Mini-DVD Review: The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (June 26); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at Shout! Factory's The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 is the short-lived 1990 animated series that was based on the very popular video game! See my mini-DVD review of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3:

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (Shout!, $29.99) brings all 13 half-hours from the short-lived animated series based on the popular video game!
In this series, after sending King Koopa into the banishment zone, Mario & Luigi finally made it home to Brooklyn! But just when the Mushroom People thought they were safe, Koopa escaped and brought with him seven of the most vile creatures the world had ever known: the Koopa Kids. Can Mario and the gang get rid of them? Each episode runs approx. between 23-24 minutes. The lowest one is 22:52, which is the first episode. The highest one is 24:12. There are 5 chapter stops, which is always handy. There are 13 episodes, but actually it is 26, since each half-hour has two mini-episodes. The video is decent, I think a bit better than The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, but that was a bit older. This series doesn't have any live action segments, like the other series. The closing logo is the DiC out the window logo, if you know what I mean. The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. Packaging has a nice yellow outer box with Mario flying it seems on the front cover...the back cover has information on the series and set and a picture of King Koopa and the Koopa Kids. Inside the box is three slim cases. Each disc has its own slim case. The first two discs cover all the episodes, while the third disc is the extras.
The menu screen has Play All and Episodes for discs one and two. The main menu is video game style, with great sound effects. Disc one features Mario in the video game and disc two is Luigi.
Moving on to the extras. The extras are found on disc three. The menu is a notebook, with a list of items we can select. It is titled Writer's Bible. Then it says Table of Contents, then we get a list of items: The Back Story, The Series, The Characters (Heroes - Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad; Villains - King Koopa and the seven Koopa Kids), The Worlds (21 section of photos!), The Music (10 cool songs, like a soundtrack). Besides the latter two categories, each category has a short video describing the item, usually 1-3 minutes.
I highly do recommend any fan of Super Mario to pick up this set, especially if you have started to pick-up The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Can Super Mario and Luigi and the gang get rid of the Mushroom Kingdom of Koopa and his deviant minions? Find out yourself!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, June 30, 2007
"Sony Picture Home Entertainment Needs To Show Some Class to Classic TV"
By Solomon Davis

If a DVD company wants TV fans to enjoy the TV shows they release on DVD, why do they have such a lazy and uncreative way of distributing the DVD to TV fans? I thought the purpose of releasing DVD's was to entertain fans not just make a profit. Why does Sony seem uninterested in putting together a nice DVD set for us to purchase? The season set releases by Sony are always slow with no bonus features included on the DVD. We should at least get to see some sort of nice extras that goes well with the season on the DVD, look at Anchor Bay's Three's Company sets, they were well made. But it appears Sony doesn't care about bonus features just making money after making us wait 12 months for the next season of certain shows.
You would think if Sony would put out powerful DVD sets since the wait is so long but it's just the same old lazy sets with Bonus Previews included. And since when did bonus previews become an attractive feature on a DVD set? I'm sure 97% of TV fans who purchase DVD's released by Sony did not watch one second of Bonus Previews because it falls no where near the category of ENTERTAINMENT...and plus they are OUTDATED! I also hear that poor sales is the reason for some of the slow releases by Sony and if that's the case then why are the seasons still released if Sony feels it won't make any money? Sony can at least release two seasons of a certain show a year instead of making us wait almost a year so we can see CRAP. If Sony is going to release crappy DVD sets, then we should get it a lot faster. Why should Sony wait to release seasons 7 to 11 of The Jeffersons? Just give us our crappy DVD season sets so we can have a compete crappy TV collection of our favorite shows. And can you believe that it has taken Sony almost 6 years to release just six seasons of The Jeffersons? The first season was released in 2002 and now in 2007 fans of The Jeffersons can only buy up to season 6 on DVD. That is what you call the true definition of LAZY and it really confuses me why Sony can't be more like studios like Shout! Factory when releasing shows on DVD. It makes no sense that 2008 is 6 months away and there is still no word on when season 7 of The Jeffersons will be out on DVD. And since it's very likely Sony will give us more crappy DVD sets, the future releases of Sony TV shows should be included in a box of cereal as a BONUS for buying the cereal. That way we wouldn't care about bonus features, just the episodes and good quality.
Sony needs to take DVD release lessons from other studios like Warner Bros. or Shout! since their TV shows has very nice bonus features like the "Gag Reel" on the season 3 DVD of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and "the never before seen unaired pilot episode" of Full House on the season 1 DVD of Full House. Sony did try to top those features by including a small booklet of pointless TV fun facts with the season 3 DVD release of Sanford and Son. Sony has no clue at all on how to give TV fans their money's worth. Then Sony tries to really be creative and make a profit off the recent CBS One Day at Time Reunion with the season 1 DVD release of One Day at a Time. A reunion that was seen by everyone on CBS in February of 2005 was given to us as a BONUS? That should have been on the last season, not the first season. The Sanford and Son booklet looks kind of attractive compared to that poor feature. So basically out of 31 seasons of Sony DVD's I have purchased, I only saw two bonus features. No cast commentary or bloopers just some cereal box giveaway like a 3 page Sanford and Son booklet. We are actually paying money for SEEN BEFORE FOOTAGE on a DVD which gives off this message, "just put anything together so we can make money off of TV fans." Should we be annoyed with Sony for their crappy bonus features and untimely releases or with ourselves for discovering our favorite shows in syndication? Though at least Sony is releasing a lot of their sitcoms (much more than other companies), it's just that they are bare-boned and sometimes edited.

Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.

DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.

Canada Stations Adds Rare Classics This Fall; Biggest Flintstones Marathon Ever on Boomerang

If you are one of our readers in Canada, then you'll love today's blog! We get quite a few hits from Canadians each day, so those of you are in for a treat today as we will detail fall schedules for some of Canada's biggest classic TV cable channels including TV Land Canada and DejaView!
On TV Land Canada, everything old is new again! New to the TV Land Canada schedule this September is Fantasy Island; Hart to Hart; Love, American Style; and It's Garry Shandling's Show. Also returning to TV Land Canada this fall are: Dallas, Happy Days, Lassie, 21 Jump Street, Petticoat Junction, Joanie Loves Chachi and Wiseguy.
None of those new shows are airing anywhere on cable in the U.S. currently.
We have the full schedule posted. To take a look, please click HERE.
Now let's move on to my personal favorite, DejaView! Starting September 10, they will be adding lots and lots of new shows! Coming to weekdays are: My Secret Identity, Roseanne, Cosby Show, Good Times, Maude, Miami Vice, and Magnum P.I.! On the weekends they will add: The Ropers, Three's a Crowd, Who's the Boss?, The Facts of Life and Square Pegs! Boy I would kill to have this channel. So many rare shows. Shows that will return include classic '70s sitcoms Three's Company and All in the Family. To view the full schedule, I urge you to click HERE!
Sister station TVtropolis, which was known as Prime some years back, will also add some new series. They have moved away from classic TV a bit, putting them on sister net DejaView, but they will still have some classics! First they will add Family Guy and Fresh Prince to the line-up. Returning are Mad About You, Grace Under Fire, The Nanny, Frasier, Seinfeld, Beverly Hills 90210, and Married...with Children. So not much new and not really anything that old.
SUN TV in Canada will also add some new shows. They will add My Secret Identity (wow, this sitcom will be on two channels there!) Wonder Woman, Incredible Hulk, America's Funniest Home Videos, among others. Leave it to Beaver will remain on the fall line-up! View the fall schedule HERE.
We haven't yet obtained CTS TV's Fall 2007 schedule. Currently they air shows like Facts of Life, Happy Days, Full House, Step by Step, and Fresh Prince. No idea what will leave and what will come yet. We'll try to let you know, when we do.

Back to the U.S., the station called Boomerang, will air a huge Flintstones marathon this 4th of July! It is so big that every single episode will air, and it will be commercial free!
Programming an Independence Day tribute it has never before attempted, Boomerang, Cartoon Network's 24-hour commercial-free sister network, brings true fireworks to the Fourth of July holiday weekend with a first-time presentation of every episode of television's first prime time animated series, The Flintstones, including its original pilot, entitled "The Flagstones." The three-and-a-half-day marathon-THE FLAGTONES TO THE FLINTSTONES, featuring all 166 episodes without commercial interruption-will kick off at 6 a.m. (ET) on Wednesday, July 4, and culminate on Saturday, July 7 at 5 p.m. In addition, Boomerang VOD offerings in July also will reflect the FLAGSTONE TO FLINSTONES theme to present several all-time favorite episodes via a "Flintstones Fourth of July" tab for the VOD menu.

AmericanLife July 2007 Highlights, Includes New Monday Classic Sitcom Block; Nick at Nite Change for July 1; Jim Renewal Now Official

AmericanLife TV Network, the network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts a new Monday night primetime programming line-up on July 2, featuring classic television sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Newhart, WKRP in Cincinnati and The Bob Newhart Show from 8-10pm and immediately encoring after that each Monday.
Among the episode highlights for this new block in July include:
Monday, July 2
- WKRP in Cincinnati: The late film and stage legend Sylvia Sidney guests as Mama Carlson on "Pilot (Part 1)" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).
- The Bob Newhart Show: Comedian and actress Penny Marshall guest stars as a stewardess on "Fly the Unfriendly Skies" (9:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, July 9
- Newhart: William Sanderson, John Voldstad and Tony Papenfuss make their first appearance on the show as Larry, "my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl" on "Mrs. Newton's Body Lies A'Mould'ring in the Grave" (8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, July 30
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: NFL star turned actor Timothy Brown guests as himself on "Keep Your Guard Up" (8-8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Visit our highlights section for AmericanLife July 2007 for complete highlights for the entire month!

Nick at Nite will air the 1978 John Travolta and Olivia Newton John movie Grease on Sunday (July 1) from 9 to 11:30 p.m., pre-empting the regular line-up. A marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will follow from 11:30pm-5:00am...but what else is new? The movie will kick off the summer season for Nick at Nite, which will be wall-to-wall marathons (a week of one show from 9:30pm-5am each night), as we mentioned already.

Today ABC made it official, According to Jim will return next season for its 7th season! "When Brillstein-Grey approached me with the idea of doing a family show, I didn't realize the family would extend so wide," said Jim Belushi. "For six years, it's been a joy being part of the ABC and Touchstone families and part of each and every family who have been loyal viewers of our show every week. This season will top all the rest. I'm thrilled to continue this seventh season with these extended families."

Another Change of Title for Applegate's Sitcom; ABC Family Schedule Change

We mentioned last week that ABC was changing the name of the new Christine Applegate sitcom coming this fall from Sam I Am to Samantha Be Good because of Dr. Seuss' estate, but it seems Samantha Be Good was just a working title Now ABC has changed it to Samantha Who? according to TVGuide. That is a bit better, but will Seuss' estate come knocking on the door again as "who" is pretty big in Seuss' books, but I doubt they can make them change this.
The sitcom premieres this fall on ABC airing Mondays at 9:30pm right after Dancing with the Stars' performance shows.
In other ABC news, for the next two weeks on Fridays, George Lopez repeats will air from 8-9pm and Kyle XY will air at 9pm, instead of 8pm. Ratings is the reason for the change, as it would make sense for a family sitcom to lead-off the night.

ABC Family has made some minor changes to its line-up that will take in effect on Monday (July 2). New addition Sister, Sister is not doing too well in its 2-3pm slot, so ABC Family will bring back its veteran sitcom Step by Step from 8-9am to 2-3pm. Sister, Sister will be moved to just the weekdays at 8am half-hour and 7th Heaven makes its return to the line-up, airing weekday mornings at 8:30am. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was airing weekdays at 9am, now they will move it to 4-5pm, its old slot, replacing Full House, which will just be 12-1pm now!
It looks like everything else is doing decent, including the new weekday evening line-up from 6-8pm of 8 Simple Rules and Grounded for Life.

Scott Baio Is 45...And Single on VH-1; TV Land Elvis Statue in Hawaii

Over the past 25 years, Scott Baio (Chachi from Happy Days, Charles from Charles in Charge) has lived a life that all red-blooded American males' would sell their big screen TV, car and soul for, boasting a jaw-dropping roster of erotic ex's that would even make Warren Beatty blush. This extensive line-up of Hollywood honeys include: Heather Locklear, Pamela Anderson, Denise Richards and Nicolette Sheridan.
Premiering Sunday July 15 at 10:30 PM ET/PT, Scott Baio is 45...And Single, reveals that Scott, at 45, in the midst of a mid-life crisis wondering why he's still single and unable to settle down even with his current girlfriend Renee, a woman he loves and who is perfect in his eyes. It's time for Scott to confront his commitment phobias or settle into the life of a bachelor who is forever searching for the perfect "unobtainable" woman.
With nowhere else to turn, Scott has decided to fully surrender the next eight weeks of his life for some exhaustive introspection with the highly-regarded life-coach, Dr. Alison Arnold, otherwise known as "Doc Ali." Doc Ali will guide him on a grueling, soul-searching mission; forcing him to confront a laundry list of old flames in order to hopefully get to the heart of his lonely heart condition. To get to the core of his problem, Scott will be forced to revisit ex-girlfriends, take a vow of celibacy and take a break from his current girlfriend Renee while he goes on his soul-searching journey.
Regularly appearing are: Doc Ali, Jason Hervey (The Wonder Years), and Scott's best friends: Johnny and Cooch.

TV Land and the city of Honolulu, Hawaii, will dedicate a life-sized bronze sculpture of Elvis Presley on Thursday, July 26 at 10 a.m. (HDT). The statue will grace The Neal S. Blaisdell Center, formerly The Honolulu International Center, the site of Elvis' 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert. The sculpture - which commemorates this historic Aloha from Hawaii event seen globally on television — portrays the King of Rock 'n' Roll as he appeared in that performance and pays tribute to him during the 30th Anniversary year of his passing. Then, in August, as we have mentioned many times, TV Land will celebrate Elvis Presley's work with a month-long tribute commemorating his legacy.
This bronze sculpture is the network's sixth work to honor people, places and moments from pop culture by recognizing the site as a "TV Land Landmark." The network's landmarks include: a bronze statue of Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners at the entrance of New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal; a sculpture of Mary Tyler Moore from The Mary Tyler Moore Show at Nicollett Mall in downtown Minneapolis, MN; The Andy Griffith Show statue in Raleigh's Pullen Park; a bronze statue of Bob Newhart commemorating his role as Dr. Robert Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show in Chicago and most recently, a tribute to the beloved series Bewitched with a life-size statue depicting a magical view of character Samantha Stevens, played by actress Elizabeth Montgomery, in Salem MA. Fans can visit TVLand.com to see photos, virtual tours of the statues as well as streaming video of some of the dedications.

According to Jim Renewed by ABC for 2008; Unsolved Mysteries To Return; NBC Notes

Mediaweek is reporting that ABC has given an 18 episode order for the veteran sitcom According to Jim to return next season during mid-season, likely in January 2008. It will be more than likely its final season, so let's hope ABC will give it a proper ending. The show started way back in Fall 2001, making it actually one of the oldest sitcoms on the air today. It will be its seventh season and no word if Courtney Thorne-Smith, who plays Cheryl, will return as she has said she wouldn't do another season. So more to come, I'm sure!

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting today that the 1987-97 series Unsolved Mysteries might be revived! HBO Television Distribution--reaching outside its own pay channel's original-programming ranks for the first time--and Cosgrove/Meurer Prods. are bringing back Mysteries, the granddaddy of hybrid reality/scripted crime- reenactment series.
They plan to make the classic show attractive to network buyers, through major reconstructive surgery. HBO began knocking on doors last week, offering an all-cash deal for 175 refurbished episodes of the documentary-style series about unsolved crimes and paranormal occurrences.
Lifetime has a contract to air reruns of the show, but that is expiring in 2008. HBO is taking out the series without a host, believed to be a first, and will leave it up to the acquiring cable network to choose the late Robert Stack's replacement.
Work is under way to expand the number of unsolved evergreen stories from four to five per episode, each cut down to a maximum of seven minutes. Cosgrove/Meurer and HBO are choosing their material from 900 hours of footage shot for the original 255 episodes.
They also plan to add newly produced updates--the most popular segments of the original series--that will focus on the solving of crimes and shedding new light on cold cases, which make up 60% of the stories, according to Executive Producer John Cosgrove.
Other additions include a new set, logo, music and, most important, the computerized effects needed to bring the stories up to current standards.
New weekly original episodes are also a distinct possibility and could come as part of the initial deal or at some point later.

NBC has quietly removed the summer encores of low-rated drama Friday Night Lights from its schedule. The show was repeating Sundays at 9pm, but was quietly replaced last night by a repeat of Law & Order, which did much better than Lights. Lights will return for a second season on Fridays at 10pm this fall, and NBC says they plan on returning the repeats either in late August or early September.
Meanwhile canceled drama Kidnapped is being burned-off during the late nights on most NBC affiliates on Sunday nights. It started last night on NBC stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta etc. The #1 NBC station, WNBC in New York, is not airing it however. Check your local listings on Sunday nights for exact times (usually varies between 12-3am).
Finally, NBC is rushing to put new reality series The Singing Bee on the air ASAP because of Fox trying to put a similar show on air before they do. NBC was going to air Bee in late fall on Fridays at 8, but that will not happen now. The Singing Bee will premiere on Tuesday, July 10 at 9:30 PM ET following a 90-minute installment of America's Got Talent. Talent is hosted by former Dancing with the Stars alum Jerry Springer, so what does NBC do? They will bring another alum of Dancing with the Stars to host The Singing Bee. Last season's runner-up Joey Fatone will host!

Coming Week Preview

It is summer time! We don't have final ratings for this week yet, so I will not do the summer week 4 ratings for the sitcoms this week...sorry. Oh well, all of them were repeats but The Loop and Creature Comforts, and both did terrible anyway. In fact CBS has pulled Creature Comforts effective tomorrow, replacing it with another encore of Old Christine.

So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight ABC will have the finale of Fast Cars & Superstars from 7-8pm. Fox will burn-off more all-new episodes of sitcom The Loop at 7:30, 8:30 & 9:30p. On cable, The 4400 and The Dead Zone will be all-new on USA and at 10pm on Lifetime, Army Wives.
On Monday it will be a battle of news at 9pm, an all-new Hell's Kitchen on Fox, ABC will air the finale of The Ex-Wives Club, and NBC air episode two of the new reality series Age of Love also at 9pm, followed by a special called Science of Love at 10pm. On the cable front, it is an all new Kyle XY on ABC Family at 8/7 central. TNT will air a new episode of The Closer followed by the new series Heartland!
Tuesday NBC will air a two-hour America's Got Talent from 8-10pm. Fox will continue to air low-rated reality series On the Lot at 8pm. ABC will premiere the new reality series Shaq's Big Challenge at 9pm, followed by the premiere of Primetime: Family Secrets at 10.
Wednesday ABC will be all-new all night, with The Next Best Thing at 8pm, followed by American Inventor, and finally at 10pm the action packed drama Traveler. Fox will air a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. NBC will a new Last Comic Standing at 9, followed by Dateline. The CW will air Hidden Palms at 8 & 9pm. And on the cable front, two episodes of the hit new sitcom House of Payne on TBS from 9-10pm.
Thursday Fox will be new all-night with an all-new Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday. CBS will air a new episode of Pirate Master at 8 and NBC will continue to burn-off Studio 60 at 10, following encores of their sitcoms. On cable, Starter Wife will be all-new on USA at 9pm followed by the premiere of Burn Notice at 10.
Friday ABC will air a repurposed episode of Kyle XY at 8 and at 10pm the always new 20/20. Fox will burn-off an episode of Standoff at 9pm.

Mini-DVD Review: The New Adventures of Batman (June 26); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Cable TV

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at Warner Home Video's The New Adventures of Batman. The New Adventures of Batman is the short-lived 1977 animated series that reunited Adam West and Burt Ward (from the original live action 60s Batman series) as Batman and Robin, but this time in animation, rather than live action. See my mini-DVD review of The New Adventures of Batman:

The New Adventures of Batman (Warner, $26.99) brings all 16 episodes from the short-lived classic animated series reuniting the Caped Crusader (Adam West as Batman) and The Boy Wonder (Burt Ward as Robin)!
In this series, we see Batgirl from time to time and a new sidekick called Bat-Mite. Some of the villains they will battle include The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, and Mr. Freeze. Can they save Gotham City from these dangerous masterminds? You'll have to watch the episodes to find out! Each episode runs approx. 22:50. The lowest one is 22:14, which is the first of a 2-part episode. There are NO chapter stops, which is not good. The video is OK, not great, but not bad either. There are some white flashing dots from time to time, but that is to be expected. This series is also available on AOL's In2TV for free view, if you have never watched it. The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. Packaging has a nice slim outer box with Batman and Robin running on the front cover...the back cover has tons of information a picture of Batman and Robin in the Batmobile. Inside the box is the very slim digipak case. All two discs are inside. There are two panels, the first panel gives a breakdown of each disc, which episodes, and if any extras. The second panel holds the discs...overlapping each other. The second disc is double-sided, so there is no art on it. The first disc's art has the villains, The Joker, Penguin, etc.
The menu screen has Play and Episodes. The main menu has a nice blue background with Batman. The selector is cool, when we point to an option, it is the Bat sign.
Moving on to the extras. The only extra is on disc two side B. A featurette called Dark Knight Revisited. It is very interesting and packed with lots of information on Batman. It runs 18:45 and any fan of any type of Batman series, movie or comic strip will enjoy it.
I highly do recommend any fan of Batman to pick up this set, especially fans of the classic '60s Batman. And if you never have watched the show, give it a try on In2TV for free then pick this set up! Holy DVDs Batman!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, June 16, 2007
"Cable Companies Making It Hard To Enjoy Television"
By Solomon Davis

It now seems like cable companies are competing with one another in coming up with creative ways to suck money out of cable customers. This really seems unfair to customers who pay their bills on time and are never late with a payment. But Comcast has made TV watching very expensive these days and it appears they will continue to jack up cable fees because they know true cable fans will always pay the increase. I guess this means that DirecTV is currently winning the battle and Comcast has made up for it by turning into "Jack the Increaser." I swear the President of Comcast should just put on a mask the way Comcast has sneakily drained money from us cable lovers.
First of all, I cannot believe I'm being charged to watch reruns of the NBC sitcom, The Office on Demand when it is completely free to watch on NBC from September to May. But once again Comcast is so money hungry and sneaky that they had to charge its customers 99 cents to watch a network TV program and didn't even tell customers there was a fee. We didn't find out until the bill came in the mail and saw that it is a dollar to watch NBC or CBS shows through Comcast OnDemand. When you first clicked on The Office you never saw that it was 99 cents, it was just recently put there now because of angry calls from cable customers. At least TubeTime is FREE!
Now I just found out that my grandmother who is a huge fan of Gunsmoke will have to upgrade her cable service in 2008 because Comcast is getting rid of basic cable. So now it is going to be all digital cable and that is not fair to a 79 year old woman who is on a fixed income and can't afford to pay more money to see a 1955 TV show. I haven't told my grandma this horrible news because I know she will be forced to pay the increase because she is so used to having cable. But Comcast can care less and they know my grandmother will find a way to pay the bill because of her cable TV addiction. My grandmother has gotten used to paying $33.00 a month for basic cable and now will have to pay a $15.00 increase for a TV show that started way before there was even cable television. Now it's looking relaxing and enjoying TV at home will be a costly experience and since Comcast MUST pull in more money than satellite rivals like DirecTV. With all the fees like maintenance, payment over the phone fee, and sales tax fee, everything will seem like PAY-PER-VIEW TV soon and we will all feel like putting a quarter in back of the cable box every time we turn on the television. I just want to know should I be furious with Comcast for finding ways to steal money from me or mad at myself for being a fan of cable television?

Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.

DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.

TBS Acquires My Name is Earl for Fall 2009; ABC Family Removes Heaven; The N's New Show

Yesterday we mentioned TBS has acquired reruns of the sitcom The Office, hours later they issued a press release announcing that its NBC neighbor My Name is Earl is also coming to TBS! The show will not be repurposed this fall like The Office, but TBS will get five-days-a-week play for Earl starting in Fall 2009, just like The Office! Also included in the deal are digital rights for broadband streaming and on-demand.
What a day for TBS, announcing two acquisitions in one day. TBS has reportedly paid close to $1 million an episode.
Local channels will also get the show for daily play in fall 2009, but no buys as of yet.
To view the press release and to discuss this news, click HERE.

ABC Family will remove 7th Heaven from the line-up effective this weekend. The show was only airing weekend mornings at 7am & 8am. ABC Family will replace the show with the same thing that airs weekdays from 7-9am...an hour each of the sitcoms Family Matters and Step by Step. Heaven probably wasn't doing that well in the mornings.
No idea if 7th Heaven will return to another slot, but so far it is off the schedule completely after this change.

The N has issued an update for July. The 12-3am marathon for the week of July 2 is...Laguna Beach. Yes, the MTV show. It will launch July 2 from 6pm-6am and air in nightly marathons that week from 12-3am. That is not all, though...it will air weeknights at 8pm & 12am that week and until further notice. Weird. Maybe just for the summer. They should air Growing Pains. Anyway, click here for the highlights.

The Office Will Be Repurposed on TBS This Fall, Daily Airings Coming in Fall 2009 on TBS and Locals; Fox Renews American Dad Through 2009

TBS has acquired reruns of the current critically acclaimed NBC sitcom The Office! Starting this fall, (fall 2007) the show will be repurposed on TBS, which means it will air once a week on TBS. Night and time of the repurposing has not been announced thus yet. That is not all...fall 2009 is the big year for the sitcom as it will air 5-days-a-week on TBS! And that is not all for fall 2009, we also get non-exclusive broadband streaming, on-demand and wireless rights to run concurrent with the off-network 5-days-a-week telecast rights.
Big news indeed for the sitcom. Maybe it can generate more viewers this way. The show is a hit among adults 18-49, but it lacks in total viewers of the hit sitcoms of the past.
To discuss this news and to read the full TBS press release, click HERE!

Oh and did you think that was all for fall 2009 for this sitcom? It will also join local channels that year for daily repeats as well! Fox-Owned Channels have bought reruns of the sitcom. The Fox Television Stations group, one of the nation's largest owned-and-operated network broadcast groups, comprises 35 stations in 26 markets, covering nearly 45% of U.S. television homes. This includes six duopolies in the top 10 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Houston; as well as duopolies in Minneapolis, Phoenix and Orlando.
Click on the same link as above for more details (see post #2)!

We all know that American Dad will return next season on Fox Sundays, but now Fox has issued even better news for fans of the animated comedy! They have renewed it through the end of 2009 at least! So, two more seasons at the very least.
Fox issued the following statement on this news:
Fox has picked up the subversive animated series American Dad, featuring security-obsessed CIA agent and devoted family man Stan Smith, through the 2008-09 season. American Dad (Sundays, 9:30PM ET/PT) ranks No. 1 in its time period among Adults 18-34, Teens and all male demos.

ABC Changes Name for Applegate Sitcom; More Summer Shows; ION RHI Movie Weekend Release

Clearance issues with the estate of Dr. Seuss has caused ABC to change the name for the upcoming Christina Applegate ABC sitcom coming this fall. The previous title was Sam I Am. The title played on the fact that Applegate's character, Samantha Newly, has amnesia and can't remember anything about her life.
As good as the title may have been, it also drew on the first lines of the classic Dr. Seuss work "Green Eggs and Ham." It's believed the Seuss estate didn't take kindly to ABC's literary allusion.
So now, ABC has opted to call the show Samantha Be Good.
The new title may not have the same ring as Sam I Am, but it still reflects one of the show's themes. Turns out that, before she lost her memory, Applegate's character was a not very nice person. Now that she's got a chance to start over, she'll be trying to be good.
I have seen the pilot, it is quite good. Look for our review later this summer, as we get closer to the fall season.

Moving on to new summer series news, in addition to all the new summer series airing already, CBS, Fox and ABC will have one more each. Let's start with Fox. Fox will add a new talent game show starting July 10. Wayne Brady will host this series that will be called Don't Forget the Lyrics!. The half-hour series will air twice a week--Wednesdays at 9:30PM and Thursdays at 8:30PM. Contestants will choose songs from different genres, decades and musical artists. Then they'll take center stage to sing alongside the studio band as the lyrics are projected on screen but suddenly the music will stop and the words will disappear. Will the contestants belt out the correct missing lyric, or freeze under pressure?
Moving on to ABC, they will launch a new hidden-camera comedy type show called Just for Laughs on Tuesday, July 17. Comedian Sinbad will host. It is based on the popular Canadian series by the same name. ABC will air this series Tuesdays at 8:30PM following encores of George Lopez. The premiere episode will be from 8 to 9PM however.
Finally, CBS will launch a new game show in August hosted by Drew Carey. So we are three for three in brand name hosts today. Power Of 10, a high-stakes, primetime game show where contestants compete for the chance to win $10 million, will have a special broadcast premiere on Tuesday, Aug. 7 at 8:00PM. The series then moves to its regular time period on Wednesday, Aug. 8 at 8:00PM. The contestant who can most accurately predict the American public's response to intriguing poll questions could walk away winning millions. Power Of 10 reaches out across America to poll thousands of people and ask them, well, just about everything - from "What percentage of Americans said they were virgins the day they got married?" to "How many Americans believe they are smarter than president George W. Bush?" Each week contestants will be tested to see if they have their finger on the pulse of the people and can accurately predict the results of the nationwide surveys. With the first question worth $1,000 and only five questions to answer, and each one increasing 10 times in value, the contestant who has the best take on the American mindset could walk away with a $10 million payday.

Finally, we detailed ION Television's July line-up nearly two weeks ago, but today they issued a press release on their new RHI Weekend programming that will start June 29 airing Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays from 7-11PM. RHI’s exciting lineup of programming for ION will include the creation of exclusive original programming as well as quality library titles. The first of 12 originals is Killer Wave, an action-packed thriller in which nature’s deadliest ocean phenomenon-massive tidal waves-meet the dark nature of man by way of a terrorist plot.
The premiere of RHI/ION weekend features Broken Vows (Friday, June 29), starring Tommy Lee Jones and Annette O’Toole; Lonesome Dove, a digitally re-mastered edition of the blockbuster miniseries whose all-star cast includes Robert Duvall, Anjelica Huston, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Danny Glover and Chris Cooper; and Cleopatra, the lavish miniseries that stars Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane, with Leonor Varela in the title role.
For the entire press release highlight click HERE.

Sony Classic TV Minisodes Launches Today, Full Details; Interviews with Marion Ross and Dan Lauria

MySpace today announced the exclusive debut of The Minisode Network, a selection of episodes from hit TV shows from the Sony Pictures Television library that have been pared down for the Internet audience. Each minisode is three to five minutes in length, and retains the full story arc of the original episode. Starting today, MySpace Video users can watch minisodes from each series at http://www.myspace.com/minisodenetwork.
The Minisode Network will launch with three episodes each from 15 classic series: The Partridge Family, Starsky & Hutch, TJ Hooker, Charlie's Angels, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, Who's the Boss?, What's Happening!!, Dilbert, Sheena, Fantasy Island, Police Woman, VIP and Ricki Lake. New minisodes will be added weekly with more than 500 episodes available by the end of the year.
Among the classic episodes include the famous "Angels in Chains" episode of Charlie's Angels, "Shoplifting" episode of The Facts of Life and "The Spanking" episode of Diff'rent Strokes!
To discuss this news and to read the full press release, click HERE.

Eric's JustMyShow.com Podcast is back for episode 14 and it features interviews with a classic TV mom and a classic TV dad...and the best part is both are sitcom stars! The guests are Marion Ross from Happy Days and Dan Lauria from The Wonder Years.
Marion Ross is one of TV's most beloved moms for her 11 years as "Mrs. C" on Happy Days. A five-time Emmy nominee, Ross also starred in the critically acclaimed series Brooklyn Bridge and had a recurring role on The Drew Carrey Show. She was most recently seen on an episode of the current ABC drama Brothers & Sisters.
Dan Lauria is best known to audiences as Jack Arnold, Fred Savage's TV dad on The Wonder Years. A former Marine, Lauria gives his time to various veteran causes. When he's not appearing on TV & film, he's focusing on his first love, the theater.
Head on over to JustMyShow's 14th episode listen to these two great interviews! There are bonus clips as well that you will for sure want to listen to. Good job once again to our buddy Eric!

DVD Update, Including TV Land's I Pity the Fool; LG Mobile Phones Celebrates with Classic TV Stars

Now you can enjoy the original TV Land series I Pity the Fool all over again at your own leisure, as TV Land and Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release the complete season on DVD on August 21 for just $14.98! The series of course stars Mr. T as a help-guru giving advice to fans need of a change. The series ran for 6 episodes in October on TV Land. No word yet if there will be a second season on TV Land.
Also coming soon to DVD: The Complete First Season of the current CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment! The set will street on September 4 and Amazon is taking pre-orders already for the sitcom starring David Spade and Patrick Warburton. All 7 first season episodes will be included. The series will be back for a second season this fall on CBS Mondays!
Finally, The Complete Fourth Season of the classic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie will also be release on September 4 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment! That's another fun year for Barbara Eden and company!

LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. (LG Mobile Phones) is hosting The LG Mobile TV Party, an event to celebrate the evolution of the television. Bringing together television stars from the past, present and future, LG is taking us at warp speed to the future of television.
Taking place on June 19 at famous Paramount Studios, some of the most well-known names in television will gather together to reminisce about the past and take a peak at the future. The party will recreate themes from three of television's most memorable shows including the Brady Bunch, Star Trek and Happy Days.
The LG VX9400 is capable of delivering programs from some of the
biggest television networks right into the palm of your hand. Users can catch their favorite show by checking out the easy-to-use one touch program guide. With the VX9400, you have the ability to make calls, answer messages, and when finished, go right back to enjoying TV programs -- just like if a consumer were to step away from the television set during a program for a minute or two at home.
Celebrities expected to attend LG's Mobile TV Party include Scott Baio (Chachi, Happy Days; Charles, Charles in Charge), Jason Hervey (Wayne, Wonder Years), Christopher Knight (Peter Brady, The Brady Bunch), Gary Coleman (Arnold Jackson, Diff'rent Strokes), Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh, Beverly Hills 90210), Alan Thicke (Dr. Jason Seaver, Growing Pains), George Takei (Sulu, Star Trek), Jack Coleman (Steven Carrington, Dynasty; Noah, Heroes) with DJ AM spinning into the early morning hours -- all to celebrate the launch of the LG VX9400.

Summer Week 3 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

It is summer time! Which means repeats, but there will be some originals, such as burn-off episodes of the Fox sitcom The Loop. Like last summer, we will just look at the sitcoms, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here are the summer week 3 sitcom numbers:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 4-10)

• War at Home (Fox) - A 7pm encore airing did just 1.91 million, down even from previous week's 2.52 million.
• King of the Hill (Fox) - 2.74 million for a repeat.
• The Simpsons (Fox) - A repeat did 5.27 million, doubling from lead-in.
• The Loop (Fox) 2 episodes - Two all-new episodes did just 3.43 million at 8:30 and 3.6 million at 9:30
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 4.54 million for an encore.

Monday Sitcoms

• Creature Comforts (CBS) - Just 4.53 million for the third airing, down from last week's 5.27 million.
  
• Old Christine (CBS) - 4.71 million for a repeat, down from last week's encore.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.38 million for a repeat, again down from last week.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 7.37 million for a repeat.
• Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends, The Game (The CW) - Repeats of these sitcoms did all under 2 million this week with Chris, the highest at 1.64 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Creature Comforts (CBS) 2 episodes - Wednesday encores from 8-9pm did 3.48 and 3.1 million, way down from King of Queens the last two weeks.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 4.94 million for a repeat.