SCORPION:  Monday 9PM on CBS starting – Worth A Look PLAYERS:  The real-life hacker Walter O’Brien, on whose adventures Scorpion is (very loosely) based–and who is also an Executive Producer on the show.  Series creator Nick Santora, who created Breakout Kings and was a writer/producer on Prison Break.  Pilot director Justin Lin.  An ensemble […]

  NBC has perfected the art of releasing bits of information each day throughout pre-Upfront week, and today’s nuggets introduced a trio of additional new sitcoms.  It appears that at least 2 of these will be given small midseason runs of 6 episodes to see if they catch anyone’s fancy before potentially expanding. MISSION CONTROL:  […]

  Other Nielsenwar Network Report Cards:  ABC, FOX, NBC Tried and True is starting to look more tried. Full Season To Date (thru May 3) 18-49 Rating Average:  1.81 (down 4.1% from last season)–note, however, that last season didn’t include Thursday Night Football. Grade:  B What Happened: Sunday:  Madam Secretary and The Good Wife are […]

  HIEROGLYPH:  Midseason TBD on FOX THE FACTS:  Ancient Egyptian fantasy-adventure, given a direct-to-series order by FOX.  The series creator is Travis Beacham, a screenwriter of Pacific Rim and the remake of Clash of the Titans, and let’s pretend that’s something to boast about. WHAT IT’S SAYING:  There will be mystery, magic, palace intrigue and […]

  The rest of the week:  Monday,  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Saturday primetime network schedule, such as it is, isn’t worth much attention, being a patchwork of reruns and sports (although we will include estimates for that night in our full-week network projections).  That brings us to Sunday, once the showcase night for […]

  With the need to replace The Colbert Report now that its host will be leaving for network pastures when his contract expires at the end of 2014, and knowing that since that show is built entirely around Stephen Colbert’s particular character, the new series would necessarily be very different, Comedy Central had a very […]

  Once again, CW demonstrated that it operates under different economics than the other broadcast networks.  Much of its revenue comes from episodes streamed online via Netflix and Hulu, which makes sometimes puny on-air ratings acceptable.  Also, virtually everything it airs is produced by one of its in-house studios, Warner Bros Television or CBS Television […]

  ABC, unlike all the other networks, didn’t renew all its sure-thing returning shows weeks ago, so it had a lot to announce today.  Most of these aren’t surprising, but the following series will be back next season:  SCANDAL, GREY’S ANATOMY, MODERN FAMILY, ONCE UPON A TIME, RESURRECTION, REVENGE, CASTLE, AGENTS OF SHIELD, THE GOLDBERGS, […]