The pick-ups are mostly done, so today was a time for the networks to clean up after themselves with some decisions on existing shows: NBC canceled DRACULA and remains in negotiations on PARENTHOOD, with the big issue reportedly the network’s desire not just to order an abbreviated 13-episode season, but to guarantee each cast […]

  NBC picked up a handful of shows yesterday, but that was just the first installment, as an additional trio of new shows have been announced so far today.  2 are dramas and the other a comedy, and interestingly, all hail from Warner Bros Television. DRAMAS MYSTERIES OF LAURA:  NBC wasn’t out of the Debra […]

  We’re continuing our look through FOX’s fall trailers with SLEEPY HOLLOW, which will hold the Monday 9PM slot until The Following takes it back at midseason.  It comes from genre specialists Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, and here’s the promo: http://youtu.be/oFOEzR9zgUo Sleepy Hollow has a bit of a second-hand feel, as though tropes from […]

  We’re continuing our look at NBC’s crop of trailers for its fall shows (apart from The Blacklist, the network doesn’t seem to be releasing pieces for its midseason series right now), and next up is the return of a TV icon (for those who were watching TV in 1967):  IRONSIDE. What becomes increasingly clear […]

  NBC’s one slightly surprising choice for the fall schedule was DRACULA, not because it doesn’t fit with its Grimm lead-in, but just that its straight-to-series order had been somewhat under the radar in the bustle of pilot season.  NBC’s trailer provides our first glimpse. “Teaser” may be a better word for the piece, since […]

  CBS was, for the most part, very CBS in its choice of new series for next season, with a pair of spin-offs, some additional procedurals, one retread sitcom and another that fits right into the network’s multi-camera family comedy sweet spot.  The biggest surprise was the omission, at least for now, of How I […]

  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 our commentary on the NBC fall schedule here. FOX had a terrible 2016-17 season (blurred a bit by airing the Super Bowl and a historic World Series).  The closest thing it had to a new hit was Lethal Weapon, and it watched in horror as Empire plunged in the ratings with unprecedented speed.  The network’s fall schedule […]