You could get whiplash trying to keep track of shows’ comings and goings during a network mid-season as chaotic and badly managed as this one is turning out to be. Some thoughts about the latest news, much of which surfaced in the trades and some of which has yet to be confirmed by the networks:First, the no-brainer: 7th Heaven is officially being laid to rest. Again. The family-friendly drama, which was brought back from cancellation a year ago when the new CW decided it needed to launch with as many familiar franchises as possible, is now gearing up to say goodbye to the Camdens once more, when the 11th season wraps May 13. This was hardly unexpected. The show went decidedly under the radar when the CW moved it from Mondays to Sundays, where it was stranded amid a sea of repeats and second-runs of shows like America’s Next Top Model. It was time to go a year ago. This is just sad.Now on to this spring’s roster of mid-season losers. Hope you didn’t get too attac...
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Although Notes from the Underbelly will still debut with back-to-back episodes on Thursday, April 12, at 10 pm/ET, ABC has found a new full-time home for the comedy: Wednesdays at 8:30, behind According to Jim. Informing the network's scheduling switch, says Variety, was the promising performance of October Road, which will now get to air the final two episodes of its freshman batch on April 19 and 26.
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Question: Ratings and scheduling analyses, by both critics and viewers, often talk about the effect of pairing shows together (e.g., whether Studio 60 was/is a good show to follow Heroes). Is there any real evidence that such a scheduling symbiosis really exists? In this day and age of zillions of channels, multiple TV listing sources, DVDs and video recorders, I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who make TV viewing choices so passively, sitting stupefied in front of a TV set just waiting to see what comes next. It's not that hard to change a channel. It's not that hard to pick what you want to watch, regardless of what comes before or after, and it's not that hard to record a show no matter when it's on. Perhaps I'm being naive?
Answer: The glut of TV is precisely why networks still have to think strategically about scheduling, even in a DVR universe (which hasn't spread to the entire viewing population, despite what you may have heard). First people have to find
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Everyone is having trouble with his or her love life this week. Sam gets his heart broken, Hannah breaks up with Ray after he asks her to move in with him, Janet can’t decide whether or not Eddie is romantically interested in her, Phil struggles with asking Pizza Girl “in” for a date, and Nick has an embarrassment of riches in Aubrey and Hannah.Sam asks Nick for help getting the attention of Amanda, the girl he has a crush on. This causes all sorts of trouble at home. Hannah can’t believe her baby is growing up and not coming to her for advice on girls and Ray can’t believe Hannah is letting Nick of all people give Sam advice. Nick’s three-phase approach includes the following:Phase One: You’ve gotta do something interesting. As Nick says, “If you want to make the time, you’ve got to commit the crime.” Sam takes this quite literally by liberating the fruit flies the second graders are experimenting on. Amanda seems impressed but the ...
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Duped, I tell you, I was duped. Not that this is exactly one of the season’s most urgently pressing issues, but I get enough mail about it to know that fans would be pleased to learn Men in Trees would be returning a little earlier than scheduled on April 12. That was the news from ABC on Monday. (And as I write this, ABCs Medianet grid still shows Trees airing on April 12.) But the situation has changed, not for the better. Got into work this morning (a bit bleary from last night’s sensational Sopranos screening/party) to learn—thanks to a heads-up from our ad production side—that ABC has something else in mind for the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot for several weeks in April. Falling somewhere between the absolute dregs that is October Road and the quirky bliss that is Men in Trees falls ABC’s latest feeble stab at yuppie-romance sitcomedy (a genre badly botched in ABC’s serialized wedding comedy Big Day earlier this year). Airing back-to-back episodes...
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Adrian Pasdar and Malcolm McDowell, Heroes
Question: Any good Heroes scoop? The break is killing me.
Answer: Yeah, I've got something, but I'm gonna take a page from Ryan Seacrest's bag of tricks and delay the big reveal until the end of the show.
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Now here’s a piece of good news. I share it because I’ve lost count of the questions I’ve fielded about it lately. ABC has just revealed that Men in Trees will be back with a new episode April 12, a little earlier than I expected. Which must mean that October Road’s tryout is only four weeks instead of six. (The cover letter that came with the four-episode October screener threatened there would be a fifth and sixth.) Of course, this means Trees will return on the same night that ER also is scheduled to return from a long hiatus with new episodes, so Men in Trees won’t enjoy the same break that the pitiful October Road got during its first weeks on the air. And Trees’ lead-in on that Thursday in April will be clip-show highlight reels from Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy (the latter hosted by the dearly departed Jeffrey Dean Morgan, aka Denny), which could further depress the lead-in ratings. (By comparison, October Road rode on the coattails of orig...
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I’m about to get really, really girly here so if you want to bypass the female ranting please feel free to skip to the next paragraph. What’s up with Eddie? Why does he have to be that guy? He sees that his ex-best friend Nick is interested in Aubrey and decides to go after her out of spite? Really? I won’t say he’s immature, but I will say 30 is the new 18 in Knights Ridge. I love that Aubrey figures things out before the payback goes too far. See ya “Casa-no-good.” And his semi-recovery at the bar later that night when he asks Janet out and looks after his drunk friend Ikey? Damage done. Not buying it. Sorry.Now that that’s out of my system, let’s talk about what I liked. I loved that Nick tried to get a job at “the Duf” after he told Hannah he was already employed there. I’m glad he’s decided to stick around and try to mend all those broken bridges. Lying about the job probably wasn’t his best move, but he does seem...
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Question: I take offense to your rating of 0 for October Road in your recent Roush Review. Personally, I think it's a little harsh of you to rate the show a "0" because it's replacing Men in Trees for a short period of time. I know you gave other reasons, but I'm not buying what you're selling, since you show blatant favoritism toward Men in Trees. I watched the premiere of October Road, and I thought it was a refreshing change of pace for a Thursday-night drama. I'm sure you would say (and probably have said) the same of Men in Trees, but I tried watching that show and I couldn't make it to Episode 3. It was just too ridiculous for me. And before you go judging me for my choices in TV viewing, I do watch shows that you rave about like Friday Night Lights, The Wire and Grey's Anatomy (all on your top-10 list). Are you going to give October Road another chance?
Answer: First off, I should probably take offense at the accusation that I gave October Road a 0 rating merely because it was
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Laura Prepon, October Road
Calling all Donna Pinciotti fans! OK, so it's not exactly the same redhead from That '70s Show, but Laura Prepon is back on the small screen with a lighter 'do and a big role — playing Mom on the new ABC drama October Road, which airs a new episode tonight at 10 pm/ET. While she's no Kitty Forman, her 28-year-old character, Hannah, does balance a job, a relationship and parent-teacher meetings. But her biggest struggle is her high-school sweetheart (played by Bryan Greenberg) rolling back into town after a decade's absence and dragging the past along with him. TVGuide.com talked to the fun, enthusiastic Prepon about her "awesome" character, grand gestures and her Jersey upbringing that bri
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