I just finished watching ABC's upfront [1] presentation to advertisers, where the network's executives went over the schedule that was announced this morning [2] and showed clips of the new shows — including Life on Mars [3], pictured above. The presentation gave me some insight into what ABC's thinking with its schedule, which only includes two new shows for the Fall:
- Basically, Fall 2007 was so nice, ABC wants to do it twice. "By far, we had the best Fall in decades," entertainment president Stephen McPherson said, "and then came the lovely strike." So the network is mostly doing it over, bringing back the majority of the new shows from last year.
- That doesn't mean ABC isn't actively developing shows for later in the year: They've picked up 20 pilots, split pretty evenly between comedy and drama.
- McPherson promoted a few of those shows in his presentation, including Four Play, the new comedy from Will and Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick [4]. If the show is as funny as those two were just talking about it, we'll be in for a treat.
- Also funny: clips from ABC's remake of the Web series In the Motherhood [5]. It reminded me a bit of Bravo's Significant Others [6] if all the characters were moms battling bratty children.
- On the downside, the presentation ended with clips from Wipeout [7], the game show with people falling and running into things. The voiceover dared me not to laugh. I didn't laugh.
To see what I thought of the new shows — Life on Mars [8], reality show Opportunity Knocks [9], and animated series The Goode Family [10] — and see clips and pictures of them for yourself, just .
Life on Mars
I was pleasantly surprised at how faithful the trailer for this BBC remake seemed to the original — and maybe I'm warming to Jason O'Mara as time-traveling detective Sam Tyler after all. Here's a video and pictures:
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Opportunity Knocks
This traveling game show seems family-friendly almost to a fault. It definitely reminded me of the Saturday morning game shows of my childhood [12]. I see it as more a companion to America's Funniest Home Videos, though, not necessarily anchoring Tuesday night.
Get Flash [13] to see this player.
The Goode Family
This animated series about a family of vegan, politically correct, recycle-happy folks from King of the Hill's Mike Judge could either be hilarious or unbearable. From the clip, I was actually leaning toward unbearable. What's your take?
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Oh, and here's a Scrubs-on-ABC promo, just because:
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Photos and videos copyright 2008 ABC, Inc [16]