Entertainment, TV, Television - Marine Corps Times

ABC offers two new fall shows and reassures ‘Lost’ fans

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Fans of “Lost” won’t be cheated out of any of their final 48 episodes, despite the recent writers’ strike.

A couple other ABC shows — “Private Practice” and “Pushing Daisies” — could have even more than the usual number of hours. For “Boston Legal,” however, it will definitely be 13 and out.

Those are some of the questions fielded recently by Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment. He managed to duck the bigger question of whether ABC will snag Jay Leno when his NBC contract expires.

The network and Leno had agreed years ago that he would hand over his “Tonight” slot to Conan O’Brien. As that time nears, questions grow.

“I can’t believe they’re letting the guy go at the top of his game,” McPherson told TV reporters. “If that happens, we’ll see.”

He has the news division’s “Nightline” in that spot, followed by a Jimmy Kimmel show that McPherson said keeps getting better. The next step is uncertain.

The numbers issues are more specific, including:

• “Lost” really will get 48 episodes over a three-season span, as first announced. It had planned to start that with 17 this year, but the strike only gave time for 14. Those extra episodes will be tacked on somewhere in the final two seasons, so the show still has 34 left. One complication: “Lost” rushed some of its stories so that it could reach the points it wanted to for the season finale. Now it has a little more room to play.

• “Private Practice” and “Pushing Daisies” are in a rare position of comfort. They returned to work after the strike, but ABC didn’t put them back on the spring schedule. When they return this fall (beginning Oct. 1), they might end up making 24 or more episodes instead of the usual 22.

• “Boston Legal,” by comparison, will definitely stick to 13. McPherson said that was a plan worked out with producer David E. Kelley.

Kelley will write most of the 13 episodes, McPherson said. “He had some things he wanted to do with the two main characters.”

The show’s final run moves to Mondays and starts on Sept. 22. Afterward, there will be plenty of shows to take over its spot.

Instead of rushing pilot films after the strike, McPherson put only two new shows on the fall lineup. “Opportunity Knocks” (a reality game show produced by Ashton Kutcher) starts Sept 23 and will get heavy promotion. “Life on Mars” (the American version of a British, time-travel cop show) starts Oct. 9. It won’t need much promotion, McPherson argued, because it will be nestled behind “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Other new shows — originally aimed at fall, then delayed by the strike — will be ready for mid-season, he said. He also has “Lost” and “According to Jim” and more.

“The Bachelor”? The show is still looking for the right guy, McPherson said.

And “Wipeout”? It will definitely be back, he said, but it might stick to summers instead of being rushed back sooner.

In other news, McPherson said:

• Katie Holmes will do some singing and dancing Oct. 21, on this season’s second episode of “Eli Stone.” The guest spot was set up by producer Greg Berlanti, who worked on her debut show, “Dawson’s Creek.” She’ll play a lawyer, Berlanti said. She won’t have any courtroom scenes here, but there will be substantial work. “It’s not a one-scene, two-scene thing.”

• Another Berlanti drama had a misstep. “Dirty Sexy Money” brought in a new show-runner, but there was unhappiness with the early results. “I don’t think they were what anyone had wanted,” McPherson said. Another switch was made.

• “Private Practice,” the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff, will feel different when it returns, making sure there’s some emphasis on the medical cases. “When it just becomes a soap opera about these people’s lives, there was a lot of talk. ... There was a lot of angst.”

• As for “Grey’s Anatomy,” which has a two-hour season opener Sept. 25, McPherson argued that Katherine Heigl’s dissatisfaction with her Izzie character will vanish. Izzie will be at the core of a major storyline this season, he said.

• “Dancing With the Stars” had a different problem this year, he said. Pleasant people — including winner Kristi Yamaguchi — dominated. “They were just nice, sweet personalities,” but there wasn’t much variety to the final contestants. The show returns Sept. 22, and the new contestants will be announced soon.