ABC Upfront: Fall 2009

[tvcrazed]

you just beat me, now they just have Thurs 9/24 at 10p

[Pavan]

Eastwick promo premieres tonight during The Bachelorette finale. We also get promos for Modern Family, Cougar Town, and FlashForward.

[Pavan]

2009-10 NBA Schedule on ABC

15 exclusive regular season broadcasts as well as nine NBA Playoff games and the entire NBA Finals. Should the NBA Conference Semi-Finals conclude in six games or less, ABC will air Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday, May 16, 2010.


Regular Season
Schedule Subject to Change; All Times Eastern

Date
Time (ET) Teams

Fri., Dec. 25
2:30 p.m. Boston at Orlando
5 p.m. Cleveland at L.A. Lakers

Sun., Jan. 31
1 p.m. Denver at San Antonio
3:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Boston

Sun., Feb. 7 (Super Bowl Sunday)
2:30 p.m. Orlando at Boston

Sun., Feb. 21
1 p.m. Cleveland at Orlando
3:30 p.m. Boston at Denver

Sun., Feb. 28
1 p.m. Phoenix at San Antonio
3:30 p.m. Denver at L.A. Lakers

Sun., March 7
2:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Orlando

Sun., March 14
3:30 p.m. Boston at Cleveland

Sun., April 4
1 p.m. Cleveland at Boston
3:30 p.m. San Antonio at L.A. Lakers

Sun., April 11
1 p.m. Orlando at Cleveland
3:30 p.m. Portland at L.A. Lakers



ABC highlights:

· 15 exclusive broadcasts;
· flexible schedule allowing for the best possible matchups throughout the season;
· blockbuster Christmas Day doubleheader – Boston at Orlando and Cleveland at the L.A. Lakers with coverage beginning with GMC NBA Countdown at 2 p.m.;
· five NBA Sunday doubleheaders;
· six appearances by the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, five appearances by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic and multiple appearances by the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs;
· Finals rematch between the L.A. Lakers and Orlando Sunday, March 7, at 2:30 p.m.;
· Eastern and Western Conference Finals rematches – Cleveland vs. Orlando (twice – Sunday, Feb. 21, at 1 p.m.; Sunday, April 11, at 1 p.m.) and Denver vs. L.A. Lakers (Sunday, Feb. 28, at 3:30 p.m.);
· elite showdowns between Boston and Cleveland (twice – Sunday, March 14, at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 4, at 1 p.m.), the L.A. Lakers vs. San Antonio (Sunday, April 4, at 3:30 p.m.) and a 2008 Finals rematch between Boston and L.A. Lakers Sunday, Jan. 31, at 3:30 p.m.;
· GMC NBA Countdown will preview all games 30 minutes prior to broadcast start times.

[Zedman2]

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...tting-crowded/

Make-Believe ABC House Is Getting Crowded
By Stuart Elliott

New spots promoting ABC’s new comedies pretend that the network’s stars all live together.
An imaginative campaign from ABC to promote its series for the 2009-10 season is being expanded.

The campaign, which began in May, is centered on the fanciful notion that the stars of all the shows broadcast by ABC live together in a house as one big happy family. Think of it as sort of a marketing spin on “Big Brother.” (Video below.)

The commercials that have appeared so far have been general in nature, featuring ABC stars like Sally Field (“Brothers and Sisters”), Teri Hatcher (“Desperate Housewives”), Matthew Fox (“Lost”) and the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. New spots that are to begin running on Saturday, which will be available in longer versions next week on abc.com, will promote four new sitcoms that are to make their debuts on Wednesdays in the fall.

The new Wednesday series touted in the commercials are “Hank,” starring Kelsey Grammer; “The Middle,” starring Patricia Heaton; “Modern Family,” with an ensemble cast that includes Ed O’Neill; and “Cougartown,” with Courteney Cox. They are to appear from 8 to 10 on Wednesday nights.



Josh Holloway and Courteney Cox in one of ABC’s new ads.The vignettes in the commercials include Calista Flockhart of “Brothers and Sisters” welcoming Mr. Grammer to the ABC house and showing him to his room. He offers her a tip; she tells him she is not a maid. Also, Josh Holloway of “Lost” and Ms. Cox exchange ripostes at a barbecue. And some of the newcomers are pressed into doing laundry for the casts of established ABC series like “Dancing With the Stars” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“We started with the people who are very familiar faces,” said Marla Provencio, co-executive vice president for marketing at ABC with Mike Benson. Now the idea is to use the premise of the ABC house to “introduce our new Wednesday comedy line-up,” she added.

“The great thing about the ABC house campaign is that it has such great legs,” Ms. Provencio said.

For instance, if ABC is to broadcast a special show like the American Music Awards, she added, the celebrities who are nominees could appear in commercials as if they had been invited to the ABC house “for a special dinner” or “television night.”

The campaign is being created internally at the marketing department at ABC, part of the Walt Disney Company, with Becky Daugherty, vice president for specials and late night, and her staff members. Vince Manze, a former NBC marketing executive who is a consultant to ABC, is also helping develop the campaign.

The new spots are below.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...tting-crowded/

[Pavan]

The first spot will air today during the ABC Afternoon Movie at 4pm. The Middle and Hank promos begin tonight during the ABC Saturday Night Movie at 8pm!

[Pavan]

ABC ANNOUNCES THE PREMIERE OF THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED

NEW SERIES “V” ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3


ABC announces the premiere of the highly anticipated new series “V,” on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT). “V” is a re-imagining of the 1980s miniseries about the world’s first encounter with an alien race. Simultaneously appearing over every major city in the world, the Visitors (or V's) promote a message of peace. Through their generous offer to share advanced technology, the V's build a following that may actually hide a more malevolent agenda, one that twists a very deep component of human nature -- devotion.

While the world quickly becomes fascinated with the V’s and their link to wonders just beyond the reach of human understanding, FBI Counter Terrorist Agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) discovers a secret hidden beneath the skin of every V – a secret that may threaten the lives of everyone close to her. Yet for her teenage son, Tyler (Logan Huffman), the V’s are his ticket to something big and hopeful—a new chance for mankind to unite in common goals. To Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), a career-hungry news anchor, his exclusive interview with Anna (Morena Baccarin), the leader of the V’s, is crucial to his dominating the airwaves. Also unsure about the Visitors is Father Jack (Joel Gretsch), a priest questioning his faith in the wake of the Visitors’ arrival. Seeking answers outside the church, Father Jack discovers there are other dissidents who believe the Visitors are not who they say they are, including Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), who is faced with his own life-altering decision when the V’s show up. Never has there been more at stake -- it truly is the dawning of a new day.

“V” also stars Lourdes Benedicto as Ryan's fiancée, Valerie, and Laura Vandervoort as Lisa, an alluring Visitor who sets her sights on Tyler.

“V” is produced by The Scott Peters Company and HDFilms in association with Warner Bros. Television. Scott Peters (“The 4400,” “The Outer Limits”), Jeffrey Bell (“Day Break,” “Alias”), Steve Pearlman (“Reunion,” “Related”) and Jace Hall (“F.E.A.R,” “Condemned: Criminal Origins” video games) are executive producers. The pilot was directed by Yves Simoneau (“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” “The 4400”).

[Zedman2]

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=8248

ABC AT TCA: MCPHERSON ON ABDUL, HEIGL AND MORE
By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- "Absolutely," ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson said when asked if he'd welcome former "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul to his network's reality franchise "Dancing With the Stars." "I would love to have it. I was a little stunned by the decision, and we would love to have her on "Dancing" and whether it's as a contestant or participant of some sort, judge, et cetera. I think she's a huge talent. I think that there's a lot made about her in terms of who she is, and I think there's a sensitivity and there's kind of an emotion to her that balancing out "Idol." And we'd love to get a piece of that. It would be great."

McPherson was the last of the network chiefs to take the stage at the TCA summer press tour on Saturday. The relatively low-key half-hour saw the executive address the obvious hot button issues of the day - Abdul, Jay Leno and Ben Silverman - as well as Katherine Heigl's less than positive comments about her "Grey's Anatomy" experience.

"I mean, I think it's unfortunate," said about the actress. "It's not something I think you want to let consume you or your people because it is what it is. People are going to behave in the way they choose to behave. You know, I think there are so many people who work unbelievably hard on "Grey's" and all of our shows and go without any notoriety or credit for it. And I just think it's really hard for them to hear it the most. Those are the people I would be the most concerned about, not the public really, but the people who are really busting their tail every day and feeling like they're either being looked down upon or criticized, etc." When asked to speculate about the context of her comments, he added: "I don't know. I'm not going to begin to try to explain someone else's behavior. As I say, it's just unfortunate."

As for Abdul, McPherson noted that he's already reached out to her: "We're friends from way back, so I gave her a call, first and foremost, just to say I was sorry about the situation and also that we'd love to see her on ABC."

Turning to the competition, McPherson says he doesn't "really have a big reaction" to Silverman's exit from NBC. "I think NBC's in transition right now. I think we're all anxious to see what happens with "Leno" and that big primetime move. And then, I haven't had a chance to see a lot of their new development, so I don't have a real competitive sense in terms of that. We all want a vibrant network system. And so, as competitive as we are, Nina [Tassler] and Kevin [Reilly] and I, we want to be great competitors and we want the broadcast business to be really vibrant, so I hope they can get it back there."

As for Leno taking over the 10:00/9:00c hour specifically, he only offered up that "I think they're just two very different strategies. NBC seems to be kind of doing their own thing, and the other networks seem to be kind of following the tradition of trying to put on great material."

Other highlights are as follows:

On the return of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire": "Michael Davies called me, actually, from the set end of last week. And the way the show works, you don't always know what moments you're going to get over the run of it, and we're incredibly excited that he feels we literally have the best million-dollar-moment question that we've had for the entire run of the season -- of the series, including the old show on broadcast."

On pulling the plug on various critical darlings this past season: "I think it's one of the biggest challenges that people in my position face, is, like, how patient can you be? And really, that becomes a question of how much information do you have about the show? Is it being rejected? Is it slowly building? Is it stable at that level? And then, you do, at some point, have to look at how is it affecting the rest of your schedule? How does it affect the overall network? We want to try to be as patient as we can. We feel like, with some pretty ambitious shows, "Pushing Daisies" and stuff, the strike really derailed us, and then we came back and had them on for a little while there. And it's hard. When you have a show that you love and you feel like creatively it's wonderful, there's nothing harder than seeing it not get traction on the air. Canceling shows is the worst part of my job."

On what's happening with "Scrubs" next season: "It's going to be "Scrubs." Somebody mentioned something about a change in title, but we're not changing the title. I think it's going to be different in the sense of the kind of construct of what is going on in terms of hospital versus teaching, et cetera, but you're going to see the same character dynamics that you've seen before. And I think it really is allowing Bill to introduce some new characters and spend some more time with them, some people that were in the show already and that he was excited about, and some new people as well. But you're going to have some of the core. Obviously, Zach's going to be there for a limited period of time. We'll try to convince him as much as we can to get him to do more. But it's going to be the same tonal show, same kind of comedy, same kind of storytelling that you're used to."

On his expectations for "FlashForward": "Well, I mean, we would love to have even a part of the success that "Lost" has had, but they weren't developed in that way. As I think David mentioned, that was a spec script that they had done originally, I think, for HBO, and it became available. And Suzanne Patmore, who was running our drama department at that point at the network, knew about it and had been tracking it and was friends with Jessica, and we were just thrilled to read it. So it wasn't like there was any kind of development of, hey, let's try to make a "Lost" kind of -- the next "Lost" or something. It was really just about great material. And then I think there are similarities in terms of the epic kind of nature of it, the inciting incident, etc. But they're very different shows. I think when you see them unfold, they'll be very different."

On the changes to "Grey's Anatomy" this year: "Well, Katherine is back. I don't think there's any big secret about that. And obviously, T.R. [Knight] has left. But I think, you know, it's a show that's evolving. I think these large ensemble casts, they evolve over time for a variety of reasons: some of them creative, some of them business, some of them just personality issues. But this one really -- we feel like Shonda really hit her stride again at the end of last year. And the early stuff we've seen this year, we're really excited about. We made some additions to the cast last year, and I think you're going to see some more additions this year. I don't foresee any giant other changes that are going on. Ellen [Pompeo] is going to have a baby, which we're all really excited about. So that will probably take her out for a couple episodes, but that really is the big goings-on right now."

On if they'll pick up "Romantically Challenged": "We're really excited about that. Ricky's [Blitt] been someone we've been dying to be in business with. And Alyssa [Milano] as well, is, I just think, fabulous. We, at the eleventh hour, were able to cast Kyle [Bornheimer], who is just phenomenal. So we'll look at that for midseason. Not sure where that would be. Obviously, going with all of our other comedies either on Wednesday or with "Scrubs" and "Better Off Ted." So we'll see where that transpires."

On the decision to pull "Ugly Betty" from Thursday nights last season: "[It] was never canceled at all. We just took it off of Thursday so that we could spell in with "Samantha" and "Motherhood." So that was -- and we have great plans for "Ugly." We think it's terrific. It's staying in New York another year. We'll see where the tax situation goes after that. But I think America and that whole cast and crew is doing some of their best work. If you watched the season last year, creatively it was incredibly strong. So that's the first part."

On how "Private Practice" ended last season: "You know, it's interesting. I think the end of last year of "Private Practice" is really a good lesson for an executive because when I first heard the story with Amy [Brenneman], I was like, "Wow." I was frightened by it. And the response to it, while it has been, you know, polarizing, it really has gained kind of an excitement about the show and her character and the potential for where we could go. I think the fact that it's at 10:00, it can go a little bit edgier. I think we can tell those kind of stories. And I think we want it to be a different show than "Grey's," and we want to grow it. So for me, it was really a lesson to trust great showrunners. Shonda had an idea for it and felt like it would work, and she really executed it. So my hat's off to her."

On the decision to air "Better Off Ted" this summer: "You know, summer was tough in general. We felt like where we wanted to go creatively with the show, we really wanted to get that start. And we've tabled a couple episodes and feel like we're in really good shape there. So I don't know. Hindsight is 20/20. We would have definitely liked a better performance, but I do think we're going to put on really good shows in the fall or, you know, after the "Dancing" run. And I think that's going to speak -- that's going to be what is going to determine whether the show works or not."

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by Pavan

Not allowed to do full reviews yet, but I've seen the following Fall 2009 ABC pilots:

Modern Family - As mentioned saw this pilot at upfront and it is perfectly done! Hilarious!!
Flash Forward - Saw the first act (12 min. or so) at upfront...and from what I've seen SO far, this is action-packed and cannot wait to see the full pilot! Lost-like!
The Middle - This is very funny! Not as good as Modern Family, but the family dynamic is so there. The little kid is amazing!
Cougar Town - Wow, very fun. Lots of risque type moments here, not nearly as much though as the early reports indicated. It's all good! Meow!
Eastwick - This REALLY surprised me. I went into this pilot not expecting much, but I liked it. It is well done and has a good mystery, it doesn't take itself seriously. Good cheesy fun. I liked the movie and this pilot is similar to it. This would do so well after DH. I hope ABC previews it after DH the first week.

Still need to see Hank and The Forgotten (and the full pilot for Flash Forward!).

Finally saw the full pilot of FlashForward and the original pilot for Hank. Here are my thoughts:

FlashForward - WOW!!! It gets better and better as it goes on! If you don't know what the "What did you see?" or "Mosaic" or even the 2 minutes & 17 seconds blackout means, you will after watching the pilot! Cannot wait to see this show!
Hank - This was the original pilot with the original kids. Not sure if the reshot pilot will have anything different besides the recasting of the kids...but this pilot was OK. It had some funny moments but it also had some rather dull and generic moments. Hope this gets better.

Still need to see The Forgotten and V pilots...stay tuned for thoughts!

[DSfan]

Really looking forward to Flash Forward (wow, that was a non-intended pun lol).

Also, really liking Millionaire on again although I don't like the new time limit thing that they took from the syndication episodes. I thought they would use the original rules.

Shark Tank last night was very interesting and good. Can't wait for next week! One thought, they seem to be making those big decisions awfully fast, is that the editing of the show or is that what really happened? Anyone know?

[yankeesrj12]

Originally Posted by DSfan

Really looking forward to Flash Forward (wow, that was a non-intended pun lol).

Also, really liking Millionaire on again although I don't like the new time limit thing that they took from the syndication episodes. I thought they would use the original rules.

Shark Tank last night was very interesting and good. Can't wait for next week! One thought, they seem to be making those big decisions awfully fast, is that the editing of the show or is that what really happened? Anyone know?

I like the new time limit. I can't remember where I read it, but they added it because some people would take 15-20 minutes to answer one question. Of course they would edit it out, but who wants to sit there for 20 minutes waiting for someone to answer?

[tvcrazed]

So with 16 cast members, EP Conrad Green said midway through they will have 3 weeks of double elmiinations on DWTS. If those are the only weeks of 2 eliminations, and ABC sticks to their usual pattern of having 3 people in the finals, that leaves the finale for Dec 1st (I assume the last night of sweeps). SURVIVOR and BIGGEST LOSER go in to the 3rd week of December. Project Runway and other hit realtiy shows are at least 13 week cycles. I don't understand why ABC is so reticent to extend this show beyond 11 weeks. One of their biggest hits and they confine it to 22 weeks max a year with 4 month hiatuses in between. It's not like we don't have ample proof that they fall apart without it in December, so all they would have to do is only have one week of double elminations and end the show on December 15th. Does anyone know why they are so insistent on ending early even with such a large cast. I would think it helps them much more to have 2 more weeks of decent ratings than having the finale in Sweeps. CBS doesn't mind Survivor not ending in Sweeps and they have it as an asset through December. IT's off bascially just January. NBC bascially takes TBL off for 2 weeks at the end of December and it now runs the entire season. They extend the January version to go til May. Anyone have any insight why ABC can't extend each version at least 2 weeks?

[Pavan]

Well if they end December 1 this year, that is one more week than normal. Sweeps ends November 25 this year.

[tvcrazed]

I am assuming they are ending December 1st, maybe they will eliminate 2 first week and end Nov 25th, if that is that last day of Sweeps.

But if they are extending it beyond sweeps, all the more reason to go until December 15th. Why don't they?

A lot of people are beating up on ABC for getting record low ratings some weeks this Summer. I give them credit, at least they are trying a lot of different shows that would seem to have potential. The fact that they didn't work is kind of out of their control. They were at least in the ABC brand. I think this has been their best Summer in recent years.

The only things I really don't get is why they didn't rerun WS and Supernanny which each get a 1.0 in reruns (more than a lot of their other shows got).
I really don't undertand how they didn't have a 2 hour WIPEOUT rerun block, when a rerun got a 2.2 on Wednesday a few weeks back. Clearly a rerun followed by an original would have helped their weekly avg.

And I guess I really don't understand why they unlike any other net don't extend their hit reality comp beyond 11 weeks, when this year especially, with 16 contestants, it would lend itself to that. Maybe they will change their mind.

[yankeesrj12]

pavan, you were at the episode of Millionaire that aired on Thursday, correct? I was just wondering, when the contestant asked the audience, did you get the questions right?

[Pavan]

Yes, I was at Night 5. I got 2 of the 3 Ask the Audience questions right.