COMMENTARY
Fox pilot is set in Buffalo; WNGS becomes affiliate
It looks like Buffalo may be the setting for another television show on Fox. The network has confirmed that it has commissioned a pilot set here called, “Warlosky.”
A Fox publicist provided some details on the general concept of the comedy: “In the tone of [the movie] ‘Bad Santa,’ an ex-cop turned security guard patrols a mall in Buffalo. His life is centered around Buffalo sports and doing the least amount of work possible. But when he is assigned a young idiot partner, he is forced to grudgingly get involved with the people that he is assigned to protect.”
I received two e-mails this morning noting that Brian Gatewood, who co-wrote the script with Alessandro Tanaka, is a Western New York native. One of the e-mails came from a relative of Gatewood's.
Fox has said the pilot was commissioned before the success of the Kevin James movie, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” which was co-written by James and Buffalo’s Nick Bakay. Bakay, a Nichols School graduate, was an actor, writer and producer on James’ successful TV show, “King of Queens.”
Of course, most pilots don’t go to series and there’s no guarantee “Warlosky” will either. It is one of four comedy pilots commissioned by Fox.
The last Fox show set in Buffalo, “The Winner,” starred Rob Corddry as a 32-year-old man-child, Glen Abbott, who won the lottery. It lasted about six episodes in 2007. However, two of its stars have since found success. Erinn Hayes, who played Glen’s fantasy woman, stars in the CBS comedy “Worst Week.” And Keir Gilchrist, who played her character’s son and Glen’s friend, is in Showtime’s “United States of Tara.”
The failed 2007 Fox series, “Back to You,” in which Kelsey Grammer played a former big city TV news anchor who returned to a smaller market to co-anchor with a character played by Patricia Heaton, was originally supposed to be set in Buffalo before it was moved to Pittsburgh.
Co-creator Christopher Lloyd said the switch was made because of TV market size.
“No offense to Buffalonians, but we thought that would have been too far for [Grammer’s character] to fall,” said Lloyd before the show premiered.
• A new television network, This TV, is flying its logo on WNGS-TV, the station that used to run classic television shows as an affiliate of the Retro Television Network (RTN). The This logo, carried on the bottom of the TV screen, was the first sign than WNGS has a new affiliation.
Bill Ransom, Channel 7’s general manager, confirmed that WNGS is now an affiliate of MGM’s This TV. Channel 7 has a partnership with WNGS, which is carried on Channel 11 on Time Warner Cable in Buffalo and its suburbs; Channel 11 on FiOS and Channel 67 on DirecTV.
And just what is This? According to a trade publication, MediaDailyNews, it is a channel that carries movies and some old TV series. MGM started it a few months ago in partnership with Weigel Broadcasting in anticipation of the digital TV conversion coming next month.
The idea is to give local TV stations programming for the extra channels that they will have the capability of programming once the digital conversion takes place Feb. 17.
MediaDailyNews reported in December that MGM said its library has 4,100 films and 10,000 hours of TV programming.
A listing provided Thursday by Equity Broadcasting Corp., which owns WNGS, shows that the TV series that the station will carry include “The Outer Limits,” “Mister Ed,” “The Patty Duke Show,” “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!” and “Bat Masterson.”
RTN seemed to have a more satisfying schedule of classic TV shows, including “The A-Team,” “Magnum, P. I.,” “Emergency!,” “Kojak” and “The Rockford Files.”
However, the impressive list of movies offered by This TV may compensate for the decline in the TV schedule. This TV is planning a James Bond film marathon in February, according to the Equity programming department.
WNGS stopped being a RTN affiliate about two weeks ago and had been running old movies since then.
• The visibility of Channel 4 anchor- reporter Melissa Holmes will increase on Feb. 2 when she becomes the co-anchor of the expanded version of the morning program “Wake Up” that will air on sister station Channel 23 at 7 a. m.
Channel 4 (WIVB) announced Thursday that its 5 to 7 a. m. weekday program will move to Channel 23 (WNLO) after it finishes at 7 a. m. and run for another two hours until 9 a. m.
Holmes will anchor the Channel 23 version of “Wake Up!” at 7 a. m. with Joe Arena and meteorologist Mike Cejka and will anchor with Cejka alone at 8 a. m.
Victoria Hong will continue to co-anchor “Wake Up!” on Channel 4 from 5 to 7 a. m. with Arena, who landed the anchor seat that Lisa Scott had held before she was let go last month. Cejka and reporter Jericka Duncan also work the 5 to 7 a. m. shift.
The Buffalo News reported last month that General Manager Chris Musial and News Director Joe Schlaerth needed corporate approval for the proposed expansion, which could save jobs at the station.
Channel 4 had carried a popular extended version of “Wake Up” a year ago, but had to give up the real estate to the latest edition of CBS’ “The Early Show.” Now the Channel 23 version of “Wake Up!” will compete with “The Early Show” from 7 a. m. to 9 a. m., as well as ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Channel 7 and NBC’s “Today” on Channel 2.
• Money is tight these days in local TV news, but it was nice to see that one local station, Channel 7, decided to send a reporter, Patrick Taney, to Washington, D. C., to cover the local angles involving the inauguration of President Obama. It was the kind of momentous national event that all three local stations would have covered when the economy was better.
