Cancellation/Renewals Roundup: Boston Legal, New Amsterdam, Back To You
By fred | May 12, 2008
The upfronts are coming, and pretty much all networks will announce which shows they have canceled, which they have renewed and which new ones they picked up. Even NBC is planned to make some Late Night announcement, probably that Jimmy Fallon (SNL) will take over Conan O’Brien in 2009 when he takes overs The Tonight Show as Jay Leno goes, well, we don’t know what Leno will do yet.
But many rumors are out already, from the renewal of Boston Legal thanks to the effort of creator David E. Kelley to the unsurprising cancellation of New Amsterdam, and a possible new home for Back To You.
Yes, Boston Legal will come back next season on ABC. It wasn’t a given, in fact the network was more inclined to cancel the show, or maybe keep it for its mid-season, but Kelley wanted another season, and ABC wanted to get Life On Mars, an adaptation of a BBC drama whose rights are owned by… David E. Kelley ! Kelley is expected to depart the project, but managed to have in exchange a fifth season for Boston Legal, although chances are that ABC will reduce the episode order to only 13, and there could also be budget reduction resulting in cast members being let go. It is also very likely that this will be the last season of the show.
Fox recently canceled a few shows, starting with New Amsterdam. This won’t come as a shock to anyone, especially if you actually cared enough to watch the show, because while the first episodes were incredibly flawed, the show had a little something that kept having you to tune back week after week. But the show never improved, never even tried, and it wasn’t long before you simply lost interest and didn’t care anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if people didn’t even watch the last episode(s), and it’s okay cause they weren’t any good really, so logically Fox will not have it back.
The network also canceled Back To You, because it was too expensive. I don’t know what it is lately but every network seems to be interested in a show from the competition : ABC already grabbed Scrubs for a final season that NBC didn’t want to gave the fans, it is also rumored that should CBS not renew New Adventures Of Old Christine, the Alphabet might be interested.
And in the meantime CBS might try to get Back To You on their schedule. The Eye had been mentioned as a possible home for the show a year ago, before in landed at Fox. And now that CBS might be willing to open a new comedy night beyond its Monday lineup, Back To You could be a possible fit.
In other news, The CW picked up the remake of 90210 (big surprise there).
Posted in News
Shows: 90210, Back To You, Boston Legal, Life On Mars, New Amsterdam
