TVSquad

Everybody wants Donal Logue. Just one month after NBC added him to the cast of NBC's Life, as Charlie's new boss, now comes news that HBO has booked Donal Logue as a biker in 1%. The new pilot casts Donal as a character named Misfit, a Silicon Valley member who's sent to Carefree, Arizona, to get one of the toughest biker clubs in the west in line. Also joining Logue in the show are W. Earl Brown (Deadwood), Timm Sharp (Undeclared), Lucy Punch (hilarious in The Class as Holly Ellenbogen), Marisa Ryan (New York Undercover) and Sonny Barger. Barger is an actual biker and has been enlisted to no doubt add realism to the project.

Who knew that putting a niche-y comedy up against American Idol, then sandwiching it between two aging and unfunny shows, was a bad strategy? Just about everyone, including me. But that didn't stop ABC from putting The Knights of Prosperity at 8:30 on Wednesdays, between According to Jim and George Lopez. The strategy was designed to give the show a bit of a safety net, taking it away from the 9 PM airing of Idol, but the ratings remained anemic, sinking like a rock when Idol started airing at 8.

So, ABC did the inevitable and pulled the show from the schedule, starting this week, replacing it with reruns of Jim and Lopez. No word on whether the pulled episodes (the announcement linked above lists three) will be rescheduled. But given the fact that the show only averaged just over five million viewers, it doesn't seem likely the show will return any time soon.

[thanks to Trevor for the tip]

Why oh why do networks do stupid things?

Anyone who's seen The Knights of Prosperity (and judging by the ratings, there's not many of us) knows that it's of the quirky single-camera style that would have fit perfectly on NBC's Thursday lineup. It's a comedy that is often very funny, but from time to time -- last night's episode being an example -- will throw in a complete clunker. But I'm already starting to care about the characters in the "gang," and some of the situations they get themselves in have been very funny. It's a show that has potential, and needs some time to find its creative stride.

So, what does ABC do with the show? It puts it at 8:30 on Wednesdays, sandwiched between two aging and by-the-numbers sitcoms, George Lopez and According to Jim.

Oh, those wacky people in the ABC marketing department. First they decide to promote their hit Ugly Betty by launching a "Be Ugly '07" campaign. Now they've decided to promote their new comedy The Knights of Prosperity by "recruiting" people to join the Knights. This "recruitment" effort will be done via a viral campaign aimed at pre- and post-Christmas shoppers.

The press release from ABC (after the jump) pretty much explains the whole scheme, including wallet drops at shopping malls with Knights "membership cards" in them, "rock star receipts" given to random shoppers at Virgin Megastores and other places, and opportunities to grab cash in a Knights-sponsored money booth. This is all to promote the premiere of Knights on January 3 at 9 PM.

Of course, they could just promote the show by saying it's the funniest new pilot this season. But I guess the truth doesn't always help... just ask the producers of The Nine.

When Anna reported on CBS's schedule changes yesterday, she also mentioned that ABC is pushing back the premiere of the highly-anticipated comedy The Knights of Prosperity from its planned premiere on Oct. 17. Now, according to ABC, the show might not appear until mid-season, perhaps as late as January.

So the show must be having problems, right? Wrong, at least not according to the network. ABC thinks the show is so good that they want to promote it outside the craziness of this crowded fall season. "You really need to focus, you need to spend money and you need to surround the audience with these openings," ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson told the Los Angeles Times.

Every television season has its trend. After The Cosby Show premiered in 1984 the trend was toward family sitcoms. In the late 90's and the early 21st Century reality shows and nighttime game shows dominated the schedule. Last year, the trend was towards science-fiction and supernatural shows like Surface, Invasion, Threshold and, well, Supernatural.

This year is no exception as the very prominent trend is leaning towards the serial drama or comedy. Now, before you get all defensive I know that the serial has been around since the dawn of television, particularly in the daytime soap operas and previous shows such as Dallas, Dynasty, and Melrose Place. And, I also know that shows like Surface, Invasion, and Threshold, as well as the late-lamented Heist could all be considered serials. But, this year seems different because it looks like a good number of these shows could actually last the whole season and beyond.

This is a bad thing. Would you like to find out why? Then, jump ahead, my doubting friend.