More TV show victims (ABC)

[reefa]

Three ABC programs hear no pickup lines
By James Hibberd

ABC made a flurry of midseason programming announcements Thursday, including ordering more episodes of "Life on Mars" and deciding against picking up "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Eli Stone" for a full season.

The network informed producers of "Daisies," "Money" and "Stone" that no additional hours will be ordered at this time.

Actively avoiding the c-word, the network left the door open for ordering episodes in the future, though that is considered unlikely. The trio remain on the schedule for next week, and "Money" and "Stone" will finish their current production order (on their 12th and 13th episodes, respectively). "Daisies" has finished shooting.

Starting on Dec. 11, ABC will put "Mars" on hiatus and move "Private Practice" into its time period, giving the medical drama a "Grey's Anatomy" lead-in. "Practice" will air in repeats until it returns to originals Jan. 8.

The move gives "Mars," which started production later than most fall shows, more time to stockpile some additional episodes. ABC also ordered four more hours from 20th Century Fox and ABC Studios.

"Mars" will return at 10 p.m. Jan. 28, airing after "Lost," which premieres the previous week.

ABC also set a premiere date for "Scrubs," which the network picked up this year after NBC canceled the veteran comedy.

"Scrubs" will have its ABC premiere at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6. ABC will air an hour of back-to-back episodes for two weeks, then "Scrubs" will settle in as a single half-hour at 9:30 p.m. The network hasn't announced which half-hour program will serve as a lead-in, though one likely option is the new Mike Judge animated comedy "The Goode Family."

[BrettCullum]

Well... you just knew PUSHING DAISIES was too good to last. It was a high concept show with awesome production values, a great cast, and inventive storytelling. It felt like a new Tim Burton movie every week! It was too smart for its own good. But I do have to say after watching religiously the episodes did seem to start feeling repetitive and they repeated a lot of things too. For it to have a long life it would have to make major changes every half season or so... and unfortunately we will never see if they were up to that challenge.

Surprising that LIFE ON MARS is only going to hiatus with a comeback scheduled in tandem with LOST. Again it is a high concept show with a great cast and inventive storytelling. I didn't get past the first couple of episodes though, finding the British original eclipsed it far too much. But I will be shocked if it goes past a full season and in to a second year, because how long can we stay in a fictional '70s NYC without revealing what is going on? Ironically it is now paired with the KING of "never revealing anything" with its LOST lead in. Welcome to WTF WEDNESDAY on ABC.

So is good television an endangered species? ABC's biggest draw is DANCING WITH THE STARS...

[reefa]

Would be kinda nice if I actually searched the threads. Anyway, feel free to merge/close appropriately.

[molly1216]

Pushing Daisies should have been on SHOWTIME from day one.

[cdouglas]

Agh. For a while, it seemed like network television was really going in some compelling new directions (outside of the whole reality trend), but now it seems that we're retreating back into mediocrity. Very disappointed about all of this news. Wonder which network will host the inevitable premiere of Ow! My Balls!? Ah, well.

[Jim_Thomas]

Pushing Daisies?

Now I'm pissed.

So is good television an endangered species?

It sure as hell is on ABC. PD was the only ABC show I've watched over the past 2-3 years.

[linoaqui1]

There is uncertainty about the life span for this show. Despite documented evidence in the "Episode List" to the contrary, it has been assumed the The ABC Afterschool Special were a fatality of the first U.S. war with Iraq. Then again, it may have just been that more and more ABC affiliates got sick of wasting one hour each month that could have been devoted to Oprah Winfrey.




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Ka-Blogs

[barnaclelapse]

Pushing Daisies should have been on SHOWTIME from day one.

Hells yes, it should have.

[booklover]

I'm hoping "Better Off Ted" gets renewed, but I'm not hoping my breath.