|
|
CBS schedule puts inhouse in order
Variety - May 18, 1999
By JENNY HONTZ
NEW YORK — In what may be a first for network TV, CBS partially owns and is co-producing all six of the new series
it has ordered for its fall schedule.
The Eye web Monday picked up three new comedies and three new dramas for its fall lineup.
The new comedies on CBS are "Work With Me," a co-production with Universal starring Nancy Travis;
"Ladies’ Man," a co-production with Columbia TriStar TV from Chris Thompson and starring Alfred Molina;
and "Love or Money" from Dan Staley and Rob Long.
The new dramas are "Now and Again," a co-production with Par from Glenn Gordon Caron; "Judging
Amy," a co-production with 20th Century Fox starring Amy Brenneman, and "Family Law," a co-production
with Columbia TriStar TV from Paul Haggis.
‘Money’ changes hands
Five of the six projects were originally developed with CBS Prods., while Paramount Network TV gave up an ownership
stake in the comedy "Love or Money" over the weekend.
Last fall, CBS owned a piece of six out of seven of its frosh series.
CBS TV CEO Leslie Moonves has been on a mission to turn CBS Prods. into a viable primetime supplier, and the network
will pick up more inhouse shows than even those webs that are partnered with major studios.
Networks were restricted from owning more than a small portion of their primetime shows until earlier this decade,
when federal rules were lifted.
While ABC has been flexing its muscles to extract backend profit participation in shows, angering top suppliers, CBS
is actually sharing the risks by paying some of the deficits on the shows it’s co-producing.
In fact, CBS lost money last year on four of the six shows it co-produced for fall. Only two of the six,
"Martial Law" and "King of Queens," are expected to return.
While CBS informed producers of its pickups Monday night, the Eye web won’t announce the order of its shows until
it unveils its fall schedule Wednesday.
CBS six-pack
Here’s a description of the new shows:
"Ladies’ Man" is a comedy about the lone guy in a house full of women;
"Love or Money" is an "Upstairs, Downstairs"-type comedy about a building super having an affair
with the daughter of a wealthy family living in his building;
"Work With Me" is a comedy starring Travis and Kevin Pollack as married lawyers working together;
"Now and Again" is a drama about a man killed in an accident who is given a new, younger body by the
government;
"Judging Amy" is about a single mother and judge who moves back into her mother’s house with her own
daughter;
"Family Law" is about a lawyer who rebuilds her law firm when her husband leaves with all their clients.
Copyright © 1999 Variety. All rights reserved.
|
