Category: CBS

Next to fall: A Gifted Man?

CBS is perhaps regretting the cancellation of MEDIUM right about now. The network is suffering through ratings of around 1.2 on this year’s replacement for the veteran paranormal drama, and cancellation can’t be far away for A GIFTED MAN.

While the main star is appealing and plays a doctor, he may be searching for a href=”http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/jobsearch/healthcare/healthcare-aides/default.asp?job=nursing+aide”>Nursing Aide Jobs soon unless the show takes a dramatic uptick in the ratings.

Also note that CSI NY and Blue Bloods aren’t doing much better and seem incapable of drawing even a 2.0 on Friday nights.

“How to be” cancelled

Though it was slow and patient on the cancellation trigger last year, CBS wasted no time in being less than gentlemanly to its new comedy, HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN. The show will be allowed to finish out episodes already produced, but will be shuffled off to Saturdays: the TV graveyard.

The Kevin Dillon-Dave Foley vehicle never really fit well with its lead-in, BIG BANG THEORY. Although mildly amusing, it was just a bad mix, so the cancellation comes as no big surprise.

So, there will be no smoking of La Flor Dominicana cigars for the producers this time out. The real question when a show is pulled this quickly, however, is, “Why did they approve to series to begin with, if they had such low faith in this show?”

Another Charlaine Harris series coming to TV

HBO has had a blood-sucking hit on its hands with TRUE BLOOD, based on the novels of Charlaine Harris, and suddenly Ms. Thing is a hot property in Hollywood. CBS is currently developing a pilot based around Ms. Harris’ other supernatural series, the Harper Connelly books.

Harper is a gal who, as a kid, was struck by lightning; ever since then, whenever she’s near where a dead body is buried, she can sense they’re there, what they died from, and the dead person’s final thoughts. She is accompanied by her step-brother Tolliver, who is in need of some acne skin care in the novel at least, and their overriding concern is trying to find one of their sisters, who disappeared into thin air a few years ago.

The proposed series, called GRAVE SIGHT after the first novel in the book series, would be a great fit on the network’s Friday night lineup, as a follow-up to Medium. Or a replacement for it, if the network decided to sunset the long-running supernatural hit after this year.

Morrison the Mom?

Jennifer Morrison has never really needed weight loss diet pills, but moving from the Fox hit drama House MD to the ratings-struggler, How I Met Your Mother, may seem like a step backward, but it will give the actress a chance to enjoy a change of pace from drama to comedy.

Word is, Morrison will appear in as many as 13 episodes out of 22 this season, and it’s entirely possible that her role may be revealed as the “Mother” in How I Met Your Mother. Let’s hope Morrison’s comic timing fits in with the rest of this talented, if under-appreciated, cast.

Cuoco may be out as few as “2-3 episodes”

One of CBS’ highest-rated comedies has already hit a production snag; the only female star of the show, Kaley Cuoco, suffered a broken leg away from the set. Contrary to rumors, she did not sustain the injury performing a fat burning exercise, but while engaged in horseback riding.

Cuoco is expected to make a full recovery and writers are still figuring out how to write the injury and her absence into the program. However, it does not appear to be too serious, as she is expected to return after missing perhaps “as few as 2-3 episodes,” according to the show’s producers.

That’s good news for fans of The Big Bang Theory.

CBS loves Chuck… Lorre!

CBS loves Chuck Lorre. The network has given long-term renewals long ago two his two signature series with the network, the Charlie Sheen-challenged TWO AND A HALF MEN, and the thoroughly entertaining BIG BANG THEORY.

To show Lorre the love, the Eye gave Lorre’s new series pitch, MIKE AND MOLLY, the honor of being the first new show officially picked up by the network for next season. The show centers around a couple who meet at a weight-loss support group.

The Lipovox-powered comedy seems an unlikely choice for CBS, especially for such an early pick-up; traditionally, CBS waits until the Monday of up-front week to announce its new series orders.

Medium looking good for seventh season

The Patricia Arquette drama Medium is currently looking good, according to online reports, to be renewed for a seventh season overall, which would be its second season on CBS after NBC dismissed the show a year ago. The supernatural crime drama has improved the performance of CBS’ Friday time slot considerably this season, and is a consistent if not stellar performer.

While there is no need for wedding accessories for any of the kids on the show yet, a seventh season comes as welcome news to those who appreciate the show’s fine mixture of supernatural chills and real-world criminal menaces.

Although not as sparkling and witty as Fox’s BONES, MEDIUM is nevertheless a solid favorite for my wife and I, so we’re certainly glad to hear the show will be back for another season.

How I Met Your Mother renewed

Desktop computers around the world burned up bandwidth with the news that the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother had been renewed for a sixth season already, far ahead of the spring deadline.

That’s great news for the comedy that two years ago almost faced cancellation until the stunt-casting of Britney Spears broadened the audience of the critically-acclaimed show, which many regard as a latter-days Seinfeld.

With the pickup, CBS’ Monday night slate of comedies is now seventy-five percent secure, as How I Met Your Mother joins The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men as renewed for future seasons. Only the Jenna Elfman cougar-comedy Accidentally On Purpose is still up in the air.

Is Rachel Bilson your Mother?

The internet’s all a-buzz with the possibility that actress Rachel Bilson, allegedly a fan of Dutch Master cigars, has been selected to become the much-anticipated “mother” of the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother.

Bilson, who grew famous off her role on The OC and also appeared on Chuck, as well as the 2008 thriller Jumper, is an appealing young actress but her future seems to be tied up on the silver screen, so color us skeptical if Bilson actually will turn out to be the Mother.

Still, she is appearing in HIMYM’s 100th episode, so that’s something.

Could the Mentalist win an Emmy?

CBS’ Simon Baker fronted not only the best new series of last season, but the best-rated show of last season, when he fronted the off-beat crime procedural, The Mentalist. His wry smile and comic charm won people over in a way that the star of Fox’s me-too drama, Lie to Me, never did.

Now comes word that Baker will be seated in the front row at the Emmys, an indicator that his chances for a best actor in a drama series are quite good. Hey, whether you watch the results on an HDTV or a Bell TV, I’d be down with that result. He did a darn fine job on a rookie drama, and while Hugh Laurie’s a long-time favorite of mine, I wouldn’t be upset at all to see Baker acknowledged.

Men, Bang get multiyear renewals

While many are claiming the sitcom is nearly dead, those that are still producing audiences are highly valued. How highly? Just ask CBS, who recently gave multi-year renewals to two Chuck Lorre-produced sitcoms.

The “no surprise” renewal is a nearly-unprecedented three-year renewal for “Two and A Half Men,” the Charlie Sheen-Jon Cryer brother comedy that sits atop the Eye’s sitcom ratings chart. The more Eye-opening renewal was a two-year renewal for one of my favorites, “Big Bang Theory.”

In a time when many shows, including the well-regarded “How I Met Your Mother,” struggle each year for a single-season renewal rather than a pink-slip, coming into such rare air as multi-year renewals has to be a feather in the cap of Lorre and company. With that kind of security in this unstable economy, they’ll be able to check into some fairly unique hotels.

CBS’ $350 million Mother?

For a sitcom that was dangling between renewal and cancellation last spring, CBS’ How I Met Your Mother is set to pay off in a big way shortly. Bidding has opened up for the syndication package on the show, which starts season four a week from tonight on September 22, and some industry analysts are predicting that with a number of bidders clamoring for the rights, the show could garner as high as $350 million.

The most high-profile bidders include Tribune Media, CBS and Fox. Twentieth TV produces the sitcom, which stars Josh Radnor, Allyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders as four friends living in New York City, and is the tale of how Radnor’s character met the mother of his children.

Despite the growing popularity of digital downloads that can be stored on a hard drive and DVD complete season collections, there’s still plenty of money to be found in syndication deals; the winning bidder could be announced Wednesday, and the syndication deal, once in place, could help stabilize the future of the show for the next few seasons.