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Hollywood Notes

Sep 23, 2002  •  Post A Comment

‘Monk’ to continue airing on ABC
“Monk,” the USA Network cable hit that was repurposed on ABC this summer, has earned its way onto the struggling broadcast network’s fall schedule.
ABC will continue the repurposing experiment in the new season, picking up eight more second-run episodes of the show, which was developed by Disney corporate sibling Touchstone Television. After Touchstone originally developed the quirky show, ABC passed on it but retained repurposing rights, which it exercised when “Monk” became a cable hit for USA.
The series, starring Tony Shalhoub as an obsessive-compulsive detective, will air at 8 p.m. Thursdays, beginning Sept. 26, as a lead-in to “Push, Nevada,” one of the most heavily hyped new series on the Alphabet Network’s fall schedule. “Dinotopia,” which had been set to be the lead-in to “Push,” will now premiere in the time period on Thanksgiving Day.
`Crime & Punishment’ renewed by NBC
Coming off a successful inaugural run this summer, “Crime & Punishment,” Dick Wolf’s reality-based courtroom series, was renewed by NBC for a midseason 2003 run. “Crime & Punishment” routinely won (10 out of 12 weeks) its 10 p.m.-to-11 p.m. Sunday time period, scoring a 3.1 rating/9 share average among adults 18 to 49 and 8.6 million total viewers during its summer run, based on Nielsen Media Research national data.
Billed as a nonscripted “drama-mentary,” “Crime & Punishment” comes from Mr. Wolf-the creator and executive producer of NBC’s three highly rated “Law & Order” series-and Academy Award-winning documentarian Bill Guttentag (“You Don’t Have to Die”), who, along with David Kanter (“Traffic”), is co-creator and executive producer. Peter Jankowski (“Law & Order”) also serves as executive producer. “Crime & Punishment” is produced by Wolf Films, Shape Pictures and Anonymous Content in association with Universal Television Distribution.
ABC elevates McNamara
Julie McNamara (formerly Julie Pinchuk), a five-year programming executive at ABC Entertainment, has been promoted to VP of drama programming. She will continue to oversee network drama development and drama series for ABC’s prime-time series lineup.
Ms. McNamara developed the upcoming dramas “Push, Nevada” and “That Was Then” for ABC’s fall 2002 lineup. She is also credited with developing ABC’s hit drama series “Alias” and the former drama “Gideon’s Crossing.” Ms. McNamara had served as executive director of drama series at ABC since 2000. She joined ABC as an assistant in the drama series department in 1997.
Before joining ABC Ms. McNamara worked for The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in New York City, where she served as assistant to the president.
Ramirez lands role on `Miracles’
Marisa Ramirez, a star on ABC’s “General Hospital” soap opera since 2000, has been cast as a series regular on ABC’s slated midseason drama “Miracles,” starring Skeet Ulrich and Angus Macfadyen.
“Miracles” is the story of a former Vatican miracle investigator (Ulrich) who joins forces with a shadowy organization interested in studying good vs. evil.
Ms. Ramirez, who had a role on the drama “Roswell” (both on The WB and UPN), will take on double duty at ABC, portraying secretary Evelyn Norse on “Miracles” and continuing her role as Gia Campbell on “General Hospital.”
“Miracles” is a production of Touchstone Television and Spyglass Entertainment. Executive producers are David Greenwalt, Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber, the latter two of whom are principals of Spyglass Entertainment. Richard Hatem is co-executive producer.