On TV: 'American Idol' fallout, Fall Upfronts, Summer Shows, More

Columnist Lisa de Moraes was online Friday, May 22 at 1 p.m. ET to take your questions about the drama, comedy and heartbreak of the world of television -- both onscreen and behind-the-scenes.

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washingtonpost.com: Fall 2009 Broadcast Lineup

ABC

CBS

CW

Fox

NBC

Lisa de Moraes: Hi. Before we get started, here are the links to all of the broadcast networks's new primetime schedules. Read 'em and weep:

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washingtonpost.com:

Lisa de Moraes: ...and once you've mastered those new schedules, you can weigh in, in re which of these is the Next TV Season's Most Brazenly Terrible Idea.

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Philadelphia: I just happened to catch the premiere of "Glee" on Fox earlier this week. What a cute, clever show! I hope this comes back in the fall and that the writers are able to keep up the great banter. How did it do Nielsen-wise?

Lisa de Moraes: Not great. Lost 50 percent of it's "Idol" audience, which is kinda normal for a show following "Idol" but stil not great news because Fox suits thought the audiences would be super-compatible, which was the whole point of "sneak peeking" the pilot episode months before the series is going to actually debut. But the real bad news was "sneak peek's pilot episode's dropoff from its first half hour to its second...12.5 million viewers to 9 million. That means about 3.5 million viewers who were watching, turned it off. Not good.

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Are Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS breaking up?: "Without a Trace" and "Eleventh Hour" are axed, and "Miami Trauma" is a lowly midseason replacement, is their trouble in paradise for this marriage?

Lisa de Moraes: Nah. Im guessing Bruckheimer knows how lucky he was that "Eleventh Hour" was on for the whole season. It's numbers just weren't good enough. And "Trace" has been on the air seven seasons -- plenty long enough to be a viable product in syndication, which, let's face it, is what producers care about.

Meanwhile, apparently 'Miami Trauma' did not make the fall schedule because it needed some re-casting -- CBS did not show a second of footage at its Upfront presentation. I'm assuming that re-casting does not include Jeremy Northam and I'm all for getting the casting right because I want this one to succeed.

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Vienna, Va.: Lisa, What's up with "Harper's Island"? Will CBS broadcast the rest of the episodes?

Lisa de Moraes: I think they were planning to burn them off on Saturdays. CBS just could not keep it in the plum Thursday at 10 p.m. timeslot -- numbers were itty bitty...

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Washington, DC: Pookie, You are skipping the Summer and going straight to the Fall? What about "Mad Men"?

Lisa de Moraes: Not to worry, pookster. We're in fall-season mode this week because this is when the broadcast networks unveiled their fall plans to advertisers. Next week, we go back to summer progrmaming....

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Dollhouse: OK, so I'm glad to see that it got renewed, but with the investigation (must find the Dollhouse) OVER, what is there for them to do? A whole season spent trying to find Alan Tudyk?

Can you jump the shark if the first season - I mean, is it possible?

Lisa de Moraes: You betcha! It happens all the time. It will be interesting to see where this show goes next season. I'm betting on tighter tank tops and little skirts replacing the yoga pants in the dollhouse..

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Falls Church, Va.: What say you about the "Melrose Place" reboot on the CW this fall?

Lisa de Moraes: I love it when younger viewers are exposed to the classics...

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Cleveland Park, Washington, DC: Lisa -

I'm still trying to figure out what was supposed to have happened on the season finale of "House." He thought he did things he didn't do, or didn't do things he thought he did? Can you help?

Lisa de Moraes: Funny thing about that season finale. I went home to watch it that night and -- DVR had died. I haven't had a chance to watch the whole thing yet on Hulu -- only snippets, but I gather House had torrid sex with Cuddy and then discovered he had not -- it was all in his head -- a sort of "Dallas"-cum-"Dr. Izzie the Necrophiliac"....I have not yet seen the torrid Cuddy sex and I want to know: Was it better than the Sela War Sex? Please tell me it was better than Sela Ward Sex....Sela Ward Sex with Dr. House was the un-hottest sex I have ever seen on TV. There was like less than 'no chemistry' -- it was like they were sucking all the chemistry out of the air....

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"Vampire Diaries" - Good?: What's the buzz on this one Lisa? I read the books recently and they go from bad to worse. Who has been cast?

Lisa de Moraes: Ian Somerhalder ("Lost's" Boone), Nina Dobrev ("DeGrassi's" Mia) are the leads...Ian plays the bad-boy vampire brother -- the hot one. Can't remember the name of the guy playing the good-vampire brother, it doesn't really matter because he's not nearly as hot. He's sincere. And helpful. zzzzzz........

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Philadelphia, Pa.: I just realized, except for "The Office" and "30 Rock," my TV set will have no idea that there is a network called NBC.

Lisa de Moraes: And that, pookie, is the trouble with NBC these days. You are extremely typical....sorry, I know that's hard to hear. I'm sure you are a very, very special person in so many other ways..

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Hulu Islands: Lisa : Seriously how important are the ratings anyway when so many people can choose what and when to watch on their computers ?

Lisa de Moraes: But a lot of that "non TV-set" viewing is being accounted for and added into the show's overall numbers. Trust me, the networks are counting every single person they can get their hands on these days. Unfortunately for someone covering television, companies like Nielsen are still in the stone ages and it takes weeks to get the final stats -- but they are out there.

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Dillon, Texas: Howdy Lisa -

Maybe I didn't read the fine print closely enough, but what happened to "Friday Night Lights"? I thought it was going to come back on the NBC schedule in January after its run on DirectTV. But I didn't see it. What's up??

Lisa de Moraes: It's coming back next summer. But if you are a DirecTV subscriber, you can watch new episodes in January rather than waiting for summer '01 on NBC.

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Chattanooga, TN: Are you used up for chat this week? I hope not because I want to talk about new shows and not about 'Merican Idol.

So what about all them new shows?

Lisa de Moraes: Well, some look really good. Some look really bad. But, I have learned over the years, some shows "clip" really well but the actual show sucks and some shows don't "clip" well. Like any show that's is heartfelt. "Heartfelt" does not clip -- at all. So it's best to hold off until you see the whole episode. Now, we saw the whole episode of only one show at the presentations this week. ABC showed "Modern Family" in its entirety because the network is so high on it. It did look great and because ABC was smart enough to screen the whole episode, it's the one advertisers are going to really remember at the end of this week...

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We didn't see it...: and that's okay. Cuddy's subway pole dance a couple years ago was hot enough for this lifetime.

And don't say bad things about the fabulous Sela Ward! She's almost as hot as Paula Marshall.

Lisa de Moraes: Paula? Is that you? I hope so because I made you a promise to say you are maybe not a show killer after all if "Gary Unmarried" got picked up for another season. So I will start by saying it here: The curse seems to have been lifted from Paula Marshall -- she did not kill "Gary Unmarried" -- hooray!

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my TV set will have no idea that there is a network called NBC.: "Friday Night Lights"! "Southland"! "Chuck"! "Heroes"! "Parks & Recreation"!

Lisa de Moraes: Itty. Bitty. Numbers.

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Was it better than the Sela Ward Sex?: Yes. It was. And to answer the question, he imagined that he did all those things, but in reality he was still popping pills.

Lisa de Moraes: What a shame.

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Don't go blaming Sela Ward!: "Sela Ward Sex with Dr. House was the un-hottest sex I have ever seen on TV."

Sela Ward is HOT! It's that dumb Brit dude that made the chemistry stink.

Lisa de Moraes: Sorry, Sela Ward may be hot in some contexts -- like compared to, say, Mariska Hargitay or Emily Deschanel -- but the non-chemistry was not Hugh Laurie's fault. Millions of women can't be wrong on that count...

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Falls Road: Three chats in one week?? Wow, you are a superwoman, Lisa!

Lisa de Moraes: Pharmaceutical haze, pookie. If you can't remember having done the other two -- you're as fresh as a daisy!...

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Washington, D.C.: Did Dawn Ostroff explain why she was moving "Smallville," consistently one of the higher rated shows on her network, to Friday?

Lisa de Moraes: That's so easy! Because "the girls they love the vampires" she explained at her presentation to advertisers Thursday. So "Vampire Diaries" gets the Thursday 8 p.m. timeslot and "Smallville" which may or may not be in it last season, gets booted to Fridays where you will hopefully, if you actually have a life and go out on Friday nights, DVR it and watch it within seven days. Meanwhile, on a related subject, can I just tell you how lame it is for the network that wants advertisers to get into a whole young hot chicks/upscale Upper East Side prep school fantasy mood for their presentation to hold it at Madison Square Garden which is so don't-touch-the-walls ickola and in a skanky block to boot. Talk about buzz kill...

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"True Blood": I got hooked on this crazy thing last season. When does season 2 start?

Lisa de Moraes: Sunday, June 14...

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Cupid?: How did "Cupid" do in its short run? Do you think the series will return?

Lisa de Moraes: Cancelled. Did even worse than the first time around -- when it had Paula Marshall in the cast.

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Sensitive viewer: Bravo must be kidding with that weak ripoff Isaac Mizrahi show. It is so awful that I found myself cringing as I watched and then I sat in the corner and cried. Thank God "Project Runway" is back in August !

Lisa de Moraes: Gosh, I'm sorry you're taking it so hard. Yes, Project Runway is back in August but I'm worried you are going to be crushed by that show too, because changes they are a comin'.... I urge you to not watch its debut on Lifetime alone....

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Why save "Medium"?: Other than the fact it makes a thematic pairing with "Ghost Whisperer" didn't the other shows CBS cancelled get much higher ratings, AND don't shows that hop networks usually limp along once they get to a new network? ("JAG" being the exception that proves the rule...)

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, you are right, and NBC is returning shows to its lineup that cop lower numbers than "Medium" did on its lineup. It's all about The Deal these days. CBS wanted to keep this show going in order to amass enough episodes to make it a viable product in syndcation. CBS produces "Medium." With regard to those other shows on CBS that got cancelled, you need to look at all the factors. They had been on the air a long time -- that usually means they've become expensive shows -- license fees have gone up over the years, etc. Meanwhile, the ratings may actually be down compared to what the show was doing in its heyday. So you've got one line trending down -- that's ratings -- and the other line trending up -- that's cost. And, here is something else you consider these days: if the show has been on the air, say seven years, the studio that produces it may not be so wild to keep it going because an eighth season of episodes might not make the difference in syndication. At least the studio might not be so keen to keep it going they will put up with all the concessions the network was asking for as a condition of returning the show -- like slashing the show's budget. These days it's not a simple "this show gets more viewers than that show" discussion...

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re: changes to Project Runway: Whatever changes they make cannot be as bad as the Isaac Misrahi one. I mean, at least Heidi, Tim Gunn, Nina Garcia, and Michael Kors will all be back. . . . won't they????

Also, count me as one whose DVR will not have much familiarity with NBC this fall. Except for "Chuck" and "30 Rock," there's nothing I'm really interested in. Plus, I'm still mad at them for canceling "Life."

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, the gang is back, including Klum in all her hosting dreadfulness. She really is so bad she's good.

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Fall TV: Pookie, what are you looking forward to most in the new season?

Lisa de Moraes: I really liked the "Modern Life" pilot a lot. The rest I won't know until I see the whole episode. And, of course, I'm very much looking forward to Jay Leno's show -- whether it's a hit or a trainwreck, because it's going to be so interesting. Also looking foward to "The Cleveland Show" and, of course, the Jeremy Northam drama, because I will watch anything with Northam in it.

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HIMYM: Is the move back to 8 p.m. a good sign for "How I Met Your Mother"? I love that show!

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, it means CBS has confidence in the show. It's quite young skewing for a CBS show and did well this season. You have nothing to worry about.

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Glutton Fest: Will Fox ever have another competitive eating show?

Lisa de Moraes: I hope not...pretty skankola.

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"Dollhouse" lives to fight another day?: I hope Wheedon and co. capitalize on their put-up/or shut- up moment and either make a coherent show that works or call on their minions of fans to stop whining that JW's shows never get a fair chance.

Lisa de Moraes: They will never call on fans to stop whining. The fan whining is part of his mystique....and it seems to be working for him.

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RE: ???: "Miami Trauma"? "Harper's Island"? "Eleventh Hour"? Why don't I have a clue to what any of these are? And I watch a LOT of TV.

Lisa de Moraes: It would seem you do not watch much CBS. They are all CBS shows, though "Miami Trauma" is not on the air yet. Don't waste a minute worrying about "Harper's Island" an "Eleventh Hour" because they are toast -- a lot of people like you out there never watched..

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Chuck fan: No Chuck? What happened?

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, "Chuck" is back. Are you referring to it not being on my list? I was only talking about new series, not returning ones...

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Washington, DC: Ok. How funny was "30 Rock" last week? Brilliant.

Lisa de Moraes: It has become a truly hilarious show. What a shame it's wallowing on NBC's lineup. Not that it would necessarily do much better were it, say, on CBS's Monday lineup, which has a lot of comedy traction, but is definitely of a different sensibility. For starters, CBS can't seem to get its Monday comedy viewers to accept a single-cam comedy.

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De More Eyes on De TV De Better: NBC's "Community" - destined for "The Office" and "30 Rock" success, or DOA? The 4-minute preview on NBC.com looked promising.

washingtonpost.com:

Lisa de Moraes: Love McHale, but guessing Chevy Chase will be gone by the sixth episode. I want to like this one but am nervous about it...

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Hollywood: Do you know when "Entourage" starts up again?

Lisa de Moraes: Nope -- no date set yet, so far as I know -- just "Summer '09"...

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So, thumbs up or down?: So, I liked the Idol finale and thought it was much better than the last couple of years...your take, pookie?

Lisa de Moraes: I love "Idol" finales -- the wave after wave after wave of oldsters doing duets with semi-talented Idolettes is a brilliant concept: Allison Iraheta and Cyndi Lauper, Kris Allen with Keith Urban, Danny Gokey and Lionel Ritchie, and Adam with Kiss -- all great. And Megan Joy Corkrey and Michael Sarver with Steve Martin came out of the blue and was brilliant. But, let's face it, the best duet of the night was Bikini Girl and Her Storebought Shoes, performing with Kara DioGuardi...

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Nina Garcia: She will not be back. She was caught up in the upset/power struggle when a different Vogue (or whatever mag) editor pushed Garcia out AND moved the show to Lifetime. Garcia and Bravo are very angry at being pushed out. Big cat fight in the fashion industry.

Lisa de Moraes: yes, you are right, my bad..

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Northam and Patinkin: they need to be in a show together. Where Mandy sings and Jeremy, well, (sigh) does it matter?

Lisa de Moraes: Interesting concept, but I think Patinkin has become a little too weirdsmobile even for moi... and no, it does not matter what Northam does...

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Sunnydale, CA: "Buffy" and "Angel" had twelve seasons on air between them, which leads me to two thoughts:

(a) Whedon's fans don't just whine, sometimes they watch;

(b) These are the original "teen vamp" shows; is CW desperate enough to try to get back to the Buffyverse?

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, Whedon fans watched those shows and they were on WB which had a much lower thresshold for success than Fox does. Whedon's playing with the big boys now and needs to attract big-boy numbers...

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Harper's Island...: just had a week off, they ARE burning it off on Saturdays...there was never supposed to be an episode last week, apparently, too many Saturdays in May or something...it'll finish in July.

Lisa de Moraes: ...thanks for the FYI...

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Fivedoll, AR: Pookie, I am fearful that the Save-"Chuck"-By-Buying-Sandwiches campaign, on the heels of the Save-"Jericho"-By-Mailing-Peanuts campaign, is going to spoil save-our-show campaigns for ever. Especially since the NBC suit specifically mentioned the Subway campaign. Is this the only way suits make decisions anymore? Will we be wasting our time if all we do is write well-reasoned and insightful letters?

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, you will. You have to go out and buy stuff now if you want your bubble show to come back. In fact I'm guessing NBC will put out a list of bubble shows next spring and which products you need to buy to save them...

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Woo Hoo! Better off Ted!: On the other hand, meh..."Scrubs."

Lisa de Moraes: Hey -- "Scrubs" is back because ABC needed a half hour show it could package with "Ted." "Scrubs" is the price you pay to get your beloved "Ted" back -- so watch it if you know what's good for you..

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Washington, D.C.: Okay why the Thursday PM move for "The Mentalist?" Don't they know this is too late for D.C. commuter contingent? Are they going to force me to stop watching Simon Baker in three-piece suits???

Lisa de Moraes: CBS wants to make sure it continues to control Thursdays and, with "CSI" slipping in the ratings since William Petersen left, needs a strong show at 10. CBS also wants to propel "Mentalist" from a top-10 show to a top-5 show, because it represents the network's future -- being a one-year old series -- while "CSI" represents CBS's past, being ancient. What with NBC getting out of the drama business at 10, "Mentalist" has a practically has the timeslot all to itself -- only ABC's "Private Practice" is there and that show is no powerhouse.

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suits thought the AI audiences would be super-compatible with Glee: Are they kidding? "American Idol" audiences are super-compatible with that other competition show, "Dancing With the Stars," the final hour of which was on opposite "Glee."

Lisa de Moraes: Yes, that appears to have been the case. Silly Fox suits...

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Most Brazenly Terrible Idea...: Umm...what about "Cougar Town?" I mean, really..."Cougar Town?"

Also, we want to know -your- opinon of "Glee" did you get a chance to watch it yet?

Lisa de Moraes: Courteney Cox is surprisingly not-bad in this show. In fact, I will go so far as to say she is very good in this show. At least she was very good in the clip-job of the pilot. But that can be misleading, because maybe she only had 2 good minutes in the whole episode and they're all in the trailer we saw. Anyway, I really liked the clip-job and was frankly stunned to learn she can act...

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Hat Trick!: Wow - Lisa chats THREE DAYS IN A ROW. And before a three-day weekend! I am having a great week. . .

Your fans thank you.

Lisa de Moraes: thanks, but in about another minute, I'm going to go collapse in a little puddle in our NYC bureau..

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re:Miami Trauma: Just think about the possibilities for guest appearances by David Caruso!!!

Lisa de Moraes: Jeremy Northam and David Caruso in the same scene? I think my head would explode...I'm out of time. Thanks for joining me. Have a great holiday weekend. bye...

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