CBS continues to trickle out its new series orders, and the latest to be announced is the sitcom FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES, about friends who each envy the others, with a cast that includes James Van Der Beek, Brooklyn Decker (surprisingly funny last season on The League) and Whitney survivor Zoe Lister-Jones.  It’s written […]

  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 […]

  See Also:  THE SKED’s Pre-Upfront Projected NBC Fall 2013 Schedule                  THE SKED’s Pre-Upfront Projected FOX Fall 2013 Schedule                  THE SKED’s Pre-Upfront Projected ABC Fall 2013 Schedule                  THE SKED’s Pre-Upfront Projected CBS Fall 2013 Schedule   CW (pardon, “The” CW) is technically a broadcast network–and technically is the correct term, because […]

  NBC’s trailers for its fall series continue.  Next up:  the sitcom WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, featuring Mike O’Malley and Mary McCormick as a couple whose teen daughter falls in love with (and gets pregnant by) the valedictorian son of a Latino family, forcing them to all get to know each other. NBC’s journey down […]

  MADAM SECRETARY:  Sunday 8PM on CBS THE FACTS:  Tea Leoni plays Elizabeth McCord, a college professor and former CIA analyst unexpectedly named by the President (Keith Carradine)–who used to be her boss at the CIA–as his new Secretary of State.  She battles with his Chief of Staff (Zeljko Ivanek), and her plainspoken style doesn’t […]

  See Also:  THE SKED’s Pre-Upfront Projected NBC Fall 2013 Schedule We’re continuing with SHOWBUZZDAILY‘s versions of the Fall 2013 network schedules, which may or may not reflect what the networks will actually announce at their Upfront presentations the week of May 13  These schedules, as usual, were put together by Mitch Metcalf and myself, […]

  Currently TBD on the FOX schedule is US & THEM, an adaptation of the well-liked British comedy Gavin & Stacey.  It stars the also well-liked Jason Ritter and Alexis Bledel as co-workers from different branches of the same company who finally meet and have to overcome the challenge of their wildly eccentric parents and […]

  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 […]