Yesterday, we gave you a preview of ABC's upcoming fall comedies and dramas. Today, we got the official lowdown on the network's 2009-2010 schedule during its upfront presentation.
As expected, the network picked up a number of new shows and stuck with some of its most solid performers.
Returning: Lost (Update: Lost will be back, but exactly where and on what night has not been determined.), Castle, Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, Dancing With the Stars, 20/20, Supernanny, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, The Bachelor. Wife Swap, True Beauty, America's Funniest Home Videos
Gone: Samantha Who?, Cupid, The Unusuals, In the Motherhood, According to Jim
New:Cougar Town, Hank, The Middle, Modern Family, Flash Forward, Eastwick, Shark Tank, The Forgotten
New for Mid-Season:V, Happy Town, The Deep End
Watch this space for more details on the new shows and comments from ABC execs...
More on the schedule, comments and some details on the new shows after the jump.
If you haven't seen our game before, we give you a picture from a recent episode of a TV series and you provide the caption! Last time it was a picture from the season finale of Heroes. Our winner is Chris, with this caption:
"Yeah, I see what you mean ... you can't just shave off the unibrow, it just looks weird."
This week's picture is from the season finale of Lost. Ben and "Locke" confront Jacob in the statue, and a lot of bad things happen.
I'm not really sure where to begin, but I think this is a pretty good starting point: holy crap. Just like every season finale before this one, Lost has once again left us all with our jaws on the floor and our brains on overdrive. This changes everything. The big question? How does it change everything? Is it January yet?
Do the American people really like watching their favorite shows this way? Assuming you have more than one or two shows you enjoy following, this week is daunting to say the least and beyond exhausting. Just last night I had a three-hour finale of The Biggest Loser and that awesome Fringe finale. In the past few days we've said goodbye to The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, Cold Case, The Unit, Brothers & Sisters, The Big Bang Theory, House and Castle. And that's just on the major networks.
Over the next two days we have America's Next Top Model, Lie to Me, Lost, Bones, My Name Is Earl, Smallville, Parks & Recreation, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Hell's Kitchen, The Office, Supernatural and even CSI: NY on a special night. And it goes on through the weekend. In an era where ratings are slipping, how can it make good business sense to put all of these finales on against one another all within a few days of each other. I know they've always done that, but I just don't think it makes sense anymore.
Everybody loves a good mystery. Well maybe not everybody if the ratings for Harper's Island are any indication. But mysteries and suspense have been a part of television since it's inception. It's one thing for the plot to be full of mysteries. Things like "Who shot J.R.?" can become a part of popular culture. But J.R. himself wasn't a mystery, we knew him pretty well.
But there are those characters we don't know much about. Think about Benjamin Linus from Lost when he first appeared as Henry Gale among the Flight 815 survivors. There were so many secrets and mysteries surrounding him that we couldn't take our eyes off of him when he was on-screen. Well Ben's story may be more or less told, though something tells me there's still more to be gleaned, but there are plenty of familiar faces on television with not so familiar back-stories. And while Ben didn't make the list, that doesn't mean Lost went unrepresented.
I know, I know, so much Loststuff today. But hey, tonight's the season finale and there won't be another episode until, what, next January? Here's a fun poster that someone creative made to announce tonight's "Battle For The Island." (Here's the larger version.)
So, here we are, on the day that Lost fanatics have been both looking forwarding to (yay, a two-hour season finale!) and dreading (damn, no more Lost until next year!). Here's a clip from the episode, with Jack and Sayid trying to get to escape the compound before any of the residents see them.
As the creeptastic Ben Linus on Lost, Michael Emerson has been the puppet master on the island. He spends his days murdering people, causing others to murder different people, playing mind games and just generally making life more difficult for the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 and everyone else whom he encounters.
Ever since he was going by the name, "Henry Gale," Ben has been a fan favorite on the series. Recently, I was able to grab a few minutes of his time to chat about this week's season finale of Lost and the evolution of Benjamin Linus. He even gives me some parenting advice!
The interview follows after the jump, and as we do discuss this week's finale, I should probably give you a spoiler warning right now. However, since it's Lost, he's not able to give too much away. FACT: The smoke monster is real, and is deployed against any actor who dares to speak too freely about the show-- so I got what I could.
That last episode of Fringe just will not let go of me. Tapping into parallel worlds, and then hearing from Walter that they're real... The impending conflict that he and Bell were preparing Olivia and the other children test subjects for in Florida... The Observer coming to collect Walter because it's time... You can feel it. Things are coming to a head and it reminds me of that feeling I had toward the end of the first season of Lost.
Back then it was just a show about bizarrely connected people on a weird island who somehow survived a plane crash. We certainly didn't know 90 percent of what we do now, but we could feel all that story percolating. Mid-2008 Fringe was just a little show about weird happenings and I kept waiting to get more into the big conspiracy, the "what's this show really all about?." Now Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamics is scared, and The Observer is telling Walter that it's time. Oh the pot is stirring my friends. Fringe is one of the best hours on television right now, and it could well be poised to be one of the all-time greats!
I can't believe how fast this season of Lost has gone by. There's probably a time-travel joke buried in that realization somewhere, but my head is still spinning from "Follow the Leader," so I'm not really in clever witticism mode. Honestly, I'm speechless. For the most part, this wasn't one of my favorite episodes of the season. But for me to be at a loss for words at one of Lost's sub-par installments - well that says something about the quality of this show. "Follow the Leader" was a lot of set up for next week's two hour finale and the events that have been set in motion (even though it seems they always happened) are mind-numbing.
I had a choice of five different sneak peek clips for tonight's Lost to choose from, but I didn't want to give away any spoilers or anything that might be considered a "wow" moment, so I picked this one. It features Dr. Chang, Hurley, Miles, and Jin talking about time travel. Hurley has always been the voice of the viewer, and it's great to see the show deal with the whole time thing in a humorous way.
I like your show. It is a lot of fun. But sometimes it is confusing. Maybe someday you can tell the story in order.
Love, A Lost Fan
How sweet would that be. I was watching the latest Faraday extravaganza and thinking about all the stories we've gotten through the years, the flash forwards and flashbacks and jumps through time. It's getting pretty hard to keep track of what happened before and after what.
If you watched last night's episode of Lost, you probably have a headache trying to figure everything out. ABC should send bottles of Advil (or better yet, DHARMA ibuprofen) to all of their fans. I actually believe that the show does have a plan and does know where it's going and how the show will end (though I doubt they did at the start of the series - things changed), but here's some more ammo for fans who think they're making it up as they go along, from Jimmy Kimmel Live.
I love stuff like this. The Fine Brothers have created another clever Lost parody, Star Trek: The Lost Generation. It's a celebration of Lost and the new Star Trek film. The crew of the Enterprise somehow gets stuck on the Lost island and not only have to deal with Jack and Sawyer and Locke but also different versions (different doll versions) of themselves. There's an appearance by a few other time-travelling pop culture figures too.
Yesterday, we gave you a preview of ABC's upcoming fall comedies and dramas. Today, we got the official lowdown on the network's 2009-2010 schedule during its upfront presentation.
If you haven't seen our game before, we give you a picture from a recent episode of a TV series and you provide the caption! 
Do the American people really like watching their favorite shows this way? Assuming you have more than one or two shows you enjoy following, this week is daunting to say the least and beyond exhausting. Just last night I had a three-hour finale of The Biggest Loser and that awesome Fringe finale. In the past few days we've said goodbye to 
Everybody loves a good mystery. Well maybe not everybody if the ratings for Harper's Island are any indication. But mysteries and suspense have been a part of television since it's inception. It's one thing for the plot to be full of mysteries. Things like "Who shot J.R.?" can become a part of popular culture. But J.R. himself wasn't a mystery, we knew him pretty well.
I know, I know, so much 
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