Summer 2012 Premiere Dates

JUNE Friday, June 1, 2012 A.N.T Farm (Disney) Whale Wars (Animal Planet) Saturday, June 2, 2012 Pound Puppies (The Hub) Sunday, June 3, 2012 Empire Girls: Julissa & Adrienne (Style) Secret Millionaire (ABC) Animal Super Powers (NatGeo Wild) Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition (ABC) The Glades (A&E) Longmire (A&E) Teen Wolf (MTV) Drop Dead Diva Season Premiere (Lifetime) Ice Road Truckers (History) Are You Normal, America? (OWN) Call of The Wild Man (Animal Planet) BBQ Pitmasters (Destination America) Adele: Live in London (NBC): Special Presentation The MTV Movie Awards (MTV): Special Presentation 2012 Miss USA Pageant (NBC): Special Presentation Monday, June 4, 2012 Push Girls (Sundance) Teen Wolf (MTV) Timeslot Premiere The Real Housewives Of New York City (Bravo) Hell's...

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2012 Mid-Season Premiere and Return Schedule

JANUARY Sunday, January 1 8:00 Mob Wives (VH1) 9:00 Mama Drama (VH1) 9:00 Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off (Food) 10:00 Angry Boys (HBO) Monday, January 2 8:00 The Bachelor (ABC) 8:00 Antiques Roadshow (PBS) 8:00 Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family) 8:00 How I Met Your Mother (CBS) 8:30 2 Broke Girls (CBS) 9:00 The Lying Game (ABC Family) 9:00 Hoarders (A&E) 9:00 Two and a Half Men (CBS) 9:30 Mike & Molly (CBS) 10:00 It’s a Brad, Brad World (Bravo) 10:00 Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) 10:00 Intervention (A&E) 10:00 Wife Swap (ABC) Tuesday, January 3 8:00 The Biggest Loser (NBC) 8:00 Switched at Birth (ABC Family) 8:00 NCIS (CBS) 8:30 Work It (ABC) 9:00 Jane by Design (ABC Family) 9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) 10:00 Body of Proof (ABC) 10:00 Jamie’s American Road Trip (BBCA) 10:00 Parenthood...

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His Ticket In

Jordan Harper is an alumni (alum, alumna? I can never get this) of the Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop (2009). He was staffed on "The Mentalist" through the WB program and is also a short fiction writer. What's all this have to do with you, why should you care? Well, if you're interested in getting into the WB Workshop, Jordan was kind enough to post the spec script that got him in on his site. No, you're not Mr. Harper. No, you're not gonna submit the same script. No, your gem of a spec won't be up against the same competition his was. But it starts with the writing and this will give you an example of writing that got noticed and was successful. You can read the script he...

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They Do Run Run

The Hollywood Reporter has a series of Emmy Roundtable videos with actors and showrunners. The drama showrunners roundtable features Frank Darabont ("The Walking Dead"), Jason Katims ("Parenthood"), John Wells ("Southland" and "Shameless"), Mike Royce ("Men of a Certain Age"), Graham Yost ("Justified"), Kurt Sutter ("Sons of Anarchy"), and Terence Winter ("Boardwalk Empire"). Most of the conversation revolves around issues of running a show and isn't exactly writing related. The later part is a little more interesting. I usually like these types of videos and getting a glimpse into the minds of writers and the creative process; but this one left me a little flat. You can watch the comedy showrunner roundtable here (Warning: this does contain...

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Summer Season 2011

When the idea of a Summer television season was first introduced a few years ago I was less than thrilled. Maybe I was locked into the notion that TV happened from September-May and the Summer was a time to catch up on missed episodes or go see a Blockbuster. The initial offerings were weak; mostly reality dreck, show's that didn't make the Fall line-ups and some experiments. Then some shows started to emerge; "The O.C." was an early Summer scheduled breakout, premiering August 5, 2003 on Fox. Now things are flipped upside down. The starting of the TV season used to be an event for me; I would buy TV Guide's Fall Preview issue — I used to love that thing - and excitedly thumb through it, eager to discover all the new shows. (Side note: those issues are great to look back on years later....

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Access Granted

The 2011 Writer Access Project honorees have been selected and posted on the WGA site along with their scripts. (This year with class photos of the writers as well. Is it just me, or does the blonde in the first pic look like she played a psychic a few years on NB...

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A-Team Leader

Those of you who don't know the name Stephen J. Cannell (shame on you) may nevertheless be familiar with his classic end credit vanity card which featured Cannell himself typing on an old typewriter before pulling the page out and tossing it into the air, where it becomes animated, floating down to form his production company logo. And certainly you're familiar with the shows that end card was attached to. Cannell's real claim to fame is as a creator, writer, producer of classic, enduring 80s/90s television. "The A-Team," "21 Jump Street," "The Rockford Files," "The Greatest American Hero," "The Commish" and "Wiseguy" among many others. On his site Cannell gives you insight into how he writes so prolifically in a great, free "online writing...

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