CBS Fall 2010

I admit it: I’m old. Practically ancient. I bring up this painful-yet-undeniable fact not to torture myself, but instead to create context for you as I make the following statement: not much surprises me anymore. Nope, not much at all. I’ve seen a lot over my many years… ten presidents… five popes… and even two Darrins.

So you can probably imagine how I felt earlier this week when CBS actually SURPRISED me with its fall lineup. CBS doesn’t often surprise. It’s familiar, reliable and comfortable… kind of like any McDonald’s up-and-down the eastern seaboard at which you’ve ever eaten.

But during year’s upfront presentations, CBS surprised me… in a big way… with its bold and aggressive scheduling moves. CBS smells blood in the pool of water known as broadcast primetime, and it’s attacking shark-like on pretty much every night of the week. The highlight of this bold strategy: the move of CBS’s hottest series The Big Bang Theory from CBS’s traditional cradle of comedy (Mondays) to Thursdays-at-8… a time slot not populated by a CBS comedy since the early ‘80s (you DO remember Checking In, the spin-off of The Jeffersons, don’t you?).

MONDAY

8:00 How I Met Your Mother

8:30 Rules of Engagement

9:00 Two and a Half Men

9:30 Mike and Molly (comedy - couple meets at Overeaters Anonymous)

10:00 Hawaii Five-O (remake of classic crime series)

TUESDAY

8:00 NCIS

9:00 NCIS: LA

10:00 The Good Wife

WEDNESDAY

8:00 Survivor

9:00 Criminal Minds

10:00 The Defenders (comedic "buddy" detectives)

THURSDAY

8:00 The Big Bang Theory

8:30 $*!# My Dad Says (William Shatner sitcom)

9:00 CSI

10:00 The Mentalist

FRIDAY

8:00 Medium

9:00 CSI: NY

10:00 Blue Bloods (Tom Selleck crime show)

SATURDAY

8:00 Drama repeats

10:00 48 Hours

SUNDAY

7:00 60 Minutes

8:00 The Amazing Race

9:00 Undercover Boss

10:00 CSI: Miami

Not returning for another season are Cold Case, Numbers, The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Ghost Whisperer, and Gary Unmarried.

ABC Fall 2010

ABC has just concluded its annual Upfront presentation, and here's what it'll be offering this Fall:

MONDAY

8:00 Dancing with the Stars

10:00 Castle

TUESDAY

8:00 No Ordinary Family (a family acquires super powers)

9:00 Dancing with the Stars Results

10:00 Detroit 187 (crime drama w/ The Soprano's Michael Imperioli)

WEDNESDAY

8:00 The Middle

8:30 Better Together (comedy about several couples within one family)

9:00 Modern Family

9:30 Cougar Town

10:00 The Whole Truth (legal drama)

THURSDAY

8:00 My Generation (drama – group of high-school grads, 10 years later)

9:00 Grey’s Anatomy

10:00 Private Practice

FRIDAY

8:00 Secret Millionaire (real-life millionaires “help the less-fortunate)

9:00 Body of Proof (Dana Delany procedural)

10:00 20/20

SATURDAY

8:00 College Football

SUNDAY

7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos

8:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

9:00 Desperate Housewives

10:00 Brothers and Sisters

The new Matthew Perry comedy Mr. Sunshine is being held for mid-season, and V is scheduled to return in November.

With CBS's cancellation earlier today of The New Adventures of Old Christine, there's been a great deal of speculation that Christine would be moving to ABC. As of late this afternoon, that possibility is looking unlikely. There's still a chance, however, that another CBS castoff (as of this morning, that is), The Ghost Whisperer, may land on ABC.

Not returning to the alphabet network are FlashForward and Ugly Betty.

NBC Fall 2010

Here's an early look at NBC's Fall 2010 prime-time schedule (due to be officially released tomorrow at NBC's upfront presentation). New shows are in blue:

MONDAY

8:00 Chuck

9:00 The Event

10:00 Chase

TUESDAY

8:00 The Biggest Loser

10:00 Parenthood

WEDNESDAY

8:00 Undercovers

9:00 Law & Order: SVU

10:00 Law & Order: Los Angeles

THURSDAY

8:00 Community

8:30 30 Rock

9:00 The Office

9:30 Outsourced

10:00 Love Bites

FRIDAY

8:00 Who Do You Think You Are? / School Pride

9:00 Dateline

10:00 Outlaw

SATURDAY

8:00 drama repeats

SUNDAY (Fall)

7:00 Football Night in America

8:00 Sunday Night Football

SUNDAY (midseason)

7:00 Dateline

8:00 Minute to Win It

9:00 Celebrity Apprentice

Parks and Recreation is being held for midseason, along with three new comedies (including Paul Reiser's semi-autobiographical, Curb-Your-Enthusiasm-ish The Paul Reiser Show).

Say goodbye to Law & Order, Heroes, Mercy, and Trauma.

Long Time No See

Yes, I’m still alive. I know that it’s been a while since I was last in this space, and for those of you who’ve missed me, well... bless you. For those of you who didn’t even realize that I was gone, well… thanks for nothing.

It’s not as if anything has been happening in my world that would keep me away from this space. I really have no excuses. That is, unless you count…

• that I moved
• that I was hospitalized
• that I got married. Yes, married

And if you DON’T count any of those things (c’mon – not even the “married” one?), then I apologize to you for my lack of credible excuses. Imagine, if you can, a vision of me hanging my head in shame.

As for the world of television, being that it’s May it’s almost time for the annual network upfront presentations… at which each network unveils its fall schedules. As always, preceding the actual upfronts are several series of swirling rumors about the fates of current and new series.

Today’s rumors include:

• CBS is enjoying such a strong comedy-development year that it may pull the plug on several of its current comedies, including The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, and Gary Unmarried, in order to replace them with new entries.

• ABC is once again in negotiations to pick-up Old Christine, should CBS end up cancelling it. ABC supposedly would like to slot the series in its current CBS times slot (Wednesdays at 8:00), which would give ABC a fairly-decent lead-in for its recently-renewed (and new TV Boy favorite) The Middle.

• ABC is also in discussion to pick up CBS’s The Ghost Whisperer, should CBS decide not to bring it back in the fall. Ghost is actually a co-production of CBS and ABC Studios, and so it would make sense for ABC to want to continue production on the series.

• NBC may try to establish a second night of half-hour comedies, to complement its Thursday night lineup

• CBS is planning to permanently move The Big Bang Theory into the Monday-at-9 slot, regardless of the outcome of the negations with Charlie Sheen.

In addition, there are rumors coming out The CW’s camp; however, I’ll refrain from discussing them here. Why, you may ask? Well, quite frankly, no one cares anymore about The CW.

Hey, any network that features vampires that can exist during the day doesn't deserve attention anyway...