Rich Appel former writer for “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill” and creator of NBC’s “A.U.S.A.” has a pilot deal in place at CBS for a comedy about two couples going through divorces, the Hollywood trade papers report. One of the couples is proceeding amicably with their split, while the other decidedly is not.
It’s difficult to grab a cable ratings win when your network’s most watched show is a presentation of the female bartender epic “Coyote Ugly,” but that’s exactly what USA Network did for the week ending Sunday, Oct. 24. With Fox News Channel suffering from post-debate malaise and ESPN without a Sunday NFL game, USA grabbed the weekly crown.
Overall, USA averaged 2.06 million viewers per night in primetime, edging the 1.93 million for TNT. The Disney Channel was third with just under 1.9 million viewers and Nick at Night was right behind with 1.88 million viewers. The Cartoon Network finished fifth with 1.79 million viewers.
The USA airing of “Coyote Ugly” pulled in 3.76 million viewers and ranked as basic cable’s No. 6 program for the week, coming in as USA’s only Top 15 offering.
While CBS continues its search for a host of “The Late Late Show,” another member of the Viacom family is moving forward with its own late-night yakfest.
TV Land and sardonic, cat-loving alien Gordon Shumway — better known as Alf — have struck a deal for six more episodes of “Alf’s Hit Talk Show,” which debuted as a special in July. Ratings were good enough to warrant more episodes.
Long-time “Tonight Show” sidekick Ed McMahon will serve as Alf’s co-host for the half-hour show, which debuts at 11 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 5. Merv Griffin, who also knows from talk shows, and “Joan of Arcadia” star Joe Mantegna will be Alf’s first guests.
Credit: Zap2It
