via BET press release:

BET Unveils Its New Fall Programming Slate

Original Series “FIRST IN,” “HEART OF THE CITY,” “MONICA,” “PAY IT OFF,” “BRING YOUR ‘A’ GAME,” “THE MO’NIQUE SHOW” and “PRESSURE COOKER” Premiere In September and October

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 — This Fall BET Networks is offering a diverse line-up of original programming. From a new face on the late-night talk show scene, to a fiscally focused game show, to a heart-pounding look at the lives of Compton, Los Angeles firefighters and a series of thought-provoking specials, BET’s new slate provides a broad spectrum of real-life stories.

“PRESSURE COOKER”

PREMIERES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 AT 6:30 P.M.*

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While most celebrate the New Year on January 1 (don’t worry, so do we), the new television year begins today!  Failures are forgotten. Slates are wiped clean to begin again. The promise of a new season lies ahead.

I hope everyone’s hang over isn’t too bad.

NBC will debut the season/series premieres of some of its lineup on the online streaming service Hulu one week before they air on the broadcast network. For example, the series premiere of the new Knight Rider and the season premiere of Lipstick Jungle, which will first air on NBC on 9/24 will be available on Hulu on Wednesday September 17.

Also available first online will be Chuck, and Life which will be available on Hulu on September 22, but don’t debut on NBC until September 29.

This is not however being extended to every show on the peacock network. Shows that traditionally have performed well on television will make their season’s bows on the TV network first, and then show up on Hulu a day later as is the case with Heroes, The Office and My Name is Earl.

Even some new shows like the My Own Worst Enemy will bow first on the network on October 17 and be available on Hulu the next day. Crusoe, which premieres on NBC on Friday October 17, will show up on Hulu on Monday October 20.

But good old 30 Rock, which doesn’t have its season premiere on NBC until October 30, will appear first, a week earlier on Hulu.

You can see the full Hulu schedule via Hulu’s Fall Premiere Lineup. Note the Hulu lineup also will display shows from Fox and some from USA, but they give you a week by week schedule of when the premieres will show up on Hulu.

Update: Separately, Variety is reporting that awareness of Knight Rider and CW’s 90210 is high in advance of the premieres. Variety notes that awareness was higher for Knight Rider than even 90210, but that the other new fall shows have little awareness among TV viewers.

Fox is the last network to announce its Fall 2008 schedule, and like ABC, it is making just a few changes.

Only two new shows (an hour each) (Fringe, a drama, and Do Not Disturb a sitcom) are being introduced in Fall 2008. That compares to and six shows (K-Ville, Back To You, Kitchen Nightmares, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, Next Great American Band, Nashville), comprising five and a half hours, introduced in Fall 2007.

Only two of the shows from last Fall (Kitchen Nightmares, Don’t Forget the Lyrics) survive for a second season, but Fox has Moment of Truth and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles coming back from a successful spring.

Fox’s amount of unscripted programming (at 8 of 15 hours the highest % of any network) remains constant, but Moment of Truth moves in and the failed Next Great American Band moves out. In fact, removing the Sunday night animation block, Fox has only 6 hours a week programmed with shows written by WGA writers.

I like Fox’s scheduled programming to do much better than it did last Fall, where its positive momentum was largely due to its ML baseball playoff numbers. With only 2 new shows, I don’t see much potential for downside like last Fall. I still think it will take a back seat to CBS in total viewers, and ABC in total viewers and the age demos for the Fall, but the network should be in a better position at mid-season, when 24 and American Idol are set to return.

Fox Fall 2007 Schedule Shows vs. Fall 2008 Schedule Shows

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Robert posted earlier about CBS’s new 2008 fall schedule. I’ll compare the Eye’s Fall 2008 schedule to its Fall 2007 schedule, and look at what worked, what didn’t work and what might happen next fall.

Unlike ABC who is introducing only 2 new shows next fall, CBS is introducing 5 new shows (and four hours of shows) (Worst Week, The Mentalist, Project Gary, Eleventh Hour, and The Ex-List). That’s pretty close to the 5 new shows (and 4.5 hours of shows) introduced in fall 2007 (The Big Bang Theory, Cane, Kid Nation, Moonlight, and Viva Laughlin)

There will be just 4 hours of unscripted programming in Fall 2008 compared to 6 hours in Fall 2007, but no more employment for striking writers, since CBS is simply replacing the 2 Crimetime Saturday hours with drama reruns. CBS won’t be introducing any new unscripted programming next fall.

CBS started last fall down about 8% vs. the previous season, but the strike hit them the hardest of the big networks, as they sunk to almost 20% behind 2006-7 at one point. The failure of their new shows was a big factor. Only one new show from their Fall 2007 lineup, The Big Bang Theory, returns for Fall 2008.

Next fall, CBS is betting more heavily on comedies, introducing 3 shows/ 2 hours (Worst Week, The Ex-List, Project Gary) likely as at attempt to grab a somewhat younger demographic. Last fall CBS introduced only one comedy.

CBS will introduce 2 new drama hours (The Mentalist, Eleventh Hour) vs. 3 new drama hours last fall. Based on past experience, yet knowing little about those shows, I’m going to guess that we’ll be seeing “Save Our Eleventh Hour“ letter writing campaigns underway next season. Here’s a quote that future fans can feel free to use “Eleventh Hour is the only show I watch on CBS, the rest of their schedule is garbage. If they drop Eleventh Hour, I’ll never watch another CBS show again.” You’ve been warned.

CBS Fall 2007 Schedule Shows vs. Fall 2008 Schedule Shows

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Edit: Schedule grid updated on 5/27/08 for CW’s Sunday night announcements.

As badly as the CW has done this season, its hard to imagine they’ll do worse next season. They’ve already sold off Sunday night to a third party. What else are they going to try next fall to reverse their slide?

Two of the six of the new CW Fall 2007 shows (Reaper, Gossip Girl) introduced in Fall 2007 survive into Fall 2008. The three new shows introduced for Fall 2008 (90210, Surviving The Filthy Rich, Stylista) seem targeted much more directly at young women than the shows they replace.

Unlike ABC, CW is cutting back significantly on its unscripted programming., going from 7 hours in Fall 2007 to 3 hours in the Fall of 2008. Losing Friday Night Smackdown is going to hurt their numbers substantially, but the loss of the disastrous reality hour from 7-8 Sunday (CW Now, Online Nation) is going to help. It’s not clear to me that Stylista outdoes Beauty & The Geek.

I don’t know whether the now sold Sunday night will count with the CW weekly Nielsen numbers. If it doesn’t, I think the CW has a reasonable chance to hold even vs. this year on an average viewer/demo adults basis. They’re only programming 10 hours a week, and dropped their worst performers from this year. I think they could stabilize at what is admittedly a low level.

It seems that Mon-Wed are girls nights, Thursday is SciFi/Fantasy Night (boys also welcome), and Friday is African American night. It certainly seems thematically logical, but will it work?

However, if that happens, and MyNetworkTV continues to see its numbers rise (particularly with the addition of Friday Night Smackdown) I think they could approach the CW’s numbers next year. Passed by Univision this year, how would the CW handle being passed by MyNetworkTV next year?

7/19 Update: CW has announced its Fall 2008 premiere dates.

CW Fall 2007 Schedule Shows vs. Fall 2008 Schedule Shows

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ABC’s announced schedule for Fall 2008 adds only 2 new shows to its lineup. That’s similar to the few changes announced by NBC, but the difference between the two being that ABC’s Fall 2007 schedule was somewhat successful, unlike NBC’s.

ABC’s two new shows for Fall 2008 are Opportunity Knocks (an Ashton Kutcher produced game show) and Life on Mars (a science fiction/crime drama about a 21st century cop transported into the 70’s, Journeyman meets New Amsterdam)

Of the eight shows ABC introduced in the Fall of 2007, four will be returning (Samantha Who?, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money). ABC is keeping their Wednesday night block of sophomore drama shows intact.

Last Fall ABC introduced 6.5 hours of new programming, the most among the top 4 networks, but next fall will see only 2 new hours of shows added to the schedule. As with NBC, the writers strike may have pushed back some changes to mid-season.

In Fall 2007, ABC had 9.5 hours of unscripted programming in its 22 hour primetime schedule. Fall 2008 will increase that total to 11 hours. I’m sure the writers who walked the picket lines for 100 days are disappointed to see 1.5 hours of scripted programming removed from ABC’s schedule. ABC has gone to an entirely unscripted Friday night lineup next fall.

Unlike NBC, who’s failure in Fall 2007 seems likely to be repeated in Fall 2008, I like ABC to show ratings improvement. It had the best turnout of new shows in 2007 and they’re coming back, and it’s disasters (Cavemen, Carpoolers), should be easy to improve upon by Opportunity Knocks. Big Shots set a somewhat higher bar in failure, so Life on Mars may not be much of an improvement.

ABC Fall 2007 Schedule Shows vs. Fall 2008 Schedule Shows

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The information on this page is believed correct as of May 22, 2008.

With the end of the 2007-2008 broadcast television season on May 21, 2008 this page will no longer be updated.

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