The Blog returns July 16th

Preview Part Three

An extra long third part of the preview to look the latest purchases from ITV, SKY One and a sneek BBC peak.

ITV's top purchase is Pushing Daisies. This was the highest regarded of all the new Fall pilots, It comes from Barry Sonnenfield and stars among others our very own Anna Friel. I won't explain the premise, just enjoy the fabulous preview.




ITV have also picked up Swingtown which stars former This Life star Jack Davenport. Its the tale of swinging couples in the seventies. It looks great but rather left field for CBS. There had been speculation it would head for Showtime if CBS didn't pick it up. The danger of course may be that the network waters it down too much. It won't premiere until 2008.




ITV have also added Cane to their collection. This Jimmy Smits vehicle is the saga of a large Cuban family. It looks good but once again you have to wonder if the older CBS audience are really going to take to it. ITV will screen it on one of their digital channels.




ITV are also set to secure the rights to the re-imagined Bionic Woman starring ex-EastEnder Michelle Ryan, I thought the preview looked pretty ordinary but changed my mind once Katee "Starbuck" Sackhoff shows up in it. In the hands of the Battlestar Galactica team you have to have faith, but will it play at 9pm on a Wednesday on NBC? Might be asking too much of it.




Finally ITV are set to buy Gossip Girl for ITV2. There's been a bidding war for this show which comes from OC showrunner Josh Schwartz. Wherever it ends up I won't be watching.





Journeyman is the title of the new SKY One pick-up from NBC and looks like it might well be applied to the series as a whole. Kevin McKidd stars as a man who travels in time and then has to explain his absences to his family. You can hear it now "no, I'm not having an affair I was fighting the civil war". Sounds all a bit Quantum Leap familiar to me.




Finally The Tudors. This blockbuster new Showtme series has already aired in the US and been renewed for a second season

We interrupt this preview...

Kelsey Grammer is set to return to Channel 4.

The network have purchased the FOX sitcom Back To You in which he plays a newsreader at a local TV station. He is forced to work alongside his ex-girlfriend played by Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond.

In other news the Courtney Cox drama Dirt begins on Five US on Monday July 9th at 8.30pm while the second seasons of Weeds shows up on SKY One at last on August 5th

Preview Part 2

Channel 4 have not picked up as much this season as in previous years. They've got less money to spend and got burnt last year by buying several shows that got cancelled. Everyone seems very high on Reaper. This CW show is about a young guy looking for the easy way out, who decides to be a bounty hunter for the devil. I think it looks very ordinary indeed and I suspect may be bound for T4. Kevin Smith directed the pilot.



Also underwhelmed by the Big Bang Theory about two geeks who live next door to a beautiful woman. Looks like a warmed over version of Weird Science from about twenty years ago. It comes from Chuck Lorre who helmed Dharma and Greg and sadly Two and a Half Men.


Finally, one to get excited about. Dirty Sexy Money has a fabulous cast incouding Peter Krause, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh and is the story of a lawyer hired to protest the interests of a misbehaving Kennedy style dynasty . It airs on ABC this autumn and Channel 4 next year. Its written by Craig Wright who has Brothers and Sisters and Six Feet Under on his cv. Peter Horton directed the pilot.


Tomorrow we will check out ITV's pick-ups.

Early Season Preview Part 1

As the blog prepares to take a break for a couple of weeks, I thought I would leave you with a dozen previews of American shows to come on British television.

First up is Californication. This is the new David Duchovny comedy that also stars Natasha McElhone. It airs on Showtime and as you will see from the trailer its very much in cable territory. It looks a lot like the old Dream On series than HBO made. Stephen Hopkins directed the pilot. It starts in the US in August, expect it on Channel Five in the autumn.



Channel Five will also have the second season of Big Love which has just started airing on HBO. I thought the first run just got better and better and I hear season two is great



Finally here's a first look at the Sarah Connor Chronicles. It looks expensive thats for sure, but is there enough here to sustain a long running series? The FOX show has been bought by the new Virgin Media 1 network but presumably they could also show it on Bravo.



Next week we will look at new shows coming on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and SKY.

Bits and pieces

The BBC is reported to have bought Damages, the new Glenn Close/Ted Danson drama from FX. The legal show follows Close spending a year on The Shield........ITV are close to agreeing a deal for the new CW Josh Schwartz series Gossip Girl for screening on ITV2. Negotiations continue also for the re-imgained Bionic Woman starring Michelle Ryan......Four new characters will be on board to get grief from House next season.....Michael Imperioli may join Law and Order full time following his four episode stint last year.....ITV4 will screen the short-lived Rob Cordray comedy The Winner from Friday July 6th.....Virgin have bought The Sarah Connor Chronicles for their new Virgin 1 channel. The series stars Lena Headey as Sarah Connor with Thomas Dekker as her teenage son John, who has the power to save humanity.

Channel Four get two more

Channel Four have picked up two of the most buzzed about shows at the LA screenings.

Dirty Sexy Money is a family saga about a lawyer who protects the interests of a Kennedy-like family. Stars include Peter Krause, Jill Clayburgh, Donald Sutherland, William Baldwin, Zoe McLellan (Jag) and many others. The series will air on ABC in the autumn.

Reaper is the story of a slacker who works as a bounty hunter for the devil. The pilot was directed for the CW by Kevin Smith.

Bits and Pieces

Fox News reports that Law and Order are trying to tempt Bradley Whitford on board. The ex West Winger is now free of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and would replace Sam Waterston as ADA, as Waterston takes over the DA role. But Whitfords' salary and the fact that he lives in LA while the show shoots in New York may mean its nothing more than talk......John Laroquette will join Living's Boston Legal as Julie Bowen, Mark Valley and others are shown the door. The bad news is the show still won't be any good......FX will screen the first four seasons of the Wire back to back from July 23rd at 10pm, with one episode a week....James Burrows (Cheers, Frazier, Friends, Will and Grace etc) will be house director for Kelsey Grammar's Back To You, yet to be officially picked up in the UK.......Sci-Fi, still smarting from the loss of Heroes to the BBC, has bought the new version of Flash Gordon. Sadly if its any good SKY will probably have it off them.....Channel 4 have picked up the Big Bang Theory about two geeks who move in next door to a sexy neighbour. It can't be as dreadful as it sounds if Channel 4 bought it though.......CSI Miami returns to Channel 5 on July 17th........

Monday update

Multiple Oscar nominee Peter O'Toole will join the cast of Showtime's "The Tudors" next season, playing the pope who wants to excommunicate Henry VIII from the Catholic Church. The first series runs on BBC2 in the autumn...The New Adventures of Old Christine begins on UKTVG2 with a double bill on Monday July 9th. Julia Louis-Dreyfus as single mother Christine Campbell, who juggles work commitments at the women's gym she owns along with live-in brother Matthew, ex-husband Richard and his new, younger girlfriend, also called Christine.....The Shield returns to Channel Five with new episodes on Friday June 29th at 11pm.....

Jericho lives!!

Having cancelled Jericho, CBS have reversed their decision and picked up seven new episodes. Every season there are massive campaigns to save some show or other that has been given the bullet, but this is the first time it has worked. The fans sent nuts to CBS to protest the cancellation and now seem to have got their way. The show will return with a reduced cast and lower budget - but it will be back.....In other news Bradley Cooper (ex-Alias, Kitchen Confidential) is to join Nip/Tuck next season for five episodes....

ITV nab big shows

ITV have snapped up three of the most talked about shows screened at the US Upfronts this year

ABC's Pushing Daisies was raved about by most critics. From producer Barry Sonnenfeld and starring among others Anna Friel, the series tells the story of man who can bring people back to life by touching them, but they will die again if he touches them a second time.

CBS Swingtown stars This Life alum Jack Davenport and is the story of a group of swinging couple set in the seventies. It won't start in the US until mid-season.

ITV1 will screen both the above with Cane starring Jimmy Smits set for a digital airing. This Cuban family saga is a departure for CBS. Its also a risk for Smits who having joined LA Law and NYPD Blue in their second seasons and The West Wing even later will be trying to launch a show for the first time.

Prison Break escapes from Five

SKY One have stolen Prison Break from Channel Five. The third series will be shown exclusively by the satellite broadcaster. It comes a year after SKY snatched Lost from Channel Four.
SKY One have also picked up NBC's Journeyman. Kevin McKidd plays a San Francisco newspaper reporter who travels through time changing people's lives. Along the way, he also deals with the difficulties at work and home brought on by his sudden disappearances. Other cast members include Reed Diamond and Prison Break's Moon Bloodgood.
Both shows are from 20th Century Fox which is owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns SKY.

Schedule Update

Brothers and Sisters will now start on Channel 4 on Wednesday June 20th which gives them a long time to keep showing that trail. Rob Lowe will be jetting in to promote the show appearing, on among other things, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on June 15th........The Shield returns to Channel Five on Friday June 22nd, in a very late slot no doubt....ITV2 are repeating the first two series of Entourage ahead of series three.....

Bits and pieces

The second season of My Name Is Earl begins on Channel Four on Thursday June 14th at 10pm. Meanwhile the much trailed Brothers and Sisters is no longer in for Wednesday 13th. Instead E4 will premiere Runaway at 9pm, the shortlived Donnie Wahlberg/Leslie Hope show, from Darren Star. It looks like Brothers and Sisters might be heading for Fridays......Battlestar Galactica will end after its fourth season it has been confirmed. It returns in the US in January 2008 preceded by a special before the holiday season.....Fred Thompson is leaving Law and Order amid rumour that he is running for President, thats President of the United States not NBC......