Arrivals, Returns, & Departures - 03/22/2012

RETURNS (Series Renewals)

Jersey Shore, MTV, Season 6 - After a long period of heated contract negotiations, the cast we all know (and love?) has agreed to returned to the shore once again for more partying, tanning, and general drunken debauchery. I personally never really doubted they would. I mean, what else are they going to do all day? I'm tempted to go into just why I think this show is the nadir of televised pop culture, but I'll defer to the old saying - If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. In the end, the show will still have it's legions of fans, so it really doesn't matter what I think.

Magic City, Starz, Season 2 - This is a really odd entry for AR&D, as this new drama hasn't even premiered yet, and it's already been picked up for round 2. That is a move that a network makes on very, very rare occasions, so it really sells just how much confidence Starz has that Magic City will in fact bring magical ratings numbers. The first episode is set to air on April 6th, 2012, and in case you don't know the details, here's the lowdown on the premise via the network itself - "As Frank Sinatra rings in a new year in the grand ballroom of Miami Beach's most luxurious dream palace - the Miramar Hotel - its visionary leader, Ike Evans, must deal with the Mob, his complicated family and a city in the midst of dramatic change as Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba, just 200 miles offshore. By day the hotel at the center of 'Magic City' is all diving clown acts and cha-cha lessons by the pool, but at night Miami Beach reveals a darker truth. Dopers, dealers, strippers, gangsters and those who arrest them drift together to hear the top nightclub acts perform. Just beneath the surface, racial tensions stir. Ike must deal with all of this, even while global intrigue is brewing right under his roof."

 

I Hate My Teenage Daughter, FOX, Canceled during the 1st season - Despite FOX rather inexplicably trying to save this stinker repeatedly (really FOX, you try to keep this around and can Terra Nova at the drop of a hat?), it had the stench of death wafting from it since before the pilot even aired. IHMTD was one of the worst reviewed network pilots in recent memory from it's first press screening onward. About the only new comedy with worse reviews was the cross-dressing sitcom Work It, and that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. I know people love Jamie Pressly (me included), but this show screamed one and done from the get-go. The thin premise left very little room for growth, and even the poorly chosen title managed to turn a lot of potential viewers off. And to think, this is actually the SECOND time this year FOX has canceled this show.

 

Love Broker, Bravo, Canceled during the 1st season - "This series followed New York's most passionate matchmaker, Lori Zaslow, as she hit the streets of Manhattan searching tirelessly for soulmates for her clients." While I never watched this show (I'm far from the target audience), just reading that canned description is enough to know why it didn't last. There is something like 10 different "matchmaking" shows on TV right now, and that's not even including relationship "competition" shows like The Bachelor. The genre has reached max saturation, time for basic cable to get some new ideas.

 

And that's all for this (overly negative?) edition. Don't forget to keep checking future A,R,&D updates in the coming weeks. The closer we get to the April network upfronts and May sweeps, the more we'll be inundated with shows being dropped, picked up, and brought back. See you next time.