facebook_pixel Press "Enter" to skip to content

Looking to start your TV writing journey?

Posts tagged as “Guest Post”

The CW 2010: It’s for dudes too

The CW 2010: It’s for dudes too

For my first blog back on A TV Calling 2.0, I will try to continue the trend talking about what teenagers like, to Alex’s great dismay.

And what they (seem to) like is The CW. Born from the merger of The WB and UPN, The CW is equally the property of Time Warner and CBS Entertainment. All of their pilots in development are produced by both their production arms, Warner Bros. TV and CBS Paramount TV. Problem is, since fall of 2006, the netlet barely produced an original hit, focusing on the sure bets of both the WB and UPN. So, it carried the last seasons of “Gilmore Girls”, “Everybody Hates Chris”, “7th Heaven”.

The only sure-fire hit born under the CW banner is “Gossip Girl”. And one can argue that this show is mainly watched by female teenagers. And yes, this season has brought us “The Vampire Diaries”, who is also targeting the same female viewership, and whose showrunners’ mission is to try and not resemble “Twilight” too much. If you think I’m joking, go read this Paley Festival recap.


But for this fourth season on air, both those hits can be attributed to luck, and hide a network who has trouble expanding the soap-opera fare, and more crucially, beyond female viewers. It brought back “90210” last year and “Melrose Place” this year, but the scandal-ridden storylines barely mesmerized viewers. One is struggling in its second season, and suffered a showrunner switch in the middle of the first season, and the other returned last week to catastrophic ratings. It’s not expected to make it past this season, a shame when you know the original series lasted seven seasons.

So Dawn Ostroff, The CW’s President of Entertainment, decided to take drastic measures: having male viewers back to The CW. What better than a highly-trained female assassin played by the cutie from Die Hard 4? Yep, “La Femme Nikita” is about to be resurrected with Maggie Q as the lead. And Lyndsy Fonseca (“Desperate Housewives”, the upcoming “Kick-Ass”) is to play her hunter, a 19-year old felon that makes a deal with a secret organization (what else?) to escape a lengthy prison sentence. It sounds good and all, but don’t forget that they can make it lighter, a la “Alias”, than the original USA Network show. But ass-kicking females playing cat and mouse is sure to bring back boys to the yard.


Another pilot, still untitled and penned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, centers on a hunky horse trainer that becomes the patriarch of his parent’s Wyoming ranch after the parents die. And “Nomads”, produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, features globetrotters working undercover missions for the CIA. This last one sounds more FOX-like than CW-like. But it’s all about finding a hit outside their comfort zone, or this could spell the end of Dawn Ostroff’s tenure of the netlet.
Or it could be just a bluff move, where none of the shows are picked up and Ostroff’s people decide to go with companion shows to “Vampire Diaries”, like “Betwixt”, or “Grey’s Anatomy”-lite like “HMS” (Harvard Medical School).

NBC programming keeps going down South

NBC programming keeps going down South

So, I woke up this morning with another news that symbolized the continued downfall of the Peacock network.

“Southland” has been cancelled after a quick run in the spring, and while it was scheduled to return in the Friday slot of death in just 2 weeks.

Today, TV commenters are dumbfounded by the decision, which was prompted, according to sources, by a content deemed “too gritty” for 9 p.m. viewers. Some people call it “the first casualty of Jay Leno”; others “the end of NBC’s commitment to excellence in drama”. They’re absolutely right. But I also think it shows tragic misdirection in NBC’s management of their development slate.

“Southland” premiered in the Thursday slot left vacant by “ER”, which was run by John Wells, who also produces this show. The ratings were surprisingly solid, which was seen as a “tour de force” in an otherwise bleak season. But, as we all know, Jay Leno would take all the 10 p.m. slots in the fall. NBC sure wanted to stay in business with Wells, so they decided to renew the show, but put it on Fridays at 9.

Usually, if a show had a gritty content, execs would ask to lighten up the tone of the stories somewhat. Not the case here: they waited until six episodes were completed, and decided it was inappropriate to show on Fridays. This comes after news that Amaury Nolasco was leaving the show, the premiere was pushed back a month…

And there was still a slot on Sundays at 10 pm on midseason.

Oh, wait. That’s “The Apprentice” time.

As we all know, apart from “Law and Order SVU” and its comedy block (with modest ratings compared to the Must-See TV days), nobody even bothers watching the fiction programming anymore. “The Biggest Loser” apparently does fine, and, coming October, “Dateline NBC” will do fine….especially for NBC, who produces the program in-house rather than buying an expensive and “dark” John Wells production for a hefty price tag.

Nikki Finke also reported that “Trauma” could be next to face the axe, with less than 6 million viewers. Barely surprising. And I also bet that the new JJ Abrams project, as well as a few other shows, will be fast-tracked for midseason, once all the drama slates are left vacant.

In conclusion, an interesting analysis from a NPR specialist.

This day in TV news

Alright, folks. So, since Lex is working on something special, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on recent TV developments.

As you may know, ABC has launched last week a new block of comedies, with really strong ratings and favorable reviews. At least, for the 2 that aired last week, and the ones ABC put the most marketing moolah on: “Modern Family” and “Cougar Town”, with Courteney Cox. But, as the remaining 2 premiere tonight, critics are less than favorable.

“Hank” and “The Middle” both star the leads of FOX cancelled sitcom of 2007-2008, “Back To You”: Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Though it seems that “The Middle” is a carefully subtle rehash of “Malcolm in The Middle”, though with more Janitor, critics have it in for “Hank”, starring Grammer as a fired CEO who tries to bounce back.

As it stands, the show may very well suck, though it can still improve from the pilot, if the audience gives it some slack (and don’t tune out). But one baffling review came from Tim Goodman, from SF Gate:

What makes no sense about “Hank” – beyond the fact that it even exists – is that the sitcom is an old-school, multicamera affair with that intrusive laugh track. The three sitcoms that follow it are all single-camera comedies with no laugh track. “Hank” sticks out – and not in a good way.

OK, first of all, who put into the critics’ brain this moronic idea that multicamera sitcoms are “old-school”? Almost all of CBS comedy block are multicamera, and they are among the most-watched shows on network television. Moreover, with “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Big Bang Theory”, CBS makes the impossible weekly: attracting younger viewers every Monday. Now, Becky, 15, from Illinois, will rather watch Ted, Barney and Robin than Heroes season 4. And laugh track never was the matter. The matter should be whether the show is funny or not. If “Hank” has to stick out like a sore thumb out of ABC’s comedy block, it will be because it’s just not funny. Not because a so-called 1987 way of shooting a sitcom.

In other comedy news, BBC2 and Showtime announced a new partnership to produce a 6-episode series called “Episodes”. Apparently, it revolves around a couple of Brits whose comedy creation gets adapted for the American market. Behind it are David Crane (one of the creators of “Friends” and “The Class”) and one of the “Mad About You” producers. And it’s starring….Matt LeBlanc. Yup, Joey from “Friends” in a dumbed-down version of himself.

OK. There’s so much to process from this news, where do I get started.

1) So, what’s the idea for Showtime? Get its own version of “Entourage” or its own version of “Extras”? Hollywood satire can be plain boring. Or bland, as can attest the 6 seasons already produced of “Entourage”. (Just a personal opinion here.)

2)Out of all the “Friends”, you pass on Matthew “Motherfucking” Perry but settle for Matt LeBlanc? What is wrong with you?

3) In a weird case of art-imitating-life, no less than three UK sitcoms were adapted into American pilots in the past season: “The IT Crowd”, for NBC, with David Guarascio and Moses Port from “Aliens In America”…uh…fame?; “Absolutely Fabulous”, and “Spaced”, both for FOX. The latter two were welcomed with nails-on-chalkboard reactions from the original fans.

4)Will the show revolve around adapting a British settling into an American joke, with very different writing and boundaries? And if so, how is it a great idea?

5)Earlier this year, Showtime passed on ALL of its pilots in contention. And they decide to restart their development slate with THIS?!?

That’s all for today.