Today’s Weekly TV Wrap Up will have a little One Tree Hill (Something a bit new, but a reader asked about the show.), some more on Dollhouse after the finale and Lie To Me news. We also touch on David E. Kelley’s disappointment, the dumping of a few shows by NBC and how Fox seems to be treating Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality just like Dollhouse, but worse – If you can imagine that. I also have some David Tennant news for you.

Despite the season finales, it’s a bit of a quiet week for me.  Of course, I have the TV ratings from last week and a bit of a surprise at the end of the post, if you make it that far.

Shall we get on with it?

One Tree Hill (Might Be Considered SPOILERS)

It looks as if Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton are not returning for the 7th season of One Tree Hill.

Apparently a deal could not be brokered for their contracts to return to the show and that’s a shame considering the popularity of the show.  I presume it was about pay raises and not the fans, but it is what it is.

The CW will be filling these two roles with three new characters.  The newbie roles will be an older sister for Haley, a sports agent for Nathan, and an diva that Brooke hires for her clothing line. On top of that, Austin Nichols (Julian) will become a regular.

You asked us in the comments, we answered!

Source:  EW

Dollhouse Has Not Been Sent To The Attic Quite Yet

I’m not holding my breath on this one, but word on the street is that Joss Whedon is pitching his vision of season two and looking at how the show can appear financially feasible to the advertisers.

So maybe there’s a little hope?  It’s Fox… If they renew, they’ll probably move them to midnight Friday nights.

Source: Whedon Info

Lie To Me Renewed

Fox has renewed Lie To Me and in the same process (more or less) has hired The Shield creator Shawn Ryan to be the new showrunner.

Human Target Gets A Chance

Human Target, starring Mark Valley (remember him, the in-Olivia’s-head ghost and ex-boyfriend in Fringe?) will star in the show.

Human Target will be about a man who changes identity each week for a client, taking his place in a dangerous situation.

Some say that with the personality changes that go on in the show, it might be compared to Dollhouse but “they” say it’s more along the lines of 24.  Sure.  Anything to pitch a show.

Source:  THR Feed

Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality May Be Short Lived

Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor’s fox project titled Virtuality is getting the short stick from Fox. What was originally reported as a possible sci-fi series for Fox looks to be only getting a single day air-date of July 4th as a TV movie.

Yea, the same July 4th that is the least watched night of television of the year – for some reason… I can’t recall right now.  Cool, they can now join Dollhouse in the time-slot shafting department.  Oh.  I didn’t say that.

It’s been said that the show had been submitted to Fox and then returned for a re-editing.  This is like a parallel story line.  What is it with Fox and the shows of PROVEN SHOWRUNNERS?  I am befuddled.

Viruality revolves around a starship that had a malfunctioning virtual reality system.  The cast included Clea DuVall, James D’Arcy, Jimmi Simpson, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Joy Bryant, Kerry Bishe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Sienna Guillory.

Sources:  Variety & SF Universe

NBC passes on a David E. Kelley Pilot

If you’re a David E. Kelley fan looking forward to his next project, you can put it in park.  His new show, called Legally Mad, had the plug pulled by NBC.  Eh.  I like his stuff.

Speaking of plugs, Fox pulled the plug on their poorly performing cartoon, Sit Down, Shut Up.  Maybe it was the rude title that did not lure people in.

Source:  Variety

For The David Tennant Fan

David Tennant has landed the role of hosting the long running television show called Masterpiece Contemporary. He’ll be filling shoes that have been filled by the likes of Alan Cumming and Laura Linney.

The Masterpiece series began as Masterpiece Theatre in 1971, and now also encompasses a sister series, Mystery.

Source:  Salisbury Journal co.uk

Last Weeks Ratings Numbers for May 4th to 10th 2009

The top-10 shows stayed the same but moved a little up or down, but more or less, the same.

CSI Miami moved up 5 spots, gaining over 1.5 million viewers from the week before.  As House on Fox built up to their phenomenal season finale, they moved up 4 spots.  Castle made a massive 17 spot jump to 23rd in the ratings as they gained around 1.5 million viewers.

One of my favs, The Unit, stayed static around 25th with just under 10 million viewers on Sundays, but that’s not enough for CBS and word on the street is that it won’t be coming back next year.  Buggers.

So let’s see what the numbers looked like from last week, courtesy of TV By The Numbers.

I Did Say I Had A Surprise For You

We all miss Firefly and we miss The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The common denominator?  Summer Glau.

The super nice people over at Whedon Info posted a nice picture to help us remember Summer between gigs.  Enjoy team!

And don’t forget, sound off on any info you want to know about next week and don’t forget to tell all your friends, relatives and co-workers about this uber cool website.

• Weekly TV Wrap-Up – June 4th 2009
• Virtuality’s Ratings Flatline in Friday Night Dead Space
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 7th 2009
• FOX To Air All 13 Episodes of Dollhouse
• The Friday Night Death Slot: Sarah Connor Chronicles & Dollhouse
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville

This is the weekly TV update coming at you yet again.  Today I chat about how Numbers has survived on Friday nights, I share my suspicions on what will happen with Chuck on NBC and I celebrate a bit about Fringe on Fox.

I’ll also touch on how the new Wolverine movie has already had its TV rights secured while I tell you about a couple of upcoming Sci-Fi Channel marathons, and then I’ll close with some depressing inclinations about Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  At the very bottom, past my ratings chart, I actually make a suggestion about an episode of Criminal Minds that I suggest hunting down to watch.  (Yes, I make a recommendation.)

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Numbers Survives On Fridays

Even though the viewing audience does not like programmable personalities, they sure do seem to like Numbers on CBS because it keeps trudging along despite airing on Fridays.

The show is about solving the crime of the week using mathematical calculations and you wouldn’t think a concept like that would jive with viewers who slurp up reality TV.  Heck, it’s a great surprise to me that Numbers has survived this long.

In reaching it’s 100th episode milestone, CBS is leaving the show in its present Friday night time-slot because it has a loyal following and they don’t want to upset the applecart.  FOX…  helloooooo?  Applecart?  Dollhouse?  Oh, Nevermind.

Source: Variety

Did I Hear Someone Asking About Chuck On NBC?

Chuck got 25% of the votes from an E Online survey about rescuing shows and there’s a lot going on right now to help Chuck survive.  But I have a bad feeling something is amiss.

Maybe it’s my natural distrust of the system but I think we’ve seen an interesting and probably honest mistake by the keepers of the web over on NBC. Check out the screen captures below of the Chuck website.

If you look real close that the middle of the right side, there’s the next on block…  here, let me zoom in for you:

Yes… it said at one point SERIES FINALE for Chuck.

The wording has since been changed but is this a taste of things to come?  Was NBC referring to the last episode of Chuck because that’s their intent and they’re just placating the fans by not making any decisions right away?  Or was that just an honest mistake?

The sharp guys over on TV by The Numbers thinks it was a screw up.  Color me suspicious, but I think the non-messages are adding up, hate it as I may to say that.

If Chuck does come back it will probably be on a different night because it looks like they will be pairing up Heroes with the new comedy, Parenthood.  Crickets…  What an odd combination of shows.  Which one are they trying to kill off?

Come on NBC, surprise me and renew Chuck!

Sources:  TV By The Numbers, THR Feed, EW

Fringe Gets Renewed

Didn’t I say last week that Fringe will probably be renewed? Fringe has been the number one performing (scripted) drama of the season for Fox and they’ve ordered a full 22 episodes for season 2.  After what Sci-Fi did to Battlestar Galactica, I’m always nervous to reference 22 episodes as a whole season.  Thanks Sci-Fi!  (No, I’m not bitter.)

Also – Keep your eyes out for Leonard Nimoy in the May 12th season finale of Fringe.

Side note:  Is that a Slusho in Walter’s hand?  Yes… and if you look carefully at any of J.J. Abrams other shows, you’ll see it pop up in the most surprising moments.  (I think I might do a report on that unnatural phenomenon.  What do you think?)

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

FX Network Is Getting Aggressive And Has Bucks To Spend

The TV guy gets to talk about movies for a change.  Cool!

Even though X-Men Origins: Wolverine has only been out for less than a week, FX smells a good thing when they see one and went on a spending spree.

The FX cable network has bought the network rights to broadcast Wolverine.  In fact, this isn’t the only movie they’ve snagged up.  In a massively expensive deal they’ve also acquired the network rights to Taken, Marley and Me, The Wrestler, the wonderfully stoic (read: boring) remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bride Wars, 12 Rounds and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

This is a big package deal and it can only be seen as an investment.

These latest acquisitions can be added to the network rights they’ve previously acquired for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Hancock and DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda.

DVR, meet FX.  FX, meet my DVR.

Source: Variety

Family Guy Spin-off, Cleveland:  Already Renewed! (Weird)

If you order a show and it does well enough in the ratings, you order a 2nd season.  Right?  Well, in my world that’s how it’s done but what do I know?  (You don’t have to answer that.)

Fox ordered this spinoff from Family Guy called Cleveland.  The folks at Fox have gotten so excited about the show that they’ve already ordered a 2nd season… and it has yet to even premiere.  Yep, you read that right.  It hasn’t even aired yet.

First it was a 13 episode order, then they ordered more, making it a 22 episode order.  Then they got even more excited and ordered more, making it a 35 episode order.

From the looks of things Fox is locking up it’s animated talent so they don’t drift off to other network.  Or, the guys at Fox just have  a ton of faith in Seth MacFarlane at this point.

Cleveland is the product of Seth MacFarlane, Rich Appel and Mike Henry with MacFarlane and Henry also doing some of the voice talent for the show.

Source:  The Hollywood Reporter

Sci-Fi Channel Marathons

Over on the Sci-Fi Channel, we have a couple of all-day marathons coming at us.

If you’ve gotten this far in the article, and you’re a Star Trek fan, the Sci-Fi Channel is having a Star Trek marathon on Friday, May 8th.  It’s Star Trek: Enterprise, but at the end of the day, Star Trek: First Contact will air.  I’m guessing they’re trying to capitalize on the opening day hype of J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

If there are any Eureka fans in the crowd here, there will be a Eureka marathon on May 10th.

Source:  The Sci Fi Channel

Dollhouse and Sarah Connor

Dollhouse may have a faithful following, but the ratings aren’t reflecting that there are enough of the faithful tuning in.  Last weeks episode drew it’s worse estimated overnight ratings to date, with a 1.9 / 3 share.  (Huh?  I like using millions because it’s much easier to digest without having to consult my higher reasoning.  A rating point represents approximately 1 million viewers.  The share # is the % of TV’s that were turned on and tuned into the program.  I know it’s not hard, but I like the big numbers.)

The Sarah Connor Chronicles has an even stronger following than Dollhouse and yet Fox is silent about their plans on the show.

Over on E Online they had a “save the show” kind of poll and after all was said and done, TSCC had 53% of the vote.  It sounds impressive but that only accounts for 150k+ potential viewers.  That’s not millions, so I’m guessing Fox or the advertisers probably don’t care.

Josh Friendman, the show runner, hasn’t even heard from Fox so he’s in the dark as much as we are.

Sources:  Airlock Alpha, E Online

TV Ratings from April 27th to May 3rd

The Ratings for the last week had it’s usual ups and downs while Fox held on to the top spots with American Idol.  I have to say, if Adam doesn’t win this season, the voting process needs to change big time.  He is a true talent in the scheme of things.

Of the top 5 shows, 2 were scripted dramas.  Go NCIS and The Mentalist!  The Mentalist gained ~ 5 million viewers from the week before and jumped into the 4th slot.

Though 24 is getting better with each week, it oddly slipped from 16th to 22nd but the number of viewers remained the same. 

Fringe dropped 11 spots (dOh!) to 29th while retaining the number of viewers.

NBC’s newest hot show Southland (so they say) dropped 14 spots to 48th while losing 2 million viewers.

The Unusuals continued its downward slide by 9 spots to be 63rd of 90 shows, losing an additional million viewers in the process.

Bruce’s Closing Thought

Did anyone catch the April 29th Criminal Minds episode titled “Big Wheel”, where Alex O’Loughlin guest starred?  I have never seen an actor transform so differently between television roles like Alex did for this one.  In fact I watched the episode and it wasn’t until the teaser opener was done that I recognized his eyes.  And if I didn’t know at some point he was guest starring, I’d never have caught it.  He changed his looks, his voice and mannerisms to the point of being this character.

Aside from O’Loughlin guest starring, for the first time in my life, I felt truly bad for the murderer.  O’Loughlin pulled this off in a way I never expected and if you are even a partial fan of either the franchise or the actor, TRACK IT DOWN. That’s my recommendation for the week.

After seeing that, I truly am looking forward to his new pilot on CBS, a medical drama called Three Rivers.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – February 26th, 2009
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• Fox Announces Fall TV Lineup & Squirms On Sarah Connor

This week’s weekly TV report from April 30th, 2009 chats a little about Chuck’s sandwich run, the probable return of Fringe, a new character for Burn Notice and how Harper’s Island is not only sinking, but moving – much like the island on Lost!  We’ve also got some syndication news on My Own Worst Enemy, Knight Rider and Dollhouse.  Yep, syndication news on Dollhouse.  That can’t be good.  Read on folks!

Chuck Takes Fans To Subway

Though they feel they’re currently on the good side of the ratings / cancel bubble, the cast of Chuck are still trying to take care of their sponsors.

While the cast was attending a Starfury convention T1 event in Birmingham, U.K., a fan suggested they try to help the show by supporting a sponsor, in this case, Subway. Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin (who else would have done this?) then asked those in attendance if they’d follow them to a local Subway. Sure enough, they ended up leading about 400 convention attendees to the poor beleaguered sandwich shop. That would have sucked to be the guy behind the counter when this unruly gang showed up!

Zachary even got behind the counter and helped out until the very last customer was taken care of. Some headlines said they treated the fans, but I think they meant treated fans to their company.  Not treated as in buying them sandwiches.

Now we wait and see if Chuck gets renewed. But we need to keep something in mind: because NBC is cutting hours out of the prime-time schedule to make room for Jay Leno’s show, it’s hard to say what show is safe and not safe.  We can only hope for Chuck to make the grade.

Source: End Of Show

Fringe Will Probably Be Back

If J.J. Abrams has anything to say about it, Fringe will be back for a second season. In fact he said so! No, there’s no official word, but he’s talking as if he knows something, so there’s that. As it stands, he says they have some pretty dynamic stuff in store for a second season.

On an interesting note, Abrams admitted that he has very little to do ABC’s Lost at this point in time and that it’s all Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and Jack Bender who are doing a spectacular job.

Sidenote: Though Fox will air 22 episodes of Fringe, they’ve shot 23, because Fox originally bought 23 episodes. We can expect the see the 23rd episode next season.  Does this almost sound familiar or what (the mysterious Dollhouse 13th episode)?

Fringe season 1 finale is on May 12th.

Source: Sci Fi WIre

Dollhouse, Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy to Sci-Fi

It’s being reported that Dollhouse, Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy are all headed to syndication mode over on the Sci-Fi Channel.  But before anyone gets their hopes up, it’s the Sci-Fi in the UK, so UK readers rejoice.

To be honest, when Sci-Fi picks up another network show, that is because it has usually gone into repeat mode and it won’t have any new episodes.

I wonder if Fox letting Sci-Fi get the rights for UK distribution of Dollhouse is some kind of death knell for the Joss Whedon project?  Typical… welcome to Friday, say goodnight Gracie.

Source:  Digital Spy, Digital Spy,

Burn Notice Gets A New Character

The cast of Burn Notice got a new character whose name is Tom Strickler. He’s a smooth talking freelance spy broker who says he has the ability to cancel Michael’s burn notice.

Strickler will be played by Ben Shenkman and is slated for at least 4 episodes and he will show up in mid-season.

Burn Notice is slated to return for its 3rd season in mid-June.

PS: Don’t forget, not only are we getting a 3rd season, but USA Network (NBC Owned) had renewed the show for 2 seasons, so we have a 4th season coming next year!

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Harper’s Island Moved to Saturday Nights

Ratings aren’t backing up the weekly escapades of a frenzied mystery killer on Harper’s Island. Because no one is buying into it, the show is getting pushed to the second-worst night of the week and that’s Saturday (seeing as how Fox has Friday night all squared away and all).

But CBS is quick to point out that the 7-day playback ratings are good outside Harper’s Island’s Thursday night air time. Are those studio execs good at attempted spin, or what? The last pick-up truck I rolled and destroyed, the radio still worked!  See?  I could work for CBS.

Starting May 2nd, Harper’s Island will be on at 9PM and will be the lead-in for 48 Hours Mystery on CBS.

Source: CBS Press

ABC’s Renewed Shows

ABC has announced their list of shows that are coming back next year. To be thorough, I’m adding everything, though I cringe at some of it.

The shows renewed for the 2009 – 2010 season are:

Lost, Ugly Betty and others. Oh… I said thorough, didn’t I? They’ll also be bringing back America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, (Because on-air break ups are all the rage these days.) Brothers & Sisters, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Supernanny, and Wife Swap. (I can’t help but think interesting thoughts with that last show title. Sorry.)

Source: ABC

Is Fox Making A Political Statement?

On Wednesday, Fox Broadcasting Company did not air President Obama’s Wednesday nights news conference. They’re opted to air Lie To Me and their bread winning reality show, the results episode of American Idol.

It was an interesting bit of gamble and social statement and sadly, the social statement was surprising as ratings between the shows were comparably even.

Wow – reality TV trumps the President.  But then, it is Fox.  (Note: The CW never breaks for presidential telecasts.)

Source: TV Guide, E Online

Weekly Ratings Reported

The usual shows sat in the top 10 slots yet again. CSI stayed strong. Last week the repeat (R) of Criminal Minds sat in 19th and the new episode popped into 6th.

NCIS held on to a top 10 spot, though this week’s the episode introduced it’s cast / team for it’s new spin-off show. Did anyone catch it? What did you think. I’m betting it’s in the top 5 in next week’s chart.

Lost lost it and dropped to 43rd from last week’s 28th spot. I think people are getting tired of non-linear stories.  But this weeks episode was pretty decent in my opinion…  oh, they stayed fairly linear this week.  Sort of.

Castle popped up 8 spots to 32nd while Southland surprisingly faded from 25 to 34th. Harper’s Island keeps sliding down the chart, now sitting in 41st, while Heroes slid down to 49th. What is up with that?

Chuck held steady, while Smallville moved up from 83rd to 75th. Supernatural held fast while Dollhouse and Prison Break are still suffering the Friday night slot.

Look for your favorite show in the list below and tell us your thoughts on the different issues at hand here this week!

• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 7th 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 19th, 2009
• Weekly TV Update – April 23rd, 2009