saturday nights-related stories
Posted Oct 4th 2009 11:15AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
If you had the return of
Ugly Betty in your datebook -- or PDA -- for Friday, October 9, it's time for an update. ABC has
moved the season premiere of Ugly Betty to October 16. It'll be a double shot of
Betty, two-hours instead of just one. After the premiere,
Ugly Betty will fall into its regular slot of Friday at 9 p.m. Unfortunately, a double dose of
Ugly Betty won't be enough to pump up the ratings. ABC isn't doing
Betty any favor by plunking it on Friday nights when there are less people watching TV. Sure, there are lower expectations, but what does it say about the network's faith in the show? Why not just put it on Saturday when even less viewers tune in? (What happened to programming for Saturday night anyway? Once upon a time, great shows actually thrived on Saturdays!)
Continue reading Ugly Betty season premiere moved up
Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:27PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
Oh, fans of this show are going to be
ticked.
CBS is
moving their new murder-mystery series Harper's Island to Saturday nights. Guess the ratings just weren't what the network wanted, so starting next week the show will air on the night of reruns and movies. But don't worry that this is a sign that the show will vanish from the schedule altogether. This was created as a limited-run series and CBS says they'll show all of the episodes, just on another night (though I wouldn't bet on a second season).
I know what these networks are doing. It's all part of their master plan to make Saturday nights a "must-see" night of television again, an attempt to recapture of the glory years of shows like
The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
The Carol Burnett Show, and
The Bob Newhart Show. Someday all of the best show will be on Saturday nights and we'll be home in our Slankets watching them.
Posted Apr 7th 2009 3:35PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Programming, Reality-Free, Kings
There are two ways to get rid of a show. The network could just cancel it outright and never show it again, or they could take the show and burn off the remaining episodes on Saturday night, once a night of must-see TV but now a night filled with reruns, movies, and shows like
Cops. Some would say that the latter is the worst of the fates, since you know it's going to be canceled but it's still on the air as a tease.
Guess which NBC did with Kings?
Yup, the network has taken
the show off of Sunday nights and will air the remaining eight episodes on Saturday nights at 8PM. The ratings kept falling and falling, with last week's episode getting the lowest ratings yet. NBC just sees no reason to leave it on Sunday nights. To fill the hour,
Celebrity Apprentice will expand to three hours.
Just kidding. They're expanding
Dateline to two hours. Is that better?
Posted Dec 28th 2008 10:02AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
So
Leno decided to stay at NBC and grab the 10pm slot every night. FOX didn't get him but they seem to be happy with Spike Feresten, so much that they're giving him an earlier time slot.
Talk Show with Spike Feresten has been a staple of FOX's Saturday night schedule for the past couple of years. It doesn't get the numbers of a Leno or a Letterman or even a Kimmel but the ex-
Seinfeld/
Late Show with David Letterman writer has his fans. And a lot of those fans are at FOX. The network is
moving the show from midnight to 11pm for six weeks on January 17 to see how he does (
Mad TV has been canceled). Could this be the first step in giving Feresten his own talk show Monday through Friday?
Continue reading FOX has faith in Spike Feresten
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