E!: Back to You moving to CBS?! Beauty and the Geek canceled?


Hey, all! Welcome to upfront week. Today, here in New York City, we start with the NBC “Experience,” which, to my understanding, is a carnival-like soiree with a few of our Peacock favorites. That goes down later this afternoon, followed by ABC and the CW tomorrow, CBS on Wednesday and Fox on Thursday.

So what’s expected to be picked up or canceled this week? We’ll have the news in this column as the official announcements break, but for now, here’s what I’m hearing:

NBC: Most of the major announcements were made at Ben Silverman’s early bird quasi-upfront last month, but today we’ll also learn that:


* Jimmy Fallon is taking over for Conan O’Brien.
* Ryan Seacrest is l-a-u-n-c-h-i-n-g a new reality dating series called Momma’s Boys, in which overprotective mothers find a bride-to-be for their son.


ABC (announcements to be made Tuesday):

* Boston Legal will return, but with a significantly scaled down cast. (Reminiscent of The Practice’s cleaning and firing of six castmembers in 2003, which led to spinoff Boston Legal.)
* Women’s Murder Club is gone, as we reported last week.
* Eli Stone will get picked up and may possibly move into Boston Legal’s spot on Tuesday.
* Miss/Guided is likely to be picked up.


CW (announcements to be made Tuesday):

* Jury’s still out on Reaper. It may return midseason. I may go insane waiting for the official word.
* Aliens in America is gone.
* 90210 has been picked up, with special guest appearances by Jennie Garth and likely Tori Spelling.
* How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls has become Surviving the Filthy Rich and has been picked up.
* Stylista, a new reality series from Tyra Banks and Ken Mok, has been picked up. Contestants compete for an editorial job at Elle magazine.
* Returning series: Gossip Girl, Smallville, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, America’s Next Top Model.
* Pussycat Dolls and Beauty and the Geek have been canceled.


CBS (announcements to be made Wednesday):

* No official word yet on How I Met Your Mother, but sources connected to the series say they are expecting a fourth-season pickup, thanks in part to the recent ratings uptick and media attention over Britney’s guest spot.
* The Unit is very likely to receive a pickup.
* Moonlight is likely to receive a pickup.
* The Mentalist (Simon Baker), Eleventh Hour (Jerry Bruckheimer) and Game Show in My Head (reality competition from Ashton Kutcher) all picked up.
* Geena Davis’ drama pilot Exit 19 has not been picked up.


FOX (announcements to be made Thursday):

* J.J. Abrams’ pilot Fringe, which reportedly cost $10 million to produce, has been picked up to series. In the vein of The X-Files, the series will feature weekly freaky-deaky investigations.
* Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse will premiere midseason, perhaps in a Monday time slot.
* Arrested Development reunion! This fall l-o-o-k for a new animated series, Sit Down, Shut Up, from AD creator Mitch Hurwitz. Based on a live-action Australian sitcom, the U.S. version is centered around the lives of seven high school teachers in the Northeast and will be voiced by the likes of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler.
* Peter Berg—you know, the guy behind Friday Night Lights—has been asked to direct the two-hour backdoor pilot for Ronald D. Moore’s new space-exploration drama, Virtuality.
* According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the network is said to be enthusiastic about the Bernie Mac drama Starting Under, but it needs a new show runner.
* Back to You has been canceled, but rumor has it that CBS, which produces the show, is l-o-o-k-i-n-g at it for a pickup.
* New Amsterdam will also not be returning, as we previously reported.
* ‘Til Death will be back


That’s it for now! Check back later for more scoop from the network soirees in NYC...And if you have any questions for the stars, producers or network mucky-mucks, post them below and I’ll do my best to get you some answers.

Source: E! Online, Watch with Kristin