TCA Summer 2012 Press Tour: ABC Day 1; Fox Presents The Short-Com Comedy Hour; Style Acquires Gossip Girl

Thursday, July 26, 2012

TCA Summer 2012 Press Tour: ABC Day 1; Fox Presents The Short-Com Comedy Hour; Style Acquires Gossip Girl

Today at the TCA Summer 2012 Press Tour ABC is up for its first of two days. However, the actual ABC primetime series panels and executive session will be tomorrow, so more coverage will be on that day. Today they will be showcasing ABC News (Good Morning America will be featured), the upcoming syndicated talk show Katie with Katie Couric and General Hospital, which will be moving to a new time period during ABC Daytime. Then after lunch, the TCA members will head on to the set of TV's hottest show, Revenge! That's an entire afternoon visit, followed by cocktails with the cast of hip comedies Happy Endings and Don't Trust the B---- In Apartment 23. Join the cast and executive producers of two of ABC's edgier hit comedies for delicious truck nosh and thirst-quenching cocktails (Whore's Bath, anyone?) inside and outside of the Beverly Hilton's Bar210.
Come on back in this spot if there is anything that is announced today. We expect ABC Fall premiere dates either today or tomorrow for sure, so stay tuned for that! Tomorrow will be the day for the cast announcement for the All-Star season of Dancing with the Stars, so check back with us tomorrow for that!

Stay tuned tomorrow for TCA Summer 2012 Press Tour: ABC Day 2!

Fox will launch The Short-Com Comedy Hour in Summer 2013, building on television's rich past to reinvent comedy for the future. Both a contemporary spin on multi-camera comedy and an alternative development platform, The Short-Com Comedy Hour will feature four unique short-form sitcoms - or "short-coms" - in a fast-paced hour-long broadcast. Each short-com will feature both established and up-and-coming actors and comedians in one-act scenes, creating a comedy showcase brimming with today's best, brightest and freshest voices.
The short-com development process will be as distinct as the end result, featuring hand-picked talent from the world of stand-up comedy. In an effort to open up the traditional development process, Fox will facilitate a creatively open environment for comedy talent to hone their voices and material within the context of their self-produced short-coms. In addition to airing them as part of The Short-Com Comedy Hour, Fox will commission the most fully realized of these scripted vignettes to series, helping to seed the future of the Fox multi-camera brand. Additional details to be announced, stay tuned. If you recall, Fox announced something similar on the animated comedy side for a Saturday late night block. The late-night programming block will air Saturdays from 11:00 PM-12:30 AM ET/PT on Fox and will feature four new animated series per season starting in January 2013.

Gossip Girl

And finally, Style Media has acquired the off-network rights to the hit young drama series Gossip Girl from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. The one-hour drama about the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite, executive produced by Josh Schwartz (Chuck, The O.C., Hart of Dixie) and Stephanie Savage (The O.C., Hart of Dixie) will begin airing Wednesday, August 15 at 8pm ET/PT on Style. Viewers can get caught up from the beginning every Wednesday night from 8-11pm ET/PT; additionally Style will air an all-day marathon on Labor Day, Monday, September 3.
This is their second off-network acquisition in recent weeks, as they also now air '90s sitcom Sister, Sister every weekday morning, as we announced.