Tuesday's two-hour premiere of Dancing with the Stars' third season was watched by an average of 20 million people, a 19 percent bump from the Season 2 bow and the series' third best ratings ever. As such, Dancing handily bested the 8 o'clock hour's House (watched by 15 million, a 19 percent dip from last week's premiere) and the Big Brother 7: All-Stars finale (8.4 mil), then went on to trump Fox's Standoff (9.3 mil) and CBS' "Rock Star: Your Name Here" (7.1 mil) at 9. ABC's Men in Trees, previewing on a special night, was the 10 pm champ (over SVU and NCIS reruns) with a better-than-Boston Legal tally of 12.4 million.UPDATE: On Wednesday at 8 pm, Dancing's audience "Tuckered out" a bit, dipping to 16.1 million, but still bested Bones (8.45 mil) as well as Rock Star and Dateline: To Catch a Predator (each of which drew 7.1 mil). At 9 Dateline proper was the winner with 10.7 million viewers, while Justice came in third ? behind a Criminal Minds repeat ? with 7.5 mil, a significant d...
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The Men in Trees pilot episode was pretty good. Anne Heche is Marin, a relationship coach who realizes she knows nothing about relationships and sets out to actually learn something as she writes her next book in Alaska. The premise of the show has the potential to be completely unexciting and predictable, but somehow manages to touch on true emotion. Sure, some of the scenes seemed contrived. Yeah, Jack just happened to be out in the middle of nowhere looking for bears and was able to rescue Marin as she fell through some thin ice. Oh, and of course they were stranded there for the night and had to lie down on top of each other, naked, for warmth. And don?t forget that she lives next door to a prostitute. Endless comparisons between the two are sure to follow from that convenient pairing. But through it all, Heche was completely believable. She really seems like a woman in a complete state of confusion ? granted, she has some past real-life experiences to draw from. The m...
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On the positive side, ABC is doing its new romantic comedy-drama Men in Trees a huge favor by previewing it tonight (Sept. 12, 10 pm/ET) after the two-hour opener of the much-anticipated guilty pleasure Dancing with the Stars. On the negative side, Men in Trees will next be seen (by a potentially much punier audience) on Fridays. (Most weeks the lead-in will be an ?encore? of Grey?s Anatomy, and its lead-out will be the warhorse newsmag 20/20.)Which begs the question: Does Men in Trees have a chance? And from my point of view, should it?Much depends on your threshold of tolerance for Anne Heche, a fine actress but not one especially given to winsomeness and charm. She?s especially spiky and snotty in the early scenes of tonight?s contrived pilot, in which she?s introduced as Marin Frist, a glib relationship expert/author who?s convinced she has all the answers when it comes to men and romance. Naturally, she doesn?t. And much as you may be rooting for this smug socialite to get her ...
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Allow me to introduce myself, or blog myself, or however one uses "blog" as verb. I'm Emily Bergl (or just plain Bergl if you'd prefer; many seem to), and I play Annie on Men in Trees. And, um, I'm blogging. I never thought I'd be saying that, as my only previous experience with blogging was when my friend's ex-girlfriend starting blogging about their breakup. Don't you think we're in dire need of a cyberworld Emily Post? Every coffee shop in L.A. now has to put up a sign that says, _Don't talk on your cell phone while ordering. And then you have the reverse of that, in that now it's kind of impolite to actually booty call someone, you should really booty text them. (I don't really know about these things firsthand, as I'm in a relationship, but I keep current by living vicariously through my castmates, and no, I won't tell you which ones.) Kind of makes you wish for somewhere where people still actually talk to each other in person& maybe a tiny town in Alaska? And she comes fu...
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Question: I finally jumped on the Project Runway train for this current season, and I'm loving it. Great premise, and I hope I can catch up on the first two seasons. My comment is more about Bravo's scheduling. I'm all for cable networks broadcasting episodes several times a week, but do you think they go overboard with Runway? My DVR shows Runway coming on 32 times this week — don't you think that's overkill? Another question: I'm looking forward (of course) to the new season of Battlestar Galactica and even Nip/Tuck, now that enough time has passed since that ludicrous Season 3 finale. Do you think premiering these shows during the start of the broadcast season may hurt them?
Answer: Without a doubt, Bravo goes overboard with the Project Runway replays — but at least you don't have to fret if you miss an episode. (I've become hooked on HGTV's Design Star, and they don't replay that one often enough — its original Sunday time slot is way overcrowded.) I'm not sure it's overkill,
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Question: Dude, what the heck is up with Brothers & Sisters? Everything I hear about it seems to go from bad to worse. Why is the network so confident in it that it's getting the lucrative post-Housewives slot, when it clearly has a lot of problems? I would put Men in Trees there instead.
Answer: Although I haven't seen the B&S pilot yet — I think ABC is (finally) sending it out later this week — I suspect the show will deliver in spite of all its troubles. And Greg Berlanti's stamp of approval doesn't hurt. "I promise you guys, and I can only go on my own emotional gut and my own experience, but it lives up to anything I've ever worked on or been a part of in terms of how emotional it is," he tells me. "And
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Question: A lot of people seem to complain about the sameness of CBS' dramas. I'm wondering if these people are forgetting about Numb3rs. Numb3rs is one of my all-time favorite shows, and although it is just yet another crime drama, I consider it very different from the rest of CBS' schedule. It has much more in-depth character development, an incredibly creative premise and amazing actors (who really should have been nominated for something by now). I don't think CBS has treated it well by shoving it into the Fridays-at-10 slot, where it supposedly dominates but is mostly forgotten. Do you agree?
Answer: I'm not as down on CBS' crime franchises as you appear to be, but I do think Numb3rs is distinctive (if not quite top-tier, must-see TV) and agree that it's being taken for granted because of its relatively invisible time period. I'll admit that most of the shows I record on Fridays go unwatched, despite my best efforts. I catch up with a Numb3rs episode on occasion, and if I hear one
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Question: I know it's still summer, but have the networks announced tentative dates for their season premieres?
Answer: As of now, the only network not to announce premiere dates is CBS, which will likely launch most of its new and returning shows the weeks of Sept. 17 and 24.
Here's how the others shape up: The season kicks off early on Fox, with Prison Break and Vanished on Aug. 21; then the limited reality series Duets on Aug. 29; Justice and Bones on Aug. 30; House and Standoff on Sept. 5; the comedies 'Til Death and Happy Hour on Sept 7; Nanny 911 on Sept. 8; Cops and America's Most Wanted on Sept. 9; Fox's animated comedy lineup plus The War at Home on Sept. 10; and MADtv Sept. 16. (The O.C. won't return until after postseason baseball on Nov. 2.)
On ABC, 20/20 officially kicks off Sept. 8; Dancing with the Stars returns Sept. 12 and 13; Wife Swap premieres Sept. 18; Grey's Anatomy and Six Degrees on Sept. 21; Ugly Betty and Men in Trees on Sept. 22; Extreme Makeover: Home
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