FOX Readjusts Winter Schedule
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Reality, FOX, News,
Realizing it may have been a mistake to release a strike schedule waaay back in November, the execs at FOX have decided to change things up once again.
Two mid-season entries, New Amsterdam and Canterbury’s Law, will now premiere much earlier in the week (Mondays) instead of hidden away on Fridays. Meanwhile, When Women Rule the World has been taken off the winter schedule altogether.
Oh! And for those who just can’t get enough American Idol, your wish has been granted. The show was (temporarily) expanded to three airings a week at the end of February.
You can find a list of all premiere dates on TV Envy’s updated Revamped TV Programming Schedule.
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David Letterman Returns With Writer Support
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, ABC, Cable, CBS, NBC, Daily Show, The, News,
David Letterman has accomplished what no other late night host has managed to do: reach an agreement with the writers. Of course, owning your own company does have its perks.
Letterman and his production company, WorldWide Pants, have been sitting down with the Writers Guild for some time now in hopes of working out a deal. Late today, the two sides came to terms on an independent agreement that would allow both The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to come back on Jan. 2nd. Although the two talk shows will technically be competing with the returns of Leno, O’Brien and Kimmel, CBS will easily have the advantage. Letterman and Ferguson will be the only ones with the scripted jokes.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart will also be returning - sans writers - on January 7th.
Reuters
Surprises in Store for Late Night TV
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Late Night, Cable, NBC, Daily Show, The, Gossip,
If you’ve attempted to watch TV at all in the last two months, you know there’s an active writers’ strike in the works. Despite the picket lines, lots of studios are “encouraging” their late night hosts to get back in the studio and back behind the desk.
Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien (among others) all intend to bring their shows back to the air beginning in January - but this time, they’re doing it without their writers. When it comes to television, this action is very much like walking a tightrope in the circus…with no safety net.
The hosts are members of the Writers Guild themselves, meaning they’ll have to pass by their union brothers and sisters on their way to work every morning (or afternoon, as the case may be). This membership also means the hosts themselves must continue to follow union rules, and will be subject to the terms and conditions therein. For instance, monologues and talk segments (like Colbert’s The Word) may no longer be part of the program. So…what, then, will viewers see on late night in January? For one, you won’t be getting scripted segments.
Click to continue reading Surprises in Store for Late Night TV
Yahoo! News
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart Return to Work
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, ABC, Cable, CBS, NBC, Daily Show, The, Announcements, News,
Comedy Central has just announced the January return of its two late-night talk show hosts. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will ring in their new years on January 7th, five days after Kimmel, Leno and O’Brien have scheduled their starts. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report - like the ABC and NBC programs - will resume production sans writers. What this means for these ‘news’ shows and their largely scripted formats is unknown.
Stewart and Colbert, who are also members of the Writers Guild of America, released a joint statement about the decision:
’‘We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.’‘
Meanwhile, we may get details later today about the plans for CBS’ late-night programs. David Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants, will be meeting with members of the WGA today. If they can reach an interim agreement, both The Late Show With David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson could also be hitting the airwaves - with scribes - come January 2nd.
No matter how you feel about the writers’ situation, what do you think about The Daily Show and The Colbert Report returning? Could they possibly be as good as they were pre-strike—or do you think the quality will suffer? Will you simply be happy to see them back regardless of the content?
Variety
Jimmy Kimmel Joins Late Night Returns
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, ABC, CBS, NBC, News,
ABC has announced the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live, effective Jan. 2nd. The talk show will air new episodes the same evening The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien also start anew. Despite their support of the WGA, all three hosts hope their participation can prevent other job losses.
Although an official announcement has not yet been made, CBS may soon be seeing a spark of life in late-night as well. David Letterman and his company, Worldwide Pants, are hoping to broker an independent deal with the union. This could allow his program and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return with their normal writers in tow.
Hollywood Reporter
Award Shows Must Go Writer-Free
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Award Shows, Gossip, News,
If Jay Leno can go on without his writers, so can the awards shows. At least, that’s the hope. The striking writers guild will not be involved in either the Oscars or the Golden Globes—at least not this awards season.
Producers asked that writers be allowed to contribute despite the strike, and though the announcement is not yet official, members of the WGA say that’s not going to happen. The Golden Globes reps say there might still be some way the writers can participate, and hope to work out an agreement with the Guild.
Not only will the telecasts be deprived of all those witty written jokes during telecast, the stalemate with the writers could leave the shows without participants. Union actors wouldn’t want to cross picket lines to make presentations (doing so wouldn’t be union-friendly) while winners may choose not to accept their awards.
Hollywood Reporter
The Return of Late Night TV…Sort Of
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, CBS, NBC, News,
Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will be returning to work directly after the holidays, with new episodes scheduled to air Wednesday, January 2. They’ll be bringing late night entertainment back to TV, something that’s been sorely missing since the writer’s strike started.
An NBC spokesperson said that Leno and O’Brien still support their writers, but by returning to work will give hundreds of people the chance to do their jobs. Of course, the late night variety programs will go on the air sans writers, so there’s no telling what fans will get. Currently, no guests have been announced for either program.
Meanwhile, David Letterman and his company, Worldwide Pants, are hoping to broker a deal with the WGA. If the parties can work out an arrangement independent of the dispute with the producers, the Late Show with David Letterman and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson could soon also be returning with writers.
Entertainment Weekly
No Deal: Writers and Producers No Longer Talking
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Reality, News,
All the channel-flipping in the world doesn’t help when there’s nothing new to watch on TV. Despite an attempt by both parties to negotiate new contract terms, the writers and producers have again failed to reach agreement.
The new talks lasted a little over a week, but the situation isn’t at all improved. Neither side is willing to give in to the other, which doesn’t bode well for future TV-watching. There are over ten thousand writers on the picket lines, but they only represent part of the story. Many other workers in the industry remain without pay as the writers hold their signs, which puts a real damper on any sort of holiday cheer for these laborers. More than fifty shows have already been completely shut down by the strike, and there’s no end in sight.
FOX has already suffered programming gaps which pushed new reality shows to the forefront; if the strike continues to drag the entire 2008 season could be in jeopardy.
LA Times
FOX Tests Contestants in ‘The Moment of Truth’
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Games, Prime Time, Reality, FOX, American Idol, Gossip,
Over the years, FOX has really pushed the limits on what can be considered acceptable television viewing – especially when it comes to the network’s reality lineup. Shows like Temptation Island became titillating, guilty pleasures, while the Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire extravaganza inspired plenty of attention-grabbing headlines. FOX became famous for reality with American Idol, and has tried re-creating that success with several similar carnations of the hit series. But now, the network is doing something a little different with The Moment of Truth. Unlike the hit Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, this is not the sort of game show you’re going to want to watch with your kids.
You’ve probably seen the trailers. A single contestant sits in a chair in the middle of a huge audience. The stage is in the round, so the pressure comes from all angles. The contestants are asked questions of a highly personal nature – do you really care about starving children in Africa, are you repulsed by obese people, have you ever cheated on your wife? Here’s the twist – the contestants are hooked up to a polygraph machine, also known as a lie detector test. One contestant will even have to face his own father, a man who was not a part of his life. It’s a little sadistic, highly compelling, and just the formula FOX needs to continue the network reputation as being cutting edge.
Click to continue reading FOX Tests Contestants in ‘The Moment of Truth’
Reality TV World
Upcoming Television Premiere Dates
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Action, Comedy, Drama, Games, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW, Hell’s Kitchen, Apprentice, The - Donald, Prison Break,
Thanks to the writers’ strike, the Fall TV Programming Schedule I put together many months ago will now have to be burned. Reality shows and mid-season replacements are now being brought in earlier than expected.
Here’s a list of the TV premieres announced so far. TV Envy will be publishing a revamped programming schedule as soon as more dates are released.
- 12/12 - Crowned (CW)
- 1/2 - Law and Order (NBC)
- 1/3 - Celebrity Apprentice (NBC)
- 1/6 - American Gladiators (NBC)
- 1/7 - Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (ABC)
- 1/8 - One Tree Hill (CW)
- 1/9 - Law and Order: CI (NBC)
- 1/11 - 1 vs. 100 (NBC)
- 1/13 - The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
- 1/14 - Prison Break (FOX)
- 1/15 - American Idol (FOX)
- 1/23 - The Moment of Truth (FOX)
- 1/28 - The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Click to continue reading Upcoming Television Premiere Dates
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