No name has more cachet at CBS than Chuck Lorre’s.  He’s given the network The Big Bang Theory, 2 1/2 Men and Mike & Molly, and hopes are high that his MOM, taking over the Monday 9:30PM timeslot this fall, can join those at the top of the ratings heap.  The network’s behind-the-scenes featurette, […]

  The biggest surprise from CW wasn’t any one of its pilot orders–it was the decision to renew THE CARRIE DIARIES, a show that showed little ratings promise in its first season.  Apparently the explanation is that the series does very well on Hulu, and rates strongly with the younger segment of CW’s female demo.  […]

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 […]

  GALAVANT:  Winter-ish Sunday 8PM on ABC THE FACTS:  A fairy tale musical comedy from Dan Fogelman, the creator of the late, lamented (by some of us) The Neighbors, with an original score by multiple Oscar-winner Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.  It tells the tale of Prince Galavant, whose true love left him for the […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

  FOX’s most highly-touted drama pilot the entire development season was RAKE, which is indeed on the air.  The price of scoring Greg Kinnear as a lead (much as it had been last year with Kevin Bacon) is that he would only commit to a limited number of episodes, so the show will air on […]

  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 […]