Question: Which are the top five new shows you would recommend this fall? From the previews I have read, I am most looking forward to The Nine, Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Jericho and Ugly Betty. Six Degrees sounded intriguing to me when I read the premise, but critics have bashed it, so I'm uncertain. Although it does have J.J. Abrams involved, so I'm hoping.
Answer: I'll give you a top six: my three favorite new dramas and my three favorite new comedies (the latter is almost by default because there are so few of merit). Dramas, in no particular order: The Nine, Studio 60, Friday Night Lights. Comedies, in no particular order: 30 Rock, The Class, Ugly Betty. There are a handful of shows I'll be tracking that fall on a second tier, but I can tell you that Heroes and Jericho will not likely be among them. (I know that because I write this particular column on the Internet, I'm supposed to gush on and on about any show with an element of fantasy — call it the Comic-Con factor —
...
read more
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Question: I just watched the Friday Night Lights pilot, and I have to say that, from the eight or nine new dramas that I've seen, it is by far the best of the bunch. I definitely feel Friday Night Lights fills most of the gap left by the late, great American Dreams. I was wondering how you think it will do in its time slot. It has some pretty formidable competition, all established shows in Fox's House, CBS' NCIS, ABC's Dancing with the Stars and CW's Gilmore Girls. I believe Friday Night Lights is definitely worthy of breaking out. NBC is on a roll this season with its new shows.
Answer: Without getting into how you've seen this already (I can't keep track of what's out there for download or from Netflix), I absolutely agree that Friday Night Lights is "worthy" of breaking out. It's one of my favorite fall pilots, and I love that it's not about crime-solving or courtrooms or kidnappings. It's that rarity about real people in an authentic place and time, not nostalgic like American
read more
Question: I know it's still summer, but have the networks announced tentative dates for their season premieres?
Answer: As of now, the only network not to announce premiere dates is CBS, which will likely launch most of its new and returning shows the weeks of Sept. 17 and 24.
Here's how the others shape up: The season kicks off early on Fox, with Prison Break and Vanished on Aug. 21; then the limited reality series Duets on Aug. 29; Justice and Bones on Aug. 30; House and Standoff on Sept. 5; the comedies 'Til Death and Happy Hour on Sept 7; Nanny 911 on Sept. 8; Cops and America's Most Wanted on Sept. 9; Fox's animated comedy lineup plus The War at Home on Sept. 10; and MADtv Sept. 16. (The O.C. won't return until after postseason baseball on Nov. 2.)
On ABC, 20/20 officially kicks off Sept. 8; Dancing with the Stars returns Sept. 12 and 13; Wife Swap premieres Sept. 18; Grey's Anatomy and Six Degrees on Sept. 21; Ugly Betty and Men in Trees on Sept. 22; Extreme Makeover: Home
read more
Question: Which fall pilots would you deem worthy of my time?
Answer: I finished watching the last of the pilots over the weekend and I have fantastic news: For the first time in recent memory, the good fall shows easily outnumber the bad ones — at least based on the pilots I saw. As Desperate Housewives taught us, the second and third episodes tell us much more about a show's creative bones than a season premiere. With that said, here are the fall offerings that have the most FauxVo potential.
* Vanished (Fox) and Kidnapped (NBC): Among the things these two thrillers share in common: They both&
read more
Question: Which new shows are you most interested in seeing next season?
Answer: I'll get into all of my fall picks in an upcoming AA, but at the top of my must-see list are NBC's Heroes and Friday Night Lights, CBS' The Class and Smith, ABC's The Nine and Six Degrees, and Fox's Vanished.
read more
Brad Garrett, 'Til Death
After attending the networks' upfront presentations all week, the Biz has this analysis of the coming season. (Click here for next fall's grid and new-show descriptions.)
CWYou've got to wonder what went wrong in CW's new-series development process if the network had to bring back 7th Heaven — even though the show lost a reported $16 million for WB this past season.
But the decision to have CW's inaugural schedule made up of established shows from WB and UPN may end up being a blessing. Many of the shows have small but rabid followings, and promoting new shows on a new network will be tough. The fans of shows like One Tree Hill and Veronica Mars will track them down on their own. Viewers in the 18-to-34-year-old demographic that CW targets don't watch networks, they watch shows. (According to recent survey, only one in four 1
read more
Angie Harmon, Secrets of a Small Town
It's that time of year again: Network executives are spending these lovely spring days in dark screening rooms, searching for next fall's big hit. As we approach the mid-May unveiling of the new 2006-07 prime-time schedules, the Biz is here to provide you with an early glimpse of which drama pilots are heating up. We'll report on the sitcoms next week.
ABC: Secrets of a Small Town — a drama starring Angie Harmon about a small town whose residents have plenty of skeletons in the closet — is believed to have the inside track for the Sunday-night slot after Desperate Housewives. (It's now a given that the network will move the superhot Grey's Anatomy to another night where it can help launch a new show.) Also hot are Six Degrees — another ensemble soap about six strangers whose lives intertwine in New York — and Traveler, about three graduate students involved in a national-security emergency.
read more
Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler is exec-producing Super Scout, an animated pilot for Nickelodeon for which she will voice an obsessive Girl Scout-type, Variety reports.... Connie Britton will star opposite Kyle Chandler in NBC's TV take on Friday Night Lights — making me worry about the fate of Jack's Bakersfield booty call on 24.... Meet the Parents' Teri Polo will topline CBS' Welcome to the Jungle Gym, playing a TV journo and part-time stay-at-home mom.... Nancy Travis and Spy Kids' Daryl Sabara will play a single mother and her son on TBS' Boy's Life.
read more
Renee Zellweger will star in Miss Potter, a biopic about children's-book author Beatrix Potter, of Peter Rabbit fame. Ewan McGregor, Miss Z's Down with Love leading man, is in talks to play Potter's publisher and love interest.... Also per Variety: Luke Wilson (Old School) is being eyed to play Barry Munday, a cad who wakes up one morning sans his, um, well, thingie. I'm uneasy just writing about this.... Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights) has joined the cast of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which begins filming next month in Vancouver. Oh, I'm kidding — they're actually going to Tokyo.
read more
Henry James' classic thriller The Turn of the Screw is being modernized as a feature called The Turning. (Longish titles are so 19th century.)… NBC is turning Peter Berg's Friday Night Lights feature into a weekly drama, but to me, the filmmaker-actor will always be Linda Fiorentino's "designated [you-know-what]" from The Last Seduction.... Catherine Zeta-Jones will play a female Emeril (because playing a male one would have been quite a stretch for her) in the romantic comedy Mostly Martha, which, though it's an adaptation of the German movie by the same title, desperately needs a name change. Zeets, as Miss Piggy and I call her, can be a Mariel or a Margaux or even a Martine. But Martha? No.
read more
