Variety reports that Sara Gilbert (Twins, Roseanne) and Maulik Pancholy (Weeds) have joined the ABC pilot Girls on the Bus, about reporters covering a political campaign.... The Hollywood Reporter has Jessica Lucas (She's the Man) and Alona Tal (Veronica Mars) scoring roles on CW's Split Decision, Karen LeBlanc joining CW's Runaway, and John Ducey and Colby Paul getting cast on Fox's Union Jackass. (Am I allowed to say "jackass" here? In a non-K-Fed story?)
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Kevin James, The King of Queens
This week the networks began meeting with ad-agency execs to talk about what's in development for the 2006-07 season. That means it's time for producers of current shows with less-than-robust ratings to start worrying about getting picked up for next season. Here's what industry insiders are telling the Biz.
ABC: The network's comedies are having a tough year in the ratings, but you can't cancel all of them. Rodney, Hope & Faith, Crumbs and Less than Perfect aren't likely to make the cut. According to Jim, George Lopez and Freddie have a chance of returning. Since ABC has two more hours to program in the fall now that football has moved to NBC, shows that would otherwise be doomed have a chance. We're talking Invasion and Commander in Chief. Their survival depends on the strength of the network's new-program development.
CBS: Another season of The King of Queens depends on whether the n
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Question: WB's Twins — staying or going?
Answer: Going.
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I've got disappointing news for all those Ask Ausiello readers who weighed in on who should play Veronica Mars’ Aaron Echolls in my Armchair Casting Director challenge. Over the weekend, exec producer Rob Thomas informed me that he's "$100,000 over budget on that episode and we're losing the role." Damn budgets! I'll have more on this in Wednesday's AA. In the meantime, here's some Twins scoop to cheer you up! Nick Lachey has been cast as the new marketing director of Arnold Undergarments, the lingerie company run by Darlene Conner and that blonde chick from Passions. As of now, the burned Newlywed is only booked for one episode during February sweeps, but producers are hoping he'll do more. Kinda takes the sting outta that whole Armchair Casti
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Question: I know that I may be in a minority here, but I'm really enjoying Twins! Any chance of the show getting picked up for a full season? And if not, do you think Melanie Griffith will do Gilmore Girls like she was supposed to last year?
Answer: Earlier this week, WB confirmed that Twins was given a back-order to fill out the season, albeit (for business reasons) only for five additional episodes. Still, that doesn't mean that Twins is going away anytime soon. And that also means that Melanie isn't likely to be popping up in Stars Hollow in the near future — but really, isn't that for the best ...
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WB has upped the episode orders for the freshmen series Related and Twins to 19 and 18, respectively, using the mathematical formula of "one episode for each 100 viewers."
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Question: What do you think of the major changes WB has made to its schedule? Moving Related to the post-7th Heaven slot makes sense, but what are they thinking when they show reruns after One Tree Hill? It seems like that would make a bad situation worse. I'm also confused by the changes on Fridays. I understand trying to find an audience for Twins by moving it after Reba, but why chuck Living with Fran and show a repeat of What I Like About You? As much as I enjoy What I Like About You, it is the network's lowest-rated comedy, and I don't see how showing it twice would help anything at all. Please help me make sense of all of this.
Answer: Thanks for reminding me that What I Like About You is still on the air. Who knew? And when it comes to WB's double-runs, you left out Supernatural repeats airing after Charmed on Sundays (replacing Blue Collar TV). The reason for most of these changes is simply a matter of cutting their losses until it's time for another try come mid-season. When a
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WB has benched for the time being both Living with Fran and Blue Collar TV, although both shows will remain in production. Melanie Griffith's Twins (the show, people) will take over Fran's slot, while an encore airing of Supernatural will be offered up to the 17 people who were choosing Blue Collar over the Housewives on Sunday at 9.
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Question: Will Sara Gilbert still be seen as much on ER now that she's one of the stars of the new WB Twins (although I don't know how that show will last — it's pretty poor in my opinion)?
Answer: Must be a theme of today's column. Twins doesn't have to do that well to survive on WB's Friday comedy lineup, but as long as it lasts (and I'm with you that it's not a keeper), Sara won't be showing up at County General. A studio rep confirmed for me that her scenes on the first episode of ER's new season were shot at the end of last season, before her sitcom got picked up ...
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Remember when there was a new Darren on Bewitched? How about when Chris on The Partridge Family changed? Then there was a new Steven on Dynasty and, of course, a new Becky on Roseanne (and then back to the old). Now we have a new Alex on ER. Alex, just to remind you, is Samantha's diabetic son, and he's now being played by Dominic Janes. Maybe Oliver Davis had to do full-time work on Rodney? Anyway, I noticed it right away, even though at first they were using clever camera work so he was only seen from far away. I laughed when the detective told Sam (after Alex's photo was distributed): "Nobody recognized your son." Of course they didn't; he's being played by someone else. Glad for Sam's sake that she finally found him and that he's OK. But her journey getting to the missing Alex included a scene that brought back nasty memories for me. I must admit that I once fell asleep at the wheel — not a pretty time in my history.
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