Shiri Appleby and Britt Robertson in 'Life Unexpected'.

Prior to The CW, there existed The WB network – this was a place to find heartwarming, family dramas where the whole family could sit in front of the TV to enjoy the likes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘Everwood.’ Unfortunately due to financial difficulties it was forced to merge with fellow struggling network UPN. This saw the end of The WB’s distinct brand, giving rise to what we see on The CW right now, with most shows focusing on filthy rich teenagers who have too much time on their hands.

Last fall, The CW tried to buck the trend with ‘Privileged,’ which coincidentally focused on filthy rich girls without the sex and bitching, but that failed. This time around they have come up with ‘Life Unexpected,’ ‘Life Unexpected’ was so different to The CW’s other shows that The CW didn’t even know what to do with it. The title of the show changed three times in the space of a couple of months, from ‘Light Years’ to ‘Parental Discretion Advised’ to the ridiculous ‘Life UneXpected’ and then finally settling on ‘Life Unexpected.’ And for those who haven’t noticed, the capitalization of the ‘X’ was supposed to put emphasis on its main antagonist Lux.

Lux (Brittany Robertson) has been in the foster care system for a long and treacherous 15 years, on the eve of her sixteenth birthday she decides she wants to free herself from the system, to do this she must be legally emancipated, which requires the signatures of her birth parents. Created by Liz Tigelaar, this is where ‘Life Unexpected’ picks up the story. To obtain the signatures she must seek out her parents, her father Nate “Baze” Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha) is a thirty-something living above a bar still unsure of his future. On the other hand, Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby), her birth mum, partners up with Kyle, her soon to be husband (Kerr Smith) on a successful morning radio program.

Lux was a result of an accidental one night stand between high school students Nate and Cate. But when Lux confronts her parents, one of which who didn’t know she existed and the other who didn’t give a second thought of keeping her, both are naturally shocked. To complicate the matter, Lux’s emancipation hearing is rejected by the judge handing Cate and Nate joint custody of their biological daughter despite just meeting the distant individuals. This forces Cate and Nate to realise they must mature quickly and become responsible parents.

No doubt, the proceeding episodes will focus on the complicated matters they face as they try to juggle their everyday lives with the addition of a teenager, Lux’s eagerness to find out her parent’s past and the possible problem of having Lux, Cate, Nate (and his friends) and Kyle live under the same roof and or the fight for custody of Lux.

Despite the plot holes – the bleeding obvious, why wouldn’t anyone want a smart, pretty teenage caucasian as their daughter, there is plenty to like about this warm family drama, ‘Life Unexpected.’ The characters are funny, charming and the relationships are well played out making them believable and hopefully this will be the breakout role for Polaha who charmed and entertained us on the short lived CW series ‘Valentine.’ ‘Life Unexpected’ is a flashback to the feel good dramas on The WB, where it was more about being nice to each other than bitching and whining.

4 out of 5 stars

JoAnna Garcia

According to TV Guide, JoAnna Garcia (‘Privileged’, ‘Reba’) has signed on to make a guest appearance on the hit comedy series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ as yet another one of Ted’s lady friends.

Garcia will play Ted’s college pal, Maggie, the girl next door who every guy wants to marry as soon as they meet her. Unfortunately for Ted, Maggie is always in a relationship, leaving Ted waiting for his shot with her.

When he hears that she’s finally single, he jumps at the chance to see her again, hoping his “window of opportunity” has not close.

The episode, “The Window”, airs December 7 on CBS.

Garcia was most recently seen on ‘Gossip Girl’ as Nate’s (Chace Crawford) southern belle socialite Bree Buckley.

Source: TV Guide

Lucy Hale - In negotiations to top-line 'Pretty Little Lairs'.

Competition between The CW and ABC Family has really heated up over the last two seasons, with both channels targeting the same young female demographic.

Last season, ABC Family’s ‘The Secret Life of an American Teenager’ even topped the reboot of The CW’s ‘90210’.

Now it looks as though ABC Family are taking a page from The CW’s playbook, with the cable channel eyeing a project from Warner Bros. Television and Alloy Entertainment — the duo behind ‘Gossip Girl’, ‘Privileged’, and this season’s breakout hit, ‘The Vampire Diaries’.

The project, entitled ‘Pretty Little Liars’, is based on the series of novels by Sara Shepard.

Adapted for television by Marline King (“Just My Luck”), ‘Liars’ revolves around four 16-year-old friends, Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hanna, who’ve had a falling out following the disappearance of their manipulative and vindictive “Queen Bee”, Alison. Three years after her disappearance, the girls begin to receive mysterious messages suggesting that Alison is watching them and knows all their dirty secrets. The messages continue to arrive, even after Alison’s body is finally discovered.

‘Privileged’ star Lucy Hale is said to be negotiations to top-line ‘Liars’, with Bob Levy, Leslie Morgenstein and King serving as executive producers.

Alloy and Warner had previously attempted to turn ‘Liars’ into a TV series, with a project in development for The WB back in 2005. Mimi Schmir had penned the script, but it wasn’t green-lit for pilot by the network.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

It looks like Joanna Garcia will be back in blonde locks this September when she guest stars on The CW's 'Gossip Girl'.

Joanna Garcia, best know for her roles on ‘Reba’ and ‘Privileged’, is returning to The CW next season with a recurring role on the hit teen drama ‘Gossip Girl’.

Garcia will play the evil Miss America-type blonde Bree Buckley, who comes from a conservative Southern family but is politically progressive.

While her story line is being kept under wraps, sources say she is expected to have a fling with a regular on the show. Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly suggests her character may get intimate with the series player Nate, played by Chase Crawford.

‘Gossip Girl’ returns for its third season on September 14th on The CW.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly

Lucy Hale as Rose Baker in 'Privileged'.

As the CBS and CW upfronts draw closer, both networks have started making official announcements of cancellations and early pick ups.

On the CBS front is the cancellations of ‘Eleventh Hour’ and the long running crime drama ’Without a Trace’ which starred Australia’s Anthony LaPaglia and Poppy Montgomery.

Over at the CW the cancellations are equally as devastating, including ‘Reaper’, ‘The Game’, ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ and the worst news of all ‘Privileged’.

Despite much talk about ‘Privileged’ returning as a midseason replacement, The CW’s strong development plate left little room for a number of bubble series on the green network.

“It’s truly heartbreaking,” said ‘Privileged’ series creator Rina Mimoun. “I’m so grateful to everyone out there who supported our little show and fell in love with Megan Smith. She was the most delightful character I’ve ever had the pleasure to write and watching JoAnna Garcia bring her to life every day was a gift I will never forget. I’m incredibly proud of the work we did and forever indebted to all the fans, critics and to Warner Bros. for being so wonderful and supportive. I will miss this more than you know.”

So long ‘Privileged’, we hardly knew you.

On a lighter note, CBS have renewed ’Numb3ers’, ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘Gary Unmarried’, ‘Rules of Engagement’, and ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’.

The CW have officially picked up ‘Melrose Place’, ‘Vampire Diaries’ and ‘The Beautiful Life’ for next season.

Stay tuned for more announcements from the CBS and CW upfronts over the next two days.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Joanna Garcia stars as Megan Smith in The CW's 'Privileged'.

With The CW’s recent drop of Sunday night programming from their schedule, competition has become even tighter for hopeful pilots and old faves for the green network.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, ‘Melrose Place’ and ‘Vampire Diaries’ are now both considered lock for next season, while Ashton Kutcher’s ‘The Beautiful Life’, ‘Life Unexpected’ ‘Parental Discretion Advised’ (previously knows as ‘Light Years’) and our favourite dramedy this season ‘Privileged’ are all fighting it out for the third spot on the CW’s sched.

‘Valley Girls’ (AKA the “Gossip Girl’ spin-off) is apparently back in the running as a mid-season replacement.

So who do you think should take out the third opening on The CW next season? Here’s a run down of the three contenders.

The Beautiful Life

An hourlong drama which revolves around a group of male and female models sharing a residence in New York. It stars Mischa Barton, Corbin Bleu and Elle Macpherson.

The pilot was written by former-model-turned writer Adam Giaudrone. Mike Kelley(‘Swingtown’) will serve as the showrunner with Aston Kutcher as executive producer.

Source: Wikipedia

Life Unexpected Parental Discretion Advised

An hourlong dramedy being described as ‘Juno’ meets ‘Gilmore Girls’. It revolves around a teenage girl who has spent most of her life in foster homes. She searches for—and finds—her birth parents, only to discover they haven’t spoken to each other since she was born. Mum is a commitment-phobic radio host, while dad is a slacker bar owner. They form an unlikely family unit.

The pilot was written by Liz Tigelaar (‘What About Brian’, ‘Brothers and Sisters’) and was directed by Gary Fleder (‘Life on Mars’). Both serve as executive producers.

Source: Wikipedia

Privileged

A hourlong dramedy based on the novel “How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls” by  Zoey Dean. It revolves around Yale-grad Megan Smith, who lands the job as the in-house tutor for cosmetics mogul Laurel Limoges’s granddaughters Rose and Sage Baker.

It was developed for television by Rina Mimoun (‘Everwood’, ‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘Pushing Daisies’), who also serves as showrunner and executive producer with Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein.

The cast of The CW's 'Privileged'.

E! Online are back again this year with the “Save One Show” campaign.

Here’s why E! thinks you should save Chuck.

Since its second season premiere, ‘Chuck’ has progressively dropped in the ratings each week. Going up against heavy hitters like Dancing With the Stars and House probably hasn’t helped Chuck’s mission (Chuck vs. the Audience), but the show has a devoted fan base, near-universal critical acclaim and the amazing Zachary Levi. As far as getting that coveted third-season pickup, NBC is holding out on us until upfronts, so this show needs a major show of support, pronto.

And here’s why they think you should help save ‘Privileged’.

CW sources assure me that this show is very definitely in danger. This season was already cut down to the bone (with just 18 hours this season, instead of the typical 22), but there’s still much more Palm Beach glamour to come if it gets a pickup! Show runner Rina Mimoun tells us exclusively, “Who wants to see Joanna Garcia wrangle her way out of bed with the hot British boy before Will shows up at the house? Who wants to see more adorable Rose and Sage getting into millionaire mischief? Brian Hallisay and Robert Buckley are at the gym this second trying to win the ‘whose abs are more shredded’ contest. Don’t you want to be the judge of that?” Well, don’t you?!

Vote on which show you’d most like to save on E! Online. Other shows up for the vote include ‘Cold Case’, ‘Dollhouse’, ‘Everybody Hates Chris’, ‘The Game’, ‘Kings’, ‘Lie to Me’, ‘Life’, ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’, ‘The Unit’, ‘Without a Trace’ and ‘Worst Week’.

It’s a news-a-palooza on TVAUSCAST Live. We delve into all the latest casting news and series renewals/cancellations. Plus we speculate about upcoming episodes of ‘Packed to the Rafters’, laugh over a Freeview spoof, answer the mailbag and of course recap on all the ratings and hot topics from the forums.

Clockwise: Katie Cassidy, Steven R. McQueen and Michael Rady

The daughter of David Cassidy, Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), has been cast in The CW’s new Melrose Place, while grandson of Steve McQueen, Steven R. McQueen (Everwood), has landed a role in another CW pilot, Vampire Diaries.

The reboot of Melrose Place, set to be directed by David Guggenheim, will star Cassidy, as the sexy and stylish Ella Flynn, an up-and-coming publicist with a big career ahead of her.

She’ll join Michael Rady (“Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants”), who has been cast as aspiring filmmaker, Jonah Miller.

Vampire Diaries, is based on Alloy Entertainment’s (Gossip Girl, Privileged) series of books of the same name.

It centers on Elena, a tragic young heroine who is torn between two vampire brothers – one good, one evil – who are fighting for her soul and for the souls of her friends, family and other residents of the small town in which she resides. McQueen will play Jeremy, Elena’s younger brother.

Vampire Diaries will be helmed by “Scream” and Dawson’s Creek creator Kevin Williamson.

The CW are hoping to cash in on some of that “Twilight” vampire craze.

With the current popularity of vampires, courtesy of  ”Twilight” and HBO’s True Blood, it’s no wonder The CW network have greenlit a new pilot based on the Vampire Diaries, a series of books published by Alloy Entertainment. The same company behind Gossip Girl and Privileged.

Vampire Diaries revolves around a young woman whose torn between two brothers, who happen to be vampires. One good and one evil.

The first book in the series was originally published in 1993, years before Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series were even a blimp on the radar.

Kevin Williamson (“Scream” , ”I Know What You Did Last Summer”, Dawson’s Creek, Hidden Palms) will write and produce, along with Julie Plec, who’s coming off the recently cancelled Kyle XY.

The project will be housed by Warner Bros. TV under Alloy’s executive producers Les Morgenstein and Bob Levy .

Hooray for The CW!

The CW has pushed the season 2 premiere of Reaper forward a few weeks to March 3! Season 2 will now premiere 8/7c March 3 as a lead in to 90210. This pips the quirky drama against ratings juggernaut American Idol, fingers crossed it won’t be a casualty.

This decision comes as both 90210 and Privileged had the highest percentage of DVR viewing in the week January 12-18 (33.5% and 33.9% respectively).

Now for the bad news, a thirteen episode order still remains.

• Grey’s Anatomy lead out program Private Practice managed a healthy 9.03M, A18-49: 3.4/8, A18-34: 3.3/9 on its first Thursday night airing.

• Up against The Golden Globes and 24, Desperate Housewives hit a series low with 13.5M, A18-49: 5.2/12, A18-34: 4.8/12.

• After being off the air for 18 months, Sunday’s airing of 24 garnered 12.52M, A18-49: 4.2/10, A18-34: 3.5/10 followed by 11.95M, A18-49: 3.9/10, A18-34: 3.4/9 on Monday.

• After a solid debut Superstars of Dance on Monday fails, losing nearly 3M viewers with 7.1M, A18-49: 1.9/5, A18-34: 1.7/4.

• American Idol premiered to massive ratings with its Tuesday episode pulling in 30.074M, A18-49: 11.8/28 and A18-34: 9.9/26 and 29.854M, A18-49: 11.7/29 and A18-34: 10.7/29 on Wednesday. Casualties include 90210, Privileged, Scrubs and Homeland Security, all losing a large chunk from its previous airings.

Source: Nielsen TV Ratings

         
• An official announced hasn’t been made yet, but Desperate Housewives will be around for at least another four years. Creator Marc Cherry is currently in talks with ABC in regards to a deal extension which will see the Housewives remain on our small screens until 2012-2013. The current season, which fast-forwarded five years has received a lot of positive feedback and has opened a can of worms for the writers.

• NBC recently announced they would be scrapping their 10pm shows for a talk show hosted by Jay Leno. For weekending December 5th , the Tonight Show finished with its highest ratings since February – 5.3M A18-49: 1.4 and won its timeslot against The Late Show with David Letterman and Nightline, 4.2M A18-49: 1.0/4 and 4M A18-49: 1.1/4 respectively.

• On Friday, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced our Hugh Jackman will be hosting the Oscars.

• HBO’s critically acclaimed Tru Blood will be back for a second season and creator Alan Ball has dropped a few secrets in regards to season two: 

WARNING SPOILERS “Jason goes into the Fellowship of the Sun church in a big way and is surprised by what he finds there. There’s a new creature in town that is unlike any other. Nobody knows what this creature is, I’m not sure if it will be entirely explained in the show — it’s not a werewolf. There are new romances for Tara, Jason and Sara. Bill and Sookie have a lot of issues to sort out — including having made a new teenage vampire that’s living in their house. Bill and Sookie also go to Dallas to find one of their own who has gone missing.”

• Showtime is developing a new reality series concerning gay people coming out to friends and family. It will be led by Bryn Freedman and will be titled Way Out.

• Privileged hasn’t been doing too well out of a friendly Gossip Girl lead-in, with the first episode mustering only 2.20M A18-49:1.0/2 A18-34:1.5/4 and the second episode slipping even further to 1.90M A18-49: 1.0/2 A18-34: 1.5/4. Fans should enjoy the remaining episodes as I don’t see The CW renewing it.

Some of you might know how much I despise The CW and this dark side is back again. The CW has been quite good during the fall with two brilliant freshman shows in 90210 and Privileged but again they have let me down. Their top rating freshman drama of last year and my favourite show to come out of the 2007-2008 fall season Reaper has been treated like sh*t again! Dawn Ostroff what are you smoking? Here’s some evidence:

• Reaper was on the bubble until the final minute but Gossip Girl which had a lower season average was renewed earlier in its run.
• When I heard Reaper was not returning this fall, instead held back until mid-season and now pushed back even further, starting March 17th is absolutely absurd.
• Only a thirteen episode order! The CW you really know how to kill shows.

To further illustrate my point, The CW is down nearly 14% in the key 18-49 demo. Ok, ok, they might be up 11% in their target demo women 18-34, miniscule in the wider scheme of things, but this drop in the key demo will never be compensated by this small gain in their target demo.

Couple this with the way they have treated their top rating dramas like Supernatural and Smallville, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure they are struggling financially. Yes, they have made it clear their target demo is women 18-34, but surely from the numbers Supernatural and Smallville have managed this season, they can and should widen their target audience. I don’t know if anyone has seen the pdf – What a spot costs? But it is well worth a look. Even though both Supernatural and Smallville are The CW’s top rating shows outside of America’s Next Top Model, its timeslot is worth less than lower rating shows Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill and on par with The CW’s struggling Friday comedies. The executives at The CW need to wake up to themselves and swing the axe on Dawn not their quality shows. Recently, Dawn talked about the importance of flow which totally contradicts her scheduling of Reaper proceeding 90210. Oh Dawn you frustrate me!

As for Reaper, The CW should’ve given it a full season order and premiered season two in January!

Full schedule below:

Monday
8-9 p.m. Gossip Girl (New episodes begin January 5)
9-10 p.m. One Tree Hill (New episodes begin January 5)

Tuesday
8-9 p.m. 90210 (New episodes begin January 6)
9-10 p.m. Privileged (New episodes begin January 6)

Wednesday
8-9 p.m. 13 – Fear is Real (Series premiere January 7)
9-10 p.m. 90210 (Encore Episodes Begin January 7)

Thursday
8-9 p.m. Smallville (New episodes begin January 15)
9-10 p.m. Supernatural (New episodes begin January 15)

Friday
8-8:30 p.m. Everybody Hates Chris (New episodes begin January 9)
8:30-9 p.m. The Game (New episodes begin January 9)
9-10 p.m. 13 – Fear is Real (Encore episodes begin January 9)

Tuesday (Beginning March 17)
8-9 p.m. 90210
9-10 p.m. Reaper

An official announcement was made earlier today that the Nine Network has finally bitten the bullet and sold the first run rights of niche shows: Chuck, Privileged, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Pushing Daisies to Foxtel. So you may ask, why did Nine sell them to Foxtel instead of Network Ten or Seven. The main reason is Nine do not want to see their rivals benefit from their own loss, every year the ratings race is a tightly fought out battle and Nine do not want to give their rivals any fire power which might come back to bite them. But where does this leave viewers who don’t have Foxtel? This will only drive people towards piracy and given Australians already top the list in downloading illegal TV shows, these numbers will only sky-rocket. This output deal notion is flawed and should be overhauled to allow networks to bid for shows that target their audience or perhaps trading of shows between networks?

Chuck season one premieres on FOX8 January 2009.

Privileged season one premieres on FOX8 early 2009.

Pushing Daisies series premieres on W early 2009.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles season one premieres on FOX8 January 2009.

So for all you couch potatoes who want to sample great drama and haven’t downloaded the aforementioned shows, I’d highly recommend them all. If you don’t have enough time to watch them all, after thinking long and hard here is how I would rank them (Hopefully it makes it a lot easier):

1. Privileged

2. Chuck

=3. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

=3. Pushing Daisies

Press Release:

FOXTEL announced today it has secured a range of exclusive new U.S. programming for its Owned & Operated Channels following an agreement with Channel Nine and Warner Bros.

The new series, Chuck, Privileged, Pushing Daisies and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, will all screen exclusively on FOXTEL from early next month. Under the deal terms, Channel Nine has relinquished its first run window to FOXTEL, which will have exclusive first run rights to all series.

FOXTEL Executive Director of Television and Marketing Brian Walsh said: “In obtaining these compelling, quality U.S. programs, FOXTEL reinforces its robust commitment to provide our subscribers with more exclusive and first run programming.

“We continue to deliver the premium programming across a range of genres to our viewers – ahead of other television networks – and the new Warner Bros series add to the already impressive line-up of first run series screening on FOXTEL this summer including the hit shows Gossip Girl, Entourage, America’s Next Top Model, Project Runway and American Idol, as well as Australian programs An Aussie Goes Calypso, and new series The Phone.”

Chuck
Season One Exclusive Australian Premiere in January 2009 on FOX8 (as seen on U.S. network NBC).

When Chuck Bartowski opens an email subliminally encoded with the government’s most precious secrets, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain. Now the fate of the world lies in the unlikely hands of a guy who works at a Buy More Electronics store. Instead of fighting computer viruses, he must now confront assassins and international terrorists.

Privileged
Season One Exclusive Australian Premiere in early 2009 on FOX8 (as seen on U.S. network CW).

Megan Smith is having a bad day, her New York apartment burned down, she just got fired from her job at a tabloid magazine and she accidentally dyed her hair an unnervingly bright colour. Things start to look up when she is offered a position in Palm Beach, working as a tutor for 16-year-old twin billionaires. In exchange for getting the girls into Duke University, Megan will get to live amongst the rich and fabulous, and have the remainder of her college loans covered. Privileged is based on the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls by Zoey Dean.

Pushing Daisies
Series One Exclusive Australian Premiere in early 2009 on W. (as seen on U.S. network ABC).

As a boy, Ned discovered that he could return the dead briefly back to life with just one touch. Now a pie maker, Ned puts his ability to good use touching dead fruit to make it ripe with everlasting flavour, and working with a private investigator to crack murder cases by raising the dead to name their killers. But the tale gets complicated when Ned brings his childhood sweetheart, Chuck, back from the dead – and keeps her alive. Life would be perfect for Ned and Chuck, except for one cruel twist – if he ever touches her again, she’ll go back to being dead and this time for good.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Season One begins January 2009 followed by Australian Premiere of Season Two on FOX8 (As seen on U.S. network FOX).

At the end of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” Sarah Connor vanquished the Terminator sent from the future to kill her 15-year-old son, John. Sarah and John now find themselves alone in a very dangerous, complicated world. Fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that still more enemies from the future and the present could attack at any moment. John knows he may be the future saviour of mankind, but he is not yet ready to take on the mantle of leadership that he’s told is his destiny.

These exciting new programs add to the stellar line-up for the 2009 season, including 15 local productions such as Australia’s Next Top Model Series Five, Project Runway (Australia) Series Two, Football Superstar Series Two, and new comedy programs The Pam Ann Show and 30 Seconds.

What an interesting fall it has been, with a number of good performances from The Mentalist, Smallville, Supernatural and Gossip Girl to name a few and many casualties in My Own Worst Enemy, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Do Not Disturb, Lipstick Jungle, The Ex-List, Easy Money, Valentine, In Harm’s Way and Til Death. Here is how I rate each show.

Winners

The Simpsons: Back for its 20th season, The Simpsons has been Fox’s Sunday night stable mate pulling in an average of ~9M viewers this season. Couple this with the highest rating Treehouse of Horror episode in five years. Simpsons is definitely a winner for Fox even though the jokes seem to be recycled over and over again.

Family Guy: Has not dropped out of the weekly top 10 in the 18-49 bracket and dominates the 18-34 demo against the likes of Desperate Housewives and NFL. Has a number of years left in it.

Desperate Housewives: Now into its fifth season, the housewives seem to never age. Viewership has diminished due to a lacklustre third season (?), nevertheless it is Sunday’s night top scripted drama in total viewers and 18-49 demo.

Chuck: Against some tough opposition, Chuck managed to remain around the 6.5M mark and over the 2 rating in key demos in the fall.

Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother: Continually defies the critics, occasionally winning the timeslot in the key demos and has slowly built an audience over the fall season.

Two and a Half Men: Veteran CBS comedy which defies logic and reaps in excess of 14M viewers every week.

CSI: Miami and CSI: NY: The two spin-offs constantly pull in the masses and in Miami’s case building on its lead in.

Gossip Girl: Season 2 has been somewhat of a break through season for the teen drama, hitting series high numbers and providing a suitable and beneficial lead in for One Tree Hill.

One Tree Hill: After falling below the 3M mark during its 3rd, 4th and 5th seasons, One Tree Hill has bounced back nicely, regularly rating in the mid to low 3M range.

House: The move to 8/7c hasn’t helped its numbers, but it is taking one for the team as Fox continue to develop Fringe. Still pulls in massive demos for the news corp. network.

The Mentalist and NCIS: Against the House and Dancing juggernauts these two dramas have performed admirably, especially The Mentalist which does particularly well for the eye in the demos.

90210: Was off to a flying start, but numbers have settled around the 3M mark. Occasionally out-rates CW’s other teen dramas in One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl.

Criminal Minds: Behind the CSI franchise, it is CBS’s best rating demographic show amongst all the crime procedurals.

30 Rock: Has been nurtured nicely and off the back of the US election and Tina Fey’s extra exposure, numbers have soared to series highs.

The Office: The peacock’s best rating show in the fall, challenges the likes of Grey’s Anatomy, House and Desperate Housewives for the 18-49 crown.

ER: In its final season and still pulling in the viewers left, right and centre. Also defeats the likes of lead in assisted shows Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour in the key demos. One of NBC’s top rating shows of the fall.

CSI: Still pulling in the masses in its ninth season, also stays competitive in the demos against the demo king Grey’s Anatomy.

Grey’s Anatomy: Numbers have died down for the once ratings juggernaut, but it is still the week’s top rating demo show.

Supernatural and Smallville: Are up year-on-year and ratings can not be better with Supernatural soaring to series highs. Well deserved winners.

On the Bubble

King of the Hill: The recently cancelled animated comedy just misses out on the winners list. Regularly winning its timeslot in the 18-34 demo and hovering around the 6-7M mark week in week out. What were the execs at Fox smoking when they swung the axe?

American Dad: My favourite animated comedy of them all, does well in the demos but poor retention out of Family Guy has it a bee’s d**k away from a winner.

Amazing Race: Has slipped significantly in the demo, sometimes even dropping below the 2 rating in the 18-34 demo.

Cold Case: Solid numbers for veteran CBS, but its demos aren’t what CBS are looking for. If not for NFL overrun, CBS would be dead last in the demos on Sundays.

Brothers and Sisters: Averages 10M every week and a 4 rating in the demos, but losing a third of a compatible lead in is not good enough. Anymore it would’ve been a loser.

Heroes: Has lost a lot of steam, in previous seasons in has dominated the demos with nothing coming close to it, but this season Two and a Half Men constantly beats it in the key demos.

Prison Break: Has been stable across the fall season and regularly clears the 2 rating in the demos.

Old Christine and Gary Unmarried: Numbers for a relatively easy timeslot are soft, but CBS haven’t had another comedy block outside of Mondays, so this deserves a little credit, only just.

Samantha Who?: Just makes it into this list, retention out of Dancing with the Stars is a paltry 50 odd percent, but nothing else has done better out of Dancing. My judgement on Samantha Who? might change when the ratings for last night are released early tomorrow morning our time.

Boston Legal: After surviving the culling last year, Boston Legal continues to out perform a number of the alphabet’s other shows even though it is in its final season.

Fringe: Still a work in progress and if it weren’t for a House lead-in would be in the trash by now. Nevertheless, does well in the demos and is Fox’s best rating drama since House itself.

Law and Order SVU: Has tumbled to series low numbers, but still a consistent performer for an otherwise struggling network.

The Biggest Loser: Constantly slides under the radar for NBC, it is one of NBC’s best performers in demos.

America’s Next Top Model: Initially numbers were soft but has built as the season progressed, with the finale pulling in 4.8M and was the night’s top rating program amongst the 18-34 demo.

Private Practice: Best of a bad bunch on a Wednesday night, numbers will improve once it proceeds its sister show, Grey’s Anatomy.

Ugly Betty: Hasn’t reached the highs of its inaugural season, but still one of ABC’s better shows.

Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour: Poor retention out of lead in, but numbers have been acceptable.

Survivor: The reality veteran continues to kick off CBS’s Thursday night with a bang.

Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs: Solid but not spectacular Friday night performers.

Everybody Hates Chris and The Game: Numbers are down on Smackdown, but approx 1.5-2M isn’t a bad effort for The CW.

Losers

The Unit: Moving it from Tuesday night to Sundays has sugar coated some flaws but retention out of Cold Case is good, however demos are a worry.

In Harm’s Way, Easy Money and Valentine: all lasted less than 6 weeks, could only muster 1M or so viewers and couldn’t even crack a point in the demo.

My Own Worst Enemy: The recently cancelled drama had a lot of potential, but numbers just didn’t stack up.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Continues to bleed viewers from its series premiere, with its last airing netting less than 5M viewers. It might have a core fan base, but that is where it ends.

Privileged: Even though its one of my favourites of the new fall season, numbers have been poor out of a compatible 90210.

Eli Stone: Poor retention out of Dancing which eventually led to its cancellation.

Without A Trace: No longer appeals to the masses, but averages reasonable numbers for procedural kings CBS.

Pushing Daisies: Struggled in a relatively easy slot, with figures slipping below the 5.5M mark and 2 rating in the demo.

Dirty Sexy Money: Another sophomore drama culled due to ABC’s stupidity, however ratings were poor and cancellation was justified.

Stylista: What were The CW thinking here? Project Runway, Shear Genius to name a few.

Knight Rider: Exciting show which hasn’t caught on to the masses.

Life: Has lost its oomph factor from its freshman season and even with the shift to a more viewer friendly timeslot, numbers have been poor.

Lipstick Jungle: Numbers have headed south since its season two premiere.

Do Not Disturb and Til Death: Should have never green lit these two shows.

Deal or No Deal: Viewer fatigue has finally set in for this once stable performer.

My Name is Earl: Novelty is wearing off this once funny comedy.

Kath and Kim: Hasn’t worked out for NBC, but has the potential to be a good comedy.

Kitchen Nightmares and Hole in the Wall: Down year-on-year in that timeslot.

The Ex-List, Crusoe, Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader and Don’t Forget the Lyrics: Crusoe and Ex-List both couldn’t crack it on Friday, averaging ordinary numbers. The shift to Fridays for 5th Grader and Lyrics hasn’t worked out with both pulling less than its Thursday numbers.

Worst Week: Poor retention out of Two and a Half Men.

Kobi Ghosh over at Zap2It had a chance to sit down with Privileged EP Rina Mimoun to ask a few fan questions. One interesting question that came up was regarding a possible crossover between Privileged and Gossip Girl. Here’s was Mimoun had to say:

“We would love to do a Gossip Girl crossover! We even came up with a really fun idea for Sage and Blair (because clearly they would be friends). The problem is scheduling. With Gossip shooting in New York and us being in L.A., it makes it really difficult. But I’m still hoping we could find a way to make it work…”

What are your thoughts? Does this sound like a good fit? Could this crossover give the struggling Privileged the boost it needs? I say yes, yes, yes! Bring it on!

High Five For Privileged

The CW has ordered an additional five episodes of under-rated show Privileged. This is a vote of confidence for the struggling show which only managed 1.87M viewers with 0.9/2 (A18-49) 1.4/4 (A18-34) last night. Further, during the first two weeks of December, The CW is planning to give it a run in One Tree Hill’s timeslot (Mondays 9/8c) during its hiatus.

Besides Cameron, Medallic Mike and myself, are there any other Privileged fans out there?

David Salzman Is Mad

MadTV, the late-night sketch comedy which currently airs on FOX on Saturday nights has been axed due to financial problems.

Sources have confirmed the veteran sketch show will not be returning for its 15th season but David Salzman, the show’s co-creator, has hopes of a cable channel pick up.

“There’s a long list of parties that have called us, including a few very recently, and we’re going to start conversations with them very shortly,” Salzman says.

The final FOX episode, episode number 326, is scheduled to air in May.

“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, we’re appreciative of what FOX has done and we don’t think it should be over yet,” Salzman says.

Lawrence Is Privileged

Michael Ausiello reports, Sharon Lawrence will be joining the cast of The CW’s freshman series Privileged. Lawrence will play Shelby, Megan (Joanna Garcia) and Lily’s (Kristina Apgar) ‘deadbeat’ mum. After abandoning her children for 15 years, Shelby returns with a personal agenda and according to sources she will be brash and larger-than-life.

As it stands, Lawrence will be appearing in two episodes (the first of which airs in January). But if she impresses the executives, we might see a bit more of her.

Last night Privileged could not quite muster respectable numbers, nevertheless it did improve on last week’s episode with 2.16M, 1.1/3 A18-49 and 1.4/4 A18-34, it slumped further in finals with 1.916M, 0.9/2 A18-49 and 1.2/3 A18-34.

Please The CW, give this gem of a show a full season.

Schnieder Gets Dirty

Meanwhile, John Schneider (The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Dukes of Hazzard) might have scored himself another gig. Apparently, he has signed on for three episodes of ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money. He’ll play a congressman who screws over Simon Elder at the request of a blackmailin’ Tripp.

Also, the producers of Dirty Sexy Money are on the look out for an actress to play Schneider’s upscale trophy wife.

Source: EW

Joanna Garcia fans rejoice! Hollywood reporter reports The CW has ordered a couple more scripts of its new fall show, Privileged. The show is based on the book ‘How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls’ and has garnered soft ratings with its four episodes so far. However, as the show targets the audience that the network is geared towards, Privileged has been given more time to build an audience. If ratings improve, the show will definitely be given its back nine episodes.

The latest episode netted 2.3M up 23% from previous showings coupled with an 18% improvement in Women 18-34.

Meanwhile in other news, NBC has ordered the back nine episodes of Knight Rider. Even though the show has been critically bashed, it does well in the male 18-34 demo (which includes me ). However, there isn’t much life left in Life, industry sources have apparently heard Universal Media Studios rejected NBC’s order for more scripts.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

PS. Thanks Cam for letting me join the team, hopefully I can contribute to the podcasts in the future (when I get a microphone).

Week Three of the US television season has seen the turbulence of last week’s ratings begin to settle.

FOX’s hit medical drama House, returned with 14.77 million viewers, creating a strong lead in for the J.J. Abrams’ new sci-fi drama Fringe (up 59% to 13.27 million). Both shows dominated their time-slots and scored strong results in their key demographics.

Over at The CW Gossip Girl saw its highest ratings ever with 3.73 million, 22% increase in its target demographic. One Tree Hill saw its best figures since season four with 3.37 million viewers. Both 90210 and Privileged retained last weeks figures despite the heavy competition from House and Fringe.

Lucy Hale and Joanna Garcia in 'Privileged'.

I briefly mentioned Privileged in a previous post, but I thought it deserved its own, if not brief little review.

Coming off the successful adaptation of Gossip Girl, the new CW dramady Privileged is based on another Alloy Entertainment novel, ‘How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls’ by Zoey Dean. It was adapted for television by Everwood writer and producer Rina Mimoun, whose more recent credits include Gilmore Girls and Pushing Daisies.

The show centres around Yale graduate Megan Smith, who recently moved to Manhattan with hopes of finding success in the field of journalism. However, when her plans suddenly go awry, she accepts the job as the live-in tutor for two spoilt rich girls in the wealthy town of Palm Beach and is presented with an offer she just can’t refuse. If she can get both girls into college, she’ll have all of her own college loans paid off by the girls millionaire Grandmother, Laurel Limoges.

From the very first frame, you can’t help but fall in love with Megan Smith, played so brilliantly by Joanna Garica (Reba). It’s almost as if she was born to play this role. She brings so much charm and sophistication to the character, something I haven’t seen so well delivered since Lauren Graham in Gilmore Girls.

The show also stars a solid supporting cast including, Lucy Hale (Bionic Woman) and Ashley Newbrough (Degrassi: The Next Generation) as Rose and Sage Baker, Anne Archer (Ghost Whisperer) as their grandmother Laurel Limoges and Michael Cassidy (The OC) as Megan’s friend Charlie Hogan.

The writing incredibly smart and funny, filled with so much vim and vigor. It definitely has all the trademarks of Rina Mimoun’s sumptuous writing.

Privileged is a delicious new dramady and is right at home on The CW’s line up. Fan’s of Gilmore Girls will love it for its neurotic, witty, fast talking characters and will be swept away by its undeniable charm and charisma.

4.5 out of 5 stars

We’re back again with another great episode of TVAUSCAST. This week we discuss the new 90210, Privileged, Fringe, Packed to the Rafters, The Strip, Rush, Taken Out, Australian Idol, Make Me A Supermodel and more. We also go into a long winded discussion on tech and other forum topics. We wrap up with some self congratulatory praise.

Last night saw the second episode of The CW’s 90210 and series premieres of Privileged and FOX’s new sci-fi drama Fringe. We’re only into the second week of the US ratings period, but already signs of declining viewership is starting to show. 

Fringe, which was one of the most anticipated new FOX dramas, may have won the night, but it failed to make a big impact on the ratings figures with just 9.13 million viewers. Considering J.J. Abrams’ other series, Lost scored a massive 18.6 million viewers during its premiere, it was a rather underwhelming result for the News Corp broadcaster. Although there is still a chance for the Abrams’ series to pick up extra eyeballs next week when House returns and becomes a solid lead in for sci-fi drama.

The CW’s figures also underwhelmed with 90210 dropping to just 3 million viewers. This is equal to the figures which were seen by the Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill combo on Monday night. 90210 lost the top spot once again in its core demographic to The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family.

Privileged started solidly with 2.64 million viewers, holding on to most of 90210’s audience but it failed to pick up any extra viewers.

Both Fringe and Privileged will be re-broadcast on Sunday night in the US.