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How the networks are trying to turn lead into gold

NBC fires the producers for Heroes, Knight Rider eats its young (cast) and Grey'€™s Anatomy looses a lesbian.

These are desperate times for network television. Only a few shows are clicking with viewers. Are there any decent replacements?

The answer to that question is, apparently not.

Rather than jettison shows that clearly do not have the viewers'€™ eye, NBC and ABC are firing actors, adding new ones and in the case of Grey'€™s Anatomy, changing storylines right in the middle of the story, with no explanation.

Let's start at the beginning.

The suits had high hopes for this television season. After all it's the first full one after the writer's strike ended all hopes for me to see a season of "24" in 2008. Shows that were new last year, like Pushing Daisies and Private Practice did well in the ratings during the strike. They were supposed to come back strong. They didn'€™t. Now it's the morning after and networks and producers are making decisions while they'€™re still groggy.

Heroes, which has been going downhill for two years now, fired its co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb. The villain storyline isn't working and Alexander and Loeb were reportedly also blamed for running way over the pricey $4 million dollar per episode costs. Heroes is probably not going to get any better this season so they should let it rest. Take it off the air until the "new" producers can figure out a way to bring it back to its first season glory. If they can re-launch "V" for another run 20 years after it went off the air, Heroes can certainly sit one out and return better than ever.

Then there's the curious case of Grey's Anatomy. This is a show that prided itself on being fresh and diverse and strong enough to survive or even thrive on controversy. (Isaiah Washington). Now ABC had decided that a lesbian relationship in the show had to end and it had to end NOW! So Dr. Erica Hahn is seen walking to her car, never to be seen or heard from again. Someone isn't thinking clearly at ABC. Viewership is already down 14 percent over last year. Given the show's history with gay issues and its laissez faire attitude about who sleeps with whom, this storyline might have given them a lift. What gives? It almost feels like they lost something when they spun off Private Practice, which isn'€™t doing so well in the ratings either.

Now let's talk about KNIGHT RIDER. Knight Rider Executive producer and showrunner Gary Scott Thompson is topping Grey's Anatomy and Heroes in the change department. He's not only changing the storyline slightly, he's releasing three cast members. It'€™s going to be a completely different (I didn'€™t say better) show than before. Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Bruce Davison and Yancey Arias aren'€™t coming back. They played the FBI agent, the inventor of KITT and the mission controller respectively. As far as the storyline is concerned, terrorists won't be the weekly villain anymore, KITT and his human pal Mike Traucer will now help regular people with their problems. Knight Rider isn'€™t a ratings disaster exactly, but it'€™s not getting the kind of numbers NBC desperately needs right now so KITT may have to run down people on the road to get them to watch. Take it off the air. Despite the obvious technological advances for KITT, this kind of 1980'€™s show isn't right anymore for primetime network TV. Maybe Saturday morning is a better timeslot.

Now for something really lip smacking sleazy, check out My Bare Lady 2: Open for Business. It'€™s on the Fox Reality Channel, naturally. In this, its second season, the show follows four adult film stars as they travel to London to become classical theatre actors. Enjoy.

Later,
Judlyne Gibson
talktome@talkingtv.tv

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