Friday, April 11, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
NBC Upfronts: Office Spins Off; Scrubs Scrubbed
A fresh crop of cubemates are headed for the small screen.
NBC officially greenlighted its long-rumored (and not a particularly well-received rumor at that) spinoff of The Office during its annual upfront conference in New York Wednesday.
Scarce details are known about the Dundler-Mifflin redux, including whether the new series will in any way be connected to the folks in the Scranton branch, whether any of the current Office workers will cross over or whether it will be just be a faux-documentary workplace format that the two shows share.
Before the strike, NBC had been working on a special episode of The Office that would serve, much like Grey's Anatomy did for Private Practice, as a backdoor pilot for the new series.
As promised/threatened earlier this year, NBC is limiting its order for high-priced pilots, pushing as many new shows as it can directly into series production. The Office spinoff will be one of the first shows to follow the model, bypassing any formal pilot.
The spinoff will get a massive midseason push in 2009, as it is tentatively slated to debut following NBC's Feb. 1 broadcast of the Super Bowl.
NBC unveiled the plan during its upfront (or, as Peacock boss Ben Silverman called the scaled-back affair, an "infront") presentation, held a full six weeks ahead of the other networks' scheduled presentations.
Along with news of The Office spinoff, NBC also announced that still-strong Steve Carell-led original series will return with hourlong episodes for the month of September.
In October, in order to eke the most entertainment value possible out of the upcoming presidential election, Saturday Night Live will be making regular, and temporary, weeknight appearances.
SNL Thursday Night Live, a live half-hour of politically themed sketches revolving around electoral shenanigans, will follow The Office for four weeks.
NBC announced four new series for its fall lineup.
The Knight Rider action remake, produced by Doug Liman, will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m.; the drama My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater as a suburban man leading a double life as a spy, will air Mondays at 10 p.m.; the sitcom Kath & Kim, with the slightly unusual pairing of Molly Shannon and Selma Blair, is set for Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m.; and Crusoe, a modern update of the adventure story, will air Fridays at 8 p.m.
Another new show, Merlin, will debut in the midseason.
Also coming back: Heroes, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Medium, My Name Is Earl and 30 Rock, with the network revealing that Matthew Broderick will appear in the season finale of the Tina Fey-fronted show.
As expected, ER is returning, with Noah Wyle back for the ride in the venerable hospital drama's 15tt and final go-round.
Friday Night Lights was also granted a reprieve, though will not return until the winter.
And freshman shows Chuck, Life and Lipstick Jungle are matriculating to a sophomore season.
Among the reality shows getting reupped for the fall: Celebrity Apprentice, Deal or No Deal and The Biggest Loser. America's Got Talent, American Gladiators and Most Outrageous Moments will anchor the summer slate, joined by new unscripted fare The Chopping Block (a cooking show) and Shark Taggers.
MIA from the schedule: Scrubs, which is expected to move to ABC.
As for that other long-reported spinoff, Heroes: Origins, it continues to be shelved by the network, not appearing on its lineup for the fall, winter or summer seasons.
As it is, programming for all three seasons was unveiled as part of NBC's new "52 week strategy" designed to ensure new programming year-round, and also allow a better, more complete scheduling picture to help advertisers plan their media strategies for the entire year.
Here's NBC's complete prime-time schedule for fall 2008:
MONDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Chuck • 9-10 p.m. Heroes • 10-11 p.m. My Own Worst Enemy
TUESDAY
• 8-9:30 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Families • 9:30-10 p.m. Kath & Kim • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit
WEDNESDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Knight Rider • 9-10 p.m. Deal or No Deal • 10-11 p.m. Lipstick Jungle
THURSDAY
• 8-8:30 p.m. My Name Is Earl • 8:30-9 p.m. 30 Rock • 9-9:30 p.m. The Office • 9:30-10 p.m. The Office/SNL Thursday Night Live • 10-11 p.m. ER
FRIDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Crusoe • 9-10 p.m. Deal or No Deal • 10-11 p.m. Life
SATURDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Dateline NBC • 9-10 p.m. Knight Rider • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit
SUNDAY
• 7-8:20 p.m. Football Night in America • 8:20-11 p.m. NBC Sunday Night Football
NBC's prime-time schedule for winter 2009:
MONDAY
• 8- 9 p.m. Chuck • 9-10 p.m. Heroes • 10-11 p.m. The Philanthropist
TUESDAY
• 8- 9:30 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Couples • 9:30-10 p.m. Kath & Kim • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
WEDNESDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Knight Rider • 9-10 p.m. Deal or No Deal • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order
THURSDAY
• 8-8:30 p.m. My Name Is Earl • 8:30-9 p.m. 30 Rock • 9- 9:30 p.m. The Office • 9:30-10 p.m. The Office Spinoff • 10-11 p.m. ER/The Celebrity Apprentice
FRIDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Deal or No Deal • 9-10 p.m. Friday Night Lights • 10-11 p.m. Life
SATURDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Dateline NBC • 9-10 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Encore) • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order (Encore)
SUNDAY
• 7-8 p.m. Specials/Dateline NBC • 8-9 p.m. Specials/Merlin • 9-10 p.m. Specials/Medium • 10-11 p.m. Specials/Kings
NBC's prime-time schedule for summer 2009:
MONDAY
• 8-9 p.m. American Gladiators • 9-10 p.m. America's Toughest Jobs • 10-11 p.m. Dateline NBC
TUESDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Most Outrageous Moments • 9-10 p.m. America's Got Talent • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Encore)
WEDNESDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Shark Taggers • 9-10 p.m. America's Got Talent (Results Show) • 10-11 p.m. Law & Order (Encore)
THURSDAY
• 8-8:30 p.m. The Office • 8:30- 9 p.m. The Office Spinoff • 9-10 p.m. Last Comic Standing • 10-11 p.m. The Listener
FRIDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Chopping Block • 9-11 p.m. Dateline NBC
SATURDAY
• 8-9 p.m. Drama Encores • 9-10 p.m. Drama Encores • 10-11 p.m. Drama Encores
SUNDAY
• 7-8 p.m. Dateline NBC • 8-9 p.m. Monk • 9-10 p.m. Nashville Star • 10-11 p.m. Kings (Encore)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
David Beckham visits 'Tonight Show'
David Beckham got to know one of his neighbors on national television Tuesday.
Since moving to Los Angeles to play for the Galaxy, Beckham has lived in the same neighborhood as Jay Leno, and on "The Tonight Show" Tuesday the men traded jokes about driving themselves places and life with a constant paparazzi presence.
Beckham apologized for the paparazzi hanging around the neighborhood, but also said American celebrity photographers "have been kind to us" compared to those across the pond.
Leno quizzed Beckham about Emporio Armani ads that feature the soccer star appearing in briefs.
"Do you normally sit around the house like this?" asked Leno.
Women in the live audience screamed and applauded the black and white photo showing Beckham's ripped stomach. However, Beckham said he was nervous during the photo shoot because his "mum" was going to see him lounging around in almost no clothing.
"When the photos came out, she was the first one to call me and say, 'What are you doing?' I had to try and explain it to her and it didn't go down that well," he said.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Prison Break Reattaches to Sara
If it looks like Dr. Sara Tancredi's head in a box and people say it's her head in a box, and there's no sign of the pretty little neck it was once attached to, doesn't that mean it's Sara's head in a box?
Well, no.
They're going to have to put their heads together on this one, but producers of Prison Break confirmed Thursday that Sarah Wayne Callies, who played Michael Scofield's seemingly lost love Sara, will return for the series' fourth season—and not in a Lost, CSI: Miami or Six Feet Under kind of way.
Executive producer Matt Olmstead tells E! Online's TV blog that Callies' character is actually alive and, while not exactly well, sporting a full head of...well, that's it, a full head.
"She's the real deal," Olmstead said, adding that there will be breaks in the action to see how Sara escaped the axe. (For the second time. This was Sara's second stay of execution. She was originally headed for a season-one death via overdose, but Fox honchos objected to killing her off...and so she stayed.)
"Season four is jumping-forward, hit-the-ground-running storytelling. But we are dropping back, in flashback, and explaining how the characters got to where they are and the situation with her, certainly."
So no matter that Lincoln's son supposedly witnessed Sara's offing or that, for all intents and purposes, it really did seem as if her head was in that box. Apparently, fans still had enough loose ends left with which to weave together a new conspiracy and maintain hope that the doc was alive.
"It wasn't because of the fans that we did that, but it was the combination of the fans' reactions on the boards and emails, and people we, the writers, know personally would ask about it," Olmstead said.
"We knew internally that when we didn't get Sarah Wayne Callies to come back in season three and be there to portray her character's death, as soon as it was written and filmed and we saw it onscreen, we knew that it was actually a way you could describe how this wasn't Sara's head in the box, basically."
(Note to Gwyneth Paltrow: There's hope for your Se7en character yet.)
Prison Break's third season, which was strike-shortened to only 13 episodes, ended with Michael, revenge on his mind, driving down a Panamanian road into network uncertainty. But Fox announced earlier this week it had ordered up a full 22-episode fourth season for this fall, paving the way for a new set of problems—and, apparently, a pleasant surprise—for the steely eyed vigilante.
Cameras are set to roll on the new batch of action, which takes place in Los Angeles this season, in May.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Early Pick-Ups for The CW
Following in the footsteps of ABC, CBS and NBC, the CW has announced early pick-ups for the majority of their television dramas. As expected, Smallville, Supernatural and newcomer Gossip Girl made the list, but many might be surprised to learn that ratings-challenged One Tree Hill will be back for another season as well.
Also receiving early pick-up notices: America's Next Top Model and Everybody Hates Chris.
The only two dramas waiting official notice are Reaper and Life is Wild.
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