Developments for Fall TV
Friday May 13 9:26 PM ET
By Kimberly Potts
What a difference a year makes. Last spring, ratings-beleaguered ABC was, well, desperate.
Flash forward: the network got Desperate--as in the runaway hit dramedy Desperate Housewives, along with drama hits Lost and Grey's Anatomy and reality breakout Extreme Makeover: Home Edition--and got ratings.
And as the major broadcast networks prepare to announce their new and returning series for the fall 2005 TV season at the annual upfront presentations next week in New York, it's ABC that boasts the seasons biggest new hits and has the least number of glaring holes to plug in its stellar lineup.
As for the other networks, CBS is saying goodbye to TV's number one sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, with Monday's series finale, but has the number two sitcom, Charlie Sheen's Two and a Half Men, ready to take over Raymond's cushy time slot. The Eye network is also well-stocked with hit dramas, including the CSI franchise and Without a Trace, and reality hits, including a rejuvenated Survivor and The Amazing Race.
At erstwhile comedy factory NBC, however, it's a different story. Friends spinoff Joey has been mediocre, at best, the network has failed to find an audience for clever comedies like Scrubs and The Office, and aging comedy Will & Grace relies so heavily on guest stars that it's like watching a slightly less C-list version of The Love Boat.
NBC honcho Jeff Zucker told BusinessWeek the network is just one "breakout hit" away from landing back atop the ratings heap. "Of course," he noted, "breakout hits are harder to come by these days."
With the exception of Fox's medical drama House and UPN's teen sleuth drama Veronica Mars, Fox, UPN and the WB also failed to click with any breakout shows this season, which means most of the networks are still banking heavily on the new slew of pilots--and a roster of recognizable names--for the next big TV thing.
More than ten dozen pilots are vying for a spot on the networks' schedules, and celebs like Geena Davis, Sally Field, Chris O'Donnell, Dennis Hopper, Rebecca Romijn, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brooke Shields, Alicia Silverstone and Don Rickles (yes, that Don Rickles) are among the stars of those series.
The trends among the pilots: Desperate Housewives knockoffs; lots of military, crime investigation and legal dramas; action dramas, comedies and dramas about male bonding; and, oddly, multiple shows about lottery winners and fertility clinics.
It's also a time when shows on the bubble--those series whose ratings haven't lived up to their buzz--find out if they'll get another shot at prime-time success. E! Online's Kristin Veitch reports that Fox is "99.9 percent of the way there" in renewing the Emmy-winning sitcom Arrested Development, which many industry insiders felt was doomed to the TV graveyard.
NBC's sweet family drama American Dreams, sources say, is not likely to be renewed for a fourth season, but other iffy, fan favorite shows that still have a shot include NBC's remake of the British comedy The Office, the WB's future president drama Jack & Bobby and ABC's midseason drama Eyes.
Here's a network-by-network preview of upfront happenings:
ABC (presents Tuesday)
* Returning shows confirmed: According to Jim, Alias, America's Funniest Home Videos, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Monday Night Football
* Pilots with good buzz: Commander in Chief, a drama starring Geena Davis as the first female U.S. President; Invasion, a Shaun Cassidy-produced drama about alien happenings in a small Florida town post-hurricane; Lost and Alias creator J.J. Abrams' The Catch, a bounty hunter drama that costars comedy legend Don Rickles; and Pros and Consa Billy Baldwin-led drama about ex cons who work for the government.
* Other pilots in contention: Soccer Moms, starring ______ and the City's Kristin Davis in a drama about suburban moms who work as private investigators; Crumbs, starring Fred Savage in a comedy about two brothers, one gay and one straight, who run the family business; Sons & Daughters, an improvised family comedy; Freddie, a star vehicle comedy for Freddie Prinze Jr.; Emily's Reasons Why Not, a comedy starring Heather Graham as a self-help author who can't take her own advice; and Hot Properties, a comedy about four friends who run a New York City real estate office.
CBS (presents Wednesday)
* Returning shows confirmed: The Amazing Race, Survivor, CSI, CSI: Miami, Without a Trace
* Pilots with good buzz: Everything I Know About Men, a comedy starring Jenna Elfman; Quantico, starring Mandy Patinkin in a drama about the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit; Flesh & Blood, starring Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler in a comedy about a family of doctors; and Old Christine, a comedy with Seinfeld's Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a single mom.
* Other pilots in contention: American Crime, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama about a prosecutor who juggles work and a new baby; Conviction, a legal drama with Sally Field and ER vet Eriq La Salle; Love Monkey, a male buddy drama starring Ed's Tom Cavanagh and Jason Priestley; The Unit, a special forces military drama starring 24's Dennis Haysbert, Felicity's Scott Foley and Ray's Regina King; Threshold, a sci-fi drama starring Charles S. Dutton (Roc) and William "Tom Cruise's cousin" Mapother; and How I Met Your Mother, a flashback comedy starring Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) and Alyson Hannigan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
Fox (presents Thursday)
* Returning shows confirmed: American Idol, Cops, Family Guy, House, Malcolm in the Middle, Nanny 911, The O.C., The Simpsons, That '70s Show
* Pilots with good buzz: Prison Break, directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), a drama about a man who gets himself thrown in jail so he can help his death row inmate brother escape; Kitchen Confidential, a comedy based on chef Anthony Bourdain's best-selling autobiography and starring Alias' Bradley Cooper; Deviant Behavior, a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit knock-off; Dirtbags, a comedy starring Melissa Joan Hart; Fertile Ground, a drama about a fertility clinic; Don't Ask, a comedy about a dad (Spin City's Alan Ruck) who tells his family he's gay; and Hitched, starring NYPD Blue and Saved By the Bell alum Mark-Paul Gosselaar in a drama about a brother and sister who run a 24-hour wedding chapel in Las Vegas
* Other pilots in contention: New Car Smell, starring Brooke Shields in a comedy about a used car dealership; Queen B, a comedy starring Alicia Silverstone; Bones, a crime investigations drama starring Angel's David Boreanaz; Windfall, starring Luke Perry in a drama about a group of friends who win the lottery; Briar & Graves, a drama about religious phenomena; Head Cases, a drama about a hotshot attorney (Chris O'Donnell) who gets fired after he has a nervous breakdown; Reunion, a drama that follows the lives of a group of friends throughout a 20 year period; the comedy The War at Home, starring Michael Rapaport; Murder Book, a crime drama starring Josh Brolin; and the drama Amy Coyne, starring Tom Berenger.
NBC (presents Monday)
* Returning shows confirmed: The Apprentice, Crossing Jordan, ER, Joey, Las Vegas, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Medium, Scrubs, The West Wing, Will & Grace
* Pilots with good buzz: Jerry Bruckheimer's military drama, set at the Pentagon, E-Ring, starring Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper; the religious drama Book of Daniel, starring Aidan Quinn; My Name Is Earl, a comedy starring Jason Lee as a petty crook who decides to make amends when he wins the lottery; and Thick and Thin, a comedy starring Jessica Capshaw (The Practice) as an overweight woman who becomes thin and has to deal with the new way people react to her.
* Other pilots in contention: the disaster drama Fathom; Inconceivable, another drama set at a fertility clinic; Early Bird, a comedy, based on Rodney Rothman's high-buzz autobiography Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement, about moving to a Florida retirement home after he was fired from his dream job as a TV writer; Dante, a comedy about an arrogant pro football player; Deal, a comedy starring Janeane Garofalo and based on the life of pro poker player Annie Duke; the buddy comedy Four Kings, starring Seth Green; couples comedy Lies and the Wives We Tell Them To; Notorious, starring Tori Spelling in an autobiographical comedy; NY-70, a retro cop drama starring Donnie Wahlberg; and World of Trouble, an international FBI drama.
UPN (presents Thursday)
* Returning shows confirmed: America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars
* Pilots with good buzz: Everybody Hates Chris, an autobiographical coming-of-age comedy created by Chris Rock; and Wingwoman, a comedy starring Shannen Doherty as a professional matchmaker
* Other pilots in contention: Wildlife, a Melrose Place-ish drama set in the trendy L.A. Silver Lake neighborhood and starring Denise Richards; Triangle, a drama about a doctor whose wife disappears during their honeymoon; Crazy, a drama starring Lara Flynn Boyle as a therapist; and The Studio, a drama about wannabe actors and actresses.
WB (presents Tuesday)
* Returning shows confirmed: 7th Heaven
* Pilots with good buzz: Supernatural, a McG-produced drama about brothers (Smallville's Jensen Ackles and Gilmore Girls' Jared Padelecki) who travel the country investigating unexplained, sci-fi-type occurrences; Pepper Dennis, a drama starring Rebecca Romijn as a Chicago TV reporter; and Modern Men, starring Dean Cain in a comedy about a group of fraternity brothers who reunite more than a decade after graduation.
* Other pilots in contention: Just Legal, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced legal drama starring Don Johnson; Twins, a comedy about two sisters, one played by Roseanne's Sara Gilbert, who inherit their family's lingerie business; Mindy and Brenda, a sitcom about two best friends who share a cheap apa rtment in Brooklyn; True, a comedy, starring Anne Heche, about a woman who moves back home with her parents after her boyfriend dumps her when she's in labor with their child; Halley's Comet, a drama about a first-year med student who survives her own battle with cancer; and The Bedford Diaries, a drama about New York college students
Friday May 13 9:26 PM ET
By Kimberly Potts
What a difference a year makes. Last spring, ratings-beleaguered ABC was, well, desperate.
Flash forward: the network got Desperate--as in the runaway hit dramedy Desperate Housewives, along with drama hits Lost and Grey's Anatomy and reality breakout Extreme Makeover: Home Edition--and got ratings.
And as the major broadcast networks prepare to announce their new and returning series for the fall 2005 TV season at the annual upfront presentations next week in New York, it's ABC that boasts the seasons biggest new hits and has the least number of glaring holes to plug in its stellar lineup.
As for the other networks, CBS is saying goodbye to TV's number one sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, with Monday's series finale, but has the number two sitcom, Charlie Sheen's Two and a Half Men, ready to take over Raymond's cushy time slot. The Eye network is also well-stocked with hit dramas, including the CSI franchise and Without a Trace, and reality hits, including a rejuvenated Survivor and The Amazing Race.
At erstwhile comedy factory NBC, however, it's a different story. Friends spinoff Joey has been mediocre, at best, the network has failed to find an audience for clever comedies like Scrubs and The Office, and aging comedy Will & Grace relies so heavily on guest stars that it's like watching a slightly less C-list version of The Love Boat.
NBC honcho Jeff Zucker told BusinessWeek the network is just one "breakout hit" away from landing back atop the ratings heap. "Of course," he noted, "breakout hits are harder to come by these days."
With the exception of Fox's medical drama House and UPN's teen sleuth drama Veronica Mars, Fox, UPN and the WB also failed to click with any breakout shows this season, which means most of the networks are still banking heavily on the new slew of pilots--and a roster of recognizable names--for the next big TV thing.
More than ten dozen pilots are vying for a spot on the networks' schedules, and celebs like Geena Davis, Sally Field, Chris O'Donnell, Dennis Hopper, Rebecca Romijn, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brooke Shields, Alicia Silverstone and Don Rickles (yes, that Don Rickles) are among the stars of those series.
The trends among the pilots: Desperate Housewives knockoffs; lots of military, crime investigation and legal dramas; action dramas, comedies and dramas about male bonding; and, oddly, multiple shows about lottery winners and fertility clinics.
It's also a time when shows on the bubble--those series whose ratings haven't lived up to their buzz--find out if they'll get another shot at prime-time success. E! Online's Kristin Veitch reports that Fox is "99.9 percent of the way there" in renewing the Emmy-winning sitcom Arrested Development, which many industry insiders felt was doomed to the TV graveyard.
NBC's sweet family drama American Dreams, sources say, is not likely to be renewed for a fourth season, but other iffy, fan favorite shows that still have a shot include NBC's remake of the British comedy The Office, the WB's future president drama Jack & Bobby and ABC's midseason drama Eyes.
Here's a network-by-network preview of upfront happenings:
ABC (presents Tuesday)
* Returning shows confirmed: According to Jim, Alias, America's Funniest Home Videos, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Monday Night Football
* Pilots with good buzz: Commander in Chief, a drama starring Geena Davis as the first female U.S. President; Invasion, a Shaun Cassidy-produced drama about alien happenings in a small Florida town post-hurricane; Lost and Alias creator J.J. Abrams' The Catch, a bounty hunter drama that costars comedy legend Don Rickles; and Pros and Consa Billy Baldwin-led drama about ex cons who work for the government.
* Other pilots in contention: Soccer Moms, starring ______ and the City's Kristin Davis in a drama about suburban moms who work as private investigators; Crumbs, starring Fred Savage in a comedy about two brothers, one gay and one straight, who run the family business; Sons & Daughters, an improvised family comedy; Freddie, a star vehicle comedy for Freddie Prinze Jr.; Emily's Reasons Why Not, a comedy starring Heather Graham as a self-help author who can't take her own advice; and Hot Properties, a comedy about four friends who run a New York City real estate office.
CBS (presents Wednesday)
* Returning shows confirmed: The Amazing Race, Survivor, CSI, CSI: Miami, Without a Trace
* Pilots with good buzz: Everything I Know About Men, a comedy starring Jenna Elfman; Quantico, starring Mandy Patinkin in a drama about the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit; Flesh & Blood, starring Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler in a comedy about a family of doctors; and Old Christine, a comedy with Seinfeld's Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a single mom.
* Other pilots in contention: American Crime, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama about a prosecutor who juggles work and a new baby; Conviction, a legal drama with Sally Field and ER vet Eriq La Salle; Love Monkey, a male buddy drama starring Ed's Tom Cavanagh and Jason Priestley; The Unit, a special forces military drama starring 24's Dennis Haysbert, Felicity's Scott Foley and Ray's Regina King; Threshold, a sci-fi drama starring Charles S. Dutton (Roc) and William "Tom Cruise's cousin" Mapother; and How I Met Your Mother, a flashback comedy starring Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) and Alyson Hannigan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
Fox (presents Thursday)
* Returning shows confirmed: American Idol, Cops, Family Guy, House, Malcolm in the Middle, Nanny 911, The O.C., The Simpsons, That '70s Show
* Pilots with good buzz: Prison Break, directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), a drama about a man who gets himself thrown in jail so he can help his death row inmate brother escape; Kitchen Confidential, a comedy based on chef Anthony Bourdain's best-selling autobiography and starring Alias' Bradley Cooper; Deviant Behavior, a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit knock-off; Dirtbags, a comedy starring Melissa Joan Hart; Fertile Ground, a drama about a fertility clinic; Don't Ask, a comedy about a dad (Spin City's Alan Ruck) who tells his family he's gay; and Hitched, starring NYPD Blue and Saved By the Bell alum Mark-Paul Gosselaar in a drama about a brother and sister who run a 24-hour wedding chapel in Las Vegas
* Other pilots in contention: New Car Smell, starring Brooke Shields in a comedy about a used car dealership; Queen B, a comedy starring Alicia Silverstone; Bones, a crime investigations drama starring Angel's David Boreanaz; Windfall, starring Luke Perry in a drama about a group of friends who win the lottery; Briar & Graves, a drama about religious phenomena; Head Cases, a drama about a hotshot attorney (Chris O'Donnell) who gets fired after he has a nervous breakdown; Reunion, a drama that follows the lives of a group of friends throughout a 20 year period; the comedy The War at Home, starring Michael Rapaport; Murder Book, a crime drama starring Josh Brolin; and the drama Amy Coyne, starring Tom Berenger.
NBC (presents Monday)
* Returning shows confirmed: The Apprentice, Crossing Jordan, ER, Joey, Las Vegas, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Medium, Scrubs, The West Wing, Will & Grace
* Pilots with good buzz: Jerry Bruckheimer's military drama, set at the Pentagon, E-Ring, starring Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper; the religious drama Book of Daniel, starring Aidan Quinn; My Name Is Earl, a comedy starring Jason Lee as a petty crook who decides to make amends when he wins the lottery; and Thick and Thin, a comedy starring Jessica Capshaw (The Practice) as an overweight woman who becomes thin and has to deal with the new way people react to her.
* Other pilots in contention: the disaster drama Fathom; Inconceivable, another drama set at a fertility clinic; Early Bird, a comedy, based on Rodney Rothman's high-buzz autobiography Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement, about moving to a Florida retirement home after he was fired from his dream job as a TV writer; Dante, a comedy about an arrogant pro football player; Deal, a comedy starring Janeane Garofalo and based on the life of pro poker player Annie Duke; the buddy comedy Four Kings, starring Seth Green; couples comedy Lies and the Wives We Tell Them To; Notorious, starring Tori Spelling in an autobiographical comedy; NY-70, a retro cop drama starring Donnie Wahlberg; and World of Trouble, an international FBI drama.
UPN (presents Thursday)
* Returning shows confirmed: America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars
* Pilots with good buzz: Everybody Hates Chris, an autobiographical coming-of-age comedy created by Chris Rock; and Wingwoman, a comedy starring Shannen Doherty as a professional matchmaker
* Other pilots in contention: Wildlife, a Melrose Place-ish drama set in the trendy L.A. Silver Lake neighborhood and starring Denise Richards; Triangle, a drama about a doctor whose wife disappears during their honeymoon; Crazy, a drama starring Lara Flynn Boyle as a therapist; and The Studio, a drama about wannabe actors and actresses.
WB (presents Tuesday)
* Returning shows confirmed: 7th Heaven
* Pilots with good buzz: Supernatural, a McG-produced drama about brothers (Smallville's Jensen Ackles and Gilmore Girls' Jared Padelecki) who travel the country investigating unexplained, sci-fi-type occurrences; Pepper Dennis, a drama starring Rebecca Romijn as a Chicago TV reporter; and Modern Men, starring Dean Cain in a comedy about a group of fraternity brothers who reunite more than a decade after graduation.
* Other pilots in contention: Just Legal, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced legal drama starring Don Johnson; Twins, a comedy about two sisters, one played by Roseanne's Sara Gilbert, who inherit their family's lingerie business; Mindy and Brenda, a sitcom about two best friends who share a cheap apa rtment in Brooklyn; True, a comedy, starring Anne Heche, about a woman who moves back home with her parents after her boyfriend dumps her when she's in labor with their child; Halley's Comet, a drama about a first-year med student who survives her own battle with cancer; and The Bedford Diaries, a drama about New York college students
