Question: So I watched the remaining filmed episodes of Smith on the Internet, and I remained as interested and entertained as I had been by the episodes that actually aired on TV before CBS yanked it. But then I read the synopses of the episodes that were not filmed. [SPOILER ALERT] According to the synopses, Simon Baker and Jonny Lee Miller's characters (two of my main reasons for watching) were to go out Butch Cassidy-Sundance Kid style in a shootout in Episode 10. By the end of the season, Shohreh Aghdashloo's character kills Franky G.'s character's girlfriend, only to be killed by him as revenge. He then manages to escape with his son to start a new life, as does Amy Smart's character after killing her innocent friend and leaving her in the desert to be identified as Amy (by pouring acid over the girl's face and hands to prevent identification). Finally, Ray Liotta's character turns himself in to save Virginia Madsen's character from arrest, in exchange for her immunity for trying ...
read more
Question: Perhaps you can explain something to me. CBS canceled Smith because, while it started out strong enough, it lost viewers every week thereafter. But NBC renews Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip even though, like Smith, it started out strong but has bled viewers with each subsequent episode. Huh? The situations were identical, yet the results were very different. What's up with that?
Answer: Apples and oranges, my friend. You can compare the ratings situations, but the shows are not at all alike. And the networks that each show airs (aired) on are in such different places. Smith was a departure for CBS (being about the bad guys instead of the good guys), and it aires in one of the network's few troubled time periods. (I'm not sure 3 LBS is going to fare much better as its replacement.) Several execs have gone on record saying that, given where they saw that show heading creatively, they didn't believe it had a chance to reverse the sliding ratings trend. In other words, they gave up
...
read more
Not long after TVGuide.com reported on the full-season pickup for ABC's Men in Trees (which will now air after Grey's Anatomy), the Ausiello Report scooped similar good news for fans of NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Mike has more here.... Ray Liotta's Smith, meanwhile, is still dead, done, finito, fork-impaled, but CBS.com is streaming four never-broadcast episodes on its Innertube broadband channel, starting today. Also, a synopsis of how the producers planned to resolve the serialized drama's first season will be posted on the series' site at CBS.com.
read more
Because I get questions about it every single week, I figured I'd weigh in on the CW's announcement this week that the former WB Friday sitcom Reba (once a bright spot on that dim night) is finally coming back on air. But very much on the margins. And there's a reason for that.November is becoming an unexpectedly busy month for series and season premieres: ABC's Day Break is filling in for Lost, CBS' 3 LBS is replacing Smith on Tuesdays, and ABC's wedding-day sitcom Big Day and NBC's long-awaited return of Scrubs (as part of a new Thursday two-hour comedy block) will both bow the week after Thanksgiving.And now Reba joins the party. But you'll have to make an effort to find her. The CW has scheduled the show for Sundays, in the unenviable slot of 7-8 pm/ET. On the first night back, Nov. 19, two new episodes will air back-to-back. After that, starting Nov. 26, an "encore" Reba will air in front of a "fresh" episode (as they used to be called on the WB). If it looks like the CW is bur...
read more
Question: This fall season, more than any other in recent memory, the viewing public has disappointed me in the shows it is choosing to watch, or rather not watch. NBC in particular has seen most of its fall slate go practically unnoticed. Friday Night Lights, Kidnapped and Studio 60 are arguably the three best new shows of this year, and yet no one is watching. I keep reading about Studio 60's "quality" of audience (yupsters who buy things), but at what point does quantity begin to matter? And while I appreciate that NBC will at least let Kidnapped finish its story arc (which can't be said for CBS' underrated Smith), why is the network so quick to cut the cord on this promising show? 24 wasn't a blockbuster initially, but has grown with time. Viewers were initially afraid of the serial quality of the show, but that has become less of a problem, and just now, in its fifth (and best) year it won an Emmy. I think Kidnapped would follow a similar trajectory, given the chance. This may be ...
read more
