2007 Fall Season Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jason Seaver]

It's that time of year again - the five networks are presenting their new schedules to advertisers this week. I'll be updating this thread with schedules and annoyed rants... er, analysis... as they come out.

SUNDAY

07:00 ABC - America's Funniest Home Videos
07:00 CBS - 60 Minutes
07:00 CW - CW Now
07:00 FOX - The O.T. (Football post-game)
07:00 NBC - Football Night in America

07:30 CW - Online Nation

08:00 ABC - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
08:00 CBS - Viva Laughlin
08:00 CW - Life is Wild
08:00 FOX - The Simpsons
08:00 NBC - Sunday Night Football

08:30 FOX - King of th e Hill

09:00 ABC - Desperate Housewives
09:00 CBS - Cold Case
09:00 CW - America's Next Top Model reruns
09:00 FOX - Family Guy

09:30 FOX - American Dad

10:00 ABC - Brothers & Sisters
10:00 CBS - Shark

MONDAY

08:00 ABC - Dancing with the Stars
08:00 CBS - How I Met Your Mother
08:00 CW - Everybody Hates Chris
08:00 FOX - Prison Break
08:00 NBC - Deal or No Deal

08:30 CBS - The Big Bang Theory
08:30 CW - Aliens in America

09:00 CBS - Two and a Half Men
09:00 CW - Girlfriends
09:00 FOX - K-Ville
09:00 NBC - Heroes

09:30 ABC - Sam I Am
09:30 CBS - Rules of Engagement
09:30 CW - The Game

10:00 ABC - The Bachelor
10:00 CBS - CSI: Miami
10:00 NBC - Journeyman

TUESDAY

08:00 ABC - Cavemen
08:00 CBS - NCIS
08:00 CW - Beauty and the Geek
08:00 FOX - New Amsterdam
08:00 NBC - The Biggest Loser

08:30 ABC - Carpoolers

09:00 ABC - Dancing With the Stars Results Show
09:00 CBS - The Unit
09:00 CW - Reaper
09:00 FOX - House
09:00 NBC - Chuck

10:00 ABC - Boston Legal
10:00 CBS - Cane
10:00 NBC - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

WEDNESDAY

08:00 ABC - Pushing Daisies
08:00 CBS - Kid Nation
09:00 CW - America's Next Top Model
08:00 FOX - Back to You
08:00 NBC - Deal or No Deal

08:30 FOX - 'Til Death

09:00 ABC - Private Practice
09:00 CBS - Criminal Minds
09:00 CW - Gossip Girl
09:00 FOX - Bones
09:00 NBC - Bionic Woman

10:00 ABC - Dirty Sexy Money
10:00 CBS - CSI: New York
10:00 NBC - Life

THURSDAY

08:00 ABC - Ugly Betty
08:00 CBS - Survivor
08:00 CW - Smallville
08:00 FOX - Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
08:00 NBC - My Name Is Earl

08:30 NBC - 30 Rock

09:00 ABC - Grey's Anatomy
09:00 CBS - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
09:00 CW - Supernatural
09:00 FOX - Kitchen Nightmares
09:00 NBC - The Office

09:30 NBC - Scrubs

10:00 ABC - Big Shots
10:00 CBS - Without a Trace
10:00 NBC - ER

FRIDAY

08:00 ABC - Men In Trees
08:00 CBS - Ghost Whisperer
08:00 CW - WWE Smackdown!
08:00 FOX - The Search for the Next Great American Band
08:00 NBC - 1 vs 100 / The Singing Bee

09:00 ABC - Women's Murder Club
09:00 CBS - Moonlight
09:00 FOX - Nashville
09:00 NBC - Las Vegas

10:00 ABC - 20/20
10:00 CBS - Numbers
10:00 NBC - Friday Night Lights

SATURDAY

08:00 ABC - Saturday Night College Football
08:00 CBS - 2 hours o' reruns
08:00 FOX - Cops
08:00 NBC - Dateline NBC

09:00 FOX - America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back
09:00 NBC - 2 hours o' reruns (possibly including Law & Order: Criminal Intent from USA)

10:00 CBS - 48 Hours: Mystery

The Bench

ABC - Cashmere Mafia (Tuesday at 9:00)
ABC - Eli Stone
ABC - Lost
ABC - Miss/Guided
ABC - Notes From The Underbelly (Monday at 9:30, "Sam I Am" to 9:00)
ABC - October Road (Monday at 10:00)
ABC - Oprah's Big Give
ABC - Supernanny
ABC - Wife Swap (Monday at 8:00)

CBS - The Amazing Race
CBS - The New Adventures of Old Christine
CBS - Power of 10 (if successful during summer)
CBS - Swingtown

CW - Crowned: The Mother of all Pageants
CW - Farmer Wants a Wife
CW - One Tree Hill
CW - Pussycat Dolls: The Search for the Next Doll

FOX - American Idol (Tuesday at 8:00 and Wednesday at 9:00; Bones and New Amsterdam to Friday)
FOX - Canterbury's Law (Thursday at 9:00)
FOX - The Return of Jezebel James (Wednesday at 8:30; 'Til Death to 9:30)
FOX - The Rules for Starting Over
FOX - The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Sunday at 9:00; King of the Hill to 7:00, American Dad to 7:30, Family Guy to 8:30)
FOX - 24 (Mondays at at 9:00; K-Ville finishes at 08:00 while Prison Break is on hiatus)

NBC - Heroes: Origins (between Heroes "pods")
NBC - The IT Crowd
NBC - Law & Order (Sundays at 8:00, after football season)
NBC - Lipstick Jungle (Sundays at 10:00, after football season)
NBC - Medium (Sundays at 9:00, after football season)
NBC - World Moves

 

[Jason Seaver]

Not much to complain about with NBC's schedule, other than it not including Studio 60, but I guess the public has spoken on that. --sigh--

The new stuff isn't terribly inspiring. Chuck looks like Jake 3.0, but it's got Adam Baldwin in a supporting role, so I'm there. I've heard great things about the original UK version of The IT Crowd, but it's up in the air as to whether this will be another Office or another Coupling.

The Law & Order situation is weird - it's hard to believe we'll be waiting until January for new episode from the original, barring one of the new series crashing and burning. I also wonder if Criminal Intent will have a shorter order on USA.

Huh, Crossing Jordan is gone. Missed that the first time through. Then again, Bones has been covering a lot of the same territory, only better, lately.

 

[Scott_J]

Friday Night Lights is on Friday at 10? That's insane. First of all, that show has to be on earlier - it's more of an 8:00 show than 10. But since NBC is going with all reality/game shows at 8, there goes that. But Friday night? No one watches TV. The ratings were bad this season for it, it's only going to get worse on Fridays. Way to kill the show, NBC.

I read yesterday it was going to be held off until midseason - obviously not the case. I was hoping they'd put it on Sundays at 7 or 8, which would be an ideal spot for it, after football season.

 

[Chris]

Friday Night Lights on Friday, opposite of the real thing in the fall (High School Football) is DEATH in the states where High School Football is KING. (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, etc.)

On those nights, in small towns, just like the show -everyone- in town is at the damn game, not watching TV. The audience that stays home and doesn't go to the game is likely not the audience that wants to watch the game on TV

 

[Nick Martin]

Crossing Jordan...Damn it.

 

[Malcolm R]

The public has spoken on a lot of NBC's shows, but they're still bringing back most of them. I think S60 was just too expensive.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I can't believe they're moving Friday Night Lights from its slot opposite football to. . .A SLOT OPPOSITE FOOTBALL!!! Are they out of their minds?!?!?!

(The only explanation I can think of is that they assume that people who enjoy football will switch to watching FNL once football season ends.)

 

[Jason Seaver]

Missed Heroes: Origins the first time around. A six-episode spin-off dealing with new characters that will air during one of the hiatuses, with viewers asked to vote online for their favorite character (who will apparently be integrated into the main show during Year 3). That means a total of 30 Heroes-world episodes in all, so it should run pretty solidly from early October to late May without much more than a Christmas break.

As to the Friday Night Lights thing, I guess the old "every show needs a slot and every slot needs a show" thing applies. There do seem to be better spots on the schedule, although I don't know that this one is that bad, depending on who the main audience for the show is. If it's teens, yeah, that's a mistake, but if it's parents, Friday night might make sense. I remember Ed's producers being glad for a Friday night slot, because they felt their show appealed to people in their thirties and forties with kids who thus stayed in on Friday night. Friday Night Lights seems like it might be similar in that respect.

Still, maybe switch it and Las Vegas.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Expectations will likely be lower for FNL on Fridays. It will probably live or die based on how well they hold their Vegas lead-in since NBC seems happy enough with the way that Vegas does on that night.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'll watch/record:

MONDAY
09:00 NBC - Heroes
10:00 NBC - Journeyman - will at least check out a few episode.

TUESDAY
09:00 NBC - Chuck - will at least check out a few episode.

WEDNESDAY
09:00 NBC - Bionic Woman - will at least check out a few episode.

THURSDAY
08:00 NBC - My Name Is Earl
08:30 NBC - 30 Rock
09:00 NBC - The Office
09:30 NBC - Scrubs
10:00 NBC - ER

FRIDAY
09:00 NBC - Las Vegas
10:00 NBC - Friday Night Lights - horrible timeslot

 

[Malcolm R]

All during the past season, the show's supporters seems to be going out of their way to emphasize that "this is not a football show."

If that's true, then the fact that it airs at the same time as real-life HS football would seem irrelevant.

As for NBC's overall schedule. I might begin watching "Heroes" if I like the DVD's of Season 1. Otherwise, nothing of interest. Next!

 

[LarryDavenport]

I guess the bright side is that there will be fewer weeks off fo L&O and medium with Football being on NBC during the Fall.

The story with L&O:CI is that they are getting a full season (22 episodes) over on USA with reruns on NBC on Saturday. Works out well for NBC because even though Universal owns both Networks, NBC gets the rerun discount. It will be interesting to see if the show suffers budget cutbacks. I like alternating between Goren and Logan episodes. Keeps it interesting. I would like to see less "ripped from the headlines" stories though. It makes the writing seem lazy.

For me, I will be watching Heroes, the Thursday night comedies, and Medium & L&O when they come back (and L&O:CI over at USA). I'll record Bionic Woman and watch it if the buzz is good.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

So, if I'm understanding the Heroes: Origins thing correctly, it looks like it's almost like a Heroes anthology show, individual episodes telling their own story about a new character each week. It's a fascinating idea, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Way to kill the show? Any other network wouldn't have renewed it. The timeslot of death is a gift for this critically-acclaimed, cheap-to-produce but unpopular show. Because it's cheap-to-produce, it might actually carve out a niche for itself improving a worthless night for NBC and not wasting otherwise valuable schedule real estate.

Official NBC press release:
http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/
nbcuniversaltelevision-20070514000000-nbcdeliversthequa.html (Original)
http://www.cg-realms.com/NBC_Upfront_Release.pdf (Retrievable PDF format)

I'm going to wait until the big four have announced to figure out my game plan. Whether I watch the new "Bionic Woman" is dependant on whether CBS renews "Jericho", for instance.

 

[Derek Miner]

Don't know if I'm jumping the gun here but Variety is reporting some early news from Fox. The pickups that I'm interested in are Amy Sherman-Palladino's "Return of Jezebel James," "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and the Farrelly Brothers' "Rules for Starting Over."

More here:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR150...goryid=14&cs=1

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

On paper, this is one of the most promising seasons I've seen in years. NBC has a lot of shows I could see myself potentially hooked on. Of the ones mentioned in that Variety article, "K-Ville," "New Amsterdam" and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." All are potentially very interesting. "K-Ville" for the possibility of giving us a glimpse to a world still largely inconcievable to 99% of the rest of the country, "New Amsterdam" for its Highlander overtones, and "Sarah Connor Chronicles" mainly for some of the spoilers I've read about Summer Glau's role as a series regular. The last has a great cast and a great story hook. The only worry would be "Smallville" syndrome; spinning its wheels because it has too much time to cover too little territory.

On the comedy side (where Fox has come up with some really atrocious garbage the last few seasons) things look bound to improve. "Back to You" has two proven sitcom stars and two smart writers as show runners. Chris Lloyd's return to "Frasier" for the final season is credited with returning the show to its former glory. Levitan has worked behind the scenes on decent televison on "Wings", "Larry Sanders", "Frasier", "Just Shoot Me", "Greg the Bunny", and "Stacked". The premise of "...Jezebel James" doesn't thrill me, but the names Amy Sherman-Palladino and Parker Posey do. I was never a "Gilmore Girls" regular but I admired the dialog. I'm sure there's a legion of Sher-Pa fans that will be giddy with anticipation. The Farrelly Brothers can be hit or miss, but I'll probably sample "Rules for Starting Over" just the same.

 

[Chris]

Who knows on ABC, but "George Lopez" show is officially cancelled.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/show...05/post_1.html

And not mentioned in results of the NBC announcement.. the "top rated show on TV" (Apprentice) does not appear on the slate in any form.. midseason replacement or series.

http://www.reuters.com/article/enter...ype=RSS&rpc=22

 

[LarryDavenport]

As far as FOX, I think the only show I watch on it is Bones, which will probably get renewed (if it hasn't already). I would have kept watching Drive, and the Simpson's is so safe I can easily wait for the DVDs.

The shows I'm most concerned about are on CBS and the CW.

CBS: I think Numbers is pretty safe, as is Without a Trace, and I know NCIS is coming back for sure. I won't hold my breath about The Class, but I wish it would come back for one more season because I didn't like how it ended.

My fingers are crossed that How I Met Your Mother will come back, but at least the final episode this season could serve as a bookend to the very first episode.

CW: Fingers are crossed for Supernatural. I like Smallville but only recently started watching it because I like The Green Arrow.

If you don't count shows on BBC America, Sci Fi, Comedy Central, FX, and TNT. NBC makes up about 60% of what shows I watch.

 

[Scott_J]

Of course. But when a network renews a show that barely gets 5 million viewers a week (sometimes less than that), you would think they would do their best to build the show's audience. Moving it to a night that has about half as many viewers as Wednesday is not the way to build an audience. If you're going to renew a low-rated show, you're going to have to risk letting it "waste otherwise valuable schedule real estate" to improve viewership. If you don't want to gain viewers, don't renew the show.

As for the new shows, I'll definitely be checking out Chuck and, when it starts, The IT Crowd (Joel McHale!). I may also give Life and Journeyman a try.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Which makes sense if the show were NBC's primary concern. Winning the night is more important than building an audience. And Wednesday demands far better ratings than Friday does. If FNL is stuck at 5 million viewers, and can maintain most of them on Friday, it's much more valuable on Friday than Wenesday. On Friday, it's shoring up a weak night. On Wednesday, it's dragging down a strong night. It's had all season to build an audience on a strong night.