ABC and Fox Unveil Fall 2009 Schedules

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, May 19, 2009 Fox in 2009-10:Six New Series Slated for the Traditional Season; So You Think You Can Dance Makes the Fall Roster ABC in 2009-10:Eight New Fall Series; Changes on Four Nights of the Week Upfront Tidbits:Notes of Interest On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options __________________________________________________________________________ Note: Due to the network upfront announcements, The Programming Insider will focus solely on the new primetime schedules for the remainder of the week. The regularly scheduled sections (Prime-Time Ratings, Ratings Box, TV Tidbits and TV Trivia Time) will return on Tuesday, May 26. ___________________________________________________________________________ Fox in 2009-10:Six New Series Slated for the Traditional Season; So You Think You Can Dance Makes the Fall Roster Fox, the first network to unveil its 2009-10 prime-time schedule plans, will introduce three new series this fall, with changes impacting six nights of the week. Only Saturday remains intact care of perennial non-scripted franchises Cops and America’s Most Wanted. Summer favorite So You Think You Can Dance, which returns on Thursday, May 21, will remain on the air this fall, with season six scheduled Tuesdays from 8-10 p.m. and Wednesdays from 8-9 p.m. ET, leading into new Fame-like drama Glee. Glee previews out of American Idol on May 19. The other new fall series are live action sitcom Brothers, which kicks-off Friday at 8 p.m. ET (into the return of ‘Til Death); and animated Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, which is scheduled Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET out of The Simpsons (and into Family Guy). “The strategic moves we made last year to build off of our biggest assets are paying off,” said Kevin Reilly, President Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. We’ve created stability and a consistently strong performance across the week. Next season, we’re bringing back two top-rated sophomore dramas (Fringe and Lie to Me) and using our hits to introduce a broad and compelling slate of new shows that will make our air even more vibrant and alive.” Lie To Me will move into the Monday 9 p.m. hour out of House (and in place of 24, which returns in midseason). And Fringe will relocate to Thursday at 9 p.m. hour out of Bones. Not returning on Fox in 2008-09 are dramas Prison Break and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; animated King of the Hill and Sit Down, Shut Up; and non-scripted Hole in the Wall and Secret Millionaire. Recently introduced Joss Whedon drama Dollhouse, a clear “bubble” show, did indeed get picked up and will continue Fridays at 9 p.m. (out of relocated ‘Til Death). Although always subject to change given the results this fall, midseason 2010 on Fox will feature the returns of American Idol and 24, plus three new series: dramas Past Life and Human Target, and sitcom Sons of Tucson. Past Life is scheduled Tuesdays at 9 p.m. out of American Idol; while Human Target will air one night later, also out of Idol. Sons of Tucson, meanwhile, will follow veteran The Simpsons on Sunday. The trio is expected to launch in January. Glee, which is missing from the initial midseason schedule, is slated to return in place of Human Target next spring. Here is Fox’s fall 2009 and January 20010 primetime schedules, with the new shows capped, followed by the new program descriptions. FALL 2009 Monday 8:00 p.m. House 9:00 p.m. Lie To Me (new day and time) Tuesday 8:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance Performance Show (two hours) Wednesday 8:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance Results Show 9:00 p.m. GLEE Thursday 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fringe (new day) Friday8:00 p.m. BROTHERS8:30 p.m. ‘Til Death (return, new day and time) 9:00 p.m. Dollhouse Saturday 8:00 p.m. Cops 9:00 p.m. America’s Most Wanted Sunday 7:00 p.m. The OT (NFL post-game) 8:00 p.m. The Simpsons 8:30 p.m. THE CLEVELAND SHOW 9:00 p.m. Family Guy 9:30 p.m. American Dad --------------- JANUARY 2010 Monday 8:00 p.m. House 9:00 p.m. 24 Tuesday 8:00 p.m. American Idol 9:00 p.m. PAST LIFE Wednesday 8:00 p.m. American Idol Results Show 9:00 p.m. HUMAN TARGET (Glee returns in the spring) Thursday 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fringe Friday 8:00 p.m. Brothers 8:30 p.m. ‘Til Death 9:00 p.m. Dollhouse Saturday 8:00 p.m. Cops 9:00 p.m. America’s Most Wanted Sunday 7:00 p.m. Animation Encores 7:30 p.m. American Dad 8:00 p.m. The Simpsons 8:30 p.m. SONS OF TUSCON 9:00 p.m. Family Guy 9:30 p.m. The Cleveland Show (new time) New Program Descriptions COMEDY Brothers A retired NFL star (Michael Strahan) moves back to his hometown in Houston and is reunited with his brother (Daryl “Chill” Mitchell), whose career in football was cut short because of a car accident. The Cleveland Show Everyone’s favorite soft-spoken neighbor on Family Guy, Cleveland Brown, moves back to his hometown in Virginia as he settles down with his college sweetheart, her unruly kids and his 14 year-old son. Mike Henry is the voice of Cleveland. Sons of Tucson Three teenage brothers higher a seemingly nice, but misguided man to pretend to be their father after their real Dad is sent to prison for a white collar crime. Davis Cleveland, Frank Dolce, Troy Gentile, Tyler Labine and Natalie Martinez star. ---------- DRAMA Glee – will preview out of American Idol on May 19 An optimistic thirtysomething new teacher (Matthew Morrison) attempts to transform a group of misfits and outcasts in the high school glee club into serious competitors. The cast includes Lea Michele, Jayma Mays, Cory Monteith and Dianna Agron. Human Target Based on the DC Comics property, a private detective and bodyguard named Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) operates by impersonating his clients in order to eliminate threats to his boss. Jackie Earle Haley and Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies) also star. Past Life A psychologist with a specialty in reincarnation and past life regression therapy teams up with a cynical former NYPD detective to resolve people’s present day problems by exploring past life issues. Kelli Giddish, Nick Bishop, Ravi Patel and Richard Schiff (The West Wing) star. ___________________________________________________________________________ ABC in 2009-10:Eight New Fall Series; Changes on Four Nights of the Week ABC will take an aggressive stance next fall, with eight new prime-time series, a totally revamped Wednesday and changes of four nights of the week (excluding Monday, Saturday and Sunday). The new fall show tally is four comedies (all airing back-to-back in the Wednesday 8-10 p.m. block: Hank, The Middle, Modern Family and Cougar Town), three dramas (The Forgotten, Eastwick and Flash Forward) and non-scripted Shark Tank, a reality/competition from Survivor creator Mark Burnett. “We are headed into the season with a strong slate of returning series as well as great new shows from one of our best development seasons ever,” said ABC President Stephen McPherson. "Our focus is always on delivering the best stories with the most memorable characters on TV, and this year we have the best of both. Monday will remain intact, with a two-hour edition of Dancing With the Stars leading into sophomore returnee Castle. But the live Dancing With the Stars Results Show on Tuesday will be surrounded by Shark Tank at 8 p.m. and The Forgotten at 10 p.m. In an unprecedented move, Wednesday is all new, with the two-hour comedy block leading into drama Eastwick, a continuation of the 1987 theatrical. Sci fi-driven Flash Forward will step into the Thursday 8 p.m. hour into Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice and in place of Ugly Betty, which moves to Friday at 9 p.m. (out of Supernanny and into 20/20). Saturday Night Football will return in fourth quarter, while Sunday will remain intact care of returnees America’s Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. Waiting in the wings is The Bachelor, which will step in for Dancing With the Stars on Monday after the season concludes; sitcoms Scrubs and Better Off Ted, which will air in the Tuesday 9 p.m. hour in place of the live results show; and non-scripted Wife Swap and True Beauty. Lost will also return for its sixth, and final season. New midseason ABC series will include dramas The Deep End, which is legal themed; mystery-driven Happy Town, and a remake of 1984-85 drama V. Not returning on ABC next season is sophomore sitcom Samantha Who?, recent entries Cupid, In the Motherhood, Surviving Suburbia, The Unusuals and Homeland Security, U.S.A., and the already canceled Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies. Here is ABC’s fall 2009 schedule, with the new shows capped, followed by the new program descriptions. FALL 2009 Monday 8:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars (two hours)10:00 p.m. Castle Tuesday 8:00 p.m. SHARK TANK 9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars Results Show10:00 p.m. THE FORGOTTEN Wednesday 8:00 p.m. HANK 8:30 p.m. THE MIDDLE 9:00 p.m. MODERN FAMILY 9:30 p.m. COUGAR TOWN10:00 p.m. EASTWICK Thursday 8:00 p.m. FLASH FORWARD 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy10:00 p.m. Private Practice Friday8:00 p.m. Supernanny9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty (new day and time)10:00 p.m. 20/20 Saturday 8:00 p.m. Saturday Night Live College Football 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 New Program Descriptions COMEDY Cougar TownA divorced 40 year-old woman with a teenage son finds her life getting complicated after she starts dating a man 14-years her junior. Courteney Cox-Arquette stars. Hank Former Frasier and recent Back to You star Kelsey Grammer plays a fallen Wall Street executive who returns to his hometown with his wife and kids for a fresh start. Macey Cruthird, David Koechner, Melinda McGraw and Ryan Wynott also star. The Middle Former Everybody Loves Raymond and recent Back to You star Patricia Heaton plays the loving wife and mother of three who lives in Jasper, Indiana and is employed as a used car salesman. The cast also includes Neil Flynn, Charlie McDermott, Atticus Shafer and Eden Sher. Modern Family Three very different families (traditional with a working father, homemaker mom and two kids; gay who just adopted an Asian baby; and an older man married to a much younger woman) are the focus of this single camera comedy. Julie Bowen (Ed), Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and former Married With Children patriarch Ed O’Neill star. ---------- DRAMA The Deep End (midseason)A diverse group of young associates at a high profile Los Angeles entertainment law firm and the ambitious partners that dominate the firm is the focus of this new legal drama. The cast includes Clancy Brown, Norbert Leo Butz, Ben Lawson, Matthew Long, Tina Majorino, Leah Pipes, Sherri Saum and former Titanic star Billy Zane. Eastwick Based on the John Updike novel and the 1987 feature film, three single women who live in the New England town of Eastwick discover they have supernatural abilities after they meet a devilishly sexy man. Lindsay Price (Lipstick Jungle), Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect), Rebecca Romijn (Pepper Dennis), Jon Bernthal and Paul Gross star. Flash Forward Based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer, several wannabe physicians create an experiment where a group of people flash forward 20 years into the future for two minutes and 17 seconds and their lives are never the same again. The physicians struggle to find out if the future is interchangeable or not and whether the experiment needs to be repeated. Joseph Fiennes leads the ensemble cast. The Forgotten A group of amateur crime fights who refer to themselves as the “Identity Network” solve cases with unidentified victims. Reiko Aylesworth, Rochelle Aytes, Michelle Borth, Anthony Carrigan, Rupert Perry-Jones, Grace Olivo and Bob Stephenson star. Happy Town After a new crime hits a small Minnesota town already rocked by a series of kidnappings seven years earlier, the updated investigation unearths some long-kept secrets. The ensemble cast includes Amy Acker, John Patrick Amedori, Sarah Gadon, Lauren German, Sam Neill, Jay Paulson, Geoff Stults, Dean Winters and Robert Wisdom. V (midseason)An alien invasion is the focus of this remake of the former NBC mid 1980s miniseries and regularly scheduled series. Morena Baccarin, Lourdes Benedicto, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) and Scott Wolf (Party of Five) star. This could mean, of course, that Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet is officially dead on Lost! ---------- NON-SCRIPTED Shark TankBudding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in this new reality/competition from Survivor/The Apprentice creator Mark Burnett. ______________________________________________________________________________ Upfront Tidbits:Notes of Interest -More Law & Order:NBC has renewed veteran drama Law & Order for a 20th season, with an unspecified number of new episodes. That means, of course, that the Dick Wolf series will now tie Gunsmoke as the longest running scripted drama in the history of television. -ABC Cancels Samantha Who?:Scrubs has apparently been picked-up for yet another season, but sophomore sitcom Samantha Who? has been officially axed by ABC. Samantha Who?, of course, benefited airing after Dancing With the Stars. But once the network moved it, the audience evaporated. There is no word when the remaining episodes will air. -CBS to Launch Six New Series:CBS, which unveils its fall 2009 prime-time line-up tomorrow, is expected to introduce six new series: four dramas, one sitcom and a hidden-camera reality hour. The dramas are The Good Wife, with former ER star Julianna Margulies as a stay-at-home wife who must go back to being a lawyer; medical drama Miami Trauma; Three Rivers, another medical drama focusing on organ transplants and donations; and the NCIS spin-off featuring LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell as Los Angeles investigators. The sole new sitcom is Accidentally on Purpose, with former Dharma & Greg and Courting Alex star Jenna Elfman as a San Francisco movie critic who gets pregnant after a one night stand with a much younger man. Non-scripted Undercover Boss will feature an executive who goes undercover in disguise at the company he works for to get a real look at what is going on. Also at CBS, the network has renewed on the bubble Cold Case for a seventh season, but dramas Without a Trace and The Unit are not expected to return. Sitcom Rules of Engagement has also been given a vote of confidence, but there is no official word at present on laughers The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried. If CBS passes on Old Christine, ABC will pick it up for 22 episodes. ___________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 5/19/09Night 27 of the May 2009 Sweeps ABC: 8:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars (R) 9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars (season finale, two hours) CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS (season finale) 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist (season finale)10:00 p.m. Without a Trace (season or series finale) NBC: 8:00 p.m. Most Outrageous Moments (R) 9:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R)10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (season finale) Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol 9:00 p.m. Glee (preview/premiere) CW: 8:00 p.m. Reaper 9:00 p.m. 90210 (season finale) MNTV8:00 p.m. Street Patrol 8:30 p.m. Street Patrol 9:00 p.m. Jail 9:30 p.m. Jail (R)___________________________________________________________________________________ Coming Up Tomorrow:NBC in 2009-10

Convergent TV

ABC and Fox Unveil Fall 2009 Schedules

Marc Berman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Marc Berman