Pasadena, Calif. -- TBS executives will begin paring My Boys with the girls from Sex and the City beginning in November.
Network executives believe the same audience that embraces Sex will respond to this new character-based relationship comedy, they told television critics meeting here. It’s the story of a female sportswriter in Chicago (Jordana Spiro, JAG) whose romantic life is stunted by her job and the fact she’s constantly surrounded by a close group of male friends and relatives. TBS ordered 13 episodes of the show.
The network will also expand on its “very funny” branding with new shows under development including Late Nite Buffet,a talk show from the Henson Co. that will feature a puppet host, sidekick and band, but will interview live celebrity guests.
10 Items or Less will roll out in primetime. Described as “lightly scripted,” the improv show follows the life of an unsuccessful New York businessman who moves back to Ohio to run the family supermarket. These are also going to debut in November.
Sister network TNT is developing The Librarian II,reprising characters from a successful 2004 TV movie it aired last year starring Noah Wylie (ER).
A six-hour miniseries on the CIA, The Company is in production and will star Chris O’Donnell, Alfred Molina and Michael Keaton. That will debut on the network next summer.
Later this August, TNT will show The Ron Clark Story. Clark was a teacher in a Harlem public school who, through his devotion and innovative teaching, turned around the fortunes of troubled students. The telefilm stars Matthew Perry (Friends).
Turner Classic Movies will feature Behind the Camera: The Shorts Circuit, profiling memorable short films from the past, in September; and fashion designer Tom
Ford will be the guest programmer that month. Architecture in film will be the theme for October on that channel.
Court TV is producing two new action series, SWAT USA and Beach Patrol: Miami Beach.A new scripted series, ‘Til Death Do Us Part, will hit the air in 2007. Hosted by filmmaker John Waters, this anthology is being compared to Alfred Hitchcock Presents with tales of marriages gone bad.
The channel Aug. 21 will debut documentary feature film On Native Soil, which will profile and include interviews with the Sept. 11 victims’ families who pressed the government to launch an investigation into the tragedy.
CNN will also weigh in with 9/11-related content with In the Footsteps of Bin Laden. This two-hour documentary, scheduled for Aug. 23, interviews 36 friends, family members and associates of the Al-Qaeda leader to determine how he became such a fearsome enemy of the west. The special is hosted by correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
The news network also converted its war coverage into a weekly series, This Week at War,hosted by John Roberts and scheduled for Saturday nights with reruns the next day.
