Busy busy busy day in TV land. I mentioned the "Mad Men" July 25 return date earlier, and several other developments have happened since: • Larry David agreed to come back for an eighth season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" to air in 2011. Basically, HBO extends an open invitation for Larry to continue whenever he wants, and then they wait around for him to say yes. Presumably, he wouldn't be back if he didn't have an idea he thought could top the "Seinfeld" season, just as he came back after TV Larry died and went to Heaven, or after TV Larry joined the Black family.
• NBC has renewed "Parenthood" for next season, which pleases me. I haven't written about recent episodes due to vacation and/or the problems of it airing while I'm busy trying to analyze "Lost," but overall the show's doing more good than bad, and I'd like to see more.
• Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert signed contract extensions with Comedy Central to continue "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" through the 2012 elections.
And that's all... for now, anyway. The way this day's going, I expect six more renewals or premiere dates to be announced before I go home.
UPDATE: And, of course, I was right. FX just announced that the penultimate season of "Rescue Me," and the funny new Louis CK sitcom "Louie," will both premiere on June 29.
Danny Duperstein's good at two things...
ReplyDeleteHigh fives all around!
ReplyDeleteI've been liking Parenthood. But. Really? An adult decides, with the encouragement of other adults, to date the first teacher who has gotten her daughter interested in school? And thinks it's a good idea to tell her the night before the SATs?
ReplyDeleteAt least her brother had the sense not to tell the social worker that he saw her at a bar.
Wonder if the Curb season will include Ricky Gervais, as rumored.
ReplyDeleteIf so, that could reset the bar for awkward humor.
Wow, I know the season has fewer eps, but who would have ever thought that Curb could end up running longer than Seinfeld?
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to hear about the Stewart/Colbert renewal, but it's not really a surprise, especially with Conan going to TBS. The end dates will be interesting because I believe that Letterman only has a contract until 2012 and apparently Stewart's contract lasts until mid 2013. I don't know if I would want Stewart to go to the restrictive network format or if he could bring over the Daily Show format to CBS.
ReplyDeleteStill more news: FX premiering "Rescue Me" & "Louie" on June 29, as mentioned above.
ReplyDeleteAlan,
ReplyDeleteAny word on how Parenthood's renewal bears on Chuck's chances of the same?
When would Stewart's deal otherwise have expired? When does Letterman's current deal end?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the good news on Curb, Alan.
ReplyDeleteYou are obviously someone with great respect for wood.
Rescue Me is not in it's final season yet? Wow. I stopped watching 2 seasons ago. Hate to see great shows just playing out the string.
ReplyDelete^God knows how you felt about Nip/Tuck then.
ReplyDeleteIs there any sense of what kind of discussions are going on over at NBC in terms of their other bubble shows? For example, at the CW there is a widespread sense that it is either One Tree Hill or Life Unexpected that is getting renewed. I think NBC is currently juggling Mercy, Trauma, and Chuck. If we hear that Mercy got renewed does that mean Chuck is doomed? Or is the situation less set-in-stone because of their scheduling problems...
ReplyDeleteHappy for Parenthood's renewal, it was a shoo-in for renewal when it beat new episodes of The Good Wife and V in the 18-49 demo a couple of weeks ago and held up nicely against the first half of Glee's return last week.
ReplyDeleteChuck's renewal will depend on the ratings for the upcoming episodes.
Trauma and Mercy are basically done. Trauma's episode order was cut down and NBC shut down production so that's obvious they won't renew aside from the very low ratings it has been getting.
Minute to Win it REPEATS beat out original episodes of Mercy on the same slot. Only a "Dollhouse"-like divine intervention could renew it.
I wish you would follow Parenthood. I think you would find a lot of comments...on bad parenting, dating your daughter's teacher; forgetting your nephew when you go for ice cream?
ReplyDeleteHey Alan, any word on the episode order for Parenthood? I presume the first season was truncated due to the recasting but I think the 13 episode season may be the way to go. I haven't seen tonight's entry but in the previous week's offering I could start to see Jason Katims signature all over it, and I loved it. The ending shot of Adam on the surfboard had a bit of a Friday Night Lights feel to it. And FNL is my favorite show on TV right now and my goodwill towards it is the reason I watch Parenthood. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteany word on trudy in the new series of mad men? not sure how much availability alison brie has these days with community's success.
ReplyDelete