Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 48

"CI" might give NBC a fairly strong Saturday night 9 o'clock tent pole. Just add a game show at 8 and a repeat of one of the procedurals at 10 (or even one of those Dateline')and it might do pretty well.

The 2007-2008 Season
NBC's Plans: UPDATE #1
(Upfront Presentation: Monday May 14 3 PM ET Radio City Music Hall)

Renewed for 2007-2008
30 Rock
Deal or No Deal
E R
Football Night In America 17 weeks
Friday Night Lights 22 episodes
Heroes
Las Vegas Tom Selleck replaces James Caan
Law & Order
Law & Order: SVU
Medium
My Name is Earl
The Office (24 episodes including four of 60-minutes?)
Scrubs (18 episode farewell season)
Sunday Night Football 17 weeks

Drama Pickups
Bionic Woman
Chuck
Life
Lipstick Jungle
Journeyman

Comedy Pickups
The IT Crowd

Special Circumstances
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (22 first-run episodes on USA, then repurposed on NBC)

Cancelled
Andy Barker, P.I.
The Black Donnellys
Crossing Jordan
Kidnapped
Raines
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Twenty Good Years

The 2007-2008 Season
Law & Orders Renewed
ALL THREE "LAW & ORDER"- BRANDED SERIES WILL CONTINUE ON THE NETWORKS OF NBC UNIVERSAL
NBC CHANGES THE TELEVISION LANDSCAPE ONCE AGAIN, AS 'CRIMINAL INTENT' MOVES TO TOP-RATED USA NETWORK THIS FALL, WITH A SECOND WINDOW ON NBC

The N B C News Release

NEW YORK - May 13, 2007 - NBC Universal is bringing back all three "Law & Order'-branded series for the 2007- 2008 television season.

"Law & Order" will return to the NBC network for an unprecedented 18th season. It joins the previously announced "Law & Order: SVU" on the network's prime time schedule. "Law & Order" is the longest running crime drama in television history, and second only to the longest running drama series "Gunsmoke," which ran for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975.

In a groundbreaking move, the acclaimed drama "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" will move from NBC to USA, the top-rated basic cable network, which is owned by NBC Universal. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" will return for its seventh season with its premiere runs on USA, followed by an encore play on NBC. USA is the #1 basic cable network, among households, total viewers, and all key demos. For the last six seasons, "Criminal Intent" has run first on NBC and then had its second window on USA. Beginning next year, that scenario flips.

"With this innovative programming move, we have significantly strengthened the already powerful USA network, given NBC maximum flexibility, and in the process have changed the paradigm of prime time television," said Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's President and Chief Executive Officer. "By changing the traditional way programs are rolled out, we have reinforced NBC Universal's forward thinking approach to new programming strategies and our willingness to embrace bold thinking. In the end, it is all about our viewers. And this will allow our viewers continuing access to the finest programming across the premier networks of NBC Universal." Zucker added, "We are thrilled to continue our successful business relationship with Dick Wolf and his team."

Creator/Executive Producer Dick Wolf said, "I am thrilled and delighted that Wolf Films and NBC Universal will continue the longest running and most successful partnership in television. This is a win-win for everybody. With all three Law & Orders on the air, formats of 'SVU' and 'CI' on in Russia and France, and discussions ongoing in other territories, this new deal encourages and enhances our mutual desire for our companies to become a major force in global television. This is the tip of the sphere of a new media paradigm."

He added, "I am very grateful that 'Law & Order' is coming back for its 18th season on NBC. Creatively, the show is still firing on all cylinders and I have no doubt that the show's quality can and will continue for years to come. We are scheduled to celebrate our 400th episode next season, which is a milestone that is absolutely staggering. And we are now one year closer to my ultimate dream - to become the longest running drama in the history of television, beating Gunsmoke." Wolf continued, "SVU redefined the network/cable broadcast model when it premiered in 1999, by creating a repurposed window on basic cable for a network show. Now Criminal Intent adds a new dimension to that model, with a groundbreaking licensing of a repurpose window in reverse, to the network. CI enjoyed a creative resurgence last season and I expect the new USA/NBC dual broadcast window will bring new life to the show in its seventh year."

"'Law and Order' has remained one of NBC's defining series and dependable performers for its entire, formidable 17 year run." said Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment, "We're so pleased that Dick Wolf and his talented team of producers will continue this legacy of quality storytelling on NBC."

"'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' is perfect for USA -- smart, character-driven programming that's already a proven hit with our viewers," said Bonnie Hammer, president of USA Network and SCI FI Channel. "It's also a blockbuster procedural, a terrific complement to the award-winning 'Monk' and last year's top-rated new show, 'Psych'. Combined with the powerhouse WWE and the rest of the network's dynamic slate, it ensures that USA will continue to dominate the cable landscape and remain #1."

The "Law & Order" brand accounts for the #1, 2 and 3 off-network primetime series on basic cable through the first four months of 2007 in adults 25-54, with "Criminal Intent" on USA (1.020 million adults 25-54), "SVU" on USA (945,000 adults 25-54) and "Law & Order" on TNT (864,000 adults 25-54).

More than 100 million viewers watch the "Law & Order" dramas on cable or broadcast each month, making it television's most-watched drama franchise.

"Law & Order" runs in syndication on TNT. "Law & Order: SVU" is also seen in national syndication on USA, Bravo and on weekends on local broadcast stations. Starting this fall, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" will air on local broadcast stations on a Monday through Friday basis, as well as continuing to air on USA and Bravo.

The "Law & Order" franchise is also seen in hundreds of territories around the world and has continued its expansion overseas with new format deals for "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (France and Russia) and "Law & Order: SVU" (Russia).

"Law & Order" is the most successful brand in primetime television. The realistic program looks at crime and justice from a dual perspective. Some cases may be simple, but most are multi-faceted. The investigations are challenging, prosecutions are complicated, and decisions about legal procedures and plea-bargaining are vexing.

Fridays at 10 p.m. (ET), the original "Law & Order" has averaged a 2.7 rating, 8 share in adults 18-49 and 9.0 million viewers overall. "Law & Order" has improved the time period versus NBC's year-ago 18-49 average by 12 percent and is Friday's most upscale series on any network (in concentration of adults 18-49 living in homes with $100,000-plus incomes).

"Law & Order: SVU" chronicles the life and crimes of the Special Victims Unit of the New York Police Department, the elite squad of detectives who investigate sexually based crimes.

Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is #1 in the time period in every key ratings category and an original "SVU" hasn't lost the slot in adults 18-49 to regular competition in more than two years. For the season, "SVU" has delivered a 4.2 rating, 11 share in adults 18-49 and 12.0 million viewers overall. This season, "SVU" built on its 18-49 lead-in by 50 percent.

"Law & Order: Criminal Intent," takes viewers into the minds of its criminals while following the psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve the crimes.

Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (ET), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" has averaged a 2.8 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers overall for the 2006-07 television season. "Criminal Intent" has built on its 18-49 lead-in by 27 percent in adults 18-49.

All three 'Law & Order' programs are produced by Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television Studios.

The 2007-2008 Season
NBC Blinks:
All 3 'Law & Order's Renewed
By Nikki Finke LA Weekly in her deadlinehollywooddaily blog Saturday, May 12, 2007

After much, much, much speculation, NBC Universal today announced today that all three Law & Order branded series will continue on its networks next season.

But that doesn't necessarily mean NBC primetime. Because Criminal Intent is moving to USA Networks for first-run this fall, with a replay on NBC.

The flagship Law & Order will return for an 18th season on NBC, making it the longest running crime drama in TV history and in position to challenge the longest running drama series ever, Gunsmoke.

And, as previously announced, SVU returns to NBC primetime next fall.

Law & Order is the longest running crime drama in television history, and second only to the longest running drama series "Gunsmoke," which ran for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975.

I can't believe Jeff Zucker's hyperbole: "With this innovative programming move, we have significantly strengthened the already powerful USA network, given NBC maximum flexibility, and in the process have changed the paradigm of prime time television."

Yeah, and cured cancer besides.

Creator / exec prod Dick Wolf gets richer.

All three Law & Order programs are produced by Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television Studios.

So much for the buzz that Wolf and TNT looked "certain" to make a Law & Order deal.

They were talking about 13 more original episodes each annum because Wolf wanted to ensure his flagship stays on the air for at least 2 and if possible 3 more years.

"Dick would love to surpass Gunsmoke which was on the air for 19 years. So if he gets two more seasons he's tied. If three years, he beats it," an insider told me last week. It's always fascinating when Hollywood types think about their legacies like this.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/

The 2007-2008 Season
Law & Orders Renewed
Shakeup moves 'Criminal Intent' to USA, keeps old-school 'L&O' going
From Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune blog The Watcher May 13, 2007

NBC has found a way to keep all three of its "Law & Order" series alive, including the aging flagship series, which was in danger of cancellation after 17 seasons.

The original Law & Order will remain on NBC's schedule for fall, but Law & Order: Criminal Intent will move over to USA Network for its seventh season. After episodes of L&O: CI air on USA, they'll air once more on NBC (in previous seasons, that scenario ran in reverse).

Both USA and NBC are owned by NBC Universal, so this keeps all three L&O series in the family, so to speak. There had been rumors that the flagship L&O series might move its first-run episodes to TNT, where the crime procedural has been a steady success in syndication.

NBC announced weeks ago that the successful Law & Order: SVU had already been renewed for another season. The network will unveil the rest of its fall schedule on Monday in a presentation to advertisers.

I am very grateful that 'Law & Order' is coming back for its 18th season on NBC, L&O creator Dick Wolf said in a statement issued by NBC Sunday. Creatively, the show is still firing on all cylinders and I have no doubt that the show's quality can and will continue for years to come. We are scheduled to celebrate our 400th episode next season, which is a milestone that is absolutely staggering. And we are now one year closer to my ultimate dream -- to become the longest running drama in the history of television, beating Gunsmoke.' Gunsmoke was on the air for 20 years.

According to NBC's release, more than 100 million viewers watch the 'Law & Order' dramas on cable or broadcast each month, making it television's most-watched drama franchise.

I'm not sure I'd agree that the flagship L&O is firing on all cylinders: When I've checked it out this season (which hasn't been all that often, I must admit), I've found the series to be rather tired and over-reliant on ripped-from-the-headlines plots. And I don't think there are many people who'd make the case that Milena Govich is one of L&O's most memorable detectives (least memorable is more like it). But Dick Wolf is addicted to shaking up his casts, so perhaps we'll see Jesse L. Martin paired with someone more interesting next fall.

Still, all things considered, I do hope L&O gets to beat Gunsmoke as the longest-running drama series in TV history. Who hasn't spent a pleasant hour of escapism with that familiar thunk-thunk sound, with those tick-tock plots and with the fine work of Sam Waterston and S. Epatha Merkeson (among other fondly remember but long-gone cast members)?

There are few things you can rely on in television, and one of them is that you can, without too much effort, find (thunk-thunk) an hour of L&O to chill out with. And there's something to be said for that.

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

The 2007-2008 Season
NBC renews "Law & Order" for 18th year
"Criminal Intent" to shift to USA
By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic his TV Guy blog May 13, 2007

"Law & Order" will return to NBC for an 18th year, the network announced Sunday afternoon.

"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" will continue next season, but that drama will present its episodes on USA Network initially. Sister network NBC will air those installments later.

NBC will unveil its fall lineup Monday to advertisers in New York. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has been renewed earlier.

"Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf said Sunday there was no big news on casting additions or deletions to the dramas.

But Wolf had no insights into the future of "Law & Order" star Fred Thompson, who is considering a run for president. "I haven't talked to him for the last three weeks," Wolf said. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Wolf's company, Wolf Films, and NBC Universal announced they will have a partnership through 2012. Wolf has extended the "Law & Order" brand to versions in Russia and France and plans to take it to other countries.

Wolf has said his ultimate dream is for the original "Law & Order" to surpass "Gunsmoke," which ran 20 years, as the longest-running drama in prime time. "Law & Order" will reach 400 episodes next season.

Will his 2012 deal help with that goal? "That is my deal," he said. "It has nothing to do with the shows."

NBC Universal and Wolf said they were able to reach a deal that makes it economically feasible to continue the original "Law & Order" and "Criminal Intent." But that belt-tightening won't be visible to viewers, Wolf said.

"Both shows will continue to look to the viewers exactly as they looked before," Wolf said.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/ent...news_law_.html

Thanks trp -- Scott Pierce got it wrong, and, frankly, I didn't notice.

I appreciate the heads up.

For a guy who had to almost be shamed into pulling the HD trigger a few weeks ago (and who still adores GSN programming) you have gotten prettystrong in your views, dad!

TV Notebook
A note about the Other Law & Order
Mariska Hargitay and her 'SVU' character have had an emotionally taxing year
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

New York Mariska Hargitay was striding down a deserted Greenwich Village street on a drizzly spring afternoon, looking every inch the part of Det. Olivia Benson in her no-nonsense peacoat and black trousers.

It could have been a scene out of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," except for the 10-month-old she cuddled in her arms.

"Where's the paparazzi when you need them?" Hargitay joked gaily as she lugged her son, August, back to her trailer during a break from shooting.

The 43-year-old actress has now started filming her ninth season as the empathetic SVU detective on the most popular of the "Law & Order" triad. But in many ways, Hargitay and her character seem reborn.

After becoming a mother in June, Hargitay contemplated quitting the program at the end of this season. But she returned from maternity leave to find that Benson was embarking on a new, intensely personal journey: the discovery of a brother she never knew she had.

The story line which followed the detective's decision to test her DNA to learn more about her father, who raped her mother forced Hargitay to delve deeper into her part than ever before.

"It was a wonderful welcome-back-to-work gift," she said between bites of celery and cream cheese in her trailer, littered with children's books and stuffed animals. "After eight years, you've done a lot of stories. I came back and they hit me up with all these incredibly new, fresh emotions I hadn't played. It got my juices going, and I thought that was going to be very difficult to do after the year I had had."

The story arc, which culminates tonight with an episode in which Benson confronts whether her newfound brother is a rapist, allowed Hargitay to draw from the deep well of feelings she has accumulated since losing her father in September, just three months after the birth of her son with her husband, actor Peter Hermann.

"It was a very full year," she said softly in her husky voice. "If there was an emotion in there, I experienced it. I think it just changes you, and changes your instrument, what you draw from."

Back story

ON the set, Hargitay is still an ebullient jokester, kidding with the crew between takes. Still, Christopher Meloni, who plays her partner Elliot Stabler, said the last year left her noticeably altered.

"I definitely think she has calmed, gone to a much more focused place," Meloni said. "She's such a smart and sensitive person that maybe it just centered her."

The twin experiences left their mark on Hargitay at a time when "SVU" had demanded more of her than ever. As the top-rated of the "Law & Order" franchise, it is the only one of the three shows with a place guaranteed on NBC's fall schedule. (The network has not yet decided whether to renew the original "Law & Order" drama or its "Criminal Intent" spin-off, whose audiences this season have dropped 19% and 17%, respectively.)

While "SVU" remains true to its soul as a procedural drama, in which a crime gets solved by the end of every episode, executive producer Neal Baer has pushed the program into more personal terrain this season a move he believes accounts for its success.

"This is a really big thing for 'SVU,' " Baer said. "We're not just solving a crime here."

Offering back stories about the main characters "gets you into them, because if you're not into them, I believe, it's really tough to keep it going," he added. "It's a very different show from the other 'Law & Orders' in that Mariska and Chris are the yin and yang of our feelings about these crimes. Mariska is the empathy we feel toward the victims. And Chris is our outrage.

"I want them to be happy and not feel they're just carrying procedure pipe. I want them to feel that they're giving a performance and revealing a character."

But injecting a more personal tone into the show took some negotiating with Dick Wolf, the creator of the "Law & Order" franchise and a staunch believer in the value of closed-ended procedurals.

"It's not a fight; it's a wonderful series of quasi-intellectual discussions," Wolf said of his talks with Baer about "SVU."

"I think it's very crucial to serve this information out in irregular, intermittent, small doses, because if you keep adding it on, it becomes overwhelming," the veteran producer added. "Look, actors love character. And I'm the Grinch that eats the characters. We're still doing a cop show, and when the cop show and character meet and intersect, it can be terrific. But if you do it every week, it's like eating foie gras for lunch every day."

Baer said a turning point came last season, when the series explored the implications of Benson and Stabler's intense relationship and offered both actors meaty story lines about their personal demons. Hargitay won an Emmy for her work, and Meloni garnered an Emmy nomination, helping bolster Baer's case for taking the show into a more personal dimension.

"The taste of Emmy is very potent," he said with a laugh. "But we still talked a lot about not wanting to give up too much, not making it too emotional or too soapy."

Hargitay said she was thrilled to be able to explore more of Benson's interior life this season.

"I'd come home so empty and spent, but completely invigorated," she said. "I hadn't been challenged that way in a very, very, very long time, and certainly not in this character. It was exciting to excavate and explore new territory and places in Olivia's heart."

The story arc dovetailed with Hargitay's new role as a mother, a part that makes her unabashedly giddy. During an hourlong conversation, she repeatedly paused to coo over August as he sat contentedly on the floor of the trailer, playing with a stack of colored rings.

"I feel like my life began on June 28," she said dreamily of the day he was born. "First you think, 'I just can't be away from him. I have to quit acting.' And then, at three months, your hormones balance out and things come more in perspective and you realize, we can sort of do it all."

Two-year commitment

SHORTLY after returning from maternity leave, Hargitay signed on for two more seasons on "SVU" a stint she said will likely be her last on the program. Next, she'd like to try a sitcom or a play, a role with less of a time commitment.

"I started in comedy and I really want to go back to that," she said. "All my friends say, 'How you ended up on a drama, we'll never know!' "

The daughter of screen siren Jayne Mansfield and Hungarian-born bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, she decided to pursue acting while at UCLA. But it would be 15 years before she would land a lead role.

"I got everything," Hargitay recalled of the stream of rejections. "It was like, 'Not funny. Not delicate. Not smart. Take a class. Get your teeth fixed. She's not special.' "

Throughout it all, her father "was my rock," said Hargitay, whose mother was killed in a car accident when she was 3. "When I tried to quit a bunch of times, he said, 'You're not a quitter.' "

After a string of guest roles and failed pilots, Hargitay was finally cast on "SVU." It was a dream job, but she initially struggled with the show's dark fare.

"It was really difficult for me, to the point of questioning, 'Is this what I want to do?' " she said.

Hargitay was soon flooded with letters and e-mails from victims of sexual abuse, which prompted her to start the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping survivors through therapy and a retreat in Hawaii, where they swim with dolphins.

The actress said she's been gratified by the show's tone since Baer's arrival in 2000, noting that "his exploration of social issues has really taken us out of that lurid, cheap sex-crime thing."

All she wants now is some resolution for Benson preferably through a family.

This season "was an awakening of her as a human being, and I feel that in a lot of ways her life is beginning," Hargitay said. "This is somebody who has been insanely lonely, who has made work her life. So I'd like to see her as a woman who balances out."

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedi...76,print.story

I suspect the new episodes will begin airing before USA fires up its HD version.

USA Network says it will launch its HD channel "in the fourth quarter of 2007".

Critic's Notebook
'King' rules to the very end
By Diane Werts Newsday Staff Writer May 14, 2007

This show's got a laugh, a tear and, as Chuckles the Clown would say, a little seltzer down your pants. No song and dance, but almost everything else is thrown into tonight's double-length finale of "The King of Queens." And just like this little-show-that-could, somehow it manages to work just fine.

Does the last hour get a little too melodramatic? Maybe. But when you're saying goodbye to people you've grown to know and love over a nine-year period, too much maudlin isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Especially if you can pull it off as effectively as stars Kevin James and Leah Remini, who .really get to strut their stuff here. The life-changing plotlines of the last few episodes come to a head at, of all places (but of course), dad Arthur's upstate wedding, which means the old crab played by Jerry Stiller is finally freeing up Doug and Carrie's basement. That means they could move to the Manhattan apartment coveted by Carrie. Or not. They could adopt that Chinese baby they were after. Or not. They could even get divorced. Or not.

See what happens when you go to Poughkeepsie?

Doug barely gets there, after chugging beers back home in anger that Carrie has double-crossed him on their apartment plans. Seeing well-padded Stony Brook native James in his "drawers" is a slam-dunk laugh, as is cramming him, jumbo pal Deacon (Victor Williams) and a confused young rabbi (Josh Cooke) into Deacon's subcompact for drunken thruway discussion of "your God" vs. "my God." James gets to turn sober, emotionally, if not in terms of blood-alcohol level, when he drowns his disappointment further and confronts Carrie. Their back-alley showdown lets both performers display how their dramatic chops have developed over the course of the series' enduring run.

So let's cut that tension with sight gags, which this "King of Queens" series-ender lines up in impressive fashion -- not least among them the sight of Stiller as some leather-clad Village Person, perfect for his roar of "I could be the gayest man the world has ever seen!" That's a clue to the wedding upheaval that happens among Stiller, intended bride Lainie Kazan and spurned ex-crush Anne Meara (Stiller's real-life wife, and "a good loser," as Arthur says). Also making their presence felt are the Doug-pals and estranged roommates played by Patton Oswalt and Gary Valentine (Kevin James' real-life brother), alongside Arthur-walking returning ex-regular Nicole Sullivan, now heavily and hilariously pregnant.

And the fat jokes just keep on comin' for James, too. Why forsake such a reliable standby? Those also work better than they should, thanks to this sitcom's essential good-naturedness. That comes straight from James, the more laid-back suburban kid who provided the perfect foil for Remini and Stiller's excitable urbanites. He rounded off their hard edges, while they gave his comedy some bite.

The finale has teeth, that's for sure. And a delicious twist at the end. "The King of Queens" always gave us more than we expected. Pretty nice to see a show overachieving till its last.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...sion-headlines

Mo works all the time -- she is one of the most prolific posters on the net.