Exclusive: MTV Developing Another Animated Series with Beavis and Butt-head Producers
Exclusive Photo: The Two and a Half Men House Gets a Makeover
It's a whole new Malibu beach house on Two and a Half Men. New owner Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher) has been laying the groundwork for...
How Rules of Engagement Manages to Survive as TV's Stealth Hit
In TV, there are hits and misses — and then there's Rules of Engagement. The CBS comedy, which recently launched its sixth season, joins a long line of series (Becker, Just Shoot Me, According to Jim) that cheated death for years despite operating below ...
Exclusive: NBC Developing Home Transformation Show
NBC is putting out the call to find designers, builders, decorators and craftsmen to compete in a new home improvement reality competition. The show, which is being developed under the working title Home Transformers, will split contestants into teams as they compete to rebuild rundown homes around the country. NBC hasn't determined the prize yet, but is characterizing it for now as "life changing." NBC has put out an open casting call for this....
Despite Failures, Networks Attempt More Series Reboots
ABC's Charlie's Angels redux didn't work, and NBC's new take on Wonder Woman never even made it to air. But just like the feature film world — where everything from Footloose to Conan the Barbarian has been recently updated — TV execs continue to mine the vaults in search of more classic titles to reboot.
For Its Next Reboot, CBS Develops New Take on The Rifleman
Classic black-and-white western The Rifleman could be blasting its way back onto primetime, with director Chris Columbus and CSI vet Carol Mendelsohn on board. CBS is developing a new take on the 1958 series, which famously starred Chuck Connors as 1880s-era sharpshooter Lucas McCain. The updated version will center on Civil War vet McCain as he...
Exclusive: Science Sets Premiere Date for Ricky Gervais' An Idiot Abroad 2
U.S. viewers will finally get to see where Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sent their dimwitted pal Karl Pilkington for a second trip around the world.
House Preps For The End
Is it lights out for House? Executive producer David Shore is set to meet with execs from Fox and Universal TV (which produces the show) in the coming days to decide if this is indeed the last season of the long-running medical drama.
Watch My Show: Suburgatory's Emily Kapnek Answers Our Showrunner Survey
Critics and viewers have already put down roots in Suburgatory, which has shown enough early promise to land a full-season order from ABC. The quirky comedy, which stars Jane Levy (Shameless) as a sarcastic teen whose single dad (Jeremy Sisto) moves them to suburbia, has averaged 9.3 million viewers after five airings. That's solid — but for those of you who haven't yet traveled to Suburgatory, executive producer Emily Kapnek answered our first show-runner survey, explaining why viewers should tune in.
Name That Tune: This Fall's New TV Theme Songs
Kelsey Grammer was at a Robert Plant concert in Los Angeles this spring when the rocker and his Band of Joy performed the track "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down." Listening to the song's lyrics as he sat in the Greek Theatre audience, Grammer realized the song was a perfect match for his character on Starz's Boss, the mercurial mayor of Chicago.
New NBC Game Show Who's Still Standing? Gets Week-Long Launch
NBC will launch its new trivia game show Who's Still Standing? as a week-long strip in December, tied to the holidays. The show, hosted by Cash Cab's Ben Bailey, will run at 8 pm Monday through Thursday the week of December 19. The show then moves to its normal Monday night slot starting December 26 at 8 pm and continues through January 30 (when The Voice takes over).
First Look: Jessica Simpson and Nicole Richie on NBC's Fashion Star
NBC gets into the fashion business this midseason with Fashion Star, hosted and executive produced by Elle Macpherson (yes, playing the role here of Heidi Klum).
Science Channel Sets Airdate for Ridley Scott's Prophets of Science Fiction
Director Ridley Scott's eight-part series Prophets of Science Fiction has landed a premiere date, launching Wednesday, November 9 on Science.Scott serves as narrator for the show, which chronicles iconic science fiction creative minds such as H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov and Jules Verne and George Lucas. Prophets will kick off with a profile of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley.The first four episodes will air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. through November, and return for another four episodes in February.Scott says the series ...
Networks Rethink the Ratings Game As DVR Usage Spreads
What a difference seven days makes. Many primetime shows are seeing their ratings skyrocket when a week's worth of DVR usage is included — and network execs are scrambling to figure out how to adjust to a time-shifting world.Now that DVR penetration has reached around 42% of viewers, it's having a real impact on viewership — and making the initial next-day ratings that everyone reports (which includes live viewing, plus only that night's DVR usage) increasingly irrelevant.For example, when season four of FX's Sons of Anarchy debuted September 6, it attracted 4.9 million viewers, a good number, but not a network record. By the time seven days of DVR usage was counted, that number had climbed ...
Networks Ponder The Future of Broadcast Drama
Having finally solved their comedy crisis, the networks may be about to face a drama drought. Network executives are cheering the launch of several promising new fall sitcoms, such as Fox's New Girl, CBS' 2 Broke Girls and ABC's Last Man Standing. "The story of the fall season is comedy," says Jerry Bruckheimer TV president Jonathan Littman. "Comedy is back, no question about it."
Exclusive: Dallas Star Larry Hagman Battles Cancer
Larry Hagman has been diagnosed with cancer, but doctors have told him it's a highly treatable form that might not impact his return as TV baddie J.R. Ewing on TNT's upcoming Dallas reboot. Hagman, who turned 80 last month, is still set to report to work on October 17, when production begins on the revived primetime soap. Hagman is confirmed to appear in at least the first four episodes, and it's likely he'll appear in more beyond that. It's unclear whether he'll need to take any time off while undergoing treatment. Insiders say there's a chance that he'll be able to continue on the show in some sort of capacity throughout the first season, which wraps production at the end of January.
NYPD Blue Creators Bochco and Milch Reunite for New NBC Drama
Nearly 20 years ago, Steven Bochco and David Milch changed the face of primetime drama with NYPD Blue. Now, Bochco and Milch have reunited to sell a new drama to NBC. Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox TV are behind the project, a legal drama set in Washington, D.C. The show follows the exploits of a charismatic "rainmaker" lawyer in D.C. with a dark secret. Says the studio: "This is a series about how we negotiate with our demons and the price we pay for those...
Craig Kilborn Sitcom Lands at ABC
Former Late Late Show host Craig Kilborn is plotting another return to television, this time starring in a sitcom that just landed a script order at ABC.
The Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean on How the Show Was Saved
Mmmmm... contract renewal. Things were looking grim a week ago for The Simpsons, as the possibility loomed that a new deal between the voice actors and 20th Century Fox TV might not happen.
The Playboy Club: What Went Wrong
It took years for The Playboy Club to hop into primetime. It took NBC three weeks to kill it. Quick cancellations are nothing new in TV, but the rapid demise of The Playboy Club might serve as a cautionary tale for programmers as they depend more on familiar franchises and icons to attract distracted viewers. With so much competition for the attention of viewers, network execs are looking for anything that might give them an edge in marketing and awareness — which is why so many remakes with familiar titles are hitting the air. The Playboy Club wasn't a reboot of an old show, but rather an original series looking to leverage a popular global brand. NBC liked that the name "Playboy" would at least cut through the clutter of fall TV's slew of new series launches. "Many programmers would look at it and say, 'Here's a huge brand that should be able to...
Why Those Two-Hour Reality Shows Are Here to Stay
Overwhelmed by all those two-hour reality shows? You're not alone, and even the networks admit that it's a lot to watch. But they still benefit from those supersized series — so expect to see even more shows go the expansion route. Two-hour episodes used to be rare, and reserved for special milestones. But what was once a stunt is now the norm, as two-hour series like Dancing with the Stars, The Sing-Off, The Biggest Loser and The X-Factor all take up loads of on-air real estate — sometimes eating up as much as four hours of programming a week (if lengthy results shows and recap specials are included).
Special Report: TV's Hosts With the Most
No one has come close to replicating the power and fortune amassed by legendary TV hosts Dick Clark, Merv Griffin and Oprah Winfrey — yet. But American Idol's Ryan Seacrest is on his way, and others are right behind. Today's TV hosts aren't satisfied with just their day jobs. If you don't have multiple shows, a line of licensed merchandise and a production company, you're not trying hard enough. It's all about creating empires, and...
