“Reba” Cancelled?

[Superbowl]

I posted this in the Reba thread, but I thought it was interesting enough to let everyone here know about this. Very interesting news, because everyone assumed Reba was a lock for renewal.

TV Notebook
“Reba” cancelled?

EXCLUSIVE: Moonves Manhandles "Reba"
By Nikki Finke LA Weekly

So CBS thinks Reba McIntire is good enough to host the Academy of Country Music Awards live on May 23rd. (It's her 8th time.)

But CBS' Les Moonves doesn't think the 51-year-old actress-singer's show Reba is good enough for his new CW netlet -- even though it's the highest-rated sitcom on the WB.

I'm told the show's producer, Fox Studios, was shocked to hear the CW doesn't want the sitcom. That's because, last year, Reba was picked up by the WB for two years.

When news broke about the WB/UPN merging to form CW, Reba's executive producers informed the cast and crew that Moonves had sent word that he expected the new netlet would honor that deal. So the series' shooting ended on March 14th with everyone expecting to be back in the fall.

But I'm told that, in mid-April, the CW execs told Fox they wanted out of the deal -- the reason being that the show doesn't attract "the desired demographic" the new network wants tuning in. (Translation: no to Country-Western yahoos.)

Fox said no way, and that is where things now stand.

It's my understanding that, because of the old pick-up deal, it could cost the CW lotsa loot to make the show go away. Some believe this might just be a negotiation ploy to lower the license fee and other costs.

But I seriously doubt it. Officially, the show is not canceled yet. But the cast is devastated, and the crew have been told to grab any other work that's offered.

I've also learned from some Reba insiders that the show's season finale, which airs this Friday, was originally scripted and shot as a cliffhanger. But they tell me it's been re-edited to reflect Moonves's kiss-off, so it may be the series' finale.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/205/

[friendsfan77]

If this is true, then I personally think Les Moonves is on crack... Reba is the WB's highest rated sitcom... werent they supposed to be combining the networks' best series to merge into the new one?

[Raisingdad2004]

Grandpa Moonves strikes again. I am starting to agree with Howard Stern!

Seriously, this guy is on crack if he thinks that The CW is going to get anything like the CBS demographic.

The so called merger is a joke, he runs it - and he's gonna run it into the ground.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/dead...viewers/13276/

[Superbowl]

Here is a NY Times Article that sort of follows up on what they are saying about looking for a certain demographic profile :

May 2, 2006
Not WB Nor UPN
By BILL CARTER
Only two months after announcing the start-up of the CW network — the result of a merger in January of two struggling part-time networks, WB and UPN — executives from CBS and Warner Brothers met with the marketing department of their new entity, expecting to make a radical change.

"We walked into that meeting ready to throw out the name CW," said Barry Meyer, the chairman of Warner Brothers. "We'd gotten so much grief from everybody. What does it mean? What is it?"

Good question. Some people thought CW might stand for "the country western network," said Leslie Moonves, the chairman of the CBS Corporation, who along with Mr. Meyer will oversee the new network. Other people suggested it might be "the conventional wisdom network."

Mr. Moonves explained that the CW name had been thrown together hurriedly because of the rushed nature of the merger last winter. The C came from CBS and the W from Warner Brothers. "And we certainly weren't going to call it the WC network," Mr. Moonves said.

Name aside, the prime purpose for establishing what both Mr. Meyer and Mr. Moonves hope will be a fifth major broadcast network is to ensure that the production studios each company owns, Warner Brothers Television and CBS/Paramount Television, will have a distribution outlet to make long-term assets out of the studios' programs.

One crucial decision that sealed the merger was an agreement that whenever a studio owned by the network's parents gets a show onto CW, the other studio will gain a 50 percent share in it.

But making the network credible to its prime audience of teenagers and young adults is critical to its success, the two executives said, and to do so CW will need to put on the best programs available in the marketplace, not merely ones owned by the parent companies.

So outside studios, including Touchstone — owned, like ABC, by the Walt Disney Company — and NBC Universal Television, also have pilot projects at CW.

Mr. Moonves emphasized that as a new network, CW wants to add at least a few new shows, if only to signal that it has something of its own to offer.

"At CBS scheduling meetings, I always say: Don't fall in love with the new girl, don't get carried away," Mr. Moonves said. "With the CW, I might say: It's O.K. to fall in love with the new girl, instead of the old wife."

The new network has seven pilots under consideration, four from studios not owned by one of the network's two parent companies.

Dawn Ostroff, the president of entertainment and chief programmer, said some of the promising shows included "Aquaman," a drama holdover from WB, and a comedy from Paramount, "She Said, He Said," starring Jessica Simpson's estranged husband, the gossip magazine superstar Nick Lachey.

From other studios, the network is looking at a reality show about forming a new all-girl singing group and a comedy from NBC Universal, "Aliens in America," about a Muslim exchange student moving in with a Wisconsin family.

The latter show reflects one strategic goal of the new network: trying to match its programming with the diversity of its intended audience. Ms. Ostroff said research the network had seen underscored how extremely diverse the 18-to-34-year-old television audience is.

"Thirty-five percent are minorities," she said. "And it's a big audience. There are 72 million Americans from the age of 25 down. That's the biggest group since the Baby Boomers."

For all the effort to carve out a new identity, however, much of what will be introduced this month on the first CW schedule is expected to be quite familiar to both advertisers and viewers.

"We could probably build a stand-pat schedule," Mr. Moonves said, noting that there were already enough shows working on WB and UPN to cherry-pick a cross section from each and fill the 13 hours that CW will program in prime time.

CW is not making anything official yet, but among the shows that Mr. Moonves and Ms. Ostroff said would almost surely be included on the new schedule are "America's Next Top Model" and "Everybody Hates Chris" from UPN and "Gilmore Girls" and "Smallville" from WB.

Other probable contenders include "Veronica Mars," and several of the shows from the Monday night UPN comedy lineup of "One on One, " All of Us," "Girlfriends," and "Half and Half" as well as "Supernatural" and "Beauty and the Geek" from WB.

But marrying the two part-time networks will not be as easy as simply picking the most popular shows. For one thing, each network had quite different identities.

Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming for Carat USA, a media buying firm, said that CW faced a serious challenge in making its shows appeal across the broad demographic it hopes to reach.

"The WB was not especially diverse creatively," she said, pointing to the lineup of angst-ridden, virtually all-white teenage-oriented shows that have dominated its programming.

By contrast, UPN grouped a batch of comedies with African-American casts on Mondays, giving it a stronger appeal to black viewers. But it has had more problems than WB in getting high prices for its programs.

WB took in about twice as much money from advertisers during the last upfront sales period. Now the two networks will have their shows mixed together. "We have to find the right flow," Ms. Ostroff said.

Still, there is no dispute over the necessity, from a business perspective, of combining the two struggling networks, analysts said.

"It was absolutely the right decision to merge," said Michael A. Kupinski, a media analyst with A. G. Edwards. Each network was losing money on its own, he pointed out. But mixing the networks, he cautioned, does not necessarily mean the new entity will instantly be more successful than the two were separately.

"One and one does not necessarily equal two in this case," Mr. Kupinski said — or even 1.5, he added.

Mr. Moonves agreed that simply putting the two networks together did not mean that the audiences from each would also merge. Some viewers will simply be set free and could migrate to other networks. Fox, as the other network with the youngest audience profile, could well enjoy some ratings bounce out of the change.

"We're making no predictions" about how CW will do in its first year, Mr. Moonves said. But he came awfully close.

"Day 1, we're going to be profitable at the network," he said. "Day 2, the stations we are on will be much stronger. And Day 3 we're going to have great programs that we'll each co-own. So that's a winner on three different levels."

So what about the name? At the meeting in March, the marketing department offered a list of about 15 potential names.

The selections were aimed at being as hip as possible: the Evo network; the Now network. There was a proposal to call it NXTV (as in "Next TV") or XYTV (for the audience generations being spoken to), or something even more avant-garde: the Angle network.

Then the market research people chimed in. Based only on the attention the announcement of the merged new network had received, the name CW had achieved a national awareness level of a surprising 48 percent, according to their own surveys.

"It took us three years to reach a level like that with the WB," Mr. Meyer said.

So much for Angle or XYTV. When executives from the new network meet this month with advertisers at the sales presentations known as the upfronts, it will be as the CW network. Asked his goal for CW this season, Mr. Meyer said, "Two brand-new hit shows."

But Mr. Moonves, knowing how fickle the audience is, was not so demanding. "I'd take one," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/bu...02network.html

[Raisingdad2004]

I don't think Reba is cancelled then. The CW have made nothing clear, everything could be cancelled - so its not worth the speculation. Only 7th Heaven and Charmed are definatley gone.

[Superbowl]

If you notice that is why the article has a question mark in the title. No one said it was canceled. It says that Moonves wants to cancel it, but they have a two year contract and he may or may not be able to get out of it.

[Raisingdad2004]

I don't think Moonves could convince the people at The CW to have it cancelled.

I am sure (ratings) money means more to him than whatever cooky idea he thought up.

[Raisingdad2004]

As for the name, I know Moonves would not like this since his network is shafted a bit but WBC - it rolls from the tongue better than CW.

[dawsongirl]

Originally Posted by Raisingdad2004

Grandpa Moonves strikes again. I am starting to agree with Howard Stern!

Seriously, this guy is on crack if he thinks that The CW is going to get anything like the CBS demographic.

The so called merger is a joke, he runs it - and he's gonna run it into the ground.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/dead...viewers/13276/

Well, right now he has the #1 network on the air...has to be doing something right.

[Superbowl]

Originally Posted by Raisingdad2004

I don't think Moonves could convince the people at The CW to have it cancelled.

I am sure (ratings) money means more to him than whatever cooky idea he thought up.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Moonves is half of the CW. The C is for CBS, and Moonves runs CBS. The only thing that may keep it on the air is the two year contract.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Raisingdad2004

I don't think Moonves could convince the people at The CW to have it cancelled.

I am sure (ratings) money means more to him than whatever cooky idea he thought up.

He runs the CW. If he wants it gone their's always a way to get rid of it. Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman once had a 2 year renewal but ABC canceled it before that renewal was up. They might have to pay some money but it has happened before.

[Raisingdad2004]

Originally Posted by Superbowl

I have no idea what you are talking about. Moonves is half of the CW. The C is for CBS, and Moonves runs CBS. The only thing that may keep it on the air is the two year contract.

Read this and see what you think: http://www.laweekly.com/general/dead...viewers/13276/

Moonves seems to have more power than you think.

Sure, all those press releases back in January claimed CBS and Warner Bros. were supposed to be equal partners parenting the new bastard child of The WB and UPN networks. That’s how The CW got its lame name — “C” for CBS, which owns UPN, “W” for Warner Bros. What no one dared mention was how right from the beginning Moonves out-maneuvered Barry Meyer, the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Bruce Rosenblum, the president of the Warner Bros. Television Group.

[Scoobiedoo30]

I hope that The Les Moonves Renews Reba This Season

[Raisingdad2004]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

Well, right now he has the #1 network on the air...has to be doing something right.

Yes but he seems to be trying to turn The CW into CBS' little sister, and they do not attract the same demographic.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Raisingdad2004

Yes but he seems to be trying to turn The CW into CBS' little sister, and they do not attract the same demographic.

He's probably trying to change the demographics. The old demographics did not work. That's why the WB is dead. I don't imagine their will be a comedy night except for the urban black sitcoms that UPN has aired and Reba doesn't fit in with them and also Reba's ratings were awful this year. If it hadn't been for the 2 year renewal, The WB would probably be canceling it.