More Cancellation, Renewals, Pickup News
By fred | May 12, 2008
The upfronts are coming, as of course lots and lots of news floating in about what shows will be picked up, renewed or canceled. More news from almost every network coming in…
ABC
We know Eli Stone will be renewed for a second season, while Women’s Murder Club is gone. It also seems that, for some unexplainable reason, Miss/Guided is likely to be renewed for a second season. Don’t ask me, I have no idea.
Again, thanks to creator David E. Kelley, fans of Boston Legal will have another season. But the initial order is only for 13 episodes, and it might not go further than that; also, it will be with a significantly scaled down cast, and probably the last season.
CBS
Still no official word on How I Met Your Mother, but with all the attention the show has been getting lately, because of Britney Spears who’s sadly returning to the show tonight, the renewal for a fourth season is pretty much a given. Just makes you wonder if that will be the last one or not… (and if so, will everyone know in time?)
Anyways, Moonlight is likely to be renewed [EDIT: Actually, recent rumors are that it might not look so good for the show. CBS has lots of dramas, and while the renewal for The Unit seems sure, it apparently leaves them with no room for Moonlight...], The Unit should come back as well. Shark on the other hand is gone.
About new series : The Mentalist and Eleventh Hour will be picked up, while Exit 19, the cop-drama starring Geena Davis, has not been picked up, and somehow I feel this is a good news.
Fox
The two most-awaited new series, the two shows I’m most excited about, are both on Fox, and as it turns out, are both falling under the sci-ci category. As we all know, Fox loves to pick-up great (sci-fi) new series, air enough episode so that many viewers turn into fans given how good the shows are, only so that they can cancel them and piss everyone off, trashing away the remaining episodes.
The first show is JJ Abrams’ new creation, Fringe, and it will be great, I’m sure. As previously reported, Fox already put a 13-episode order for this new show, starting with a two-hour pilot, and said pilot only will cost no less than $10 million !
The other one is Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, an promising project reuniting Whedon and ex-slayer Eliza Dushku. The show has been picked up, and is said to premiere midseason, which isn’t really a good sign…
Friday Night Lights‘ executive producer Peter Berg has been asked to direct a two-hour pilot for Ronald D. Moore’s new space-exploration drama, Virtuality. Sounds like another sci-fi project for Fox. Adding the renewal of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and sadly it looks like we can expect to see (at least) half of them die. I hope not, but the odds aren’t good…
The network is also said to be enthusiastic about Starting Under, the Bernie Mac drama, but the show needs a new show runner. They also signed for a new animated series, Sit Down, Shut Up, from Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, for a show which will use voice talent from names like Jason Bateman, Henry Winkler or Will Arnett.
Still on the animation department, Fox also picked up Cleveland, the Family Guy spin-off, for 13 episodes. Lastly, as we all expected, Canterbury’s Law has been canceled.
The CW
Seems that people are still discussing Reaper’s fate after all, which could be returning midseason. I guess people are really stupid over there, for (a) not be sure to renew this great show, and (b) still not see a potential of pairing it with Supernatural, renewed of course.
But I hear they’ve picked up yet another show that will look very much like Gossip Girl, almost a clone, a spinoff, a ripoff, but they don’t call it like that. And no, I don’t mean 90210, I mean yet another show like that! This one is called How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls, and unlike the new 90210 it won’t feature Tori Spelling. Oh yeah, she’s coming back… in fact it seems they’re bringing the entire original cast back!
Posted in News
Shows: 90210, Boston Legal, Canterbury's Law, Cleveland, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour, Eli Stone, Fringe, How I Met Your Mother, Miss Guided, Moonlight, Privileged, Reaper, Shark, Sit Down Shut Up, Starting Under, The Mentalist, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Unit, Virtuality, Women's Murder Club
Alec Baldwin on 60 Minutes — normgregory.com