ABC Family October Changes; JustMyShow Interviews M*A*S*H Stars

ABC Family Channel will be making some changes in October, which will be their fall line-up. There are no new shows being added, but America's Funniest Home Videos is returning after a brief break, and will air weeknights at 10pm, shifting Whose Line to weeknights at 12 midnight. So, that means Smallville is gone again. The other notable change is 7th Heaven moving from 8:30am to 4pm...talk about a big move. Some sitcoms will be shifted a bit because of that. An extra Sister, Sister will air now at 8:30am, Step by Step moves to 9am, as Sabrina, the Teenage the Witch takes the 2-3pm slot since it is being moved out of 4-5pm. That is just weekdays.
Let's move on to weekends. Back-to-back Step by Step replaces Sister, Sister from 8-9am, back-to-back Full House replaces Step by Step at 9-10am, and a Sabrina, the the Teenage Witch double shot replaces Full House 10-11am. Hope you're not confused! Other events for the month include a 7th Heaven 12-hour marathon on Oct. 7, 13 Days of Halloween stunts from Oct. 19-31, and more!
I suggest you view this information by clicking HERE!

M*A*S*H is turning 35 next month and our friend Eric from Just My Show is celebrating the big birthday with longtime cast members Mike Farrell (B.J.), William Christopher (Father Francis Mulcahy), and Jamie Farr (Klinger). And as a special guest, they have Todd Susman as well. Todd Susman served as the M*A*S*H PA announcer throughout the 11 year run of the series.
It is his longest podcast yet...over an hour and twenty minutes of M*A*S*H memories! Talk about a big M*A*S*H bash! And that is not all either. Like usual, special bonus clips are available including a 10 question segment with Mike Farrell!
Click HERE to view all this and you'll be happy you did!

Important Nick at Nite and TV Land Schedule Changes; RTN in Reno in January

Well it's not that important. Nick at Nite's changes are a bit important though. We gave you the September fall schedule a few days back. Nick at Nite has since altered that just a bit. They will air America's Funniest Home Videos after all. Every night at 4:30am, replacing one of the Home Improvement encores. The other changes are really on Fri-Sat. Fridays will get a little bit of a change from 10pm-1am. Originally it was back-to-back Home Improvement, George Lopez, and Fresh Prince. Now it will be one Home Improvement, one George Lopez, back-to-back Home Improvement at 11, Fresh Prince at 12 and another George at 12:30am. Weird...because Saturdays 10pm-1am it is not like that. Fresh Prince encores were slated Fri-Sat nights 3-4am, now it will be the same as Sun-Thurs, which is Roseanne and Cosby Show.
So, let's go back to the September schedule to see the fully updated schedule that will start Sept. 10.
In other Nick at Nite news, the movie Grease will air again tonight pre-empting programming from 9pm-11:30pm.
Moving on to TV Land, not many changes really, it is just minor stuff. The Saturday line-up for this Saturday only, September 1, will be changed a bit. We get a Sanford & Son afternoon-thon from 1-4pm, followed by three movies until 10pm, then Andy Griffith mini-marathon will air until 1:10am. I guess this is for Labor Day weekend. Click here to view this change.
The week of Sept. 17, What's Happening Now!! will return for a week at 7am. I guess because M*A*S*H will be airing a lot that week, with the anniversary marathon.

RTN is now coming to Reno, NV! They announced that it has entered into an agreement with COX Broadcasting to bring RTN programming to Reno, NV. The new affiliate will launch Jan. 7, 2008, on a digital channel of COX's KRXI-TV, a FOX affiliate that reaches more than 260,000 households in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area.
"RTN-Reno viewers will delight in seeing a young Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco, one of the original procedurals that spawned many of today's hit shows," said Mark Dvornik, Executive Vice President of RTN, "and they will enjoy hearing Robin Leach say 'champagne wishes and caviar dreams' in Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on their very own 'Prime Time all the Time' schedule."

ME-TV Chicago Fall Schedule; Dancing with the Stars: The Announcement

ME-TV this fall will bring on new shows, return some favorites, and some shows unfortunately will have to be dropped as a result. The new schedule starts Sept. 17. Among the new shows is the classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show which will air everyday. Weekdays 7-8pm and 10:30pm and weekends 10-11pm. ME-TV is very happy they have acquired it and hope fans in Chicago will be pleased. The Cosby Show (6-7pm) and Cheers (8-9pm) will also join the Chicago local's weekday line-up. And Bonanza will join the weekday line-up at 1pm. Taxi will join the line-up on October 1 taking the 7:30pm weeknight slot. Shows leaving weekdays are Webster, Gimme a Break, All in the Family, Charlie's Angels, Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. All of those will still air weekends but Webster, Gimme a Break, All in the Family and Charlie's Angels...so those shows are gone. Weekends will have a lot of new shows! Coming Saturdays are TJ Hooker and 21 Jump Street, while shows like Phil Silvers, Batman and Starsky & Hutch will be off the weekend line-up and the line-up completely. Peter Gunn will move from weekends to weeknights! On Sundays, we get some sitcoms that are returning like Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, One Day at a Time, Patty Duke Show, The Flying Nun, and Mary Tyler Moore. Sitcoms like The Partridge Family, Monkees, Gidget, and My Three Sons will be leaving the line-up, as will The Rockford Files.
For the full COMPLETE schedule, I urge you to click HERE! You people in Chicago-land are lucky!!

Dancing with the Stars' fifth competition will start Sept. 24 on ABC and today they announced who will be in it! We had rumors of stars like Aaron Carter, Tori Spelling and Lou Ferigno coming on, but they didn't make it. Looks like some of TMZ's rumors were false. Rumors also swirled on stars like Mark Cuban, Wayne Newton and Jennie Garth, and those came true! Here is the announcement:
In a Dancing with the Stars first, twelve celebrities – six men and six women -- attempt to outshine one another on a fifth season of the hit series, which returns MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET) on ABC. This marks the largest cast assembled to date. It includes an Emmy Award-winning actress, a Vegas icon, an Indy 500 champion, a Spice Girl, a daytime soap star, a Cheetah Girl and a former resident of 90210. As an added twist, viewers get a chance to size up the male vs. the female stars, as each gender hits the dance floor on separate nights during the first week of competition. The women will strut their stuff on Monday night, while the men show off their moves TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET). One couple's fate will be determined the following night, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on Dancing with the Stars the Results Show. Can the women outperform the men, or will the men dance circles around the women?
As announced today on Good Morning America, the twelve stars making their ballroom dancing debut are:
MELANIE BROWN – "Mel B.," a.k.a. "Scary Spice," is best known as a member of the Spice Girls, the hit British music group that put "girl power" on the map and took the world by storm in 1996. She is partnered with MAKSIM CHMERKOVSKIY, who returns for his fourth season.
SABRINA BRYAN – Actress and recording artist Sabrina Bryan starred as a member of an all-girl singing group in Disney Channel's original movie, The Cheetah Girls. She has also starred in The Bold and the Beautiful. Bryan is partnered with newcomer MARK BALLAS.
HELIO CASTRONEVES – The two-time Indianapolis 500 champion began the celebratory tradition of climbing the racetrack fence in 2001, racing for Team Penske. Castroneves teams with reigning champ JULIANNE HOUGH, who returns for her sophomore season.
MARK CUBAN – Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team. He is the highly successful entrepreneur who founded HDNet, Broadcast.com and MicroSolutions. He is partnered with KYM JOHNSON, who returns for her third season.
JENNIE GARTH – Garth rose to stardom in the popular television series Beverly Hills: 90210. She since starred in the sitcom What I Like About You for four seasons. Garth's partner is newcomer DEREK HOUGH, brother of Season Four winner Julianne Hough.
JOSIE MARAN – Model/actress Josie Maran has graced the pages of some of the biggest magazines, including multiple covers for Glamour and appearances in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue. Maran is paired with Season One winner ALEC MAZO, who makes his third appearance.
CAMERON MATHISON – Mathison joined the cast of All My Children in January 1989 as Ryan Lavery. His television credits also include The Drew Cary Show, CSI, JAG, What I Like About You, F/X: The Series. Mathison's partner is EDYTA SLIWINSKA, the only professional dancer to appear in all five seasons.
FLOYD MAYWEATHER -- "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather is a six-time world champion in five different weight classes and the current RING and World Boxing Council Welterweight Champion of the World, with an astounding undefeated record of 38-0, with 24 knockouts. Mayweather teams with KARINA SMIRNOFF, who returns for her third season.
WAYNE NEWTON – The Legend, Mr. Las Vegas, is enjoying a career that few dare even dream about, having performed more live shows than any other single performer in Las Vegas history, with no signs of slowing down. He is partnered with two-time champ CHERYL BURKE.
MARIE OSMOND – Osmond won the hearts of fans as co-host of the popular variety program, The Donny & Marie Show. Osmond will be led by JONATHAN ROBERTS, who returns for his fourth season.
ALBERT REED – Model Albert Reed has been featured in national ad campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch, Diesel Clothing, Arrow Clothing, Rayban and Reebok, to name a few. He teams up with ANNA TREBUNSKAYA, who returns for her second season.
JANE SEYMOUR - Actress/artist/author/activist/designer and Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning British born Jane Seymour is a star of motion pictures and television, including her six-season Western drama, Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman. She recently made steamy appearances on the ABC sitcom In Case of Emergency. Seymour is paired with TONY DOVOLANI, who returns for his fourth season.

TV One Fall Schedule: Parent'hood Joins, All of Us Comes to Weekdays; Scott Baio VH1 Show to Return for 2nd Season

TV One starts their fall line-up October 1 and it is full of new comedies! New to TV One's lineup of daily comedy programming is the Robert Townsend sitcom Parent'hood, to air weeknights at 7:30pm. This year, TV One also features the recent high-ranking African-American family sitcom All Of Us on weeknights at 7pm.
On weekends, starting Sunday October 7, spirited fun abounds at TV One as the 1997 sitcom Good News, starring David Ramsay as a new pastor in an urban church, comes to the network with back to back episodes airing on Saturdays & Sundays from 7-8pm (and encore airings on Sundays from 1-2pm and 2-3am). Guest stars include Bernadette Stanis (Good Times), Anna Maria Horsford (Amen) and Chaka Khan.
As for the schedule itself, besides the new shows we just mentioned, NY Undercover and Wanda at Large return to the weekday line-up. Shows such as Amen, In the House, On Our Own, and Fastlane will be off the line-up. So if you like those shows, tape them now before they go away on October 1. 227 will be just 6-7am now. TV One airs sitcoms all day long, afternoons from 1:30-3pm (Roc, All About the Andersons, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper), evening and primetime from 5-10pm (For Your Love, Eve, Good Times, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, All of Us, Parent'hood, Martin, All About the Andersons, Cedric the Entertainer Presents and another Good Times), late nights from 11pm-1am (Martin, Eve, All of Us, Wanda at Large) and early mornings from 3-6am (Martin, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Good Times, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Parent'hood, Good Times). 227 gets the 3-6am block every Sunday night (Monday mornings).
Highlights for the month include:
On Saturday, October 13 beginning at 1pm, in celebration of the impending Tuesday release of Eve's new CD "Here I Am," it's a marathon of the rapper Eve and her self-titled sitcom...Eve. All day long episodes will chronicle her character Shelley’s tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend J.T. as each tries to get the upper hand.
On Saturday, October 20, leading into the 'cool factor' premiere of the high school b-ball drama Sunset Park at 8PM, TV One presents a whole day of "hoops" with basketball themed episodes of All of Us, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, and Martin as well as two basketball related movies Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story and White Men Can't Jump and lastly an encore play of TV One's Famous People special spotlighting NBA mom Ann Iverson.
On Wednesday, October 31, it's an "all howls" day mini-marathon as Halloween rolls into TV One. Daytime and primetime showcases Halloween-themed episodes of your favorite TV One sitcoms: Martin, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Parent'hood, Wanda At Large, and Minor Adjustments. This special Halloween marathon airs from 11am – 3pm and again from 6pm – 10pm.
For FULL details including highlights and the full schedule of all the shows airing, I urge you to click HERE to view and discuss this line-up!

Scott Baio is back again! VH-1 has picked up a second season of Scott Baio...Is 45 and Single. Obviously the title will be altered for next season. In the season one finale, Doc Ali's two-month boot camp comes to a close and Scott ends his "graduation party" by committing to Renee and in turn, Renee surprises Scott with the big one- revealing that she's pregnant.
Thus, season two finds Scott struggling to come to terms with impending fatherhood. Ultimately, it will be a season full of life changing decisions for Scott who will be preparing for marriage, fatherhood and instantly becoming a father to an 18-year old stepdaughter. Scott's friends, especially Johnny V., will also have learn to live with these many changes in his life.
The new series goes into production this a Fall and is slated to run with nine episodes-six 30-minute episodes and three 1-hour episodes in early 2008, most likely.

Nick at Nite's September Schedule; RTN in Albany Now

As promised, we will give you the Nick at Nite September schedule. The schedule is broken up into two periods, Sun-Thurs and Fri-Sat. Fri-Sat is really the same as Sun-Thurs but an hour later. Home Improvement, which will get a week-long marathon Sept. 3-9 (9p-5a each night), will kick-off the night by airing from 9-10pm starting Sept. 10. George Lopez will premiere after that airing 10-11pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air follows the two newcomers, which will both likely do very well, from 11pm-12am. From midnight to 3am, we get the same three shows again. Then at 3am we get Roseanne and at 3:30am The Cosby Show. Wow...both of those have been heavily reduced, especially Roseanne! At 4am we get Full House and 4:30am another slot of Home Improvement. 5am will be the wheel of shows again, with Mad About You being added to the wheel now. Finally, 5:30am will remain Full House. So, what about Fri-Sat? OK, Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince will kick-it off from 10pm-1am, and again from 1am-4am. Then 4-5am we get yet another Home Improvement hour (its third hour!). 5-6am will be the same as Sun-Thurs. America's Funniest Home Videos will be gone. Confused? See our September schedule and you can share your thoughts there as well.

RTN has been added to another city now! If you live in these area and don't have digital cable, there this a good reason for you to get digital cable so you can watch RTN on the DT feeds of these channels. They announced today that it plans to launch a new affiliate on the digital channel of Albany's ABC station, adding more than 550,000 households to RTN's rapidly expanding footprint.
The new network will launch Oct. 1 on WTEN-TV, a Young Broadcasting station that serves upstate New York, western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. Shows like Matlock, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii 5-0 and Streets of San Francisco are expected.

Mini-DVD Review: Heroes - Season 1 (Aug. 28)

Welcome to a special Sunday edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we look at Universal Studios Home Entertainment's Heroes. Ordinary people with extraordinary abilities link a group of complete strangers that may determine the future of the world when Heroes - Season 1 comes to DVD and HD DVD August 28, 2007. Nominated for eight Emmy Awards including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series (Masi Oka), Heroes - Season 1 is the most acclaimed and addictive new series of the 2006-2007 television season. See my mini-DVD review of Heroes - Season 1:



Heroes: Season 1 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, $59.98)

Discover the phenomenon that is sweeping audiences everywhere as Heroes: Season 1 comes to DVD! Experience the suspense, mystery, and electrifying twists as this astonishing series follows seemingly unconnected, ordinary people around the globe who discover they have extraordinary powers. As they come to terms with their unique abilities, their risky decisions will affect the futures of everyone around them ... and the world. Join their epic journey in this seven-disc set packed with hours of fascinating and revealing bonus features, including the never-before-aired series premiere from show creator Tim Kring.

Created by Tim Kring ("Providence," "Crossing Jordan"), Heroes features an extraordinary ensemble cast that includes Sendhil Ramamurthy (Blind Guy Driving), Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls"), Adrian Pasdar ("Judging Amy"), Hayden Panettiere (Bring It On: All Or Nothing), Ali Larter (Final Destination), Noah Gray-Cabey ("My Wife & Kids"), Leonard Roberts ("Smallville"), Santigo Cabrera ("Empire"), Tawny Cypress (NBC's "Third Watch"), Greg Grunberg ("Alias"), Masi Oka (NBC's "Scrubs"), Jack Coleman ("Dynasty"), James Kyson Lee (NBC's "Las Vegas"), Zachary Quinto ("24"), Ashley Crow (NBC's "American Dreams"), Cristine Rose (NBC's "Friends"), Jimmy Jean-Louis (Monster-in-Law), Eric Roberts ("Less Than Perfect") and Malcolm McDowall ("Entourage").

This 7-disc set has some very stylish packaging. The outer slip cover has a black background and an embossed Heroes title logo. On the back of the slip cover, there is a synopsis of the set, a listing of the nearly 3 hours of bonus features, and a painting of the destruction of New York City. The main Digipak packaging slides out from the left of the outer slip cover. It features a nice photo of the 11 main cast members on a city street. Short summaries of the episodes and the DVD extras are listed for discs 5-7 on the back of packaging. Inside the Digipak, discs 1-4 are listed. Since there are so many deleted scenes and audio commentaries, the listings aren't incredibly detailed. I think they could have used an icon to note which episodes have commentaries. All but a few of the episodes have deleted scenes. The 7 discs are held in clear plastic holders. Underneath the holders, there are various color paintings and black & white photos of the cast. The discs are very plain looking with just the Heroes logo and disc number on them.

The menus are very attractive and easy to navigate. The main menu opens with Earth and the Heroes logo. That leads to Isaac's loft and his paintings. The camera zooms in on to them to show the scenes from the actual episode. The opening theme and music from the show is heard in the background. At the bottom of the screen, there are options for "Play All," "Chapter Index," "Bonus Materials," and "Languages" on each disc. A red splatter icon is next to the option that you highlight that turns orange upon your selection. Comic book drawings are featured on all of the sub-menus. When you select "Chapter Index," it takes you to a sub-menu where there are 1-2 episodes listed per screen. You have the option of playing the deleted scenes and commentaries from these menus, or you can find more detailed information on them on the "Bonus Materials" menus. There is a Play All button on those menus where you can play all of the deleted on each disc together. From the "Languages" menu, you can play the commentaries or turn on the English SDH, French or Spanish subtitles. Chapter stops are available within the episodes but no separate scene selection menus are offered. When you first insert disc 1, there are Previews which you can play or skip directly to the main menu.

Moving on to the video and audio quality, the excellence is continued. The set is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors are vibrant and clean. The picture is very sharp and detailed. Some of the night time scenes can look a little grainy, but that can be expected. Overall, the lighting is excellent and the outdoor scenes are beautifully shot. These episodes look even better than how they were originally broadcast. All of the episodes appear to be unedited, running around 43-44 minutes in length. They have the "Previously On" Heroes openings as originally broadcast. There is nothing on the packaging to indicate that any of the original music had to be replaced. The audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. I didn't notice any major problems on the episodes I've watched so far. The dialogue is at a good volume and easy to understand. I love the music score and other sound effects that are used in the episodes. Subtitles are available in English, French and spanish. The bonus features are not rated and not all are subtitled.

Nearly 3 hours of bonus features are included. They will blow you away! There is the original, unaired, extended 73-minute pilot episode with optional audio commentary. Besides the original pilot commentary, there are 12 additional commentaries by the cast and crew. 50 Deleted and Extended Scenes are offered for all but 4 of the episodes. Most of them were probably cut for pacing and time. Five featurettes are found on disc 7. I will break the extras down by disc.

Disc 1
------
Unaired Pilot: The Tim Kring Cut - This is the full 73 uninterrupted minute version of the original, unaired, extended pilot episode, as Heroes' creator Tim Kring first envisioned it. It features an unseen character, Omid, and a terrorist storyline. It also introduced the Matt Parkman character. If this original pilot ever aired, it surely would have been a 2-hour premiere. Due to review deadlines, this was the only commentary I've been able to listen to so far in its entirety. It is a very good one. Tim Kring covers many different topics, such as the technical aspects of filming, shooting locations, effects shots and how they did them, the terrorist storyline and why it was nixed, Parkman's wife being recast, Sylar's silhouetted introduction, and how various scenes were reshot for the final broadcast version. There are additional deleted and exteneded scenes from the pilot available in the deleted scenes section.

Deleted and Extended Scenes (10:22)
1. Genesis - 8 Scenes - DL Escapes From His Cell (:24), Meant For Something Special (:30), Simone's Breaking Point (1:43), The Only Way Out (1:33), DL's Promise (:29),
The Terrorist (:47), Time's Up (:31), Micah Saves His Dad (:50)
2. Don't Look Back - 4 Scenes - A Spark Ignites (:40), Niki's Mistake (:31), Behind Niki's Garage Door (1:57), Blood on the Map (:34)

Disc 2
------
Deleted and Extended Scenes (7:45)
3. One Giant Leap - 2 Scenes - Hiro's Book of Revelations (1:45), Niki Confronts Her Mother-in-Law (2:34)
4. Collision - 2 Scenes - The You That Ain't You (:13), Micah's Plea (:40)
5. Hiros - 3 Scenes - Claire's Miracle (:37), Strangers In Our Own Home (:56), Brody's Cheer (1:02)

Disc 3
------
Deleted and Extended Scenes (16:02)
7. Nothing to Hide - 8 Scenes - Matt's Voices (:42), Tough Love (:55), Nathan's Paternity Suit (2:28), You Can't Tell Anyone (:55), Stakeout (:36), Claire the Freak (2:09), Jessica Gets Her Gun (:47), Lyle's Secret (1:09)
8. Seven Minutes to Midnight - 3 Scenes - Appearances Can Be Deceiving (1:14), Eden's New Life (:47), Matt and Janice Reminisce (:54)
9. Homecoming - 1 Scene - The Battle For Claire (1:00)
10. Six Months Ago - 2 Scenes - Dad Is Dead (1:43), Jessica Takes Care of Busines (:50)

Disc 4
------
Deleted and Extended Scenes (7:14)
11. Fallout - 1 Scene - Mohinder's Discovery (1:46)
12. Godsend - 2 Scenes - Claire's Media Moment (:26), Peter's Awakening (1:29)
13. The Fix - 1 Scene - The Dishonest Plumber (1:20)
14. Distractions - 3 Scenes - A Shock to the System (:19), You're My Business (:38), Niki's Homecoming (1:19)

Commentary on "Godsend" by Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts and Sendhil Ramamurthy

Commentary on "The Fix" by Greg Grunberg, Hayden Panettiere and Natalie Chaidez (Episode Writer & Co-Executive Producer)

Commentary on "Distractions" by Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto, Greg Grunberg, Jeanot Szwarc (Episode Director), Jack Coleman and Michael Green (Episode Writer and Co-Executive Producer)

Disc 5
------
Deleted and Extended Scenes (6:00)
15. Run! - 3 Scenes - Mr. Bennet's Phone Calls (:27), Janice Panics (1:26), The Haitian's Talent (1:35)
17. Company Man - 3 Scenes - Generation Gap (:53), The Cover-up (:42), Thompson's Mandate (:14)
18. Parasite - 1 Scene - Lonely Wolf (:47)

Commentary on "Run!" by Greg Grunberg, Kevin Chamberlin, Adam Armus and Kay Foster (Episode Writers and Supervising Producers)

Commentary on "Unexpected" by Greg Beeman (Episode Director and Co-Executive Producer), Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Jeph Loeb (Episode Writer and Co-Executive Producer)

Commentary on "Company Man" by Jack Coleman, Allan Arkush (Episode Director and Executive Producer) and Bryan Fuller (Co-Executive Producer and Episode Writer)

Commentary on "Parasite" by Allan Arkush (Executive Producer), Jimmy Jean-Louis and Christopher Zatta (Episode Writer)

Mind Reader Game - Matt Parkman's mind reading abilities reveal your inner Hero with a series of simple tests. You pick a number from 1-100, add the two digits together and subtract that from the original number. Then you find your hero on the next screen and he guesses your hero. He correctly picked mine!

Disc 6
------
Deleted and Extended Scenes (2:05)
19. .07% - 1 Scene - Linderman's Missing Sword (:30)
20. Five Years Gone - 1 Scene - Old Friends (:43)
21. The Hard Part - 1 Scene - Marty, That's An Order (:54)

Commentary on ".07%" by Chuck Kim (Episode Writer), Andrew Chambliss (Asst. to Tim Kring) and Timm Keppler (Asst. to Dennis Hammer)

Commentary on "Five Years Gone" by Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Jack Coleman

Commentary on "The Hard Part" by Jason Kyson Lee, Noah Gray-Cabey and Ian Quinn (Stunt Coordinator)

Commentary on "Landslide" by Masi Oka, George Takei and Matthew Armstrong

Disc 7
------
Commentary on "How to Stop an Exploding Man" by Tim Kring (Creator/Executive Producer & Episode Writer), Dennis Hammer (Executive Producer) and Allan Arkush (Executive Producer & Episode Director)

"Making of" (10:00) - From concept to pop culture phenomenon, a behind-the-scenes look at the hottest new series on television. Ths featurette includes interviews with Creator/Executive Producer Tim Kring, Masi Oka, Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg, Leoanrd Roberts, Co-Executive PRoducer Jeph Loeb and Sendhil Ramamurthy. It is divided into various sections: The Saga Begins, Casting, The First Screening and A Phenomenon Is Born. Tim talks about how he came up with the idea of the show and about superheroes. The actors talk about their characters. The casting was an easy process for them. Footage is shown from the first screening of the extended pilot at Comic Con in San Diego in 2006. The final section is about fan's reactions to the show. Overall, this was a decent featurette but I would have preferred a much longer, more in-depth special.

Special Effects (8:45) - The secrets behind the eye-popping visuals that give the Heroes their amazing powers. This featurette includes interviews with Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Kolpack, Masi Oka, 3D Artist Tony Ocampo and 2D Artists Ryan Wieber. The special effects are created in post production after everything is shot. The focus here is on the scene of Hiro first time-freezing moment of saving the red-ribboned girl from the truck.

The Stunts (10:22) - A back stage look at the show's hair-raising stunts. This featurette includes interviews with Stunt Coordinator Ian Quinn, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Masi Oka, George Takei, Zachary Quinto and Sendhil Ramamurthy. Ian Quinn talks about his background in stunts, his cameo as the firefighter, and how they try to let the actors do as much as possible to bring realism. The scenes covered here include Claire in the burning train wreckage, Nathan flying from the car and Heidi's accident, Peter being thrown off the roof, Hiro's sword fighting, and Mohinder's being stuck on the ceiling.

Profile of Artist Tim Sade (11:26) - A look at the Eisner Award-winning comic book artist (Spiderman, Batman, Daredevil) behind much of the Manga-influenced artwork used in the show. This featurette includes interviews with Tim Sale and Santiago Cabrera. Tim talks about his background as a comic book artist for 20 years and how he got involved with the show. It is interesting how he creates the artwork from the final finished scenes. Santiago Cabrera gives a tour of Isaac's loft. Tim talks about he met Santiago and gave him some tips for his character.

The Score (8:58) - Go behind the scenes with Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman (of Prince's The Revolution) as they create their ASCAP Award-winning musical score. This featurette includes interviews with composers Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin and audio engineer Michael Perfitt. They are interviewed in their studio where they create the music. They talk a little about the vocals of Shankar, how the score is identifiable by one note, and how they mix different instruments from around the world. They do about 30 minutes of music per episode. I think they do an excellent job on the score. Hopefully somebody will release a score album like other series, such as Lost or 24.

Sneak Peeks (6:11) - Trailers for Friday Night Lights, House, Las Vegas, The Office, 30 Rock, Miami Vice, Nissan, Bring It On: All or Nothing

Final Comments: A truly outstanding set for a remarkable show! This was my favorite new drama from last season. I was hooked from the very first episode and liked everything about it. The storylines, actors, character backgrounds, music, stunts and visual effects - everything works for a thrilling ride. Die-hard fans will want to relive the excitement and enjoy the many hours of special features to learn new facts about the show. Others can discover it for the first time and prepare to start watching Season 2 in a few weeks. I can't wait for the second season to see what they have in store. New season, new story begins September 24 on NBC!

-- Reviewed by Todd
(5/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

A HD DVD version is also being released on the same day. Purchase it here.

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Heroes Official Site
Heroes TV.com Page
Heroes Internet Movie Database Page
Heroes Wikipedia Page

Mini-DVD Review: Man About the House - First Two Series; Solomon's Weekly Rant: ESPN Classic; Weather-Mania on Local News

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at BCI Eclipse's Man About the House: The Complete First and Second Series. Man About the House is the britcom that Three's Company was based on! See the similarities and the differences between the two series when you get this DVD. See my mini-DVD review of Man About the House:

Man About the House: The Complete First and Second Series (BCI, $29.98) brings the first 13 episodes of the Britcom that Three's Company was based on to America on DVD for the first time! In England, the seasons are usually very short. Also they don't call a season a season, they call it a series for some reason. "Series" one had 7 episodes and "series" two had 6 episodes. This britcom lasted for six series from 1973-1976. And like Three's Company here in the U.S., it gave away to two spin-offs...George and Mildred (The Ropers was the spin-off here) and Robin's Nest (Three's a Crowd was the spin-off here). This series starred Richard Sullivan as Robin Tripp (equivalent to Jack Tripper), Paula Wilcox as Chrissy Plummer (equivalent to Janet Wood), Sally Thomsett as Jo (equivalent to Chrissy Snow), Brian Murphy as George Roper (equivalent to Stanley Roper), Yootha Joyce as Mildred Roper (equivalent to Helen Roper), and Doug Fisher as Larry Simmonds (equivalent to Larry Dallas).
Most of the episodes in these first two series are similar to some episodes from Three's Company. Three's Company had based a lot of the episodes early on on Man About the House. Some of those episodes include the pilot called "Three's a Crowd" where Chrissy & Jo find Robin in the tub and he moves in. "And Mother Makes Four" where Chrissy's mother comes to town the day Robin moves in. In the U.S. it was Chrissy Snow's character whose mother came to visit...as Chrissy in this series is really our Janet Wood. "No Children, No Dogs" where Robin is lumbering a puppy, which is not allowed in the building. "It's Only Money" where the trio's rent money has disappeared. "Colour Me Yellow" is similar to the Three's Company episode "Jack the Giant Killer," where Robin battles a big bully at the saloon. So, all of Three's Company's first season episodes except for Roper's Niece were based on Man About the House episodes. Some other episodes that were similar were "In Praise of Older Men," which was similar to the season two episode of Three's Company titled "Chrissy's Date," where Chrissy dates an older man who later turns out to be married. And the episode "Two Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" was similar to the Three's Company episode from season two titled "The Baby Sitters," where Robin and Chrissy babysit.
Each episode has that Thames logo before each episode that runs like 8 seconds or so. The runtimes for each episode vary. The highest is 25:23 and the lowest is 22:20, but I doubt anything is edited. Most of the episodes run in the 23-24 min range. There are two chapter stops per episode. The first chapter is the first part of the episode and the second chapter is part two of the episode. This series had bumpers saying end of part one and start of part two...and they are intact on this DVD. The video looks good, but it isn't perfect! The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it and you can hear everything fine.
Packaging has a slip cover outer box that holds the actual case. I think that is pointless. The cover for the box has the trio with the show logo above them and above that we see Jo's pink panty, Robin's blue boxer, and Chrissy's pink bra. The color scheme is like a lime green. The back of the box has synopsis of the show with four small cool screenshots (two of them are familiar to Three's Company fans, the shaving of the balloon and Robin in that apron that looks like a bra). We also have a shot of the trio near the couch. The case's cover and back is the exact same as the box. What is the point of this slip cover box?? The case only would have been OK. Inside the case we have the two discs in a separate holder. The left side of the case has a episode guide booklet for us so we have the synopsis of the first two series. Disc one's artwork has Robin's blue boxers and disc two has the girls' pink bra and panty. The overall color of the discs is lime green, like the set.
The menu screen has Play all and Episodes. The main menu has the theme playing in the background (and it loops), with a photo of the trio in the middle and moving images above that. Episodes is where we can choose the classic episodes. They are listed in a separate sub-menu and the theme is also playing in the background there.
Unfortunately this set has no special features. Oh well, at least we can finally watch some episodes and compare them to Three's Company.
I highly do recommend any fan of britcoms or Three's Company to pick this set up. It is a fun show and hilarious, though it is not as good I think as Three's Company. It is cool to note the similarities and differences to the American version. Head on over to the Mucky Duck Saloon (their Regal Beagle) and have a blast watching this DVD!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Man About the House TV.com Page
Jack's Bistro: Three's Company Page


Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, August 25, 2007
"ESPN Classic is the Sports Version of TV Land; Weather-Mania on Local News"
By Solomon Davis

ESPN Classic needs to take programming tips from The Golf Channel because that will allow viewers to see what they are supposed to on a sports classic network which is classic sports. I never see The Golf Channel air programming about swimming or horse racing because the programmers at that network know that they are supposed to air everything that has to do with golf. So if ESPN Classic can stop trying to become the sports version of TV Land by airing programs that has nothing to do with classic sports, the channel would actually become more watchable. ESPN Classic wants to air programs like American Gladiators, World Series of Poker, and sports movies instead of classic pro sports. The network has tried to stay somewhat in the neighborhood of classic sports by airing classic bowling but that's not really something most of us want to see when we think of classic sports. So just like TV Land, the network is trying to be too creative in grabbing more viewers that they actually forgot the name of their network. So maybe the actual goal of the network in the next year will be to change the title of the network to TVandSportsLand which would be a better fit for the type of programming they like to present to viewers.

Why does it seem like whenever there is a heatwave during this time of year our local news stations turn into The Weather Channel? The last time I looked at the calender I noticed that this is the month of August so a heatwave can't be that big of a story. I strongly believe that everyone on this site has experienced being outside when the temperature is over 90 degrees so for news like this to be the very top story as soon as the news comes on is very confusing. It's not deadly stuff like 105+. We don't need to see video footage of people walking down the street wiping sweat because that's what they are supposed to do this time of year. It's a shame that these news directors don't understand that a news story about a heatwave is only major news if it's in the month of December not August.

My TV Highlight of the Week: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - Lauren Jones on the premiere of Fox's now canceled Anchorwoman.
My TV Lowlight of the Week: Monday, August 20, 2007 - Emmit Smith fidgeting and studdering on the air on his second show as a ESPN studio analyst.

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.

Fox Pulls Anchorwoman for 'Til Death Repeats; WWOR Update; Baywatch Mon-Fri This Fall

Anchorwoman aired last night for the first...and final time on Fox. The reality show -- about a former model and World Wrestling Entertainment performer who becomes a news anchor -- debuted Wednesday night to a minuscule 1.0 rating in the adult 18-49 demo and just 2.66 million viewers (2.0/3 HH rating).
The network will air repeats of sitcom 'Til Death in its place for at least the next three weeks, but you can catch unaired episodes of Anchorwoman at FOX.com and via the Fox On Demand service.

We have a weekend update for the weekend of Sept. 29/30 for WWOR in NY. That weekend Farscape will be off of syndication in every market. On WWOR, it will be replaced by The Dead Zone, which premieres in syndication that weekend. WWOR will air it Sundays at 7PM starting Sept. 30, leading into the new two-hour Law & Order: SVU block from 8-10pm on Sunday nights.

And we went to clarify something. We mentioned earlier this week that Baywatch is coming back to syndication this fall on weekends. Actually it will be weekdays! Yes, Mon-Fri of your favorite beach babes (Pamela Anderson, Nicole Eggert, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, and just about anyone else!) starting this fall. I don't think it was cleared for NYC, but it has been cleared in LA for KDOC-TV. We will let you know more when we know.

RTN Added in Green Bay, Adds Hip Hop Harry to Weekends; Seinfeld Last Season DVD and Complete Series DVD; Price and Wheel News

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to launch an RTN affiliate in Green Bay, adding more than 430,000 households to the network's viewing area. The new affiliate will launch Oct. 1 on WBAY-TV/DT, a digital stream of Young Broadcasting's ABC affiliate WBAY-TV.
"Our new agreement with RTN will allow WBAY-TV to provide the Green Bay market with a new viewing option that will be a complementary blend of the station's local programming and news with RTN's Prime Time all the Time classic hit show format," said Deb McDermott, President of Young Broadcasting.
Meanwhile, RTN announced today that it has acquired the over-the-air broadcast rights for weekend mornings for the Emmy-nominated children's show Hip Hop Harry. Under the terms of the agreement, the network will air the program on Saturday mornings in all RTN markets, beginning in mid-September. Hip Hop Harry is produced by C to the B Productions and is a musically-based, live action program designed to entertain, educate and inform pre-school aged children.

As we first announced this morning on our message board, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the final season of Seinfeld on DVD on November 6 along with a huge complete series set featuring all nine seasons.
Seinfeld: Season 9 is a four-disc boxed set including all 24 episodes from the ninth and final season of the long-running series, including the finale that drew viewership numbers of over 75 million and hours of exclusive, never-before-seen bonus footage. The holiday must-have of the year, Seinfeld: The Complete Series, offers the ultimate and most comprehensive Seinfeld experience ever. The 32-disc, two-volume set offers 180 unforgettable episodes of the multiple Emmy® Award-winning show along with "The Official Coffee Table Book," a 226-page, bound anthology filled with photos, quotes, trivia from every episode, and personal reflections from Jerry. The collectible book also includes a bonus disc featuring "The Roundtable," an exciting hour-long round table discussion among the four cast and creator Larry David reminiscing about the award-winning show's run on air. A total of 104 hours of bonus features are included with Seinfeld: The Complete Series. also on Nov. 6. Sounds good! Read more about it and discuss here.

We end today with some classic game show news. CBS's Emmy-Award winning The Price is Right, with new host Drew Carey, will have its 36th season premiere on Monday, October 15 (11:00 AM-12:00 Noon, ET; 10:00-11:00 AM, PT), on the CBS Television Network. Carey was recently named host of television's long-running game show, succeeding former host Bob Barker, who retired in June after 35 years on the show.
The new season will start out with some exciting wins, as several contestants make some lucky spins on the big Wheel. Others have the chance to win some of the most expensive cars ever given away on the show, as well as trips to exotic locations and more amazing prizes. In addition, the familiar set has been refreshed to give it an updated look while keeping the recognizable Price is Right theme and appearance.
Meanwhile, Wheel of Fortune, which has ranked as television's #1 syndicated series every year since its premiere, marks its historic 25th season with all new shows beginning on Monday, September 10, 2007.

Nick at Nite Details Home Improvement and George Lopez Launches; Disney Channel Fall and Some Lifetime Changes

This September, Nick at Nite brings two of America's favorite family comedies to living rooms across the country when award-winning series, Home Improvement and George Lopez join the networks' Fall line-up.
Home Improvement, starring America's #1 family movie star Tim Allen, premieres with a seven-day marathon on Monday, September 3 running through Sunday, September 9 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (ET/PT). Tim Allen will host the week-long marathon for one-hour every evening from 9-10 p.m. offering viewers a look at his favorite episodes with anecdotes from behind-the-scenes of the celebrated series.
George Lopez, starring famed comedian George Lopez, promptly follows the week after, premiering Monday, September 10, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). The executive producers of The Drew Carey Show -- Bruce Helford, Academy Award(R) winner Deborah Oppenheimer and Robert Borden -- team up with superstar actress/producer Sandra Bullock for this comedy loosely based on Lopez's own experiences as a Mexican-American native of Los Angeles.
We will have more on Nick at Nite September very soon!

Disney Channel has released their fall line-up, which starts on Sept. 4, and it looks like there will be no Boy Meets World! The sitcom will be leaving the line-up after its August 31 airing. The sitcom also airs on ABC Family currently, and they also will remove it after that day. So, it seems to me that maybe the contract expired? We will try to find out. In case anyone is wondering the full schedule, I won't detail it here, but you can view the complete schedule HERE! Yes, it still has your favorite Disney tween sitcoms like Hannah Montana, That's So Raven, The Suite Life, Cory in the House, etc.
Disney is coming off a historical weekend when the TV movie sequel High School Musical 2 poured in a basic cable record of 17.2 million on Friday! I suggest you read about that here because this is TV history.

Lifetime has moved around their once a week repeats of current dramas once again. Grey's Anatomy now airs Saturdays at 11PM ET/PT and Desperate Housewives follows at 12AM ET/PT. Medium now airs Sundays at 11PM ET/PT.

New York Update: WNYW and WWOR Fall 2007 Schedules; RTN Adds Stations in Pittsburgh and San Fran

We gave you the Fall schedule for WPIX (CW11) in New York a few weeks back, now we finally have WNYW (Fox5) and WWOR (My9)!
Let's start with WNYW. Their new schedule for weekdays will start on Monday, Sept. 10. Not many changes, but the second run of Montel Williams will return back to the station and air weekdays at 10am. The first run will continue to air on sister net WWOR. WNYW will add the new first-run news magazine TMZ TV weeknights at 6:30pm and a second run at 12 noon. Not many sitcom changes, but they have Still Standing at 4:30am. This will be the second run, while the first run will continue to air on WWOR. Since TMZ TV is coming, The Simpsons' second slot will now be at midnight. Weekends will see various changes from week to week until early October. Right now we only have the schedule through Sept. 23, so we don't have any new additions except Saved by the Bell airing Saturdays at 7am starting Sept. 22. Comics Unleashed, The Outer Limits and Alias will be leaving WNYW and in syndication nationwide.
I suggest you view the full line-up for WNYW by clicking HERE!
Let's move on to WWOR. They have made more changes than WNYW, but not as much as WPIX did. WWOR's new weekday schedule will take in effect on Sept. 17, but there are some additions on Sept. 10 such as new court show Judge David Young back-to-back from 11a-12p, new game show Temptation back-to-back 2-3p and Girlfriends leaving the network and in syndication. On weekends, we see Star Trek come on Sundays at 11PM. The show has aired on WNBC this season. Then on Sept. 17, their full new weekday line-up begins with The Cosby Show leaving at 7:30-8:30a replaced by One on One and Half & Half. Half & Half will air its primary run at 4pm. Law & Order: Criminal Intent joins the weekday line-up starting this week and will air weeknights at 11pm, shifting the sitcoms from 12-2a only. We get Bernie Mac, Malcolm in the Middle, Still Standing and King of the Hill. For the weekends, Half & Half will air Saturdays also from 6-7pm and Law & Order: SVU joins the network airing Sundays at 8 & 9pm. As the case with WNYW, we don't have details on anything past Sept. 23, so the weekend schedule is being edited for each week until everything premieres. We have yet to see Baywatch scheduled, and that is coming back to syndie this year, but not sure if a local in NY has picked it up. My guess is WWOR or WNYW will have it starting the weekend of Sept. 29/30. I'll let you know.
Anyway click HERE for the WWOR Sept. 10 changes and Sept. 17 line-up.

Last week we mentioned a RTN affiliate was added in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Now we have updates for Pittsburgh and San Francisco! Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it has entered into an agreement with COX Broadcasting to bring RTN programming to Pittsburgh. The new affiliate will launch Oct. 15 on COX's WPXI-DT, a station that reaches more than 1.1 million households in one of the nation's top-25 markets. Starting Oct. 15, WPXI will celebrate its 50th anniversary by launching a new "classic" TV station, featuring programs from the 60's, 70's and 80's. This Retro Television Network (RTN) will include shows like I Love Lucy, The Rockford Files, Mission Impossible, Magnum PI, Little House on the Prairie, Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days and Family Ties. At least 19 other TV markets nationwide offer or soon will launch RTN channels.
The new WPXI channel would be RTN's Pittsburgh affiliate. The local station would have more programming flexibility than WPXI already does with its NBC affiliation. For instance, RTN normally might offer Little House on the Prairie at 9 p.m., but if you wanted to run Mission Impossible instead, they can get you Mission Impossible while still offering Little House on the Prairie to everyone else, so, it's a neat way of using new technology!
RTN also announced that it has entered into an agreement with Young Broadcasting to launch an RTN affiliate in San Francisco. The new affiliate will launch Oct. 1 on the digital stream of KRON, Young Broadcasting's flagship station that reaches more than 2 million households in one of the nation's top-5 markets.
"KRON-TV and RTN are set to bring Bay area viewers a new network on our digital channel featuring classic shows from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s (such as Hawaii 5-0, Matlock, Mission: Impossible and Streets of San Francisco)," said Mark Antonitis, President and General Manager of KRON. "We believe that Bay Area viewers will love seeing these hit shows, in addition to the local programming and news that will complement the network."
This is sounding so good! I hope one in NYC gets turned into a RTN affiliate soon! We will have continued RTN updates right here on the blog.

AmericanLife Adds Sci-Fi Thursday Line-Up in September; Network Notes for CBS, ABC, Fox

AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts a new Thursday primetime programming line-up on September 6, featuring four sci-fi classics created by Irwin Allen: Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Land of the Giants. All four series will air back-to-back together starting at 8pm every Thursday. This means the westerns (Maverick, Bronco, Kung Fu) will be off the line-up completely, as there are no other schedules changes for the month.
Lost in Space (Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT) premiered in 1965 starring June Lochart, Guy Williams, Angela Cartwright, Mark Goddard and child actor Billy Mumy. In the series, the space family Robinson embarks on a five-year mission to colonize a new planet, all while being sabotaged by a stowaway. Also accompanying the family on their spaceship "Jupiter II" is their friendly robot.
The Time Tunnel (Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT) follows the adventures of two scientists working on Project TicToc, a government time travel program. However, the system has a slight glitch -- passengers can travel between the past and the future but are unable to stay in the present. Starring Robert Colbert and James Darren, the series aired for one season (1966-67).
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT) details the adventures of the officers and men of the atomic submarine "Seaview," including their battles with human and alien villains. Based on the 1961 film of the same name, the series aired for four years and stars David Hedison, Arch Whiting, Paul Trinka, Robert Dowdell, Richard Bull, Richard Basehart and Del Monroe.
Land of the Giants (Thursday nights at 12:00 a.m. ET/PT) chronicles the lives of the crew and passengers of spacecraft "Spindrift." After traveling through a space warp, "Spindrift" crashes on a planet where everything is 12 times normal size. Airing for two seasons beginning in 1968, the record-high budgeted series stars Stefan Arngrim, Don Matheson, Kurt Kasznar, Gary Conway, Deanna Lund, Heather Young and Don Marshall.

Here are the highlights for September featuring classic TV stars on other classic TV shows:

Saturday, September 1
Chico and the Man: Penny Marshall guest stars in "Chic and the Van" (1