Friday
This Fall
Over the next three
editions of TV
Talk, I'm going to look at the fall season and make my guesses as to
what
will work and what won't.
| New
Series |
Moved
Series |
Returning
Series- Same
Timeslot |
| Friday |
8:00 |
8:30 |
9:00 |
9:30 |
10:00 |
 |
Joan
Of Arcadia |
JAG |
dr vegas |
 |
Dateline
NBC |
Third
Watch |
Medical Investigation |
 |
8 Simple Rules |
Savages |
Hope & Faith |
Less Than Perfect |
20/20 |
 |
The
Next Great Champ |
The
Jury |
 |
What I Like
About You |
Commando Nanny |
Reba |
Grounded For
Life |
 |
America's
Next Top Model (R) |
Enterprise |
8:00pm
ABC did the best thing it
could have
done by moving "8 Simple Rules" into the hour- it creates a flow on the
night by having mostly family shows. But CBS will still win the hour,
NBC
will be second (or third), and ABC will win the demos. Fox's "Next
Great
Champ" is getting a jump on "The Contender" from NBC, but this is a
dead
night for the net- it's hard to believe that anything is going to pique
viewers interests. As for the WB, why it renewed "What I Like About
You,"
I'll never know. As for the 8:30pm series, "Savages" looks like it
could
be funny, but it seems out of place in ABC's line-up, while "Commando
Nanny"
could do well for lead-out "Reba."
Ratings By December:
| Joan Of Arcadia |
11.4mil |
| 8 Simple Rules |
8.7 |
| Dateline NBC |
8.6 |
| Savagesr....... |
7.5 |
| Next Great Champ |
5.8 |
| Commando Nanny |
3.3 |
| What I Like
About You |
3.1 |
| America's Next
Top Model (R) |
2.5 |
9:00pm
Another very competitive
hour, the
race will be between NBC and CBS in viewers, but between NBC and ABC in
the demos. Fox's "The Jury" looks interesting and will get a summer's
head-start,
while "Reba" will keep going strong, while "Enterprise" is likely
entering
its very last season. Two shows to watch out for? "Hope & Faith"
combined
with "Less Than Perfect." Though "LTP" is far better in quality, both
shows
are on the same wave-length, unlike "Life With Bonnie" from last season.
Ratings By December:
| JAG.... |
11.7mil |
| Third Watch |
9.5 |
| Hope & Faith |
9.1 |
| Less Than Perfectr....... |
8.8 |
| The Jury |
6.3 |
| Reba |
4.4 |
| Grounded for
Life |
3.6 |
| Enterprise |
3.1 |
10:00pm
"dr vegas" vs. "Medical
Investigation"
vs. "20/20." Well, "MI" looks like a blatant rip off of "CSI" (and the
season's most boring title to boot), while "dr vegas" doesn't look so
bad.
Besides, both Joe Pantoliano and Rob Lowe has new series that failed
last
year (Joe's was in this very timeslot on this very network), so why
wait
to shove them down viewers throats again?
Ratings By December:
| dr vegas |
10.5mil |
| 20/20 |
9.4 |
| Medical
Investigation |
8.2 |
|
JustTV Talk