Laugh Off: Ranking the Fall Season's New Network Comedies

Laugh Off: Ranking the Fall Season's New Network Comedies

Now that we're getting close to swapping out our World's Cutest Baby Animals 2011 calendars for our brand-new World's Cutest Baby Animals 2012 calendars, it's a good time to look back at the fall season's new comedy offerings and put them in an orderly line from worst to best. As is the case in most years, a select few comedies have risen to the top by pleasing the majority, while others have sunk to the bottom by making no threats to deepen people's laugh lines. But make no mistake, 2011 has NOT been a good year for new comedies.

Of course, comedy is—more so than the rest of television—a matter of opinion, and everyone's funny bone is located in a different place. But I know where mine is, and the following list reflects which comedies worked for me. In other words, before you sound off in the comments about how horrible my list is, let yours be known so I can do the same with yours. The holidays are all about bickering and arguing over petty things, right?

11. How to Be a Gentleman

CBS assembled a great main cast that included Kevin Dillon, David Hornsby, and Dave Foley, added support from Mary Lynn Rajskub and Rhys Darby, and this was STILL a disaster of Viva Laughlin proportions. Both CBS and its audience apparently agreed: The show was pulled from its normal Thursday-night slot after two episodes, banished to Saturdays, and then banished from Saturdays and television entirely after a week. It was difficult to pick one show to single out as the absolute worst new comedy of the season, but How to Be a Gentleman stood out from the rest about five minutes into its pilot episode. Congrats, guys!

Status: Canceled after three episodes.


10. Allen Gregory

How bad is this year's crop of comedies if Allen Gregory isn't the worst? I seriously considered a five-way tie for last place, but that's just not in keeping with the spirit of lists. Allen Gregory could easily be number 11 or number 111. Dear future TV producers: It's probably a bad idea to have the main character of a show be its worst part.

Status: Still on the air after a late-season start, but struggling.


9. I Hate My Teenage Daughter

I know what you're saying: "Tim, only one episode has aired! How can you make a judgment?" Well, I've seen the first TWO episodes thanks to the executive TV writer's passcode that unlocks future television, and things do not get better. Jaime Pressly was great as irresponsible white trash on My Name is Earl. She is not great as an insecure suburban mother.

Status: Just debuted. Future very uncertain.


8. Whitney

While putting this list together, I couldn't believe how many comedies actually fell below Whitney, the bane of NBC's Thursday-night comedy block. The show is a classic case of hurriedly slopping together a sitcom around a rising real-world star, keeping the budget low, and making a series that's "edgy" but not offensive. That never works. And what sort of laughing gas do they pump into that "live" studio audience anyway?

Status: Picked up for a full season. I know. Crazy.


7. Man Up

I actually once said this show had potential. But the thing about potential is, it's a hopelessly optimistic euphemism for "doesn't have its shit together." The reality of this show was much different: Man Up isn't very funny and relies on characters plucked from Reverse Gender Roles 101. Men are portrayed as sackless chumps who can't get off the couch, and women are salacious, competitive, and aggressive. It's a visualized Men Are From Venus, Women Are From Mars, and even though it's about men being emasculated, Man Up is probably more insulting to women than it is to men thanks to female characters who are about as deep as a dinner plate.

Status: Effectively canceled, but will finish its initial order.


6. 2 Broke Girls

Item number six is where things are supposed to start turning around, but sadly they only barely do with 2 Broke Girls, a perfectly average comedy that only offends some of its audience. Why this came out of the gate with positive buzz I have no idea; as it's progressed through Season 1, it's only irritated people more with its one-dimensional racial stereotypes, overuse of the word "vagina," and often-unnecessary meanness.

Status: Picked up for a full season.


5. Last Man Standing

Last Man Standing at number five? Are you serious? YES, UNFORTUNATELY I AM. Why? Because at least this show knows exactly what it is, and despite the words coming out of his mouth, Tim Allen is kind of likable in that annoying-uncle sort of way.

Status: Picked up for a full season.


4. Up All Night

Up All Night isn't the hit it should be considering the pedigree of its actors (Christina Applegate, Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph), but there's actual comedy here! What a novel idea!

Status: Picked up for a full season.


3. Free Agents

You've probably already forgotten about Free Agents or never knew it existed in the first place. NBC yanked this show quickly after dismal ratings, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. It just wasn't initially appealing because it featured "old" people hooking up. But unlike the previous entries in this list, Free Agents had plenty of room to grow. Sadly, Free Agents was marched out of NBC's offices barely a month into its existence. Now we'll never know what wacky stuff secretary Emma might've gotten herself into!

Status: Canceled after four episodes.


2. New Girl

New Girl's label of "breakout comedy of the year" is a boon for Fox and, and it was the first new show of the fall to earn a full-season pickup. It's got Zooey Deschanel pulling in most of the praise, but the increasingly delightful supporting cast and steady writing are what keep it from being a one-hipster-woman show.

Status: Picked up for a full season.


1. Suburgatory

The premise of Emily Kapnek's fish-out-of-the-city tale of a New York City teen dropped into the 'burbs may not have initially blown you away, but the gated-community world the show has created is successful because it's fearlessly over-the-top. Add to that likable characters on both sides of the picket fence and a heavy helping of heart and hope, and you've got network TV's best new comedy. Heck, this show could be 22 minutes' worth of Dahlia taking verbal poops on everything she sees and it'd still be worth watching.

Big Deals and Other TV News.....

Big Deals and Other TV News.....

BIG DEALS

... Super-producer J.J. Abrams is bringing his talents to The CW. The Lost co-creator is teaming up with the creator of One Tree Hill (how did that come about?) for a drama set at an inn in Maine. The show is tentatively titled Maine. That's it. No time travel, no mysterious monsters, no Kerri Russell. Just a hotel in Maine. OR IS IT SECRETLY A PORTAL FROM WHICH ALIENS WILL EMERGE? Nope, just a hotel. [Deadline Hollywood]

... David E. Kelley is swapping legal pads for prescription pads. The showrunner, who's famous for the plethora of legal dramas under his belt and one Hiroshima-sized failure involving Wonder Woman, is partnering with CNN medical expert Sanjay Gupta for Chelsea General, a medical drama about doctors. At a hospital. [Deadline Hollywood]

... A&E has purchased a half-hour cop drama called The Box from Homicide producers Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. The show will be set almost entirely in a police precinct's interrogation room. It's like In Treatment, except the "therapist" is replaced with an asshole cop. [Deadline Hollywood]


IT'S ALREADY ALMOST AWARDS SEASON, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

... The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominees for its annual awards ceremony, and Game of Thrones earned a nod, so that's pretty cool. But the organization's weird eligibility rules mean that Mad Men is in and Breaking Bad is out. Get your act together, producers. Click the link for more nominees! [EW]

... Continuing the epic feud that's been going since the dawn of Hollywood, the Writers Guild of America, which isn't about to let producers get all the attention, has announced the nominees for its own awards. This time the eligibility rules have allowed Breaking Bad to battle Game of Thrones, Homeland, and Boardwalk Empire. Click the link for more nominees! [EW]


CASTING NEWS

... Ellen Barkin (from that awful movie where she switched places with Antonio Banderas) will guest-star on Modern Family. She'll play the recurring role of a real estate agent who competes with Phil. [TV Line]

... Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Supernatural, Dexter) will drop by Castle for a night. He'll play a club owner from 1947 in an episode that goes back in time, film-noir-style. [TV Line]

... Kathy Griffin will guest-star on Whitney. Let's hope she's funnier than Chelsea Handler was. [TV Guide]

... Robin Givens is moving into Suburgatory as an arch-rival to Dallas (Cheryl Hines). How big is the rivalry? Givens' character's name is Tulsa! Look for her in the comedy's seventeenth. [EW]


WHOOPS! NEWS

... If you ever plan on buying a house, you might want to make sure your neighbors are not named Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. The Mythbusters duo fired a cannonball like a cross-eyed pirate last night, sending an almost-literal wrecking ball through the Bay Area's 'hood of Dublin. Apparently the Discovery show was firing homemade cannons when a cannonball took an "unforeseen bounce" and hit a house, crossed a freeway, and smashed into a minivan. That's science, people! I think I'm obligated to say that no one was hurt. [Washington Post]


SAD NEWS

... NBC will now be screening The Roots' song selections on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a ruling handed down because the in-house group played a ditty called "Lyin' Ass Bitch" when Michelle Bachmann visited the show. They should have just stuck with their original song selection for Bachmann, which was just a bunch of fart noises. Fight the power, Questlove! [NY Post]


EVEN SADDER NEWS

... E! might be planning as many as four new Kardashian spin-offs. Here's hoping that one of them is a game show called How Far Can You Throw a Kardashian? [THR]

What Should Fox Do With Terra Nova?

What Should Fox Do With Terra Nova?

Monday, December 19 may be the last chance you'll ever have to see a kid named Josh Shannon shred on his acoustic guitar, a sci-fi show become a teen soap, or what maybe looks something like a dinosaur in the shadows. Fox's Terra Nova, which just a few short months ago was our most-anticipated show of the 2011 fall season (and is now our biggest disappointment of the 2011 season), will ends its 13-episode first season with its future up in the air.

By now you know plenty about the show's dirty laundry. It's incredibly expensive to produce—the pilot alone is estimated to have cost between $10 million and $20 million, and subsequent episodes carried prices tags much higher than the average dramas. The show's bottom line is most dramatically affected by hefty post-production costs tied to computer-generated prehistoric birds, fish, and baby Ankylosaurs, none of which should generate any technical Emmy buzz. Terra Nova has also become a punching bag for critics (myself included), and has received a split decision from fans who recognize that it's a children's show that's going Trick-or-Treating as an adult show. (Sorry, but that's the truth.)

Yesterday, star Jason O'Mara tweeted out this renewal news: "SCOOP: Decision to pick up #TerraNova for S2 deferred to New Year by @FOXBroadcasting. Everyone involved remains confident and optimistic." As for those of us who aren't involved, we're not confident and optimistic.

What would you do if you were Fox? Keep shelling out money for a second season of a critically beaten show that's only doing so-so in the ratings? (Note: I say "so-so" because it's fallen far below inflated expectations; by normal accounts, it's doing fine in the ratings.) Simply put: No. But the decision gets more complicated for Fox when you look toward the future.

I asked Bill Gorman, co-founder of ratings-hound site TVbytheNumbers, for his take on Terra Nova's chances, and he said: "Considering the weakened state that all of the Fox drama ratings are in this fall, Terra Nova ratings aren't terrible, and I think the way it could come back is if the costs can be brought down (vs. the conventional wisdom that they are quite high). Can that be done? Theoretically, yes. Will it be done? We'll have to wait and see."

Fringe may not be back for a fifth season. House is coming to a close. That leaves Bones and Glee as potentially Fox's only remaining veteran hour-long dramas. Bones spin-off The Finder, J.J. Abrams-produced Alcatraz, and Tim Kring's Touch all debut over the next few months, but none of them are drawing early buzz (I haven't heard a single peep on Touch, for better or for worse). Let's assume that only one of those three newbies earns a second season. That leaves plenty of open space in Fox's schedule. In short, Fox's dramas have some drama.

Fox could shrug its shoulders and bring back Terra Nova due to attrition among its other dramas, but all the network would be left with is a pricey series that hasn't shown any sign of getting better and that will lose a large chunk of the audience that right now is only clinging on out of curiosity. Nine months off the air—if renewed, the show wouldn't return until next September—will demolish any remaining intrigue. Or Fox could bring the show back with a drastically reduced budget, meaning that it'd be a dinosaur show with a lot less dinosaurs. Or hopefully, a man in a rubber dinosaur suit.

The execs at Fox will head to the table and make a decision about Terra Nova early next year because the show has one of those annoying long production schedules due to time-consuming post-production issues. I think they'd best serve the network by canceling the show and rolling the dice on new projects; otherwise they'll be saddled with another 13-episode run that will likely only solves half of one of its problems in a transition season.

'Castle' Season 4 gets an extra episode

'Castle' Season 4 gets an extra episode

Love "Castle"? Well, you'll have a chance to love it even more now that ABC has ordered an extra episode to cap off Season 4.

That means we'll get a hearty 23 episodes this season, which is lower compared to the 24 episodes of both Seasons 2 and 3, but still more than the standard 22-episode TV season.

"Castle" is currently on a holiday hiatus after its tension-filled "Cuffed" episode, during which the will-they-or-won't-they pair of dashing crime writer Castle and sexy lady detective/muse Beckett were handcuffed together in a warehouse. Their sexual tension has been building for years now, but we're hoping they'll actually get together this season. They have to, right?

Star Stana Katic recently told Zap2it that she hopes it'll happen soon. "The two of them are trying to protect each other in the interest of a relationship," Katic says. "If they could just be honest with one another, they would probably solve this issue and be able to be together -- which is what they both want."

"Castle" will return in the new year with new episodes.

'The Vampire Diaries' scoop: Damon and Elena get 'hotter,' Stefan's revenge on Klaus turns Mystic Falls against him

'The Vampire Diaries' scoop: Damon and Elena get 'hotter,' Stefan's revenge on Klaus turns Mystic Falls against him

Confession: We weren't too upset about "The Vampire Diaries" going on hiatus for the holiday season. This season has been so fast-paced (read: awesome) that we needed a breather to collect our thoughts!

That relief lasted about five minutes before we started getting antsy for more Mystic Falls. There's still a month left before "TVD" returns to our screens at 8 p.m. on January 5, but our withdrawal symptoms were flaring up, so we thought it was about time to check in with executive producer Julie Plec. Julie gave Zap2it a ring from Atlanta where the cast was hard at work on episode 314.

Looking back on some of the things we've loved about Season 3, Elena's (Nina Dobrev) evolution is high on our list. In the first episode, we found her having spent a summer pining for Stefan (Paul Wesley). As the season soldiered on, however, she finally emerged from her cloud of denial. Finally, she put her foot down and gave Stefan an ultimatum.

"She said to him back in Episode 7 that she can't love a ghost for the rest of her life. She said, 'Get it together or you will lose me.' She threw down," Julie says. "She gave him a chance to let his humanity come through and break through, and he didn't, in her eyes. She has to move forward."

In the mid-season finale, Elena finally decided to let Stefan go -- and yes, she meant it. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) on the other hand is having a little trouble coping with the apparent loss of his little bro. "When we come back from hiatus, Damon is doing what Damon does best when someone pisses him off: He's day-drinking," Julie laughs. "He's seen neither hide nor hair of Stefan since he ruined their plan and got his freedom from Klaus (Joseph Morgan), and Damon and Elena are kind of spiraling a little bit. They don't know where he is or why he betrayed them. All they know is that he has completely screwed them over and they have to move on."

And move on they do, albeit "under a cloak of fear and paranoia," Plec says, because as usual, they're waiting for the other shoe to drop as Klaus seeks his revenge on them for the whole Papa Original debacle.

Terror reigns in Mystic Falls, but that doesn't mean that there's no room for romance amidst the madness.

"When we come back in Episode 10, Elena and Damon are finding themselves in these moments where the romantic tension is a little bit deeper and the physical tension is a little bit hotter," Julie teases. (We know what you're thinking. Hotter? How is that even possible? Trust us... it is.)

Though Stefan is out of the picture, Damon and Elena continue to spend time together. "They have to work together against Klaus, so they keep finding themselves in these moments that they're now both free to act on, without guilt."

Of course, Stefan never stays gone for long. At some point, it will be revealed that his big "betrayal" at Homecoming was for Damon's benefit. "Eventually, somebody is going to found out that Stefan saved Damon's life, and Damon and Elena are going to have that to contend with," Julie says. "They're going to have some choices to make."

Though we're antsy for Damon and Elena to move forward (there are only so many almost-kisses the audience can handle) there's no denying that Stefan's evolution has been one of the most intriguing parts of Season 3.

Julie agrees. "For me, the biggest pleasure of the season -- which I won't say is totally a surprise because theoretically we knew that he had this in him -- is watching Paul Wesley do what he's done. It's been kind of thrilling," she says. "I love me some Paul! I think he's a wonderful actor, and to really see him get to explode on screen has been so exciting and so intense and emotional. I'm really proud of him. I'm proud of the show, in a way, because that storyline really worked the way that we wanted it work."

Now that Stefan is free of Klaus's compulsion, we'll continue to see that bad-ass Ripper we've come to love watching on screen.

And by "love," we also kind of mean "hate," because as magnificent as Paul is in the role, it breaks our heart to see Stefan as icy cold as he's been in the last few episodes. "It's awful! I think what's so great about it is watching him be both completely, horrifically detached, but also those moments where you kind of get the glimpse of something pure under there," Julie says. "They're little moments, and they're so rare and so hidden, so it's very much a testament to him as an actor and to what he's putting into the character, because that's not something that you can necessarily write."

Klaus's reactions to the changes in Stefan drove their relationship in the first half of the season. Now that Stefan has turned on Klaus -- which Klaus wasn't expecting when he freed Stefan -- we're going to see an epic clash.

"We have not seen the worst of Klaus. We also have not seen the worst of Stefan taking on Klaus," Julie tells us. "One of the fun things we're doing when we come back in January is taking the pissing contest -- I guess that's the best term for it -- between Stefan and Klaus to a whole other level. Watching these powerful characters and these powerful actors go head-to-head is going to be awesome."

Stefan isn't used to being the antagonist, and as he seeks rage-fueled revenge on Klaus, he'll discover that Klaus may be even more manipulative than he'd thought. In fact, Klaus sets a plan in motion to turn Mystic Falls itself against Stefan, ripping his home away from him the way that Stefan has hijacked Klaus's family.

"There's a moment where Damon's at a cocktail party and sees Mayor Lockwood chatting with Klaus, and Damon's like 'What the hell are you doing? He's ruined your son's life, he's ruined all of our lives,'" Julie says. "[Mayor Lockwood] says, 'Klaus has offered to leave me, my family, and this town alone if you can get your brother to behave.' So we start to see this manipulation that Klaus has in the town of Mystic Falls, and now that Stefan's pushing back, Klaus is able to step forward and say, 'Hey, I'm not here to cause a problem! Stefan Salvatore is the problem.'"

We. Can't. Wait.

Lifetime Cancels 'Against the Wall'

Lifetime Cancels 'Against the Wall'

The procedural, led by Rachael Carpani, debuted to 1.8 million viewers in July.

Lifetime has decided not to order a second season of Against the Wall.

Cast member Brandon Quinn tweeted the news late Friday evening, writing, "I'd like to thank @lifetimetv, the #AgainsttheWall writers and the Amazing fans of Against The Wall but unfortunately we've been canceled :(."

The writers addressed the news shortly thereafter, writing on their Twitter account, "guessing many of you saw @BrandonJQuinn's tweet -- just found out we won't be coming back for a second season."

Starring Rachael Carpani as a Chicago cop who joins the internal affairs division, the procedural debuted in July to underwhelming numbers, drawing 1.8 million total viewers to its premiere episode following Drop Dead Diva.

THR's television critic Tim Goodman gave a positive review of the hourlong series: "Breakout star Rachael Carpani and ambitious creators could vault this procedural above the pack."

The Universal Cable Prods. series was created by Annie Brummer and co-stars Quinn, Andrew Walker, Marisa Ramirez, Kathy Baker, Treat Williams and Chris Johnson.

The decision comes at a time when Lifetime is investing in remakes with core audiences like Steel Magnolias and The Blue Lagoon, with high-profile names attached. The female-skewing cable net has also given pilot orders to Modern Love by Jenny Bicks and American Housewife with Melanie Griffith, and has picked up The Client List with Jennifer Love Hewitt to series.

TV Tonight 10th of December 2011: Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.

TV Tonight 10th of December 2011: Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.

The daily list in alphabetical order, of all the new episodes airing in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.

    48 Hours Mystery S25E09: "Live to Tell"
    Bakuman. S02E11: "Manga and Youth"
    Behind The Music S12E29: "Pat Benatar"
    C3 S01E11: "The Fanatic is Somewhere"
    Cardfight!! Vanguard S01E48: "Episode 48"
    Casualty S26E16: "Next of Kin - Part Two"
    Celebrity Ghost Stories S04E07
    Color Splash S09E16
    Cops S24E11: "Ho! Ho! Ho! #9"
    Dan vs. S02E03: "Dan vs. Technology"
    Detective Conan S18E39
    Fairy Tail S03E14: "Lucy Fire!"
    Killer Instinct (2011) S01E13: "A Shot at Justice"
    Last Exile (JP) S02E09: "Connected Passed Pawn"
    Match of The Day S47E20: "Season 47, Show 20"
    Merlin (2008) S04E11: "The Hunter's Heart"
    Metal Evolution S01E04: "New Wave of British Heavy Metal"
    My Ghost Story S03E09: "TBA"
    Nissene over skog og hei S01E10: "Episode 10"
    Piers Morgan's Life Stories S06E04: "Peter Andre"
    Pit Bulls and Parolees S03E05: "Southern Uprising"
    Pokémon S14E45: "Beheeyem, Duosion, and the Dream Thief!"
    Power Rangers S18E23: "Christmas Together, Friends Forever"
    R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour S02E12: "Scarecrow: Director's Cut"
    R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour S02E11: "Scarecrow"
    RocKwiz S09E11: "Season 9, Episode 11"
    Saturday Kitchen S10E24: "December 10, 2011"
    Saturday Night Live S37E09: "Katy Perry / Robyn"
    Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi S02E10: "Episode 10"
    Shakugan no Shana S03E10: "Episode 10"
    Soccer AM S16E18: "Series 16, Episode 18"
    Spike TV VGA Video Game Awards S01E09: "2011 Video Game Awards"
    Strictly Come Dancing S09E22: "Series 9, Week 11"
    That Metal Show S09E05: "Marilyn Manson / Biff Byford"
    The Chase (2009) S04E46: "Series 4, Celebrity Special (6)"
    The Football League Show S03E18: "Series 3, Show 18"
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey S01E15: "Episode 15"
    The X Factor (UK) S08E30: "Series 8 - Final"
    The Xtra Factor S08E30: "Series 8, Live Show Exta Final"
    Tony Robinson's Gods and Monsters S01E03: "Disease"
    UFC PPV Events S19E16: "UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida"
    Wakfu S02E19: "Pour une poignée de Kamas"
    Wild Germany S02E05: "BIID - Bodymod"
    Working!! S02E11: "Episode 11"
    X Faktor (HU) S02E17: "Élő adás - 9."

Up All Night Recruits Alanis Morissette as Ava's '90s Bandmate

Up All Night Recruits Alanis Morissette as Ava's '90s Bandmate

NBC’s Up All Night has dug deeper into Ava’s (Maya Rudolph) pop star past and turned up a surprising collaborator: Alanis Morissette.

TVLine has learned exclusively that Morissette has been tapped to guest star as a hip-hop legend from Ava’s ’90s band, Sound LLC.

The CW Delays Returns of Ringer and 90210

The CW Delays Returns of Ringer and 90210

Ringer fans will have to wait a little longer before fresh episodes resume in the new year.

Why? The CW is double-pumping its new reality series, Remodeled (premiering Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 9/8c), by slotting multiple original and repeat installments during its first two weeks on the air.

As a result, Ringer will now resume with new episodes three weeks behind schedule on Jan. 31. Additionally, 90210‘s return has been pushed back a week to Jan. 17.

The good news: The delay means that Ringer will run nearly repeat-free through May.

Remodeled is a docu-series which follows modeling industry vet Paul Fisher on his quest to unite smaller agencies into one supersized unit, to be called The Network.

Glee First Look: The 2011 Christmas Special

Glee First Look: The 2011 Christmas Special

Looks like Artie has truly found his calling in life.

In the following exclusive clip from Tuesday’s Glee (airing 8/7c on Fox), the West Side Story director is asked to once again take the reins of a major production.

But this time around, the stakes are really high because Artie is helming a television special featuring New Directions!

Meanwhile, the Christmas spirit is in the air at McKinley High as Mercedes belts out Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in our second sneak peek below, a performance that inspires a lot of flirting in the choir room.

The Promo

All I Want for Christmas

Do They Know it's Christmas

Friday Night Dead Zone: Where Nerds Keep Shows Alive

Friday Night Dead Zone: Where Nerds Keep Shows Alive

Friday night remains a ratings dead zone, where shows go to either die or compete, "Hunger Games" style, in a final, desperate bid for survival.

Once in a while, a show can surprise there, as NBC's "Grimm" has done this season. But survival demands that shows find favor with the lords of this land, who -- can we be honest? -- tend to be nerds. Or have some nerdish tendencies. (Your humble correspondent says this as someone who owns many, many boxes of comics and played oboe in junior high.)

In a look at this season's biggest ratings gainers and losers, four of the 10 shows that have posted the biggest losses did so after a move to Friday -- and one, CW's "Supernatural," was already there. We compared ratings for this season through the week of Nov. 13, compared to the same period last year. (See chart, left).

No show on television has slid more than "Chuck," which is down 55 percent as it serves out its final season in the dead zone.

The slides are no surprise. Because Friday night draws so few viewers, it has become a place for shows that skew older, or for sci-fi and fantasy tinged shows whose fans would follow them to hell.

Or even Fridays.

Shows like "Supernatural," "Chuck," and Fox's "Fringe" might not be able to survive elsewhere. But they are a gift to TV executives on Friday nights, because they offer small but die-hard followings on a night when little is guaranteed.

"You're not going to give Friday the weight you might give other nights on your schedule, so it's always good if you use shows that have built-in audiences," said Preston Beckman, Fox's executive vice president of strategic program planning and research. "We're not going to go dark, so you've got to put something on. Better to put on something that has a built-in audience."

Beckman, let it be noted, did not once use the word "nerds."

Only one new show has debuted strong on Friday nights this season -- and would you believe one of its lead characters is a wolf? "Grimm" has averaged a 1.8 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic -- a low number any other weeknight, but an impressive one for a Friday.

The show's ratings were good enough to earn it its first Thursday tryout last night. It scored a low 1.6 rating that was nonetheless NBC's best in the timeslot in 11 weeks.

If it makes a move to another weeknight, "Grimm" will be the rare show that not only survives on Friday, but escapes it.

Eddie Murphy to Get Cracking on Marion Barry Biopic

Eddie Murphy to Get Cracking on Marion Barry Biopic

"Tower Heist" star Eddie Murphy, who recently bowed out of the hosting gig for next year's Oscars, is attached to play scandal-plagued former Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry in a biopic that's being developed by HBO Films, HBO confirms to TheWrap.

Spike Lee will direct the project, while John Ridley (whose resume includes "The Wanda Sykes Show," the "Barbershop" TV series and "Undercover Brother") will write the script. Murphy, Lee and Ridley will all serve as executive producers.

The project's source material will include the 1994 book "Dream City" by Washington, D.C. journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood, who will serve as consultants on the project. Also consulting: Dana Flow and Toby Oppenheimer, who made the 2009 documentary "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry."

Barry initially served as mayor of D.C. -- he was the city's second mayor -- from 1979 to 1991, but his political career was temporarily placed on hold due to a drug scandal during which he was videotaped smoking crack cocaine. After serving six months in federal prison, Barry was elected to the D.C. city council, and was elected mayor again in 1994. He currently serves as a member of the Council for the District of Columbia.

Oops: Rick Perry's Wearing a 'Brokeback Mountain' Jacket

Oops: Rick Perry's Wearing a 'Brokeback Mountain' Jacket

Oh, Rick Perry, as long as you keep providing the oops moments, the media definitely won't be able to quit you.

A day after the release of his already infamous "Strong" campaign ad -- the one in which he bashes the idea of gays serving in the military -- Perry is making fashion news of sorts.

If you think that jacket he's wearing in the "Strong" ad looks familiar, it should … it's almost identical to the one Heath Ledger wore in "Brokeback Mountain."

And it's a jacket that -- kudos to Yahoo! for digging up the evidence -- the late "Brokeback Mountain" costume designer Marit Allen noted was chosen to help convey the repressed homosexuality of Ledger's cowboy, Ennis.

Nate Berkus Show Not Returning for Third Season

Nate Berkus Show Not Returning for Third Season

"The Nate Berkus Show," starring Oprah Winfrey's favorite interior designer, will fold at this end of its current, second season, TheWrap has confirmed.

The decorating-centered show will still air the remainer of its second season. The series premiered last year, but never caught ratings fire.

Winfrey, a champion of Berkus, left the airwaves earlier this year to focus on her OWN network. But a person close to the Berkus show told TheWrap that it will not be following Winfrey to OWN.

"After careful consideration, we have decided that 'The Nate Berkus Show' will not return for a third season in the fall," Sony Pictures Television and Harpo Studios said in a joint statement. "We are grateful for the hard work and heart that Nate, [executive producer] Corin Nelson and their entire team have poured into the show, and we're very proud of what they've delivered."

Berkus leaves a daytime landscape that will soon be crowded with new shows from Jeff Probst and Katie Couric, among others.

The show's end was first reported by Broadcasting & Cable.

Lifetime's Remaking 'The Blue Lagoon'

Lifetime's Remaking 'The Blue Lagoon'

It sealed Brooke Shields' status as a teen star (and, trivia, made her the first-ever recipient of the Worst Actress Razzie), and now Lifetime is going to remake the 1980 drama "The Blue Lagoon."

Lifetime confirmed to TheWrap the made-for-TV do-over will be produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan's Storyline Entertainment and Judith Verno's Peace Out Productions will produce in association with Sony Pictures Television.

The 1980 movie starred Shields and Christopher Atkins as Emmeline and Richard, two children who grow up together while marooned on a deserted island, fall in love, experiment with the birds and the bees and don't initially realize why Emmeline's tummy begins to grow.

The Lifetime remake will actually be the third version of the movie; the story is based on a 1908 novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, as the first of a "Blue Lagoon" trilogy. A 1949 movie adaptation of the first novel starred Oscar nominee Jean Simmons and Donald Houston.

In 1991, Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause both earned Razzie nominees as the stars of "Return to the Blue Lagoon," a sequel to the 1980 film.

Meanwhile, the movie becomes the second big screen-to-boob tube makeover in Lifetime's upcoming slate. The network is also producing a remake of "Steel Magnolias," the 1989 drama that earned Julia Roberts her first Oscar nomination. The Lifetime remake will feature an all-black cast.

'Glee' Drama: Is Lea Michele Leading a Mutiny?

'Glee' Drama: Is Lea Michele Leading a Mutiny?

It sounds like the title of Fox's musical "Glee" might be growing more ironic by the day.

Us Magazine reports that "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy has turned into nothing short of an ogre, and that it's gotten so bad that star Lea Michele is staging a mutiny.

Rachel Berry, revolutionary? "The cast has been speaking about banding together against him, and Lea is leading the charge," a source tells the magazine.

Michele's rep denies the magazine's claims, telling TheWrap that the article is "completely false."

The report cites a grueling schedule as the major reason for the unrest, but there are other factors involved, it says. They include the cast being denied raises for the current season, and not receiving money from "Glee" songs sold on iTunes.

"Things are really bad on set," the magazine's source claims. "The cast talks about how much they love Ryan, but they have grown to hate him."

At one point, according to Us, when Michele complained about going on the "Glee" tour, Murphy replied with a not-so-veiled threat.

"He asked her which of her friends she wanted him to fire," according to a source.

So is there really a revolt in the works?

Besides the denial from Michele's representative (Murphy's spokesperson offered no comment), a look at Michele's Twitter account also suggests that reports of an overthrow at McKinley High might be exaggerated. Sure, Murphy might be a prickly sort -- as evidenced by his public feud with Kings of Leon -- but Michele's tweets don't exactly read like the journal of a tormented prisoner.

"So thankful for my glee cast and my entire #glee family:)," Michele recently wrote.

And while many of her tweets do reflect a hectic work schedule, there's probably no need to call OSHA to the set just yet.

"Omg been working so hard all day I realized I haven't tweeted in hours!" one tweet notes.

As for getting hosed on "Glee"'s iTunes sales? Michele recently tweeted her elation that the "Glee" tune "We Are Young" had climbed to the top of the iTunes sales chart.

"We Are Young is #1 on iTunes!! That's so amazing!!!" Michele gushed.

Not exactly the words of someone who's enraged at being robbed blind over royalties.