TV Show Suffle and a Comic Book Movie
Well, the networks are at it again. As is customary about this time of year, schedules are getting shaken up.
This time around, though, it's not just the normal sweeps specials jumping in. We've got entire new series making their debuts. Oh, and actual shuffling of shows that are sticking around.
ABC Pulls Degrees, Replaces With Trees
ABC has pulled the struggling J.J. Abrams drama Six Degrees and will replace it Nov. 30 with Warner Bros. Television’s Anne Heche drama, Men In Trees, which has received a full-season order.
Trees will move into the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot at 10 p.m. ET Thursdays, while Six Degrees is slated to return in January with its remaining seven episodes.
What really defies general logic is that they're pulling a show that's averaged a 4.0 rating (though, admittedly, it has been declining) with one that seems to have averaged a 2.2. That seems like a bad choice until you take into account how different shows fit together with their lead-in shows. Men in Trees (which I never much cared for) is most definitely a better companion show to Grey's Anatomy than Six Degrees ever could have been. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what Six Degrees would work well with. It still hasn't found it's own pace, let alone project anything clear enough to make a sensible pairing. Looks like the network is just going to burn off what they have left of it, anyway.
CBS to Split Jericho Season
Following in the footsteps of ABC’s new strategy with Lost and what Fox does with Prison Break, CBS will bench rookie serialized drama Jericho from December through mid-February, opting to only air new episodes through the rest of the season.
The show, about the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, will air through Wednesday, November 29, and then CBS will sideline the show until February 21, though it will air a recap show on February 14.
I'm still not sure how I feel about this whole "split season" stuff. It's annoyed me on the SciFi Channel for years. Now the regular networks are doing it. I'm a big fan of not having tons of reruns break up the story flow of my shows with an arc to them, but large breaks can do the same thing. I honestly think Lost is taking a big chance with this plan to be gone from last night until February--and they've got a very loyal and dedicated following. Jericho is a show I'd like to see around for a while. If done correctly, it could have a much longer worth-watching life span than Lost could ever hope to have.
Snyder: Watchmen Remains True
Zack Snyder, who will direct an upcoming film version of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel Watchmen, told SCI FI Wire that Warner Brothers likes his take on the material, which goes back to the source for its inspiration, closely following the original 1985 setting and alternate-history American mileu in which Richard Nixon is still president. That faithfulness to the graphic novel, which has been famously considered unadaptable to film, ironically, provided the key to unlocking the script, Snyder said.
"That was the thing," Snyder said in an interview following a Nov. 8 screening of footage from his other upcoming graphic-novel adaptation, 300, in Hollywood, Calif. "What they tried to do is turn it into a movie. And that's not really how we approached it. ... [Co-writer Alex [Tse] and I were [like], 'What ... [about the] graphic novel do we love? Let's do that!' And I think that when we delivered that version of the script to them, and it was long of course, ... it's not [a metaphor for the] war on terror, it's not like trying to be, like, bulls--t updated. You know, which gets confusing. And then Adrian [Veidt]'s story gets all, like, lost with that. So ... that was the thing that cracked it: Just going back to the source. Saying, 'OK, why does this work here?' It seemed really obvious. It was weird. ... It's pretty exciting. They're pretty excited."
hmmm... making a movie based on a comic book by not changing the setting of the story... what a revolutionary idea. Now if someone had only told the writers/producers/director of the X-Men movies about that... or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... or any of the really crappy Captain America movies that have been made...
I've never actually read Watchmen, but I plan on. From what I've heard, I've really been missing out on one of the greatest stories. I can only hope the movie does it at least some justice.
This time around, though, it's not just the normal sweeps specials jumping in. We've got entire new series making their debuts. Oh, and actual shuffling of shows that are sticking around.
ABC Pulls Degrees, Replaces With Trees
ABC has pulled the struggling J.J. Abrams drama Six Degrees and will replace it Nov. 30 with Warner Bros. Television’s Anne Heche drama, Men In Trees, which has received a full-season order.
Trees will move into the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot at 10 p.m. ET Thursdays, while Six Degrees is slated to return in January with its remaining seven episodes.
What really defies general logic is that they're pulling a show that's averaged a 4.0 rating (though, admittedly, it has been declining) with one that seems to have averaged a 2.2. That seems like a bad choice until you take into account how different shows fit together with their lead-in shows. Men in Trees (which I never much cared for) is most definitely a better companion show to Grey's Anatomy than Six Degrees ever could have been. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what Six Degrees would work well with. It still hasn't found it's own pace, let alone project anything clear enough to make a sensible pairing. Looks like the network is just going to burn off what they have left of it, anyway.
CBS to Split Jericho Season
Following in the footsteps of ABC’s new strategy with Lost and what Fox does with Prison Break, CBS will bench rookie serialized drama Jericho from December through mid-February, opting to only air new episodes through the rest of the season.
The show, about the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, will air through Wednesday, November 29, and then CBS will sideline the show until February 21, though it will air a recap show on February 14.
I'm still not sure how I feel about this whole "split season" stuff. It's annoyed me on the SciFi Channel for years. Now the regular networks are doing it. I'm a big fan of not having tons of reruns break up the story flow of my shows with an arc to them, but large breaks can do the same thing. I honestly think Lost is taking a big chance with this plan to be gone from last night until February--and they've got a very loyal and dedicated following. Jericho is a show I'd like to see around for a while. If done correctly, it could have a much longer worth-watching life span than Lost could ever hope to have.
Snyder: Watchmen Remains True
Zack Snyder, who will direct an upcoming film version of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel Watchmen, told SCI FI Wire that Warner Brothers likes his take on the material, which goes back to the source for its inspiration, closely following the original 1985 setting and alternate-history American mileu in which Richard Nixon is still president. That faithfulness to the graphic novel, which has been famously considered unadaptable to film, ironically, provided the key to unlocking the script, Snyder said.
"That was the thing," Snyder said in an interview following a Nov. 8 screening of footage from his other upcoming graphic-novel adaptation, 300, in Hollywood, Calif. "What they tried to do is turn it into a movie. And that's not really how we approached it. ... [Co-writer Alex [Tse] and I were [like], 'What ... [about the] graphic novel do we love? Let's do that!' And I think that when we delivered that version of the script to them, and it was long of course, ... it's not [a metaphor for the] war on terror, it's not like trying to be, like, bulls--t updated. You know, which gets confusing. And then Adrian [Veidt]'s story gets all, like, lost with that. So ... that was the thing that cracked it: Just going back to the source. Saying, 'OK, why does this work here?' It seemed really obvious. It was weird. ... It's pretty exciting. They're pretty excited."
hmmm... making a movie based on a comic book by not changing the setting of the story... what a revolutionary idea. Now if someone had only told the writers/producers/director of the X-Men movies about that... or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... or any of the really crappy Captain America movies that have been made...
I've never actually read Watchmen, but I plan on. From what I've heard, I've really been missing out on one of the greatest stories. I can only hope the movie does it at least some justice.