Shades of Grey's
There's already trouble on "Private Practice," the new spinoff of "Grey's Anatomy."
They're changing actresses for one of the characters, so Audra McDonald will join Kate Walsh and Taye Diggs on the show.
And there's the problem.
Taye Diggs, while certainly an attractive guy and a decent actor, is the kiss of death for any television show. Everyone knows who Taye Diggs is, women love him, and yet nobody shows up to watch his TV shows or movies. Television shows like "Day Break" and "Kevin Hill" are heavily pushed and marketed, and Diggs' smiling face is on your TV for weeks in advance of his next project.
Then, his show is canned in less than two months.
He's the male Rena Sofer, a really good-looking actor who can't keep a show on the air. And yes, I know Sofer was on a couple of shows this year, but she was barely on "Heroes," and part of the worst season of "24" ever.
By the way, prior to her run on CSI, I referred to this phenomena as "Eva La Rue's Disease."
Anyway, I give it a season on the air. Too much hype.
I've written before about how much I enjoy when highly hyped things go horribly, horribly wrong. It's just my nature. Some things are marketed as "can't miss" shows to the point where there's no logical conclusion but a disappointing "miss."
I imagine the networks' programming meetings going something like this:
"Why don't we just take these characters and follow them home from Korea? Let's keep up with them after M*A*S*H!"
"It's gonna be a sure-fire hit. Who doesn't love Joey? It'll be like friends with just one guy!"
"You know, this Heather Graham...she's hot, she's funny, she popular...let's give her her own show. It can't miss! It'll run forever!"
