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Question: I watched the first episode of Smash this week and I enjoyed it. I like the cast, the music and the dancing, and the overall "Broadway" feel of the show. I just can't find myself going along with what is apparently the central idea of the show, which is that Katharine McPhee would make a better Marilyn than Megan Hilty. Really? Don't get me wrong, I love ...
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As mid-season shows debut over the next three months, it will be crunch time for a number of series that haven't been tearing up the Nielsen charts. Here's what network insiders say are the shows on the bubble as execs look to set their schedules in May.
ABC
A second-year ratings fade may mean it's time to pull a sheet over the Dana Delany-led Body of Proof. While the network ordered an extra episode of Pan Am in order to keep a hold on the cast until May, its chances of returning next fall are as likely as an airport going a full day without a flight delay. Comedy Happy Endings doesn't do a great job retaining the lead-in from the mighty Modern Family, but ABC parent Disney has an ownership stake in the show and it's a favorite within the network's entertainment division — so a pickup for another season is considered a lock. And fan fave Cougar Town will get a final shot for renewal if it performs well in its new Tuesday time period starting February 14.
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CBS is developing a pair of sitcoms for comedian Martin Lawrence, with an eye toward shooting one of them as a pilot.
Bernie Mac creator and The Daily Show contributor Larry Wilmore is behind one of the shows, while the other is from Rules of Engagement creator Tom Hertz and Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company.
In the Wilmore script, Lawrence would play a...
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It wouldn't be a Rules of Engagement season without more bumps in the road.
Just when things were looking up for the sitcom — moving to Thursdays after being scheduled on Saturdays — it was dealt a blow this week: CBS will pull it off the schedule at midseason to make way for Rob Schneider's new comedy and has cut its episode order down to 15.
CBS replaces Rules with ¡ROB!; sets return date for Undercover Boss
The news is just another chapter in the topsy-turvy life of the show, which has been shuffled around the schedule since its midseason premiere in 2007, and it comes as no surprise to star Patrick Warburton.
"If they're going to pull one show for midseason, they're ...
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The sitcom with nine lives — CBS' Rules of Engagement — will be moved off the schedule once again to make way for Saturday Night Live alum Rob Schneider's new series, ¡ROB!, CBS announced Monday.
¡ROB!, which follows...
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