J.J. Abrams, the power house behind Alias and Lost (not to mention Felicity and What About Brian), is back to rock your television screen. His latest series, Fringe, has been picked up by Fox—and this is a doozy. It’s got a spooky theme and a killer budget for the pilot. We’re talking a pilot that’s well over $10 million. How obscene is that? Given, it will be a two hour pilot, but still! The show is so far director-less and lacks a cast, but with J.J. on board, you can bet it will grab some viewers. Of course, I thought the same of last season’s… uh, what was it called? Six Degrees? Seriously, I tuned in just because it was a J.J. deal and didn’t like it at all (and I guess I wasn’t alone, because it wasn’t around for long!). Abrams says Fringe includes elements of The X-Files and the Twilight Zone, so it could be interesting, with plenty of paranormal mysteries to be had. According to Abrams, “It’s definitely meant to scare the hell out of you, but it’s also meant to make you laugh… It pushes all the buttons of things we loved from our childhood.”
Read More 
| Coming Soon
Gallery: J.J. Abrams’ New Series
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‘Pushing Daisies’ Helps ABC Wednesday
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Action, Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW, America’s Next Top Model, Ratings,
Wednesday’s premiere of Pushing Daisies attracted many customers to The Pie Hole. By night’s end, ABC came out with another win (followed by CBS, NBC, FOX and CW).
8pm
- ABC’s Pushing Daisies drew an impressive 12.8 million viewers and dominated in the important 18-49 age group (4.2 rating/12 demo).
- NBC’s Deal or No Deal (11.1 million, 2.8/8) came up second.
- Kid Nation (7.5 million, 2.4/7), America’s Next Top Model (4.5 million, 2.2/6) and Back To You (6.6 million, 2.4/7) all saw a loss in viewers.
- ‘Til Death (6.2 million, 2.5/7) remained steady while Kitchen Nightmares (6.3 million, 2.9/7) hung in there.
9pm
- CBS’ Criminal Minds (14.4 million, 3.7/9) took the hour in viewers, but placed 3rd in the demos.
- Private Practice (12.3 million, 4.5/11) declined from last week, but still topped that new show on NBC.
- Bionic Woman (10.9 million, 4.0/10) dropped 30% in the demos and lost 19% of its viewers.
- CW’s Gossip Girl (2.8 million, 1.3/3) remained fairly even.
10pm
- CSI: NY (12.7 million, 3.9/10) maintained last week’s viewership numbers.
- ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money (9.7 million, 3.6/10) lost almost 700,000 viewers but moved up to second place.
- NBC’s Life (8.8 million, 3.0/8) lost 13% of its audience causing it to fall into 3rd place.
Read More | Hollywood Reporter
Gallery: ‘Pushing Daisies’ Helps ABC Wednesday
ABC offers apology regarding Desperate Housewives Philippines comment
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Drama, Prime Time, ABC, Desperate Housewives, Gossip,
ABC might have stepped over the line during a recent episode of Desperate Housewives, sparking a public outcry culminating in online petitions, angry phone calls and criticism from Philippine officials. Sunday’s Desperate season premiere featured Susan (Teri Hatcher) at the doctor’s office, a character who becomes horrified to learn she may be going through menopause. Here’s how it played out:
“Listen, Susan, I know for a lot of women the word ‘menopause’ has negative connotations. You hear ‘aging, brittle bones, loss of sexual desire,’” says the doctor. “Okay, so before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines?” Susan offers her supposed-to-be-funny rejoinder.
And that’s when the desperation hit the fan. Calls started rolling in, and as of Wednesday evening more than thirty thousand had added their names to an online petition demanding apology from ABC. The network has responded with a statement saying they’re considering editing the episode, and has offered their “sincere apologies.” The prepared statement said the network had no intention of disparaging the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines. The episode has drawn international attention and plenty of YouTube hits, beginning a PR nightmare for ABC execs.
Read More | LA Times
Gallery: ABC offers apology regarding Desperate Housewives Philippines comment
The Ratings Race Is On
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Reality, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, American Idol, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, House, Ratings,
Ratings rivals CBS and ABC have been slugging it out this fall, each trying to jockey for the top slot in the ratings race. CSI dominance usually secures CBS at least one top ten ratings win, but this year ABC’s reality smash hit Dancing with the Stars may boogie right on up to the top. Or…will it? Last week the show scored more than twenty million viewers, but fewer tuned in to watch the results. This week, only fifteen million tuned in to the celebrity two-step. Between the two broadcast networks, eight of the top ten ratings list was dominated. Shows like Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami, and Without a Trace secured the viewers – more than fifteen million each. NBC, the network that struggled in last place a year ago, almost managed to get 17 million viewers for Heroes. But at least one more network will attempt to bring in viewers, perhaps topping them all in the end.
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Read More | TV Squad
Gallery: The Ratings Race Is On
The TV Viewers’ Bill of Rights
Posted by David L. Williams Categories: Drama, Reality, Editorial, Features,
Lots of people watch television. That may seem like an obvious statement (especially to somebody reading a site called TV Envy), but I think we viewers tend to forget how strong of a lobby we are. “Cane,” for example, had a little more than 11 million viewers for its first episode, a number that most newspapers called good but not great. But if a movie had 11 million people go see it in one night, it would have grossed somewhere around $90 million dollars.
That’s $90 million dollars in one day. That’s a big fat, Spiderman-Harry Potter-Transformin’ hit.
And yes, I know, movies aren’t TV. TV is free (mostly), and you don’t have to leave your home to watch TV, but it’s still a pretty frickin’ big audience. And that was just for one show, while there were two other broadcast networks (and hundreds of cable channels) competing against it. And “Cane,” by the way, wasn’t even the most watched show in that time slow. That was “Law & Order: SVU” (and more about that in a little bit.)
So … you would think that with such a big audience, such a mighty and powerful audience, the people who are making television would do what they can to not make us angry. And they do, to some extent. But they think “not making us angry” is the same as “not putting anything slightly controversial” on television, forgetting that all of us watched shows like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Nip/Tuck,” and even “Seinfeld, which I’ll remind you had episodes that got humor out of killing George’s fiancée and a contest to see who could refrain the longest from self-pleasure.
Ignoring that, though, what they’ve done to make me and a lot of the television-watching population angry is treating us like we are stupid. Here’s the thing, television networks: we’re really smart. I know, I know, some of us still watch “Two and a Half Men” and “According to Jim,” but even more of us don’t. We follow the intricate plots of “Lost,” we laugh at the cringe-inducing humor of “The Office,” we delight in the brilliant references, call-backs and jokes of 30 Rock, we even find a way to separate the good reality shows (The Amazing Race & Survivor) from the horrible ones (Pirate Master & The Bachelor).
In short, we’re smart. We’re very smart and we’d like to be treated properly. So I propose a TV Viewers’ Bill of Rights. Bills of rights, be they for airline passengers, internet users, or consumers, are very popular these days. (Ironically, the actual, original Bill of Rights? Not so popular right now. Or enforced, really.) Here goes…
Click to continue reading The TV Viewers’ Bill of Rights
Gallery: The TV Viewers’ Bill of Rights
Remember that show Cupid? Starring Jeremy Piven (way before he was a big shot on Entourage)? I vaguely remember it because I’ve been a big Piv fan since his days on Ellen and his role in PCU, so I certainly checked out Cupid. But then, it didn’t stick around. To be exact, the show only lasted 15 episodes when it aired in 1998/1999. The show was written by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, but back then, he didn’t have the clout that he’s gotten as a result of Veronica. So, here’s the interesting thing—ABC is giving him a second chance at bringing Cupid back to the small screen. Have you ever heard of a do-over like that? It’ll be cool to see how much they retool it, although it sounds like the concept will remain (a man thinks he’s sent to earth to play cupid… hence the name). You can guarantee of course that they’ll have to re-cast, since I’m pretty sure Piven is otherwise involved with a hit show and heaps of awards. Nor do I suspect that co-star Paula Marshall will return to the series. But Thomas does want to “try to hook some really good guest stars every week,” so hopefully that will keep people tuning in this time around.
Read More | Coming Soon
Gallery: ‘Cupid’ Gets Do-Over
ABC Takes Ratings Lead Sunday, Monday Nights
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Action, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Heroes, Prison Break, The Bachelor, Ratings,
This weekend’s ABC premieres made it clear audiences prefer their dramas soapy on Sunday nights.
- Although Desperate Housewives (19.3 million viewers, 7.4/17 share in 18-49 demo) and Brothers & Sisters (13.3 million, 5.1/13) were both down from last year’s premieres (23% and 15% respectively), both shows earned their best numbers since Nov. 26th.
- Cold Case (13.5 million, 3.4/8) and Shark (11.4 million, 2.7/7) did improve upon last week’s premieres, though Shark’s numbers were lower compared to last year’s time slot holder (Without a Trace).
- The Simpsons (8.4 million, 4.2/11), King of the Hill (7.2 million, 3.5/9) and Family Guy (7.9 million, 4.2/10) all underperformed their numbers from last Sunday.
Click to continue reading ABC Takes Ratings Lead Sunday, Monday Nights
Read More | Hollywood Reporter
Gallery: ABC Takes Ratings Lead Sunday, Monday Nights
TV on DVD: October 2, 2007
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, Specials, Cable, CBS, HBO, DVD,
Here are some of the TV-on-DVD options you can find on the shelves this Tuesday:
- The War: A Ken Burns Film
- I Love New York (Season 1)
- Jericho (Season 1)
- The Sarah Silverman Program (Season 1)
- Shark (Season 1)
- Criminal Minds (Season 2)
- How I Met Your Mother (Season 2)
- Entourage (Season 3)
Click here to see the Movies-On-DVD options for this week.
Click here to see the new titles released on HD DVD and Blu-Ray.
Gallery: TV on DVD: October 2, 2007
This Week on TV (10/1-10/7)
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, ABC, Bravo, Cable, NBC, The CW, Degrassi, Everybody Hates Chris, Top Chef,
MONDAY (10/1)
- Everybody Hates Chris (CW, 8pm): Season premiere
- Aliens in America (CW, 8:30pm): Series premiere
- Girlfriends (CW, 9pm): Season premiere
- The Game (CW, 9:30pm): Season premiere
- Dr. Steve-O (USA, 11pm): Series premiere
Click to continue reading This Week on TV (10/1-10/7)
Gallery: This Week on TV (10/1-10/7)
‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ Spoiler
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Drama, Prime Time, CBS, Spoilers,
Fans of CSI—we have some big casting scoop for you. Assuming you even want to read the spoiler ahead, make sure you catch up on Thursday night’s premiere first!
Click to continue reading ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ Spoiler
Read More | TV Guide
Gallery: ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ Spoiler
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