Post by Naj on May 28, 2006 8:44:25 GMT -5
One TV season has ended, which means it's time to start considering what we can expect in the fall.
While the new shows haven't yet been made available, you can spot trends from the announcements made by network executives in New York earlier this month.
It will be a whole new ballgame in a lot of ways.
For one, there will be only five networks instead of six.
UPN and The WB are merging into the new CW, which is introducing two new series along with a mix of series from the two former networks.
NBC launches its new "Sunday Night Football" franchise, while ABC gives up the Monday night games to its corporate sibling, ESPN.
CBS is finally giving up its traditional Sunday night movies, filling the two-hour block with "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace" in new time slots.
The networks have announced 28 new shows for the fall season, far less than the almost 40 of seasons past. And it will be like two different seasons again with "American Idol" and "24" returning to Fox in January.
Comedy is struggling again as it did in the 1970s, although the networks are introducing 11 new sitcoms, some of which sound like they have potential.
And the prime-time serial is getting a big boost with a number of new series that will try to keep viewers involved with season-long stories.
They include "Vanished," a Fox series about the disappearance of the wife of a prominent senator, and "Kidnapped," an NBC show about the search for the son of a wealthy New York family, in which everyone is a suspect.
Even some of the new comedies will be serialized, including three ABC shows. "Let's Rob..." tracks the efforts of a group trying to rob Mick Jagger. "Big Day" follows the path of a couple to their wedding day, and "Notes From the Underbelly" tracks the progress of a woman's pregnancy and its effect on family and friends.
The networks are also trying to limit repeats of the serialized drama. "24" will again run straight through from January to May. NBC will interrupt a non-repeat season of "ER" for a few months to introduce "The Black Donnellys," about Irish gangster brothers. ABC also plans to reduce the number of repeats of "Lost," which will start its third season in October.
While several dramas about weird happenings didn't make it to season two ("Surface," "Threshold," "Invasion"), the networks will try again with such shows as NBC's "Heroes," about a group of people who discover they have extraordinary abilities, and CBS's "Jericho," about the aftermath of a nuclear mushroom cloud on a peaceful small Kansas town.
ABC made the most aggressive move by shifting its Sunday hit "Grey's Anatomy" to 9 p.m. Thursday, where it will battle the top-rated "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on CBS. That's going to make for some tough viewing choices.
On Thursday, NBC revised its initial fall schedule, moving its most highly touted new show, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" away from that 9 p.m. Thursday competition to 10 p.m. Monday. "Medium" will return in midseason.
"Studio 60" is by Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing," "Sports Night"), and stars Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry, Steven Weber and Timothy Busfield in a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a "Saturday Night Live"-style sketch comedy show.
It's a drama with comedic elements and a theme similar to NBC's new comedy "30 Rock," which looks at the creation of a weekly comedy variety show. It was created by "Saturday Night Live" head writer Tina Fey, who will star along with "SNL" castmate Rachel Dratch. Alec Baldwin plays the brash network president. Is there an audience for two such shows?
The biggest surprise of the announcements was the decision by CW to bring "7th Heaven" back for an 11th season, just days after it had aired its "final" episode." Keeping "Heaven" apparently led CW to cancel one of my personal favorites, "Everwood."
As upset as I was about losing "Everwood," I can only cheer the CW executives, who gave another shot to the UPN cult favorite "Veronica Mars," which will be paired with "Gilmore Girls" on Tuesdays. The producers of "Veronica Mars" will alter the format somewhat in an effort to build on its small but devoted audience.
Fox will once again jump the gun on the fall season by starting some of its series in mid- to late August, so they have a chance to attract some attention before the break for post-season baseball.
There are no new non-scripted series for the fall, but "Survivor" is back, and "The Amazing Race" shifts to Sundays. NBC is holding back the next edition of "The Apprentice," which is set in Los Angeles, until midseason, when several other "reality" shows may be called on to fill in for whatever fails in the fall.
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While the new shows haven't yet been made available, you can spot trends from the announcements made by network executives in New York earlier this month.
It will be a whole new ballgame in a lot of ways.
For one, there will be only five networks instead of six.
UPN and The WB are merging into the new CW, which is introducing two new series along with a mix of series from the two former networks.
NBC launches its new "Sunday Night Football" franchise, while ABC gives up the Monday night games to its corporate sibling, ESPN.
CBS is finally giving up its traditional Sunday night movies, filling the two-hour block with "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace" in new time slots.
The networks have announced 28 new shows for the fall season, far less than the almost 40 of seasons past. And it will be like two different seasons again with "American Idol" and "24" returning to Fox in January.
Comedy is struggling again as it did in the 1970s, although the networks are introducing 11 new sitcoms, some of which sound like they have potential.
And the prime-time serial is getting a big boost with a number of new series that will try to keep viewers involved with season-long stories.
They include "Vanished," a Fox series about the disappearance of the wife of a prominent senator, and "Kidnapped," an NBC show about the search for the son of a wealthy New York family, in which everyone is a suspect.
Even some of the new comedies will be serialized, including three ABC shows. "Let's Rob..." tracks the efforts of a group trying to rob Mick Jagger. "Big Day" follows the path of a couple to their wedding day, and "Notes From the Underbelly" tracks the progress of a woman's pregnancy and its effect on family and friends.
The networks are also trying to limit repeats of the serialized drama. "24" will again run straight through from January to May. NBC will interrupt a non-repeat season of "ER" for a few months to introduce "The Black Donnellys," about Irish gangster brothers. ABC also plans to reduce the number of repeats of "Lost," which will start its third season in October.
While several dramas about weird happenings didn't make it to season two ("Surface," "Threshold," "Invasion"), the networks will try again with such shows as NBC's "Heroes," about a group of people who discover they have extraordinary abilities, and CBS's "Jericho," about the aftermath of a nuclear mushroom cloud on a peaceful small Kansas town.
ABC made the most aggressive move by shifting its Sunday hit "Grey's Anatomy" to 9 p.m. Thursday, where it will battle the top-rated "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on CBS. That's going to make for some tough viewing choices.
On Thursday, NBC revised its initial fall schedule, moving its most highly touted new show, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" away from that 9 p.m. Thursday competition to 10 p.m. Monday. "Medium" will return in midseason.
"Studio 60" is by Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing," "Sports Night"), and stars Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry, Steven Weber and Timothy Busfield in a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a "Saturday Night Live"-style sketch comedy show.
It's a drama with comedic elements and a theme similar to NBC's new comedy "30 Rock," which looks at the creation of a weekly comedy variety show. It was created by "Saturday Night Live" head writer Tina Fey, who will star along with "SNL" castmate Rachel Dratch. Alec Baldwin plays the brash network president. Is there an audience for two such shows?
The biggest surprise of the announcements was the decision by CW to bring "7th Heaven" back for an 11th season, just days after it had aired its "final" episode." Keeping "Heaven" apparently led CW to cancel one of my personal favorites, "Everwood."
As upset as I was about losing "Everwood," I can only cheer the CW executives, who gave another shot to the UPN cult favorite "Veronica Mars," which will be paired with "Gilmore Girls" on Tuesdays. The producers of "Veronica Mars" will alter the format somewhat in an effort to build on its small but devoted audience.
Fox will once again jump the gun on the fall season by starting some of its series in mid- to late August, so they have a chance to attract some attention before the break for post-season baseball.
There are no new non-scripted series for the fall, but "Survivor" is back, and "The Amazing Race" shifts to Sundays. NBC is holding back the next edition of "The Apprentice," which is set in Los Angeles, until midseason, when several other "reality" shows may be called on to fill in for whatever fails in the fall.
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