FOREVER:  Tuesday 10PM on ABC THE FACTS:  Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) is a brilliant New York medical examiner who can solve any murder.  Partly that’s because he has a lot of experience with death, since he himself has (temporarily) died many times–when he falls out a window, is poisoned or hit by a […]

  CBS doesn’t typically cultivate daring in its fall schedules, but this year it’s making one exception.  Here’s a quick look (new shows are in ALL CAPS, new timeslots are in italics): MONDAY Sept-Oct 8PM:  The Big Bang Theory 8:30PM:  LIFE IN PIECES Nov 8PM:  SUPERGIRL 9PM:  Scorpion 10PM:  NCIS: LA Running Supergirl against Gotham isn’t as […]

  The Television Critics Association gatherings are taking place over the next few weeks, which means a steady flow of scheduling updates amidst the press conferences promoting upcoming shows.  Today was HBO’s day at the podium, and its major announcement was that the upcoming 5th season of BOARDWALK EMPIRE will be its final one, likely […]

  After a bit of down-to-the-wire negotiating, ABC and Lionsgate have come to an agreement for a Season 3 renewal of NASHVILLE, although details are not yet clear, including just how many episodes have been ordered (ABC had been pushing for 13, while Lionsgate wanted the traditional 22). The last few bubble shows apparently dealing […]

  THE MCCARTHYS:  Thursday 9:30PM on CBS THE FACTS:  Ronnie McCarthy (Jake Lacy) is part of a lovingly smothering Boston Irish-Catholic family, who are just fine with him being gay but embarrass him at every turn anyway.  The series was created by Brian Gallivan, a relative newbie, so the showrunner will be Mike Sikowitz, of […]

  AMERICAN IDOL used to be the school bully; now it cringes in the network equivalent of the assistant principal’s office.  FOX announced today that as of March 13, Idol is fleeing its Big Bang Theory competition and shifting to 9PM on Thursdays, where on March 27 (as previously announced) it will shrink to half […]

  MULANEY:  Sunday 9:30PM on FOX THE FACTS:  John Mulaney, in real life a stand-up comic and TV comedy writer (most notably on SNL, where his biggest claim to fame may be co-creating Bill Hader’s Stefon character), plays one in the sitcom he created for himself, too.  His TV show boss is Martin Short, and […]

  The network averages for last week are significant because they represent a full week of sweeps programming, which means reruns were at a minimum and some stunting (although not a tremendous amount of it: a Chicago Fire/PD crossover here, the IHeartRadio Music Awards there) boosted the numbers.  In other words, barring really big events […]