After 3 seasons, CBS pulled the plug on Under The Dome, their summer series based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Initially planned as a limited series, the ratings for the show were good enough to leave the first season open ended and to bring the show back for a longer run. Unfortunately, the plots became more ridiculous as the show needed to find ways to keep everyone inside the dome while adding new characters who seemingly could get inside with little to no effort. Ratings dropped for each subsequent season and, prior to the 3rd season wrapping up, it was announced that the show would not be returning for a 4th.
Tag / CBS
The CW Upfronts
The CW has gone all-in on the comic book adaptation front, with 6 series planned for next season based on properties that originated in the comics world. They get things started on Monday, where Supergirl lands the same timeslot it enjoyed last year on CBS, followed by returning hit Jane The Virgin. The Flash remains on Tuesday, leading in to No Tomorrow, a romantic comedy with an apocalyptic twist.
Arrow stays in its usual Wednesday slot, followed by Frequency, an adaptation of the old Dennis Quaid film starring Peyton List. Legends of Tomorrow remains on Thursdays, followed by the 235th season of Supernatural, where the Winchester brothers investigate the deal with the devil struck to keep this show on the air. Returning shows Vampire Diaries and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend move to the dead zone that is Friday nights.
iZombie moves to mid-season, along with Riverdale, an adaptation of the Archie comics.
CBS Upfronts
For the first time this century, CBS announced a new fall schedule this week without a version of CSI in the mix. Instead, the Tiffany network looked to other familiar properties, and stars, to fill the holes in their lineup. With the network again airing football on Thursday nights for the first 2 months of the season, there will be much juggling going on, starting on Monday, where The Big Bang Theory returns until football ends. It will be followed by Kevin Can Wait, a new show featuring former CBS star Kevin James. Once football ends, James moves up a half hour and will be followed by Man With A Plan, starring former Friend Matt LeBlanc. 2 Broke Girls, The Odd Couple, and Scorpion round out the night.
Tuesday wraps two versions of NCIS around Bull, a new drama starring former NCIS star Michael Weatherly as, and you can’t make this up, a young version of Dr. Phil. No changes on Wednesday night, where Criminal Minds returns for its 12th season. Thursday, starting in November, starts with The Big Bang Theory, followed by the new Joel McHale-helmed The Great Indoors. The night finishes with Pure Genius, a new drama from the creator of Parenthood.
Friday sees a new version of MacGuyver, followed by the returning Hawaii Five-O and Blue Bloods. Sunday adds another version of NCIS to fill the hole left by The Good Wife.
Gone and never to be seen again are The Good Wife and summer staple Under The Dome. Gone and destined to be seen again is Supergirl, which is moving to the CW. Gone and maybe seen again is Limitless, which didn’t make the schedule but is not officially cancelled and is looking for a new home.
Flying Down To The CW
Supergirl, the highest rated freshman show on CBS, has been renewed for a second season, but will move down the dial to corporate sibling the CW. In addition, it was announced that production of the show would move to Vancouver in a bid to lower costs. The move gives the CW 4 hours of DC-related programming a week.
iTunes Top 200: #141 – 167
3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs in my iTunes library. Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact. So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.
We continue today with the fourth, and final, grouping of songs tied for 167th place with 17 plays apiece and finally break into the group tied for 141st place with 18 listens since late 2007.
#167: The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer – What You Feel (Reprise)
iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 7/15/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked
#167: The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer – The Parking Ticket
iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 1/18/2015
Previous ranking: #96
Two entries from the 6th season musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
#167: Blur – Girls & Boys
iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 9/28/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked
The first single from Blur’s third album, it reached #5 on the UK charts #4 on the US Modern Rock charts.
#167: The Beatles – Paperback Writer
iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 7/6/2013
Previous ranking: #76
The single went to the number one spot in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, West Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.
#141: Waylon Jennings – The Dukes Of Hazzard (Theme)
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 12/1/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked
We finally move up in plays, starting with the theme song to the CBS staple of the early 1980s.
#141: Warrant – Cherry Pie
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Post Mortem – The Mentalist
After 7 seasons, CBS decided to pull the plug on The Mentalist, the Simon Baker/Robin Tunney vehicle, following an abbreviated 13-episode final season. The show, which was a strong performer in its earlier days, was obviously out of steam creatively in its last few years. The show got a bit of a reboot last year, during season 6, when the setting and motivation changed, but it wasn’t enough to breathe new life into the tired show.
CBS Upfronts
CBS once again will air a slate of Thursday night football games this fall, so many parts of their fall schedule will be delayed until November when their NFL commitment comes to an end. Because of this, The Big Bang Theory once again moves back to Mondays to start the season. Supergirl, the latest take on Superman’s cousin starring Melissa Benoist, takes over the 7 pm slot in November.
Limitless, based on the Bradley Cooper movie, joins the Tuesday night lineup, taking the place of Person of Interest, which is being held back until mid-season. A new medical drama, Code Black, joins the Wednesday night staples of Survivor and Criminal Minds, whose spin-off, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, is also slated for mid-season.
Once football comes to an end, The Big Bang Theory moves back to Thursdays, leading off 2 hours of comedy topped off once again by Elementary. Friday nights remain the same, while Sunday updates its version of the CSI franchise.
Also on the bench waiting for mid-season are The Odd Couple, 2 Broke Girls, and a dramatic version of Rush Hour, the Jackie Chan movie franchise.
Obviously, Supergirl is the big hook among the new shows. It is disappointing to see Person of Interest not make the fall schedule, and rumors are that the network is talking to producers about wrapping up the show.
2014 New Fall Season – Mondays
Day 2 of our look at the new fall television season brings us to Mondays.
7:00
The Big Bang Theory – CBS spent $275 million to broadcast 8 Thursday night NFL games, so The Big Bang Theory moves back to Mondays until late October. The show continues to be a ratings powerhouse, so hopefully the move doesn’t shake things up too much.
2 Broke Girls – Once The Big Bang Theory returns to its Thursday perch, 2 Broke Girls will return to the Monday slot it inherited last spring from How I Met Your Mother. At this point, the show is what it is, so there is no point on hoping that the writers move away from their lowest common denominator form of comedy. As long as Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings continue to charm, I will continue to watch. But their charms only go so far.
Gotham – FOX gets in the superhero game with this Batman prequel, set in the days just after a young Bruce Wayne has witnessed the death of his parents. The show has been sold as more of the Gotham police force dealing with the criminals that will one day become Batman’s fiercest foes.
8:00
Sleepy Hollow – I am going to be completely honest and say I don’t really remember much about the first season of this show, other than it was a little crazy and it didn’t exactly grab me as much as it seemigly did everyone else. I guess I’ll stick around until/unless I find something to take its place.
Jane The Virgin – The first CW pilot in years to not feature either vampires or superheroes is an adaptation of a Venezuelen telenovela. Early reports are that it is one of the better pilots of the fall, so I guess I can give it a shot.
9:00 Continue reading →
2014 Emmy Awards – Reality and Movies
With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Monday night, here’s day two of my predictions for the awards, today focusing on reality shows and made for TV movies. I likely have seen not seen most (any?) of these, so I will probably not have an informed decision, but when has that ever stopped me.
Outstanding Reality Show Host
Jane Lynch, Hollywood Game Night
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 has won this in the past, 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
The Voice broke The Amazing Race‘s winning streak last year, but I’m thinking the CBS adventure show takes back the crown this year.
Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Jimmy Kimmel Live
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
The Colbert Report broke through last year and wrestled the award away from his pals at TDS. Given that the show will be wrapping up soon so that Colbert can move over to CBS to take over for Letterman, I would think he will win another award as a going away gift.
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Post Mortem – The Crazy Ones
Last fall, CBS made a big push on The Crazy Ones, featuring the television return of Robin Williams as an ad executive. Sarah Michelle Gellar was also on board as Williams’ daughter and business partner. After debuting as the fall’s highest rated premiere, the ratings quickly dropped as the show tried to find its footing. Which, in my opinion, it eventually did. While it wasn’t the best show, I certainly found it enjoyable.
CBS, however, felt otherwise. The first chink in the armor came in February, when the show lost its timeslot to the over-the-hill Two and a Half Men. Finally, in a surprising move, CBS pulled the plug in May. Between Williams and Gellar, the network was expecting a break out hit. What they got instead was a steady, if unspectacular, performer, which will not be given the chance to build upon its improving first season.