Once more unto the Radio City breach
Don't you get the feeling that this good-clean-absurdist-fun moment from last week's episode of "The Office" is how NBC's Kevin Reilly and his crew must be feeling right about now with the clock ticking down to Monday afternoon's upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall. It's never easy being the first into the drink.
But at the end of the annual Monday-Thursday marathon of network dog and pony shows, NBC has kindly scheduled a treat that should help take the edge off nicely for many of us. Thursday's hourlong season finale of "Office" may or may not settle the questions of whether Michael gets the big promotion to corporate and what that might mean for the Scranton branch. But that's really beside the point (though it appears that the show will have at least six more hourlong episodes next season and shift to the brutal 9 p.m. Thursday slot). A double-length dose of "Office" antics after a grueling week of non-stop work ought to be just the tonic for those in the biz who will inevitably be questioning their career choices, at least temporarily, by the time Fox wraps up the last of the presentations on Thursday. (In a humanitarian gesture Fox has promised to keep the pace moving as fast as "American Idol's" open audition days on the road.)
Speaking of NBC season finales, it's kinda funny given Sunday's news about "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" moving over to USA Network next season (here's the low down on that and the mothership show's renewal from Variety's Michael Schneider) that the show's last final original episodes on NBC are titled "Endgame" and "Renewal." Looks like "the networks of NBC Universal," as NBC U likes to call its bouquet of broadcast and cable webs, got the hint.
Variety's Team TV -- Cynthia Littleton, Stu Levine, Jon Weisman, Andrew Wallenstein and A.J. Marechal -- provides a roundup of stories big and small, as well as opinions and analysis from across the TV dial.
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Posted by: Nike Shox Clearance | May 23, 2011 at 08:21 PM
So couldn't they have "given" STUDIO 60 to Bravo and done the same thing as they're doing with CI? None of these new shows, save perhaps LIPSTICK, look like anything other than cheapjack schlock, and I'll be curious to see if any manage even the 7 1/2 million viewers that STUDIO 60 averaged.
Posted by: cadavra | May 14, 2007 at 04:54 PM
A lot of CI fans had noticed that the last 2 episode names are 'Endgame' and 'Renewal' weeks ago, but some of us figured that those names had more to do with the fact that there would (and still could) be cast changes. I am not holding my breath for Vincent D'Onofrio to sign on for another season...he's looking like television has really done a number on him. I also am not holding my breath that we fans from day one will hear that creator and previous show runner Rene Balcer will be back to fix what got screwed up with CI this year.
Oh and a memo to Dick Wolf...we longtime fans did notice how the budget cuts for 2006-2007 changed the show, and it suree as hell wasn't an improvement. "No cast changes" that "the viewers will notice" my foot...we aren't that dumbed down, buddy. Having dumped Courtney Vance and any regular DA from CI has made a difference this season, but even worse is the current showrunner and his writers...they simply don't get what made CI great in its first five seasons, especially not in scripts that dealt with Goren & Eames.
Having USA take over CI is a bit of a twist, but I still don't think that bodes well for the overall quality of the show. More "budget cuts" will be demanded as cable channels operate on smaller economies of scale.
Anyway after these last 2 episodes I'll be catching up with the French CI Paris Enquettes Criminelle (which actually is quite good even though they're retelling stories we Americans have seen) and DVDs of 'Made In Canada' (known to US PBS viewers as 'The Industry'). Lord knows I could use a good laugh after what Wolf and GE/NBCU did to CI and it's creative spark this season.
Posted by: VDO Vault | May 14, 2007 at 03:22 PM