Post by jag11 on Jul 29, 2007 8:58:28 GMT -5
PUSHING DAISIES
Wednesday 8 p.m.
-The Premise:
In this blend of romance, procedural crime and fantasy from Barry Sonnenfeld, a young man has the ability to briefly return someone from the dead with just a simple touch. To put his ability to good use, he teams with a private investigator to crack murder cases by asking victims to name their killers. The cast includes Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Dale, Anna Friel, Swoosie Kurtz, Chi McBride and Lee Pace.
-Competition: Kid Nation (CBS), Deal or No Deal (NBC), 'Til Death and Back to You (Fox), America's Next Top Model (UPN)
-Who Was on the Panel:
Kristin Chenoweth, Anna Friel, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz, Chi McBride, Lee Pace; creator/executive producer Bryan Fuller, executive producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks.
-The Scoop:
Bryan Fuller describing Pushing Daisies:
"The tone of the show is that tricky balance between the sweetness and a little bit of darkness, but darkness not in a way that is too morbid or depressing. This is a fun show, and I personally don't really like shows that are too serious. There is always the exception like Battlestar Galactica. But I can't watch 24. It's just depressing. I don't want to see terrorism. So all of our procedurals on this show are going to have that fun infused with them."
-The Reality:
The potentially good news for ABC is the competition: there is nothing in the hour that resembles Pushing Daisies. But doesn't a show about a man who uses his ability to bring people back from the dead to solve crimes sound like a short-lived gimmick? Unless NBC's Deal or No falls victim to the over-exposure and CBS' upcoming Kid Nation totally collapses (unlikely in both cases), critically acclaimed Pushing Daisies will face an uphill battle.
-Chance of Survivor for Pushing Daisies (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):
6-1
-Did You Know?:
Kristen Chenoweth's first regularly scheduled series, sitcom Kristin, aired for just six weeks in the summer of 2001.
-------------------------
WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB
Friday 9 p.m.
-The Premise:
Based on the best-selling novel from James Patterson, four working women in San Francisco -- a detective, a district attorney, a medical examiner and a reporter -- use their talents and expertise to solve murder cases. Angie Harmon (Law & Order), Laura Harris, Elizabeth L. Ho and Paula Newsome star.
-Lead-in: 20/20
-Competition: Moonlight (ABC), Las Vegas (NBC), Nashville (NBC), Friday Night Smackdown!
-Who Was on the Panel:
Angie Harmon, Aubrey Dollar, Laura Harris, Paula Newsome; executive producers Scott Gemmill, James Patterson and Joe Simpson; and executive producers/writers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain.
-The Scoop:
Sarah Fain on where the stories on Women's Murder Club will come from:
"We decided not to take stories from the books for the show because 70 million people have read them. So we wanted to be able to kind of surprise people by telling the close-ended procedural story. And they have to be a little bit more contained than the kind of wonderful operatic stories in the books. So we are coming up with new ones, kind of using James' (Patterson) sensibility as our inspiration."
-The Reality:
The unfortunate reality for any show on Friday -- new or established -- is the diminishing HUT levels. There is no such thing as a big hit series on Friday. But with a target audience of available older skewing viewers after a long workweek, females in particular may find women solving crimes an appealing option. While there is no reason to believe relocated lead-in 20/20 will thrive at 8 p.m., the compatibility looks promising.
-Chance of Survivor for Women's Murder Club (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):
5-1
-Did You Know?:
Women's Murder Club will only have to air more than two episodes to outlast Angie Harmon's most recent prime time series -- Inconceivable, a short-lived drama that aired Friday at 10 p.m. on NBC in fall 2005.
-------------------------
CAVEMEN
Tuesday 8:00 p.m.
-The Premise:
Based on the popular series of Geico commercials, three modern and very different cavemen (Bill English, Nick Kroll and Sam Huntington) struggle to find their place in the world.
-Competition: NCIS (CBS), The Biggest meany (NBC), New Amsterdam (Fox), Beauty and the Geek (CW)
-Who Was on the Panel:
Bill English, Nick Kroll and Sam Huntington; executive producers Bill Martin and Mike Schiff; executive producers/directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon; and co-executive producer/writer Joe Lawson.
-The Scoop:
Wondering why Cavemen was morphed into a sitcom? According to Josh Gordon:
"Will and I actually directed all the commercials, and Joe Lawson had written them. And when we were doing the commercials, there was always this thinking behind them because they were a group that was clearly offended by what Geico had said about them. And when we made the commercials, we would finish them and think about other directions we could go with. It always felt very rich to us, and fertile, so it kind of naturally grew out of that process."
-The Reality:
Every season there is one show (think 20 Good Years, Head Cases, Father of the Pride, Homeboys from Outer Space, and so on) that you have to scratch your head and wonder: why. What could possibly make ABC think a far-fetched idea about silly cavemen that works well in 30 second intervals would make a funny sitcom? While I always say don't judge a new show by the pilot, Cavemen is so bad it makes lead-out Carpoolers (another potential clinker) look good. Had it not been for CBS' also bizarre Viva Laughlin, I would pick Cavemen to be the first cancellation of the season.
-Chance of Survivor for Cavemen (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):
10-1
-Did You Know?:
Well, this is not necessarily a "Did You Know" item. But let's just all be grateful that this car does not talk!
Wednesday 8 p.m.
-The Premise:
In this blend of romance, procedural crime and fantasy from Barry Sonnenfeld, a young man has the ability to briefly return someone from the dead with just a simple touch. To put his ability to good use, he teams with a private investigator to crack murder cases by asking victims to name their killers. The cast includes Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Dale, Anna Friel, Swoosie Kurtz, Chi McBride and Lee Pace.
-Competition: Kid Nation (CBS), Deal or No Deal (NBC), 'Til Death and Back to You (Fox), America's Next Top Model (UPN)
-Who Was on the Panel:
Kristin Chenoweth, Anna Friel, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz, Chi McBride, Lee Pace; creator/executive producer Bryan Fuller, executive producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks.
-The Scoop:
Bryan Fuller describing Pushing Daisies:
"The tone of the show is that tricky balance between the sweetness and a little bit of darkness, but darkness not in a way that is too morbid or depressing. This is a fun show, and I personally don't really like shows that are too serious. There is always the exception like Battlestar Galactica. But I can't watch 24. It's just depressing. I don't want to see terrorism. So all of our procedurals on this show are going to have that fun infused with them."
-The Reality:
The potentially good news for ABC is the competition: there is nothing in the hour that resembles Pushing Daisies. But doesn't a show about a man who uses his ability to bring people back from the dead to solve crimes sound like a short-lived gimmick? Unless NBC's Deal or No falls victim to the over-exposure and CBS' upcoming Kid Nation totally collapses (unlikely in both cases), critically acclaimed Pushing Daisies will face an uphill battle.
-Chance of Survivor for Pushing Daisies (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):
6-1
-Did You Know?:
Kristen Chenoweth's first regularly scheduled series, sitcom Kristin, aired for just six weeks in the summer of 2001.
-------------------------
WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB
Friday 9 p.m.
-The Premise:
Based on the best-selling novel from James Patterson, four working women in San Francisco -- a detective, a district attorney, a medical examiner and a reporter -- use their talents and expertise to solve murder cases. Angie Harmon (Law & Order), Laura Harris, Elizabeth L. Ho and Paula Newsome star.
-Lead-in: 20/20
-Competition: Moonlight (ABC), Las Vegas (NBC), Nashville (NBC), Friday Night Smackdown!
-Who Was on the Panel:
Angie Harmon, Aubrey Dollar, Laura Harris, Paula Newsome; executive producers Scott Gemmill, James Patterson and Joe Simpson; and executive producers/writers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain.
-The Scoop:
Sarah Fain on where the stories on Women's Murder Club will come from:
"We decided not to take stories from the books for the show because 70 million people have read them. So we wanted to be able to kind of surprise people by telling the close-ended procedural story. And they have to be a little bit more contained than the kind of wonderful operatic stories in the books. So we are coming up with new ones, kind of using James' (Patterson) sensibility as our inspiration."
-The Reality:
The unfortunate reality for any show on Friday -- new or established -- is the diminishing HUT levels. There is no such thing as a big hit series on Friday. But with a target audience of available older skewing viewers after a long workweek, females in particular may find women solving crimes an appealing option. While there is no reason to believe relocated lead-in 20/20 will thrive at 8 p.m., the compatibility looks promising.
-Chance of Survivor for Women's Murder Club (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):
5-1
-Did You Know?:
Women's Murder Club will only have to air more than two episodes to outlast Angie Harmon's most recent prime time series -- Inconceivable, a short-lived drama that aired Friday at 10 p.m. on NBC in fall 2005.
-------------------------
CAVEMEN
Tuesday 8:00 p.m.
-The Premise:
Based on the popular series of Geico commercials, three modern and very different cavemen (Bill English, Nick Kroll and Sam Huntington) struggle to find their place in the world.
-Competition: NCIS (CBS), The Biggest meany (NBC), New Amsterdam (Fox), Beauty and the Geek (CW)
-Who Was on the Panel:
Bill English, Nick Kroll and Sam Huntington; executive producers Bill Martin and Mike Schiff; executive producers/directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon; and co-executive producer/writer Joe Lawson.
-The Scoop:
Wondering why Cavemen was morphed into a sitcom? According to Josh Gordon:
"Will and I actually directed all the commercials, and Joe Lawson had written them. And when we were doing the commercials, there was always this thinking behind them because they were a group that was clearly offended by what Geico had said about them. And when we made the commercials, we would finish them and think about other directions we could go with. It always felt very rich to us, and fertile, so it kind of naturally grew out of that process."
-The Reality:
Every season there is one show (think 20 Good Years, Head Cases, Father of the Pride, Homeboys from Outer Space, and so on) that you have to scratch your head and wonder: why. What could possibly make ABC think a far-fetched idea about silly cavemen that works well in 30 second intervals would make a funny sitcom? While I always say don't judge a new show by the pilot, Cavemen is so bad it makes lead-out Carpoolers (another potential clinker) look good. Had it not been for CBS' also bizarre Viva Laughlin, I would pick Cavemen to be the first cancellation of the season.
-Chance of Survivor for Cavemen (Based on a scale of 1-1 to 10-1):
10-1
-Did You Know?:
Well, this is not necessarily a "Did You Know" item. But let's just all be grateful that this car does not talk!