CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- Your talking baby fix will have to wait.
That's the latest word from the CBS camp as the Eye network is expected to announce shortly it will move the second season of "Baby Bob" to a summer start date. Eight episodes have been completed for its second season. While not a critics' darling, "Bob" averaged a solid 12.85 million viewers in its initial six-week run last spring, holding 100% of lead-in "King of Queens'" audience.
Previously, CBS had committed to 13 new episodes of the comedy however due to the network's last minute production commitments to "My Big Fat Greek Life," the episode order was cut to eight.
With the show's future in doubt beyond its summer run, leads Adam Arkin and Joely Fisher have both signed on to other projects. It's unclear however if CBS has first position on the actors should they go forward with a third round of "Bob" episodes. Arkin is attached to the NBC comedy "The Ripples" while Fisher is on board the Lifetime drama pilot "Wild Card."
CBS has not had a strong history regarding scripted programming during the summer. Its last effort: a June 2001 run of the second season of "Ladies Man" was axed after five episodes despite having 13 episodes completed. Before that the Eye network tried a six-week run of "Thanks," a comedy about (and no, weren't not making this up) the Pilgrims, during the summer of 1999.
'Still committed' to 'Eddie'
In a conference call to talk about its banner sweeps performance, FOX entertainment president Gail Berman confirmed its drama "Keen Eddie" will not debut during the 2002-2003 season. She did however insist the network is "still committed" to the show and quite happy with it. At the earliest, the dramedy will bow in the summer as part of the network's new focus on launching some of its scripted programming early to avoid initial pre-emptions by FOX's Major League Baseball playoffs commitment.
"Eddie" stars Mark Valley ("Pasadena") as a down-on-his-luck New York City police detective who, after being dumped by his girlfriend and responsible for a drug bust gone bad, is sent to England with his rambunctious dog Pete, to clean up the mess he made from his botched narcotics sting. The series was created by J.H. Wyman ("The Mexican"), British film director Simon West ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "Con Air," "The General's Daughter") and veteran television executive Warren Littlefield.
It was not specified how many episodes have been completed or its production order.
FOX had previously scrapped two series it announced for its 2002-2003 schedule: the Randy Quaid comedy "The Grubbs" and the teen drama "Septuplets." Historically, the network has a growing tradition of scrapping at least one project it announces at its upfront presentation: the self-titled Robert Schimmel comedy "Schimmel" in 2000, the "Cruel Intentions" adaptation "Manchester Prep" in 1999, Shaun Cassidy's drama "Hollyweird" in 1998 and the Scott Baio comedy "Rewind" back in 1997.
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