a few nights ago they hyped tonight as a two hour practice event
too bad it was a rerun

They better bring back Dragnet and not F it up. That is a show meant to center around 1 detective so I hope they don't dilute it with this female nonsense. That's what guest stars are for.

That's the first thing that I noticed.

I wouldn't mind seeing Ethan Embry go.

I am disappointed that veritas was canceled. I enjoyed the 4 episodes that was on. It was better than most of the garbage on Monday nights.

Correction. The bad, predictable, derivative scripts prematurely killed this series.



I'm glad to see the move away from reality TV, but I can't say I'm excited about 12 new sitcoms... (although, 10-11 dramas likely means that 1 or 2 of them could be decent).

Oh well, as long as they keep Alias and NYPD Blue on the air, I'll keep watching.

Having seen every episode of all three shows, I would rather have Jim and Bonnie than Miracles. That's not to say anything bad about Miracles, just that there are precious few funny comedies on the air, let alone family comedies, and I'd like these to stay around, along with 8 Simple Rules ..., which is easily the best of the group.

Anyway, good to see them admitting how they royally ****ed everything up a few years back. It's still funny how they want to center on "relationship dramas." Hmm ... ya know what would be a good concept for a show ... take a divorced father of two, a divorced mother of two, and tell the innerweaving stories of the complex relationships that form with their new family as well as their old families. If only they had an Emmy-winning, Golden Globe-winning, critically-acclaimed, show like that ... if only ...

das

I think he is doing a good job.

If they're smart, they hold on to Dragnet, or else have Dick Wolf rename it Law & Order: Dragnet. They should keep in mind that the original Law & Order started off very slowly on NBC. It slowly but surely built an audience and it is now a top-5 show (and a franchise), which is amazing since the last 2 seasons have been the weakest of the whole run by far.

L&O: Dragnet would be hilarious

Ditto. The article provides an interesting insight into how they think.
"Let's see how many 'Everybody Loves Raymond' clones can we force-feed onto the viewers."

their comedies aren't bad. and they aren't really the same either. 8 simple rules and according to jim may be conceived as similar but at least they have different aspects. george lopez and my wife and kids are different if only by different aspect of the cultures/races on those shows. these 4 are always getting watched by me as they are very funny and light. there are many other worse sitcoms out there for you to pick a fight with (the whole upn sitcom lineup). give abc a break. they're learning from their reality/who wants... errors, and at least they are trying to get back to normal non-reality tv. you haven't seen any other station making that statement.

So, if they decide to move Alias, on what night and time would it do really well? Wednesday at 9?

Wait, there are PLENTY of Family Oriented Sitcoms out there. I made a comment a month back (before Wanda debuted) that Fox only had sucess with family oriented sitcoms in terms of intentional comedies (excluding Ally McBeal). Unintentional comedies like Joe Millionaire are also excluded. I would take Malcolm in the Middle or Bernie Mac before 8 Simple Rules but that is just what I like. Different strokes for different folks.

• Quoth chowderhead •<HR SIZE=1>Wait, there are PLENTY of Family Oriented Sitcoms out there. I made a comment a month back (before Wanda debuted) that Fox only had sucess with family oriented sitcoms in terms of intentional comedies (excluding Ally McBeal). Unintentional comedies like Joe Millionaire are also excluded. I would take Malcolm in the Middle or Bernie Mac before 8 Simple Rules but that is just what I like. Different strokes for different folks. <HR SIZE=1>

I think of a show that contains a family and a "family show" as two different things; e.g. Married with Children ... is not a "family show." Neither is The Family Guy . I very much enjoy both of the shows you mentioned, but I don't think of Malcolm as a "watch it with your kids" family show. You have a point with Bernie Mac, although, I'd classify it in the more adult realm due to its aggressive approach.

What I'm getting at is that it's hard to find a wholesome show that is also genuinely funny. Most of these shows are in the Full House "I love you, D.J." genre that make me want to hurl. When we find something like 8 Simple Rules ... that presents family issues in a positive and realistic manner and still finds room for more substantial humor than fart jokes and "oh, idn't that cute," I'll stand up to defend it. When I say there are precious few funny family comedies, that's what I'm talking about.

das

From the article, it seems like they want to move Alias not necessarily to boost ratings, but to give something else the Sunday slot:
"As much as the critics love Alias, few people watch it, and neither show is attracting much of
an audience on Sunday. If ABC can fix the 7-9 p.m. block, 9-11 p.m. could be a launching pad for new dramas. As it
stands now, Alias is not much of a lead-in."

This is, of course, the same thing they did to the Practice to help Dragnet out. Wasn't the Practice pulling in good ratings at that timeslot too? I know the show's been on for a long, long time, and is probably in decline, but the move did more to hurt it than the storylines did (or at least stopped the people who were watching just out of habit on Sunday nights).

Does Katey Seagall have a bigger part in 8 simple rules now? I watched a few episodes, and it seemed like she was mostly out of the house/storyline, and only showed up intermittently.

Alias is the only scripted show I regularly watch on ABC. I don't know, I've always thought of ABC as the "old people's" network, even since I was a little kid.

das- I'm sorry, but what show were you referring to earlier (Divorced mom, divorced dad....)?

• Quoth fujishig •<HR SIZE=1>Does Katey Seagall have a bigger part in 8 simple rules now? I watched a few episodes, and it seemed like she was mostly out of the house/storyline, and only showed up intermittently.

Alias is the only scripted show I regularly watch on ABC. I don't know, I've always thought of ABC as the "old people's" network, even since I was a little kid. <HR SIZE=1>

I thought CBS (pre-Moonves) had a strangle-hold on the geriatric programming. ABC has always had the sappy "love conquers all" family shows.

Anyway, Sagal just had an entire episode devoted to her, and they've pulled away from Ritter's job quite a bit. The premise of the show is that she's following her dream to be a Nurse, and he's staying at home raising the kids, so she's bound to be gone quite a bit, but when she's there, she's a great character. Recently, she passed up a promotion to spend more time with the family, so hopefully that means even more screen time for her, but the balance has certainly improved since those first episodes.

das

• Quoth AXP 103 •<HR SIZE=1>das- I'm sorry, but what show were you referring to earlier (Divorced mom, divorced dad....)? <HR SIZE=1>

Once and Again. Whether you like the show or not, it's a textbook case of "relationship family drama."

das

Yeah - I always thought of CBS as the geezer network. Only recently have they started to get away from this a little bit.

In fact, I still remember the chuckle I had the first time Pat Summerall promoted network programming on FOX NFL broadcasts. He went from promoting Murder, She Wrote and the CBS Sunday Night Movie to promoting The Simpsons and The X-Files.