CW didn’t need to make a lot of changes after a successful (on its terms) season, and it hasn’t.  The network confined its fall moves to 2 nights, opting for stability the rest of the week and keeping 4 additional shows (2 new, 2 returning) for midseason use.  Here are the details: MONDAY:  This […]

  STALKER:  Wednesday 10PM on CBS THE FACTS:  From the grisly mind of The Following‘s Kevin Williamson, a procedural about an LAPD squad that specializes in tracking down dangerous stalkers.  Maggie Q runs the unit, and Dylan McDermott is the cocky new arrival from New York who immediately gets on her wrong side; both of […]

  Conservative CBS is making lots of changes next fall. UPDATED with reactions to trailers, which are available here.     No network preaches the “Everything is just fine in broadcast TV” scripture louder than CBS, but the fact is that its biggest hits (The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, Survivor) are aging, and the network […]

We’ve reached the broadcast networks’ Upfront Week… which used to be a lot more central to our television lives than it is now.  Ratings everywhere are down, and there’s no reason to think they’ve hit bottom, which has caused seismic changes in the ways networks make scheduling decisions.  Among other things, with revenues from on-air […]

  Just a day after NBC announced the end of its Thursday Must-See-TV block of comedies, FOX is breaking up its Animation Domination Sundays with a pair of live-action sitcoms.  There are plenty of changes to the FOX line-up on the way, and here’s a quick breakdown: MONDAY:  Matching the new Batman prequel GOTHAM with […]

  Welcome to Upfronts week, when the broadcast networks (or what’s left of them) announce their Fall schedules and attempt to generate billions of dollars worth of excitement from advertisers.  It’s harder than ever to authoritatively analyze the thought process that goes into a broadcaster’s cancellation, renewal and pick-up decisions, because network ad revenues directly […]

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. MOM:  Monday 9:30PM on CBS starting Sept. 23 – Worth A Look The Chuck Lorre sitcom machine is a major reason that CBS is the most successful of the Big Four networks.  The Big Bang Theory is the biggest scripted hit on broadcast television, and while 2 […]

  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:  […]