Awards: Guest Actor and Actress in a Comedy

Guest Actor in a Comedy

Paul Dooley as Addison Prudy, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Michael J. Fox as Daniel Post, BOSTON LEGAL
David Koechner as Todd Packer, THE OFFICE
John Larroquette as Chef Gerard, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL
Michael Vartan as Michel, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

Guest Actress in a Comedy

Elizabeth Banks as Dr. Kim Briggs, SCRUBS
Loretta Devine as Maxine, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS
Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson, THE OFFICE
Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. McCluskey, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Charlize Theron as Rita, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

TV Season 2005-06: The Bad

How I Met Your Mother

One of the most maddening things about television is the umimaginative casting. Looking over the fall schedule, you can see very few daring choices were made. How I Met Your Mother is a perfect example of this. In coming up with the cast for a romantic comedy, the producers picked Jason Segel and Allyson Hannigan, both terrific comic performers with tons of potential. However, they were cast as supporting characters. Why? Oh I get it, they're not traditionally attractive enough. Instead we were stuck with the bland Josh Radner and Cobie Smulders (who? I don't know). Also, this was another case of a writer revealing way too much in the pilot. The story is told in flashback (with Bob Saget narration, which is actually a decent choice) as Ted (Radner) tells his children how he met their mother. The whole episode revolves around Ted falling in love with Robin (Smulders), a cute newscaster. At the end of the episode, the write rpulls a twist by having Ted reveal to his kids, "...and that's how I met your Aunt Robin." Well that's pretty clever, if you were only doing one episode, or if Robin wasn't a main character. However, the prime arc of the show deals with Ted and Robin's budding romance. But the writer has already ruined that by telling us the ending. If they could have been more patient, this would have made for a terrific reveal in the season finale. So why did I watch a whole season of this show? Well it was still fun to watch Hannigan and Segel (and Neil Patrick Harris) in supporting roles. Also, there was a terrific guest star turn by Ashley Williams as one of Ted's romantic interests, only showing what a bad choice Cobie Smulders was for the lead role. I may or may not suffer through a 2nd season.

Best Episode: "Drumroll, Please"
Worst Episode: "Nothing Good Happens After 2A.M."
Best Performer: Allyson Hannigan
Worst Performer: Josh Radner
Season Grade: C+

Gilmore Girls

Last season, Gilmore Girls put together one of it's best efforts ever, almost matching the quality of the freshman campaign. The season finale left us with some interesting story ideas for next season: Rory dropped out of college and was in legal trouble, and Lorelai proposed marriage to Luke. And wow, they really could not have done either of these stories any worse. The Rory storyline was dragged on for far too long, depriving us of the natural chemistry between stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, which had long been the show's chief pleasure. Instead, Rory was stuck in an irritating relationship with annoying preppy Logan, who shows very few redeeming qualities, andis a pale imitation of Chad Michael Murray's Tristan from the early seasons. Lorelai was stuck as the third wheel in Luke's life, as he discovered he had a long lost daughter. The writers completely forgot how to write for Luke and turned him into an asshole, and kept this dynamic through to the terrible season finale. Sookie had absolutely nothing to do all year. Lane was stuck in her own irritating relationship, with bandmate Zach. The writers clearly wanted us to care about this relationship, but at the same time they kept giving Zach idiotic things to say like "Now we get to have sex!" when talking about their impending marriage. Amy-Sherman Palladino and Daniel Palladino (who I've defended over the years against what I felt was unfair criticism) have left the show at the end of this season, and their final outing ended up being the very worst Gilmore Girls episode in all 6 seasons. Can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm glad they're gone. Now let's fix this mess.

Best Episode: "Friday Night's Alright For Fighting"
Worst Episode: "Partings"
Best Performer: Lauren Graham
Worst Performer: Matt Czuchzry
Final Season Grade: C
Rank Against Previous Seasons: 6th/6

The O.C.

Third seasons tend to be rough for high school television shows. 90210 really struggled at the beginning, with a ridiculous attempt at a racial tolerance episode and trying to spinoff a younger set of characters. Dawson's Creek struggled by trying to sex it up by adding femme fatale-wannabe Eve, one of the worst characters in television history. But both of those shows were able to fix those problems and finish the 3rd season on a strong note. Dawson's Creek gave us the Joey-Pacey relationship and 90210 gave us "Donna Martin Graduates!". The O.C. was a mess from beginning to end. Everything they tried went embarassingly wrong. We had Jeri Ryan as a potential/scam artist, Seth smoking pot, Eric Mabius as an evil headmaster, Marissa befriending/ loving/ dumping/ killing an idiot surfer, Marissa falling in love with bad boy Volchok, Kirsten's alcoholism barely addressed except when convenient, Sandy's idiotic "dark" corporate story arc, and much more. The one thing that did work was cast addition Autumn Reeser, whose one-dimensional Taylor Townsend ended up being the most entertaining character on the show. Thankfully, she will be back and Marissa won't. Maybe there is hope for season 4, but I'm not holding my breath.

Best Episode: "The College Try"
Worst Episode: "The Graduates"
Best Performer: Autumn Reeser
Worst Performer: Mischa Barton
Final Season Grade: C-
Rank Against Previous Seasons: 3rd/3

TV Season 2005-06: Year in Review

The 2005-06 TV season has come to a close, and it's definitely been an interesting year. While the quality has dipped from last season, there were still some really good shows on the air, from both the networks and cable. Over the next week, I will be doing my annual top 10/Awards rush. Starting from the very worst, I will be doing writeups of all the shows I watched this year all the way through to my top 10. In between each writeup, I will present a different awards category.

Before I do that, I'd also like to ffer some brief notes on the year end Nielsen ratings.

*Shows with the Worst Demos: NCIS (16th, 43rd), Cold Case (20th, 43rd), 60 Minutes (26th, 64th), Commander in Chief (28th, 53rd) Close to Home (45th, 74th), Ghost Whisperer (47th, 70th), The West Wing (65th, 104th)

*Shows with the Best Demos: The Apprentice (38th, 17th), The Biggest Loser (48th, 28th), The Bachelor: Paris (53rd, 28th), Prison Break (55th, 30th), The Simpsons (56th, 25th), The Office (67th, 34th), Family Guy (69th, 34th), Four Kings (80th, 48th), American Dad (85th, 43rd), Scrubs (96th, 64th)

*Lowest Rated Renewed Shows of Each Network: UPN's Veronica Mars (145th, 142nd), WB's One Tree Hill (139th, 137th), Fox's The Loop (125th, 115th), ABC's What About Brian (99th, 67th), NBC's Scrubs (96th, 64th), The Amazing Race (56th, 48th)

*Biggest Year to Year Improvements: The Office (+48%, +60%), House (+30%, +31%), All of Us (+23%, +40%), 24 (+16%, +14%), American Idol Tuesday (+14%, +13%), American Idol Wednesday (+14%, +11%)

Biggest Year to Year Declines: Stacked (-54%, -54%), One Tree Hill (-35%, -37%), The Apprentice 4 (-32%, -36%), The Apprentice 5 (-31%, -38%), Joey (-30%, -33%), The Amazing Race (-30%, -34%), The West Wing (-27%, -33%), ER (-21%, -26%), Survivor Panama (-20%, -23%)

NBC says "No Mas"

Well, NBC surrendered as I expected, and moved Studio 60 out of the way of deadly competition on Thursday night. However, I'm not sure the new solution is really any better.
Studio 60 has moved to Monday at 10pm, following new superhero drama Heroes. This could be problematic if Heroes does not pan out at 9pm, leaving Studio with a weak lead-in. Also, Studio 60 will be competing with Monday Night Football. While ratings for that will certainly drop with the move to ESPN, it will still carry quite a deal of the male 18-49 demographic that I'm sure NBC hoped would watch Studio. To be fair, NBC didn't have very many options, but I don't think this was the best one.

With the change, NBC moves Deal or no Deal to the 9pm Thursday slot. Not a bad move, since it's a low cost way to compete against Grey's Anatomy and CSI. However, if Deal really struggles, it could doom ER and The Black Donnelly's in the 10pm slot. I'm glad they left Office/Earl alone, as I expect both of them to show improvement in the 8pm slot, without CSI standing in the way.

Other moves include the decision to shift it's wednesday comedy block to the 8pm hour. This is a smart move that gives these shows a chance to shine in a timeslot devoid of competing comedies. Law & Order takes over the Friday 10pm slot, sending Law & Order: Criminal Intent to Tuesday at 9pm (for a 2 hour L&O block) and Kidnapped being moved to at 10pm. The L&O moves should be fine, as the fans will likely follow those shows anywhere, but Kidnapped might struggle all by itself on Wednesday.

Obviously, NBC had to do something. They couldn't leave Studio 60 where it is. It would have certainly died a very early death. But this just shows the weakness of NBC overall. They really don't have any top notch show that could directly compete with Grey's Anatomy and CSI. This allowed the other networks to bully them out of the timeslot. And it's really a failure of development. Over the last decade, NBC has had hits such as Friends, Will & Grace, Frasier, ER, and three Law & Orders. They were incredibly inept at trying to use these shows to create new hits. Year after year, they put out an abysmal development slate (I mean, they put Union Square on the air!). Now their highest rated shows are also their oldest shows. It's going to be quite a while until NBC can right the ship.

Fall TV 2006: The CW's Fall Lineup

SUNDAY

**7:00-7:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS
7:30-8:00 PM ALL OF US
8:00-8:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS
8:30-9:00 PM THE GAME (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)

This should be one of the CW's better nights. Everybody Hates Chris was stuck leading in to underperforming comedies last season, but they've got a fairly reliable group here. The Game is a comedy about the girlfriend of a third string pro football player, her boyfriend and their friends. It comes from the same producers as lead-in Girlfriends and should fit right in.

MONDAY

8:00-9:00 PM 7TH HEAVEN
9:00-10:00 PM RUNAWAY (New Series)

I guess I can't blame The CW for keeping 7th Heaven alive. The ratings must have been too tempting to let go, and they made up for it with the Veronica Mars renewal. I can blame them for greenlighting the umpteenth conspiracy thriller Runaway. I'm not sure how they expect this to fit in with 7th Heaven. The rejected Aaron Spelling teen drama Split Decision sounded like a much better fit for this slot, but I haven't seen either of the pilots, so who knows.

TUESDAY

**8:00-9:00 PM GILMORE GIRLS
**9:00-10:00 PM VERONICA MARS

Gilmore Girls went into a serious decline in quality last season, and that may continue with the loss of the Palladino's (although I argue the reverse might be true). Still, the ratings continue to be strong, in the face of any and all competition. I don't expect that to change. The CW deserves alot of credit for keeping low rated, high quality drama Veronica Mars on the air. Hopefully they can figure out a way to get Gilmore fans to sample this show. Creator Rob Thomas's idea of doing three mini-arcs as opposed to one season long arc sounds like a good idea. I hope it pays off.

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL
9:00-10:00 PM ONE TREE HILL

Top Model was a no brainer at 8pm, as it's one of the highest rated shows from WB/UPN last season. You know what else was a no brainer? Cancelling One Tree Hill. I can understand the decision to renew a high rated low quality show (7th Heaven) and renewing a low rated high quality show (Veronica Mars), but you're not supposed to renew a low rated, low quality show. The Split Decision pilot really must have sucked.

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL

Smallville will continue to perform very strongly at 8pm, as the other networks are going for comedies or Survivor. At 9pm, Supernatural's specialized audience will probably not be affected by the increased competition on the big networks.

FRIDAY 8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN!

Yeah.

MIDSEASON

The only midseason show listed in CW's press release is the midseason drama Hidden Palms, from creator Kevin Williamson. The show follows a 15 yr old who moves in with his mother (after father's suicide) to a close knit community in Palm Springs, where there are mysterious secrets (oh no!). Kevin Williamson hasn't done anythign watchable since Scream 2, but this does also have the involvement of Scott Winant (thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Cupid). Also rumored to be held back for midseason is returning sitcom Reba, which got a last minute reprieve. Not sure what in the world they plan to do with it, though.

Despite the baffling decision to renew One Tree Hill, The CW did make some decent moves in it's first season. They combined the best of both UPN and WB, got great press for renewing Veronica Mars, and with great clearance rates for their affiliates, they should be in excellent shape for a strong debut. The big drawback is their incredibly weak development slate. I honestly don't think any of them will be back next year.

Fall TV 2006: Fox's New Lineup

**-This denotes show that I plan to watch next season. I have also edited that in for my coverage of the other network slates.

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM PRISON BREAK
9:00-10:00 PM VANISHED

I'm not a big fan of the incredibly contrived Prison Break, but it provides solid demos for FOX, and they've wisely paired it up with new conspiracy drama Vanished, which should benefit from this slot. This was a death slot for Fox last season, but I think they'll make some strides here.

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM STANDOFF
9:00-10:00 PM HOUSE

Standoff has been described as a show with the dynamic of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, where the married couple are hostage negotiators. I don't see much promise in this setup, even if the cast does include Gina Torres, and even if I'm incredibly amused that Michael Cudlitz (Brenda's prom date!) has a regular role on a network TV series. This will likely be one of the first Fox cancellations.

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM JUSTICE

Bones was a solid performer for Fox last season, and it's only major competition in this slot is CBS's Jericho, as the other networks are throwing up comedies or reality shows. Leading out of Bones is Justice, a new lawyer show, because we can't have enough of those. This one does have an interesting central character played by the awesome Victor Garber. I might check this out just to see how he plays off of Dawson's Creek alum Kerr Smith. Probably not, though.

THURSDAY
8:00-8:30 PM 'TIL DEATH
8:30-9:00 PM HAPPY HOUR
**9:00-10:00 PM THE O.C.

Fox leads off the night with it's biggest comedy gun, Til Death, which stars Everybody Loves Raymond alum Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher as a longtime married whose new neighbors are newlyweds. There's alot of comedy competing for this slot, but I think Garrett gives this show the profile it needs, and ABC's Big Day is the show most likely to suffer from the competition. Following it up is Happy Hour, a comedy that must have had a terrific pilot because the weak premise and lack of star power make this a puzzling addition to the lineup. I expect some dropoff here. Fox decides to keep The O.C. put. While I expect The O.C. to suffer due to the increased competition in this hour, I also think previous viewers may start to drift back if the rumors about Mischa Barton's departure (and the promising cast additions of Willa Holland and Autumn Reeser) are true. Fox will probably be happy if it can match last year's ratings.

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NANNY 911
9:00-10:00 PM TRADING SPOUSES: MEET YOUR NEW MOMMY

I don't watch reality shows, but I'm sure Fox will get exactly what they expect out of these. The combination of low budgets and serviceable ratings makes for nice profitability on Friday nights.

SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA STRIKES BACK

Fox's mainstays on these nights are also very profitable shows and will probably continue for a very long time.

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM FOOTBALL OVERRUN (COMEDY ENCORES)
7:30-8:00 PM FOOTBALL OVERRUN (COMEDY ENCORES)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM THE WAR AT HOME

This is Fox's most consistent night and I don't expect much to change. There may be some slight erosion due to NBC's Sunday Night Football, but there already was football at the same time on ESPN in previous years, so I doubt it will have much effect.

MIDSEASON

Fox will shuffle their lineup a bit for midseason, to make room for American Idol and 24. Justice will take over for Bones at 8pm (in the unlikely event that Justice is actually still on the air), which will switch to Fridays at 8. Joining Bones on Friday is The Wedding Album, a dramedy starring Bruno Campos about a wedding photographer. Can you say early cancellation? The Loop returns in the prime 930 Wednesday slot. Someone at Fox really likes that show. Not sure why. Midseason comedy The Winner does sound promising, with a cast consisting of The Daily Show's Rob Corrdry, Lenny Clarke, and Julie Hagerty, even if the premise does sound ridiculous. On the Lot is a reality show (from Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett) where 16 filmmakers compete by making short films each week, until one of them is determined the winner and given a job with Dreamworks. It will likely be the only unscripted primetime series I watch next season.

It's quite a surprise that Fox has turned into one of the most boring networks on TV (althought he top prize still belogns to CBS for now). None of their new pilots are very ambitious and some of their renewals don't make much sense. I mean, what's the point of renewing The O.C. when you could probably get a new drama for much cheaper that could also pull a 5 share? They definitely have the weakest slate of the major networks. The only show that I think will get renewed is Brad Garrett's Til Death. Hopefully this is an aberration, and they'll bring us a more daring slate next year.

Fall TV 2006: CBS's New Lineup

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 PM THE CLASS
9:00-9:30 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:30-10:00 PM THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: MIAMI

CBS wisely gets freshman hit How I Met Your Mother to lead off the night and try to help bookend their only new sitcom offering. The Class is (yet another) school reunion show, although this is for a group of people who shared the same 3rd grade class. Not sure about the rest of the case but Jason Ritter is an appealing comic lead, and the show should be a good fit for this hammock slot. The rest of this successful night stays put, including midseason Seinfeld cursebreaker The New Adventures of Old Christine. Gone from last season are Out of Practice and Courting Alex, two shows that had promising futures but CBS had no idea what do with them. I've rarely seen a show more abused by a network than Out of Practice.

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NCIS
9:00-10:00 PM THE UNIT
10:00-11:00 PM SMITH

New drama Smith sounds like a procedural that works from the other side of the law. It follows a criminal mastermind (Ray Liotta) and his group of friends as they go across the country on daring robbery missions. Not something I'm likely to go for, but it should fit in nicely with solidly performing lead-in The Unit.

WEDNESDAY
**8:00-9:00 PM JERICHO
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: NY

Jericho is the most interesting new show CBS has to offer. It follows the residents of a small Kansas town following a nuclear attack. Unfortunately, this is a timeslot that CBS has had trouble with lately and could doom Jericho to a quick demise. I wish CBS had found a hammock slot for this. Strongly performing snoozefest procedurals finish out the night.

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR
9:00-10:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
**10:00-11:00 PM SHARK

It's not surprising that CBS stays pat in the face of ABC's challenge. There is enough room for CSI and Grey's Anatomy, but I have a feeling that Grey's will win the 9pm slot in the end. CBS still owns the 8pm hour although if Survivor continues to decline, their hold on it could significantly weaken (especially if NBC's comedy block shows continued growth). Shark is the most high-profile show on CBS's radar, with Spike Lee directing and James Woods starring as a flamboyant attorney. The show was given a big gift with the 10pm slot, and I expect it to be their highest rated new offering this season.

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM GHOST WHISPERER
9:00-10:00 PM CLOSE TO HOME
10:00-11:00 PM NUMB3RS

It will be interesting to see if ABC's ambitious push on this night will put a dent into CBS's plans. I certainly hope so, because this lineup puts me to sleep.

SATURDAY
8:00-9:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS: MYSTERY

Whatever.

SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES
8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE
9:00-10:00 PM COLD CASE
10:00-11:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE

Jettisoning the movie of the week night is a good move. Cold Case and Without a Trace are both the type of shows that those viewers would be watching anyways. The Amazing Race might have trouble in the 8pm hour, but will manage to be respectable. CBS should finish 2nd or 3rd, depending on how Sunday Night Football does on NBC, with ABC keeping the ratings crown on this night for another year.

MIDSEASON

King of Queens will return to the network for a 13 episode order that accomodates Kevin James film schedule. Look for it to replace Class or Christine on Monday night or to team up with the Patrick Warburton midseason comedy Rules of Engagement to fill in for a failing drama (probably Jericho). They also have two new dramas on the bench. 3 LBS is a medical drama (uh, ok) starring Stanley Tucci and Waterfront is a very promising show about Joe Pantoliano as the quirky mayor of Providence, RI. I hope they give it a shot at 10pm on Sunday or Thursday.

CBS definitely has one of the dullest lineups on TV. They've played it safe for years, relying on tried and true formulas for churning out successful shows. Now they've got a ton of hour long dramas that get good overall ratings, but only decent demos. Because of this, they have very little room on their schedule to play with, leading to the inexplicable treatment of Out of Practice (performing well on Mondays, they put it on hiatus for a couple months, moved it to Wednesday and cancelled it after one airing.) CBS will have to clear up some of these aging, older-skewing shows or they will run into the same problem that doomed them in the mid-90s.

Fall TV 2006: Veronica Mars

The CW doesn't announce until Thursday, but according to series creator Rob Thomas, Veronica Mars has been renewed for a 3rd season!!! This is one of the most remarkable runs for a low rated, critically acclaimed show, and we have Dawn Ostroff to thank for that. It makes absolutely no business sense to keep this show on the air, but she's determined, against all odds, to make this show work. I only wish that she had been running ABC in May 1995. Only drawback to this news is Veronica's 22 episode order could be reduced to 13 episodes depending on ratings. The way Veronica Mars deals with season long mysteries means the show could possibly be cut at a really inopportune time. But that's something to worry about for later. Now it's time to celebrate!!

There were some other baffling decisions made by The CW, but I'll get to those when they announce on Thursday.

Note: My source for this article comes from http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=700002002 although I'm sure it has also been heavily discussed on the TWOP forums.

Fall TV 2006: ABC's New Lineup

MONDAY:
8:00 p.m. "Wife Swap"
9:00 p.m. "The Bachelor"/"Supernanny"
**10:00 p.m. "What About Brian"

Two hours of reality shows are a good low cost, decent ratings way of starting off the night. What About Brian's renewal was surprising, but it did pick up some steam in its final outing. ABC sees some potential, but I doubt how far this show can go.

TUESDAY:
8:00 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars"/"Set for the Rest of Your Life"
9:00 p.m. "Let's Rob..."
9:30 p.m. "Help Me Help You"
10:00 p.m. "Boston Legal"

Set for the Rest of Your Life sounds like an interesting game show concept, but I doubt will have enough broad appeal to last. ABc fills the 9pm hour with two new comedies to compete with NBC's new pair. They seem to be really high on Let's Rob, which features Donal Logue as a guy who recruits his friends for a robbery (of Mick Jagger). Help Me Help You features Ted Danson in a show about a group of people that meet in therapy. The cast also amusingly includes Jere Burns, from Dear John. I think the NBC pair will win this battle (in ratings and quality) but we'll have to see what else comes in at this hour.

WEDNESDAY

8:00 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars"/"George Lopez"/"According to Jim"
**9:00 p.m. "Lost"
**10:00 p.m. "The Nine"

ABC starts the night off with the popular Dancing With the Stars and in midseason brings in the two veteran sitcoms. They should perform at least as good as Alias did this season, but probably not better demos. Not sure how much life is left in those two, especially Jim. Lost stays put and leads in to The Nine, a promising new show that details how 9 people cope with the aftermath of a hostage situation. If they can keep Lost's audience awake long enough, this one could do very well.

THURSDAY:
8:00 p.m. "Big Day"
**8:30 p.m. "Notes from the Underbelly"
9:00 p.m. "Grey's Anatomy"
10:00 p.m. "Six Degrees"

This is where ABC makes it's stand. For so many years it was NBC that dominated this night, until CBS took over with Survivor and CSI. NBC has been scratching to stay in 2nd place, but it will be tough for them to do this season. ABc opens with two comedies to challenge the the My Name is Earl/Office combo. Big Day is (yet another) real time series, revolving around the intricate planning during a wedding day. Notes From the Underbelly is a more promising offering, mainly because it offers the brilliant Jennifer Westfeldt as the lead character in a show about a married couple dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. I'm not sure about the ratings potential for either of these, especially in this timeslot, but I will probably check both of them out. At 9pm, ABC really upended the balance of this night by moving Grey's Anatomy into the hour. They're not only trying to compete on Thursday, but they're trying to win it outright. Grey's has been so strong, I expect it to seriously compete with CSI. NBC has seriously got to consider moving Studio 60 at this point. There is no way it can survive this competition. ABC closes out the night with Six Degrees, another JJ Abrams ensemble show (with another strong cast) dealing with his favorite theme - destiny. The success of this wills depend on how well Grey's does, and if ER continues to decline.

FRIDAY:
**8:00 p.m. "Betty the Ugly"
**9:00 p.m. "Men in Trees"
10:00 p.m. "20/20"

ABC gives me a reason to watch network TV on Friday nights again, with a very promising offering of two new series. Betty the Ugly is an adaptation of a telenovela, and with a pair of great leads in America Ferrara and Eric Mabius, this show should be one of the most original and interesting offerings this fall. Men in Trees is less original, but with a strong cast led by Anne Heche and John Amos, could be a charming little show. ABC will really need to push these two so they don't get lost on Friday night, but that be difficult since their focus will obviously be Grey's Anatomy.

SATURDAY:
**8:00 p.m. "ABC Saturday Night College Football"

ABC brings in college football to partially make up for the loss of Monday Night Football. As with NBC's Sunday Night NFL offering, this is a good spot to advertise other shows, but college football is more regionalized than the NFL and there will be more variance in the ratings depending on the week to week matchup.

SUNDAY:
7:00 p.m. "America's Funniest Home Videos"
8:00 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
**9:00 p.m. "Desperate Housewives"
**10:00 p.m. "Brothers & Sisters"

After the usual lead-ins, ABC sticks with hit Desperate Housewives, using it to launch another drama, hoping it can catch fire a la Grey's Anatomy. Brothers and Sisters is a setimental family drama led by Calista Flockhart and featuring a very eclectic cast (Betty Buckley, Ron Rifkin, Patricia Wettig, Rachel Griffiths). This sounds like the perfect fit for this timeslot.

Midseason

ABC has 6 new shows held for midseason, although three of them are variety/reality shows (AKA who cares). The only promising midseason offering is Day Break, an action series starring Taye Diggs as a cop trying to prove his innocence. The other scripted shows are the awful sounding conspiracy show Traveler, and the high school reunion show In Case of Emergency (I thought we were done with these), featuring Jonathan Silverman, Lori Loughlin, and David Arquette (I thought we were done with them, too).

Despite a disappointing fall season last year, ABC is still on a roll. They've got some of the most successful young series on the air, and should be in good shape for a long time. The move of Grey's Anatomy to Thursday night is the sign of a confident, aggressive network that think they can win anywhere. Part of the reason for ABC's success is their outstanding development department, and they've got a terrific slate this year that should keep them going strong..

Fall TV 2006: NBC's New Lineup

Monday

8-9 p.m. "Deal or No Deal"
**9-10 p.m. "Heroes"
10-11 p.m. "Medium"

It'll be interesting to see how the lack of Monday Night Football on network TV will effect this night of TV. People will still tune in on ESPN, but will there be more viewers for network shows, now? We'll see. NBC leads off the night with it's hit game show for idiots Deal or No Deal, follows it up with a potential hit Heroes, which will need to succeed early because it's sure to be expensive. Medium will be here for a while.

Tuesday

8-9 p.m. "Friday Night Lights"
9-10 p.m. "Kidnapped"
10-11 p.m. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"

With mainstay SVU in the 10pm timeslot, NBC starts off this night with two new shows. Friday Night Lights is based on the incredible novel fo the same name, but is likely to be more influenced by the pedestrian film adaptation. It might garner some itnerest at first, but I wouldn't expect it to last. Kidnapped has more potential, in the era of Prison Break and 24. If the story is interesting enough, people will tune in for this one, and it makes for a good lead-in to SVU.

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. "The Biggest Loser"
9-9:30 p.m. "20 Good Years"
**9:30-10 p.m. "30 Rock"
10-11 p.m. "Law & Order"

More idiotic reality nonsense with The Biggest Loser leading off the night. At the 9pm hour, NBC offers up two sacrificial lambs to face off against Lost and American Idol audience. 20 Good Years pairs up John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor, and 30 Rock is Tina Fey's attempt at satirizing variety TV. Both of these shows are promising. As long as NBC is patient (like their admirable faith in The Office paid off last season), they might have something good, but it's probably best that they eventually find a better timeslot.

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. "My Name Is Earl" (new time)
**8:30-9 p.m. "The Office" (new time)
**9-10 p.m. "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"
**10-11 p.m. "ER"

Fans of The Office (which include me) are happy that their show keeps it's comfy post-Earl slot. Moving the pair up to 8pm is probably a good idea to lead off the night, but putting heavily hyped Studio 60 at 9pm opposite CSI is a huge mistake. Studio 60 does not have the obvious broad appeal of The West Wing, and is more analogous to Sorkin's Sports Night, which struggled for rating success. This is a show that needs some nurturing, and throwing it in the crossfire at the start could quickly kill it. NBC surprisingly kept ER at 10pm (which would have been a better spot for Studio), but oddly holds The Black Donnellys back until midseason, where it will take over this slot. ER has been declining for years now, but John Wells has done an amazing job keeping it afloat with some terrific casting additions, and this year is no different with John Stamos coming aboard (unless ABC screws him over again by renewing Jake in Progress.)

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. "Deal or No Deal"
9-10 p.m. "Las Vegas"
10-11 p.m. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"

Wow, what a boring night. NBC is sure to get exactly what they expect out of this lineup: a decent share of the people that are actually home.

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m. "Dateline Saturday"
9-11 p.m. Drama Series Encores

I'm not sure what to think about Drama Series Encores. It's nice that they reserve a night to help out some of their struggling shows, but I'm wary of how much help that will actually do. UPN sometimes shows Veronica Mars three times a week and that doesn't seem to help. If anything, it might simply be diluting the ratinGs from the original night.

SUNDAY
**7-8 p.m. "FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA"
**8-11 p.m. "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL"

It should be interesting to see what NBC gets out of this football night. They brought in some big guns to sit in the studio, most notably Bob Costas. They will actually debut with a Thursday night game, but the first Sunday nighter is sure to be huge. It features Payton Manning vs. his brother Eli Manning in what will be a massively hyped contest. It'll be a great start for this night and surely at least keep NBC in 2nd place (with some very nice demos) to ABC. The problem is what to do after football ends.

MIDSEASON

NBC has picked up veterans Crossing Jordan and Scrubs for midseason. The Scrubs pickup is pretty bizaare. The rumor is that ABC has been waiting for NBC to kill this show so they can pick it up. NBC's scheduling strategy led to disastrous ratings for the show's 5th season. So why do they not only want to keep it, but also use the same exact strategy?

New shows held for midseason include Raines, about an eccentric detective (Jeff Goldblum) that can communicate with the dead, and The Singles Table, about five single friends who meet at a wedding. Not sure about Raines. I already don't watch The Ghost Whisperer, and Goldblum isn't quite as hot as Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Overall, NBC has a pretty decent lineup this year. Sunday Night Football is sure to be huge for them, not only in ratings, but in advertising potential. And if there's any network that loves overhyped promos for their shows, it's NBC. Still, I fear that some scheduling mistakes might doom them at the start.

I'll have an overview of ABC's fall schedule tomorrow.

Conflict Resolution

I've been remiss in waiting so long to comment on one of the best individual episodes of TV in a long time. Last Thursday, The Office gave us an episode called "Conflict Resolution" that absolutely blew me away.

I've mentioned before that I tend to watch shows that have continuing storylines that build for more than one to two episodes. "Conflict Resolution" is a perfect example why. Everything that has happened in the past season (including the 6 episode 1st season) collided in a brilliant episode that was both painful and hilarious. The scene where Michael goes through the list of pranks Jim has played on Dwight shows how brilliantly complex this show is. It starts at as one thing, and becomes something completely different.

There was a great moment in the episodes final scene. Two major season long conflicts finally came to head, and in the most uncomfortable way possible. One of the supporting characters utters "oh dear" and it completely makes the scene. In a day when most sitcoms would prefer to end an episode with "oh no, you di'int", The Office is definitely very refreshing. This show has been so good this year that it's the best comedy on TV since, well, The Office. And this week we have a supersized season finale to look forward to, which was written by none other than Steve Carell.

Akeelah and the Bee

Um...I have so much to say on this movie, I'm going to have to do a full length review of it later. This movie definitely had some flaws (the stupid parent cheating scene is just AWFUL), but when it goes right, it REALLY goes right. This is mostly due to the cast, filled with unknowns and veterans. The lead girl Keke Palmer is absolutely brilliant. It is rare to see an actress of her age (13) to have so much confident screen presence. She shares several major scenes with Laurence Fishburne and matches him step for step. It is pure magic when these two are working together. Wow. The casting director is a genius, because all of the performers are strong, even the unknowns that portray her friends. There's not a weak one in the bunch. Still, this is Keke's movie and she deserves If Hollywood really wants to prove they're not racist, they should stop giving Oscars to movies like Crash (and nominations to...um, Matt Dillon) and make sure Keke Palmer has a long lasting career, something that is very difficult to achieve even for the most talented of black actresses.

Note: I'd also like to point out that this film shares more than a few similarities to Searching for Bobby Fischer (not to mention Spellbound), which also had Fishburne in the cast. Fishburne produced Akeelah, so it's likely he brought those ideas with him. Akeelah's actions late in the Nationals are very reminiscent of a similar scene in Fischer.

Fall TV 2006: The Most Promising Pilots

Here's an overview of the most promising pilots for the 2006-07 TV season. I have not seen any of these pilots, so I'm basing this solely on the premise and talent involved.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)

Aaron Sorkin's (and Tommy Schlamme) return to primetime television alone would be enough to get me excited about a series. But then on top of that he's cast Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry, and the amazing Sarah Paulson (along with others such as Timothy Busfield, Amanda Peet, and Carlos Jacott). The pilot script, about the behind the scenes politics of a late night variety show, is rumored to be brilliant. I can't wait for this.

Split Decision (CW)

I'm always up for a good teen series. This one has Aaron Spelling behind it and a very interesting premise. It follows two separate realities based on a decision the new girl makes on her first day in school. The lead is Jessy Schram, who was very good in a recurring role on Veronica Mars this season and the supporting cast features Jessica Lucas and Steven Eckholdt (poor Tina).

Notes From the Underbelly (CBS)

I have some mixed feelings on this one. It's a single camera (yay) comedy that follows the lives of a couple that just realized they're about to have a baby. The premise seems somewhat limited, so they'll have to make the characters interesting enough to follow after it wears down. This also has the involvement of Two and a Half Men scribes (yikes!). However, this one makes my list because the awesome Jennifer Westfeldt is the female lead. I'll watch anything she does.

A House Divided (ABC)

This one gets a spot on my list because it's the most ambitious concept for the upcoming fall season. It follows rising tension among a group of farmers defying taxation and other world events that point toward a new civil war. I have no idea how this concept will develop, and that's what's so great about it. The cast is an interesting mix of established vets (Dylan McDermott, Kathleen York) and lesser knowns that I've usually enjoyed (Shannon Lucio, Sarah Clarke, Bill Smitrovich).

Ugly Betty (ABC)

Another creative offering from ABC, this is their attempt to adapt a telenovela for American audiences. This follows an ugly duckling (the terrific America Ferrara) who is hired to be the assistant to the new owner of a fashion magazine (a perfectly cast Eric Mabius). The show naturally follows these two characters as they navigate a world of betrayal and deceit. I'm not sure if this will work, but if it's a failure, at least it will be an interesting one.

Other interesting pilots include:

The high concept action series Day Break (ABC), which features Taye Diggs and Adam Baldwin. Jericho (CBS) deals with the aftermath of a nuclear attack in a small Kansas town. The Black Donnellys (NBC) tells the story of four Irish brothers involved in the criminal underworld. Waterfront (CBS) is an interesting vehicle for Joe Pantoliano where he plays the quirky mayor of Providence, RI. And the comic drama Men In Trees (ABC) could be a strong vehicle for Anne Heche and a great supporting cast.