TVSquad

If you've been watching NBC's Olympic coverage, you must have seen all of the promotion they have been doing for their fall season. New shows My Own Worst Enemy, Crusoe, Knight Rider, Kath & Kim, and America's Toughest Jobs have all had plenty of play. As have the returning Chuck and Life. Given that the latest Olympiad is closing in on becoming the most watched television event of all time, you might think those promo spots were pretty valuable.

Apparently, not so much. The Hollywood Reporter runs down the record for the network promoting new shows during past games. In 2004, the Athens games led to one show, Joey, making it beyond its first season. Likewise for the Sydney games in 2000, which brought us Ed, and nothing else. Things were a little better in 1996 from Atlanta. Profiler, The Pretender, and Suddenly Susan all lasted another four years. Not a stellar track record and it leaves you thinking that those precious spots might have served the network better pitching more beer. It has the makings of a good poll though. After the jump, place your vote for the one new show that will make it out of season one.

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.

Imagine a house with three single men in their thirties taking care of one of three little girls. Now imagine all of them speaking Russian. That's the scenario taking place on Russian TV, where old American sitcoms like Full House are being remade into new Russian-language versions. Other sitcoms that are being remade, according to this article, are Suddenly Susan, Step by Step, and Perfect Strangers (yes, Perfect Strangers. Balki is now Andrei, and he comes from a remote former Soviet Republic to move into the Moscow flat of his cousin Ivan).

If you think, though, that a local Moscow-based producer bought the rights to these series, think again. The remakes are being produced by Warner Brothers, the original U.S. producer of each show. Either WB is hurting for money or they really think foreign markets are about to explode. What's next? A Chinese version of Urkel?

[Thanks to Reb and Dinges for the tips.]