pick up-related stories
Posted Sep 1st 2009 3:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men
This should come as no surprise to even the most casual of TV Squad readers.
Mad Men has been picked up for a fourth season, assuring that Matthew Weiner's engrossing and demanding tale of Don Draper and the people at Sterling Cooper will be played out for at least another year.
When a show like
Mad Men comes along, not unlike
The Sopranos in quality and pop culture appeal, the question usually isn't whether the network will stand behind it for the duration, but whether or not the creative team envisions a long run.
Continue reading Mad Men renewed for fourth season
Posted Aug 4th 2009 8:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, OpEd, Law and Order, Pickups and Renewals, Ratings, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
Things are really cooking at the USA Network. Not only has the new show
Royal Pains been renewed for a second season, but
Burn Notice is also coming back for a fourth.
Law and Order: Criminal Intent is on the verge of being re-upped, and now
In Plain Sight has just gotten a pick-up for Season Three.
Wow! Talk about a winning formula. This part of the Universal family, as opposed to NBC, seems to have figured out how to make dramas work and work well.
Continue reading USA signs up for more In Plain Sight
Posted Jun 10th 2009 11:09AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Mere hours after the series premiered on the cable net,
Showtime has renewed Nurse Jackie for a second season. Why so fast, you might wonder? Well, Showtime could point to the biggest premiere since 2004, but because it was on pay cable the total number of viewers is less than two million. Those are the kind of numbers that would get it canceled on USA or TNT, not to mention ABC or CBS, but for Showtime it's excellent.
Excellent is also what a majority of TV critics and bloggers -- including
Jane -- had to say about the Edie Falco dark comedy. Some were more effusive than others, but for all intents and purposes, the press was pro-Jackie from the get-go. But not everyone loved the show.
Nurses complained loudly about the depiction of their profession.
Continue reading That was fast! Showtime gives Nurse Jackie second season pickup
Posted May 5th 2009 3:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Upfronts, Reality-Free
If this doesn't put a nail in the coffin of the
Seinfeld curse (does anyone still buy into that?), then nothing will. If CBS decides not to give
The New Adventures of Old Christine a fifth season pickup -- and right now they're not committing either way -- ABC is going to add Julia Louis-Dreyfus and company to its roster.
This was rumored a few weeks ago, but now it's confirmed.
ABC has sealed the deal to give Christine 22 episodes in a back up guarantee with Warner Brothers TV .
This isn't the first time ABC has offered to be
Christine's home. It made a similar offer last season, then CBS decided they did want Julia's sitcom after all. Apparently ABC's head man Steve McPherson is a big fan of the show.
Continue reading Old Christine is in a win-win situation for renewal
Posted May 3rd 2009 2:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Chuck, Reality-Free
To me, this should be a no-brainer. NBC should renew
Chuck for a third season, even if it only commits to 12 episodes, it should bring the show back. However, I'm not one of the geniuses in
Jeff Zucker's world; you know, those mental giants that have committed five hours of prime time to Jay Leno starting next fall and recently signed up for more
Donald Trump celebrity/reality BS. No, I'm just a loyal
Chuck viewer who has seen a show improve from week to week culminating with a superb final two episodes in 2009.
Well, there were rumors that on Monday at NBC's "infront" -- a preview for the "upfront" -- that
Chuck would get a pick up.
TV Guide says that's not the case. On Friday,
Chuck star Zachary Levi told a reporter that Josh Schwartz, the
Chuck exec producer, had emailed him that
NBC's decision about Chuck was on hold. The pick up, if it comes, won't be for a couple of weeks.
Continue reading Renewal for Chuck? Not just yet...
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 1:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
How happy is
Chuck Lorre this morning? I'd say on a scale of one-to-ten, he's an eleven. According to reports,
CBS wants more of its Chuck Lorre sitcoms. In particular, they're talking three years more of
Two and a Half Men and at least two for
The Big Bang Theory.
While other shows sweat out the word of renewal or cancellation, Mr. Lorre seems to be CBS's prime time player they count on the most. Okay, second-most.
Jerry Bruckheimer is numero uno with the
CSI franchises,
Without A Trace, Cold Case, Eleventh Hour and
The Amazing Race.
Continue reading CBS sticking with Men and Big Bang
Posted Oct 18th 2008 3:32PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reality-Free
Let's hear it for Fox TV! No, you don't need to check my meds. I'm seriously giving a shout-out to Fox for their latest move. Despite so-so ratings, Fox has
renewed Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for the remainder of the 2008-9 season. This says that Fox understands that shows -- especially the sci-fi genre -- need time to develop and grow an audience.
The greatest sci-fi success of all time,
Star Trek, struggled for three years on NBC in the 1960s where the network was very frustrated with the show because it wasn't a ratings smash. Imagine, if you will, how much NBC might have made if they had stuck with
ST and mined the cult success that exploded into a cultural phenomenon?
Continue reading Fox saves Sarah...Connor, that is
Posted Dec 12th 2006 9:15PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable, Saturday Night Live, Daytime, Animation, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals
There are a lot of
SNLers that go on to their own sitcoms. Others go on to star in movies. Still others end up
playing guest roles on various shows. But how many current or former cast members of the venerable sketch show have created a cartoon series?
That's one of the reasons why I like Amy Poehler, besides the fact that she's one of the funniest people on the planet these days (I base that statement on her work doing
ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theatre in New York, not her
SNL stuff): she's willing to try projects that other comedic actors would never think of. As a good example of that, she's created a cartoon called
Mighty B, where she will play the voice of Bessie, who
TV Week describes as "the word's most ambitious 10-year-old Honeybee scout." Nickelodeon has picked up the cartoon and will air 20 episodes. It's part of a push to create new episodes of its animated series, including veteran ones like
SpongeBob SquarePants.
Given Poehler's penchant for selecting odd character roles and her ability to do some great funny voices, this should fit right into Nick's surreal but kid-friendly slate of cartoons.
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