THE TV COLUMN : Lineups get complicated as last shows return to air
Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008
We’re finally getting down to the last remaining programs returning after the long, cruel writers’ strike.
Today, Women’s Murder Club comes back to ABC for three “all-new” original episodes. The action kicks off at 9: 02 p.m. Why 9: 02 ? The network is messin’ with your head. And your DVR.
When an episode starts late, the network is hoping you’re too lazy from watching the previous show to reach down for the remote control and switch channels. It also means they can squeeze one more commercial into whatever program runs long.
The 9 p.m. hour is going to be a busy one tonight.
Also returning to the CBS schedule at 9 p.m. is Shark (like Club, another show that’s on the bubble ) for the final four episodes of season two. I assume they are “all-new” as well. It wouldn’t do to have a “halfnew” episode.
To make the decision even worse for viewers, The Riches, FX’s outstanding drama starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Irish Traveler con artists, airs its season finale at 9 p.m. today.
It’s a veritable TV lover’s dilemma.
Naturally, when you return one program, an odious domino effect takes place in the lineup.
The return of Women’s Murder Club means that Boston Legal gets bumped to 9 p.m. Wednesday starting this week. Boston Legal’s move means Men in Trees gets bumped to the sideline until Boston Legal is done for the season May 28.
To further complicate things, Boston Legal will be pre-empted May 7 for an ABC News special.
Ratings will suffer because viewers are creatures of habit and routine. They can’t be expected to follow a program — even a program they dearly love — as it skips around the schedule, comes and goes, and comes again.
Sadly, many times network programmers look at the ratings numbers and conclude that a series just doesn’t have the fan support to survive.
It remains to be seen whether the strike gives bubble programs another chance by sowing doubt in the minds of the programmers. They hate to toss out a show with any potential at all. If they can see a glimmer of life, then a show might survive to fight another day. Recap 1. In case you’ve forgotten, Women’s Murder Club is yet another police procedural on the tube. Viewers just can’t seem to get enough of murder. Where’s the gripping police procedural involving copyright infringement or identity theft ?
The drama is based on James Patterson’s popular novels and stars Angie Harmon as homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer; Paula Newsome as medical examiner Claire Washburn; Laura Harris as assistant district attorney Jill Bernhardt and Aubrey Dollar as crime reporter Cindy Thomas.
The four talented friends pool their expertise “to uncover clues to the city’s most grisly homicides.” Yeah, we love our TV grisly. The grislier the better.
Need proof ? CSI; CSI: Miami; CSI: New York; Law & Order; Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Law & Order: SVU; NCIS; Numb 3 rs; Criminal Minds; Medium; Bones; Dexter; Without a Trace; Cold Case and Hell’s Kitchen.
OK. Maybe that last one is stretching it a bit, but it is fairly grisly.
Is all that overkill (pun intended )? I think so. That’s why I really enjoy Monk and Psych. They are police procedurals with a lighthearted touch. Even when there’s a body or two, you don’t see them splayed out naked on an autopsy table with the magic bright white light obscuring the private parts.
In tonight’s Women’s Murder Club, Lindsay bends the rules to find a cop killer and gets an unwelcome visit from her estranged father (guest star Gerald McRaney ). Recap 2. Shark is a legal drama starring James Woods as brilliant, egotistical lawyer Sebastian Stark. He was a slick, ruthless, high-powered defense lawyer. Then he had an epiphany and now he’s a brilliant and egotistical deputy district attorney seeking redemption and running the Los Angeles District Attorney’s High Profile Crime Unit.
Does that mean we get to see grisly, grisly crimes ? I hope so. Can’t ever have enough.
In tonight’s episode, “Stark builds a case against a dangerous underworld kingpin as part of a covert deal that could save him from being disbarred for having covered up the murderous act of a client in 1996.” Who teaches the CBS publicity minions to use terms like “underworld kingpin” in a news release ?
Bigger news: Paula Marshall (who has been in 10 series since 1994 ) joins the show in a recurring role as a prosecutor.
Strike fallout. The writers ’ strike has affected premiere dates on the premium channels as well as the broadcast networks.
HBO’s Entourage has been delayed until fall. There still are no return dates for Big Love or Flight of the Conchords.
And of local interest, the last word is Alan Ball’s vampire drama True Blood has also been delayed until the fall.
True Blood is based on Arkansan Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries series. Oscarwinner Anna Paquin (The Piano ) will portray telepathic barmaid heroine Sookie Stackhouse. The TV column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail: mstorey@arkansasonline. com
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