|
|
Rookie dramas nab full season orders
Variety - October 15, 1999
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Further confirmation that the 1999-00 season is shaping up to be the year of the drama came Thursday as a trio of frosh hours snagged full-season orders.
CBS and NBC were the webs delivering the good news, with the Eye giving back-nine commitments to Columbia TriStar Television's "Family Law" and 20th Century Fox TV's "Judging
Amy," and the Peacock pledging its allegiance to Warner Bros.' "The West Wing." All three skeins have been solid ratings performers, so the pickups were not surprising.
NBC also became the first Big Four web to pick up a full season of one of its frosh laffers, adding 9 more segs to its previous 13-seg order of Thursday comedy "Stark Raving Mad," which
is produced by 20th. UPN had previously given full-season orders to "The Parkers" and "Grown Ups."
'Again' goes the distance
Thursday's three drama renewals came a day after the news that ABC had given a full-season nod to new Tuesday hour "Once and Again" (Daily Variety, Oct. 14) and just a few weeks after
NBC made early full-season commitments to first-year hours "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Third Watch." The Peacock has now picked up four of its seven frosh
skeins, with only "Cold Feet" and "Freaks and Geeks" yet to be given full-season nods. Laffer "The Mike O'Malley Show" has been canceled.
Other skeins all but certain to get orders for additional segs include CBS' "Now and Again" and WB's "Angel." The Eye's "Ladies Man" and WB's "Popular" are
also said to be strong candidates for pickups.
Of the new series picked up Thursday, the Eye's "Judging Amy" has delivered the best Nielsen verdict, averaging 15.5 million viewers weekly and a 6.0/15 with CBS' target demo of adults
25-54. The 10 p.m. Tuesday skein is also the season's most-watched new drama, and the only frosh to improve its numbers every week since the season began.
The Eye's "Family Law" has also been a solid success, averaging 14.75 million viewers and ranking as the second highest-rated drama of the season. It's also delivered the Eye's best 10
p.m. Monday numbers since 1996.
Copyright © 1999 Variety, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
