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Good Tidings from TV Upfronts
There'll be no waiting on tables for these camera-friendly faces.
The casts of ER, Angel and The Practice all got the good news on Monday that their shows had been renewed for at least another year.
Welcome to the annual TV upfronts, a razzle-dazzle show put on by the six major networks for media buyers. While the network suits negotiate advertising rates and try to generate buzz for their new series, it's that time of year when TV viewers find out if their favorite shows are slated to return to the tube next fall.
NBC's decision to renew ER through 2006, it's 12th season, is hardly a medical miracle. The Peacock's top-rated drama, which turned 200 episodes old last week, had already been slated to run through 2004. A permanent fixture in the Nielsen top 10 since it launched in 1994, ER currently ranks a healthy eighth in prime-time series this season.
While the WB won't announce its full slate of renewals until Tuesday, early reports confirm Angel will be kept alive for a fifth and possibly sixth season with Smallville as its Wednesday night lead-in.
The last-minute renewal order reportedly hinged on a new agreement being hammered out between the Frog and 20th Century Fox. Angel's new licensing price is "a deal that's acceptable for both of us, and also ultimately respects the fans of the collective Buffy and Angel mythologies," WB entertainment chief Jordan Levin told Variety.
And there's more to sink your teeth into: James Marsters is the first of the newly unemployed Scooby gang to leapfrog to the Frog, where he'll reprise his Buffy role as Spike. It remains to be seen if Hell-Ay is big enough to contain both of the Slayer's undead lovers.
Angel and Buffy creator Joss Whedon is also reportedly to take more of a hands-on role on the spinoff this season, writing and directing several episodes. On the flip side, Charisma Carpenter is reportedly not returning as a series regular next year. Carpenter, who plays trust-fund princess turned psychic demon hunter Cordelia Chase, recently gave birth to her first child, a possible explanation for her exit after seven years with the franchise.
Meanwhile, ABC has ruled in favor of The Practice. David E. Kelley's legal drama will return to the Alphabet net next season despite the ratings dip suffered in the show's new Monday night time slot. The calendar shuffle confused at least 2 million of The Practice's 11 million viewers who failed to follow the series to its new slot.
Kelley claimed the move was meant to sabotage his legal-eagle series to bring down the price of renewing The Practice. It appears the prolific scribe may have been right. ABC, which shelled out $6.5 million per episode this season to 20th Century Fox Television, had been looking to slash the show's licensing fees before committing to a sixth season. As part of a new deal, ABC will get the Boston-based drama at a bargain $2.5 million to $3 million an episode. The show is also expected to return to its Sunday night time slot.
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