TVSquad

One of my favorite parts of the summer press tour was the last day, mainly because a busload of critics got to go to the Warner Bros. lot and tour sets from ER, Chuck, and Pushing Daisies (we also saw the Dollhouse set on the Fox lot later that day).

On the Pie Hole set of Daisies, for instance, all the stars and producers were available for interviews. Kristin Chenoweth held court right outside the pie-shaped diner's entrance, sporting a splint on her right hand from a recent bat bite (I kid you not... wonder what scene they were shooting at the time). But I was there to ask her about how she felt about being the model for Harriet Hayes on Studio 60 two years ago. And she was very candid about the situation,especially in light of the fact that her former (and current?) boyfriend, S60 creator Aaron Sorkin, never was.

First, though, a question about Jeff Probst; Chenoweth dropped the tidbit that the two of them dated when she announced his Emmy nomination the week before. Audio is after the jump.

It's hard to believe that we're a full year removed from the glorious mess that was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It seemed that the split between "liked it" and "hated it" was about 50-50, but everyone wanted to comment. One thing I noticed in those comments was that, even among the people who liked it, there was a strong sentiment against the performance of Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes. Most people just didn't like the chemistry she had with Matthew Perry, and she didn't manage to make us care enough about the plight of the über-religious comedian to root for her to connect with anyone.

So, for anyone who's looking forward to the revival of Rob Thomas' Cupid, the news that Paulson's been cast as the female lead on the show has to be disheartening. She's playing Dr. Claire Allen, the same role Paula Marshall played in the original series, opposite Bobby Cannavale, who is taking over the Cupid role from Jeremy Piven.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Absolutely Fabulous - The White Box
• Charlie and Lola - Vol. 6
• The Christmas Blessing (TV movie)
• The House Without A Christmas Tree (TV movie)
• Ironside - Season 2
• MacGyver - The Complete Series
• Masters of Horror - Season 1, Vol. 2 and The Damned Thing
• Medium - Season 3
• Mythbusters - Collection 2
• Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (UK) - Vol. 1
• Roseanne - Season 9
• Squidbillies - Vol. 1
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series
• That 70s Show - Season 7
• Wanted: Dead or Alive - Season 3

The Onion's AV Club has an interesting interview with D. L. Hughley discussing, among other things, why Studio 60 failed to live up to its potential.

Hughley says that despite the pilot being some of the "most well written television" that he had ever seen, the show "became too aware" and started "taking [itself] too seriously". Hughley compared the drama to a "number one draft pick" that "crumpled under the weight of expectations".

I find the interview interesting for three reasons...

• At 8, CBS has a new Pirate Master.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader at 8, followed by a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• History Channel has a new Mega Movers at 8.
• At 9, USA has a new Starter Wife.
• Lifetime has the new movie My Baby Is Missing at 9.
• There's a new movie on Hallmark at 9 too: Love's Unending Legacy.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• Sundance Channel has a new Live From Abbey Road at 10, with John Mayer and Norah Jones.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, CBS has a new Pirate Master.
• ABC has the special Fast Cars & Superstars at 8, followed by the Cavaliers/Spurs game.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, then a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• TBS has four excellent episodes of Friends starting at 8, including the one where Ross dates the girl with the messy apartment and Chandler falls for Joey's girlfriend.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• USA has a new episode of The Starter Wife at 9.
• At 9:30, HBO2 has a making-of special about John From Cincinnati, then the movie Brick.
• At 9:45, HBO has a first look at Evan Almighty.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• There's a new Ultimate Fighter on Spike at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
• CBS has the premiere of Pirate Master at 8.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? and a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• Four more great Friends episodes at 8 on TBS.
• TCM has two hostage dramas starting at 8: The Desperate Hours, with Humphery Bogart, and The Night Holds Terror, with Jack Kelly.
• At 9, USA has the premiere of the mini-series The Starter Wife.
• TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
• HBO Zone has the high school noir drama Brick at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 10.
• Also at 10: Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, FOX has the season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance, followed by a new On The Lot.
• TNT has an NBA playoff game at 8, the Cavaliers vs. the Pistons.
• TCM has In Harm's Way at 8.
• At 9, HGTV has a new Divine Design, followed by new episodes of Landscaper's Challenge and House Hunters.
• Don Rickles talks to Larry King on CNN at 9.
• At 10, Studio 60 returns to NBC.
• TLC has a new Wrecks to Riches at 10.
• Showtime has a new Penn & Teller's Bullshit at 10 (repeated at 10:30).
• Also at 10: Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.

Check your local TV listings for more.

That's one of the revelations in this Forbes mag piece about Jeff Zucker and NBC. It says that not only is it possible that NBC will cancel Law and Order (the first one, CI and SVU are pretty safe), Zucker and Kevin Reilly are thinking seriously about making The Office a one hour show.

Hmmm...a one hour Office? I don't know. Will that be too much of a good thing? Bigger isn't necessarily better.

Zucker also discloses that when NBC gives its upfront (on May 14), there will be 5 new shows announced: three dramas, one comedy, and one reality show. I've never been good at math, so I'll leave it to you to decipher what that means about which current shows will and won't return.

[via TV Tattle]

You knew I'd be the one to tell you this news, right?

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip returns to the NBC schedule on May 24, presumably to just run the rest of the episodes they have filmed. Hopefully they knew they were ending early while filming so they can end the show in a good way.

By the way, May 24 is a Thursday. The show will air at 10pm in the slot currently occupied by ER. I wonder what would have happened to the show if it had originally been in this slot, or maybe an hour earlier. Oh well. I guess the best way to think of it now is as a long miniseries, one that will have around 22 episodes and a conclusion.

And please, this isn't a post about "quality" or "that show sucks!"

Actually, it comes down to this: 30 Rock is owned by NBC and Studio 60 is owned by Warner Brothers. That's one of the many interesting bits of info in Lisa de Moraes' Washington Post column. I mean, that has to be the reason.

As de Moraes points out, it can't be because 30 Rock got better ratings than Studio 60, because Studio 60 got better ratings. It can't be because 30 Rock got a higher rating in the all-important 18 to 49 demo, because Studio 60 had higher ratings there, too. And it can't be because 30 Rock gets the upscale viewers that networks and advertisers like, because Studio 60 was just as good if not better there, too. And I don't think it's because Studio 60 is more expensive than 30 Rock, though that might tie into the whole ownership thing.

It is funny to see Kevin Reilly not really talk about Studio 60, a show he was "really behind" and greenlighted for a whole season. The way he talks now, 30 Rock is the centerpiece to NBC's entire future.

As much as I've complained, bitched, moaned, and complained (yes, I said "complained" twice... that's how much I did it) about Studio 60, I never stopped watching the show.

The reasons why I did so changed over time. For a while, I thought I was "rubbernecking;" I just couldn't resist seeing what train wreck Aaron Sorkin wrote for himself each week, and then couldn't wait to get on to TV Squad and other sites to see the critics and the commenters ravage the episode. Then, for a while, I thought I was watching the show out of the hope that such a talented group of writers and actors could get their act together long enough to run off a streak of quality episodes. Finally, I thought I was watching merely for the fact that there was nothing else to watch on Mondays at 10, and I figured I could just watch it while I wrote my review for How I Met Your Mother.

Turns out it was all three reasons. And, now that The Black Donnellys is taking S60's place starting next week, I'm going to miss the show a little bit.

Next week Studio 60 will go on hiatus to make way for The Black Donnelys in the Monday night slot. In an effort to drum up some interest, NBC has released the pilot online. The strange part of this is that it isn't available on NBC's website. Rather, you can watch it on Yahoo video.

If the show improves on Studio 60's questionable numbers, it could be the end of Matt and Danny. I think things are just going to get murkier than ever though. Nothing about the pilot grabbed me and made this must see TV. The show is just as awkward a fit for the post Heroes slot as Studio 60.

I would expect it to perform much the same. Look for a disappointing drop-off out of Heroes and a sound defeat facing CSI: Miami. Something in the 2.5 to 3 times the viewership area. Where the network goes from there is anyone's guess.

When 10PM rolls around, it's generally not a pleasant time for NBC. Mostly it's where the network goes to get its hat handed to it by somebody. What the strategy is for the 10 o'clock slot boggles me. So far, my best explanation sounds like the plot from a bad Lucy episode.

Imagine Lucy and Ethel get a gig cleaning the offices at NBC. Some crazy hijinks erupt and somehow all the shows get knocked off of the big magnetic schedule board. They do their best to try and put them back, but it seems they have mixed up a few of the shows at 10. The executives all come in the next day and everyone assumes that someone else made the change. Not wanting to rock the boat, they all just roll with it, to the detriment of the shows and the network. Here's what Lucy and Ethel got wrong, and what NBC needs to fix.

So last night was the first really big Monday night of the new year, with the return of Heroes and Studio 60. And how did those shows fare?

Typical numbers for Studio 60 at 10pm, with around 7.4 million viewers. It was crushed by CSI: Miami, which got 18.7 million viewers. But the big news of the night (well big-ish, I guess) is that Two and a Half Men beat Heroes fairly easily. The Charlie Sheen show got 16.1 viewers, with Heroes getting 14.8 (24 was close, with 14.4). And yes, for you 18 to 49 demographic fans, Heroes won in that race.

That number for CSI: Miami is what I keep thinking about though. My God, almost 19 million for that show? I'm not just saying this because I'm a fan of Studio 60, I'd still say it if it was on Tuesdays at 8 or Saturdays at 9. It just depresses me that this show (and all the CSIs, actually) do that well in the ratings. It must make the network execs scream "hey, we should do more of those shows!"