the class-related stories
Posted May 10th 2008 12:36PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Fox has made the call, and it's a big "see ya later" for Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. But their loss is someone else's gain. The pilot for
the Jason Bateman directed comedy series The Inn has been picked up for a 13-week commitment, while Back to You has been axed. The Brad Garrett-Joely Fisher sitcom,
Til Death, meanwhile, has been given another year.
Bateman, who starred in
Arrested Development -- the Emmy-award winning comedy that the network dumped unceremoniously because of low ratings -- was behind the camera for
The Inn pilot. The show, which is about the haves and have-nots in a fancy, five-star New York City hotel, has a promising cast of funny folks including Niecy Nash (
Reno 911!), Jerry O'Connell (who looks like Jason's twin), and the really hilarious Jesse Tyler Ferguson (remember him on
The Class -- he was so funny!).
Continue reading The Inn is in, but Kelsey & Patty are dumped
Posted Sep 18th 2007 10:41AM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV Royalty, OpEd, Early Looks
In July, I was at a
sitcom writing seminar in which
Sam Simon (who helped develop
The Simpsons)
declared: "the sitcom is dead." Veteran comedy writer
Ken Levine (who hosted that sitcom seminar), however, disagrees. Ken believes the traditional multi-camera sitcom
might be on a respirator, but still has a pulse. Levine said, "I would amend Sam's statement and say that yeah, the bad, stale, family sitcom with tired rhythms, forced laughs, and bogus characters is dead."
I guess if you're trying to revive the dying sitcom, a good way to start is by assembling a top-notch team. And Fox's new Wednesday night comedy,
Back to You, does just that.
Continue reading Back to You -- An early look
Posted Jun 21st 2007 10:30AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming
Well, I posted information on the campaign to keep Traveler on the air, as well as the send-in project to get Katharine McPhee back into the good graces of American Idol next season, so why the hell not post information on a new petition. I mean, its summer . . . what else to I have to do anyway?
Today's campaign is to renew the CBS comedy The Class. According to the campaign's very plain and easy-to-read website most people have been mailing in erasers and/or Moroccan Chicken recipes to CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler and Executive VP of Programming Kelly Kahl. They have also been sending in packs of Skittles because of a line mentioned by one of the characters ('I ate so many Skittles I peed the rainbow').
Continue reading And today's campaign to save a show is for ... The Class
Posted Jun 8th 2007 2:02PM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, The Office (BBC)
Jason Ritter is best known to television audiences for his role as Kevin Girardi in the CBS drama
Joan of Arcadia. His other television credits include
Hack,
Law & Order and
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as a role in the movie
The Dreamer of Oz. Ritter is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He is the son of actors Nancy Morgan and the late John Ritter and the grandson of famed film cowboy Tex Ritter.
1. Where were you born?
Los Angeles, California.
2. How many siblings do you have?
Three. Carly, Tyler, and Stella.
4. Do you have any pets?
I had a lot growing up! My apartment doesn't allow pets. I want a dog though! I love dogs. Thelma and Louise were our two dogs growing up. We also over the years had a bunch of cats. First we had Pippi, who my sister named (The Pippi Longstocking movie had just come out), and Pippi had two kittens, that my brother and I each got to name. I named mine "Fluffy," because I'm sooo creative, and my brother named his "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Ghostbuster," who was also known to the rest of us as "patches."
Continue reading 20 questions with Jason Ritter
Posted Feb 12th 2007 5:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight
At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and What About Brian. - FOX has a new, two hour 24.
- CBS has new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, The Class, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, and CSI: Miami.
- NBC has a new Deal or No Deal at 8, then new episodes of Heroes and Studio 60.
- There's a new Everybody Hates Chris on the CW at 8, then new eps of All Of Us, Girlfriends, and The Game.
- PBS has a new Antiques Roadshow at 8, followed by a new American Experience.
- Four good Friends episodes on TBS starting at 8, with Tom Selleck and that creepy guy Eddie who moved in with Chandler for a short time.
- Lifetime has two new eps of Gay, Straight, or Taken at 8, then the new movie Nora Roberts' Blue Smoke. What's with all the Nora Roberts movies on Lifetime lately?
- ABC Family has a new Wildfire at 8.
- Emeril is cooking for couples on a new Emeril Live at 8 on Food Network.
- USA has the opening night of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. It's on at 8 too.
- At 9, Nickelodeon has a Growing Pains marathon.
- TCM has Barefoot in the Park at 9.
- At 10, Discovery has two new eps of Stunt Junkies.
- Also at 10: HBO has a new REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
Check your local listings for more.
Posted Jan 8th 2007 5:11PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and What About Brian. - CBS has a new How I Met Your Mother, followed by new episodes of The Class, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami.
- NBC has a new Deal or No Deal, then two repeats of Heroes.
- FOX has the Tostitos BCS National Championship college football game at 8.
- There's a repeat Everybody Hates Chris on The CW at 8, followed by repeats of All Of Us, Girlfriends, and The Game.
- Lifetime has two new eps of Gay, Straight, or Taken at 8.
- ABC Family has two new eps of Wildfire starting at 8, then the debut of Lincoln Heights.
- TCM has West Side Story at 8.
- Also at 8: G4 has a new X-Play.
- At 9, Food Network has a new "Breakfast Foods" episode of Unwrapped.
- Kellie Martin stars in a new Mystery Woman movie, Wild West Mystery. It's on Hallmark at 9.
- Sci-Fi has a Star Trek: Enterprise marathon tonight.
Posted Nov 28th 2006 1:06PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, OpEd
Digital Spy has a
quick article about Kevin Bright, one of the executive producers of
Friends. Right now, he's not working in TV, and has decided to teach a course about directing sitcoms. Why? Because, according to Bright, the current state of sitcoms on US television is pretty lame.
"We're in a bad place," Bright said. "Since
Will and Grace I haven't seen one original idea on network TV."
(Update: here's a link to the original Boston Globe article this quote came from. Looks like he doesn't absolve himself from blame here -- remember Joey? Thanks to Katie S. for pointing this out.)Mind you, this includes
The Class, which is being produced by David Crane, one of Bright's partners on
Friends. I wonder if Mr. Crane gave Bright a call when word of this got back to him. Anyway, I think Bright is being too harsh; yes, there are not a lot of sitcoms out there right now, but most of the ones that
are on are pretty fresh and funny (at least until
According to Jim comes back from hiatus). Even
The Class started with a pretty unique premise, even if it's taking time for it to figure out how to juggle all its characters (last night's episode was the first that did a good job of it). It's not like Bright should be bitter;
Friends made him a nice pot of "F you" money.
Posted Nov 16th 2006 12:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, OpEd, The Class, Pickups and Renewals
Despite mediocre ratings and equally mediocre reviews (
including mine), CBS has been happy enough with
The Class to order more episodes of the "half-hour comic-sudser," as
Variety so adroitly called it.
But the show is not getting the entire "back nine" just yet. According to that
Variety article, CBS is hoping the mid-season show
Rules of Engagement, starring David Spade and Patrick Warburton, will work well in the Monday comedy block where
The Class currently resides.
Another article,
on USAToday.com, says that newer episodes of the show will concentrate on fewer characers.
Continue reading CBS orders more episodes of The Class
Posted Oct 17th 2006 1:51PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Ratings
Well, this is very good news.
Heroes, the surprise NBC hit (and I say "surprise" not based on quality - it's very good - just based on how most networks succeed with sci-fi, especially on Monday nights), beat
CSI: Miami last night in the all-important 18-49 demographic.
CSI: Miami was a close second.
I'm not a fan of the
CSI shows - any of them - so I'm really happy about this. And it's not like Heroes is a sub-par show. Somehow, NBC is doing a comic book show right on the money. It feels and looks like a comic book, but also has characters and situations that are a lot deeper than you usually see in a show like this. Each plot is kicking along on all cylinders; there are no dead spots on the show, though I'd like to see more of Greg Grunberg.
Deal Or No Deal did really well,
Studio 60 so-so again, and the CBS comedies were strong as well.
Posted Oct 2nd 2006 5:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by the premiere of The Bachelor: Rome.- CBS has new episodes of The Class, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami, starting at 8.
- NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, followed by new eps of Heroes and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
- FOX has a new Prison Break at 8, then a new Vanished.
- There's a new 7th Heaven on The CW at 8, followed by a new Runaway.
- Food Network has a new Emeril Live ("Home Ec 101") at 8, followed by a new Unwrapped, focusing on "Shakes."
- At 9, USA has a new Monday Night RAW.
- IFC has The Tao of Steve at 9.
- At 10, Food Network has a new The Secret Life Of..., about quick and easy meals.
- Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
- Also at 10: Spike has something called UFC Octagon Girl Search. I have no idea what that is.
Posted Sep 30th 2006 6:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
At 8, ABC has college football, Ohio State at Iowa.- CBS has two repeats of The Class at 8, followed by a repeat of Jericho and a new 48 Hours.
- NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 8, followed by a repeat Law and Order: SVU.
- There's a new Cops on FOX at 8, followed by a repeat, then a new America's Most Wanted.
- CNN has Rumsfeld: Man of War at 8.
- Also at 8: Cartoon Network has a new Naruto, followed by new episodes of Zatch Bell, and Bobobo-Bo Bobo.
- At 9, TLC has two new eps of Flip That House, followed by a new Trading Spaces.
- At 10, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.
- HBO has George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing at 10.
- NBC has the season premiere of Saturday Night Live at 11:30, with Dane Cook and The Killers.
Posted Sep 25th 2006 4:59PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
At 8, CBS has a new The Class, followed by new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami. - FOX has a new Prison Break at 8, followed by a new Vanished.
- ABC has a new Wife Swap at 8.
- There's a new Deal Or No Deal on NBC at 8, followed by the series premiere of Heroes and a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
- The CW has the season premiere of 7th Heaven at 8, followed by the series premiere of Runaway.
- CNBC has a new Conversations With Michael Eisner at 8, featuring SNL-ers Martin Short, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Tracey Morgan, and Lorne Michaels.
- At 9, Lifetime has the new movie My Silent Partner.
- USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9.
- Food Network has a new The Secret Life Of..., focusing on movie snacks.
Posted Sep 18th 2006 8:36PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, Programming, OpEd, The Class
(S01E01) I'm not going to put a full review of
The Class's pilot
here, since I did one last week in an
"early look" post. But I'll just tell you one thing: hold on. Like I said in the early review, the pilot is underwhelming, mainly because trying to establish relationships between eight unrelated characters in the span of 22 minutes is next to impossible. But based on the second and thrid episodes, these relationships will get stronger (and they won't try to intermix all eight people for now; individual storylines will develop, which you can see happening in the pilot); I genuinely laughed out loud a number of times during the second and third episodes, which is the hallmark of a comedy I'll stick with.
Anwyay, if you want more info on the show, look at the early review. Full reviews will return starting with episode two.
Posted Sep 18th 2006 1:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Site Announcements
Every fall, I look at the TV schedule in front of me, and I think that between new shows and returning shows, I'll never have enough time to watch everything. But when push comes to shove, there are shows that, no matter how good I think the pilot was or how good they look on paper, I'll just never, ever watch them. So, after the jump, you'll see the TV-watching schedule I'm going to try to keep this fall. It still has gaps, because there are places where there isn't anything that's compelling enough for me to make an appointment to watch; maybe something will catch my eye there, or maybe I'll just watch my
Seinfeld DVDs. Not sure.
By the way, I'm not including late-night shows. Let's just say I'll be watching
The Daily Show,
The Colbert Report, Letterman, and Craig or Conan (whoever's funnier), and
SNL if they get their shit together. Oh, and when
Scrubs comes back, that show will be slotted into the schedule, wherever NBC decides to put it.
Continue reading Joel's Fall TV Schedule
Posted Sep 12th 2006 11:32AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, Programming, OpEd, The Class
When I previewed rough-cut pilot of
The Class (premieres Monday, Sept. 18 at 8 PM ET)
back in June, I had my doubts about whether the loose association of the characters in the show would be able to withstand the rigors of a long-term series. The finished pilot didn't change my mind. But CBS was nice enough to include the second episode on the same screener as the pilot, and I'll tell you this: the show has potential. It seems an especially good companion for
How I Met Your Mother, which it will preceed on Mondays, since both cater to the same late-20s crowd. But
The Class does so without the cutsiness that can sometimes seep into
HIMYM.
Continue reading The Class - an early look
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