Try, try again: “The Event” is getting a relaunch, OWN is getting a reboot and “Law & Order: L.A.” is getting a revamp.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said there are no second acts in American lives. In broadcasting, it’s cheaper to retool than it is to start from scratch.
All of which is to say, in advance of a bunch of new programming in April, followed by the May upfronts when the networks announce their slates of new pilots, it’s time for some tinkering.
Before we move on, network executives are determined to wring the last bit of life out of a few ideas that haven’t quite caught on.
Among the second acts:
Oprah Winfrey will shuffle the schedule of her overpromoted cable channel to make the documentary series about her syndicated talk show’s final season the centerpiece.
Since OWN launched, “Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes” has been the channel’s only real ratings draw. The rest of the lineup has failed to attract as many viewers as the network it replaced, Discovery Health.
“Oprah Behind the Scenes” will move to Sundays beginning March 27, with a two-part Australia episode. In addition to the 300 studio audience members who were flown down under, the show will play to a potentially larger TV audience by airing on Sundays.
NBC’s “The Event” has been a nonevent. The drama in the aliens- among-us sci-fi vein took a hiatus from November to March, returning to an even smaller audience and losing viewers throughout the night. (It drew less than half the audience of “House” on Fox.)
The latest spinoff of “L&O,” set in L.A., is being tweaked for a scheduled two-hour return on April 11. Alfred Molina stays, Skeet Ulrich is gone. Terrence Howard remains a regular. The crime drama’s creative overhaul reportedly means a tougher edge and darker feel, more in keeping with the rest of the Dick Wolf “L&O” procedurals.
The idea of tweaking, rather than scrapping, a series in trouble might be applied to a certain Warner Bros. comedy that did fantastically well for CBS until recently, when the star self-destructed. Will the production staff, cast and network continue to work on a rejiggered, um, Jon Cryer sitcom?
Is there a second act in store for “Two and a Half Men”?
Here’s hoping. Why should they be punished for one actor’s bad behavior?
Priorities intact.
The recent barrage of Charlie Sheen coverage felt like America had lost perspective, yet an unfolding global political shift got appropriate attention, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s weekly coverage index. The index measures 52 news outlets from print, online, network TV, cable and radio.
“The violence in Libya and the political standoff in Wisconsin continued to drive the news agenda last week, while a potential government shutdown and a significant health care development got about the same attention as the misadventures of a troubled actor,” PEJ reported.
Kyle Dyas.
The late Kyle Dyas, music director at Greeley-based KUNC since 2002, was remembered by friends, colleagues and listeners this week as a gentle soul, a passionate public-radio professional and the driving force behind the station’s “diverse music” programming.
“Against all odds and opposition, he made it work,” said Wick Rowland of CPT12. “He’s a real loss not only for public media, but also for all of Colorado broadcasting.”
Longtime colleague KUNC general manager Neil Best summed up with a biblical quote, “To make a joyful noise, that is Kyle,” he said.
In posted comments, listeners gratefully recounted the obscure bands to whom Dyas introduced them over the years. “People really felt they knew him,” Best said.
Dyas, 42, of Fort Collins, died in an apparent suicide Sunday in Denver. Programming on KUNC Monday was dedicated in his memory.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
