[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'May 19 2005, 12:04 PM\']Fox and UPN announced their schedules today and Mike Darnell's been put on a muzzle--the only scheduled unscripted on either the fall (or Nov.-Dec.) or winter schedules is the fifth goround for Ry Ry, Dawg, Simon and maybe Paula on "Idol" in January. The "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny" clones "Trading Spouses" and "Nanny 911" will be at unannounced times starting in January, but they aren't comps anyway. ...
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Considering new Fox chief Peter Liguori previously gave us
The Shield while at FX, it doesn't seem surprising to me that the new Fox schedule has gone heavy on the dramma*. It's amazing how one runaway hit (
House) can help change a network's whole mindset. Given the general direction of the networks' schedules, it appears that the reality glut has run its course, but alas, we have not seen the last of Paris Hilton--with or without Nicole Richie. They're both under contract for two more cycles of
The Simple Life, per Yahoo!. And I think UPN took a huge risk moving WWE SmackDown!! to Fridays. We'll see if it works. (On the surface,
SmackDown sounds completely OT, but it's not quite. We all know that just like the original
Twenty One, pro wrestling is rrrrrRRRRRIIIGGGGEDDDDD*.)
So let's review the comps:
Survivor,
The Amazing Race,
American Idol, and
Top Model are all returning, and
The Apprentice is expanding, but nothing new in the pipeline. Of course, if more of the new dramas go flop than analysts predict, that may change.
[delayed reaction] Comp? Have we been od'ing on
Variety?
* I always wanted to say that.
