As the top-rated network, NBC doesn't have to change much, just shore up a Thursday-night lineup that will have a big hole in 2003 after ''Friends'' wraps its ninth and final season. Already, ''Just Shoot Me'' will move to Tuesdays and the sophomore comedy ''Scrubs'' will go to the Thursday 8:30 slot, apparently ready to take over for Rachel and Joey et al after next year. Newcomer ''Miami'' will take ''Just Shoot Me'''s Thursday 9:30 slot. Otherwise, NBC's lineup remains largely intact, even giving a renewed life to some heartwarmers with borderline ratings. ''I was surprised that both 'Ed' and 'Providence' were renewed. I thought one of those would go,'' Tucker says.
The WB may be at the other end of the ratings spectrum, but with ''Friends'' a lame-duck show, the netlet senses an opening and plans to challenge NBC on its once-invincible Thursday turf. It's airing what Tucker calls ''real heartland programming'': a remake of '60s sitcom ''Family Affair,'' with ''Brady Bunch Movie'' dad Gary Cole as Uncle Bill and Tim Curry as Mr. French, opposite ''Friends'' at 8. At 8:30 is ''Do Over,'' a comedy about a man who gets the chance to time-travel back to high school and change his life, which is produced, in a nice karmic twist, by former NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield. The WB is also bracketing the Friday night family hit ''Reba'' with similar new comedies: ''What I Like About You,'' about a New York publicist (''90210'' alum Jennie Garth) and her teenage sister (Nickelodeon's Amanda Bynes), and ''Greetings from Tucson,'' about a Latino family. Dramas include ''Everwood'' (Treat Williams plays a widower raising two kids in a small town), which will be a companion piece to Monday's aging ''7th Heaven. '' (To make room for this new show, ''Angel'' will move to Sundays). Then there's ''Birds of Prey,'' a ''Charmed''/''Dark Angel''/''Alias''-type show, based on the DC Comics ''Batman'' spinoff about three babelicious superheroines.
In the coming days, similarly family-friendly slates are expected from CBS and ABC, which is announcing a late-night change -- the demise of Bill Maher's ''Politically Incorrect.'' (It will be replaced by a talk show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, from Comedy Central's ''Man Show.'') ''All the networks are going to be pretty conservative this fall,'' says Tucker. ''They'll save the more controversial stuff until midseason.'' And even those shows won't be too controversial. The WB has a possible midseason replacement called ''The O'Keefes,'' about a family that shelters its kids from the corrosiveness of popular culture by home-schooling them. NBC's midseason series include slightly edgier fare: the return of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' ''Watching Ellie'' (albeit without its real-time gimmick), and three new shows. There's ''Mister Sterling,'' from ''West Wing'' writer Lawrence O'Donnell, about a young Congressman (Josh Brolin); ''It's Not About Me,'' a comedy about a lawyer (Jason Bateman) who chucks his high-powered job to go into teaching; and one potentially risky show, a violent, ''Sopranos''-like drama called ''Kingpin,'' about a family of drug-runners. See, even the edgiest shows are family-oriented.
You Might Also Like
- TV Review American Dreams | Ken Tucker
- All About American Dreams
- Television Commentary Network shows with weak ratings may get cut | Lynette Rice
- Television News How NBC's shows fared this season
- TV Preview Get the scoop on ''American Dreams'' in fall 2004 | Ken Tucker
- Breakouts Brittany Snow is one of 2002's breakout stars | Caroline Kepnes
