New Fall Shows

[Kal]

I' ve been reading a little about the new shows for next season... so far ABC and NBC announced their lineups. They are coming strong with a lot of new stuff, some seems creative and some you know it will tank after one or two episodes. Its sad when you know that a show has absolutely no chance. I wonder why "they" dont know it.

I didnt watch TV at all until a couple of years ago, and now its amazing how many shows I've been following: 24, Lost, Smallville, Entourage, Curb (thats a classic with Seinfeld), Nip Tuck, The Office (USA)... and now I started with Veronica Mars. Most of them I got in with DVDs, but still...

Anyways, NBC's new Alan Sorkin's drama with Mathew Perry and Amanda Peet seems to be very good. I'm excited about that one. Heroes also. There is the Andy Ritcher/Conan O'Brien commedy about a detective, and another drama based on Friday Night Lights, which may be good.

I saw there is a new ABC show with Kim Raver (Audrey on 24) which means that she may die or be gone for next Season of 24. Also there is a new JJ Abrams show on ABC called Six Degrees.

And ABC also is remaking the Colombian telenovela Betty the Ugly, which is funny because I know the producers of the original show very well. They made so much money with it, and its amazing that its being remade here. Its usually the other way around.

[Pubrick]

Also there is a new JJ Abrams show on ABC called Six Degrees.

which means that Lost will jump the shark soon (see: Felicity after Alias; Alias after Lost)

(don't tell me if it has already cos we are not even halfway through season 2 here!!!)

[MacGuffin]

Also there is a new JJ Abrams show on ABC called Six Degrees.

which means that Lost will jump the shark soon (see: Felicity after Alias; Alias after Lost)

He's only exec. producing that show, and that job duty on What About Brian hasn't affected Lost.

[polkablues]

Anyways, NBC's new Alan Sorkin's drama with Mathew Perry and Amanda Peet seems to be very good. I'm excited about that one.

I'm giddy as a schoolgirl about this show.  It's gonna be great.

[Kal]

And also Abrams said himself he hasnt really participated much in Season 2. He didnt write it. So the guys taking care of it are doing a good job.

[MacGuffin]

NBC Ready for Some Regis

Regis Philbin got another first-string job. Joey got sacked. Crossing Jordan got benched.

Football analogies were in order Monday as NBC announced a fall schedule that will rely on prime-time pigskin and six new series to turn around the fourth-place network.

The ubiquitous Philbin, Matthew Perry and Alec Baldwin will be among the familiar faces in freshman shows. Matt LeBlanc, Benjamin Bratt and the Fear Factor bugs are among the stars losing their network parking spaces.

Overall, NBC announced plans for four new dramas, two new comedies, four midseason replacements and one new Philbin-hosted, Simon Cowell-produced talent show.

Canceled were: Joey, the LeBlanc-led Friends spinoff put out of its misery after two seasons; Fear Factor, the bug-eating reality show exterminated after six seasons; save for My Name Is Earl, every single new NBC show from last fall, including the Bratt-staffed E-Ring and the cult fave Surface; and, except for Deal or No Deal, every single new NBC show from midseason, including Teachers and Conviction.

In addition to the previously announced Sunday Night Football, or as it was known for 35 years on ABC, Monday Night Football, NBC will go long with Friday Night Lights, an hourlong drama inspired by the 2004 football film of the same name (itself based on the 1990 football book of the same name).

Less the network alienate non-football fans, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly noted in a telephone press conference that Friday Night Lights has been described as "The O.C. that's got authenticity."

NBC, however, will risk alienating Crossing Jordan fans by renewing the crime drama for a sixth season, but leaving it off the fall schedule.

The show, which had higher ratings than The Office, The Biggest Loser and Las Vegas (three NBC series rewarded with fall slots), got squeezed out of its 10 p.m. Sunday home by Sunday Night Football and a new Jeff Goldblum series. Sunday Night Football will dominate NBC's Sunday nights through December; Raines, a House-ian police detective drama starring Goldblum, will assume the 10 p.m. slot in the winter.

In lieu of a fall slot, Crossing Jordan, "a great utility player," per Reilly, will be plugged in somewhere, sometime during the new season.

Scrubs, a bubble show renewed for a sixth season, will be deployed on a similar as-needed basis.

Elsewhere, NBC resolved a few cliffhangers: No, ER won't be moved off Thursday (although, yes, it will have to learn to share); no, The Apprentice won't be fired; and, yes, Andy Richter won't rest until he stars in a hit series of his own.

NBC handled the ER matter--the aging, but still semi-popular series dedicated to the advancement of new regular John Stamos--by announcing that the medical drama would air in its traditional 10 p.m., Thursday slot through December, straight, no repeats, and then step aside for The Black Donnellys, an Irish Mob drama from Crash director Paul Haggis. Once the Haggis show concludes its run, ER will get back its turf. Or, at least that's the plan for now.

The Apprentice, meanwhile, currently struggling through its least watched season ever, will be allowed to see if a change of scenery (Los Angeles instead of New York) can improve Donald Trump's TV fortunes. The series will be back for a sixth cycle in January.

As for Richter, the former Conan O'Brien sidekick, late of the short-lived sitcoms Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Quintuplets, will see if the third time is the charm with Andy Barker, P.I., a midseason replacement comedy about an accountant who turns gumshoe.

A brief look at the other new series:

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (fall): The previously announced star of the schedule that isn't football. In this hourlong drama, Friends alum Perry and West Wing alum Bradley Whitford play producers of Saturday Night Live, sorry, "a popular, late-night comedy show comedy sketch show."

Heroes (fall): "A high school cheerleader learns that she is totally indestructible." No one-trick pony, this hourlong drama about ordinary people discovering their inner Superman and Wonder Woman, also promises a stripper (Final Destination's Ali Larter) who "uncovers that her mirror has a secret."

Kidnapped (fall): Prison Break meets Dynasty in this hourlong thriller about the abduction of a teenage boy that focuses on his well-to-do Manhattan family, his kidnappers and his would-be saviors in law enforcement. Best-case scenario for NBC: The show's a hit, and the kid doesn't go home for a very long time. Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany head the ensemble cast.

20 Good Years (fall): In this "high-energy romp" of a sitcom, John Lithgow, 60, and Jeffrey Tambor, 61, play friends who optimistically estimate they have two solid decades left to change their lives.

30 Rock (fall): SNL head writer Tina Fey plays the head writer of SNL, sorry, "a frenetic television variety show." Frequent SNL guest host Alec Baldwin costars, as do SNL regulars current,  Rachel Dratch, and past, Tracy Morgan. NBC said it was not known yet if Fey and Dratch will continue to work on the show that actually is called SNL.

America's Got Talent (January): Regis Philbin looks for new talent that presumably producer Simon Cowell isn't looking for on American Idol.

The Singles Table (midseason): Because no NBC schedule would be complete without at least one attempt to redo Friends, this half-hour comedy sees five "witty and single strangers" bond while consigned to the "singles table" at a wedding. John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) stars. 

And here's a night-by-night look at NBC's fall lineup:

SUNDAY: Football Night in America; Sunday Night Football (January 2007 lineup: America's Got Talent; The Apprentice; Raines)
MONDAY: Deal or No Deal; Heroes; Medium
TUESDAY: Friday Night Lights; Kidnapped; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
WEDNESDAY: The Biggest Loser; 20 Good Years; 30 Rock; Law & Order
THURSDAY: My Name Is Earl; The Office; Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; ER (fall)/The Black Donnellys (January)
FRIDAY: Deal or No Deal; Las Vegas; Law & Order: Criminal Intent
SATURDAY: Dateline Saturday; reruns

11 new series, fewer 'Lost' repeats on ABC

ABC will unveil 11 new series to advertisers today as it seeks to rebuild its comedy lineup and expand its stable of hit dramas Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Lost.

Biggest change for viewers: Anatomy's move to a new night (possibly Thursday) so it can be used to launch a new series.

Lost fans will find fewer repeats interrupting its intricate mystery: Original episodes will be clustered in longer chunks after an October start. Housewives remains on Sundays at 9, and Dancing with the Stars gets its first fall berth but will also switch nights.

Yet none of the new scripted series introduced last fall will be back, including Commander in Chief, Invasion and Freddie. Hope & Faith is also a goner, leaving According to Jim and     George Lopez as the network's only returning comedies.

Spring tryout What About Brian, from Lost producer J.J. Abrams, will return, and the Mission: Impossible III director has a third show in the lineup: Six Degrees, about interconnected lives of New Yorkers.

In contrast with past years, when the focus has been on fall schedules, ABC - like NBC - is unveiling most of next year's new shows at once, and will gradually sprinkle them over the course of the season.

ABC also needs more programming come September after the loss of Monday Night Football.

•Dramas. In addition to Degrees, ABC has Brothers & Sisters, a family soap starring Ally McBeal's Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under); Men in Trees, starring Anne Heche as a shrink who moves to Alaska, where she's surrounded by eligible men; The Traveler, a thriller about two grad students framed as terrorists in a national security emergency; Ugly Betty, about a homely girl hired at a fashion magazine; The Nine, about another group of strangers - freed bank-robbery hostages - from Without a Trace creator Hank Steinberg; and Day Break, an action thriller starring Taye Diggs as a cop on the lam who is framed for murder.

•Comedies.Let's Rob ... stars Donal Logue as leader of a group of blue-collar guys who try to rob Mick Jagger, who will occasionally appear; Big Day, a series built entirely around a young couple's wedding day; Notes from the Underbelly, centering on expectant parents; In Case of Emergency, with four high school pals who unexpectedly reunite as each faces a crossroads; and Help Me Help You, starring Cheers' Ted Danson as a group-therapy shrink.

[grand theft sparrow]

I like the October start for Lost, even if it means that we have to wait longer to find out whatever bastard cliffhanger they leave us with.  As long as there's no stupid 6 week break from November to mid January again... though they should just make more episodes instead of worrying how they're going to fill the time.

And why are they not putting Scrubs on with Earl and The Office so I can get all my sitcom viewing for the week done in one shot?

[Kal]

I dont know dude but that Colin Farrel thing is freaking me out... how can I watch Miami Vice with that image in my head?

[Kal]

Smallville is in for season 6 on The CW (not confirmed but probably Veronica Mars too)

Aquaman and Everwood out... if anybody cares.

[MacGuffin]

Not much is shaken up in No. 1 CBS' schedule

CBS, bringing six freshman shows back for second seasons, will add just one new comedy and three dramas to a fall schedule that is far more stable than those of major competitors.

The network, which presents the fall lineup to advertisers today, will finish its fourth consecutive season as No. 1 among total viewers, thanks to a lineup long on procedural crime dramas, including three versions of CSI.

After Threshold failed last fall, CBS will try to broaden its palette with another sci-fi-tinged thriller and legal and medical dramas.

CBS' Sunday movie - the last network movie slot and a staple since 1986 - is canceled, making room for two dramas. Without a Trace, which regularly beats ER on Thursdays, could move to Sunday nights at 9, which would allow CBS to launch new shows behind that series, The Unit and CSI.

Returning freshman shows are The Unit, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, Close to Home and Ghost Whisperer, and midseason comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine will return to its Monday 9:30 p.m. ET/PT slot.

Comedies Courting Alex and Out of Practice are goners. (Practice co-creator Joe Keenan, a former Frasier producer, may move to Desperate Housewives.)

The King of Queens returns for a ninth season. But it will not air until January at the earliest and is expected to be paired with new comedy Rules of Engagement, about a single guy, his engaged friends and a married couple. How I Met YourMother is expected to fill King's Monday 8 p.m. ET/PT slot, followed by new comedy The Class, about a group of third-grade classmates reunited as adults. Class will mark Friends' co-creator David Crane's TV return. Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia) stars.

Like NBC and ABC, CBS is putting an emphasis on dramas as the networks continue to struggle to develop hit comedies.

New fall dramas: Shark, starring James Woods as a celebrity defense lawyer who becomes an L.A. prosecutor [pilot directed by Spike Lee]; Jericho, about the aftermath of a nuclear mushroom cloud in a Kansas town; and Smith, about career criminals plotting heists and starring Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen and Simon Baker.

Midseason dramas include Waterfront, starring Joe Pantoliano as a corrupt mayor of Providence, and 3 Lbs., about a gifted brain surgeon, starring Stanley Tucci in a retooled version of a series rejected last spring with Dylan McDermott.

[Ravi]

I dont know dude but that Colin Farrel thing is freaking me out... how can I watch Miami Vice with that image in my head?

You can watch Alexander.

[MacGuffin]

Smallville is in for season 6 on The CW (not confirmed but probably Veronica Mars too)

CW mixes old, new in sked; Fox thrills

The fall schedule of the CW, the new network that will emerge from the ashes of UPN and WB Network, will be a patchwork of old and new with a comedy block on Sunday and familiar 8 p.m. anchors on Monday-Thursday from the current WB and UPN schedules.

CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff will give advertisers and the media their first glimpse of the nascent net and its programming strategy today when she unveils its inaugural fall lineup at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

In a surprising move, the network Wednesday night gave an eleventh-hour 13-episode order to the WB comedy "Reba."

Meanwhile, Fox is loading up on intense dramas. The network is expected to reveal plans for late-summer launches of new dramas "Vanished" and "Standoff" at its presentation today. The network also is rumored to pin its hopes for a long-elusive Thursday breakthrough on freshman comedy " 'Til Death," starring Brad Garrett.

"Reba" is the second long-running WB series to get a 13-episode reprieve from the CW after being canceled. Also Wednesday, the network finalized deals with the core cast of "7th Heaven," clearing the path for the drama to continue beyond the series finale last month.

Canceling "Reba," which was in the middle of a two-year contract between WB and 20th Century Fox TV, would have been costly for the CW, with sources pegging the penalty at about $20 million, including compensating the studio for lost syndication revenue from the sixth-season episodes that would have not been produced.

"7th Heaven" will return for an 11th season in its signature Monday 8 p.m. slot. The long-running family drama about Rev. Eric Camden and his clan will be followed at 9 p.m. by another family drama, the new series "Runaway," which centers on a father, wrongfully convicted of murder, who is on the run with his wife and kids.

Also staying put is WB's "Gilmore Girls," which will open Tuesday night for CW at 8 p.m., leading into UPN's fan favorite "Veronica Mars."

UPN's hit reality series "America's Next Top Model" will continue to run Wednesday 8 p.m., sharing the slot with WB's unscripted hit "Beauty and the Geek."

The teen-friendly reality hour will be followed at 9 p.m. by WB's steamy teen drama "One Tree Hill."

WB's successful pairing of sci-fi dramas "Smallville" and "Supernatural" will stay intact on Thursday, while UPN's "WWE SmackDown!" will remain on Friday.

On Sunday, UPN's comedies "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us," "Girlfriends" and its spinoff "The Game" will run in a two-hour block along with an hour of repurposed CW programming, a page from WB's playbook.

As of Wednesday night, it wasn't clear if the repurposed hour will air at 7 p.m., the way it had been on the WB, or at 9 p.m., creating a more traditional program flow from a two-hour comedy block to a drama.

A comedy lineup on Sunday is a throwback to the launch of WB, whose first two-night schedule in 1995 included six comedies on Sunday, including "Sister, Sister."

Fox kept its schedule under wraps, but sources indicated that the network is considering a late-summer launch for "Vanished" and "Standoff" (previously "Primary") and sophomore one-hours "Bones" and "Prison Break," the latter of which benefited from a late-August start last year.

"Vanished," which chronicles the disappearance of a senator's wife, is expected to land at Monday 9 p.m., following the second season of manhunt-themed thriller "Prison Break."

Meanwhile, "Standoff," about a team of a male and a female hostage negotiators, is rumored to be airing after "Bones" on Wednesday.

Another new drama, Jerry Bruckheimer's "Justice" (previously "American Crime"), might share Tuesday night with Fox's hottest scripted series, medical drama "House."

" 'Til Death," the new comedy starring Garrett and Joely Fisher, would lead off Fox's Thursday lineup at 8 p.m., paired with sophomore half-hour "The War at Home." "The O.C." is said to stay put at 9 p.m.

Fox's other new fall comedy, "Happy Hour," is understood to be a contender for the post-"Simpsons" Sunday 8:30 p.m. slot.

Fox is unveiling its scheduling plans for the 2006-07 season at the Armory.

[Kal]

[Kal]

My other post was the CW Logo, but I guess they removed it from Kryptonsite

[edison]

The site for Heroes is now up with a 4 minute commercial.

http://www.nbc.com/NBC_First_Look/Heroes/

This is one of the few shows that I have been looking forward to.