It looks like College Gameday is not tied to the location of the Primetime game on ABC after all. This week College gameday is at Ohio State which is a 3:30 game on ABC.


I think it will switch around from ESPN and ABC game sites.

And has been previously mentioned, on rare occasions it actually comes from sites not being broadcast by Disney.

But in these days of total synergy, and with ABC/ESPN broadcasting six-eight games a week, I think those days ecumenical might have ended.

The New Season
'Kidnapped': A top-notch thriller with a killer cast
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 19, 2006

Several new dramas, including the apocalyptic "Jericho" and the hostage drama "The Nine," attempt to mine entertainment from terrifying scenarios, but none does it with more style and panache than "Kidnapped" (10 PM ET/PT p.m. Wednesday, NBC).

Thanks to a top-notch cast and unusually intelligent writing, “Kidnapped” is among the more promising of many new shows that pay homage to the granddaddy of the current suspense boom, “24.”

There are few things that frighten a parent more than the thought of a child’s disappearance, but “Kidnapped” effectively distances us from this terrifying concept by its setting: a moneyed realm recalling the pages of luxury magazine The Robb Report, not most people’s everyday reality.

Conrad Cain, played with melancholy subtlety by the perfectly cast Timothy Hutton, is a Manhattan master of the universe, a multimillionaire who can afford a palatial apartment as well as a bodyguard for his son, Leopold. That cocoon of privilege proves insufficient, however, when Leopold is snatched on his way to school, in a scene that recalls Jack Bauer’s adventures in its suspenseful execution. Still, Cain and his wife, Ellie (Dana Delany), can afford to bring in the best to track down their 15-year-old boy.

Enter the enigmatic Knapp (Jeremy Sisto), who recommends not alerting the authorities to Leopold’s disappearance. Nevertheless, Latimer King (Delroy Lindo), an experienced FBI agent who’s about to retire, soon figures out what’s going on and steps in to help the stunned family.

What drives “Kidnapped” is not just the search for Cain’s son, but the conflicting agendas of Knapp, King’s team and the Cains, as well as the unknown motives of Leopold’s captors (the viewer gets hints that they may want more than just money).

To ensure the safe return of the boy - which is his only goal - Knapp has to dig up the Cain family’s most private secrets, and there appears to be a fair amount of dirty laundry the Cains would rather wasn’t known. As for the FBI agents , they would like to bring the boy back - possibly even alive - but apprehending the bad guys is equally important to the feds. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Knapp and King used to work together.

Early on, it’s clear Leopold is not content to let the chips fall where they may, which adds yet another wild card to the mix, as does a mysterious Knapp adversary glimpsed in the second episode. He turns out to know more than he should about the Cains’ crisis.

There are many big stars headlining shows this fall, but “Kidnapped’s” cast is exceptional. Delany is alternately furious and despondent as Ellie, and she and Hutton can do more without words than other actors can do with pages of dialogue. They’re absolutely convincing as rich, complicated Manhattanites and as parents who come face to face with the scary reality that they can’t always protect their kids.

Lindo, as always, is effortlessly charismatic as the canny King, and Sisto’s brusque, anguished vibe perfectly suits this enjoyably tense chronicle of anxiety and suspense.

A story line in the second episode about the Cains’ daughter wobbles a bit and threatens to veer into melodrama. But the “Kidnapped” writers display admirable intelligence and, thankfully, they don’t foist truckloads of expository dialogue on the cast (one of the risks of any densely plotted show).

And in a season in which the networks have spent lavishly on set design and cinematography, “Kidnapped” still stands out; its New York locations look real and the Cains’ apartment is suitably regal.

I wish this promising drama wasn’t going up against another fine new serialized thriller, “The Nine,” which premieres next week, as well as the powerhouse procedural “CSI: NY.” “Kidnapped” is so intriguing that it would be a shame for it to go missing.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Last week’s updated top 10 prime-time program ratings are now toward the bottom of RATINGS NEWS -- the first post in this thread.

TV Notebook
What If News Wasn't A Profit Center?

By P.J. Bednarski Broadcasting & Cable in the BCBeat blog Sep 19 2006

Otherwise in journalism—I mean outside TV journalism-- there are big stories about the editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Times defying their corporate owners, Tribune Co., which wants the paper to make even more staff cuts than it has already. And at Tribune’s Hartford Courant, the staff seems openly contemptuous of Tribune Co.

Likewise, the Belo-owned Dallas Morning News dealt off a sizeable number of its editorial staff, some of whom then took some parting shots at the joint. Knight-Ridder sold off its newspapers to satisfy stockholders after its previous modus operandi--taking once great papers and settling for pretty good, didn't fly with the public. Not surprisingly, as newspaper companies diminish their product, they lose readers, which causes another round of layoffs and so on. If newspaper owners made Snickers’bars, they’d now be about the size of a Hershey’s Kiss about now, and yet, they‘d argue, they’d be just as good as they used to be.

I worked for the Chicago Sun-Times in the mid-80s an early 90s, and so in a way, all of us who were there then learned about downsizing long before most of the rest of the print world. A staffer died of a heart attack at work (admittedly, in the smoking room) and the editor of the paper suffered a heart attack in his office. I left when the hopefully-soon-to-be-extremely-incarcerated Conrad Black’s Hollinger International bought the Sun-Times and had this great idea to make it competitive with the dominant Tribune: Reduce staff. What a concept! Back then, the story that went around was that Conrad Black’s top managers liked to visit their new newspaper properties at night when no one was around, count the desks and then divide by three. That way laying off staff wasn’t a personal thing, you know. I left before they did their long division.

A version of all this happened at the networks in the mid-80s, when all (then) three networks were sold to corporate owners, and all of them reduced their news staffs. Since all those cuts came at about the same time, no network newscast seemed noticeably shabbier. They all sold out together. It was brilliant. You wonder if at that time the networks had tried to improve newscasts by adding resources (not the same as adding programs) if today network news would still be “relevant.” Could it be the cult of personality that makes Couric/Gibson/Williams the focus of the broadcast networks news divisions is because besides 60 Minutes, nobody kicks ass anymore? That leaves the anchor as the sole remaining distinguishing characteristic.. I don’t say this meaning to demean the good work of network news divisions. But the old crotchety thing to say is true: They’re not as good as they once were.

A few months ago, Richard Cohen, a columnist for the Washington Post group, commenting on the sale of the Knight Ridder chain, suggested that publicly traded news companies kindly inform their institutional investors that they aren’t in the a business where leapfrogging profits are possible and/or good business, and invite those get-rich-quick money managers to split. Since news media companies (TV certainly included) still produce enormous profit margins and could benefit from developing their Web sites, new investors not intent on making a killing could still inherit a sound investment if the expectation were to be that the stock price would improve, but not dramatically. Their dividend would be knowing their investment meant news organizations would be figuring out ways to do more, not less. But you know, in the process, maybe they’d get filthy rich again.

The real trouble with Main Stream Media isn't that it's Main Stream, but that it's just concerned about cash flow.

http://broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138.html

Why is Fox News worth $1, when its operating costs are probably less than 1/3 of ESPN? I believe ESPN bundles their service as a suite for the $3 or so per sub. I personally hope Cablevision balks and lets Fox News leave. I'm tired of my bill rising. For that $1/sub fee, I'll pay $2-3 more per month.

TV Notebook
Death Watch

Bravo.com has a “Death Watch 2006” website for picking which new shows will be cancelled.

At the moment, here are the odds:

Happy Hour Fox 3-1
Men In Trees ABC 4-1
Ugly Betty ABC 10-1
The Knights of Prosperity ABC 14-1
Help Me Help You ABC 25-1
Vanished Fox 35-1
Jericho CBS 38-1
Standoff Fox 44-1
Friday Night Lights NBC 52-1
Brothers & Sisters ABC 53-1
30 Rock NBC 59-1
The Game CW 59-1
Justice Fox 60-1

http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com/deathwatch/


that's pretty funny. Sadly the odds for relatively decent shows are not good, while some bland programming is probably going to live on.

So it looks surprisingly accurate.

I have spent years in control rooms and in various meetings (after meetings after meetings), Jim, and I don't think the show really loses anything by deleting the f***, etc.

You HAVEN'T been in control rooms in a while!! ;) All that went out when the harassment laws got tough in the 90's and all of the employers held all day long sessions on what is will get you fired and what will get you kicked off the planet. All of the playful banter that made those jobs fun are gone. All business. And if you mutter a "damn" or a "hell" it better NOT be aimed at someone or said in such a way that it offends ANYONE ANYWHERE or you will find yourself on a fast trip to HR.

Man I know a bunch of people who miss the fun days of TV production.

Why is Fox News worth $1, when its operating costs are probably less than 1/3 of ESPN? I believe ESPN bundles their service as a suite for the $3 or so per sub. I personally hope Cablevision balks and lets Fox News leave. I'm tired of my bill rising. For that $1/sub fee, I'll pay $2-3 more per month.


That is apples and oranges.

Like why is HBO charging $10 or so and ESPN gets $2.60 or so?

A better example would be to compare Fox News (25 cents) to CNN (45 cents) and MSNBC (30 cents).

Given the viewership, why shouldn't Fox News get at least as much as CNN and MSNBC combined? I suspect FNC would gladly take 75 cents a sub.

Remember, too that cable (and satellite) providers get to sell local spots in these networks. So often, especially in the case of premium channels like TNT, USA, ESPN, and others they get a good portion of their sub fees back.

The cable/sat guys rarely remind us of that when they raise our rates.

The Business of TV
Murdoch Confirms DirecTV Talks
By Mike Farrell MultiChannel News 9/19/2006

New York – News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch added fuel to speculation that its 38% controlling stake in DirecTV Group Inc. could be a bargaining chip in its negotiations to buy back News Corp. voting shares owned by Liberty Media Corp., telling an audience at an investor conference here that any deal involving the satellite giant would have to protect News Corp.'s existing content deals.

Last week, several published reports said that News Corp. may be willing to give up its interest in DirecTV in exchange for Liberty’s 19% voting stake in News Corp. News Corp. has been trying to buy back that stake -- second only to the Murdoch family -- for nearly two years.

“We are in active [negotiations], more active negotiations than before,” Murdoch told the audience at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia on Tuesday. “I don’t want to get into what assets we’re talking about there. If DirecTV was to be involved at all, we would certainly be protecting ourselves for the future with that. We’re very proud of what we’ve done with DirecTV.”

Asked if by protection, he meant favorable treatment on affiliate fee increases and set a high bar as far as new channel launches, Murdoch said, “That would be the ultimate.”

But he added that News Corp. channels don’t currently receive favorable treatment from DirecTV.

“You must remember that we only have 38%,” Murdoch added. “It’s got a very tough management, and although a lot of them come from us, they see themselves as serving all the shareholders of DirecTV, so we don’t get any particular favored treatment. There are friendly relations, but we don’t get any favored treatment.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6373594.html?display=Breaking+News

The Business of TV
Murdoch Speaks On Liberty Media Deal
DirecTV: 100 Channels of HD By Christmas!
(TransmitterNews.com)

Covering a variety of topics ranging from HD Television offerings to the Liberty Media talks, News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch answered questions today at the Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Communacopia Conference.

On the topic of being more aggressive in buying back News Corp. stock, Murdoch said if the purchase from Liberty Media were a reality it would be “one of the biggest buybacks in our history.”

Murdoch’s statements seemed to indicate the Liberty Media deal is a real possibility when he said News Corp was “saving our firepower for that.” During the conference, which was also web cast, Murdoch said, concerning John Malone’s Liberty Media exchange, “we are in more active negotiations than before.”
Murdoch refused to say if the DIRECTV arm of News Corp would be included as one of the assets in the swap saying, “If DIRECTV were to be involved at all, we would be protecting ourselves for the future.”

While calling the management of DIRECTV “terrific” he also said the amount of customer churn is “too high” and DIRECTV needed to “wind that down if we can.” Murdoch also said the slower acquisition of new DIRECTV customers is due to credit restrictions that have been put into place.

Murdoch also said DIRECTV customers should see “100 channels of HD by Christmas.”

http://www.transmitternews.com/NewsWire/91906newsletterupd.html

Murdoch also said DIRECTV customers should see “100 channels of HD by Christmas.”


I would guess LiL stations are included in this number. But it's very positive news anyway.

But DirecTV already has more than 200 HD channles if you count LILs, with 53 markets and the RSNs....

I know the skeptics are saying he must have been referring to HD LIL, but I suspect he was talking of RSNs and everything else available -- maybe even VOOM, INHD etc.

Unlike others, Rupert rarely speaks without knowing precisely what he is going to say and how it will be received.

By the way, posty, thanks for bringing the story to my attention. Frankly, until your PM, I had never even heard of transmitter news.

Next time feel free to just post it!

Me either. Full credit to sat guys for digging that up.

Regardless of what's included in the "100" D* looks ready to roll out 30-40 more LiL channels (not markets, channels) this year and E* will roll out 3, maybe. I'm no seismologist but...

The New Season
Terrorism surrounds a town in 'Jericho'
Mysteries mushroom after a nuclear attack isolates a Midwestern burg and its already enigmatic inhabitants in the new CBS serial.
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 20, 2006

Like a land-locked "Lost," the new CBS serial series "Jericho" (Wednesday, 8 PM ET/PT, CBS) strands a town full of people right in the middle of the country, out on the Great Plains, as a mushroom cloud appears on the horizon and all communication is lost. And the important thing here, as in any puzzle show, is not knowing what happened but not knowing what happened.

Snippets of radio broadcasts hint at nonspecific escalating "global violence" and "extreme reaction" and the heard-not-seen president (vaguely Bush-like) burbles the word "terrorism" just before turning into static. But there are no specific details offered, nor enemy proposed. It's probably not Joshua, at any rate.

Overlaid on this scenario, or vice versa, is the evergreen tale of a prodigal's return. (That's "evergreen" in the sense of, like, an artificial Christmas tree.) The mysteries begin early — pre-apocalypse, or whatever it is — as wayward son/black sheep Skeet Ulrich returns to his hometown of Jericho, Kan., via a montage of handsome location shots, after five blank years away. He's out to claim some money his grandfather left him; what plans he has for it doting mother Pamela Reed seems to know, but neither mother nor son speak them aloud, and Ulrich has a different story for everyone he meets as to where he's spent those five years. So, you know, something's up.

Standing between Skeet and his money is father (and Jericho mayor) Gerald McRaney, who was "Major Dad" some TV generations ago. Grandpa was mayor too, and within two episodes Ulrich is well on his way to becoming Alpha Male in the New Town Order — not that it's a job he's running for — having already rescued a good portion of the citizenry from one disaster or another. He seems to have a lot of special knowledge too — he performs an emergency tracheotomy on a schoolgirl using a penknife and a bunch of juice-box straws and has a working familiarity with dynamite.

Also strangely in the know is Lennie James, the only black man in sight (and one of a surprising number of British actors playing American this year), which makes him mysterious to begin with. James' character, Robert Hawkins, is new in town and seems to know just about everything you're supposed to do in case of a nuclear attack and just about everything else too, including Morse Code. So you'll want to keep an eye on him.

Surprisingly, no one has yet screamed "We're all going to die!" Though it's been some time now since thoughts of nuclear war furrowed my brow, there is still, for someone raised on drop drills and zones of impact, something spooky about seeing it realized. (The digital mattes are very prettily done.) And the armageddon "Jericho" seems to propose is oddly closer to the one I was raised on than the current scenarios of dirty bombs and exploding shampoo.

But this is not an ideological drama, like John Milius' 1984 paranoid patriotic romp "Red Dawn," in which plucky American youth defend the Homeland from invading Russians. Nor is it an attempt to realistically portray the aftermath of a nuclear war, as in "The Day After," the ABC TV movie — also set (partly) in Kansas and watched by an audience of something like 100 million — which cost me a couple of nights' sleep back in 1983. (Ah, how carefree those days seem now.)

If the Awful Truth of the Global Meltdown is the big carrot "Jericho" dangles before you, it is no more compelling than the question of which of the available good-looking girls Ulrich is going to get close to.

He's already exchanged shy smiles with school teacher Sprague Grayden ("Six Feet Under"), but he's got old business with golden-blond Ashley Scott too, and, though she's a longshot here and a little young for him, I wouldn't totally count out Shoshannah Stern ("Weeds"), the deaf kid sister of Ulrich's old best friend. It is nice to think that even after everything goes to pot, romance will survive.

Ulrich has a lazy charm not wholly obscured by the worried, distracted or pained expressions he's required to wear as he runs from here to there and back again. I can see that people might tune in to this thing just to look at and listen to him for an hour (or his portion thereof) every week.

McRaney too is pleasant company — "pleasant" seems a little out of context here, and in fact he's supposed to be a bit sharp, but he brings a bit of sitcomical wit into the mix and is a cool voice of caution and reason among the hysteria, like Brian Keith in "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!" "Are we going to use our imagination to solve problems or to cause them?" he asks. You could ask yourself that every day, usefully.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-jericho20sep20,0,2160380,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

Me either. Full credit to sat guys for digging that up.

Regardless of what's included in the "100" D* looks ready to roll out 30-40 more LiL channels (not markets, channels) this year and E* will roll out 3, maybe. I'm no seismologist but...


Charlie has got to do something, because the tsunami is getting closer and closer.

And he still can't get the RSNs up. But then he really doesn't need them much before the NHL/NBA seasons start next month.

Scott does a good job over there, by the way. I wish I had more time to pay closer attention to his site.

TV Sports
USC Signals Its Displeasure
[Trojans complain to ESPN about disclosure by ABC's Musburger of what they consider privileged information during Saturday's game.
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 19, 2006

USC, outraged over play-by-play veteran Brent Musburger's revealing during ABC's telecast of the Nebraska game what the Trojans contend was privileged information, fired off a complaint Monday to ESPN, which now oversees all sports programming on ABC.

With just over 9 1/2 minutes to play in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game and USC leading, 21-10, Musburger began describing on the air how USC quarterback John David Booty lets his receivers know he has spotted a certain kind of coverage.

"John David told us that his signal when he finds one-on-one and they're coming, it's that 'hang loose,' that familiar sign you've seen surfers use," said Musburger, referring to the sign where the thumb and little finger are raised.

That information had been gleaned from Booty on Friday during a standard production meeting. Announcers and producers meet with coaches and star players as part of their game preparation. However, much of what is said in those meetings is considered private, as background only, to help the announcers spot trends and potential plays.

USC sports information director Tim Tessalone, on behalf of the university, sent a formal complaint to ESPN/ABC game producer Bill Bonnell and a copy to the Pacific 10 Conference office in Walnut Creek, Calif.

"We're supposed to be partners in this," Tessalone said, "but this is certainly going to make us think twice about trying to help them have as good a broadcast as possible.

"What he did was unconscionable. In my 28 years, I've never seen such an egregious breach of trust. Brent is not a rookie at this, and he should know better."

Musburger late Monday, through an ESPN spokesman, issued this statement: "We've explained to USC that during our pregame meeting we discussed how we used replays to illustrate a specific signal the week before in the Ohio State-Texas telecast. In that context, we asked if USC has a similar way of communicating and the specific signal was offered.

"Clearly, there is a misunderstanding, and we regret the confusion. We look forward to working with USC on future telecasts as we continue to cover [its] great program."

The ESPN spokesman, Josh Krulewitz, also offered this company statement: "We are very mindful of what we learn in pregame meetings in terms in what is appropriate for broadcast and what is for our background. We're sorry this led to an unfortunate misunderstanding, which was never our intention."

Retired play-by-play announcer Keith Jackson, long considered the voice of college football on ABC, was told of the situation involving Musburger and Booty.

"I would have stopped in mid-sentence," Jackson said from his vacation home in British Columbia, referring to the Friday production meeting. "I would have told him I don't want to know."

It all began when the subject of secret signals came up in that Friday meeting. A replay of the Ohio State-Texas telecast on Sept. 9 had shown how Buckeyes quarterback Troy Smith taps the top of the helmet to let receiver Ted Ginn Jr. know he's noticed one-on-one coverage. Booty was asked if USC had a similar signal. At that point, he told Musburger about USC's signal.

Booty was surprised that it had become an issue by Monday. "Going in there the other day, I wasn't going in there to tell them what we were doing or what we were trying to accomplish," he said of the production meeting. "And I'm going to do the same thing the next time I go in there."

Coach Pete Carroll, asked what his reaction was when he heard about Musburger's on-air revelation, said with a laugh, "Just wondering what they're going to tell us next.

"I'm not worried about it. There's a million signals, a million ways to do it."

After Musburger mentioned Booty's hand signal, commentator Bob Davie, the former Notre Dame coach, said on the air: "I was surprised he told us that, particularly now that you've told all of America what the signal is."

Commentator Kirk Herbstreit added, "He can use it as an indicator next week." An "indicator," which can also be verbal, tells players whether a signal is for real or not.

Musburger responded, "Yeah, he can use it as an indicator. What the heck."

USC will appear on ABC at least five more times this season, including Saturday at 5 p.m. when the Trojans play at Arizona. But that is a regional telecast, and the announcers will be Dan Fouts and Tim Brant. Musburger may not work another USC game until Nov. 25, when USC plays host to Notre Dame. That game will be televised nationally on ABC at 5 p.m.

USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is also taking it in stride. "It's not a big deal, " he said. "I'm sure people would think it would be, but we change our signals a lot. They're on film anyway."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-usctv19sep19,0,1176303,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines


[b]Note: So the head coach, assistant coach, and QB are not upset. Because the Sports Information Director is ticked, the whole school is "outraged"? Come on.

The New Season
“Kidnapped”...
...May be a bit rich for viewers' tastes
By Kay McFadden Seattle Times TV Critic Wednesday, September 20, 2006

To understand why a serialized drama like "Kidnapped" has a higher-than-usual chance of going awry, it helps to be familiar with its creator, Jason Smilovic.

You may have heard of Smilovic, the guy responsible for the long-gone ABC series "Karen Sisco," which some people loved but most viewers ignored completely. He has an outstanding command of florid dialogue, mountains of complex ideas, an impressive store of cinematic knowledge. And he's young.

Check out a few lines from his letter to critics included in the "Kidnapped" press kit:

"I was hiding out in my room at the St. James Hotel in Montreal, following three weeks of production rewrites in a cell-like office, and avoiding weather that can only be described as vengeful," the letter says. "It was the middle of the night. I yanked the phone out of the wall, bolted the door, and randomly grabbed Akira Kurosawa's 'High and Low' from the dozen or so DVDs in my suitcase."

All righty, then. Within three sentences, the man describes bad weather as vengeful and reveals that he travels with Kurosawa DVDs. Intelligent? Cultured? No question. But maybe Smilovic needs to come out of his cell-like office and experience the real world.

This is a guy who would read a pizza recipe, see mushrooms on the list of ingredients, and come back from the store with a pound of black truffles.

Here's the thing. Plain old mushrooms taste better to most people. And broadcast television is, if nothing else, a Pizza Hut medium.

"Kidnapped," which gives us a frequently riveting story populated by intriguing, complex characters, is regular-grade TV trying too hard to be gourmet.

This is not to steer you away from it completely because, like "Karen Sisco" before it, "Kidnapped" can be delicious. It has substance, potential and it looks fantastic, even if much of the pilot has been lifted from any number of movies. ("Man on Fire" comes to mind first.)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/285666_tv20.html

The New Season
“Kidnapped”
Viewers should find it easy to break free of 'Kidnapped'
By Robert Bianco USA Today

It's a shame miniseries are out of favor, because producers certainly have some great ideas for them.

Take Kidnapped, a heavily serialized, 24-inspired drama that will spend the season following the kidnapping of the teen son of a wealthy family.

Sure, the plot has been used before by a million movies, but a strong cast compensates: Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany as the concerned parents; Delroy Lindo as an FBI agent pulled back from the brink of retirement; and Jeremy Sisto as the brooding special investigator called in by the parents.

Factor in a solid lineup of producers, including Karen Sisco's Jason Smilovic and Michael Dinner and Angel's David Greenwalt, and you can easily imagine yourself settling in with Kidnapped for six, eight, maybe even 13 episodes.

But 22? Sorry, no.

And that, in the end, is the strange bind this season's run of one-story serials have created for themselves: They force you to decide upfront whether you want to wait a year for the answer to the question posed by the pilot.

Every TV show, obviously, hopes to hook you on a weekly basis, but these shows are asking, not just for a week-to-week choice, but for an immediate season-long commitment. To make that kind of demand on an audience, you had better be incredibly compelling from the get-go. 24 was. Kidnapped isn't.

Kidnapped hopes to counter our serial suspicion (which includes a healthy doubt that all these shows will be around long enough to finish their stories) by resolving some small part of the plot every week. Don't expect much resolution tonight, but the practice does become clearer in next week's episode.

What also becomes clear, however, is that Kidnapped has already hit some of the same stumbling blocks that derailed the increasingly loony Vanished. In order to stop us from guessing where the plot is going, they're filling the screen with red herrings and ridiculous complications — so many that viewers are likely to either lose track or lose interest.

And what do these shows have against teenage girls? 24, Vanished and now Kidnapped: Do the daughters all have to be thorns in their families' side?

Still, within those confines, tonight's pilot is well acted and crisply told. Delany is one of those always-welcome TV stars, Hutton and Lindo are terrific, Will Denton is instantly sympathetic as the kidnapped boy, and Carmen Ejogo and Mykelti Williamson do well in smaller roles. As for Sisto, he's a bit one-note glum in the premiere, but his tone begins to vary by the second episode.

Maybe that's enough to get you to the third episode, but I wouldn't count on it. My guess is viewers are going to be free of these kidnappers long before that kid is.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2006-09-19-kidnapped_x.htm

The New Season
“Jericho”
A good idea mushrooms into a dull show
By Robert Bianco USA Today

If only every good TV idea gave birth to a good TV show.

And make no mistake, Jericho does have an intriguing idea at its core: An apparent nuclear holocaust cuts a small Kansas town off from the rest of the world. If nothing else, that premise already has given the season its signature image: that oft-repeated shot of the kid on the roof, watching the mushroom cloud rise in the distance.

Unfortunately, at least two major things went wrong on the road from idea to execution. First, nobody at CBS seems to have noticed that the premise is just a tad depressing, much more so than, say, being stranded on an island paradise after a plane crash. Second, having effectively trapped us in this Kansas town, no one bothered to throw in some characters we might conceivably want to be trapped with.

The downhill slide pretty much begins the moment we meet Skeet Ulrich as Jake Green, the town's carefully unshaven prodigal son. His plan is to drop by the old homestead, collect his inheritance and hightail it back to San Diego, where some not-yet-revealed project awaits.

Once home, he immediately launches into a fight with his brother (Kenneth Mitchell) and father, who is also the town's mayor (Gerald McRaney) — much to the dismay of his mother (Pamela Reed).

"When are you going to realize I'm 32 years old?" Jake shouts. "When you do," his dad shoots back.

It's around that time that you may start hoping that nuclear bomb hits Jericho and leaves the rest of us alone. The only way this family dynamic could be any more tired is if infidelity were thrown in the mix — which it is, starting next week.

Finally, the bomb drops, catching Jake on the road out of town. While there, he rescues a school bus full of children and their pretty teacher, played by Sprague Grayden, an excellent young actress who deserves better.

From Lord of the Flies to Lost, these kinds of stories are designed to explore the fragility of civilization. But they work only if we have some interest in the people struggling to maintain a sense of community. In Jericho, claustrophobia, paranoia and the threat of nuclear rain are merely an overlay meant to distract us from the mundane nature of everything else the town has to offer.

That mushroom cloud, though, sure is a great image. Too bad TV shows can't just spend an hour on freeze frame.

Now there's an idea.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2006-09-19-jericho_x.htm

Wednesday’s Premieres

8 PM ET/PT Jericho - CBS HD
8 PM ET/PT America's Next Top Model - CW
9 PM ET/PT Criminal Minds - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Kidnapped - NBC HD
10 PM ET/PT CSI: NY - CBS HD

Reminder: The New Season
Prime Time Reference Material

If you are new to Hot Off The Press and you are curious about the new network shows, there are many easy-to-use references to help you in this thread.

You can find all the network schedules, including which shows are being broadcast in HD in the second post of this thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4265637&&#post4265637

mini reviews and comments on the season’s new shows by many critics are here, in the third post in the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4267598&&#post4267598

If anybody missed the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip premiere and want to catch an encore (without having to squint at a computer monitor for a low-quality video stream) the Bravo Channel will repeat the 'Studio 60' pilot episode Wednesday Sept. 20th and Sunday Sept. 24th at 11:00PM ET/PT. It won't be in HD but hey, if you snooze you lose! :)

Even $0.75/sub is more reasonable if they toss in their upstart business channel. Fox News Channel is the big dog, but are they #1 by and large in NYC? Doesn't CNN bundle HLN and CNNi for that $0.45?

I can see HBO charging whatever they wish as they're ala carte. In the case of HBO et. all, doesn't the MSO and the networks split the sub fee 50/50?

That is apples and oranges.

Like why is HBO charging $10 or so and ESPN gets $2.60 or so?

A better example would be to compare Fox News (25 cents) to CNN (45 cents) and MSNBC (30 cents).

Given the viewership, why shouldn't Fox News get at least as much as CNN and MSNBC combined? I suspect FNC would gladly take 75 cents a sub.

Remember, too that cable (and satellite) providers get to sell local spots in these networks. So often, especially in the case of premium channels like TNT, USA, ESPN, and others they get a good portion of their sub fees back.

The cable/sat guys rarely remind us of that when they raise our rates.

DevOne: I think the $1 a sub is purely a bargaining posture.

But FNC certainly is in a far better position than its competitors.

And remember that it actually paid many systems, including Cablevision $10 a sub to carry the channel when it started up back in October of 1996.

I suspect it will get 70-75 cents a sub and another dime or so for the busines channel.

dad1153: thanks for the tip. Anyone who missed Studio 60 should make sure to catch one of the encore presentations.

The New Season
A class act in the thriller crowd
Moody 'Kidnapped' on NBC weaves many story lines around the abduction of a socialite's son..
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 20, 2006

"Kidnapped," a new thriller on NBC (10 PM ET/PT Wednesday), is like "The Nine," a new thriller on ABC: It means to hook you by beginning with a spectacular event of violence before traveling in all sorts of directions at once, creating a puzzle around the loose theme of deception, self-told and inflicted on others, until you feel you need to storyboard the thing to stay up to speed.

There's also "Vanished," a similarly themed new series on Fox involving the disappearance of a senator's wife, but "Kidnapped" is easily better. The spectacular event here is the abduction of a socialite's son, presumably for a hefty ransom, though little, it turns out, is exactly as it seems.

In this way "Kidnapped" is stylishly executed TV brain food, a little too moody for its own good but otherwise fine pulp. It stars Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany as Conrad and Ellie Cain, whose son Leopold (Will Denton) is nabbed in a coordinated attack on the SUV bearing him to prep school; his bodyguard Virgil (Mykelti Williamson) is seriously injured.

That's the appetizer; the main course arrives in the form of Jeremy Sisto, playing Knapp, a shadowy expert in the retrieval of kidnap victims who's hired by the Cains to recover their son. "From nothing comes nothing," he tells the Cains in their first meeting, explaining that if he doesn't bring back Leopold "intact" they don't pay him.

Sisto, who was irrefutable in "Six Feet Under" as Brenda's unhinged, self-absorbed and much-medicated brother, brings a kind of greasy sobriety to this role; I was quite certain, if one were to be in the same room with Knapp, that he might smell from lack of showering.

On the other hand there is also Delroy Lindo classing up the joint, playing FBI agent Latimer King, who is chasing after both Knapp and the missing kid, dragged back from imminent retirement into one more case.

There's well-worn convention in the cat-and-mouse between Knapp, the eccentric hired gun, and King, representing the feds, but the acting here makes you forgive it. It's not just the stars, either; "Kidnapped," shot in New York, has the feel of a "Law & Order" or "Sopranos," with roles that might otherwise be filler going to performers who, in their little scenes, convey pathos (i.e. Michael Mosley, playing a newbie agent).

In a show like this, at a time like this, the story, the "trust no one" foreshadowing, is ultimately the star. But "Kidnapped" collaborators Jason Smilovic, the creator, and Michael Dinner, executive producer-director, tip you off that they're also looking for character.

It's in details — the way, for instance, the Cain family conveys its class status by speaking French to one another when a stranger is present.

As things pick up speed in the second hour (Day 3, in the timeline of the kidnapping) and build to the kind of standoff that will inevitably punctuate each episode, there is a scene in a bar involving Sisto, Lindo and Mosley, the two vets praising the rookie for his action in the field that day. It's actually a scene about the giving of mutual support, and it doesn't come off as hokum. "To our ships at sea," Knapp says, raising his whiskey, as the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" plays.

There is action all over the place in "Kidnapped," but it's a scene like this — quieter and even refined — that conveys the sense that you're in capable hands.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-kidnapped20sep20,0,3602263,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

The New Season
“Kidnapped” and “Jericho”
From Chaotic to Mysterious, the Tales of Two Calamities
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times September 20, 2006

Which is more important: the rescue of a teenage boy kidnapped from his limousine on the way to a Manhattan private school or the survival of a close-knit Kansas town that just might be the last patch of civilization left after a nuclear conflagration?

Hard to say.

Both “Kidnapped” on NBC and “Jericho” on CBS are sleek, hard-boiled mysteries in the newly minted tradition of “24” and “Lost.” Like so many other dramas this fall, they follow a serialized narrative for a reason: there is a market for DVD’s of television shows, and those that most artfully prolong the suspense sell best.

Both dramas are compelling. And both weave one man’s secret into a broader, unexplained conspiracy. So the choice, if choice is needed, could come down to personal taste: high-rises or grain silos, a few rich New Yorkers or a large community of middle-class Americans, one cleverly conceived crime or global warfare.

The last time a network delved so intently into the aftermath of a nuclear explosion was in 1983 when ABC broadcast “The Day After,” set in and around Lawrence, Kan. On the other hand, it’s not often that a network portrays scenes from a testy Park Avenue marriage, either. All things considered, “Kidnapped” wins hands down.

Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany star as Conrad and Ellie Cain, a high-wire financier and his socialite wife who maintain the kind of strained civility that only money can buy. They kiss and sit down to a family breakfast while a newspaper photographer is on hand, then go their separate ways in a penthouse the size of Bolivia. When the mother needs to reprimand her children in front of guests, she does it in French, the universal language of “cut it out.”

The Cains are rich and prominent enough to hire a bodyguard as well as a chauffeur, yet when their son, Leopold, is snatched on his way to school, neither is of much help. The driver is wiped out point-blank, and the bodyguard, who fights back with a machine gun tucked under his raincoat, is felled by a sniper.

The kidnappers, whoever they are, have money and high-level backing: even the lower-level thugs hired by a mysterious middleman have a certain surly flair. In a flashback to an interview, a granite-faced hit man is asked to talk a little about himself. “I’m a Pisces, this is my natural hair color, and I prefer the country to the city,” the hit man replies stonily.

The Cains are tough customers, too. When Conrad, conferring with his lawyer, explains that he is not calling the authorities because the ransom note instructed them not to call the police, Ellie says acidly, “I think the note always says, ‘Don’t call the police.’ ”

They turn to a private investigator, Knapp (Jeremy Sisto), who specializes in retrieving kidnapping victims: no cops, no questions asked. But the F.B.I. finds out anyway and wants in on the operation, which expands to an uneasy alliance between Knapp and his old boss at the F.B.I., Latimer King (Delroy Lindo).

Meanwhile, the upper-crust Conrad turns out to have roots in less savory social circles.

Family life is less grand but no less fraught on “Jericho.” The hero, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich), returns to his Midwestern hometown after a five-year absence he refuses to explain, and finds his welcome a bit frosty. His father, Mayor Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney), considers him a black sheep, and so does his more dutiful and sanctimonious brother, Eric (Kenneth Mitchell). His old girlfriend, Emily (Ashley Scott), is engaged to a banker, and she too is suspicious about Jake’s disappearance.

Luckily, a mushroom cloud over Denver changes the subject.

Car radios die, television screens go snowy, cellphones jam, and the town of Jericho finds itself marooned in nuclear winter; just a few miles out of town, the roads are littered with charred animal carcasses.

The townspeople have no idea whether the explosion was an accident or an attack, but they dig out Geiger counters, clean out underground shelters and leaf through cold-war-era instruction manuals about the A-bomb. Mayor Green leads the mobilization, but it is Jake who saves schoolchildren trapped in a broken-down yellow bus. Convicts being transported across the state, on the other hand, manage to escape from their bus all on their own.

Nuclear Armageddon is a tough twist to top; on “24” Jack Bauer always seems to avert the worst just in the nick of time. The creators of “Jericho” deserve some credit for beginning where most thrillers end. But they rely too much on melancholy pop music to paper over weaknesses in the writing and characters. Radiation poisoning has its thrills, but it’s just a matter of time before viewers get restless and begin rooting for the enemy to fire up the missile silos and finish the job.

“Kidnapped,” which is filmed with a keener intelligence and elegant restraint, focuses on a much smaller catastrophe and finds more to say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/arts/television/20stan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

The New Season
“Kidnapped” and “Jericho”
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog

There's a terrific short version of the abduction that is at the heart of "Kidnapped" (NBC, 10:01 PM ET/PT) but it's stretched out so long in the pilot as to lose its tension. And though we disdain those instant finds in shows like "Without a Trace," we fear the seasonlong search for the privileged son of Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany, involving investigative teams at cross purposes led by Jeremy Sisto and Delroy Lindo, will be similarly slack.

Another serial that depends on taking its time to reveal its details, "Jericho" (CBS, 8 PM ET/PT.) follows the progress of a small Kansas town following the detonation of a nearby mushroom cloud. By the end of the first episode we don't even know the background of one of the main characters (Skeet Ulrich) or if the bomb was accidental or an attack. What might be hardest to believe is the town's isolation from the rest of the world in this day of communication.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-tveye0920.artsep20,0,5795744.column?coll=hce-utility-tv

The New Season
“Sweet, soapy 'Betty' eyes clean breakout
By Cynthia Littleton The Hollywood Reporter

Thursday is the new Tuesday for the new season that begins tonight.

Tuesday was the hot spot in primetime last fall with NBC's "My Name Is Earl" coming on strong (before its move to Thursday), Fox's "House" taking root, ABC's "Commander in Chief" getting off to a fast start and CBS' "The Amazing Race" showing renewed spunk in the pre-"American Idol" leg of the season. For the 2006-07 campaign, all eyes are trained on the looming Thursday 9 p.m. showdown between ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and the wild-card factor of NBC's "Deal or No Deal."

But thanks to scheduling shifts made during the summer, the Thursday 8 p.m. slot has become almost as competitive as its 9 p.m. neighbor, albeit in a different way. CBS' "Survivor" is the dominant incumbent (premiering last week to good numbers but no noticeable bounce from the controversy over the racially divided tribes), but otherwise it's looking like a four-way slugfest for second place among NBC's "Earl" and "The Office," ABC's "Ugly Betty" Fox's " 'Til Death" and "Happy Hour" and "Smallville" on the new-model CW network.

The peacock's comedy combo of "Earl" and "Office" likely has an edge if only for the buzz factor, aided by the latter's upset Emmy victory last month for best comedy series. However, "Betty" has its own hum building. Judging by the first two episodes, the Touchstone TV's show could click with the female audience that likes a good genre mash-up, a la "Desperate Housewives," "Gilmore Girls" and "Ally McBeal," as well as feel-good aspirational stories.

"Betty" is true to its roots as Colombian telenovela phenomenon "Yo Soy Betty La Fea" -- so much so that its executive producers alongside creator Silvio Horta are former telenovela writer Jose Tamez and actress Salma Hayek, who worked on telenovelas in her native Mexico; veteran drama showrunner James Parriott and producer-director James Hayman; and Ben Silverman, who's spent a lot of time of late adapting foreign formats (including "The Office") for U.S. tastes.

"Betty," set to bow Sept. 28, floats a half-dozen continuing story line threads in the pilot alone. Its biggest asset is a strong cast, anchored by America Ferrera as Betty Suarez, a blue-collar plain Jane who lands a job as the assistant to the editor-in-chief at a glossy fashion magazine.

At first blush, it seems as if there's too much going on in "Betty" -- the pilot plants the seeds of everything from a murder-mystery plot to a hint at a developing love triangle for Betty -- but it helps to remember that it's inspired by a telenovela, something the show does subtly by showing Betty and her family frequently watching over-the-top Spanish-language serials at their home in Queens.

For all its silly soapy-ness, "Betty" benefits from the kind of earthiness that made "Earl" and UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" stand out last season. The show can't help but comment on the clash of cultures and classes that Betty encounters when she leaves her walkup in Queens for the high-rise and Town Car atmosphere of Manhattan.

Ferrera is ably assisted in both of her worlds by colorful supporting characters, particularly Vanessa Williams as the fashionista editor Wilhelmina, who schemes in between her Botox treatments because she was passed over for the editor-in-chief job, and Ana Ortiz as Betty's hot-tempered older sister Hilda. Nobody has ever dispensed with a pesky neighbor in primetime quite like Hilda does in Episode 2 with the command: "Bitch, out my house!"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/tv_reporter_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003123135

Wednesday’s New Shows

“Jericho” 8 PM ET/PT CBS

The people of a small town in Kansas find themselves cut off from the world when a mushroom cloud appears on the horizon and the radios go out. (That Emergency Broadcast System they've been testing your whole life? Not so good, apparently.) Gerald McRaney, who was "Major Dad," is now Mayor Dad, trying to keep the citizenry from going all Lord of the Flies. Skeet Ulrich is his prodigal son now stuck at home, though with a lot of good-looking women around to keep the apocalypse interesting.
•By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times

(BEST NEW DRAMA) Nutshell: A small town in western Kansas is cut off from the outside world by what appears to be nuclear attack. Will the citizens of Jericho rally or turn on one another? Skeet Ulrich (pictured, with Ashley Scott) stars.
Aaron’s take: Of all the serial dramas airing this fall, none has a storyline of bigger consequence than “Jericho.” The pilot sent out mixed signals, but the second episode was stronger. At best, it could become something great — “Lost” meets Stephen King’s “The Stand” — but it could also dwindle into a soap opera that trivializes nuclear war. Given where this fictional burg is located, midway between Denver and KC, no way I won’t be watching.
Verdict: Appointment TV.
•By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

After a series of ominous events, including the sight of a mushroom cloud on the horizon, residents of a town in Kansas find themselves cut off from communication with the rest of the country, and weird things begin to happen. Gerald McRaney, a.k.a. “Deadwood’s” fearsome George Hearst, plays the town’s mayor, and, because no drama is complete without a tortured father-son relationship, Skeet Ulrich plays his estranged son. It's creepy stuff, but viewers feeling burned by the axing of "Invasion" and "Threshold" may take a pass. By the way, I’m taking bets on whether they wait ’til the November sweeps period to use the “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” line.
•By Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

"Jericho" doesn't bother with mere malaise, a condition that infests several new dramas, but instead goes all the way to the biggest bang in prime time: nuclear bombs sending mushroom clouds into the sky and apparently -- although the premiere isn't 100 percent clear on this -- obliterating Denver and Atlanta. Jericho is a small Midwestern town, and when residents see those clouds in the distance, they have to interrupt their hug marathon (it's the huggingest show on TV until then) and prepare themselves for the worst -- although no one is sure exactly what that will be. Serialized and serious, the drama seems to lack credibility and conviction, but maybe it will acquire some along the way.
•By Tom Shales Washington Post

Gerald McRaney and Skeet Ulrich play father and son in this postapocalyptic drama about a small Kansas town plunged into chaos when a mushroom cloud on the horizon leaves them wondering if they're the only people left alive after a nuclear attack.
• By Marisa Guthrie, The New York Daily News

Premise: It's the end of the world as we know it (maybe), and the citizens of a Kansas town that survived the nuclear attacks feel fine.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: Yes, and a second episode.
Why I like it: Though it's been compared to "Lost" (and airs in the original "Lost" timeslot), it's much more straightforward: no monsters, no cursed numbers, no elaborate clues that seem much more significant than they will turn out to be and, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, no obvious "mythology." Instead, the show focuses on the reality of what might happen in such a nightmare scenario, and it seems well built for the long haul.
Why I’m worried: Still not sold on Skeet Ulrich as a leading man, and there's a development in episode two that suggests Gerald McRaney (who gets a lifetime pass from me after playing George Hearst on "Deadwood") may not be as central to the action as I had hoped. Not that visually exciting; where a lot of the NBC and ABC dramas are going for a theatrical film look, "Jericho" looks 100% like a TV show.
• By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

Jericho (CBS). Some good twists in its view of a small town dealing with isolation after what looks like a nuclear war. Also at least one trite one in the pilot. Terrific performance from Gerald McRaney.
• By R.D. Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal

Another new series dominated by its premise, this drama places the viewer in a small town in rural Kansas that may be just remote enough to escape the nuclear conflagration that engulfs the rest of the continent and perhaps the world. The implications of such a new life are many, maybe even enough for a sustained series, if this one sustains. Much of the drama is family-based but it is not exactly feel-good. The stars include Gerald McRaney (“Deadwood”) and Skeet Ulrich (“Scream”).
• By Bill Carter The New York Times

Could NBC be on an upswing? For real this time? Unlike the last few seasons, the network has rolled out a bunch of very good drama pilots this year. Why that is, I’m not really sure, but I’ll take the good stuff over another “E-Ring” any day. In any case, “Kidnapped” is a flawlessly executed thriller, in which Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany are the wealthy parents of a missing teen. They use both the police and a private negotiator (Jeremy Sisto from “Six Feet Under,” in fine form) to try to get their son back. The pilot of this stylish show a show is a crackling good ride, and I’m eager to see more.
•By Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

A mushroom cloud appears on the horizon and a tiny town in Kansas finds itself cut off from the world. What happened? And why? Gerald McRaney and Skeet Ulrich are good in this grimly intriguing yarn. Grade: B+
• By Diane Holloway, Austin American-Statesman television writer

Wednesday’s New Shows

”Kidnapped” 10 PM ET/PT NBC

The missing person show that isn't "Vanished" (already underway on Fox), set in something that seems closer to the real world. (While there is undoubtedly more here than meets the eye, there is certainly less "more than meets eye" than in some of the season's other mysteries.) An excellent cast, including Timothy Hutton (the rich man whose son is abducted), Dana Delaney (his socialite philanthropist wife), Delroy Lindo (federal agent) and Mykelti Williamson (bodyguard), keeps things lively. Ricky Jay also shows his face.
•By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times

"Kidnapped" is another TV series that seems like it should be a movie. In fact, it was a movie, more than once: Parents wait anxiously for news of a child abducted by criminals. The versatile Jeremy Sisto is the standout in this version, playing a kind of freelance private cop who's an expert at retrieving kidnapped children alive. The suspense is intense, and the second episode takes surprising twists and turns, which suggest that the producers and writers (and an outstanding cast) will be able to keep the story going week upon week.
•By Tom Shales Washington Post

Nutshell: A hostage drama played out over one season.
Aaron’s take: Stylish and thrilling, with great casting decisions large (Dana Delany, Jeremy Sisto, Mykelti Williamson, Timothy Hutton) and small (Ricky Jay, Carmen Ejogo), “Kidnapped” could run off the tracks midway through. But so far, I like what I see.
Verdict: CSI who? Watch Gary Sinise in reruns and this live.
•By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

The idea of this new drama is to trace a single kidnapping case over an entire season, with a new victim next year, if there is a next year. The plot is complicated. Questions abound about the rich family of the teenage boy who is snatched in a violent attack on his way to prep school. Much is not as it seems, as is now standard with serial dramas. Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany play the parents. Jeremy Sisto and Delroy Lindo play the heroes trying to catch the perps, and they will continue in those roles next season, when someone else will be kidnapped.
• By Bill Carter The New York Times

The best in the whole bowl of new serials. Tim Hutton and Dana Delany are the wealthy parents of an abducted teenage boy. Delroy Lindo is the cop trying to help; Jeremy Sisto is the professional helper working outside the law. The cinematic quality of this show is exceptional, as is the storytelling. Grade: A
• By Diane Holloway, Austin American-Statesman television writer

Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany play wealthy New York City parents whose 15-year-old son (Will Denton) is kidnapped by a nefarious cabal. They enlist the aid of Jeremy Sisto (in his first series role since "Six Feet Under"), a former FBI agent who now works outside the law. But his former colleague (Delroy Lindo), who is still at the bureau, is determined to do things (mostly) by the book. Carmen Ejogo, Linus Roache and Mykelti Williamson co-star.
• By Marisa Guthrie, The New York Daily News

TV Notebook
Couric's Appeal Raises Ratings for CBS O&Os
By Katy Bachman Media Week

CBS is touting the Couric effect for its local TV stations. Since the debut two weeks ago of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, 16 of CBS' 21 owned-and-operated CBS stations saw ratings jump for both the national news broadcast and their local programming, the company said Tuesday.

Collectively, household ratings for the Evening News on the 16 stations between Sept. 5 and Sept. 15 were up 44 percent, compared to the same two week period last year. Strongest gains were posted in New York on WCBS (up 67 percent); Los Angeles on KCBS (up 68 percent); Chicago on WBBM (up 65 percent); Philadelphia on KYW (up 58 percent); Boston on WBZ (up 60 percent); San Francisco on KPIX (up 33 percent) and Dallas on KTVT (up 44 percent).

Several CBS O & Os also saw ratings increases for their local newscasts, on average up 6 percent. WCBS in New York, which has been fighting to climb out of third place, had a 7 percent increase in household ratings for its local newscast at 6 p.m., while WNBC, NBC Universal’s owned-and-operated station and WABC, ABC’s O & O, were both down.

In Los Angeles, KCBS’ 6 p.m. news was up 18 percent and ranked No. 2, up from third place last year.

In Chicago, WBBM also climbed out of third place to No. 2 with a 13 percent increase in household ratings at 5 p.m.

Also climbing into the No. 2 spot was KYW’s local news at 6 p.m., up 8 percent compared to a year ago.

“The newscast has not only brought more viewers to the timeslot, but has fed into other dayparts as well, including our fringe, access and prime time schedules. We’re very encouraged by these early results, and we think the quality of the newscast and the resources that CBS has put behind it will keep that momentum going,” said Tom Kane, president of CBS Television Stations.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003124467

I can see HBO charging whatever they wish as they're ala carte. In the case of HBO et. all, doesn't the MSO and the networks split the sub fee 50/50?

IIRC, the last time I saw the breakdown for HBO, it was something like $6 or $7 for the package plus HBO gets half of everything above $10.

Wednesday’s Premieres

8 PM ET/PT Jericho - CBS HD
8 PM ET/PT America's Next Top Model - CW
9 PM ET/PT Criminal Minds - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Kidnapped - NBC HD
10 PM ET/PT CSI: NY - CBS HD

Cable Nielsen Notebook
ESPN football, new spoiler on Monday
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 20, 2006

“Monday Night Football” had a huge debut in its first week with two games featuring three mediocre teams and one good one.

With two potentially great teams slugging it out in week two, ESPN had its best-ever showing in its 27-year history.

Monday night’s game pitting the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the now 2-0 Jacksonville Jaguars averaged a 9.4 overnight Nielsen cable rating, up 8 percent over the 8.7 earned by last week’s Washington Redskins-Minnesota Vikings game. It also drew 9.81 million households. Final ratings are due out today.

It will likely be the second-most-watched program ever on basic cable, behind only CNN's 2003 NAFTA debate with Al Gore and Ross Perot seen by 11.17 million households.

Equally impressive, it was up 24 percent over the week two game of “Sunday Night Football” last year, which averaged a 7.6. Last year “SNF” aired on ESPN and “MNF” aired on ABC.

In fact, thus far “MNF” hasn’t been too far behind the opening-weeks averages from last year despite ESPN being available in roughly 30 million fewer homes than ABC. It just goes to prove that football fans will follow the games no matter where they are and don’t care whether it's cable or broadcast.

It is also a credit to ESPN’s promotion of the “Monday Night” switcheroo, which is really no surprise. The network has always excelled at self-promotion, and between its “Is it Monday yet” campaign promoting the change and extensive media coverage given to Tony Kornheiser’s addition to the booth, “MNF” hasn’t dipped as much in its new home as many media people thought it would.

The question that then raises is just what effect “MNF” will have on Monday nights overall. It will likely impact CBS, whose adults 18-49 average dipped slightly from last year on opening night, and Fox, whose “Prison Break” is the least-female-skewing show on broadcast on Mondays.

And it may already have hurt NBC’s new drama “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” which surely lost some sampling from would-be viewers who caught the show on the internet ahead of time in order to watch “MNF” live.

It may take weeks before “MNF’s” impact on the night is fully apparent. In the meantime, it looks like many of the viewers switching to cable are older men, according to a Magna Global U.S. analysis.

“Overall, it appears that the move to Mondays has drawn older male viewers to ESPN, but some younger male viewers have been lost in the shuffle,” a report issued last week says.

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended Sept. 17:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s):
ESPN
TNT
USA
FX
TBSC

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers):
ESPN
TNT
USA
Lifetime
Cartoon Network

Top movie (18-49s):
TNT’s “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (Saturday, 8 p.m.) 1.919 million

Top sporting event (total viewers):
ESPN’s “Vikings/Redskins” (Monday, 7 p.m.) 12.57 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s:
ESPN’s “Vikings/Redskins” (Monday, 7 p.m.), ESPN’s “Chargers/Raiders” (Monday, 10:22 p.m.) VH1’s “Flavor of Love 2” (Sunday, 10 p.m.)
Bravo’s “Project Runway” (Wednesday 10 p.m.)
ESPN’s “Sports Center” (Monday 1:14 a.m.)
FX’s “Nip Tuck” (Tuesday, 10 p.m.)
USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 10 p.m.)
USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 9 p.m.)
TNT’s “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (Saturday, 8 p.m.)

Show on the rise:
Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken,” Sunday 11:30 p.m. Seth Green’s animated show bettered its third-season premiere by 43 percent, averaging 725,000 adults 18-34 for its fourth-season bow Sunday.

Show on the decline:
TNT’s "Nextel Cup Racing/Loudon," Sunday 1:20 p.m. Now that racers have made the Cup chase, things are less compelling: Households viewing the race were down nearly 2 million from the previous week.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7391.asp

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
For Fox's 'Happy Hour,' last call's nigh
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 20, 2006

The question for “Happy Hour,” the poorly reviewed new Fox Thursday comedy, is when, not if, it will be pulled off the schedule.

The show, tabbed by a poll on BrilliantButCancelled.com as the show most likely to be axed first this fall, saw ratings declines from its already unspectacular debut in week two.

If it dips yet more over the coming weeks, chances are it won’t be back after a planned hiatus for postseason baseball. But don’t expect it to disappear immediately, a la “Head Cases” last year.

“Hour” averaged a 2.2 rating in adults 18-49 last week, the week ended Sept. 17, down 8 percent from its already-low 2.4 debut the previous week. It finished last among the Big Four in its timeslot, behind even reruns of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and NBC’s “My Name is Earl.”

Among total viewers, it fell to 5.38 million, losing more than a million from its debut. And this week it faces the premieres of NBC's "Earl" and "The Office" and ABC's highly anticipated "Ugly Betty."

"It looks like 'Happy Hour' may not be around very long," one buyer says.

Thursday night has been a problem for Fox for years. Though “O.C.” has performed decently there, the network has cycled roughly half a dozen companion shows through the night over the past three years without a hit. Now even “O.C.” is declining.

That’s why “’Til Death,” the highly touted new Brad Garrett sitcom, was put on Thursday. Had “Death” gotten strong ratings, it might have acted as a buoy for “Hour” and “O.C.”

But “Death’s” viewership thus far has been only so-so. Fox will no doubt want to keep the sitcom with the big-name actor around, and could benefit from pairing it with an already established show on another night or moving one of its popular Sunday shows to Thursday to prop it up.

Fox could also launch a new reality show Thursday to pair with “O.C.” or take one of its midseason dramas, like “Wedding Album,” and debut it early.

Either way, there may not be room for “Hour.” Yet Fox is in no rush to rejigger yet. After two seasons at No. 1 in 18-49s, it has room to take its time with such decisions.

"Today is the first day of the broadcast season and approximately 40 shows are launching this week," says a Fox spokesperson. "It's far too early to speculate on any show's future."

The network still thrived the last two seasons even with Thursday in disarray. The return of “American Idol” in January can make up for a lot of problems, and “Idol” will likely run a few Thursday specials to juice Fox’s ratings.

It’s not like last year, when Fox yanked “Head Cases” after just two outings because of horrifically bad ratings. So long as “Hour” stays above a 2.0, it should make it to next month, if no further.

Meanwhile, in English-language broadcast ratings for the week ended Sept. 17 (note that many UPN affiliates had already switched over to MyNetworkTV):

Among adults 18-49, CBS finished No.1 with a 3.1 average rating and 9 share, followed by ABC at 3.0/9, NBC and FOX tied at 2.8.8, WB at 0.6/2 and UPN at 0.3/1.

Among adults 18-34, Fox led with an average rating of 2.8 and share of 9, followed by ABC and NBC tied at 2.3/8, CBS with 2.2/7, WB at 0.6/2 and UPN last at 0.3/1

Among adults 25-54, CBS finished first with 3.7/10, ABC with 3.6/10, NBC had 3.3/10, FOX at 3.0/8, WB with 0.6/2 and UPN at 0.3/1.

Top five (18-49s): 1. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 7.4
2. CBS’s “Survivor Cook Island” 6.5
3. Fox's "House" 5.9
4. ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars – Tues” 5.7
Tie-5. CBS's "CSI – Thurs,"
CBS’s “CSI 10pm Special” 4.8

Top five (total viewers):
1.ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars-Tues.” 20.22 million
2. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 18.41 million
3. CBS’s “Survivor: Cook Island” 18 million
4. ABC’s “Dancing With The Starts Results-Wed” 16.23 million
5. CBS’s “CSI” 15.59 million

Bottom five (18-49s):
Tie-98. UPN’s “Love Inc.-Thurs,”
UPN’s “Everybody Hates Chris-Wed.,”
UPN’s “Eve-Thurs.,”
UPN’s “All Of Us-Wed,”
UPN’s “One on One-Mon.,”
UPN’s “All Of Us-Mon.,” 0.3

Tie-104. UPN’s “Cuts-Thurs.,” UPN’s “Veronica Mars-Tues., 9pm” UPN’s “Veronica Mars-Tues, 8pm,” 0.2

Bottom five (total viewers): 102. UPN’s “Cuts” 700,000
103. UPN’s “One on One” 694,000
104. UPN’s “All Of Us” 637,000
105. UPN’s “Veronica Mars Tues- 9pm” 498,000
106. UPN’s “Veronica Mars Tues-8pm” 446,000

Show on the rise: “Dancing with the Stars,” ABC, Tuesday 8 p.m. The third season of the reality hit drew its biggest premiere audience ever, 20.22 million total viewers.

Show on the decline: WB’s final night. It was a cool idea – airing pilots of seminal WB shows like “Felicity,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” But with those shows readily available on DVD and cable anytime, fewer than 1.6 million total viewers tuned in for the network’s last hurrah Sunday night.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7390.asp

The New Season
Kidnapped' Holds Viewers for Ransom
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 20, 2006; C01

"Sometimes, the world doesn't make sense," says a philosophical bodyguard named Virgil in tonight's premiere of NBC's "Kidnapped." Virgil has not only made the understatement of the week, but he's also helped set the tone for this superior, high-tension serialized drama about the proverbial "parent's worst nightmare" -- and how it affects not just the parents but everyone involved.

Making the strongest impression among those in an unusually sturdy cast is Jeremy Sisto, an intense young actor whose parts have ranged from the title role in the CBS miniseries "Jesus" to the disturbed boyfriend in HBO's "Six Feet Under" to a man with breasts (a transsexual in progress) in an obscure bit of weirdness called "The Crew."

Here, Sisto's a man known simply as Knapp, a roguish but no-nonsense freelance operative whose specialty is helping families recover kidnap victims -- alive.

"All I care about is retrieval; everything else is distraction," he tells the indefatigable Dana Delany and aging Timothy Hutton, who play Ellie and Conrad Cain, well-to-do Upper-East-Siders. Their brainy 15-year-old son, Leopold (Will Denton), is nabbed in a maliciously well-planned, recklessly violent operation that bodyguard Virgil (played by the formidable Mykelti Williamson) comes within heartbreaking seconds of preventing.

Why does a teenage schoolboy have a bodyguard in the first place? That's one of many tantalizing questions raised in the premiere, the abduction itself reverberating with an uncountable number of obvious and incipient complications -- motive, culpability and the possible involvement even of seeming "good guys."

Writer and executive producer Jason Smilovic, ably abetted by director Michael Dinner, crams the premiere with so many provocative complications that even a doubting Thomas can see how a drama about a single kidnapping -- wrapped up handily in such self-contained, two-hour movies as "Ransom" -- could sustain viewer interest over an entire season.

In the second installment, for instance, a Hannibal Lecter-like character is introduced. He's an unsavory source of possible use to Knapp, along with a new and scary bodyguard named Jimbo, who moves into the Cains' plush house. The kidnappers demand $20 million in untraceable, negotiable bearer bonds -- a term so familiar from so many films that one has to wonder: If whoever prints up those darn "untraceable, negotiable bearer bonds" just stopped making them, mightn't the number of robberies and kidnappings decline? Oh, probably not.

The series doesn't do much to help the ailing image of the FBI; it's ailing, at least, in movies and TV shows like this one. Casting Delroy Lindo as a top agent who comes out of retirement because of a vested interest in the case does somewhat help the image of the agency.

Knapp finds the FBI guys less a hindrance, going so far as to punch one of them in the gut after a bungled rescue attempt and telling the agent, "What you can't seem to understand is, you're the only ones playing by the rules." Agents naively imagine that they're dealing with nice, respectable kidnappers who'll keep their word and honor agreements.

Would "Kidnapped" be more gripping if the victim's family weren't so outrageously wealthy? Probably not, and credibility would suffer. Middle-class families aren't likely to have stacks of those bearer bonds lying around, for one thing, and a threat to the safety of a child is a subject that crosses all boundaries, socioeconomic being perhaps the least of them.

"Kidnapped" isn't the show to watch if you want your mind taken off your troubles (unless other people's troubles have a therapeutic effect). It reflects a trend toward the grim and even ghoulish in new fall dramas. But for what it is, it's an extremely accomplished piece of work -- unsettling in ways that few suspense thrillers manage to be.

'Jericho'

Chicken Little, sources say, might have been misquoted. Or taken out of context. When Little said, "The sky is falling," he could have meant, "Something awful is falling out of the sky!"

At least that's an errant thought inspired by "Jericho," the new season's gloomiest and doomiest drama.

In the series premiere tonight on CBS, America suffers the apocalyptic horror of a nuclear attack. And that's just for starters.

Where will the show's writers go from there? From the obliteration of Denver and other cities apparently vaporized but not shown? That's a good question for "Jericho's" executive producer, Jon Turteltaub, who reassured a reporter for Entertainment Weekly: "The show is not all doom and gloom where everybody gets boils under their skin and dies." Well, thank heaven. Nobody likes a nuclear holocaust without a little fun in it.

The title refers to a relatively small town in Kansas, one so quaintly pretty and serene that it looks like an ad for Hallmark. In the pilot, a young and sullen prodigal son returns to Jericho just in time to see the big awful mushroom clouds forming in the distant sky. Eventually, the townsfolk realize that Denver has disappeared, and all hell begins to break loose.

Well, not quite all hell. A mob overruns a gas station, basically. One assumes the rest of hell is being saved for serialized chapters to come.

CBS, meanwhile, must have its own Chicken Little on staff, perhaps as a consultant, running around the Television City parking lot in Los Angeles and shouting "You've got to get 'Lost'! You've got to get 'Lost!' " Meaning not "Get out of town before somebody drops a house on you," but rather "Develop a show like 'Lost,' ABC's big, mysterious hit about people marooned an island after their plane crashes."

The people in "Jericho" are marooned in -- what else? -- Jericho after a whole city crashes.

And it appears the same sorts of plot threads will be unraveled, the same kinds of murky back-stories told, and similar conflicts evolve among the various characters as Jericho faces dire prospects just over the horizon.

Skeet Ulrich plays the prodigal figure, a guy named Nick who left town under a cloud of his own -- not a nuclear cloud, of course -- and has returned after four years just in time to perform an emergency tracheotomy on a little girl trapped in a school bus. There's another bus to worry about: one formerly filled with prison inmates, all now running loose because their bus tumbled into a ravine.

Ulrich is so muttery and mopey in the lead role that the show seems gloomy even during the few minutes before the mushroom clouds form. But more damaging to "Jericho" is the fact that it's really a Cold War drama airing years after the Cold War ended. Perhaps it will evolve that al-Qaeda or the Iranians or North Koreans or -- the possibilities are too numerous -- get hold of nuclear weapons and go berserk, making the show seem more contemporary, but obviously we'll have to "tune in next week," or for weeks after that, to find out what's going on.

The drama seems dated in other ways -- among them, tiny details like a strange scarcity of cellphones in town. This is a writer's convenience; if people in Jericho, like everywhere else, had cellphones, then someone could have called the cops to tell them about the imperiled school bus. Instead, footage is eaten up by townsfolk traipsing around in search of the vehicle.

It might sound callous to say that "Jericho" has managed to make nuclear war look boring, but there you have it. Or don't have it, should you choose the seemingly sane course of steering clear.

As for comic relief, there is some, but it might be unintentional -- as when Gerald McRaney, as the town's nutball of a mayor, tries to calm the population by saying, "One explosion does not make an attack," even with the nuclear clouds clearly visible in the distance. That's not looking on the bright side. That's being a blithering idiot.

"Jericho" could use considerably less blither and considerably more believability.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901781_pf.html

The TV Column
The Week’s Winners and Losers
ABC Starts 'Dancing' And the Competition Reels
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 20, 2006; C07

Abig return for "Dancing With the Stars" catapulted ABC to No. 1 the week before the official start of the TV season. It was the network's first win since it broadcast the Super Bowl in January. But with a lineup jammed with reality series coming and going, CBS took the trophy among the 18- to 49-year-olds advertisers lust after.

Here's a look at the week's thriving and dying:

WINNERS

"Dancing With the Stars."

More than 20 million braved Tucker Carlson doing the cha-cha-cha, making the dance competition's third-season debut last week's most watched program. That's nearly 3 million viewers better than the second-season debut and nearly 7 million better than the first-season opener. That's also very good news for ABC, which plans to use "Dance" to launch several shows over the next few weeks (see "Men in Trees" below).

"Men in Trees." T

The "Dancing" debut drove nearly 12 million unsuspecting viewers to ABC's scary new universe in which Anne Heche is a relationship expert. Only 8.5 million got away; the other 11.7 million got sucked into the vortex, making "Men in Trees" the most watched show at 10 p.m. Tuesday. It drew nearly a third more viewers than its closest competitor, which, granted, was a rerun of "Law & Order: SVU." By Friday another 3.6 million viewers had been rescued by loved ones, leaving slightly more than 8 million viewers orbiting "Men in Trees" when it made its Friday time-slot debut. That still made it Friday night's most watched program.

Katie Couric.

Couric clung to her tiara in her second week as anchor of the "CBS Evening News," averaging 50,000 viewers more than NBC's Brian Williams and nearly 400,000 more than ABC's Charlie Gibson.

Crocodile Hunter exhumation .

Animal Planet's marathon of shows starring its dead Crock Hunter, Steve Irwin, logged 927,000 viewers in prime time Sunday -- 37 percent better than the network's year-to-date Sunday prime-time average. Crikey!

"Path to 9/11

." Sure it had no advertisers, which had to have cost ABC gobs of money. But you can't put a price tag on the delivery of more than 10 million viewers -- about twice ABC's summer Monday audience -- to those with whom a network wants to curry political favor.

LOSERS

[FONT=ARIAL BLACK][COLOR=deepskyblue] "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

The debut of NBC's much-ballyhooed Aaron Sorkin series copped 13.4 million viewers this past Monday, taking a big bite out of CBS's "CSI: Miami" season debut. At 17.4 million, it was the second smallest debut audience ever for "CSI: Miami," and 2 million below last season's debut. But that's not what everyone was talking about yesterday. They were talking about the 2.5 million-viewer plunge from the first half-hour of "Studio 60" to the second -- the kiss of death for a new one-hour series. In this case, the drop probably had something to do with the utterly incompatible lead-in audience that NBC gave it -- fans of the babes-and-briefcases series "Deal or No Deal." For trivia's sake, the very first episode of Sorkin's "The West Wing" averaged 16.9 million viewers on Sept. 22, 1999.

"Survivor: Cook Island."

CBS suits brought a great deal of controversy on themselves when they turned one of broadcast TV's whitest reality shows into one of the most ethnically diverse so that they could then segregate the players based on their ethnic background. This appears to have cost them some advertisers, which is not unusual for a controversial bit of programming. The upside of all this is supposed to be lots more viewers -- and Thursday's debut logged the second smallest opening audience ever for "Survivor," behind only the first-season starter. CBS noted it was the week's second most watched show among 18- to 49-year-olds; it forgot to mention it was the lowest-rated "Survivor" debut ever among 18- to 34-year-olds, who are the Holy Grail of reality TV.

"Lucky Louie."

Turns out, HBO can do a three-camera sitcom just as badly as any broadcast network. Only raunchier. Which doesn't appear to attract more viewers. And so, after "Louie" premiered in June with an average of 1.5 million watching the first play of the episode, and regularly sloughed off about 1 million "Entourage" viewers over the course of its first-season order, HBO threw in the towel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901666_pf.html

The New Season
'Kidnapped,' 'Jericho':
One will come tumbling down

By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Television Critic Wed, Sep. 20, 2006

The things you learn from television.

Hold your hands in front of you, palms out, fingers together. Stick out your thumbs. The hand that makes an "L" is your left hand, and you'll never get lost again.

Maybe everybody already knows that. Maybe my kindergarten teacher missed that lesson in teachers college.

What everybody knows for sure is that you can watch only so much TV, and of the two series premiering tonight, Jericho on CBS3 at 8 and Kidnapped on NBC10 at 10, only one, maybe, is good enough to fit into my overstuffed viewing schedule.

The networks have gone nuts with serials this year, after Desperate Housewives and Lost and 24 and then Grey's Anatomy did so well. Thirteen of the 16 new dramas have continuing plots, and Jericho and Kidnapped are as strongly serialized as any of them.

Jericho may have kiddie lessons, but it drips with doom, not from whatever nuclear menace has completely isolated the little Kansas town, but from the threat of early cancellation before poor viewers find out what's going on.

Kidnapped will spend the entire season answering the questions of who snatched rich kid Leopold Cain, will they be caught, and will he come back alive. Great cast and intriguing storytelling may get viewers, and, more important, network honchos, hooked.

Mom Ellie and the Cain kids have a secret language for when guests drop by - French. She uses it with little Alice to fool the New York Times reporter who has come to the Cains' Park Avenue residence, with a full-size swimming pool, to do a feature on the family.

Ellie cuts the kid off just as she's introducing the hulking African American man standing in the kitchen in a suit. Being from the Times, the ink-stained wretch isn't inquisitive enough simply to ask him who he is herself.

But that's OK. We know he's a bodyguard, and we never needed a kindergarten teacher to explain that TV doesn't always make sense.

Ellie Cain, played by the magnificent Dana Delany, has friends in high places. Daddy Conrad Cain, played by the terrific Timothy Hutton, we will learn, has relatives in low places. Did we mention they have a giant kidnapping insurance policy on their kids with Lloyd's of London?

They hire the world's best kidnap-foiler, aptly named Knapp (Jeremy Sisto), and he tells them not to call the FBI, but the feds find out anyway, which is great, because that means Delroy Lindo will be on the case, too.

There are plot twists aplenty. The crooks are murderous. In the first two episodes, we meet not one but two pale, skinny, creepy, cruel criminals, and everybody knows they're the worst kind.

But the kid's no slouch, either. Knapp finds a book on Buddhist epistemology (not even my college teachers told me what that was) in Leopold's room at home, and all the while, the teenager's working to escape the God-forsaken place, even if there is a crucifix on the wall, where he's being held.

With a plastic knife.

24 super agent Jack Bauer and Prison Break egghead Michael Scofield would be proud.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

There's tons of trouble in Jericho, and that starts with T and that rhymes with D and that stands for dumb. Not flat-footedly, spectacularly dumb, just a little bit too dumb to live up to its premise.

Take those little kids. They have to learn about left and right so they can go for gas after Skeet Ulrich, the mayor's prodigal son, performs an emergency tracheotomy on a little girl with a pencil and some juice-box straws after their school bus crashes because the driver didn't slow down when everybody saw a deer running alongside the road.

Skeet's a mystery man, back in town after five years with a different story for everybody he meets. But he's no more mysterious than that guy from St. Louis who seems to know way too much about terrorist attacks and civil defense.

He gets authorities to turn on the high-powered construction lights, which quells the chaos a little bit.

But the mayor (Gerald McRaney) has a better approach. "We can fight all enemies," he spiels as the sappy music fills, "if we work together."

And by that time, all the townspeople are snoozing peacefully in the square.

Well, maybe not, but you might be drifting off, if you haven't changed the channel by then.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15559684.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The New Season
“Kidnapped” and “Jericho”
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog

There's a terrific short version of the abduction that is at the heart of "Kidnapped" (NBC, 10:01 PM ET/PT) but it's stretched out so long in the pilot as to lose its tension. And though we disdain those instant finds in shows like "Without a Trace," we fear the seasonlong search for the privileged son of Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany, involving investigative teams at cross purposes led by Jeremy Sisto and Delroy Lindo, will be similarly slack.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-tveye0920.artsep20,0,5795744.column?coll=hce-utility-tv

I agree. How change you drag a kidnapping out longer than one season. This ain't 24 where there are a variety of storylines.

Also, isn't a show about a Senator's wife that is kidnapped?

Also, isn't a show about a Senator's wife that is kidnapped?

Yea, that's "Vanished" on Fox.

Is America's Next Top Model supposed to be in HD? The reason I ask is b/c I record, but I was looking at my guide and saw where it said HDTV in the Tivo guide.

Yea, that's "Vanished" on Fox.

Thanks.

Is America's Next Top Model supposed to be in HD? The reason I ask is b/c I record, but I was looking at my guide and saw where it said HDTV in the Tivo guide.


As far as I know it is not in HD.

The Tuesday prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
ABC edges out Fox for a Tuesday win
Stars' tops CBS and NBC debuts in second week
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 20, 2006

In another super-tight night, the second hour of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” gave the network the slight edge it needed to best Fox for No. 1.

ABC averaged a 4.6 rating and 12 share among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, just a hair ahead of Fox’s 4.5/12. While “Stars” finished behind Fox’s power-“House” at 8 p.m. in that demo for the second straight week, it peaked with a 5.9 and more than 20 million viewers in its second hour to push the network ahead for the night.

That awarded ABC its first nightly victory of the very young season, following NBC’s win on Monday night. But things could get more interesting next week, when ABC debuts new sitcom “Help Me Help You,” which will cut “Stars” down to 90 minutes.

NBC also had a strong debut night with its new 9 and 10 p.m. combination of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “L&O: Special Victims Unit.” The later won the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.1, slightly ahead of last season’s 5.0 average. “CI” took second behind “Stars” with a 4.0 at 9 p.m., up 25 percent over last season’s 3.2 average in its old Sunday 9 p.m. timeslot. That boosted NBC to a third-place 4.1/11 for the night.

But CBS did not have as strong a night. The network, which had the night’s only new show premiere, averaged a fourth-place 3.4 in 18-49s and, perhaps more alarmingly, finished only third among households and total viewers, behind both ABC and NBC and not too far ahead of Fox.

“Smith,” the well-reviewed Ray Liotta drama that debuted at 10 p.m., averaged a 3.5 18-49 rating and fell slightly in its second half hour, tying for third in the timeslot with ABC’s “Boston Legal.” “Smith” was also third in total viewers with 10.7 million, though it did finish ahead of “Legal” by 0.2 in 25-54s with a 4.4.

Meanwhile, Univision averaged a 1.7/4 for the night and the CW was last with a 0.6/2. The latter, emerging from the combination of UPN and the WB, does not make its official debut is not until tomorrow night, when “America’s Next Top Model” launches. Ratings for Sunday through Tuesday will not be included in any official estimates for the CW.

At 8 p.m., Fox’s “House” dominated with a 5.8, 1.4 ahead of ABC’s “Stars.” NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” special and CBS’s “NCIS” premiere tied for third at 3.3, followed by a 1.9 for Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW’s 0.6 for a “Gilmore Girls” rerun.

At 9 p.m., ABC steamed ahead with “Stars’” 5.9, followed by NBC’s “CI” at 4.0, CBS’s “The Unit” at 3.5, Fox’s “Standoff” at 3.3, Univision’s “Barrera de Amor” at 1.9” and CW’s “Launch Party” at 0.5.

At 10 p.m., “SVU” led with a 5.1, followed by “Legal” and “Smith” at 3.5 and Univision at 1.4.

Among households ABC also led with a 10.6/7, followed by NBC at 8.0/12, CBS at 7.7/12, Fox at 6.6/10, Univision at 2.1/3, and the CW at 1.0/2.

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

The Business of TV
Fox and Cablevision Headed for a Fight
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 9/20/2006

Fox News and Cablevision are headed for a showdown over the network’s campaign to secure substantial increases in its license fees to cable and satellite TV companies. The news network is taking a characteristic hardball approach to the negotiations, with News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch personally calling out Chuck Dolan for a fight.

Fox News says it is looking to boost its license fees from around 30 cents per subscriber monthly to $1, arguing that if its audience is double that of rival news network CNN, its license fees should be as well. That’s a massive hike, especially at a time when operators are trying to clamp down on programming cost increases because they can’t readily raise basic cable rates.

Fox News went to war when it started the channel. Murdoch’s general aversion to government interference into the affairs of business didn’t stop him from enlisting the City of New York in a battle to secure carriage on Time Warner’s Manhattan system

“These are going to be very contentious negotiations; They’re gearing up for a possible battle,” says an executive with one cable operator.

Because Cablevision was one of the first operators to sign up for Fox News when it launched in 1996, the network is the first to be publicly targeted for attack. It started quietly last week when the network took out a legal notice in a Connecticut newspaper alerting Cablevision's customers there that they may lose Fox News when the operator’s deal expires Oct. 7. While cable systems are obligated to offer 30 days notice of a change in programming services, the network is simply trying to bring pressure on Cablevision.

Murdoch turned up the volume a bit by calling out Cablevision Chairman Chuck Dolan personally. Saying that Fox News hasn’t yet had “productive” negotiations with Cablevision, Murdoch said“Chuck Dolan has been a friend of mine for many, many years and I would hate that we had some big breach over this. But if we have to we will."

Murdoch warns that cable operators will face an onslaught from Fox News fans. “Our audience is passionate for Fox News. anyone who drops it off is going to be in mighty big trouble,” adding that "EchoStar and DirecTV are going to be right there picking over the bones.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6373776

Is America's Next Top Model supposed to be in HD? The reason I ask is b/c I record, but I was looking at my guide and saw where it said HDTV in the Tivo guide.

The CW
(Begins Monday, Sept. 18; 8 of 13 hours in HD)

MONDAY
8 7th Heaven Sept. 25
9 Runaway (new) HD Sept. 25

TUESDAY
8 Gilmore Girls HD Sept. 26
9 Veronica Mars HD Oct. 3

WEDNESDAY
8 America's Next Top Model Special two-hour premiere Sept. 20
9 One Tree Hill HD Sept. 27

THURSDAY
8 Smallville HD Sept. 28
9 Supernatural HD Sept. 28

FRIDAY
8 WWE Friday Night Smackdown Sept. 22

SUNDAY
7 Everybody Hates Chris HD Oct. 1
7:30 All of Us HD Oct. 1
8 Girlfriends HD Oct. 1
8:30 The Game (new) HD Oct. 1
9 America’s Next Top Model (Repeat)

Reminder: The New Season
Prime Time Reference Material

You can find all the network schedules, including which shows are being broadcast in HD in the second post of this thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4265637&&#post4265637

Remembrance
Thousands Remember 'Crocodile Hunter':
By DENNIS PASSA Associated Press Writer September 20, 2006 in the Los Angeles Times

BEERWAH, Australia -- Friends and fans, including Hollywood stars and Australia's prime minister, bid farewell to "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin on Wednesday at a service that veered from poignant tributes to belly laughs.

Irwin's 8-year-old daughter, Bindi, hailed him as her hero; his father, Bob, asked people to end their grieving, and fans were invited to laugh at his television antics one more time.
The ceremony was carried live on three national television networks and at least one radio station. Flags on the Sydney Harbor Bridge and throughout Irwin's home state of Queensland flew at half-staff, and giant television screens were set up for people to watch the service.

More here:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/sns-ap-crocodile-hunter,1,2657565.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews

The New Season
CW Network Faces Struggle to Find a Winning Strategy
By Meg James Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 20, 2006

CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. launch their new television network tonight with the latest installment of the Tyra Banks' contest, "America's Next Top Model." But in the coming months, the CW must do something trickier than strut down a runway in 4-inch stilettos: It must make money.

That mandate was set this year by CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. It's a feat that the network's two predecessors — the defunct WB and UPN — were never able to consistently achieve. Throughout their 11-year histories, the rival operations together lost nearly $2 billion in their struggles to find a winning strategy. In January, the companies decided to cut their losses and agreed to form a new network with their most popular shows.

Although CBS and Warner Bros. no longer will have to scratch and claw for the same audience of teenagers and young adults, viewers these days still are not an easy catch. Internet sites such as YouTube and MySpace have become the coolest destinations around.

The CW has "got to build an identity and a sense of community," said Shari Anne Brill, programming director for ad firm Carat.

That could be difficult given the confusion generated by the consolidation. "We have a big challenge ahead of us," said Dawn Ostroff, the former head of UPN who is the CW's entertainment president. "Our first goal is to bring the viewers into the CW tent — bring in the audience that has always been there."

Although many of the CW programs already have a following, many viewers probably won't know where to find them. That's because the merger triggered a domino effect across the country as dozens of stations orphaned by the shutdown of UPN and WB scrambled to fall into line behind either the CW or an alternative prime-time telenovela network put together by News Corp. The CW will be available in 93% of the country.

The spine of the CW will be made up of TV stations owned by CBS and Tribune Co. Chicago-based Tribune, which publishes the Los Angeles Times, owned a minority interest in the WB network but won't have a stake in the CW. CBS owned UPN.

The station shuffle could frustrate some viewers with well-worn habits. For example, instead of flipping to UPN for "Top Model" or World Wrestling Entertainment's "Smackdown," fans of those shows might have to channel surf. In more than half of the country, former UPN viewers will have to switch to a channel previously occupied by the WB for their shows. This is the case in Los Angeles, where the CW will air on Tribune's KTLA-TV Channel 5. In a quarter of the country, viewers looking for such WB stalwarts as "7th Heaven," "Smallville" and "Gilmore Girls" will have to turn to the old UPN channel. Some viewers will find the CW on a channel that was neither a UPN nor a WB affiliate.

"It's going to take a little time for the dust to settle," Ostroff said.

For that reason, the CW will launch with 11 veteran shows and only two new ones. Network executives wanted to keep the schedule stable so that they could spend their marketing dollars promoting the network, not individual shows.

That saved tens of millions of dollars. The CW's programming budget is slightly less than the more than $500 million a year the WB spent on programming. Executives declined to provide financial details.

The CW's lineup includes the long-running WB family drama, "7th Heaven," which was scheduled to be sent packing in May because it lost $16 million a year for the WB. The CW was able to keep the drama alive because one of its parents, CBS, produces it. The studio reduced the cost by shrinking the size of the cast and slashing salaries of the actors.

Although Moonves vowed in January that the new venture would be profitable, the two executives charged with the day-to-day operations of the CW stopped short this month of saying it would be in the black.

"We are poised for much greater success than either the WB or the UPN," said John Maatta, the CW's chief operating officer and a former WB executive. "I expect lift."

To get aloft, the CW has hired about 250 people — about 50 fewer than the WB had but about 50 more than UPN. That means the merger resulted in the loss of about 250 jobs.

Winnowing the workforce "was the hardest part of the whole endeavor," Maatta said, adding that the new network had about an even mix of employees from the WB and UPN. Employees of the CW will move into its new Burbank office next week.

The network was encouraged by its commercial sales during the so-called upfront market. The CW's sales force pulled in more than $640 million in commitments for 85% of its prime-time advertising inventory this season. The network also initiated "Content Wraps," two-minute segments that blend entertainment and advertising and are woven throughout a night of programming. Up tonight during "Top Model" will be hair tips sponsored by Clairol Herbal Essence.

Bill Morningstar, the CW's sales chief, said a big challenge was to get advertisers to pay comparable rates for African American comedies airing Sunday nights, including Chris Rock's "Everybody Hates Chris."

"It took a lot of work, but we were able to get Sunday night priced at the same value as the rest of the network," he said.

Advertisers expect the CW's ratings to eclipse those of its predecessors. The WB and UPN each averaged about 3 million viewers a week. CW executives declined to divulge their goals, saying only they hope to surpass the ratings by the end of the season. The network is targeting young adults aged 18 to 34.

Said Brad Adgate of Horizon Media: "I don't expect them to double the ratings of the WB, but there should be some moderate increases."

Another challenge for the CW is to develop a niche for a generation weaned on unscripted shows and the Internet. Even more than the big broadcast networks, advertisers said, the CW must be nimble to embrace changes in consumers' tastes.

Taking a page out of MySpace's playbook, the CW has created its own networking hangout on its website called "CW lounge." Viewers can chat about their favorite show and submit their own videos. Ostroff said some would be selected for use as on-air promotional spots.

"You can't force a social network," said Laura Caraccioli-Davis of ad buyer Starcom USA. "That just happens. It's hard to say whether they will be successful. In some ways, it seems like they built the network for today, but I wonder whether it's the right model for tomorrow."

Ostroff doesn't share those doubts. "We're developing a lot of things in a traditional way and a nontraditional way," she said. "The Internet presents challenges, but people like stories. And there is nothing like television that can give that to them."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-fi-cw20sep20,0,5515091,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

It's a type of insurance that guarantees payment, or reimbursement, to whoever put up the money to produce say a show, or movie, in case it is not completed. If the person has tested positive for drugs then in the bond company's mind he is not a good risk as there is a good chance they may not complete the job, meaning the bond company will have to pay.

It's like car insurance, where if you have so many DUI's that nobody will insure you, although I believe all states have assigned risk plans where the state picks a company and they have to insure the individual. For things like TV shows and movies, if you don't get bonded, the the money to create it won't be there.

Thanks for the answers keenan.

The New Season
'Saturday Night Live' Names Cast, Head Writers
By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com September 20, 2006

NBC's "Saturday Night Live" starts its 32nd season Sept. 30 with a cast that will look familiar but smaller. Comedian Dane Cook will host the season opener, which will feature The Killers as the musical act.

Tim Parnell, Horatio Sanz, Finesse Mitchell and Rachel Dratch are leaving the cast.

The veterans returning to the ensemble sketch-comedy show will be Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig.

SNL former head writer and "Weekend Update" co-anchor Tina Fey left the show to produce and star in NBC's "30 Rock," a sitcom based on a late-night variety show. Three co-head writers will replace her: Mr. Meyers, Andrew Steele and Paula Pell.

NBC didn't announce who would take Ms. Fey's place as Ms. Poehler's co-anchor for "Weekend Update."

Don Roy King is the director this season. Mr. King's credits range from "The Mike Douglas Show" and "Survivor" live finales to 14 years on CBS's early morning show and six years at "Good Morning America."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10785

The New Season
"Jericho" could mushroom, "Kidnapped" steals your breath
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” Sept. 20, 2006

In the opening scenes of “Jericho,” a young man named Jake returns to town, and all day long the locals ask why he’s been away from Kansas so long.

By sundown, no one’s going to care.

“Jericho,” a gripping, one-of-a-kind drama that begins at 8 ET/PTtonight on CBS, is the story of a small town whose cares are violently swept away by an atomic cloud that appears on the horizon.

Over the years movies and miniseries have aired about people surviving nuclear or biological holocaust. “Jericho” audaciously proposes to make it a weekly thriller.

I think it just might work. “Jericho’s” first two hours are well-paced; next week’s episode actually improves on tonight’s premiere. There are strong performances from Ashley Scott as Jake’s onetime sweetheart and Lennie James as Mr. Hawkins, a newcomer to the western Kansas town of Jericho.

Jake is played by Skeet Ulrich, and while he’s the show’s central figure, more time is spent establishing the others. Still, it’s clear he’ll be the one who keeps his head when others are losing theirs.

But like any modern TV character, he has a mysterious past. Some people on the West Coast may want to do him harm. If they’ve survived the bomb, one suspects they will be hitching a ride to Kansas.

I complain about the lack of diversity on TV, but it’s to this show’s advantage that James is the only black male in the cast. As we all learned after 9/11, news of an attack makes people suspicious of anyone who doesn’t look and act just like themselves. The cagey and intelligent Hawkins will clearly be the surrogate for everyone who has served as a convenient scapegoat for an act of terror they had no hand in.

The weak link of the show seems to be Gerald McRaney’s character as the mayor of Jericho. He’s also Jake’s dad, and we hear him in the opening minutes upbraid his son for “what you’ve put this family through.” No doubt “Jericho” will explore that story, too, though I’m not sure I care.

Also, I could do without any more speechifying from Hizzoner. The mayor stands up at the end of the hour, with a few of the townsfolk at each other’s throats, and gives one of those what-are-we-fighting-for speeches: “Are we going to use our imaginations to create problems or solve them?”

Here’s hoping the people behind “Jericho” use their imaginations and don’t turn this into “Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Apocalypse.” This show could go in so many more interesting directions: Prisoners are on the loose; the economy is in ruins; people have just had their worst fears realized. And CBS is going to devote 22 nights this season to letting that drama play out.

I have heard three theories as to why this show will fail before those 22 episodes are made. One is that “Jericho” is exploring themes too dark and depressing for people to enjoy. I say, watch the first two hours.

Others say it’s in Kansas and no one is running around in skimpy clothing, À la “Lost.” I say, watch the first hours.

And people in New York remind me that CBS has not had a hit at 8 PM ET/PT Wednesdays in a long, long time.

Well, then, it’s your duty to watch the first two hours.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Here's the question surrounding "Kidnapped,” a thriller about a boy taken hostage: Is there enough show here to tide you over until “24” comes back?

Sleek, action-packed and heavy on the acting talent, “Kidnapped” debuts at 10 PM ET/PT tonight on NBC in a privileged time period, taking over for “Law & Order,” which moves to Friday nights at 10.

It stars Dana Delany as the wife of a millionaire who becomes a woman possessed when her beloved child is taken in a daring abduction. Jeremy Sisto, Delroy Lindo and Mykelti Williamson are the guys who will hunt down the kidnappers. Oh, and the fellow playing the abductee’s somewhat aloof father is merely Oscar winner Timothy Hutton.

Clearly, a cast like this can take a show places. It also becomes clear in tonight’s opener, from its dramatic abduction scene to the distraught family’s first contact with the bad guys, that this show is built for speed.

But is it built to last? Like many new shows, “Kidnapped” is a serial, and the case will presumably be resolved sometime during the May sweeps. How many twists and turns can one family be put through before we go, “Enough already?”

Still, the show should have no problem finding an audience. And its timing is wonderful. After all, we won’t ever again be able to watch Mel Gibson in “Ransom” screaming, “Give me back my son!” without giggling.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/09/reviews_jericho.html#more

The Business of TV
Fox and Cablevision Headed for a Fight
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 9/20/2006
...
Fox News says it is looking to boost its license fees from around 30 cents per subscriber monthly to $1, arguing that if its audience is double that of rival news network CNN, its license fees should be as well.Excuse me!? If you have double the audience, you should already be getting double the AD REVENUE! Greedy &@%$#s!

Xesdeeni

Just wanted to chime in on Berman and his ratings column -

Taken from my post in the Smith thread --

Berman is a knucklehead. Since Smith held 88% of The Unit's audience, that's a positive start? 10 million sampling is horrible for a CBS show, much less one that has all these "big name" actors in it.

CBS has to be disappointed with the show finishing 3rd in its timeslot, behind Boston Legal.

Berman should stick to reporting the ratings and leaving his opinions and bias out of the column.

Excuse me!? If you have double the audience, you should already be getting double the AD REVENUE! Greedy &@%$#s!

Xesdeeni


Of course Cablevision gets a number of minutes to sell spots in FNC too. And so it has seen vastly increased revenues.

Plus, when FNC started, it paid cable companies $10 per sub to get carriage. I don't remember Cablevision of TWC cutting their rates to their subs or offering any rebates.

I think the greedy ones are the ones who charge sub fees to providers for channels very, very few people watch.

Thanks for the answer Fred.

Tim Parnell, Horatio Sanz, Finesse Mitchell and Rachel Dratch are leaving the cast.


Parnell doesn't get much respect. Lorne was going to fire him years ago but Will Ferrell saved his job. Parnell was on the show for 8 years which is quite a run. Apparently not long enough for entertainment writers to realize his first name is Chris. Maybe she just lumped him with another long-term go nowhere SNL player, Tim Meadows.

To reiterate my basic belief: no channel with advertising should be able to charge a carrier. We, the customers, wouldn't get charged twice. And there wouldn't be any of this bickering over the fees. If a network's viewership doubles, the network's ad revenue doubles. If the cable company carrying it also gets more $$$, then they chose the right channel to carry. Capitalism at its best.

Xesdeeni

Just wanted to chime in on Berman and his ratings column -

Taken from my post in the Smith thread --

Berman is a knucklehead. Since Smith held 88% of The Unit's audience, that's a positive start? 10 million sampling is horrible for a CBS show, much less one that has all these "big name" actors in it.

CBS has to be disappointed with the show finishing 3rd in its timeslot, behind Boston Legal.

Berman should stick to reporting the ratings and leaving his opinions and bias out of the column.

Let's not kill the messenger here.

I don't think anyone at CBS expected "Smith" to immediately leap-frog "Boston Legal". Over the years the network has often shown remarkakle patience with its programs: "CSI" took more than a year to catch on, as did "Without A Trace" and many others.

As far as I know, Berman has no axe to grind. His column is written for advertisers and his track record is far ahead of those who
a) pick football games against the spread or
b) prognosticate about political races.

You can certainly disagree with him, but his job is to keep ahead of the curve in the ratings area.

Generally, he does very well, even when he is delivering bad news about shows I like. Which, sadly, he often does.

I post Berman's column here daily because he is the best at what he does and his insights can be of interest to anyone who enjoys network television programming.

I can guarantee that his views are held in high regard on Madison Avenue.

That doesn't make him perfect by any means, but his knowledge of ratings -- both current and through the years -- is astounding.

Washington Notebook
Copyright Holders Seek Clarity On Payments
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 9/20/2006

Programmers want to make sure cable systems are paying all they should be to copyright owners for retransmitting broadcasters' digital signals .

The Copyright Office has asked for comment on what, if any, changes or clarifications need to be made to the reporting process for cable payments to copyright holders for retransmission of broadcast signals.

In 1976, Congress determined that cable should pay for those signals, but that it was unworkable to have everyone negotiate the carriage independently. So a compulsory license fee was established based on gross revenues associated with those transmissions.

Along came digital and now a broadcast can be analog or digital, and a digital broadcast can be a replication of the original signal, or new, multicast programming, or it can be HDTV.

The Motion Picture Association of America, joined by the major sports leagues, have asked the Copyright office to begin a rulemaking to clarify what payments cable operators need to be making on those various new slices of the digital pie.

Citing anecdotal evidence that some operators were not counting certain transmissions or fees--converter box fees, for example--as gross receipts on which they have to make payments, the studios and leagues asked for various changes to accounting and reporting forms.

For one thing, they want cable systems to have to identify the stations they are carrying in both analog and digital so that it "provides notice that a cable operator is carrying digital signals and may be charging subs additional fees that should be included in the gross receipts calculations.

Commenters have until Nov. 6 to weigh in, with replies due Dec. 4.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6373871.html?display=Breaking+News

The New Season
“Jericho”: The fallout of a nuclear strike
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, September 20, 2006

"Jericho"(Tonight at 8 ET/PT on CBS) Residents of a Kansas town are cut off from the rest of civilization after a nuclear attack on America in a new drama starring Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney.

If the microscope jockeys of CBS' three dozen Jerry Bruckheimer police procedurals have taught us anything, it's that no matter how thoroughly you try to clean up a crime scene, you always leave trace evidence behind. And if we didn't understand that already, we'd know it after watching "Jericho," a new drama that CBS execs clearly lifted from Fox or ABC without completely wiping their own fingerprints off of it.

From the use of music by The Killers and Snow Patrol on the soundtrack to the serialized format, most of "Jericho" doesn't feel like anything CBS has aired since... um... ever. But every now and then, there's a moment to reassure you that, yes, you are watching the birthplace of "Simon & Simon" and "Nash Bridges."

Coulda-woulda-shoulda movie actor Skeet Ulrich plays Jake Green, prodigal son of the most influential family in the Kansas town of Jericho. His father, Johnston (Gerald McRaney), is the mayor, and his brother Eric (Kenneth Mitchell) is the deputy mayor and likes to act like nepotism had nothing to do with it. ("We were both born on third base," Jake tells him. "Quit pretending you hit a triple.")

After disappearing for several years to parts unknown, Jake's awkward homecoming is interrupted by a mushroom cloud appearing over the nearby city of Denver. The phones, radios and TV sets cease to function, and aside from a disrupted answering machine message suggesting Denver wasn't the only city nuked, the residents of Jericho have no idea of what's happened or how much of America survived it.

What you do after surviving the end of the world as you know it is an intriguing premise, and when "Jericho" sticks close to that, it's one of this season's more promising new dramas. Imagine "Lost" without the smoke monster and all the narrative puzzle pieces that will probably never fit together, and you have the idea.

Ulrich's not the most compelling leading man in primetime, but then, neither is Matthew Fox. And McRaney, fresh off his career-redefining performance as George Hearst on "Deadwood," is a quietly commanding presence as the mayor, even if I keep worrying that he's going to start chopping off the fingers of political rival Gray Anderson (Michael Gaston).

On the other hand, McRaney has been the star of three other CBS shows, and even if I can never watch "Major Dad" reruns the same way again, this show feels much closer in tone to his older work than his most recent turn. Where the other broadcast networks are trying to give their dramas a cinematic gloss, "Jericho" has the flat, artificially-lit look of a TV show. And outside of Lennie James as an ex-cop and new Jericho resident who knows a lot more than he should about disaster readiness, most of the supporting characters are forgettable.

The "This isn't HBO. This is TV" attitude extends beyond the visual style. Even as CBS dips its toes back into the waters of serialized drama, there seems to have been an edict to add a simple, self-contained action element to each episode. In the pilot, Jake and a local teacher (Sprague Grayden) have to overcome injuries to get a bus full of kindergartners back to the safety of Jericho. The shots of the terrified kids make the sequence more effective than it probably should be, but it's still window dressing to the main story.

Because the threat of a rainstorm carrying fallout into the town in episode two apparently isn't dramatic enough, the show concocts a storyline where Jake's ex-girlfriend Emily (Ashley Scott) is taken hostage by two escaped prisoners, both of them acting like there wasn't just a nuclear strike a hundred miles away. There's even a gunfight straight out of a "Walker, Texas Ranger" repeat.

Still, that image of a little boy on a rooftop looking at the mushroom cloud over Denver is a haunting one, and when "Jericho" sticks to the basics of what might really happen in this situation, it's an interesting place to visit. I just can't shake this fear that, if the ratings aren't strong out of the gate, Roma Downey and Della Reese are going to swoop down from heaven to bring the people of Jericho a very special November sweeps episode.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/115872758284860.xml&coll=1

The New Season
“Kidnapped”: Disappearing acts
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard used to say the best way to criticize a movie was to make another movie. The same theory applies to TV as well, and we have "Kidnapped" (10 PM ET/PT, NBC) as a fine example.

Premiering a month after Fox's "Vanished" -- like "Kidnapped," a drama that will try to stretch one abduction story over the course of a season -- "Kidnapped" plays out like a point-by-point criticism of everything "Vanished" gets wrong.

Where "Vanished" has a bland cast headed by the lifeless Gale Harold, the "Kidnapped" ensemble boasts an Oscar winner (Timothy Hutton), a multiple Emmy winner (Dana Delany), another Oscar nominee (Delroy Lindo), Bubba from "Forest Gump" (Mykelti Williamson) and crazy Billy from "Six Feet Under" (Jeremy Sisto). With "Vanished" you wonder why they cast most of these people; with "Kidnapped," you wonder how.

Hutton and Delany play Conrad and Ellie Cain, a wealthy Manhattan couple with an obscene penthouse duplex (there's an indoor swimming pool) overlooking Central Park. For reasons no one wants to discuss, teenage son Leopold (Will Denton) is escorted to school every day by the very large, very lethal Virgil (Williamson), who almost succeeds in fighting off the well-choreographed abduction of his young charge.

With Virgil hospitalized and Leopold missing, the Cain family lawyer (Ricky Jay, another example of the show not skimping on casting, even for small guest roles) recommends they hire Knapp (Sisto), a kidnap and ransom specialist who casually explains that he only gets paid if he returns the victim alive.

Like Kiefer Sutherland on "24," Sisto is an unconventional action star, shorter, more intense and more introspective than you expect from a gun-toting hero type. And for a show that plans to stretch Leopold's kidnapping over 22 hours, you need a wild card like that, someone who you believe will do any crazy thing to get closer to the kid and keep the story going.

Where "Vanished" looks cheap and generic (it's set in Atlanta but could be taking place in any American city, for all the local color the show has), "Kidnapped" puts its money on the screen with more than just the actors. Virgil's shoot-out with the kidnappers is a movie-quality set piece, and the show makes good use of New York locations, whether it's the Cain apartment, a crucial meeting taking place in a Brooklyn subway station or Knapp meeting a contact in Times Square. (Though, with Williamson in the cast, it's a bit disconcerting to see them walk past The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. sign.)

And where the "Vanished" conspiracy story is coma-inducing, "Kidnapped" keeps the reasons for Leopold's abduction on the margins. There are plenty of possibilities -- half the characters seem to be making furtive phone calls to persons unknown in the pilot -- but the focus is squarely on the search itself.

Creator Jason Smilovic, who was responsible for ABC's short-lived gem "Karen Sisco," occasionally gets too cute. Knapp is too obvious a name for a kidnapping expert (unless it turns out to be an alias), and there's an odd scene in the pilot where the mysterious figure orchestrating the kidnapping tries to get to know one of his new thugs, which leads to the following bit of deadpan dialogue:

"I'm a Pisces, this is my natural hair color, I prefer the country to the city, I like to go on hikes..."

But there's real forward momentum to the plot and a sense that these characters -- also including Lindo as an FBI agent putting off retirement to work this case -- had interesting lives well before Leopold got snatched.

Smilovic has said that if "Kidnapped" makes it to year two, the Cains will exit stage left and Knapp will be hired to work a new case. I'm still not convinced that there's 22 episodes worth of material in Leopold's story, but based on the first few episodes, the show has earned a lot of goodwill from me, while "Vanished" has already disappeared from my viewing habits.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/alltv/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/115872777184860.xml&coll=1

TV Notebook
HBO Renews “Entourage”
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 9/20/2006

HBO renewed Emmy Award-winning hit comedy Entourage for a 12-episode fourth season, officials said Wednesday.

Created by Doug Ellin, the show has debuted 34 episodes to date, wrapping its 2006 run in August. Eight more episodes from the third season will debut in early 2007.

“Entourage is a standout hit for HBO,” HBO Entertainment president Carolyn Strauss said in a prepared statement. “Thanks to a terrific cast and razor-sharp writing and directing, this smart, funny show has become a genuine phenomenon.”

Earlier this year, Entourage received five Emmy nominations: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeremy Piven), two for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Dan Attias, Julian Farino) and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Doug Ellin). Piven won in the first category.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6373884

The veterans returning to the ensemble sketch-comedy show will be Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig.

I know you're just the messenger, Fred, but thank you.

:D

Let's not kill the messenger here.

I don't think anyone at CBS expected "Smith" to immediately leap-frog "Boston Legal". Over the years the network has often shown remarkakle patience with its programs: "CSI" took more than a year to catch on, as did "Without A Trace" and many others.

As far as I know, Berman has no axe to grind. His column is written for advertisers and his track record is far ahead of those who
a) pick football games against the spread or
b) prognosticate about political races.

You can certainly disagree with him, but his job is to keep ahead of the curve in the ratings area.

Generally, he does very well, even when he is delivering bad news about shows I like. Which, sadly, he often does.

I post Berman's column here daily because he is the best at what he does and his insights can be of interest to anyone who enjoys network television programming.

I can guarantee that his views are held in high regard on Madison Avenue.

That doesn't make him perfect by any means, but his knowledge of ratings -- both current and through the years -- is astounding.

Fred..we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

As far back as I can remember, Berman only used to report the ratings around two years ago. Then all of a sudden, it turned into "winners, losers and honorable mentions" along with Berman's commentary of the shows themselves.

In the Smith thread, you'll see another poster who brings up the point I was trying to make. Just look at Monday night -- Vanished held on to 89% of Prison Break's audience, and Berman called it a loser.

I just wonder if he's related to Gail Berman, who was fired by Fox. If he is, that would explain his animosity/axe grinding towards Fox.

All kidding aside, back to Smith -- imo, it was hyped heavily -- with 3 big screen actors (liotta, madsen and amy smart), spike lee directing the pilot (edit - i'm confusing smith with shark here. Spike did the Shark pilot) and the limited commercial interruptions, all signs pointed to CBS expecting a bigger sampling.

The New Season
Head-to-head `Anatomy' lesson
AS ABC'S HOSPITAL DRAMA MOVES TO THURSDAYS, IT BECOMES THREAT TO KNOCK CBS'S `CSI' FROM THE TOP
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Wed, Sep. 20, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Shonda Rhimes, the creator of ``Grey's Anatomy'' and the queen of all she surveys these days, is holding court on the set with a group of reporters seeking answers about the hospital drama's third season.

It's a bit like trying to pry information out of Buckingham Palace about the latest royal scandal. In the less than two full seasons that her show has been on the air, the imposing Rhimes has achieved near-legendary status as a producer who says nothing about upcoming story lines and character developments -- and makes sure her cast and crew are just as tight-lipped.

But there is one thing Rhimes is willing to talk about on this day: the 9 p.m. Thursday slugfest between ``Grey's Anatomy'' (the challenger) and CBS's ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (the reigning champ) that begins this week.

``I'm excited that ABC has the confidence that our show can actually anchor a night,'' she says. ``And we're going to take our shot. I'm a competitive person, and I think Thursday is the competitive night.''

That may be an understatement. The faceoff between the two series is not only the big showdown of the new TV season but also a rare one involving shows at the height of their popularity.

In one corner, you've got ``Grey's,'' which averaged 22 million viewers on Sunday last season and had eclipsed ``Desperate Housewives'' at the water cooler. In the other: ``CSI,'' television's most-watched scripted show, with a weekly audience of almost 27 million. It's the cornerstone of one of TV's most successful franchises.

``If there's anything in our favor,'' says Peter Horton, executive producer and lead director on ``Grey's,'' ``it's that they're older than us. Our new is newer.

``But they've got an established following that's going to be very, very loyal. It's going to be a clash of the titans.''

It's also going to be a fight between two series that were barely blips on anyone's radar screen when they made their debuts and that followed very similar paths to ratings domination.

``CSI'' was, rather famously, the last show picked up by CBS for its fall 2000 schedule. ``Grey's'' was supposed to be a six-week fill-in for ``Boston Legal'' in the spring of 2005. Both were found by the audience at home and became surprise hits. Both really took off after getting high profile time slots: ``CSI'' when it moved to Thursdays and took on NBC's then-dominant comedy block in fall 2001; ``Grey's'' when it attracted 38 million viewers after February's Super Bowl.

At that point, however, the paths diverged.

With its brash and sometimes brilliant blend of romance, comedy and drama, ``Grey's'' is a true water cooler-Web phenomenon with a passionate fan base that dissects every twist and turn. (Meredith Grey may be TV's most-discussed -- and sometimes dissed -- female character since the heyday of ``Ally McBeal.'')

``CSI,'' despite its huge audience and the quality of its work, has never received the press attention or the acclaim or the level of that elusive thing called buzz that has gravitated to ``Grey's.''

``I think `CSI' has always been underestimated from day one by everyone but the fans,'' says co-star Marg Helgenberger. ``Our network has underestimated us. The critics have underestimated us.''

All of which adds to the cast and creators' determination, in the face of the challenge, to hang on to the status their show has achieved. ``Hey, we don't want to relinquish the throne that easily,'' Helgenberger says.

So, as the first punches in this bout are about to be thrown, which show has the edge?

CBS executives, somewhat disingenuously, have been trying to lower expectations for ``CSI,'' with the network's entertainment president, Nina Tassler, telling reporters, ``Who would have thought that `CSI' would be the underdog? We expect to be dinged a little bit by `Grey's.' ''

To which Rhimes replies, with just a touch of sarcasm, ``I love the concept that `CSI,' the No. 1 drama on TV, could be an underdog.''

In fact, the newer show may have a bit of an advantage going in, because it left a number of key story lines hanging at the end of last season, a move to ensure that its passionate audience will be there for its return.

For starters, there's the story line that has been at the heart of the show since episode one: Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and her love for the married Dr. Derek ``McDreamy'' Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). Will she choose McDreamy -- the two had a steamy moment in the season finale -- or the nice, hunky veterinarian Finn Dandridge (Chris O'Donnell)? And what happens to Addison (Kate Walsh), Shepherd's increasingly sympathetic doctor-wife?

But ``CSI'' ended its year with a scene that triggered a lot of fan response as well, a post-coitus parting shot of Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and fellow investigator Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) in bed. The relationship between the two had been hinted at and danced around since the show began.

And, as Horton notes, ``CSI'' has been ``the reigning king for a long time. We've just arrived at a throne. It's up to us to prove we can go up against them.''

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/15562306.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Scott G is reporting that E* is no longer uplinking INHD. His outlook for the RSN's is still positive.

I can't for the life of me understand what "software glitches" seem to be keeping Dish from getting those RSNs.

Fred..we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

As far back as I can remember, Berman only used to report the ratings around two years ago. Then all of a sudden, it turned into "winners, losers and honorable mentions" along with Berman's commentary of the shows themselves.

In the Smith thread, you'll see another poster who brings up the point I was trying to make. Just look at Monday night -- Vanished held on to 89% of Prison Break's audience, and Berman called it a loser.

I just wonder if he's related to Gail Berman, who was fired by Fox. If he is, that would explain his animosity/axe grinding towards Fox.

All kidding aside, back to Smith -- imo, it was hyped heavily -- with 3 big screen actors (liotta, madsen and amy smart), spike lee directing the pilot (edit - i'm confusing smith with shark here. Spike did the Shark pilot) and the limited commercial interruptions, all signs pointed to CBS expecting a bigger sampling.

Disagreement is always welcome here, as you know.

As best I know he isn't related to Gail Berman, and with all due resopect, I know execs at Fox are worried by the trend regarding "Vanished" and folks at CBS, while not overjoyed by the "Smith" opening are pretty content with its performance last night nonetheless. They feel "Boston Legal" is on a David E, kelly downward slope and "Smith" could be there to catch the viewers as they desert.

About the retention levels: "Vanished" kept its numbers, but total viewership went up from 8 to 9, so it wasn't that difficult. Total viewership actually declines slightly in the 10 p.m. hour from 9 p.m., so for "Smith" to keep 100% of the 18-49 is impressive.

But one week does not a season make.

And we'll have to disagree on the Smith hype, too. I read a lot of columns and press material and saw nowhere near the hype I expected. I guess that is simply because most of the critics just didn't like the show much.

But then "The Unit" got a similar critical reception and snuck in under their radar last year too, so who can tell?

Ray Liotta is a very good actor. But I just don't believe he will bond with a TV audience in that role.

But that is just my oopinion. I certainly welcome others -- and will happily post other views as well.

Excuse me!? If you have double the audience, you should already be getting double the AD REVENUE! Greedy &@%$#s!

Xesdeeni

How do you figure?

As long as there are carriage fees, why in the world would it not be based on the channel's popularity?

The New Season
Hey, don't touch that dial!
But how can you help it when so many hot shows do battle on Thursday nights?
By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer Sept. 20, 2006

Righty-o, let's see if we've got this straight:

At 9 PM ET/PT Thursday, there's the season premieres of "Grey's Anatomy" and "CSI." But don't forget "Deal or No Deal" (which did a big number on its special Monday season opener). Meanwhile, new seasons of "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" land at 8 opposite "Survivor."

And ... take a breath ... "ER" then bows at 10, but so does "Shark," the big new CBS drama with James Woods, and "Six Degrees," (about six Manhattan strangers whose lives intersect), which must have something going for it otherwise ABC wouldn't have thrown it behind "Grey's."

And (while we're at it) next Thursday, CW's "Smallville" and "Supernatural" have their season premieres. That night also brings ABC's new 8 p.m. arrival, "Ugly Betty" - based on a Colombian telenovela - which is only the most acclaimed new show on the network's whole lineup, for crying out loud.

Oh, yeah, one more thing: There's been scuttlebutt that Fox might move "American Idol's" results edition to Thursdays next spring as well. Another deep breath ...

HEELLLP!!

Tune in tonight (if you dare) and witness a little bit of TV one-upmanship gone McNuts. This may be - nope, this is - the most competitive Thursday prime-time lineup ever, with a veritable smooshing together of established hits, wanna-bes, critical faves and grizzled vets on three major networks. Not so terribly long ago, only one (NBC) had a heartbeat. Now's as good a time as any to learn how to work the TiVo or the DVR function on your cable box (and good luck on that).

Why the Thursday frenzy? Ask the same old question - Thursday, after all, has been TV's big battleground almost since the days when Fox threw "The Simpsons" against NBC's "Cosby Show" in 1990 - and you get the same old answer: money. Auto and movie advertisers pay the big bucks to reach people a day before the shopping weekend, and because NBC and CBS have massed so many viewers on this night in recent seasons, those advertisers are clamoring even more to get on Thursdays. In other words, there's been a snowball effect, and tonight - the avalanche.

Here's what you need to worry about tonight:

The 9 p.m. heavyweights

Without question, this is poised to be the wildest 9 p.m. battle of the year. On CBS, you've got a massive hit that averaged 25.2 million last season versus a water-cooler buzz machine that averaged a little less than 20 million. "Grey's" is so hot right now that ABC has ordered a clampdown on all plot details, banned new season pilot mailers, and even had cast members read dummy scripts, so that no one (writers excluded) knows the resolution of the insanely hyped love triangle in which Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is entangled. "CSI," meanwhile, kicks off the new season with a two-parter.

Why move "Grey's" - which had just hit cruising altitude on Sundays - over to this mosh pit? Answer: numbers. "Grey's" is the fastest-growing drama on TV right now, with a nearly 3-million audience boost in the last season alone. "CSI," which debuted in 2000, has hit middle-age maturity, or that moment when a great hit stops growing and starts a long, slow, inexorable decline. "CSI" averaged 26.3 million viewers in 2004-05, which fell to 25 million last year - enough to still be TV's No. 1 scripted series.

At the recent press tour in California, CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler even said "CSI" was an underdog. Her ABC counterpart, Steve McPherson, later joked that she was "playing the rope-a-dope," and added: "We're coming on with a strong contender and hope to do some business there...."

Modesty appreciated, Steve, but Tassler's onto something.

"When we first started hearing rumblings [of the move], of course we were resistant," said Peter Horton, the onetime "thirtysomething" star turned "Grey's" executive producer. "When something works, why fix it? But the more I considered it, the more I think it's a really aggressive, bold and smart move on [McPherson's] part. We're going right at 'em and doing it on Thursday night which from a network perspective is the night to own."

ABC - and Horton - actually started laying the groundwork for this move last winter. The post-Super Bowl two-parter (directed by Horton) was later repeated as two separate editions on successive Thursday nights. Both grabbed big audiences and the decision to move the show was sealed.

Meanwhile: Don't count out "Deal or No Deal." (Seriously.) This hugely popular game show averaged a little less than 16 million last season. NBC isn't expecting miracles at 9, but it's not expecting a disaster, either.

And, in case you're wondering, don't expect the Meredith love triangle - "Dr. McDreamy" (Patrick Dempsey) or Finn (Chris O'Donnell) - to be resolved tonight or anytime soon. A November (sweeps) resolution is a sure bet, though.

The 8 p.m. leadoff hitters

"Survivor: Cook Islands" versus a pair of highly regarded NBC comedies and "Ugly Betty"? Do we see, perhaps, "no contest" here? Not quite so fast. "Earl" (11 million viewers) and particularly "Office" (8 million) have forward momentum, thanks, in part, to the latter's recent best-comedy Emmy win. "Office," too, played its own little season cliffhanger last May when Jim (John Krasinski) and the engaged Pam (Jenna Fischer) finally smooched. G'night. (That little dangling plot thread gets tied tonight.) Meanwhile, the "Betty" pilot is particularly good, so ... (Fox's "'Til Death"/"Happy Hour" combo lag this field.)

"Survivor" most likely wins, but this old boy is getting creaky, too. Last season averaged 18 million, down a couple million from the season before. The controversial (and much-hyped) "Cook Islands" premiere also mustered 18 million viewers. Will it decline from here on out? Probably.

Old vs. new at 10 p.m.

The once-indomitable "ER" is officially, ummm, domitable. Last season ended with gunshots, and a kidnapping - not one cliffhanger but multiple ones - while pregnant Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) is left near death. (And can her baby be saved?) Sam Taggart (Linda Cardellini) and son Alex (Dominic Janes) have been snatched. Jerry Markovic (Abraham Benrubi) is in bad shape, too.

You get the idea: NBC is desperate for a big tune-in tonight, and it needs one. "ER" ended the season, its 12th, in cardiac arrest - 12.3 million, or off 3 million from the year before. Is "ER" "Shark"-bait tonight? Will "Six Degrees" deep-six the champ?

Please supply your own cliches, but if "ER" doesn't build, the 13th season could be the last for one of TV's most durable dramas.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-thurstv0921,0,1213342,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

Let's not kill the messenger here.

I don't think anyone at CBS expected "Smith" to immediately leap-frog "Boston Legal". Over the years the network has often shown remarkakle patience with its programs: "CSI" took more than a year to catch on, as did "Without A Trace" and many others.

As far as I know, Berman has no axe to grind. His column is written for advertisers and his track record is far ahead of those who
a) pick football games against the spread or
b) prognosticate about political races.

You can certainly disagree with him, but his job is to keep ahead of the curve in the ratings area.

Generally, he does very well, even when he is delivering bad news about shows I like. Which, sadly, he often does.

I post Berman's column here daily because he is the best at what he does and his insights can be of interest to anyone who enjoys network television programming.

I can guarantee that his views are held in high regard on Madison Avenue.

That doesn't make him perfect by any means, but his knowledge of ratings -- both current and through the years -- is astounding.

I second that. I've been reading Berman's stuff for a couple of years now and for the most part he is right down the middle.

To reiterate my basic belief: no channel with advertising should be able to charge a carrier. We, the customers, wouldn't get charged twice. And there wouldn't be any of this bickering over the fees. If a network's viewership doubles, the network's ad revenue doubles. If the cable company carrying it also gets more $$$, then they chose the right channel to carry. Capitalism at its best.

Xesdeeni

I think you are leaving out one important part of the equation: the cable (and satellite) companies sell "local" advertising on all their nets.

They can usually make back much -- if not more -- than the sub costs, especially in larger, more urban markets. And the get ad revenue especially on the most popular networks, and FNC has been in the top 10, often in the top five, for most of the decade.

Plus, when FNC paid $10 a sub to gain carriage on Cablevision and Time Warner (among others) back in 1996, I don't recall those companies offering any of that windfall back to their customers.

Why isn't "Survivor" taped in HD?

For crying out loud it's on the network that has done the best with HD programming, the production costs are low because you don't have to pay a bunch of big name stars and, how awesome would it be to show all that scenery in HD.

TV Sports
Fox Taps Jimmy Johnson as Lead BCS Analyst
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com Sept. 20, 2006

Jimmy Johnson, who is a long-time analyst on Fox NFL Sunday, will add some duties as lead analyst for Fox's January pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage of the collee Bowl Championship Series.

Johnson, the former University of Miami, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins head coach, will join show host Chris Rose. Fox is also planning to add two current college coaches whose teams do not qualify for a BCS game this season.

Johnson knows college football, having posted a 52-9 record at the University of Miami in five years as head coach there, winning a national championship in 1987. He was part of the original Fox NFL Sunday team in 1993 and spent two years on the show before leaving to coach the Dolphins. He rejoined the show in 2002.

"There is no better way to kick-off our BCS coverage than by having one of the best football coaches in history on the pre-game set," said Ed Goren, president and executive producer of Fox Sports in an announcement. "Jimmy's addition gives the show instant credibility, and college football fans can expect the same hard-hitting analysis that has made him one of the best NFL analysts in the business."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003154237

Why isn't "Survivor" taped in HD?

For crying out loud it's on the network that has done the best with HD programming, the production costs are low because you don't have to pay a bunch of big name stars and, how awesome would it be to show all that scenery in HD.


Apparently the editing and other restrictions of taping in remote places makes HD too much of a burden.

Or it costs too much. Or both.

People have (rightfully in my view) complained about this for many "Survivor" seasons now.

One more thought regarding Berman's Programming Insider column.


It is posted here because I think he gives the best overview of the day's ratings. We all are free to disagree, and if someone has an alternative that I could post, I am always glad to listen to suggestions.

I post lots and lots of ratings (and other TV) news, the idea being that everyone is free to make up his or her own mind.

PAULSTORM: Welcome to the thread. Feel free to add your comments, views, questions or thoughts often.

There are a lot of questions I can't answer, but some reader usually can.

There has been a change in the Saturday college football HD schedule at the top of the thread.

According to the HD Sports Guide, FSN will broadcast the Louisville at Kansas State game Saturday at 12 noon ET.

I have changed the listing to delete the Arizona State at Cal game.

http://www.hdsportsguide.com/cfb.php

The New Season
CW hopes young network, young viewers mix
By David Zurawik Baltimore Sun television critic September 20, 2006

As president of the new CW network, Dawn Ostroff has what some might call the mission impossible of network TV: attracting 18- to 34-year-old viewers to her channel.

That's the demographic everyone in television wants, but the rest of the TV industry is only part of the competition. With young adults, programmers must also battle -- or find ways to work with -- the Internet, which is claiming more of that audience's time.

Formed in January by a merger between Viacom's UPN network and Warner Bros.' WB, the CW network will launch its first season tonight with Tyra Banks' America's Next Top Model, a UPN series that in the past two years has routinely finished in the Top 10 series among young women. Ostroff says such UPN and WB carryovers with strong youth appeal will be the foundation on which the CW is built.

"The network is totally geared toward 18- to 34-year-olds, so a key part of our strategy in launching the new network is to have shows that are already established franchises -- shows that young people already felt passionate about -- in our lineup," the 46-year-old programmer said in a telephone interview.

In addition to America's Next Top Model, Ostroff noted Gilmore Girls (WB), 7th Heaven (WB), Smallville (WB), Supernatural (WB), Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) and Veronica Mars (UPN) as series that have proven track records with young adults.

"These are the shows that, hopefully, will do the heavy lifting for us," she said, explaining that while some shows, like Veronica Mars, have not attracted large overall audiences, they are valuable to the network because of the CW's demographic focus and the business logic behind it.

"We looked at Gen X and Gen Y and realized there are 45 million people who fall into the 18-to-34- year-old category, which means there are a lot of people who are going through a lot of big first events in their lives," Ostroff said.

"That's 45 million people getting a first car, getting a first apartment, getting their first housewares, getting married, having babies, buying their first house. We knew that would be a demographic that advertisers would really want to reach -- and that's where we started in creating our schedule."

The CW's first new series, Runaway, will debut Monday night at 9 on WNUV (Channel 54). The drama includes Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown) and Leslie Hope (24) as parents of a family of five on the run after the father, a controversial defense attorney, is framed for murder. But, like Running on Empty (1988), a film with River Phoenix that told the story of a family on the run because of its radical politics, the focus in Runaway is on the anger and angst of the kids -- particularly the two good-looking teens (Dustin Milligan and Sarah Ramos).

"Runaway is a family drama, but we wanted to do it with new twists for young viewers," Ostroff said. "Even though this terrible thing happened to the family, there is a lot of wish fulfillment for young viewers. ... The kids get to reinvent themselves totally in their new high schools."

Just as the programming is tightly focused on youth, so is the marketing, Ostroff said, pointing to innovations that she described as "Famous for 15" and "content wraps" -- both of which can be seen on-air and online starting tonight.

"Kids really like to be interactive these days," the mother of three and former president of the Lifetime cable channel said. "So, instead of creating a totally passive network, we're trying to create a network where they are part of it. And that's where 'Famous for 15' comes in."

The concept involves young viewers going to the network's Web site, cwtv.com, where they will find an editing system that will allow them to combine their own cell phone pictures with songs to which the CW has cleared the rights -- producing their own 15-second music video.

"The idea is, you go to a party or dinner, you take out your cell phone, you take a bunch of pictures of your friends or yourself," Ostroff said. "Then, you come home, you go online to the CW Web site and edit all your pictures into a 15-second spot to the music that we have there. And, then, we're going to take the spots and put them on the air, so people get to see themselves."

Ostroff described the CW's most talked about new on-air wrinkle -- content wraps -- as "mini-reality shows that will help advertisers get their messages across in a more entertaining way and not let so much clutter happen by running tons of commercials."

The network has not made any of the product-placement spots available for preview. The first -- for Herbal Essence shampoo -- will air tonight during America's Next Top Model, Paul McGuire, a spokesman for the CW, said in an e-mail yesterday.

"We'll be trying them throughout the season -- not on a nightly basis," Ostroff said. "But we'll be doing it on a fairly regular basis to see if we can sort of revolutionize the way everybody is watching television."

Though it has yet to air a prime-time show, the network has already been the object of considerable controversy for canceling four of UPN's eight African-American-themed series. The CW will still have significant African-American-themed programming Sundays with three UPN series (Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us and Girlfriends) and The Game, a backstage look at the world of pro football.

"We are by far the most diverse network -- both in front of and behind the camera -- and we're very proud of that," Ostroff said.

"We're very committed to the shows we brought over, and having them on one night really works for us. It creates an environment where viewers come in the first thing in the evening and stay with us all night. The retention is pretty unbelievable, and it's been financially successful," she added, pegging the retention rate at more than 90 percent from the start to the end of prime-time programming.

Ostroff, who was president of UPN before taking over at the CW, isn't expecting overnight success. Change takes time, she says -- even for young viewers who adapt more easily.

With 67 percent of the new CW affiliates around the country being former UPN outlets, and 28 percent formerly aligned with WB, like Baltimore's WNUV, there is sure to be some initial confusion among viewers as to where they can find CW programs, Ostroff said. (Among the CW affiliates are 16 stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Tribune Co., which owns The Sun.)

"Our first job is communication -- simply communicating to viewers that there is a new network on a new channel. But that's not so simple," she said.

"We know it's going to take a lot of time to bring the viewers in. It's not going to be like we turn the lights on, and everybody shows up. This is a very complicated marketing challenge that we have."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-to.cw20sep20,1,6606851,print.story?coll=bal-artslife-tv&ctrack=1&cset=true

Cable TV Notebook
Dog's a Hit on A&E
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable 9/20/2006 6

Bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman is apparently more popular as the hunted than the hunter.

A&E's Tuesday night special about Dog's arrest earned the cable network its most-viewed telecast of all time with viewers 18-34 and 18-49 - 1.5 million and 2.9 million, respectively. The two-hour show, Dog: The Family Speaks, ranked as the top cable program of the night in those two demos, as well as with adults 25-54 and brought in 4.5 million total viewers.

Chapman, his son and his brother spent two days in a Hawaii jail after being arrested on kidnapping charges last week as fugitives from Mexican authorities. They were charged with conspiracy and illegal detention of a convicted rapist in a county where bounty hunting is a crime. Free on bail and awaiting an extradition hearing in November, Chapman said he was arrested as part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Mexican authorities.

A&E's 9 p.m. Dog special outdrew the show's usual performance significantly. Season to date, Dog has averaged 1.4 million viewers 18-49 and 2.3 million total viewers.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6373954

Since the Berman comments have evoked so much discussion, here is another look at Tuesday overnight’s:

Nielsen Notebook
The Overnights: 10.7M for Liotta's 'Smith'
"Smith" got into a rumble with Dick Wolf Tuesday night, and Wolf won Thursday nights?
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer in the Channel Island TV Industry blog Sept. 20, 2006


A new CBS drama starring Ray Liotta as a criminal anti-hero, "Smith" opened to a soft 10.7 million average total viewers, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. That lagged behind the eighth-season debut of NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" (14.4 million), from executive producer Wolf, as well as the season three roll-out of ABC's "Boston Legal" (11.6 million), which benefited from a two-hour "Dancing with the Stars" lead-in (18.1 million average).

Additionally, "Smith" lost 9% of its total audience from the first to second half hour, while the number of "SVU" viewers grew slightly.

But on the bright side, "Smith" tied for second place with "Boston Legal" among adults aged 18-49 demographic (3.5 rating/9 share apiece), and performed a bit more strongly than the premiere of the drama "Close to Home" did in the time slot last year.

Couple of additional ratings notes for Tuesday night:

— Fox's "House" dominated the 8 p.m. hour in the 18-49 demo (5.8 rating/16 share) and took a big chunk out of ABC's "Dancing." Once the Fox medical drama was safely off the air, "Dancing's" total viewership rocketed, from 16.8 million during the 8:30-9 p.m. slot to 20.2 million from 9-9:30.

— At 9 p.m., CBS' season 2 debut of "The Unit" delivered the show's lowest demo rating (3.5 rating/9 share) since it debuted back in March.

Overall, ABC won the night among total viewers and in the 18-49 demo.

http://hollywoodhotline.typepad.com/watcher/

I knew Fox News paid MSOs for initial carriage, but was it really as high as $10/sub? I could have sworn it was closer to the $1/sub they're now asking for in return. It's amazing that Cablevision might have gotten almost $30,000,000 monthly from FNC, plus local spot inserts (They were allowed in those days to pre-empt Fox News programming segments for local ad inserts. I remember crawlers running in the 90's warning of local breaks). Didn't those original FNC contracts run 5 or so years? That must have cost a real fortune. I see NewsCorp pulled out all the stops to get the then fledgling upstart in the game.

DevOne: I think the $1 a sub is purely a bargaining posture.

But FNC certainly is in a far better position than its competitors.

And remember that it actually paid many systems, including Cablevision $10 a sub to carry the channel when it started up back in October of 1996.

I suspect it will get 70-75 cents a sub and another dime or so for the busines channel.

dad1153: thanks for the tip. Anyone who missed Studio 60 should make sure to catch one of the encore presentations.

TV Sports
An Item of Significance, Though Perhaps Not for the Reason You Think
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog Sept 20, 2006

I've been chewing on this item from ESPN. (Bold type in the release is the network's.)

“…For the second week in a row, Monday Night Football on ESPN delivered the network’s largest audience ever. The Jacksonville Jaguars 9-0 shutout of the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers – the lowest-scoring game in MNF history (561 games) – was seen by an average of 9,809,000 homes (13,325,000 viewers, P2+), based on a 10.6 rating. Also for the second week, MNF was the force behind a day of tremendous ratings for ESPN and a major boost to ESPN.com and its new "Monday Night Surround" content. ESPN’s three MNF games so far are cable television’s best ratings and largest audiences of the year.

ESPN’s MNF telecast was simulcast on local over-the-air channels in Pittsburgh (33.9 rating) and Jacksonville (23.7 rating), boosting the network’s audience to an estimated average of 10,353,000 households. Adding in the pre- and post-game shows, ESPN delivered 22.1 gross ratings points.


In addition, ESPN.com NFL and "Monday Night Surround" content viewed on computers and wireless devices generated more than 32.2 million page views Monday, up 53 percent over page views last year according to Web measurement tool HitBox.

“ESPN’s presentation of Monday Night Football – an immersive all-day experience on television and online—clearly demonstrates the impact of ESPN’s multiple assets at work." said Artie Bulgrin, ESPN senior vice president, research and sales development. "Considering last night’s debut of the new season on broadcast television, delivering cable’s second-biggest audience in history is very impressive."

The record set last week was 9,177,000 homes for Minnesota at Washington, based on a 9.9 rating (12,570,000 viewers – P2+). Last night’s telecast also supplants last week’s game as the second largest audience in cable television history (behind CNN's NAFTA debate in November 1993 between Al Gore and Ross Perot – 11,174,000 households)….”

Now, you can look at this as evidence that football is doing very well for ESPN on Sunday nights, and that's fine. But I have been pondering the old issue of cable vs. broadcast TV.

If the largest audience for a single cable telecast is indeed roughly 11.2 million households for the Al Gore-Ross Perot debate, then cable still hasn't become destination television for many, many viewers.

Now, measuring by households is pretty dubious on its own, since almost no one in the television industry looks seriously at that number -- unless it works to the individual's advantage. You can look at total viewers, or -- even more common -- you can look at the audience within a specific age group, which is how advertisers are more likely to consider things.

Still, I will play fair and use households. The cable record is, again according to ESPN, the 11-million plus for Gore-Perot. In last week's Nielsens, three shows were watched in more households -- ''Dancing With the Stars,'' ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' and the ''Dancing'' results show. Nor was this some big record-busting week for broadcast television; in fact, a lot of popular shows were still in rerun.

Now let's look at the total-viewer number ESPN had, more than 13 million viewers, its largest audience ever. I counted eight broadcast shows last week that had more viewers, according to Nielsen estimates, with more than 20 million just for ''Dancing With the Stars.''

I do love some cable shows, and I am glad cable is there. And ESPN can pop all the champagne corks it wants to for the historic success it is having. Let's still remember that the numbers that so impress one TV entity are not necessarily impressive in the world of TV as a whole.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/2006/09/an_item_of_sign.html#comment-22684655

I knew Fox News paid MSOs for initial carriage, but was it really as high as $10/sub? I could have sworn it was closer to the $1/sub they're now asking for in return. It's amazing that Cablevision might have gotten almost $30,000,000 monthly from FNC, plus local spot inserts (They were allowed in those days to pre-empt Fox News programming segments for local ad inserts. I remember crawlers running in the 90's warning of local breaks). Didn't those original FNC contracts run 5 or so years? That must have cost a real fortune. I see NewsCorp pulled out all the stops to get the then fledgling upstart in the game.


It was a one-time payment of as much as $10, with contracts running as long as five years. So the cable companies got paid and then had to pay no carriage costys for many years. I am pretty sure TWC and Cablevision got the full $10 per sub.

And it was especially important for Roger Ailes to get on the TWC and Cablevision systems in the NY area where the advertisinng agency people live. And he did.

Why isn't "Survivor" taped in HD?

For crying out loud it's on the network that has done the best with HD programming, the production costs are low because you don't have to pay a bunch of big name stars and, how awesome would it be to show all that scenery in HD.

Screw the single location of 'Survivor,' how about the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants view of the world from The Amazing Race? The only thing that could make this reality show travelogue more exciting and interesting would be to watch the losers competing in it (and the exotic places where they degrade the image of Americans to the rest of the world) in glorious HD! :)

Is America's Next Top Model supposed to be in HD? The reason I ask is b/c I record, but I was looking at my guide and saw where it said HDTV in the Tivo guide.

As far as I know it is not in HD.

If I remember correctly, it will be broadcast in HD, except that the CW network is not rolling out the HD feeds until next week. Of course, it is dependent on your local station being able to push out the HD feed as well, which most should be able to do if they were before...

If I remember correctly, it will be broadcast in HD, except that the CW network is not rolling out the HD feeds until next week. Of course, it is dependent on your local station being able to push out the HD feed as well, which most should be able to do if they were before...


I'll check it again, Scott.

The New Season
A lawyer changes teams

A slick defense attorney turns prosecutor in 'Shark' on CBS
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 21, 2006

Lawyers. Love 'em, hate 'em. They are the defenders of the innocent and the prosecutors of the guilty, and they are also the prosecutors of the innocent and the defenders of the guilty, and television has looked at them from every angle: hero, villain, antihero, figure of fun, sexy thing. Dedicated D.A.s, plucky public defenders. And every lawyer show implies a deeper worldview, as well, depending on where the protagonists sit and who their enemies are: that the streets are dangerous, or that the system is corrupt. Cops are good, cops are bad. Prosecutors sacrifice the truth to win; defense attorneys are, by the nature of their job, morally compromised.

The new CBS series "Shark" — as in, "Why don't sharks eat lawyers?" — gives you a little of this and a little of that. It stars James Woods as Sebastian Stark, an all-but-infallible, high-priced defense attorney who, when we meet him, is getting a wife beater acquitted on a charge of attempted murder. Moments later (in your time), he learns that his client went home and finished the job, and Stark goes into a monthlong tailspin (also brief in your time) that ends only when the mayor of Los Angeles (Carlos Gomez, appropriately Latino) guilts him into service as the head of a new high-profile trials unit.

Its purpose seems to be to fight fire with fire, using Stark to beat other lawyers as slick and ruthless and expensively well prepared as he is. ("I'm sick of the poor going to jail for jaywalking while millionaires kill each other without missing a massage," says the mayor, whimsically.) It's full-time pro bono work, essentially, with the city the sole client.

Totally against this arrangement is Stark's old nemesis, Dist. Atty. Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan, Seven of Nine on "Star Trek: Voyager"), who doesn't much like his tactics. (Oh, these moral high-grounders.) She assigns the office losers to his team — making them just like the Dirty Dozen, or the Bad News Bears — and though they come in both sexes and a variety of colors they are as yet undifferentiated as characters. (The exception is the ambitious Stark wannabe played by Sarah Carter, who is all "Pick me, teacher" the whole time.) Stark schools them in his dicta: "Trial is war," "Truth is relative." "Your job is to win," he says. "Justice is God's problem."

It's a lot like "House," in this respect — prickly genius hectoring younger colleagues into excellence — but it has a gooier center. "Shark" producers (including Brian Grazer, of "The Da Vinci Code" and the upcoming NBC series "Friday Night Lights") seem more inclined to let the self-involved, workaholic Stark learn to feel, especially to feel the pain of others; in writerspeak, it's the "journey" he's on.

Woods is a versatile actor, but there is a kind of James Woodsiness about most everything he does — a super-caffeinated hum rooted deep within his metabolism. He talks fast and blows up real good, which makes him a nice fit for Stark — too nice a fit, almost, given how the part redoubles his natural intensity. A little of that can go a long way, which is perhaps why I prefer him in his quieter scenes with teenage daughter Julie (the excellent Danielle Panabaker), who is there to help Stark become human. (Were those tears glistening in his eyes? I believe they were.)

Spike Lee directed the pilot from a script by creator Ian Biederman ("Crossing Jordan"), but apart from some flighty camera moves and a cameo by actor and former Laker Rick Fox (which I am perhaps inaccurately ascribing to Lee's well-known basketball jones), there is scant evidence of directorial flair.

The episode galumphs loudly across a checkerboard of scenes — Stark at work, Stark at home, Stark at work at home — that achieve neither the convincing quality of detailed realism nor the dumb fun of untethered melodrama. Most critically, no real heat is generated in the courtroom sequences, and when the traditional on-the-stand breakdown occurs and the accused confesses all, it comes just a little too fast and easy.

("Professional courtesy," by the way. Why sharks don't eat lawyers.)

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-wk-shark21sep21,0,4037840,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

The New Season
Bowing to Budget Cuts at NBC, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Pares Five Performers
By Bill Carter The New York Times September 21, 2006

NBC announced long-anticipated changes to its perennial late-night hit “Saturday Night Live” yesterday, paring the show’s cast from 16 performers last season to 11 for the season that will start on Sept. 30.

The cuts come as many institutions at NBC, which saw its advertising revenues fall precipitously in the wake of fourth-place finishes in the prime-time ratings the last two seasons, have been asked to find sizable budget savings.

Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of “Saturday Night Live,” said in July that he had been under pressure from NBC, which was seeking what he called “massive budget cuts,” throughout the company. NBC had given him a choice, he said: either to pare his cast back or make fewer than the 20 episodes the show has traditionally produced each year. Mr. Michaels said he had chosen to reduce the cast.

“The budget is significantly less than it was last year,” Mr. Michaels told reporters at a news conference, adding that he had made similar moves before but that “it is an unpleasant thing.”

Among those leaving the show are several longtime cast members, who were among the higher-paid performers because of their longevity. These included Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, both of whom joined the cast in 1997.

Two other veterans on the show, Rachel Dratch, and the show’s former head writer and anchor of its “Weekend Update” segment, Tina Fey, had already announced their departures to work on the new situation comedy Ms. Fey has written for NBC, “30 Rock.”

Finesse Mitchell, who has been on the show for three years, will also be leaving.

No new cast members will be added, meaning the total number of performers this season will be 11, the lowest figure for “Saturday Night Live” since 1997. The show’s most famous group, which began in the inaugural season of 1975, included only seven performers. But as the show succeeded, the cast expanded.

In 1999 the performing list reached 14. It was 15 in 2001, the biggest it had been since 1994, a transition year when 17 performers appeared. Last season Mr. Michaels added some newer performers, including Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis, and the total number reached 16.

Some NBC executives raised questions last season about whether that many cast members were really necessary. The audience for the show, while still far above any competition in late night on Saturdays, has been diminishing in recent seasons. The total viewer figure last season, about 6 million per show, was down from about 6.2 million the season before and was the lowest in the show’s history.

Mr. Michaels also named a new director for the show, Don Roy King, who has directed the morning shows at both CBS and ABC as well as the live “Survivor” finales on CBS. Seth Meyers, a performer, will continue to do double duty as a head writer for the show, joined by Andrew Steele and Paula Pell.

The host of the season premiere will be the comedian Dane Cook, with the band the Killers as the musical guest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/arts/television/21snl.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

Thursday’s Premieres

8 PM ET/PT My Name Is Earl - NBC HD
8:30 PM ET/PT The Office - NBC HD
9 PM ET/PT Grey's Anatomy - ABC HD
9 PM ET/PT CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Six Degrees - ABC HD
10 PM ET/PT Shark - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT ER - NBC HD

Thursday’s New Show Thumbnail Reviews

“Six Degrees” 10 PM ET/PT ABC

That a stranger is just a friend (or an enemy) you haven't met yet is the theme of this ode to coincidence, in which half a dozen New Yorkers — including indie film stalwarts Campbell Scott and Hope Davis — go around and around in the big sleepless city intersecting with Dickensian frequency. The feeling is that things happened because they were meant to happen, because they happened. Love, danger and redemption are on the menu in equal parts.
•By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times

Like more than one of the new fall shows, "Six Degrees" owes some of its inspiration to ABC's hit drama "Lost" (for the few who don't know, it involves a group of strangers trapped on an island by a plane crash). The concept of throwing strangers together and watching them interact obviously grew out of the "reality" show, especially "Survivor." In "Six Degrees," the island is Manhattan, and the strandees are lost in a kind of spiritual, philosophical sense for the most part. One of them, narrating the drama, utters this bit of news: "Anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person through a chain of six people," hence the title. But what an old idea that six degrees of separation is, and "Six Degrees" does very little to spruce it up and pass it off as fresh.
•By Tom Shales Washington Post

Someone needs to teach the folks at Six Degrees the difference between strange fate and unlikely coincidence, and fast.
Produced (but not written or created) by J.J. Abrams, this convoluted serial comes across as a kind of "what if" party game: What if everyone you met knew someone else you knew, and you all ended up in each other's lives? It would sure be unusual. The question is whether it would be entertaining.
Silly instead of insightful, Six Degrees is a true head-scratcher of a series. I have almost unlimited faith in Abrams' ability to fix a troubled show — but if he's planning to do so, he'd better do it quickly.
• By Robert Bianco, USA Today

Nutshell: Happenstance connects six New Yorkers in the latest relationship show from J.J. Abrams, the producer behind “Felicity” and “Lost.”
Aaron’s take: Good writing, great casting (who doesn’t love Sarah Vowell?). Those are two reasons to be high on “Six Degrees.” Here are two more: It’s on after “Grey’s Anatomy,” and Abrams is a big shot. Gee, I guess the only downside is that it’s up against “ER” and CBS on a Thursday night and that ABC hasn’t had a scripted hit in this time slot since “The Streets of San Francisco.” Oh, and Abrams is a big shot, which means he has movies to make and has probably already lost interest in this show.
Verdict: With luck, ABC will move it to another time and it will be worth a TiVo.
•By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

Another show where the pedigree of the people involved (Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Erika Christensen, Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan, plus J.J. Abrams as a hands-off producer) is a lot more interesting than the pilot itself. Seems like a gimmick in search of an interesting story and characters. But if the other choices are "ER" and "Shark," I'll give it a week or two.
• By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

The other half (with “Shark”) of an intriguing time-slot showdown for new series, this intricate drama about the intersecting lives of six strangers in New York is designed to hold onto the audience from the huge hit “Grey’s Anatomy,” which precedes it. The drama is less traditional, the characters more complicated and the sex less omnipresent than on “Grey’s,” however. The stars include Campbell Scott (“Roger Dodger”), Hope Davis (“Proof”) and Erika Christensen (“Traffic”).
• By Bill Carter The New York Times

“Lost” guru J.J. Abrams brings a touch of magic to this fine ensemble drama about the intersecting lives of New Yorkers. The only question is, will the show drift into inconsequentiality if he loses interest in guiding its storytelling? Abrams fans know what happened to “Alias” and “Lost” when he jetted off to do other things. Another basic question: Will this coincidence-driven drama, which is extremely well-acted, have the substance to fill out a full season?
•By Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

A web of separate coincidences connects six pretty New Yorkers. You know, the old six-degrees-of-separation myth. The pilot is confusing but sometimes interesting. It comes from the producers of "Lost" and "Alias," so maybe it'll get better. Grade: C+
• By Diane Holloway, Austin American-Statesman television writer

The karmic principle that we're all connected through a chain of six people is at the heart of J.J. Abrams' latest drama. The show revolves around six New Yorkers whose lives will become inextricably intertwined through a series of seemingly random events. Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan (who played Carrie's nemesis Natasha on "Sex and the City"), Erika Christensen, Dorian Missick, Campbell Scott and Hope Davis star.
• By Marisa Guthrie, The New York Daily News

Thursday’s New Show Thumbnail Reviews

”Shark” 10 PM ET/PT CBS

James Woods is a hot-shot, self-loving defense attorney who, for his sins — freeing the guilty — agrees to train and head a team of special prosecutors in the fictional city of Los Angeles. (Includes Latino mayor.) One could conceivably call it a cross between "My Name Is Earl," "House" and whatever other lawyer show you'd care to name. Woods is his usual self.
•By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times

"Shark" is the very appropriate nickname given a tough, tenacious, icy-hearted trial lawyer who's talked into crossing over to the other side to become a tough, tenacious, icy-hearted prosecutor. Good idea for a courtroom series? Yes, but it becomes a great one simply because James Woods is cast in the title role. Brash, blunt and more intimidating than a letter from the IRS, Woods blasts his way through the show with such self-assurance and bravado that it's very hard to take your eyes off him. This is like the lawyerly version of Fox's medical drama "House," and Woods makes his character as compellingly abrasive as Hugh Laurie's House is.
•By Tom Shales Washington Post

Nutshell: James Woods plays a hotshot defense attorney who gets burned by a client and decides to switch sides and work for his rival, the D.A. (Jeri Ryan).
Aaron’s take: A total prosecutorial fantasy from start to finish, much of “Shark” seems laughably contrived, and yet Woods’ brazenness sells the concept. But he’s no “House,” and my gut tells me that his act will wear thin with viewers, though I’d like to be proved wrong.
Verdict: Record this while watching “ER.” If it’s still good in three weeks, tape “ER” instead.
•By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

James Woods stars as a lawyer who has a crisis of conscience and goes to work for the district attorney’s office, prosecuting high-profile cases in his own, highly combative way. This is clearly a star vehicle for the charismatic Woods, who works the role for all he’s worth (and that’s saying something). But the cast around him fades into the woodwork by comparison, and this show - a pretty direct ripoff of “House” - is far less creative, at least in its pilot, than that Fox medical drama.
•By Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

James Woods chewing scenery for an hour as a slightly nicer legal version of "House." Woods is great, but the writing doesn't live up to his performance the way the "House" writers do for Hugh Laurie.
• By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

SHARK Much will be riding on the highly aggressive shoulders of James Woods, who comes to series television for the first time as a high-priced criminal defense lawyer who suddenly finds ethics and turns to prosecuting the bad guys. The hourlong series centers on Mr. Woods, both on the screen and on the schedule, because he is expected to shore up a crucial time slot for his network.
• By Bill Carter The New York Times

A one-note legal drama with James Woods as a hyperkinetic guy emitting the one, ear-splitting note. The young attorneys he bosses around aren't the slightest bit interesting, so we're left with the overbearing Woods as an egotistical defense attorney turned do-good prosecutor. Grade: C
• By Diane Holloway, Austin American-Statesman television writer

James Woods plays a smarmy lawyer who has an attack of conscience after a client he helps free commits murder. So he takes a pay cut and a job in the prosecutor's office, where he puts his cutthroat skills to good use. Jeri Ryan co-stars.
• By Marisa Guthrie, The New York Daily News

The New Season
“Shark”
When a Legal Superstar Changes Sides
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times September 21, 2006

Prosecutors on television are almost invariably stern and self-righteous — prissy counterpoints to flamboyant, slippery defense attorneys.

“Shark,” a new drama on CBS, has it the other way around: the lead prosecutor in Los Angeles’s high-profile crime unit earned his predatory nickname by being ruthless, glib and sleazy.

Naturally he is played by James Woods.

There aren’t that many living actors who can tap into the joys of villainy. Kevin Spacey is one, and certainly James Spader has had great moments. Mr. Woods, however, has been doing it longer, in a career that spans “The Onion Field” and the voice of Hades in the animated movie “Hercules.” He is fearless, as demonstrated by his recent self-parodying cameo on “Entourage.”

As Sebastian Stark, a high-priced trial lawyer who switches sides, Mr. Woods has found a television role that suits his gift and runs away with it. And that could be one reason Spike Lee chose to direct the pilot episode.

Television provides actors and directors a chance to think small and dig deep, the opposite of what Hollywood movies demand. Jerry Bruckheimer moves nimbly from movie to television series, and increasingly so does Brian Grazer, a producer of “The Da Vinci Code,” who is also an executive producer of “Shark.”

Another reason is that HBO blurred the line between movies and television with “The Sopranos” and “Oz,” forcing networks to follow suit with more ambitious dramas like “Lost,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “Kidnapped.”

“Shark” is not nearly as showily innovative as many new series. It’s a conventional courtroom drama, more in the line of “Matlock” than “Boston Legal” or “Justice,” the Fox series about defense lawyers who work over the news media as much as the jury. (In that show both the prosecutors and the trial lawyers are grim and straitlaced.)

“Shark” flips the legal drama formula, but stays loyal to its traditional form. And that, paradoxically, distinguishes it from the many shows that rely on serialized narratives, time-lapse photography and grainy flashbacks to stand out.

The first episode opens with Stark delivering his closing argument on behalf of a celebrity, Gordie Brock (Tony Daly), charged with attempting to kill his wife. Stark sways the jury with eloquence, charm and the passionate sincerity that only a true cynic can muster. And he is insufferably smug after the verdict, taunting the district attorney, Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan), with her office’s latest defeat.

His complacency — and he sings along to Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife” while driving — is shattered six days later when Gordie kills his wife for real. At the crime scene Stark finds his client in the kitchen, splattered with blood and unrepentant.

“It’s my lawyer, boys, “ Gordie says to the police. “So why not save everybody some time and money and let me go right now.”

Stark falls into a funk, refusing calls and new cases, and communicates only with his 16-year-old daughter, Julie (Danielle Panabaker), who lives with her mother but is worried about her depressed dad.

The mayor offers him a spot in the district attorney’s office.

“I eat prosecutors for breakfast,” Stark replies. “They’re my main source of fiber.”

But seeking expiation, he takes the job and promptly applies all his tricks, arrogance and brio to serving the state. Jessica assigns him a dusty basement office and a handful of inexperienced young assistant D.A.’s., who view their new boss with alarmed disdain. Stark, in turn, treats them with the kind of contempt and ridicule Dr. Gregory House bestows on his young protégés on “House.” And of course Stark’s students have a lot to learn.

“A prosecutor must conform his case to the demands of the legal system,” he says. “A defense attorney conforms the legal system to the demands of his case.”

The No. 1 rule in what he calls his cutthroat manifesto is even simpler: “Trial is war, second place is death.”

In full harangue Mr. Woods is a pleasure to watch: he wheedles, bullies and whiplashes his words better than almost anyone. But Stark’s egotism and passion for winning are undercut by fatherhood: he is a loving, self-absorbed dad who can’t remember birthdays or grades and is pained by his failures. In those rare family moments when Stark is still, silent and at a loss for words, he is even more eloquent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/arts/television/21stan.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

The New Season
''Dancing With the Stars'' Results
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

First the divorce, now this: Shanna Moakler and her pro partner Jesse De Soto got the sack on tonight's show.

But that's less of a story than the survival of Ohio's own Jerry Springer, who was not even in the bottom two. (Willa Ford was there with Moakler) With a radio show and a syndicated TV series, he has pretty much begged people to vote him off this show. And the judges at least obliged this week, giving Springer and his partner the lowest scores.

But there he is, sustained by viewer votes. I am sure there are mischief-makers among those voters. But I also suspect some folks prefer him to, at least, Moakler and Ford.

As for ''Dancing'' overall, I am reminded of something the bride said after the premiere a week ago. ''I'm getting addicted to this show,'' she said, ''and I don't want to.''

I understand the feeling. Our TV schedules -- let alone the lives we wrap around them -- are already pretty full. Busy days at work. I spent a couple of hours at a church meeting last night, and caught up with ''Dancing'' in bits and pieces last night and this morning. Both DVRs are well filled with shows they managed to record without a hitch, and some of the weekend will have to be used for catch-up -- especially since I'll be watching and recording still more things tomorrow night.

But we are getting addicted. Let's face it, a lot of ''Dancing'' is lousy. The hour-long results show is outrageously padded; I especially wonder about all the performances by the professional dancers, which serve to remind us how amateurish the non-pros are. (At least they showcase the pros on a different night.) This may be why I'm not so interested in ''Celebrity Duets,'' although I have tried to watch. The really good vocalists on there can make the amateurs look sick, even though I have seen some generous underplaying by the fulltime singers. I mean, it doesn't matter how hard you try; if you're onstage with Smokey Robinson, the only way you're not toast is if you're Smokey Robinson.

More gripes: I don't buy some of the shtick from the judges. And you have to sit through dancers like Tucker Carlson (ousted first), Sara Evans (who just doesn't look comfortable) and Harry Hamlin (makes me think of a RIchard Pryor comment in ''Silver Streak'').

On the other hand, watching the dancers can be kind of interesting. (I should note here that we are also addicted to ''Shall We Dance,'' the Richard Gere-Jennifer Lopez ballroom movie, and I went through a period years ago when I had to pause every time I hit ''Strictly Ballroom'' while channel-hopping.) We talk about footwork, we look at the chemistry, we discuss. We can be impressed -- and have been at times by Joey Lawrence, Mario Lopez, Emmitt Smith, Vivica A. Fox. We have even talked, more than once, about dancing lessons.

So far that's still just talk. (Have I mentioned that we have busy lives?) But in a way that just doesn't happen with ''American Idol'' or ''Celebrity Duets'' or ''The Amazing Race'' -- because one of us just will not do the food challenges -- ''Dancing With the Stars'' presents an activity that I can imagine the bride and me doing. Maybe not as well as Joey Lawrence on a good night. That guy has obviously studied ballroom dancers, not just dance. But still doable. And I have much better hair.

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

The New Season
'Shark’
James Woods is the Big Kahuna of LA's law scene
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

“Shark” (10 PM ET/PT Thursday, CBS) is an apt name for CBS’ new legal drama: James Woods is indeed the Big Kahuna, and he devours everything in his path.

Woods plays Sebastian Stark, who is a combination of every telegenic, high-profile Los Angeles lawyer you’ve ever seen and then some. Stark prides himself on kicking around the district attorney’s office for fun, then goes home to his minimalist L.A. mansion to enjoy the fruits of those five-figure retainers. Getting a rich guy off the hook for spousal abuse? Mere child’s play to the Shark.

Ah, but then. Not to give too much away, but even the Shark finds he still has a shred of conscience that nags at him. In a stunning turnabout - and presumably his bank account is already overflowing when this change of heart comes - Stark goes to work for the district attorney’s office, prosecuting the kinds of high-profile cases that he used to defend with efficient, charismatic viciousness.

Basically, “Shark” is “House” with lawyers, though that description isn’t totally accurate, because “House” is one of television’s most innovative dramas. The Hugh Laurie vehicle restlessly plays with the conventions of not just medical shows but of televised drama in general, and it never lets itself or its characters lapse into predictability or complacency. It zigs when you expect it to zag, and that’s what has kept it fresh well into its third season.

And on “House,” the cast surrounding Laurie is a reasonable counterweight to the star of the show. Not so on “Shark,” where the supporting cast, with the exception of Lynn Whitfield, who plays a canny defense attorney, can’t begin to hold a candle to Woods when he’s cranked up to full throttle.

It’s to Woods’ credit that he owns the screen every time he’s on it; he even makes you believe that this ruthless lawyer has a soft spot in his heart for his teen daughter. His work in a scene in which she tells him she might be leaving town forever is impressive, and it shows that Woods is just as capable of extreme subtlety as he is of effective courtroom theatrics. But in the premiere, at any rate, the level of the writing and the bland supporting cast do not match Woods’ wit, intelligence and slightly scary ferocity.

There’s also a mean edge to “Shark”: Unlike “House,” in which a microbe can be the guilty party, the first case that Shark prosecutes involves proving that a young woman is “a predatory little slut.”

The real issue with “Shark” is that the title lawyer needs to move east - to, say, Boston. A “Boston Legal” with William Shatner, James Spader and James Woods might be a festival of bombast at times, but it certainly would never be boring.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

The New Season
'Six Degrees'
Relationship drama, but not by the numbers
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

In a season of sturdy new serials and brawny returning shows, “Six Degrees” (10:01 PM ET/PT Thursday, ABC) seems, by contrast (to "Shark"), fragile and wistful. That’s no cause to reject the show, but a reason to cautiously embrace it and hope that it develops beyond its slightly cutesy core conceit.

In an opening voice-over, we meet Carlos, a handsome young Manhattan lawyer who is on his way to another by-the-numbers day of processing low-level lawbreakers. The case of a young woman, Mae, falls into his lap; she’s guilty of nothing more than a spontaneous act of public disrobing after a night of partying. Given that Mae’s played by the luminous Erika Christensen, it’s not hard to see why Carlos is soon smitten with her.

On his quest to meet Mae again - which proves harder than he’d thought it would be, thanks to her desire to hide her real identity - Carlos meets a young limo driver, Damian, with knotty problems of his own. We also get a peek at the not-quite-random interactions of a grieving mother, a PR executive and her possibly roving boyfriend, and a photographer who is down on his luck.

All the lives of these people collide in mostly believable ways, but one’s left wondering - then what? Do they all start hanging around the same coffee shop? Start a book club? Never mind, those are easy questions to push aside at this early stage, especially when the premiere glides by with such grace and the cast of the drama is so uniformly watchable.

Campbell Scott is particularly terrific as Steven, the photographer who used to be somebody in the art world but who hasn’t taken any pictures in ages, thanks to a long tango with the bottle. “There’s nothing I can see, there’s nothing I can recognize anywhere,” he tells a gallery owner through gritted teeth.

We’re given to understand that Steven’s home life fell apart at some point, but not much information is laid out explicitly; through Scott’s watchful, sensitive performance, we feel Steven’s despair, and see signs that it may be starting to lift.

Mae ends up in the orbit of the single mother, Laura, who’s played by Hope Davis, another actor it’s impossible not to care about almost immediately. Laura’s trying to move on past the death in Iraq of her journalist husband, but she can’t stop herself from watching the tape of the news program that broadcast his final moments.

Moving on in life, “Six Degrees” implies, involves meeting new people and finding inspiration in what others bring out in us. It’s a slender conceit for a television show but also a novel one. And the romantic sense of yearning that infuses “Six Degrees” is refreshing in a TV schedule full of corpses and cops. You’d be hard-pressed to find a show with its heart more prominently displayed on its sleeve.

It may be surprising to see “Lost” guru J.J. Abrams’ name (along with co-creators Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner) on the credits of a relationship drama set in New York, but followers of his career know that he first made his mark writing for “Felicity,” one of the best New York-set soaps ever. And what are “Alias” and “Lost,” Abrams’ other shows, about if not the quest to fashion a family out of the folks one meets in the strangest ways?

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

The New Season
Thursday night throwdown
ABC hurls 'Grey's' against CBS's 'CSI' and forges dramatic must-see TV
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Thursday, September 21, 2006

In the battle pitting young doctors in love versus seasoned forensics investigators in bed, which will come out on top?

That may be the biggest question of the fall, looming larger than which of ABC's new series will succeed -- and, actually, it has a few strong contenders.

But we'll return to that question later, because the main event is whether "Grey's Anatomy" can bring its fans with it now that it has been ripped from its comfortable Sunday night slot and tossed against "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on Thursdays at 9.

Thursday night is the most lucrative in the television business, rich with ads for movies and cars to drive weekend activities, and ABC hasn't been competitive on that evening for as long as anyone can remember.

Suddenly it's throwing down against the mothership of procedural franchises. But you have to ask, is putting "Grey's Anatomy" against "CSI" a smart move, or a suicide run? Think of it as a loyalty test more than anything else. "Grey's" became ABC's most popular drama last season, often nudging "CSI" near the top of the ratings; of all the series in ABC's arsenal, it is the one most likely to make a dent.

That's exactly what people monitoring the horse-race element of reading TV ratings expect it to do tonight: ding the giant without taking it down. A more interesting question, though, is how many viewers will make room for these two popular but very different takes on those classically married concepts of sex and death? One can make a pretty good argument for watching either premiere tonight, with the same question starting each case: What happens next?

"Grey's Anatomy" became a hit with its confectionary take, but "CSI" dropped a long-suspected bombshell on viewers by revealing that Grissom and Sara really were sleeping together -- this after nearly offing a major character.

"Grey's" left us with Meredith gorgeously slack-jawed after an examining-room grind with Derek Shepherd, switching her gaze between him and new flame, Finn. That's two triangles now; the Meredith-McDreamyAddison complication just wasn't enough. What about Izzie, who quit the program after her great love, Denny, died? Or Cristina, who abandoned Burke on the operating table? And George, who found his soul mate in Dr. Callie Torres? We don't know because ABC didn't send the premiere to most critics; but whether we find out at 9 or, perhaps, later, is a decision we'll leave up to the moment, with the help of TiVo.

If "Grey's" manages to sink its teeth in for the long haul, that'll be three nights on which ABC can claim a strong presence, provided that viewers still have faith in "Desperate Housewives" on Sunday and "Lost" on Wednesdays. With Marc Cherry retaking the reins on "Desperate," there's hope; the first episode sent to critics for review wasn't bad. "Lost" producers might still rely on viewer anticipation to bring about a strong start, but after last season's mass exodus, it's not a certainty.

This season it has been paired with ABC's strongest drama, "The Nine," following at 10 and premiering on the same night as "Lost."

"Grey's" gets a little backup hype on Thursdays, too, with lead-in "Ugly Betty," an unusual dramedy that critics expect -- rather, hope -- will be this season's sleeper hit.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/285818_tv21.html

The New Season
'Six Degrees'
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Thursday, September 21, 2006

You all know the "Six Degrees" game. Instead of the Kevin Bacon angle, executive producer and series co-creator J.J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias") shows us how a number of very different New Yorkers, all strangers, come to be connected to each other in the space of a short time. The chain begins with Carlos (Jay Hernandez) who falls for Mae (Erika Christensen). Then there's Laura (Hope Davis), a single mother getting over tragedy. Whitney (Bridget Moynahan), a powerful PR executive, thinks her boyfriend (Jonathan Cake) is cheating on her. Along comes Steven (Campbell Scott), a photographer who has lost his creative vision and his family along with it. Finally, Damian (Dorian Missick), a chauffeur, might have to work for his brother to pay off a mounting debt. Some become friends; others simply bump into each other. One woman carries a dark secret. Sounds magical, doesn't it?

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? No series following an easy delight like "Grey's Anatomy" should be this much of a downer. "Six Degrees" operates on a lovely concept and the pilot has a hypnotic appeal, but at no point do you feel the urge to laugh. Instead, the characters in this very talented and winsome ensemble either break our hearts or have heartbreak coming. Granted, some people may see these 6 1/2 small tragedies in the making as an apt counterbalance to the dramatic sweetness inherent in "Grey's Anatomy." My reaction was, "Wow. Heavy. Well, good luck with all that." Click!

ON THE OTHER HAND: This is "Felicity" Abrams, not "Lost" Abrams. There's a lot to enjoy about the honeyed romance with which the writers paint New York life and, besides, enough people will automatically have faith in where Abrams and his fellow executive producers will take this series. That said, if it doesn't get chomped by premieres of "ER" on NBC or "Shark," a new series starring James Woods as a mercurial prosecutor on CBS, we'll be shocked.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/285818_tv21.html

The New Season
“Shark”
By Ed Bark

CBS lately likes to get to the point with its titles. The network's four new series this season are Smith, Jericho, The Class (oops, they splurged) and now Shark.

That's an apt name for any James Woods outing, since no one masticates scenery with more relish -- or mustard. Not to say he's a hot dog.

We begin with Woods on camera and talking to a jury for the first 1 minute, 48 seconds of Thursday's premiere. His character, showy Sebastian Stark, is a defense attorney who's repping a wife-beater charged with attempted murder. He wins yet again, and then gloats before district attorney Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan).

"If it's any consolation," Stark chirps, "you look really hot in that suit."

But this latest courtroom triumph turns sour when the guy Stark got off immediately kills his wife. Even our big, brassy anti-hero is struck dumb, taking a month off to ruminate and reboot. Then he ends up being an equally hard-charging prosecutor in charge of a batch of younger assistant DAs who all "suck" in his view. Except for maybe one of them.

"Well, there you go, sucking up," he tells frisky Madeleine Poe (Sarah Carter) after she says it'll be a privilege to learn from the best. "An effective tactic. Sit."

The pilot is directed by Spike Lee, who probably can't see the forest for the Woods. The star of the show is constantly emoting, but with panache. He keeps berating his new set of underlings while also trying a little tenderness with 16-year-old daughter, Julie (Danielle Panabaker). She's trying to decide which of her divorced parents will act as custodian until she turns 18. Mom Claire (guest star Lindsay Frost) has been a loving, caring, doting parent and Dad has been anything but. Remember, though, Ms. Frost's character is only a guest star and Ms. Panabaker is a series regular. So there.

Shark seems to be one of the surer bets of the new season. Woods can be grating at times, but has a practice-perfect way of saying, "I'm great" (Pause, one-two) "And yet I am humble."

The young supporting cast seems capable and pretty enough. And Shark's father-daughter relationship takes some of the edge off a guy who's even gone to the trouble of building a mock courtroom in his home where practice makes perfect.

In future episodes, Woods perhaps will towel off on occasion and be in only about 75 percent of the scenes. But CBS hired him to be front and center, which of course suits him.

Prospects: Very promising opposite NBC's limping ER and ABC's marginally involving Six Degrees.

Grade: B

http://www.unclebarky.com/fall.html

The New Season
“Six Degrees”
Their connection? It's by pure happenstance
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 21, 2006

Coincidence is the engine that drives drama, which otherwise would too much resemble the way we actually live — a book might last for 20,000 pages, a movie go on for six weeks before something interesting happened, some little bit of serendipity that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Collision and re-collision. It can look like fate or like an accident, depending on how your philosophy inclines, but life would be less fun without it, and TV even worse.

Coincidence is at the very heart of "Six Degrees," a new series from ABC (Thursday 10:01 PM ET/PT) that takes its name from the "six degrees of separation" theory, which holds that you can connect any two people on Earth through a chain of six people (and sometimes less, obviously, unless you want to take the scenic route).

It's odd, in a way, to see this show coming along now, years after John Guare's 1990 play "Six Degrees of Separation" (and its only slightly later movie version) planted the concept firmly in the pop culture. (And gave us "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.") But in the way it brings strangers together and explores the idea of connection, it has a lot in common with a number of other shows this season, including "The Nine" and "The Class," and also with "Lost," whose co-creator J.J. Abrams is an executive producer here.

New York is where our story unfolds, the naked city of 8 million stories and the metropolis of happenstance nonpareil, because people there are continually moving about on its sidewalks and bumping up against one another on its subways. Certainly, you couldn't set that show in L.A.; here, we move from house-pod to car-pod to work-pod, possibly stopping off at coffee-pod along the way, and tend to see the same few faces day in and day out.

New York also offers the gift of its locations, which are used abundantly and give the show a sense of reality its script does not always earn. (The actors take up the rest of the slack.) Essentially a rarefied soap opera, it has something of the feel — notwithstanding some fisticuffs and a bit of gunplay — of what used to be called a "woman's picture," in which every sleeve has a heart on it and a handkerchief might be called for every 20 minutes or so.

"Six Characters in Search of Each Other" this show might as well be called. When not meeting outright, they pass one another on the street or the subway, sit in the same bars; it is a cute conceit, and sort of fun spotting them as they go by, like an Alfred Hitchcock cameo — for a while, anyway. I suppose they will ultimately all be on a first-name basis, but for now there are a few degrees of separation yet to go.

The show has an excellent cast, topped off with a bit of indie cred in the form of Hope Davis ("About Schmidt") as widowed mother Laura and Campbell Scott ("Roger Dodger") as formerly successful, now sober art photographer Steve.

As in a novel by Dickens, that past master of coincidence, the characters represent a variety of backgrounds and classes, though I think that's just for color here rather than any kind of social comment.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-wk-six21sep21,0,5840557,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

The New Season
Grey’s Ladies
Their connection? It's by pure happenstance
By Donna Freydkin and William Keck USA Today (Contributing: Ann Oldenburg)

Seattle Grace Hospital may be loaded with medicine's most mesmerizing males, but it's the female doctors who make Grey's Anatomy a McDreamy attraction for viewers.

Of the average 20 million who tuned in each Sunday last season, two out of three were women, even though overall TV viewership is more evenly split. That distaff devotion has helped make Grey's, which moves to a new night tonight for its season premiere (ABC, 9 ET/PT), television's No. 3 scripted series overall, and No. 2 (behind Desperate Housewives) among women 18-49.

For actress Ellen Pompeo, there's certainly no gray area when it comes to understanding why female viewers check in for their weekly dose of these multiethnic, complex femmes.

"Most of the time on television, we're used to seeing women being bimbos or tramps — anything but flawed but also smart and professional," says Pompeo, 36, who portrays the often-whiny yetprodigiously talented (and bed-hopping) Meredith. "In the past, you'd have to go to cable to see a character so raw."

The creative talents behind the show resist categorizing Grey's. "We don't actually tend to think of it as a 'chick show,' " says executive producer Betsy Beers. "We like to believe that the themes and issues we deal with on Grey's are universal. For example, how does one juggle long hours at a demanding job and still try to have a successful personal life? Half the men and women I know wrestle with that on a regular basis, as do I."

But, Beers adds, "having said that, I can't deny there is a strong female voice in the writing as it was created by, and is run by, a woman" — executive producer Shonda Rhimes.

Fan Renee Dechert, an associate English professor at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., was pulled in right from the start of the pilot by the voice of Meredith, which opens and closes each episode, much like Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw or Desperate Housewives' Mary Alice Young.

"Obviously, a female perspective is shaping how we'll see what we're about to see," Dechert says. "And just to make sure that we've got it, she'll do a closer at the end. Such a narrative technique is entirely in the tradition of Sex and the City, a show equally based on feminine fantasy."

To be sure, the Grey ladies are no wallflowers or saccharine sisters bonding and giggling over cafeteria Jell-O. They struggle. They make mistakes. They compete. They support. They commit. They cheat.

And each character's choices affect the audiences' affection. Viewers have come to both love and loathe not only Meredith Grey but also tough-talker Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson); snarky, abrasive commitment-phobe Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh, who declined to be interviewed); emotional train wreck Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl); deeply ambitious and bossy Addison Shepherd (Kate Walsh); and the mysterious hospital-basement dweller Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez).

'Strong, unique voices'

To Walsh, the show's appeal to women is as glaringly obvious as her character's scarlet lipstick.

"Every character has such a strong voice, a unique voice," says Walsh, 38. "It's really rare, as a woman, to see women interestingly and accurately portrayed on television. You get relegated to the mom or the long-suffering wife or the whore or the cop. To actually see women with all the complexities and facets of the male characters we've seen through the years ... people didn't even know they missed it until they saw it."

Wilson, 37, received an Emmy nomination for playing "The Nazi," the interns' not-so-affectionate nickname for their supervisor. A serious soap opera fan, she consumes four hours of daytime viewing every day. "I'm sitting here going through my tapes right now," she says, speaking from her home. She believes Grey's qualifies as a soap "like Knots Landing or Dallas was — where you want to come back next week and see how each situation resolved itself."

But unlike the often one-dimensional divas on traditional soaps, Grey's women don't get involved in petty catfights. The cast credits Rhimes for consistently keeping their characters respectable and believable.

Wilson reminds that when there was a locker room brawl (over a syphilis breakout), it was between characters Alex and George, not the ladies.

"It's encouraging a different experience for women and showing that it is entirely possible we can be friends and still be competitive," says Heigl, 27, whose emotional intern Izzie quit the medical program in last season's finale after getting involved with a heart patient and committing medical misconduct in her struggle to keep him alive.

Bring back Izzie!

In the new season, the women unite in a campaign to get Izzie reinstated. "And that's fascinating, because that just does not happen very often," Heigl says. "We're all competing for the medical cases or to get the best surgeries, but they also all helped Izzie at a time when she was making a crazy decision and basically throwing her career away. They stood by her and didn't abandon her."

Rhimes, 36, also has assembled prime time's most colorful cast. And that, too, accounts for the show's appeal, says Ramirez, a Latina whose orthopedic surgeon (and the object of George's affections) becomes a regular this year.

When Ramirez, 31, met Rhimes in New York last year to discuss her role, she said she was elated to discover "that Shonda was an African-American woman. She reflects on TV what I see as my experience in the world. She's got people of different races and backgrounds, but doesn't make a big comment about it. They are characters who have flaws, and — oh, by the way, they're African-American. Or Asian. Or whatever."

By all accounts, this diverse cast has bonded off-screen as well. Walsh says she's closest to Heigl and in fact had drinks with her and co-star T.R. Knight (George) the night before this interview. "It's safe to say that we totally love each other," Walsh says, laughing.

"It's a very fun atmosphere on set," echoes Pompeo. "It would be too difficult if we didn't have fun with the hours we have to put in."

For one episode, real-life knitters Wilson and Heigl taught Pompeo how to handle needles and yarn. Walsh and Heigl live near each other and often meet for drinks and prior to awards shows get gussied up together in one of their homes.

"There's an unbelievable amount of support and encouragement among these women," says Heigl. "We're very much there for each other in a way I haven't experienced outside of my very, very close friends that I've had since childhood. And I've had past working relationships with women that haven't been that supportive ... that have been more competitive."

Heigl recalls receiving a phone call at home from Pompeo after last season's finale showed the emotional scene in which Izzie broke down and climbed into bed with her beloved, dead patient, Denny.

"Ellen was so incredibly supportive and complimentary," Heigl says. "That meant so much to me because I'm so critical of myself and value her opinion. It made me want to cry."

Still, the actors have separate lives off-screen. "We don't have (much) time to hang out," admits Pompeo. "We spend all day together, and it's not like we're going to run home and hang out together, too. We all have things to do ... boyfriends, dogs to take care of."

Pompeo lives with longtime boyfriend Chris Ivery and their two poodles. Walsh is single. Heigl became engaged in June to musician Josh Kelley. Ramirez says she has a beau. Oh split from her Sideways director, Alexander Payne, after a brief marriage. And though Wilson declines to discuss the nature of her relationship with the father of her three children, daughters Serena, 13, and Joy, 8, and son, Michael, 10 months, keep her quite busy.

Wilson realizes what fans truly want to know is who their favorite characters will be hooking up with.

"The setting, the medical emergencies, the individual quirks of the characters, the humor — that's all secondary," says fan Petra Otto of Neenah, Wis. "In the end, I'm tuning in every week to watch them find love ... and hope that they all get loved in return.

"Heck, I even want McDreamy to make the right decision so that he, too, can be happy. But the sly writers added a twist here, didn't they? McDreamy can't be happy without breaking one of the gals' hearts."

On the strict orders of tight-lipped Rhimes, the cast has been given a gag order about revealing anything plot-related.

This season "you see everybody stand on their own a little bit more," says Walsh. "You get to see a different side of all of us. A little more history of where they've come from and where they're going. Every character in the show takes on a different direction. It's a lot more in-depth but still in the structure of the hospital and cases."

And Otto will be happy to learn the messy, misguided love triangle of Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), his wife Addison and lover Meredith will be resolved. And a new twist will come via the arrival of Derek's sister.

Fans caught up in the action

Viewers feel so passionately about all these hookups, breakups and entanglements that some have even accosted Walsh in public to offer insight and encouragement.

"I was doing this event in Chicago, and this woman who'd had a few drinks came up to me, grabbed my arm like she knew me and said, 'You need to let McDreamy go! Let it go. It's done,' " recalls Walsh.

Not even Pompeo knows how the triangle will play out. "I don't know that I end up with anybody," she says. But Pompeo would be just fine continuing without a clear resolution, allowing Meredith to play the field, as many a man would do. Sex and the City aside, it's something rarely seen on television.

"It's what a lot of women do, anyway," Pompeo says. "But guys get a pat on the back, and women get a reputation."

Heigl believes female viewers are responding to such sexual liberation. "We've all been in those circumstances where there's been a double standard, where a man can act any way he wants, but if a woman behaves in a similar way, she's labeled something," Heigl says. "I think a lot of women appreciated that Meredith stands up for all women in a way."

Heigl says she still hears from female fans "how much they loved Meredith's speech to Derek that 'you don't get to call me a whore!' "

Heigl pauses.

"Was it 'whore' or 'slut'? I can't remember. But anyway, people loved it."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-09-20-greys-ladies_x.htm

Obituary
Robert Earl Jones, 96
Actor, Father of James Earl Jones
By Dennis McLellan Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Robert Earl Jones, the veteran actor and father of the more famous actor James Earl Jones whose career spanned stage, screen and television, has died. He was 96.

Jones died of natural causes Sept. 7 at the Actors' Fund of America home in Englewood, N.J., publicist Dale Olson said.

Jones, who had a deep, resonant voice like his son, appeared in numerous New York theater productions, including "Strange Fruit," "The Iceman Cometh," and Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes' "Mule Bone" on Broadway in 1991.

Jones appeared in several stage productions with his son, including "Infidel Caesar" and "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl" in 1962, and "Of Mice and Men" in 1967.

He also had guest roles in TV series such as "Kojak" and "Lou Grant" and appeared in more than 20 movies, including "One Potato, Two Potato," "Terror in the City," "Mississippi Summer" and "The Sting."

Jones was born in Senotobia, Miss., on Feb. 3, 1910, dropped out of school in the third grade and worked as a sharecropper. Before James Earl's birth in 1931, Jones left his wife and moved to Memphis, where he got a job working on the railroad.

After losing his railroad job because of the Depression, Jones told the New York Times in 1974, he moved to Chicago "to seek my fortune as a prizefighter." His short fighting career included becoming a sparring partner for world heavyweight champion Joe Louis in 1937.

Jones got his first taste of acting after moving to New York and landing a federal Works Progress Administration job working with youths in recreation: Langston Hughes asked to use the recreation group in a one-act play. And when the actor playing the protagonist got a job while they were in rehearsals, Jones recalled in the 1974 interview, he was asked to take over the role.

"It was kind of natural," he said. "Langston Hughes' aunt, Mrs. Toy Harper, taught me how to read my first poem: 'I am a Negro black as the night is black/ Black like the depth of my Africa' and several other poems. It was poetic drama, put together by several of his poems. We linked them together by a narrative, and I was that narrator."

Jones made two early screen appearances as part of the all-black casts in the low-budget dramas "Lying Lips" (1939) and "The Notorious Elinor Lee" (1940), which were written and directed by pioneer black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.

Jones' acting career, Olson said, was interrupted in the 1950s when he was blacklisted and called before the House Un-American Activities Committee because of his involvement in the leftist movement in the late 1930s. Jones started studying acting at the American Theatre Wing in New York in 1955, while living with his son in Greenwich Village.

Jones, who was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Theatre Festival, also received an Oscar Micheaux Award and was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

In addition to James Earl, the twice-divorced Jones is survived by another son, Matthew Earl; and a grandson.

Services were private.

The family requests donations be made to the Actors' Fund of America, 729 7th Ave., 10th Floor, New York City, N.Y. 10019.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jones20sep20,0,1641046,print.story?coll=la-home-obituaries

The New Season
Downsized 'SNL'
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog

For all the attention on “Saturday Night Live” this season from two different new NBC primetime shows ostensibly based on it, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “30 Rock,” there is downsizing on the show itself.

When the show premieres for its 32nd season Sept. 30, it will be without Horatio Sanz, Chris Parnell and Finesse Williams, the network confirmed today. Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch previously left the show at the end of the last season (for the aforementioned “30 Rock”).

No announcement has been made for a new co-anchor for “Weekend Update” to sit alongside Amy Poehler, but signs point to Seth Meyers, who will be co-head writer as well as cast member.

Sanz and Parnell had been with the show eight years; Williams for three.

Darrell Hammond, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Will Forte and Kenan Thompson will all return as repertory players in what will be one of the smallest casts in the history of the show.

Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudekis and Kristen Wiig, most of whom were introduced at the end of last season, will continue as “featured players” (which seems to be a designation for those still on probation or some such).

“SNL” founder Lorne Michaels said as far back as July that budget cuts would affect the show this season and he was reluctant to shorten the number of episodes from 20.

Dane Cook will return to host the season opener; The Killers are musical guests.

When the new season begins, Don Roy King, who has had experience on CBS’ “The Early Show,” “Good Morning America” and various “Survivor” live finales, will take over directing duties from Beth McCarthy Miller, who had been at the post since 1995. Meyers will share his head writing position with Andrew Steele and Paula Pell, the network said.

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/09/downsized_snl.html#more

The New Season
Dave Stewart in rhythm for HBO series
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter Sep. 21, 2006

HBO is launching a music-themed interview show hosted by British rock musician Dave Stewart.

The pay cable network has ordered six half-hour episodes of the show to air early next year.

Described as "musicians on musicians," the still-untitled project will feature Stewart interviewing fellow musicians about their craft. He already has approached several of his big-name rock-star friends to appear on the program, sources said.

The guests also are expected to perform on the show, which Stewart will executive produce with Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine, Gene Kirkwood, Howard Klein and Jonathan Prince.

Stewart, best known as one-half of the groundbreaking synth-pop band Eurythmics, also is a successful producer who has worked with such musicians as Aretha Franklin, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and the Neville Brothers. He also collaborated with Jagger on the soundtrack to the 2004 feature "Alfie." .

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003154929

The New Season
The newest characters on TV shows: Product plugs
By Gary Levin USA Today

NBC has high hopes for Friday Night Lights, a new drama about a Texas high school football squad based on a best-selling book and feature film. Viewers will see some familiar names on the sidelines — and not just the actors.

The team's frequent hangout? A neighborhood Applebee's restaurant, where one player's girlfriend becomes a waitress. The stadium is stocked with Gatorade and features AT&T billboards. Another character's car dealership might sell Toyotas, including the new Tundra to be featured elsewhere in the show. And in one episode, teammates will head for the multiplex to see Fox's Eragon, a fantasy film due in theaters in December.

It's all part of a rapidly growing trend called product integration that marks a sea change in the TiVo era. For years, movies and some TV shows have featured real products instead of generic "cola" bottles. Such placements were often paid for by sponsors but lingered in the background.

But ever since Survivor began plying famished contestants with Doritos and American Idol's Simon Cowell was never far from a big red Coke glass, the script has changed. Sitcoms and dramas are the new product showcases as a shrinking ad market, climbing production costs and ad-skipping technology lead networks to become more blatant about dropping product names into their shows.

Rather than exist as mere props, products are being woven more tightly into story lines as crucial plot points or subjects of dialogue, making ad messages impossible to skip. If Friends aired today, the gang probably would sip Starbucks Frappuccinos instead of the daily brew at the fictional Central Perk.

Peter Berg, the actor and producer behind Lights (and its precursor feature film), says product plugs are now a fact of life in the "diabolically competitive" TV business, and some money from the ad deals is funneled back into the show's production budget, which helped pay to renovate a weathered stadium in Texas, where the series is filmed.

"Anything that gives a little financial relief, you can't ignore, and anyone who ignores it is delusional," Berg says. "It's all about giving them what they need in a way that doesn't violate the integrity or offend the audience to feel like they're being subliminally manipulated into watching a commercial."

Which is, of course, exactly what's happening.

"Advertisers are getting less and less complacent with the notion of their commercial being seen," says veteran producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing), who says such deals are most prevalent at struggling networks. "It's all coming. The question is: How we do it in a way that it doesn't alienate viewers?"

Or actors, who are being asked to shill for products with no extra pay. Last spring, CSI star William Petersen was greeted at a nighttime shoot by a pair of tricked-out GMC Denalis, which surfaced to help comb for a missing body as cameras lingered.

"I said, 'There's no dramatic value in this. Move the Denalis out of here or I'm not shooting.' I'm not here to sell cars." (The Denalis were featured in another episode in which Petersen didn't appear.)

And Wells says actors' own endorsement deals sometimes conflict with the products their characters are asked to mention, drive or use.

The Writers Guild of America is seeking more involvement in the process for scriptwriters, charging that some have been forced to shoehorn plugs into series.

"A couple of times, and I get it, it's been shoved down their throat the wrong way, and that's what annoys them," CBS chief Leslie Moonves says. He nonetheless champions the practice as a new ad model: "This is a way to offset zapping commercials."

How the practice began

Inserting messages into programming isn't new: Television's early days featured stars talking up sponsors during programs such as Texaco Star Theater. Products turned up as props, some paid, others not, within shows. And feature films are as rife with product placements as NASCAR.

But the modern era of "brand integration" can be traced to the rise of unscripted reality and game shows: AT&T's "Phone a Friend" on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 1999, and after that, dozens of products featured in Survivor and other series.

More recently came sitcoms and dramas, from The King of Queens (Doug visits Lowe's home-improvement centers) to Desperate Housewives, when Gabrielle, broke, is forced to hawk Buicks at a mall.

Now the floodgates are open, as advertisers see the benefits and programmers look to reaffirm the value of TV exposure as advance ad sales decline. But networks say they're being cautious about stuffing too many products throughout prime time.

Marketers spent $941 million on TV product placements last year, up 70% from 2004, and $350 million of that total was devoted to sitcoms and dramas, says PQ Media, a Connecticut research firm.

"This is all still in its infancy," says ABC senior vice president Dan Longest. "We're seeing a ravenous appetite to explore this new territory. (But) it's not just about putting a brand in a program; there has to be meaningful relevance."

Adds Home Depot marketing chief Roger Adams, who expects the retailer's integration deals to grow 20% this year: "We want something that fits the fabric of the show. If it looks like a sponsorship salute, if it's just blatant commercialism, then we'd rather just buy a commercial."

Home Depot sent the cast of Girlfriends to one of its in-store clinics last season in an effort to recruit more blacks and women to the do-it-yourself market. This year, it will tie into an episode of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine and plans two more appearances on Girlfriends.

"It's a no-brainer that I can't degrade the product, but (sponsors) have to be open to realistic talk," says Mara Brock Akil, executive producer of the CW sitcom and spinoff The Game, which will work Toyota into a plot this season. "We weren't heavy-handed with it, and so neither brand —Girlfriends or Home Depot — was bastardized."

Law & Order producer Dick Wolf says some shows lend themselves to product plugs — just not his. "If somebody wanted to integrate a product into (our) story, I would find that risible," he says, just as he would if former Law star Jill Hennessy, now on Crossing Jordan, "all of a sudden started to wear Kmart clothes and everybody in the Boston coroner's office wears them because they absorb formaldehyde better. When it's ham-fisted, it's counterproductive."

In a noteworthy example of overkill last spring, family drama 7th Heaven featured an extended riff on Oreo dunking by several characters, one of whom proposed with an engagement ring hidden inside the cookie.

But other producers join Berg in shrugging off the ethical considerations, noting that such ad placements are now a cost of doing business for many new or struggling series, which need the exposure that ad tie-ins often generate.

"These shows need money," says Joe Davola, president of Tollin/Robbins Television, who welcomes the "slush fund" that has allowed him to do complex shooting on otherwise tight-fisted budgets.

'Nobody's twisting my arm'

The company's One Tree Hill has featured Cingular cellphones, Sunkist soft drinks and Secret deodorant; Smallville had Acuvue contact lenses. The canceled WB sitcom What I Like About You was a poster child for product plugs, integrating Pringles and Swiffer and building an entire episode around an Herbal Essences shampoo contest between two characters.

"Nobody's twisting my arm, and I'm not a schlockmeister," Davola says. "Basically I said, 'This is something I need to do and I'd better control it.' " And he adds such ad deals "helped us get a fourth season" on the new CW network for One Tree Hill, considered a tossup for renewal.

Generally, "it's easier to integrate products in unscripted shows," says Warner Bros. executive vice president Craig Hunegs. "There are more opportunities to fit in, and you can put more products in the show without it feeling jarring to the viewer. I think that's why (integration) first emerged there."

But one major ad buyer says that makes them less desirable, as viewers are hip to the hard sell. "Integration into reality shows is unnatural, and everybody's in on it, but sometimes they work," says Tim Spengler of Initiative Media. "Integration into scripted shows is more relevant, and when they fit the story, it's the holy grail."

Networks say shows often seek authentic locations or products anyway, so getting paid for using them is not much of a stretch. Writers of NBC's The Office found Chili's a willing partner to host its "Dundee Awards," even though the show gently mocks the chain.

"It's nice when product integration can add to the verisimilitude for the audience," says ABC Entertainment chief Steve McPherson.

But unlike reality shows, which are often built around product sponsorships, sitcoms and dramas don't force the issue: Producers of UPN's Everybody Hates Chris and CBS' How I Met Your Mother turned their noses up at deals, and advertisers moved on. "A guiding rule is, 'Don't let your product inhibit how you tell your story,' " CBS Paramount TV president David Stapf says.

And though he was fine plugging Buick, "there's growing concern that if an advertiser starts to dictate a story line, just how horrible that would be," Housewives producer Marc Cherry said last spring.

Stars aren't always game, especially when scripts call for them to hawk products, but unlike Petersen, some lack the clout to complain. "As an actor, it feels false, it feels like a commercial," says Chi McBride, who stars in ABC's upcoming The Nine. "I realize this isn't a business driven by art — it's driven by commerce. We all know that, so I don't have a hard time accepting that it goes on.

"(But) we're going to have to participate with the networks in this thing in order for the television business to continue the way it is."

Anti-ad-clutter groups such as Commercial Alert are upset over what they call possibly illegal promotion of products that are sometimes not identified as paying sponsors.

The legality of 'hidden plugs'

"The networks are being dishonest by not disclosing sponsorships," says the group's executive director, Gary Ruskin. "They're brazenly violating the public's right to know about who is seeking to persuade them." He has filed petitions with the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission seeking to have such product integrations disclosed at the beginning and during each segment, not just fleetingly in the show's closing credits.

The FTC turned him down. The FCC has yet to act, but commissioner Jonathan Adelstein calls "insidious" the practice of "weaving ads into story lines," and says it "pushes the limits of the level of commercialism the public is willing to accept. My biggest concern is that the disclosure is often inadequate."

The conflict isn't new. NBC battled with scriptwriters in the 1950s — when most shows mentioned sponsors in their titles — over "hidden plugs," says Iowa State University professor Jay Newell, a historian who has studied the history of product placement in film and TV.

But now, "mass media is all advertising, all the time, and the fear is it will create a generation of cynical viewers who look at everything on the screen as an attempt to sell them something," Newell says.

Yet his own students "look at brand integration as something they expect."

Which explains why youth-oriented networks such as UPN and WB (which this week morph into CW) and MTV are most aggressive at promoting it. CW even is filling commercial slots with "content wraps," or fully-sponsored two-minute programs that weave in more products.

So it might not be too long before the Friday Night Lights players wear logos on their uniforms. Scott Porter, who plays the star quarterback, says he doesn't mind the show's squad of on-screen sponsors. But he acknowledges "viewers might not like it if it's too obvious." And then, he'd be out of work.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2006-09-19-product-integration_x.htm

I think someone missed the Disney channel when pointing out blatant abusers of this process. I remember years ago my daughter was watching a show with a teenage girl on a space station. It was typical horrible Disney child overacting with extremely stupid story lines, however it caught my attention one time. The main characters were walking by a display/monitor in the hall of a space station (or something like that, can't quite remember how they did the setup), when they were walking by a real boy band video began playing. The girls stopped and did the OMG I MUST OWN THIS NOW!! shill.

Needless to say, I was appalled. But it seems to me that TV has become the training ground for the new generation to learn how to be proper consumers.

The New Season
The newest characters on TV shows: Product plugs
By Gary Levin USA Today

"It's all coming. The question is: How we do it in a way that it doesn't alienate viewers?"

Adds Home Depot marketing chief Roger Adams, who expects the retailer's integration deals to grow 20% this year: "We want something that fits the fabric of the show. If it looks like a sponsorship salute, if it's just blatant commercialism, then we'd rather just buy a commercial."



I personally don't have too much of a problem with ad placement. After all, it's real life stuff. If someone were doing a movie of my daily life (yeah, right), they would see me driving a Toyota to work, an Apple computer and a can of Coke on my desk, and a Sony TV in my living room.

But it has to be done tactfully, as in the second part of the quoted message above. I don't mind a cop in show saying "Be on the lookout for a green Subaru." But it crosses the line if he were to say, "Be on the lookout for an all-wheel drive green Subaru with fuel injection and sporty chrome wheels."

Buyers: ABC will take Thursday nights
By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 21, 2006

CBS, under the direction of Les Moonves, pulled off one of the most remarkable upsets in television history this decade, chipping away at NBC’s 20-year hold on Thursdays and ultimately claiming the night among adults 18-49 the past two seasons.

ABC wasn’t a factor. It ranked No. 3 last season, and was a no-show in prior years.

That will change this season.
Starting tonight, the first Thursday of the new season, ABC will not only challenge CBS for No. 1 with an aggressive new lineup but some media buyers say it will win outright.

Moreover, NBC may rival CBS for No. 2 on the strength of game show “Deal or No Deal,” which debuted on Monday with 15.6 million viewers.

Fox is already stumbling and will rank No. 4.

“It will be a very close race, with the weekly winner often dependent on the repeat cycle,” says John Rash, senior vice president and director of media negotiations at Campbell Mithun. “But ABC, more often than not, will slightly edge out CBS and NBC.”

The shift in the networks’ rankings on Thursdays is due to ABC’s and NBC’s overhauled lineups.

But also at play is CBS’s slumping audiences for “Survivor” and “CSI.” Moreover, it moved “Without a Trace” to Sundays. In its place is the new James Woods vehicle “Shark” going against NBC’s “ER” and ABC’s new drama “Six Degrees,” from “Lost” creator J. J. Abrams.

“I believe CBS will maintain the lead in 18-49s for the night, although it will be down from last year,” says Susan Hajny, broadcast research manager at GSD&M. “That’s because of the aging of its shows and newcomer ‘Shark’ will not be as strong as ‘Without a Trace’ in overall audience delivery and definitely not in 18-49s.”

Thursdays kick off at 8 p.m. with a slightly changed schedule that may have a big impact on ABC’s standing.

ABC is debuting “Ugly Betty,” a series based on the Colombian novela “Yo Soy, Betty La Fea” that in a few incarnations has had enormous success on Spanish-language networks, including Univision, whose current No. 1 program is “La Fea Mas Bella.”

ABC’s version, premiering next week, is about a less-than-attractive woman working at a fashion magazine.

“Betty” has a shot at doing well in the time slot because it’s a female-skewing series competing with male-skewing comedies on NBC, while CBS’s “Survivor” is fading.

CBS’s latest version of the reality show premiered last week with a 6.5 rating in 18-49s. That was down only 2 percent from last year but it was also its lowest debut since the first version aired in 2000.

At 9 p.m., ABC moved “Grey’s Anatomy” from Sundays, pitting it against CBS’s “CSI.” The shows ranked No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, last season.

Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director at Horizon Media, is projecting a “Grey’s” win in fourth quarter, with an average 10.8 million viewers in 18-49s to “CSI’s” 9.9 million. Both Rash and Hajny also expect ABC to rank No. 1 at 9 p.m.

But NBC will also be competitive in the time slot with “Deal,” which Adgate predicts will pull in 6 million viewers.

Meanwhile, NBC will rank No. 1 at 10 p.m. with “ER.” The aging medical drama is airing only originals through January, when the new “Black Donnellys,” about a New York crime family, will take over. This no-repeat strategy will lift NBC’s ratings because “ER” reruns have not historically fared well.

ABC is slotting in “Six Degrees,” which buyers say is a good match with “Grey’s.” And CBS has “Shark.” Adgate is predicting NBC will have 7.9 million viewers with CBS behind by only 1.5 million and ABC trailing NBC by only 1.8 million viewers.

“The real winners on Thursdays are viewers and advertisers,” says Rash. “Network television is doing what it’s supposed to do: offer competitive creative counter-programming schedules that make the media form ascendant.”

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7422.asp

The New Season
'Six Degrees' or 'Shark'?
neither, thanks
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, September 21, 2006

You can bet that all the producers who have shows of a serialized nature -- and that's a lot of people these days -- are more than a little worried about the dwindling fortunes of "Vanished" on Fox. Oh, they probably don't care if it dies -- they may, in fact, be rooting for it to die -- but there has to be concern about what the viewing pattern means.

Pattern: down. Show: about to be out.

"Vanished" is Fox's best new fall series (admittedly, that's not saying much) and it was the first show out of the gates this fall. On Monday, it had its fifth episode, and ratings continued to plummet. Now, as the series heads off the air for Major League Baseball playoffs, viewers are likely never to return. Would they have stayed on even without baseball? Did people flee because "Vanished" never lived up to the hype of its pilot? Or were people tempted by other new series, thus abandoning the storytelling of "Vanished" in the middle, or even before the middle -- a worst-case scenario?

Probably all of those things. Which should serve as a warning to anyone launching a serialized drama that needs viewers to stay hooked for 22 episodes to figure out the mystery: It better be damned good.

"Six Degrees," which kicks off tonight at 10 on ABC, is not damned good. "Shark," which premieres tonight at 10 on CBS is also not damned good. But neither is it a serialized drama, which probably means it will fare better than "Six Degrees" despite the latter's pedigree with J.J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias"), a massive amount of hype and a ready-made understanding of the concept thanks to Kevin Bacon. (Six degrees of ... come on, you know this already, and if you don't, watch "Shark.")

If the lessons of "Vanished" apply more thoroughly to "Six Degrees" (a show that will probably have significant viewer tune in before, three weeks later, tuning out), then yet another truism of television will apply to "Shark."

Too much greatness ruins mediocrity.

Granted, that's not exactly etched in Hollywood Boulevard. But it's a working reality. When viewers are faced with multiple quality choices -- as they will be this fall -- then they simply have no time left for James Woods to chew scenery. Any other year, maybe. But why would you add a middling lawyer series -- and a bloated star vehicle at that -- to your hectic viewing schedule?

Well, OK, if "Six Degrees" demands too much attention to be worthy, then the only real competition "Shark" has is the aging (ageless?) "ER." Translation: It's a hit!

Oh, these are confusing times.

Let's back up and start with "Six Degrees." The premise is exactly as you'd imagine it: six people in Manhattan whose lives interconnect. They just don't know it yet. Now, when you say "J.J. Abrams is the executive producer," most TV executives say, "I love it already." But this series is no "Lost." It's not compelling at all. The larger mystery that's allegedly going to unfold over 22 episodes -- or five years -- doesn't get enough traction in the first hour to make you want to come back for the second.

That's a problem.

There's a good cast here. Campbell Scott as a brilliant photographer suddenly missing inspiration and not getting hired. Hope Davis as a widowed mother. Bridget Moynahan as a woman who has it all (including a cheating fiance). And Erika Christensen as a girl on the run with a lot of dangerous secrets. Now, if only they made you care about their fate. Worse, after listening to the producers talk about the direction of the show, you don't get the sense there's much of a master plan. Six people can be separated by degrees, but you don't have to really connect them all, and with meaning, for years, right?

Viewers might want to consider staying seven degrees away from "Six Degrees" or risk getting seriously lost.

"Shark" is a fine show if you're Woods. You do all the talking, or most of it. You have all the best lines. You tutor youth and flirt with Jeri Ryan. In the end, you're the hero.

What's not to like? Well, if you're not Woods, plenty. This is a paint-by-numbers legal series that's as predictable as they come. Woods plays Sebastian Stark, a.k.a. the Shark, a high-powered, ruthless and ethically-challenged defense attorney hired by wealthy and/or famous clients to get them off when they do bad things. In the pilot, he frees a wife-beating athlete who, not surprisingly, kills his wife a day later. This brings on a crisis of conscience and a switch to the other side: district attorney's office. The good guys. Ryan is the D.A. and she's annoyed at losing to Stark so many times and having him stroll in like he owns the place, looking for moral redemption.

Nobody's ever done that premise before. Not ever.

The saving grace of "Shark," of course, is Woods. He's a tour de force and barely shuts his mouth or drops his attitude the whole hour. If you're going to make a star vehicle for someone, you ought to let them drive it, no? Woods admirably takes it over the cliff.

But "Shark" is only a series you'd watch on a Thursday night if, say, you were tired of "ER" and fearful that "Six Degrees" was going nowhere. Because other than that, there's nothing else on. A question, then, arises: Is that any way to choose a TV show?

It's a long season with a lot of great options. Maybe you should watch something from the DVR backlog instead.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/21/DDGL7L8KEA1.DTL&type=printable

The New Season
It's Thursday. Got TiVo?
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”Thursday, September 21, 2006

(Note: All times Central)

The good news is that television's most important night has become its best night as well. The bad news is, this can't last.

These are “Shark”-infested waters, and not every show will be a survivor. It will be “deal” for some, “no deal” for others. It could get ugly, Betty.

For starters, ABC has moved “Grey's Anatomy” into the heart of the Thursday schedule, at 8 p.m., against “C.S.I.” on CBS. (All times Central.) ABC is flanking “Grey's” with two of its most promising new shows in the hopes of growing a hit lineup overnight. It's a huge gamble, and you ask why ABC is taking it.

Blame the sponsor. This is the last night of TV before the weekend, and movie studios and other advertisers spend billions of dollars a year for commercials on Thursdays, more than any other night of the week.

ABC has been wanting a piece of that action for approximately, ohhhh, ever. “My So-Called Life” died on a Thursday night. So did “Nothing Sacred,” “Murder One” and just about everything else ABC tried on Thursdays going back to “Barney Miller.”

But with TV's hottest, soapiest show moving into the 8 p.m. time slot, ABC can't lose, right?

In case you've forgotten a single juicy storyline from last season, yet another “Grey's Anatomy” clip show will air at 7 tonight, followed by the third season premiere at 8.

All that Peter Horton, the “Grey's” executive producer I spoke with this week, would say about Thursday's episode is that Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) will make her choice between Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey and Chris “Guest Star” O'Donnell “pretty quickly.” No season-long sturm and drang for this show.

That's followed by “Six Degrees,” which ABC thinks will be a good fit with “Grey's” because the stars are young, smart and looking for love. The wonderful Hope Davis (“American Splendor”) and Campbell Scott head a group of six actors who begin as strangers in New York City. Then, as the title suggests, they'll slowly discover they can play the Kevin Bacon game with each other.

I liked “Six Degrees,” but production ran aground this summer, a producer left and Horton was brought in from the “Grey's” set to help show-doctor “Six Degrees” back to health.

“If you'd talked to me two weeks ago I'd have been very cautious about this show's prospects,” Horton said in an interview from New York. “But now it's really getting on its feet.”

Whereas “Grey's” is a “practical” show, he said “Six Degrees” is “ineffable, mysterious … it's about coincidences that may not be coincidences.” Just because something's ineffable, though, doesn't mean you can't cram a lot of s-e-x into it.

Thursdays will get even better next week with the debut of “Ugly Betty” at 7 on ABC. Based on a popular Spanish-language telenovela, this irresistible comedy revolves around a spunky, chunky girl (America Ferrera) whose, uh, unique fashion sense can't stop her from getting into the world of fashion journalism. When she strolls into Mode magazine wearing a blaring red poncho that reads, “Guadalajara,” the receptionist thinks she's part of a makeover shoot. “Are you the 'before'?” she asks Betty.

But our hero gets hired anyway because, it turns out, a garishly dressed brace-face is about the only girl that Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius), Mode's callow editor-in-chief, will keep his hands off of.

By the second episode, these two are forging an appealing alliance. Daniel, who got his job through nepotism, realizes he has an empire to run … and that Betty can help him run it. First, though, they must get past Daniel's rival at Mode, the deliciously villainous Wilhemina (Vanessa Williams).

An even bigger challenge might be staying on the ABC schedule. At 7 p.m., “Ugly Betty” is up against CBS's “Survivor,” which has found new life through racial diversity, and NBC's “My Name Is Earl,” which is officially overrated now that its creator Greg Garcia has won an Emmy. The trailer-trash humor of “Earl,” which Garcia lays on thick in tonight's season premiere (7 p.m., NBC), is starting to wear thin.

After that comes “The Office” at 7:30, which isn't for the “Ugly Betty” crowd anyway, red-hot “Deal or No Deal” at 8 and “ER” at 9.

Meanwhile CBS, which has been cleaning up ever since moving “C.S.I.” to this night in 2001, is reloading at 9 p.m. with “Shark.” It stars James Woods as an insufferable, loudmouthed defense attorney who one day has a crisis of self-doubt. But then he switches sides and resumes being insufferable and loudmouthed, this time as a member of the prosecution.

I thought Woods might have been over the top in a scene or two, but when I showed one of those clips to my “Watch the Pilots with Aaron” audience earlier this month, they loved it. Shows you what I know. “Without a Trace,” by the way, isn't MIA. It moved to 9 p.m. Sundays on CBS.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/09/its_thursday_go.html#more

TV Notebook
Nielsen: TV Viewing Grows Despite New Media Distractions
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com Sept 21, 2006

Data released by Nielsen Media Research today shows that American television viewing continues to increase despite growing competition from new media platforms, like video MP3 players, cell phones and streaming video.

The total average time a household watched TV during the 2005-06 season was 8 hours and 14 minutes per day, a 3-minute increase from the 2004-05 season, and a record high. The average amount of TV watched by an individual viewer last season was 4 hours and 35 minutes per day, also up 3 minutes. During prime time (8-11 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and 7-11 p.m. Sundays), households watch TV an average 1 hour and 54 minutes per night, up 1 minute, while the average viewer watched 1 hour and 11 minutes, flat over 2004-05.

While teens seem to be flocking to new media platforms, the Nielsen data showed that teens aged 12-17 viewed 3 percent more traditional television during the day last season, than they did during the 2004-05 season. The increase, Nielsen said, was driven primarily by teenage girls, who increased their total day TV viewing by 6 percent. Teen girls showed the most increase in watching TV from 6-9 a.m. and from 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Nielsen said.

Younger kids, aged 2-11, also watched more TV during the 2005-06 season, increasing total day viewing levels by 4 percent.

African American and Hispanic total day persons' TV viewing levels increased by 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively, buoyed by large increases among children and teenage girls.

"These results demonstrate that television still holds its position as the most popular entertainment platform," said Patricia McDonough, senior vp of planning policy and analysis at Nielsen. "At this point, consumption of emerging forms of entertainment, including the Internet television and video on personal devicces seem not to be making an impact on traditional television viewing. This is especially true among teenage girls, who have shown significant increases in viewing during the past year."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003154980

I think you are leaving out one important part of the equation: the cable (and satellite) companies sell "local" advertising on all their nets.So? When viewership goes up, any advertising, local or network, can increase revenue. That means the network gest more revenue, and the cable/satellite gets more. So by asking for a (higher) fee from the cable/satellite, the network is trying to take a bigger bite, over and above the extra profit they are already making on their own advertising. Why exactly ISN'T that greedy!?

Again, if there were no fees allowed, this wouldn't be an issue.Plus, when FNC paid $10 a sub to gain carriage on Cablevision and Time Warner (among others) back in 1996, I don't recall those companies offering any of that windfall back to their customers.I don't know what this has to do with anything. Any fledgling network has to make it worth cable/satellite's while to carry the thing. What windfall is there for a new network no-one is watching (yet)? Once the viewership was there, the cable/satellite begins making money on those local ads you are talking about, or even on new subscribers wanting the network. So the subsidy from the network to the cable/satellite can go away.

Again, no double-charge to us customers. Make a choice: ads or fees...but not both.

Xesdeeni

The New Season
'Kidnapped' Holds Viewers for Ransom
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 20, 2006

"Sometimes, the world doesn't make sense," says a philosophical bodyguard named Virgil in tonight's premiere of NBC's "Kidnapped." Virgil has not only made the understatement of the week, but he's also helped set the tone for this superior, high-tension serialized drama about the proverbial "parent's worst nightmare" -- and how it affects not just the parents but everyone involved.

Making the strongest impression among those in an unusually sturdy cast is Jeremy Sisto, an intense young actor whose parts have ranged from the title role in the CBS miniseries "Jesus" to the disturbed boyfriend in HBO's "Six Feet Under" to a man with breasts (a transsexual in progress) in an obscure bit of weirdness called "The Crew."

Here, Sisto's a man known simply as Knapp, a roguish but no-nonsense freelance operative whose specialty is helping families recover kidnap victims -- alive.

"All I care about is retrieval; everything else is distraction," he tells the indefatigable Dana Delany and aging Timothy Hutton, who play Ellie and Conrad Cain, well-to-do Upper-East-Siders. Their brainy 15-year-old son, Leopold (Will Denton), is nabbed in a maliciously well-planned, recklessly violent operation that bodyguard Virgil (played by the formidable Mykelti Williamson) comes within heartbreaking seconds of preventing.

Why does a teenage schoolboy have a bodyguard in the first place? That's one of many tantalizing questions raised in the premiere, the abduction itself reverberating with an uncountable number of obvious and incipient complications -- motive, culpability and the possible involvement even of seeming "good guys."

Writer and executive producer Jason Smilovic, ably abetted by director Michael Dinner, crams the premiere with so many provocative complications that even a doubting Thomas can see how a drama about a single kidnapping -- wrapped up handily in such self-contained, two-hour movies as "Ransom" -- could sustain viewer interest over an entire season.

In the second installment, for instance, a Hannibal Lecter-like character is introduced. He's an unsavory source of possible use to Knapp, along with a new and scary bodyguard named Jimbo, who moves into the Cains' plush house. The kidnappers demand $20 million in untraceable, negotiable bearer bonds -- a term so familiar from so many films that one has to wonder: If whoever prints up those darn "untraceable, negotiable bearer bonds" just stopped making them, mightn't the number of robberies and kidnappings decline? Oh, probably not.

The series doesn't do much to help the ailing image of the FBI; it's ailing, at least, in movies and TV shows like this one. Casting Delroy Lindo as a top agent who comes out of retirement because of a vested interest in the case does somewhat help the image of the agency.

Knapp finds the FBI guys less a hindrance, going so far as to punch one of them in the gut after a bungled rescue attempt and telling the agent, "What you can't seem to understand is, you're the only ones playing by the rules." Agents naively imagine that they're dealing with nice, respectable kidnappers who'll keep their word and honor agreements.

Would "Kidnapped" be more gripping if the victim's family weren't so outrageously wealthy? Probably not, and credibility would suffer. Middle-class families aren't likely to have stacks of those bearer bonds lying around, for one thing, and a threat to the safety of a child is a subject that crosses all boundaries, socioeconomic being perhaps the least of them.

"Kidnapped" isn't the show to watch if you want your mind taken off your troubles (unless other people's troubles have a therapeutic effect). It reflects a trend toward the grim and even ghoulish in new fall dramas. But for what it is, it's an extremely accomplished piece of work -- unsettling in ways that few suspense thrillers manage to be.

'Jericho'

Chicken Little, sources say, might have been misquoted. Or taken out of context. When Little said, "The sky is falling," he could have meant, "Something awful is falling out of the sky!"

At least that's an errant thought inspired by "Jericho," the new season's gloomiest and doomiest drama.

In the series premiere tonight on CBS, America suffers the apocalyptic horror of a nuclear attack. And that's just for starters.

Where will the show's writers go from there? From the obliteration of Denver and other cities apparently vaporized but not shown? That's a good question for "Jericho's" executive producer, Jon Turteltaub, who reassured a reporter for Entertainment Weekly: "The show is not all doom and gloom where everybody gets boils under their skin and dies." Well, thank heaven. Nobody likes a nuclear holocaust without a little fun in it.

The title refers to a relatively small town in Kansas, one so quaintly pretty and serene that it looks like an ad for Hallmark. In the pilot, a young and sullen prodigal son returns to Jericho just in time to see the big awful mushroom clouds forming in the distant sky. Eventually, the townsfolk realize that Denver has disappeared, and all hell begins to break loose.

Well, not quite all hell. A mob overruns a gas station, basically. One assumes the rest of hell is being saved for serialized chapters to come.

CBS, meanwhile, must have its own Chicken Little on staff, perhaps as a consultant, running around the Television City parking lot in Los Angeles and shouting "You've got to get 'Lost'! You've got to get 'Lost!' " Meaning not "Get out of town before somebody drops a house on you," but rather "Develop a show like 'Lost,' ABC's big, mysterious hit about people marooned an island after their plane crashes."

The people in "Jericho" are marooned in -- what else? -- Jericho after a whole city crashes.

And it appears the same sorts of plot threads will be unraveled, the same kinds of murky back-stories told, and similar conflicts evolve among the various characters as Jericho faces dire prospects just over the horizon.

Skeet Ulrich plays the prodigal figure, a guy named Nick who left town under a cloud of his own -- not a nuclear cloud, of course -- and has returned after four years just in time to perform an emergency tracheotomy on a little girl trapped in a school bus. There's another bus to worry about: one formerly filled with prison inmates, all now running loose because their bus tumbled into a ravine.

Ulrich is so muttery and mopey in the lead role that the show seems gloomy even during the few minutes before the mushroom clouds form. But more damaging to "Jericho" is the fact that it's really a Cold War drama airing years after the Cold War ended. Perhaps it will evolve that al-Qaeda or the Iranians or North Koreans or -- the possibilities are too numerous -- get hold of nuclear weapons and go berserk, making the show seem more contemporary, but obviously we'll have to "tune in next week," or for weeks after that, to find out what's going on.

The drama seems dated in other ways -- among them, tiny details like a strange scarcity of cellphones in town. This is a writer's convenience; if people in Jericho, like everywhere else, had cellphones, then someone could have called the cops to tell them about the imperiled school bus. Instead, footage is eaten up by townsfolk traipsing around in search of the vehicle.

It might sound callous to say that "Jericho" has managed to make nuclear war look boring, but there you have it. Or don't have it, should you choose the seemingly sane course of steering clear.

As for comic relief, there is some, but it might be unintentional -- as when Gerald McRaney, as the town's nutball of a mayor, tries to calm the population by saying, "One explosion does not make an attack," even with the nuclear clouds clearly visible in the distance. That's not looking on the bright side. That's being a blithering idiot.

"Jericho" could use considerably less blither and considerably more believability.

Kidnapped (one hour) debuts tonight at 10 PM ET/PT on NBC; Jericho (one hour) debuts tonight at 8 PM ET/PT on CBS.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901781_pf.html

TV Nielsen Notebook
Dave's dilemma: 'Nightline' munchies
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 21, 2006

Continuing a trend that began at the start of the summer, ABC’s “Nightline” has finished ahead of CBS’s “Late Night with David Letterman” in total viewers and adults 25-54 for four out of the past six weeks now, after lagging well behind for the better part of the last few years.

That raises the obvious question, is “Nightline” really doing that well, or is “Letterman” really slipping? The answer seems to be a bit of both.

For the week ended Sept. 10, the most recent available, “Nightline” averaged 3.56 million total viewers, 230,000 more than “Letterman.” In 25-54s, “Nightline” averaged 1.74 million viewers, 30,000 better than “Letterman.”

That comes three weeks after the ABC nighttime news program beat CBS for three straight weeks in both demographics for the first time since May 2003.

Certainly one would expect “Nightline” to grow entering a very contentious fall election season, when candidates and political talking heads will be popping up on the telecast almost nightly to talk up their race. And with the increasingly dire news in Iraq, along with the recent Sept. 11 anniversary, news shows may be temporarily more appealing than late-night comics yukking it up.

And “Nightline” is growing. Its total audience is up about 9 percent since former anchor Ted Koppel left the air last November.

But another factor is also “Letterman’s” continuing slide just as CBS recently re-upped his contract through 2010, one year after NBC rival Jay Leno leaves the air.

“Letterman’s” averaging 4.1 million viewers this season, down 5 percent from last year’s 4.3 million. In the younger demos where he used to be strong his fade is also apparent, down 7 percent, from a 1.4 to a 1.5 rating.

Barring a surprising turnaround, Letterman’s numbers could keep dropping till he retires, and the increasingly relevant question is who will CBS get to replace him then. Unlike NBC, they have not been grooming a replacement; “Late Late Show” host Craig Ferguson is too goofy and unless Katie Couric starts really tanking on the news, the network has no other well-known personality to plug in.

By giving Letterman a contract extension, CBS essentially bought the next four years to think about that, but in the meantime “Nightline” may make even more gains as CBS waits.

Meanwhile, for the week ended Sept. 10, NBC’s late-night offerings continue their reign, with “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” delivering its biggest ratings since the week ended July 28 and Conan O’Brien drawing his largest audience since May. Leno’s season-to-date lead over CBS’s “Letterman” grew to 38 percent both for 18-49 and total viewers. “Tonight Show” averaged 1.8/8 among 18-49s, beating “Late Show’s” 1.1/5 and “Nightline’s” 1.1/5.

NBC’s “Meet the Press with Tim Russert” was the Sunday winner with guest Dick Cheney. The program scored a 2.6 rating and 8 share in households, bettering CBS’s 2.1/6, ABC’s 1.8/5 and Fox’s 1.0/3.

In syndication, Oprah Winfrey’s road trip propelled her show to second place with a 5.3 rating among households, beating perennial No. 2 “Jeopardy’s” 5 rating and second only to “Wheel of Fortune” at 6.8. “Entertainment Tonight” tied “Everybody Loves Raymond” for fourth, with a 4.9 rating for each.

In daytime dramas, CBS was No. 1 in total viewers with an audience of 3.98 million, but ABC lead in the key women 18-49 demographic with a rating of 1.8, keyed by Rosie O’Donnell’s debut on “The View.” CBS came in second among women 18-49 with 1.7 and NBC finished third with 1.5/9.

And for the week ended Sept. 17, nightly news audiences were down for all broadcast networks except CBS, where Couric retained her lead despite falling from her debut week.

The Couric-helmed “CBS Evening News” was the No. 1 network news program for its second week in a row in both total viewers and adults 25-54, marking the first time CBS has been alone in first for two consecutive weeks in that demo since 1987. In 25-54s, “CBS Evening News” posted gains of 17 percent year-to-year to average 2.1, while NBC decreased 17 percent to a 2.0 and ABC lost 13 percent to fall to 2.0.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7419.asp

The New Season
Danger: Trouble lies ahead
Two series with great casts face an uphill battle ides
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Thursday, September 21, 2006

"Six Degrees" (Tonight at 10 ET/PT ABC) Six New Yorkers find their lives intersecting in a new drama.

"Brothers & Sisters" (Sunday at 10 ET/PT on ABC) Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths and Sally Field star in a drama about a large California family torn apart by politics and secrets.

Every TV season brings with it at least one show that looks like it can't miss on paper, then turns into a problem in reality. This year, there are two Show In Trouble candidates, both of them on ABC: "Six Degrees" and "Brothers & Sisters." They have two of the most pedigreed casts of any new shows, respected producers, and premises that promise something different and exciting. And I would be stunned if either, let alone both, survives to the end of this season.

The travails of "Brothers & Sisters" have been well-documented. Days after ABC put the family drama on its fall schedule and screened parts of it for advertisers, actress Betty Buckley was fired and replaced by Sally Field as the matriarch. Marti Noxon, a veteran producer brought in to help playwright/creator Jon Robin Baitz run the show, left in mid-summer over creative differences. The pilot was heavily re-shot and kept under wraps until just before Labor Day, by far the latest the press got a look at any fall pilot.

With all that backstage drama, you would expect "Brothers & Sisters" to be a train wreck. Instead, it's a minor fender-bender, a watered-down Herskowitz/Zwick-style drama (with "thirtysomething" vets Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig behind and in front of the camera, respectively).

Calista Flockhart plays eldest daughter Kitty Walker, a conservative talk radio hostess whose "vile" political views have estranged her from her mostly liberal family. She returns home on the eve of her 39th birthday to audition for a cable news shout fest -- and to mend fences with mom Nora (Field), who still blames her for encouraging youngest brother Justin (Dave Annable) to enlist after 9/11.

The rest of the family has problems, too. Sister Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) is in marriage counseling and can't get dad William (Tom Skerritt) or uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) to explain why the books for the family business won't balance. Justin, still traumatized from combat in Afghanistan, is in a drugs and booze doom spiral.

But Baitz is clearly most interested in doing a 21st century "All in the Family," hitting the political button early and often, usually with a sledgehammer.

Gay brother Kevin (Matthew Rhys) asks Sarah what to get Kitty for her birthday.

"Overturn Roe v. Wade," she tells him.

When someone makes a joking reference to crack, Kitty replies, "Uch! That's so blue state!"

Flockhart isn't convincing as an Ann Coulter type, and Baitz can't seem to decide whether she's supposed to be one of those sympathetic, Ainsley Hayes or Arnie Vinick Hollywood conceptions of what a conservative should be, or if she's just an easy target for the Democrat siblings.

When Baitz gets away from the clumsy liberal v. conservative material, his wit sharpens a little. Sarah, trying to sum up her existence, says, "Being a working mom is like being a currency that never has enough value."

On the other hand, what sane writer, in Calista Flockhart's first real role since "Ally McBeal," has her delivering a line where she complains that someone else looks too skinny? Seriously? That's just inviting mockery.

There's a good cast here, though, and Noxon's replacement is Greg Berlanti, who ran the only really watchable period of "Dawson's Creek" and then created "Everwood." So there's room for improvement. But it's hard to understand why ABC gave the coveted post-"Desperate Housewives" timeslot to a work in progress.

All gimmick, no show

"Six Degrees" hasn't had the public unraveling of "Brothers & Sisters," but "Grey's Anatomy" director Peter Horton (another "thirtysomething" alum!) was brought in a few weeks ago to help get production on track.

What's more needed is some writing support -- preferably from hands-off producer J.J. Abrams -- because "Six Degrees" is a gimmick in search of a show.

As the saying goes, we're all allegedly connected to each other by six people at the most. This show is about six people connected directly to each other, if only they realized it.

We open in a subway car with nice guy public defender Carlos (Jay Hernandez) thinking about his love life (or lack thereof). The camera pans up to the sidewalk above, where ad exec Whitney (Bridget Moynahan) is jogging, only to be stopped by a photograph by ex-junkie Steven (Campbell Scott). Whitney continues her jog past the apartment of single mom Laura (Hope Davis), followed by another quick pan to Steven's rat-hole apartment (which, in true TV New York style, has hardwood floors), then down to the sidewalk where limo driver Damian (Dorian Missick) is reading the racing form and enjoying the sight of topless party girl Mae (Erika Christensen) climbing on top of a street cleaner.

By the end of the pilot, Carlos has gotten Mae out of jail and ridden in Damian's car, Whitney has offered Steven a job and befriended Laura at a nail salon, Laura has inadvertently inspired Steven's work, and Mae has taken a job looking after Laura's daughter, among other path-crossings.

It's a heck of a cast, with everyone but Missick taking a break from thriving movie careers to do it. (This is the fifth time indie film royalty Scott and Davis have worked together, though they don't even exchange dialogue in the pilot.)

Unfortunately, beyond the cast and a good use of New York locations, there's no there there. The characters are barely sketched-in clichés -- and, in the case of beautiful dishrag Whitney, actively annoying -- and the intersecting-lives device isn't enough. NBC's upcoming "Heroes" has its characters meet in similar fashion, but the producers, realizing that wasn't very interesting on its own, gave everybody super powers.

Maybe the best way to watch "Six Degrees" is to pretend its characters also got the comic book treatment. Instead of playing the Kevin Bacon game, sit back and try to figure out whether a scene would have worked better if Moynahan had bench-pressed a Hummer or Davis had shot lighting from her eyes.

With a Show in Trouble, sometimes you have to make your own fun.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1158817912299610.xml&coll=1

The Wednesday prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Tyra on fira: Socko debut for new CW
Wins two hours in 18-34s and beats Fox in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 21, 2006

“America’s Next Top Model” was UPN’s top show in adults 18-34, and it looks like it will be the CW’s as well. In fact, last night “Model” was the top show in that demo on any network from 8 to 10 p.m., giving the CW a very strong launch.

“Model” averaged a 3.3 in adults 18-34, according to Nielsen overnights, putting the CW No. 1 in that demo in its two-hour debut starting at 8 p.m. “Model” drew its best-ever premiere numbers in 18-34s, as well as 18-49s, where it averaged a 2.6 and even bettered Fox’s average.

The seventh season of the Tyra Banks-hosted reality series averaged 5.32 million total viewers, also a record mark, and recorded growth in every half hour.

Last night marked the official launch of the CW, arising out of the merger between the WB and UPN. The network had a summer-long advertising blitz to let viewers know about the switchover, and judging by the first night’s numbers, it seemed to work.

The news was not as good for some other launches. NBC’s well-reviewed drama “Kidnapped” debuted with a 2.8 in adults 18-49, placing a rather distant fourth in its 10 p.m. timeslot behind CBS’s “CSI: NY” premiere and a rerun of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”

More alarming, the show dipped slightly from its first to its second half hour, going from a 2.9 to a 2.7. And it was down 30 percent from “Law & Order’s” 4.0 in the same timeslot last year. When ABC’s “The Nine” moves into the timeslot in two weeks, “Kidnapped” could really be in trouble.

CBS saw better results with “Jericho,” the Skeet Ulrich apocalypse drama that many buyers tabbed as a dud. The show averaged a 3.2 in its 8 p.m. timeslot, second behind ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” and drew 11.4 million total viewers, growing 8 percent from its first half hour to its second.

On the strength of “Criminal Minds,” which excelled without usual timeslot foe “Lost” on the schedule, CBS won the night among adults 18-49, its first nightly victory of the young season. NBC (Monday), Fox and ABC (tie for Tuesday) and CBS have all won one night apiece.

CBS averaged a 4.2 rating and 12 share last night, followed by ABC at 3.7/10, NBC at 3.0/8, the CW at 2.6/7, Fox at 2.2/6 and Univision at 1.8/5.

ABC led at 8 p.m. with “Stars’” 3.7, followed by CBS’s “Jericho” at 3.2, NBC’s “Biggest Loser” premiere at 2.7, Fox’s “Bones” at 2.5, CW’s “Model” at 2.4 and Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” at 2.1.

At 9 p.m., CBS’s “Minds” led with a 4.5, followed by ABC’s 3.5 for a “Grey’s” repeat, NBC’s 3.5 for “Loser’s” second hour, CW’s 2.8 for the conclusion of “Model,” Univision’s 2.0 for “Barrera de Amor” and Fox’s series-low 1.9 for new drama “Justice.”

At 10 p.m., “CSI: NY” led with a 4.9, followed by another “Grey’s” repeat on ABC at 4.0, NBC’s “Kidnapped” at 2.8 and Univision’s “Don Francisco Presenta” at 1.5.

Among households, CBS was first at 9.4/15, followed by ABC at 8.3/13, NBC at 4.8/8, Fox at 4.2/7 and the CW at 3.4/5.

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7445.asp

By the way, did anyone notice last night if "America's Top Model" was broadcast in HD?

If I read the HDTV Programming forum thoroughly I could haven answered the question myself. (It is No, by the way).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=726252

The New Season
House, the Trial-Sized Versions
By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog Thursday, Sep. 21, 2006

There's been a lot written about the profusion of serial shows this fall, which you could call the Lost or Grey's Anatomy effect on TV. There's been another, smaller effect, too: the House effect, in which networks have decided that a central, nasty or irascible character means ratings ka-ching! There are two dramas on the fall schedule that look to be the direct result of someone yelling into a speakerphone, "Get me House, with a lawyer!"

The second and worse of the two debuts tonight. In Shark (CBS, 10 p.m. E.T.), James Woods plays Sebastian Stark, a high-priced defense attorney who's pushy, obnoxious--boy, does the guy have range or what!--and guilty. Going through a mid-career crisis, he realizes what all good TV watchers are supposed to know: that being a defense attorney is not an essential part of the adversarial justice system but an evil, bloodsucking profession that involves helping bad, bad people escape justice. He decides to become a prosecutor, bringing his resources, power and knowledge of sleazy defense tactics to the other team. He also brings his cutthroat, badgering personality, which he uses to harass his team of lawyers to excellence. The problem is, where Hugh Laurie's Gregory House is a hilarious character study, Stark--while played with ebullient aggression by Woods--is just another tool in a suit, and neither the characters, the stories nor the writing rise near House's level.

The first, and largely overlooked, of the two shows was a surprise to me: Justice (Fox, Wednesdays, 9 p.m. E.T.). I didn't expect anything new from Jerry Bruckheimer's millionth network procedural, even if this one took place in a courtroom, and in one sense the show doesn't disappoint. It uses those trademark slick Bruckheimer effects to illustrate matters of legal procedure--for instance, having a lawyer describe an ideal juror, as an extra walking down a street morphs bit by bit into the person being described. But the important differences with Shark are setting--a high-priced defense (hiss!) firm--and character. As Ron Trott, a media-hogging, Robert Shapiro-like defense attorney, Victor Garber is a delight. Preening before the cable-news cameras, barking at his underlings, casually bending the ethical line until it cries Uncle, Trott is unashamedly proud that, with enough money, time and mock-jury sessions, his firm could get Judas off.

Justice's legal cases are not especially shocking or original, and the supporting characters are empty suits. But it's fascinating to watch for its style -- it skips from crime to strategy to media circus to verdict with the alacrity of a Broadway musical--and, simply, for what it's doing: cheerfully selling America, using the flashy visuals of the country's most successful TV producer, on the idea that justice goes to the highest bidder. Justice is either the most radical new show on TV or the most cynical. On that, the jury's still out.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/

The New Season
Highly touted ABC series collapses into a mess
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Thu, Sep. 21, 2006

When it comes to new television series, the almighty Buzz can giveth -- and the almighty Buzz can taketh away.

A prime example of a show experiencing very public birth pangs comes with the arrival of ”Brothers and Sisters” (10 PM ET/PT Sunday, ABC). Only rarely has a series gone through the kind of high-speed mixmaster that this sudsy family drama has. Even more rarely is the show then rewarded with a coveted time period behind a hit like ``Desperate Housewives,'' which is where ``Brothers & Sisters'' will reside -- at least temporarily.

The pilot was deemed not ready for prime time and was not sent out in advance to TV critics. (That's akin to a film not having advance screenings because the producers think it will be savaged by the press.)

One of TV's more respected producer-writers -- Marti Noxon (``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'') -- left because of those ever-popular ``creative differences'' with her fellow executive producers: playwright Jon Robin Baitz, whose TV experience has been limited to single episodes of ``The West Wing'' and ``Alias,'' and veteran director-actor Ken Olin.

Greg Berlanti, the creator of ``Everwood,'' was thrown hastily into the breach as Noxon's replacement. Key scenes have been reshot; key roles have been recast; the whole hour has been re-edited.

What finally will pop up Sunday is an incoherent, almost unwatchable mess, despite the presence of an A-list cast headed by Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths and Sally Field.

Some individual scenes make little sense, and the overall structure is very disjointed. The main story line seems to involve a reunion of a somewhat dysfunctional family and a mystery about the family's business dealings, but it's so hard to tell that I can't swear to it. And some of the actors -- notably Field, who was brought in to replace Betty Buckley as the mother of this clan -- look totally lost.

There definitely are reasons why my wife -- a very accurate resident barometer when it comes to TV and someone who really wanted to like this show -- turned to me partway through the first hour and asked, ``Do you have any idea what's going on?''

Things could improve in future episodes. Berlanti is a first-rate TV writer with a real feel for family dynamics. But there are some elements of the series that strike me as fundamentally unfixable.

For one thing, Flockhart's character, Kitty Walker, is supposed to be an up-and-coming right-wing radio-TV commentator. Flockhart is a fine actress, but she has a fragile, winsome persona that doesn't fit all roles, and Kitty Walker is one of them. You don't believe for a moment that her character could rival Ann Coulter. (You also will have a hard time believing that she is Griffiths' younger sister.)

So if you're at all interested in ``Brothers & Sisters,'' I would check in early. I have this feeling the show isn't going to be around for very long.

• ”Six Degrees,,” which makes its debut tonight (at 10 PM ET/PT, ABC), also gets a highly prized slot in the ABC schedule (behind ``Grey's Anatomy''), and while it's not the mess ``Brothers & Sisters'' is, it has problems of its own.

Set and, happily, filmed in New York, this drama explores the notion that a bunch of strangers, loaded with urban angst, could bump into each other on the streets of Manhattan and see their lives intersect. It's an intriguing premise but one that comes off a bit strained in the opening hour and leaves you with the feeling that you have no idea where the show is going. What you do have is six characters in search of a common, believable story -- any story.

That said, the opening episode looks great and benefits mightily from strong performances from actors who don't turn up often on TV: Jay Hernandez (``World Trade Center'') as a public defender, Bridget Moynahan (``I, Robot'') as a work-obsessed public relations executive, Erika Christensen (``The Upside of Anger'') as a mysterious woman on the run, Hope Davis (``American Splendor) as a recently widowed single mom and indie film fave Campbell Scott (``Duma'') as a photographer trying to renew his career.

Collectively, the cast gives ``Six Degrees'' a depth and humanity that isn't in the script. That will bring me back for at least a couple more installments.

• Finally, on the troubled series front, we have the return of’b] “Desperate Housewives” (PM ET/PT, ABC Sunday), which went from the penthouse in its first season to a basement apartment in Season 2.

Just how badly ``Housewives'' went off the tracks already has been fairly well-documented. So let's just rejoice that this season's first episode is sharper, funnier and a whole lot more enjoyable than any of last season's.

The episode is loaded with priceless scenes that smack of Season 1's juicy looks into the world of Wisteria Lane. All the women get a turn at the fun: Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) discovers the joy of . . . well, I don't want to spoil it; Gaby Solis (Eva Longoria) crosses verbal swords with her pregnant maid-turned-surrogate mother; Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) battles her husband's ex-lover; and Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) tries to come to grips with her love for the comatose Mike Delfino (James Denton) and her lust for a new guy.

There's a new mystery in town involving Bree's fiancee (a very snaky Kyle MacLachlan) and a new vengeful neighbor, played by the delightful Laurie Metcalf, who gives better slightly crazed suburbanite than just about anyone.

``Housewives'' creator Marc Cherry pledged very publicly that things would be better this season. It looks as if he's keeping his word.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/15571307.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The New Season
Detectives, doctors face off on networks
Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic September 21, 2006

Tonight ushers in the biggest time-slot battle of the television season: Grey's Anatomy on ABC vs. CSI on CBS.

Disney-owned ABC hopes its steamy medical drama will mean more advertising dollars, especially from movie studios. CBS is jockeying to maintain its dominance of Thursdays. CBS used Survivor, CSI and Without a Trace to build a schedule that overtook NBC.

The matchup at 9 p.m. will reveal just how wise ABC has been in using a valuable asset and just how popular CSI remains. CSI will start its seventh season with a two-part mystery that features Cirque du Soleil and singer John Mayer. Grey's Anatomy begins its third season with more romantic problems for Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her friends.

Technology will make it easier for fans to catch both series. But the matchup carries bragging rights for the winner.

Each network will try to build on 9 p.m. success with a new 10 p.m. drama. (In another risky move, CBS has shifted Without a Trace to 10 p.m. Sundays.)

ABC is trying another sprawling serial with Six Degrees, which comes from executive producer J.J. Abrams of Lost. CBS is going a more traditional route with James Woods as a flashy prosecutor in Shark.

This time, the traditional seems the likelier route to success. Shark plays like a legal version of House. Woods gives a terrific performance as an expert pushing young colleagues to do better work.

Six Degrees runs on the notion that anyone can be connected to another person through a string of six people. The good cast includes Campbell Scott and Hope Davis, but the plots fit together too conveniently. Six Degrees should be operating at a higher temperature.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-grey_106sep21,0,7717539,print.story?coll=orl-caltvtop

Repeating, in case you missed it:

Thursday’s Premieres

8 PM ET/PT My Name Is Earl - NBC HD
8:30 PM ET/PT The Office - NBC HD
9 PM ET/PT Grey's Anatomy - ABC HD
9 PM ET/PT CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Six Degrees - ABC HD
10 PM ET/PT Shark - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT ER - NBC HD

Repeating, in case you missed it:

Thursday’s New Show Thumbnail Reviews

“Six Degrees” 10 PM ET/PT ABC

That a stranger is just a friend (or an enemy) you haven't met yet is the theme of this ode to coincidence, in which half a dozen New Yorkers — including indie film stalwarts Campbell Scott and Hope Davis — go around and around in the big sleepless city intersecting with Dickensian frequency. The feeling is that things happened because they were meant to happen, because they happened. Love, danger and redemption are on the menu in equal parts.
•By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times

Like more than one of the new fall shows, "Six Degrees" owes some of its inspiration to ABC's hit drama "Lost" (for the few who don't know, it involves a group of strangers trapped on an island by a plane crash). The concept of throwing strangers together and watching them interact obviously grew out of the "reality" show, especially "Survivor." In "Six Degrees," the island is Manhattan, and the strandees are lost in a kind of spiritual, philosophical sense for the most part. One of them, narrating the drama, utters this bit of news: "Anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person through a chain of six people," hence the title. But what an old idea that six degrees of separation is, and "Six Degrees" does very little to spruce it up and pass it off as fresh.
•By Tom Shales Washington Post

Someone needs to teach the folks at Six Degrees the difference between strange fate and unlikely coincidence, and fast.
Produced (but not written or created) by J.J. Abrams, this convoluted serial comes across as a kind of "what if" party game: What if everyone you met knew someone else you knew, and you all ended up in each other's lives? It would sure be unusual. The question is whether it would be entertaining.
Silly instead of insightful, Six Degrees is a true head-scratcher of a series. I have almost unlimited faith in Abrams' ability to fix a troubled show — but if he's planning to do so, he'd better do it quickly.
• By Robert Bianco, USA Today

Nutshell: Happenstance connects six New Yorkers in the latest relationship show from J.J. Abrams, the producer behind “Felicity” and “Lost.”
Aaron’s take: Good writing, great casting (who doesn’t love Sarah Vowell?). Those are two reasons to be high on “Six Degrees.” Here are two more: It’s on after “Grey’s Anatomy,” and Abrams is a big shot. Gee, I guess the only downside is that it’s up against “ER” and CBS on a Thursday night and that ABC hasn’t had a scripted hit in this time slot since “The Streets of San Francisco.” Oh, and Abrams is a big shot, which means he has movies to make and has probably already lost interest in this show.
Verdict: With luck, ABC will move it to another time and it will be worth a TiVo.
•By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

Another show where the pedigree of the people involved (Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Erika Christensen, Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan, plus J.J. Abrams as a hands-off producer) is a lot more interesting than the pilot itself. Seems like a gimmick in search of an interesting story and characters. But if the other choices are "ER" and "Shark," I'll give it a week or two.
• By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

The other half (with “Shark”) of an intriguing time-slot showdown for new series, this intricate drama about the intersecting lives of six strangers in New York is designed to hold onto the audience from the huge hit “Grey’s Anatomy,” which precedes it. The drama is less traditional, the characters more complicated and the sex less omnipresent than on “Grey’s,” however. The stars include Campbell Scott (“Roger Dodger”), Hope Davis (“Proof”) and Erika Christensen (“Traffic”).
• By Bill Carter The New York Times

“Lost” guru J.J. Abrams brings a touch of magic to this fine ensemble drama about the intersecting lives of New Yorkers. The only question is, will the show drift into inconsequentiality if he loses interest in guiding its storytelling? Abrams fans know what happened to “Alias” and “Lost” when he jetted off to do other things. Another basic question: Will this coincidence-driven drama, which is extremely well-acted, have the substance to fill out a full season?
•By Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

A web of separate coincidences connects six pretty New Yorkers. You know, the old six-degrees-of-separation myth. The pilot is confusing but sometimes interesting. It comes from the producers of "Lost" and "Alias," so maybe it'll get better. Grade: C+
• By Diane Holloway, Austin American-Statesman television writer

The karmic principle that we're all connected through a chain of six people is at the heart of J.J. Abrams' latest drama. The show revolves around six New Yorkers whose lives will become inextricably intertwined through a series of seemingly random events. Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan (who played Carrie's nemesis Natasha on "Sex and the City"), Erika Christensen, Dorian Missick, Campbell Scott and Hope Davis star.
• By Marisa Guthrie, The New York Daily News

Repeating, in case you missed it:

Thursday’s New Show Thumbnail Reviews

”Shark” 10 PM ET/PT CBS

James Woods is a hot-shot, self-loving defense attorney who, for his sins — freeing the guilty — agrees to train and head a team of special prosecutors in the fictional city of Los Angeles. (Includes Latino mayor.) One could conceivably call it a cross between "My Name Is Earl," "House" and whatever other lawyer show you'd care to name. Woods is his usual self.
•By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times

"Shark" is the very appropriate nickname given a tough, tenacious, icy-hearted trial lawyer who's talked into crossing over to the other side to become a tough, tenacious, icy-hearted prosecutor. Good idea for a courtroom series? Yes, but it becomes a great one simply because James Woods is cast in the title role. Brash, blunt and more intimidating than a letter from the IRS, Woods blasts his way through the show with such self-assurance and bravado that it's very hard to take your eyes off him. This is like the lawyerly version of Fox's medical drama "House," and Woods makes his character as compellingly abrasive as Hugh Laurie's House is.
•By Tom Shales Washington Post

Nutshell: James Woods plays a hotshot defense attorney who gets burned by a client and decides to switch sides and work for his rival, the D.A. (Jeri Ryan).
Aaron’s take: A total prosecutorial fantasy from start to finish, much of “Shark” seems laughably contrived, and yet Woods’ brazenness sells the concept. But he’s no “House,” and my gut tells me that his act will wear thin with viewers, though I’d like to be proved wrong.
Verdict: Record this while watching “ER.” If it’s still good in three weeks, tape “ER” instead.
•By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

James Woods stars as a lawyer who has a crisis of conscience and goes to work for the district attorney’s office, prosecuting high-profile cases in his own, highly combative way. This is clearly a star vehicle for the charismatic Woods, who works the role for all he’s worth (and that’s saying something). But the cast around him fades into the woodwork by comparison, and this show - a pretty direct ripoff of “House” - is far less creative, at least in its pilot, than that Fox medical drama.
•By Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune

James Woods chewing scenery for an hour as a slightly nicer legal version of "House." Woods is great, but the writing doesn't live up to his performance the way the "House" writers do for Hugh Laurie.
• By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

SHARK Much will be riding on the highly aggressive shoulders of James Woods, who comes to series television for the first time as a high-priced criminal defense lawyer who suddenly finds ethics and turns to prosecuting the bad guys. The hourlong series centers on Mr. Woods, both on the screen and on the schedule, because he is expected to shore up a crucial time slot for his network.
• By Bill Carter The New York Times

A one-note legal drama with James Woods as a hyperkinetic guy emitting the one, ear-splitting note. The young attorneys he bosses around aren't the slightest bit interesting, so we're left with the overbearing Woods as an egotistical defense attorney turned do-good prosecutor. Grade: C
• By Diane Holloway, Austin American-Statesman television writer

James Woods plays a smarmy lawyer who has an attack of conscience after a client he helps free commits murder. So he takes a pay cut and a job in the prosecutor's office, where he puts his cutthroat skills to good use. Jeri Ryan co-stars.
• By Marisa Guthrie, The New York Daily News

The Business of TV
Roberts Calls for Sports Dialogue

By Ted Hearn MultiChannel News 9/21/2006

Washington -- Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts Thursday called for an industry debate on whether all cable subscribers or just die-hard fans should absorb the cost of expensive sports networks.

“I think it’s time to call for a dialogue, a serious dialogue on this subject. We would be very willing to participate without pre-conditions as to what the solution is. And I think there’s a lot at stake and it’s accelerating and it’s the moment right now,” Roberts said in a question period after a speech to the Progress & Freedom Foundation here.

Pressure was building, he added, as a result of network launches by professional sports leagues and college associations. He noted that in July, the U.S. Olympic Committee revealed that it was considering its own 24-hour network.

“Who pays for that channel, and is that going to be all viewers or those who are sports fans?” Roberts said.

Roberts -- whose company pushed into sports programming long ago -- raised an issue that has soured relations between cable operators and sports programmers in recent years. More and more, operators want to create sports tiers to take pricing pressure off expanded basic and reduce regulatory pressure. Last week, Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin called expanded basic a “tying” arrangement.

But sports channels like ESPN, which is owned by Disney, insist on broad distribution in order to create the lowest per-channel price possible and maximize advertising revenue.

Craig Moffett, a cable analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said a sports tier without ESPN would not appeal to many customers.

“If you are going to get the customers to eat the dog food, you may have no choice but to have ESPN on a tier,” Moffett said. “ESPN may simply hold too many cards to ever be relegated to sports tiers.”

Comcast, under pressure from the FCC, caved in last month and launched Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the pay TV home of Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals. The MSO raised expanded-basic rates by $2 per month for 1.6 million customers to cover MASN’s cost -- a move that drew negative publicity. Comcast had balked at carrying MASN largely over the regional sports network’s license-fee demands.

Roberts alluded to the MASN dispute by suggesting that in the eyes of regulators, fan access to the games of the home team right now seems to outweigh cable operators’ interests in managing costs.

“There is something different about sports than every other type of programming because of the nature of the product itself. It’s sort of tough to live without because of the localness of the sports,” Roberts said. “If you try to do that [not offer sports], as we well know, that can be very painful.”

He added that he wanted to draw attention to the issue because sports channels are proliferating and driving up bills. New York-area cable subscribers, he said, pay about $100 per year for sports programming, whether they watch sports or not. “I think that’s getting to be a lot of money,” Roberts said.

Regarding solutions, Roberts said the problem was complicated and his own company was “clearly conflicted” because “we own some teams in Philadelphia, we own some regional sports networks and we’re obviously a distributor.”

In a response to a question about whether he was advocating that sports fans should foot the bill, Roberts said he wasn’t taking a stand.

“I am not sure that is the answer,” he said. “I don’t know the answer, but I’m here to tell you that I’m worried that there is a sea change occurring, a tipping point, with the amount of new sports channels that are getting created and how that cost gets distributed.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6374301.html?display=Breaking+News

I always find this "sports tier" pricing issue to be very odd. Let's flip the allocation and put all shopping networks in a tier, put all crafting networks in a tier, put all science history channels in a tier etc.........

I subsidize about over 100 channels on D*. I have never tuned into about 100 of them EVER. I wouldn't even notice if the radio channels went away other than it wouldn't clutter the master schedule. I have the shopping networks and the religious channels turned off of the channel list. My custom channel guide has exactly 14 channels in it.

I do, however, watch sports. If I subsidize the freaking Oxygen channel, or freakin E! (people watch that?), or <insert your favorite fringe channel here> then why oh why can't they subsidize programming that people will actually watch? It's more expensive BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH IT........

Over at NBC... the debut of NBC’s Kidnapped out of The Biggest Loser failed to make the grade, with a third-place finish in the overnights (6.0/10), total viewers (7.53 million) and adults 18-49 (2.8/ 8) at 10 p.m. One year earlier, the season-premiere of former occupant Law & Order netted a 10.3/16 in the overnights, 13.03 million viewers and a 4.0/10 among adults 18-49. And retention for Kidnapped out of the last half-hour of The Biggest Loser was just 74 percent among adults 18-49 (2.8/ 8 vs. 3.8/10). If relocated Law & Order disappoints on Friday, NBC may want to rethink that strategy.

As a diehard fan of 'Law & Order' I'm deliberately boycotting 'Kidnapped' (just like I did with 'Heist' last Spring) or anything NBC puts at 10PM Wednesdays hoping that NBC will move the mothership 'L&O' back to Wednesday night. If 'L&O' somehow scores good numbers on Fridays though (just like 'L&O: SVU' did before it got promoted to Tuesdays) and 'Kidnapped' begins fading then what will NBC do to plug the Wednesday hole? I smell an Emmy-winning psychic making an appearance on the NBC schedule a lot sooner than her expected January '07 arrival. :rolleyes:

Friday’s Season Premieres

8 PM ET/PT Ghost Whisperer - CBS HD
9 PM ET/PT Close To Home - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Numb3rs - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Law & Order – NBC HD

As a diehard fan of 'Law & Order' I'm deliberately boycotting 'Kidnapped' (just like I did with 'Heist' last Spring) or anything NBC puts at 10PM Wednesdays hoping that NBC will move the mothership 'L&O' back to Wednesday night. If 'L&O' somehow scores good numbers on Fridays though (just like 'L&O: SVU' did before it got promoted to Tuesdays) and 'Kidnapped' begins fading then what will NBC do to plug the Wednesday hole? I smell an Emmy-winning psychic making an appearance on the NBC schedule a lot sooner than her expected January '07 arrival. :rolleyes:


Certainly the vital signs for "Kidnapped" were far less healthy than NBC had hoped for.

I always find this "sports tier" pricing issue to be very odd. Let's flip the allocation and put all shopping networks in a tier, put all crafting networks in a tier, put all science history channels in a tier etc.........

I subsidize about over 100 channels on D*. I have never tuned into about 100 of them EVER. I wouldn't even notice if the radio channels went away other than it wouldn't clutter the master schedule. I have the shopping networks and the religious channels turned off of the channel list. My custom channel guide has exactly 14 channels in it.

I do, however, watch sports. If I subsidize the freaking Oxygen channel, or freakin E! (people watch that?), or <insert your favorite fringe channel here> then why oh why can't they subsidize programming that people will actually watch? It's more expensive BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH IT........


In reality you "subsidize" very few channels. The shopping channels, for example, pay to get carriage.

And there are only a handful of channels which cost the providers more than 50 cents. Sports are by far the most expensive.

Frankly I think you make a great argument for a la carte.

As for me, I wouldn't have such a problem "subsidizing" other folks' favorite channels if I at least had some choice about it.

But I don't. More importantly, why should you be forced to pay for a channel you violently disagree with: for example, Fox News, CNN, etc have many detractors. Other people don't want MTV in their homes and on and on.

A la carte is an idea whose time will eventually come. And then programmers will have to actually provide programs which people will actively choose to pay for.

Trust me: the cable and satellite companies could care less about providing diversity. They do, however, love to hide behind that high-sounding argument so they can camoflage how much they make all of us pay for some channels which are so expensive -- especially to those who never watch them.

Don't believe me? Check out their top executive ranks to see how important diversity is to them.

So Fred, have you changed your mind on the CW? It looks like the audience (at least for America's Next Top Model) is having no trouble finding the new channel.

And for the followup, do you still believe My Network TV will catch on? It seems like the Telenovela format is a bomb that reaches new lows every day. How low can the ratings go before affialiates start pulling it for syndicated programming?

The hours of entertainment content hasn't grown as much as they have been repurposed. As the capacity of content on demand grows will television network "brands" diminish? Another seismic shift will happen with the television audience. On demand is the perfect solution for impulse viewers. Video on demand is efficient. Hope the cable industry improves the delivery of VOD because the present deployment is kludgy not unlike their set top boxes and DVRs. Otherwise the telcos IPTV will have found their opening.

Check this out: Prepare to download more programs through your television's digital set-top box the way you download TV shows or music to a computer (http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/15559326.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp)

In reality you "subsidize" very few channels. The shopping channels, for example, pay to get carriage.

And there are only a handful of channels which cost the providers more than 50 cents. Sports are by far the most expensive.

Frankly I think you make a great argument for a la carte.

As for me, I wouldn't have such a problem "subsidizing" other folks' favorite channels if I at least had some choice about it.

But I don't. More importantly, why should you be forced to pay for a channel you violently disagree with: for example, Fox News, CNN, etc have many detractors. Other people don't want MTV in their homes and on and on.

A la carte is an idea whose time will eventually come. And then programmers will have to actually provide programs which people will actively choose to pay for.

Trust me: the cable and satellite companies could care less about providing diversity. They do, however, love to hide behind that high-sounding argument so they can camoflage how much they make all of us pay for some channels which are so expensive -- especially to those who never watch them.

Don't believe me? Check out their top executive ranks to see how important diversity is to them.

Precisely. A la carte was actually what I was driving at. If the noise they are making about sports tiering was real, then a la carte is the solution. It is easily the best consumer option. I've always been skeptical that we will see it any time soon.

As a football junky it's easy for me to take the side of the NFL, but I don't. I think both sides are wrong. NCAA is even worse. High profile teams believe they have a right to private revenue. Those high profile teams wouldn't exists without the low profile teams. Again, they have no interest in the consumer or the fans. They are only interested in revenue. I know this is not a shocking revelation. But, the FCC is supposed to be our watchdog. Yet time and again they stab us in the back.

But I don't. More importantly, why should you be forced to pay for a channel you violently disagree with: for example, Fox News, CNN, etc have many detractors. Other people don't want MTV in their homes and on and on.

This is the problem with the government mandated al la carte argument. You are not forced to pay for anything. Can you say to a new car dealer, I want the car, but not the tires? Can you buy a pen but not the ink? Can you buy single pages of a magazine, simply because the remainder of the pages don't interest you? If you order a hamburger from a restaurant, you can ask for no bun, but they still charge you for it, dent they?

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR A CHANNEL YOU VIOLENTLY DISAGREE WITH, THEN DON'T. Its your choice.

If you do not want to pay for the extra magazine articles, the ink, the tires or the bun, then don't buy the magazine, the pen, the car or the hamburger.

While I am all for al la carte, I have a problem with the government mandating business models. If enough people really wanted it, i.e., VOTED WITH THEIR WALLETS, the market will follow.

So Fred, have you changed your mind on the CW? It looks like the audience (at least for America's Next Top Model) is having no trouble finding the new channel.

And for the followup, do you still believe My Network TV will catch on? It seems like the Telenovela format is a bomb that reaches new lows every day. How low can the ratings go before affialiates start pulling it for syndicated programming?


I think we'll need to let some time go by before any judgment is made on both questions, George.

Clearly MNTV has underperformed. But I remain skeptical of the CW's marketinjg plan and programming. So call; me stubborn.

Obviously the first night of ANTM did very well. I still theink the CW lineup is riddled with patchwork efforts and shows either past their prime or searching for an auidence.

We'll see over the next few months.

So far, of course, my pronositcation seems way, way off base. It is not the first!

This is the problem with the government mandated al la carte argument. You are not forced to pay for anything. Can you say to a new car dealer, I want the car, but not the tires? Can you buy a pen but not the ink? Can you buy single pages of a magazine, simply because the remainder of the pages don't interest you? If you order a hamburger from a restaurant, you can ask for no bun, but they still charge you for it, dent they?That's a total non sequitur. That would be more comparable to saying, you want the picture of that channel, but no sound? You want the video, but no sync signals?

Those things you specify are naturally an integral part of the products. You can't drive the car off the lot without the tires. The pen doesn't work without the ink (there are some sold without the ink BTW). You can in fact order single articles of many magazines, and you are legally allowed to copy a few pages at your local library. And a hamburger isn't a hamburger if you get it without the bun--it's a "chopped steak."

The only connection between any group of networks is completely contrived and atrificial. None require others for their existence (well OK, when ESPN ran that experiment a couple of weeks ago, where they showed parts of a game on the different channels, I would agree that all of them were necessary to get the complete product ;-) ). And while I have serious doubts that a-la-carte would be financially feasible, it is not unreasonable to ask not to pay for crap we don't want.

Xesdeeni

Nielsen Notebook
“Grey’s” Trounces “CSI”


According to Matt drudge at drudgereport.com, “RATINGS UPSET: ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy' season opener out-rates CBS 'CSI'... 17.1 rating/25 share to 14.9 rating/22 share... ABC WINS THURSDAY NIGHT, CBS SHOW, NBC IN DISTANT THIRD...”

http://www.drudgereport.com/

More details later in the regular overnight ratings postings.

Certainly the vital signs for "Kidnapped" were far less healthy than NBC had hoped for.

I watched it and was kinda' underwhelmed. Based on critical comments I read here on HOTP, I picked this one to try over the competing 'Vanished'. But it didn't "wow" me right off the bat, as I expected based on the reviews and its stellar cast. It hasn't even merited its own thread here on the Programming Forum. I'll give it a few weeks to see if it starts to capture my interest enough to allocate 22 precious hours this season. Dana Delaney deserves at least that much from me. ;)

And while I have serious doubts that a-la-carte would be financially feasible, it is not unreasonable to ask not to pay for crap we don't want.
And that about sums up the whole argument in a nutshell. If there were a financial model whereby cable and sat in the US though they could maintain or even increase revenues, we'd already have ala carte like they do in Canada (even though I believe the US cable/sat subs indirectly subsidize it).

Nielsen Notebook
Home at the ballpark
Gammons back to work for ESPN
By Tony ChamberlainBoston Globe Staff

And then, (Wedneday), he was back at the ballpark. Home, as he sees it.

Little fanfare. No promotional gimmicks. Just some handshakes and heartfelt greetings from fans, players, and colleagues, and the inevitable kids with baseballs and programs for him to autograph.

Peter Gammons was indeed back, making his return on camera with ESPN, where he has been a baseball analyst since 1990. Armed with the familiar Blackberry, cellphone, and notebooks, Gammons was in his pregame spot in front of the Red Sox dugout as David Ortiz came by, clapped him on the shoulder and said, ``Good to see you, Peter." The understatement of the day.

Gammons shows no effect of a brain aneurysm June 27 that required a med flight from his Cape Cod home and emergency surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

In all, after nearly 10 hours of surgery, a month of hospitalization, and weeks of work at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands, it seems, says the 61-year-old Gammons, as if little had changed with him or around him.

``Hey, I'm not [Joe] DiMaggio coming back in '49 or Ted [Williams] coming back from Korea. I'm still an ink-stained wretch and proud of it," said Gammons, who began his sportswriting career as a Globe intern in the summer of 1969. In the next decade he revolutionized the sports pages with his intensive and detailed baseball notes column. He was inducted into the writer's wing of the baseball Hall of Fame last year.

This season had started in routine fashion for Gammons, as he made his regular commute to ESPN in Bristol, Conn., and traveled to cover games around the country. But on the morning of June 27, as he was driving to Gold's Gym in Mashpee, he suffered a sudden splitting headache that forced him to pull off the road.

Sensing the trouble, a passerby named Agnes Rockett-Bolduc quickly called 911. Within minutes, Mashpee Fire and Rescue rushed Gammons to Falmouth Hospital, where he was diagnosed with an aneurysm, then put into a helicopter to Boston, the speed of the response likely saving his life.

``I just think that what if it had happened 24 hours earlier when I was in an airplane -- I wouldn't be here now," said Gammons, whose sister Anne Durant died of an aneurysm a decade earlier. The entire experience, he says, has made him more reflective about life and death, and of good luck. Calling himself ``one of the luckiest people on earth," Gammons has thought about the importance of such a small gesture by Rockett-Bolduc.

``The one thing I think about a lot is that when [Rockett-Bolduc] called 911 is that there's just no action too small. When you see someone is some need, just to do something -- even though you're rushing somewhere or trying to meet a deadline. Just to reach out and help another person can be so important. I think there's a lesson there."

Now Gammons is back at the gym working out and yesterday went for his first run. ``It felt good," he says.

The first clue that ``my cell towers were intact came around the trading deadline," he recalled, when one morning in rehab on the Cape, he looked up from his newspaper box scores, and asked his befuddled nurse, ``Linda, how did Austin Kearns get to the Nationals?"

Though he has been to a number of games at Fenway, at New York, and even the Cape Cod League, (Wednesday) night's appearance on ``SportsCenter" and ``Baseball Tonight" were his first working appearances at ESPN.

But for now, back in the emerald sun of a Fenway afternoon, hearing the pop of batting practice and the inevitable organ recital, life is back to normal.

``One thing I know for sure is that I just feel comfortable here, and at home," Gammons said. ``In clubhouses and around the ballpark . . . this is where I most want to be."

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/09/21/home_at_the_ballpark?mode=PF

TV Notebook
Feed The Machine:
Bloody Thursday! "Greys" vs. "CSI."
Return of "Earl" and "Office." "Survivor.'
"Kidnapped" disappears.
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

Okay, so sue me. I lied yesterday when I said Wednesday was a big night on TV. It was big. But it was not like Thursday, which was positively zaftig. It was a DVR Death Battle. "CSI" vs. "Grey's Anatomy." The return of "The Office" and "My Name Is Earl." Plus "Survivor: Race Islands." And head to head "Shark" and "Six Degrees." New season of "ER." Dumb extra episode of "Deal Or No Deal."

What you got - freedom of choice. What you want - freedom from choice.

Come ON! That was crazy. Let me know how it unfolded. Plus, who knows, you might have watched Nat Geo for all I know. Maybe something good there, too.

Make no mistake about it, what you choose has an impact. Consider yesterday. Good numbers for "Jericho." Bad numbers for "Kidnapped." And the really disheartening thing about the "Kidnapped" numbers - about 7.5 million viewers - is that it finished third in the time slot off a very, very expensive pilot. Granted, the series had a terrible lead-in from "The Biggest Loser." And if NBC wants to save "Kidnapped" it will have to rethink its decision to put "Law & Order" on Friday nights and, well, move it back. It fits well with "Kidnapped." Then "Loser" can move to Fridays where it belongs. But even if that happened, and it wouldn't for at least two or three weeks, it's really game, set, match for "Kidnapped." Once you launch a serial drama to low numbers, forget it. Worse, in two weeks it will be going up against "The Nine," a better serial drama. In short: It's over.

Too bad, that. I've seen the second episode of "Jericho" and all those worries hashed out in the comments section come home to roost. So even though they don't fight head to head, I'd rather have "Kidnapped" survive. I'd also rather have a million dollars (I was going to says something Al Swearengenesque, but then I thought, well, no, better not. Opt for tamer material). Anyway, neither is likely to happen.

So, really interested now to find out what you watched. Me? I wrote my ass off. I delivered those "Wired" deconstructions, as promised, plus lived my life, such as it is. Now this. And tomorrow - the Ryder Cup! It just never ends.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

TV Notebook
CW hits demo on the button

By Paul J. Gough and Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 22, 2006

The new CW network shone brightly walking down the runway on its debut night.

The network officially launched Wednesday with a two-hour season premiere of "America's Next Top Model," which drove it to a primetime network win in its target demographics of adults 18-34 (3.2 rating/10 share) and women 18-34 (4.9/14). The CW delivered 5.3 million viewers and a 2.6/7 in adults 18-49, the show's best premiere rating in the demo and its second-best viewership in six cycles.

All this was despite two other big reality shows airing against it -- NBC's "The Biggest Loser" and ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" -- and the fact that "Top Model" was on different stations Wednesday than it was last year in 71% of the country thanks to the merger of its former network UPN with WB Network.

CW president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff said she felt a mixture of relief and excitement when she first saw the numbers Thursday morning.

"I don't think any of us really anticipated that," she said. "At the end of the day, we knew if we got viewers there, they would have a good time and love it, and we were really proud of the way the network looked last night. But I don't think any of us thought we would wind up with the best premiere numbers ever -- that was a real bonus for us." It was up 7% in adults 18-34 and 13% in viewership compared with last fall's premiere.

Ostroff added that the good performance of "Top Model" doesn't mean that she can relax just yet.

On the contrary, "it makes us as nervous as ever (about the ratings for CW's other shows)," she said. "We can't really predict how anything will premiere ... and we know that it's going to take time. We've still got a lot ahead of us, but this is a great starting point for the network, and our goal is to grow from there."

Ostroff pointed out that while Wednesday night's ratings demonstrate that viewers who once watched UPN were able to find the new channel, the question of whether former WB Network viewers will successfully make the transition in their respective markets to a new station for their favorite returning shows won't be answered until next week. About 27% of U.S. TV households are having to make the switch from a former WB affiliate to a new station to find the CW's schedule, which is composed primarily of former WB and UPN programs. "7th Heaven" will be the first of the former WB shows to premiere on CW on Monday.

Compared with WB's premiere on Jan. 11, 1995, the CW did pretty well. That two-hour debut lineup -- which included "The Wayans Brothers," "Unhappily Ever After" and "Muscle" -- averaged 2.9 million viewers, a 1.7/5 in adults 18-34 and a 1.5/4 in adults 18-49. But it can't compete with UPN's premiere five days later that year, with the two-hour premiere of "Star Trek: Voyager" that delivered 21.3 million viewers to the startup network plus a 10.4/23 in adults 18-34 and an 11.5/24 in adults 18-49. Both had different station lineups, however, and it was a different time in the TV world.

Meanwhile, the CW became Wednesday's top-rated network in women 18-34 in eight of the top 10 markets. That includes New York (7.6/25), where it beat the rest of the broadcast networks combined, as well as Los Angeles (6.3/18), Chicago (5.7/19), Philadelphia (9.9/24) and San Francisco (4.2/14). It was the top network in adults 18-49 in seven of the top 10 markets including New York (4.5/16), Los Angeles (4.4/13), Chicago (3.7/12) and Philadelphia (6.7/19).

Some on Madison Avenue, however, weren't sure whether the strong ratings were going to last.

"I think there will be a slight spike up there, but I don't think it's realistic to believe" that the ratings will sustain an increase, said Horizon Media research chief Brad Adgate. He pointed out that there are only two new shows on the CW beside the combined WB-UPN schedule, and that the viewers who wanted to see "7th Heaven," "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars" already were watching them.

"If they really liked the shows, they would have watched them before," Adgate said.

(Paul J. Gough reported from New York; Kimberly Nordyke reported from Los Angeles.)

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003155439

(I missed this when it first ran a few days ago. But it still makes for interesting reading.)
TV Notebook
The Last of the Titans
In an era of shareholder clout, Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch exert the power of old-time media moguls.
By Thomas S. Mulligan, Charles Duhigg and Claudia Eller Los Angeles Times Staff Writers September 18, 2006

They are sons of strong women. Both have sparred publicly with their heirs, both are plotting to conquer China, and both seem to view immortality as their best succession plan.

But what really unites Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner M. Redstone and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is that, to a degree almost unknown today among heads of U.S. public companies, they can do as they please.

Redstone and Murdoch are part of a line of autocratic media titans stretching to CNN founder Ted Turner, William S. Paley of CBS, Henry Luce of Time Inc., newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst and such lions of early Hollywood as Louis B. Mayer and Adolph Zukor. Their power derives not just from their dominant stakes in the companies they've built but also from their inclination to use it.

"The amazing thing is that when Rupert says 'Let's do it,' everyone drops everything to focus on whatever he wants," said one News Corp. executive. "It's like an army that can turn on a dime."

Today, as the digital revolution is overturning old-media business models and new threats and opportunities are materializing at video-game speed, a leader's ability to act boldly and unilaterally — without having to consult lawyers, directors or Wall Street in advance — can be a powerful advantage.

In fact, when Murdoch decided to make his move into new media, he didn't order up strategic studies but took the company checkbook in hand and spent $2 billion on acquisitions, sometimes holding talks without keeping even his top executives in the loop.

"There's a huge difference between executives who rise up through the ranks versus a founder-executive in terms of personality and style," said Lilli R. Friedland, a psychologist in Century City who advises business executives on strategies, collaborative skills and succession issues.

Because these individuals are excruciatingly possessive about what they've built, she said, they can never let go, even in their waning years.

"I am Viacom," Redstone, 83, said in a recent interview. "My life is Viacom and it continues to be Viacom. I live the company that I built from three drive-in theaters," a business he inherited from his father. He controls about 70% of the voting shares of Viacom and of CBS Corp., which were split apart in January.

Redstone's latest display of owner's prerogative came this month, when he abruptly fired Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, the 26-year cable veteran he'd chosen less than a year earlier to run the company after the CBS split. The Freston ouster came two weeks after Redstone had publicly cut ties between Viacom's Paramount Pictures and its top movie star, Tom Cruise, saying Cruise's erratic behavior was costing the company money.

Both actions show that Redstone "wants to raise his profile and show he's in command," said Neal Gabler, who has written extensively about Hollywood and is a panelist on News Corp.'s Fox News Watch.

In defiance of his age, Redstone shows the kind of restless energy that an Olympic athlete might envy. What drives him, those who know him say, is a competitive fire that gets kindled by such things as his rivalry with Murdoch, 75.

In one sense, theirs is like the rivalry between San Francisco and Los Angeles: It irritates San Franciscans, while Angelenos pretend it doesn't exist.

Certainly Redstone is more likely to mention his opponent, as he did this month when he railed in an interview about News Corp.'s $580-million purchase a year ago of the wildly popular Internet hangout MySpace.com. "We could have had the thing for $500 million had we moved in before Murdoch thought about it," Redstone said, implicitly blaming Freston for dropping the ball.

If Redstone's name seldom escapes Murdoch's lips, that doesn't mean he's not paying attention. In the MySpace deal, News Corp. burst in with a preemptive offer after learning that Viacom was in discussions, keeping one of the hottest names on the Internet from hooking up with his rival's most powerful franchise, the youth-oriented MTV Networks. The deal was done in record time: one month, start to finish, according to people who worked on it.

Murdoch trumped Redstone again months later. Viacom executives were so close to signing a deal last September to buy San Francisco-based IGN Entertainment Inc., which runs video-game websites, that they had scheduled a victory dinner. Murdoch and his top lieutenants staged a stealth attack, signing a $650-million purchase agreement the night the Viacom dinner was to be held, according to two people involved.

"People have said that [Murdoch] takes gambles more easily than I do, but I'm not sure that's true," Redstone said. "I would say we're very much alike."

Entrepreneurs once were as plentiful in entertainment as they are today in Silicon Valley. But as the business has matured and consolidated, empire builders such as Ted Turner and cartoon king Haim Saban have sold their creations, mostly to the media giants left standing, Viacom and News Corp., as well as Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc.

Murdoch seldom grants interviews and was not available to comment for this article, a spokesman said. Redstone, however, talks freely with the press and seems to care deeply what is written about him.

Both men passionately want to succeed in the vast consumer market of China — Murdoch with satellite TV and Redstone with his cable TV programming and Paramount movies. Doing business in China requires extensive personal dealings with government officials.

A businessman who has observed both men with foreign officials described how they responded to questions on sensitive issues such as censorship and business dealings.

"Sumner gives an answer right away," said the executive, who requested anonymity because of the delicacy of the talks. "He says either yes or no. It's almost an impulsive response. He has a strong opinion."

It's different with Murdoch. "He pauses, and his answers are long and complicated," the businessman said. "You feel like he is saying important things, but at the end of his answer you don't have any idea about his opinion. He hedges everything."

Murdoch's reserve can strike some as deviousness.

One investor who admires Murdoch recalled visiting him at one of his London newspapers that was the subject of union protests. After the meeting, the investor was prepared to call a cab, but Murdoch politely offered his limousine. The investor realized he was being used as a decoy when the limo was mobbed by picketers, and he imagined Murdoch slipping out of the building unnoticed.

Redstone grew up in Boston and graduated first in his class from Boston Latin School, the city's premier public high school. Finishing behind Redstone was the late Merton H. Miller, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990. Redstone went on to Harvard, finishing in three years.

"My mother had one dedication in her life, which was my education," Redstone wrote of Belle Redstone in his autobiography, "A Passion to Win." "There was only one No. 1 and that had to be me."

Redstone was aided in his studies, and later as a federal prosecutor and a businessman, by formidable powers of concentration and a near-photographic memory. A favorite Redstone debating tactic is to recite his opponents' words back to them in perfect detail weeks or months after they were spoken. "It was really unnerving," said a former Viacom executive.

Redstone seems to thrive on adversity. In 1979, he survived a fire at Boston's Copley Plaza hotel by hanging on to a window ledge, suffering severe burns that left his right hand mangled and his legs with such poor circulation that he is forced to wear support hose to this day. He likes to say the biggest milestones of his career — his purchases of Viacom, Paramount Pictures Corp. and CBS Corp. — occurred after that fire.

Critics of Redstone's business vision say he is more opportunistic than strategic, gravitating toward certain deals because they are available rather than because they fit with an overarching plan. "I think Rupert is a better businessman," said media investor Morris Mark, whose Mark Partners owns 700,000 shares of News Corp. and none of Viacom. He described Viacom as "mature," growing at 5% to 8% annually, while News Corp. could grow at a rate of 12% to 18%. "And that is a big reflection of the men at the top," Mark said.

Of the Viacom-CBS split, Mark said: "Redstone is so concerned about the cost of the stock, he made a short-term decision. He's impatient."

One cost of the move is that CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, whom Mark envisions as the ideal Viacom CEO, "is now the one guy Sumner can't pick to run that company."

Redstone said the split would prove successful over time. He also made no apologies for his Wall Street orientation.

"I'm very sensitive to shareholders," he said. "If somebody buys our stock, it's a vote of confidence, and we have an obligation to provide for that shareholder."

Murdoch, by consensus, pays far less attention to Wall Street, although his ownership stake — about 30% — is less dominant than Redstone's.

"He thinks News Corp. isn't a public company as much as it's his company," said Bill Mechanic, former head of Murdoch's 20th Century Fox studio and now CEO of Pandemonium Films. "He thinks he knows more than everybody else."

Money manager Lawrence J. Haverty Jr. of Gabelli Asset Management put a more positive spin on that attribute, calling Murdoch "the most long-term manager I've ever seen. He thinks on a five-, 10- or 20-year horizon." Murdoch, he said, "has been willing to suffer enormous financial pain to get where he thinks he needs to go."

Murdoch has often been scoffed at for overpaying, as in 1994, when his Fox broadcast network bid $1.58 billion for four years of NFL games, reportedly topping CBS' offer by $400 million and knocking its older rival out of pro football for the first time in 40 years. The move paid off, though, as America's most popular TV sport gave Fox legitimacy as a major network. Wall Street has gradually come to respect Murdoch's batting average, although Haverty said he believed News Corp. still carried a "Rupert discount" because "there's always one more mega-deal on the horizon."

Investors worry about the future of News Corp. and Viacom management. Murdoch has nurtured strong executives such as his No. 2, Peter Chernin, but has been vague about his succession plan. He has said his children will inherit the company but that the board will pick a successor when he dies.

Perhaps Murdoch is planning on living as long as his mother, Elisabeth Murdoch, who is 97. She had sent the young Rupert to boarding school "to toughen him up a bit." After the sudden death in 1952 of his father, Keith Murdoch, Rupert, then a newspaper reporter, returned from England to his native Australia to take over the family business, which was chiefly the Adelaide newspaper the News.

His eldest son, Lachlan, left the company last year after a dispute with his father over inheritance. Lachlan also accused his father of undermining his authority.

Redstone has said his daughter, Shari, will succeed him one day but until then will hold a non-executive post at Viacom and CBS. Redstone's son Brent, who has no role at Viacom, sued his father last year in an attempt to cash out his stake in the family's privately owned National Amusements Inc.

The day he announced Freston's firing, Redstone joked about what might happen to the company after he departed "20 or 30 years from now." Some aren't sure he was kidding.

"Sumner really doesn't think he's going to die," a longtime associate said. Redstone recently told a reporter he'd started the day with a soy shake with strawberries, blueberries and green tea, followed by a lunch of steamed spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and squash.

"It's all rich in antioxidants," Redstone said. "And there is a new fruit from the Himalayas called gojo that extends your life. I eat plenty of that."

Said Nell Minow, head of Corporate Library, a governance research firm: "The problem with leaders like that is that they kill off the young bucks that are coming up and don't leave a good environment for succession. They definitely do not go gently into that good night."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-fi-mogul18sep18,1,3033491,print.story

Nielsen Notebook
CSI Is Taught an Anatomy Lesson
By Matt Webb Mitovich TVGudie.com

This where the ratings get fun, folks. Cutting to the chase for a moment, Grey's Anatomy's new time slot (and those multiple video-playing online ads, I suppose) paid off big time, as the ABC drama bested 9 o'clock hour stalwart CSI in their premieres' head-to-head clash. The overnight tally: Grey's 25.15 million total viewers, CSI 22 mil.

Of note: CSI's most recent season finale drew 25.05 mil, whereas Grey's' was watched by 20.9 mil. ABC also has can claim bragging rights to the droolworthy 18-49 demo, where Grey's snagged 50 percent more than CBS' crime drama.

Rewinding to 8 pm, Survivor: Cook Islands led the pack with 17.7 million, followed by a Grey's clip-show (13.4 mil) and NBC's My Name Is Earl/The Office combo (each with about 9 mil).

Leapfrogging to 10 pm, we had a bit of a horse race as ER, still showing a pulse in its kazillionth season premiere, admitted an audience of 15.5 million, edging out newbies Shark (CBS, debuting with 14.9 mil) and Six Degrees (ABC, with 13.3 mil).

http://community.tvguide.com/forum.jspa?forumID=700000044

Nielsen Notebook
ABC Changes 'Anatomy' of Thursdays

'Grey's' premiere thumps 'CSI' in closely watched race.
Fast National ratings for Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006

Zap2It.com—ABC loudly announced its arrival as a competitor on Thursday, as "Grey's Anatomy" unseated "CSI" as the night's top show -- at least for this week -- and helped the network claim a share of the ratings crown.

For the night, ABC averaged an 11.2 rating/18 share. CBS was a close second at 11.0/17 and actually won the night among total viewers with 18.08 million to ABC's 17.31 million. NBC came in third with a 7.4/12. FOX, 2.9/5, finished fourth, and The CW trailed with a 1.6/2.

ABC claimed an outright victory among adults 18-49 with a 7.2 rating. CBS, 6.0, took second in the demographic advertisers love most, while NBC came in third with a solid 4.8. There was a substantial drop to fourth-place FOX, 1.6, and The CW, which posted a 1.0.

"Survivor: Cook Islands" put CBS on top at 8 p.m. with a 9.8/16. A "Grey's Anatomy" clip show on ABC was a strong second at 9.2/15. NBC was third with season premieres of "My Name Is Earl," 5.8/10, and "The Office," 5.7/9 (which actually built on its lead-in a little in total viewers and 18-49). "'Til Death," 3.9/6, and "Happy Hour," 3.0/5, were fourth for FOX. The CW went with a "Smallville" rerun.

At 9 p.m., the "Grey's Anatomy" season premiere, 15.7/23, scored a rather shocking win over CBS' "CSI," 13.5/20, which has dominated the timeslot for several years. "Deal or No Deal" was a distant third for NBC at 6.5/10. "Celebrity Duets" slumped to a 2.4/4 for FOX. A "Supernatural" rerun on The CW trailed.

Another medical drama, NBC's "ER," won the 10 p.m. hour with a 10.0/16. The premiere of "Shark" on CBS averaged 9.8/16. ABC's "Six Degrees" lost a big chunk of its lead-in to finish at 8.6/14.

• Ratings courtesy Nielsen Media Research. Ratings information is taken from fast national data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-ratings092106,0,6608901,print.story?coll=zap-tv-ratings-headlines

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
ABC tops CBS to take Thursday night
Grey's Anatomy' averages a 10.9 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 22, 2006

ABC’s Thursday night gamble paid off big-time. The network, for decades a non-factor on the night, knocked off CBS for No. 1 last night in both adults 18-49 and households with a huge premiere for “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Anatomy,” which moved from Sunday to Thursday, averaged a 10.9 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen, trouncing CBS’s long-dominant “CSI” by 3.4 points.

That led ABC to victory on the night with a 7.2 rating and 19 share, comfortably ahead of second-place CBS’s 6.0/16, down 21 percent from last year's premiere night, and third-place NBC’s 4.8/12, even with last year. It was ABC's first opening Thursday win since at least 1991.

Among households, ABC narrowly edged CBS with an 11.2/18 to the latter’s 11.0/17.

On a night with many big storylines, “Grey’s” huge audience was the biggest. Not only did the show beat “CSI” in 18-49s, where many media people had expected it to win, but it also topped the crime drama among total viewers, averaging 25.14 million to the latter’s 22.04 million.

Among 18-49s, “CSI” was down 9 percent from last season’s 8.2 average. Meanwhile “Grey’s” bettered last season’s 8.7 average by 25 percent.

Each of the Big Three networks led one hour during the night. NBC, whose “ER” had faded against CBS’s “Without a Trace” over the past few years, surged back into a dominant first place at 10 p.m., averaging a 6.8, a full point ahead of ABC’s new drama “Six Degrees” and 2.6 ahead of the somewhat disappointing premiere of CBS’s new “Shark.” “ER” was up 6 percent over last season’s debut.

“Shark” lost 44 percent of “CSI’s” lead-in, averaging a 4.2 and falling from a 4.5 to a 4.0 in its second half hour. It did beat “Degrees” in total viewers, averaging 14.95 million to the latter’s 13.34 million.

“Degrees” lost 47 percent of its considerable lead-in, averaging a 5.8 in adults 18-49. More alarming, the show dipped steeply at 10:30 p.m., falling from a 6.6 to a 4.9.

Next week ABC premieres “Ugly Betty,” the highly praised new dramedy, at 8 p.m. That could have a big effect on the night, as could the second-week performances of “Degrees” and “Shark.”

Meanwhile, big ratings for other networks left Fox and the CW few leftovers. Univision was fourth at 2.0/5. Fox averaged a 1.6/4 on the night, followed by the CW at 1.0/3 with reruns.

At 8 p.m., CBS’s “Survivor” placed first easily with a 6.4, followed by a 4.8 for ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” clips show. Perhaps most notable in the hour, NBC’s Emmy winner “The Office” bested lead-in “My Name is Earl” for the first time in 18-49s, averaging a 4.3 to the latter’s 3.7. It was “Office’s” best showing since last March.

Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” was fourth at 2.1. Fox was fifth with series lows for “’Til Death” (2.2) and “Happy Hour” (1.7). The CW’s “Smallville” was sixth at 1.1.

At 9 p.m., after “Grey’s” 10.9 and “CSI’s” 7.5, NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” was third at 3.5, followed by Univision’s “Barrera de Amor” at 2.1, Fox’s “Celebrity Duets” at 1.2, and CW’s “Supernatural” rerun at 0.9.

At 10 p.m., “ER’s” 6.8 led, followed by “Degrees” at 5.8, “Shark” at 4.2, and Univision at 1.8.

In households, ABC was first and CBS second, followed by NBC at 7.4/12, Fox at 2.9/4, Univision at 2.3/4 and the CW at 1.6/2.

• Ratings courtesy Nielsen Media Research. Ratings information is taken from fast national data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7475.asp

The Thursday prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

With some big premieres scheduled for Sunday the Hot Off The Press thread will be busily posting throughout the weeked as usual.

So stop by over the weekend here and get up-to-date with advance critical looks at the return of “Desperate Housewives” (can it return to its first season glory?) and the anticipated, but reportedly troubled, “Brothers and Sisters”.

Sunday’s Prime-Time Premieres

7 PM ET/PT Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - ABC
9 PM ET/PT Desperate Housewives - ABC
9 PM ET/PT Cold Case - CBS
10 PM ET/PT Brothers & Sisters - ABC
10 PM ET/PT Without a Trace - CBS

Cable TV Notebook
Skinner scores her own hour on Fox News
By Tim Cuprisin Milwaukke Journal Sentinel

It's hard to believe that Jane Skinner left the anchor desk at Channel 6 nine years ago.

And after eight years of reporting and anchoring at Fox News Channel, she's finally earned an hour of her own, starting Monday, when she debuts in the 1 p.m. slot.

Fox News is shuffling its lunchtime schedule, since "DaySide" hosts Juliet Huddy and Mike Jerrick are moving to a new morning show on the Fox broadcast network next year.

"It's a little bit of pressure," Skinner tells Inside TV & Radio. "The hour makes sense to me - and obviously made sense on the boss level. I'm coming right before Shepard."

She's developed an on-camera rapport with Shepard Smith, who even created a segment he calls "Skinnerville" for her on his show. And Smith will have a presence on Skinner's hour.

"Skinnerville itself, that name came all out of Shepard's brain," she tells Inside TV & Radio. "He just started, several years ago, saying funny things or strange things to me after I would do the news cut-in."

Smith's loose style is a ratings success and fits into the style Skinner says comes down from Fox News czar Roger Ailes.

"I can remember, distinctly, my first meeting with him. He said, 'We're in the trenches, this is Camp Ailes, and we're not shooting for CNN, we're shooting for the networks.' "

Camp Ailes has been a ratings success in the cable news universe, consistently beating CNN and MSNBC. Unlike its competitors, Fox News has a large pool of viewers who tune in regularly - whether news is breaking or not.

"I do have a theory," she says. "It's about the people. I went to grad school for journalism, I worked in several markets around the country. And not until I got here, after many years in the business, did somebody actually say to me - and it was Roger - 'You have a personality . . . you should use that on the air.' My first thought was I can't deliver the news and have a personality. Don't I have to be buttoned down and try to act like I'm really, really intellectual?"

In other words, Camp Ailes looks to bond the on-air folks with the viewers.

Skinner's new show won't be all personality, though, offering a mix of news and context for events of the day.

"But there has to be time in the day where you take a breath, where you smile, where you laugh - when appropriate. On the days when there's time for that, I think that's important," she says. "And I happen to be kind of goofy."

You can hear the complete conversation with Skinner in the latest podcast version of the column at www.jsonline.com/links/cuprisin

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=502047&format=print

Why Malone Desires DirecTV (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2006/tc20060922_893088.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech)

~Alan

The Business of TV
'American Idol' Once Again Ranks as Most Expensive Show
'Desperate Housewives' Keeps Sunday Rates Competitive
By Claire Atkinson Advertising Age

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Marketers will pony up as much as $700,000 for a 30-second spot in Fox's midseason hit, "American Idol," according to an initial survey of media agencies, conducted annually by Advertising Age. The Tuesday-night singing competition, returning in January, is the most expensive show for the third year in a row. Back in 2003, when NBC's "Friends" topped the list, "American Idol," didn't even make the top ten.

The going price for 30-second spot on Fox's wildly popular 'American Idol' ranges from $500,000 to $700,000.

Not all pay full price
The cost of a 30-second spot is based on early estimates of pricing information from the network, though some marketers pay significantly less -- around $550,000 -- depending on their overall commitment to the show and to Fox. For instance, Advertising Age's exclusive price data last year found TV buyers paid near $496,000 for a Tuesday-night spot. Prices will also rise as the season comes to an end in May 2007; some advertisers will pay more than $700,000 as the finale nears.

Others at the top of the heap include Fox's "House," ABC's "Desperate Housewives," and ABC newcomer "Brothers and Sisters."

The "Idol" Wednesday-night edition remains the second-most expensive show, also commanding prices in the $550,000 to $700,000 range. The additional Thursday-night "Idol" broadcast, which Fox added this year, is also commanding top dollar. The Tuesday "American Idol" was the most-watched show last season, and the Wednesday edition finished No. 2. The show commanded an 18- to 49-year-old audience of 31 million during the 2005-2006 season.

Benefiting from 'Idol'

Also benefiting from the continued dominance of "Idol" is Fox's "House," which will follow the "Idol" broadcast on Tuesdays starting in January and has held its own this quarter without the talent show's help. According to some early estimates "House" has seen ad pricing double from last year's $200,000 to $400,000.

Overall, the pricing for Sunday nights is nearly as competitive as Thursday, a night that always draws top rates given the number of marketers looking to reach viewers before the weekend. Buyers report demand for ABC's "Desperate Housewives" remains strong -- marketers will pay in the $400,000 range for a 30-second spot, despite criticism that the quality of the show dropped off last year.

Newcomer "Brothers & Sisters" is commanding up to $300,000 per spot. The show features Calista Flockhart and Sally Fields in a family-based drama and could end up being the highest-priced newcomer to the network grid this season.

On NBC "Sunday Night Football" is commanding prices (around $350,000) that are similar to those ABC had charged for "Monday Night Football." News Corp.'s new channel, My Network TV, looks to be the bargain basement of broadcast. Buyers are reporting pricing for the telenovelas "Desire: Table for Two" and "Fashion House" at anywhere between $20,000 to $35,000 a spot.

http://adage.com/print?article_id=112014

Critic’s Notebook
'Grey's' is back, baby!
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 22, 2006

There are things I liked about Thursday's season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy," and things I didn't like.

Overall, though, can I say how glad I am that the show is back? And there’s no doubt that at this moment, ABC executives are doing a Snoopy-style happy dance: In its third-season premiere, “Grey’s” soundly beat warhorse “CSI” as the No. 1 show of the night. “Grey’s” snagged 25 million viewers to “CSI’s” 22 million, and the doctor drama got a 43 percent more viewers in the all-important 18-49 year old demographic than “CSI,” according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

To give you some context, “CSI” has been the No. 1 number one scripted show on television for four solid years. Last year, the show typically drew 25.2 million viewers, and “Grey’s” drew 20 million. But in a direct matchup, to the surprise of many (online TV guru Brian Ford Sullivan, the Futon Critic, called it “a genuine surprise”), “Grey’s” defeated the CBS drama handily in every measure. There was speculation that the crime-scene drama would hang on, maybe just barely, to its status as TV’s No. 1 number one show, but as of now, “Grey’s Anatomy” wears that crown.

Yes indeed, “Grey’s” is having a moment.

But let’s talk about what’s really important here: namely, what I liked and disliked about the season opener:

• I didn’t like the plague plot. Remember when people came to Seattle General Hospital because they were, you know, sick? And not with something wacky and outrageous? Now, many of us loved the post-Superbowl bomb-in-body story, but I have the disturbing sense that “Grey’s” is lurching toward “ER”-style stunt plots every week (a la last season's finale). I don’t want to see someone at Seattle General because they have an alien virus that may explode. I don’t want to see an earthquake and a plague of locusts followed by everybody getting mumps. I mean, come on. Sheesh. Save the stunts for sweeps.

• Following on that, why on earth would Dr. Bailey tell the possibly plague-infected guy that his wife had died? He was already very ill, and that information could have waited until he was out of his quarantine room. That was obviously a setup so that Bailey could display her emotional fallout from Denny’s death. Of course the actors handled the scene well, but it was more than a stretch.

• The writers should give up on Callie’s character. I don’t know if it’s Sara Ramirez’s delivery or the writing - it’s probably both - but the character annoys me no end. Ever since the infamous naked-peeing incident, they’ve made Callie far too obviously the “weird girl,” but there’s nothing underneath her brusque persona. George deserves much better, and I can understand why he hasn't told her he loves her -- the writers haven't developed her enough to love. And to have the character keep referring to herself as the weird girl who “eats her hair” just keeps taking me out of the story. It sounds as though she’s reading her character description, not delivering real dialogue.

• Two phrases I never want to hear on “Grey’s” again: “I’m not that girl” and all its variations, and “seriously.” Though the writers should feel free to sneak in one more “vajayjay” if the mood strikes.

Now, what I liked:

• The plot with the baby was more old-school "Grey's," though it must be said that all those schoolgirls looked about 10 and you’d have to be blind not to notice if one of those tiny bodies was pregnant. Seriously. And do even Catholic schoolgirls wear Peter Pan collars any more? The girls were costumed to look like kindergarteners from the ‘50s. But having said that, I love me some Addison Shepherd. Kate Walsh may be the best thing about this show.

• Meredith didn’t annoy me once. What’s up with that?

• I loved, loved, loved the flashbacks. More please!

• How about FloorIzzie? I don’t hold the fact that the Denny plot was dragged out and beaten within an inch of its life against Katherine Heigl, who right now can do no wrong. She really knocked her grieving scenes out of the park, and the best line of the night may have been Meredith’s “I don’t know what to say to you.” Simple, true, a very good scene.

• McDreamy’s scenes with George were enjoyable, and it was nice to see a variety of McDreamy hair styles through the various flashbacks. Does his hair get it own trailer, I wonder?

• When Christina said to Burke, “Don’t ever die,” I may or may not have misted up. Just a little. Because, OK, I am that girl that gets soppy while watching “Grey’s.”

What did you like? Not like? Share with the class.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Shortly before last night’s season premier of “Grey’s Anatomy”, it’s creator and executive producer, Shonda Rhimes, posted some of her thoughts in the greyswriters blog. If you enjoy the show, I thought you might like her comments.

TV Notebook
“Grey’s Anatomy”
“Time Has Come Today” and other things…

Welcome to Season Three!!!

We here at Grey’s are all really excited about the new season and dear God, I hope you are too. I personally was itching to get back to work. I’m not a vacation kind of girl. I’m also clearly not a girl who exists well outside the four walls of Seattle Grace Hospital. I was missing George and the gang. So coming back to work was all about joy. But right now, this minute, today? I’m also kinda nervous.

About Thursday nights.

I wasn’t. I was fine. I didn’t even feel a twinge. Seriously (sorry for the unwarranted usage of “seriously” this early in the season). But --- seriously. I was feeling no pressure, no pain. What a fun job! I love it! I am a stress-free, happy-go-lucky, glass half full freak of nature! I mean, I was. The head of ABC Steve McPherson (seriously, would it surprise you to know that I secretly call him McFee?) was all, “Shonda, we’re moving you to Thursday” and I was all, “Whoo-hoo!” And I got really super excited. Because Thursday? Is a rocking night for television. I did some dances of joy.

Then I woke up this morning and, out of nowhere, found myself FREAKED OUT. Because Thursdays? Is a rocking night for television. And McFee’s a smart man, a brilliant man, a man who has plans (very McVet of him to have plans, right?) and I trust him because…hello? He has done pretty damn well by our show thus far. So I trust him. But still…do me a favor and set your VCRs and your Tivos and most important, plant your heinies in front of the TV Thursday night at 9 pm and watch. Okay? So I don’t burst a blood vessel in my brain from the stress? Because I really love Mer and Der and Burktina and Iz and Alex and George and Callie and Addison and the Chief and Bailey and I’m like this worried Mama whose kid starts a new school and maybe won’t make any friends.

Enough about the freaking and the Thursdays. Let’s discuss the thing you guys wanna know about. Which is what’s gonna happen in the first episode. Ready?

???

Okay, yeah, I can’t tell you anything. Not anything in detail. Cause that takes the fun out of watching. But I’ve noticed that a lot of you in the comments section and over on the message boards seem to be dissecting the promos for clues. And all I have to say is…we are going places you can’t imagine. Or maybe you can imagine but you don’t expect. And I want to tell you, really I do but…well, I’m trying to keep it to myself.

The first episode is going to take place pretty much where the end of Season Two left off. Because I don’t believe in jumping ahead three months and leaving people scratching their heads and muttering, “Dude…what happened while we were away?” I feel like SO much happened at the end of last season that I owe it to the characters to have them deal with the aftermath. And I owe it to you to let you watch the aftermath. Cause Denny died (yeah, I’m still not over that – I saw Jeff Dean Morgan a week ago at the DVD release party and almost burst into tears of joy and hugged him for about ten minutes because it was like Denny was back and alive and in my arms…but alas, it was just JDM who is super-cute and incredibly talented and has grown this adorably sexy scruffy stubble but is, in fact, not actually Denny anymore because Denny is dead) and Burke got shot and Meredith lost her panties…

Those panties…dude, those panties play a big part in the first couple of episodes. Those panties are key. Cause Meredith never put them back on. She rushed out to deal with Izzie and left Derek who was asking “Meredith, what does this mean?” and she never had a chance to put those panties back on. So watch for the panties – and I don’t just mean the shot in the promos that has them on the bulletin board in the hospital.

The first episode (which is called “Time Has Come Today”) deals with, not just the aftermath, but also with the past. I encourage you to watch the original very first episode of Grey’s Anatomy from Season One because, if you pay attention to the dialogue and the details, you will be rewarded in this premiere episode with some (hopefully) very interesting tidbits. And I hate the word “tidbits” but it does describe what I mean perfectly. This first episode of Season Three is meant to reward hardcore fans -- it’s also meant to bring us to a place where we can say goodbye to Denny as well as deal with the Mer/Der/Finn of it all. Just remember that nothing is ever wrapped up easily on this show. Because things aren’t neat and clean in real life.

Here I should stop. I shouldn’t say anything more. Because I don’t want to tell you too much. Cause I don’t want to ruin it for you.

http://www.greyswriters.com/

I read the news websites from Canada everyday for Hockey articles, and found this article on page 1.


'Grey's Anatomy' fans lash out at CTV for airing wrong episode of hit show

Andrea Baillie
Canadian Press


Friday, September 22, 2006


TORONTO (CP) - When did Dr. McDreamy finally profess his love for Meredith Grey? What happened to Izzie in the hours after her fiance Denny died? And is it finally curtains for The Chief and his wife?

Many Canadian fans of "Grey's Anatomy" were left puzzled by plot gaps and apparent inconsistencies Thursday night when CTV inadvertently aired the second episode of the season rather than the hotly anticipated premiere.

While the network blamed the mistake on a "satellite feed error," it was little consolation for viewers who had waited an entire summer to learn the fate of the libidinous interns at Seattle Grace Hospital.

"Can I just say that CTV is a crappy irresponsible network?" wrote one blogger, carmen16.

"I know errors happen, but this is one of the biggest shows on TV these days. (I'm) just not impressed."

"Stupid people who don't know how to push buttons right. I am most seriously displeased," posted another who identified herself as Lynda.

On CTV, the show airs at 8 p.m. ET, while the U.S. version airs at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

Many fans who tuned in to CTV said they couldn't quite put their finger on what was wrong with the show.

"We were trying to figure out if they were just artfully leaving some gaps for the viewers to figure out what happened, or if indeed they were airing the wrong episode," said one blogger.

After the mistake became clear (ABC aired the correct version), fans took to the Internet, begging viewers who watched the CTV episode not to ruin it for them.

"Now that I know that Canada got next week's episode, I'm going to be frightened of spoilers constantly until next week!" wrote jasminelily.

"If you live in Canada, please don't include any spoilers about the second episode!" implored a blog on the USA Today website.

CTV spokesman Mike Cosentino said the network took in its regular satellite feed of the show thinking it was the season premiere.

"We were fed an incorrect show," he said Friday. "We recognize the scope of this situation."

The network has announced it will air the season premiere next Thursday, when it would have aired Episode 2.

The error came as "Grey's Anatomy" made its much-anticipated debut in a new Thursday night timeslot, a fact not lost on fans.

"After a whole summer of pimping the new timeslot, CTV showed the wrong episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' last night," said alias-elaina.

"How did they screw THAT up? Someone is so fired."

Cosentino called the CTV glitch a "good news/bad news scenario."

"The bad news is viewers missed Episode 1 and we're working on the right solution to remedy that, and the good news is - Episode 2 is fantastic."

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=a699c60b-9ed3-4fe1-b012-431cd8dd91eb&k=34330



Could there have been a sat feed problem ? Or just an excuse ?

Indecency Update ...

As expected, the FCC has gotten an earful about its recent indecency rulings. Today, it posted links to many of the comments it has received on this page (http://www.fcc.gov/DA06-1739/) of its website. Follow the links and you can read the comments, most of which are against the FCC's recent crackdown, in .pdf format and in their entirety. (The Parents Television Council filing is the only "pro" filing I could find.)

Here are some highlights (opinions below are not necessarily mine):


"... Decisions about acceptable media content are extraordinarily personal; no two people or families will have the same set of values, especially in a nation as diverse as ours. Defining which 'community standard' is appropriate for purposes of regulating broadcast content, therefore, is increasingly difficult and raises serious First Amendment concerns."

-- Adam Thierer, Senior Fellow, Progress and Freedom Foundation


"... The true cost of censorship is not just monetary. It must also be measured by that which Americans are denied the opportunity to see: the innovative and compelling creative works that are kept off the air because the easiest way to avoid FCC indecency fines is to avoid airing anything that comes close to crossing the indecency line, wherever that may be."

-- A filing by Jonathan Rintels, Executive Director, Center for Creative Voices in Media


"But most importantly ... no amount of warning, rating, or blocking mechanism absolves broadcasters from adhering to their public interest requirements, among them the adherence to the broadcast decency law. Simply put, it is the broadcasters’ responsibility – those who hold licenses to use the public airwaves at no charge and at great profit to themselves – to ensure that they are in compliance with the law. It is not the viewer’s responsibility to protect him or herself from content broadcast over the public airwaves, nor should we expect children to do so for themselves. We would not tell freeway drivers they must protect themselves from drunk drivers by deploying seatbelts and airbags. We hold those accountable who perpetrate the wrongdoing."

-- A filing written by Tim Winter, Executive Director, Parents Television Council

Critic’s Notebook
“Grey’s Anatomy”:
Shiva call
By Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger in his TV blog “What’s Alan Watching” Friday, September 22, 2006

If I've been stalling all day on posting my "Grey's Anatomy" review, it's partly because I have two columns to write for Monday's paper, but mostly because I didn't have much of a reaction to it. The storytelling felt a little frayed, even aside from the flashbacks, and if I had any kind of emotional stake in Meredith/Finny/McDreamy, it must have vanished over the summer.

Lots of potentially huge moments -- George and McDreamy quarantined by The Plague, Weber's marriage in trouble, Alex rushing that baby out of the ER -- that all fell flat, maybe because they were all crammed into the same hour. Really, other than Addison's scenes, plus Callie expounding Shonda Rhimes' life philosophy to Finn, I was completely unmoved. I felt more worked up by the final shot of "The Office" than I did by this whole hour.

Just me? The audience was huge, edging "CSI" by a few million viewers and whalloping it in the young adult demos. People were so excited to have "Grey's" back that the clip show finished ahead of "Earl" and "The Office" in the Nielsens. I just wonder if they felt as excited by the time 10 o'clock rolled around.

Definitely not excited? ABC execs responsible for "Six Degrees," which shed about 10 million viewers from the end of "Grey's," and another four million at the halfway point, which makes the "Studio 60" half-hour fall-off look respectable in comparison.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/09/greys-anatomy-shiva-call.html

Thanks harley1 -- great post!

Harley1: I’d put a spoiler alert on this for Canadian viewers, but sadly for them spoilers have abounded in this thread already.
Critic’s Notebook
Tick, Tick, Tick: Grey's Anatomy Season Premiere

By Caroline Palmer in the Broadcasting & Cable BCBeat blog

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick….

After a long nap in an unused OR, we found ourselves last night safely ensconced within the disinfected walls of Grace Hospital in Seattle with the pretty, tortured—and just a little too cutesy—cast of Grey’s Anatomy.



The plot picked up right where it dropped us off slack-jawed last season (Denny’s dead? Did Meredith really just sleep with McDreamy at the prom? How does a woman who eats that much stay so thin?), but along with moving us forward, this premiere was also pulling us back in time with a series of enlightening flashbacks.

Indicated by a Pavlovian stopwatch, the fond—and not so fond—memories of life before their tour of duty as hospital employees started come flooding back to all the major characters. Izzie remembers the welcome cocktail party for the new interns. Meredith, seemingly contemplating the meaning of marriage and infidelity post-Prom Romp, thinks back to being on a merry-go-round and her mother and Dr. Webber have a affair-ending argument. Addison recalls the spectacular martial blowout when Derek discovered she had slept with his best friend. And Derek? He dreams back to the tequila- swilling night when he first laid eyes on the sinewy, squinty Meredith Grey.

In real time, however, things were less cozy than chance meetings in dark bars. Izzie, still wearing her pink prom dress, was lying on the floor of her bathroom, paralyzed with the loss of her love (and patient) Denny. Addison tacked Meredith’s “misplaced” underwear up on the staff bulletin board for the entire world to see. And George wrestled with the concept of saying “I love you”. Oh—and then there was some of that medical stuff so crucial to the plot of this hospital drama--somebody had some sort of plague or something, a some Catholic school girl dumped her baby in the garbage.

It ends, predictably, with Derek telling Meredith that he loves her and that he has loved her for a long time. Then he tells her she must chose between her two suitors. He also points out that when he had a choice to make (Addison v. Meredith)—he made the wrong decision. I am taking bets here that Meredith won’t be hitching her wagon to our eager, exceedingly tolerant veterinarian friend whose “You-can- walk- all –over- me- because- I -would –die- for –you” schtick makes me think he needs a copy of The Rules and a few cc’s of pride—stat.

http://broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138.html

Cable TV Nielsen Notebook
Cable News Ratings for September 21, 2006


Because some of you are interested in such stuff….I try to post cable news ratings occasionally, just to give you a snapshot of how things are going.

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 921,000 viewers
CNN - 494,000 viewers
MSNBC - 279,000 viewers
CNBC - 149,000 viewers
HLN - 251,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,676,000 viewers
CNN - 774,000 viewers
MSNBC - 452,000 viewers
CNBC - 119,000 viewers
HLN - 463,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 296,000 viewers
CNN - 194,000 viewers
MSNBC - 118,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 48,000 viewers
HLN - 110,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 428,000 viewers
CNN - 280,000 viewers
MSNBC - 170,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 42,000 viewers
HLN - 178,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends - 1,008,000 viewers (446,000),
American Morning - 423,000 viewers (189,000)
Imus in the Morning - 318,000 viewers (133,000)
Robin & Co. - 250,000 (134,000)

6PM - P2+ (25-54)
Special Report with Brit Hume - 1,301,000 viewers (334,000)
Lou Dobbs Tonight - 984,000 viewers (334,000)
Tucker - 195,000 viewers (92,000)
Mad Money - 164,000 viewers (a scratch with 44,000)
Prime News - 156,000 viewers (69,000)

7PM - P2+ (25-54)
FOX Report with Shepard Smith - 1,326,000 viewers (350,000)
The Situation Room - 677,000 viewers (240,000)
Hardball - 309,000 viewers (140,000)
On the Money - 124,000 viewers (a scratch with 39,000)
Glenn Beck - 254,000 viewers (124,000)

8PM - P2+ (25-54)
O’Reilly Factor - 2,134,000 viewers (474,000)
Paula Zahn Now - 631,000 viewers (193,000)
Olbermann - 425,000 viewers (123,000)
Kudlow & Company - a scratch with 112,000 viewers (a scratch with 17,000)
Nancy Grace - 689,000 viewers (262,000)

9 PM - P2+ (25-54)
Hannity & Colmes - 1,535,000 viewers (402,000)
Larry King Live - 939,000 viewers (348,000)
Scarborough - 542,000 viewers (194,000)
Mad Money - a scratch with 109,000 viewers (54,000)
Glenn Beck - 393,000 viewers (144,000)

10 PM P2+ (25-54)
On the Record w/Greta Van Susteren - 1,360,000 viewers (409,000)
Anderson Cooper 360 - 753,000 viewers (300,000)
MSNBC Reports - 388,000 viewers (194,000)
Donnie Deutsch - 136,000 viewers (55,000)
Nancy Grace - 307,000 viewers (127,000)

11 PM P2+ (25-54)
O’Reilly Factor - 1,097,000 viewers (403,000)
Anderson Cooper 360 - 426,000 viewers (212,000)
MSNBC Investigates - 314,000 viewers (172,000)
On the Money - a scratch with 97,000 viewers (a scratch with 40,000)
Showbiz Tonight - 241,000 viewers (147,000)

http://insidecable.blogsome.com/2006/09/22/thrusdays-numbers/

Am I reading things right that The Office fared better than Earl in some respects? Looks positive eh?

heh, I wonder if the mistake in Canada with Grey's Anatomy is going to get leaked onto the Internet.

Thge top-rated show four days into the 2006-2007 season:

Nielsen Notebook
Top Prime Time Ratings for Sept. 18-21

Top shows of the week (Monday- Thursday)
(Based on Fast National Ratings, Total Viewers)

1. Grey’s Anatomy ABC 25.14 million
2. CSI CBS 22.04 million viewers
3. Dancing With The Stars ABC 18.07 million viewers
4. Survivor: Cook Islands CBS 17.26 million viewers
5. CSI: Miami CBS 17.21 million viewers
6. CSI: NY CBS 15.96 million viewers
7. Deal or No Deal (Monday) NBC 15.61 million viewers
8. Criminal Minds CBS 15.59 Million Viewers
9. ER NBC 15.58 million viewers
10. Two and a Half Men CBS 15.07 million viewers
11. Shark CBS 14.95 million viewers
12. Dancing With The Stars Results Show ABC 14.89 million viewers
13. Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.37 million viewers

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

One of the reasons’ Maureen Ryan is a great read (aside from the fact she can write wonderfully) is that she, like me, loves TV. She doesn’t look at her job as excuse to show off how smart she is and how dumb TV executives are. Yet sometimes she can be really, really cutting (and funny.)
I was going to save this and post it Monday, when the show will premiere, but maybe you need a laugh to start the weekend. That is if you are not connected with the show she is reviewing.

Critic’s Notebook
A nominee for fall's worst new show

From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 22, 2006

You could watch the first few episodes of “Heroes,” or you could repeatedly hit yourself on the head with a brick. The effect is surprisingly similar.

“Heroes” is a drama about regular people who develop superpowers, and it appears to have been reverse-engineered: It gives the impression that the creators of the show said, “Hey, let’s make a show that will appeal to comic-book geeks and `Lost’ freaks!”

Not a bad idea, but the turgid, slow-motion execution on display in “Heroes” (Monday 9 PM ET/PT, NBC) is an insult to America’s nerd nation. We deserve better than this stinky mess.

“Heroes” is what you’d get if you crossed the “Spiderman” flicks and “Lost,” but took out the interesting characters, suspenseful plotting, compelling dialogue and imaginative storytelling. One wonders if the title of the show was a response to the mandate for one-word monikers this fall: A more appropriate name would be “Watching Paint Dry.”

But if you must know, here’s what it’s about: A guy thinks he can fly, and spends a lot of time moodily standing about on rooftops. Another female character - a cheerleader, of course - has super-duper healing abilities. That sounds kind of cool to have, but she angrily stomps around as though somebody just stole her favorite hair gel.

Given that the show features a cheerleader, there must be a stripper too, obviously. That plot involves something about the stripper’s alter ego killing bad dudes, but after watching three episodes, I still don’t really know what her deal is and I frankly could not care less.

There’s a Japanese guy who apparently has the power to teleport himself through space and time, and an artist who has visions of things yet to come, yada yada. The basic elements of these stories are repeated ad nauseam, but astonishingly little new information was added to those outlines over three full episodes.

I often wished I could teleport myself away from this plodding nightmare, but I remained plunked on the couch, stunned into submission by the pretentious voice-overs that attempted to make this “humans are evolving to a higher plane” muddle appear profound.

There’s also an Indian guy named Mohinder, the son of a famous genetic scientist, who talks endlessly about having to continue his late father’s research. He gets multiple indications that very bad people killed his father and are after him, too, but what does he do? He takes up residence in dad’s New York City apartment and, of course, keeps the computer hard drive with all of his father’s most precious research there.

Take the brick, apply it to your forehead with force: Trust me, it’ll hurt less than trying to make sense of these kinds of insultingly dumb plot points.

So, to sum up, we’re supposed to believe a man can fly, but not to believe that anyone in this show would use regular, God-given brain cells to, you know, survive. Another of the many crimes of “Heroes”: It drags in the lovable Greg Grunberg from “Alias.” He’s a cop in a story line involving a serial killer - because, you know, there just aren’t enough serial killers on TV already.

“Lost” has nothing to fear from this preposterous, brain-numbing show, but “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” certainly does. “Studio 60” follows “Heroes,” but that’s like having “The Flintstones” as a lead-in to “Deadwood.” It just ain’t right.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Well, I've usually enjoyed most of Maureen's stuff I've read as well, but I really hope she's off with this article. I've read good and bad reviews of "Heroes" so far, but it's still personally my most anticipated show of the season.

I'll be posting many more "Heroes" reviews (along with "Runaway" the two new Monday shows) on Sunday and Monday, RockyF.

And tomorrow and Sunday I'll be posting a lot of critical looks at "Brothers & Sisters" which debuts on ABC Sunday night. I'll also be posting many of the critics' comments about "Desperate Housewives" and whether it can regain the level of quality it had during its first season.

By the way, don't let reviews scare you away from shows you think you might like. The TV critics have to sit through hours and hours and hours of shows and you never know how their mood might be when the view any one of them.

Critic’s Notebook
TV goes inside TV for trio of new series
By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic

Behind the screen, back of the wires and cathode ray tubes, beyond the advertisers, shareholders and network censors, past programming, casting and the writers' room - there's a world of entertainment in seeing how the TV sausage squeezes through the grinder.

Television is testing our preoccupation with television.

Some of the most memorable moments in this fall's premieres occur on the shows-within- shows, and in the trading of insider dope. These self-referential bits assume a certain amount of behind-the-scenes knowledge of TV.

On occasional glimpses of a telenovela within ABC's "Ugly Betty," the one-hour dramedy adapted from a telenovela, executive producer Salma Hayek camps it up as an over-the-top, overacting telenovela actress. Not just a parody of a melodramatic soap, this is a parody of Hayek's early career. Viewers hip to the scenery-chewing aspects of telenovelas will look for these fleeting segments. (In one, Hayek appears as a jilted lover wailing that her baby's father is the clerical-collar-wearing reverend in the scene.)

On "The Girlie Show," the show within Tina Fey's show "30 Rock" on NBC, there's a problem and the new network suit is determined to fix things with a forced casting decision. Tracy Morgan flips out, a thinly veiled reference to Martin Lawrence in real life. If the series flops following its Oct. 11 premiere, we'll wish the focus had remained on "The Girlie Show" rather than the peripheral relationships.

Famed "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels isn't referenced in the Fey pilot (he is executive producer), but he is mentioned in the second hour of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the Aaron Sorkin drama about a late-night show much like "Saturday Night Live," on the same network.

On the sketch within "Studio 60," failed comedy is the thing. We can only imagine: A pair of hack writers keep writing something called "Peripheral Vision Man," said to be unfunny. The new writer-producers (played by Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry) are stuck with those writers until their contracts run out.

On the second episode, next Monday, a successful musical parody within the show is staged, and we see it take shape from a muttered lyric to a full-blown symphonic ode to Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance." The bit is intended as an apology and a promise to be "the very model of a modern network TV show."

The sketch within the show is a loving tribute to the miraculous moments

when TV rises above the demands of commerce to become art. Knowing that addiction-challenged Sorkin dated devout Christian actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth ("The West Wing") furthers appreciation of Matt's (Perry) shattered romance with Harriet (Sarah Paulson), a blond, devoutly Christian cast member on "Studio 60."

As television dives behind the scenes, audiences will decipher who's who (ABC honcho Jamie Tarses was never as endearing as Amanda Peet's honcho Jordan McDeere). With average citizens following box office and Nielsen numbers, it's no wonder the backstage politics and insider gossip is deemed compelling to the masses.

The second episode of "Studio 60," airing Monday on Channel 9, lets viewers in on the messy world of network-affiliate relations. When the general managers of several small-market stations refuse to air a sketch called "Crazy Christians," fearing it may cause an uproar among viewers, the network chief delivers a logical explanation of why it's important for business reasons to keep the affiliates happy. The business of showbiz is what keeps the whole thing afloat, after all.

This being a Sorkin script, another boss offers an even more stirring diatribe on the virtues of free speech. If a tiny rural TV market doesn't want to take the risk of offending a few humorless nuts and run the network's show, says Jordan (Peet), just wait until it becomes a hit. Then, she declares, the network will charge a penalty fee to any affiliate that didn't carry it from the beginning.

Network hardball on display.

Asked whether the humor is too "inside" for mass consumption, Fey said her half-hour is really just a "workplace comedy."

Clearly, the more you know, the more you appreciate.

http://www.denverpost.com/ostrow

Thanks fredfa, I know what you mean about critics, in fact that's one of the reasons I enjoy this thread so much, it's funny to see to articles with completely different opinions posted right next to each other. A lot of shows seem to be loved by some critics and hated by others. I read a lot of them, but ultimately the only opinion that matters is my own, unless of course a show I like gets canned after 3 episodes! Overall, as many of the articles have stated, this is an exceptionally strong year, but there's still only so much TV I have time to watch and still be able to have a life, so I'm not sampling all the shows I thought I would back in May.

Critic’s Notebook
'Grey' Matters
By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Critic in his “The Mayor Of Television blog

"Age before beauty" doesn't really apply in the land of Television, unless of course it refers to who's being shown the door.

ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" pretty effectively whipped CBS's "CSI" in their first showdown this season, 25.1 million viewers to 22 million. What really tilts things in "Grey's" direction are the numbers from premiere week last year: "GA" gained more than 6 million new viewers, while "CSI" lost 7 million. Somewhere, a very zealous TV writer is already pounding out "CSI's" obituary.

A clips show of "Grey's Anatomy" even did well at 8 p.m., with 13.5 million viewers, though "Survivor: It's Our Rancid Idea and We're Sticking With It" won the hour with 17.25 million. "Earl"/"Office" did what's considered OK for NBC these days, each with about 9 million fans, with yet more "Deal or No Deal" at 9 p.m. luring 10 million lobotomy patients.

At 10 p.m., "ER" -- the Michael Myers of TV; just when you think that finally, finally it's dead and you can return to going about your life, it springs up and assaults you anew -- won the hour opposite two new series' debuts. It began lucky season No. 13 with 15.6 million viewers. CBS's "Shark" had 15 million and ABC's "Six Degrees" had 13.3 million, but the big deal here is that "Six Degrees" lost a lot more of its lead-in audience than "Shark" did, not that "Shark's" viewer retention (not to be confused with water retention -- industry-ese is a joy to speak) was anything to write home about. More damning for "Six Degrees," however, is the fact that it lost 4 million viewers over the course of the episode, meaning many, many people just did not care if the guy who saw the girl with the kid was going to befriend the other guy whose brother knew a guy ...

Fox was hoping to be more competitive on Thursdays this season but it looks like it ain't gonna happen. Its lineup of "'Til Death:" "Happy Hour" and "Celebrity Duets" consistently lost steam as the night wore on, beginning with 6.8 million viewers and shedding half, to 3.3 million, by the time Little Richard and David Foster were done getting on one another's nerves.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/2006/09/grey_matters.html

Thanks fredfa, I know what you mean about critics, in fact that's one of the reasons I enjoy this thread so much, it's funny to see to articles with completely different opinions posted right next to each other. A lot of shows seem to be loved by some critics and hated by others. I read a lot of them, but ultimately the only opinion that matters is my own, unless of course a show I like gets canned after 3 episodes! Overall, as many of the articles have stated, this is an exceptionally strong year, but there's still only so much TV I have time to watch and still be able to have a life, so I'm not sampling all the shows I thought I would back in May.


I am having the same kind of trouble. Some of them will get sampled once, then archived and I'll get to them after November sweeps when we have a 4-5 week lull and I'm looking for new shows to enjoy. And by then perhaps a couple of them will have gone to the great DuMont sound stage in the sky, and I won't have to worry about them.

Personally, while I am finding that while on some shows I agree with the critics ("Studio 60") some others which weren't well received are enjoyable, too. I have just seen the pilot of "Shark" and had a good time with it. Its not ground breaking by any means, and it is very formulaic, but I found it fun nonetheless.

And despite critical pans, I am finding "Men In Trees" a potential delight.

I am, like you, looking forward to "Heroes" and Sunday's return of "Desperate Housewives" to see if it can regain some of its luster, and curious about "Brothers and Sisters" -- although I am still miffed that they axed Betty Buckley.

I'd love it if you readers would chime in with some of the new shows you have enjoyed so far.....

Critic’s Notebook
“CSI”
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

I caught up to ''CSI'' this morning and right off the bat it reminded me of something that had struck me during ''Grey's Anatomy'': the perils of improved TV technology. I watch shows on my HD set for the most part, and last night's ''Grey's'' was absolutely brutal about Ellen Pompeo's skin. ''CSI'' reminded me of that because it was visually dazzling (the sound's pretty great, too) in that Cirque du Soleil opening and beyond. The attention to lighting, the sharpness of the picture -- I kept having to pull myself back into the story because I would be admiring the visuals.

Beyond that, it was clear at a ''CSI'' press conference this summer that the show was ready to rumble with ''Grey's,'' and it sure did tonight. The Cirque stuff. John Mayer. The Danny Bonaduce stunt. Setting up two more storylines for continuation. How good Marg Helgenberger was in that last series of scenes. Brass's tattoo.

And, for everyone still amazed at the end of last season, the show is gleefully playing with the audience regarding Sara and Grissom. Nothing explicit said by either but they're sure hitting the notes, not only in the meal business but in that ''bye'' scene. It's not exactly sexual tension -- since we know they've crossed that bridge -- but it sure is tension, and great fun to watch.

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

By the way, don't let reviews scare you away from shows you think you might like. The TV critics have to sit through hours and hours and hours of shows and you never know how their mood might be when the view any one of them.

Right. The reviews seem to have little correlation to whether I like a show. I enjoyed the first episode of Heroes and it's on my list.

- Tom

One of the reasons I like to post so many of them, Tom, is that readers might find a critic they can agree with generally.

Or a stray comment or thought of a critic you would not ordinarily read might get you to give a show a chance.

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
A Righty Among Lefties
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times September 22, 2006

The ABC drama “Brothers and Sisters” tweaks the conventions of nighttime soaps like “Dynasty” and “Dallas.” The Walker fortune was founded on produce, not oil, and the black sheep is a right-wing radio commentator who is a discredit to her Prius-driving, stem-cell-research- loving, antiwar-mongering relatives.

Yet Calista Flockhart plays the rebel with a conservative cause as mild, tentative and tender, which is about as likely as a frisky coma patient. Of course, not all commentators on cable or talk radio are as fierce and quarrelsome as Ann Coulter.

Some are like Nancy Grace.

This casting choice is unfortunate. As Kitty, Ms. Flockhart is making her first serious return to television since “Ally McBeal,” but she is not convincing as a woman of conviction. And that is too bad, because “Brothers and Sisters” has wit and grace. It’s a high-minded melodrama in the tradition of “Picket Fences” and “Thirtysomething.” (Ken Olin, who played Michael Steadman on that show, is an executive producer.) While “Desperate Housewives” begins its third season on Sunday in the same tiresomely campy vein as the second, “Brothers and Sisters,” which immediately follows, has a playful tone, but it takes its characters seriously.

ABC defines “Brothers and Sisters” as a family saga, not a soap opera, and there is a difference. There is more to siblings than rivalry on these kinds of shows. The grown Walker children like one another and can make one another laugh; on soap operas, even the sophisticated nighttime versions, brothers and sisters mostly hiss, scheme and slam doors.

Rachel Griffiths (“Six Feet Under”) is Sarah, the sister who traded her corporate job for a less demanding position in the family business to salvage her troubled marriage. Sarah is intelligent and grounded, and keeps her unhappiness well hidden; Ms. Griffiths is mesmerizing in the role. On screen the two actresses not only do not look like sisters, they also seem to be performing on different shows.

Tom Skerritt (“Picket Fences”) plays William Walker, the patriarch and head of the Ojai Food Company. He’s so loving to his wife, Nora (Sally Field), that the marriage makes their children feel inadequate. Or as Kitty puts it, “They are so Ron and Nancy.”

Kitty returns to California from New York to interview for a job on a “Crossfire”-like cable talk show, after a long absence that was fueled by a fight with her mother. She goes home to find that the other bright, attractive and privileged Walker children are not doing so well under the surface. Sarah is in marriage counseling; the youngest brother, Justin (Dave Annable), is an Afghan war veteran with a substance abuse problem; Kevin (Matthew Rhys), a gay lawyer, can’t settle into a steady relationship; and Thomas (Balthazar Getty), who is a manager in the family business, has cash-flow problems and his own set of marital woes.

Even William turns out to have some secrets.

Kitty tries to mend matters with her mother, but Nora cannot forgive her daughter for encouraging Justin to fight in Afghanistan. Nora greets Kitty with a cheeriness that strains under the weight of its artifice. “You could use a little sun,” Nora tells the child she hasn’t spoken to in three years. “Maybe some raisins.”

Ms. Field has perfect pitch as a devoted mother who always puts her husband ahead of her children.

Nora and Sarah steal every scene they are in, but the show is centered on Kitty, a single 39-year-old whose defining trait seems to be an only slightly less coltish version of McBealian ambivalence. Kitty is torn between radio and television, and she also cannot make up her mind whether to advance her career or marry her rich, handsome and bossy boyfriend. She wants to reconcile with her mother, but sometimes she doesn’t. Maybe she should move to California, but what about New York?

The premiere opens with a scene that is too flitty for Ms. Flockhart’s new incarnation: she is arguing as she packs a suitcase, only it turns out that she is holding an imaginary conversation with her mother, and even in that exchange, she cannot score a point.

The writers use Kitty’s political views as a device to heighten family tensions, but they don’t fit the character’s personality. Kitty is constantly telling people that she feels “passionately” about political issues, but she doesn’t say what they are, and her strongest emotion seems to be wistfulness. “I am a conservative,” Kitty says after a raucous family dinner. “Tough on crime, big on defense, America first, old-fashioned and in your face.”

The transition from It Girl to actress is not easy, and in the late 90’s and beyond, Ms. Flockhart was as imprisoned in the McBeal persona as Marlo Thomas was by “That Girl” or Mary Tyler Moore by Mary Richards. It takes a lot of work to change so fixed and immutable an image. Ms. Flockhart can be charming, but she is too soft to play a hardliner.

“Brothers and Sisters” has flair, but sometimes less family is more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/arts/television/22brot.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

Critic’s Notebook
A nominee for fall's worst new show

From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 22, 2006

“Lost” has nothing to fear from this preposterous, brain-numbing show, but “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” certainly does. “Studio 60” follows “Heroes,” but that’s like having “The Flintstones” as a lead-in to “Deadwood.”

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Love that line! :D

BTW, missing from all this 'Grey's Anatomy kicks 'CSI's ass' discussion is the fact that, on hindsight, NBC did the right thing by moving Studio 60 the heck out of that deadly 9PM Thursday time slot. Everybody pointed out back in May that NBC was in panic mode when it moved Deal or no Deal into Thursdays after ABC announced it was moving its new #1 hit from Sundays. But if NBC hadn't removed Sorkin's promising show from between this clash of titans it would have been crushed (as Fox and CW programs were) and people would be writing how stupid NBC was to leave one of its most promising new shows in a no-win situation. NBC would have two expensive underperformers instead of just 'Kidnapped' springing a leak. 'DOND' may have come in third (and likely to rank that for a long time) but, because it's so cheap to produce and more episodes can be made quickly (unlike the 22-per-season episode count of the scripted dramas), NBC will be making money off the time slot rather than killing a potential new hit ('Studio 60'). I hate it when TV writers, like political/sports/movie/news/media/etc. writers, miss the context of a story because they're so busy with the more easy-to-explain horse race aspect of program scheduling. :mad:

I agree, Dad, but I think quite a few of them understood that NBC really had no choice.

And the fact is, also, that were "CSI" and "Grey's Anatomy" to keep the numbers of viewers they had Thursday night, both networks would make a lot of money, no matter how the horse race stories go.

The New Season
`Brothers & Sisters' and “Desperate Housewives”
Not simply another act of desperation
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times TV critic September 24, 2006

"Brothers & Sisters" stars Calista Flockhart as a really sweet, emotionally available right-wing pundit. The show, a family melodrama about the Walkers of California (I'm guessing Agoura Hills, but you could tell me Valencia and I wouldn't quibble) represents ABC's attempt to keep the women vote strong on Sunday night, after its boldest chess move of the off-season, putting "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursdays to compete against "CSI."

Back in Sunday-night-land, "Desperate Housewives" premieres its third season as an enviable hit that is, somehow, old news. There have been changes to the writing staff (Joe Keenan, veteran of "Frasier," was hired, also Jeff Greenstein off of "Will & Grace" and "Friends") amid a sense that the show lost track of the satirical whodunit formula that first made it a titillating cocktail.

"Desperate Housewives" has from the start been a light comedic mystery teasing Tupperware Nation, with bipartisan eye candy. The network sent out tonight's premiere to critics early (it's not like they gave us "Lost"). The worry for ABC is that Sundays are no longer hearth-like, what with "Grey's" making money on Thursday and NBC showing up with Sunday night's "Football Night in America" followed by, you know, three more hours of football in prime time. In households all across America, one pictures a skirmish of the sexes, the loser having to take the fourth TV in the spare bedroom.

In a perfect world you would have been able to put Flockhart in "Desperate" and expanded each episode to two hours. Think of the publicity, hear that voice-over: Flockhart, the newest arrival on Wisteria Lane, all moony-eyed at the kitchen table, in a robe, having just poisoned her doltish husband because it annoyed her one too many times, the way he hummed while he read the funnies.

Flockhart could even go on talking to the husband, unloading a marriage's worth of grievances as the neighbors begin to smell something; this would be her introductory character arc and we'd love her for it.

Instead ABC had to build an entirely new wing for her on Sunday night, find her a new crop of friends.

On the horribly titled "Brothers & Sisters" she is Kitty Walker, the golden-child-who-went-to-New York-and-has-now-come-back to her extended clan. They include Sally Field as her mother, Tom Skerritt as her father, Rachel Griffiths as her sister and Ron Rifkin as her Jewish Uncle Saul, which is confusing since the Walkers are obviously not temple people.

The pilot has a "Steel Magnolias" feel to it: Too many stars, too many faces, too many names, a cornucopia of character business. Griffiths, last seen in "Six Feet Under," is in a sexless marriage; Skerritt is skimming funds from the company, presumably to pay off a "mystery woman" (Patricia Wettig), forcing Rifkin's Uncle Saul to move money around (he's good with the money). Field, as an emotionally fragile mother, is very present, as you might expect, particularly in scenes where she and Flockhart butt heads over politics.

None of the Walkers look like a fellow Walker, except maybe the boys — Kevin, a gay yuppie lawyer (Matthew Rhys); Tommy, "the loyal son yet charming womanizer" (Balthazar Getty); and Justin (Dave Annable), the youngest son, who went off to fight in Afghanistan post-9/11, with Kitty's full sisterly, Republican support. Now he's manifesting some post-traumatic stress, although he pulls it together enough each morning to put product in his hair so that it looks bed-head-ish.

"Brothers & Sisters" was created by playwright Jon Robin Baitz, which might have mollified Flockhart, who has a theater background.

Flockhart still isn't talking to the press, but it seems to me she chose this role partly to get back at the insane attention she got as a TV star — what for her became the creepy, assumed intimacy that resulted in people caring how much she weighed.

A rare 'issues' drama

For Flockhart, then, it would be simple math: Kill off Ally by playing Ann Coulter.

Not that Kitty is nearly that obnoxious, nor icy-scary. She's more plucky naif who surprises you on a first date by revealing she's "tough on crime, big on defense, America first, old-fashioned." Professionally, she's someone for whom "politics is not about show business." Kitty has a satellite radio show in New York, we're to believe (because we don't hear it), and she's back home interviewing for the right-wing talking head position on a "Crossfire"-type series.

There's a boy involved in Kitty's life, a fiancé, but the pilot makes him a drone: The real romance is between the independent woman and the bonds of family, between the demure intellect and the rough-and-tumble world of entertainment politics.

"Brothers & Sisters" has reportedly been "troubled." This happens when you futz with a show (Field replaced Betty Buckley as the mother, and then Marti Noxon, one of the executive producers, quit, replaced by Greg Berlanti of "Everwood").

The pilot feels as though the series could go on to be about any number of things; it's hard to explain its first hour without demanding complete silence for a full three minutes.

The show, I will assume, remains the collaboration of Berlanti; Baitz, the author of "The Substance of Fire" and "Mizlansky/Zilinsky," among other plays, films and television; and Ken Olin, the former "thirtysomething" actor who has gone on to a nice career above the line in series TV.

He's carrying on the look and tone and substance of shows created by "thirtysomething" executive producers Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, who did liberal-humanist, attractive-looking series ("My So-Called Life," "Once and Again," "Relativity") about looking inward — at the midlife crisis or high school self-consciousness — for story.

Those sorts of "issues" dramas have fallen out of favor in an era when procedurals and paranormal behavior are in fashion. You don't get too many shots at doing a "Brothers & Sisters" anymore, and you can feel the show's kitchen-sink topicality, Baitz including not just the corrosive world of punditry but also gay sons and sex therapy for married people and a mother-daughter conflict connected to the war in Afghanistan.

It's easy, under these conditions, to nonsensically cast Ron Rifkin as a Jewish uncle. "Brothers & Sisters" is working uphill for the same reason "Desperate Housewives" is a success — the former show strives for a real investigation of American life, American values, whereas the latter sees much of it as an object of soft, escapist ridicule.

After a while, I began to wonder if "Brothers & Sisters" could be reconstituted as something broader — "Dynasty" in a post-9/11 world. It seemed to have the ingredients.

The comparatively unfazed-by-the-outside-world "Desperate Housewives" begins this season with a talking parrot and another mysteriously missing and/or dead housewife. It's "Desperate Housewives" all over again — the whodunit overlaid by a titillating comedy of shame-based suburban manners and shame-based depravity, the word "bitch" used scandalously.

On Wisteria Lane, Bree (Marcia Cross) is about to marry a psychopath; Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) is engaged in immigrant-on-immigrant abuse of the Chinese housekeeper carrying her baby; Susan (Teri Hatcher) is finding a new guy to replace the comatose one; and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is trying to exercise patience with her husband and his love child.

Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) is selling the house where it all started. We see her posed in a downpour, very much for sale, or at least for lease.

As TV, "Desperate Housewives" is like really safe porn: Even if you're caught you can explain.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-brothers24sep24,0,323135,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

Okay Fred:

What I like so far.

Studio 60 was interesting enough for me to check it out for a few more episodes.

I did not think I'd have any interest in "Men in Trees" but ended up liking it. It's also nice to see Abraham Benrubi as something other than a cluess receptionist or dorky 'big guy.'

Biggest laugh so far? The mushroom clouds seen behind the mountains from mythical Jericho, Kansas.

Critic’s Notebook
Bosom Buddies, Redefined
On 'Boston Legal,' Denny & Alan Go Straight to the Heart of Male Bonding
By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 24, 2006

It's the best love story on television.

Not Homer and Marge. Not that cute married couple on "Medium." Not the HBO polygamists.

It's Denny Crane and Alan Shore in the ABC Tuesday night hit "Boston Legal."

Each episode of the two-year-old dramedy, a spinoff of ABC's "The Practice," ends with lawyers Crane (played by William Shatner) and Shore (James Spader) relaxing on the high-rise balcony of their Boston firm of Crane Poole & Schmidt, recounting their day and their lives thus far.

Sometimes, the two puff cigars. Sometimes, they enjoy a Scotch. Always, they express their love to one another in ways circumspect, confounding, tough, tender and touching. One exchange, in which the characters confessed their many faults to each other, created a signature moment for the pair:

Denny: I'm unfaithful.

Alan: Never to me.

Really, that's all a guy can ask.

Denny Crane and Alan Shore are perhaps the best example of postmodern, heterosexual man-love -- call it a male-la tionship -- currently available in the mass media. It has been a long time coming. We modern men have had to tame our Eternal Caveman, shake off centuries of reflexive homophobia, escape the mythopoetic feely-thicket of Iron Johnliness in order to finally -- finally -- get to this place.

In the relationship between Denny and Alan we find refuge, permission and proxy. Here and now -- "Boston Legal" tells us -- modern hetero-man can freely love fellow hetero-man without worrying about whether it makes us gay, without spending time thinking and talking about our feelings (gaack!) and without expressing affection solely through physical competition, like pickup basketball.

The show, by producer David E. Kelley ("The Practice," "Ally McBeal," "Boston Public"), was created as an ensemble cast. But Shatner and Spader quickly took it over simply by force of personality. Their first balcony scene, for instance, was just one more shot in the show's early episodes, drawn up as counterpoint to the many scenes in the courtroom and the office.

But viewer reaction to the loving repartee between Shatner and Spader was so positive that Kelley and the show's writers quickly made a balcony scene the capstone of each episode. The show, which enters its third season Tuesday, has produced solid ratings. Last season, "Boston Legal" averaged about 10 million viewers per episode, finishing second in the 10 p.m. Tuesday time slot to NBC's "Law & Order: SVU."

Buoyed by such viewer feedback, the writers began to pair up the two in other, off-balcony situations, taking the male-bonding relationship to unexpected but natural-feeling levels of closeness: a fishing trip that included a spooning scene in bed, dressing as matching flamingos at a party, and being tied together with a rope as Denny kept Alan from hurting himself while sleepwalking during an attack of night terrors.

Shatner's Denny is a lawyer-celebrity, a reflexive libertine five times married, a gun-toter (in the office) and quite possibly an Alzheimer's sufferer devoted to making money and the priapic rush of winning cases. Spader's Alan is a hedonist intellectual, always ready with a Wildean riposte, self-destructive and self-loathing, willing to hire thugs to rough up a foe and hating himself for doing it. They are both wounded, deeply flawed characters, at once lovable, pitiable and noble in their majestic ruin.

Yet, like many successful couples, they are opposites in some ways. Alan has a bleeding heart where Denny is a troglodyte right-winger. Alan lays open his weaknesses while Denny tries to suppress them. And there is a 30-year age gap between the two.

Perhaps it's not surprising that the person who pens most of Shatner and Spader's lines is a woman: Janet Leahy is the executive producer and a writer for "Boston Legal."

"I think of their relationship as [their] having sex with women, but they're married to each other," she says.

Indeed, the pair fit the archetype of many fictional husband-wife teams -- Ralph and Alice Kramden, Archie and Edith Bunker, George and Louise Jefferson, Rob and Laura Petrie -- bantering, picking at each other, being disappointed in each other, reveling in each other's accomplishments. The pair also draw on the lineage of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Oscar and Felix, Butch and Sundance and other teams that might as well have been married.

Denny Crane and Alan Shore, however, create intimacies never reached by their slapstick forebears. (HBO watchers will be familiar with this brand of dramatic man-love from last season's "Rome" and the soldier-suitors Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus.)

In interviews, Shatner and Spader talk about how the other actor smells, so close is their on-screen contact.

"It's a very funny friendship that Bill and I have and that Denny and Alan have; it really is," Spader says from California. "We go together."

Shatner and Spader had never worked together before the show. Because Spader's academic parents forbade most television watching, he had only a glancing awareness of Shatner's legendary "Star Trek" past. On the phone, between "Boston Legal" takes at a studio in Manhattan Beach, Spader sounds like a looser version of his controlled Alan Shore character, laughing easily and enthusiastically engaging in the conversation.

Like their characters, Shatner and Spader are quite different. Their "Boston Legal" co-star Rene Auberjonois says that if Shatner's approach to a scene doesn't work, he'll try something else, unfazed by failure. Spader prepares meticulously for each scene, Auberjonois says, and makes laserlike choices.

"I think that when two people are so different, they have an understanding of that and they tend to forgive everything" the other does, Spader says. "If you start from the premise that you're dichotomous in so many ways, you forgive. Bill and I are like that and Alan and Denny are like that."

What distinguishes the characters' friendship is their deep involvement in each other's lives. Alan often acts as Denny's conscience, and there's a willingness to rebuke each other when necessary, or absorb the other's anger, that's more commonly found in a marriage.

"They even enjoy how they drive each other mad; somehow, they feed off of it," Spader says. "They are exactly what they need, whether it be challenging and provoking the other person or supporting and nurturing them."

Shatner wonders if the relationship might be "atavistic."

"The prehistoric men would go out and try and find a mastodon with their spears and their rocks," Shatner begins, also speaking from California during a break in filming. (We've interviewed the man before, and so recognize a good quote is unspooling and stick with him.) "So Bob went left and George went right and Fred decided to go in the middle and stick the spear in the stomach of the mastodon and George had to help save Fred. It became a bonding thing that is not seen too much in our civilization today," Shatner continues, "but is seen a great deal in the military where combat becomes the activity of the moment.

"It's possible to rationalize this relationship [on "Boston Legal"] in the war of life that is being faced by the lawyers in this firm," Shatner concludes. "They are bonded in that kind of unity."

And theirs isn't boy-bonding. "Animal House," "Stripes," "Wedding Crashers," "Caddyshack" and so on feature the high jinks of adult adolescents, charming in their ramshacklery, irresistible to women with their "Who's your buddy?" ways.

Denny Crane and Alan Shore are men, secure in their masculinity, bound together like Capt. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin of Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander" books. Where Denny and Alan have their balcony, Jack and Stephen had their violin-and-cello duos; the two as close and harmonious as a dyad.

Bruno Heller calls such paired relationships "wish fulfillment" for male viewers.

Heller is the executive producer and co-creator of "Rome." Set in the time of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, the HBO series pivots on the aforementioned relationship of two Roman soldiers played by Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson.

"In real life, those kinds of intimate, close, loving relationships [between men] are very rare," Heller says from Rome, where he is shooting the show's upcoming season, set to begin in January. "Romantic love is relatively easy to find in the world. But to find a friend of that sort you can rely on through thick and thin . . . is rare. It's a great charge for men in watching that kind of friendship blossom. It's something that a lot of men wish they had but don't have with each other."

Stevenson's Titus Pullo is a soulful brute, a saturnalian legionnaire of huge appetites for wine, women and blood, who admires and is fiercely loyal to his friend. McKidd's Lucius Vorenus is Pullo's commanding officer, a professional soldier and honorable family man, at once appalled by Pullo's ways yet protective of him. In one scene, Vorenus defies Caesar and leaps into a gladiators' ring to save the condemned Pullo's life just as he is about to be killed.

Heller says it's refreshing to see such male-on-male hetero love affairs being well received by audiences. In the past, he says, such male bonding was acceptable only among groups of men, such as on a sports team or in movies like "Diner."

"I think the true test would be to see an on-screen relationship between a gay man and a straight man," Heller says. "As with a relationship between a man and a woman, it would be nice to see that unresolved sexual tension played out in [a] male relationship . . . and have it just be a part of the grit of the relationship."

On-screen chemistry between characters isn't necessarily an indication of real-life affection between actors. But in this case, it might be.

Shatner took Spader and his girlfriend to a tennis tournament over the summer. Even better, Shatner -- a longtime breeder of quarter horses -- recently bought an American saddle horse and named it Alan Shore.

"It's the perfect horse for the Alan Shore character," Shatner says. "He's puffed-up, he's marvelous, he's jaunty but very steady."

Shatner says that he's looking for a horse to name "Denny Crane."

Which naturally makes us ask: What kind of horse would that be?

Shatner laughs. "A sweaty, wild-gaited horse who doesn't know whether to perform or sire," he says.

If this were a different era, someone would no doubt take this opportunity to weigh in with some Freudian, homo-equino claptrap. Thankfully, we're past that.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092200249_pf.html

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
Flockhart a poor fit for 'Brothers & Sisters
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

It’s never a good sign when you're watching a new TV show and start to think of other actors who might play certain characters.

That's apparently already happened once to ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," (Sunday, 10 PM ET/PT, ABC) which acquired a reputation for being "troubled" about the time Sally Field was hired to replace Betty Buckley.

There's no way to judge from Sunday's premiere, since most TV critics never saw the Buckley version, but the revised pilot did get me to thinking about Calista Flockhart's take on a right-wing talk-show host and prodigal daughter.

And about how much better Anne Heche might have been in that role.

Heche, currently trapped in the fictional town of Elmo, Alaska, courtesy of ABC's "Men in Trees," could have brought much-needed firepower to Flockhart's role, while the "Ally McBeal" veteran could probably do a ditz like the heroine of "Men in Trees" in her sleep.

I suppose it's too late to switch them now.

In fairness to Flockhart, the problems with the character of Kitty - starting with the name Kitty - don't start with her, but with the writing.

Creator Jon Robin Baitz ("The Substance of Fire") seems to lack Aaron Sorkin's ability to write right-wing characters who might actually believe what they say without being, well, simple-minded, and since her conservatism is an aspect of Kitty that comes into play in explaining the rift between her and her mother (Field), getting it right matters.

A family drama about five adult siblings, "Brothers & Sisters" has a cast - including Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, Balthazar Getty, Patricia Wettig, and of course, Field - that's at least as interesting as Flockhart, whose return to TV has gotten most of the attention but who still has a few "Ally" mannerisms left to lose.

Baitz's resume as a playwright and screenwriter seems, however, to promise more than "Brothers & Sisters" so far delivers. (Penn grad Ken Olin, of "thirtysomething" fame, and "Everwood's" Greg Berlanti are also executive producers.)

Based on the first episode, which turns on a number of secrets kept by family patriarch William Walker (Tom Skerritt), we're talking predictable prime-time soap.

It may in time prove a fitting companion to "Desperate Housewives" - which also returns Sunday with further evidence that Wisteria Lane is the most dangerous suburban street in America - but I'm not sure yet that it's worth staying up late for.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15580057.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
Field day for Sally
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

Given that TV is so obsessed with formulas involving doctors, lawyers, ticking clocks and cops, I just have to wonder, is there any hope for the family drama? Can this genre be saved?

Let’s hope so. If nothing else, “Brothers and Sisters” (9:01 p.m. Sunday, WLS-Ch. 7) is a worthy attempt to do just that.

“Brothers” is more than just a richly appointed family saga; the show, which inherits the spot left open by the move of “Grey’s Anatomy” to Thursdays, is also Calista Flockhart’s return to prime-time television. So let’s get that part out of the way first: She’s just fine as conservative talk-show host Kitty Walker. But the former “Ally McBeal” star is far from the only attraction.

“Brothers” caused lots of chatter because of some recasting and behind-the-scenes staff shuffling over the summer; in the end, much of the original pilot was reshot. Copies of that first pilot aren’t available, so it’s impossible to judge how Betty Buckley, who was replaced by Sally Field, filled out the role of Nora, mother of the five Walker kids and wife of a wealthy produce entrepreneur.

Casting Field, however, was an extremely savvy decision. Whether or not you care about Flockhart’s return to network television, you should care about Field’s; her return to the small screen is a showcase for a masterful performance.

As Nora, her watchful, wary brown eyes are alert to every nuance of conversation; she always seems on the verge of speaking her mind, but she covers up that possibly dangerous impulse with cheerful hospitality. That doesn’t fool her kids.

“Please, please, don’t push me. I’m trying so hard. … I was afraid of the things I didn’t want to say,” she tells Kitty, who has returned home to California for the first time in three years after a huge argument with her mom over the post-Sept. 11 wars and her brother Justin’s decision to enlist to fight in Afghanistan.

Flockhart and Field calibrate the conflict between Kitty and Nora perfectly; they both know that one ill-timed word could break them apart forever.

Those two alone would be enough to anchor a prime-time drama, but Rachel Griffiths gives her usual nuanced performance as another Walker sister, Sarah, whose life is the kind of blur that any working mother can relate to. Sarah is troubled that the spark may have gone out of her marriage, and she’s also getting troubling hints that all may not be well at the family produce firm, where she has worked since leaving corporate life.

The dialogue in a short scene between Kitty and Sarah feels a little forced, as does a family dinner-table conversation that comes across as stage-y, but overall, the taste we get of the various Walker family dynamics is intriguing. In an intelligent move, creator Jon Robin Baitz hasn’t made Kitty the sole conservative in the bunch; her father and brother share her views, if not her belief that Mom and Dad’s seemingly idyllic relationship is just like that of “Ron and Nancy” -- as in Reagan.

In any case, the introduction to the five Walker siblings, as well as their parents and spouses, is handled gracefully; it’s not often that a program introduces a dozen characters in the first 15 minutes without making you feel clobbered by information.

But meeting the Walker clan and getting a glimpse at their personal lives -- at their political differences, marriage troubles, possible alcoholism in one case, financial malfeasance in another -- is like being led to a table of tantalizing appetizers. Even as you take a sample of these introductory delights, you’re wondering whether the main course will live up to your expectations.

But so far, so good.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Friday’s network prime-time ratings are now just under the HD football listings at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic
Matt Roush:

Question: I will send this complaint through you, because NBC's website is not "complaint friendly," probably due to the number of complaints they would get. I am a loyal viewer of many NBC shows, but am so upset that they have "postponed" the next season of Medium that I am considering boycotting the network. If not for Law & Order, I would. Don't they realize how many people watch Medium? Patricia Arquette is wonderful, and Jake Weber portrays the ultimate fantasy husband and father. Don't the executives and sponsors at NBC realize that women are the ones who actually watch their shows and commercials and then spend money on sponsors' products? Please make us happy! — Deborah T.

Matt Roush: If I had a dollar for every Medium-related e-mail/question I’ve seen over the last few weeks, I could, well, treat myself to a nice dinner out. (Come to think of it, this being Friday night with little on to catch my fancy, I just might go ahead and do that.) NBC benching Medium has rankled lots of folks, some of whom even wrote in to say that they’d take their anger out on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which is just ridiculous. Studio 60 is only airing in that Monday time period because ABC moved Grey’s Anatomy to Thursdays in the same time period Studio 60 was originally scheduled to air.

The crux of NBC’s scheduling logjam this fall comes with the introduction of the Sunday Night Football franchise, which forced Law & Order: Criminal Intent to Tuesdays and Crossing Jordan to Fridays (a move I also hear regular gripes about). With one less night for NBC to program, something was going to have to sit out the fall. It turned out to be Medium, which strikes me as the sort of utility player that’s going to do pretty well wherever NBC puts it. Could be Sundays after football season is over, could be some other time period if/when one of NBC’s new shows fails. Imagine the outcry if, instead of holding it, NBC had put Medium on Fridays opposite Ghost Whisperer. It’s not like the show got canceled.

Question: I go back and forth about investing in dramas that may be canceled; however, I won't regret a minute spent watching Showtime’s Brotherhood. It has some of the best ensemble acting on TV. Is it doomed, or is there enough critical buzz to overcome the numbers so more people can discover it?— Steven

Matt Roush: Earlier this week, Showtime renewed Brotherhood for a second season, despite its puny numbers. Cheers to Showtime! This, coming on the heels of HBO renewing The Wire for a fifth season, was prompted by critical raves more than ratings. For this, we should be very grateful to pay for cable’s ability to, on occasion, look beyond ratings numbers and keep shows alive that enhance the brand. Brotherhood is out on DVD next week, and maybe that sort of exposure will boost its profile by the time a new season begins sometime next year. Let’s hope so.

Question: After reading every inch of the Fall Preview issue, I had a question for you. What I have found missing now is kids. I have kept every Fall Preview issue for about 20 years, and it is fun to pull them out and look back at the photos and see how they have changed over the years. There used to be at least five shows a year with kids, now I can't seem to find any. My question for you is: Where have all the kids gone?— Rose

Matt Roush: First off, bless you for reading the magazine, something every self-respecting tvguide.com visitor should be doing regularly. But anyway -- for the most part, kids have gone the way of the family comedy and family drama, two near-dead genres. I’m assuming by “kids” you mean “children,” in which case you’re absolutely right: They’re almost invisible. Look closely at the Runaway picture and you can see a cute young kid playing the youngest member of the family on the lam. Otherwise, pretty much nada. The focus of network prime time nowadays is on young adults, rarely on children, and the genre of three-kids-and-a-couch family sitcoms is especially out of favor right now. What TV needs is another Bill Cosby or Tim Allen, or possibly a new Roseanne, to bring kids back in fashion.

Question: Without a doubt, last year’s My Name Is Earl was the breakthrough comedy of the season. But what about this year? I heard positive things about The Class, but it does remind me too much of Friends, primarily because of the ridiculously waspy cast. Then I saw a preview for ABC’s Help Me Help You. At first, the name sounded terrible to me, and it didn't help that I don't care for Ted Danson (I hated Becker). But the supporting characters, like the promiscuous Asian woman and the guy who refuses to accept he’s gay, seem to make this show really funny. What do you think? Should I bother with this one, or are the previews misleading?— Luis

Matt Roush: Too soon to tell. The patients are the funniest thing about Help Me Help You, though Danson’s scenes with his character's ex-wife (Jane Kaczmarek, a recurring guest star) show promise. But is it a breakthrough/breakout hit, even on the modest scale of Earl (my fave new comedy of last season)? Not likely. The Class seems to me a terrific fit for CBS' Monday-night lineup, but not (at least yet) a future tent pole. The Class will suffer in many eyes because it’s more traditional in format and tone, but so many comedies this season (especially on ABC) are going the single-camera, filmed-like-a-movie route that I imagine the best that most of them can hope for is a modest loyal following.

If you're an Earl fan, I would definitely recommend ABC’s The Knights of Prosperity, another show about social misfits (not seeking redemption, though, but plotting to rob Mick Jagger’s penthouse). But that too is going to be a slow build at best, I'll bet.

Question: Do you know if ABC plans to show the Grey's Anatomy encore every Friday night at 8 pm/ET all season, or is it just for a few episodes? It would sure help to unclog the bottleneck I have so far on Thursdays, if it were true. I wish the CW would do the same thing with Veronica Mars (like UPN did); then I would be a really happy camper.— Ronnie

Matt Roush: For the time being, it looks like a Grey’s encore is on tap for every Friday. How long it lasts depends, I imagine, on how successful it is. (After all, Fox was supposed to repeat the entire season of 24 on Fridays over the summer, and that experiment was a fast flop and a quick fade.) Also, I wonder how long ABC would keep it going if research discovered that the Thursday numbers were being depressed by the Friday repeat. (Although exposure is exposure, I guess.) As for Veronica Mars, consider yourself lucky that we get even one airing a week. And cross your fingers that it holds onto enough of the Gilmore Girls lead-in, or it could be in serious trouble

Question: I am writing to ask your thoughts on CBS Paramount Television's re-release of the original Star Trek with new visual effects replacing the original effects from nearly 40 years ago. I am sure many fans are on the fence on this issue. Having sampled the first remastered episode, “Balance of Terror,” I believe that the replaced effects (presumably CGI) have not significantly harmed the original focus of the episode. The new effects only seem to enhance, not detract, from the story line. The live action of the episode has not been altered one bit that I could see. The print of the episode seems “clean,” the best I have seen in years. Overall, I believe this is a positive. Will these 40-year-old episodes, with the new “face-lift," draw in a new audience? These remastered episodes will also now compete with the original, unaltered episodes airing on the G4 network, and on TV Land starting in November. Thanks for your thoughts. Enjoy your column.— Dave S.

Matt Roush: I haven’t had time to seek out any of these digitally remastered episodes, but it sounds to me more like a brand enhancement than a desecration. I’m happy to hear they passed muster with someone who sounds like a true fan. When I first heard of this, my reaction was that it seemed a smart thing for Paramount to do to re-energize some Trek buzz at a time when we’re in between series and movies. I suppose it could bring in a new audience among a younger generation who might find the '60s production values a little, to put it gently, quaint. And like you said, it's not as if the originals aren't available in all manner of formats and venues.

Question: Is there any news on Tim Minear's new pilot, Drive? When will we know if Fox will pick it up? I'm dying for more Minear on my TV. On a side note, watching the WB farewell Sunday night made me miss the Whedonverse so much it felt like a hole in my heart. I've loved some of the shows that began (BSG, Veronica Mars) after Angel was cruelly canceled, but I realized last night that I feel like I'm still waiting for the day when a Joss Whedon program will start up again. So, hypothetically, do you think the landscape of television has changed enough to welcome a Joss show back on the air, especially with a new network like the CW starting up, or is it still too soon to tell? I just don't think TV will ever be the same without Joss.— Elizabeth

Matt Roush: Firstly, haven’t heard a peep about the Tim Minear project. I imagine we’ll know as soon as the studio lets the trades know if there’s any activity. (It’s not like we’d keep it a secret if we found out.) As for Joss coming back to TV: We can only hope. I wouldn’t say the CW is necessarily the place for him to go, although it’s true that the bigger broadcast networks are probably even trickier (i.e., Firefly). I’d love to see him get a shot at first-run on cable, whether on Sci Fi, FX or some other adventurous outlet that would give him free rein and, one would hope, a long leash. But for now, that’s still just wishful thinking.

Question: After watching parts of the WB's farewell Sunday night, I have to say that the WB's attitude over the years had definitely changed. I for one really liked the old WB with Michigan J. Frog. Wow, so many good shows at once. I remember how the WB was determined to get that target teen audience, and they did it in every way possible. The last few years, the WB really lost its way with the addition of all those older-skewing shows like Blue Collar TV and Related. These weren't necessarily bad shows, but they weren't a good fit for the WB. Do you think that if the WB hadn't steered away from the teen crowd, it would've remained profitable?— Jason J.

Matt Roush: Hard to say, though the real hurdle to profitability for both the WB and for UPN (about which I received precious few letters of regret or farewell) was that both mini-networks were going after the exact same demo, in effect cannibalizing the audience. The problem for such a narrowly targeted network is that, even when the shows are generally good, they risk looking too much alike, and they’d get slammed for not having enough variety.

It only makes sense for a network to attempt to broaden the audience in selected time periods, as the WB did most successfully with Reba. But to blame shows like Blue Collar TV and Related for the WB’s collapse is to put too much importance on either of these shows. Besides, the network with the real identity crisis was UPN, which could never effectively shape its urban comedies, low-rated dramas, sci-fi (during the Trek era), reality and wrestling into a coherent, cohesive image. I don’t exactly see the CW brand as much of an improvement on that front.

Question: First, I greatly appreciate your insight each week. Thanks to you, I found my favorite show since Buffy: the awesome Veronica Mars (whose DVDs I push on anyone who will take them). But I need your advice on Tuesdays at 8 pm/ET! House and Gilmore Girls, or Friday Night Lights?!— Stephanie

Matt Roush: The good news is that you’ll only need to choose between Gilmore and House for one week. Come October, House will disappear for postseason baseball, and when it returns on Oct. 31, it will return to its rightful time period of 9 pm/ET. (When Standoff takes over the 8 pm/ET time period, it won’t even be a choice. That one’s a loser.) So the real dilemma, since you don’t appear to be a fan of the mainstream powerhouses Dancing with the Stars and NCIS (which will both dominate the hour), is which underdog to side with. And here’s where I risk angering the legion of Gilmore Girls fans who haunt this site.

If I had to pick one, there’s no question my allegiance would be for the heartfelt, moving and deeply authentic Friday Night Lights. I will continue watching Gilmore Girls because of ingrained brand loyalty and because I’m still fond of so many of the characters, but I am so displeased with the recent direction of the show (especially where Lorelai and Luke are concerned) that I can’t honestly recommend it, especially not opposite a show like Friday Night Lights, which is aiming so high and which is executed so well. But also honestly, the two shows couldn’t be more different. Gilmore is at best bubbly escapism, and Friday is much more realistic and wrenching. Depends on what you’re in the mood for, I guess.

Question: I just watched the first episode of the British series Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren, and I loved it. Is it my imagination, or was The Closer based loosely on this series? Couldn't help but notice the similarities.— Jill

Matt Roush: I would think any dramatic series featuring a lead female detective owes a creative debt to Prime Suspect, and certainly Brenda Leigh Johnson’s prowess in the interrogation room can be compared to Jane Tennison’s tough demeanor when grilling a suspect. Also, the fact that both characters lead a squad composed primarily of men, and that neither bonds particularly well with women, and that their personal relationships with men (both on and off the job) are invariably messy, all lend credence to this argument. Still, I wouldn’t exactly say The Closer is a clone just because they’re in the same genre.

Prime Suspect is much grittier, and the character of Tennison is a much darker soul, confronting discrimination and ageism in a way that Brenda Leigh has mostly avoided. Plus, Kyra Sedgwick plays the role much more for laughs, being a junk-food junkie instead of an alcoholic, and fussing around with her purse, cell phone and driving instructions in a way that would prompt a severe reprimand if not utter contempt from Lady Jane. I must say, I envy you for having just discovered Prime Suspect. What an amazing series. And the final chapter, Prime Suspect 7, is scheduled for November 12. Saying "I can’t wait" is an understatement.

http://tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/default.aspx

If you missed any premieres this week, CBS and NBC are repeating some of them Saturday night. (Information is from the network websites.)

The New Season
Saturday Night Premiere Repeats

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC 9 PM ET/PT
In the eighth-season opener, a young woman (Kristen Bush) refuses to cooperate during Benson's investigation of her brutal attack and rape, which seems to be connected to her involvement with a radical environmental group. Marcia Gay Harden reprises her role as FBI agent Star Morrison.

Kidnapped NBC 10 PM ET/PT
Pilot Wealthy businessman Conrad Cain (Timothy Hutton) hires an unconventional investigator (Jeremy Sisto) to find his teenage son, Leopold (Will Denton), who has been abducted from a New York City street in broad daylight.

Jericho CBS 9 PM ET/PT
Pilot: The citizens of a small Kansas town are left wondering what to do when a mushroom cloud appears on the horizon, and they find themselves cut off from the outside world with no inkling of what has happened

Smith CBS 10 PM ET/PT
Pilot Bobby and his crew plan to steal several paintings from a Pittsburgh museum, but their scheme quickly turns deadly when they are confronted by an armed security guard. Back at home, Hope becomes suspicious about Bobby's most recent "business" trip.

The New Season
“Desperate Housewives”
Third time's a charm for 'Housewives'
By David Bianculli New York Daily News TV Critic

"Desperate Housewives" is back. Not only for the season, but creatively: It's not only returning, it's reinvigorated.

The third season of ABC's "Housewives" begins Sunday night at 9 with an assurance and a knowing playfulness that was missing most of last year, except for the late-season antics involving Eva Longoria's baby-hungry Gabrielle.

It even introduces a new buried-body mystery, a loud echo of the show's successful inaugural season - but if "Housewives" is going to plagiarize itself, that's the right thing to steal.

The action picks up six months after last season's cliffhanger, with good story lines for all the female principals. Gabrielle, for example, is having problems with her future child's live-in surrogate mother, Gwendoline Yeo's Xiao-Mei, who's very pregnant and very demanding.

Felicity Huffman's Lynette has problems with a mom, too: Nora (played by the hilarious Kiersten Warren), the clingy mother of Doug's love child. Teri Hatcher's Susan is tending to the hospitalized Mike (James Denton) while catching the eye of another man (Dougray Scott as Ian). Nicollette Sheridan's Edie is trying to sell a house on Wisteria Lane, a task that proves difficult because of her neighbors' odd activities.

And Marcia Cross, as Bree, continues to get closer to secretly creepy mystery man Orson (Kyle MacLachlan from "Sex and the City"), in the story line that becomes the central thread of the new season - a plot that makes room for guest stars Laurie Metcalf and Valerie Mahaffey as well.

Unlike the second season's opener, which started that illadvised business in the basement and kept the women largely separated, this year's kickoff script, by series creator Marc Cherry and Jeff Greenstein, does everything right.

Everywhere you turn, there are fabulous face-offs: Lynette versus Nora, Gabrielle versus Xiao-Mei, Susan versus herself, Edie versus everybody.

And when the normally frigid Bree gets moved to ecstasy by Orson's fussy rewashing of her already clean wineglasses, her reaction is the perfect payoff for two years of repressive character development.

Pass the word: If you've given up on "Desperate Housewives," it's time to return to the neighborhood.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/dbianculli/v-pfriendly/story/454834p-382646c.html

I am also enjoying "Men in Trees". It hits me as a wierd mix of "Sex In the City" and "Northern Exposure". I guess it's really not that much like Northern, but I enjoy the small-town Alaska setting (radio station, bar, big city person in small town setting). It does sometimes get a bit too winey for my taste, but overall, I'm still watching.

Freda, I, like you, tend of archive off some of the new shows (just don't have that much time), for later watching.

Studio 60 seems fun and I'm still watching.

Think I'm done with Nip/Tuck - there's just way too much better stuff to watch.

I'm not sure about "The Wire". But every season starts off a bit slow then gets rolling.

Weeds -> A fun, guilty pleasure.

I was going to relegate "Desperate Housewives" to the future archive (I barely made it through last season). But, with the good reviews I may move it higher on the list.

The New Season
“Desperate Housewives”
The wives are desperate to return to form
After season 2's slump, can the ladies of Wisteria Lane be wickedly good again?
By Diane Werts Newsday Staff Writer

'Desperate Housewives" finally has its mojo back.

Nah, it's just the same-old same-old.

Those two schools of thought have split the early preview reaction to Sunday's third-season premiere of ABC's witty hit turned sophomore slumper "Desperate Housewives."

Turns out, they're both right.

There's a pretty nifty murder mystery teased by episode's end, and the show's four core desperate dames see last spring's cliffhanger situations escalate quite nicely, too. But the ways in which we get there have our heroines tracing and retracing behavioral paths their pretty little high heels have clicked across many times before. Do we really need to see klutzy Susan (Teri Hatcher) spill something on somebody again? How many times can Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) banter and prance imperiously?

While we've got to be grateful that last season's tone-deaf Applewhite saga has seen its end, this year's "DH" still is sounding the occasional flat note, sometimes by repeating its past and other times by ignoring it altogether. You can feel the strain of writers trying to recapture that first-season twinkle. Viewers get the joke about uptight Bree (Marcia Cross) feeling befuddled by a certain sexual experience long before the pushy scripting lets loose of it.

Six months have passed since last season. This explains why Bree's relationship with Orson (Kyle MacLachlan), the weirdo dentist, has progressed to a dramatic new depth. But it doesn't explain why Bree's daughter, who saw her boyfriend murdered in the finale, goes unseen and unmentioned while Mom makes an enormous decision. Susan is daily facing the fallout of the climactic hit-and-run on Mike (James Denton), just before the long-suffering pair was primed to mutually pop the question. Gabrielle's surrogate mother-maid (Gwendoline Yeo) is yet more pregnant and ever more demanding, while the latter is the main personality trait burdening Lynette (Felicity Huffman) in dealing with the gratingly needy mom (Kiersten Warren) of her husband's just-discovered preteen daughter.

With all that going on, and groundwork to lay for the season's big whodunit, maybe we should be grateful to keep things compact. But it still seems odd how often Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) gets left to wobble so isolatedly as a fifth wheel. She's endeavoring to sell her Wisteria Lane house by telling would-be buyers how "quiet" the neighborhood is, just as all hell keeps breaking loose.

Of course. And we never used to say "of course" about "Desperate Housewives." Freshness was its charm. That original verve still resonates in the season premiere's first-segment setup of the dastardly dentist's backstory, involving a wife not neatnik enough for his control-freak rigidity. There's also an observant parrot. But even this dishy montage relies almost entirely for its impact upon Brenda Strong's arch narration from beyond the grave as dead neighbor Mary Alice.

At least it brings us quickly up to speed on the darker side of Bree's new love, and also introduces the welcome presence of "Roseanne" veteran Laurie Metcalf as a suspicious neighbor, of which "DH" can never seem to have enough. Also new, but not yet defined, is Dougray Scott ("Heist") as the seemingly nice guy Susan meets while visiting Mike in the hospital.

Much more is yet to be laid out. The housewives' kids are completely ignored in the season premiere. So are the burn-down of Susan's house, the fates of Mary Alice's imprisoned husband and inheritance-laden son, and other dangling plotlines. Only Lynette's battle with the conniving intruder mom feels fully fleshed out by the time Sunday's episode ends.

It seems "Desperate Housewives" is just getting back up on its feet after that disappointingly shaky second season. Maybe it's too soon to expect the confident bounce that made the show such an out-of-the-box hit two years back.

We'll keep watching. And waiting.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etlede4899839sep22,0,6082517,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

The New Season
“Lost” and mystery of the missing season finale
By Gail Pennington St. Louis Post-Dispatch Television Critic in the “Tube Talk” blog

Clueless network schedulers strike again.

As of today, the plan to repeat the “Lost” season finale next Monday — as TV Guide, the pdTV book and all other pre-printed listings guides indicate — has been dropped. Instead, viewers will find two episodes of “Wife Swap” and a “Men in Trees” rerun.

I’m not saying ABC needs to rerun “Lost.” That’s their decision. I’m just saying, don’t keep scheduling reruns and then yanking them off the schedule. This happened all summer, and people kept calling and emailing me asking what was up. Frankly, I’m glad I can’t read the minds of the people who put network schedules together — but every trick like this erodes viewer loyalty, what there is left of it.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/entertainment-tube-talk/2006/09/lost-and-mystery-of-the-missing-season-finale/

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
Infighting with ‘Brothers & Sisters’ can be felt

By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman in her TV blog

The only major new series missing a review when our fall preview was ABC’s “troubled” new drama “Brothers & Sisters,” which premieres Sunday at 9.

The trouble began when the network decided to recast the role of the family matriarch, which was played by Betty Buckley in an early incarnation of the pilot — which was, inexplicably, only sent out to TV critics in Canada.

During the summer, network and studio execs decided Buckley’s aura was wrong for the show’s chemical mix, so Sally Field was brought in. Who doesn’t love Sally Field, right?

But the result of recasting meant lots of re-shooting, and while they were at it, the creative producers, including Ken Olin, decided to fiddle with a few other plot and character developments. And there were changes in the producing and writing team as well.

“Brothers & Sisters,” in case you’ve missed the saga of the “troubled series,” has perhaps the most stellar cast on the schedule this fall. Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, Tom Skerritt and Balthazar Getty.

Flockhart, who plays a conservative radio talk show host, is the focal point. The others sort of orbit around her in a dysfunctional family business.

Given the cast and the producing pedigree, “Brothers & Sisters” has lots of promise. But the pilot, which was finally sent out last week, was a huge disappointment. It looks like it was edited in a blender, although there are individual scenes that are magnificent. Field and Flockhart are a dramatic duo, but overall, the pilot feels disjointed and poorly thought-out.

Nevertheless, it’s a testimony to the strength of the original premise and the incredible cast that I probably will watch at least a few subsequent episodes. If it still feels jumbled after a couple of weeks, that’s a wrap for me … and to think ABC moved “Grey’s Anatomy” for this.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/

TV Notebook
More from “Grey’s Anatomy” Creator Shonda Rhimes
on the Season Premiere Episode “Time Has Come Today”…
By Shonda Rhimes from the greyswriters blog

(A word to our Canadian friends: you may not want to read this if you don’t want to know what happens. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry that happened to you guys. We can’t wait for you to catch up with us next week. Also, I know many spoilers are being posted out there in web-land about next week’s episode but, you should know, we won’t be posting them here. I can’t control what happened but I’m not gonna add to it in any way…)

So, it’s good to finally be able to TALK about the episode instead of NOT talk about the episode. I have been dying to discuss this with you all and find out what you think.

This episode for me was really a chance to deal with the things that had been haunting me all summer. Especially Izzie. I’d been pretty worried about her, you see. She was in such pain when we left her. And let me tell you, I watched that final scene in Denny’s room where she wouldn’t get out of the bed more times than is probably normal for someone who WROTE the thing. I couldn’t help it -- Katie Heigl’s amazing performance sucks me in every single time.

Anyway, I was worried about Izzie. And I knew that she was going to really be suffering when we see her again this season. But I wasn’t sure how to make it clear that she was grieving without having a funeral. And I really didn’t want a funeral – I see them on TV and they never have the impact that a real funeral does. They never have that surreal, horrible sinking feeling you get when sitting at the funeral of someone you care about. There’s a distance to a funeral with TV for me. You sit at a funeral and you find yourself re-living all these moments in time and regretting things…

Which is why this episode is about time. And being stuck in a moment.

So Izzie is stuck. On the bathroom floor, unable to bring herself to move. Because taking off that dress? Means Denny is really gone.

George and Derek are stuck in the locker room, quarantined. Where they end up discussing the merits of love and saying “I love you.” George and Derek are the last two people you’d expect to connect but, here, in this situation, they do. And I think a wonderfully unexpected parallel is drawn between George and his feelings for Callie and Derek and his feelings for Meredith.

Bailey is dealing with Omar who is stuck in a room alone, grieving for his wife. And she’s feeling all the guilt in the world over what happened to Denny.

Meredith is stuck at home. Taking care of Izzie and feeling trapped by what happened with Derek.

And Addison is walking around with a pair of black panties in her purse. Stuck with a group of teenage girls and their parents who won’t claim a newborn baby found in a trash can.

Everyone is stuck. And everyone, EVERYONE, is plagued. By the past.

The flashbacks were something I’d been wanting to do for a while. I really felt that we needed to see Addison and Derek and the moments after he discovers her in bed with his best friend Mark. Because what Addison did to Derek is SO much worse than what happened between Meredith and Derek in that exam room at the end of the season. I wanted us to remember that she betrayed him long before he betrayed her. And that Addison herself is suffering over her choice to have an affair.

I also wanted very badly to reveal the first moment Meredith and Derek meet. It is the night before the interns’ very first shift. And if you remember the first episode of Season One, there was a mixer that night. And there’s Meredith – with her (as George described in the pilot) “black dress, slit up the side, strappy sandals” in the bar. And she meets Derek. And they are so fresh with one another, it’s all so new. There’s none of the baggage that they have now. I just love when Meredith says “so if I know you, I’ll love you?” so SURE that she never will. That he’s just another guy. And when Derek asks Meredith what her story is, she says “I’m just a girl in a bar.” And we KNOW that she’s not – we know about her mother and her daddy issues and her soft spot for sleeping with inappropriate men. But here, she’s just a girl. And Derek says he’s just a guy. But, unlike the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy, we know about his wife. And we just saw his pain at discovering Addison’s infidelity. And this is the “split second”, the moment they meet, that has changed the course of their lives forever.

It was a conscious choice on my part to not show Burke until the end except for the flashback at the mixer. Because I wanted you to watch the episode and either a) pine for his presence or b) forget about him – until Cristina walks into his room at the end of the day. Then I wanted the power of what he means to Cristina to overwhelm us when he asks her how she is and then she begins to cry.

“Don’t ever die” is one my favorite Cristina lines ever. Look at how much she’s changed since that night at the mixer.

Richard and Ellis and Adele – the relationships are changing. You only (purposely) get a taste of what’s to come in this episode but I think it is a potent taste. To have Adele walk out on the Chief…what is he gonna do?

And finally, I just want to talk about Callie and her “high school with scalpels” speech: Y’all know how much I love Callie. And how much I love how she loves George. It was really fun to be able to give her these words because it is what I’ve been saying is part of the premise for this show all along – these people are socially stuck in high school because they’ve been science geeks for so long.

Okay, my brain is fried from the stress of hoping people watched the premiere so I’m going to stop writing now. Maybe I’ll write more later after I read your thoughts.

Thank you for watching. Thank you for checking back in with us. I’ve gotta get back to work so you all have some more episodes to watch!!!

http://www.greyswriters.com/

The New Season
Your 'Studio 60' scorecard
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 23, 2006

Given the quick banter, swooping camera movement and buzzing activity on “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” you may find it hard to track the players on the fictional sketch-comedy show - and at the network that airs it - without a scorecard.

So here’s a guide to the characters - and the actors, many of whom have links to `Studio 60” mastermind Aaron Sorkin. (The show’s second episode airs at 10 PM ET/PT Monday on NBC.)

• Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford): The producing-directing half of the Matt Albie-Danny Tripp creative team. He’s supposed to be the sane one, though a positive cocaine test means he and Albie can’t make movies for a while. Instead, they take the reins of “Studio 60,” where they first made their names. (Whitford and Sorkin worked on “The West Wing” together.)

• Matt Albie (Matthew Perry): The troubled creative genius who’s still heartbroken over his breakup with “Studio 60” star Harriet Hayes. In Monday’s episode, he shuts out the show’s lackluster writing staff and attempts to come up with the entire roster of sketches for that week’s show almost single-handedly (The “Friends” star worked with Whitford and Sorkin when Perry guested on “The West Wing.”)

• Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson): “Studio 60’s” leading female player and a committed Christian. She and Abie broke up because she went on Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” to promote a CD of spiritual music. (Paulson, whose last notable TV role was on “Deadwood,” worked with Peet on short-lived WB show “Jack and Jill.”)

• Simon Stiles (D.L. Hughley): A Yale-trained actor and one of “Studio 60’s” biggest names. (Hughley, a popular stand-up comic, starred in the sitcom “The Hughleys” for four seasons and recently hosted the late-night talk show “Weekends at the DL” on Comedy Central.)

• Tom Jeter (Nathan Corddry): The youngest of “Studio 60’s” “big three” most popular performers. (Corddry is a former “Daily Show” contributor, and says this about his role as Jeter: “I don’t want to compare him to a Jimmy Fallon or a Chris Kattan, but he’s the young white guy on the show, basically.”)

• Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet): A newly hired National Broadcasting System executive in charge of making a fading “Studio 60” must-see viewing again. (Peet hasn’t worked with Sorkin but made “The Whole Nine Yards” and its sequel with Perry. McDeere, by the way, is said to be partly based on former ABC and NBC executive Jamie Tarses, whom Sorkin worked with on “Sports Night” and whom Perry reportedly dated years ago.)

• Jack Rudolph (Steven Weber): The head of NBS; not surprisingly, icewater runs in his veins. (Oddly enough, Weber, star of the long-running comedy “Wings,” appears to have no previous ties to Sorkin.)

• Cal Shanley (Timothy Busfield): The director of “Studio 60,” he’s the one who allowed the former producer of the show to rant on the air for nearly a minute - yet didn’t lose his job. (You might remember Busfield from “thirtysomething”; he also had a recurring role on “West Wing” and also directed episodes of Sorkin’s “Sports Night”. A producer, director and actor on “Studio 60,” Busfield can describe what it’s like to see Sorkin write: “If you’re ever in the room while Aaron’s writing, you just don’t move. You sit frozen solid because he experiences everything that he’s writing. He experiences every emotion that Danny feels, that Matt feels, then Cal comes in…he experiences all that. ... He's a thunderous writer.”

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

I have Brothers and Sisters setup as a season pass b/c I interested in seeing how Calista Flockhart performs as Ally McBeal and I thought that the show had a interesting premise. However, handwringing over this show by the critics is starting to make me wonder if this show is going to last longer than the first half of the season. One episode hasn't even been shown yet and it's starting to feel like the show is just done wrong and that Calista is right for the role.

The only good review I've read on it so far has been Maureen Ryan's piece that was posted above.

TV Notebook
Feed The Machine:
Bloody Thursday! "Greys" vs. "CSI."
Return of "Earl" and "Office." "Survivor.'
"Kidnapped" disappears.
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

Make no mistake about it, what you choose has an impact. Consider yesterday. Good numbers for "Jericho." Bad numbers for "Kidnapped." And the really disheartening thing about the "Kidnapped" numbers - about 7.5 million viewers - is that it finished third in the time slot off a very, very expensive pilot. Granted, the series had a terrible lead-in from "The Biggest Loser." And if NBC wants to save "Kidnapped" it will have to rethink its decision to put "Law & Order" on Friday nights and, well, move it back. It fits well with "Kidnapped." Then "Loser" can move to Fridays where it belongs. But even if that happened, and it wouldn't for at least two or three weeks, it's really game, set, match for "Kidnapped." Once you launch a serial drama to low numbers, forget it. Worse, in two weeks it will be going up against "The Nine," a better serial drama. In short: It's over.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24


Too bad. B/c I thought that the first episode of Kidnapped was great. The Biggest Loser should not be in the timeslot that it is in. L&O should lead into Kidnapped and the Biggest Loser should go to Fridays as a lead into Las Vegas.

The New Season
Feed the Machine Friday:
"L&O" or no and no? Deconstructing "The Wire"
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

I don't know about Fridays. It is a night that consistently fails to draw me in. I'm not up for watching season premieres of "Ghost Whisperer," WWE Smackdown, "Numb3rs" (which isn't a bad show), "Deal Or No Deal" (answer: no deal) or even venerable if creaky "Law & Order." I'm not into either "Stargate" franchises. Not a fan of "Hateline." (Yes, that was on purpose...a call back to days of old...mmmm, good memories). There was a previously unseen episode of "Night Stalker" on Sci Fi, but I didn't like the ones I did see, so I'm not going to seek out one unaired because it was canceled.

I totally botched previewing the new season of "MI-5" on A&E after eagerly awaiting it and fielding, oh, 378 past e-mails about its status. Completely left the bat on the shoulders. (If you're getting to this post early enough, it airs at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on A&E. But don't trust me. Go to www.meevee.com, which is also linked here on TBM - no, I don't get a penny for saying that. I just prefer that listing service to anything else.)

I'll catch up on "MI-5" later. They sent me the DVDs in advance. (Yes, I got the DVDs and still forgot to do the review. Well played.)

So instead I TiVo'd "Men In Trees." Just to see if it's holding up. I'll watch it later. I liked the series from the first episode. Not saying I'd watch it a lot. For me, Fridays are for catching up on everything stacking up on the TiVo. I've got two young snappers. I haven't seen a theatrical movie in ages. So my "fun" and "personal viewing" time is actually, uh, work. Or kid shows. I can sing every "Backyardigans" song you've ever heard. They have taken my brain hostage and are rattling around in there like bees. Although, truth be told, I've put so many movies on the DVR - that I never end up watching - it's almost comical. And for some odd reason I end up going back to "The Bourne Supremacy" or whatever and spacing out to the action, even though I've seen it three times.

Time for a babysitter, maybe.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

Critic’s Notebook
'Grey's' is back, baby!
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 22, 2006

There are things I liked about Thursday's season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy," and things I didn't like.


[QUOTE=From Maureen Ryan's blog: "The Watcher"] • The writers should give up on Callie’s character.

I agree completely.


Now, what I liked:

Kate Walsh may be the best thing about this show.


She is gorgeous! That's all that I can say. When she's in a scene I just focus on her. One, b/c she beautiful and two, she does a damn good job.


• Meredith didn’t annoy me once. What’s up with that?

I just look at her and she annoys me.

• I loved, loved, loved the flashbacks. More please!

Hated it!

I suspect it was very, very difficult for "Grey's the live up to expectations.

For me, it did -- and I was anticipating it so much that I made sure to watch the NY (SD!) feed.

It certainly wasn't perfect, but it was a really good episode IMO.

I have Brothers and Sisters setup as a season pass b/c I interested in seeing how Calista Flockhart performs as Ally McBeal and I thought that the show had a interesting premise. However, handwringing over this show by the critics is starting to make me wonder if this show is going to last longer than the first half of the season. One episode hasn't even been shown yet and it's starting to feel like the show is just done wrong and that Calista is right for the role.

The only good review I've read on it so far has been Maureen Ryan's piece that was posted above.


Here is another positive review of "B and S":

The New Season
“Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers and Sisters”
'Desperate Housewives' is slightly better, but it's no 'Brothers & Sisters'
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

Maybe it's personal interpretation, but there's a difference between a relationship drama and a soap. One has more gravitas, the other more bubbles.

But they also play by different rules. A soap can be dramatic but what fuels it are sometimes outrageous, mostly contrived twists. There's a heightened sense of drama that falls just shy of melodrama in the good ones, embraces it with abandon in the bad ones. A relationship drama, on the other hand, tells emotionally mature stories to adults that accurately reflect their everyday lives.

"Desperate Housewives," which returns Sunday for Season 3, is a soap. "Brothers & Sisters," which follows it in the slot previously held by "Grey's Anatomy" (a soap), is a relationship drama. Despite some faults, "Brothers & Sisters" is vastly superior to the tired (but trying to rebound) "Desperate Housewives." Still, ABC believed (and it's hard to doubt the network) that these two shows are a match. And yet, the tone shift viewers will get from 9 to 10 p.m. may be too off-putting to make it all work.

"Brothers & Sisters," from executive producers Ken Olin and playwright Jon Robin Baitz, strives for possibly more than it can pull off in depicting a sprawling Southern California family filled with secrets and lies. If that sounds soapy, well, yes, there are elements of high drama at hand here, but the true direction of the series is that it attempts to dissect a mature family, not a group of teens or twentysomethings just stepping into the world. That, in itself, is refreshing. The Walkers of "Brothers & Sisters" are mostly grown up and successful, except for the youngest son -- and he's already been to Afghanistan on a tour of duty (and suffering the fallout from it).

The all-star cast features Tom Skerritt and Sally Field as the parents, William and Nora; Calista Flockhart as Kitty, a right-wing radio host living in New York (and bitterly estranged from her mother); Rachel Griffiths as Sarah, mother of two and a former high-powered businesswoman who has jumped out of the fast lane to devote more time to her crumbling marriage while working in the family business. Balthazar Getty plays Tommy, a devoted son helping his dad run the business; Matthew Rhys as Kevin, the older, workaholic gay brother; and Dave Annable as Justin, who served time in Afghanistan and has been pushing aside his memories of war with substance abuse.

Definitely sounds soapy. But what Olin and Baitz have managed to do here is reintroduce a relationship drama along the lines of "Thirtysomething" (no surprise with Olin in charge and his wife Patricia Wettig, another "Thirtysomething" alum, as part of the cast -- a mystery woman who arrives to hurt the Walker family). There is no swelling dramatic music here -- no slammed doors or histrionic scenery chewing. The family has gathered back together for a birthday and Kitty's arrival from New York after being away three years (she's also auditioning for a political talk show in Los Angeles), coincides with Sarah finding out that her father's business -- a successful food company that allowed everyone to be raised comfortably middle class -- is in the tank.

And the perfect marriage between William and Nora -- which these adult children have never been able to duplicate in their own lives -- is less idyllic than they imagine. Instead of taking all this fodder and lathering it up into soap, Olin and Baitz give it a steady hand, guiding the series to a more realized portrayal of everyday personal struggles and woes that viewers may also be battling in their own lives.

Needless to say, being earnest about feelings and family ties is dangerous dramatic territory, because raw emotion on television scares people (it's a too real reflection of their own lives, when escapism is what most people want). The worry is that the heavy lifting -- spot on emotions, gray areas in the myriad mother-daughter-sister-brother-father vortex -- is just too taxing and will implode upon itself. The pilot for "Brothers & Sisters" was long delayed to critics while cast changes and tone were tinkered with. Normally that's a very bad sign, but in the pilot at least, the promise of grown up storytelling is alluring. This is a series to watch to see if it grows.

"Desperate Housewives," on the other hand, grew so wearisome last year that it was the poster series for (well-deserved) critical blowback. The writing was off; the tone was way off. Wisteria Lane is soapier and more stupid than ever. It was like creator Marc Cherry had made this one-season wonder of suburban satire and old-fashioned dramatic froth and was then tuckered out for Season 2. (The truth is, "Desperate Housewives" in Season 1 was hyper satirical, a wink-wink adoption of soap opera mores while spoofing the genre. That's impossible to uphold, as the woes of Season 2 so clearly illustrated.)

And yet, with Cherry scolded from his darling being dismissed so utterly, he returns this year to recapture the magic. Even in the first episode, it's clear that "Desperate Housewives" is a vastly improved series from a year ago. The passing is better; the tone is more focused. It's funnier and more focused.

But it's also still "Desperate Housewives," and there's that malodorous whiff of the whole thing being past its sell-by date -- of this series being from a time that has now passed. Watching the main characters in frantic motion again this year doesn't bring joy, just annoyance. For though they may have improved from a year ago, the characters are still the over-the-top caricatures of the last 44 episodes and it all seems so redundantly feckless now.

"Desperate Housewives" has improved its performance but not changed its ways. Watching "Brothers & Sisters" after it (without annoying music or cloying voiceovers) is the grown-up shower that washes away the childish soap.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/22/DDGL7L8RGB1.DTL&type=printable

I suspect it was very, very difficult for "Grey's the live up to expectations.

For me, it did -- and I was anticipating it so much that I made sure to watch the NY (SD!) feed.

It certainly wasn't perfect, but it was a really good episode IMO.

It was okay to me. There wasn't a lot going on with the episode, but I enjoyed it. Things should pickup. It's nice to see that some critics haven't jumped the gun and proclaimed that CSI is dead b/c there's a long way to go this season. I suspect that once things settle in, the race will go back and forth. It's just like a football team scoring early in the 1st quarter. Sure that touchdown was flashy, but there's 12 minutes left to play in the 1st and a full 3 quarters remaining.

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
The Six Feet Under Cast, Exhumed
By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog

My problem with Brothers and Sisters (ABC, Sundays, 10 PM ER/PT) is not that it is not a good show. It's not a good show, true. This is the family soap that marks the return of Calista Flockhart to TV, as a right-wing radio host who moves back to California to be closer to her liberal family, which is going through a crisis. Suffice it to say, it's the sort of talky tedious drama that is far less intelligent than it clearly thinks it is. It's meant to combine political dialogue with a family-dynamics study, but the show's political references are banal and the family members are cliched to a person. The show's one triumph was recasting Betty Buckley with Sally Field, who looks much more plausibly like Flockhart's mother.

So it's a bad show. There are too many good shows on TV! I'm two episodes behind on Nip/Tuck as it is. Thank you, Brothers and Sisters: now, Sundays at 10, I can catch up on my TiVo Now Playing list.

No, what I resent Brothers and Sisters for is ruining the memory of Brenda Chenowith. Rachel Griffiths plays one of the sisters on Brothers, but previously she was Brenda on Six Feet Under--which, of course, was a good relationship drama about a family in which a prodigal child (Peter Krause) returns home after a family crisis. I can't watch Brothers without feeling that Brenda--who died in SFU's epilogue--has gone to a special kind of TV hell in which she must play an inferior version of herself in an inferior show.

TV actors could learn something from Griffiths. When you've nailed a role in a great show, quit while you're ahead and move on to something different. That's what Griffiths' SFU co-stars are doing this season. Jeremy Sisto (Brenda's crazy brother Billy in SFU) is tracking down an abductee in Kidnapped; Michael C. Hall (SFU's repressed David) is a serial killer who solves crimes on Showtime's Dexter; Peter Krause (Brenda's on-again-off-again-finally-dead lover/husband) is a detective in Sci Fi's upcoming The Lost Room. Are any of their shows as good as SFU? No, no, and I haven't seen it but I doubt it. What does it matter? They have the chance to go ahead and extend their careers without competing with Alan Ball's brilliant creations.

My advice to Griffiths: if your other SFU peers are any indication, any day now Frances Conroy will sign up to play a dotty old mystery novelist who solves murders. Ask if she needs a co-star.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
O brothers, how desperate art thou?

An uninspiring new drama follows Wisteria Lane's wilting wives.
Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic September 23, 2006

What should be a juicy family soap opera -- the family in question owns a food company -- comes off as a blah banquet.

ABC's Brothers & Sisters fails to mix stellar ingredients into a scintillating show. With Calista Flockhart and Oscar-winner Sally Field as estranged daughter and mother, this drama should have more zing.

Brothers & Sisters, which debuts at 10 p.m. Sunday, has some major obstacles before it. The series, created by playwright Jon Robin Baitz, has endured behind-the-scenes turmoil. It airs after Desperate Housewives, which was a sensation at its debut two years ago but has cooled off considerably. Brothers & Sisters takes the time slot of Grey's Anatomy, a medical drama that has become appointment TV.

That status seems unlikely for Brothers & Sisters, based on its premiere. The opener bombards viewers with information about the Walkers of California. They have secrets, unhappy marriages, financial problems, political disagreements and medical emergencies.

What they don't have is fun, and so they are often a chore to watch.

In fast-moving television, that situation could change quickly, which would be good news for the Walt Disney Co. The entertainment giant has a lot riding on the Walkers. Disney's Touchstone Television produces the series, and Disney-owned ABC needs a hit.

The main reason to watch and hope is Rachel Griffiths of Six Feet Under. She is splendid and likable as levelheaded Sarah, who endures a loveless marriage and stumbles upon problems in the family business. In this clan, take-charge Sarah commands the most respect and attention.

Sarah is one of five children of William Walker (Tom Skerritt of Picket Fences), president of the family business, and Nora Holden (Field). Nora and daughter Kitty (Flockhart) have fallen out. Nora resents the political punditry of Kitty, a conservative radio host pondering a jump to national television.

The mother-daughter clash is timely and well-acted, but the hinted-at showdown fizzles rather than electrifies. Still, Kitty is luckier than her three brothers, who have been shortchanged in the storytelling.

Tommy (Balthazar Getty) is evidently a shady executive working for his father. Kevin (Matthew Rhys) is a gay lawyer with apparently no love life. Justin (Dave Annable) is a fragile veteran who fought in Afghanistan.

Other figures add to the murky intrigue. Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin of Alias), Nora's brother, has a creative way of bookkeeping. Holly (Patricia Wettig) is a mystery woman who bedevils patriarch William.

There are incentives for thirtysomething fans to take a look: Wettig is another reason to hope, and her husband, Ken Olin, is an executive producer. Brothers & Sisters also reveals a welcome fascination with middle-age women. Of course, Commander in Chief shared that approach, but that ABC drama about the first female U.S. president collapsed in one season because of behind-the-scenes trouble.

Reports of problems at Brothers & Sisters dampen expectations. The pilot went through major revisions, with Field replacing Betty Buckley as the mother. Executive producer Marti Noxon left over creative differences. Greg Berlanti of Everwood has come aboard to run the show.

The pilot ends with the Walker family in a mess, all right, and a tragic one that could frighten away viewers. Brothers & Sisters is challenged on many fronts. For a show going into the old Grey's Anatomy slot, that could be a real problem for ABC. You want something that crackles. Brothers & Sisters rarely pops.

There's more troubling news for ABC. The third-season premiere of Desperate Housewives, at 9 p.m. Sunday, isn't a reason to cheer. Many fans thought this spicy comedy-drama-serial turned flat in the second season.

The third season finds the show going in circles: Bree (Marcia Cross) is still falling for the wrong man. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) is still shrill and selfish. Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is still putting up with her husband's insensitivity -- she has to cater to the cartoonish mother of his love child.

The best moments fall, quite surprisingly, to Susan (Teri Hatcher), who tends to comatose Mike (James Denton) in the hospital. There she befriends a husband (Dougray Scott) whose wife is also comatose.

In another big plus, Laurie Metcalf of Roseanne puts in a stunning appearance. But the premiere indicates that the ho-hum outweighs the compelling on Wisteria Lane these days. Redundant desperation won't cut it.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-brothers06sep23,0,4939844,print.story?coll=orl-caltvtop

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
Highly touted ABC series collapses into a mess

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

When it comes to new television series, the almighty Buzz can giveth -- and the almighty Buzz can taketh away.

A prime example of a show experiencing very public birth pangs comes with the arrival of ``Brothers and Sisters'' (10 PM ET/PT, Sunday, ABC). Only rarely has a series gone through the kind of high-speed mixmaster that this sudsy family drama has. Even more rarely is the show then rewarded with a coveted time period behind a hit like ``Desperate Housewives,'' which is where ``Brothers & Sisters'' will reside -- at least temporarily.

The pilot was deemed not ready for prime time and was not sent out in advance to TV critics. (That's akin to a film not having advance screenings because the producers think it will be savaged by the press.)

One of TV's more respected producer-writers -- Marti Noxon (``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'') -- left because of those ever-popular ``creative differences'' with her fellow executive producers: playwright Jon Robin Baitz, whose TV experience has been limited to single episodes of ``The West Wing'' and ``Alias,'' and veteran director-actor Ken Olin.

Greg Berlanti, the creator of ``Everwood,'' was thrown hastily into the breach as Noxon's replacement. Key scenes have been reshot; key roles have been recast; the whole hour has been re-edited.

What finally will pop up Sunday is an incoherent, almost unwatchable mess, despite the presence of an A-list cast headed by Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths and Sally Field.

Some individual scenes make little sense, and the overall structure is very disjointed. The main story line seems to involve a reunion of a somewhat dysfunctional family and a mystery about the family's business dealings, but it's so hard to tell that I can't swear to it. And some of the actors -- notably Field, who was brought in to replace Betty Buckley as the mother of this clan -- look totally lost.

There definitely are reasons why my wife -- a very accurate resident barometer when it comes to TV and someone who really wanted to like this show -- turned to me partway through the first hour and asked, ``Do you have any idea what's going on?''

Things could improve in future episodes. Berlanti is a first-rate TV writer with a real feel for family dynamics. But there are some elements of the series that strike me as fundamentally unfixable.

For one thing, Flockhart's character, Kitty Walker, is supposed to be an up-and-coming right-wing radio-TV commentator. Flockhart is a fine actress, but she has a fragile, winsome persona that doesn't fit all roles, and Kitty Walker is one of them. You don't believe for a moment that her character could rival Ann Coulter. (You also will have a hard time believing that she is Griffiths' younger sister.)

So if you're at all interested in ``Brothers & Sisters,'' I would check in early. I have this feeling the show isn't going to be around for very long.

•
• Finally, on the troubled series front, we have the return of ``Desperate Housewives'' (9 PM ET/PT Sunday, CABC), which went from the penthouse in its first season to a basement apartment in Season 2.

Just how badly ``Housewives'' went off the tracks already has been fairly well-documented. So let's just rejoice that this season's first episode is sharper, funnier and a whole lot more enjoyable than any of last season's.

The episode is loaded with priceless scenes that smack of Season 1's juicy looks into the world of Wisteria Lane. All the women get a turn at the fun: Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) discovers the joy of . . . well, I don't want to spoil it; Gaby Solis (Eva Longoria) crosses verbal swords with her pregnant maid-turned-surrogate mother; Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) battles her husband's ex-lover; and Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) tries to come to grips with her love for the comatose Mike Delfino (James Denton) and her lust for a new guy.

There's a new mystery in town involving Bree's fiancee (a very snaky Kyle MacLachlan) and a new vengeful neighbor, played by the delightful Laurie Metcalf, who gives better slightly crazed suburbanite than just about anyone.

``Housewives'' creator Marc Cherry pledged very publicly that things would be better this season. It looks as if he's keeping his word.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/15571307.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

I agree with what someone else said about making up your own mind and not be disuaded from seeing a show that interests you by reviewers. That said reviews are helpful in getting the positives and negatives for a new show exposed by people passionate-enough about TV (and competent enough to write about them) to make it their living. I've decided not to watch CBS' 'Smith' because I simply can't fit it into my schedule (too many gameshows taped from GSN during the day that I need to catch-up with during the evening! :D) but the compilation of reviews indicates there is a good show I'm missing (one with problems but not overwhelming problems). I have yet to read an overwhelmingly positive review of 'Brothers & Sisters,' only pans and taciturn it could be worse-type comments. I wasn't interested before in seeing it, and now I'm even less inclined to think about it.

Cable TV Notebook
A Modified MSNBC?
By J. Max Robins Broadcasting & Cable 9/25/2006

There has been speculation for months about MSNBC’s future as a 24-hour cable news channel—or, maybe more to the point, its lack thereof. But one indication may have come last July, when the 10-year-old network launched a newsmagazine, MSNBC Investigates. From what I’ve heard coming out of 30 Rock lately, that may be a sign of things to come.

Word is that the perennial also-ran in cable news is considering the possibility of virtually dropping out of the live-news business and devoting itself entirely to taped, newsmagazine-style programming —much of it likely repurposed from NBC News. In other words, “The Dateline: NBC Channel.”

That’s just one option under consideration. But that such a drastic idea is even on the table speaks volumes about the state of the cable news business.

If such a modification occurs, it would certainly mean changes for MSNBC’s business-news sibling, CNBC. One scenario has successful MSNBC personalities Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann moving their respective acts to CNBC in the hopes of turbo-charging its ratings-challenged primetime. In this case, NBC News still would have both channels at its disposal should it want to go live 24/7 in the event of a terrorist attack or a major natural disaster.

Whether NBC News will choose such a dramatic course of action is a subject of debate in the industry. Naysayers argue that the challenge of transforming MSNBC into a newsmag channel doesn’t make sense from either a production or an economic standpoint. Indeed, the cost of such a transformation would fly in the face of NBC’s efforts to wring tens of millions of dollars in cuts out of the news division.

Potential hurdles could arise with cable operators, too, if the network’s programming strays too far from the format that originally secured its carriage. Moreover, despite its lackluster showing in the cable news wars, MSNBC still generated about $250 million in revenues last year.

Those betting on a makeover point to the launch of MSNBC Investigates, as well as comments made this summer by NBC News President Steve Capus indicating that more work from Dateline: NBC would show up on MSNBC. In the past few months, there have been internal conversations about vacating the cable channel’s Secaucus, N.J., headquarters and moving the operation to 30 Rock, where it would enjoy easier access to the NBC News library.

Still, news remains an extremely profitable business. CNN generated close to $800 million in revenues last year, and that doesn’t include the $150 million from Headline News or the other millions it rakes in from its affiliate and international-news services.

Fox News Channel clocked $574 million in revenues in 2005, and that likely will increase significantly once Fox News manages to extract the hefty fee increases it wants from cable operators when contracts come due in the months ahead. Meanwhile, the network has been threatening to cut into CNBC’s action (some $510 million in revenues last year) by launching a Fox News business channel sometime in 2007.

The unspoken truth in all of this speculation is that there are simply too many all-news networks and only so many people to watch them. No. 1 Fox News has seen its year-to-date ratings in primetime fall 29%—and that’s not because any of its cable-news competition has stolen away a huge share. CNN’s primetime ratings are down by 23%, while MSNBC is basically flat.

As the owner of a network that’s stuck at the bottom of the cable news heap, NBC Universal has little choice but to make a radical change if it wants to differentiate MSNBC from what the other guys are doing. If the channel cannot remake itself, it may as well go dark.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6374608

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
Star-studded drama needs to lighten up

By Chuck Barney Contra Costa Times TV critic Sat, Sep. 23, 2006

It never fails. Coming into every television season, there is a so-called "troubled" show. In fact, it's such a common occurrence that I'm gleefully waiting for some network to officially bestow upon a series that actual title: Stay tuned for "The Troubled Show," starring ... It requires remarkable versatility to earn the "troubled" tag. In original pilot form, a show must be good enough to earn a network's blessing, but bad enough to provoke major tinkering.

This season, our little trouble-maker is ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," a dreary family drama in which Calista Flockhart returns to prime time amid a stellar cast that includes, among others, Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths and Ron Rifkin.

That kind of star power isn't normally going to prompt a frantic SOS, but after taking one look at the "Brothers & Sisters" pilot, ABC deemed it an overstuffed mess. And so some key actors were dumped, producers were shuffled, Field was signed up in the 11th hour and several scenes were rewritten and reshot.

But while the overhauled pilot certainly has its moments, it's no masterpiece. The reshoots have given it a disjointed feel, and the tone of the show is so tediously earnest it creaks. If this is the new-and-improved version, we should kiss the rings of those who kept us from having to slog through the original.

Flockhart plays Kitty Walker, one of several adult siblings of a wealthy California-based family. Light years from Ally McBeal, she's a conservative radio pundit who is reuniting with the family -- a covey of diehard liberals -- just as it's about to experience a seismic upheaval.

Kitty and her mother (Field) have some issues. After Sept. 11, the daughter apparently spent so much time pushing patriotism and retribution that youngest brother Justin (Dave Annable) hightailed it to Afghanistan. It was a traumatic tour of duty that left him emotionally scarred and Mom stewing in her own anger.

All of which bothers the mild-mannered Mr. Walker (Tom Skerritt) to no end. He just wants everyone to get along and the clan to click on all cylinders. But where's the drama in that? Meanwhile, sister Sara (Griffiths) and brother Tommy (Balthazar Getty), who both work for the family company, have started to uncover some suspicious financial shenanigans. Someone's hiding something (keep an eye on that Rifkin guy), and things are about to get ugly.

"Brothers & Sisters" trudges along rather aimlessly for most of its first hour until a tragic event jolts it from its stupor. Beforehand, there are some nice moments -- the scenes between Field and Flockhart crackle with dramatic intensity -- but not enough to give the show any real traction. Dense and angst-laden, it also seems like a strange fit in a time slot previously occupied by the frothy "Grey's Anatomy."

The guess here is that viewers will give "Brothers & Sisters" some slack early on. This cast is simply too good to ignore. But unless the show can quickly gel -- and lighten up a bit -- its troubles are just beginning.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/entertainment/columnists/chuck_barney/15591282.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

dad,

Sadly, I think too many folks read and believe those reviews and the failure of a show becomes somewhat self-fulfilling, especially those on networks like CW where ratings are hard to come by in the first place. I've only been skimming the headlines and haven't read any reviews that have been posted, I want to make up my own mind. Maybe after next week, I'll go back and read some to see what shows I agree are not worth the effort. Having 2 DVRs (and no game shows to take up my time, though I do have 1 soap :) ), I'm pretty much able to get all of what holds my initial interest.

I suspect it was very, very difficult for "Grey's the live up to expectations.

For me, it did -- and I was anticipating it so much that I made sure to watch the NY (SD!) feed.

It certainly wasn't perfect, but it was a really good episode IMO.
I agree. It wasn't among the best of episodes in the series, but there was enough there to make it enjoyable and satisfying. I thought the flashbacks were great and used very effectively. The Derek/Addison one being the best, by far imo.

Certain other elements were a bit annoying, and some of the acting seemed a bit off (Bailey specificially). It seemed like she was over-acting, perhaps to show that she still wasn't all there what with the death of you-know-who (keeping it spoiler safe just in case).

And regardless of how much people dislike Meredith (of whom I like), I don't think she was used enough in this episode. Too much of the other characters and not enough of Grey.

Critic’s Notebook
'Desperate' outlook is promising
By Mark McGuire Albany Times Union staff writer

Last season, Wisteria Lane became too long and winding to navigate.

Everybody involved in "Desperate Housewives" seemed to get lost as the sophomore show became waylaid by its own audacity and ambition -- traits that, in proper proportion, made it a cultural sensation its rookie year.

Too often, it got caught up in its own mythos and mysteries -- subplots are OK, but sub-sub-subplots? -- and forgot its origins as a dark-toned comedy.

"Desperate Housewives" will never be a simple show, but as its third year (9 PM ET/PT, Sunday, ABC) begins, the show is simpler to follow.

That's "simpler," not "simple": Dumb TV is so out. The idea that a stupid sitcom or thoroughly insipid drama could hold our interest is as ridiculous as the notion that "Yes, Dear" or "According to Jim" could last six seasons. (OK, bad examples; scratch that.)

In recent years, networks have realized that viewers aren't turnips who need be fed only the most digestible rations. No period in the medium's history has seen such a dizzying array of complex dramas; now comedies are becoming equally challenging.

The problem for "Desperate Housewives": It tried to do too much last year, and accomplished less.

"I think everyone, including Marc (Cherry, the series' creator), admitted that beginning of last year we stumbled a little bit," ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson said this summer.

The show "answered so many questions at the end of the first season that (Cherry) really spent too much time, I think, setting up the mystery, setting up the new (story) arcs. And this year we're going to jump right in."

Sunday's episode picks up six months after the Season Two finale, on a rare cloudy day in Fairview. You don't need to be a meteorologist or a metaphorologist to get the message: "This is what rainy days are good for -- they make everything clean again," says beyond-the-grave narrator Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong). "Which is necessary on a street like Wisteria Lane, where everything can get so messy." (Can I get an amen, viewers?)

Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) resists the urge to kill her housekeeper Xiao-Mei (Gwendoline Yeo), who not only slept with Gabrielle's husband, but is their baby's surrogate mother.

Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is also trying to deal with her husband's infidelity, as his illegitimate child -- and the kid's mom -- ingratiate themselves into every aspect of their family's life, including their Christmas pictures.

Meanwhile, we find out more about Orson (Kyle MacLachlan), who may be a match for brittle Bree (Marcia Cross) in ways even she doesn't envision, and Susan (Teri Hatcher) becomes attracted to a new man (Dougray Scott), as both of their loved ones lie in comas in the same hospital.

The trick here has always been finding the right mix of comedy, drama and melodrama without piling too much onto the plate. Cherry wrote Sunday's episode, which does a good job of including something from each food group.

No, you shouldn't need to keep an annotated cast list next to the sofa in order to understand a TV show. That doesn't mean you only want the most wafer thin of TV meals. Oh, and comedies are supposed to make you laugh.

"Desperate Housewives" has remembered all that. This season is off to a great fresh start.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=519173

A(nother) Reminder
Sunday’s Prime-Time Premieres

7 PM ET/PT Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - ABC
9 PM ET/PT Desperate Housewives - ABC HD
9 PM ET/PT Cold Case - CBS HD
10 PM ET/PT Brothers & Sisters - ABC HD
10 PM ET/PT Without a Trace - CBS HD

Monday’s Prime-Time Premieres
8 PM ET/PT 7th Heaven - CW
9 PM ET/PT Runaway - CW HD
9 PM ET/PT Heroes - NBC HD

HD Sports Notebook
Preliminary HD Football Schedule for Next Week
NOTE: Subject to change! (All times are Eastern)

Tuesday, Sept. 26
Southern Mississippi (2-1) at Central Florida (1-2) 7:30 PM ESPN2-HD

Thursday, Sept. 28
Auburn (4-0) at South Carolina (3-1) 7:30 PM ESPN-HD

Friday, Sept. 29
Rutgers (4-0) at South Florida (3-1) 8 PM ESPN2-HD

Saturday, Sept. 30
Tennessee (3-1) at Memphis (1-2) 12 Noon ESPN-HD
Wisconsin (3-1) at Indiana (2-2) 12 Noon ESPN2-HD
Purdue (4-0) at Notre Dame (3-1) 2:30 PM NBC-HD
Georgia Tech (3-1) at Virginia Tech (4-0) (Regional) 3:30 PM ABC-HD
Northwestern (2-2) at Penn State (2-2) (Regional) 3:30 PM ABC-HD ?
Oregon (3-0) at Arizona State (3-1) (Regional) 3:30 PM ABC-HD ?
Texas Tech (3-1) at Texas A&M (4-0) (Regional) 3:30 PM ABC-HD ?
Alabama (3-1) at Florida (4-0) 3:30 PM CBS-HD
West Virginia (4-0) at East Carolina (1-3) 4:30 PM ESPN2-HD
Houston (4-0) at Miami (1-2) 6 PM ESPN2-HD
# 1 Ohio State (4-0) at Iowa (4-0) 8 PM ABC-HD
Michigan (4-0) at Minnesota (2-2) 8 PM ESPN-HD
Georgia (4-0) at Mississippi (1-3) 9 PM ESPN2-HD

Sunday, Oct. 1
Arizona at Atlanta 1 PM Fox-HD
Indianapolis at New York Jets1 PM CBS-HD
Jacksonville at Washington 4:15 PM CBS-HD
Minnesota at Buffalo 1 PM Fox-HD
New England at Cincinnatti 4:15 PM CBS-HD
New Orleans at Carolina 1 PM Fox HD
San Francisco at Kansas City 1 PM Fox-HD
Detroit at St. Louis 4 PM Fox-HD
Seattle at Chicago 8:15 PM NBC-HD

Monday, Oct. 2
Green Bay at Philadelphia 8:30 PM ESPN-HD

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
This dish has much to offer
By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Television Critic

'There's a flow of information in this family you're not privy to," one of the 8,000 siblings in ABC's big-deal Brothers & Sisters tells another one.

And if someone in the family doesn't get the information, what's a poor viewer without a scorecard to do when the show premieres tonight at 10 on 6ABC in the luxurious post-Desperate Housewives slot?

This is ambitious family drama, maybe too ambitious, with a startling cast and classy writing from distinguished playwright Jon Robin Baitz. But at the same time it busts the verbal boundaries, it seems strangely derivative.

Is it thirtysomething? Ken Olin's an executive producer, and Patricia Wettig plays a mystery woman, not a cancer patient. Is it Sisters? Well, no, because there are some brothers. But the family's rich, and there's an awful lot of soft pizzicato soundtrack music.

It's not The West Wing. Everything is quieter and the script is much less obvious, but politics divides this family, and politics is the career of the lead character, as much as there is a lead.

She's Calista Flockhart, née Ally McBeal, now Kitty Walker. She's a conservative radio host who's moving up to TV, where she'll sit in a red chair and yell at the handsomest of devils (do you think they'll fall in love?), sitting across from her in blue. She has returned home to California to consider the job and celebrate her 39th birthday.

She tries to yell at her family, too, especially Ma, who's having none of it, but who nonetheless blames her right-wing daughter for supporting her immature son's sojourn with the military in Afghanistan. Sally Field plays Mommy Nora. Betty Buckley did at first, but she got fired.

Several people have gotten fired from, or left, Brothers & Sisters, which has been reshot and re-cast and remixed and has a little bit of the taste of that soup that's made by too many chefs and is a minor specialty at ABC and Disney. What did happen to Commander in Chief last year, anyway?

Baitz is a theater guy. Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was brought on board for her TV expertise. "Creative differences" ensued. The new executive producer is Greg Berlanti from Everwood. Though Berlanti's got great credentials, it appears to be a bad choice. Baitz and Berlanti know family stuff squared, but Brothers & Sisters could use a little of Buffy's flash.

There aren't 8,000 sibs, only five: Kitty; Justin (Dave Annable), the youngest brother, who came back messed up; Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), with marital problems; Kevin (Matthew Rhys), gay and manless; and Tommy (Balthazar Getty), who seems normal in the first episode, but who, ABC promises, will turn out to be a womanizer. Most of these relatives have spouses or lovers, too. Kitty's birthday dinner has 11 grownups and a couple of kids, and that's too many.

If Flockhart, Wettig, Griffiths, Field and Getty don't give you enough to watch, Ron Rifkin plays crafty Uncle Saul. He and Daddy Tom Skerritt are doing bad and secret things to the family company's cash flow.

Some of the star-studded casting seems a little weird. Flockhart makes an awfully wispy right-wing ideologue, and Field, though she'll be 60 in November, isn't much of a matriarch. It's possible, though, that the show will make some points by casting against type. A physically fragile TV smartypants, for instance, makes a nice contrast to the big blowhards who pollute the real airwaves.

The dialogue is richly understated. "We fight," Nora says to Kitty. "We fight. It's not the end of the world."

"Two little kids... ," laments businesswoman Sarah about her marriage. "Too much management. So little touching."

But after all the reworking, there's still 40 pounds of drama in a 20-pound bag, as confusing as it is magnetic.

A soup with a million ingredients, simmered long enough, can be delectable. Brothers & Sisters has so much potential, it might improve if ABC leaves it on the stove. But a big early tuneout by frustrated viewers could scotch the recipe and leave this family's fortunes unfulfilled.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15582535.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Critic’s Notebook
What to watch this week
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”
(Note: All times Central.)

ABC's new and possibly improved Sunday, a new and lucky if it's improved CW network and a new and, well, certainly younger Dr. Who.

All eyes will be on ABC tonight, at least long enough to determine whether “Desperate Housewives” has gotten its mojo back. I'm not exactly this show's No. 1 fan, but judging by tonight's third season premiere, I'd have to say “Housewives” creator Marc Cherry has done everything, short of burning Wisteria Lane to the ground, to get people's gums flapping again (8 p.m.)

That's followed by “Brothers and Sisters”, one of the riskiest new shows of the season. It's in a high-profile time period with big stars (Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths) doing the kind of TV show I thought went out of style in the 1990s (family relationship drama).

Although tonight's premiere is well-written and filled with understated performances from the all-star troupe, I'm not sure that “understated” is what the “Desperate Housewives” audience is looking for. Also, compared with “Housewives,” the pacing on “Brothers and Sisters” struck me as glacial. But with so much riding on this show, I expect ABC will give it time to find its way.

The CW formally launches this week, with an old favorite, “7th Heaven,” at 7 p.m. Monday. It's followed at 8 by “Runaway” starring Leslie Hope and Donnie Wahlberg. Other former WB and UPN shows merged into the new CW schedule and premiering this week are “Gilmore Girls” (7 p.m. Tuesday), “One Tree Hill” (8 p.m. Wednesday), “Smallville” and “Supernatural” (7 and 8 p.m. Thursday) and “WWE Smackdown!” (7 p.m. Friday).

Look for my review of “Runaway” and NBC's “Heroes” Monday.

Other reviews to look for this week: “Help Me Help You,” a comedy starring Ted Danson as a shrink, and yes, it's better than it sounds (8:30 p.m. Tuesday, ABC); and “Ugly Betty,” with America Ferrera as an unlikely go-getter in the fashion world (7 p.m. Thursday, ABC).

And lest you think cable is taking this lying down, the second season of the BBC remake of “Doctor Who” begins at 8 p.m. Friday on SciFi. I thought season one was a kick and am hoping the show doesn't lose steam with its new Who, played by David Tennant.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/09/what_to_watch_t.html#more

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
The Family Way
By Matt Roush TV Guide

In business and politics, it’s all relative.

You can’t always believe the buzz.

ABC’s new family saga Brothers & Sisters spent the summer under a cloud of negative speculation, with cast and producer changes keeping the revised pilot sight unseen for months (which is rarely a good sign). The end result is far from a disaster, thankfully, though something less than a triumph.

On the glossy surface, it’s an earnestly predictable but impeccably produced soap opera, with a blue-chip cast of characters as rich and beautiful as they are miserable and mopey, coping with personal and financial intrigues.

If the show breaks any dramatic ground, it’s in the Walker family’s politics, with arguments and conflicts that hit close to home. At the core of the tumult is prodigal daughter Kitty (Calista Flockhart), a right-wing radio pundit returning somewhat petulantly to her California family after years of estrangement in New York.

Her mother (Sally Field) is less welcoming than her CEO sister (Rachel Griffiths), but the whole family seems a bit off. It may have something to do with cash-flow irregularities in the family food business, as well as emotional baggage involving her youngest brother (Dave Annable), a black-sheep war vet with addiction issues.

Will sudden tragedy bond them or drive them further apart? A fair question, but not nearly so nagging and persistent as the justified fear that Brothers & Sisters, though well acted and engrossing, will be less deliciously compatible a companion piece for the frothier suds of Desperate Housewives than Grey’s Anatomy was.

http://tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Roush-Review/default.aspx

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
'Brothers & Sisters' is affected, not affecting

By Matthew Gilbert Boston Globe

A show is going to have to work terribly hard to flop in the time slot after ratings royalty ``Desperate Housewives," but ``Brothers & Sisters" may be up to the job.

This new ABC concoction is a piece of fakery that goes through the motions of a ``dysfunctional family drama" and winds up as a dysfunctional ``dysfunctional family drama." It strains to show the strains of the wealthy Walker family of California, and my eyes strained to stay open.

The show, which premieres Sunday at 10 on Channel 5, went through a few much-publicized changes during its development (in: Sally Field, out: Betty Buckley), and critics suspected creative trouble. Well, it's time to believe the hype. Not a single note in the premiere of ``Brothers & Sisters" rings true, even with playwright Jon Robin Baitz as its creator and the usually natural Rachel Griffiths in the acting ensemble.

About the traumas and manipulations of the Walker clan, and particularly the tension between mom Nora (Field) and daughter Kitty (Calista Flockhart), the show wants to blend the full-on soap of a ``Falcon Crest" with the emotional honesty of a Zwick- Herskovitz drama such as ``Once and Again." The result: TV trash soured with affectations.

The most glaringly off-putting element in ``Brothers & Sisters" is the acting. The high-octane cast has been the show's selling point -- particularly the return of Flockhart and the addition of two-time Oscar winner Field, not to mention Griffiths, who embodied the searching soulfulness of ``Six Feet Under." But the ensemble feels forced, as if those playing the Walker siblings -- Flockhart, Griffiths, Balthazar Getty, Dave Annable, and Matthew Rhys -- are trying much too hard to appear cozily familiar with one another. As they hang around the parents' swimming pool, feigning comfort, they could just as easily be on a shoot for a vodka ad spread.

As Kitty, a conservative radio host, Flockhart tones down the tics and self-consciousness that were her trademarks on ``Ally McBeal." But she still indicates depth and distress, rather than letting them inhabit her. She is not at all convincing as a formidable Ann Coulter-like political thinker (``Oh that is so blue state," she exclaims), and if conservative viewers are hoping she'll give them a high-profile voice, they'll be disappointed. And Flockhart is even less convincing as Griffiths' s younger sister. Yes, younger.

Kitty has been estranged from her mother for three years, and Flockhart's reunion scenes with Field may be dramatic acting, or they may just be a competition over whose vehicle ``Brothers & Sisters" truly is, and who will be Emmy-nominated for best actress.

The reason for the mother-daughter rift has political underpinnings, since Kitty's views contradict Nora's. Remember, this isn't a nighttime soap; it is, as ABC puts it, about ``what it means to be a family in the 21st century." But when the cause of the battle is revealed, it's a feebly designed twist. Weaving political differences into a family drama is an ambitious idea, but it has to be done believably. Perhaps the inevitable clash between Kitty and gay brother Kevin (Rhys) will have more substance and subtlety; perhaps not.

The siblings are concerned about brother Justin, whose return from fighting in Afghanistan hasn't gone well. Annable was sweet as a lovelorn kid on ``Reunion," and he would blend in nicely on a romantic comedy. But as a war vet struggling with substance abuse, he's lightweight and miscast. He's more ``Laguna Beach" than ``China Beach." The other two brothers have yet to reveal their central issues.

The plots promise the same themes found on most family dramas. The siblings struggle in their love affairs, the family business is in some kind of financial danger, Dad (guest star Tom Skerritt) has a big secret. Maybe if Baitz and the executive producers, including Greg Berlanti from ``Everwood" and Ken Olin , focus more on telling their stories effectively, and less on constructing a masterpiece, ``Brothers & Sisters" will actually become the dishy soap opera it secretly wants to be.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/09/22/brothers__sisters_is_affected_not_affecting?mode=PF

The New Season
“Desperate Housewives”
Housewives' back on zany path
Mark Dawidziak Cleveland Plain Dealer Television Critic Sunday, September 24, 2006

Some wrong turns were taken on Wisteria Lane. I'm not talking about the characters, although wrong turns are something of a specialty with "Desperate Housewives."

Those goofy residents of Fairview never seem to have a working life compass that will keep them going in safe, sane and smart directions.

But let's give Bree, Susan, Lynette, Gabrielle and Edie a break. Last season's notable wrong turns were taken by "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry and his merry band of writers. There was a sense among critics, fans and even ABC executives that the soapy satire was off the creative track during its sophomore year.

Stephen McPherson, ABC's entertainment president, told TV critics this summer that even Cherry recognized "Desperate Housewives" had slipped a bit in quality and consistency.

The speculation was that Cherry got distracted developing other projects for Touchstone Television, the production company that, like ABC, is owned by Disney.

The needy "Desperate Housewives" needed his full attention. Without that, Lynette, Bree and the gang were left to wander, and there went the neighborhood.

So Cherry is rededicating himself to his "Desperate Housewives," which begins its third season at 9 ET/PT tonight on ABC.

"Marc has taken over 100 percent of the show running," McPherson said. "The early scripts and the story lines and the arcs and the mystery, I think, are a lot stronger from the get-go. I think everyone, including Marc, admitted that, at the beginning of last year, we stumbled a little bit. This year, we're going to jump right in. All of the scripts will be going through Marc's typewriter, which is great thing."

That's not to suggest things are, well, desperate on Wisteria Lane. "Desperate Housewives," after all, was the nation's fourth-highest-rated show last season, behind only the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of Fox's "American Idol" and the CBS crime drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." And Cherry's show enjoyed a higher average viewership than in its red-hot rookie season.

It managed to remain a pop-culture phenomenon during its wayward second season. Clearly, there's no need for hysteria on Wisteria.

Suggesting that the series suffered a creative collapse last season is "really overstating it," McPherson said.

The third-season goal is to get "Desperate Housewives" back to its normal craziness. That's Cherry's mission in this serious business of comedy.

"I think it's going to get back a little bit more of the heart of it, which I think totally was a kind of wicked comedy," McPherson said. "So we're seeing a lot of that. I will say, though, interestingly enough, that Marc, partly because of the responsibility of 100 percent falling on his shoulders, has really stepped and gotten out ahead of it. We have seen more arcing of the entire season from a specific story standpoint and soap standpoint than we've ever seen before. It will get back to the wicked comedy."

There certainly are plenty of wicked moments in the third-season premiere. If last season's finale didn't demonstrate just how dangerous Kyle MacLachlan's Orson can be, tonight's opening moments will drive home the point. It's a killer.

The scene shifts to a rainy day on Wisteria Lane.

"It doesn't rain very often in the town of Fairview, but, when it does, it pours," says our narrator from beyond, the deceased Mary Alice (Brenda Strong). "This is what rainy days are good for. They make everything clean again. Which is necessary on a street like Wisteria Lane, where everything can get so messy."

Is the rainstorm Cherry's metaphoric device for washing away the mistakes of last season? If so, it provides the ideal setup for the fun that follows.

Let's see. Where are we in these soapy proceedings?

Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), having escaped from a mental institution, is getting more and more serious about Orson, the deranged dentist who ran down Mike Delfino (James Denton) with his car. Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) is on the way to the hospital, where Mike is in a coma.

A stressed Gabriel Solis (Eva Langoria) is meeting with a divorce lawyer, recounting her husband's affair with their maid (Gwendoline Yeo), who also is their surrogate. Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) is trying to help her husband, Tom (Doug Savant), maintain a relationship with his illegitimate daughter, Kayla (Rachel Fox). And Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), having burned down Susan's house, is putting a for-sale sign in front of another home on Wisteria Lane.

Cherry promises tons of delightful twists for this third season, including a supermarket hostage situation, a marriage (yes, Bree and Orson), a new love interest for Susan (Englishman Ian Kavanaugh, played by Dougray Scott) and the whacking of a leading character during the November sweeps.

Those are some of the dangerous turns "Desperate Housewives" will be taking over the next few weeks, but, this time, Cherry will be at the wheel. He knows every inch of this neighborhood, so there's no reason for prime-time property values to go anywhere but up in Fairview.

Moving in

After tonight's season opener of "Desperate Housewives," ABC will introduce an unremarkable family drama, "Brothers & Sisters." And that's somewhat astonishing when you consider the amazing lineup of players assembled for this rookie series.

Premiering at 10 ET/PT on ABC, the newcomer boasts an incredible cast: Calista Flockhart ("Ally McBeal"), two-time Oscar winner Sally Field, Patricia Wettig ("thirtysomething"), Balthazar Getty ("Alias"), Rachel Griffiths ("Six Feet Under") and Ron Rifkin ("Alias"). Tom Skerritt ("Picket Fences") guest stars in tonight's debut.

"This is a phenomenal group," Field told TV critics this summer. "You can't turn away from something like that. . . . That's why I'm here."

You're thinking that stars of this caliber must have their shining moments. And they do.

But while delivering a sturdy opening episode, the producers of "Brothers & Sisters" provide little that's compelling enough to draw you back next week. It's a good drama. You're glad you watched it. Will you watch again and again?

Unless the scripts and direction improve, that's not likely.

Flockhart plays Kitty, a right-wing radio host who, with her siblings, must cope with the sudden death of dear old dad (Skerritt). Family secrets won't be buried with him, however, and the sprawling family estate is rocked to its very foundation.

Like the family, perhaps "Brothers & Sisters" will find its way as the season progresses. This was a new show that experienced much upheaval during the development process. Roles were recast. There were behind-the-scenes changes. And TV critics got the pilot episode very late.

"I never got the sense, not having made television before, that we were ever troubled at all," said executive producer Jon Robin Baitz. "It was more a matter of, in recasting, opening it up and finding the most alive version of the story. But I never had the sense of anybody's panic about what we were doing."

Perhaps, yet the expectations are high for "Brothers & Sisters." It's getting the time slot vacated by ABC's second-highest-rated show, "Grey's Anatomy." To operate in this spot as successfully as that medical drama, this newcomer will require a steady transfusion of writing that's more vital and more full-blooded.

To stay off the critical list, "Brothers & Sisters" will need scripts that are as powerful as the players. Setting the bar awfully high? It's already been set high for this freshman drama.

On the TV horizon

The fourth-season premiere of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is at 7 ET/PT tonight on ABC. . . . The fourth-season premiere of the CBS crime drama "Cold Case" is at 9 ET/PT tonight on CBS, followed by the fifth-season premiere of "Without a Trace" at 10. . . . Showtime's "Brotherhood" wraps up its first season at 10 ET tonight (and when this uneven drama has been good, it has been mesmerizing). . . . The 11th-season premiere of "7th Heaven" is at 8 p.m. Monday on new CW affiliates. . . . NBC's "Heroes," about ordinary people developing superhero powers, premieres at 9 PM ET/PT Monday on WKYC Channel 3. . . . Ted Danson's new ABC comedy, "Help Me, Help You," debuts at 9:30 PM ET/PT Tuesday. . . . And the second season of Animal Planet's "Meerkat Manor" begins at 8 PM ET Friday.

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/mark_dawidziak/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/115900070737770.xml&coll=2

The Business of TV
On the Hot Seat
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 9/25/2006

During Goldman Sachs’ Communicopia media investor conference last week, a top executive privately confessed, “I’m so glad I don’t have to do that any more.”

His company went private within the past few years, so he no longer has to perform for swarms of money managers hammering away at every conceivable flaw in the latest securities filing.

Executives at most large media companies don’t have that luxury. The largest companies are public, and even the most powerful ones are forced to dance to impress Wall Street.

It’s not pretty. The audience at these investor conferences is dominated by hedge funds with increasingly short-term outlooks. They hold positions for days or possibly weeks, rather than months or years. Often because of high turnover, a CEO is not familiar with the analyst or portfolio manager du jour.

In recent years, this fascination with quarter-to-quarter gains has turned CEOs into contortionists trying to bend to Wall Street’s whims. These CEOs have seen Time Warner’s Dick Parsons and Jeff Bewkes squirm under the pressure from Carl Icahn and his hedge-fund friend, SAC Capital head Steve Cohen. And, of course, one reason Viacom CEO Tom Freston lost his job is the company’s poor communications with Wall Street.

THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE

Still, the show must go on. Last week, the most uncomfortable executive in the house was DirecTV CEO Chase Carey. Just a week earlier, news broke that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was considering trading away his 38% stake in DirecTV to resolve a dispute with Liberty Media. Murdoch is unhappy over growth prospects at DirecTV and its inability to deliver high-speed Internet service.

“I guess I’ve been in entertainment and media long enough to be accustomed to the life of rumors and the type of crap that has revolved around us this week,” Carey says, without elaborating on the talks.

Carey expresses confidence in DirecTV’s core video business. However, he acknowledges that the broadband issue is “the big overhang” on DirecTV’s long-term prospects. DirecTV can’t really offer fast data service on its own and is dependent on telephone companies to “bundle” their DSL service in with satellite TV. It’s hard to imagine that telcos will remain strong marketing partners, given that they’re getting into the video business on their own and want to steal DirecTV’s customers.

Comcast President Steve Burke seemed to be most at ease in the spotlight. His company’s shares have zoomed 35% so far this year as consistent financial growth has finally beaten down investor anxiety. Burke says that, a year ago, “you would have a meeting with an investor or an analyst and the first question was 'are the RBOCs going to put you out of business?’ The second question was 'isn’t Internet [video] going to mean that nobody needs cable?’ I think that, last year, those issues have calmed down and people are more balanced.”

Instead, investors are wowed by Comcast and other cable operators’ success selling telephone services over their wires. “We will gain 10-20 times as many phone customers,” Burke says, “or 30 times as many phone customers as they gain video customers.”

The smoothest executive: CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves. Years of coping with inflated Hollywood egos have made him a natural at the investor schmooze. He sweeps away worries about Web video’s threat, confidently declaring that “we’re looking at the Internet as our friend,” one that will strengthen CBS by allowing more-flexible distribution of programming, rather than simply cannibalizing CBS’ network and—far more important—its TV stations.

Moonves exudes so much confidence that you almost forget that CBS’ revenues and operating cash flow are expected to increase less than 2% this year. Or that the CBS network’s ratings actually fell 5% last season. Or that the future of CBS’ radio and billboard units is far from riveting.

COMING OUT

The conference marked the coming out of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, who is filling the slot held by Freston until three weeks ago. His debut left investors wanting more—much more.

Like Moonves, Dauman works for Sumner Redstone, chairman and controlling shareholder of both CBS and Viacom. But Dauman isn’t half the salesman that Moonves is. The firing of a CEO signals the need for change to outsiders, but Dauman’s pitch, incredibly, was that all is well.

Freston’s replacement should have a big plan for change, right? How about a dramatic change in MTV Networks’ approach to digital, which Redstone has criticized? “In the digital area, I think we have had a good strategy,” Dauman tells investors.

Despite the theatrics, conferences like these are more important than ever, because it’s a fearful time for media executives. Slow overall growth has investors generally sour on every media sector except cable operators. So CEOs need to communicate how their companies are reacting to competitive forces. Still, what matters most is the steak, not the sizzle.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6374607

The New Season
“Brothers and Sisters”
Rumors of trouble on the set aside, 'Brothers & Sisters' turns out to be a promising new drama

By Dave Walker New Orleans Times-Picayune TV columnist

Calista Flockhart says the first words of dialogue on the new ABC drama "Brothers & Sisters," and they seem directed at viewers who might've missed her from "Ally McBeal."

"It is not my fault you haven't seen me in three years," says Kitty Walker, Flockhart's character.

Cute, but "Ally" actually left four years ago, and Kitty Walker is not a young hallucination-prone lawyer obsessed with affairs of the heart.

Instead, she's a conservative talk-radio host vying to join the TV punditocracy. The line isn't voice-over or a monologue. It's the character rehearsing for a reunion with her estranged mother.

Pre-launch coverage of "Brothers & Sisters" has focused on two distracting side-alleys.

One is Flockhart's character's politics. Asked by TV critics over the summer if she's intended as walking commentary on Ann Coulter, Ken Olin, the "thirtysomething" star turned TV producer, said no. Then added: "She's not insane." Insta-furor in the blogosphere. Grrr.

Two is backstage trouble. A key role was recast as the show neared fall production, with Sally Field ("Norman Rae") brought in to play Walker's mother. Gone: Betty Buckley ("Oz"), who'd played mom in the first version of the show's pilot, shot earlier in the year. Later, a key writer-executive producer, Marti Noxon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), departed.

By definition, the series became, in TV-development shorthand, a troubled show -- a judgment reinforced by the very late delivery to critics of a first-episode preview disc.

Well, it finally arrived. Insta-judgment: not the expected freeway-median pileup, but not an instant stunner, either. It's in the solid low middle of a better-than-average crop of new fall series. No "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and certainly not worth missing HBO's "The Wire" for, but a show for which a salable audience of some kind will surely exist. And probably pretty good counter-programming to NBC's football game.

Pre-premiere, interest in the drama's behind-the-scenes drama wouldn't have been so great if "Brothers & Sisters" had been slotted for 8 p.m. Friday, or even if just one less marquee name had been attached.

But it's going to air, for a little while at least, with a big lead-in from "Desperate Housewives," which means ABC is gambling some of its most valuable prime-time real estate on a tightly wound family drama that plays for not even a second as camp (à la most prime time soaps) or arch, if frequently comedic and sexy, social commentary (like its lead-in).

Created by New York playwright Jon Robin Baitz, "Brothers & Sisters" will gather the dispersed members of the Walker family for a reunion that portends big changes for the clan, the patriarch for which oversees what seems at first to be a thriving agricultural empire.

The characters gathered 'round the family dinner table offer unlimited plot sprouts. One son is a gay lawyer. An uncle appears to be siphoning cash from the family business. Another son is resting and recovering -- in understandably robust style -- from a combat stint in the military.

One daughter is helping dad with the family business while suffering marital intimacy issues. Dad may or may not be the ideal husband, and he's got undiagnosed health issues. Mom hasn't talked to her pundit daughter in three years, mostly because their politics don't converge. And there's the daughter who's not Ann Coulter, who's also stressed by a choice between career advancement and romantic commitment.

Among the actors portraying some of the above are Flockhart, Field, Tom Skerritt ("Picket Fences"), Ron Rifkin ("Alias") and Rachel Griffiths ("Six Feet Under"). Patricia Wettig ("thirtysomething") plays dad's potential side action.

Olin, Baitz and their writers have a potential bonanza of unexamined pathologies and neuroses to play with here, in other words, and a cast of fine actors to animate. (As well as illuminate. Everything and everybody in this show seems kind of under-lit, given the baronial California setting. Gloomy, even. We get that this isn't "Dynasty" or "Dallas." Now, turn up the kitchen dimmer switch just a little, please, we're trying to pass judgment on everybody's cosmetic surgery.)

"Troubled" show or not, the power of its lead-in audience means "Brothers & Sisters" has a shot at success.

To cement that further, storylines should stick to the outline embedded in the title, and leave the pundit-stoked culture wars to NBC's excellent "Studio 60," cable-news TV networks and talk radio.

I also think, given the changes already made, that it's not too late to give the family a different last name.

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/walker/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1158902944159760.xml&coll=1

Critic’s Notebook
“Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip”
Backstage Angst: Aaron Sorkin Returns to Prime Time By Tad Friend The New Yorker

Aaron Sorkin must love television—only someone who loves it could savage the medium so. The first episode of his unfailingly enjoyable NBC drama, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” about the backstage maneuverings at a late-night comedy show, opens with the program’s weary executive producer, Wes Mendell (Judd Hirsch, in a growling cameo), losing a battle with a censor at his network, NBS. When he is told that he can’t run a sketch called “Crazy Christians,” Wes snaps. He interrupts the live broadcast and tells viewers to switch off their sets. Observing that “people are having contests to see how much they can be like Donald Trump,” and “we’re eating worms for money,” he declares that TV is “making us mean, it’s making us bitchy, it’s making us cheap punks—that’s not who we are.”

His unscheduled “Network” tribute gets him fired, of course, and sets in motion events that will convene Sorkin’s glossy cast and frame the show’s emerging tensions. It happens to be the first day at work for the network president, Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet), but she’s an unorthodox sort who agrees with Wes’s assessment and is amused by the ensuing ruckus; that very night, she hires Matt Albie and Danny Tripp to restore the show—and her trashy, bottom-feeding network—to their bygone glory. Matt (Matthew Perry) and Danny (Bradley Whitford) are a prickly but talented creative team who worked at “Studio 60” before going on to success in films; they arrive over the objections of the NBS chairman, Jack Rudolph (Steven Weber, in a nifty turn as a corporate infighter), who, having forced the pair out once before, fears, correctly, that they will bring him nothing but grief.

Wes’s jeremiad flatters NBC, which airs “The Apprentice,” with Donald Trump, and also “Fear Factor,” the worms-for-cash procedural, but which is also bringing us Sorkin’s critique. More important, it flatters us: we’re not cheap punks; we don’t really watch all that high-rated crap, no sir. Sorkin charms us into tagging along as he sets out to re-create a golden-age-of-television atmosphere. His title winks at fifties shows such as “Studio One” and “77 Sunset Strip”; the second episode invokes the famous “You’ve got spunk” exchange in the pilot of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”; and the entire enterprise is patently inspired by “Saturday Night Live.”

Wes’s speech also reminds us how heated and hyperbolic, how scripted, Sorkin’s shows are; he had a hand in writing almost every episode of his sitcom “Sports Night” (I got to know him when I was reporting a piece on the show) and almost every episode of the first four seasons of “The West Wing.” Sorkin’s characters don’t get into pickles in the usual TV ways: breaking the law to help a victim (“Law & Order: SVU”); obeying unseen voices (“Medium”; “Ghost Whisperer”); having sex with the wrong person (“Desperate Housewives”); or burying a goombah in a landfill (“The Sopranos”). They get into pickles because they mouth off—and it’s great television because television prizes banter above all forms of conversation. Other shows’ characters get mouthy (think of Dr. Gregory House on “House” or Ari Gold on “Entourage”), but Sorkin’s spar and bluster like the flap-jawed hacks in “The Front Page.” Jack Rudolph, when he wants to put Jordan in her place, barks, “I got news for you, sister.” Sister! Can “toots” be far behind?

Jordan remains unruffled. Sorkin gives Amanda Peet a perfunctory foible—she gets people’s names wrong—but he clearly wants us to adore her. It helps that Peet exudes cool-eyed mischief as a woman whose awareness of her colleagues’ ill will only increases the wattage of her poise. When Jordan refuses to kill the “Crazy Christians” sketch despite the threat of a fundamentalist boycott—“I made them a promise,” she says of Matt and Danny—Jack looks at her incredulously, and we begin to wonder: could this supposed television executive be an escaped mental patient? No, just an appealingly counterfactual network president along the lines of “The West Wing”’s appealingly counterfactual President.

The “boys,” as Jordan archly calls Matt and his best friend, Danny, are the heart of “Studio 60.” Matthew Perry has one of television’s most familiar faces, but the fecklessness that he sometimes exhibited on “Friends” has been replaced by a seamanlike weathering. Willing now to let the camera close to trace his anxieties, Perry is winning as an impulsive writer drawn back to the show—in part because he has unfinished business with his ex-girlfriend Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson), a Ketel Martini-drinking Christian who is one of the comedy program’s stars, and in part out of loyalty to Danny. Bradley Whitford’s Danny pretty much had to take the job, because he has just tested positive for cocaine use and can’t get insured to direct movies. Whitford was rumpled and staunch as Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff on “The West Wing”; here he seems filled with a rage so deep it emerges as fatigue. Often he’s hunched over like the coach of a losing team, but, wherever he is on the screen, our eyes are drawn to him. For all his watchful ministering to Matt’s moods, Danny may be the first to blow.

On “Studio 60,” no conversation is so delicate that it can’t be held on the fly in a crowded hallway. Sorkin’s longtime creative partner, the director Thomas Schlamme, revives “The West Wing” ’s famous walk-and-talks; his Steadicam prowls down hallways and across the stage and above the length of the writers’ conference table and even through a mullioned window, coiling itself around the colossal set and its squadrons of hurrying extras. We are always glimpsing, over shoulders and through doorways, the characters who will play the next scene, and at times watching “Studio 60” feels like rubbernecking an accident from the passing lane. But the A.D.D. camera style suits Sorkin’s writing; his characters frequently jabber at someone who chooses that moment to look elsewhere.

In the second episode, Matt is complaining to Danny while Danny, half-listening, watches a closed-circuit feed of Jordan, who’s in the next room handling questions from television critics prior to introducing her new show-runners. In less than sixty seconds, Sorkin establishes Matt’s anxiety about not having enough time to retool the show; Matt and Danny’s mutual contempt for their deputies; that Matt still has a crush on Harriet and is worried she’ll find out that he’s been sleeping with another cast member; that Wes’s speech is now the leading topic on talk radio; and that Danny may have a crush on Jordan. A few minutes later, when Danny blurts out to the critics the real reason he’s back—his cocaine use—we realize that he was inattentive backstage in part because he was girding himself to confess. This is terrifically economical stagecraft.

Yet Sorkin’s dialogue falls on the ear better than it holds up to scrutiny. When Harriet asks Cal (Timothy Busfield), the director who kept Wes on the air, if he’s O.K., he responds to her not as a friend but as a straight man:

CAL: I’ve been told to sit tight and wait for word. . . .
HARRIET: Word on what?
CAL: I faced off with Standards during a live broadcast, Harry. The guys I know who’ve done that feel lucky when they can get a job directing “Good Morning, El Paso.”

Similarly, when Jordan assures Danny that she’ll keep the secret of his drug test, he scowls:

DANNY: That’s nice, but I have no reason to trust you and every reason not to.
JORDAN: Why?
DANNY: You work in television.

There’s something rum about these people. In the pilot, Harriet tells Matt that their relationship turned sour after she went on “The 700 Club,” and “you got cold and you got mean.” In the second episode, after Harriet finds out about Matt and her fellow cast member, she tells him, “That’s just mean.” The scenes don’t quite play. One problem is that Harriet is more a conceit than a character. A more serious issue is that meanness and stupidity are the worst things Sorkin’s characters can think to accuse one another of. For all his sniping at Christian bigots, a hobbyhorse going back to the pilot of “The West Wing,” his theology doesn’t seem to encompass any shading of evil. As a result, his characters can feel like Pinocchios—motor-mouthed marionettes hoping to promote themselves to real live boys.

Here, as in his earlier shows, Sorkin’s gang seems diverse and all-American and meritocratic, but it is really an aristocracy of talent; the characters repeatedly disdain the growing reach of the rabble. When the cast member Tom Jeter (Nathan Corddry) reads aloud a negative appraisal of the show from a blogger named Bernadette, his fellow-performer Simon Stiles (D. L. Hughley) asks, “Why do you care? She’s got a freezer full of Jenny Craig and she’s surrounded by her five cats.” “The New York Times is going to quote Bernadette so that the people can be heard and the Times can demonstrate they’re not the media élite,” Tom says gloomily. “I prefer when they were élite.”

When the network’s executives meet to discuss the Wes situation and how to channel the passions it will stir up among that rabble, they gather around a table that looks very like the War Room circle in “Dr. Strangelove.” But Sorkin isn’t a satirist: he doesn’t want to mock the suits so much as gain a seat at the table. We are meant to be impressed that hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake and by the array of concerns that routinely warp the creative impulse.

At the same time, these corporate sensitivities are useful as obstacles that Sorkin throws in the path of his writing proxy, Matt, who worries in the second episode, as airtime approaches, that he doesn’t have a “cold open”—the show’s first sketch, which has to strike a perfect note of historical awareness, contrition, and impudence. I won’t spoil the spare-no-expense solution that he and Danny and the cast finally come up with, except to say that Matt, beginning the search for sets and costumes, asks, “What do we have that says ‘Legacy of Television’?” Most writers would fade out there. Why risk bombing with the actual sketch, thereby eroding our belief in the characters’ talents? But Sorkin lets his majestic production number roll, and the gamble pays off. He more than convinces us that Matt (read: Sorkin) could run “Studio 60” or, for that matter, “Saturday Night Live.” The show handsomely succeeds in creating that golden-age feeling; it is entertainment—with all that the word suggests, and doesn’t—of the highest order.

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/critics/060925crte_television

Critic’s Notebook
“Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip”
Backstage Angst: Aaron Sorkin Returns to Prime Time By Tad Friend The New Yorker

Aaron Sorkin must love television—only someone who loves it could savage the medium so.

The best and worst of the 4th Estate at the same time. Sorkin does it again. God I wish I worked on that show! (the fictious one! I would feel so at home!)

I missed the story a few days ago when it was first posted, but because of the show, and the fact that Tad Friend is a pretty damned good writer, I posted it anyway.

And I agree with you - it looks like it would be an interesting (at least!) show to work on.

The Business of TV
Why some new shows get canned after one episode

By Paul Farhi The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Remember "Emily's Reasons Why Not"? Of course you don't. So few people watched the ABC sitcom's debut last season, despite heavy promotion and Heather Graham's sex appeal, that the show achieved a distinction shared by only a dozen or so series in network history:

It was canceled after one episode.

Although a program can't get the ax sooner than that — there's no record, after all, of a series being canceled during its first broadcast — "Emily's" instant disappearance put it at the bleeding edge of a network trend. A decade or so ago, a new network series might get a dozen episodes to find an audience. Now the end tends to come quicker — often much quicker. (During the 1995-96 season, 39 series were canceled before they aired more than 10 times; last season, 61 were spiked before they attained that modest milestone.)

If recent history is any guide, about half of the 26 new shows that will appear for the first time this fall on the major broadcast networks will appear for the last time this fall. They will be vaporized just like last season's short-lived losers, such as "Emily," "Head Cases" (which Fox ran twice before pulling), NBC's "Inconceivable" (two episodes) or CBS' "Love Monkey" (three on CBS, before the show expired on VH1).

Network executives say that each cancellation represents a small failure — because each new show is a multimillion-dollar investment of production and promotion — but they also say that excessive patience is frequently futile. Given the number of programs available to viewers, they say, a show that isn't attracting viewers its first few times out faces longer odds of ever being "discovered" several more weeks into its run.

"There are so many choices out there now," says Kelly Kahl, CBS' head of scheduling. "You just can't afford to stick with something that's not working for too long."

Increasingly, he says, the debut of a network series is like opening night on Broadway or the first weekend of a feature film's release: "Frankly, there will be some shows that just won't open," he says.

Part of broadcast TV's shortening attention span is a story of technology. These days, programmers have ever more sophisticated tools to detect what's working and what isn't.

The networks have long known how many viewers a show has, but advertisers have long wanted to know who those people are. In 1999, Nielsen, the ratings company, introduced a software system called Npower that enables the networks to analyze the income, education, race or ethnicity, and location of sample audiences. The system also shows where a target audience (say, women age 18-34) is going after one show ends and another begins — a process known as "audience flow."

Armed with such data, a network can determine rapidly when to schedule a program relative to its other shows (or relative to another network's programs) to increase the desired flow. That kind of analysis used to take weeks, as viewers settled into predictable patterns; now it takes a few days after an episode airs, according to Nielsen.

The software "will allow [a programmer] to look, minute-by-minute, at how a viewer watched television that night with a full analysis of the demographics of that viewer," says Karen Watson, a Nielsen spokeswoman.

Then, as shows that aren't attracting the desired viewer get pink-slipped quickly, the holes often are plugged with reality shows, which are cheaper than dramas or sitcoms and can be produced quickly.

As a result, the very idea of a "new TV season" each fall is becoming increasingly quaint. The networks still debut dozens of new shows in September, just as they have since the late 1940s, but the weeding of the schedule now goes on year-round. Many long-running shows made their debut at midseason in January; for the past five or six years, a big launch period has been the historically drowsy summer months, when programs such as "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Survivor," "Dancing With the Stars" and "Deal or No Deal" debuted.

All this weeding and reseeding has diminished the chances that a slow-starting series will build momentum and develop into a hit. Some of the most important and popular shows ever owe their survival to network executives who were willing to endure low ratings early on — shows such as "Hill Street Blues," "All in the Family," "M*A*S*H," "Cheers" and "Seinfeld."

Such slow-developing hits still happen — NBC's "Scrubs" is an example, as is "Close to Home" on CBS — but Kahl notes that it takes an intensely loyal fan base or tremendous critical support to keep an underachiever on the schedule when the numbers don't add up. Fox famously stuck with the ratings-deficient sitcom "Arrested Development" for several seasons, collecting several Emmys, before finally giving up on it last season.

John Rash, a senior vice president at the Campbell Mithun ad agency in Minneapolis, predicts that the 2006-07 season could see a return to some stability on the networks' schedules, albeit modestly. Rash bases his prediction on two factors: the increased number of serialized dramas — the new "Kidnapped," "The Nine" and "Six Degrees," for instance — and the sorry state of the sitcom after such '90s shows as "Seinfeld."

The serial dramas — which are much in the style of "24," "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" — feature weekly cliffhangers, enhancing the prospect that viewers will keep coming back, Rash says. "If viewers repeatedly invest in these shows only to be left hanging (by an abrupt cancellation), it will be very difficult for the networks to sell the next serialized drama," he says.

As for sitcoms, the recent failure of so many suggests the need for more patience; Rash points out that NBC kept "The Office" on its schedule last year and eventually was rewarded with a modest ratings success and an Emmy for best comedy series.

"The industry is realizing that their search for the next generation-defining (sitcom) may still be a ways off," he says. "They don't have a lot of choice" but to stand pat.

Which would mean that the newest change about network TV this fall would be to make not much change at all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091500311.html

Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, trade reporters might start mentioning if a show is being produced in HD.

DBS Notebook
DirecTV Takes You Into MyWorld
By Steve Donohue MultiChannel News 9/24/2006

DirecTV plans to debut a weekly reality show Oct. 2 -- one of the top direct-broadcast satellite provider’s first forays into original programming.

The program, Project MyWorld, features three young women from Los Angeles traveling the world to meet friends they’ve met on social-networking Web site www.MySpace.com.

“We are investing in original programming as a point of differentiation to attract and retain customers,” DirecTV executive vice president of entertainment Eric Shanks said Friday.

DirecTV is developing additional original programming for its channel 101 -- the same channel that will carry Project MyWorld and that currently runs weekly music program CD USA.

Although DirecTV majority owner News Corp. also owns MySpace.com, Shanks said the Web site wasn’t involved in the development of the show. He added that the three stars of the show -- Shaina Fewell, Renee Intlekofer and Taryn Southern -- developed the concept and pitched it to DirecTV themselves. Southern is a former contestant from Fox’s American Idol.

DirecTV said Fewell’s role in the program is to seek independent bands, one of which will be selected to produce a video for CD USA. Intlekofer’s role is to date men in each of the cities the group visits, while Southern is charged with planning adventures, such as getting the trio involved in the La Tomatina tomato-throwing festival in Valencia, Spain.

Shanks said DirecTV has already shot 10 episodes of Project MyWorld. The company -- which has already reserved rights to slap the Project MyWorld brand on everything from lunchboxes to CD covers -- may pick it up for additional seasons if it generates buzz, he added.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6374632

TV Notebook
The CW: Could work?
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

In a world where media options expand daily, launching a brand-new broadcast network is no easy task.

“It is daunting,” says Dawn Ostroff, former president of UPN. Ostroff, now the head of the CW network, launched the new network on Wednesday with the seventh edition of “America’s Next Top Model.”

The CW was formed from the merger of the WB and UPN, two smaller networks that never gained the profitability their owners desired. Many well-known shows from both the WB and UPN have migrated to the CW, including “Veronica Mars,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “One Tree Hill,” “Seventh Heaven,” “Gilmore Girls” and “Supernatural.”

Most of the network’s shows will roll out in the next two weeks, and some CW shows are streaming in their entirety on msn.com’s TV portal before their season debuts. The CW has only two new programs, a the drama “Runaway,” which premieres Monday, and the comedy “The Game,” which debuts Oct. 1. (The CW airs in Chicago on WGN-Ch. 9, a station owned by Tribune Company, which also owns the Chicago Tribune).

As Ostroff sees it, she has two jobs: To survive in a very crowded media environment and to introduce the target 18- to 34-year-old demographic to the CW “brand.” Bringing back shows that WB and UPN viewers were passionate about was one way to “get them into the tent,” Ostroff says.

“The best way to be able to communicate the new network and in many cases the new channel would be through people trying to find their favorite shows,” Ostroff says. (To find your local CW affiliate, click here).

To woo advertisers, the network has unveiled “content wraps,” mini-reality shows with advertising embedded in them; they’ll air in commercial slots on the network.

The network’s online strategy also is ambitious; in addition to streaming programs, the CW has advertised heavily on MySpace.com and created a “channel” there (www.myspace.com/thecw), and it has a Web site of it (cwtv.com) web sites where viewers can create promos featuring their own photos or create CW spots with clips from the network’s shows.

The channel’s young target audience has “grown up on cable TV - Nickelodeon, Disney, MTV. They’re used to finding not just only a program but an environment,” Ostroff says.

Still, it’s difficult to communicate a brand message to that generation, because young people have so many different media options arrayed before them - often all at the same time.

“There’s a lot of important information we need to relate to our audience in order to get them in the tent at a very crowded time, because all the other networks are launching their new shows at that time and they’re out there with considerable marketing plans as well,” Ostroff notes.

That young, online-savvy audience is not being catered to by the bigger networks, Ostroff contends: “We are the only [broadcast] network that will be in that space.”

As for the shows themselves, there has been some fine-tuning. In the wake of the departure of executive producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, “Gilmore Girls” returns Tuesday with a new head writer, David Rosenthal, at the helm of the show’s seventh and possibly final season.

“I can tell you they were offered the stars the moon and the sky to stay, not by us, but by Warner Brothers, and they decided to leave and I think it was very sad it was very sad to see them go,” Ostroff says of the Palladinos. “That being said, we’re all impressed with the job David Rosenthal has done.”

“Veronica Mars,” the most critically lauded show on the new network, will be paired with “Gilmore Girls” on Tuesdays, and the title character is starting college when the show returns Oct. 3. This season, the teen detective show will air in three distinct blocks, without repeats within those blocks, so that creator Rob Thomas can tell three overarching “Mars” mystery stories, in addition to “mysteries of the week.”

“I do think the stakes are higher and I certainly think the pressure is more pronounced,” Thomas said in an interview. “There was a always a certain safety I felt in [being on] UPN, once I got on the schedule, because they didn’t have a lot behind us waiting to take our spot.

“Now, on the CW, I know they have midseason shows ready to go in case we don’t do well out of the gate. So there’s certainly more pressure that way. Also, I do believe that success will be measured by how well we retain the `Gilmore Girls’ audience.”

Thomas has said he’s constructed the “Mars” season opener to be inviting to “Gilmore Girls” fans. “It doesn’t assume any knowledge. There aren’t any flashbacks,” he says.

“I’m trying, in those first three acts, to say to the `Gilmore Girls’ audience, `Hey look, we have fun, fast banter. We have a great parent-daughter relationship. Watch us, too!’”

Ali LeRoi, co-creator and executive producer of the winning CW comedy “Everybody Hates Chris,” says this year the show will feature a rotating array of guest stars, including Whoopi Goldberg, who does a very funny turn in the Oct. 1 season premiere as a new neighbor of Chris’ family (she’ll be back for up to three more episodes), as well as Wayne Brady, Jason Alexander, Antonio Fargas and Jimmie Walker.

“We’re trying to localize” the neighborhood, LeRoi says. “It’s almost like `The Simpsons,’ we have this sprawling cast and we’re trying to populate this world a little more.”

So what will be success for the CW?

“The truth is we really don’t have a benchmark. We’re all very realistic, we know it’s going to take time for everybody to find us,” Ostroff says. “We want to see growth over what the WB or UPN were getting - not growth over their combined numbers. That’s not realistic.”

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/09/the_cw_could_wo.html#more

Monday’s Prime-Time Premieres
8 PM ET/PT 7th Heaven - CW
9 PM ET/PT Runaway - CW HD
9 PM ET/PT Heroes - NBC HD

The New Season
“Heroes”: Super, within reason
With characters of odd, comic-book style powers, 'Heroes' mostly avoids going overboard.
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 25, 2006

"Heroes" is "X-Men" in mufti, a TV series about super-powered people who dress like you. No costumes, no secret identities. No special equipment, hideaways or headquarters. No fur for skin, no scales, no prehensile tails. It's not the first such show to do away with the tights and capes — at least two others are running right now, "Smallville" and "The 4400" — but there is very little new under the sci-fi sun, after all. There are special effects, but the series doesn't rely on them, nor can it afford to on a television budget, and most of the protagonists have been given easy-to-suggest abilities — telepathy, invulnerability, precognition, stopping time — well within the creative reach of a fairly bright 14-year-old with a video cam and an iMac.

Premiering (Monday night (at 9 PM ET/PT) on NBC, with Sci Fi Channel replays beginning Friday, this is one of the season's several "Lost"-like shows, focusing on a group of heretofore unrelated individuals compelled to work out a mysterious common destiny — and, like "Lost," it gets to bend reality to its will. The challenge in such an open-ended situation is to keep from becoming preposterous, and "Heroes," created by Tim Kring ("Crossing Jordan"), stays mostly on the right side of that line. It does get a little pretentious at times, especially during the opening and closing narrations, but its pretensions are very much comic-book pretensions, and therefore allowable in what is, fundamentally, a comic book. (This is made expressly clear by the comic-style lettering of the title cards, and implicitly by the participation of award-winning comics scribe Jeph Loeb — also a veteran of "Smallville" and "Lost" — as a writer and executive producer.)

We meet our several nascent superheroes just as they are waking up to their gifts — this is happening all over the world, and all of a sudden, as near as I can figure — much to their various confusion, delight or dismay. Just why this evolutionary tipping point has been reached is not yet clear, but, you know, whatever, it happened. Whatever explanation they eventually offer will just be made up. (Comic-book science is held to a low burden of proof.) What matters here, as in many such tales, is not so much the science or the mythology or the crime-fighting or the alien-repelling or evil-defeating, as the hero's relationship to his or her powers, and how to keep them from taking over one's life.

"Heroes" gets a lot of mileage from its players. There is the usual quorum of hot guys and girls, but additionally the actors seem to have been cast for a quality of soulfulness. Hayden Panettiere ("Ice Princess") is a Texas high school cheerleader who cannot be crushed, mangled or burned, not that it's any help at the pep rally. Ali Larter is a Las Vegas mom paying for her genius son's schmancy school by doing Internet porn; she has a doppelgänger taking care of her messier business, messily. Greg Grunberg ("Alias") is a telepathic L.A. cop. Adrian Pasdar ("Judging Amy") and Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls") play New York brothers who can fly, though as the younger, Ventimiglia is still a fledgling. (Pasdar's character is running for office, which makes me think he's going to turn bad.) Santiago Cabrera is a junkie who paints pictures and draws comics of the future — actually drawn by real-world comics artist Tim Sale, a frequent collaborator of Loeb's — one of which happens uncannily to feature the clock-stopping, teleporting Japanese salaryman played by Masi Oka ("Scrubs").

Then there is Sendhil Ramamurthy, whose cab-driving geneticist has no special powers, other than the power of being extraordinarily handsome — I would settle for that. But as the son of a murdered professor who was ahead of the curve on the whole mutant thing, he has become the target of bad people after his father's notes.

And as if there weren't headaches enough just being super, there are also a shadowy mutant serial killer stealing mutant brains — some icky stuff there, but not particularly lingered over — and a Man in Glasses, something of a cousin to the Cigarette Smoking Man in "The X-Files," who looks to be official trouble. (Unless we are being played.) And New York is about to blow up.

Not every thread is equally well realized, but the rest of the show could stink pretty bad (and it doesn't stink at all) and I would still show up for Oka, its bumptious comic relief and old-fashioned pure heart. (Science fiction needs a little seltzer now and again, or it can disappear down its own wormhole. And some room has also wisely been left for romance.) As the one character who actually sees himself as a superhero, as answering a call, Oka turns in a performance of utter, unbridled joy quite unlike anything else on TV.

This is "Volume One" of their adventures, an opening title card hopefully states — well, maybe. Some will find "Heroes" a little slow for a superhero yarn, I'd wager, and again, it being television, there is a lot of talking where expensive visual effects and punishing loud noises would ordinarily go. But why not, after all? Life is slow, people talk.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-heroes25sep25,0,4508146,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

The Business of TV
Giving away too much?
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” Sunday, Sept. 24, 2006

Among the assorted online spin-offs from TV shows, podcasts rank among some of the most popular digital features. Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" and ABC's "Lost" both feature podcasts in which producers of the shows discuss the choices they made in storytelling.

But John Wells, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and the executive producer of "ER" and "Smith," said he's not eager to pull back the curtain and reveal the inside secrets of making his series.

"Personally I think it's usually a little bit of a mistake, particularly in this kind of show where you're trying to suspend the reality and get people to believe this world really exists," Wells said in July at an NBC party. "Part of the fun [of 'Smith'] is you think, I could go to Santa Clarita and I might run into Hope [Virginia Madsen] in the supermarket. If you puncture a few too many of those secrets, it doesn't make it as much fun."

Wells said TV is in a precarious period. Many series begin big and the audience quickly loses interest. That bottle rocket trajectory will hurt TV shows if they can't last long enough to recoup production costs through syndicated reruns.

"The pop culture seems to require all these other things, and that explosion of things can lead to an over-exposure for the show that turns people off," Wells said. "It's a big difference from having seen a film and enjoyed it and buying a DVD six months later and watching the bonus features and an ongoing thing [like a TV series]."

He compared it to a magician who gives away his tricks.

"Everybody always says they want to know how the magic trick is done, but nobody wants to know how the magic trick is done," Wells said. "Once you know how it's done, the wonder of it goes away."

Network executives, however, have no qualms about podcasts that explain the making of the show.

"The audience loves to feel like a part of the process, to go behind the scenes," said CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. "When I get a DVD, I always love to look at the additional material that gives you a chance to get more up close and personal with the process and the creative people behind the show."

She has no worries about producers giving away too much information.

"You have to be discreet," she said, "but the producers are smart enough to know what elements to reveal and what elements not to reveal."

http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/tunedin/

The New Season
Like a 'Runaway' from the old WB network
Call it 'The Fugitive' for the postmodern world. Dad's obsessed, Mom's been known to lie, the kids are moody, and they're all on the run.
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times TV critic September 25, 2006

When first we meet them, the Hollands (not their real name) are new at this fugitive-ing. They're in a minivan, sister Hannah (Sarah Ramos) complaining about all the fast food they've been consuming while her older brother, Henry (Dustin Milligan), pines for the high school sweetheart he was so cruelly forced to abandon.

"Runaway" is "The Fugitive" with bathroom breaks and clandestine IM-ing, in which parents try to connect with their moody kids while everybody lives a lie. Here, Dr. Richard Kimble is an attorney father wrongly accused of murder who packs up the wife and kids and hits the road after the family receives death threats.

Road trip! CBS remade the 1963 series six years ago now, starring Tim Daly as Kimble; it flickered, then faded. Maybe he should have been seen carpooling. Or not — "Runaway" begs your interest (who doesn't like a road trip story, even when the Feds aren't on your tail?) before fading for lack of energy, not to mention originality.

The Kimble figure is Donnie Wahlberg, whose expression throughout the pilot goes from sourpuss to sourpuss with a chance of clearing. I guess he's very tired. He spends much of the first hour on his Palm Pilot, trying to hack into the dead woman's e-mail.

In other words, he's just another dad too absorbed in his work to notice his daughter's off to school dressed like a hussy. The rest of the show gets the WB (oops, I mean the CW) treatment. You know, teen angst, high school crushes building.

In the pilot, the Hollands — who are actually the Raders — end up in the leafy hamlet of Bridgewater, Iowa, another of those WB planned communities. The neighbor has a really yellow sweater and the local Realtor dresses in knee-high leather boots. She rents them a rambling house worthy of an English professor and doesn't ask for references. Mom (Leslie Hope) gets pulled over for running a stop sign on her way to registering the kids for school; unable to produce ID, she contrives a plausible scenario — they're Hurricane Katrina victims, you see; it's been four moves in the last year and, well.

In an America of heightened suspicion and identity theft, the Hollands get housing and schooling, and Dad gets a job slinging hash at the local diner, all without need of much paperwork. I guess they fit the stereotype — white and outwardly (if not upwardly) mobile.

"Runaway" is one of only two new series on the merged CW (WB plus UPN, a partnership of Viacom Inc.-owned CBS Corp. and Warner Bros.). "Runaway" itself merges into the best-of-both-worlds lineup of "Smallville," "America's Next Top Model," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Veronica Mars." But don't get fooled by the letters — "Runaway" may officially be CW, but it's all WB at heart.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-runaway25sep25,0,5479756,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

The New Season
“Without A Trace”
Show tackles its toughest case: A move to Sunday night
By Virginia Rohan Bergen Record Staff Writer

Anthony LaPaglia and Roselyn Sanchez, wearing heavy-looking suits, latex gloves and somber expressions, are conversing at a Brooklyn gas station, about a block east of the famed River Cafe. He also carefully inspects a battered-looking beige van, abandoned there by a man who has kidnapped a 5-year-old boy.

On this July afternoon, when "Without a Trace" is in town to shoot exterior scenes for its fifth season, it's 99 degrees in the shade -- not that you can even find much of that on this tree-free concrete corner.

During breaks, Sanchez takes refuge in an air-conditioned SUV that's parked and idling nearby. Crew members spritz themselves with water, and a wardrobe person runs out to blow-dry the back of a guest actor's soaked shirt.

But LaPaglia, once a pro soccer player in his native Australia, doesn't seem to break a sweat.

"I don't heat up much," LaPaglia later explains to a curious (and overheated) visitor.

The ability to stay cool when things get hot may come in handy for him this fall. After a long, successful run at 10 p.m. Thursday, LaPaglia's hit CBS series made its bold move to to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Though LaPaglia admits he was "a little surprised" when he first heard about the schedule change, he has faith in the wisdom of CBS President Leslie Moonves. He's also heartened that summer repeats in the new time slot did well.

"As long as people know that we're moving to Sunday night, I'm fine with it," LaPaglia says. "In some ways, it weirdly takes the pressure off, 'cause Thursday night is such a battlefield about advertising dollars. I don't really feel that now, so in the end, it may be the best thing that could have happened to the show. I think it could give us a bit more freedom creatively."

Greg Walker, one of the show's executive producers, especially likes that "Without a Trace" will follow two other Jerry Bruckheimer shows -- "The Amazing Race" and "Cold Case."

"What is CBS saying, 'Race' to 'Case' to 'Trace'? It's the all-Bruckheimer night, and we're happy to be part of it," Walker says. "Thursday night was great to us. We were blessed with an incredible lead-in, 'CSI.' And we got to compete against one of television's all-time greatest shows, 'ER.' This is a different world for us.

"But it's Season 5, and I think our challenges, whether our show was going to be on Thursday night or on Sunday night, remain the same. How do you keep it fresh and keep it interesting? Our attitude is, we're going to bend it but not break it."

On this New York City trip -- one of two (summer and spring) that Los Angeles–based "Trace" makes each season to the city where the series is set -- the crew is shooting outdoor sequences for several episodes. This one at the gas station will be part of tonight's season opener, which has the team searching for that missing 5-year-old and his abductor after being tipped off by the kidnapper's 12-year-old son.

The professional pairing of LaPaglia's Jack Malone and Sanchez's agent Elena Delgado is something viewers will see more of. "It's an interesting dynamic," Walker says, watching their scene. "It's interesting to get this really new fresh rookie and then the seasoned detective."

More romance

"Trace" fans also can look forward to another workplace romance, this time between Delgado and agent Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano), whose past connection will also be made clearer.

Next week's episode, Walker says, "puts them in an undercover situation together where they have to address feelings that maybe wouldn't have come out normally in the workplace, but the undercover situation brings them out," Walker says, adding that Delgado, who has a daughter, will have custody conflicts with her ex. "Danny's going to get in the middle of that, and that will complicate the new romance that they have."

He pauses. "As we've seen before, it's not exactly a recipe for success if you have a romance inside the office of 'Without a Trace.' Maybe they can break the pattern."

Delgado's undercover assignment, by the way, is a real attention-getter: To find a missing stripper, she'll work as a dancer at the club where the woman was last seen. (Danny poses as one of her customers.)

Sanchez recalls how producers proposed the scenario to her during the show's hiatus.

"They call one day saying, 'Do you have a problem if you play an exotic dancer? I said, 'No, I don't. What do I have to do? What do you want me to say? I don't have a problem. Get me out of this suit,' " she says. "I'm super-excited, because I was begging them to give me something like that."

A bit restrictive

Though she loves "Trace" -- and has become so friendly with co-star Poppy Montgomery that the two and their boyfriends vacationed together for two weeks in Mexico this summer -- the procedural format can be confining for the regulars, Sanchez says.

"It's never about the characters, per se; it's more about the missing persons, so the guest stars get to do amazing work," Sanchez says. "We're just providing information. It becomes a little challenging. Sometimes we're sitting there, me and Poppy, doing an interview scene with whatever guest star, and they do exquisite work, and we just go, 'Oh, I wish I could be doing that.' "

Meanwhile, Montgomery -- whose Samantha Spade character has had failed office romances with Malone and agent Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close) -- will have "a big story involving a family mystery in her own life," Walker says. "We're going to explore why she became a missing-persons agent in the first place."

"They came up with something that wasn't romantically based, 'cause she's run the romantic-love-triangle gamut, so to speak," Montgomery quips on the phone about a week after this shoot.

A new colleague

She also hopes to have scenes this season with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who plays Anne Cassidy, the new woman in Malone's life. "She's so wonderful," Montgomery says. "I would love to get the opportunity to be onscreen with her and explore that dynamic."

LaPaglia, who did a play with Mastrantonio 15 years ago, says he was thrilled when she wound up on the producers' short list of actresses to play Anne. "I loved her," he said. "And I said, 'I think she's perfect.' " As I said to them, I don't want to be with some 25-year-old. I want it to be age-appropriate, so that it looks like something that could really happen."

Mature relationship

In the season finale, the widowed Anne (who never had children), broke the news to the divorced Malone (father of two daughters) that she's pregnant. He initially reacted badly. "There's a whole 'What are we going to do,' because I've already been there, and she doesn't really want to go there," says LaPaglia. "It brings up a lot of interesting possibilities. I'm not sure where that's gonna go."

Says Walker: "We have two fantastic actors in Anthony and Mary Elizabeth. We really want to see them struggle with what I think is a real-life issue for people in their 40s. You've both had relationships that have ended in failure, ultimately, so you're trying to figure out how not to make the same mistakes again while you still have time."

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

"Without a Trace" was already three seasons old when Roselyn Sanchez joined the tight-knit missing-persons team.

"I got the call saying, 'They want you to do this TV show, 'Without a Trace,' " recalls Sanchez, whose role as a Customs agent in the 2001 film "Rush Hour 2" had got her noticed. "I was doing a movie in Puerto Rico ["Yellow," due in 2007], playing a stripper in a completely different world. And then I wrapped, and I have to go be a detective again. I was like, 'Oh, my God. This is going to be a little crazy.' But everybody's been so loving and so supportive."

That would include the "Trace" writers, she says. They have her Elena Delgado character, who had previously worked in the NYPD's vice unit, going undercover as an exotic dancer in next week's episode -- just the kind of big, juicy story line Sanchez had been lobbying for. "I told the writers, 'The more you give me, the more I'm going to be able to discover who this girl is,' " she says. "I want to be able to be more of a human being, not just solving a case and giving you information."

The San Juan native began her TV career on Puerto Rico's top comedy-variety series, "Que Vacilon," when she was 19. Two years later, she moved to New York. After spending a season as Pilar Domingo on "As the World Turns," she won lead roles in the short-lived series "Fame L.A." and Ving Rhames' "Kojak." Sanchez, 33, also has continued to make movies, and in 2003, she released her debut CD, "Borinquena." (The single "Amor Amor" earned a 2004 Latin Grammy nomination for best music video.) On "Trace," Sanchez is especially friendly with Poppy Montgomery, and their agent characters are also buddies. "We didn't want to do the typical thing -- the beautiful girl who has been doing it for a long time, and then another one comes in and they're going to have a problem with each other," Sanchez says. "I understand that in the first episode there was little bit of 'I'm testing you to see what I'm going to get away with,' but we said, you know what? There's no reason why we cannot be good friends and be co-workers and be very cordial towards each other. And in real life, I love Poppy."

The feeling is clearly mutual.

Says Montgomery, "I love that she's on the show. It's fantastic for us. We've all been together for so long, and it's always nice when we get new blood. We're like, 'Yay! Fun new playmates.' "

How's that for team spirit?

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNzcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cW VlRUV5eTY5OTU3MzkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

The New Season
Execs Hold Judgment of Freshmen Series After Week 1
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com Sept. 25, 2006

In a broadcast network premiere week that was hardly traditional—only eight freshman shows premiered last week, while 10 more will roll out in the weeks to come—it was not the new shows but several returning series that made the most impact.

ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy more than successfully moved from its Sunday 10 p.m. time period last season to Thursdays at 9, drawing 25.4 million viewers and an 11.0 rating among adults 18-49, to win the time period over CBS’ veteran drama CSI (22.5 million viewers and a 7.7 in 18-49).

ABC’s Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday, 8 p.m.) drew 18.1 million viewers and a 5.2 18-49 rating, while NBC’s Deal or No Deal (Monday, 8 p.m.) nabbed 15.7 million viewers and a 5.0 18-49 rating. The CW’s America’s Next Top Model (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), which aired on UPN last season, scored its best premiere ever in adults 18-49 (2.6) and won the night in adults 18-34 (3.2).

And what some observers felt was the surprise of the week, NBC’s veteran drama ER, starting its 13th season, won the Thursday 10 p.m. time period with a 6.8 18-49 rating, swimming past new CBS drama Shark (4.1) and freshman ABC drama Six Degrees (5.4).

Among the new shows to premiere last week, Shark generated the most viewers (14.7 million) followed by NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (10 p.m. Mondays), which was watched by 13.4 million viewers.

None of the other new shows broke out of the gate in solid fashion. And one premiere, NBC’s Kidnapped (2.8 18-49 and 7.5 million viewers) was clearly the disappointment of the week, considering all the promotion the network put behind it.

Overall, though, it remains hard to project how the various time periods are going to play out because so many new shows have yet to air.

“It’s too early to say anything intelligent about what’s going to happen this season, except that people still like football,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vp of audience analysis at Magna Global USA. Sternberg was alluding to the solid ratings on NBC’s Sunday Night Football so far this season—an average 8.1 18-49 and 20.5 million viewers per telecast.

CBS’ new sitcom, The Class (Monday, 8 p.m.) produced virtually the same ratings (a 3.6 in 18-49, 10.4 million viewers) as the show it replaced in the time period last season, King of Queens. CBS freshman drama Smith (Tuesday, 10 p.m.) finished second in its time slot in 18-49 (3.6), edging out ABC’s returning Boston Legal (3.4) but far behind time period leader, NBC’s returning Law & Order: SVU (5.2). CBS’ new 8 p.m. Wednesday drama, Jericho, finished second in the time period with a 3.4 18-49 rating, as did Shark.

Kelly Kahl, exec vp of program planning and scheduling for CBS—which was the only network to debut all its new shows last week—said both Smith and Jericho were ratings upgrades in their time periods from last season. “Overall, none of our new shows were DOA, so it was a good start,” he said. “During premiere week you are hoping to get some mass viewing for your shows, and we got that.”

Mitch Metcalf, exec vp, program planning and scheduling at NBC, said while Studio 60’s numbers were slightly better than last season’s time-slot occupant Medium, the audience last week was clearly more upscale. “The premiere indexed at 149 among viewers 18-49 earning $100,000-plus per year, and that is good for the NBC brand,” Metcalf declared.

That said, Studio 60 did lose a sizable chunk of audience in its second half hour. Metcalf argues that that was because the show’s lead-in (Deal or No Deal) audience is less compatible than Heroes, which moves into the lead-in time period Sept. 25.

Over at ABC, Entertainment president Steve McPherson said the network spent a considerable amount of its promotional time touting Grey’s, and less on Six Degrees, so he was not concerned about its’ third-place debut among viewers (2 million fewer than second-place Shark). He was also buoyed by the fact that Six Degrees beat Shark (5.4 to 4.1) among the key 18-49 demo.

McPherson said Six Degrees’ retention of audience out of Grey’s was about the same as CBS’ Without a Trace’s retention out of CSI four years ago during its premiere season. “We are happy with Six Degrees creatively, and no one is making judgments on any of these shows yet,” McPherson said. “We’ll wait until all of our shows are on for a while, and then we’ll see what we do.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003156031

The New Season
Nets Prep Game Shows, Contest Series for Later This Season
By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com Sept. 25, 2006

Nonscripted television may be a younger format than comedy or drama, but it's still not immune to one long-standing precept: copycatting. And following the success of NBC's Deal or No Deal, most broadcasters are prepping a wide variety of game shows to be launched later this season.

ABC said its gamer, Set for Life, will be ready to premiere by November. Earlier this month, ABC also picked up Show Me What You’ve Got, which had been in development at Fox and which will be ready by December. Fox, for its part, has finished shooting—and is prepping for late fall—The Rich List, which is a trivia contest show with unlimited cash prizes. Even NBC is targeting November or December for the launch of yet another game show, 1 vs. 100.

The networks have nongame shows in development, too. Perhaps the most notable is Fox’s Steven Spielberg-Mark Burnett-produced filmmaker contest show, On the Lot, which could launch next spring. NBC is readying for first-quarter 2007 You’re the One That I Want, a talent search show for the lead roles in Broadway’s upcoming revival of Grease. And The CW is targeting midseason for The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll.

CBS also has a music contest show, titled The Singing Office, which involves competing teams of corporate employees, and which may be ready either for midseason or summer. And despite Game Show Marathon’s underwhelming performance this past summer, the network is moving forward on several other game show formats yet to be announced.

“Just because one cop show didn’t go huge, doesn’t mean you don’t do another one,” said Ghen Maynard, executive vp of alternative programming at CBS.

While the nonscripted genre cycles back to an old format in game shows, most execs continue to look for original concepts. “It’s incumbent on us to be innovative and to find what those new ideas are,” said ABC’s executive vp of alternative programming Andrea Wong. “You try to put your finger on what’s going to work and hope the audience follows. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” she added, noting the network’s disappointing summer during which it launched four unsuccessful non-scripted series.

And whereas once you could throw up any reality show and get sampling, most nonscripted programmers agree the marketplace has become tougher. Whether it’s a prize, a title or simply money, “there has to be a concrete reason that a show exists,” said Craig Plestis, NBC’s senior vp of alternative programs and development. “At least those are the shows that we’re commissioning.”

And if you like a show, support it during its birth pangs, said Fox’s exec vp of alternative programming Mike Darnell. “If you’ve got something that has an audience and feels like it’s working, keep it on the air,” he said, underscoring Fox’s second-season success with the initially rocky Hell’s Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance. “Stick with it and nurture it, because finding ones that work is hard.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003155936

HDTV Notebook
Suit Assails DirectTV's HD
Plaintiffs: Package Isn't True Hi-Def
By James Hibberd TVWeek September 25, 2006

A California attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit against DirecTV over the image quality of its high-definition channels, claiming the bandwidth-strapped satellite broadcaster is downsizing its HD package.

The suit alleges DirecTV's hi-def channel streams have become so crunched, they no longer meet the commonly accepted definition of the term "HD" and are therefore defrauding subscribers. In other words, he claimed DirecTV's HD isn't really HD.

"[DirecTV] knowingly misrepresented the quality of the video in its HD Package to convince consumers to invest in their decoder box and subscribe," the suit states.

Philip Cohen, a criminal defense attorney based in Santa Monica, originally filed the suit in 2004. DirecTV countered with a motion to force arbitration, noting a provision in its customer service agreement that prevents class-action lawsuits. But last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against DirecTV's motion and allowed the suit to proceed.

If successful, the suit could deliver a financial blow to DirecTV, which has sold millions in HD equipment and services. The size of the class entitled to restitution, and therefore the amount of capital at stake, would be determined by the court should Mr. Cohen win his case. Even if unsuccessful, publicity from the suit could hurt the service's efforts to attract and retain HD subscribers, who place a premium on picture quality.

News of the lawsuit flew under the radar until the judge's ruling lit up HD blogs and message boards. DirecTV HD subscribers have long accused the company of selling "HD Lite," a downsized HD stream not compatible with competitors. Hardcore HD fans on sites such as AVS Forum often post pictures of their TV screens, comparing and contrasting the quality of DirecTV versus other providers.

DirecTV has maintained it provides the highest-quality HD video, but will not state specifics regarding its bandwidth or resolution (nor will its primary competitor, EchoStar). When asked about online accusations of "HD Lite" last year, DirecTV's Executive VP of Entertainment Eric Shanks told TelevisionWeek, "people don't watch the backs of their TVs."

As for the suit, a DirecTV spokesman said last week that the company is disappointed with the judge's decision and that Mr. Cohen's claims lack merit.

"We believe the plaintiff's underlying claims are completely without merit because DirecTV's high-definition service is high-quality, true HD service under accepted definitions for satellite TV," he said. "If it were otherwise, we doubt the plaintiff would continue to subscribe to and pay for DirecTV HD programming."

Crunching channel signals is a relatively common practice. As cable and satellite providers add more network and services, bandwidth has become scarce, and eagle-eyed consumers have griped about declining image quality.

DirecTV alone has become so constrained that to air its NFL Sunday Ticket HD package, the provider recently removed its TNT HD signal during the game to make room for the NFL stream. The company plans to launch two satellites next year to relieve its HD capacity problems.

Due to the additional costs associated with adding HD service, and HD's inherent promise of providing a high-quality picture, Mr. Cohen's lawsuit over his TV image quality might be the first of its kind to pass first-blush legal challenges.

"I've bought every possible service you can from them," said Mr. Cohen, who described himself as "a huge DirecTV fan." "I got two HD TiVos ... the football package, the baseball package, the college football package. I'm hoping this leads to a remedy. I'm not about to get rid of DirecTV; I've invested a lot."

DirecTV requires subscribers to buy proprietary equipment to view its HD signals. Until recently, its HD DVR retailed for about $800, though that price has since dropped considerably.

In Sept. 2004, Mr. Cohen claimed DirecTV lowered the resolution of its HD signal from the Advance Television Systems Committee standard of 1920x1080 lines of resolution to 1280x1080, a 33 percent drop. Furthermore, he claimed the amount of bandwidth used per stream was lowered from the standard 19.4 mbps to as low as 6.6 mbps, which is less than some standard-definition feeds.

DirecTV called the figures in the lawsuit "completely wrong," while Mr. Cohen's attorney said his clients can prove their claims.

"The image is there, it can be analyzed and we've analyzed it," said Tom Ferlauto, partner at law firm King & Ferlauto. "I think they do something like 1088 instead of 1080 ... so maybe they're parsing words there, but they're definitely reducing resolution by a third."

Bert Deixler, a litigation attorney in Los Angeles with Proskauer Rose, said Mr. Cohen may have a case.

"If you assume the facts are true, the statute under which he has brought his claim could conceivably give rise to a lawsuit because the standard applied to those claims is very loose," he said. "But it's not clear if what he was promised was actually promised."

"There's a greater chance of the Jets winning the Super Bowl" then the case going to trial, he said.

David Bott, co-founder of AVS Forum, has closely followed the debate online and said that if Mr. Cohen's numbers are correct, he has a valid claim.

"If I was subscribing to a service that stated `1080i HDTV,' I would expect to receive the ATSC standard or close," he said. "From the numbers stated in the suit, it is not close. The sad note is that most regular consumers really have no idea what they should be seeing because the image still looks better than standard definition."

Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research Group and an expert on HDTV, said the suit struck him as "the definition of frivolous."

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30555

TV Sports
Sports Marketing: Football's New Playing Field
NFL Spreads Out Across Networks, Bringing Opportunity
By Allison J. Waldman (Special to TelevisionWeek) September 25, 2006

For fans of the National Football League, it's already evident that the 2006 season will be a year unlike any other. More than ever, the NFL is all over the dial with games being televised on CBS, Fox, ESPN, NBC and the NFL Network. Hundreds of telecasts of the sport will take place, and every network will broadcast, market and deliver the game in its own way.

ABC, which created and broadcast "Monday Night Football" for 36 years, turned over the reins this year to corporate sibling ESPN, moving the high-profile franchise to cable for the first time. "MNF" was once all about the men who called the game-Howard Cosell, "Dandy" Don Meredith and Frank Gifford-but ESPN has decided to go in a different direction with its telecasts. "`Monday Night Football' is an event, and that's what we want to promote with our campaign," said Aaron Taylor, VP of programming for ESPN. "It's not about who's in the booth, really; it's about the excitement of a game in prime time on Monday. It's the last game of the weekend and everyone looks forward to watching it."

Mike Tirico, one of ESPN's leading anchors, joins Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser and former NFL quarterback and current analyst Joe Theismann in the booth for "MNF." Mr. Theismann, even more than his partners, believes that Mondays are special.

"For me it's a very, very unique experience because, in part, my entire career in the National Football League was defined by one evening, one accident, one incident, and that was my broken leg on Monday night television," Mr. Theismann said in an earlier interview. "It's a Monday night experience that defines who I am as a player. And that just, I think, rings to the significance of what `Monday Night Football' means. It is something that people build their days around."

Sunday nights are also going to take on more importance this season if NBC's marketing department has anything to say about it. The Peacock Network, which got out of the NFL business in the late 1990s because of the high cost of broadcast rights, struck a new deal with the league that commenced this year.

"When we walked away from football in 1998, we always said we would love to be in business with the NFL at a price that made sense. This deal, this contract, makes sense for us. It's six years, $600 million-a-year average," said Mike McCarley, VP of marketing for NBC Sports.

What made sense was Sunday prime time. "The NFL chose to move its marquee game to Sunday night, a night that wouldn't interrupt our dominant late-night franchises-Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien," Mr. McCarley said. "It was four hours of prime time on Sunday night as opposed to the two-and-a-half hours that Monday night has been."

The NFL has also given NBC an exclusive bonus: flexible scheduling at the back end of the season. This will maximize the network's chances to boost the ratings with the top games in December and January.

"The NFL sets the schedule, and the benefit of a flexible schedule is that they can eliminate airing games between teams that are no longer hopes for the playoffs," said Mr. McCarley. "If you look back at the last three years, the last four games of the season on the Monday night schedule, there was only one game between two teams with winning records. Just last year, the ratings over the last four games of the season on Monday night dropped half a rating point. So their season average was 11.3 with four games to go, but at the end of the season it wound up a 10.8. That's the main difference; we hope to eliminate airing those less meaningful games."

Star Power

NBC has only one broadcast a week, but the network has packed it with an all-star lineup. "Al Michaels, John Madden and Andrea Kremer do the broadcast. It's the best team available-not only John and Al, who came over from `MNF,' but also Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff, the producer and director of `MNF,' have come over to Sunday night," said Mr. McCarley. "The studio show starts at seven o'clock every Sunday night, called `Football Night in America.' Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth host it with Sterling Sharpe and Jerome Bettis, fresh off his Super Bowl win. It's a prime-time network wrap-up of all the games played that day. We like to look at it like a bulldog edition of a newspaper. It's the broadcast of record for the entire day."

In addition to bringing in Mr. Madden, Mr. Michaels and other members of the "Monday Night" team, NBC has decided to use a promotion that began with "MNF." Mr. Madden will select the player of the game at the end of each broadcast. "For years on `MNF,' they'd put a photo of the player on the side of the trailer and it followed the crew from stadium to stadium. John and Al and Fred and Drew wanted to continue the tradition but figure out a way to make it bigger and better," Mr. McCarley said.

The image of the "Sunday Night Football" player of the game goes up on the Top of the Rock, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. "It's a series of glass panels all around the Top of the Rock," Mr. McCarley said. "What better way than on the top of the NBC studios overlooking New York? Fans have always stopped at the trailer. Now we're seeing people already looking up at the picture-70 stories above the skating rink."

With the star power and success of NFL teams in the American Conference, CBS approached the new season already feeling that it has a winning hand. "We've been very lucky with our games over the past few years," CBS Sports Executive VP Tony Petitti said. "Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh's been very good for us, and New England winning three Super Bowls. Peyton Manning and the Colts. We've had great stories to tell because the AFC has been so good."

That said, CBS decided to reshuffle some talent, moving Greg Gumbel from hosting "The NFL Today" back into the broadcast booth. "We also had the opportunity to get James Brown and add him to our pre-game," said Mr. Petitti. Mr. Brown joins Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino and former NFL stars Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason on "The NFL Today," which has been given a new set. There is also a new graphics package for the game telecasts.

"We approached it like we did back in 1998, when we first got the package," said Mr. Petitti. "Adding JB gave us the opportunity to put Greg back on games, where he's done a great job for us in the past. We believe Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are the best `A' team in the business. Rich Gannon was new last year, but he's really taken off and has gotten a grasp of it, and he's bringing enthusiasm to the booth."

The most important element in every broadcast remains the game. "We're always looking for innovations, but we only want things on the screen that add in a positive way to the viewer as he's watching," Mr. Petitti said. "The first-down line is a perfect example. Fans immediately loved it. Three years ago we added Stat Tracks, for fantasy football fans to keep track of how a quarterback or running back is progressing.

"At the bottom of the screen is Game Track, which is scores from games around the league. Sunday is about everything going on, much like we do with the NCAA Tournament coverage, where things are happening at the same time. We want the viewer to feel like he's watching his game, but he's up on all the other games as well."

While new talent and graphics are exciting to promote and market, Mr. Petitti said there's nothing more exciting than the fact that CBS Sports has the 2007 Super Bowl. "Our guys are already talking about it," he said. "We get to put a big ribbon on the season with the Super Bowl in Miami. We complete the whole season. It's the most-watched show of the year. We've had meetings about it, so it's a yearlong project. It gives the entire season a different tone."

In just its third year on the air, the NFL Network, the league's 24/7 flagship channel, will broadcast eight prime-time games, starting Nov. 23. "I know the season just started, but we're ready for Thanksgiving," said Charles Coplin, VP of programming for the NFL Network. "We're excited about what we're going to air. We have some entertainment things that we're doing that night that are going to be a big surprise."

The NFL Network has decided to go with a two-man booth for the broadcasts, landing former "Today Show" anchorman Bryant Gumbel as the play-by-play man. It's Mr. Gumbel's debut in this role. "That's a Hall of Fame broadcaster in both news and sports doing something for the first time in his career," Mr. Coplin said.

Cris Collinsworth, a former NFL player who's also part of NBC's "Football Night in America," will be the color man. "He is arguably the best football analyst in the business and this is the only place he'll be doing games. We've added Dick Vermeil for two games, and he too is very special. Our talent, we feel, makes the broadcasts very unique," Mr. Coplin said.

The NFL Network plans to promote its programming and stars in a plethora of ways. In addition to the daily NFL newscast, "Total Access," the network has launched two new shows. "`NFL Replay' features four games that we select from the previous week, which will be cut to 90-minute versions," Mr. Coplin said. "It'll be the original broadcast, but with some enhancements like postgame sound and NFL cameras and stuff like that. We're also starting a new show called the `NFL Cheerleader Playoffs."'

Another innovation, recently announced by the NFL and Apple, is the addition of the NFL Network to the iTunes Music Store. Fans can download highlights from the previous Sunday's games to their computers or iPods for $1.99. The material is available within hours of the original broadcast.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30541

The Business of Tedlevision
TV on the Web: Growing a second screen
The Chicago Tribune September 24, 2006

TV this fall is different. It's not the new shows, the usual assortment of dramas and comedies reminiscent of the dramas and comedies that succeeded the season before.

It's not the TV sets, which for a few years now have been a confusing hodgepodge of HD, LCD, 720p and other technical terms worth sorting out only when the budget allows.

The real difference is in the schedule, which has slipped the bonds of the idiot box to try to meet viewers on their own terms and turf. For the first time, tube fans this fall will be able to keep up with most of prime time without watching or recording during prime time.

This could be a good or a bad thing, depending on the level of productivity you're trying to achieve in life, but it is definitely a new thing.

Mostly this is happening because television, exhibiting the same survival instincts wooly mammoths used to trundle away from the coming ice age, is in full migration to the Internet.

As the fall season gets under way in earnest, established shows and newcomers alike on all major networks -- everything from ABC's "Desperate Housewives" to "30 Rock" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," NBC's pair of newbies about late-night comedy shows -- can be found on iTunes or Google Video, on Yahoo Video, AOL or Amazon or, especially, on the networks' own sites.

Sometimes they might be in several of those places at once in what the networks are labeling experiments but already have the feel of becoming standard operating procedure.

"This is a really exciting time right now for television in general," says Karin Gilford, general manager of entertainment for the Web giant Yahoo. "It kind of reminds me of music about four or five years ago. Music was breaking out of the off-line, bricks-and-mortar type paradigms and moving onto the Internet. That's where TV is at now. . . . It's about that energy of, `Wow, things are shifting.'"

Missed Thursday's premiere of NBC's "The Office," a show that has been especially savvy about using the Internet to build its viewership base? No worries. It's on iTunes to download for $1.99, and on NBC.com you can see scenes that didn't make the episode's final cut.

You can also go to NBC.com or YouTube to see other "Office" extras. Especially exciting is a series of all-new mini-episodes, "The Accountants," crafted especially for the Web.

"We have two goals. One is to reach as many potential viewers as possible," says Jeff Gaspin, NBC Universal's president of -- here's another sign of new times -- cable entertainment, digital content and cross network strategy. "Some of them are going to watch it on air, some of them are going to be spending time on the Net.

"The second goal would be to engage the consumer as much as possible. The idea of the couch potato and the passive viewer is definitely fading. You have a much more active viewer."

Eventually, this TV safety net can't help but change behavior. There's no more need to sneak off in the restaurant and try to talk the baby-sitter through operating the TiVo when you know the "Survivor" episode you forgot to record will be on CBS.com all season long, available for only the price of watching a few ads.

TV on Web: It works

And you know it will, in all likelihood, work as a viewing experience. That may be news to folks who haven't tried video on the Internet since the days when AOL was thought to have a great business model. Now, you pretty much call up the episode and, after a short delay for it to "buffer," or start loading in the supplied video player, it starts to play, and it keeps playing all the way till the end (unless, that is, you pause it for a few moments to answer some e-mail).

This is true even on, say, this writer's mediocre home setup: a low-level broadband connection (AT&T's cheapest DSL service), a bargain-brand LCD monitor, and an older PC with no separate video card.

The picture is generally not the equal of even old-school, standard-definition, cathode-ray-tube TVs. Depending on the quality of your monitor and video processing, it can range from just watchable to not bad. But to kvetch about that is a little like complaining about there being only 30 minutes left on the parking meter at the space you just pulled into.

One more thing: TV series on the even smaller screen -- not just a computer monitor but a window within that monitor -- still work. Good stories and good actors still engage, perhaps even more so because you've had to make the extra effort to call them up at this time and place.

The genesis

Two main events kicked this repurposing of prime-time content into high gear, faster than almost anyone thought it would happen. First, last fall Apple's iTunes online media store began offering video because its iPod player began playing video.

ABC was the first major network on board, offering hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for sale and proving there was a market for already-aired TV shows even before they made it to DVD. NBC soon joined iTunes, too, and the other networks began buying their own prospecting gear and booking wagons that would take them to this (possible) gold rush.

Then, in March, CBS got crazy aggressive with its online broadcasts of the early rounds of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, nicknamed March Madness. For only the price of signing up, people could call up their choice of the early-round games in the 64-team tournament, no matter which games their local CBS affiliate was showing on air.

The network even supplied a "boss button" for the mostly workday telecasts; click it and a spreadsheet suddenly took over your whole monitor. Click again, after the boss had moved on, and the game came back.

"The good news for us is nothing we've done seems to be cannibalizing television in the least bit," says Larry Kramer, CBS digital media chief. "Our theory, proved in March Madness, was that anybody who could watch the show in front of a 50-inch plasma would do it. More watched [on air] those first two weeks than any time in the last eight years."

At the same time, the network and its smattering of ads "accessed millions more viewers by giving it away on the Web," he says.

The March Madness success emboldened ABC to try an experiment of its own. Later in the spring, it put four prime-time shows up on its Web site for free viewer streaming, and even the Geena Davis-as-president drama, "Commander-in-Chief," about to be canceled as an on-air offering, found an audience there.

The offerings

This fall, ABC.com will offer up to four episodes at a time of new and returning series including "Housewives" and "Lost," plus the popular "Grey's Anatomy" and anticipated newcomer "Ugly Betty."

At CBS, the network will have episodes from 13 series up on its Web site after they show on-air, including the hits "CSI" and "Survivor" and the challenge to copy editors "Numb3rs."

All are free after the network experimented last season with charging for "Survivor" episodes, first at $1.99 each, ad-free, then at 99-cents-per, with ads; the money, it decided, wasn't in selling the episodes so much as in aggregating as many viewers as possible for advertisers, just like on regular TV.

NBC will have all its new shows up on NBC.com in the season's early weeks. Fox is showing episodes from some of its series via its local stations' Web sites, including that of WFLD-Ch. 32 in Chicago.

One caveat to viewers: This bonanza may not last all season. Like "Survivor," NBC's Aaron Sorkin drama, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," will be up all season long, but many of the announced plans for Internet replays cover only a show's first four episodes.

If, however, they draw viewers and sell ads, expect the experimenting to be extended. Right now the networks are thinking primarily about the Internet's potential to help them get their new shows sampled.

Advertiser demand

But beyond the new-season motivations, there's also recognition of a burgeoning ad base. Advertisers, various reports suggest, are snapping up any spots they can get in prime-time shows airing on the Web because the medium is new and because the viewers are thought to be especially attentive (IM-ing notwithstanding).

To Jon Winsell, director of online media strategy at ID Society, a New York City interactive marketing agency, it's all a sign that the networks are starting to understand a key rule of the Internet: "Get there first, and then figure out why, and then figure out how you're going to monetize it."

But CBS pushing its own viewing site, Innertube (at CBS.com), and NBC Universal pushing its nbbc.com are no guarantees of success in an arena that already has established players, Winsell says.

"You don't just push Amazon.com out of the way because you're Wal-Mart," he says. "NBC doesn't have that social currency that YouTube has, and you can't manufacture that stuff."

Then there's Yahoo TV (tv.yahoo.com), the most popular TV site on the Web in August, according to the ratings service ComScore Media Metrix. Even though most of its TV content is promotional material from the networks, Yahoo TV had almost 11 million unique visitors that month. CBS.com (6.1 million), NBC.com (4.9 million) and ABC.com (4.6 million) ranked fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively, although, in fairness, it was summer-rerun season.

"By Web standards, we're growing a nice business," says CBS' Kramer. "By television standards, it's very small."

When episodes of the reality series "Big Brother" were offered on the Web this summer, it drew somewhere around 2.5 million viewings, total, Kramer said -- about what one episode of a moderately popular series might draw on cable.

"Part of the issue is we're nowhere near any level of maturity here," he says. "We don't know how much the Web is going to be about time-shifting, how much it's going to be about original programming and how much it's going to be about interactive programming."

He's confident, though, the networks will continue to have the best long-form content and will do their best to follow the eyeballs.

"In the end, what it will be built around is consumer behavior," he says. "When and where do they want to see shows?"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/chi-0609230226sep24,1,7941302.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1&coll=chi-ent_tv-hed

The New Season
“Runaway”, “Heroes”
Trouble, Supernatural and the Fugitive Kind
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times Sept. 25, 2006

Imagining supernatural abilities is one way to survive the crushing sense of powerlessness that is adolescence. The other is blaming everything on your parents.

“Heroes,” which makes its debut tonight on NBC, follows a group of seemingly normal people who discover they have strange unearthly powers. The children in “Runaway,” a new drama on CW also starting tonight, are forced to leave friends, change schools and live under assumed names after their father is accused of murder and takes the whole family on the lam. One is an updated twist on comic book superheroes, while the other is a “7th Heaven” set in the third circle of hell.

Both feed off basic teenage fantasies about power and the yearning for control.

A lot of shows this season — probably too many — seem to be trying to find a new spin on “Lost.” The cinematic touches that seemed innovative two seasons ago — washed-out film, elliptical flashbacks and blaring musical scores — now look shopworn. “Heroes” tries very hard to spook viewers with hints of science fiction and dark conspiracies. But its main appeal is the curious link among complete strangers.

Claire (Hayden Panettiere) a high school cheerleader in Odessa, Tex., is appalled to discover that she is physically indestructible — she can walk through fire, fall off buildings or plunge her hand down the garbage disposal and not suffer a scratch. She sees her gift as a curse that will make her a freak and sabotage her popularity at school.

In Tokyo a nerdy Japanese salaryman, Hiro (Masi Oka), has the opposite problem: a “Star Trek” fan who yearns to stand out, he is delighted to discover that he can bend the space and time continuum with his mind and teleport his body to Times Square or the ladies’ room in a karaoke bar in Tokyo. (“Lost” broke all kinds of new ground, including the language barrier on television. When Hiro speaks to his one friend at work, he does so in Japanese and subtitles give the translation.)

There are a few others who revel in the chance to be exceptional. Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), a nurse overshadowed by his successful older brother, thinks he can fly and believes he is destined to be special. But most resist. One self doubter is Niki (Ali Larter), a single mother in Las Vegas who strips on the Internet for a living but can’t take off enough clothes to cover her debt to loan sharks. Isaac (Santiago Cabrera), a drug-addicted artist, cuts off his hand when he finds himself painting scenes from the future.

At least one man believes he has the answer to this riddle. Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), an Indian geneticist in Madras, moves to New York to explore possible deviations in the gene pool, only to discover that he is being followed.

“Runaway” too has its share of unexplained happenings, but the real pleasure lies in the adjustment problems of a seemingly normal suburban family leading a terrifying secret life.

Its not clear who is tailing the Rader family on “Runaway,” let alone why, but it turns out that the F.B.I. is the least of its problems. After Paul Rader (Donnie Wahlberg) was arrested for murder, he and his wife, Lily (Leslie Hope), began receiving anonymous threats that drove them to run away, along with their teen-age son and daughter, Henry (Dustin Milligan) and Hannah (Sarah Ramos), and 8-year-old Tommy (Nathan Gamble).

Hints of what happened are shown in hazy flashbacks. Paul is a lawyer whose affair with a pretty young associate does not go unpunished. When her throat is slit, the police find his fingerprints on the knife and arrest him. Even Paul’s lawyer thinks he hasn’t a chance of proving his innocence. Paul insists that there is a sinister motive behind her death and that an answer lies in a cryptic e-mail account that he needs to break into. Like Dr. Richard Kimble in “The Fugitive,” hunting for the one-armed man while evading his own trackers, Paul keeps trying to hack into that account while running from the law.

The Raders move to a small town in Iowa and try to blend in. Lily tells people they lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, even the school records. The youngest child has trouble remembering his new name, but his older siblings have different problems.

Hannah, who was a bespectacled school nerd, seizes on the chance to reinvent herself in her new high school with sexier clothes and no glasses. But Henry, who had to leave his girlfriend, is lovelorn and furious at his father for blowing up all their lives. When Paul reprimands Lily for telling a lie that doesn’t fit their agreed-upon cover story, Henry intervenes. “Leave her alone,” he yells.

“Heroes” acts out the fantasy that supernatural forces can improve life. “Runaway” has a bleaker message: One little mistake can really mess it up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/television/25stan.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

Q&A With Nat Geo HD's John Ford

John Ford may be the only executive who has personally launched high-definition networks for two separate companies.

As president of new media for Discovery Networks, Mr. Ford spearheaded the launch of Discovery HD Theater in 2002. The next year he jumped ship to the fledging National Geographic Channel. As executive VP of programming, he has helped Nat Geo attain dramatic ratings and subscriber increases that have the network closing in on genre leader Discovery Channel.

Last year, NGC announced it would launch an HD channel. At the time, this was a surprising move. Despite televising naturalistic documentaries that make for popular HD fare, such spinoff networks were then considered the domain of fully distributed networks like ESPN, Discovery, MTV and the NBC Universal suite, or for movie channels like INHD and HDNet.

As with Discovery HD Theater, Mr. Ford wanted NGC HD to have 100 percent hi-def content. But unlike his former network, Mr. Ford wanted NGC HD to be a simulcast. This meant making a very expensive play: Upgrading every NGC production to HD.

When NGC HD launched in January, it became the only cable network simulcast to have nearly wall-to-wall HD programming—even though the network has only a few hundred thousand viewers, mainly on Dish Network.

Mr. Ford spoke to TelevisionWeek about his decision to launch NGC HD as a simulcast, the advertising value of having an HD spin-off and what's next for the channel.

TelevisionWeek: What is your distribution at this point?
John Ford: With Dish we're on a tier. The total for our standard definition network is 61 (million households). HD is in the several hundred thousand range. But there's a launch at the end of September … which hasn't been announced yet. There's this stuff that's all in flux.

TVWeek: Some networks go the simulcast route; some go for unique channels when launching an HD network. Why did you choose simulcast?
Mr. Ford: If all the product you're creating is in HD, then it only makes sense to do a simulcast. We told producers in 2005 we're going to be an all-HD channel. With that volume of HD production coming, it only makes sense for us.

TVWeek: Is it shot with actual HD cameras? Or shot on film?
Mr. Ford: Virtually all of it is shot in HD. The exception is when we use archive footage.

TVWeek: Discovery is a larger, more established, higher-rated channel than Nat Geo. Yet they've seemingly struggled to stock their HD network with new content. How is it that providing ongoing original content in HD is easier for you than them?
Mr. Ford: I can't speak for them, but I can speak for us: We made it a mandate. The simplest way to go all-HD in your production is to bite the bullet and say, "Everything from this day forward is made in HD unless we have a dramatically good reason not to do that."

TVWeek: Well, if you have an existing production that's shot in SD....
Mr. Ford: When you're in the seventh of 13 episodes, that does make it more difficult. But those are the odds and ends. If a season hasn't started yet, do it in HD.

TVWeek: You shoot in 720 because co-owner Fox transmits in 720?
Mr. Ford: We don't necessarily shoot in 720. We shoot a lot in 720, but some producers shoot in 1080 … as long as the final tape is in 720.

TVWeek: Now that 1080p sets are rolling off the trucks, and now that DirecTV is launching some more satellites next year, has there been any discussion about Fox switching to the higher resolution of 1080i?
Mr. Ford: None that I've heard of.

TVWeek: How much value, if any, does the HD channel bring to selling an ad?
Mr. Ford: It's hard to monetize, since it's not like the value of the SD ad is $7,000 and now because of HD it's $10,000. I can say there are certain advertisers who have done buys because … they want to be associated with HD programming. It makes some deals happen that wouldn't happen at all, and makes some deals bigger than they normally would.

TVWeek: What upcoming programming is going to be particularly compelling in HD?
Mr. Ford: [The upcoming documentary] "Eye of the Leopard" will be particularly compelling because it's such a close-up look at the leopard's world. This is a leopard like you've never seen a leopard before. You can't get this close.

TVWeek: One of Discovery HD Theater's most popular documentaries was "The Leopard Son"
Mr. Ford: That was a feature film, and it was one of the first ones I scooped up when I launched HD Theater. It was shot on 35mm film, by the way.

http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=304

The New Season
“Runaway”, “Heroes”
'Heroes': Less Than Super

NBC's Derring-Doers Come In With a Whimper
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 25, 2006

Superheroes used to be such happy souls, going about their business of rescuing people, or all of humanity, with a chipper, positive demeanor. Then Tim Burton's "Batman" -- and other dour, sour revisionist works -- unearthed their heroes' "dark" sides, with superness sometimes depicted as a curse, a burden, a big fat pain in the superneck.

Spider-Man, bless his sticky fingers, has tried to reverse the trend. When Spidey has a long puss, the cause is more likely to be unrequited love than the yoke of fame. Unfortunately, NBC is about to unleash a superhero horde intent on reversing the reversal: "Heroes," a largely dreary dirge whose dramatis personae seem plagued rather than pleased with the gifts they've been given.

Super strength, unbreakable bones, clairvoyance -- whatever the boon, it comes with a bane. One problem is that the show is so slow-moving that even by the end of the third episode, some of its far-flung superfolk still won't concede there's anything unusual about them. One guy seems pleased he can fly, but spends the first three chapters trying to convince his cynical politician brother of the ability. Not even a leap from the roof of a 15-story building seems to do the trick.

An early warning is called for: Despite the title and the implication that viewers are in for dazzling special effects and dashing derring-do, "Heroes" is not fit for young children. One of the lead characters makes her living by prancing around in her panties for perverts on the Internet. The trunk of a car contains a horribly mangled corpse, shown more than once during the first three chapters; another victim is seen lying on the floor with the top of his skull sawed off and his brain removed.

A high school girl gratuitously taunts a fellow student in Episode 2: "Hey, Zack, is it true you got an erection in the boys' locker room?" Writer and series creator Tim Kring must be so proud.

Except for an excitable young Japanese named Hiro (Masi Oka), most of the eponymous standouts look stylishly sullen or surly, like maybe they need a dose of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. Hiro, on the other hand, is running warily around the streets of Tokyo when suddenly, flash-bang-boom, he finds himself running merrily around the streets of Manhattan, Times Square visible in the background.

Hiro, as in "hero," also discovers he's traveled five weeks into the future -- arriving just in time to witness a nuclear attack that, when he's returned to Tokyo and his previous time, he vows to prevent.

Sendhil Ramamurthy plays a young man musically named Mohinder Suresh, living in Brooklyn, who gets a visit from an exterminator who tries to exterminate him. Suresh's father, now deceased (mysteriously, of course) wrote a history-making book on strange phenomena, and Mohinder declares, "I need to finish what he started." One of his colleagues, whom of course he has yet to meet, paints pictures of things that will happen in the future, but he doesn't know if his talent can be traced to a peculiar aptitude or the fact that he likes to inject heroin into his veins.

Still another superhero -- and yes, we are losing count and losing track -- can sort of reassemble herself even after having all her bones broken or dashing into a burning building. In one episode she pulls a Linda Blair, turning her seemingly broken neck 180 degrees or so. But why?

Why do these and other members of this strange involuntary cult have what a little boy calls, as if quoting the old opening to the "Superman" TV show, "powers beyond any mere mortal"?

A "Star Wars"-like crawl at the show's beginning informs us that the global array of wacko strangers we meet have "what can only be described as 'special abilities' " and that, "although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world but change it forever." But how long are they going to be unaware of it? Until the November sweeps? And how many viewers will have the patience to tune in week after week while the unknowing superheroes scratch their heads and wonder how it is that a hippopotamus could sit on their head and they'd still feel peachy -- peachy but grouchy, of course.

'Runaway'

People seem to get a charge out of watching other people run for their lives -- hence the success of the TV and movie versions of "The Fugitive," to cite one example. At the new CW network, formed from the charred remains of UPN and the WB, it's been reasoned that if one fugitive will attract an audience, imagine what a family of five can do!

The result is "Runaway," premiering on CW stations at 9 tonight and making a reasonably suspenseful impression, thanks in good measure to the scared-straight sobriety of Donnie Wahlberg as attorney Paul Rader, falsely accused of a capital crime. He packs his wife and three children into a car and, all of them armed with fake IDs, does what the title of the show suggests he does, except "Driveaway" would be more accurate.

Rader and wife, played by a very short-haired Leslie Hope, wind up in Bridgewater, Iowa, whose population of 23,827 is about to increase by five -- plus one cat, named Charlie. The Raders know they'll be living under hardship conditions when their computer is unable to detect a wi-fi signal nearby. Oh, the horror of it all!

The script, more intelligently than usual for this sort of thing, captures both the ordinariness of the Raders (mom to daughter: "You're not wearing that to school") and their uniquely nervous straits, generating the kind of suspense Hitchcock perfected in "Saboteur," "Young and Innocent" and "North by Northwest." Essentially it's the assumption of guilt by the innocent, something pounded into their heads by paranoia and fear.

A cop stops them as they enter Bridgewater, for instance. The entire family gets the chills, but Dad keeps his cool. It turns out they were stopped only because he went through a stop sign. But the next cop to stop them could have a different agenda altogether.

Minor but deftly done, "Runaway" (which does not employ the rock oldie of the same name in the credits, alas) keeps the screws of tension tightly wound but also finds time to give us believable portraits of the Raders and their justifiable sense of peril.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092401117_pf.html

The New Season
'SNL's' 'Update': 'Daily' it is not
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 25, 2006

It's not accidental that last season's most popular bit on "Saturday Night Live" was not anything uttered by the co-anchors of the fake-news segment "Weekend Update," Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, nor indeed anything performed live in NBC's Studio 8H. It was an off-the-wall taped piece, the rap parody "Lazy Sunday," which became a hit on Internet video-sharing sites.

For at least the last couple of seasons, the theme music for "Weekend Update" has been the signal to climb out of bed and finish flossing your teeth. You wouldn't want to miss the musical act — not to mention a skit that might actually be funny — so "Update" has offered a perfect interlude to get something else done.

For those who do stick around, "Update" still offers a nice, tart punch line or two and sometimes an amusing bit by a mock commentator or a surprise guest (Drew Barrymore, for example, did a walk-on in January to object to a joke about her breasts). But who buzzes on Monday morning about "Update" the way many people do the rest of the workweek about Comedy Central's frequently brilliant and incisive "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart"?

Last week, "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels confirmed Rockefeller Center's worst-kept secret: that head writer Seth Meyers would join Poehler on "Update" when a downsized "SNL" returns for its 32nd season on NBC on Saturday.

So it's worth asking what the role of "Update" should be in a world where the news is updated with every click of a browser's refresh button, and Stewart has thoroughly lampooned many of those headlines long before the weekend. Just like real newscasts, "Update" depends hugely on its anchors, which is why the heat is now on Meyers to improve the segment.

In fairness, "Update" virtually invented the fake-news format that Stewart and his compatriot Stephen Colbert are so brilliantly exploiting. Unlike "The Daily Show," "Update" is not self-contained; it remains part of a larger comedy-variety show and runs only about 10 minutes. One also hesitates to complain about "Update" because … well, everyone does, just as critics carp about the inconsistent quality of "SNL" overall. An army of reviewers, late-night junkies and assorted haters have piled on ever since Chevy Chase introduced "Update" during the Oct. 11, 1975, premiere of "SNL" (the debut segment opened with Chase murmuring into his desk phone, "What are you wearing right now? No bathrobe?," then glimpsing the camera and promptly hanging up).

Whenever a new anchor takes the "Update" seat — and the list now numbers some 31 names, most notably Chase, Bill Murray, Dennis Miller, Norm MacDonald and the now-departed Fey — a legion of fans inevitably compares him or her unfavorably with a predecessor and declares the format obsolete. Former Los Angeles Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg thought "Weekend Update" should have been put out of its misery long ago: "It has always tilted toward the infantile, and now there's the added problem of old age and a faint pulse."

Not too faint, evidently. Rosenberg wrote those words in 1980, when Jimmy Carter was in the White House and Charles Rocket was at the anchor desk. Since then, "Saturday Night Live" has done more than 500 fake-news segments. For better or worse, "Update" has become "SNL's" signature.

Since 2000, the bit has relied on two anchors, which has proved to be a mistake. Fey, who left to make the comedy "30 Rock" for NBC, has an acidic wit but always seemed boxed in by Poehler, a talented sketch artist who's out of her element as a fake newscaster, and Fey's former co-anchor, Jimmy Fallon. The most successful "Update" anchors have either embraced Chase and writer Herb Sargent's initial blueprint for absurdity (Chase informed viewers that "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead") or turned a merciless eye on celebrity foibles (the deadpan MacDonald, reportedly Chase's personal favorite among his many successors, informed viewers with barely contained glee that Michael Jackson is "a homosexual pedophile").

But in today's super-heated political environment, "Update" can often come off as a "Daily Show" for people with lower SAT scores. Take the mock editorial last October from Horatio Sanz, who argued that President Bush is a genius because he follows each miscue with a bigger one that distracts from the initial mistake. "I tried this Bush technique this past week, and it was very useful," Sanz told viewers. "On Wednesday I showed up two hours late for rehearsal, so to distract people from that, I was also drunk."

It was an amusing enough punch line, but not the sort of thing that would make Jon Stewart look over his shoulder. "The Daily Show" has made bold use of archival video that sharply questions the assumptions that led to the Iraq war — and that, topped with Stewart's editorial asides, is often hilarious to boot.

But then, "Update" has survived six presidential administrations and all signs point to it outlasting the current one too.

Legendary manager Bernie Brillstein, who handled John Belushi and other young comics from the early "SNL," applauds his old friend Michaels for keeping "SNL" and "Update" going through endless cast changes. He admitted that having to replace the anchors every few years makes it hard for viewers to know what to expect from "Update." But he suggested that a comparison between "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" isn't exactly fair, because "SNL" is aiming for, and attracting, a much broader audience.

"The show has stayed true to its original beginnings," Brillstein said of "SNL." "To keep doing that for [31] years is amazing."

As for "Update" itself, he added, "I don't see any reason it shouldn't be on 'SNL.' Lorne's only concept in starting 'SNL' was, 'I'm going to do a television show for people who were brought up on TV.' Even today, I think the news remains part of that."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-channel25sep25,0,2361588,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

The New Season
“Runaway”
Minivan posse on the lam
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 25, 2006

"Runaway" (9 PM ET/PT Monday, CW) is passable as far as it goes, which, despite its title, isn’t very far.

As “Runaway” opens, the viewer is thrust immediately into the rather cramped, tense lives of the Raders, a family on the run from the law. Dad (Donnie Wahlberg), a former high-powered lawyer, was accused of murder and is convinced he was set up for the crime. Seeing no alternative, the family fled their comfortable if fractured lives and, after some time on the lam, try to set up a new life in Iowa.

As the Rader parents, Wahlberg and Leslie Hope are appropriately grave and watchful, and because this is the youth-oriented CW network, there are two teenagerss on the show as well; when not ignoring their younger brother, they mainly squabble, sulk and think about the opposite sex.

TV these days isn’t much of an advertisement for family life; in some of the season’s new dramas, kids go missing, spouses keep secrets from each other, sisters are held hostage and dad’s considered armed and dangerous by the authorities.

“Runaway” reflects that dour mood, and if it makes one long for the era of dramas that revolved around bad report cards and everyday milestones, wait ’til next season. Surely the current wave of dark family serials – and the workmanlike “Runaway” is more downbeat but no less efficient than most – will have passed by then.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

The New Season
“Heroes”
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

(The following was written for today's paper, but didn't get in. So ...)

Even if heroes are hard to find, a new television show has probably found too many.

Heroes, premiering at 9 tonight on NBC, not only has an array of characters but also begins with them spread around the world. Although it quickly becomes clear that their destinies are intertwined, serving them all can make for some disjointed storytelling.

The core of the show is that ordinary people are discovering that they have special powers.

A Texas cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) recovers immediately from any harm, no matter how extreme (and she keeps trying new ways). A New York artist (Santiago Cabrera) has visions of the future. A Japanese office worker (Masi Oka) can stop time ` and maybe even move through space.

And that's just some of what you learn in the first hour. What may not be clear is the power held by a brooding young man (Milo Ventimiglia) and how that will affect his politician brother (Adrian Pasdar). The second episode introduces yet another character, a police officer (Greg Grunberg) who can read minds.

Nor is it certain that all the characters are using their powers for good. Still other characters are aware of this outbreak of new abilities, and do not all have benign intentions in dealing with the heroes.

As you can see, the show offers a great deal to talk about. In fact, the watching sometimes pales in comparison to talking about what you have watched, since the show is steeped in fantasy culture. Oka's character is a Star Trek fan. The comic-book style of the show becomes even more self-referential when a comic book becomes part of the story, too.

All of that will create endless online debate. Still, my enthusiasm for the show is limited.

Oka's character is a real crowd-pleaser, and Panettiere's offers plenty of opportunities for amusement as well as carnage. (There's a scene with both at the end of the third episode.)

On the other hand, I'm not all that interested in Ventimiglia and some of the other characters. The something-for-everyone casting ` I haven't even mentioned the stripper ` also means you're going to have to wait through scenes of people you don't care about to see the ones you do.

And, frankly, the show's ambitions may be its biggest drawback. At its best, Heroes recalls the best of The Greatest American Hero, the TV series starring William Katt as a regular guy dealing with new powers. But the show wants the onset of powers to be part of a larger design and conspiracies, and it drags when addressing those issues.

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

Fred, if you recall, months ago I talked about HBO's Epitafios and while it wasn't shown on HBO's HD/main channel, being on HBO Signature instead, I thought it was outstanding TV. HBO has finally released a DVD set of the show. Below is a link to a review of the show and a snippet from that review. Since the fall season is just now getting underway most folks don't have any spare TV viewing time, but this is one that I think is worthy of viewing when time permits.

Bottom line: The Argentine miniseries "Epitafios" is more violent than the "Sopranos," stranger than "Carnivale." Another great HBO series ... that never ran on HBO.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003155317
Epitafios, Apocalypse Now

You and I can get in big trouble here, Jim -- espousing viewing of SD programs!

By the way, there were many critical raves for "Epitafios". I don't recall, did HBO renew it?

You and I can get in big trouble here, Jim -- espousing viewing of SD programs!

By the way, there were many critical raves for "Epitafios". I don't recall, did HBO renew it?
As far as I can tell, it seems to be a long shot, but who knows, it certainly won't be due to US audience numbers. Plus, it was sort of a self-contained plotline, although the main characters are as richly developed as any you'll see on the best of US television.

Although it aired on one of HBO's SD channels, it was presented in letterbox format and a few of the shots/images leave no doubt in my mind that it would look spectacular if it was aired on HBO-HD.

The New Season
“Happy Hour” and “Justice” shelved

Fox says it will not air another episode of “Happy Hour” until after the baseball playoffs.

It also is puling “Justice” from the schedule, although it is re-airing the show’s pilot on Friday (at 8 PM ET/PT.

But a scheduled airing October 4th will be replaced by a repeat of House.

Fox now says “Happy Hour" will return on Nov. 2. I am not sure you should take that to the bank.

"Happy Hour" will be replaced on Thursday and Sunday by repeats of “Til Death”.

Both “Happy Hour” and “Justice” opened weakly and have seen their numbers devline by about a third both in overall viewers and in thr 18-49 demo.

The New Season
“Happy Hour” Cancelled

Fox reportedly this morning cancelled its new sitcom “Happy Hour”.

More details as I get them


Not surprising. The episode about the lead-girl's "area" was painfully terrible. I stopped watching it half-way through and immediately deleted it from my season pass list.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why FOX didn't just order a full season of The Loop, which is one of the better comedies FOX has produced in a while, IMO (I have no idea about The Loop's ratings, but they must not have been too bad since it got picked up for the second half of the season already).

The New Season
“Happy Hour” and “Justice” shelved

Fox says it will not air another episode of “Happy Hour” until after the baseball playoffs.

It also is puling “Justice” from the schedule, although it is re-airing the show’s pilot on Friday (at 8 PM ET/PT.

But a scheduled airing October 4th will be replaced by a repeat of House.

Fox now says “Happy Hour" will return on Nov. 2. I am not sure you should take that to the bank.

"Happy Hour" will be replaced on Thursday and Sunday by repeats of “Til Death”.

Both “Happy Hour” and “Justice” opened weakly and have seen their numbers devline by about a third both in overall viewers and in thr 18-49 demo.
Wow, that didn't take long. Til Death probably won't hang on either will it? That timeslot is brutal. My Name is Earl and the Office are clearly better comedies, plus you have Survivor as well, which draws a lot of viewers.

Wow, that didn't take long. Til Death probably won't hang on either will it? That timeslot is brutal. My Name is Earl and the Office are clearly better comedies, plus you have Survivor as well, which draws a lot of viewers.


'Til Death will stick around, if for no other reason than because of its star's salary. Also, its pretty funny, IMO.

While we're at it, CBS should pull "The Class," another painfully terrible show. If it were on FOX, it would be getting pulled at this point I would venture.

Yikes! I wasn't exactly bowled over by Justice, but thought it deserved a little more time to develop than they are obviously willing to give it. Bit of a surprise for me. Do we know if this is a delay/retooling or a certain end?

The complete weekend prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.