fall season

At the Television Critics Association meeting on Friday, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the network is entering calmer waters. He said, "I feel a shift in the winds coming and I think our ill-fated three-hour tour is about to come to an end." I have to agree. I've seen their fall offerings and, while I'm not in love with all of them, they do have some very strong shows to offer this season, including Kidnapped and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which you can rent from Netflix). I don't think NBC is suddenly going to rise to the top but at least it's not going to be embarrassing anymore.

During the meeting, Reilly also announced that the network has ordered up another round of the popular summer unscripted series, America's Got Talent and Last Comic Standing.

Ah, the Internet. With so much television content going over to the World Wide Web these days in the form of downloadable episodes or special features, it isn't surprising that the networks are offering previews of their new fall programming.

While FOX and The CW offer synopses of the new fall entries, CBS, ABC and NBC are offering video clips of all their new programming. Over at CBS, the previews of Jericho and James Woods' Shark look promising (although Jericho seems like Invasion) while Ray Liotta's heist drama Smith seemed to be Heist and Thief combined.

Okay, who gave the executives over at NBC the sensibility pills?

In what seems like an extremely logical move (at least for now), NBC has produced a Thursday night schedule for the new fall season that may make the phrase "Must See TV" truthful once again. As mentioned by the amazingly talented Bob Sassone in his post on the NBC fall upfronts, comedies My Name is Earl and The Office will be pushed back one hour to the 8-9 pm slot. Following will be the new Aaron Sorkin drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which Aaron will hopefully shorten to just Studio 60). Network stalwart ER will round out the night in its usual 10 pm slot.

Notice something here? For the first time in many years, NBC may have a very solid Thursday primetime. With Earl  and The Office anchoring the night, you are getting away from a curse the network had for many years; pairing a successful sitcom (such as Friends) with a mediocre or poor sitcom (Single Guy, Four Kings, or any other forgettable show). Both shows compliment each other and have been steady performers this past season.

It's probably a forgone conclusion that the executives at CBS will renew Two and a Half Men. The comedy, which stars Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, is consistently in the Nielsen ratings' top 20 and is about to reach the magical syndication mark. In addition, it is one of the more popular comedies (How  I Met Your Mother being the other) on the drama-heavy network.

And yet, there may be some apprehension amongst the CBS suits about renewal because of the recent antics of star Sheen. First the actor divorced his on-again off-again wife Denise Richards, then Richards obtained a restraining order against Sheen due to, among other things, alleged verbal and physical abuse, excessive gambling, and his frequent visits to child porn sites (maybe he needs to be a guest-star on Law & Order: SVU). To top it all off, he was sued by a woman who claimed that the character he portrays on his sitcom was based on her.

 

It's that time of year again, folks! Yep, some of your favorite shows are on the cancellation bubble and you can vote on which ones you'd like to see next fall and ones that should go far, far away. It's an annual tradition that sometimes predicts what shows will be renewed and which shows won't. So far you want your Scrubs.

In fact, according to the ninth annual USA Today 'Save Our Shows' survey (say that five times fast) a whopping 61 percent of you would like to see the NBC comedy renewed for a sixth season. Only fourteen percent of you want to see the show die a quick death. Scrubs is a good bet to be renewed for the fall, as long as the network is willing to pony up the increased dough to the show's production company,  Touchstone Television. If NBC doesn't renew the program there is an equally good chance that Touchstone's sibling ABC (both are owned by Disney) would pick up the show.

Six more shows on the USA Today survey have more supporters than detractors: Veronica Mars (UPN), Commander in Chief (ABC), Everwood (WB), Invasion (ABC), Reba (WB) and The King of Queens (CBS). After ABC shelved Commander in Chief this week, there is a good chance that it will not be renewed; Kevin James, the star of The King of Queens, wants a bigger paycheck for the new season; and Veronica Mars and Reba are vying for spots on the new CW network, which will be a combination of the WB and UPN.

What shows have the least amount of supporters? FOX's one-camera comedies The Loop and Free Ride and UPN's Half and Half  and One on One.

 

Gee, with all of the announcements NBC is making about its upcoming fall schedule, I'm not too sure what they're going to talk about during the upfronts come May. I guess they'll play charades with the press. Or perhaps their advanced notice is a subtle message to advertisers.

We first reported that NBC has renewed all three shows in the Law & Order franchise for next season. Now, three more dramas are joining the list:  Medium, Las Vegas, and Crossing Jordan. What, no Joey? All three series drew about 11 million viewers per episode, with Las Vegas holding on to much of its audience during the show's move to Friday nights.

FOX isn't the only network that is jumping the gun in front of the May upfronts to make an announcement about the upcoming fall season. In what comes as no surprise (even though there were rumors that one of its members was on the cancellation bubble) NBC has renewed all three series in the Law & Order franchise: the original, SVU, and Criminal Intent.

All three series have been solid ratings draws this season on a network that is trying to find its way back to the top. SVU is having the best season out of the three with viewership of about 14 million per week. The original Law & Order is second with over 11 million and Criminal Intent, which went with a rotating cast this year and is up against powerhouses The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives, is pulling a bit under 11 million.

Next season will be the 17th for Dick Wolf's original Law & Order, which makes it the longest-running television drama currently running (far ahead of ER's 12 seasons). SVU will mark its eighth season and Criminal Intent will begin its sixth season in the fall. There is no word on whether the current rotating cast of Criminal Intent (Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe as detectives Goren and Eames one week and Chris Noth and Annabella Sciorra as detectives Logan and Barek the next) will continue into next season.

[via Zap2it]