Media Scribbler

 
NBC’s “Knight Rider” and Fox’s “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” haven’t been winning over masses of viewers this season. But it appears that the networks believe the younger demographics of the action shows merit full-season pickups.
“Knight Rider” was given an order for the final nine episodes of the season by NBC executives. Despite the show spinning off of a hit NBC movie last year, executives were initially hesitant to pick up the show after lukewarm ratings during the first month of the fall season.
Last Friday, Fox ended speculation about the fate of “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” by completing the order …read more

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ABC: Pushing Daisies -  A search for a missing teen leads the team to a circus that might not be so funny after all. In the meantime, Lily visits Olive at the convent.
Private Practice — Addison and Sam plot a hostile takeover of the practice, as the doctors look for new patients and new ways to make money. Also, a couple pushes for a fertility treatment considered unethical.
Dirty Sexy Money — Did you see last week?  If you didn’t, you missed a stunner. The Darlings deal with the aftermath of the death and the arrest, neither of which, scarily enough, …read more

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The vice-presidential debate will take over on four of the nets (as well as the cable news nets) at 9 p.m. Really the CW’s episodes shine tonight, so they’ll get top billing.
The CW: Smallville — Oliver (a.k.a. Green Arrow) falls ill and experiences delerium about his time on the island, how he met Tess, and how he learned to fight with a bow and arrow to survive), while Clark and Chloe race to save his life. Chloe makes a decision in helping Oliver that shocks Clark. For more, click here.
Supernatural — Dean goes back in time and sees his parents …read more

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ABC: Pushing Daisies — Chuck goes undercover to investigate the death of a supermodel working for a company that makes honey-based products, while Lily takes Olive to a convent to keep secrets. I thought that only happened in soap operas?
Private Practice – In a premiere that could be billed as “Secret Night”, Addison discovers Naomi has been hiding the truth about the practice’s financial issues, Violet wonders what secret Cooper is keeping from her, and Cooper contemplates hiding a medical condition secret from a patient.
Dirty Sexy Money — Second biggest event of the night (the first comes down the post, …read more

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ABC: Dancing With The Stars — Jessica Simpson performs on the show. Hope that she won’t share the stage with Kim Kardashian, because that’s a lot of hot air and big, um, body parts.
Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge — The show chronicles the journey of eight Mississippi residents as they lose weight through nutrition and exercise, not surgery. Good for them! I’ll eat my takeout lo mein on their behalf.
CBS: The Mentalist –  The team looks for a Napa Valley waitress, but Patrick decides to do things his way using a team member as bait. I’m …read more

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ABC: Dancing With The Stars — Let’s see if Kim Kardashian has actually picked up some dancing skills during the past week. Musical taste, too. “Baby Got Back” was just painful.
Boston Legal — A close call with Denny and prescription drugs inspires Alan to go after a pharmaceutical company for some dicey advertising. Calling Don Draper!
CBS: The Big Bang Theory — Penny gets a new man, and Leonard hooks up with Leslie (Sara Gilbert) to retaliate. And we wonder how we get the ideas to screw with our crushes in real life?
How I Met Your Mother — Marshall begins a …read more

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Today is the official first day of the season for the Big 3 nets. Finally!
NBC: Heroes — The third season opener begins with a special that reviews important plot points (so new folks won’t be completely confused, I assume) and a list of possible suspects in Nate’s shooting. On the show itself, they reveal who the shooter is while Hiro and Ando guard a family secret and Sylar visits Claire.
ABC: Dancing With the Stars — The new season begins and we will learn if Warren Sapp has the moves.
Boston Legal — This is the beginning of its final season. *sniff* …read more

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Despite being the darling of Gawker and other gossip blogs last season, the CW’s “Gossip Girl” had never garnered huge ratings during its first season. But the CW worked a promotional campaign in past weeks that not only steamed up screens with sexy previews for the new season (set at a NYC prep school, natch) but also used negative publicity to trumpet the show as scandalous.
Both strategies proved to invite more criticism, because would the parents of the teens who mirror the kids at the fictitious NYC prep school be so thrilled to watch it with them? However, all publicity …read more

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Generally, the one of the last things that a network wants is to end up fueling the ire of watchdog groups like the Parents Television Council. As soon as the form letter e-mails start pouring in, affiliates and censors start getting nervous and it all turns into an episode of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip“.
But the CW (a network geared toward a fairly young demographic) is making lots of lemonade out of the critics’ lemons. As Cynthia Littleton of Variety pointed out in her blog, the CW is now putting critical quotes about “Gossip Girl” in bold type on …read more

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