unscheduled hiatus after the death of a partner. Gibson is the team's cool head, Gubler the misfit genius full of facts and statistics — some of them actually quite interesting.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
'Criminal Minds'

By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News

CRIMINAL MINDS is not only one crime-drama too many for CBS, but it's the most reprehensible show of the year. Gross, gratuitous violence makes this nothing short of stomach-churning exploitation.

It's about a group of FBI "mind hunters," who piece together portraits of horrific killers. (The cast includes Mandy Patinkin of "Chicago Hope," Thomas Gibson of "Dharma & Greg" and Shemar Moore of "The Young & the Restless.")

Thursday's premiere is excessive in its portrayal of a woman who's been kidnapped and held in a cage. But that's nothing compared to the second episode (which airs in "Mind's" regular time slot on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 8 p.m.) that's nothing short of horrific in its repeated footage of people being burned to death.

Again, the most applicable word here is reprehensible.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,610152287,00.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
'Criminal Minds'

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

(Previews Thursday at 10 PM ET/PT on CBS; regular time is Wednesdays at 9 PM ET/PT starting Sept. 28)

The tagline you’ll never see: CSI Minus DNA.

The basics: Yes, another CBS crime procedural, but not from the Bruckheimer factory. This one is set at the FBI Academy in Quantico and features a team of agents who deconstruct the psyches of evildoers, hoping to derail their violent track records. Leading the squad is Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin), whose superior skills and smarts may be strained by his recovery from a job-related nervous breakdown. ("They don't call them that anymore," he reminds a colleague.) Aided by fellow agents (played by Thomas Gibson, Shemar Moore and Lola Glaudini), Gideon puzzles out the actions of arsonists, killers and sadists, collecting clues as he quotes Churchill and Nietzsche. He also likes to cut to the chase: In a standoff with a suspect, he repeatedly insults the guy's manhood, prompting the perp to shoot Gideon instead of a female hostage.

The lowdown: Ed Bernero, one of the executive producers, told critics he is not fascinated by serial killers, but by those who "dedicate their lives to spending time around the worst-possible human beings." Storylines are based on real criminal cases, including that of the 1970s Trailside Killer in San Francisco. Once it settles into its regular time slot, "Criminal Minds" goes up against ratings-grabbing "Lost" -- and at that point, it will be lost.

Reality check: Patinkin's methodical intensity is believable, as is the profilers' brainstorming to unravel a depraved thought process. But it's hard not to recoil from the vicious nature of the crimes, even if most of the brutality occurs off camera.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
'Criminal Minds'

By Chip Crews Washington Post Staff Writer September 22, 2005

Even the most elusive serial killers are going to be in trouble on CBS this season now that the "Criminal Minds" team is on the scene. This pompous, rather absurd hour-long drama, premiering tonight at 10 on Channel 9 (but airing henceforth on Wednesdays at 9), features a crew of crime-stoppers so brilliant they'd be the marvel of a Mensa meeting.

Mandy Patinkin, in what will presumably be a non-singing role, plays Jason Gideon, head genius of an FBI unit devoted to solving serial murders. (We know he's a genius because he's forever offering up enigmatic quotes from Emerson, Beckett, Churchill and Nietzsche.) He's been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder for a few months -- something about a case in Boston that went sour -- but is lending his expertise to other agents.

He's just figured out that an at-large Virginia murderer known as the Footpath Killer probably has a stutter because he employs surprise, isolation and great force to overcome his victims. The stutter, Gideon concludes, prevents him from using charm and guile to lure them into harm's way.

Gideon is pulled off the footpath and back to the field by the case of the Seattle Strangler: Four women abducted and murdered over the preceding four months. This killer is particularly monstrous, keeping his victims alive and abusing them for a week or so before dispatching them. The imprisonment allows for some ugly and sadistic footage as the hour wears on.

So it's off to Seattle with a team of fellow agents, all young and beautiful, chief among them Aaron Hotch (Thomas Gibson, late of "Dharma & Greg"), Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) and Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler). They occasionally express concerns about Gideon's state of mind, but they also marvel at the lightning mental connections he's always making.

That's really saying something, because they all seem to be geniuses, too. When Hotch and Reid interview the boyfriend of the latest victim, they notice some Datsun Z-car literature in the apartment. Did she drive a Datsun? No, the boyfriend replies, but she wanted to buy one. In less time than it would take to type their lines, the two have ascertained -- correctly, of course -- that the killer lured her to meet him by advertising a Datsun online and promising her a test drive.

These boys could find Jimmy Hoffa on their lunch hour.

The atmosphere of the show is generally dark and portentous. Tonight's victim is displayed from time to time, sitting terrified and degraded in a cage, her eyes taped shut as the kidnapper taunts and bullies her. At one point, sickeningly, he takes her hand and trims her nails very short. These sequences are brief, and the creative team undoubtedly believes it's showing a lot of restraint. But you may find yourself asking, with so many TV crime-solvers to choose from, is this particular trip necessary?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092102405_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Criminal Minds”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Still another crime procedural from the Jerry Bruckheimer stable. An elite squad of FBI profilers goes after some of the most-dangerous, least-stable criminals in the country. They're led by a brilliant guy (Mandy Patinkin) who's got his own stability issues.

What’s What: Smart, energetic, well-produced, like so many shows from Bruckheimer. Not a lot new here, but anything with Patinkin is worth a try.

Rickster Scale: 3

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
“Love, Inc.”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

A full-service matchmaking operation - it offers advice on what to eat on a date and even provides a "wingwoman" - is run by the newly divorced Clea (Holly Robinson Peete), who could use a match herself, and by her wacky gang who could use, I dunno, less wackiness.

What’s What: Not as bad as it sounds. No, really. True, it's not great, but it has its moments and a bit of chemistry among the cast mebers. Guess that's worth something.

Rickster Scale: 2

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

TELEVISION COMEDY has long been dominated by nerds getting their revenge, but who would have guessed that Chris Rock was one of them?

Tonight, Rock narrates as his alter-ego, Tyler James Williams, who plays Rock at 13, puts on his shiny school shoes and takes viewers on a hilarious trip back to his childhood in Brooklyn, N.Y.'s, Bedford-Stuyvesant, where the comic grew up as the oldest of seven, the son of striving parents who cared enough about his education to make sure he got bused out of there for school.

TV Chris only has two younger siblings - because "writing a show with seven kids is hard," according to Rock - but he'll also have parents (Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews) tough enough to handle more.

In fact, in a sitcom universe dominated by Homer Simpson wannabes and their sometimes equally hapless wives, Crews' and Arnold's characters can't help but stand out, if only because they're willing to be the grownups. They may just be the most believable TV parents we've seen in years.

Not to mention some of the funniest.

What the readers say

Among the people who didn't hate "Chris" were our Daily News Reader Reviewers, who awarded the show an average score of 7.3 out of 10.

Geraldine Woodson, of Logan, wrote that she was "glad to see... the black family portrayed in a more positive role."

"I thought there were a lot of good lines and that the characters, especially the mother and father, were very appealing," wrote Bill Herbst, of Newtown Square.

And there's more...

Also premiering tonight:

• CBS' "Criminal Minds". Mandy Patinkin stars as a tormented criminal profiler, and while he's as good at that as he was as a tormented Grim Reaper in Showtime's splendid "Dead Like Me" and as a tormented doctor in CBS' "Chicago Hope," I just may not have room on my dance card for even one more tormented lawman this season, much less for all the serial killers he'll be chasing.

• UPN's "Love, Inc." Holly Robinson Peete stars as the divorcing owner of a dating agency, along with Busy Philipps ("Freaks and Geeks") as one of her equally love-challenged employees. Not the best fit with "Chris," but somewhat smarter than "Eve" and "Cuts."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12709310.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

"American Dreams" done.

By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

Looks as if the last remaining dream is over for American Dreams.

Though NBC Universal TV top gun Jeff Zucker said in July that he would rerun Dreams' series finale but with an alternative ending this summer, it never happened.

As for it ever happening, well, chances are slim and none. And slim just left town. (Credit: Dan Rather.)

NBC decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to scratch up sponsors for the episode and get music clearances for the alternative ending, according to a network executive close to the show.

Officially, NBC "is working on the episode. We have no decision," says a network rep.

The acclaimed Dreams, set in Philly during the turbulent 1960s, was canceled in May. It revolves around the Pryor family, with Dick Clark's American Bandstand serving as a backdrop.

In the season cliffhanger, we saw Meg Pryor (Brittany Snow) defy her father (Haverford High grad Tom Verica) by zooming off to California with her draft-dodger boyfriend on his motorcycle.

The 12-minute alternative ending takes place three years later, in '69. On the day of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, Meg returns home and faces her family.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//12707594.htm

'60 Minutes' resets its lineup.
By DAVID BAUDER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday, September 22, 2005

From the time "60 Minutes" began in 1968, the first face viewers saw after the ticking stopwatch has been Mike Wallace's -- until now.

Ed Bradley will replace Wallace in that prominent position when "60 Minutes" begins its new season on Sunday, a further indication of a changing of the guard at television's first and still most popular newsmagazine.

With Dan Rather rejoining "60 Minutes" and the show absorbing personnel from the canceled "60 Minutes II," there will be nine correspondents competing for space each week on a broadcast that generally runs three stories.

Sunday's broadcast will feature Lesley Stahl's interview with Roy Hallums, an American held hostage for 10 months in Iraq, a Steve Kroft story on the search for Osama bin Laden and Bradley's profile of New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

Instead of his booming voice announcing, "I'm Mike Wallace," at the beginning of each broadcast, Wallace will be at the end of the opening segment, saying "these stories and Andy Rooney, tonight on '60 Minutes.' " It's a change that would be little noted on most broadcasts. But the opening is serious business at "60 Minutes," and Wallace is the iconic figure the show has long been identified with.

Wallace is expected to have a more limited role on the show, with five or six stories this season, said Jeff Fager, "60 Minutes" executive producer.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/241665_sixtyminutes22.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Criminal Minds”

It's "Criminal"

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

Like a mechanic wielding a dipstick, I wonder every fall how many more police procedurals the public mind can hold.

"Criminal Minds," which gets a special preview at 10 tonight on CBS before moving to its unenviable slot opposite "Lost" at 9 Wednesdays, is the latest of the breed.

It stars Mandy Patinkin as leader of an FBI behavioral analysis team that profiles serial killers and the like — the most twisted minds in America. Adhering to the formula of "CSI" and "Without a Trace," Patinkin's group consists of members of younger and slightly younger generations, including Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore.

"Criminal Minds" isn't as good as these predecessors, though it aspires in a pretentious way to be smart by quoting famous authors. But your like or dislike of the series likely will depend on Patinkin, whose heavy, quirky style is not to everyone's taste.

Tonight's opener features a character called the Seattle Strangler and lots of rain. It's pretty pedestrian stuff, with the gruesomely staged captive female du jour.

At one point, Patinkin's character cites Churchill: "The farther back you can look, the farther forward you can see." Looking back, I see forensic overload on CBS; looking ahead, I predict less.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002511393&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay22&date=20050922

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”

"Chris" could be TV titan

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic

Let's be realistic about "Everybody Hates Chris," premiering at 8 PM ET/PT on UPN. Chris Rock is busy trying to lower expectations for this little gem. That's a good idea.

"Everybody Hates Chris" may or may not be the salvation of UPN, the rebirth of comedy in the post-"Raymond" era, and the greatest thing since sliced bread or "Wonder Years."

It may or may not have more to say about race relations, the ghetto, late-20th century urban America, family and poverty than any TV series to date. And it may or may not provide a platform for one of the country's greatest comedians to opine on these topics in language more suitable for the mainstream than that of his cable specials.

With only a single episode to judge, we don't know yet.

What we do know is that Tyler James Williams is phenomenal as the young Chris and the initial half-hour is the most appealing comedy on the fall slates.

The pacing is as clever as the biting observations about adolescent angst in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood. Quick cuts, minimal but honest dialogue and Rock's narration keep the show moving.

The portrait of two hard-working parents, barely ahead of the bill collectors, is loving but funny.

The humor is socially astute. These are a fine 23 minutes. Let's hope succeeding episodes are as good.

http://www.denverpost.com/ostrow

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”

A chip off the old Chris Rock

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

Across the country tonight, fingers will be crossed at UPN stations. "Everybody Hates Chris" debuts at 8, and many folks are wondering if this will be the show that crosses over. It should be a smash. NBC's "My Name Is Earl" is gut-bustingly funny. "Everybody Hates Chris" makes your sides ache — and, at times, your soul. In this dual effect is the stuff of great comedy.

The show is based on the 1980s Brooklyn childhood of comedian Chris Rock, who narrates. The humor is one-half observations on race and class — so casual, the impact doesn't sink in until later — and one-half loving homage to the value of family.

With the exit of "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Chris" also has the best cast chemistry on TV. The pilot, about 13-year-old Chris (Tyler Williams) attending his first day of school in a hostile Italian-American neighborhood, exudes the confidence and expertise of a well-established series.

But "Chris" is on UPN. The only current programs to register beyond the network's African-American base are the semi-hit "America's Next Top Model," the under-watched "Veronica Mars" and the venerable "WWE Smackdown!"

History tells us minority characters and poor ones can find broad audience favor. In the 1970s, "Sanford and Son," "The Jeffersons" and "Chico and the Man" were Top 10 shows. In the 1980s, Bill Cosby and his middle-class brood took over, while "Roseanne" brought the working-class struggle to millions of screens.

That was before improved research and the advent of cable tightened the grip of demographics and advertising dollars on TV content. Viewers became sliced and diced into marketing slivers that fed a narrow sense of cultural and financial identity.

One result was a drastic decline in shows watched by both black and white viewers. By the late '90s, only "Monday Night Football" and "60 Minutes" reliably bridged the gap.

Meanwhile, networks pursued series with affluent white role models detached from gritty cares — "Seinfeld," "Friends," "Frasier." The process diverted resources from shows portraying the real or perceived underclass, one reason so many were so abysmal.

"Everybody Hates Chris" grew in part out of a desire to do better. At a session with critics last July, executive producer and co-creator Ali LeRoi discussed the show's scope.

"There's war," he said. "There's racism. There's fights. There's arguments. And then you find the joke in it. We're taking real situations as much as we can and trying to find the comedy in them, as opposed to trying to manufacture comedy out of artifice."

He and Rock succeed handsomely. "Chris" captures the bittersweet experience of growing up in what was among the nation's most dangerous neighborhoods. By doing so, it taps a great and recently underutilized vein of American comedy — the struggling little people with big dreams.

The show opens with the swift establishment of Chris' family, mistakenly moving from the projects to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, which was about to descend into a crack epidemic.

A generous chunk of "Chris" is fueled by Rock's narration, which is richly anecdotal and peppered with the paradoxical observations that are his trademark.

Protesting his mother's decision to send him to a white school two bus trips away, the young Chris wonders how bad the local junior high can be.

Then shots and screams ring out and the grown-up Chris reflects, "Much like rock 'n' roll, school shootings were also invented by blacks and stolen by whites."

But the series doesn't rely on Rock. Two other elements provide rich breadth: hilarious, quick-cutting montages used to establish character, and vignettes that show interaction.

Sometimes, all three components conspire. Halfway through tonight's opener, young Chris foolishly agrees to an after-school fight with a bully in the mistaken notion that school fights always get stopped by an adult.

He's wrong. The subsequent collage of fist-swinging, clock-turning and commentary — conducted to the tune of "Ebony and Ivory" — is a laugh-or-cry high mark.

Under fine direction, a terrific assemblage of actors flesh out their roles and give "Chris" the cozy turbulence of a real family.

As Chris' mother, Rochelle, Tichina Arnold epitomizes the passionate, constantly aggravated state of the vigilant urban mom. Dad is Terry Crews, and he perfectly complements Arnold's performance with a massive, reassuring presence that speaks softly and implies a big stick.

Ultimately, though, it's Williams' amazing performance as young Chris that lets us see the comedian in his developmental years. Smart, skinny and aware, he projects the quintessence of the kid who later in life will wreak revenge on larger, dumber foes.

The series gives every indication of consistency. It's got plenty of characters and plot lines to follow, plus the teeming world outside the family nest.

Funny, warm and fabulous is why you should watch "Everybody Hates Chris." But at a time when Katrina has stirred up old divisions in America, there's another reason — a chance to reflect on home truths as well as the truths of home.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002511393&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay22&date=20050922

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
'Chris' definitely a contender, while 'Love' takes a beating

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, September 22, 2005

Everybody Hates Chris: Comedy. 8 PM ET/PT Thursdays, UPN.

Love, Inc.: Comedy. 8:30 PM ET/PT Thursdays, UPN.

Criminal Minds: Drama. Special premiere at 10 PM ET/PT tonight; regularly scheduled at 9 PM ET/PT Wednesdays, CBS.

It's Viacom night on your television this evening. Whee!

Granted, that may rank well below, say, Bowling With Little People on Fox or Nude Women Who Swear on HBO. But it's still a fairly interesting tale about how one company owns two networks (CBS and UPN) going in opposite directions, and about how giving the people what they want is ultimately better business than giving the critics something to swoon about.

Tonight, UPN will unveil the biggest buzz show of the fall, the sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris," a heartwarming and funny series based on the adolescence of comedian Chris Rock. It will also air a freshman sitcom, "Love, Inc.," which is woefully bad, much like the rest of the UPN lineup. CBS? It believes that Americans like police procedurals and it has the evidence to back it up. So, yeah, it's got another one of those.

And Friday morning, when the overnight ratings come in, what will the story be? That not everybody hates Chris, but they don't really know where UPN is on their dial, so they passed. Oh, and a lot of people watched "Criminal Minds" -- starring Mandy Patinkin as a brilliant FBI profiler, a series that Marge down on Maple Street could probably pen on a doily because she's been so indoctrinated in the genre.

Commerce: 1; art: 0.

But it gets worse. Despite what the critics think -- that "Chris" is possibly the new "Cosby" (the series even airs in the same time slot on the same night) -- we may learn two weeks into the season that the few who did watch "Chris" don't hate him but are unlikely to watch again. You see, hype is a killer of expectations, and, whether you liked him or not, there isn't another Cosby.

Moral?

Even when UPN isn't junky, it loses. And by knowing what people want, CBS stays No. 1 -- and profitable.

Boy, that's uplifting.

Is "Everybody Hates Chris" really as good as advertised? Yes. But even the producers began an intensive campaign to tamp down expectations after they met with critics in July and were showered with affection. After all, we're the people who love "Arrested Development," and it got the snot beat out of it on Monday night.

"Everybody Hates Chris" is a throwback gem in a world of ironic detachment. With elements of "Wonder Years," "Cosby" and the "The Jeffersons," but also a spirit all its own, "Chris" is a sitcom that finally makes the family funny again.

Set in 1982, when Rock was 13, the series focuses on Chris (Tyler James Williams, a seriously talented kid) growing up poor in Brooklyn (the "Bed-Stuy" area), while being bused all over town so he can attend the mostly white, tough-Italian Corleone Junior High. He's the "emergency" parent because both Mom and Dad work, so Chris has to look after his little brother, Drew (Tequan Richmond), who's bigger than he is, and his cute but troublesome little sister, Tonya (Imani Hakim).

They -- and hordes of kids at his school -- make life hell for Chris. But he's in a loving family trying to give him the best. His father, Julius (Terry Crews), works three jobs to pay the bills and is understandably concerned about every penny. (One of the show's best continuing jokes is Julius reducing everything to money -- spilled milk, wasted electricity, etc.). His mother, Rochelle (Tichina Arnold), works part time to help pay the bills and keep one hand on the kids. Though the kids fear their dad, they fear Mom's wrath even more.

It's nice to see an 8 p.m. sitcom that most of the family can watch, that has kids acting like kids -- not bratty 12-year-olds talking like jaded 30-year-olds -- and one that tells an actual story as opposed to setting up one-liners. "Chris" works because it's fueled by relatable family humor, it evokes a time and place with a deft touch, and it's both sweet and funny. Granted, some people don't want sweet and funny. They want "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Which is fine. But this is not that show.

It would be lovely but improbable if "Everybody Hates Chris" became a hit. UPN, which has improved considerably the past three seasons, is just not a destination channel for most of America.

Besides, what if people tune in and find "Love, Inc."? It's forced, pathetically unfunny and dim-witted when it wants to be touching, and there's nothing to recommend here, other than looking elsewhere. That's a real problem with UPN. It has no consistency. It has more bad shows than good shows. And last season, it completely squandered the preseason critical-buzz show, "Kevin Hill." Here's hoping that even if Chris doesn't get 18 million viewers, it does better than "Kevin Hill," which was canceled.

There are no such worries at CBS involving "Criminal Minds." The network is so confident that you will love yet another of its crime-and-punishment series (where everything is solved ever so tidily in one hour) that it's showing "Criminal Minds" on Thursday night, when it actually airs Wednesday night. In the thick of the fall premieres, when viewers are trying to figure out what they like, where it is, what time it's on and what it conflicts with -- man, that's downright insolent.

Still, you can see why CBS is confident. "Criminal Minds" has what Americans adore: violent mayhem and bright-minded government lawmen who make it all right in the 59th minute. "Criminal Minds" is fairly rote -- Patinkin plays Special Agent Jason Gideon, the FBI's best behavioral analyst, who has come back to work after a little forced time off when his last case went sideways. But we are taught as viewers to love police profilers -- their ability to suss out motive, action, thought and weakness makes them seem like geniuses.

The problem with "Criminal Minds" -- other than there are 48 series in a similar vein, 39 of them on CBS -- is that every person in this cast has an area of expertise, and they spend the hour telling you about it in the most unrealistic workplace conversations you'll ever hear. Thomas Gibson, Lola Glaudini, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler -- they all play profilers with distinct specialties. Which means that a typical scene in "Criminal Minds" will have one of them saying, "Seventy-eight percent of all arsonists can recite the Greek gods," and another will say, "Sexually abused predators are likely to have bent their Erector sets in rage," while two in the background will chirp in ERA and RBI information for teams in the Negro Leagues.

It's too much. Really. Meanwhile, "Criminal Minds" is fiercely violent. But it all gets smoothed over because -- no kidding here -- the writers have Patinkin recite famous quotes nonstop. This series is like an orgy with the Encyclopedia Britannica and Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. With serial killers and guns, naturally.

A slam-dunk hit, most likely. But also fairly annoying.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/22/DDG7IER8H979.DTL&type=printable

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everybody Hates Chris”
Series set in comedian's youth has components for a long life

*** 1/2 out of four

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

HOLLYWOOD - Chris Rock wishes ``Everybody Hates Chris,'' the new UPN series based on his life growing up in New York, were arriving with a little less fanfare.

``We're getting so much attention it's hard to sneak up on people,'' says the comedian. ``We are trying to lower expectations. I'd almost rather be a midseason replacement, some little show where people would go, `Hey, that Chris Rock show is kinda funny.' ''

Ain't happenin' that way.

Instead, ``Everybody Hates Chris'' -- which makes its debut tonight (8 p.m., Ch. 44) -- is arriving with the biggest buzz of any new network show. It has received almost universal critical acclaim and the kind of media coverage any new series would die for. Meanwhile, advertising agencies that monitor such indicators as Internet chatter say it is the most-anticipated show of the new season among viewers.

UPN -- whose most-watched series last season, ``America's Next Top Model,'' attracted just slightly more than 5 million viewers and didn't even crack Nielsen Media's top 100 -- has mounted the most expensive promotion campaign in its 10-year history. It has included everything from a massive billboard campaign to preview showings on American Airlines flights to an advance distribution of nearly 3 million DVDs of tonight's opening episode.

It's ironic, considering that the show almost didn't make it to a network schedule.

``Chris'' originally was offered to Fox. It was languishing there when UPN president Dawn Ostroff spotted the script for the pilot among some writing samples from the show's co-creator Ali LeRoi, who has been Rock's comedy collaborator for nearly two decades.

Ostroff had been considering LeRoi for a writing job on another UPN show but quickly became enamored of ``Chris.'' When Fox finally dropped the show -- without ever filming a pilot -- Ostroff immediately put a rush on Rock to bring it to UPN.

``You want to work with people who are excited about doing the show,'' says Rock. ``I didn't get the sense that she wanted to do it just because I was involved in it. She just really liked the script, and I responded to that.''

`My name's on it'

One factor in Fox's decision to pass on ``Chris'' was a concern that Rock -- with his film and standup comedy careers -- would not be fully involved in the show. (He is listed as its executive producer and provides the off-screen narration.)

But when asked about his involvement, Rock says, ``I'll be around. My name's on it. I don't think I've ever done anything and walked out. My name's Rock, not Chappelle,'' a reference to comedian Dave Chappelle who recently pulled the plug on his own Comedy Central show.

While some details have been changed -- ``it's my biography, but I'm not George Washington,'' says Rock -- ``Everybody Hates Chris'' is really Rock's life.

Like the television Chris, the 39-year-old comedian grew up in ``a very loving two-parent household in the middle of one of the worst ghettos in New York City, Bedford-Stuyvesant.'' At 13, he was bused to Bensonhurst, where he was the only black student at a white school. As the oldest child in the family, Rock often was asked to act as the ``emergency adult'' taking care of his brothers and sisters.

Rock says, somewhat jokingly, that he really didn't know just how mean the streets of his youth had been until he moved to Los Angeles as a 20-something and made a return visit. ``When I got back and I saw what my neighborhood was like,'' he recalls, ``I started getting really scared.''

What makes ``Chris'' stand out as a comedy -- and it does stand out; its opening episode is a rich mix of sharp observant humor and a sure feel for the family dynamic -- is that it avoids traditional gag lines and stays firmly grounded in the reality of 1980s Bedford-Stuyvesant.

``We're just trying to accurately reflect that world and get the best jokes out of it we can,'' says LeRoi, the show's hands-on executive producer. ``We're not trying to come up with funny situations and funny things.

``If you listen to Chris' comedy -- pick any joke, any album, any special -- the basis of it is never `here's a funny thing that happened.' It's serious stuff.''

Race is secondary

LeRoi downplays the race aspect of ``Chris,'' even though some of funniest scenes and lines involve the racial tensions of the time. (At one point in the opener, Rock says in the voice-over that his mother moved him to the all-white school because the school across the street from his home was too violent. ``Much like rock 'n' roll,'' he says, ``school shootings were also invented by blacks and stolen by the white man.'')

But, says LeRoi, the show has ``more of an economic and social dynamic than racial. His mother is just trying to send him to the best school that she knew about. It just happened to have all white people in it.

``There's a mother and father dealing with trying to raise kids in a difficult situation. You got bills to pay. You got to send your kids to school. You got to try and keep them out of crime. That's really all the show is.''

A few drawbacks

As it begins its run, ``Everybody Hates Chris'' has a lot going for it, even in addition to all the buzz and promotion. It has Rock's name value. It has a breakout star in Tyler James Williams, who plays the young Chris.

Still, the show is scheduled on a very tough night, with competition that includes ``Survivor,'' ``The O.C.,'' ``Alias,'' ``Smallville'' and ``Joey.'' UPN is still a mini-network with smaller stations in fewer cities than the big dogs have. And buzz has a way of biting back if you don't follow through on the promise.

May need time to grow

Even UPN's Ostroff is still trying to lower those aforementioned expectations, saying the show ``could be very big for us, but you've got to be realistic. It will take time for viewers to find the show -- and to find us.''

And, LeRoi adds, ``UPN is putting in everything they have in terms of support. That's good. You'd rather have that than no support.

``The downside is, you don't want to believe the hype. We just want to do a good piece of work.''

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12710886.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Criminal Minds”

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

There's a real schism among TV critics over this new police procedural, which gets a special preview tonight before moving to 9 p.m. Wednesday. More than a few found the show's opening episode cliched and loaded with gratuitous violence. Others saw a potentially good series with some gripping moments; signs of strong, smart writing; and a strong cast headed by the always-watchable Mandy Patinkin as an FBI profiler. I happen to fall into the latter camp, although I'm waiting for more episodes to make a final judgment. For now, let's just say that I'm intrigued by the criminal minds.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12710891.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Leno Makes It 10 Straight Years at #1

By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable

Jay Leno's top 10 list of late night show ratings winners would simply be the Tonight show repeated 10 times.
Leno's show was the top rated in late night for the 10th season in a row in the 18-49 demo with a 1.8 rating/8 share. Conan did him one better, ranking number one for the 11th straight season with a .9/6.

Tonight averaged 2.18 million viewers 18-49 versus 1.66 million for Letterman.

Following is the tale of the tape for the 2004-2005 season.

Adults 18-49
NBC Tonight, 1.8 rating, 8 share
CBS Late Show, 1.3/6
ABC Nightline, 1.0/4*
ABC Kimmel, 0.6/4*
NBC Late Night, 0.9/6*
CBS Late Late Show, 0.6/4

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Love, Inc.”
Not much to like on 'Love'

By Matthew Gilbert Boston Globe September 22, 2005

Fans of ''Freaks and Geeks" probably have an affection for Busy Philipps, who played Kim Kelly on that quickly canceled series. But those warm feelings will probably only get them through a few minutes of her new sitcom, ''Love, Inc.," before the remote control beckons. The show, premiering tonight at 9:30 on Channel 38, is so shrill and Philipps is so hammy, it's all just too much.

The obvious premise has Philipps's Denise working at a dating service, helping singles find love and even serving as their wing woman. She's a self-appointed know-it-all when it comes to flirting. But, of course, she is also a lonely single who could use some help, too. Indeed, all of her co-workers at Love, Inc., are romantically challenged, including Viviana (Ion Overman), who needs a husband to get a green card, and Clea (Holly Robinson Peete), who's getting divorced. It's the same irony that failed to make Alicia Silverstone's ''Miss Match" very interesting a couple of years ago.

Each character on ''Love, Inc." is a one-joke affair, particularly Viviana. Actually, Viviana exists to make two jokes -- she's desperate for her green card, and there is no end to the humor of a Latin accent. It's hard to believe Overman is the same interesting actress who had an affair with Bette on ''The L Word." Barry (Vince Vieluf) is the geek in the office, whose one joke is that he's a conspiracy theorist won't even use store-bought toothpaste. The writers apparently find his paranoia no end of fun.

What ''Love, Inc." needs is to be fixed up with a nice single show doctor. He could get Philipps to relax her face and cool it with the mugging, he could tell the lighting department to dial it down, he could provide hearing aids for the laugh track operators, and he could give the writers a prescription for subtlety. Then maybe the show will have a chance to meet the audience of its dreams.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/09/22/not_much_to_like_on_love?mode=PF

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Criminal Minds”

By Matthew Gilbert Boston Globe September 22, 2005

Did someone say elite FBI team? Yes, folks, CBS is bringing us yet another unique crew of ultra-brilliant detectives who solve only the hardest and most perverse of crimes. But the Behavioral Analysis Unit of ''Criminal Minds" doesn't obsess over microscopic fibers and the angles of bullet wounds during their hourlong journey to make us feel well protected. These guys are all about psychology. Did the perp's mother love him? Does he like to smoke cigars?

On the show, which premieres tonight at 10 on Channel 4 before moving to Wednesdays, the detectives focus on the more intangible clues that can identify serial killers. They're all about profiling, and they're led by a world-class expert -- Mandy Patinkin's Jason Gideon -- who could probably figure out how many Freudian slips the killer made back in high school.

Gideon has just returned from a stress-related leave, but his instincts are as sharp as ever, and so is his wit. This guy is pretentious, as he is wont to open his sentences with the likes of ''Faulkner once said . . ." In the first two episodes alone, he alludes to Winston Churchill, Samuel Beckett, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Joseph Conrad, and Yoda. But his analyses are so right on, he's worth tolerating.

''Criminal Minds" faces an uphill battle to distinguish itself from the many other crime procedurals already on TV, most of which similarly borrow from ''Silence of the Lambs." It's not a cool-science show, but its crimes blur together with what we already see on the ''CSI" series, and its supporting cast is indistinct. Gideon's pack includes the requisite nerd (Matthew Gray Gubler), a sex-crimes specialist (Lola Glaudini), and a special agent (Shemar Moore). Thomas Gibson from ''Dharma & Greg" is also on hand in an unclearly defined role equal to Gideon's. They're all likable, but generic.

Tonight, Gideon and his team try to stop a Seattle serial killer while the clock is ticking. As is too typical on violent procedurals, women are being hunted down, raped, and murdered. It's boilerplate material, and the victim-on-live-video element has been done on so many crime shows it doesn't have much tension left in it anymore. Indeed, it deserves to be banned by the FCC

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/09/22/criminal_minds_doesnt_offer_much_new_to_think_about?mode=PF

From The Futon Critic

Thursday, September 22, 2005
NBC AND TV GUIDE GO 3-D WITH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES 'MEDIUM,'STARRING EMMY WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE
Released by NBC


NBC AND TV GUIDE GO 3-D WITH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES 'MEDIUM,'STARRING EMMY WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE

NBC AND TV GUIDE GO 3-D WITH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES 'MEDIUM,'STARRING EMMY WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE

SPECIAL 3-D EPISODE PREMIERES ON NBC MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21

TV GUIDE TO BE EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTOR OF 3-D GLASSES IN NOVEMBER 21 COLLECTIBLE 'MEDIUM' COVER ON NEWSSTANDS NOVEMBER 17

BURBANK - September 22, 2005 - NBC, in partnership with TV Guide magazine and Paramount Network Television, will distribute 3-D glasses for an enhanced look at a special "3-D" episode of the hit drama "Medium" (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET), airing on November 21. In the November 21 issue (on newsstands November 17), TV Guide will feature a "Medium" cover and offer readers a chance to view the episode in 3-D with special glasses included inside the magazine. "Medium" stars Patricia Arquette, who received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for her portrayal of Allison DuBois on the series.

The announcement was made by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment and Ian Birch, Editor-in-Chief at TV Guide.

"The 'Medium' 3-D episode provides a great way for fans to enjoy a heightened perspective of Allison's intriguing visions," said Reilly. "We're thrilled to partner with TV Guide on this exciting event and thank Glenn Gordon Caron for developing the idea"

"At TV Guide, we're big fans of "Medium" and we're very excited to be involved in this special episode," said Ian Birch, the editor-in-chief of TV Guide magazine. "By serving as the exclusive provider of the 3-D glasses that will enable viewers to fully experience this program, we're fulfilling our goal to enhance the television viewing experience of all TV Guide readers."

"I first began exploring the possibility of doing a 3-D episode of television over a decade ago when I was working on 'Moonlighting,' said "Medium" executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron. "When 'Medium' became successful, I realized that in many ways it was an even better vehicle for 3-D."

"Additionally, technology seems to have finally caught up with me. (Directors) Jim Cameron, Robert Rodriguez and a host of other innovators have pushed the medium (you'll pardon the pun) into the 21st century, and our show and our viewers will be the beneficiaries of that. I think people will be surprised by how vivid and dynamic 3-D has become."

In the 3-D episode, which will be telecast Monday, Nov. 21 (10-11 p.m. ET), Allison (Patricia Arquette) comes to realize that there is an added dimension to the way she experiences art. It seems the act of creation is so intense that artists often leave an element of themselves behind in their work...an element that is evident only to Allison. Ever wonder why the Mona Lisa is smiling? Or what's bothering the subject of "The Scream"? When Allison encounters the work of one artist, disturbing, 3-dimensional images emerge that lead her to believe that the man behind these alarming canvasses may have a deadly secret.

TV Guide will be distributing glasses through subscribers, newsstand copies and 500,000 subscription renewal mailings. Both NBC and TV Guide will coordinate guerrilla marketing campaigns to distribute glasses to consumers on the street, in addition to the glasses that will be included inside the November TV Guide issue. Viewers can also go to http://www.nbc.com/Medium/ or http://www.tvguide.com/medium to learn how to get 3-D glasses in their areas.

"Medium," which premiered last January, comes from award-winning executive producer, creator and director Glenn Gordon Caron ("Moonlighting"). The chilling drama is inspired by the real-life story of research medium Allison DuBois. Emmy winner Arquette ("Stigmata," "Flirting with Disaster") stars as a young wife and mother who, since childhood, has been struggling to make sense of her dreams and visions of dead people. Arquette received the Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category after the telecast of the initial 16 episodes of the critically acclaimed series.

Jake Weber, Miguel Sandoval, David Cubitt, Sofia Vassilieva and Maria Lark also star.

Caron is creator and executive producer. Kelsey Grammer ("Girlfriends"), Steve Stark and Oscar winner Ronald L. Schwary ("Ordinary People") are executive producers. "Medium" is produced by Picturemaker Productions, Inc. in association with Grammnet Productions and Paramount Network Television.

About TV Guide:
A division of Gemstar TV Guide International, TV Guide magazine is the country's largest selling weekly magazine, with a weekly readership of approximately 26 million people. From broadcast and cable programming to syndicated shows and celebrities, TV Guide has every corner of the television medium covered. The premiere source for entertainment news and information since its debut on April 3, 1953, TV Guide magazine continues to enable readers to maximize their relationship with television and navigate their choices. Additional information about the magazine can be found at www.gemstartvguide.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above press release was issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.

Shades of the early 50s!

RE: NBC AND TV GUIDE GO 3-D WITH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES 'MEDIUM,'STARRING EMMY WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE

I didn't see any mention in the article; when someone hears, could they post here if the 3-D features will work on the HD feed, or just on the SD feed? I have no idea what 'special technology' they are using to make this work, be if it does work on the HD side, I may actually tune in to this all too obvious ratings stunt.

From The Futon Critic

Thursday, September 22, 2005
NBC AND TV GUIDE GO 3-D WITH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES 'MEDIUM,'STARRING EMMY WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE
Released by NBC


NBC AND TV GUIDE GO 3-D WITH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES 'MEDIUM,'STARRING EMMY WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE


Maybe this will be a low-tech way of fixing the fast motion artifacting on NBC shows... ;)

One would think it would have to work on the SD side, otherwise too few people would be able to access it.

But then again, NBC has done some, to be charitable, "interesting" things this season, so who knows?

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt ("I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Party of Five"), David Conrad, Aisha Tyler.

The premise: Love Hewitt plays a medium/armchair psychotherapist, helping ghosts resolve their issues with the living. Plus, she runs an antique store. Plus, she's a newlywed. So she's got a lot on her plate. Like NBC's "Medium," this one also features the sympathetic-husband-in-bed who's always saying things like "Go back to sleep, honey."

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”

The tagline you’ll never see: Party of phantoms.

The basics: Since she was a little girl, newlywed Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has seen dead people. They're everywhere. Her paramedic husband, Jim (David Conrad), worries about his wife's sixth sense, while her best friend and business partner, Andrea (Aisha Tyler, who so deserves better), can't quite understand Melinda's gift. Between running her antiques business and chatting with Jim's deceased brother, Melinda must help the haunted -- and at times cranky -- people who haven't quite crossed over into the light.

The lowdown: In the face-off of God vs. ghosts, ghosts triumphed: "Ghost Whisperer" replaces the beloved "Joan of Arcadia," which CBS abruptly canceled in May after only two seasons. TV's next big thing Wentworth Miller (currently starring in Fox's "Prison Break") guest stars in the "Whisperer" pilot as a dead soldier trying to connect with his son. Miller is a busy guy: He also played Satan's minion in the final two episodes of "Joan."

Reality check: Cue the violins -- this melodramatic series sets out to be a tear-jerker. But former teen-queen Hewitt doesn't quite have the emotional gravitas to pull off the role. Even in crisis her hair is perfectly done and, like most gals on TV, she wakes up with flawless makeup. The faint attempts at comic relief mixed in with frightening sequences straight out of "The Shining" make for a confusing and ultimately uneven tone. Where is Haley Joel Osment when you need him?
By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Jennifer Love Hewitt sees dead people. And talks to them, counsels them, solves their problems, sends them happily on their way. Everyone around her thinks this is normal.

What’s What: Another series requiring a strong dose of suspension of disbelief, not because of the ghost-whispering - this is TV, after all - but because no one is remotely flustered by her talent. This is lightweight, complexity-free, feel-good TV. Take that as a recommendation or a criticism. Whatever works for you.

Rickster Scale: 2.5
http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Three Wishes”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Amy Grant and her team of expert wish-granters travel the country to find deserving towns and people and to give them guess-how-many wishes. Think, "Extreme Makeover: Town Edition."

What’s What: Prepare to be uplifted.

Rickster Scale: Unavailable for review.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Three Wishes “
Three Wishes NBC

The Los Angeles Times

Host: Amy Grant, five-time Grammy Award winner.

The premise: Inspirational singer Grant leads a makeover supergroup — including "Clean Sweep" hunk Eric A. Stromer — in nonspecific good-Samaritan reality show, playing collective genie to deserving individuals, families, groups and communities in this latest variation on "Queen for a Day." But who will wish for world peace?

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Killer Instinct “

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Johnny Messner, Chi McBride ("House," "Boston Public"), Kristin Lehman.

The premise: Lotta freaks, man: All your worst fears about San Francisco are realized in this moody cop show, from "CSI" vet Josh Berman, devoted to the city's weirdest criminals. Messner is the haunted genius detective, back from an unscheduled hiatus after the death of his partner to play worst nightmare to the city's worst nightmares. Where have all the flowers gone?

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Killer Instinct”

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

The tagline you’ll never see: Kill this show.

The basics: Detective Jack Hale (Johnny Messner, last seen bribing Julie Cooper on "The O.C.") and his new partner, Ava Lyford (Marguerite Moreau, last seen giving Seth a comic book deal on "The O.C."), investigate the most heinous crimes in San Francisco. After a year-long leave of absence following his partner's death, Hale has returned to the Deviant Crime Unit. His boss, Lt. Matt Cavanaugh (Chi McBride), worries that the renegade detective who'll do anything to get a confession isn't ready to be back on the job.

The lowdown: Messner and Moreau turn in flat, lifeless performances, though it's possible things will improve when Kristin Lehman joins the cast in the second episode as a new detective. Lehman replaces Moreau, whose exit apparently will be explained. The pilot definitely sets up the fact that the departing Ava is up to something. But we can't help but wonder: Was this the plan all along, or was the show simply too cheap to reshoot the pilot?

Reality check: Yet another new fall show with horrific violence against pretty young women. First up, a man attacks his victims using giant creepy spiders that paralyze his prey. Remind us again why this is entertaining?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
“Inconceivable”

Inconceivable" could be TV titan

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic

And now for something that's "Inconceivable."

Eggs and sperm. Little plastic containers of seminal fluid. Embryonic implants and breast milk.

If you're squeamish about the mere words, NBC's "Inconceivable" isn't for you. ("Icky," a number of male critics pre-emptively concluded.)

Stick with grisly crime scenes and gruesome autopsies in violent dramas more concerned with death than birth.

But if you live in the modern world, where technology is applied to baby-making, and if you follow the standoff between science and religion, you'll recognize in this hour, premiering Friday (at 9 p.m. on KUSA-Channel 9), an opportunity for cutting-edge drama.

The topical themes illustrated in the ensemble drama "Inconceivable" - surrogacy, anonymous donors hunted by offspring, gay parents, artificial insemination, certain not-quite-legal infertility treatments - are an inventive leap beyond the raft of criminal procedurals.

But Americans aren't accustomed to seeing such personal, quasi-sexual topics paraded in primetime. The sight of yet another bludgeoned body being dissected in one more police lab may be less disturbing than the medical procedures occurring in this posh Beverly Hills fertility clinic.

While the opportunity for envelope pushing is there, "Inconceivable" is struggling with its own birth, having endured casting changes and a shift in emphasis since the pilot was unveiled to critics. There's a chance the producers could still get it right.

Ming Na ("ER") plays Rachel Lu, co-founder of the Family Options Fertility Clinic and a single mom whose son wonders about his sperm-donor dad. Lu is in some ways the conscience of the clinic. The actress' pregnancy has been worked into the story line in a slightly awkward way, but why hide it in a show about conceiving?

Jonathan Cake ("Empire") plays brilliant, egomaniacal Dr. Malcolm Bowers, partner in the clinic and godlike miracle worker to the often desperate, infertile patients longing to be parents. When he's not promising babies, he's bedding babes. He easily sees his way past the moral and ethical questions his work raises.

Angie Harmon ("Law & Order") joins them as new partner Dr. Nora Campbell, a flashy, self-assured, wealthy physician - and source of sexual tension for Dr. Bowers. Harmon's towering presence could save the series. When she arrives, the excitement moves from petri dishes and sonograms to actual personalities.

Alfre Woodard has a guest role as a staff psychologist. The office manager, medical technician, nurse and legal counsel contribute their own dilemmas and baby traumas to the mix.

Co-creators Oliver Goldstick ("Desperate Housewives") and Marco Pennette ("What I Like About You"), both of whom have used surrogate mothers to become parents, acknowledge that the science is changing so quickly, the fiction can barely keep up.

The pilot is marked by too obvious attempts to clone certain aspects of "Desperate Housewives." The music gives it away. Among the evident rip-offs are the unmistakable caper music - you know it when you hear it - the use of the too-literal Queen and David Bowie song "Under Pressure" as a pregnant woman is ordered to "Push!," along with too-cute episode titles ("Secrets and Thighs," "To Surrogate With Love"). Clearly, the producers have been ordered to balance some of the difficult emotional and physiological issues with light, soapy bits.

It may be icky, but it's a fertile premise.

http://www.denverpost.com/ostrow

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Inconceivable”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Ming-Na ("ER"), Jonathan Cake ("Empire," "Fallen"), Angie Harmon ("Law & Order"), guest star Alfre Woodard ("Beauty Shop"), Joelle Carter ("American Pie 2"), Mary Catherine Garrison ("How to Deal"), David Noroña ("Mister Sterling"), Reynaldo Rosales ("She Hate Me").

The premise: Idealistic fertility clinic head Ming-Na and narcissistic insemination expert Cake test just how many story lines may be extracted from the subject of engineered pregnancy. (The pilot uses up at least three.) A doctor show for an age of specialization, a "Nip/Tuck" for the reproductively challenged, a drama for the baby-mad.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Inconceivable”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Life at a fertility clinic, where co-founder/single mom (Ming-Na) bickers over ethics and pretty much everything with her in-it-for-the-bucks-and-babes partner (Jonathan Cake). NBC swears it's fun and sexy.

What’s What: Not with this bunch, it isn't. And first off, why's the in-it-for-the-babes doc working at a fertility clinic? There are so many ways to go with the "Inconceivable" jokes, so I'll be straight up: Bad show.

Rickster Scale: 1.5

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Inconceivable”

By Amy Amatangelo The Washington Post

The tagline you’ll never see: Three doctors and a test-tube baby.

The basics: The staff at the Family Options Fertility Clinic help hopeless parents-to-be have a child. Ming-Na, who scrubbed out of "ER" last season, stars as clinic co-founder Rachel Lu. Her partner, hunky cad Dr. Malcolm Bowers (Jonathan Cake) is excellent at his job, and he knows it. And a recent addition, the wealthy and renegade Dr. Nora Campbell (Angie Harmon), doesn't let a little thing like the law stop her. The show tries to have a something for everyone -- the gay couple having a baby via surrogate, the woman desperate to conceive and even a soldier who wants to unfreeze his dead wife's embryos.

The lowdown: The original pilot underwent a couple of procedures. Harmon was added to the cast. Ming-Na's real-life pregnancy will be worked into future episodes, and clumsily hidden via purses and coats before that. And don't get too attached to Alfre Woodard's psychologist role: She'll soon depart the clinic for Wisteria Lane. With a little nip and a tuck, the series is hoping to be as cutting edge as what you find on cable. But the pilot's surprise and mysterious ending is tonally out of place.

Reality check: Executive producers Oliver Goldstick and Marco Pennette were inspired to create this show after they both had children via less-traditional means. Although they are clearly impassioned about the timely topic, it's pretty, well, inconceivable -- sorry, we couldn't resist -- that viewers will take to this awkward dramedy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301184_pf.html

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY

“Killer Instinct”

By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News

KILLER INSTINCT is somewhat less disgusting than "Criminal Minds" but no more entertaining.

Hey, this is a show on Fox set inside the San Francisco Police Department's deviant-crime unit. See — you pretty much know what to expect.

Johnny Messner stars as detective Jack Hale, who (cliche warning!) is back on the job after his partner died in the line of duty. He's got a boss (Chi McBride) he fights with and a new partner (Kristin Lehman) who doesn't trust him. And in the premiere, they deal with a guy who's using spiders to immobilize and rape women before they die.

Yes, still more women in jeopardy. And this is still more bad TV.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,610152287,00.html