Now that the dust has settled a bit on all the 2006 mid-season changes that will be kicking in as soon as the holidays are over, here's my night-by-night scorecard of the imminent battles we'll be covering a month or so from now.
Monday
The big news is the return of 24 on Fox, with a four-hour blast January 15-16, followed by all-new episodes through the rest of the season. For the first two months, Skating with Celebrities (a rip-off of Dancing with the Stars) will be 24's lead-in. But come mid-March, Prison Break will return. What a one-two punch that promises to be!
CBS will coast along by capping off its popular comedies with
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At the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., CBS teased an upcoming miniseries about Pope John Paul II, from the producers of the net's 2000 Jesus. "I read the first night [script] and it's like a papal page-turner," says CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. "It's a very exciting story. He's a great character." Pope John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyla, will be played by Cary Elwes — who was an absolute riot in The Princess Bride, so I'm psyched! — and, in his later years, by Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings).
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