Question: Have you kept up with CW's Aliens in America and Everybody Hates Chris this season? Wonky scheduling and strike delays have made a mess of things, and the CW seems to have forgotten these shows exist. (Two weeks ago, a new episode of Aliens in America was billed as a repeat in all the TV listings I checked.) I ask because I consider these to be two of the best comedies on television and, deceptively, among the boldest. Here are two wholesome, light-hearted shows dealing intelligently with race with abundant humor and without ever preaching. Chris has had some drop-off in quality since its fantastic first season, but Aliens is on a roll and seems to get zero promotion from the network or from TV critics. A sitcom about Muslim-American relations could have been a crass disaster, but it has grown into something I think everyone should watch. And it continues to push the envelope with warmth instead of cynicism. Several weeks ago, the Tolchuks befriended a misunderstood ...
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Someone alert the nice folks at the MIA Network — some fresh product's headed their way. I just got the unofficial official word that one of this season's best new comedies, Aliens in America, has been axed. Despite rave reviews when it debuted last fall, the CW laffer went largely ignored by viewers. Which sucks for them, because they missed out on a fantastic little show.I've got better news for fans of another CW comedy, Reaper. I'm told it's "90 percent likely" that it'll be on the network's fall sked. Stay close to the Ausiello Report throughout the weekend for the latest renewals and cancellations ahead of next week's upfronts. In the meantime, share your favorite Aliens memories in the comments section below.Related:• Exclusive: New Amsterdam Is Not Immortal• Fox Fall: Death Lives On, Back to You Won't Be Back• The CW "Outsources" Its Sunday-night Block; Two Dramas, Two Comedies Coming
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The CW has signed a deal with the production finance company Media Rights Capital to take over its Sunday-night programming block, where Everybody Hates Chris, Aliens in America and The Game currently reside. As part of the pact, MRC is contracted to develop two dramas and two comedies, and sell ad time for them.The CW (and the WB before it) traditionally has had a very rough go of it trying to gain traction with Sunday programming/ratings. It is believed that by pawning off the quagmire to a media conglomerate, the netlet can focus its attention on Monday through Friday — where, ostensibly, EHC and/or The Game could find new homes. (Per Ausiello, Aliens is a goner.) — MWMRelated:• The CW Axes Aliens in America• No Laughing Matter: CW Closes Comedy Division
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Amy Pietz isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind. Which isn't surprising, considering she’s spent the last year doing a splendidly didactic turn as Franny Tolchuck, that hyper-involved, middle-class mom on Aliens in America (Sundays at 8:30 pm/ET), the CW’s post-9/11 satire of cultural acceptance in small-town Wisconsin. As much as she would like to think herself world-wise (she did, after all, take in a Muslim exchange student), Franny is influenced by the old-line gospel according to Bill O’Reilly.
Contrarily, Pietz — her political bent leaning more towards socialism — finds O’Reilly “to be really destructive to society,” says the 39-year-old actress. Her observation came only a few days before the Fox News host’s on-air comments about a famed Harlem restaurant had him la
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