News Roundup: USA Dates, New Shows, & More

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
FOX's Hell's Kitchen will have 11th and 12th seasons... the 10th season begins Tuesday, May 29th at 8pm ET/PT.

BET has renewed The Game for a sixth season, Let's Stay Together for a third season, and Reed Between the Lines for a second season.

TLC renewed My Crazy Obsession for a second season.

VH1 renewed Stevie TV for a second season.

Discovery has canceled Cash Cab. I never got into the show much, but we did a feature on it as part of our Game Show series.

HBO has canceled (for a second time) The Life & Times of Tim.

BBC canceled Upstairs Downstairs after two seasons.

Discovery's Auction Kings returns on Wednesday, April 25th at 10pm ET/PT.

A&E's Monster In-Laws will begin its second season on Monday, May 28th at 10pm ET/PT.

CBS has Dogs in the City beginning Wednesday, May 30th at 8pm ET/PT. It's a reality show where a NYC dog guru will resolve "issues between canines and their owners."

USA has given summer start dates to many of its shows. Check out Royal Pains and Necessary Roughness returning on Wednesday, June 6th, Burn Notice and Suits coming Thursday, June 14th, and White Collar and Covert Affairs on Tuesday, July 10th.

When Arrested Development debuts its fourth season next year, all ten episodes will premiere on the same day via Netflix streaming. There have also been talks about possible fifth and sixth seasons as well. Oh, and Bob Loblaw is also scheduled to return as well.

Remember when the cancelled Breaking In was brought back? Well, FOX has pulled it from their schedule and will air the final three episodes at some point in the future.

Many people were looking forward to Seth MacFalane's The Flintstones reboot next year, but the man is just too busy... so it'll be put off.


Cast & Plot Updates:
The Rock will star in The Hero, overseeing contestants in this "global action reality series."

Amber Tamblyn will be on the House finale, May 21st, reprising her role as Martha Masters. There are also rumors of Kal Penn returning as Kutner for the finale.

Have you even had time to miss Rosie O'Donnell yet? She's going to be back on television soon, joining Star Jones and Donny Deutsch on Today's "The Professionals" panel in the 8am hour.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
NBC's 13 Mockingbird Lane (which I think is just going to be called "The New Munsters" by everyone) now has some artwork available, and they've mentioned that the costumes are going to be "almost the Real Housewives of Transylvania" and will feature animal textures. Lily's wardrobe "comes from nature," for instance.

If you want to catch Girls or Veep and don't subscribe to HBO, you can catch the pilots for free until the middle of May on HBO.com, DailyMotion, YouTube, TV.com, and some Free-On-Demand platforms.

Is Smash not enough Marilyn Monroe for you? If so, you're in luck - Finding Marilyn will feature twelve women vying for a chance to become "the next great American icon."

BET has ordered four new shows, including Generation Wayans (Craig & Damien + four nephews), House Husbands (based on the skit from the BET Awards), The Mathis Project (criminal docu-reality series), and Don't Sleep with TJ Holmes (late-night).

Disney has Dog with a Blog coming to the small screen - "a family sitcom from the pet's point-of-view" where parents buy step-siblings a dog "to encourage them to get along." Turns out, the dog can talk... AND BLOG. Interesting, huh?

NBC will have a new matchmaking show this winter, called Ready for Love, which will use Facebook to get things started.

Go On, the NBC comedy starring Matthew Perry, has a series order. Perry plays a sportscaster who is in mandatory group therapy.

If you use Chrome, you can add the "My Episode Guide" extension to track when your favorite shows have new episodes coming up.

"Cable TV Channels and Their Shows"

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Confession time... I've read every strip of PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper) Comics. I found many of their jokes to be amusing when I was in graduate school, and they continue to amuse me on a regular basis. Well, back in November, they published a strip called "'Science' Programming," which looked at some "cable TV channels and their shows." I found it to be pretty funny at the time, and I'm reminded of it as we move into Upfronts Season, so I thought I'd share. You can find the strip below, originally published here.

Many of Discovery Communications' channels have misleading names at this point (though at least they've stopped pretending that TLC is "The Learning Channel"), and PhD is not the first comic to poke fun at this fact. They generally ballpark their figures and broadly describe their categories, but some of the fact are still dead-on. I decided to investigate the panel's assertions a little, and below you'll see my findings.

Science does have Monster Bug Wars, Killer Robots, and Build it Bigger, but that's not really a quarter of their programming. I actually am surprised that they didn't include "aliens" or "bugs," as those seem to be hot Science topics. Whether their shows "about science," "not about science" or "about engineering" match up to the chart is a bit more difficult to judge, as the line between science and engineering is fine, plus they have no definitive explanation of what the network considers "science." The "projectiles" and "junk" though? Absolutely! Between their rocketry programming, Flying Anvils, JUNKies, and reruns of Junkyard Wars, they've got that area covered.

Looking at Discovery, I have to ask... besides MythBusters, what shows are they airing that "debunk myths"? Sure, the show has 200 episodes under its belt, and it seems as if it's always on, but that only indicates the network's allotment of airtime to that show, not their allotment of how many different shows. I guess Discovery has specials from time to time that explain some things (like Secrets of the FBI), but that's not regular programming. Moving on, I disagree that shows about "guns," "Alaska," and programs with "wild" or "dirty" in the title have equal footing on the network. Besides American Guns and Sons of Guns, what else focuses on weapons? Plus, I can only think of two shows each for "wild" and "dirty" (Dirty Jobs, Dirty Money, Man vs. Wild, and Man, Woman, Wild). Alaska, however, it a mogul for the network. I don't know how that trend got started, but at least five shows center on our largest state: Bering Sea Gold, Deadliest Catch, Flying Wild Alaska, Gold Rush, and Alaska, the Last Frontier. The biggest surprise for me was examining the "cars, motorcycles, and tornadoes" section. Including tornadoes really only adds Storm Chasers, but there really are quite a few programs about the vehicles that I didn't think about: American Chopper, American Hot Rod, Carfellas, Biker Build-Off, Monster Garage, and even Cash Cab if you want to stretch it a bit.

I don't really understand how PhD decided to depict National Geographic's programming. When's the last time you saw a show about dinosaurs? A few "state troopers and/or guns" shows are out there on reality television, but the only ones I could find that run on NatGeo are Alaska State Troopers and Perfect Weapon... certainly not 42% of their broadcasts. The rest of their rundown fits a little better, with Islands, Wild Russia, and Word Travels for geography, and Dangerous Encounters, Don't Tell my Mother, The Indestructibles, and World's Toughest Fixes for "shows about grown men doing stupid things." I definitely would have given "debunking myths" a larger proportion, though. If you look at this theme in the broadest sense, NatGeo is always running hour-long specials that explain one thing or another, like the birth of Christ, the likelihood of Armageddon, and how the drug-running industry works. They also have I Didn't Know That, Taboo, and Is It Real? as a few shows which serve primarily to explain things to audiences. Personally, I would've made "shows about animals" a category and allotted it a quarter of the pie... the same with "shows about weather or storm phenomena." And maybe even a "shows about prisons" section, for things like Lockdown, Locked Up Abroad, Inside Death Row, and Breakout. Kinda crazy how many programs they have about jail, huh?

Last, we have History, the biggest joke in the panel. If they had left off "that takes place on a boat/truck," I might have considered "shows about a deadly profession" more seriously. But, they limited Ax Men and Full Metal Jousting, leaving us with Ice Road Truckers and Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads, the short-lived Harvest, and Swamp People. Are Mudcats or Madhouse all that dangerous? Either way, that slice should really be a little more equal to the size of "junk," which includes American Pickers, Cajun Pawn Stars, Pawn Stars, and maybe Real Deal. Oh, and that whole "shows about hairy bikers" section? Just a cheap shot at Hairy Bikers, a twelve-episode series that aired last fall, following two motorcyclists as they rode across America, enjoying regional food along the way.

It's amusing to think about how little bits of commentary here and there sometimes cause us to research the validity of various arguments. It certainly pushes one's curiosity, though! My final thoughts on the matter? When you look at the number of reality television shows on all networks (setting aside the true biographies and non-fiction specials for a moment), there really are more programs about Alaska, junk, and dangerous stunts (professional or otherwise) than we need. Probably weddings and desserts, too. Agree?

The Only Cab that Pays YOU!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

This is a new one for me, in that I had never actually seen Ca$h Cab. I had heard about it, but since most of the things I've been told have been negative, I felt the need to see for myself what it's all about. (and, after three episodes, I think I've got a good grasp on it.) I think that the idea is pretty interesting, and I'm kind of jealous that I never stepped into a Ca$h Cab when I frequented NYC in 2009 and 2010. But, I'd be much angrier if I lived there and took taxis on a regular basis and never hit the Ca$h Cab, LoL! The show goes pretty quickly since multiple groups of people take the cab during an episode, which I like. 

Discovery Channel

Brief history: The show originated in the UK in 2005, but many countries have since come up with their own versions. The US version is set in both New York (hosted by Ben Bailey, seen right) and Chicago (hosted by Beth Melewski), and over six seasons have aired so far. There are also some recent episodes that take place in Las Vegas (which, from personal experience, tend to be fairly short rides!) Adam Wood takes the credit for the design of the game, which airs on the Discovery Channel in the US. Bailey has been nominated for 3 Daytime Emmy awards, winning one. The show itself has also won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Game Show in 2008, 2009, and 2010! 

Discovery Channel

The game: you get into a taxicab and are surprised by someone asking you trivia questions on your way to where you want to go. Sometimes it truly is completely random, and sometimes you are selected in advance. The difficulty of the questions and value of them increase as time goes on, and three incorrect answers loses you the game (and your ride since you have to exit immediately!). You are given two "shout-outs," which can either be calling a friend for help or asking a passerby on the street. If you earn a specified amount of time when the cab stops at a red light, you get a special bonus round that lasts 30 seconds and there are no penalties during that time. If you reach your destination (which, by the way, you can't change after you find out you're in this special cab!), you can either keep all of the money you've won up to that point or wage it all for a Video question, double or nothing. You watch a video clip and then get asked a single question based on the content. Worst case scenario? at least your cab ride was free! (but be aware that you don't really get cash afterward... they mail you a check later.)

Notable changes to the way the game is played: Originally, the first four questions earned you $25 each, then the next 4 were $50 each, and everything after that was $100 each. After the spin-off Cash Cab: After Dark was around a while, the daytime version switched to their payout layout: $50, then $100, then $200. There are also random games that are "Double Ride" with levels being worth double those amounts! Also, up until Season 3 only one Red Light Bonus was given per game, but since then it tends to be at least two, allowing for accumulations of $1,000+! And, they have changed the call signs of the cabs since the start of the show. If you're on the lookout, 7N78 in NYC and 4472 seem to be the ones used on the Toyota Sienna cabs used for Ca$h Cab!

Special contestants: As with many other game shows, there have been some celebrity editions, playing for charities. Vince Vaughn, the Mayor of Las Vegas, and Penn & Teller.

Favorite Rounds: From the limited footage I have seen, I think I like the Red Light Bonus rounds the best. I like games where you're trying to name a lot of one thing. They are hard, tho!

My take: Heck yeah! I mean, I understand that I might be in a hurry and not want to participate, but unless it was a flight or a show, I'm pretty sure I could give up being on-time to play this game! Plus, random trivia is my specialty, hehe! Though I am a bit fearful that I'd do horribly on political and movie questions! But that's okay, because I'd likely have my husband with me in Vegas or NYC and he knows political stuff.

Do you ever watch Ca$h Cab? Do you prefer NYC or Chicago episodes? Who would you want with you when you entered the cab?

Discovery Channel