3 lbs-related stories
Posted Apr 26th 2008 11:59AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, Shark, Reality-Free

The failure of
Secret Talents of the Stars has had ripple effects on the CBS prime time schedule. With
Big Brother coming to an end and
Secret Talents unable to make it past one episode,
the return of Shark, which was going to come back on Tuesdays at 10 p.m., will now return on Tuesday at 9 p.m. for three broadcasts beginning April 29. Had
Secret Talents worked, CBS wouldn't be scrambling on Tuesdays.
The CBS Tuesday lineup for next Tuesday, therefore, will be
NCIS, Shark and a rerun of CSI. Then on May 6, it'll be
NCIS, Shark and
a CSI: Miami rerun. On May 13,
NCIS, Shark and a
Criminal Minds rerun.
What'll be interesting for
Shark fans -- and TV geeks in general like us -- will be to see exactly how well the James Woods legal drama performs with a strong lead in like
NCIS. Even the reruns scheduled to follow the three episodes are all strong support. Will this Tuesday hammock experiment be advantageous to
Shark, securing the kind of Nielsen numbers that will be a deciding factor in the show's renewal for next season?
Continue reading Shark gets a new timeslot
Posted Mar 16th 2007 3:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, ER, Celebrities
Casting news from ER: Stanley Tucci, star of the very short-lived CBS drama 3 Lbs last year, will join the show later this year for a multi-episode stint.
He's going to play "a brilliant ICU turned ER chief," in just one of many big changes that are coming to the show. TV Guide wonders if this means that Goran Visnjic will be replaced, since it has been reported that Visnjic might not return next season (though producers are trying to get him to agree to star in a few episodes here and there).
This is interesting casting, going for an older guy instead of a resident hunk (sorry, nothing against Tucci's hunkiness). This guy deserves a weekly show. I remember a TV movie from years ago, a pilot for a series produced by Tom Selleck, that had Tucci as a detective. The show never made it, so I hope this works out.
[via TV Tattle]
Posted Dec 14th 2006 3:34PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, Web

For the very few of you who watched
3 lbs, CBS's short-lived rip-off of
House, the
remaining three episodes are now available on the network's online video channel, Innertube.
3 lbs was pulled from the air after only three episodes. Starring Stanley Tucci and that guy from
Good Morning, Miami, CBS had hoped that the medical drama would pull in the
House crowd from Fox. After all,
viewers were switching from
Grey's Anatomy to
ER. But the gamble didn't work. The remaining X episodes are now on Innertube.
As a sidenote, the remaining episodes of
Smith are no longer
on Innertube. The heist drama, starring Ray Liotta, preceded
3 lbs in the Tuesday night at 10 pm slot. Three episodes of
Smith made air before the network yanked it.
[Thanks, Mike!]
Posted Nov 30th 2006 7:22AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, Cancellations

No official word from CBS yet, but Broadcasting & Cable reports that it's all over for
3 lbs after only three airings. CBS launched the show, which many considered a rip-off of
House, after it canceled
Smith. The network actually hoped that
House would
provide some ratings for the show in the same way that
Grey's Anatomy viewers have flipped over to
ER on NBC. No such luck, though.
3 lbs actually did worse than its predecessor. Ratings for
3 lbs were 16% lower than
Smith. Ouch!
I actually
liked the premiere of
3 lbs, but I never remembered to watch the subsequent episodes. Starting next week, CBS will fill the 10 pm Tuesday time slot with reruns of one of its many procedural dramas.
Posted Nov 21st 2006 5:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
At 8, ABC has the 2006 American Music Awards, with host Jimmy Kimmel.
- CBS has new episodes of NCIS, The Unit, and 3 Lbs.
- NBC has the special Tony Bennett: An American Classic at 8, followed by new eps of Law and Order: CI and Law and Order: SVU.
- There's a new Standoff on FOX at 8, followed by a new House.
- The CW has a new Gilmore Girls at 8, then a new Veronica Mars.
- PBS has a new Nova at 8, followed by a new Frontline.
- Remember the show China Beach? It's on American Life at 9.
- Also at 9: Spike has Die Another Day, which seems pretty crappy after you've seen Casino Royale.
- At 10, FX has a new Nip/Tuck.
- Sci-Fi has a new ECW at 10.
- At 10:30, Food Network has a new ep of The Hungry Detective.
Posted Nov 15th 2006 10:36AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, House, Ratings

CBS' new medical drama,
3 lbs, is looking for some ratings help from
House. How is that possible since they're on different networks and are essentially the same show? It worked for
ER. When ABC moved
Grey's Anatomy to the 9 pm timeslot on Thursdays this fall, it unwittingly revived
ER's ratings. Nielsen statistics show 32% of
Grey's Anatomy viewers are switching over to NBC at 10 pm.
CBS is hoping for the same kind of success with
3 lbs, a drama about a rude-but-brilliant brain surgeon that is being called a rip-off of
House (something that completely escaped me
in my early review because I don't watch
House). Even CBS admits
3 lbs is similar to
House... but the network uses the word "compatible" to describe the similarities. CBS says it hopes
The Unit provides a bunch of viewers, but it doesn't hurt that Fox's programming ends at ten, which is when
3 lbs begins.
Posted Nov 9th 2006 8:08AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Early Looks

I was pleasantly surprised by
3 lbs, a medical drama that is making an early appearance on CBS since
Smith failed earlier this fall. I've seen a few promos for it on CBS lately and they really don't do it justice-- which could spell disaster for this outstanding show. The title, by the way, refers to the weight of a human brain.
3 lbs stars Stanley Tucci, who was most recently seen in
The Devil Wears Prada, and Mark Feuerstein, last seen in this
Lazy Sunday spoof and also on
Good Morning, Miami (
3 lbs is far better for him). Feuerstein plays Dr. Jonathan Singer, a brain surgeon who likes to get to know the souls of his patients before he operates on their brains. Tucci plays Dr. Doug Hanson, a brilliant neurosurgeon who is cold as ice toward his patients and everyone around him. Let me say this right off the top: the casting is perfect!
Continue reading 3 Lbs -- an early look
Posted Oct 25th 2006 5:44PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, Industry, Programming, Celebrities
Joe Pantoliano is not letting the canceled CBS drama Waterfront die an anonymous death.
Pantoliano and other members of the Waterfront crew, including the girl who plays his daughter on the show, showed up at the Tazza Cafe in Providence, RI the other night to show two episodes of the series for the crowd. The show was about the mayor of Providence and a lot of it was filmed on location. CBS pulled the series without even showing a single episode, saying it was too expensive and that there were creative differences.
But Pantoliano says its more than that, and uses as an example CBS' decision to put 3 Lbs in the slot vacated by the now-canceled Smith. 3 Lbs is a Paramount show. Paramount is owned by the same company that owns CBS, Viacom. Waterfront is a Warner Brothers show, and Pantoliano thinks that CBS wants to air one of their own shows instead of another show.
He wants to finish the episodes they were working on and show them to the public and see if they like it or not.
[via TV Tattle]
Posted Oct 12th 2006 3:32PM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, CBS, Industry, Programming, Medium

With
Kidnapped shuffled to a new night to finish out its run, and
Smith pulled from the schedule completely, NBC and CBS have a couple slots to fill. The Emmy-winning
Medium will return to NBC for its third season sometime in mid November, taking over the Wednesday at 10PM slot. CBS will fill Tuesday at 10PM with
3 Lbs starting on November 14th.
3 Lbs is about the relationship between a brilliant, but arrogant, neurosurgeon, and the rising star that works for him. Originally it was to star
Dylan McDermott, but now will feature Stanley Tucci (
The Devil Wears Prada, Murder One) and Mark Feuerstein (
West Wing, Good Morning Miami). I'm not sure about Feuerstein in this role, we'll have to wait and see, but I'll give anything with Stanley Tucci in it a look. This character sounds like he could have a little Richard Cross in him, which would be a good thing.