I don’t care what anyone says, syndicated repeats of old
television shows can be a viewer’s best friend. As I have
been sick and writing my weekly column, I’ve seen two episodes
of “Law & Order: SVU,” and “Three’s Company,” three episodes
of “The Cosby Show,” and, to top it off, four episodes of
one of my favorites, “Roseanne.”

That isn’t to say that the older shows are any better than
what’s available currently. I actually recorded several hours
of “new programming” while the old stuff was on.

I guess the older shows are like that old piece of clothing
that’s just so hard to get rid of. We hold onto it until it
so has so many holes and rips, we just can’t wear it anymore.
Even at that point, we still hold onto it because it makes
us feel better. That’s the way I feel about Theo Huxtable’s
ridiculous flat top haircut, Roseanne’s overdone “domestic
goddess” comedic bits, and the horrendous wardrobes of the
cast of “Three’s Company.” It’s preposterous to keep them
around seeing as they are so dated, but who is it hurting
if you do?

What’s the point of this? Well, I guess the cliché statement,
“out with the old and in with the new” doesn’t necessarily
apply all the time. After all, I can watch old syndicated
television while the new stuff is being recorded.

However, with this column, it does apply. I’ve talked about
the old and now it’s time to talk about the new…

Opening Credits: NBC, ABC, the WB, CSI, and JOHNNY
MAC!

NBC has a lot on their plate this spring…

The announcement was considerably less romantic than with
“Friends,” but this week, NBC made the long delayed announcement
that this in fact would be the final season of network comedic
staple, “Frasier.” It was largely assumed that this would
be the final season until some rumors cropped up in the last
couple of months that said differently.

Well, once and for all, NBC Entertainment head, Jeff Zucker
made the announcement to the TV critics putting the kibosh
on any additional rumors about the show’s future.

As usual, “Frasier” was overshadowed by more talk of “Friends.”
As the announcement was made about “Frasier,” a story about
the series finale of “Friends” leaked out the press…sort of.
The story isn’t overly significant, but at this point anything
involving “Friends” or the cast has become a big story.

The bit of news: a table read-through.

Apparently, the script has been constructed for the final
episode and the cast read through it this week in preparation
for the taping next week. With that, emotions are already
starting to fly as Jennifer Anniston showed on a recent trip
to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago.

Meanwhile, as “Friends” receives all the glory in the form
of advertising space and media coverage, “Frasier,” a show
that’s actually been on a year longer than “Friends,” has
been largely getting the shaft.

Kelsey Grammer showed a little bit of honesty in a recent
interview, but largely remained diplomatic in stating:

Yeah, I suppose it bothered me a little. But, you know, we’ve
always been sort of a little stepchild show once in a while.
We’ve been shuffled off a few times. …

It will be more of, I guess, a social phenomenon for
‘Friends’ to leave than it will for ‘Frasier,’ so we will
accept that. We’ve always been creatively, I’d like to think,
setting a very high bar, and we can go out saying that we
continued that to the end.

Nonetheless, NBC will be giving both shows the proper send-offs
and will actually do so one week apart. “Friends” will say
good bye on Thursday, May 6th and “Frasier” will say “Good
day and good mental health.” a week later on May 13th. Both
shows will have a one-hour finale preceded by a one-hour clip
show similar to the way “Seinfeld” ended several years ago.

Apparently, ABC has a short memory…

According to Zap2it, ABC Entertainment President, Susan
Lyne recently powerfully proclaimed the following statement:

We think the time is right for the next generation of
primetime game show.

The show they are referring to is entitled, “Deal or No
Deal” and has been popular in various parts of the world.
While it is unclear exactly what the format will entail, it
is believed that it will resemble its international counterparts.
That show includes one large studio audience that plays the
game and progressively gets narrowed down to one individual
person guessing how much money is in various gold suitcases.

Maybe my imagination and visualization skills are a bit
out of whack, but is it me or does that format sound awful?
The climax of each episode ends with the winning contestant
guessing how much money is in a series of suitcases? I don’t
get it.

This is even more ironic because ABC is the same network
that essentially ruined the prime time game show just several
years ago by completely saturating its prime time lineup with
multiple episodes of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” per
week. The show struck ratings gold initially and then fell
off quickly once the multiple airings began.

Now, all of a sudden, ABC is ready to bring back the prime
time game show. Maybe it will help programming executives
forget what happened a few years ago…

David E. Kelley just doesn’t quit…

David E. Kelley, acclaimed scribe of shows such as “The
Practice” and “Boston Public,” is at it again as he and “Boston
Public” partner in crime, Jason Katims signed a development
deal to bring another drama to ABC.

The unnamed show will focus on three sisters and their lives
as they run a Long Island “wedding palace.” I assume that
means it’s a wedding planning consulting firm of some kind,
but “wedding palace” was the description I saw in my research,
so, I’ll have to stick with it even though it sounds like
Chinese food place that also serves up quickie marriages and
$20 blowjobs.

The better description of the new show came from TV Guide.com,
which basically likened Kelley’s new creation to “Six Feet
Under” except with weddings instead of funerals.

The significance here is that while ABC has a slew of family
comedies, the network has largely abandoned the family drama,
instead using hour-long slots for reality shows (“The Bachelor,”
“The Bachelorette,” and “Celebrity Mole”) or more workplace
dramas (for lack of a better term), like “The Practice” and
“NYPD Blue.”

It’s certainly interesting to clarify dramas in certain
ways in that manner. While some family dramas succeed with
gusto, it appears that more dramas focusing less on families
(“CSI” and “Law & Order” for example) have a longer shelf
life primarily because it’s much easier to incorporate new
and interesting storylines. Lawyers try different cases, police
detectives solve different crimes, and forensics experts have
different cadavers to trace the cause of death to.

Of course, that’s not always the case since shows like “Six
Feet Under” and, to a lesser degree, “7th Heaven” have succeeded
mightily. However, to me, it seems more feasible that a drama
like “Law & Order” would be more apt to last longer than a
typical family drama since that family pretty much has to
go through the ringer to keep the audience interested.

Then there’s “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under” which are
in a whole different category…

It looks like Fox doesn’t want “A Minute with Stan Hooper.”

Norm McDonald’s freshman comedy, “A Minute with Stan Hooper”
has officially been given the ax by the Fox network after
airing just five episodes. The show was given one of the better
network lead-ins with “That 70s Show” at 8:00 PM (EST) and
“Stan Hooper” at 8:30. Despite that, the show only managed
to secure an average of 5.7 million viewers per episode before
being shipped off to Friday nights to essentially die a slow
death.

As I stated in November in a 411movies
column, I wrote about several television offerings,
“Stan Hooper” deserved a chance. I was disappointed with McDonald’s
performance as the main character, Stan (a television news
reporter from New York City who moves to a small town in Wisconsin
with his wife) and was a little baffled that Penelope Ann
Miller (as Stan’s wife) would want to be involved, but I found
the supporting characters to be funny and charming and the
writing to be funny attacking the “small town folk” stereotype
and completely twisting it around for the sake of good comedy.
It was a bit wacky, but could have worked if given the chance.

But alas, this becomes yet another show thrown to the television
series scrap heap. Something tells me this one won’t get brought
back any time soon…

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

For some strange reason, CNBC has decided that the loud,
obnoxious, opinionated, overbearing former host of ABC’s short
lived game show, “The Chair,” John McEnroe, would be a good
candidate for an hour long nightly talk show assaulting the
current headlines of the day. The currently unnamed show will
begin airing sometime this spring according to Zap2it.com.

In regards to the opportunity, McEnroe stated:

I’m looking forward to my new show with CNBC. “We’ve
designed it to be both serious and fun, to be able to jump
on news or cover on-going topics, and still have many surprises
and create havoc when necessary.

Something tells me this guy won’t exactly be the best person
to lead an in-studio show. While he has the personality to
fire off comments at will, he needs an experienced television
news anchor to make things go just a bit smoother.

I better be careful what I say though, he might come and
track me down and hit me with a tennis racket.

Quick Hits

— SPOILER ALERT!!! – If you are interested, TV Guide.com
has some VERY interesting tidbits of information regarding
the “Friends” finale being taped next week and aired May 6th.
I won’t write them in this column, but will direct you to
the TV Guide article instead.
Click here.

— And you thought “Law & Order” was becoming overexposed…According
to TV Guide.com, in the fall, CBS will launch a third “CSI,”
this time invading “Law & Order’s” territory, New York City.
The other two “CSI’s” set in Las Vegas and Miami have done
well in the ratings (actually, the original “CSI” is always
in the Top 5), so it seems like a no-brainer. But, I think
the rule should be no more than two sister shows started from
the original unless an entire cable network will be created
to devote to it.

— In a fairly surprising development, the WB canceled
the Jerry Bruckheimer show, “Fearless” without actually airing
one show. The program, starring Rachel Leigh Cook (more well-known
for her film work), was based on a series of books by Francine
Pascal and was about a young FBI agent who was genetically
incapable of feeling fear.

According to Zap2 it, the show was criticized for the fact
that its’ main character (Cook) came off as ineffective instead
of fearless. WB executives worked with Bruckheimer to try
and change it but decided to cut their ties with the show
instead of spending more time massaging the concept.

— Since a reader sent me an email about it, I’ll answer
the question here and now. HBO’s “Six Feet Under” starts its
season June 6th according to USA Today and TV Barn.com.
The USA Today article also stated that changes will
be afoot for this coming season and writers and producers
will head back to the lighter tone that existed in Season
One. For more general revelations of upcoming storylines,

click here.

The NHL CAN be saved! But, it needs a lot of work…

I participate in an informal sports email list with several
friends and many more friends of friends. Over the last several
weeks, we’ve debated everything from Pete Rose’s possible
Hall of Fame induction, to the National Football League (NFL)
Playoffs, to the “Brooklyn Nets,” to the survival of the of
the National Hockey League (NHL).

The survival of the NHL was one topic that intrigued me
greatly because I find it amazing that one of the United States’
four major (team) sports gets so little respect from the media,
the fans, and in the television ratings. As a whole, we began
throwing out potential ideas about what the people associated
with the league need to do in order to save the league since
the Collective Bargaining Agreement ends at the end of this
season and it’s a decent possibility the league will fold
since players’ salaries are too high and the arena attendance
and television ratings are too low. These are my comments
regarding the league and its possible survival (spruced up
for the purpose of presentation):

1. Several people brought up “more media exposure” for the
NHL, the league and its’ players. That’s DEFINITELY a Catch-22
type situation. The ratings for hockey are abysmal, people
(even in big time northern areas like Boston and NY) don’t
call sports radio shows to talk about the hockey teams, attendance
at many arenas are down….That tells me there isn’t much
interest in hockey and seeing as that’s the case, why in the
bloody hell would the media would devote a lot of time/space
to a product to something that isn’t overly interesting to
the general public????

2. The NHL needs to do some things to make the sport better
in that it gets more people interested and therefore the media
more interested in spending a large amount of time/space covering
it.

First, bring in the shoot-out. It’s artificial
excitement, but it’s a hell of a lot better than a game
ending in a tie.

Second, there needs to be some sort of rule changes
that at least make the product more watchable (though they
don’t necessarily have to increase scoring). Maybe it was
patriotic pride, maybe it was the product itself, but watching
Olympic hockey with the continuous play in the larger rink
was much better to watch than the product that exists now.
If both can be incorporated, I fully support it.

Third, contract, contract, contract. I don’t think
they’ll contract the Devils (maybe just relocate them) or
any of the Canadian teams (it is THEIR sport), but the Thrashers,
Lighting, Panthers, Predators, Mighty Ducks, Sharks, Blue
Jackets, and perhaps the Hurricanes all need to be contracted.
Talent certainly isn’t down, but it’s too spread out to
a lot of teams that can’t fill arenas.

Fourth, I don’t know if a salary cap is required,
but something has to be done about the high salaries. Bill
Guerin makes $9-10 million per year? I don’t think he’s
worth that. Not while attendance is and ratings are………down.

3. The teams themselves could do a little more to make the
product more marketable and interesting to the general public.
Several people brought up lowering ticket prices. Yes. They
should get slashed DRASTICALLY and then raised periodically
as more people show up. The other dopey stuff, like the promotions
I can certainly live with. That’s the least of my concerns.

4. This has been brought up by journalists in regards to
the NBA vs. the NFL, but it applies to the NHL too. How do
you market the league? Through individual players like the
NBA (who you can see more of considering all they wear is
a tank top and shorts) or more through the teams and the league
itself like the NFL (you can’t see the players with their
helmets and all their padding)? After all, the NHL players
wear helmets, padding, and the bulky sweaters. Not only is
the puck hard to follow, but five guys with the same color
sweater, the “stars” can get lost in the shuffle. Plus, with
all the line changes and the dozens of shifts these guys play,
how do you tell everyone apart? When is your favorite player
on the ice playing?

Hockey is VERY difficult to follow and I think the league
needs to work with the television networks to make this a
more watchable product. Whether that means changing camera
angles or the continuous play idea (therefore screwing over
the advertisers a little bit), something needs to be done.
Someone said HDTV will make a difference. First, I don’t think
it will make that much difference. Second, HDTV is still a
long way from becoming mainstream. This isn’t the DVD player
that caught on like lightning. HDTV is still too expensive
and not completely available.

5. Overall, I think the NHL has the most work to do in making
this a more viable product that people like. However, the
individual teams, the television networks that cover them,
and to a lesser degree, the media that cover them could play
a part in the recovery as well. It starts with the league
though.

Closing Credits:

Answers: Jesus Christ and “Family Guy”
Question: Name two things resurrected from the dead.

Several weeks ago, I was in Northern Virginia seeing my
dearest friends for New Year’s Eve. There’s a group that usually
range from about five to nine of us depending on who is around,
who makes the trip, and other varying factors.

When we all get together, we have conversations of varying
length, intelligence level, knowledge exchange, and joke swapping.
Usually, the length is long, joke swapping is high, and the
intelligence level and knowledge exchange is quite low, but
we have a good time, and that is what’s important…

Anyway, one morning several of us were talking about DVDs
and “Family Guy” (something tells me we were watching an episode,
but after a night of heavy drinking, certain details escape
me…). During the conversation, my buddy Mark and I engaged
in the following exchange (wording may be a bit off) regarding
the show.

Me: Christ, I love this show. I wish they would bring it
back from the dead.

Mark: They are making a bunch of new episodes of that show.

Me: (jaw hitting the floor since I feel like I am pretty
up to date on news in the television industry) – THEY ARE?!?!?!

Mark: Yeah. You didn’t know that?

Me: NO!

(Mark then leaves the room for a specific reason but feels
satisfied that he stumped me and left me cleaning drool off
my clothes).

Once Mark left the room, I felt the need to jump on his
computer and do some quick research about his (what I felt
were) crazy, outrageous claims.

A quick Google search uncovered a USA Today article
from November 18th authored by Gary Levin. In part, Levin
stated the following:

In a sign of the growing importance of DVD sales to Hollywood,
20th Century Fox is considering a plan to resume production
of Family Guy, a sometimes crude animated comedy that the Fox
network took off the air more than 18 months ago.

As many as 35 new episodes could return in January 2005,
marking the first time that a canceled series has been revived
based on strong DVD demand and ratings in syndication.

Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow
said a decision is expected soon and called the series a late-blooming
phenomenon that may have aired before its time.

A DVD set of the show’s first 28 episodes released in
April has sold nearly 1 million copies, making it this year’s
top-selling TV show and the No. 4 television title ever, according
to Video Store magazine. A second collection, of 22 episodes,
has sold 520,000 copies. And the series is Cartoon Network’s
most popular among adults.

That was only the middle of November and doesn’t factor
in that it made a great Christmas gift for admirers of the
canceled show.

Since that initial report, several other news sources including
the Chicago Sun-Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
made mention of the potential comeback, but the show still
didn’t receive all that much media attention despite its wild
success in selling on DVD. In the case of several fan websites,
the news was not treated lightly. Considering the types of
people that enjoyed the show so much aren’t typical, run-of-the-mill
television viewers, that isn’t overly surprising.

Nonetheless, since that exchange with Mark, I’ve been keeping
an eye on this potentially intriguing development.

Then, this week, Don Kaplan of the New York Postbroke
a story that would change the lives of “Family Guy” fans (and
fanatics), while also introducing a potentially interesting
trend in the television industry. As Mr. Kaplan stated: “‘The
Family Guy’ is coming back from the dead.” He also went onto
say:

Talks are under way with both Fox – which canceled the cartoon
series two years ago – and the Cartoon Network – which airs
it in reruns now – for new episodes of the show, Seth MacFarlane,
creator of “The Family Guy,” told The Post.

No matter what, MacFarlane says, production will begin
soon – even if he doesn’t know exactly where they’ll end up.

“We’re sort of waiting on an official word, but to the
best of my knowledge, the plan is to start producing a batch
of new episodes without necessarily knowing where they’re
going to wind up,” he says. “It’s sort of a new format that
really hasn’t been tried before, and it’s based on the DVD
sales.”

DVD sales of the canceled show have been huge – and in
no small part is fueling talk of reviving the series.

“It’s insane. Never in my wildest dreams could I have
imagined that it would have this kind of afterlife,” MacFarlane
says. “It’s just a shock to everybody who worked on the show.”

So, there it is. While the New York Post isn’t 100%
reliable when it comes to reporting real “news,” Kaplan has
quotes from the creator, Seth MacFarlane who says the show
will definitely be back and that’s big.

This is significant for two reasons: First, it’s
obvious this show developed a cult following of fans (mostly,
but certainly not exclusive to, young men I would imagine)
who weren’t offended by the racy dialogue, occasional racist
comments and constant dopey references to Adolf Hitler. For
those people that either found this type of humor funny, or
at least were willing to overlook it, they were rewarded further
primarily in the witty, humorous dialogue and the hilarious
flashback and flash-forward sequences that often had very
little to do with the story being told at that time. “Family
Guy’s” storylines weren’t as intricately weaved as “The Simpsons,”
the show most commonly compared to it, but it offered a similar
type of humor that relied on random pop culture references
and often outrageous situations. And the talking dog, and
the toddler with a British accent, an I.Q. higher than Albert
Einstein, and a mean streak to match didn’t hurt either.

Now, “Family Guy” gets another chance. If Fox does end up
getting the show again and adding it to its prime-time line
up, it will be up to the viewers to ensure that it has a longer
shelf life than before. If the show doesn’t do the numbers,
I’m sure it will be pulled very quickly as merely another
failed experiment in primetime. If that happens, that will
DEFINITELY be the end.

However, if the Cartoon network ends up being fortunate
enough to secure the exclusive new episodes, the show will
definitely have a longer shelf life. While four to five million
weekly viewers would be unacceptable to the programming executives
at Fox, it would be reason to break open the champagne and
throw a party at the Cartoon Network since most of their programming
rarely attracts more than one million viewers.

Who do you root for to get “Family Guy” back? Maybe Fox,
so they can admit to their mistake of canceling it in the
first place simply by airing new episodes. Also, the shoe
reaches a larger audience since there are still people living
without cable. However, if the Cartoon Network secures the
show, it will probably “live long and prosper” and MacFarlane
and his band of misfits can churn out as many new episodes
as they want if they so choose. Maybe both? Kaplan did state
that as a possibility in his article. Either way, fans of
“Family Guy” will be treated to a slate of all new episodes
and that’s something to be happy about.

The return of “Family Guy” is significant for one other
primary reason: many believe it has to do with the Seasons
1-3 DVD sales. As stated earlier, Levin’s November 18th article
stated that as of that time, the first DVD set released (seasons
1 and 2, totaling 28 episodes) had sold over one million copies
while the second set (season 3, with 22 episodes) sold more
than 520,000. Television industry trade publication Broadcasting
& Cable reported in its December 22nd, 2003 edition that
of all the television season DVDs that had been released last
year, “Family Guy” outsold them all (no small feat considering
seasons of “Friends” and “Sex and the City” were released).

So, these questions need to be asked: Is this now going
to become a regular occurrence? Will many other shows that
were canceled previously ever be brought back?

My guess is possibly, but I don’t see this as a hugely developing
trend.

Since DVDs are a lot cheaper to manufacture and much more
compact to ship to retailers, media companies and movie studios
are taking advantage by re-releasing all sorts of crazy cult
classics out to the retail shelves for consumers. That includes
movies and old television shows. In the last 15 years, many
comedies (and dramas) appeared on the airwaves that likely
have some type of cult following but were probably taken off
the air too soon. Those include:

· “The Critic” · “Mr. Show” · “The Ben Stiller Show” · “My
So-Called Life” · “The Upright Citizens Brigade” · “Strangers
with Candy” · “Twin Peaks” · “Sports Night” · “Futurama” ·
“The Tick” · “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ · “Dark Angel”
· “Clerks” · “Firefly” Yes, I am sure everyone could chime
in with a show that I missed, but that isn’t really the point.
The point is that all of these shows that probably still have
a following to some degree, have DVD season or show releases
in stores and according to Amazon.com, only “Firefly,” a science-fiction
type show set in the future canceled by Fox, (and both “Family
Guy” volumes) finished in their Top 100 in DVD sales (movies
included).

Amazon.com certainly hasn’t cornered the market of DVD sales
or anything, but it’s a pretty good example of shows that
may have a following of some sort, but the DVD sales themselves
don’t warrant networks considering bringing back all, or any,
of them.

So, in that case, “Family Guy” is the obvious exception
to the rule and network executives stood up and took notice
at the right time.

The lesson here is that instead of visiting those crazy
websites that put together petitions that supposedly get sent
to television networks/studios to bring back your favorite
shows, wait until it comes out on DVD and then go buy whatever
is available…and while you’re at it, get a million of your
friends to do so as well. You won’t be sorry.

OK…soapbox being put away now.

Enjoy the show!

Steve Coogan also
writes for the Movies and Black Zones of 411mania.

Last 5 posts by Steve Coogan

• Two New Fox Shows - March 25th, 2004
• Weekend TV Update: Where Will The Real World End Up? - March 18th, 2004
• Weekend TV Update - February 21st, 2004
• Did The Critics Torch Ashton Kutcher's Latest Offering? - January 29th, 2004
• Charlie Chaplin: World Famous Tramp - January 1st, 2004