There is nothing funny about NBC’s current Late Night predicament.
At least according to Stephen McPherson, President, ABC Entertainment Group, who refused to take the bait thrown at him by sound-bite-hungry reporters anxious to get his thoughts on NBC’s current late-night woes during this mornings ABC Executive Session at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena.“We are all competitive and we want a vibrant landscape,” said McPherson. “We want a good competitor. It’s like playing for the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox stop playing baseball. You can’t get excited about that.”
THE MIDDLE, MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN have all been picked up for a second season.
Unfortunately the joke is on BETTER OFF TED and SCRUBS, whose ratings Steve McPherson called “very disappointing.” Adding, “Whenever we put comedy other than Wednesday is a bit of an island. As we’ve seen with THE MIDDLE and MODERN FAMILY repeats, that night is pretty strong. Our intent was not to burn them off but that was the best slot we have at this time.”
The Good: ABC took a fairly substantial leap of faith with their brand-new Wednesday night comedy block, and as luck would have it, the leap paid off. What could have been an epic disaster of HANK-esque proportions single-handedly transformed ABC’s once troubled Wednesday night into a ratings force to be reckoned with thanks to the success of freshman newcomers THE MIDDLE, MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN. On the drama front, Shonda Rhimes — when she’s not busy conversing with crazy passionate fans via twitter (Seriously, love ya @shondarhimes) has weathered the not-so-perfect-storm of including: Ellen Pompeo’s real-life pregnancy, T.R. Knight’s exit and Katherine Heigl’s wish to work when it suits her schedule with a very savvy hospital merger, all the while continuing to build on the momentum from PRIVATE PRACTICE’s thrilling season finale. Plus, the Alphabet’s patience in CASTLE seems to have paid dividends, with the Nathan Fillion vehicle continuing to attract a loyal following even without the help of the reality TV juggernaut that is DANCING WITH THE STARS.
The Bad: And while we’re on the subject of DANCING WITH THE STARS, like veteran dramas BROTHERS & SISTERS and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, the once unbeatable reality TV show is slowly starting to show its age in the form of declining viewership and interest. While high profile, pricey and star-studded newcomers such as EASTWICK, FLASHFORWARD and V failed to live up to expectations in both the ratings and creative department…
Finally, an employment crisis this TV Addict can get behind. Yes, ABC has put the brakes on the upcoming debut of LET’S DANCE, a reality show that was to be hosted by original D-Lister Kathy Griffin and was to feature “Celebrities” re-creating famous dance routines. According to the Live Feed, “Sources say the network had difficulty casting the series.” And while we’re slightly disappointed over the fact that Kathy Griffin — whose penchant for shamelessly plugging her book in between putting celebrities in their place never seems to grow old — will be out of a job. We’re not gonna lie, there is something oddly satisfying with regards to the idea that the American job market for once-famous-has-beens might be drying up. Even if it’s only a teensy little bit.
You’ve seen the commercials. You’ve heard the hype. Now there’s only one thing you want to know: Which of the new fall shows are worth watching and which should be avoided at all costs? In this continuing series, we give you the scoop on some of the most highly-anticipated shows of the season. Which will be the next GREY’S ANATOMY… and which will be the new JOEY? Next up, proof that ABC’s comedy development paid off with a first look at MODERN FAMILY.
Why We’ll Watch: Shot in the now all too familiar documentary style, MODERN FAMILY is ABC’s answer to THE OFFICE and what you get when you marry a ridiculously smart script from veteran scribes Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd (JUST SHOOT ME, BACK TO YOU) with a cast of immensely likable actors including Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell (Who play a married couple with three kids), Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet (Playing a gay couple on their way home from Vietnam having just adopted a baby) and Ed O’Neill and Sofa Vergara (Who play newlyweds with more than a few years in between them).
An attempt to make sense of ABC’s “thrilling limited series” IMPACT (debuts Sunday at 9 p.m. est and concludes the following Sunday) would be to court serious depression. Running three hours over two nights, it’s so impressively horrible that there just isn’t enough room here to detail all of its failures.
Like many an Apocalypse Cometh TV movies, it opens calmly: people around the world gather in their backyards to witness a meteor shower seen only every 10,000 years. Among these meteors is a brown dwarf, or dead star, which unceremoniously crashes into the moon, sending debris our way and the moon off its natural orbit. It is later discovered by Dr. Maddie Rhodes (ELI STONE’s exceptionally wooden Natasha Hentrsidge) that the moon is set to crash into the earth – and wipe us all out – in 39 days.
At 9PM eastern standard time, ACCORDING TO JIM will illicit its last laugh (or lack-their of) after eight years of refusing to die. And in honor of this momentous occasion, theTVaddict.com thought it might be fun (or as it turns out, incredibly depressing) to look at what could have been as we present our list of shows that ACCORDING TO JIM outlived. Some good (8 SIMPLE RULES), some bad (BOB PATTERSON), but all with one thing in common. According to us, they were all more deserving of a spot on the schedule than JIM*
THE DEEP END According to the official ABC description: Sterling Law is one of L.A.’s most prestigious law firms. Each year it recruits four new young lawyers from the finest law schools worldwide. It will nurture, guide and shape these recruits into the best damned lawyers they can possibly be — or else.
According to this TV Addict: It’s GREY’S ANATOMY meets L.A. LAW. Which is something we’d usually be far more critical of, except for the fact that these lawyers include JACK & BOBBY’S Matt Long! VERONICA MARS’ Tina Majorino! TITANIC’s Billy Zane! And Broadway’s Norbert Leo Butz! (TV Addict note: Gratuitous use of exclamation marks denotes our off-the-charts level of excitement for this series)
This morning Stephen McPherson, ABC Entertainment Group president, revealed ABC’s plans for next season and unveiled the network’s 2009-10 fall schedule. Plans that can be summed up in four words: A Bet on Comedy (ABC, get it?)
Adding to the already solid lineup which include the inexplicable ratings juggernaut that is DANCING WITH THE STARS, CASTLE, GREY’S ANATOMY, PRIVATE PRACTICE, UGLY BETTY, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and BROTHERS & SISTERS are a slew of high profile new Wednesday night comedies which include Kelsey Grammer’s HANK, Patricia Heaton’s THE MIDDLE, Ed O’Neill’s MODERN FAMILY and Courteney Cox’s COUGAR TOWN. Also on for the fall is the Jerry Bruckheimer procedural THE FORGOTTEN, the high concept sci-fi series FLASH FORWARD and EASTWICK based on the popular movie THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK.
Being held for midseason are returning favorites LOST, SCRUBS, BETTER OFF TED and THE BACHELOR alongside new offerings V (a re-boot of the 80’s classic) and HAPPY TOWN (a small town murder mystery from the brains behind LIFE ON MARS and OCTOBER ROAD).
Full schedule after the jump with “Snap Judgements” following ABC’s upfront presentation later in the day.
It’s May, which in case you didn’t know in TV land is kind of a big deal. Not only does it signify the end of the official television season, with the big five networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and the CW) beginning to roll out their big finales (see: our May 2009 calendar.) It also just so happens to be the start of something new. With next week marking the official start of the 2009 UpFronts where ABC, CBS, FOX, CW and NBC will unveil their fall schedule to advertisers at their annual UpFront Presentation.
But before they do, theTVAddict.com editorial team, led by our very own Ken-Tucker-in-training Aleks Chan will be posting our wish list for what we’d like to see announced.
There is nothing funny about NBC’s current Late Night predicament.
THE MIDDLE, MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN have all been picked up for a second season.
The Good: ABC took a fairly substantial leap of faith with their brand-new Wednesday night comedy block, and as luck would have it, the leap paid off. What could have been an epic disaster of HANK-esque proportions single-handedly transformed ABC’s once troubled Wednesday night into a ratings force to be reckoned with thanks to the success of freshman newcomers THE MIDDLE, MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN. On the drama front, Shonda Rhimes — when she’s not busy conversing with 
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