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« Roush Dispatch
Kids, Vampires, Musical Drama: Is CBS "Nuts"?
Skeet Ulrich in Jericho by Robert Voets/CBS
Frankly, I was surprised and a bit dismayed that CBS didn’t have symbolic bowls of nuts in the room as the network launched its portion of the TCA press tour Wednesday morning. Which didn’t stop Jericho from dominating much of the conversation when CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler took the stage to introduce one of the more ambitious and controversial new lineups in CBS’ recent history.
Tassler said she couldn’t go to a neighborhood camera store, or even a doctor’s office (where the doctor pulled a bag of peanuts out of his coat in reference to the fan campaign) without being reminded of the furor over Jericho's cancellation and subsequent renewal for seven episodes at mid-season. She says she went on message boards, read the e-mails, “and what you saw was a huge segment of the population that really felt they were not being counted, but more specifically, that they had a knowledge and an awareness of the show that was so detailed and so committed and so passionate that we said, ‘Look, this is a rare opportunity for us to interact with our audience and take another shot.’” Ms. Tassler, welcome to the world of cult television.
She hopes to create similar vibes from her new slate of offbeat shows, most of which fall way outside the typical CBS brand. The new series include Jimmy Smits’ Latino family serial drama, Cane, hardly a thriving genre, and the incredibly strange Viva Laughlin, a mystery drama with musical interludes that is based on a successful British concept and evokes echoes of ABC’s Cop Rock fiasco among the skeptical TV press corps. When a release came out this morning revealing that its premiere had been pushed back to mid-October, the first thought many of us had was maybe that’s one way to keep Viva Laughlin from being the season’s first cancellation. (Tassler explained that the late start is due to double-header football overruns in the first part of the season.)
There was a noticeable “bring it on” attitude in Tassler’s answers as she was grilled about several of her more unusual high concepts. She hopes there will be controversy and debate over the reality-show “social experiment” of Kid Nation, in which 40 kids from ages 8 to 15 relocate to a New Mexico ghost town to fashion a kids-only civilization. Exploitative? Potentially. We’ve only seen a clip reel. “The whole objective was to get out there, do something different… and have people talk about the show.”
She also hopes to raise eyebrows with the mid-season drama Swingtown, set amid the sexual revolution of the ’70s in a suburban area rocked by freewheeling experimentation. “I hope there are concerns about it. I really do. And we’re going to push the envelope with that show.”
Is this what we really want from CBS? Is this another example of that old maxim, "Be careful what you wish for"? After years of hearing us gripe that CBS had cluttered its schedule for too many years with too many same-sounding procedural crime dramas, TV’s most populist and mainstream network is shifting gears in a noisy, and some might think reckless, way. What hath Jericho wrought?
Following an introductory clip reel that prominently featured the phrase “A change is coming,” Tassler opened with remarks including the declaration that for this season’s development, “We really looked for projects that were different, that were a little bit daring. We have a very strong and stable schedule, and it really seemed like a great opportunity for us try things that were different creatively.”
Even if it means sacrificing a show that was performing relatively well (though skewing old) on Fridays, like Close to Home, in favor of the much riskier work-in-progress vampire drama Moonlight (which has undergone all manner of changes in casting and content since the presentation reel from the pilot season). “We wanted to be daring and we saw an opportunity to not only better the time period but do something that would make a little bit of noise and be a little bit better companion to Ghost Whisperer.” Forgive the skeptical mutterings from those of us who remember how well Threshold fared in that same Friday time slot a couple of seasons ago.
I’d like nothing better than for some of these risks to pay off, and for several of these shows to display more promise than is evident in their problematic pilots. Because if the new CBS schedule ends up looking more like the nuclear bomb that took out the world outside Jericho, you have to wonder how long it will be before they start doing location searches for the next CSI venue. And that would be a crime.
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Jul 18, 2007 3:30 PM
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We have a very strong and stable schedule, and it really seemed like a great opportunity for us try things that were different creatively
I think that statement is the explanation for these risky projects. I don't think any of the other networks are gonna take the viewers crown away from CBS in the foreseeable future; so instead of sitting on their bums and enjoying the ride, CBS is gonna take risks and hope to score big.
I'm wondering if NBC's woes have anything to do with this? NBC was the most dominate network for a long while but it didn't last and NBC was unprepared to deal with that, and it wasn't until last season that they finally figured out they should reinvent themselves instead of trying to duplicate their old hits.
I'm not really excited for any of these projects except Swingtown, but I am curious to try sumthing new.
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Jul 18, 2007 4:02 PM
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My question is "did CBS answer any quesions abut the likleihood of extending Jericho's 7 episodes to a more optomistic number?
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Jul 18, 2007 4:02 PM
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Taking chances is a great sound bite, but I for one am NOT going to be taking any chances along with CBS.
Maybe when the 5th season of Jericho is on the air, with a guaranteed renewal for 2 or 3 more years, THEN I'll take a chance on another CBS show.
They've cancelled far too many of their 'high concept' shows in the past for me to be willing to take any kind of a chance with a new one.
As long as Jericho is on the schedule, I'll watch it, I'll watch TAR, and I'll give each edition of Survivor a look-see to decide if I'm going to watch it or not.
Other than that, I'm not investing any more time or energy in 'different' shows that are liable to be cancelled just as they get really interesting. (It isn't that other networks don't cancel stuff--it's that CBS/Viacom channels have a long, ugly track record of doing it MORE OFTEN than other networks, and to better shows.) Why would I set myself like that?
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Jul 18, 2007 5:02 PM
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I don't believe for a second that her doctor pulled out a bag of nuts. I think the only nut in her doctor's office was her if she expects us to believe this nut story.
Sure, I believe some fans sent in nuts. But the nut craze is NOT sweeping the nation. I work in a university popular culture division and half of the profs hadn't even heard of it.
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Jul 18, 2007 5:58 PM
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Did Tassler give any indication that they were willing to be patient, allowing the more off-beat, high-concept shows to find an audience? It's one thing to put them on the air, it's another thing to truly believe in them.
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Jul 18, 2007 6:34 PM
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I was just wondering if you and Michael Ausiello sit together at these press tour events. Or wave at each other across the room? Hit the lunch buffet together?
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Jul 18, 2007 8:11 PM
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Glad to see the write up about Jericho. It is a unique show that offers something for everyone. I am sure that her doctor really did bring the nuts as it was reported much earlier this summer. I am not hopeful for CBS's fall line up as there is nothing in it that I am interested in watching. I loved Close to Home. Several CW shows I watched were cancelled too so CBS had the opportunity to fill holes in my viewing schedule.
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Jul 18, 2007 9:47 PM
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I still think CBS was nuts to cancel a modest hit in "Close to Home"! They should have had the smarts to at least renew it as a mid-season replacement in case "Moonlight" fails!! Why would you tamper with a proven winner - CTH got higher ratings than "Ghost Whisperer"!!!
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Jul 19, 2007 11:16 AM
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CBS has been cancelling "moderate hits" for quite some time, in favor of the next "big thing" -- does anyone remember The Guardian being cancelled a few years ago to be replaced the following Fall by the big ol' dud "Clubhouse" ??? well, i do. i thought the Guardian was fantastic, a real downer of a drama, but still gutsy and took chances and had one of the best couples in prime time, Simon Baker & Wendy Moniz! Will they ever learn?
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Jul 19, 2007 12:09 PM
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It's amazing when you think of how long shows get before the yanked off the schedule or cancelled altogether. Look at Smith from last season and countless others gone with less than a dozen shows even being broadcast. Good thing that kind of thing didn't happen in the era of M*A*S*H or Cheers who went on to have so many amazing years but absolutely tanked the first season. Maybe that's why shows aren't sentimental favourites because we don't get to seem them long enough to choose for ourselves.
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Jul 19, 2007 4:24 PM
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I am looking forward to watching CBS's Friday night schedule "tank" this Summer and next Fall.
I'm not being disappointed! CBS "owned" Friday nights. They haven't won the night ever since Close To Home was cancelled. This week, they were 3rd! The CW beat them! and it's only Summer. They should GET A CLUE!
In my opinion, they were FOOLS to cancel Close To Home. It was beating out Ghost Whisperer regularly and had begun to rate higher than Numbers, too, on occasion. And, they were beginning to skew higher in the 19 - 49 age group. CTH had proven itself and was winning its slot every week! They picked the wrong show to cancel and put an "experiment" in its time slot.
For the last two years, I watched all 3 shows on Friday because of CTH being sandwiched in the middle. I no longer watch CBS on Fridays, at all!
Next season, on Friday I'll be watching Tom Selleck in "Las Vegas" on NBC. I will continue to not watch CBS on Fridays!
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Jul 19, 2007 4:56 PM
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Is "Moonlight" the one that Jason Dohring just got cast in? If so, I don't care how weird it is, I'll give it a shot. He is...delectable. Ok, I'm done.
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Jul 19, 2007 6:55 PM
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I really wonder what they think they're doing with Viva Laughlin. The original BBC version, Blackpool, was very, very good, but that's because (1) they had a powerhouse dramatic cast (led by David Morissey, David Tennant, & Sarah Parrish) and (2) it was a 6-hour limited series with a beginning, middle, and end. Nothing I've heard about the CBS version is at all encouraging.
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Jul 20, 2007 3:39 PM
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