SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

The CW, ABC Make Pick-Ups, Cancelations, New Premieres; JustMyShow Interviews Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) on Her New Book

The CW has announced it will launch new midseason drama Life UneXpected on Monday, January 18 at 9pm, replacing Gossip Girl for a few weeks. Life UneXpected has a 12 episode order, so it will move to 8pm when Gossip Girl returns (probably in March). It will replace One Tree Hill most likely for a few weeks. Life UneXpected stars Britt Robertson, Kristoffer Polaha, Shiri Appleby, and Kerr Smith. The series was previously titled Parental Discretion Advised. We will have more on The CW's midseason plans soon, stay with us!
As for ABC, they have picked-up 5 additional episodes of the forgotten, bringing the total to 18 episodes for the Tuesday crime drama. That is excellent news for the Christian Slater crime drama. The show has been pretty consistent each week in the ratings, though it still needs to do better. Looks like the forgotten is safe until March at least. 10 episodes are likely to air by December's end. Episode 8 airs next week, as the show is preempted this week for a CMA special called In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts. Episodes 9 and 10 are likely to air the first two weeks of December (Dec. 1 and 8). The news wasn't as good though for ABC's Wednesday night 10pm drama, Eastwick. ABC will not produce any more than 13 episodes, but all 13 will air. 7 episodes have aired thus far and episode 8 isn't scheduled until Nov. 25 due to special programming airing the next two weeks. It is too bad, as the show was pretty good. The only other new series yet to hear its fate is sitcom Hank, but I think it will be pulled very soon and might not even get a chance to air all 13 episodes. It's scheduled to air next on Nov. 18 at 8pm.
And finally, ABC is not going to launch new Kathy Griffin hosted dance show Let's Dance on Nov. 23 at 9:30pm (following the final performance show of Dancing with the Stars) after all. Instead ABC will launch a feel-good reality series from the creator of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The series is Find My Family, as you saw the promo last night on ABC. ABC has a six episode order for the series, while Let's Dance had a five episode order. It is unclear if all six will air in Nov/Dec, but we will keep you posted.
ABC has said they will keep us posted on the rescheduled day and time period for Let's Dance, so it is not totally dead. It's just delayed due to a hard time finding quality celebrities. Personally, I think Find My Family is a better fit for the holidays, as that series follows the stories of people desperate to find a long-lost relative, friend, or lover. If you all remember ABC launched both Extreme Makeover and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as specials in December 2002 and 2003 respectively and got huge ratings before turning them into series. Tim Green and Lisa Joyner host. We will keep you posted on the message boards for complete airing schedule for this series and check back with us also for the rescheduled day and time period for Let's Dance. I'm guessing summer 2010? ABC mid-season 2010 should be announced soon (which includes the launch date for Lost), so stay with us for that!

Our friend Eric of JustMyShow.com is back with a new podcast, that is pretty groovy! It's been called one of the worst shows in the history of TV. Susan Olsen (AKA Cindy Brady) is here to talk to JustMyShow.com about the subject of her new book (Love to Love You Bradys), the short lived Brady Bunch Variety Hour as well as the original series The Brady Bunch you grew up watching. Plus Susan gives us bonus audio on the porn rumors and the radio incident. If you want to hear that "story," you'll have to head on over to JustMyShow.com's Susan Olsen podcast!