When the torch goes out, we’ll finally get to see if NBC has any spark left.
The burning question all of last year was, what is NBC going to do when “Friends” and “Frasier” go away?
Network executives were said to have been running around like peacocks with their heads cut off.
But what was lost in all the unease and tension was the fact that both shows – which still anchored their respective nights – were well beyond their prime and that the network needed to get its feathers a little ruffled.
In the end, some old favorite reality shows will be sprinkled in with some new dramas and a couple of new comedies, including the highly anticipated “Friends” spinoff, “Joey.”
Using the Olympics as an opening act, NBC plans to start rolling out its fall lineup a little ahead of the competition, with some premieres igniting the day after the stadium lights go down.
NBC got into the reality game a little late, but scored quickly – at least in the eyes of viewers who keep tuning in – with “Fear Factor.”
This fall, the network is cranking it up, flexing its reality muscle – or Donald Trump’s muscle, anyway – with “The Apprentice 2.”
At times, NBC will seem like the new “Reality 24/7” cable channel that’s in the works. No time will seem more like that than the day after the Olympics.
A three-hour reality block kicks off the fall lineup, with a 90-minue “Fear Factor” season premiere followed by the debut of the new season of “Last Comic Standing” for another hour and a half.
The most recent season of “Last Comic” did so well that NBC bigwigs made sure there was room for it in the fall. It will settle into an 8 p.m. Tuesday time slot the night after it debuts.
The other highly promoted comedy this season is “Father of the Pride,” an animated series that looks at the suburban life of the performing white lions that work for Siegfried &Roy. It premieres at 9 p.m. Aug. 31.
“Pride” comes from the makers of “Shrek,” which gives it some clout to begin with, and includes the great John Goodman (“Roseanne”), Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and Carl Reiner (“The Dick Van Dyke Show”).
Call me crazy, but even in the aftermath of Roy Horn being attacked by one of the tigers during a performance in October 2003, pretty much anything involving the flamboyant pair has extreme funny potential.
Horn, by the way, totally supports the series and appeared with his partner on a videotaped promotion of the show for advertisers in May.
But the one show that everyone wants to see, if only to throw eggs and tomatoes at their televisions, is “Joey,” where Matt LeBlanc tries to reprise his “Friends” character after a move to Los Angeles to try to jumpstart his acting career.
Now, I could be a complete madman, but I think “Joey” is going to work.
You knew the spinoff had to be coming. It almost always does, and it usually doesn’t work.
Remember “AfterMASH” from “MASH”? “The Ropers” from “Three’s Company”? “Joanie Loves Chachi”?
But sometimes it does. Of course, there’s “Frasier” from “Cheers.” But there’s also, “Benson” from “Soap,” “The Jeffersons” from “All in the Family,” “Green Acres” from “Petticoat Junction,” and “The Tortellis” from “Cheers.”
(All right, I’m kidding about “The Tortellis.”)
So many questions center around whether “Joey” can go it alone. But he isn’t trying to.
He’s teaming up with his sister, Gina, played by Drea de Matteo (“The Sopranos”) and her 20-year-old graduate student son, Michael (Paulo Costanzo, “Road Trip”).
The new setting and introduction of family members we didn’t know before worked for “Frasier” and “Joey” just might benefit from the same strategy.
“Joey” is executive-produced by Kevin S. Bright, Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan, who all had their hands in “Friends.” Goldberg-Meehan and Silveri wrote the pilot and Bright directed it.
Have a little patience. It shows promise.
Columnist Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
