This week the networks began meeting with ad-agency execs to talk about what's in development for the 2006-07 season. That means it's time for producers of current shows with less-than-robust ratings to start worrying about getting picked up for next season. Here's what industry insiders are telling the Biz.
ABC: The network's comedies are having a tough year in the ratings, but you can't cancel all of them. Rodney, Hope & Faith, Crumbs and Less than Perfect aren't likely to make the cut. According to Jim, George Lopez and Freddie have a chance of returning. Since ABC has two more hours to program in the fall now that football has moved to NBC, shows that would otherwise be doomed have a chance. We're talking Invasion and Commander in Chief. Their survival depends on the strength of the network's new-program development.
CBS: Another season of The King of Queens depends on whether the n
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New Line Cinema is launching a nationwide casting call to fill the lead role of Tracy Turnblad in its film version of the Broadway adaptation of the 1988 film Hairspray, Variety reports. (Ricki Lake played the tempestuous teen on the big screen, while Stacked's Marissa Jaret Winokur originated the stage portrayal.) As for some of the other major characters, the studio is in talks with John Travolta, Billy Crystal and Queen Latifah to play Edna Turnblad, Wilbur Turnblad and Motormouth Maybelle, respectively. I'd love to see Travolta keep his Battlefield Earth dreadlocks.
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The Peacock doesn't love Pamela Anderson. The Elton John concert special that NBC aired on Monday night originally featured a performance of "The Bitch Is Back" as the oversize screen behind John displayed the Stacked siren, scantily clad (duh) and doing a pole dance. Before broadcast, however, the Peacock network dropped the naughty number, declaring it "not appropriate" for the family-hour time slot. And yet Joey lasts a season and a half?
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I only caught the last few minutes of That '70s Show and saw that Eric broke up with Donna. Given that Topher Grace left the show last season, was anyone surprised by this news? The only real question is who will she hook up with now? There aren't that many eligible bachelors in this Wisconsin town.... If I ever write a book, I can be sure that my skin will be thicker than that of Gavin from Stacked. He penned a few pages and was offended to find out that Skyler thought it was dull, among other things. I've been getting prepped for that kind of criticism for a year now with the feedback I get fr
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Now that the dust has settled a bit on all the 2006 mid-season changes that will be kicking in as soon as the holidays are over, here's my night-by-night scorecard of the imminent battles we'll be covering a month or so from now.
Monday
The big news is the return of 24 on Fox, with a four-hour blast January 15-16, followed by all-new episodes through the rest of the season. For the first two months, Skating with Celebrities (a rip-off of Dancing with the Stars) will be 24's lead-in. But come mid-March, Prison Break will return. What a one-two punch that promises to be!
CBS will coast along by capping off its popular comedies with
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