America's Next Top Model
The CW, the green offspring of the merged WB and UPN networks, is now five weeks old. That's a lifetime to the 18- to 34-year-olds it's targeting, so the Biz thought it was a good time to ask the CW's entertainment president Dawn Ostroff how it's going.
TVGuide.com: How do you assess the year so far?Dawn Ostroff: I think we're pretty happy with where we are. We got off to a solid start. What we said all along is that what we really want to see by the end of the season is to have a little bit of growth over what UPN or WB would have had. Right now we have a little bit of growth over them in 18- to 34-year-olds. We knew the migration was going to be a huge undertaking. The best way to describe it is that it would be as if you woke up one day and 67 percent of the country was told, "Oh, you're going to see CSI on a different channel." It's a big ordeal to move all of these viewers, tell them there is a new network, and tell them you need to find a new show on a new s
read more
A fresh press release ("fresh release"?) from the CW network:"The CW network has picked up the back nine episodes of freshman comedy The Game and returning drama 7th Heaven, giving each series a full-season order, it was announced today by Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment."Since many of you are about to ask: No, no word yet on Veronica Mars, which this week drew about 200,000 more viewers than the Camdens, against what I would say is more formidable competition (The Unit, Law & Order: CI, Dancing with the Stars). However, I did just get off the horn with Tina Majorino (Mac), who is filming Episode 9 right now and said the ratings thus far are encouraging: "We're thinking we're going to be OK, but we're crossing our fingers."
read more
I feel like this entire episode was Brian staring into his past and running from place to place with weird music orchestrating every move.And with every move came a slip elsewhere. Let's start with Dave. He may not be smooth, but he really tries. Deena really frustrates me, conjuring up excuses that push her husband further and further away. Enter Suzanne (Marguerite Moreau). At least she knows a good thing when it's in front of her. (Scratch that, Deena does know she has a good thing, she just won't act on it.) But even though Suzanne's back for more Dave lovin', I'm not convinced this little affair will last very long.Slip No. 2: Angelo (Raoul Bova). Looks like he's gone for good, leaving Nicole with a broken heart and a baby to raise.Slip No. 3: Marjorie lying to Adam... again. Clearly not the best way to start a marriage. Even more clear, an obvious blaring alarm when the bride is so wrapped up in her conflicting thoughts, she can't even make toast.I did, however, like the flash...
read more
FRIDAYRiding on the coattails — and them some! — of like-minded lead-in Deal or No Deal (which won the 8 o'clock hour with 11.4 million viewers to Ghost Whisperer's 9.95 mil), the 9 pm series debut of Bob Saget's 1 vs 100 was watched by a mob of 12.55 mil, followed not very closely by Close to Home (11.1 mil). (For more on 1 vs 100, read Angel's Surfer Girl blog.) Men in Trees, meanwhile, was down 350,000, to 7.15 mil.At 10, Numbers (with just shy of 11 million viewers) again topped Law & Order (a season low of 9.4 mil).SUNDAYThe only stories this week were NBC's football coverage (Broncos-Raiders) being down almost 4 million (to 9.4 mil); Housewives placing first at 9 but again with a new low (20.02 mil, down 750,000 week-to-week); and CW's transplanted Monday dramas — 7th Heaven (3.15 mil) and Runaway (1.8 mil) — bringing in, across the two hours, nearly the same viewership as the Chris-All of Us-Girlfriends-The Game sitcom quartet, though Heaven was down m...
read more
Didn’t take long for the first shoes to drop this season, did it? Let’s analyze the moves network by network.CBS We start here because CBS has wielded the cancellation ax first, dropping the Sopranos-lite caper Smith immediately from the otherwise successful Tuesday lineup. Strike one for this season’s new wave of serialized dramas. Crime-drama repeats (what else?) will occupy its slot starting this Tuesday.I’m not terribly surprised. Though there was some buzz for the show and its very expensive (I heard $6 million at least) pilot, plus its starry cast (someone sign Simon Baker up for another show now!), Smith always struck me as an empty version of a Sopranos or a Shield, to name two distinguished shows with criminals as protagonists. The characters on Smith just felt hollow to me, giving us little reason to care or to root for or against them.CBS’ other big move was a no-brainer: switching the time periods for Monday comedies The Class and How I Met Your ...
read more
Question: Will Lucy have a miscarriage on 7th Heaven?
Answer: Yes, when the new season starts she will have already have lost the twins. And only 7th Heaven could go an entire episode — in this case, the Sept. 25 season premiere — without directly addressing the tragedy (save for Lucy's climactic meltdown at the pulpit).
read more
Question: Is it true that 7th Heaven is back for a full, 22-episode season?
Answer: Yes, which is strange since I'm pretty sure the CW originally picked it up for only 13. It'd be nice if just once the CW made a decision that resulted in fewer 7th Heaven episodes, rather than more. Is that too much to ask?
read more
Richard Dean Anderson, Stargate SG-1
While Stargate SG-1 fans are already gathering signatures to petition Sci Fi Channel to pull a 7th Heaven move and un-cancel the veteran series, it probably ain't going to happen, folks. However, there are some signs of life in the show and it's not just the MMO (massive multiplayer online) game that is due out in the fourth quarter of 2007 and that MGM, which owns the Stargate franchise, is sinking $40-50 million into. While executive producer Brad Wright tells TV Guide his "dream is to take SG-1 back to the feature it began as," we are now hearing that MGM may produce a series of TV-movies based on the mother-ship series.
"From MGM's perspective, we don't view SG-1 as a television series, we view it as a franchise, and one with a lot of vibrant life," says studio spokesman Jeff Pryor. "The fan base is fiercely loya
read more
Benjamin McKenzie and Rachel Bilson, The O.C.
Question: OK, I know a lot of people (myself included) write you asking if a show in danger of being canceled will get a reprieve from another network, and you usually say no. But I do recall that when The O.C. succeeded in its first season, everyone said it was the hit that WB had been looking for. Well, now that Fox is giving up on it, wouldn't the show be good for CW? Or is it just too expensive and/or too old? If it's being overhauled, it would be a perfect time to get a new start on a mishmash, teen-oriented network like CW.
Answer: It'll never happen, but your question isn't nearly as random as you might think. For one thing, The O.C. is produced by the Warner Bros. studio, so there's that sort of corporate synergy to think about (the "W" in CW stands for Warner Brothers, as did WB). And you're also right that this kind of show fits the CW brand to a tee (or should I say wife-beater T-shirt). But the last thing CW needs is yet another past-its-prime show on its schedule, which is
...
read more
Question: 7th Heaven scoop, please. Anything!
Answer: Tragedy looms for one of the Camden kids as the 11th season opens. And a younger man is going to cause problems for Lucy and Kevin in Episode 2. Stephen Collins, meanwhile, will lampoon his do-gooder Heaven image in tomorrow's season finale of FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. All I'll say is that he has a surprising connection to Dennis and Dee, and it's one of two major twists in the episode.
read more
