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(Tuesday, April 26 02:12 PM)

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Hoping to capitalize on its newfound ratings health, ABC is planning its most ambitious summer schedule in several years, with the limited-run drama "Empire" and four new unscripted series set to go in June and July.

The network will also unspool new episodes of "Wife Swap," bring "Bambi" to network television and shift a couple of its current shows to different time periods during the offseason. The strategy represents a fairly sizable shift from recent summers, when ABC has been content to sprinkle in a documentary series or two with repeats of its regular programming.

The summer season will kick off at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday, June 1 with the new show "Dancing with the Stars." Based on the BBC hit "Strictly Come Dancing," the six-part series will pair celebrities with professional hoofers in a ballroom-dance competition, with viewers voting on who stays and who goes. It will be bookended by repeats of "Supernanny" and "Lost," which are getting new timeslots for the summer.

Another unscripted show, "The Scholar," will premiere Monday, June 6. The competition will have 10 high-school seniors for whom the cost of college is out of reach compete for a full ride to a university -- a prize worth up to $250,000. It will be followed by a Monday movie night.
On June 28, the long-in-development limited series "Empire" will debut. Set in Rome circa 44 B.C., the six-hour series will tell the story of Octavius (Santiago Cabrera), the nephew of Julius Caesar who flees the city with gladiator Tyrannus (Jonathan Cake, "The American Embassy") following Caesar's death, only to return with an army to battle Marc Antony (Vincent Regan, "Troy") and his legions.

The network is planning to use the NBA Finals, scheduled to begin June 9, for heavy promotion of "Empire."

In July, ABC will offer up new episodes of "Wife Swap" and two more unscripted shows, the self-explanatory "Brat Camp" and "Welcome to the Neighborhood," in which residents of a cul-de-sac get to choose one of seven families to become their new neighbors.


I was glad that last summer, many networks put on new shows instead of the same old reruns. It makes summer tv viewing a lot less boring. I don't know if I will watch any of these shows, but it is a good trend.

Chris

Tracer Bullet

Wife Swap won't be back on until July?

B.A.

Enough w/ the "unscripted" crap already.

Been looking forward to Empire for a long time. Hope it looks good in HD.

LorenzoL

Empire looks interesting.

Damfino

Welcome to the Neighborhood sounds like a lame attempt to create a reality version of Desperate Housewives.

BigDan

At least I now know I won't have any reason to watch ABC this summer.

Derrich

This is a new low. Lets watch poor innercity kids perform goofy stunts so they can get an education.

D

LorenzoL

So is anyone planning to watch Empire tonight?

LorenzoL

"Pilot/Will"



Cast: Santiago Cabrera, Vincent Regan, Emily Blunt, James Frain, Chris Egan, Jonathan Cake, Michael Maloney, Michael Byrne, Orla Brady, Amanda Root, Ian Bartholomew, Michael Culkin, Colm Feore, Sylvia De Fanti, Fillipo Reda, Jean-Marie Paris, Jonas Bascir, Trudie Styler, Graham McTavish, Alan David.
Director(s): Greg Yaitanes.
Producer(s): Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Tony Jonas, Chip Johannessen, Thomas Wheeler.
Writer(s): Thomas Wheeler, Chip Johannessen.

Original Airdate: June 28, 2005.

Chew

I'll be watching. Hopefully, it isn't being run in the summer months for the reason a summer show on the networks usually is. But, I'm not holding my breath.

Rypro 525

when does the hbo series "rome" start? thats the one im more looking forward to.

Red Dog

No.

I don't think I recognize a single name in that cast.

B.A.

I only recognize one or two.

I'll watch at least this initial ep to see if I like it or not.

Chew

There was a 3-4 minute preview on last week I caught and it said Rome would be this September.

JasonF

The biggest name is Colm Feore, who's a mid-list character actor. I hear he does a good job as Julius Caesar. Dennis Haysbert (from 24 and State Farm commercials) is also in it.

The Trib gave this a mediocre review. I'll probably TiVo it and watch it if it gets good reviews here.

JuryDuty

I watched Brat Camp last year on ABC Family and it was quite good. Not the usual reality TV drivel. They featured teens from the UK last year. I wonder if it will be US kids this year?

MrX

I'm looking forward to it

mikeporter

I will watch, it looks pretty good. Here is a 5 minute preview from TV Guide

MrX

I thought it was good.

It probably would have been cheaper if they just showed a scene from Gladiator for the first 10 minutes since it was almost identical to that though that was probably done to keep people from changing the channel right away.

B.A.

I didn't think it was too bad - Rome was fairly simple and not this massive, overtly-CGI'd mess.

MrX

I agree

They should have just inserted one of the fight scenes from Gladiator into the first 10 minutes since it was almost identical, though I assume that was to keep people from changing the channel right away.

aktick

I liked it, but I'm not too picky. I also like Good Burger, if that tells you anything .

Cusm

Any idea when they might repeat this weeks episode of Empire? I missed it and forgot to set it up to record. Is this in HD?

aktick

If they do run a repeat, it won't be before the next new episode, according to Tivo. Which is quite strange, IMO, since they hyped it so much, and they're just running repeats of crap shows every other night before Tuesday. Maybe they'll reair it later. And yes, it is in HD.

regent

The opening fight sceen seemed to me like a very pale version of the one's in Gladiator, I'll wait for Rome on HBO, and skip this watered down broadcast version.