Channel Surfing: 2.22.06
Tracking the Fallout: The CW... vs. MY?
Apparently, networks are a lot like twenty-something female friends: as soon as one reproduces, they all want a baby too. FOX announced today via press release the creation of yet another brand-new network, called MY Network TV, which it will unveil this fall in an attempt to battle the merger of the WB and UPN into a single new entity called the CW, which will also be unveiled this fall. (Coincidence?) Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television will operate the new venture.
My Network TV is schedued to launch on September 5th and will feature original network-quality primetime programming from 8:00 to 10:00pm six days a week (Monday through Saturday). Genres are expected to encompass reality, drama, comedy, game show, news, movies and talk formats.
The new hour-long scripted dramas “Desire” and “Secrets” (from Twentieth Television) will inaugurate My Network TV. The telenovela-style shows are structured in a 65-episode story arcs that will air Mondays through Fridays for 13 weeks.
Other programs currently in development at My Network TV include:
Catwalk: An America's Next Top Model-eqsue "ultimate" search for the next “It” supermodel.
Celebrity Love Island: Six celebrities and six non-celebrity singles are thrown together in a fantasy island setting.
On Scene: Crime investigation series will examine all of the evidence and trace every single clue of the most compelling crimes committed today.
America’s Brainiest: Quiz show, based on the hit British program, which will find the country’s smartest individuals.
And, just like that, the quest for last-place network begins anew.
No "Mercy" for Aquaman Actor
Yesterday brought news announcing the casting of Ving Rhames as lighthouse keeper/mentor McCaffrey (don't ask) and Denise Quinones as "Rachel Starling, a Navy fighter pilot and potential love interest for A.C." (seriously, don't ask) in the CW's Aquaman pilot, which currently has the, er, unusual working title of Mercy Reef.
But now the Hollywood Reporter is today reporting that the show has now recast its lead, Arthur "A.C." Curry (a.k.a. the titular Aquaman). Out is model/actor-hopeful Will Toale (cast when the show was developed by the WB) and in is former Passions star Justin Hartley.
Producers claim that Hartley has more acting experience that Toale, having played the very posh-sounding Nicholas Foxworth Crane on "Passions" for the last three years. But not having seen anything that either one of them acted in, I couldn't comment.
No word on whether Vince Chase will replace Hartley, should the CW call.
Apparently, networks are a lot like twenty-something female friends: as soon as one reproduces, they all want a baby too. FOX announced today via press release the creation of yet another brand-new network, called MY Network TV, which it will unveil this fall in an attempt to battle the merger of the WB and UPN into a single new entity called the CW, which will also be unveiled this fall. (Coincidence?) Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television will operate the new venture.
My Network TV is schedued to launch on September 5th and will feature original network-quality primetime programming from 8:00 to 10:00pm six days a week (Monday through Saturday). Genres are expected to encompass reality, drama, comedy, game show, news, movies and talk formats.
The new hour-long scripted dramas “Desire” and “Secrets” (from Twentieth Television) will inaugurate My Network TV. The telenovela-style shows are structured in a 65-episode story arcs that will air Mondays through Fridays for 13 weeks.
Other programs currently in development at My Network TV include:
Catwalk: An America's Next Top Model-eqsue "ultimate" search for the next “It” supermodel.
Celebrity Love Island: Six celebrities and six non-celebrity singles are thrown together in a fantasy island setting.
On Scene: Crime investigation series will examine all of the evidence and trace every single clue of the most compelling crimes committed today.
America’s Brainiest: Quiz show, based on the hit British program, which will find the country’s smartest individuals.
And, just like that, the quest for last-place network begins anew.
No "Mercy" for Aquaman Actor
Yesterday brought news announcing the casting of Ving Rhames as lighthouse keeper/mentor McCaffrey (don't ask) and Denise Quinones as "Rachel Starling, a Navy fighter pilot and potential love interest for A.C." (seriously, don't ask) in the CW's Aquaman pilot, which currently has the, er, unusual working title of Mercy Reef. But now the Hollywood Reporter is today reporting that the show has now recast its lead, Arthur "A.C." Curry (a.k.a. the titular Aquaman). Out is model/actor-hopeful Will Toale (cast when the show was developed by the WB) and in is former Passions star Justin Hartley.
Producers claim that Hartley has more acting experience that Toale, having played the very posh-sounding Nicholas Foxworth Crane on "Passions" for the last three years. But not having seen anything that either one of them acted in, I couldn't comment.
No word on whether Vince Chase will replace Hartley, should the CW call.