Fall 2010 TV Schedule

9 months ago to the day, I took a stab at how the 2009-2010 fall TV schedule would do. This past week, the networks did their Fall 2010 'upfronts', giving us a preview of what the schedule would like for this coming year. This year, instead of going day by day, I thought I would just give a 'Top 10' highlighting some story lines and interesting points from the schedule including new shows, cancellations, and show movement during the week. (In no particular order... here we go!)

1) CBS obviously is certainly going to try and attract younger demos this year. After canceling solidly performing shows like 'Ghost Whisperer', 'Numb3rs', and 'Cold Case', the network must be hoping their new shows and movement of existing shows pays off. Specifically, ...

2) 'The Big Bang Theory' moving from 9:30p/8:30p Monday night to 8p/7p Thursday night. It will be hard to compete with the NBC sitcoms (specifically it will now be head to head with 'Community'), BUT 'Theory' grew ratings AGAIN this year, and is now one of the highest-rated sitcoms, if not THE highest week by week. Plus, it will be a strong lead-in to...

3) 'Stuff My Dad Says' will premiere at 8:30p/7:30p on Thursday nights on CBS after 'Theory'. This new sitcom is based on the Twitter account @sh%tmydadsays (except replace the % with an i- you get the drift.) Sample tweet- "I didn't say you were ugly. I said your girlfriend is better looking than you, and standing next to her, you look ugly." Premise is interesting, but not sure how it will relate to a sitcom.

4) In having two sitcoms in the first prime hour Thursday night, 'Survivor' is being moved to Wednesday nights at 8p/7p. This past season performed great as it pitted past seasons' 'Heroes' against 'Villains'. Will be interesting to see how it continues to do, especially against weaker competition on Wednesday night.

5) The CSI franchise has begun to struggle a bit from increased competition and decreasing ratings. The original show remains in its' Thursday night 9p/8p time slot, but 'CSI: New York' moves to Friday 9p/8p and 'CSI: Miami' to Sunday 10p/9p.

6) You are probably now well aware that Jay Leno's 10p/9p Monday-Friday prime show ended in February before the Winter Olympics (I know we were all shocked, right?!? *sarcasm*) and he's back to 'The Tonight Show'. Because of this, we will see MULTIPLE new prime shows on NBC this fall to fill the multiple voids. Since they do have Sunday Night NFL Football to rely on, that was one less night they had to come up with shows for but Monday & Wednesday have very new looks to them.

7) NBC also canceled the long-running, multi-spin-off-creating drama 'Law & Order'. But, have no fear! Wednesday nights still will showcase 'Law & Order:SVU' at 9p/8p, and as a follow-up, 'Law & Order: LA' at 10p/9p. They must have noticed the success of 'NCIS: LA' on the heels of 'NCIS'...

8) FOX has finally realized what a lot of us already knew- 'Glee' is a VERY popular show. Relegated to the summer last year, it's finally getting it's due spot on the fall TV schedule- Tuesday nights at 8p/7p. With competition from 'The Biggest Loser' and 'NCIS', it will be interesting to see how the show continues to perform.

9) Pop Quiz time! What is the name of the ABC sitcom that airs on Wednesday nights at 9:30p/8:30p after 'Modern Family'? If you answered, 'Cougar Town', then you are correct... FOR NOW! The show's creators and producers are rallying for a name change for the semi-popular sitcom before it premieres again in the fall. Studio research found too many instances of people saying they would never watch the show because of what the IMPLIED plot lines were. Since the show has actually morphed into an ensemble hit, featuring both male and female characters and a variety of story lines it really does only make sense to have the title reflect that. Should be interesting to see what they come up with...

10) Suspiciously quiet this spring upfront, the CW made the fewest changes out of all the networks. Only officially canceling one show ('Melrose Place', which really was done after the fall last year), the network is premiering two new programs- 'Hellcats' about a competitive college cheerleading squad (starring Ashley Tisdale of 'High School Musical' fame) and 'Nikita' about a female spy/assassin who goes rogue and now is bent on bringing down the agency that trained her. (Sounds a little like ABC's 'Alias', right?!) Either way, both shows will probably do well with the network's Adults 18-34 demographic.

For now, though, we will have to wait to see how the fall performs. More and more people are spending more and more time watching TV, though, so there will be many shows (new & old!) that won't disappoint. Happy viewing!

- AB