Chris Kattan To Star In ABC Pilot, CBS Cans 'Clubhouse,' Fox Extends NFL Deal

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Former “Saturday Night Live” star Chris Kattan will try to make the transition to primetime with a pilot project at ABC.

Kattan will play a small-town TV news reporter in the pilot, which will mix wry observational humor with the physical comedy he was known for during his seven seasons on “SNL.”

“[The character] is based on a huge exaggeration of myself. He is an appealing, neurotic, Basil Fawlty-type of egomaniac,” Kattan tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Michael McCullers, who wrote the two “Austin Powers” sequels and worked with Kattan on “SNL,” will team with “Just Shoot Me” veterans Don Woodard and Tom Maxwell on the pilot script. They’re aiming to incorporate physical comedy a la “The Dick Van Dyke Show” or “I Love Lucy” into the show.

The three writers will also serve as executive producers, as will Michael Rotenberg, David Miner and Steve Tann of 3 Arts Entertainment, which is producing the show with 20th Century Fox TV. Kattan will receive a producer credit.

Kattan was a regular on “Saturday Night Live” from 1996-2003. His movie credits include “A Night at the Roxbury,” “Corky Romano” and “Undercover Brother.” His previous prime-time series work is limited to pre-“SNL” guest spots on “NewsRadio” and “Grace Under Fire.”

If CBS’s move of “Clubhouse” from Tuesday to Saturday night was like sending the show to the minors, then the network’s latest action is tantamount to giving the baseball-themed series an outright release.

“Clubhouse” is gone from the schedule for at least the rest of November after whiffing in its first Saturday airing Nov. 6. That’s all CBS is saying about the show for now, but its prospects for returning are probably shaky at best.

Saturday’s episode drew only 4.2 million viewers, a low number even in the relative dead zone that is Saturday primetime. “Clubhouse” finished behind “Cops” on FOX and reruns of “The Most Outrageous Game Show Moments” on NBC and “Lost” on ABC. Its adults 18-49 rating was an equally anemic 1.0.

The move to Saturdays came because the show was creating a hole in CBS’s Tuesday night. “Clubhouse” drew an average of 8.6 million viewers in three Tuesday airings, losing nearly 40 percent of the audience from its lead-in, “NCIS” (14.2 million). The show that followed it, “Judging Amy,” brings in about 10.5 million people per week.

Last season, “The Guardian” averaged 11.4 million viewers in the timeslot through the end of October.

Repeats will fill the 8 p.m. Saturday spot on CBS for the rest of November. This week the network will re-air its “Dallas” reunion special, followed by an “Amazing Race” encore Nov. 20 and “Cold Case” Nov. 27. “The Amazing Race 6” is moving into “Clubhouse’s” former Tuesday home on Nov. 16.

“Clubhouse” is the second new CBS drama to be yanked from the schedule this fall. The Rob Lowe-Joe Pantoliano vehicle “dr. vegas” was also pulled for sweeps.

The National Football League will stay in its Sunday-afternoon TV home for six more years, but the future of “Monday Night Football” isn’t nailed down yet.
CBS and FOX have each agreed to new six-year contracts with the league to continue broadcasting AFC (CBS) and NFC (FOX) games on Sunday afternoons. Each network will also get two Super Bowls in the new agreement, which runs from 2006-11 (the current TV contract expires after the 2005 NFL season).

The NFL says the two networks paid a combined $8 billion for the rights. CBS and FOX aren’t discussing specifics of their individual deals, but the NFC package, which features more large-market teams, typically costs more than the AFC package.

“These agreements represent the NFL’s premium position as the No. 1 sports and entertainment attraction on television and in stadiums,” NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue says in a statement. “Our goal in the negotiations has been to continue to deliver our games to the widest possible audience. The agreements underscore a unique commitment to broadcast television that no other sport has.”

The league also renewed its deal with satellite-TV provider DirecTV for its “NFL Sunday Ticket” package, a premium service that allows subscribers to see any Sunday-afternoon game they choose. The $3.5 billion extension runs through the 2010 season.

The extension of the CBS, FOX and DirecTV deals mean that only Disney-owned ABC and ESPN, which carry “Monday Night Football” and the league’s Sunday prime-time game, have yet to renew their agreements. Disney is reportedly not in a rush to complete a new deal, and there has been some speculation that other networks might bid for the “Monday Night Football” franchise and the Sunday-night game.

The current NFL deal cost ABC, CBS, FOX and ESPN more than $17 billion over eight years.

Credit: Zap2It

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.