Archive for category Cancellations
TCA: What’s on NBC? “Community” and Mariska Hargitay. For Now.
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, Commentary, Live Coverage, TCA Winter Press Tour 2012, TV News on January 6th, 2012
“Community” fans, you can breathe little easier. Your show may be missing from the midseason line-up, but NBC assures us it has not canceled.
Additionally, Mariska Hargitay has NOT left “Law & Order: SVU.”
In fact, NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt told reporters, not only is Hargitay still on the show, she’s finally getting a love interest: Harry Connick Jr., who joins “SVU” for a four episode arc.
Hargitay and Connick Jr. appeared together in a recorded video presentation for reporters attending the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour, currently underway in Pasadena, California. For her part, Hargitay assured us that she was having “too much fun” to leave the long-running crime drama. Then she and Connick Jr. started to fake canoodle for our benefit.
Sadly, there was no such reassuring Jeff-Britta-Annie make-out video to soothe “Community” fans, who have a bit more to be concerned about.
Though Greenblatt apologized for failing to be clearer about “Community’s” fate when he left it off the midseason schedule, he did not mention a specific return date. When it does come back, he added, it will not be in the 8pm Thursday timeslot. Nor would Greenblatt commit to a fourth season of “Community,” explaining that he had other pilots to consider as well as weighing the performance of the six comedies on the midseason schedule, in addition to a few critics haven’t seen yet.
Then there was this comment, in answer to a question about another NBC comedy: “I hope ‘Whitney‘ will be a long term player for us.”
Oh… oh dear.
Greenblatt, the man responsible for making Showtime the premium cable powerhouse that it is today, is still getting used to his position; he just joined NBC last spring. To his credit, Greenblatt didn’t just take on the task of saving a zeppelin in “mayday” mode. He’s also (so far) remained fairly honest and humble about it.
“We had a bad fall. Worse than I hoped for, but about what I expected,” Greenblatt admitted to reporters, also reminding us that NBC is a network with no decent lead-ins to launch new shows or strengthen underperforming but worthy veterans.
But the “Whitney” comment could be interpreted in a number of ways. Though “Whitney” was not technically part of Greenblatt’s imprint on the schedule — we’ll be seeing his selections from midseason onward — he appears to favor comedies built around specific stars as opposed to ensembles. Joining Whitney Cummings on the schedule is Chelsea Handler‘s upcoming “Are You There, Chelsea?” (premiering Jan. 11) and a previously announced project from Sarah Silverman.
NBC picked up five pilots before the holidays and plans to announce more pick-ups as soon as next week. The network desperately needs something to stick; Greenblatt pointed out that it’ll take four or five hits to start turning the tide which, for a network that barely has one, could be a monumental task.
But plenty of eyes will be on dramas launching in midseason, “Smash” in particular. The hope is that launching the musical drama with “The Voice” as a lead-in will give it the strength required to open successfully.
“Smash” may be a bit more in tune with what audiences want this season, too. As Greenblatt observed, viewers currently want escapism in the form of fairytale fantasies (such as ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” and to a lesser extent, “Grimm“)… which explains why other shows like the critically-acclaimed “Prime Suspect” was a ratings disappointment.
Or, Greenblatt joked, “Maybe we should just blame the hat and move on.”
“Terra Nova”: The End of the Journey?
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, Commentary, Fall TV, If You Only Watch One Thing..., TV News on December 19th, 2011
Faithful “Terra Nova” viewers may be greeting tonight’s back-to-back episodes with a measure of nervousness. There will be action, no doubt, and romance, and conflict. Yes, little Maddy, there will also be dinosaurs. Pray that the second episode does not end on a cliffhanger, however, because it’s highly likely that this season finale is actually the series finale.
Fox has announced that it will decide the fate of the Steven Spielberg-produced drama after the holidays, but signs do not look favorable for its renewal. Special-effects heavy and clumsily plotted over its first 10 episodes, “Terra Nova” was expected to be a blockbuster for Fox.
However, its season-to-date ratings are modest at best, ranking 38th among viewers in the Nielsen rankings. Optimists may point out that it is tied for 38th with Fox’s breakout comedy “New Girl,” (which, going into midseason, Fox considers to be a success) aging drama “House,” and ABC’s “The Middle.” Problem is, “Terra Nova” costs more to make. A lot more. “Terra Nova” is one of the most expensive series on television, and according various reports, the pilot alone cost somewhere between $10 and $20 million to produce.
There are always unknowns that factor into a network’s decision to stay with a series or let it go, so there may be hope yet for the Shannons. Nevertheless, “Terra Nova” viewers are encouraged to watch and savor tonight’s episodes, “Occupation” and “Resistance” …and take comfort in knowing that if all else fails, you’ll always have Blu-Ray.
So long, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, Commentary, TV News on December 16th, 2011
It appears that ABC is no longer in the home improvement-as-life improvement business.
On Thursday the network announced that “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” hosted by kind, studly carpenter Ty Pennington, would be ending in January 2012. The series will have aired 200 episodes and constructed more than 200 homes. According to ABC, the crew visited Joplin, Missouri in the 200th and final episode to build seven homes for seven families in seven days.
A spinoff of the unscripted reality series “Extreme Makeover,” which gifted recipients with cosmetic surgery, “Home Edition” was one of the feel-good reality series that stood in contrast to the “Fear Factors” of the world. At the height of its popularity it won over audiences by swooping into the lives of families that had fallen down on their luck and transforming their homes into dream palaces…with the idea that in doing so, their recipients’ lives would also improve.
But that was not always true. After the cameras left, a number of “Extreme Makeover” homes went into foreclosure or were sold when the homeowner could no longer afford maintenance costs, or tapped out their equity.
The final two episodes of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” will air from 8-10pm January 6 and 13 on ABC. Excerpts from the official press release are included below.
From ABC: “During its run, the quintessential feel-good reality show transformed the lives of thousands of deserving families and galvanized communities and businesses to help their neighbors in need. “EM:HE” also put a spotlight on causes that touched these families, ranging from the treatment of serious illnesses or accident victims and the importance of foster care and adoption, to helping veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress and the plight of the homeless, to campaigning against texting while driving and building coalitions to end bullying. Celebrities including First Lady Michelle Obama, Elton John, Robin Williams, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, Glenn Close, Tyler Perry, Mary J Blige, Carrie Underwood, David Duchovny, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Usher, KISS, Rihanna, Jessica Alba and Derek Jeter are among the many who “got on the bus” over the years to join the show. In addition, the series won multiple Emmys for Outstanding Reality Program, received six Emmy nominations, won two People’s Choice Awards and an NAACP Image Award, as well as many additional honors.
As the series traveled to all 50 states, the team designed and re-built over 200 state of the art homes, and didn’t stop there, also tackling firehouses, schools, daycares, soup kitchens, Little League fields, free clinics, churches, food and clothing shelters, summer camps, community centers, dormitories, parks, teen centers, homeless shelters, animal shelters, dance studios, therapeutic riding centers and much more. A typical build attracted 3,000-5,000 volunteers, for a total of over one million people sacrificing their time to build for their neighbors.”
The CW Shapes Up for Fall 2010
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, Casting alert, Commentary, The Pick-Up Game, Tune In Info on May 19th, 2010
Jessica Lowndes, AnnaLynne McCord, and Jessica Stroup return in "90210."
The CW will not officially reveal its schedule until Thursday morning, which is when yours truly will be on a plane. Not to worry; the blog will be updated with the official schedule soon after it is released. Besides, enough information has trickled into the trades for us to talk about a few important details and make some educated guesses as to where new series will land on the schedule. Or, we should say, the first version of its schedule, because almost every network tweaks its lineup once the upfronts come to a close.
Before we get to the new stuff, here’s a round-up of the current news: “One Tree Hill” was officially picked up earlier this week, joining previously announced CW renewals “90210,” “Life Unexpected,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Gossip Girl,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Supernatural,” and “Smallville.” Additionally, the CW confirmed today that “Smallville’s” 10th season will be its last.
Gone from the schedule (thereby proving there is a Higher Power that cares for us all) are “Melrose Place,” “High Society,” “Fly Girls” and this season’s “here today, gone tomorrow” prizewinner, “The Beautiful Life: TBL,” which barely made it out of the gate. Their departure from the TV landscape will doubtless be mourned by…someone.
On the other hand, if they hadn’t been cleared away, The CW wouldn’t have any place to put its new additions, “Nikita” and “Hellcats.”
“Nikita” is a reboot of the franchise that began with Luc Besson’s (freaking awesome) cult action film “La Femme Nikita,” which was remade for American audiences as the awful “Point of No Return” starring Bridget Fonda. The character of Nikita resurfaced in a Canadian-produced action drama that ran for about five seasons on USA Network, and was played by Peta Wilson. Maggie Q takes over the role in the new version, which also has her going rogue.
The first TV version of “La Femme Nikita,” it must be mentioned, was part of a late-’90s, early ’00s girl power trend on television that included “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Xena: Warrior Princess,” and “Alias.” Considering that we live in a time in which Paris Hilton, the Kardashians and “Girls Gone Wild” are celebrated pop culture fixtures, returning “Nikita” to TV is — in concept — a breath of fresh air.
On the other hand, it’s on The CW. If someone doesn’t screw it up, there’s still the question of whether it’ll pull the ratings to survive. With McG as an executive producer, there is hope.
“Nikita” is joined on the schedule by “Hellcats,” a drama about competitive cheerleading starring Aly Michalka and Ashley Tisdale. If “Nikita” is a nod to what The CW used to be (in its previous incarnations, UPN and the WB), “Hellcats” seems to fit in perfectly with what the tiny broadcast network is now.
Question is, where will they appear on the schedule? Currently there are two obvious opportunities, one on Wednesday nights, and one on Fridays, where “Smallville” has been able to hold on to its audience. The CW’s schedulers have been known to slide veterans into different timeslots in the hope of finding a perfect pairing so really, it’s foolish to guess what the network’s lineup will look like. But why should that stop us?
Keep reading after the jump for our scheduling guesswork.
CBS Announces Its Fall 2010 Schedule
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, The Pick-Up Game, Tune In Info, TV News on May 19th, 2010
William Shatner stars in the new comedy "$#*! My Dad Says."
Guess what’s no longer fashionable this year among CBS’s programming executives? Stability.
Year after year, CBS touted the potency of its schedule, explaining that its across-the-board strength made it unnecessary to make any drastic changes. There is something to be said for that, even in the new world of shifted viewing. People create habits around their weekly TV consumption, and the last thing a successful network wants to do is make it hard for audiences to find their favorite shows.
On the other hand, in any cutthroat business, one would be stupid not to leap into an opening when one sees it. CBS’s decision to move top-rated comedy “The Big Bang Theory” from Monday nights at 9:30 to Thursdays at 8 just makes sense. CBS’s Monday night block remains solid, and with NBC trying to maintain its Thursday night comedy perch with series that receive much higher critical praise than ratings, why not trump the Peacock by offering a comedy that’s set to finish the 2009-2010 season firmly in the Nielsen top 20 as competition?
The hope is that “Big Bang” will serve as a potent lead-in to “$#*! My Dad Says,” a new comedy from “Will & Grace” executive producers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, starring William Shatner. “$#*!” has already gotten a great deal of attention thanks to the Twitter feed that inspired it, in which struggling writer Justin Halpern logs the colorful observations made by his 74-year-father.
“Big Bang” isn’t the only major move from Monday nights. “CSI: Miami,” currently airing Mondays at 10, moves to Sundays in the same timeslot. Wednesday night’s “CSI: NY” moves to 9 p.m. Fridays, bumping “Medium” up to 8 o’clock…and “Ghost Whisperer” into Cancellation Land. Reality stalwart “Survivor” is moving up from Thursday nights to Wednesdays at 8. In fact, the only lineup that remains unchanged is Tuesday’s.
New dramas include “Hawaii Five-O,” “The Defenders” and “Blue Bloods,” all of which are being tested in 10 p.m. slots. Meanwhile Chuck Lorre, the executive producer behind “Big Bang” and “Two and a Half Men,” is becoming to CBS what Seth MacFarlane is to Fox, introducing yet another comedy, “Mike & Molly,” to Monday nights. The previously announced “Criminal Minds” spinoff, starring Forest Whitaker, is on deck for midseason.
Earlier this week CBS cleaned house, slicing a number of underperformers from its schedule including “Accidentally On Purpose,” “Gary Unmarried,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Cold Case,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “Numb3rs,” and late season entry “Miami Medical” from the schedule. (“Three Rivers,” which premiered last fall, dried up a long time ago.)
CBS’s fall schedule is below, with new series highlighted in bold. All times are ET/PT.
MONDAY
8 PM “How I Met Your Mother”
8:30 PM “Rules of Engagement”
9 PM “Two and a Half Men”
9:30 PM “Mike & Molly”
10 PM “Hawaii Five-O”
TUESDAY
8 PM “NCIS”
9 PM “NCIS: Los Angeles”
10 PM “The Good Wife”
WEDNESDAY
8 PM “Survivor”
9 PM “Criminal Minds”
10 PM “The Defenders”
THURSDAY
8 PM “The Big Bang Theory”
8:30 PM “$#*! My Dad Says”
9 PM “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”
10 PM “The Mentalist”
FRIDAY
8 PM “Medium”
9 PM “CSI: NY”
10 PM “Blue Bloods”
SATURDAY
8-10 PM “Crimetime Saturday” (aka procedural repeats)
10 PM “48 Hours Mystery”
SUNDAY
7 PM “60 Minutes”
8 PM “The Amazing Race”
9 PM ” Undercover Boss”
10 PM “CSI: Miami”
Keep reading after the jump for descriptions of the new series, taken from the press release.
ABC Announces Its Fall 2010 Schedule.
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, The Pick-Up Game, Tune In Info, TV News on May 18th, 2010
Julie Benz and Michael Chiklis star in the new series "No Ordinary Family." Photo by Eric McCandless, courtesy of ABC.
With a few exceptions, ABC generally has no problem shuffling its schedule around each fall. Unless we’re talking about a series that serves as an important tentpole such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” or “Dancing with the Stars,” no show is too good to escape a few timeslot swaps.
This is particularly true when you also consider the network’s fondness for gorging on pick-ups. The 2010-2011 season, for example, will see ten new ABC shows premiere. Ten.
Yet the schedule for the coming season also shows plenty of evidence of stability. If it ain’t broke, ABC sure as heck isn’t going to fix it. And unlike past seasons, if a program clearly isn’t working, it’s not on the schedule. Nobody should be shocked to notice the absence of “Scrubs” from the fall schedule, for example. Ditto for the sadly performing “Happy Town” or the late spring entry “Romantically Challenged. ” The cancellation of “FlashForward” must be a downer for a number of fans, but honestly, ABC gave it a shot. As much as we loved “Ugly Betty,” we love the idea of series regular Vanessa Williams joining the cast of “Desperate Housewives” even more. And yes, we adored comedy underdog “Better Off Ted.” Instead of watching it continue to fade into oblivion, however, let’s consider ourselves to be better off with fond memories of its short-lived brilliance.
But let’s look at what is working for the Alphabet…
Wednesday nights. At long last, ABC has a comedy block worth cherishing, which is why “Modern Family” and “Cougar Town” are staying right where they are, at 9 and 9:30p.m. “The Middle” made less noise on Wednesdays, but performed well enough to remain in play, while new series “Better Together” (description below) is hammocked between it and “Modern” at 8:30. New legal drama “The Whole Truth” follows at 10.
“Castle” on Mondays. The 10 o’clock slot is a tough one on most nights of the week, but until “Castle” came along none of the other networks could find anything to go up against “CSI: Miami.” Nathan Fillion’s vehicle sputtered at first, but toward the end of the season it managed to crack the Nielsen top 20 a few times. More importantly, “Castle’s” ratings gains gave ABC its first successful crime procedural in several seasons.
Thursdays and Sundays. The Shonda Rhimes one-two punch of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” remain in place at 9 and 10p.m., with new drama “My Generation” kicking off the night at 8. The network’s Sunday lineup of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters” remains intact.
This leaves Tuesdays and Fridays as ABC’s 2010-2011 experiments. Of the two nights Tuesdays is the higher stakes enterprise, highlighted by “No Ordinary Family,” probably best described as a live-action version of The Incredibles. “Dancing’s” results show follows at 9 with the faux-documentary style police drama “Detroit 1-8-7″ at 10.
“V,” by the way, has been pushed back to midseason, the same time of year we’ll see new shows starring Elisha Cuthbert (“Happy Endings”), Matthew Perry (“Mr. Sunshine”), and a new medical drama from Shonda Rhimes (“Off the Map”) about sexy doctors in the jungle. We suspect a few of them will be forced to go shirtless from time to time. This is only a guess.
The Friday night lineup and the rest of the schedule follows. New series are in bold. (And yes, Friday’s new entry “Secret Millionaire” is the same series that ran during the 2008 holiday season on Fox.)
MONDAY
8p.m. “Dancing with the Stars”
10p.m. “Castle”
TUESDAY
8p.m. “No Ordinary Family”
9p.m. “Dancing with the Stars: Results Show”
10p.m. “Detroit 1-8-7”
WEDNESDAY
8p.m. “The Middle”
8:30p.m. “Better Together”
9p.m. “Modern Family”
9:30p.m. “Cougar Town”
10p.m. “The Whole Truth”
THURSDAY
8p.m. “My Generation”
9p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
10 p.m. “Private Practice”
FRIDAY
8p.m. “Secret Millionaire”
9p.m. “Body of Proof”
10p.m. “20/20”
SATURDAY
8p.m. “Saturday Night College Football”
SUNDAY
7p.m. “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
8p.m. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
9p.m. “Desperate Housewives”
10p.m. “Brothers & Sisters”
Descriptions of the new series, taken from the network press release, come after the jump. (Please note: if a show is not listed on the above schedule, it is set to premiere during midseason.)
Fox Announces Its 2010 Schedule
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, The Pick-Up Game, Tune In Info, TV News on May 17th, 2010
Will Arnett and Keri Russell star in "Running Wilde."
In years past, Fox had a habit of sending a slew of non-starters out for the fall season, along with “House,” its undisputed scripted hit, and “Bones,” which in recent seasons has become a strong performer. As a result, it was hard to take most of what Fox had to say about its fall season seriously at the upfronts because it was generally accepted that most of the new shows wouldn’t make it past the holidays. Fox didn’t truly enter the game until midseason, when “American Idol” and “24″ began their premiered.
This started to change last year once “Bones” began holding its own on Thursdays. Paired with the struggling but creatively solid “Fringe,” the dramas gave the network its most solid toehold outside of “Idol.” Then “Glee” came along with its critical acclaim, awards and coolness factor. Suddenly Fox has no reason to wait for January, and its four new comedies and three dramas sound like real contenders.
Out of these seven new series, three (drama “Lonestar” and comedies “Raising Hope” and “Running Wilde”) premiere in the fall. The comedy entries are worth noting because along with “Glee,” which airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays with the new series at 9 and 9:30, they represent Fox’s attempt to build a lighter weeknight block to rival what ABC has created on Wednesdays with “Modern Family,” “The Middle” and “Cougar Town.” Naturally Fox is not crazy enough to put these comedies directly against ABC’s Wednesday night tent; not only are they untested, but Fox hasn’t launched a successful half-hour comedy that isn’t a cartoon since…can you remember? We can’t.
One move on the schedule may worry fans a bit, and for good reason: “Human Target” now airs on Friday at 8p.m. with “The Good Guys,” which gets its first run this summer, following at 9p.m. Tonally speaking, these two series go together quite well. The problem is that on Fox’s schedule, the Friday night slot is still the place where series go to die. (Remember “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”? “Dollhouse”?)
Viewers will also notice that “American Idol’s” results show is now only half an hour long. Perhaps Fox is preparing for the inevitable day when “Idol” will — shock — no longer be the powerhouse on its schedule. And perhaps that day is closer than we imagine, with Simon Cowell soon to exit the series.
But, back to the new blood. Fox’s third addition for fall is “Lonestar,” a primetime soap with Texas oil as a backdrop. That airs on 9p.m. Mondays following “House.”
The rest of the new series, including executive producer Shawn Ryan’s (‘The Shield”) new series “Ride-Along,” will premiere in midseason. (Premiere date and timeslot for “Terra Nova” is TBD.)
Fans are in the process of bidding farewell to “24,” and you won’t see “Past Life” or “Sons of Tucscon” return to the fall 2010 schedule. Word is that the ax also has fallen on “The Wanda Sykes Show.”
Here is the schedule as listed on the Fox press release. All times are ET/PT, and new series are in bold.
MONDAY
8PM “House”
9PM “Lonestar”
TUESDAY
8PM “Glee
9PM “Raising Hope”
9:30PM “Running Wilde”
WEDNESDAY
8PM “Lie to Me”
9PM “Hell’s Kitchen”
THURSDAY
8PM “Bones”
9PM “Fringe”
FRIDAY
8PM “Human Target”
9PM “The Good Guys”
SATURDAY
8PM “Cops”
8PM “Cops”
9PM “America’s Most Wanted”
SUNDAY
7PM “The OT’
8PM “The Simpsons”
8PM “The Cleveland Show’
9PM “Family Guy”
9PM “American Dad”
MIDSEASON:
MONDAY
8PM “House”
9PM “Lonestar/ “Ride-Along”
TUESDAY
8PM “American Idol”
9:30PM “Running Wilde”/ “Mixed Signals”
WEDNESDAY
8PM “Raising Hope”
8:30PM “American Idol: Results”
9PM “Glee”
THURSDAY
8PM “Bones”
9PM “Fringe”
FRIDAY
8PM “Human Target”
9PM “Kitchen Nightmares”
SATURDAY
8PM “Cops”
8:30PM “Cops”
9PM “America’s Most Wanted”
SUNDAY
7PM “The Simpsons” (repeats)
7:30PM “American Dad”
8PM “The Simpsons”
8:30PM “Bob’s Burgers”
9PM “Family Guy”
9:30PM “The Cleveland Show”
Read descriptions of the new series, taken from the network’s press release, after the jump.
NBC Announces Its Fall 2010 Schedule
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, The Pick-Up Game, Tune In Info, TV News on May 17th, 2010
Editor’s note: This week brings the network upfronts, which take place in New York. The upfronts are a traditional industry practice in which networks unveil their fall schedules to advertisers, hoping to get them to commit ad dollars to blocks of programming ahead of their premiere. To regular viewers, however, this is the week during which we find out whether our favorite programs will be coming back in the fall.
IMDb’s TV blog will be regularly updated with information on the day the networks unveil their schedules. NBC and Fox are up first.
Although NBC officially presented its fall schedule to advertisers on Monday, the big news already hit the airwaves last Friday when various industry news outlets reported that long-running series “Law & Order” was getting the ax. While this was not surprising from a ratings standpoint (viewership for first-run episodes has been feeble this season, to put it kindly) it was a shock to those who believed NBC would at least let Dick Wolf achieve his goal of breaking the record set by “Gunsmoke,” which ran for 20 seasons. Alas, “Law & Order” will only tie that record, leaving “The Simpsons” as the only series to go beyond that mark.
Shocking news, yes; whether it is good or bad is a matter of personal opinion. Same goes for the cancellations of “Trauma,” “Mercy” and “Heroes,” all of which had their share of die-hard fans…just not enough of them. The light in all of this darkness, however, is that NBC seems confident that it has a strong schedule for the fall — and for the first time in a long time, that declaration does not on the face of it seem laughable.
Better still is the news that cult-fave spy comedy “Chuck” has a place on that schedule, remaining on Mondays at 8 p.m.
NBC is serious about strengthening its Thursday comedy presence, keeping its block largely intact save for the addition of new comedy “Outsourced.” According to reports “Parks & Recreation,” which vastly improved in it second year, is set to return in midseason. (Or sooner, if “Outsourced” doesn’t work.) Additionally, the network is maintaning the evening’s tone at 10p.m. with the introduction of the hour-long comedy “Love Bites,” starring Becki Newton (of “Ugly Betty”) and Jordana Spiro (of “My Boys”) as two of the last remaining single girls in their group of friends.
More excitement is brewing about the new J.J. Abrams action series “Undercovers,” starring Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as ex-spies pulled back into the game when a friend disappears. That leads in to the still-potent “Law & Order: SVU,” which will be followed by Dick Wolf’s latest entry in to the franchise, “Law & Order: Los Angeles,” which sounds like the same formula on a different coast.
Here’s NBC’s Fall 2010 schedule and short descriptions of its new series, taken from the network’s press release. All times listed are ET/PT and new series are in bold. As always, feel free to share your take on NBC’s new schedule in the comments area.
MONDAY
8-9 p.m. - “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. – “The Event”
10-11 p.m. - “Chase”
TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Biggest Loser”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”
WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Undercovers”
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “Law & Order: Los Angeles”
THURSDAY
8- 8:30 p.m. – “Community”
8:30-9 p.m. – “30 Rock”
9-9:30 p.m. - “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. - “Outsourced”
10-11 p.m. - “Love Bites”
FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Who Do You Think You Are?”/”School Pride”
9-10 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
10-11 p.m. – “Outlaw”
SATURDAY
Encore programming
SUNDAY
7- 8:15 p.m. — “Football Night in America”
8:15-11:30 p.m. — “NBC Sunday Night Football”
SUNDAY MIDSEASON (beginning March 2011)
7-8 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. – “Minute to Win It”
9-11 p.m. – “The Celebrity Apprentice”
Descriptions of the new series are after the jump.
The CW Loves the Beautiful People!
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, The Pick-Up Game, Tune In Info, TV News on May 21st, 2009
"The Beautiful Life" joins The CW's fall schedule.
Pop quiz — what’s the difference between the old WB and the new CW?
From the looks of this fall’s lineup, one letter.
The littlest network that keeps on keeping on announced its 2009-2010 schedule today, and it looks a heckuva lot more like The WB (and vintage Fox) than dear old UPN. Gone are its African-American-skewing comedies and, as previously announced, any network presence on Sundays. Instead, this season is all about rich kids and models and vampires. (Oh, my.)
The much-talked about “Melrose Place” update includes original stars Laura Leighton and Thomas Calabro, and has been paired with the second season of “90210″ on Tuesdays. Just like in the old days.
New drama “The Beautiful Life,” starring Mischa Barton and Elle Macpherson, with Ashton Kutcher producing, has “America’s Next Top Model” as its lead-in on Wednesdays.
The cast of "The Vampire Diaries": "Lost's" Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, and Paul Wesley
Vampire slayers are so last century; today’s teenage girls prefer to have crushes on them rather than, well, crushing them. As such, “The Vampire Diaries,” based on a series of books by L.J. Smith (think of it as “Twilight”-lite) leads in to “Supernatural” on Thursdays. “Smallville” moves to Fridays this season.
The CW also announced it has picked up one drama for midseason, “Parental Discretion Advised.”
That means “Privileged,” “Reaper,” “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game” are out. The announcement also puts to rest any “will-they-or-won’t they” speculation about the ’80s “Gossip Girl” spinoff. From what we can tell, it’s not happening.
Keep reading after the jump for the schedule as well as descriptions of the new shows.
Goodbye, Mr. Carmichael: “Chuck” Airs Its Finale
Posted by Melanie McFarland in Cancellations, Commentary, Nostalgia, Review, TV News on January 27th, 2012
Even the most beloved TV series must come to an end. But it’s nearly impossible for a series to end in a way that is universally satisfying. In fact, a number of shows widely considered to be among the best the medium had to offer ended quite badly.
Not “Chuck.”
So what if, quality-wise, “Chuck” isn’t in the same league as the “Losts” and “The Sopranos” of the world? It’s a show about a nerd who gets superpowers overnight, courtesy of a software program known as the Intersect. Only the silly would expect much in the way of profundity here.
But even when “Chuck” wasn’t great, it was usually a good time. By the end of its final two episodes, “Chuck Versus Sarah” and “Chuck Versus the Goodbye,” fans are just as likely to be smiling as crying – or smiling while they cry. It might not please everybody — nothing in life does — but it should come close.
As series creators and executive producers Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz reminded TV writers in a farewell letter, this is actually the fourth series finale that was written for “Chuck.” With that kind of practice, they had no excuse to do anything but end it well.
The sendoff for Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), his beloved wife Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), best friend Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), and fellow agent John Casey (Adam Baldwin), ends their story with precisely the right balance of bittersweetness, heartbreak, giggles and optimism. And yes, there’s a lot jammed into that last episode. It’s essentially the show’s greatest hits parade, delivering a goodbye kiss (with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor) to all of the elements that made “Chuck” perennially charming.
In the end, the beating heart of the show is still the love story between a beauty and a geek. “Chuck” was far from a perfect show, but Chuck and Sarah’s romance was never one of its questionable qualities. We rooted for Chuck to get the girl as much as we cheered him on when he got his fighting upgrades.
At the start of that penultimate episode, however, it’s no longer clear that he has either of these things. To say any more than that would ruin the experience of watching the finale, which airs across two back-to-back episodes tonight, starting at 8pm ET/PT on NBC.
Except for this — don’t be surprised if you are seized by the urge to review the series from the beginning as the final credits roll. The Intersect doesn’t actually exist, but this show’s uncanny ability to flip your nostalgia switch to the “on” position is very real.
Adam Baldwin, Chuck, Joshua Gomez, Lost, The Sopranos, Yvonne Strahovski, Zachary Levi
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