ABC will try to build on success
Geena Davis will portray a female president and Freddie Prinze a luckless bachelor surrounded by women next season on ABC, which released a fall schedule Tuesday designed to capitalize on this season’s unexpected success.
ABC liberally shuffled its schedule but didn’t touch Sundays, where the network’s fortunes improved dramatically after “Desperate Housewives” became a hit.
Meanwhile, the youth-obsessed WB network unveiled a schedule heavily dependent on stars from another era like Melanie Griffith, her ex-husband Don Johnson (not together) and Fran Drescher.
On ABC, “Alias” switches to Thursday, “George Lopez” to Wednesday, “Boston Legal” to Tuesday and “Supernanny” to Friday. One of the network’s biggest new hits, “Lost,” moves back an hour to 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
ABC canceled the Damon Wayans comedy “My Wife and Kids” and “8 Simple Rules,” which survived two years following the death of star John Ritter. “Blind Justice” and “Extreme Makeover” were also axed. “Less Than Perfect” will return in midseason.
But the network surprisingly renewed a handful of comedies that seemed threatened by poor ratings: “Hope & Faith,” “George Lopez” and “Jake in Progress.”
In “Commander-in-Chief,” co-starring Donald Sutherland, Davis assumes the presidency with twin teenagers and a 6-year-old at home.
Three decades after his late father became a sitcom star on “Chico and the Man,” Prinze will lead “Freddie,” playing a chef who lives with his sister, sister-in-law, niece and grandmother.
The new drama “Invasion,” about an alien attack, is “a big show in the vein of ‘Lost,’ in terms of high concept and being noisy and exciting,” said Stephen McPherson, ABC entertainment president.
September’s schedule will also include “Hot Properties,” a comedy about four women who work in a Manhattan real estate office; and a remake of the short-lived 1970s occult series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”
After football season, ABC will turn Mondays into a showcase for single people looking for love, with a new comedy starring Heather Graham and a new drama about the last man in a group of friends to get married.
The WB’s new schedule casts Johnson in “Just Legal” as an alcohol-soaked lawyer who teams with an 18-year-old whiz kid. Griffith plays a ditzy mom in the situation comedy “Twins,” while Drescher’s cradle-robbing comedy “Living with Fran,” a midseason success, returns on Friday nights.
Other new fall series are “Related,” a drama about four sisters created by a former “Friends” producer and “Sex and the City” writer; and “Supernatural,” about two brothers navigating a terror-filled world of the unexplained.
The WB canceled “Steve Harvey’s Big Time,” “Grounded for Life” and “Jack & Bobby.”
Despite a relentless search for the hip and happening, the WB’s most popular show, “7th Heaven,” will return for a 10th season on Mondays at 8 p.m. – making it the longest-running family drama ever on TV. It will be followed by “Just Legal” at 9.
“Supernatural” will follow “Gilmore Girls” at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays, while “Related” will air at 9 p.m. Wednesday after “One Tree Hill.” Thursdays will have “Smallville” at 8 p.m., followed by “Everwood.”
“What I Like About You” leads off Fridays at 8 p.m., followed by “Twins” at 8:30, “Reba” at 9 and “Living With Fran” at 9:30. Sunday night’s lineup starts off with “Reba” reruns at 7 and 7:30, with “Charmed” at 8 and “Blue Collar TV” at 9.