Pants off: CBS cancels unaired ‘Waterfront’

Any network can cancel a show with low ratings, but canceling a show with no ratings at all? That’s gutsy.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS is yanking the midseason drama “Waterfront” before the show even received a premiere date or a time slot.

“Waterfront” was set to star CBS’ favorite bad luck charm Joe Pantoliano as the ethically challenged mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. The show was set to co-star William “Billy” Baldwin, Mary Stuart Masterson and Larenz Tate.

The show was one of CBS’ last pick-ups this spring and four episodes, including the pilot, had been completed. The causes given for the cancellation include creative reasons, high production costs and limited available space in CBS’ schedule.

The premature axing of “Waterfront” follows the failure continuum of Pantoliano’s recent CBS offerings. The “Sopranos” Emmy winner’s series “The Handler” aired 14 times in the 2003-04 season. The next fall, CBS picked up Joey Pants’ “dr. vegas” and aired it only five times.

Fox has a sneaky ‘Suspicion’

Fox is jumping into the national security business with both feet.

According to the industry trades, Fox has given a put pilot commitment to “Suspicion,” a drama from Emily Whitesell.

The series revolves around an ordinary woman who discovers that her boyfriend is a terrorist and becomes – as both trades say verbatim – “an unlikely heroine.”

This comes one day after the network put down big bucks for “NSA Innocent,” from the “24” team of Bob Cochran, David Ehrman, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon, that one about an ordinary man who becomes embroiled in espionage of some sort.

In addition to Whitesell (“Brothers & Sisters”), who will write the pilot, “Suspicion” comes from Jon Harmon Feldman (“Reunion”) and Emmy winner Thomas Schlamme (“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”). The pilot will be produced through Warner Bros. TV.

‘Friday Night Lights’ gets Monday tryout

NBC will try to give its struggling drama “Friday Night Lights” an extra boost later this month by airing after the network’s most successful new show.

On Oct. 30, NBC will air an original “Lights” episode at 10 p.m., following “Heroes”; the episode will then repeat in the show’s normal 8 p.m. Tuesday spot on Oct. 31. “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” which usually airs at 10 p.m. Mondays, will get a week off.

The network has also ordered several more scripts for “Friday Night Lights,” which doesn’t necessarily mean a life for the show beyond its original 13-episode order but certainly isn’t a bad thing. A Monday airing could presumably benefit some from promotion on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast the previous night.

Through its first three airings, “Friday Night Lights” – based on the book and movie of the same name – has averaged only about 6.6 million viewers. It did improve some this week after falling below the 6 million mark in its second airing.

It’s hardly alone among NBC’s new dramas in its ratings difficulties. The past two episodes of “Studio 60” have fallen below 9 million viewers, and “Kidnapped” has been shunted to Saturdays after drawing 6.5 million viewers in three Wednesday airings.

Only “Heroes,” which is averaging better than 13 million viewers and is the season’s top new show among adults 18-49, has been an unqualified success for the network thus far. NBC is undoubtedly hoping some of that will rub off on “Friday Night Lights” two Mondays from now.

Fox welcomes ‘On the Lot’ submissions

Can you make a better movie than “Little Man” or “Poseidon”? Prove it.

If you’re over 13 and think you have the chops to be the next great Hollywood filmmaker, Fox is now accepting submissions for “On the Lot,” a reality show produced by Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg.

Films of under five minutes fitting the other application criteria are already up on thelot.com. The submission process runs through Dec. 1. Users can critique the available films before the applicants are winnowed down to 16 when the show begins this spring.

The website has been newly expanded to allow for all sorts of film-based hilarity in the months leading up to the show’s yet-to-be-determined premiere date.

Each week, contestants will have to make short film in a variety of genres, working with professional writers and professional crew along with guest star actors. The show will run two nights a week, with an hour-long “Film Premiere” episode, followed by a “Box Office” results show the next night. Apparently the results will be determined by viewers at home, viewers like you, dear reader.

The winner will receive a $1-million development deal at DreamWorks and the chance to breathe particles of the same air as Spielberg.

NBC shelves ‘ER’ hiatus plan

NBC’s plan at the start of this season was to make the 10 p.m. Thursday timeslot, one of its most valuable time periods, rerun-free for all of 2006-07.

Then “ER” went and regained its former spot at the top of the ratings in that hour, forcing the network to rethink that idea.

Rather than put the long-running hospital drama on the shelf for three months at midseason, NBC has decided to let “ER” hold the timeslot for the full season. That may mean a few repeats later on, but that may be better than ditching the show entirely for 13 weeks, as was the original plan.

“I think everyone here feels like (the change) is a real stamp of approval,” “ER” executive producer David Zabel says. “… It’s actually really inspiring and gratifying that the network has quickly said this show’s too strong, too good and too popular for us to mess around with it.”

When NBC announced its 2006-07 schedule in May, it said “ER” would run uninterrupted for 13 weeks in the fall, then take a seat for 13 weeks while the Paul Haggis drama “The Black Donnellys” ran its course. “ER” would then return for nine more episodes to close the year.

That changed when “ER” started winning its timeslot again, drawing a shade over 15 million viewers per week and a 6.4 rating among adults 18-49. Those aren’t huge gains compared to this time last season (14.1 million, 6.3), but with CBS having moved “Without a Trace” to Sundays, “ER” is once again the top show in the time period, particularly among the 18-49 demo that advertisers covet. It has a better than a two-point lead over its competition in the hour, CBS’ “Shark” and ABC’s “Six Degrees.”

With the change in scheduling, NBC is also considering ordering a couple more episodes of “ER” to stretch out the season and lessen the number of repeats. “We’d like to do some new shows, and that’s being discussed,” Zabel says. “We’re all really excited about it, but that’s NBC-they have to figure out what they want to do.”

The network hasn’t settled on a place for “The Black Donnellys” yet. There will, however, be a few holes at midseason with the end of “Sunday Night Football” and the rough starts for some of NBC’s other new dramas.

Jackman brings ‘Blackpool’ to CBS

The acclaimed BBC miniseries “Viva Blackpool” may be coming to CBS with Tony winner Hugh Jackman in tow.

According to the industry trade papers, Jackman is expected to executive-produce the pilot along with his Seed Prods. partner John Palermo. The “X-Men” star is expected to cameo in the pilot as well.

Translating “Blackpool” for domestic audiences will be “Huff” creator Bob Lowry, while Peter Bowker, the man behind the BBC mini, will also stick around as an executive producer.

Like the BBC original, “Blackpool” will focus on Ripley Holden (David Morrissey in the first incarnation), a sleazy businessman who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation just as he’s trying to build a major casino. For the American version, the Blackpool setting will apparently be shifted to Las Vegas, though the remake will maintain the most unique aspect of the BBC series: The cast will break into song-and-dance numbers at unexpected intervals.

Jackman’s Seed has a pact with CBS Paramount Network TV, which is expected to stick around as co-producer.

The first “Blackpool” (the “Viva” was added for the show’s BBC America airing) was nominated for a BAFTA for best drama serial and for a Golden Globe for mini-series or motion picture made for TV.

Coming off “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “Scoop,” Jackman’s busy fall includes “The Prestige” and “The Fountain.” His upcoming projects include Baz Luhrmann’s eternally untitled Australian epic, a “Wolverine” spin-off, and a remake of the musical “Carousel.”