Next week will bring the Upfront Presentations for the major broadcasters, huge dog-and-pony shows each network to mark the end of the main season. Plans for the following season are revealed, including new shows to be picked up and initial schedules for the fall.
Even in this atmosphere where options go beyond 1000 channels, this whole exercise still proves rather fascinating.
Most of the networks have already made up their minds on what shows will be coming back. CBS made early renewal choices in late March, FOX picked up some of their comedies right before that, and NBC renewed a few of their dramas only a couple of weeks ago. One can pick up on news of this fairly easily in the modern, digital era, especially when cable channels can pick up and cancel shows at any time. Still, there are some shows that haven't heard the final word yet. For example, ABC has yet to renew a single show.
And this will be the week when the final decisions must be made.
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Like I said before, a good chunk of the main renewals at CBS and FOX have already been made, and the same is true for the CW. If any show is a good performer for the network, it's already guaranteed to come back. In fact, CBS has mega-successful shows like The Big Bang Theory, which tend to receive renewals for multiple years at a time.
In the case of those three, it would be easier to list off the shows that haven't been renewed yet. Firstly, in the case of FOX the only shows awaiting a decision are the ones that perform the weakest.
Touch This drama starring Keifer Sutherland has aired on Friday nights throughout its second season, and there hasn't been an episode where it did better than Fringe's final outings. Really, it was lucky to get a second season in the first place.
The Cleveland Show It has been pretty much confirmed that Family Guy's spinoff will not get any more episodes ordered, so the remaining episodes will be the last ones.
On CBS, there is only one well-performing show they've held off on renewing.
Criminal Minds CBS has waited to renew this series compared to the rest of their lineup, mostly because they were waiting on contract negotiations. (The same thing happened to Two and a Half Men, which was renewed once Jon Cryer and Ashton Kutcher signed on and Angus T Jones agreed to only return in a limited capacity.) The showrunner has since signed a new contract with CBS, as have leads Joe Mantegna and Thomas Gibson. I think I can expect to see it return.
Vegas I honestly think my father was one of the only people to follow this show to Friday nights, after an underwhelming Tuesday run. It's not coming back.
Golden Boy It was originally going to move to Fridays, but remained in Vegas' old slot in the hopes that it would gain better traction on a night with higher traffic. That never happened.
Rules of Engagement For seven seasons, this show primarily stuck around as a pinch hitter amongst the network's comedies, usually returning at midseason or earlier after a new comedy flops and filling the gaps for the remainder of the season. This time however, it seems that this show's time has run out, with weak ratings likely ending the show for good.
The first CW shows to get renewed are, interestingly the action-orientated series, Supernatural, Arrow (as in Green Arrow, the DC Comics character), as well their highest-rated show The Vampire Diaries. The next ones spared were Beauty and the Beast and Heart of Dixie, whilst the decision to bring 90210 to a close was called fairly early. That leaves two shows left waiting.
The Carrie Diaries This prequel to Sex and the City has done tepidly on Monday nights, and as such the CW won't feel inclined to keep it around.
Nikita This series has aired quietly on Friday nights, surviving into its third season. It can easily gain a fourth, primarily playing to the CW's syndication prospects by fulfilling the minimum number of episodes to sell a show. The real question is if they will jump for it on this show.
NBC waited until a few weeks back to renew their stronger dramas, from veteran Law and Order: SVU to freshman Chicago Fire and Revolution. But perhaps the biggest conundrum they have is with sitcoms. It would appear that only two sitcoms on NBC have been performing well, Parks and Recreation and The Office, and the latter is coming to an end anyway. All the rest have pretty much been bombing!
1600 Penn One prime example of a comedy flop, having eventually come down to anemic numbers running from January through March. Doing so drastically worse than the others, it isn't coming back.
Deception Primetime soap which aired during the first part of the year, and did only well enough to air its entire run. Otherwise, it may not merit a renewal between all the other dramas picked up.
Guys with Kids One of two multi-camera sitcoms which aired this season, the other being Whitney. While NBC is considering other multi-camera pilots for their fall schedule, this show has the lesser advantage on the pair of being spared. Even with newly-crowned Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon vouching for it.
Whitney The other multi-camera comedy NBC aired this year, gaining a second season as miraculously as Touch did. Assuming the network wants to pick up a new multi-camera show and needs another to pair with it, this has the ratings advantage compared with Guys With Kids and may survive to see a third season.
Hannibal Ambitious horror procedural drama, based on the Red Dragon novel of the Hannibal Lecter legacy. It did well initially, but coming down to the wire it's starting to plummet, and may escape a renewal. (I would compare this to The Firm, but that show bombed right out of the gate.)
The New Normal Ryan Murphy's sitcom about a gay couple and their surrogate was amongst several sitcoms on NBC which started to tank as we really started to delve deep into the season. The best case for this show may be the rebound it made on the last two weeks of the first season's run, airing out of The Voice. But even then, it ranks low compared to the other comedies on the chopping block.
Go On Matthew Perry's comeback vehicle was one of the shows that saw its ratings suffer the most. And even then, it holds the best case for a renewal, mostly because of it retained its audience comparatively well and because of Perry's reputation.
Community Arguments can be made for this show's quality suffering after creator Dan Harmon left, although its ratings haven't been any phenomenally worse than the rest. Still, it has enough episodes for syndication, and that could be argument enough to let it go.
Parks and Recreation This was the most solidly performing comedy all season. It's gonna come back!
Up All Night Wait, this wasn't cancelled yet? Last I've heard they were going to try and turn this into a multi-camera comedy. But then showrunners bailed, as did lead actress Christina Applegate. This was not officially cancelled, but on the other hand neither was Smash after it was moved to Saturdays.
And ABC has so many shows awaiting renewal that the only factor that would impact the lions share is some kind of unexpected twist, like say a new direction or something. Otherwise, there is a good number of no-brainer renewals (or cancellations) on this list, and you can expect to hear the final word this week.
Happy Endings The ratings for this show really suffered this season, despite ABC's best intentions and support for the show. (No really, network promos have asked viewers to "Save Our Show".) After performing so poorly on Fridays (especially in light of how other sitcoms did on the same night), it will not see another season on ABC. (However, it might find salvation from cable. USA is reportedly interested in the show.)
Red Widow Serialized drama which went overlooked on Sunday nights. Given how far it dropped after three weeks off, I can imagine this won't be continuing.
Family Tools Oh, this is one of those shows like FOX's The Goodwin Games or NBC's Save Me. It was part of a massive sitcom boom, from networks hoping to find the next breakout hit that didn't happen. Now, it's only launching at the end of the season, showing how little faith the network had in it. As such, this got the lowest sitcom premiere ratings in ABC's history, so it's gonna get the boot.
Body of Proof This procedural drama (the only one on ABC besides Castle) only barely managed to get a third season after doing horribly last year, mostly because of the California state filming credits. Otherwise, it started doing better leading out of Dancing with the Stars. Chances are ABC could use a pinch hitter for midseason, and this show has the distinction of being able to make money for the network (and for Disney) without necessarily being a huge, dynamo hit. That is what would up its chances.
Last Man Standing This sitcom starring Tim Allen has aired on Friday nights, and did far better than anybody could have guessed, performing consistently throughout its run. It will likely get a third season, but whether it remains on Fridays remains to be seen.
Malibu Country Reba's Friday night sitcom performed solidly, occasionally rebounding from softer ratings and doing well for a Friday. Prospects for renewal, however aren't as good as Last Man Standing's, and bearing a miraculous TGIF revival (what with other multi-camera pilots ABC has in the can) probably won't come to pass.
How to Live With Your Parents... A late launch for an ABC comedy, getting a decent bump from following Modern Family and gaining good traction from that. On its own, it did okay, and has a 50/50 chance of returning.
The Neighbors High-concept sitcom, developing sort of a backlash after a negative reception to its earlier episodes. However, the ratings were consistent and viewers agreed it eventually found its groove. Its chances of renewal are only slightly behind those of How to Live With Your Parents. If nothing else, it could always move to Fridays, following Last Man Standing.
Nashville ABC executives seemed really proud of this latest in their run of primetime soaps, about rival country singers. The numbers have been fairly solid, only somewhat diminishing towards the homestretch of the season. Compared with the similar, and similarly performing Revenge this bears a decent chance of renewal.
Suburgatory This sitcom in its second season only wrapped up early to accommodate Family Tools, and performed well all season. There is no reason to cancel it, other than a stretch of an argument involving the episodes that aired following The Middle, as opposed to the ones following Modern Family. Arguments for the show airing after Last Man Standing could also be made.
Revenge The second season of this show, a breakout hit in its first has gotten an increase in critical flack. However, it sustained the similar ratings, so it can very easily return next season.
Castle And from here on out, we have nothing but obvious renewal choices for ABC. This is their key procedural drama hit, and has always paired well with Dancing with the Stars on Monday nights. It's comfort food, likely to keep going.
Once Upon a Time A solid Sunday night success, developing even more complex mythos in season two. On top of that, a spinoff is in development.
The Middle Comfort food in a similar manner to Castle, in this case representing the classic family sitcom mold that has helped define ABC for decades
Scandal Primetime soap from the creator of Grey's Anatomy, which ABC has successfully built into a smash hit over the last year. A renewal is quite the obvious call.
Modern Family One of ABC's signature programs, and a very close runner-up to The Big Bang Theory, in regards to the most-watched comedy on TV.
Grey's Anatomy ABC's key veteran drama, still going strong after nine seasons.
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Of the many, many websites you can seek out for further information, I recommend you go to TV Series Finale. As a matter of fact, you can even say the name itself is a glowing recommendation for such a form of inquiry.
In addition to reporting on shows once they are renewed or cancelled, you can look up a list of series that have already been cancelled. You can look up your favorites anytime, and get the final word.
Check it out at http://www.tvseriesfinale.com.
Showing posts with label Upfronts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upfronts. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Monday, May 7, 2012
That Time of Year, Again -- Pre-Upfronts
It's time to dip back into that blog I never write on. (Seriously, the last thing I wrote on this was that creative piece objecting to the infamous anti-piracy bills, all the way back in January.)
But yeah, on the upside this is a special occasion, one that has enraptured my interest since I was in high school. Perhaps the one event that represents May best for me. It's the end of the main television season, more specifically the last week before the Broadcast Network Upfronts. Sure, they don't hold as much water in this age of online streaming like Netflix and fantastic dramas made for cable. In fact, broadcast viewership overall seriously plummeted this season, adding more stress to a business that was already declining for a while now. Still, this upfront business is all pretty exciting and makes for a big annual event that can't help but stand out.
And of course, this means a turning point for many a viewer's choice of programs. Some will continue, and others will cut off (and some already have).
Let's look back at each network, consider the season that has passed, and where everything stands. Which shows have already been renewed, which won't be coming back, and how each is doing overall.
NBC -- To start off, we have one of the weaker performing networks, one that has been floundering for years now. And with the afore-mentioned declines, things have only gotten worse this season. Some shows couldn't even average a 1.0 rating in the key demographic of Adults 18-49, with only the smaller CW network doing worse. The only real bright spot they have is The Voice, the American Idol-esque that premiered big last season and has done about as well this year.
Overall the Peacock network, once at the top of the world is in a crisis mode. And in such a state, they have had to get creative, and have done so in past seasons in response to continuous declines. In fact, at the time of this writing NBC has already picked up several new shows for the fall. Literally as soon as I started writing, the comedic pilot The New Normal and the J.J. Abrams-produced drama Revolution both got full-series pickups, and other pickups were announced since then. It gives me the impression that I should have done this last week. Anyway, NBC at least has the Summer Olympics to help them this year. Reports point to a late August launch for some shows, both new and returning in the immediate ratings heat following the Olympics. Examples that have been thrown out for this practice include Go On, a new comedy with Matthew Perry.
With the network already picking up new shows well before the competition, it's already the moment of truth for a lot of existing NBC shows. Of them, so far only two dramas have been renewed. One is Smash, the DreamWorks-produced musical drama that has been a modest success and stood out against the rest of the lineup. The other is Grimm, which has also been rumored for a premiere in the post-Olympics heat. Furthermore, the way it's been holding on Friday nights (especially considering the big premiere out of the minuscule Chuck premiere back in October), and especially with the even worse numbers on higher-traffic nights makes it a regular ratings dynamo.
Of the rest of the lineup, we have a mixed bag. Long-standing reality shows are likely to return, like The Biggest Loser and Celebrity Apprentice, as will Betty White: Off Their Rockers, a stand-out performer. Sole franchise survivor Law & Order: SVU is also inclined to stick amongst dramas. Parenthood has not been seen since February, but it has performed consistently and stands out well compared to the network's declines since the finale. It is likely to return, but one may still be surprised here. Otherwise, The Firm and Awake are both considered failures, whilst Harry's Law is likewise too weak a performer in the sweet spot demo to get renewed.
And now we get to comedies, and only now do I realize the risks of writing at this point in time when the important stories develop on the spot. (Really, the entire rest of the post has already been finished and I'm rewriting this one section to update it!)
Anyway, I was about to point out here about how the sitcoms seemed to have performed equally as well but the older shows all stood a better chance at renewal. In particular, Community wouldn't get the axe with as much well-deserved support has it has received. Well since I started writing, NBC has announced the increasing likelihood that all their biggest comedies would be renewed. Specifically, 30 Rock will get a renewal for a final season. On top of that, it will be an abbreviated one, running only 13-14 episodes. With this decision very well in the bag, NBC may do the same for Parks and Recreation and Community. And I thought the whole "Post-Olympics Premiere Week" was a creative alternative here. This also gives Up All Night a better chance for survival than I previously anticipated. But Whitney has a much bleaker outlook, as do Are You There, Chelsea and Best Friends Forever. And Bent only ran quickly for three weeks, and I consider this giving it the shaft.
And it will be interesting to see how The Office pans out, especially with the mixed critical reception this whole past season and plans for a spinoff about Dwight. I can say anything goes at this point, especially considering rumors of a reboot.
CBS -- On the plus side, I can say there's less to say about this network. Not only have they been hanging tough overall with some popular new shows, CBS has already renewed the majority of their lineup. The most obvious cases for renewal are already on tap for next season, from my father's choices of NCIS, Hawaii Five-0, Criminal Minds, and Friday favorite Blue Bloods, to my mother's choices of new drama Person of Interest and critical darling The Good Wife. The same could be said for Mike and Molly and new hit comedy 2 Broke Girls, while The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are in the midst of multi-season renewals. Same goes for NCIS: LA and The Mentalist.
That leaves Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement and Rob among comedies. The latter two have some question to them, but Men is a shoe-in as long as Ashton Kutcher (who replaced Charlie Sheen) is game. As far as dramas go, the flagship CSI series is the only one in the franchise renewed for next year. Only one other of the two, Miami and NY, will continue, with the more expensive Miami lacking much of an edge despite higher ratings. No other drama is likely to proceed. On the reality front, all three of the big ones have been renewed, Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Undercover Boss.
The CW -- It's funny, because I've been looking up UPN and The WB on Wikipedia, TV Tropes and YouTube this past week. I've been on a nostalgic trip for these long-lost networks of the late 90's and can easily write about how radically different they were, but I still don't really care about their successor. And I don't think it cares about me.
I'm not even sure if it matters anyway, since there's a long way to go between their ratings and even the horrible ratings of NBC. But relative to their low standards, they really only have hits in the already-renewed Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, the former a beloved cult drama and the latter the best performer on the CW. Modernized continuation 90210 was also renewed last week. Heart of Dixie (in the first season) and Nikita (second season) were the weaker performers earlier, but only now is freshman drama The Secret Circle starting to bomb. And since Circle comes on after Vampire Diaries, that seems to doom the show outright. Gossip Girl, which has been on for five years is curiously missing from the recent renewals, which sort of helps to level the playing field. And how ironic is it that I only bothered to write about the Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle Ringer back in September as far as CW shows were concerned (what with its anticipation at the time), and that's the show least likely to get renewed.
Oh, and I am aware of The LA Complex, a Canadian import that did worse in the rut of the main season than the similarly imported comedy 18 to Life did in the Summer.
FOX -- The home of American Idol and Animation Domination appears to be all set for the Upfronts, with the obvious choices for renewal already determined. Glee will return next season, as will the solid veteran Bones. Raising Hope is also a go for next season, as is smash hit freshman, New Girl with Zooey Deschanel. FOX has already made up its mind on Terra Nova, dropping the ambitious prehistoric action drama after one 13-episode season. They've also decided to close House after eight years. Touch is the remaining freshman drama still on the schedule and left undetermined, although the way the ratings have changed over the season don't inspire confidence. Things are considerably bleaker for Alcatraz and The Finder, the latter in particular a massive flop left to finish on Friday nights.
And on the same night is Fringe, which got a vote of confidence last season with a full 22-episode renewal. Now, FOX is willing to let the show down easy, allotting a 13-episode season to wrap things up. I can say the show has been lucky this whole time to keep going and last long enough to sustain potential in syndication and tell a full-circle story. Not many sci-fi shows on FOX are lucky, and this J.J. Abrams production earned its support from such a successful, and otherwise highly competitive network.
Much of Animation Domination is a go for next season, and this includes the two fellow Seth MacFarlane comedies to Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show. No decision seems to have been made on Bob's Burgers, even though it has a 22-episode season season that could lead it into next year. Still, it is only one of two shows going beyond the standard repertoire of The Simpsons and MacFarlane shows on this popular lineup with an equal chance to proceed. The other is Napoleon Dynamite, a loose adaptation of the 2004 cult favorite with the same creative team and cast, plus Simpsons veteran Mike Scully backing it up. This lineup also saw Allen Gregory from comedy star Jonah Hill, which seemed like a failure right out of the gate. Of course, that one has already been cancelled.
ABC -- And now let's finish this off. ABC isn't necessarily doing any better as a whole now than previously. Previous reality titan Dancing With the Stars has softened considerably in recent years, and now comedy Modern Family really stands out as the network's biggest hit. But at the same time, they have shown plenty of improvement and increased degrees of success. Leading into the final season of Desperate Housewives, we have another big fairy tale hit like Grimm in a different form, Once Upon a Time. And that's not the only solid smash hit ABC's seen this season, as audiences can't stop talking about Revenge.
As of this writing, ABC has not renewed any of it's shows yet. No, none at all. Still, it seems pretty obvious which ones will be, and I just mentioned the two new standout shows. **Wink-Wink** Also looking good for a renewal is Castle, holding up well as the dramatic tension on the series progresses. Grey's Anatomy is also cruising for a renewal, standing out well against the rest of the network's shows, and spinoff Private Practice is no slouch either. That will likely see at least one more season, and it's been solid in a move to Tuesday nights in what's otherwise something of a death slot. By the way, Body of Proof says hello, and likely is going to say goodbye. Among other dramas, the ambitious horror series The River hasn't really held any water, and Missing is similarly bound for cancellation. On the upside though, the other midseason debuts have been quite solid. GCB has held up well during its run, only slipping the weekend of the Titanic miniseries (and that's a debacle in and of itself). It could get vote of confidence. And Scandal has been an even stronger performer, standing an even better chance for renewal.
And on the comedy side, we have nothing but strong, well-supported hits. The Middle and Suburgatory are certainly a go for next season, while Happy Endings also looks great and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 is also standing firm on its own two feet. The only real failures here, Work It and Man Up got the axe long ago. There is a lot of positive speculation regarding Tim Allen's show Last Man Standing, which opened very well especially considering the fact that it's a multi-camera sitcom in a single-camera world. But I'm not too sure about that one, since it has declined considerably and certainly in the most recent airing. Most people expect it to return and I can understand if the network has faith in it overall. But I'm not gonna lie, to see it renewed would honestly surprise me. And that leaves Cougar Town, which has been performing weakly despite some much-deserved critical success. Over the weekend, TBS has offered to pick up the show in ABC's stead for not one, but two seasons. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but that's something important to consider.
So there you have it. And really, all I can say at this point is thank you. Thank you for reading through that entire, long-winded post of my rambles.
But yeah, on the upside this is a special occasion, one that has enraptured my interest since I was in high school. Perhaps the one event that represents May best for me. It's the end of the main television season, more specifically the last week before the Broadcast Network Upfronts. Sure, they don't hold as much water in this age of online streaming like Netflix and fantastic dramas made for cable. In fact, broadcast viewership overall seriously plummeted this season, adding more stress to a business that was already declining for a while now. Still, this upfront business is all pretty exciting and makes for a big annual event that can't help but stand out.
And of course, this means a turning point for many a viewer's choice of programs. Some will continue, and others will cut off (and some already have).
Let's look back at each network, consider the season that has passed, and where everything stands. Which shows have already been renewed, which won't be coming back, and how each is doing overall.
NBC -- To start off, we have one of the weaker performing networks, one that has been floundering for years now. And with the afore-mentioned declines, things have only gotten worse this season. Some shows couldn't even average a 1.0 rating in the key demographic of Adults 18-49, with only the smaller CW network doing worse. The only real bright spot they have is The Voice, the American Idol-esque that premiered big last season and has done about as well this year.
Overall the Peacock network, once at the top of the world is in a crisis mode. And in such a state, they have had to get creative, and have done so in past seasons in response to continuous declines. In fact, at the time of this writing NBC has already picked up several new shows for the fall. Literally as soon as I started writing, the comedic pilot The New Normal and the J.J. Abrams-produced drama Revolution both got full-series pickups, and other pickups were announced since then. It gives me the impression that I should have done this last week. Anyway, NBC at least has the Summer Olympics to help them this year. Reports point to a late August launch for some shows, both new and returning in the immediate ratings heat following the Olympics. Examples that have been thrown out for this practice include Go On, a new comedy with Matthew Perry.
With the network already picking up new shows well before the competition, it's already the moment of truth for a lot of existing NBC shows. Of them, so far only two dramas have been renewed. One is Smash, the DreamWorks-produced musical drama that has been a modest success and stood out against the rest of the lineup. The other is Grimm, which has also been rumored for a premiere in the post-Olympics heat. Furthermore, the way it's been holding on Friday nights (especially considering the big premiere out of the minuscule Chuck premiere back in October), and especially with the even worse numbers on higher-traffic nights makes it a regular ratings dynamo.
Of the rest of the lineup, we have a mixed bag. Long-standing reality shows are likely to return, like The Biggest Loser and Celebrity Apprentice, as will Betty White: Off Their Rockers, a stand-out performer. Sole franchise survivor Law & Order: SVU is also inclined to stick amongst dramas. Parenthood has not been seen since February, but it has performed consistently and stands out well compared to the network's declines since the finale. It is likely to return, but one may still be surprised here. Otherwise, The Firm and Awake are both considered failures, whilst Harry's Law is likewise too weak a performer in the sweet spot demo to get renewed.
And now we get to comedies, and only now do I realize the risks of writing at this point in time when the important stories develop on the spot. (Really, the entire rest of the post has already been finished and I'm rewriting this one section to update it!)
Anyway, I was about to point out here about how the sitcoms seemed to have performed equally as well but the older shows all stood a better chance at renewal. In particular, Community wouldn't get the axe with as much well-deserved support has it has received. Well since I started writing, NBC has announced the increasing likelihood that all their biggest comedies would be renewed. Specifically, 30 Rock will get a renewal for a final season. On top of that, it will be an abbreviated one, running only 13-14 episodes. With this decision very well in the bag, NBC may do the same for Parks and Recreation and Community. And I thought the whole "Post-Olympics Premiere Week" was a creative alternative here. This also gives Up All Night a better chance for survival than I previously anticipated. But Whitney has a much bleaker outlook, as do Are You There, Chelsea and Best Friends Forever. And Bent only ran quickly for three weeks, and I consider this giving it the shaft.
And it will be interesting to see how The Office pans out, especially with the mixed critical reception this whole past season and plans for a spinoff about Dwight. I can say anything goes at this point, especially considering rumors of a reboot.
CBS -- On the plus side, I can say there's less to say about this network. Not only have they been hanging tough overall with some popular new shows, CBS has already renewed the majority of their lineup. The most obvious cases for renewal are already on tap for next season, from my father's choices of NCIS, Hawaii Five-0, Criminal Minds, and Friday favorite Blue Bloods, to my mother's choices of new drama Person of Interest and critical darling The Good Wife. The same could be said for Mike and Molly and new hit comedy 2 Broke Girls, while The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are in the midst of multi-season renewals. Same goes for NCIS: LA and The Mentalist.
That leaves Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement and Rob among comedies. The latter two have some question to them, but Men is a shoe-in as long as Ashton Kutcher (who replaced Charlie Sheen) is game. As far as dramas go, the flagship CSI series is the only one in the franchise renewed for next year. Only one other of the two, Miami and NY, will continue, with the more expensive Miami lacking much of an edge despite higher ratings. No other drama is likely to proceed. On the reality front, all three of the big ones have been renewed, Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Undercover Boss.
The CW -- It's funny, because I've been looking up UPN and The WB on Wikipedia, TV Tropes and YouTube this past week. I've been on a nostalgic trip for these long-lost networks of the late 90's and can easily write about how radically different they were, but I still don't really care about their successor. And I don't think it cares about me.
I'm not even sure if it matters anyway, since there's a long way to go between their ratings and even the horrible ratings of NBC. But relative to their low standards, they really only have hits in the already-renewed Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, the former a beloved cult drama and the latter the best performer on the CW. Modernized continuation 90210 was also renewed last week. Heart of Dixie (in the first season) and Nikita (second season) were the weaker performers earlier, but only now is freshman drama The Secret Circle starting to bomb. And since Circle comes on after Vampire Diaries, that seems to doom the show outright. Gossip Girl, which has been on for five years is curiously missing from the recent renewals, which sort of helps to level the playing field. And how ironic is it that I only bothered to write about the Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle Ringer back in September as far as CW shows were concerned (what with its anticipation at the time), and that's the show least likely to get renewed.
Oh, and I am aware of The LA Complex, a Canadian import that did worse in the rut of the main season than the similarly imported comedy 18 to Life did in the Summer.
FOX -- The home of American Idol and Animation Domination appears to be all set for the Upfronts, with the obvious choices for renewal already determined. Glee will return next season, as will the solid veteran Bones. Raising Hope is also a go for next season, as is smash hit freshman, New Girl with Zooey Deschanel. FOX has already made up its mind on Terra Nova, dropping the ambitious prehistoric action drama after one 13-episode season. They've also decided to close House after eight years. Touch is the remaining freshman drama still on the schedule and left undetermined, although the way the ratings have changed over the season don't inspire confidence. Things are considerably bleaker for Alcatraz and The Finder, the latter in particular a massive flop left to finish on Friday nights.
And on the same night is Fringe, which got a vote of confidence last season with a full 22-episode renewal. Now, FOX is willing to let the show down easy, allotting a 13-episode season to wrap things up. I can say the show has been lucky this whole time to keep going and last long enough to sustain potential in syndication and tell a full-circle story. Not many sci-fi shows on FOX are lucky, and this J.J. Abrams production earned its support from such a successful, and otherwise highly competitive network.
Much of Animation Domination is a go for next season, and this includes the two fellow Seth MacFarlane comedies to Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show. No decision seems to have been made on Bob's Burgers, even though it has a 22-episode season season that could lead it into next year. Still, it is only one of two shows going beyond the standard repertoire of The Simpsons and MacFarlane shows on this popular lineup with an equal chance to proceed. The other is Napoleon Dynamite, a loose adaptation of the 2004 cult favorite with the same creative team and cast, plus Simpsons veteran Mike Scully backing it up. This lineup also saw Allen Gregory from comedy star Jonah Hill, which seemed like a failure right out of the gate. Of course, that one has already been cancelled.
ABC -- And now let's finish this off. ABC isn't necessarily doing any better as a whole now than previously. Previous reality titan Dancing With the Stars has softened considerably in recent years, and now comedy Modern Family really stands out as the network's biggest hit. But at the same time, they have shown plenty of improvement and increased degrees of success. Leading into the final season of Desperate Housewives, we have another big fairy tale hit like Grimm in a different form, Once Upon a Time. And that's not the only solid smash hit ABC's seen this season, as audiences can't stop talking about Revenge.
As of this writing, ABC has not renewed any of it's shows yet. No, none at all. Still, it seems pretty obvious which ones will be, and I just mentioned the two new standout shows. **Wink-Wink** Also looking good for a renewal is Castle, holding up well as the dramatic tension on the series progresses. Grey's Anatomy is also cruising for a renewal, standing out well against the rest of the network's shows, and spinoff Private Practice is no slouch either. That will likely see at least one more season, and it's been solid in a move to Tuesday nights in what's otherwise something of a death slot. By the way, Body of Proof says hello, and likely is going to say goodbye. Among other dramas, the ambitious horror series The River hasn't really held any water, and Missing is similarly bound for cancellation. On the upside though, the other midseason debuts have been quite solid. GCB has held up well during its run, only slipping the weekend of the Titanic miniseries (and that's a debacle in and of itself). It could get vote of confidence. And Scandal has been an even stronger performer, standing an even better chance for renewal.
And on the comedy side, we have nothing but strong, well-supported hits. The Middle and Suburgatory are certainly a go for next season, while Happy Endings also looks great and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 is also standing firm on its own two feet. The only real failures here, Work It and Man Up got the axe long ago. There is a lot of positive speculation regarding Tim Allen's show Last Man Standing, which opened very well especially considering the fact that it's a multi-camera sitcom in a single-camera world. But I'm not too sure about that one, since it has declined considerably and certainly in the most recent airing. Most people expect it to return and I can understand if the network has faith in it overall. But I'm not gonna lie, to see it renewed would honestly surprise me. And that leaves Cougar Town, which has been performing weakly despite some much-deserved critical success. Over the weekend, TBS has offered to pick up the show in ABC's stead for not one, but two seasons. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but that's something important to consider.
So there you have it. And really, all I can say at this point is thank you. Thank you for reading through that entire, long-winded post of my rambles.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The CW's Fall 2011 Schedule
And the last network to hold it's upfronts is also the biggest outlier among broadcast networks. Often outperformed by Spanish-language channels, the five-year-old CW network operates like a cable channel that offers itself over-the-air. The niche audience they seek out is very pronounced in the shows they air, very clearly seeking to appeal to young women.
This makes you really wonder how they can pull this off, especially when you realize how low their ratings tend to skew. I've read plenty of analysis on the CW, and among the best I understand regards the loophole they operate out of. Apparently, the CW operates at a loss of itself, but manages to recoup via sales of their programs in international markets, and eventually syndication. As a consequence, said programs are limited to productions by its two corporate parents, CBS and Warner Bros. In fact, one of these new fall shows is a transplant from CBS proper, and one of the partner producers, ABC Studios actually bailed out of it when it moved to the CW.
Personally, I don't really care about the CW. I seldom watch the channel, but that's mostly because I am a young man. For the most part, I just don't gravitate towards the kind of shows they pick up. Hell, this network hasn't aired a comedy since Everybody Hates Chris ended it's four-year run two seasons ago. They don't consider themselves in that business anymore, just sticking to dramas.
But, I must also give credit where credit is due. Among the female-skewing shows the CW picks up, some of them are interesting genre shows that are able to appeal to wider audiences than one would expect. Supernatural is a series that's run just long enough to have aired on the CW's predecessor, the WB. (Long story there.) I've watched some of it, and it's really impressive. The same goes for this past season's freshman, Nikita, and I've also watched one episode of The Vampire Diaries, a drama whose female appeal is quite pronounced. And yet, that was also pretty good.
In any case, onto next season. One Tree Hill, a drama which had been on for three seasons when the WB shut down and the CW launched, will wait until midseason to start it's newest season. In addition, look for new reality shows The Frame and Re-Modeled come midseason.
There is substantially less ground to cover here than on the other networks for the fall schedule. You see, unlike the other broadcasters which simply take it easy on Saturday nights, the CW skips the weekend entirely. They only broadcast Mondays through Fridays, and with as much primetime space each night as the FOX network this adds up to a mere ten hours a week.
And in those ten hours, there's a lot of shifting about as the CW tries a big batch of new shows and shuffles it's deck of existing shows for the fall:
Mondays
8/7c - Gossip Girl (Drama; 5th Season)
9/8c - HART OF DIXIE (New Drama; Light drama with Rachel Bilson as a city doctor who defects to a small-town practice she inherits)
The thing that brings these two shows to the same table is the presence of producer Josh Schwartz, the creator of The O.C. As someone who's never seen it, or Gossip Girl I cannot judge of similarities between the two, although I've heard about similar themes. This new show, Hart of Dixie reunites Schwartz with former O.C. actress Bilson, and takes up an ambitious effort to reclaim "that old-school WB flav" (as I said, referring to the network's predecessor). The biggest parallel comes from Everwood, a drama that ran for the last four seasons the WB existed and had the similar premise of a city doctor uprooting his family and moving to the Rocky Mountains.
Tuesday
8/7c - 90210 (Drama; 4th Season; New Night)
9/8c - RINGER (New Drama; Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a woman on the run from the mob, and tries to take her twin's identity to protect herself)
The remake of 90210 tries its hand on the next night over, and all I can say it "More power to it". Following it is that CBS transplant I've mentioned earlier. Ringer brings the star of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer to the very network formed by the merger of the two that aired her old show.
Wednesday
8/7c - H8R (New Reality; Mario Lopez hosts the chronicle of celebrities who confront their biggest and fiercest critics)
9/8c - America's Next Top Model (Reality; 9th Year)
What makes this night distinctive is that it's the only night of the week without any dramas. Instead, one of these shows is the CW's single hit reality show, and the only series left that ran on the long-forgotten UPN. It only makes sense for this one show to stay put, and to try out more reality shows alongside it.
Thursdays
8/7c - The Vampire Diaries (Drama; 3rd Season)
9/8c - THE SECRET CIRCLE (New Drama; A woman discovers she's a witch and confronts a potential war going on)
Thursdays has their most popular show, The Vampire Diaries. Naturally, this season also sees another supernatural-themed series launching alongside it, a near-perfect match of one premise to the next.
Fridays
8/7c - Nikita (Drama; 2nd Season; New Night)
9/8c - Supernatural (Drama; 7th Season)
And Nikita, arguably the widest-appealing show the CW launched this past season moves to Fridays in it's second run, in the slot Smallville settled well into in it's final two seasons. Supernatural joined it last season, and both shows performed about up to the low standards for both the network, and Friday nights in general. This is one scenario where the night seems to work out best.
The shows not coming back are Hellcats, Life Unexpected, Shedding for the Wedding, and Smallville.
This makes you really wonder how they can pull this off, especially when you realize how low their ratings tend to skew. I've read plenty of analysis on the CW, and among the best I understand regards the loophole they operate out of. Apparently, the CW operates at a loss of itself, but manages to recoup via sales of their programs in international markets, and eventually syndication. As a consequence, said programs are limited to productions by its two corporate parents, CBS and Warner Bros. In fact, one of these new fall shows is a transplant from CBS proper, and one of the partner producers, ABC Studios actually bailed out of it when it moved to the CW.
Personally, I don't really care about the CW. I seldom watch the channel, but that's mostly because I am a young man. For the most part, I just don't gravitate towards the kind of shows they pick up. Hell, this network hasn't aired a comedy since Everybody Hates Chris ended it's four-year run two seasons ago. They don't consider themselves in that business anymore, just sticking to dramas.
But, I must also give credit where credit is due. Among the female-skewing shows the CW picks up, some of them are interesting genre shows that are able to appeal to wider audiences than one would expect. Supernatural is a series that's run just long enough to have aired on the CW's predecessor, the WB. (Long story there.) I've watched some of it, and it's really impressive. The same goes for this past season's freshman, Nikita, and I've also watched one episode of The Vampire Diaries, a drama whose female appeal is quite pronounced. And yet, that was also pretty good.
In any case, onto next season. One Tree Hill, a drama which had been on for three seasons when the WB shut down and the CW launched, will wait until midseason to start it's newest season. In addition, look for new reality shows The Frame and Re-Modeled come midseason.
There is substantially less ground to cover here than on the other networks for the fall schedule. You see, unlike the other broadcasters which simply take it easy on Saturday nights, the CW skips the weekend entirely. They only broadcast Mondays through Fridays, and with as much primetime space each night as the FOX network this adds up to a mere ten hours a week.
And in those ten hours, there's a lot of shifting about as the CW tries a big batch of new shows and shuffles it's deck of existing shows for the fall:
Mondays
8/7c - Gossip Girl (Drama; 5th Season)
9/8c - HART OF DIXIE (New Drama; Light drama with Rachel Bilson as a city doctor who defects to a small-town practice she inherits)
The thing that brings these two shows to the same table is the presence of producer Josh Schwartz, the creator of The O.C. As someone who's never seen it, or Gossip Girl I cannot judge of similarities between the two, although I've heard about similar themes. This new show, Hart of Dixie reunites Schwartz with former O.C. actress Bilson, and takes up an ambitious effort to reclaim "that old-school WB flav" (as I said, referring to the network's predecessor). The biggest parallel comes from Everwood, a drama that ran for the last four seasons the WB existed and had the similar premise of a city doctor uprooting his family and moving to the Rocky Mountains.
Tuesday
8/7c - 90210 (Drama; 4th Season; New Night)
9/8c - RINGER (New Drama; Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a woman on the run from the mob, and tries to take her twin's identity to protect herself)
The remake of 90210 tries its hand on the next night over, and all I can say it "More power to it". Following it is that CBS transplant I've mentioned earlier. Ringer brings the star of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer to the very network formed by the merger of the two that aired her old show.
Wednesday
8/7c - H8R (New Reality; Mario Lopez hosts the chronicle of celebrities who confront their biggest and fiercest critics)
9/8c - America's Next Top Model (Reality; 9th Year)
What makes this night distinctive is that it's the only night of the week without any dramas. Instead, one of these shows is the CW's single hit reality show, and the only series left that ran on the long-forgotten UPN. It only makes sense for this one show to stay put, and to try out more reality shows alongside it.
Thursdays
8/7c - The Vampire Diaries (Drama; 3rd Season)
9/8c - THE SECRET CIRCLE (New Drama; A woman discovers she's a witch and confronts a potential war going on)
Thursdays has their most popular show, The Vampire Diaries. Naturally, this season also sees another supernatural-themed series launching alongside it, a near-perfect match of one premise to the next.
Fridays
8/7c - Nikita (Drama; 2nd Season; New Night)
9/8c - Supernatural (Drama; 7th Season)
And Nikita, arguably the widest-appealing show the CW launched this past season moves to Fridays in it's second run, in the slot Smallville settled well into in it's final two seasons. Supernatural joined it last season, and both shows performed about up to the low standards for both the network, and Friday nights in general. This is one scenario where the night seems to work out best.
The shows not coming back are Hellcats, Life Unexpected, Shedding for the Wedding, and Smallville.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
CBS' Fall 2011 Schedule
The last of the major four broadcasters, CBS holds its upfronts today. (Tomorrow, the CW which CBS co-owns will wrap things up, although it's much smaller and hold less punch than the incomparable other four networks.) CBS holds the highest rank amongst total viewers of the four, but there is a key tradeoff. Their 18-49 ratings are more second-best, behind the FOX network.
In my life, this is fairly evident. While I do enjoy a few of the sitcoms they offer, specifically The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, it's my father who really patronizes the network. He used to watch JAG back in the day, and thusly can say that he liked NCIS before it was cool to like NCIS. On top of that, there's also the key successful freshman drama from this network, the new version of Hawaii Five-0. That's in addition to my mother, who watches The Good Wife as well as NCIS. And there's Blue Bloods as well, and it doesn't take me too much exposure to it to realize the dignity it has for the cops it portrays. As far as younger viewers goes...did I mention NCIS? Because that's CBS' key hit drama, particularly with the 18-49 crowd.
But yeah, the Tiffany network's still quite thriving. Come midseason, you can expect to see the next season of Undercover Boss as well as new drama The 2-2, from executive producer Robert DeNiro.
As far as the fall goes, CBS has its bases loaded with plenty of new shows. Before we start, I think you may notice a pattern with some of these shows. If you watch CBS, you would know why they tend to skew older in viewership. These shows have a pretty clear traditionalist bent, the network in a clear comfort zone that sticks to procedural dramas and multi-camera comedies. They don't really tend to seek out bigger risks among shows, and don't seem to have tried it this season in contrast to the other networks. Perhaps the boldest drama they have is The Good Wife, which does have a legal procedural bent to it as well. At the same time though, it's not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of these more old-fashioned shows are very successful. Two and a Half Men is TV's biggest comedy and I've already spoken for NCIS. And besides, where is it written that standard, comfort-zone shows necessarily had to be bad?
With that said, here we go with the lineup, and commentary on each night. No first impression here either, but that might change if CBS has clips to offer.
Mondays
8/7c - How I Met Your Mother (Comedy; 7th Season)
8:30/7:30c - 2 BROKE GIRLS (New Comedy; Two waitresses come together under the impression of a potential business partnership)
9/8c - Two and a Half Men (Comedy; 9th Season)
9:30/8:30c - Mike & Molly (Comedy; 2nd Season)
10/9c - Hawaii Five-0 (Drama; 2nd Season)
There's not much to note on this lineup, just the two details that reflect any change. First, you have the new show 2 Broke Girls, and it only figures that it's going to follow How I Met Your Mother while Mike & Molly proves successful under Chuck Lorre's branding and Melissa McCarthy's comedic charm. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about this new comedy, especially since CBS is the only network that still makes the traditional three-camera on a soundstage format work for them (and perhaps that's what's inspiring it's competition to try it). I'll certainly take a look at the trailer, and note the presence of two producers. For one, you've got Sex and the City's Michael Patrick King, and the other producer is Whitney Cummings, also headlining her own NBC show. The other thing of note is Two and a Half Men, and you can't be TV top comedy and have your lead explode out of his job without notice. It just doesn't work that way. There was some idea that Charlie Sheen would manage to return to work for next season after sidelining the show for the remainer of this season. But that was kind of a fool's hope to be honest, his pyschotic breakdown would have been entertaining for a few seconds, but it quickly just got disturbing and sad. Anyway, it's no surprise to see CBS is bringing his show back without him, Ashton Kutcher taking the reins as the lead. That call actually makes perfect sense, who better to replace an actor who fell into a pit of absurd and insane self-promotion than someone who chooses that style purposefully and works it to his own benefit?
Tuesdays
8/7c - NCIS (Drama; 9th Season)
9/8c - NCIS: Los Angeles (Drama; 3rd Season)
10/9c - UNFORGETTABLE (New Drama; New procedural drama about a woman with a perfect memory)
CBS has decided to move The Good Wife, a bolder type of procedural show they run off Tuesday nights in an effort to increase viewers from one season to the next. In the mean time, the proven block of NCIS dramas beginning with the megahit series originally spun off of JAG, gets a new procedural to cap off the night. The premise does sound like it would add plenty to the formula that CBS has crafted to its own art, but not really raise the stakes.
Wednesdays
8/7c - Survivor (Reality; 12th Year)
9/8c - Criminal Minds (Drama; 7th Season)
10/9c - CSI (Drama; 12th Season; New Night)
On this night, the biggest change this season is the relocation of the network's longest-running drama from it's long-time stead of Thursdays. Mind you, this show has since been dethroned by NCIS as TV's biggest scripted drama. This will either rejuvinate the show to fighting form, or end up serving as it's swan song. Or it could, you know keep it going at a good, steady pace as was proven last season by some of its spinoffs having been shuffled.
Thursdays
8/7c - The Big Bang Theory (Comedy; 5th Season)
8:30/7:30c - HOW TO BE A GENTLEMEN (New Comedy; The lives of an uptight columnist and a crude personal trainer clash)
9/8c - PERSON OF INTEREST (New Drama; Procedural with Jim Caviezel as a former CIA agent teaming up with a benefactor to solve crimes)
10/9c - The Mentalist (Drama; 4th Season)
Here we have not one new show, but two. The sitcom with high expectations leading out of Chuck Lorre's massively successful nerd-culture comedy offers a standard buddy-style humor wherein opposites attract. Replacing CSI on Thursdays is a show that might be similar, but the trailer will clear any suspicious about that up. Otherwise, both the shows staying on the lineup have proven successful, in particular The Big Bang Theory since it moved there from Mondays last year.
Fridays
8/7c - A GIFTED MAN (New Drama; A doctor has a life-changing experience when he seems to have heard from his wife from beyond the grave)
9/8c - CSI: NY (Drama; 8th Season)
10/9c - Blue Bloods (Drama; 2nd Season)
True to their traditionalist nature, CBS actually sticks to what may be the biggest risk they take -- programming Friday nights with scripted shows. Of course, the block is quite different from where it was two years ago, when it picked by Medium from NBC to go with their own spiritual-communication show Ghost Whisperer. In addition to that, they had another procedural, NUMB3RS with Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz (now on NBC's The Playboy Club) and Judd Hirsch. Of course, these were easier-going shows, trying to appeal to to people who stay home on Fridays, and the current crop of dramas does the same. In the case of CSI: NY, though we get more than one season of a show that's since cooled off in popularity and has settled down to some degree of success on Fridays. Same goes for Blue Bloods, and it's lucky and well-deserving of renewal, even if it's earning it based on relative success on Fridays. There's also the new drama, A Gifted Man. It sounds like a medical procedural from the full description in CBS' press release of this schedule, and it can come off like the short-lived ABC series Eli Stone as equally as it would evoke memories of Medium and Ghost Whisperer.
Saturdays
8/7c - Rules of Engagement (Comedy; 6th Season; New Night)
8:30/7:30c - Comedy Encores
9/8c - Dramatic Encores
10/9c - 48 Hours Mystery (Newsmagazine)
And on the least-watched night of the week, CBS actually blends encore presentations with one original program -- newsmagazine 48 Hours Mystery. Not much to report on here...whoa. WHAT?! Rules of Engagement? That's where it went with its renewal? Is this a fate worse than death for this show, to put it on this far out of the way while still renewing it? Don't get me wrong, I don't care about this show. But it seems pretty extreme. And I thought that FOX cancelling America's Most Wanted was surprising. Jeez.
Sundays
7/6c - 60 Minutes (Newsmagazine)
8/7c - The Amazing Race (Reality; 11th Year)
9/8c - The Good Wife (Drama; 3rd Season; New Night)
10/9c - CSI: Miami (Drama; 10th Season)
And here's where The Good Wife went. As I reach the last night of the week, it occurs to me that CBS is now confident in shaking up it's status quo in the occasional reorganization of it's dramatic scheduling. (It works for comedy too, as The Big Bang Theory has proven.) Considering that CSI: Miami isn't as hot as it used to be, moving it off of Mondays to make way for Hawaii Five-0 hasn't hurt it that much. In the case of The Good Wife though, CBS is trying to grow the audience for its biggest critical darling, earning such in it's ambition whilst their ratings try to get by.
And in addition to these renewals, the cancelled show are $#*! My Dad Says, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, The Defenders, Mad Love, and Medium. The lattermost is the only show that wasn't a freshman on CBS.
In my life, this is fairly evident. While I do enjoy a few of the sitcoms they offer, specifically The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, it's my father who really patronizes the network. He used to watch JAG back in the day, and thusly can say that he liked NCIS before it was cool to like NCIS. On top of that, there's also the key successful freshman drama from this network, the new version of Hawaii Five-0. That's in addition to my mother, who watches The Good Wife as well as NCIS. And there's Blue Bloods as well, and it doesn't take me too much exposure to it to realize the dignity it has for the cops it portrays. As far as younger viewers goes...did I mention NCIS? Because that's CBS' key hit drama, particularly with the 18-49 crowd.
But yeah, the Tiffany network's still quite thriving. Come midseason, you can expect to see the next season of Undercover Boss as well as new drama The 2-2, from executive producer Robert DeNiro.
As far as the fall goes, CBS has its bases loaded with plenty of new shows. Before we start, I think you may notice a pattern with some of these shows. If you watch CBS, you would know why they tend to skew older in viewership. These shows have a pretty clear traditionalist bent, the network in a clear comfort zone that sticks to procedural dramas and multi-camera comedies. They don't really tend to seek out bigger risks among shows, and don't seem to have tried it this season in contrast to the other networks. Perhaps the boldest drama they have is The Good Wife, which does have a legal procedural bent to it as well. At the same time though, it's not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of these more old-fashioned shows are very successful. Two and a Half Men is TV's biggest comedy and I've already spoken for NCIS. And besides, where is it written that standard, comfort-zone shows necessarily had to be bad?
With that said, here we go with the lineup, and commentary on each night. No first impression here either, but that might change if CBS has clips to offer.
Mondays
8/7c - How I Met Your Mother (Comedy; 7th Season)
8:30/7:30c - 2 BROKE GIRLS (New Comedy; Two waitresses come together under the impression of a potential business partnership)
9/8c - Two and a Half Men (Comedy; 9th Season)
9:30/8:30c - Mike & Molly (Comedy; 2nd Season)
10/9c - Hawaii Five-0 (Drama; 2nd Season)
There's not much to note on this lineup, just the two details that reflect any change. First, you have the new show 2 Broke Girls, and it only figures that it's going to follow How I Met Your Mother while Mike & Molly proves successful under Chuck Lorre's branding and Melissa McCarthy's comedic charm. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about this new comedy, especially since CBS is the only network that still makes the traditional three-camera on a soundstage format work for them (and perhaps that's what's inspiring it's competition to try it). I'll certainly take a look at the trailer, and note the presence of two producers. For one, you've got Sex and the City's Michael Patrick King, and the other producer is Whitney Cummings, also headlining her own NBC show. The other thing of note is Two and a Half Men, and you can't be TV top comedy and have your lead explode out of his job without notice. It just doesn't work that way. There was some idea that Charlie Sheen would manage to return to work for next season after sidelining the show for the remainer of this season. But that was kind of a fool's hope to be honest, his pyschotic breakdown would have been entertaining for a few seconds, but it quickly just got disturbing and sad. Anyway, it's no surprise to see CBS is bringing his show back without him, Ashton Kutcher taking the reins as the lead. That call actually makes perfect sense, who better to replace an actor who fell into a pit of absurd and insane self-promotion than someone who chooses that style purposefully and works it to his own benefit?
Tuesdays
8/7c - NCIS (Drama; 9th Season)
9/8c - NCIS: Los Angeles (Drama; 3rd Season)
10/9c - UNFORGETTABLE (New Drama; New procedural drama about a woman with a perfect memory)
CBS has decided to move The Good Wife, a bolder type of procedural show they run off Tuesday nights in an effort to increase viewers from one season to the next. In the mean time, the proven block of NCIS dramas beginning with the megahit series originally spun off of JAG, gets a new procedural to cap off the night. The premise does sound like it would add plenty to the formula that CBS has crafted to its own art, but not really raise the stakes.
Wednesdays
8/7c - Survivor (Reality; 12th Year)
9/8c - Criminal Minds (Drama; 7th Season)
10/9c - CSI (Drama; 12th Season; New Night)
On this night, the biggest change this season is the relocation of the network's longest-running drama from it's long-time stead of Thursdays. Mind you, this show has since been dethroned by NCIS as TV's biggest scripted drama. This will either rejuvinate the show to fighting form, or end up serving as it's swan song. Or it could, you know keep it going at a good, steady pace as was proven last season by some of its spinoffs having been shuffled.
Thursdays
8/7c - The Big Bang Theory (Comedy; 5th Season)
8:30/7:30c - HOW TO BE A GENTLEMEN (New Comedy; The lives of an uptight columnist and a crude personal trainer clash)
9/8c - PERSON OF INTEREST (New Drama; Procedural with Jim Caviezel as a former CIA agent teaming up with a benefactor to solve crimes)
10/9c - The Mentalist (Drama; 4th Season)
Here we have not one new show, but two. The sitcom with high expectations leading out of Chuck Lorre's massively successful nerd-culture comedy offers a standard buddy-style humor wherein opposites attract. Replacing CSI on Thursdays is a show that might be similar, but the trailer will clear any suspicious about that up. Otherwise, both the shows staying on the lineup have proven successful, in particular The Big Bang Theory since it moved there from Mondays last year.
Fridays
8/7c - A GIFTED MAN (New Drama; A doctor has a life-changing experience when he seems to have heard from his wife from beyond the grave)
9/8c - CSI: NY (Drama; 8th Season)
10/9c - Blue Bloods (Drama; 2nd Season)
True to their traditionalist nature, CBS actually sticks to what may be the biggest risk they take -- programming Friday nights with scripted shows. Of course, the block is quite different from where it was two years ago, when it picked by Medium from NBC to go with their own spiritual-communication show Ghost Whisperer. In addition to that, they had another procedural, NUMB3RS with Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz (now on NBC's The Playboy Club) and Judd Hirsch. Of course, these were easier-going shows, trying to appeal to to people who stay home on Fridays, and the current crop of dramas does the same. In the case of CSI: NY, though we get more than one season of a show that's since cooled off in popularity and has settled down to some degree of success on Fridays. Same goes for Blue Bloods, and it's lucky and well-deserving of renewal, even if it's earning it based on relative success on Fridays. There's also the new drama, A Gifted Man. It sounds like a medical procedural from the full description in CBS' press release of this schedule, and it can come off like the short-lived ABC series Eli Stone as equally as it would evoke memories of Medium and Ghost Whisperer.
Saturdays
8/7c - Rules of Engagement (Comedy; 6th Season; New Night)
8:30/7:30c - Comedy Encores
9/8c - Dramatic Encores
10/9c - 48 Hours Mystery (Newsmagazine)
And on the least-watched night of the week, CBS actually blends encore presentations with one original program -- newsmagazine 48 Hours Mystery. Not much to report on here...whoa. WHAT?! Rules of Engagement? That's where it went with its renewal? Is this a fate worse than death for this show, to put it on this far out of the way while still renewing it? Don't get me wrong, I don't care about this show. But it seems pretty extreme. And I thought that FOX cancelling America's Most Wanted was surprising. Jeez.
Sundays
7/6c - 60 Minutes (Newsmagazine)
8/7c - The Amazing Race (Reality; 11th Year)
9/8c - The Good Wife (Drama; 3rd Season; New Night)
10/9c - CSI: Miami (Drama; 10th Season)
And here's where The Good Wife went. As I reach the last night of the week, it occurs to me that CBS is now confident in shaking up it's status quo in the occasional reorganization of it's dramatic scheduling. (It works for comedy too, as The Big Bang Theory has proven.) Considering that CSI: Miami isn't as hot as it used to be, moving it off of Mondays to make way for Hawaii Five-0 hasn't hurt it that much. In the case of The Good Wife though, CBS is trying to grow the audience for its biggest critical darling, earning such in it's ambition whilst their ratings try to get by.
And in addition to these renewals, the cancelled show are $#*! My Dad Says, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, The Defenders, Mad Love, and Medium. The lattermost is the only show that wasn't a freshman on CBS.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
ABC's Fall 2011 Schedule
UPDATE: (1:00 PM) ABC has just released clips from their upcoming shows, including one for each new fall show. Accordingly, I have updated each commentary below to include my take on them, constituting first impressions.
With ABC, I have to admit something right away -- I always have some strange fascination with this particular network. It's not that they have spectacular shows, although I will admit to liking Castle and Modern Family. And it's not that they're particularly successful, constantly racing against NBC to avoid landing in fourth place while still maintaining consistantly strong ratings for a few key shows. And their days of cultural relevance are well behind them, with the TGIF block remaining in the 1990's (and I'm aware of the more ill-fated revival from around 2003), serving as only a source of nostalgia the network can't benefit from.
To be perfectly honest, the thing I like the most about this network are it's promos. Like I said last fall, I enjoy how they play out and that they seem to have a real energy to them. It was true back in the TGIF days and it's true at these upfronts. I mean, I enjoyed NBC and FOX's newest trailers, but it's the ones from this network I'm looking forward to the most!
Anyways, onto the fall schedule itself. There have been a lot of pickups at ABC this season, reflecting their issues trying to get a new show off the ground. As such, there are a fair share of new series put on hold until midseason, specifically Apartment 23, Good Christian Belles, Missing, The River, Scandal, and Work It. Also shelved until midseason is Cougar Town, Courtney Cox's very popular comedy.
And this is the fall schedule, with commentary on each night:
Mondays
8/7c - Dancing With the Stars (Reality; 7th Season)
10/9c - Castle (Drama; 4th Season)
Of course! Why mess with a good thing? You've got ABC's monolith of a reality competition with such familiar faces. And the choice of chaser feels like a real proven success -- Nathan Fillion helping to solve crimes for another season. ...So, yeah. This is absolutely no surprise.
Tuesdays
8/7c - LAST MAN STANDING (New Comedy; Tim Allen comes to grips with his masculinity when considering the woman leading all around him)
8:30/7:30c - MAN UP (New Comedy; A trio of friends come to grips with their sense of masculinity)
9/8c - Dancing With the Stars Results Show (Reality; 7th Season)
10/9c - Body of Proof (Drama; 2nd Season)
And with ABC, we get more multi-camera comedies, but this time it's not so surprising. Oh sure, this network has scored with a trio of Wednesday night single-camera comedies after years of efforts at it. But still, they did have one traditional-style sitcom lingering around the past season -- Better With You, which drew mixed rating results and was eventually cancelled. Personally, I liked that even with it's corny moments. Regardless, we have two more this coming season, airing on their own night but on a network that's seemed to remain open to having more than one kind of sitcom on the air. It just comes off as Paul Lee's desire to start another night of comedy, sticking to a genre that ABC has the most to be proud of. He tries a night that's had limited success with dramas the last few seasons, and let's be honest, some ideas he had were even worse, like trying a new TGIF block. The premises of the two shows are akin to each other, so it makes perfect sense to pair them up. For the moment I don't have any first impressions, I have yet to see either of any show. Still, with plots like those it should be interesting to see how they come off in the trailers. And it's nice to see Tim Allen return to his TV roots. (I consider his film career, and there he was as indeed a sad, strange little man.) The rest of the night is unsurprising, with the other night of Dancing With The Stars followed by procedural Body of Proof. It's not unlike Monday's arrangement with Castle, especially since it's their one recent dramatic success and it's similarly spearheaded by a strong character actress lead in Dana Delany. Perhaps it'll grow to the same success Castle had over time.
UPDATE: It turns out, I was wrong on my sources regarding these two new comedies. Only one of them, Last Man Standing is actually a multi-camera comedy. Man Up, at least based on the clip I saw is actually a single-camera comedy. In any case, I have commentary to add based on the new clips released. Tim Allen's new show appears to be the funnier one, with his father and husband character trying futily to leave an impression on his wife and daughter to amusing results. The second show looks okay, but didn't leave much of a comic impression so far. Hopefully, the trailer will be better.
Wednesdays
8/7c - The Middle (Comedy; 3rd Season)
8:30/7:30c - SUBURGATORY (New Comedy; A teenage daughter is forced to move into the suburbs with her father)
9/8c - Modern Family (Comedy; 3rd Season)
9:30/8:30c - Happy Endings (Comedy; 2nd Season)
10/9c - REVENGE (New Drama; A contemporary, female twist on The Count of Monte Cristo, with a young woman planning to exact revenge)
On Wednesdays, ABC's wisely not messing with what works, keeping solid performer The Middle and the hit comedy Modern Family in their old time slots. The way they're playing with it is by touting Happy Endings, a solid and likable relationship comedy that's gotten a reprive from ABC for another season, after Modern Family in a bid to increase awareness. And just as we've gotten an hour the next night over for the traditional-style sitcom, the only new comedy here is a single-camera comedy Suburgatory. With the premise of a father-daughter relationship touted like that, it of course fits in nicely between the two popular family sitcoms on this night. At the 10 o'clock hour, which ABC's been desperately trying to work for it for several seasons now, we get a new drama with a potentially bold, innovative storyline. Should be interesting to see the trailers for it.
UPDATE: Based on the clip of Suburgatory I've seen, the show looks like it could be funny. Jeremy Sisto and his daughter share a bit of banter in regards to his efforts to leave a positive impression on her, and it's fairly amusing. The clip we got of Revenge displays what appears to be the inciting incident of the series, with the murder of a young man. It's sort of hard to tell from just the 90-second snippet, but I'm almost inclined to believe that's the protagonist's brother or boyfriend. It's got some good going for it, but it's not exactly the best dramatic clip I've seen for this network.
Thursdays
8/7c - CHARLIE'S ANGELS (New Drama; A reboot of the 70's action-heroine thrill-ride)
9/8c - Grey's Anatomy (Drama; 8th Season)
10/9c - Private Practice (Drama; 5th Season)
On Thursday nights, Shonda Rhimes' series are staying put. Say what you will about them, but these two still do well enough to earn their ratings keep. Leading into it is the one foregone conclusion among new ABC pilots -- the new Charlie's Angels. Yes, it would appear TV is picking up some of the same shortcuts as the film industry, utilizing the "What's old is new again" philosophy. Now, I barely remember the original, which I last saw as a little kid. But we've also got Drew Barrymore producing, which only brings to mind the insipid and bombastic feature films based on the shows. Those are the only judgements I can make, and they don't say if the show will be good or not. The closest we can come is with the trailer, which I haven't seen yet. In any case, it's certainly going to be interesting with this classic returning to it's home network.
UPDATE: Okay, the best thing I can say of the Charlie's Angels clip is that it appears to be faithful to the show. Then again, I can't exactly be the best judge on this series. It does seem to have the right amount of action for a contemporary show, though.
Fridays
8/7c - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Reality; 7th Season; New Night and Time)
9/8c - Shark Tank (Reality; 3rd Season)
10/9c - 20/20 (Newsmagazine)
Friday night remains the second least-watched night of the week (Saturdays are behind it), so the choice of stacking one unscripted show on top of another is the most sensible decision on hand here. Furthermore, we also have the choice of series, including one of ABC's veteran reality shows trying it's hand on Fridays. It's ratings have been mixed the last season, so it's unsurprising to see it pop up here. Nothing else about this lineup is noteworthy, although ABC is the most exhausted at trying to program this night.
Saturdays
8/7c - Saturday Night College Football (ESPN Sports Coverage)
Aside from FOX, the most consistant Saturday schedule I've seen the last several years is on ABC. In the fall, it's the simple, popular coverage of NCAA football, a longtime staple on the network in general.
Sundays
7/6c - America's Funniest Home Videos (Reality; 22nd Season)
8/7c - ONCE UPON A TIME (New Drama; Fantastic drama reimagining the story of Snow White and the Wicked Queen)
9/8c - Desperate Housewives (Drama; 8th Season)
10/9c - PAN AM (New Drama; 1960's period piece soap set on the legendary airline)
And on Sunday nights, the biggest change is with the displacement of the reality veteran in favor of a bold new drama. Desperate Housewives will of course stick to it's timeslot, and so will America's Funniest Home Videos, staying on the air even as it would be obsolete in theory. The new dramas certainly sound unique and interesting, marking three new, adventurous dramas for ABC. The trailers for Once Upon a Time and Pan Am almost seem guaranteed to offer a beautiful look to them. On top of that, the cancellation of Brothers & Sisters opened up the potential for two dramas like this to kick off, for the price of one. Still that decision is the most surprising among the ABC cancellations. This past season saw an upgrade from 18 episodes just to wrap things up to a full 22 in the wake of improved ratings. There was also talk of bringing the show back for a brief final season, but that plan fell through.
UPDATE: I have to say, both the clips for Sunday's new dramas look absolutely marvelous. Not since Pushing Daisies have I seen ABC put so much effort into the style of a dramatic series, with such a rich, stylistic appeal for both. Pan Am really puts us into the time the show's set (not unlike NBC's The Playboy Club, which takes place the same decade), and I already expect a good show sporting women trying to rise above their given circumstances. The clip for Once Upon a Time is even better, creating a lush, rich, fantastic atmosphere for it's fairy tale setting, and not just by broadcast standards. This must've been expensive to put together, and I can only hope that the show itself delivers with such a high standard set.
The shows that ABC won't be bringing back are Better With You, Brothers & Sisters, Detroit 1-8-7, Mr. Sunshine, My Generation, No Ordinary Family, The Whole Truth, and V.
With ABC, I have to admit something right away -- I always have some strange fascination with this particular network. It's not that they have spectacular shows, although I will admit to liking Castle and Modern Family. And it's not that they're particularly successful, constantly racing against NBC to avoid landing in fourth place while still maintaining consistantly strong ratings for a few key shows. And their days of cultural relevance are well behind them, with the TGIF block remaining in the 1990's (and I'm aware of the more ill-fated revival from around 2003), serving as only a source of nostalgia the network can't benefit from.
To be perfectly honest, the thing I like the most about this network are it's promos. Like I said last fall, I enjoy how they play out and that they seem to have a real energy to them. It was true back in the TGIF days and it's true at these upfronts. I mean, I enjoyed NBC and FOX's newest trailers, but it's the ones from this network I'm looking forward to the most!
Anyways, onto the fall schedule itself. There have been a lot of pickups at ABC this season, reflecting their issues trying to get a new show off the ground. As such, there are a fair share of new series put on hold until midseason, specifically Apartment 23, Good Christian Belles, Missing, The River, Scandal, and Work It. Also shelved until midseason is Cougar Town, Courtney Cox's very popular comedy.
And this is the fall schedule, with commentary on each night:
Mondays
8/7c - Dancing With the Stars (Reality; 7th Season)
10/9c - Castle (Drama; 4th Season)
Of course! Why mess with a good thing? You've got ABC's monolith of a reality competition with such familiar faces. And the choice of chaser feels like a real proven success -- Nathan Fillion helping to solve crimes for another season. ...So, yeah. This is absolutely no surprise.
Tuesdays
8/7c - LAST MAN STANDING (New Comedy; Tim Allen comes to grips with his masculinity when considering the woman leading all around him)
8:30/7:30c - MAN UP (New Comedy; A trio of friends come to grips with their sense of masculinity)
9/8c - Dancing With the Stars Results Show (Reality; 7th Season)
10/9c - Body of Proof (Drama; 2nd Season)
And with ABC, we get more multi-camera comedies, but this time it's not so surprising. Oh sure, this network has scored with a trio of Wednesday night single-camera comedies after years of efforts at it. But still, they did have one traditional-style sitcom lingering around the past season -- Better With You, which drew mixed rating results and was eventually cancelled. Personally, I liked that even with it's corny moments. Regardless, we have two more this coming season, airing on their own night but on a network that's seemed to remain open to having more than one kind of sitcom on the air. It just comes off as Paul Lee's desire to start another night of comedy, sticking to a genre that ABC has the most to be proud of. He tries a night that's had limited success with dramas the last few seasons, and let's be honest, some ideas he had were even worse, like trying a new TGIF block. The premises of the two shows are akin to each other, so it makes perfect sense to pair them up. For the moment I don't have any first impressions, I have yet to see either of any show. Still, with plots like those it should be interesting to see how they come off in the trailers. And it's nice to see Tim Allen return to his TV roots. (I consider his film career, and there he was as indeed a sad, strange little man.) The rest of the night is unsurprising, with the other night of Dancing With The Stars followed by procedural Body of Proof. It's not unlike Monday's arrangement with Castle, especially since it's their one recent dramatic success and it's similarly spearheaded by a strong character actress lead in Dana Delany. Perhaps it'll grow to the same success Castle had over time.
UPDATE: It turns out, I was wrong on my sources regarding these two new comedies. Only one of them, Last Man Standing is actually a multi-camera comedy. Man Up, at least based on the clip I saw is actually a single-camera comedy. In any case, I have commentary to add based on the new clips released. Tim Allen's new show appears to be the funnier one, with his father and husband character trying futily to leave an impression on his wife and daughter to amusing results. The second show looks okay, but didn't leave much of a comic impression so far. Hopefully, the trailer will be better.
Wednesdays
8/7c - The Middle (Comedy; 3rd Season)
8:30/7:30c - SUBURGATORY (New Comedy; A teenage daughter is forced to move into the suburbs with her father)
9/8c - Modern Family (Comedy; 3rd Season)
9:30/8:30c - Happy Endings (Comedy; 2nd Season)
10/9c - REVENGE (New Drama; A contemporary, female twist on The Count of Monte Cristo, with a young woman planning to exact revenge)
On Wednesdays, ABC's wisely not messing with what works, keeping solid performer The Middle and the hit comedy Modern Family in their old time slots. The way they're playing with it is by touting Happy Endings, a solid and likable relationship comedy that's gotten a reprive from ABC for another season, after Modern Family in a bid to increase awareness. And just as we've gotten an hour the next night over for the traditional-style sitcom, the only new comedy here is a single-camera comedy Suburgatory. With the premise of a father-daughter relationship touted like that, it of course fits in nicely between the two popular family sitcoms on this night. At the 10 o'clock hour, which ABC's been desperately trying to work for it for several seasons now, we get a new drama with a potentially bold, innovative storyline. Should be interesting to see the trailers for it.
UPDATE: Based on the clip of Suburgatory I've seen, the show looks like it could be funny. Jeremy Sisto and his daughter share a bit of banter in regards to his efforts to leave a positive impression on her, and it's fairly amusing. The clip we got of Revenge displays what appears to be the inciting incident of the series, with the murder of a young man. It's sort of hard to tell from just the 90-second snippet, but I'm almost inclined to believe that's the protagonist's brother or boyfriend. It's got some good going for it, but it's not exactly the best dramatic clip I've seen for this network.
Thursdays
8/7c - CHARLIE'S ANGELS (New Drama; A reboot of the 70's action-heroine thrill-ride)
9/8c - Grey's Anatomy (Drama; 8th Season)
10/9c - Private Practice (Drama; 5th Season)
On Thursday nights, Shonda Rhimes' series are staying put. Say what you will about them, but these two still do well enough to earn their ratings keep. Leading into it is the one foregone conclusion among new ABC pilots -- the new Charlie's Angels. Yes, it would appear TV is picking up some of the same shortcuts as the film industry, utilizing the "What's old is new again" philosophy. Now, I barely remember the original, which I last saw as a little kid. But we've also got Drew Barrymore producing, which only brings to mind the insipid and bombastic feature films based on the shows. Those are the only judgements I can make, and they don't say if the show will be good or not. The closest we can come is with the trailer, which I haven't seen yet. In any case, it's certainly going to be interesting with this classic returning to it's home network.
UPDATE: Okay, the best thing I can say of the Charlie's Angels clip is that it appears to be faithful to the show. Then again, I can't exactly be the best judge on this series. It does seem to have the right amount of action for a contemporary show, though.
Fridays
8/7c - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Reality; 7th Season; New Night and Time)
9/8c - Shark Tank (Reality; 3rd Season)
10/9c - 20/20 (Newsmagazine)
Friday night remains the second least-watched night of the week (Saturdays are behind it), so the choice of stacking one unscripted show on top of another is the most sensible decision on hand here. Furthermore, we also have the choice of series, including one of ABC's veteran reality shows trying it's hand on Fridays. It's ratings have been mixed the last season, so it's unsurprising to see it pop up here. Nothing else about this lineup is noteworthy, although ABC is the most exhausted at trying to program this night.
Saturdays
8/7c - Saturday Night College Football (ESPN Sports Coverage)
Aside from FOX, the most consistant Saturday schedule I've seen the last several years is on ABC. In the fall, it's the simple, popular coverage of NCAA football, a longtime staple on the network in general.
Sundays
7/6c - America's Funniest Home Videos (Reality; 22nd Season)
8/7c - ONCE UPON A TIME (New Drama; Fantastic drama reimagining the story of Snow White and the Wicked Queen)
9/8c - Desperate Housewives (Drama; 8th Season)
10/9c - PAN AM (New Drama; 1960's period piece soap set on the legendary airline)
And on Sunday nights, the biggest change is with the displacement of the reality veteran in favor of a bold new drama. Desperate Housewives will of course stick to it's timeslot, and so will America's Funniest Home Videos, staying on the air even as it would be obsolete in theory. The new dramas certainly sound unique and interesting, marking three new, adventurous dramas for ABC. The trailers for Once Upon a Time and Pan Am almost seem guaranteed to offer a beautiful look to them. On top of that, the cancellation of Brothers & Sisters opened up the potential for two dramas like this to kick off, for the price of one. Still that decision is the most surprising among the ABC cancellations. This past season saw an upgrade from 18 episodes just to wrap things up to a full 22 in the wake of improved ratings. There was also talk of bringing the show back for a brief final season, but that plan fell through.
UPDATE: I have to say, both the clips for Sunday's new dramas look absolutely marvelous. Not since Pushing Daisies have I seen ABC put so much effort into the style of a dramatic series, with such a rich, stylistic appeal for both. Pan Am really puts us into the time the show's set (not unlike NBC's The Playboy Club, which takes place the same decade), and I already expect a good show sporting women trying to rise above their given circumstances. The clip for Once Upon a Time is even better, creating a lush, rich, fantastic atmosphere for it's fairy tale setting, and not just by broadcast standards. This must've been expensive to put together, and I can only hope that the show itself delivers with such a high standard set.
The shows that ABC won't be bringing back are Better With You, Brothers & Sisters, Detroit 1-8-7, Mr. Sunshine, My Generation, No Ordinary Family, The Whole Truth, and V.
Monday, May 16, 2011
FOX Addendum - Fall Comedy Trailers
As I said in the post commenting on the FOX network's fall schedule, I could not give first impressions on most of the new shows. This is unlike NBC, wherein I at least had some clips to go with the intentionally-leaked fall lineup. All I had to work with in the case of FOX was an early, brief trailer for Terra Nova, a new sci-fi drama picked up early as a bold, new initiative. I may do an entire post dedicated to the full trailer for that, since it's the only drama on the fall schedule and it only merits a closer look than the glimpse that's been around for months.
Meanwhile, however what we have below are the trailers to all three of the new sitcoms coming to FOX in the fall. Obviously, we can only expand on what we know with these. And so, let's get to these first impressions, shall we?
New Girl (working title) -- To be perfectly honest, this looks like it may have potential. Zooey Deschanel (joining her sister, Emily with her own FOX network series) plays an offbeat young lady coming off a harsh breakup, and it really seems like she's putting a lot into this performance. Granted you've also got some insecurities in regards to her breakup, but it's not that easy to tell from a trailer. In addition, you've got the three guys who take her in as a roommate. One of their reactions is to her model friends, but otherwise it seems like they care about her. As far as relationship comedies go, this looks like one of the better concepts and could blossom into a substantial series. They just might be onto something.
I Hate My Teenage Daughter (working title) -- On the other hand, here we have a multi-camera comedy that just makes it seem like the average TV writer is getting bored with the format. (And this is despite the fact that I've seen traditional-style comedies actually do more than just serve as a televised one-act play, before the rise of single-camera ones, too!) For the most part, this trailer for a sitcom following two mothers and their teenage daughters is rather lifeless and drab without any jokes or situations really standing out. Jamie Pressley plays one of the mothers, coming to the network her old bosses from My Name is Earl actually produced a family comedy of substance. On the other hand, the only thing I would call amusing comes at the end when the two mothers try to get back at their daughters at a dance, by bopping to Katy Perry. And even that did very little. I don't know, this doesn't exactly scream "New hit" to me.
Allen Gregory -- And here we have the new animated sitcom FOX is touting on Sundays in the fall. Just my kind of series! In general, the Animation Domination block is a mixed bag (though the same could be said of Seth MacFarlane's shows by themselves), and this seems like a creative enough premise to merit an animated series. We get a pretty funny trailer out of this, offering Jonah Hill as the voice of a 7-year-old child prodigy who's already accomplished a great deal among adults. The only problem he has to face? Going to school with ordinary kids his own age. Admittedly, I like it so far. Hill gives a fine vocal performance and captures each pretentious, overly precocious beat with this character to a tee. Just hope it can carry through.
In any case, make of those what you will. Hopefully, they will at least turn out to be good shows.
Meanwhile, however what we have below are the trailers to all three of the new sitcoms coming to FOX in the fall. Obviously, we can only expand on what we know with these. And so, let's get to these first impressions, shall we?
New Girl (working title) -- To be perfectly honest, this looks like it may have potential. Zooey Deschanel (joining her sister, Emily with her own FOX network series) plays an offbeat young lady coming off a harsh breakup, and it really seems like she's putting a lot into this performance. Granted you've also got some insecurities in regards to her breakup, but it's not that easy to tell from a trailer. In addition, you've got the three guys who take her in as a roommate. One of their reactions is to her model friends, but otherwise it seems like they care about her. As far as relationship comedies go, this looks like one of the better concepts and could blossom into a substantial series. They just might be onto something.
I Hate My Teenage Daughter (working title) -- On the other hand, here we have a multi-camera comedy that just makes it seem like the average TV writer is getting bored with the format. (And this is despite the fact that I've seen traditional-style comedies actually do more than just serve as a televised one-act play, before the rise of single-camera ones, too!) For the most part, this trailer for a sitcom following two mothers and their teenage daughters is rather lifeless and drab without any jokes or situations really standing out. Jamie Pressley plays one of the mothers, coming to the network her old bosses from My Name is Earl actually produced a family comedy of substance. On the other hand, the only thing I would call amusing comes at the end when the two mothers try to get back at their daughters at a dance, by bopping to Katy Perry. And even that did very little. I don't know, this doesn't exactly scream "New hit" to me.
Allen Gregory -- And here we have the new animated sitcom FOX is touting on Sundays in the fall. Just my kind of series! In general, the Animation Domination block is a mixed bag (though the same could be said of Seth MacFarlane's shows by themselves), and this seems like a creative enough premise to merit an animated series. We get a pretty funny trailer out of this, offering Jonah Hill as the voice of a 7-year-old child prodigy who's already accomplished a great deal among adults. The only problem he has to face? Going to school with ordinary kids his own age. Admittedly, I like it so far. Hill gives a fine vocal performance and captures each pretentious, overly precocious beat with this character to a tee. Just hope it can carry through.
In any case, make of those what you will. Hopefully, they will at least turn out to be good shows.
NBC Addendum - Fall Comedy Trailers
Here are a few trailers that NBC released at their upfronts today, which came among trailers for every new show debuting next season, midseason included. All three of these are the new sitcoms debuting in the fall, Up All Night, Free Agents, and Whitney. Accompanied with each is a brief commentary offering more full impression than what I said yesterday with the fall schedule. With a more complete idea of what each show will offer, I'll come off more as a critic than I did previously.
Okay, now onto the trailers.
Up All Night -- This relationship comedy feels like a series version of the recent Katherine Heigl movie Life as We Know It, albeit with a husband and wife in place of a casual couple saddled with an unpleasant surprise. So far, though this appears to be better, even with a weaker premise than the movie had. On the upside, we are treated to an inspired bit of casting, offering Will Arnett more substantial material than he had with last season’s FOX bomb Running Wilde. Further, Christina Applegate seems to give him better byplay than Keri Russell did a year ago. And even before it hits the air, this sitcom already has a breakout character in mind – Maya Rudolph (solidifying SNL producer Lorne Michel’s involvement on the show) playing Applegate’s girl-friend, and she seems to be trying a touch too hard in this sneak preview. Some of this material is a bit chuckle-worthy, though and it takes advantage of the situation a great deal.
Free Agents -- What we have here is another relationship comedy, with less recognizable talents on hand resulting in this series getting the second-banana bump in the new Wednesday hour of comedy. Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria plays a man recovering from a divorce and Kathryn Hahn (an actress who’s been around, but not enough to leave an impression) as a woman who lost her fiancé. Sparks supposedly fly as the two of them balance their professional lives with their personal troubles, offering some trite forms of humor. The preview did not me offer many laughs, and came off as tepid at best. As a workplace comedy, it seems more ideal a choice for Thursday nights, alongside The Office and Parks & Recreation, although it doesn’t come even close to those levels. It feels more like a romantic comedy, and a pretty lame one at that.
Whitney -- If there’s any problem with the choice of a multi-camera setup with this show, its how much Whitney stands out against just all the new sitcom pickups, let alone the rest of NBC’s comedies. When your comedies predominantly resemble feature films and even take advantage of it in their substance in a few cases, a show that features a laugh track undercutting the humor at every turn just proves distracting. I’ve had to scan back and forth through the preview for Whitney a few times just to get the overall feel of the comedy, I was so frequently distracted. But, putting that aside when I did get the main feel of it I was a little unimpressed. There were a few funny moments from time to time, so I do see some potential, but I saw a few bad beats as well. The premise is nothing special, while the show-driving factor of a boyfriend and girlfriend’s relationship does seem to fit the casting choice of a comedienne. Speaking of which, Whitney Cummings herself is good so far as an actress. She’s able to deliver her jokes with a reasonable sense of timing and doesn’t distract in her reading of dialogue.
Okay, now onto the trailers.
Up All Night -- This relationship comedy feels like a series version of the recent Katherine Heigl movie Life as We Know It, albeit with a husband and wife in place of a casual couple saddled with an unpleasant surprise. So far, though this appears to be better, even with a weaker premise than the movie had. On the upside, we are treated to an inspired bit of casting, offering Will Arnett more substantial material than he had with last season’s FOX bomb Running Wilde. Further, Christina Applegate seems to give him better byplay than Keri Russell did a year ago. And even before it hits the air, this sitcom already has a breakout character in mind – Maya Rudolph (solidifying SNL producer Lorne Michel’s involvement on the show) playing Applegate’s girl-friend, and she seems to be trying a touch too hard in this sneak preview. Some of this material is a bit chuckle-worthy, though and it takes advantage of the situation a great deal.
Free Agents -- What we have here is another relationship comedy, with less recognizable talents on hand resulting in this series getting the second-banana bump in the new Wednesday hour of comedy. Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria plays a man recovering from a divorce and Kathryn Hahn (an actress who’s been around, but not enough to leave an impression) as a woman who lost her fiancé. Sparks supposedly fly as the two of them balance their professional lives with their personal troubles, offering some trite forms of humor. The preview did not me offer many laughs, and came off as tepid at best. As a workplace comedy, it seems more ideal a choice for Thursday nights, alongside The Office and Parks & Recreation, although it doesn’t come even close to those levels. It feels more like a romantic comedy, and a pretty lame one at that.
Whitney -- If there’s any problem with the choice of a multi-camera setup with this show, its how much Whitney stands out against just all the new sitcom pickups, let alone the rest of NBC’s comedies. When your comedies predominantly resemble feature films and even take advantage of it in their substance in a few cases, a show that features a laugh track undercutting the humor at every turn just proves distracting. I’ve had to scan back and forth through the preview for Whitney a few times just to get the overall feel of the comedy, I was so frequently distracted. But, putting that aside when I did get the main feel of it I was a little unimpressed. There were a few funny moments from time to time, so I do see some potential, but I saw a few bad beats as well. The premise is nothing special, while the show-driving factor of a boyfriend and girlfriend’s relationship does seem to fit the casting choice of a comedienne. Speaking of which, Whitney Cummings herself is good so far as an actress. She’s able to deliver her jokes with a reasonable sense of timing and doesn’t distract in her reading of dialogue.
FOX's Fall 2011 Schedule
Note: FOX's Upfront isn't until later the afternoon, so there aren't any clips up yet for new shows. As such, this first update (12:45 PM-EST) will not include any first impressions any of the new shows (with the exception of Terra Nova and The X Factor, a pair of special cases as you will see). Those will be up later on. For the time being, however I will talk about the rearranging of the schedule and some of the choices made, or what I can say about it.
The FOX Broadcasting Company is in first place among the key demographic of 18-49 year-olds, and is certainly most dominant with shows that permeated popular culture. From The Simpsons leaving a mark so indelible that the show can't seem to leave the air at all, to contempory/knock-off Family Guy being unable to fail at leaving an impression. And then you have the burgeoning musical talents on American Idol, going hand-in-hand with the musical phenomenon of Glee.
In the fall we get another talent competition, and at that one with the key American Idol judge onboard. This resulted in a number of shows getting cut, all to acomodate this new kind of bold move on FOX's part. And the new line also includes a major innovative drama launching as well.
Also of note is FOX's midseason schedule, which was announced alongside their fall lineup. New shows to look for there include dramas Alcatraz and Bones spin-off The Finder, along with animated sitcom Napoleon Dynamite. Returning shows include American Idol, the perennial singing competition and the animated Bob's Burgers.
Here's the lineup for the fall, slightly-above-average-viewer commentary for each night.
Mondays
8/7c - TERRA NOVA (New Drama; Time-travelers from 2149 go to prehistoric times in a bid to save the planet and escape the deteriorating conditions of their time. From executive producer Steven Spielberg)
9/8c - House (Drama; 8th Season)
On Mondays, we are unloaded with one of the big new dramas that FOX actually picked up to series months before the upfronts -- Terra Nova. In fact, previews for this new series were up and running as early as the Super Bowl. FOX's intention was to air the pilot as a sneak preview at the end of the season, implementing a strategy akin to how the Tuesday night hit Glee was launched. However, issues with special effects on the series delayed the first episode, and the special launch plan was shelved. A look at one of several promos you can find on YouTube clearly plays up the environmental overtones, with the premise of human beings travelling to prehistory from the quickly-dying future. The characters talk about "starting over" and imply their intentions to stay in the past. Certainly a show which already grabs your attention, doing so with topics that are more than familiar and have proven irritatingly repetitive in the past. Already, it's guaranteed to attract plenty of viewers with such a curious hook. And ambitious enough to lead into established hit House on this night.
Tuesdays
8/7c - Glee (Drama; 3rd Season)
9/8c - NEW GIRL (New Comedy; Romantic sitcom with Zooey Deschanel, who moves in with three men after a breakup)
9:30/8:30c - Raising Hope (Comedy; 2nd Season)
First impressions of New Girl will come later. Right now, I will point out that the single-camera setup of this show is the main reason it's been not only paired with Raising Hope, a sophomore family comedy that's proven more successful for FOX than most recent live-action sitcoms, but also leading into it. Otherwise, this will be the second time FOX has put the latter show with a relationship comedy, the first the now-cancelled Traffic Light, which led out of it. Otherwise, the best decision regarding this setup is what the industry calls "hammocking", with the new show leading out the very popular musical comedy Glee.
Wednesdays
8/7c - THE X FACTOR (New Reality; Simon Cowell's hit UK Talent Competition makes it's much-hyped US debut)
9:30/8:30c - I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (New Comedy; Jaime Pressley plays a mother in this mother-daughter comedy)
The X Factor is Simon Cowell's new reality competition, clearly meant as a companion piece to his old stomping ground American Idol. This will only be the second time FOX tries a major reality show in the Fall for two big cycles a year. The first was So You Think You Can Dance, the summer hit which tried a fall run in 2008 and has since stuck to summer runs. The buildup for this new show has been immense, as promos have been running for months before this upfront. I personally am not much into reality TV and seldom watch Idol, so I am one of those less inclined to tune in. Also listed above is a multi-camera comedy, which I do not have any impressions of yet. However, I will right now point out what I wrote about Whitney on my commentaty on the NBC Preview, and add some more about FOX. FOX had shows like Malcom in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show in the past and helped to move us toward single-camera comedies about ten years ago. Furthermore, with the debacle that was Do Not Disturb back in 2008, I previously thought FOX was done entirely with traditional-styled sitcoms. That this new show is airing after a reality show that offers the likelihood of frequent pre-emptions, it would not surprise me if this were a sort of sacrificial lamb of a scheduling, as much as a small experiment on the network's part.
Thursdays
8/7c - THE X FACTOR RESULTS (New Reality)
9/8c - Bones (Drama; 7th Season)
And we have The X Factor's second night of shows, leading into a new season of everyone's favorite screwball chemistry-driven cop show. Also of note is Emily Deschanel's impending maternity leave. This will give the show a break mid-season, in which time it's spinoff The Finder will get a go-around. Certainly an interesting approach, in this world where spinoffs like that usually goon after the series that spawned them.
Fridays
8/7c - Kitchen Nightmares (Reality; 5th Season)
9/8c - Fringe (Drama; 4th Season)
Perhaps most surpising is that Friday nights remain consistant, with a reality series leading into a genre show. Fringe may be the luckiest FOX genre show of all, going into it's fourth season in the wake of many a cult of getting cancelled by the same network. It's ratings have wavered from good given the night its on, slinking down but not too offensively, and keeping the tremendous fortune of good faith with the network all throughout.
Saturdays
8/7c - Cops (Reality; 24th Season)
9/8c - Encores/America's Most Wanted (Specials)
Far more surprising is that FOX is changing their Saturday night schedule, announcing that America's Most Wanted has been cancelled. Or rather, that it's being limited to the occasional special. Cops will stay put, at least for the time being, but it never occured to me even once that either show was in trouble, even with the occasional pre-emption in favor of a Proctor & Gamble family-friendly telefilm. In hindsight though, the fact that these shows took the night off so a singular sponsor could buy entire blocks of time isn't so surprising, especially with one executive saying that America's Most Wanted isn't as lucrative as it once was. I guess this is a just sign of the times (along with ABC's efforts to get out of the soap opera business).
Sundays
(Discounting NFL Overrun)
7:30/8:30c - The Cleveland Show (Comedy; 3rd Season)
8/7c - The Simpsons (Comedy; 23rd Season)
8:30/7:30c - ALLEN GREGORY (New Comedy; Animated series about a seven-year-old child prodigy who tries to blend in at an ordinary school. Jonah Hill voices the lead)
9/8c - Family Guy (Comedy; 10th Season)
9:30/8:30c - American Dad! (Comedy; 7th Season)
And finally, we have Animation Domination. This constitutes the network's greatest contributions to TV pop culture, with The Simpsons and Family Guy serving as the block's cornerstones. Of the two shows sharing crews and producers with Family Guy, of note is the fact that American Dad! is now going to lead out of the major hit. Meanwhile Family Guy's own spinoff, The Cleveland Show is now getting the more precarious 7:30 slot against NFL coverage (although that may not be the case with the lockout). This past season, the slots for each show were reversed when accomodating Bob's Burgers. And we have one new animated sitcom, Allen Gregory in the fall this time. Watch this space for my impressions of it later.
Among the FOX shows getting the axe, The Chicago Code, The Good Guys, Human Target, Lone Star, Lie to Me, Running Wilde, and Traffic Light are all gone. As of this writing, Breaking In was announced as cancelled, but has scored a reprive and potential for renewal. A new episode will follow Raising Hope this week and serve as a test for it.
The FOX Broadcasting Company is in first place among the key demographic of 18-49 year-olds, and is certainly most dominant with shows that permeated popular culture. From The Simpsons leaving a mark so indelible that the show can't seem to leave the air at all, to contempory/knock-off Family Guy being unable to fail at leaving an impression. And then you have the burgeoning musical talents on American Idol, going hand-in-hand with the musical phenomenon of Glee.
In the fall we get another talent competition, and at that one with the key American Idol judge onboard. This resulted in a number of shows getting cut, all to acomodate this new kind of bold move on FOX's part. And the new line also includes a major innovative drama launching as well.
Also of note is FOX's midseason schedule, which was announced alongside their fall lineup. New shows to look for there include dramas Alcatraz and Bones spin-off The Finder, along with animated sitcom Napoleon Dynamite. Returning shows include American Idol, the perennial singing competition and the animated Bob's Burgers.
Here's the lineup for the fall, slightly-above-average-viewer commentary for each night.
Mondays
8/7c - TERRA NOVA (New Drama; Time-travelers from 2149 go to prehistoric times in a bid to save the planet and escape the deteriorating conditions of their time. From executive producer Steven Spielberg)
9/8c - House (Drama; 8th Season)
On Mondays, we are unloaded with one of the big new dramas that FOX actually picked up to series months before the upfronts -- Terra Nova. In fact, previews for this new series were up and running as early as the Super Bowl. FOX's intention was to air the pilot as a sneak preview at the end of the season, implementing a strategy akin to how the Tuesday night hit Glee was launched. However, issues with special effects on the series delayed the first episode, and the special launch plan was shelved. A look at one of several promos you can find on YouTube clearly plays up the environmental overtones, with the premise of human beings travelling to prehistory from the quickly-dying future. The characters talk about "starting over" and imply their intentions to stay in the past. Certainly a show which already grabs your attention, doing so with topics that are more than familiar and have proven irritatingly repetitive in the past. Already, it's guaranteed to attract plenty of viewers with such a curious hook. And ambitious enough to lead into established hit House on this night.
Tuesdays
8/7c - Glee (Drama; 3rd Season)
9/8c - NEW GIRL (New Comedy; Romantic sitcom with Zooey Deschanel, who moves in with three men after a breakup)
9:30/8:30c - Raising Hope (Comedy; 2nd Season)
First impressions of New Girl will come later. Right now, I will point out that the single-camera setup of this show is the main reason it's been not only paired with Raising Hope, a sophomore family comedy that's proven more successful for FOX than most recent live-action sitcoms, but also leading into it. Otherwise, this will be the second time FOX has put the latter show with a relationship comedy, the first the now-cancelled Traffic Light, which led out of it. Otherwise, the best decision regarding this setup is what the industry calls "hammocking", with the new show leading out the very popular musical comedy Glee.
Wednesdays
8/7c - THE X FACTOR (New Reality; Simon Cowell's hit UK Talent Competition makes it's much-hyped US debut)
9:30/8:30c - I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (New Comedy; Jaime Pressley plays a mother in this mother-daughter comedy)
The X Factor is Simon Cowell's new reality competition, clearly meant as a companion piece to his old stomping ground American Idol. This will only be the second time FOX tries a major reality show in the Fall for two big cycles a year. The first was So You Think You Can Dance, the summer hit which tried a fall run in 2008 and has since stuck to summer runs. The buildup for this new show has been immense, as promos have been running for months before this upfront. I personally am not much into reality TV and seldom watch Idol, so I am one of those less inclined to tune in. Also listed above is a multi-camera comedy, which I do not have any impressions of yet. However, I will right now point out what I wrote about Whitney on my commentaty on the NBC Preview, and add some more about FOX. FOX had shows like Malcom in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show in the past and helped to move us toward single-camera comedies about ten years ago. Furthermore, with the debacle that was Do Not Disturb back in 2008, I previously thought FOX was done entirely with traditional-styled sitcoms. That this new show is airing after a reality show that offers the likelihood of frequent pre-emptions, it would not surprise me if this were a sort of sacrificial lamb of a scheduling, as much as a small experiment on the network's part.
Thursdays
8/7c - THE X FACTOR RESULTS (New Reality)
9/8c - Bones (Drama; 7th Season)
And we have The X Factor's second night of shows, leading into a new season of everyone's favorite screwball chemistry-driven cop show. Also of note is Emily Deschanel's impending maternity leave. This will give the show a break mid-season, in which time it's spinoff The Finder will get a go-around. Certainly an interesting approach, in this world where spinoffs like that usually goon after the series that spawned them.
Fridays
8/7c - Kitchen Nightmares (Reality; 5th Season)
9/8c - Fringe (Drama; 4th Season)
Perhaps most surpising is that Friday nights remain consistant, with a reality series leading into a genre show. Fringe may be the luckiest FOX genre show of all, going into it's fourth season in the wake of many a cult of getting cancelled by the same network. It's ratings have wavered from good given the night its on, slinking down but not too offensively, and keeping the tremendous fortune of good faith with the network all throughout.
Saturdays
8/7c - Cops (Reality; 24th Season)
9/8c - Encores/America's Most Wanted (Specials)
Far more surprising is that FOX is changing their Saturday night schedule, announcing that America's Most Wanted has been cancelled. Or rather, that it's being limited to the occasional special. Cops will stay put, at least for the time being, but it never occured to me even once that either show was in trouble, even with the occasional pre-emption in favor of a Proctor & Gamble family-friendly telefilm. In hindsight though, the fact that these shows took the night off so a singular sponsor could buy entire blocks of time isn't so surprising, especially with one executive saying that America's Most Wanted isn't as lucrative as it once was. I guess this is a just sign of the times (along with ABC's efforts to get out of the soap opera business).
Sundays
(Discounting NFL Overrun)
7:30/8:30c - The Cleveland Show (Comedy; 3rd Season)
8/7c - The Simpsons (Comedy; 23rd Season)
8:30/7:30c - ALLEN GREGORY (New Comedy; Animated series about a seven-year-old child prodigy who tries to blend in at an ordinary school. Jonah Hill voices the lead)
9/8c - Family Guy (Comedy; 10th Season)
9:30/8:30c - American Dad! (Comedy; 7th Season)
And finally, we have Animation Domination. This constitutes the network's greatest contributions to TV pop culture, with The Simpsons and Family Guy serving as the block's cornerstones. Of the two shows sharing crews and producers with Family Guy, of note is the fact that American Dad! is now going to lead out of the major hit. Meanwhile Family Guy's own spinoff, The Cleveland Show is now getting the more precarious 7:30 slot against NFL coverage (although that may not be the case with the lockout). This past season, the slots for each show were reversed when accomodating Bob's Burgers. And we have one new animated sitcom, Allen Gregory in the fall this time. Watch this space for my impressions of it later.
Among the FOX shows getting the axe, The Chicago Code, The Good Guys, Human Target, Lone Star, Lie to Me, Running Wilde, and Traffic Light are all gone. As of this writing, Breaking In was announced as cancelled, but has scored a reprive and potential for renewal. A new episode will follow Raising Hope this week and serve as a test for it.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
NBC's Fall 2011 Schedule
As has been the norm for NBC the last few years, the new schedule for the Fall is released one day before the upfront presentations on Monday. Said schedule has just been released, and the network is also kind enough to provide interviews and nuggets of information to go with it, as if a sneak preview of the upfronts themselves.
Of course, NBC has consistently performed anemically in the ratings this season, and has for several years now. They're always struggling just to get a break and with diminishing numbers in broadcast ratings overall, relief should only come sooner rather than later. Now, only recently did a new singing competition, The Voice open to spectacular numbers. So good did the premiere perform, as did each subsequent installment that it comes off as the break NBC needed.
I was personally surprised by this success, since it seemed like such a cash-in on FOX's American Idol. On the other hand, I can understand it better with consideration. Given how long Idol has been on, any major series to compete with it only seems overdue.
Mind you though, The Voice is naturally only going to wait until midseason to make its debut. Other midseason entries include sitcoms Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (Based on the book by E! talk show host Chelsea Handler), Bent, and Best Friends Forever, along with dramas Awake, The Firm (Based on John Grisham's novel), and the musical Smash (giving the impression of going hand-in-hand with The Voice). Returning shows waiting as well include The Celebrity Apprentice, and the revered comedy 30 Rock, which frees up the Thursday night schedule by one slot.
Now on to the Fall Schedule, with commentary on each night including first impressions of new shows. Naturally, it all comes from the perspective of the average viewer, even with the occasional heightened sense of programming know-how.
Mondays
8/7c - The Sing-Off (Reality Competition; 3rd Season)
10/9c - THE PLAYBOY CLUB (New Drama; A 1960's period piece set at the titular club in Chicago. Such a name kind of speaks for itself.)
For those of you who've never heard of it, The Sing-Off is a reality show comprised of a capella groups competing with each other. It is also worth noting that the past two seasons of the show were special runs that came at Christmastime, airing over the course of one week it's first season and two it's second. The second season performed fairly nicely in the ratings, especially for the month of December and it's low-traffic viewership for programming outside of holiday specials. As an instance where the network considers this a worthy gamble, it makes perfect sense, and we'll see how it does. The Playboy Club has a potentially provocative premise to go with it's period piece setting. We get a slick, stylistic look to go with an opening (I assume) narration from Hugh Heffner himself, adding so far to a sense of atmosphere above most network dramas.
Tuesdays
8/7c - The Biggest Loser (Reaity Competition; 8th Season)
10/9c - Parenthood (Drama; 3rd Season)
This is simply a case of "If it ain't broke, Don't fix it". Even with the weaker numbers, NBC's Tuesday schedule has performed consistently with the popular drama from the Ron Howard movie of the same name following the relevant weight-loss competition. It did so up until one month shy of the season's end (Accommodating only The Voice). At the same time, Parenthood is one of NBC's better dramatic performers, and with any luck it should only rebound next season whilst staying put. Same goes for The Biggest Loser, although that's a better performer.
Wednesdays
8/7c - UP ALL NIGHT (New Comedy; Christina Applegate and Will Arnett play fairly new parents)
8:30/7:30c - FREE AGENTS (New Comedy; Workplace comedy with two rising executives coming off romantic stress)
9/8c - Harry's Law (Drama; 2nd Season; New Night & Time)
10/9c - Law & Order: SUV (Drama; 13th Season)
NBC's attempt at a second night of comedy seems most destined to face the most conflict with ABC's Wednesday block. Bearing any adjust on their part, it will compete with the moderately-performing, but consistent and popular The Middle. Whatever new comedy ABC picks will certainly matter, as will any decision to shift The Middle, if competing with the parenthood-themed Up All Night seems too risky. I can't imagine it would much, though. The clip I've seen of it is mildly amusing, but doesn't come off as anything special. Still, the leads are of course inspired and the decision to lead off with the one starring veterans from Arrested Development and Married...With Children only makes perfect sense. Free Agents doesn't look as engrossing, or at least the clip given isn't particularly funny. But at the very least, a workplace comedy seems like a change of pace among sitcoms. Much more interesting is the pairing of the two returning dramas, with the David E. Kelly/Kathy Bates legal drama (which had a decent initial run) leading into of SUV, the sole survivor of Dick Wolf's once booming procedural franchise. And even the latter has changes in store, with Mariska Hargitay planning to nurse her successor from the middle of the season out.
Thursdays
8/7c - Community (Comedy; 3rd Season)
8:30/8:30c - Parks & Recreation (Comedy; 4th Season)
9/8c - The Office (Comedy; 8th Season)
9:30/8:30c - WHITNEY (New Comedy; Vehicle for comic Whitney Cummings, wherein she goes through the quirks of a relationship)
10/9c - PRIME SUSPECT (New Drama; Remake of the popular British procedural, with Maria Bello taking the reins)
Aw, yeah! Thursdays on NBC just might be the best night for comedy! After all, with the ingeniously inspired and aggressively creative Community and Parks & Recreation, ever so relatable if you ever seen the interior working of bureaucracy, you can't go wrong. With Steve Carell's recent departure from The Office, it almost feels like the finale will be a scripted contest for the new lead, and certainly is much prettier than CBS' PR nightmare surrounding Charlie Sheen. Perhaps the biggest standout is the new comedy on the block, Whitney for sheer virtue of being a multi-camera sitcom. Not that it's a bad thing necessarily, I still love a few of CBS' sitcoms which largely avoid the single-camera approach. I'm just a touch surprised, given that I expected NBC (as well as ABC, though to a lesser extent) to view the soundstage and laugh-track approach as outdated and obsolete, preferring the more streamlined sophistication of a sitcom shot more like a feature film. I can write a whole separate piece on this subject, but let's just focus on the show itself. In another detail of a throwback approach, we have the choice of a comedian as the lead akin to many a sitcom that ran on ABC in the 1990's. (Sure, Seinfeld also. But the writing had a special approach.) The clip doesn't inspire much confidence, and isn't quite as funny as the pilot of ABC's Better With You was last fall. But with hope, the rest of the pilot will fare better when I see it. And the choice of 10 PM drama takes perhaps the most popular procedural in the UK and makes it our own. My mother is something of an Anglophile so I've certainly heard of Prime Suspect, but the dark tone is not very much her style. More power to NBC for trying an edgier approach on a cop show, but I can't say I'm much interested in procedurals to begin with and this one doesn't have an extra appeal for me.
Fridays
8/7c - Chuck (Drama; 5th Season; New Night)
9/8c - GRIMM (New Drama; Reimagining of Grimm's Fairy Tales
10/9c - Dateline (Newsmagazine)
Certainly, I may write up about Chuck's most recent season in another entry, because storywise what went down goes hand-in-hand with it's latest escape-act of a last-minute renewal. You see, it's coming back in the fall for one last go-around, running only 13 episodes. It's odd enough that this season is the big chance to provide absolute closure, but the choice to air it on Fridays is intriguing to say the least. After all, this isn't a night where many people gather around the boob tube and wasn't really back in the day, either. Still, I look forward to this final run when it comes. I'll be ready. What follows it is perhaps the show with the weakest chance at survival, Grimm. It's a real shame that it's going to air between a drama whose fate is already set in stone and a newsmagazine whose low cost renders it suitable filler for Friday nights. NBC's apparent low confidence in this unique revamping of Grimm's fairy tales is compounded by a simple clip of one detective taking to a woman on her deathbed, as we've seen plenty of times before. Still, the concept evokes memories of ABC's absolutely marvelous, albeit short-lived Pushing Daisies, which seamlessly worked the idea of a man who can raise the dead with the conventions of a murder-of-the-week concept.
Saturdays
All Night - "Encores"
Even less people watch TV on Saturdays than on Fridays. Moving on.
Sundays
7/6c - Football Night in America
8:15e - Sunday Night Football
Baseball may be America's past time, but football remains the favorite child among sports. If anything, that just makes the threat of a cancelled NFL season by way of lockout more threatening for NBC than for any other network.
Among cancelled shows, Chase, The Cape, The Event, Law & Order: LA, Outlaw, Outsourced, The Paul Reiser Show, Perfect Couples, and Undercovers are all out.
Look for more updates to go with each network's upfronts as the week progresses. Further, make sure to keep watching this space for more essays looking back on the season and even for some updates that come along need the case be.
Of course, NBC has consistently performed anemically in the ratings this season, and has for several years now. They're always struggling just to get a break and with diminishing numbers in broadcast ratings overall, relief should only come sooner rather than later. Now, only recently did a new singing competition, The Voice open to spectacular numbers. So good did the premiere perform, as did each subsequent installment that it comes off as the break NBC needed.
I was personally surprised by this success, since it seemed like such a cash-in on FOX's American Idol. On the other hand, I can understand it better with consideration. Given how long Idol has been on, any major series to compete with it only seems overdue.
Mind you though, The Voice is naturally only going to wait until midseason to make its debut. Other midseason entries include sitcoms Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (Based on the book by E! talk show host Chelsea Handler), Bent, and Best Friends Forever, along with dramas Awake, The Firm (Based on John Grisham's novel), and the musical Smash (giving the impression of going hand-in-hand with The Voice). Returning shows waiting as well include The Celebrity Apprentice, and the revered comedy 30 Rock, which frees up the Thursday night schedule by one slot.
Now on to the Fall Schedule, with commentary on each night including first impressions of new shows. Naturally, it all comes from the perspective of the average viewer, even with the occasional heightened sense of programming know-how.
Mondays
8/7c - The Sing-Off (Reality Competition; 3rd Season)
10/9c - THE PLAYBOY CLUB (New Drama; A 1960's period piece set at the titular club in Chicago. Such a name kind of speaks for itself.)
For those of you who've never heard of it, The Sing-Off is a reality show comprised of a capella groups competing with each other. It is also worth noting that the past two seasons of the show were special runs that came at Christmastime, airing over the course of one week it's first season and two it's second. The second season performed fairly nicely in the ratings, especially for the month of December and it's low-traffic viewership for programming outside of holiday specials. As an instance where the network considers this a worthy gamble, it makes perfect sense, and we'll see how it does. The Playboy Club has a potentially provocative premise to go with it's period piece setting. We get a slick, stylistic look to go with an opening (I assume) narration from Hugh Heffner himself, adding so far to a sense of atmosphere above most network dramas.
Tuesdays
8/7c - The Biggest Loser (Reaity Competition; 8th Season)
10/9c - Parenthood (Drama; 3rd Season)
This is simply a case of "If it ain't broke, Don't fix it". Even with the weaker numbers, NBC's Tuesday schedule has performed consistently with the popular drama from the Ron Howard movie of the same name following the relevant weight-loss competition. It did so up until one month shy of the season's end (Accommodating only The Voice). At the same time, Parenthood is one of NBC's better dramatic performers, and with any luck it should only rebound next season whilst staying put. Same goes for The Biggest Loser, although that's a better performer.
Wednesdays
8/7c - UP ALL NIGHT (New Comedy; Christina Applegate and Will Arnett play fairly new parents)
8:30/7:30c - FREE AGENTS (New Comedy; Workplace comedy with two rising executives coming off romantic stress)
9/8c - Harry's Law (Drama; 2nd Season; New Night & Time)
10/9c - Law & Order: SUV (Drama; 13th Season)
NBC's attempt at a second night of comedy seems most destined to face the most conflict with ABC's Wednesday block. Bearing any adjust on their part, it will compete with the moderately-performing, but consistent and popular The Middle. Whatever new comedy ABC picks will certainly matter, as will any decision to shift The Middle, if competing with the parenthood-themed Up All Night seems too risky. I can't imagine it would much, though. The clip I've seen of it is mildly amusing, but doesn't come off as anything special. Still, the leads are of course inspired and the decision to lead off with the one starring veterans from Arrested Development and Married...With Children only makes perfect sense. Free Agents doesn't look as engrossing, or at least the clip given isn't particularly funny. But at the very least, a workplace comedy seems like a change of pace among sitcoms. Much more interesting is the pairing of the two returning dramas, with the David E. Kelly/Kathy Bates legal drama (which had a decent initial run) leading into of SUV, the sole survivor of Dick Wolf's once booming procedural franchise. And even the latter has changes in store, with Mariska Hargitay planning to nurse her successor from the middle of the season out.
Thursdays
8/7c - Community (Comedy; 3rd Season)
8:30/8:30c - Parks & Recreation (Comedy; 4th Season)
9/8c - The Office (Comedy; 8th Season)
9:30/8:30c - WHITNEY (New Comedy; Vehicle for comic Whitney Cummings, wherein she goes through the quirks of a relationship)
10/9c - PRIME SUSPECT (New Drama; Remake of the popular British procedural, with Maria Bello taking the reins)
Aw, yeah! Thursdays on NBC just might be the best night for comedy! After all, with the ingeniously inspired and aggressively creative Community and Parks & Recreation, ever so relatable if you ever seen the interior working of bureaucracy, you can't go wrong. With Steve Carell's recent departure from The Office, it almost feels like the finale will be a scripted contest for the new lead, and certainly is much prettier than CBS' PR nightmare surrounding Charlie Sheen. Perhaps the biggest standout is the new comedy on the block, Whitney for sheer virtue of being a multi-camera sitcom. Not that it's a bad thing necessarily, I still love a few of CBS' sitcoms which largely avoid the single-camera approach. I'm just a touch surprised, given that I expected NBC (as well as ABC, though to a lesser extent) to view the soundstage and laugh-track approach as outdated and obsolete, preferring the more streamlined sophistication of a sitcom shot more like a feature film. I can write a whole separate piece on this subject, but let's just focus on the show itself. In another detail of a throwback approach, we have the choice of a comedian as the lead akin to many a sitcom that ran on ABC in the 1990's. (Sure, Seinfeld also. But the writing had a special approach.) The clip doesn't inspire much confidence, and isn't quite as funny as the pilot of ABC's Better With You was last fall. But with hope, the rest of the pilot will fare better when I see it. And the choice of 10 PM drama takes perhaps the most popular procedural in the UK and makes it our own. My mother is something of an Anglophile so I've certainly heard of Prime Suspect, but the dark tone is not very much her style. More power to NBC for trying an edgier approach on a cop show, but I can't say I'm much interested in procedurals to begin with and this one doesn't have an extra appeal for me.
Fridays
8/7c - Chuck (Drama; 5th Season; New Night)
9/8c - GRIMM (New Drama; Reimagining of Grimm's Fairy Tales
10/9c - Dateline (Newsmagazine)
Certainly, I may write up about Chuck's most recent season in another entry, because storywise what went down goes hand-in-hand with it's latest escape-act of a last-minute renewal. You see, it's coming back in the fall for one last go-around, running only 13 episodes. It's odd enough that this season is the big chance to provide absolute closure, but the choice to air it on Fridays is intriguing to say the least. After all, this isn't a night where many people gather around the boob tube and wasn't really back in the day, either. Still, I look forward to this final run when it comes. I'll be ready. What follows it is perhaps the show with the weakest chance at survival, Grimm. It's a real shame that it's going to air between a drama whose fate is already set in stone and a newsmagazine whose low cost renders it suitable filler for Friday nights. NBC's apparent low confidence in this unique revamping of Grimm's fairy tales is compounded by a simple clip of one detective taking to a woman on her deathbed, as we've seen plenty of times before. Still, the concept evokes memories of ABC's absolutely marvelous, albeit short-lived Pushing Daisies, which seamlessly worked the idea of a man who can raise the dead with the conventions of a murder-of-the-week concept.
Saturdays
All Night - "Encores"
Even less people watch TV on Saturdays than on Fridays. Moving on.
Sundays
7/6c - Football Night in America
8:15e - Sunday Night Football
Baseball may be America's past time, but football remains the favorite child among sports. If anything, that just makes the threat of a cancelled NFL season by way of lockout more threatening for NBC than for any other network.
Among cancelled shows, Chase, The Cape, The Event, Law & Order: LA, Outlaw, Outsourced, The Paul Reiser Show, Perfect Couples, and Undercovers are all out.
Look for more updates to go with each network's upfronts as the week progresses. Further, make sure to keep watching this space for more essays looking back on the season and even for some updates that come along need the case be.
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