Our friend James Hibberd at THR.com is out with a blizzard of interviews with the network chiefs. They really are great interviews with lots more than I have here and you should check them out if you’re interested in more.
Buried within are some show status nuggets (translation mine):
From Q&A: Stephen McPherson, President, ABC Entertainment Group
THR: What are your plans for “Ugly Betty”? Will it return in the fall, and will it stay on Thursdays?
McPherson: “Ugly Betty” will return.
Ugly Betty will return.
From Q&A: Angela Bromstad, President, primetime entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios
THR: “Lipstick Jungle.” We keep hearing it’s not dead, but two of its stars booked pilots. What’s the latest on that?
Bromstad: We were giving our cable companies opportunities to look at it and the financials, and it doesn’t look like that it will be continuing.
Since I can no longer deny it and have any credibility whatsoever, I will have to admit what anyone with a brain has known for months, the show is dead.
THR: What about “Chuck”?
Bromstad: It’s too early to tell. It’s a really fun show and well done.
It really is too early to tell.
THR: And “Life”?
Bromstad: “Life” is a show I developed when I was here before I left. Damian (Lewis) is a great star. We wish the ratings were better. That’s really all we can say.
It’s dead.
From Q&A: Kevin Reilly, President Fox Entertainment
THR: Can “Terminator” or “Dollhouse” financially make sense as broadcast shows next season if their ratings don’t improve?
Reilly: Advertisers have liked the shows. Both shows are doing well on a c7 basis. It’s too early to rule them out.
We’re close to ruling them out.
From Q&A: Nina Tassler, President CBS Entertainment
THR: Can we expect “Gary Unmarried” or “Worst Week” to return?
Tassler: “Gary” has done really well this season. It’s going to be in there with the discussion of all the shows for next season, but we’re in the middle of shooting pilots. “Worst Week” certainly has a tougher road ahead.
Gary Unmarried’s not dead yet. Worst Week is dead.
THR: Is “The Unit” doing a strong enough number to continue next year?
Tassler: We call it the pre-football/post-football analysis of the show. Creatively, it’s so well-written. We’re going to wait and see.
Game over for The Unit.
From Q&A: Dawn Ostroff, President CW Entertainment
THR: So what are you thinking about in terms of programming for Sunday?
Ostroff: We still have plenty of time to schedule the network, so it would be premature to say, but I can tell you the movies are doing pretty well for us.
The movies have done a hell of a lot better than the repeats of Jericho, the junk our non-paying “partner” programmed this year, or the dreck we programmed last year.
THR: “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game” are not doing very well. Is this the end of half-hour comedies on the CW?
Ostroff: We’re going to look at it, but until the pilots are done it’s too early to say.
We’d love to get rid of them, but we are so desperate, with so many hours to fill, that we may not be able to.
THR: “Privileged” pulled a pretty modest number. You’ve seen its whole season at this point. Does it have any hope?
Ostroff: We’ve been very pleased because when you look at our numbers, we look at buzz factor and so many indicators that (suggest) there’s a lot of bubbling going on. “Gossip Girl” was not unlike that the first year. There were all these ways people were taking about the show that weren’t in the numbers. “Privileged” is similar. It’s getting a huge amount of streams online, it’s our third most-streamed show. We believe in the show creatively, we’ve seen some good ideas for a sophomore year, and that’s what we’ll weigh against our new pilots.
It had horrible ratings, that’s why I bring up all that other meaningless stuff, but since it’s one of my pet shows I’d love to keep it. Again, with all the hours we have to fill, we just might have to stoop to bringing this back, but I doubt it.
So wait a minute fox might keep terminator now for decent ratings? But chuck might get the ax.What the hell kinda justice do you call that.Now im offically pissed off.
Travis, and anyone else who follows, none of these answers from the network heads are any commitment at all on anything. *Except* that Ugly Betty is coming back. Everything else is just blowing smoke. My translations are my opinion, plus some fun, backed up by our analysis.
Much more interesting from the Tassler interview:
THR: The Wednesday night comedy hour. Will you continue having that block this fall?
Tassler: It took us such a long time to get to this place that we’re certainly eager and invested in keeping it there. We’ve improved the time period, so it’s something we’d like to stick with.
Sounds like that’s staying
In all those shows mentioned – Ugly Betty and Chuck and Gary Unmarried are the shows that will return.
HAHAHA I LOVE the translations. SO TRUE!
Holly, I’m not saying I will rib Bill mercilessly, forever, if Old Christine survives…but at least as long as I live
I hate execspeak. What’s the point of the interviews if they are just going to pull stuff out of their ass?
Get Jack Bauer to do the interview, lol.
Do you have the season one Ugly Betty 18-49 veiwers? Please
So “too early” means “dead” except in the case of Chuck? I’m a bit suspicious of that.
Dawn Ostroff forgot to say: “We are actively considering giving Sunday nights to the Psychotic Friends Network for a series of brand-new live infomercials…”
…wait a minute – that actually sounds like a good pilot series idea for them, with Dionne Warwick, Vivica A. Fox, and Eric Estrada – that should fit into the CW’s schedule just fine…
…help! I need a 16x shot of caffeine and sugar – looking at this, it’s scary – and it’s scarier that the CW might actually inflict this on America
Glad they wanna keep 24 going and Kiefer would like to too.
And that Chuck comment by the NBC Exec has made me feel a little better.
Bill, when a network head says “it doesn’t look like” a show will be continuing, that’s saying the show is dead, but who’s really surprised that Lipstick Jungle is dead? Other than Brooke Shields, of course.
Gary Unmarried needs to be put behind Two and Half Men. It is a superior show to Worst Week
Excellent article! Love the translations.
David Brownfield, the man in charge of current programming at CBS, spoke to our class on Monday and here are a few tid bits about shows on the bubble.
In terms of “The New Adventures of Old Christine”, he mentioned the show’s struggles but also said that Julia wins awards and that the network loves the fact that she is there at CBS. Sounds as though the show might survive to me. He also stated that in general because of syndication possibilities they give comedies a little more rope when it comes to cancellations. Used “How I Met Your Mother” as an example, some people at CBS wanted the show gone by the second season, however he and others fought hard to keep it around.
Also said that “The Eleventh Hour” has no shot of coming back in it’s current slot, if it comes back at all.
This last one might not be so accurate. I think he said that since “Flashpoint” cost peanuts to make and because it’s an experimental way of producing a show that they might keep it around. Again I’m not sure if this is exactly what he said.
Haha that’s great. You take the corporate bullcrap and cut to what they really mean.
My favorite of your translations is the one regarding CW’s sunday night!
I think you’re inaccurate about Worst Week and The Unit.
Pretty much with the Unit they’re trying to say “too early to tell”, and with Worst Week, I think they’ll bring it back in the fall and see how it does, but it’ll be on pretty thin ice.
johnthemon, Worst Week and The Unit are both dead. Christine and Gary definitely have a chance.
I don’t know how to take the Chuck response. It’s too early to tell? Are they basically saying Chuck will be back as long as the bottom doesn’t fall out?
Josh, he’s saying precisely nothing, which is what he intended to say.
But, Bill, why does Reilly’s “It’s too early” mean the shows are nearly dead, but Bromstad’s actually means it’s too early?
I think the response to DOLLHOUSE is more enlightening than Bill gives it credit for. Unfortunately he answered to both shows, but we know how bad TSCC is. DOLLHOUSE on the other hand currently is very healthy on all the “C” charts, which is what matters. They’ve also been able to find advertisers for the show without too much difficulty. The show is profitable.
It makes sense that he’s too early to rule THEM out. In other words he just basically said in my mine “I’ve ruled one out, but not sure on the other,” that is the translation I got from his statement.
Julia, read my second comment, I added my spin to the translations!
Nick C, I agree, your translation is better!
Haha Great Read! nice interpretations Bill, while none of the shows that I watch are in Jeopardy, I kinda wish Gary Unmarried would finish simply because we need Jay Mohr back on Ghost Whisperer! Jamie Kennedy is aiiight but we NEED Prof Payne back! I watch Worst Week as well and while it is funny it’s predictable and actually gets boring after awhile! so no great loss there for me…
craps…. eight episodes to go and it’s “too early to tell” I think the execs at NBC like all this tension. It sonds like life is dead on NBC, but what are the odds it gets bumped to USA?
djm, It sonds like life is dead on NBC, but what are the odds it gets bumped to USA? Pretty much nil.
If Life gets cancelled, I think it is very possible that USA could pick it up after the final season of Monk. Since Monk is ending, Psych could be pushed to 9 and Life could be on at 10. Perfect Solution.
Except that a cable net can’t afford the cost of producing an hour long broadcast show.
LOL, loved the translations
I’m sad about Worst Week, I love that show. I’m also sad that crap shows like Ugly Betty and Gary stay on…
@MNIS: No, it’s not possible, sorry.
Anyone got a really quick explanation of what the C7 rating is all about?
AC, C7 refers to the commercial rating of the show within 7 days of airtime. Commercial ratings measure the viewing of the average minute of commercial time, whereas almost all the numbers on our site (and anywhere else you see in public) are program ratings which measure the viewing of the average minute of the entire program. We have seen glimpses of commercial rating data very occasionally, but nothing that we could use to compare shows with on any consistent basis.
AC, C7 refers to the commercial rating of the show within 7 days of airtime. Commercial ratings measure the viewing of the average minute of commercial time, whereas almost all the number on our site (and anywhere else you see in public) are program ratings which measure the viewing of the average minute of the entire program. We have seen glimpses of commercial rating data very occasionally, but nothing that we could use to compare shows with on any consistent basis.
Ok, thanks. So in general is it best to have higher program ratings or higher C7 ratings? Does it matter?
Favorite line:
“but I can tell you the movies are doing pretty well for us.”
Haha, yeah right!
I think CBS should keep Old Christine and Gary Unmarried. I believe the ratings have dropped lately is because they keep airing other stuff in the timeslot or they always seem to be repeats. Only 4 new episodes of Gary Unmarried have aired in 2009. (15 episodes total)
I don’t know why, but Wedensday night skews older now that it used to. Christine and Gary Unmarried do poorly in the demo, but that may not matter so much. As you say, a good relationship b/w a network and a popular star like Julia Louis-Dreyfus is often cultivated so the star will come back and do another project in case the current one fails. The Monday night CBS comedy lineup is also a good example of how nets will let sitcoms find an audience. My only caveat is that Christine is absolutely no 2 and a Half men, Julia or no Julia.
NBC sent out false hope to fans that Lipstick Jungle would return. Angela Bromstad and Ben Silverman made positive comments regarding the show and then to read it here that the show will not continue. NBC could have at least went to LJ’s website and posted the statment there explaining the situation for the show and BIG thanks to all the fans that did tune in. I traveled the road with Lipstick Jungle and NBC personally I think the network set the show up for failure in the beginning. You may disagree with me but that’s what it looks like from the outside looking in. I enjoyed Lipstick Jungle and thought it was a breath of fresh air compared to what is on TV these days and I’ll miss it! I’ve washed my hands with NBC and good luck to their ratings because they are going to need it.
Agreed Camellia! Until I heard Lindsey Price was doing a pilot with Rebecca Romjin I still had great hope (based on Bromstad’s earlier comments) that the show would be back. NBC never seemed to behind this show. They moved it around – both day and timeslot. It was fun TV. I thought they might even put it over on Bravo. NBC just didn’t see that it was a show that would pick up speed if they just promoted it even a little bit. At one point the promos on the network even gave the wrong time. Geesh!
Some of the new shows are totally stupid…whatever happened to the excellent show, Commander & Chief? This was good writing, maybe too close to the actual political system in our country?
Ugly Betty is totally different and yes, sometime a little lame although it is fun to watch. Please bring it back.
Don’t mess with the Unit! An excellent show and excellent writing.