As Hollywood faces strike, new TV shows avoid ax

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The California wildfires are a reminder of the destruction of another kind that is looming for the TV industry this week.

While there has been some progress in the contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the studios, a crippling strike still is a real possibility. The grim significance of November 1, the date when WGA members could walk out if no last-minute deal is struck, has completely overshadowed the fact that November 1 also marks the beginning of the November "sweep," when local stations set ad rates.

That's probably because the introduction of the People Meters last year pretty much rendered sweeps obsolete. Or because the big-event movies, miniseries, specials and stunt guest stars employed to bolster ratings are a thing of the past. Still, the kickoff of the November sweep is a good time to draw a bottom line on how the networks' new series have fared this fall.

Chalk it up to prestrike jitters as networks are uncertain how long they might have to go without new scripted product or to the complicated new ratings measuring system wherein networks have to wait weeks to find out exactly how many people watched their shows, but the CBS musical drama "Viva Laughlin" has been the only scripted casualty so far this season. By this point last year, three new scripted series were history: NBC's "Kidnapped" and "Twenty Good Years" and CBS' "Smith."

While the season has failed to produce a breakout fall hit of the size of "Heroes," "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," ABC has fared the best overall. Two of its freshman series -- "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" and critical darling "Pushing Daisies" -- have been given full-season orders, with comedy "Samantha Who?" all but picked up, too. ABC boasts the highest-rated new drama with "Practice" and comedy with "Samantha."

CBS, Fox and the CW each has picked up one scripted rookie series: "The Big Bang Theory," "Back to You" and "Gossip Girl," respectively.

NBC, whose new offerings have slipped after a great start -- most notably "Bionic Woman" -- has yet to hand out a full-season order. That's in stark contrast to last year, when "Heroes" became the first freshman series to be picked up.

Most of the faltering new series on all the networks are still in contention. With the exceptions of "Cavemen," "Life Is Wild" and late entry "Women's Murder Club," all others have received additional script orders. While it has been a growing trend for the networks to hedge their bets by ordering more scripts of new series in lieu of early full-season pickups, the looming writers strike has provided an additional incentive this year to stockpile scripts just in case.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter