or


[01/12/10 - 01:52 PM]
Mcpherson: ABC Happy with Kimmel
By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- "We don't have any plans to change our late-night right now," ABC topper Stephen McPherson told reporters during the network's executive session at the TCA Winter Press Tour. "I love Kimmel, he's been amazing... I think it's really important that we tie Jimmy to ABC, to our shows."

McPherson also added that "seeing a great network [NBC] tumble is not something that we rejoice over... we don't take any pleasure in that. We're going to compete against them but we want it to be vibrant, we want it to be a good competitor. It's kind of like playing for the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox decide to stop playing baseball."

Not surprisingly, McPherson was more interested in boasting about the Alphabet's newfound comedy success on Wednesday nights. In addition to being picked up for second seasons, "The Middle," "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town" will also film two extra episodes this year, bringing their freshman totals to 24 each.

McPherson conversely was disappointed in the performances of its Tuesday entries "Scrubs" and "Better Off Ted." "Our intent was not to burn them off," he said about their current double runs. "It was really knowing that was the best slot we had [at] this time and we went for it and it hasn't worked out the way we wanted."

The executive also addressed the decision to split up "V" and "FlashForward" into two cycles. "We did not intend for the first chapter to be so short," he said about the former. "There was production issues that took over unfortunately. And then when we looked at that and realized how many episodes we could have consecutively... we decided we would do the fall premiere as kind of a limited chapter and it will come back when we can really run consecutive episodes."

"'FlashForward' was a little bit different in that we had it on the air, we saw that repeats really weren't working and then we looked at, okay, if we come back at the beginning on January, we'll literally be one on, two off, two on, three off and it was this terrible kind of [thing] the way we faced with 'Lost' early on... and so we made the strategic decision [that] both 'V' and 'FlashForward' come back at the same time, we can promote that and make it an event."

That same logic will apply to the yet-to-be-scheduled midseason effort "Happy Town." "It is definitely serialized, it is event television, it is a beginning, middle and end within that kind of limited series with the potential for it to [go on] after that time," he said. "I think honestly we're going to see how that performs on the air before we make any decision of how that will be programmed or scheduled [going forward]."

Beyond its various announcements (read the stories), McPherson confirmed the existence of "Bachelor Pad," a spin-off of "The Bachelor" franchise in which contestants from previous cycles live together and compete in various challenges. It's understood seven episodes have been ordered for a late summer start.

Overall McPherson was good humored about the network's various experiments (on "Conveyor Belt of Love": "How could we be done with such a genius show?"; on what makes "Lost" so successful: "I think if I knew that I would probably not, you know, done derivative shows like some.") while a few memory lapses (he mentioned "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" doesn't have a premiere date... despite a release going out this morning; he admitted that "Scrubs" wouldn't work well with the other comedies on Wednesday... despite it being scheduled there on January 27 and February 3) weren't too embarrassing.

The only "controversy" stirred up was McPherson's assertion that "I guess it was mentioned in NBC's press tour, Jeff Gaspin said we were down at 10 o'clock. We're actually up eight to 10 percent." The Hollywood Reporter settled the issue, pointing out each were referring to different sets of data.





  [january 2010]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
     


· BACHELOR PAD, THE (ABC)
· BACHELOR, THE (ABC)
· BACHELORETTE, THE (ABC)
· BETTER OFF TED (ABC)
· COUGAR TOWN (TBS)
· FLASH FORWARD (ABC)
· HAPPY TOWN (ABC)
· JAMIE OLIVER'S FOOD REVOLUTION (ABC)
· LOST (ABC)
· MIDDLE, THE (ABC)
· MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
· SCRUBS (ABC)
· V (ABC)





[09/12/25 - 11:48 PM]
Development Update: Week of September 8-12
Updates include: second two of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" on indefinite hold; Ego Nwodim announces "SNL" exit; and Hulu sets cast of "Don't Get High" comedy pilot.

[09/12/25 - 02:43 PM]
"The Groomsmen: First Look" Launches Hallmark Channel's "Fall Into Love" Seasonal Stunt with Chart-Topping Ratings
The film was the #1 most-watched entertainment cable program on Saturday among Households, Women 18+, Persons 18+, and Total Viewers.

[09/12/25 - 02:07 PM]
FOX Sports Premieres "Big Noon Saturday" Creative Campaign Starring Emmy-Winning Actor, Writer & Director John Turturro
Capturing the intense energy of college football through the lens of passionate fandom, the promotional campaign "It All Goes Down at Noon" debuts today across FOX Sports' social platforms.

[09/12/25 - 01:33 PM]
ESPN Tips Off Its Exclusive Coverage of the Entire 2025 WNBA Playoffs Presented by Google
This year's postseason features the defending champion New York Liberty, top overall seed Minnesota Lynx, Las Vegas Aces, Indiana Fever, Atlanta Dream, Golden State Valkyries, Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm.

[09/12/25 - 09:18 AM]
Tubi Presents New Docuseries "Always, Lady London" Premiering Exclusively on Tubi October 10
Directed and executive produced by Erika Bryant, the three-part documentary series was greenlit under Tubi's new content incubator, Stubios, a fan-fueled studio for aspiring content creators and their fans.

[09/12/25 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "Is It Cake? Halloween" - A Spooktacular Sneak Peek - Netflix
"Is It Cake?" returns for a special Halloween season with Mikey Day and nine of the best hyper-realistic cake artists around!

[09/12/25 - 08:31 AM]
Netflix Renews "The Hunting Wives" for Season 2 Globally
Season 2 will release exclusively as a Netflix-branded series in nearly all countries where Netflix is available, with the original cast set to reprise their roles in Season 2.

[09/12/25 - 08:08 AM]
ESPN Re-Signs Michael Eaves to New Multi-Year Contract
Eaves will continue his hosting duties on "SportsCenter" along with contributing to ESPN's coverage of golf majors.

[09/12/25 - 07:35 AM]
Peacock Exclusively Streams "M3GAN 2.0" Beginning September 26
The unrated edition will also stream exclusively on Peacock that same day.

[09/12/25 - 06:04 AM]
ID Sets October Premieres for New Series "The Friday the 13th Murders" & New Season of "The Real Murders on Elm Street"
Both series will premiere back-to-back on Wednesday, October 1 beginning at 9:00/8:00c.

[09/12/25 - 06:01 AM]
Video: "Swim to Me" - Official Trailer - Netflix
The gripping family drama tells the story of the intense relationship between Estela, a domestic worker, and the six-year-old girl she takes care of day and night.

[09/12/25 - 05:31 AM]
ESPN Networks Deliver Most-Watched WNBA Regular Season Ever
ESPN networks aired eight of the top 10 most-watched WNBA games during the 2025 season, highlighted by its most-watched WNBA game ever - 2.7 million viewers for Chicago Sky at Indiana Fever on May 17 (ABC).

[09/12/25 - 12:01 AM]
Video: "Heweliusz" - Official Trailer - Netflix
A disaster on the Baltic Sea, a complicated investigation, and the fight of the victims' families for the truth and the good name of those lost at sea.

[09/11/25 - 08:01 PM]
Netflix Marks 10 Years in Japan, Announces Three New Series That Will Keep You Hitting The "Next Episode"
"Straight to Hell," "Did Someone Happen to Mention Me?" and "STEEL BALL RUN JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" are all on tap.

[09/11/25 - 05:01 PM]
New International Crime Series "Road" (wt) Explores Twisted Murders Across Borders
The international crime thriller follows two detectives as they track a series of gruesome cross-border murders, characterized by twisted bodies and mysterious dying messages.