Lost Takes Over for Grey's on ABC's Winter Schedule

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:37:37 -0800

ABC finally announced its schedule for the winter part of the TV season today - making official what the network would do without Grey's Anatomy and the other shows that are out of episodes due to the writers' strike. The biggest news: a new time slot for Lost, which will start airing Jan. 31 in the regular Grey's slot, 9 p.m. on Thursdays. Lost only has eight of the 16 episodes planned for this season, but something is better than nothing, right?

The other big news: Cashmere Mafia finally has a time slot! No, ABC didn't take my advice and put it up against NBC's Lipstick Jungle. It will premiere Thursday, Jan. 3, at 10 p.m., but its regular slot will be Wednesdays at 9 p.m., where it will battle American Idol for at least part of the season.

ABC picked Eli Stone, a new show about a lawyer who thinks he has a spiritual calling, to air after Lost; it too will premiere Jan. 31. The other big premieres: The Dancing with the Stars spinoff, Dance War: Bruno Vs. Carrie Ann, will air Mondays starting Jan. 7; Wife Swap and Supernanny will air before Cashmere on Wednesdays starting Jan. 2; and Oprah's Big Give will air Sunday nights starting in early March.

What do you make of the news? Glad you won't have to stay up as late for Lost? Thrilled that Cashmere Mafia will really air after all?

What the Writers' Strike Means for Winter TV

BuzzSugar — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:30:00 -0800

We've been hearing it since even before the Hollywood writers' strike officially began last month: No writers means more reality TV, more game shows, and more series the networks weren't sure they wanted at all.

Now there's proof.

CBS has released its schedule for January and February programming, and pieces of NBC's plan are emerging as well. So far, it's good news for fans of Law and Order and Big Brother . . . and not so great for everyone else. Some of the plans:

Law and Order will air Wednesday nights starting Jan. 2. Law and Order: Criminal Intent, which NBC pawned off to USA for the fall, will return to NBC on Jan. 9. The CI episodes will be the same ones that have been airing on USA.
The first-ever non-summer edition of Big Brother will air Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays starting Feb. 12.
Also returning Feb. 12: Jericho, which was given seven more episodes after fans launched a nut-buying campaign in the spring.
The New Adventures of Old Christine will take over the 9:30 p.m. slot in the Monday comedy lineup starting Jan. 28. It will be joined by The Captain, a comedy about the eclectic crowd living in a famous Hollywood apartment building starring Jeffrey Tambor, Chris Klein, and Raquel Welch.

Fox, which is not as hurt by the strike over the winter because of American Idol, was the first to announce its schedule, while ABC's plans are still under wraps. The networks and writers are returning to negotiations today after the producers' most recent proposal was slammed by writers last week. But even if a deal is struck soon, it still looks like we'll be stuck with replacement programming come January.

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