ABC is banking so heavily on its new “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff that the network is using it as a tentpole, expecting it to support two other dramas to be launched on either side of it on Wednesdays this fall.
But, as ABC Entertainment boss Stephen McPherson concedes, “Private Practice” isn’t yet public perfect.
“We all feel like there’s some work to do,” McPherson told reporters Tuesday before the network’s upfront presentation of its 2007-08 schedule to advertisers at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.
Creator Shonda Rhimes’ much-anticipated showcase for Kate Walsh’s Addison Montgomery character, previewed within an episode of “Grey’s” earlier this month that attracted a whopping 21.2 million viewers, was a tad clunky. It had a strong cast, led by Walsh, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs, Merrin Dungey and Amy Brenneman, but the plotting was plodding.
“We spent a lot of time introducing the characters and not enough time on the stories,” McPherson said. “We’ve really got to get those stories stronger, and once those characters are set up, what Shonda does brilliantly, I think, is the conflict between people and the reality of that. You’ll see a lot more of that and the intricacies of those relationships.”
It remains to be seen, obviously, whether “Practice” at 8 p.m. can help bring viewers to “Pushing Daisies,” a program from filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld set for 7 p.m. in which a guy who brings the dead back to life with one touch and kills them again with a second touch solves murders and finds love, or “Dirty Sexy Money,” a 9 p.m. show about an idealistic lawyer (Peter Krause) whose client is a weathy, amoral family (led by Donald Sutherland).
Overall, ABC’s presentation ran the gamut from a recitation of just how upscale its audience is and how many ways people are consuming its programming and ads away from TVs to a glitzy chorus line tribute to “Ugly Betty.” The capper was a round of its campy summer bingo show, complete with cheerleaders, a marching band and confetti.
And if these network upfront sales presentations tend to have the feel of awards shows without actual awards, ABC cemented that impression with a parody tribute to all the characters to die on its air in the last year or so.
While NBC unveiled a fall schedule Monday with only four new dramas and no new comedies, ABC, coming off a better year, is looking to introduce five dramas and three comedies over the course of the fall. Midseason programs include the return of “Lost” and a philanthropic reality show from Oprah Winfrey called “Oprah’s Big Give.”
Jim Belushi’s “According to Jim” might not be dead yet; it could return at midseason, pending negotiations. Pink-slipped were “George Lopez,” and “What About Brian.”
Also cut are those haunted serials — “Six Degrees,” “The Nine,” “Daybreak” and “Traveler” — that were part of a trend that also included the short runs of NBC’s “Kidnapped” and Fox’s “Vanished.”
Said McPherson, “The bar is higher for the darker, serialized, demanding shows because you’ve got ’24’ and ‘Lost’ and ‘Heroes’ and ‘Nip/Tuck’ and things like that that are already on the air, and you’re asking fans of those shows to make another commitment.”
On the other hand, “Caveman,” the sitcom based on the Geico insurance ad characters, is touted by ABC as a “twist on stereotypes [that] turns race relations on their head.”
Next up is CBS, which typically holds its schedule cards close to its vest until the day of its presentation. Sources, however, said the network was edging toward edgy.
Its drama orders included “Viva Laughlin” (an adaptation of the BBC musical “Viva Blackpool”), “Moonlight” (a vampire private detective), “Swingtown” (open marriages in the 1970s) and “Cane” (about a Latino family empire in South Florida).
Fox, which is expected to make its presentations Thursday, was said to be high on “Back to You” (a comedy starring Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton and Fred Willard set in a local TV news operation), “Sarah Connor Chronicles” (a “Terminator” adaptation), “K-Ville” (New Orleans cops, post-Katrina), “The Return of Jezebel James” (a Parker Posey-Lauren Ambrose comedy about sisters and surrogate motherhood from “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman Palladino) and “Rules for Starting Over” (a Farrelly brothers comedy about newly divorced men dating again).
Sources say CW is canceling “All of Us,” the Will Smith-produced comedy that began on UPN. “One Tree Hill,” “Supernatural,” “Smallville,” “The Game” and “Girlfriends” are all believed to be returning. No word yet on “Veronica Mars.”
As of now, only NBC, with “Lipstick Jungle,” and ABC, with “Cashmere Mafia” — both set for midseason — are going with “Sex and the City”-inspired dramas. “If both those shows are good, they’ll work,” McPherson said. “If both shows aren’t, they won’t.”
So at least he’s not worried … about that.
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philrosenthal@tribune.com
