Midseason shows try for Fall, "Prison Break" back in August?

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Networks Focus on Fall
The time is near to decide if late-season shows get second act
By Ben Grossman

Might there be new life for Old Christine? With the broadcast networks
announcing their fall schedules next month, it's almost time to decide
if late-season additions such as the Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy and
Conviction have earned spots in the lineup. With many pilots still
being shot, the networks are surveying their existing shows before
they review the new product that will compete for slots on the fall
schedule.

“We'll be looking at rough cuts soon, but this is the quiet time
before the storm hits,” says NBC Executive VP of Program Planning and
Scheduling Mitch Metcalf.

While there are a few sure bets among the late arrivals, such as CBS'
The Unit, the fate of many shows is still unclear; it remains to be
seen whether they will be beaten out by shows in development.

Here is a look at the late-season programs' prospects at the major
networks.

ABC
ABC may have discovered a new unscripted franchise in American
Inventor, but the network is disappointed that the heavily hyped Sons
& Daughters has become this season's Arrested Development. Inventor
continued ABC's Dancing With the Stars-inspired rebirth on Thursdays,
getting a strong sampling in its first two weeks, with CSI on the
bench during CBS' airing of NCAA basketball. After averaging a 5.3
rating/14 share in the adult 18-49 demo those two weeks, Inventor
dropped off to a 3.7/9 average in the next two airings, but ABC is
still pleased with that performance.

As for Sons & Daughters, the comedy drew critical acclaim but never
found an audience. “It's not that the show was rejected,” says Jeff
Bader, executive VP of program planning and scheduling for ABC
Entertainment. “Like Arrested,it just was never exposed to many people
to begin with.” Its premiere earned just a 3.5/8 in the 18-49 demo and
averaged just over a 2 rating for its first 10 episodes.

Still, Bader won't rule out a return for next season, saying the
network may look for a more appropriate time slot. If Sons does come
back, look for ABC to try to build viral buzz online, as NBC did with
The Office, which grew after a similarly slow start.

As for other late-season additions, Miracle Workers probably won't be
back as a series, although Miracle specials are a possibility. Dramas
The Evidence and In Justice are long shots to return.

ABC also has single-guy drama What About Brian, which was scheduled to
debut Sunday, April 16, and will be closely monitoring the return of
Commander in Chief to see whether the Geena Davis drama gets a second
term. Putting it on the schedule this month at 10 p.m. Thursday, up
against CBS' Without a Trace and NBC's ER, seriously hurts Commander's
chances.

CBS
CBS will apparently come away from the late season with two solid
additions, in red-hot Army Rangers drama The Unit and Louis-Dreyfus
sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine.

The Unit has been a great fit coming out of NCIS on Tuesdays, and it
seems a sure bet to return next season. It has found its own fan base,
as evidenced by the 23% jump the April 4 episode had over an NCIS
repeat lead-in.

Old Christine feels like a CBS comedy, say industry insiders, and has
held up where others (Out of Practice, Courting Alex) have failed
coming out of tentpole Two and a Half Men. Whether CBS keeps Christine
on Mondays or moves it elsewhere come fall, it at least appears that
the Seinfeld curse has finally been lifted. “It got off to a nice
start, and if things keep up, we'd love to see it back on the
schedule,” says CBS/UPN Executive VP of Scheduling and Program
Planning Kelly Kahl.

FOX
The best news for Fox this spring was the strong return of Prison
Break after a long layoff. The show worked well with 24 to give Fox a
potent Monday-night lineup. The jailhouse drama has already been
picked up for a second season, and Fox has told producers to be ready
to come back in mid August.

As it did this season, Break will run before and after the baseball
playoffs, but the network is looking at other ways to use the series,
even considering a third season that could run from June to December.

How Break is used will depend on whether Fox is successful in finding
companion pieces for both it and 24, or if they will be paired again
next spring.

Fox Executive VP of Strategic Program Planning and Research Preston
Beckman says there is a “good possibility” the network will order
another iteration of rookie reality series Unan1mous, but how it would
return is still undecided. “We have to figure out, is it a series or
is it these one-shots we bring on periodically?” he says.

The prospects are not as good for comedies The Loop and Free Ride.
“They are players for next season,” Beckman says. “But I would be
lying to you if I said that either of them broke out in terms of
ratings.”

NBC
Led by the Aaron Sorkin-penned Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, NBC's
development slate has great early buzz. And the network may need it,
because the network's late-season additions have yet to produce a hit.

The brightest of the bunch is the Dick Wolf drama Conviction, a
slickly produced show that NBC's Metcalf says has a “very good shot”
of coming back in the fall, despite its inability to find a big
audience on Friday nights.

“Admittedly, it is off to a slow start,” says Metcalf. “I wish ratings
were higher, but because the quality is there and the later episodes
in the first 13 will be even better, we think people will continue to
find it.”

NBC has already pulled crime drama Heist off the schedule, and it will
have to decide if Teachers can be the next adaptation of a British
show to bounce back from modest early numbers, à la The Office.
Metcalf notes that, while the show has not done a significant number,
retention out of Scrubs has been in the 90% range.

Who will survive?

So four weeks before the fall lineups are announced, for every network
chief hoping a late-season addition displays signs of life, there is a
producer with a pilot in development who's pulling for it to tank and
free up some prime time real estate.