ABC has finally joined its brethren and announced the rollout of its fall schedule.  Although the majority of its shows will premiere during the official September 23-29 opening week, some series will start before and after that. MONDAY SEPT 16 8PM:           Dancing With the Stars FRIDAY SEPT 20 8PM:           Last Man Standing 8:30PM:      The […]

  ABC wraps up its all-new Tuesday night with LUCKY 7, a wish-fulfillment (and probably a “be careful what you wish for”) drama about a group of 7 blue-collar workers at a Queens gas station who hit the lottery for $45M.  It’s set to air against Chicago Fire on NBC and whatever CBS is planning […]

  CRISTELA:  Friday 8:30PM on ABC THE FACTS:  The Hollywood American Dream:  Cristela Alonzo is a Latina comic who wrote (with Kevin Hench) a family comedy pilot script loosely inspired by her own life, about a young woman living with her sister and brother-in-law as she tries to become a lawyer.  ABC passed on the […]

  Wasting no time, NBC has already issued the promo for its fall Monday 10PM drama THE BLACKLIST: At first glance, it appears to be a mash-up of 24 and Silence of the Lambs, with James Spader as the show’s ersatz Hannibal Lecter, with his own Clarice Starling-ish inexperienced FBI agent as his confidante (there’s […]

  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 […]

  THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA:  Wednesday 8PM on NBC THE FACTS:  Laura Diamond (Debra Messing) is an NYPD homicide detective who also has to juggle her responsibilities to her young twin sons and her issues with her estranged cop husband (Josh Lucas).  The series creator is Jeff Rake, a veteran writer/producer (everything from The Practice […]

  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 […]

  NBC has kept a lot of is pieces in place, but also made some significant changes for next season, especially on its once-signature Thursday night.  Let’s dig in. MONDAY:  No surprise that THE VOICE is staying where it is, but 10PM is a risk.  NBC will keep THE BLACKLIST there only until November 10, […]