It took a year, but the CW (the network cobbled together from the ashes of the WB and UPN) is finally starting to look like a real network, albeit one aggressively and obsessively focused on the 18-34 youth market. Which no doubt is causing more than a few existential crises among those longtime vets of the TCA press tour who said goodbye to that demo a while ago.Dawn Ostroff, the network’s relentlessly perky entertainment president, took a “no regrets” approach to her upbeat presentation Friday morning. She’s serious about tapping into trends with her programming and with various online/digital offshoots (especially where the new teen soap Gossip Girl is concerned), but otherwise, there’s something kind of refreshing about a network that doesn’t take itself too seriously.There was loud laughter in the room during clips of the CW’s various lightweight reality shows, including a first look at the new twist on guilty-pleasure fave Beauty and the Geek...
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A few thoughts after sitting through an L.A. satellite feed of CW’s Upfront presentation on Thursday, which was more impressive (the Pussycat Dolls performance aside) than I expected.The Reaper looks much funnier than I expected. Should have guessed given that the appealing lead, Bret Harrison as a schmo who learns his parents sold his soul to the devil, is best known for sitcom work (Grounded for Life, That ’70s Show, The Loop). Ray Wise is a scream as his demanding new boss, aka Lucifer. Only drawback: Reaper’s time-slot competition includes another largely comedic series about a reluctant nerdish hero, NBC’s Chuck. Is there room for two?Also getting a good response: Aliens in America, with its Muslim exchange student fish-out-of-water befriending his classmate/host, a nerdy social pariah. This looks perfectly suited as a companion piece to the similarly sardonic Everybody Hates Chris.Gossip Girl may well become a brand-appropriate hit, but I’m personally ...
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A few premiere and return dates from Fox:The Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg-produced reality competition, On the Lot, kicks off May 16, then moves to a Monday/Tuesday schedule starting May 28. Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance begins May 24. Hell's Kitchen returns for a third helping on June 25. And the sophomore season of The Loop premieres June 10.
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Question: Did I just not read carefully enough? TV Guide's Winter TV Preview 2007 listed 43 new and returning shows, but I did not see Fox's zany, irreverent The Loop listed. I understood that Fox was lightening its mid-season order from 13 episodes to 10, but I still thought we would see it returning Wednesday nights at 9:30, after the American Idol results shows. Please tell me Fox did not pull an Arrested Development and bail on another promising-but-underperforming comedy.
Answer: I checked with Fox, and The Loop is still in the mid-season loop and very well could return to the schedule in March (or thereabouts), once American Idol moves into its results phase. Nothing's been announced yet, but that could change once Fox meets the press on its TCA day on Jan. 20 ...
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Fox found itself unexpectedly thrust into damage-control mode on Monday when an otherwise benign write-up in the Great Falls Tribune (Montana) suggested that production on The O.C. had been shut down, effective immediately and forever. "The O.C. has not been canceled," insists a show rep. "The show is in production on [Episode 11] and will continue production until it completes its season order [of 16 episodes]."Elswehere at Fox, the network has cut back its order for Season 2 (there was a 1?) of The Loop, from 13 episodes to 10, partly due to limited shelf space and the fact that at least three other series are in queue to premiere mid- or late season.
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