Well, I use to not care about unions but now I'm anti-union. It's one thing to affect the business of the corporation you work for. But when you hurt the general public then I say no.

As someone who's been a union employee his entire career (not counting a couple seasonal jobs I've had), I'm kinda in the middle there. Yes, there's no doubting that my pay and benefits have been much better than they could be, but sometimes they do make themselves seem like they're being greedy and only thinking of themselves and not everyone else, and in the end sometimes the extra cost is passed on to the consumer/customer (this I've especially noticed from when I used to work in retail). In the case of the strike, that's coming in the form of the TV shows going off.

Should WGA give the thumbs-up to this new proposal and the strike perhaps end in a week or so, The Washington Post (in an article I read this morning) did a little bit of an FAQ as to what happens next:
How soon could the strike end? Probably within 1-2 weeks pending writing up and ratifying the official final contract. At the very least that's how soon the writers would stop picketing and doing all that disruptive stuff.

When will (insert show here) come back? The general forecast, depending on show format, is 2-4 weeks. If it's a single-scripted comedy or a scripted drama, most think it'll be 4 weeks or more. But multi-camera comedies (like CBS's Monday shows) could be back in as little as 2 weeks. If it's one of those "freshman bubble series" that haven't been cancelled yet due to the strike, expect Das Boot to fully finish the job soon. Unless it's one of the very few that showed at least a glimmer of ongoing ratings viability, otherwise don't necessarily count on them being back.

What about the pilot season? If there is one for next season, very short. As we've already seen, some networks-namely NBC-are all but skipping pilots and just going to directly ordering new series. Some will likely still get pickups though, but expect rewrites and much scrambling considering the drama deadline was over a month ago.

OK, but what about "24"? Ah, the burning question that needs a burning answer-still looking like the original plan when the strike began-returns next season (2008-09). Chances Day 7 still goes on this season are put at "slim to none" by Fox, and that's assuming the strike does end soon. Before the strike it had only 8-9 of the 24 season 7 episodes done.
Hopefully we'll know more next week, WGA said media is a no-no at the weekend meetings, so unless something gets leaked outounder anonymity it'll probably be Monday at the earliest.

Can The Academy Awards still be saved from a clip-show fate? It's gonna be a photo finish. They've got 2 weeks to do it.

Other news...
The CW just lost one of its big ratings vehicles: WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment announced overnight that WWE Smackdown will not return to The CW next season. SD, as fans commonly call it, is not cancelled, it just will move to another network. We just don't know which one yet. SD generally drew an average of 4-5 million viewers every Friday night and consistently fared well in the key 18-49 demo, in fact only "America's Next Top Model" generally gets better ratings for CW.

Check my earlier post for late news on 2 FX shows that had their second season orders cut due to the strike, "Dirt" and "The Riches". It doesn't necessarily mean certain doom for the shows, though.

Late edit: The strike could very well be in its final hours. According to the LA Times, today the two sides (AMPTP & WGA) are expected to finalize a three-year contract that guild leaders plan to present to thousands of writers in Los Angeles and New York on Saturday. The WGA could approve the contract Sunday and that could have writers back at work as soon as Monday.

Early Saturday news...
Midseason schedule changes annouecd by The CW: Encores/repeats of "America's Next Top Model" will begin airing Sundays at 7 PM starting March 2. It will be a lead-in for the return of new episodes of "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Aliens In America" starting that night. This means that "CW Now" apparently becomes CW Not, as in what's likely a long overdue move it seems to be off to hiatus. It's averaged a measly 750,000 viewers every Sunday at 7 PM. When it goes, it will have aired 23 episodes. With the ratings it's had (It's cracked 1 million viewers maybe once) I'd be very surprised if it returns.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Feb 09 2008.

quote

Writers and Studios Make Tentative Deal
The strike may be over at last.
by Eric Goldman

February 9, 2008 - "We have a tentative deal." So begins an email sent to WGA members (posted in full on unitedhollywood.com) in the middle of last night by WGA presidents Patric M. Verrone and Michael Winship, which seems to mark the likely end of the writers' strike that has halted work on all scripted TV shows and films since November 5th.

There is also a link at unitedhollywood.com to the full details of the new deal, which includes several new provisions for writers to receive residuals on internet or "new media" presentations of programs and films, which had been a key point of this strike. While not everything the writers were asking for, the new deal does include many changee. As Verrone and Winships's email says, "Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success."

The key word in the email of course is "tentative" and until all final new contracts are signed and completed, there's always an (increasingly small) chance of this deal falling apart. But right now, it looks like the strike may indeed be over and that screenwriters could be getting back to work very soon.

To further elaborate, WGA's full statement:

quote

This was sent early this morning to membership. The delay in publishing the deal points, we've learned, was because the companies dragged their feet enshrining some of the final details in an attempt to renege on some of what they had promised. The last-minute fight to keep that from happening took until late last night.

To Our Fellow Members,

We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, "When they get paid, we get paid."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary at the following link - http://www.wga.org/contract_07/wga_tent_summary.pdf - and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike. Details of the Los Angeles meeting can be found at http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2763.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Patric M. Verrone
President, WGAW

Michael Winship
President, WGAE

In the wake of what appears to be the end of the strike, ABC today announced that 9 series have been given pickups for next season (2008-09):
Brothers & Sisters gets a 3rd season
Desperate Housewives gets a 5th season
Dirty Sexy Money gets a 2nd season
Grey's Anatomy gets a 5th season
Private Practice gets a 2nd season
Pushing Daisies gets a 2nd season
Samantha Who gets a 2nd season
Ugly Betty gets a 3rd season
The 9th one is Lost, but we already knew it was picked up through its 6th & final season in 2009-10.

As far as the rest of this season, Samantha Who, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Boston Legal, Ugly Betty, & Brothers & Sisters are expected to shoot more new episodes, but Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, & Dirty Sexy Money are likely off until next season. Still in Fate TBD status on next year are According to Jim and Cavemen, and if the latter gets picked up...

NBC also announced that "The Biggest Loser" has been picked up for a 6th season. It again will follow the "couples" format of this season.

The Washington Post has come up with a list of the major network scripted shows and whether or not they'll be back with more new episodes this season (this list doesn't include reality, newsmagazines, or unscripted fare). The list and the show's statuses (Yes means more new episodes this season, maybe means unknown yet, no means any of these: Returning next season, on hiatus/Fate TBD [either not on schedule or current season complete], or cancelled/ending, definitely no more new ones this season anyway):
And first up, to restate the major point: 24 IS NOT RETURNING BEFORE JANUARY 2009! Fox has again noted that the remaining 16 episodes can't be shot and completed in time to air this season (by the end of May), so it'll be back next season. Not this season. Move on. It sucks, I know. Also, no doesn't mean that remaining pre-strike episodes will not air...

ABC:
According To Jim-maybe (at least 3 episodes left this season)
Big Shots-no (Fate TBD)
Boston Legal-maybe (2 episodes left this season)
Brothers & Sisters-yes
Carpoolers-no (4 episodes left this season)
Cashmere Mafia-maybe
Cavemen-no (on hiatus, hopefully not coming back)
Desperate Housewives-yes
Dirty Sexy Money-no (returning next season)
Grey's Anatomy-yes
Lost-yes
Notes From The Underbelly-no (last episode likely aired last night)
October Road-maybe (full season was believed to be completed pre-strike)
Private Practice-no (returning next season)
Pushing Daisies-no (returning next season)
Samantha Who?-yes (returning in March)
Ugly Betty-yes
Women's Murder Club-yes

CBS:
The Big Bang Theory-yes (yes indeed!)
Cane-no (Fate TBD)
Cold Case-yes
Criminal Minds-yes
CSI-yes (all 3 CSIs)
Ghost Whisperer-yes
How I Met Your Mother-yes
Moonlight-yes
NCIS-yes
The New Adventures Of Old Christine-yes
Numb3rs-yes
Rules Of Engagement-yes (good, both my CBS sitcoms back)
Shark-maybe
Two And A Half Men-yes
The Unit-maybe
Viva Laughlin-no (cancelled)
Without A Trace-yes

Fox:
American Dad-yes
Back To You-yes (returning this month)
Bones-yes (returning in April)
family Guy-yes
House-yes (no brainer for Fox)
King Of The Hill-yes
K-Ville-no (Fate TBD, has 1 episode unaired)
Prison Break-no
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles-maybe
The SImpsons-yes
'Til Death-yes (returning in March)
24-no (see above)

NBC:
Bionic Woman-no (Fate TBD, could be cancelled)
Chuck-no (Fate TBD, got full season pickup so has a chance to return next season)
ER-maybe
Friday Night Lights-no (Fate TBD, could be cancelled)
Heroes-no (Fate TBD, could be cancelled...and should)
Journeyman-no (Fate TBD, expected to be cancelled)
Las Vegas-no
Law & Order-yes (both shows)
Life-no (Fate TBD)
Lipstick Jungle-yes
Medium-yes
My Name Is Earl-yes (even better)
The Office-yes
Scrubs-yes (remember this season is the final season, NBC is believed to be holding 4 more pre-strike episodes hostage)
30 Rock-yes (bah)

The CW:
Aliens In America-maybe
Everybody hates Chris-yes (full season completed)
The Game-yes
Gossip Girl-yes
Life Is Wild-no (Fate TBD, likely to be cancelled)
One Tree Hill-yes
Reaper-maybe (has 3 episodes left, returning next month)
Smallville-yes
Supernatural-yes

Similar to what Summoner posted, TVGuide.com has a really handy strike guide about when all the shows return and how many episodes they're expected to have for the rest of the season. Here's the link and it's updated quite frequently and is probably the best place for very up-to-date info for post-strike news.

Jeez, it looks like NBC got hit the hardest. I don't watch Heroes but a lot of fans will be pissed if that show goes under.

I need not explain how I'd feel about Heroes not returning except I'd enjoy Ninja Warrior and Unbeatable Banzuke on G4 a lot more, haha. But that would be nothing compared to the reaction from "Scrubs" fans, moreso considering NBC's been holding their possible finale hostage for a good 2+ months now. I don't watch Scrubs but even I am becoming sympathetic towards fans of the show, they deserve better.
The other big factor in shows not coming back this season, not just at NBC but all networks, seems to be cost. According to an unnamed Hollywood agent who was quoted in the Post article I read this morning (and used as reference for my earlier post), "They want to amortize costs-getting back up and running is expensive if you're doing just five episodes" the rest of the season. The number I'm hearing for most shows that resume production this season is 5-6 more episodes, which may or may not include episodes that were completed pre-strike but have not yet aired. And that's not yet guaranteed. They'll probably be hesitant to extend most shows into the summer because that's traditionally when viewership is down considerably.

Edit: Back to news briefly, as Fox has announced a couple of Idol-related schedule changes:
Wednesday results shows will expand to 1 hour starting March 12 and air at 9 PM ET. And because of "Idol Gives Back" (annual charity special) airing on April 9, a Thursday results show airs on April 10 only. it will air live at 9 PM ET, tape-delayed on the west coast at 9 PM PT.
Because of these changes, the preview of "The Return Of Jezebel James" scheduled for 3/12 at 9:30 PM ET is now off. The show's premiere, scheduled for 3/14 at 8:30 PM ET, will now premiere that night at 8 PM ET and be expanded to 1 hour (2 episodes).

Also, Lucasfilm announced that the cable networks Cartoon Network and TNT have picked up the new animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (not the same as the "micro-series" of the same title that aired a couple years back), to debut this fall. Cartoon Network will air the new episodes first, then TNT will rebroadcast them. First will be a theatrical release on August 15 by Warner Bros., making it the first time a Star Wars film hasn't been first put out by 20th Century Fox. Star Wars creator George Lucas is the executive producer of the new series, set between Episodes 2 & 3 in the movie timeline. The first in a series of "making of" videos has just been put up on starwars.com.

And now a melancholy Happy Trails to Ron Leavitt, one of the co-creators of one of the greatest sitcoms of our generation, "Married...With Children". He died Sunday of lung cancer in Sherman Oaks, CA. He was 60. Married ultimately ran for 11 years and helped put Fox on the map when the network launched in the 1980s.

The futon critic website has also now put up an updated list with the expected status of shows that are returning this season and how many episodes could be produced:
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=7554

This also confirms another casualty of the season: "Girlfriends". The CW is ending the sitcom after 8 seasons, but there are talks to do a series finale/retrospective, a la Extras on HBO. There are more presumed to be dead, so keep checking the Cancelled/Renewed Shows list on page 1, I'll be updating it constantly as new information becomes available.

For those who want to know now, here's the body count so far, these shows are cancelled/ending:
Girlfriends (may be back for an Extras-style sendoff though)
Big Shots
Bionic Woman
Journeyman (sorry Droid)
K-Ville (had 1 unaired episode left)
Life Is Wild
Cavemen (AMEN! This likely, however, will be the biggest ratings failure/bust of the season given how much ABC invested in promoting it and heavily pushing it; It had 7 unaired episodes left)
Masters Of Science Fiction (this one actually was from last summer and hadn't aired since late August, but wasn't officially cancelled until today)

Late edit: According to an item on G4's "The Feed", the writer/executive producer of "Scrubs" will handle producing duties for the final 6 episodes of the series. So it sounds like Scrubs fans will get at least 6 more episodes, which will put the season's final tally somewhere between 12-16 episodes of 18.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Feb 12 2008.

Weekly Nielsen Ratings Report for Week Ending 2/10/08:
No football, no strike (it's over effective today), no viewers. That's kinda how it was post-SB last week, even among the scripted shows that did air. In fact, one report noted that since the strike began, the networks have lost nearly half their average audience (about 48%). It showed last week, which of course was led as usual by the unstoppable Idol juggernaut. Just under 28 million Tuesday, a little over 26 million Wednesday. And despite WGA letting writers work it, The Grammy Awards both won and lost Sunday. Won because it won all but one half-hour Sunday night. Lost because it's 17.1 million crowd was the Grammy's 2nd-smallest crowd since at least the 70s. And it's 18-49 crowd, which they try oh-so-hard to reach, was the awards' smallest ever. Maybe it was the WGA stance. Maybe it was that nobody cares about Amy Winehouse & Kanye West. I don't. Another winner that should be a loser was ABC's surprise "20/20" Natalee Holloway special Monday. Nearly 13 million made it the newsmag's biggest crowd in a year, which illustrates the sad depths newsmags go to for ratings-these young, attractive, missing white women get all the coverage in the world, yet minority women in the same situation are lucky to get a 15-second mention. Another Loser in the Winner department-pun intended-"The Biggest Loser". It doesn't have the best ratings (about 7.2 million last week) but it got another season because it's the best show among young viewers out there-a bold claim when it runs against Idol. And in another case of shameless self-promotion, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" suckered about 16 million Sunday night into watching the show become a shameless plug for that popular Disney singing girl franchise, Miley Montana or whatever the name is (I know what it really is. Go along with this). Last half-hour even beat Grammys. Also beat Grammys among teens (surprise) and was the biggest HE crowd in over a year.
Among new/returning shows last week, CBS' premiere of "Welcome To The Captain" drew 7.9 million viewers, gaining about 300,000 over it's "How I met Your Mother" lead-in. The return of "The New Adventures Of Old Christine" drew 9.4 million at 9:30, but will get panned because "Two And A Half Men" did 12.3 million ahead of it. As for the Sex & The City spin-offs, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" drew about 7.5 million Tuesday at 10, a borderline distant last in the timeslot. ABC's "Cashmere Mafia" did even worse, just 5.1 million opposite the Wednesday crime dramas. And then there was the next "Survivor". 14 million watched the Micronesia premiere, which as usual easily won the timeslot but was the franchise's smallest premiere crowd ever. But considering this is edition 16 that's still a number that will keep it around a while.

The Week's Top 10 Most Watched Shows, in order: Tuesday's "American Idol", Wednesday's Idol, "House", The Grammy Awards, "The Moment Of Truth", "extreme Makeover Home Edition", Thursday's 9 PM "Lost", "Survivor: Micronesia", Monday's "Deal Or No Deal", "60 Minutes".

No report next Wednesday, Monday's a paid do-nothing-and-be-lazy-and-recover-from-Daytona 500 day for me, aka a holiday. Next week's report will be up Thursday.

Edit: Midday news...
According to the Zap2it website, here are the scheduled post-strike return dates for the CBS shows that are returning this spring as well has how many new episodes we're likely to get this season (listed by return date, earliest listed first...I'm now reading 2 different reports so I'm listing the numbers as estimates where applicable...which so far applies to just one series):
Two And A Half Men-March 17, 9 episodes
How I Met Your Mother-March 17, 9 episodes
The Big Bang Theory-March 17, 9 episodes
CSI Miami-March 24, 8 episodes
Cold Case-March 30, 5 episodes
Criminal Minds-April 2, 7 episodes
CSI NY-April 2, 7 episodes
Without A Trace-April 3, 6 episodes
CSI-April 3, 6 episodes
Ghost Whisperer-April 4, 6 episodes
Numb3rs-April 4, 6 episodes
NCIS-April 8, 7 episodes
Moonlight-April 11, 4 episodes
Rules Of Engagement-April 14, 4-6 episodes
Shark-TBA, 4 episodes
The Unit-TBA, on hiatus
Swingtown-TBA, yet to premiere (production will resume)
And although this isn't yet confirmed, the only CBS post-strike casualty (cancelled/ending show) appears to be "Cane", based on Zap2it predictions.

NBC has announced that "Saturday Night Live" is expected to return with new episodes starting next week (February 23).

Fox has announced that Joel Surnow, co-creator of "24", has left the show to pursue other projects, effective immediately. This move is not expected to affect filming of the rest of Day 7, which is expected to resume in the coming weeks but is not expected to air until early '09.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Feb 13 2008.

Time for the NBC post-strike update:
First up, 3 series got next season pickups: "Chuck", "Life", and...curse you, NBC..."Heroes". Don't. I'm gonna hear it on MSN as it is (haha). Now for the returning this season stuff...the returning series start in April with something that will make me happy, "My Name Is Earl"-it's the first to come back. And another tentative date for all you "Scrubs" fans: April 10. Here's the plans (all shows will return in their regular timeslots unless otherwise noted):
Medium-Continues airing
My Name Is Earl-April 3, 1 hour episode
30 Rock-April 10
The Office-April 10
Scrubs-April 10 (maybe it'll stick this time?)
ER-April 10
Law & Order SVU-April 15
Law & Order-April 23

As for the rest of the scripted series, announcements on those are coming later, plans are still being worked out.

Next on the agenda: Fox's summer schedule, which The Fox confirmed overnight...there are a couple of schedule changes that have been made and the original schedule was changed very late, so this is still subject to change:
Mondays:
8 PM-Bones repeats (June 9-July 21), When Women Rule The World (2 hour season premiere June 2, 2 hour season finale July 28), Teen Choice 2008 (2 hour special on August 4)
9 PM-When Women Rule The World

Tuesdays, May 27-July 8:
8 PM-House repeats
9 PM-Hell's Kitchen (new season)

Tuesday, July 15 only:
8 PM-2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Tuesdays starting July 22:
8 PM-Bones repeats
9 PM-House repeats

Wednesdays, May 8-August 6:
8 PM-So You Think You Can Dance (2 hours)

Thursdays, May 22-June 5:
8 PM-So You Think You Can Dance (2 hours)

Thursdays, June 12-July 31:
8 PM-The Moment Of Truth (new timeslot)
9 PM-So You Think You Can Dance

Thursday, August 7 only:
8 PM-So You Think You Can Dance (2 hour season finale)

Fridays, April 25-August 1:
8 PM-Movies

Sundays starting June 1:
7 PM-Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? repeats
8 PM-The Simpsons repeats
8:30 PM-King Of The Hill repeats
9 PM-Family Guy repeats
9:30 PM-American Dad repeats

The Saturday schedule will be same as usual, Cops at 8 (1 new episode and 1 repeat each week) and America's Most Wanted at 9.

Also, When Women Rule The World is still a working title for the series and is subject to change.

The cable network Showtime also announced a couple of summer premiere dates yesterday: Their original comedy "Weeds", which usually has premiered in August, will premiere June 16 this time around. Timeslot TBA but it will either lead into or follow new series "Secret Diary Of A Call Girl". Also TBA is a premiere date for the new season of "Californication", which Showtime picked up for a second season.

Edit: A short time ago CBS announced that their Upfront presentation for the 2008-09 season for advertisers will be held on May 14. That's all they said, they'll announce more later. For those unfamiliar with them, these Upfront presentations are usually when the major broadcast networks begin outlining their plans for the upcoming season, usually from the start (September) through just before midseason (through the Super Bowl) and start making sales pitches to advertisers, using ratings figures from the May Sweeps period (traditionally the end of the TV season) to determine prices advertisers will pay for spots during TV shows.

This just in: "CW Now" is now CW Not, CW No More, CW Then, or CW insert-word-of-choice-here. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new weekly newsmagazine, which was to go on hiatus after 2 more episodes, is now cancelled. This really isn't much of a surprise given the show never drew anything more than barely registering ratings-it was only averaging 842,000 viewers which ranked it 99th in weekly Nielsen ratings. What might be a surprise is that it lasted 23 weeks with said ratings, it cracked a million viewers maybe once. Both remaining episodes are currently scheduled to air, then "America's Next Top Model" repeats take over in the 7 PM Sunday timeslot.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Feb 14 2008.

And now it was CBS's turn to hand out next season orders. The good: 11 get pickups. The better: "The Big Bang Theory" (my favorite new sitcom) is one of them. Here's what else will be back:
Cold Case
Criminal Minds
CSI (All 3)
Ghost Whisperer
NCIS (the Idol-proof one)
Numb3rs
Two And A Half Men (makes sense, it's The Eye's #1 comedy)
Without A Trace
Remaining in Fate TBD status are How I Met Your Mother, Rules Of Engagement, Shark, The Unit, and Moonlight. These shows will return in March or April with new episodes, after which said Fate shall likely be TBD based on ratings (Based on ratings, HIMYM is in definite danger of cancellation as it's usually the lowest-rated Monday comedy, Rules is borderline but it's critical 18-49 ratings are usually solid which could save it, Shark is a toss-up, The Unit being cancelled would be a surprise as it usually gets good ratings, Moonlight is questionable just because it's a Friday show). Also in doubt is Jericho. Fans pushd hard for it to be brought back, and it was. Unfortunately the return episode's ratings suggested that many fans really didn't care-it managed only a 4.2 overnight rating Tuesday, which will translate to only 6.5 million or so viewers. Nice job, Jericho faithful. You went nuts yet you didn't go nuts.

Edit: The CW has now announced the return schedule for its scripted series, listed below by return date and expected number of new episodes to air the rest of the season:
The Game-March 23, 9 episodes
One Tree Hill-April 14, 6 episodes (pre-strike episodes scheduled to continue airing through March 18)
Smallville-April 17, 5 episodes (now on hiatus until at least 3/13)
Gossip Girl-April 21, 5 episodes
Reaper-April 22, 5 episodes (still scheduled to return from hiatus March 13 for 3 more pre-strike episodes)
Supernatural-April 24, 4 episodes (has 1 pre-strike episode remaining, airs 2/21 then goes on hiatus until 4/24)
All will have 18 of 22 episodes completed this season except The Game, which will have 20 of 22.
Everybody Hates Chris returns March 3 for its remaining 12 episodes, it finished its full season pre-strike.
Aliens In America finished 18 episodes, the rest air March 2-23 and April 27-May 18.

Also note that for The CW, no shows have been picked up for next season yet.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Feb 15 2008.

Midseason overhaul time. Lots of Fox schedule changes:
New series "Canterbury's Law" and "New Amsterdam" now will premiere March 10.
"Bones" returns April 14-expect 6 new episodes.
"House" returns April 28-expect 4 new episodes.
"'Til Death" and "Back To You", the latter of which was to return next week, now will return April 16. 'Til Death was to return in late March.
"The Moment Of Truth" goes on hiatus after the April 2 airing and will return June 12.
"Don't Forget The Lyrics" finishes its season May 8.
"Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" finishes its season with a 2 hour finale May 15.
The new schedules as a result (Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays only, all other nights remain unchanged):
Mondays, 3/10-4/7:
8 PM-Canterbury's Law
9 PM-New Amsterdam

Monday, 4/14:
8 PM-Bones
9 PM-New Amsterdam season finale

Mondays, 4/21-5/19:
8 PM-Bones
9 PM-House (repeat 4/21, then new episodes 4/28-5/19)

Wednesdays, 3/12-4/2:
8 PM-The Moment Of Truth
9 PM-Idol

Wednesday, 4/9:
8 PM-Idol Gives Back (2 hour special)

Wednesdays, 4/16-5/14:
8 PM-'Til Death
8:30 PM-Back To You
9 PM-Idol

Wednesday, 5/21:
8 PM-Idol 2 hour finale

Thursday, 5/8:
8 PM-Don't Forget The Lyrics season finale
9 PM-Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Thursday, 5/15:
8 PM-5th Grader 2 hour season finale

No Prison Break?

Is Heroes returning or not?