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Thursday, May 17, 2007
CW network aims for hip with gossip, devilish drama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One year after cobbling together a lineup from mostly old and borrowed programming, the CW changed its tune Thursday. The network, a combination of the old WB and UPN, announced a 2007-08 schedule that includes six new shows. Much of its lineup is aimed at young, hip viewers.
Only one series is purposely getting “older,” and it wasn’t the one nearly everyone expected. Veteran drama “One Tree Hill” will return in early 2008 with the story line magically advanced by four years and the major characters having graduated from college. Ironically, that was one scenario that the producers of “Veronica Mars” were tinkering with in hopes of extending the life of the low-rated, cult-hit drama about a coed who’s also a private investigator. Instead, “Mars” was canceled.
So, goodbye girl detective, hello “Gossip Girl.” Based on the popular young adult novels about teens at a posh Manhattan prep school, that catty drama will air at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, after “America’s Next Top Model.” On Tuesdays, it’s “Reaper,” a “devilish new drama” about a 21-year-old slacker who learns his parents accidentally sold his soul to the devil (“24’s” Ray Wise) before he was born.
Monday’s comedy lineup will largely remain intact, although “All of Us,” is gone. In its place comes “Aliens in America,” a potentially provocative sitcom about a 16-year-old boy whose family hosts an exchange student — who turns out to be a Pakistani Muslim. It will air at 8:30 p.m., right after “Everybody Hates Chris,” where co-creator/executive producer/narrator Chris Rock will make his first-ever guest appearance.
Other developments:
• “CW Now,” a lifestyle and celebrity gossip magazine show, and “Online Nation,” a show devoted to Web videos, will air 7-8 p.m. Sundays. They’ll be followed by “Life Is Wild,” a new family drama filmed entirely in South Africa.
• The nation’s moral fiber remains secure: “Friday Night Smackdown!” returns for two hours every Friday. And come midyear, there’ll be a second season of “Pussycat Dolls Present.”
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Fox spins off ‘Idol,’ revs up new season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Move over “American Idol.” Fox has decided to add some more big names to its airwaves — including another version of “American Idol.” Almost.
“What ‘American Idol’ did for individuals, ‘The Search for the Next Great American Band’ will do for musical groups,” Fox trumpeted Thursday about the new reality show from “Idol’s” producers. Scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Fridays, it’s one of 10 new shows coming from Fox in the 2007-08 season.
Six will debut in the fall, when Fox has to work around schedule disruptions caused by its Major League Baseball postseason games. Most intriguing, perhaps, is “K-ville,” a police drama set in New Orleans two years after Hurricane Katrina, when the city is still in chaos and many cops have quit the force. Starring Anthony Anderson (“The Shield”), it will air at 9 p.m. Mondays, after “Prison Break.” And feature film director Lasse Hallström is the executive producer of “New Amsterdam,” a new drama about a New York homicide detective with a big secret: He is immortal.
More traditionally, “Back to You” reunites stars of two of the longest-running, most successful sitcoms in recent years. Kelsey Grammer (“Frasier”) and Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) star as former TV news co-anchors with conflicting personalities who are forced to re-team on- and off the air. It will air at 8 p.m. Wednesdays, leading into “‘Til Death,” the sitcom starring Heaton’s “Raymond” castmate, Brad Garrett. Despite a poor debut last fall, Fox renewed “Death” Thursday largely because its ratings improved this winter when it was given a prime post-“Idol” slot.
The four other new shows will premiere in early 2008, when Fox can be heavily promoted during its airing of the Super Bowl and the return of “Idol.” Two sitcoms have big-name producers: “The Return of Jezebel James,” created by “Gilmore Girls” mastermind Amy Sherman-Palladino, stars Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”) as estranged sisters who reunite so one can carry the other’s baby. And movie madmen the Farrelly brothers (“There’s Something About Mary”) are producing “The Rules for Starting Over,” about newly single friends starting their personal lives over in their 30s. It stars Craig Bierko and Rashida Jones, lately of “The Office.” Looks like she’s leaving Dunder Mifflin.
Other Fox developments:
• Emmy winner Julianna Margulies (“ER”) will star as a rebellious defense attorney in “Canterbury’s Law,” debuting in January.
• The popular female character from the “Terminator” movies gets her own show. “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is set to debut next spring, following Fox’s animated comedy block on Sundays.
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