Tag / American Idol

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ABC Upfronts

ABC comes in with the most stable schedule heading in to fall, with four consecutive nights showing no change from last fall.  Monday once again will simulcast Monday Night Football with ESPN.  Tuesday will also remain the same, with the next installment of Dancing With the Stars followed by High Potential, which became the network’s most-watched new series in seven years.

Wednesday kicks off with the comedy block of Shifting Gears and Abbott Elementary, followed by another installment of The Golden Bachelor and Shark Tank.  9-1-1 returns for its third season on ABC to kick off Thursdays, followed by new spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville and the 22nd season of Grey’s Anatomy.  Friday sees Celebrity Wheel of Fortune followed by two hours of 20/20.  Sunday also stays stable, with America’s Funniest Home Videos followed by three hours of The Wonderful World of Disney.

On the bench for mid-season are new installments of American Idol, Celebrity Jeopardy, The Rookie, and Will Trent.  The future of Doctor Odyssey is undetermined at this point.

Shows never to be seen again are The Conners, which wrapped up its seven-season run this spring.

 

by admin

ABC Upfronts

Change is in the air at ABC, where they are adding new scripted programming after taking last year off due to the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes.  A familiar name is returning to Mondays, with Monday Night Football back in its long-time perch for selected weeks.  The network has yet to announce what will air in the weeks where football remains on ESPN only.  Dancing With the Stars moves to Tuesday, followed by High Potential, written by Drew Goddard and starring Kaitlin Olson.

Wednesday kicks off with the first installment of The Golden Bachelorette, followed by Abbott Elementary and Scamanda, a docu-series based on the podcast about a wife and blogger who faked cancer.  9-1-1 returns for its second season on ABC to kick off Thursdays, followed by Doctor Odyssey, a new medical drama from Ryan Murphy and starring Joshua Jackson.  The 21st season of Grey’s Anatomy wraps up the night.  Friday remains the same, with Shark Tank followed by two hours of 20/20.  Sunday also stays stable, with America’s Funniest Home Videos followed by three hours of The Wonderful World of Disney.

On the bench for mid-season are new installments of American Idol, The Bachelor, Celebrity Jeopardy, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, the final season of The Conners, The Rookie, What Would You Do? and Will Trent.  A new version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, produced by Reese Witherspoon, is also on the docket.

Shows never to be seen again are The Good Doctor, Not Dead Yet, and Station 19.

by admin

ABC Upfronts

ABC is taking a cautious approach to their fall schedule.  With the ongoing writer’s strike putting the availability of scripted shows in doubt, the network has put all of its eggs in the reality basket.  Long-time stalwart Dancing With The Stars, after being shunted off to Disney+ last year, returns to its familiar Monday night perch.  The night ends with the Golden Bachelor, a dating show for AARP-set.  Tuesday night brings another installment of Celebrity Jeopardy! followed by two hours of Bachelor In Paradise.

Wednesday retains a bit of a comedy block, with Judge Steve Harvey, followed by an hour of Abbott Elementary reruns and another installment of What Would You Do?  Game shows take over Thursday night, with Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, Press Your Luck, The $100,000 Pyramid.  Friday remains the same, with Shark Tank followed by two hours of 20/20.  Sunday kicks off with America’s Funniest Home Videos followed by three hours of The Wonderful World of Disney.

On the bench for mid-season are 9-1-1, rescued from FOX, Abbott Elementary, American Idol, The Bachelor, The Conners, The Good Doctor, Grey’s Anatomy, Not Dead Yet, The Rookie, Station 19, Will Trent, and High Potential, the only new show on the docket.

Shows never to be seen again are A Million Little Things, Alaska Daily, Big Sky, The Company You Keep, and The Goldbergs.  The fates of Home Economics and The Rookie: Feds are still up in the air.

by admin

ABC Upfronts

After a cautious year following the pandemic shut down of 2020, ABC is mixing things up with their fall schedule.  The week gets off to an unfamiliar start, as long-time stalwart Dancing With The Stars is being shunted off to Disney+.  Instead, Monday nights will start with the former summer staple Bachelor In Paradise followed by The Good Doctor.  Tuesday night brings another installment of Bachelor In Paradise followed by The Rookie: Feds, a spinoff of The Rookie starring Niecy Nash.

Wednesday’s comedy block switches things around a bit, with The Conners starting things off, followed by The Goldbergs, Abbott Elementary, and Home Economics.  Big Sky moves over from Thursday to finish off the night.  Thursdays start the same, with Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy followed by Alaska,  starring Hilary Swank as a disgraced journalist who leaves New York for Alaska.  Friday remains the same, with Shark Tank followed by two hours of 20/20.  Sunday stays mostly all reality, with America’s Funniest Home Videos, Celebrity Jeopardy!, and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, followed by The Rookie.

On the bench for mid-season are Not Dead Yet, a comedy starring Gina Rodriguez, and the returning The Wonder Years, A Million Little Things, American Idol, The Bachelor, and Judge Steve Harvey.

Shows never to be seen again are Black-ish, Queens, and Promised Land.

by admin

ABC Upfronts

After a decade of shaking up their schedule, ABC is taking a cautious approach this fall, with only three new series on the schedule.  The week gets off to a familiar start, with Dancing With The Stars followed by The Good Doctor on Monday nights.  Tuesday night is the biggest shake-up of the week, with two new shows and two returning shows in new timeslots.  The Roseanne-less The Conners returns for its second season, followed by Bless This Mess, which debuted this spring. mixed-ish, a new spinoff of black-ish, leads in to the mothership, followed by Emergence, about a police chief who takes in a young child she finds near the site of a mysterious accident

Wednesday stays pretty much the same, with The Goldbergs, Schooled, Modern Family, and Single Parents starting the night and leading into Stumptown, a new drama starring Colbie Smulders and based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth, and Justin Greenwood.  Thursdays stay exactly the same, with Grey’s Anatomy, A Million Little Things, and How To Get Away With Murder.  A revamped Friday kicks off with the re-located American Housewife, followed by Fresh Off The Boat and two hours of 20/20.  Sunday stays mostly all reality, with America’s Funniest Home Videos, Kids Say The Darndest Things, and Shark Tank, followed by The Rookie.

Agents of SHIELD will return at some point in 2020, along with returning shows Station 19 and American Idol.  Also on the bench for mid-season are The Baker and the Beauty, based on an Israeli series telling the story of the unlikely romance between a blue-collar baker and an international superstar, For Life, a prisoner-turned-lawyer serialized legal and family drama co-produced by 50 Cent, United We Fall, a multicamera comedy starring Jane Curtin and Will Sasso, and Reef Bank, an action drama bringing Poppy Montgomery back to the small screen.

Cancelled shows never to be seen again are Whiskey Cavalier, Speechless, Splitting Up Together, The Kids Are Alright, The Fix, and For The People.

by admin

ABC Upfronts

ABC is shaking up their lineup this fall, with changes on every night save Monday and Thursday.  The week gets off to a familiar start with Dancing With The Stars, followed by The Good Doctor.  Roseanne returns for another season to kick off Tuesday nights, followed by The Kids Are Alright, about a traditional Irish-Catholic family navigating the turbulent 70s, then black-ish and Splitting Up Together staying put.  The night ends with The Rookie, bringing Nathan Fillion back to the network in a familiar setting.

Wednesday starts the same, with The Goldbergs, American Housewife, and Modern Family starting the night, followed by Single Parents, a comedy about, well, single parents starring Taran Killam and Leighton Meester.  The night is capped off by A Million Little Things, about a group of Boston friends who re-examine their lives when one of them dies.  Thursdays stay exactly the same, with the three Shondaland shows remaining in place.  A revamped Friday kicks off with the re-located Fresh Off The Boat and Speechless, followed by Child Support and 20/20.  Sunday goes all reality, with a junior edition of DWTS sandwiched between America’s Funniest Home Videos and Shark Tank.  The night ends with The Alec Baldwin Show, the first prime time talk show since the unfortunate attempt to keep Jay Leno happy while Conan O’Brien hosted The Tonight Show.

Agents of SHIELD will return in summer of 2019, and American Idol and For The People will return at some point.  Also on the bench for mid-season are The Fix, a legal drama from Marcia Clark starring Robin Tunney, Grand Hotel, from executive producer Eva Longoria, and Whiskey Cavalier, about a partnership of FBI and CIA agents played by Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan.  The one comedy is Schooled, a spin-off of The Goldbergs.

Cancelled shows never to be seen again are Alex Inc., The Crossing, Deception, Designated Survivor, Downward Dog, The Great American Baking Show, Kevin (Probably) Saves The World, Inhumans, The Mayor, The Middle, Once Upon A Time, Quantico, Scandal, Somewhere Between, Still Star-Crossed, and Ten Days In The Valley.

by admin

FOX Upfronts

X-Files LogoAfter a successful season, which featured new hits like Gotham, Empire, and The Last Man on Earth, FOX released a fall season that is without the usual churn that the network is known for.

Gotham will continue to kick off Monday nights, and will be followed by Minority Report, a sequel of sorts set 10 years after the 2002 Stephen Spielberg film.  Tuesdays get shaken up a bit as the comedy block moves up an hour and becomes more guy-centric, with new shows starring John Stamos, Rob Lowe, and Fred Savage.  They will be followed by the horror-comedy anthology Scream Queens, from American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy.

The Morris Chestnut project Rosewood leads off Wednesdays, followed by this springs monster hit Empire.  Bones stays put on Thursdays, followed by the relocated Sleepy Hollow.  Friday remains the domain of disposable reality programming while the Sunday lineup remains unchanged.

The X-Files returns for its 6-episode run in January, debuting following the NFC Championship game and then airing again the following night.  New Girl is also expected to return sometime next spring, allowing it to air uninterrupted.  Finally, American Idol will return in the spring for a final season.

by jim

2013 Emmy Awards – Reality and Movies

With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here’s day two of my predictions for the awards, today focusing on reality shows and made for TV movies.  I most likely have seen not seen most of these, so I will likely not have an informed decision, but when has that ever stopped me.

Outstanding Reality Show Host

Ryan Seacrest, American Idol

Betty White, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers

Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway

Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance

Anthony Bourdain, The Taste

Tom Bergeron won this last year, and that seems like as good a reason as any for him to win it again.

Outstanding Reality Show Competition

The Amazing Race

Dancing With the Stars

Project Runway

So You Think You Can Dance

Top Chef

The Voice

I think The Amazing Race has won this every year its been on the air.  I see no reason for that streak to end now.

Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Jimmy Kimmel Live

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Real Time With Bill Maher

Saturday Night Live

Another perennial winner should continue to bring home the big prize, although I wonder if Jon Stewart’s extended absence this summer will hurt the show in the voter’s minds.

Continue reading →

by admin

Midseason Review – Thursdays

Nearing the end of our look back at the fall television season.

CBS

Big Bang Theory – The nerds return for more fun.

This show has wisely mixed things up, with the focus nearly equal between the guys and the girls.  The additions of Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik to the cast have made a strong show even stronger.  There was one occassion where the show fell victim to the main charge of its critics, where it laughed at nerds instead of with them.  Hopefully that was a blip and not a tonal shift.

How To Be A Gentleman –  This looks to be horrible.  I doubt it lasts through November sweeps.

And it didn’t.

Person Of Interst – Michael Emerson’s first post-Lost series.  That alone is enough of a reason to give this a chance.

This is not really a bad show, but it isn’t really a good one and it seems like a total waste of Michael Emerson’s talents.  It looks like they may be mixing things up a bit by bringing Taraji P. Henson into the fold, so maybe that will help.

The Mentalist – Based on the premiere, it will be more of the same from The Mentalist.  It’s a good enough show, but I can see it burning out quickly if they don’t shake things up sometime soon.

More of the same indeed.  The addition of one of the kids from the new Melrose Place as the new boss is kind of weird, but beyond that, nothing really new.

NBC

Community – Back for a surprising third season.  John Goodman has joined in a recurring role, and, so far, looks to have brought his A-game. 

Well, John Goodman only appeared 2 or 3 times, but this season has been bizarrely brilliant.  Of course, this means that NBC has pulled it from the schedule, claiming it will return at some undetermined point in the future.  I know 3 seasons is more than most series see, but losing this show will hurt more than most. Continue reading →