Category: Television

GOING DIGITAL
ABC and CBS on Wednesday announcing increased commitments to high-definition broadcasting in the upcoming fall season. ABC will air more than 13 hours of HD programming per week, while CBS will lead all networks with 27 hours.

STAKE OUT
Actress Eliza Dushku reprising her role as evil vampire slayer Faith in this season’s last five episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and three episodes of the WB’s Angel.

IT’S BACK!
With Fox enjoying mega-success with American Idol, CBS executives ordering up nine episodes of an updated Star Search, the syndicated variety series that started it all. A new host is expected to replace original emcee Ed McMahon when it bows sometime in 2003.

It’s down to two on “American Idol.”
Nikki McKibbin, 23, from Grand Prairie, Texas, was the latest to get booted from the hit Fox talent show, in which the grand prize is a recording contract.
“What an incredible journey this has been,” McKibbin wept moments after she was told the bad news.
“Just to know that so many people support me and enjoy what I do means so much. It’s been worth it every step of the way. I couldn’t ask for better fans or better exposure.”
McKibbin drew the fewest viewer votes out of the millions cast this week.
With McKibbin gone, the stage is now set for next week’s highly anticipated final showdown between Justin Guarini of Doylestown, Pa., and Kelly Clarkson of Burleson, Texas.
Guarini, 23, and Clarkson, 20, will square off next Tuesday night during a live performance. One of them will be revealed as the show’s ultimate winner on Wednesday night.
“American Idol” is based on last year’s British hit, “Pop Idol.”
That show launched the singing career of winner William Young and helped land recording deals for a few of the show’s other contestants.
“American Idol” – described as a cross of “Survivor” and “Star Search” – has drawn a combined total audience averaging about 11 million viewers since its debut in June.
Tuesday night’s broadcast drew about 15 million viewers, the show’s best ratings to date.

Tom Cavanagh to Guest Star on ‘Scrubs’
“Ed” star Tom Cavanagh and “Scrubs” lead Zach Braff bear a strong resemblance to one another. You could say they look enough alike to be brothers.
The producers of “Scrubs” must have thought so too, because Cavanagh will play Braff’s older brother in an episode of the show this fall.
The Halloween-themed episode will air Thursday, Oct. 31. Cavanagh’s character will pay a visit to J.D. (Braff) at the hospital where J.D. works as a second-year resident. Braff’s TV family also includes John Ritter (ABC’s “8 Simple Rules” ), who played J.D.’s dad in an episode last season.
Cavanagh returns for “Ed’s” third season on Oct. 2, where Ed is presumably still pining for Carol Vessey (Julie Bowen) while insisting he’s not.

Miller’s ‘Live’ Is Over
After Friday, Aug. 30, “Dennis Miller Live” will live no more.
The nine-year-old HBO series ends its 215-episode run with a visit from actor Vince Vaughn. The “Swingers” star will discuss “Confidence” with Miller.
Each episode of the series opened with a monologue by Miller, a rant about the week’s topic, a live chat with a guest, viewer call-ins and a wrap-up of the week’s events. Past guests included celebrities like Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Jerry Seinfeld. The show also featured political figures like Bill Bradley, Joycelyn Elders and Ann Richards.
“Dennis Miller Live” was the first of what would be several HBO series to win an Emmy. The show has won five awards since its April 1994 debut.
Miller is looking toward the future now that “Live” is ending. “It’s been a great run, and now Iím ready to try something new,” he says.
The final episode airs on Friday, Aug. 30 on HBO at 11:30 p.m. ET, and in Canada at 9:30 EST on Tuesday, September 2nd.

ABC Greenlights A ‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’ Prequel

ABC has greenlit a two-hour TV movie prequel to the 1997 feature film “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.”
The project, tentatively “Romy and Michele: Behind the Velvet Rope,” takes place in the early 1990s, before the events depicted in the feature, which starred Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow. The TV movie follows the best friends as they head to Hollywood after graduating from high school.
The picture could also serve as a backdoor pilot leading to a series.
Cast and shooting location are to be determined, though a premiere on ABC is likely sometime this coming TV season.

Senator to Seek Justice on ‘Law & Order’

It’s official. Retiring Republican Senator Fred Thompson is returning to acting this fall, playing a conservative district attorney on NBC’s long-running series “Law & Order,” producers said on Tuesday.
Thompson, 60, who announced earlier this year that he will leave the Senate when his term expires in January, will become the first member of Congress to appear as a TV show regular while still in office.
The 13th season of “Law & Order,” currently the longest- running show on TV, premieres Oct. 2, with Thompson joining the cast as the newly elected New York City district attorney.
Thompson’s character replaces interim D.A. Nora Lewin, played for two seasons by Dianne Wiest, who will not return to the show. She took over for Steven Hill, who had portrayed D.A. Adam Schiff since the series debut in 1990 and was the last original cast member to leave the series.
The election of Thompson’s character is “definitely a reaction to 9/11,” said Michael Chernuchin, an executive producer of the series. “His political leanings are a little more to the right than former D.A.s on the show. He is a ‘strict constructionist.’ That is, for him, the Constitution is what it says and it is nothing more.”
Thompson also will appear occasionally on two spin-off series, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” according to Universal Television, a unit of Vivendi Universal .
The ripped-from-the-headlines drama about New York City police detectives and prosecutors ranked last season as the fifth-highest rated series on U.S. television. The show, from veteran producer Dick Wolf, has garnered a record 11 straight Emmy nominations as best drama series, winning the coveted award in 1997.
Thompson, who once said life in Washington made him “long for the sincerity and realism of Hollywood,” announced in March he would not seek re-election this year because he “simply did not have the heart for another six-year term.”
The Tennessee Republican, who previously served as a federal prosecutor and Senate Watergate counsel, won a special election to a two-year Senate term in 1994. He won a full six-year term in 1996.
Before his Senate career, Thompson appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, including “In the Line of Fire,” “Die Hard 2” and “The Hunt for Red October.”
Several lawmakers on Capitol Hill found fame on television before serving in Congress, including the late Sonny Bono, Fred Grandy, who played Gopher on “The Love Boat,” and Ben Jones, who was Cooter on “The Dukes of Hazzard.” And many incumbent politicians have made guest appearances on TV shows over the years.

Hip to be Square for Reynolds
Burt Reynolds will be among the stars sitting in the centre square when the syndicated game show Hollywood Squares returns next month.
Reynolds, who appeared on the original Squares in the ’60s, has signed for a two-week stint. Other centre square signings include Ellen DeGeneres and Alec Baldwin.
Whoopi Goldberg, also a former producer on the show, split in a recent Squares housecleaning. New executive producer Henry “The Fonz” Winkler has decided on a rotating series of centre square stars until a new Paul Lynde can be found.

‘Buffy’ Rates Worst Show for Families
A parents group applauded broadcasters Wednesday for embracing more family-friendly programming in prime-time, yet scolded television’s two most popular shows for being among the raciest.
Both NBC’s “Friends” and CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” made the Parents Television Council list of the 10 worst shows in prime-time.
Little-watched “Doc,” a Pax TV drama about a country doctor who moves to New York City, was named the best show on television by the conservative watchdog group for its “uplifting and inspirational” themes.
After years when it was considered unhip, there’s been a slight movement toward more family-friendly programming in prime-time, with ABC and the WB network lately making it a priority. ABC has blamed its recent ratings trouble partly on a decision to move away from that audience.
“It definitely is a heartening development,” said Melissa Caldwell, the PTC’s research director.
UPN’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was rated the worst show in prime-time, with the PTC condemning it for graphic violence and sex, and an element of the occult.
The group criticized TV’s most popular comedy, “Friends,” for basing much of its humor on sexual references or situations. The PTC said the show, which also featured two unmarried characters having a baby this spring, was inappropriate for its 8 p.m. time slot.
Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel character gave birth in the season’s final episode.
“I’m not really sure why it passed without much discussion,” Caldwell said. “But it’s certainly not a good role model, especially considering how popular the show is with teenage viewers.”
“CSI” was criticized for dealing graphically with themes of incest and sadomasochism. The show has had a meteoric rise in popularity, often besting “ER” as viewers’ favorite drama.
Four WB shows ó “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” “Reba,” “Smallville” and “7th Heaven” ó made the PTC’s list of best shows for families.
But “Gilmore Girls” ó a WB show that was created specifically through funding provided by advertisers interested in family-friendly programming ó was left off the list. Caldwell said her group was concerned about some of the mother’s relationships in the show.