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Isn't the "after Heroes" slot where Studio 60 normally resides?
I don't disagree with your post -- until the final two sentences, dad. If it ended at "...plain and simple." it would have been fine.
The rest of the post "...As someone that couldn't care less about 'FNL' but loves 'Studio 60' color me unimpressed with the way NBC is showing preference for 'FNL' over Aaron Sorkin's series. Where is the 'Studio 60' three-day marathon of episodes on NBC (or a day-long marathon on Bravo)?..." belongs in the show threads of either FNL or Studio 60. Not here.
For more than two years this thread has tried to stay essentially a news thread, not a what I (or anyone else) happens to think-you-should-watch thread. This thread resides in the HDTV programming forum, and has been given incredible latitiude by the people who run AVS to branch out far afield. So let's not abuse their generosity of spirit.
I list my personal preferences in post #4 only so readers (if they care) may more easily be aware of my potential prejudices. And, of course, we all make statements about our favorites.
But let us all please, please, make every attempt to keep posts to discussing the merits of news, reviews and commentary about TV -- not the merits (or lack thereof) of shows we either enjoy or don't.
People (presumably) come here for information about television -- they couldn't care less if you or I or anyone else thinks Show A is superior to Show B.
dad1153
01-14-07, 03:57 PM
(sigh) sorry everybody! I'm Dante, and I'm the biggest idiot ever! ;)
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
A B C
By James Hibberd Television Week in the “Critical Eye” blog Sunday, January 14th, 2007
Drivers are stopped and questioned 50 yards from the valet. A gaggle of network pages in cream slacks and dark blue blazers, looking like refugees from a Republican convention, cluster around a heat lamp. A large ABC sign is mounted in the hotel’s foliage. The ballroom has been expanded to include extra seats. Yup, the TCA press tour has transitioned from cable to broadcast. Everything seems a little more important, more formal, and I find myself wearing a full suit on a Sunday in deference to the broadcast temple.
ABC kicks off their show with a video of ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson dancing to AC/DC on a mock “Dancing With the Stars” episode, which the network announces will return in March. Like “Lost,” which is returning next month, “Dancing” has been positioned to avoid Fox’s “American Idol.” ABC needs the protection. Though it’s the number one network season to date, CBS and NBC have been catching up. The networks are currently in a three-way tie for first place, with fourth-place Fox set to surge forward with “Idol” and “24.” Analysts say ABC, which went neck-and-neck for first place last season with Fox, this year could end up third due to a lack of mid-season and spring programming heft.
McPherson sits alone on the stage, semi-casual in a burgundy polo shirt. He seems a tad nervous, yet hides it well, and fields questions effectively. Like many network executives in the Disney family, his answers tend to be succinct, logical and safe.
On whether “Lost” creatively derailed during the fall: “[The writers] made a clear choice that first installment would be about Jack, Kate, Sawyer and The Others. For me the show I really invest in is having everybody together. I thought it was a riveting six episodes, but I like it when they’re all together and they’re heading toward that again after the break.”
On whether he still thinks a four-month schedule break for “Lost” was a good idea: “Ideally the way you would do ‘Lost’ is 22 straight. For us, given where we were in our development, we needed that installment in the fall. Now Sunday and Thursday night are really strong, there’s a good chance next year we’ll run it 22 straight either in fall or spring.”
On Mick Jagger accusing ABC of ignoring his request to keep his name and likeness out of “Knights of Prosperity” title and marketing: “He knew what the show was going to be called … he asked that it not be called that and we obliged.”
On whether the network is bringing back “Dancing” too soon: “We’ll have a longer wait in between in this season than last cycle. We feel like we’re going to give it a real good break. We think it will work.”
On ABC’s lack of comedy success: “We have to stick with it … three years ago ‘In Case of Emergency’ and ‘Knights’ wouldn’t have gotten on the air … we have to keep taking chances, taking chances is what defined us. ‘Desperate Housewives’ wouldn’t have gotten on the air if we were doing eight procedurals that were all doing well.”
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/private.php?do=showpm&pmid=1448748
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Facing a “Lost” Ending
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News in her “Ellen Gray In Hollywood” blog January 14, 2007
Producers of ABC's "Lost" say they're in talks with ABC to determine a fixed end point for the show, which they've always insisted was meant to have a beginning, a middle and, yes, an end.
Apparently, they're going on the "Harry Potter" model, noting that it's worked so far for J.K. Rowling.
No, they won't say yet if the curtain will drop on Season 4, or 5, or even 7 -- because it would be "disrespectful" to the discussions, said exec producer Carlton Cuse -- but reading between the lines, anything more than seven seasons might feel like a stretch.
Referring to "The X-Files," which ran nine seasons, Cuse said, "That show was a bit of a cautionary tale for us. It was a great show that probably ran two seasons too long."
"The most honest answer we can give [is that they'd like it to continue] as long as it's good," said co-creator Damon Lindelof.
But whatever they decide, they insisted they'll announce it in plenty of time, Cuse saying he thinks that will alleviate viewer anxiety that they may not know where they're going, and Lindelof noting that if they wait too long, no one will believe that they meant to choose that time all along.
http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/ellengray/
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Ken Burns
Now Commercial-Free Through 2022
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” January 14, 2007
Pasadena, CA -- During the PBS end of the TV critics press tour on Saturday, John Boland -- who calls himself the "chief content officer (CCO)" for the pubcaster, which apparently means that, like most officers, he will slap the cuffs on all lawbreakers -- announced that PBS has extended its relationship with filmmmaker Ken Burns ("The Civil War," "Baseball," "Jazz," the forthcoming "The War") through the year 2022. This means that Burns will be allowed only to work on projects for PBS over the next 16 years.
Most of us are week-to-week or, at best, month-to-month in our work lives. Burns isn't even year-to-year; he's more like decade-to-decade. His deal calls for him to deliver at least three major new series for PBS as well as several smaller-scale docs. Not bad work if you can find it, you know? But if anyone deserves that kind of revered treatment, it's undoubtedly Burns, whose projects are not only distinctive for their style but pretty much unparalleled for their quality.
I still believe that "The Civil War" was the single finest thing I've ever seen on television. If you have a chance to lock this guy up for the rest of his professional life, it makes a whole lot of sense to do it. And if he needs someone to carry his bags, I'm available on weekends.
http://www.pastdeadline.com/
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
"Dancing With the Stars'' avoids "Idol'' battle
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog Sunday, January 14, 2007
There will be no head-on battle of song and dance when "American Idol'' and "Dancing With the Stars'' return for their new seasons.
ABC announced today that when "Dancing'' comes back in March, it will move its weekly performance episode to Mondays at 8 and its results show to Tuesdays at 9. That will largely avoid direction competition with "Idol,'' which will air Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8 when it returns this week.
ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson told reporters the move was made so that viewers wouldn't have to choose between two very popular shows.
Translation: We didn't want to run the risk of having our series trampled by "Idol.'' While the fall season of "Dancing'' -- won by ex-NFL running back Emmit Smith (right) -- did very big numbers (an average of 20.7 million viewers), it probably have taken a hit from the hugely successful "Idol.''
"Dancing'' is now set to return March 19. In a change from past years, there will be two weeks of performance shows before the first elimination which is set for March 27. McPherson would not reveal any of the "stars'' for the new season -- he said casting was about half finished -- but there have been wide-spread rumors that former British royal Sarah Ferguson (the non-singing Fergie) will be one of the contestants.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
PBS plays chicken with networks
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” January14, 2007
The biggest brouhaha at the PBS portion of the TV critics press tour was over PBS's scheduling of "The War," Ken Burns' 14-hour documentary about World War II. PBS will premiere it over the weeks of Sept. 16 and 23, the same weeks the broadcast networks will launch their fall rollouts. In addition, the Emmy awards will likely fall on one of the two Sundays PBS plans to air "The War."
TV critics have long felt that PBS tends to air quality programs at times when the networks are rolling out their big guns. It not only means there will be a greater media emphasis on commercial network shows, but that TV critics won't be able to give the PBS shows the attention (and potentially the support) they would if the programs aired at a less competitive time.
PBS executives have never had a good answer to these scheduling questions except to say that there are other factors in scheduling beyond the attention of TV critics. Perhaps PBS feels what we write doesn't matter or our writing doesn't bring attention to their programs, though it seems to me that PBS, with a smaller marketing budget than any commercial network, needs journalistic coverage of its programs more than any broadcaster.
"Most of our jobs on premiere week is to cover broadcast commercial television premieres, and then with whatever space we have left in our TV books or in our pages, then we get to say, 'Oh, also PBS has some wonderful things,' whereas if it just launches one Sunday earlier, you guys would just almost be guaranteed of more coverage," one smart, articulate critic said. "If you have friends in the room who love your stuff and we can't give it the space that we want to because you're determined to play chicken -- and you lose every single time -- what's the definition of insanity in public broadcasting?"
PBS chief content officer John Boland responded, but given his condescending tone, I don't think the schedule will change.
'Well, why don't we just say, "We hear what you're saying. We'll take that under advisement.' ... And I would only say that I disagree that we lose each and every time because, frankly, unlike all of the other folks you see during this two-week period who work for commercial operations where their winning or losing depends on their share price, their ratings, and the amount of commercials they sell, we're actually up here doing a public service. And public service goes on 365 days a year. But that said, we hear what you're saying."
http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/tunedin/
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
'Lost' Planning End Date
By James Hibberd Television Week January 14, 2007
In a highly unusual move for a broadcast series, ABC and the producers of "Lost" are in discussions to determine an end date for the show.
The date will set a limit to the number of "Lost" seasons to come and will be announced to fans. The show's producers, speaking at ABC's Television Critics Association press tour session, said having a conclusion date will bolster fan confidence in the series' narrative. A timeline for making the decision was not announced.
"It's time for us now to find an endpoint for the show," said executive producer Carlton Cuse. "JK Rowling announced there were seven books in the Harry Potter series and it gives fans [a framework for understanding the arc of the show]. 'The X-Files' was a cautionary tale for us. It was a great show that ran two seasons too long. 'Lost' has a short-half life."
"None of us want to be doing the stalling show," added executive producer Damon Lindelof. "We don't want them to be building sandcastles next week."
Thought the series ratings have dipped this fall, the show remains one of ABC's top-rated programs. During the first season, Mr. Lindelof said the show could run nine seasons if necessary, noting the island has plenty of mysteries. Recently, fans and critics have grown frustrated, however, with the show's continually expanding mythology that keeps piling on new mysteries and characters.
After the panel, Mr. Lindelof suggested the series might cap at 100 episodes, which would only result in two more seasons. But ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson sought to downplay the producers' statements, noting that "we've had those discussions for the past two years."
Earlier while on stage, Mr. McPherson said he agreed with critic complaints that the first six episodes this season pulled the story too far from the group dynamics that made the show popular.
"[The writers] made a clear choice that first installment would be about Jack, Kate, Sawyer and The Others," he said. "For me, the show I really invest in is having everybody together. I thought it was a riveting six episodes, but I like it when they're all together and they're heading toward that again after the break."
Though Mr. McPherson stood by his decision to schedule a four-month break in the "Lost" schedule this season, he reiterated his plan (first reported last month in TelevisionWeek) to try and run next season's episodes without a break or repeats, launching either in the fall or spring.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11372
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
ABC’s “Dancing” News Release
The First Two Episodes, Airing March 19 and the Following Monday, March 26, Will Be Special Two-Hour Performance Shows
Performance Shows Will Air Every Monday, with Results Shows on Tuesdays
(ABC News Release)
The ABC Television Network announces the return of hit series "Dancing with the Stars" with a two-hour premiere on Monday, March 19 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET). To offer viewers two weeks to see the performers in action before voting, the first results show will air on week two. The second performance show, airing Monday, March 26, will also be two hours in length (8:00-10:00 p.m.), and the first results show will air Tuesday, March 27 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET).
Beginning April 2, "Dancing with the Stars" will air Mondays from 8:00-9:30 p.m, and "Dancing with the Stars the Results Show" on Tuesdays from 9:00-10:00 p.m.
"The great thing about this air schedule is that fans won't have to choose between the two reality hits this Spring," said Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment.
The new cast will be announced on "Good Morning America" closer to premiere.
Growing its audience among viewers and young adults each season since its debut in Summer 2005, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" has established itself as one of television's most popular series. The program has consistently improved its time periods and been a top competitor in those slots. This season "Dancing with the Stars" stands as the second-most-watched program on television, while qualifying as the No. 1 unscripted TV series in Total Viewers (20.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.8/15). "Dancing with the Stars" attracts a highly desirable upscale young adult audience, ranking among the highest-rated shows on TV with Adults 18-49 in homes earning $100K+ annual income (No. 6 = 5.9 rating). It's the No. 1 unscripted series with high-income young adults. On its third season finale during the 2006 November Sweep (11/15/06), "Dancing with the Stars" achieved the series' most-watched telecast ever, with an average audience of 27.7 million viewers.
"Dancing with the Stars" is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, "Strictly Come Dancing." This version is produced in America by BBC Worldwide. Conrad Green and Richard Hopkins are executive producers and Izzie Pick is co-executive producer. Rob Wade and Matilda Zoltowski are supervising producers. Alex Rudzinski directs.
"Dancing with the Stars" and its "Results Show" are broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound and Spanish audio via SAP. These programs carry a TV-PG parental guideline.
Saturday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings have now been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.
dad1153
01-14-07, 06:14 PM
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
'Lost' Planning End Date
By James Hibberd Television Week January 14, 2007
There's the headline of the Winter Tour right there. Any chance we might see this same words repeated endlessly through the cacophony of entertainment media over the next two days? :rolleyes:
A good chance, I am afraid.
Given the fact the "Lost" ratings are spiralling downward against "Criminal Minds" the announcement was not exactly a stunner.
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
ABC Programming Chieftain Declares 'Lost' Isn't Lost At All
(Except, You Know, Maybe a Little)
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” January 14, 2007
Pasadena, CA -- Speaking to the assembled television press bright and early on Sunday morning, ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson -- more relaxed and jovial than during similar sessions in recent years -- insisted that despite claims that the megahit "Lost" had literally lost its way creatively during the kickoff of its third season this past fall, he believes the show is in fine shape, thanks very much, before admitting that he didn't really much like it at all. Perhaps that's a bit like voting for the intiative before voting against it.
"You know, I liked it. I think that (executive producers) Damon (Lindelof) and Carlton (Cuse) made a clear choice that that first installment would be really about the experience of Jack and Kate and Sawyer and The Others," McPherson said. "I thought it was really a riveting six episodes, and the production values, I think they exceeded even their own standards. But I like it when they're all together, and I think we're headed toward that when you come back after (the hiatus)."
Indeed, many have criticized the decision to launch "Lost" in the fall only briefly and give it a four-month rest throughout much of the fall and winter. (It finally returns to ABC's schedule in February.) McPherson admits this way have been something of a mistake in hindsight and looks to go the route Fox does with "24" next year.
"I even said last fall, ideally the way you would do 'Lost' is 22 straight (episodes), 23 straight, as many as we had done. I think for us, given where we were in our development, we really needed to (launch it) in the fall...I think coming into next fall there's a good chance we would run it 22 straight either in the fall or in the spring."
McPherson also spoke to the idea that committing to so many serialized dramas last fall may well have been a tactical error, certainly considering the weak performances of "The Nine" and "Daybreak." But he stands behind having committed to them despite his admission they were both "big disappointments."
"The shows were incredibly well-produced," he maintained. "We loved the shows creatively...It may have just been the timing." The programming guru added that both "The Nine" and the poorly-rated freshman drama "Six Degrees" still have a chance to return to the sked this spring despite having been pulled. "Six Degrees," in fact, is currently in production to finish out its original 13-episode order.
But McPherson insisted on Sunday that all is well in ABC-ville. The ballyhooed move of "Grey's Anatomy" to Thursdays opposite "CSI" has worked out better than anyone could have expected, and "we have two of the top three new shows in 'Ugly Betty' and 'Brothers & Sisters," he pointed out. "We're up in total viewers on Monday night without 'Monday Night Football.' We're the number one network 18-49."
That said, manby of ABC's rookie series have struggled to find their footing. That includes the comedy "The Knights of Prosperity," a half-hour built around the robbing of Mick Jagger. But McPherson maintains he is still committed to the genre.
"The great thing is that people are taking chances," he believes. "I mean, for us, taking chances is what redefined us...We hope we can get a bigger audience for (comedies). But I also don't think that the sitcom is dead. I don't think I could point to a great multicamera show that has been put on the air, marketed well, and failed. So it's frustrating. It's challenging. We definitely want bigger audiences for them. I believe that comedy is due to kind of explode."
McPherson's sole announcement on Sunday was that its hit "Dancing with the Stars" will return to the schedule with a pair of two-hour editions on March 19 and 26.
http://www.pastdeadline.com/
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
The ‘Lost’ Smart Bomb
By James Hibberd Television Week in the “Critical Eye” blog Sunday, January 14th, 2007
It seems the producers of “Lost” can also reveal surprise plot twists in real life. Exec producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof just dropped the biggest ballroom bomb of TCA: They’re in discussions with ABC to announce an end date for the series.
This statement comes as a surprise to everybody in the room—including ABC executives.
“It’s time for us now to find an endpoint for the show,” Cuse says. “JK Rowling announced there were seven books in the Harry Potter series and it gives fans [a framework for understanding the arc of the show]. ‘The X-Files’ was a cautionary tale for us. It was a great show that ran two seasons too long. ‘Lost’ has a short-half life.”
In the hallway after the panel, Lindelof says he’s thinking of capping the series at 100 episodes, which would only result in two more seasons. This is highly unlikely, and sounds more like a negotiation salvo, but capping at six or seven seems possible.
Lindelof comes across as smart and self-effacing as one might expect. He’s justifiably haunted by “The X-Files,” another broadcast sci-fi series loved by many fans, only to spiral into incoherence. “When people talk about ‘The X-Files,’ they don’t say how great it was,” he says. “They say how great it was ‘but’ …”
The current wave of criticism about the show bothers him, but he notes “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” show runner Joss Whedon once said fans tend to gush about the previous season, never the current season.
“Last year everybody hated the start of season two, they hated Michele Rodriguez, they hated the Tailies,” he says. “Now everybody loves season two and hates this season.”
Down the hallway, ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson is having lunch, and seems less-than-thrilled by the producers’ comments. After all, producers don’t cancel shows, network presidents do. He admits he didn’t know Lindelof and Cuse were going to make the announcement, then objected to the term “announcement.”
“Nothing was announced,” he says. “We’ve had those discussions for the past two years.”
The critics, naturally, are in love with the plan, assuming producers follow through. It’s a bold attempt to try to preserve the show’s creative integrity and would give fans (and, just as importantly, the show’s writers) a clear idea where they are in the show’s overall storyline.
Earlier, during the panel, Lindelof gave critics a taste of how difficult it is to write for “Lost.” A critic asked why The Others ailing leader Henry Gale simply asks Jack to perform surgery on him. Why play out such a simple request as an elaborate and manipulative ruse for six episodes?
“No offense to your writing skills, but that version is considerably less intriguing,” Lindelof says. “What if when Kate was stitching up Jack [in the pilot] she asked, ‘So who are you?’ [He says] ‘I’m a spinal surgeon and I got some father issues.’ [She says] ‘You think you’ve got father issues, I blew up my ****ing stepdad!’ After that, why do the show?”
http://blogs.tvweek.com/?cat=12
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
TV-Movies Continue Their Incredible Disappearing Act
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” January 14, 2007
Pasadena, CA -- If you watch a lot of broadcast television and can't remember the last time you saw an actual, full-length, original made-for-TV movie, it isn't because you're having a senior moment or a weed-induced spaceout or anything like that. It's because almost none are being produced anymore. All have migrated to cable, and even those are dwindling annually.
Remember the 1980s? It seemed that ABC, NBC and CBS had 3 or 4 telepics on in primetime every week, documenting every disease, every spousal abuse scenario, every imaginable criminal act (both fictionalized and fact-inspired). Well, get this: It appears as if ABC is going to roll through an entire fall-to-spring TV season without airing a single TV-movie. Yep, not even one. This was more or less confirmed by ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson during his session with TV crritics at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel here.
The original strategy had been to air one: a remake of the classic "A Raisin in the Sun." But that is now being earmarked for next season. Circumstances are conspiring to keep the season free of TV-movies entirely at ABC for perhaps the first time in more than 35 years, going back to the early 1970s. But McPherson insists the deep-sixing of the genre isn't by design and that it remains a good and viable programming element as a big-event player during sweeps.
"I (still) think there's select opportunities where you'll at whether it's a mini or it's a movie that can help your schedule, and I think it also rounds out your overall creative," McPherson said.
The closest thing that ABC has had to an in-season telepic this year was the controversial two-nighter "The Path to 9/11" that drew fire from the left for its perceived right-wing political agenda -- a charge I happened to have agreed with. It aired last September just prior to the start of the official 2006-2007 campaign and found ABC forced to make numerous last-minute trims to mollify those calling for the film to be pulled before air (which I would not have endorsed, free speech zealot that I am).
For his part, McPherson said the network "loved" the film and stands by it. He also denies that it was irresponsibly fictionalized or at all driven by any campaign to distort the facts.
"Everything in that movie is backed up tenfold," he insists. "We think it was a really important thing to air. And you know, it's unfortunate that, for other agendas, people tried to squash it." When it was pointed out that ABC tried to backpedal with its last-minute alterations on 'Path to 9/11,' McPherson shot back, "We didn't backpedal. We aired the movie. We didn't change anything for those guys. We aired it as planned on the dates that were planned.
"I mean, it's a little odd to have (former National Security Advisor for the Clinton Administration) Sandy Berger telling you about what's truthful or not when he was indicted for stuffing documents into his pants on this very subject."
http://www.pastdeadline.com/
dad1153
01-14-07, 06:44 PM
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
"Lost" In Pasadena
Peter Ames Carlin's Oregonian TV Blog - January 14, 2007
Oh, the excitement. The buzz. The ballroom fills with writers, publicists, chatter. And then the lights go out and, huzzah, it's the cast of "Lost," and producer/writer/execs Damon Lindlof, Carlton Cuse and one other guy whose name I seem to have missed. Stars aplenty: Everyone, it seemed, but Terry O'Quinn (Locke) and Naveen Andrews (Sayid). Interesting to see how different the posture is now that they're something more than just another aspiring freshman show. Now Matthew Fox (Jack) has this cool, silent confidence.
Evangeline Lilly (Kate) is very glam, with this button-up white shirt that is barely buttoned at all. Jorge Garcia (Hurley) looks regal and large, dead center in the back row. And Josh Holloway (Sawyer) beams a lot, that wicked, killer smile of his.
The gang's all here, and so are we, and we're on their side, and so this should be happy. But nothing is ever perfect in a critic's world, and so there are jagged questions too. Wounded, hurt queries about the scheduling of this season, about why certain mythology points haven't been resolved yet, about why others were resolved so quickly, about why Jack never just asks the Others what they're all about, for crying out loud.
"We don't allow the characters to focus on the mythology. They're focused on their relationships," the producers answered. "If the characters became focused on the mythology, viewers would drop off. Viewers are far more interested in who Kate will choose, not what's really going on with the Oliver Hanso character."
Then this, which strikes me as a perfect thumbnail description of "Lost": "It's about the monster inside all of us, not the one on the island."
Lindlof and Cuse talked about how they go about writing episodes, most often starting with the character flashback, and then penciling out action on the island that will best animate that story in island terms. Meanwhile, they also have to service the show's guiding mythology, unfold another layer of mystery and set up questions, answers, the whole thing.
Sounds complicated. But they try to think several steps ahead the entire time, which is why they're already talking to ABC about how, and when, to bring the show to an end. Not that that day is in the immediate future, of course. But it always pays to think ahead.
Which of course begged the next question: When did they think the show SHOULD go away?
"That's kind of a trick question," Lindlof said. "We're in the process of figuring it out now. As long as it's good." Then he gestured to the vast array of stars around him. "No one sitting on this stage wants to be in the Stalling Show, where the characters are just sitting around building sand castles one week, not doing anything to drive the story."
In Case of Critical Abuse
June 14, 2007
Now it's 3 pm, and time for a session with the gang behind "In Case of Emergency," a new sitcom that I liked a couple of weeks back. Which put me in the minosity, critic-wise, since virtually everyone else who writes about TV for money declared the show an unholy terror, a horror, an abomination on the face of televised entertainment. I don't know what to say. I just thought it was funny, and well-performed, and I enjoyed watching it. Weird.
So remember all the buzz preceding the "Lost" session? None of that is evident right now, gicen the sparse attendance out here in the wingnut gallery. In fact, I bumped into a critic pal just beyond the lobby, who snorted when I told him I was headed into the session. "I don't know why I should waste my time on a dead show that I hate," he said, cheerfully. And I get where he's coming from. I've skipped my share of sessions too, over the years. But I still like "Emergency," and dead or not, I'm here to party.
So Okay, the cut-down clip, with a lot of scenes from subsequent episodes, is kinda lame. A big emphasis on people falling down and hurting themselves.
First question: "How'd you get the idea for the show?" This is a hugely bad sign, starting a session with such a cookie-cutter, nonsense question.
Another bad sign: Jonathan Silverman just called the producers "amazing." Then, when asked about the distinction between doing a single-cam taped show (like this one) versus a traditional 4-camera live-with-audience show, he concluded, after a fashion, that he "much prefers" this kind of show. Though I'm willing to bet that if "emergency" flops, and he's back in July with a four-camera show, he'll point out how much he prefers doing live comedy in front of a live audience. Bet on it.
So sometimes a borderline, or below the borderline, show will give itself a boost through a good TCA session. This isn't happening for "Emergency" right now.
http://petercarlin.blogs.oregonlive.com/
dad1153
01-14-07, 07:06 PM
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
ABC Adds More Procedurals
By A.J. Frutkin, Mediaweek - January 14, 2007
Following the failure of so many serialized dramas this fall, ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson confirmed what many advertisers already had predicted. "In the mix, as we go into development this year, we have more stuff that is procedural or close-ended," McPherson told reporters at the TV Critics Association's annual winter convention, held in Pasadena today.
McPherson was the first broadcast exec to address the convention this year, with his colleagues at the competing networks following throughout the rest of the week. McPherson also announced the return of reality hit Dancing with the Stars, scheduled to premiere with a two-hour special on Monday, March 19, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Another two-hour special follows on Monday, March 26, and the first results shows airs on Tuesday, March 27, from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. On April 2, the show begins its regular broadcast schedule, airing Mondays, from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., while the results shows will air Tuesdays, from 9 p.m to 10 p.m.
Although ABC's Fall '06 cycle of Dancing had aired on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, McPherson acknowledged the shift was a conscious move on the network's part to avoid Fox's returning powerhouse American Idol this spring. "I think our fans would have been upset, [and] Idol fans would have been upset, if we just put them head-to-head," he said, of the two reality programs. "We think both shows are good shows, and there's room for them on the schedule."
McPherson said that struggling dramas The Nine and Six Degrees also could return this spring, adding that Six Degress had resumed production to complete 13 episodes, while production on The Nine would not resume, because 13 episodes already had been completed. Meanwhile, new dramas Traveler and October Road could make air before May, while single-cam sitcom Notes from the Underbelly would most likely launch sometime in March.
Digital issues also were top-of-mind for McPherson, and for many reporters who asked ABC's top programmer how the network's online strategy fits into its overall broadcast plans.
"At this point, we think it's all additive," McPherson said. "It's still a brave new world. As a lot of people know, there's not of lot of research that can point to it. We've had tremendous success with the [online video] player, and I think we have the best product in the business, and the best technology right now. Where is it going to go in three, five years, I'm not sure."
Added McPherson, "I still think you're going to need the mothership of a network to drive all this stuff. And I think different shows have different applications. Lost, extends its brand through technology around the world on all these different platforms. Whereas for other shows, like Grey's Anatomy, it may be just...additive viewing for people who don't get a chance to see it on Thursday night. So I think it's going to be a mix, of what the show's applications are, and where the technology goes, in terms of not just dot.com, but video on demand."
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/spotlight/article_display2.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003532400
dad1153
01-14-07, 07:14 PM
Click the link at the bottom of this post for a nice selectable pictures of the much talked-about Lost panel assembled at Pasadena. Now if somebody would just post a video on YouTube of Steve McPherson dancing my Sunday would be complete! :p
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
"Lost" swears it isn't
Expect more emotional bonding on the beach
By Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post - January 14, 2007
PASADENA, CA.-- The producers of Lost swear they have a compass for the series' future, in fact they've got the ending in mind. They gave critics little indication of how things will end, but a better idea of when.
"It feels to me we re halfway there," said executive producer Damon Lindelof. "One hundred episodes feels right." The series returns Feb. 2, for the second half of its third season, the 55th episode. Going forward "Lost" will air one hour later, at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Channel 7.
The writers and producers are well aware of unrest among fans after a second season that raised more questions than it answered. Viewers and critics alike were annoyed by the focus on the mean 'Others,' and by the separation of Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) from the rest of the stranded plane crash survivors.
"I think what the audience wants is more beach stories. We deliver," Lindelof said. Most of the original ensemble will be reunited in the first five or six episodes.
Sex scenes to come: The Jack-Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) relationship and the Claire (Emilie de Ravin)-Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) story offer potential. The meaning of Jack's tattoo and Locke's (Terry O Quinn) wheelchair will be revealed.
And Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) is going to speak more English. ( "Thank you, " Kim stage-whispered into his microphone.)
The frustrations of viewers are well known to the producers, but to build suspense, they decline to give in to certain wishes. Why, for instance, don t the characters compare notes and try to solve the mysteries of the island?
"We don't allow the characters to focus on the mythology," said executive producer Carlton Cuse. "When we work on stories, we work on how the characters interact. The larger audience is more interested in who will Kate choose than who Alvar Hanso is."
Hanso, for those who don't follow discussions of the mythology in chat rooms, in the online game The Lost Experience or in books spawned by the ABC series, is the head of the Hanso Foundation which uses questionable means to explore social science research on humans. .
Click here (http://www.thehansofoundation.org/) to visit the fictional foundation's website.
Cuse noted the producers are in discussions with the network about settling on an endpoint and announcing it in advance, in much the same way J. K. Rowling has with her Harry Potter books. That, he hopes, will allay audience fears about the meandering plotlines. In the business of network TV, however, where networks need to squeeze every dime out of a production to offset deficit financing, that discussion could be difficult.
It s always been discussed that the show would have a beginning, a middle and an end, Cuse said. How long could they keep it going?
"For as long as it s good," Lindelof said. "Nobody wants to do the stalling show, (like) we re building sandcastles this week."
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_5013328
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Steve McPherson
By Michael Ausiello TV Guide January 14, 2007
ABC president Steve McPherson's in the house answering our questions.
• The remaining Daybreaks will land on ABC.com by the end of February at the latest. "It was an unfortunate situation," McPherson says of the music rights complications. (Would someone please relay this new information to Daybreak watchdog Matt Mitovich? I'm too busy.)
• McPherson admits he wasn't completely satisfied with Lost's Others-centric six-episode kickoff. "For me, the show that I really invest in is everyone together," he says. "And I think we're headed toward that when we get back." (The Lost panel begins at 11 am/PST. Clear your skeds.)
• Although The Nine has ceased production, McPherson hopes to run the remaining unaired eps later this season. Unfortunately, the final episode won't answer the question of what happened in the bank.
• He dodges a question about Rosie vs. Trump, saying he doesn't want to feed The Donald's PR machine.
• He believes Brothers & Sisters will "be on our air for a long time. The show is building audience week-to-week. It's hitting its stride." (I'll take "Understatements of the Century" for $500, Alex.)
• Regarding Men in Trees' weak retention of its Grey's lead-in: "We're going to give it some time on Thursday night."
http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=700016583
RussTC3
01-14-07, 08:26 PM
A good chance, I am afraid.
Given the fact the "Lost" ratings are spiralling downward against "Criminal Minds" the announcement was not exactly a stunner.
You know, it may seem like a stunner, but to anyone who watches the show it makes perfect sense.
There is no way they can drag this series on for more than four or five years, it just wouldn't work right.
Shows shouldn't stay on the air for years on end simply because they rate well. I wish more television shows had natural and satisfying conclusions as I hope Lost will.
dad1153
01-14-07, 08:30 PM
Shows shouldn't stay on the air for years on end simply because they rate well. I wish more television shows had natural and satisfying conclusions as I hope Lost will.
Like The Office (BBC version) and Mary Tyler Moore?
I would think that dramas, especially seriazed shows like "Lost" are substantially different from "The Office" or "MTM".
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
McPherson Looks Ahead
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable January 14, 2007
ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson said Sunday that sidelined series The Nine and Six Degrees still may return to the network before the end of the season.
He also did not rule out the debuts of The Traveler, Notes From the Underbelly and October Road before May as well.
McPherson also said the remaining episodes of the cancelled Daybreak will be put online by the end of February, after the resolution of a music rights issue.
Other highlights of McPherson’s presentation to reporters Sunday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena:
• He is considering running Lost for 22 straight episodes next season, either in the fall or spring.
• He once again expects Fox to program American Idol as often as it can. “I’m sure Fox will run as many two-hour Idols as they can to win the 18-49s and beat up on us a little,” he said.
• He backed ABC late-night franchise Jimmy Kimmel Live. “[Jimmy] really deserves a lot of credit and we brought in a new executive producer [Jill Leiderman] and she deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “Late night is still a place we can earn a lot of money and have a lot of success and we think he will be a part of this network for a long time.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6407477
dad1153
01-14-07, 09:11 PM
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
McPherson Looks Ahead
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable January 14, 2007
• He backed ABC late-night franchise Jimmy Kimmel Live. “[Jimmy] really deserves a lot of credit and we brought in a new executive producer [Jill Leiderman] and she deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “Late night is still a place we can earn a lot of money and have a lot of success and we think he will be a part of this network for a long time.”
Hooray! :D
rebkell
01-14-07, 09:13 PM
Like The Office (BBC version) and Mary Tyler Moore?
B5.
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
'Lost' producers talk about setting an end date and much more
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” January 14, 2007
Could it be time for the “Lost” castaways to start packing their bags?
Maybe not just yet, but executive producer Carlton Cuse said at a Sunday press panel that the show’s producers are in the process of “picking an end point to the show.”
“Once we do that,” he told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, “a lot of the anxiety and a lot of these questions, like, ‘We’re not getting answers,’ a lot of those will go away. They really represent an underlying anxiety that this is not going to go well or that we don’t know what we’re doing.
"[Author] J. K. Rowling has announced that there’s going to be seven Harry Potter books, and it gives everyone a feeling of certainty that the story is driving to a conclusion. It’s time for us now to find an end point for the show.”
“A show like the original 'Fugitive' ended. It was a massive phenomenon,” executive producer Damon Lindelof told reporters after the panel session with the “Lost” cast. “But they had the [guts] to let Richard Kimball catch the one-armed man and end it. If you could make a case for that then, why not now?”
Producers would not offer specifics on when that end point would come, but there were a few clues that the show’s fifth season might be its last. After the panel discussion, Lindelof reminded reporters that he had said since the start of the series, which is in its third year, that he thought “Lost” would last “about 100 episodes.”
“I would not want to go back now and say, ‘Oh, now that we’re in Season 3, I think it could go much longer,’ because I think that would be duplicitous,” Lindelof said. “That’s how I felt back at the time [of the show’s debut], that’s how I still feel.”
“The reality is, they can produce a sixth or seventh or eighth season, but would anyone be watching? Because the show would be so miserable by that time,” Lindelof said, who was reminded by one reporter that ABC could continue making the show without the involvement of the show’s current creative team.
“We were surprised when we went to ABC and started having that conversation,” Lindelof said. “As opposed to them saying, ‘Fine, we’ll bring on new people,’ they said, ‘Well, when do you think it should end?’ And the conversations began.
“Obviously they want the show to go on as long as possible,” Lindelof added. “And all that we can say is, ‘There’s a show with us running it and there’s a show without us running it, and if you want the show with us running it, this is when we think it should end.’ And like negotiation, therein lies the rub. I think you’ll find, if you talk to [ABC entertainment president] Steve [McPherson], in Steve’s vernacular, he’s begun to embrace the idea that the show needs to end. Now the question becomes when.”
When the show returns from its winter break Feb. 7, the story line of Jack, Kate and Sawyer versus Juliet and Benjamin of the menacing and mysterious Others, which occupied most of the first six episodes of Season 3, will wrap up, the producers said. That news pleased McPherson, who said earlier in the day that he missed seeing the extended “Lost” cast in Season 3’s first half-dozen episodes.
“I think, for me, the show that I really kind of really, really invest in, you'll see when [the show comes] back, which is everybody together and really that kind of emotional experience,” McPherson said. “I thought it was really a riveting six [Season 3] episodes, and the production values, I think they exceeded even their own standards. But again, I like it when they're all together, and I think we're headed towards that.”
Some of the following information comes from the “Lost” panel discussion, and some is from an interview that Damon Lindelof did with several reporters after the panel. Following that is a list of mild spoilers for the rest of the season. That section will be clearly marked. You can read this first chunk and you’ll be fine, but stop reading when you get to the spoiler warning if you don’t want to know about future plot developments.
The transcript for this first section of the post, by the way comes from the official TCA transcriber.
Carlton Cuse on the fact that there have already been multiple – and sometimes repetitive – flashbacks on the show: “That is one of the challenges of the show, and I think it's one of the reasons that the show ultimately does need an endpoint. Yes, there are not an infinite number of flashbacks. It's hard to top yourself. Nothing is as engaging as that first flashback story when you find out that Hurley is a lottery winner. It's pretty hard to go back and tell another story that has the same sort of visceral impact as that sort of basic piece of knowledge.
“But we sort of view the flashback stories as little New Yorker short stories, and we do believe that we have enough stories left to tell for all of these characters that will take us through the remainder of the series.”
Damon Lindelof on whether there has ever been pressure from the studio or the network to not give answers: “There has never been any pressure ever from the network or the studio in terms of how quickly we -- you know, we answer questions. In fact, to be completely candid, the only pressure that we've ever received from them is ‘Answer some [gosh darn] questions.’”
Cuse on whether he saw the show’s focus as relationships or mythology: “We want the characters to focus on primarily their relationships with each other. We always view the show as a character show with a mythology frosting over the top.
“All the questions we get asked are about the mythology. But when we sit down and we work on the stories, we're primarily spending most of our time talking about these characters and how they interact. And I think that if the characters became focused on the mythology, a lot of people would drop out. I think there's a much larger audience that's much more interested in who is Kate going to choose than the details about who Alvar Hanso is.
Lindelof on relationships vs. mythology: “To just add one more thing. When J.J. [Abrams] and I were first designing the show, he specifically said, ‘Don't make the mistake of having the characters talk about Rambaldi all the [gosh darn] time.’ And the reality is, you'd be asking a much different version of that question had we gone down that path where all the characters were more interested in solving the mysteries of the island than they were in sort of getting through the day or who lied to who or this sort character.
“Because for us, yes, the mythology is very important and we don't throw it away piecemeal. But at the same time, we approach every episode as, this is a Jack episode; we're going to explain a little more why the guy needs to fix things all the time and let the island story support that obsession. Unfortunately, the side effect of that is that the audience doesn't feel they're getting answers to mysteries in the time allotted.”
On the wisdom of adding the new characters Paulo and Nicki; here Lindelof addressed, as one reporter put it, “what is the point” of them: “The reality is, and this is something that you guys have asked us about in the past and is a very legitimate point, is, what the hell is going on with the other 35 people who nothing ever happens to?
“We saw Dr. Artzt explode and every once in a while one of them will forward for a fleeting moment, but are they just [‘Star Trek’] red shirts? Are they just monster food? What has their experience been? Why aren’t they participating in the primary decision making on the island?”
Cuse on the show’s declining ratings: “I think the question is, what size audience does ‘Lost’ deserve to have? I think that we never -- no one expected the show to work. No one expected it to work and have a huge audience. And I think there is a natural attrition due to the fact that this show requires sort of vigilant maintenance. You have to keep up with it. And I think that there are people who fall away because it does require you to really keep up and on the episodes.
“It's a complicated show. It's hard to drop in and out. You can, but it's not as rewarding as if you watch everything. I think a lot of those people may be watching the shows on DVDs. They may downloading it. They may be watching it streaming on ABC.com. And I think we still have a very large audience, and we are happy with the audience that we have.”
This exchange was pretty funny, so I’ll reprint it in its entirety:
[B]Question: “Is there a reason couldn't have, way
back when, before the Others started killing people, just wandered on over and said, ‘Hey, welcome to the island. I hear you're a spinal surgeon. I've got a tumor. Could you help a brother out?’ (Laughter.) Why does it have to be that convoluted?”
[B]Lindelof: Well, I suppose there's certainly -- you know, there's certainly a point to be made for that version. But I would argue, no offense to your writing skills -- (Laughter) -- that that version is considerably less intriguing for a mystery show. You know, the reality is, you know, if, when Kate was first stitching up Jack, you know, she's like, ‘Who are you?’ he's like, ‘I'm a spinal surgeon. I've got some hardcore father issues. I don't think I'm going to be a good leader,’ and she's like, ‘You've got father issues? I blew up my [gosh darn] stepdad,’ you know then it would have been like, ‘Why even do the show?’ because everything's right there. (Laughter)
This part is excerpts from an interview that Damon Lindelof did after the panel discussion with several reporters.
[B]On the show’s time switch to 9 p.m. Central: “It’s a time switch we were generally pleased with, because we lose almost 30 percent of our audience every year when we’re programmed against ‘Idol.’ To be completely honest with you, the family audience is that 30 percent… I do think we’re going to take a hit, but the hit will be comparable if not a little better than going up against a show that 27 million people watch.”
On the length of the show’s run: “When you guys were asking at the very beginning, when you’d sent the pilot and you’d said, ‘Seriously, how long can this thing go, how long can it sustain,’ I’d say, I can’t answer in terms of seasons, but I have been consistent in terms of saying, it’s always felt to me like the story is going to last about 100 episodes. The end of Season 4 is 93 [episodes]. So does that mean it’s five seasons or whatnot?
“I would not want to go back now and say, ‘Oh, now that we’re in Season 3, I think it could go much longer,’ because I think that would be duplicitous. I can only answer that question of, ‘How long do I think it should last,’ the way that I felt at the very beginning. Because to say now I’ve changed my mind about it, you could go, but you said back then…. That’s how I felt back at the time, that’s how I still feel.”
Lindelof’s answer to the question of whether, by ending “Lost” after a reasonable run, ABC would be the first network to end a hit show when it should have ended, not far too late: “I guess they would. The good news about a guy like [ABC head] Steve [McPherson] or a guy like [ABC executive] Mark Pedowitz is, we all looked at each other at the very beginning and said, ‘By the grace of God would this show even survive 13 episodes.’
“So Carlton and I are now able to sit down with them and say, ‘Remember in the very beginning when you guys were having us convince you that this thing could go on for years and years and years? And we all agreed it couldn’t?’ Well, now just because it’s successful doesn’t mean that’s changed.
“The reality is, they can produce a sixth or seventh or eighth season, but would anyone be watching? Because the show would be so miserable by that time. Was it really ‘The X-Files’ anymore when [David] Duchovny and Gillian Anderson weren’t on the show? For me ‘The X-Files’ wasn’t about, ‘Have aliens invaded?’ it was about Mulder and Scully, a skeptic and a believer. Once that element of the show was gone, the show was over. We don’t want to produce those episodes of ‘Lost,’ and in fact, we’re not going to produce those episodes of ‘Lost.’”
On what the show is about: “This show is about people who are metaphorically lost in their lives who get on an airplane and crash on an island and become physically lost on the planet Earth, and once they are able to metaphorically find themselves in their lives again they will be able to physically find themselves in the world again. When you look at the entire show, that’s what it will look like.”
On whether ABC would do the show without them: “We were surprised when we went to ABC and started having that conversation. As opposed to them saying, ‘Fine, we’ll bring on new people,’ they said, ‘Well, when do you think it should end?’ And the conversations began.
“Obviously they want the show to go on as long as possible and all that we can say is, ‘There’s a show with us running it and there’s a show without us running it, and if you want the show with us running it, this is when we think it should end.’ And like any negotiation, therein lies the rub.
“I think you’ll find, if you talk to Steve, in Steve’s vernacular, he’s begun to embrace the idea that the show needs to end. Now the question becomes when.”
On when the announcement of the end date might come: “It all depends. I would anticipate that that announcement will be sooner rather than later. Because again, you don’t want to make it in a way that it seems like it is reactionary. [Like] ‘The O.C.’ saying, ‘We’re going to end “The O.C.!”’ No, you got canceled. …
“The whole point of it is, to say we’re going to end a show when the show is still thriving -- I think that will bring a lot of the audience who left to say, ‘I was wrong! They are going to give [an ending] to me, whether I like it or not is yet to be determined.’ I think the question the audience is asking is not, will the answers they give us be satisfying, but it’s, will they give us answers at all? And I think that’s a very good question to ask, because they haven’t been promised a seventh book [as J.K. Rowling has done with Harry Potter]. I’d be asking the same question."
[B]On whether the show would ever have a cliffhanger like the “what’s in the hatch” Season 1 ending: “I don’t know if we will ever have a cliffhanger like what’s in the hatch, and the irony of that cliffhanger was, although people were ultimately satisfied with what was in the hatch, all we heard over the course of that summer was how angry everybody was so that makes us say we never want to have a cliffhanger like that again. …”
On the inevitable backlash: “Joss Whedon said something very funny when he and I were talking. He basically said, the critics and the fans always hate the season that you’re in, and wish that it was like the season that preceded it. And it’s true. The reality is, when we were in Season 2, everybody hated it, everybody hated Michelle Rodriguez, hated the tail section stories. Now we find ourselves in Season 3, and everybody’s hating it, and they wish it was more like Season 2.”
On would they ever do as “Battlestar Galactica” has done and jump one year forward: “First off, that’s an amazing show, and if we did it people would think we were ripping them off, and they’d be absolutely right. It’s a slippery slope and you have to execute it well, because when ‘Alias’ did it, it was a complete and utter disaster of unmitigated proportions. … Suddenly you have a paradigm where the characters are keeping a secret from the audience [as happened on ‘The Nine’].”
On the battering they get from various groups of fans (mythology fans, relationship fans, fans of the beach characters, etc.): “We feel battered, but it’s a battering we enjoy because if I was only talking to two reporters right now as opposed to nine, it would mean that you weren’t interested in the show anymore.
"I think what’s cool about the show is that it is polarizing. We’re not afraid to anger people and the thing is, we acknowledge we’ve always been writing what should be a cult show. The fact that it has crossed over to the mainstream, if we started writing it for the mainstream, then we’re doing something different than what we were doing in the first place.
“All we can do is the show that we know how to do, what’s cool for us. We all the time are aware of wow this episode is going to make the diehard geek crowd really angry. Because we are diehard geeks. But at the same time, [it could be a case of] it’s time to do a Hurley story that’s sort of slower and funnier and doesn’t advance any mythology. But if we actually sat down and said, it’s time to appease my mom.
“At the end of the say, the season in its totality and the series in its totality is all that really matters. What’s really sad to me about a show like ‘The X-Files’ is how great it was for six years. And we don’t look back on that show and say, ‘It was great,’ we say, ‘It was great, but…’ and that but is a very depressing thing. A show like the original Fugitive ended. It was a massive phenomenon. It went off the air with a 44 share. But they had the [guts] to let Richard Kimball catch the one-armed man and end it. If you could make a case for that then, why not now?”
THESE ARE SPOILERS BELOW. STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW SPOILERS. They're just wee spoilers. But still.
Just some quick hits on some things that are coming up:
• We have not seen the last of Michael and Walt.
• We will be seeing Bernard and Rose again.
• There will be revelations relating to the Season 2 finale scene of an Arctic scenario: “Not in these first batch of episodes, but by the end of the season, we will be paying off that reveal in a very significant way. The idea that Penny is looking for Desmond is something that comes in to play [in episode 308] but it doesn’t pay off on the island until the finale [of the season].”
• Robin Weigert, a.k.a. Calamity Jane on “Deadwood,” plays Juliet’s sister in episode 307, and she will be back later in the season.
• We’ll learn more about Nicki and Paulo in episode 314.
• It sounds as though Juliet and Ben will be around for a while. More on that from Lindelof: “I think it’s safe to say that we will see the last of Alcatraz Island [where Jack, Sawyer and Kate were held] by around the ninth episode of Season 3. Then we’ll be shaking things up a bit. … I love Ben and Juliet, I think they are the face of the Others right now, they are fascinating characters that we still have many stories to tell. I would not fear their death any time soon. Although a lot of people hate them and want them to die.”
• There will be a big reminder this season that on the island, it’s still November of 2004 and only three months have passed, which will help lead to “a major shakeup coming soon.”
• Rob McElhenny, one of the stars of FX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” has a small role on the Feb. 7 episode of the show. There are also references in that episode to “Star Wars” and “Clockwork Orange.”
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/01/lost_producers_.html#more
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
TV tour: Lost, found
By Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic TV Critic in his Critic’s Tour blog 01/14/2007
PASADENA, Calif. -- With no session for The Sopranos -- never again -- the rock stars for this TV tour were the actors and producers of Lost.
Most of them made the trek from Hawaii -- no Locke, no Sayid; read into that what you want, but they said they simply had a scheduling conflict -- and chatted about the show a little, without giving away too much. You will be glad to know that they did say that the action will be moving back to the main island when the show comes back Feb. 7. (Not entirely true: I've seen that episode, and it takes place completely on the Others' island. But things happen that could shift the action back to where it began. Sure hope so, anyway.)
There was this: they're working out an ending already. Don't want to stay at the party too long, evidently.
"That's one of the things we're in discussions with the network about right now, is an end point to the show," Carlton Cuse, one of the show's executive producers, said. Later, he continued, "It's time for us now to find an end point for this show."
Before you start writing letters to ABC (or to me), don't despair. It's not ending anytime soon. But how long will it last?
"The most honest answer we can give you is, for as long as it's good," said Damon Lindelof, another executive producer. "I think I speak for everybody on the stage when I say none of us want to be doing a show that is the stalling show, that is the show that is just, we're building sand castles this week and we're not evolving."
"Not that that wouldn't be a good episode," Cuse added.
One critic asked why the show was so convoluted, why the Others couldn't have just wandered over when they saw the plane crash and asked Jack to operate on Ben.
"There's certainly a point to be made for that version," Lindelof said. "But I would argue -- no offense to your writing skills -- that that version is considerably less intriguing for a mystery show. You know, the reality is, if, when Kate was first stitching up Jack, she's like, 'Who are you?' he's like, 'I'm a spinal surgeon. I've got some hardcore father issues. I don't think I'm going to be a good leader,' and she's like, 'You've got father issues? I blew up my (expletive) stepdad,' then it would have been like, 'Why even do the show?' because everything's right there."
Good point. There's a reason these guys have these jobs.
Trumped
PASADENA, Calif. -- Why critics like Stephen McPherson, ABC's entertainment president: he's funny.
His executive session began with an old clip of him dancing to Shook Me All Night Long with one of the professional dancers who appears on Dancing With the Stars.
"I'm going to milk that as long as I can," he said.
Asked about criticism of The Path to 9/11, a movie the network aired last season, McPherson said, "It's a little odd to have Sandy Berger telling you about what's truthful or not when he was indicted for stuffing documents into his pants on this very subject."
One more: someone asked how long Boston Legal can stay on the air. Long time, was the basic answer.
"I mean, any show where the lead of the show can say, 'I think that midget I'm dating is my daughter,' I mean, that's good television right there," he said. "You know, it doesn't get better than that."
But even a funny guy has his limits. Asked to weigh in on the Donald Trump-Rosie O'Donnell feud (The View is an ABC show, after all), he declined, sort of.
"To me, the entire thing is just a publicity stunt for Trump to try to get stuff for The Apprentice," he said. "You look at the news right now, that's all he's trying to do is sue people and make waves. So me commenting just kind of feeds into his desire."
Consider him fed, then.
http://www.azcentral.com/blogs/index.php?blog=5&blogtype=Entertainment
The following item might -- or mkight not -- contain "24" spoilers. TV Notebook
IS FOX SET TO BLOW THE NUKES ON '24'?
(The drudgereport.com) Sun Jan 14 2007
As Washington continues to raise concerns about terror threats on The Homeland -- a recent CIA report outlined a scenerio of possible "series of explosions using 'low charge' nuclear weapons" -- Hollywood and FOX-TV are set to up the ante with the new season of 24!
Few outside of the 24 set know the exact details of the new season unfolding, but studio sources claim producers are pushing hard to take it radioactive this time -- and keep it there.
"Time to wake the country up!" a top FOX source told the DRUDGE REPORT over the weekend. "I do not think there has ever been TV done like this, the viewer is going to be completely riveted."
The source claims executives are prepared for any fallout from local municipalities that may be on the receiving end of plot turns and twists. How many cities 24 puts on 'nuke alert' is unclear.
FOX has set a highly-controversial espisode of 24 to air Monday night, opposite NBC's GOLDEN GLOBES.
In 2002, White House officials questioned the timing and release of PARAMOUNT's action movie SUM OF ALL FEARS -- a movie which depicts a nuclear bomb unleashed on an American sporting event!
One senior Bush official, who spoke to the DRUDGE REPORT at the time, claimed the movie crossed over the line of civic responsibility and commerce.
http://www.drudgereport.com/24.htm
dad1153
01-14-07, 09:56 PM
How about a NATPE story for variety's sake? :)
The Business of TV
Five Ways To Fix Syndication
By Jim Benson, Broadcasting & Cable - January 15, 2007
It’s moment-of-truth time for the television syndication business.
As the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) gathers in Las Vegas for its annual conference this week, studio and station executives face an industry in crisis and a supply model in shambles.
Stations are clamoring for quality first-run programs but offer few desirable time periods for them. Studios, meanwhile, are largely striking out this season with expensive new talk shows that have struggled to break a 1.0 national rating. While stations look to fill their holes with acquisitions from a meager supply of off-network product, studios are churning out inexpensive, cookie-cutter court shows and costly talkers with little-known hosts.
Although revenues generated by syndication studios hit a five-year high last year—$4.2 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence—ratings have dropped precipitously. Only three years ago, a rookie first-run strip could expect to average a 1.4 rating. This year, many have plummeted to the 0.8-1 range—a far cry from the 1.6 rating that most shows need to break even.
Not everyone thinks the sky is falling. Mitch Burg, president of the Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA), points to TNS projections indicating that syndication is “a very healthy segment of the national television landscape” and “will enjoy the greatest increases in all of television this coming year.”
But the dismal ratings for this season’s first-run rookies and the tepid greeting for new shows teed up for next season suggest otherwise. Just six or seven new shows from the major studios—a mix of court, talk, game and magazine genres—are expected to be vying for spots this fall. That’s about on par with the handful that studios brought to the market a year ago, when talk show Rachael Ray (the only freshman to have reached a 2.0 rating this season) set the pace.
Meanwhile, the abrupt cancellation this month of expensive chat show Megan Mullally (produced by NBC Universal at an estimated cost in the mid six figures per week) and magazine show Geraldo at Large (produced by Twentieth Television at north of $800,000 per week) have left stations scrambling. With off-network sitcoms in short supply, they’re grabbing reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Baywatch and Canadian imports. Others have resorted to airing as many as four daily runs of proven shows like Judge Judy.
Former syndication executive Gary Gannaway, whose Genesis Entertainment sold first-run series such as The Whoopi Goldberg Show, says the studios are in denial about the state of first-run syndication, which accounts for 40% of industry revenues. “The major studios know that first-run syndication is a lot like smoking,” says Gannaway, who now helps local media companies build business online as head of WorldNow. “They can’t keep launching shows at a 0.8 rating. But yet they are still smoking.”
Says Ken Werner, president of Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, “In this dynamic, everything is possible.”
Let’s hope so. As the final pieces of the 2007-08 puzzle are still falling into place, the industry stands at a crossroads. Stations and studios can either cling to the old first-run system or kick the habit and adopt new business models in order to survive in a fragmented TV universe.
B&C spoke with industry executives about ways to fix syndication and jump-start the flow of original programming. Here are five ideas that are gaining traction.
•1-USE CABLE:
With decent time periods tough to come by in the crowded New York, Los Angeles and Chicago markets (which together constitute 15% of all U.S. TV households), most syndicators have been reluctant to commit to expensive new first-run projects for fall. For stations outside those markets, the shortage of original programming is disastrous—and will only get worse with the proliferation of digital channels that need to be filled.
Bill Butler, VP of group programming and promotion for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, has a solution. He proposes that the top Hollywood suppliers sell their shows to only 100-150 markets, rather than the requisite 200-plus, and skip the top three altogether—a radical departure from the current formula, in which syndicators seek to get the required minimum 80%-90% clearance for their barter shows entirely through broadcast coverage.
“If the New York station marketplace is such a roadblock,” Butler says, “how do we figure out a replacement quotient in that model?”
He proposes that syndicators fill in the gaps in the largest and smallest markets by selling their shows to midlevel cable networks willing to give up exclusivity for original programming, an approach previously used to cover only the bottom markets.
Although the idea would result inevitably in lower overall ratings, it would substantially reduce production budgets and force programmers to rethink what has been their primary goal thus far: scoring a breakout first-run hit on the order of Wheel of Fortune or Entertainment Tonight.
Rather than risk losing $6 million-$9 million annually in the hope that their shows will become $1 billion-plus Oprah-esque franchises after a few years, studios could make modest profits or at least break even with the new model. Midlevel station groups, meanwhile, could be assured a steady stream of new programming.
John Nogawski, president/COO of CBS Television Distribution (CTD), isn’t sold, however. He calls the concept a “regurgitation” of the models used previously by Superstation WGN and netlets like The WB.
With eight of the top 10 shows in syndication, CTD has no urgent need for such experimentation. Says Nogawski, “We’re unwilling to throw spaghetti up against the wall.”
Indeed, the three most successful first-run series launched in the past five years—Dr. Phil, The Insider and The Rachael Ray Show—feature talent and formats incubated on CTD’s own Oprah Winfrey Show and ET.
But CTD faces the same time-slot bottleneck as every syndicator. This year, it declined to commit to game shows The Joker’s Wild and Combination Lock after failing to secure plum time periods.
•2-BE LIKE MTV:
Midlevel station groups like Sinclair have been encouraging syndicators to break out of the traditional selling season, which results in an avalanche of competing fall debuts. They would rather see a slate of low-cost shows, agreed on by both buyer and seller in advance, that could come and go throughout the season—a programming game plan used successfully by MTV in the past.
Some broadcasters are so enamored with the idea that they have offered time-period and financial commitments to cover suppliers’ startup programming expenses.
“Give it a shot, and hopefully, you catch a pulse,” Butler says. “If not, agree to move on and have something already cooking to make the switch.”
Such a scheme could face opposition. Similar program partnerships between suppliers and stations have been doomed by the competing interests of the broadcast groups, making consensus difficult to reach. To syndicators, such consortiums have only reinforced the adage that a camel is a horse built by a committee. And agents won’t be eager to watch their commissions shrink along with production budgets.
If syndicators prove unwilling to break with tradition, however, stations appear poised to proceed without them. Word in the industry is that conversations are under way between some midlevel groups and a major production entity to essentially cut out the middleman—the Hollywood distributors—enabling stations to get programming directly from the producer.
•3-DO A HOLLYWOOD END-RUN:
Some suppliers have already succeeded in bypassing the traditional Hollywood studio system. Last year, producer/director/actor Tyler Perry chose to independently finance his first-run strip comedy House of Payne to gain creative freedom and be free from studio interference.
Perry chose a small distributor, Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein’s Debmar-Mercury, which was subsequently acquired by his film distributor, the large independent Lionsgate.
After a successful two-week on-air test in markets of various sizes last summer, Debmar obtained an upfront 100-episode commitment from cable and broadcast outlets in a deal that could fetch at least $200 million between license fees and barter revenue. TBS will begin stripping House of Payne this spring, stations in fall 2008.
If the show hits, it could provide a new sense of empowerment to independent producers and station groups pushed to the sidelines by the wave of media consolidation. And with the shortage of off-network comedies, stations may find a welcome alternative to the aging triumvirate of Seinfeld, Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond.
•4-SHARE THE RISK:
Stations aren’t alone in proposing greater partnership. Some studios are keen on an arrangement in which broadcasters would provide more of the startup costs for the typical, expensive first-run series. They would be compensated with limited, pre-negotiated license-fee increases if the show becomes a long-term hit.
Stations would also be asked to provide time-period commitments in profitable dayparts, such as afternoons, and a fair amount of promotion. In true Hollywood spirit, the studios are betting on a happy ending.
“Generally, the first-run business has become harder then ever due to the underlying economics,” says a high-level studio executive who asked not to be identified. “Many times, people walk away feeling either like winners or losers, as opposed to both parties’ feeling good about the deal. We hope in the future, suppliers and stations negotiate deals that recognize each party’s strategic interests, finding common ground on sharing the risks and rewards inherent in the first-run business.”
The idea hasn’t won over everyone in the distribution community. Another top studio executive grouses that negotiating limited fee increases upfront “would be like the producer betting against his project” and labeling it “a failure” before it can even prove itself.
But with stations increasingly complaining that syndicators have been deaf to their programming needs, some broadcasters may welcome the opportunity to play producer. “If they want us to help them more in getting these things produced, that is a fair conversation,” says Sinclair’s Butler. “Conversely, perhaps we would expect to have more input into what they show up selling.”
•5-GO MULTIPLATFORM:
In December, NBC Television Stations launched the interactive daytime show iVillage Live, based on the iVillage Web portal for women, which NBCU acquired last year. Although the show has averaged only a 0.6 rating—less than what the station group’s cancelled reality strip Starting Over drew a year earlier—NBCU has renewed it for another season. Now airing on NBC’s 10 owned-and-operated stations and NBCU’s Bravo cable channel, it could expand to more broadcast markets.
The low ratings for the show—which invites viewers to participate online with live chats, votes and archived video—may never vindicate the $600 million NBCU spent to acquire iVillage. But the station group may be onto something.
Going multiplatform offers a way to engage viewers through interactivity and opens new revenue channels, such as product integration and merchandising.
Sony Pictures Television was ahead of the curve in 2004 with a show based on the online auction company eBay. But the unsuccessful pilot, hosted by Ahmad Rashad and former Daily Show contributor Molly Pesce, featured stories on items for sale on eBay, not actual transactions.
Now studios are looking for ways to build multi platform elements into new first-run shows. Last week, Twentieth Television unveiled its fall game show Temptation, from FremantleMedia North America, which will allow viewers to purchase online or by phone—at discount prices—the same prizes available to contestants.
At Warner Bros., a multiplatform magazine show built around AOL’s popular celebrity-gossip site, TMZ.com, is in the works. And CBS’ syndication operation may soon unveil a first-run show it has been developing with interactive Web and traditional broadcast elements.
Gannaway, who looked at ways to offer advertising and sponsorship deals incorporating non-TV platforms in the 1990s, says embracing new platforms may be just the thing to usher the syndication industry into the future: “Convergence could help foster the rebirth of first-run.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6407351.html
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
A little song and "Dancing" with ABC
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic in her TV blog Januray 14, 2007
Sunday morning and shortly before the coffee kicked in, ABC began its Q&A with a short clip of Stephen McPherson hoofing it somewhat oafishly with a sequin-spangled pro.
And when I say that, I mean he wiggled, swayed and threw her around a bit while she flitted and fluttered with all the grace a pixie can possibly muster when ballroom dancing to AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."
Let's just say the president of ABC Entertainment poses no threat to the next group of B-list contestants.
Not to worry, McPherson won't be a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" when it returns with a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. Monday, March 19. A week later comes the second two-hour performance show at 8, and the first results show on Tuesday, March 27, at 9.
Performance episodes move to Mondays from 8 to 9:30 as of April 2, with results shows airing Tuesdays at 9.
"We wanted people not to have to choose between "(American) Idol" and "Dancing," McPherson explained.
Yeah. Right. You must know by now that there is no such thing as charity in this business. But strategy is everything. Such a move will nicely capitalize on "Idol" madness, allowing people to get their "Dancing" fix Monday nights and turn to see the results show after "Idol's" performances on Tuesdays.
On the other hand, now we'll have to choose between "Dancing," "Prison Break" and "24" on Fox, and "Heroes" on NBC. Well, somebody always to lose.
Speaking of which. ... "Day Break," anyone? "The Nine"? "We loved the shows creatively," McPherson said. "I don't look back in kind of hindsight and say, boy, we should have done this differently, that differently, about those shows. May have just been timing."
More like, all the hype in the world couldn't get anyone to care. But McPherson, Mr. Nice Guy, would never say that, opting instead for the "It's not you, it's me" defense to let 'em down easy.
McPherson even called "Big Day" a "laugh-out-loud" comedy, which is really unnecessary and doesn't help anyone. That's kind of like telling someone who has a tooth growing out of her forehead how beautiful she is right before dumping her. And blocking her phone number.
If you just point out that misplaced incisor, they might get it pulled or get some headbands. Similarly, if he had just said what most of us thought -- that "Big Day" wasn't funny -- then perhaps the producers would try harder next time.
But again -- it's not them, it's us.
ABC does seem to have learned some lessons from fall, though. "We're all kind of in hindsight right now looking and saying, how much stuff with that kind of a commitment can an audience make to an overall schedule?" he said. "There's so much good drama on right now that you're asking a lot of the audience."
True, many of us gravitated to the "Heroes," "Jericho" and "Ugly Betty" series with escapist bents. With "The Nine," McPherson said, "There is a dour nature to it."
So we should expect to see many more close-ended, character-driven procedurals getting the green light for fall 2007.
"Day Break" will finish up online, something it was originally supposed to do in mid-December before ABC yanked it away and hoped people wouldn't notice. But they did.
Apparently there was an issue with music rights, but that problem has been ironed out, McPherson said. Should you choose to believe him this time, look for the series to be back online before the end of February.
As for "The Nine," it's done. Production wrapped on its 13 episodes, and McPherson couldn't say whether or when the remaining hours would make it back on the air or get a final run on the Web. He also confirmed every viewer's worst fear as the season began: The question of what happened during that standoff will, for the time being, remain unanswered. There could be a blog about it. Woo to the hoo.
"Six Degrees" will mostly likely make it back onto the schedule "before May or in May," McPherson said. What he didn't say is that it is receiving the opportunity to work out the kinks that those other fine series didn't, largely (we're guessing) because like "What About Brian," it is one of J.J. Abrams's pets.
And "Boston Legal" fans can rest easy for now – McPherson says it isn't going anywhere. "That's one of my favorite shows. I mean any show where, you know, the lead of the show can say, 'I think that midget I'm dating is my daughter' -- I mean, that's good television right there."
Also in the hopper:
"October Road," a drama about a screenwriter who returns to his hometown to reassess his life among old pals and family. Scott Rosenberg, who wrote the script for "Beautiful Girls," (sub a piano player for screenwriter, and it's pretty much the same gig) wrote the pilot. It is directed by Gary Fleder ("Blind Justice," "The Evidence") and, according to IMDB.com, lists the frightening Tom Berenger among a cast of beautiful unknowns.
Still to be scheduled:
"Traveler," a holdover announced last summer about two young men who, on a dare from their longtime pal Will Traveler, pull a harmless prank at a New York museum that explodes after they leave it. Then Traveler disappears, and the FBI can't find any evidence that he ever existed.
"Notes from the Underbelly," a comedy that finds humor in the glories of pregnancy (i.e. hormonal imbalances, acne, constipation and gas), is tentatively scheduled to appear at some point in March, and disappear shortly after that.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
A little song and "Dancing" with ABC
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic in her TV blog Januray 14, 2007
Sunday morning and shortly before the coffee kicked in, ABC began its Q&A with a short clip of Stephen McPherson hoofing it somewhat oafishly with a sequin-spangled pro.
And when I say that, I mean he wiggled, swayed and threw her around a bit while she flitted and fluttered with all the grace a pixie can possibly muster when ballroom dancing to AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."
Let's just say the president of ABC Entertainment poses no threat to the next group of B-list contestants.
Not to worry, McPherson won't be a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" when it returns with a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. Monday, March 19. A week later comes the second two-hour performance show at 8, and the first results show on Tuesday, March 27, at 9.
Performance episodes move to Mondays from 8 to 9:30 as of April 2, with results shows airing Tuesdays at 9.
"We wanted people not to have to choose between "(American) Idol" and "Dancing," McPherson explained.
Yeah. Right. You must know by now that there is no such thing as charity in this business. But strategy is everything. Such a move will nicely capitalize on "Idol" madness, allowing people to get their "Dancing" fix Monday nights and turn to see the results show after "Idol's" performances on Tuesdays.
On the other hand, now we'll have to choose between "Dancing," "Prison Break" and "24" on Fox, and "Heroes" on NBC. Well, somebody always to lose.
Speaking of which. ... "Day Break," anyone? "The Nine"? "We loved the shows creatively," McPherson said. "I don't look back in kind of hindsight and say, boy, we should have done this differently, that differently, about those shows. May have just been timing."
More like, all the hype in the world couldn't get anyone to care. But McPherson, Mr. Nice Guy, would never say that, opting instead for the "It's not you, it's me" defense to let 'em down easy.
McPherson even called "Big Day" a "laugh-out-loud" comedy, which is really unnecessary and doesn't help anyone. That's kind of like telling someone who has a tooth growing out of her forehead how beautiful she is right before dumping her. And blocking her phone number.
If you just point out that misplaced incisor, they might get it pulled or get some headbands. Similarly, if he had just said what most of us thought -- that "Big Day" wasn't funny -- then perhaps the producers would try harder next time.
But again -- it's not them, it's us.
ABC does seem to have learned some lessons from fall, though. "We're all kind of in hindsight right now looking and saying, how much stuff with that kind of a commitment can an audience make to an overall schedule?" he said. "There's so much good drama on right now that you're asking a lot of the audience."
True, many of us gravitated to the "Heroes," "Jericho" and "Ugly Betty" series with escapist bents. With "The Nine," McPherson said, "There is a dour nature to it."
So we should expect to see many more close-ended, character-driven procedurals getting the green light for fall 2007.
"Day Break" will finish up online, something it was originally supposed to do in mid-December before ABC yanked it away and hoped people wouldn't notice. But they did.
Apparently there was an issue with music rights, but that problem has been ironed out, McPherson said. Should you choose to believe him this time, look for the series to be back online before the end of February.
As for "The Nine," it's done. Production wrapped on its 13 episodes, and McPherson couldn't say whether or when the remaining hours would make it back on the air or get a final run on the Web. He also confirmed every viewer's worst fear as the season began: The question of what happened during that standoff will, for the time being, remain unanswered. There could be a blog about it. Woo to the hoo.
"Six Degrees" will mostly likely make it back onto the schedule "before May or in May," McPherson said. What he didn't say is that it is receiving the opportunity to work out the kinks that those other fine series didn't, largely (we're guessing) because like "What About Brian," it is one of J.J. Abrams's pets.
And "Boston Legal" fans can rest easy for now – McPherson says it isn't going anywhere. "That's one of my favorite shows. I mean any show where, you know, the lead of the show can say, 'I think that midget I'm dating is my daughter' -- I mean, that's good television right there."
Also in the hopper:
"October Road," a drama about a screenwriter who returns to his hometown to reassess his life among old pals and family. Scott Rosenberg, who wrote the script for "Beautiful Girls," (sub a piano player for screenwriter, and it's pretty much the same gig) wrote the pilot. It is directed by Gary Fleder ("Blind Justice," "The Evidence") and, according to IMDB.com, lists the frightening Tom Berenger among a cast of beautiful unknowns.
Still to be scheduled:
"Traveler," a holdover announced last summer about two young men who, on a dare from their longtime pal Will Traveler, pull a harmless prank at a New York museum that explodes after they leave it. Then Traveler disappears, and the FBI can't find any evidence that he ever existed.
"Notes from the Underbelly," a comedy that finds humor in the glories of pregnancy (i.e. hormonal imbalances, acne, constipation and gas), is tentatively scheduled to appear at some point in March, and disappear shortly after that.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/
URFloorMatt
01-14-07, 10:29 PM
A good chance, I am afraid.
Given the fact the "Lost" ratings are spiralling downward against "Criminal Minds" the announcement was not exactly a stunner.
Indeed. My guess is that ABC will guarantee them a fourth season. Beyond that, I'm sure there will be negotiations concerning how much advance notice the show gets before a cancellation order comes down. Ultimately, this is all about Lindelof and Cuse sitting down and planning the final story arc, and making sure they have enough notice to commit it to film when the time comes.
Given the steady erosion in viewership (and quality), it seems unlikely that they'd hit the apparently desired seven-season run unless there was a serious injection of fresh ideas. And even then, it's unlikely that such a contorted serial could see a revival in ratings.
Then again, the 10:00 timeslot will be much, much, much less competitive than the 9:00 timeslot and a show like Lost could languish there for years. Honestly, if I had a new hour-long drama, I'd kill for Wednesdays at 10:00 now that Law and Order is gone and the remaining competition is average at best.
rebkell
01-14-07, 10:33 PM
Speaking of syndicated programs, are there any being made anymore, I'm not talking about game shows, but shows like "Highlander", "Babylon 5", V.I.P. , Relic Hunter, Andromeda, Hercules, Xena, those used to be some of my favorite shows, I don't know of any shows like these anymore. I guess the last syndicated show I remember was Andromeda. Are they still around and I'm just not running into them?
dad1153
01-14-07, 10:34 PM
Funny how little mention J.J. Abrams is getting in this avalanche of Lost stories. I know these producers (Lindelof and Cuse) are the one's that actually make the show and J.J. is a decision-maker from far away (ala Dick Wolf and Jerry Bruckheimer for their respective primetime shows) but you'd think one of the TV writers would be wondering outloud why J.J. didn't attend the tour, or what his involvement in this whole planned ending deal is.
But Wednesdays at 10 "CSI:NY" seems to be steadily growing. Wait too long and the window of opportunity may be lost. In fact I suspect it is too late already.
People seem to be still finding out about "CSI:NY" while people are steadily drifting away from "Lost".
Once viewers have decided to leave a show it is very, very difficult to get them back, although "Desperate Housewives" seems to be having some success. But then Marc Cherry just drastically changed the storyline and went back, essentially, to what worked in Season One.
dad1153
01-14-07, 10:42 PM
Speaking of syndicated programs, are there any being made anymore... shows like "Highlander", "Babylon 5", V.I.P. , Relic Hunter, Andromeda, Hercules, Xena?
Yep, those types of shows have pretty much dried up, migrated to cable or disappeared into dead time slots. Why spend a ton of money making new shows when repeats of Stargate SG-1 and a CG-spruced Star Trek can get a similar (small) rating for less money? The only action series that I can think of for syndication is DaVinci's Inquest (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156442/), and that was only brought to the States based on the success of you-know-what.
URFloorMatt
01-14-07, 11:06 PM
But Wednesdays at 10 "CSI:NY" seems to be steadily growing.
Of course it is. It's the only steady programming during the 10:00 hour on Wednesdays. The CW and Fox don't counterprogram 10:00.
Meanwhile, ABC has rattled through half a dozen different shows while failing to find a good program to go with Lost, and before that it was trying to program with Alias and The Bachelor and who knows whatever else. Unless I'm mistaken, ABC hasn't had a steady show on Wednesdays at 10:00 since it temporarily moved NYPD Blue to that slot years ago.
Likewise, NBC moved a declining Law & Order last year and threw up two ratings bombs in Heist and Kidnapped, and has now just thrown up Medium, which is by no means a serious competitor. All positive media that I've ever read concerning Medium has never characterized it as anything more than a show good enough for a tanking NBC network, and even then it wasn't enough of a show to get a dedicated time slot for the fall season. It was slotted as a mid-season replacement.
Frankly, if CSI:NY wasn't growing, it'd just be a testament to its horrid quality. Lost is in prime position to capitalize on a weak time slot--easily the weakest in competitive primetime.
We'll just have to agree to disagree, Matt.
It seems to me that "Lost" is already teetering on the edge of become simply a cult show, and CBS shows remarkable patience with its programs.
If "Lost" doesn't do well Wednesday at 10, and with ABC desperately trying to hold on to a potential 18-49 demo win this season, the Disney suits will move it someplace else.
(If I were ABC, I'd move "Lost" to Monday 10 PM and pickup the NBC audience from "Heroes" which has no place to go.)
But you know what? You could well be right and I could well be wrong.
VisionOn
01-14-07, 11:47 PM
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
TV tour: Lost, found
By Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic TV Critic in his Critic’s Tour blog 01/14/2007
One critic asked why the show was so convoluted, why the Others couldn't have just wandered over when they saw the plane crash and asked Jack to operate on Ben.
"There's certainly a point to be made for that version," Lindelof said. "But I would argue -- no offense to your writing skills -- that that version is considerably less intriguing for a mystery show. You know, the reality is, if, when Kate was first stitching up Jack, she's like, 'Who are you?' he's like, 'I'm a spinal surgeon. I've got some hardcore father issues. I don't think I'm going to be a good leader,' and she's like, 'You've got father issues? I blew up my (expletive) stepdad,' then it would have been like, 'Why even do the show?' because everything's right there."
and the other (haha) answer is ... when it started they either had no real concept of who "the others" were and only started thinking about that in the second season, or they didn't like Abrams original vision and decided to change it.
Which is probably why the Others went from being scary, almost mythological beings in the first season (only seen in shadows and heard as supernatural whispers - a plot element which has since been dropped) to a group of scientists and thugs who like wearing fake beards and taking part in book clubs.
DoubleDAZ
01-15-07, 12:16 AM
There is no doubt Lost has more problems than just scheduling. I think that if they get back to the story and start revealing stuff again, they can catch some of that old magic just like ER has. I still watch it, but it's certainly not the must-see-TV it used to be.
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Fewer Serials and Closure for ‘Lost’ on ABC’s Horizon
By Edward Wyatt The New York Times January 15, 2007
PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 14 — ABC sees fewer ongoing, serialized dramas in its future, and at least one of its biggest shows — the megahit “Lost” — is heading toward a definite end.
Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, told a meeting of television writers here on Sunday that after the experience of several failed or mediocre new serials this year — including “Day Break,” “The Nine” and “Six Degrees” — the network has fewer of those types of shows in development.
And for “Lost,” the biggest of the ABC serials, the network is now discussing with the producers how and when to end the series, Mr. McPherson said.
Damon Lindelof, one of the executive producers of “Lost,” said that the show’s creators had always viewed it as lasting about 100 episodes, and that he still believes that will be the case. Fifty-three episodes have been broadcast so far, with the show in its third season, meaning that it is likely that the fifth season will be the last.
“We’re no longer going up the hill,” Mr. Lindelof said. “We’re starting to come down now.”
Mr. Lindelof also said that while ABC has the ability to extend the series as long as it wants, with different producers and even different stars, he believes that the network is unlikely to do so.
“We don’t want to produce those episodes of ‘Lost,’ and we are not going to,” Mr. Lindelof said. He cautioned against such a move, pointing out that as series like “The X-Files” and “Alias” extended their runs by making dubious creative decisions, their ratings suffered greatly as fans abandoned the shows in droves.
He said the network and the producers would announce the decision soon after it is made, to make sure that fans understand that the show has a definite endpoint, and that outstanding questions about the mysteries of the island will be answered.
But there also was some good news for “Lost” fans.
Mr. McPherson said it is unlikely that viewers will have to weather another extended midseason hiatus. The network has been criticized by fans for running six “Lost” episodes last fall, then breaking for almost three months before resuming the series next month for 16 straight weeks.
Mr. McPherson said he believes that the next season will run for 22 consecutive weeks, either in the fall of 2007 or the spring of 2008. Production requirements and scheduling necessities caused ABC to break up the series this season, he said.
ABC also said it will present a fourth season of “Dancing With the Stars,” its hit ballroom-dance competition, on Monday nights beginning on March 19. The network decided not to schedule the competition installments of the series directly against “American Idol,” which runs on Tuesday nights, although the results show for “Dancing” will be seen at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, going up against at least a portion of “Idol” on some nights.
As for future serial shows Mr. McPherson said that the experience of the network’s current season, with several bad showings for new serials, indicated that audiences have a limited ability to absorb such shows. After the initial success of “Lost” and Fox’s “24” several years ago, a lot of television production companies put new serials into development, with many of them on at the same time, as they did this year.
“We’re going to see an adjustment this year because people in the fall were able to see whether or not there was a burnout,” Mr. McPherson said. “We’re seeing a little bit of a shift away from that.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/arts/television/15abc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print
TV Notebook
Veteran Dramas Bolster Friday Prime-Time Slates
By John Consoli MediaWeek January 15, 2007
Friday night’s lights are getting brighter for some of the broadcast networks this season, with CBS and NBC in a dead heat for adults 18-49 demo supremacy on the night.
Season-to-date, the two are averaging a 2.7 rating/9 share on the night (CBS is averaging 10.1 million viewers to NBC’s 9.1 million). Those aren’t blockbuster numbers by any means, but they are solid enough for a night that used to be a repeat dumping ground. Similarly, Saturday’s prime-time schedule a few years back was a rerun wasteland.
NBC has been able to give CBS, previously the dominant Friday player, some competition this season by moving two veteran dramas—Las Vegas and Law & Order—into the 9 and 10 p.m. time slots, pitting them against CBS’ Close to Home and Numb3rs, respectively.
Mitch Metcalf, executive vp of scheduling and program planning at NBC, said that after several years of trying new dramas on Fridays, it became evident that moving established shows would be a better course to take. “There are a smaller number of overall viewers on the night, and they are mostly older and seem to be more conservative in that they do not seem to want to sample a lot of new stuff,” he said. “We’re up 32 percent on the night in the 18-49 demo by moving established dramas there.”
NBC does lead off at 8 p.m. with a new game show 1 vs. 100. But Metcalf pointed out that the game show was first introduced last October leading out of a special airing of NBC hit game show Deal or No Deal.
The median age audience for both nets on Fridays is about 52. CBS’ youngest-skewing show is its 8 p.m. drama Ghost Whisperer with a median age of 51, the same as 1 vs. 100.
“There are still lots of folks home on Friday nights. And if you put on the appropriate programming geared toward them—right now it is procedural dramas—they will watch,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vp of audience analysis at Magna Global. “But there are also families available too.”
For example, ABC, which had little success with new drama Men in Trees on Fridays, aired family theatrical The Polar Express on Dec. 1, drawing a 4.0 18-49 rating but also attracting a solid number of parents and kids.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003532321
Once viewers have decided to leave a show it is very, very difficult to get them back,
Especially for a serialized show like "Lost