Tag Archives: Upfronts

Comedy, Crime, Drama, FRONT, TV

CBS Upfronts: FWBL and The Crazy Ones Cancelled

Image
Cancelled: Friends with better lives

Having not been attracted to watching Two and Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mom, How I Met Your Mother or any other filmed-in-front-of-a-live-audience comedy (nothing since Friends and Will & Grace has taken my fancy), I was somewhat cautious about checking out Friends With Better Lives (or FWBL).

Funnily enough, the show, starring James Van Der Beek (fresh of a stellar turn in Don’t Trust The Bitch in Apartment 23) was funny, entertaining and highly engaging.  Sure the humor was somewhat crude – but not to the level of 2 Broke Girls, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the first three episodes I watched and naturally assumed if people are watching the horribly unfunny Mom (sadly starring the talented Anna Faris) then people were watching FWBL.

Guess I was wrong, so needless to say, when CBS threw out their list of cancellations, I was shocked to see FWBL sitting on that list.

Another notable entry on their cancelled shows list was the Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Geller comedy The Crazy Ones.  Now, this show was the highest rated comedy debut of the 2012/2013 season in the US (15+ million viewers) but upon airing it’s season finale, only 5 million viewers were tuning in.

Also cancelled: Toni Collette drama Hostages, Kristin Davis comedy Bad Teacher (only after 4 episodes!) and the awful Intelligence starring LOST expat Josh Holloway and CSI Maven Marg Helgenberger.

The much hyped How I Met Your Mother spin-off How I Met Your Dad was also a no show on the list of pick-ups.

So what did CBS pick-up to series order?  Battle Creek by Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) and starring Josh Duhamel, The Tea’ Leoni led drama Madam Secretary plus another new CSI spin-off, CSI: New Orleans starring Scott Bakula.

In the way of comedy, Matthew Perry will be given another shot at a new series with The Odd Couple with Lindsay Sloane while New Kids on the Block singer Joe McIntyre plus ex Roseanne star Laurie Metcalf are headlining The McCarthys.

And finally, The Mentalist fans will be happy to hear the drama was given a last minute series renewal, though i’d expect this one to be it’s last.

What are your thoughts on the axings, cancellations and pick-ups?

ABC, FRONT, TV

Upfronts: ABC Cancellations, Renewals and Pick-ups

Image
ABC’s cancelled Trophy Wife

It’s time of the year where I moan and groan about losing some of my ‘must watch’ shows while being thankful others on the list live to see another season.

Yes, the US Upfronts are here and already, I’ve suffered one serious tragedy.  ABC held their Upfronts yesterday and one notable standout on the cancelled list was freshman comedy Trophy Wife starring Malin Ackerman and Bradley Whitford.

Trophy Wife, like Cougar Town, suffered from ‘bad title’ syndrome which is great show, very funny, bad title and just like Cougar Town, ABC swept the comedy into the trash (perhaps TBS should pick this one up too?)

While ABC won’t officially unveil their new fall season until the 13th, what can we expect from the network with their pick-ups, renewals and cancellations so far?

Cancelled – Trophy Wife (noooooo!), Mixology, Super Fun Night, Suburgatory and The Neighbors.

Renewed – Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Revenge, Once Upon a Time, Castle, Marvel Agents of SHIELD, Modern Family, The Goldbergs and Resurrection.

New Pick-Ups –

How to get away with murder – New drama by Shonda Rhimes

American Crime – Starring Penelope Ann Miller and Felicity Huffman

Agent Carter – Captain America TV spin-off starring Hayley Atwell

The Whispers – Paranormal thriller starring Lily Rabe

Secrets and Lies – US remake of the Aussie drama starring Ryan Phillippe.