FOX Won't Let 'O.C.' Die on Thursday (Wednesday, May 26 12:52 PM) By Daniel Fienberg LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - There's a storm brewing in Newport Beach and the photogenic teens of Orange County and their equally fetching parents are just hoping to wait out the gale winds. FOX has moved its popular freshman soap "The O.C." to a new Thursday home and some fans are nervous that show may get steamrolled in its new home.
With the departure of NBC's 8 p.m. ET stalwart comedy "Friends," the night is looking a tiny bit weaker, but CBS' "Survivor" franchise will return and NBC's "Joey" and "Will & Grace" aren't likely to be slouches. FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman tells reporters that she's confident about throwing "The O.C." into the 8 p.m. mix.
"While we believe that NBC will remain competitive on Thursday night, we also believe that they will be down significantly from where they were with 'Friends,'" Berman says. "That leaves an opening for the No. 1 new show with teens."
The network had originally intended to shift "The O.C." to Thursdays after its marginally successful run late last summer. Instead, FOX blinked and shifted the drama to a cushy time period where it benefited from the January arrival of an "American Idol" lead-in.
Berman promises that "The O.C." will join Thursdays as part of the network's November roll-out, but if its ratings take too big a hit, it will find a new home.
"We have no intention of throwing an asset that we've built, literally week-by-week, up," she says. "We have no interest in seeing it be destroyed. If it doesn't work. We've move it. We'd like to believe that it's going to work."
FOX's dismal recent history on Thursday nights suggests that success on the night will be relative. Over the past four years, the network has averaged a five share for the night, a number that "The O.C." should beat with ease.
"I think what the history of television tells us is that when there's an opportunity, you must seize the moment." says Berman. "We cannot let this one pass us by."
posted by Jen @ 9:02 AM |
MEMORIAL WEEKEND O.C. EVENTS
Saturday May 29th 11:00AM FOX The Menu (all Saturdays) Maybe OC
Saturday May 29th & May 30th various times MTV/VH1 ET on MTV/VH1 The O.C.
Monday May 31st 8:00PM FOX The O.C. 2 episodes
Wednesday June 2nd 8:00PM USA Chris Carmack in The Last Ride
MIX 2 IS COMING SOON! Just can't wait? Go to the site. There's a preview song you can listen to now! "If You Leave" covered by Nada Surf (suffering O.C. withdrawal and can't remember when that song aired? It's the song during the scene when Anna was leaving and Seth was at the airport to say goodbye).
Also, check out the Liner Notes and FAQ (which says the dvd will be out in October--just in time for the second season to premiere in November)
posted by Jen @ 7:16 AM |
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
TV Guide Online - [News]: "MOUNTAIN ON THE MOVE You can expect to see some jockeying on Thursday night now that Fox has moved The O.C. to the 8 pm hour to compete with NBC's Joey and Survivor on CBS. With The O.C. a known quantity to the teen and young-adult audience, execs at WB are already talking about taking their new serial drama The Mountain out of the brutally tough time period, where its chances of getting sampled are scant. We predict it swaps places with WB's new Wednesday 9 pm sketch comedies, Drew Carey's Green Screen Show and Blue Collar TV (which promises to give much-needed broadcast exposure to Larry the Cable Guy). Git-R-Done!" (guess the other stations are already feeling The O.C. pang before fall has even started) ____________________
Tune in tonight to Taurus World Stunt Awards on Spike TV at 9:00PM. Rachel and Adam were in attendence ____________________
Tate Donovan First Annual "Show People" Tony Awards Party 5/24/2004
John Clarke and Melinda Clarke 31st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards - Arrivals 5/21/2004
Rachel Bilson, Adam Brody and Mischa Barton Fox Upfront 2004-2005 Programming Presentation 5/20/2004
Benjamin McKenzie Fox Upfront 2004-2005 Programming Presentation 5/20/2004
Peter Gallagher The Lucky/Cargo Club - An Upfront Week Hospitality Suite - Day 3 5/20/2004
Rachel Bilson The Lucky/Cargo Club - An Upfront Week Hospitality Suite - Day 2 5/19/2004
Adam Brody The Lucky/Cargo Club - An Upfront Week Hospitality Suite - Portrait Studio - Day 2 5/19/2004
Eric Balfour NBC 2004-2005 Upfront - Arrivals 5/17/2004
Navi Rawat (c) and Jeremy Sisto (r) Bob Bondurant Celebrity Superkart Racing School 5/7/2004
posted by Jen @ 8:23 AM |
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
New show loves the beach. Seeks to be The O.C. but more family, less soapy.
'Summerland' Hits The WB Beach By Kate O'Hare (zap2it.com)
Fans of FOX's sun-drenched California soaper, The O.C., which ended its season in early May, might be feeling the need for a beach fix right about now. The WB is happy to accommodate, with the Tuesday, June 1, premiere of the surfside family drama Summerland.
But unlike The O.C., which takes its title from its location, Orange County, Summerland means something else. Explains executive producer Stephen Tolkin, "The title is not the place where they live, it's a state of mind."
Summerland, which launches with a two-hour episode, is based on an idea from its star, Lori Loughlin (Full HouseLiking the concept, The WB then paired Loughlin with Spelling Television (The WB's Charmed and 7th Heaven"), which brought in Tolkin (All Soulsand fellow executive producer Remi Aubuchon (The Lyons Den)
If I weren't Spelling, I would certainly recommend us, veteran producer Aaron Spelling quips. But they picked it up because they liked it, not because they liked me, which is important. It never occurred to me, but this is the quickest pickup we've ever gotten. We did nothing but say, 'We like it.'
But we're really happy with a young lady named Lori Loughlin. She created the show.
I thought about a friend of mine who works for Vogue, Loughlin says, She's always in great clothes and fantastic shoes. I thought, 'Wow, I'd like to play a character like that.'
So my original thought was based on this friend who goes to Europe, goes to all these cocktail parties and meets all these fabulous people and can basically handle herself in any situation except where you put her in a room with children. She does not know what she's doing.
I thought it would be interesting to play a character that really had this fabulous life, who had her act together, but then was handed these children and just didn't know what to do with them.
In Summerland, Loughlin plays Ava Gregory, a fashion designer who has just struck out on her own with a boutique label. She lives in a Southern California beach community somewhere north of Los Angeles (the actual filming beach is in Malibu, with homes digitally added).
Supporting her are her longtime friends: Susannah Rexford (Merrin Dungey), who's also her business partner; Johnny Durant (Shawn Christian), her ex-boyfriend, a real-estate dealer; and Australian surfer and eternal adolescent Jay Robertson (Ryan Kwanten).
Savvy viewers may take note that all the above surnames -- including that of teen character Erika Spalding, played by Christian's stepdaughter, Taylor Cole -- are streets in Beverly Hills, which happens to be Tolkin's neighborhood. Just a little in-joke, there.
When Ava's sister and brother-in-law are killed in an accident, she becomes the surrogate mother to their children -- 16-year-old Bradin (Jesse McCartney), 12-year-old Nikki (Kay Panabaker) and 8-year-old Derrick (Nick Benson) Westerly -- who must relocate to California from an isolated farm in Kansas.
Children don't come with a guidebook, Loughlin says. It's an everyday learning experience. I thought it would be fun to have a woman learning from the children as the children were learning from her. You have this group of young adults raising these three kids, and the theory behind it being, it takes a village to raise a child.
The choice of the beach was both an aesthetic and dramatic decision.
I thought it meant a lot to be on the beach, Spelling says. Once we deal with the down thing -- the parents dying, how they were killed, the kids who don't know what they're going into, and she doesn't -- the beach felt good.
It's one thing to go from Kansas to another Kansas, but going from Kansas to the beach offered something to the audience, so it didn't get them down.
It also offers the opportunity for women in bikinis.
What a great idea, Spelling says. Golly, I've been wearing about six of them already, just to see how they feel.
The original one-hour pilot made Ava a lawyer, but Spelling had other ideas. I took a chance of her hating me for something I did, he says, and it was really nice to hear that she loved it, and we're doing it. The original was perfect except for one thing -- she was a lawyer.
What's she going to do, leave the kids every time she gets a case? It was the only thing that bothered me, and the network said, 'You can't change it.' 'Why can't you change it?' 'Don't you think she'll be upset?' 'Well, we'll see.' I changed it, and she loved it."
For me, Tolkin says, it was a thrill and a rare opportunity to go back and fix everything you wish you'd done differently. We changed the profession from an attorney to a fashion designer, which was a lot more fun and more appropriate for the character of a free spirit living in a beach house.
Also, Aubuchon adds, I was done with writing about lawyers. Also, one of the things we got to do once we were faced with opening it up again was a chance to really deepen each character's story.
Obviously, Lori Loughlin's our star, and we wanted to make sure we understood her and her friends a lot better before they are suddenly faced with the situation of inheriting these three children.
As to the inevitable comparisons to The O.C., Tolkin says, I happen to be a big fan. Remi knows. He teases me mercilessly. I love the Vegas; I love the Nana. But 'The O.C.' is a soap. We're not a soap. We're a family show. It's a story built out of little emotional moments that become big emotional moments.
posted by Jen @ 10:56 AM |
Premiere: Saturday May 29th 11:00AM FOX The Menu (all Saturdays) I would suspect that they would have to mention The O.C. and it's castmates since it's one of the hottest things. ____________________
This coming weekend The O.C. cast will be talking about their prom (mis-)adventures (I believe that's the topic) on ET on MTV/VH1 ____________________ TVGuide.com
Roush Riff Is there a hokier device to end the season of a teen soap than an unexpected pregnancy? Fox's The O.C. and WB's Everwood each dealt with the situation in its season finale, but only Everwood found a fresh spin. On The O.C., which usually sends up sudsy clichés, everyone succumbed to an OD of moping as Ryan headed back to Chino with his pregnant ex. On Everwood, after learning the results of his teenage son's fling with the family's college-age baby-sitter/housekeeper, Dr. Brown decided to keep Ephram in the dark, freeing up the boy to go to Juilliard for the summer with his "soul mate" Amy. There will be repercussions, I'm sure, but at least Everwood didn't drown in its own sorrow. ~~~ Ask Matt
Question: What is Fox thinking? Moving The O.C. to Thursdays opposite Survivor? It seems to me that Fox does not like to get ratings. I guess we should be prepared to say goodbye to another Fox show. Unless they get smart and move it back to Wednesdays. What is your opinion? — Sam
Matt: I'm not keen about the move either, but it's a fact of competitive TV life that when rival networks get the whiff of an opportunity like the departure of Friends, they'll rush in with hopes of stealing a larger chunk of the lucrative ad dollars available on Thursday night. This is exactly why The O.C. is moving there. If it turns out to be a disaster, trust me: Fox will move it back to where people might actually watch it. This show enjoys great media buzz and has lots of potential to grow, which is why Fox is being so aggressive with it. You may recall The O.C. was originally scheduled to air on Thursdays last season until Fox realized what a gem it had, and decided to nurture it for a full year before putting it in harm's way. If it pays off and Fox gets a solid foothold on Thursdays, the move will look like genius.
Question: What is the deal with having one of the main characters "leave town" in a season finale? They did it on The O.C., One Tree Hill, Without a Trace and Las Vegas. We all know that they're coming back, so why try to pull something like this when the viewers know better? — Victoria Matt: I don't have a good answer for you, but I hope that producers have taken note of how many shows stooped to this desperate stunt this season, and that they will find more creative ways to leave us hanging next May. More often than not, this is just pure storytelling laziness. ~~~ The Biz
THURSDAY: Fox clearly sees an opportunity at 8 pm with Friends gone from NBC and Survivor becoming a show for kids who watch for their parents. What better time to move The O.C. — a red-hot show with the 18-to-34 crowd — into the hour? We can already hear TV critics slamming the move as a conspiracy by crass TV executives trying to destroy each other's shows. Well, that may be true. But we'll repeat what we said the other day about how a third of the $9 billion to be rung up in ad sales for the fall will be for Thursday night, when movie studios, retailers and carmakers are looking for consumer eyeballs. Fox has also simply been out of the game too long on Thursday night and must strike while the iron is hot. ____________________
From veemeg: Is it true that The O.C. is moving to Thursday at 8 p.m.? Yes, but the cast and Josh Schwartz seemed pretty confident. "The network's looking for us to be Friends for them, so I think we can do it," said J.S. Hate to say it, but Joey, I think I might be watching The O.C. You?
From dalekurt: What do you think of The O.C.'s new time slot? Will it die? Honestly, I think it's a ballsy move that just might work. Let's take a poll? Will you be watching Survivor, Joey, The O.C. or The Mountain? Email me! I really want to know what you guys think.
From bebegirl: What's the deal with The O.C. lawsuit? Two writers are saying Josh Schwartz stole the idea for The O.C. from them. On Thursday, I asked Gail Berman what's the dealio, and she said, "I don't know who those writers are. I do know who pitched the idea to me. I know who has written the pilot, and I know who has written every episode...So, I'm quite sure Josh will prevail." Also, here's something you should know: The only new show that got any laughs whatsoever at the Fox upfront was Athens, The O.C. spinoff slated for Thursday. (That should tell you something about the general quality of Fox's new comedy programming.) Josh Schwartz's on-camera description of the new series was of a show that takes place on the East Coast and features a "Hinjew," half Hindu, half Jew.
