More on Golden Girls' 20th Anniversary Marathon on Lifetime; Extra Exposure for Hot Properties

We first brought you news back in early October that Lifetime was planning a Golden Girls marathon on Veteran's Day (Nov. 11). Now Lifetime has officially announced it! Twenty years -- and still laughing! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the The Golden Girls, one of television's most beloved and enduring sitcoms, Lifetime Television is throwing a gala on-air, on-line, wireless party beginning Friday, November 11 from 12noon-11PM (ET/PT) showcasing the series' 20 greatest episodes, followed by an encore presentation of The Golden Girls Reunion -- the network's highest-rated special ever. We posted the schedule back in early October, so see our archives. Lifetime's celebration of The Golden Girls, where more than 16 million people watch the series on Lifetime in any given week -- and which boasted Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry as a writer for three seasons --includes a trivia game at http://www.lifetimetv.com along with innovative wireless features that fans can download onto their cell phones, such as:

-- Ring tones -- The theme song, "Thank You For Being a Friend," available as a ring tone
-- Voice tones -- Funny lines from each of the Girls available as both ring tones and ring backs
-- Original voicemail greetings -- Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan have recorded special greetings fans can send as gifts, such as an Arthur 'Happy Birthday' message
-- Graphics -- The cast of The Golden Girls and series logo accessible as cell phone wallpaper

Additionally, during The Golden Girls Reunion, fans will have the opportunity to text in their "shout out" which will be scrolled on screen throughout the program. As well, comedians Mo Rocca and Judy Gold, along with Michael D. Craig, author of Thank You for Being a Friend: A Golden Girls Trivia Boo, host an on-air roundtable discussion aired as interstitials throughout the day. These interstitials feature the most 'obsessed' "Golden Girl" real life fans expressing their love for this classic sitcom by singing the theme song, showing off their
memorabilia and even doing a dance inspired by the Girls.

In other news, ABC will be trying the new sitcom Hot Properties on a special night and time to try to lure more of an audience to this well written sitcom. The special night and time will be on Tuesday, November 15 at 8:30 p.m. with an all-new episode, pre-empting the sitcom Rodney for the night. This will be a one week showing only, but it could be a test for how Hot Properties performs there (with the best new series Commander in Chief following it) . If it does well, I'm sure they'd move it there and bump Rodney to another night or completely. Hot Properties is coming off a series high in the ratings this past Friday, but with just a 4.4 rating. Hot Properties will still air on Friday at 9:30 p.m. (its regular night & time) the week it will have a special episode on a special night and time. In other sitcom news, NBC has ordered two more episodes of My Name is Earl, bringing the already renewed new sitcom to 24 episodes.

How the Sitcoms Did For Week 6; Hearts Afire S3 DVD Cover

As promised yesterday, here is how the sitcoms did in week six:

Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - Built on last week's already impressive numbers to 11.23 million. Much better than what last season's occupant did.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 10.89 million tuned in and held all of its lead-in's A18-49 ratings.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) -Equaled highest rating of the season with a 5.5 A18-49 rating.
  
• Out of Practice (CBS) - 13.09 million tuned in but lost almost 3 1/2 million viewers from lead-in.
  
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - UPN's best sitcom block, much better than Thursdays, even though Chris is on Thursday.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - A repeat at a special time did very decent. 9.22 million tuned in, but it did lose a lot from the special Charlie Brown Halloween's 10.98 million.
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) - A repeat at a special time did better than what The Office does regularly!
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - Up from last week. 8.5 million tuned in.
  
• Still Standing (CBS) - 6.47 million tuned in. Cancelation clock is ticking, even though it was a repeat.
  
• Yes, Dear (CBS) - The inconsistent sitcom scored 6.76 million for a repeat. What happened to the 8.75 it scored a few weeks ago?
  
• Freddie(ABC) - For the first time the sitcom didn't build on George Lopez in total viewers, but it did in A18-49 from a 3.1 to a 3.4 rating.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Joey (NBC) - A repeat, but only 6.06 million? Third in its half hour.
  
• Will & Grace (NBC) - Another repeat of a sitcom this week, scored 6.27 million viewers.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - Since Joey was a repeat, Chris should have won, but it didn't. 5.39 million tuned in.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - Time to cancel two of these at least and try something else in the 9 p.m. hour.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• What I Like About You (The WB) 1 Hour - An original and a repeat both were lead last.
• Bernie Mac (FOX) - Bernie might be gone after this season.
  
• Malcolm in the Middle (FOX) - Same goes for this one.
  
• Reba (The WB), Twins (The WB) - The hour was up from last week's 1.8 to a 2.2, which is OK.
  
• Hope & Faith (ABC) - Up from last week and was second place in its timeslot because CBS's drama was in a repeat.
  
• Hot Properties (ABC) - This episode was not as good as the previous ones, but it was probably the highest ratings for the show, once the final numbers come in we'll know if it was.
  

Summing it up, this week's winners: How I Met Your Mother, The King of Queens, Two and a Half Men were the impressive sitcoms this week. Everything else was OK (Out of Practice) or in repeats (According to Jim, My Name is Earl), or pre-empted (The Office, Rodney) or just plain old terrible (such as Malcolm, WB Friday, UPN Thursday).


The sitcom Hearts Afire starring John Ritter, Markie Post and Billy Bob Thornton comes out with Season 2 on DVD this Tuesday. Be sure to buy a copy of this underrated series (see my webpage below). We also have cover art for Season 3 (posted to the left), which comes out Feb. 7. For more information, see my Hearts Afire page (yes, cheap promotion! I love it!).

First Four Day Rating Numbers (Week 6)

Today I will post the numbers for the first four days for Week 6. Tomorrow I will detail all the sitcoms so far for the week.

Week 6 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):
Households: CBS: 9.9/15.1; FOX 8.2/12.6; ABC: 6.5/10.0; NBC: 6.5/9.9; The WB: 2.7/4.1; UPN: 2.3/3.5
Total Viewers: CBS: 15.14 million; FOX 12.55 million; ABC: 9.82 million; NBC: 9.45 million; The WB: 4.12 million; UPN: 3.43 million.
Adults 18-49: CBS: 4.9/12.3; FOX 4.2/11.1; ABC: 3.6/9.2; NBC: 3.6/9.1; The WB: 1.7/4.4; UPN: 1.5/3.8.

Analysis: Even with CBS's CSI airing a repeat, CBS was slightly still up from last week's first four days. The show that follows, Without a Trace, was all-new and garnered excellent ratings 14.2/24)--possibly the best of the season. CSI's repeat still had 24.22 million. FOX should be ashamed that the World Series was the lowest rated series EVER. Even worse than the boring 2002 World Series between the Giants and Angels. With the World Series, FOX should have been #1 this week, but it will probably be 2nd or 3rd in viewers and the demos. ABC's Lost was a repeat and still ABC leads NBC for the first four days of the week. Desperate Housewives is a repeat this coming Sunday, but Grey's Anatomy is all-new, so expect ABC to still take Sunday.
As usual, look for CBS to win the week in total viewers again and since repeats of Lost and Desperate Housewives this week, CBS will win in adults 18-49. The big question is, can FOX hang on to second place for the week in adults 18-49? And if they lose that 3 million total viewers lead for 2nd place, FOX should be worried.
Friday saw CBS winning in total viewers and adults 18-49 despite two of their three dramas in repeats. Expect ABC to take A18-49 tonight (with the movie Monsters, Inc., NBC is airing Scary Movie, that is terrible!) and the Sunday line-up (since Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Grey's Anatomy is new).

Stay tuned tomorrow for the week in review for all the sitcoms that aired--even though some were in repeats (According to Jim, My Name is Earl) and some were pre-empted (Rodney, The Office).

Potpourri of TV News; Anchor Bay March TV DVDs

We have a lot of news today! First off, please read yesterday's news if you are a big fan of the sitcom Alice. As you can make a difference on what episodes will be on DVD in a best of type set. TV Land has an interesting original series in the works for 2006. TV Land has ordered six half-hours that take a "Before They Were Stars" approach to a celebrity's first big break in showbiz in My Big Break. The first episode of My Big Break centers on the career kick-offs of Katey Sagal (8 Simple Rules) and Jim Belushi (According to Jim). Sagal had a role on The Mary Tyler Moore spin-off Mary while Belushi made his debut on the short-lived Garry Marshall sitcom Who's Watching the Kids. The series should debut sometime in 2006 in the Wednesday 10 p.m. hour. I just hope TV Land airs episodes of the series that the stars caught their first break. It would be nice to see an episode or two of Mary and Who's Watching the Kids again.
Meanwhile, Nickelodeon will air the Nick@Nite sitcom Full House Mon-Thurs at 8:30 p.m. starting Tuesday, November 1. That will of course lead-in to Nick@Nite, which you guessed it, starts off with Full House at 9 p.m.
In related Viacom news, Comedy Central has grabbed reruns of the animated comedy Futurama, which stars the voice of Katey Sagal. Comedy Central will start airing the series in January 2008. Currently reruns can be seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Their deal lasts through the end of December 2007.
Finally, ABC will bring back Dancing with the Stars for a second season starting January 5. It will for eight weeks at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. Hopefully they can grab a sitcom star or two. Look what John O'Hurley did last season!

Now for your DVD news of the day. Anchor Bay Entertainment has announced their March 2006 TV DVD plans to us. We of course knew Three's Company Season 6 was coming in March, but I sort of kept quiet on the actual date. You can expect season 6 on March 7. See my Three's Company page for more details on the DVDs and don't forget to pick up your copy of season five in a few weeks! And on March 21, Anchor Bay will release season 3 of Roseanne and season 5 of 21 Jump Street. Don't forget you can get season 4 of 21 Jump Street this coming Tuesday and Roseanne Season 2 in early December. Anchor Bay is going very fast on nearly all of their TV DVDs, which is very good. Unfortunately, The Commish is the only odd one out. I guess the sales of the first two seasons were not good and maybe the best of set for season one that followed also didn't sell well. That is too bad as it was an underrared series starring a great actor (Michael Chiklis).

Warner Home Video Wants to Know...What Are Your Favorite 'Alice' Episodes?

Finally the classic '70s sitcom Alice starring Linda Lavin is coming to DVD in 2006 and Warner Home Video wants to know what your favorite ten episodes are of the 202 episodes that were made. They will be releasing a "TV Favorites" (basically a one disc set with six episodes) set of the sitcom in 2006 and they need your help! Click here to post your ten favorite episodes of Alice and you will help them a lot! The deadline is Tuesday (Nov. 1)--so hurry! All fans HAVE to buy the set when it comes out because if this sells well--you will indeed get the complete first season on DVD. So, this set will be testing the waters for potential season sets for the show. Many thanks to Warner Home Video for choosing our website for a place people can post their top episodes.

They also promise "TV Favorites" sets of Family Matters, The Drew Carey Show, Step by Step, and Night Court. We hope all of those garner season sets, too. It is strange for Night Court though since season one of that sitcom is already out. The sitcom Friends seems like it will be continuing to come out on DVD even after the tenth and final season comes out on DVD next month, with themed TV Favorite sets such as the Holiday episodess and Best ofs for each character.
We will bring you more news on Warner Bros. TV DVDs as soon as we hear some.

Who's the Boss? Reunion on The Tony Danza Show; Three's Company Episode Info for Nick@Nite

The Tony Danza Show, which airs in first run syndication all across the country (check local listings for time and channel), will have a reunion of the hit '80s sitcom Who's the Boss? Tony Danza, who starred on the show hosts the reunion on his talk show. Danza is now in its second season on the air and all of the cast members did make an appearance last season on separate shows. Tune in on November 8 for the reunion of Tony Danza's Who's the Boss? cast members -- Judith Light, Katherine Helmond, Alyssa Milano and Danny Pintauro. Good move by Danza and Buenta Vista Television!

A few days ago we announced that Nick@Nite made massive changes. Three's Company was coming back and weekends would be marathons of ratings sensations Fresh Prince and Roseanne. Now we know what episodes Nick@Nite will air for Three's Company. They will start with episode 132 on Tuesday, November 1. When TV Land gives the show a hiatus on November 4, they will stop on episode 131, so basically Nick@Nite will continue off where TV Land left off. But remember the first three days that Nick@Nite airs the show, it will ALSO be on TV Land, too! Talk about a double dose! For complete episode schedule for the show, go to my website on the show's On TV section for details (will be up by later tonight!).

Charlie Brown Halloween on Tonight; Growing Pains S1 DVD in February

Probably the best Halloween themed program ever will air tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. That is of course, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The classic 1966 special airs every year and is an annual Halloween tradition. Charlie Brown is finally invited to a Halloween party, Snoopy engages the Red Baron in a dogfight and Linus waits patiently in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin. Charlie Brown has two more classic specials coming up for Thanksgiving and Christmas; we will have more information on those classics closer to the airings. And there is an all-new special in the works, titled He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. ABC will air that sometime this season. But tonight tune in at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT for the Halloween special only on AB(oo!)C.

And in your DVD news, both TVShowsonDVD.com and I have brought you updates on the Growing Pains DVD. Now, Warner Bros. has officially announced the title for a February 7 street date! Show me that smile again! Some extras are planned, such as scenes from the unaired pilot, bloopers, and possibly an all-new reunion just for the DVD (or it could be one of the two reunion movies that has already aired on ABC). So click here for the official announcement, details, and even the cover art!

Nick@Nite Schedule Overhaul Starting November 1; TV Land Re-Airs Good Times Marathon for Thanksgiving Weekend!

Nick@Nite has almost totally changed its line-up for November and December. Starting November 1, Nick@Nite will bring back fan favorite Three's Company! Three's Company is slated to be on hiatus from TV Land due to contract issues after the November 4 airing. Both Nick@Nite and TV Land do indeed share the show, so you may wonder why is Nick@Nite airing it then if there are some issues with the contract? Well, Nick@Nite will only be airing four episodes a week, almost half of what TV Land is airing right now (seven episodes a week, though for a long time they aired fourteen episodes a week). Nick@Nite will air the show Mon-Thurs nights at 11 p.m. ET/PT with an encore at 2:00 a.m. ET/PT starting November 1. So, for three nights you will see Three's Company on BOTH TV Land and Nick@Nite at 11 p.m. (on Nov. 1, 2 and 3)--gotta love that! Nick@Nite will most likely skip around, so do not be surprised or upset, because there really is contract issues and please understand that. You may also ask why would it move back to Nick@Nite and not just air four times a week on TV Land? Well, I believe Nick@Nite might have needed a little bit of a boost from Three's Company for ratings. Remember when Coach bombed on Nick@Nite, Three's Company came in to the rescue. And then later again when Wings bombed in primetime. And TV Land has really a seven day a week schedule where all of the regular shows air seven days a week.
Not to fear, to me this new Nick@Nite schedule looks very temporary, but expect it to last through the end of December at least. Some of the other changes include Fresh Prince Saturdays and Roseanne Sundays--watch those shows all night on those days. Click here to view all the changes to this almost totally revamped line-up.

Also, keep in mind you will still see Three's Company pop-up a few times on TV Land for stunts, such as on Thanksgiving the Best of Three's Company episode will air, the Christmas episode will air Dec. 11 & 25, and possibly the first episode on the first day of the new year. I also expect it to move back to TV Land sometime in 2006. The current contract expires in the fall of 2007, so we still have a while to go.

And finally, TV Land will reair the Good Times launch marathon that we saw in July again on November 26-27 during Thanksgiving weekend. The sitcom has performed to great numbers and the marathon was a historical ratings event for TV Land in July, scoring the best numbers ever. What better way to celebrate the Thanksgiving weekend having 'good times' with your family watching J.J. say dyno-mite! Click here to see the list of episodes and to refresh your memory on what else is on tap for TV Land November.

How the Sitcoms Did For Week 5

As promised yesterday, here is how the sitcoms did in week five:

Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - The sitcom is very steady. 10.47 million this week, down just a few thousand.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Up from last week's 9.84 million to 10.14, but the better news is that this week it built on in A18-49, last week it did not.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - Excellent week for the show. Highest rated of the season with a 5.5 A18-49 rating. A close second for any sitcom in that measure, behind Earl's 5.6/14 on Tuesday.
  
• Out of Practice (CBS) - Still losing three million viewers from its lead-in each week. But at least it is consistent!
  
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - Like last week, all four are consistent each week. 3.5 to 4 million viewers for each.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - Down more from last week, to 7.59 million. Charlie Brown Halloween will be on this week and then a Jim rerun from last season at 8:30 p.m.
  
• Rodney (ABC) - Built slightly on its lead in with 7.62 million. Will be pre-empted this week.
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) - Highest rated sitcom for 18-49 again, but this time it almost wasn't. 5.6/14, up from last week's 5.5/13, but CBS's Men was way up from the previous week. 12.19 million total viewers tuned in, down slightly from last week, good for second place behind Commander in Chief--the season's highest rated new show among total viewers.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 8.02 million, not bad, but could be much much better. NBC should expect 10 million since the lead in gets at least 12 million.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - Down from last week to 7.94 million, but still beat the CBS competing comedy.
  
• Still Standing (CBS) - Just 6.98 million tuned in two weeks and what did it do this week? The exact same. Last week it scored close to 7.5 million.
  
• Yes, Dear (CBS) - Down more than a million viewers from last week's 8.75 to this week's 7.56 million.
  
• Freddie (ABC) - Lost a little but still won its half hour in adults 18-49 and close second in total viewers, but beat CBS's competing comedy.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Joey (NBC) - Up from last week, but each week NBC is closer to brining rookie hit My Name is Earl here. Joey is running out of time.
  
• Will & Grace (NBC) - Built on lead-in again. NBC could move this to Tuesdays if Earl does indeed move to Thursdays, or this show will just stay put here.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - 5.52 million tuned in this week. For any other network (besides The WB and UPN), that would be terrible for a sitcom, but for UPN that is their best! 6.33 million tuned in last week though, so a little loss.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - Freefall! See numbers go down by a lot here! 5.52 from 8 p.m. to 2.45 by the end. Hurley from Lost couldn't even lose that much weight.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• What I Like About You (The WB) 1 Hour - The WB made some changes. It didn't help in this hour. Who wants to see reruns of What I Like About You at 8:30??
• Bernie Mac (FOX) - Bernie came back after baseball pre-empted it last week. Didn't help much, just a 2.7 rating.
• Malcolm in the Middle (FOX) - I doubt anyone thinks this show is still on, just a 2.4 rating.
  
• Reba (The WB), Twins (The WB) - Final numbers are not in yet, but the avg for the hour was a 1.8 rating. Worse than what it did last week.
  
• Hope & Faith (ABC) - Almost the same as last week. It needs to do numbers like it did for the season premiere to be respected again.
  
• Hot Properties (ABC) - An excellent show no one is watching. Spread the words because these ladies are HILARIOUS!
  

Summing it up, this week's winners: My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, Freddie, The King of Queens, Two and a Half Men were the impressive sitcoms this week. Everything else was OK (such as Everybody Hates Chris, George Lopez) or just plain old terrible (such as Malcolm, WB Friday, UPN Thursday).

Stay tuned tomorrow for details on Nick@Nite November and December. Massive schedule changes to the regular schedule! A show will be 'knocking on Nick@Nite's door' again!

First Four Day Rating Numbers (Week 5)

Today I will post the numbers for the first four days for Week 5. Tomorrow I will detail all the sitcoms so far for the week.

Week 5 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):
Households: CBS: 9.8/15.2; NBC: 7.3/11.3; ABC: 7.2/11.2; FOX: 5.8/9.1; The WB: 2.8/4.3; UPN: 2.2/3.4
Total Viewers: CBS: 15.09 million; ABC: 10.94 million; NBC: 10.74 million; FOX: 8.87 million; The WB: 4.32 million; UPN: 3.36 million.
Adults 18-49: CBS: 5.0/12.9; NBC: 4.2/10.8; ABC: 4.0/10.5; FOX: 2.9/7.7; The WB: 1.9/4.9; UPN: 1.5/3.8.

Analysis: CBS and ABC were almost exactly the same as last week through the first four days in households. The WB was exactly the same in households, UPN was just slightly down. NBC was up a bit in households thanks to above average showings for shows like ER and E-Ring. FOX was way down from last week as the ALCS and NLCS baseball games ended early. The World Series Game 1 airs tonight (Saturday), FOX is expected to dominate tonight but not as much as they'd like. But can it win for game two tomorrow against ABC's red-hot Sunday line-up? Expect those Housewives and Grey to win.
As usual, look for CBS to win in total viewers again and ABC making a run (thanks to Sunday) in the key demos (A18-49, A18-34), but A25-54 will be a close race between CBS and ABC.

In other news, I spent most of the day researching the episode situation for DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. It is quite confusing, but I think I have it all figured out. Check out my posts at HTF (page 2) and UltimateDisney.com (page 17) for all the details.

More on the Jeannie DVD!

A few weeks ago we mentioned that with the Bewitched Season 2 DVD, there is a trailer for I Dream of Jeannie on DVD. We have more news now on this! Larry Hagman's official website is reporting that the DVD is indeed in the works and special features are also coming! They state:
"I DREAM OF JEANNIE comes to DVD! Larry, along with his I DREAM OF JEANNIE co-stars, Barbara Eden and Bill Daily, participated in the DVD release with on-camera interviews and audio commentaries. Stay tuned for more details!" Visit Mr. Hagman's official website here.

If I were to guess, we would get this release when Bewitched Season 3 comes out or next fall when the I Dream of Jeannie big screen movie comes.

Some DVD Answers; Full Season Pick-Ups

We have found out some answers to some of our own questions recently. A&E Home Video will release Ellen Season 3 on February 28. Be sure to buy a copy when it arrives.
Remember last week when I mentioned Maude could be paired up with "Archie Bunker?" Sony has told me that when they said "Archie Bunker" they did indeed mean Archie Bunker's Place! So we can expect season one of Archie Bunker's Place sometime in 2006. Some may think that is strange since we are only on season 5 of All in the Family. Remember Season 5 hits stores January 3. All in the Family lasted nine seasons, so we would be about halfway through when season five arrives. After season 9 All in the Family basically turned into Archie Bunker's Place, a follow-up series. I am expecting Archie Bunker's Place and Maude to be paired up. We hope to find out more information soon. Remember to check TVShowsonDVD.com for official information.

And two more new series have been picked-up for the remainder of the season. Variety reported that ABC's hit Tuesday drama Commander in Chief has been picked up for the remainder of the season. And we will be the first ones to announce this, but ABC has told me that they also picked up the mysterious supernatural drama Invasion for the remainder of the season! ABC will have a press release on both pick-ups very soon. Earlier in the week NBC sort of picked up the supernatural drama Surface for "additional episodes." They did not state how many, though. Chief and Invasion will get at least 22 episodes this season.

TV Land to Study Boomer Entertainment Trends; The WB Moves 'Twins' & Puts 'Fran' on Hiatus

TV Land has secured the services of Ken Dychtwald, the nation's leading expert on Baby Boomers, and his San Francisco-based consulting firm - Age Wave - to conduct a comprehensive study exploring consumer behaviors and attitudes of the Baby Boom generation, generally defined as Americans born between 1946 and 1964. As consultants to TV Land, Dychtwald and Age Wave have been assigned two primary projects: 1) to develop and execute a "state-of-the generation" presentation to TV Land advertisers in March, 2006 and 2) to conduct a national study that examines their social influence and consumer trends on a wide range of issues pertaining to entertainment. The study's findings are slated to be released by TV Land and Age Wave in September, 2006. To read more from this press release click here.

The WB has made various schedule shifts to their primetime line-up. Most notably are sitcoms Twins and Living with Fran. Twins will move from Fridays 8:30 p.m. to Fridays 9:30 p.m., which means Living with Fran is on hiatus--who knows if it will ever return, though The WB promises it will. The WB will air reruns of What I Like About You in Twins' old slot at 8:30 p.m. I won't go into more detail, but you can see the full changes here.

Ellen DVD IS in the Works

Last week we posted that A&E Home Video had no current plans for season 3 of Ellen but we also found out that Benny Hill Set 4 would come out Jan. 31. Yesterday TVShowsonDVD.com relayed all of our stories from last week, including the A&E update, and someone very close to the Ellen DVDs at A&E e-mailed them and told them that season 3 IS indeed in the works. I'm sure that is a big relief for fans of the hit sitcom, as we have not seen a DVD release since late February 2005 when season two came out. And it looks like we will see season three around the same time in 2006. It seems a February or March release date for season three right now. Maybe they are giving Ellen a second chance? Since it will be at least a year between seasons. If a second chance is the case, you better make sure you buy a copy if you are a fan and urge others to as well. And we apologize for saying that there were no plans for Ellen season 3. I was just relaying what I was told. It is a good thing we mentioned something about Ellen at least, or we still would have not found out if there were plans for season three! To read the full story from TVShowsonDVD.com click here.

VH1 Brings You I Love The '80s in ... 3D!

From the network that brought you I Love The '80s, I Love The '70s, I Love The '80s: Strikes Back, and I Love The '90s, brings you the third installment of the '80s with I Love The '80s: 3D. VH1 says: When you think of '80s television, Gimme A Break is sure to come to mind. Nell, little Joey and the rest of the Kanisky family starred in one of the many classic television shows looked back on in VH1's outrageous ten-hour, five-night flashback, I Love the 80s: 3D, the sixth installment in VH1's I Love The... franchise.

We're back, we're funnier than ever, and because we haven't run out of ideas, we're taking it to the third dimension, with gnarly special effects that'll-like-blow your mind! That's right. Put on your 3D glasses and check out that chick's bangs, with I Love The 80s: 3D! I Love the 80s: 3D premieres next Monday-Friday, October 24-28, beginning at 9:00 p.m. each night with back to back new episodes.

Classic '80s stars such as Emmanuel Lewis (Webster), Chuck Woolery, Dom Deluise, Weird Al, Nadia Comaneci, Wil Wheaton, Alan Thicke (Growing Pains), Gilbert Gottfried, Nicole Eggert (Charles in Charge), and much more will be interviewed. Current stars and personalities include Desperate Housewives' Mary Alice herself, Brenda Strong.

We also have information on where you can pick up the 3D glasses! Viewers can pick up their free 3D eyeglasses at Best Buy stores nationwide while supplies last beginning Saturday, October 22. Take a chill pill because even if you can't get the glasses you'll still have a bodacious time watching the series as a result of new 3D technology.

To view the entire press release click here and don't forget to tune in next week in 3D! Gnarly dude!

TV DVD Story from VB

Video Business has an excellent story on why we haven't seen season two of shows on DVD such as Happy Days, Twin Peaks, Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley and Malcolm in the Middle. We don't have much news today for you, so I will turn it over to Sue Ault from VB. Click here to read the story and click here for some analysis and insight from TVShowsonDVD.com.

I think we will see the Happy Days family (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy) on DVD again in some form. Whether it be complete season sets with, or without original music, or maybe best of sets. I just hope they release complete seasons. I don't think fans will mind much if the music is not intact. It has been well over a year since these three have seen another DVD release, so hopefully if they do release something, everyone will rush to buy a copy or two. I know when ABC aired the Happy Days reunion special this past February the DVD sales went up high, at least on Amazon, I wonder if Paramount noticed that? Happy Days was the show I tried to get something out of them and was hoping to bring everyone the reason and answer if we would see more, but PHE has been very quiet.

How Sitcoms Did This Week In The Ratings; Week 4 Numbers Thus Far

Week four saw some ups and some downs for the current sitcoms on the air. I will break it down once again:

Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - Up from last week's 10.31 to 10.5 million viewers this week. The move back to Mondays has helped this sitcom.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Last week we saw this sitcom build on its lead-in, this week it did not. Down to 9.84 million viewers this week. CBS gave it a full season order, so expect it to stick around.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) -Up from last week's 4.8/11 A18-49 rating to a 5.0/12, but still not Raymond-like.
  
• Out of Practice (CBS) - Still lost three million viewers from its lead-in, but more viewers tuned in this week with 12.26 million from last week's 11.73. CBS ordered three extra scripts, but still not the back nine.
  
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - I put all four together, because all four are consistent each week. 3.5 to 4 million viewers for each.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - Down to 7.84 million from last week's 8.03 million, with even that it is doing better than what My Wife & Kids did in early 2005.
  
• Rodney (ABC) - After bad season premiere numbers. Rodney built on Jim with 7.98 million viewers, up from the season premiere's 7.49 million. Don't count Rodney out just yet!
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) - Highest rated sitcom for 18-49 again. Though down from last week's 6.0/15 in that measure to a 5.5/13 this week. 12.62 million total viewers tuned in, good for second place behind Commander in Chief.
  
• The Office (NBC) - Lowest rated sitcom on Tuesday this week. NBC has to get a better lead-out.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - After ABC saw George score 9.13 for its one-hour season premiere, I knew that this hour would be ABC's until probably January, when that American Idol non-sense comes in for FOX. George scored 8.75 million this week.
  
• Still Standing (CBS) - Just 6.98 million tuned in last week. This week it improved, but not as much as they would want to. 7.48 tuned in.
  
• Yes, Dear (CBS) - Only 6.79 million tuned in last week, but this week it grew almost two million viewers with 8.76 million.
  
• Freddie (ABC) - Impressive debut, thanks to the Lost halo-effect. 9.38 million tuned in and built on George in that and A18-49 with a 4.2/11.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Joey (NBC) - 5.2/9 in households this week, slightly up from last week's 5.0/8, but this is not what NBC had hoped.
  
• Will & Grace (NBC) - Built on lead-in by a lot. NBC should try this at 8 p.m. and move Joey to Tuesdays at 9:30 and then can it in January.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - 6.33 million viewers tuned in this week. Not too bad, only off about one million from Joey.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - UPN should rename 8:30-10pm to A.C. (After Chris). Freefall from 3.9 million at 8:30 to 2.88 by the end of the night.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• What I Like About You (The WB), Twins (The WB) - WB doesn't expect much but it is constantly getting below a 2 rating in this hour, though Twins is building on its lead-in. Like should be canned soon.
  
• Reba (The WB) - This might be the last season, thanks to WWE Smackdown.
  
• Living with Fran (The WB) - Not too good, same level as 8-9 p.m.
  
• Hope & Faith (ABC) - Last week was terrible, this week it did a bit better with a 4.3 rating.
  
• Hot Properties (ABC) - Down from last week's premiere and this week did not build on its lead-in. This is a good show everyone--watch it!
  

Summing it up, this week's winners: My Name is Earl, George Lopez, Yes Dear, Freddie, The King of Queens, Two and a Half Men were the impressive sitcoms this week. Of note, Yes Dear went from terrible last week to a winner this week. Everything else was OK (such as Rodney, Out of Practice) or just plain old terrible (such as The Office, WB Friday, UPN Thursday).


Week 4 numbers (first four nights):
Households: CBS: 9.8/15.1; FOX: 7.8/12.3; ABC: 7.2/11.2; NBC: 7.2/11.1; The WB: 2.8/4.3; UPN: 2.3/3.6
Total Viewers: CBS: 15.35 million; FOX: 11.6 million; ABC: 11.09 million; NBC: 10.69 million; The WB: 4.38 million; UPN: 3.6 million.
Adults 18-49: CBS: 5.1/13.0; ABC: 4.2/10.7; NBC: 4.1/10.4; FOX: 3.8/10.1; The WB: 1.8/4.7; UPN: 1.6/4.1.

Analysis: Thanks to MLB's League Championship Series, FOX made a slight dent to everyone's ratings. But still this is nothing like last year when the Yankees and Red Sox were involved. Even with baseball, expect FOX to finish 3rd in viewers and third or even fourth in 18-49 for the week. CBS continues to do well, but needs help on Wednesdays at 8 and the Monday 8:30-10 comedies could be better. ABC has improved Tuesdays by a lot this year but Thursdays is still a problem. Primetime Live has taken a big hit. If I were ABC, I'd play a drama in there, since NBC's ER is quickly fading. NBC still has the most problems out of the big three. Earl is a good start but they need a better companion with it at 9:30, so they can move that show to 9pm soon and Earl to Thursdays so AfterFriends errr Joey, could be put out of its misery. Look for CBS to win in total viewers again and ABC making a run (thanks to Sunday) in the key demos (A18-49, A18-34), but A25-54 will be a close race between CBS and ABC.