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Author Topic:   2007/2008 Television Season
indiedan
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posted May 14, 2007 09:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message
NBC cans 'Studio 60,' 'Jordan'

NEW YORK (AP) -- With "Heroes" its only new hit of the season, struggling NBC announced a fall schedule Monday that includes a spinoff and three other dramas also trading on supernatural themes.

The network took a risk by keeping its Thursday night comedy lineup intact. NBC has drawn strong critical praise but few viewers for shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office," leaving the network faltering on a night it once dominated.

NBC, the first of the broadcast networks to unveil a new schedule to advertisers this week, canceled "Crossing Jordan" and the high-profile failure "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Another critical favorite that hasn't found a big audience, "Friday Night Lights," was renewed.

"Law & Order" will be back for its 18th season and "Medium" will return, but not until January, when they take over a Sunday time slot filled by football in the fall.

Fourth-place NBC showed signs of life last fall with critically acclaimed shows. The bottom dropped out this spring when the network had its least-watched week in at least 20 years -- then went even lower the following week.

"We've got the class and next season we're ready to add some mass, with new shows that build on the creative accomplishments of last season and are as broad as they are good," NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly said.

To stretch the normal 22-episode season of "Heroes," which faltered after its long hiatus this year, NBC will add "Heroes: Origins." The spinoff will introduce a new character each week, and viewers will select which one stays for the following season. The two series will have 30 new episodes combined.

Since it found an audience this season with superpowered stars, NBC will remake "Bionic Woman" with Michelle Ryan in the title role.

New series "Journeyman" is about a San Francisco newspaper reporter who travels through time to alter people's lives, and "Chuck" is a thriller about a computer geek who becomes a government agent after spy secrets are embedded in his brain.

Brooke Shields headlines an hour-long series about three high-powered women friends, a script from "Sex and the City" author Candace Bushnell.

NBC's other new series, "Life," is a drama about a detective given a second chance after spending years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

Illustrating the difficulties in introducing new comedies, NBC said it will have only one new sitcom next season -- and it didn't even earn a spot on the fall schedule. "The IT Crowd" is about a group of people who work in technical services at a large corporation.

The successful game "Deal or No Deal," often NBC's most popular program, will air on Monday and Wednesday nights.

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N F S I 2
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posted May 15, 2007 09:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for N F S I 2   Click Here to Email N F S I 2     Edit/Delete Message
ABC turns to cavemen, modern women, for new lineup
Tue May 15, 2007 11:14AM EDT
By Paul Thomasch and Steve Gorman

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ABC on Tuesday announced plans for 12 new television shows next season, including a spinoff of its hit hospital drama "Grey's Anatomy" and a caveman comedy based on the popular Geico insurance commercials.

Looking to reignite a ratings rebound that faltered this season, ABC unveiled a broad programming slate for the 2007-2008 broadcast season built around seven new dramas, four new comedies and a new reality show.

The latest crop of prime-time offerings from the Walt Disney Co.-owned network is built around lighter, escapist shows, with character-driven stories, female protagonists and supernatural themes.

The network even picked up a comedy called "Cavemen," adapted from the Geico commercials as an offbeat commentary on ethnic prejudice from the perspective of three prehistoric guys trying to make their way in the modern world.

But ABC shied away from the kind of complex, serialized mystery dramas that it helped popularize on network TV with the early success of its castaway thriller "Lost," which shed some of its ratings clout this past season.

"It's a real different year this year than last year," said ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. He described a shift away from "hard, dense, demanding" shows that have fallen somewhat out of favor with viewers.

Not only does that mean more light drama for 2007-08, but it also resulted in the introduction of four new comedies.

"The good thing about comedies is that they've been broken for a few years so people are willing to take chances," McPherson said in a meeting with reporters ahead of ABC's upfront presentation to advertisers.

ABC pulled two veteran family sitcoms, "George Lopez" and "According to Jim," from its schedule, leaving the network to start from scratch next fall on the half-hour comedy front.

The company is the next major TV network after NBC to showcase its prime-time lineup for the fall as broadcasters kick off the annual "upfront" advertising market in which some $9 billion in prime-time commercials is expected to be booked in advance.

NBC rolled out five new dramas, several of which featured science fiction and female empowerment themes, including a 21st-century remake of the 1970s adventure "Bionic Woman."

RATINGS DILEMMA

After two years of solid growth, ABC stumbled in the ratings this past season, due in part to the loss of its highly watched "Monday Night Football" franchise, which moved to sister sports network ESPN.

While reality competition "Dancing with the Stars" grew into a major sensation and comedy "Ugly Betty" gained surprise success, two of ABC's hottest shows from the year before -- "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" -- cooled off.

Among the higher-profile dramas on the new lineup is the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice," which follows Dr. Addison Montgomery as she leaves her Seattle hospital to join a ritzy practice in California.

ABC is hoping the new show will build on the largely female-skewing fan base of "Grey's Anatomy," which ranks this season as the second-most watched drama on U.S. television, behind CBS's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Women viewers have emerged as a key demographic behind the success of several returning ABC hits, from "Grey's Anatomy" and "Dancing with the Stars" to "Desperate Housewives" and "Ugly Betty."

ABC is looking to extend the trend with several of its new shows, including two dramas built around predominantly female casts -- "Cashmere Mafia," from "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star, and "Women's Murder Club," which has been billed as "Sex and the City" meets "CSI."

Other ABC drama pickups include "Eli Stone," the story of a lawyer who thinks he may be a prophet; "Pushing Daisies," a detective show about a guy who can bring the dead to life; "Big Shots," involving the boardroom and bedroom intrigues of four dysfunctional CEOs; and a series called "Dirty Sexy Money."

On the comedy front, ABC will add "Sam I Am," starring Christina Applegate as a recovering amnesiac; "Miss/Guided," about an ugly duckling who returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor; and the male buddy sitcom "Carpoolers."

Midseason, ABC will also bring out "Oprah's Big Give," a reality competition that takes place in various cities.

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N F S I 2
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posted May 15, 2007 03:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for N F S I 2   Click Here to Email N F S I 2     Edit/Delete Message
Fourth-Place NBC Shows Off Only Five New Shows


Despite conspicuous weaknesses throughout its schedule, NBC on Monday unveiled only five new dramas and one new comedy for its upcoming fall schedule. At a news conference in New York, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly explained, "Loading up on product is not necessarily a recipe for success" since each new show would have to be promoted -- leading to a plethora of "clutter" on the network. The new shows include Journeyman, Chuck, Life, Lipstick Jungle, The IT Crowd (the only comedy), and a "reimagination" of The Bionic Woman. The network also indicated that it is developing a Heroes spin-off, titled Heroes: Origins. In addition, the network will be dropping Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the show it appeared to have the greatest hopes for when it announced its fall schedule a year ago. Also leaving the lineup will be Donald Trump's The Apprentice, although Reilley suggested that another show from Trump will take its place. "We want to be in business with Donald," Reilly said. "He has a certain magic." Meanwhile, a Trump representative told TV Guide, "We've actually been approached by one of the other three broadcast networks, should NBC pass."

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HollywoodProducer
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posted May 15, 2007 05:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for HollywoodProducer   Click Here to Email HollywoodProducer     Edit/Delete Message
ABC Unveils Plans for Fall
ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff will air next fall on an all-new Wednesday night schedule, one of 11 new series the network plans for next season. "Private Practice" features Dr. Addison Shepard, who leaves Seattle for work in Los Angeles. A special "Grey's Anatomy" that effectively served as the show's pilot was seen by 21 million people earlier this month. Veteran TV actors Merrin Dungey, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs and Amy Brenneman will join star Kate Walsh in "Private Practice," which will air at 9 p.m. Two other new series will air Wednesdays on ABC in the fall. "Pushing Daisies," (WB show) described as a forensic fairy tale, features a boy who can touch dead people and bring them back to life. "Dirty Sexy Money" is a prime-time soap opera about a wealthy New York family. ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co., also gave the go-ahead to "Cavemen," a comedy adapted from the Geico insurance commercials. The first prime-time series from Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, "Oprah's Big Give," will debut in midseason. It's a reality series where contestants compete in philanthropy. The network canceled the comedies "George Lopez," (WB show) "Help Me Help You" and "Knights of Prosperity." "What About Brian" did not make the cut, and ABC is still debating the future of "According to Jim," while leaving it off the fall schedule. In contrast to last year, when "Grey's Anatomy" made its successful switch to Thursday nights, ABC plans no major shifts of its existing series. "Men in Trees" moves to an earlier time slot on Friday nights. "Lost" will return in midseason, but ABC made no commitment Tuesday on where it will land on the schedule. Other new series that ABC plans for next season include:• "Big Shots," (WB show) a drama about four hard-charging friends who are dysfunctional CEOs. Dylan McDermott, Christopher Titus, Joshua Malina and Michael Vartan play the lead characters.

• "Cashmere Mafia," ABC's attempt to inherit the "Sex and the City" mantle. Four women, friends since business school, juggle their personal and professional lives in New York. NBC has a similar new show --with three women.

• "Eli Stone," a drama about a top lawyer in San Francisco who begins having visions because of a brain aneurysm.

• "Women's Murder Club," based on James Patterson novels, is a drama about four women in San Francisco -- a detective, district attorney, medical examiner and reporter -- who work together to solve crimes.

• "Carpoolers," a comedy about four men from different backgrounds who get together each day for some male bonding on the drive to work.

• "Miss/Guided," a comedy about a former high school geek who returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor, only to see an ex-cheerleader and former nemesis come back as an English teacher.

• "Sam I Am," a comedy starring Christina Applegate about a woman who awakes from a coma with no memory, only to find out she was a creep before.

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HollywoodProducer
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posted May 15, 2007 05:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for HollywoodProducer   Click Here to Email HollywoodProducer     Edit/Delete Message
CBS cancels 'Jericho,' two others; 'Class,' 'Home' axed; 'Your Mother' renewed
CBS has apparently nuked "Jericho," dismissed "Class" and closed the book on "Close to Home." Net wasn't commenting Tuesday, but several people familiar with the situation said none of the skeins has been given a series order for next season. "Close to Home" had been considered near dead for several months now, with "Class" on the longshot list, but there had been speculation that CBS would exercise some patience with "Jericho." Eye skeins getting better news this week include "How I Met Your Mother," which has been picked up for a third season. Eye's most buzzworthy laffer might seem to be a no-brainer for renewal, but CBS execs make producers sweat it out until the last minute. End for "Close to Home" comes after two seasons for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama. Cancellation also means that, for the first time in many years, Bruckheimer will be losing a show from his still impressive slate of hits. It's also the second consecutive year Bruckheimer has failed to place a new show on the nets' skeds. "The Class" is a heartbreaker for the small audience of the Warner Bros. TV-produced show, which seemed to find its creative voice toward the end of its shortened first season. It also produced stable ratings in the 8:30 p.m. slot, but the show's lofty auspices and huge pre-season hype had CBS execs hoping for more. As previously reported, "The Unit," "Numbers" and "Ghost Whisperer" will be back next season, as will "NCIS" and all three "CSI" skeins. Sole CBS frosh drama set to return is "Shark." Eye is also moving forward with another year of "Rules of Engagement."

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indiedan
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posted May 16, 2007 08:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message
ABC In a "Tonal Shift" for Next Season
In deciding what new programs to take on for the 2007-2008 season, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said Tuesday that the network had listened to "a tonal shift in the viewer" -- away from darker, complicated series like Lost and towards lighter fare like Ugly Betty. Gone from the lineup were such dramas as The Nine, Day Break, Six Degrees and Traveler. In their place will be eight more uncomplicated shows, among them: Dirty Sexy Money, about an "absurdly wealthy" family; Cavemen, a sitcom based on the cavemen in the Geico commercials; Pushing Daisies, about a man who can bring dead people back to life; Women's Murder Club, about a group of women who pool their talents to solve murders; and Private Practice, a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted May 29, 2007 02:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
Networks Now Forced to Cram Top Shows Into Three Nights


With American Idol dominating Tuesday and Wednesday nights during the second half of each season and television viewers -- particularly younger ones -- abandoning their TV sets on Friday and Saturday nights, broadcast network executives are being forced to cram all of their strongest programs into just three nights of the week -- Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, Broadcasting & Cable observed today (Tuesday). "There are a lot of good shows facing a lot of good competition," an unidentified network executive told the trade publication. "It used to be that they could be spread out over an entire week, but there's not a lot of open real estate anymore." The result was ratings erosion for all but 13 series on the TV networks this past season, B&C reported.

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indiedan
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posted June 14, 2007 05:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message
Lowest-Rated Net NBC Lands $1-Billion Ad Deal


Nearly a month after the networks' upfront presentation of their fall schedule to advertisers, the first major deal was announced Wednesday -- a nearly $1-billion pact between the media investment holding company Group M (MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia, MindShare and Maxus) and NBC Universal (NBC, USA Network, Sci Fi Channel, Bravo, and Telemundo). Analysts noted that although ad buyers ordinarily engage in furious dealmaking within days following the upfront presentation, they have waited far longer than usual this year -- and the first major one has been struck not with the network with the most appealing programming and demographics but with the network with the least desirable. Moreover, in the case of the NBC deal, advertisers have agreed to accept price terms based on "Live Plus Three" ratings, i.e., those based not just on viewers who watch the programs live but also those who watch it on DVRs within three days of the original broadcast -- a ratings scheme that many ad buyers have previously balked at in the belief that most viewers who watch recorded programs skip commercials.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted June 20, 2007 12:39 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
Nbc's Got No. 1 Again


NBC, which struggled during the regular season just to place any of its shows on Nielsen Research's top-ten ratings list, had the No. 1 show on the list for the second week in a row. The show, America's Got Talent, drew 11.82 million viewers. Among adults 18-49, Fox's Hell's Kitchen took top honors. Nevertheless, CBS won the week among overall households, thanks to a strong assortment of regular shows -- mostly reruns -- and the NBA finals, which pulled strong ratings by ordinary standards but not by the standards of past NBA telecasts. The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. America's Got Talent, NBC, 7.4/13; 2. NBA Finals Game 4, ABC, 6.5/9; 3. NCIS, CBS, 6.5/12; 4. So You Think Can Dance (Thursday), Fox, 6.5/11; 5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 6.4/11; 6. NBA Finals Game 3, ABC, 6.4/9; 7. CSI: Miami, CBS, 6.3/11; 8. Cold Case, CBS, 6.2/11; 9. Law and Order: SVU, NBC, 6.1/7; 10. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 6.1/10.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted July 05, 2007 02:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
Americans Watch Fireworks, Not TV


Americans appeared to be far more interested in picnics, barbeques, and fireworks on the 4th of July than in television. Even ratings for NBC's America's Got Talent, which has become the top-rated show of the summer, dropped well below their previous average. Indeed, the first hour of Talent, which recorded a 4.2 rating and a 9 share, took a backseat to a repeat of CBS's NCIS, which posted a 5.1/10 (and was the highest-rated show of the night). At 9:00 p.m., Talent moved ahead, delivering a 4.5/9, as CBS's The Unit dropped to second place with a 3.7/6. NBC retained the lead at 10:00 p.m. as a rerun of Law & Order: SVU drew a 4.8/9.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted July 13, 2007 08:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
Patinkin Out of 'Minds'?
Emmy Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin has been written out of the season premiere of CBS's Criminal Minds, according to TV Guide Online's Michael Ausiello, who cited multiple unnamed sources. The report followed a disclosure by E! Online that Patinkin had failed to show up for a "table read" (an early rehearsal) of the episode. Patinkin reportedly is unhappy that CBS did not boost his salary after the series took off. In his column, Ausiello suggested that CBS is not likely to regard Patinkin, whom he referred to as an actor and "chanteuse" (a term generally applied to sultry female nightclub singers), as irreplaceable. "When are these CBS stars going to learn?" he asked. "I mean, Les Moonves fired Valerie Harper from a show called Valerie!"

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NEWSFLASH
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posted July 16, 2007 03:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
It's Official: Patinkin Returning for Single 'Criminal Minds' Episode


Mandy Patinkin will return for a single episode of CBS's Criminal Minds "to wrap up his story," TV Guide Online reported Sunday. It provided no details. Earlier, Ed Bernero, the show's executive producer, refuted rumors that producers had refused to grant Patinkin a raise after the show became a hit. "This is not about money," Bernero said on a fansite for the show. "This is not about something Mr. Patinkin asked for that wasn't provided." In fact, Bernero claimed, Patinkin gave no hint that he was leaving the show until he failed to show up for work on the day before the first episode was scheduled to be shot. "He also has not contacted anyone within the show (producers, cast, crew) to explain why he isn't returning. Even to this moment, we have no word from him," said Bernero. "He gave us no advance notice that anything was wrong, no opportunity to find a way to make the loss of this character work, no indication that we should be looking for someone else, no warning that we might have to rewrite the first seven scripts (which is how far ahead we try to work) without the central character in them. None. Zero."

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NEWSFLASH
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posted July 16, 2007 03:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
NBC Hoping That Women Will Watch 'Friday Night Lights'


NBC is planning to promote Friday Night Lights among women in the hopes of giving the critically praised but low-rated show a lift, USA Today reported today (Monday). Although the show is regarded as appealing to teens and sports fans, "women would like it as much, if not more, than men," executive producer Jason Katims told the newspaper. The series is slated to air on Friday nights next season -- ordinarily a low-rated night, largely because teens are out at the movies (or attending Friday-night football games). According to the newspaper, the high school team featured in the series will remain central to the plots, but game scenes will be shorter.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted July 17, 2007 04:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
NBC Lays On the Silverman Touch


Meeting with TV newspaper columnists and critics for the first time on Monday, NBC Entertainment Co-chairman Ben Silverman ticked off a slew of major changes that the network will undergo under his aegis. Among them: Jerry Seinfeld will appear in a recurring role (as himself) on 30 Rock starting with the season premiere; Isaiah Washington, dumped from Grey's Anatomy in the wake of an anti-gay slur directed at a fellow cast member, will guest star on the upcoming Bionic Woman series; Norman Lear, the creator of such trailblazing shows as All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Maude will produce a new one-hour comedy for the network; and The Apprentice will return with a celebrity version. (Silverman suggested that "it'd be great to get Rosie [O'Donnell]" for the show and that Donald Trump had asked him to extend an invitation to her. An O'Donnell spokeswoman later responded: "It will never happen in this lifetime or beyond.")

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NEWSFLASH
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posted July 20, 2007 09:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message
CBS President Welcomes Controversy Over New Shows


CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said Thursday that she will welcome controversy over the network's new programs for the fall season. Insisting that the network plans to be "adventurous ... daring and bold and different," Tassler told the TV critics' summer press tour in Beverly Hills that she expected some of the programs to generate negative comment from critics -- in particular, the wife-swapping drama Swingtown. "I hope there are concerns about it. I really do," she said. "We're going to push the envelope with that show." In regards to Kids Nation, a new reality show in which kids create their own society without adult supervision, Tassler said that she expected it "to stir public debate." Asked to explain the departure of Mandy Patinkin from Criminal Minds, Tassler said that he had left because of "personal reasons." When one reporter pointed out that the official announcement said that Patinkin had left because of "creative differences," she responded: "I think 'creative differences' is a euphemism for personal issues." She declined to discuss the matter further. "I don't feel that this is the forum in which I'd like to have that conversation," she said. However, in an interview with today's (Thursday) New York Times, Ed Bernero, the show's executive producer, expressed anger over Patinkin's sudden departure. "I don't get the idea out here that someone can walk away from their job and then everyone bends over backward to make it look like it's our fault," he said. "Everyone was worried last week about protecting the show, and then they released a statement that protects everyone but the show. Why can't we just tell the truth? We expected him to show up for work, and he didn't."

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