NBC says "More, more" to made-in-North Texas Chase
10/19/10 01:39 PM
By ED BARK
At least one made-in-North Texas series is getting an official vote of confidence from its network.
NBC announced Tuesday that it's given a full season pickup to Chase, which stars Kelli Giddish as the dogged head of a team of Texas-based U.S. marshals.
Chase has an "appealing new star" in Giddish, and "we think it has potential to grow," said NBC Universal entertainment president Angela Bromstad.
The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced crook-catcher is averaging just 6.5 million viewers nationally, but that's a 23 percent gain over last season, when (urp) the Jay Leno Show held down the Monday, 9 p.m (central) slot.
NBC also has given full-season pickups to three other freshman series -- Outsourced, The Event and Law & Order: Los Angeles. The Peacock says it likewise will keep Chuck in play throughout the current season.
Fox's Lone Star, another North Texas production, was canceled after just two episodes. As was ABC's My Generation, which was being filmed in Austin.
The fate of Fox's The Good Guys, also filmed in North Texas, still hangs in the balance. Ratings have been sub-anemic for both its summer and fall runs, but the network still holds out hope that viewers very slowly will find it on Friday nights. That's been a Death Valley for Fox ever since The X-Files switched from Fridays to Sundays in 1996.
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