Tag Archives: episode order cut

Status update #1 on your favorite new and returning shows

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We’re nearly one month into the 2015 fall TV season, so there’s no better time than now to check on the status of your favorite shows, new and old. I’ll break it down by network.

At CBS, its summer fare was taken under the microscope and only one series made it out alive. Zoo, the animal-themed thriller based on the James Patterson novel starring James Wolk, is coming back for a second season next summer. Sci-fi dramas Extant and Under the Dome are ending after two and three season runs, respectively. The Halle Berry starrer underwent a creative reboot in season 2 and simply couldn’t drum up the ratings needed to continue. Dome, based on Stephen King’s novel, ran out of steam fast as the show quickly exhausted its source material.

NBC is the first network to grant a new fall series a full-season order. Blindspot, starring Jaimie Alexander as an amnesiac Jane Doe who’s covered head-to-toe in mysterious tattoos that are connected to a larger conspiracy, will live on to air a full 22-episode first season on the Peacock network. The FSO follows a pickup of nine additional scripts ordered more than a week prior. Elsewhere, Debra Messing and her crime procedural The Mysteries of Laura has been awarded five additional scripts as its second season aims to go the distance (read: May sweeps).

Fox is showering its Animation Domination fans with love by renewing cult comedy Bob’s Burgers for a seventh and eighth season. As far as new programming is concerned, and in a fairly surprising move, Fox is handing out a full-season order to the Morris Chestnut crime procedural Rosewood before making decisions on higher profile offerings like Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens and sophomore The Last Man on Earth. Rosewood‘s FSO comes a week after Fox ordered three additional scripts for it. Elsewhere, things are looking up for new sitcoms Grandfathered and The Grinder. The John Stamos and Rob Lowe comedies have both been tasked to pump out six additional scripts apiece. Monday night sci-fi drama Minority Report, on the other hand, reports a gloomy forecast; due to low ratings, the network has cut three episodes from its original 13-episode run. Episode 10, which was written as a fall finale, will now serve as a season (or series) finale, according to Deadline.

More updates from ABC, The CW, FX, and AMC after the break. Continue reading Status update #1 on your favorite new and returning shows →

NBC’s ‘Perfect Couples’ get the boot early, ‘Paul Reiser Show’ fills in

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This week NBC made the decision to end midseason comedy Perfect Couples earlier than expected to make way for The Paul Reiser Show. Low ratings, per usual, are to blame for the scheduling change which more than likely will lead to the show’s cancellation. Couples will conclude its shortened first season in mid-April, having only aired 11 of the 13 ordered episodes. NBC has not specified when/if these final episodes will air at a later date (not likely) or come packaged in a DVD set. It’s strange to admit, but this show actually started to grow on me after a while. However, I won’t be complaining much once NBC officially puts the kibosh on it.

In case you’re wondering… The Paul Reiser Show is a single camera comedy that follows the actor’s post-Mad About You life. Here’s the official description: “It’s been a few years since his 
hit TV series went off the air. Since then, he’s been enjoying the quiet
life at home with his lovely wife, Claire [Amy Landecker], and kids and generally minding his own business, writing and
producing television but enjoying life out of the spotlight. Getting him 
into trouble — and into adventures — are a group of new “friends,”
most of which he didn’t choose since they’re the husbands of his wife’s 
friends and the dads of his kids’ classmates.” It begins Thursday, April 14 at 8:30PM.

[Via Deadline]

ABC delays ‘V’ season 2 premiere to January [Update: Episode order cut from 13 to 10]

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Missing ABC’s hit sci-fi series V?  Me too.  I hate to say it but we are going to have to wait an extra two months longer to find out what the heck is up with that red sky.  Though ABC initially announced a November return, they have since pushed the premiere to January 4, 2011.  ABC’s other sci-fi show No Ordinary Family will move from Tuesday at 9PM to 8PM from November 30 until January 4; following the return of V it will move back to its 8PM time slot and serve as an appropriate lead-in to the show.  What’s going to take up Ordinary‘s slot when it moves?  Skating with the Stars.  Ugh, I know.

Update: More bad news.  According to Deadline, ABC is prepared to cut the V season 2 episode order from 13 to 10 episodes.  Why the slight but noticable trim?  It’s due to “scheduling reasons” revolving around ABC’s reality programming.  When V was delayed to the January 4 premiere date, it gave the sci-fi series room for a 12 week run precisely until March 29 when the spring season of Dancing with the Stars is set to premiere.  This period between early January and late March is expected to include 2 preemptions, leveling the total number of V episodes to 10.  A sprinkle of good news?  V season 2 is still in production, so the creative staff will have ample to time to adjust the storyline to make it fit in this tighter schedule.  Allow me to fume for a moment.  I can’t stand that network TV has to bow down to mindless reality programming, giving shows like Dancing/Skating with the Stars precedence over stimulating, creative powerhouses such as V.  I understand where is ABC is coming from; Stars is a ratings champ and V certainly does not attract as many eyeballs (though it should).  But STILL.

[Via Deadline, here & here]