Hank-related stories
Posted Nov 30th 2009 7:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
Well, what do you do when your last two TV series flamed out, leaving you scratching your head and wondering why the public isn't getting you like they did before? If you're
Kelsey Grammer, you head to Broadway. With the ABC sitcom
Hank firmly in his rear-view mirror,
Grammer will star on Broadway in a revival of La Cage aux Folles.
Could Kelsey be taking advice from
David Hyde Pierce, his brother Niles on
Frasier? Since that series ended, David's had two hit shows on the Gay White Way,
Spamalot and
Curtains. The latter resulted in David winning a Tony award.
I'd like to think that Grammer's taking somebody's sage advice.
La Cage is a no-brainer.
Continue reading Kelsey Grammer's going Broadway in La Cage Aux Folles
Posted Nov 11th 2009 2:34PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Programming, Cancellations, Reality-Free
First off, thanks to ABC for
canceling Hank, because I love it when headlines rhyme.
Second, yes, the network has canceled the struggling Kelsey Grammer comedy. It never really clicked with TV viewers or critics, and when
ABC gave full season orders to all of the other Wednesday night comedies (
The Middle,
Modern Family, and
Cougar Town) you knew the writing was on the wall and this show just wasn't going to be around for a second season. Of course, it's not going to be around for a full first season either. ABC is replacing the remaining episodes with holiday specials and repeats of their other sitcoms.
This might be a silly question to ask but ... is anyone out there going to miss this show? I have a high tolerance for sitcoms, even mediocre ones. But this show was mediocre, with a capital ocore. It just wasn't funny and the characters/premise just weren't interesting enough.
Posted Nov 10th 2009 2:30PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
A couple of weeks ago, I did a post about the shows that were "on the bubble," the ones in danger of being canceled. Now AOL TV has
given the odds on what shows might not be coming back.
A lot of shows on the list won't surprise us:
Hank,
The Forgotten,
Numb3rs,
Gary Unmarried, and
'Til Death (each either gets low ratings or has been on for a while), but there are several that I think will actually make it to a another season, including
The Good Wife and
Parks and Recreation.
Continue reading What are the odds your favorite (or least favorite) show will be canceled?
Posted Oct 29th 2009 1:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Reality-Free, Gossip Girl, Fringe
TV Guide has released their list of shows that are safe for the rest of the season and those that are "on the bubble," the shows that are in danger of being canceled. There are a lot of shows on the latter list that aren't a surprise, such as
Hank,
Gary Unmarried,
Cold Case, and
The Forgotten (I'm surprised
Cold Case even made it to another season).
But among the list of shows are a few that I didn't think were in danger, including
Gossip Girl and
Fringe. I know that
Gossip Girl isn't a show that gets incredible ratings, but that describes The CW in general, and I figure that even if it gets low ratings it's sort of the network's signature show. As for
Fringe, the ratings are a lot worse this season than last season, but it would still surprise me if the show went away, especially since it has its fan base and it's produced by JJ Abrams.
Any other shows on the list that surprise you?
Posted Oct 21st 2009 12:19PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new Hank, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.- CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, then new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
- NBC has new episodes of Mercy, Law and Order: SVU, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, followed by a new Glee.
- The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8.
- PBS has a new Great Performances at 8.
- G4 has a new 2 Months $2 Million at 8.
- At 9, Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9, then a new Time Warp.
- IFC has a new Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) at 9.
- History Channel has a new Nostradamus Effect at 9, followed by a new MysteryQuest.
- Showtime has a new Inside The NFL at 9.
- At 10, Comedy Central has a new South Park, then a new Secret Girlfriend.
- Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas at 10.
- FX has a new Nip/Tuck at 10.
- Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
- TCM has The Third Man at 10.
- Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Old Christine, Glee, Cougar Town, Top Chef
Posted Oct 17th 2009 1:31PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
In what must be a major slap in the face to Kelsey Grammer and the creators behind
Hank,
ABC is pre-empting the show on October 28th with the Halloween classic
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Wait, it gets worse. It's pre-empting the show with a
repeat of
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown from the night before. Granted, the previous night will be the expanded, hour-long version, but still...
Admittedly, opinions of
Hank haven't exactly been stellar. Quite the opposite, in fact. While the show has not actually been canceled, it does not seem long for this world. Its only consolation is that it lasted longer than
The Beautiful Life.
Kelsey Grammer will never be able to get away from Frasier Crane, much like Carroll O'Connor was never able to get away from Archie Bunker. It's a shame since Grammer is a better actor than that.
Posted Oct 15th 2009 2:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
Let me give you a quick inside look at how things operate here in online entertainment journalism land: ABC sent us an invite to talk to Kelsey Grammer (and his co-star Melinda McGraw) during the same whirlwind
"defending Hank" tour that Bob mentioned in his post yesterday. As much as I wanted to talk to Grammer, the conditions just didn't seem to be right.
For one, we would have had maybe ten minutes to talk to him. For another, he'd be defending a show that is a) terrible and b) on the verge of being cancelled. I want to talk to Grammer about comedy,
Frasier,
Cheers, his heart attack, and lots of other stuff. I wasn't particularly interested in him telling me how good he thinks
Hank is for the whole interview.
But, when he told The TV Addict that last night's episode
was going to be funny, it got me curious; maybe they had figured things out and made a leap in quality. So I tuned into last night's episode. I wish I hadn't.
Continue reading Hank is truly painful to watch
Posted Oct 14th 2009 4:30PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free
All of the new ABC Wednesday night comedies --
The Middle,
Cougar Town, and
Modern Family -- have been
picked up for the entire season. Actually, one new sitcom is missing from that group.
Kelsey Grammer's
Hank isn't getting any love from viewers and it's not getting any love from critics. Ratings aren't that good and the critics don't like it. So Grammer is doing a bunch of interviews for tonight's episode, including
this one over at The TV Addict. He promises that tonight's episode is funny -- really! -- and we should all watch it.
Continue reading Kelsey Grammer says tonight's episode of Hank is funny
Posted Oct 14th 2009 12:23PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
Hallmark has an I Love Lucy marathon all night.- At 8, ABC has a new Hank, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
- CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, then new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
- NBC has new episodes of Mercy, Law and Order: SVU, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, then a new Glee.
- There's a new America's Next Top Model on The CW at 8.
- PBS has a new American Masters at 8.
- Discovery has two new episodes of Mythbusters starting at 8, followed by a new Time Warp.
- At 9, Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters, then a new Destination Truth.
- History Channel has a new Nostradamus Effect at 9, followed by a new MysteryQuest.
- Showtime has a new Inside The NFL at 9.
- At 10, FX has the season premiere of Nip/Tuck.
- Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas at 10.
- Comedy Central has a new South Park at 10, then a new Secret Girlfriend.
- Current has the series premiere of Vanguard at 10.
- Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
- Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: The Middle, South Park, Nip/Tuck, Man vs. Food
Posted Oct 9th 2009 8:37AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Cougar Town, Modern Family
I've always heard that three out of four ain't bad. But if you're Kelsey Grammer, it's a whole different ball game. While there's been no word on the horrid
Hank, ABC has ordered
full season pick-ups for the rest of their Wednesday comedy block. At this point, I'd say that was inevitable. ABC's bold experiment of a whole new night of programming seems to have worked out.
Early buzz on
Modern Family particularly brought people to sample the wares, and luckily that show delivered.
The Middle has been impressive as well, and would probably fare even better if it switched places with
Cougar Town. Courteney Cox's latest vehicle is much better than I expected, but not up to the creative caliber of its lead-ins.
As for
Hank? Well, it is the only multi-camera comedy on the night, so it stands out a bit in that respect. Oh, and its derivative and lacking in any originality or, and this one can be a bit of a problem, comedy. So there's that to deal with as well.
Posted Oct 7th 2009 12:09PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
TBS has Baseball Playoffs all night.- At 8, ABC has a new Hank, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
- CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, then new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
- NBC has new episodes of Mercy, Law and Order: SVU, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, followed by a new Glee.
- There's a new America's Next Top Model on The CW at 8.
- Also at 8: ESPN2 has the WNBA Finals.
- At 9, Discovery has a new Mythbusters.
- History Channel has a new Nostradamus Effect at 9, then a new MysteryQuest.
- Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters at 9, then a new Destination Truth.
- At 10, Comedy Central has a new South Park, followed by the series premiere of Secret Girlfriend.
- Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas at 10.
- Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Old Christine, Mythbusters, Eastwick, Top Chef
Posted Sep 30th 2009 12:20PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has the series premiere of Hank, followed by the series premiere of The Middle and new episodes of Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.- CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, then new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
- NBC has new episodes of Mercy, Law and Order: SVU, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, followed by a new Glee.
- The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8.
- PBS has a new episode of The National Parks at 8.
- At 9, Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters.
- History Channel has a new Nostradamus Effect at 9, then a new MysteryQuest.
- Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 9.
- Also at 9: Showtime has a new Inside the NFL.
- At 10, Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food.
- TruTV has a new Black Gold at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Hank, Gary Unmarried, Ghost Hunters, Bobby Flay
Posted Sep 3rd 2009 12:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, Reality-Free
The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback.
Even more risky is NBC handing 10:00 to Jay Leno every night of the week. Everyone's waiting to see how that one plays out. FOX is banking on huge positive buzz for
Glee to make it a hit, while ABC is hoping
FlashForward can pick up where
Lost is leaving off when it wraps its run this season.
To help you with it all, TV Squad has put together a handy calendar of all the premieres so you can schedule responsibly in this busy time of TV watching. Some nights have as many as twelve premieres scheduled, so you might need to invest in a few more DVRs to catch all your favorites; Monday's still look grim. Bookmark this page and you'll have it handy to help see you through.
Continue reading TV Squad's complete 2009-10 fall season premiere calendar
Posted Aug 25th 2009 8:00AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
Networks and advertisers love the 18 to 49 demographic. If you're not in that demo, then just sell your TV right now, OK? Nielsen even creates an "awareness" survey every year and sends it to the networks so they know which new shows have made it into the public consciousness, and
Nikki Finke has the list.
ABC's
Flash Forward and
The Cougar have the most awareness, while
Hank has the lowest (every time I hear the name of this show I forget that Kelsey Grammer is in it - it sounds like the name of an animated show).
Continue reading Are you 18 to 49 and aware of the new TV shows?
Posted Aug 8th 2009 7:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
The title of this post seems far-fetched: How could a big TV star like Kelsey Grammer think that Kevin Reilly, the programming head of FOX, had something to do with the
heart attack he suffered a year ago?
If you heard Grammer speak about it during the panel for his new ABC comedy
Hank, it's not hard to connect the dots. "I had an event they thought was stress related. You can make of that what you will. It was a rough year," said Grammer, whose FOX sitcom
Back to You was cancelled after its first season.
His beef was that he pitched the show to Reilly when the exec was still at NBC, and he passed. Then Reilly got the position at FOX after they bought
Back to You. So, basically, the show was airing on a network whose entertainment head already passed on it somewhere else. That, according to Grammer, caused conflict between the network and the writers of the show.
Continue reading Does Kelsey Grammer think FOX president gave him a heart attack? - TCA Report
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