NBC Flatlines ER

NBC musical dazzles critics... mostly

(NEWSER) - If you watched the Super Bowl, you just might have heard of Smash, NBC's new drama about the making of a Broadway musical. It premiered last night, and critics are (mostly) giving it a standing ovation:

• The buzz has gotten so intense that the conversation isn't even about whether it'll be good. "Good? Darling, it's great!" gushes Mary McNamara of the LA Times . The creators have "managed to capture the grand and sweeping gesture that is musical theater and inject it with the immediate intimacy of television," an impressive, unprecedented feat.

Once-dominant drama will end after next season, source says

(NEWSER) - Things might have just gotten a little more desperate than usual over on Wisteria Lane: ABC is canceling longtime stalwart Desperate Housewives, the network confirmed today to the AP. "We want to make sure it has its victory lap," ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee said in making the announcement that the show would end after next season. The show, which has seen once-stellar ratings lag, is also losing creator Marc Cherry as producer next season. More»

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»

Networks retune their lineup to court young viewers

(NEWSER) - Network TV's big hits—Modern Family, The Cleveland Show, NCIS: Los Angeles—join a pack of losers and losing news: NBC viewership is down 10% among young adults, ABC and CBS have slipped, too, and Eastwick, Hank, and Trauma have already been canceled. The LA Times surveys the playing field, mid-season.

• Comedy rules—kinda: Modern Family has reeled in 10.6 million viewers, but networks are still struggling to find the Friends or Seinfeld of the late aughts.

Breast cancer will take more treatment than initially thought

(NEWSER) - Treatment for breast cancer has forced a "deeply disappointed" Maura Tierney to withdraw from a leading role in the NBC series Parenthood, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The show was originally scheduled to start airing this month, but production was pushed back to allow Tierney, 44, to undergo treatment. The former ER and NewsRadio star said in a statement she and her doctors are "confident that the outcome of her treatments will be positive." More»