HOT OFF THE PRESS: QUICK REFERENCE INDEX
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• Post #2 - Current Ratings (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4265637&&#post4265637)
• Post #3 - What's Been Renewed and What's Been Cancelled (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4267598&&#post4267598)
• Post #4 - Upcoming Premiere/Return Dates/Finales (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4278280&&#post4278280)
• Post #5 - In Development (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4278412&&#post4278412)
• Post #6 - Other Useful Information (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4278616&&#post4278616)
• Post #7 - TV Links (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4278624&&#post4278624)

(Last update: 10:30 AM PT Sunday, April 22, 2007; Saturday night's Fast National overnight ratings added)

(From Marc Berman’s Sunday, April 22, 2007, Programming Insider blog at Mediaweek.com )
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/34310474
Overnight Ratings for Saturday, April 21st

Fast National Ratings (Live Plus Same Day data)

Total Viewers:
CBS: 7.20 million
Fox: 6.28
ABC: 4.16
NBC: 2.33

Adults 18-49:
Fox: 2.3 rating/9 share
CBS: 1.7/ 6
ABC: 1.4/ 5
NBC: 0.8/ 3

Yesterday’s Winners:
Nothing

Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
The night overall

Ratings Breakdown:

CBS and Fox shared leadership on this typically abysmal Saturday, with CBS first in total viewers and NASCAR 2007 on Fox No. 1 among adults 18-49. NASCAR finished second overall in total viewers, with 6.28 million, and first in the demo with an overall 2.3 rating/9 share. A repeat of NCIS opened the evening for CBS with 6.53 million viewers (#1) and a 1.3/ 6 among adults 18-49 (#2) at 8 p.m., followed by a repeat of CSI: NY (Viewers: #1, 7.34 million; A18-49: #2, 1.6/ 6) and 48 Hours Mystery (Viewers: #1, 7.73 million; A18-49: #1, 2.1/ 7) from 9-11 p.m.

A repeat of theatrical Harry Potter: Sorcerer’s Stone on ABC finished third overall, with 4.16 million viewers and a 1.4/ 5 among adults 18-49 from 8-11 p.m. Last, and very least were three repeat episodes of NBC’s Heroes at just 2.33 million viewers and a 0.8/ 3 in the demo from 8-11 p.m. All together now…what a night!

• • • • • • • • • • •
(From Marc Berman’s Saturday, April 21, 2007, Programming Insider blog at Mediaweek.com )
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/29510374?r=81610374#81610374
Overnight Ratings for Friday, April 20th

Fast National Ratings (Live Plus Same Day data)

Total Viewers:
CBS: 7.55 million
NBC: 5.79
Fox: 5.36
ABC: 5.10
CW: 3.84

Adults 18-49:
ABC : : 1.9 rating/7 share
CBS: 1.9 /7
Fox: 1.6/ 6
NBC: 1.5/ 5
CW: 1.2/ 4

Friday’s Winners:
Nothing

Friday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Identity (NBC)
Raines (NBC)

Ratings Breakdown:

It was of a night of mixed leadership on this repeat-riddled Friday, with CBS the most-watched network and ABC and CBS tied for No. 1 among adults 18-49 (with a mere 1.9 rating/7 share, mind you). A repeat of Ghost Whisperer opened the evening for the Eye net first in total viewers (6.67 million) and tied with a repeat of Fox’s House for No. 1 among adults 18-49 (1.7 rating/7 share each). The House encore was second in total viewers, with 5.60 million.

Also in the 8 p.m. hour were NBC’s Identity (Viewers: #3, 4.84 million; A18-49: #3t, 1.4/ 5), which remains a pale replacement for former occupant 1 vs. 100, a repeat of Grey’s Anatomy on ABC (Viewers: #4, 4.08 million; A18-49: #3t, 1.4/ 5), and the first hour of The CW’s perennial Friday Night Smackdown! (Viewers: #5, 3.29 million; A18-49: #5, 1.1/ 4). Overall, Smackdown! was below average with 3.84 million viewers (#5) and a 1.2/ 4 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. As for NBC’s current Friday 8 p.m. time period woes, why not renew 1 vs. 100 already?

At 9 p.m., a repeat of CBS’ Close To Home and a repeat of ABC’s Wife Swap shared the top spot as follows:

Friday 9 p.m.
Close to Home R (CBS)
Viewers: 7.95 million (#1)
A18-49: 1.8/ 6 (#2)

Wife Swap R (ABC)
Viewers: 4.72 million (#4)
A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#1)

Also at 9 p.m. were NBC’s doomed Raines (Viewers: #2, 5.87 million; A18-49: #4t, 1.4/ 5), a repeat of Fox’s Bones (Viewers: #3, 5.12 million; A18-49: #3, 1.6/ 5), and the second hour of The CW’s aforementioned Friday Night Smackdown! (Viewers: #5, 4.40 million; A18-49: #4t, 1.4/ 5). Although Raines did managed to buld from lead-in Identity by 1.03 million viewers, keep in mind that the competition included three repeats.

A repeat of CBS’ Numb3s and ABC’s veteran 20/20 shared the No. 1 position at 10 p.m., followed by a repeat of NBC’s on the fence Law & Order. Take a look:

Friday 10:00 p.m.
Numb3rs R (CBS)
Viewers: 8.01 million (#1)
A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#1t)

20/20 (ABC)
Viewers: 6.50 million (#3)
A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#1t)

Law & Order R (NBC)
Viewers: 6.70 million (#2)
A18-49: 1.7/ 6 (#3)

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Note: Previous overnight ratings are available at Marc Berman’s blog:
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/63310451

• • • • • • • • • • •
Nielsen prime-time ratings for week of April 9-15, 2007

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

Program Network Viewers
1. American Idol, Wed Fox, 28.6 million
2. American Idol, Tue Fox, 26.8 million
3. CSI CBS, 22.2 million
4. House Fox, 21.6 million
5. Dancing With the Stars, Mon ABC, 18.8 million
6. Dancing With the Stars, Tue ABC, 17.3 million
7. Desperate Housewives ABC, 16.4 million
8. CSI: Miami CBS, 16.1 million
9. Shark CBS, 14.9 million
10. NCIS CBS, 14.4 million

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

• • • • • • • • • • •
Last week's Network Average Ratings
Nielsen network average prime-time ratings for week of April 9-15, 2007

WEEKLY AVERAGES
Average rating, share and audience in each category

ADULTS 18-49

Fox 4.1/12, 5.4 million
CBS 3.3/10, 4.3 million
ABC 2.8/8, 3.7 million
NBC 2.3/7, 3.0 million
UNI 1.6/5, 2.1 million
CW 1.1/3, 1.5 million
TEL 0.3/1, 0.4 million

Each rating point equals 1.31 million viewers

ADULTS 25-54

Fox 4.0/11, 5.2 million
ABC 3.1/9, 4.1 million
CBS 3.1/9, 4.0 million
NBC 2.2/6, 2.9 million
UNI 1.7/5, 2.2 million
CW 1.1/3, 1.4 million
TEL 0.4/1, 0.5 million

Each rating point equals 1.31 million viewers

ADULTS 25-54

Fox 4.3/11, 5.2 million
CBS 4.0/10, 4.9 million
ABC 3.6/9, 4.4 million
NBC 2.6/7, 3.2 million
UNI 1.6/4, 2.0 million
CW 1.0/2, 1.2 million
TEL 0.4/1, 0.4 million

Each rating point equals 1.22 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

CBS 4.0/11, 11.3 million
Fox 3.6/9, 10.3 million
ABC 3.3/9, 9.3 million
NBC 2.4/6, 6.8 million
UNI 1.3/4, 3.8 million
CW 1.0/2, 2.7 million
TEL 0.3/1, 0.9million

Each rating point equals 2.84 million viewers

SEASON TO DATE
Average rating, share and audience in each category

ADULTS 18-49

Fox 4.0/11, 5.2 million
CBS 3.8/10, 5.0 million
ABC 3.5/9, 4.5 million
NBC 3.2/9, 4.2 million
UNI 1.6/4, 2.0 million
CW 1.3/3, 1.7 million
TEL 0.4/1, 0.5 million

Each rating point equals 1.31 million viewers

ADULTS 25-54

CBS 4.8/12, 5.8 million
Fox 4.3/10, 5.2 million
ABC 4.0/10, 4.9 million
NBC 3.7/9, 4.6 million
UNI 1.5/4, 1.9 million
CW 1.2/3, 1.5 million
TEL 0.4/1, 0.4 million

Each rating point equals 1.22 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

CBS 4.5/12, 12.7 million
Fox 3.6/9, 10.2 million
ABC 3.5/9, 9.8 million
NBC 3.2/8, 9.2 million
UNI 1.3/3, 3.6 million
CW 1.1/3, 3.2 million
TEL 0.3/1, 0.9 million

Each rating point equals 2.84 million viewers

• Source: NBC and Nielsen Media Research data

(Most recent update: April 20th)
Prime-Time Show Status

Renewed for 2007-2008
30 Rock NBC
American Idol Fox
America's Funniest Home Videos ABC
Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? Fox
The Bachelor ABC
Big Brother CBS (Summer 2007)
Bones Fox
Boston Legal ABC
Brothers & Sisters ABC
CSI CBS
CSI: Miami CBS
CSI: New York CBS
Criminal Minds CBS
Dancing With The Stars ABC
Desperate Housewives ABC
Everybody Hates Chris the CW
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC
Football Night In America NBC
Grey’s Anatomy ABC
House Fox
Heroes NBC
House Fox
Jimmy Kimmel Live ABC
King Of The Hill Fox
Las Vegas NBC
Law & Order: SVU NBC
Lost ABC
Men In Trees ABC
Numb3rs CBS
My Name is Earl NBC
The Office NBC
Prison Break Fox
Sunday Night Football NBC
Supernanny ABC
Survivior CBS Fall (china) and Spring (TBA) editions
Ugly Betty ABC
Wife Swap ABC

Full Season 2006-07 Pickups
30 Rock NBC
Brothers & Sisters ABC
The Class CBS
Friday Night Lights NBC
The Game CW
Heroes NBC
Jericho CBS
Men In Trees ABC
7th Heaven CW
Shark CBS
Standoff (19 episodes)
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip NBC
'Til Death Fox
Ugly Betty ABC
Veronica Mars CW (20 total episodes)
What About Brian? ABC

Cancelled
3 Lbs. CBS
Andy Barker, P.I. NBC
Armed & Famous CBS
The Black Donnellys NBC
Day Break ABC
The Great American Dream Vote ABC
Happy Hour Fox
Justice Fox
Kidnapped NBC
The Knights of ProsperityABC (Unofficial)
The Nine ABC (Unofficial)
The O.C. Fox
Reba CW
Rich List Fox
Runaway CW
Show Me The Money ABC
Six Degrees ABC
Smith CBS
The Wedding Bells Fox
Twenty Good Years NBC
Vanished Fox

Upcoming Premieres / Returns/Finales
(Updated April 23, 2007)

Heroes Monday, April 23 9 PM ET/PT, NBC
The Real Wedding Crashers Monday, April 23 10 PM ET/PT, NBC
Veronica Mars Tuesday May 1, 9 PM, ET/PT, CW
One Tree Hill Wednesday, May 2, 9 PM, ET/PT, CW
Grey's Anatomy: The Other Side Of Life Thursday, May 3 9-11 PM ET/PT, ABC
Traveler Thursday, May 10 10 PM ET/PT (Regular time slot begins Wednesday, May 30 10 PM ET/PT) ABC
On The Lot Tuesday, May 22, FOX
So You Think You Can Dance? Thursday, May 24, 8 PM ET/PT, FOX (Regular schedule: Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8)
America's Got Talent 9 PM ET/PT Tuesday, May 29, NBC
The Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? Wednesday, May 30 8 PM ET/PT, ABC
Pirate Master Thursday, May 31 9 PM ET/PT, CBS
The 4400 10 PM ET Sunday, June 3 Sci Fi
Creature Comforts 8 PM ET Monday, June 4 CBS
Hell's Kitchen Monday, June 4, 9 PM ET/PT, FOX
On The Lot Box Office Results Show Tuesday, June 5, 8 PM ET/PT, FOX
Loop Sunday, June 10, 9:30 PM ET/PT, FOX
John From Cincinnati 10 PM ET Sunday, June 10 (moves to 9 PM June 17) HBO
Rescue Me Tuesday, June 12, FX
Last Comic Standing 9 PM Wednesday, June 13 NBC
Big Love 9 PM ET Sunday, June 17 HBO
Flight of the Conchords 10:30 PM ET Sunday, June 17 HBO
Act Of Love 10 PM Monday, June 18 NBC
The Closer 9 PM ET/PT Monday, June 18, TNTHeartland 10 PM ET/PT Monday, June 18 TNT
Monk Friday, July 13, USA
Psych Friday, July 13, USA
Saving Grace July, TNT
The Company Summer, TNT
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Summer, FX
Dexter Summer, SHO
In Treatment Fall, HBO
Tell Me You Love Me Fall, HBO
Ken Burns' "The War" Sunday, Sept. 23, 9 PM PBS
Crowned To be announced, The CW
Hidden Palms To be announced, CW
Curb Your Enthusiasm To be announced (2008), HBO

Scheduled Finales

HBO
Sunday:
The Sopranos 9:00 PM ET/PT - June 10

ABC

Monday:
Dancing with the Stars 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT - May 21

Tuesday:
The Bachelor 8 PM ET PT May 22
Dancing with the Stars (Results Show) 9 PM ET/PT - May 22
Boston Legal: 10 PM ET/PT - May 22

Wednesday:
Lost: 9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT - May 23

Thursday:
Ugly Betty: 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT - May 17
Grey’s Anatomy: 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT - May 17

Friday:
America’s Funniest Home Videos: 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT - May 18

Sunday:
Extreme Makeover Home Edition: 7:00-9:00 PM ET/PT - May 20
Desperate Housewives: 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT - May 20

CBS

Monday:
The New Adventures of Old Christine May 7
How I Met Your Mother May 14
Two And A Half Men May 14
The King Of Queens (series finale) May 14
CSI: Miami May 14

Tuesday:
The Unit 9 PM ET/PT - May 8
NCIS 8 PM ET/PT - May 22

Wednesday:
Jericho 8 PM ET/PT - May 9
Criminal Minds 9 PM ET/PT - May 16
CSI: NY 10 PM ET/PT - May 16

Thursday:
Shark 10 PM ET/PT - May 3
Without A Trace (special night) May 10
CSI CSI 9 PM ET/PT - May 17

Friday:
Ghost Whisperer 8 PM ET/PT - May 11
Close To Home 9 PM ET/PT - May 11
Numb3rs 10 PM ET/PT - May 18

Sunday:
The Amazing Race 8 PM ET/PT - May 6
Cold Case 9 PM ET/PT - May 6
Suvivor: Fiji 8 PM ET/PT - May 13

Fox

Monday:
24 9 PM ET/PT - May 21

Tuesday:

Wednesday:
Bones 9 PM ET/PT - May 16
American Idol 8 PM ET/PT - May 23

Thursday:
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? 8 PM ET/PT - May 10

Friday:

Sunday:
The War At Home 9:30 PM ET/PT - April 22

NBC

Monday:
Heroes 9 PM ET/PT - May 21

Tuesday:
Law & Order: SVU 10 PM ET/PT - May 22

Wednesday:
Crossing Jordan 9 PM ET/PT - May 16
Medium 10 PM ET/PT - May 16

Thursday:
30 Rock 9 PM ET/PT - April 26
My Name I Earl 8 PM ET/PT - May 10
E R 10 PM ET/PT - May 10
The Office (one-hour finale) 8 PM ET/PT - May 17
Srcubs (one-hour finale) 9 PM ET/PT - May 17
ER May 17 10 PM ET/PT

Friday:
Raines 9 PM ET/PT - April 27

CW

Monday:
Girlfriends May 7, 9 PM ET/PT
Everybody Hates Chris 8 PM ET/PT - May 14
All Of Us 8:30 PM ET/PT - May 14
The Game 9:30 PM ET/PT - May 14

Tuesday:
Gilmore Girls 8 PM, ET/PT - May 15

Wednesday:
America's Next Top Model 8 PM ET/PT - May 16

Thursday:
Smallville 8 PM ET/PT - May 17
Supernatural 9 PM ET/PT - May 17

Sunday:
7th Heaven (series finale) 8 PM, ET/PT - May 13

The 2007-08 TV Season
Network pilot orders shun serial dramas
2007-08 dramas lure more feature pros
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter

Heavily serialized dramas are out, soaps and high-concept procedurals are in, "The Bionic Woman" and Philip Marlowe are back, and one-hour British imports are hotter than ever.

Overall, the five networks have ordered 45 drama pilots, on par with the 47 greenlighted last year.

Dubbed as "the season of serialized dramas," 2006-07 yielded only one big hit in the genre, NBC's "Heroes," and one modest success, CBS' "Jericho." With a number of high-profile, heavily serialized new shows such as ABC's "The Nine" and "Six Degrees," NBC's "Kidnapped" and Fox's "Vanished" long gone, the networks opted for more close-ended dramas for next fall.

A record four British drama concepts have landed pilot orders: "Life on Mars" and "Football Wives" (the latter based on "Footballers' Wives") at ABC, "Viva Laughlin!" (based on "Viva Blackpool!") at CBS and a project based on "Wild at Heart" at the CW. They have attracted impressive auspices, with David E. Kelley writing and executive producing "Mars," Bryan Singer directing and executive producing "Wives" and Hugh Jackman executive producing and guest starring in and Gabriele Muccino directing and executive producing "Laughlin!"

Street cops are back in favor after disappearing from primetime following the end of ABC's "NYPD Blue." CBS ("Protect and Serve"), NBC ("Ft. Pit"), Fox ("K-Ville") and CW ("Gravity") are all on the beat with police dramas.

And then there is the high-concept element that adds a twist to many of this year's crop of drama pilots. For instance, "Mars" is about a detective who goes back in time to the 1970s; the detective at the center of Fox's "New Amsterdam" is hundreds of years old, and the private eye in CBS' "Twilight" is a vampire.

But if there is one element that dominates the drama field this development season, it's the invasion of big-name feature directors -- a trend that exploded this year.

"We hear over and over that television is the new features," says Christina Davis, vp drama development at CBS.

Added Ted Gold, Fox's senior vp drama development, "It has to do with everybody's efforts to stand out."

Feature helmers tapped for pilots include Lasse Hallstrom, Spike Lee, Brett Ratner, Guy Ritchie, Doug Liman and Barry Sonnenfeld.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ifa3342614f951b4f5dde03bda9b25741

The 2007-08 TV Season
ABC Drama Pilots
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter

Larger-than-life characters and self-contained stories are on the drama docket for ABC this year.

The network -- which sparked the recent interest in serialized dramas with the Emmy-winning "Lost" but saw its ambitious continuous-story-line dramas "The Nine" and "Six Degrees" fizzle in the fall -- is staying away from the genre this development season.

"This year, we concentrated on close-ended shows," says senior vp drama development Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs. "We don't have any intensely serialized pieces."

It was a conscious decision made in the summer -- before most networks struggled to launch a slew of nail-biter serial dramas -- that was aimed at a better schedule balance, Patmore-Gibbs says. But at the end of the day, it all came down to "responding to the best material."

"A year ago, we had a lot of strong serialized shows," she says. "This year, there's a lot of strong character procedurals and soaps. They rose to the top because they were great stories."

Indeed, Patmore-Gibbs notes that it was a good year for soaps with heavy dollops of humor ("Cashmere Mafia") -- a genre with which ABC found success this year with "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers & Sisters" -- and character-driven procedurals ("Suspect," "Marlowe," "Judy's Got a Gun," "Women's Murder Club").

For a second consecutive year, ABC is leading the network pack with the most drama pilot orders. ABC's total of 13 greenlighted projects is down from 16 one-hours picked up last season.

Cashmere Mafia
Production Co.: Sony TV/Darren Star Prods.
Production Team: Darren Star, Gail Katz, Kevin Wade, Susie Fitzgerald
Four successful female executives, friends since college, rely on one another as they juggle the demands of career, family and high ambitions in New York

Dirty Sexy Money
Production Co.: Touchstone TV
Production Team: Craig Wright, Greg Berlanti
Idealistic young lawyer inherits the job of representing a rich, powerful and ethically flexible family after his father's unexpected death

Eli Stone
Production Co.: Touchstone TV
Production Team: Greg Berlanti, Marc Gugenheim
Thirtysomething attorney (Jonny Lee Miller) begins to have larger-than-life visions that compel him to do unusual things; Victor Garber co-stars

Untitled Jon Feldman
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV
Production Team: Jon Feldman
Revolves around four high-powered CEOs or CEOs-to-be who socialize at the same exclusive golf club; Michael Vartan stars

Football Wives
Production Co.: Touchstone TV
Production Team: Marco Pennette, Chris Brancato, Bert Salke, Bryan Singer, Maureen Chadwicke, Eileen Gallagher, Ann McManus
U.S. version of the ITV series "Footballers Wives" that focuses on wives of professional football players; Gabrielle Union co-stars

Judy's Got a Gun
Production Co.: Touchstone TV
Production Team: Michelle King, Robert King, Stu Bloomberg
Suburban woman balances being a single mother with being a detective investigating bizarre suburban crimes

Life on Mars
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: David E. Kelley, Stephen Garrett, Jane Featherstone
Detective whose girlfriend has just been kidnapped finds himself transported back to the 1970s. Based on the BBC series

Marlowe
Production Co.: Touchstone TV
Production Team: Sean Bailey, Greg Pruss, Carol Wolper, Dan Platt, Phil Clymer
Procedural crime drama centered on the Philip Marlowe character set in present-day Los Angeles

Untitled Rina Mimoun
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV
Production Team: Rina Mimoun
Revolves around a family of Southern lawyers

Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Production Co.: Regency TV/Dutch Oven
Production Team: Simon Kinberg, Doug Liman, Dave Bartis
Based on the hit feature about a married couple who are spies

Pushing Daisies
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV, Jinks/Cohen Prods.
Production Team: Bryan Fuller, Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen
Detective show/romance/fairy tale about a guy who can touch the dead and bring them back to life

Suspect
Production Co.: Sony Pictures TV/25 C Prods.
Production Team: Ed Zuckerman, Guy Ritchie, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly
Stylish, fast-paced procedural drama uncovering the perpetrator by tracing the suspects

Women's Murder Club
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: Liz Craft, Sarah Fain, Brett Ratner, James Patterson, Joe Simpson, Shawn Ryan
Four girlfriends solve tough murder cases. Based on James Patterson's series of mystery books

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ibc9653989093dd917e5d5ef43e29eab9


The 2007-08 TV Season
CBS Drama Pilots
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter

When CBS brass said in the fall that they are throwing out the rule book this development season, they weren't kidding.

Described by vp drama development Robert Zotnowski as "eclectic," the network's drama pilot roster of nine projects, two fewer than last year, includes a murder mystery musical ("Viva Laughlin!") and projects about couple-swapping ("Swingtown"), exorcism ("Demons"), resurrection ("Babylon Fields") and a blood-sucking private eye ("Twilight").

"We feel with these unique shows we will appeal to our core viewers as well as bring in new eyeballs," says vp drama development Christina Davis, who oversees CBS' drama slate with Zotnowski.

Last development season, CBS took risks with the serialized postapocalyptic drama

"Jericho," which worked, and with the intense, dark caper "Smith," which didn't.

With the safety net of having the strongest overall drama lineup on television, CBS decided to go for an even riskier high-wire act this time around, going for "inventive," "unconventional," "out-of-the-box" projects, Davis and Zotnowski note.

"Each has an attention-grabbing element, but at its center, there is an emotionally complicated story (and) highly relatable storytelling," Zotnowski says.

Babylon Fields
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: Michael Atkinson, Gerald Cuesta, Michael Cuesta
Sardonic, apocalyptic comedic drama in which the dead are resurrected and try to resume their former lives. As a result, lives are regained, families restored and old wounds are reopened

Demons
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV
Production Team: Barbara Hall, Joe Roth, Nina Lederman
Ex-Jesuit priest/psychlogist performs exorcisms, fighting the demons in his life and the lives of others

Los Duques
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV
Production Team: Cynthia Cidre, Jonathan Prince, Polly Anthony, Jimmy Iovine
Follows the lives of three generations of a powerful Latin American family in South Florida who work in the rum business

Protect and Serve
Production Co.: NBC Universal TV Studio
Production Team: Gary Scott Thompson, Mark Gibson, Philip Halprin
Follows the lives of street cops in suburban Los Angeles as they deal with the trials and tribulations of police life on and off the job

Untitled Barry Schindel (presentation)
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV/Scott Free Prods.
Production Team: Barry Schindel, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, David Zucker
Follows the private lives and cases of a team of dedicated public defenders; Janeane Garofalo, Rachel Carpani co-star

Skip Tracer
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV
Production Team: Mitchell Burgess, Robin Green, Tucker Tooley, Stephen Dorff
Centers on a so-called skip tracer -- a guy who finds people who have tried to disappear -- who works in Los Angeles; Dorff stars

Swingtown
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV
Production Team: Mike Kelley, Alan Poul
Revolves around married couples in 1970s suburbia who explore partner-swapping and open marriages

Twilight (presentation)
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV
Production Team: Trevor Munson, Ron Koslow, Joel Silver, Gerard Bocaccio
Private investigator/vampire struggles with the repercussions of immortality, vampire adversaries and his love for a mortal

Viva Laughlin!
Production Co.: SPT/BBC Worldwide Prods./CBS Par TV/Seed Prods.
Production Team: Bob Lowry, Hugh Jackman, John Palermo, Paul Telegdy, Peter Bowker, Gabriele Muccino
Musical about a family man who dreams of opening a casino in Laughlin, Nev. Based on BBC's "Viva Blackpool!"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ibc9653989093dd91a6ae8d3b0a1fd676


The 2007-08 TV Season
Fox Drama Pilots
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter

Leveraging Fox's biggest assets, "American Idol" and "House," with "bold, sometimes challenging, quality, take-notice offerings" is how senior vp drama development Ted Gold sums up the network's development strategy this season.

After a weak start to the season, in which Fox's new dramas "Vanished," "Justice" and "Standoff" failed to gain traction with viewers, the network is taking big swings with its 2007-08 development.

The network's 10 drama pilots -- the same number as last year -- include the big-budget "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," a follow-up to the "Terminator" movies. The thriller, directed and executive produced by David Nutter, is shaping up "to be one of the biggest action pieces out there," Gold says.

On the sci-fi front, Fox also is bringing a whole new dimension to the term "sleeper cell" with its adaptation of the graphic novel "Them." Executive produced and directed by "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" helmer Jonathan Mostow, it revolves around extraterrestrials infiltrating our world.

The high-concept "New Amsterdam," about a New York detective who is immortal, lured Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom to television. Gold says he knows why.

"It's one of the best scripts I've ever read," Gold says. "It has a core procedural to it, and underneath, there is romanticism."

With most networks opting for lighter, more escapist fare this development season, Fox isn't shying away from darker, more challenging concepts like "K-Ville," a cop drama set in post-Katrina New Orleans.

"It's a hot-button place, and the show has relevant issues for viewers," Gold says.

The Apostles
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: Chuck Pratt
Cop drama with soapy elements that follows officers in Simi Valley, Calif., in their off-duty time with their families

Canterbury's Law
Production Co.: Sony Pictures TV/Apostle
Production Team: Dave Erickson, Denis Leary, Jim Serpico
Rebellious female defense attorney pushes the boundaries of the law to protect innocent clients

The Cure
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV/Weed Road Pictures
Production Team: Patrick Massett, John Zinman, Akiva Goldsman, Stephanie Koff, Brittany Lovett, Danny Cannon
Group cuts through the red tape of medical bureaucracy -- often at their own peril -- to get care to those who need it most

K-Ville
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: Jonathan Lisco
Cops in post-Katrina New Orleans face the challenges of enforcing the law in a city whose infrastructure has been completely upended

New Amsterdam
Production Co.: Regency TV/Scarlet Fire/Sarabande/Laha
Production Team: Allan Loeb, Christian Taylor, Steven Pearl, David Manson, Lasse Hallstrom, Leslie Holleran
Man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) cursed with immortality works as a New York homicide detective

NSA Innocent
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV/Realtime Prods.
Production Team: Bob Cochran, David Ehrman, Jon Cassar, Joel Surnow, Howard Gordon
Family man winds up recruited by the NSA as a spy within the defense contracting company he works for

Philadelphia General
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: Samantha Goodman, Andrew Stern, Barry Josephson, Eileen Gallagher, Ann McManus, P.J. Hogan
Comedic drama about the lives and loves of a team of nurses in a big-city hospital

Sarah Connor Chronicles
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV/C-2 Pictures
Production Team: Josh Friedman, David Nutter, James Middleton, Mario Kassar, Andrew Vajna, Joel Michaels
Based on the characters from the "Terminator" franchise, it follows Connor (Lena Headey) and her son John (Thomas Dekker) in present-day Los Angeles as they fight attackers from the future in a battle for survival of the human race

Supreme Courtships
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV/Adelstein Prods.
Production Team: Gary Tieche, Marty Adelstein, Michael Thorn
Soapy comedic drama about the personal and professional lives of six Supreme Court clerks and the judges they work for

Them
Production Co.: CBS Par TV/Circle of Confusion Prods.
Production Team: Jonathan Mostow, David Eick, John McNamara, David Engel, David Alpert, Lawrence Mattis
Centers on an extraterrestrial sleeper cell that has infiltrated the human race. The cell's mission is compromised when its members begin to express human emotions. Based on the graphic novel

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ibc9653989093dd91769226429b563e66

The 2007-08 TV Season
NBC Drama Pilots
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter

NBC's hourlong development is across the board this year, and that's just fine with Katie O'Connell, the network's senior vp drama development, who is overseeing her first development slate since taking the top drama post in May.

"We try to pick up the best scripts and the ones we feel we can execute," O'Connell says. "We pick up shows that we think would find a place on the schedule."

Speaking of NBC's schedule, O'Connell says she and her team aren't necessarily trying to find a companion piece for the network's breakout hit "Heroes," though the "re-imagination" of "The Bionic Woman" for contemporary times would seem like a good fit.

Also on NBC's menu this season are the "Sex and the City"-esque "Lipstick Jungle"; a hard-boiled City Hall piece ("M.O.N.Y.," directed by Spike Lee); a few offbeat dramas ("Chuck," the David Semel-directed "Life"); and "Ft. Pit," from Denis Leary and Peter Tolan, which sounds like it falls somewhere between "Rescue Me" and "The Job."

"One thing we set out to do is to have a little bit more of a female focus than (NBC has had) in the past and to go for lighter crime procedurals," O'Connell notes, pointing to the untitled show centering on a female cop from David Shore, creator and executive producer of Fox's "House."

Overall, NBC's eight pilots are on par with the eight one-hours the network greenlighted last season.

The Bionic Woman
Production Co.: NBC Universal TV Studio
Production Team: David Eick, Laeta Kalogridis, Bruno Heller, Michael Dinner
Re-imagination of the 1970s series with focus on women's place in the world today

Chuck
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV
Production Team: Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak, McG, Peter Johnson
Unlikely hero undertakes missions every week while still working at the "Geek Squad"; a comedic Jason Bourne

Ft. Pit
Production Co.: Sony Pictures TV/Apostle
Production Team: Peter Tolan, Michael Chernuchin, Denis Leary, Jim Serpico
Drama with comedic elements set at one of the worst police precincts in Brooklyn with rampant crime where bad cops are sent to live out their careers and rookie cops with no connections are stationed; James Badge Dale, Michael Rispoli co-star

Journeyman
Production Co.: 20th Century Fox TV
Production Team: Kevin Falls, Alex Graves
Epic fantasy about a man who travels back in time to alter and fix the lives of people in trouble, but by recalibrating the past, he sometimes alters the future

Life
Production Co.: NBC Universal TV Studio
Production Team: Rand Ravich, Farr Shariat, David Semel
Offbeat drama about an ex-cop (Damian Lewis) who rejoins the force after being wrongly imprisoned for years

Lipstick Jungle
Production Co.: NBC Universal TV Studio
Production Team: DeAnn Heline, Eileen Heisler, Candace Bushnell
Trio of power-hungry, rich professional women will do anything in their power to maintain their status in New York. Based on Bushnell's novel.

M.O.N.Y.
Production Co.: NBC Uni TV Studio/Fatima Prods./Airwaves Entertainment
Production Team: Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson
Surprising and unlikely everyman becomes mayor of New York. He shoots from the gut, makes mistakes and hopefully wins the hearts of the city's residents

Untitled Shore/Blake
Production Co.: NBC Universal TV Studio
Production Team: David Shore, Peter Blake
Light ensemble drama with procedural elements that centers on a female cop played by Famke Janssen, surrounded by an ensemble cast

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ibc9653989093dd917d0d815354fc5967


The 2007-08 TV Season
The CW Drama Pilots
By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter

The young-adult demo always was top of mind for the CW drama development executives this year -- even if it meant passing on some appealing projects.

"We had to eliminate certain projects that were not right for us but would have been great for other broadcast networks that go after 18-49," says Thom Sherman, executive vp drama development at the CW, which targets adults 18-34. "We were always cognizant of the demo."

But what the network was able to secure in its first full development season, Sherman says, was a strong roster of talent, including "high-quality writers" and "young, fresh voices." Among the five projects on the slate -- one more than last year -- are "Gossip Girl," from "The O.C.'s" Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, about a secretive tell-all blogger, and untitled Tom Wheeler, described as being in the spirit of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Animal House."

This season, the CW struck out with its first new drama offering, the short-lived "Runaway." (Its second new drama, "Hidden Palms," premieres this year.) But Sherman, who joined the network in June, says the projects on the slate for 2007-08 were selected because they will draw the attention of the network's target viewership.

"All of these projects have something conceptual that we can really promote: They will be noisy," he says.

Gossip Girl
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV/Alloy
Production Team: Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Bob Levy, Leslie ******stein
Based on the best-selling book series about the lives of rich youngsters and their parents in New York City

Gravity (presentation)
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV/DreamWorks TV
Production Team: Caleb Kane, Charles Segars, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey
Follows in cinema verite style a sexy ensemble of rookie cops and their training officers in Los Angeles beginning with the rookies' first day

Reaper
Production Co.: Touchstone TV/Mark Gordon Co.
Production Team: Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters, Mark Gordon, Deborah Spera
Comedic drama about a 21-year-old slacker who becomes the devil's bounty hunter, retrieving souls escaped from hell

Untitled South Africa
Production Co.: CBS Paramount Network TV/Company Pictures
Production Team: Michael Rauch, Charlie Pattinson, George Faber
New York veterinarian moves his second wife and their two sets of children to a South African game reserve run by his father-in-law. Based on the ITV series "Wild at Heart"

Untitled Tom Wheeler (presentation)
Production Co.: Warner Bros. TV/Class IV
Production Team: Tom Wheeler, Steve Pearlman, Andrew Plotkin
Comedic drama about two cheeky graduate students who use their skills to help solve crimes

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ibc9653989093dd91b6f7cd9c6b61173d

Last updated at 11:35 PM PT Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

USEFUL INFORMATION

What I Watch
Try as I might to be impartial about TV programming, of course my personal prejudices can influence what I post.
So, in the interest of full disclosure, here are the shows (in order of preference by network) currently set on my HD DVRs and HD TiVos:
NBC: (4 hours) Friday Night Lights, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI
ABC: (4 hours) Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Men In Trees
CBS: (4 hours) Shark, CSI: NY, NCIS, 60 Minutes
Fox: (2 hours) Bones, House
Sports: MLB EI, college hoops, college football (Game Plan) and NFL ST.
News: Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN.
• • • • • • • • • • •
What’s on in HD
A complete and continually updated guide from Ken H:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=164671
• • • • • • • • • • •
Local Market HD threads
Have questions about reception, HD providers, antennas, general problems or anything else in your local area? Find your local market’s HD thread here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241
• • • • • • • • • • •
Sports HD Schedules
If you want to know if your favorite team -- in any sport -- will be playing in HD , check this invaluable website, which is updated continually:
http://www.hdsportsguide.com/
• • • • • • • • • • •
NFL Weekly Coverage Maps
Current Week available usually by Wednesday:
http://www.gribblenation.net/nflmaps/
• • • • • • • • • • •
AC Nielsen 210 Market DMA Rankings for the 2006-2007 TV Season
Find out where every U.S. TV market ranks here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8270847&&#post8270847
• • • • • • • • • • •
Digital TV Info for all 210 Nielsen DMAs
The people at HDTV Magazine have supplied this link. It tells who in each market is broadcasting digitally, from where and with how much power:
http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast.php
• • • • • • • • • • •
Maps of all 210 Nielsen DMAs
If you wonder what counties are nestled in each DMA, you can find the maps here:
http://www.truckads.com/licensed_affiliates1.asp
• • • • • • • • • • •
Cable/Satellite Penetration By Nielsen DMA Market as of November, 2006
How many people have cable or satellite in each market? Check here:
http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/Cable_and_ADS_Penetration_by_DMA.asp
• • • • • • • • • • •
Updated DirecTV HD Locals Availability:
http://www.dbstalk.com/hr20/html/DTV_HDLIL_DMA.html
• • • • • • • • • • •
DirecTV Customer Retention Direct #
800-824-9081
• • • • • • • • • • •
DirecTV Level 2 Technical Support #
888-713-7772
• • • • • • • • • • •
FCC's Digital TV Info Resources
http://www.dtv.gov/
• • • • • • • • • • •
FCC SHVERA Fact Sheet
Now that DirecTV has cancelled bi-coastal HD Distant Network Station reception, here is the FCC fact sheet which may answer some of your questions about SHVERA and how it effects what we are -- or are not -- allowed to purchase.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/policy/shvera.doc

Some Favorite Links
Updated February 20, 2007

Aside from the very helpful general links listed in the post above this one, here are some of the TV writers, columnists and bloggers I feel are especially worth the time to keep up with.

(Those needing a subscription are marked.) Some other require registration. I would suggest you register at the Aaron Barnhart, Marc Berman and Maureen Ryan sites at a bare minimum.

But almost all allow basic scrolling through much -- if not all -- of their content.

Aaron Barnhart of The Kansas City Star writes a lot and also links to numerous podcasts each week which are fun listens. He is also a favorite because he long ago mentioned this thread as “indispensable” (and is a great college basketball companion -- although I suspect I wouldn't be happy sitting next to him at a UCLA-Kansas game).
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/

Marc Berman is MediaWeek’s “Mr. Television”. His knowledge about ratings and TV in general is amazing. Even more amazing is how his one-man blog posts daily ratings every day. (Nothing else on the web matches it.) Holidays, weekends, it doesn’t matter, somehow he gets it done. And that is far more than you can say for any other reputable online source (even those with far larger staffs) I know of.
http://pifeedback.com/eve/?cdra=Y&s=32410241

One of the nation’s best TV writers, Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal, had his job description (and duties) drastically changed last year in a newsroom cost-cutting move. Now he also has to cover and review movies and all of pop culture. But he loves TV and his blog often contains gems – though sadly not as often as before the change:
http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/

Try TV Guide's Matt Roush for reasoned commentary, reviews and twice-a-week Q&A along with Michael Ausiello for often fun and sometimes over-the-top commentary and news.
http://tvguide.com/

Maureen Ryan’s blog for the Chicago Tribune TV critic is always a good and stimulating read. And if you post an embarrassing and/or nonsensical comment (and get back to her quickly enough!) she’ll good-naturedly make sure no one ever reads it.
http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

The Chicago Tribune’s TV page:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/

Television Week is home of James Hibberd, the best HD reporter in the business. The weekly HD newsletter is posted Thursday afternoon Pacific Time. Sadly, (and I suspect because it doesn't seem all that internet savvy yet) TV week tends to lag behind in posting many TV stories – it is sometimes a full day late. But Hibberd’s HD coverage more than makes up for that deficiency. The link (and you should definitely bookmark this one) to Hibberd’s HD newsletter is:
http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=183
The Television Week site is here:
http://www.tvweek.com/

For thought-provoking daily ratings number crunching there is frequent contributor RussTC3’s detailed and fascinating blog:
http://wordpress.com/tag/broadcast-tv-ratings/

Tim Goodman’s “The Bastard Machine” blog allows the acerbic San Francisco Chronicle television critic to vent – and inform us. He is always a fun read:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

The San Francisco Chronicle’s TV page is here:
http://www.sfgate.com/tvradio/

The Washington Post’s TV page is where you’ll find the tart writing of Lisa de Moraes and the Pulitzer Prize winning critic Tom Shales:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/television/?nav=left

Rob Owen TV Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, has his “Tuned In Journal” blog. (Rob is also president of the Television Critics Association.) You can read him here:
http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/tunedin/

The Television Critics Association provides helpful links to dozens of its members. (Aaron Barnhart keeps it updated.) Find the TCA site here:
http://tvcritics.org/

Perhaps the most respected inside-the-TV-business writer is Bill Carter of The New York Times. (subscription needed)
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?srcht=s&srchst=&query=%22bill+carter%22&date_select=past30days&submit.x=70&submit.y=9&submit=Search

If you want lots of information, including episode lists, cast and crew members of almost any TV show past or present, try the tv.com online reference libary:
http://www.tv.com/

The legendary trade publication Variety is a great source of information – and pay careful attention to the in-depth stories posted on Sunday mornings. The show biz slang can be fun – although a bit puzzling to newbies.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=dept_main&dept=TV

The Hollywood Reporter is good for inside TV -- and especially production -- news
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/television/index.jsp

Trade publication Broadcasting&Cable is a good source of news. John Eggerton is one of the best reporters around:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/

And the Broadcasting&Cable blog “BCBeat” can be provocative:
http://broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138.html

MultiChannelNews reports industry news with a decided cable-centric slant, but is on top of almost every major item of interest to the industry. Its coverage of Washington regulatory news and the FCC is first rate.
http://www.multichannel.com/

Media Life Magazine is written for ad agency people, and concentrates on the (for them) key 18-49 demograpphics. But it is sprightly and well written with some very good insight into which and why shows are in trouble – or not. Negative: The site operates -- and ratings are posted -- just Monday through Friday. But the insights of Toni Fitzgerald are worth the wait and especially worth your time.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/

Amy Amatangelo, “Zap2It's TV Gal”, who writes frequently for many newspapers including the Washington Post and Boston Globe, keeps a sharp (and usually very amusing) viewer’s eye on TV happenings. She is at
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-t...43.storygallery

The general zap2it site can be hit and miss, but sometimes has items of interest. It slows to a crawl on weekend and holidays.
http://www.zap2it.com/

I'd give it higher marks, but the veteran website The Futon Critic basically shuts down on weekends. During the week it is best to check for press releases, especially from cable networks. Its daily ratings do not feature viewer numbers, just ratings/share figures…the kind for which you need an eye-shade to truly understand. Or at least pretend to understand.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/home.aspx

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"TV Guide Online has learned that the Eye Network has again postponed the new season of The Amazing Race — this time until late October. 'We want to give a little more space between the finale of Race 5 and the premiere of Race 6,' says the rep. 'We think the audience likes the breather."

Also, it's PrimeTime Live, not Prime Time Live.

fredfa, I appreciate the compliements but I just see the news when i go to places like www.thefutoncritic.com . Could you undo the bolding of f44?

thanks.

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- In the latest update to the broadcast networks' fall rollout schedule, ABC has announced it was moved up the premiere of its new reality series "Wife Swap."

The series will now kick off on Sunday, September 26 at 10:00/9:00c following the two-hour season premiere of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." "Swap" will then settle into its regular Wednesday, 10:00/9:00c slot on September 29.

Steve Harvey's Big Time had its premiere today, 9/12.

updated

hey gang..some sad news regarding tru calling..made a separate post for it so everyone sees it but here's the link

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=445900

Rakesh, Zap2it reports the show is still in production though...

Rakesh.S:
The Tru Calling info was updated on the master premiere list this morning.

When does Curb Your Enthusiasm start up again? Anybody catch the Larry David cameo on Entourage this week?

According to a June HBO press release (on futoncritic.com) here is the info:
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM - A fifth season of 10 episodes is set to head before the cameras in January for a premiere later in 2005.

Well as long as we're talking HBO, I've been unable to find out when Sopranos and Deadwood return, anyone know?

Originally posted by GregF
Well as long as we're talking HBO, I've been unable to find out when Sopranos and Deadwood return, anyone know?

I remember reading somewhere that The Sopranos will not be back until 2006 and Deadwood will show up after The Wire is done with this seasons episodes.

Jim

The most recent word from HBO (and it is a couple of months old now) is very vague.
Deadwood is (now) due back in March 2005.
The Sopranos begins shooting its final ten episodes in "early 2005" with no word on when it be actually air. Given the track record of David Chase, it could air in 2008 (just kidding).

Final season, *sigh*. I know most people are tired of it but I'll be sad to see it go. Thank goodness Deadwood just starting it's run. Thanks for the updates guys.

Originally posted by fredfa

The Sopranos begins shooting its final ten episodes in "early 2005" with no word on when it be actually air. Given the track record of David Chase, it could air in 2008 (just kidding).

And by then Anthony Sr will be retired and AJ will be fighting for control with Meadow, it has some great possibilities. :D

Jim

I have pulled Method & Red from the Fox lineup based on this story from the NY Post:
"September 16, 2004 -- 'METHOD & Red," a summer comedy that had been expected to be back this fall appears to be over.

"The show is done. It's on the long hiatus," rapper Method Man, one of the show's stars, told The Post yesterday.

Fox has picked up only three episodes of the six that were filmed over the summer. Initially it was believed that the network wanted an additional nine for this fall. ..."

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/19460.htm

Title changed per request.

Thanks, Mr. Moderator, for the quick service

Originally posted by NetworkTV
It's funny how people can have completely different tastes. I watch almost nothing on CBS except for the original CSI and bits of 60 minutes if the stories are good. I've found I watch less CBS programming than I used to. I just looked in my PVR listings and have actually found most of my viewing runs toward ABC, FOX and various cable shows (despite the lack of HD).

yep, only watch csi and jag on CBS... only watch jag now due to force of habit and the DVR, LOL i usually watch one or two shows on each network... 24 and arrested development on fox, the practice and line of fire on abc (wow, two shows that are gone, lol) 3rd watch on nbc even though MI and Hawaii might keep me interested if they can make some improvements.... So i have no brand loyality, shoot me, LOL!

Line of Fire is history? Bummer, I thought that was pretty decent TV. The Practice has morphed into Boston Legal with James Spader, IMO, one of the very best characters on TV that I've watched in awhile.

Jim

Originally posted by keenan
Line of Fire is history? Bummer, I thought that was pretty decent TV. The Practice has morphed into Boston Legal with James Spader, IMO, one of the very best characters on TV that I've watched in awhile.

Jim

line of fire was a new show last year and it was on ABC..you should be happy that they aired all the episodes

Unlike Karen Sisco, which they really butchered.

Amazing Race (now late October/November) updated

I'm bummed about no Alias or 24 until January.

Originally posted by sdf777
I'm bummed about no Alias or 24 until January.

Hopefully the Jan starts will eliminate all the pre-emptions and no-shows that both these shows have had in common last year. These shows more than most any others need that continuity because of their serial nature.

Jim

What is up with Thursday having so many good shows: CSI, Without a Trace, Joey, Apprentice, Benefactor, ......others?

benefactor on thursdays was a one-time airing.

also, karen sisco was butchered, but its unaired episodes were shown on USA Network.

Meanwhile, a similar scenario is said to be underway for FOX's "Athens," which comes from "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz. At its upfront presentation, FOX outlined a plan which would have "Athens" on its January 2005 schedule where it would air on Monday nights alongside the new season of "24." Now it seems "Athens" won't make it to the air until at least the spring, as Schwartz reportedly doesn't want to rush the series to the detriment of either "The O.C." or "Athens." FOX or producer Warner Bros. Television have yet to confirm any sort of delay however it's clearly not a surprise considering the multitude of changes already done to its schedule since its original upfront presentation in May.

(thefutoncritic.com)

What is "Teens Nov 4" on Fox?

Originally posted by mallu2u
What is up with Thursday having so many good shows: CSI, Without a Trace, Joey, Apprentice, Benefactor, ......others?

simple:

every network is trying to derail CSI..as long as CSI is on the air, CBS will be able to promote their other shows and suck in more viewers

look at Without a Trace..it is an awesome show but the lead in from CSI certainly doesn't hurt..WAT is going to overtake ER really really soon

I bet Without A Trace catches up to ER by mid-season, Rakesh.S (if not before).
f44: Teens? Who knows! It's gone. Thanks for catching it.

Originally posted by fredfa
I bet Without A Trace catches up to ER by mid-season, Rakesh.S (if not before).


How much? Just kidding, ER is getting a little long in the tooth.

Jim

updated Saturday morning

Originally posted by f44
benefactor on thursdays was a one-time airing.

also, karen sisco was butchered, but its unaired episodes were shown on USA Network.

I would say to date that was my favorite title sequence of any HD show.

Veronica Mars premieres Wednesday, Sept 22. It then moves to Tuesdays the following week when Kevin Hill premieres.

I've been told both will be in HD.

Why is The Benefactor listed as HD? AFAIK, no one has seen this show in HD.

Tall1:
Because The Benefactor was announced by ABC as being in HD, shot in HD, edited in HD, and supposed to be broadcast in HD.
If it is (again) in SD this week ( or if we get confirmation it is supposed to be only SD from now on), I'll change it.

taz291919:
I can find no confirmation that either Veronica Mars or Kevin Hill will be in HD.
If I get confirmation, I'll happily change the grid to reflect it.

Originally posted by fredfa
Center of the Universe Sept 22 HD[/B]
This has been delayed until Sept 29.

Originally posted by fredfa
Tall1:
Because The Benefactor was announced by ABC as being in HD, shot in HD, edited in HD, and supposed to be broadcast in HD.
If it is (again) in SD this week ( or if we get confirmation it is supposed to be only SD from now on), I'll change it. Thank you for all your hard work. This has become my bible for tv viewing.

I appreciate the kind words, Tall1, and will try to keep the list updated.

Originally posted by GregF
I would say to date that was my favorite title sequence of any HD show.

I never got to see it in HD (still was good opening sequence in non-HD), must've looked really good.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, Dear is HD and Steve Harvey's Big Time premiered before Jack & Bobby.

For cancelled shows, you should keep them in the list but put (cancelled) next to the name or at least put the cancelled list not at the top of everything.

Thanks for the suggestion f44.
The cancelled show(s) list is now at the bottom, and for everyone's convenience, I've added a day-by-day HD premiere list, by times scheduled, to the top.

Fox.com does show Method & Red airing on 9/29.

METH AND RED TAKE IT TO COURT TO PROVE THEY GOT GAME
ON AN ALL-NEW “METHOD & RED”
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 29, ON FOX

Special Guest Stars Devean George of the Los Angeles Lakers
And Corey Maggette of the Los Angeles Clippers

When fellow hip-hop artist Fear (guest star Fredro Starr) moves into a better gated community and lures Method and Red’s ace TV repairman away from them, the duo challenge their rival to a neighborhood basketball game on the “Da Shootout” episode of METHOD & RED Wednesday, Sept. 29 (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (MAR-108) (TV-PG; L)

Cast: Method Man as himself; Redman as himself; Anna Maria Horsford as Dorothea; Beth Littleford as Nancy Blaford; Peter Jacobson as Bill Blaford; David Henrie as Sykler Blaford; Lahmard Tate as Lil’ Bit; Jeremiah Birkett as Dupree.

Guest Cast: Devean George as himself; Corey Maggette as himself; Brian Posehn as Karl; Christian Clemenson as Donald; Fredro Starr as Fear; Leonard Earl Howze as Jamaican Ray; Aloma Wright as Mama Fear; Byron Stewart as Coolidge.

I haven't said it will not be on any more, I've simply noted that it has been cancelled.

Originally posted by keenan
I remember reading somewhere that The Sopranos will not be back until 2006 and Deadwood will show up after The Wire is done with this seasons episodes.

Jim

I needed to correct this post, forgot about Carnivale, which will come on between the Wire and Deadwood.

Jim

Here is a generally positive overview of the new shows this season from Tom Shales of the Washington Post:
-------------------------------
A Season to Watch
From Hot 'Housewives' To Warm 'Clubhouse,' Roster Holds Promise

By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 19, 2004; Page N01

Good news: The kids are back in school, punishing summer humidity is slowly giving way to punishing fall humidity and, on a personal note, I am no longer under a 24-hour suicide watch. That's because I have completed the annual taxing task of looking at the new fall television shows.

The precaution is taken just in case, having been driven insane, I get the urge to drop the VCR in a bathtub full of water and jump in after it.

The pleasant surprise this year is that there are several pleasant surprises. It can't be called a stunning comeback for the broadcast networks, whose total share of the audience continues to decline as basic cable's continues to rise -- last season having been no exception and this season unlikely to be one either. But there's definitely an uptick in overall quality, and every little uptick has a meaning all its own.

Fred Allen's oft-quoted line about imitation being the sincerest form of television has never been truer. Indeed, the networks are even getting testy about it with each other, claiming a competitor stole this or that idea for this or that reality show. Big deal: Those things are basically all the same anyway, differing mainly in degrees of embarrassment suffered by the contestants and by the viewers. Few reality shows are made available for preview, but they are included here for the record.

Network TV may be at a turning point because of those reality shows, however. Faster-paced than scripted fare, full of narrative shortcuts and, though costs are said to be rising, inexpensive to produce, reality shows could remain just another of many genres or, scarily enough, prove to be the dominant program type in prime time. That would represent a cheapening of prime time, which is already cheap enough, and mark a turning point in the whole art of storytelling as practiced on TV and, before that, radio for much of the 20th century.

Of the four major networks, ABC, this close to being proclaimed a disaster area, has the most to prove, looking up at its fellow networks from the bottom. But it also appears to have the largest number of good, if not great, new shows. CBS hopes to hold onto first place among total viewers, which NBC claims is less important than its first-place standing among younger viewers. Actually, they should all be grateful they still exist, and in some cases that's partly thanks to cable entities they're linked with in the vast corporate empires that contain them.

It's not your father's New TV Season, nor his mother's. But it will have to do for now. Here are the new fall shows with premiere dates in parentheses.

My work is done. Yours is just beginning.

New ABC Series

"The Benefactor," an atrocious imitation of Donald Trumpeter's "The Apprentice" on NBC, drags a sorry bunch of saps into the mansion of Texas billionaire Mark Cuban and offers them the chance to win $1 million by going through a succession of asinine antics. Deadly in its dreadfulness, execrable in execution. (Mondays, 8 p.m., already premiered)

"Rodney," part of the resurgent blue-collar-comedy trend, stars Rodney Carrington (sounds like a character from "Dynasty"), a real-life comic, as a frustrated workingman in Tulsa who quits his job so he can become a stand-up comedian like the one he really is. Carrington is tolerably inoffensive, but it's Jennifer Aspen as his wife who gives the show whatever sparkle it manages to generate. (Tuesdays, 9:30 p.m., premieres Sept. 21)

"Lost" begins promisingly, but then so did the universe. Matthew ("Party of Five") Fox's eyes pop open to behold a tropical jungle that is totally alien to him. Slowly he remembers that he is one of 14 survivors of a terrible plane crash (re-created in nerve-shattering flashbacks) and that the aircraft was 1,000 miles off course when its tail fell off. Worse, there appears to be a big, scary monster on the island that for openers eats the pilot; it's as if Gilligan were marooned in Jurassic Park. On the plus side, co-star Evangeline Lilly brought along her flesh-colored bikini underwear for bathing in the ocean; how convenient! Alternately provocative and childish, "Lost" lacks the liveliness of its obvious reality counterpart, and perhaps inspiration, "Survivor." (Wednesdays, 8 p.m., Sept. 22)

"Wife Swap," despite the off-putting trasho title, has fascinating possibilities, at least to judge from the fast-moving pilot episode in which the frivolous, vacuous wife of a Manhattan millionaire trades places for a couple of weeks with a hard-working suburbanite mom who rises at 5:30 a.m. to chop wood. The swapping does not, apparently, include conjugal responsibilities to the respective husbands, and the reward is finding out that both women, and their families, turn this into a learning experience and not just another voyage for voyeurs. (Wednesdays, 10 p.m., Sept. 29, with a preview Sunday, Sept. 26 at 10 p.m.)

"life as we know it" is also junk as we know it, only with a phony tony veneer meant to suggest such past cult hits as "My So-Called Life." The real title should be "Three Guys Who Won't Shut Up"; when the teenage bores aren't talking about sex to one another, they turn directly to the camera and talk to us folks out here in television land ("I'm such an idiot!," one accurately grumps). A saving grace is Kelly Osbourne as the kind of plumpish girl boys tend to overlook, but otherwise this is a void to avoid. (Thursdays, 9 p.m., Oct. 7)

"Complete Savages" is an irregular riot, an oddly appealing, slapdash sitcom about a single father (Keith Carradine, who now has a bit of a belly) trying to raise five boys on his own. The housekeepers keep quitting; in the premiere, the latest one goes out in a blaze of glory, setting fire to all their dirty clothes in the back yard. Not "Lord of the Flies" in suburbia -- though close at times -- the show has a rough-and-bumble "Animal House" charm, and the boys have distinctive personalities that aren't the usual cliches. One of the executive producers, and director of the premiere, is Mel Gibson. God knows he needs the money. (Fridays, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 24)

"Desperate Housewives" is the best new network series of the year, but is it the best new drama or the best new comedy, or a crazy commingling of both? Many new shows rely on chatty voice-overs to handle exposition, but this is the only show narrated by a corpse: Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), who blows her brains out in the opening scene for reasons later to unfold. Her spirit hangs around to watch a gaggle of her old neighbors struggle, scheme and say bitterly funny things about their husbands, if any. It's not as cynical as it sounds -- but cynical, in a delicious sort of way, it is. (Sundays, 9 p.m., Oct. 3)

"Boston Legal." Not available for preview, the series is an outgrowth of that perennial work-in-progress "The Practice," with James Spader probably the best reason to watch, continuing in the role of a lawyer who demonstrates why so many people seem to hate lawyers. (Sundays, 10 p.m., Oct. 3)

New CBS Series

"Listen Up." Jason Alexander was nominated six times for an Emmy for playing George Costanza on "Seinfeld," but, unforgivably, the TV Academy never gave him the statue. Okay, so he'll keep playing George Costanza until they give in, though this time George is called Tony Kleinman and is based on Washington Post columnist and ESPN commentator Tony Kornheiser. Kleinman is another daffy dad from Sitcom City, but Alexander gives him spirit and, certainly, volume. Watching him grovel before his wife and kids is dispiriting, however, and from what we see of it, few people would make a mad dash to the TV set to watch Kleinman's show, "Shut Up and Listen." Malcolm-Jamal Warner plays Tony's on-air partner and longtime friend. (Mondays, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 20)

"Clubhouse" can claim one of the sweetest temperaments of any new series, one of those warmhearted coming-of-age tales that don't get icky, at least not in the first hour. Jeremy Sumpter, who starred in that wretched movie version of "Peter Pan," is much more likable here as the son of a single mom who sneaks off without her approval to become a batboy for the New York Empires (obviously the Yankees). Dean Cain winningly plays a friendly star player. This story of a kid with a dream isn't just about baseball; it's about Everykid with Everydream, and beautifully done. (Tuesdays, 9 p.m., Sept. 28, with a preview Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.)

"Center of the Universe." Not! Laughless and listless, this from-the-factory sitcom wastes the talents of John Goodman (not looking well) and Jean Smart, as well as Ed Asner, who is turning into Wilford Brimley, and Olympia Dukakis, all together in a grating copy of "Everybody Loves Raymond" in which the husband's parents live nearby and keep barging in with bad advice and worse jokes. As Goodman's brother, Diedrich Bader, a funny survivor of the old Drew Carey show, is the only bright spot. "Loving your family can be hard work," Goodman says. Loving this family would be just about impossible. (Wednesdays, 9:30 p.m., Sept. 29)

"CSI: NY," though not available for preview, was introduced as part of an episode of "CSI: Miami" last season and is bound to follow in the "CSI" mold, which risks getting moldy indeed if plundered much more for spinoffs. Gary Sinise, apparently saying adieu at least temporarily to his movie career, will be the hero this time, with bushy-maned Melina Kanakaredes as his partner in crime-solving. Plus lots of teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy clues. (Wednesdays, 10 p.m., Sept. 22)

"dr. vegas" gets the "They've got to be kidding" award of the year. The title makes it sound like a parody of a lousy TV show but no, it really is a lousy TV show. It is steeped in lousiness, starting with raspy-voiced star Rob Lowe, still paying the price for getting bigheaded on "West Wing," and here haplessly cast as the house doc at a trouble-prone casino/hotel managed by best friend Tommy Danko (Joe Pantoliano as Joe Pantoliano -- again). The pilot included a tune with the lyrics "wrong way on a one-way track," which really ought to be the "dr. vegas" theme song. (Fridays, 10 p.m., Sept. 24)

New NBC Series

"LAX" taps that seemingly inexhaustible energy source called Heather Locklear and teams her with too-darn-handsome Blair Underwood to play co-directors of Los Angeles International Airport. Though they once had a "thing," they are now rivals, each hoping to push the other out and hog the top job alone. Splashy trash, rich with cheap detail and occasionally interrupted for music videos, it's a fast-moving ride and tolerably foolish amusement. (Mondays, 10 p.m., already premiered)

"Father of the Pride" combines state-of-the-art animation with -- almost nothing, since the ridiculous scripts are mostly humorless boilerplate. We're supposedly in a kingdom populated by blabby animals who are involved with Vegas magicians Siegfried and Roy; the creatures either work for the campy duo or just know them socially. The S&R caricatures are almost droll (there is no mention of the fact that a tiger got mad and almost made Roy disappear), but the painful pointlessness is demoralizing. (Tuesdays, 9 p.m., already premiered)

"Hawaii," a kind of tourist trap of the air, transports viewers to guess-where, that much-exploited (for TV shows) tropical state where cops do the standard somersaults before shooting bad guys and the air is polluted with their wanly manly banter. The stale show is an insult to the memory of "Hawaii Five-0," which had real style and, unlike "Hawaii," employed many native Hawaiians in major roles. This is just "New Jersey" with coconuts. (Wednesdays, 8 p.m., already premiered)

"Joey" brings back one-sixth of the principal cast of "Friends," Matt LeBlanc, in the role he played on the hit show, that of a supposedly adorable male bimbo who gets by on ingenuous charisma. That's ingenuous, not ingenious, because the show is a thrown-together assembly-line vehicle that delivers the bare minimum and requires much mugging and eyebrow-wiggling by the star. (Thursdays, 8 p.m., already premiered)

"Medical Investigation," the giggly "Gigli" of doctor shows, imitates the CBS "CSIs," but very poorly, with lots of familiar old jargon and a star, Neal McDonough, who just keeps shouting demands for 10 cc's of this or five cc's of that. Sí, sí, señor doc! The show has one nifty gimmick: When Dr. Demando looks at the scenes of crimes, they come to life in eerie overlapping images. Otherwise it's one dull medicine show. (Fridays, 10 p.m., already premiered)

New Fox Series

The Fox network, which will soon be airing the big-draw but schedule-disrupting World Series, thinks the idea of a new fall season is an anachronism, so the network doesn't seem to be having one in the usual sense. Some of its "new fall shows" won't premiere for months; others bowed months ago.

Nevertheless, keep an eye out for "House" perhaps the best hospital show since the debut of "ER" and definitely featuring the most fascinating character of the new season so far, Hugh Laurie as misanthropic Dr. Gregory House (hence the title), a brilliant crank of a diagnostic physician. He works for and constantly battles with the hospital's director and with associates played by, among others, Omar Epps and Robert Sean Leonard, both exceptional actors. The show includes some up-the-nose photography in the "CSI" style, but Laurie is the reason to watch. (Tuesdays, 9 p.m., premiering Nov. 16.)

"The Next Great Champ," which now occupies the "House" time slot, is a reality boxing show under the expert and telegenic guidance of Oscar De La Hoya -- but Fox should face reality as well as air it: Boxing in prime time is a pretty punch-drunk proposition, even if it is disguised as "American Idol" in trunks. "Champ" must also do battle with a similar NBC show, "The Contender," premiering at a date to be announced. NBC executives in fact tried to stop the Fox show in court on the grounds that it was an idea stolen from them, but both shows are "go" for now.

Fox's "The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best," meanwhile, sounds like yet another imitation of NBC's "The Apprentice," this time with quirky British entrepreneur Richard Branson in the Donald Trump role (Tuesdays, 8 p.m., premiering Nov. 9). Such nominally new Fox series as "Method & Red" and "The Quintuplets" premiered weeks or months ago. Fox will rely heavily on such returning hits as "American Idol" when baseball is over.

New WB Series

"The Mountain," which is really "The O.C." with snow, follows the adventures of red-hot babes and stubblesome hunks who try to run the chichi ski resort they inherited from their snow-haired grandfather. Naturally a mean old corporation wants to buy the mountain and turn it into "condos and burger joints." You can tell the bad guys by their naked faces; any dude without stubble on this show is automatically suspect. It's chilling fare, but only because it gives you a screenful of snow. (Wednesdays, 9 p.m., Sept. 22)

"Blue Collar TV" celebrates the Jeff Foxworthy style of hillbilly-hick humor, which is borderline racist but still popular in some circles. (Thursdays, 8 p.m., already premiered)

"Drew Carey's Green Screen," described by one series insider as "the stoner show of the year," will be a hit if it's as funny as its premise is complicated. Carey and a crew of improvising actors stage impromptu sketches in front of a "green screen," which thanks to TV technology can be erased and replaced with virtually any background. In this case, the backgrounds will be animated high jinks filled in after the sketches are taped. (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m., Oct. 7)

"Commando Nanny," supposedly based on episodes in the early life of "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett, is just the old Fran Drescher sitcom with a former British commando trying to survive as a nanny for a rich Bel Air couple (who, oddly, have no other servants). Surely this has already been an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, and probably a bad one. Gerald McRaney is funny, though, as the bellowing grouch who owns the house. (Fridays, 8:30 p.m., premiere date to be announced).

"Jack & Bobby," a fantasy about a little boy who will grow up to be elected president in the year 2040, is ambitious but too gimmicky, and would probably have worked much better as a motion picture than as a continuing series. (Sundays, 9 p.m., already premiered).

New UPN Series

"Second Time Around" stars real-life soul mates Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Parker as the semi-amusing Muses, a couple who divorced, thought it over, and decided to marry each other again. (Mondays, 9:30 p.m., Sept. 20)

"Veronica Mars" puts forth the dubious notion that the world would do better if run by determined teenage girls. That is so totally not true. But Kristen Bell has a brassy good time in the title role, even if the idea that she's a part-time detective when not in high school is probably the farthest-fetched of the season. (Tuesdays, 9 p.m., Sept. 28 with a preview Sept. 22 at 9 p.m.)

"Kevin Hill" stars fashion plate Taye Diggs as a music-business lawyer and walking GQ cover whose New York playboy life hits an iceberg of sorts: a 10-month-old baby named Sarah, left to the bouncing bachelor by his cousin. "I haven't been home on a Friday since I was 12," he mopes with the baby on his lap. The nanny, a wisecracking gay man, has the night off. Yes it's unlikely, but it's anything but unlikable. (Wednesdays, 9 p.m., Sept. 29)

thanks for this informative article.

After reading it, it's hard to decipher because of the general malaise of a tv critic. he says this is the most promising season in years and yet doesn't really seem to like any of it hehe.

[i]-------------------------------
A Season to Watch
From Hot 'Housewives' To Warm 'Clubhouse,' Roster Holds Promise

By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 19, 2004; Page N01

Network TV may be at a turning point because of those reality shows, however. Faster-paced than scripted fare, full of narrative shortcuts and, though costs are said to be rising, inexpensive to produce, reality shows could remain just another of many genres or, scarily enough, prove to be the dominant program type in prime time. That would represent a cheapening of prime time, which is already cheap enough, and mark a turning point in the whole art of storytelling as practiced on TV and, before that, radio for much of the 20th century.
[/B]

Couldn't agree more with this, thankfully we have subscription premium networks, HBO,SHO etc.

Jim

Originally posted by GregF
thanks for this informative article.

After reading it, it's hard to decipher because of the general malaise of a tv critic. he says this is the most promising season in years and yet doesn't really seem to like any of it hehe.

That's because except for a handful of exceptions, prime time network TV is pretty weak overall, IMO anyway.

Jim :)

Error -

Thursday, Sept 23rd HD Season Premieres:
Joan of Arcadia CBS 8 PM ET HD

Of course that should be Friday, which you do have listed.

Also, on 9/23, CSI is on at 9pm ET, Without A Trace is on at 10pm ET.

Please fix the order so it shows Jack & Bobby premiered after Steve Harvey's Big Time (so people don't get confused with what time the shows are on).

Add Saturday, Sept. 25th HD Season Premieres for ABC Saturday Night Movie at 8pm ET (the movie is Cast Away).

Thanks all for catching the errors.
CastAway, by the way WILL be in HD.

Tonight is the "official" beginning of the 2004-2005 network TV season, and it also marks biggest HD (and SD) premiere week of the season: almost 30 HD shows debut this week (along with the movie CastAway).
It wasn't that long ago that almost 30 shows on all networks in a season would have been a big deal.
.

fredfa, the movie's title has a space in it (Cast Away).

updated

Updated with LAX ratings woes (and LAX is the first member on a new list of ratings-challenged HD shows).

Updated through Tuesday, Sept 21st.

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere (yes, I tried a search...), but is Star Trek Enterprise "moving" to KCAL-9 DT in the Los Angeles area? I ran across this unexpected "hit (http://www.r-vcr.com/~television/TV/TV13.htm)" while searching for information about Enterprise's 4th season premier. (8:00 P.M., October 8 as it turns out on KCOP-13 DT)

Ray H, the Star Trek premiere date (Oct 8) has been on this list since I first posted it.
I have no information that it will be switched from the UPN station to KCAL.
That would seem very odd.
Why don't you call Channel 13 in LA?

Fredfa, how are the rating for Hawaii? I normally look at the numbers in the column that Marc Berman writes over at Mediaweek.com but for some reason I missed the Hawaii numbers. It appeared that NBC was trying to use up all of the episodes it had ordered so that it could get rid of the show. It now seems that NBC is no longer trying to speed thru all of the episodes it has already bought. What's your opinion on what NBC is doing with this show?

LAX did also face the "Who dies?" episode of CSI: Miami, but it was a big plummet.

Put ABC in front of "Saturday Night Movie" to not confuse it with the NBC one, which might've been replaced by drama reruns (not cancelled since it was before season started). (for the Saturday, 9/25 premiere dates list)

Season 3 of Last Comic Standing is getting low ratings.

The Next Great Champ and The Complex: Malibut are having serious ratings trouble.

Originally posted by Rakesh.S
line of fire was a new show last year and it was on ABC..you should be happy that they aired all the episodes

Actually when the show was cancelled in January, there were 4 episodes unaired. Over the summer they made a movie out of the last two, but the two before that have yet to find an audience.

Re AFH:
"....how are the ratings for Hawaii?"

The Hawaii ratings certainly could be better.
I don't think NBC is as concerned by Hawaii as it is by what is it seeing with LAX, but still the numbers are pretty soft.
We’ll probably know a little more tomorrow after the week three numbers come out. If CSI:NY performs solidly against Law and Order, NBC might be even MORE concerned that it has to get its Wednesday night lead-ins doing better. The West Wing appears to be on its last legs, so a weak Hawaii leading into a continually slipping West Wing would not help Law and Order stave off CSI:NY.
Here is one perspective from Marc Berman last week (and the reference to Ed, is worrisome. While Ed was a cult and critical favorite, I doubt that Hawaii falls into either category.)

-----------------------------------
From Marc Berman’s Mediaweek.com column The Programming Insider Thursday 9/09/04:

“….week two of Hawaii in its regularly scheduled Wednesday 8 p.m. hour lost steam. Hawaii was second in the overnights (6.9/10) and viewers (8.56 million), but third among adults 18-49 (2.3/ 7), declining 17 percent in the overnights (8.3/13 to 6.9/10), 1.88 million viewers (10.44 to 8.56 million) and 26 percent among adults 18-49 (3.1/10 to 2.3/ 7) from its debut one week earlier. Considering the new season has not officially begun, this is concerning. All in all, Hawaii's performance is no better than marginal former time period occupant Ed….”

Wednesday, September 22, 2004
EXPLOSIVE TWO-HOUR SEASON PREMIERE OF '24' STARTS THE CLOCK ON A NEW DAY JAN. 3 ON FOX
Released by FOX

Series Moves to Monday Nights for 24 Episodes in a Row

FOX's award-winning series 24 returns for a fourth season of clock-stopping suspense beginning with an explosive season premiere of back-to-back episodes Monday, Jan. 3 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The time period premiere will be Monday, Jan. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

Kiefer Sutherland returns as Jack Bauer as the series shifts to Monday nights in 2005. The intense drama will unfold on a weekly basis without repeats or preemptions, from the pulse-pounding premiere to the heart-stopping season finale.

In season three of 24, Jack, who was in charge of a special field operations unit of the Counter Terrorist Unit, fought to stop a viral terrorism threat before it could kill millions of people.

Season four begins 18 months later with the episode "Day 4: 7:00 am – 8:00 am." CTU is now headed by Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson, "La Femme Nikita"), a steely government agent who made firing Jack one of her first priorities upon taking over. After the explosion of a commuter train, Jack, who is now working for Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane, "Knots Landing") and also is romantically involved with his married daughter, Audrey (Kim Raver, "Third Watch"), suddenly finds himself heading back to CTU for a meeting with Driscoll on Heller's behalf.

Originally posted by fredfa
Re AFH:
"....how are the ratings for Hawaii?"

The Hawaii ratings certainly could be better.
I don't think NBC is as concerned by Hawaii as it is by what is it seeing with LAX, but still the numbers are pretty soft.
We’ll probably know a little more tomorrow after the week three numbers come out. If CSI:NY performs solidly against Law and Order, NBC might be even MORE concerned that it has to get its Wednesday night lead-ins doing better. The West Wing appears to be on its last legs, so a weak Hawaii leading into a continually slipping West Wing would not help Law and Order stave off CSI:NY.
Here is one perspective from Marc Berman last week (and the reference to Ed, is worrisome. While Ed was a cult and critical favorite, I doubt that Hawaii falls into either category.)

-----------------------------------
From Marc Berman’s Mediaweek.com column The Programming Insider Thursday 9/09/04:

“….week two of Hawaii in its regularly scheduled Wednesday 8 p.m. hour lost steam. Hawaii was second in the overnights (6.9/10) and viewers (8.56 million), but third among adults 18-49 (2.3/ 7), declining 17 percent in the overnights (8.3/13 to 6.9/10), 1.88 million viewers (10.44 to 8.56 million) and 26 percent among adults 18-49 (3.1/10 to 2.3/ 7) from its debut one week earlier. Considering the new season has not officially begun, this is concerning. All in all, Hawaii's performance is no better than marginal former time period occupant Ed….”

Great, another show I actually like isn't doing well. What is it with my taste in television? :confused:

re f44:
"...Season 3 of Last Comic Standing is getting low ratings.
The Next Great Champ and The Complex: Malibu are having serious ratings trouble...."

While I don't necessarily disagree, I am trying to keep the focus here on HD programs, mentioning the SD shows just for balance.
Although I might slip a little now and then, I will not be updating the SD cancellations and ratings woes with any consistency.

Originally posted by taz291819
Great, another show I actually like isn't doing well. What is it with my taste in television? :confused:

One can only ask themselves that question. :D

Jim

People say Veronica Mars was in HD (I also read somewhere that Kevin Hill will probably be HD too, would make sense).

As far as I know, the only UPN HD program is Enterprise.

But read the post in this section about Veronica Mars.

Now I have seen the UPN information - from UPN, f44. So the listings have been updated with the UPN HD news.

Added: surprising ratings news for the first CSI:NY-Law and Order 10 PM faceoff.
Hawaii added to the in trouble list.

Updates with the week's schedule delay for Center of the Universe and King of Queens announced late Thursday Sept 23rd by CBS.

I guess I'm not even a litttle surprised that CSI:NY beat Long in the Tooth and Order.

It'll probably get worse when The West Wing returns as the L&O lead in next month, and with Hawaii apparently dying quickly, NBC could be in real trouble on Wednesdays

Updated with Thursday's ratings.

I find it interesting that both LAX and Hawaii were *heavily* promoted during the 2004 Olympics HD telecast.

60 Minutes (formerly 60 Minutes II) should go under CBS Shows which have Already Premiered.

f44: change made. Thanks.

Lost HD
The Bachelor

should only be listed under ABC and not CBS as well.

Updated with Friday night's ratings.

Added prime time schedule changes for Thursday, Sept. 30th due to the first Presidential debate.

Updated with Sunday's ratings

Thanks fred this is still my fave thread on the board at the moment.

Why the heck is FOX waiting so long to roll out its sunday line-up?

And what is up with the Simpsons? How can you have a "new episode" on the 7th but a season premiere on the 14th? And will there not be a Halloween episode this year?

FOX is waiting for baseball playoffs to finish before starting the new shows...

fox's sunday night has premeired in November for the past few years.

don't matter though.. IMHO it's the best night on TV...

Originally posted by fredfa
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
EXPLOSIVE TWO-HOUR SEASON PREMIERE OF '24' STARTS THE CLOCK ON A NEW DAY JAN. 3 ON FOX
Released by FOX

Series Moves to Monday Nights for 24 Episodes in a Row

FOX's award-winning series 24 returns for a fourth season of clock-stopping suspense beginning with an explosive season premiere of back-to-back episodes Monday, Jan. 3 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The time period premiere will be Monday, Jan. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

Kiefer Sutherland returns as Jack Bauer as the series shifts to Monday nights in 2005. The intense drama will unfold on a weekly basis without repeats or preemptions, from the pulse-pounding premiere to the heart-stopping season finale.

In season three of 24, Jack, who was in charge of a special field operations unit of the Counter Terrorist Unit, fought to stop a viral terrorism threat before it could kill millions of people.

Season four begins 18 months later with the episode "Day 4: 7:00 am – 8:00 am." CTU is now headed by Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson, "La Femme Nikita"), a steely government agent who made firing Jack one of her first priorities upon taking over. After the explosion of a commuter train, Jack, who is now working for Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane, "Knots Landing") and also is romantically involved with his married daughter, Audrey (Kim Raver, "Third Watch"), suddenly finds himself heading back to CTU for a meeting with Driscoll on Heller's behalf. Sheesh. When I read the thread last week about the 24 premiere on "Monday Jan 3rd at 8:00, moving to it's regular time slot at 9:00 the following week" it totally went over my head that the move to Monday nights was permanent. I misread that as meaning it would move back to Tues at 9:00 the following week :(. That's a drag. There is really nothing else on Tues nights that I look forward to.

ron

Originally posted by R11
Sheesh. When I read the thread last week about the 24 premiere on "Monday Jan 3rd at 8:00, moving to it's regular time slot at 9:00 the following week" it totally went over my head that the move to Monday nights was permanent.
ron

Plus, now it conflicts with Everybody Loves Raymond and Two and a Half Men, IMO two of the best sit-coms on TV.

Is FX still going to show an encore the following night?

Jim

CBS.com says the premiere for 60 Minutes (formerly 60 Minutes II) was on 9/22, but current wording on CBSNews.com and a promo in TV Guide say it is this week on 9/29.

I think NBC has decided to show drama repeats instead of a Saturday Night Movie.

Also, thefutoncritic.com says the premieres of The King of Queens and Center of the Universe have been moved to October 20th.

Originally posted by f44
CBS.com says the premiere for 60 Minutes (formerly 60 Minutes II) was on 9/22, but current wording on CBSNews.com and a promo in TV Guide say it is this week on 9/29.

During Sunday's "60 Minutes", they ran a promo of the Wednesday show, calling it "60 Minutes Wednesday". (Also of note, the featured heavyweight correspondent was Mike Wallace, not you-know-who).

NBC will apparently usually run drama repeats Saturday, but will sometimes air movies.

It's either called 60 Minutes Wednesday or 60 Minutes (Weeknight Edition).

More news from 24, this time from the New York Post Tuesday Sept 27th:

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/30975.htm

TONY '24' BACK By COELI CARR, New York Post
September 28, 2004 -- THE last time viewers saw turncoat-agent Tony Almeida on "24," he was facing serious jail time for treason.
His reasons for siding with terrorists against the U.S. may have been understandable — to save his kidnapped wife — but fans of the Fox suspense show ended the season with the reasonable assurance that Tony was gone.
Turns out now that he's not forgotten. Tony Almeida's coming back this season.
The word several months ago was that many of the program's most pivotal characters would not be returning for the new season, which debuts January 3.
"I was always told there were going to be changes, but that I was always going to be coming back," actor Carlos Bernard told The Post, as he prepares to start production on the fourth season of "24" next week. "We had discussions about how the Almeida character was going to be brought back. I wanted to do another season, if the character was put in a new place."
Prison was the most likely place — given his double dealing .
But this week Bernard is more focused on the story yet to be mined from Almeida's past.
"It's not so much about what you didn't find out about the character, it's more about the possibilities with the character," he said.
Bernard's mum on the fate of Almeida's wife, Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth), or even what episode he makes his entrance, saying that kind of advance information migth spoil things for viewers.
"My first impression from the script was 'I love it,' " Bernard said. "You can see change in the character over the third and fourth season, which is always fun to play. You have to fill in the holes of what happened. The way they introduced the character was very cool, in a way I didn't necessarily expect."
The show's producers, aware of the huge popularity some of the show's characters had with viewers, do want to bring those actors back in some capacity for the new season, said Fox spokesperson Chris Alexander, who was quick to add that the program, eager to not repeat itself with key characters whose story lines had run their course, didn't "want to be handcuffed to use the same group of actors."
The show had added some celebs, firing some sparks of their own to the cast, including Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, "Third Watch" Kim Raver as Kiefer Sutherland's love interest, and veteran actor William Devane as secretary of defense.

Well, 'Michelle' just did a one-shot on CSI, which I thought was strange... I couldn't tell if she was a real replacement or just a temp until the end! :)

Originally posted by borghe
fox's sunday night has premeired in November for the past few years.

don't matter though.. IMHO it's the best night on TV...

Oh yeah I remember now. First FOX took to the bizarre tradition of showing halloween specials well after halloween, then they air the Simpson's Halloween first, then the "season premiere". What a screwy setup.

Originally posted by keenan
Plus, now it conflicts with Everybody Loves Raymond and Two and a Half Men, IMO two of the best sit-coms on TV.

Is FX still going to show an encore the following night?

Jim

What is this "conflict" thing people keep tallking about? :)

Mark, aka DirecTV DVR with Tivo User

Originally posted by rogo
What is this "conflict" thing people keep tallking about? :)

Mark, aka DirecTV DVR with Tivo User

Well, yeah, I guess you could say it's a $1000 conflict, been waiting to see how soon Comcast's DVR solution comes to town before dropping a grand on something I might get for $5 a month. The closer it gets to January though the more the DirecTv DVR gets more attractive, especially if FOX-HD comes from the sky before it comes from the ground for me. :)

Jim

Updated with Marc Berman's take on Tuesday's ratings.

Updated: Jack & Bobby gets full season WB pickup.
CBS to use UPN and Spike for NCAA football?

Keenan, it's been a year of broken promises on DVR. And it's very, very unlikely to be $5 per month. And if it's the Moto 6412, it has a tiny hard drive. Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled thread....

updated with Wedenesday's ratings

fredfa,

wonderful job to keep the thread updated. Thanks.

Updated with "Joey" and Tivo ratings news.

Updated with Thursday's ratings

You put Eve and All of Us under HD Shows in Ratings Trouble but I thought they are not HD. Vernoica Mars, a definite HD show, is also having ratings trouble.

NBC:

The Biggest Loser Oct. 19

No HD (new weight-loss reality show to replace The Contender, which will now premiere later in the season in order to not be associated with the flop The Next Great Champ).

http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/

I never miss anything and 80% is recorded in HDTV with my don't know how I ever lived without it HD8000 .

Yes within 3 years PVRing will be so prevelant that TV scheduling will have no meaning .

Friday ratings posted.

fredfa,

Will you add the The Biggest Loser? And did you see my post above about Eve/All of Us/Veronica Mars?

I'll be back in LA Monday and will do major updates then.

Tonight is Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal. I hope the 49'ers Rams game beforehand doesn't negatively impact their ratings.

Updated with Sunday's ratings

Changes for 24 and the Biggest Loser.
Next Great Champ shunted from Fox to FSN.

Monday's ratings posted

Week Two prime time ratings posted.

Added Rodney Dangerfield obit from LA Times.
(OK, OK, he didn't have much to do with prime time network TV, but in this thread, at least, he will get some respect.)

I too adored the D-man.

FYI I believe this is a winter premiere to add to your list: "Law & Order: Trial By Jury", January 2005
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406429/combined

Thanks for updating this excellent thread.

Thanks GregF.
Have you seen a January date for Trial By Jury?
I've seen speculation, but nothing official from NBC.

The Contender is now officially January 2005 (no specific date yet).

Renovate My Family is moves to Fridays beginning 10/29 but its unclear whether or not it will be a new episode on that date.

If you want to make a series/season finale list, The Complex: Malibu's finale is this Friday at 8pm ET (special time).

Originally posted by fredfa
Thanks GregF.
Have you seen a January date for Trial By Jury?
I've seen speculation, but nothing official from NBC.

Believe it or not I have a friend on the crew that has worked on the L&O family of shows for years. I can give his credentials and even put you in touch with him, but I can't expect that to count as more credible than the various website posts. My understanding is that people working on the shows are expecting it to bow in January. I have not however seen more official documentation than you have. NBC only refers to it on their site as "Early 2005" and "later in the 2004/2005 season". (I also have anecdotes about everyone's favorite Law & Order stars if anyone wants to ask privately heheh).

Originally posted by fredfa
Added Rodney Dangerfield obit from LA Times.
(OK, OK, he didn't have much to do with prime time network TV, but in this thread, at least, he will get some respect.) The funniest live performer I've ever seen, a great comedic actor on screen, and way too much for network TV, except when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Sad to see Rodney go. He was one of a kind.

Tuesday ratings added

wow, i wonder:

What combination of events led to Desperate Housewives premiere beating everything?

Why was NBC the only network that scored with "Presidential Analysis" (which I'm assuming was a post-debate analysis)?

NBC's Debate Analysis attracted 13.36 million viewers to rank 17th.
ABC: 10.03 million, 33rd.
CBS: 9.42 million, 36th.

Is Chris Matthews that popular? Or perhaps they were waiting for a favorite show to start?

Originally posted by GregF
wow, i wonder:

What combination of events led to Desperate Housewives premiere beating everything?

Why was NBC the only network that scored with "Presidential Analysis" (which I'm assuming was a post-debate analysis)? The Presidential Debates pre-empted most of the powerhouse Thursday night shows, last week, leaving DH the most-watched show of the week. The ratings "week" isn't the same as a calendar week.

There was a pronounced "bleeding" of viewers from CBS to NBC at the end of the debates, Thursday. It's as if they left it on CBS after "Survivor" for the debates, but when they saw Dan Rather at the end, they hit the "ch" button. (Could have also been the fact that CBS took a commercial break right then and NBC did not) Don't know if the CBS viewers sought out NBC or if there are just enough markets where NBC is one click of the ch button away.

In addition, DrDon, the NBC late local news in many markets tends to beat the CBS affiliate late news, and Jay Leno beats Letterman by a substantial margin.

Last Great Chump. Reality shows -- maybe this year the glut ends.

I wish it were so, Paul, but here, courtesy of thefutoncritic.com, here is Fox's latest series news (this will replace The Partner, which had been scheduled for Nov,7:

Released by FOX

FOX TRUMPS THE COMPETITION WHEN NEW UNSCRIPTED SERIES "MY BIG FAT OBNOXIOUS BOSS" PREMIERES NOVEMBER 7

Contestants Seeking Apprenticeship Get More Than They Bargain For

FOX busts down the boardroom doors and invites viewers into the outrageous unscripted comedy MY BIG FAT OBNOXIOUS BOSS, a new series from the producers of the hit FOX reality spoof "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé." With business-oriented reality shows ripe for the picking and overly confident young entrepreneurs believing they can conquer the world, MY BIG FAT OBNOXIOUS BOSS gets down to funny business Sunday, Nov. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

"What 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé' did for romance-reality, MY BIG FAT OBNOXIOUS BOSS will do for business-reality," said Gail Berman, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. "When we saw the footage, we realized it belongs on the funniest night on television, FOX's Sunday night."

This comical hybrid of scripted, improvisational and reality series stars "Mr. N. Paul Todd," introduced as the founder and CEO of a multibillion-dollar company, IOCOR. The professional prank begins when 12 real contestants - young, overachieving, type-A business professionals - arrive in Chicago and begin competing in frustrating and ridiculous challenges. This dozen have the drive, self-assurance and ego that it takes to think they can jump to the top of the corporate ladder. They take their relationship with "Mr. Todd" and the competition seriously, plotting their strategies to win his approval, an enormous cash prize and a lucrative opportunity to join this powerful, yet unknown, investment organization.

The $250,000 cash prize is real, but that's about it.

Unbeknownst to these "business savvy" participants, IOCOR is a fictitious company and "Mr. Todd" is really actor William August setting out to dupe the 12 know-it-all participants. As Steven Bailey did in "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé," August uses his improvisational skills to test the limits of the unsuspecting candidates through unrealistic conversations, circumstances, and of course, questionable business challenges with humiliating consequences for the losing team.

Through a series of tasks, this phony climb to the top will feature unsuspecting teams utilizing their highly touted business backgrounds, educations and strategies to compete against each other. Each week, the losing team sends two finalists to the boardroom to plead their case with "Mr. Todd" before one of them is eliminated. What they don't know is that "Mr. Todd" isn't the one really making the decisions. It will remain a secret to the contestants until the last elimination that a mystery boss has actually been deciding their fate. In an eye-opening, jaw-dropping turn, the identity of the real boss will be the biggest surprise of all.

MY BIG FAT OBNOXIOUS BOSS is produced by Rocket Science Laboratories. Jean-Michel Michenaud and Chris Cowan serve as executive producers.

Originally posted by fredfa
In addition, DrDon, the NBC late local news in many markets tends to beat the CBS affiliate late news, and Jay Leno beats Letterman by a substantial margin. Rarely have I seen that have a marked effect on earlier-in-the-evening viewing. If it did, "ER" would be killing "CSI." ;) And if that were the reason, they wouldn't have waited to the end of the debate to switch. More likely, this is the result of evening network news preferences, where CBS is a distant third. See Dan, don't like Dan, find Tom.

And the take on "Boss" from Zap2it.com

FOX Unleashes 'Big Fat Obnoxious Boss'
Critics may have hated FOX's "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance," but after its January premiere, the well-orchestrated reality prank averaged more than 16.6 million viewers. Never a network to rest on its laurels, FOX is trying again, lampooning shows like NBC's "The Apprentice" with "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss."
Shot in extreme secrecy this summer, "Obnoxious Boss" features 12 overachieving young business professionals who arrive in Chicago ready to impress N. Paul Todd, the founder and CEO of IOCOR, a multi-billion dollar company. They're prepared to do whatever business tasks are necessary to score a plumb job and earn a $250,000 cash prize.
Apparently the contestants are willing to do everything possible except do their research. Mr. N. Paul Todd is actually William August, an actor who wants nothing more than to confuse, humiliate and unnerve the 12 contestants.
At the end of each week's phony tasks, the players will be called to the boardroom and one will be eliminated. Although they all think that N. Paul Todd is making the decisions, it turns out that the real boss is a mystery. FOX isn't ready to spoil that surprise just yet, but the network promises that "in an eye-opening, jaw-dropping turn, the identity of the real boss will be the biggest surprise of all."
"What 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance' did for romance-reality, 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss' will do for business-reality," says FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman. "When we saw the footage, we realized it belongs on the funniest night on television, FOXs Sunday night."
"Obnoxious Boss" will premiere on Sunday, Nov. 7 in the 9 p.m. ET time slot originally slated for the legal reality show "The Partner." In an interesting twist, if FOX delays "The Partner" for too long, NBC could actually trump the network by getting its own unscripted legal show "The Law Firm" on the air first.
FOX had best hope that "Boss" producers at Rocket Science Laboratories do a better job of replicating the success of "Fiance" than Rocket Science did with the second season of "Joe Millionaire." Jean-Michel Michenaud and Chris Cowan serve as executive producers.

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
Last Great Chump. Reality shows -- maybe this year the glut ends.

Hopefully. Whenever I see titles of shows like this one,

<<<<<< 'Big Fat Obnoxious Boss' >>>>>>

I thank my parents for blessing me with the genes I have. Not to start an argument, but people that watch this stuff not get out enough or what?

Jim :cool:

P.S. Here's an oxymoron,[ MY BIG FAT OBNOXIOUS BOSS is produced by Rocket Science Laboratories ]

Variety reports that The Partner will premiere early next year if you want to add it back to the list.

I am with you, Jim.

What do you do when your show falls to third in the ratings?
What do you do when your show suddenly trails the season's hot new show (Desperate Housewives)?
Well, according to thefutoncritic.com, here is one thing NBC's Law and Order: Criminal Intent plans to do:

IN NETWORK FIRST, NBC EMPOWERS AUDIENCE TO VOTE ON ALTERNATIVE 'KILLER' ENDINGS FOR NEW EPISODE OF 'LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT' ON OCTOBER 17

BURBANK, Calif. -- October 6, 2004 -- In a network first, NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (Sundays, 9-10 p.m. ET) original episode "Great Barrier" will give viewers the option to choose their favorite "killer" ending in an episode to be broadcast on Sunday, October 17 (9-10 p.m. ET). Two versions of the episode's ending have been shot, in which a female murderer (guest star Olivia D'Abo, "The Wonder Years") will either live or be killed -- based on the outcome of a vote conducted on www.nbc.com.
On the night of October 17, one ending will be telecast to viewers in the Eastern time zone while the other will be telecast to those living in the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones (including Alaska and Hawaii). Immediately following the episode, fans will be able to log on to www.nbc.com to view both endings and cast their vote, determining the fate of the character Nicole Wallace (D'Abo). Voting will be live through Wednesday, October 20.
The most popular ending to "Great Barrier" will be revealed during the following week's Sunday, October 24 broadcast. The audience will be alerted at the beginning of that night's new episode that the people's final choice from the previous week's episode will be shown at the end of the hour.
In the episode, Detectives Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Eames (Kathryn Erbe) track a mysterious young diamond "swallower" (guest star Grace Shu) who is being manipulated by Nicole Wallace (D'Abo) ? Goren's murderous and chameleon-like nemesis. As Goren closes in on Wallace, he discovers a horrifying secret that may allow him to finally close the book on his lethal adversary.
The fourth-year series stars D'Onofrio as Goren, an exceptionally bright and compassionate homicide investigator with well-honed instincts that are a match for his most devious criminal quarry. Likewise, his partner, Eames (Erbe), brings a no-nonsense and stylish edge to her work that meshes well with Goren. Jamey Sheridan and Courtney B. Vance also star.

Cable News ratings for Tuesday night's vice presidential candidates' debate:
Fox News Channel 7.8 million viewers
Cable News Network 3.3 million viewers
MSNBC 1.4 million viewers

Jeez louise I had no idea FOX was kicking CNN's ass that badly.

Originally posted by fredfa
What do you do when your show falls to third in the ratings?
What do you do when your show suddenly trails the season's hot new show (Desperate Housewives)?
Well, acoprding to thefutoncritic.com, here is one thing NBC's Law and Order: Criminal Intent plans to do:


The Olivia D'abo thing is fun to watch because she's a recurring villain.

Originally posted by GregF
Jeez louise I had no idea FOX was kicking CNN's ass that badly.

Based on my own personal beliefs it's scary.

Jim

Originally posted by fredfa


IN NETWORK FIRST, NBC EMPOWERS AUDIENCE TO VOTE ON ALTERNATIVE 'KILLER' ENDINGS FOR NEW EPISODE OF 'LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT' ON OCTOBER 17



I don't know, sex sells better than death....

Jim

The end for the Simpsons?
(Yes, but don't worry about it too much. If the Simpsons' creator has any say about it, it'll happen just about the same time Conan takes over for Jay -- that is in 2009.)
Story posted under latest news.

Wednesday's ratings posted

Quirky new Monk-Northern Exposure hybrid planned by Fox.
Details in Latest News.

Reminder: Starship Enterprise premiere Friday night 8PM ET/PT UPN.

I am not posting this in the sticky, but it is TV news at least some (by reading the national polls, I would guess about half) will be interested in.
I am sure the other half will be not so happy.
The news item is from Friday's Daily Variety:

Moore to come: 'Fahrenheit' pay event irks DVD distrib
By JOHN DEMPSEY, GABRIEL SNYDER

Michael Moore's dream of getting "Fahrenheit 9/11" onto television the night before the presidential election is close to fruition.
Documaker is producing a three-hour pay-per-view event that will run Nov. 1, the night before Election Day.
"The Michael Moore Pre-Election Special" will consist of a screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" bookended by interviews with politically committed celebrities who'll talk about the charges leveled in the movie and the importance of voting in the presidential election of 2004.
TV sources said In Demand, the largest pay-per-view distributor in the U.S., will transmit the special between 8 and 11 p.m. EST (5 and 8 p.m. PST) and charge a fee of $9.95.

Originally posted by fredfa


TV sources said In Demand, the largest pay-per-view distributor in the U.S., will transmit the special between 8 and 11 p.m. EST (5 and 8 p.m. PST) and charge a fee of $9.95.

Free enterprise, capitalism and free speech all working together, gotta love it. :D

Jim

I hear Swift Vets for Truth will pay the viewer a dollar to watch their PPV special. It will be a three-hour repeating loop of young Kerry's congressional hearing speech: "...limbs hacked off...."

Sounds gruesome and unwatchable, but may score slightly higher than an interview with Ben Affleck.

Little humor for both sides there.

(The Thursday night ratings are delayed a bit today.)
But while we wait, the latest from the Washington Post on NBC's pulling of The Last Comic Standing:

And Now, It's No Comic Standing! So Who Won?
By Lisa de Moraes Friday, October 8, 2004; Page C07

Three weeks into the season, reality shows are hitting the skids.

NBC has yanked the third edition of the competition series "Last Comic Standing" off its Tuesday lineup, effective immediately.

Ironically -- and how appropriate is irony in a story about a show starring stand-up comics -- there was only one episode left to air in this edition's eight-episode order. That, of course, would be the episode in which the winner of the competition is announced.

NBC's move comes just days after Fox pulled the plug on its reality boxing series "The Next Great Champ."

" 'Last Comic Standing' is cancelled!!!" host Jay Mohr says on his Web site.

"Amazing. Why would a network cancel a show with only one episode left?" he adds, which is a good question.

Yesterday, NBC was saying only that the finale would not air next week but that the winner would be revealed to viewers in some fashion or another.

A source with knowledge of the talks said that among the things being considered is an abbreviated finale that would air elsewhere on the NBC schedule or, more likely, on one of NBC's cable networks. A big-winner announcement during the "Father of the Pride" marathon was even being knocked around, though that idea has grown cold, one source said yesterday afternoon.

Ironically -- you just can't have too much irony in this story -- NBC had changed its prime-time lineup to include a fall edition of "Last Comic Standing" based on its performance this past summer.

On his site, Mohr says NBC was not happy with the ratings for the third edition and decided to pull the plug. It's true, the ratings were really, really bad. A perfectly adequate summer series -- the second edition averaged about 8 million viewers -- "Comic" opened its "fall" edition in late August with 7.7 million viewers, following a special 90-minute edition of "Fear Factor." It hasn't seen that many viewers since. Most recently, it scored 5.7 million; last week it suffered a series low of 5.5 million.

Even worse, from NBC's point of view, this past Tuesday, "Last Comic Standing" finished fifth in its time slot among the 18-to-49-year-olds NBC says it does all its ad sales off of. Yes, "Comic" came in behind ABC's sitcoms, Fox's baseball playoffs, WB's "Gilmore Girls" and even CBS's military drama "NCIS" among those viewers, and it didn't beat UPN's sitcoms by much. "Comic" can't be blamed entirely, but it contributed to NBC's third-place finish last week in the demographic. NBC is also third this season to date, down 15 percent compared with the same point last season.

Still, to the extent that TV industry executives care about "Last Comic Standing" -- which is to say not much -- they puzzled yesterday over why NBC would pull the very last, payoff episode out of a non-sweeps week. Why not just run the last episode so as not to infuriate the show's loyal, albeit small, core audience?

Instead, NBC will air a 90-minute marathon of "Father of the Pride" from 8 to 9:30 p.m. next Tuesday. That's right, three back-to-back episodes of the animated series that NBC said it scheduled at 9 rather than 8 p.m. to send a message to parents that it was not a program for children.

More than one non-NBC exec speculated yesterday that the decision to scrub the last "Comic" episode may have something to do with the schedule for "Father of the Pride" and NBC's recent postponement of "The Contender," both of which are produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg at DreamWorks SKG.

NBC announced this week that it would unveil its boxing competition series in January. The network had been expected to premiere the series, from reality hotshot Mark Burnett, in November, which is a sweeps month. But that was before Fox debuted its rip-off boxing series "The Next Great Champ" in early September and it tanked in the ratings because, hello, not many people care about boxing. Fox will burn off the remaining episodes of "Champ" on Fox Sports Network.

Even so, NBC's decision to delay the debut of "Contender" may have been troubling to Katzenberg, speculated those industry executives who love a good conspiracy theory -- and who doesn't love a good conspiracy theory -- particularly while his "Father of the Pride" is doing such sickly numbers on Tuesday night with the anemic "Last Comic Standing" lead-in.

Maybe, they theorized, this was NBC's way of making nice, and it can't hurt to yank "Comic" if NBC needs to see quickly what "Pride" can do with a stronger lead-in before ordering more episodes of the cartoon series.

While waiting for a full ratings breakdown from Thursday night, here is a ratings tease (courtesy of Matt Drudge and his drudgereport.com)
Thursday night:
CBS 15.8 /23
NBC 12.0/18
CSI top of the night with a 29 share...
ER falls to second in slot [21 share]
Without A Trace [23 share]
Trump 18 share
Fox Baseball 9 share

(Basic) Thursday ratings posted

Originally posted by fredfa
...during the "Father of the Pride" marathon...

Sounds to me like the network practice of dumping episodes they already paid for but don't plan to be airing in the future, to make room for something else coming up.

Father of the Pride has not been a big ratings success.
But NBC seems to have sprung ratings leaks all over the place.
All the Law and Orders are off from last year.
The Apprentice is slumping rather dramatically.
ER is plummeting faster than NBC imagined.
American Dreams is even weaker than it had been on Sundays.
Ouch!
What do NBC programmers look to fix first?

By the way, regarding the Without A Trace-ER battle, here is what the Denver Post's TV writer reported yesterday:

"Trace" sinking "ER"
By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic Oct. 7, 2004

Overheated melodrama, the extreme sport perfected years ago by “ER,” seems to be affecting millions of Americans the way it’s affected me. What once was extreme is now overexposed.

Call it the 11-year itch.

NBC’s Thursday-night ratings monolith seems exhausted. Nurse, get me Anthony LaPaglia, stat!

Last season, the CBS hour "Without a Trace" began to close the ratings gap with "ER" On Sept. 23, in its season premiere, "Without a Trace" broke through, becoming the first drama ever to go head-to-head on Thursday night with an original episode of "ER" and draw a larger audience.

The 11th-season debut of NBC's medical melodrama averaged about 2 million fewer viewers than the third-season debut of "Trace." The score was 21.5 million viewers for the CBS crime-solvers, compared with 19.7 million for the NBC doctors.

No wonder LaPaglia, one of the stars of "Trace," was working the phones for CBS this week in advance of the second episode of the season.

Tonight's episode of "Without a Trace," titled "Thou Shalt Not ..." (at 9 p.m. on KCNC-Channel 4), involves the search for a young woman whose status changes from victim to missing fugitive during the course of the investigation. As often happens on "Trace," the team discovers that people are not who they seem to be.

LaPaglia theorized that crime shows, or "procedural dramas" in network-speak, are ascendant on TV for reasons connected with reverberations of 9/11 in the culture. They are popular now, he said, "because in the current climate we're in, people live with a certain amount of uncertainty. These shows have a definite beginning, middle and end. There might be some comfort in that."

There is also comfort in watching a smart drama knowing that a helicopter isn't going to crash through the ceiling at the same moment a mad gunman bursts into the office while the supporting cast are in a near-fatal car accident just as they all arrive at life-changing epiphanies.

Instead of stressing the randomness of life, "Trace" emphasizes logic.

Or maybe it's a reassuring relief to see heroes who work with bulletin boards rather than scalpels.

What you get with "Without a Trace" is a strong missing- persons story or, as LaPaglia put it, "as good a mystery as you can tell in an hour."

Expect an increasing focus on Jack Malone's (LaPaglia) personal life this season. In the premiere, Jack learned that his wife wants a divorce and sole custody of the kids.

Beyond that, the actor cannot or will not say much.

"TV is a week-to-week process, from an acting point of view, unlike film. The writers don't really know where your character's going either."

But the consensus is, they'll try to take Jack in a slightly different direction just so it doesn't get too comfortable. "More bad things are happening to him this season," LaPaglia said. Change is the only constant, the Australian stage, film and TV actor suggests.

"By the end of the eighth year I hope it turns into a musical."

The cast and crew of "Trace" were all "a little shocked" by the ratings triumph of the season premiere. "Because 'ER' is an institution. It's such a juggernaut, it's been on the air for so long, we never expected that we'd actually beat them in the ratings."

If the rout continues - and "ER" is only getting older and more desperate - LaPaglia will have gone a long way toward reclaiming an important piece of primetime real estate for CBS.

"Talk to me in six shows," he said.

Just prior to the ratings high, LaPaglia was dealt a low blow by the Television Academy. The nominee didn't win the Emmy Award outstanding dramatic actor this year. But he's not complaining. "I actually won $800 and a dinner betting James Spader ("The Practice") would win the Emmy."

Originally posted by fredfa
Father of the Pride has not been a big ratings success.
But NBC seems to have sprung ratings leaks all over the place.
All the Law and Orders are off from last year.
The Apprentice is slumping rather dramatically.
ER is plummeting faster than NBC imagined.
American Dreams is even weaker than it had been on Sundays.
Ouch!
What do NBC programmers look to fix first?

cancel the 4th law and order series right now..before it gets out of hand and all of them die at the same time

Without a Trace was awesome last night..the Jack Malone story arc that carried over from last season has been really impressive and it will be interesting to see the whole Vivian-Jack relationship this season

I think ABC is going to move into the no. 2 spot real soon...once they get one or two more hits..of course that is easier said than done

I'm for bringing Law and Order's new show on immediately.
(I think NBC upset the TV gods when they let Jerry Ohrbach leave the flagship show.)

Does anyone know if episodes of "Lost" will be re-run soon? I never saw it and wondering if I should wait for it to re-air or...

I haven't heard about plans to rebroadcast the first Lost episodes.
I believe #1 and #2 were already rebroadcast about a week after their first airings.

(Not a fan of the show, but I know some are fans...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/9870904.htm?1c

'Last Comic Standing 3' Finale to Air

Associated Press

NEW YORK - The last episode of "Last Comic Standing 3" will, in fact, stand. An NBC spokesman said Friday the season finale of the comedic reality show's third installment is now being shot and will air. When? Well, that's to be announced.

The punchline comes after host Jay Mohr posted a message on his blog Thursday stating the show had been canceled. Mention of the show, which had regularly aired Tuesdays, mysteriously disappeared from the network's schedule for next week, replaced by episodes of the animated comedy "Father of the Pride."

"I woke up on Wednesday morning and received the news," Mohr wrote. "NBC was not happy with the rating of the show and decided to pull the plug."

It's true the ratings have been no laughing matter. The last episode, which crowned the final four comics, ranked 74th, according to Nielsen Media Research.

During the third season, dubbed the "Battle of Best," comics from the show's first two seasons performed in an "American Idol"-like competition, forgoing the previous editions' "The Real World"-like aspect of living in a camera-laden house. Each week, viewers voted for their favorite performers. The bottom vote-getters - one from each season - were sent packing.

First season comics Dave Mordal and Rich Vos and the second season's John Heffron and Alonzo Bodden survived being voted off. During the finale, one of the men will be crowned "Last Comic Standing" and will win a $250,000 prize.

__

On the Net:

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Last_Comic_Standing_3/

http://www.jaymohr.com/

Renovate My Family will air Fridays @ 9pm starting in the fall, but I don't know if it will be repeats or new.

http://www.fox.com/schedule/schedule_2004_fall.htm

f44: Are there some facts the AP story on Last Comic Standing has that I didn't post (in #207) today at at 8:18 AM PT from The Washington Post article by Lisa deMoraes?

No problem, just wondering if I missed something.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Late Friday, Oct. 8, TV news and notes:

From Zap2it.com
'West Wing' Consults with Chenoweth
Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth is stepping off the Broadway stage and into "The West Wing."
Chenoweth has signed on to a recurring role in the NBC series, where she'll play a media consultant. The part comes with an option for next season, should the Emmy-winning show return, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Just who her character will be working for isn't clear yet. As "The West Wing" nears the end of Jed Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) presidency, it's introducing two characters this season -- played by Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits -- who are aiming to win the White House.The role also marks a return to NBC for Chenoweth. She starred in the network's short-lived sitcom "Kristin" in 2001.
Chenoweth won a Tony Award in 1999 for her role as Sally in the musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and was nominated this year for playing Glinda the Good Witch in "Wicked." Her other credits include ABC's production of "The Music Man" last year and the upcoming feature "Bewitched," based on the 1960s TV series and starring Nicole Kidman.
"The West Wing" begins its sixth season Wednesday, Oct. 20.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melissa Etheridge Diagnosed With Cancer, Postpones Tour, Continues Series Development
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com October 8, 2004
A publicist for musician Melissa Etheridge announced Friday the rock star is postponing her upcoming tour because she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Story continues below...
Ms. Etheridge will use the time to undergo treatment. Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said her doctors expect a "full and speedy" recovery.
"I am fortunate to be under a wonderful doctor's care and thankful that this was caught early," Ms. Etheridge said in a statement on her Web site.
Just days ago ABC announced it was developing a sitcom with 20th Century Fox Television and Brad Grey Television for Ms. Etheridge. The show is set to star Ms. Etheridge as a lesbian music teacher who lives with her best male friend and his daughter. ABC and the production companies released a statement Friday saying the development of the project will continue.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Melissa and her family," the statement said. "While we continue development of her ABC project, our primary concern is her fast and full recovery."
Linda Wallem is writing the script and will serve as executive producer along with Ms. Etheridge and Brad Grey.

I meant to post this earlier.
USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco gives StarTrek: Enterpriuse just one star (out of four).

'Trek': Not-so-boldly going down the tubes
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
Oh, for the love of God, sink this ship.
It would be different if the ratings-and-quality-deprived Enterprise had been saved by some sudden, mass outpouring of fan support, as happened with Sci Fi's so-far superior Farscape.
But no.
Enterprise plods on, despite overwhelming national disinterest, simply because Paramount is determined to keep the Star Trek name in front of the public. And never mind how much damage this dull, misbegotten enterprise does to the franchise.
So tonight the show returns with a ludicrous time-travel story, bereft of both creativity and taste. To its usual mix of bland characters and indecipherable plots Enterprise adds alien Nazis, who promise their B-movie German allies a "plague targeting non-Aryans."
"No need for extermination camps," the alien says in one of the most cringe-worthy scenes of the new season.
Get the word to Standards and Practices: If ever a subject should be kept safely out of the hands of incompetent TV writers, it's the Holocaust.
The only hope for mankind is Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula), who is time-warped to Brooklyn circa 1944 after destroying the Xindi superweapon. (If you weren't watching last year, don't worry; that plot no longer matters.)
With America under the thumb of alien-led Nazis, Archer joins a mobster-led resistance movement — and yes, that's just as inane as it sounds.
His job: Restore the timeline and save the world.
Saving his show appears to be a lost cause.

Fredfa, I just want to say that I enjoy this thread b/c the ratings stuff is interesting. Let me personally thank you for the work you do in keeping this thread updated.

fredra, the post#207 article says "NBC was saying only that the finale would not air next week" but my post says they have now decided to air it, now just an announcement of the winner.

Ugh, give me that Trek franchise I'll fix that sucker up. Who has the number for Paramount :p

Got it, f44. Thanks.

A sad TV note:

(washingtonpost.com)
Louis Rukeyser Says Farewell to 'Wall Street'

By Lisa de Moraes Saturday, October 9, 2004; Page C07

Nearly one year after Louis Rukeyser last appeared on the Friday night financial show that bears his name, cable network CNBC said yesterday that he has told them he will not return and asked them to shut down the program.

"Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" will cease production "by December 31," the network said in a statement.

Rukeyser announced in May that doctors had found cancer in his back after performing back surgery; at that time, CNBC said he was on medical leave and guest hosts would fill in until his return.

Yesterday, the 71-year-old Rukeyser said in a statement that he is "still recuperating from serious complications that have taken much longer than seemed reasonable over the past year." He did not elaborate, nor did a CNBC spokeswoman.

"Under the circumstances I have asked my friends at CNBC to suspend production of 'Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street' at the end of its run later this year," he said.

Rukeyser last appeared on the show on Oct. 31, 2003 -- about 18 months after its debut.

"He has been a financial institution," Michael Holland, a New York fund manager who has appeared on Rukeyser's TV shows since 1990, told CBS.MarketWatch.com yesterday.

He said he was relieved that the show would not go on without Rukeyser. "No one can replace him," Holland said. "He brought financial journalism to a new level with his trademarks of honesty, humor and fairness. He always looked at both sides of the issues. His only bias was toward optimism."

Before debuting on CNBC, Rukeyser for 32 years was host of the most popular financial program on television, PBS's "Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser."

In March 2002, Maryland Public TV, which produced the show, announced that it would be put out to pasture when Rukeyser's contract was up that June, to be replaced by "Wall Street Week With Fortune," setting the stage for one of the most exciting broadcasts in the history of financial-news television programming.

Rukeyser was offered a gig as commentator on the new show -- an offer he refused. That Friday, Rukeyser opened "Wall Street Week" by telling his millions of loyal fans that he had been "ambushed" by public television and that he was developing a new, rival program. He also revealed, on the air, that "Wall Street Week" was a "major cash cow" for public television, costing a mere $2 million a year to produce while bringing in about $6 million in national underwriting. "And that doesn't include massive local underwriting!" he added for good measure.

"I want you to rise out of your chair," Rukeyser told his viewers, "not to shout, 'I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!' but to . . . write or e-mail your local PBS station saying you heard Louis Rukeyser is still going to have a program and you'd like to see it.

"I promise you that if enough of you do that, it will do the job."

MPT responded by firing him, effective immediately. Early that April, Rukeyser announced his CNBC series, getting the last laugh by arranging for it to be rerun on PBS stations. "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" is carried by more than 160 PBS stations.

"He is a true original and we, like his millions of fans, will deeply miss his wit, wisdom and our time together," CNBC President Pamela Thomas-Graham said yesterday in a statement. "We send him all our best wishes for a full recovery."

Friday's fast ratings posted

POSSIBLE SPOILER MATERIAL IS JUST AHEAD!


I am sure very few of you watched it last night (almost nobody has watched it) but the folks at zap2it.com have filled us in the final episode of The Complex: Malibu.
If you have not watched it yet, and it is resting comfortably on your TiVo or DVR, stop reading!




-----------------------------------------
(from zap2it.com)

[B]Chicago Couple Takes 'Complex' Prize[B]

Because we at Zap2it.com like to provide you with as complete a picture of the television scene as possible, and because it's Saturday, we're going to tell you who won "The Complex: Malibu."
Steve and Nicole, a couple from Chicago, walked away with $300,000 in Friday's (Oct. 8) finale of the FOX unscripted series. They won by virtue of generating the highest profit from the sale of a Malibu condominium they renovated in competition with four other couples doing the same thing.
The $300,000 represents the profit from sales of all four units at an auction. The other three couples went home with no money.
At the auction, Steve and Nicole's unit -- an 1,100-square-foot condo with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a view of the Pacific Ocean -- sold for $1.2 million, reflecting the gonzo real estate market in the Los Angeles area.
The other three units in the building went for $900,000 (1,100 square feet), $950,000 (1,100 square feet) and $950,000 (1,450 square feet).
"The Complex" was based on an Australian hit called "The Block," but it never found an audience for FOX. Through last week, it was averaging only about 2.4 million viewers per episode; Friday's finale, which posted a 2.0 rating/4 share in preliminary nationals, won't change those numbers much.

And more on Ruykeyser from the Wall Street Jorunal:

CNBC Is Canceling Rukeyser's Weekly Show
Host's Lengthy Illness Prompts Cable Network to Drop Program

By JOE FLINT
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

NEW YORK -- Louis Rukeyser, host of CNBC's "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street," said he is giving up his program while he continues to be treated for cancer.

Mr. Rukeyser, 71 years old, hadn't been able to host his show since October of last year. CNBC said Consuelo Mack will continue to host the weekly program until the end of the year, when it will cease production.

Prior to joining General Electric Co.'s CNBC, Mr. Rukeyser hosted "Wall $treet Week" for 32 years on PBS until the show's producer, Maryland Public Television, forced him off the air two years ago in favor of a pair of younger hosts. Mr. Rukeyser's last show on PBS was notable because he criticized the decision to replace him with Geoffrey Colvin, editorial director of Fortune magazine, and co-anchor Karen Gibbs.

In a statement, Mr. Rukeyser said that he could not predict when he would be able to return to duty. Earlier in the year he was more optimistic, saying "As Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously declared as left the Philippine Islands during World War II, I shall return.''

fredfa, I don't watch the show, but put the Zap2It article (with the show's title) on The Complex: Malibu in spoiler tags so it is like this:

Text goes here.

Also, can you find news anywhere on the ratings for Pax's new shows? I'm wondering how shows like Cold Turkey did.

From the futoncritic.com

Released by The WB

THE WB'S HIT REALITY SERIES GRADUATES TO A THIRD SEMESTER
HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: FORT LAUDERDALE

PREMIERES ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7

BURBANK, CA (October 8, 2004) - The third installment of The WB Network's hit reality series, HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: FORT LAUDERDALE, will premiere on Tuesday, December 7 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET).

Season three introduces a small group of classmates from three graduating classes of Cardinal Gibbons High School, a private Catholic school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The classmates are reunited for a two-week stay at a beachfront resort on the island of Oahu. Carefully selected by producers during an extensive interview process that took place before filming began, none of the participants knew that the reunion would take place on Oahu or which of their former classmates would be invited to attend.

High school personas are reawakened when the old group gets back together for a second chance to say and do the things they wish they had said and done the first time around. The surprise appearance of five star athletes from rival Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School adds even more tension to this volatile mix of personalities. Each episode will test the validity of who these people have become over time and what their classmates think of them now.

The first two seasons of the franchise were a success story for The WB. The second season of High School Reunion (3/14/04 - 05/02/04) in the Sunday 9:00pm time period, posted double digit gains over the time period the pervious year. The series was up +29% in persons 12-34, up +47% among females 12-34, up +36% with adults 18-34, up +47% with women 18-34, up +43% among women 18-49, and up +56% with female teens.

With the emergence of CSI: New York as not just a challenger to Law and Order, but so far at least, a ratings conqueror, it is interesting to hear from the man responsible for the three L&Os now on the air (and the new "L&O: Trial by jury" due from NBC in January.
So here is Dick Wolf on the challenges ahead for his "law and Order" franchise shows, in an article from zap2it.com

'Law & Order' Comfortably Expands Its Universe
By Kate O'Hare zap2it.com

One common theme among TV critics this year is concern over the proliferation of "colon" shows, i.e., "CSI: ..." or "Law & Order: ...," and so on. They ask, how many of these can be on the air? How many should be on the air?

Dick Wolf, the man at the helm of the "Law & Order" juggernaut, has a simple answer, "The audience will decide."

So far, the viewing public seems eager to welcome new members to the "CSI" and "L&O" families, each of which grows by one this year. CBS has already launched "CSI: New York" (making three, with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "CSI: Miami"), and at midseason, NBC adds the courtroom-based drama "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (making four, with "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"). The cast for "Trial by Jury" includes former "Law & Order" (the original, no colon) cast member Jerry Orbach, reprising his role as Detective Lennie Briscoe.

"As Jerry would be the first to tell you," Wolf says, "he has moved beyond the mandatory retirement age of any police force on the planet. Luckily, in New York City, there is the D.A. squad, which is composed of both active-duty and retired detectives. For example, Jerry Giorgio, who is probably the most well-known homicide detective in the history of the NYPD, is in his early 70s and is still on the D.A. squad."

This move left the door open for the hiring of a new partner for Detective Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) in the ever-rotating cast of the venerable NBC cops-and-lawyers drama, which is filmed, as all the "Law & Order" shows are, in New York.

Beginning with the show's 15th-season premiere on Sept. 22, veteran actor (and former Chicago cop) Dennis Farina joined the cast as slick and stylish Detective Joe Fontana (whose name is suspiciously similar to "Oz" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" writer/producer Tom Fontana, whose New York and Baltimore-based shows have shared many cast members with Wolf's over the years).

"I don't like to think of it as a replacement," Farina says. "I think of it as a reassignment, that Jerry's character is going to one new unit, and I'm coming in from some other unit in a reassignment shuffle.

"I like to say [Fontana's] going to be the type of guy that you wouldn't want to play poker with, and you really never know too much about him. He's a little bit of a mystery. There are some rumors surrounding him: that he's a single guy, and he might dress a little better than some policemen are supposed to and have a little bit more cash than some policemen. There might be some theories about that, but I'm not going to give anything away."

Wolf also assures loyal "Law & Order" fans that, while Lennie Briscoe may be gone, he won't be entirely forgotten.

"There are continuing references, the same way there have been to other characters that have left the show," Wolf says. "We don't go out of our way to explain these cast changes. As I've said for years, 'Law & Order' is a workplace show. It's great when there's something like, 'Oh, remember when Lennie did this ... .' But that's going to be it. There's no real focus on it at all."

Apparently, it wasn't tough getting Farina to agree to come on board.

"Dick and I have been talking about doing something for a while, a couple of years," Farina says. "When Dick said to me, `Jerry is leaving, and he's going to do another show. Would you be interested in coming on?' To me, it was a no-brainer. It's the best writing on television.

"Because, as an actor, when you get up in the morning, and if you look at something that is really not very good, really doesn't make any sense, you just get that in your head, and you say, `I have to go out and try to make some sense out of this and try to make it look good' -- it makes for a very hard day.

"But when you look at an episode or a script of 'Law & Order,' it's like biting into a real good steak or a forkful of really good pasta. You know it immediately."

As to whether he's concerned that "Law & Order" is up against "CSI: New York" (shot, by the way, largely in the Los Angeles area), which just may be its strongest competition yet, Wolf says, "I'd be retarded if I didn't know that. There is no question about it. 'Law & Order' is not going to change. It is hopefully going to be as good or better than it has ever been, and that will come down to the writing.

"The audience is never wrong. The audience will decide. 'Law & Order' has been comfortably winning its time slot for the last seven years. We haven't had real competition. This is real competition. But I think the one thing that has been demonstrated over the past couple of years, is that when there's great programming, more people will come to the set.

"I am a great believer in, the more good shows on, the better it is for all of us."

f44: I am trying to find some Pax numbers for you.
(And how do you attach spoiler tags?)

Originally posted by fredfa
how do you attach spoiler tags?

[ spoiler ] and [ /spoiler ] without the spaces.

f44: thanks.

Saturday ratings added

An interesting take on the new TV season from the often-thought provoking critic/columnist Kay McFadden of the Seattle Times:

Hot male leads missing from TV fantasy land
Kay McFadden / Seattle Times staff columnist

It's ladies' choice this fall. Shows want our ratings. Advertisers want our money. Adult women are the new No. 1 demographic, belles of the Nielsen ball.

And the networks are prepared to do almost anything to win our favor — except give us hot-looking men. Prime time should be prime territory for strapping eye candy. Instead, the night overflows with chubby hubbies, craggy cops and creepy moguls.

Jason Alexander. Dennis Farina. Donald Trump. The male stars of virtually every ABC and CBS comedy. Even the cartoons are fantasy killers: John Goodman's lump of a lion on "Father of the Pride" makes Homer Simpson almost seem erotic.

What happened? When did the classic handsome leading man disappear from broadcast television? (George Clooney, we hardly knew ye.)

Tracey Cartwright is group broadcast director of OMD, which buys TV and radio spots for advertising agencies like DDB Seattle. She may be the only woman in town who watches more TV than me.

I test my outrage on her, fearing it won't resonate in the practical Northwest.

"Oh God, yes," says Cartwright. "What a lot of women go to TV for is escape. And even though we may hide it under our fleece, there's a sensibility here that does make good looks matter."

Cartwright at first suggests watching The WB network. It's made a cottage industry of pubescent, soul-tortured pretty boys ever since "Dawson's Creek."

On the other hand, she concedes, "There's not a lot there in terms of grown-up men. Legal men."

Exactly. It's as if the networks determined somewhere along the line that once women attain maturity, we're only supposed to care about personality.

Ha! Even if that weren't patently false in real life, TV is supposed to be fantasy — and not the fantasy of male writers imagining a world where fat, balding guys get all the babes.

History proves male stars weren't always so dowdy. Just as dinosaurs once roamed the Earth, so did the dashing private eye, the matinee-idol MD and the lusty cowboy.

Even domesticated dads were lookers: John Forsythe, Bill Bixby, Michael Landon. Sitcoms have never featured studs, but it's worth citing (even to our embarrassment) the days of wine and roses with Alan Alda, Ted Danson and 2004 exception-to-the-rule Matt LeBlanc.

Cartwright says the rise of reality TV contributed to the downfall of fantasy and a small-screen infatuation with "ordinary" people. She dryly notes that even when male contestants are attractive, "The production values don't make them George Clooney."

There's that name again. In any conversation about hubba-hubba he-men, Clooney is inevitably invoked. He's like a talismanic representative from the lost world of TV hunks.

In fact, one friend has the Unified Theory of Clooney. After he left and "ER" remained a hit, she insists, "That just showed everybody we could do without."

An entirely unscientific survey of female co-workers supplies some other ideas about the curious demise of the gorgeous guy.

On a hastily assembled list of Times TV hotties, most of the candidates that repeatedly pop up — former "Sex and the City" star Chris Noth, Peter Krause of "Six Feet Under," Julian McMahon of "Nip/Tuck," Clive Owen of BBC fame — are from cable.

Danger is a key component of sex appeal. Maybe cable took the edgy, alluring men along with the edgy, alluring shows.

Then again, the networks have churned out an endless stream of dark, gritty police procedurals in recent years. Surely these provide a proper vehicle for the dark, virile detective who drives dames to distraction.

Lots of luck. "CSI" and "Law & Order" both suffer from acute Sipowiczitis: a form of realism that insists officers of the law are world weary, emotionally oppressed and entirely too absorbed in their jobs and AA meetings to flirt.

I know fans will defend their heroes by insisting the characters played by David Caruso, William Petersen, Jerry Orbach and Vincent D'Onofrio have hidden, smoldering depths.

But Mount St. Helens has to erupt once in awhile, or it's just a pile of congealed rock. The modern TV flatfoot is a poor stand-in for his wolf-whistling ancestors, and we are the orphaned rhesus monkeys clinging to wire-and-cloth substitutes.

Network TV isn't entirely devoid of dashing manhood. Times nominees included Josh Duhamel of "Vegas," Blair Underwood of "LAX" and Rob Lowe of "dr. vega$." (James Spader of "Boston Legal" was withdrawn because of his "Pillsbury doughboy-ish face.")

Unfortunately, don't bet on them being around next year. They're all struggling with mediocre ratings.

Maybe the weak quality and poor time slots of these shows are proof that male network executives and producers — hired for brains, not beauty — are on a subliminal course to destroy their macho TV competition. Then they'll have the chicks to themselves.

Endurance is an important quality because we are, after all, women. Inveterate cuddlers, we're not really interested in a show that's out the door before we ever got to know it.

That only leaves a few new hopefuls on which to pin our girlish hopes and pillowed dreams: Taye Diggs in UPN's "Kevin Hill," Gary Sinise in CBS' "CSI: New York" and James Denton in ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

Diggs, the supremely charming former supermodel, requires little explanation unless you are dead from the neck up and down. Sinise's character is poised to be the first "CSI" chief that combines an enticing appearance with seductive vulnerability.

"Desperate Housewives," however, may be the series that delivers the goods. At the center of a bevy of lovely women is mystery plumber and object of desire Mike Delfino, played by Denton.

Last week, "Desperate Housewives" was the No. 1 series on TV. As OMD's Cartwright notes, it's shrewdly scheduled in the 9 p.m. spot once occupied by "Sex and the City."

No accident, that. We've gone too long without a show that offered the fringe benefit of making us quiver in our stilettos.

Some network HD choices for tonight mostly from TVNow.com. This list is shows I might find personally interesting and is NOT intended to be all encompassing:

A subjective collection of HD TV Picks for Sunday Night, October 10

"Cold Case" CBS, 8:00pm - 9:00pm ET.
(info from TVTome.com)

Lilly and the team reopen a case from 1943 involving the suspicious death of a World War II factory worker, Alice (Chad Morgan), who was found dead after an apparent accidental fall. A 60 year reunion of World War II female factory workers stirs up memories of the mysterious death. A friend of the deceased confides in Lilly that the death is not what it appears to be and begs her to dig deeper into the case. After several interviews, Lilly soon discovers that the women were not as innocent in 1943 as they now appear to be and the investigation points to murder and reveals that the shy, married victim had secrets that may have lead to her death. Lily must comb through a web of lies to try to track the real motive and killer.

(Note: This was scheduled to be the 2nd season premiere, but the episode "The Badlands" opened the second season instead.)

"American Dreams" on NBC, 8:00pm - 9:00pm ET.

Roxanne (Vanessa Lengies) moves in with the Pryor family. Meg (Brittany Snow) is asked to commit a small crime by Chris (guest star Milo Ventimiglia) in exhange for his help with her play. Jack (Tom Verica) aims at alternative voting groups.

"While I Was Gone" on CBS, 9:00pm - 11:00pm ET.

One afternoon, a man brings his dog into Jo Beckett's (Kirstie Alley) veterinary practice to be treated. Jo recognizes him as Eli (Peter Horton), a former housemate from her bohemian days more than 20 years ago who is now married and has moved to her small town. Though they were never involved in the past, Eli is still attractive to Jo and when he invites her to lunch at a fancy hotel in Boston, she goes with the intention of sleeping with him. Instead, Eli reveals a secret to Jo that returns her to the darkest moments of her past and threatens to destroy life for her and her preacher husband (Bill Smitrovich) as they know it. Overview help from CBS.

"Desperate Housewives" on ABC, 9:00pm - 10:00pm ET.

Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) tries hard to hide her affair. Susan (Teri Hatcher) decides it's safe to invite Mike (James Denton) to dinner. The gals find a disturbing note from their late friend. Doug Savant guest stars as Tom Scavo.

"Jack & Bobby" on The WB, 9:00pm - 10:00pm ET.

What if you could watch the next great American president grow up? That compelling question is the idea behind this powerful, hit drama series. It may be set in the fictional town of Hart, Missouri, but we know who the young men represent. In tonight' episode, the future reveals a dark secret about the first lady. Back in the present, Jack (Matt Long) offers to escort a depressed Courtney (Jessica Paré) to her father's (John Slattery) work fundraiser leading to an unexpected confession and kiss. Meanwhile, much to the consternation of her sons, Grace (Christine Lahti, photo) offers to let a homeless man stay at their house for a few days until she can find him a better place to live.

"Boston Legal" on ABC, 10:00pm - 11:00pm ET.

Alan Shore (James Spader) represents an ex-lover who was institutionalized after attempting to murder him. Meanwhile, the partners are concerned by Denny Crane's (William Shatner) increasingly erratic behavior. With series regulars Monica Potter, Mark Valley, Rhona Mitra and Lake Bell. Overview help from ABC.

"Crossing Jordan" on NBC, 10:00pm - 11:00pm ET.

Jordan (Jill Hennessy, photo) begins to act strangely after a night of dancing with Woody (Jerry O'Connell). Suppressing information that she had an encounter with an intruder in her apartment that night, her behavior causes concern among her co-workers, which leads her to believe that Macy (Miguel Ferrer, photo) and Lily (Kathryn Hahn) asked the resident shrink, Dr. Howard Stiles (guest star Wallace Shawn), to talk to her. Convinced the intrusion is connected to her mother's murder, Jordan finally has a breakdown and Dr. Stiles helps her reach a breakthrough with her troubled past. Meanwhile, a fire in a storage unit turns up a dead body that re- opens a case that was closed ten years ago.

From Monday's Wall Street Journal:

Fox TV Seeks Gridiron Paydirt With Pricey Super Bowl Ads
Increase of as Much as 8.7% Sought for 30-Second Spot;
Late Buys May Pare Rates

By BRIAN STEINBERG Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 11, 2004; Page B5

The kickoff of Super Bowl XXXIX is months away -- we don't even know whose wardrobe might malfunction at halftime -- but News Corp.'s Fox already is running hard in its efforts to boost the price of ad time on the big telecast over last year's lofty levels.

With nearly 17 weeks left until the Big Game takes place Feb. 6, Fox has sold about 65% of its ad time, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The television network, which last aired the couch-potato perennial in 2002, is seeking $2.4 million to $2.5 million for a 30-second spot, this person says, and already has secured commitments from the usual suspects, namely PepsiCo Inc. and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Anheuser has purchased five minutes of ad time.

Last season's game, broadcast on Viacom Inc.'s CBS, reached about 89.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. A 30-second ad during that game sold for about $2.3 million on average, meaning Fox expects an increase of 4.4% to 8.7%.

Whether Fox gets the money it wants remains to be seen. Several media buyers say the network's desired price sounds high, and they believe Fox will negotiate lower as the Super Bowl broadcast nears and space is left unfilled. Another buyer, Sam Sussman, who handles sports-buying for Publicis Groupe SA's Starcom USA, is not impressed by the amount sold so far. Getting as much as 80% of Super Bowl ad time sold is "quite easy," he says. "It's the last 20% that's hard."

Waiting until the last minute to purchase is no walk in the park either. Marketers might get a better price but have their ads run in the fourth quarter. If the game is a blowout, chances are the ad will have less impact and generate less word of mouth.

Other participants this season include Ford Motor Co., General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista Pictures. While news of advertiser commitments so far in advance of anyone's first game-day buffalo wing sounds exciting, Pepsi, Anheuser and movie studios typically get in early to secure prime positioning for what are usually among the best-remembered spots on Madison Avenue's biggest night of the year.

Sad news indeed:



'Superman' Star Christopher Reeve, Dead at 52
* Wheelchair-bound actor was also an advocate for spinal cord research.
10:25 PM PDT, October 10, 2004

From The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

NEW YORK — Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52.

Reeve fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night.

Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.

"On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband," Dana Reeve, Christopher's wife, said in a statement. "I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years."

Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.
------------------

A more complete story from The Associated Press:
10:40 p.m. PT October 10, 2004

BEDFORD, N.Y. – Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52.

Reeve fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night.

Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.

"On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband," Dana Reeve, Christopher's wife, said in a statement. "I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years."

Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.

Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.

He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of "Rear Window," a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a television movie or miniseries.

"I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story," Reeve said. "But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count."

In his public appearances, he was as handsome as ever, his blue eyes bright and his voice clear.

"Hollywood needs to do more," he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. "Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can't meet."

In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body.

Reeve's support of stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry earlier this month during the second presidential debate.

As for the strain of traveling to Hollywood, Reeve said: "I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery."

His athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural, if largely unknown, choice for the title role in the first "Superman" movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts.

Although he reprised the role three times, Reeve often worried about being typecast as an action hero.

"Look, I've flown, I've become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I've faced my peers, I've befriended children and small animals and I've rescued cats from trees," Reeve told the Los Angeles Times in 1983, just before the release of the third "Superman" movie. "What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn't been done?"

Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, "escape the cape." He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play "Fifth of July," a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie "Somewhere in Time," and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller "Deathtrap."

"After the first 'Superman,' I had the compulsion to do parts that were really weird," Reeve told The Associated Press in 1987. "That freaked people out. I've passed that."

More recent films included John Carpenter's "Village of the Damned," and the HBO movies "Above Suspicion" and "In the Gloaming," which he directed. Among his other film credits are "The Remains of the Day," "The Aviator," and "Morning Glory."

Yet Reeve always will be known to movie fans as the strapping, boyishly handsome stage veteran whose charm and humor brought a new dimension to the characters of Superman and his alter-ego, Clark Kent. The film co-starred Margot Kidder as Lois Lane.

Reeve said in public appearances promoting the "Superman" films, he tried to get children to better themselves.

"They should be looking for Superman's qualities – courage, determination, modesty, humor – in themselves rather than passively sitting back, gaping slack-jawed at this terrific guy in boots," Reeve said.

Reeve was born Sept. 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. He in around 10 when he made his first stage appearance – in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Yeoman of the Guard" at McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J.

He starred in virtually all of the theatrical productions at the exclusive Princeton Day School. By age 16, he had joined the actors' union.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, he landed a part as coldhearted bigamist Ben Harper on the television soap opera "Love of Life." He also performed frequently on stage, winning his first Broadway role as the grandson of a character played by Katharine Hepburn in "A Matter of Gravity."

Reeve's first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie "Gray Lady Down," released in 1978. "Superman" soon followed. Reeve was selected for the title role from among about 200 aspirants.

Active in many sports, Reeve owned several horses and competed in equestrian events regularly. Witnesses to the May 1995 accident said Reeve's horse had cleared two of 15 fences during the jumping event and stopped abruptly at the third, flinging the actor headlong to the ground.

Doctors said he fractured the top two vertebrae in his neck and damaged his spinal cord. When he finally was released from a rehabilitation institute in December 1995, he thanked staffed members "who have set the stage for my continued journey." He underwent further rehabilitation at his home in upstate New York.

While filming "Superman" in London, Reeve met modeling agency co-founder Gae Exton, and the two began a relationship that lasted several years. The couple had two sons, but were never wed.

Reeve later married Dana Morosini; they had one son, Will, 11. His wife became his frequent spokeswoman after the accident.

Reeve also is survived by his mother, Barbara Johnson; his father, Franklin Reeve; his brother, Benjamin Reeve; and his two children from his relationship with Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21.

No plans for a funeral were immediately announced.

A few months after the accident, he told interviewer Barbara Walters that he considered suicide in the first dark days after he was injured. But he quickly overcame such thoughts when he saw his children.

"I could see how much they needed me and wanted me ... and how lucky we all are and that my brain is on straight."

He was a hero and beloved actor to many. I will miss his recurring role on "Smallville". I hope that people will continue to support his causes, such as stem cell research, even though he won't live to realize his dream of walking again someday. But maybe others will.

An overview at the very early TV ratings news from TV Week's Chris Lisotta:

ABC, CBS Take Early Leads
'CSI: NY,' 'Desperate Housewives' Spark Year-to-Year Gains
By Christopher Lisotta, TV Week
October 11, 2004
With only two weeks under their belts, ABC and CBS have a long way to go before they declare their new programming and the 2004-05 season a success. But early results for the season indicate the two networks have made programming choices that are resonating with viewers.

For the first two weeks of the 2004-05 season, CBS was up 8 percent over the first two weeks of last season in the adults 18 to 49 demographic, averaging a 4.0 rating in prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research.

ABC also saw a gain, growing 3 percent in adults 18 to 49 from a 3.9 in the first two weeks of last season to a 4.0 for the first two weeks of 2004-05, driven largely by the surprise early success of a couple of new shows.

ABC did what it was unable to do last season-it captured the No. 1 spot in adults 18 to 49 and total viewers with one of its scripted series for the week ending Oct. 3. Sunday night's campy soaplike drama "Desperate Housewives" led the pack with an 8.9 rating, while mystery plane crash series "Lost" came in seventh in the demo for the week with a 6.5 rating.

The last time ABC had two dramas rank in the top 10 among total viewers and adults 18 to 49 was more than four years ago, when "NYPD Blue" and "The Practice" were benefiting from "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's" halo effect.

For ABC executives, the initial payoff has been satisfying.

"We all felt really confident about the shows creatively, but as far as those who were watching it, and the volume to which they were going to come in, we were all very pleased," said Francie Calfo, executive VP of development, ABC prime time.

Ms. Calfo said it would be too easy to explain the success of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" as just a change of pace from the many franchise procedural dramas that have dominated the ratings over the past few years. Unlike some other serialized programs, the new ABC shows are using elements like flashbacks that will allow for closed-ended episodes and story lines.

"It's not just one thing," Ms. Calfo said. "As serialized as they might be, there are elements in it for people that are dropping in."

Ms. Calfo said the fact that the shows are well made helped both series' initial ratings performance.

"It's all about execution," she said. "`Desperate Housewives' has nearly perfectly drawn characters with specific points of view. At the heart it is about something."

At CBS, the franchise business is alive and well, with "CSI: Miami" and the premiering "CSI: NY" both making the top 10 shows among adults 18 to 49 for the weeks ended Sept. 26 and Oct. 3. The original "CSI" was the No. 1 show in the demo with an 11.4 for the week ended Sept. 26.

Nina Tassler, CBS entertainment president, said the numbers show the audience is still very much engaged in procedural mysteries, and the success of shows like "Lost" and "Housewives" does not mean the beginning of the end of the genre. "It just means there is an appetite out there for different kinds of shows," she said.

Among the other networks, only one, The WB, broke even year to year in adults 18 to 49. NBC, Fox and UPN are down so far this season. It's still early, but below is a network-by-network breakdown of the first two weeks of 2004-05 in terms of good ratings news, bad ratings news and unanswered questions.

A B C

The Good News: Thanks to "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and the out-of-the-gate success of "Desperate Housewives," ABC is up 64 percent on Sundays in adults 18 to 49 year to year (5.4 versus 3.3). On Wednesdays "Lost" is bringing in audiences at 8 p.m. that the network could only dream of last year. Even with "The Benefactor" struggling on Mondays, a resurgent "Monday Night Football" helped drive up the night's year-to-year adults 18 to 49 number by 7 percent.

The Bad News: Tuesday's comedy block and the final season of "NYPD Blue" are down 24 percent from last year in the demo, with newcomer "Rodney" at 9:30 p.m. down an average 14 percent in adults 18 to 49 from its "According to Jim" lead-in for the first two weeks of the season. A ratings drop for "The Bachelor" has ABC down 6 percent on Wednesdays, despite "Lost." Friday night's revamped TGIF comedy block and newsmagazine "20/20" are down 21 percent in the demo year to year, with a 36 percent drop in male teens (0.9 versus 1.4) despite the male-skewing "Complete Savages."

Unanswered Questions: If the serialized "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" lose their early momentum, it could mean big trouble for ABC. "The Bachelor" has been running against "CSI" and "Law & Order" repeats and "The Apprentice," so a more traditional schedule of CBS comedies and "The West Wing" could mean a bump in its numbers. Once football and "NYPD Blue" finish, ABC tries out "Grey's Anatomy" and "Blind Justice."

C B S

The Good News: "CSI: NY" is beating "Law & Order" on Wednesdays, driving CBS to a 68 percent increase for the night year to year in adults 18 to 49. On Thursdays the latest installment of "Survivor" and the original "CSI" have given the network an edge over NBC and upped its adults 18 to 49 performance by 5 percent. The sophomore season of "Navy NCIS" has been a nice surprise for CBS, helping to increase Tuesday's demo average by 44 percent (2.7 versus 3.9).

The Bad News: Friday night's lineup of "Joan of Arcadia," "JAG" and the new series "dr. vegas" is down 34 percent year to year. Tuesday baseball series "Clubhouse" was ranked third at 9 p.m. in its Sept. 28 time period debut, down 22 percent from its "Navy NCIS" lead-in. The Sunday night movie has been a third-place finisher both weeks, while "Cold Case" was 37 percent behind ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" in the demo (3.7/9 versus 5.9/15).

Unanswered Questions: On Wednesdays the 9 p.m. comedy block "King of Queens" and "Center of the Universe" has yet to debut. With three network series, a cable run on Spike TV and a weekend syndication airing, there's always a chance audiences will tire of "CSI." On Mondays "Listen Up" grew on its lead-in "Still Standing" in adults 18 to 49, but lags its lead-out "Everybody Loves Raymond." Whether "Listen Up" will rise to the Monday night occasion and get "Raymond"-like ratings is an open question.

N B C

The Good News: On Fridays "Third Watch" and "Medical Investigation" have won their time periods in adults 18 to 49, helping NBC increase its performance in the demo 12 percent for the night from last year. "Fear Factor" won its time period in adults 18 to 49 both weeks. Despite a weak preseason opening, "The Apprentice" remains competitive at 9 p.m. Thursday, and "ER" won the night of Sept. 23 in adults 18 to 49 with a 9.8/25.

The Bad News: On Thursdays a "Friends"-free NBC is down 25 percent in the demo from last year, and the network is down 20 percent on Mondays, thanks in part to "LAX," which has a two-week average of 3.2/8. On Wednesdays at 8 p.m. "Hawaii" has averaged a 2.4/7, coming in either fourth or fifth in the time period. The network announced last week it was removing "Last Comic Standing" from Tuesday's schedule, where NBC was down 9 percent from last year.

Unanswered Questions: "The West Wing" won't premiere until Oct. 20, leaving open the question of how the network will perform on Wednesdays. Next week also marks the debut of weight-loss reality show "The Biggest Loser," which has a 90-minute premiere on Oct. 19. "Joey" has been second to "Survivor" in the demo on Thursdays at 8 p.m., but it is still unclear whether the show will build an audience as "Friends" watchers warm to it, or whether it will continue to drop. "Joey" was down 16 percent from Sept. 23 to Sept. 30. "Crossing Jordan," which is up 24 percent on Sundays at 10 p.m. from last year's time slot occupant, "The Lyon's Den," could be a time period winner if ABC's "Boston Legal" falters.

Fox

The Good News: Reality series "Trading Spouses" has worked, winning its time period Sept. 28 in adults 18 to 49. Fox's "North Shore" and "Renovate My Family" have helped Fox raise its ratings among women 18 to 34 by 12 percent (2.9/8 versus 2.6/7) on Mondays and increase its adults 18 to 34 ratings by 4 percent. On Wednesdays Fox's comedy block is up 68 percent among male teens, 3.2/11 to last year's 1.9/7.

The Bad News: "Method & Red" is already gone. Fox is down every day of the week in adults 18 to 49 from last year except for Monday, where the network is flat. The network has shuttled the remainder of "The Next Great Champ" off to cable, while "The Complex: Malibu" has contributed to a 48 percent decline in the network's Thursday number.

Unanswered Questions: Because of baseball, Fox isn't premiering performers such as "The O.C.," "The Simpsons" and the Emmy-enhanced "Arrested Development" until November. Monday reality show "Renovate My Family" shows promise and could build with a better lead-in than "North Shore." Until all the repeats are gone and replaced by original 2004-05 fare, it will be hard to compare the network against original programming on competing networks.

The WB

The Good News: Tuesday's "Gilmore Girls" has shaken off the slump of last year, while "One Tree Hill" is a second-season hit; on Tuesday the network is up 64 percent in adults 18 to 49 year to year (2.3/6 versus 1.4/4), and up 65 percent in adults 18 to 34 (2.8 versus 1.7). "Reba" has been the Friday night performer with a 1.8/6 in adults 18 to 49.

The Bad News: Game show "Studio 7" was canceled. Wednesday's "The Mountain" is down an average of 48 percent from its "Smallville" lead-in, while on Sundays "Steve Harvey's Big Time," "Charmed" and "Jack & Bobby" have combined for a 25 percent drop in the demo from last year. Monday's "7th Heaven" and "Everwood" are down a combined 12 percent year to year in adults 18 to 49, and down 15 percent in adults 18 to 34 (2.2/6 versus 2.6/7).

Unanswered Questions: The WB has already picked up drama "Jack & Bobby" for the season. The recast and health-delayed "Commando Nanny" is still a question mark. "Blue Collar TV" started off strong and has leveled off. But will "Drew Carey's Green Screen Show" help raise the sketch comedy bar?

UPN

The Good News: The third installment of "America's Next Top Model" on Wednesdays has driven up UPN's 18 to 49 number by 13 percent from last year, with a 67 percent jump in adults 18 to 34 (2.0 versus 1.2) and an 1,100 percent rise among teen girls (2.4 versus 0.2). "Top Model" reruns and airings of "Kevin Hill" and "Veronica Mars" on Fridays have increased the network's adults 18 to 49 rating 17 percent (0.7 versus 0.6).

The Bad News: Monday's comedy block is down 26 percent in adults 18 to 49 (1.4/4 versus 1.9/5) and down 36 percent in adults 18 to 34 (1.4/4 versus 2.2/6). "WWE SmackDown!" is down 12 percent in the demo (1.5/4 versus 1.7/5) and down 17 percent in men 18 to 34 (1.9/6 versus 2.3/8).

Unanswered Questions: Will the critically acclaimed "Kevin Hill" benefit from its "Top Model" lead-in? On Tuesdays another critics' favorite, "Veronica Mars," is considered a breakout possibility as the season progresses.

From Denver's Rocky Mountain News columnist Dusty Saunders, some thoughts from an ABC affiliate leader about Monday Night Football possibly leaving the network:

URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/entertainment_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_84_3245542,00.html

Saunders: ABC is considering not carrying 'MNF'
October 11, 2004

Can you envision a fall season without ABC's Monday Night Football?

Millions of viewers can't, including Darrell Brown, vice president and general manager of 7News, the local ABC affiliate.

Such a drastic scheduling change is being discussed regarding the long-running (35th season) sports staple that is up for renewal following the 2005 season.

And this discussion has nothing to do with viewer disenchantment.

While not as dominant as it was 20 years ago, MNF remains a major drawing card, depending, of course, on the games.

Keep in mind there are many more viewing alternatives in today's cable universe than existed 20 years ago.

Predictably, the discussion - and controversy - centers around money because the Disney-owned network has been losing around $150 million annually by airing MNF. ABC currently pays the NFL $550 million annually for broadcast rights. And advertising revenue doesn't come close to covering the expense of producing this weekly extravaganza.

Enter the ABC affiliated stations that have chipped in nearly $35 million in recent years to help the network pay the NFL. Such an arrangement has not won praise from station bean counters around the country.

While initial discussions about the future of MNF on ABC have been ongoing, the bare-knuckled talks will begin after Jan. 1, when the league also begins negotiations with CBS, Fox and possibly NBC, which dropped out six years ago.

A possible alternative for Disney:

A shift of MNF to ESPN, also owned by the company.

ESPN pays the NFL roughly the same amount as does ABC. But football on the cable channel doesn't lose money. ESPN makes a profit on its Sunday night games, collecting subscriber fees from local cable outlets in addition to advertising revenue.

So what would happen to ESPN's Sunday night package? That's also up for discussion.

Meanwhile, Brown, who represents the four McGraw Hill Broadcasting outlets on the ABC affiliate board, believes the loss of MNF would be a major blow to network stations.

"Obviously, I'm aware of the financial problems," he said. "But if Disney is serious about fixing the network, such a fix doesn't equate to losing Monday Night Football."

My HD-Tivo says the Oct 20th West Wing is a rerun.

Sunday's ratings posted

Thanks for this thread and keeping it up to date fredfa! Always an interesting read.

Thanks for the compliment Paul.
I work pretty hard to keep the thread up to date and interesting -- and it is nice to get positive feedback.

Originally posted by sdf777
My HD-Tivo says the Oct 20th West Wing (D* 382 & 383) is a rerun.

Interestingly, the D* 82 & 83(NBC-HD) have "to be announced" in the WW 10/20 slot.

and ditto the thread is well appreciated.

Originally posted by fredfa
Thanks for the compliment Paul.
I work pretty hard to keep the thread up to date and interesting -- and it is nice to get positive feedback.

Okay, okay, me too, thanks fred!! :D :D

Jim

Originally posted by fredfa
Thanks for the compliment Paul.
I work pretty hard to keep the thread up to date and interesting -- and it is nice to get positive feedback.

I refer to it every day. Your work is well received!!

Marc Berman's Mr. Television column in the weekly print edition of MediaWeek gives a few reasons why it is increasingly difficult to tell the winners from the losers in network TV land:

Mr. Television: Spin Out Of Control
October 11, 2004

Picture this. It's Sept. 24, the morning after the first Thursday of the new season. CBS is proudly gloating about Without a Trace, which opened season three first in the 10 p.m. hour with 21.5 million viewers, for the first time outdelivering an original episode of NBC's ER. CBS doesn't mention that the missing-persons-themed Trace didn't hold 9.06 million, or 30 percent, of the viewers from lead-in CSI. NBC, meanwhile, crows that ER won the hour in all key demos but neglects to mention that the veteran medical drama is down by double-digit proportions year-to-year. So, which of these shows should be considered the winner?

Before I answer that, here's another example. ABC's Desperate Housewives connected instantly with 21.64 million viewers on Sunday, Oct. 3, making it the network's most-watched series debut since Spin City opened on Sept. 17, 1996, and its most-watched drama premiere since Sept. 19, 1995. Once again, NBC cranks out its retort, pointing out that its competing Law & Order: Criminal Intent built on its lead-in by 46 percent. NBC fails to mention the drama is down by double-digit percentages year-to-year.

These are just two incidents of the incredibly amped-up spin being perpetrated on the press by the networks. No matter how good—or bad—a show does (in network, cable or syndication), the goal of the public relations department is to trick writers into believing everything the networks touch turns to gold.

On an average morning as I write my daily Programming Insider ratings-analysis e-mail, the barrage of phone calls and e-mails from every network is endless. And it's increasing. Unless your background is in ratings research—I now feel thankful for the years I spent crunching ratings for a number of companies—you need a Ph.D. in statistics to decipher what is real and what isn't. I remember a time when the networks didn't resort to this amount of bluster. But the competitive nature of this business has escalated to the point where the people writing these press releases ought to be put through a lie-detector test before issuing their angles.

I am constantly accused, from all sides, of showing favoritism ("You're on CBS' payroll," "You have a vendetta against NBC," "Why do you look at all telecast ratings?" are some recent comments). But I do not play favorites. If a network or syndicator makes good programming and/or does well in the ratings, I'll say good things about them—it's that simple. But let me also provide a more detailed explanation of the guidelines I use to measure success, particularly with new series.

• Does the series build on, or hold, the year-ago time-period average?

•Does the series build on, or hold, the lead-in average?

•Is the series performing well in any particular demographics?

•Has the show lost more than 15 percent of its audience in week two, or more than another 10 percent in week three?

•Has the show leveled off in ratings after one month?

•What are critics saying about the show?

•Does the series have a long potential shelf life given the nature of the story lines?

•Is there any buzz around the watercooler?

The last benchmark is probably the most important. I can't begin to tell you how many shows caught my attention when I heard other people talk about them.

I understand that everyone has a job to do, but I also think that a bit of humility can go a long way when a network, or individual show, is hurting in the ratings. While I can't—and won't—come to any specific conclusions after just three weeks of the 2004-05 season, ABC is poised to make a considerable comeback, CBS is a true competitor among adults 18-49, NBC is fading into oblivion, the WB has a huge advantage over UPN, and the jury is still out on Fox until after baseball ends.

Spin tends to increase as ratings decrease. Flacks redouble their efforts to find something positive to say when there's nothing good going on. The benchmarks I listed help me bust through the B.S. and figure out what stands the best chance of surviving. Right now, in my book, there are two bona fide new hits this season: ABC's Lost and CBS' CSI: NY. I'm also on the verge of including ABC's Desperate Housewives, but true to my benchmarks, I have to wait at least through week three.

Oh, and in the battle between the Thursday-night dramas, it's clear to me that Without a Trace is the winner.

Something else that may or not effect ratings is whether the program can be see during re-run season. For example, I like L&O: Special Victims Unit but I watch NYPD Blue initially because it may not be shown in re-runs like it wasn't last season. I can usually catch the L&Os in re-run almost ever time.

Just a thought...

Jim

Or in the case of CSI, CSI Miami, and Without A Trace, CBS left them on during the summers to build audiences which perhaps didn't see their first run episodes.

Final national ratings for Bush/Kerry II are in (from Variety.com).
Since none of the network coverage was in HD, I'll just post these numbers here.

Debate victories fall to NBC, cabler Fox News; NBC also led post-debate analysis

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

More than 46.7 million viewers tuned in for the terse town hall debate between Sen. John Kerry and President Bush, a strong showing for a second presidential debate falling on the second-worst night in TV.

Friday's standoff between the candidates saw victory go to NBC News on the broadcast side (12.3 million) and Fox News Channel on the cable side (7.1 million), according to Nielsen Media Research.

ABC News came in second with 10.3 million viewers, while CBS News averaged 8.1 million.

Cabler CNN drew 3.4 million viewers, not far behind Fox Broadcasting, which averaged 3.8 million. MSNBC averaged 1.7 million viewers during the debate, which ran from 9-10:40 p.m. ET. All the news nets carried the debate commercial-free.

Interest in the debates has been high this election season, with more than 62.5 million viewers watching the first Bush-Kerry battle Sept. 30, up from the 46.8 million who turned in the prexy parley in 2000. The second debate in 2000 drew 37.6 million viewers, significantly lower than the aud for Friday's event.

Post-debate sesh

NBC stayed in the lead with its post-debate analysis, averaging 10.6 million viewers from approximately 10:40 to 11 p.m. ET, while ABC averaged 8.6 million. Nielsen didn't provide numbers for CBS. On the cable side, Fox drew 6.7 million viewers, while CNN drew 3.5 million.

As has been the case with the other debates, MSNBC saw its post-debate aud grow to 2.1 million. And from 11 p.m. to midnight, MSNBC narrowly beat CNN with its continuing debate coverage (1.6 vs. 1.5), although Fox News drew more viewers than the competish combined in the 11 p.m. hour (3.2 million).

Final prez debate is Wednesday is Tempe, Ariz., with the focus supposed to be on domestic policy.

re sdf777:

My HD-Tivo says the Oct 20th West Wing is a rerun.

I love my TiVos, but in this case yours is incorrect.
Here is the word from the NBC TV website about the October 20th episode of The West Wing -- episode #111 in the series, by the way:

NSF THURMONT 9pm 2004-10-20 ALL NEW!
MID-EAST TENSIONS RISE, BARTLET TRIES FOR PEACE -- With Palestinian leaders surrounded in their compound, Israel is willing to sit down with the US and moderate Palestinians to discuss a peaceful solution to the latest outbreak of fighting. Surprising everyone, however, the Palestinians publicly thank the US for inviting them to the negotiation table. Also, Donna (Janel Moloney) is rushed into surgery for a pulmonary embolism. Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff and Dule Hill also star. TV-PG

8pm is rerun
9pm is new
nbc.com

From TVWeek.com:

'Last Comic Standing' Final Episode to Air Oct. 16
By Jon Lafayette October 11, 2004
The last episode of "Last Comic Standing," the reality show abruptly canceled by NBC, will air Oct. 16 on Comedy Central, which has been airing the show on cable after its broadcast run.
In final installment of the show, hosted by Jay Mohr, viewers will find out which comedian wins the $250,000 prize.

From The Washington Post:

'Housewives' Prompts NBC to Cook Up a Copy
By Lisa de Moraes Tuesday, October 12, 2004; Page C07

With ABC's new dark comedy series "Desperate Housewives" scoring big numbers for a second consecutive week, it's only a matter of time before the other broadcast networks put out APBs seeking spec scripts about five families living on a picture-perfect suburban street. Because -- say it with me, class -- Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Television.

In its second telecast, ABC's new ray of ratings sunshine, which the network bought based on a spec script from sitcom writer Marc Cherry, scored a whopping --

We interrupt this column to bring you this breaking news report:

NBC is wrapping up talks to buy a spec script for a single-camera series about five families living on a suburban cul-de-sac, the trade paper the Hollywood Reporter reports.

Calling it "one of the most remarkable show comebacks" ever, THR writes that Todd Holland and John Riggi -- they worked together on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show" and Holland also executive-produced Fox's short-lived "Wonderfalls" -- have dusted off their seven-year-old script and are in the process of selling it to the peacock network.

"The story of 'Five Houses' began in 1997," the trade paper begins. Holland said the two wrote the pilot in just a few days "out of love," based on their "collective communal-living experiences."

In the original pilot, a gay couple moves onto a suburban Los Angeles street. Fox ordered it as a pilot for fall '98, but alas, it was not to be.

The script has been reworked and now it's about a young couple from an Oklahoma town who are the newest additions to the cul-de-sac, THR writes, though there still will be a gay couple on the block.

We now return to the regularly scheduled column:

In its second telecast, "Desperate Housewives" clocked more than 20 million viewers, hanging on to 94 percent of its premiere audience.

It retained 98 percent of its premiere audience in the 18-to-49-year-old bracket, ABC noted, that being the group the network claims to target. Who are they kidding? ABC is thrilled anyone is watching the network on Sunday nights. It now has won the past three Sundays; the last time ABC won the first three Sundays of a new TV season was at least as far back as 1991 and maybe even further, but that's as far back as ABC's records go.

"Desperate Housewives" was the most watched program Sunday night, beating NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" by nearly 8 million viewers -- and by 93 percent in that golden demo. Best of all, among younger viewers, "Desperate Housewives" has widened its advantage over the No. 2 new series, CBS's "CSI: NY."

"Housewives" is also the No. 1 new series of the season.

Monday ratings posted

So NBC finds something from past and wants to give the impression that this new series is the first? I can hear it now: "The "original" Desperate Housewives now here on NBC!"

Move over reality, ABC put the "in" suburb-in.

That promo that ABC is running with the Foghat's "Slow Ride" playing is amazing. I always stop to watch it when it is on as it is very well done.

Originally posted by tall1
That promo that ABC is running with the Foghat's "Slow Ride" playing is amazing. I always stop to watch it when it is on as it is very well done.

Is that the oen where Nicollete Sheridan is washing her car and she rings out the sponge onto her shirt? I cannot wait to see that episode.

Week Three ratings story posted.

Originally posted by AFH
Is that the oen where Nicollete Sheridan is washing her car and she rings out the sponge onto her shirt? I cannot wait to see that episode. That is the one. It is a great promo that they can run for 2 weeks straight..a very clever way to boost ratings for that show 2 weeks prior.

Already been done with "Cool Hand Luke" --> Luuuu-cille!

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
Already been done with "Cool Hand Luke" --> Luuuu-cille! An unforgetable image burned in my brain as a young man.

FCC seeks $1.2M fine for Fox marriage show
(From USA Today.com)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday sought to fine 169 Fox television stations a total of $1.18 million for violating decency standards when they aired an episode of Married by America.

The FCC proposed fining the stations $7,000 each for airing an episode of the matchmaking show that included sexually explicit, suggestive and graphic scenes at a time when children were likely to be watching.

The agency voted 5-0 in favor of fining the stations after receiving 159 complaints. Not all Fox affiliates aired the show.

The FCC has been cracking down on television and radio stations for decency violations after singer Janet Jackson bared her breast during the televised Super Bowl game halftime show earlier this year.

The FCC said scenes in the Married by America show — like a topless woman straddling a man, whipped cream being licked off one woman's bare chest and a underwear-clad man being spanked by two female strippers — were sufficiently graphic and explicit to be deemed indecent.

Although the nudity was obscured, "even a child would have known that the strippers were topless and that sexual activity was being shown," the FCC said in its order.

Federal rules bar television and radio stations from airing indecent material, typically sexually explicit in nature, except during late night hours when children are less likely to be listening or watching.

Fox denied the show violated the rules.

"We disagree with the FCC's decision and believe the content was not indecent," said Scott Grogin, spokesman for Fox Broadcasting Co. which owns 25 of the stations facing fines.

Fox has 30 days to appeal the fines, which total $1.183 million.

Last month the FCC fined CBS $550,000 for Janet Jackson's performance during the Super Bowl halftime show last February, during which one of the singer's breasts was briefly exposed.

When was this show? Looks like I missed out....

So all it takes is 159 people out of several million households to impose fines?

Originally posted by bgall
When was this show? Looks like I missed out....

So all it takes is 159 people out of several million households to impose fines?

All it takes is one complaint.

Originally posted by GregF
All it takes is one complaint.

That's right, just one, to have the FCC take a look at what the complaint is. Already sent mine to them about what Sinclair is doing with that Kerry documentary...

Jim :)

Originally posted by keenan
That's right, just one, to have the FCC take a look at what the complaint is. Already sent mine to them about what Sinclair is doing with that Kerry documentary...

Jim :)

How do you send one online?

Originally posted by f44
How do you send one online?

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html#whatweneed
Filing a Complaint

Week #3 winners and losers from Lisa de Moraes of the Washington Post:

ABC, No Longer Desperate for a Hit

By Lisa de Moraes, washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2004; Page C07

While CBS won last week among viewers of all ages and in the 18-to-49 demographic once ruled by NBC, ABC continues to be the new season's Cinderella story, on the backs of desperate housewives.

Here's a look at the week's highs and lows:

WINNERS

"Desperate Housewives." The No. 1 new series of the season averaged 20 million viewers in its second broadcast last week, retaining almost all of its premiere audience. "Desperate Housewives" has widened to 2.3 million viewers its lead over CBS's "CSI: NY," which everyone thought was going to be the No. 1 new series. Among young men, the ABC Sunday soap finished in third place, behind "Monday Night Football" and "CSI," beating every one of the week's baseball playoff games on Fox.

"Nip/Tuck." Guest-starring the oft-nipped Joan Rivers and telecast opposite the vice presidential debate, the season finale of FX's plastic surgery drama scored 5.2 million viewers Tuesday night -- a best ever for the show and FX's most watched episode of a scripted series ever.

"Extreme Makeover Home Edition." Last week's episode, in which the gang made over the house of a girl who is allergic to sunlight, was No. 1 among kids 2 to 11, scoring the show's biggest audience ever in that demographic. Fans of all ages numbered more than 15 million, which, with "Desperate Housewives," catapulted ABC into first place on Sunday night.

Political debates. Nearly 44 million people caught Tuesday's debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards -- the biggest audience for a veep debate since Democrat Al Gore, Republican Dan Quayle and Reform Party candidate James Stockdale squared off more than a decade ago. Three nights later, the second round between President Bush and John Kerry nabbed more than 46 million viewers -- nearly 10 million more than watched the second face-off in 2000.

CBS's Thursday. All three CBS Thursday series -- "Survivor," "CSI" and "Without a Trace" -- were among the five most watched programs last week.

[B]LOSERS[/B

Mark Cuban. The billionaire star of ABC's "Benefactor" whined on his Web log that his show scores lousy numbers -- such as last week's 4 million viewers -- because its Monday time slot is soooo tough (the show runs late or not at all in some time zones because "Monday Night Football" is live) and because TV critics don't spell this out every week, which may cause Nielsen homes to write it off as a loser show. Before you can say "It's not about the time slot, it's about your bangs," ABC slaps a "20/20" special on Christopher Reeve in Cuban's slot, with little promotion, and it clocks more than twice as many viewers as Cuban did last week.

"Hawaii." Last week the NBC cop drama scored a series-low 6.7 million viewers and finished fifth in its time slot among 18-to-49-year-olds -- behind even "America's Next Top Model" and "Smallville" and only a tenth of a ratings point ahead of "60 Minutes." NBC has pulled the show tonight, replacing it with a "Law & Order" repeat.

"Last Comic Standing." With just one episode to go -- the one in which the winner would be announced -- NBC pulled the plug on this competition series after it, too, finished fifth in its time slot among 18-to-49ers. The winner will be unveiled Saturday on Viacom-owned cable network Comedy Central.

"Inside the Actors Studio." Turns out just 515,000 people mistake J. Lo for a thespian and tuned in to the season debut of this Bravo series to hear James Lipton, America's Greatest Living Gasbag, quiz Jennifer Lopez about her acting "technique." Surprisingly, there were no clips of her days as a Fly Girl on "In Living Color" or from "Gigli."

"Enterprise." UPN chief Leslie Moonves said this struggling "Star Trek" franchise was being moved from Wednesdays to Fridays because the network has lower expectations for that night. Not sure if those expectations go as low as the 2.9 million viewers the season debut scored last week -- the series's smallest audience ever. About 4 million watched last season's opener.

Originally posted by fredfa
Here is a generally positive overview of the new shows this season from Tom Shales of the Washington Post:
-------------------------------
A Season to Watch
"Veronica Mars" puts forth the dubious notion that the world would do better if run by determined teenage girls. That is so totally not true. But Kristen Bell has a brassy good time in the title role, even if the idea that she's a part-time detective when not in high school is probably the farthest-fetched of the season. (Tuesdays, 9 p.m., Sept. 28 with a preview Sept. 22 at 9 p.m.)

Right, and a show about a teenage girl who fights vampires and demons on her off time will also never work. And, I all ways find myself on a deserted island with a bunch of people who get voted off the island by a TV audience? It's fiction, and it certainly seems more real than all the 'reality' television.
I really like the show, and it's in HD! Great 'voice' and has an interesting cast of characters (ok, probably could have done without Paris Hilton, but, it was good casting). Hopefully it'll hold on like Buffy did.

Originally posted by fredfa
Week #3 winners and losers from Lisa de Moraes of the Washington Post:

ABC, No Longer Desperate for a Hit

By Lisa de Moraes, washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2004; Page C07

WINNERS

"Desperate Housewives." The No. 1 new series of the season averaged 20 million viewers in its second broadcast last week, retaining almost all of its premiere audience. "Desperate Housewives" has widened to 2.3 million viewers its lead over CBS's "CSI: NY," which everyone thought was going to be the No. 1 new series. Among young men, the ABC Sunday soap finished in third place, behind "Monday Night Football" and "CSI," beating every one of the week's baseball playoff games on Fox.

The local columnist for the Mercury News Charlie McCollum (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/9889922.htm) notes that 'Housewives' did so well that 'Alias' may move to another night Monday (hopefully not against '24'), or Wednesday.

(Actually, from Tom Shales, that was a semi-rave!)
I am with you though, Eric, and hope "Veronica Mars" can hang on (and maybe get some sampling), even though the early ratings have been far weaker than hoped for.

And although Alias will have a two-hour premiere on Sunday, January 9th at 8 PM ET, it's regular timeslot (at least as planned by ABC executives NOW) will be 10 PM Mondays beginning January 10th.

From The Hollywood Reporter, proving (again) that nothing original seems to have any chance to make it on prime time network TV:

NBC Redials 'French Connection'
By Nellie Andreeva October 11, 2004

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The story of one of the biggest drug busts in U.S. history, subject of the Oscar-winning feature "The French Connection," is coming to television.

NBC is developing a "French Connection" series about the events that led to the now famous operation and the two cops who led it, New York Detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso.

Feature writer Rand Ravich has been tapped to pen the project as part of a sizable two-script deal he has signed with the network's sister studio, NBC Universal TV.

A "French Connection" police drama had been on NBC head of drama Christopher Conti's list of show ideas for some time. When, after inking the NBC pact, Ravich met with Conti and heard several potential concepts, he immediately jumped at the idea of "French Connection."

"It's one of my favorite movies," Ravich said. "I had to do it."

As part of his research, Ravich spent a lot of time with Grosso and talked to a number of other NYPD veterans from the 1960s and '70s. (Egan died in 1995.) Grosso, who along with Egan served as technical advisors on William Friedkin's feature, is expected to serve as a consultant on the NBC project.

Like in the 1971 movie, the two central characters based on Egan and Grosso will be named Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, respectively. But in addition to the gruff law enforcement duo, Ravich hopes to bring in a third central character on the show.

"I'm looking at New York City not just as a backdrop but as a character," Ravich said. "I want to (explore) N.Y.C. of the 1970s with the drugs, the Vietnam War, the Black Panthers, Mayor John Lindsay and how all that was trickling down to the regular people."

NBC Universal TV co-president Angela Bromstad said the studio already is exploring its "fabulous casting possibilities."

In the film, the two leads were played by Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider who earned an Oscar and Oscar nomination for their roles as Doyle and Russo, respectively.

Ravich wrote and directed the 1999 feature "The Astronaut's Wife," which starred Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron.

And in case you have missed it for the past four months:

Update on Ken Jennings' 'Jeopardy!' streak

By The Associated Press 10/12/2004, 8:25 p.m. ET

(AP) — Ken Jennings, a software engineer from Salt Lake City, has shattered records on the TV game show "Jeopardy!" His run began June 2, with hiatuses for summer reruns and a tournament of past champions. A look at Jennings' streak:

Consecutive shows as winner: 55.

Money won on show aired Tuesday: $35,000.

Money won so far: $1,878,100.

Perspective: At the start of its 20th season last fall, "Jeopardy!" changed its longtime rule that said a champion must leave after five straight wins. Now a player stays until losing. Jennings now has the longest winning streak in game show history.

Name your winnings: Maybe he likes the number — Jennings won exactly $35,000 for the second show in a row over two dispirited challengers.

Final Jeopardy: The category was "Western Hemisphere Geography." The clue: "The second smallest independent country in area in the western hemisphere; in the '80s, it was invaded by the second largest." The correct response: Grenada, invaded by the United States. Jennings answered correctly.

The Wall Street Journal joins the pack in piling on NBC's poor showing so far this season:

Less Seen TV: NBC Viewership Takes a Tumble

By BROOKS BARNES Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 13, 2004; Page B1

The peacock's feathers are fraying. After more than a decade as the dominant broadcast network, General Electric Co.'s NBC is having a rocky fall.

So far this season, the network has endured double-digit ratings declines in both total viewers and viewers aged 18 to 49, the demographic that advertisers pay a premium to reach.

Particularly troubling: For the first time since 1987, NBC is losing the ratings race on Thursdays, the night that by far draws the most advertising dollars and has been the bulwark of NBC's "Must See TV" franchise.

NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright, publicly putting a brave face on things at a Goldman Sachs conference last week, said the network is "performing very well." Still, executives are trying to stop the bleeding. NBC last week yanked the poorly performing "Last Comic Standing" from its schedule. Still, some analysts say the network is limited in the amount of immediate triage it can perform.

"You never want to draw a firm conclusion from a few weeks, but NBC's chances of regaining the lead appear to be limited," says Lowell Singer, an analyst at SG Cowen & Co.

NBC says it expects its ratings to improve significantly as the season progresses.

NBC's performance three weeks into the traditional TV season demonstrates how quickly fortunes can change in the fast and fickle television business, especially in this era of on-again, off-again reality shows. Just six months ago, Jeff Zucker, chairman of the NBC Universal Television Group, trumpeted the network's longtime hold on the No. 1 spot to advertisers, and NBC raked in $2.9 billion in advertising commitments for the 2004-2005 season -- more than any other network. "Our Thursday night is going to be even stronger," Mr. Zucker promised ad buyers gathered at New York's Radio City Music Hall in May.

The network had been expected to have a rougher time this fall without ratings engines "Friends" and "Frasier." Still, NBC executives were optimistic that they could piggyback on their broadcast of the Athens Olympics to turn new programs -- notably "Joey" -- into big hits. "Joey" is notching strong ratings against heavy competition, but it isn't a breakout. Other new series just aren't performing: "LAX" has fallen 43% in viewers 18 to 49 since its preseason premiere Sept. 13, "Hawaii" is down 38% and the expensive animated comedy "Father of the Pride" is off 34%.

While audience falloff from a show's premiere is expected, these declines are steeper than the industry considers acceptable. Overall, NBC is down 12% in total viewers and 16% in the 18-to-49 age category.

NBC is facing powerful competition from Viacom Inc.'s CBS, which has improved its ratings on six nights and is winning Thursdays, largely because of its hot "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" franchise. What has taken NBC particularly off guard is Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, which has rocketed from last place to first in certain time periods, thanks to three big new hits. "Desperate Housewives," ABC's new Sunday-night soap opera, has given ABC some of its biggest ratings in a decade.

"It's good to see that shows are really popping good numbers," NBC's Mr. Wright said at last week's conference. "I certainly wouldn't mind having a couple of those shows." (NBC passed on "Desperate Housewives" early on, according to its creator, Marc Cherry.)

Executives at four big ad-buying companies say NBC is in danger of failing to meet some viewership guarantees and having to give away "make good" time to advertisers as compensation if its ratings declines worsen. Although News Corp.'s Fox has struggled with its new year-round programming format, Fox's slate of shows, in particular, could cut into NBC's schedule once it launches in November. "This is very serious for NBC," says Jason Maltby, co-director of national television for ad buyer MindShare.

NBC strongly disputes that advertising is in peril, or that ratings declines are steeper than it predicted. "We are nowhere near being in a make-good situation," says Randy Falco, president of the NBC Universal Networks Group. NBC says it expects to continue to dominate ad sales, even if it isn't No. 1 in the crucial November "sweeps" month, because it delivers a more-upscale audience than rivals. Says Mr. Zucker: "We are feeling good about where we are."

Even with the decline in overall ratings, analysts and ad buyers point out that NBC remains competitive on most nights and is winning Fridays due to solid numbers from its new drama "Medical Investigation." (Friday, however, isn't a night of high viewership or young demographics.) The presidential debates also hurt NBC more than other networks because of the shows that were pre-empted. And NBC has a stable of established hits that are chugging away: Viewership is up for "ER," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Crossing Jordan."

The problem is that the network has stayed on top for nearly 20 years by developing a steady string of megacomedies to buoy Thursdays. There was "Cheers" and "The Cosby Show." After a brief blip came "Seinfeld," followed by "Friends." These well-made series, heralded as cutting edge for their time, attracted a young, upscale audience that NBC could sell to advertisers for a premium.

NBC is counting on "The Apprentice" to be the next show in the trajectory. But reality series are proving to be less reliable than traditional scripted ones, says Tim Spengler, director of national broadcast at ad buyer Initiative. Without "Friends" as a lead-in, the Donald Trump vehicle has slipped this season -- something media buyers say took them by surprise. "Survivor," for example, didn't show a similar vulnerability. Among viewers 18 to 49, "The Apprentice" is off 15% from its performance last season. Mr. Zucker notes that "The Apprentice" faces surging competition from "CSI."

The network's internal culture is centered on being No. 1, and people inside the company say the lower ratings have been hard to swallow -- and have been made worse by CBS crowing about its success. "Start spreading the news! 'CSI: NY' tops 'Law & Order' in total viewers and key demographics," blared one recent CBS news release.

Mr. Zucker says it is "way too premature" to think about making major schedule changes, and he emphasizes that he expects the network's standing to improve as the season wears on. "We have a very strong stockpile for midseason," he says, noting that "The Apprentice" launched in January.

Media buyers agree NBC has some promising shows in the hopper, including a fourth "Law & Order" focused on juries and "Medium," a procedural-style drama starring Patricia Arquette about a woman with a sixth sense.

Law & Order: SVU has just been terrible this season. The season premiere was so convoluted and unrealistic I actually showed it to a friend for the first time and she lost all interest in ever seeing the show again. And tonight's episode was just so stupid, stupid, stupid I don't know if I can watch it anymore myself.

I agree, GregF.
But I think all three L&Os have gotten off to a (being charitable here) very slow start this season.
And I guess the mother ship never realized how much it was going to miss Jerry Ohrbach.

Originally posted by fredfa
Says Mr. Zucker: "We are feeling good about where we are."


Letterman and Les Moonves were making fun of this guy last night on Letterman's show. CBS does seem to be tooting their horn...

Jim

Originally posted by fredfa
I agree, GregF.
But I think all three L&Os have gotten off to a (being charitable here) very slow start this season.
And I guess the mother ship never realized how much it was going to miss Jerry Ohrbach.

No kidding, no way!!! does Farina fill Orbach's shoes, the guy is just irritating..

Jim

Wonderful to see NBC sucking wind.

And on a related note, I'm no television executive, but does anyone on earth get how The Apprentice -- merits notwithstanding (though I find few) -- is even hypothetically supposed to replace scripted comedies that can have nearly decade-long lives (Cosby, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends)?

It's such a ludicrous notion that the show will even be running in a few years regardless of the ratings. The format lacks the repeatability of Survivor (which, presumably, will eventually run out of steam); can't realistically be run 2x in one year (unless the Trump folk plan to drop their day jobs); can't realistically be used with reruns; has next to zero syndication value; etc.

I mean the network can make money off the show for awhile (although apparently not too much for too long it appears), but really. Is this what Jeff Zucker gets paid tens of millions to determine? I'll do the job for 10% of Zucker's pay and at least equal results.

Mark

It is hard to disagree with you, Mark (although I presume The Donald might).

Originally posted by gaderson
Right, and a show about a teenage girl who fights vampires and demons on her off time will also never work.To be fair, he didn't say that the show would "never work," just that its central premise is completely implausible, which for all intents and purposes is true. (Besides, Buffy had no illusions of being a true-to-life portrayal of youth in America… it's unabashed sci-fantasy, Mars can't quite claim the same.) But that's nothing new for shows attempting to depict the lives of teenagers, which invariably depict them doing anything but homework… but then who would want to watch that? It was bad enough living through it.

Despite all that, he was generally positive about it.

And, I all ways find myself on a deserted island with a bunch of people who get voted off the island by a TV audience? It's fiction, and it certainly seems more real than all the 'reality' television.
I really like the show, and it's in HD! Great 'voice' and has an interesting cast of characters (ok, probably could have done without Paris Hilton, but, it was good casting). Hopefully it'll hold on like Buffy did. Agreed on all points, especially the comparison with "reality" television… but I might balk at the "good casting" call… Paris Hilton most certainly didn't belong in that cast, despite how similar to the character she might be; her distinct lack of talent stuck out like a sore thumb.

Tuesday ratings posted