You’d think if Jack Bauer could get into the negotiating room with a .45 or at least some zip cord, the Writers Guild and the studios would reach agreement in no time. Unfortunately, Jack isn’t going to get a crack at it – or anything else for awhile.
Fox rolled out its January second-season schedule, and “24{Prime} is not on it. With only about half of the episodes scripted, Fox has elected to wait until the entire Day 7 can be broadcast uninterrupted. Unless the strike ends quickly, that probably will not be until fall 2008.
“Lost,” on the other hand, will arrive in February with the eight episodes already completed – even if that’s all we get. ABC originally had planned to air 16 episodes this season.
As the show’s chief, Damon Lindelof, told E! Online’s Kristen, “An eight-episode season is an incomplete season, and I am not going to try to spin it any other way.”
BE A BROTHER
The strike is hitting CBS particularly hard, with most of its sitcoms running out of episodes already. Numerous reports indicate that CBS will be fighting back by moving up the ninth season of “Big Brother” from summer to winter. The next edition could start as soon as January.
A little piece of supporting evidence: auditions for “Big Brother 9” will take place Saturday in Los Angeles. Head to Exclusive Casting, 7700 Sunset Blvd., from noon-3 p.m. Tell ’em Dick and Daniele sent you.
HALF STARS?
As the Watcher reported last week, it’s all but certain that we’ll see some familiar faces on the next season of “Survivor,” currently being filmed in the South Pacific nation of Palau.
But evidence is mounting that the season may be something entirely different: returning castaways vs. new ones.
Since In Touch magazine first reported on the possibility of All-Stars 2 back in May, all sorts of speculation has bubbled up about the season. Floating in that stew was a persistent rumor that Mark Burnett and his creative crew wanted to mix favorite players from the past with newbies.
Combine that with the online hunt for the All-Stars cast, which so far has turned up only nine likely participants.
The home for this search, the fanatics chat board Survivor Sucks, lists these as the leading candidates: Jon “Jonny Fairplay” Dalton (Pearl Islands), Amy Cusack and Eliza Orlins (Vanuatu), Ozzy Lusth, Jonathan Penner and Parvati Shallow (Cook Islands) Yau-Man Chan (Fiji) and China participants James Clement and Amanda Kimmel.
TOP 10
What the Watcher is watching this week
1. ” Project Runway”(Bravo) – Season 4 starts Nov. 14
2. “Survivor: China”(CBS) – How do you stop James?
3. ” The Amazing Race”(CBS) – Somebody shut Ronald up
4. “Dancing With the Stars”(ABC) – Mel & Maks won our poll
5. “Dexter”(Showtime) – Fall’s best drama
6. “The Office”(NBC) – Jan sues Dunder-Mifflin
7. “Pushing Daisies”(ABC) – Starting to slide
8. “Beauty & The Geek”(The CW) – Who’s your pick to win?
9. “Dirty Sexy Money” (ABC) – Best cast on TV?
10. “Carpoolers” (ABC) – Underrated show
Contact the writer: Watcher@michael-hewitt.net or 562-413-0600. To read more, visit www.ocregister.com/pedrowatcher
