NBC's Comic Opera

By Lisa de Moraes
Thursday, May 8, 2003; Page C07

It's Upfront Time again, that annual orgy of denial in which the broadcast networks rent lavish halls in Manhattan where they unveil their this-time-we-got-it-right prime-time lineups for hordes of advertisers, and everyone pretends that the networks didn't give exactly the same speech last year.

After each presentation, network suits, advertisers and show stars retire to a sumptuous party at some hot spot and try hard not to notice the large elephant in the corner with "New Series Not Scoring Big by October Get Yanked for Reality Show by November Sweeps" tattooed on its hide.

The brave men of NBC go first again this year; their presentation is scheduled for Monday afternoon at the Metropolitan Opera House. They will have to work hard to put a positive spin on their 2003-04 TV season, which will be the absolute positive last season for "Friends" -- without the network having yet developed the next "Friends." Also in the bad-news column: NBC and Warner Bros. TV have driven Aaron Sorkin, the creative genius behind "The West Wing," off the show, which has experienced steep ratings declines; so have "Frasier" and "ER."

There is much speculation in Hollywood this week that NBC may move "The West Wing" from Wednesdays at 9 p.m. and replace it with a new lawyer drama starring "West Wing" escapee Rob Lowe, which really would be thumbing the old peacock beak at Sorkin. (Lowe's show is now called, preciously, "Lyon's Den"; hopefully that will not be the case next week.) There is talk that NBC may move "West Wing" to Sunday night, following "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." That would certainly give the White House drama a bigger lead-in audience than did "Ed" on Wednesdays for much of this season. On the other hand, moving an older show to help its faltering ratings almost never works.

Wednesdays at 8 p.m. NBC is said to be considering a new dramedy from "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star. "Miss Match" is about an attorney/matchmaker, to be played by Alicia Silverstone.

NBC also plans to tell advertisers that it has finally found the next "Friends." It's called "Coupling" and it's about the sexual exploits of -- three hip young guys and the three hip young gals they hang out/shack up with. But it's set in Chicago so viewers won't confuse it with "Friends."

"Coupling" is actually the U.S. adaptation of the BBC comedy of the same name that, oddly, was the U.K.'s answer to "Friends." A little like a dog chasing its tail, isn't it?

This week NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker started planting little "Coupling" buzz seedlings; he told reporters that the show was way too sexy for 8 p.m. That, the New York Daily News pointed out, was ironic, since NBC is the network that declared the so-called family hour dead when it put "Friends" at 8 p.m., way back when Zucker was executive producer of the "Today" show and probably going to bed before "Friends" was on.

(He'll look pretty silly if HBO's syndication division succeeds in selling reruns of super-sexy "Sex and the City" to TV stations nationwide to air before prime time even starts, at 7:30 p.m. According to one source with knowledge of that situation, HBO has been quietly talking to large station-owning companies about such a deal.)

Even so, most industry watchers speculate that "Coupling" will get NBC's Thursday 9:30 p.m. slot and could be its only new series that night.

Flailing "Frasier" will probably be surrounded by three comedies again this fall -- only this time they'll be three really good comedies -- possibly the best new comedies NBC has ever developed, maybe even the best ever developed for any network ever.

One would star Whoopi Goldberg and another Tracy Morgan. The third Tuesday comedy contender as of late yesterday was "Happy Family," starring John Larroquette and Christine Baranski.

For Friday night, NBC is kicking around a lineup of drama series contenders including "Ed," "Boomtown" and a Vegas-set drama.

Saturdays, NBC most likely will continue to have no schedule, filling the night by burning off feature-film inventory and rerunning "Law & Order" episodes.

Sundays will continue to be dominated by one-hour programming, including "Dateline," "American Dreams," "Law & Order" and possibly "The West Wing."

Originally posted by Red Dog
NBC also plans to tell advertisers that it has finally found the next "Friends." It's called "Coupling" and it's about the sexual exploits of -- three hip young guys and the three hip young gals they hang out/shack up with. But it's set in Chicago so viewers won't confuse it with "Friends."

"Coupling" is actually the U.S. adaptation of the BBC comedy of the same name that, oddly, was the U.K.'s answer to "Friends." A little like a dog chasing its tail, isn't it?

Flailing "Frasier" will probably be surrounded by three comedies again this fall -- only this time they'll be three really good comedies -- possibly the best new comedies NBC has ever developed, maybe even the best ever developed for any network ever.

One would star Whoopi Goldberg and another Tracy Morgan. The third Tuesday comedy contender as of late yesterday was "Happy Family," starring John Larroquette and Christine Baranski.

Originally posted by ncmojo


The best ever developed for any network ever??? Did these people completely forget about Enos? Or Three's a Crowd? And what, oh what, about Veronica's Closet?

Actress-singer Vanessa Williams has signed on for 10 episodes of Boomtown next season, a strong sign that the NBC drama will be renewed for a second season. The network unveils its fall schedule next week.