Upfronts

Upfronts: Veronica Lives!! FOX, Not So Much

May 19, 2006 by Jim Connelly

I know, I know — we’ve all been reading for a few weeks now that the low-rated but critically-loved Veronica Mars was going to make the cut at the CW, but I wanted to wait until it was officially announced.

I’m so happy that I promise not to make fun of their name for at least a few months. Though I think, given all of the narrowly targeted shows that they offer — the aforementioned Veronica Mars, Smallville, Supernatural, 7th Heaven — their name stands for “Cultshow Watching.” OK, now I won’t make fun of their name.

It will be interesting to see where they go. More towards the WB than UPN, I should think. By the late 1990s, the WB pretty much took over the mantle from FOX as the network that would try just about anything. Yet anybody who actually watched their shows could see that there was much more going on than pretty white teenagers who happened to be aliens and/or superheroes.

Upfronts: CBS? More Like CBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

May 18, 2006 by Jim Connelly

The original plan for this week’s look at the upfronts was to single out a single interesting thing that each network was doing with one of its more interesting shows.

That plan worked out fine for NBC, who are pinning their hopes on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and ABC, who have responded to rerun-crazed Losties by putting the kibosh on repeats.

But when I got to CBS, I realized that from where I sit, they really don’t have any interesting shows.

Upfronts: I Was Lost And Now I Am Found

May 17, 2006 by Jim Connelly

ABC, who once was blind, now can see.

ABC has announced that Lost, a show that is either (take your pick):

intricately plotted by insidious masterminds
completely cobbled together by panic-stricken monkeys
both

will air next season with no repeats, the plethora of which this season has taken some of the wind from its sails.

Good! Of course, FOX has been doing this with 24 for a couple of seasons now. However, unlike 24 — which derives at least part of its adrenaline rush from the fact that the airing of its episodes is as relentless as the beep-boop! beep-boop! beep-boop! beep-boop! that powers it — next season of Lost will air in two disparate chunks.

Some people see that as a problem. I don’t.