Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications unveiled 20 new shows Thursday, including their first telenovela, a soap opera called "Eva Luna," produced by the newly created Univision Studios.  

The show was billed as a "modern love story" about a Los Angeles-based advertising executive, a character who might resonate with the advertising buyers whom Univision had been courting tenaciously. 

Despite attracting millions of loyal viewers, Univision traditionally has had difficulty increasing its advertising rates to match that of English-language broadcasters, including ABC and Fox.  But hope springs anew with the arrival of the television industry's May ritual, when the networks spend a week unfurling their new offerings in an attempt to persuade advertisers to spend heavily on their commercial time.

The rebounding advertising market has put broadcasters in a buoyant mood, and Univision executives are no exception.

Thursday, Univision put on its festivities at the Frederick P. Rose Hall/Jazz at Lincoln Center, which was capped by a performance by Ricky Martin.  The company announced a slate of new shows that included five new prime-time telenovelas that would run Monday through Friday on the Univision network, the nation's fifth-largest network behind CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC.

Maggie Q, the star of the new CW series “Nikita,” had a slightly dazed smile when she came out on stage Thursday at the network’s upfront presentation at Madison Square Garden.

“I don’t think any of you understand how good-looking it is backstage,” said the action star of films such as “Live Free or Die Hard” and “Mission: Impossible III.” “It’s really intimidating. I had to push the A cups up a little bit.”

She was one of a dozen twentysomething actors the CW trotted out Thursday to underscore its role as the purveyor of sleek, sexy programming for the young set. To drive home the point, singer Katy Perry -- whose hit song “California Gurls” is going to be the network’s summer marketing anthem -- opened the show in a rainbow-striped sequin mini splashed with silhouettes of palm trees.

“The CW is the cool place to be,” declared Dawn Ostroff, the network’s president of entertainment.

The network is entering its fifth season with a dose of confidence after the success of “The Vampire Diaries,” a new drama that it launched this year on Thursdays at 8 p.m. that became its most-watched show. With a stable of solid returning series, executives opted to add just two new programs in the fall: “Nikita,” a remake of 1990s action-thriller "La Femme Nikita", and “Hellcats,” a college cheerleading drama with Ashley Tisdale (“High School Musical”) and Aly Michalka (“Bandslam”).

 
The list of 23 new series picked up by the five broadcast networks for fall does not contain any shows about time travel. But that doesn’t matter: TV executives still seem determined to step back to a time long ago, when the world was safer for old media … all the way back … to the 1980s.

In making a bold play to kick off Thursday nights with comedies, CBS executives name-checked "Cheers" and other sitcoms that ruled '80s TV. Fox has "Lonestar," an oil-industry soap that recalls "Dallas," a national obsession in the early '80s. CBS is remaking "Hawaii Five-O," which originally left the airwaves in 1980, and ABC’s forensics drama "Body of Proof" looks like nothing so much as "Quincy, M.E." (1976-83) with Jack Klugman replaced by the much-less-craggy Dana Delany.

You can’t blame TV execs, who unfurled their fall schedules for advertisers this week in New York, for feeling nostalgic. This future stuff is hard. Last year, NBC tried to leap into tomorrow by axing its 10 p.m. dramas and bringing Jay Leno to prime time; the network fell flat on its face. ABC did the near-impossible – created a genuine hit with a new comedy, "Modern Family" – and still wound up in the ratings cellar. CBS and Fox are battling for the lead with nerves on edge: The former is contemplating the slow but inevitable erosion of its signature "CSI" franchise, and the latter is facing a similar prospect for "American Idol," TV’s ratings monster for most of the last decade.

So programmers are making a bold gamble … on what worked in the past. The 1980s make a reassuring reference point, not just because most of today’s 40-ish programmers came of age during that era. It was also the high-water mark of the four networks (Fox started in 1986), the time of greatest audience reach before the relentless incursion of cable and the Internet.

The CW has announced two new series for the fall, both dramas. Here's the upcoming schedule, with new series in bold:

MONDAY
8 p.m "90210" 
9 p.m. "Gossip Girl"

TUESDAY
8 p.m. "One Tree Hill"
9 p.m. "Life Unexpected"

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. "America's Next Top Model"
9 p.m. "Hellcats"

THURSDAY
8 p.m. "The Vampire Diaries"
9 p.m. "Nikita"

FRIDAY
8 p.m. "Smallville"
9 p.m. "Supernatural"

-- Martin Miller

Photo: Aly Michalka, left, Robbie Jones and Ashley Tisdale on "Hellcats." Photo Credit: Jack Rowand / The CW

 

CBS shook up its primetime schedule on Wednesday in a major way and presented it to advertisers in New York City. As part of its announcement, the network picked up four new dramas and two comedies.

The following is a behind-the-scenes peek at the new comedy, "Mike & Molly."

--Maria Elena Fernandez
twitter.com/writerchica

Video Credit: CBS

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Turner Broadcasting is banking on its stable of stars and producers -- Steven Spielberg, John Wells, Ice Cube, Kyra Sedgwick, Ray Romano, Dylan McDermott, Timothy Hutton, Jada Pinkett Smith, George Lopez, and now Conan O’Brien -- to vault its cable entertainment networks, TNT and TBS, into the big leagues of television.

"I really believe in basic cable television,” O’Brien told hundreds of advertisers Wednesday during Turner’s presentation of its new and returning programming at the Hammerstein theater in mid-town Manhattan.  “I think basic television is what makes this country great. I do not want to live in a country with less than six ESPNs.”

Two years ago, Time Warner’s cable channels horned into what had long been one week in May exclusively set aside for broadcasters to unveil their fall schedules and throw lavish parties to woo advertisers. Turner continued that drumbeat on Wednesday, saying that it deserves to be treated like one of the big boys along with broadcasters Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC, in a world that increasingly does not differentiate between broadcast and cable channels.

"The playing field has leveled,” said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks.  “We have more original programming on TNT and TBS than ever before.  ... We have more than earned our admission ticket.”

Now, it’s up to Turner to persuade advertisers that they should shell out considerably more money than they have been paying to buy commercials on the two channels. After all, if the Hollywood creative community, and producers including Spielberg, have already migrated to cable, so why shouldn’t advertisers?

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler on Wednesday defended “Two and a Half Men” star Charlie Sheen's lucrative new contract, saying the network was thrilled he was coming back to the show, despite the actor’s well-publicized personal travails.

In February, Sheen voluntarily checked into a rehabilitation facility, temporarily halting production of the sitcom. In July, Sheen is scheduled to go on trial in Colorado on domestic violence charges. The actor, who has pleaded not guilty, was charged with menacing, criminal mischief and assault after his wife told police he put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her.

Nevertheless, earlier this week, Warner Bros. Television, which owns "Two and Half Men," extended Sheen’s contract for two more seasons at an estimated rate of $1.2 million per episode, making him one of the highest-paid actors in television.

At an annual media breakfast held to discuss the network’s new schedule, Tassler was pressed why CBS felt it was worth it to bring Sheen back.

“Because the show is called ‘Two. And. A. Half. Men,’” she replied, enunciating each word. “It’s not called ‘One and a Half.’ Because it is the show, his point of view. He’s a big star. We’re so thrilled to have him back. I think we value our stars and our actors. They brand the show. And he’s a huge part of it.” 

“Two and a Half Men" is the network’s highest-rated sitcom, and CBS plans to use it this fall to launch the new Chuck Lorre comedy, “Mike & Molly,” about a couple who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.

[For the record at 11:45 a.m.: An earlier version of this post stated that Sheen had extended his deal with CBS; his contract is with Warner Bros. Television, which produces his show. It also stated an imprecise early report about Sheen's new salary.]

-- Matea Gold (Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mateagold.) 

Photo: A scene from "Two and a Half Men." Credit: CBS 

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Big surprise out of New York: CBS, a network that typically changes at a glacial pace, will dramatically shake up its fall schedule as it hunts for the next generation of hits.

For the first time in more than 40 years, the network will run back-to-back comedies in the 8 p.m. hour on Thursdays, with "The Big Bang Theory" and the new "$#*! My Dad Says" with William Shatner. The last time CBS ran comedies in that Thursday slot was during the 1965-66 season, with "Gilligan's Island" and "My Three Sons." 

That means the "Survivor" franchise will be sent packing to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, the time slot where a comedy block failed this season. That in itself marks the end of an era; "Survivor" has been a Thursday mainstay since fall 2001, when CBS threw it against NBC's smash sitcom "Friends" in a much-discussed showdown.

And that's not all. The network has also downgraded both of its "CSI" spinoffs -- which have been 10 p.m. weeknight anchors since 2004 -- to the weekends. "CSI: Miami" is moving to Sundays, and its old Monday slot going to a new remake of "Hawaii Five-O." And "CSI: NY" will land in the suddenly competitive zone of 9 p.m. Fridays, its Wednesday slot cleared for a new legal drama, "The Defenders." "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" will remain in its 9 p.m. Thursday berth -- for now. Another new cop drama, "Blue Bloods" with Tom Selleck, is slotted for 10 p.m. Fridays.

CBS executives tried to put the best face on the wave of cancellations that preceded the schedule shifts, including the Friday dramas "The Ghost Whisperer" and "Numb3rs" and the Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine." 

CBS has scheduled five new series for fall, three dramas and two comedies. Here's the upcoming schedule, with new series in bold.

MONDAY
8 p.m. "How I Met Your Mother"
8:30 p.m. "Rules of Engagement"
9 p.m. "Two and a Half Men"
9:30 p.m. "Mike & Molly"
10 p.m. "Hawaii Five-O"

TUESDAY
8 p.m. "NCIS"
9 p.m. "NCIS: Los Angeles"
10 p.m. "The Good Wife"

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. "Survivor: Nicaragua"
9 p.m. "Criminal Minds"
10 p.m. "The Defenders"

THURSDAY
8 p.m. "The Big Bang Theory"
8:30 p.m. "$#*! My Dad Says"
9 p.m. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"
10 p.m. "The Mentalist"

FRIDAY
8 p.m. "Medium"
9 p.m. "CSI: NY"
10 p.m. "Blue Bloods"

SATURDAY
8 p.m. "Crimetime Saturday"
9 p.m. "Crimetime Saturday"
10 p.m. "48 Hours Mystery"

SUNDAY
7 p.m. "60 Minutes"
8 p.m. "The Amazing Race"
9 p.m. "Undercover Boss"
10 p.m. "CSI: Miami"

-- Scott Collins

Photo: Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, Alex O'Loughlin and Grace Park in the "Hawaii 5-0" pilot. Credit: Mario Perez / CBS

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This was just what this upfront week needed: a visit from Jimmy Kimmel, ABC late-night host and inexhaustible gift for weary attendees slogging through network sales pitches. “We know you have money this year!” Kimmel chided the assembled advertisers who braved a soggy Tuesday afternoon in New York for ABC’s fall-schedule unveiling at Lincoln Center. “We’re losing ‘Lost,’ but the good news is, we’re bringing back ‘Eli Stone,’ ” Kimmel joked. “Watching ‘Lost’ is what I imagine it might be like to be trapped inside the brain of Paula Abdul.”

Kimmel’s stand-up has become the highlight of ABC’s presentation (last year, he told buyers “every year we lie to you”), and this time he offered most of the smiles in an otherwise fairly straightforward event.

Network executives opted not to throw a glitzy party, like the kind Fox whipped up Monday night in Central Park. But then, Fox is finishing the season No. 1 again in the young adults demographic, while ABC is battling NBC for last place. This season’s lackluster overall performance naturally went unmentioned as entertainment overseer Steve McPherson briskly moved through the new offerings.

Once again, ABC seems to be hitting family themes especially hard. The best audience reaction probably came after clips for “No Ordinary Family,” a superhero drama that could perhaps best be thought of as a mix of “Heroes” and “The Incredibles,” and “Better Together,” a loony family comedy that seems reminiscent of CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother.” The network also trotted out some cast members from “Modern Family,” this season’s standout hit, as well as a stage-shy Matthew Fox from “Lost,” who introduced a brief clip of cast members nostalgically recalling the show and its impact.

But Kimmel said that he preferred to look on the bright side. Pessimists are looking at things the wrong way when they say broadcasters are losing ground to cable. “I believe we’re gaining ground on newspapers,” he said.

-- Scott Collins

Photo: Jimmy Kimmel on stage on Tuesday at ABC’s fall-schedule unveiling. Credit: Ida Mae Astute / ABC

Related:

Complete upfronts coverage

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