CW chief expects busy spring
Last week, Dawn Ostroff told a roomful of reporters that she was picking up two more cycles of “America’s Next Top Model” for the 2006-07 season. Everyone assumed the show would be returning to UPN.
That changed, in a big way, on Tuesday, when CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced they would fold UPN and The WB at the end of this season and launch a new network, The CW, in the fall.
Ostroff, currently president of UPN, will run the new network, and she’s bringing “Top Model” with her: “We’re still committed to that and excited about it,” she says.
So we know how at least one hour of The CW’s prime-time schedule will look next season. We also know the new network will draw upon existing shows from both UPN and The WB to fill out much of the rest of its six-day, 13-hour primetime, but Ostroff can’t say yet which shows will survive and where they’ll go.
‘Boondocks’ afloat at ‘Adult Swim’
Huey Freeman’s revolution will continue to be televised.
The Cartoon Network has ordered 20 new episodes of “The Boondocks,” which has become a solid performer as part of the network’s Adult Swim late-night programming. The show, created by Aaron McGruder and based on his comic strip, will begin its second season late this year.
“Adult Swim’s passion for this show has been evident from day one, and we’re thrilled to be on this journey together,” says Zack Van Amburg, co-president of programming and production for Sony Pictures TV, which produces the series. “Aaron has created a group of amazing characters that tell entertaining and thought-provoking stories, and we are so grateful to have found the perfect home for them.”
The Nov. 6 debut of the show, about 10-year-old revolutionary Huey Freeman, his brother Riley and their Granddad, was the highest-rated premiere in Adult Swim’s five-year history. Since then “The Boondocks” has consistently ranked among the top 10 shows on cable among its target audience of adults and men 18-34. The show recently picked up an NAACP Image Award nomination for outstanding comedy series.
The show, like the strip, has also generated some controversy. Jokes about civil-rights pioneer Rosa Parks were cut from an early episode in the wake of her death in October, and the Rev. Al Sharpton has criticized the show for an episode depicting Martin Luther King Jr. – who in the storyline didn’t die in 1968 and woke from a decades-long coma in the present day – using the “n-word.”
Following Sharpton’s rebuke, the Cartoon Network issued a statement saying the episode, which aired over the Martin Luther King Day weekend, “in no way was meant to offend” and was intended as a tribute to King.
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“SOUTH PARK,’ “DRAWN TOGETHER’ HIT ITUNES
Another network has jumped on the iTunes video bandwagon. Comedy Central will join ABC and NBC in offering some of its shows for download on the service, letting fans watch the shows on their computer or a video iPod.
As of Thursday, the first two seasons of “South Park” and 14 episodes of “Drawn Together” are available on iTunes, along with stand-up clips from the likes of Dane Cook, Patton Oswalt, Dave Attell and Lewis Black. Episodes will cost the now-standard $1.99 each.
Additionally, the cable network will premiere an episode of “Drawn Together” on iTunes Monday – two days before it airs on television – and offer it free for a week. Following that, new episodes from the show’s current season will become available after they air.
“We are thrilled to premiere a new episode prior to its network airing and to launch Comedy Central video content on iTunes,” says Michele Ganeless, the network’s general manager. “Partnering with Apple extends our brand to the burgeoning iTunes audience and further strengthens Comedy Central’s commitment to providing our viewers access to programming – anytime, anywhere.”
The Comedy Central content is the latest addition to the burgeoning number of shows available on iTunes, which include ABC’s “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” and NBC’s “The Office.” Comedy Central is the first Viacom-owned network to make a foray onto the service; its former corporate sibling, CBS (now part of CBS Corp.), recently struck a deal with Google to offer several of its shows online.
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AP-NY-01-26-06 1626EST
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