ABC Schedule: Will "Club" Murder "Trees"?

ABC is giving another chance to Angie Harmon's female-centric procedural "Women's Murder Club," which did horribly among adults 18-49 on Friday nights last fall, to gain momentum among the younger crowd. The casualty? "Men in Trees."

Fans of "Men in Trees" may see ABC's latest scheduling move as a slap in the face. The Anne Heche-fronted romantic drama which premiered on Friday nights in the fall of 2006 kept switching timeslots and going on and off the schedule whenever the network felt like giving other programs like "October Road" and "Cashmere Mafia" priority.

Now the remaining episodes of season 2 are scheduled to get burned off Wednesday nights at 10:00pm, after the regular season is finished and average viewer levels decline (beginning May 28).

In the meantime, viewers will see 3 episodes of "Women's Murder Club" (Tuesdays at 10:00pm as of April 29) bump regular timeslot occupant "Boston Legal" to Wednesdays at 10:00pm.

But will the move help "Club" at all? The first of the 3 all-new episodes will clash with an all-new "Law & Order: SVU" (a well established procedural in the timeslot) with Robin Williams making a special guest appearance as the villain.

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New ABC Schedule: Wednesdays

ABC's entire Wednesday night line-up of female-friendly shows "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money" is off the schedule effective January 2, replaced by reality shows, "Cashmere Mafia" and "Men in Trees."

The decision does make sense since the network has run out of new episodes of "Pushing Daisies" and "Private Practice" and has only 3 more episodes of "Dirty Sexy Money."

Although I am personally sorry I won't be able to see those 3 episodes any time soon, I think it is much better for DSM to air as part of a full line-up with a proper lead-in. Airing those episodes in January could hurt the show beyond repair.

The original fall line-up will be back as soon as the strike is resolved and new episodes are shot. It may however take over 2 months after the end of strike before we see the line-up back on air.

In the meantime, reality skeins "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny" will air at 8:00pm and 9:00pm respectively, while "Cashmere Mafia" takes over the 10:00pm timeslot on January 9.

ABC is considering a night of all-LOST programming for January 30, including the encore presentation of the 2-hour 3rd season finale.

Since there are only 7 episodes of "Cashmere Mafia," "Men In Trees" will take over that timeslot with as many as 10 new episodes beginning February 27.

Please note the 1st episode of "Cashmere Mafia" will air on Thursday, January 3 at 10:00pm, after an all new "Grey's Anatomy."

WEDNESDAYS (from January)

8:00pm Wife Swap
9:00pm Supernanny (2 episodes on January 2)
10:00pm Cashmere Mafia (from January 9)/
"Men In Trees" (from February 27)

(January 30)

8:00pm LOST clip show
9:00pm LOST: 3rd Season Finale (Encore)

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TV Ratings: Friday (11/16/07)

Low-rated Friday night dramas "Men in Trees" (ABC) and "Friday Night Lights" (NBC) went up in the ratings last Friday, while Howie Mandell's NBC game show "Deal or No Deal" was the night's top telecast.

ABC:
Men in Trees (6.4 million)
Women's Murder Club (8.94 million)
20/20 (6.44 million)

CBS:
The Ghost Whisperer (9.45 million)
Moonnlight (8.2 million)
Numb3rs (10.24 million)

NBC:
Deal or no Deal (10.66 million)
Friday Night Lights (5.96 million)
Las Vegas (6.73 million)

FOX:
Next Great American Band (2.48 million)
Don't Forget the Lyrics (4.95 million)

The CW:
Friday Night Smackdown (4.63 million)

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"October Road" to Premiere on Thanksgiving

ABC has just confirmed the premiere date for season 2 of "October Road" and announced Friday night schedule change.

"October Road" will get a special second season premiere on Thanksgiving Thursday, November 22 at 10/9c after an all-new "Grey's Anatomy."

The show will then move to its regular timeslot Mondays at 10/9c the following week on Monday, November 26.

That same night "Samantha Who" will move to an earlier timeslot to make way for a new season of "Notes from the Underbelly."

The network has also announced that "Men In Trees" will swap its timeslot with newsmagazine 20/20.

The shows were flipped this year because ABC was hoping "Women's Murder Club" audience would stick around to watch "Men in Trees" at 10 p.m.

The family hour is however a much better solution for the Anne Heche-fronted drama which has averaged about 7.5 million viewers so far this season.

Friday, November 2
8/7c "Men in Trees"
9/8c "Women's Murder Club"
10/9c "20/20"

Thursday, November 22
8.7c "Ugly Betty"
9/8c "Grey's Anatomy"
10/9c "October Road" (Special Night)

Monday, November 26
8/7c "Dancing With the Stars" (Season Finale, Part 1)
9/8c "Samantha Who?"
9:30/8:30c "Notes from the Underbelly"
10/9c "October Road"

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Morgan Fairchild to Guest Star on "Men in Trees"

I am still stuck in early season 1 and have a lot of catching up to do with this quirky ABC show, but I may want to hurry up now that 80s soap queen and former "Flamingo Road" star (remember that one?) Morgan Fairchild is making a special guest appearance in a February sweeps episode of "Men In Trees".

According to TV Guide, Fairchild will play herself as she shows up in Elmo and decides she wants to buy Marin's life rights. Fairchild recently starred in My Network's unwatchable dud "Fashion House." Now for the nostalgic ones among you here's "Flamingo Road" opening credits. All 37 episodes of the 80s soap are now out on DVD.

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"Donnellys" Whacked, "Trees" Back After All?

The midseason scheduling has been one giant mess on broadcast television in America this spring as new shows have been bombing one after another and the networks are desperate to put together a schedule that won't lose too much advertising revenue.

NBC has therefore decided to yank plans to air two more episodes of its mob drama "The Black Donnellys" before the arrival of Ashton Kutcher's new reality show on April 23 after an all-new "Heroes". The show will however remain available on NBC.com.

Meanwhile TV Guide reports that inside sources at the network claim "Men In Trees" might still be back on air with those 5 unaired episodes this season. Will ABC's honchos make up their mind? Are Nikki and Paulo alive? What did Teri Hatcher have for breakfast? Stay tuned.

To be continued.

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"Men In Trees" To Return Next Season

ABC has now confirmed that "Men In Trees" will not be coming back this season and the five remaining unaired episodes will be held off till fall.

The network said in a statement this afternoon that the 5 episodes will be amended to the Alaska-set drama's 22-episode fall order as they did with "Boston Legal's" and "Grey's Anatomy's" 27-episode "second" seasons.

The drama was originally slated to return this Thursday, April 12 at 10:00, before the network made a decision to put "Notes from the Underbelly" on the air instead.

The decision however remains subject to change.

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ABC Delays "Men In Trees", Again

What is going on in the ABC scheduling department? Is this the way to treat a show that has already been renewed for a second season? You may think ABC is extending the 4-episode run of the current post-Grey's slot occupant "October Road". After all they do have 6 episodes in the can. If so, you are mistaken.

The Alphabet network has just announced that beginning April 12 it will run the new sitcom about a young couple coping with pregnancy called "Notes from the Underbelly" on Thursdays at 10pm, thus delaying the return of Anne Heche's romantic series "Men In Trees" until an undisclosed later date.

Alphabet opted to make the change after Fox expanded its "American Idol" results show on Wednesdays to an hour, a blow to "Underbelly's" Wednesday at 9:30 slot.

Obviously, ABC has high hopes for the single-camera "Underbelly," promoting it heavily during the net's hit reality competition "Dancing With the Stars."

Rather than watch it suffer opposite "Idol," ABC now hopes to attract some of "Grey's" loyal audience.

ABC will air two episodes of the sitcom back-to-back beginning at 10pm, a rather unusual timeslot for a half-hour comedy format.

The somewhat smaller but loyal fanbase of the Alaska-set "Men In Trees" may have to wait until the next season to see the new episodes.

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"Ugly Betty" & "Grey's Anatomy" Return March 15

The end of February sweeps on US television brings not only the end of over-hyped celebrity-filled "very special" and "the-most-shocking-ever" stunt episodes of your favorite shows, but also the arrival of new midseason dramas and a short hiatus for some of those shows you love.

This season's must-see TV, the female-friendly combo of "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC Thursday, returns with fresh comedy at Mode Magazine and more drama at Seattle Grace Hospital on March 15.

The same evening, ABC will premiere a new drama in the 10pm timeslot called "October Road", sending its freshman series "Men In Trees" on a short hiatus following a not-that-stellar 3-month run leading out of "Grey's Anatomy".

Although "Men In Trees" performed much better in its Thursday slot than it did earlier this season on Friday nights, this should come as not surprise given the size of "Grey's" audience.

Unfortunately, "Men In Trees" would normally fail to retain even half of that 20 million+ audience, making the Alaska-set series a loser in a number of ratings analyses.

As for the new series, "October Road" centers on the young, popular author, Nick Garrett, at a crossroads in his life. To get over his writer's block, he goes back to his hometown and must face the family and friends he has avoided for years.

Once back home on October Road, he quickly discovers that the circle of friends whose teenaged lives he wrote about have trouble forgiving him for leaving them behind, and that his ex-girlfriend, Hannah Daniels, may have had his child.

ABC has ordered 6 episodes of the new drama. "Men In Trees" should return once "October Road" concludes its initial run. Of course, should the new show prove to be a Nielsen stinker, expect to see "Men In Trees" much earlier.

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...and more about "UGLY BETTY"

...and "GREY'S ANATOMY"

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"Men In Trees" Dips

"Grey's Anatomy" rerun may have helped "The O.C." last night, but it did not do much for its lead-out, ABC's recently-relocated rookie drama "Men In Trees". The Elmo, Alaska-set series has however got some great buzz recently.

Dipping 25% over previous week (when it lead out of an all-new "Grey's Anatomy" episode) "Men In Trees" scored 8,39 million viewers finishing in the last place behind CBS's "Shark" and NBC's "ER" that shared leadership in respective categories.

TV Guide and other publications have however given the show a lot of support in recent days alerting their readers to an improved tone of the series and pointing to it being a better fit for ABC Thursdays.

The drama has just cast MADtv veteran Orlando Jones to play George, Buzz's gay son. George will give their parents a visit in early 2007 in at least two upcoming episodes.

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