Fall Season --2007

[doobrah]

So NBC took over Radio City yesterday to announce their new schedule. Apart from the continuing trend to "reality" shows in the 8-9 pm block, it makes me yawn.

Two pique my interest, "Journeyman" and "Life" starring Damian Lewis (Soames from "Forsyte Saga" and my favorite redhead, sorry Mags ).

From the Washington Post:
NBC's one and only fabulous time slot in which to grow a new series, Mondays at 10, after "Heroes," has been bestowed on "Journeyman" -- a new romantic mystery about a San Francisco newspaper reporter, played by Kevin McKidd of HBO's "Rome" fame, who inexplicably begins to travel through time and alter people's lives.

One reporter wondered why they had made the lead a newspaper reporter.

"Haven't you heard?" the reporter asked, referring to some reports the newspaper business is crawling to its deathbed. Reilly explained that since the lead character is going to spend a lot of time in the past, he kind of had to be a newspaper reporter (as opposed to, say, an Internet journalist).

Then Reilly added, "We may reshoot that." The many newspaper reporters in the room laughed outwardly; inside they cried.

Two new dramas are bound for Wednesday night: a "Bionic Woman" remake at 9 and "Life," at 10, about a cop who returns to the force, bitter, no doubt, after spending years in prison.

And, just in case reporters didn't catch the "bitter middle-aged guy" parallels between this new show and "House," which has been clocking record high ratings on Fox this season, Reilly noted "Life's" star, Damian Lewis, is, like "House" lead Hugh Laurie, a "guy who can bring it all together." Heck, Lewis even looks a little like Laurie and, in the clip shown to advertisers, he seemed to imitate some of Laurie's "House" shtick.

New shows in bold
* Moved to new time slot:

NBC'S FALL SCHEDULE
MONDAY
8 p.m. Deal or No Deal
9 p.m. Heroes
10 p.m. Journeyman

TUESDAY
8 p.m. The Biggest Loser
9 p.m. Chuck
10 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. Deal or No Deal*
9 p.m. Bionic Woman
10 p.m. Life

THURSDAY
8 p.m. My Name Is Earl
8:30 p.m. 30 Rock
9 p.m. The Office*
9:30 p.m. Scrubs*
10 p.m. ER

FRIDAY
8 p.m. 1 vs.100/The Singing Bee
9 p.m. Las Vegas
10 p.m. Friday Night Lights*

SATURDAY
8 p.m. Dateline
9 p.m. Drama series encores (aka repeats)

SUNDAY
7 p.m. Football Night in America
8 p.m. Sunday Night Football

[doobrah]

Just checked out the IMDB blurb for "Life", and there's one degree of separation for Ron.

Reno Wilson is listed as one of the cast.

[inuvik]

doobrah said:

Two pique my interest, "Journeyman" and "Life" starring Damian Lewis (Soames from "Forsyte Saga" and my favorite redhead, sorry Mags ).

I'd never heard of Damian Lewis so just checked IMDB. Nope, I still prefer Eric.

[anna]

Here's one of CBS's new shows.

But the most talked-about program may come on the unscripted side: "Kid Nation," a new franchise in which 40 children spend 40 days without their parents trying to organize their own society in an abandoned ghost town.

Can anyone say Lord of the Flies?

[hoosier]

anna said:

Here's one of CBS's new shows.

But the most talked-about program may come on the unscripted side: "Kid Nation," a new franchise in which 40 children spend 40 days without their parents trying to organize their own society in an abandoned ghost town.

Can anyone say Lord of the Flies?

I wonder how long this one will last?

I'm bummed that they failed to renew Jericho. Talk about leaving you hanging! I hate when shows are left unresolved

[Duchess of Lashes]

You and me, both! Jericho was one of those shows that was kind of compelling because it was so different, it had some substance, and there was no doubt was so well acted. Unfortunately, after its hiatus, I had other things on my mind, and kind of lost track of it. That was another rerun I was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into so I could get back into it, fresh in the fall. C'est la vie!

[mlm828]

I, too, was disappointed by the cancellation of Jericho. I suspect its long hiatus was a big factor in its demise. There definitely were a lot of questions left unanswered.

I can't say I'm excited about anything I've heard so far about the new shows which were picked up for the fall season. Like doobrah, I'll probably check out Life. Damian Lewis was marvelous as "Soames" in The Forsyte Saga, and Reno Wilson ("Tom Selway") is also in it. But the premise of a cop going back on the force after doing prison time is even more far-fetched than -- a blind detective.

[doobrah]

ABC FALL SCHEDULE
New shows in bold
* Moved to new time slot

MONDAY
8 p.m. Dancing With the Stars
9:30 p.m. Sam I Am
10 p.m. The Bachelor

TUESDAY
8 p.m. Cavemen
8:30 p.m. Carpoolers
9 p.m. Dancing With the Stars Results Show
10 p.m. Boston Legal

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. Pushing Daisies
9 p.m. Private Practice
10 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money

THURSDAY
8 p.m. Ugly Betty
9 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10 p.m. Big Shots

FRIDAY
8 p.m. Men in Trees *
9 p.m. Women's Murder Club
10 p.m. 20/20

SATURDAY
8 p.m. College Football

SUNDAY
7 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos
8 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

[doobrah]

CBS'S FALL SCHEDULE
New shows in bold
* Moved to new time slot


MONDAY
8 p.m. How I Met Your Mother
8:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory
9 p.m. Two and a Half Men
9:30 p.m. Rules of Engagement
10 p.m. CSI: Miami

TUESDAY
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. The Unit
10 p.m. Cane

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. Kid Nation
9 p.m. Criminal Minds
10 p.m. CSI: NY

THURSDAY
8 p.m. Survivor
9 p.m. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
10 p.m. Without a Trace *

FRIDAY
8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer
9 p.m. Moonlight
10 p.m. Numb3rs

SATURDAY
8 p.m. Crime drama rerun
9 p.m. Crime drama rerun
10 p.m. 48 Hours: Mystery

SUNDAY
7 p.m. 60 Minutes
8 p.m. Viva Laughlin
9 p.m. Cold Case
10 p.m. Shark *

IN YOUR DREAMS
00:00 Demons

[Deleted]

doobrah said:

IN YOUR DREAMS
00:00 Demons

I have to karma you for that, because that was just TOO funny!!!! ;D

[inuvik]

I read in TV times that NBC is going back to the tradition of Sunday night movies. Apparently they all had them until the 80's, and NBC was the last one to drop it in 1993.

[anna]

In Broadcasting & Cable, Ben Grossman had an article citing six lessons that the networks used in programming the new season.

Two seem applicable to CBS's decision not to pick up Demons.

Networks See the Light About Dark Dramas - It seemed a good idea at the time [the 2006-07 season]: launching a bunch of dark, serialized dramas to a viewing public hungry for the next Lost. But after a collective yawn from audiences, the networks plan to lighten up-both in the tone of the shows and the level of commitment asked of viewers.

After high-profile bombs from NBC's Kidnapped to ABC's The Nine to CBS' Smith , there was plenty of compelling evidence that dark and demanding is a potent mix leading straight to disaster. 'I'm not sure how much the time commitment was to blame or if it was creative problems in general,' says ABC's McPherson. 'Honestly, I am still dumbfounded why The Nine didn't work.'

The networks are steering clear, frightened of being bitten again by big-budget busts. 'I don't know if 'scared' is the right word,' says NBC's Reilly. 'Heroes is dark and serialized, and it works, but a lot of those shows were very dark and tried to tell very complicated stories in a serialized manner. If you missed a week, you'd miss plot points, and that's tough to keep up.'

The shift is now to more light or quirky dramas in the development slate for this year: Witness NBC's Bionic Woman remake and CBS' drama about couple-swapping in the 1970s. You can expect a lot less foreboding in those.

Keep an Eye on Violence (Whatever That Means) - The word 'indecency' tortured networks and their standards and practices departments in recent years. But in the wake of the long-awaited Federal Communications Commission report released last month, it's beginning to look like 'violence' could become the new buzzword putting Hollywood and Washington at odds. The tricky part is, no communication has yet come from Washington to define just what the FCC considers 'violence' to be. So, as networks decide what to air this fall or put into development for midseason and beyond, they and the studios do so in the dark.

'It's hard to understand what they're saying about violence if they can't define it,' says Pedowitz. 'Are they saying when you go to a hospital scene, that is violent? Or is an explosion violent? Does it need to be a physical act? What are they referring to?' Given this uncertainty, it's hard to incorporate any real changes-yet.

The next item is in line with what mlm said about the hiatus hurting Jericho.

Break Time Can Be Disastrous for Serialized Dramas - What's the best way to deal with a serialized drama like Lost or Jericho when you have only 23 original episodes to run over the entire season? This year, the networks tried to bunch up episodes in the fall, take a midseason break and then bring new episodes back for a spring run. The strategy failed miserably for both series; neither regained its pre-break audience levels or, more important, its buzz.

'No matter how much viewers love a show, they aren't going to sit and let it go by for weeks,' says NBC's Reilly, who has seen reduced numbers for Heroes since it returned from a hiatus. 'It's just much harder to get them back in again.'

Networks are scrambling to build a better model, especially since repeats for these shows tend to crater in the ratings. ABC's McPherson will hold Lost until midseason and run it straight through, a strategy Fox has long employed for 24 . But Fox's Liguori points out that this leaves ABC to go from September to January without one of its anchoring assets. Other solutions the networks are considering include staggered launches for more series, as well as adding new footage to repeats, as NBC tried successfully with The Office this season.

[hoosier]

mlm828 said:

I, too, was disappointed by the cancellation of Jericho. I suspect its long hiatus was a big factor in its demise. There definitely were a lot of questions left unanswered.

I can't say I'm excited about anything I've heard so far about the new shows which were picked up for the fall season. Like doobrah, I'll probably check out Life. Damian Lewis was marvelous as "Soames" in The Forsyte Saga, and Reno Wilson ("Tom Selway") is also in it. But the premise of a cop going back on the force after doing prison time is even more far-fetched than -- a blind detective.

Question--can a cop who went to prison even return to the job?

I never understood the hiatus business in the first place. If the show was being preempted by a sports playoff etc., then yeah. If they were hoping to whet the appetite of the viewers then they definitely read us wrong.

I gave all the serial dramas a look but I didn't like many of them. Jericho and the Nine were the two that drew me in but the Nine seemed to lose focus and after a while so did I.

And the new season? I might try a few but will probably go with the old favorites.

[mlm828]

hoosier said:

Question--can a cop who went to prison even return to the job?

Highly unlikely. If he went to prison, that would mean he was convicted of a felony, which would, I'm sure, make him ineligible for employment as a police officer. Perhaps the character in Life was exonerated in some way and his conviction expunged. That's the only thing that I can think of that might make him eligible to work as a cop again. But why would he want to? I guess we'll have to watch the show to find out.

[inuvik]

anna said:

Networks See the Light About Dark Dramas - It seemed a good idea at the time [the 2006-07 season]: launching a bunch of dark, serialized dramas to a viewing public hungry for the next Lost. But after a collective yawn from audiences, the networks plan to lighten up-both in the tone of the shows and the level of commitment asked of viewers.

I agree. I wonder which people disliked most, the dark or the serialized? Everyone knows my answer, serialized (see rants).

I don't mind some dark at all. Things can be dark in non-serialized too--look at some of the Law and Order plots. I haven't seen it, but isn't Raines dark and non-serialized too?

Amended to add: only some, very mild, dark shows (more like chocolate brown I guess ). I guess I am like the audience in the article, I do prefer wholesome. What was I thinking?