2004/2005 Program Trends


Every year, there are certain trends in the new season 

 
Last year, we saw the following trends:
 
“Invasion of the Silver Screen Stars”
“Different Strokes for Different Folks”
“National
Security”
In 2003/2004, there was a plethora of big-screen stars moving to the small screen. Included on this list were Alicia Silverstone and Ryan O’Neal (Miss Match), James Caan (Las Vegas) and Peter Gallagher (The O.C.)
The sitcom family continued to evolve beyond the traditional definition. Last year, we saw dysfunctional families (Happy Family), multi-generational families (About the Andersons), melded families (Like Family), missing-parent families (Run of the House) and same-gender families (It’s All Relative)

 

 
The traditional local L.A. TV cop was being overshadowed by federal law enforcement agents. Among the national security agencies represented in 2003/2004 were Homeland Security (Threat Matrix), the NSA (Jake 2.0), the NCIS (NCIS), the U.S. Marshals (Karen Sisco) and, of course, the FBI (The Handler)

 

Here is a look at this year's trends:

“Viva Variety ”
2004/2005 will see an influx of variety programs including Blue Collar TV (WB), Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show (WB) and the Kelsey Grammer Sketch Show (FOX). Interestingly enough, one of the cast members from the Grammer show is also in the pilot of the Drew Carey show
“Retun of the Living Dead”
A number of stars in recently cancelled 2003/2004 programs are already back including Rob Lowe and Joe Pantoliano (moving from Lyon’s Den and The Handler to Dr. Vegas), Christopher Gorham (Jake 2.0 to Medical Investigation) and Jennifer Aspen (Come to Papa to Rodney)
“Spin-Off City ”
C.S.I. New York is the latest in the C.S.I. Family. Other spin-offs include a new Law & Order in mid-season (Law & Order: Trial by Jury), Joey (from Friends), Boston Legal (from The Practice) and every reality show