Shannon Nutt

NBC original Parenthood series:

Matthew Chmiel

One of my good friends (Amir Talai) is the leads on 100 Questions, so I'm happy that he's getting work after The Ex List was cancelled.

I'm really excited for Community. Joel McHale + Chevy Chase = comedy win.

Superman07

Mad props for digging up that old photo.

Superman07

Alf.

http://www.missionart.com/ab-portfol...rtist-NBC.html

Blu Man

Community looks good. Hope Chuck is officially renewed in the next week or so.

cracksky

No Life = no $ from me ever again. I will download/burn everything. Fuck you NBC.

stingermck

Yup, L&O SVU fits that nicely with child rapists, toilet cams, kidnapping and all types of positive portrayals .

Draven

Why? Because they decided to stop losing money on a show no one was watching?

cracksky

Leno rant--->

dfmaverick2

Finke has some more uplifting news on Chuck:

I've learned why announcements regarding the renewal fates of Chuck and My Name Is Earl have been delayed. And it involves more horsetrading than the Triple Crown. My sources tell me that NBC lowballed the Earl license fee, and the show's owner, Twentieth Century Fox, came back with a proposal which NBC has been sitting on for a few days. As for Chuck, this gets complicated. Turns out NBC didn't like David E Kelley's Warner Bros pilot Legally Mad. Problem is, there's a $2 million penalty that gets paid to WB if the network doesn't pick up the show. So NBC is hoping to work a deal tying the renewal of Chuck, which is also a WB show, to a pass on paying that Legally Mad penalty.

I'm hoping that this means that NBC and WB are negotiating the number of episodes for NBC to order of Chuck to wipe away the $2 mil penalty.

EDIT Forgot the link
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.co...rimetime-sked/

DGibFen

Is it 2 million total or 2 million for each promised episode? Because I can't see 2 million dollars total being that big of a penalty for a network like NBC. 2 million times 13 episodes, thought, would be more serious numbers to negotiate with.

peon73

R.I.P. Life
i'm gonna miss his zen quotes

actionjackson29

Wow, man, you're really pissed off. Life was getting terrible ratings all season and only about 4 million for the finale. And I'm sure NBC begged Leno to stay they're really drowning in the ratings the last few years.

Arthur Dent

I couldn't see a network ever agreeing to a $2 mil penalty PER an episode. The network execs are dumb, but probably not THAT stupid.

Gizmo

$2 Mil Period. They are trying to get WB to waive that and instead pick up Chuck. Here's hoping they do. WB lost a ton of shows this season already.

dfmaverick2

I would say after rereading it, it is a flat 2 mil.

For a company trying to cut costs and low-ball for shows, 2 mil is still a substantial amount to just be throwing away without getting something in return. It equates to the production cost of a 1 hr drama episode.

Who actually has the upper hand in this negotiation is unclear. Did NBC already deal for Chuck and is now renegotiating to clear the penalty giving WB the upper hand, or are they giving WB an ultimatum; no penalty and we'll renew Chuck?

Superman07

Why would you agree to pay and/or air a work that you haven't even seen? Come on now - DEK may have produced some hits, but test the product first.

So a typical show would cost $45-50M for a 22 episode run?!

RichC2

Trauma is listed as up to $4m an episode, which is around $88m a season. (The last couple seasons of Friends cost $6m an episode just for the actors, probably an extra $2m for the show runners so thats a $176m+ season for a sitcom)

The DEK deal, I believe, was a first look deal -- the networks put down bids based on a premise, and get penalized if they say no. DEK is one of the more respected names in TV productions so it was an understandable gamble, especially with WB losing several shows this year (Pushing Daisies ) Though after his version of Life on Mars didn't make it to air, I'm surprised they still ran in head first. It could be worse though, WB financed the pilot, not NBC, so $2m is nothing. Lost's pilot episode (2 hour) was $14m, the Fringe pilot (also 2 hour) was $10m.

superdeluxe

community and day one looks like the only ones I will be tuning into.

Superman07

Interesting that the Fringe pilot cost that much. Thinking back on it I didn't get the impression that it was some big budget production. I'll assume the plane sequence was costly. I can easily see how Lost's was $14M.

I guess I never really figured shows cost so much for a season.

I guess for comparison TV on DVD doesn't make much money (hard to find numbers). If a show like Grey's Anatomy can only pull $13M I'd hate to know what other shows with 2/3 or less in viewership can pull.

http://www.the-numbers.com/interacti...hp?newsID=2866

DRG

The Chuck deal could be a win-win. WB will probably score far more in DVD sales and other avenues for a third season than they would for a poor DEK series that might not even last 13 episodes. I mean look at Kelley's recent track record:
2006–2007 The Wedding Bells - canceled after 7 episodes
2005–2006 The Law Firm - canceled after 2 episodes
2004–2005 Boston Legal - 5 seasons
2003–2004 The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire - canceled after 5 episodes
2002–2003 girls club - canceled after 2 episodes
2000–2001 Boston Public - 4 seasons
1999–2000 Snoops - canceled after 10 episodes

Other than his two 'Boston' shows he's put out nothing but massive flops this decade. I think the revenue for a third Chuck seson will cover that $2 million loss easily. And for NBC they not only avoid paying for a loser, but also show some goodwill to fans.

DRG

That is only the first week sales figure, though. According to http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/chart...8/20081130.php , Office Season 2 had sold $77 million copies as of last November, while House sold $30 million of S3 and $37 million of S2 by that same date. Not that those numbers are indicative of all shows, but the potential is there.

Michael Corvin

So the lesson here is that unless 'Boston' is in the title, it's doomed for failure.

RichC2

So, The Boston Wedding Bells, The Boston Law Firm, The Boston Brotherhood of Poland, NH, the Boston Girls Club, and the Boston Snoops would have all succeeded.

Well, at least his wife is still hot.

Gizmo

I liked Girls Club