February sweeps is still a few hours away from its conclusion, but the end of the 2012/13 television season is just around the corner, and the launch of TV’s summer season instantly follows. Summer, which used to be a sleepy time in TV land, is now crammed with fresh cable and (still to a lesser extent) broadcast programming, and here are a few scheduling notes:
CW is the first network to announce its slate of season finales. Most of the network’s line-up will finish in their usual timeslots during the week of May 13-17, but HART OF DIXIE concludes a week earlier, on Tuesday May 7, and THE CARRIE DIARIES, which had a short order, ends its shaky run on Monday April 8.
ABC, for its part, has unveiled the first part of its summer season. The annual return of THE BACHELORETTE will start on Monday May 20. A week later, on May 27, the scripted drama MISTRESSES, which was always intended as summer programming despite a cast headed by Alyssa Milano, makes its debut.
The clearest recent example of a network losing enthusiasm for an initially high-powered (and expensive) project is FOX’s sitcom THE GOODWIN GAMES. Despite a pedigree that included series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas of How I Met Your Mother fame, as well as stars Scott Foley and Becki Newton, FOX seemed antsy about Goodwin almost from the moment it was ordered at last May’s upfronts, replacing most of the cast apart from the 2 stars and relegating it to midseason. Later the 13-episode order was reduced to 7, and that was clearly the network cutting its losses. Now the show has been pushed out of the regular season entirely, and will air as a summer series starting Monday May 20, while reports have cast members taking other commitments for next season.
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