CBS Considers Uncanceling Cult Show

Surprise move comes days before shooting starts on Season 7

(NEWSER) - In an unexpected move just days before CSI: NY begins shooting its seventh season, co-star Melina Kanakaredes said today she'll leave the case of the CBS crime procedural. "We hoped Melina would return to CSI: NY for another season, but we respect her decision to move on," the network said in a statement, seemingly indicating negotiations had been ongoing. The show is the lowest-rated show in the CSI family and is moving to Friday this fall, which bodes ill for its prospects, New York notes . More»

Tournament-ending video montage disappoints

(NEWSER) - CBS dropped the ball on the most eagerly awaited part of its NCAA basketball tournament coverage, critics agree. Hiring Jennifer Hudson—who isn't even a CBS recording artist—to sing "One Shining Moment" was one thing, but turning the wildly popular annual highlight montage into a Jennifer Hudson video was quite another. Some reactions:

• Hudson "made a total of five appearances of varying lengths during this thing. What could we have seen in that time?" wonders Chris Littmann of the Sporting News , who proceeds to list a whole bunch.

This year's network pilots include four with non-white stars

(NEWSER) - The upcoming crop of pilots for network TV offers hope that the industry taboo against minority leads in dramas can finally be put to rest. Four of the most high-profile projects in the works feature non-white actors, notes the Hollywood Reporter , including Forest Whitaker in a spinoff of Criminal Minds for CBS. More»

From election-night snafus to the WGA strike

(NEWSER) - It’s been an embarrassing decade for TV networks, as the Hollywood Reporter proves with its list of the aughties’ biggest industry mistakes:

1. Hollywood writers’ strike: It was unnecessary and “mutually destructive”—and for viewers, “has there ever been a longer 14 weeks?”
2. ABC’s rejection of CSI: The show has scored $6 billion for CBS and prompted spurned producer Jerry Bruckheimer to walk out on Disney.

Discovery Channel to media mogul: 'Move it or lose it'

(NEWSER) - The long-awaited launch of Oprah's cable network is set for early 2011, and her syndicated talk show will move to the new Oprah Winfrey Network—and from Chicago to Los Angeles. The switch from Discovery Health Channel to OWN was originally set for mid-2009, and Discovery threatened to rescind the offer, saying it wanted her to "move it or lose it," Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood reports. More»