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'Grey's Anatomy' moves to the battleground
The hit medical melodrama moves from its cushy spot on Sunday to a competitive timeslot on Thursday, taking on CSIand a promising new Aaron Sorkin drama.
By TIMES WIRES
Published May 17, 2006
This week's Grey's Anatomy finale left viewers with a cliffhanger: Will Meredith go home with McDreamy or with Finn the Sensitive Vet? To find out the answer, fans will have to follow the popular medical melodrama to a new night in the fall. In a move that had long been speculated on but still caused quite a stir, ABC announced Tuesday that it will shift Grey's from its cushy Sunday home behind Desperate Housewives to the battleground at 9 p.m. Thursday, a slot occupied by CBS's CSI and, as of Monday, one of NBC's big fall hopes, the new Aaron Sorkin drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. "The biggest thing coming into this year, probably as a consideration, was whether or not to move Grey's," ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson said in announcing the network's fall schedule. "And I think the decision to move Grey's was really based on two things: One, being able to execute the strategy to build Grey's into the hit that we did, and two, the strength of our (new series) development." The move is part of an aggressive schedule that will bring at least 15 new series to the air in the fall. Canceled to help make room for them were Commander in Chief, leaving Geena Davis as a one-year president, although a two-hour movie may be made with the cast; Invasion; Hope & Faith; Jake in Progress and Sons and Daughters.ABC also left the newsmagazine Primetime off its fall schedule for the first time since the show's introduction in 1989. But ABC News said Primetime will remain in production for specials, limited-run series and perhaps as a replacement for a failed entertainment program. Among the actors starring in new series are Ted Danson, Taye Diggs, America Ferrera, Calista Flockhart, Anne Heche and Rachel Griffiths. Danson is a self-help guru going through a midlife crisis in the comedy Help Me Help You. Flockhart and Griffiths star in Brothers & Sisters, a drama about a maladjusted family. Heche is a relationship counselor who moves to Alaska in the drama Men in Trees. Diggs is in Day Break, a thriller that uses elements of the movie Groundhog Day. And Ferrera (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is a smart, hard-working, plain Jane assistant to the publisher of a fashion magazine in Betty the Ugly, based on a hit Latin telenovela (Betty La Fea) and executive produced by Salma Hayek. Flockhart's and Griffiths' series will replace Grey's after Housewives. Getting the prime 10 p.m. Thursday spot after Grey's is another new drama, Six Degrees, from Lost and Alias creator J.J. Abrams. Six Degrees is about "a new island with 3-million survivors, and that's Manhattan," McPherson said. ABC is the only major broadcast network to increase its ratings over last year, and it did that on the strength of Grey's, Housewives and Lost. But the rest of its schedule was weak, forcing the network to make an uncommonly large number of pilots. McPherson said he didn't think that moving Grey's to the competitive Thursday slot would alienate any viewers. "I developed CSI. It's a great show. It's a very different show than Grey's," he said. Information from Zap2it.com, the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times was used in this report.
[Last modified May 17, 2006, 06:40:26]
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