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 a few surprises. Notably that Lost will be taking over Grey’s Anatomy’s Thursday timeslot beginning January 31st. This makes sense since Grey’s repeats do much worse than CSI repeats and American Idol airs on Wednesday. New drama Eli Stone about a lawyer that thinks he’s a prophet will air after Lost. New series Cashmere Mafia will air after the final new Grey’s on January 3rd and then move to Wednesdays at 10PM where it will air after the new seasons of Wife Swap and Supernanny which start January 2nd. Cashmere Mafia will run until February 27th when Men in Trees will come back from hiatus to air the rest of it’s remaining episodes. On Mondays the previously announced Dance War will start January 7th and run 90 minute versions through January. In February Samantha Who? will return with the last of its new episodes. Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor both return on March 17th like usual. On January 1st summer hidden camera series Just for Laughs returns and will air two episodes each week at 8PM. According to Jim also returns at 9PM and the following week Carpoolers returns to air it’s final episodes at 9:30PM. Boston Legal still has five episodes so it will continue to air at 10. The Dancing results show will air on Tuesday as usual starting March 25th. Friday will look like Saturday and just be drama repeats and 20/20 until the strike ends. Sundays will remain the same until March 2nd when Oprah’s Big Give will take over Desperate Housewives timeslot giving ABC a two hour block of sappy feel good reality shows.

The other networks continued to tweak their schedules. NBC scheduled MySpace aquisition quarterlife for Mondays at 9PM beginning February 18th. NBC picking that show up is rather ironic since the reason it was picked up from the internet is because of the writers strike and the reason the writers are striking is over compensation for work produced for the internet where the studios claim there is no money. NBC also annouced that Scrubs will air its final four episodes at 8:30 on Thursdays from January 17th. They’ll also air the current seasons of Psych and Monk on Sundays in March. NBC is going to show their new Knight Rider TV movie/pilot on Sunday, February 17th. CBS pushed the premieres of their two Monday sitcoms (New Adventures of Old Christine and Welcome to the Captain) to February 4th due to the State of the Union Address. Lastly FOX is holding back the last few new episodes of Bones until February 22nd to try and help New Amsterdam get more viewers.

On cable several series schedulings and pick-ups were announced this week. MTV announced the extension of The Hills’ current season for eight episodes to air in the spring. They’ll chronicle Lauren’s trip to Paris. MTV also scheduled two shows for January, Life of Ryan and Rob & Big, both premiering on the 8th. Two completely unrelated renewals: Spike TV ordered another season of late night trivia show Manswers and Food Network re-signed Rachel Ray for another two years of daytime series 30-Minute Meals and a new primetime series Rachel’s Vacations. The N moves to a dedicated channel on December 31st and then Degrassi: The Next Generation and About a Girl premiere on the new channel January 18th at 8PM. Showtime picked up US air rights for the first two seasons of British series Secret Diary of a Call Girl. A good fit for the network I’d say can’t imagine that show airing on any other network. It will premiere this summer.

General Info. 

Sorry I was a bit late this week got busy with work yesterday and couldn’t find time to write. This will be the last post this year as I’m going on vacation. I should be able to post January 7th but I might be too busy and I might be late on the 14th as I’m taking another trip that weekend.

As always all schedule information can be found on our handy grid pages including upcoming programming: Current Broadcast Network Grid, Current Cable Network Grid (with a list of upcoming programs) and Upcoming Broadcast Network Grids: Through February, From March On.

The show’s airing new episodes each day of the week can be found on each day’s respective calendar pages: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.