6B the university daily kansan
entertainment
...
wednesday, april 21, 2004
Future of 'The Guardian' up in air
Prime-time drama will not know its fate until this fall
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — When a series faces the threat of cancellation, producers do whatever they can to keep it alive; seek publicity, badger the network for more promotion, spy.
Spy?
Spy?
Sure, says Mark Johnson of The Guardian, whose hope for another season depends in large part on whether CBS decides it's found a replacement that might draw higher ratings in the 2004-05 season. Johnson and fellow executive producer David Hollander, the series' creator, aren't remaining idle while the network ponders its options.
ponders its options.
"We practically steal scripts out of Xerox machines," Johnson said, engaging in just a bit of hyperbole.
"I also canvas agents: What do you hear about this one? Have you talked to anybody who's seen that pilot?" ... It's not like I can do something subversive, but I can get an idea of what's out there.
what's working and not working."
Johnson and Holland believe The Guardian, in its third season, deserves a future. But it's a show "on the bubble," in industry lingo, braced for a possible, fearful non-
The drama, starring Simon Baker as wayward attorney Nick Fallin, airs its last two episodes of the season — and maybe the series — on April 27 and May4, at 8 p.m.
— on April 27 and May 4, it opened
"I don't think they've (CBS)
decided if the show is gone," said Hollander. "I would like to know one way or the other."
one way of the other.
First, he figures CBS has some amends to make. The Guardian was pulled in March to give Century City a six-week tryout. When it flopped in a month, the Guardian was thrust back on the air so quickly that TV guide listings couldn't be updated to alert its fans.
counttowear updates
"You're on the bubble, but we'll pull you off the air. You're on the bubble, but we won't promote you," said Hollander, giving his take on network logic. "You're on the network and we'll put you on when we please — and do great things for us."
ny of episodes, mixing writing, directing and producing tasks.
His frustration, speaking the day after shooting wrapped, was understandable. Hollander has been hands-on for the vast major-
He would typically be saying goodbye to the cast and crew for their summer break while he started work on scripts for next year.
But it wasn't business as usual at the offices The Guardian calls home on the Sony studio lot. The staff was preparing for a funeral that may or may not happen, packing up as if the show had already died.
If it returns, so will they. But the outcome won't be known until next month, when CBS presents its new fall schedule to Madison Avenue in the annual "upfront" extravaganza.
In the meantime, CBS remains mum. That leaves Hollander and Johnson to do the talking, hoping to catch the attention of viewers and network executives.
What can they say or do at this late date? They have the ear of CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves, they say, and are lobbying for more on-air promotions that could give The Guardian a ratings boost.
A solid if unspectacular performer during its run, The Guardian is averaging 10.5 million viewers this season, down 13 percent from last year.
More dangerously, it lags in the
advertiser favored 18-to-49 age group that CBS, after longdis Painting such demographic parsing embraced when it began to make inroads with younger viewers.
The Guardian attracts a little more than a fourth of the young adult crowd that watches CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The second CSI spinoff, set in New York, may be hovering over The Guardian's time slot.
Being pushed aside by yet another procedural franchise show would be an especially bleak ending for The Guardian. Dramas like CSI and NBC's Law & Order are the trend now, character-driven shows the exception.
"We're an out-and-out character show. It's not about finding out who did what to whom," said Johnson. "I hope there's room for us."
He speculates that, if renewed, The Guardian could draw in more viewers by becoming "a little less dark, a little less cold and — Simon Baker will hate me for saying this— but let's see him smile and laugh a couple more times."
He acknowledges it's difficult to make promises to change while campaigning on a show's track record.
Victory in ratings owed to Trump
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — NBC owes Donald Trump a big thank-you bouquet; the outsize real estate mogul was almost single-handedly responsible for the network's ratings sweep last week.
ratings sweet the finale of The Apprentice, where Trump hired Bill Rancic to oversee a Chicago construction project, was seen by more than 28 million people last week.
week.
That was only the beginning,
though. A Dateline NBC special
behind-the-scenes look at The
Apprentice, had 10.4 million
viewers and ranked No. 22 in
viewership for the week.
NBC News received criticism for its extensive Trump coverage.
It paid off in the ratings; a Trump profile on Dateline NBC was the second most-watched show (behind a Cold Case rerun) on Friday night.
The Miss USA pageant, which moved to NBC after many years on CBS, had its biggest audience in six years.
The pageant's owner? Donald Trump.
A special edition of Fear Factor with Miss USA contestants landed in Nielsen's top 10, drawing more viewers than the pageant itself.
Trump TV enabled NBC to win the week with 11.6 million viewers, a competition dominated by CBS this season.
NBC also handily won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that advertisers love.
love. CBS was second with 10.8 million viewers.
Fox, hurt in the ratings when President Bush's news conference forced the network to move back American Idol, averaged 8.3 million and ABC had 7.4 million.
The WB had 3.4 million viewers, UPN 2.9 million and Pax TV 960.000.
908,007.
NBC's Nightly News won the evening news ratings race, averaging 10 million viewers.
ABC's World News Tonight had 9.1 million and the CBS Evening News had 7.2 million.
North Carolina man in jail after 'arresting' his neighbor
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
The Associated Press
KINSTON, N.C. — A man claiming to be an undercover agent hauled in a handcuffed neighbor for booking — but ended up facing charges of his own.
Wilbur Grady said Suggs, 49,
approached him Sunday and told
him he was under arrest.
Reginald Suggs was charged Sunday with kidnapping, aggravated assault and possession of a concealed weapon. He was in jail Monday with bond set at $15,000.
He brandished a wooden stick and a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun, according to police reports. Grady said he recognized Suggs, who lives a few doors down on the same street.
"I was just in the yard washing the tires when this dude walked up in my yard and said he was an undercover agent," Grady said. "He told me I was under arrest. I told him to get out of my yard with that crazy talk."
The two exchanged words before Suggs rushed up and cuffed Grady's hands behind his back.
Suggs then forced Gradv. 68
into Suggs' car and drove him to the county jail.
He told a magistrate that he had brought in a prisoner for possession of stolen property, selling illegal lottery tickets and selling alcohol without a permit.
"It was the darnest thing," said Joe Grady, a 12-year veteran in the Lenoir County Magistrate's office who quickly realized Suggs didn't have the authority to make arrests. "I've never seen anything like that before."
six banks in suburban Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A man who added "rob bank" to his to-do list pleaded guilty to robbing
John Sarver pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to six counts of bank robbery.
Sarver, 47, of Kansas City, Kan., admitted robbing the banks in suburban Leawood, Prairie Village, Shawnee and Olathe between January 2002 and December 2003.
In each case, Server handed a teller a note demanding money.
Sarver could get 20 years without parole on each count when he is sentenced July 12.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The
recipes, admitted his wife cooks the most.
Alabama Bar Association has published its first cookbook, titled May It Please the Palate, in a fundraising project.
The cookbook, featuring recipes by the state's legal community, is to raise funds for the bar's Volunteer Lawyers Program, which provides legal services to people in need.
The book includes a gumbo recipe from former state Attorney General Bill Pryor and instructions on how to grill dove from Sen. Richard Shelby.
David Bagwell, a Fairhope attorney and former U.S. magistrate judge who submitted three
But Bagwell, who described himself as a "no-tofu" kind of guy, said he learned to make "Easy Slaw for Men in Overalls" from a fishing friend.
The cookbook is leavened by a sense of humor.
It includes, for example, a recipe for a padlocked ovenbaked possum with instructions to make sure the possum is dead.
Volunteer Lawyers Program director Linda Lund said they began selling the cookbook around Christmas.
PLAY IT AGAIN SPORTS 841-PLAY
1029 Massachusetts
LIBERTY HALL 644 Mass
743-1912
ETERNAL SUNSHINE...(PR)
9:30 ONLY
TOUCHING THE VOID...(PR)
4:40 7:10
Today's times only • Students $4.60
THE SOCIETY OF OPEN-MINDED ATHEISTS AND AGNOSTICS PRESENTS:
RELIGIOUSLY INCORRECT
APRIL 27,2004 ALDERSON AUDITORIUM KANSAS UNION 7:00 PM
?
COME AND HEAR RELIGIOUS LEADERS ANSWER IMPORTANT AND CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS.
THIS IS A FREE EVENT!!
WWW.KUSOMA.ORG