Morgan Wick

Web Site Update, one week in

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ZendURL has begun attracting some not-so-favorable responses over on free-webhosts.com. That makes me a lot more skeptical of them. I can’t really wait to find out if they’re going to fix their problems.

Scroll down to the “Web Site Update” post to learn more about the poll(s) on the right side of the screen. I need to get more votes than I have. If I get no responses on the web site host poll I’m probably going to be choosing between Freehostia and 50Webs. If I get no responses on the future-of-Da-Blog poll I’ll reissue it in broader terms.

Durations of sports television contracts

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Info from Wikipedia and research through various sources. This info is incomplete and may contain inaccuracies. Your input is welcomed if you can point me to sources to fill in absent or unknown info.

College football contracts – basketball and other sports generally through following year:
ACC thru 2010
Big 12, ABC thru 2015, FSN thru 2011
Big East thru 2013
Big 10 thru 2016
Pac-10 thru 2011
SEC, CBS and ESPN thru 2023, CSS thru 2013
MWC thru 2016 or 2020
C-USA thru 2010
MAC thru 2016
WAC thru 2016
Sun Belt thru 2011
Notre Dame thru 2015
Army thru 2014, Navy thru 2009

College basketball only:
MVC thru 2011
WCC thru 2011
Horizon League thru 2010
MAAC thru 2010
Atlantic 10 thru 2010
Patriot League thru 2008

Professional and other leagues:
NHL thru 2011
Horse Racing, Belmont Stakes on ABC at least thru 2008, NBC thru 2010
MLS, FSC thru 2010, ESPN and Univision/Telefutura thru 2014
MISL, FSC thru 2009
NIT thru 2010
US Open Cup thru 2010
AFL, ESPN thru 2011
French Open, Tennis Channel and ESPN thru 2011
Australian Open thru 2011
Wimbledon, NBC thru 2011, ESPN thru 2013
NFL, NBC thru 2012, CBS, FOX and ESPN thru 2014
PGA, NBC and CBS thru 2012, Golf Channel thru 2022
UEFA Champions League thru 2012
Olympics thru 2012
IndyCar, ABC thru 2012, Versus thru 2018
MLB thru 2013
NCAA Tournament (men’s and women’s, plus other ESPN and CBS champs) thru 2013
BCS thru 2014
NASCAR thru 2014
LLWS thru 2014
US Open (golf), ESPN thru 2014
US Open (Tennis) thru 2014
MLL thru 2016
NBA, WNBA thru 2016
British Open thru 2017
LPGA, Golf Channel thru 2019

Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Soccer… MMA… softball?

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College softball is a bigger deal than the WNBA or MLS, and is getting to be almost as big as UFC.

That’s what I have to conclude after the Women’s College World Series pulled off an average 1.5 rating, including a 1.8 for the rubber match between Arizona and Tennessee, admittedly according to ESPN itself.

I don’t know what ratings for the men’s College World Series are, but if they’re higher they’d have to poke into the twos, which is a bit mind-boggling.

So let’s go out there and start a pro softball league! Well, first of all, the Women’s Final Four gets pretty good ratings, roughly comparable with this, but the WNBA stinks up the ratings somewhere in the vicinity of .4. That said, we already have one, and I’d barely heard of it before last year. It’s six teams with hope for expansion, but despite having MLB as “official development partner”, you probably haven’t heard of it either. It’s not actually part of MLB but it seems to have failed at marketing compared to WNBA and MLS nonetheless. Of course, also part of its problem is that it has teams in Chicago AND Rockford, but none in NY or LA.

Competition for cable boxes! Hooray! Oh wait…

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The FCC is finally enforcing an 11-year-old rule requiring cable companies to allow competition for their set-top boxes. (I’d like to see competition for the companies themselves, as opposed to the fake competition that gives them local monopolies, but whatever.)

After more than a decade of cable-company stalling, FCC head honcho Kevin Martin is mad as hell, and he isn’t going to take it anymore. The cable companies are, effective July 1, finally going to have to separate their navigational (channel-changing) and security (scrambling channels) functions, with the latter to now be served by “cable cards” that plug into the back of the machines.

Now you’ll be able to buy your cable box instead of having to pay the cable company a little extra each month for it. Sounds great, right? The cable industry is just being obstructionist?

Except $5-10 a month sure seems like a better option than hundreds of dollars one time. Then again, over time the box you own yourself becomes a better option, plus you can take it with you when you move (and perhaps, just maybe, at some point, when you change cable companies without moving). But the hard-and-fast deadline is hindering progress on two other fronts:

  • Cable cards have so far proven unreliable, since cable companies have no interest in making them work, and consumers may have difficulty tracking them down. A computer chip inside the box that downloads security settings would be a better deal, but right now cable companies are scrambling to meet the deadline they already have. Even Martin thinks “downloadable security” is a better idea than cable cards and would have let cable companies go to that instead… if only they had made a firm commitment to the technology.
  • The “generic” boxes won’t have interactive-technology functions like VOD and PPV. The cable companies haven’t been able to agree on a protocol with the to-be-manufacturers of generic cable boxes. The electronics companies want the FCC to nudge along progress on that front, but they’re a bit busy with this deadline right now.

I’m almost tempted to say the FCC should grant another one-year extension, this time with interactive-function and downloadable-security provisions attached. All the previous extentions have been the result of cable company stalling; now we’d have one to iron out real problems. Assuming Martin is still head of the FCC in 2008, it would not start a slippery-slope process.

But I have an idea that could prevent this sort of thing in the future. When a regulatory agency extends a deadline, it should act as though the old deadline is still in place, and levy fines (not as big as that for missing the real deadline) against all agencies not already in compliance.

Had that been followed at the start, cable companies would have actually gotten cracking on separation, instead of continuing to stall for over a decade. Extensions would have been made in good faith instead of just to stall.

Of course, the real problem is that the FCC allowed itself to be in the pocket of cable companies for so long…

The most pivotal day in "Versus" history?

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Versus will televise Big 12 and Pac-10 football games as part of a new agreement with FSN, a rehash of FSN’s prior deal with TBS. I’d be more impressed if FSN hadn’t already let Pac-10 games go to ESPN and made another agreement with ESPN for Big 12 games.

This is great news for Versus and terrible news for fans of those conferences who have longed for them to get off FSN. TBS to Versus is a big step down. On the other hand, while Versus isn’t likely to get The Game That Will Determine The National Championship (between ABC and FSN), this is exactly what Versus needs to do to establish its bona fides as a major sports power before the Big Three contracts come up for renewal again in the mid-2010’s. Versus’ limited distribution and the fact that it counted on major sports to establish its reputation, instead of making sure they had one going in, helped kill their shots at NFL and MLB rights (though Versus’ best shot at the mighty NFL, especially considering their distribution, was probably always the package the NFL relegated to the NFL Network for reasons not concerning the individual drawbacks of any network).

Getting the sort of sports that characterized the early days of ESPN and ESPN2 is also a must. Versus has already gotten a head start on that with NLL and MISL coverage, and dipped its toe into Arena Football coverage last season. Jumping into more mid-major sports, like MLS and the WNBA, would seem to be a logical next step, but MLS and AFL rights are locked up into the next decade, and WNBA (and NBA) rights are pretty much too far into negotiations at this point, with the pens practically already sitting by the contract.

The Big 12 has already re-upped with ABC and FSN, a deal that starts in 2008. Versus might be able to interject itself in SEC negotiations, which are up for renegotiation soon for a new deal starting 2009. Both football and basketball are shown on CBS and ESPN, but ESPN’s coverage of the SEC is rather limited, with lesser games (including the basketball semifinals, a bit of notoriety shared by no other Big Six conference) relegated to regional syndication.

Versus probably overestimated the cache of the NHL today in trying to line up deals for better sports. Now they have to hope that even mid-level Big 12 and Pac-10 games will draw enough eyeballs to stop itself from being a joke for any league over the NHL line. I can’t exactly say the battle of Iowa is a good sign of what’s to come, but at least now they might edge just a little bit higher.

A Short Term Plan for Da Blog

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I recently decided to go hunting for ways to increase traffic, considering my anemic numbers on the polls. (I have started to receive a small trickle of hits since the post below, but you haven’t been voting!) This was the first hit on MSN Search. Point 5 reads:

Post often when you first start your blog. As time goes on you don’t have to post everyday but try not to ever go longer than a week without posting. Your blog will start looking like a ghost town and your visitors won’t want to come back if you don’t update it on a regular basis.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve taken some big breaks in new posts in the past. That, in retrospect, was a no-no.

Looking back on some recent hits, I’ve noticed that a significant number of recent hits have come on my Upfront series, thanks to Google hits. You’d be surprised how high Da Blog can rank on Google’s blog search service. Suppose someone heard that Patricia Heaton was appearing in a new Fox show and wanted to learn what the blogosphere was saying about it. A Technorati search for “fox upfront patricia heaton” turns up 35 results and Da Blog’s own upfront coverage isn’t among them. But Google produces about 73 – and Da Blog places 40th.

Obviously I need to get Technorati to start paying attention to Da Blog beyond having a meaningless listing for it. Technorati says that they’ll automatically update their records every time I post since I’m with Blogger. But they also say that I last updated three months ago. Considering that was before March Madness, that’s a problem. But surely I have “blog news” posts older than three months, right?

But this also hints at a way to continue to get Google traffic. So you’ll see me make more “comments on the news” at semi-random intervals based on whatever strikes me. There will be some biases (sports, TV business, politcs) that will become evident fast. This will be a short-term solution and it’s quite likely that I’ll burn out, but I suspect this will become a stalwart feature of Da Blog for a long time to come.

And it starts… tomorrow (today as you’re likely to read this).

Web Site Update

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“I think getting your own website would be awesome! I am all for unconfined Morgan greatness.” -Anonymous

I’ve begun making considerations for potentially creating a web site. When I first got the idea long ago, I thought about potentially starting on GeoCities, but there are plenty of sites that are in many ways better. After checking free-webhosts.com and several free hosting sites, I’ve decided that if I’m going to start a web site, I’ve narrowed it down to four options, which each have pluses and minuses:

FreeHostia
The Good: 250 MB of space, 5 GB of bandwidth, scripting support, superfast web servers.
The Bad: Only “basic” editor with FrontPage being the main alternative supported; 500 KB filesize limit; some scripts are outdated; blocks IP addresses outside the United States every so often due to DDoS attacks; I don’t like “morganwick.freehostia.com” as a web address.

50Webs
The Good: Unlimited bandwidth; “advanced” and WYSWYG editors; VERY rave reviews.
The Bad: Only 60 MB of space; no scripting or SQL support on free plan; 500 KB filesize limit except for zipped files (limit there is 8 MB); no site stats.

AwardSpace
The Good: 200 MB of space, 5 GB of bandwidth, scripting support.
The Bad: Very similar to FreeHostia, which I had better than AwardSpace for sure at one point; “basic” editor only; 500 KB filesize limit; has a bad reputation for censoring web pages with words on their banned list; some PHP functions do not work; blocks IP addresses due to DDoS attacks (and I’m not as certain the US isn’t included).

ZendURL
The Good: 500 MB of space makes FreeHostia and AwardSpace look like 50Webs; 15 GB of bandwidth; “advanced” and WYSIWYG editors; scripting support; further upgrades typically work on a points system, no directly paying extra; no known filesize restriction, possibly as high as 20 MB if it does exist; they’re still working on it, so the kinks will eventually go away.
The Bad: Confusion on whether subdomains (morganwick.zendurl.com) are really allowed; restricts or blocks many add-ons (important because any web site would have to become the new home of Da Blog); buggy and restrictive FTP; they’re still working on it, so there are bugs; they’re still working on it, so the stuff that makes it really good might get toned down as it grows/ages.

You can learn more by clicking the links above, or by going to the free-webhosts review pages for FreeHostia, 50Webs, AwardSpace, and ZendURL. I will have a poll going for the next week, but it’ll be non-binding; you could choose ZendURL and I might end up going with FreeHostia.

I’ll also be returning to a much older post on Da Blog. Any new web site will likely contain things that wouldn’t be entirely appropriate for Da Blog. Earlier I asked what, of a list of potential projects, you would want me to feature on Da Blog. That list will now return in poll form and will potentially direct the future course of any web site, or of Da Blog. You can, of course, propose alternatives by commenting on this post.

The two questions will appear randomly on the right side; you’ll either see one or the other, chosen at random. This is because Bravenet does not allow me to have multiple poll questions showing at once without going for a more robust but more complicated service which would be most useful if I… had a full-fledged web site.

Update

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I’m seriously considering taking Da Blog off of Blogger.

My roundup of how the networks came out of upfronts will not be posted. At some point along the way, line returns got inserted in the HTML of the post, and no matter what the circumstance, Blogger converts all line returns into
tags, and that means that a table gets shoved down the page for no reason whatsoever.

Most of the time that functionality is great. (I can turn it off but that would adversely affect ALL of my posts. Until this week I used no tables at all and all of my posts prior to last weekend benefit from this function.) But since Blogger makes no distinction on context – doesn’t disregard or automatically remove line returns in table code, despite NO ONE having a use for the actual results in this context – it is too frustrating. The line returns in this instance were probably added by either IE 6 (but still show up when I try to edit in IE 7) or Blogger itself (which is just plain idiotic).

Since TONS – DOZENS – of line returns need to be removed, it’s simply not worth it to try to get rid of them all, so I’m withholding the post entirely and probably will not post it at all. But if I can find something smarter, I will probably flock to it in a heartbeat.

One benefit to going with Blogger that could prevent me from flocking too quickly is that it provides free, instant hosting. Most other places I could go to would likely either charge me to set up shop there or not be as good as Blogger in certain ways.

That said, given the correct circumstances I could easily decide to set up a full-fledged web site, which would end any hosting concerns I might have…

If you have any advice feel free to reply to this post.

Notice

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Please be advised that I will be making some tweaks to the layout of Da Blog for the next few minutes, so posts may temporarily look freaky. I ultimately want to make the tweaks not matter.

Upfront Roundup: The CW

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Now we move on to the CW, starting with what I said in my previous post:

  • This will be the first time the CW truly has a chance to present new shows.
  • The CW is not a network that averages a 2.1. It deserves to be treated more like a 2.3. That is not to say there aren’t problems, but any show that does worse than 2.0 is probably on the hot seat.
  • That would include pretty much all of the CW’s comedies, even “Everybody Hates Chris”, which gave UPN so much publicity in that network’s final season. Ratings have been degraded by going up against “Dancing with the Stars”, but “Chris” and “Girlfriends” were only doing around a 2.0 even before that. It’ll be interesting to see what the CW does with “All of Us” which bore the brunt of the “DwtS” onslaught, as well as “The Game”, which was the CW’s lowest-rated comedy when “DwtS” wasn’t on but became its highest-rated once it became the only comedy that didn’t have to battle the ABC juggernaut. Why the CW ended “Reba”, one of its strongest shows, is a little unclear.
  • The CW will need to fill the departures of “7th Heaven” and “Gilmore Girls”. “Girls” was still succeeding in the ratings and will probably hurt the worst. The highest rated traditonal scripted show that leaves is “Smallville”, also one of only four hour-long scripted shows left, along with “Supernatural”, “One Tree Hill”, and “Veronica Mars”, which is on the bubble. If the CW renews “VM” (which, according to reports, is looking more like a possibility than it used to) then “OTH” is the most natural fit to nurture it, though “America’s Next Top Model” would probably be better both in the ratings and thematically (though that would repeat a strategy UPN tried without success), and “Supernatural” should probably break out of “Smallville”‘s shadow to allow both shows to nurture new shows. That “OTH” and “Supernatural” are being considered as potential linchpins speaks volumes about how deep the CW’s lineup really is. (“Supernatural” would be a better pick than “OTH” but doesn’t fit thematically with “VM” all that much, much like “OTH” doesn’t fit with “Smallville”.)
  • Strong nights: Wednesday. Weak nights: Sunday, Monday.
  • Quick tip: You better have a strong pilot slate, and promote the hell out of it.

Now, how did the CW do on the points I laid out?

Sun

7pm

7:30 pm

8pm

8:30 pm

9 pm

9:30 pm

10 pm
CW
CW Now
Online Nation
Life is Wild
Top Model Repeats


When I indicated that the CW had only three new shows on its schedule, I had missed “Life is Wild” and I wasn’t counting midseason or unscripted shows. And since you might be scratching your heads over the start of this night, let me give you the description of “CW Now”, from the producers of “Extra”:

“CW Now blends news and entertainment to create the ultimate source for everything that’s hip, hot and happening right now in the world of young adults. With a team of experts focusing on the topics and trends that appeal specifically to the CW generation, this new series will feature informative and entertaining reports on the hottest fashions, the coolest music, the must-see movies and the must-have gadgets and technology. ‘CW Now’ will be everywhere young adults are: from cyberspace profiling the best of the web, to hitting the streets and getting inside the most popular hotspots. With young adults’ insatiable appetite for all things celebrity, each episode will report on the latest news and gossip from inside the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Moving at a rapid-fire pace and utilizing eye-catching graphics and visuals, “CW Now” fits perfectly with the on-demand lifestyle of adults 18-34.”

Yes, this sort of thing would have been unthinkable under the UPN or WB regimes, but one need look no further than Fox’s news-magazine success (or lack thereof) to see how this thing is going to do. Is this show cynical or what? And is the CW stuck-up or what? I’m part of “The CW generation” now? Well, “Online Nation” isn’t quite that bad:

“Young adults have taken their quest for fame into their own hands as the amount of user-generated entertainment continues to explode across the Internet. Now The CW is giving them a nationally televised stage to show off what they’ve got. “Online Nation” (working title) scours the nearly infinite number of websites, blogs and user-generated materials on the Internet to find the best, the hottest, the unique and sometimes, the flat-out bizarre, and presents it on The CW audience’s other favorite screen: the TV screen. This fun, irreverent weekly series features everything and anything that has captured the attention of the online world, from the most popular sites to the addictive viral videos being shared by millions, to insights from the digital tastemakers. Born of the internet and tailored specifically to this generation, this series also features an innovative interactive element as viewers will be able to see what others are saying and communicate with them live on the air. The CW is turing mouse potatoes into couch potatoes by putting all the greatest internet clips in one ready to use package.”

Mm. Others already had the same idea. With such weak lead-ins and a night that has been a problem for the CW (and the WB before it), it’s bad news for “Life is Wild“:

“Katie Clarke (Leah Pipes, ‘Clubhouse’) may never forgive her veterinarian father, Danny (Brett Cullen, ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘Friday Night Lights’) for dragging their entire blended family out of New York City to spend a year living in a broken-down lodge called The Blue Antelope in a game reserve deep inside South Africa. Everyone in the family, including Katie’s 11-year-old brother Chase (K’sun Ray, ‘Smith’), Danny’s second wife Jo (Judith Hoag, ‘Armageddon’), her rebellious teenage son Jesse (Andrew St. John, ‘General Hospital’) and 7-year-old daughter, Mia (Mary Matilyn Mouser, ‘Eloise’), is sure Danny has lost his mind. But Danny’s reasons go beyond his desire to keep his troubled family together and making a difference in the lives of the people and animals of South Africa: his deceased first wife Claire grew up at The Blue Antelope and it’s still home to her reclusive father Art (David Butler). After just a few days in South Africa, the family has already encountered an injured lioness, a lost cub, and a gentle giraffe. They’ve also met a few locals, including a handsome young Brit, Oliver Banks (newcomer Calvin Goldspink) and his twin sister Emily (newcomer Tiffany Mulheron), whose father Colin Banks (Jeremy Sheffield), runs a safari business for wealthy tourists, and Tumelo (Atandwa Kani), a teen who dreams of becoming a veterinarian. While they are definitely outsiders, Katie and the rest of the family are beginning to love the breathtaking vistas of the bush country and the vibrant culture enveloping them. A year in this strange but beautiful place might not be so bad after all.”

This show could easily be a comedy on another network. Unlike most CW/WB family dramas, there is no room for growth or change on this one, thanks to the year-long time frame, which I’m sure they will try and contrive a way to stretch out over the years – if it goes that long. It just doesn’t seem dressed for success to me, and being plopped on such a bad night does NOT help.

Mon

8pm

8:30 pm

9 pm

9:30 pm

10 pm
CW
Ev. Hts Chris
Alns in Amer.
Girlfriends
The Game


“All of Us” is dead. That leaves just one comedy from UPN’s fall schedule of 2004 that remains on the CW lineup for a fourth season or later. Despite the title, “Aliens in America” is not some modernized version of “ALF” or “Another World”, which would probably be hit with the dreaded “CFUC” phrase, but instead… well…

“Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd, ‘The Hills Have Eyes’) is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to make it through the social nightmare of high school in Medora, Wisconsin, with the help of his well-meaning mom Franny (Amy Pietz, ‘Caroline in the City’), aspiring-entrepreneur dad Gary (Patrick Breen, Kevin Hill’), and his popular sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw, ‘Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide’), who is sweetly unaware of how good looking she is. When Franny signs up for the school’s international exchange student program, she pictures an athletic, brilliant Nordic teen who will bestow instant coolness on her outsider son. However, when the Tolchuk’s exchange student arrives, he turns out to be Raja Musharaff (Adhir Kalyan, ‘Fair City), a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim. Despite the cultural chasm between them, Justin and Raja quickly develop an unlikely friendship that just might allow them to navigate the minefield that is contemporary high school. It’s going to be a very interesting year for Raja, Justin, his family and the entire poplation of Medora.”

Now this is a sitcom for “the CW generation”! Right out of the tradition of “Saved by the Bell” and “Boy Meets World”! If this had come before the CW started having all sorts of problems with their comedy block it would have looked terrific hammocked between “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Girlfriends”. But “DwtS” has been killer to the CW’s comedy block and “Aliens in America” is smack-dab in the middle of it. I want to believe this show will become the CW comedy of the future but it’s off to a rocky start. And people who moaned and groaned about the end of UPN’s black comedy when the CW merger happened? They’re moaning and groaning again, because this show features a white main character and Pakistani is not black.

Tue

8pm

8:30 pm

9 pm

9:30 pm

10 pm
CW
Beauty and the Geek
Reaper


With “Gilmore Girls” ending, the CW ends “Veronica Mars” as well, meaning they’re starting over on Tuesdays, and to meet the demand, they’re also making a change to Wednesdays. Last year, UPN show “America’s Next Top Model” started Wednesdays at 8 and WB show “Beauty and the Geek” took over later. Now “B&tG” breaks out to lead off Tuesdays. “Reaper” – well, get too far in it and you’ll know what I have to say about it:

“For the first 20 years of his life, Sam (Bret Harrison, ‘The Loop’, ‘Grounded for Life’ wondered why his parents went so easy on him. Whether it was school, sports or career choices, Sam’s mom (Allison Hossack, ‘Falcon Beach’) and dad (Andrew Airlie, ‘The L Word’) always let him get by with the least possible effort, while at the same time pushing his younger brother Keith (Kyle Switzer, ’15/Love’) to excel. As a result, Sam skipped college, took a dead-end job and now wastes endless hours playing video games and wishing he had the guts to ask out his pretty co-worker, Andi (Nikki Reed, ‘Thirteen’, ‘The O.C.’). Everything in his slacker world changes the day Sam turns 21 and discovers the ungodly reason his parents let him slide: they sold his soul to the devil before he was even born. Satan himself (Ray Wise, ’24’, ‘The Closer’) drops by to personally explain that Sam must now serve as his bounty hunter, tracking down evil souls that have escaped and returning them to Hell. At first, Sam refuses to accept his bizarre fate, but after getting a glimpse of Satan’s temper, Sam realizes that breaking a deal with the devil has consequences that are very, very bad. Armed with a constantly changing series of vessels – starting with a Dirt Devil mini-vacuum – to collect the escapees, Sam immediately finds that the work is dangerous and frightening, even with the goofball help of his friends and fellow slackers, Bert “Sock” Wysocki (Tyler Labine, ‘Boston Legal’, ‘Invasion’) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez, ‘Coach Carter’), along with Sock’s former-girlfriend-turned-paralegal, Josie (Valerie Rae Miller, ‘Dark Angel’). Still, as weird and scary as his life has become, Sam is surprised to find that he somehow feels good about his newfound ‘mission’ – removing evil-doers from the world and sending them back where they belong. With his friends and his trusty vessel-of-the-week at his side, Sam is ready to face his destiny as the Reaper.”

“Cult following, unceremoniously cancelled” – if it were good enough to get a cult following! But there seems to be a comedic element that seems out of place as well. Too weird, bizarre, and schizophrenic to go anywhere.

Wed

8pm

8:30 pm

9 pm

9:30 pm

10 pm
CW
America’s Next Top Model
Gossip Girl


“One Tree Hill” is withheld for midseason so the CW’s top show can support a new show, a big vote of confidence for “Gossip Girl”:

“The privledged prep school teens on Manhattan’s Upper East Side first learn that Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Liveley, ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ is back in town the same way they learn all the important news in their lives – from the blog of the all-knowing yet ultra-secretive Gossip Girl. No one knows Gossip Girl’s identity, but everyone in this exclusive and complicated vicious circle relies on her text messages for the latest scoop. Serena’s closest friend, Blair (Leighton Meester, ‘Surface’) is just as surprised as everyone else to find that Serena has suddenly ended her self-imposed exile to boarding school and returned to Manhattan. The tension between Blair and Serena isn’t lost on Gossip Girl, who is determined to uncover and fuel any and all scandals. Does it involve Serena’s brother Eric (Connor Paolo, ‘One Life to Live’), Blair’s boyfriend Nate (Chace Crawford, ‘The Covenant’), or Nate’s buddy Chuck (Ed Westwick, ‘Children of Men’)? Maybe it has something to do with Dan (Penn Badgley, ‘John Tucker Must Die’) and his sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen, ‘Spy Kids 2’, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’), whose middle-class background keeps them on the fringes of this exclusive clique. Even the parents – from Serena’s mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford, ‘Melrose Place’) a former ballerina/rock-groupie, to Nate’s high-powered father Howie “The Captain” Archibald (Sam Robards, ‘The West Wing’), to Dan and Jenny’s dad Rufus (Matthew Settle, ‘Brothers and Sisters’), a former rocker turned art gallery owner – are aware that their sons and daughters are constantly checking their Sidekicks to read Gossip Girl’s latest sightings and overheard tidbits. Overriding all the shifting friendships, jealousies and turmoil in this wealthy and complex world, the central mystery remains – Who is Gossip Girl?”

Is this another example of “Ugly Betty” starting a new wave of telenovela-inspired soap operas? Because it looks and sounds like the show’s namesake is like Charlie on “Charlie’s Angels” – never seen, only heard – or the narrator of “Desperate Housewives”. This show, it seems, is more of an ensemble – in fact it looks like “DH” in prep school. It, “Reaper”, and (apparently) “Life in the Wild” all have received rave reviews; this show probably has the best chance at success with such a strong lead-in.

Thu

8pm

8:30 pm

9 pm

9:30 pm

10 pm
CW
Smallville
Supernatural


The CW keeps Thursdays one of only two unchanged nights. “Supernatural” was considered to be on the bubble for renewal, so I have no need to call it to be used to set up a new night. Not much of a surprise.

Fri

8pm

8:30 pm

9 pm

9:30 pm

10 pm
CW
Friday Night SmackDown!


This is the other unchanged night. Again not a surprise; wrestling is a steady performer for the CW the way it was for UPN before.

In addition to “One Tree Hill”, “Pussycat Dolls Present” is also held for midseason. You might be wondering how that show could go more than one round. Well, now it appears to be moving closer to the old WB show “PopStars”. Now they’ll be trying to create an entirely new group based on the Dolls.

Two new shows also are being held for midseason. “Farmer Wants a Wife“:

“The CW cultivates romance a la “Green Acres” with “Farmer Wants a Wife”, a comedic reality series designed to help one farm boy find the city girl of his dreams. Based on the hit British format, this first US version will find a charming, hard-working farmer who is happy with his life and wanting romance and wondering if he might find happiness with a woman from the city. The show’s producers will search the nation’s cities to select a group of 10 women who have had it with bad dates in the big city and are open to making a big change. The group will consist of women looking to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and wondering if a country man with country values might offer a more attractive lifestyle. “Farmer Wants a Wife” will bring these city women to the country farmer. The ladies will have to impress them with their heart and their newfound ‘love’ for the country life, or they’ll be sent back to the city. Are these city girls ready for the realities of life and work on a farm – driving a tractor, taking care of very large farm animals and attending bingo night? Through a series of challenges, group activities, shocking eliminations and cozy dates, 10 fast-lane women will see how they match up with a back-roads guy on the path to true love.”

“The Simple Life” meets “Joe Millionaire”. “Crowned“:

“Judges Carson Kressley (‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’) and former Miss U.S.A. Shanna Moakler (‘Dancing with the Star’, ‘Meet the Barkers’) referee an eight-episode competition that dares to pit mother-daughter teams against each other in a no-holds-barred beauty pageant. ‘Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants’ explores one of the most emotional and volatile relationships as mothers and daughters from all walks of life must compete together – and against other mother-daughter teams – in order to win. Faced with challenges that focus on preparing them for the talent-show finale, the women will have to brand a ‘style’ for their mother-daughter team via clothing and swimwear, create ways of expressing a point of view about issues in the world, and practice for the big pageant dance number. Not only do good looks, talent and a penchant for world peace have to run in the family, each team must also have patience, teamwork and a healthy sense of humor. In the end, one mother-daughter team will be ‘crowned’ the winner and will receive a valuable prize package, including a $100,000 cash award, and, of course, a fabulous pair of tiaras.”

I’d say it’s unlikely to get anywhere, but it’s worth a shot. Now, how did the CW do on the points I laid out?

  • CW comedies. Grade: F. The CW does little to solve the problem with its flagging Monday comedy lineup and throws “Aliens in America” in an untenable situation.
  • Making up for the departures of hit shows. Grade: B-. The CW did well by its overall lineup by keeping Thursdays intact and using “B&tG” and “ANTM” to nurture new shows, but largely at the expense of Sundays. Then again, that night wasn’t doing well anyway.
  • Overall grade: C+. Two nights look decent, two look great by way of not changing, and two nights are train wrecks.
  • Nights that improved: Wednesday. Nights that didn’t slip as much as might be expected: Tuesday. Nights that look like a train wreck: Sunday, Monday.