This week the networks have been making lots of announcements. Some big, some little. But as the season limps to an end, The Powers That Be are trying hard to keep their offerings at the front of our minds over the summer hiatus.
A few things to look forward to next season:
• Reaper gets another harvest. The quirky Vancouver-shot CW drama has been reupped for at least 13 episodes.
• That groovy afterschool staple of the 1970s (yes, I watched it), The Electric Company, is coming back to PBS. Despite its relatively short run from 1971-1977, it survived in reruns until 1985, and originally starred Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno.
• Fox thankfully axed the Kelsey Grammer/Patti Heaton “comedy” Back to You. Man, I called that one correctly. Never fear: there will be plenty of lame-sounding sitcoms to replace it. First up, Project Gary (CBS), starring Jay Mohr as a divorced dad. Sheesh, where’s a McDonald’s tie-in when you need one?
• Boston Legal will be back. I hear it’s good, but honestly I’ve never watched it.
• Tyra Banks and Ken Mok, producers of America’s Next Top Model, have the greenlight to bring Stylista to the CW next season. The competition reality show will follow 11 fashionista wannabes as they try to land a job at Elle magazine. They’re calling this “The Devil Wears Prada for reality TV.”
• Kelly Taylor is returning to her old ZIP code. Jennie Garth has indeed signed up for the remake of Beverly Hills 90210, which will strangely be on CW, not Fox (its original home). No word yet on which of her myriad of demons will follow her.
• ABC will be the home of the American remake of the Brit hit Life on Mars. The pilot was written by David E. Kelley (Boston Legal), who also owns the remake rights, but there’s no word on if he’ll actually helm the series. Starring Irish actor Jason O’Mara, Life on Mars is about a cop who time-travels back to the 1970s. Hmmm. Crossover with The Electric Company in the works?
• There are a few new promising animated sitcoms in the works, notably The Goode Family (premiering on ABC in January 2009). From Mike Judge (King of the Hill), the show revolves around a not-so good family. Shocker. Also on ABC, Class Dismissed.
• The Show I Really, Really Want To Like #1: Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku as a memory-wiped secret agent-type person. The details are as fuzzy as the premise.
• The Show I Really, Really Want To Like #2: Jerry Bruckheimer’s Eleventh Hour, another Brit TV adaptation, a weird kind of X-Files thing starring Rufus Sewell.
• The Show I Really, Really Want To Like #3: J.J. Abrams’s Fringe, “which follows the exploits of a young female FBI agent who tackles unexplained medical and scientific phenomena” (i.e., another weird kind of X-Files thing).
• Ugly Betty is moving production to New York. Makes sense.
• ABC is also dumping Men in Trees, New Amsterdam, and Canterbury’s Law, because no one has ever watched them, including the network president.
• Get ready for the first Family Guy spinoff, The Cleveland Show. Honestly, it sounds like one of the show’s own jokes. Why not just make a spinoff of Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man?
• Maybe not next season, but eventually: Jimmy Fallon has officially been tapped to replace Conan O’Brien on Late Night when he bows out (no date set). Fallon is prescient, apparently. In his high school yearbook, he was voted “Most Likely to Replace David Letterman.” Well, technically Conan replaced Dave when moved to CBS, so there you go.
• Another season of useless lists from Teleprompter.
