Tag Archives: 2012 TCA winter press tour

2012 Winter TCAs: CBS’ Nina Tassler & ‘2 Broke Girls’ series creator Michael Patrick King defend “ballsy” comedy; Tassler promotes ‘Person of Interest’ growth, and more

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CBS capped off the TCA winter press tour today, and representing America’s most watched network was CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler. Admittedly nervous up on stage, she praised two breakout series introduced on the network in the fall: Michael Patrick King’s 2 Broke Girls and Jonathan Nolan’s Person of Interest. Tassler (and later at his own panel King) defended the ballsy comedy 2 Broke Girls by calling it an “equal opportunity offender.” If you watch the show, you are well aware that the characters use the word “vagina” quite often. Tassler doesn’t mind, and believes you shouldn’t either. “Vagina’s not indecent,” she said. “The note we give is we actually want to use it more. So that’s how that goes. As a woman in my job, I have no problem hearing it, saying it; it’s part of my physical body.” Later King argued, “The show is sophisticated and naughty and I think everyone likes a good naughty joke. I feel no need to pull away from the brand of 2 Broke Girls, which is basically ballsy, in-your-face and hopefully funny.” He described the show as “classy-dirty,” “high low-brow” and “fun and sophisticated and naughty — and I think everybody likes a good naughty joke.” The 2 Broke Girls panel heated up quickly as critics started flinging King questions about the way stereotypes are used in the show, specifically with the Asian character Han (the owner of the diner). “I like Han,” King said. “I like his character. I like the fact he’s an immigrant. I like that he’s trying to fit into America. I like the fact in the last three episodes we haven’t made an Asian joke, we’ve only made short jokes…Would you say the ‘blonde rich bitch’ is a stereotype? Would you say that the tough‑ass, dark, sarcastic‑mouthed waitress is a stereotype? I like all of them.” Soon after he shouted, “I’m gay! I’m putting in gay stereotypes every week. I don’t find any of it offensive, any of it. I find it comic to take everybody down.” Critic: “Does being a part of one traditionally disenfranchised group give you carte blanche to make fun of other traditionally disenfranchised groups?” King: “No. You could rephrase that. I would say being a comedy writer gives you permission to be an outsider and poke fun at what people think about other people.”

So yeah, the 2 Broke Girls panel was a heated debate between the series creator and the TCA critics. Later things cooled down and King concluded: “People pull away from something if it’s not in good taste, and people lean into something if it’s OK. And week after week, more and more people are leaning in to 2 Broke Girls. There’s something there that they feel OK about.” Also touched upon…the actual goings-on in the show! “One of the important realities of 2 Broke Girls is the word broke,” said King. “And we try to deal [realistically] with how much money moves through their life. I don’t foresee a way the girls could raise $350,000 in a season [and open a bakery]. I don’t foresee them leaving the diner. I like them in the diner.”

Moving on to Person of Interest. Didn’t that last episode before the holiday hiatus feel like a season finale? There’s a reason for that: the producers were planning on Carter to join Finch and Reese towards the latter end of the first season. Tassler explained: “We felt that the Carter [Taraji P. Henson] character was somewhat marginalized. We felt that the Carrter character was too peripheral, [so] we asked [producers] if they were open to bringing [her] into the superhero cave. It was a plan that they had in place, but more for the end of the season. We asked them if they were open to moving that up. We felt it was a key ingredient to [help] the show grow and expand.” So there you go.

What else? A clean-shaved Ashton Kutcher is interested in returning to the revamped Two and a Half Men for (at least) another season; negotiations are currently underway to renew his contract…How I Met Your Mother is having an exceptionally great year and the producers plan to continue it until they run out of good ideas (“We totally might want to go beyond Season 8,” said co-creator Carter Bays)…Tassler wants CSI and all the spinoff series on the air for as long as possible (“I’d love to see the CSIs run forever,” she said. “Nothing runs forever. How you handle it, the most important thing is how you respect your audience, how you respect your cast, and being incredibly sensitive to how you wrap up any show when it ends a successful run. But we are in those talking stages now (about how to end the CSIs).”…On Rob Schneider’s new sitcom Rob: “Well, we haven’t traditionally been the beneficiaries of great reviews,” Tassler admitted. It’s not Downton Abbey, but it’s great. Rob is fantastic. We’ll just need to see.”…Tassler on The Good Wife‘s move to Sunday nights: “The show feels like a better fit on Sunday night. More importantly, the audience that doeswatch the show on Sunday is more upscale, more female and very engaged.”…Midseason drama NYC 22 (formally The 2-2) is set to premiere this spring.

And with all that said, the four big networks have concluded their panels at 2012 TCA winter press tour. They reconvene once more this year in the summer. ‘Til then!

[Via Deadline 1, 2; THR; TVLine; EW]

2012 Winter TCAs: ABC’s mystical horror series ‘The River’ will play out more like ‘X-Files’ not ‘Lost’

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The River follows the story of wildlife expert and TV personality Emmet Cole. Emmet set course around the world with his wife, Tess, and son, Lincoln, while filming what would become one of the most popular shows in television. After he goes missing deep in the Amazon, his family, friends and crew set out on a mysterious and deadly journey to find him. Famed explorer Dr. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) went looking for magic deep in the uncharted Amazon and never returned.

On the heels of FX’s American Horror Story, ABC is preparing an intense and scary series called The River. It was born out of Oren Peli, the man best known for developing the Paranormal Activity franchise. Peli ripped a page out of his Paranormal playbook and used stationary security cameras and the mobile “shaky cam” film style to follow an ensemble cast, including 24‘s Leslie Hope and Paul Blackthorne and Bruce Greenwood in The River.

At the TCA panel today, executive producer Michael Green shared some insight into how the eight-episode first season arc will play out. “We know all the pitfalls [of a serialized show] and do not want to fall into them. Each episode is a stand-alone horror film. We looked more to X-Files than to shows like Lost. We’re going make each one of them a little jewel.” Intriguing, yes? Though the pilot reveals that the rescue team/camera crew are being haunted by a supernatural spirit, Green promises that there’s more in store for them. “It’s the Amazon, there’s more than ghosts to be scared of,” he said. “There’s an endless number of things that can hurt you.” Will the threat of death be lurking around every corner for the cast of characters we’ll come to know over the season?  Green presses, “We won’t remove people needlessly just for the gag. My philosophy in TV is to treat every script like it’s your last because chances are it will be.”

Having screened the pilot at Comic Con, I can say that the first episode is very cinematic and, indeed, genuinely frightening. A critic at the TCAs brought up the point that the way in which the “found footage” shaky cam style of shooting is eerily similar to the way Peli does it on the big screen. In fact, after watching the pilot I thought to myself the The River could work stupendously in theatres due to its cinematic nature. Green commented that “We didn’t try to be overly cute about it. In a way it makes it feel more improvisational, a lot scarier.” I wholeheartedly agree. ABC boss Paul Lee revealed that if The River were to live on past its short season order, the producers and writers have a wild imagination that’s prepared to further explore the mystery and intrigue behind Emmet Cole’s disappearance.

If you’ve seen commercials or print advertisements for this show, you should know that filmmaker Steven Spielberg is being pimped as one of The River‘s executive producers. But does he actually have any impact on the creative direction of the supernatural fright fest? Exec producer Zack Estrin says yes. “[Spielberg’s] influence with stories, his influence when he watches the cuts is amazing. I mean, he’s off doing a movie — or two — and the fact he finds time to watch these cuts and give us notes and be just incredibly supportive is great for us. To have someone like him at our hip and giving us guidance that’s not superficial but indeed foundational is pretty great.” In other words, his presence is felt behind the scenes, and hopefully the audience will notice it too.

“For as many episodes as we are blessed to have, we have real stuff to go off of,” added Estrin in regards to the show in general. “We wanted you to be not just scared, but worried for the people. I think that’s what will make the difference between a great horror movie and a great horror series.”

The River premieres February 7 on ABC.

[Via EW; THR 1, 2; Deadline]

2012 Winter TCAs: ABC’s Paul Lee supports ‘Work It’, sets premiere dates for ‘Bitch(y)’ shows, and shares an “irreverent” dream

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Another day, another big network talks programming at the TCAs. Today it was ABC bossman Paul Lee and he opened the panel like this: “Good morning. So, what did you think of Work It?” Ha! Lee didn’t spend much time talking about the “controversial” new sitcom that has critics and regular TV viewers alike baffled at the sight of it on ABC’s midseason schedule. For one thing he admitted that he doesn’t get why people protested the show leading up to last week’s premiere. His words: “I don’t find it to be offensive, I didn’t get it.” When asked why he picked up the wacky workplace comedy in the first place he responded, “I thought that there was room for ambitious, sticky shows like Revenge and Scandal and smart shows like Suburgatory. And I thought that there was room for a very, very, very silly show like Work It.” Sorry, Lee, it’s not working…creatively at least. The soft premiere was still good enough for Lee to comment that the ratings were “right in the middle” of expectations. Hmpf.

What else? Lee set premiere dates for two ambitious new shows. Drama Scandal from Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy) premieres Thursday, April 5 at 10PM after Grey’s and comedy Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 starts Wednesday, April 11 at 9:30PM following Modern Family (Happy Endings‘ second season run will have concluded). His strategy here is simple and will likely prove effective. “We are using our number one drama to push the launch of Scandal, and we are using our number one comedy to push the launch of Don’t Trust The B—-,” Lee said.

Cougar Town fans, your show is coming back in the spring, but it’s season three premiere date still hasn’t been solidified. “The reality is I think Cougar Town is having one of its best [seasons],” Lee said. “We haven’t yet landed on where it’s going to go, but it’s tentatively in there for March. I think when we launch it, we’ll bring a big strong message that we love that show.” Lee went on to share a “dream” of his, one that involves ABC promoting a night of “young irreverent comedies” including Cougar Town, Happy Endings, and Apartment 23. Sounds tantalizing, doesn’t it? Update (1/17): Work It has been cancelled and Cougar Town will replace it starting February 14.

Also mentioned was upcoming drama set in the South GCB (formally Good Christian Belles, and before that Good Christian Bitches). Lee shared his thoughts on the use of the term “bitches” in not one but two of his midseason shows. Specifically about GCB: “We think it reflected the irreverence of the show, but we can’t use [bitch] in broadcast titles. What I’m hoping for is that it piques people’s interest. I would love people to go, there’s something edgy here.” And as for Apartment 23? “[It has] so much attitude…we felt it reflected the irreverence and the outrage of the show.”

What’s the fate of bubble show Pan Am? Lee says, “When it opened, it really brought an audience. There’s such a feeling of goodwill toward that show. We have new and original shows right through February.” Ratings check next month, and depending on the show’s pulse Lee will renew it or can it. Like he did Charlie’s Angels: “I don’t think we breathed life into that franchise but I think it was a strong attempt.”

[Via Deadline; THR; EW; TVLine]

2012 Winter TCAs: ‘Breaking In’ banked on ‘New Girl’ success at FOX for comeback; star Megan Mullally confirms ‘Party Down’ movie

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Today at the TCAs, FOX brought together its new, spectacular Tuesday night comedy lineup: New Girl, Raising Hope, and the back-from-the-dead series Breaking In. Co-creator of the Christian Slater workplace comedy Adam F. Goldberg shared with the critics in attendance the secret ingredient behind his show’s revival: New Girl‘s success. “[Fox Entertainment president] Kevin Reilly said, ‘I want to build a whole comedy night,’ so he picked up the [Breaking In] actors’ options,” said Goldberg. “I was in a holding pattern. Nobody wanted New Girl to work more than I did, because that meant we could come back.” He continued, “I got this e-mail [from Slater] saying we’re going to come back from the dead.” Slater commented, “I decided to relocate to Miami. As soon as you move away from where you shoot the show is when they decide to bring it back. I thought it was adorable.” More like, adorkable!

Megan Mullally, who will be joining the show as a series regular in season, was also in hand to celebrate Breaking In‘s renewal. With New Girl shining star Zooey Deschanel just a few feet away from her, Mullally made it known that “I’m adorkable — there’s going to be two.” She went on: “I met these people for the first time at Tuesday night’s table read. I just pulled it right out of my ass yesterday morning. That’s pretty much how it went.” Ha! On a more serious note, Goldberg said that the addition of Mullally’s character Veronica Mann (who is Oz’s boss at the Contra Security firm) will make the show “feel more like an office show — that meant building in more people in the office that could be funny. Also one thing that was missing for me was a foil for Oz, Christian’s character.”

In related news, it was announced that British actress Erin Richards (Being Human) has been added to the cast to fill in the “hot girl” void (my words) that the show will be lacking without Odette Annable’s presence. It has been confirmed that Annable’s Melanie will only appear in four of the upcoming series of episodes due to her series regular commitment to another FOX show House. Richards will be introduced in the season 2 premiere as the executive assistant to Mullally’s character. Breaking In returns to FOX’s schedule March 6.

That’s where the Breaking In newsfeed ends, but there’s one more matter to be discussed. At the panel, Mullally let slip that the Party Down movie is in the works! Her words: “I will be doing the Party Down movie. [Co-creator] John [Enbom] is writing it right now.” Boom. Like Breaking In, the Starz cult-hit is going to be revived, but on the big screen. Mullally kept her lips flapping about a possible storyline for her character. “I think we’re going to see Lydia’s ex-husband — Ed I think is name — who was really racist and a misogynist.” Arrested Development and Party Down resurrected and coming to theatres soon? Praise almighty.

[Via Deadline 1, 2; THR]

2012 Winter TCAs: Tim Kring & Kiefer Sutherland on the upcoming “profound” FOX drama ‘Touch’

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At the center of Touch is Martin Bohm (Kiefer Sutherland), a widower and single father, haunted by an inability to connect to his mute 11-year-old son, Jake (David Mazouz). After multiple failed attempts at keeping Jake in school, Martin is visited by Clea Hopkins (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a social worker sent to evaluate Jake’s well-being. Everything changes when Martin discovers that Jake possesses the gift of staggering genius – the ability to see things that no one else can and the patterns that connect seemingly unrelated events. Jake is indeed communicating. But it’s not with words, it’s with numbers. Martin meets Arthur Dewitt (Danny Glover), a professor and an expert on children who possess special gifts when it comes to numbers. Now, it’s up to Martin to decipher the meaning and connect the numbers to the cast of characters whose lives they affect.

At the TCA winter press tour, Heroes creator Tim Kring shared his enthusiasm about his upcoming FOX drama Touch. “I can’t say enough about [FOX entertainment president] Kevin [Reilly]’s support. It was a script that I thought was a challenging one for a network to want to do to, I frankly didn’t think it would be done at a network. And Kevin read it and believed in it instantly and has absolutely been its tireless champion within the company. So I’m hugely indebted.”

Series star Kiefer Sutherland was also on hand to shed some light on how he landed the lead role and what exactly drew him to a show involving “global unity” and interconnectedness among human lives. Kring admits that he did not write the Martin Bohm character with Sutherland in mind. Additionally, Sutherland wasn’t so much interested in returning to TV after his long run on 24 which only concluded two years ago. But when he read the pilot script he was going to make an exception here. “I remember getting to Page 35 and thinking, ‘Shit. I’m in real trouble here,’ ” Sutherland shared. “The character is so vastly different [from that of 24‘s Jack Bauer], the tone of the piece is so vastly different. And that’s part of its appeal.” He continued, “I had to read the script twice to make sure that all the things that were affecting me were affecting me on a personal level as opposed to trying to manage a career. Does it happen to be a nice diversion from 24? Yes. I just couldn’t turn this down because it spoke to me on a really profound level.” He added, “My choice to do this had nothing to do with trying to get away from 24. It was because I want to spend hopefully the next seven or eight years sinking my teeth into something interesting.”

Sutherland made a comparison between his iconic 24 role and the new shoes he’s about to fill. “The one parallel between the two characters is Jack Bauer was asked to save the day, and there was always going to be casualties. Martin will never have an idyllic relationship with his son. With both characters, they’ll never completely win, and that’s something I’m drawn to as an actor.” At one point he described the father/son relationship between Martin and Jake as “really beautiful.”

After discussing how and why he positioned himself in the lead role, Sutherland described the logistics of Touch. “Some characters will be woven over [multi-episode] arcs, but Tim and I both learned – he from Heroes and me from 24 — that there is great value in a procedural drama. So every week there will be a set of circumstances set about by Jake that will put Martin in a situation to deal with someone new, and that situation will be resolved. There will be a beginning, a middle and an end, in theory, to every episode.”

Later, it was revealed that Kring’s son is autistic and that he is an inspiration for the show. Touch will explore the facets of autism and “Tim feels very responsible to stay true to [autism] in that regard,” says Sutherland. “So we’re not go to be making stuff up to explain stuff. We’re going to deal with the medicine and what doctors know.”

Before the panel could conclude, critics asked Sutherland about the current status of the 24 movie. He confirmed rumors that shooting will begin “at the end of April, beginning of May.” He teased that the movie is “relatively a direct continuation” of the series finale that aired on FOX in May 2010. We’re talking maybe six months from the end of that episode.” As previously reported, the movie will cover a 24-hour period in about two hours, so obviously it will not be told in real-time like the show was. Last, it was recently announced that Mary Lynn Rajskub’s Chloe will factor into the movie.

Touch premieres March 19. FOX will be airing a preview later this month on January 25 at 9PM.

[Via Deadline; TVLine 1, 2]

2012 Winter TCAs: FOX’s Kevin Reilly on future of ‘House’, ‘Glee’, ‘Terra Nova’ & ‘Fringe’

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Today at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, FOX became the second big network to address its current status. Network president Kevin Reilly spent most of his time on stage addressing the future of FOX’s staple shows like House and Glee. He also made sure to feed critics with status updates on newbie Terra Nova and cult-hit Fringe. While NBC’s Greenblatt made it his mission to address head-on the ratings woes at his panel, Deadline reports that FOX’s Reilly barely had time to discuss his network’s 14 percent year-to-year ratings increase because so many of his shows are on the bubble. Let’s dive in.

Reilly on House: “It’s hard to imagine the network without House. This is not going to be the pink slip goes out and this is the end of House. We haven’t had the big meeting [with the producers] about what we want to do. It is no secret that it will be a close call, we said in May that it would probably be the show’s last year, but we just haven’t made the decision. Should it be the last season, this is not going to be an unceremonious finish, I can tell you that…It will absolutely have a satisfying conclusion on FOX. There’s no way [series creator] David Shore isn’t going to let fans feel it wasn’t properly capped off.” Though there was a period when Reilly and Shore discussed a potential House spinoff, Reilly confirms “that time has come and gone.”

On Glee: Reilly confirms that there will not be a Glee spinoff following Rachel and Kurt to New York City. In a nutshell he explained, “We’re graduating the characters that are arcing toward graduation. What’s come out of it is [series co-creator] Ryan Murphy has come up with a really cool idea. There will not be a Glee spinoff. But those characters will graduate and that’s led to a really interesting idea that I think will give us something to dig into next season, and it [starts with] the spring batch of episodes. That’s all I can say about it now.” He added that Lea Michele is definitely back next season (should Glee be renewed and it will), but he wouldn’t confirm the return of Chris Colfer and some other actors. “What I said before is creatively, we’d want everybody back,” he explained. “I’ve got to look at the contractual situation for all of those. And we will…I’m just trying to whet your appetite. But I think [what’s planned] is going to be a good thing for the show…It’s cool. It’s different.”

On Terra Nova: “It was an exciting bet to take, and it’s proven it was worthwhile. It is the second highest-rated new drama, one of the highest-rated new shows of the season. It has a distinct audience [and they] enjoyed it; they had amble opportunity to reject it and they didn’t. There’s a show there to bring back, there’s an audience to access. There were a lot of chefs in the kitchen. The show was hunting for itself creatively through the season. Creatively it was hunting. I loved some of the episodes. If this is all we make [of Terra Nova], we made money on it, the studio made money on it, and it seems to have resonated with the family audience. If we had more holes in our network, we’d be thrilled to lock that right in.” He admitted that “we won’t be able to drag our feet for much longer because it does need to get back into production in the next month” if it’s granted season 2 renewal.

On Fringe: You take the good and take the bad. First, the good: “Fringe has been a point of pride for me, I share the fans’ passion for the show. I love the fact that with it FOX put genre back on the network. I’m grateful to the fans who followed the show to Fridays, and with Fringe there, we have a real Friday night for the first time.” And now, the bad: “We lose a lot of money on the show. At that rating on that night it’s almost impossible for us to make money. We are not in the business of losing money, so we’re trying to figure out if there is a number at which we can continue with the series. He added, “I do not want to drop the ball on the end and let the fans down. Please don’t start the letter writing campaign now. I can’t take it. We haven’t even sat down with the producers and the studio yet. I hope we get some credit with the fans for seeing through a great show.”

Series co-creator J.J. Abrams even through in his two cents on the matter. “For some sick reason I’m hopeful,” Abrams said. “There’s some stuff coming up this season that’s so great. Maybe it’s dumb optimism that the good work [of the Fringe showrunners] will be rewarded. “And if not on FOX, maybe somewhere else,” he teased. Executive producer Jeff Pinkner addressed fans of the show as well. “Worst case scenario, if this were the last aired season of Fringe — and as we’ve said before, there are other outlets where we could continue our stories, be they graphic novels or webisodes — we know what the end of this season is going to be, and it can function as a series finale.” He matter-of-factly shared that even last season’s finale could have rightfully served as a proper series finale. “Had Peter, the lynchpin for the reason the show existed, been the one to sacrifice himself heroically to save the two universes and the woman he loved, it would have been a very authentic end.” And it seems like things will go the same way this time around, too. Reilly says that Pinkner and fellow exec producer J.H. Wyman will not know if the show is coming back as they come up with the season 4 finale. The episode will be written before FOX and Warner Bros. talk about a potential renewal. But if there’s anything we’ve learned from the Fringe creators thus far, it is that we can trust them.

Reilly wrapped up the panel by touching on failed animated series Allen Gregory, the fate of Ryan Seacrest on American Idol, and changes to The X Factor. On Allen Gregory: “We will not be making more Allen Gregory. Our goal was to keep as many as possible of our the legacy shows intact but continue to take shots with the next-generation (animated) shows. It turned out Allen Gregory wasn’t one of them.” On a related note, Reilly sees Bob’s Burgers joining FOX’s next generation of animated shows. On Ryan Seacrest: “As we know it is a much harder job than meets the eye. I think everyone has come to realize the value of Ryan Seacrest. It’s very hard to imagine American Idol without Ryan. We certainly want to keep him.” Seacrest’s contract is up after this upcoming season of American Idol and the network is working hard to land a new deal with him. On The X Factor, Reilly teases that “there will be some changes” and one of them might be replacing host Steve Jones with someone new. Says Reilly, “Whether Steve is the guy or not, it comes under the heading of growth in general.”

All in all, many of FOX’s shows are up in the air concerning their renewal status. With Alcatraz, Touch, The Finder, and Napoleon Dynamite still waiting to be thrown into the midseason schedule, Reilly has many things to take into consideration before making final decisions to bring back the aging House, the potential hit Terra Nova, and the genre darling Fringe.

[Via Deadline; EW 1, 2; TVLine 1, 2]

2012 Winter TCAs: Kyle Killen & Howard Gordon talk trippy NBC drama ‘Awake’

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After Detective Michael Britten wakes up from a car accident with his wife and teenage son, he learns the devastating news that his wife died in the crash. Trying to put the pieces of his life back together, he wakes up a few days later to realize that his wife is very much alive and his son died in the accident! Did he lose his wife or his son? Or neither of them?? What if your life split in two in the face of a situation like this, and you could actually have everything you wanted, just not all at the same time? Michael goes back to work solving crimes while trying to put things back on a “normal” track, alternating between realities.”

At the TCA winter press tour, creator of the ill-fated FOX series Lone Star Kyle Killen talked up his latest project Awake. After reading the summary above above, do you feel confused? The creative team behind the sci-fi crime drama assures once you see the pilot and fall into the groove of the show confusion will not be one of the feelings you’re left with each week. “It is a fairly gettable concept once you sit down and actually pay attention to it,” executive producer Howard Gordon (24) said. “And whatever learning curve there might be, we hope it’s a shallow one.” Gordon went on to give his even briefer summary of the show. “He’s a guy who goes to sleep, wakes up, he’s with his wife, goes to sleep, wakes up, and he’s with his son.  And he’s a cop who sees clues and details that crossover from one world to the next, and he uses that insight to solve crimes.” Not that doesn’t sound so confusing, now does it?

Killen compared the writing process for this show to “putting together a Rubik’s Cube every eight days.” Intriguing. “It’s a dramatic procedural. On a week‑to‑week basis, there is a self‑contained question and answer. There’s a puzzle every week. At its heart, it’s a unique twist on the procedural dramas that you are actually very used to.”

He doesn’t make it a secret that he’s learning from his past mistakes, too. “I think there were aspects of Lone Star that were more difficult to get a wider, broader audience interested in. [The main character] was somebody that you couldn’t decide if you liked or hated, and I think that [Detective] Britten’s dilemma is something that we’re not only sympathetic for, but somehow we want him to win.”

The series creator concluded the panel by saying that the show will not end like this: “It was all a dream.” He went on, “There are 100 ways out, but 99 of them are probably unsatisfying to most of the population. I personally believe ‘It was all a dream’ is not particularly satisfying. We will work hard to avoid frustrating ourselves and you if we have the opportunity to wrap it all up 8 or 9 years from now.” Awake star Jason Isaacs confirmed that they do know how things will end. “We have a plan, and we’re never going to tell anyone, so stop asking us.”

Awake is set to premiere this midseason on NBC; a specific date and timeslot still haven’t been confirmed.

[Via Deadline; EW]

2012 Winter TCAs: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt on ‘really bad fall’, hope for success with ‘Smash’, the return of ‘Community’

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Last week at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour NBC was the first big network to publicly shed light on its fall TV season performance and hint at where they’re headed in 2012. NBC entertainment president Bob Greenblatt didn’t waste anyone’s time with these opening words. “We had a really bad fall, worse than I’d hoped for but about as I expected,” he said. “People say the only way to go is up which I believe is true, but there is a long way to get there.” He continued, “We had few strong lead-ins — our most recent scripted hit is six years old [30 Rock]. Some of our older hits lost cast members [Law & Order: SVU and The Office].” He also blames the network’s overall ratings decline on “the fact that we have few strong lead-ins.” He added, “There was no great revelation or shocking epiphany about fall expect it just [reinforced] how hard it is to break through.” Later he spun things positively acknowledging the recent NBCUniversal/Comcast merger. “But the good news is we now have new owners, they’re investing in our business, not only with financial resources, but with their patience.”

NBC’s major disappoints this fall were Prime Suspect, The Playboy Club, and the Hank Azaria comedy Free Agents. Greenblatt made sure to share his thoughts on each failed project. On Prime Suspect: “[It] was probably the biggest disappointment. Was it too cable, was [Maria Bello’s character] too abrasive? Maybe I should say it was the hat and move on…the audience wanted to be entertained with comedy and fairytales [this fall], and there wasn’t appetite in the country for a hard-hitting cop show.” On The Playboy Club: ” “Was Playboy Club too dark? I don’t know. I think it was a just a rejected concept…I know everybody thinks we sat in a room and said, ‘Oh, we have a show like Mad Men, let’s put that on.’ We thought going into the period would interest people, but I don’t think people were that fascinated by that milieu and place.” And finally on Free Agents:  “I’ll go on record stating I liked it. Am I surprised that it went down? I’m really not surprised about anything going down today.” Though comedies Whitney and Up All Night haven’t become ratings hits yet, Greenblatt is confident that in time they will find bigger audiences.

The NBC chairmen went on to share his excitement about upcoming drama Smash, and at the same time he made sure to keep expectations at a realistic level. “I think that Smash is going to be very important to us,” said Greenblatt. “I don’t believe it’s a make or break show for us. I think we’re all proud of it and we’re excited to see what it can do. If I had a dime for every time someone said to me, ‘You just need one hit…’ I think in this day and age you need four or five shows to start to turn things around. Smash could be one of those. If it isn’t, it’s not like we’re going to go into receivership. But we do think it’s special and it can break through the clutter.” He noted that the musical will have a ratings advantage since it will be attached to one of the network’s “few and far between” lead-ins in The Voice.

He also discussed the future of cult-favorite Community. “When I announced our midseason changes last fall and took Community off the schedule, I failed to explicitly say that it would be back,” he said. “I want to expel any notion that it is just disappearing off the schedule.” It has been confirmed that season 3 will resume this spring. He continued, “Community was moved to 8PM a couple years ago and that’s an incredibly competitive time slot now on Thursday and I’m really curious to see what something else [30 Rock] would do there. I don’t know if it makes sense to ask it to start off the night again. We’ve tried to migrate some comedies to Wednesday this year. It’s a matter of looking at what happens with the six comedies we’ve got at midseason, to figure out where Community makes the most sense.” And when can viewers expect to hear news of possible renewal? “We’re just going to look at the success of what pilots yield, what the scheduling needs are and make that decision closer to the upfront [in May],” Greenblatt explained.

Greenblatt went on to share his thoughts about other NBC programming. Here are some choice quotes. On Howard Stern joining America’s Got Talent: “I have headaches about a lot of other things but that’s not one of them. I think he’s going to be a great judge and take it seriously. I don’t think his plan is to usurp the show and make it the Howard Stern Circus.” On the status of Fear Factor: “People like to see the snake cage and the swallowing of the bees. What can I say? We’re always happy to have those ratings. It’s [a show] that will probably come and go [on the schedule] as needed.”

The former head of programming at Showtime ended the panel like this. “The beauty of cable is the ratings for a program really don’t correlate to the bottom line. At Showtime, Prime Suspect would have been picked up in the third episode, it would have been declared a hit and it would have been in production for four or five years.” With broadcast TV, “You can’t be as cavalier about, ‘Oh we love the show. We’re just going to keep it on as long as we want.’ That’s the big dilemma that I’m in.” He concluded, “We have to figure out how to cease up on that and not end up in a narrow place.”

Can new midseason shows like Smash, Awake, The Firm, and Are You There, Chelsea? help lift the Peacock out of the ratings rubble and into a better place? Like many things in life, time will tell.

[Via Deadline; THR; EW; TVLine]