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Welcome to CliqueClack’s guide for the 2009-10 fall season! Or, in the case of NBC, The Great Experiment. Now, if you didn’t realize it already, this fall season is going to be different from past years. First, there’s no ER, which will feel a little weird. Second, Lost will be ending its run in the spring of 2010. Third, American Idol will be without Paula Abdul. And finally, Jay Leno is going to come into your homes at 10 PM each night and try to convince you that scripted programming is dead.

Once this season pans out, that may or may not be the case on the big Four and a Quarter networks. With so many viewers moving to other venues of original, scripted programming like cable and the Internet, the networks are fighting for life … again. Well, NBC and ABC probably are: CBS and FOX are doing okay for the time being. So, the big question is whether or not they can come back with ambitious programs like Flash Forward, comedies like Hank and The Middle, which feature known stars, remakes like Parenthood and Melrose Place, and Chevy Chase? Read the rest of this entry »

Man … last week was just a bloodbath in the ratings. With the exception of Thursday night, it was bad news for all of the shows at the top of my list for every night. Kings on Sunday, Chuck and Heroes on Monday, Reaper on Tuesday, Better Off Ted and Lost on Wednesday, and Dollhouse on Friday. Not a lot of good to report for any of them. On a brighter note, there was good news for the returning Fringe, and the debuts of Parks & Recreation, Southland, and Harper’s Island. Read the rest of this entry »

… finally. Much of last week could be described as more of the same for the folks over at NBC. But this particular Thursday was different. Not only because of ER taking over the entire night. It also brought a clear win for the night to the network, calling to mind the Must See TV of years gone by. The unfortunate bit of that is that it’s not repeatable. But it was fun for the night. In other numbers news for the week, nobody cares about In The Motherhood or Samantha Who?, Cupid premiered to somewhat iffy numbers, and both Lie To Me and CSI had numbers that should make their networks say, “Hmmmmm.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sebastian’s back Guest-clacking for us again, after sharing his thoughts about Dollhouse with us last time….

I have to admit I’m “a little” backlogged. Two weeks ago I chose to write about the possible two year renewal of FNL and skipped the weekly recap of the episode. Things are still looking good for our little show that could, as EW’s Michael Ausiello now reports that contracts are about to be signed any day now. Let’s hope he’s right and that the fat lady sings soon. Be warned, there are little spoilers about the possible next season of FNL in his comment about the contract negotiations.

Last week I had a little cycling accident and kinda broke my left hand. I pretty much got screwed last Friday when the show was on the air (with six titan nails in my left hand) so here I am back again catching up on what is, with today’s episode, a three-in-one recap.
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I’m noticing a pattern here, people — follow along with me, if you will. Last October, we get the news that Showtime’s Dexter is renewed for not one, but two more seasons. A big yay from me, as there really isn’t much TV that’s better than Dexter. Then, just this month, we learn that NBC is in negotiations to renew Friday Night Lights for two more seasons. OK, that’s good news for FNL fans, but interesting just the same.

Now, if you think I’m making something from nothing, consider the press release that CliqueClack received this week, announcing The Big Bang Theory was just renewed for two more seasons, and Two and a Half Men for three — yes, three! — seasons.

This tells me several things. If I were to make a pilot to pitch to any of the networks, you can be sure it would be about serial killer geeks who play football and engage in potty humor. But that’s not really the important thing to get out of this new multi-season renewal trend.

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… and hates Marco White, apparently.

It was a strange week on television. The calendar keeps insisting we are in a sweeps period, but the networks are dropping repeats all over the schedule. Even Lost, which ABC promised would run uninterrupted, went the repeat route. There were still some big events. As usual, Idol dominated, but ABC made some noise of their own with the return of Dancing With The Stars, spinning the loss of Jewel and Nancy O’Dell into ratings gold by signing up jilted bachelorette Melissa Rycroft. At the other extreme we found NBC’s latest disaster, The Chopping Block. There were also interesting numbers, good and bad,  for Chuck, Heroes, Castle, Kath & Kim,  CSI: Miami, Lie To Me, Next Top Model, and Dollhouse. Read the rest of this entry »

Sebastian’s Guest-clacking about Friday Night Lights again, after sharing his opinion about the departure of CSI’s Gil Grissom….

Things are looking up all around on and for Friday Night Lights. It seems there are some real hardcore fans over at NBC since EW’s Michael Ausiello has picked up some rumors that TPTB are trying to negotiate a deal with DirecTV, and not just for another season. They are talking about a renewal for two more. You heard that right. Two.

While it seems some people consider this a bad idea (and got their couple of bucks feedback from avid fans of the show for that one), I found this logical. See, I understand the people at NBC love this show. They think a drama about one of America’s favorite sports, the Texan back country, teenage angst and the idea behind the American way of life — that you can get anywhere if you just try hard enough — and of course family values, is worth producing. Frankly, I find it appalling that you can actually comment on that in asking for a cancellation.

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