TVSquad

She's an experienced host, an Oscar-winner, a Broadway star. But is Whoopi Goldberg hosting the 62nd Tony Awards the answer for the struggling annual broadcast? The Tony Awards, which honors the best in Broadway theater is considered one of the four major entertainment awards, along with the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. But the Tonys have been losing viewership year after year despite the stars lured onto the broadcast. After having no single host the past two years, CBS has tapped Whoopi to be the emcee for the June 15 live broadcast from Radio City Music Hall in hopes that she'll make a difference in the Nielsens. The last single host was Hugh Jackman in 2005.

While this is Whoopi's first turn as Tony host, she is well regarded for her four stints as Oscar hostess. At the most recent Oscars, when Whoopi was left out of the host-highlight clip package of years gone by, she was ticked off and talked about it the morning after on The View. Perhaps doing the Tonys will be her way of sticking to the Oscars?

Before Viva Laughlin (one of the worst shows to premiere on television in the past five years) debuted, no one would have believed a show like Cop Rock ever existed. Cops and crooks suddenly breaking into song and/or dance about robberies, shootings, drug deals, and murder? Sure, why not!

It came from Steven Bochco and ran on ABC in 1990. Check out the video after the jump. It's the classic scene you saw on Hill Street Blues all the time, the cops getting their morning rundown on what's going on. Then the captain suddenly starts singing "Let's Be Careful Out There." There's a cameo by another Bochco star at the end. I'm still wondering why the cops don't look at the guy singing and say "um, shouldn't we call the police psychologist?"

Well, that was fast. After an avalanche of scathing reviews (including mine) and extremely low ratings, CBS has canceled the musical mystery drama Viva Laughlin after two episodes. According to the story on Variety's web site, the show will be replaced in its Sunday 8 PM timeslot by The Amazing Race starting November 4 (a CSI rerun will air in that slot next week). No word yet on if the remaining episodes will be shown on CBS' web site, or anywhere else for that matter.

I imagine what happened is that CBS took a look at the low ratings for the show's Thursday premiere (8.8 million viewers) and the even lower ratings for the first regular Sunday showing (a 1.2 rating and 3 share in th 18-49 demo, according to Variety), saw that the quality of the remaining episodes were not going to improve, and decided to bail out. Those are the two factors that usually lead to such quick cancellations, especially to shows that were as heavily-promoted as Laughlin was.

In the world of TV, one of the riskiest things a creative team can do is shoot for the "quirky" factor. It's an all-or-nothing deal: either it works, where everything clicks and the audience embraces the show, or nothing works, and the show explodes in a big awful mess over the poor suckers who decided to tune in and watch. At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, we have two shows who went for the quirk: Pushing Daisies and Viva Laughlin. And as it turns out, one show works and the other show is a disaster. Considering Daisies is one of the most praised new shows of the season, we all know where we're going with this.

It was back to school after the Jericho presentation with a look at CBS Interactive/CBS Audience Network Presentation and Q&A.

Remember what I said about how attending the cable and PBS portion of TCA is like taking all those science and humanity classes during your first two years of college -- and the network portion of TCA is like all the fun courses in your major?

Well, today, CBS threw us a few calculus lessons.

CBS probably has one of the more interesting schedules of the fall, just for the fact that they are making a concerted effort to try something different. They could have rolled out yet another procedural (CSI: LA?), and who could really blame them. Those shows have performed extremely well for the network over the past few years.

Instead, in what is a definite gamble, the network will be bringing out some decidedly alternative programming. There is a musical drama about the casino business in Laughlin, a vampire detective, a drama about a Cuban family and their rum making business, and some swinging couples getting their freak on in the 70's. The kind of fare that would probably cause Horatio to tilt his head to the side and remove his sunglasses. Will it work? Time will tell, but we've seen three of them and have a rundown after the jump.

CBS is on a good run, being the most watched network for the last five years, but they have taken a bit of heat for the formulaic way they have gone about doing it. Not arguing with success, the whole family of CSIs, and their crime based cousins, will be back, but the network is trying to branch out with some edgier programming. Most notably, Swingtown, Viva Laughlin, and Moonlight.

Returning: The Amazing Race, Cold Case, 60 Minutes, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, CSI: Miami, NCIS, The Unit, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY, Survivor, CSI, Shark, Without A Trace, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, 48 Hours Mystery.

New: Viva Laughlin, Swingtown, Moonlight, Cane, Big Bang Theory, Power of 10, Kid Nation

Out: King of Queens, Jericho, The Class, Close To Home

Moving: Without A Trace moves back to Thursday at 10. Shark heads to Sunday at 10.

We're in the middle of pilot season right now, and of the approximately 9000 different shows all fighting to be part of this fall's network schedule (as long as they aren't put up against American Idol), a handful have shown promise, some even more than was expected. Here's the buzz:

Dirty Sexy Money is at the top of the list. The ABC drama stars Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, and William Baldwin and is about a lawyer who defends rich New Yorkers. It also has a title that catches your attention. Marlowe, the new modern take on the Raymond Chandler hero on ABC, is getting better than expected reviews. Other shows that look like winners: FOX's Action News, with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, ABC's Football Wives, and an untitled CBS drama starring Jimmy Smits.

Viva Laughlin, a musical produced by Hugh Jackman and based on the British series Blackpool, is also getting good early buzz, but I don't know. A weekly musical drama? Hmmm...

It's that time of the year. People are being cast in pilots left and right and some interesting stuff has been announced. At ABC, Christopher Titus (Titus) has landed one of the lead roles in an untitled project from Warner Bros. The show focuses on CEOs and also stars Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and Michael Vartan (Alias). McDermott and Vartan as CEOs is an easy sell. But Christopher Titus, Senior VP Harvard graduate? That's different, and something I look forward to checking out.

Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) is set to star in ABC's Suspect. The show is a procedural that will solve crimes by tracking suspects through a lineup. She's joined by Eric Palladino (ER) and Kathleen Munroe (Beautiful People). The ABC track record for procedurals is less than impressive, but the addition of Guy Ritchie (Snatch) as director is intriguing enough to give this one a look.

I mentioned the other day that Harold Perrineau had joined the CBS pilot Demons. They've now cast the main character, Gus, and the winner is Ron Eldard. If you were paying attention, you might have seen him in the short-lived Men Behaving Badly or Blind Justice. Otherwise, think of him as the paramedic with issues that was dating Carol early in the ER run. It's not the best piece of casting I've ever seen. Eldard has never proven that he can be the dramatic lead for a show, but stranger things have happened.

Meanwhile, over at CBS, Hugh Jackman (Wolverine!) is producing something called Viva Laughlin. Lloyd Owen (Miss Potter) will star as a family man trying to open a casino in Laughlin, NV. Word is that Jackman will appear in the pilot and may have a recurring role on the series. Given just that bit of knowledge, I'm intrigued by the possibilities.

Felicity co-creator Matt Reeves has a high concept series in development for ABC. (That's poor Matt on the right, sitting behind Felicity's more famous half J.J. Abrams.) Called Ordinary Joe, Reeves' new series follows the story of a man, who at 21 had to decide whether to go after the girl he always wanted, choose the girl who always wanted him or remain single. The show picks up 12 years later and flashbacks to the three different versions of his life that would have been depending on what choice he made. Each episode intertwines the series of events that follows the three different life choices - connecting them via theme.

It's a little Sliding Doors, a little Run Lola Run. All of my favorite themes are there -- fate, regret, choices, connection, what's unchanging about a person and what's not. Ever since 24's success, networks have been looking for high concept shows like this. Hugh Jackman has a Rashomon-like project in the works. There are a slew of part-scripted, part-documentary Borat-y projects in the works, too. What will float, and what will sink? We'll have to wait and see. Let's just hope the lead in Ordinary Joe gets a haircut in each version of his life so we can tell the difference.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this. Plenty of established film stars have opened their own production companies. Jackman recently opened his, Seed Productions. According to Variety, Seed has been tapped by CBS to take the reigns of a new drama that sounds oddly similar to Lost.

Voyages will focus on the passengers of a... wait for it... cruise ship. As it stands right now, CBS has only made a commitment for a script, but we'll see if it makes it past that stage. Max Makowski (doesn't seem like he has too many credits...) will write the pilot and direct it should CBS decide to go that route.

I like the idea of this, but can the Lost formula really work in this setting? The Nine has sort of tried that this season and it's failing miserably. I suppose every new production company is allowed a blunder or two in the beginning. Hopefully it works out for Jackman though. I'd hate for my Hollywood legacy to only be a guy with big claws and sideburns.

According to Variety, CBS has struck a deal with Hugh Jackman and John Palermo to produce a pilot for an American version of the British miniseries Viva Blackpool. BBC fans will remember that Viva Blackpool was a musical extension to a previous series that was simply called Blackpool; it revolves around a small-potatoes casino owner, Ripley Holden, who tries to open a huge Vegas resort. Among the mysteries, murders, and sex, the musical version also used production numbers to punctuate the action.

If you're thinking Cop Rock, though, think again; Viva Blackpool won a Peabody Award and got a Golden Globe nomination. Anyway, Jackman will appear in the pilot episode, but no other casting has been announced.