In the first schedule change to the fall TV season, NBC is pushing back anthology comedy Love Bites to midseason and will substitute a non-celebrity edition of The Apprentice, returning to its original home on Thursdays (10 ET/PT), USA TODAY 's Gary Levin reports.
NBC officials said casting issues on Love Bites, and a decision by executive producer Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City) to step back from overseeing the show for personal reasons, led to the delay. Love Bites features three loosely connected vignettes and a cast of mostly rotating guest stars, but actors portraying two recurring characters posed problems: Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) is pregnant, though in the pilot episode "she plays a virgin, so we have to make adjustments to that," says executive VP-current programming Vernon Sanders. Another regular, Jordana Spiro, is the star of TBS comedy My Boys, posing a conflict; her role will be eliminated. Greg Grunberg (Heroes) and Constance Zimmer (Entourage) have been named series regulars, playing a married couple.
Chupack will remain a writer on Love Bites, but says in a statement it's "become clear that for several reasons, some of them personal, this change (and a little more time) is what we need to launch this show properly." The last "civilian" Apprentice aired in 2007, but a fourth celebrity edition is still planned for March.
NBC officials said casting issues on Love Bites, and a decision by executive producer Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City) to step back from overseeing the show for personal reasons, led to the delay. Love Bites features three loosely connected vignettes and a cast of mostly rotating guest stars, but actors portraying two recurring characters posed problems: Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) is pregnant, though in the pilot episode "she plays a virgin, so we have to make adjustments to that," says executive VP-current programming Vernon Sanders. Another regular, Jordana Spiro, is the star of TBS comedy My Boys, posing a conflict; her role will be eliminated. Greg Grunberg (Heroes) and Constance Zimmer (Entourage) have been named series regulars, playing a married couple.
Chupack will remain a writer on Love Bites, but says in a statement it's "become clear that for several reasons, some of them personal, this change (and a little more time) is what we need to launch this show properly." The last "civilian" Apprentice aired in 2007, but a fourth celebrity edition is still planned for March.
