Fall to see Sorkin comedy on NBC; ABC's sexy surgeons switch dates
The fall TV season will see new projects from West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin and Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey, as well as the return of familiar faces Ted Danson, Calista Flockhart and Matthew Perry.
NBC, which announced its fall plans on Monday, is banking on a slate of new productions to boost its lineup, which saw the end of two longtime hits â sitcom Will & Grace and White House drama The West Wing â this year.
Most anticipated is the new series from Sorkin entitled Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, starring The West Wing's Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry of Friends and comic actress Amanda Peet.
NBC is giving the series â about backstage drama and relationships at a network comedy sketch show â its prime 9 p.m. spot on Thursday nights. Current NBC hits My Name is Earl and The Office will lead into the new show, which will then be followed by long-running hospital drama ER.
Fey's new program, called 30 Rock, also deals with the backstage shenanigans at a network comedy show. However, NBC officials emphasized Monday that the two shows have very different tones.
"If they were two cop shows, nobody would waste a minute of breath on it," Kevin Reilly, president of NBC entertainment, said Monday, according to the Associated Press.
Other highlights include Irish mafia drama The Black Donnellys, created by Oscar-winning writing team Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco; buddy comedy 20 Good Years, starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor; abduction thriller Kidnapped, and Heroes, a drama about a group of average people who develop superhuman powers.
NBC has cancelled Friends spinoff Joey, sci-fi drama Surface and Convicted, a Law & Order spinoff about young prosecutors.
ABC unveiled its plans Tuesday, choosing to spread out its hits and add new shows featuring familiar faces.
Grey's Anatomy, ABC's hospital drama about witty and sexy surgical interns, surpassed mystical island drama Lost and its lead-in program Desperate Housewives as the network's hottest show this year.
ABC is moving Grey's to Thursday nights, to set up a battle against NBC's new Sorkin series and perennial CBS hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
ABC has cancelled Commander in Chief and left other programsincludingalien drama Invasion and sitcoms Hope & Faith and Jake in Progress off its schedule.
Newcomers to the ABC lineup will include Help Me Help You, starring sitcom veteran Danson as a self-help guru going through a mid-life crisis; family drama Brothers & Sisters, starring former Ally McBeal star Flockhart and Six Feet Under 's Rachel Griffiths; and the thriller Day Break, starring stage and screen actor Taye Diggs.
The remaining U.S. broadcasting networks will announce their upcoming schedules this week.