Peter Krause by Bob D'Amico/ABC
Get lost, ABC. That was the hostile undercurrent behind much of the questioning for ABC's entertainment president Stephen McPherson Wednesday morning. We critics can be a surly group, especially this late in the TCA press tour. (ABC has the bad luck to be up to bat on the final two days of the three-week hype-a-thon.) But give us something legitimate to gripe about — in this case, the decision by Lost's producers to skip the TCA and instead address the game-changing events behind Lost's cliff-hanger at the Comic-Con fan convention in San Diego on Thursday — and you'd better watch out.One reporter even put it this way: “Are we not important enough for you?” At first, McPherson tried to shrug it off with a joke, saying that he has hired Don Imus — fired earlier this year from his radio and TV gigs for a racial slur — to join the show. (This was the closest he or anyone else came to addressing the Isaiah Washington/Grey’s Anatomy debacle during his of...
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Dancing wtih the Stars by Carol Kaelson/ABC
ABC's fall season leads off with no less than five and a half hours of reality TV, courtesy of Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor. Uitlmately, some scripted stuff will make its way onto the screen. UPDATE: Boston Legal's premiere will be announced "soon," an ABC source assures me. Here is the premiere plan:Monday, Sept. 248 pm/ET: Dancing with the Stars (90-minute premiere)9:30 pm: The Bachelor (90-minute premiere)Tuesday, Sept. 25 8 pm: DWTS (90-minute performance show)Wednesday, Sept. 268 pm: DWTS (results show)9 pm: Private Practice10 pm: Dirty Sexy MoneyThursday, Sept. 278 pm: Ugly Betty9 pm: Grey's Anatomy10 pm: Big ShotsSunday, Sept. 307 pm: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour premiere)9 pm: Desperate Housewives10 pm: Brothers & SistersTuesday, Oct. 28 pm: Cavemen 8:30 pm: Carpoolers9 pm: DWTS (results show; regular time period)Wednesday, Oct. 38 pm: Pushing Daisies (woohoo!)Sunday, Oct. 77 pm: That home-videos showFriday, Oct. 128 pm: 20/209 pm: Women's Murder C...
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It isn't enough for CBS to be the most-watched network. At the presentation of its new fall schedule, network execs announced they want their shows to be talked about, too.It's a new version of an old tune. For years, CBS has had the largest number of viewers, but many of them were old and not as desirable to advertisers. Recently, the network has gotten much more competitive for the 18-to-49-year-old crowd that Madison Avenue pays most for. Yet shows such as ABC's Ugly Betty get a lot more ink and watercooler chatter than the higher-rated Two and a Half Men or Survivor (CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler drove the point home to the audience at Carnegie Hall by citing how Betty's ratings have dropped 40 percent since its premiere).With a solid foundation of dependable hits, Tassler says this is the year she can afford to take a few programming risks to improve her share of buzz. Even if CBS' new shows fail, its regular program lineup will deliver ratings close to what it did t...
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Ugly Betty will continue to carve its niche and grow its young audience. Grey's Anatomy must rebound from a shaky season and high expectations. Big Shots features four CEOs who take no prisoners. I hope it ends up being more like Profit than a male Desperate Housewives. To read more of the Jump the Shark creator's opinions on the ABC lineup, click here.
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Even with all the success ABC has had on Sunday and Thursday (thanks to the bold move of Grey's Anatomy to that night), there are plenty of other time periods throughout the week where the network simply wasn't competitive this past season. But while the struggling NBC cautiously put together a schedule that seemed designed to retain its diminished share of advertiser dollars, ABC is being much more aggressive. In the new lineup presented to advertisers Wednesday at Alice Tully Hall, entertainment president Stephen McPherson threw a lot of stuff against the scheduling board in the hope that something will stick.Determined to get back into the comedy game, ABC gave Sam I Am with Christina Applegate the benefit of a Dancing with the Stars lead-in on Monday. Not a bad bet, since ABC's appeal is strongest among women 35-plus — and Applegate is now one of them, believe it or not. Two new comedies with a male skew will lead off Tuesday, in an attempt to get some ratings traction by t...
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Scheduled to debut next season are four new comedy entries — Carpoolers, Cavemen, Miss/Guided and Sam I Am; along with seven new drama series — Big Shots, Cashmere Mafia, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies and Women's Murder Club. Oprah's Big Give is also slated to debut.In addition to the new series, ABC previously announced season renewals for Brothers & Sisters, Men in Trees, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Bachelor, Supernanny, America's Funniest Home Videos and Wife Swap. October Road and Notes from the Underbelly will also return for second seasons.As previously announced, Saturday Night College Football will return for a second season on Saturday, September 1 (8:00 pm, ET).ABC's fall prime-time schedule is as follows (all times listed are Eastern, with new shows in bold):MONDAY: 8 pm Dancing with the Stars9:30 pm Sam I ...
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The latest pre-upfronts news:ABCDrama pickups: Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone (both from Everwood's Greg Berlanti); the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, the Sex and the City-esque Cashmere Mafia; Pushing Daisies, Women's Murder Club; Big Shots (Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus and Joshua Malina as CEOs/wannabes). Comedies: Cavemen; Sam I Am (Christina Applegate as an amnesiac); Carpoolers. Other notes: October Road and Notes from the Underbelly will return mid-season with 13-episode runs. (Today's News)FOXDrama pick-ups: The Terminator-inspired sci-fi-er The Sarah Connor Chronicles; K-Ville (concerning cops in post-Katrina New Orleans); New Amsterdam (about an immortal homicide detective). Comedies: Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton's Back to You (FKA Action News); Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Return of Jezebel James (starring Parker Posey); The Rules of Starting Over (courtesy of the Farrelly Brothers) (Today's News).NBCDrama pick-up...
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