ION Television March 2010, Acquires Shark, The Guard and New Series With Emeril; CW Adds New Series, NBC 2010 Finales

ION Television will make some weekend changes in March 2010 and will have more series programming on weekends now! ION Television has acquired the rights to the short-lived drama series Shark. It will launch with a marathon event before settling into its Sunday primetime slot. Shark marathon week will be from Monday, March 1 through Friday, March 5, 2010 at 11pm each night with the first five episodes and a full-day marathon on Sunday, March 7, 2010 from 3pm-11pm featuring the first eight episodes of the series. It will then settle into its regular schedule on Sundays at 9pm and 10pm ET/PT starting March 14, 2010. Shark was a legal drama that starred James Woods as Sebastian Stark, a notorious Los Angeles defense attorney who becomes a prosecutor, and aired from 2006 to 2008 on CBS. The series lasted 38 episodes.
We announced last month that My Name is Earl has been added to ION as a weekend filler starting this month, but now starting in March it will have a regular slot...but still on Saturdays. It will air Saturdays at 4:00pm & 4:30pm starting March 6 following an hour of M*A*S*H at 3:00pm which returns to the schedule as a regular...but on Saturdays only.
There are no changes to weekdays, but we have some more weekend news! ION has acquired the rights to Canadian drama The Guard. It will air Saturdays at 9pm and 10pm ET/PT starting Saturday, March 13, 2010. The Guard is a Canadian drama television series portraying the life of the Canadian Coast Guard along the British Columbia Coast. The series thus far has aired for two seasons in Canada with 22 total episodes.
And coming later in March to Sundays, is ION's first original unscripted series. The Emeril Lagasse Show, a new weekly, entertainment television show featuring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, as we previously announced. The original, primetime series will be recorded before a live studio audience and will capture Emeril's passion for people, entertainment, music, food and celebration. The hour long program will air on Sundays at 8pm beginning Sunday, March 28, 2010.
Movie wise, ION will continue to deliver big name movies including the premieres of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Elektra. Other movies airing this month are Top Gun, Lethal Weapon, Around the Bend, Deep Blue Sea, and The Clearing.
View and discuss ION Television March 2010 schedule.

The CW has announced the premiere of two new half-hour reality series in March -- the socialite-filled High Society and the jet-setting Fly Girls. Following a special 90-minute premiere of America's Next Top Model on its new premiere date of Wednesday, March 10 (instead of March 3) from 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET, High Society will debut in the 9:30 p.m. ET half-hour. The same schedule will air on Wednesday, March 17, with an additional 90-minute episode of Top Model, followed by episode two of High Society.
Then Fly Girls will prepare for take-off on Wednesday, March 24, when the regular schedule will be as follows: America's Next Top Model at 8:00 p.m. ET, High Society at 9:00 p.m. ET and the debut of Fly Girls at 9:30 p.m. ET. The Wednesday schedule will encore on Fridays (March 12, 19, 26) until Smallville returns April 2 (Top Model will still encore Fridays, but at its normal 9pm slot starting April 2).
View more on these two new series.

NBC has announced most of its season finale dates. NBC season finales include (all times ET): Trauma on Monday, May 10 at 9 p.m.; Mercy on Wednesday, May 12 at 8 p.m.); and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Wednesday, May 19 at 10 p.m.
Also among NBC's season finales are all of the Thursday night comedies, including: Community on Thursday, May 20 at 8:00 p.m.; Parks and Recreation" on Thursday, May 20 at 8:30 p.m.; The Office on Thursday, May 20 at 9:00 p.m.; 30 Rock on Thursday, May 20 at 9:30 p.m.
Then finally, The Celebrity Apprentice on Sunday, May 23 from 9-11 p.m.; Chuck on Monday, May 24 with a two-hour finale from 8-10 p.m.; Law & Order on Monday, May 24 at 10:00 p.m.; and The Biggest Loser on Tuesday, May 25 from 8-10 p.m.
Besides the upcoming mid-season series such as The Marriage Ref and Minute to Win It, this is pretty much all the finale dates for NBC.

Minor WGN America Retro Night Changes, More Cosby Show; Tad More Hallmark Channel Sked Changes

WGN America is making a few minor changes to its Sunday night block Outta Sight Retro Night starting Sunday (Feb. 14, 2010). Basically another hour of The Cosby Show is added to late night. Becker's late night hour moves from 2am ET to 12am ET, replacing the second hour of Newhart. Newhart will still remain in the 8pm ET hour. The Cosby Show will get another hour, now in the 2am ET hour. This is in addition to its already scheduled hours at 7pm ET and 3am ET, so yes, three hours of The Cosby Show on Sunday nights. Perhaps it is holding a slot for something else for the future?
So, if you're confused, here is how Sunday nights will look now: 6pm ET Becker, 7pm ET The Cosby Show, 8pm ET Newhart, 9pm ET Barney Miller, 10pm ET News, 11pm ET Cheers, 12am ET Becker, 1am ET Barney Miller, 2am ET The Cosby Show, and 3am ET more The Cosby Show.
As usual, stay with us for any further WGN America updates!

It was just last week when we told you about the tons of schedule changes to Hallmark Channel, now a little bit more are happening! Beginning tonight (Monday, February 8, 2010) Monday-Thursday from 9-11pm will now be a movie instead of Touched By An Angel, but Touched will still air at 8pm and also gain the 7pm hour replacing one of the three 7th Heaven hours starting tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010). 7th Heaven will remain at 5pm and 6pm. Everything else is the same as we relayed last week.

Week 20 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 20 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):
(We don't have the final network averages through Thursday, but we do have final program averages through Thursday in the analysis below)

Households: N/A
Total Viewers: N/A
Adults 18-49: N/A

Week 20 (Feb. 1-7) Analysis: For week 20, American Idol is helping Fox with the lead but CBS will prevail obviously big this week thanks to the Super Bowl tonight. So far through the first four days of the week I can project, CBS and Fox are battling in HH/viewers but Fox has the lead in 18-49. ABC is in second in 18-49, followed by CBS. ABC is third in HH/viewers, with NBC fourth in every category as usual. Last week, week 19, CBS took home first place in HH/viewers, over second place Fox thanks to a high rated Grammy Awards showing. Fox did edge CBS in 18-49, though. ABC was in third in all categories and NBC of course in fourth.
On Monday it was a three-way race between CBS, ABC and Fox. CBS started with new episodes of its comedies and ended with a new CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 9.28 million for a new episode but lower than its last new outing, while a new Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 8.43 million, but the question is will it be able to do anything close to this on Wednesdays? Two and a Half Men followed with a new episode as well doing 16.51 million, what more can you say, and The Big Bang Theory followed with a new episode of its own doing 15.51 million and it built from the lead-in in 18-49 from a 5.1 to a 5.4. A new CSI: Miami at 10pm did 13.44 million. ABC keeps on growing with the The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love doing a solid 11.73 million, up once again from previous week and has gone up every week, and it also did a 4.1 18-49 rating for the two-hours, also up a bit from previous week. A repeat of Castle was next and did a solid 7.97 million, its best ever repeat numbers. Castle is all-new tomorrow with a baseball-themed episode guest starring Joe Torre! Joe "Freaking Torre! Fox started off with an all-new House doing a 13.38 million and a 4.8 18-49 rating, both down from previous week when it had less competition. A new episode of 24 was next doing 9.96 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating, both off from previous week and season lows. NBC started off with a new Chuck at a decent 6.73 million, off some from previous week and a 2.4 18-49 rating was also off a tad. Next Heroes did only 4.42 million and a 2.0 A18-49 rating, but both up a tick from the previous week. Series finale tomorrow? The Jay Leno Show followed with only 3.82 million, down from previous week. The CW aired an all-new One Tree Hill doing a decent but could be better 2.14 million, followed by an all-new episode of Life UneXpected at 2.07 million, both down a bit from previous week.
On Tuesday, Fox won but CBS and ABC did great as well. Fox of course started with an all-new American Idol with 24.71 million, up some from previous week. 9.0 18-49 rating is still great. Next a special new episode of Kitchen Nightmares on a special night did an OK 9.0 million and a 3.8 18-49 rating, losing a ton of the lead-in's audience. CBS started with a new NCIS doing 19.23 million, down a million from previous week but 18-49 rating was actually up. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a new showing of its own doing 16.42 million, off some from previous week. And finally CBS aired a new episode of The Good Wife doing a solid 12.81 million, but below normal a bit. ABC started off with a LOST recap narrated by Michael Emerson doing an excellent 9.96 million and a 4.1 18-49 rating. Then the final season premiere of LOST was next with a two-hour episode doing 12.09 million and an excellent 5.5 18-49 rating, better than any other scripted series this week. What a premiere it was! Cannot wait until this week! ABC will return the forgotten this Tuesday at 10pm as Elisha Cuthbert joins the cast. NBC was next with a repeat of The Biggest Loser doing 4.73 million, followed by the regular all-new episode at a special time of 9-11pm doing 9.48 million, off a bit from previous week when it aired 8-10pm. The Jay Leno Show was preempted, but NBC was down from previous week even with no Leno. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 810,000 and 610,000 viewers...down from previous week's repeats. Will they ever return with new episodes?
Wednesday it was Fox on top again but way lower than usual. Fox started with Human Target on its new time of 8pm at just 7.8 million and a 2.4 18-49 rating. American Idol is now at 9pm and it did 21.0 million, down about 5 million from previous week and its lowest viewership since 2005! It did a below normal 7.8 18-49 rating as well. CBS did much better than usual at 8pm as Old Christine and Gary Unmarried were preempted for the 2010 edition of Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials doing a first place 10.99 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating. Next CBS aired a new Criminal Minds at 14.75 million and a new CSI: NY at 10pm did 14.16 million..as this has become the highest rated CSI series of late. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing 6.84 million, its best repeat numbers yet, followed by an all-new episode of The Middle doing a solid 7.32 million and a series best 2.7 18-49 rating. Modern Family was all-new at 9pm and did a solid 9.19 million and an even more impressive 3.9 18-49 rating, even opposite Idol. Next Cougar Town was all-new and faced Idol for the very first time and suffered a bit doing 6.26 million but the 18-49 rating was just off a bit doing a 2.9 18-49 rating. Ugly Betty was all-new and did only 4.03 million. It should perk a bit up soon especially closer to the finale. NBC was next with a new Mercy 6.21 million and only a 1.6 18-49 rating. Law & Order: SVU was a repeat again and only managed 4.15 million and an embarrassing 0.9 18-49 rating. The Jay Leno Show was next and did only slightly better than that doing 4.18 million and a 1.2 18-49 rating. The CW aired more repeats as Life UneXpected went back to 8pm doing 1.34 million, on par from previous week when it aired at 9pm and then a repeat of Gossip Girl followed and only did 468,000 viewers, lower than previous week when it was at 8pm.
Thursday it was CBS and ABC starting sweeps on top, but Fox was not too bad. CBS opened with a Surviving Survivor special doing a decent 8.11 million and 2.4 18-49 rating. A new CSI followed with 14.49 million and a 3.2 18-49 rating. At 10pm The Mentalist was also new and did a better 14.68 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating. ABC started off with week three of The Deep End at 5.09 million, down a million from previous week again, and this time the 18-49 rating went down, too, from 1.8 to previous two weeks to a 1.3 for week three. That's not good. A new episode of Grey's Anatomy was next and perked up to 12.55 million and a 4.5 18-49 rating, but below normal. A new Private Practice was next doing 9.25 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, also off a bit from normal. Fox had a new Bones doing a season high again at 12.37 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, though that was down some from previous week. A new Fringe did 7.4 million, down well over a million from previous week, as previous week there was nothing else new on in that hour on the big three. NBC had new showings of its comedies with Community doing an OK 5.23 million, Parks & Recreation was next and did a slightly improved 4.88 million, The Office was next with doing 7.37 million and a below normal 3.8 18-49 rating, and finally a new 30 Rock was next doing 5.79 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating. The Jay Leno Show closed the night with only 3.91 million, off some from previous week again as viewers keep tuning out as the show gets closer to ending. The CW aired a new Vampire Diaries at a solid 3.99 million, up some with previous week, and Supernatural was new and did 2.28 million, off again from previous week.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but CBS won Friday with their dramas, while ABC did well with 20/20 at 10 again. A new Kitchen Nightmares at 9pm on Fox perked up sharply from previous week's season premiere.
Saturday numbers saw Fox win the night with NASCAR instead of its usual reality crime series.
Tonight it is Super Bowl Sunday, so look for CBS to easily win. The safest bet of the year. ABC's regular line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are obviously not new, and instead we get a special dose of Comedy Wednesday repeats on Super Comedy Sunday from 8-11pm. NBC has The Biggest Loser in repeats on all four hours. Fox has repeats of their animated comedies and new episodes of 'Til Death. CBS will win the week in all categories of course and why wouldn't they with something doing 100 million tonight? Fox will be second across the board likely, with ABC in third and NBC in fourth across the board. As for this coming week, look for the first full week of February 2010 sweep but then the Winter Olympics start on Friday and most programs will be in repeats...but not all!

Week 20 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 19-- Jan. 25-31)

• 'Til Death (Fox) 2 episodes - The series returned with all-new episodes at an anemic 2.09 and 2.43 million.
• The Simpsons (Fox) - A below normal 4.95 million opposite the Grammy's. 18-49 was only a 2.4 rating even.
• The Cleveland Show (Fox) - Just 4.5 million for an all-new episode.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 6.19 million is the best of the block, but below normal vs. the Grammy's.
• American Dad (Fox) - The second highest rated show of the block, but thanks to its lead-in of course. 5.06 million and a 2.5 18-49 rating.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - An all-new episode did 9.28 million and a 3.7 18-49 rating, decent... but down from its previous new outing two weeks back.
• Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 8.42 million for a new episode. The retention was getting better up until this night.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 16.51 million for a new episode and a great 5.1 18-49 rating.
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 15.51 million for a new episode and a sitcom best 5.4 18-49 rating. That 5.4 rating might be second best for the week in scripted series behind LOST.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Old Christine (CBS) - preempted.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - preempted.
• The Middle (ABC) - A new airing at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did a solid 7.23 million and a series best 2.7 18-49 rating. Keeps on growing!
• Modern Family (ABC) 2 episodes - A repeat at 8pm did 6.84 million, up from previous week's repeat and the best ever repeat numbers for this series! What a hit! Regular 9pm airing was opposite Idol for the second time ever thus far and it held up well doing way better than the first time at 9.19 million and a solid 3.9 18-49 rating.
• Cougar Town (ABC) - It faced Idol for the very first time and it did OK but below normal of course. It did 6.26 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating...and still better than 30 Rock on NBC on Thursdays.

Thursday Sitcoms

• Community (NBC) - A new episode did an improved 5.23 million and an OK 2.3 18-49 rating.
• Parks & Recreation (NBC) - Only 4.88 million for a new episode, but held 100% of its leas-in's 18-49 rating.
• The Office (NBC) - A new episode did 7.37 million and a 3.8 18-49 rating...both below normal, but solid.
• 30 Rock (NBC) - A new episode did a less than stellar 5.79 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating. Should be better.

Friday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) are new episodes of 'Til Death at 7 on Fox followed by repeats of the Fox animated comedies starting at 8. Also tonight ABC will air a special edition of Comedy Wednesday on Super Comedy Sunday from 8-11pm with encores of its hit comedies!

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, The Middle were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as 30 Rock, Cougar Town) or just plain old terrible (such as 'Til Death from Sun).

Blog DVD Review: JAG - The Final Season (Feb. 9)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for our weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Final Season of JAG. JAG was a huge hit for CBS. If you are a fan of Navy NCIS, you know that NCIS is a spin-off of JAG. See Seth Thrasher's blog DVD review of JAG - The Final Season:

JAG - The Final Season (CBS, $55.98) is coming to DVD with its final season onto DVD this Tuesday (February 9, 2010). With this set the long running Donald Bellisario classic has finally completed its run on DVD, and the show goes out first with a whimper, but then finally a bang.
In the interest of full disclosure, I had long since stopped watching the show by this point. Really, everything between the 8th season's NCIS pilot and this season's series finale is all a blur to me as I've only seen the occasional episode in reruns. Nonetheless I did follow the general goings on of the show, so I know enough to know I probably wouldn't have liked the show anyway. The focus of the show really began to move away from the classic characters in earnest for most of the season, with more and more emphasis being placed on new characters.

Indeed, had the series been picked up for an eleventh season it's likely the show would have been completely retooled around the younger characters and many of the older ones would have been written out. Indeed, then, CBS' cancellation of the show after 10 seasons was, if anything, a mercy-killing. It also allowed the show to wrap up properly before wandering into the ether. Ultimately, the show ended with Harm and Mac being assigned to separate stations. They decide to get married, and flip a coin to decide who will give up their career to join the other at their new posting. The episode ends on the coin flip, with the answer left deliberately unresolved. Some fans may have preferred a bit more finality, but oh well.

The packaging wrapping on this set on DVD also means we're approaching the end of an era on the technical side of things. Along with sister-series NCIS, JAG was one of the last TV DVD sets to be packaging in traditional slim cases instead of the now-semi-standard thick plastic case packaging. I like slim cases so it's slightly sad to see their use among publishers wane and decline, but that's the nature of the business. Package art features Harm & Mac on the cover and the same patriotic theme as the other DVD sets. Discs are your usual silver with the show logo being slightly debossed and showing the actual disc surface.

Menus are pretty much just, well, there. They're not going to wow anyone in their complexity but they're not particularly bad either. They do their job, they get in and get out. Menu design follows the same basic patriotic theme of the box art. Episode list is contained on the main menu against a dark, gold-framed box in a highly readable white-colored Impact-style font. The menus for the set are just sort of, well, there. Which if anything is a bit of a metaphor for the show itself in it's final season.

Video and audio qualities are nearly flawless, and are about the best you're going to see unless the series is re-released onto Blu-ray. Audio is a standard English stereo track, which for a dialogue-heavy show like JAG is certainly acceptable. Chapter stops are placed at the end of each act. And the episode runtimes are similar to previous seasons.

If you're going for completion then buy the set, obviously. If you're just curious about the show, buy an earlier season or catch reruns on cable. This is the worst season of the show I think, finale aside, and is not the way you want to be introduced to the series. Technically the set is more or less solid. The problem is simply the show itself. Other seasons are better, overall, and I just can't recommend *THIS* season to anyone but the die-hard JAG fan who have all the previous seasons on DVD. The series itself, though, is great and I highly encourage you to give earlier years a look!

-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
(3.5/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
JAG TV.com Page
NCIS TV.com Page

ABC Family Makes Schedule Changes, 8 Simple Rules Now Weekdays; John Ritter Book Coming in September Written by Amy Yasbeck

ABC Family has made some last minute schedule changes to start this coming Monday (Feb. 8, 2010). The changes happening to the weekday schedule will have one show return to weekdays, one show leaving weekdays, one show leaving totally for now, and one show expanding. Wow! First up, we get another hour of Full House weekdays in the 12pm hour, replacing What I Like About You. But not to worry fans of What I Like About You, ABC Family likes you fans and will move the show to the better weekday 4pm hour replacing Grounded for Life, which is now totally off the schedule for now. Then in the 6pm hour, 8 Simple Rules returns to weekdays replacing an hour of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which will remain airing late nights on some weekends. That's not a big deal since the series already airs on TBS and Disney XD anyway. Good news for 8 Simple Rules, as that series will get to air weekdays again instead of weekend mornings. The final weekday change is an expansion. Whose Line Is It Anyway will now air five days a week in the 12 midnight hour (rather than just once a week) replacing various original series encores and other series.
There will be changes to weekends, too. Starting Saturday, Feb. 13 on Saturdays from 7am-10am will now be That '70s Show replacing two hours of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and an hour of Full House. 8 Simple Rules will remain in the 10am hour on Saturday, Feb. 13, but starting Saturday, Feb. 20, That '70s Show takes this hour as well, expanding to 7am-11am on most Saturdays depending on movie start times. Movies take over the mornings now on most Sundays, but there could be a That '70s Show sighting on Sundays in the 7am hour leading into movies. That '70s Show airs weeknights in the 7pm hour, but most of the time it is preempted due to originals, movies, or various programming, so the weekend morning airings are better. It will continue to air on TeenNick every night as well.

We mentioned a while back that Amy Yasbeck (actress and the widow of John Ritter) is working on a book on the life of her late husband, but now we have more details! With Love and Laughter, John Ritter will be published by Simon & Schuster in September, on the seventh anniversary of Ritter's death from an undiagnosed aortic dissection. I still cannot believe it will be 7 years already next September. That was a horrific day.
"It's about John's take on everything, and what it was like to live with him," says Yasbeck, who met Ritter shooting Problem Child in 1989. "People have seen him as the celebrity, but this will be about the friend, the dad and the husband."
Shortly after his death in 2003, Yasbeck started the John Ritter Foundation to promote awareness about aortic aneurysm and dissection (Johnritterfoundation.org).
Amy continues to raise awareness of aortic dissection, as she recently spoke to ABC13 (KTRK) in Houston on this issue. She is doing a great job and is working with Dr. Milewicz and her UT-Houston team to find the genes that lead to Ritter's death. In these freezers are samples from 10,000 people which have helped them isolate four of the genes that are related to aortic aneurysm. Amy is certainly making a difference in the world by doing this. She will save many lives and needs to be honored for her fine work. The name John Ritter continues to spread a positive message, just as it did when he was alive.
View the video of ABC13's story. Everyone should take a look at this.

Just Shoot Me! On TV Guide Network; Remembering Producer Aaron Ruben

The '90s sitcom Just Shoot Me! is now airing on the TV Guide Network. It is airing every weeknight at 6:00pm & 6:30pm ET/PT. It also continues to air on TBS in the daytime and in local syndication as well. Comedy Central and other Viacom entities (like TV Land) have stopped airing the series since December. Boy this series gets around!
Just Shoot Me! is the first sitcom to air on TV Guide Network. Other series airing on TV Guide Network currently are Punk'd, American Idol Rewind, My Fair Brady, Celebrity Fit Club, and Ugly Betty (for now this is just encores of the weekly ABC airings). TV Guide Network also even airs movies now (weekdays 11am and 4pm).
Coming Wednesday, March 10 at 10pm on TV Guide Network are reruns of Curb Your Enthusiasm, as we previously announced. TV Guide Network will preserve the integrity of the show by keeping as much original content as suitable for basic cable audiences. The episodes will be edited by HBO for standards and practices, but will not be edited for time. The episodes will be edited only for language and nudity.

Aaron Ruben, a comedy writer, producer and director whose five-decade career included producing The Andy Griffith Show for the first five seasons and creating the spin-off series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., has died.
Ruben, who devoted much of his later life to being a court-appointed advocate for abused and abandoned children, died Saturday (Jan. 31, 2010) of complications from pneumonia at his home in Beverly Hills.
In the early 1950s, he was a writer on specials starring Danny Thomas, Ed Wynn and Eddie Cantor. He wrote for The Milton Berle Show, Caesar's Hour and The Phil Silvers Show, where he also began directing.
Ruben then moved on and produced The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 to 1965 and also wrote and directed some of the episodes of the popular CBS series. He also did Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. as executive producer. Gomer aired on CBS from 1964 to 1970 and was the No. 2 top-rated program in the Nielsen ratings for the 1965-66 season. He then teamed up with Carl Reiner and co-wrote and co-produced The Comic, a 1969 movie directed by Reiner about the rise and fall of a silent film comedian starring Dick Van Dyke.
In the 1970s, Ruben was the initial producer of Sanford and Son, the hit 1972-77 series starring Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson for which Ruben wrote many early episodes. Among his other credits as a producer, executive producer or write is The Headmaster, C.P.O. Sharkey, Teachers Only, Too Close for Comfort, The Stockard Channing Show, and The New Andy Griffith Show.
Mr. Ruben leaves his legacy on his many hit series. He lived a long life and will be missed. Mr. Ruben was 95.

'90s Cosby Sitcom Now on Gospel Music Channel; Remembering TV Writer Barry Blitzer

Gospel Music Channel (GMC) has quietly added the '90s sitcom Cosby to its schedule since Monday (Feb. 1). The series aired from 1996-2000 on CBS. The series previously aired in repeats in broadcast syndication and on cable on TBS shortly after its run ended on CBS. Bill Cosby stars as Hilton Lucas, a hard-working, devoted husband and father trying to make sense out of the challenges of everyday life. Also starring are Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show), Doug E. Doug and the late Madeline Kahn. The series is airing weekdays in the 9am ET hour and encoring later in the day in the 11pm ET hour. View the promo GMC has created for the series.
You can win a 10 CD prize pack on Twitter if you retweet their status. Contest ends Friday (Feb. 5) at 12 noon ET, so hurry Hilton Lucas fans!
They have also quietly added Funniest Pets & People airing weekdays in the 7am hour. With the additions of Cosby and Funniest Pets & People, there are some time changes for their existing series. Airing weekdays in the 8am hour now will be Sister, Sister in between the two new series. In the 10am hour we now have an hour of Amen. Joyful Noise Cafe has now moved to 11am-1pm, as it used to air 7am-9am, which means Christy is now gone from 12 noon. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman will still remain in the 1pm, 2pm, 6pm and 7pm hours. Faith & Fame replaces Promised Land at 3pm, but Promised Land will now move to 10pm. Sue Thomas, F.B.eye will remain weekdays at 4pm and 8pm, while Doc also remain weekdays at 5pm and 9pm. Sister, Sister is replaced from 10pm-12am with the aforementioned Promised Land and Cosby hours. Various gospel progamming remains airs at 12 midnight ET and Amen continues to air with back-to-back episodes in the 1am ET hour, which is in addition to its 10am ET hour.
For weekends, everything looks the same with the weekly Sister, Sister Saturday marathons from 9am-2pm leading into movies the rest of the day. Sundays will still have a mix of movies and gospel programming.
View the full Gospel Music Channel schedule and to discuss these new changes.

Veteran television writer Barry Blitzer, who wrote for classic TV shows such as Get Smart and The Flintstones, died last Wednesday (Jan. 27) in Santa Monica, Calif from complications after abdominal surgery. Blitzer shared a Writers Guild nomination in 1968 for Get Smart, with co-writer and frequent collaborator Raymond Brenner. He wrote for comedies including The Phil Silvers Show, Gomer Pyle, Andy Griffith Show, The Love Boat, Hot L Baltimore, Too Close for Comfort, McHale's Navy, Filthy Rich, Small Wonder, and Good Times.
In addition to The Flinstones, Blitzer also wrote episodes for other Hanna Barbera cartoons like The Jetsons, The Flinstone Kids, The New Yogi Bear Show, and Top Cat, as well as children's programs including Land of the Lost. He was also the last surviving member of the group of writers who shared a 1956 Best Comedy Writing Emmy for The Phil Silvers Show (for the episode, "You'll Never Get Rich").
He was also a story editor for the animated versions of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley (The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and Laverne & Shirley in the Army), along with writing episodes for The Partridge Family animated series Partridge Family 2200 AD.
Mr. Blitzer will certainly be missed even though he has not written anything since 1990. He was 80.

TV Land Announces March Changes to Accomodate Everybody Loves Raymond; ABC Family Picks-Up Melissa and Joey Sitcom

Just last week we told you that TV Land has now added Everybody Loves Raymond to their March schedule, now we have details on its regular airings! After its four-night primetime marathon from Thursday, March 17 through Sunday, March 21, Raymond will air Mon-Sat in the 9pm hour, in the 10pm hour (except Wednesdays and Fridays), and it will also air in the 8pm hour on those days it doesn't air in the 10pm how, so that is Wednesdays and Fridays. Raymond will also be extended on Saturdays beyond 9-11pm, airing 11pm-1am as week. That's a whole lotta airings for the Barone family! Home Improvement will move into the 8pm hour on weekdays, except for Wednesdays and Fridays since Raymond will air then. This means, The Andy Griffith Show is off of the weekday schedule, but will remain in marathon block form on weekends. Home Improvement's Saturday block moves from 8-10pm to 7-9pm, leading into Raymond. Roseanne is now reduced on Saturdays to 1-3am, followed by Three's Company from for the rest of the night. Roseanne will be expanded on Sundays though, and will air from 9pm-2am, as M*A*S*H is now off of the Sunday schedule.
There are also some changes happening before the March 18 schedule. Bewitched will still air weeknights in the 5pm hour starting March 1, but it will launch on Feb. 28 now with a block from 1pm-5pm. And the Bewitched "Better Living Through Magic" weekend marathon scheduled for March 20-21, is now 11am-7pm instead of 11am-11pm because of the Raymond launch, which will be March 18-21 (Thursday and Friday from 9pm-12am and Sat-Sun from 9pm-1am).
And late last week we told you about some TV Land February changes, now they have added one more. Effective Sunday, Feb. 21, the Sunday night late night line-up has changed. Brady Bunch and Little House on the Prairie will be removed from 4am-6am and will be replaced by a block of Three's Company, which is on now for all seven days of the week in late nights now. This means Brady Bunch and Little House on the Prairie are off the schedule totally. See the full February 2010 update.
And to get the full details on March, view the updated TV Land March 2010 schedule.

ABC Family has picked-up a new original sitcom titled Melissa & Joey. The series has been given a 10-episode order and is scheduled to premiere later in 2010. Melissa & Joey is a half-hour multi-cam comedy with Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence executive producing and starring that finds Hart portraying Mel, the grown-up former wild child of a political family who is now a local politician herself. When her sister ends up in prison and brother-in-law flees after a scandal hits, Mel must take responsibility for her teenaged niece Lennox and pre-adolescent nephew Ryder. Spread too thin to manage by herself, help comes in the unlikely form of Joe (Lawrence) who, desperate for a job, moves in and becomes the family's "manny." David Kendall & Bob Young are executive producers and writers; Paula Hart also serves as executive producer.
Melissa Joan Hart has a long history on the network, and she and Joey recently starred in the network's original movie, My Fake Fiance, which broke records for the network last year. They have fantastic chemistry and are just so relatable to our viewers. We knew we wanted to get them together again, and developed this comedy specifically with them in mind, ABC Family says.
ABC Family has only one other original sitcom still airing and that's the single camera sitcom 10 Things I Hate About You. Their other original sitcoms like Roommmates and Ruby and the Rockits didn't do well in the ratings. Melissa & Joey join the recent pick-ups of two all-new original series, but those are dramas -- Huge and Pretty Little Liars. Both are also ordered for 10 episodes each and will launch later in 2010 as well.

Huge, based on author Sasha Paley's book of the same name, is being developed by Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life, Once & Again) and daughter Savannah Dooley. Holzman will be executive producer on the premiere episode, and will serve as consultant for the remainder of the episodes. Dooley will serve as producer on the series. Alloy Entertainment's Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein will serve as executive producers; Robin Schiff (ABC Family's 10 Things I Hate About You) will serve as a consulting producer. Funny, heartbreaking and provocative, Huge follows the lives of six teens and the staff at a weight-loss camp, as they look beneath the surface to discover their true selves and the truth about each other.
Pretty Little Liars follows four estranged best friends who are reunited one year after their best friend and queen bee of the group, Alison, goes missing only to discover they are receiving messages from an anonymous "A" who knows all their secrets. The drama stars Lucy Hale (Privileged) as Aria, Troian Bellisario (Navy NCIS) as Spencer, Ashley Benson (Eastwick) as Hanna and Shay Mitchell as Emily. Also starring are Laura Leighton (Melrose Place) and Nia Peeples (The Young and the Restless). Additionally, Bianca Lawson (The Vampire Diaries) has been cast in a recurring role as Maya. Warner Horizon and Alloy Entertainment are producing; Bob Levy, Leslie Morgenstein and Marlene King are executive-producing.

TV One, Hallmark Channel Make Schedule Changes; Married with Children on Comedy Central Details

TV One's Way Back When black history month salute starts today, as we mentioned last month, but now they have made schedule changes to their regular schedule that start TODAY! It is not anything major in terms of changes, as it is just time changes primarily. The Jeffersons goes from the 6pm hour to the 2pm hour now, replacing The Hughleys. The Hughleys moves to the 3pm hour now, replacing The PJ's, which is now off the schedule. In the 4pm hour, TV One will add a second airing of drama Lincoln Heights, replacing an hour of Sanford & Son. Lincoln Heights airs also weeknights at 11pm. Sanford & Son will move to the 6pm hour replacing The Jeffersons. So there you have it the regular schedule changes that start TODAY (Monday, Feb. 1). Sorry for the short notice, but these changes were made very late on Friday. Enjoy Way Back When month on TV One starting tonight with The Flip Wilson Show and The Richard Pryor Show!

The Hallmark Channel also made some schedule changes and they sent out the notice late on Friday as well. Hallmark's changes begin effective tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 2), though. But there is one minor change for today. Instead of M*A*S*H in the 5pm hour, there will be an episode of Touched by an Angel leading into a skating special at 6pm. Now that we got that our of the way, we can give you the schedule changes starting tomorrow. Weekdays in the 11am hour now will be more Golden Girls, replacing Little House. So Golden Girls now will air mornings from 9am-12pm. America's Funniest Home Videos will move to 12-2pm, instead of an episode each of Little House and 7th Heaven. From 2pm-5pm will now be three episodes of Little House on the Prairie, replacing 7th Heaven and two hours of AFV (which moves to 12-2pm as stated). From 5-8pm now will be three episodes of 7th Heaven, replacing two hours of M*A*S*H and an hour of AFV. That does mean M*A*S*H is now off the schedule. Finally, the last change is to late nights. 1am-3am will now be two-hours of AFV, replacing Cheers, which will now just be 3-4am. No other changes will be made to the schedule, but don't forget the weekend I Love Lucy marathon this weekend (Feb. 6-7)!
View the Hallmark Channel changes.

Finally, we leave you today with details on when Married...with Children will air on Comedy Central. We finally got word on yes, late Friday, on when it will air on Comedy Central. The series will no longer air on TV Land, as we mentioned, and will move to Comedy Central, which is a sister network of TV Land. Married...with Children will air weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT starting Monday, Feb. 8, replacing airings of Comedy Central Presents. Married...with Children will also air on most weekends in the 12:00pm ET/PT hour. Married...with Children will lead into airings of Scrubs on both weekdays and weekends. Scrubs airs weekdays in the 6:00pm ET/PT hour on Comedy Central and various times on weekends.

Stay with us tomorrow as we details how TV Land will look like with the addition of Everybody Loves Raymond starting March 18!

Week 19 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 19 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):

Households: #1. Fox 8.6/13.5 rating/share; #2. CBS 6.5/10.4; #3. ABC 4.2/6.7; #4. NBC 3.6/5.7; #5. The CW 1.2/1.9
Total Viewers:#1. Fox 15.14 million; #2. CBS 10.19 million; #3. ABC 6.35 million; #4. NBC 5.71; #5. The CW 1.83
Adults 18-49: #1. Fox 5.3/14.1 rating/share; #2. CBS 2.5/6.7; #3. ABC 2.1/5.7; #4. NBC 2.0/5.6; #5. The CW 0.9/2.3

Week 19 (Jan. 25-31) Analysis: For week 19, American Idol is helping Fox with the lead and not having an hour of ratings counted because of Obama's State of the Union certainly helped. So far through the first four days of the week, Fox is obviously in the lead in HH/viewers and 18-49. CBS follows in a solid second in those categories, with ABC in third in every category, and NBC fourth in every category as usual. Just about the same as we were this time last week. Last week, week 18, Fox dominated and won the week in all categories thanks to a huge NFL NFC Championship Game doing a huge 57.93 million and of course American Idol helps. CBS was a distant second place in those categories for the week. With ABC in third and NBC in fourth. No more NFL for NBC this season to rely on.
On Monday it was Fox and ABC battling for the lead, while CBS was in repeats. CBS started with repeats of its comedies and ended with a repeat of CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 5.98 million for a repeat, while a repeat of Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 5.52 million, not bad for both, but could be better as CBS Monday comedies tend to do better. Two and a Half Men followed with a repeat as well doing 12.07 million, that is very strong for a repeat and more than doubled from the lead-in, and The Big Bang Theory followed with a repeat of its own doing 11.5 million, it built from the lead-in in 18-49 from a 3.8 to a 4.0. A repeat of CSI: Miami settled for second place in its slot with 9.55 million, way lower than the usual repeat. ABC got good mileage again out of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love doing a solid 11.47 million, up once again from previous week, and a 3.9 18-49 rating for the two-hours, also up a bit from previous week. It keeps growing every week just like it did last year. A new episode of Castle was next and did a first place 10.55 million, up a million week-to-week, and tied a series high with a 3.0 18-49 rating! Castle mania baby! Fox started off with an all-new House doing a night best 14.21 million and a 5.2 18-49 rating. A new episode of 24 was next doing 10.81 million and a 3.4 18-49 rating, both off a bit from previous week when it was two-hours. NBC started off with a new Chuck at a decent 6.98 million, up some from previous week and a 2.5 18-49 rating again. Next Heroes did only 4.3 million and a 1.9 A18-49 rating, both up a tick from the series lows the previous week. Still needs to go. The Jay Leno Show followed with only 4.26 million, off some from previous week. The CW aired an all-new One Tree Hill doing a decent but could be better 2.19 million, followed by an all-new episode of Life UneXpected at 2.17 million, down from previous week's premiere and in the range of what Gossip Girl has done here all season.
On Tuesday, Fox won but CBS nearly won in total viewers. Fox of course started with an all-new American Idol with 24.45 million, down two million or so from previous week. Next a new episode of Human Target on a special night did an OK 9.26 million, losing a ton of the lead-in's audience and just slightly better what a repeat of the pilot did the previous week. CBS started with a new NCIS doing 20.22 million, even against Idol. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a new showing of its own doing 16.94 million, what more can you say? And finally CBS aired a repeat of The Good Wife doing a solid 10.02 million, up from previous week's repeat. NBC was next with a two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 9.71 million, down slightly from previous week. Then The Jay Leno Show tanked as usual to 6.2 million, but up a bit from previous week. ABC started off with a new Scrubs [Med School] doing 3.17 million better than previous week, followed by a new Better off Ted doing only 2.52 million. Then ABC reaired last season's season finale of LOST from 9-11pm doing 3.45 million and a 1.4 18-49 rating. Cannot wait for this Tuesday's final season premiere. I've seen the first hour...it is AMAZING! ABC will return the forgotten on Feb. 9 at 10pm. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 940,000 and 850,000 viewers...but both actually up from previous week's repeats.
Wednesday it was Fox on top again but better than usual because the State of the Union aired at 9pm and that does not count in the ratings. Fox started with American Idol doing 25.71 million and a 9.5 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. Fox then aired the State of the Union Address rather than the normal Human Target airing, so Fox's average for the night only includes Idol. Fox must be happy. CBS started with repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried at below level numbers thanks to the State of the Union doing 4.82 and 4.48 million. Next CBS aired the State of the Union as Criminal Minds and CSI: NY were preempted. CBS's analysis immediately following the address did 6.14 million for 9 minutes. A repeat of Two and a Half Men aired from 10:47pm-11:17pm ET doing 5.56 million. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing a decent 5.85 million, followed by a repeat of The Middle doing 5.05 million, both up from previous week's repeats and beating the competing CBS comedy repeats. Modern Family was not new at 9pm because of the State of the Union. ABC analysis of the address following the address did 6.36 million. A Cougar Town repeat was joined in progress at 10:44pm ET and did 3.47 million. Ugly Betty was preempted. NBC was next with a repeat of Mercy only doing 3.59 million. Law & Order: SVU and The Jay Leno Show were preempted because of the State of the Union. NBC's analysis of the address did 8.28 million, followed by a repeat of The Office joined in progress at 10:44pm ET doing 3.39 million. The CW aired more repeats as Gossip Girl did only 720,000, lower than previous week when it was at 9pm and then a repeat of Life UneXpected followed and 1.38 million, not too bad.
Thursday it was Fox on top as CBS and ABC were primarily in repeats with their big guns. CBS opened with a failed pilot with Jeff Probst called Live for the Moment doing only 4.56 million. A repeat of CSI followed with 9.14 million. At 10pm The Mentalist was also a repeat but did a better 11.07 million. ABC started off with week two of The Deep End at 6.09 million, down a million from the premiere, but did the same exact 1.8 18-49 rating as the premiere, so that is a positive since the rest of the night were repeats for ABC. A repeat of Grey's Anatomy was next doing 5.21 million, seems a bit better than usual repeat numbers for this show. A repeat of Private Practice was next doing 4.29 million. Fox had a new Bones doing a season high and impressive 12.33 million and a 3.618-49 rating, wow, but the competition was pretty weak A new Fringe did 8.98 million, up two million from previous week as there was nothing else new on in the hour. NBC had repeats of its comedies with Community doing 4.18 million, Parks & Recreation, was next and did only 3.71 million, The Office was next with a repeat episode doing 4.58 million and a repeat of 30 Rock was next doing 3.87 million. The Jay Leno Show closed the night with only 4.34 million, off a it from previous week. The CW aired a new Vampire Diaries at a solid 3.7 million, on par with previous week, and Supernatural was new and did 2.71 million, off a bit from previous week, but still their best night by far of the week as usual.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but CBS won Friday with their dramas, with ABC did well with 20/20 at 10. Series finale of Dollhouse barely registered for Fox hurting the season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares at 9pm.
Saturday numbers saw Fox win a very quiet night with its usual reality crime series.
Tonight ABC has all-new episodes of its regular line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters all intact. NBC has Dateline and a new SNL special that should do average. CBS will win the night though with 60 Minutes followed by the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. Fox returns with their animated comedies being all-new but new 'Til Death episodes will lead-in. Fox will win the week in all categories and CBS will likely be second in everything especially thanks to the Grammys after tonight. ABC will be third and NBC in fourth across the board. As for this coming week, look for the final season of LOST launching Tuesday on ABC! And February 2010 sweeps starts Thursday!

Week 19 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 18-- Jan. 18-24)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - preempted again.
• The Cleveland Show (Fox) - preempted again.
• Family Guy (Fox) - preempted again.
• American Dad (Fox) - preempted again.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A repeat did 5.98 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, not bad for a repeat but CBS Monday comedies usually do better.
• Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 5.52 million for a repeat...pretty good retention from the lead-in.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 12.07 million for a repeat...still the best of the sitcoms.
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 11.5 million for a repeat is great. The 18-49 for this week was a 4.0 and this was a repeat.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• [scrubs] (ABC) - A new episode of the [Med School] edition at 8pm did 3.17 million, better than previous week's new episode, which aired at 9pm.
• Better off Ted (ABC) - Only 2.52 million for a new episode at 8:30pm. This was the last scheduled one, but still two episodes remain (same goes for [scrubs]) unscheduled.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Old Christine (CBS) - A repeat did only 4.82 million, maybe because of the State of he Union.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - 4.48 million for a repeat only.
• The Middle (ABC) - A repeat at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did 5.05 million and a 1.6 18-49 rating, beating Gary on CBS.
• Modern Family (ABC) - A repeat at 8pm did 5.85 million, up from previous week's repeat. Regular 9pm airing was preempted due to State of the Union.
• Cougar Town (ABC) - A repeat at a special time of 10:44pm ET was joined in progress and did 3.47 million.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - A special repeat airing aired in its entirety after the State of the Union doing 5.56 million from 10:47-11:17pm ET.
• The Office (NBC) -A special repeat airing was joined in progress after the State of the Union doing 3.39 million at 10:44pm ET.

Thursday Sitcoms

• Community (NBC) - A repeat did only 4.18 million...but not too far from previous week when it was new.
• Parks & Recreation (NBC) - Only 3.71 million for a repeat. Yet a third season is ordered?
• The Office (NBC) - A repeat did 4.58 million, best of the bunch of course.
• 30 Rock (NBC) - A repeat did 3.87 million...needs to do better.

Friday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) are 'Til Death on Fox followed by the Fox animated comedies starting at 7.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother repeats were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Old Christine, The Office) or just plain old terrible (such as Better off Ted, Scrubs).

Blog DVD Review: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Reviews. Today week we take a look at Warner Home Video's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition. This is the 1985 TV special and is based on the 1967 musical of the same name. Join Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and the rest of the gang with Charlie Brown in an animated mini-musical! See my Blog DVD Review of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Remastered Deluxe Edition:

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition (Warner, $19.98) brings us the 1985 TV special on DVD for the very first time! This is an animated version of the stage musical. The story focuses on of course Charlie Brown, the kid for whom life is a constant source of frustration. The gallery of familiar Peanuts characters, including Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Snoopy, express their obsessions and insecurities in ten songs retained from the original musical. Clark Gesner's songs are featured.

Let's now move on to the packaging. We have a thin case that is movie style. The cover art is light blue in color, and has a shot of Charlie Brown with a crown with the gang carrying him up. The title of the special is above that, with a mention that the special is a remastered deluxe edition all the way on the top with a Snoopy Peanuts logo! To the back we go, we get a nice shot of most of the cast, as Snoopy and Linus are sitting on top of Snoopy's dog house. The back also has a list of special features. When we open the case, we see the disc on the right panel. There is no artwork on the panels, as it is just plain black. Disc artwork is also in light blue color with a shot of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Woodstock.

The menu screen has options of Features, Special Features, and Languages. We get that light blue background again, with the theme song playing in the background. We also have the same artwork as the cover art on the main menu. We get auto-trailers before the main menu for items like Be My Valentine Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown and Peanuts '70s Collection Vol. 1. For Languages, we can have either have English, Portuguese or Japanese. For subtitles we have those three options again and also Chinese and Thai! The Features section has the special listed and it's the only option. Finally, Special Features lists the featurette and a trailer for Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins.

The video and audio is tremendous once again and on par from what we have seen on past sets. These specials have all looked so good ever since they stated the Remastered Collection sets. They have never looked better and the audio is also superb. I am very impressed yet again; what more can I continue to say about these digitally remastered sets? Warner continues to do a great job on this remastering of all these classic specials. This special has 7 chapter stops and it runs 48:04. So, yes of course it is unedited! These sets are must buys for the video quality alone!

As for special features, these sets always have something and here we get a nice featurette like usual! It is titled "Animating a Charlie Brown Musical" and runs 14:41. We find out the 20-year history of the Clark Gesner album that evolved into an Off-Broadway hit before this special was even created. Interviewed are Lee Mendelson (executive producer), Nat Gertler (Peanuts Historian), Dean Stolber (original Broadway Charlie Brown), and Jeannie Schulz (Charles' wife. There is also a clip from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from Feb. 7, 1973 with Charles Schulz! How cool!

I once again highly do recommend this set for any Charlie Brown-Peanuts fan and classic animation in general. Continue your collection, because we get another classic special we never had on DVD before and also remastered for the first time on DVD. This is totally worth it! Warner continues to do a wonderful job with the remastering and the behind the scenes extras for each set. Let's hope they continue to release more Peanuts specials and eventually we get them all remastered in our personal libraries! We still need volume two of the '70s collection of Peanuts, so hopefully that is out by the summer at least. So start singing Happiness because you'll be very happy after you watch this classic special!

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Charlie Brown Official Page
Charlie Brown Specials

Nick at Nite February 2010 Has Week-Long 'Nanny' Event; CBS Renews Veterans For 2010-11

Before we get to our lead story, I want to mention we still don't have full details on the Married...with Children on Comedy Central move. But we do know now that it will not launch on Monday. It will launch the following week, Feb. 8 instead. So stay with us!

Back to our lead story, Nick at Nite has announced their February 2010 highlights. The regular schedule will remain the same as it is now, which is pretty strong in the ratings. One change they made last weekend and will occur this weekend as well is that on Friday and Saturday nights from 2-4am Everybody Hates Chris gets an extra hour for some reason, preempting the 3am hour of Family Matters. This change isn't listed beyond this weekend, but that can change. Nothing else is changing.
As for highlights of stunts, Nick at Nite will present a week-long The Nanny marathon in time for Valentine's Day! The marathon starts Monday, Feb. 8 and will last into Valentine's night on Sunday, Feb. 14. The marathon airs from 11pm-6am ET/PT for these seven nights. It's seven nights of love with Fran and family! The Nanny star Fran Drescher hosts "Valentine Schmalentine." During "Valentine Schmalentine," Drescher invites viewers into her "boudoir" as she shares her expertise on love, dating, romance and relationships, as well as her favorite clips from the series. Elsewhere, the last two Sundays of February will have movies on Nick at Nite. The Nickelodeon original movie School Gyrlz will air on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 7pm leading into the big screen movie Drumline from 8pm-10:30pm. And on Sunday, Feb. 28, Nick at Nite will air the classic comedy movie Uncle Buck from 8pm-10:30pm. Other than all that, it is a pretty quiet month for Nick at Nite. Original animated comedy Glenn Martin continues to air Mondays at 8pm.
View the full Nick at Nite February 2010 schedule and highlights.

CBS has ordered more editions of its long running reality franchises Survivor and The Amazing Race for the 2010-2011 season.
Survivor will return with two more editions, marking the 21st and 22nd installments of broadcast television's longest-running reality competition series. The series' 20th edition, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, premieres with a special two-hour episode on Thursday, Feb. 11 from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS has also ordered the 17th edition of the seven-time Emmy Award-winning reality series The Amazing Race, hosted by Phil Keoghan. The 17th cycle will likely air in Fall 2010. The Amazing Race 16th edition returns Sunday, Feb. 14 at8:00 PM, ET/PT.
And finally, CBS has not officially put out a press release on this, but they have ordered a sixth season of Monday night sitcom How I Met Your Mother for the 2010-11 season. CBS did announce that Jennifer Lopez will guest star in an episode airing this March. Lopez will play Anita Appleby, a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to train men into relationship machines through the power of denial. When Robin tells Anita how Barney acts toward women, she makes it her mission to "break" him.

TV Land Alters February 2010 Schedule, 'Married' Situation Addressed; ABC Cancels Ugly Betty But Proper Series Finale Will Air, More ABC Notes

TV Land is altering its February 2010 schedule a bit, and now Married...with Children will leave the line-up starting Feb. 1 (which is next week!), instead of March 1 - a month earlier than planned. It is very strange because the series does well for them in the ratings, but it must be some contractual issues that forces them to do this. But this time it won't move back to sister network Spike TV, it will move to sister network Comedy Central starting Monday, Feb. 1. Stay with us for details on that (hoping by tomorrow we can post it). But for TV Land, there are just two days left -- tonight 10pm and 1am hours and Saturday, Jan. 30 from 1pm-5pm. So, effective Monday, Feb. 1, on weeknights another hour of Home Improvement will air in the 10pm hour and Roseanne will air for another hour in the 1am hour both replacing Married. So, Home Improvement will air 9-11pm and Roseanne from 11pm-2am. The 11pm hour of Roseanne will be replaced by Feb. 15 when Boston Legal launches though, cutting it to 12-2am. Roseanne's late night hour of 3am will be gone because of these changes, as The Cosby Show will air again from 2am-3:30am and Three's Company from 3:30am-5am (both gain an extra episode again). And finally, an hour of The Beverly Hillbillies will air in the 5pm hour replacing an hour of Andy Griffith Show on weekdays.
The Saturday Married...with Children marathon blocks will be replaced by other sitcom blocks, most notably by Sanford & Son and Andy Griffith.
View the updated TV Land February 2010 schedule, but remember more changes are to come in March as now Everybody Loves Raymond will be joining the schedule earlier than planned, as we mentioned a few days back. Stay with us for the TV Land schedule starting March 18 with Raymond added and if Married returns again on TV Land (like it always ends up doing after being dropped by Spike, or perhaps it will be different now that Comedy Central will air it). I also expect March 1-17 to be changed a bit on TV Land as well from the original schedule, too because of these February changes. So watch for that. And we'll tell you the timeslots for Married on Comedy Central by tomorrow.

ABC is ending Ugly Betty after the end of this season. The series is in the middle of its fourth season. The show will get a proper and satisfying ending though, as they still have time to shoot the series finale. However, the season order of 22 episodes has been trimmed down to 20 episodes. Here is the statement from ABC and the producers of Ugly Betty:
"We've mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty's final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion. We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell."
ABC will air the series finale in April. Tentatively the finale will likely air Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 10pm. The series will air all-new episodes on Wednesdays at 10pm from next Wednesday (Feb. 3) to April (except two weeks in February (Feb. 17 and 24), since the Winter Olympics will air then). The series took a dip in the ratings when it moved to Fridays at 9pm this fall and the Wednesday at 10pm move in January only slightly improved on its Friday airings. ABC has not yet announced what will replace Ugly Betty on Wednesdays at 10pm after Betty has its finale. Stay with us for that.

In other ABC schedule updates, The Bachelor: On The Wings of Love - After the Final Rose special will air immediately after the season finale of The Bachelor: On The Wings of Love from 8-10pm on Monday, March 1. But the big news is that ABC has scheduled a Bachelor wedding for last season's couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney. The two-hour The Bachelor: Jason and Molly's Wedding will air Monday, March 8 from 8-10pm leading into Castle. The event will include the bride's dress fitting, planning for the big day, bachelor and bachelorette parties and the ceremony itself. Past Bachelor and Bachelorette couples and participants will be on the guest list.
Jason Mesnick was one of the final two bachelors on DeAnna Pappas' edition of The Bachelorette. He became the first single dad on The Bachelor and proposed to Melissa Rycroft in the finale last year, only to change his mind and break up with Rycroft on the air and instead propose to runner-up Molly Malaney.
ABC will air an all-new season of reality staple Wife Swap on Fridays starting Friday, March 26, 2010 at 8pm ET/PT. Wife Swap replaces Supernanny, and will lead into Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution at 9pm, which also launches on March 26. Wife Swap will likely go into the summer months as it is starting a bit late and has more than 13 episodes in the can for season six.
And finally, ABC has ordered two more episodes of surging hit Castle for this season, CastleTV.net reports. This is no surprise, as Castle is growing every week in the ratings and also has a special two-part, two-night episode coming March 21-22. So it was no surprise to me that ABC ordered two more episodes. Castle will be all-new next on Monday, Feb. 8 with a baseball themed episode featuring a cameo by L.A. Dodgers manager Joe Torre. After that, Castle takes a Winter Olympic break for repeats (and preempted on March 1 by The Bachelor finale) and returns March 8. Castle stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic.

FamilyNet March 2010 Schedule, Removes Sitcoms; NATPE Syndication 2010: Day 3

FamilyNet, which was bought by ComStar last month or so, is changing their schedule in March 2010. ComStar also owns AmericanLife TV, so FamilyNet and ALN are now sister networks. And because of that, FamilyNet will be airing some series that used to air or air now on ALN. Effective Monday, March 1, 2010, FamilyNet will air Lou Grant, Trapper John M.D., and Color Honeymooners. The Ed Asner drama Lou Grant will air Mon-Thurs at 5pm and 6pm ET. Trapper John, M.D. will follow that and air Mon-Thurs at 7pm and 8pm ET. Both series are spin-offs of popular series Mary Tyler Moore Show and M*A*S*H. FamilyNet Movie Flicks will follow the dramas at 9pm ET and another one at 12am ET. And the Color Honeymooners will air Fridays at 5pm ET. Also airing on Fridays will be FamilyNet Documentary, World Combat League, and ALN Live from 6-9pm. ALN Live also airs on ALN at 8pm on Fridays, so it will be simulcast on FamilyNet.
Merv Griffin's Crosswords and Black Beauty will remain on the schedule and air weekdays at 3pm and 4pm ET. With the addition of these new series, this means Happy Days, My Three Sons, Family Ties, and Early Edition will be off the line-up after their Friday, Feb. 26 airings. They haven't lost rights I believe, but they have been played for 3 cycles each or so and FamilyNet wanted to do something fresh. Since some ALN series have migrated to FamilyNet, you might wonder if these series could migrate to ALN? As of now, that is not happening because they can't. But if it ever happens, we'll let you know!

What about AmericanLife TV in March 2010? There is only one change, Fridays at 10am and 5pm will now be another airing of The Color Honeymooners. So Rhoda and Phyllis will be now cut to Mon-Thurs 10am & 5pm instead of Mon-Fri in March. Not a big deal. And Merv Griffin's Crosswords will air Saturdays at 4pm, as they will share it with sister net FamilyNet. Everything else will remain the same as it is now. Stay with us for updates as usual.

We didn't mention on day one the first-run weekend series up for sale for next fall. The following all-new series are trying to be sold for Fall 2010 on weekends:
The Crook and Chase Hour (one-hour, music talk show from All Media Partners); Curiosity Quest Goes Green (Half-hour kids series from Telco Productions); The Kids Block (Half-hour kids series from Showplace Television Syndication); My Parents, My Sister & Me (Half-hour sitcom starring Jasmine Guy from Showplace Television Syndication); Real Green (Half-hour lifestyle magazine from Telco Productions); Treasure Hunters Road Show (Half-hour reality from Entertainment Concepts International); Wild Limited (Half-hour wildlife series from Litton); Young Icons (Half-hour kids reality from Entertainment Studios, Inc.); Untitled Project With Magic Johnson (Half-hour from sports reality Showplace Television Syndication); World's Funniest Moments (One-hour reality from MGM).
As of now, I have no clearances for any of these. I'm sure a few of these will get cleared. It would be nice to have an first-run sitcom in syndication again like in the days of Charles in Charge and Out of this World! So here's hoping My Parents, My Sister & Me starring Jasmine Guy gets cleared! Debbie Allen is producing that sitcom. Stay with us for updates!

In other NATPE news, Trifecta Entertainment has acquired distribution rights for Hacienda Heights, an original soap opera featuring an all-Hispanic cast. Trifecta hopes to launch it this fall as a weekend block of two half-hours on both English and Spanish-language TV stations, as well as secure a cable run for it if possible. It will be produced for both English and Spanish, B&C reports. The show stars Resurrection Blvd.'s Mauricio Mendoza, and will be shot in San Francisco, where executive producer Desmond Gumbs owns a sound stage and production facility. Gumbs financed the production of the first 11 episodes himself. Those episodes were test-marketed in four Western markets with strong Hispanic demographics: San Francisco; Los Angeles; Yuma, Ariz.; and Santa Rosa, Calif. New York-based Sahara Media has agreed to finance the production's next 89 episodes, bringing the show to 100. Once the companies get enough episodes, they hope to turn the show into a daytime strip.
As of now, no clearances on this yet. If it gets picked-up, we'll let you know.

We shall return if anything else is known today, so come on back and check!