Lots of interesting TV news in Variety today…
Steven Bochco replaced COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF creator/exec producer Rod Lurie…and has wasted no time making the show his own. Five of the original eight writer/producers have been booted. Staying on are Dee Johnson, Scoop Cohen and Stuart
Stevens who will be joined by Bochco veterans Alison Cross and Joel Fields. Variety says Bochco wanted a smaller staff and doesn’t plan to hire any more writers. Reportedly, big staff changes are also in the works at GHOST WHISPERER on CBS. It’s ironic that the two highest rated new series of the season are undergoing such internal turmoil.
Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, NBC has picked up SURFACE for the full season.
Cartoon Network has ordered 26 episodes of a new animated revival of the 60s cult classic GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. They haven’t said whether it will be "re-imagined" or not.
And ABC has ordered a pilot called COLE TRACER PI, about the star of a cancelled TV detective series who teams up with the show’s technical advisor to solve crimes. It’s being directed by Joe & Anthony Russo, who are three-for-three when it comes to directing pilots that get series orders (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, LUCKY, and LAX).
COLE TRACER PI sounds a bit like LOOKWELL. I hope it, too, stars Adam West…
Why do I get the feeling, more and more, that the programming content on TV is just filler for the commercials?
There really are only a small handful of shows worth watching anymore, and while those are wonderfully written, acted, directed and shot (Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, Deadwood, L & O, for example), most of the rest just blow. Which is probably why I’ve pretty much abandoned TV.