View Full Version : Hot Off The Press! The Latest Television News and Info
David_Levin
05-17-06, 03:31 PM
Upfront Notebook
It's Official: Veronica Mars Renewed
By Michael Ausiello TV Guide
Straight from the horse's mouth, Rob Thomas just e-mailed me to confirm that Veronica Mars has been renewed for a third season. The show got a 22-episode order that, depending on ratings, can be reduced to 13.
Wow, really pulled that one out of the hat.
They need to figure out a way to get people watching this puppy. Perhaps paired with Gilmore Girls will help.
How about a marathon this summer? Run through seasons 1 & 2 with a daily showing.... (for Denver: preferably on the new CW Channel which is Hi-Def).
PS: I'm glad Brian is renewed - I enjoy it (and, wow the women on that show are HOT). But, will it survive?
I don't know what the affiliate agreements for the WB and UPN stations call for, but I am sure the new CW stations could run such marathons if they wished.
Let's wait until we see the total CW schedule tomorrow to find out what is planned.
Upfront Notebook
CBS brings out big guns
New Sunday sked includes 'Trace,' 'Race'
By Denise Martin Variety.com May 17, 2006
With the axing of its longrunning Sunday movie franchise, CBS is coming after the night in a big way, arming it with established heavy hitters "Without a Trace" and "The Amazing Race."
Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning from the Eye's New York offices, CBS Corp. prexy-CEO Leslie Moonves said he expects the newly stocked Sunday night would provide an overall ratings boost to the network. Decision to drop the movie franchise had been anticipated since late last year and confirmed earlier this week (Daily Variety, May 15).
Network's fall line-up includes just three new dramas and one laffer. "Shark," "Smith" and "Jericho" made the cut on the drama front, while "The Class" will serve as CBS's sole effort in comedy.
Eye has slated "Race," which moves out of Wednesday, at 8 while "Trace" will hold down the 10 hour - making for a night produced entirely by Jerry Bruckheimer (with the obvious exception of "60 Minutes" at 7 pm).
Relocation of "Trace" also shakes up Thursday, which will introduce Brian Grazer-produced courtroom drama "Shark" in "Trace's" 10 pm slot. "Survivor" and "C.S.I." will remain at at 8 and 9.
Monday will feature new ensemble comedy "The Class," from "Friends" co-creator David Crane, at 8:30, hammocked by "How I Met Your Mother" at 8 and "Two and a Half Men" at 9. "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "CSI: Miami" round out the rest of the night.
John Wells' heist thriller "Smith" will air Tuesday at 10, following two-hour drama block "NCIS" and "The Unit."
"Jericho," the apocalyptic drama from Jon Turteltraub and starring Skeet Ulrich, is slated for Wednesday nights at 8, replacing "Race" and leading into procedural mainstays "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY."
Upfront Notebook
Who will blink first?
So, before we even hear from Fox and the CW tomorrow, we know what the other three networks are planning for 9 PM (ET/PT) on Thursdays in the fall:
CBS: CSI
ABC: Grey’s Anatomy
NBC: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Given NBC’s weak ratings (and bargaining) position, can anyone believe it won’t move its most talked-about new program out of that particular murderous slot?
Or, given the disastrous decisions made under the Zucker regime, can anyone believe it will move Studio 60?
Personally, I am betting that Studio 60 has a new slot in the schedule within two weeks. Favorite timing: NBC makes a quiet announcement next Friday – as the long Memorial Day weekend begins and TV critics begin their own summer hiatuses.
But that is just me. Do any of you expect to see Studio 60 take on CSI and Grey’s Anatomy?
I think there's a typo:
They are not on at 8 PM (ET/PT), but at 9 PM (ET/PT) !
Thanks for catching it, Dmon4u.
Upfront Notebook
CBS Adds Only Four New Shows
The ratings leader can afford to be conservative
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer May 17, 2006
NEW YORK — It doesn't bother CBS Corp. President Leslie Moonves that the other guys get all the attention - that much.
"We are the most stable network," he told reporters at an early morning press conference at the network's Midtown headquarters today. "I know it doesn't quite get the buzz. It's good to have a couple grand slam home runs; we've got a lot of doubles. And you score more runs with doubles than home runs, as long as you have enough of them - and we do."
To that end, CBS moved conservatively in designing next fall's schedule, retaining 18 shows and adding just four new programs to the mix. (Three other new shows were tapped as midseason replacements.)
The move leaves the network chock-a-block with crime procedurals such as the "CSI" franchise that has helped make CBS the top-rated network among total viewers, even if they lack the wattage of programs such as ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "American Idol."
"People may want to knock our procedurals all they want, but they repeat great," Moonves said. "We do great week after week. We don't have huge highs and huge lows. We are not the manic-depressive network."
That said, he admitted that network officials hope that next season's slate of programming will draw more notice to CBS. "There was an attitude, 'OK, we don't get as much noise as everybody else,' " Moonves said. "And we're human; we like getting the buzz - although I like winning more."
Still, the network recognized "that you want to see something different from us," he added, "and I think you will this year." To that end, CBS deviated a bit from its usual fare in picking its new programs. There are no new crime procedurals, for one thing, but a trio of character-driven dramas.
"Smith" stars Ray Liotta as the head of a crew of career criminals seeking their final heist. In "Jericho," a small Kansas town struggles to cope when it is plunged into isolation by a nuclear mushroom cloud.
"Shark," CBS' highest-testing pilot, features James Woods as a former defense attorney who grows disenchanted with his work and switches to the prosecutor's office.
CBS' only new comedy on the schedule, "The Class," comes from "Friends" creator David Crane and hinges on the reunion of a group of twentysomethings who were in the same third grade class.
The new shows have been sprinkled throughout the week and paired with long-standing hits in an effort to draw the biggest audiences.
"We felt that we're taking some swings, but we're taking swings within an environment of strength," Moonves said. In one of its biggest moves, the network is switching ratings winner "Without a Trace" from 10 p.m. Thursday to the same time slot on Sundays. Moonves said CBS decided to make the change even before producers knew that ABC was shuttling its hit show "Grey's Anatomy" from 10 p.m. on Sundays to 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
By scrapping the CBS Sunday night movie and adding "Amazing Race" to the Sunday night lineup, network officials believe "it's going to be a night where we're going to be up considerably," he said. "You're going to see a vast improvement."
"Obviously, ABC is not going to be as strong as they were without 'Grey's Anatomy' there," Moonves added. The CBS chief called ABC's decision to move its top show "a big" and "bold move," but said that he nevertheless is confident that "Grey's Anatomy" will not significantly erode "CSI," its new competition on Thursdays.
"Network television has proven, when you have two great hit shows on in the same time period, they don't cannibalize each other; television grows," adding that he expects NBC to be the network to back down from that time period.
Earlier in the week, NBC announced that it would air its much-buzzed-about "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" at 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
"If I were Aaron Sorkin, I wouldn't be very happy this morning," Moonves said of the show's creator.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-cbs18may18,1,4736105.story?coll=la-entnews-tv
Critic’s Notebook
Call me heartless: 'Grey's' finale falls flat
By Maureen Ryan in the Chicago Tribune TV blog May 17, 2006
For what I'm about to say, you might consider me heartless.
I didn't care much for the "Grey’s Anatomy" finale. And mainly that's because the "Grey’s" writers dragged the Denny story line out way too far. Does he get a heart, does he not get a heart, blah blah blah. Whatever. The Tin Man-esque saga just got old after a while. I get that Izzie has a thing for hopeless, unrealistic romances, but there’s already plenty of that via House and Cameron on “House.” And the Denny thing was just too drawn out.
Sure, there were some good moments in the final three hours, but overall, the whole thing just fell a little flat. I think they went too big. It wasn’t just the padded drama regarding Denny’s heart, but no, Burke was shot too! And there was a prom! And … a dog died!
Actually, the scene of Doc’s death was the one moment of emotion I responded to in the whole “Grey’s” finale frenzy. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it was handled delicately.
Unlike much of the rest of the episodes, which left me feeling like I’d had a close encounter with blunt-force trauma.
Regarding the shenanigans that Izzie got up to with Denny – are you telling me that no nurses would have come in his room to check up on him during that whole time? Izzie and the other interns were there for a long time, and in my experience of hospitals, someone barges in to your room approximately every 4 minutes. I know “Grey’s” isn’t a documentary, but all the overwrought Denny stuff just got on my nerves and what went down in his room wasn’t even remotely close to realistic.
I’ve also got a big problem with how they’ve written Callie – or rather, underwritten her. I think she was meant to be a fiery rebel, someone who would make George re-examine himself and would challenge the cool-girls clique run by Meredith, Izzie and Cristina.
That was an excellent idea, but they never fleshed Callie out enough. She charged in, started dating George and then did that weird thing where she peed naked in front of Meredith and Izzie. Ick! That turned her from the intriguing, thought-provoking rebel to the freaky chick that the other women didn’t have to take seriously.
As for Callie telling George she loved him – that just came out of the blue. They’ve barely given this couple any screen time, except when Callie’s criticized George for not standing up for her more. Check out the season finale of “The Office” for an “I love you” scene that was completely earned and utterly, jaw-droppingly amazing.
I frankly don’t buy the underdeveloped Callie-George relationship and the actors, let’s face it, despite their best efforts, don’t have much chemistry between them. That affair started out promisingly but now I’m just waiting for it to be over.
And, by the way, do the wardrobe people at “Grey’s” really dislike Sara Ramirez, who plays Callie? Her prom dress was all wrong for her. She’s got a great, curvy figure, but that dress with tiny straps made her look like a linebacker in drag.
Oh, and that prom. Please. The whole thing was just so obvious and silly. Again, I know that “Grey’s” is a frothy soap and not a heavily realistic drama, but no hospital would shut a huge part of itself down on short notice for a teenage prom that half the employees also attend.
OK, as far as TV logic goes, I guess it barely makes sense. But I have a question as to why Webber’s niece was in the hospital at all. She passed out during sex, from what I understand. I can’t understand why Seattle General had to have a prom for her – presumably she attended her prom, then had sex with her boyfriend. Do the kids these days really do things in the opposite order (if they do those things at all)?
(But hey, on the plus side, “Grey’s” did have some “Veronica Mars” alumni in the cast of the three final episodes, including Tessa Thompson (Jackie Cook on “Mars”) as Webber’s niece, Ken Marino (the delightfully sleazy Vinnie Van Lowe) as the jerky restaurant manager and Sidney Tamiia Poitier (Mallory Dent) as an angry fiancé. So that was cool.)
All things considered, I’ll certainly be tuning in to “Grey’s” when it returns on Thursdays next year. The show’s ambition, its storytelling and its refreshingly non-condescending attitude toward its complicated female characters are all to be respected. And the show can do big things well -- the post-Super Bowl episodes were terrific.
But next year, I hope they dial it down a bit and focus on the characters. Except for sweeps, when I’m resigned to the fact that they’ll dial things back up again. Not too much, I hope.
The most unintentionally funny moment was when Bailey confronted the gang of interns in Denny’s room.
“You fools better have a good explanation for this,” she fumed.
I shouted at the TV, “Of course there’s an explanation, Dr. Bailey -- it’s May sweeps!”
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/05/call_me_heartle.html#more
Upfront Notebook
CBS Rolls Out the New Shows
By Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Television Writer
Pretend with me for a minute: If you were a single network looking to get married, CBS would make a great suitor. First of all, it’s an older, more experienced network. Translation: it knows what it’s doing. No other network is as stable.
That stability was reflected in CBS’ new fall sked announced this morning. Four fall shows from last season’s class (Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Close to Home, How I Met Your Mother) are returning as are two midseason shows (The Unit and The New Adventures of Old Christine). That’s more than any other network.
See what I mean about stability? That’s an excellent trait in any potential spouse.
Good calls, CBS. I love both the rah-rah, flag-waving macho studs on The Unit as well as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ zany single mom comedy.
With so many shows returning, CBS is only adding four new series (three dramas, one comedy) -- much unlike ABC which rolled out about, oh, 800 new shows on Tuesday. Some of the names you’ll see on CBS this fall include Ray Liotta, James Woods and Virginia Madsen.
CBS’ Sunday night will look a little different. The Amazing Race shifts to that night at 8 p.m., followed by Cold Case at 9 and Without A Trace at 10.
As for the new shows, they are…
• The Class (Mondays, 8:30 p.m.): A comedy about a bunch of twentysomethings who have been bound together since the third grade. Sounds like The Big Chill. Except no one dies. And there's no Motown music. I think.
• Smith (Tuesdays, 10 p.m.): Liotta stars as a criminal mastermind who plots high-stakes heists around the country with his partners in crime while the FBI tries catching him. Another heist drama, eh? Uh, I dunno. Look what happened to Thief on FX and Heist on NBC. What happened, you ask? No one watched, that's what. The plodding Thief I could understand. But the snappy Heist was fun.
• Jericho (Wednesdays, 8 p.m.): A nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears. Now the residents of a small Kansas town wonder if they’re the only people alive on the planet. Sounds like Lost. Only it’s not in the jungle. And there’s probably no hatch or black smoke monsters. I think.
• Shark (Thursdays, 10 p.m.): Woods plays a sleazy defense attorney (boy CBS get the right actor for the part!) who after a personal epiphany becomes a prosecutor. But he’s still kinda sleazy. So I guess the epiphany wasn’t that big of a deal.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/thompson/entries/2006/05/cbs_rolls_out_n.html
Upfront Notebook
Prime Time Showdown
(Broadcasting & Cable, 5/17/2006)
With three of the Big Four networks having unveiled their prime time lineups for 2006-07, here is a look at the daily competitive schedule for ABC, CBS and NBC.
Fox will announce its lineup on Thursday.
Sunday
7 PM ET/PT
ABC: America's Funniest Home Videos
CBS: 60 Minutes
NBC: Football Night in America
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
CBS: The Amazing Race
NBC: NFL Sunday Night Football/Post-NFL season: America's Got Talent
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: Desperate Housewives
CBS: Cold Case
NBC: NFL Sunday Night Football/Post-NFL season: The Apprentice
10 PM ET/PT
ABC: Brothers and Sisters
CBS: Without a Trace
NBC: NFL Sunday Night Football: Post-NFL season: Raines
Monday
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: Wife Swap
CBS: How I Met Your Mother/8:30 The Class
NBC: Deal or No Deal
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: The Bachelor/9:30 Supernanny
CBS: Two and a Half Men/9:30: The New Adventures of Old Christine
NBC: Heroes
10 PM ET/PT
ABC: What About Brian
CBS: CSI: Miami
NBC: Medium
Tuesday
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: Dancing With the Stars/Midseason: Set for the Rest of Your Life
CBS: NCIS
NBC: Friday Night Lights
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: Let's Rob.../8:30: Help Me Help You
CBS: The Unit
NBC: Kidnapped
10 PM ET/PT
ABC: Boston Legal
CBS: Smith
NBC: Law & Order: SVU
Wednesday
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: Dancing With the Stars/Midseason: George Lopez/According to Jim
CBS: Jericho
NBC: The Biggest Loser
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: Lost
CBS: Criminal Minds
NBC: Twenty Good Years/30 Rock
10 PM ET/PT
ABC: The Nine
CBS: CSI: NY
NBC: Law & Order
Thursday
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: Big Day/Notes From the Underbelly
CBS: Survivor
NBC: My Name Is Earl/The Office
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: Grey's Anatomy
CBS: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
NBC: Studio 60
10 PM ET/PT
ABC: Six Degrees
CBS: Shark
NBC: ER/Midseason: The Black Donnellys
Friday
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: Betty the Ugly
CBS: Ghost Whisperer
NBC: Deal or No Deal
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: Men in Trees
CBS: Close to Home
NBC: Las Vegas
10 PM ET/PT
ABC:/20/20
CBS: Numb3rs
NBC: Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Saturday
8 PM ET/PT
ABC: ABC Saturday Night College Football
CBS: Crimetime Saturday
NBC: Dateline NBC
9 PM ET/PT
ABC: ABC Saturday Night College Football
CBS: Crimetime Saturday
NBC: Drama Encore
10 PM ET/PT
ABC: ABC Saturday Night College Football
CBS: 48 Hours Mystery
NBC: Dateline NBC
For a fall schedule grid, please check here:
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/seasons/2006fall/networks.shtml
taz291819
05-17-06, 04:55 PM
Wow, really pulled that one out of the hat.
They need to figure out a way to get people watching this puppy. Perhaps paired with Gilmore Girls will help.
How about a marathon this summer? Run through seasons 1 & 2 with a daily showing.... (for Denver: preferably on the new CW Channel which is Hi-Def).
PS: I'm glad Brian is renewed - I enjoy it (and, wow the women on that show are HOT). But, will it survive?
I don't know about a marathon, but there are re-running all of Season 2, episode 1 started last night. They're pairing it up with this past season of Top Model. When the Top Model episodes end (like 10 shows total), VM will get 2 episodes a night.
The Business of TV
Dish, DirecTV Add Local HDTV Markets
By Linda Moss & David Cohen Multichannel.com 5/17/2006
EchoStar Communications Corp.’s Dish Network and DirecTV Inc. are ramping up their local-HD offerings.
Dish launched local-HD channels in 11 cities Wednesday: Dallas; Houston; Miami; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif.; San Antonio; and Seattle and Spokane, Wash.
EchoStar said Dish now offers local-HD services in 24 cities.
And DirecTV added local HDTV channels in Milwaukee, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and St. Louis Wednesday.
The nation’s largest direct-broadcast satellite provider is engaged in a nationwide expansion of HDTV programming -- one that will give it the ability to deliver more than 1,500 local HDTV channels and more than 150 national HDTV networks by 2007.
DirecTV now offers local HDTV broadcast channels in 24 cities, with plans to launch in an additional 26 cities later this year.
I don't know about a marathon, but there are re-running all of Season 2, episode 1 started last night. They're pairing it up with this past season of Top Model. When the Top Model episodes end (like 10 shows total), VM will get 2 episodes a night.
The problem is -- running a marathon now -- four months before season three starts -- just doesn't help much.
CW Stations need to run such marathons within a couple of weeks of the new season or viewers will forget and momentum will be lost.
Remember that what is necessary is to get new viewers (and lots of them!) interested in Veronica Mars. Just the same folks tuning in will not be anywhere near enough.
VisionOn
05-17-06, 05:32 PM
The problem is -- running a marathon now -- four months before season three starts -- just doesn't help much.
It would for me. I don't watch shows in mid-run but if they start from 1x01 over the Summer before the original airs I would watch next season.
With VM, every new viewer helps, VisionOn!
Did you start with episode one last night?
First, I must say that I finished watching the Grey's season finale last night. The writing is outstanding. The last 30 minutes of the season finale was somewhat of not good, but overall I liked he finale.
On Grey's moving to Thursdays: The only problem I see is that ABC has essentially left Grey's out on a island surrounded by new shows that no one knows about. Could pose a problem. No strong lead in as of yet. The DH (Desperate Housewives)/Grey's combo was the perfect marriage. DH and the Brothers and Sisters(?) should work well together.
On The Amazing Race moving to Sundays: CBS with their timeslot shifting of this show better hope that they haven't permenantly caused harm to the show by making it hard for people to find. I'll still record it, but everyone doesn't have a DVR, at least not yet.
Finally, Sunday nights will have a lot more compelling shows this coming fall. I don't think I have enough Tivos to record the shows that I watch. UPN doing comedy on Sunday nights, DH and B&S on ABC, NBC and Football and CBS with Amazing Race, Without a Trace and Cold Case. I don't watch Sunday night football so that is of a lesser concern to me, but Girlfriends, AR, DH and B&S, Without a Trace and Cold Case are shows that I currently watch or would be interested in watching if they conflict with each other time wise.
Oh yeah, big shoutout to you Fredfa. I said it last year and I'll say it again this year, you do an outstanding job keeping up with the news coming out of the Upfronts and I commend you for that. There's a lot of info out there and you seem to be able to bring us all of the various news pieces, webblogs and other musings.
David_Levin
05-17-06, 05:55 PM
It would for me. I don't watch shows in mid-run but if they start from 1x01 over the Summer before the original airs I would watch next season.
That's why I think they should go back to 1x01. Freda might be right and they can time it such that they finish around the start of the new season.
I wonder if there's any restriction on re-airing season 1 with the DVD set out.
Thanks for the kind words, Antonio. :)
Upfront Notebook
CBS' Fall Lineup
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer in his Channel Island TV Industry blog
CBS' fall lineup, announced Wednesday morning in New York by network chief Leslie Moonves, follows. No major scheduling shockers, but a few items of note:
• The Sunday movie is dead, making CBS the last network to kill off its weekly made-for-TV movie franchise (other nets still air occasional "event" movies). CBS said for years that it would stick with original movies despite typically low ratings, but the network in recent years had increasing trouble competing with similar fare on cable and, especially, with ABC's "Desperate Housewives."
• Starting its fifth season, "Without a Trace" will move from 10 p.m. Thursdays to 10 p.m. Sunday, to help fill that vacated movie slot. ABC will have a female-skewing drama, "Brothers & Sisters," in that slot, presumably leaving plenty of viewers for both. However, "Trace" could have some problems with NBC's football matchups in the fall. "Cold Case" will move one hour later, to 9 p.m., in the unforgiving slot opposite "Housewives." Expect fans to follow, but this is clearly not a growth opportunity. "The Amazing Race" will continue its scheduling rambles, this time moving to 8 p.m. Sundays, after "60 Minutes."
• Writer-producer David Crane's comedy "The Class," perhaps CBS' most-anticipated new show, will get an 8:30 p.m. Monday berth between "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men." As a "hammock" strategy — putting a new show between two stronger ones to build awareness — this doesn't quite work. The "Men" lead-out will help, but "Mother" has been struggling this season. NBC is going to peel off a lot of casual viewers during the 8 p.m. hour with "Deal or No Deal," and ABC hits the female demos with "Wife Swap." All that's going to give CBS a battle in getting viewers to sample "Class." But if the show's as terrific as CBS says it is, people will eventually find it.
• The plum 10 p.m. Thursday slot after "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" goes to "Shark," a new legal drama starring James Woods. This is a time period most drama producers would kill for, so the show better deliver the goods. Obviously, the lead-in couldn't be better, and "Shark" will also face off against weakened competition from NBC's aging "ER." ABC, which has never had much luck on the night, has another female-skewing drama, "Six Degrees."
http://hollywoodhotline.typepad.com/watcher/
VisionOn
05-17-06, 06:30 PM
With VM, every new viewer helps, VisionOn!
Did you start with episode one last night?
Dammit! You're kidding I hope? I would have watched it but Tuesday is jammed with shows as it is and I didn't pay attention, especially since I only just found out it will come back next year.
Now I really need them to start over again with a bit of fanfare, with all the current finales out of the way so I have time to watch it.
VisionOn
05-17-06, 06:33 PM
Oh yeah, big shoutout to you Fredfa. I said it last year and I'll say it again this year, you do an outstanding job keeping up with the news coming out of the Upfronts and I commend you for that. There's a lot of info out there and you seem to be able to bring us all of the various news pieces, webblogs and other musings.
I'll second that. It's the first places I check for TV news. This thread is one of the best kept secrets on the internet.
<insert round of applause here>
Jediphish
05-17-06, 06:35 PM
Dammit! You're kidding I hope? I would have watched it but Tuesday is jammed with shows as it is and I didn't pay attention, especially since I only just found out it will come back next year.
Now I really need them to start over again with a bit of fanfare, with all the current finales out of the way so I have time to watch it.
The first episode will air again sometime - check your guide - within the next week. In my market it airs again Sunday night at midnight (00:00 Monday morning). Set your Tivo to find it. Or do a search on TitanTV.com.
Most UPN affilliates re-air the regularly scheduled showing again later in the week. The episode title is "Normal is the Watchword."
VisionOn: It is being repeated Sunday at 7 PM on Channel 28.
VisionOn
05-17-06, 07:11 PM
VisionOn: It is being repeated Sunday at 7 PM on Channel 28.
Perfect, thanks.
If you enjoy "Grey's Anatomy" and haven't found the blog posted each week by the writers, you are missing a fun read.
The link is at the bottom, as usual.
So here is the latest, posted today:
Grey’s Anatomy Notebook
“Grey’s Anatomy” Creator Shonda Rhimes Explains
(All About Monday’s finale – she wrote the final hour)
So Denny Duquette died at 7:42 Monday evening.
Actually, he died once on the East coast and once again on the West coast and I’m pretty sure he’s going to die many more times on many more continents pretty damned soon.
I cried. When Denny died, I cried. I cried when I wrote the script page where Denny dies. I cried when we had the read through and the cast found out that Denny dies. I cried when Mark Tinker filmed Denny dying. I cried when Ed Ornelas edited Denny’s death. I cried watching them mix the song playing during Denny’s death. I’m a freaking crybaby when it comes to Denny.
I choose to blame editor Ed Ornelas for Denny’s death. Like I had nothing to do with it. Like I was an innocent bystander in the whole thing. Like it wasn’t me wrote it. I’d sit behind him in the editing room and sob into a tissue while saying kindly, supportive things to the back of Ed’s head. Things like “Denny Murderer! Dog Killer!!! DENNY-MURDERING-DOG-KILLER!!!”
I didn’t kill Denny. Ed did.
Right.
Look, I honestly have nothing to say for myself. No words in my own defense. Except I told you guys that the characters have to do what the characters have to do. I mean, I love Denny. Really love him. He was my “you jump, I jump” guy. He was my imaginary future husband. He was the guy I was dating in my head. HE WAS ALL I HAD. And now he’s dead. God, I feel so Izzie in this moment.
But the point is, Denny was always going to die. His character was created to die. I knew it. Jeffrey Dean Morgan knew it. And as much as I wanted Denny NOT to die when the time came, as much Jeffrey Dean Morgan wanted to NOT die when the time came, as much as Channing Dungey (our super cool studio executive ) begged me to not to hurt her Denny…
…it was his time. He had a stroke. He died. I had nothing to do with it. It was his time.
People die. Suddenly. Without warning. When you least expect it. People die. And it’s horrible and painful and utterly shocking but…it happens. And I wanted to present that on the show.
The good thing is – and you’re all yelling “GOOD THING? GOOD THING?!!!” – but, yes, there is a good thing in all of this. And that good thing is what Camille says to Richard. “I’ve been loved. I’ve been loved. That’s something everyone should feel once in their life.” Denny has been loved. And he dies knowing he was loved. And knowing that he loved back.
I named this episode “Losing My Religion” because, to me, that is what happens to each intern in this episode. Each intern lets go of the things they’ve held onto all season. George lets go of loving Meredith. Cristina lets go of her well-checked emotions. Izzie is forced to let go of her idealism. And that leads to her letting go of medicine. Alex lets go of his rage against Izzie. And Meredith…well, Meredith just lets go.
I don’t want to talk too much about the Mer/Der of it all because we are clearly hanging on a cliff here and anything I say may tell you what’s on the other side. And you know I hate spoilers. But I do feel like we’ve tried to make their relationship complex. Derek’s flawed and sometime you hate him. Meredith’s flawed and sometimes you hate her. And you can’t help but root for Addison to be happy. And you like Finn cause he births ponies and he has plans. And clearly poor Doc was a metaphor for the Mer/Der relationship and when Doc’s put down, it feels like a horrible, painful but necessary ending. But still…when Derek grabs Meredith and kisses her…it’s such a relief. You want them to figure this thing out.
I do want to talk about the costumes (done beautifully by Mimi the costume goddess). Everyone dresses up for the prom. But then we lose Denny. And here’s something you maybe don’t notice until all our interns are gathered in the room with Izzie who lies on the bed with Denny’s body: the prom clothes are actually mourning clothes. Funeral clothes. Suddenly, you see that Meredith and George and Cristina and Callie and Alex are all dressed, not for a prom, but for a funeral. Everyone in dark colors, everyone dressed somberly. As if they were in mourning. Only Izzie is in happy pink. Only Izzie looks like she didn’t know this was coming. In the last scene, Mark Tinker shot this gorgeous shot of Izzie walking down the stairs, Alex and George behind her. I love that shot. Izzie has this fallen queen thing going on that I just adore.
Speaking of the prom…dudes, I so wanted this prom. I’ve wanted this prom since the beginning of the season. We’d been planning for it and obsessing about it. Because, first of all, I like seeing men in suits. Second, these interns and their lives remind me so much of high school in all the best ways. I hope you’ve noticed that. I hope you got the Breakfast Club of it all when they give their speeches to the Chief. Cause I’m an 80’s girl and I needed my prom.
Burktina: this episode is one of my favorites for both Burke and Cristina. If you look at where they began at the beginning of Season Two and how far they’ve come…. You just hate Cristina. You hate her when she walks away from Burke after seeing that he know has a hand tremor. And then you see her give that speech to the Chief (which by the way, Sandra Oh did brilliantly and perfectly EVERY SINGLE TAKE) and you see the struggle. Her struggle to suppress all of her humanity in pursuit of perfection. And in my mind, what we realize is that she is not cold. She is terrified. Scared that if she lets her emotions out, they will overtake her and she will be hurt. And you can’t hate her. Because it’s so incredibly human and understandable. There’s that moment when Burke tells Cristina that he won’t bear a grudge and it’s so sad because he means it. He doesn’t believe she has it in her to stay by his side. And then Denny dies and Cristina watches Izzie grieving and realizes that she has no other option but to go to Burke and cover his hand with her own. Because you can lose someone if you’re not careful.
There’s more to say but I know y’all are itching for me to post this blog. So I’ll do another one later in the week. Because we still have to talk about the Chief and about Burke’s tremors and George and Callie’s thing and so much more…
One last thing: Thank you so much for watching the show. I’ve been in New York for the network upfronts and it’s been amazing to hear from fans how much they enjoy the show. It means a lot to me and all of us who work on Grey’s. You may have heard we are moving to Thursday night. I’m thrilled because Thursday is a big day for TV and I love a challenge and I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed that you’ll follow us to our new night.
http://www.greyswriters.com/
Upfront Notebook
Virginia Heffernan at the Television Upfronts
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times TV Critic in the Times upfront blog
CBS | 05.17 5:16 P.M.
Tough Guys
Jimmy Woods is up pushing "Shark," and telling his life's centerpiece story: that he turned down a scholarship to MIT to be an actor. But he adds this time that he went to acting school with Les Moonves, and that Moonves "still can't act." Why are these guys all so hard on each other? I like the gentler bobos-in-paradise guys over at ABC — the ones who pride themselves on crying at "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
In short, ABC is vital and growing, NBC is lost, and CBS is still morbidly powerful.
Onto Fox and the CW tomorrow.
CBS | 05.17 5:11 P.M.
Make It Happen
It's Mariah! We'd been told that the big musical act this year would be "better than Aretha" (who played last year's upfront) and "not as good as the Who" (who played the year before). But Mariah's the best yet — golden, slim, in great voice.
Mariah, who's singing "We Belong Together" in the same kittenish way that Katie did her spiel, is a perfect match for CBS. The pop star and the network are both easy to make fun of, and not cool, but, man, do they make money. And they don't quit.
CBS | 05.17 5:03 P.M.
Web Work
For digital, CBS has two clear ideas: a Mark Burnett online reality show that draws clues from CBS's shows and ads, demanding that both be watched closely. It's called "Gold Rush."
Second, "Jericho" — which might lend itself best to online cultification — is going to have a "d" plotline, which will be broadcast only on the web. This might or might not work, but at least it's a clear concept.
CBS | 05.17 5:00 P.M.
Strong Stuff
When CBS plays to its strengths, or its strength — meaning, yup, crime — their sangfroid pays off. "Smith," a heist drama with Ray Liotta and Amy Smart, looks strong. "Jericho," an eerie small-town show set in Kansas, also seems intriguing. At aloof CBS, the highest praise a new show gets is: "chilling."
CBS | 05.17 4:55 P.M.
Not Funny
I don't know what to say about CBS comedies, since "Two and a Half Men" sets the standard at the network. Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, jokes about Charlie Sheen's tabloid covers, but come on. His reputation for abject dissipation has got to cut into his appeal on a family show a LITTLE.
"The Class" looks OK, not funny. "The New Adventures of Old Christine" has been half-good. But Julia Louis-Dreyfus appears here, and even SHE seems venal in the CBS way. Impossible — they sucked the cuteness out of Katie AND Elaine. That evil eye can do anything.
CBS | 05.17 4:48 P.M.
Crime Time
"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" Katie Cou[/FONT][/COLOR]ric asked earlier. "Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate."
Well, that was a soulful greeting. What is it about CBS that turns its people into heartless, clinical operators?
CBS just played a fake brand extension: Mandy Patinkin singing standards with "Criminal Minds" lyrics, like "blood-drops keep falling on my head." People winced. It's depressing to remember that a TV lineup with a lot of "crime" is also a lineup with a lot of murders.
Do jokes about strangling and body bags really play with seniors? Or anyone but cold-blooded TV executives?
CBS | 05.17 4:42 P.M.
Sail On
Please bring out Katie. We're dying to see a woman out here. "We're all ready and pumped," she says, to work together and create news and etc. With CBS.
"A ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are for," she tells us, explaining her decision to leave NBC. Whoa — a quick, slightly coquettish speech, which she gave while shifting her weight like a teenager.
CBS | 05.17 4:39 P.M.
Ready for Some Football
Someone from the sports division just predicted the Giants and the Colts in the Super Bowl this year. Two brothers, one named Eli, come to the stage. Oh, I see: one plays for the Colts and one for the Giants. And they were already scheduled to come on stage, so the prediction probably doesn't mean much. So much for breaking sports news.
Moonves says, when the Manning (aha!) brothers exit: "Just what we need. More tall gentiles."
CBS | 05.17 4:13 P.M.
Safe at Home
It's about safety and trust, and who cares about being cool — that's the Moonves line.
Compare this to warmth and beefcake at ABC, and grim striving at NBC. No one cares about being cool anymore, that's the truth. Leave that sucker's game to the CW.
CBS | 05.17 3:48 P.M.
That's Entertainment!
Oh whoops, the Jersey Boys are hugely famous, nominated for a billion Tonys for something . . . on Broadway. . .
I've got to go to see one play one day.
Les Moonves showed a still, not (blessedly) a clip, of himself and "CBS Evening News" Bob Schieffer dressed as the "Brokeback Mountain" men. Oog.
CBS | 05.17 3:40 P.M.
Combo Platter
Jeez, they're not kidding. Ed Sullivan just introduced — via an old clip — an all-boy coverband in matching glittery suits. A real, unknown (to me) combo emerges. Four-part harmony, and a MEDLEY, just like grandpa used to listen to. This is better than CBS trying to be cool, but this cartoon of squareness might be going too far.
CBS | 05.17 3:34 P.M.
Memories....
The CBS eye logo was introduced in 1951, I learned from the monotonous quiz on the screen. 1962. 1951. These years are apparently the mid-90s — the good years — for the CBS demo.
The network "that makes you think and feel and remember." Remember! Forget Vh1 and loving the 80s, THIS is the nostalgia network, and it's embracing its AARP side.
CBS | 05.17 3:23 P.M.
'MASH' Note
Carnegie Hall. A version of Screen Scramblers is playing on the big screen, with those unfailingly creepy CBS eyes projected all around it. Quiz questions come up, like: When did the upfronts start? "1962," says the handsome, white-haired executive next to me. "Before I got into the business." His first year, he says, was the one where CBS introduced "MASH." "Did you buy time on it?" I ask him. "I don't remember," he says. "But I remember I didn't think "MASH" the movie could work on television."
"The upfronts are an amusing anachronism," he says, looking amused. He explains what he's doing here this year — overseeing ad buyers, maybe? — but I don't really understand it. Come to think of it, are the people around me — the brush-cut and gel-headed men and the flat-haired women with big engagement rings — actual deciders? I suspect they're mostly here for the after-parties and a glimpse of Jeff Probst. Good for them.
CBS | 05.17 9:21 A.M.
On With the Shows
This is an extremely geeky crowd. Like truly wonk questions about affiliates and their time zones and, heh heh, "Threshold" and "Love Monkey."
But Les is trying to throw off the geekiness by minimizing the digital stuff, the new platforms. Everyone has learned from Jeff Zucker's stultifying tech presentation at NBC: Don't talk about digital. Stick to the shows, characters, stars. I bet at the CBS upfront later today it'll be presented as even more of a footnote than it was yesterday at ABC.
Breakfast over. We geeks have had our eggs and doughnuts and Moonves time. And Ben-Gurion would have loved "The Unit"!
That's got to count as breaking news to someone.
CBS | 05.17 9:11 A.M.
A New Mood, a New Les
Les Moonves is not a warrior anymore. "I had to be a counterpuncher," he says, when the network was in last place. "The troops" were out there, fighting the other schedules. "Now it's more of a game," he says.
"This is a kinder, gentler Les Moonves," he says. "I love everybody! I love everybody!"
CBS | 05.17 9:06 A.M.
The Answer
David Ben Gurion's favorite show on CBS would have been "The Unit"!
"Remember," Les tells me. "He was a warrior."
CBS | 05.17 9:04 A.M.
The Last Picture Show
Movies of the week are over!
CBS, the last holdout for Sunday original movies, has dropped them.
It was the genre, says Moonves. And they're keeping the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. Great. Maybe "Riding the Bus With My Sister" can get a sequel?
CBS | 05.17 8:57 A.M.
Hit and Run
Moonves, who just knocked the red states by accident (confusing Utah and Kansas and then shrugging the whole thing off saying "I'm a New York guy"), refers to the lead of "Shark" as "Jimmy Woods," and he's forever emphasizing how thick he is with the jocky, prizefighter men of America.
"You score more runs with doubles than with homeruns," Moonves says, excusing the low buzz of what is still the Depends undergarments network.
CBS | 05.17 8:46 A.M.
Top O' the Morn
Black Rock. CBS press breakfast. Leslie Moonves, calling himself a "hotdog," admits that as president and CEO he should no longer be doing this Ross-Perot-unveil-the-colored-charts shtick anymore. But he clearly can't resist. "This is not your old CBS," Moonves says, surprisingly, since he's always crowed about the old CBS. What he means is that the network is now offering "action/adventure," including the heist drama "Smith." He also plugs CBS's Tuesday night - with "NCIS" and "The Unit" - as "the most patriotic night on television."
I'm dying to ask him what show on the CBS schedule would have been the favorite of his great uncle, David Ben-Gurion.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/television/tv-upfronts.html
FSugino
05-17-06, 08:29 PM
I've never seen an upfront presentation leaked to the internet.
But we can always hope for a first!
Check it out here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVGLTfgUBtk)
You have to wait a couple of minutes for the dream segment to start.
Xesdeeni
05-17-06, 10:54 PM
Check it out here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVGLTfgUBtk)
You have to wait a couple of minutes for the dream segment to start.THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! As predicted, my wife loved it!
Xesdeeni
CPanther95
05-17-06, 10:55 PM
Hilarious clip.
Now that was worth waiting for.
Thanks so much, FSugino!
Upfront Notebook
Couric helps out CBS
The network's incoming anchor breaks NBC's no-publicity deal.
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer May 18, 2006
NEW YORK — The network upfronts are known for their stunts and surprises, and CBS managed to pull off one particularly unexpected appearance Wednesday during its presentation at Carnegie Hall.
About half an hour into the show, soon-to-be CBS News anchor Katie Couric came out to greet the crowd of advertisers, two weeks before her 15-year run at NBC's "Today" concludes.
Couric was introduced by CBS Corp. President Leslie Moonves and came out on stage to applause and some whistles. In brief remarks, Couric said she was "thrilled to be joining a remarkable team of journalists," adding that "when it comes to intelligence, commitment and integrity, they are top-notch."
She thanked outgoing anchor Bob Schieffer for his support and said that she hoped to "develop a broadcast that is relevant, accessible, compelling and human." After a gratifying career at NBC, Couric added that she was "so honored CBS is giving me the opportunity to give this my best shot."
While some in the audience may not have been surprised to see CBS trotting out its arguably biggest new star of next season, Couric wasn't originally going to make an appearance at the upfront out of deference to her current employer.
Earlier in the year, when it was clear the longtime "Today" co-anchor was itching for a new challenge, NBC officials agreed to let her begin negotiations early with CBS as long as she did not do publicity for her new job until after her contract at NBC ends on May 31.
Extracting that agreement proved to be a particularly deft move by NBC. In April, Couric announced on "Today" that she was leaving the show to become the next anchor of the "CBS Evening News" — her only public statement so far about the move.
NBC followed her announcement with its own the next day when officials broke the news that Meredith Vieira of ABC's "The View" would be replacing Couric at "Today." (ABC didn't seem to mind letting Vieira make an appearance at NBC headquarters that day to discuss her new role, or being spotlighted at NBC's upfront earlier this week.)
Meanwhile, CBS officials were privately irked that they weren't going to get to show off Couric at the network's presentation, especially since she's just two weeks away from becoming a CBS employee.
Moonves joked with reporters Wednesday morning that he offered to let Julie Chen, "The Early Show" co-anchor — and Moonves' wife — attend the NBC upfront in exchange, "but they rejected that."
The situation created a dilemma for Couric, who, grateful for NBC's graciousness about her decision to move on, has sought to balance the competing interests of her current and future employers. Ultimately, she concluded she should be at the CBS upfront and told NBC officials in a note earlier this week.
"Katie thought it would be odd to not make a brief appearance," said her spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik. "NBC was informed of her intentions, and she did not receive any objection."
NBC officials declined to comment, but indicated that the move raised some eyebrows.
"The feeling on this end was a little surprise that she would go ahead and do it," said one executive who did not want to be named to avoid exacerbating the matter. "But no one is going to lose sleep over it."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-wk-couric18may18,1,2330915.story?coll=la-entnews-tv
Upfront Notebook
Inherited shows fill CW lineup
From Los Angeles Times staff reports May 18, 2006
With an eye on its targeted 18- to 34-year-old audience, the CW is bringing back a full slate of UPN and WB shows for its September launch as well as ordering two new dramas and a comedy spinoff series.
The network will fill its Monday lineup with a block of African American comedies, with Chris Rock's "Everybody Hates Chris" moving from its Thursday spot to start the night off at 8 p.m. "All About Us" and "Girlfriends" will keep their 8:30 and 9 p.m. slots, to be followed by the "Girlfriends" spinoff "The Game."
Also returning will be "America's Next Top Model," "Beauty and the Geek," "Gilmore Girls," "WWE: Smackdown!" "Smallville," "One Tree Hill," "7th Heaven," "Veronica Mars" and "Supernatural."
The network's two new dramas will be "Runaway," about a family that goes on the lam after its patriarch is convicted of murder, and "Palm Springs," a prime-time soap opera with Sharon Lawrence.
Meanwhile, Fox today will be picking up four new dramas and three comedies:
"Primary" — a drama about two hostage negotiators, a man and a woman, who have the added tension of being attracted to each other.
"Vanished" — a broad political conspiracy surrounds the mysterious disappearance of a senator's wife.
"American Crime" — a drama starring Victor Garber that follows attorneys who take high-profile cases.
"The Wedding Album" — an anthology series starring Bruno Campos about a wedding photographer and the woman he works with.
"Happy Hour" — a buddy comedy about two noncomplementary men in Chicago. One's been damaged by love, the other's been blinded by it.
"Til Death" — Joely Fisher comedy about two couples at different stages of their marriages.
"The Winner" — a successful man in his 40s looks back at his life as a neurotic 32-year-old who still lived with his parents.
Leaving the Fox lineup will be "Killer Instinct," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Reunion" and "That '70s Show."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-wk-preview18may18,1,2895397.story?coll=la-entnews-tv
Upfront Notebook
Fox Schedule Sticks With Tried and True Successes
By Bill Carter The New York Times May 18, 2006
With another edition of "American Idol" in the works for next season, the Fox network doesn't need much else to remain a powerhouse in the ratings. Still, Fox has ordered four new dramas and three new comedies to augment its prime-time schedule next season.
Fox has always relied less heavily on stars than other networks, and next season will be no exception, though Fox is bringing on shows with some familiar names, including Brad Garrett, Victor Garber and Rob Corddry of "The Daily Show."
Mr. Garrett will star in what is by far the most talked-about new entry going into Fox's presentation to advertisers today in Manhattan. Mr. Garrett, who played Robert for the entire run of the hit CBS comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond" (and was for a time expected to continue as that character in a sequel on that network), will play half of a couple whose long, fractious marriage stands in stark contrast to the starry-eyed newlyweds next door. The new comedy is called " 'Til Death," and Joely Fisher (most recently in "Desperate Housewives") plays Mr. Garrett's wife.
As with the other networks, Fox is not making an extensive commitment to comedy though it has ordered two other sitcoms. One is called "The Winner," which stars Mr. Corddry as a man hitting his 40's who looks back fondly on the year 1994, when life seemed more exciting. The show was written by Seth MacFarlane, who created the hit "Family Guy" for Fox.
The other new comedy will be "Happy Hour," about two roommates in Chicago, in which one tries to bring the other out of his depression after a relationship goes bad.
No new network schedule would be complete without a serialized thriller, and Fox has one called "Vanished." It traces, throughout the season, the mysterious disappearance of the young wife of a United States senator. The usual conspiracies abound. Gale Harold of "Queer as Folk" is one of the stars.
Weddings seems to be a recurring theme on the new network lineups, and Fox has a drama, "The Wedding Album," about a wedding planner who directs a high-profile New York wedding in each episode aided by a young woman, the photographer.
"Primary" is another new Fox drama about a pair of F.B.I. hostage negotiators who become linked romantically and are allowed to keep working as a team because they are so good at their jobs. Ron Livingston is one of the stars.
Like the other networks, Fox keeps trying to find police procedurals, and it will bring in one from the most successful producers in that genre, Jerry Bruckheimer. His new show, "American Crime," focuses more on the legal system and a dream team of defense lawyers, headed by Victor Garber.
CW's First Schedule
The new CW network unveils its first schedule tomorrow, and it will be heavily populated by holdover shows from the WB and UPN networks.
The CW will add just one new drama in the fall, while also ordering one for the midseason. The network is also adding just one new comedy.
The new drama is "Runaway," yet another serialized thriller and yet another spin on "The Fugitive." This time an entire family goes on the run after the father is falsely accused of murder, and, yes, the usual conspiracies will abound. Donnie Wahlberg, who was in the "Saw" movies and the NBC series "Boomtown," is the star.
The new comedy is "The Game," and it is a spinoff the UPN comedy "Girlfriends." The show follows the lives of a group of women involved with professional football players.
The CW is also ordering a show called "Hidden Palms" from Kevin Williamson, the creator of the series "Dawson's Creek." It is a soap opera about a troubled teen-ager who moves to Palm Springs. The cast includes two alumna from "NYPD Blue," Gail O'Grady and Sharon Lawrence.
The CW will also bring back its highest-rated incumbent series, "7th Heaven," which was said to have concluded on Monday. "One Tree Hill" from the WB also made the cut, as did "Veronica Mars" from UPN. "Everwood" from the WB did not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/arts/television/18fox.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Upfront Notebook
CBS: "Out of Practice" fans, you're out of luck
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic in her TV blog
Curious. Nobody really rallies to save CBS series. In fact, I can't recall the last time I received any notice of any "Save Our Show" campaigns focused on the network's series.
I guess that's a positive sign -- most of what you see on CBS is working, and the stuff that isn't is so clearly not worth saving that it disappears with little notice.
The exception, I suppose, is "Out of Practice," whose fans e-mailed me regularly after the series disappeared from the air in January, and then later, when it was weighted down by the horrific "Courting Alex" and left to sink in a poisonous Wednesday night timeslot.
To those people I send my sympathies, and some advice: Next time you fall in love with a show, tell the network about it. Not me! I can't do diddly to save your series. Moreover, get people to watch it. That's what really counts.
Joining "OOP" (unfortunate acronym, huh?) in the refuse bin are "Alex," "Love Monkey," "Threshold," "Still Standing" and "Yes, Dear."
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/print.asp?entryID=103561
Upfront Notebook
TV’s Promiscuous Bitches
The creator of “Grey’s Anatomy” on women, sex and her hit show
By Nikki Finke LA Weekly
The creator of Grey’s Anatomy on women, sex and her hit show Up-front week is when the networks unveil their fall TV schedules to advertisers at fancy New York City venues, then attempt to mask the stink of failure at even more lavish parties in even fancier venues. In other words, it’s all a big con. The alphabets pretend that they still have an audience, and advertisers feign that they don’t have other media options. Meanwhile, a new poll finds that almost 80 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds can’t name the big-four broadcasters and prefer the Web to TV anyway.
The biggest news from this week’s up-front (if you don’t count the inexplicable trend of casting geriatric actors like John Lithgow and James Woods in picked-up, picked-over pilots) is ABC’s big gamble: yanking Grey’s Anatomy out of its Desperate Housewives–protected Sunday-night time slot and moving it to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. That means CBS’s CSI juggernaut and NBC’s “Mustn’t See” comedy block will do battle on what may soon be regarded as the bloodiest night of TV week. But to understand how truly screwed up the network development process is, chew on this: Megahit Grey’s Anatomy almost didn’t make it on air. Creator–executive producer–head writer Shonda Rhimes told me in a recent interview that she and parent company Disney and Disney’s Touchstone TV arm “had some hard times. I’m not even going to pretend that we didn’t. There was a while when we didn’t have a time slot. There was a while when we didn’t know when we were going to air. We were making shows in a void because we were a midseason replacement.”
The main sticking point to putting G.A. on the schedule was Rhimes’ promiscuous bitches. Because if Desperate Housewives is a TV phenomenon, then Grey’s Anatomy is a TV freak of nature due to its woman characters. They’re bad, bad female brainiac surgeons who do bad, bad things to the people around them, especially to men who thrill at the way these women’s wardrobe malfunctions steam up hospital supply closets — the FCC’s decency hang-ups be damned.
“In the beginning, even before we made the pilot, some executive would write this sentence in the script every once in a while: ‘Can the women be nicer?’ Those people aren’t at the network now,” recalls Rhimes, a Chicago native and single mom in her early 30s who graduated from USC film school. “My answer was always, ‘No, that’s who they are.’”
L.A. WEEKLY:What do you think is the show’s most controversial opinion or attitude?
SHONDA RHIMES: It’s interesting to write a show where our lead character unapologetically has sex however and whenever and with whomever she wants it. And it’s been interesting to have a lead character whose method of dealing with having a bad day is to go into a bar, get drunk, pick up a gorgeous guy, bring him home and then throw him out in the morning. That feels like women I know. It feels like the world that we live in. And yet I’m constantly being asked the question, “Why is she so promiscuous?” We started our pilot out that way, and I remember being asked, “Are you sure you want to do that?” “Is that the kind of thing a woman would do?” “Other women aren’t going to like that.” But women actually found it very empowering.
Do you worry when you’re writing sex scenes about the FCC’s decency crackdown?
No. I was a huge fan of Sex and the City and Six Feet Under. But we are on network television. There are standards and practices. What’s fun is finding a way to tell the same story that we want to tell without being indecent, and yet still being indecent. It forces you to be more creative.
Why is it so important that women on TV be “nice”?
I think there’s a fear of not-nice women. I think our characters are always very nice and they’re all caring. But they’re also selfish and they’re also competitive and they also have bad days and they also do bad things and they’re also all flawed. What I like about that is it gives you some place to go. It’s very hard to deal with somebody who’s nothing but nice.
Would the world be a better place if women didn’t have this pressure to be nice?
Being liked and being nice and being non-threatening seem to be the three most important qualities for women. If we just got over it and let the men be threatened and see that we weren’t nice and experience that we weren’t necessarily all likable, I don’t think we would be worried about a woman’s place in the world the way we are.
You’re raising a girl. What kind of values or attitudes do you want to instill in her about being a woman?
To grow up fearless. No, I think it’s to grow up unapologetic. Like there’s no reason to apologize for being a woman in this world — for either its best parts or its worst parts. You don’t apologize for loving shoes, you don’t apologize for crying when you’re mad, you don’t apologize for being tough, you don’t apologize for beating someone out in a competition. Just being unapologetic.
Are you the first African-American woman to run a prime-time network series?
We think so, but we don’t know. I’m pretty sure about this: We’re the only network drama that has a writing staff that is more than 50 percent women.
How do men write women?
I do think you watch TV and you feel like the women are written as a man would like them to be, as opposed to how they are. That sometimes there can be a lack of complexity: Either you’re a saint or you’re a whore, either you’re good or you’re bad, as opposed to getting to be extremely competitive and extremely selfish, but also extraordinarily kind. That’s what I don’t see very often with a lot of woman characters. You’re either just the love interest that somebody’s pining for, or you’re the villain who’s making someone’s life a living hell. But honestly, on our show the men are written as how I’d like them to be as opposed to how they are, and I’m perfectly happy with that.
What were you looking for when you chose the writers?
I wanted to read their original writing samples as opposed to their spec writing samples. And then, really, it was about hiring people who I liked. You want people who were interesting enough to want to sit in the room with and debate the fate of these 10 characters on our show for a year, at the very least.
You’ve talked before about the mantra in the writers’ room being no characters who do personal confessions.
I say “no hugging, no crying, no secret pain.” What’s funny now is, literally, we have “approved” crying. People come and say, “I really need this character to cry. Is it okay?”
What’s the difference between your show and ER?
Our show is retro the way it works. Our show is how our doctors feel about the patients. And, frankly, not even about the patients, but how the doctors feel about their own things while stuff is happening to the patients. I always say this is not a medical show. This is a relationship show with some surgeries thrown in for good fun.
You never had to live in your car. You had success almost from the start, didn’t you?
It always sounds easier than it was, probably. No, I would probably be the first to admit that I did not struggle. I don’t know why that is. Part of it is that I am extremely naive. Which means, in a weird way, that I just blindly pushed forward despite any obstacles that were put in my way. I just thought, “What’s the worst that can happen?” I believe things generally tend to work out. If you are looking for problems, they generally appear. Whereas if you’re not looking for them, you might trip over them and keep on going.
Do you have an example of you being über-naive?
I did not even realize for the first six months of the entire show that I could fire any of my writers if I didn’t like them. Honestly. I liked them tremendously, so it never would have occurred to me. I just thought they were all family and were going to be with us for the duration. But then somebody asked me how everyone was working out like that. I went, “Really? We can fire them?” It seemed shocking to me.
http://www.laweekly.com/general/deadline-hollywood/tvs-promiscuous-bitches/13521/
Upfront Notebook
CBS plans few changes for fall lineup
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Wed, May. 17, 2006
If you liked what you saw on CBS this past season, you're going to like what you'll see when the network launches its ``new'' schedule come September.
The network announced Wednesday that it has renewed a whopping 17 current series for next season with an 18th -- ``King of Queens'' returning for its ninth and final year in January. That is believed to be a record in TV world for keeping a program lineup intact.
As a result, CBS will add just four new shows and the biggest news coming out of its schedule announcement was a revamped Sunday lineup featuring its Thursday hit, ``Without A Trace,'' and the Emmy-winning ``The Amazing Race'' moving to that night.
To create space for the ``Trace'' and ``Race,'' it ended its 20-year-old ``CBS Sunday Night Movie'' franchise, eliminating the last remaining weekly vehicle for original TV films and miniseries on network television. With ABC and NBC already all but out of the made-for-TV movie game, the end of ``CBS Sunday Night Movie'' means the networks have now officially ceded that programming genre to such cable channels as HBO, TNT, Sci Fi and Hallmark.
A quick breakdown of what CBS will have for the fall, by day:
Sunday
In an effort to battle the ABC lineup anchored by ``Desperate Housewives'' and NBC's new ``Sunday Night Football,'' CBS brings in ``Race'' at 8 p.m. following the long-running and still-popular ``60 Minutes.'' The reality show stumbled this past season creatively and in the ratings but still has a loyal audience.
``Cold Case,'' which may be the most-watched and best-made show on TV that gets almost no publicity, moves to 9 p.m., pairing with ``Trace'' which has been averaging 18.7 million viewers per week this season.
Monday
CBS executives must have been breathing a sigh of relief when ABC decided to move Sunday ratings juggernaut ``Grey's Anatomy'' to Thursday, rather than Monday as originally expected. The network's Monday comedy lineup has had a downturn in viewership since the end of ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' and might have taken a real hit from ``Grey's.''
Come the fall, ``How I Met Your Mother'' will move to the 8 p.m. slot while ``Two And A Half Men'' and ``The New Adventures of Old Christine'' will remain at 9 and 9:30. (``CSI: Miami'' will continue to hold down the 10 p.m. hour.)
The one newcomer -- ``The Class'' from David Crane of ``Friends'' -- was considered such a sure thing that CBS outbid NBC and ABC for it and guaranteed it a slot based solely on one script. Starring Jason Ritter (``Joan of Arcadia'') and Lizzy Caplan (``Related''), the comedy focuses on a group of 20-somethings who reunite after being best friends way back in the third grade.
Tuesday
Having done well in the ratings this past season even against ``American Idol,'' the network's two military dramas -- ``NCIS'' and ``The Unit'' -- will stay together starting at 8 p.m.
At 10 p.m., CBS adds ``Smith,'' a serialized drama from John Wells (``The West Wing,'' ``ER'') with an A-list cast headed by Ray Liotta (``Goodfellas''), Virginia Madsen (``Sideways''), Simon Baker (``The Guardian''), Jonny Lee Miller (``Transpotting'') and Amy Smart (``Felicity''). Liotta plays a sophisticated thief trying to pull off a few last lucrative jobs before retiring with his wife (Madsen).
Wednesday
Having bombed out with one sci fi drama, ``Threshold,'' last year, CBS tries to get it right this time with the new ``Jericho,'' a show about the residents of a small Kansas town who are the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Created by Jon Turteltaub (``National Treasure''), the series stars Skeet Ulrich (``Scream''), veteran TV actor Gerald McRaney and Ashley Scott (one of the short-lived ``Birds of Prey'').
``Jericho'' slides into the lineup ahead of ``Criminal Minds'' -- one of last season's surprise hits -- at 9 p.m. and ``CSI: NY'' at 10.
Thursday
CBS is finally going to get some competition on Thursdays as ABC brings in ``Grey's Anatomy'' and NBC debuts its most-talked-about new show, ``Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip.''
The theory on the part of the other networks is that while ``Survivor'' (at 8 p.m.) and ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (at 9) are still big hits -- in the case of ``CSI,'' a very big hit -- they are starting to show signs of age with eroding viewership. Well, it's only a theory and CBS certainly begs to differ.
Replacing ``Trace'' at 10 p.m. is what CBS executives think is their strongest new show: ``Shark,'' a legal drama starring Oscar nominee James Woods and Jeri Ryan (``Boston Public,'' ``The O.C.'') and produced by Brian Grazer (``A Beautiful Mind'') among others. Spike Lee directed the pilot for this show about a ruthless defense attorney (Woods) who has an epiphany and joins the prosecutor's office.
Friday and Saturday
The lineup of ``Ghost Whisperer,'' ``Close to Home'' and ``Numbers'' returns for a second season after scoring decent viewership on Fridays last year.
As for Saturday, it's the same old, same old with repeats of ``CSI'' and ``Without A Trace'' and ``48 Hours Mystery'' at 10 p.m. as the only original programming.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/14601588.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Upfront Notebook
Fox won't mess with success
Net upfront about its primetime stability
By Josef Adalian Variety.com
Poised to win its second consecutive ratings title, Fox today will unveil a fall schedule that stresses stability over sizzle.
Net plans to introduce four hours of new programming -- three dramas and two sitcoms -- on its 15-hour sked. Frosh fare featuring stars such as Brad Garrett and Victor Garber will be spread over four nights, with Fox keeping at least one hour of returning programming on every night of the week.
Only uncertainty is whether Fox plans to move "American Idol" from its current Tuesday-Wednesday air pattern to a Wednesday-Thursday sked when the show returns for a sixth season in January. While there's been no buzz about such a move, it's always an option in Fox's arsenal.
Other Fox sked moves are easier to read given the net's already confirmed pickups and the fact that it heads into the 2006-07 season a relative bastion of stability and strength. Having proven they can launch new dramas in the fall, Fox Entertainment prexy Peter Liguori and his team seem to have finally broken the fall baseball playoffs curse that has plagued the net for years.
Fox's biggest play is on Thursdays, where it seems ready to go after the traditional comedy audience NBC is abandoning.
Net is expected to pair Garrett starrer " 'Til Death" at 8 p.m. with ensemble laffer "Happy Hour" at 8:30. Both shows are traditional four-camera laffers with potentially broad appeal, in contrast to the single-camera comedies NBC and ABC are programming on the night.
Look for "The OC," minus series star Mischa Barton, to return at 9 p.m.
Elsewhere, industry observers predict Fox will keep its three fall drama tentpoles where they are.
"Prison Break" will likely return in August or early September on Monday nights, paired with new missing persons drama "Vanished." Only question outstanding is whether "Break" stays at 8 or airs in the 9 p.m. slot it occupied in the fall.
On Tuesdays, white-hot medical hour "House" should stay planted at 9 p.m., with crisis negotiation drama "Standoff" (formerly known as "Primary") airing at 8.
"Bones" returns for its second season on Wednesdays, probably at 8 p.m. It'll likely be followed at 9 by the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Garber starrer "Justice." Latter skein had been known as "American Crime," but that title would have given Fox -- home of "American Idol" and "American Dad" -- a bit too much patriotism.
This year is the second Bruckheimer has landed a show at a net with the working title "American Crime." CBS' "Close to Home" was developed with that title last year.
On Fridays, look for some combo of Fox reality skeins such as "Nanny 911" and "Trading Spouses" in the fall -- or perhaps the net's new Endemol gameshow "Show Me the Money." Retooled dramedy "Wedding Album" could land on the night sometime during the season.
"Cops" and "America's Most Wanted" will stay anchored on Saturdays.
With other networks making major changes on Sunday, it seems logical Fox will play a pat hand. Football and various animated repeats will fill 7-8 p.m. in the fall, with "King of the Hill" returning in January post-football.
"The Simpsons" will begin its march toward its 400th episode by remaining Sundays at 8, with "American Dad" expected to get a new timeslot at 8:30. "Family Guy" is likely to stay at 9, followed by "The War at Home" at a new time.
Not returning next fall: "The Bernie Mac Show," "That '70s Show," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Arrested Development," "Kitchen Confidential," "Free Ride," "Reunion," "Killer Instinct," "Stacked" and "Head Cases."
Fox declined to comment on its plans in advance of today's press conference unveiling its schedule. As always, it's possible the net could make a last-minute change to its sked.
Thursday’s Season Finales
"Will & Grace," 8, NBC (Series finale)
"That '70s Show," 8, Fox (Series finale)
"CSI," 9, CBS
"The O.C.," 9, Fox
"Without a Trace," 10, CBS
"ER," 10, NBC
Upfront Notebook
Here comes the new-in-name-only CW
By Gary Levin USA Today
CW will launch as a brand-new network in mid-September, but its schedule will look awfully familiar to fans of WB and UPN.
The network, which replaces both and is jointly owned by CBS Corp. and Warner Bros., is adding just one new comedy and one new drama for fall.
Most of its schedule, which is being announced to advertisers today, will consist of shows already airing on WB and UPN, and most of them are expected to continue airing in their current time slots.
So WB's Gilmore Girls will be paired with UPN's Veronica Mars on Tuesdays, and UPN's top series, America's Next Top Model, will lead into WB's One Tree Hill on Wednesday. UPN's wrestling will remain on Fridays.
And WB's resurrected 7th Heaven, which was pronounced dead last month after a 10-season run, will return in its longtime Monday home.
UPN's Monday block of urban comedies will shift to Sundays, led by Everybody Hates Chris, the sitcom from Chris Rock inspired by his Brooklyn childhood.
New series are Runaway, a drama produced by Darren Star (Sex and the City) about a family on the lam after dad (Donnie Wahlberg) is wrongly convicted of murder, as they try to prove his innocence; and The Game, a Girlfriends comedy spinoff about women attached to pro football players.
Another drama, due in midseason, is Palm Springs, a soap about a troubled teen who moves with his family to the California enclave, from Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson. Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue, American Dreams) is among the stars.
Left in the dust are WB's Everwood, Pepper Dennis, Modern Men, Bedford Diaries, What I Like About You, Twins, Living with Fran and Related, and UPN's Eve, One on One, Half and Half, Cuts and Love, Inc. (UPN had seven comedies with largely black casts at the start of this season; CW will now have only four.)
And the fate of the comedy Reba is now unclear: It was promised a two-year renewal last spring, but CW is now balking at paying for a year's worth of unproduced episodes and may decide to keep the show for midseason.
Lots of familiar faces for debut season
For the debut season of the CW network, which takes the place of WB and UPN, Beauty and the Geek will replace America?s Next Top Model at midseason. Here’s the tentative fall schedule, to be announced Thursday:
The CW Primetime Schedule
Monday
8:00 7th Heaven
9:00 Runaway (new show)
Tuesday
8:00 Gilmore Girls
9:00 Veronica Mars
Wednesday
8:00 America's Next Top Model
9:00 One Tree Hill
Thursday
8:00 Smallville
9:00 Supernatural
Friday
8:00 WWE Friday Night Smackdown
Sunday
7:00 Everybody Hates Chris
7:30 All of Us
8:00 Girlfriends
8:30 The Game (new show)
9:00 America’s Next Top Model (Repeat)
Upfront Notebook
Fox schedule
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog
Here's what Fox has in mind for the coming season, pasted from the announcement. It's in two pieces, fall and January, since Fox prepares formal plans for January based on the return of ''American Idol.'' New shows are in bold type.
Fox: Fall
(All Times ET/PT)
MONDAY
8 PRISPrison Break
9 Vanished
TUESDAY
8 Standoff
9 House
WEDNESDAY
8 Bones
9 Justice
THURSDAY
8 ‘Til Death
8:30 Happy Hour
9 The O.C..
FRIDAY
8 NANNY 911
9 TRADING SPOUSESMEET YOUR NEW MOMMY
SATURDAY
8 Cops
8:30 Cops
9 America’s Most WantedAmerica Strikes Back
11 PM MADtv
Midnight TALK Talk Show with Spike Ferensten
SUNDAY
7 Football Overrun (Comedy Encores)
7:30 Football Overrun (Comedy Encores)
8 The Simpsons
8:30 American Dad
9 Family Guy
9:30 The War At Home
Fox: January, 2007
(All Times ET/PT)
MONDAY
8 Standoff
9 24
TUESDAY
8 American Idol Performance Show
9 House
WEDNESDAY
8 Justice
9 American Idol Results Show
9:30 The Loop
THURSDAY
8 ‘Til Death
8:30 Happy Hour
9 The O.C..
FRIDAY
8 Bones
9 The Wedding Album
SATURDAY
8 Cops
8:30 Cops
9 America’s Most WantedAmerica Strikes Back
11 PM MADtv
MIDNIGHT TALK Talk Show with Spike Ferensten
SUNDAY
7 Comedy Repeats
7:30 King of the Hill
8 The Simpsons
8:30 American Dad
9 Family Guy
9:30 The War At Home
http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/
Upfront Notebook
Fox Goes for Stability With New Schedule
Network Adds Latenight Saturday Show
From TVWeek.com May 18, 2006
In an attempt to provide viewers with more stability in its schedule than it has in the past, Fox will debut three new dramas and two new comedies in fall 2006. The network also plans to keep most returning shows in their existing time periods.
Fox's President of Entertainment Peter Liguori said he expects his selection of shows to appeal "to our young adult base while appealing to a broader audience," he said.
His announcement represents the second time in two days that a top network executive preached the virtues of not fixing what isn't broken. CBS Corp. President and CEO Leslie Moonves called CBS, which is introducing four new shows this fall, the "most stable" network Wednesday.
Fox plans to launch its new season several weeks before its baseball coverage disrupts the prime-time lineup, a move that paid off last year with the debut of such shows as "Prison Break" and "Bones."
Fox's new and returning series will premiere in "mid to late August" in order to get five to seven episodes of the series on the air before being preempted by Fox's annual carriage of post season Major League Baseball playoffs. This allows viewers time to invest in the programming so that they will more likely follow the shows when they come back on the air.
The teen drama "The O.C." will not premiere until after post season baseball wraps up in October.
"We'll have more original episodes in more contiguous blocks," Mr. Liguori said of "The O.C."
The new drama "Vanished" will run with "limited interruptions" in fourth quarter 2006, Mr. Liguori said.
Despite changes in the schedule driven by the midseason series "24" and "American Idol," Fox is keeping its core dramas in the same time periods for fall.
"Prison Break" will remain on Mondays at 8p.m. (ET), "House" stays at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and "Bones" sticks with 8 p.m. Wednesdays.
The 20th Century Fox FBI pilot formerly known as "Primary" has been renamed "Standoff," while the Warner Bros./Jerry Bruckheimer legal drama "American Crime" is changing its name to "Justice."
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10030
Upfront Notebook
CBS deals from its strength, taking few risks with new shows
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, May 18, 2006
If announcing your new fall schedule -- which all the broadcast networks are doing in New York this week -- is a parade of hopes and dreams (which it is), then CBS is the kind of network that brings rain on everybody else.
On Wednesday, CBS basically announced that it didn't need hope. It had numbers.
A day after ABC -- no slouch in the race toward No. 1 -- trumpeted 15 new series, CBS strolled into Manhattan as the most watched network overall and No. 1 in 25- to 54-year-olds, then casually announced, as an afterthought, that it had four new shows to add to the schedule.
Four.
That's kind of like walking on stage, rolling up your sleeve, showing off a massive bicep, then leaving out the side door.
For midseason, CBS did announce three additional series (again, not much) and the return of "The King of Queens," which will likely be its farewell tour. The biggest news from CBS was that it was abandoning the idea of the Sunday Night Movie, the last broadcast network to actively produce made-for-TV movies in bunches. Instead, it will be moving "The Amazing Race" and "Without a Trace" to Sunday, which should bolster a very competitive night among network rivals.
If there was any risk at all on the CBS schedule, it was an attempt to build a "young" comedy block on Mondays and stand behind fading star "Survivor" at 8 p.m., which isn't much of a risk given that the series has always been a hit. There's not much reason to believe it won't continue that streak, but the recently concluded version seemed tired and boring and NBC will go after stray viewers with a head-to-head match-up of its best comedy block, "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office."
Not surprisingly, CBS didn't flinch. It's dealing from a position of strength and has a stellar streak of making just the right programming decisions.
Canceled series include the dramas "Love Monkey" and "Threshold" and the comedies "Courting Alex," "Out of Practice," "Still Standing" and the previously announced "Yes, Dear."
Here's a look at the CBS schedule and shows:
• Monday: Believing that freshman hit "How I Met Your Mother" will be strong enough to kick off the night and attract younger viewers, the network then added a new sitcom at 8:30 p.m. from "Friends" co-creator David Crane called "The Class." It's about a group of twentysomethings -- of course -- who were all in the same third grade class. For some reason only a television writer could come up with, they reunite and then their lives and stories are hashed out. Jason Ritter is the main star. "Two and a Half Men," "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "CSI: Miami" return to close out the night.
• Tuesday: The potent combo of "NCIS" and "The Unit" stay put from 8 to 10 p.m. and then new drama, "Smith," gets a shot, with its all-star cast. The series is yet another heist drama that both networks and cable channels have flipped for of late. This one stars Ray Liotta as the mastermind behind a group of "career criminals who plot and execute intricate and ingenious high-stakes heists across the country." Liotta is looking for one or two more scores and then he wants to go legit. The series also stars Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Frankie G and Amy Smart.
• Wednesday: Though CBS hasn't had a whole lot of luck departing from its crime-and-punishment series, the network is opting to start this night with a new drama, "Jericho," about a small Kansas town that has a nuclear mushroom cloud "appear on the horizon," thus isolating the town. In a kind of "Twilight Zone" approach, the town's residents go crazy with paranoia and fear, revealing their hidden secrets and cracking their calm exteriors. It stars Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney. "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY" stay put at 9 and 10 p.m.
• Thursday: Stalwart hits "Survivor" and "CSI" remain in their 8 and 9 p.m. time slots, leading into new legal drama, "Shark," starring James Woods as a celebrity defense lawyer known for never losing but not exactly fighting cleanly. But he does lose and, according to CBS, has an epiphany and switches sides to become a prosecutor. Jeri Ryan co-stars and, in something of a surprise, Spike Lee directs the pilot.
• Friday: The same line-up of "Ghost Whisperer," "Close to Home" and "Numb3rs" returns intact.
• Saturday: The network will continue a tradition of rerunning crime dramas from the week in a two-hour "Crimetime Saturday" block from 8 to 10 p.m., then closing the night with "48 Hours: Mystery."
• Sunday: Venerable "60 Minutes" stays put at 7 p.m., followed by "The Amazing Race" at 8 on its new night, "Cold Case" in a new time at 9 p.m. and "Without A Trace" closing the week on its new night.
• Midseason series for CBS include "3 LBS," a medical drama about New York neurosurgeons starring Stanley Tucci; "Waterfront," a drama starring Joe Pantoliano as the mayor of Providence, R.I., who has some ethical issues but is trying to keep it clean; and the comedy "Rules of Engagement," starring Patrick Warburton and centered around two couples and a fifth-wheel single guy. It's from Adam Sandler's production company.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/18/DDGSFISRUR1.DTL&type=printable
Upfront Notebook
Broadcasting is breadwinner
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist May 18, 2006
NEW YORK -- For all the discussions of digital platforms, possibilities and opportunities, broadcasting remains the TV networks' bread. Broadband and the like are still just butter.
Enticing and probably needed, but not too good all alone.
"Obviously advertisers are looking for ways of combining traditional with new," CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves told reporters Wednesday morning, standing next to the fall TV slates announced so far by CBS, ABC and NBC, with Fox and Moonves' new venture with Time Warner, The CW, set to present theirs Thursday.
"At the end of the day, let's remember something: 95-plus percent of your money [as a network] is going to come from that schedule," Moonves said, noting that he could see the growing digital market "exploding in the future."
Make no mistake, CBS and its rivals are taking care this week to ensure that the Madison Avenue crowd knows they're keeping pace with one another. They're all touting digital complements to the 2006-07 prime-time schedules they're unveiling in their annual series of glitzy Manhattan presentations designed to shake loose upfront ad commitments and billions in cash well before the fall season begins.
CBS' presentation at Carnegie Hall included a largely unchanged prime-time schedule for TV's most watched network that introduces three dramas, and a comedy from one of the creators of "Friends." CBS also becomes the last network to eliminate its Sunday movie franchise.
What Moonves, like his network rivals, is pushing first and foremost is the value of network television, even as the Internet and other new media distractions threaten to lure viewers and ad dollars.
"Wireless is useless if you're hitless," Moonves said.
ABC Entertainment boss Steve McPherson, whose network set off the digital gold rush with its deal last fall to sell shows on Apple's iTunes site, had said virtually the same thing the day before when asked about Webcasts, mobisodes, iPods or some such thing.
At ABC's Lincoln Center sales pitch for the network of "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy," Anne Sweeney, co-chair of the Disney Media Networks and president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, touted a supposedly cutting edge gadget with unmatched reach. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you TV!" she said to the strains of the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Roger Ailes and the folks at News Corp. behind My Network TV, a new outfit supplying nightly soap operas to stations in around 90 percent of the country beginning this fall, borrowed concepts from corporate cousin MySpace.com.
The My Network online presence will offer viewers a venue to congregate in addition to being able to buy products, get advice and view and share video clips.
NBC Universal Television Group CEO Jeff Zucker told the advertisers at Radio City Music Hall on Monday at length about a "360-degree approach to programming on air, online and on the go." They're even launching Web sites so viewers can preview shows.
Every little bit helps in an increasingly fragmented TV environment in which, according to CBS research guru David Poltrack, the average new fall network show is sampled by less than 15 percent of all viewers by November, compared to 50 percent in the 1980s.
That's where CBS benefits from its relative stability. By returning six of the series it introduced this season, it needs only to introduce four shows in the fall, compared to nine for ABC and six for NBC.
With "King of Queens" on the shelf until midseason, CBS is taking a stab at a heist series with Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen in "Smith," presenting an apocalyptic drama in "Jericho," serving James Woods as a hotshot defense attorney guilted into becoming a prosecutor in "Shark," and offering "The Class," a comedy about third-grade classmates reunited in their 20s. "The Amazing Race" and "Without a Trace" move to Sundays.
Helping sell the network were incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric ("How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate," she said), outbound anchor Bob Schieffer, who is coming off a week in which CBS' newscast pulled ahead of normally second-place ABC, and Mariah Carey.
But the real eye opener was supposed to be the idea of network television to ad buyers who may be questioning it. Moonves cited the impact of CBS, Fox and ABC in the recent earnings reports for CBS Corp., News Corp. and the Walt Disney Co. as a sign of their vitality.
"Everyone, including us, is talking about all the exciting new content and platforms out there," Moonves said.
"But it's quite clear that nothing else compares anywhere on any other medium. ... Network television is incredibly strong," he said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0605180197may18,0,2841075.column
(From Marc Berman’s Thursday, May 18, 2006, Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
Fox in 2006-07winner
5 New Series this Fall, Changes on 6 Nights of the Week
Fox, the No. 1 network among adults 18-49, has unveiled its new fall 2006 and January 2007 primetime line-ups. Unlike prior years when you needed a roadmap to follow Fox’s schedule, the emphasis next season is on strength on stability. The network will introduce five new shows this fall (three dramas, two sitcoms), with changes on six nights of the week. Saturday’s perennial combination of Cops and America’s Most Wanted will remain intact, while American Dad and The War at Home will flip time periods. The network will introduce another drama, The Wedding Album, on Friday in January, and three additional series – dramas Standoff, Justice and the returning Bones – will shift into new time periods. House, as rumored, is not moving to Sunday.
American Idol, 24, King of the Hill and The Loop, which are not on the fall line-up, will all return in January. A new four-week reality/competition from Simon Cowell called Duets will air in September on Thursday and Friday (in undisclosed time periods) prior to the Major League Baseball playoffs, while the previously announced reality entry from Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg, On the Lot, is slated for next spring. Also debuting in midseason is sitcom The Winner, about a 43-year-old man who looks back at his life in 1994.
Fox has also announced a new late night series, Talk Show With Spike Feresten, which debuts on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 12 a.m. out of the returning MADtv. The fast-fast paced half-hour hosted by the former writer of Seinfeld and The Late Show with David Letterman will combine traditional elements of the late night format with comedy sketches.
Not returning to Fox next season are sitcoms Arrested Development, Bernie Mac, Free Ride, Kitchen Confidential and Stacked.
New Program Descriptions:
COMEDIES
HAPPY HOUR
Set in Chicago, this buddy comedy features two young guys – one damaged by love and the other blinded by it. The cast includes Brooke D'Orsay, Jamie Denbo, Nat Faxon, Beth Lacke, Lux Medlin, and John Sloan.
‘TIL DEATH
Former Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett returns to his sitcom roots in this story of two passionate and idealistic newlyweds who move next door to a cynical middle-aged couple. Joely Fisher, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Kat Foster co-star.
THE WINNER
A successful man in his 40s (Lenny Clarke) looks back at his life in 1994 when he was a neurotic 32-year-old who still lived with his parents. The cast includes Rob Corddry, Ken Gilchrist, Julie Hagerty, and Erinn Carter Hayes.
DRAMAS
JUSTICE
A dream team of four lawyers join forces to tackle the most controversial and newsworthy cases in this new Jerry Bruckheimer legal drama. The ensemble cast includes former Alias star Victor Garber, Rebecca Mader, Kerr Smith, and Eamonn Walker.
STANDOFF
After the sexual relationship of two highly trained hostage negotiation experts who work together in the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit is revealed, it begins to complicate their assignments with the FBI. Ron Livingston (Sex and the City) and Emily Lehman (Cinderella Man) star.
VANISHED
The investigation of the missing wife of a powerful U.S. Senator from Georgia uncovers numerous mysteries and unknown conspiracies. The cast includes Gale Harold, John Patrick Amedori, Chris Egan, Rebecca Gayheart, Joanne Kelly, and John Allen Nelson.
THE WEDDING ALBUM (midseason)
A photographer and his female assistant work at a different wedding each week in this new ensemble drama. The cast includes Ashlie Atkinson, Jayce Bartok, Bruno Campos, Tony LoBianco, America’s Next Top model winner Eva Pigford, Ptolemy Slocum, Connie Stevens, and Tara Summers.
NON-SCRIPTED
DUETS (Thursday and Friday in September, time periods TBD)
Established singing stars are paired with celebrities outside of the music industry to compete for charity in this new Simon Cowell non-scripted series.
ON THE LOT (midseason)
A group of undiscovered potential filmmakers compete to win a DreamWorks studio development deal in this reality/competition from Mark Burnett and famed Academy Award winning director Steven Spielberg.
Upfront Week: Programming Notes of Interest
Just For Laughs on ABC:
ABC has picked up six episodes of Just For Laughs, a half-hour hidden camera comedy based on the Canadian series for midseason. This will be the first ever made-for Canadian television series to be broadcast on a major U.S. network.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp
Upfront Notebook
Prior hits fall into place for CBS
By David Bianculli New York Daily News TV Critic Thursday, May 18th, 2006
Revealing its fall schedule plans yesterday, CBS demonstrated its overall stability by announcing only four new series - for a total of 3-1/2 hours - in its prime-time lineup.
By contrast, ABC and NBC, the only other broadcast networks to program 22 prime-time hours weekly, are introducing 10 new hours each.
CBS, which finished the season first in total viewers and third with the advertiser-desired viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, enjoyed more success with program development than its major rivals.
It has already renewed four of six fall series ("How I Met Your Mother," "Close to Home," "Ghost Whisperer" and "Criminal Minds"), and scored midseason hits with "The Unit" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine."
Failures were few, but no-shows for fall 2006 include "Out of Practice," "Threshold," "Love Monkey" and "Courting Alex."
The new series include only one comedy, "The Class," about twentysomethings who reunite on the 20th anniversary of their third-grade class (Jason Ritter from "Joan of Arcadia" is one of the stars). CBS is adding the show to its Monday schedule - the only night where it has any sitcoms next season.
"It's the best comedy block on television," CBS President Leslie Moonves boasted to reporters yesterday.
"Frankly," he added jokingly, "it's the only comedy block on television."
CBS will have only four sitcoms this fall, its fewest since 1999. Drama, though, continues to grow.
Its new series are "Shark," starring James Woods as a loose-cannon district attorney in a show directed by Spike Lee; "Jericho," a "Lost"-like fantasy thriller about a town in Kansas suddenly isolated after a nuclear disaster; and "Smith," starring Ray Liotta as a professional thief planning a few last big scores before retiring.
The four new shows are spread out over as many nights, leaving only two nights untouched.
On Sundays, three returning series from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer - "The Amazing Race," "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace" - will be strung together on what Moonves called "all-Bruckheimer Sunday: 'Race' to 'Case' to 'Trace.'"
"60 Minutes," the oldest current series in prime time, will see a change, Moonves said, with the contributions of Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper and Lara Logan.
"It's not your mother's '60 Minutes,'" Moonves said. Then, joking about the aggregate age of its correspondents, he added, "We've reduced the age from 85 to 82."
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/dbianculli/v-pfriendly/story/418607p-353525c.html
Upfront Notebook
Fox plays ball with new shows
By Gary Levin USA Today
NEW YORK — Fox, which will win its second consecutive season next week among young-adult viewers, hopes to build on big hits American Idol, 24 and House by adding two new comedies and four dramas to its fall schedule.
Idol and 24 won't return until January, but freshman success Prison Break, along with a few new series, will begin in late August so they can be established ahead of Fox's customary October break for postseason baseball.
A tentative fall schedule, to be announced today to advertisers in New York, has new dramas paired with Prison Break, House and Bones on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
The OC is expected to remain on Thursday, joined by two comedies. Nanny 911 and Trading Spouses are Friday contenders. Fox's reliable lineup of Cops and America's Most Wanted is a sure thing for Saturday. And Sunday's mostly animation block will remain largely intact, with freshman comedy The War at Home possibly moving to 9:30, trading places with American Dad. Spring tryout The Loop will be back at midseason.
Free Ride and Bernie Mac have been canceled, and Malcolm in the Middle and That '70s Show already have ended their long runs. They join other casualties Arrested Development, Kitchen Confidential, Reunion, Stacked, Killer Instinct and Head Cases.
•New dramas: Vanished, a serialized thriller about the missing wife of a Georgia senator who may be part of a larger conspiracy, probably will take 24's Monday time slot behind Prison Break during fall months; Standoff, about FBI hostage negotiators who also are a couple, may be paired with House; Justice, starring Victor Garber (Alias) in a Jerry Bruckheimer series about high-powered lawyers, may go with Bones. The Wedding Album, an anthology series about nuptials seen through the eyes of a photographer (Bruno Campos, Nip/Tuck), is set for midseason.
•New comedies: 'Til Death, starring Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Joely Fisher as a long-married couple annoyed by their newlywed neighbors; Happy Hour, a brash, Fox-style buddy comedy from the producers of That '70s Show, about unlikely Chicago roommates; The Winner (midseason), starring Rob Corddry (The Daily Show) as a successful 43-year-old who looks back to 1994 when he was a slacker living with his parents.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-05-17-fox-preview_x.htm
Upfront Notebook
“Reba” Reprieve
Nellie Andreeva of The Hollywood Reporter is reporting this morning that “…In a surprising move, (The CW) Wednesday night gave an eleventh-hour 13-episode order to the WB comedy ‘Reba’….
‘Reba’ is the second long-running WB series to get a 13-episode reprieve from the CW after being canceled. Also Wednesday, the network finalized deals with the core cast of ‘7th Heaven,’ clearing the path for the drama to continue beyond the series finale last month.
Canceling ‘Reba,’ which was in the middle of a two-year contract between WB and 20th Century Fox TV, would have been costly for the CW, with sources pegging the penalty at about $20 million, including compensating the studio for lost syndication revenue from the sixth-season episodes that would have not been produced…."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002538523
Upfront Notebook
In 'CSI,' network can get away with hit and rerun
By Marisa Guthrie The New York Daily News Staff Writer Thursday, May 18th, 2006
CBS chief Leslie Moonves couldn't resist a shot at the competition yesterday, pointing out that ABC's "Desperate Housewives" may get all the attention but "CSI" is still "a far more profitable show than 'Desperate Housewives.'"
"CSI" is also the No. 1 scripted show on television in total viewers.
"We don't get as much noise as everybody else," said Moonves at a press conference yesterday where the network's fall lineup was announced, "and we're human, we like getting the buzz, although I like winning more."
Part of the reason "CSI"