Note: Upfront network presentation week is here, which means that the regular sections of The Programming Insider -- Metered Market Prime-Time Ratings, Ratings Box, On the Air Tonight, TV Tidbits and TV Trivia Time -- will be replaced with coverage of the new schedules for the remainder of the week. But the fast affiliate rating results will still be available at PIFeedback.com.
ABC in 2008-09: Two New Fall Series; Changes on Only Four Evenings
Citing stability in this strike infected season (despite, in fact, ongoing double-digit rating losses, according to Nielsen Media Research data), ABC in fall 2008 could be considered the most passive prime-time schedule the network has ever offered. ABC will introduce only two new series next fall (Thursday 10 p.m. drama Life on Mars and non-scripted Opportunity Knocks, which opens Tuesday), while re-launching Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money and relying heavily on the strength of scripted returnees like Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty, Samantha Who? and Boston Legal.
Veteran Wife Swap and Supernanny will move to Fridays from 8-10 p.m., Boston Legal heads to Mondays at 10 p.m. out of Samantha Who?, and sophomore Eli Stone will air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. out of the live Dancing With the Stars results show. Three of the nights from last fall -- Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday -- are unchanged.
ABC will feature two additional sitcoms in midseason -- former NBC occupant Scrubs and The Goode Family, an animated series from King of the Hill creator Mike Judge. And the comedy that will just not die, According to Jim, will also return. But only one half-hour sitcom, returning Samantha Who?, will be present on the fall schedule, which is the least number of comedies on a fall ABC line-up in over 50 years.
Also on the midseason front is an untitled non-scripted project from Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher; and new seasons of The Bachelor, Lost and ABC News’ Primetime: What Would You Do? And there are several other unnamed series concepts considered contenders for the 2008-09 season. ABC series not returning next season include sitcoms Cavemen, Carpoolers, Miss-Guided and Notes From the Underbelly; dramas Men In Trees, October Road, Big Shots, Cashmere Mafia and Women’s Murder Club; and the non-scripted Just For Laughs and Oprah’s Big Give.
Here is ABC’s fall 2008 primetime schedule with the two new shows in caps, followed by the new program descriptions:
Monday 8:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars 9:30 p.m. Samantha Who? 10:00 p.m. Boston Legal (new day)
Tuesday 8:00 p.m. OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS 9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars Results Show 10:00 p.m. Eli Stone (new day)
The Goode Family (midseason) From King of the Hill creator Mike Judge, this new animated sitcom focuses on a flawed family obsessed with doing the right thing. The voices include Mike Judge, Nancy Carell, Abby Elliot and Dave Herman.
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Dramas
Life on Mars After being knocked unconscious when his girlfriend is kidnapped by a serial killer, a 21st century detective wakes up in 1973 and looks for clues to solve the crime and get back home. Lenny Clarke, Rachel Lefevre, Colm Meaney and Jason O’Mara star. David E. Kelley (Boston Legal) is the executive producer.
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Non-Scripted
Opportunity Knocks Contestants compete to win a gamut of prizes literally from their own home when a mobile team arrives at “Anywhere, America” in a semi-truck full of flat screen TVs, new furniture and cash prizes that the family can win right there. J.D. Roth hosts; Ashton Kutcher is one of the executive producers.
Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Project (midseason) The concept is described as “a beauty pageant unlike any you have ever seen.”
-CBS to Launch Six New Series Next Fall: CBS, which will unveil its fall 2008 prime-time schedule tomorrow, is expected to announce six new scripted series -- two comedies and four dramas. The comedies are Project Gary, with Jay Mohr as a recently divorced father who thinks he has found the perfect girlfriend; and Worst Week, a single camera half-hour about a young couple’s hellish pre-wedding week. The dramas are Eleventh Hour, about a professor who partners with a government operative; The Ex List, about a woman who tracks down her past boyfriends after a psychic predicts she has already met the man she is going to marry; Harper’s Island, an Agatha Christie-like murder mystery; and The Mentalist, about a man who works as an independent contractor for the police.
-More Reaper: The CW, which announces its fall 2008 line-up this afternoon, has picked-up freshman drama Reaper for a second season. Reaper is expected to be paired with Supernatural on Thursdays after veteran Smallville ends its run.
-Coming Up at Fox – Secret Millionaire: Fox, which announces its 2008-09 schedule on Thursday, May 15, will introduce a non-scripted series called Secret Millionaire. Each episode will feature a wealthy benefactor traveling to impoverished neighborhoods, experiencing what it is like to live on a meager budget. At the show’s conclusion, the millionaire will reveal his or her identity before awarding $100,000 to at least one deserving individual.
