Question: Matt, I'm a huge fan! My question is about ABC's comedies (According to Jim, Rodney, Hope & Faith, Crumbs, Sons & Daughters, George Lopez, Freddie and Less than Perfect). Which ones do you think will survive another season? I think it's time for According to Jim and Hope & Faith to go. But I love Rodney and Less than Perfect. Creatively, I feel they have a lot to offer. Do you think there is at all a chance for a TGIF comeback? What are your thoughts on this?
Answer: Of all the shows you mentioned, I would only even consider watching Sons & Daughters regularly. But I know I'm in the minority on that one, given the puny ratings it drew this spring, which makes me doubt it will return, barring a miracle. (There are some intriguing comedy concepts kicking around ABC for next season, and maybe ABC would keep Sons & Daughters alive as a companion piece. But that's probably a pipe dream.) Given that Rodney was put on hiatus before it could play out its second season, and that Less
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Fred Savage (Crumbs, The Wonder Years) and his wife, Jennifer, are expecting their first child in August. You snooze, you lose, Winnie.
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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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Reports of the death of the TV sitcom were, thankfully, premature. New critical hits like My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris and the steadily improving The Office have set a high bar for the new and returning comedies that entered the fray this month. Just getting Scrubs back on the air after an inexcusable fall hiatus is reason enough to celebrate, while some of the newbies hope to fill the romantic-comedy void left by Sex and the City and Friends. Here’s my quick take on the mid-season comedy crop. (I dismissed NBC’s generic buddy romp Four Kings in an earlier column.)
ScrubsTuesdays, 9 pm/ET, NBCHeard it before? Thankfully, yes. The antics are as fresh as ever now that this endearingly irreverent medical comedy has returned — finally — with back-to-back episodes of bawdy slapstick and barbed verbal w
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