Looking at the Friday Upfronts

Last week, the networks all announced their initial schedules for next season. Beginning September 2007, this is what the Friday grid is going to look like, at least tentatively. There is always the chance of reshuffling and other various changes to be made before the schedules actually go live. Now rather than take a look at each of the networks, I thought it would be better to take a look at the daily grids. Better to see how the networks stack up against one another. Today is Friday, so let's see how it looks.

Bold= New Show Italics= What I plan to watch

Fri	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Men in Trees		Women's Murder Club		20/20
CBS	Ghost Whisperer		Moonlight		Numb3rs
NBC	1 vs 100 / The Singing Bee		Las Vegas		Friday Night Lights
FOX	Search for the Next Great American Band		Nashville		Local Programming
CW	WWE: Smackdown				Local Programming

ABC's new friday features Women's Murder Club. This show features a talented detective who is tired of waiting for months or years for criminals to be prosecuted, so she puts together an all female group who work these cases to get them completed faster, while also being a support group for each other. Angie Harmon leads the cast. This is on following Men in Trees, returning for a second season on a new night and time.

CBS is opening and closing with the same pair of shows, Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs. The new bridge is Moonlight, whose description recalls memories of another show cut before its time, Angel. The preview I saw looks pretty slick, it is about a man who was turned into a vampire by his bride 60 years prior, now works as a private investigator, while being in love with a mortal. Looks good to me.

NBC will open with a pair of shows that will be splitting time, though I am not sure what the split will be. The shows are the returning 1 vs 100 and the new competition show The Singing Bee. The latter show features contestants singing lyrics to popular songs when the band stops playing. That will be followed by the returning Las Vegas, a favorite guilty pleasure, and then Friday Night Lights in a new time slot.

Fox will be filling their friday with a pair of music related reality shows, both of which are likely to undergo name changes prior to airing. The first is Search for the Next Great American Band, from the producers of the ubiquitous American Idol comes the show that looks to be the same thing except for bands. It will be followed by Nashville, a docu-drama about those in and around the music scene in the city of Nashville. I guess I won't need anything from Fox Friday!

The CW continues on with WWE: Smackdown on fridays. No changes there.

I am looking forward to the return of Las Vegas, a show that is always up for some fun. Meanwhile, I cannot wait for Friday Night Lights. I am very glad that it is back, but I feel that it is going to die in this time slot. Moonlight looks promising, and I will catch episodes of Ghost Whisperer from time to time, that is generally a good series as well.