Powers that Be and Everything Else
(News)
December 16, 2000
Just in from Roy Dotrice:
"I have just received news from ABC that they have canceled our series. Madigan Men. They are not even bothering to record next week's episode. This information was relayed last night via agents after we had left the Studio amidst cries of "Have a nice weekend. See you on Monday!! I think it's a pity because I believe the show was getting better week by week. I haven't even spoken to Gabriel about this cancellation, but he must be very disappointed, poor lad."
December 9, 2000
Madigan Men will be going on hiatus after the December 15th episode --even though a taping (sans studio audience) took place Friday night, December 8th. Three episodes may remain un-aired.
On first blush the news seemed pretty bleak, as Roy Dotrice put it December 9th... "Yes, we appear to be heading for an indefinite hiatus, in other words the Axe!!! Anything you can do to persuade Fans to write to ABC asking for a stay of execution would be greatly appreciated by both Gabriel and myself."
According to an article by Nellie Andreeva of The Hollywood Reporter (courtesy shamrock72 of the Yahoo club -- http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/abcmadiganmen):
"The benching is not all bad news for "Madigan Men," ATG president and CEO Eric Tannenbaum said. "The good news for 'Madigan Men' is that ABC is still thinking (about) whether they're going to pick it up. They like the show creatively." He said changes will be made to the show and he hopes it will be relaunched in March or April in a new time slot on a new night."
So, it can't hurt to add one's own encouraging words. Here is the address the production office recommended fans write to (courtesy of Kay, former "liaison between Gabriel's fan mail handler and his online fans"):
ABC Audience Information
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
There is also a phone comment line: (818) 460-7477
And an online form to send e-mail at: http://abc.go.com/abc/help/contact.html
October 6, 2000
Before, during and after the premiere of "Madigan Men" the following clubs will be hosting online chats (starting at 9pm eastern time and expected to run for at least 5 Hours):
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/abcmadiganmen
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/gabrielbyrne
...with thanks to shamrock72
October 5, 2000
Some ABC affiliates ran a promotional segment on "Madigan Men" on their local news shows today. See a Quicktime excerpt here!
September 25, 2000
Gabriel Byrne is a scheduled guest on "The
View" Wednesday, Oct 4th at 11:00 am on ABC.
...with thanks to Rebecca of the Warm
Words on a Cold Evening Society
September 21, 2000
ABC has put a new, official Madigan Men site online at
http://www.abc.go.com/fall2000_lineup/fallseason_madigan.html
If you have Realplayer, there's even a video clip from the upcoming
pilot at: http://www.abc.go.com/fall2000_lineup/fallseason_sneak_video.html
Not to mention video clips of Gabriel Byrne speaking out
on 'Irish Stereotypes,' and 'Sons vs. Fathers'
September 14, 2000
Watch for Gabriel Byrne to guest on an upcoming episode
of "Late Show
with David Letterman" on September 27th at 11:35pm eastern
standard time on CBS. For ticket information, go to: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/clubhouse/tickets/
...with thanks to Sonja Marie of the Yahoo!
Club abcmadiganmen
September 14, 2000
With Thanks to the Studio Audience
Excerpted from Yetta's
Gabriel Byrne Fan Site. -- September 1, 2000 -- I saw the taping
tonight and all I can say is WOW! It was great. Gabriel is awesome.
The taping took five hours, yes five and I would have stayed five more...
It was really very funny and when they goofed it was hysterical! There
was one when he had his shirt off in the doctors office and he got all
flustered trying to ask out the female doctor, When he was putting it
back on he got it all twisted. It was hysterical, they redid the take
but hopefully they will keep it in. It will be the second show shown
when the season starts. They will be showing the one they taped a few
months ago (the pilot) first.
It is a great show you are gonna love it. I sat behind Roy (Seamus)Dotrice's wife(Kay).She is a very friendly and nice person. Since we were there five hours Roy brought his wife coffee and chips and she gave me a bag. She also said that the show was all Gabriel's idea (smart man!) A man next to Kay asked if Roy was Irish and she said he is French (actually from Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands) he said that Roy does the Irish accent really well ...and her reply was "He's an actor" and she laughed.
All in all it was a great funny show even after five hours of being there and hearing the lines over and over again I was still laughing at the end. When it was finished Gabriel said a little speech thanking us for staying the full 5 hours (he's so sweet). Yetta
September 11, 2000
Casting Calls
In SPOTLIGHT ON FILM & TV CASTING: TURNING THE PAGE By Seth Landau, BackStage.com offered this slant from the thespians' perspective:
"From writer Cindy Chupak, whose credits include HBO's Sex and the City, comes another middle-aged sexy singles comedy. This one centers around Benjamin (Gabriel Byrne), a good-looking, successful architect fresh from divorce and on the dating scene. He gets advice from his co-workers, 16-year-old son Luke (John Hensley), and papa Seamus (Roy Dotrice), who just moved in. All are single and dating, save for at least some co-workers, one would expect. The neon sign above this show reads "SINGLES." Casting director Bonnie Finnegan will probably be looking for sexy, middle-aged singles for guest-starring roles."
September 6, 2000
New Cast Members
LOS ANGELES (Zap2It.com) - Margaret Colin, who played John Goodman's wife on last season's sci-fi series "Now and Again," has found a new man -- or men. Colin has joined the cast of the new ABC comedy series "Madigan Men" where she will be playing the role of Gabriel Byrne's ex-wife, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Colin's film credits include "Independence Day," "The Devil's Own" and "Pretty in Pink." She has also starred in the TV series "The Wright Verdicts" and "Leg Work."
Former "Sports Nite" star Sabrina
Lloyd has been added to the cast. She will play star Gabriel Byrne's
assistant on the show. Science fiction fans will remember her fondly
as 'Wade Welles' from the series "Sliders."
Network Awareness
Networks are sharing survey statistics -- "awareness" and "intent-to-view" studies -- as the new season approaches.
According to research data obtained by Daily Variety, such audience awareness of upcoming new shows has nearly doubled this summer, particularly at CBS and ABC, owing to Survivor and Millionaire. NBC expects a similar bump from their Olympics programming in September.
Madigan Men still needs recognition aid, according to the surveys. Let's hope ABC will successfully promote and improve these awareness statistics. But there is still one more hurdle -- "intent-to-view." NBC Entertainment President Garth Ancier calls intent-to-view an "interesting statistic to know. It's certainly more quantifiable than program research." Viewers have long lamented the network's dependence on the Nielsen ratings process. Now it appears an audience sample's reaction to a promotional campaign has become the next best 'barometer' of success.
{Editorial comment: When the broadcast networks are finally
able to perfectly predict what will succeed, the resulting programming
will be so predictable, no one will need to watch."}
August 29, 2000
Kinder Words
Mention was made of Gabriel Byrne's "Madigan Men" in an MSNBC interveiw with Newsweek columnist Sarah Pettit on August 29th. Here's what she had to say in the latest issue:
Newsweek September 4 --"Listening to critics trying to handicap the fall entertainment season is a little like watching pundits try to read the tea leaves on the November elections. There's just too much that no one can foresee. "
Specifically Madigan Men is described thusly... "Gabriel Byrne didn't get his name in the title, but he's still starring as a charming architect in "Madigan Men." It features Roy Dotrice as Byrne's father, a crafty Irishman with a cheesy Celtic saying for every occasion."
August 17, 2000
Studio Tickets Going Fast
According to Audiences Unlimited "We have already booked up all of the September dates and are currently accepting reservations for Oct., Nov., and Dec."
Fridays
Oct. 6, 13 and 27
Nov. 3, 9 (a Thursday) and 17
Dec. 1 and 8
All performances are at 7:00pm
First come, first seated at the Kaufman
Astoria Studio.
To make reservations for shows not yet available via their website at Madigan Men Tickets, you can phone (212) 539-3070 ..or e-mail Dana at Audiences Unlimited at: dana@audiencesunlimited. ...Info thanks (again) to Kay Fleitz.
August 17, 2000
Salt
Lake City Weekly arts & entertainment
Fall Skeds 2000 II
Workin' for the weekend... almost. by Bill Frost
Madigan Men (ABC), starring Gabriel Byrne as a widower raising his son and getting back into dating, has kind of a reverse-Lifetime thing going for itÑif Meredith Baxter-Birney gets cast as a regular, look out.
August 11, 2000
Try, Try Again
July 28, 2000 Irvine, CA -- Jesse Crowe, president of Voice Mail Broadcasting, the company that was planning to send the those somewhat infamous voicemail telemarketing messages, apparently hasn't given up on the deal with ABC. According to a DMNews.com report by Senior Editor, Mark Hamstra: "The Telephone Consumer Protection Act places some restrictions on the use of prerecorded telemarketing calls, but Crowe said the campaign ABC had planned was clearly permitted under the law. While ABC is evaluating its options, Crowe said he is seeking to enlist the help of consumers in persuading ABC to run the campaign.
"I'm asking various fan clubs to express their opinion and go back to ABC and go back to the media and say, 'Hey, I think it would be really cool to get a message from a star that I follow and be able to share it with a friend,'" Crowe said. "That's the whole nature of it. We're not doing a high-pressure sales message at dinnertime."
August 11, 2000
Family Can be Everything
Did you know that ABC, a subsidiary of Disney, 'owns' 50% of Madigan Men? You've probably noticed that Madigan Men is a 'Touchstone Television Production" which is also a Disney subsidiary, but did you know that MM's associative producer 'ATG' stands for the "Artists Television Group?" Michael Ovitz, former exec at Disney, created the Artists Television Group one year ago as an outgrowth of his young, but highly successful, talent management firm (where actor Billy Baldwin just signed a $1.5-million deal). Madigan Men is one of a record seven shows ATG has self-financed and sold to networks this season.
Other ATG shows debuting this fall:
* "Cursed," NBC, comedy: With the network as a 50% partner,
this sitcom based on Steven Weber's sophomoric humor won
a coveted Thursday night time slot after "Friends."
* "Grosse Point," WB, comedy: The biting parody of
"Beverly Hills, 90210" created by Darren Star, the red-hot
writer-producer of HBO's "Sex in the City," follows
"Sabrina the Teenage Witch" Friday nights.
* "The $treet," Fox, drama: The one-hour evening soap opera,
another Darren Star creation, focuses on the lives of
young Wall Street investment bankers.
ATG shows debuting in January:
* "The Michael Crichton project," Fox, drama: The network is
paying a rich licensing fee for a yet-to-be deter-mined
hourlong show from the creator of "ER."
* "The New Ellen Show," CBS, comedy: A sitcom about the making
of a variety show from comedian Ellen DeGeneres, whose
"Ellen" ran on ABC from 1994 to 1998.
* "Off the Hook," UPN, comedy: A late-night sketch comedy for
urban ethnic audiences that has been compared to "In Living Color."
Source: Sallie Hofmeitster, staff writer for the LA TIMES
in her article
Taking
Major Risks, Ovitz Tries for Prime Time Again
August 10, 2000
Rainy Forecasts
Here's a look at what advertisers are projecting for the upcoming
season's Friday night ratings shares. FRIDAY ABC Two Guys & A Girl 10.0 People/Fear 9.5 Norm 9.0 Madigan Men 8.5 20/20 11.7 CBS The Fugitive 9.7 C.S.I. 12.7 Nash Bridges 13.5 NBC Providence 17.2 Dateline 15.2 Law & Order: SVU 14.8 FOX Freakylinks 8.0 Night Visions 7.8 UPN Freedom 4.3 Level 9 3.0 WB Sabrina 5.0 Grosse Pointe 4.0 Popular 4.0 Source: Averages compiled from estimates by advertising agencies and media-buying companies by "Advertising Age." (With thanks to 'alfornos'
of the alt.tv.x-files.analys newsgroup.)
August 1, 2000
Madigan Men will begin filming at the
Kaufman Astoria Studios September 1st.
Free tickets are now available from Audiences
Unlimited for live studio performances there on the following dates:
Sept. 1, 8, 15 and 29
Oct. 6, 13 and 27
Nov. 3, 9 and 17
Dec. 1 and 8
To order: Madigan Men Tickets
All performances are at 7:00pm (with warnings that one should be at least an hour early) on Friday evening, (except for November 9, which is a Thursday). ..Info in part with thanks from Kay Fleitz and Betina Jakobsen at Gabriel Byrne's Domain Message Board.
July 2000
Promos begin to air on ABC...
If your present system does not play the Quicktime movies
above, you don't know what you're missing, download the plug-in!
If you find that you can't use Quicktime, please
let us know (if enough requests are received we will also show them
in the RealPlayer format).
July 2000
Getting Acquainted
Critics who viewed Madigan Men's pilot (directed by veteran
James Burrows) on July 17th (during the annual Television
Critics Association Press Tour) have been skeptical of its
premise-- originally a "'Sex and the City' for guys" that has
since evolved into an inter-generational sitcom.
"The only door likely to be opened by this show is the one
marked 'exit,' since it focuses more on father-son angst and
Irish proverbs ('A windy day is not the day for thatching') than
giving women tips on the male psyche and how to tame it."
lamented Maureen Dowd in an op-ed piece for the New York Times
(which has since made its way into THE MOSCOW TIMES under the title,
"LOVE & DEATH: U.S. TV Obsessed With Men, Sex and the City").
Actually, none of the 32 primetime series scheduled to debut in
the fall will be a 'hit' according to a July 12th report that
quantifies all the new series' chances of success (OMD USA Media
Research Group).
Being in the right place at the right time...
MEDIAWEEK's Marc Berman, in "Scheduling Picks and Pans: The Best and Worst of Fall 2000," considered the show's Friday night at 9:30 scheduling, the season's "Second Worst Scheduling Move." However, in an interview confirming that Barbara Walters had agreed to stay on for another season of "20/20," she told USA Today that "her main concern was having stronger Friday shows replace 'children's programs, 'TGIF,' which had really run its course' - and said she had "high hopes" for "Madigan Men," which will directly precede '20/20.'" Madigan Men will be up against NBC's "Dateline" and CBS'investigative drama "CSI." That programming may attract males in the audience, but among female viewers, "WB's 'Popular' has a good shot," says Stacey Lynn Koerner, an analyst with TN Media. "The only thing that works against them is that teens may not be home."
Getting the Word Out
ABC obviously disagrees with both critics and pundits. In the wake of their game show "Millionaire's" continuing success, the network is confident, electing to keep five new series on the shelf, also tabling yet another game show "Mastermind" for the time being ...while lavishing promotion dollars on "The Geena Davis Show," "Gideon's Crossing," "The Trouble with Normal" and "Madigan Men." "We have the luxury of an incredibly strong schedule," "Millionaire's" hefty drawing power gives the new shows a better shot at succeeding. ABC Entertainment co-chairman Lloyd Braun added,"...We felt that we were in a unique position to change the way we did business." One unique way they considered was to use voice mail broadcasting technology to call viewers at home (in the 10 largest television markets) leaving messages about ABC's four new sitcoms on Friday nights. The messages would have been prerecorded by actors, Norm MacDonald, for his series, "Norm," and Gabriel Byrne for "Madigan Men." "Our plans for the fall include a lot of unusual media forms to get buzz for some of our shows," Alan Cohen, executive vice president for marketing, advertising and promotion at ABC, said in a telephone interview with Stuart Elliott of the NYTimes July 21st. "But the reaction (during the press tour) caused us to think about the possible downside. Maybe people would think it's a little bit intrusive. ...Maybe people would get alarmed," Mr. Cohen said, "and we do respect our viewers. So if there's any risk associated with these alternative media forms, it's something we're not going to do." The possibility of 'telespam' running afoul of the FCC might also have been a factor. Other elements of this new, but traditionally yellow, "Definitely ABC" campaign are a tie-in with KFC restaurants --with seven million ads wrapped around as many buckets of fried chicken-- plus floor ads in supermarkets and on ATM machines. Surely the most original plan is for restroom panels featuring a picture of Norm Macdonald over thousands of urinals in New York and Los Angeles. Reportedly to be accompanied by a sensor that sets off a recording of the comedian saying, "Hey, watch your shoes!'' Hopefully, this creates the hoped for buzz for Madigan Men's lead-in show.
Here's what's here:
Flash Introduction
Welcome
| About "Madigan Men"
Powers that Be and Everything
Else (News)
Gabriel Byrne | Roy Dotrice
The Warm Words on a Cold Evening Society (Forum)