Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central)

Last updated
Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central)
Also known asMy Adventures in Television
Genre Sitcom
Created by Peter Tolan
Written byDavid J. Baldy
Jenji Kohan
Lesly Liberman
Daphne Pollon
Peter Tolan
Mike Martineau
Directed by Robert Berlinger
Peter Tolan
Ted Wass
Starring Ivan Sergei
Melinda McGraw
Ed Begley Jr.
James Michael McCauley
John Cleese
Theme music composerPeter Tolan
Christopher Tyng
ComposerChristopher Tyng
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6 (1 unaired)
Production
Executive producersLauren Corrao
Peter Tolan
ProducersMike Martineau
Michael Petok
Shari Tavey
Running time2224 minutes
Production companies The Cloudland Company
Touchstone Television
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseMarch 27 (2002-03-27) 
June 12, 2002 (2002-06-12)

Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central) (later retitled My Adventures in Television) is an American sitcom which aired on ABC in 2002. The series was created by Peter Tolan.

Contents

Plot

Idealistic television executive David Weiss joins struggling TV network IBS, only to discover it is a place of backstabbing, constant competition, and a fair bit of bad programming. His colleagues include: Mike McClaren, an exec who will do anything to get ahead in the business, including hiding his own homosexuality; Lindsay Urich, an air-head who gets by on her looks; Joanne Walker, who exists as the token black person at the network; and head of programming Paul Weffler, who has an ability to get things done but is so clueless that often it is by accident. Overseeing them all is the president of the network, Red Lansing, whose orders – no matter how far-fetched – are always right.

The series didn't shy away from surprising storylines. Episode one featured David sleeping with Lori Loughlin which caused a scandal at the network; episode three – "Death Be Not Pre-Empted" – featured the team going after ratings by airing the execution of a serial killer, and episode six revolved around David's attempt to please all sorts of minority groups without displeasing others.

Cast

Production

The series was a mid-season replacement, [1] premiering on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 at (unsurprisingly) 9:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times, 8:30 Central Time – with the title being a play on the common U.S. network practice of promoting both airtimes. [2] [3] Series creator Peter Tolan had earlier written The Larry Sanders Show , Ellen and Murphy Brown . The series was able to attract big-name guest stars, such as Lori Loughlin, John Ritter, Garry Shandling and Lisa Rinna, who all appeared as themselves in the first few episodes. However, low ratings caused ABC to put the series on hiatus after just two episodes, [4] and ultimately cancel it. [5]

Three more episodes appeared after the May sweeps were over; on May 29, 2002, the show returned to its Wednesday 9:30/8:30 time slot, under the new title My Adventures in Television. The remaining produced episode never aired. [5]

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"Pilot" Ted Wass Peter Tolan March 27, 2002 (2002-03-27)
2"The Art of Groveling"Ted WassDavid J. BaldyApril 3, 2002 (2002-04-03)
3"Death Be Not Pre-Empted" Robert Berlinger Daphne PollonMay 29, 2002 (2002-05-29)
4"Chinese Baby"Peter Tolan Jenji Kohan June 5, 2002 (2002-06-05)
5"Fired"Ted WassLesly LiebermanJune 12, 2002 (2002-06-12)
6"Diversity"TBDTBDUNAIRED

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References

  1. Levesque, John (March 25, 2002). "Midseason sitcoms: From middling to really bad". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  2. Johnson, Steve (March 27, 2002). "Comedy centralized". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  3. Rafferty, Terrence (March 24, 2002). "Television/Radio; The importance of being silly". The New York Times . Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  4. "US drops Cleese sitcom". BBC News Online . April 9, 2002. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Johnson, Allan (June 22, 2002). "Canceled 'Adventures in Television': Was the hook too quick?". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.