Entries Tagged 'schedule' ↓

Not one episode has aired and NBC is already changing up its fall schedule. Having shown their hand so early, these moves are to bolster the lineup against their competitors’ recently unveiled schedules. So what’s changing?

While those hour-long comedy blocks of Earl and The Office may have seemed like a good idea at the time, more intelligent heads have prevailed and the new Molly Shannon/Selma Blair comedy Kath and Kim has been shifted into the 9:30/8:30c pre-ER slot, beginning Oct. 9. This shifts those SNL Presidential specials into 8:30/7:30c slot, keeping that half hour warm until 30 Rock premieres on Oct. 30.

The other change happens on Friday, where the mid-season reality series America’s Toughest Jobs (yawn) kicks off the fall season on Sept. 12 at 8:00/7:00c and runs until Oct. 17 when the period action/drama Crusoe is unveiled. Jobs then moves into the Deal or No Deal spot at 9:00/8:00c.

Other NBC premiere dates announced include…

Sept. 22: Heroes kicks off with a full night event; one hour recap show, followed by two-hour season premiere
Sept. 23: Law & Order: SVU
Sept. 24: Knight Rider and Lipstick Jungle
Sept. 25: My Name is Earl (one hour); The Office (one hour); ER

Sept. 29: Chuck and My Own Worst Enemy
Oct. 03: Life

NBC got a jump on the competition, announcing their fall schedule weeks ahead of the usual television upfronts. The only big surprise was the decision to create a half-hour politically charged version of SNL capitalizing on the Presidential race, something they missed out on during the writers’ strike. It also temporarily fills the void left by Scrubs, which jumped to ABC for its final season. Chuck and Heroes return to Mondays with brand new episodes, with the former hoping to avoid the sophomore slump that plagued the latter in 2007. Biggest Loser lends a hand to fat families, having exhausted the singles and couples route in previous seasons. The reboot of Knight Rider moves into the early slot of Wednesdays, minus the voice of Will Arnett as Kitt, due to a product conflict with his GM commercial deal (Kitt is a Ford). Here too, the hope is to avoid the disastrous fate met by the Bionic Woman last fall. Thursdays go supersized, which could mean overexposure for NBC’s bread and butter sitcoms. If the writing fails, look for those mid-season replacements to start showing up early — like Kath and Kim, an Aussie comedy remake teaming Molly Shannon with Selma Blair. (Poor Selma, she’ll be eaten alive.) Then again, anything may be better than an hour of Earl, given the lame coma story line they threw at us this season. Friday finds another remake in Crusoe, a period drama which blends the classic shipwrecked tale with MacGyver-like ingenuity. How original. Don’t expect this one to stick around for its full 13-episode commitment. All in all, another safe, uninteresting season from the Peacock. Will someone finally pull the plug on ER. Please?

For full details visit ( Variety )

Still trying to be the hipster network, Fox unveiled its fall television schedule yesterday. In a ploy to one-up the The CW, whose new lineup premieres Sep. 1, Fox is kicking off their heavy hitters a week earlier on Aug. 25. Terminator fans will rejoice that the Sarah Connor Chronicles has earned its stripes for a second season. Meanwhile, only two new shows join mix for the first half of the season. The Fringe is a J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot series focusing on an unstable research scientist who is as much Victor Frankenstein as he is Albert Einstein. The mythology of the relationship-based show will be a blend of Twilight Zone, X-Files, Altered States, and Scanners. Members of the Lost team will be writing/producing, which treads dangerous waters, as spreading one’s self too thin is what killed Chris Carter when Millenium and then Harsh Realm were launched while X-Files was still in production. A similar fate was suffered by Abrams’ own Alias, whose quality level dropped considerably when the team moved over to begin work on Lost. Only time will tell. The two-hour pilot for The Fringe starring Kirk Acevedo and Tomas Arana is budgeted at $10 Million. The other new show is Do Not Disturb, a sitcom brought in to replace the now canceled Back to You. Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, won’t debut until early 2009, serving as a lead-in to the new season of 24.

For full details visit ( Variety )

The television upfronts continue; this time it’s CBS’ turn at the podium for a look at their fall lineup, designed specifically to attract more female viewers. Okay… A number of casualties, most notably the fan favorite Moonlight, make room for new one-hour series The Ex-List (a tarot card reading lets a woman know she needs to marry by year’s end to a man already in her life), The Mentalist, Jerry Bruckheimer’s Eleventh Hour, and sitcoms Worst Week and Jay Mohr’s Project Gary. The big news is that the network has held onto Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ New Adventures of Old Christine, which moves from Monday to Wednesday to front a one-hour comedy block preceding Criminal Minds and CSI: New York. Seriously?! Nothing like a comedy appetizer leading into two hours of crime drama. Meanwhile, they are also holding onto Rules of Engagement as a mid-season replacement show, should either of the new comedies fall flat, or should low ratings dictate a schedule shuffle.

For full details visit ( Variety )

ABC has also announced its prime-time schedule for the fall. Not much in the way of new content: Scrubs moves over from NBC for its final 18-episode season; Mike Judge gives us yet another dysfunctional animated comedy in The Goode Family; British scifi import Life on Mars will keep Lost’s schedule spot warm until January; and Ashton Kutcher cranks out two new reality series — one revolves around a beauty pageant competition, partnering with Tyra Banks, and the other is an in-your-face “Publishers Clearing House” vehicle in which a mobile production team drives to unsuspecting families’ homes to test their on-the-spot knowledge of each other for cash and prizes. Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual. Casualties of last season include: Men in Trees, Miss Guided, October Road, Women’s Murder Club, Big Shots, Cavemen (did anyone ever watch that show?), and Cashmere Mafia.

For full details visit ( Variety )

The fledging CW network announced their fall lineup today, beating their peers to the punch by three weeks with a September 1 start date. New series include the reboot of 90210; Surviving the Filthy Rich, the small screen adaptation of the “How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls” book series, their next hope of catching lightning in a bottle; and Tyra Banks reality series Stylista, which follows the trials and tribulations inside the world of Elle magazine. Reaper has been given a 13-episode pickup for mid-season. Gone are the WWE, Aliens in America, and Back to You.

For full details visit ( Variety )