New Social Experiment TV from CBS, 'The Beast' Canceled, 'Royal Pains' a rating Gem & More Fun TV News

Well.. this looks very interesting. CBS is going to be airing a reality TV show tentatively titled "Block Party". Apparently, families on one block will live behind a 20 foot walls for 3 weeks and will compete for cash prizes against each other. They will not be able to have access to anything outside of those 20' walls. It's like Big Brother only it's families in their own houses cut off from the world. Very interesting. Kind of like the real life version of the Simpson's Movie where the town was in an impenetrable bubble.

Ryan Seacrest productions is bringing us a reality series on ABC that stars British chef Jamie Oliver. Oliver will make over entire towns by using local resources to get the citizens eating healthier. Like this concept. As he puts it Americans are fat. We need a change of habits. 'Biggest Loser' has been such a successful series because it shows that we CAN change ourselves as long as we adapt new habits. Now, we have a focus on foods. He'll visit the unhealthiest places in America (I'm sure areas with the highest percentage of overweight people).

Here are Fox's fall premiere dates:

Saturday, Sept. 12
8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT COPS (Season Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT COPS (All-New Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT AMERICA’S MOST WANTED (Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 16
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (Season Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT GLEE (Series Premiere)

Thursday, Sept. 17
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT BONES (Season Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT FRINGE (Season Premiere)

Friday, Sept. 18
8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT BROTHERS (Series Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT ‘TIL DEATH (Season Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT DOLLHOUSE (Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 21
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT HOUSE (2-Hour Season Premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 27
8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT THE SIMPSONS (Season Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT THE CLEVELAND SHOW (Series Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT FAMILY GUY (Season Premiere)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT AMERICAN DAD (Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 28
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT HOUSE (All-New Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT LIE TO ME (Season Premiere)

Tuesday, Sept. 29
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT HELL’S KITCHEN (All-New Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (Time Period Premiere)

Tuesday, Oct. 27
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (Time Period Premiere)

Saturday, Nov. 7
11:00 PM-Midnight ET/PT THE WANDA SYKES SHOW (wt) (Series Premiere)

In other TV news the A&E show 'The Beast' has been officially canceled after 1 season. As I'm sure you are aware, it starred Patrick Swayze who has been battling Pancreatic Cancer. It received an average of 1.35M viewers, not enough to be a ratings grabber for the network, and so it was canceled. However, considering that other cable shows have received similar ratings leaves me to wonder if the true reason is Patrick Swayzes health and his ability to actually finish a second season. I wish I would have watched it because I heard it was a good series. I really do hope that Swayze wins his fight with cancer but I think the reality of it is that he is not going to make it. It's very sad.

Remember that show 'I Get That Alot' that aired on CBS a few months back? It was such a hit that they ordered a few more episodes. It was fun! It won't be weekly (which is nice, too much of it would take away it's charm). So we can look forward to a quarterly role out of that show this coming TV season.

'Kings' on NBC magically turned up on my DVR this weekend. It was an unexpected surprise since I haven't seen anything anywhere about it being on not even on the network itself. But then again it was canceled and so they are airing the last of the episodes filmed and will give it a quite exit I guess. It was really a great series that just didn't catch on. Shame. It had only 1.5M viewers this past Saturday. Not surprised, most people didn't even know it was on. Myself included. But that is what is so good about DVRs and the "season pass" feature (or first run only recording feature depending on your service). That is why , even if a show has been canceled sometime during the year , you should keep it on your recording list. You never know when those last episodes will start running on TV during the summer months or regular programming hiatus time.

FYI, it was announced last week that 'Earl' will not be on TBS after all. According to the reports it just couldn't be done within TBS budget without sacrificing the artistic integrity of the show. Sorry 'Earl' fans, it's gone for good.

The 'Listener' on NBC on Thursdays is not fairing well in the ratings with only an average of 4.39M viewers. 'Royal Pains' on USA is actually beating out 'The Listener' in it's time slot. Doesn't look good for the Canadian shows renewal prospects. Shame, I like it. There is something a little weird about it, I noticed (but I like it) Everything on the show is generic. It's location , hospital.. etc. If you noticed their EMT shirts have no city, police have no identifiable city. It is because it is a Canadian show, but it's just a little thing I picked up on. Not a criticism at all. After all, I do really like the show and I hope NBC gives it a shot in a fall/winter time slot.

And some final last good news for the day. If you are a fan of 'Royal Pains' on USA, the shows second episode stayed at a steady average of 5.6M viewers and grew in the demo of 18-49 year olds.

Well.. happy DVR'g this evening. Don't forget to watch or DVR 'The Closer', 'Raising the Bar' on TNT and 'Nurse Jackie' on Showtime tonight.