Other stuff television-wise

The Futon Critic continues it's look at the fall television season with some additional info that didn't show up in the upfront presentations last week.

It's a no-go on "Transylvania." Despite a hefty put pilot commitment when it was originally announced, NBC has opted not to go forward with the small screen spin-off of the current Universal feature "Van Helsing."

-- UPN will look to expand to six nights starting next year. (CBS Head Leslie Moonves) wasn't specific on whether the new night will be Saturdays or Sundays.

-- "60 Minutes II" will drop the "II." "The Roman numeral II created some confusion on the part of the viewers and suggested a watered-down version," CBS News president Andrew Heyward told Daily Variety.

-- "The Simpsons" will once again earn a post-Super Bowl berth...after the game ends on February 6, 2005.

-- "Alias" is set to run repeat-free beginning in January. Aside from pre-emptions due to the Super Bowl and the Oscars, the fourth-year drama is set to run for 20 weeks on the network beginning in January.

-- UPN's "America's Next Top Model" and NBC's "The Apprentice" are both set to air two cycles next season. Both reality hits are slated to run for two cycles with "Model" running 26 installments and "Apprentice" a whopping 34 episodes over the course of the 2004-05 season.

-- "24" will open and close with two-hour installments as well as feature a two-hour special event episode in the middle of the season. Said moves are designed so that "24" will be able to run for 21 consecutive weeks beginning in January and close by the end of May sweeps.

TFC also reports that Fox won't give us any resolution to outcomes over their two cancelled (really trashy, but a guilty pleasure) reality shows, Forever Eden and Playing It Straight. Both shows tanked miserably in the ratings (and I'll admit to watching 'em, even if no one else will), and were yanked in mid run.

Straight had another four or five segments; Eden had another 16 to 18 episodes left to run.

It would make sense to play 'em out on FX if nowhere else, but hey, who knows what evil lurks in the mind of a network television programmer?

Posted by: mhking at 05:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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