Post by Forever Xena on May 18, 2006 6:15:51 GMT -6
ABC puts 'Anatomy' up against 'CSI'
By BILL BRIOUX - Toronto Sun
Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy.
ABC hopes Mick Jagger will rock their schedule.
The Rolling Stone was one of several big names announced yesterday in New York as part of ABC's aggressive 2006-07 schedule. Their 15 new shows will shake up six out of seven nights, with 10 shows starting next fall and five later. Calista Flockhart, Anne Heche, Taye Diggs and Ted Danson are also headlining new ABC shows.
Jagger is an executive producer and occasional star of Let's Rob..., a comedy starring Ottawa-born Donal Logue (Grounded For Life) as a janitor who rounds up a posse of what ABC calls "new age Robin Hoods" to pull off an insane heist: Breaking into Jagger's Central Park West apartment.
The big story unfolding from this week's network upfronts in New York is the mounting attack against TV's No. 1 drama, CSI. Rival networks smell blood now that CBS's six-year-old forensic cop series appears to have peaked. Monday, NBC put its big buzz show, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, into the Thursday at 9 slot. Yesterday, ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson announced that his hottest show, Grey's Anatomy, will be moving from Sundays to Thursdays against CSI next season.
That's a headache CTV didn't need. Once the dust settles, they might be better off leaving Grey's Anatomy on Sundays.
ABC also put three existing - and struggling - shows into the slot once owned by Monday Night Football (punted to ESPN): Wife Swap, The Bachelor (featuring Euro dude Prince Lorenzo Borghese, a cosmetics entrepreneur) and surprise mid-season renewal What About Brian.
Here are ABC's new dramas:
* Brothers & Sisters finds dysfunction lurking just beneath an idyllic family facade. Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal), Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) and Ron Rifkin (Alias) star.
* Day Break stars Taye Diggs (Kevin Hill) as a detective caught up in a Groundhog Day scenario where he is forced to re-live the same nightmare scenario over and over again.
* Men In Trees stars Anne Heche as a relationship coach who flees to the hills when she finds out her fiance is a cheat.
* The Nine stars Tim Daly (Wings), Chi McBride (Boston Public) and Kim Raver (24) in a drama about nine hostages caught up in a 52-hour standoff after a bank holdup goes wrong.
* Six Degrees is about six New Yorkers who have an impact on each other's lives, even though they don't know each other - yet. From Lost and Alias whiz J.J. Abrams.
* Traveler is about three grad students who decide to rollerblade through a famous Manhattan museum. Seconds later, a terrorist bomb wipes out the place, making the three prime suspects in the bombing. Two flee, the other... vanishes.
ABC's new comedies are:
* Betty The Ugly stars America Ferrera (The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants) as a slightly plump girl from Queens caught up in the skinny world of fashion modeling. Produced by Salma Hayek.
* Big Day will take an entire season to dissect one wedding day. ABC calls it Father Of The Bride meets 24.
* Help Me Help You stars Ted Danson as a group therapist who is crazier than his patients (who include Jere Burns and Jane Kaczmarek).
* In Case Of Emergency stars Lori Loughlin (Full House), David Arquette, Jonathan Silverman and Greg Germann as pals who have held each other together since high school.
* Notes From The Underbelly is about a couple who are about to have their first child.
Reality shows include Just For Laughs Gags, the hidden camera comedy that has been running on CBC for years, Wake Up Call, a relationship series from He's Just Not That Into You author Ben Rehendt and Set For The Rest Of Your Life, which pits couples against the clock in attempts to win anywhere from $50 to $10,000.
ABC plans to tee up College Football games on Saturday nights and keep Dancing With The Stars. Cancelled are PrimeTime Live, Commander In Chief, Invasion, Hope & Faith, Freddie and Rodney. Back, for some unfathonable reason, is According To Jim (bounced to mid-season).
Tomorrow: CBS answers back.
ABC's prime-time schedule for the fall, announced by the network yesterday:
Monday
8 p.m. -- Wife Swap
9 p.m. -- The Bachelor and Supernanny
10 p.m. -- What About Brian
Tuesday
8 p.m. -- Dancing With the Stars (NT) then SET FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
9 p.m. -- LET'S ROB ...
9:30 p.m. -- HELP ME HELP YOU
10 p.m. -- Boston Legal
Wednesday
8 p.m. -- Dancing With the Stars (NT) then George Lopez (NT) and According to Jim (NT)
9 p.m. -- Lost
10 p.m. -- THE NINE
Thursday
8 p.m. -- BIG DAY
8:30 p.m. -- NOTES FROM THE UNDERBELLY
9 p.m. -- Grey's Anatomy (NT)
10 p.m. -- SIX DEGREES
Friday
8 p.m. -- BETTY THE UGLY
9 p.m. -- MEN IN TREES
10 p.m. -- 20/20
Saturday
8 p.m. -- ABC SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Sunday
7 p.m. -- America's Funniest Home Videos
8 p.m. -- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9 p.m. -- Desperate Housewives
10 p.m. -- BROTHERS & SISTERS
By BILL BRIOUX - Toronto Sun
Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy.
ABC hopes Mick Jagger will rock their schedule.
The Rolling Stone was one of several big names announced yesterday in New York as part of ABC's aggressive 2006-07 schedule. Their 15 new shows will shake up six out of seven nights, with 10 shows starting next fall and five later. Calista Flockhart, Anne Heche, Taye Diggs and Ted Danson are also headlining new ABC shows.
Jagger is an executive producer and occasional star of Let's Rob..., a comedy starring Ottawa-born Donal Logue (Grounded For Life) as a janitor who rounds up a posse of what ABC calls "new age Robin Hoods" to pull off an insane heist: Breaking into Jagger's Central Park West apartment.
The big story unfolding from this week's network upfronts in New York is the mounting attack against TV's No. 1 drama, CSI. Rival networks smell blood now that CBS's six-year-old forensic cop series appears to have peaked. Monday, NBC put its big buzz show, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, into the Thursday at 9 slot. Yesterday, ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson announced that his hottest show, Grey's Anatomy, will be moving from Sundays to Thursdays against CSI next season.
That's a headache CTV didn't need. Once the dust settles, they might be better off leaving Grey's Anatomy on Sundays.
ABC also put three existing - and struggling - shows into the slot once owned by Monday Night Football (punted to ESPN): Wife Swap, The Bachelor (featuring Euro dude Prince Lorenzo Borghese, a cosmetics entrepreneur) and surprise mid-season renewal What About Brian.
Here are ABC's new dramas:
* Brothers & Sisters finds dysfunction lurking just beneath an idyllic family facade. Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal), Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) and Ron Rifkin (Alias) star.
* Day Break stars Taye Diggs (Kevin Hill) as a detective caught up in a Groundhog Day scenario where he is forced to re-live the same nightmare scenario over and over again.
* Men In Trees stars Anne Heche as a relationship coach who flees to the hills when she finds out her fiance is a cheat.
* The Nine stars Tim Daly (Wings), Chi McBride (Boston Public) and Kim Raver (24) in a drama about nine hostages caught up in a 52-hour standoff after a bank holdup goes wrong.
* Six Degrees is about six New Yorkers who have an impact on each other's lives, even though they don't know each other - yet. From Lost and Alias whiz J.J. Abrams.
* Traveler is about three grad students who decide to rollerblade through a famous Manhattan museum. Seconds later, a terrorist bomb wipes out the place, making the three prime suspects in the bombing. Two flee, the other... vanishes.
ABC's new comedies are:
* Betty The Ugly stars America Ferrera (The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants) as a slightly plump girl from Queens caught up in the skinny world of fashion modeling. Produced by Salma Hayek.
* Big Day will take an entire season to dissect one wedding day. ABC calls it Father Of The Bride meets 24.
* Help Me Help You stars Ted Danson as a group therapist who is crazier than his patients (who include Jere Burns and Jane Kaczmarek).
* In Case Of Emergency stars Lori Loughlin (Full House), David Arquette, Jonathan Silverman and Greg Germann as pals who have held each other together since high school.
* Notes From The Underbelly is about a couple who are about to have their first child.
Reality shows include Just For Laughs Gags, the hidden camera comedy that has been running on CBC for years, Wake Up Call, a relationship series from He's Just Not That Into You author Ben Rehendt and Set For The Rest Of Your Life, which pits couples against the clock in attempts to win anywhere from $50 to $10,000.
ABC plans to tee up College Football games on Saturday nights and keep Dancing With The Stars. Cancelled are PrimeTime Live, Commander In Chief, Invasion, Hope & Faith, Freddie and Rodney. Back, for some unfathonable reason, is According To Jim (bounced to mid-season).
Tomorrow: CBS answers back.
ABC's prime-time schedule for the fall, announced by the network yesterday:
Monday
8 p.m. -- Wife Swap
9 p.m. -- The Bachelor and Supernanny
10 p.m. -- What About Brian
Tuesday
8 p.m. -- Dancing With the Stars (NT) then SET FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
9 p.m. -- LET'S ROB ...
9:30 p.m. -- HELP ME HELP YOU
10 p.m. -- Boston Legal
Wednesday
8 p.m. -- Dancing With the Stars (NT) then George Lopez (NT) and According to Jim (NT)
9 p.m. -- Lost
10 p.m. -- THE NINE
Thursday
8 p.m. -- BIG DAY
8:30 p.m. -- NOTES FROM THE UNDERBELLY
9 p.m. -- Grey's Anatomy (NT)
10 p.m. -- SIX DEGREES
Friday
8 p.m. -- BETTY THE UGLY
9 p.m. -- MEN IN TREES
10 p.m. -- 20/20
Saturday
8 p.m. -- ABC SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Sunday
7 p.m. -- America's Funniest Home Videos
8 p.m. -- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9 p.m. -- Desperate Housewives
10 p.m. -- BROTHERS & SISTERS