This week the networks began meeting with ad-agency execs to talk about what's in development for the 2006-07 season. That means it's time for producers of current shows with less-than-robust ratings to start worrying about getting picked up for next season. Here's what industry insiders are telling the Biz.
ABC: The network's comedies are having a tough year in the ratings, but you can't cancel all of them. Rodney, Hope & Faith, Crumbs and Less than Perfect aren't likely to make the cut. According to Jim, George Lopez and Freddie have a chance of returning. Since ABC has two more hours to program in the fall now that football has moved to NBC, shows that would otherwise be doomed have a chance. We're talking Invasion and Commander in Chief. Their survival depends on the strength of the network's new-program development.
CBS: Another season of The King of Queens depends on whether the n
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Question: It really irritates me that you and the rest of the mainstream media completely ignore the African-American comedies on UPN. Girlfriends/America's Next Top Model are not the only successful shows on that network. Just because you don't watch them does not mean they are not worth saving. Broad comedies are all over the rest of the networks, and they feature mostly white casts. I realize ratings play a big part, but these shows would not have lasted as long as they have if they had not been generating ratings and some kind of revenue.
Answer: True enough. There is a market for these shows, and there's no question this audience is being woefully underserved by the major networks, which is why it's important that CW not ignore that part of UPN's (and once upon a time, WB's) legacy. But critically speaking, I'm just as happy to ignore network mediocrities like According to Jim, Still Standing, Yes, Dear, Four Kings and Courting Alex as I am the equally forgettable likes of Half &
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UPN has reshuffled its new Thursday-night lineup just a week before its launch. Per The Hollywood Reporter, buzz-magnet Everybody Hates Chris will stay put at 8 pm, but it will now be followed at 8:30 by Love, Inc., not Eve, which moves to 9 pm. Cuts, meanwhile, will shift to 9:30, where Love, Inc. was originally skedded. UPN says the changes make for better "flow" on the night. I say it's akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, since this ship's going down at 8:30 no matter what.
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Writer Damian Kindler and director Peter DeLuise (Dom's scion, of 21 Jump Street fame) indulged their obvious fondness for Star Trek's "Amok Time" episode for this tale that landed Mitchell in the clutches of a Jaffa warrior sect that follows the Ori. Forced to bolt through the Stargate in a hurry, SG-1 had to leave the wounded Cameron behind. On the positive side, Mitchell's foes nursed him back to health. The bad news was they did this just so he could be trained to fight in a ritual clash to the death. Mitchell's quandary recalled that scene in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory when Private Arnoud received a skull fracture and was bandaged up just so he could be shot. (By the way, Arnoud and his two fellow comrades "died wonderfully," according to the French general who executed them to save his own butt, but I digress.) No, Kindler and DeLuise aren't Kubrick, but who is? Obviously Mitchell had to squirm out of this jam alive an
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Showtime's new single-camera comedy, Barbershop (premiering Sunday at 10 pm/ET), picks up right where its film predecessors left off and enjoys a cable-friendly splash of edgier, faster-paced humor. Among the ensemble cast is newcomer Toni Trucks, who talked to TVGuide.com about inheriting rap star Eve's role as a girl in Barbershop's man's world.
TVGuide.com: Is it true that you hadn't seen the Barbershop films prior to accepting the role?Toni Trucks: I hadn't seen the films before my initial audition, then once I did that, I figured I should see the movies. But we were encouraged to reinvent the characters. [Director] John [Ridley] was very clear that we should bring ourselves to the table. TVGuide.com: Were you familiar with Eve's acting work, if not
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