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fredfa

09-23-05, 03:21 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Inconceivable”

At this point it's a little pregnant

By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 23, 2005

Of all the new fall shows, NBC's "Inconceivable," premiering tonight, is the fringe candidate — no aliens, feds or crime labs. OK, there is a lab, but it's filled with people's sperm and eggs. "Inconceivable" is a drama (with light comedic elements) set at the Family Options Fertility Clinic. NBC ordered it, then punted, coaxing it over to the lesser spotlight of Friday nights.

The show, created by experienced TV writers Oliver Goldstick and Marco Pennette, does seem to be poking its head out over a kind of "Is America ready for this?" cliff, even if hospital dramas aren't necessarily even set in hospitals anymore. We've moved on to centers of more elective procedures. "Inconceivable," mind you, is no "Nip/Tuck," whose third-season premiere this week saw a plastic surgeon deal with a morbidly obese woman stuck to her sofa while his partner recovered from the trauma of being raped by a serial slasher called "The Carver." Story resolution, for that doctor, came in the form of a palliative threesome. We like to watch.

"Nip/Tuck" has drawn some advertiser backlash, but nothing that has kept it from steamrolling into basic-cable living rooms. Face-lifts and breast augmentations, the trend whence the show sprang, are this day and age's accessorizing; it's got its own reality show, Fox's "The Swan," for God's sake.

"Inconceivable" is a much more tentative exercise than "Nip/Tuck," offering only the mildest hints of comment on the world it depicts, of affluent people going to great lengths to bear children. But Jonathan Cake's wry, malleable face offers a kind of entry point into the show's more complex issues. He plays Dr. Malcolm Bowers, a good-hearted but egomaniacal cad who's never seen a womb he didn't think he could impregnate, including that of Rachel Lu (Ming-Na), who co-owns the clinic.

Cake is particularly big in his role, a breath of fresh air from the world of de-accented actors; the producers, thankfully, don't make him lose his mellifluous British brogue. Somewhere, Hugh Laurie is grumbling to his agent.

"You start playing God, God's gonna start playing you" is not something Dr. Bowers would ever say. The pilot gives that expositional line to a side character. Bowers is too busy for that — bedding down with a colleague while orchestrating a magazine profile while brushing aside a potential lawsuit against the clinic after the surrogate for a white couple gives birth to an African American baby. As if that weren't enough, deep into the episode, wanting to help a patient conceive via a complicated procedure, he fetches Angie Harmon, a late addition to the cast.

Ming-Na, meanwhile, who's transferred over to "Inconceivable" from that old saw "ER," plays a single mother and moral conscience to Cake's cowboy. Like the president of the Hair Club for Men, she's not just the president, and the show has her struggling with what to tell her son, beyond that Daddy is "someone who helped Mommy bring you into the world." There's also staff psychologist Dr. Lydia Crawford, played by Alfre Woodard, offering soulful empathy in a guest role before she heads over to Wisteria Lane as the newest neighbor on "Desperate Housewives."

In its first episode, "Inconceivable" brings onstage a gamut of themes and conflicted wannabe parents — the soldier, the priest, the gay couple. The Marine is tormented about what to do with the frozen eggs of his late wife, who was killed in Iraq, the priest is conflicted about the whole insemination issue, and the more neurotic half of the gay couple is picking through the surrogate's trash while warning her that oral sex during pregnancy can cause air embolisms.

It's a bit overboard, the idea that the fabric of America comes through the doors of a pricey fertility clinic. On the other hand, in this season of otherworldy overload, that same messy muchness also comes across as unexpectedly grounded in human reality.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-inconceivable23sep23,0,770505,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:21 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Inconceivable”

Let Other Doctors Save Lives; These Specialists Create Them

By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN The New York Times September 23, 2005

"Inconceivable," which starts tonight on NBC, is a cerebral, macabre drama about a glamorous fertility clinic. It's impressively produced, but it will make you queasy. The show spends not a minute on ideological controversies surrounding this brave-new-world reproductive science - the surrogates, egg transfers, sperm samples - but there's something in it that's just too unstable to serve as a backdrop for primetime drama. Betrayal and vanity may suit the characters on "Nip/Tuck," FX's marvelously creepy drama about plastic surgery. Around the delicate creation of human life, however, it's worth saying: more reverence is in order.

With its high style, capable writing and self-assured performances, "Inconceivable" asks that viewers accept the characters as familiar television professionals, but this turns out to be a tall order. The way these doctors tinker with procreation is just chronically unsettling.

You'd think there would be jokes here, and there are notably two, built on broad caricature. The first is a clumsy gag about a man laboriously producing a sperm sample while watching a pornographic video coincidentally titled "Desperate Housewives." Ugh. And then there's a snitty gay man obsessed with his pregnant surrogate's appetite for dangerous canned tuna and pork rinds.

Except for some Wisteria Lane-like mise-en-scène, that's it for humor. The female characters - Rachel Lu (Ming-Na, formerly of "ER") and Dr. Nora Campbell (Angie Harmon) - appear to be tough, grave figures. And Dr. Malcolm Bowers (Jonathan Cake) is a watery blend of television's two great sinister doctors: Gregory House on Fox's "House" and Christian Troy on "Nip/Tuck." Generally, this first episode is just ponderous, as it strains to convey at least a half-dozen intricately braided plots, each one more heartbreaking than the last.

Consider just a few. A white couple erupt in rage when they find their surrogate has unaccountably given birth to a black baby. (They promptly abandon the baby to the nursery's loneliness and bright lights, as the audience is informed that a white baby is adopted within 72 hours while a "mixed-race baby" stays in the system for years.) A reverend's wife, after several failed efforts at in-vitro fertilization, schemes to use sperm other than her husband's. And a school-age boy, Rachel's son, tries to come to terms with being taunted as Frankie, for Frankenbaby, since his classmates are aware that he was conceived in vitro and doesn't know his father.

New reproductive technologies can bring joy and children to people who ardently want them, but "Inconceivable" is not about joy. It's about the grim ironies of reproductive technology - boutique programming indeed. Forget politics. Few viewers will have the stomach to enjoy this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/arts/television/23inco.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:22 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
Some debuts too sweet, others are too sour

By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette September 23, 2005

Two sappy feel-good shows debut tonight, and though neither is good for much, both have the potential to elicit a good cry from viewers who like to wallow.

'Three Wishes'

Of the two, NBC's "Three Wishes" (9 tonight, WPXI) is at least an upbeat, positive reality show. It's also a rip-off of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

Amy Grant and a crew of wish fulfillers travel the country seeking out stories of people who need help. Then the show helps them.

Tonight that means building a play/rehab room for a little girl who was disfigured in an automobile accident, helping a boy get legally adopted by his stepfather and installing a new football field for the Sonora, Calif., high school.

There's a lot of slow-motion cheering, tears, declarations ("I would say this is the best moment of my life!"), rushing to complete tasks, etc.

To be fair, "Three Wishes" is touching. It is heartwarming to see nice things done for people in need. But it also feels like the show manipulates viewers.

When a camera follows a boy on a bike riding up to the "Three Wishes" tent before he's chosen to have a wish granted, you have to wonder, how did they know to film him then? Would the CEO of the company that installs the new football field allow cameras in his office without already having made the decision to donate his company's services? Is it really believable that, when building the rehab house for the little girl, "all of a sudden" her friends come running up the road to help? And there just happened to be a camera there to capture their approach?

"I've traveled the last 48 hours here for you guys," Carter Oosterhouse tells the throng assembled in the football stadium for the announcement of the new field. But as one of the show's contributors, isn't travel part of his job? It's not like he's doing it for free.

It's great that "Three Wishes" does good for people, but the way it goes about these good deeds is contrived.

'Ghost Whisperer'

An hour earlier, another rip-off show premieres, this one seemingly scheduled after CBS executives saw NBC's success with "Medium."

"Ghost Whisperer" (8 p.m., KDKA) isn't good drama (too saccharine for my taste), but it will provide a warm fuzzy for viewers who like to see the dead make peace with the living.

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Melinda Gordon, who's the conduit between the living and the ghosts waiting to cross over to the afterlife. Pittsburgher David Conrad plays her husband, Jim, a paramedic who thinks by saving lives on the job he can spare his wife some work.

Conrad's steady presence works well as a counterpoint to Hewitt's always-about-to-cry dewy-eyed nature.

Wentworth Miller ("Prison Break"), a 1990 graduate of Quaker Valley High School, has a guest spot in tonight's premiere as a soldier who died in Vietnam whom Melinda must help connect with the now-grown son he never knew.

It's all a bunch of mush, but I suspect it's mush that will find a receptive audience.

'Killer Instinct'

The women-as-victims trend, a lowlight of the fall 2005 TV season, continues in Fox's "Killer Instinct" (9 tonight, WPGH). Troubled cop Jack Hale (bland Johnny Messner) returns to head San Francisco's deviant crime unit after his former partner (and lover) was killed in the line of duty.

Tonight he gets a new partner (Marguerite Moreau), but don't get too attached; she's replaced in next week's episode. Chi McBride ("Boston Public") plays Hale's boss, and Jessica Steen ("Homefront," "Earth 2"), a personal favorite, has a recurring role as a coroner, although next week she's given a terrible red dye job.

Tonight's creepy crime involves a killer who uses spiders to incapacitate his female victims before he rapes and kills them. The rape and murder are not shown on screen, but the story gruesomely complements the butchering and/or terrorizing of women in pilots for The WB's "Supernatural," CBS's "Criminal Minds" and "Close to Home" and ABC's "Night Stalker."

TV critics made network executives and producers uncomfortable by asking about this development at press conferences this summer, so it's a little surprising to see the trend didn't end with the pilots. In subsequent episodes of "Killer Instinct" and "Night Stalker," women continue to have, um, short-lived roles. On "Night Stalker," a father takes a metal baseball bat to his wife's head; on "Killer Instinct" a psycho incapacitates a blind woman, cuts her eyes out and then kills her.

Even though I wasn't wild about the warm and fuzzy shows I mentioned earlier, I'd still recommend a lousy sappy show over a sadistic series that, underneath its ghastly veneer, is just a dull, unoriginal crime drama.

'Inconceivable'

An often lighthearted medical show set in a Los Angeles fertility clinic, NBC's "Inconceivable" (10 tonight, WPXI) lacks the grit of "ER," the heart of "Scrubs" and the soapy shenanigans of "Grey's Anatomy," leaving an empty husk of a series. Tonight's premiere is also pretty boring, filled with medical cases meant to touch the heart but which miss the mark.

Former Pittsburgher Ming-Na plays clinic founder Rachel, who tussles with Dr. Malcolm Bowers (Jonathan Cake), who, in typical TV fashion, is brilliant but arrogant. They work with counselor Lydia (guest star Alfre Woodard), who takes the fall when a Caucasian surrogate to two white patients delivers an African-American child.

A scene featuring newest cast member Angie Harmon, as Dr. Nora Campbell, has been shoe-horned into tonight's premiere. Her confident, Bowers-baiting character offers hope that "Inconceivable" might improve, but next week's episode, despite a semi-intriguing mystery plot and murder, does little to deliver on that.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05266/576231.stm

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:23 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”

She Sees Dead People, and Offers Them a Sympathetic Ear

By NED MARTEL The New York Times September 23, 2005

When it comes to death, CBS be not proud. The network's mawkish new series "Ghost Whisperer" posits itself as an hourlong grief-counseling session that benefits the living and the dead. A young newlywed keeps hearing from spirits who have not crossed over into some otherworldly zone of solace, and only with her message-delivery skills can the mourners and the mourned get on with their lives - or deaths, as the case may be.

It's a silly funereal spectacle, with the first episode as its probable format: the ghost first appears in macabre makeup, spooking young Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in her low-cut nightie. Then as they reach an understanding, the phantom reappears good as new and Melinda trots around her picture-perfect small town, performing errands on the ghost's behalf. Eventually she orders up a double dose of closure, with grateful glances sent her way through teary eyes.

Networks can't stop seeing dead people, but these whispered-to apparitions have none of the scariness of the "Medium" murder victims, the scolding of the "Providence" mom or the sass of the "Six Feet Under" corpses. The Casper-like "Ghost Whisperer" spirits could be scared off by any of these more plausible apparitions.

The series supplants the more daring "Joan of Arcadia," which delivered divine messages to a more reluctant recipient. "Ghost Whisperer" is decidedly less philosophical and less thought-provoking than that family drama, which had itself gone soft around the edges. Instead, the new series tries to make a viewer vulnerable with the spooking phases of the episode, and then follows with a couple of hard yanks on the heartstrings.

Loosely based on a real person, Melinda discovered her visionary gifts as an intrepid little girl, as the pilot explains. At a funeral, the ghost of an old man asks her to whisper a few sweet nothings into his widow's ear, recalling habits that only she would know. "I didn't have time to tell her how much I love her," he confides to the wise moppet.

Ms. Hewitt's character keeps her girly empathy into her young adulthood (though the camerawork makes sure to emphasize her womanly curves). She gets to explain her line of work to very understanding allies: her radiant best friend (Aisha Tyler) and her paramedic Prince Charming (David Conrad). It's a credit to CBS that the series is as perfectly cast as it is cleverly contrived. Even the guest stars in the first episode are heartthrobs du jour (Balthazar Getty and Wentworth Miller), who know just how to melt female hearts. The key: Act all brusque and then shed man-tears.

Mr. Getty gets to give a particularly perceptive lecture to Ms. Hewitt, which exposes, one might guess, the writers' doubts about the show's motives. He plays someone in her town whose dad died in Vietnam before he was born. When she pries into his family past, the young man doubts Melinda as the benevolent go-between and suspects that she's preying on his emotions for her own voyeurism. "It must be great to have such supernatural powers," he says, slamming his front door in her face.

"Not really," she says, indomitably. Of course, he comes around. Soon enough, in dialogue that plays off the fears of anyone who has ever lost a loved one, she offers supposed insights about the final heightened pain before a heart stops beating. "What happens to these people in their last moments, it really matters," she insists.

Neither Ms. Hewitt nor her series are malevolent forces, and the producers can feel as good as they choose about a cloying job well done. If there's any public ill that could be done through the possible success of "Ghost Whisperer," it's not that it could loose needy phantoms into the world, but that it might inspire nosy psychics to disturb the peace.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/arts/television/23ghos.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:24 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”
The dead have it tough too: Fortunately for them, a lively Jennifer Love Hewitt checks in as an otherworldly problem-solver
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 23, 2005

"Ghost Whisperer," the new Jennifer Love Hewitt paranormal tear-jerker premiering tonight on CBS, might be titled "Touched by a Dead Person," or more accurately "Touched by a Person Who Sees Dead People" — a dead-people person, you could call her. In this relentlessly heartwarming series, Hewitt portrays an otherwise ordinary young woman whose special gift, or curse, it is to see and talk to the unpassed-over dead as clearly as if they were checking her out at the supermarket. The trouble with ghosts, of course, is that they usually want something, and as the only contact in town she gets all their business — delivering messages, sorting out their mental trash, helping them achieve the "closure" necessary for them to truck off into the Big White Light (characterized here as a big white light.)

"I need you to help me. They told me you could," says the unquiet ghost of a soldier killed in Vietnam who arrives at her house one dark and stormy night, as if her name were posted on some message board in limbo.

"Who told you?" asks Hewitt, who as a newlywed is seen often in her sleep clothes. (Some viewers will turn up just for that.) The soldier doesn't know, and perhaps neither do the writers.

The series' presence here among the living might have something to do with the success of "Medium," which, like "Ghost Whisperer," looks at the home life of a psychic. But this well has been visited many times before. It wasn't so very long ago that "Joan of Arcadia," "Tru Calling" and "Wonderfalls" — series concerning young women receiving bulletins from the Beyond — arrived all in a burst. It has roots as well in such this world/that world anthologies as "Highway to Heaven" and "Touched by an Angel." "Six Feet Under" is at least a cousin. Not to mention "Blithe Spirit." And "Topper."

The idea the show is ultimately here to sell is that love can transcend death — not an idea for which it's terribly hard to find buyers. There are viewers who will rate this show on that point alone, for what one person might find a load of sad, sentimental, superstitious hooey, another might find moving and profound. "Load of hooey" is not a phrase you will find in the promotional materials for "Ghost Whisperer," which are content to describe its co-executive producer, self-styled "clairsentient" James Van Praagh, as he seems to himself: a "real-life psychic." The network has already been to bat, or gone to bed, with Van Praagh on the TV movies "Living With the Dead," with Ted Danson, and "The Dead Will Tell," starring Anne Heche, and are obviously happy to call him whatever he likes.

The show is not without comedy, and in fact could use more — it enriches Hewitt's character. When she tries to avoid eye contact with the dead, for example, so they won't know she sees them and so won't ask for her help, it helpfully scrapes off a bit of her saintly goodness.

Hewitt is quite good, or as good as the show allows; there are some potholes along the way, as the script sacrifices sense to sentiment. But her marriage to regular-guy-hunk David Conrad ("Miss Match" ) is easy to buy; they have a nice chemistry that gets them through a couple of fairly turgid scenes. When "Ghost Whisperer" works, as it does in passing even on someone as firmly in the "load of hooey" camp as myself, it's primarily because of Hewitt. She's not the deepest young actress; she isn't even Neve Campbell. But there are times in tonight's show, as she engineers the reunion between the dead vet and his now-grown son, where she conveys just the right combination of emotional exhaustion and reflected happiness. I am quite prepared to believe in the art, even as I reject the picture.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-ghost23sep23,0,2858199,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:24 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Killer Instinct”

A Detective Used to Finding Killers and Losing Partners em

By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN The New York Times September 23, 2005

The pilot of Fox's "Killer Instinct" - a title that recalls the days of witless "Fatal Attraction"-derived movie-naming - begins with a murderer's-eye camera breaking into a San Francisco apartment. Blackhearted preparations are made around a sleeping woman. Spiders can be seen crawling on her skin - one, then more, then dozens. Finally, she's immobilized, and the bad person stands over her.

Murder! Into the action sweeps Jack Hale (Johnny Messner), a brawny, disturbed detective (or so we're told; he seems all right to me), and his new partner, Ava Lyford (Marguerite Moreau), a total cipher with no personality. Ava, it seems, is the inevitable by-the-book scold, a foil for hearty Hale. In fact, she's so blank that the producers here didn't waste any time hustling her off the series. She appears only in the first episode, which is being broadcast tonight.

Next week we'll meet Danielle Carter (Kristin Lehman), Hale's new new partner. I wonder how that will work, and if anyone will ever refer to Ava again.

But for now: Hale and Ava have arachnid issues. Someone is killing San Francisco ladies with the help of fast-acting paralyzing spider poison. Is it X, the person who obviously didn't do it? Or Y, the person who obviously did do it? In the spirit of all rote American procedurals, the ones that appall British mystery connoisseurs, it turns out to be Y.

The first episode of "Killer Instinct," though shot in Vancouver, looks good. By daylight a plausible Rice-a-Roni San Francisco glistens. The camera jumps around the city, conveying more bounce than menace. At night, though, this same landscape is supposed to be haunted - Hale and partner work in a deviant crime unit, hunting "monsters" - and this is when the city doesn't look quite unfriendly enough. A wharf scene is the closest the pilot comes to abandoning the Bay Area's oversized apartments and high-tech but environmentally conscious offices. Even the bug-filled waterfront shack seems groovy. San Francisco is not Gotham, and in its happy light monsters will have to work hard to be more like Son of Sam and less like the goofy gremlins that could serve as mascots for a software company.

Ready for back story? Hale lost his last partner - also a woman - under mysterious circumstances. (The network didn't yank that one.) Maybe they were in love. That's part of his resistance to Ava and probably will lead him to resist Danielle, too. But Mr. Messner is a simple two-dimensional idol, whom some may remember as the conniving Lance Baldwin on "The O.C." He should play thugs or action heroes; he should not trouble himself with acting troubled. It may take energy away from tricep extension and lat pull-down work.

In Hale's corner is Ray Cavanaugh (Chi McBride), a roly-poly boss with a nice disposition. He seems boring.

But it's Ava who's the real disappointment on this pervasively disappointing first episode. As a sexy teacher on ABC's now-canceled "Life as We Know It," Ms. Moreau was just right: she read Dostoyevsky and came on to a teenager. But here she's too pouty and languid to do forensics, and far too seductive to credibly interrogate entomologists.

Before she was replaced on the series, I was ready to say that Ms. Moreau - evidently a serious actress - had been terribly miscast, but it might have been fun to see her try to find her way out of her Juliette Binoche style to an officious "CSI" or "Law & Order" persona. But we'll never see that. Ava, like so many fly-by-night pilot stars who don't survive focus groups, we hardly knew ye.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/arts/television/23kill.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:25 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
The Season’s First Casualty
Like The First Autumn Leaves, A TV Show Falls...

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal

At the end of a new Fox press release was the most important line: ''Head Cases,'' it said, ''has had its last air date.''

The Chris O'Donnell comedy-drama was of no great distinction and had gotten no traction with audiences in two telecasts. Indeed, my colleague Alan Sepinwall looked at the numbers after the first showing of ''Head Cases'' and anticipated the season's first cancellation. So no big surprise here. And the show at least had a chance to seek an audience. Fox has historically been notorious for announcing shows that never get on the air.

So what's going to replace it? Well, that's what the press release was about. And it involves the quickest fix networks can find: reality shows.
New ''Nanny 911'' episodes on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 will get the network to the baseball playoffs. After baseball, in November, the time slot will go to ''Trading Spouses.''

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:25 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
A Critic’s Choicer

By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Friday, Sep. 23 2005

"Killer Instinct"

A cop with problems of his own tracks killers preying on women in - hey, wait,
wasn't that last night? No, this isn't CBS' "Criminal Minds," it's Fox's
"Killer Instinct," with Johnny Messner as the brilliant, troubled crime-solver
and Kristen Lehman as his new partner.

Nevertheless, under the "go figure" heading, I kind of like this one, which
used to be called "The Gate" for its San Francisco setting. With a plot about a
rapist who employs spiders, the creepiness rivals "CSI," and Messner (he was
Lance last season on "The O.C." and before that Rob
Layne on "Guiding Light") is appealing as the tough but tender Detective Jack
Hale.

The set-up has him returning from leave after mourning the death of his partner
and lover. Her replacement (Lehman) isn't sure she can cope, but the lieutenant
(Chi McBride) is supportive.

Also new tonight

"Ghost Whisperer"

Jennifer Love Hewitt sees dead people and helps them "cross over" in a drama
that showcases Hewitt's apparently limited acting ability. The opener is most
interesting, in fact, for a guest turn by Wentworth Miller ("Prison Break") as
a dead soldier trying to get home.

"Three Wishes"

Singer Amy Grant and a fix-it team sweep into small towns and make wishes come
true in a shamelessly (and effectively) sappy reality show.

"Inconceivable"

Jonathan Cake is a smarmy fertility doctor in a comedy-drama that would like to
come off as an outrageous, network take on "Nip/Tuck" but is actually just an
awkward mix of tones. Ming-Na, wonderful here as the single mother of a little
boy, and Angie Harmon also star.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Centertainment%5Cstories.nsf&docid=6B84E47621850D3E86257084005FC90B

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:26 AM

''Dancing'': Please, No Re-Rematch

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal

I can easily imagine ABC executives sitting around a few days ago and envisioning A Ball To Settle It All. Now that's theoretically possible, since Kelly Monaco won the original ''Dancing With the Stars'' and John O'Hurley won this week's dance-off.

But I suspect they're now wondering if even a new season of ''Dancing'' -- due in January '06 -- is a good idea. A summer hit, ''Dancing'' proved less impressive in the ratings on Tuesday, when it was against fall programming. Some may blame that on disenchantment because of Monaco's controversial win this summer. (I still think she was better than O'Hurley, who even when he's dancing well looks a little comical, while Monaco knows where the drama is.)

Others may think, well, this was all right for the summer, but not on nights when there are fresh fall programs to pick from. And some may have just decided that the novelty has worn off. Any or all of those reasons are bad for ABC.

I don't object to O'Hurley's winning. At the end of Tuesday's show, I thought he had a slight edge. But I don't know if viewers actually judged that night's performances. ''Dancing'' has always had a weird approach to scoring, and the dance-off was odd in having people vote while the show was still in progress. At least ''American Idol'' makes you wait until all the numbers have been sung.

In any case, let's just call this a draw -- one for Monaco, one for O'Hurley. And not keep this going until we're stuck with the dance equivalent of ''Rocky IV.'' Whether we endure another set of ''celebrities'' or a world without ''Dancing,'' the show has had about as much impact as it ever will.

It gave us something amusing to talk about during the summer, and made ballroom dancing feel interesting again. Between this show and the movie ''Shall We Dance,'' my wife and I have been talking about dancing lessons. I don't think another round of ''Dancing'' will make us talk more.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

keenan

09-23-05, 03:45 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS
The Season’s First Casualty
Like The First Autumn Leaves, A TV Show Falls...

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal

At the end of a new Fox press release was the most important line: ''Head Cases,'' it said, ''has had its last air date.''

Incredible, two eps and it's gone... :p :D I didn't think it was that bad, has any show been canceled after just one airing? :eek:

fredfa

09-23-05, 03:50 AM

Sure, there have been a handful of them.

fredfa

09-23-05, 04:18 AM

I can only quickly find info on a few of them, Jim.

There was “Dot Comedy” on ABC, which aired its only program Dec. 1, 2000.

There were others, too: “South Of Sunset” (CBS 1993), “Co-Ed Fever” (ABC, 1979), “Public Morals” (CBS, 1996) and the legendary ABC flop “Turn On” (1969) which, legend has it, was cancelled half way through its first -- and only -- broadcast.

In January of this year, CBS cancelled “The Will” after a single episode, and Fox cancelled “Who’s Your Daddy” earlier this year, too, after just one televised episode.

fredfa

09-23-05, 11:03 AM

TONIGHT’S TV PREMIERES
”Three Wishes”: Amy Grant soars far above a dismal pack

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, September 23, 2005

Everybody who is, by nature, cynical, inclined toward smug condescension, a reader of AdBusters, a person who understands how the sausage gets made in the television business, loathers of reality shows and others opposed to the words "Amy" and "Grant" -- that means you -- need gather your horses and hold them.

Listen: If, for the forces of good to triumph -- helping people in real need, paying medical bills, building homes, pushing through adoptions, getting surgeries performed -- that good has to be done on a reality show that manipulates viewer reaction for maximum tears, is filled with gratuitous product placements and is hosted by Amy Grant, so be it. You can be as bitter as a mouthful of aspirin with a lime chaser some other day, for some other cause. But we are going to give an endorsement here to NBC's "Three Wishes," a reality series that essentially rips off the winning formula of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," in that really nice and helpful things are done for people who truly deserve them -- while the cameras roll, naturally.

On the second worst night of television during the week (must we tell you again about the graveyard that is Saturday?), when three other soul-sucking dramatic series are premiering, believe us when we tell you that the least of these evils is Amy Grant rolling into Sonora to make a whole bunch of people happy. If we are going to have another reality show on television, better it helps a cute little girl badly injured in an auto accident or a nice little boy who wants to make his adoptive father happy.

Americans love sap. And the reason "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is such a ratings powerhouse (the third season premieres Sunday) is that the whole country is in tears as the credits roll.

The same thing happens on "Three Wishes." Grant rolls into the Tuolumne County town on Monday and by the time she performs a farewell concert on Saturday night (be quiet), she's changed the lives of three families -- and, as a cherry on top -- she grants a few lesser wishes on her way out. A series like this is a boon for businesses -- they get their names mentioned in connection with helping people. It's feel-good consumerism. Is the series manipulative? Of course -- that's essential for the drama. You know there are shoots and reshoots and edits and reconstructed scenes -- all to capture the tears. The jaded will have a field day, but so what? In the end, if lives are changed like they are on "Three Wishes" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," then who cares what corporate names are flashed or how many manufactured "reveals" there are?

In these instances, we'll look away.

Anything not to look at the other freshman series tonight. It's brutal out there.

How else to explain Jennifer Love Hewitt in a rip-off of "Medium" called "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS? She talks to dead people. She also acts as if she's dead. And somebody clearly killed her hairstyle. None of that matters, however, as males and females, gays and straights, dogs and cats, grandparents, fish, etc., will only be able to stare at her breasts. No series in recent memory has put so much attention on a pair of breasts. It's laughably ridiculous. You can't escape them. Hewitt is in her nightgown half the time and then in shirts three sizes too small the other half. In one scene the strap of her shoulder bag prominently divides her breasts. If you can watch that scene without laughing, you're too desperate by half.

Oh, and the show is terrible.

Fox has a series set in San Francisco called "Killer Instinct." It used to be called "The Gate." It rivals "Ghost Whisperer" as the fall's worst series. Had they kept it "The Gate" and made it about our Web site (a Web site that killed people, of course) it might have been interesting. As it stands, you won't see any worse acting across the broadcast spectrum. The women-in-peril scenes are vile. The writing is atrocious. The series is horrifically bad. And not in a way that would make a good drinking game. Like Hewitt's breasts -- avoid at all costs.

A less heinous series but also a monumental waste of time, is "Inconceivable," an NBC drama about a fertility clinic. If, on a Friday night, you are truly desperate for drama, better to watch the second season finale of "Battlestar Galactica" on Sci-Fi. Even if you haven't watched all season, it stands out in this cosmos of lameness as a beacon of light. Next week when it's not on? Try "Numb3rs" on CBS. Infinitely better.

But if you watch "Inconceivable" you will be subjected to every cliche possible about getting pregnant, wanting to get pregnant, having trouble getting pregnant -- and the banal interaction between a series of doctors who talk about ethics more than you'll ever find necessary or interesting.

Flippant, yes. But it's flippant Friday. Forget three wishes -- we only have one for this night: Get better or get us a book.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/23/DDGMQERR8G1.DTL&type=tvradio

goman

09-23-05, 11:17 AM

Hi Fred.. Curb your Enthusiasm is not in HD according to HBO.com

fredfa

09-23-05, 11:36 AM

Thanks for catching the error, goman

fredfa

09-23-05, 11:59 AM

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

fredfa

09-23-05, 12:10 PM

TONIGHT’S TV PREMIERES
”Three Wishes”? For one, kill these shows

With premieres like these, you might want to make it a Blockbuster night

BY GLENN GARVIN Miami Herald

All I have to say after yet another hurricane near-miss is: Come back, Rita! I beseech you, come back, and bring that round-the-clock TV coverage with you! Anything to save us from tonight's prime-time lineup.

In some weird conspiracy by the networks, three of the worst shows of the new season have been packed onto a single night, proving that mere nature is no match for humans (well, OK, television executives, semi-humans) in creating catastrophes.

Both CBS' supernatural drama Ghost Whisperer and NBC's reality show Three Wishes try to distract you from their essential awfulness by manipulating the daylights out of you.

In the case of Ghost Whisperer, in which Jennifer Love Hewitt plays a newlywed antique dealer who sees whiny, demanding ghosts, that involves building the pilot episode around the restless spirit of a soldier missing in action in Vietnam for nearly 40 years, searching for a son born two months after his death. If Samuel Johnson had seen this, he would have said that patriotism is the last refuge of crummy TV writers. As for me, I was reminded of a line from a miserable undead character in An American Werewolf In London: ``Have you ever talked to a corpse? It's boring.''

Three Wishes is not so much boring as disgusting. How disgusting? Worse than anything the contestants on Fear Factor have to eat.

Orphans, mutilated accident victims and terminal leukemia patients come to tearfully grovel in front of pop singer Amy Grant, as sickening violins swell on the soundtrack like the Hollywood Strings in Hell. The lucky ones get their wishes (always with a plug for some corporation and its smiley-face CEO) and the rest crawl off to die decorously off-camera. I'll give the show credit; it did make me think what I would ask if granted three wishes. Interestingly, all three involved the flesh of Amy Grant being devoured by rabid weasels.

Next to Three Wishes, Killer Instinct may seem like Playhouse 90, but don't be fooled. The thing's a mess that's already been renamed twice and reformatted once. Oh, and don't get too attached to Marguerite Moreau, tonight's co-star -- she was unceremoniously fired after the first episode. The other co-star, Johnny Messner (The O.C.), is still around, at least until mid-October or so when Fox puts Killer Instinct out of its misery.

Killer Instinct, if you must know, is about a San Francisco police unit that investigates the city's sickest, most perverted killers. The villain of the first episode is a Berkeley entomologist who uses poisonous Egyptian spiders to paralyze young girls before he rapes and kills them. After I mentioned that in The Herald's fall TV preview, I got a call from a horrified University of California official asking if I was serious. Alas, the answer is yes.

That brings us to what, on an evening like this, passes for the saving grace, NBC's Inconceivable. Though if you've ever considered artificial insemination or fertility drugs, you might not want to watch Inconceivable, the Animal House of fertility clinics. Sperm donations get switched! White people have black babies! The staffers inseminate one another in determinedly non-artificial ways!

Nonetheless, a strong cast -- notably including Ming-Na of ER as the clinic's boss and Jonathan Cake of Empire as her slithery partner -- breathes life into what might otherwise be just one more tepid medical drama. Even so, nothing in Inconceivable is as fascinating as the in-utero photography that runs behind the opening credits -- eggs and zygotes and fetuses, drifting peacefully through a silent world, more mysterious and wonderful than any TV show.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/television/12709935.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-23-05, 12:25 PM

'SNL' Slate Unveiled

By Joel Meyer bcbeat.com

Steve Carell (of The Office)and musical guest Kanye West will kick off this season of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 1. This will be the show's first season in HD.

Other guests include:
Oct. 8: Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder; musical guest TBA

Oct. 22: Catherine Zeta-Jones; musical guest Franz Ferdinand

Oct. 29: Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong; musical guest, Sheryl Crow (Armstrong's fiancee)

Featured players Bill Hader and Andy Samberg will debut this season. Hader is a Second City Los Angeles vet. Samberg is an alum of three writer-performer-filmmakers dubbed "The Lonely Island" showcased on Channel 101.com.

http://www.bcbeat.com/

fredfa

09-23-05, 12:33 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
CBS' 'Whisperer' goes bump in the nighties

** out of five

Bill Goodykoontz The Arizona Republic Sept. 23, 2005 12:00 AM

Jennifer Love Hewitt sees dead people.

And viewers see a lot of Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Actually, Melinda Gordon, the character Hewitt plays in the new CBS drama Ghost Whisperer, sees ghosts. If this sounds suspiciously like Medium, the NBC drama in which Patricia Arquette plays Phoenix psychic Allison DuBois (and for which she just won an Emmy), well, yeah. On its face it's a lot like that. But Allison uses her gifts to solve crimes. Melinda helps spirits cross over, or whatever it is they have to do to rest in peace.

Also, she wears a lot of nighties and shows a lot more cleavage than Allison.

I know how that sounds. That's considered off-limits stuff, not to be talked about in polite company, immaterial to the show, sexist, all that. And, generally speaking, I agree.

Not this time. Hewitt's chest is practically its own character, either by accident or design. (I know which I'm guessing.) To not talk about it is to ignore one of the more notable parts of the show. Certainly it makes more of an impression than her husband (David Conrad), a self-doubting paramedic, does. The nighties make some sense, because Melinda sometimes sees ghosts at night. But the backpack with dual straps that cross in the front? Some costume designer is going to win an Emmy for that.

The trouble with seeing dead people, of course, is convincing all the people who don't see them that you aren't crazy. In the first episode, for instance, Melinda has to convince the son of a missing Vietnam veteran that his father has contacted her to check up on him, to let him know he's proud of him, that kind of thing. Naturally the son is suspicious. Naturally Melinda convinces him otherwise. Naturally there are plenty of tears shed all around.

Naturally it's bad.

Naturally it'll be a big hit.

Hewitt, alas, isn't much of an actress, but she tears up as well as anyone, and is at least aiming for an earnestness that some might find winning. And if that fails, there's always the nightie to fall back on.

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/print.php?*********http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0923goody0923.html

fredfa

09-23-05, 01:06 PM

Thursday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the fourth night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have now been posted near the top of Latest News the first item in this thread.

fredfa

09-23-05, 01:28 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”: Surprisingly Good

Jennifer sees dead people

*** 1/2 out of four

BY DOUG ELFMAN CHICAGO SUN-TIMES TELEVISION CRITIC September 23, 2005

I can't believe how effective "Ghost Whisperer" is. How can a sentimental show with such a stupid name and an unbelievable premise be this good?

Part of "Ghost Whisperer" 8 PM ET/PT is even reminiscent of one of the funniest "Saturday Night Live" sketches ever, the one when Christopher Walken played "The Trivial Psychic" and told a guy his immediate future:

"You're gonna treat yourself to a vanilla ice cream. You're gonna eat it too fast. You're gonna get an ice-cream headache. It's gonna hurt. Real bad."

In "Ghost Whisperer," Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) sees dead people who sometimes divulge to her trivial things from the great hereafter, and they want her to pass these little statements on to their living loved ones. One ghost wants Melinda to tell her widower where a key is -- small change from the cosmic unknown.

But that's the light comic relief. The heft of the show is concerned with far heavier emotional appeals. In tonight's premiere, a Vietnam soldier (Wentworth Miller) stumbles back into his sleepy town, where Melinda lives. He's a disoriented soul who doesn't know what's become of his pregnant wife. He wants Melinda to talk to his son for him.

If you think that's sappy, it's nothing compared to the schmaltz of the ending. Truly, it's as if the Whoopi Goldberg parts of "Ghost," when she tells a crying Demi Moore about her dead husband, were replicated a few times every week in a TV show.

It's good, though. Ever since I first watched "Ghost Whisperer" two months ago, I've wondered what makes this potential disaster work. I have answers.

But first, it's important to ignore that self-satirical title. Some people didn't want to watch "Cop Rock" years ago based on the sheer name of it. And as great as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was (best show of all time), it took years for me to convince my sister and some friends to give it a chance, because the title threw them off.

What is special about "Ghost Whisperer" is the way it gets everything else right -- casting, acting, writing, directing, pacing, music, you name it. Hewitt has really settled into her groove. She's funny when she tells the widower where the safe-deposit key is. She's dead-on convincing in scenes of quiet crying and words of encouragement.

I should disclose I don't buy the idea that ghosts walk the earth. But I don't believe in vampires, either, or UFOs. None of that matters when good fiction builds a little home in itself, when it creates a self-contained world so fully that it suspends disbelief.

"Ghost Whisperer" is created by experienced TV director John Gray and based on the lives of so-called "mediums" James Van Praagh and Mary Ann Winkowski. I can't imagine I'd have much use for their "paranormal investigators" in real life.

I'm also not sure how sensible it is for Hewitt's character, a newlywed and antiquities shopkeeper, to go around telling people she's spoken with apparitions of their family members. Hearing that would freak me out.

But it gets to me when Melinda, as a little girl in the beginning of "Ghost Whisperer," tells a widow what her dead husband has on his mind: "Tell her I want her to keep on having a glass of champagne every Friday night. ... And tell her to never feel alone."

That may look silly in print to some of you, but the scene is shot with a genuine and understated sweetness. The underlying principle is it satiates what many people would like to believe: There is an afterlife, and our dead beloveds are doing well. It's a pie-in-the-sky scenario that everything will work out in the end.

That's quite the rosy prospect to pitch in a TV landscape that see-saws between "inspirational" shows ("Three Wishes," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition") and ironic shows that make fun of such earnest and heartfelt work ("The Daily Show," everything on MTV).

In other words, "Ghost Whisperer" is ripe for being made fun of. Oh, yes, I see ... I see ... a parody of "Ghost Whisperer" in "Saturday Night Live's" future. But I'm still gonna watch it every now and then.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-elf23.html

keenan

09-23-05, 01:34 PM

fredfa

09-23-05, 01:38 PM

If a network orders 13 episodes, it is (by my understanding, at least) usually on the hook for them.

Of course since the studio wants to keep producing programs for the network some financial arrangements can often be made.

fredfa

09-23-05, 02:04 PM

slocko

09-23-05, 02:32 PM

Prison Break is my new favorite series. I like the pace of it. Reminds me of 24.

Favorite comedies are Chris and Earl. I'll give the edge to Chris because I relate a little better to it.

Surface and Invasion look interesting but not gung-ho over them.

I am waiting to watch Commander and Ering.

So these 7 shows are the only ones I'm going to try this season. Based on the descriptions these are the ones that caught my fancy.

slocko

09-23-05, 02:33 PM

By the way, I think UPN did a great job of the HD on Chris.

bgall

09-23-05, 02:47 PM

The Season’s First Casualty - Head Cases

Wow 2 episodes for a can is pretty wierd. Maybe the show aired something that pissed off fox?

clapple

09-23-05, 02:53 PM

It was just stupid!

fredfa

09-23-05, 04:38 PM

It's ratings the first week were pretty poor, and they declined by almost 50% the second week.

Hence the axe.

fredfa

09-23-05, 04:46 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
Creepy, sappy, slimy: Networks scraping for Friday fare

By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

The big networks have already given up on Saturday nights, tossing reruns and not-so-hot movies up on the screen every week. With the junk they're premiering this season on Fridays, it looks as if another TV night is headed down the tubes.

The best acting in tonight's four debuts comes on Fox's Killer Instinct (at 9), by would-be starlets who must lie very, very still while big, black, furry spiders crawl all over them.

There's no acting at all among the lucky ducks granted Three Wishes in the new NBC reality show (at 9) that's an orgy of product placement and tears of joy.

Ghost Whisperer (CBS at 8) hopes to be another tearfest, aptly led by Jennifer Love Hewitt. Another TV critic has already called her "damp," and when somebody else gets it so right, there's no shame in borrowing.

Last and least, the appropriately named Inconceivable (NBC at 10), about unpleasant people fooling with fluids at a fertility clinic. If Hewitt is damp, Inconceivable, the worst new show this season, is clammy and fetid.

TV crime shows are escalating in their mistreatment of women, but tonight's arachnid-o-rama on Killer Instinct adds new bite to the trend, as a depraved fiend lets his not-so-little friends loose in the apartment of a sleeping lovely.

Once they've bitten her a few times, he comes in, outfitted in a black hood, de rigueur fashion for today's stylish serial rapist/killer, and does his dirty work with the wide-eyed, paralyzed woman, before the slow-acting spider venom finishes her off.

Hey, it's Friday night. You've had a few beers. It's not the least diverting thing you can watch. Oh, wait a minute - lots of kids stay up and watch TV on Friday nights.

And kids won't sit still a minute for the sappy Three Wishes, in which songbird Amy Grant and her assistants, a cute gal and two handsome studs, hit town, find some emotive people in distress, and answer their prayers.

Tonight, in Sonora, Calif. (population: 4,500), a little girl severely injured in a car wreck gets reconstructive surgery and the most luxurious playhouse you ever saw; a loving stepdad gets a new truck and legal approval to adopt the stepson who idolizes him; and the high school gets a $1 million football field, the dearest wish of the cheerleading coach who's suffering from cancer. Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi.

Produced by reality mini-mogul Andrew Glassman - you remember, the screaming reporter from WCAU (Channel 10) - Three Wishes could be a hit among people who see it as kind-hearted and sweet and not cynically exploitive. Without being paid to watch, this mean old critic wouldn't have left it on five minutes, but, in the confessional spirit that permeates this show, has to admit to an occasional welling of the tear ducts.

Hewitt promises viewers plenty of tears as the ghost whisperer helps spirits complete their emotional work on this mortal coil before moving on to the next plane. Unfortunately, CBS could not extend the same courtesy to Joan of Arcadia, unceremoniously dumped from this spot. I'm sure Hewitt is a perfectly nice young woman, but I hate her for heading this dim-bulb junk as Joan's replacement.

And somewhere there's a wonderfully emotional series about all the people who can't have children the natural way and go through agonies and triumphs on the path to parenthood. Inconceivable, a slimy soap opera, isn't it.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12717471.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

keenan

09-23-05, 04:51 PM

OK, I have been posting (and will post more) TV critics reviews of the (mostly) new programs in network prime time. I hope they have been helpful in your viewing -- and reording -- of the new programs.

Now it is your turn.

What has been your favorite new show this season and why?

And what has been your least favorite, and why?

(You can post a comment now, and later when you see more premieres, feel free to add a new comment.)
Of the shows that I have watched,

Thumbs up, so far anyway, in no particular order,

Prison Break
Surface
My Name Is Earl
Invasion
Criminal Minds
Threshold
Reunion

Prison Break is probably my favorite so far, with Reunion being placed correctly in the list as far favorites would go. Threshold is questionable, the same goes for Invasion and Surface.

Thumbs down, again in no particular order,

How I Met Your Mother
Out Of Practice- Didn't even watch the whole show with both of these.

E-Ring-I'd be surprised if this one makes it past mid-season.
Bones
Head Cases

The big winners so far for me are Prison Break and My Name Is Earl. I like the big-screen look of Surface as well, very nice visuals. Bones is just to silly and poorly acted. Threshold to dark visually and not enough of Gugino. Peter Dinklage is probably my favorite character so far, he's had the best lines. Criminal Minds, Patinkin can be very good, but with one episode it's too early to tell. Reunion has an interesting concept.

I suspect I will like Commander In Chief as I like both the main actors, but we'll see.

fredfa

09-23-05, 04:54 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Three Wishes”
That's chari-tainment

By Matt Zoller Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Friday, September 23, 2005

IT DOESN'T MATTER what I think of "Three Wishes" (Fridays, 9 p.m. Channel 4), in which a group of do-gooders led by Christian pop star Amy Grant wanders America doing nice things for people, because the show is critic-proof.

This series has three objectives: To contrive amazing product placement opportunities for corporate sponsors, to use ham-handed editing and music to make you cry, and to serve up images of people being nice to each other. It achieves the third objective so completely that anyone who complains about the first two is sure to sound like a jerk.

Speaking in my official capacity as a jerk with a byline, I felt rooked by "Three Wishes." I don't doubt everyone involved has good intentions, but these noble ends are reached through suspect means.

In tonight's pilot, Grant and her fellow Samaritans visit a small town and grant the aforementioned three wishes. There's a young girl who used to be an athlete until a car accident crushed and disfigured her, a high school team with an ill coach who wants to install soft turf on the school's playing field to reduce injuries, and a young boy who wants to do something nice for his loving stepfather.

These predicaments are resolved in a series of feel-good climaxes that I won't spoil here, just in case anyone reading this is predisposed to like the show. But I will say that the Samaritans' gestures, while heartfelt, coincidentally offer dandy primetime showcases for three corporations: Ford, home mortgage giant Ameriquest, and a Canadian company called Field Turf Inc.

It's not the product placement that rankles; I'd rather see companies donate goods and services to "Three Wishes" than "The Apprentice" or "Survivor." And I admire NBC for agreeing to pay ongoing costs associated with the hosts' good deeds, including uninsured medical bills and property tax increases prompted by home improvements.

But I resent the "Morning in America" photography, the sappy "Dateline"-style piano music and the show's pathological eagerness to showcase every completed deed in a grand public unveiling, with tearful praise and triumphant applause for the corporate and network do-gooders. (To paraphrase Corinthians, charity vaunts not itself, is not puffed up and doth not behave unseemly.)

I also resent the implication that all this stuff is spontaneously happening on our screens without off-camera wrangling. Watching television presumes a certain willingness to overlook behind-the-scenes fussing with cameras, lights and microphones. But the suspension of disbelief required by "Three Wishes" is particularly troubling, because the show purports to be about nothing more than nice people doing nice things for folks in need.

Think about this while you watch the scene in which handyman Carter Oosterhouse, of "Trading Spaces" and NBC's "Today," goes to Canada to persuade Field Turf to kick in free materials. Here, as elsewhere, the show makes it seem as if the "Three Wishes" team just showed up with a camera crew and got a "yes," and Oosterhouse's narration pretty much says that's what happened.

But really, do you think the crew would have gone to Canada without negotiating a "yes" on the phone beforehand and persuading Field Turf's staffers to sign release forms agreeing to appear on camera? The company did a good deed for some kids who needed their help. Why insult our intelligence by pretending it was a snap decision?

"Three Wishes" is the old series "Queen for a Day" by way of a Frank Capra movie. The concept is as irresistible as newborn kittens. But the execution leaves a sour aftertaste, because it suggests we've grown so accustomed to TV's manipulations that we'll accept them no matter where they occur. This isn't charity, it's chari-tainment.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/11274534074710.xml&coll=1

fredfa

09-23-05, 04:55 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: FRIDAY
“Ghost Whisperer”

Dead on arrival

By Matt Zoller Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Friday, September 23, 2005

If, while watching "The Sixth Sense," you thought, "Hey, this would make a great TV show," you'll love "The Ghost Whisperer" (8 p.m., Channel 2), a new series in which Jennifer Love Hewitt plays newlywed Melinda Gordon, a woman who sees dead people.

Like most ghost stories, this one presumes that any dead person who can speak to the living is stuck in limbo due to some lingering unfinished business. Hewitt helps out by relaying cryptic messages to the dead person's survivors.

In a weird sop to the structural clichés of TV drama, which require a "serious" A-plot and more lighthearted B-plots, "Whisperer" asks Melinda to juggle more than one supernatural request at a time. Tonight's premiere finds her balancing the needs of a dead soldier (Wentworth Miller of "Prison Break") who never knew his infant son against more fleeting and trivial requests by other ghosts. This being a pilot, we also get spoonfuls of reductive back-story.

It's an earnest, handsomely produced, but rather dull show, and its therapy-influenced vision of the afterlife (once you solve your "issues," you can move on) makes the smart-aleck apparitions on "Six Feet Under" seem positively Shakespearean. I see an available timeslot.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/11274534074710.xml&coll=1

fredfa

09-23-05, 05:04 PM

I've still got a stack of TiVo'd new programs to wade through -- I've been too busy welcoming back some old favorites to watch many of the new arrivals.

But I thought whoever gave the go-ahead to "Head Cases" must be one. Horrible concept, two dislikeable leads, what was the point?

Of the sitcoms I've seen so far, I found "Kitchen Confidential" mildly amusing (so it'll stay in the TiVo Season Pass list at least a while longer); "My Name Is Earl" potentially very funny, and "Everybody Hates Chris" funniest of the lot.

I thought the writing in "Reunion" was pretty bad; I did want to like "Bones" but found the byplay between the leads pretty dismal so far.

I have yet to see most of the other new shows, but like you, Jim, I am looking forward to "Commander-in-Chief" as well as "The West Wing" which I thought was rejuvenated substantially last season. It will also be fascinating to see how "Law and Order:CI" works with, in effect, two separate casts. It has seemed to me to completely revolve around the quirks of D'Onofrio, how Noth will fit in will be interesting to watch. I hope.

fredfa

09-23-05, 05:12 PM

Flat Feet

By John Eggerton bdblog.com

After last night's low-rated dance-off, ABC needs to face the music.

Dancing with the Stars was most likely a summer fling. The reality show paired stars with professional dancers in a dance-off. O'Hurley and partner Charlotte Jorgensen became crowd favorites but lost a close final to Kelly Monaco of ABC's General Hospital and partner Alec Mazo.

Blogs were filled with irate O'Hurley fans crying foul ("ABC was just hyping General Hospital," they fumed), prompting ABC to hold a dance-off and try to capitalize on the show's popularity by scheduling it against big-time premieres on the competition.

It didn't work, either because viewers had lost interest in the show, or more likely because they had a greater interest in CSI and Apprentice and other season debuts.

It was a surprise hit, carried by the arches and arched eyebrow of John O'Hurley (Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld), who approached the competition with a straight, and determined, face.

But it is the perfect fare for a summer night of generally low viewing.

ABC plans to bring the show back in January. I would wait for summer, but I am a lowly scribe/editor. Nothing against Tom Bergeron (who is very good), but if ABC proceeds, I would try to lock up O'Hurley as host.

http://www.bcbeat.com/

keenan

09-23-05, 05:19 PM

I have yet to see most of the other new shows, but like you, Jim, I am looking forward to "Commander-in-Chief" as well as "The West Wing" which I thought was rejuvenated substantially last season. It will also be fascinating to see how "Law and Order:CI" works with, in effect, two separate casts. It has seemed to me to completely revolve around the quirks of D'Onofrio, how Noth will fit in will be interesting to watch. I hope.
Ditto on West Wing and L&O:CI, I think D'Onofrio is great. I was just picking out of the new shows.

I'm giving Reunion a chance although I agree about the writing, it just feels like a FOX show for some reason, I'm not really sure how to explain that, but if I hadn't known what network it was on, I would have picked FOX.

While we're at it here, IMO, CSI once again sets the gold standard for PQ. I don't know what's going on with CSI:Miami but there seems to be some soft filtering and/or coloring going on...

fredfa

09-23-05, 05:30 PM

I agree, CSI is a marvel for PQ -- and has been for years.

I think the CSI:Miami filtering has something to do with giving the show its tropical texture. The aerial Miami shots are always featuring pasetls of various hues and are stunning.
They tried with a gritty blue-gray look on CSI:NY but that didn't work at all, and they switched mid season to a brighter look and this year is supposed to be even brighter, yet.

One thing Bruckheimer critics seem to miss is that in all his shows, the personal relationships are an important underpinning to the weekly procedural storyline. And whether it be the CSIs, or Cold Case or Without A Trace those relationships are central to the stories.

It seems to me a lot of procedural wannabes seem to forget that if we can't relate to the characters, we aren't likely to care about the show.

keenan

09-23-05, 05:55 PM

It seems to me a lot of procedural wannabes seem to forget that if we can't relate to the characters, we aren't likely to care about the show.
Agreed, whereas characters in CSI seem real, they are cartoonish in a show like Bones.

fredfa

09-23-05, 06:01 PM

You and I seem to be on the same page, Jim. I am not sure which of us should be worried by that! :)

fredfa

09-23-05, 06:07 PM

Rita Information sources

Totally off any TV or HD topic, but the folks at bcblog.com have noted that Lost Remote.com has posted a control panel of links to live video streams, blogs and other Hurricane Rita-related resources. If you care to, bookmark it:

http://www.lostremote.com/archives/006089.html

(And saying a prayer for those in Rita’s path might be worthwhile endeavor, too.)

For updated tracking and other news, there is the old standby:

drudgereport.com

fredfa

09-23-05, 07:14 PM

At the prodding of some of you, and with the help of CPanther95, I've made some changes to the top post in the thread.

It had become rather unwieldy to keep updated, not to mention for you to wade through.

So to make finding the information you want easier, I've divided that massive top post into four distinct (and much more compact) posts.

Check them out and let me know what you think.

fredfa

09-24-05, 12:27 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS:
Forget new series; let's pick up where our beloved shows left off

By Diana Holloway Austin American-Statesman

Yeah, yeah. New series are a big deal. Lots of ads, buzz and celebrity hype precede the premieres.

But truth be told, more people care about what's going to happen on "Lost" than give a hoot about the umpteenth new drama on CBS.

We're already invested in the election on "The West Wing" and the new neighbors on "Desperate Housewives." We were glued to cliffhangers in May; we're ready for the resolutions.

The long summer of reruns and no-shows is over, so here, in chronological order, is a taste of remains on some of the most eagerly anticipated network series.

"Desperate Housewives" (Sunday, ABC) — At the end of the season opener, Alfre Woodard's character reveals something "shocking" about herself and her son, played by Austinite Mehcad Brooks. More bizarre developments will involve the housewives, and yes, Bree's husband really is dead.

"The West Wing" (Sunday, NBC) — NBC executives tried to downplay the foregone conclusion that Jimmy Smits' Democratic contender Matt Santos will beat Republican Arnold Vinick, played by Alan Alda. Smart money's still on Smits, but maybe Leo, Santos' vice presidential choice, will die and Alda will step onto a bipartisan ticket. Janeane Garafolo joins the cast as Santos' press secretary.

"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (Sunday, NBC) — Only half the nervous ticks and twitches. Vincent D'Onofrio will be in only half this season's episodes. Chris Noth reprises his "Law & Order" role as Detective Mike Logan, paired with Annabella Sciorra for the other half. Kathryn Erbe soldiers on as D'Onofrio's partner.

"Boston Legal" (Tuesday, ABC) — Big changes in cast and direction. Rhona Mitra, Monica Potter and Lake Bell are gone; Julie Bowen has been added, and Candice Bergen will be full time. The dramedy will become more of a flat-out comedy.

"Veronica Mars" (Wednesday, UPN) — "Angel" alum Charisma Carpenter joins the cast as a "trophy wife," and Steve Guttenberg plays a mayoral candidate. New mysteries develop for our intrepid teen sleuth now that Lilly Kane's murder is solved (Lilly's ex-boyfriend's father did it).

"Without a Trace” (Thursday, CBS) Jack, Samantha and Danny go after a mercenary who escaped after killing a terrorist in Martin and Danny's custody. Martin is left bullet-ridden and near death. Oh, and Vivian survived her heart surgery.

"Alias" (Thursday, ABC) — Balthazar Getty joins the gang as an undercover agent, and Rachel Fox will play a CIA analyst. Greg Grunberg, who played Agent Eric Weiss, is gone, and if we are to believe the tabloids, Michael Vartan, who plays Vaughn, could be exiting, too. Jennifer Garner's real-life pregnancy will be hidden.

"Smallville" (Thursday, WB) — It's "The Dukes of Hazzard"! Well, not really, but Tom Wopat joins John Schneider for an episode, and "Buffy" favorite James Marsters (vampire Spike) will have multiple episodes as the villain Brainiac.

"24" (January, Fox) — We have no clue how Jack Bauer will return to action. But we do know that Sean Astin, Jean Smart, Connie Britton and Brady Corbet will join the cast. It's unclear who's gone — and whether they're, you know, gone gone.

http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/09/13tvcolumn.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild97=D0TIKHH2o5q0DNfAxA2f 7pC8UZ2t8b30ML7ekE0Lx7861RVtLCVG!-193000243&UrAuth=%60NXNUOaNXUbTTUWUXUTUZT[U\UWU_UVUZU%60U[UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

fredfa

09-24-05, 02:42 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
With the Secrets Revealed, 'Housewives' Turns to New Mysteries

By SEAN MITCHELL The New York Times September 24, 2005

LOS ANGELES - After a first season in which it attracted an estimated 24 million viewers every week, helped resuscitate ABC and won six Emmy Awards, "Desperate Housewives" resumes its crooked suburban soap opera on Sunday night.

A series that evoked comparisons with both "Peyton Place" and "American Beauty," "Desperate Housewives" concluded last season by solving the whodunit that drove its secrets-of-the-suburbs story lines - it was Mary Alice herself who, accidentally, killed Dierdre, Zach's drug-addicted birth mother, whose body was stored in the chest Paul had buried under the pool.

The creator and executive producer Marc Cherry is quick to respond to the notion that the show's momentum might be spent. "After we found out who shot J. R., 'Dallas' ran for 12 more years," he said in an interview, referring to the hit prime-time soap opera that was broadcast on CBS from 1978 to 1991.

Mr. Cherry sees a distinction between earlier shows like "Dallas," "Dynasty" and "Falcon Crest" and his own comedy-drama focusing on a small circle of 40-something women. "They don't really have a term for what our show is," Mr. Cherry said. "It's satire, some earnest drama, different tonalities. I loved 'Falcon Crest.' But those shows are straight ahead: rich people stabbing each other in the back. At its core, our show is about what it means to be a wife and mother. It's about the millions of women leading lives of quiet desperation."

"We've all bumped into Lynette," Mr. Cherry added, referring to the former advertising executive (played by the Emmy winner Felicity Huffman) whose struggle to run a household while supervising four unruly children pushed her into comic drug dependency and a dream of suicide. Lynette will face different challenges this season as she returns to the workforce while her husband takes over the house and children.

Mr. Cherry offered brief glimpses of what lies ahead for the other women of Wisteria Lane. Susan (Teri Hatcher), the divorcée with hand-eye coordination problems, he said, will watch nervously as her ex-husband starts a new romance. Bree (Marcia Cross), the ice queen of perfection who lost her husband to a suspicious heart attack, "will be learning to cope with life as a widow and moving closer to the truth" behind her spouse's demise. Edie (Nicollette Sheridan), the divorced, man-hunting real estate vamp, will also begin a new fling while spending more time with a never-before-seen 6-year-old son. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), the gold digger who jumped into bed with the teenage gardener and became pregnant, will be busy trying to get Carlos, her cuckolded husband and meal ticket, out of jail.

The mystery this season will be attached to the new character played by Alfre Woodard: Betty Applewhite, a concert pianist who arrived in the middle of the night with her 16-year-old son to rent a house on Wisteria Lane. In casting the highly respected Ms. Woodard, Mr. Cherry said, his intention was not specifically to bring in an African-American actress. "There's nothing strategically black about her character," he said. "Her color is incidental." In fact, two other actresses, both white, were first considered for the role, Mr. Cherry said, but were unable to come to terms with the producers.

"Then someone said, 'Alfre Woodard,' and I said, 'Yes!' just because I've always liked her in everything I've ever seen her in."

Ms. Woodard, a four-time Emmy winner, had a continuing role on "St. Elsewhere" and has appeared in films like "Grand Canyon," "Radio" and "Crooklyn," as well as onstage with the New York Shakespeare Festival. When Mr. Cherry called to offer her the part, he said, she admitted to him that she had never seen the show.

The show's omniscient narration from the grave, recalling a device used in the Oscar-winning 1999 film "American Beauty," will continue to be provided by Mary Alice (Brenda Strong).

He said there might also be an episode in which the focus, for a change, would be on the men of Wisteria Lane rather than the housewives. And he quashed the rumor that Rex (Steven Culp), Bree's dead husband, hadn't really died and might come back in a surprise plot twist. "Some people got that idea because of a shot of him that cut away before he finished writing Bree a note, but I thought it was clear" that he had died, he said.

Mr. Cherry will do less writing this season, after a year in which he consistently worked 12-hour days with only an occasional weekend off. He will supervise a staff of 11 writers, including four women. One of those writers is Julia Sweeney, a former "Saturday Night Live" cast member.

"On the set he hears everybody out," said James Denton, who plays the plumber Mike Delfino. "I've heard some actors have conversations with him I couldn't believe," Mr. Denton said, referring to requests for script changes, "and he'll listen politely and say he'll see what he can do. More often than not, he'll make a change to make an actor comfortable."

Mr. Cherry said he believed that he had brought special insight to his women characters because he is gay. "Women tend to open up to gay men," he said. "I've never written for men. I'm much more at home in the idiom of the female."

Ms. Huffman added, in an interview: "I don't know how a 42-year-old gay guy got into the mind-set of the mother I play on the show - before it really was in the zeitgeist, the true madness that is motherhood. But he did it, which is why I wanted to do the show."

When putting the finishing touches on scripts about life on Wisteria Lane, Mr. Cherry said, he always looked for a reliable marker. "I try to find the wicked," he said. "To me if something's wicked, it's sort of fun. I like it when my women are doing things they shouldn't."

How much more wicked might they be if the show were on HBO or another cable channel? Mr. Cherry said that was not much of a temptation. "I'm essentially a pretty conservative guy," he said. If "Desperate Housewives" were liberated from the network censors, he said, "I think mainly people would be smoking more."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/arts/television/24cher.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-24-05, 02:43 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
'Desperate Housewives' is beyond cloning

By MARK McGUIRE, Albany Times Union Staff writer

The Emmys should borrow from the NFL and institute instant replay. Then they could overturn the blown call that handed the best comedy statuette to "Everybody Loves Raymond."
OK, I'm done (for now) griping about how "Desperate Housewives" got jobbed Sunday night. We'll leave that mystery for the ages.

So here's another question: As "Desperate Housewives" kicks off its second season (9 p.m. Sunday, WTEN Ch. 10), where are the clones?

Many expected their promos to dot the networks' manicured lawns this fall. You know, The supernatural and suburbia collide on "Wysterious Lane," tonight on Fox!

What broadcast network wouldn't kill to reproduce an upscale comedy with dramatic elements that's firmly entrenched in the Top 5 after its rookie season? That appeals to women and TV critics of both genders?

Oh, sure, they tried. The pitches for new shows poured in after "Desperate Housewives" emerged as a critical, cultural and ratings hit. "Weeds," a Showtime drama about a pot-dealing mom, made it to cable. But on the broadcast side, none of the wannabes -- like "Soccer Moms" with Kristen Davis ("Sex and the City") and a project titled "Flyover States" -- were good enough to make the fall schedule.

The apparent formula for success appears on the surface: Draw over-the-top melodrama from soaps, mix liberally with jet-black humor. "Desperate Housewives" recalls the intricate ethos of "Twin Peaks" with the ratings power of "Dallas." That said, Kyle McLachlan and Larry Hagman never looked as good as the women and men of Wisteria Lane.

There it is: intrigue, murder, motherhood, hot actors and lots of sex -- preferably extramarital. Shake well, and you have a hit.

Easy, right?

Um, no.

ABC's other rookie hit, "Lost," spawned a pod of paranormal serials. So why couldn't television rivals body-snatch the "Desperate Housewives" magic?

Emmy nominee Teri Hatcher, who plays romantic-yet-clumsy divorcee Susan Mayer, said anyone trying to duplicate "Housewives" is doomed from the start -- unless they're willing to kidnap creator Marc Cherry.

"Ultimately, 'Desperate Housewives' worked because Marc went off and did it by himself," she said in July. "It wasn't developed at a network. He wasn't trying to repeat anything. It was an original, confident point of view that he had. That's why it worked."

Cast member Felicity Huffman once asked a network executive why "Lost" was spawning imitators while her show stood alone. His answer: " 'Lost' is easy to copy, because it's a genre. 'Desperate Housewives' is almost impossible to copy because it's a voice."

Huffman won the best comedy actress Emmy over Hatcher and Marcia Cross (who plays brittle Bree Van De Kamp) for her role as frazzled pill-popper Lynette Scavo. Huffman built her career working for playwright and filmmaker David Mamet and Aaron Sorkin ("Sports Night," "The West Wing"); she puts Cherry in their league.

"And my M.O. with brilliant writers is say the lines, in order, and don't (screw) them up," Huffman said, employing one of Mamet's favorite words.

When last we found ourselves on Wisteria Lane, Bree's husband Rex had been killed by his pharmacist, who used a lethal dose of heart medication. We discovered why narrator-from-beyond Mary Alice Young had committed suicide in the first episode: She was anguished after killing the long-lost biological mother of the child she was raising as her own. That child, messed-up teen Zach, had set off to kill Mike -- who may or may not be Zach's biological dad -- for killing Paul, the guy who Zach just thinks is his dad. But Zach's dad is not dead.

Would it be easier if I drew you a chart?

It turns out murder and kidnapping and baby-snatching make for great comedy. "I hope people start to use humor more in serialized shows," said Cherry, who is apparently missing the terrific slapstick of "24." "It's an underserved element of that genre, and it could be very advantageous."

Eva Longoria, who plays adulteress Gabrielle Solis, believes the success of the show can be chalked up to its place in a TV lineup stacked with cop procedures: "All the 'CSIs' and all the 'Law & Orders' -- everybody kind of got tired of that, and that's why ('Housewives') became such a hit." (Look for her interview on NBC's "Dateline," slated for 8 tonight on WNYT Ch. 13.)

The success of "Desperate Housewives" snuck up on the actors, the network and the industry at large. "Last year was a surprise," Huffman said. "You're kind of working in your bubble, you have eight in the can (before the premiere aired), and it becomes a phenomenon. This year, I know the expectations are high. People know it's important. People know it's good."

Alfre Woodard ("Radio") was introduced in the season finale as Betty Applewhite, a new arrival on Wisteria Lane who, like almost every character down to the house pets, has a big secret.

I'm in the dark myself right now. The network doesn't send out "Housewives" preview tapes. It can't be because it's worried somebody will copy the show.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=401880

fredfa

09-24-05, 02:44 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
“Desperate Housewives”
Not quite so desperate

By William Keck USA TODAY

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. —Ahhh ... That's not wisteria, but the sweet smell of love along Wisteria Lane, on the set of ABC's Desperate Housewives. It has made for some very happy ladies — and to the delight of all, a refreshingly happy Season 2 set, after reports of discord haunted the show in its freshman year.

The suburban cul-de-sac soap, last year's prime-time phenomenon, returns for its second season Sunday (9 p.m. ET/PT). It was the top-rated new series of last season, averaging 24 million viewers, — only a couple million behind TV's No. 1 show, CSI,each week — and is expected to do as well in its sophomore outing.

Housewives earned Emmy nominations for three of its stars — Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross — and turned all its "housewives," including Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan, into white-hot celebrities, culminating in a scathing May Vanity Fair story that detailed near-catfighting over a cover shoot.

"I think the first year was all a surprise and a shock for us," says an exuberant Huffman, calling from home the day after winning the Emmy for her role as back-to-work mom Lynette. "This year, having weathered that, we all went in knowing how to do it a little better." She celebrated her win Sunday by spending a romantic night with her husband, actor William H. Macy, in a posh suite at Beverly Hills' Peninsula Hotel.

That same sense of contentment is evident several days earlier in a visit to the Housewives set, where a relaxed Cross (Bree) flips through bridal catalogues in search of the perfect dress for her upcoming wedding to fiancé Tom Mahoney.

With her plans in high gear, it's looking likely that Cross will beat co-star Nicollette Sheridan (Edie) to the altar. Sheridan has been engaged for nine months to actor Nicklas Soderblom but won't discuss her plans.

Having privately finalized a divorce last season, Eva Longoria (Gabrielle) may likely be the next to accept a marriage proposal, from basketball star Tony Parker.

Bees in Hatcher's bustle

But it is Hatcher (Susan) — still a single mom in real life — who is running down the set's mythical Wisteria Lane looking every bit the bride in a flowing wedding gown for an upcoming scene, the details of which must remain secret. "This wouldn't be my personal choice of wedding dress, but I don't really have to worry about that for the time being, do I?" she kids.

Hatcher also has been doing a lot of crying and screaming today — and her puffy eyes bear evidence of the actress's ability to effortlessly cry on camera. The tears (of joy? sadness? hmmm ...) come from Hatcher in character, in an emotionally charged scene with James Denton (Mike), while the screams come from Hatcher herself during a break in filming.

Hatcher has discovered a wasp in the folds of her gown's beaded tulle — then a second wasp. Then a third. And a fourth. Having unwittingly become one big lily-white hive with chiffon underlay, Hatcher is freaking out. "Ahhhhhh ... get them off of me!" she squeals. "I hate bees. Ohmigod. Please. Pleassse get them off." Turns out Hatcher was stung when she was 8 years old at an Indiana gas station during a family road trip, and she still feels the sting.

Friends and crew rush to her assistance, shooing away the pesky insects, as Hatcher heads for safety inside Susan's now very recognizable yellow house. Suddenly realizing the absurdity of it all, she stops, looks back over her shoulder, and breaks out into laughter. "This is a very Susan moment, isn't it?" says Hatcher, who just days earlier discovered a lizard at home in her bedroom. "I try to claim that I'm not my character, but I really am."

Sitting on a bench on the front porch of Lynette's house, Denton smiles as he watches his leading lady pose for a photograph in the gown. "Doesn't she look absolutely gorgeous?" he asks. "It's like the cover of Bride magazine. Teri has an innate quality that people just pull for her; they want her to be happy."

But what about Susan and Mike? Will last season's breakout couple really marry? Series creator Marc Cherry confirms that there will be a wedding early in the new season but refuses to reveal the identity of the bride who'll actually make it down the aisle.

Cross ready for motherhood

Sitting in her trailer on the Universal Studios backlot, Cross can't hide her excitement, about both the new season and the personal happiness she has found off the set. Had she been told a year ago she'd be nominated for an Emmy and engaged, she'd never have believed it. "I would have bet all the money in my bank account against it," she says. "I still can't believe it's real. I think a lot of it has to do with my own growing up personally. I was ready for a good man and drew that into my life."

Cross would also very much like to become a mother. Cherry says he'd happily write a pregnancy into Bree's story line. But at 43, Cross believes it might be a wiser, safer option for her to adopt or hire a surrogate. Speaking frankly (Cross was studying to be a therapist before Housewives), she says that many new mothers in their 40s rely on donated eggs, at a costly price. "I don't like the average woman being misled into thinking that their fertility is something that goes on forever," she says. "One's own eggs only last so long, so whether I have my own or not, we'll see."

There is a stack of just-released Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season DVDs in Cross' trailer. In a concerted effort to maintain equality, each of the women (Hatcher, Cross, Longoria, Huffman and Sheridan) has been given spacious new trailers — "bigger than my first New York apartment," says Huffman — and stocked with Housewives DVDs, the new Housewives board game, coffee-table book and soundtrack.

And most telling: Each actress has been given five currently-on-the-stands fashion magazines that showcase five versions of Housewives' new "Juicy" print ad campaign. In the only slightly differing ads, each housewife gets to assume the coveted center position amongst a bed of blood-red apples. This luxury was not awarded them during last season's messy Vanity Fair cover shoot, in which Hatcher was featured prominently in a red bathing suit while Cross and Huffman were buried inside the cover's foldout.

Recognizing both the sensibility and humor behind the decision to produce five different ads, Longoria says, "If they'd done that last time, we never would have had a problem."

In one year, Longoria has gone from ex-soap star to hot property, landing numerous magazine covers, an upcoming movie with Michael Douglas (The Sentinel) and a sweet gig as the spokeswoman for L'Oréal cosmetics. Though she's always happy to lend her time for a cause, Longoria has decided she'll probably have to turn down an enticing offer to appear at a private bachelor party — even though she was being offered $100,000 for one night's work. "Tony (Parker, her boyfriend) asked me, 'Well, what would you have to do?' " she says, laughing outside her trailer.

Longoria a fan with fans of her own

As much a fan of celebrities as she is one herself, Longoria has just discovered some disturbing news while surfing the Internet, and is eager to share the gossip. "Did you hear that Renee (Zellweger) and Kevin (actually Kenny) Chesney broke up?" she asks. "I was checking my e-mail and this popped up on Google. I was like 'Oh, my God!' "

So can two stars — say, a popular TV actress and a star of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs — successfully make a marriage work? "Well, I'm divorced you know, and we eloped," Longoria says of her 2002-05 marriage to General Hospital actor Tyler Christopher. "Marriage is a serious, serious sacrament, and what I learned is that I didn't take it seriously enough. I was very selfish, and you really have to give 100% of yourself to someone else."

The past year, she says, has matured her greatly and she has once again found hope for a "fairy-tale ending" with Parker, her partner of nine months. "The minute I met Tony, I knew it was something special," she says. "He supports me in ways I've never felt supported. Whether I'm Mrs. Parker or just with Tony for the rest of my life, I'm fine."

When Longoria suffered an on-set head injury, Huffman says, medics on the scene tested her consciousness by repeatedly asking her, "Who's the love of your life?" Each time she adoringly responded, "Tonnyyy."

Shooting an exterior prison scene (Gabrielle's husband is serving hard time), Longoria's character shows no signs of her pregnancy yet, despite her exposed midriff. But Cherry has instructed the costume designers to begin padding Longoria in Episode 7.

"Eva wears size double zero in real life," says Cherry, "so we do a very funny scene where she'll freak out in a department store when it's suggested she wear a size zero."

"That's typical Gabrielle," Longoria says. "Marc has a very clever plan for this pregnancy. It's going to turn her world upside down."

With Gaby's husband, Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), imprisoned and her lawn boy lover, John (Jesse Metcalfe), heading out of town after the first three episodes, sparks may ignite with new character David Bradley (actor Adrian Pasdar of Profit and Judging Amy), an attorney she'll hire to free Carlos.

Cherry decided not to kill off Metcalfe's character so that he might someday revive John at "a very inopportune time" in Gaby's life. Someone else, however, will die within the first 13 episodes, he says.

Cherry just hopes it won't be him

"I have to worry about my health," says Cherry, reclining in the Solis house and nibbling on popcorn. "Last year was just exhausting. I was not good health wise. I just can't do that again." Working seven days a week, he estimates he took only 15 days off between August 2004 and May 2005, and contracted several viruses. "They'd have a doctor come to me, give me some stuff and I'd keep on writing. They kept me alive to keep this thing going."

To improve his health, Cherry has put plans for a Desperate Housewives spinoff, set in Fairview High School and titled Vicious Cheerleaders, on the back burner. He also has increased his writing staff by two to include former Saturday Night Live funny lady Julia Sweeney (the androgynous Pat), who will focus her talents on Hatcher's character.

But before he kills off anyone else, Cherry's first order of business is burying his last victim, Bree's husband, Rex Van De Kamp, played by a very disappointed Steven Culp. The actor gave up an hour of his time to pose for a life mask of his face, which will be seen in the premiere episode's open-casket scene.

Now playing a desperate widow, Cross worked with the show's hair and wardrobe people to help develop a new look for a new Bree. For at least the first six episodes, Bree will dress only in black or dark brown, her hair pulled back into a steel-trap bun. "When she comes out of mourning, will she go back to the flip?" Cross asks. "I don't know, but I think the hair's going to change to reflect her (growth)."

New faces at Rex's funeral include Rex's mother, Phyllis Van De Kamp (played by veteran actress Shirley Knight), whose relationship with Bree can be described as contentious. And seated at the organ will be the neighborhood's new piano teacher, Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), who was briefly introduced last season, along with her son Matthew (Mehcad Brooks).

"The whole reason why the Applewhites are here and what happened is all part of the new mystery," Cherry teases. "In the first episode, you just get a small taste of it. The situation they came from will be teased out over the first 10 or so episodes."

But the pressing mystery of the moment is Hatcher in that wedding dress.

Having slipped out of the gown, Hatcher is relaxing in the makeup trailer in a black robe and pink Uggs, with enormous purple curlers in her hair. The makeup man is applying witch hazel cold compresses to Hatcher's puffy post-crying eyes to bring down the swelling.

Though she can't reveal why Susan is in a wedding dress, Hatcher believes strongly in Mike and Susan's future as an enduring couple. "I think they symbolize hope," she says. "You can watch a pair of people go through ups and downs, and somehow you feel like if they can work it out, maybe you can, too."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-22-desperate-housewives-set_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA

fredfa

09-24-05, 02:48 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
HBO has two comedies to make you squirm

By MANUEL MENDOZA The Dallas Morning News

HBO has found the perfect companion for Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, returning Sunday night for its fifth season. The new show, Extras, is the latest project of The Office's Ricky Gervais, another comic actor-writer who, like Mr. David, can't help but make his audience squirm.

Extras is about the low-paid actors who fill in the background on movie and TV shoots in Great Britain, particularly period pieces in the vein of Merchant-Ivory and Masterpiece Theatre. As in The Office, Mr. Gervais plays a difficult chap, a frustrated wannabe who's reduced to stealing bits of screen time by creeping into the frame.

Like the fictional Larry David – an amplified version of the real thing, the creator of Seinfeld who employs Curb as a kind of sequel – Ricky's character, Andy Millman, is a narcissist with a temper as well as a reluctant sweet side.

Extras, a co-production with the BBC, is in the great tradition of HBO comedies dating back to The Larry Sanders Show. All the premium network's recent half hours, including the two shows that Extras and Curb take over for, Entourage and The Comeback, take place among show business types. Guest stars play themselves, lending veracity to the satire.

Extras' angle is to set high-profile actors loose in Andy's world of anger and resentment and make us wonder if they are really this jerky in real life. In the pilot, Kate Winslet savages her good-girl image with a potty mouth and cynicism. She's starring as a nun in a Holocaust film because playing survivors of the Nazis or "mentals," as Daniel Day-Lewis did in My Left Foot, is a quick route to an Oscar.

In another episode, Ben Stiller, directing a film based on the true story of a war hero, acts like an even bigger blowhard than you'd imagine him to be. What a sport.

Extras opens with what could become a memorable gambit: Think of Six Feet Under's template of death scenes. It looks like we're watching a British costume drama until the camera pulls back to reveal a set, the nattering Andy and his friend and fellow extra Maggie (Ashley Jensen).

Stephen Merchant, who with Mr. Gervais created Extras and The Office (now also an American series with Steve Carell in Mr. Gervais' role), stars as Andy's lazy, idiotic agent.

To their credit, they don't repeat themselves. Andy isn't as clueless or free of redeeming qualities as David Brent in The Office, though his denial of reality is similar. But he knows he's a poser even as he tries to make everyone forget it.

Extras is more melancholy than the surreal Office. The humor is dry and sophisticated, with only occasional wackiness. Mr. Gervais has cited comedy teams such as Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello as inspirations, and Extras uses language similarly, to be both smart and obtuse.

Mr. Gervais has a confessional riff near the end of the premiere that's a one-man "Who's on first?" He twists himself into a knot trying to explain a lie and you have to feel bad for him.

Ego is also at the center of Curb Your Enthusiasm, though the improvised show is not as directly concerned with show business and Larry is less easy to forgive. The season starts typically. Larry gets into a half-dozen arguments as he rediscovers his Jewish roots and finally has a sandwich named after him at Leo's deli.

"Why did it have to be whitefish?" Obviously, so Larry could complain to his show-biz friends Ted Danson and Richard Lewis. Rosie O'Donnell, Dustin Hoffman, and Hugh Hefner also make cameos this season.

Just as he broke ground with Seinfeld's bizarrely intersecting story lines, Mr. David has devised a comedy of discomfort with Curb . Often the laughs don't come until the last 10 minutes of the show when his relentless style has worn down your defenses and the setups begin to pay off.

The second episode looks like it's going to be strained to the point of silliness when those same qualities reach such a crescendo that there's no denying its goofy brilliance. In this case, it's a conspiracy of lesbians, bow ties and a racist dog.

"I do not consciously ever try to make anybody squirm," Mr. David says in an interview. "I had no idea I could possibly have that effect on people."

Is he kidding?

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/entertainment/stories/092405dnenthbo.21c5b079.html

fredfa

09-24-05, 03:36 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
“Grey’s Anatomy”

By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-GazetteFriday, September 23, 2005

ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" returns for its second year, and I can see how it's improved since the pilot that I didn't like that much. The characters are better developed and they've bonded more cohesively.

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) reels from learning Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) is married, Cristina (Sandra Oh) reveals her pregnancy to co-workers, and George (T.R. Knight) becomes a source of information for the recovering Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.).

Realistically diverse cast aside, "Grey's Anatomy" remains a soapy lightweight among TV medical dramas, but I can see its appeal beyond simply benefiting from a "Desperate Housewives" lead-in.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05266/576231.stm

fredfa

09-24-05, 03:36 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEW: SUNDAY
“Grey’s Anatomy”
ABC hit is definitely not a textbook medical show

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

Wouldn't you know it -- only minutes after Meredith Grey boarded the Bainbridge Island ferry, she snagged a boy's affections. Neville, perhaps the vessel's most popular guy, smiles at Ellen Pompeo, the actress who portrays Grey in ABC's hit medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy." Then he immediately invites her to check out his abs.

"Someone wants to be an actor!" Pompeo says with a laugh, and then in her sweetest coo says, "What a cute boy. Are you sure you're not a pig? Because you look like a ham sandwich."

A weird pickup line, but it works. Neville, a bomb-sniffing dog for the Washington State Patrol, begins wriggling more passionately, hoping for a belly rub. But Pompeo declines with a sigh. "I can't touch him. I'm allergic, I'll get hives. Which would be bad for the shot."

Evidently the woman has more sense than the character she portrays. Lying down with a dog of the two-legged variety, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), is what got poor Meredith in trouble last spring.

Not that audiences minded her mistake. Nowadays when people approach her on the street, she said, "Everybody wants to know what it's like to kiss Patrick Dempsey."

Naturally we had to ask. "You know, it's absolutely terrible, and I'm sick of it," she said with a playful grin. "And I'm sure his wife is sick of hearing me explain it."

Surely Mrs. Dempsey understands that curiosity has helped relaunch her husband's career? Over its first nine episodes, "Grey's Anatomy" became more than the meeting of "ER" and "Scrubs." The drama explored the perils of emotional intimacy among co-workers and friends, sailing on the power of sex appeal and clever banter instead of explosive emergencies and inflated drama.

Seattle Grace Hospital's latest intern class laid bare their fears of failure, commitment phobias and sex lives, taking full advantage of that "Desperate Housewives" afterglow. When it returns for a full 22-episode second season Sunday at 10 on KOMO/4, it's reasonable to expect it to open even bigger.

"Grey's Anatomy" premiered at the end of March; by May, it had finished the 2004-2005 season in ninth place. Local loyalty proved even stronger. Seattle viewers made it first place in its Sunday 10 o'clock timeslot, second for the night behind "Desperate Housewives."

More than 22 million viewers watched the season finale, when the writers took Derek and Meredith's fairy tale romance, the charged core of the series, and smashed it to pieces.

With the detached demeanor of a surgeon telling a family their loved one didn't make it, Shepherd apologized to Meredith and, as an unidentified woman strolled up, introduced her as his wife.

Roll the credits onscreen, cue the screams of disbelief in living rooms.

Back on the boat last Friday, Dempsey, the actor behind once beloved, now hated Dr. Shepherd, stares across Elliott Bay, seduced by the scenery.

"I hope the show runs for five years, so I can retire and find a place to raise my kid that's sane and safe," he bluntly admits. "It's about quality of life."

Dempsey may get his wish -- and grant one to Seattle women still sighing at the memory of him in "Can't Buy Me Love." Derek Shepherd may eclipse that past role, and not necessarily in a good way.

"People were mad at me all summer!" he said. "I went from being loved to just hated in 24 hours. An old lady came up to me in the airport, and she said, 'I cannot believe you. I will never watch the show again!' I was like, 'I did not write this, OK? Please have faith.' Because it wasn't supposed to end there."

As for how it ends, Dempsey doesn't reveal anything beyond saying, "We don't get back together for a while. I don't know if we'll ever get back together."

He doesn't consider that a minus. "There's a lot of conflict this year. Dreamy is nice, but (Shepherd's) a little more beat up this year. Which is good, it's much more interesting. Last year he was this mythic creature that didn't really exist. Now he's a little more human."

In the same way the writers fleshed out Shepherd, director and co-executive producer Peter Horton hopes to make the series capture Seattle more realistically. He deserves credit for even caring. Few series really bother to be true to their purported hometowns, and that's especially true of shows set in Seattle. Even "Frasier" relied almost exclusively on name-dropping locations and the fictional view from his condo, although cast visited Seattle to commemorate its 100th episode.

The difference with "Grey's" is that Horton hails from Bellevue and saw an opportunity to show off the region he loves. This season we'll see characters engaged in heavy conversation on a pier, strolling downtown and chatting on a balcony at Fisher Plaza, the stand-in for Seattle Grace. Mount Si, North Bend and Queen Anne, all places that Horton says feel specific to Seattle, will guest star at some point. (Friday's ferry scenes should show up around Thanksgiving.)

"There have been films shot up here that have certainly exploited (Seattle scenery), and 'Northern Exposure' was shot up here and 'Twin Peaks,' " Horton said. "But for a hospital show, especially with this tone, it's so much more about the beauty of Seattle than it is about the scary woods or the creepiness of Mount Si, or, you know, the more twisted Seattle. ... That's one of the great things about being up here. It's not just the Space Needle. There are a lot of markers that are specific to the city."

That showed during Friday's ferry trip, as Horton rushed around the deck with a smile on his face. First he placed shots that captured the skyline in the background, then filmed aerial takes from a helicopter circling the vessel as Dempsey sternly walked past extras and smiling passengers hidden behind smoky glass again, and again, and again. A lot of television, he explained, is about the "hurry up and wait."

From his point of view, there are worse places he could be doing that than a ferry on Puget Sound.

"We need to spend more time here," Dempsey said. "If the show is about personal relationships, we need to expand that and show what their relationship is to the city. I'm certainly lobbying for that. I'm falling in love with the city, and I want to spend more time up here. ... There's nothing that makes you feel like Seattle in Burbank."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/241344_tv20.html

keenan

09-24-05, 05:29 AM

Of the shows that I have watched,

Thumbs up, so far anyway, in no particular order,

Prison Break
Surface
My Name Is Earl
Invasion
Criminal Minds
Threshold
Reunion

Prison Break is probably my favorite so far, with Reunion being placed correctly in the list as far favorites would go. Threshold is questionable, the same goes for Invasion and Surface.

Thumbs down, again in no particular order,

How I Met Your Mother
Out Of Practice- Didn't even watch the whole show with both of these.

E-Ring-I'd be surprised if this one makes it past mid-season.
Bones
Head Cases

Adding Killer Instinct to the thumbs down list, wow, this one is really bad. Terrible acting, terrible story and terrible production...the dialog level was awful and the main character's voice is too low, the dialog almost seemed dubbed in, and Fords, Fords and more Fords..I'm surprised there wasn't a Ford logo on the motorcycle..

Ghost Whisperer is but a whisper away from the thumbs down list as well. Very nice production, nice picture and sound, but story wise..I don't know how you could get any closer to being a clone of Medium without it being straight-out plagiarism.

I do like the addition of Diane Farr to Numbers, she was a standout in Rescue Me and I think she will be a far more interesting character than the female agent she replaced. Not so sure about the linkage of the math with the crimes though, that is going to have to be given some stronger connections I think.

keenan

09-24-05, 05:32 AM

fredfa

09-24-05, 11:25 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
'Extras' offers more than the usual

Ricky Gervais moves from "The Office" to a sitcom about actors that succeeds with its eye for detail and feelings

By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 24, 2005

"Extras," which premieres Sunday on HBO, is Ricky Gervais' follow-up to "The Office," the BBC series that made him famous and, I suppose, rich. The series, which focuses on the world of the uncredited many who fill the background and corners of a moving picture, is at once more modest and more ambitious than its predecessor; more focused on detail and yet more expansive. It is also excruciatingly funny, with an emphasis on excruciating.

Gervais plays Andy Millman, a man in his early 40s who, five years before the show opens, has quit work to try to make it as an actor, in all of which time he has not emerged from the background, or even spoken a line of dialogue — at least not one that anyone has heard.

(It does not help that he has the world's worst agent — played by Stephen Merchant, Gervais' writing and directing partner on "The Office" and "Extras" — who, in trying to explain why he's never landed Andy a job, offers, "I've got a feeling it may be your shape; if you insist on remaining a blob could you at least get a tan?") It's never discussed why Andy has taken this step, or why he thinks he might make a career of it, and there is no back story. He is clearly related to David Brent, the creepy boss with show-biz ambitions Gervais played in "The Office," and with whom he shares a certain energy and repertoire of facial expressions. But he is smarter — better-informed about the world, and not only more aware of himself but aware of other people, which means that he is also kinder. But because he is also socially inept, his kindness can often turn cruel.

As in "The Larry Sanders Show" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," two obvious influences on "The Office" and "Extras," the series features appearances, and not just cameo appearances, by celebrities playing themselves: Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart, along with British soap opera star Ross Kemp and game show host Les Dennis, most of them seriously subverting their public image. Stewart is especially hilarious describing a film, which consists mostly of women losing their clothes. Winslet offers instruction on how to talk dirty on the telephone.

Unlike "The Office," in which there were tensions and story lines that begged for resolution, there is little obvious movement in "Extras," no great story arc: At first, as we visit Andy and his slightly dim best friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen) on one movie set or another, it seems the show is merely about Andy's attempt to get someone to give him a line. But the six-part series, which gets stronger as it goes along, ends in a way that brings everything that preceded it into a new focus. You realize you've been watching a portrait of a friendship, the friendship between Andy and Maggie, which will — thank heaven — not blossom into love, though both are lost and lonely. Jensen's performance is astonishingly deep and true — you can hardly believe it's on a sitcom.

But the series itself is deeper than you expect. Unlike most, if not all, American TV shows, "Extras" accepts sadness as a condition of life, not a transitory effect to be obliterated in a fourth-act blizzard of good feelings, but something that can only be kept at bay. That awareness is what pushes it toward greatness.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-extras24sep24,0,6399503,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

09-24-05, 11:34 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
'Extras'
Gervais seeks fame out of the 'Office'

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Saturday, September 24, 2005

HBO half-hour shows are prone to star worship, and one can't be faulted for getting a little sick of that. Sure, rolling with the buzz-worthy "Entourage" became addictive summer fun in its second season. But "The Comeback" didn't quite live up to its name; HBO announced earlier this week that it won't be rising for a second season. And how many viewers even remember "Unscripted"?

With that track record, you have to wonder what chance HBO expects of its new series "Extras," which rolls at 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

The title says it all. It's a comedy about those nameless background faces that rarely get credited. Ergo, another series about showbiz nobodies clawing their way into becoming somebody, with cameos by the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller and Patrick Stewart.

When the main no-name is Ricky Gervais, however, discerning viewers know "Extras" is worth a look with or without those other stars.

Gervais, the wonderful comic actor and writer who made BBC's "The Office," is worth your time regardless of who he surrounds himself with. In "Extras," a co-production of HBO and the BBC, Gervais and his writing partner, Stephen Merchant, lampoon the thankless pursuit of, if not stardom, then whatever glory wipes off on a person by the simple act of being in a film.

This would be ... none. In fact, it's the opposite case -- being an extra actually deflates a person's self-esteem like nothing else. Pudgy, middle-age and no part of dashing, Gervais' aspiring actor Andy Millman quits his day job to work as a full-time extra. When he's not begging for lines from anyone he thinks has the power to give him one, he's nervously stammering his way into disaster.

Yet Andy firmly believes that he has what it takes to make the jump from wage slave to superstar, based on seeing the likes of the "EastEnders" star Ross Kemp and athlete-turned-actor Vinnie Jones enjoy cinematic success. Kemp is soft around the middle too, Andy rationalizes to himself, and Jones isn't exactly Cary Grant.

But Andy's running in the shadows of an actor's hell. He's never actually gotten a line, in a film or on a stage. It's not as if he has a guide. His idiot agent (Merchant), more hindrance than help, actually discourages Andy from going on and barely gets him work in the first place.

Andy's only solaces are in the fact that he has written a sitcom script, and in his friendship with fellow extra Maggie (Ashley Jensen), a sweet dimwit still somewhat frozen in adolescence.

Beneath the preposterous humor, Gervais and Merchant are skilled in making even the most odious figures soulful, even sympathetic when need be. That's certainly more in play here than in the initial episodes of their previous series.

Where "The Office's" David Brent falsely believed everyone loved him, Andy is desperate for even one portion of his face to get some screen time. This is not to say the stars make their lives look all that great either; every one exudes varying degrees of shallow self-delusion.

Next week Andy appears in a drama directed by Stiller, who hams it up as a spoiled, insecure egomaniac. Sunday Andy plays a Nazi in a World War II film in which Winslet stars as a nun. In their downtime she gives phone sex tips to Maggie -- while still wearing a robe and wimple, mind you -- and turns out to be a little too candid in other ways as well.

"I think you doing this is so commendable, you know," Andy said in full brown-nose mode, "using your profile to keep the message alive about the Holocaust."

"My god, I'm not really doing it for that," Winslet says with a grin. "I don't think we really need another film about the Holocaust, do we? It's like, how many have there been? We get it! It was grim! Move on! No, I'm doing it because I've noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust? Guaranteed Oscar. I've been nominated for four. Never won!"

Although speeches like these don't exactly sell the glamorous life, Andy refuses to refer to himself as an extra. When anyone asks, he calls himself a "background artist," insisting he's an actor. At the same time, Maggie's desperately hunting for a husband in each of her movie gigs, but either aims too high or says the wrong thing when she finally gets them where she wants them. For example, the moment she wins the attention of a handsome black actor, she proceeds to make herself look like the world's worst racist, especially by trying to be culturally sensitive.

Foot-in-mouth plague has ravaged England in "Extras." Everyone's a chronic babbler, which creates social quagmires out of already horrific decision-making skills. Between this comedy and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which begins its fifth season Sunday at 10, HBO has created an hour of uproariously uncomfortable television.

The second half of that hour is very British, coasting on quiet pauses, subtle digs and ironic discomfort -- a bonus for some, a strong negative for many.

It's hard to see "Extras" becoming a tremendous hit for HBO. Most American viewers don't appreciate that brand of humor as much as we critics would have you believe, or else Gervais' original series, not the remake, would have escaped the outer reaches of cable on BBC America and run on a channel with a wider reach.

Since there are only six episodes of "Extras," it's easy not to fret about its longevity. Instead, concentrate on the success Gervais and Merchant achieve in that short time frame. Enjoy the way it makes a joke of the sausage-making, sideshow aspect of the business, and give it a round of applause for putting the schlubs in the spotlight for once.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/242022_tv24.html

fredfa

09-24-05, 11:43 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
The meaning of life according to David

Verne Gay Newsday TV Columnist

So many plaudits have been piled on Larry David over the years that any further elaboration on the eve of "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" fifth season (HBO, Sunday, 10 p.m.) is pointless, except perhaps to Larry. Yes, he's a comic genius. Yes, "Curb" was - and defiantly remains - the funniest show on television. Yes, he may well be the one true heir to Jack Benny and Oliver Hardy, who also made high art out of the act of chasing one's tail before chopping it off.

But just before the season premiere, there must be something new to report, or something that at least adds new understanding (or any understanding) to Larry's World, as seen in the 40 preceding episodes and the 10 that will make up the fifth?

Perhaps this is it: The fifth could be the last season and, just allowing for the full realization of that to soak in, this might help explain why the forthcoming 10 episodes could also be a Dostoyevskian journey into the recesses of Larry's tormented soul. Only 10 little episodes to explain the meaning of his life, and what if - as seems patently apparent to his fans - there is no meaning?

We're not making this up, and anybody who knows David usually seems to get around to the same point. In a recent interview on TVguide.com, for example, David's pal (and show semiregular) Richard Lewis said, "I've had trouble sleeping since we wrapped [in June]. ... This [season] is a potpourri of such Larry David darkness that it touches every aspect of his warped brain. It's almost like he had a Jewish opium dream."

Now, after hearing that, consider also the words of Jeff Garlin, "Curb's" masterful executive producer (who also plays Larry's endlessly tolerant manager, Jeff Greene): "Without giving anything away, the theme throughout the fifth [season] is dark," he said, in a recent phone conversation.

To be sure, darkness is not exactly visible in the season opener Sunday night, although some of the enduring themes explored in the first three episodes include death, the meaning of God and whether or not the Tooth Fairy exists.

Otherwise, Larry's life seems pretty much the same (sort of). Sunday night, we open on a gorgeous - that is to say, typical - Southern California day, with Larry floating far out in the Pacific; he seems at peace under the blue sky, with the gentle swells rolling beneath him when, suddenly ... a rogue wave breaks, and he's pulled into the black water, tossed and turned, like some human sock in the wash cycle.

When he finally pulls himself to shore, he has undergone a spiritual conversion (sort of). At a cocktail party later, he tells people of his ordeal: "I'm drowning! I'm gonna die! And I'm not religious at all, but I said, 'God help me,' and I'm deposited right on the beach. I went swimming that day for some reason, something drew me to the water, like a baby drawn to the nipple, or an adult drawn to the nipple." His manager's acerbic wife (Susie Essman) observes: "Maybe you'll start to be more respectful to people."

That remains to be seen, although Larry does make an effort to go to temple for the High Holy Days. He buys tickets from a scalper, who tells him, "Do I have great seats? ... The cantor will practically be spitting all over you." Meanwhile, the proprietor of Leo's Delicatessen, has named a sandwich after our hero. The Larry David is comprised of whitefish, sablefish, cream cheese, capers and onions. "Disgusting," judges the honoree.

Same glorious inanity as ever, so why end now? "What if you were told," Garlin says to a reporter, "to write the same story on the same subject - corn - and, by the way, subscriptions to the paper went through the roof. People just love this story you're doing about corn. Then they ask you, 'Why have you stopped writing about corn?' 'Because,' you say, 'I want to write about roses.'

"I don't think he knows" where he goes from here, Garlin says. "Until something hits him, whether writing a book or movie, or being in a movie, he wants to play golf, and be with his family. He's blessed that way."

David declined to comment, so we're just going to have to take his trusted friend's word on this. In the meantime, catch the fifth season, which - as always - is brilliant and you'll just have to take our word on that.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etledew4436730sep23,0,3001187,print.column?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

09-24-05, 11:53 AM

Friday’s network prime-time ratings have posted at the top of RATINGS NEWS the second post in this thread.

fredfa

09-24-05, 04:57 PM

It’s Still Early, But NBC’s In BIG Trouble
Viewers shift away from NBC, with UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" beating out "Joey."

By Meg James Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Not so long ago, such a feat would have been unthinkable: the underdog UPN television network beating the mighty NBC in a crucial Thursday night slot.

But that happened this week as the premiere of UPN's Chris Rock-inspired sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris" surpassed NBC's "Joey" on Thursday at 8. In head-to-head competition, the UPN show averaged 7.8 million viewers, while the first half of an hourlong "Joey" mustered 7.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Friday.
More troubling for NBC, its entire Thursday night lineup — once so unstoppable that the network dubbed it "Must-See TV" — suffered steep declines from last year. Ratings for "The Apprentice," with Donald Trump, dropped 42% from the same week a year ago, and "ER," entering its 12th season, slid 35% among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic most important to advertisers.

" 'Must-See TV' has become musty TV," said Shari Anne Brill, director of programming for Carat USA, an ad-buying firm.

The shift in the network's prime-time fortunes Thursday night is noteworthy because that programming block used to bring in 40% of NBC's overall revenue. Thursday has long been the most lucrative night in television because Hollywood movie studios, automakers and retailers will pay premium rates for commercial time to influence weekend spending.

NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker declined to comment for this article. So did Kevin Reilly, NBC's president of entertainment.

To be sure, it is only the first week of the 2005-06 TV season and viewers might return to familiar patterns after they sample new shows. Television experts say it usually takes at least three weeks of ratings data to draw meaningful conclusions.

Moreover, among the six major networks, NBC, owned by General Electric Co., finished Thursday night No. 2 to the dominant CBS, owned by Viacom Inc., which also owns UPN. NBC averaged 2 million more viewers than third-place Walt Disney Co.'s ABC.

Still, many analysts were watching the direction of the trend, not just the raw numbers.

"This is such the business of perception," said Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, director of national broadcast for Chicago-based Starcom USA. "It's not that NBC doesn't have shows that people want to watch or buy time in. It's just that people are comparing NBC's current performance to its past dominance."

NBC's "Must-See TV" is part of television history.

The network unveiled the slogan in 1994, when it was flying high with its Thursday lineup of "Mad About You," "Wings," "Seinfeld," "Frasier" and the final season of "L.A. Law." That's when profit from Thursday night was greater than from the six other nights of the week combined, according to executives who were then at NBC. That fall, it added "Friends" and "ER" to Thursdays.

But last season, CBS surged past NBC to become the Thursday night ratings champ. NBC fell from first to fourth place among 18-to-49-year-olds after its workhorses "Friends" and "Frasier" ended their long runs. Industry executives say NBC failed to plant the seeds of a new generation of hits.

Since 2000, NBC has launched only a few hits, including "Fear Factor," "Las Vegas" and "The Apprentice." More recently, its tent-pole programs "The West Wing," "Will & Grace" and even the original "Law & Order" have shown signs of wear.

"Their Thursday night supremacy was ripe for the taking," said Carat's Brill.

NBC got a wake-up call in June, when advertisers refused to pay higher rates after NBC's prime-time ratings had dropped 17% last season. NBC took in nearly $1 billion less in prime-time commitments from advertisers than it did the year before.

Since then, NBC executives have scrambled to get more new shows ready to air this season, calling TV studios and top agents to solicit material. The network has 10 mid-season shows in development.

Last week, top NBC executives from Burbank flew to New York to brief GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt on their strategy to improve the network's performance and discuss those mid-season shows.

NBC executives have been nervous about the new season, which got off to an encouraging start Monday. NBC surpassed expectations for its new something's-in-the-water drama "Surface" and won Tuesday night with its quirky new comedy "My Name Is Earl" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Then came Wednesday, which ABC dominated with the return of its Emmy-winning drama "Lost." NBC executives, who had spent about $10 million to promote "My Name Is Earl," braced for the results of Viacom's $12-million marketing push for "Everybody Hates Chris." When the ratings came in Friday, it was hard not to think of the e-mail that Reilly sent last week to his staff. Headlined "The Fall Season," it was upbeat but guarded.

"We have a lot to be proud of," said the e-mail, first published on the Defamer website. "While our challenges remain and our work will more than likely be portrayed negatively in the coming weeks, I think we all know in our hearts that things are sparking at NBC."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Less-seen TV?

NBC's audience shrank Thursday night compared with a year before

Average number of viewers (In millions)

(Percentage of people watching TV at the time)

"ER"
Sept. 23, 2004: 19.7 (25%)
Sept. 22, 2005: 14.4 (16%) (72% of 2004 Viewers)

"The Apprentice"
Sept. 23, 2004: 15.9 (20%)
Sept. 22, 2005: 9.9 (11%) (62% of 2004 Viewers)

"Joey"
Sept. 23, 2004: 14.9 (20%)
Sept. 22, 2005: 7.8 (9%) (52% of 2004 Viewers)
Source: NBC

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-fi-nbc24sep24,0,5887312.story?coll=cl-tv-top-right

fredfa

09-24-05, 05:58 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
”Extra” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

Gervais' brings something extra special to "Extra"

By Tom Jicha South Florida Sun-Sentinel TV and Radio Writer September 24 2005

A comedy set in show business. A British cast. This can't be TV; it must be HBO. Extras is the latest series to fit into these boxes. However, except for the fact that it would be nice for HBO to try a conceptual change of pace, Extras has a lot going for it. Well, it has Ricky Gervais going for it, which is a lot. On an entertainment-value scale where Larry Sanders is a 10, Curb Your Enthusiasm is a 9, Entourage is a 71/2 and the finally-it's-been-put-out-of-our-misery Comeback is a 0, Extras -- thanks to Gervais -- would be a 6.

(Actually, it's a 53/4 rounded off; a quarter-point had to be deducted because the lightning-fast British-accented dialogue is a challenge to keep up with.)

Gervais is still somewhat of a cult phenomenon in the United States, since his world-class comedy The Office -- the original British version -- is available only on BBC America (and DVD). It is long overdue that his brilliance as a creator and actor be exposed to a wider audience. Extras, a co-production between HBO and the BBC, provides this showcase.

Gervais plays a pathetic wannabe, Andy Millman, who has forsaken more mundane pursuits in the quixotic hope of becoming a film star. The closest he has gotten is work as an extra -- he prefers to call it "background artist" -- in which he often has to settle for one of his limbs showing up on the screen. A face shot is nirvana. He will grovel like a condemned man seeking mercy for a spoken line.

Nevertheless, he carries himself around movie sets as if he were Russell Crowe. To build himself up in the eyes of others, he invents credits and brags of nonexistent relationships with stars, embellishments that frequently backfire into humiliation.

He's the type of character Gervais has savored since childhood. "My favorites as a kid were Groucho Marx and Bilko [played by Phil Silvers] and things like that. Their influence is coming through with Andy Millman. He's a wisecracker. But like all of them, he wisecracks in the face of adversity and his life's not quite going to plan."

Gervais and writing partner Stephen Merchant also are huge fans of American TV. "Myself and Stephen think the American TV industry is the best and most exciting in the world. It's come up with our top 100 programs," he said. "All my favorite sitcoms have been American. The Simpsons, if that counts as a sitcom, is the greatest TV show ever."

Andy has a kindred spirit in Maggie Jacobs, an extra more accepting of her station in the business. Maggie's goals are more oriented toward getting a real-life romantic role than a major film credit. Her relationship with Andy, however, is platonic, a status neither seems inclined to change. Ashley Jensen is ideally low key as the wallflower Maggie.

Gervais is so revered in the business he was able to attract names like Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller to contribute daring guest shots as themselves to Extras. Winslet plays the star of a Holocaust movie in which Andy has a walk-on. She took the role, she confides to Andy, because these type movies are a shortcut to an Oscar.

Stiller plays himself as a tyrannical director, totally taken with himself and his box-office grosses.

It's extras such as this, along with Gervais' superb characterization, that give Extras the potential to be extra special.

More Enthusiasm

HBO is giving Extras the strongest companion and lead-in it can, this side of The Sopranos. Curb Your Enthusiasm returns for its sixth season at 10 p.m. Sunday with a storyline that could become a problem only for Larry David.

A deli he frequents honors him by naming a sandwich after him. Problem is, Larry isn't enamored of the fixings. In the process of scheming to have the stuffing changed, he comes to question his lineage, a storyline that apparently will recur throughout the season.

Comedy might be in a comatose state elsewhere, but it is alive and well on HBO on Sunday nights.

http://www.southflorida.com/movies/sfl-tvtjextrassep24,0,5549063,print.column?coll=sfe-tv-headlines

fredfa

09-24-05, 06:11 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEEK TWO
Female president creates new TV promise

By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Television Critic

Ten comedies, 19 dramas, 29 new shows on the six broadcast networks. Are you
ready for some more television as the premieres continue this week?

Like most new TV seasons, this one brings the good, the bad and everything in between.

The good: The sitcom is back in a big way, with four smart new comedies
providing real laughs. And on the serious side, there's finally a female
president of the United States.

The bad: The excitement generated by last fall's innovative dramas didn't
translate to a second crop of creative shows. Instead, the new schedule is
strangely loaded with alien-invasion thrillers and other scare-fests, including
a new batch of dark, violent crime-themed hours.

The in between: Dull dramas and silly comedies may inspire viewers to wonder
briefly, "How does this junk get on the air?" - right before they go away.

Last Monday marked the beginning of the networks' official premiere week, although
some series (notably on Fox, which has baseball playoffs looming) sneaked onto
the air early. By the first week in October, all will have arrived, and some
may have already departed.

Here are capsule reviews – and grades -- for this week’s three new fall shows

"Commander in Chief"
9 PM ET/PT Tuesdays on ABC
Geena Davis is the vice president who refuses to be brushed aside when the time
comes to assume the office of president in an involving and intelligent drama
with overtones (including occasional lapses into sappiness) of the early "West
Wing." Oscar winner Davis, who can seem too big for the small screen, is
perfectly sized here, and the supporting cast (Kyle Secor as her husband, Harry
Lennix and Ever Carridine as her aides) is rich and interesting. Grade: A-

"Sex, Love & Secrets"
9 PM ET/PT Tuesdays on UPN
Denise Richards is the big name in a silly soap about gorgeous, self-absorbed
young people. Ick. Grade: D+

"Night Stalker"
9 PM ET/PT Thursdays on ABC
Bring back Darren McGavin - Stewart Townsend is the weakest link in a barely
watchable new spin on the "Kolchak" series from the 1970s. He plays an arrogant
reporter investigating gory crimes with supernatural overtones. Grade: D

Here are the premiere dates for both new and returning series on the six
broadcast networks this week. (New shows in red.)

SUNDAY
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy,"
ABC; "Cold Case," CBS; "The West Wing," "Law & Order: CI," "Crossing Jordan,"
NBC; "Charmed," "Blue Collar TV," WB.

TUESDAY
"Commander in Chief, [/B][/COLOR]" "Boston Legal," ABC; "Amazing Race: Family
Edition," CBS; "Sex, Love & Secrets," UPN.

WEDNESDAY
"George Lopez," ABC; "CSI: NY," CBS; "Veronica Mars," UPN .

THURSDAY
"Night Stalker," "Alias," ABC; "Without a Trace," CBS; "Will &
Grace," NBC; "Smallville," "Everwood," WB.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/tvradio/story/599BA263D55722C28625707D00326403?OpenDocument

fredfa

09-24-05, 06:31 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
Serious couch potatoes may want to get two TiVos for Sunday night.

An 'Extras'-Special Prime Time Awaits Us Sunday

By Walt Belcher Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - There's trouble brewing for the Democratic presidential candidate on "The West Wing." Alfre Woodard joins the ladies of Wisteria Lane. Things heat up in the operating room on "Grey's Anatomy." And HBO debuts one of the best comedies of the season.

The first week of the 2005-06 season finds tonight's prime time lineup crowded with the debuts of nine returning series on broadcast TV -- plus the CBS Sunday movie returns with "Martha Stewart: Behind Bars."

Cybil Shepherd is scary accurate in her deadpan portrayal of Martha's fall and rise.

The returning shows include "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Cold Case," "The West Wing," "Charmed," "Desperate Housewives," "Law & Order Criminal Intent," "Blue Collar TV," "Crossing Jordan" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Fox already debuted its Sunday lineup over the past two weeks.

Compared to last season, there are few changes on Sunday nights. "American Dreams" is gone, canceled by NBC and replaced by "The West Wing."

Also, Fox has moved "Malcolm in the Middle" to Fridays and "Arrested Development" to Mondays. The only new series on Sunday nights is Fox's dreadful dysfunctional family comedy "The War at Home," which will disappear soon if there's any justice in the world.

ABC's sizzling comedy soap, "Desperate Housewives," is expected to retain its buzz and high ratings -- even though it didn't win the Emmy for best comedy.

But the best thing on tonight could be HBO's "Extras," a sly satire from Ricky Gervais, co-creator and star of the British version of "The Office."

On "Extras," debuting at 10:30, Gervais plays a bitter, middle-aged aspiring actor who after five years as an extra hasn't got a line. He works in the background trying to steal scenes. He's stuck with a slacker for an agent. His goal is to get a speaking part. Meanwhile, the goal of his fellow extra, Maggie, is to sleep with someone on each project.

Each episode has a different setting and features cameos by top Hollywood stars, including Kate Winslet, Patrick Stewart and Ben Stiller.

Gervais says his character is a lying, scheming misanthrope and the series continues the themes explored in "The Office": desperation, self-delusion, ego and men as boys. Each episode has a slow start that builds to a humiliating climax for Gervais' hapless character.

It's a perfect fit with Larry David's acerbic "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which returns at 10 tonight for a new season.

New Twists As 'Housewives' Returns

"Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry says to look for more serious and sinister stories this season, but there will still be plenty of twisted humor.

Wisteria Lane gets a new family, the Applewhites. Betty Applewhite (Woodard) is a former concert pianist with a handsome son (Mehcad Brooks), an apparently absent husband and a "jaw-dropper" of a secret.

The show opens with a funeral for Rex, the departed husband of Bree (Marcia Cross). Bree's mother-in-law (guest star Shirley Knight) will give her fits. Meanwhile, Lynette (Emmy winner Felicity Huffman) goes back to work for the boss from hell (Joely Fisher) while her hubby stays home with the unruly kids.

And Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), feeling guilty about her unfaithfulness, dutifully begins visiting her husband in jail. She also will get a new lawyer, who will develop a crush on her.

Mike (James Denton) arrives home to find unstable teen Zach (Cody Kasch) holding Susan (Teri Hatcher) hostage and must find a way to rescue them both.

Messy Politics In Presidential Race

In what many consider the last hurrah for NBC's "The West Wing," the series will undergo dramatic changes this season as President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) exits the White House. Sheen will appear only in a handful of episodes of the show's seventh season.

Janeane Garofalo will guest star as a controversial media strategist for three episodes. Her character will be director of communications for Democratic congressman and presidential candidate Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits).

Stories early in this season will focus on the race between Santos and Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).

Noth Returns To 'Law & Order'

Olivia D'Abo ("The Wonder Years") returns to guest star on NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" tonight as the infamous Nicole Wallace, Detective Goren's (Vincent D'Onofrio) murdering nemesis.

But the big news is that Chris Noth (who appeared on the original "Law & Order" from 1990-95) is coming back as Detective Mike Logan. He will be teamed with actress Annabella Sciorra as Detective Carolyn Barek for 11 of the 22 episodes this season.

Creator Dick Wolf says he wanted to shake things up this season, and D'Onofrio says he wanted more time off. "Criminal Intent" lost some ratings last season opposite "Housewives."

Anatomy Lessons

"Grey's Anatomy" was such a surprise hit when it got a tryout as a midseason show that it displaced "Boston Legal," which debuts at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Following "Desperate Housewives," this medical-romance drama is popular with female viewers and has rekindled the career of Patrick Dempsey, who was a geeky teen in 1980s films such as "Can't Buy Me Love."

It also has made a star out of newcomer Ellen Pompeo, the actress who portrays Dr. Meredith Grey, an intern and daughter of a renowned surgeon. Unlike other medical series that focus on fighting illness, this one follows the personal lives of interns at a Seattle hospital.

Young doctor Grey has been sharing her anatomy with the chief resident, Dr. Shepherd (Dempsey), in an almost fairy-tale romance. All that came crashing down in the season finale when a Mrs. Shepherd showed up.

"All summer long women have turned on me, asking how could I do that to Meredith," Dempsey said at an ABC fall preview party this summer in Hollywood. "I went from hero to bad guy in one episode. But I say 'keep watching.' It may work out. I don't know. I don't write it."

The Rest

* * On CBS' "Cold Case," a newcomer joins the cast. Sarah Brown, who won three daytime Emmys playing a villainess on "General Hospital," is Josie Sutton, a new detective with a scandalous past who will be trained by Detective Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris).

* * There's a new teen witch on The WB's "Charmed," played by Kaley Cuoco of "8 Simple Rules."

* * The big surprise about The WB's "Blue Collar TV" is that there is a second season. Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy return for more of the dumbest skits this side of "Hee Haw."

* * NBC's "Crossing Jordan" opens for a fifth season with Henry Winkler in charge (is he on every series this season?). But we all know Jordan (Jill Hennessey) is really in charge.

* * On PBS, "Mystery!" launches a new British import, "Foyle's War III," about a crime solver on the home front in England during World War II.

http://info.mgnetwork.com/printthispage.cgi?url=http%3A//walttv.tbo.com/walttv/MGBWJDHF0EE.html&oaspagename=www.tbo.com/walttv/story.htm&image=tbologo80x60.jpg

fredfa

09-25-05, 02:33 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
“The West Wing”

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

Longtime fans of ``West Wing'' may find themselves wondering, ``Where'd everybody go?'' Now in its seventh year, the show will morph this season from a White House drama about Josiah Bartlet's administration to one about the election to replace him. The focus will be on candidates Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and the returning characters (such as Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman) who have hooked on to their campaigns. And that could leave some fan faves out in the cold. For example, Stockard Channing and Richard Schiff say they're in only three episodes. One thing for sure: President Bartlet will exit around mid-season as a new president takes over.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12731057.htm

fredfa

09-25-05, 02:38 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
`Curb Your Enthusiasm,' `Extras'
Top-Notch Offerings From HBO Are Edgy, Lots Of Fun

By ROGER CATLIN Hartford Courant TV Critic

Routinely excluded from Emmy consideration as best comedies, the fresh offerings from HBO probably deserve their own category.

The two top-notch comedies that begin their seasons Sunday - Ricky Gervais' "Extras" and the fifth season of Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" - both traffic in the kind of edgy, often uncomfortable arenas where squirms come as often as laughs, where the occasionally acutely inappropriate actions of the show stars point to deeper fissures and failures in society.

Gervais came to fame creating and starring in "The Office" for the BBC, featuring the antics of an oafish, clueless boss; he's executive producer on a U.S. version that's slowly gaining viewers on NBC in its second season.

Now he stars as a slightly more clued-in loser, a middle-age would-be actor who instead spends his days in costume as an extra on films, using his frequent down time to pester stars for a single line that will lead to a career break.

Leaving the mock-documentary format of his earlier show, "Extras" is almost lavish by comparison with its glossy finish and name guest stars, often poking fun at their own personas.

For Sunday's premiere, for example, it's Kate Winslet, dressed as a nun for a World War II film, callously commenting that a Holocaust film is the sure path to an Oscar win. Most of the time she suggests the kind of lines Gervais' friend can use during phone sex - a weird juxtaposition because of the nun's habit, the high class actress or both.

Gervais' character, Andy Millman, for his part, pretends to be Catholic as a way to make time with another extra on the set and to not appear at odds with her sister, who has cerebral palsy. His secret comes out, painfully, in their first date in a parish basement and "Extras" succeeds in fearlessly tackling both religion and society's unease around the afflicted, or at least Andy's unease.

More often, Gervais' comedies point out discomfort with race or sexual orientation, by having characters often going overboard to prove there is no discomfort. It happens over and over in a ways that's both funny and painfully true.

"Extras" is solid in part because Gervais shares the spotlight with a great comic actress. Ashley Jensen plays Andy's friend and fellow extra Maggie Jacobs, who is as lost in her way as he is in his, but less upset about it. Mostly, she's more interested in shagging the cutest guy on the set rather than advance her career. Though there's evidence she's even more dense than Andy, her sunny nature and real affection for her friend makes her a good pal.

With his gangly incompetence, it's clear the funny Stephen Merchant was the model for the comic foil Gareth Keenan, played in "The Office" by Mackenzie Crook. As co-creator of both "The Office" and "Extras" with Gervais, Merchant hasn't gotten half the recognition heretofore but should come into his part as Andy's completely ineffectual agent.

As if to set it apart from the low-budget look of "The Office," "Extras" almost always begins with a lavish, realistic looking scene from whatever project is supposedly being shot that week. Only when Gervais leans too far into the shot in order to get some face time from the background does the real action begin, hanging around between shots, queuing up for food or killing time by trying to compare credits with his nemesis Greg (played by Shaun Pye).

"Extras" gets a jolt from the guests like Ben Stiller sending up his image as director of a Serbian war story, who quotes his receipts from "Dodgeball" to get respect of his cast. Patrick Stewart is a gracious star, but has odd ideas of what elements make for a good screenplay. Samuel L. Jackson has to withstand compliments from people who think he starred in the "Matrix" movies.

Because it's a co-production with the BBC, some of the stars are simply not as well known stateside, and an episode next month featuring a game-show personality there, Les Dennis, is the darkest and least successful of the first half dozen shows.

It bounces back, though, when Andy's screenplay "about an old boss I used to have" is picked up as a sitcom at the BBC - if he can get along with a gay co-writer with which he is assigned.

The pitch scene is reminiscent of the one from "Seinfeld," whose co-creator continues to forge great comedy in the fifth season start of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

It starts Sunday without a hitch, although it may be time to invest in a permanent set: this is the fourth different house David and his fictional wife have lived in during the course of the series.

But there's a lot of ground to cover. In the first episode alone, a lot of moral questions come up: If a restaurant names a sandwich after you, do you have to like the sandwich? Should you never answer the phone during sex? When you carpool with another couple for an event should you always give them a ride home too? Should you cross a kid who you blamed for spilling your coffee?

Like W.C. Fields, David works badly with kids. In fact, both he and Gervais could be seen as 21st century equivalents of Fields mantle - misfits socially at odds with their surroundings with hilarious results.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-extras.artsep23,0,3756398,print.story?coll=hce-headlines-tv-top

fredfa

09-25-05, 10:52 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
“ Extras”
Do we really care this much about show business? HBO seems to think so.
But the network's fourth series based on the entertainment world, offers little new or interesting.

By CHASE SQUIRES St. Petersburg Times TV columnist September 25, 2005

Even HBO chairman Chris Albrecht admitted it at a presentation this summer: HBO has a lot of shows about show business.

Then he unveiled his premium cable network's newest series, Extras, a story of life behind the scenes for showbiz extras. It launches tonight, along with the return of Curb Your Enthusiasm, a show about showbiz.

But Albrecht is so sure of Extras, starring English comedic actor Ricky Gervais (star of the British, and original, version of The Office) that HBO has renewed the series for another season before the first episode even airs.

So HBO now has Curb, Extras, The Comeback and Entourage.

Showbiz folk must think they live spectacularly interesting lives.

"Celebrity and the obsession with celebrity and the obsession with fame and all of that is something which has just taken over the world,'' Extras co-star Stephen Merchant said, speaking via satellite with television critics. "Everyone has a take on celebrity and fame."

Everyone.

"They did a poll, I think, a year or two ago. A university-run poll amongst 9- and 10-year-olds," Gervais said. "And they asked them what they wanted to be, and they didn't say fireman and truck driver and astronaut. . . . They said "be famous.' No specifics, just "be famous.' "

Everyone.

"As excited as we are about Ricky's show, when I asked the question "So what's it about?' and I got the answer, I said, "You have got to be kidding,' " Albrecht said. "This is certainly something that has been pointed out."

The finished product indicates Albrecht should have listened to that little voice in his head. Extras is one too many. Extras is Curb Your British Enthusiasm. It's supposed to be droll and clever and "he did not just say that," but really, it's been done: lots of awkward pauses, lots of self-important people saying inappropriate things.

Gervais plays Andy Millman, a wanna-be actor relegated to the role of an extra in film after film. He's the Nazi in the background, he's the dandy in the Victorian getup in the background. Always angling for a speaking part.

And oblivious to anyone else, on the set or in his life, he blunders around looking out for his own interests. Gervais says it's more of a "Laurel and Hardy style" comedy act, with a core of central characters moving from movie set to movie set, with different real-life stars making single-episode appearances (Ben Stiller in the second episode). And again, doesn't that sound like Curb Your Enthusiasm?

Extras is not without humor. There's a fun scene where Gervais tries to win a young woman's heart by pretending he's Catholic, when in reality he's an atheist.

His bumbling meeting with her priest is a hoot. But it's not enough to carry a painfully self-aware show.

As for Larry David's return with a new season of Curb, viewers who like the show will continue to enjoy it. In early episodes, Larry's dog is racist, Larry buys scalped tickets to attend his temple's high holy days services, Larry answers the telephone in the middle of sex.

Showbiz people are fascinating. But wouldn't it be great if there were more shows about cops?

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/25/news_pf/Artsandentertainment/Do_we_really_care_thi.shtml

fredfa

09-25-05, 11:03 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
“ Extras”
The British are coming, and we're pretty sure they're being funny

BY Glenn Garvin Miami Herald

British comedy, like British cuisine, is peculiar even at the best of times. Do not attempt to argue the point unless you can explain Benny Hill to me. Extras, HBO's new sitcom co-production with the BBC, isn't quite as incomprehensible as Benny, but it's still the TV equivalent of blood pudding, very much an acquired taste.

The work of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who created the original British version of The Office, Extras is another workplace comedy. In this case, the workplace is the sets of various British movies, where a handful of actor wannabes toil in roles like ''Nazi No. 3'' in hopes of speaking parts that will launch their careers.

Gervais himself stars as Andy Millman, whose twin appetites for women and fame prompt him to tell strings of whopping lies that eventually dissolve into baffling stream-of-consciousness soliloquies that hop from pedophilia to Nazis to condoms. Veteran British TV actress Ashley Jensen plays his dim pal and fellow extra Maggie Jacobs, whose main aim seems to be finding a boyfriend without a club foot.

Extras features a steady parade of big Hollywood names like Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller playing caricatured versions of themselves, and the star turns provide the show's occasional uproarious moments. Watching Winslet counsel Maggie in the art of phone sex, or explain why's she's making a movie about the Holocaust ('guaranteed Oscar . . . I've been nominated four times, never won, the whole world is going, `why hasn't Winslet won one?' '') is enough to induce instant kidney failure.

But in between times, Extras is droll and slow-moving, Masterpiece Theatre without the decolletage, the kind of thing PBS used to air during fund-raising weekends. Only you don't get a bookbag with your pledge.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/television/12730185.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-25-05, 11:12 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
Too many shows, too few recorders

By Virginia Rohan The Record Hackensack, NJ, Sept. 25, 2005

When exactly did Sunday become the new Thursday?

Was it in 1999, when "The Sopranos" made viewers an irrefusable offer that they stay home and tune out the squabbling kids, the hungry cats and the ringing telephone?

By last season, when ABC struck gold with "Desperate Housewives" and then "Grey's Anatomy," it became clear that Sunday is the new "Must-See TV" night.

NBC, of course, coined that phrase to describe its Thursday lineup in the good old days when "Seinfeld" was TV's water-cooler show. The network still uses that label for its Thursday night lineup of "Joey," "Will & Grace," "The Apprentice" and "ER." And to be sure, it's still a big night for NBC and everyone else, especially CBS, which has TV's No. 1 drama, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

But the real buzz has shifted to Sundays, where networks now cluster their promising programs. Tonight, things reach the point of ridiculousness, with an absurd number of great options.

ABC relaunches "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" (more on those two hit dramedies later).

CBS starts a new season of "Cold Case," followed by the TV movie "Martha Stewart: Behind Bars," in which Cybill Shepherd again plays Stewart.

NBC kicks off "The West Wing," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" - Detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth) joins the Major Case team, and Nicole Wallace (Olivia D'Abo) returns as the murderous nemesis of Detective Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) - and "Crossing Jordan."

The WB also starts new seasons of "Charmed" and "Blue Collar TV."

As if all that's not enough, tonight - of all nights -is when Larry David finally comes out of hibernation, with new episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" bowing at 10 p.m. (The first time I watched the first two episodes, I was disappointed and did not laugh much. They were much better when I watched them again. And the third episode is a bona fide hoot.)

HBO will follow that up at 10:30 p.m. with Ricky Gervais' new six-episode comedy series "Extras," which he stars in and co-created with Stephen Merchant, his collaborator on the brilliant BBC comedy "The Office." (A cult hit in America, it spawned the NBC version that stars Steve Carell.)

In "Extras," Gervais plays Andy Millman, an embittered aspiring actor who gave up his day job and now finds himself working as an extra, or background person. (Merchant plays his useless agent.) In each episode, Andy is on a different (make-believe) film set, desperately trying to get noticed. (Tonight, Kate Winslet has a funny turn as herself, playing a Nazi-fighting nun during World War II.)

The humor is even more subtle than in "The Office," and like that show it has cringe-inducing moments. The first comedy series collaboration between HBO and the BBC, "Extras" has already aired, to raves, in England. Under ideal circumstances, it would probably find a small, devoted audience here. On this particular night, however, it's bound to get lost in the shuffle.

Of everything that's on tonight, the most eagerly anticipated program is "Desperate Housewives." Can Season 2 possibly live up to its stellar freshman year? Alas, ABC mailed critics only a "Desperate Housewives" T-shirt, in a dry-cleaning bag that says "New season, new dirty laundry" (part of ABC's new marketing campaign this season).

According to ABC's description of tonight's "Next" episode, when Mike Delfino (James Denton) opens his front door and finds Zach (Cody Kasch) holding Susan (Teri Hatcher) hostage, he has to "find a way to rescue them both." Lynette (Emmy winner Felicity Huffman) interviews for an account-executive position at a top ad agency. The boss (Joely Fisher) is skeptical about hiring a mother of four, even though Lynette's husband Tom has agreed to stay home with the kids. Bree (Marcia Cross), meanwhile, has to deal with Rex's funeral, and her irksome visiting mother-in-law (Shirley Knight). And a guilt-stricken Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) starts visiting Carlos in prison.

And then, as you'll recall, there are those mysterious new Wisteria Lane neighbors Betty Applewhite and son Matthew (Alfre Woodard, Mehcad Brooks).

Happily, ABC did send out a preview of the "Grey's Anatomy" opener, and it does not disappoint. Things pick up where the first season finale left off. Intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) had just learned that her boyfriend and supervisor, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), is married, when Shepherd's beautiful and brilliant surgeon wife swooped into the Seattle hospital. (She's still there tonight, but Derek's infidelity turns out to be more complicated than it initially appeared.)

Dr. Grey winds up commiserating with fellow intern Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), who is pregnant by her surgeon boss, Dr. Burke (Isaiah Washington).

Even in an age of DVRs, tonight's lineup is an overabundance of riches. How can the average viewer possibly find time to watch everything?

How much easier it was in the days of a three-network universe. Granted, there were no VCRs back then, and in the Sixties and Seventies Sunday was a big programming night. It boasted, among other shows, "Bonanza," "Perry Mason," "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," "Mission: Impossible," "Mannix," "Night Gallery," "Kojak," "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons."

In the Eighties, ABC, CBS and NBC started to rely heavily on Sunday night movies, and the fledgling Fox network wisely counterprogrammed with edgy, attention-getting series. Its first prime-time shows, which debuted on Sunday nights beginning April 5, 1987, were "Married ... With Children" and "The Tracey Ullman Show" (which in 1989 gave birth to "The Simpsons," which is still going strong on Sundays and is now part of a successful, wider animated series block). Other Sunday successes for Fox included "21 Jump Street" (1987-1991), "It's Garry Shandling's Show," "In Living Color" and "The X-Files."

Then things got more complicated. The WB launched, made-for-TV movies fell out of favor, HBO made itself the place to be on Sunday nights - and "Housewives" exploded.

And now, with too many choices, the biggest drama's on the home front. Let's call it "Desperate Viewers."

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cW VlRUV5eTY3NzU4MjkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

fredfa

09-25-05, 11:39 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
`Earl' a winner, Martha a loser in 1st TV week

Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune September 25, 2005

Less than a week into the 2005-06 season, and there's already a casualty.

Congratulations if you had Fox's "Head Cases" in your office pool as the first television show to get toe-tagged. Seen by just 3 million by Nielsen's count, the series about emotionally unstable attorneys was axed after two episodes.

Unlike movies, where opening weekend box-office grosses are reported as if they're the Dow Jones industrial average, TV tends to be a long, hard slog for the shows lucky enough to slog on.

But the first week of the new season, like early radar images of clouds coalescing into a storm front, offers a hint of where things might be headed and how big they could be.

The folks at NBC, for example, have to be thrilled with how their much-promoted "My Name is Earl" snared more than 15 million viewers in its Tuesday debut, a couple hundred thousand more than watched CBS' leading comedy, Monday's "Two and a Half Men."

This was a surprise even though NBC had boasted for months that the self-consciously quirky "Earl" was its highest-testing new comedy in 15 years. (Yes, including "Friends.") TV testing is like EPA miles-per-gallon estimates: Each show's actual mileage may vary.

It's a nice start, though. NBC can only hope those viewers come back. Better to be in that position than that of "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart."

The NBC knockoff (or spinoff, if you choose) of Donald Trump's game show got clobbered in its opener by a "Lost" clip package that was prelude to the Emmy-winning drama's return. Stewart drew 7 million viewers, less than half the number tuned in to the clip show and well below the more than 23 million who wanted to see what was in the hatch on "Lost."

"Lost" helped bring an impressive 16 million to the debut of ABC's eerie post-hurricane drama "Invasion."

Not wanting Miss Martha to get off the ground in Week 2, ABC has kept its foot on her throat by postponing the season premiere of "The George Lopez Show" and debut of Freddie Prinze Jr.'s new "Freddie" in favor of rerunning the "Lost" opener vs. Stewart.

The shine may be off the whole "Apprentice" thing, anyway. Trump's version was seen by less than 10 million, dragged down, no doubt, by its lead-in, "Joey," which lived down to gloomy expectations at 7 p.m. Thursday, with less than 8 million fans still bothering.

"Everybody Hates Chris," Chris Rock's comedy for once-negligible UPN, was within 20,000 viewers of "Joey." "Chris" also beat Fox's "The O.C.," though none of the series, or ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" dance-off special, could challenge CBS' "Survivor: Guatemala," which scored more than 16 million.

CBS actually appears poised to own Thursdays this season, despite the other networks bulking up for a share of TV's most lucrative night of the week.

Besides "Survivor," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" had a whopping 29 million viewers, and "Criminal Minds," a drama CBS introduced in its "Without a Trace" slot, had more than 19 million viewers, giving it a 5 million-viewer edge on once-dominant "ER."

With 13 million viewers, 6 million more than watched its Tuesday lead-in, "Bones," Fox's "House" appears to have found a following independent of the "American Idol" viewers who helped make it a success last season.

Fox's Monday comedies, "Arrested Development" and "Kitchen Confidential," fared poorly but probably were victims of the extra pro football coverage on ABC. Probably. "Prison Break," which followed them, could have done better than the nearly 8 million it did.

Two new series from hot producer Jerry Bruckheimer--the WB's "Legal Eagles" and NBC's "E-Ring"--began unimpressively. (Tribune Co., which owns this paper, has a WB stake.)

The so-so numbers for the ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" specials on Tuesday and Thursday hint the summer hit may not have the legs to compete during the regular season. The series is set to return later in any case.

Weather or not to proceed: With Hurricane Rita following Katrina, CBS ought to reconsider whether the audience that so enjoyed seeing Chicago beset by meteorological calamity last season in the miniseries "Category 6: Day of Destruction" will warm to a sequel. "Category 7: The End of the World," now set to air in November, always could be postponed to spare disaster-weary viewers and queasy advertisers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/chi-0509250298sep25,1,2390497,print.column?coll=chi-ent_tv-hed

fredfa

09-25-05, 12:48 PM

Saturday’s network prime-time ratings have posted at the top of RATINGS NEWS the second post in this thread.

fredfa

09-25-05, 07:54 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: SUNDAY
“Desperate Housewives”
'Desperate' times return

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

The women of Wisteria Lane plunge into season two Sunday night.

Series creator Marc Cherry promises the premiere of Desperate Housewives will quickly resolve one cliffhanger: Zach Young (Cody Kasch) taking Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) hostage. The episode airs at 9 PM ET/PT. Here's what's in store for the other main characters, according to ABC:

- Bree Van De Camp (Marcia Cross) tangles with her mother-in-law, Phyllis (Shirley Knight), over Rex's funeral.

- Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) visits husband Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) in jail.

- Lynette Scavo (Emmy-winner Felicity Huffman) wins employment at a top ad agency, where she'll work for difficult boss Nina (Joely Fisher).

Perhaps the most intriguing plot centers on the newest housewife in the neighborhood. Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) plays a former concert pianist with a big secret. "She's going to be involved in something pretty gothic on the show -- pretty dark and spooky," Cherry says.

If you didn't hop aboard the Desperate Housewives express last season -- or if you missed any pivotal episodes -- the first-year DVD came out lastTuesday. It features more than five hours of bonus material, including deleted scenes, bloopers, an Oprah Winfrey visit, a look at the costume design and audio commentary by Cherry and his female stars. This six-disc set goes for $59.99. Its 23 addictive episodes make for perfect marathon viewing.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-desperate05sep24,0,954800,print.story?coll=orl-caltvtop

fredfa

09-25-05, 08:04 PM

Monday, Sept. 26th
(No show or series premieres)

Since nothing new is scheduled for Monday, I'll start posting information on Tuesday's premieres -- including "Commander in Chief" and "Sex, Love and Secrets" -- later tonight.

I'm still looking for your comments on the new season so far.

Is there a show -- new or old -- you have been impressed with? Any shows that really have turned you off?

(We don't have to agree, a spirited discussion is usually more fun, anyway.)

keenan

09-25-05, 08:29 PM

I'm still looking for your comments on the new season so far.

Yeah, come on folks, Fred and I are getting bored talking to each other about the new season..just kidding Fred.. :p :D

slocko

09-25-05, 08:50 PM

Finally watched E-ring. Was interesting. Will probably keep watching.

Inundated

09-25-05, 09:20 PM

Any pre-show articles on "The Amazing Race" (premieres Tuesday 9 PM ET/PT on CBS) would be nice to see. I'm very curious how the show holds up in the "family edition" format this year.

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:21 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Geena Davis ("The Accidental Tourist," "Thelma & Louise," "Tootsie," "Beetlejuice," "Stuart Little"), Donald Sutherland, Harry J. Lennix ("The Matrix Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions"), Kyle Secor, Ever Carradine, Caitlin Wachs, Matt Lanter, Jasmine Anthony.

The premise: Oddly plausible political melodrama from the writer-director of "The Contender," in which independent VP Davis becomes leader of the free world after the Republican president suddenly dies — ticking off ultraconservative Speaker of the House Sutherland but otherwise building coalitions as only fictional presidents can. First Gentleman Secor, meanwhile, must get used to his new life as a White House husband, while three kids help to promote lack of domestic tranquillity.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:22 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Geena Davis is Mackenzie Allen, the vice president of the United States, but an independent and more academic than politician. Her president is dying and asks her to step down to let the slimy speaker of the House (Donald Sutherland) become president, because, the soon-to-be-dead president says, he may be slimy, but "he shares my vision." Allen thinks he's too slimy. Guess who's the first female president?

What’s What: This is a complicated case. Davis is terrific. Her name is dumb. Kyle Secor, as her husband and first guy, or whatever, is good. Sutherland is over the top. More to the point, thanks to "The West Wing," we expect a level of believability in a presidential show. Not sure this gets there.

Rickster Scale: 3 (mostly because of Davis)

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

DoubleDAZ

09-25-05, 09:34 PM

I'm still looking for your comments on the new season so far.Well, since you asked, here's my $.02 worth:

CSI: Miami - Great images, color, scenery. Storylines are good, David's acting is as melodramatic as ever though. I didn't expect to like this show when it first started, but I do and wish they would develop other characters more.

Prison Break - Absolutely great concept and done well so far. I'm a little concerned about what's going to happen once they get out, but if it's anywhere near as good as The Fugitive was, it will stay around a while.

Surface - Great audio, not sure it will make it on storyline though. I'll give it a couple of more episodes to see where they intend to take it.

Las Vegas - Premiere kind of stunk and I'm no sure how many storylines they can come up with that will be interesting. Eye candy, title song, and Jimmy Caan make me continue watching. Images, color, and scenery also excellent. I love the aerial shots of Vegas, especially at night. Should maybe move to HBO and concentrate the action at the 2 topless resorts. ;)

Meduim - Simply sensational, though I could do without the constant negativity of the husband. She has a gift and he should be proud of her for using it.

7th Heaven - Yada, yada, not sure why I still watch this. I skip it if I fall behind on recordings.

Boston Legal - Not happy that Candice is now a regular, but always looking for Shatner to find new ways to taunt her. Was disappointed Spader won an Emmy over House, but he is good at his role. I love the humor they all bring to the generally stuffy legal world and am glad they didn't follow The Practice format, though I do miss Eugene.

NCIS - I miss Katlin, but I think Lara will be fun for Mark. I'll stick with it until it finishes it's run.

Bones - Not sure about this one, need a couple of more episodes to see if it's going to grab me atall.

House - One of the Top 5 on my list, will not miss an episode ever.

Supernatural - Have relegated this to WB's Sunday's repeat, can't record 3 shows at the same time and already have another in the timeslot to watch in SD will recording 2 in HD.

Lost - Another Top 5, just can't get enough of this one. Again, images, color, scenery, and audio are top-notch.

Invasion - Hasn't met expectations, but I'll tune in to see where they take it.

Criminal Minds - Love Mandy and will contiue to watch no matter what.

CSI:NY - Interesting color contrast with CSI:Miami. Like Miami, too much emphasis on Sinise and not enough for Kanakaredes to do. Good stories and worth watching.

E-Ring - In a word, terrible! I'm not a stickler for military accuracy, but this breaks about every rule, except maybe for uniforms. Virtually nothing in the first episode was even close to reality. I'm not a big fan of Bratt and so I didn't expect much, and I didn't get it. They even missed the mark if they were attempting an Airplane-type satire IMHO.

CSI - Another Top 5 and as good as ever.

Reunion - Interesting and look forward to seeing how it goes.

ER - Just not the same anymore without John. Abby is still great, but the Lucca/Sam thing is getting to be too much and I sure think they've lost their way and don't know where they want to go. Could be the last year.

Ghost Whisperer - Jury is still out. I enjoyed the first show and Love Hewitt is still looking as good as ever, she finally looks like a young woman instead of a teeny-bopper.

Threshold - I can't get enough of Carla and will also follow this one to the end. I think it will take a few more episodes to get caught up in it.

Numb3rs - Also in the Top 5 and can't get much better.

Killer Instinct - Absolutely fabulous, and the scenery shots of SF/Golden Gate are not bad either, makes me think I'm back there.

Inconcievable - Too many contradictions. She opens the clinic and then tries to talk almost everyone out of the procedures, what's up with that. Looks like a House wanna-be. I'll continue watching, but won't be surprised if it doesn't make it.

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:39 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

By John Maynard Washington Post

The tagline you'll never see: Move over, "West Wing": There's a new "Chief" in town.

The basics: Call her Madame President. Geena Davis plays Mackenzie Allen, the vice president of the United States, who gets an unexpected promotion when her boss suffers a fatal aneurysm. But, despite what the Constitution says, she's not going to get the new gig without a fight from the president's cronies. Turns out the late leader only gave her the job so she could deliver the voters who didn't look so fondly upon him: women. His chief of staff (Harry Lennix) demands she resign so House Speaker Nathan Templeton (the deliciously evil Donald Sutherland) can assume control. But just try and stop her from taking the oath.

The lowdown: ABC hopes "Chief" can revive the political drama on network television and create the buzz that the first few seasons of the now-fading "The West Wing" did for NBC. It's got some backbone with its creator Rod Lurie, who directed the Oscar-nominated political thriller "The Contender." (The star power of Sutherland and Davis doesn't hurt, either.) It's in a tough time slot, however, with some very different competition: NBC's funny "My Name Is Earl," Fox's compelling hospital drama "House" and CBS's heart-thumping reality series "The Amazing Race."

Reality check: If you're a sucker for a good political drama, "Chief" is where you'll want to be on Tuesday nights. The pilot, in which the newly minted president orders an improbable military action, is a little overdone -- and some of the idealistic dialogue may have you rolling your eyes. But that's half the fun in this juicy political drama, which gives us plenty of plot points to chew on. Davis plays her role admirably, but it's Sutherland's portrayal of the cranky congressman that makes "Chief" worth your while.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092101935_pf.html

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:42 PM

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:43 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”
An executive branch out for Geena Davis

*** out of five

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

Meryl Streep or Glenn Close would be logical casting as the first female U.S. president: But Geena Davis?

The Accidental Tourist and Thelma & Louise were hardly preparation for the Oval Office. Davis ascends to the White House anyway as Mackenzie Allen in ABC's slick, earnest Commander in Chief, debuting Tuesday.

What we have here is "The Accidental President.'' As a stunt, a conservative male presidential candidate picked Allen, a political independent, as his running mate. After the president suffers a massive stroke and dies, Allen must quickly assert herself to quell widespread doubt.

Commander in Chief presents an idealistic view of the presidency. That approach has worked extraordinarily well for NBC's The West Wing, which begins its seventh season Sunday.

If President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) started as an alternative to Bill Clinton, President Allen represents a sharp contrast to President Bush. With Bush's poll numbers down, viewers might cotton to this simplistic, feel-good portrait.

The series comes from Rod Lurie, who wrote and directed The Contender, a 2000 drama about the fight over a female senator becoming vice president. To his credit, Laurie treats female characters with rare respect.

He gives President Allen soaring rhetoric, which the show accentuates with soaring music. He lets her reveal her resolve in an African crisis and her savvy in standing up to political enemies. She has a doozy of a foe in condescending Rep. Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), the speaker of the House.

Commander in Chief imagines the ultimate test of a woman balancing career and family. Not only must Allen lead the country, but she must buck up her uneasy husband, Rod (Kyle Secor). They must help their three children -- teen twins of each sex and a 6-year-old girl -- adjust to the heightened attention. President Allen's pouty older daughter, Rebecca (Caitlin Wachs), dislikes mom's politics.

The premiere suggests that Commander in Chief could fall into a rut, with Allen triumphing every week and thwarting foes. Lurie says her independent manner will cause her problems, but she will be a president everyone can admire.

The bigger problem: Will she be a character viewers care about? Embodied by Davis, President Allen comes off as stylish, smart and usually bland. Davis bristles well in moments of controlled fury, but the juiciest moments go to other actors.

Sutherland oozes fascinating contempt -- he's more fun to watch than Davis when the new president takes the oath of office. Homicide alum Secor humorously bumbles his way through becoming the first first gentleman.

More familiar duties fall to Davis: She must deliver a big speech that unites the country. Speechifying could be another pitfall for Commander in Chief. Will it be a glossy show that panders to the audience or a thoughtful drama that pushes viewers to think about government? Do such shows help explain politics or raise unrealistic expectations?

Maybe Davis will grow into the role. Perhaps Commander in Chief will develop into something deeper than a smooth, self-satisfied show. For now, the series enjoys one important asset: impeccable timing.

An executive branch out for Geena Davis.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-haltv2505sep25,0,3816417,print.story?coll=orl-dp-classifieds

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:44 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

Geena Davis as President

By NEIL GENZLINGER The New York Times

CREATE a show about the first female president of the United States, as Rod Lurie has done with the new drama "Commander in Chief," and right away you have a pivotal decision to make: does she come into the White House through the front door, by getting elected, or through the back, by inheriting the office?

In the series premiere on Tuesday night, it quickly becomes clear that Mr. Lurie has chosen the back way in: the president has a stroke, and his vice president, played by Geena Davis, gets the call. But Mr. Lurie, an executive producer of the series and the director of the first episode, said the setup was not a comment on the likelihood of a female presidential candidate being elected in real life.

"I thought that it would be more dramatic to have her inheriting the job, because that way more people could be opposed to her," he said. "Now I can have the Cabinet opposed to her, the entire Senate, the House."

Not only does this accidental president have no mandate, but she is an independent, chosen for the second spot on the ticket for cosmetic reasons and actually opposed to many of the policies of the man she replaces.

"That I was a vice president who nobody really wanted and that I'm an independent - I think those are both incredibly strong elements," Ms. Davis said. "We can only play 'Oh, my God, she's a woman' for so long, but we can play 'Oh, my God, she's an independent' forever."

The character most likely to be uttering such complaints is the speaker of the House, played by the often slithery Donald Sutherland. That, Mr. Lurie said, is one of the things that distinguishes his show from "The West Wing," the White House drama with Martin Sheen in the Oval Office. "We have an antagonist," he said. Oh, and another distinction: "Our president is much taller."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/arts/television/25tv-cover.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:45 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”
Will viewers vote for a female president?

Jeanne Jakle San Antonio Express-News

The buzz over "Commander-in-Chief" already has started: Would the American people accept a woman president? One group conducted a poll on the subject. (The results, released last week, were 79 percent pro.)

As a TV critic, I raise another question. Will viewers accept this woman president — Mackenzie Allen, as played by Geena Davis?

Davis certainly has the stature; she stands at 6 feet. At 49, her beauty has faded just enough not to scream "Hollywood" and her features have a commanding air. She may want to tone down the red lipstick, though; Davis' lips are overpowering enough.

Moreover, in the pilot, Davis didn't seem completely comfortable. It was as if she hadn't found her rhythm yet, something Martin Sheen did with the very first episode of "The West Wing."

I found myself liking "Commander-in-Chief," which premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. (against "The Amazing Race"and "House"), a little better than "West Wing," however. Sure, the first episode was packed with people and issues — including an international crisis — but that sort of thing happens frequently with pilots.

"Commander" certainly has its strengths: interesting characters and a solid cast that includes Donald Sutherland. Allen also has some meaty adversity to deal with right off the bat.

When the show begins, she is the vice president. Suddenly, though, her boss has to undergo emergency brain surgery, and she's thrust into the difficult situation of "should I or shouldn't I?"

Lots of people — the ailing president, his chief of staff, even Allen's snippy teenage daughter — want her to step aside. She's an Independent, you see, and the president is a Republican; as she doesn't share that party's ideals, most in the White House feel she should let the speaker of the house, a man who's to the right of every issue, assume the post.

She does have a few supporters: her husband, her teenage son and her press secretary (the wonderful Ever Carradine of FX's short-lived "Lucky"). When the president dies, and Allen sits through a sexist and insulting conversation with Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Sutherland), she decides to go ahead and assume the presidency.

Behind her all the way is her politically savvy husband, Rod Calloway. He has his doubts about the role of "first husband" and the duties, such as decorating the White House and planning dinners, that come with the title.

Kyle Secor ("Homicide") plays him with subtle humor and has the height to balance Davis; he's 6-foot-4. The two also have onscreen chemistry.

It's also important to point out that respected writer/director Rod Lurie of "The Contender" produces the series. The heroine's last name is in honor of actress Joan Allen, whom he originally wanted for the TV role.

Davis, who won an Oscar for "The Accidental Tourist," is ecstatic she got it. "For me, to be able to be the President," she told critics, "for Thelma or Stuart's (Little) mother to be the President, I just think it's delightful."

It is, and it will even be more delightful if Davis loosens up a bit in the role and displays the fun side she showed us.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/jjackle/stories/MYSA092505.0Z.jakle.c52cfb5f.html

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:46 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”
Power suits her: Geena Davis leads an army of strong, smart women into TV’s fall lineup

By David Zurawik Baltimore Sun Television Critic

There is a new woman on television this fall.

Defined more by intellect and competence than by physical beauty or her relationship to men, she belies depictions of women that have dominated prime-time television for more than 50 years. In several of the new fall programs, including ABC's Commander in Chief or Fox's Bones, the New Woman can be found in the Oval Office and the most rarefied realms of science and math, places few female characters have gone before.

Yet, this empowered New Woman owes her existence in part to five inarguably sexy suburban housewives living on a TV cul-de-sac called Wisteria Lane, the five neighbors of ABC's Desperate Housewives.

Network lineups last fall were overpopulated with businessmen, entrepreneurs and adventurers -- the likes of Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Donald Trump and Sylvester Stallone -- headlining testosterone-charged reality shows. Audiences roundly rejected all except Trump's, while embracing ABC's Desperate Housewives, making the darkly comic drama a runaway hit.

In the new season, network television has backed away from the male-oriented reality genre and instead is offering ladies with groundbreaking leading roles. From Academy Award-winner Geena Davis, who stars as the president of the United States in ABC's Commander in Chief, to Emily Deschanel as Dr.Temperance "Bones" Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who writes novels in her spare time in Fox's Bones, strong and largely self-defined women in non-traditional roles are emerging on all the networks.

"We are very focused about putting empowering female roles on the air," said Francie Calfo, an executive vice president at ABC involved in the development of Desperate Housewives and Commander in Chief. "Desperate Housewives showed there is a definite audience looking for that point of view."

The most talked about new female character is Mackenzie Allen (Davis), of Commander in Chief, whom viewers first will meet as a 45-year-old vice president of the United States. In the pilot episode, which airs Tuesday at 9, fictional President Theodore Roosevelt Bridges dies during an emergency, and Allen succeeds him.

It's a stormy transition, with Allen, an Independent who had been brought on a Republican ticket only to get female votes, being asked by both the dying president and his party to step aside in favor of the secretary of state (Donald Sutherland). She declines to follow the script written by male party leaders and seizes power with a steady hand: "It is certainly the role with the most gravitas that I've ever been asked to play," Davis said.

Shattered taboo

The scene in which President Allen first addresses the nation has an electricity that's generated by more than just Davis' superb performance. The added energy comes from seeing a woman take control of a symbolic space -- the Oval Office -- that previously had been off limits for her gender.A cultural taboo is shattered, if only in the small-screen world of television drama.

"For us, Commander In Chief is historic," said Marie C. Wilson, co-founder of Take Our Daughters to Work Day and president of the White House Project, a national and non-partisan organization dedicated to advancing women's leadership.

"When push comes to shove in Hollywood,women are still portrayed as leading ladies but not as leaders. One of our goals with the project is to help people understand how these images they see on television and the movies are really shaping their opinion. You can't be what you can't see. Once people see women in top leadership roles on the screen, they can imagine it happening."

Allen and Brennan, of Bones, aren't the only strong female leaders in new series this fall. On CBS' Friday night drama, Threshold, Carla Gugino plays Dr. Molly Caffrey, a worst-case scenario analyst and contingency planner heading up an elite government unit charged with halting an alien invasion. On NBC's Surface, Lake Bell stars as Dr.Laura Daughtery, an oceanographer and single mom investigating a mutant and threatening form of life from beneath the sea.

The fact that Caffrey, Daughtery and Brennan all have doctoral degrees in the sciences is not lost on the White House Project's Wilson. She notes how much more enlightened network television seems in this regard than Harvard University President Lawrence H.Summer, who in January set off a fierce debate when he suggested that women might not have the same innate ability in science and math as men.

"One of the biggest public arguments we've had in the last year followed Larry Summer suggesting women can't [excel in science]," Wilson said. "It could be a real step forward to see women on TV this fall who have backgrounds in science -- and are called upon to lead Homeland Security efforts."

Depicting women as leaders inside the war room is doubly potent in that they are shown not only in positions of authority, but also leading in matters of war. (NBC's The West Wing perhaps led the charge in 2003 when Anna Deavere Smith was cast as National Security Adviser Nancy Mc- Nally.)

"Oddly enough, one of the primary factors holding us back from having a woman as president of the United States is women. Every credible poll shows that women feel men are more equipped to deal with national security than women are," said Rod Lurie, creator of Commander In Chief (as well as the similarly themed feature film, The Contender). "One way of changing that perception is to show women onscreen in those national security leadership roles -- iconic images that historically have excluded women."

Power won -- and lost

The history of women characters on television, of course, doesn't march chronologically toward more enlightened roles. Leaders of the women's movement of the late 1960s and early '70s challenged the networks on their constant depiction of women as sex objects. Their criticism in part fueled creation in 1972 of CBS' landmark series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show in which Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) plays a young television producer trying "to make it on her own."

CBS in the same year introduced Maude, with Beatrice Arthur starring as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged housewife and impassioned advocate of women's liberation. Maude's character was created by producer Norman Lear as counterpoint to the reactionary Archie Bunker on CBS' All in the Family, but her message of empowerment for women instantly found an audience and led to her own show.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Maude provided viewers in the '70s with images of individual, strong women that had real resonance with millions of viewers every week," said Suzanna Walters, chair of the Gender Studies Department at the University of Indiana.

"They had something else, too, that has been sorely missing in the majority of women characters since the 1980s -- an overt sense of connection to feminism and, in the case of Maude, an on-going, on-air acknowledgment of the social movement out of which they grew."

The core narrative of The Mary Tyler Moore Show -- that of a young professional woman leaving home and finding acceptance and community in the workplace -- continued to shape the structure of network sitcoms featuring young women for more than 20 years.

But during the 1980s, the dominant image of women on TV took a turn for the worse with onedimensional, soap-opera characters like Krystle Jennings Carrington (Linda Evans), of ABC's Dynasty, and Sue Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray) of CBS' Dallas.

Women increasingly were portrayed in the 1990s as victims and sex objects as cop dramas and procedurals rose in popularity.A few bright spots stand out -- such as S. Epatha Merkerson's Lt. Anita Van Buren on NBC's Law & Order. Lily Rush (Kathryn Morris), who plays a hard-driving investigator on CBS' two-year-old drama, Cold Case, follows in that tradition.

A range of characters

Now, the new season offers viewers a greater range of strong female roles. In addition to women of science and politics, there are doctors -- a hot-shot surgeon and matriarch of a dysfunctional family of doctors on the CBS sitcom, Out of Practice, played by Stockard Channing and a career-driven physician in her 20s on UPN's Sex, Love & Secrets, played by Tamara Taylor.

Jennifer Love Hewitt portrays a crime-solving psychic on Ghost Whisperer, an attempt by CBS to clone the midseason success NBC found with Patricia Arquette as a crime-solving psychic on Medium. Jennifer Finnigan, meanwhile, offers one of the most complicated and compelling characters of the new season in Annabeth Chase, a young prosecutor with a perfect courtroom record and new baby on the CBS drama, Close to Home, from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Chase's return to the courtroom from maternity leave is one of the most authentic portrayals of the stressful life of a working mom that television has ever shown. The pilot catalogs the strain on Chase's relationship with her husband (Christian Kane) and with her demanding new boss (Kimberly Elise) as she tries simultaneously to be a good mother and a top attorney.

The emergence of self-determined female characters and more realistic depictions of working mothers are in part the result of industry research and the personal experiences of female executives who are calling many of the shots in Hollywood these days as senior managers and studio heads.

"When Ally McBeal (Fox 1997-2002) and Sex and the City (HBO 1998-2004) went off the air, there were a lot of young women in our company -- from the assistants on up -- who we were polling who were all feeling, like, 'Where is a show that is empowering to me?' So, we definitely felt there was an opening on the air in prime time for a women's perspective," said ABC's Calfo.

Network programmers took "a number of whacks" at developing shows to fill that void before they hit pay dirt with Desperate Housewives, but throughout the process, they remained "very much focused on that identifiable female point of view," Calfo said. A crucial component of that perspective involved mothers who work -- even on Commander In Chief, President Allen and her husband are raising three children in the White House.

"What better portrayal of the working mother is there than the woman with the most powerful job in the country?" Calfo asked. "That's only one aspect of the show, and this is certainly the most ambitious show I have ever been associated with. But the kernel of it began in the discussion of working women and working mothers."

There is no doubt that Mackenzie Allen is a "breakthrough character," according to Wilson, of the White House Project, which is organizing viewing parties around the country Tuesday night to bring women together to watch and discuss Commander In Chief.

"We are very aware of the kind of impact this show could have," Wilson said. "If this show succeeds, it could be the tipping point on the road to a female president of the United States. This is a chance for all those girls who say they want to be president to see it as possible and to ask their parents important questions about why it hasn't happened."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-ae.power25,1,5028266,print.story?coll=bal-artslife-tv

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:46 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEW: TUESDAY
“Sex, Love & Secrets”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Denise Richards ("Scary Movie 3"), Eric Balfour ("Six Feet Under"), Lauren German ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), Omar Benson Miller ("Shall We Dance"), Tamara Taylor ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman"), James Stevenson ("Hope & Faith"), Lucas Bryant ("Queer as Folk").

The premise: Twentysomething yuppies with bohemian pretensions live, love, link and lie in about-to-be-formerly-hip Silver Lake in a youth-soap with a title out of Soderbergh and behavioral-scientific interludes possibly inspired by Alain Resnais' "Mon Oncle d'Amérique." Real local rock club Spaceland plays a local rock club. Actual neighborhood residents will be amused or appalled.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:47 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEW: TUESDAY
“Sex, Love & Secrets”

By Judith S. Gillies Washington Post

The tagline you'll never see: Relationships, music and . . . animal behavior voice-overs?

The basics: Several twenty-something friends live and love in this melodrama set in the trendy Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. There's the restaurant manager and lead singer of a band (James Stevenson), his celebrity journalist girlfriend (Lauren German), a playboy hairdresser (Eric Balfour), the band's drummer (Omar Benson Miller), an OB-GYN doctor (Tamara Taylor) and her creepy housemate (Lucas Bryant). Added to the mix is a pushy, sexy publicist (Denise Richards) who likes to stir things up.

The pilot includes plans for a marriage proposal, a mystery surrounding a previous boyfriend, two pals who are interested in the same gal, and an online-dating attempt.

There's also an off-camera narrator who occasionally adds an oddly interesting and humorous layer of fact over fiction -- voiced-over clips you'd expect to see in a documentary about animals. She makes such pronouncements as "All humans keep secrets" and compares the characters' wild lives to, well, real wildlife.

The lowdown: Michael Gans, who created the series with Richard Register, said, "The show is the study of human nature. It's like a safari in Los Angeles." The melodrama may remind some viewers of "Melrose Place," but with more music. It's also up against the same tough competition facing "Commander in Chief" (see previous lowdown).

Reality check: Sure, there's sex and love in this soap opera, but ultimately it will be the secrets -- plus some quirky comedy -- that could make this series a guilty pleasure for some viewers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092101935_pf.html

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:47 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEW: TUESDAY
“Sex, Love & Secrets”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Soap set in Los Angeles with a cool, good-looking, shallow crew (including Denise Richards and Eric Balfour) wallowing in, mostly, sex and secrets. Didn't notice a lot of love.

What’s What: Trying for another "Melrose Place," but with less humor or style. Lots of soapy plotting but hard to care about anyone. They did, however, nail "good looking" and "shallow."

Rickster Scale: 1

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

fredfa

09-25-05, 09:54 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander In Chief”

Geena Davis' new series could help advance the White House Project's goal -- a female president
By Cynthia H. Cho Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- As an intern for Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-El Monte), Alejandro Rivas often gave tours of the U.S. Capitol. When he came to "The Portrait Monument," a seven-ton sculpture in the Rotunda honoring three pioneers of women's suffrage, he would tell visitors that Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were "pivotal in gaining women equal access to democracy, but their work is not complete until we have a woman president."

"And neither will this statue be complete until then," he would add.

Behind the stone figures of Mott, Stanton and Anthony, sculpted by Adelaide Johnson and unveiled in 1921, is a block of solid marble, waiting to be shaped.

For years, tour guides such as Rivas have been telling visitors that it is intended for the image of the first female president of the U.S.

Although the story is just an amusing anecdote, it doesn't seem likely that the guides will stop telling it — given the speculation that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will run for president in 2008.

And with Tuesday's premiere of the ABC show "Commander in Chief," in which Geena Davis plays the U.S.' first female president, talk about a woman in the White House can only escalate.

"You can't be what you can't see," said Marie C. Wilson, president of the White House Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group whose goal is to advance women into leadership positions, up to and including the presidency. Wilson started the organization in 1998 out of frustration that women were creating important and effective social policies, but few were in positions of power to implement them.

"Why are we continuing to make these changes and not putting these women in power and making them permanent?" she asked. "We kept working toward women's rights, but didn't put women in power."

And there was a second reason: "I kept getting letters from girls that they expected to be president. I thought, 'Maybe we better do something.'

"In this country, you could never see a woman president. In this show, Geena Davis is playing a very rich role as president — and then you start to shape public perception that she can do it."

Rod Lurie, who created the show, addressed a similar issue in "The Contender," the 2000 film in which a senator, played by Joan Allen, is nominated as vice president of the U.S. He said that his young daughter, Paige, inspired him.

"During the 2000 election, she asked me why there were no women candidates," Lurie said. "This time, I wanted a woman to become president."

The White House Project will organize parties around the country for the TV show.

Wilson, who was president of the Ms. Foundation for Women for 20 years and helped create Take Our Daughters to Work Day, said that when she founded the White House Project, she and her colleagues believed that a woman would be elected president within 10 years.

This fall, the organization is launching two initiatives to help women achieve that office — SheSource.org and Real Security.

The perception that women are less confident discussing security issues may keep one from the job, said Chuck Todd, editor of the National Journal's Hotline, which publishes a daily online political briefing.

"It's the commander-in-chief part of the job that I think is going to be the mental hurdle that the candidate will have to jump over in the mind of some voters," he said.

To counter that, Wilson said, Real Security "will train women how to talk military language," starting with workshops, where female candidates will learn from other women who are experts in national security issues.

The perception that women are less knowledgeable on security issues also arises from the fact that few are seen discussing political issues on television — particularly on the Sunday morning shows like "Meet the Press" or "Fox News Sunday." Men outnumber women as guests by a ratio of 9 to 1, according to a 2001 study by the White House Project, and that statistic worsened after Sept. 11.

"There is anecdotal evidence that when people think of security issues, they think of men," said Keli Goff, a spokeswoman for SheSource.org, the online resource created by the White House Project with help from the Women's Funding Network and Fenton Communications.

SheSource.org is a database of about 50 women who are experts in a variety of issues. According to Goff, television news producers said they would book more women if they knew how to find them.

Among those involved are Donna Brazile, manager of Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign; Dr. Susan Blumenthal, former U.S. assistant surgeon general and deputy assistant secretary for women's health during the Clinton administration; and Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist for Charles Schwab and a current member of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.

Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said women have been "moving up the pipeline" over the last few decades. "You have women as governors, although not as many as years ago. You have a record number of women in the Senate and the House. These are all important factors," she said.

There are 84 women in Congress — 14 in the Senate and 70 in the House, including the three delegates from Guam, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia — and eight serving as governors.

Other groups are reaching out to girls and young women too. CosmoGIRL! magazine, for example, started its "Project 2024" campaign three years ago.

"The whole idea behind Project 2024 is that we're going to put a Cosmo Girl in the White House by 2024, though that doesn't mean that a woman won't be president before then," said Susan Schulz, the magazine's editor in chief.

"Our readers have the potential to be future leaders. We call them the generation born to lead, because they don't seem to have a sense of 'I can't.' They have this 'I can do anything guys can do' attitude. It's truly in their blood," Schulz said.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-whitehouse26sep26,0,589907,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

Inundated

09-25-05, 09:56 PM

It's a stormy transition, with Allen, an Independent who had been brought on a Republican ticket only to get female votes, being asked by both the dying president and his party to step aside in favor of the secretary of state (Donald Sutherland).

Mr. Zurawik may want to go back and check the line of succession. ;)

DoubleDAZ

09-25-05, 10:54 PM

Great post, Dave -- I agree with many of your thoughts.

I have a feeling "Inconceivable" (trashed by almost all the male critics and many female critics as well) is more a woman's show.

And as Angie Harmon joins full-time next episode things might change a bit in terms of the story-telling.

The initial numbers were not at all great Friday, but against "Numb3rs" and "20/20" women in particular might give the show a chance.Thanks, Fred. I agree with your take on Inconceivable and had forgotten Angie (looking as good as ever) is joining full time. It wasn't a bad show, I just had a hard time getting past Ming trying to talk folks out of stuff. I will watch again to see where it goes, I usually give shows 3-4 episodes anyway unless there is a conflict and I need to make a quick decision. Aren't DVRs great?! :)

BTW. I enjoyed tonight's West Wing a lot more than I thought I would. I'm a fan of the show, in spite the politics (no pun intended), and really want it to continue. It appears they may have gone to the little faster pace of the first couple of years and I like that. Last year it was a bit of a stuggle to get used to CJ as the COS and Leo mostly out of the picture, but things look to be heating up again this year and that bodes well. I'm not sure how it will fair against Cold Case in it's new slot, but thanks to the DVR, I'll watch them both as long as they are on.

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:30 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Suddenly, UPN is a contender
'Everybody Hates Chris' helps the network to its best premiere week ever.
But can the comedy cross over?
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 26, 2005
(staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.)

As the dust settled on the first week of the fall TV season, the big winner was ... UPN?

For most of its existence, Viacom's mini-network has been mocked for its programming, an odd mix of "Star Trek" spinoffs, pro wrestling and cut-price sitcoms. The business story isn't any better; the network lost so much money — at least $1 billion since starting in 1995 — that senior Viacom executives publicly floated the notion of a shutdown.

Privately, some agents said they wouldn't even bother pitching projects to the network because it paid writers and actors relatively meager rates and its long-term prospects were so unsettled.

So imagine the forehead-slapping in Hollywood suites last week when UPN — with an assist from comic Chris Rock — waltzed to its best premiere week ever, with double-digit growth in total viewers and also among the young adults most sought by advertisers.

The biggest source of UPN's newfound sizzle? "Everybody Hates Chris," the family sitcom that Rock originally developed as a pilot for Fox.

But returning UPN series such as the reality contest "America's Next Top Model" have also hit record highs, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

"It's getting the most buzz of any network" this fall, said Stacey Lynn Koerner, executive vice president at ad firm Initiative.

With Rock's involvement — plus a 10-minute sneak peek that drew raves from advertisers in New York in May — "Chris" was expected to open strongly. But its Thursday premiere received UPN's highest rating ever for a sitcom, with 7.8 million total viewers, handing the season premiere of NBC comedy "Joey" a humiliating defeat. Back for its second year, "Joey's" first half-hour drew 7.5 million viewers. UPN's showing is especially impressive because the network is available only in 90% of the U.S. while NBC is available in virtually every market — and "Joey" was spun off from the network's mega-hit sitcom "Friends." Last season, the NBC comedy averaged 10.2 million total viewers.

Analysts say that with "Chris," Viacom's billion-dollar bet on UPN may finally start paying off. Early next year, Viacom will split its broadcast and radio operations into a separate company from its fast-growing cable networks, including MTV and Nickelodeon. But UPN will remain under the oversight of CBS honcho Leslie Moonves.

"If these numbers hold up for 'Chris,' that show will be a grand-slam home run for UPN," said Shari Anne Brill of New York-based ad firm Carat. "It's a real game-changer for the network.... Fox is probably kicking themselves right now for letting that show go."

"Chris" even has some Hollywood agents warming up to UPN. "The stars aligned on this one," said UTA partner Jay Sures, who represents one member of the producing team for "Chris." "Great script, great cast, incredible promotional campaign."

Of course, it's still too early to say whether UPN has arrived for good or merely hit another peak in its roller-coaster history. The network spent heavily to promote "Chris" — estimates range from $12 million to $15 million in marketing costs, more than twice those of typical new sitcoms — and its early ratings success could prove short-lived.

Moreover, UPN has had trouble getting advertisers to pay top dollar for some of its most-watched series, such as the sitcoms "Girlfriends" and "All of Us," because they mostly attract black viewers with incomes lower than marketers prefer. As of last May, the median household income for UPN viewers was $37,000; its longtime rival the WB Network logged a household median of $45,000, while ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox were at $50,000 or more.

It remains to be seen whether "Chris" can become a "crossover" show that attracts affluent viewers as well. The stakes are particularly high because advertisers spend more money on Thursdays than on any other night of the week.

Dawn Ostroff, UPN's entertainment president, realizes that the network has a long way to go.

Even before "Chris" premiered, "we really wanted to manage everybody's expectations," Ostroff said in an interview Friday. "We know what the network is really capable of, and we are not [like] CBS or NBC or ABC, where we can start right out of the box and just have those kinds of numbers."

Still, UPN has made great strides since 2000, when Mel Karmazin, then Viacom's president and chief operating officer, reportedly told investors in London: "UPN will become profitable, or it won't exist. If we can't make it profitable, we don't need it." (Karmazin left Viacom in 2004 and is currently chief executive of Sirius Satellite Radio.)

The network got off to a strong start in 1995 with the debut of "Star Trek: Voyager," seen by 21.2 million viewers.

But too many UPN shows got no attention, while others — such as the 1998 sitcom oddity "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" — became the butt of jokes. Since Moonves took over the network in 2002, though, UPN has shown more interest in staying the course. Now in its fifth edition, "Top Model" has turned into a signature series. "Girlfriends" and the other UPN sitcoms did surprisingly well last week against a doubleheader of ABC's "Monday Night Football."

Another UPN advantage: Top CBS executives routinely work on its programs and campaigns. For "Chris," veteran CBS marketing guru George Schweitzer pulled out all the stops with a blitz that included a pilot screening for the Congressional Black Caucus, 1 million bumper stickers passed out by guerrilla "street teams" and airplane and helicopter banners in New York and Los Angeles, as well as more conventional ads in entertainment magazines.

Even one of the victims of Hurricane Katrina smiled on "Chris." Nine-year-old Charles Evans, whose family was displaced from its New Orleans home by the storm, appeared on the Sept. 18 Emmys broadcast alongside "Chris" star Tyler James Williams.

The marketing coup wasn't lost on UPN's Ostroff: "I got more phone calls about that moment on the Emmys than almost anything else in a long time."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-upn26sep26,0,73389,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

goman

09-26-05, 03:06 AM

The shows I watched or will watch...

Lost - Love this show although my stupid local ABC provider still does not have HD capabilities.. Damn them

My Name is Earl - Great Pilot...good buzz.. it's a keeper

The Office - I enjoy it... no laugh track... the BBC one is better but this is fun to watch too.

Curb Your Enthusiasm - Larry David is back! Woohoo! Better than Seinfeld IMO. Oh and HBO and Larry D... why not HD?

Extras - on my DVR

E-Ring - I caught a couple huh? parts.... Like when the were explaining that the red and orange colors meant a warm blooded animal...that was pretty obvious to me.. I will keep watching because it is in beautiful HD.

Threshold - 2 hour pilot too long.. should have been one hour... only watched half.. need to catch up.

that is all for now.. thanks for all the articles Fred.. obviously don't read them all but if one catches my eye I do.

nashvillecat

09-26-05, 06:07 AM

fredfa

09-26-05, 10:46 AM

Interesting points about "Cold Case" nashvillecat.

I would think CBS was trying to figure out some way to skew some of its shows just a bit younger, as well as expand the fan base of thew show in the face of striong competition from "Extreme Makeover" on ABC and maybe even a possibly resurgent "West Wing" on NBC.

Actress Sarah Brown won three daytime Emmys in a five-year stint with "General Hospital" and Jerry Bruckheimer and crew probably thought it was best to attempt to add a little more depth to the "Cold Case" cast.

I am not sure it will work. but it usually takes more than a couple of episodes to see how new cast members fit in. Give it some time.

fredfa

09-26-05, 11:20 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Advertisers Unhappy With NBC

Very Weak Start to Season
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com September 26, 2005

Everybody was talking about how freshman sitcom Everybody Hates Chris on tiny UPN drew more viewers and scored a higher rating among adults 18-49 last Thursday than rival sitcom Joey on NBC. And media agency executives, whose clients are spending millions of dollars on NBC’s Thursday lineup, are wondering why NBC entertainment brass decided to return the exact lineup from last season, when it was evident that all of the shows were losing viewers.

“Who would have thought that UPN would ever beat NBC,” said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, vp, director of Starcom MediaVest Group Entertainment. “UPN did a good job of promoting the show, and it had good buzz. We all expected it to do well, but not those numbers.”

At 8 p.m. Chris beat Joey in viewers, 7.8 million to 7.5 million, and in the 18-49 demo, 3.2 to 3.0.

“It’s pretty significant,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vp of audience analysis at Magna Global USA. “The WB has shown in the past that it can come up with a show that draws numbers like this, but this is the first time UPN has done it.”

Chris beating Joey is only part of NBC’s problem on a night when many ad categories are charged a premium to reach viewers. The fourth installment of The Apprentice, starring Donald Trump at 9 p.m., which attracted 9.9 million viewers and a 4.6 in 18-49, produced its lowest-rated premiere to date. That lack of drawing power hurt its lead-out show, ER, which did a credible 6.4 in 18-49, but drew 5 million fewer viewers than rival CBS drama premiere, Criminal Minds.

“I would have thought NBC would have done something to reinvigorate Thursday,” said Lyle Schwartz, director of research, marketplace analysis at Mediaedge:cia. “But it did nothing; it stayed the same.” Ray Warren, president of Carat USA, called NBC’s move to stand pat “the biggest mistake made by any network during the upfront.”

Caraccioli-Davis believes NBC needs to still do something to bolster the night. “All summer long I was waiting for an announcement that some changes would be made. It never came. NBC needs to show the ad community that somebody is awake and aware of the problem, and hopefully it has something waiting in the wings.”

While NBC officials would not comment, sources inside NBC Universal defended the move to bring back Thursday intact. “Stability on Thursday was more important than making random changes at the start of the season,” said one NBC Universal exec. “NBC has said it is in a rebuilding mode and that cannot be done overnight. Thursday is down, but NBC is still a solid second. There is still a loyal core audience for Joey. But UPN spent $15 million to promote Everybody Hates Chris, and it got viewership. Now it has to hold those viewers. Thursday night will change [for NBC] before the season is over. There are a lot of shows in the pipeline for midseason—four comedies and a few dramas. Changes might come as soon as November, but certainly by January.”

Beyond Thursday, there are a few other red flags for the network that, because of soft ratings last season, took in nearly $1 billion fewer upfront ad dollars for this season than the year prior. The highly touted The Apprentice: Martha Stewart premiered Sept. 21 at 8 p.m.with a lower-than-expected 2.3 among 18-49s, the same as UPN’s reality show America’s Next Top Model. And on Wednesday at 10 p.m., NBC’s longtime staple, Law & Order, opened to an all-time premiere low 4.0 in 18-49s, hurt by its lead-in, new NBC drama E-Ring, which recorded a 2.5 in the demo. Meanwhile, ABC’s freshman 10 p.m. drama, Invasion, premiered with a 6.8 18-49 rating, helped by returning drama hit Lost, which opened at 9 with a whopping 10.2 18-49 rating and 23 million viewers.

“NBC’s major problem is that it has relied too much on the Law & Order franchise and The Apprentice, and now both those are in decline,” Sternberg said.

Carat’s Warren believes that if NBC’s ratings drop 5 percent below opening week on Thursdays, the network could be forced into an ad-makegood situation for the night. And Kris Magel, senior vp and account manager for Zenith Media, agreed that if NBC produces the same ratings in successive weeks, makegoods may be in order. But Magel added that stronger-than-expected performances by NBC last Monday, and with freshman sitcom My Name Is Earl (Tuesday 9 p.m.), which produced a solid 6.6 18-49 rating in its debut, could mitigate some deficiencies.

Through the first four days of the official first week of the season, NBC was down 19 percent in adults 18-49 to a 4.2, while ABC was up 18 percent to a 4.7. Fox was up 45 percent to a 2.9, bolstered by strong performances by new dramas Prison Break (Mondays at 9) and Bones (8 p.m. Tuesday), and sitcom The War at Home (Sunday 8:30). Still, Fox was the first to cancel a new show, axing Head Cases after two episodes. Head Cases premiered to 6.2 million viewers; half were gone for episode two.

CBS was down 22 percent to a 4.9, but did not premiere shows in four time periods last week. UPN was up 27 percent to a 1.5, based on strong performances on Monday as well as Top Model and Chris.

The WB was down 26 percent, but ran repeats on Wednesday.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001180621

fredfa

09-26-05, 11:36 AM

Sunday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the seventh night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

nashvillecat

09-26-05, 11:46 AM

Interesting points about "Cold Case" nashvillecat.

I am not sure it will work. but it usually takes more than a couple of episodes to see how new cast members fit in. Give it some time.

fredfa,

Thanks for the info. My only point here was that I liked "Cold Case" just fine and didn't want the producers to change anything. :)

keenan

09-26-05, 12:39 PM

Does anyone know why the heck this woman is on the show? I don't see the purpose at all. What are the plans for her? I really love the current synergy that exists on "Cold Case". Having Lil as the only female on the team is really kinda impotarnt, yanno? I don't understand the cast change.
I agree 100%, what the hell are they doing? My first thought was that Kathryn Morris asked for less screen time, possibly a D'Onofrio/Alexander burn-out scenario. I think it destroys the 2 team-2 partner dynamic, now we have 5 players..? Technically, the show looks and sounds even better than it did last year, still a definite keeper for me.

nashvillecat

09-26-05, 12:46 PM

I agree 100%, what the hell are they doing? My first thought was that Kathryn Morris asked for less screen time, possibly a D'Onofrio/Alexander burn-out scenario. I think it destroys the 2 team-2 partner dynamic, now we have 5 players..? Technically, the show looks and sounds even better than it did last year, still a definite keeper for me.

Yeh, how 'bout that 4-panel screen view! I watched this last night in HD for the first time. Bruckheimer completely amazes me.

keenan

09-26-05, 12:52 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Advertisers Unhappy With NBC

But UPN spent $15 million to promote Everybody Hates Chris, and it got viewership. Now it has to hold those viewers. Thursday night will change [for NBC] before the season is over. There are a lot of shows in the pipeline for midseason—four comedies and a few dramas. Changes might come as soon as November, but certainly by January.”

“NBC’s major problem is that it has relied too much on the Law & Order franchise and The Apprentice, and now both those are in decline,” Sternberg said.

A couple of good points from this article, UPN spent a boatload to promote Chris and I think a lot of those viewers were curious about all the buzz surrounding the show. OTOH, IMO, I think Joey is garbage no matter what it's up against. As far as swapping new shows in and out to try and gain viewers, I would guess that most viewers are not thrilled with time slot gymnastics, that would seem to be a recipe for losing the viewers period, especially knowing that you were weak going into the season.

As far as relying on Law and Order, I agree, while still good TV, they are getting a little stale.

keenan

09-26-05, 12:54 PM

Yeh, how 'bout that 4-panel screen view! I watched this last night in HD for the first time. Bruckheimer completely amazes me.
Yeah, I'm not sure if I like that or not yet, my first inclination is to say no, that it removes the audience from being closer to the characters, makes it a bit less personal, but I'll give it some time...

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:00 PM

I'll have to wait to weigh in more on "Cold Case".

It's on TiVo, but (despite the fact it is a favorite) I didn't get to it yet.

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:03 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
'Housewives' debut pulls in 28 million

ABC soap averages a 12.1 in 18-49s

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 26, 2005
Last season ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” was the top-rated new show in adults 18-49. This year it’s on its way to becoming the top-rated show period.

Last night’s season premiere averaged a 12.1 Nielsen overnight rating among 18-49s, out-performing last week’s two other top premieres “Lost” (10.0) and “CSI” (9.9). “Housewives’” rating was up 39.1 percent over the 8.7 overnight rating last season’s premiere earned, though it was down from May's 13.2 season-ender.

The “Housewives” premiere averaged 28.17 million total viewers, slightly lower than the 28.29 million that watched “CSI” but more than the 23.1 million who watched the “Lost” premiere.

Last season “Housewives” averaged a 10.4 adults 18-49 rating, behind the two editions of Fox’s “American Idol” at 11.4 and 11.1.

The show received tons of summer buzz about stars Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, Nicollette Sheridan and tabloid darling Eva Langoria.

With “Lost’s” big return and “Housewives” powering Sunday night, ABC is in great shape to start the season. Meanwhile, NBC’s woes continued with its revamped Sunday schedule last night.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_316.asp

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:13 PM

Network News To Change Dramatically
Beyond the Big Three

By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 26, 2005; C01

When the media's biggest megastars gathered at Carnegie Hall last week, an uncomfortable question hung in the air: Were they bidding farewell to Peter Jennings or the kind of journalism he embodied as well?

Despite shrinking audiences for the network newscasts, Brian Williams, the NBC anchor who succeeded Tom Brokaw and won plaudits for his coverage of the New Orleans floods, says they are "too important a franchise" to fade.

"When tragedy befalls the United States, when the event takes place that demands our attention, viewers come roaring back to the broadcast networks," he says. "It's the resources we can bring to bear on a crisis that sets us apart. We were able to operate in New Orleans in places where the federal government was not. We beat the first responders. We set the agenda during this particular event. We were witnesses, so we drove the story."

Williams says a long period of reticence by news organizations -- which he dubs "the 9/11 syndrome" -- ended with Hurricane Katrina.

Bob Schieffer, who took over for Dan Rather as CBS anchor, says of Jennings's passing: "We've come to the end of, I don't know if 'era' is the right word, but there will never be another time when three anchors command the attention and have the influence that these three did. One reason is that you now have 200 channels."

But Schieffer remains optimistic: "Does it mean we're at the end of good journalism? I don't think that's the case. We are the most informed people and have access to more information than at any time in the history of the world."

ABC correspondent John Cochran says no one is irreplaceable. "I expect to be in my rocker 10 years from now and there will still be stories about how TV news is going to hell in a handbasket, and it won't."

It fell to ABC veteran Sam Donaldson to acknowledge the demographic reality: "The average age of people watching the news on the three broadcast networks is 60. The average age of Americans is 35. We just can't keep doing this."

For the nightly newscasts to thrive, they will have to make themselves more compelling every week, not just during hurricanes.

At CBS, where Schieffer was tapped as an interim replacement, network chief Les Moonves is enamored of a multiple-anchor format. He has rejected one pilot that featured John Roberts delivering about five minutes of headlines with brief reports, followed by longer features in which the correspondents introduced themselves. Now the evening news staff is working on a new pilot.

Many CBS journalists were demoralized by a recent New York Times Magazine article in which Moonves was reported to have told friends about the news division: "I want to bomb the whole building."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092501443_pf.html

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:13 PM

And continuing that thought....

A Hazy New Day Awaits 'Nightline'

Producers Weigh New Format, Personnel for Post-Koppel Era

By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 26, 2005; C01

"Nightline" as we know it is about to fade to black.

Gone will be the single-topic examination that has been the ABC program's signature for 25 years. Gone will be the single-anchor format once Ted Koppel steps down Nov. 22. And some of the correspondents and producers who built the program into a journalistic powerhouse will likely be gone, too.

"I'm absolutely committed to 'Nightline' remaining a serious, substantive show," says British journalist James Goldston, the new executive producer. " 'Nightline' has a unique place in American television journalism and it's important that should continue. Of course, we wish it to be an entertaining show, but the journalism comes first always."

The likely new anchors are White House correspondent Terry Moran and "PrimeTime" anchor Cynthia McFadden, who have had serious discussions with Goldston and would be based in Washington and New York, respectively. Another possible anchor is Martin Bashir, who made documentaries about Michael Jackson and Princess Diana, although he may wind up as a contributor.

Goldston made a presentation last week to Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC television, and ABC News President David Westin, among others, and got a tentative green light to pursue his vision of the show, say people familiar with the matter who declined to be named because no final decisions have been made.

Left in limbo, for the moment, are such "Nightline" veterans as Chris Bury, John Donvan and others. They have not been approached about the new program, although Goldston is expected to ask some to stay on. (Other correspondents could be shifted to the morning or evening shows depending on whether Charlie Gibson, Elizabeth Vargas or someone else is named to succeed Peter Jennings.)

Correspondent Dave Marash says he has "been disinvited to join the new 'Nightline' " and is disappointed because "who I am and what I do and how I do it have not changed in the 16 years I've been with 'Nightline.' "

Several producers are likely to join a new company being formed by Koppel and outgoing executive producer Tom Bettag, who don't plan to finalize a deal with another media outlet until they leave. The center of gravity for the Washington-based show is clearly shifting to New York, where Goldston lives and where he is seeking funding to hire more staff.

Goldston, who produced Britain's most popular public-affairs show from 2002 to 2004, as well as Bashir's 2003 documentary "Living With Michael Jackson," has maintained in meetings that he has no plans to dumb-down "Nightline." He has argued that the move toward shorter segments will allow more coverage of foreign news and has talked about projects such as spending a week in Iran.

But Goldston is not averse to more interviews with celebrities if these can be tied to larger issues. He will also emphasize edited, taped pieces in the belief that no one else has Koppel's facility for long interviews done without interruption.

The new "Nightline" has done a soft launch, under Goldston's supervision, by having Moran and McFadden host a number of three-topic programs on Mondays and Fridays. The leadoff piece is usually hard news, but there have also been segments on sportscaster Pat Summerall meeting the family of his liver donor; Christopher Reeve's widow developing lung cancer; the fashion industry discovering larger women; and Rickey Henderson's baseball comeback. Whether the wide-ranging approach will erode the uniqueness of "Nightline" remains to be seen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092501443_pf.html

nashvillecat

09-26-05, 01:17 PM

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:19 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
'Chris' Takes NBC's Big Piece of Chicken

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post

Some say the exits of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather from the evening newscasts they had anchored for around two decades marked the end of TV as they knew it. For the rest of us, the end came this week when NBC, the network that owned the biggest night of television for two decades, got beat at 8 p.m. Thursday by a UPN sitcom.

The premiere of the ballyhooed Chris Rock-created "Everybody Hates Chris" clocked 7.8 million viewers -- the biggest comedy number in UPN's history.

In the same half-hour, the second season of the NBC "Friends" spinoff "Joey" logged 7.5 million viewers.

"Joey" was a one-hour debut and attracted more viewers in its second half, finishing with an overall average of 7.8 million. While better than 7.5 million, that is still the show's third-worst performance -- not great for a season-kickoff episode.

"Joey" did manage, among NBC's target group of viewers 18 to 49 years old, to do about as well as it had done in May before taking the summer rerun break. (Hey, it's not great, but it's something.)

Meanwhile, the second episode of CBS's "Survivor: Guatemala" snagged just under 17 million viewers in that first hour of prime time. While that's one of the series' smallest audiences ever for an original, regularly scheduled episode, it's still gobs better than "Joey's" 7.8 million.

Which means Leslie Moonves, the guy who runs both CBS and UPN, now has both feet firmly planted on the neck of the NBC peacock Thursday nights at 8.

But that was only the beginning of NBC's bad news.

At 9 p.m. "The Apprentice" starring Donald Trump logged just under 10 million -- the first time the franchise failed to break double digits (except for one clip show that aired on a Wednesday last December).

In his first half-hour, the Donald didn't attract as many viewers as had ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" dance-off results show, which posted nearly 10.5 million.

And, speaking of "Dancing With the Stars," John O'Hurley finally won the Really Ugly Trophy he so richly deserved in that competition, dethroning that little daytime hussy Kelly Monaco, who, when the surprisingly successful reality series aired over the summer, had been declared the winner, causing many viewers, and some TV critics, to cry foul.

Thanks mostly to the announcement of O'Hurley's win, ABC enjoyed its most watched Premiere Week Thursday in four years.

Against Trump, CBS's "CSI" kicked off its season with about 29 million watching. That's down compared with last year's kickoff crowd of nearly 31 million, but still about as many viewers as all of the show's time slot broadcast competitors combined.

Back to NBC's bad news: At 10 p.m. the 12th-season debut of "ER" posted its smallest audience ever for an original episode -- just under 14.4 million viewers. "ER" was no match for the premiere of CBS's crime drama "Criminal Minds," starring Mandy Patinkin (voice of an angel), which attracted 19.6 million viewers.

"Criminal Minds" did a better job opening in that best-of-all CBS time slots than had "Without a Trace" in 2002. "WOaT" bagged about 16 million viewers off of a 30 million "CSI" lead-in audience that fall.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/23/AR2005092301836_pf.html

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:33 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

Davis is in command, but show is impeachable

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

ABC's "Commander in Chief" has an ideological predictability guaranteed to make Republicans gnash their teeth at perfidious Babylon's left-leaning ways.

Relax: It's no opposition-rousing "West Wing." In fact, I'm not sure what it is.

The new series, which debuts at 9 p.m. tomorrow and stars Geena Davis as America's first woman president, presents this notion with a mighty chip on its shoulder — go on, we dare ya to laugh.

That posture might have rung truer a few decades back. With Hillary Clinton clearly on the horizon for a 2008 candidacy — and perhaps Condoleezza Rice — the show's gyno-defiance seems overbaked.

To be sure, we haven't actually had an elected female head of government. The United States trails on that score behind a number of nations, including Great Britain, Israel, India, Portugal, New Zealand, several Scandinavian countries and maybe — if things are hashed out — Germany.

It's also true that "Commander in Chief," like "West Wing," can take refuge in being make-believe. Even fiction, however, requires sincerity to emotionally resonate with viewers, and the focus on gender in "Commander in Chief" feels shamelessly contrived to court a demographic.

This false effect is brought home in a much-advertised climax. Republican Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), who wants the job himself, tries to talk Vice President Mackenzie Allen (Davis) into resigning after the president suddenly dies in office.

Templeton presents his argument. "This is not the time for social advances made for the sake of social advances," he says, then continues. "A woman as the leader of the free world. How many Islamic states do you think would follow the edict of a woman?"

When "Mac," as she's called, rebuts his argument, the discussion suddenly takes a left turn into the fallopian jungle.

She makes a sarcastic response about how these states also will have to worry about those few days a month when she might push the button.

Templeton kiddingly answers, "Well, that's something you won't have to worry about in a few years" — at which point Mac stiffens in her chair, flashes fire from her eyes and decides to take on leadership of the free world.

Davis, it should be said, rises admirably to the role. Those skeptical of her ability to project subtlety and stature may be pleasantly surprised at how well she conveys both.

Still, who knew that when a woman finally reached for the presidential brass ring, the prime motivator would be a menopause joke?

The confrontation reveals several other key weaknesses in "Commander in Chief."

The series' creators have made Mac a nonpartisan independent, which in American politics is even deadlier to high ambition than being a woman. Mac's vice presidency is explained in a flashback that shows the president recruiting her as a ticket-balancing running mate because his approval rating is low, but the practical problem of having no party support is omitted.

Still, it does help us understand why the president's team, including his chief of staff (Harry Lennix), doesn't want her; she didn't sign on to endorse his policies.

Unfortunately, what's left out of the equation are Mac's beliefs. She's defined by not being a cretin like Templeton, yet her principles hinge on a single subplot: In Mac's first act as president, she threatens Nigeria with an invasive military mission to rescue a young woman condemned to die because she had sex outside marriage.

It's not clear exactly how this would have distinguished Mac from her predecessor. Republicans never invaded a country in the name of human rights?

And despite the show's progressive aura, it has some oddly insular moments, like that line about Islamic states' objecting to a female leader. Many have high-ranking women in their governments: for instance, Pakistan, Indonesia, Jordan, Brunei, Iran, Uzbekistan, Guinea and Somaliland.

"Commander in Chief" has one more rose to throw to female viewers. Mac's vice-presidential chief of staff happens to be her husband (Kyle Secor), and he's none too happy about being relegated to First Husband.

His adjustment provides the only light moments in the pilot episode. The kids — two teenagers and a younger girl named Amy — are not quite integrated into the script, though we're given to anticipate some friction between Mac and her older daughter, who's a conservative.

"Commander in Chief" is well-produced, and Davis has appeal. But the show feels less like an enticing, uplifting fantasy than one put together by a marketing study. That's the closest it gets to real politics.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002516555&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay26&date=20050926

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:34 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
"Sex, Love & Secrets"

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

It's meant to be a 21st-century "Melrose Place" — let the tradition be carried forth — but something has gone terribly wrong with its Hot/Not compass.

The series tries to do for the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake what "The O.C" has done for Orange County, which is to populate it with young, attractive and relationship-tormented people and let the desperate pursuit of trendiness do the rest.

Alas, it has none of the self-aware wit of "The O.C." or over-the-top fun of "Melrose Place." Denise Richards, reprising the Heather Locklear role, is game but lame. The rest of the cast is strung together from recognizable stereotypes (are goatees still in style?) that reek of a Madison Avenue advertising campaign.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002516555&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=kay26&date=20050926

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:47 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Viewers Grading TV's Season

Let the people speak and they will rake the fall lineup

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Monday, September 26, 2005

They came, they saw ("Head Cases" for no real reason, because it was canceled, and "Love, Inc." with Shannen Doherty, pointlessly, because she was dropped from the show) and they suffered. And they are not done yet.

If you missed the Chronicle's fall television preview, then you missed the story of three slightly crazed, clearly misguided and ever-so-daring TV fanatics I met randomly over the summer. I recruited them -- after listening to their vast, astonishing, sad and useless accumulation of TV knowledge -- to an ad hoc viewing panel for The Chronicle. The voice of the general public. Or as Variety magazine calls those not in the business: "non-pro."

Our non-pro panelists have actual jobs. Lynne Whittaker and Jackie Van Riet work for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in San Francisco, and Audrey Yang did as well, before moving on to law school at Northwestern University. No doubt her ability to remember important cases or even study effectively has been seriously damaged by participating in our little experiment. Which was to watch as many of the new fall shows as the three of them -- now dubbed the Make-A-Critics -- could stomach.

With an ever-so-slight pause in the fall TV rollout (no new series premieres until, well, Tuesday), we thought this would be a perfect chance to catch up with their opinions. If they vary from mine, and they do, just remember this: They're wrong.

(Whittaker, ever diligent, was the only Make-A-Critic to review the first three Fox series that got a jump on the season.)

-- "Reunion" (Fox) Whittaker: "After seeing the previews, I was ready and willing to watch this show. Those Fox people know how to promote, I'll give them that. I really thought it would be right up my alley. Well, it turned out to be a road to nowhere in plot and acting. I'm blowing off the rest of this reunion."

-- "The War at Home" (Fox) Whittaker: "Addicted to TV or not, I do have to draw the line somewhere. The death of this show is the laugh track."

-- "Bones" (Fox) Whittaker: "My biggest problem was with the secondary characters, not the two main characters. 'Bones' is a lesser 'Threshold' without aliens."

-- "Supernatural" (WB) Van Riet: "I'm not big on the creepy angry dead people genre in general, basically because it freaks me out. However, I have to say as a whole I thought 'Supernatural' was pretty good. Not my thing -- but if I could handle flaming dead people pinned to the ceiling, I would watch it." Whittaker: "While the show had some nice spooky aspects, I just didn't care for or about the two main characters."

-- "Twins" (WB) Yang: "I weep for the washed-up '90s television actors of the world." Van Riet: "I spent the majority of my time wondering who convinced Darlene (Sara Gilbert -- she played Darlene on "Roseanne") to do this show. The pilot was hard to watch and it was a struggle to watch to the end." Whittaker: "I'd rather watch 'Twins' with Arnold Schwarzenegger on a loop."

-- "Threshold" (CBS): Whittaker: "I watched the first broadcast episode, which was an hour longer than the initial pilot. I was not disappointed. I'm very happy to see that it continues to be smart and spooky." Van Riet: "Of the creepy alien shows that are coming out this year, this is the best. It does a much better job with making the improbable seem believable." Yang: "Although it's just one in a long line of spooky conspiratorial alien weirdness, I really like the cast. Scientific without being 'CSI,' mysterious without being 'Lost.' "

-- "Surface" (NBC): Van Riet: "I think I'd rather NBC bring back 'SeaQuest' than watch 'Surface.' '' Whittaker: Even on the surface, this is a bad show. The acting is so tremendously bad I think that my eyes were bleeding. I'm in therapy to try to forget it." Yang: "Yes, I do have better things to do with my time, and so does TiVo. Badoop badoop badoop!" (Note: If you don't own a TiVo, that approximates the sound fast-forwarding.)

-- "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS): Van Riet: "Neil Patrick Harris makes this show what it is -- damn funny. This has earned a season pass on my TiVo because it makes me laugh out loud." Yang: "Remind me why it's being drooled over again? Yes, Doogie Howser is great, but after his three great lines, what else is there? Yawwwwnnnn." Whittaker: "I don't care what others say, I think this show is funny. I watched the pilot three times (showing it off to others as a great show, couldn't help it!), and then I watched it again when it aired."

-- "Kitchen Confidential" (Fox): Whittaker: "A great idea for a sitcom, as long as you don't try to compare it to the book upon which it is based. As a fan of the book and Tony Bourdain's other shows, I was a very hesitant diner."

-- "Just Legal" (WB): Whittaker: "I just don't buy the premise, I just don't buy Don Johnson's character. I'm just not going to watch it ever again. So sue me!" Yang: "One half-decent actor does not a drama make, even if he adds a wry awareness of its terribleness. 'Just Legal?' Just shoot me."

-- "Out of Practice" (CBS) Van Riet: "I like Henry Winkler. He was really funny on 'Arrested Development' and he's good on this show, but I didn't like the main actor. Aside from the predictable plastic surgery jokes, it was decent." Yang: "If I have to go with a doctor angle for a sitcom, I'll take Doogie Howser."

-- "My Name Is Earl" (NBC) Van Riet: "Thank God the 'Amazing Race' is a family edition this season so now I won't feel compelled to watch it, thus leaving ample room in my schedule for Earl. This is the kind of show that's funny in an uncomfortable way and makes you laugh when you know you probably shouldn't."

-- "E-Ring" (NBC) Whittaker: "I like Benjamin Bratt -- easy on the eyes and a decent actor. (But) I didn't feel any connection with Bratt's character, and I also didn't get all that excited about the world of the Pentagon. 'E-Ring' is B-oring." Yang: "Would it kill us to add in a few extra hours for a special op? For Benjamin Bratt eye candy, you're better off with 'Law & Order' reruns on TNT. For a more engaging insider look at the defense hub of America, um, maybe try C-SPAN."

-- "Invasion" (ABC) Whittaker: "The pilot of this show felt like a bad TV movie. The monster/alien genre is filled for me by 'Threshold.' " Yang: "Do I need more alien conspiracies? Yes! There are still a few more minutes of suspended disbelief that I can spare, so let me fill it with raining lights, convoluted family ties and natural disasters."

-- "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN): Van Riet: "I thought this show was pretty good. The first time it didn't make me laugh out loud but I could see where it had the potential. Like other intelligent comedies ('Arrested Development'), it's funnier the second time around." Whittaker: "I love Chris Rock as a comedian, but this show didn't wow me in the slightest. Sitcoms should make you laugh -- I don't think I laughed once." Yang: "Still love it. The most. Comedy and poignancy, maturity and adolescence, reality and great storytelling. Does it get any better?"

-- "Criminal Minds" (CBS) Van Riet: "I'm going to backpedal some here, but watching the pilot again has made me rethink my nomination for best new drama. Besides, as everyone knows my certifiable love for 'Lost' means 'Criminal Minds' will not make it on my TiVo." Whittaker: "This is my top pick for best new drama. The show grabbed me from the get-go and held my attention the entire time. The characters have depth -- they're not just caricatures -- and face it, the FBI is cool!" Yang: "While it's shafted by being thrown up against 'Lost,' it's worth TiVoing in the other room."

-- "Ghost Whisperer" (Fox) Van Riet: "This show was impressively bad. The dialogue was a fury of lines so horrible they were funny. If you want to see people talk to the dead, watch 'Medium' or rent 'The Sixth Sense.' Don't waste your time with 'Ghost Whisperer.' " Whittaker: " 'Ghost Whisperer' is a terrible program -- the writing is abysmal and Jennifer Love Hewitt is an overdramatic, doe-eyed babe conveniently always wearing tight or low-cut tops. Psst, lean in, let me whisper something to you -- skip this show." Yang: "What's unoriginal, buxom and cheesy, all in one? If you said 'Twins,' you're right, but it applies here, too, sadly. It's not worth gouging your eyes out, but certainly perhaps a pirate eye-patch is in order. Or a drinking game."

-- "Inconceivable" (NBC) Whittaker: "It is 'inconceivable' that such a bad show can be made." Yang: "Looks like a sitcom, but tries to act like a drama."

The Make-A-Critics will be checking in on fall shows from time to time -- if they don't quit before then.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/26/DDG6IET0D31.DTL

fredfa

09-26-05, 01:52 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

`Commander' needs some time to find its rhythm

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Mon, Sep. 26, 2005

It is inevitable that ABC's new ``Commander in Chief'' will be compared to ``The West Wing.'' But beyond their setting in the White House, the two series have very, very little in common.

As originally devised by Aaron Sorkin, ``West Wing'' was a valentine to policy wonks and others in public service. It takes its public issues and partisan politics seriously, even if it has chosen to cloak them with rapid-fire, screwball-comedy humor (under Sorkin) and stylish high drama (under John Wells, who replaced Sorkin three seasons ago). The show remains about the only place in prime time where you can hear characters discussing the budget deficit, funding for NASA and Middle Eastern geopolitics.

``Commander,'' which makes its debut this week (9 p.m. Tuesday, Ch. 7), is a domestic drama, ``Once and Again'' against the backdrop of the Oval Office. Forget labor statistics and soft money legislation. This show is far more interested in the character of Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis), a working mom who one day finds herself with a new job, as the first female president of the United States.

An independent who was put on the Republican ticket to attract female voters, Vice President Allen is called back to Washington when the president suffers a stroke. She is then told by the ailing president and his staff that she needs to resign so Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland) can take over.

After wavering briefly, Allen tells all the president's men (and a few women) what they can do with their resignation request -- and takes over when the president dies. (It wouldn't have been much of a series if she'd said, ``Sure, no problem, where do I sign?'')

While ``Commander'' does wander into ``West Wing'' territory -- there's a subplot about a Nigerian woman about to be stoned to death for adultery -- much of the first hour is focused on Allen and her family: husband Rod (Kyle Secor of ``Homicide''), who isn't very comfortable with being the First Gentleman, and their three children, including petulant teen daughter Rebecca (Caitlin Wachs of ``Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'').

There's nothing particularly subtle or surprising about the first episode. That's somewhat unexpected given the track record of creator Rod Lurie, who has done some good film work (the rather similar ``The Contender'') and one terrific if short-lived TV series (2003's ``Line of Fire''). A couple of the scenes, notably a confrontation between Allen and Templeton, are awfully predictable.

Still, Lurie, who directed the opening episode, knows how to make slick drama. ``Commander'' looks good, summons up some real energy in key scenes and establishes a certain warmth in its portrayal of the Allen family.

He also has a good feel for casting. It takes a while to accept Davis -- Thelma in ``Thelma & Louise'' -- as the president. (Part of the problem is her lips, which enter the room three seconds before she does.) But by the end of the hour, she's quite believable in the part. Sutherland brings considerable gravitas to a role that, as written, is Snidely Whiplash without a mustache. And the series is or will be populated by some fine supporting actors: Secor, Leslie Hope, Ever Carradine, Peter Coyote and Harry Lennix.

So let's give ``Commander in Chief'' some time to find its rhythm. It may not be ``The West Wing'' but, then again, even ``The West Wing'' isn't ``The West Wing'' these days.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12744059.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Whitearrow

09-26-05, 02:05 PM

Great post, Dave -- I agree with many of your thoughts.

I have a feeling "Inconceivable" (trashed by almost all the male critics and many female critics as well) is more a woman's show..

Maybe some women (soap opera fans, perhaps?) but generally, women are no more happy with trite, cliched storytelling than men are. Numb3rs has a lot of very dedicated female fans. So do Battlestar Galactica, Lost, etc.

Inconceivable is just a stupid show, and I doubt it's going to find much traction among any group of viewers unless it improves very quickly.

Whitearrow

09-26-05, 02:08 PM

Re NBC and Thursday night -- I finally threw up my hands and dropped ER when they continued this 9:59 start time ******** this year. This is an intentional attempt to keep my DVR from recording anything from 9-10, and I'm just tired of it. I don't know of any way of doing a manual record to start a minute late on my cable co's HD DVR, and I'm not going to reward NBC for this tactic by prioritizing ER above the 9 pm shows.

keenan

09-26-05, 02:25 PM

Yup, it's just another example of how well practiced NBC is at shooting itself in the foot. A basic human tenant is that people will prefer the ability to make a choice as opposed to being "forced" into a choice. Their programming is going to stand on it's own two legs or it won't. Don't try and trick the numbers to compensate for declining viewership by juggling start times. It's a cheap trick IMO. NBC needs to get a clue, although ABC has this disease as well.

fredfa

09-26-05, 04:40 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Grading TV's fall semester

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic
Now, class, for those of you who weren't paying attention, "My Name Is Earl" and "Everybody Hates Chris" are the outstanding comedies of TV's fall premiere week. We said they belong on the honor roll - and the ratings prove it.

"Criminal Minds," an unimpressive crime drama on CBS, scored the highest grade of any new series in terms of attracting an audience, but we suspect it took advantage of its lead-in, "CSI." Cheating will not be tolerated. We bet succeeding weeks will prove our point: the Mandy Patinkin hour is a pedestrian procedural.

In terms of ratings, Martha Stewart flunked. In terms of content, she was not as stiff as The Donald, and her "Apprentice" production values were equally slick.

The grades are in on the first week of TV's fall season, and, not surprisingly, "Lost" aced its premiere.

Martha is consigned to study hall.

Let's review.

While more than 15 million viewers chose the "Lost" clip show that led into the "Lost" premiere on ABC, only about 7 million watched "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" on NBC, in which the domestic diva made nice to fawning contenders.

Martha tried mightily to be the gentle, polite yang to Trump's yin but, against the "Lost" recap, she just didn't fit in to viewing schedules.

While "you just don't fit in" was revealed as her clunky catchphrase on the Mark Burnett-produced "Apprentice" spinoff, the loser seemed to miss it as his cue to exit. She had to ad lib a "goodbye" to make it stick. (The line can't touch The Donald's "you're fired").

While she earned an F in the Nielsens, give Martha an A+ for cross-promotion. On her "Apprentice" edition, contenders created a children's book, which is now sold by Random House and promoted on the syndicated daytime show "Martha" (9 a.m. on KCNC-Channel 4), which chats up the previous night's loser. A tidy marketing monolith that averages out to a C.

Mystery deepens

Over on ABC, the opening of the hatch led to an ever-deeper level of mystery on the Emmy-

winning "Lost," watched by 23 million viewers, leaving us hanging until this week to learn the fate of the airplane survivors on the raft. "Make Your Own Kind of Music," indeed. For now, trust the brilliant J.J. Abrams to tell a compelling story and keep the mythology connected. He earns an A for suspense, but next week's hour had better fill in some blanks.

NBC got a much-needed ratings boost from "My Name is Earl," a quirky comedy about a loser who is intent on righting past wrongs, that drew some 15.3 million viewers on Tuesday, making it the night's highest-rated show. That is the best the network has done in that time period in three years (since a "Frasier" episode in 2002). In fact, it's the highest rated new comedy premiere on any network since Matt LeBlanc's debut in "Joey."

In terms of comedy, the offbeat "Earl" deserves an A to the lame "Joey's" C-minus. The new Jason Lee half-hour also took a chunk of viewers from Fox's "House."

No surprise, considering the advance praise, that everybody loves Chris. Overnight ratings for Chris Rock's clever half-hour, "Everybody Hates Chris," helped the underachieving UPN on Thursday. "Chris" virtually tied "Joey" in total viewers.

UPN split the hairs this way: If you look only at the key 18-49 demographic, "Everybody Hates Chris" scored an amazing second-place finish in the time period. For lowly UPN! In major urban markets with a higher percentage of African-American audiences, the show ranked No.1 or No.2.

CBS's "CSI" remains Thursday's most-watched show after a strong sixth-season premiere watched by 28 million viewers. Following "CSI," "Criminal Minds" debuted with nearly 20 million viewers to become the week's most-watched newcomer. "Criminal Minds" handily beat the season premiere of "ER" on NBC. With "Survivor: Guatemala" winning its time period, too, CBS clearly dominates Thursdays.

Paranormal report card

The superior "Supernatural" worked wonders for the WB. The combination road picture and urban-myth horror show clicked with viewers. CBS's "Threshold" did far worse in the ratings than it deserved. NBC's underwater thriller "Surface" did well enough. ABC's "Invasion" averaged a strong rating, keeping the network on top in the hour after "Lost," but the sci-fi thriller fell off in its second half-hour.

Those frisky "Gilmore Girls" beat the premiere of "Bones." The season premiere of the American version of "The Office" continued the lousy performance of last season despite Steve Carrell's movie publicity blitz.

And it's too soon to tell about CBS's "Ghostwhisperer" and Fox's creepy "Killer Instinct." Give both incompletes because ratings for the Friday shows were not available at press time.

"Nip/Tuck," the shocking, sometimes unbearable drama about plastic surgeons on FX goes to the head of the class, if you like that sort of thing. The 90-minute season premiere delivered record ratings for FX. It also drew the coveted 18-49 demographic from the broadcast networks to catch the sexual/surgical doings on cable.

Insiders suggest the numbers on "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" may determine how NBC does overall this season. Wednesday is considered up for grabs since Fox's "American Idol" is off the air until January. If Martha rebounds, NBC could edge past ABC. If not, ABC's "Lost" will continue to carry the night and go a long way toward capturing the week. The real test will come in four weeks, with the November sweeps.

Meanwhile, be sure to catch the arrival of Geena Davis Tuesday as the first female president in ABC's "Commander in Chief", a smart show that, if it goes deeper, could pick up where the fading "West Wing" leaves off. For extra credit, imagine how Aaron Sorkin might have written the new White House drama.

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3061473

fredfa

09-26-05, 04:47 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“The Amazing Race”
8-legged race is 4 too many

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Monday, September 26, 2005

"THE AMAZING Race" has always been the reality show for people who don't like reality shows, with a premise so ingenious and simple that it didn't need the constant gimmicks other reality shows have to invoke to stay fresh. So why did the "Race" producers feel compelled to twist things up for the eighth season?

Instead of teams of two traveling the globe, now we have families of four. Some are nuclear families with a mom, a dad and small kids (the youngest is 8), while others include four siblings in their late teens and 20s and a middle-aged father and his three sons-in-law.

This causes several problems right away. First, one of the show's few flaws is that there are too many people to keep track of in the early episodes, and now the number's doubled.

Second, past casts have featured all kinds of interesting combinations -- mothers and sons, siblings, husbands and wives, people who just started dating (and who usually break up during the show) -- while this group is more homogenous. There's a middle-aged man competing with his three sons-in-law, and a team of four teen and twentysomething sibs, but virtually every other group is a traditional nuclear family, with the only thing distinguishing them their ages and accents.

Also, a good chunk of the show's appeal has been as a travelogue, with contestants running through gorgeous landmarks around the globe. The two-hour family edition premiere (tomorrow at 9 p.m., Ch. 2) starts in Manhattan and then stays in Manhattan, then stays in Manhattan again, then features a jaunt down the Jersey Turnpike (where the smarter teams stop for directions at the Vince Lombardi service area), then stops in Philly before a jaunt through Pennsylvania Dutch country.

This may be the longest single stretch within U.S. borders in the show's history, and resembles a family car trip more than an exciting international race. Rumors have abounded that the teams will only get as far as Central America this year, probably to spare the younger kids (including an 8-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl) from the rigors of constant travel.

The good news is that certain parts of the show are tinker-proof. The challenges are still inventive and geographically appropriate (they have to buy hot dogs on 91st & Lex and race carriages in Lancaster, Pa.). And while the show has generally favored teams with greater strength or athleticism, it doesn't look in the early going like the teams with small children are at a significant disadvantage. (If anything, the kids prove useful during the carriage race, since they're lighter and easier to pull.)

Maybe in a few weeks, when the numbers have dwindled from 44 to, say, 28, and the contestants have gone somewhere that requires a passport, it'll be easier to tell whether the family idea should be repeated in the future.

But right now, it's disconcerting that the highlight of the premiere was the sight of two former contestants handing out clues at the hot dog stand and looking increasingly dismayed -- either because they think the new format is odd or, more likely, because only one person recognized them.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/alltv/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1127710201243320.xml&coll=1

fredfa

09-26-05, 04:48 PM

(I still think "The Amazing Race" would be the reality show best served by going to HD, with "Survivor" a relatively close second.)

fredfa

09-26-05, 04:52 PM

Don Adams of 'Get Smart' Dies at 82

By BOB THOMAS Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES -- Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV spoof of James Bond movies, "Get Smart," has died. He was 82.

Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said Monday, adding that the actor broke his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/sns-ap-obit-adams,0,206730.story?coll=hce-headlines-tv

fredfa

09-26-05, 04:58 PM

Don Adams -- 1923-2005

wouldyoubelieve.com---Don Adams was born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923 in New York City. An engineer early in his career, Adams turned to stand up comedy in the Fifties. He changed his name from Yarmy to Adams because he got tired of being last during alphabetical auditions. As a comic, Don won on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1954. Co-written with his friend Bill Dana, Adams’ stand-up routine gained popularity and led to a role on The Perry Como Show. He moved from that to playing Detective Byron Glick on The Bill Dana Show. When the Get Smart pilot was rejected by ABC, it was picked up by NBC on the condition that they use Don, whom NBC had under contract. Don was wary of committing to any show, but once he heard that Mel Brooks, Buck Henry, and Leonard Stern were involved, he agreed to do the show without even reading a script.

Don won three Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Max, an Emmy record that was broken by Carroll O'Connor and tied by Kelsey Grammer. After Get Smart, Adams did the comedy series The Partners, where he played a cop. The show, which went through extensive cast and crew changes before finally airing in 1971, only lasted thirteen episodes. You can read more about this series at Chris' Partners Site.

He launched Don Adams’ Screen Test in syndication in 1973, and it lasted a full season before being canceled. He finally achieved another sitcom success with the Canadian Broadcasting Show, Check it Out. Adams played a manager of a grocery store filled with inept employees. The show ran briefly in syndication in the United States. For more details on this show, visit Kat's excellent Check It Out Site.

His success directing Get Smart led to a post-Smart career as a director of commercials. He won the Clio Award for outstanding commercial direction in advertising in 1971. It was for his Aurora Skittle Pool commercial, in which he was also the performer.

Don Adams’ unique voice has led him to several successful voiceover roles. He was Tennessee Tuxedo during the entire run of Underdog and had a smash hit as Inspector Gadget in the 1980's (check out The Inspector Gadget Site for more info).

Don Adams passed away September 25, 2005 from a lung infection. He had been in ill health for some time and was with his family when he died.

http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/dona.html

Xesdeeni

09-26-05, 05:00 PM

Supernatural - Have relegated this to WB's Sunday's repeat, can't record 3 shows at the same time and already have another in the timeslot to watch in SD will recording 2 in HD.Have I told you all lately that I love you? :-) I'm embarassed to say I like this show after two episodes. It's what The Night Stalker should be (we'll see this week if it is). It's somewhat cliche and formula, but it gives a nice feeling to watch them "kill as many [evil] sons of a bitches" as they can. But since it's agains House and The Office, it was relegated to SD recording (I can only record two HD shows at a time)...until I read the above info. Thanks! Now I can record it in HD! Another guilty pleasure satisfied.

Xesdeeni

P.S. My take on the shows tomorrow, when I have more time (in case you care :-) ).

fredfa

09-26-05, 05:04 PM

An interesting story on that ABC reality show which got canceled before it even aired:

Canceled reality series produces a happy ending

Neighbors share lives, hugs after cameras leave
By Diane Holloway Cox News Service September 26, 2005

AUSTIN, Texas -- An Austin-taped reality TV show, undone by controversy and canceled before it aired, has changed lives and united families.

Sounds like a sappy ad for "Oprah," doesn't it? But it's true.

Last week Steve and John Wright, a gay, white couple with an adopted black child, are moving into the house they won in an all-white, upscale cul-de-sac in the southwest Travis County subdivision of Circle C. The four-bedroom, 3,300-square-foot traditional brick home was the prize in a competition orchestrated by ABC's ill-fated series "Welcome to the Neighborhood."

Jim Stewart, one of the Circle C residents, says he used to be "fearful and ignorant of gays," but has undergone a dramatic change as a result of taping the series last January. Now he not only embraces his new neighbors but has opened his heart to older son Jason, who -- unknown to neighbors and producers at the time -- is gay.

"I was shocked somebody could start where Jim did and wind up where he did," Steve Wright says. "It affirms your faith in human nature."

Large, expansive and ruddy-faced, Stewart is the guy who proclaimed in the ABC promos: "I would not tolerate living next door to homosexuals." His next-door-neighbor Jim Kaiser describes him as "a redneck with a heart of gold," but that's not how America saw Jim Stewart in those ads. He was lambasted on talk radio and "The View," to name just a couple of national venues.

Stewart's emotional journey was key to "Welcome to the Neighborhood," a six-episode reality show in which three conservative white families chose new neighbors from among seven diverse families. Stewart helped pick the Wrights. Besides the Wrights, there were Hispanic, African-American and Asian families, a Wiccan family, a pierced and tattooed family and a family with a stripper mom. After the promos were blasted as racist and homophobic by civil rights groups and the media, ABC axed the show a week before its July 5 debut.

Riding out the storm

Meanwhile the residents of the Alberta Cove cul-de-sac, along with their new neighbors, bonded and rode out the media storm.

"You couldn't write a better ending to this story," says John Wright, 33, a kindergarten teacher. "Circle C really took some knocks, and I hope people will realize that was unfair. These are warm, kind, wonderful people who really want to be with us. The show is over. They don't have to be like this now."

Steven and John Wright have become part of a close-knit group of Alberta Cove families that parties every Friday evening at "the wall," a stone fence in front of the Stewarts' house that has special meaning for this neighborhood. Friendships have strengthened at the wall, confessions have been made at the wall, hearts have been broken and healed at the wall.

A changing relationship

The Wrights have made lots of friends in Circle C, but they have become especially close to the Stewarts, a relationship that both families say has been life-changing.

Steve Wright, 50, a self-described "soccer mom," who cooks, shops and chauffeurs 2-year-old Eli to and from preschool, says he has been surprised and deeply touched by the experience.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "We've been through an intense thing with these people, four weeks of a sociological experiment. Now we probably know 50 families out there by name, and we go to the wall on Friday evenings. It's an old-fashioned neighborhood where people love each other and raise their kids."

Steve Wright admits he showed up on Alberta Cove with his own "preconceptions and defenses." He and John knew at least some of the people there would not like them, so they entered the fray with a "battle mentality." But the neighbors, including Jim, accepted them before they realized it.

"I always thought redneck views were set in cement," Steve adds. "Jim proved you shouldn't assume anything -- or give up on anybody."

Governor of cul-de-sac

Jim Stewart, 53, the unofficial "governor of the cul-de-sac," is an avid fan of the University of Texas Longhorns and works in sales for a food processing equipment company. His wife, Karen, 38, who graduated from Texas A&M, works from home for a multinational food manufacturing company. They have a 10-year-old son, Zachary, and Stewart has a 24-year-old son, Jason, from a previous marriage.

Neither the show's producers nor the other Circle C families knew that Jim had been wrestling with deeper personal issues since Jason came out to him at the wall three years earlier.

"When Jason told me that, I was emotional, crying," Jim said softly. "I said everything negative you can say to him. I told him I would never change. I said I still loved him, but I told him to check the gay stuff at the door. Don't bring it into this house."

After Jason left, Jim says, he wondered what he had done wrong. Why was Jason gay, and, "What doctor can we go to to fix this?"

Jason longed for a closer connection with his dad (he says they were "distant close"), and the rejection after coming out to his dad was painful.

The Wrights already had a lovely home and a happy life. Why did they open themselves up to the trauma and drama of reality TV when "Welcome to the Neighborhood" came calling?

"We don't see families like ours on TV, and we wanted to see one in a positive portrayal," John says.

Producers and casting directors had spread the word they were looking for a gay couple with kids. The Wrights were contacted through their church, the Metropolitan Community Church in South Austin.

"I just don't get the gay thing," Jim Stewart said, shaking his head during a poker game in The Show That Never Aired.

"Well, I don't get the redneck thing," Steve Wright countered.

The two men "get" each other now.

What happened? The families got to know each other filming the show. They talked about their beliefs and values, issues that stood between them. It was therapy by way of reality TV.

A couple of weeks after the show wrapped, Jim called Jason and said he wanted to talk with him.

"I told him, `Dad was wrong. I'm sorry,'" Jim said, choking back tears. "I might have gone forever like I was without the Wrights."

Jim's transformation stunned Jason. The call from his father was one he'd been hoping for since he came out at the wall three years ago.

Alberta Cove has calmed down, for now. On a recent Friday evening at the wall, about 25 regulars gathered -- from the cul-de-sac and beyond -- to drink, eat and visit. Jim joked, hugged, poured tequila and presided.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/chi-0509260028sep26,1,4557779,print.story?coll=chi-ent_tv-hed

fredfa

09-26-05, 05:08 PM

Are loopy antics enough to sustain “Arrested Development”?

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune staff reporter September 26, 2005

It might doom the show's prime-time future, but there's something wonderful about the refusal of "Arrested Development" to conform to the conventions of . . . well, anything.

The antic comedy, which follows the travails of the once-wealthy Bluth family, may have gotten even more delightfully loopy in its third season. If you have a demented or at least slightly surreal sense of humor, by all means check out the show, which, if its season-premiere ratings are any indication, unfortunately might not be around much longer.

In Monday's episode, Oscar winner Charlize Theron starts a multiepisode guest stint as a love interest for Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman). To do research for his father's legal defense, Michael visits "Wee Britain," a sort of theme-park version of England, where he meets lovely Rita (Theron), a mysterious teacher with a penchant for odd headgear. His budding relationship with Rita surprises his family, which often mocks him for his inability to sustain a relationship.

Needling him about his relationship with his late wife, Michael's sister Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) notes, "You guys weren't even speaking toward the end."

"A lot of that was a coma," Michael answers.

"Yeah, I've heard your side of it," Lindsay retorts.

There's a magic trick called the Free Chicken. A vacation cabin on wheels. A rubber hand put to mysterious purposes. And a flying Poppins (to explain that gag would be to ruin it). Believe it or not, the episode makes a twisted sort of sense, and grounded by Bateman's wonderfully deadpan performance, "Arrested Development" even boasts a curiously expansive heart.

Still, the show's recent Emmy win for best comedy writing -- not to mention a shelf-load of other awards -- may not be enough to save it from the ax. So catch it while you can.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/chi-0509260015sep26,1,1608655,print.story?coll=chi-ent_tv-hed

fredfa

09-26-05, 05:11 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”
She's in 'Command'

By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Tired of real-life politics? And who isn't?

If you're looking for a politician who's inspired, inspiring, credible and out to do the right thing, not just the popular thing, look no further than the first female president of the United States, Mackenzie Allen.

She's smart. Idealistic. Tough when she needs to be. And she's played by Geena Davis on the ABC series "Commander in Chief," which premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 4.

"I just read that 81 percent of Americans are ready to vote for a woman," Davis said. "I mean, it sounds like America is ready."

But is Mackenzie Allen? A political independent who served two terms in the House of Representatives before becoming disillusioned, Allen was a university president when the GOP presidential nominee taps her as his veep. He's looking for her help with women voters; he's not looking for her to succeed him.

So when he suffers a brain aneurysm, he tells her to resign so the right-wing speaker of the House (Donald Sutherland) can replace him.

It's not giving away anything to let you know that she doesn't resign, she takes over. (If not, there's no show.)

If the situation doesn't quite ring true, the characters do. It isn't hard to believe these are real people, including:

• Her husband, Rod (Kyle Secor), who was her chief of staff and is now uncomfortably cast as the "first gentleman."

• The former president's chief of staff (Harry Lennix), who doesn't want her to take over.

• Her press secretary (Ever Carradine), who does.

• And her children, 16-year-old twins (Matt Lanter and Caitlin Wachs) and a 6-year-old daughter (Jasmine Anthony).

While, at first glance, "Chief" might look like a new "West Wing," they're very different shows. Executive producer Rod Lurie called "West Wing" "one of the great shows in the history of network television" but added that "Chief" is "very, very different."

"The family is so involved in our shows. We're going to deal a lot with" family issues ranging from getting the kids to school to how the president's daughter goes trick-or-treating. And how the White House functions for things like state dinners and "oddly enough, a lot of what takes place in the East Wing and the residence."

While Lurie said he wrote the character of Mackenzie Allen for his daughter and all women, he promised "Chief" would be about a president, not just a woman president.

"If we had a woman president, by about one year that would stop being the story about her," he said. "We'd simply accept her as our president, I hope. So I think that will eventually become what happens with our show, and what is more interesting is the fact that she's independent."

Politics — including issues like the death penalty, stem-cell research and the war on drugs — are a huge part of the show, too. And President Allen feels that, as an independent, "she can't win two years from now" so "she can do whatever she wants, which means what is right for the country."

Not that she's perfect. "I guarantee you're going to see some failings. . . . Although she is going to be a damn good president and one that we can be proud of," Lurie said.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,615152549,00.html

fredfa

09-26-05, 05:15 PM

Criminally Good
SVU goes for the emotional jugular

By Matt Roush TVGuide.com

It's easy to take some shows for granted, especially if they run for years and are part of an overextended, albeit profitable, franchise. So it is with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the least formulaic and, in recent years, the most consistently compelling of the ubiquitous Orders.

SVU long ago overcame its initial reputation as a sordid wallow in sex crimes, and has become a destination for tricky and often disturbing psychological mysteries. Still going strong in its seventh season, the show is best whenever the case gets under the skin of lead detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). Each gets a vivid workout this month.

Hargitay deserves her third consecutive Emmy nomination for this week's suspenseful episode, built around a 911 call. It's a knuckle-biting race against time as Olivia stays on the phone with a disoriented 9-year-old girl imprisoned in an unknown location. Amid skepticism that it's all a hoax, Olivia stays the course, and Hargitay runs the emotional gamut from frantic desperation to vengeful resolve.

Meloni takes center stage in the Oct. 11 episode, as Elliot confronts his own deep-rooted rage issues in the wake of an assault case involving an ex-partner's son. Steroids are the catalyst in an exploration of father-son dynamics that sends the increasingly unstable Elliot to a shrink (Mary Stuart Masterson).

The best compliment I can give these episodes: I rarely felt I was watching a Law & Order show. If SVU keeps up this pace, it will have no trouble staying well ahead of its new competition, ABC's quirky Boston Legal and CBS' earnest Close to Home.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/review/

fredfa

09-26-05, 05:22 PM

Don Adams Dies at 82
By Dennis McLellan Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 26, 2005

Don Adams, the comic-actor who played bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart on the hit 1960s spy-spoof series "Get Smart," has died. He was 82.

Adams, who honed his comedy skills as a post-World War II stand-up comic and impressionist, died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said today. He said the actor had broken his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since.

It was the height of the Cold War and the James Bond spy craze when "Get Smart" debuted on NBC-TV in 1965 with Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, a Washington-based counter-intelligence agency.

It was the job of Smart and beautiful Agent 99 (co-star Barbara Feldon) to destroy KAOS, an international organization of evil. Edward Platt, who died in 1974, played their long-suffering boss, who was known simply as "Chief."

The clever and satirical sitcom, created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, was filled with sight gags (one character, Agent 13, hid in mailboxes, water fountains and clocks) and ingenious gimmicks (Smart famously phoned headquarters with a dial phone implanted in the sole of his shoe.)

Playing the vain but inept secret agent, Adams used the nasal voice and clipped delivery that he had perfected as a stand-up comic years before — his grossly exaggerated take-off of William Powell, who portrayed the sophisticated private detective Nick Charles in "The Thin Man" movie series.

"Get Smart" spawned two of the most popular catchphrases of the decade: "Sorry about that" and "Would you believe?" The latter was uttered by Smart whenever someone didn't believe one of his preposterous fabrications — as illustrated by the time KAOS's Mr. Big (played by Michael Dunn, a dwarf) cornered Smart and was ready to kill him.

Thinking fast, Smart says, "At the moment, seven coast guard cutters are converging on us. Would you believe it?"

MR. BIG: I find that hard to believe.

SMART: Hmmm would you believe six?

MR. BIG: I don't think so.

SMART: How about two cops in a rowboat?

Much of the success of the series can be attributed to Adams' trademark delivery.

During his years as a stand-up comic, he told the Toronto Star in 1999, "I used to do character pieces-a baseball umpire, a football coach, a defense attorney, all in that same voice."

But for all the success it brought him, Adams found the staccato voice "incredibly annoying."

In a 1999 interview with the Toronto Star, he credited comedian Bill Dana, who became his writing partner in 1954, for being "primarily responsible for me using that voice."

"Right from the beginning," Adams recalled, "he said, 'You should do all your routines in that voice.' And I said, 'But I can't stand that voice.' And he said, 'But it's funny. It makes people laugh.'"

Adams said Ed Sullivan told him the same thing the first time he appeared on Sullivan's variety show. "Of course, they were both right," Adams conceded. "For whatever reason, the delivery or whatever it is, that voice makes any situation funnier."

At the end of its fourth season in 1969, NBC canceled "Get Smart," but it was picked up by CBS for its fifth and final season.

"Get Smart" won seven Emmys, including three for Adams as best actor in a comedy series.

Of working with Adams, co-star Feldon once said: "When you got in a scene with Don, it was like stepping up onto a surfboard, and you just flew through those waves. It was exhilarating."

Like many comedians, Adams was quiet and serious off stage. He viewed himself not as a funny man, but as an actor who does comedy.

"I hate performing," he said in a 1969 interview. "I don't care about being thought funny; I never did. Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all."

He was born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1926, in New York City. His father, who ran a modest string of New York restaurants, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent, but Adams was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic faith.

A lifelong movie buff, Adams got his feet wet as an entertainer by doing movie star impressions for his classmates at De Witt Clinton High School in the Bronx.

He dropped out of high school at 16 in 1941 and, lying about his age, joined the Marines Corps. He served in the Pacific, where he contracted malaria on Guadalcanal, and later served as a stateside drill instructor.

After the war, he worked days as a commercial artist and spent his nights doing his comedy impressions in small clubs.

Adams career took off in 1954 when he became a winner on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." That led to appearances on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" and other variety programs. From 1961 to 1963, he was a regular on "Perry's Como's Kraft Music Hall," and he provided the voice for the cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo.

When his friend Dana, who created a comedy sensation with his Jose Jimenez character, landed his own TV series playing Jimenez as a bellboy in a New York City hotel, Adams was cast as the not-too-bright house detective, Byron Glick.

Dana's NBC series ran from 1963 to 1965, and Adams was still under contract to NBC when he was offered the role of Maxwell Smart, whom creators Brooks and Henry viewed as a cross between James Bond and Inspector Clouseau.

As soon as he learned who had written the pilot episode, Adams once recalled, he said, "I'll do it!"

Adams said he was offered a $12,500 a week salary or a percentage of the show's profits. He went with the latter, which he called the best business decision of his life.

After "Get Smart" was canceled, Adams co-starred with Rupert Crosse in "The Partners," a 1971-72 NBC comedy series about two zany police detectives, and he hosted the short-lived, 1975 syndicated "Don Adams's Screen Test," in which pre-selected studio contestants were paired with guest stars to reenact famous movie scenes.

Adams, who also guest-starred on various TV series, reprised Maxwell Smart in the 1980 movie "The Nude Bomb," the TV-movie "Get Smart, Again!" (1989) and the short-lived Fox update "Get Smart" (1994), in which Adams was promoted to CONTROL chief and Andy Dick played Smart's spy son, Zachary.

From 1985 to 1988, he starred as a bumbling supermarket manager in "Check It Out!," a Canadian-produced syndicated sitcom. He also provided the voice for the syndicated "Inspector Gadget" cartoon series (1983-84) and a younger version of the inspector in the syndicated "Gadget Boy & Heather" (1995).

Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-092605adams_lat,0,7920978,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

fredfa

09-26-05, 05:29 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: MONDAY
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Don't think twice, watch this

BY GLENN GARVIN Miami Herald
• 9-11 tonight ET/PT P B S (Check Local Listings)

In a hilariously telling moment in No Direction Home, a British audience is booing Bob Dylan's new reliance on electric guitars and drums instead of the traditional folkie acoustic instruments. ''Judas!'' screams one outraged ex-fan. A sneering Dylan turns to his band and demands: ``Play it bleeping loud!''

If there's a single thread running through Dylan's career as ''a musical expeditionary,'' as he likes to call himself, it's the refusal to let anyone else -- friends, lovers, managers, critics, and especially fans -- call the shots. And if there's a single greatest strength among the many of this fascinating film biography of Dylan, it's the refusal to soft-pedal his sheer orneriness.

Directed by Martin Scorsese and airing as part of PBS' American Masters series, the two-part No Direction Home (the second episode screens Tuesday at 9 p.m.) is unusual and perhaps unique in that Scorsese had no personal contact with Dylan at all.

Instead, the singer sat for 10 hours of video interviews shot by his archivist-manager, Jeff Rosen. Scorsese pieced together the rest from interviews with Dylan's old running mates (including Allen Ginsburg, Peter Yarrow and Maria Muldaur), rare concert footage and material like photos and lyric sheets supplied by the singer himself.

The result is a testament to Scorsese's considerable story-telling skills. With no narration at all, No Direction Home is an intricate yet seamless account of an elusive subject whose own friends call him a shape-shifter.

That reflects not just Dylan's broad creative evolution from traditional folkie to protest singer to cryptic prophet, but his willingness to beg, borrow and steal personal identities as they suited him. When he first arrived in New York in 1961, he told everybody he was a carnival gypsy from New Mexico, a wild falsification of his middle-class origins in Minnesota that was exceeded only by the preposterous story he relayed to friends back home: that he was in North Dakota making pop records under the name Bobby Vee.

No Direction Home cuts through the myths to follow Dylan, a bored dropout from the University of Minnesota, as he hitchhikes to New York and makes the coffeehouse scene in Greenwich Village, performing the flinty Depression blues of Woody Guthrie for spare change. It wasn't long before a Columbia Records talent scout spotted and signed him.

But before his first record of traditional folk was even released, Dylan was already shedding that skin to write his own material, from cynical, busted-love ballads like Don't Think Twice, It's All Right to civil-rights anthems like Blowin' In The Wind.

There were plenty of hurt feelings and broken friendships left in the wake of Dylan's voyage, and No Direction Home brims with bitter recollections of old friends and lovers whose anger has mostly faded to exasperation over the years. Dave Van Ronk, the leader of the coffee-house circuit before Dylan arrived, recalls wryly how Dylan purloined his arrangement of House Of The Rising Sun for his first album. The song became so identified with Dylan that Van Ronk had to stop performing it -- but, he cackles madly, it wasn't long before the same thing happened to Dylan when the Animals swiped the song from him.

Even more revealing is an interview with Joan Baez, Dylan's one-time sponsor, mentor and lover who found herself jilted in all three roles. When Baez was the reigning queen of folk and Dylan a young newcomer, she frequently invited him up to share the stage with her. But as his reputation grew and he became the headliner, he did not return the favor. She describes sitting backstage, waiting for the calls that never came: ``It just hurt like hell.''

Dylan would anger his fans, too, first by turning his back on the lefty politics which he had embraced with acerbic protest songs like Masters of War and With God On Our Side, then by abandoning the spare acoustic sound of folk for noisy rock 'n' roll. The most compelling chunk of No Direction Home is its account of Dylan's infamous performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where enraged fans booed his electric guitar and crazed folkies like Pete Seeger threatened to chop his mike cable with an ax.

The fans have long since accepted Dylan's eclectic musical style, but all these years later, his refusal to be a Woodstock Generation political poster boy still rankles. 'For 30-some years, whenever I go to a march or a sit-in or a lie-in or a be-in or a jail-in, people say, `Is Bob coming?' '' confides Baez, who replies: ``He never comes, you moron. When are you going to get it?''

As he moved away from explicitly political songs, Dylan's lyrics became increasingly opaque, so much so that both pacifist hippies and hardcore communist radicals could claim inspiration from the lyrics of Subterranean Homesick Blues. One of the most delightful the-emperor-has-no-clothes moments in No Direction Home comes when Baez discloses that Dylan himself may not have known what he was trying to say.

He laughed at critical dissections of his lyrics, she recalls: ''I don't know where the bleep it comes from, I don't know what the bleep it's about, and they're going to write about what it's about?'' Later, some archival footage shows Dylan chanting the words he sees on a shop sign in London, rearranging the words until they're a nonsensical word-salad, fueling suspicion that he may sometimes have passed off gibberish as eloquence to star-struck critics.

Dylan's explanations, if sometimes vague and elliptical, are still the most expansive broadcast interviews he's ever given. Often, a ghostly, elfin mischief plays about his face as he answers questions about his many mysterious romantic and professional metamorphoses. But he is dead serious as he remembers studying early folk performers like Guthrie and Seeger.

'There was something in their eyes that would say, `I know something you don't know,' '' he recalls. ''And I wanted to be that kind of performer.'' Watch him do it in No Direction Home.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/television/12737051.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-26-05, 07:11 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief”

Accidental President With a Feminist Twist

By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times September 27, 2005

This is a fall season that asks viewers to swallow the implausible, from alien invaders on the CBS science fiction series "Threshold," to sea monsters on NBC's "Surface."

ABC is stretching credibility to the outer limits with its new White House drama. The vice president of the United States is on an official visit to France, and Parisian school children actually sing "America the Beautiful"?

We think not.

Other than that, however, "Commander in Chief" is not so farfetched. When Republican President Teddy Roosevelt Bridges suffers an aneurysm, White House aides turn to Vice President Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis), a woman and independent who was put on the ticket to appeal to women's hearts, not because she was the best choice to be placed a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Hurried out of the cherubic concert and onto Air Force Two, Mackenzie discovers that all the president's men - and his sour-faced attorney general, Melanie Blackstone (Leslie Hope) - expect her to step aside because she is not a Republican and does not share the president's conservative agenda. And she almost does resign, until the right-wing speaker of the House, Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), who is next in line to become commander in chief, says something to her about women that is so offensive that she decides she will take the oath of office after all.

"Commander in Chief" is a political fantasy, a feminist twist on "The West Wing," which this season pits a Hispanic Democratic nominee against a Republican challenger. And like "The West Wing," the series has a romantic vision of government.

Nobility in the nation's capital is still a hard sell on television, even in an era of forensic anthropologists with pretty faces and criminal investigators who see dead people. But "Commander in Chief" is well written and playful with its premise even as it conjures a post-Hillary world where female politicians are pure at heart or at least have learned from Senator Clinton's early mistakes.

Mackenzie's husband, Rod (Kyle Secor), is told he can no longer serve as his wife's chief of staff, and is banished to the East Wing. He recoils from the dainty, salmon-pink office assigned to the First Gentleman, but his new social secretary, Norah (Kristen Shaw), reminds him that Mrs. Clinton had her office in the West Wing. "That didn't go over very well," she says sweetly.

Geena Davis is serenely strong in the part of president. The show's creator, Rod Lurie, said he modeled the character not on Mrs. Clinton or Elizabeth Dole, but on Susan Lyne, the former president of ABC Entertainment who is now at the helm of Martha Stewart Ominimedia. Mackenzie is commanding - and sometimes sharp-edged. When the stricken president's chief of staff, Jim Gardner (Harry J. Lennix), tries to assert himself by saying, "I must insist," she cuts him off with Thatcheresque hauteur. "Jim, you're not in a position to insist how I take my coffee." And then she orders him to get the joint chiefs on the phone.

It's easy to scoff at some of the prosaic license taken by "Commander in Chief," but the very fact that viewers can quibble with depictions of presidential power or protocol, and not just whether contestants on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" really can, is kind of neat. Crime and medical series demand a leap of faith; most of us are not schooled enough in microbiology or legal procedure to judge just how far series like "House" or "Law & Order" stretch the facts. But most viewers vote, or say they will, and foreign policy is a home game everybody can play.

Ours is a culture where videos like "Girls Gone Wild" inspire campus copycats and even serious dramas like "CSI" inspire students to sign up for forensic-science courses in droves. It would not be so bad if "Commander" prompted some young viewers to study foreign affairs or even just buy a map.

After the president dies, Mackenzie first must contend with Nathan Templeton. Mr. Sutherland brings a deliciously cunning undertone to a speaker of the House who is so out of touch with modern mores and human psychology that he insults the vice president as a woman and as a leader while trying to persuade her to step aside. He assures her that Islamic nations will never accept a woman as leader of the free world. "Not only that, Nathan," she retorts sarcastically, "but we have the whole once-a-month, 'will she/won't she press the button?' thing." He laughs nastily and says, "Well, in a couple of years you're not going to have to worry about that anymore." By the time he gets around to deriding her decision to intervene and save a Nigerian woman condemned to death for adultery, he has sealed his own, and the nation's, fate.

Personal antipathies are as important to politics as position papers or ideological alliances. Every election cycle, some senators decide to run for the highest office less from a sense of mission than a deep dislike of the esteemed colleague who claims that destiny calls. ("Why him and not me" is as much a foundation of democracy as divine inspiration.)

"Commander in Chief" offers a lofty vision of public service, but luckily, it is also veined with a more devilish look at the vanity of public servants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/television/27stan.html?8dpc=&pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-26-05, 07:56 PM

NOTE: (If you have recorded, but not yet watched “West Wing” “desperate Housewives” or “Grey’s Anatomy” don’t read this post.)

Sunday season openers shine

By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman Monday, September 26, 2005

Last night’s season premieres were fabulous … looks as if my Sunday-night viewing is set for the foreseeable future.

I did actually remember that “The West Wing” had moved to Sunday, which I feared I would not since the show has been on Wednesdays its entire life. It was worth all the sticky notes I left for myself.

There wasn’t much of Alan Alda, who plays the Republican presidential nominee, but he’ll be back in future episodes to challenge Jimmy Smits’ Democratic nominee. I loved the rancor between the White House staff and the Matt Santos (Smits) campaign staff.

This is politics at its best, with no real lives or livelihoods at stake!

And “Desperate Housewives” was fantastic. Everybody’s talking about it, at least at my office they are.

Did you love Bree propping up her dead husband, in the middle of his funeral, and changing the hideous tie his mother had put on him? I laughed so hard my deaf dog woke up.

And who’s that shackled in the Applewhite’s basement? That was a pretty creepy scene, wasn’t it? Betty and son Matthew (Austin’s Mehcad Brooks) served dinner on a silver tray to someone in their basement, who may or may not be the husband/father of the family and who may or may not be nuts. Loved the bud vase. That was a swell touch.

Also loved Lynette’s job interview, for which she was forced to arrive with her baby because babysitting dad had thrown his back out. How many takes were necessary to get that diaper to stick to the glass wall?

Wrapping up a busy night of season openers, “Grey’s Anatomy” returned with a vengeance, too. Sandra Oh is quickly becoming my favorite actress on TV right now. Seemed like there were more comedy elements this time, which isn’t a bad thing.

I’m still ticked off that “Boston Legal” was bumped from the slot now occupied by “Grey,” but I guess I’ll get over it.

http://www.austin360.com/television/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/index.html

fredfa

09-26-05, 10:02 PM

The New York Times Obituary
Don Adams, Television's Maxwell Smart, Dies at 82

By Douglas Martin The New York Times September 27, 2005

Don Adams, who played Maxwell Smart in the 1960's sitcom "Get Smart," combining clipped, decisive diction with appalling, hilarious ineptitude, died on Sunday at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 82.

The cause was a lung infection, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Tufeld said that Mr. Adams broke his hip a year ago and had been in poor health.

Maxwell Smart - in a way, his name was the show's biggest joke - was a bumbling secret agent for Control, the good guys, who weekly foiled the plans of the evil cabal Kaos for world domination.

Inevitably, Smart's ham-handed detective style landed him in hot water. Luckily, his faithful and beautiful sidekick, Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), was as bright as he was dense, and could bail him out. (Smart was Agent 86: bartender's code for cutting off service to a drunk.)

"Get Smart" twice won the Emmy for best comedy series, and Mr. Adams won three Emmys for best actor.

"Get Smart" ran on NBC from 1965 to 1969 and on CBS from 1969 to 1970. Years later, producers tried to recapture the show's initial spark in the 1980 film "The Nude Bomb," the 1989 television movie "Get Smart, Again!" and a revival on Fox that lasted seven episodes in 1995. Mr. Adams appeared in all the incarnations.

The original show spoofed the James Bond movies in an innocent, if sophomoric way, and one of its most winning characteristics was the seriousness with which Maxwell Smart again and again did and said things that were really stupid. Several of his lines became popular catchphrases, particularly with young people:

"Would you believe?" (Used when someone did not believe one of Smart's prevarications and he was about to suggest another.)

"Let me handle it, 99." (And then he would, and botch it.)

"Sorry about that, Chief" (When he reported to his boss, played by Edward Platt, after the inevitable failure.)

But Smart's charm lay in his utter humanness, the opposite of Bond's preposterous competence. In an interview with The Saturday Evening Post in 1966, Mr. Adams analyzed Smart: "He's not superhuman. But he believes in what he does and he wants to do his best."

His best was rarely good enough. Smart called into work with a dial phone on the sole of his shoe, and often got a wrong number. He wore jet shoes that shot him up, often into the roof. He was so security-minded that he would often swallow secret messages before reading them.

Donald James Yarmy was born on April 13, 1923, in Manhattan. He said changed his last name to that of his first wife, Adelaide Adams, because acting auditions were often done in alphabetical order.

His father ran a few small restaurants in the Bronx. Mr. Adams grew up hating school and playing hooky at the movies. During World War II, he joined the Marines at 16 by lying about his age. On Guadalcanal, he was shot and contracted blackwater fever, fatal 90 percent of the time.

After the war, he drifted into stand-up comedy, always refraining from dirty jokes, presaging the almost ludicrous uprightness of Maxwell Smart. He cut back on nightclub work to support his family with jobs as a restaurant cashier and as a commercial artist.

His first real success as a comic came when he won an Arthur Godfrey "Talent Scouts" competition in 1954, which led to television variety show appearances on "The Steve Allen Show" and elsewhere.

Mr. Adams created the comedy character Byron Glick, an incompetent house detective, who was a precursor to Max. Mr. Adams tried comedy writing, producing material for Garry Moore and Mr. Allen. When Mr. Adams's friend Bill Dana got a comedy series, he hired Mr. Adams to regularly play Byron Glick.

"Get Smart" was originally the brainchild of the producers Dan Melnick and David Susskind, and was then refined by the writers Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. ABC passed on the show, but NBC loved it. The writers first thought of Tom Poston for the Smart role, but Mr. Adams was under contract to NBC.

The program was immediately a success with viewers, though Jack Gould, reviewing the new show in The New York Times, fretted that Mr. Adams was trying too hard to be funny. Mr. Gould, however, heartily approved of Ms. Feldon, fondly recalling her appearances in Revlon's "Tiger Girl" commercials.

In an interview on NBC's "Today Show" in 2002, Ms. Feldon gave Mr. Adams credit for much of the show's success. "When you got in a scene with Don, it was like stepping onto a surfboard, and you just flew over those waves," she said. "And it was exhilarating."

Mr. Adams took a much smaller salary when offered a chance for a 33 percent piece of the show. "Get Smart" has been popular in reruns for decades, making for steady annuities.

After "Get Smart," Mr. Adams did a short-lived comedy series called "The Partners." After that, he pursued many things, including a very successful voice-over career, speaking for the cartoon character Inspector Gadget. (He was also the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo in the early 1960's.) He directed and appeared in commercials, and made many guest appearances on shows like "The Love Boat."

Mr. Adams was married and divorced three times and had seven children. His daughter Cecily Adams, an actress and casting director, died in 2004. His brother, Dick Yarmy, an actor, died in 1992.

Writers have noted disarming similarity between Mr. Adams and Max, his most famous character. The Saturday Evening Post told a story of Mr. Adams looking for money in his pocket to tip a young man who had parked his car. He had no change, no bill he thought was small enough and could find nothing when he rummaged in his glove compartment.

"And so motorists began sounding their horns, the kid shifted from foot to foot and an audience gathered," the magazine wrote. "It was pure Don Adams. And pure Maxwell Smart."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/television/27adams.html?ei=5094&en=7f8718cd561be026&hp=&ex=1127793600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

DoubleDAZ

09-26-05, 10:09 PM

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:13 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Sex, Love & Secrets “ September 27, 2005
What Are You Up to Now, Desperate 20-Somethings?

By ANITA GATES B]The New York Times[/B] September 27, 2005

In the season premiere of "Desperate Housewives," a neighbor with a drinking problem asks God for a sign. The bottle of liquor in her hand is promptly shattered by a bullet. The show's narrator (Brenda Strong as the deceased Mary Alice Young) says, "God may work in mysterious ways, but he isn't particularly subtle."

Mary Alice may come to mind as UPN's "Sex, Love & Secrets" has its premiere tonight, with a narrator who sounds a lot like Ms. Strong but clearly has different writers.

The narrator of the new series goes on and on about secret-keeping, whether the subject is "Santa Claus, Twinkies, infidelity or murder."

"Dangerous, intimate, romantic, dirty, strategic - secrets are the one thing humans can take with them to the grave," she intones. Later, when a character cries, the narrator (Virginia Hamilton) explains that what causes a tear to fall is "a secret known only to the human soul."

This vapid commentary sets the tone for this vapid soap about vapid young single heterosexual friends living in the trendy Silver Lake section of Los Angeles.

The group's playboy is Charlie (Eric Balfour), a hairdresser who was inspired by Warren Beatty's character in the film "Shampoo." What Mr. Balfour is missing are Mr. Beatty's charm and good looks, circa 1975. But his look, sort of a tattooed version of Snidely Whiplash, is apparently irresistible to California women in their 20's, because they fall into his arms without coaxing.

"Are you consenting?" Charlie asks one woman.

"Ladies' room got a lock on the door?" she answers.

Charlie's best friend, a drummer, is Coop (Omar Benson Miller, who resembles Forest Whitaker). Their pal Hank (James Stevenson) plays guitar but also manages a restaurant and is ready to propose to Rose.

Rose (Lauren German), a celebrity journalist, is actually sympathetic and mildly intriguing. At one point she imagines everyone around her singing Uncle Kracker's "In a Little While" ("Sometimes I feel like a stranger in town").

Rose's polar opposite is Jolene (Denise Richards, the best-known person in the cast), a hateful celebrity publicist who likes to throw her weight (and her long, silky hair) around. Another friend, Nina (Tamara Taylor), is a doctor who spends so much time in obstetrics-gynecology that she has no love life. Nina ought to be the brains of the outfit, but she can't tell the difference between an online dating site and one for finding roommates.

The premiere episode has multiple story lines, a couple of them faintly promising. Charlie and Coop don't realize they are dating the same woman. Rose and Jolene are at odds over the memory of Billy, a mutual former boyfriend whose ashes Rose has been asked to scatter.

A flashback tells viewers all they need to know about the guy. "Nobody belongs to anyone," Billy (Dylan Bruno) says to Rose as they speed along in a Mustang convertible. "The only thing we belong to is the universe." Then he swerves the car and almost goes over a cliff.

Maybe that was the sort of thing he did a lot. That would explain why when Rose tells Jolene that Billy is dead, Jolene never asks what he died of.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/television/27gate.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:20 AM

Andy Rooney of 60 Minites did a piece on this last night. Very admirable for him to take time out to aknowledge Peter Jennings and the news people as a whole.

I agree totally.

Andy may be (more than) a bit of a curmudgeon, but he has always been a class act.

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:28 AM

(This review has many LA-centric references. If you don't get them, don't worry. Some of us who live here don't get them all.)

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Sex, Love & Secrets “ September 27, 2005
It makes a mess of its neighborhood-centric premise.
And please, leave Santa out of it.

By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 27, 2005

The new UPN nighttime soap "Sex, Love & Secrets" opens in Silver Lake, but then suddenly you're being whisked back to the dawn of time. The screen goes all National Geographic as a narrator who sounds suspiciously like the narrator of "Desperate Housewives" is all " ... yet unlike other animals, the forming of human groups spawns unique human behaviors ... " and "one such behavior is the keeping of secrets." It's a tangent that ends on this puzzler: "Be it Santa Claus, Twinkies, infidelity or murder, all humans keep secrets."

Oh, TV producer people, why must you involve Santa Claus in your sick, twisted games? Cut to a nightclub in Silver Lake. Silver Lake, in the universe of "Sex, Love & Secrets," is at the intersection of "Melrose Place" and "Reality Bites," catty-cornered to "Some Kind of Wonderful." Charlie the hairdresser sex dog (Eric Balfour) is about to go off with Gabrielle, who unbeknown to him is Coop's new girl, Coop (Omar Benson Miller) being the drummer in Hank's band, Hank (James Stevenson) being Rose's special dude, although Rose (Lauren German) can't get past her ex Billy, who's apparently dead, although Jolene (Denise Richards) has her doubts, Billy being Billy, and meanwhile Nina, poor Miss Nina (Tamara Taylor), she'll never get Charlie to look her way, no matter how "what was that all about?" "Game Night" (board games, mind games) gets.

Created by Michael Gans and Richard Register, "Sex, Love & Secrets" wants to be a guilty pleasure for the Trader Joe's-burrito-for-dinner American Apparel crowd. OK, but I wanted less Silver Lake as Fox soap and more Circus of Books. I wanted to smell the BO of the Beck wannabe, I wanted to covet thy gay neighbor's house. Sadly, this show makes a mess of its neighborhood-centric premise.

Because the camera tells you so in quick establishing montage, the supposed nerve center on "Sex, Love & Secrets" (you want it to be sex and lies, I know) is Sunset Junction and surrounding Silver Lake hangs. But the series doesn't really care about the place it's set in (see "Entourage"), nor does its gimmickry make any kind of sense; the voice-over lady conveys not existential bigness but Realtor.

The characters are ensconced in TV-style referred-to careers — the celebrity journalist (German), the publicist (Richards) — and lifestyles that need a follow-up question. The ob-gyn resident, for instance, can afford the Silver Lake traditional? Maybe the voice-over lady can talk less about the group dynamic of the human species and clarify point of purchase.

None of these people, strangely, has a dog. Isn't Silver Lake the twentysomething dog owner capital of the world? Perhaps that's for next season's drama-like-this-one, set in Venice, called "Abbot Kinney."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-sexlove27sep27,0,7118159,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:34 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
One Premiere, Two Returning Shows

Fall TV: Shows must prove themselves quickly -- or die

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Barely a week and a half has passed since the official start of the 2005-2006 television season, and we already have a casualty: Fox's Wednesday night drama "Head Cases" is no more after airing but two episodes.

Consider this swift execution to be a sign that we have a cutthroat year on our hands, with Tuesday and Wednesday evenings becoming the most ruthless of the week's battlegrounds. Given the number of series that already have shown signs of life -- The WB's "Supernatural," UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris," NBC's "My Name Is Earl," to name a few -- network television executives no longer have to feign patience with slow starters (even well-liked ones).

That goes for sophomore efforts as well.

Tonight and tomorrow give us the debuts of three perfect examples of series facing similarly high stakes. On ABC, all eyes will be on Geena Davis as the first female president in "Commander in Chief," followed by "Boston Legal," which was bumped off of Sundays by "Grey's Anatomy" five episodes before it could air its first-season finale last spring.

Tomorrow brings the second season of UPN's "Veronica Mars." Read on to see why each show arrives with great expectations -- and whether they display early signs of living up to them. (UPN's also premiering "Sex, Love & Secrets" tonight at 9, but trust us, it's a time waster.)

Commander in Chief

The two primary points of interest in this series need no explaining, especially given the billboards and bus ads all over the place. "Commander" gives us a woman president and it brings Geena Davis back to television. Perhaps more than before, the possibility of having a female chief executiveseems tangible. We have Hillary Clinton reportedly on deck for a 2008 run. Condoleezza Rice's supporters have gone so far as to purchase ad time from New Hampshire's ABC affiliate for a spot to run during "Commander's" premiere.

"Commander" could be a winner for that reason, and the fact that Davis has a sizable fan base. The actress is appropriately steely as Mackenzie Allen, a politically independent vice president in a Republican administration.

Remember, however, that stars do not make television. Television makes its stars. (I submit "The Geena Davis Show" as proof.) Davis' stature means a lot less than the fact that this show is up against "The Amazing Race" on CBS, "My Name Is Earl" on NBC and Fox's "House."

Then, the idea that Mac inherited the office instead of winning it could upset a few viewers more than series creator Rod Lurie's decision to make her an independent. "Commander" handles both by making Mac's ascent to the presidency fraught with the kind of contention that will spice the entire season.

When the president falls ill, his chief of staff, Jim Gardner (Harry J. Lennix), informs her that it is his boss' desire that she resign, leaving the Oval Office to House Speaker Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland).

She nearly gives in until Templeton gives her a condescending, sexist speech highlighted by a crack about hormones and menopause. That makes a vote for him look like a vote for Darth Vader. You almost breathe a sigh of relief when Mac seizes the reins of the free world and, as her first major act in office, engages the military in an operation straight out of Gloria Steinem's sweetest dreams.

"Commander in Chief" is at times marinated in Hollywoodized girl power, but that doesn't slow the story. Davis and Sutherland make delectable enemies in the premiere, so that's locked up.

A bigger challenge will be in marrying West Wing Mac to her family life, accented by her partnership with her husband, Rod Calloway (Kyle Secor), formerly her chief of staff, now the first gentleman. It's going to be a tough ratings race, and tonight's broadcast is merely the primary.

Whether "Commander" can win a full season is yet to be determined.

Boston Legal

David E. Kelley's dramedy had a few kinks to work out at the beginning of its first season, but by the end, "Boston Legal" had jelled into one of television's most addictive pleasures.

Running after one of TV's highest-rated shows didn't do it any favors, however. "Desperate Housewives" averaged almost 24 million viewers per episode last season. "Boston" followed it at 10 on Sundays, but managed to rake in about half that. When "Grey's Anatomy" managed to consistently keep more of "Desperate's" audience, it seized the time slot and pushed "Boston's" yet-to-be-aired episodes to the fall, and to Tuesdays.

At least it wasn't out, a ruling owed to magnificent casting. Even at its rocky start, the pairing of Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) took the series to previously unknown heights in poetically demented comedy, offset by the occasionally Kelleyesque dramatics. Other than Mark Valley and Rene Auberjonois, they're the only show regulars left from the pilot; Lake Bell and Monica Potter were nixed early on.

While Valley receded to the background as the season progressed, Shatner and Spader each went on to win another Emmy for their portrayals. This season they're joined by Julie Bowen, who plays senior associate Denise Bauer, as well as junior associates portrayed by Ryan Michelle Bathe and Justin Mentell.

Once Rhona Mitra appears in this season's hysterical first episodes, originally intended to be among last season's final ones, she's done. You may miss her less than Heather Locklear, making a guest appearance in this and next week's episodes as a trophy wife on trial for murder. As opposed to her usual vamp act, Locklear's an icy fish here. She's completely unable to muster any emotion or sympathy even from her defense team. What's surprising is how sympathetic she comes across as well.

Mitra's exit is paved gracefully when Tara crosses paths with a former lover (played by Rupert Everett), fading out of Alan's life. That's not as shocking as a funny and violent (although not all that unexpected) twist tacked on the end of next week's episode.

"Boston" is competing against two darker procedurals, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and as of next week, "Close to Home." (The second half of "The Amazing Race" airs against it tonight.)

Exploring the loony side of litigation may be precisely what ABC needs to attract the kind of attention Kelley's series deserves.

Veronica Mars

If you are among the millions who caught a glimpse of "Veronica Mars" when CBS aired episodes this summer, you may know why its tiny, devoted fan base is so hopelessly infatuated with it. "Veronica Mars" is neither teenybopper froth, nor a simplistic Nancy Drew update. Mysteries are just the engine. The ways in which those mysteries stem from the town of Neptune's obsession with class, keeping up appearances and falling from grace, that's where the satisfaction comes from.

"Veronica" creator Rob Thomas gets plenty of praise for this take on the girl detective but more credit is due to the way Kristen Bell has molded her. Bell makes Veronica prickly and tough, cynical and vulnerable, a slight pixie that stomps around in outfits best described as one part Harajuku girl, two parts old-school tomboy.

Still need persuading? Tape tomorrow's episode and watch it later. Tape it in any event, because one viewing is not enough to catch all the clues it drops. Besides, it may be one of the best debuts you'll catch this fall, if not the finest one.

As the new season begins, Miss Mars has a new glow augmenting her usual swagger. Her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni) has won respect for his role in solving the murder that defined last season. Veronica's in love, and has stepped away from crime solving so she can sling coffee.

Other than stating the obvious -- do you really think she could let her detective gig go so easily? -- to reveal anything else would diminish the premiere's impact. This is one of the trickiest hours of television you'll see this week, stuffed with cryptic clues, a red herring or 12 and a couple of twists nearly impossible to predict. At the same time, the premiere also handily ties all the characters together in a way that enables newcomers to jump in comfortably.

This season, however, loving "Veronica" forces a painful choice. UPN has scheduled it after "America's Next Top Model" to give it the strongest lead-in possible, but that pits it against "Lost." Summertime exposure on CBS, though, may lead to a little audience growth. And "Veronica" deserves anything better than last season's criminally low ratings.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/242288_tv27top.html

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:40 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”

UPN's sleeper hit is waking up

By NICKI BRITTON Houston Chronicle

Who can it be knocking at Veronica's door?

Fans of Veronica Mars, arguably last television season's best sleeper, have been waiting all summer to learn whether bad boy boyfriend Logan (Jason Dohring) or ex-flame Duncan (Teddy Dunn) paid a 3 a.m. visit to our titular heroine.

With last season's Big Questions wrapped up — Who killed Lilly Kane? Who is Veronica's real father? What happened at Shelley Pomeroy's party? — the identity of the mystery visitor is the Big Reveal in Wednesday's Season 2 premiere (8 p.m., Channel 20), which is as satisfying as it is shocking.

Now that the Kane case is cracked, Veronica (played by the delightful Kristin Bell) wants to retire from sleuthing and live a normal high school life.

It's hardly a spoiler to disclose that her plans don't work out. Best pal Wallace (Percy Daggs III) drags her back into the biz — he needs her help when he is tossed off the school basketball team for failing a drug test, which he claims is rigged.

We also get a glimpse of the new season's big whodunits. Without giving too much away, let's just say that a fellow student's murder and a mind-blowing tragedy promise to keep our adolescent P.I. plenty busy.

We also meet a pair of promising guest stars. Steve Guttenberg plays a professional baseball-team owner running for mayor of Neptune, and Charisma Carpenter of Buffy/Angel fame plays the hot-to-trot bikini-clad stepmom of Logan's buddies Dick and Beaver.

But Veronica's relationships with her peers create the real dramatic tension. Her place at Neptune High, with its fierce rivalries between the haves and have nots, is still tenuous. And her struggle in the new school year to weather the bonds with Logan, Duncan and biker gang leader Weevil (Francis Capra) should prove deliciously maddening for fans.

Last year, those fans were rabidly dedicated but miniscule in legion, but there are signs the numbers may pick up.

A July rerun of the pilot on CBS (also owned by UPN parent Viacom) scored second in its time slot. And Veronica racked up adulations from a couple of key celebrities — both Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon blogged about their love of the show. Whedon called it the "Best. Show. Ever." Smith said it's "hands-down, the best show on television right now."

Both will make cameos — Whedon in Episode 6 as a rental-car desk man, and Smith in Episode 3 as, you guessed it, a convenience-store clerk.

The Veronica Mars soundtrack comes out tomorrow, but the DVD release has fans chomping at the bit. Unfortunately, it's not available until Oct. 11, two weeks after Season 2 begins. It's slim on extras but promises Rob Thomas' "creator's cut" of the pilot and some unaired footage.

If you've never seen Veronica, it's not too late. But Season 1 is so darn good it'd be a shame to spoil it by starting Season 2 before you're caught up. As Whedon wrote on his blog, "People should do whatever they can to check out this first season so the second won't be a spoiler-fest." Take his advice and set your TiVo until you finish playing catch-up with the DVD.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/ae/tv/3366827

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:45 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Commander in Chief'”
The best fall drama

By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor Tuesday, September 27, 2005

It figures.

The best new fall drama airs in one of TV's most competitive time periods. ABC's "Commander in Chief" (9 tonight, WTAE) faces strong opposition, namely the hits "House" (Fox), "The Amazing Race" (CBS) and even the winning "My Name Is Earl" (NBC), which had a strong ratings debut last week.

But that's no reason to skip this politically tinged family series that's both idealistic (complete with neck-hair-tingling speechifying) and wonderfully humane (in its lighter, more humorous moments).

Geena Davis stars as Mackenzie Allen, the 45-year-old vice president of the United States. She's also an Independent to a Republican president. That alone shows we're in fantasyland plot-wise. But if you can get over that -- 23 million viewers suspended their disbelief while watching "Lost" last week, so the lack of verisimilitude in "Commander" should be easy to get past -- "Commander in Chief" offers a compelling, satisfying premiere hour.

The premiere begins in France as Allen is pulled out of a children's choir performance with the news that President Teddy Roosevelt Bridges (Will Lyman) has been hospitalized and may not recover. Her motorcade drives through the streets of Paris, and French citizens line the road waving American flags. (OK, so that's probably far-fetched these days, too.)

Allen prepares to take the oath of office, but she's stopped cold when the president's chief of staff, Jim Gardner (Harry Lennix), and the attorney general (Leslie Hope, "24") suggest she step down so the Republican Speaker of the House, Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), can assume the presidency.

Allen resists, at first, and then the president recovers enough to see her.

"You and I, Mac, we just see a different America," the president says, urging her to step aside to make way for Templeton. "He shares my vision, supports my will."

Allen prepares to make that sacrifice until she has a face-to-face with Templeton during which he insults her gender and refers to a Nigerian woman, scheduled to be executed on an adultery charge, as "a lady who couldn't keep her legs together."

Hearing that, Allen overcomes her doubts and moves into the Oval Office.

While the setting obviously brings to mind NBC's "The West Wing," creator Rod Lurie said he was more influenced by "The Sopranos."

"Tony Soprano is like the president, and you see him at work, and you see him go home and deal with his [stuff] at home," Lurie said at an ABC party in July in Hollywood. "Commander" will straddle those two worlds, concentrating equally on Allen as president, wife to Rod (Kyle Secor) and mother to teenage twins Horace (Matt Lanter) and Rebecca (Caitlin Wachs) and 6-year-old daughter Amy (Jasmine Anthony).

"This is an area that is so unmined by any other shows that we have all the stories available to us," Lurie said. "Private school vs. public school, what do you do? What do you do when your daughter wants to lose her virginity under the biggest microscope in the world? What happens if your son wants to run for class president and it becomes a [news] story?"

Lurie -- who wrote and directed the politically themed 2000 movie thriller "The Contender," starring Joan Allen as a vice presidential nominee (Davis' character is named after Oscar nominee Allen) -- said he originally became interested in powerful women when his daughter wondered why there were no female presidential candidates in the 2000 election.

"I want her to have that opportunity. I want all women to have that opportunity," Lurie said. "We've knocked out of contention 50 percent of the chance for greatness in our leadership."

He concocted Mackenzie Allen's path to become the first female president for both attempts at realism ("It would be naive and fairytale-ish to assume right now than an Independent herself would come to power at the head of a ticket") and drama ("I couldn't think of another way to get her into power where basically her own cabinet is against her").

Lurie and Davis are both Democrats, but Lurie said he wanted Allen to be an Independent because he wanted her to be beholden to neither major political party.

"She feels she can't win two years from now ... so she can do whatever she wants, which means what is right for the country," Lurie said. He expects Allen will take conservative stands (pro-abstinence education, for instance) on some issues and a liberal position on others.

Although Sutherland's Templeton is clearly, if not a villain, at least Allen's antagonist, Lurie said the character will gain more dimension as the series progresses.

"I personally don't believe he's the devil incarnate. I think he's a rather delicious character, and you're going to see him be right on several occasions," Lurie said. "He's a guy who's worthy of being, in the eyes of America, the president of the United States."

(Lurie said he vacillated on whether to make Templeton a Republican or Democrat, and ultimately settled on Henry Hyde, a Republican congressman from Illinois, as a model.)

In addition, Jim Gardner is a Republican who's portrayed as "an extremely likable, good, decent man," Lurie said.

In future episodes, actor Peter Coyote arrives as a new vice president and Natasha Henstridge debuts as Templeton's chief of staff.

Although "Commander in Chief" deals with serious matters, Lurie's writing allows for lighter moments. Whether it's Allen responding to the president's concern over her deployment of the Sixth Fleet ("I was bored," she replies. "I'd already read all the magazines on the plane.") or a member of the first lady's staff who keeps advising the first first gentleman not to do things as Hillary Clinton did ("It didn't go over very well" is her refrain), "Commander in Chief" is willing to find humor in the new waters through which its characters swim.

And that may be the show's saving grace, if it can overcome the suspicions of conservative viewers; critics' doubts based on Lurie's last series, ABC's "Line of Fire," which started strong and disappointed after the pilot; the objections of Neanderthal men who can't accept a woman president, even in fiction; and, oh yeah, those ratings challenges.

That's a full first-term agenda, but if I were a voter (re: Nielsen family), I'd happily pull a lever for "Commander in Chief."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05270/578220.stm

fredfa

09-27-05, 10:09 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
"Commander in Chief,"
Geena Davis Sweeps Up the Oval Office

By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 27, 2005; C01

Geena Davis can veto my legislation anytime. Starring as the first woman to hold the highest office in the land, Davis reminds us what we have missed in most of our past, real-life presidents: cuteness. She's got a twinkle in her eye, a twinkle in her smile, a twinkle everywhere. She's President Twinkle -- just what we need to tame the extreme, charm the militant, inspire the troops.

Unfortunately, "Commander in Chief," the new ABC drama series premiering at 9 tonight on Channel 7, never gets much beyond its gimmicky premise, and that results in a good deal of wasted time. Can you imagine?! A woman as president of the United States?! Well, yes, we can imagine it, so let's get on with some good stories and knotty controversies and horns of dilemmas.

Rod Lurie, the one-time critic who wrote, directed and executive-produced the series pilot, spends too much time being slack-jawed in amazement at what has jiggled its way out of his word processor. But pilot episodes are of necessity given over to setting the rules and parameters and such. The fact is, "Commander in Chief" starts out a little too bland but still tantalizing, and Davis is the tantalizer all sublime. Maybe the presidency should be a beauty pageant; it's hard to imagine that the results would really be that much worse than we get already.

Davis is bountiful, beautiful, believable. You can accept that maybe, under the right set of quixotic circumstances, she might ascend to the position of leader of the free world. She certainly does wear more lipstick than any of her predecessors. Sometimes she boasts such a big bold blob of red that she looks like she's wearing those red wax lips they sell for Halloween.

But when she gets tough, she's formidable, even if "the issues" in the pilot are not exactly earth-shaking. Chief among them is the case of a young woman in Nigeria who, by local custom, is to be buried up to her neck in sand and stoned to death for the crime of having sex and giving birth before marriage.

Maybe such things really happen, but by leading off the series with it, Lurie suggests that the show won't be about a female president and her problems of adjustment but instead about a myopic busybody who sees herself as a feminist first and leader of the people second (or third). The president leads the Nigerian ambassador into a meeting of the Joint Chiefs and shows him how many ships can be relocated in a matter of moments to rescue the poor young woman. A general says, "There should be [only] limited loss of life."

Take that, Nigerian reactionaries! Meanwhile, there's no specific mention of all the other crises raging throughout the world as the president takes office. We are told that Davis's character, a professor at the University of Richmond, is an expert on Mideast affairs, but she certainly doesn't get a chance to show off.

You can probably guess a likely source of comic relief: The White House is set up to accommodate a president and a first lady. When for the first time the first lady is a man, it does create a new set of problems. Kyle Secor has a good time in the role, making sure the character keeps his dignity.

One thing about dignity, though: It isn't very entertaining. Lurie and company may have approached this project with a bit too much awe. People never shout or lose their tempers, even though the new president has a bona fide, hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool enemy played with sly, smug malice aforethought by Donald Sutherland. He's Nathan (rhymes, almost, with Satan) Templeton, speaker of the House and the man who would be king or, failing that, successor to his old friend the president, who dropped dead. If only the vice president weren't in the way.

In the opening scenes, we learn that President Bridges (Will Lyman), halfway through his first term, has suffered a bleeding aneurysm in his brain. Regaining consciousness, he asks Vice President Mackenzie Spenser Allen (Davis) to resign so that Templeton, politically like-minded, can succeed him. She's about to do it -- even writes a speech on yellow legal paper -- then movingly reconsiders.

"I will not resign until you do," President Bridges tells her, but it turns out he has no choice, summoned eventually to that big Oval Office in the sky. The new president meets with Templeton and scoffs at his crusty, cobwebby ideas, referring sarcastically to "that whole once-a-month, will-she-or-won't-she press the button thing." Davis handles the sarcasm deftly. As vice president, "I wasn't Gore, I wasn't Cheney," she says, but it's not yet clear just what she means by that.

The president and First Manny have two children -- a teenage son (who was a high school wrestler in a previous version of the pilot but now has morphed into a track star) and a stuck-up little snip of a daughter, so disloyal that she advises her own mother to resign when asked to because the daughter would rather see Pat Buchanan as president. This kid could be a very irritating problem.

Maybe we already have too many artificial presidents in prime-time series, stretching the limits of credibility beyond even the usual television standards. But if other fake presidents fall by the wayside, Davis deserves to hang around. Her presidency can't help being a statement, and it's already clear that as president she is going to do the job first and worry about history's verdicts second. One can sense the intense and particular pressure that would accompany such a transformation, and Davis imparts that with subtlety and smarts.

We could do a lot worse than have Geena Davis serving as president of the United States. Indeed, we already have.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601810_pf.html

fredfa

09-27-05, 10:10 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
"Commander in Chief,"
Davis is commanding

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

ANYONE WHO watched President Bush a few weeks ago, delivering a speech from New Orleans in front of a structure weirdly illuminated in blue to look like a theme-park castle, knows TV's long love affair with the presidency hasn't always been the healthiest relationship.

Since a clean-shaven JFK trounced Richard Nixon's five o'clock shadow in those 1960 debates, candidates and presidents have been trying to figure out how to please the box, while keeping whatever thinking they do outside the box pretty much to themselves.

So they land on aircraft carriers, tool around in tanks and wear a great deal of blue, all in hopes the camera's eye will show what voters most want to see.

Television, though, isn't interested in voters.

Just eyeballs.

And while the people behind those eyeballs may vote their pocketbooks, their prejudices or their secret (and not-so-secret) fears on Election Day - assuming they vote at all - Hollywood knows that on the couch, voting with their remotes, they want more than the lesser of evils.

They want to be swept away.

NBC's "The West Wing" knew how to do this in its early seasons. Oh, it's still one of the smartest dramas on television - even if fewer than 9 million of its fans were able to find its Sunday night premiere - but the romance was lost long ago, in a morass of MS, cover-ups, congressional investigations and bungled opportunities.

Tonight, as Geena Davis takes the oath of office in ABC's "Commander In Chief," the world, and the presidency, feels new again.

It's an odd moment for a romantic drama about the Oval Office, given the divisions in the country and the challenges facing the current president, and inevitably there are people who will tell you that this is yet another left-wing Hollywood conspiracy and that Davis is in a sense a stalking-horse for Hillary Clinton.

Nonsense.

Presidential candidates, prospective or otherwise, don't get it that easy.

If "Commander In Chief" succeeds, it will because creator Rod Lurie and his writers know how to tell a story, because along with Davis and co-stars like Kyle Secor and Donald Sutherland - who plays the character most likely to set Dick Cheney's teeth on edge - they're able to get us to suspend disbelief for an hour a week and live in a country where a woman, and not just any woman, but an independent with minimal political experience, is the president.

I've only seen the first hour, but I want to believe.

What the readers say...

"Commander In Chief" polled well among our Daily News Reader Reviewers, who gave it an average score of 7.8 out of 10, with most scores coming in at 8 or above.

"Geena Davis is excellent in this spot," wrote Arlene Tilotta, of South Philadelphia, who made no secret of her political leanings. "I am hoping viewers will become more comfortable with the idea a woman can hold office as president. Go Hillary!"

"I think it is a very interesting concept for a series," wrote Bill Herbst, of Newtown Square. "The cast, especially Geena Davis, was strong. Donald Sutherland makes an effective bad guy."

"I'm usually bored by political dramas, but I could really get into this show," said Amber Schaffer, of West Oak Lane.

Also premiering tonight

Denise Richards - Charlie Sheen's maybe-ex - and Eric Balfour ("Six Feet Under") are the most recognizable faces in UPN's "Sex, Love & Secrets" (9 p.m., ET/PT), a soapy ensemble drama about twentysomethings in a hip L.A. suburb that I didn't actually hate but will likely never watch again, since it's up against "Commander In Chief," Fox's "House," NBC's "My Name Is Earl" and CBS' "The Amazing Race."

Yep, I'm going to need a bigger DVR.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12750846.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-27-05, 10:11 AM

The TV Column
ABC's 'Desperate' Measure: 28 Million Plus

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Tuesday, September 27, 2005; C07

The desperate housewives of Wisteria Lane handed ABC nearly 7 million more viewers Sunday night than did their unveiling a year ago -- and 36 percent more young adult viewers -- resulting in ABC's best fall-season debut in nine years.

"Desperate Housewives" attracted more than 28 million people at 9 p.m. That appears to be more than double the audience of its nearest competitor, though second-place CBS's 50-minute-ish football overrun played havoc with early national numbers for that network on Sunday night.

"DH" handily won its time period in the 18-to-49 group advertisers covet; it also won the hour among 25-to-54-year-olds, teens, kids and people 50 and up. (Among kids 2 to 11, "Desperate Housewives" tied Fox's animated "Family Guy" and "American Dad," according to the early stats.)

It was, in fact, the second biggest "Desperate Housewives" audience ever -- behind only May's cliffhanger season finale, which clocked just over 30 million viewers.

Meanwhile, it appears that Martha Stewart couldn't get arrested in any way, shape or form last week in prime time. Not only did her edition of "The Apprentice" open poorly on Wednesday, attracting about 7 million viewers, but CBS's Stewart flick, "Martha Behind Bars," also seems to have attracted about 7 million viewers. It would appear that around 7 million watchers of prime-time TV are very interested in seeing Martha TV; the rest of us -- not so much.

Now, on to the more pressing question of whether dead people skew younger than God.

Back in May, when Leslie Moonves, head of all things CBS, was asked whether he thought his new "Ghost Whisperers," starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a chick who talks to dead people, would attract more 18-to-49-year-old viewers than the drama it was replacing, "Joan of Arcadia," a show about a teenager who talks to God, Moonves said he thought dead people skewed younger than God. It was the best line of the entire week in which the broadcast networks all trotted out their fall lineups.

Last Friday, the premiere of "Ghost Whisperers" clocked 11.3 million viewers. It easily won its 8 p.m. time slot and was, in fact, Friday's most watched program. "Joan of Arcadia," when it premiered in September '03, attracted 13.5 million viewers, but its second-season debut plunged to 8.5 million.

Among the country's 18-to-49 viewers to whom the reporter was referring in the question, Hewitt snared 3 percent in her CBS premiere. This is lots better than the second-season debut of "Joan" last fall, which attracted 2.4 percent of the viewers in that age bracket, but not as good as the 3.7 percent "Joan" had bagged in her premiere in the fall of '03.

Unfortunately, as happens so often in life, it appears that early results are inconclusive re God, dead people and younger viewers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601663_pf.html

fredfa

09-27-05, 11:24 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Boston Legal”

Tricky move to 'Boston'

By Richard Huff New York Daily News TV Editor Tuesday, September 27th, 2005

Being the new kid on an established series is one thing.

The stakes go up dramatically if the cast of that show includes such heavy hitters as James Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen.

Just ask Julie Bowen, best known for for playing Carol Vessey on NBC's series "Ed," who appears at 10 tonight on the season-opener of ABC's "Boston Legal."

"I was absolutely terrified in every way," she told the Daily News.

Some of Bowen's early days on the set were, shall we say, nerve-racking.

"In my first courtroom scene, William [Shatner] had one of those giant monologues [creator] David Kelley likes to deliver," Bowen said. "My cell phone went off. I thought it was off. And not only did it go off, but I did not know how to turn it off."

There were 100 people on the set at the time.

"I really wanted to die," she said. "The director, at the time, was less than happy. ... He had a loud vocal moment."

Cell phone silenced, Bowen has since eased into the series well, albeit with little information about her character, lawyer Denise Bauer.

"David is very mysterious," she said. "He called me to say, 'Would you do this?' I said yes. I also assumed this was the beginning of many phone conversations between me and David Kelley. I was soon informed you may see him at the wrap party. His writing is so strong, I don't care. He can be wherever he wants."

Bergen told Bowen early on that Kelley tends to write characters who just appear, and that the actors playing them aren't given much to go on.

"Boston Legal" has had a bumpy ride. The show, a spinoff of "The Practice," aired last season Sundays at 10, following "Desperate Housewives." But late in the season, it was shelved for "Grey's Anatomy," which held onto more of the "Housewives" audience.

Since "Boston Legal" was last seen, Rhona Mitra, who played Tara has left for "Nip/Tuck" on FX, and Bowen has moved in.

In its new slot, the series will face NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and CBS' yet-to-launch crime drama "Close to Home."

"There's always that joke of whether you're going to have a job next week," Bowen said. "But this is the kind of show where they don't need to be a big, sexy hit. They just need to have solid viewership. It's not gimmicky, it's not over-the-top trending. But I do hope the loyal followers come with us."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/v-pfriendly/story/349978p-298594c.html

fredfa

09-27-05, 11:32 AM

Monday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the eighth night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

fredfa

09-27-05, 12:12 PM

Spooked: NBC's 'Surface' takes a dive

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 27, 2005

A disappointing start to the season got a little bit worse for NBC last night when one of last week’s promising debuts, the new supernatural drama “Surface,” saw major ratings declines.

Actually, every network besides Fox experienced week-to-week declines as well.

“Surface” averaged a 2.8 rating among viewers 18-49 last night, according to Nielsen fast national data, a 24.3 percent dip versus the 3.7 overnight rating it scored last week. That contributed to a week-to-week Monday night dip for NBC, which averaged a 3.9 rating in the demo last night, a 7.1 percent decrease versus last Monday.

NBC has already had a rough start to the fall. Its “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” tied for third in its timeslot last week among 18-49s, and Thursday’s “The Apprentice” had its lowest-ever 18-49 rating.

New shows “E-Ring” and “Three Wishes” failed to catch on, and Sunday’s new timeslot for “West Wing” produced its lowest-rated premiere ever.

"Surface" actually faced less competition this week than last, when ABC showed a special "Monday Night Football" and CBS premiered its new shows, so viewers who tuned in for the first episode apparently did not like what they saw.

NBC wasn’t alone with its ratings dip last night. ABC led among 18-49s with a 4.8 average and 12 share, but that was down 22.6 percent from last week’s 6.2/15 for an entire night of NFL football.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_344.asp

fredfa

09-27-05, 12:20 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Amazing Race”
Art and chemistry in reality television
Talking with the co-creator of 'Amazing Race'

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 27, 2005

There’s finally been a slowdown in the rash of more-outrageous-than-the-last reality shows, and “Amazing Race” producer and co-creator Bertram van Munster thinks he knows why. Viewers can find the outrageous stuff on the news. What they want from their reality shows, he says, is actual reality even if it’s with a Paris backdrop. “Race” returns tonight at 9 p.m. on CBS after its two most successful seasons ever last year. The show was on the brink of cancellation before it caught on during summer 2004, and since then it’s become CBS’s second-most-successful reality series, after “Survivor.” Van Munster talks with Media Life about what makes a good reality show contestant, the controversy over season-seven contestants Rob and Amber, and why the nightly news is more entertaining than fiction.

What do you look for in a contestant when you cast them? What makes a good contestant?

Well, when we’re casting, we’re casting teams, so they have to have a pre-existing relationship, be articulate, and have a good sense of humor. They have to have traveled as little as possible, and people, of course, must be in decent physical shape. We look for the relationships, that’s what’s important to us.

I think focus, too. We have had some very unfocused people in the race, to my great surprise. If they’re focused and tenacious, they have a good shot.

Is there anyone who you had one impression of when you cast them and then came off totally differently on the show?
We have psychological profiles of people, so we know who they are. There’s only one person who blindsided me, and that’s Jonathan, from season six with Victoria. He completely blindsided me. [The pair fought basically the entire race, culminating in Jonathan shoving Victoria while they were in Berlin.]

I expected him to be just the outgoing, vivacious guy I met, but I didn’t expect him to be this outrageous. I think the more outrageous television is, the less people can relate.

And yet we see so much outrageousness in reality TV these days.

Yeah, I know. I don’t think that’s the way to go.

It has to be relatable, a mirror so we can see ourselves in it. I love outrageous stuff, I think it’s hysterical, but I don’t know if it’s for everybody.

It may make it hard to export stuff like that in terms of advertisers. They also want some value for their money, and they’re reluctant to associate with some reality shows. And probably rightfully so.

Can you tell ahead of time which contestants are going to catch on with viewers? For example, did you think Charla and Myrna would be as popular as they were?
Well, they were just a terrific team. Charla was a powerhouse, just total powerhouse, and Myrna was a fantastic supporter. And [former “Survivor” contestants] Rob and Amber did very well.

We got criticized all day long over that, people didn’t want them to win. I was sitting in my chair thinking, “If they only knew.” [Rob and Amber lost.] And some of the older people we had were just extraordinary, the way they laid out the race.

The show took a lot of heat over the Rob and Amber thing. People were pretty divided on whether it was a good idea, whether it helped or hurt the show. Was it your idea or CBS’s, and why did you do it?
CBS’s.

I’m not always sure with reality television if it’s good to repeat people. They’ll have these all-star things, but I don’t know if it’s always good to repeat a character.

There are so many fantastic ones running around as it is, and that way you keep the show original. But Rob and Amber were really good, it was an incredibly good suggestion.

You’re doing families now, and you have some younger kids. Did you have to change anything to accommodate them? What’s been the most interesting part of filming with kids?
They only thing that changed was the length of the race.

The basic premise and challenges were the same – you get more story, more drama, more humor. The kids are just performing incredibly well. The way they run through a crowd, there’s no way you and I could copy this, with the vigor and enthusiasm on their face.

I look at my colleagues and we’re ready to go to bed exhausted. The kids are just sitting there eating an apple jumping up and down ready to go.

How do you decide on the locations? Is there anywhere you’d like to shoot that you haven’t been able to?

It has to be logical in a trip around the world. I look for places that are exotic. Every country has something to offer. We went down to South America, Peru, but we did not go to Machu Picchu. Everyone expects you to go there.

We’ve gone to the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Berlin Wall. We started the end of one day in front of the Sphinx. It was the one time in your life that they’ll let you run in with 15 people for one time at the foot of the Sphinx that had just gotten restored.

We are not looking for trouble, we’re looking for beauty. We go around as a guest of the Earth, not as a potentate.

There are certain places we don’t go because it’s too unsafe to bring in a large group. I go anywhere in the world myself, but you cannot bring a large group of people to roam the streets in certain countries.

What was your favorite location?
Sometimes my favorite location is going to bed. We’ve been going nonstop for five years.

What’s your opinion of other reality shows that are on the air?
I watch everything that’s out there, but I’m really a news junkie, although the news in many cases is such that I almost can’t believe what I see.

The news is more entertaining than anything I see. I see crazy stories on the news about crazy retired generals, and I know I was just there in that country yesterday and I just don’t see what they see.

It looks like they’re making this stuff up. I just don’t believe it, it’s pure entertainment. I really enjoy it when they’re all yelling at each other, but it’s entertainment.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_319.asp

George Thompson

09-27-05, 12:23 PM

Katrina Through the HD Lens

By Michael Goldman

Sep 26, 2005 2:23 PM

As Hurricane Rita bore down on Texas recently, J.T. Alpaugh was one of the few people heading into the state, rather than out. At press time, Alpaugh, CTO of Helinet Aviation Services of Van Nuys, Calif., and his partner, Alan Purwin, founder of Helinet and a longtime Hollywood stunt pilot, were enroute to the hurricane’s target area. They were to hook up with a waiting American Eurocopter AStar 350B2 helicopter and outfit it with their portable and proprietary Cineflex HD-V14 aerial camera system to provide the world some of the first, highest-resolution images of the devastation wreaked by that killer storm.

Alpaugh and Purwin were going to cover Rita immediately on the heels of providing historic aerial coverage of the incredible devastation in Louisiana and Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina. Their HD aerial system ended up providing pool coverage of the affected region during the month immediately after Katrina struck—footage seen across the globe on various networks. Usually, that footage was downconverted and viewed in standard def by most viewers, except on Mark Cuban’s HDNet and a handful of other network HD channels.

Alpaugh was the reporter whose voice was heard describing the devastation on those reports. After Helinet’s helicopter reached the affected areas, all major networks agreed to let the company supply pool footage when it quickly became clear that, due to emergency conditions, the number of news helicopters allowed in the area would be limited due to logistical impediments.

In the last year, Helinet outfitted and supplied the nation’s first true HD newscopters with full HD downlink capabilities for TV stations KABC in Los Angeles and KUSA in Denver. These projects were completed in addition to the company's regular service of supplying HD aerial coverage for television and motion picture production. In recent years, Helinet has supplied news coverage to HDNet and many local news stations, but Hurricane Katrina represented the first time its footage--or anyone’s HD-acquired footage--became the primary source of realtime visuals on a major breaking news story for literally the entire world.

“We arrived about two hours after Katrina left the area, and we began documenting what we saw, offering the footage to anyone who wanted it without affiliating ourselves with a single network,” Alpaugh explains. “We started feeding images to the networks in HD, and they quickly got together and asked our ship to be the pool helicopter. We used the project ship that we usually demo our technology in and use for live sports and news applications, and which we showed at NAB.

“Katrina was, of course, an amazing challenge and a learning experience for us. We had our own satellite uplink truck ready to go, but for the first couple of days getting it into New Orleans was a challenge, since the roads were so littered with downed trees. So for those first couple of days, we would fly a tape to our truck, and they would uplink to the networks. But after a couple days, we got another satellite truck into the area, and from that point on we were able to send out live pictures to the networks. (At press time), now that we are heading to cover Rita, we’ll be able to put some of those lessons to work about how to position and pre-plan resources on the ground, and also, about things like having good food and water in place, and so forth.”

Helinet regularly supplies HD aerial coverage for television and motion picture production. The company uses an American Eurocopter AStar 350B2 helicopter outfitted with its portable and proprietary Cineflex HD-V14 camera system. (Photo by Mark Forman Productions Corp.)

The Helinet Cineflex HD system consists of a Sony HDW-F950 camera used in combination with a sophisticated, proprietary gimbel system. The gimbel contains lenses (Helinet can configure it with a variety of lenses from all major manufacturers, but for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the company primarily used 1140mm 84x Fujinon zooms) and the optical block of the camera system itself. The whole thing is then controlled from inside the helicopter by laptop. The helicopter also features a sophisticated microwave transmitter and high-gain directional pod, permitting live transmission of an HD and/or SD signal live from the helicopter as the images are acquired. Alpaugh says Helinet uses a proprietary codec to compress the HD signal for transmission to uplink facilities as far as 100 miles away.

“The gimbel is the big thing because it can rotate 360 degrees, and has a slip ring to let the camera turn around without any loss of quality of the HD signal,” he says. “That signal travels through the cable system to an auxiliary box where the camera body is imbedded, and from there, on to the microwave components and our on-board HD monitors.”

Alpaugh adds that the basic Cineflex system—the camera, auxiliary box, gimbel, lenses, and associated gear—weighs around 100lbs., allowing Helinet representatives to travel with the system on commercial airliners to locations where important news developments are unfolding. There, they meet up with their own helicopters, or those provided locally, and install the system with a variety of different mounts, depending on the helicopter and application, to get up and running in just a few hours.

Alpaugh says that although only a small percentage of those watching Katrina and Rita news coverage saw the pristine HD images, since most were watching SD broadcasts, the technology’s usefulness in such situations is just beginning to be realized. He points out that even SD viewers received a signal with more detailed information than they would if his system were using standard ENG cameras, and all this historic footage can now be archived for posterity at extremely high resolution.

But far more important, Alpaugh says, is the notion that HD acquisition technology itself can eventually become a fundamental tool to aid law enforcement and rescue operations. In fact, he says, the Helinet system helped rescuers in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

“You need a specialized gimbel to keep the camera still and stabilize the HD lens while zooming from a long way away,” Alpaugh says. “And as we quickly found out, during Katrina, we were not just documenting what happened. We were using our camera system to zoom in very close, finding people hanging out of houses and windows, or in small spaces between houses. We zoomed into places that were hard for rescue copters to find, and several times we called in GPS coordinates to rescuers when we saw some of those people. The technology proved extremely valuable in those rescue operations, and I think there are lots more applications like that.

“Plus, you can’t ignore how important it is to see these images in full HD. If standard-def speaks 1,000 words, HD screams a million words, or in this case, a billion words. We were able to help tell a story of utter disaster everywhere, and we’re proud we had a system capable of doing that—to be one of the first to show the world what was really going on.”

fredfa

09-27-05, 12:26 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: TUESDAY
“Boston Legal”
Order in the court: Shelved ABC drama returns on a new night

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 27, 2005

“Boston Legal” did just fine behind ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” last season, but it never really thrived. The show averaged a 4.9 adults 18-49 rating, solid for a new show, but it lost nearly half of its lead-in in that demo.

Then in late March ABC plopped “Grey’s Anatomy” into “Legal's” 10 p.m. Sunday timeslot, initially as a temporary fill-in. But when the new show performed so much better, retaining 80 percent of “Housewives’” audience, ABC angered many media buyers by making the switch permanent for the remainder of the season and pulling “Legal” from the schedule until fall.

And so tonight “Legal” returns after some six months, and it does so in a less-cushy timeslot and against much tougher competition. It has a lot to prove. It is the lead-out to “Commander-in-Chief,” the new 9 p.m. drama that is drawing both high praise and lots of criticism, and it faces NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which last week had its highest-rated premiere ever.

“Legal” will surely fall off from last year, but even a 4.0 would be good for ABC in this slot, where “NYPD Blue” faded last year and “Blind Justice” flopped.

Tonight Rupert Everett guests, and so does Heather Locklear as a frosty murder defendant nicknamed “The Black Widow,” a role she’s perfected since the “Melrose Place” days. Also tonight, Julie Bowen, from NBC’s “Ed” and more recently, Jack’s (ex?) wife on “Lost,” joins the cast.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_317.asp

George Thompson

09-27-05, 12:49 PM

NETWORKS ASK FCC TO DELAY RULES ON KIDS' TV
By Jube Shiver Jr., Los Angeles Times, 9/27/2005

WASHINGTON - The major television networks Monday sought to delay an expansion of federal regulations that bar broadcasters from regularly preempting educational children's TV shows, arguing that it could hurt their ability to air live sports.

The filing of a petition with the Federal Communications Commission follows intense lobbying by network executives, who say existing regulations already are making it difficult to air Major League Baseball games as well as college and professional sports during weekends.

The problem, they argue, is especially acute in the West, where live sports telecasts from the East Coast and Midwest often air early in the day because of time zone differences, bumping up against the prime viewing hours for the educational shows.

"We are simply asking the FCC to hold off on implementing any new regulations until they review and respond to the concerns we expressed," NBC Universal spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs said.

Under current regulations, networks are required to air between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. three hours a week of educational programming for children 16 years and under. Children's shows airing Saturday that networks count toward that include ABC's "The Proud Family" and Nickelodeon's "Blue's Clues," which airs on many CBS stations.

Amid a looming nationwide transition to digital television, broadcasters in January will have to supply three hours each on the up to five digital channels they can multicast. Regulators can revoke a TV station's license if it does not air enough educational children's shows.

The FCC declined to comment. But children's TV advocates say they are unsympathetic, noting that government regulations already allow broadcasters to preempt up to 10% of children's programming during the week for special broadcasts.

"I don't understand broadcasters that want to take away a law that enriches children's lives," said Gloria Tristani, a former FCC member who heads the United Church of Christ's media advocacy office. "They've been visiting the FCC nonstop for the last three weeks, fighting this measure."

Last week, CBS Television Executive Vice President Martin D. Franks and other network representatives visited FCC officials to complain about the rules. The FCC, Franks said, is unfairly insisting, "Thou must do kids at the expense of news or sports."

Among the networks, Fox has told the FCC that its Pacific time zone stations had to preempt more than 15% of their children's TV programming during the quarter ended June 2004 to accommodate baseball games.

Meanwhile, CBS said it preempted 10.9% during one quarter because of NFL coverage. CBS sometimes has shifted children's programming to 9 a.m. on Saturdays from noon, preempting news shows, to avoid conflicts with sporting events.

Even though both Fox and CBS exceeded the 10% cap, neither was penalized because the FCC's limit applies to the average preempted over a year.

Critics have long complained that three hours a week of children's educational programming is hardly a burden, and that broadcasters don't embrace their obligation.

In the early 1990s, the networks expanded weekday morning news-talk shows such as "Good Morning America" and the "Today Show" to the weekend, when most children's programming airs. The move left little room to shift children's shows around when live sports events intervene. Critics also have complained that broadcasters sometimes stretch the definition of educational shows to include entertainment programs.

With the parties at an impasse over the children's TV rules, the networks have hired former U.S. Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman and attorney Helgi C. Walker, a former associate White House counsel under President Bush, to mount a legal challenge if the FCC doesn't reconsider. The networks have argued that a proliferation of local newscasts and live sporting events has made it difficult to accommodate children's shows.

"Stations in the West were required to preempt more than 10% of their children's programming to accommodate the Olympics, NFL games and other sports," Fox Entertainment Group Inc., NBC Universal Inc. and Viacom Inc., owner of CBS, said in papers submitted to the FCC this year. "The new rule simply makes Saturday children's television impossible for many licensees affiliated with large networks."

Jeff McIntyre, public policy director of the American Psychological Assn., said the networks' "use of hired guns and hard-line tactics have been dismaying," but added that his organization, other child advocacy groups and federal regulators aren't likely to back down.

"I think we would anticipate the FCC defending their unanimous vote to impose these rules," McIntyre said. "We certainly want to see kids' interests protected."

George Thompson

09-27-05, 12:53 PM

BIG FILM DEAL FOR BRAVO
By Linda Moss, Multichannel News, 9/26/2005

In its biggest theatrical-movie deal since it became part of NBC Universal, Bravo has acquired rights to more than 130 films from Paramount Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Television Domestic Distribution and Sony Pictures Television, officials said Monday.

Under terms of the agreement, Bravo will have exclusive cable rights to almost 70 film releases from Paramount, 50 from Warner and 11 from Sony. The titles begin debuting Oct. 14 with the network-television premiere of Vanilla Sky.

Bravo will also have the exclusive cable premiere of Miramax Films- Chicago Nov. 18.

A Bravo spokeswoman declined to discuss what the network is paying for its movie package.

Film titles in the package include Braveheart, School of Rock, Miss Congeniality, The Silence of the Lambs and Memento.

Note:
Somehow I don't see UHD replaying these movies.....

jim tressler

09-27-05, 01:09 PM

any reason why?

Note:
Somehow I don't see UHD replaying these movies.....

George Thompson

09-27-05, 01:13 PM

UNIVERSAL HD

Universal HD, an NBC Universal Cable network, launched in fourth quarter 2004 is currently available to more than 25 million homes in 100% 1080i HD, 24/7. Universal HD offers the best of NBC Universal's library in HD. Programming includes unedited and uninterrupted films, award winning dramas, series, sports, specials and performance arts programming all from the Universal library.

dturturro

09-27-05, 01:24 PM

keenan

09-27-05, 01:27 PM

Well, UHD needs to do something, I have enjoyed UHD, when they have had something to watch(tennis-Olympics-BG) but lately it has becoming pretty much dead air otherwise..

keenan

09-27-05, 01:28 PM

I personally wouldn't mind if UHD had commercials IF they simulcasted the shows (I'm thinking Battlestar Galactaca, Monk, 4400, etc...) on their premier dates, rather than 3 or 4 months later with no commercials.
I would go along with that, something, anything other than what's being offered now would be an improvement.

dturturro

09-27-05, 01:46 PM

You mean you're not enjoying the opening ceremonies from the 2004 olympics?!

fredfa

09-27-05, 01:49 PM

Pretty soon we'll have the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics to fill up air time for two+ years on UHD.

keenan

09-27-05, 01:54 PM

You mean you're not enjoying the opening ceremonies from the 2004 olympics?!
You kidding, I think I know every pixel of those broadcasts in intimate detail by now.. :D

Alan Gordon

09-27-05, 02:32 PM

I agree totally.

Andy may be (more than) a bit of a curmudgeon, but he has always been a class act.

I still get a kick out of his rant several years ago in which he getting on to newspapers for having ads in them, and he was asking for newspapers to get rid of their ads.

~Alan

fredfa

09-27-05, 04:32 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Week One Ratings

'CSI' Holds Off 'Housewives' in Season's First Week
(zap2it.com)--ABC's two big hits from last year showed no signs of a sophomore slump in the first week of the 2005-06 season, but they weren't quite enough to push the network past CBS in the Nielsens.

Household Ratings/Share
CBS 8.3 13 (12.85 million viewers)
ABC 8.0/13 (12.29)
NBC 6.6/11 (9.9)
Fox 4.1/6 (6.48)
UPN 2.7/4 (4.15)
The WB 2.2/3 (3.28)

With its usual array of crime shows and a football-fueled "60 Minutes," CBS started the '05-'06 on top, averaging an 8.3 rating/13 share among households and 12.85 million viewers per night last week. ABC (8.0/13, 12.29 million viewers) wasn't far behind in second, while NBC (6.6/11, 9.9 million) took third with a week of decidedly mixed results.

FOX finished a distant fourth at 4.1/6 and 6.48 million viewers -- which was substantially better than the network's throwaway lineup did this time last year. UPN, thanks largely to "Everybody Hates Chris," took fifth with a 2.7/4 household mark and 4.15 million viewers. The WB (2.2/3, 3.28 million) trailed.

18-49 Ratings
ABC 4.7
CBS 4.1
NBC 3.4
Fox 2.8
UPN 1.8
The WB 1.4

ABC captured the top spot in the all-important adults 18-49 ratings. The network, which had four of the top five shows in the demographic advertisers covet, averaged a 4.7 rating for the week -- its first season-opening 18-49 win in a decade. CBS finished second at 4.1. NBC was third at 3.4, followed by FOX, 2.8; UPN, 1.8; and The WB, 1.4.

CBS' "CSI" was the most-watched show of the week with just over 29 million viewers, beating out the season premiere of "Desperate Housewives" (28.36 million) on ABC, although the two tied for the lead in households (17.3/26 for "CSI," 17.3/25 for "Housewives"). ABC's "Lost" and "Grey's Anatomy" also came back in a big way, finishing third and sixth overall.

CBS also got a strong performance from a special preview of "Criminal Minds" on Thursday, which came in fourth at 12.5/20. But because it was classified as a special ("Criminal Minds" moves to its regular Wednesday home this week), ABC can lay claim to the "No. 1 new show of the season," as its promos say, with "Invasion" (10.2/16) which was 12th overall.

NBC had a somewhat schizophrenic week. Its Monday shows -- "Surface," "Las Vegas" and "Medium" -- all finished in the top 30, and its well-reviewed new Tuesday comedy "My Name Is Earl" (9.4/14) cracked the top 20 along with the season premiere of "Law & Order: SVU" (11.1/18).

The rest of the week, though, was something of a flop. Only "ER," 9.3/15, and "Law & Order," 8.9/14, managed to break into the top 20 among NBC's offerings on Wednesday and Thursday, which the network used to own. Both editions of "The Apprentice" struggled, neither one reaching 10 million viewers.

The other big story of the week was the premiere of "Everybody Hates Chris" on UPN, which drew the third-biggest premiere audience (7.78 million viewers) in UPN's history and beat NBC's "Joey" and FOX's "The O.C." in its half-hour.

FOX couldn't break into the top 20 for the week, although "House" (8.5/13) came close, tying for 24th in households. On the other end of the spectrum, the network also made the season's first cancellation after "Head Cases" posted a dismal 2.1/3 in its second airing.

"Gilmore Girls" led the way for The WB with a 3.8/6, taking over the network's top spot from "7th Heaven," 3.7/6.

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/utils/tve_article_print/1,1144,,00.html?x=29&y=10&current_url=271%7C97750%7C1%7C&search_id=1&cntn_id=97750

fredfa

09-27-05, 04:36 PM

For those of you who are new to the thread, last week’s complete program-by-program list of network prime-time ratings will be posted at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the second post in this thread) later in the day.

AFH

09-27-05, 05:10 PM

The TV Column
ABC's 'Desperate' Measure: 28 Million Plus

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Tuesday, September 27, 2005; C07

"DH" handily won its time period in the 18-to-49 group advertisers covet; it also won the hour among 25-to-54-year-olds, teens, kids and people 50 and up. (Among kids 2 to 11, "Desperate Housewives" tied Fox's animated "Family Guy" and "American Dad," according to the early stats.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601663_pf.html

I like watching DH and Family Guy, but if someone has children between the ages of 2 and 11 that they let watch these shows, especially Family Guy, then things are worse than I thought.

AFH

09-27-05, 05:13 PM

There is a show that I want to setup a season pass for on my Tivo, but I cannot think of the name. I saw the previews for the show two weeks ago on a channel that Directv was using to preview shows for the upcoming season on the WB. The show I'm talking about is about 3 or 4 sisters of varying ages whom help each other out with different issues. For the life of me the name of the show escapes me.

Is there anyone who knows what the name of the show I'm thinking about?

FSugino

09-27-05, 05:22 PM

dturturro

09-27-05, 05:33 PM

I like watching DH and Family Guy, but if someone has children between the ages of 2 and 11 that they let watch these shows, especially Family Guy, then things are worse than I thought.

And it's those very same dopes that complain if they're kid sees or hears something they don't like on TV! Those TV ratings and locks are their for a reason. :eek:

fredfa

09-27-05, 07:12 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
He's OK now, but show is ailing

The star of 'The Bernie Mac Show' regains his health only to find his Fox sitcom faltering

By Greg Braxton Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 28, 2005

Reports of Bernie Mac's death have been greatly exaggerated. But his Fox show appears to be in critical condition.

The former Original King of Comedy, who was so sick with double pneumonia last year that some media outlets reported he was terminally ill, is alive and well and back at work on the set of "The Bernie Mac Show." With a seasoned air of mischief, Mac proclaims he is ready and able to tackle the demands of a weekly network series.

"How's my crew doin'?" asked Mac as he walked on the Studio City set of the series last week for a morning of short scenes. Wearing a purple athletic suit, Mac was characteristically calm and cool as he greeted colleagues and made faces at the younger cast members, causing them to crack up and blow their lines. The atmosphere around the set reflected his relaxed demeanor.

But despite his physical rebound, the outlook on the show that bears his name is not as rosy. Once one of the reliable bright spots on Fox's lineup, "The Bernie Mac Show" entered its fifth season Friday with the dubious distinction of being the lowest-ranked live-action series from last season to be renewed. The poor showing of the season premiere, which attracted less than 4 million viewers, has prompted speculation in the industry that the end may be near.

While the advance buzz on returning shows this fall has mostly revolved around cliffhangers ("Lost," "Desperate Housewives"), new spins and cast members (the Martha Stewart edition of "The Apprentice," John Leguizamo on "ER"), little fanfare greeted the kickoff of "The Bernie Mac Show," even with a healthy star and a new recurring cast member (Anthony Anderson of "The Shield" and "Hustle & Flow"). The comedy finished the 2004-05 season as No. 105 out of 202 shows in the Nielsen ratings.

There are other red flags: The series, which has been clouded for most of its four-year run by behind-the-scenes turmoil, is being overseen by its fourth show runner in five years, and Fox has moved the show 12 times, losing even loyal fans who can't find it (now it faces off against CBS' new "Ghost Whisperer," which drew 11 million viewers in its launch).

History doesn't bode well

If its initial ratings performance is any indication, the show is facing a rough road. Fading hit shows rarely bounce back.

"It doesn't look promising at this point," said Tim Brooks, co-author of "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. "It's very unusual for an audience who had left a show to give it a second chance."

And while one-hour TV dramas are the current rave of critics and viewers, "The Bernie Mac Show" is one of the remainders of a disappearing genre — the family situation comedy with a comedian at its center.

The series features Mac as a fictionalized version of himself who unexpectedly becomes the guardian of his troubled sister's three kids.

Joining him are Kellita Smith as Bernie's wife, Wanda, and Camille Winbush, Jeremy Suarez and Dee Dee Davis. ("Everybody Hates Chris," UPN's new comedy, which looks to be a breakout hit of the fall, is built around comedian Chris Rock, but only Rock's voice is heard in voice-over.)

If Mac is feeling the heat, there's no evidence on his face, no worry lines. Instead of an end, he sees this season as a new beginning, with plenty of comedic ground to plow. He adds that he is surrounded by a company that shares his vision and passion, and envisions at least one of two more seasons beyond this year.

"I feel great, and the show is as good as it's ever been," he said. Although much of his attention in the last year was directed at his health and his film career ("Ocean's Twelve," "Mr. 3000" and "Guess Who" all opened within months of each other), his focus is now squarely on "The Bernie Mac Show."

Said Mac: "This is my baby. This show is a survivor. The kids are getting mature, and that's really going to enhance the show. I love the creativeness and the storytelling and the camaraderie. I have a whole encyclopedia of stories up in my head about where we can go, some fantastic stories centering on the kids."

Overwork prompts illness

Much of his enthusiasm is related to his recovery. After a relentless schedule of promoting "Ocean's Twelve" and shooting two movies back to back, he came down with double pneumonia, which aggravated his long-standing condition of sarcoidosis, a disease characterized by the presence of small areas of inflamed cells that can attack any organ of the body but most frequently the lungs.

When he returned to work on the show, he felt so sick that production shut down temporarily.

"Mentally, I was in denial of what was happening to me physically," he said. "Then one day, I was going from my dressing room to the set and I stopped. I bent over and could barely breathe and said, 'I just can't make it.' " Mac returned home to Chicago to recuperate.

"I had to rest, and medication helped me," he said. He now closely monitors his schedule and allows plenty of time for rest.

Meanwhile, Fox and producers of the show maintain confidence that there is still plenty of life left in "The Bernie Mac Show," which will be more valuable in the syndication market with five years of episodes. There are no immediate plans to pull the plug or expose the comedy to an extreme makeover.

"Yes, the future of 'The Bernie Mac Show' is unclear," said Dana Walden, president of 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the series in association with Regency Television. "But everyone at the studio and the network is extremely happy with the creative direction of the show. Bernie is a solid performer and has a loyal following, and the show has done a remarkable job of retaining its core viewership."

Added Craig Erwich, Fox's executive vice president of programming: "Bernie is a very important and significant piece of talent for our network. We've always specialized in strong point-of-view comedy and also family comedy. This show is a perfect blending of the two. It has been moved around a lot, true, and that's because it's a victim of its own success. It can work in a variety of places."

The first episodes this season reflect the look and feel of the show's beginnings. Mac still addresses the audience in living-room confessionals ("What's up, America?"). His marriage is on solid ground, but his frustration with the kids still provokes him to make mock threats, which are never acted upon

When it first premiered in 2001, "The Bernie Mac Show" was one of Fox's hot prospects. The comedian, who had been a longtime favorite with urban audiences, won crossover appeal with "The Original Kings of Comedy," Spike Lee's 2000 documentary of the hugely successful tour featuring Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey, and a sitcom mixing his racy edge with a family sitcom premise seemed like a natural.

His popularity also earned him a role in "Ocean's Eleven," the remake of the Rat Pack Las Vegas heist film, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.

The TV show started out promisingly. Though never a major hit, the series still clicked with critics and viewers, particularly African Americans. Mac received Emmy nominations for outstanding lead actor in a comedy in the first two seasons, and creator Larry Wilmore scored an upset victory for the outstanding comedy writing Emmy for the show's pilot.

But by the second season, the comedy was in trouble. Viewership dropped when the series faced off against ABC's "My Wife & Kids," another African American family comedy starring Damon Wayans (it was canceled last season). Clashes erupted between Wilmore and network and studio executives about the show's direction. He leaned toward a more dramatic structure for the series; the executives wanted it to be funnier. When the disagreements continued, Fox TV declined to renew Wilmore's contract.

His replacement, former "Malcolm in the Middle" executive producer Michael Bordow, failed to connect with Mac. Peter Aronson, who helped develop the series in 2001 when he was head of Regency Television, helmed the series for two years before leaving this year to pursue other interests.

Executive producer Warren Hutcherson, who has been with the TV series since the first episode, is now in charge of the series, along with fellow executive producer Steve Tompkins and Mac.

Hutcherson said, "We've had some growing pains, but this show has always been a fighter, a survivor. It's like a family here."

Mac sees the series as more than a vehicle for his comedy: "This is my life story. It's true. It's about survival. So the pressure doesn't bother me. That's when I'm at my best."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-bernie28sep28,0,7531993,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

09-27-05, 07:23 PM

Last week’s complete program-by-program list of network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the second post in this thread).

fredfa

09-27-05, 07:33 PM

If you are looking for shows in trouble, start with this list and just look at the first-run shows (ranked by network, then number of viewers, in millions):

Bottom Five Shows by Network, Week Ending Sept. 25th
59 Primetime ABC 7.54
68 Wife Swap ABC 6.85
69 Supernanny (9 p.m.) ABC 6.62
78 Supernanny (8 p.m.) ABC 5.49
84 "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" ABC 4.86

60 "Martha Behind Bars" CBS 7.49
61 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.47
64 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 7.21
65 Yes, Dear CBS 7.19
67 Still Standing CBS 6.91

56 Joey NBC 7.80
62 Law & Order: SVU (R, Sat.) NBC 7.41
66 Apprentice: Martha NBC 7.06
71 Inconceivable NBC 6.27
75 "Shrek" NBC 5.92

86 Arrested Development FOX 4.62
93 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.95
96 The Simpsons (7 p.m.) FOX 3.80
99 Bernie Mac (8 p.m.) FOX 3.48
104 Head Cases FOX 3.07

97 WWE Smackdown! UPN 3.71
98 One on One UPN 3.52
101 Eve UPN 3.43
102 America's Next Top Model 4 UPN 3.21
106 Cuts UPN 2.77

111 What I Like About You WB 2.18
112 Reba (Sun., 7 p.m.) WB 1.91
113 Twins (Thu.) WB 1.67
114 Just Legal (Wed.) WB 1.57
115 One Tree Hill WB 1.54

Whitearrow

09-27-05, 07:41 PM

Which DVR do you have?
DH does this also (and so did Lost last year), but I record Grey's after, so it's no big deal.

For shows in HD, I have the cable company DVR, Motorola 6412. I also have a TiVo I use for non-HD stuff, but dammit, if I am going to watch ER it will be in HD. I don't know of anyway to do a manual record with that machine.

DH doesn't bother me because I record Grey's Anatomy too. Same with Lost/Alias last year. But overall, this is a deeply annoying trend.

fredfa

09-28-05, 01:23 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
The TV Column
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Wednesday, September 28, 2005; C07

For 'Earl,' a Great Big Hello

For the first time in a decade, ABC won Premiere Week among the 18-to-49-year-olds advertisers crave, while airing half of the week's 10 most watched shows among viewers of all ages. And CBS finished its fourth consecutive premiere week as the country's most watched network. But two new series on UPN and NBC were the water-cooler talk for the first week of the 2005-06 television season.

Here's a look at the week's winners and losers:

WINNERS

"My Name Is Earl." Yes, season debuts of "CSI," "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" were the No. 1, 2 and 3 shows, but Premiere Week's greatest triumph was the start of NBC's Tuesday comedy "Earl." While other new-series premieres that made the Top 10 list basked in luxurious lead-ins such as "Lost" and "CSI," "Earl" overcame a "Biggest Loser" lead-in audience of fewer than 8 million viewers to snag more than 15 million fans, and on a night where NBC is famous for grinding sitcoms into dust (remember "Scrubs"?). "Earl" was the week's top-rated comedy, new or returning, on any network.

"Everybody Hates Chris." With UPN's biggest comedy audience ever -- nearly 8 million viewers -- the unveiling of this Chris Rock created/narrated series beat the second-season debut of NBC's "Friends" spinoff, "Joey," in the Thursday 8 p.m. half-hour among all viewers and among those 18-to-49-year-olds NBC targets. In fact, "Chris" beat all comers except CBS's "Survivor."

"Criminal Minds." The most watched new series of the week-old TV season is the Mandy-Patinkin-profiles-psycho-killers drama, which snared 19.6 million viewers in the best of all possible time slots, Thursday at 10, following "CSI" and its gargantuan audience of more than 29 million.

"Invasion." The other freshman series premiere to crack the Top 10 among all viewers, ABC's aliens-are-among-us drama copped more than 16 million viewers in the plush post-"Lost" Wednesday 10 p.m. slot. That's ABC's best showing there since it married off reality series serial star Trista to that poor sweet Ryan.

LOSERS

"Head Cases." The season's first cancellation, this Chris O'Donnell-Adam Goldberg odd-couple lawyer drama was put out of its misery by Fox after it plunged from 6 million to 3 million viewers in its first two broadcasts.

Martha Stewart . Her ballyhooed "Apprentice" debut wilted like an orchid repotted in soil instead of fir bark and charcoal and put in an area with less than 50 percent humidity. Only about 7 million viewers tuned in Wednesday night. Then, on Sunday, CBS's Stewart bio-flick "Martha Behind Bars" logged a puny 7.5 million -- pale as creme fraiche compared with the nearly 13 million the CBS Sunday flick opened with last fall when it aired "Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman."

Bruckheimer . Jerry Bruckheimer, the king of television, did not have a great week. His new NBC Pentagon drama, "E-Ring," logged only about 9 million viewers in the Wednesday slot where last October "The West Wing" had opened with more than 12 million watching. (On the other hand, "WW" had not faced the debut of "Lost" in the hour.) On Monday, Bruckheimer's new WB series, "Just Legal," copped a meager 3.4 million in the time slot where, a year and a week ago, "Everwood" had opened with 6 million tuned in. Bruckheimer, who is used to opening with numbers like "CSI's" 17.3 million, "Amazing Race's" 11.8 million, "CSI: Miami's" 23.1 million and "CSI: NY's" 19.3 million, hasn't had a week this bad since "Skin" opened in fall '03 and only 6.3 million showed up; Fox canceled it after just three episodes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092702113_pf.html

fredfa

09-28-05, 01:31 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
ABC gets off to fast start in new season ratings

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

The Nielsen Media ratings are out for the first week of the new network TV season, and while it's way too early to draw hard and fast conclusions, some of the viewership numbers are worthy of note.

First and foremost: ABC is even hotter than it was at the start of last season. CBS was still the most-watched network and its ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' was still the most-viewed show with 29 million viewers.

But ABC had its best opening week in five years and won the week in the 18-to-49-year-old age group most coveted by advertisers. The Disney network had five of the top 10 shows: ``Desperate Housewives'' (No. 2 with 28.4 million), ``Lost'' (No. 3, 23.5 million) ``Grey's Anatomy'' (No. 6, 19 million), the new ``Invasion'' (No. 9, 16.4 million) and ``Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (No. 10, 16.4 million). In combination with ``Monday Night Football'' -- which finished 12th with 16.1 million -- it dominated three nights of the week: Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

Other Nielsen numbers of note:

* * NBC may be in much deeper trouble than anyone thought. While its new and edgy ``My Name Is Earl'' did surprisingly well and the network showed signs of ratings life on both Monday and Friday, its long-time Thursday ``must-see-TV'' block took a pasting. The season premiere of ``Joey'' got whacked by ``Everybody Hates Chris'' on UPN. ``The Apprentice'' with Donald Trump slumped noticeably. And the season opener of ``ER'' (14.4 million) got beat badly -- not by the established ``Without A Trace'' but by a special preview of CBS's new ``Criminal Minds'' which grabbed an audience of 19.6 million.

To make matters worse, ``The Apprentice: Martha Stewart'' -- which the network had counted on to jump start Wednesdays -- was almost dead on arrival with just 7 million viewers.

* * There is joy at UPN which saw its new and heavily promoted ``Everybody Hates Chris'' score a snappy 7.8 million viewers and beat both ``Joey'' and Fox's ``The O.C.'' head-to-head. Given the fact that UPN isn't available in some of the country, that's a really impressive audience.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/12756542.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-28-05, 01:38 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Top Five Shows by Major Network, Week Ending Sept. 25th

2 Desperate Housewives ABC 28.36
3 Lost ABC 23.47
6 Grey's Anatomy ABC 18.98
9 Invasion ABC 16.43
10 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 16.41

1 CSI CBS 29.02
4 Criminal Minds CBS 19.57
5 CSI: Miami CBS 19.21
7 Survivor: Guatemala CBS 16.98
11 60 Minutes CBS 16.35

20 House FOX 13.64
36 The Simpsons FOX 10.46
42 Family Guy FOX 8.68
48 War at Home FOX 8.17
53 Prison Break FOX 7.96

8 Law & Order: SVU NBC 16.82
15 My Name Is Earl NBC 15.25
18 ER NBC 14.37
23 Crossing Jordan NBC 13.08
24 Law & Order NBC 13.03

fredfa

09-28-05, 01:51 AM

Ratings flood for Fox News and CNN
Cabler up, but net still ahead in post-hurricane ratings

By MICHAEL LEARMONTH Variety.com

CNN scored the biggest increase, but Fox News Channel remained dominant as hurricanes Katrina and Rita blew in big third-quarter ratings for the cable news outlets.

Fox finished the quarter averaging 1.2 million daily viewers, up 31% from last year, followed by CNN with 693,000 viewers (a 39% increase) and MSNBC with 300,000 viewers (up 11%).

Across-the-board increases were driven by September numbers, which were affected most by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.

A big news month helped MSNBC out of the ratings cellar, pulling it ahead of CNN's Headline News (267,000 daily viewers), which had enjoyed a big lift from soft news "Showbiz Tonight" and "Nancy Grace" in primetime.

In primetime, Fox reasserted its dominance by recording 2.3 million viewers, the highest quarterly viewer total in its history. Fox primetime tentpole "The O'Reilly Factor" remained the most-watched cable news program with 2.8 million viewers.

The 24-hour cable news net format was uniquely suited to covering Katrina and its aftermath. Fox, CNN and MSNBC dispatched hundreds of personnel to affected regions, and they exposed dramatic inadequacies in the nation's ability to respond to natural disasters.

Former FEMA director Michael Brown faced a congressional hearing Tuesday, an outcome directly related to the daily pictures of human suffering that came out of New Orleans.

CNN enjoyed huge hourly increases, as is frequently the case during periods of big news. Net's recently launched "Situation Room" saw a 100% increase in viewership over its three-hour afternoon air time. Lou Dobbs was up 60%, Anderson Cooper 82% and Paula Zahn 85% from last year.

CNN benefits from easy comparisons to last year because its numbers suffered during the September 2004 Republican convention, an event that drew additional viewers to Fox.

Cable turned in boffo numbers during September: 1.8 million for Fox (up 52%), 1.3 million for CNN (up 120%) and 505,000 for CNBC (up 70%).

For cable news, the challenge is to find a way to retain some of those viewers who flock to the tube during big news stories. The O.J. Simpson trial gave CNN a long-term lift in the mid-'90s, and 9/11 helped put Fox on top of CNN for good.

But while Fox retains an enormous lead, several hours became more competitive during September. The second two hours of CNN's "Situation Room" beat Fox's "Your World With Neil Cavuto" and "The Big Story With John Gibson" in the 25-54 demographic, but Fox retained a handy lead in overall viewers.

MSNBC's once-moribund primetime showed some signs of life in the third quarter. Rita Cosby increased ratings in the net's 9 p.m. hour by 67%, and Joe Scarborough, who was one of the first reporters in Biloxi, Miss., saw ratings up 59%.

CNBC's "Mad Money," the freewheeling investor show hosted by Jim Kramer, increased the net's 6 p.m. perf by 141% in the third quarter and became the financial net's highest-rated show in primetime.

http://www.variety.com/VR1117929812.html

fredfa

09-28-05, 01:51 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
”Will & Grace” Opens Final Season With Live Show
A Nervous But Excited Cast Looks Forward To Premiere

By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic

It its long life on TV, "Will & Grace" has broken new ground for network sitcoms.

But to start its eighth and final season Thursday, the show pays homage to the earliest days of broadcasting.

The season premiere of "Will & Grace" on NBC will be presented live.

"I've never done live TV before," says co-star Debra Messing, who plays Grace. "It starts out our final season in a real special way."

"I'm nervous and scared, but it should also be fun," says Sean Hayes, whose character, Jack, is pretty much guaranteed to break everybody up in the middle of the broadcast.

But that's OK in a comedy, says Megan Mullally, who plays Karen, noting that "if it's happening on `ER,' it's kind of a disaster."

"If anyone had a pause" about the idea, says co-star Eric McCormack (Will), "it was director Jim Burrows. He said, `We work so hard to get it perfect every week, why should we screw it up?'"

But there's a sense of history about the stunt that appeals to the cast.

After all, says Hayes, "`The Honeymooners' did it every week."

Messing has heard firsthand about the days of live television. "My dad was on an episode of `Playhouse 90,'" she says.

Still, "there's a little part of me thinking if costume changes take long, we'll have to vamp."

And, Mullally says, "as it's written now, I have three costume changes.

"Writing-wise, it's a different challenge for the writers. Now they have a chance to manipulate the script right up to the taping."

For the actors, it means shooting the episodes out of order. They will have shot the second, third and fourth episodes of the season before they hit their marks to perform the first.

They will have, at least, a second chance, when they repeat the live performance for the West Coast at 8:30 p.m. Pacific time.

With the end of "Everybody Loves Raymond" last season, "Will & Grace" emerges as the longest-running comedy in prime time. Through its years, a lot has changed in TV, some of it because of "Will & Grace."

For one thing, McCormack says, "you can't cast a show on TV anymore without a gay character."

"In the eight years we've been on, we've seen it become de rigueur," he says. "The big news is that it's not big news anymore."

TV watchers take the show for granted and may have been surprised when it garnered its most Emmy nominations yet, 15, for its seventh season. It won only two, though, for cinematography and outstanding guest actor in a comedy (Bobby Cannavale).

Among the guests expected back in the final season are Alec Baldwin, Eric Stoltz, Blythe Danner and John Slattery.

Stoltz is part of last season's cliffhanger, which will be picked up in the first episode. Grace was on the verge of beginning an affair with Stoltz's character, Tom, a married man. Another thread to be picked up is Will's discovering that Stan, Karen's ex-husband, thought dead, is actually alive.

The new season will also develop the new job for Jack as a talk-show host.

All the planning for the live show has postponed the inevitable sadness on the set that comes with closing a long-running comedy.

"Actually, it feels like we're starting off our last year with a bang in a very celebratory, playful, public way," McCormack says.

Besides, he adds, after the first episode, "we still have 23 to go. The closer we get to the end, the closer it will dawn on us that we made this decision."

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-willgrace.artsep27,0,4306012,print.story?coll=hce-headlines-tv

fredfa

09-28-05, 10:41 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
How the new shows fared

By Gary Levin USA TODAY

Night-by-night premiere-week highlights:

•Monday. Raymond-less CBS was down overall, but How I Met Your Mother (10.9 million) was solid, building on its lead-in. Fox's Prison Break remained competitive; WB's Just Legal (3.4 million) didn't. Surface (11.2 million) had a decent start; Medium (12.7 million) was lower than its debut in January.

•Tuesday. My Name Is Earl (15.2 million) provided a rare boost to NBC and was tops among young-adult viewers. The Office had its best Tuesday numbers (9 million) but lost 41% of Earl's fans. Fox's Bones (7.4 million) dropped 30% in its second week.

•Wednesday. ABC's Lost roared back with a series-high 23.5 million viewers, fueling Invasion's premiere (16.4 million) and sending NBC's Law & Order (13 million) tumbling 30% from last fall's opener. Other NBC disappointments: The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (7.1 million) and E-Ring (9.1 million).

•Thursday. Everybody Hates Chris set a UPN comedy record with 7.8 million, second in its time slot, though the network's other premieres fell sharply. Survivor (17 million) and CSI (29 million) were down a bit from last year. Criminal Minds (19.6 million) got solid sampling before this week's move to Wednesday, sending ER to a series-low 14.4 million. Apprentice (9.9 million) had its lowest Thursday.

•Friday. CBS' Ghost Whisperer (11.3 million viewers) was No. 1 for the night, improving on last fall's Joan of Arcadia. Threshold (8.6 million) edged out NBC's new Three Wishes (8.4 million), but Inconceivable (6.3 million) and Fox's Killer Instinct (5.2 million) were DOA.

•Sunday. ABC's Desperate Housewives (28.4 million) had its second-biggest audience, while NBC's aging The West Wing hit a series-low 8.9 million in its new Sunday home. CBS' Martha Behind Bars movie lured a weak 7.5 million.

•Cable. The fifth-season opener of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm delivered 1.6 million viewers Sunday, half its 2004 season premiere; Extras drew 988,000. Nip/Tuck's third-season premiere Tuesday had 5.3 million viewers, No. 2 for the week and an FX series record.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-27-nielsen-analysis_x.htm

nashvillecat

09-28-05, 10:47 AM

fredfa

09-28-05, 10:57 AM

ESPN2 Scores with Tennessee-LSU

ESPN News Release

ESPN2’s coverage of Tennessee at LSU Monday at 7:30 p.m. averaged a 3.1 rating and 2,768,000 household impressions, making it the network’s highest-rated and most-viewed college football game in its 12-year history. In addition, the telecast ranks as ESPN2’s second highest-rated and second most-viewed program ever (behind a 3.6 rating and 3,069,000 household impressions for the Oakland at Boston MLB divisional playoff game on Oct. 4, 2003).

Monday’s game, a 30-27 overtime victory by Tennessee, was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24 but was postponed due to concerns from Hurricane Rita.

Prior to Monday night, ESPN2’s highest-rated and most-viewed college football game averaged a 2.5 rating and 2,198,000 household impressions, set this year for Virginia Tech at N.C. State, Sunday, Sept. 4.

(Thanks to JeffU for providing the info.)

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:12 AM

Cable’s Summer Winners and Losers
TNT Solid Summer Programming Drew Biggest Audience in Ad-Supported Cable

By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com

Cable’s ongoing tactic of programming aggressively in the summer months paid out significant dividends to a number of networks, as the Nielsen Media Research numbers for the third quarter of 2005 can attest.

Of all ad-supported cable networks, TNT drew the biggest audience over the summer, averaging 2.7 million total viewers in prime time, thanks in large part to the performance of its three new drama properties (The Closer, Wanted and the miniseries Into the West).

TNT’s third quarter prime time showing was 13 percent higher than the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen. The net also ranked as ad-supported cable’s top network among adults 18-49 in prime (1,159,000), as well as adults 25-54 (1,289,000).

Fox News Channel took the number two spot, averaging 2.3 million viewers in the period, a 29 percent increase over last year’s numbers. USA took the bronze with 2.1 million, although that number represented a 9 percent decline for the network. Nick at Nite took fourth place with an average audience of 1.9 million, a 9 percent increase, while fifth place belonged to Lifetime, which captured 1.8 million viewers, a 4 percent rise.

Because the close of the quarter coincides with the start of a new season of National Football League play, ESPN predictably racked up the three most-viewed programs of the period. ESPN’s coverage of the Sept. 11 Colts-Ravens game drew the largest prime time audience of the quarter with 11.25 million total viewers.

The following Sunday’s Chiefs-Raiders game lured nearly 10.34 million viewers for second place and the Sept. 25 Giants-Chargers game earned 9.75 million.

An overstuffed news cycle and a brace of current events programming accounted for significant ratings spikes at a number of ad-supported cable nets, including Headline News, which delivered 471,000 total viewers in prime time for an increase of 108 percent. Biography Channel soared 89 percent, taking in 87,000 prime time viewers, while National Geographic was up 66 percent with an average 296,000 viewers tuning in for its prime time programming. The Noggin, Discovery Health and OLN all saw increases of 50 percent or thereabouts. Meanwhile, its dedicated hurricane coverage in late August and early September helped boosted CNN’s ratings, which were up 28 percent in prime.

Those gains aside, there were some nets that faltered during the hot summer months. With an average 436,000 viewers in prime Bravo was down 15 percent from last year, while The Weather Channel slipped 12 percent to 513,000. Court TV was also off 12 percent to 822,000 total viewers, as was Cartoon Network, which still managed a very respectable 1.54 million total viewers in prime. TLC was down 8 percent with 748,000 viewers in prime, and FX’s slate of critically acclaimed originals (Over There, Rescue Me) wasn’t enough to bring in a bigger audience as the net slipped 6 percent year-over-year with a 1.2 million.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001181822

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:17 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”

As a Stern Teenager, She's Not Such a Stretch

By NED MARTEL The New York Times September 28, 2005

SAN DIEGO - A high school can be like a battlefield, with weapons checked by metal detectors, and no place suggests this more than the set of "Veronica Mars." A few minutes west of downtown, jets from Miramar Air Force Base streak overhead, and the landlord who rents a soundstage to "Mars," a scrappy UPN drama now in its second year, leases out the adjacent property for military maneuvers on arid terrain. Blank rounds pop in the distance.

Kristen Bell, a 25-year-old Detroit native who plays the title role, is also spitting out rapid-fire bits of dialogue. Once a professed "pigtailed girl next door," she is now Veronica, a combustible teenager in an era when the schoolyard stakes are much higher than Ms. Bell ever knew.

When she was a high school student at the Shrine of the Little Flower, Ms. Bell recalled, nuns insisted that girls keep their uniform skirts just above the knee. In Neptune, Veronica's fictional hometown, however, a student-parent dalliance, a date rape and a murder dominate the machine-gun-quick conversation. And everyone fights against the labels they have been given but cannot shake.

As watchable as the series has proved to be, the show is running from the label of "unwatched"; the ratings have been low. Thus the pressure is on Ms. Bell to perfect her portrayal of a 17-year-old sleuth who constantly asserts herself as a sassy but stern voice of authority.

Rob Thomas, the creator of "Veronica Mars," said that when he was a high school teacher in Austin, Tex., "I would watch what purported to be teen shows, and clearly everyone on the show was in their early 20's. I always thought, if I ever were to do one, I'd get real teenagers."

In the annals of television, Claire Danes once played a character a few years older than her actual early-teenage self on "My So-Called Life," and the stars of "Freaks and Geeks" portrayed characters close to their idling cusp-of-adult years. But employing minors has cumbersome rules, and so Mr. Thomas rethought his onetime pet peeve.

In keeping with hits like "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "The O.C.," Mr. Thomas hired only adults to do the teenage talking, and was delighted when he found his female lead: "I think I might have taken Kristin Bell at 30 to play this role."

"We let Veronica say things that, if you get all day to think about it, would be the perfect retort," he said.

The show's numbers often rank it in 100th place or thereabouts, even as its writing and acting draw steady praise.

In each episode, Veronica lightens the load of her aggrieved father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni), and his detective agency, while she wards off the assaults that come with unpopularity. The scripts also examine delicate relations between the rich and the poor within Neptune, and Veronica's family misfortunes have placed her suddenly in the latter.

Like her character, Ms. Bell had a dad with an investigative bent. Her father has worked as a television news director in several cities, including St. Louis and Detroit, and his work made her and her two older sisters aware of the calamities in the larger world.

"You see a car accident, I'd call my dad and say, 'It's on I-75, it's here and here, it's a two-car collision,' " she recalled, aware even then of ratings and competition in the TV business. "We had to, because if my dad got it first, it was always better."

And just as Veronica has struggled with the loss of her closest confidante, Lilly Kane, Ms. Bell experienced a personal tragedy when her best friend in high school died in a car crash. "It's made me grateful to be here and who I am," she explained. "I don't look at it as being that intense, but it really was the best and worst moment of my life."

Ms. Bell's own nature - by turns, vulnerable and unflappable - has clearly worked its way into Mr. Thomas's storylines, just as it has helped to excite teenagers in the cast's frequent shopping-mall visits around the country.

It has also inspired devotion from many older viewers; UPN found that 53 percent of last season's audience was between the ages of 18 and 49. CBS, which, like UPN, is owned by Viacom, tried to bring new viewers by broadcasting a few "Veronica" reruns this summer.

As a further sign of corporate support, Julie Chen, the "Early Show" host who is married to Leslie Moonves, the top executive at both CBS and UPN, appears in tonight's season premiere as herself. Ms. Chen interviews Keith Mars, who is promoting a book he wrote about Lilly's murder, which he and Veronica solved in the first season's finale.

To Ms. Bell, the reasons for the wide range of ages among the show's viewers can be boiled down to long-harbored hurt, felt at an age when personality is just being formed. "Every single person can relate to being an outcast," she said.

In her high school experience, Ms. Bell said she had a wide range of friends, but still felt the sting of being a "goody-goody." A veteran of the New York stage ("Reefer Madness" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"), she still calls herself "a corny musical theater geek at heart."

"I will jam to 'Jesus Christ Superstar' in my car with nobody else around," she added.

Just before "Veronica Mars" began shooting last year, Ms. Bell proved how tough she could be when playing a duplicitous, and eventually murdered, prostitute in the first season of the HBO series "Deadwood."

She recalled her amazement at what that show's creator, David Milch, knew she was capable of when put in the midst of bullies and bullets. "Maybe he saw my soul," she said, with a raised eyebrow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/arts/television/28mars.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:21 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“CSI:NY”
The promise: Lighter, sunnier 'CSI: NY'
CBS strips away first season's dark themes

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 28, 2005
CBS had high expectations for “CSI: NY” when it premiered last year, as did media buyers. The show didn’t exactly flop, finishing tied for No. 25 with a 4.9 average rating among viewers 18-49 and with little support from its Wednesday lead-ins.

But it also didn’t perform to the level that a “CSI” show should, and from that CBS learned a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with a winning formula. “CSI: NY” was too dark, from the depressing storylines to the muted cinematography. This season CBS has promised to lighten things up to attract new viewers.

That’s good, because “CSI” faces tougher competition this year. Tonight’s season premiere goes head-to-head with NBC’s aging but still competitive “Law & Order” and more interestingly, ABC’s new supernatural drama “Invasion.” For their premiere episodes last week, “L&O” posted a 4.0 rating among 18-49s and “Invasion” an impressive 6.8, No. 6 on broadcast for the week powered by lead-in “Lost” (10.2 rating, No. 2 for the week).

Tonight’s "CSI" premiere introduces several of the changes, including a new Manhattan office for the city’s CSI crew. Dr. Hawkes leaves the lab for the field and joins Mac (Gary Sinise) in an investigation of a skyscraper climber who fell to his death after apparently witnessing a murder.

Elsewhere, Stella looks into the death of a guy wearing a million dollar diamond-studded bra, and Alden looks for a rapist who keeps attacking the same woman.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_345.asp

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:29 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
A re-worked “E-Ring”
'E-Ring,' no longer running in circles
Deft reworking breathes life into this drama

By Steven Rosen MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 28, 2005

Debuting last week opposite the season premiere of “Lost” was the best thing that could have happened to NBC’s new Wednesday 9 p.m. drama “E-Ring.” Few people tuned in to discover just how bad the first episode of the new Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series was.

But tonight, if some of those who watched “Lost” last week decide to try out “E-Ring” for the first time, they'll be seeing a far superior drama.

A large audience last week would only have hurt this new series about Pentagon-sponsored special ops. Viewers would rightly have complained about two otherwise fine actors, Dennis Hopper and Benjamin Bratt, straining and preening to make sense of their characters. They basically were standing (or running) around the Pentagon’s E-Ring offices and acting exasperated while watching a preposterous secret mission in China via lots of flashy hi-tech video equipment.

Besides the dulling effect of watching people watch TV, there was the question of why “E-Ring” would choose such a phony scenario, given all the very real military hotspots in the world right now. It was as if it had no guts.

The revamped “E-Ring” airing tonight is vastly improved. And guts it's got. The story connects with reality better, and it has a sense of urgency lacking in the premiere episode. The Pentagon tracks an Al Qaeda terrorist to Uzbekistan, ostensibly a friendly nation. It must weigh the political ramifications of a risky abduction of the terrorist at the mosque where he prays.

Meanwhile, intelligence shows that this terrorist is trying to smuggle nuclear weapons into Iraq to use against U.S. soldiers. This revelation causes Hopper’s Col. McNulty to ironically exclaim that weapons of mass destruction may actually get into Iraq after all. It’s a melancholy twist the great espionage writer John LeCarre might even admire.

As a result of the better story and dialogue, Hopper as crusty McNulty and Bratt as cocky, muscular Major Tisnewski show a winning confidence in their characters. Early on, this show’s pilot was rewritten and re-shot to play up handsome Bratt’s sex appeal by making his character single rather than married. It works. The romantic tension crackles when he flirts with a Defense Department attorney played by Kelly Rutherford.

Hopper, who has notably played madmen in such movies as “Speed” and “Blue Velvet,” brings a dangerous intensity to his character. The trim-mustachioed McNulty relaxes to hard-rock music and idealizes John Wayne in “The Green Berets.”

The series still has problems to work out. The hi-tech gadgetry and use of screen-crawling datelines and the like give “E-Ring” the tiresome look of humdrum, special effects-laden action movies. And in both episodes we see the guys in uniform quarreling with lawyers about the propriety of their missions.

Curiously, “E-Ring” may run into the reverse problem facing NBC’s "Commander in Chief," which has raised the ire of conservatives because Geena Davis’ president battles Republicans. Here liberals may get mad because “E-Ring’s” soldiers favor secret unilateral action. They’re cowboys. McNulty, for instance, gleefully sabotages a “hippy” Greenpeace boat blocking an American ship on its way to Russia.

But that specificity is also what gives the revamped “E-Ring” its relevance. It’s no longer trying to hide from the dangerous, quarrelsome political world that it’s set in. And it may be willing to pick a few fights of its own.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_348.asp

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:33 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
In broadcast's big week, cable won out
Winning premiere week for a second year

By Abigail Azote MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 28, 2005

The broadcast networks went gaga promoting their new shows to kick off the new season. But all the pomp and pageantry was not enough to steal viewers away from cable networks. Basic cable more than held its own against the broadcast networks in a time that’s usually one of broadcast’s strongest, premiere week.

For the week ended Sept. 25, the first full week of the new season, ad-supported cable averaged a 43 share among viewers 18-49 in primetime, compared to the 41 share by the six broadcast networks. Cable’s share was up 5 percent from the comparable week last season, while broadcast’s was down 7 percent.

The difference is more dramatic among households. Cable had a 54 share versus broadcast’s 45, representing a 20 percent difference between the two.

This is the second year in which cable surpassed broadcast during premiere week. Says Lifetime executive vice president of research Tim Brooks: “Clearly, cable viewership isn’t even impacted by broadcast premieres.”

At least some of the credit for last week's viewing surge goes to Hurricane Rita, which drove up audience numbers for all the news networks. Fox News was the top-ranked cable network among households last week.

“People now habitually turn to cable for coverage of a breaking story,” says Brooks. “That, added to the strength of entertainment cable networks, is what’s driving the strong showing for cable.”

“It’s just a continuation of what happened the last year,” Ira Sussman, vice president of research for the Cable TV Ad Bureau, says.

Other factors that contributed to cable’s strong performance last week include the premiere of FX’s “Nip/Tuck,” which averaged a network record 5.3 million total viewers last Tuesday and outdelivered ABC among 18-49s, and ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” special to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_346.asp

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:36 AM

More complete ratings news is to come, but http://www.drudgereport.com/ reports that:

"...ABC BLOWOUT: 'COMMANDER IN CHIEF' TOP SHOW OF NIGHT, ACCORDING TO NIELSEN RATINGS... WOMAN PREZ PULLS 12.7 RATING/18 SHARE, PUSHING NET TO PRIME WIN..."

fredfa

09-28-05, 11:43 AM

Tuesday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the ninth night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

fredfa

09-28-05, 12:11 PM

A squeaker for 'Commander in Chief'

Just so-so in 18-49s but strong in total viewers

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 28, 2005

Media people were split on the prospects for ABC’s new drama “Commander in Chief” leading up to last night’s premiere. They didn’t receive a decisive answer from viewers.

“Chief,” about the first female U.S. president, premiered to a 4.3 average rating among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, finishing a disappointing third in its timeslot behind Fox’s “House,” at 5.0, and CBS’s “Amazing Race.”

Last week’s big Tuesday victor, NBC’s “My Name is Earl” and “The Office,” averaged a fourth-place 4.2, down 22 percent from last week’s 5.4 average.

But while the Geena Davis program didn’t have a great debut in 18-49s, it did show some promise. “Chief” finished first in its timeslot among total viewers with a very solid 16.15 million average.

Also, it grew from start to finish. The show posted a 4.0 18-49 rating in the demo during its first half hour, but that jumped to a 4.5 during the last 30 minutes, up 13 percent and perhaps drawing in some “Earl” stragglers.

Still, as a lead-in to the season premiere of “Boston Legal,” “Chief” was no help. “Legal” averaged a 3.4 rating among 18-49s, down a full point and a half from its “Desperate Housewives”-inflated 4.9 average last season.

“Earl” was the night’s other big story. The show, which posted a promising 6.4 overnight rating among 18-49s last week, dropped 23 percent to a 4.9 last night.

Among other notable premieres last night, CBS’s “The Amazing Race” averaged a 4.4 18-49 rating from 9-11 p.m., while UPN’s “Sex, Love & Secrets” flopped hard at a 0.5 during the suddenly competitive 9 p.m. hour

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_372.asp

fredfa

09-28-05, 12:38 PM

Fox, ESPN plan around-the-horn diamond coverage

By Michael Hiestand USA Today

Great sports moments usually fit schedules made for the benefit of TV networks.

The end of Major League Baseball's regular season this weekend could be an exception. Fox and ESPN are ready to whip around between games where playoff berths might be at stake. While game times were moved for the benefit of TV, neither network can know exactly where it will focus its airtime.

Ed Goren, president of Fox Sports, which will carry four games Saturday that could have playoff implications, notes this is an extreme situation: "There might be times when we use split-screens (covering games simultaneously) and even times —Am I really saying this?— where we blow off a commercial."

Yikes. Fox's four-game lineup is headlined by New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox. Joe Buck, originally scheduled to just call NFL action, was brought back for baseball play-by-play.

ESPN's Sunday slate, starting at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN2, could be more complex. ESPN2 probably will shuttle between Cleveland Indians-Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies-Washington Nationals, senior coordinating producer Tim Scanlan says. "We'd go between both games," he says, "with our studio serving as a hub."

ESPN gets a free hand Sunday to cover anything — even cut in on games on local TV — and might produce five games. And for the first time on baseball's final Sunday, ESPN might use two channels: As ESPN2 stays with its 1 p.m. ET games, ESPN might pre-empt its scheduled taped coverage of bull riding and the National Scrabble Championship at 2 to carry more baseball.

Of course, you need something pretty huge to scrap Scrabble. You guessed it: At 2, in addition to Chicago Cubs-Houston Astros, there's Yankees vs. Red Sox — a rivalry that produced five of the six highest-rated MLB games on ESPN and ESPN2 this season.

"This weekend is shaping up like 1998," Scanlan says. "We had five meaningful games (on Sunday) and the McGwire-Sosa home run race, and we got a tiebreaker game on Monday."

Since ESPN will cover any tiebreakers, Scanlan muses about the unscheduled possibilities: "It would be a logistical nightmare if there were more than three of them."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2005-09-27-hiestand-baseball_x.htm

fredfa

09-28-05, 01:55 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”
'Veronica's' back on the case

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

'A long time ago, we used to be friends," sing the Dandy Warhols in the opening theme for UPN's "Veronica Mars," which continues its exploration of friends and friendships lost and found in tonight's second-season premiere.

I understand that many of you have spent the summer wondering what's up - or down - with that hatch on ABC's "Lost," but for some of us, including those who first encountered Veronica (Kristen Bell) this summer in reruns on UPN and its corporate sibling, CBS, there have been other questions, especially:

Will finally knowing who killed her best friend, Lily, and who was behind her own apparent date-rape turn Veronica back into a normal teenager?

(Whatever that is.)

The answer, delivered in an episode titled, "Normal Is the Watchword," is, thank goodness, a resounding no.

Veronica's no longer working with her private-eye father (Enrico Colantoni) after school, but even her part-time gig as the hostess at a local restaurant seems to leave her with plenty of time to play Nancy Drew on the side.

And though her love life - and you'll want to keep a close eye on this - puts her back in the heart of the rich kids' circle in class-conscious Neptune, Calif., she remains in some ways as much an outsider as ever.

Which could be safest thing to be in Neptune.

Because while psycho/movie star/killer Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin) is no longer on the loose, the town has something rotten at its core - call it the real-world equivalent of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" Hellmouth - and bad stuff just keeps getting churned up there.

Comparisons to "Buffy," which also featured a tiny blond heroine with a quick wit, are only going to keep coming now that Buffyverse veteran Charisma Carpenter's joined the cast (playing the bikinied trophy wife/wickedly beautiful stepmother that Cordelia might easily have become had not "Buffy"/"Angel" creator Joss Whedon had wilder ideas for her).

"Veronica" creator Rob Thomas even picked up a fan in Whedon himself, who this summer publicly declared "Veronica Mars" "Best. Show. Ever," and has reportedly been rewarded with a cameo in the season's sixth episode.

Comparisons to one cult show can only take another cult show so far, though, and if Veronica's going to make it through high school - and solve this season's haunting new mystery - she's going to need all the people who used to be her friends. And a few million more.

(Zap2it.com contributed to this report.)

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12759770.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:02 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY (9/29)
“Night Stalker”

The Los Angeles Times

Stars: Stuart Townsend ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"), Gabrielle Union ("The Honeymooners"), Cotter Smith ("X2"), Eric Jungmann ("Not Another Teen Movie").

The premise: Investigative reporter Carl Kolchak (Townsend, youthifying the role created by Darren McGavin in the '70s series of the same name) knows there's something out there, and it's causing trouble. Unlike the original's "spook of the week" structure, the new series adopts an "X-Files"-style semiglimpsed mythology, a unifying theory of unexplained phenomena that might also explain the mysterious death of Kolchak's wife and get the FBI off his case.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-chris4sep04,2,3134676,print.htmlstory

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:02 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Like in the original 1974 series, a crime reporter named Kolchak (Stuart Townsend) works the night shift, solves weird crime stories and looks for the creature that killed his wife.

What’s What: Unlike the original, there's not much wit and the internal logic is wobbly. It does have its scary moments, and producers say it will develop a sense of humor, but I was told that about a blind date once.

Rickster Scale: 2.5

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13573084p-14413378c.html

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:02 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”

By Debra Leithauser Washington Post

The tagline you'll never see: Ready to scare your inner 11-year-old.

The basics: Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend) is a reporter searching for things that go bump in the night. Spurred to investigate the spooky and odd by his wife's murder -- which he may or may not have had something do with -- Kolchak tracks similar cases where the victims end up torn apart and marked with a squiggly red line on the inside of their wrists. The pilot episode has Kolchak in a new job, competing for scoops on the crime beat at the L.A. Beacon. His peer Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) and photographer Jain McManus (Eric Jungmann) alternately work with and against him as he investigates a woman's slaying, looks for a missing girl and searches for the creepy creatures he thinks are responsible.

The lowdown: This series hails from the same minds who brought us "The X-Files," Fox's excellent examination of the paranormal. It also cribs heavily from the original "Night Stalker" films and TV shows, shown in the 1970s, that creator Frank Spotnitz says "scared the crap" out of him when he was 11. The pilot's tone is quite dark, but the creators promise a lighter Kolchak will emerge in future episodes. "Night Stalker" goes up against two heavyweights: NBC's "The Apprentice" and CBS's "CSI."

Reality check: If 11-year-olds aren't scared, they should be: This violent series is hardly family fare. It's also a shame that the slaughter distracts viewers from the show's interesting characters and intriguing plotlines.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092101935_pf.html

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:03 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

Anyone who remembers the old "Night Stalker" television show of the 1970s -- or the two popular TV movies that led to the series -- must have been foaming at the mouth when ABC announced that it was remaking the series with Frank Spotnitz, former executive producer of "The X-Files," in charge.

Even Spotnitz -- in a meeting with TV critics in July and in a first-person story in this week's Entertainment Weekly -- couldn't contain his own excitement about the project.

OK, then -- what happened?

When the pilot was met with less-than-thrilled response from critics, both ABC and Spotnitz said they were reshooting as much as 20 minutes of it. Once completed, they sent out the revised pilot plus a second episode.

Result: "The X-Files" light.

That may not be a bad thing, given that your Thursday menu is the powerhouse but lifeless "CSI," the suddenly limping "Apprentice" with Donald Trump and Fox's tirelessly silly "Reunion." Why not some scary "Night Stalker" thrills instead?

Well, mostly because it's not scary. The first episode is moody and violent but not particularly frightening. The second is psychobabble nonsense without much suspense.

Oh, and it's not funny. There was a cool creepy-funny aspect to the original that made it work well (sweet and sour, creepy and funny -- what's not to like about opposing senses?). Here -- no laughs. At least "The X-Files" had sense of humor.

Worse, in this "Night Stalker," Kolchak isn't some rumpled reporter like Darren McGavin. He's a GQ-worthy crime reporter for the Los Angeles Beacon, a newspaper that pays him enough money to snatch Pierre Koenig's famous Case Study house off the market. Who knew they paid so much down in Los Angeles?

Not that Kolchak (Stuart Townsend) has much time to enjoy the fabulous view. He and fellow Beacon crime writer Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) -- billed as "a sexy if skeptical fellow reporter" -- are out solving bizarre "X-Files"-like crimes. Kolchak comes off as a little nutty, and it's not because, with his new muscle car, he's clearly overextended his salary. No, he's quick to think that paranormal phenomena are at work in every crime. This could be related to his wife's mysterious death and a mark on her and other victims that is so far unexplainable.

If you're thinking "Holy Mythology, Mulder" -- you're not far from the truth. And as much as you might want to believe in "Night Stalker," Spotnitz isn't giving you much to grasp onto.

There's almost no chemistry between Townsend and Union and this series seems mysteriously flat -- about as scary and believable as "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/28/DDGLJEUFKH1.DTL&type=printable

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:03 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY (10/6)
“The Night Stalker” 9/29

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

With: : Gabrielle Union, Stuart Townsend

Premise: : In this updated version of the mid-'70s cult series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," Carl Kolchak (Townsend) is a reporter who chases down stories that defy reasonable explanation and explore unsettling subjects such as devil dogs. His approach rankles fellow writer Perri Reed (Union), a skeptic who finds his passion for weirdness only slightly more suspicious than the news that Kolchak somehow may be connected to his wife's murder.

The Word According to Us: : Executive producer Frank Spotnitz used to write for "The X-Files," and is hoping to recapture some of that magic here. While he just might, the original pilot left us cold instead of creeped out, and if you're looking for some of the original's flavor, forget it. But Spotnitz's pedigree, and the fact that the pilot has been recut, are reasons for hope.

Would We Watch Again? : It may take some persuasion, especially since "CSI" already will have premiered on Sept. 22.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/240677_tv15.html

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:06 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”

'Veronica' may get lost in mix

By Diane Werts Newsday Staff Writer September 28, 2005

Who'll mean the most to the plucky heroine of UPN's whodunit "Veronica Mars" this second season? Bad-boy-friend Logan? Stalwart admirer Duncan? Faithful dad Keith? Or maybe it's Desmond.

Yes, Desmond, the enigma we met last week both out in the flashback stadium and down inside the current-day hatch finally blown open by the castaways of ABC's "Lost." That rival network hit may be the thing that trips up Kristen Bell's clever teen detective before any of her Neptune hometown murder hurdles.

UPN has made the peculiar decision to move its ratings-challenged critical fave to Wednesday nights, directly opposite ABC's Nielsen steamroller. Veronica is more than up to the competitive task, as tonight's season opener proves by setting up a series of intriguing situations - from high school drug-test fixing, to a dead body found in the vicinity of spoiled rich kid Logan (Jason Dohring), to dangerous new town and school rivalries, to a class field trip that turns unexpectedly explosive.

But who'll know that Veronica remains vital if they don't get the chance to even sample her sharp new sagas?

Tonight's season premiere, scripted by series creator Rob Thomas, starts with "normal" as its watchword, in both the episode title and its crisp dialogue. Having been through last season's near-death kidnap experience, not to mention unraveling the date-rape puzzle and clarifying her murky parentage, Veronica has now given up the private-eye game at which her loving dad (Enrico Colantoni) has become a national star, after writing a bestseller about last season's killing of Veronica's best friend by Logan's movie-star father. Veronica's started hostessing at a local restaurant instead - until her friends' strangely failed drug tests "pull me back in," as Veronica quotes in a handy filmland reference. The incident also manages to nicely revive the class wars with which last season launched in her affluent seaside California hamlet.

Nothing is ever forgotten on "Veronica Mars," which can be a hurdle to newly arrived viewers. (Best bet: Check out the first-season DVD set releasing Oct. 11.) But the show's deep-rooted fidelity will certainly delight devotees, who'll find plenty of allusions to last season's maze of mysteries involving Veronica's murdered pal Lilly, her gangland friend Weevil (Francis Capra), her not-half-brother ex-squeeze Duncan (Teddy Dunn), her ever-erratic new boy toy Logan, best-bud Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and his dad-dating mom, and even Veronica's runaway mother.

The new season also brings fresh characters to the Neptune social scene, including a politically ambitious sports tycoon (Steve Guttenberg), his big baseball star (Jeffrey Sams) and, among the parental units, an altogether too-hot trophy wife (Charisma Carpenter). They're stitched into the intricate tapestry as the season-premiere script moves back and forth in time, taking us through the summer's shifting events and into Veronica's senior school year. While Veronica dodges a major bullet (or two), she also seems to see a ghost.

No, it's not Desmond. But it might as well be. UPN isn't likely to gain much traction for "Veronica" on Wednesdays at 9 opposite another thinking-person's show with a spellbinding serial plotline. "Lost" and "Veronica" are too alike in their smarts and their savvy storytelling mastery. This new time slot is likely to haunt our heroine as much as the deaths she tries to solve. Let's hope one of them isn't soon her own show's.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettel4444425sep28,0,2732112,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:16 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
First week ratings: comic relief

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

The new TV season’s first week of ratings are worth a chuckle, both because two of the biggest success stories are comedies and because a lot of people are laughing at the downfall of once-cocky NBC's Thursday lineup.

Even with one show already canceled ("Head Cases"), it's hard to put too much stock into a single week of ratings. NBC's "Surface," for instance, opened solidly last Monday, then lost more than 20 percent of its audience for episode two.

With the understanding that some shows will go up and many others will go down, here's a look at some very early winners and losers.

"My Name Is Earl" (NBC): Behold, the week's most-watched comedy (above even CBS' "Two and a Half Men"). NBC threw virtually all of its marketing muscle behind this unconventional comedy about a trailer-trash thief looking to reform, taking a page from ABC's strategy last year to devote all its promotional resources to "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," and it paid off. Of course, in week one, "Earl" didn't have to compete with CBS' "The Amazing Race" or "Commander in Chief," this year's big ABC gun. We'll see how last night's second episode did before assuming Hollywood is rushing 17 sitcoms about lovable criminals into development.

"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN): An audience of 7.8 million people may not sound like a lot, but it is when you're UPN, an obscure network whose past comedies have included things like "Homeboys in Outer Space." The Chris Rock-produced series was the highest-rated comedy in UPN history, and edged out NBC's "Joey" in direct competition. (Oh, and tomorrow night's episode of "Chris" is almost as good as the pilot.)

"Criminal Minds" (CBS): America's love affair with serial killers and the tortured cops who profile them continued, as the Mandy Patinkin vehicle drew nearly 20 million viewers and badly smacked around NBC's former champ "ER" in the process. Of course, that was with "CSI," the most-watched show on television, as a temporary lead-in. Tonight's regular timeslot lead-in? "Yes, Dear," which Americans don't love nearly as much as serial killers and forensics investigators.

"Invasion" (ABC): Round one of the Battle of the Alien Invasion shows goes to the one on ABC, which had a much better timeslot (after "Lost") than either "Surface" or CBS' "Threshold" (8.6 million).

In trouble already:

"The Apprentice" and "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" (NBC): When "Apprentice: Martha" debuted with only 7 million viewers -- getting badly crushed by a "Lost" clip show -- there was briefly some confusion over whether viewers were tired of Martha or of "Apprentice." Turns out, we're sick of both. The fourth-season premiere of Trumpian "Apprentice" didn't even crack 10 million, and CBS' "Martha Behind Bars" movie only grabbed 7.5 million.

"Arrested Development" and "Kitchen Confidential" (Fox): Critics may love Fox's two Monday comedies, but that may not be enough to keep either one on the air after each one averaged around 4 million viewers over the season's first two weeks, and have hurt the once-promising ratings for lead-out "Prison Break" in the process. Don't be shocked to see "Prison Break" repeats replace the comedies very soon.

"Just Legal" (WB) and "E-Ring" (NBC): Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, once the King Midas of primetime, had two leaden debuts with the WB's "Just Legal" (less than 3.5 million) and "E-Ring" (9 million).

"Dancing with the Stars" (ABC): Before ABC execs start planning some kind of Thrilla in Manila-style tiebreaker for John O'Hurley and Kelly Monaco, they might pause to consider that the show, a huge hit in the summer, averaged 9 million viewers between its two episodes against actual competition. On the plus side, even the results show (10.5 million) was more popular than "Apprentice" Donald.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1127885882207470.xml&coll=1

fredfa

09-28-05, 02:17 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”

By Matt Zoller Seitz Newark Star-Ledger

Asked to help solve a mystery in tonight's second-season premiere of "Veronica Mars" (9 p.m., Channel 9), the heroine (Kristen Bell) replies, "I don't do that kind of thing anymore" and suggests the client ask Encyclopedia Brown instead.

But there's some truth in Veronica's glib response. Like many shows with a complicated, season-long narrative, "Mars" tries to keep non-buffs happy by giving them a weekly secondary mystery that's wrapped up by the final credits. This time, though, you can tell series creator Rob Thomas is more interested in the longer story than the one-off. The premiere deals with the latter so casually that when the solution arrives, you'd half-forgotten they even introduced it.

The show would rather explore class conflict in Veronica's seaside town, a rich subject that's reflected in the one-off mystery as well as a larger narrative whose outlines are just starting to take shape.

Last season's big story got wrapped when Veronica learned that has-been movie star Aaron Echolls killed her best friend Lily Kane. Left unresolved was the question of which troubled beau Veronica ended up with: Aaron's son Logan (Jason Dorhring) or Veronica's manipulative ex-boyfriend Duncan (Teddy Dunn). Better not to reveal the outcome. We'll also stay mum on the episode's climax, which should power season two the way Lily's disappearance powered season one.

Suffice to say that a whole year's worth of potboiler action occurred during Veronica's summer vacation (the expository flashbacks are so dramatic they're funny, and lit in the freakish primary colors of a Hammer horror film), and it all seems to tie into the intriguing notion that someone in town has decided to take the phrase "class warfare" literally.

Steve Guttenberg shows up as a self-satisfied baseball team owner who wants to be mayor, while "Buffy" costar Charisma Carpenter, who plays the trophy wife stepmother of one of Veronica's classmates, shakes her groove thing and dares the world not to gasp.

Appropriately, Veronica's dad Keith (Enrico Colantoni) has written a book about the Kane case that could double as an alternate title for this series: "Big Murder, Small Town."

Oddly, though, he promotes it on the nonexistent "Julie Chen Show," whose host is the wife of Les Moonves, boss of the network's parent company, Viacom. The decision to kiss up is no mystery; running opposite ABC's "Lost," "Mars" needs all the corporate goodwill it can get.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1127885882207470.xml&coll=1

fredfa

09-28-05, 04:29 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”
Don't get lost on your way to `Mars'

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune staff reporter September 28, 2005

The new season of "Veronica Mars" hasn't even begun, but there's already a big mystery hanging over the top-notch program.

Last week, the UPN network, on which "Mars" debuted a year ago, basked in the historic premiere of its new sitcom, "Everybody Hates Chris" -- "Chris" actually beat NBC's "Joey" in key demographics. "Chris" was the most-watched sitcom in the history of the network, so you could say UPN's on something of a roll.

Regarding "Mars," you can't fault UPN and CBS in the promotion department; "Mars" got several airings on sister network CBS over the summer, and anecdotal information gleaned from my e-mail in-box and from message boards suggests that a lot of new viewers caught up with the detective series over the summer.

And folks who check out "Mars" once are likely to go back for more; the show's heroine, a high school student who helps out her private detective father, is a smart, nuanced, complex character, and last year, the show expertly traveled between an ongoing, yearlong mystery and intriguing weekly stories. And in Enrico Colantoni and Kristin Bell, "Mars" boasts the best father-daughter pairing on television.

Add to all that the fact that TV guru Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy," "Angel" and "Firefly," has agreed to do a guest spot on the sixth episode of "Mars," and you've got all the makings of a cult classic -- one that actually has rather broad appeal, given that no vampires or aliens are involved.

Now for the bad news: "Mars" is going up against ABC's "Lost." True, UPN is using its most sturdy franchise, "America's Next Top Model" as a lead-in to "Mars," but putting Veronica and her crew up against the "Lost" castaways, well, it doesn't inspire hope.

Still, in a world in which DVRs (digital video recorders) allow viewers to see more than one show in a certain time period, and in which DVD sales can bring a TV show such as Whedon's "Firefly" back as a feature film, "Serenity," perhaps there's hope for "Veronica's" long-term future.

In the near term, on Wednesday's season premiere, Charisma Carpenter, a veteran of both "Buffy" and "Angel," joins the cast of "Mars" as the young trophy wife of one of Neptune, Calif.'s, rich potentates, and Steve Guttenberg also turns up as a baseball team owner and a candidate for mayor. Keith Mars is on the road, promoting his book about the infamous Lilly Kane murder to the media, and back at home, Veronica's got to figure out how her straight-arrow friend Wallace tested positive for drugs.

Not having seen an advance copy of the episode, I can't tell you who ended up at Veronica's front door -- the final image of the first season had her greeting an unknown person with a smile -- but let's hope lots of viewers show up at UPN's door. Perhaps the new slogan for "Mars" can be "Every Bit as Good as `Everybody Hates Chris'"?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/chi-0509270284sep28,1,3873480.story?coll=chi-ent_tv-hed

fredfa

09-28-05, 04:37 PM

fredfa

09-28-05, 04:42 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“Veronica Mars”
'Mars' starts season with shocking crime

By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic September 28, 2005

"Veronica Mars" is about to go for broke. The UPN show spent its first season on a hunt for one murderer, which might explain why ratings were low; "CSI" fans are accustomed to three murders a week. "Veronica's" second season starts tonight and includes one brazen crime that made me, who's rarely shocked, say, "Wow."

I won't tell you what crime goes down in the little hotbed of Neptune, Calif., but I will tell you it's revealed in a 60-second scene that is as beautifully scored and suspensefully shot as anything on the fall TV schedule. Veronica (Kristen Bell) will then say what she has in the past, "This is Neptune. Nothing happens accidentally."

And she will work through the rest of the season figuring out whodunit. Suspects will likely range from an ex-boyfriend and his callous friends to characters we're not familiar with yet.

The first episode is a little gimmicky. But if the season firms up as it did last year, it will excel in unpredictable storytelling, crisp writing, a great cast and a multitude of plot twists and scene changes.

If you're late to the "Veronica Mars" world, here's what you missed. Veronica plays detective at her rich-kids-vs.-poor-kids school, solving little and big crimes, while her single dad, Keith (Enrico Colantoni), sleuths cases as a private eye and ex-sheriff.

Last season, Veronica's junior year was devoted partially to finding out who may have raped her at a party where someone slipped her a drugged drink. It turned out to be closer to consensual sex (but not quite) with her also-drugged ex-boyfriend.

In the broader mystery, Veronica tracked down the murderer of that ex's sister. By season's end, Veronica discovered the culprit was the father of a dicier boy, an enemy she had come to love as the season wore on. Last we saw of Veronica, she ended up with one of those two exes, but we weren't shown which one. We find out tonight.

"Veronica Mars" may sound like a soap opera. It's not. Soaps spin in suds and duds, bubbling campy dialogue into dirty laundry. "Veronica" is not drawn to such excess. It takes itself seriously in the detective genre and builds on character development to enhance plot, not the other way around.

This is no Disney eye-spy. At its best, "Veronica" feels more like a Raymond Chandler script than the entity it's been compared to, the "Nancy Drew" mysteries. Nancy Drew was cutesy. Veronica is a hard-boiled girl who doesn't say thank you to bad guys on motorcycles when they help her. She never shies from dangerous bullies.

And the nature of her narration is so dry, it's flatlined: "You want to know how I lost my virginity? So do I." Brrr, that's cold.

The actors, Bell and Colantoni, give Veronica and her dad similar understated confidence that fits all moods. They're intense one moment, and the next they're funny and believably natural together. In tonight's show, she shakes a urine-soaked drug test under her dad's nose, and Colantoni does this terrific, sluggish head bob to get away from it.

"What's up, honey?" he asks. Says she: "Wallace is having a little trouble giving me a urine sample." Says he: "Can't you talk on the phone and paint your nails like other girls?"

I hope not.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elfman/cst-ftr-elf28.html

Al Shing

09-28-05, 07:11 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: WEDNESDAY
“CSI:NY”
The promise: Lighter, sunnier 'CSI: NY'
CBS strips away first season's dark themes

Tonight’s "CSI" premiere introduces several of the changes, including a new Manhattan office for the city’s CSI crew. Dr. Hawkes leaves the lab for the field and joins Mac (Gary Sinise) in an investigation of a skyscraper climber who fell to his death after apparently witnessing a murder.

Elsewhere, Stella looks into the death of a guy wearing a million dollar diamond-studded bra, and Alden looks for a rapist who keeps attacking the same woman.

I got a preview of this ep at Television City at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. It was an early cut of the show that had pre-production graphics in some scenes, and no title sequence.

While the show appears lighter and they are trying to make the characters more accessible, I think this show will still be optional for me. My TV workload is just too high with all of the great new shows and good ones left over from last year. I think one CSI is enough for me at this stage. If I had a larger hard disk in my HD DVR I might squeeze it in.

fredfa

09-28-05, 07:15 PM

Perhaps that is one reason we added a hard drive to our HD TiVo -- or bought a second one last month.

We've been recording almost everything new and are just beginning to winnow down our Season Pass list.

As to CSI: NY, I thought they lightened it substantially midway through last season, and it worked a lot better. I think the original CSI is still the best. My wife thinks CSI: Miami is a close second; I tend to enjoy CSI: NY more.

fredfa

09-28-05, 07:44 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”

You Don't Know Kolchak

By Walt Belcher Tampa Tribune Sep 29, 2005

"I drive at night -- a police radio is my compass -- looking for answers to questions that I'm only learning how to ask. ... There are things in the dark, things adults deny but children are right to fear ... nightmares that intrude from another realm."-- Carl Kolchak

That's the credo of the new, younger and more serious Carl Kolchak, a journalist on a mission to uncover things that go bump in the night.

Those who remember the original "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" series might be disappointed with this character.

Those who long for the chills of "The X-Files" might like the stories -- but Stuart Townsend is no David Duchovny.

The only things the new Kolchak has in common with the original are the name and the profession.

The new "Night Stalker" is more like a remake of "The X-Files" than the 1974-75 series starring Darren McGavin (also known for the 1983 film "A Christmas Story").

There are more screams than laughs. And, sadly, the new Kolchak lacks McGavin's charm. McGavin's wisecracking Kolchak was a cynical, down-and-out newshound looking for the next big story to put him back on the front page.

But through 20 episodes, Kolchak remained unable to prove that the supernatural things he uncovered -- vampires, werewolves and ghouls -- were real.

The original series, a mix of horror and humor, was inspired by a couple of hit TV movies, "The Night Stalker" in 1972 and "The Night Strangler" in 1973.

Despite McGavin's spirited performance, the original could muster only a cult following and was canceled after one season.

The new effort was crafted by Frank Spotnitz, who worked on "The X-Files" as a writer and executive producer.

It was ordered by ABC executives looking for another "Lost"-type mystery.

"Many of us, including 'X-Files' creator Chris Carter, have fond memories of the original," Spotnitz said in a July interview during the TV critics' fall preview tour in Beverly Hills, Calif.

"I saw the TV movie when I was 11 years old, and it scared the crap out of me," he said. "I liked 'The Night Stalker' so much that I wrote a recurring role for McGavin on 'X-Files' as an FBI agent who was working on unsolved cases before Scully and Mulder were born."

McGavin, 83, was sidelined by a stroke a few years ago. Tributes to his Kolchak are scattered through the pilot.

In one scene tonight, his trademark straw hat hangs from a rack in the newsroom of the fictional Los Angeles Beacon.

Look for a shadowy outline of him in the background of a newsroom scene (made from a three-second shot in the "Night Stalker" film).

Strike Up The Bland

In the original, stocky Simon Oakland played Kolchak's gruff and volatile editor, Tony Vincenzo. In the new version, Cotter Smith makes no impression as a somewhat duller Vincenzo.

As for picking the younger, humorless Townsend, Spotnitz said he couldn't cast a lead who was in his 50s (the wrong demographic for today's prime time hero).

Also, the remake had to be more terrifying than the original because TV viewers expect much more today.

"We are competing with crime shows where serial killers are really scary and creepy," he said.

The new effort is scary, with violent scenes and much tension.

Just as on "The X-Files," the strange creatures and evil forces are seldom seen. In the series premiere, something terrifying is stalking and butchering women.

Truth Is Out There

Although Spotnitz denies that he has remade "The X-Files," there are many similarities:

•"The Night Stalker" makes use of back lighting and low-lighting, creating a dark world. The faces of characters are often in the shadows. The Beacon newsroom is as dark as the FBI office of agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

•"The Night Stalker" pairs a male-female team of ghost hunters. Kolchak's rival and possible love interest is crime reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union).

•"The Night Stalker," much like "The X-Files," features a bizarre twist on the supernatural or unexplained every week.

•Kolchak is driven to solve the mysterious death of his wife. In a flashback, we learn she was killed by a strange creature that ripped her from Kolchak's car. A rubber Gumby figure with the legs missing hangs from his rear view mirror. It was clawed by the beast that night and serves as a whimsical-yet-grim reminder of her fate. On "The X-Files," Mulder was trying to solve the disappearance of his sister.

Viewers can compare and contrast the original "Night Stalker" with the new by taping today's (Thursday's) "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The original series comes out on DVD on Tuesday.

http://walttv.tbo.com/walttv/MGBPD4146EE.html

fredfa

09-28-05, 07:54 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
A Critic's TV picks for Thursday

By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Television Critic Sept 29, 2005

Tops of the night

"Will & Grace"

The eighth and final season of NBC's longest-running sitcom opens with a live episode performed before an audience of 100 people who each contributed $100 to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief.

The episode will be staged twice, once for the East Coast - and our Central time zone - and again for the West Coast, with different jokes promised for each broadcast.

The plot picks up with last season's cliffhanger, in which Will (Eric McCormack) discovered that Karen's ex-husband, Stan, was alive. Alec Baldwin returns as Will's new boss, who's secretly working for Stan while romancing Karen (Megan Mullally).

Also new tonight:

"Smallville"

The WB promises that "everything you've waited four seasons to see ... will happen" in the new season of the young-Superman series, which sees Clark (Tom Welling) grappling with his destiny and Lex Luther (Michael Rosenbaum) turning to the dark side. The opener also teases the arrival of James Marsters (Spike on "Buffy" and "Angel") as Brainiac.

"Alias"

Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is pregnant with Vaughn's baby but unsure of whether he's a double agent as the cult-favorite spy drama opens its fifth season in a challenging new time slot.

"Everwood"

Somebody's getting married - you'll have to wait a bit to see who it is - in the drama's fourth-season opener.

"The Night Stalker"

Stuart Townsend is reporter Carl Kolchak, investigating the violent murder of a pregnant woman, in a disappointing remake of the 1970s Darren McGavin series. For more, see the cover of Everyday.

"Without a Trace"

Lives hung in the balance when TV's best crime drama wrapped up with a cliffhanger in May. See how things came out in the fourth-season opener.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/tvradio/story/75DFA7A399C864FD8625708A005AAAC4?OpenDocument

AFH

09-28-05, 08:22 PM

For shows in HD, I have the cable company DVR, Motorola 6412. I also have a TiVo I use for non-HD stuff, but dammit, if I am going to watch ER it will be in HD. I don't know of anyway to do a manual record with that machine.

DH doesn't bother me because I record Grey's Anatomy too. Same with Lost/Alias last year. But overall, this is a deeply annoying trend.

What gets me is when Las Vegas starts a minute before 8:00 and my HD-Tivo doesn't start recording until 8:00. ER starts at 8:59 and it shows up in the guide that way so everything is recorded. Las Vegas and the CSIs do not and therefore, I miss the first minute or so of those shows. Maybe the clock for the DTV guide is wrong or the networks are starting these shows early without officially giving them a 7:59 start such as ER. I'm using Arizona time btw to relay the example above.

There should be a function in your DVR menu that allows you to start recording or stop recording a selected show 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 mins, or 1hr after or before the show is scheduled to begin or end. I've had to do that with the Gilmore Girls b/c it runs over by 30 second, so I set the Tivo to record a minute past 8. I'll have to do that with the CSIs and Vegas.

AFH

09-28-05, 08:33 PM

How do others like the way this show is going? What with Rory doing community service and leaving college and seeing this Logan character. Very curious if this show is winding down to retirement. Any buzz as to how many seasons are left here> I've always loved the show - very original.

Last season was on of the best seasons. This season is a little off, but I think that Loralie's impending marriage helps. Rory doing community service isn't right for the show. I can see the writers continuing with for another 3 months before it completely brings the show down. In my opinion they should make Rory go back to Yale in Jan when the Spring semester starts. I like the Logan character as long as Rory is in school. I wish that the writers would have included the guy whom liked Rory as sort of a person whom is fighting for her affection vs. Logan whom takes her affection for granted b/c he didn't have to try to hard to get it. Right now, the Logan and Rory scenes seem out of place.

I also think that the writers incorporating the strain in the relationship between Loralie and her parents into this season is good. It could be better if Rory goes back to school. That will be the saving grace for this season. If not, then that tells me that the writers are out of ideas.

Whitearrow

09-28-05, 09:08 PM

There should be a function in your DVR menu that allows you to start recording or stop recording a selected show 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 mins, or 1hr after or before the show is scheduled to begin or end. I've had to do that with the Gilmore Girls b/c it runs over by 30 second, so I set the Tivo to record a minute past 8. I'll have to do that with the CSIs and Vegas.

TiVo (and at least my cable co DVR) let you start early or end late. but there's no function to start late or end early. This "soft padding" has been consistently requested as a feature on TiVo for years, but it's never been implemented. I'm really not sure why as I can't imagine it would be any harder to program than the reverse.

fredfa

09-29-05, 02:19 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”

Remake looks and sounds more like "The X-Files" than its original

By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 29, 2005

"Night Stalker," which premieres tonight on ABC, is the slightly retitled remake of the 1970s ABC series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," featuring the great Darren McGavin as a crime reporter nosing about in the world of vampires and other weird beasties. McGavin has been digitally inserted into a scene in tonight's episode and, although there are a few decent spook-show thrills, nothing else here is as scary as that.

The new show, which is perfectly fine and nothing special, was developed by "The X-Files" producer Frank Spotnitz, who, staying within his comfort zone, has turned "The Night Stalker" into his old show. (To complete a circle, "X-Files" creator Chris Carter was inspired in part by "Kolchak.") So similar is it to "X-Files," in fact, that it's by comparison to that series that this one begs to be judged, not to the original "Night Stalker." (That series, which employed future "Sopranos" creator David Chase, comes out on DVD Oct. 4).

It imports the Fox Mulder-Dana Scully dynamic, pairing supernaturally savvy Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend this time) with skeptical fellow crime reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union). And again, as in "X-Files," there are suggestions of a mysterious understory that the male lead is driven to unravel by a traumatic paranormal event involving a close female relative. In this case, it is the strange death of Kolchak's wife, of which he is still suspected by a dogged, man-in-black federal agent — a death that, the reporter suspects, is part of an otherworldly, murderous conspiracy that involves "things adults dismiss but children are right to fear."

And consider this: An upcoming episode, in which a blind prisoner uses mind control to commit murders by proxy, echoes an "X-Files" episode in which a quadriplegic Gulf War veteran uses mind control to commit murders. Both were directed by Rob Bowman. Coincidence?

There is a deeper mystery here, however: How a newspaper reporter winds up living in Case Study House #22 (Pierre Koenig, 1959), with its midcentury glass walls and commanding view of L.A. This suggests to me either that Kolchak is living off an unrevealed trust fund or inherited a bundle from that dead wife, or that I need to ask for a raise.

With his wiry build and cowlicky hair, Townsend looks like the lead singer in a rock band and boasts a cockiness that could ripen into charm. Union to act otherwise, could loosen up a little. She seems more like a TV personality than a down-in-the-dirt reporter.

The success of "X-Files" depended greatly upon the narcoleptic chemistry between David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, and while Townsend and Union seem to get on all right (they are required, at first, to act as rivals, but that's soon over), there's nothing that suggests they need to get closer. That might take time, and time is a thing networks are loathe to spend. Whether ABC will wait for this pair to simmerin the absence of quickly good ratings or a vocal cult is beyond my mortal power to tell. But I can guess.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-wk-nightstalker29sep29,0,5341933,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

09-29-05, 02:31 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”
'Stalker' needs a restraining order

(* 1/2 out of four)

By Robert Bianco USA TODAY

There are two major things you need to know about Night Stalker.

One is that it's a third-rate rip-off of a superior series.

The other is that the series it's ripping off is The X-Files.

That second point may come as something of a surprise, considering the show takes its title from ABC's 1974 cult favorite Kolchak: The Night Stalker. And this unwelcome reprise does borrow some elements from the old Stalker and the TV movies on which it was based, including the newspaper setting and the main character's name.

Otherwise, Stalker is pure X-Files, from the Scully/Mulder, doubter/believer team at the show's center to the predominantly dark tone. Which is what you might expect, given that the show's creator, Frank Spotnitz, and director, Dan Sackheim, are both X-Files veterans.

But you might have expected them to come up with something better than this humorless, pallid, badly cast copy. In their efforts to blend a new show out of two old ideas, they seem to have forgotten that all series, even ones that traffic in the occult, run on character, and the character they've created is deeply uninteresting.

The reason the original Night Stalker lingers in fans' memories has nothing to do with the monsters and all to do with Darren McGavin's Kolchak. McGavin created a humorous, completely unglamorous hero, a middle-aged, rumpled, wisecracking, down-on-his-luck reporter who was struggling to restore his career.

True, the character worked better in the movies than he did in the series. But that's no good reason to replace him with his polar opposite: a young, good-looking, dour guy-on-the-rise played with a humorless thud by Stuart Townsend. Tonight, Kolchak and a crime reporter (Gabrielle Union) investigate a woman's murder, a case Kolchak believes is linked to his wife's murder. The FBI agrees but suspects Kolchak of both crimes.

It is the way of such shows that the plot can work only if everyone makes the dumbest decisions at all times. The FBI will take Kolchak into custody, even though there's no evidence. Kolchak and his crew will keep wandering into dangerous places, even though he, if anyone, should know the risks involved.

And we will keep hoping the monster will turn out to be truly frightening, even though it's quickly made clear that the monster, like the show, is a big dog.

Which, I guess, is the third thing you need to know.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2005-09-28-night-stalker_x.htm

fredfa

09-29-05, 02:43 AM

'Prison Break,' 'American Dad' Get Full Season Pickups

By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com

Fox has picked up an additional nine episodes each of "Prison Break," its new Monday night drama, and "American Dad," its Sunday animated series, giving both shows full-season pickups for the 2005-06 season, sources said.

"Prison Break" premiered with a two-hour debut Aug. 29, scoring a 4.6 rating in adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen Media Research. On Monday "Break" scored a 4.0 in the advertiser-friendly demo but has steadily increased its ratings among young-adult males and teens.

"American Dad," which premiered May 1 paired with returning episodes of "Family Guy," has become an established ratings performer as part of Fox's animation-heavy Sunday.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=8635

fredfa

09-29-05, 10:55 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Alias'” returns
Pregnant with possibilities

By Ann Oldenburg USA TODAY

Sydney Bristow is one of TV's sexiest spies. She wears miniskirts, kicks high and punches hard.

But now, Jennifer Garner, who plays the secret agent on ABC's Alias, is expecting a baby with her husband, Ben Affleck. So tonight, as Alias kicks off a fifth season (8 ET/PT), Bristow goes from sexy spy to sexy pregnant spy.

Ads are bracing viewers for the idea, showing Sydney hearing a baby's wail. But will an adventure series based on a globe-trotting Bond-ette work with a Spy Mom-to-be star instead?

"I think women who are pregnant are very sexy," says Alias executive producer Jeff Pinkner. Besides, he promises, "there will be no shortage of miniskirts this year."

Alias, which averaged 10 million viewers an episode last season, faces stiff competition tonight as it goes up against CBS ratings powerhouse Survivor: Guatemala, Fox's teen fave The O.C., NBC's Joey and a live premiere of Will & Grace, and UPN's hot newcomer sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.

In a cliffhanger finale in May, Sydney and her boyfriend, Michael Vaughn, played by real-life ex-boyfriend Michael Vartan, were happily chatting about the future when — bam! — they were blindsided in what appeared to be a very bad car accident. In tonight's premiere, Sydney finds out what Vaughn was going to tell her just before the crash.

Joining the cast: Rachel Nichols as a spy, Balthazar Getty as an agent and French actress Elodie Bouchez as a criminal. The new cast members do not mean old ones are on their way out, Pinkner says. "There have been a lot of rumors, and virtually all of them are unfounded. Whatever you see on Alias is often not what it appears." Vartan, who seems to bear the brunt of the crash, "is still very much a part of our family."

Carl Lumbly says his character, fellow spy Marcus Dixon, becomes protective of his pregnant pal. "In the relationship, he has always felt a bit responsible for how she's doing personally." And now, he says, Dixon is more concerned than ever. After all, "she's spying for two."

And she's still going undercover. "The disguises start to get bigger," Pinkner says, adding that Garner has long wanted to "play a fat old man."

Garner — referring to the baby as a "she" — said on Tuesday's Tonight Show: "My stand-in has a little bump. My stunt double has a bump, and the other day I walked in, and my stunt double just looked a little different to me and I said, 'Did they graduate your bump?' And she said, 'Yeah, we went to a bigger bump.' "

Garner is due in December, so what about an Alias baby? "There's the possibility of babies, two or five. Or an alien," Pinkner says. But that sounds more like creator J.J. Abrams' other show, Lost.

Cracks Pinkner: "Crossover episode!"

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-28-alias_x.htm

fredfa

09-29-05, 11:28 AM

Wednesday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of the tenth night of the 2005-2006 network prime time TV season --have posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

archiguy

09-29-05, 11:36 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Alias'” returns
Pregnant with possibilities

By Ann Oldenburg USA TODAY
"I think women who are pregnant are very sexy," says Alias executive producer Jeff Pinkner. Besides, he promises, "there will be no shortage of miniskirts this year."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-28-alias_x.htm

Uh oh. Sounds like the damage control has already begun! Pinkner (and ABC's PR department) may believe that pregnant women are sexy, but will the millions of dudes who tuned in because of Garner's skimpy outfits feel the same way? My guess is..... not! :D

Hopefully, they'll at least get a full season to wrap up the storylines and loose ends before Alias bows out. A five year run is a pretty good one these days, and they'll always have the first two years out there on DVD to remind folks how good this show was before they "reimagined" it to death.

fredfa

09-29-05, 11:42 AM

Lost' kicks serious Wednesday butt
Scores a 9.4 in 18-49s, nearly tripling No. 2

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 29, 2005

ABC’s “Lost” is officially a juggernaut. It walloped the competition once more in its new 9 p.m. timeslot last night. Even a rerun of last week’s premiere airing at 8 p.m. thumped original programming on the other networks, including the fading “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.”

“Lost” averaged a 9.4 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 at 9 p.m., a slight 6 percent drop from a 10.0 for last week’s season premiere. The show’s week-to-week retention among total viewers was even more impressive as last night’s episode averaged 22.7 million viewers, down just 2 percent versus 23.1 million last week.

By comparison, CBS, Fox and NBC combined to average an 8.0 in 18-49s at 9. “Lost’s” closest competition came from CBS’s “Criminal Minds,” which averaged a 3.3, nearly two-thirds below “Lost.”

At 8, the “Lost” rerun averaged a 4.0, 1.1 ahead of its closest competition.

Second outings certainly weren’t as kind to NBC’s “Martha” and CBS’s “Minds.”

“Martha” averaged a 2.1 rating among 18-49s last night, down 16 percent from the already disappointing 2.5 the show’s series premiere earned last week. It fell even more among total viewers, 19.5 percent, from 7.7 million last week to 6.2 million last night.

“Criminal Minds” also suffered a big falloff for its second episode, though last week’s debut aired on Thursday instead of Wednesday.

CBS wanted to give “Minds” a big opening push, knowing that “Lost” would pull a big rating. So it premiered the new crime drama last Thursday at 10 p.m., airing out of the highly rated premiere of “CSI.” “Minds” earned a 6.7, but viewers may have either not realized that it usually airs on Wednesday or not cared. It was down 51 percent versus last week.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_400.asp

fredfa

09-29-05, 11:52 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
Live from Burbank, it's “Will & Grace”
Aging NBC series will need more than gimmicks

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 29, 2005

NBC had many disappointments last season. Lost among them was the big falloff for veteran comedy “Will & Grace.” Though the network had anticipated lower ratings with the exit of “Friends,” it thought “W&G,” buoyed by their celebrity friends, would hold up better.

Instead the show fell to a 4.5 adults 18-49 average, down 41 percent from the previous year’s 7.6 average. Some of the blame goes to “Joey,” the “Friends” spinoff that faded fast after a decent debut. Blame Fox’s “The O.C.” as well, which pulled away some 18-34 viewers.

But some of the blame also goes to quality. Having celebrity guests can be fun, if they’re used either to further the plot or in a really, really funny manner (see earlier appearances by Kevin Bacon, Martina Navratilova and Cher). Parading them around like show ponies (see appearances by Madonna and Jennifer Lopez) is quite something else. It's more distracting than it is entertaining.

Producers have promised this season, the show's last, to exercise restraint with the cameos. This season's plot developments also look interesting: Jack launching his own talk show is a funny idea, and bringing back Karen’s supposedly dead ex-husband, Stan, is smart. He provided fodder for some of the show’s best jokes.

But what producers really must do to woo back fans is refocus the characters of Will and Grace. Will has become too fussy and stereotypical, Grace too shrill and self-absorbed. It can be done. Actors Eric McCormick and Debra Messing still have great chemistry, and even at its worst the show always delivers a few great one-liners.

Tonight's season premiere in its regular 8:30 p.m. timeslot has a gimmick. The show will air live, opening the door to all sorts of calamities inherent in a live performance and giving NBC a nice advertising hook the past few weeks. But a live show does not guarantee strong ratings.

Though "W&G" doesn't have to face last week's big Thursday night performer, UPN's "Everybody Loves Chris," which airs at 8, it still has some stiff competition: CBS's "Survivor," Fox's "The OC," and the season premieres of "Alias" on ABC and "Smallville" on the WB.

It would be a shame to see a once-accomplished show sign off on a low note, especially after the grand finales of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Friends” and “Frasier” the past two years.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_373.asp

fredfa

09-29-05, 01:20 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Night Stalker”
Cue the 'da Dum da Dum'

By Chip Crews Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 29, 2005; C01

"I drive at night. The police radio is my compass. Looking for answers to questions I'm only learning how to ask. About things adults dismiss but children are right to fear. . . . Forces that spring not from the imagination but live amongst us, unseen."

Jeepers creepers! Even without all the moody piano noodling, that grim voice-over leaves absolutely no doubt: Something horrid is about to happen. And that something is ABC's "Night Stalker," a junky, clunky and derivative dip into the dark side premiering tonight at 9 on Channel 7.

Grim voice-overs and moody pianos never lie. Barely a minute later we see a woman telling her husband goodbye in front of their isolated house as he sets out for his job as a night watchman. There's some rustling off in the distance, but everybody knows TV and movie characters never react to rustling in the distance.

Next, little wifey is puttering in the kitchen, clad in her bathrobe, when she hears a lamp crash to the floor in the living room. She checks that out but still doesn't seem unduly alarmed -- what, her worry? -- until the lights go out and she sees something terrifying in the dark. Is it a nasty-tempered monster? A space alien? A very bright wild animal? The show's creators aren't tipping their hand, but a frantic chase ensues, and when last seen, the woman is being dragged off in terror.

The following day, police officers are all over the scene and a conflict breaks out when Los Angeles Beacon crime reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) shows up with photographer Jain McManus (Eric Jungmann) in tow. As Perri starts asking questions, she learns that Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend), a newcomer to the paper and an insufferable twit besides, has already arrived and interviewed all the copper brass.

"You can go," Kolchak says, dismissing them.

A squabble ensues, and the Beacon awards the story to Perri. But Kolchak keeps producing eerie leads from vague sources, and Perri overcomes her hostility to partake of them. Could this be the start of a beautiful friendship?

The kidnapped woman later turns up dead, and the evil beastie keeps doing its thing, at one point even attacking a woman in her shower. And in a show like this one, we know exactly what's going to happen the minute she reaches for the faucet.The only question is whether we're going to see a pint of blood or a gallon. The great shower scene in "Psycho" will never be equaled, and alluding to it -- again -- in 2005 is nothing but a cheap, crummy stunt.

(Speaking of cinematic allusion: The first couple are named Emily and Henry Gale, which happen to be the names of little Dorothy's aunt and uncle in "The Wizard of Oz," who were caught up in a different kind of whirlwind situation. Clearly, the "Night Stalker" team has seen a whole lot of movies.)

Soon enough doubts are raised about Kolchak himself: What's his game? Did he commit a murder in Las Vegas, where he used to live? Is he committing all these crimes? An FBI agent from Vegas shows up to torment him, but reporters are made of stern stuff. However lurid or loopy the situation, Kolchak -- the character, if not the show -- will survive.

"Night Stalker" is based on an old series called "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" that came to life in 1974, a year after "Kojak" was launched. At that time, network executives had begun telling themselves that the public enjoyed watching shows about people whose names begin and end with the letter K, but alas, ABC pulled the plug after 20 episodes. This incarnation has been given a particularly onerous assignment -- taking a bite out of TV's Thursday Night Stalker, the No. 1-ranked "CSI."

The next sound you hear may be Carl Kolchak turning on his shower.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/28/AR2005092802552_pf.html

fredfa

09-29-05, 02:01 PM

TV SEASON PREVIEWS: THURSDAY
“Everwood”
The show has become WB's family drama for grown-ups

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

It is popular during Emmy season to knock the ancient members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for paying little or no attention to the upstart WB.

"Gilmore Girls," I've been told repeatedly, gets robbed.

I'm not so sure about that - while I seldom miss Lorelai and Rory, I doubt that what goes on between them qualifies as art or science - but I would argue that "Everwood," which moves to a scary new time tonight, opposite CBS' "CSI" and that guy with the bad hair on NBC, has grown into one of the best series on the WB, or any network.

Family drama's always been a tough sell on television, and never tougher than now, when families without cops, prosecutors or psychics shouldn't expect to be taken seriously.

"Everwood," though, demands to be taken seriously, whether it's dealing with the uneasy changes in the relationship between a mother fighting cancer and the daughter who gave up Princeton to be with her, or the equally dicey shifts occurring between friends who have determined that they will not, after all, be lovers.

This is grown-up stuff, on a network that hasn't always known how it felt about grown-ups but has earned a seat at the adults' table.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12769086.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

09-29-05, 07:42 PM

NBC Gives Bonus to 'The Office'

(zap2it.com)--"The Office" is in no danger of being downsized, at least not for the near future.

NBC has ordered seven more episodes of the comedy series starring Steve "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" Carell, bringing its total to 13 for this season. The series, based on the BBC show of the same name, has improved its ratings markedly over last spring's performance.

In its first two airings this fall, the show is averaging a little more than 8 million viewers and a respectable 3.9 rating among NBC's target demographic of adults 18-49. And while it's struggled some to hold onto viewers from its lead-in, "My Name Is Earl" (which is averaging about 13.3 million viewers), it has made a big leap from its performance last spring. Airing in the same 9:30 spot last year, "The Office" drew only 5.4 million viewers per week.

NBC executives have said repeatedly that they're willing to be patient with the show, a faux documentary following the workers at a Scranton, Pa., paper-supply company and their aggressively clueless boss, Michael Scott (Carell). The single-camera show features no laugh track and mines much of its humor from the often uncomfortable situations Michael creates.

Still, the network initially only ordered six new episodes for 2005-06. The additional order brings "The Office" in line with the standard number of episodes for new series and shows picked up after a midseason tryout.

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/utils/tve_article_print/1,1144,,00.html?x=20&y=8&current_url=271%7C97778%7C1%7C&search_id=1&cntn_id=97778

fredfa

09-29-05, 09:13 PM

Everybody is doing it

Variety reports on Thursday afternoon that “Americans spent record time in front of the tube during the 2004-05 television season, which saw the resurgence of broadcast TV behind hits like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."

Nielsen Media Research said the average American home watched 8 hours and 11 minutes of television per day, a 2.7% increase from last year and the highest amount of time since measurement began in 1949.

Average individual viewing hit four hours and 32 minutes, the highest total since Nielsen began tracking that metric in 1991.”

JeffU

09-29-05, 10:25 PM

Time Warner, Comcast, Sterling Entertainment Unveil New York's New Regional Sports Network

SportsNet New York To Telecast Mets Games and Emphasize Sports News

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- SportsNet New York (SNY), New York's
new regional sports network, backed by Time Warner, Comcast and Sterling
Entertainment Enterprises, was introduced today by Jon Litner, president of
the network. SNY will telecast up to 125 regular season games of the New York
Mets in 2006. Litner unveiled the logo, location and studio designs at the
new SportsNet New York studios (the former CNN studios) located in the heart
of midtown Manhattan in the TimeLife building at Avenue of the Americas and
51st Street. Time Warner Cable, Comcast Corporation and Sterling
Entertainment Enterprises are the owners of SNY.
The network will be launched in Spring 2006. In addition to telecasting
125 regular season games of the New York Mets, SNY will also telecast
pre-season games and have a full winter schedule. Starting in the fall of
2006, SNY will be the home for up to 30 college football games and up to 85
college basketball games featuring teams from the nation's leading
conferences, including The Big East and Big Ten.
SportsNet New York will offer a full sports news and information
operation. The heart of the operation will be in a state-of-the-art multiple
studio facility in midtown Manhattan. The network will broadcast 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
In making the announcement, Mr. Litner said, "We are committed to becoming
the first place that New Yorkers go for their sports news. SportsNet New York
will be the destination network for sports fans in New York and the Tri-State
area. The network will reach out to all New Yorkers and we will cover all of
their teams and the events that are important to them." Mr. Litner
emphasized, "We are fortunate to have some very strong partners in our network
-- Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, as well as Time Warner and Comcast, two
premier media and technology companies who bring us outstanding leadership,
operational expertise and very strong distribution."
The program lineup will include three nightly "SportsNite" shows, followed
by a daily "SportsRise" show throughout the morning with each show originating
from the studio. Mr. Litner stated he expects the network to take full
advantage of the news-gathering resources available through other Comcast
Sportsnet affiliates to give New York sports fan in-depth, objective news
coverage that they can count on.
All programming from the studio will be shot exclusively in high
definition (HDTV). All home games of the Mets, and select away games, will be
shot in HD with the highest picture resolution in the industry. For the 125
regular season Mets games, game productions will include dedicated pre and
post-game shows and a "baseball central" studio with in-game updates from
around the league. The network will emphasize player access and personalities
and incorporate fan interaction, as well as cover breaking news.
SportsNet New York will be available throughout the Tri-State area and
parts of Pennsylvania, as well as upstate New York.
Members of the SNY management team were introduced at a press conference
at SportsNet New York's studios. Curt Gowdy, Jr., Vice President of
Production and Executive Producer, is a 15-time Emmy Award Winner during a
27-year career at ABC Sports. Steve Raab, Vice President of Marketing &
Business Development, had been a longtime executive at Turner Broadcasting
where he helped launch the Turner South regional network. Gary Morgenstern,
Director of Programming, is a 16-year veteran of ESPN where he managed several
of ESPN's marquee properties and was part of the launch team for ESPN 2, and
most recently ESPN Outdoors.
Mr. Litner indicated that announcements regarding talent, including
broadcasters as well as production assignments, will be made over the next few
months.

SOURCE SportsNet New York

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-29-2005/0004135060&EDATE=

JeffU

09-29-05, 10:27 PM

INHD AND CSTV: COLLEGE SPORTS TELEVISION RENEW EXCLUSIVE HIGH-DEFINITION AGREEMENT

Networks To Co-Produce Weekly Coverage Of College Sporting Events To Air On INHD

NEW YORK - September 28, 2005 - INHD, cable′s most widely distributed suite of high-definition networks, and CSTV: College Sports Television, the #1 destination for college sports, have renewed a deal that has the two networks co-producing live collegiate sporting events for high-definition carriage on INHD. Under the agreement, which marks the third year of this relationship, CSTV will simultaneously carry the standard definition broadcast of each event.

New to the arrangement is the addition of five college football contests this fall, including four marquee match-ups from Conference USA. In addition, INHD will air regular season basketball, ice hockey, baseball, select conference tournaments and NCAA Championships. The networks will also continue to co-produce additional programs and specials such as the annual Pete Newell Basketball Challenge. This year's Challenge, scheduled for December 21, will feature Stanford, UC - Berkeley, Princeton, and DePaul.

"Our partnership with CSTV is significant as there is a constant demand for sports programming among the growing audience of high-definition viewers," said Rob Jacobson, President and CEO of INHD parent company iN DEMAND Networks. "This agreement will allow us to work with the leader in collegiate sports coverage to bring our audience the most exciting college match-ups in the best television format available."

"Providing the best platforms for college sports is CSTV's ultimate interest," said Brian Bedol, CEO, CSTV Networks. "And having games available on high-definition is a 'definite' plus for our college fans." CSTV and iN DEMAND are also partnered on a special "All-Access" Pay-Per-View package of Conference USA football games.

Live College Football on INHD
(times, dates and match-ups are subject to change)

Gulf Coast Classic: Alabama St. at Southern, 10/1/05, 6pm ET
Tulsa at Southern Miss, 10/8/05, 8pm ET
East Carolina at Memphis, 10/22/05, 6pm ET
UAB at UTEP, 11/19/05, 6pm ET
Marshall at Memphis, 11/26/05, 2pm ET

About CSTV
The only digital media company exclusively dedicated to college sports, CSTV Networks, Inc. connects more college sports fans to more college sports than any other media company. Its many platforms for programming distribution include CSTV: College Sports TV, televising regular-season and championship events for 35 men′s and women′s college sports; CSTV.com, the number one online source for college sports broadband content and backbone for more than 200 official college sites; CSTV All Access, online and pay-per-view subscription services providing live audio and video of more than 6,000 events annually; as well as satellite television and radio, in-flight entertainment, wireless networks and more. Further information is available at www.CSTV.com.

About INHD
INHD and INHD2 are the most widely distributed HDTV networks on cable today. Available on Adelphia, Bright House, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Mediacom Communications, Patriot and Time Warner cable systems, the channels are available to more than 50 million subscribers and service more than 2 million HD households. INHD features live HD sports - through partnerships with MLB, NBA, CSTV: College Sports Television, Arena Football League, PGA Tour and the United States Olympic Committee - boxing, mixed martial arts, and exciting sports and competition-related programming such as the popular original series Major League Ballparks: Cathedrals of the Game, Fields of Glory, The A List and Tour de Gorge. INHD2 offers a premiere lineup of high-definition movies, music and entertainment programming. The exclusive HDTV home for more than 35 stunning films made for IMAX® theaters, INHD2 also features first-run movies, riveting music specials such as Rockin? the Corps and Music 101, and weekly HD concerts from such mega acts as Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, Usher and The Who. INHD Networks is committed to adding 100 hours of original high-def programming each month through the launch of eye-popping original series and specials such as FHM Uncovered, Go! and Caribbean Escapes. Further information can be found at www.inhd.com.

# # #

http://www.inhd.com/press/pressDetail.jsp?pressId=55

fredfa

09-30-05, 01:42 AM

On UPN, 'Mars' Ascending

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Friday, September 30, 2005; C07

Despite wicked competition, UPN's "Veronica Mars" kicked off its second season with its largest audience ever.

Granted, we're talking only 3.3 million viewers here, and the previous high was 3.1 million.

It helped that Tyra Banks had another good night.

"Veronica's" lead-in, Banks-hosted reality series "America's Next Top Model," retained 100 percent of its previous week's audience of 4.5 million in the 8 p.m. hour.

In the same time slot, Martha Stewart continued to set records.

Last week, she scored the smallest audience ever for an "Apprentice" episode -- about 7 million viewers.

This week, Martha broke her own record, falling to about 6 million viewers.

At 9, opposite "Veronica," ABC's "Lost" clocked more than 23 million viewers. That makes it the show's second-most-watched episode ever, behind only the previous week's second-season debut.

The second episode hung on to virtually all of the audience for that debut. Which, coincidentally, ABC reran last night at 8, where it clocked nearly 12 million people. Or, maybe they were 12 million of the people who'd watched it last week.

Anyway, those 12 million represented the second-best performance ever for a "Lost" repeat.

Then, the good news stopped for ABC.

At 10 p.m. the second episode of "Invasion," the network's new aliens-are-among-us-in-Florida-after-a- hurricane [insert FEMA joke here] drama, fumbled a whopping 11 million of its lead-in's 23 million viewers.

Put another way, "Invasion" -- or, as a pal at another network has taken to calling it, "Erosion" -- lost all but 53 percent of the audience that had been delivered to it by, ironically, "Lost."

In fairness, ABC notes, "Invasion" did finish first in the 10 p.m. hour among those 18-to-49-year-olds advertisers crave.

But not by much, we respond.

While "Invasion" was eroding, the second-season debut of CBS's "CSI: NY" was frittering -- 6 million viewers from last fall's series premiere. Wednesday night it settled for 13.3 million viewers, which put it ahead of "Invasion" but well behind NBC's "Law & Order" and its crowd of more than 15 million.

On Fox, a repeat episode of reality series "Nanny 911" was a tremendous improvement at 9 p.m. over that time slot's previous occupant, "Head Cases" -- the new TV season's first cancellation.

The "Nanny 911" repeat averaged 6.5 million viewers. One week earlier, the final -- aka second -- episode of "Head Cases" had attracted only 3.1 million.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/29/AR2005092902362_pf.html

fredfa

09-30-05, 01:49 AM

NBC's latest crossover: Lame and unnecessary

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Friday, September 30, 2005

No ratings stunt is so well remembered or easily screwed up as the crossover. The scenarios a crossover fosters can change the course of the series or result in readily disposable television. The reasons for coming up with them more often than not are barely defensible.

Remember when Bobby from ABC's "The Practice" visited Ally on Fox's "Ally McBeal" to assist on a case? That was easy to buy. Both series were David E. Kelley's babies and set in Boston. If the characters had truly existed, it is not beyond reason to suspect they would have collided at some point. Not in a unisex bathroom, but you get the drift.

Then there was occasion for Jessica Fletcher from "Murder, She Wrote" to visit "Magnum, P.I." and spring Thomas Magnum from the pokey. What in the heck was the connection between the '80s' sexiest investigator and the most grandmotherly crime solver television has ever seen? I'm not sure anyone can answer that.

This nostalgic flood of TV memories was brought on by current crossovers on NBC, the second being the swap between "Crossing Jordan" Sunday at 10 PM ET/PT and "Las Vegas" next Monday at 9 pm ET/PT. Watch these episodes if you want to appreciate the finer crossovers throughout television history.

Because this isn't one of them.

Admittedly, few crossovers can be deemed necessary beyond providing audiences with cheap bait and creating the possibility of adding fresh viewers. But Sunday and Monday's "Crossing Jordan"/"Las Vegas" switch-off doesn't merely lack good reason -- it's devoid of imagination.

Not only is this the second time these shows have traded characters, it's also the second cross on NBC within a week. "Law & Order: SVU" spilled a case onto "Law & Order: Original Flavor's" plate, but the difference is, the episodes tested the audience's analytical skills in addition to coasting on cameos (Lynda Carter and Estella Warren played a mother-daughter con team). Executive producer Dick Wolf being the syndication king that he is, designed this crisscross to play well as either stand-alone episodes or back-to-backs.

The same can be said of the "Jordan"/"Vegas" crossover. Except that while the "Jordan" half hooks us with a murder plot, the "Vegas" portion hinges on incredibly weak "To Be Continued" bait. It trusts that the giddiness from their first swap will bring you back. This time, you'll wish you hadn't bothered.

In complete honesty, neither series does much for me. One understands what makes them keep on ticking, though. "Crossing Jordan" is "Quincy, M.E." with a sexier lead that lacks jowls. "Las Vegas" is pretty much "The Love Boat" in dry dock, with sex, gambling and gorgeous people substituted for cute romance and a balding, but friendly, captain. I get it.

Granted, each series glides along on serviceably snappy writing and likable casts. They probably will live long lives in their timeslots, just not the kind of existences TV writers froth over.

A jaded view, admittedly. However, even fans of either program would look at this goofiness as unnecessary and cheap.

The manufactured saga begins when a dead middle-age guy shows up in "Crossing Jordan's" Boston with fake ID, and then, before Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessy) can get to work on him, he is doused in accelerant and set aflame by a Vegas showgirl. The firefly follows that act by throwing herself out the window and splatting all over the sidewalk -- except, that is, for a coif only slightly mussed by the impact.

The sparkly deceased turns out to be an employee of the Montecito Resort and Casino, which brings Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel) to Boston to help with the case and possibly score with Jordan. For highly flimsy reasons, Woody (Jerry O'Connell) jumps on a plane to Vegas so he can confront a mob boss involved in the crime, and maybe get a little touch from Sam (Vanessa Marcil).

To be continued ... on "Las Vegas," where the highlights include Woody teaching some depressing group boogie to a girl described as a Persian Paris Hilton. Meanwhile, Jordan enjoys a spa date as Danny and Ed Deline (James Caan) run down their usual scam artists and weirdos.

Seriously, that's pretty much it.

The only reason I can imagine that NBC bothered to make such a fuss with this crossover business so early in the season is the usual one: ratings. The network isn't having such a terrific fall, as you may have heard, "My Name Is Earl's" success notwithstanding. "Jordan" and "Vegas" are solid, underrated performers, and any trick they can pull to draw viewers from either pool to the other is worth an attempt. It's just not worth your time.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/242783_tv30.html

fredfa

09-30-05, 02:00 AM

TV PREVIEW: SATURDAY
“Saturday Night Live” Goes HD

It will be Carell's first time on SNL

By Virginia Rohan Bergen Record Staff Writer

Steve Carell may be the star of a hit movie, but he's not about to get a swelled head.

"No one's treating me any differently. My kids aren't. My wife's not. It's pretty much status quo. I can't say that my life has changed dramatically," Carell says, chuckling. "I keep hoping it will, but it hasn't."

Nonetheless, the man has a lot to crow about. "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" was one of Hollywood's few box-office hits this summer and elevated Carell from breakout supporting actor ("Anchorman," "Bruce Almighty") to lovable leading man.

Carell's NBC comedy "The Office" began its second season a week ago Tuesday, and the former "Daily Show" correspondent is set to guest host this weekend's 31st season opener of "Saturday Night Live" - a show he idolized as a kid. It will also mark SNL's first High Definition production.

"It's an iconic show, and I just feel so honored to be invited to be a part of it for a night," says Carell, chatting on the phone recently with TV writers. "I was watching when the original cast was on, so I remember going to school, and on Monday morning we would just be doing all the characters and all the bits. That was our equivalent of a water-cooler show."

Carell, 42, is hoping that the hoopla surrounding "Virgin" will draw attention to "The Office," a well-reviewed but struggling American version of the inspired BBC comedy. He and executive producer Greg Daniels, who was also on the call, were hoping to see a spike in ratings this season. Although the Season 2 launch of "The Office" scored series-high ratings at 9:30 p.m., it lost about a third of the audience from lead-in "My Name Is Earl."

There's much to like about the new "Office." Carell plays Michael Scott, the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin paper supply company in Scranton, Pa., a frustrated comedian who thinks he's a lot funnier than he is.

"Apparently, the rule of thumb is, if you don't know a Michael Scott, then you are a Michael Scott," Carell says.

Like his character, Carell jokes around a lot. Unlike Scott, he's very funny.

Asked, for example, about what kind of feedback he's gotten about the show, he says, "So far, I have had no feedback in terms of people pursuing the paper product game."

On his show's relationship to Ricky Gervais' BBC version, Carell starts out serious, saying, "I feel like we're borrowing the conceit, and we're just making it into something different. All the characters are vaguely based on those characters ... but it's kind of a universal theme. Honestly, I think 'The Office' could play anywhere in the world."

Such as?

"Kuala Lumpur. That's I think the next step for 'The Office.'Ÿ"

Not that the guy never gives a straight answer.

Ask him, for example, about the moment in last week's season opener when Scott - heckled by rowdies while emceeing a silly in-house awards show at a Chili's - almost became a sympathetic figure.

"I think the balance there is trying to be a real enough person so that people can identify with you," Carell says. "There's a lot of gray area to everybody, and they aren't just awful, and they aren't just clueless, and they aren't just mean. And in terms of my character, he isn't just an idiot. There are shadings of pathos and sensitivity and self-awareness that come to the surface every now and then. But we're trying to be very wary of showing them too much or trying to harp on them, because that can be repetitive."

In this week's episode, the raunchy office high jinks, which included an inflatable doll, resulted in a refresher course about Dunder Mifflin's sexual-harassment policy. Other story lines will involve a small fire that drives everyone out into the parking lot for the day, and Scott eventually having to fire somebody (and right around the time of the office Halloween party, no less).

Last season, Scott's inappropriate behavior resulted in one of the show's funniest episodes, "Diversity Day," in which the entire office had to sit through racial-sensitivity training because of an outrageous Chris Rock routine that Scott reenacted for his employees. Carell says it's probably his favorite episode from last year.

"I felt it walked this line between being funny and being offensive, but it always fell on the side of being funny," he says.

And while American television is notorious for smoothing out the edges of abrasive characters over time, Carell says, "I never felt any pressure that way. I sometimes feel pressure at home to be more likable with my wife, but never at work. I'm going to continue to be a boob all day long."

As for "SNL," Carell says it's a "dream come true," and he can't wait to do it.

In the season opener (the first "SNL" in high definition), hip-hop star Kanye West is slated to be the musical guest.

Carell well realizes that national tragedies on the scale of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita pose special challenges to comedy writers on topical humor programs.

"I remember after 9/11, we were trying to do 'The Daily Show,' and it was nearly impossible, because there wasn't anything funny about life in those months," he says. "But eventually, people just wanted the release of laughing again, and I think people look for that. People seek it out. They want to escape. It's cathartic to just laugh incredibly hard."

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cW VlRUV5eTY3ODEwNDMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

fredfa

09-30-05, 02:30 AM

Mets Have a New Network
But What Will They Put on It?

By RICHARD SANDOMIR The New York Times September 30, 2005

The mantra at the unveiling of the Mets' cable network yesterday was that the channel will be about much more than the Mets, that it will also be built around hours' worth of evening and morning news programs. The spin felt awkward, as if a distance were being placed between the network and the Mets - the centerpiece of a schedule without a winter diet of N.B.A. or N.H.L. games.

"We're a sports service, not entirely a Mets service," Fred Wilpon, the team's principal owner, said during a news conference at the network's new street-level studio in Manhattan, where he was accompanied by Pedro Martínez, José Reyes, Manager Willie Randolph and General Manager Omar Minaya.

To underscore the network's eclecticism, its name offers no hint that it is the home of the Mets and will carry 125 games starting in 2006. SportsNet New York is a muted, generic name that says almost nothing; its logo - a blue and white SNY - makes no use of the familiar, 43-year-old design of the Mets' "NY."

The name comes from Comcast, which operates four other regional sports networks, all with the SportsNet name in them. Comcast owns the smallest portion of SportsNet New York, about 11 percent, but will run the network. Time Warner owns 22 percent, the Mets the rest. The Time Warner-Comcast union provides the network with an immediate guarantee of its availability to 3 million local households.

Jon Litner, SportsNet New York's president, said the name combines the equity of SportsNet - which is barely known locally, so what's the allure to viewers? - with the New York locale to stress "we're about sports news and information."

Funny, I thought the reason the Mets paid $54 million to make an early escape from their contract with Cablevision's MSG Network and Fox Sports New York was to have the freedom to be all Mets, all the time, with no filter to dilute their message. The Yankees and their partners applied that lesson with the christening of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, reduced memorably to YES. Perhaps the Mets should have gone with SportsMet New York - or the MetWork.

Surely, the new network will be Mets-centric. It must be. Beyond the evening "SportsNite" and morning "SportsRise" studio programs, the only other rights it now has are syndicated Big East and Big Ten basketball and football games. All other professional winter programming is spoken for locally: MSG and FSNY have amassed the Knicks, Rangers, Devils and Islanders; YES has the Nets.

"It's a lot of programming time to fill," said Jack Williams, the president of Comcast

SportsNet, referring to the new network's lack of N.B.A. or N.H.L. rights. "We have to be smart about what we look for."

But SportsNet New York is better positioned without pro basketball or hockey than if it started without the more potent baseball. MSG and FSNY face an uncertain future, losing the Mets and needing to find summer replacement filler.

By moving aggressively into news and information, SportsNet New York will diverge from YES, which carries pregame and postgame programs, but has avoided producing anything like ESPN's "SportsCenter" as duplicative of what is on other networks.

Mets games will be dubbed "Baseball Night in New York," an adaptation from Canadian hockey broadcasts, and will feature access to players, fan interaction, wireless microphones, enhanced audios and so-called unique camera angles.

No mention was made yesterday about who will call Mets games on the new network.

It would be wrong to shift Gary Cohen or Howie Rose, a stellar radio team, to TV, but smart to find a true, singular voice of the Mets. One smart move would be to give Dave O'Brien, Channel 11's play-by-play announcer, that role. For analysts, one prime candidate should be Al Leiter, if he retires and can look past his stormy departure from the team; Keith Hernandez might be worth serious consideration.

SportsNet New York can take a stand for quality sportscasting by not taking on Fran Healy, whose longevity on Mets telecasts for 22 years shows him to be a survivor despite a voice that is best muted and a fanny pack full of mediocre insights. Still, the team's loyalty to him might prompt it to let him contribute to the new network, but not on games.

The startup of a network is usually filled with promise and glee, and SportsNet New York's was no different. Litner would not court any pessimism when asked if Cablevision, which unsuccessfully sued the Mets over the timing of their plan to start the network, and previously boycotted YES for a year, would block the new network's launch in territory that is largely in the heart of the Mets' fan base. "We anticipate we will be fully distributed," Litner said. "We're moving on. We're ready to go."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/sports/baseball/30tv.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

09-30-05, 10:41 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Shows In Trouble (Already)

One Critic’s Opinions

By Kay McFadden Seattle Times

With the cancellation of Fox's "Head Cases," fall has claimed its first victim among the new crop of shows. Others will follow. And a few old favorites are definitely waning.

Herewith, the endangered list based on the first full week of ratings from Nielsen Media Research:

"Sex, Love and Secrets," 9 p.m. Tuesdays, UPN. Virtually moribund on arrival, this would-be update of "Melrose Place" couldn't even scrape together 2 million viewers from its target demo.

"Twins," 8:30 p.m. Fridays, The WB. It's hard to get lower ratings than lead-in "What I Like About You," but this managed. Bye-bye, Melanie Griffith.

"Just Legal," 9 p.m. Mondays, The WB. On a related note, looks as if Don Johnson's return to TV may be fleeting. Why did The WB think this show would pair better with "7th Heaven" than "Everwood" did?

"Arrested Development," 8 p.m. Mondays, Fox. I'm going to cry. Outside of premium cable, this is television's smartest and most astringent comedy. It is the best show you're not watching.

"Kitchen Confidential," 8:30 p.m. Mondays, Fox. A collapsed soufflé.

"The Office," 9:30 Tuesdays, NBC. All the "Earl" in the world can't jack up interest in this tepid remake of the bracing BBC series. In the 9:30 race, Steve Carell and company finished a dismal fourth.

"Bernie Mac," 8 p.m. Fridays, Fox. Consigned with "Malcolm in the Middle" to an unenviable night of the week, "Bernie" did badly. Exactly what is the TGIF set watching on Fridays?

"Joey," 8 p.m. Thursdays, NBC. Beaten by UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" and just about everybody else at 8 p.m. last week, the failure of "Joey" is the most emblematic of NBC's inability to create great TV anymore.

A few returning shows aren't yet on the bubble, but their starts presage vulnerability:

"Boston Legal," 10 p.m. Tuesdays, ABC. Viewership fell 28 percent from last year's debut. Creator David E. Kelley would blame the new time slot; but having "Commander In Chief" as lead-in should've helped.

"The West Wing," 8 p.m. Sundays, NBC. Also down quite a bit from its premiere last year and here, we definitely can blame the move to Sundays.

"The Apprentice," 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 p.m. Thursdays, NBC. Martha was a flop in her debut; Donald Trump is so 2004. NBC should just re-launch its entire lineup and pretend midseason is the new fall.

"Veronica Mars," 9 p.m. Wednesdays, UPN. Call me nervous. It had a good debut, but I'm not sure all the critical championing can overcome being against "Lost."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2002530004_kay30.html

fredfa

09-30-05, 11:32 AM

Thursday’s network prime-time ratings – and Marc Berman’s analysis of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

fredfa

09-30-05, 01:15 PM

Personal Views

It is probably helpful for you to know my own prejudices about prime-time programming. I try to keep them out of the thread, but I am sure they inevitably make their presence known.

The major prejudice, I guess, is that I just don’t find most sitcoms funny. And at the moment, I watch none of them regularly.

As for this year’s shows, although I have yet to see “Close To Home” (it begins Oct. 4) and still have not gotten around to “Killer Instinct” here are some of the new shows I found interesting:
Commander In Chief
Criminal Minds
Ghost Whisperer
Three Wishes
Bones
Inconceivable
Just Legal

They have been added TiVo Season Pass list which already contains:
Desperate Housewives
Grey’s Anatomy
CSI: Miami
NCIS
CSI: NY
CSI
Without A Trace
Numb3rs
Cold Case
House
Medium
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order
The West Wing
Law & Order: CI
Veronica Mars

Here are the new shows (one for each network) that I thought were the worst this year:
ABC: The Night Stalker
CBS: Threshold
Fox: Head Cases (duh)
NBC: Surface
UPN: Love, Inc.
The WB: Twins

So, if anyone cares, there you have my views. Now back to the season.

SVonhof

09-30-05, 02:09 PM

Wow Fred, do you have a life outside of TV? What is it that you do for a living anyway, if you don't mind me asking? Forgive me if you have already gone over this in a previous post.

fredfa

09-30-05, 03:37 PM

fredfa

09-30-05, 03:47 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
An early look at what's surviving
By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist Friday, September 30, 2005

We've got some early returns on the fall TV season, and though these are mostly just one-week results - the prime-time equivalent of 2 percent of the precincts reporting - we're going to report them anyway.

The first, most obvious news is that the shows that ended hot last season came back hot. "CSI," "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" all opened big - the top three shows of the week, in fact. No surprise. You probably watched 'em.

CBS' "CSI" drew 29 million viewers, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" brought in 28.4 million, and "Lost" had 23.5 million people watching to see what was in that hatch. (Another 15.2 million watched the repeat of last season's finale.)

Among the new series, the biggest-opening winners were NBC's "My Name Is Earl" and UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" - two shows that drew good-sized audiences with no help from a decent lead-in.

"Earl," actually, was the top-drawing comedy of the week and 15th-ranked overall, with 15.2 million viewers. "Chris" drew 7.8 million people, a mammoth audience for UPN, and it beat NBC's "Joey" in the 8-8:30 p.m. Thursday slot by about 300,000 viewers. ("Joey" ran a full hour last week, however, and did better from 8:30 to 9, so its average for the whole hour was also 7.8 million.)

That's significant for UPN for a couple of reasons. A good night on UPN generally gets about half of what "Chris" drew, and NBC is supposed to be a Thursday-night powerhouse. To be fair, though, "Chris" got a huge marketing push from UPN and sibling network CBS, and got probably more press attention than any other new show this fall.

Still, NBC's overall tanking on Thursday night is the other big news so far. For more than a decade, NBC and its Must See TV owned Thursdays - the most valuable night of television with all those ads for weekend movie openings. This season? CBS more than doubled NBC, averaging 21.9 million viewers to NBC's 10.7 million.

Besides "Joey's" mid-pack showing, Donald Trump's original "The Apprentice" opened with fewer than 10 million viewers for the first time ever, and "ER," TV's top show just a few years back, drew a respectable-but-fading 14.4 million viewers.

By comparison, CBS got 29 million and first place for "CSI," and 17 million viewers and seventh place overall for "Survivor: Guatemala." The premiere of rookie cop show "Criminal Minds" drew 19.6 million and fourth place.

Those results for "Criminal Minds," however, are artificially high considering it got a one-time-only airing after "CSI." Starting this week, "Criminal Minds" began airing in the competitive 9 p.m. Wednesday slot in most of the country, opposite "Lost." (In Sacramento, it airs at 8 p.m.)

The other new series that drew synthetically large ratings - though this time because it airs right after "Lost" - was ABC's sci-fi show "Invasion." It finished ninth in the week, with 16.4 million viewers.

We've got a few more winners and losers, though remember that a season's first weeks only suggest trends for shows. Some start strong on name recognition, then fade - like "Joey" last season - and some shows take time to build, like Fox's "House" last year. The one show that's definitely not going to improve is Fox's "Head Cases," which got itself canceled.

Here are some other winners. (All are returnees)

"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC): Last season's surprise hit returned with 19 million viewers and sixth place for the week.

"Law & Order: SVU" (NBC): It's no longer just the strongest of the "Law & Orders," it's NBC's top show, finishing eighth with 16.8 million viewers.

"NCIS" (CBS): This quiet hit returned with 15.5 million viewers and 13th overall.

"Two and a Half Men" (CBS): Without "Everybody Loves Raymond" in CBS' Monday comedy lineup, "Men" premiered in "Raymond's" slot with 15 million viewers and 16th place.

"Cold Case" (CBS): Another quiet hit, it came back in 19th place with 13.7 million viewers.

"House" (Fox): The stellar medical drama showed it can draw without "American Idol" as its Tuesday lead-in, attracting 13.6 million viewers for 20th place in the week.

"Gilmore Girls" (WB): It's averaging more than 6 million viewers, good numbers for WB.

Promising starts for new shows:

"Commander in Chief" (ABC): Opening night drew 16.2 million people.

"Ghost Whisperer" (CBS): 11.4 million viewers is a great start for a Friday night.

"Threshold" (CBS): The near-9 million average is not so bad for a Friday night.

"Three Wishes" (NBC): The 8.7 million opening is about the same - not so bad for a Friday night.

"Bones" (Fox): It started big, with over 10 million viewers, but has leveled at about 7.5 million through three weeks. New Fox shows often have trouble getting traction, so it could do a lot worse.

"Supernatural “ (WB): It's averaging more than 5 million viewers in a rough time slot.

Finally, the losers:

"Martha Stewart: The Apprentice" (NBC): Martha attracted just over 7 million viewers for her reality game and probably hurt Trump's edition, too. Then, to add insult to, well, another insult, CBS' TV movie "Martha Behind Bars" also drew only a bit more than 7 million.

"Inconceivable" (NBC): 6.4 million people. Bad numbers, even on a Friday.

"Sex, Love & Secrets" (UPN): 1.4 million viewers. Bad numbers even if it were on cable.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13641364p-14483665c.html

AFH

09-30-05, 06:31 PM

I didn't say I watched them all every week, Scott. Many get viewed in down TV weeks. Obviously the advent of TiVo has been a blessing -- at least in our house. :)

It took me until mid-June to get through all of this season's May sweep shows.

To answer your other question: I'veworked in TV almost all my life at local stations in Washington, DC and New York City and at networks and cable as well. I have been involved in writing, producing and as an executive, mostly in news and/or talk shows.

Again though, I do the best I can to keep my own prejudices out of the thread. I just wish I were better at doing that!

You are good at keeping your prejudices out. I do like to see your opinion from time to time. Of all of the new show you found interesting, Criminal Minds is the one I would like to see. I didn't see the first or second ep. I have to see if I can setup a season pass for Criminal Minds without causing a conflict.

You're right about Tivo being a blessing.

CPanther95

09-30-05, 07:13 PM

Throwing an opinion in ocassionally, is no problem. The ratings are hard numbers (albeit flawed ;) ) we can see those numbers and if additionally you place a personal comment in here and there - it ain't gonna hurt anything.

The bubble is somewhat subjective, but you're doing all the work, you get to make the rules - or any of those subjective judgement calls.

fredfa

10-01-05, 01:56 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
NBC Flips Apprentice: Martha, E-Ring
By Ben Grossman & John Higgins Broadcasting & Cable

In an attempt to boost the flagging fortunes of two new shows, NBC has flipped the Wednesday time slots for The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and E-Ring for the immediate future, beginning this Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The move is a strategy NBC hopes will help resuscitate both new shows, neither of which are off to strong starts.

The Apprentice: Martha Stewart had been airing Wednesdays from 8-9 p.m. E-Ring ran 9-10 p.m.

NBC found that much of its Martha audience was being poached by UPN's America's Top Model, and is hoping E-Ring's 9 p.m. slot, which has no other reality competition, will help rescue the second member of the Apprentice franchise.

Likewise, the network is hoping that by moving E-Ring out of the drama-heavy 9 p.m. hour - and away from behemoth Lost - it can give the Pentagon drama a chance to bounce back.

E-Ring—one of NBC’s most heavily promoted fall shows—is fading in a 9 p.m. slot loaded with dramas, including Lost. Apprentice: Martha Stewart also disappointed, finishing in a tie with UPN’s America’s Next Top Model in 18-49s both this week and last.

For each of its first two episodes, Apprentice: Martha Stewart scored a 2.3/7 in the demo, according to Nielsen national ratings data. E-Ring notched a 2.1 on Wednesday, down from a 2.5/7 during its Sept. 21 premiere.

Trading time slots could be deft counterprogramming. Apprentice: Martha Stewart could be a reality oasis for viewers. On the other hand, the show would be thrown into the jaws of Lost.

"I like the idea of swapping out Martha with E-Ring," says Shari Ann Brill, director of media for media buyer Carat. In a similar counterprogramming strategy, she believes UPN could swap its 8 p.m. ET hit Top Model with 9 p.m. drama Veronica Mars. "The only way to make some type of inroads," she says, "is to offer some sort of alternative on the schedule."

fredfa

10-01-05, 10:03 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON SATURDAY, OCT 1ST
Catching Up With Three New Shows

Whatever happened to the “ABC Movie of the Week” or the “NBC Saturday Night Movie”?

Both networks have shelved movies this week to take a page out of the CBS book: repeat popular dramas (or in these cases, hopefully popular dramas) on Saturday night.

ABC will be trying to boost two of its new dramas, “Invasion” and “Commander In Chief” with repeats tonight.

The first two episodes of “Invasion” will be re-broadcast starting at 8 PM ET/PT. The opening episode of “Commander In Chief”, which was shown Wednesday night at 9 PM will be repeated tonight at 10 PM ET/PT.

NBC, taking a similar approach, will rebroadcast the first two episodes of “Surface" beginning at 8 PM ET/PT.

jim tressler

10-01-05, 10:07 AM

Fredfa - CBS or NBC?

(Latest update 7:02 AM PT Saturday, Oct 1st)

Survivor NBC 9 PM Repeat of this week's second episode

fredfa

10-01-05, 10:17 AM

Yikes -- you're right, jim. I meant "Surface". I'll fic the error. Thanks for catching it.

fredfa

10-01-05, 10:56 AM

Dave Chappelle on comedy, fame and what's next

By Chuck Martin The Cincinnati Enquirer

Dave Chappelle is a complicated man. Earlier this year, during production of the third season of his hit Comedy Central series, "Chappelle's Show," he walked away from his reported $50 million contract without giving a reason.

Chappelle spent two weeks in South Africa before returning home to his 65-acre farm near Yellow Springs, Ohio, about 75 miles northeast of Cincinnati. Chappelle, 32, returned to the stand-up stage at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Newport, Ky., earlier this month. The comedian sold out 10 shows at the 325-seat club.

Between performances one evening, Chappelle talked about why he left his successful cable show and why he loves comedy.

Q: On stage, you make several references to what the media said about you after you left the show — that you had a drug problem or were in a mental institution. (He scoffs at both rumors.) Like to say anything more about that?

A: It was a little weird. It felt like some of the stuff (in the media) was real tabloid, like raw speculation. It was like stuff I would normally buy and believe. (Laughs.)

Q: In other interviews, you've indicated you felt a lot of pressure doing the show. Can you describe that pressure?

A: Without talking about it too much, it was stuff that's not in the brochure. Stuff that you have to wrap your mind around. I've been doing this for a long time, but that was a first. A lot of people didn't understand when I did it, but sometimes in your life it just doesn't matter.

Q: But you must realize that a lot of people would say, why not just take the money and do it?

A: These are the kind of circumstances that you have to be there to understand. A lot of people will say what they'd do, but very few people get into these positions. I'm the only guy.

Q: This is obviously about more than the money. You care very much about your craft.

A: I care about the work I do. But I'm not going to say that money's not an issue. This is the only job I've had since I was 14. My wife asked me once if I weren't a comedian, what I would do. I couldn't answer the question. I never imagined doing anything else. Maybe until six months ago, anyway. (Laughs.)

Q: You've said you love doing stand-up more than anything. Why?

A: I like that particular kind of attention. People don't know what it's like standing up there on stage, when you have a wall of people smiling at you. Most people don't know what it's like to stand up there and speak their mind. I have a venue to do that. I get paid to do that. It's not like I'm doing heavy lifting up there. It's not like I'm solving the world's problems. It's like I'm hanging out with a bunch of people and it's cool.

Q: Why is race such a major source of material for you and other comedians?

A: Honestly, it's so incredibly paradoxical, but it's almost inexhaustible. It's chock-full of irony. I think in a lot of ways, Americans are very race conscious. It's funny, now you'll hear white comics talk about race. Now it's become more commonplace. It's not irrelevant.

Q: So everyone wants to know what's next for Dave Chappelle. Another cable show? Movies?

A: I don't know, man. Wow. Damn, that's a good question. (Long pause.) Is "I don't know" an acceptable answer?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002530030&zsection_id=2002119662&slug=chappelleqampa30&date=20050930

fredfa

10-01-05, 11:01 AM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Pssst. Your fall season flops are already showing.

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

Dim the lights, grab a mop, pop the cork and remember -- no one gets called on for rebuttal, so keep your hands down. It's that time again: Failure Analysis.

Martha Stewart is a wreck, "Arrested Development" looks doomed to cancellation, FX's audacity fails to pay off, "Joey" is DOA and, well, plenty more.

We could do this every week. But we won't.

We have, in fact, done it before. But we buried all the good signage -- Failure Analysis in neon -- rethought the promotion and drowned the intent, once again, in pointless rambling. In short, our failure analysis clearly showed that we failed to capitalize on a ripe market for egregiously bad TV development.

Despite being under old management, Failure Analysis is back, bigger and bolder and more angry than ever. The season hasn't even fully rolled out yet and the carnage is everywhere. Given that, we could start anywhere. Like, here:

-- "E-Ring." Benjamin Bratt, Jerry Bruckheimer, Taylor Hackford, a rampaging Dennis Hopper. Where to start on that flop? Who has the time? This is an NBC show -- more on that below. Of more importance:

-- "Arrested Development." The funniest show on television is all but dead. There's no official announcement yet, but all the signs are there, and if this short-lived thing of beauty even manages to deliver half of a season, consider that a sanctioned-by-Rome miracle.

The ratings are abysmal. Fewer than 4 million viewers, which puts it in cable territory. Despite what may have been one of its funniest episodes ever in the first week, nobody watched. This past Monday, even fewer people watched. So much for Emmy power. So much for Charlize Theron as a cameo draw.

Blame? Easy. Fox moved the series from Sunday to Monday, which was: (a) stupid, (b) a planned assassination or (c) all of the above. The network barely promoted the night switch -- a killer for viewers, especially those trying to sample 30 new series -- and sure enough, "Arrested Development" drew fewer viewers than last season. Worse, once on Monday, the series got almost no push. Now, there's one more episode before Major League Baseball pre-empts the show -- and Fox will air "Prison Break" repeats in that slot for a bit after that and before, ahem, bringing back "Arrested Development."

Yeah, that'll happen. Enjoy next Monday's episode. Chances are, everything after that will be dubbed "the lost episodes" on the next DVD. Here's how things get worse for Fox: "Kitchen Confidential" is also dying on Mondays. That means Fox hasn't been able to launch a decent sitcom in some time, and, no, "The War at Home" on Sundays doesn't count. If you watch that, you deserve it.

But it's true that the audience always decides. Always. And if it doesn't want "Arrested Development" but gloms onto the asinine "War at Home," three things are in play here: (a) Nielsen families have lame taste, (b) we get the television we really deserve and (c) most damning, the theory of sophisticated urban viewers is out the window. San Francisco was the 27th-ranked market for "Arrested Development." New York, Los Angeles and Chicago all tied for 21st. And Boston was 45th. So much for savvy. Let's move to Portland, Ore., -- it was the No. 1-ranked market for "Arrested Development." Onward:

-- "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." Perhaps the season's biggest letdown. NBC kept it under wraps -- the guess here is the network knows that the entire "Apprentice" franchise is losing steam. But "Martha" really doesn't work -- wasting loads of potential. Why the failure? Because it copies Donald Trump's "Apprentice." Executive producer Mark Burnett thought branding was the way to go, but why put Stewart in a formula? An exact copy of anything is boring. In the first episode, Stewart was too stiff. The second proved that using CEO Charles Koppelman and daughter Alexis to play the George and Carolyn roles from the Trump show was a big mistake. Koppelman is good only in that he is exactly like George. And Alexis has proved so far to be little more than an ice princess. She looks lovely but has nothing to say and appears not to like being involved. Alexis is an interior personality. That doesn't work on TV.

In the second episode, Martha forgot her super-secret tagline ("You just don't fit" or whatever the fuss was about) and even a novice viewer can tell that Burnett's strongest ability -- casting -- has been dismal. Why select Jim to chew scenery when NBC could just as easily have given you Sean Hayes? A worse sign: The Donald himself appears in the third episode. Burnett is clearly out of ideas. Blame goes to:

-- NBC. This is a network made for Failure Analysis. It didn't tinker with Thursdays and the listing "Joey" is all you need to know there. An hourlong premiere episode? Are you insane? Forget "Joey," stick with "Earl." At least NBC got "My Name Is Earl" right. (Another first-namer -- Chris -- as in "Everybody Hates Chris" beat "Joey" the first night and proved, with a second solid episode, that it's the best comedy choice at 8 p.m. If UPN hands you your head, that's bad.) There's more blood and bad news for NBC with "The Office." More than 5 million people are fleeing after they watch "Earl." Look for "Scrubs" back in this slot in one month. Yet nobody looks to NBC for creativity. Increasingly they look to:

-- FX. And what does that get them? Failure. See, audacity is a burden. Chances are good that the supremely great and powerful "Over There" is out of here. Why? Apparently not many people want to watch fiction about a real war currently raging on. But worse: No women are watching. Also unlikely to return is "Starved," the comedy about eating disorders. It was always a tough sell, but even loyal watchers found it preachy and unfunny in the end. There is still hope, however, that FX will bring back the hilariously unflinching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Ah, but what to pair it with? That's the "Lucky" conundrum. And don't say "Arrested Development." FX can't afford this show. Word is one episode of "AD" is more costly than "Over There."

If FX loses "Over There" and "Starved" (and by no means is "Philly" totally safe, either -- it's just an educated hunch), then what is the reward for taking chances and -- wait for it -- failing? All that means is that you're Showtime.

Well, it gets you good ink, for starters. And good ink is worth something, right? Just look at ink-stained "Arrested Development." Ooooh. Not fair? No, beaten by its birth parents and kicked to the curb -- now that's not fair.

Until next time, we leave you with Kathleen Edwards' "Failer." Enjoy.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/30/DDGP7EVFHB1.DTL&type=printable

keenan

10-01-05, 01:04 PM

THE 2005-2006 TV SEASON
Pssst. Your fall season flops are already showing.

-- FX. And what does that get them? Failure. See, audacity is a burden. Chances are good that the supremely great and powerful "Over There" is out of here. Why? Apparently not many people want to watch fiction about a real war currently raging on. But worse: No women are watching.
This would be a shame, every episode of Over There has been very strong, not a weak one in the bunch IMO. In a very short amount of time you are heavily invested in these characters, you know these people better than 3-4 years of CSI's characters. Some of the guest stars have have been great as well, Currie Graham was unreal in last week's episode. This show has had the ability to stir emotional responses in me like no other on the air, if this one goes I will definitely miss it.

fredfa

10-01-05, 04:56 PM

I am trying not to start any political argument, but I think it is a very tough sell to get audiences to watch a drama about a war that has the country to divided.

It seems to me the anti-war folks fear it might in some way glamorize the conflict, and the war's supporters could be afraid it will have an anti-war message.

And probably a great number of people in the middle just don't want to be reminded about it.

dturturro

10-01-05, 05:12 PM

I just think they have to come up with some better dialogue for Erik Palladino. Has their been an episode where he hasn't yelled "It's killin' time"!?

keenan

10-01-05, 05:24 PM

keenan

10-01-05, 05:26 PM

I just think they have to come up with some better dialogue for Erik Palladino. Has their been an episode where he hasn't yelled "It's killin' time"!?
The next episode focuses on Palladino's character, should be interesting. Although his character has already displayed that he is much more complex than just "It's killing time".

fredfa

10-01-05, 05:45 PM

Yes, but, the primary focus of this show is really on the characters. The things that have happened so far could have happened in any of the conflicts the US has been in. While there are certainly more than a few policy statements that have been made, they have not been overt and in your face. IMO, it is very intelligently written in that the messages are there, but you have to apply your own feeling about them, the show does not "pick a side" as it were.

As far as being a tough subject to sell, that's exactly why I like FX, they take the chance...something that HBO has not done in awhile, do we really need another Entourage, Comeback, Curb, Unscripted or Extras...that stuff has got to be a full 40% of HBO's original programming now...give it a rest.

I agree with your take on the primary focus of "Over There", Jim.

I just think a large number of people just never gave the show a chance because of the subject matter. I am not agreeing or disageeing with their decisions not to watch, but it seems clear to me that millions have made that decision, despite the wonderful quality of the show and its generally stellar reviews.

keenan

10-01-05, 06:29 PM

Yes, it's frustrating to see quality take a back seat to wide audience appeal. It's all about the Benjamins. :(

fredfa

10-01-05, 06:52 PM

On Television, Brands Go From Props to Stars

By LORNE MANLY The New York Times October 2, 2005

Later this month on "The Office," Michael Scott, the painfully clueless regional manager of a paper supply company, will embrace casual Fridays in his own inimitable style. Eager to show off his newly trim physique, particularly his backside, the character - played by Steve Carell - will proudly model his new jeans to his alternately befuddled and appalled employees. And to anyone who will listen, he will proclaim something along the lines of "I love my new Levi's."

This cringe-inducing bit of comedy will have been made possible in part by Levi Strauss. The company and the creators of "The Office," the NBC critical darling, are willing participants in the next generation of product placement. No longer are brands mere props on the set or the supporting stars of reality shows. Advertisers and their representatives are increasingly working with a show's writers and producers and the network's ad sales staff to incorporate products into the story lines of scripted shows as part of more elaborate marketing deals.

What Hollywood and Madison Avenue euphemistically call "brand integration" was hard to miss last season. Gabrielle Solis, Eva Longoria's character on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," found herself hard up for money and reluctantly agreed to don an evening gown and extol the virtues of a Buick LaCrosse at a car display. Amanda Bynes's character on the WB's "What I Like About You" raved about Fruity Pebbles and competed against a friend to be in the next Herbal Essences commercial. And the producers of "Bernie Mac" on Fox wove mentions of Rolaids throughout an episode as they unleashed the dyspeptic Mr. Mac to rant about life's injustices and his stomach pains.

Network, advertising and production executives say that this season, more and more brands will venture outside the confines of 30-second ads. They may have no choice: As technology and clutter blunt the effectiveness and reach of the commercial spots that have underpinned the television business for nearly 50 years, the various players are scrambling to adapt.

The networks, sensing a new revenue stream as traditional advertising spending flattens out, are actively pursuing these steroid-enhanced product placement deals. Advertising companies - from Omnicom to MediaVest to Carat Americas - have started their own branded entertainment divisions to solidify their relationships with their corporate clients, as well as the cash that comes with them. Newcomers like Madison Road Entertainment have popped up to match the desires of Hollywood and marketers and perhaps create their own shows in the process. And producers see in these more sophisticated plugs a way to offset rising production costs.

Not everyone is thrilled with the trend. Some creators of television shows worry that the mercantile impulse could turn storytellers into shills and keep more provocative fare off the big networks. Last Tuesday in New York during what is known as Advertising Week, television writers protested outside a panel about branded entertainment, demanding more say in any such deals as well as a cut in the profits from them. And the Federal Communications Commission has turned a wary eye on a practice it sees as little more than stealth advertising.

But many producers, network executives and advertisers dismiss such criticisms as overblown. "The fact is brands are part of our lives and brands exist in these television environments, so why not showcase them?" said Ben Silverman, chief executive of Reveille, whose shows include "The Office" as well as reality shows like "Biggest Loser" on NBC and "Nashville Star" on USA. "Otherwise, brands will go spend their dollars on Google, and the F.C.C. ain't going to be able to do anything."

IN some ways, this newfangled form of branded entertainment harks back to the beginnings of television. Half a century ago, ad agencies often produced shows like "The Colgate Comedy Hour" and "Texaco Star Theater," in which a chorus line of dapper gas-station attendants opened each show by singing the Texaco jingle ("Oh, we're the men of Texaco, we work from Maine to Mexico") before introducing the host, Milton Berle.

A combination of rising production costs and quiz-show scandals pushed the sponsors out of the show-making business by the late 1950's, and the era of the 30-second ad began. But advertisers' products found their way back into the shows themselves as a cottage industry - product placement firms - developed.

These businesses furnished the apartments, filled the fridges and supplied the cars for sitcoms and dramas. Corporations would barter their wares to television as well as feature films, hoping that the glamour of Hollywood would rub off on their quotidian products. And the studios were able to keep costs down and add a little verisimilitude to the action.

Sometimes, serendipity would strike, and a brand like Junior Mints would end up lodged in the nation's collective consciousness. No advertiser approached the creators of "Seinfeld" to suggest a 1993 episode in which Kramer and Jerry watch helplessly as a Junior Mint falls into the body cavity of Elaine's former boyfriend during an operation. The "Seinfeld" writers came up with the idea, and the product placement firm, AIM Productions, rushed to get clearance from the company, hedging its bets by sending requests to the owners of LifeSavers and M&M's, too, said Patti Ganguzza, the company's president. No money changed hands.

Then, about five years ago, the product placement landscape changed, in large part because of Mark Burnett and "Survivor." By selling sponsorships to advertisers, Mr. Burnett was able to finance much if not all of his show, easing the way for a network - in this case, CBS - to put it on the air without much financial risk. And because success in television is always accompanied by swarms of imitators, the networks latched on to this low-cost programming model.

Despite the fervent wishes of many television critics, reality shows - about everything from C-list celebrities ("The Surreal Life") to ballroom dancers ("Dancing With the Stars") to backbiting businesspeople ("The Apprentice") - still clog the broadcast and cable networks. And they are shamelessly stuffed to bursting with brand tie-ins; indeed, whole episodes can revolve around a product.

During the 2004-2005 television season, more than 100,000 product placements appeared on the six broadcast networks, an increase of nearly 28 percent from the previous season, according to Nielsen Media Research. And in 2004, the value of overall TV product placements rose 46.4 percent, to $1.88 billion, according to the research firm PQ Media.

More are on the way, particularly in scripted shows. Leslie Moonves, co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom and chairman of CBS, has predicted in recent months that there will be a "quantum leap" in the number of product placements and that within one or two years, nearly every show on network television will have them. Last month, CBS digitally embedded the logo of the Chevrolet Impala in the scenery of five of its shows, including "CSI."

This headlong embrace, paradoxically, comes at a time when the average household watches more television than ever, according to a report released on Thursday by Nielsen. Yet the financial moorings of the television industry have never been subject to such pressure.

With so many entertainment choices, audience fragmentation continues apace, and advertisers are none too pleased to be paying the same or higher ad rates for shows that are losing viewers. At the same time, technology has given viewers a degree of control over their television - and commercial - watching. Digital video recorders may be in fewer than 10 million households now, but marketers are already preparing for the day when many more viewers are likely to skip right past their 30-second ads.

Major marketers like Procter & Gamble and Unilever have cut their television ad budgets and put more into product placement. For the networks and the studios and producers who create the shows, that is ominous. "The advertising model of 10 years ago is not applicable today," said Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Brothers Television Group, which oversees both the WB and the television studio.

"At the end of the day," he added, "if we are unable to satisfy advertisers' appetites to deliver messages in new ways to the viewer, then we're destined to have a broken model."

No template exists for these more elaborate product placement deals, according to interviews with more than two dozen advertisers, network executives, branded-entertainment principals and producers. But in most cases, the advertisers gain a say and, occasionally, veto power over how the product is portrayed.

In return, an advertiser will end up buying more ordinary 30-second ads than it did previously, as well as paying a separate integration fee to the network, which splits the money with the studio. That bounty can rise into the millions of dollars, said Mr. Silverman of Reveille. Or it can help a network keep ad dollars that might have gone to other shows or media.

Sometimes, instead of an integration fee, advertisers will include the show in their marketing efforts, such as mall promotions, magazine ads and newspaper stuffers - much to the networks' delight. "Network dollars are tight. If I get a promotion, that's a big thing for me," said Joe Davola, president of Tollin/Robbins Television, which produces such shows as "Inconceivable" on NBC as well as the WB's "What I Like About You," "Smallville" and "One Tree Hill."

The challenges and contests in reality shows readily lend themselves to brand integration, executives said. Starving, thirsty islanders will gobble and guzzle Doritos and Mountain Dew after vanquishing their opponents in a "Survivor" episode, and the viewer will usually accept the products' presence.

But scripted shows are a trickier endeavor. "When a marketer uses branded entertainment to actually sell a product, the entire exercise will fail," said Jak Severson, chief executive of Madison Road Entertainment. "Audiences are so sophisticated today the last thing they will do is sit and be sold to during an entertainment show."

Jonathan Prince, creator of the recently canceled "American Dreams," is now working with Madison Road; he is one of the most aggressive in weaving brands into his story lines. In the three years when "American Dreams" was on the air, he made Campbell's Soup, the Ford Mustang, Kraft Singles and Oreos significant pieces of the show. "I had seen too much bad product placement, with someone driving a car, holding a soda," he said. "It felt like a commercial - and advertisers already do that well."

Mr. Prince added, "The ones that work are the ones that grow out of character."

For the Campbell's Soup tie-in, which he concocted with NBC, Mr. Prince already had an idea to portray the deviousness of a character, Patty, who is a junior high school student. So he attached a continuing story line in which she bribed schoolmates to send entries that she ghostwrote to the annual Campbell's Soup essay-writing contest, bolstering her chances to win. Her actions had repercussions, and a lesson was learned in this family-friendly series, set in the 1960's.

"American Dreams" got more 30-second ads from Campbell's and was featured in its print and radio advertising as well as on 40 million labels. Colleen Milway, global media director for the Campbell Soup Company, said the story line fit the squeaky-clean image the company wants for the brand. And by eschewing the obvious approach - characters chirping "Mmm, Mmm, Mmm Good," for example - the integration appeared to work. Three times the typical number of people entered the essay-writing contest after the episodes were shown.

"The needle we have to thread is to have a brand integration that is effective enough to have resonance, but - and it's a big but - subtle enough so that it doesn't offend," said Mr. Prince.

Arbitrariness does not help. Last Thursday, on the season premiere of "Will & Grace" on NBC, the new Subway chicken parmigiana sandwich made an unexpected appearance. The writers revealed that Stan, the missing husband of Megan Mullally's character, was alive, kept in hiding by her maid and fed a steady diet of chicken sandwiches.

Measuring a product placement's effectiveness - the domain of companies like iTVX and IAG Research - is still an inexact science. But as with all new fads in the media business, bad money is likely to tumble alongside the good.

"I'm sure there will be integration that will make people cringe," said Robert Riesenberg, president and chief executive of Full Circle Entertainment, a television production company owned by Omnicom. "But over all," he added, "content is going to be governed by taste, by people's desire to engage with television."

The industry is ultimately self-regulating; turn off the viewers, and there won't be a show left to cram with dissonant brand integrations.

Producers and network executives also caution that they need to police themselves, to refrain from grabbing dollars willy-nilly. While ABC has not instituted a quota - and the Sears connection with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has been well received - executives there said they would have a difficult time doing more than one or two a week. "As soon you as you start ramping up the volume, quality starts to suffer," said Dan Longest, senior vice president of integrated marketing at ABC.

ONE car manufacturer approached "The West Wing" last season, with some specific story ideas to weave one of its cars into the show's storytelling. John Wells, the show's executive producer, politely declined.

But when Mr. Wells's other NBC show, "E.R.," wanted the arrogant doctor played by Mekhi Phifer to brag about his new car, the producers went with a Chrysler 300C. "When we tried to do it without mentioning a name, it sounded silly," said Mr. Wells. No money was involved; Chrysler just loaned the car.

For Chrysler, that tacit approval by a character in a scripted show validated its attempts to portray the Chrysler 300 as a hot car. "That's very valuable to us," said Jeff Bell, vice president of Chrysler and Jeep.

The plug may not have matched the boost the Pontiac Solstice received on an episode of "The Apprentice" last season, which led to 1,000 cars being presold in the 41 minutes after the episode ended, according to Steve Tihanyi, general director of marketing alliances and entertainment at General Motors. But, Mr. Bell said, "It's better than a salesman's solicitation."

Producers like Mr. Wells have the clout to pick and choose, and Dick Wolf can keep his three "Law & Order" series free of product placement if he wants. But some in the television industry fret that those with less successful track records or at smaller networks will not be able to fend off aggressive marketers.

Also worrisome is the tendency of advertisers who are creating brand integrations to gravitate toward heartwarming shows like NBC's "Three Wishes," in which the singer Amy Grant ladles out assistance to those in need. "It's got to be noncontroversial," said Mr. Riesenberg of Full Circle, whose productions include "Bound for Glory" on ESPN (with Mr. Silverman's Reveille); the show follows the former football star Dick Butkus as he tries to turn around a high school football team.

Television shows that deal with provocative subjects could find themselves at a financial disadvantage in an environment where networks and studios must rely increasingly on this new source of revenue, Mr. Wells said. "I believe in market forces, but I think the quality of content will suffer," he said.

Mr. Prince, the "American Dreams" creator, said that he had heard similar concerns from fellow writers and producers, but that he did not have much patience for them.

"People who pay the bills get to write notes," he said, but that does not mean a producer has to consent to every brand integration idea. To him, the advertisers are the saviors of scripted television. " 'Desperate Housewives' doesn't need a savior. 'Lost' doesn't need a savior," he said. "It's the middling-rated, expensive, quality shows that network people want to keep on the air, but to them the model doesn't make sense."

Branded integration schemes also face some other foes, like Jonathan S. Adelstein, a commissioner at the F.C.C. "Whether it's classic payola, where a radio station gets a large plasma television to play a certain song, or a corporation pays $100,000 to get its product mentioned on the air, both the station and the network are required by law to disclose that," Mr. Adelstein said.

The networks do disclose promotional considerations. But Mr. Adelstein says the credits whip by so fast that the human eye cannot read them, even with a DVR. "Is that full and fair disclosure? I don't think so," he said. "We need to make sure people are sure they're being sold to."

For Mr. Davola of Tollin/Robbins, the benefits of branded integration outweigh any hypothetical downside. "If people get insulted, they can go watch PBS or go rent an independent movie," he said. "Seriously. This is the real world. I'm not ruining television."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/business/yourmoney/02place.html?ei=5094&en=ee2d6d0cbbd61cbf&hp=&ex=1128225600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

fredfa

10-02-05, 01:56 AM

Friday’s network prime-time ratings have (finally!) posted at the top of RATINGS NEWS the second post in this thread.

fredfa

10-02-05, 10:55 AM

The Network Formerly Known as ESPN

By Todd Hyman Long Island Press

Back in the golden age of cable television, VH1 was an all-music station. At some point, they dropped the music and ran shows featuring people you've never heard of talking about music. Then, they dropped that and aired only reality shows that had little or nothing at all to do with music. Now, I'm afraid to say, the venerable ESPN is falling down the same slippery slope.

Last year, ESPN entered phase one of the dreaded transformation: exploring new territory. They began by peppering their 24-hour coverage of The World Series of Poker with desperately mediocre scripted series Tilt and Playmakers, game shows like Stump the Schwab and feature-length films like Season on the Brink and Hustle.

This season, the network is stepping it up with phase two: oversaturation. Not one but two new original films will debut before the year is out, starting with Four Minutes on Oct. 6, and later Codebreakers on December 10.

Starring veteran actor Christopher Plummer, Four Minutes is the story of Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes, which, back in 1954, was said to be humanly impossible. In addition to being the greatest middle-distance runner of his time, Bannister was also a medical student at Oxford. He used his medical knowledge to create highly technical training programs to help him get in shape to beat the record, reinventing sports medicine in the process. Hmm... Now that I think about it, they should have called this movie Four People, because that's how many care about track and field records. (Ooh, that was cold.)

Next up is Codebreakers, a film about the scandal that surrounded the 1951 Army football team. A number of players who were recruited for their football prowess instead of their book smarts were caught in a massive plot to cheat on important exams, causing the expulsion of 90 West Point cadets. Now you're saying, "Wait a minute, that has nothing to do with sports. It's about kids who cheated on a test." Ah ha! That's how they work their way into stage three: changing the programming entirely.

ESPN may seem confused about their direction, but when you consider the fact that Murder, She Wrote reruns air on the Biography Channel and Fastlane on Court TV, it's really not so bad. So goes the evolution of television. Perhaps one day in the future, you'll be watching the Food Network, and instead of a show where people demonstrate cooking, you'll be treated to A Food Channel Original Production: Detective Bobby Flay and the Curse of the Undercooked Chateaubriand. Before long, you'll have to regularly tune in to the Channel Channel, a channel that explains what all the other channels are.

http://www.longislandpress.com/?cp=144&show=article&a_id=5809

fredfa

10-02-05, 11:11 AM

Networks play demolition derby with scheduling

By Gail Pennington The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Television Critic Sunday, Oct. 02 2005
(Note: all times in this story are Central.)

Meme Wolff's TiVo is overflowing. The actress, midmorning co-host on KTRS (550
AM) and self-professed television junkie has a problem that's hardly uncommon -
too much TV, too little time.

But if figuring out what to watch and when to watch it is always difficult when
a new TV season begins, this fall presents a particularly pesky set of
challenges. Looking at the prime-time schedule, you won't be alone if you
wonder how the networks managed to put so many shows you'd like to watch
against so many other shows you'd like to watch.

"At least I can record two things at the same time," Wolff says.

That takes care of the head-to-head clashes ("CSI" vs. "The Apprentice," say,
or "Without a Trace" vs. "ER"). Unfortunately, the broadcast networks seem
unusually enchanted with some time slots this fall, loading them with three or
more worthy shows.

Consider the toughest hour of the week, 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Fox has one of the hottest sophomore dramas, "House." CBS offers the return of
three-time Emmy winner "The Amazing Race."

Now factor in NBC's buzz-worthy new sitcom "My Name Is Earl," paired with
season two of "The Office." Enough? Not close.

ABC hopes to win big with Geena Davis' "Commander in Chief" at 8 p.m. Tuesdays,
while the WB was already carving out a nice little niche for "Supernatural"
before the big guns arrived in the time period. Meanwhile, UPN signs what looks
like a death order for the soap "Sex, Love & Secrets" by slotting it at, you
guessed it, 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Some time slots sort themselves out nicely. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, you can choose
a drama (the WB's "One Tree Hill"), a reality show (UPN's "America's Next Top
Model") or NBC's "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," or an assortment of sitcoms
on ABC, CBS and Fox.

Move ahead to 8 p.m. Wednesday, though, and wonder why - in a time period sure
to be dominated by ABC's "Lost" - the rival networks have sacrificed so many
dramas about which they claim to be enthusiastic while giving sitcom fans no
chance to laugh.

Until Fox wrote off "Head Cases" at 8 p.m. Wednesdays after just two airings,
the slot was stacked with six (yes, six) dramas. Fox has Mandy Patinkin as an
FBI profiler in "Criminal Minds" while NBC has Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper
as Pentagon problem-solvers in "E-Ring." UPN has Kristen Bell as teenage
detective "Veronica Mars" and the WB has four sisters in "Related," arriving
this week.

Thursdays used to be owned by NBC, but with the longtime ratings leader
foundering, rivals have gone in for the kill. At 7 p.m., that means UPN's hot,
hot "Everybody Hates Chris" challenging NBC's "Joey," but the battle doesn't
stop there, or with "Survivor," still flourishing in its 11th edition.

Fox's "The O.C." held its own and offered a drama alternative last season, but
suddenly the time period is extremely crowded with youth-friendly hours. ABC
oddly opted to move "Alias" to 7 p.m. Thursdays, after a season in which the
cult-favorite drama flourished with "Lost" as a lead-in. Meanwhile, the WB
seems to be sacrificing "Smallville" by shifting it to Thursdays - but after
all, the young-Superman drama aired on Wednesdays last season, opposite "Lost."

Other strange-but-true clashes put two of the new season's best comedies, Fox's
"Kitchen Confidential" and CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," opposite each other at
7:30 p.m. Mondays and see the WB's cuddly "Everwood" and Fox's intriguing
"Reunion" entering the 8 p.m. Thursday fray opposite "CSI" and "The Apprentice."

Ask the networks about what seem to be self-destructive scheduling moves and
they'll say either that they pay no attention to what the competition does or
that they believe in proceeding from a position of strength, pitting their best
against the other guy's best rather than simply conceding a time slot.

Still, NBC took a look at its Friday-night lineup before the season began and
opted to move its new help-'em-out reality show "Three Wishes" to 8 p.m., where
it would serve as counterpoint to the dark dramas "Threshold" on CBS and
"Killer Instinct" on Fox. At 7 p.m., its original time period, "Wishes" would
have competed with CBS' "Ghost Whisperer," also meant as a feel-good hour if
not a particularly similar one.

Smart move. The WB and UPN, which don't program every night, are also wise to
schedule repeats of some shows, including "Supernatural" and "Veronica Mars,"
on weekends, although they might make these repeats easier to find. If
programmers wind up killing off one worthy series with another one, they'll
boast that they won. Maybe so, but the viewers will lose.

Too much TV, too little time

Here's my tentative television schedule for this fall, allowing for a paltry
three hours of prime-time TV-watching a day.

Sunday night: "The West Wing"; "Desperate Housewives" (record "Law &
Order: CI"); "Grey's Anatomy."

Monday night: "Arrested Development"; "How I Met Your Mother"
(record "Kitchen Confidential"); "Prison Break"; "Medium."

Tuesday night: "Gilmore Girls"; "The Amazing Race" (record "House"
and look for a repeat of "Supernatural" Saturday or Sunday on KPLR); "Law &
Order: SVU."

Wednesday night: "America's Next Top Model"; "Lost" (record
"Related" and pick up a "Veronica Mars" repeat over the weekend); "Invasion"
(record "Law & Order").

Thursday night: "Survivor: Guatemala" (record "The O.C."); "The
Apprentice" (record "CSI"); "ER" (record "Without a Trace").

Friday night: Free hour to watch something already recorded;
"Threshold" (at least for a few more weeks); another free hour.

Saturday night: Three free hours to catch up on the week. I've
recorded 9 1/2 hours and at this point (unless I unwisely went out Friday or
Saturday night) have watched five - but watching recorded versions saves 15
minutes per hour, so it's technically possible I've broken even or blown
something off, like one of the "Law & Orders" or the disappointing "Threshold."

Unfortunately, I've probably also been recording shows like "Commander in
Chief," "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,"
"Everybody Hates Chris" and even "Three Wishes" and "Supernanny" on an
auxiliary machine. And this doesn't even take into account cable shows like
"Nip/Tuck," which just started a new season, or the occasional movie on HBO or
Starz. Luckily, I do this for a living.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Centertainment%5Ccolumnists.nsf&docid=BE323BB13BDEE7458625708D000158D9

fredfa

10-02-05, 11:18 AM

TV SEASON PREVIEW: TUESDAY
“Frontline: The OJ Verdict”

Simpson trial's divisions linger

By Joanne Weintraub Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The storefront chosen by investigative filmmaker Ofra Bikel is a real one in downtown Los Angeles, but it's strongly reminiscent of the mock-up in the "Barbershop" movies.

As the African-American barber attends to one customer, several others - all black, all seemingly over 40 or 50 - shoot the breeze.

Bikel asks the group whether they believe O.J. Simpson had something to do with the death of his ex-wife. To a man, they say yes.

But that doesn't mean they were disappointed that Simpson went free.

"They framed a guilty man," the barber tells Bikel, referring to alleged police misconduct in the case.

A customer is more emphatic.

"I hope that Negroes learn," the man says, "that no matter how high you ascend and how much money you make or how white the woman is, you still a (expletive) in America."

Ten years after a Los Angeles jury found the former football hero not guilty in the deaths of his estranged wife, Nicole, and her friend Ron Goldman, the Simpson case remains a divisive issue for Americans, Bikel contends in this week's thoughtful "Frontline" hour, "The O.J. Verdict."

For African-Americans, says University of Pennsylvania professor and author Michael Eric Dyson, Simpson "represented every black person that ever got beat up by the criminal justice system."

That some of the black lawyers, journalists and others interviewed by Bikel believe Simpson committed the murders isn't the same, as the barber observed, as believing he got a fair shake - certainly not from then-LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman, whose own words plainly identified him as a racist, and perhaps not from others involved in the case who were just as biased but more guarded in their speech.

But for whites, according to opinion polls and many of Bikel's interviews, race and racism played a far different role in the trial. Goldman's father, Fred, probably spoke for millions when he lashed out at Simpson defense attormey Johnnie Cochran for using "racism (to) set his murdering client free."

Although Bikel sees the Simpson verdict, a decade later, primarily as a kind of litmus test for racial differences, she doesn't forget the way it changed trial coverage in America.

Melding crime and celebrity into one irresistible whole, the Simpson story kept viewers mesmerized for more than a year, created instant stars like CNN's Greta Van Susteren (now at Fox News) and encouraged extensive coverage of the trials of Robert Blake, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart and others.

It also brought readers and, of all things, respect to the so-called supermarket tabloids that regularly scooped the mainstream media on the Simpson case.

"One of the great ironies of the trial was that the National Enquirer reminded us what good, basic journalism is about," says ABC's Ted Koppel, who adds ruefully that he felt "embarrassed" about covering the trial - but admits that "Nightline's" weekly Simpson recaps made the show's ratings spike 10%.

http://www.jsonline.com/enter/tvradio/oct05/359512.asp?format=print

fredfa

10-02-05, 12:19 PM

Saturday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of RATINGS NEWS the second post in this thread.

fredfa

10-02-05, 12:58 PM

Tuesday’s baseball playoff TV schedule (all games will be in HD ) has been posted at the top of LATEST NEWS the first post in this thread. (Known so far: the Padres will play at 1 PM ET, the Yankees at 8 PM ET and the other AL game will be at 4 PM ET. )

As the day progresses and the lineup gets set, I’ll post the final schedule.

fredfa

10-02-05, 03:42 PM

Little must-see on NBC any day

Tom Jicha South Florida Sun-Sentinel TV and Radio Writer

Gloating over someone else's misfortunes is unbecoming. However, if you're younger than 18 or older than 50, it's difficult not to feel a bit of vicarious pleasure over what has happened to NBC.

The network that arrogantly and unapologetically dismisses anyone outside the advertiser-emphasized 18-to-49 demographic as a non-person is en route to what could be a historically bad season (although the Winter Olympics will camouflage the full extent of the wreckage). Even if you are among Madison Avenue's chosen people, it must be nice to see the network get its comeuppance after frustrating viewers with super-size programs, early starts and late endings that wreaked havoc with VCRs and TiVos.

Must-see-Thursday, the network cornerstone for two decades, has become a relic. The NBC brass remains alone in not recognizing Joey is an unsalvageable flop. Not that last year's returns weren't evidence enough, but on the opening Thursday of the season, Everybody Hates Chris outdrew the Friends spinoff. Chris Rock's show looks as if it is going to be special, but the only thing more ignominious than being beaten by UPN would be losing to a cable program. If NBC persists in keeping Joey on the air, this could eventually happen, too.

Joey is merely a small part of NBC's Thursday woes. Donald Trump's Apprentice opened its fourth edition with its lowest ratings ever. This continues a trend that has seen each edition rate lower than the one before it. The margin between The Apprentice and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was 20 million viewers.

Nevertheless, Trump's Apprentice remains a sensation compared to Martha Stewart's version. Despite the curiosity factor, which undoubtedly bumped up the audience, it opened to about 7 million viewers, roughly half what a Lost clip show -- i.e., rerun -- did on ABC. Hey Martha, Bravo beckons.

The disintegration of Thursday was underlined when ER was thrashed by a sneak preview of a new CBS drama, Criminal Minds. The message is clear: Viewers have grown so weary of ER, they were willing to sample a show that garnered mediocre notices at best. The CSI lead-in was inarguably a factor, but ER used to be a self-starter, appointment viewing that could assemble the largest turnout on TV even when it came out of dog-walkers like Stark Raving Mad and Good Morning Miami. The situation only figures to deteriorate now that ER has to face off weekly against Without a Trace, a quality series and proven winner.

Perhaps as alarming for NBC was the performance of ABC's new Wednesday drama Invasion, whose debut outdrew Law & Order. The mothership of NBC's most valuable franchise bounced back to retake the time period this past Wednesday, but the fact that viewers were willing to look elsewhere is ominous. If the Law & Order brand loses its luster, NBC will be in shambles.

The only positive spin that can be put on another NBC newcomer, Inconceivable, is that Fox spared it the embarrassment of being the season's first cancellation when it decapitated Head Cases. Unless there was big improvement by Inconceivable Friday, there likely will be no next week.

Medium, the only good news from last season, was throttled by the season-opener of CSI: Miami and faces four months of Monday Night Football, something it didn't have to deal with as an impressive rookie.

Panic seems to be setting in. Less than two weeks into the season, the network has started resorting to stunts and gimmickry generally reserved for sweeps months. Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas have crossover episodes this coming week. Law & Order and L&O: SVU did it last week. Will & Grace opened its season with a live episode -- as if the audience notices or cares -- a tacit admission that a once brilliant comedy has grown tired and uninteresting.

Perhaps if NBC gets really desperate, it will attempt what has been unthinkable -- programming for all of America.

http://www.southflorida.com/movies/sfl-tvtj1coloct01,0,5640893,print.column?coll=sfe-tv-headlines

DoubleDAZ

10-02-05, 04:40 PM

IMHO, truer words were never spoken. Even I am ready to give up on ER and am saddened by the fact that Maura and Goran are saddled with a lousy supporting cast and even worse scripts. The first 2 episodes were arguably the worse of the series.

Even though I still catch "some" episodes of the L&O trio, it is too much of the same thing and I think folks are looking for something new and fresh. The characters, especially on SVU, have gotten way too personally involved with every victim/suspect and IMO that detracts from the realism. CI is the only one I still enjoy, and then only because of D'Onofrio, and even that is only if time permits. Some of this can also be said of the CSI trio, but there are still enough differences in the storylines and character dynamics to keep me interested.

I'll stick with Las Vegas and Medium until they disappear, and I'm a tad intrigued to see where West Wing is going to try to go, but there is nothing else on NBC that catches my eye at all. Angie Harmon looks great on Inconceivable, but it is inconceivable that this vehicle will be around much longer, Harmon's good looks not withstanding.

fredfa

10-02-05, 04:52 PM

Now that the Red Sox have clinched the AL Wild Card and Houston has won the NL Wild Card, the baseball schedule for Tuesday has been updated at the top of Post # 1 in this thread.

fredfa

10-02-05, 05:32 PM

The New Leader of the 'Law & Order' Pack

By KATE AURTHUR The New York Times October 2, 2005

ON a summer day on the set of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" in North Bergen, N.J., the cast was shooting new opening credits. The two leads, Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, stood as part of the eight-person ensemble, staring intensely at the camera. Trying to snap the group into character, Ted Kotcheff, an executive producer who was directing the scene, yelled, "All you perps out there, you're in danger from us!" The actors broke up with laughter.

Mr. Kotcheff tried a different approach, thanking "these eight wonderful people who made it possible for us to go into a seventh season." Nearby, a Doritos-eating crew member whispered, "I thought it was the eighth season."

Well, with three different "Law & Order" series on the NBC schedule, it can be hard to keep track - Wednesday's episode will be the 600th of the combined franchise. But last season, something unexpected happened: "Special Victims Unit" - which focuses on sexually based crimes, and is nicknamed "SVU" - became the most popular of the trio. According to Nielsen Media Research, it drew an average audience of 13.46 million, one of only two scripted NBC series to finish the season in the top 20. ("ER" was the other.) And it was the only show on the beleaguered network to increase its audience from the previous year. Its seventh season has also begun well: 16.8 million viewers watched its premiere on Sept. 20.

Neal Baer, the executive producer who has run "SVU" since its second year, described how the show has evolved into what he calls "a hybrid procedural." He compared its formula to those of other workplace dramas like "L.A. Law," and "ER," which he helped write and produce for six seasons. "You're going to solve a crime every week, you're going to be taken through a twisty, turny whodunit," he said. "But you're also going to learn about the characters just a tiny bit - or maybe a whole lot. It's not just the facts, and it's not a soap."

It took a while to find that balance. As designed by Dick Wolf, the creator of all things "Law & Order," "SVU" was meant to be much more character driven than the flagship show. He wrote the pilot episode himself for its debut in fall 1999, and included so many personal details about the two lead detectives, Elliot Stabler (Mr. Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Ms. Hargitay), that "Law & Order" viewers who were used to a don't ask/don't tell approach were jarred; it was like seeing your therapist in the steam room. Its early plots even involved the home life of Stabler, whose wife and four children were also characters. "We stopped doing that about six episodes in - even though we'd built nice big sets - because it just stopped the storytelling cold," Mr. Wolf said from Los Angeles.

By the beginning of Season 2, Mr. Wolf had gone through two different executive producers. The first, Robert Palm, left to lead "Deadline," Mr. Wolf's short-lived show about journalism - then his replacement was let go after a few months. In October 2000, he hired Dr. Baer. "Neal put his stamp on it," he said. "He moved it into a much more intellectually fruitful area."

In her office on the "SVU" set, Ms. Hargitay discussed the early missteps in trying to "find the show's voice." She said: "There was a concern: is it going to be the rape-of-the-week show? That's when Neal Baer came along and elevated it."

Dr. Baer, 50, has master's degrees in both education and sociology. He had briefly written for television in the late 1980's, but then, he said: "I started freaking out, thinking, 'What if I don't make it?' " Off he went to Harvard Medical School.

In his fourth year there, he got a call from John Wells, his childhood friend from Denver, who was producing "ER," which had been picked up by NBC for the 1994 fall season and needed ideas. "I took 100 stories that had happened to me, which became terrible things that happened to Noah Wyle's character," Dr. Baer said. "The show took off, and I ended up being executive producer." (He also completed medical school and his internship in pediatrics.)

When Mr. Wolf offered him "SVU," Dr. Baer recalled, "My wife didn't want me to take the job because she thought the show was very salacious and tawdry." But the couple stayed up all night thinking up a story about gymnasts. "I thought, 'Wow, this is exactly what I like about 'ER' - getting into the social issues, getting into the mystery,' " he said. "So I jumped right in."

But his wife's initial condemnation still stings, especially since criminal procedurals have become an epidemic, and shows like "CSI" have increased the amount of gore on television. "We did a show I think in Year 3 where there was a woman tied up to a lamppost and had her foot cut off," he said. "I decided after that show not to do anything more that was really violent." Pointing at "CSI," as well as Fox's medical show "House," he said: "We don't go inside anybody's body, through any orifice. You don't see blood gushing out of people or heads cut off."

Dr. Baer has also increasingly relied on the strengths of his actors, particularly Mr. Meloni and Ms. Hargitay. "It's all about the victims and Mariska and Chris's reaction to it - Mariska's compassion and Chris's abhorrence," he said. "And the two together make a compelling stew."

Ms. Hargitay, who has a pair of Emmy nominations, said that being on the show is "a personal, emotional investment." Her eyes welled with tears at several points when talking about her character, and fans' reactions to "SVU." "People will hug me on the street and say, 'I wish you were the detective on my case,' " she said. "I had a cop just yesterday - a cop! - say, 'I wish I worked with you.' I think the lines get blurry."

Mr. Meloni described similar encounters, which he called "intense and gratifying." Last season, his character began approaching a mental breaking point when his marriage ended - in an "SVU" way, that is, one minuscule hint at a time. "I'm a big fan of the subtle," Mr. Meloni said. "If my wife serves me with divorce papers, that's all you're going to get for now." Nevertheless the storyline has left him feeling, he said, "like a wrung-out dishrag."

This fall, "SVU" will go up against ABC's "Boston Legal" and CBS's "Close to Home," a new crime show from Jerry Bruckheimer, the originator of the "CSI" franchise. Dr. Baer will counter by tackling matters like hate crimes and H.I.V. among gay crystal meth users. He said, "We don't look to other shows - we try to be faithful to the kinds of stories the 'Law & Orders' tell." And the "SVU" characters will inch along as well. "You just start to put together the pieces, as you would in a normal life, in your workplace," Dr. Baer said. "You just have to watch it, because you never know."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/arts/television/02aurt.html?pagewanted=print