Two Tivos To Paradise 5.16.08: We've Been Renewed For The Fall!

Posted by Al Norton on 05.16.2008

ABC, CBS, Fox, and The CW unveil their fall line up's - the full rundown inside, George Clooney & TNT team up for a new series, the 24 movie gets an air date, American Idol thoughts, the week in season finales, raves for The Riches, news and notes, and more, all in this week's Two Tivos To Paradise.

Hello Friends. This is a very list-heavy edition of TTTP, a combination of most of the week's news being the new fall line up's and a mix of work, Dr's appointments, and picking out paint colors for our new place. The move is planned for June 7th, so the packing countdown is on!

Wanted to thank everyone who wrote in with baby shopping tips last week, and especially Josh, who recommended the excellent Baby Bargains book. In other baby news, Mrs. Tivo has officially shot down Darth and/or Mortis as potential names.

You may think it's foolish, this chancy rendezvous, you may think I'm crazy, but all I want is news.

And A Time For Every Purpose, Under Heaven
ABC, CBS, Fox, and The CW announced their fall line up's this week, all heavy on returning favorites because of the strike shortened pilot season. Shows with an * are not scheduled to appear until later in 2008 or early 2009.

-ABC
Returning Favorites: 20/20, According To Jim*, The Bachelor*, Boston Legal, Brothers And Sisters, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, Samantha Who?, Supernanny, Ugly Betty, Wife Swap

New Shows : Life On Mars, The Goode Family, Opportunity Knocks, Scrubs*

Gone But Not Forgotten: Carpoolers, Cavemen, Men In Trees, Notes from the Underbelly, October Road, Oprah's Big Give

ABC does not have a ton of new programming but they are looking at Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, and Pushing Daisies as semi-new shows as well and will get out the advertising behind them in a big way. Regular readers know how high I am on Life on Mars but the hiring of the October Road producing crew to run it makes me more than a little nervous. Opportunity Knocks is a game show where the crew sets up on an unsuspecting family's lawn and offers them cash if they can answer questions about their lives, The Goode Family is from Mike Judge, and Scrubs is the same comedy you have loved o NBC the last 7 years, although producer Bill Lawrence is saying they will get rid of some of the most outlandish part of the show while at the same time adding 3 interns to keep the show fresh in it's final season.

-CBS
Returning Favorites: 60 Minutes, Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, The Ex List, Ghost Whisperer, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Numb3rs, Rules of Engagement*, Survivor, Two and a Half Men, Without A Trace, The Unit

New Shows: Eleventh Hour, The Ex List, Harper's Island*, The Mentalist, Project Gary, Worst Week of My Life

Gone But Not Forgotten: Cane, Kid Nation, Moonlight, Shark

Let the record show that the howl of discontent heard throughout Massachusetts on Tuesday night was when I broke the news to Mrs. Tivo that Moonlight would not be back. I am sure the letter writing campaigns have already begun, as have the rumors of the show finding a new life on another network (at press time the producers were shopping the show around). Shark was a show that had real promise – any show with James Woods has promise – but quickly became generic and uninteresting. I was quite happy to see Christine get another season as Hamish Linklater really needs to be more famous. While I am not sad to see Kid Nation go, I am thankful the show existed as it gave us Will Dailey's cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

The Mentalist stars CBS love child Simon Baker (Smith, The Guardian) and to quote myself, it's best described as PSYCH without the laughs. The Ex List finds Grey's Anatomy's Elizabeth Reaser as a women going back to her past relationships because a psychic tells her she has already met her soul mate. Jay Mohr fronts Project Gary, a comedy about a newly divorced guy, and Worst Week Ever tracks the lead up to a wedding. Eleventh Hour is from Jerry Bruckheimer, which means lots of big things will happen with very little character development.

-The CW
Returning Favorites: America's Next Top Model, Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Supernatural, Reaper*

New Shows :90210, Stylista, Surviving The Filthy Rich

Gone But Not Forgotten: Aliens In America, Beauty And The Geek, Girlfriends, Girlicious

Reaper getting picked up for a second season is just about the best news of the TV season, especially considering how high the quality of the last few weeks has been. On the other extreme, Aliens In America being cancelled is perhaps the seasons low point as it had established itself as the best family comedy on TV and also one that had earned strong consideration for the upcoming second annual Norty Awards.

Stylista is a Tyra Banks produced reality show where contestants vie for a job at Elle magazine, and Surviving The Filthy Rich stars Reba hottie JoAnna Garcia as a tutor to some snooty high school girls. 90210 is, as you might expect, 90210.

FOX
Returning Favorites: 24*, American Dad, American Idol*, America's Most Wanted, America Fights Back, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Bones, Cops, Don't Forget the Lyrics, Family Guy, Hell's Kitchen, House, King of the Hill, Kitchen Nightmares, Moment of Truth, Prison Break, The Simpsons, So You Think You Can Dance, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, ‘Till Death

New Shows: The Cleveland Show*, Do Not Disturb, Dollhouse*, Fringe, Secret Millionaire*, Sit Down Shut Up*

Gone But Not Forgotten: Back to You, Canterbury's Law, New Amsterdam, The Return of Jezebel James

Fox easily has the most interesting new shows of the bunch, with JJ Abrams sci-fi conspiracy series Fringe and Joss Whedon's Dollhouse leading the way. I worship at the alter of Whedon and am excited to see this new show, especially since no one has captured the full talents of series star Eliza Dushku the way he has, not to mention that it has Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett in the cast. Do Not Disturb is the working title of a new comedy series from Arrested Development alum Abraham Higginbotham and starring the always appealing Jerry O'Connell. Speaking of AD alums, Mitchell Hurwitz is producing the animated series Sit Down, Shut Up.

In some ways the most intriguing new show on the docket is Secret Millionaire, a reality series that takes real life rich people and has them live on minimum wage in some low income, low resource neighborhoods and challenges them to get to know the people who live there. At the end of each episode the millionaire of the week will give away $100K of their own money to those they feel can best use it to change their lives. While this could obviously be terrible, if they try to give it a 30 Days vibe and really investigate what has caused these various areas to fall through the cracks, it could be worth watching.

Give Me What You Can Tonight, Time Is All We Have To Play
The previously announced 24 movie that will serve as a prelude to the start of a new season in January got an official air date this week when it was announced it will run on November 23rd. The movie will go back and forth between Jack Bauer in action in South Africa (filmed on location) and the US prepping for the inauguration of a new President, to be played by Tony award winner Cherry Jones. It is assumed the producers will take the two hours to introduce new characters as well as catch us up on old favorites. It was also reported that Full Monty star and former Bond villain Robert Carlyle will appear in the movie as Jack's mentor in South Africa.

24 fans have gone over a year without their Bauer-fix so this gives them a date to latch on to. November sweeps makes perfect sense, especially with season 7 kicking off just a few weeks later. I have never been a huge 24 guy – I watched ½ of season one and then just gave up, but that was back when I was still using VCR tapes, so perhaps I will give it another shot this time around. It will be fun to watch Fox spend millions to remind people how much they love the show – two years is a long time to go without new episodes so there will be a big effort made to get the Bauer-holics attending their weekly meetings.

Lord Almighty, I Feel My Temperature Rising
TNT and TBS laid out both short and long term programming plans this week, including renewing some current series and announcing development of new shows. TBS's line up is comedy based, with current series Tyler Perry's House of Payne and 10 Items or Less renewed for new seasons, and The Bill Engvall Show has it's second season debut next month. New shows on the way include National Banana Already In Progress - a late night sketch comedy series from Jerry Zucker, William H Macy executive producing and starring in a sitcom, Jamie Foxx executive producing an improve comedy show, and the Rev Run starring in a scripted series.

TNT's batch of shows includes the previously announced legal drama Raising The Bar from Steven Bochco, the action/drama Leverage with Timothy Hutton, Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh starring in Truth In Advertising, and Ray Romano's TV return with Men of a Certain Age. Shows in the works include

-The George Clooney produced Delta Blues, where a Memphis cop doubles as an Elvis impersonator.

-Morse Code, starring and executive produced by Donnie Wahlberg as a DEA agent/Iraq war veteran working in Boston.

-A new action series from 24 executive producer Joel Surnow

-Tough Trade, a drama series set in the Nashville music scene.

Delta Blues is my new favorite show and I haven't even seen it yet. I like it so much I want Dean Winters to star in it. I promise to give Morse Code a shot if they film on location and cast David Morse as Wahlberg's tough as nails superior. TNT's stated goal is to have 80% of primetime be original programming by 2010.

Don't Write A Letter When You Want To Leave, Don't Call Me at 3AM From A Friend's Apartment
The CW announced a plan to sell their Sunday night airtime to Media Rights Capital, a production company that will air programming from 7 – 10 and sell their own advertising. Their line up includes:

-F.A.T City, a crime drama set in Las Vegas

-I.M. Valentine Investigations, a romantic comedy

-Book of Murphys and Surviving Suburbia, both sitcoms

This deal makes a lot of sense for MRC as it allows them to have their own network one night a week without investing the time and money needed for a start up. The CW gets some guaranteed cash each week and also the focus on a more limited schedule should lead to higher quality.

I can't say there is a direct line between this deal and the cancellation of Aliens In America but I can't help but think it might be seeing a second season if The CW had three more hours of programming to fill each week.

And With Your Hair Combed Right And Your Pants Fit Tight, It's Gonna Be All Right
Season 7 of American Idol is actually season one when it comes to my watching. All season long I will be providing a weekly diary of the action as well as covering any AI related news items. How about that – Tuesday's audience was 23.97 million strong, an 4% INCREASE from last year's final 3 performance night, reversing the trend of downward numbers. Wednesday's results show was up 1.85 from last week to 24.25 million.

TUESDAY
-Lately there have been a rather odd collection of celebrities in the audience. Reaction shots tonight include Lloyd from Entourage, Emily Van Camp, Bellick from Prison Break, and Marilu Henner…There's a celebrity porn tape I would buy in a heartbeat!

-3 songs each tonight, one chosen by the judges, one by the contestants themselves, and one by David Archuleta's Dad…errr…I mean the producers.

-I, Archuleta is starting off with a beautiful Billy Joel ballad selected by Miss Paula Abdul. And So It Goes may be his most adult performance of the show but his feet were still glued to the floor.

-Randy has Syesha doing an Alicia Keys number. She is easily the warmest and most personable performer left in the competition.

-David Cook is doing The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face thanks to Simon. The Robert Flack original is about a close to perfection as a record gets, and the Johnny Cash cover from his Rick Rubin albums is pretty damn sublime as well. David's version is solid.

-Overall it's quite clear why these are the final 3.

-David Archuleta Will Robinson's choice is a Chris Brown cover that makes him look like the high school student he is, and that's not a good thing.

-Syesha makes an odd choice with Fever, which is a classic but so much so that it's been done ever which way already, so she doesn't leave much of an impression other than being the only performer to inject some sex appeal into her act.

-David Cook's choice of Switchfoot doesn't work because he only gets about 120 seconds and that's not enough build. He ends up yelling a lot.

-The producers choose Dan Fogelberg's Longer for the Archuleta Youth Movement. Really? That's supposed to show his range? It's a sappy love song, which is what he does every week.

-Syesha is doing Blu Cantrell's Hit Em Up Style…No wait, this is a different song that I am not familiar with.

-David Cook closes the show with a barely passable version of a more than slightly awful Aerosmith song.

-I just lost a ton of respect for Simon Cowell since he referred to Don't Want To Miss A Thing as, "one of the great songs of all time." Wow…not even close.

-I predict a David and David final but not the Welcome to the Boomtown kind.

WEDNESDAY
-Paula brought the girls out for tonight's episode…As did Simon

-The 3 finalists look like the front people for The CW's new 21 Jump St remake.

-The footage of his trip home does the impossible; it makes David Archuleta seem human. "Where did everybody park?" is easily the line of the American Idol season. Hey, Rollie Fingers is the mayor of his hometown!

-All these trips must be incredible overwhelming for the 3 of them because up till now they have been in a bubble of sorts, with a full audience every week and all of the events being about the show. Seeing 1000's show up just to see them starts to make them realize just how many people have been watching them the last 4+ months.

-It's David Archuleta Vs David Cook in next week's final. Syesha goes home with her head held high and the rest of us wonder if the 11-13 year old voting block will outweigh the 15-19 year old voting block.

I'll Send You All My Love Everyday In A Letter, Sealed With A Kiss
A huge week for season finales - some of which have become series finales based on the news above - so use the guide below to set your Tivos.

Tonight
Ghost Whisperer, 8 pm, CBS
Moonlight, 9 pm, CBS
Numb3rs, 10 pm, CBS

Saturday
Saturday Night Live, 11:30 pm, NBC

Sunday
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 7 pm, ABC
Everybody Hates Chris, 8 pm, The CW
Aliens In America, 8:30 pm, The CW
Desperate Housewives, 9 pm, ABC
The Game, 9 pm, The CW

Monday
The Big Bang Theory, 8: 00 pm, CBS
Bones, 8:00 pm, Fox
Gossip Girl, 8 pm, The CW
How I Met Your Mother, 8:30 pm, CBS
House, 9 pm, Fox
One Tree Hill, 9 pm, The CW
Two and a Half Men, 9:00 pm, CBS
Rules of Engagement, 9:30 pm, CBS
CSI: Miami, 10 pm, CBS

Tuesday
NCIS, 8 pm, CBS
Dancing with the Stars, 9 pm, ABC
Reaper, 9 pm, The CW
Shark, 10 pm, CBS

Wednesday
America Idol, 8 pm, Fox
Criminal Minds, 9 pm, CBS
Boston Legal, 10 pm, ABC
CSI: NY, 10 pm, CBS

Thursday
Ugly Betty, 8 pm, ABC
Grey's Anatomy, 9 pm, ABC

But You Were Up To Your Old Tricks In Chapters Four Five And Six
All you need to know about the Nielsen's for the last week…CSI was last Thursday's most watched show with 17.82 million but Grey's Anatomy topped it in demos and also picked up 500K from last week's series low…The 30 Rock season finale picked up an extra 200K viewers…The Without A Trace season finale benefited from it's strong lead in to jump it's audience to 14.6 million, an increase of 14%...Lost finished second at 10 but still won the demos and ER season finale came in with a mediocre-at-best 7.6 million…The finale of Survivor: Micronesia averaged 12.9 million over it's two hours, good enough to win at 8 and finish in second behind Desperate Housewives at 9…Brothers And Sisters finale was watched by 11.03 million, topping the Survivor reunion special…The return of American Gladiators drew 37% less of a crowd than had been watching Deal or No Deal in the same Monday at 8 time slot…Britney's return saw How I Met Your Mother top 9 million, an increase of 670K…Bones bounced back from a bad week to post 9.4 million viewers…House jumped up over 2 million from last week to win the 9:00 battle…Gossip Girl (+530K) and One Tree Hill (+450K) enjoyed increases…The finale of Samantha Who? picked up 510K to hit 11 million total…NCIS penultimate episode of the season pulled in 14.7 million, a week-to-week increase of 900K…Hill's Kitchen's 12.4 million was a series high…Dancing with the Stars' results show topped Wednesday night but was down 1.5 million…The season finale of SVU won the 10 hour with 11.32 million…The finale of ANTM was watched by 4.92 million…Boston Legal was the only Tuesday at 10 show to post any gains this week, up 270K to 7.67 million

All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…Eric Stoltz has joined the cast of Caprica, the made for Sci-Fi movie that will more than likely serve as a pilot for this Battlestar Galactica prequel…After some tenuous negotiations it looks like Alison Mack will be back for the next (and final) season of Smallville…A & E trots out new episodes of Dog The Bounty Hunter this July…Matthew Modine and Mean Suvari will star in the Lifetime movie Murder in Sin City, based on a real life crime from 1998…Donald Trump confirmed that he floated OJ Simpson as a possible participant in the new season of The Celebrity Apprentice but was shot down (or should I say cut down?) by NBC…Tricia Helfer lends to her voice to The CW's Spectacular Spider Man this Saturday as The Black Cat…Michael Rappaport will be a full time cast member of Prison Break this fall…Boston Legal's Saffron Burrows has signed on to My Own Worst Enemy, playing Christian Slater's psychiatrist…In a story that has been reported for months, NBC confirmed Jimmy Fallon will take over Late Night with…in 2009 when Conan O'Brien jumps to The Tonight Show…Rumors abound that Melrose Place and Silk Stalkings vet Rob Estes is getting the hard sell from The CW to come on board for the new 90210. There are also grumblings that Tori Spelling with stop by as Donna at least once, although Tori may be the source of those…It's old news now but Jennie Garth has officially signed to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor on the new 90210 on a recurring basis…Ryan Seacrest is bringing Momma's Boy to NBC this fall, a new reality series where Mom's pick dates for their sons…

Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
The top thing I watched since the last column went to press AKA The Best Of What's Around…The finale of The Riches was all that I hoped it would be, except it should have been the ¾ point of the season instead of the sign off. I have written previously about how amazing a build they were doing, with the many pressures of Doug's life converging at once, his family splintering off while he struggles to keep the business deals together, and the final scene when he and Quinn are on the phone set the stage for what should be an explosive showdown. Eddie Izzard has been Norty-worthy this season and the supporting cast is among the best of TV, each shining no matter how much (or little) screen time they get. I am praying that FX realizes this is a quality show and deserves (at least) a third season.

People Say I'm Crazy Doing What I'm Doing. Well, They Give Me All Kinds Of Warnings To Save Me From Ruin
What's flashed before my eyes the last seven days…Britney's second How I Met Your Mother was good but the red cowboy boots stole the show. Pulling them off, indeed…I don't have the same issues with Battlestar Galactica that others seem to of late; this season – and really the whole show – is about faith; the cylons faith that they are God's true creatures, Adama's faith in Starbuck to find a path, the final four questioning their faith in everything, Baltar showing that there is room for more than one kind of faith, Roslin's examination of the faith that she has had for so many years. Yes, it's somewhat slow but much like life, it's about the journey, not the destination…The NBC Scrubs finale was sweet, although the network showing the episodes out of order led to some odd appearances by characters who no longer worked at Sacred Heart. LOVED the janitor as a giant…Looks like I was right about the Dana Delaney's daughter being a replacement on Desperate Housewives. The episode overall was a bit of a letdown – I was hoping Edie would leave on a more exciting note…Samantha Who?'s finale was it's usually charming half hour, although I really want them to bring the boss back as a regular next year…Is it me or is the witty banter a bit much on Bones sometimes? Hey, I really like the show but sometimes Bones lack of common sense really strains credulity. I do love Booth's belt buckle, though…The Brothers and Sisters finale more than lived up to it's TV Pick of the Week hype, with Kevin and Scotty's wedding being a major highlight. The scene with Rebecca and Justin at the end should hopefully relax anyone still wierded out by the almost-incestuous romance. Was I the only one who was almost expecting Ephram to walk up the hill and greet her?...The best part of the 30 Rock finale was Jack showing up at Liz's door after her last VM, giving what is already the funniest show on TV some real heart, too…Andy's blisters on The Office were disgusting and hilarious, just a notch below his bleeding nipples on

TV Pick Of The Week
Expecting me to go with next Wednesday's American Idol finale? That would be the obvious choice, and a good one if you want to be able to take part in conversations at work the next day, but I thought I'd offer you an alternative that may come in handy just as much.

Have you heard of The Jonas Brothers? If you don't have any kids or aren't under 15 you might not have, but rest assured they are one of the hottest bands in the country, including being named Favorite Musical Group at the 2008 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. With the Disney machine working in overdrive they made over 12 million dollars last year, including a top 5 album. 2008 is set to make them even bigger stars, with their first headlining tour this summer selling out all over the country, several concert specials, and a series where they play undercover spies hitting the airwaves this fall.

The Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream debuts tonight at 7:55 on the Disney channel, a reality series that follows the band on their last tour and finds them adjusting to superstar status with the tweener set. Why would I recommend that the 411mania readership check this out? The more well rounded your pop culture knowledge is, the easier it is to get laid! And your young cousins will think you are cool as all get out at the next family gatherings when you know the difference between Joe, Nick and Kevin. The best part is that each episode is only 5 minutes long, so it's not like you need to invest a ton of time.

Don't miss The Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream tonight at 7:55 on the Disney channel.

Two Tivos To Paradise, Weekly Update
30 Days, 30 Rock, Aliens In America, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antique Roadshow, The Apprentice, Battlestar Galactica, Best Week Ever, Big Love, Bones, Boston Legal, Breaking Bad, Brothers And Sisters, Burn Notice, Chuck, The Closer, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Deadliest Catch, Desperate Housewives, Destination Truth, Dirty Sexy Money, Entourage, Eureka, Everybody Hates Chris, Flipping Out, Ghost Hunters, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, The Hills, House, How I Met Your Mother, Last Comic Standing, Last Restaurant Standing, Law And Order, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Lost, Mad Men, Make Me A Supermodel, Medium, Miss Guided, Moonlight, My Name Is Earl, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Next Food Network Star, Nip/Tuck, The Office, The Paper, One Tree Hill, Private Practice, Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Psych, Real Time With Bill Maher, The Real Hustle, Reaper, Rescue Me, The Riches, Rules Of Engagement, Run's House, Samantha Who?, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Shark, Shear Genius, The Soup, Step It Up and Dance, Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Top Chef, Top Design, Torchwood, Ugly Betty

People Love You When They Know You're Leaving Soon
Here ends another edition of Two Tivos To Paradise. Only five weeks away from the 100th edition of TTTP – can you feel the excitement?!?! Can you feel the heat? Feel, feel, feel, feel the heat.

Have a great week, see you next Friday!

Feedback is encouraged at [e-mail] as well via the comments section below.

Sources for this week's column include Daily Variety, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, and Hollywood Reporter (plus the web sites for those publications) as well as Aintit.cool.com.