My loyalties are so divided on Friday nights. I want ABC’s so-so new crime drama Women’s Murder Club to do well enough to bring some much-needed eyeballs to the charming romantic comedy Men in Trees, which finally returns from a cruel nearly eight-month hiatus. With James Patterson’s name as a selling point for Murder Club (though he’s not writing this series any more than he appears to be penning half of the books that go out with co-writers’ names on his ubiquitous book jackets), the show certainly has a shot at commercial success, even on a night that’s widely considered a graveyard. Remember: This same night, and this same time period (9 pm/ET), is where the original CSI launched to even less fanfare, and the rest is TV history.But I also don’t want anything to take audience away from Murder Club’s competition, most notably NBC’s ever-fragile Friday Night Lights, which offers another superb episode this week. Even if like many observe...
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Desperate Housewives' Ricardo Chavira wed longtime girlfriend Marcea Dietzel on Sept. 22 in a private ceremony, the actor reveals on Tuesday's Entertainment Tonight.... DVD releases have been set for the My So-Called Life: The Complete Series and October Road: The Complete First Season (both on Oct. 30), and Superbad (Dec. 4).... Best-selling author James Patterson and the executive producers of ABC's Women's Murder Club, which premieres this Friday, will answer fans' questions via a live ABC.com blog tonight at 8 pm/ET.... Who's your favorite recurring Seinfeld character? Choose from our list and vote here.
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Question: I've just got to ask: What do the powers that be at ABC have against Men in Trees? We all know what ABC did to the show last season. But why didn't the network make this show part of its much-hyped premiere week? I couldn't sit through more than 20 minutes of the wretched Big Shots, and I think it's ridiculous that ABC moved Men in Trees out of the coveted time slot following Grey's Anatomy for this garbage.
Answer: It's possible that an entire overhaul (so I hear; still haven't seen it) of the Women's Murder Club pilot may have delayed ABC launching its Friday lineup for a few weeks. The good news is that Men in Trees is finally back with new episodes this week (Fridays at 10 pm/ET), with Murder Club as a high-profile lead-in (that James Patterson name recognition can't hurt). I've seen the first two Trees, as well as the fifth episode, and while sometimes it gets a bit goofy, I find the world of Elmo, Alaska, awfully endearing and hope the return to Fridays won't prove fatal.
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Per Variety, ABC has tapped Brett Ratner to direct and produce a pilot based on the Women's Murder Club featured in several James Patterson thrillers, while The X-Files' Frank Spotnitz is developing for the network Murder Incorporated, a drama about a man from a wealthy family whose fortune has a dubious source.... The CW is eyeing Grey's Anatomy exec producer Mark Gordon to bring life to Reaper, a chiller in which a "bounty hunter" for Satan tracks escaped souls.... Lifetime is pondering a pilot order for Conspiracy, a legal thriller about a D.C. lawyer whose life is put in danger when she realizes she won a high-profile case for a pharmaceutical company based on evidence falsified by a Massive Evil Conspiracy. Um, isn't it a bit soon (if ill-advised) to rip off Runaway?
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