Today the Television Critics Association attended a day of presentations from ABC to promote their fall schedule. Honestly, I have got to say I am a little disappointed. First of all I am not sure I understand their new slogan, "Start Here". I know ABC is trying to expand their brand beyond TV, but I am not sure how the new slogan does that. But TV success does not come from slogans, it comes from shows, so lets see what ABC had to share.
Today we got to hear about Pushing Daisies, Women's Murder Club, Cavemen, Cashmere Mafia, Carpoolers, and Dirty Sexy Money. Pushing Daisies is one of the most talked about shows for the upcoming season. It is this year's "Ugly Betty", the show critics annointed before the season begins. The show is getting a lot of support from ABC, but what I find interesting is that the show is being produced by Warner Brothers and not ABC. So if the show is succesful ABC will gain ad revenue, but won't get money from syndication. DVD sales, and other anciliary revenues which have gained importance. It is nice to see ABC supporting a show from an outsider, it shows that while their is added value from an internal hit, they are still trying to put the best shows on their schedule.
Women's Murder Club sounds like Murder She Wrote. The show is based on a series of novels by James Patterson, and here is the weird part, is being produced by Joe Simpson, Jessica Simpson's father. Don't ask me why…. I just hope the setting is as nice as Cabot Cove(WATCH OUT FOR THAT SHARK!!!)
Cavemen is having it's pilot reshot. That's not a good start. Although last year's Brothers & Sisters had success after doing the same. But Cavemen is no Brothers & Sisters. They did bring Jungle 2 Jungle alumn Sam Huntington,(Jimmy Olson in Superman Returns) in to the cast. Its great to see Disney child stars reach success without shaving their head and getting arrested. Nothing personal Britney and Lindsay. I think Michael Ausiello from TVGuide.com put it best when he said, "GEICO is not involved with the show, so say producers. Unless you count the collision insurance ABC took out on this train wreck."
Cashmere Mafia and Carpoolers sound so bad I'm not going to bother discussing them. Maybe ABC just can't make a good show that starts with C. They did bring us Cop Rock.
Dirty Sexy Money is the last show of the day. It is discribed as being in the vein of Dallas and Dynasty. That is not my favorite kind of show to say the least, But it is getting good buzz so I might try it out. Honestly, there isn't much on the ABC schedule that excites me this year, so I probably will give it a shot. (Who am I kidding, I watch every ABC show at least once. The downside of being a completionistic Disney fan.)
I almost forgot, the big news to come out of the press tour today is that Michael will be returning to Lost this season. Of course we need to wait until February for that season to begin. Perhaps that news would have been a little more appropriate at the Winter press tour.
Day 2 of press tour is tomorrow… stay tuned
Quick Takes:
Studio Entertainment: Disney announced that they will not feature smoking in Disney branded films and that any old film that is releaed on DVD that contains smoking will contain an anti-smoking public service announcment. I am not fan of smoking, in fact I can't stand it. However I don't know if Disney needed to make a blanket edict like this. It does make me happy for one reason though. There won't be the folks that are trying to ban smoking in movies at the annual shareholder meetings anymore. They are there every year and waste my time. There are actual questions that should be answered regarding the operation of the company. The meeting should not be used for political purposes.
Parks and Resorts: Walt Disney World announced that the new sponser for their annual golf tournament will be the Children's Miracle Network. I am glad that the golf tournament will continue, but I figured the Children's Miracle Network would be the beneficiary of a golf tournament, not sponsoring one.
Disney Consumer Products: Disney will be renovating their european Disney Stores. There are currently 56 stores, but the chain is looking to expand and go in to new markets as well. I find it interesting that this operations is succesful while still being run by Disney, but the North American operation was outsorced to The Children's Place. Disney recently renegotiated their deal with Children's Place which leads me to believe the relationship is not as smooth as desired. I wonder, after the success the stores are having in Europe, if some are wondering if the Disney Stores should have been kept in house.