TVTracker reports that ABC has announced their fall schedule. BLIND JUSTICE and EYES are among the notable, though not surprising, cancellations. Hitmaker JJ Abrams two pilots, THE CATCH and PROS AND CONS failed to make the sked, despite the success of LOST and ALIAS. But the influence of LOST is certainly reflected on the new schedule. Like NBC’s new roster, there’s quite a few new "speculative" fiction shows on tap, including a reimagining of THE NIGHT STALKER (from X FILE’s alum Frank Spotnitz) and INVASION, a Shaun Cassidy-produced series about aliens who secretly arrive in the Everglades in the midst of a terrible storm and a Park Ranger’s efforts to unlock the mystery. Other new series include COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, about the first female President, from writer-director Rod Lurie.
In addition to the new fall series, Zap2it reports that ABC has picked up several series for midseason: Additional Series
Orders: CRUMBS, THE EVIDENCE, IN JUSTICE, LESS THAN PERFECT, THE MIRACLE
WORKERS, SONS & DAUGHTERS.
Both "The Evidence" and "In Justice" reflect ABC’s aspirations to land a
strictly procedural hit, the network’s equivalent of a "CSI" or "Law &
Order." In "The Evidence," an eclectic cast — featuring Orlando Jones, Martin
Landau and Nicky Katt — solves crimes by putting together an assortment of
evidence that the audience has already seen. "In Justice" follows a lawyer (Kyle
MacLachlan) and an investigator (Jason O’Mara) struggling to get innocent people
out of prison.On the comedy side, Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years") is back in "Crumbs,"
about two estranged brothers forced to reunite to take care of their deranged
mother and run the family business. Things remain in the family on "Sons &
Daughters," a semi-improvised look at grown-up siblings, executive produced by
Lorne Michaels ("Saturday Night Live").Following in the footsteps of this season’s alternative programming successes
like "Supernanny" and "Wife Swap" and the emergence of "Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition," ABC will also have "Miracle Workers," a reality show about doctors who
perform revolutionary procedures on regular people, ready for midseason.
The new schedule is on the jump.
MONDAY:
8:00 p.m. “Wife Swap” (through January. New night and time)
9:00
p.m. “Monday Night Football” (through January)
(the following will
premiere after MNF)
8:00 p.m. “The Bachelor” (new time)
9:00 p.m.
“Emily’s Reasons Why Not” (new comedy series)
9:30 p.m. “Jake in Progress”
(new night and time)
10:00 p.m. “What About Brian” (new drama
series)
TUESDAY:
8:00 p.m. “According to Jim” (new time)
8:30 p.m.
“Rodney” (new time)
9:00 p.m. “Commander-in-Chief” (new drama
series)
10:00 p.m. “Boston Legal” (new night)
WEDNESDAY:
8:00 p.m.
“George Lopez” (new night and time)
8:30 p.m. “Freddie” (new comedy
series)
9:00 p.m. “Lost” (new time)
10:00 p.m. “Invasion” (new drama
series)
THURSDAY:
8:00
p.m. “Alias” (new night and time)
9:00 p.m. “The Night Stalker” (new drama
series)
10:00 p.m. “Primetime Live”
FRIDAY:
8:00 p.m. “Supernanny”
(new night and time)
9:00 p.m. “Hope & Faith”
9:30 p.m. “Hot
Properties” (new comedy series)
10:00 p.m. “20/20”
SATURDAY:
8:00
p.m. “ABC Movie of the Week”
SUNDAY:
7:00 p.m. “America’s Funniest
Home Videos”
8:00 p.m. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
9:00 p.m.
“Desperate Housewives”
10:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
From the looks of things to come I am going to get a lot of reading done this fall.
A LOT.
They’re moving Alias on opposite Survivor? I thought Alias had done well this year.
Note re: ALIAS.
In all the weeks and seasons ALIAS has been on, the show has NEVER won its night, and won its timeslot only a handful of times. This season and last have been the only real decent ratings the show’s ever had.
But JJ does one of the most brilliant things as a showrunner – something I’ll copy if I ever get there…
In addition to the network/studio publicist assigned to the show, JJ employs (pays out of his own fat wallet) a full-time person (usually getting a co-producer credit) whose job is to do nothing but publicity and promotion.
Remember the first two seasons – when it was all you heard about? Everyone must have been watching, right? No. Its ratings were awful. But Tiffany Delorme (she was the one back then) made you think you were the only person not watching the show.
You know, they really need to redo ratings in that case because, with only a very slight exaggeration, everyone I know has watched the show from the very beginning.
The Nielsen ratings system is a complete joke. 5000 homes are supposed to represent 100 million? Impossible.
I’ll bet that the female prez in COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF will be a babe with great legs (no thick ankles for her!), which you’ll be able to clearly see because she’ll never wear a pants suit.
INTER-BLOG-A-TORY TRAVEL
I’m with Pam on the UN major repair$ bill. Upgrades to Turtle Bay: I hear there’s plenty of great real estate in Paris, Berlin and Brussels. Perhaps the U.N. would be better off among its own. But what would…
INTER-BLOG-A-TORY TRAVEL
I’m with Pam on the UN major repair$ bill. Upgrades to Turtle Bay: I hear there’s plenty of great real estate in Paris, Berlin and Brussels. Perhaps the U.N. would be better off among its own. But what would…