The TV IV Blog

The writers strike looks to continue until at the earliest February possibly longer and starting the first week of January its affects will really start to be evident. That week the networks begin to roll out their new reality heavy schedules. More shows will be out of new episodes then have episodes left as can be seen on the strike effects page. The late night hosts will also begin returning that week Leno, Conan and Kimmel have already committed to returning without writers on January 2nd and Letterman is negotiating with the WGA for a possible interim contract for his production company to allow him and Ferguson back on the air with writers. The public should at least become more aware of the strike and its key issues with the late night hosts talking it up and aplogizing for being so unfunny. The networks have also scheduled the last of their originals and all but a small handful of series that premiered in the fall will be done by the end of January.

As for the next two weeks they’re just an extra barren version of the normally pretty barren final two weeks of the year. There’s only ten new scripted episodes airing on the five English broadcast networks this week half of which aired on Monday, three air Tuesday and two on Wednesday. Then there isn’t another new episode of anything airing for almost two full weeks until January 2nd. Three out of the ten are burn-offs of essentially cancelled shows (Cane and two episodes of Journeyman) and only one is a top twenty show (CSI: Miami). The other six shows airing new episodes this week are: Notes from the Underbelly, October Road, The Unit, Boston Legal and Gossip Girl. The past several years networks have premiered some shows in late November/early December and ran them straight through other shows’ holiday breaks but this year they’ve saved those series for later due to the strike.

This Week

Not a lot of premieres this week since it’s so close to the holidays. ABC and NBC are both running week long competition programming stunts at 8PM every day. ABC’s program is Duel in which contestants pick their oponents and go head to head in trivia contests narrowing the field down as the week progresses. NBC’s stunt program is Clash of the Choirs in which two amateur choirs are recruited and trained to try make the better choir. On cable the Travel Channel is rolling out several new series throughout the week in an attempt to refocus its brand. The Cartoon Network also premieres a new cartoon for its Friday night primetime block of originals. George of the Jungle premieres at 8PM. It’s obviously based on the classic series of the same name and has already aired in Canada and been pretty well received.

tags: tv schedule, tv news, tv updates, writers strike, wga, abc, nbc, duel, clash of the choirs, travel channel, cartoon network, george of the jungle, lost, eli stone, cashmere mafia, supernanny, wife swap, men in trees, samantha who, dancing with the stars, the bachelor, just for laughs, according to jim, carpoolers, oprah’s big give, quarterlife, scrubs, psych, monk, knight rider 2008, cbs, new adventures of old chritine, welcome to the captain, fox, bones, mtv, the hills, life of ryan, rob & big, spike tv, manswers, food network, rachel ray, 30-minute meals, rachel’s vacations, the n, degrassi: the next generation, about a girl, showtime, secret diary of a call girl

Programming Updates

ABC finally released their midseason schedule with

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Every year late in December most shows stop airing originals but the writers strike is bringing that time on a little faster than usual. It is even coming on a little faster than it seemed like it would from the episode counts we’ve been seeing. It seems the showrunner walkout has really hurt the quality of some of the final episodes shot and the networks are deciding to try and hold off on airing them. There’s usually a decent number of original episodes scattered through the last two weeks of the year on the big four networks, one or two every night, but this year it looks like there might be only five or six total with none during the final week. Again for a full breakdown of the episode counts and final airdates see the strike effects page. Any show that has only one episode left and no set finale date is almost certainly not going to air that episode until either the strike ends, or possibly if it lasts so long the season gets cancelled it will get aired as a special presentation. Next week I’ll go through and list the few new episodes of scripted shows that are actually airing as part of the “This Week” section.

This Week

With the holiday season fast approaching not many new shows are premiering this week (and none next week). The few premieres are almost all reality shows with a couple British exceptions.

On Monday A&E follows up Intervention with the premiere of Paranormal State at 10PM. The series follows a Penn State student society that investigates reported paranormal events. On Tuesday the one major network that is completely outside the WGA’s jurisdiction (BBC America) premieres a new season of a scripted show, Life on Mars. They’re airing the first two episodes of season two starting at 8PM this week and afterwards an encore will air at 8 with a new episode at 9. The time-displaced cop drama was one of the network’s most popular and it almost immediately committed to airing the second season. Then the premiere kept getting pushed back from June to October and then finally to December. Also on Tuesday the We network premieres Twister Sisters at 10PM. It’s a reality show about two storm chasing women (who aren’t real sisters) that run a tornado tour business. There’s actually a broadcast premiere on Wednesday when The CW tries to push the Top Model audience onto their new reality competion, Crowned: The Mother of all Pageants where mother-daughter teams compete in a beauty pagaent style contest. The We network also premieres another new show on Wednesday, Party Mamas, where moms attempt to put on the most extravegant party possible for their young children. The only other premiere this week is the Extras series finale special on Sunday at 9PM on HBO. Unlike the phantom Deadwood movies this special actually materialized and looks to be worth the wait. The special should get an Emmy or two considering that Gervais already won a surprise Best Actor award for the series and his last series finale special also won an Emmy. It seems like as much of a sure thing as you can get.

tags: tv news, tv updates, tv scheduling, tv iv, wga strike effects, a&e, paranormal state, bbc america, life on mars, we network, twister sisters, the cw, crowned, mother of all pageants, party mamas, extras, hbo, ricky gervais, cbs, big brother, the captain, new adventures of old christine, jericho, survivor, power of 10, nbc, deal or no deal, medium, baby borrowers, saturday night live, don’t forget the lyrics, mynetworktv, fox reality, paradise hotel, parking wars, bravo, make me a supermodel, millionaire matchmaker, top design, shear genius, comedy central, reno 911, comedy central presents

Programming Updates

CBS laid out their January/February strike fallout schedule leaving

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The strike has started to cause some major fallout to the TV schedule. More and more shows are running out of new episodes and the networks are starting to alter their long term plans more and more. For an up-to-date look at where the networks stand in terms of new episodes see the strike effects page. The talks between the AMPTP and the WGA are continuing but very slowly with a lot of rhetoric from both sides.

This Week

There are a number of premieres and returns this week and several specials and special episodes as well. First up on Monday TNT is airing the two-hour The Closer holiday special at 8PM followed by the winter premiere of Saving Grace. Saving Grace has four episodes of its first season left to air this winter. Also on Monday A&E starts airing new episodes of Intervention at 9PM. Tuesday sees CBS’s annual Victoria Secret Fashion Show and this year it includes the Spice Girls first reunion performance. Oxygen is bringing back both its premiere reality programs starting at 10PM. First up is The Bad Girls Club back from its road trip followed by The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. Only one show premieres Wednesday but it airs four new episodes. Tyler Perry’s House of Payne returns to TBS with four new episodes airing every week from 8 to 10PM. The episode at 9PM is the Christmas episode with a return guest appearance by Perry himself as his hugely popular Madea character. There are a couple broadcast special events on Thursday both at 10PM (well 10:01 and 10:02 due to ad stuffing on earlier shows). NBC is airing ER’s 300th episode (not a typo the show has been on that long) aptly called “300 Patients“. ABC is airing the annual Barbara Walters special on the 10 Most Facisinating People of 2007. On Friday CBS is showing a special on Rock and Roll and Movies called Movies Rock. Can we say strike filler? USA is airing holiday themed special episodes of Monk and Psych. Several series premiere on Sunday and ABC is airing a movie that name checks not one but two people in the title: Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Alboms’ For One More Day. They should have got a big shot producer to make it so they could call it Oprah Winfrey Presents: Big Name Producer’s Production of Mitch Albom’s For One More Day and set some sort of record. At 10PM E! is premiering a new season of their popular reality show about Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, The Girls Next Door, and a new show, Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood, which is pretty self explanitory. The We network is premiering the second season of two shows Rich Bride, Poor Bride at 8PM and Hair Trauma at 10PM. The History Channel is also premiering 1968 with Tom Brokaw at 9PM examining that climactic year through interviews and archival footage. That’s it for premieres this week the next few weeks see less new series but a lot more holiday specials before we start to see all the reality show premieres the networks have to settle for because of the strike.

tags: tv programming, tv schedule, tv iv, tv news, tv updates, tnt, the closer, saving grace, a&e, intervention, cbs, victoria secret fashion show, oxygen, oh!, bad girls club, janice dickinson modeling agency, tbs, tyler perry, house of payne, nbc, er, abc, barbara walters, 10 most fascinating people, movies rock, usa, monk, psych, oprah winfrey presents, mitch albom, for one more day, e!, girls next door, snoop dogg’s father hood, history channel, 1968 with tom brokaw, we, hair trauma, rich bride poor bride, the cw, one tree hill, nbc, chuck, life, journeyman, savejourneyman.net, save journeyman, lipstick jungle, law & order, law & order: criminal intent, american gladiators 2008, biggest loser, 1 vs, 100, the apprentice, singing bee, commanche moon, in god’s name, bbc america, torchwood, abc family, kyle xy, wildfire, amc, breaking bad, sci fi channel, stargate atlantis, flash gordon, guinea pig, hbo, the wire, def comedy jam, real time, bill maher, in treatment

Programming Updates

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