ABC Fall Schedule revealed!!

[sugarland]

William Petersen (Grissom) has been very vocal about leaving the show in recent years, and I believe he signed on for only 7 seasons. Add that to reported health problems and the fact that Grissom hasn't been on that much this season, it would indicate that he will leave after Season 8 (he wants to move back to Chicago and do Theatre, I read recently). Jorja Fox (Sara) also indicated in a recent interview about the finale that she would like to pursue other avenues soon. I haven't heard anything about Marg, George or Gary but their contracts are up in Season 7 too. So far, I think Eric (Greg) and Paul (Brass) are the only two that have renewed past Season 7 in exchange for more screentime (and I *think* more money - don't remember)

[Chris B]

From what I've read, it turns out Studio 60 might not be that good anyway. Plus I don't see why everyone thinks it'll be such a big hit when Sports Night wasn't and they've very similar shows. Since the schedule was revealed, it looks like 30 Rock, the Tina Fey/Alec Baldwin show, is the one to watch. Still, I'm going to give both a shot!

[R!ck]

Grey's Anatomy is averaging 21 Million viewers for the season while CSI is averaging 25 Million. Thursday's will be interesting this fall.

[All My Shadows]

Sounds interesting to me! It'll be weird not having GA after DH anymore, but I guess I'll move over to Thursdays with it. "Brothers and Sisters" has been my favorite pilot for a long time now, so I'll definitely be looking forward to it. Just one question though, what the hell happened to Betty Buckley!? She was on the cast list from the very beginning and now she's not anymore!? She was one of my main reasons for trying it out!

"Betty the Ugly" looks like a fun show. I'll definitely watch that too.

[Daphne]

Thanks sugarland

[tina m]

Wow, I am shocked that ABC put Anatomy on Thursdays. Oh well. I'll be watching Lost, DH, Brian, Bachelor, Dancing W/ The Stars, and for new shows, a few comedys, but I need to look at descrpitions, etc. Ugly Betty looks pretty good.

Still, ABC gets a major fu to cancelling Hope & Faith/Freddie/Less Than Perfect. I don't want to hear they were 'failing' shows, they were MY shows!

[Daphne]

I wanna know what kind of hold Jim Belushi has on ABC? It is inexplicable to me that According to Jim continues to get by. ABC needs to chuck that show along with George Lopez (I'm still steamed that they canceled My Wife and Kids yet kept these two shows on the air).

I wonder what new show on ABC and NBC will be the first ones to get canned?

[Daphne]

This article was posted last week, courtesy of Excite news. For some reason I thought ABC as a network was doing better than NBC, but apparently that isn't the case. I wonder if things will improve or worsen for ABC next season?

NEW YORK (AP) - ABC opened the May ratings sweeps with a fourth-place finish despite having three of the 11 most popular prime-time programs, illustrating the challenge faced by its executives as they prepare to announce a new fall schedule Tuesday.

Take away the hits "Grey's Anatomy,""Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," and ABC's lineup is hurting.

Even though NBC had no series that outranked ABC's Big Three, it still managed to slip by ABC to third behind CBS and Fox in the overall ratings last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. ABC finished third among viewers aged 18 to 49, the demographic many advertisers seek.

The lack of depth is why ABC executives are sifting through nearly three dozen pilots before next week's announcement. All the broadcast networks present their fall schedules to advertisers next week in New York.

Tougher competition is hurting ABC's hits. "Desperate Housewives" was down 18 percent in viewers from the same week last year, when it did not have to go head-to-head against "The Sopranos.""Lost," which had 15.6 million people last week, was averaging more than 20 million viewers an episode this season before "American Idol" started airing its results show in direct competition, Nielsen said.

Two ABC comedies that once had promise - "According to Jim" and "Hope & Faith" - finished among the least-watched prime-time shows among the big networks last week.

NBC had 11 shows in Nielsen's top 40 last week, including three separate editions of the game "Deal or No Deal," while ABC had only six.

[Drew]

I think this will be the season we see a decline in CSI's ratings. It's gone on forever, no real changes, and as was said - no continuing storylines to invest viewers to keep coming back. It's stagnant, it got comfortable, and see people tuning on ABC instead for something new. (if they're even smarter they'll be sure to premiere the GA opener prior to CSI's)

[sugarland]

There are storylines on CSI. Many of them. But casual viewers don't tend to pick up on them. I'm not going to lie, the last two seasons have sucked, except for the finales and a few stand alone episodes. But it is still a great show and people will keep tuning in, especially, if it turns out to be the last season for a lot of the cast. CSI is a huge franchise now, that has been going strong for 6 years. GA has been around a year and a half and has good buzz but it will never be the machine that is CSI (and I mean in terms of the series, the spinoffs, the merchandise).

I think CSI will lose younger women viewers to GA, but not enough for them to drop significantly. GA has also gotten those great ratings completely unchalleged, so it'll certainly be an interesting battle.

[Rhiannon]

I started loosing interest in the show when they tore the team apart on C.S.I., while I understand it was probably done to shake things up and lead up to the 5th season finale; it made me loose interest......My Mom loves William Petersen and I like George Eads, so even when the episodes haven't been their best we've watched....

I agree about C.S.I. getting stagnant and comfortable.....One thing that has always peeved me is they would say in TV Guide and other publications, that we'd be learing more about the character's personal lives; but we always seem to find out more about Catherine's life than anyone elses....

They should make season 7 their last, then they could go out while they are still on top; with the original cast in tact....As much as I've tried not to admit it, C.S.I. wouldn't be the same show if William Petersen wasn't on it, the lack of Grissom in episodes this season; has shown me at least that I wouldn't want to watch without his character being there....

[King]

If ABC is hurting despite LOST, DH, and GA, and I'm not saying it is or it isn't, then NBC must pretty much be dead already.

[mr. sweet]

I'm sad that Invasion is gone. But The Nine, Six Degrees, and Brothers & Sisters sound really good. I can't wait for these three shows.

[Chris B]

NBC has been dead for a long while, this is why their pilot development has been so aggressive. They are in dire need of hits so they are really going out of the way to get it. As for ABC, yes they have key hit shows, but they're losing Monday Night Football, don't have any notable comedies or reality shows either. This will be a telling year for them, depending on how well NBC does.

[DaysnPassionsFan]

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NBC has been dead for a long while, this is why their pilot development has been so aggressive. They are in dire need of hits so they are really going out of the way to get it. As for ABC, yes they have key hit shows, but they're losing Monday Night Football, don't have any notable comedies or reality shows either. This will be a telling year for them, depending on how well NBC does.

Other than Lost, GA, and DH, ABC has nothing. Not one notable comedy in years, and the ones that actually are good are cancelled after a few episodes. NBC's problem is they only have average shows, while better than anything ABC has outside of its hits, the network has not one HUGE hit.