Showing posts with label Gary Unmarried. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gary Unmarried. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Hopefully Continuing Adventures of Old Christine

Check out the video below from Entertainment Tonight, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- the first Seinfeld star to receive the honor. That show's creator, Larry David, speaks of Julia's immense talent, from the days when they met on Saturday Night Live, through Seinfeld and even Julia's appearances in this past season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

As for Julia's current show, CBS' Wednesday night sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, the actress tells ET how lucky she is to have a workplace where she is always moved to laughter. The show moves me to laugh out loud, too -- which is why I hope CBS decides to renew it. At the moment, Christine is considered "on the bubble" for renewal or cancellation, as are many of its fellow CBS comedies like Gary Unmarried, Accidentally On Purpose and Rules of Engagement.


Rumor is, CBS' new comedy development from this pilot season -- including shows from Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre, How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, and from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, starring William Shatner, no less! -- is so strong that the network may be inspired to clean house of all its struggling half-hour shows. But the good news is, the rumor also has it that, just as in the past two seasons, ABC has stated its intentions of picking up Christine should it get cancelled at CBS.

We'll just have to wait until the networks' official fall schedule announcements during "upfront week;" ABC's presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, May 18, while CBS takes the stage at Carnegie Hall the next day.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

What gives it such a Big Bang?

This past Monday, CBS' sitcoms Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother scored record ratings.  For Big Bang, it was both the highest overall and adults 18-49 ratings ever.  For HIMYM, it was also the show's record best in the demo, and its second highest overall numbers ever.

And so one of the questions reporters asked CBS' President Nina Tassler at the TCA conference in Los Angeles this morning:  why do you think Big Bang Theory has taken off this season?  Is it a matter of scheduling, or has the show just gotten -- to borrow a phrase from HIMYM's Barney -- awesome?Tassler's theory:  it's all in the writing, yes, but particularly in the supporting characters.  "One of the things great showrunners do," she said, "is ensure that they fully dimensionalize the supporting characters.  And so there have been episodes with Koothrappali and Wolowitz this season that have been truly hysterical."  By opening up a show's story potential by enriching the lives of not just the leads but of all of its characters, a writer/showrunner like Chuck Lorre is constructing a template for a comedy whose comedy will hold up even "into its later seasons."

Sounds like CBS is high on Big Bang -- and they have every right to be.  The show, and another CBS newbie Gary Unmarried on Wednesday, are the sole new multicamera hits to be introduced on the Big 5 networks in years.  And this morning, when Tassler was asked about CBS' future plans and development, she repeatedly mentioned the network's pride in having successfully opened a new night of comedy on Wednesday, with Gary and a relocated The New Adventures of Old Christine.

More news from Tassler and CBS to come...