Blog Archives

Dec 27th, 2007.

Dec 20th, 2007.

Dec 13th, 2007.

Dec 6th, 2007.

Nov 29th, 2007.

Nov 22nd, 2007.

Nov 15th, 2007.

Nov 8th, 2007.

Nov 1st, 2007.

Oct 25th, 2007.

Oct 18th, 2007.

Oct 11th, 2007.

Oct 4th, 2007.

Sept 27th, 2007.

Sept 20th, 2007.

 A1 Web Links

tvview.tv - Daily Television Magazine - Primetime TV Listings Guide, News, Reviews, Chat, Blog.

Editor's Blog

 

(January 3rd, 2008 - Editor)          The late night talk shows are back on the air after a two month period of reruns triggered by the strike by The Writers Guild Of America. While the writers remain on the picket line for most of the networks, over at CBS they are enjoying a major competitive advantage, thanks to the smart thinking of David Letterman and his executives at Letterman's company, World Wide Pants. Letterman and company made a deal with The WGA that secured a contract for his writing staff and allowed him to resume production with a full writer's room. At NBC and ABC, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmie Kimmel were forced back on the air without a writing staff in order to try and compete with Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which is also produced by Letterman's company. Comedy Central is also bringing Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert's "The Colbert Report" back to the air on January 7th, with or without an end to the strike.

          I commend David Letterman for the high level of support he has shown for his own writing staff and for the quick resolution to his part of the strike he has enabled with this agreement. While others including Jay Leno have been critical of Letterman for the competitive advantage he will have in his time slot until the resolution of the strike, I can't help but admire Letterman and his production staff for the amazing job they have done for their company, their network and their audience. Time will tell if their quick action will turn into viewers, advertisers and dollars. In a week or so, when the wheels start coming off the wagon on those shows with no writing depth, Letterman could cruise to victory in the late night talk show wars and some very good talk show hosts could have suffered some major damage to their reputation and to their careers in the process.

          Of course the solution is a solution. The producers and the writers need to come back to the table and start talking. Maybe this will help to apply the pressure needed to make that happen.

********************************************************************************************************************************

          Thanks in part to the WGA strike and in part to a general downturn in television revenues, the major networks are bringing out a long list of mid-season replacements, but only a very few of them are the traditional dramas and comedies. The rest are reality shows, game shows and other unscripted, low budget, shows that are designed to reduce the cost of production and fill the gaps created by the lack of new episodes for the few dramas and comedies that are running. Here's some of what's coming for the balance of the television season.

          ABC will debut the drama series "Cashmere Mafia" on Wednesday, January 9th after several previews of the pilot episode in various time slots. Reality series "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny" have been revived on Wednesdays and will join the contest show "Dance War: Bruno Vs. Carrie Ann" on Mondays, the reality show "Oprah's Big Give" will take a time slot on Sundays in March and the drama series "Eli Stone" debuts on Thursdays in February. Performance showcase "Just For Laughs" and the returning comedy series "According To Jim" will fill where needed, mostly on Tuesdays. Popular drama series Lost will arrive on January 31st. "Dancing With The Stars" returns in March along with another version of "The Bachelor".

          NBC will break new ground in television programming this season with the debut of the internet series "quarterlife" on February 18th. The series first debuted on "www.myspace.com" on November 11 and on "www.quarterlife.com" on November 12th, 2007. That same night, look for the reality series "The Baby Borrowers". The new drama "Lipstick Jungle" starring Brooke Shields debuts February 7th. "The Biggest Loser" is back again along with a celebrity version of "The Apprentice". "American Gladiators" have already arrived and the drama series "Medium" makes its season debut on January 7th. Game Show "1 Vs 100" and "Deal Or No Deal" will be distributed here and there as needed, but for the time being, its Howie Mandell on Mondays and Bob Sagett on Fridays. The "Law & Order" series returns in force with the original series debuting on Wednesdays along with resurrected series "L&O: Criminal Intent". "L&O: Special Victims Unit" returns to Tuesday.

          CBS started their second season by bringing back Drew Carey with the game show "The Power Of 10" on January 2nd. The new comedy "Welcome to the Captain" will air on Mondays starting in February. Also for February the network plans Survivor 16 on Thursdays, the return of "The New Adventures Of Old Christine" on Mondays, Jericho on Tuesdays and a winter edition of Big Brother that is currently planned for Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, but may expand even further if the WGA strike continues. The time slot for the game show "Do You Trust Me" will be announced shortly.

          FOX has decided to wait for the other networks to have their run and then let the viewers have new material. The movie spin-off series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" airs Mondays starting February 18th. The game show "Moment Of Truth" debuts on Monday, February 25th. The drama series "New Amsterdam" will debut on Monday, March 10th. Later that week, "The Return Of Jezebel James" debuts on Friday, March 14th. The tough legal series "Canterbury's Law" arrives on April 14th. The last debut of the season will be another version of the reality series "Hell's Kitchen" which will return for another season on April 1st.

 

  -  Editor  -  

 

All Content Copyright © 2007-08 TVVIEW.TV - All rights reserved.