CW Stars @ Upfronts

"You wanna live in the Zip, you gotta live by the code." That is the tagline of the new CW 90210 spin-off which got plenty of buzz at last night's CW upfronts event in New York as the familiar tune played in the background.


Maroon 5 crooner Adam Levine sang: "Something's gotta change/It must be rearranged," and it couldn't be more true for the struggling CW network which suffered a serious ratings slump this season following a disappointing launch last year.



Former Lifetime and UPN boss Dawn Ostroff who has ruled the CW for almost 2 years has inexplicably managed to hold on to her position of the President despite making a number of crass scheduling decisions including the cancellation of the beloved 'Everwood' and the resurrection of the god-awful '7th Heaven' that kicked off her tenure at the weblet.



The CW has promised a sharper focus on its target female demos (aged 18-34) in the upcoming TV season and an earlier launch (September 1) ahead of its competition. Maroon 5 will provide music for CW's new marketing campaign.



Tyra Banks, the cast of Gossip Girl, 90210's Jennie Garth and Maroon 5 were just some of the stars that came out to celebrate CW's new season last night. Scroll down for more pics taken at the event.

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NBC Stars Come Out @ Upfronts

Last night stars of NBC shows "Heroes" (Milo Ventimiglia), "Lipstick Jungle" (Brooke Shields), "Friday Night Lights" (Minka Kelly), "Law & Order: SVU" (Mariska Hargitay) and others took part in NBC's Upfronts event the Peacock called The NBC Universal Experience.

Since NBC had already released their year-round schedule in early April, the network honchos instead focused on reminding advertisers of the size and power of NBC Universal. The only information released yesterday was concerning Jimmy Fallon taking over Conan O'Brian's timeslot in 2009 and details on Ryan Seacrest's reality show.

Among the stars attending the event was the cast of Candace Bushnell's dramedy "Lipstick Jungle" (is Kim Raver wearing a wig?) which is moving to Wednesday nights next season and Molly Shannon and Selma Blair, who will try to bring to life a US version of the hit Australian comedy "Kath & Kim."

For more details on NBC's fall 2008 schedule see my earlier post.

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ABC Releases Fall 2008 Line-Up

Contrary to earlier reports that "Dirty Sexy Money" would move to Thursday nights, as well as yesterday's Zap2it report that it would swap timeslots with "Brothers & Sisters" on Sunday nights, very little will change on ABC this fall. Take a look.

CANCELLED:

"Men In Trees," "October Road," "Big Shots," "Women's Murder Club," "Cashmere Mafia," "Dance War," "Here Come the Newlyweds," "Carpoolers," "Cavemen," "Miss/Guided," and "Notes from the Underbelly."


2007 FRESHMAN SERIES RENEWED FOR 2nd SEASON:

"Samantha Who?," "Eli Stone," "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money."


NEW SHOWS THIS FALL:

1. Ashton Kutcher's new reality series "Opportunity Knocks" in which a mobile team will be showing up on America's doorstep and testing how well they know their family with a semi-truck full of flat screen TVs, new furniture and big cash prizes that the family can win on the spot (to air Tuesdays at 8/7c)

2. "Life on Mars," a new drama based on a BBC series which revolves around Sam Tyler, a modern-day police detective who, after a car crash, mysteriously finds himself transported back to 1973 and still working as a detective (to air Thursday nights at 10/9c after "Grey's Anatomy").


MIDSEASON SHOWS:

1. "The Goode Family," a new animated series from Mike Judge, creator of "King of the Hill." "The Goode Family" is obsessed with doing the "right" thing, whether it's environmentally, politically or socially. Unfortunately their efforts often have unintended comic consequences (to air Tuesday nights at 9:30/8:30c, after "Dancing with the Stars" closes its fall cycle).

2. "Scrubs," the medical comedy moves from NBC to ABC Tuesday (at 9:00pm, again after "Dancing with the Stars" ends its fall season).

3. An untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks beauty pageant (to air Monday nights at 8:00pm during the winter, temporarily replacing 'Dancing with the Stars')

4. "Lost: Season 5," 17 all-new episodes of the blockbuster drama will most probably air on Thursday nights at 10:00pm beginning February 2009, but the exact airdate has yet to be confirmed.

5. "The Bachelor" replaces "Boston Legal" on Monday nights at 10:00pm at midseason.

6. "According to Jim" will inexplicably be back for an 8th season at midseason in an unspecified timeslot.

7. "Primetime: What Would You Do?" will also return.


ABC FALL 2008 SCHEDULE:


MONDAYS:

8:00 DANCING WITH THE STARS
9:30 SAMANTHA WHO?
10:00 BOSTON LEGAL/THE BACHELOR

TUESDAYS:

8:00 OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS (NEW)
9:00 DANCING WITH THE STARS RESULTS SHOW / SCRUBS & THE GOODE FAMILY (NEW)
10:00 ELI STONE

WEDNESDAY:

8:00 PUSHING DAISIES
9:00 PRIVATE PRACTICE
10:00 DIRTY SEXY MONEY

THURSDAY:

8:00 UGLY BETTY
9:00 GREY'S ANATOMY
10:00 LIFE ON MARS (NEW)

FRIDAY:

8:00 WIFE SWAP
9:00 SUPERNANNY
10:00 20/20

SATURDAY:

8:00 SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL / MOVIES

SUNDAY:

7:00 AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS
8:00 EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION
9:00 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
10:00 BROTHERS & SISTERS


COMMENTS:

"Dancing with the Stars" Results Show should give a new season of "Eli Stone" a solid ratings bump in its new timeslot on Tuesday nights at 10:00pm. If it worked for an aging "Boston Legal," it should work for quirky "Eli Stone."

ABC Wednesday did seem to work last fall, but the night lost some Nielsen steam just before it went off the air. I am a little concerned those figures might continue to deflate and would feel more comfortable if "Dirty Sexy Money" was airing after "Desperate Housewives" or "Grey's Anatomy."

The fact that ABC has the most stable line-up of all 4 big networks (just 2 new shows are premiering this fall) confirms how strong its development slate of 2007 was. The network may add more shows later in the season once they actually shoot new pilots (this year's development season was hampered by the writers' strike).

The network has already begun production of new episodes on Greg Berlanti shows "Brothers & Sisters" and "Dirty Sexy Money" as well as Kate Walsh's medical series "Private Practice." Some shows are expected to have longer seasons ("Desperate Housewives" 24 episodes, "Brothers & Sisters" 27 episodes, etc.)

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"Ugly Betty" Cast Upfronts Musical Performance

MAY 22, 2007: This is why we are in love with the fabulous cast of ABC's "Ugly Betty" who made an appearance at last week's Upfronts event in New York City singing and dancing a musical number as a highlight of ABC's presentation to advertisers.


If anyone happens to find a video of this performance do let me know please by leaving a comment in this post or simply sending me an email via the address available in my sidebar profile.

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"24" Renewed Through 2009

MAY 16, 2007: FOX has issued an unusually late renewal for its Monday night thriller "24" for two more seasons. The producers have promised to completely re-invent the struggling drama.

The show star Kiefer Sutherland is already on board through 2009 as part of last year's 3-year 8-figure deal.

The drama will return with a new cast (some favorites may return) and a new non-Los Angeles location.

Following a successful Emmy-winning 5th season, the drama drew a lot of criticism this year.

Executive producer/showrunner Howard Gordon believes it was unfair: "On balance, it was a very successful season," he said.

FOX has already renewed "House," "Prison Break," "Bones," " 'Till Death" as well as the network's Sunday animated comedy block.

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ABC President Praises "Pushing Daisies"

MAY 15, 2007: ABC President Steve McPherson has praised the network's new Wednesday night series "Pushing Daisies," acknowledged problems with the "Private Practice" pilot and, responding to NBC's 30-episode "bulk-up"strategy, said ABC will not inflate episode orders at the expense of quality.

Steve McPherson has spoken with the reporters defending ABC's decision to develop 30 new pilots saying, "I think it's comical when I hear other people saying we're spending too much on television; we're not spending $600 million on football. We'll continue to spend on R&D."

ABC President also underlined that sometimes extra episodes can degrade the quality of a show. "If we could do 47 episodes of 'Desperate Housewives,' we would," he said. "I think you have to be careful not to push it too much. … There's a limited number of shows you can get done and keep the quality up."

McPherson also spoke about the new male ensemble drama "Big Shots" about a quartet of CEOs which got the coveted post-'Grey's' slot: "We've been wanting to do a male ensemble for a while with truthful male relationships, and we feel it's a great pairing with 'Grey's' on Thursday."

"LOST" will return in early 2007 and the network now believes the show works much better in an earlier timeslot at 8 or 9 p.m.

McPherson acknowledged that "Private Practice" backdoor pilot could have been better executed:

"It spent lot of time introducing the characters but not enough time with the stories," he said, something he assured would be remedied.

Finally, McPherson praised the new series "Pushing Daisies" which will be leading into "Private Practice" saying:

"The vision for this world is extraordinary," he said. "It's like nothing you ever seen on television. This is one you have to see to understand."

According to early buzz - he may be right. TV Guide has already called the show "ABC's New 'LOST'" worth obsessing about.

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"Private Practice" Cast @ ABC Upfronts

ABC President Stephen McPherson has promised "Private Practice" will get a makeover before it returns to screens in the fall. So what exactly does he and Shonda Rhimes have in mind for the "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off?

According to McPherson, too much emphasis was placed on the introduction of characters and too little on the storyline itself.


Personally, I believe storylines tend to write themselves once you have a set of compelling characters. Those people we met in L.A. (and surprisingly even the beloved Addison herself) lacked depth.

Here is now the cast at the Upfronts event in New York on Tuesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they last a whole season.

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New FOX Schedules

FOX has unveiled its new schedules, one for the fall and one for January 2008 when "24" and "American Idol" return; reality shows will completely take over Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the fall; 4 out of 7 new scripted series will premiere in 2008; the network airs Super Bowl next season.

The #1 network in the 18-49 demo which normally goes into a slump in the fall when its juggernaut "American Idol" is off air decided to keep most of the new scripted programming efforts for January when "Idol" returns to spike up the ratings.

That means we will (NOT) be watching "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" and a new show from chef Gordon Ramsey called "Kitchen Nightmares."

"American Idol" spin-off "The Search for the Next Great American Band" will precede new docu-soap "Nashville" (from the producers of MTV's 'Laguna Beach') about young talent trying to succeed in the country music business.

As always, Saturdays belong to "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted."

Hit dramas "Prison Break," "House," and "Bones" will air back-to-back with these new series:

"K-Ville" (a heroic police drama set in New Orleans two years after Katrina,) "New Amsterdam" (about an immortal New York homicide detective) and the highly-anticipated Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton sitcom "Back to You" (formerly "Action News") anchoring Wednesday nights before what FOX is now calling "The Highest Rated Comedy on All Networks" - "'Till Death."

What they are omitting is of course the fact that the comedy was on the verge of cancellation before "American Idol" gave it a last-minute ratings bump.


That means - the new Julianna Margulies courtroom drama "Canterbury's Law" which gets to battle "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursday nights; "Terminator"-inspired sci-fi drama "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" which gets to battle "Desperate Housewives" on Sunday nights; new Parker Posey comedy "The Return of Jezebel James" about two estranged sisters, polar opposites, who live together when one agrees to carry the other's baby; a single camera comedy from the Farrelly Brothers "The Rules for Starting Over" about newly single friends and sitcom "Anchorwoman" with Lauren Jones playing herself - will all be held off till midseason, the latter two do not have an airdate yet.

Unlike previous seasons, "House" gets one timeslot, it will not be switching from 8 to 9 p.m. The new drama "New Amsterdam" will therefore have to anchor Tuesday nights for FOX.

It is a little unusual that the "American Idol" spin-off gets to air on Friday nights, but this way the network will keep the expectations low, and it may just finally do some business on what is traditionally the network's dead zone.

"Super Bowl" should give the new male-skewing sci-fi drama "Sarah Connor Chronicles" a nice promotional platform. Thomas Dekker, who unceremoniously pulled out of a gay role on NBC's "Heroes" earlier this season, plays the lead.

"Prison Break's" season will once again be split into two halves. The first part is expected to get an early premiere, than the drama returns in the Spring. If K-Ville bombs, you may see "Break" back even earlier, as it happened in 2007.


Although "Bones" is again scheduled to move to Friday nights in January, if any of the midweek shows bombs (the network threatened "Bones" fans with the move to Fridays last year too, but it never happened) the show should stay put.

Here are now both schedules:


FALL 2007


MONDAY
8:00 PRISON BREAK
9:00 K-VILLE

TUESDAY
8:00 NEW AMSTERDAM
9:00 HOUSE

WEDNESDAY
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 'TIL DEATH
9:00 BONES

THURSDAY
8:00 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

FRIDAY
8:00 THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND (working title)
9:00 NASHVILLE (working title)

SATURDAY
8:00 COPS
8:30 COPS
9:00 AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 MADtv
MIDNIGHT TALK SHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY
7:00 THE OT (NFL post-game)
8:00 THE SIMPSONS
8:30 KING OF THE HILL
9:00 FAMILY GUY
9:30 AMERICAN DAD


JANUARY 2008


MONDAY
8:00 K-VILLE (January)/PRISON BREAK (Spring)
9:00 24

TUESDAY
8:00 AMERICAN IDOL
9:00 HOUSE

WEDNESDAY (January)
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 'TIL DEATH
9:00 AMERICAN IDOL

WEDNESDAY (Spring)
8:00 BACK TO YOU
8:30 THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES (working title)
9:00 AMERICAN IDOL Results Show
9:30 'TIL DEATH

THURSDAY
8:00 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00 CANTERBURY'S LAW

FRIDAY (Spring)
8:00 BONES
9:00 NEW AMSTERDAM

SATURDAY
8:00 COPS
8:30 COPS
9:00 AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 MADtv
MIDNIGHT TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY (Spring)
7:00 KING OF THE HILL
7:30 AMERICAN DAD
8:00 THE SIMPSONS
8:30 FAMILY GUY
9:00 THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES

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New CW Schedule

The CW has released their fall 2007 schedule; "Veronica Mars" is cancelled although it may still get a midseason return in a different format; Thursday night cult dramas stay put and "Beauty and the Geek" replaces "Gilmore Girls."

During its disappointing freshman year the new CW network generated headlines only when it announced the cancellation of classic WB and UPN favorites like "Everwood," "7th Heaven" and "Gilmore Girls."

The network's sagging portfolio of aging WB and UPN hits was not expanded with any breakout hits, its only Nielsen success story being the dull Pussycat Dolls reality show.

The new line-up brings little creative spark, playing it safe on most of the nights. There will however be 6 new series this year, that's 3 times more than a year ago when The CW relied mostly on what they described as "the best of UPN and The WB."

The creator of FOX's "The O.C.," Josh Schwartz whose other pilot "Chuck" will air on NBC, has put together "Gossip Girl" and The CW president Dawn Ostroff says they hope it will do for New York what O.C. did for Orange County.

That however means the fans of "One Tree Hill" will have to wait until midseason to see the new episodes.

Also, "Veronica Mars" is dead, but according to Ostroff the show may still return in a different form (not a spin-off) and the network is currently negotiating a possible new deal with the producers.

Other notes of interest:

Cheap infotainment magazines "CW Now" and "Online Nation" will cut costs on Sunday nights.

New Monday night comedy "Aliens in America" about a Pakistani immigrant is getting good early buzz.

'Melrose Place's' Kelly Rutherford will play a bitchy matriarch on the new Wednesday night drama "Gossip Girl."

Although rumored to join "Smallville" on Thursday nights, the new cult series "The Reaper" will air on Tuesdays after "Beauty and the Geek."

New Sunday night drama "Life is Wild" is shot on location in South Africa.

MONDAY
8:00pm: Everybody Hates Chris
8:30pm: ALIENS IN AMERICA (new show)
9:00pm: Girlfriends
9:30pm: The Game

TUESDAY
8:00pm: Beauty And The Geek
9:00pm: THE REAPER (new show)

WEDNESDAY
8:00pm: America's Next Top Model
9:00pm: GOSSIP GIRL (new show)

THURSDAY
8:00pm: Smallville
9:00pm: Supernatural

FRIDAY
800pm: Friday Night Smackdown

SUNDAY
7:00pm: ONLINE NATION (new show)
7:30pm: CW NOW (new show)
8:00pm: LIFE IS WILD (new show)
9:00pm: America's Next Top Model repeats

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"Grey's Anatomy" Cast @ ABC Upfronts

The 3rd season of ABC's monster hit "Grey's Anatomy" comes to an emotional close this evening at 9/8c, ending a year of in which medical soap made headlines with a successful transition to Thursday nights, a homophobic slur scandal and not-that-stellar venture into spin-off territory.

Although CSI remained the #1 scripted drama in total viewers, "Grey's Anatomy" not only ranks the #1 scripted drama in the 18-49 demo, a category that actually matters, but it also put a serious dent into CBS procedural's overall ratings. Can the show continue to grow in season 4, or will the departure of Kate Walsh dilute the ratings?

Here are a few shots from ABC's Upfronts event on Tuesday.

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