Day 26: WGA's Strike; TV One January Highlights

It is day 26 of the strike, and the strike will continue until at least Tuesday for sure because they are not going back to the tables until then. Late yesterday the AMPTP unveiled a New Economic Partnership to the WGA, which includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels. The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year. In response, the WGA has asked for time to study the proposals. While the AMPTP strongly preferred to continue discussions, they respect and understand the WGA's desire to review the proposals. They will resume talks on Tuesday, December 4.
So that was last night, this morning the WGA rejected that proposal, calling it a "bad deal." So it is back to square one in discussions. Talks resume Tuesday. Let's hope they can settle this next week or at least before Christmas.
NBC continues to announce schedule details. NBC will wrap up low rated new drama Journeyman after 13 episodes. Episode 11 airs Monday, December 10 at 10pm (this coming week we have a special episode of Life after the finale of Heroes). Episode 12 airs Dec. 17 and the final episode will air on a special night, Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 10pm. The Singing Bee will return to the schedule, this time as one-hour installments, for two Fridays, on Friday, Dec. 21 and Friday, Dec. 28 from 8-9pm. Deal or No Deal is expected to come back to Wednesdays at 8 soon. Due to the strike, NBC will overload on reality shows starting in January. Tuesdays 8-10pm starting Jan. 1 will be yet another season of The Biggest Loser...the current season ends Dec. 18, so the series will return after just a week off. We already said Celebrity Apprentice will air Thursdays at 9 starting Jan. 3 (the lead-in will be mixed sitcom repeats). Game show 1 vs. 100 returns Friday, Jan. 4 in its old 8pm timeslot, which means The Singing Bee is just for two weeks. Deal or No Deal will be Wednesdays at 8 only. The updated version of American Gladiators will launch with a two-hour premiere Sunday, January 6 from 8-10pm before moving into its regular Monday 8pm time slot on Jan. 7, head to head vs. ABC's Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann. So, NBC's new drama Chuck will be benched for awhile, though as we mentioned it has been renewed for the full season.

TV One January will finally see the launch of the short lived sitcom Good News. On Sunday, January 13, TV One celebrates "the gospel” with an all day festival of spirited comedy and specials, including the season premiere of a brand new season of TV One's gospel music series, The Gospel of Music with Jeff Majors and the TV One premiere of the church-based sitcom Good News, starring David Ramsay as a young minister who takes over the pulpit at a church full of crazy characters. Good News marathon airs from 2PM to 8PM. Good News settles into a regular time slot Sundays at 7-8PM the following week.
As for other schedule changes, weekdays 6-7AM Roc will replace 227, which means 227 will be off the line-up. weekdays at 2PM, comedian Wanda Sykes sitcom Wanda At Large replaces All About The Andersons. It will also air at 4AM replacing a Good Times airing. Overnights have been slightly rearranged. Martin will once again air back-to-back at 3AM and 3:30AM, followed by as we mentioned Wanda At Large at 4AM, and Hangin' With Mr. Cooper at 4:30AM.
On Thursdays at 10PM, New York Undercover returns on a regular basis for an additional primetime airing per week. It now airs regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays in primetime at 10PM, with a repeat at 1AM. On Fridays at 11AM and 12PM, in place of the daily mid-day movie, TV One will be airing back-to-back episodes of A Man Called Hawk, the critically acclaimed but short-lived crime series starring Avery Brooks. On Saturday early evenings, Cedric the Entertainer Presents joins the Saturday lineup at 6PM and The PJs at 7PM. Saturdays from 5-8PM now features Martin Lawrence (Martin), Cedric the Entertainer, and Eddie Murphy (The PJs) – TV One's own 'kings' of comedy block.
Other stunts:
On Saturday, January 19, beginning at 12PM, get ready for an invasion – as TV One presents an "Attack of the Old School Stars" marathon of Parent'hood sitcom. It'll be classic guest stars galore, including LaWanda Page, Nancy Wilson, Coolio, Kym Whitley, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Antonio Fargas, Peabo Bryson, the O'Jays, Gary Coleman, Dawnn Lewis, and Ernest Thomas all the way until 10PM, leading into the series premiere of TV One's brand new stand-up comedy series, Laff Wit It, Rock Wit It.
On Martin Luther King, Jr Day (Monday, Jan. 21), beginning at 9AM, TV One features a mix of films and series episodes that address the issues of race in America, including the movies Nothing But A Man, American Blackout, and Murder in Mississippi, and poignant episodes of Boston Public, New York Undercover, Good Times, All Of Us, Roc, and Parent'hood through 8PM.

We will return with more news, if anything.

Day 25: WGA's Strike; ABC Family Acquires What I Like About You; TV Land Scores in November

We are in day 25 of the strike. Non-writing staffers of The Tonight Show are being laid off on Friday we hear, but Letterman's production company will pay its nono-writing staff from their own pockets. Conan O'Brien is also paying out of his own pocket for his non-writing staff.
Meanwhile NBC has made a schedule move that seems like it was done for the strike. NBC's new dramedy Lipstick Jungle, based on the best-selling novel by Candace Bushnell - and starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price - will premiere on Thursday, February 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET. ER will continue in the Thursdays 10:00 p.m. ET time slot through January when the Emmy Award-winning drama series completes its current run of original episodes.
Fox finally announced its holiday line-up. Nothing really except on Christmas Eve we get the movie Cheaper by the Dozen and on Wednesday, December 26 we get the broadcast premiere of Christmas with the Kranks starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. But why a day after Christmas?

I guess trying to bank on the success of Jennie Garth on Dancing with the Stars, cable network ABC Family will begin airing reruns of the sitcom What I Like About You in January. The sitcom starred Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth as sisters. The show had a decent four season run on The WB/CW from 2002-06. The show will air weekday afternoons at 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET/PT starting Monday, January 7, replacing 7th Heaven. We asked ABC Family if 7th Heaven would return and they said no, as the show will be moving to The Hallmark Channel. So that answers that. As for What I Like About You, The CW Daytime will still air it at 3:30pm in January from what we see in their listings. We'll keep you posted if that changes. So fans can watch it basically from 3:30-5pm on two channels!
Elsewhere on ABC Family January, the second half of season two of the hit original drama Kyle XY will return on January 14 airing Mondays at 8pm for 10 episodes! A marathon of 9 of the 13 episodes from the first half of the season will air before it from 11am-8pm. The fourth season of another original drama, Wildfire will start a week later, Monday, January 21, and air Mondays at 9pm. Other highlights include, the annual The 700 Club Special Programming will air from 9am-11am for two weeks, week of Jan. 14 and 21, thus Step by Step will be pre-empted for those two weeks at 9am. A marathon of the 700 Club will air on Sunday, January 27 from 12pm-12am. As for movies, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants will get a basic cable premiere on Jan. 6, and a lot of movies will be airing on the ABC Family for the first time, such as Mean Girls, Pleasantville, Bring It On Again, and the TV premiere of Bring It On: In It To Win It.

TV Land scored huge gains among its target demo of Adults 25-54 as well as its core audience of Adults 40-54 for the month of November (10/29/07-11/25/07). The success of the network's regularly scheduled Friday Night Movie Block, a M*A*S*H Mail Call Marathon, the original special Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons and the network's "Overstuffed Thanksgiving Weekend" led the network to score double-digit gains in rating and delivery among A25-54 and total viewers over last year. November was also the most-watched month among A25-54 for the year.
TV Land's November prime time line-up scored a 0.4 rating, 406,000 viewers, up +33% in rating and +24% in viewers among A25-54. Among total viewers in primetime, TV Land delivered nearly 944,000 total viewers, up +15% over last year. In total programming day, TV Land averaged a 0.3 rating and 295,000 viewers among A25-54 for the month, representing a +50% gain in rating and a +19% climb in viewers versus November 2006. It was also the most-watched month among A25-54 in total day this year. Additionally, the network attracted an average of 633,000 viewers for the total programming day, an increase of +13% over November 2006. Among its core audience, Adults 40-54, TV Land averaged a 0.6 rating, 317,000 viewers in prime time, up +50% in rating and +39% in viewers versus last year. In total programming day, the network posted a 0.4 rating, 227,000 viewers, up +33% in rating and +26% in viewers.
Click HERE for the full highlights.

Day 24: WGA's Strike; Hallmark Channel Acquires 7th Heaven, Cheers, I Love Lucy; Animated Dennis the Menace to DVD!

It is day 24 now of the writers' strike. It is still early in the day, but no news yet on an agreement. We do have some news. Talk show host Carson Daly has crossed the picket line. Which means his show, NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, will soon be back with new episodes. The half-hour talk show airs on NBC late nights at 1:35am. Unlike other talk show hosts like Kimmel, Letterman and Leno, Daly is not a member of the WGA, so it was easier for him to cross. The WGA is however disappointed. No word yet when we will see new episodes, but I'm betting starting next week.

Hallmark Channel has just completed a major deal to acquire several award- winning series, including the critically acclaimed 7th Heaven, the ever popular Cheers and classic baby boomer favorite, I Love Lucy, along with additional episodes of Matlock and Touched By An Angel from CBS Television Distribution. The deal also includes rights to 12 off-net holiday movies, including Finding John Christmas, Town Without a Christmas and When Angels Come to Town.
7th Heaven is the first show that will be ready to launch on Hallmark Channel as early as January of 2008 with Cheers having the next window later in 2008 and I Love Lucy in January of 2009. Matlock has been renewed through 2011, with a similar extension for Touched By an Angel.
Now what does this mean for ABC Family still airing 7th Heaven? That fate will be revealed on tomorrow's blog as we announce ABC Family January. Come on back for that...it will include a new show for ABC Family!
As for Cheers and I Love Lucy, Hallmark says it is not an exclusive cable deal, so TV Land could still run it, but Cheers is expiring from TV Land in September 2008 and I Love Lucy expires on TV Land in December 2008, which makes me think TV Land will not renew both series and Hallmark will just air it. That is still awhile away, so we will find out more details soon. I bet Cheers will launch next fall on Hallmark. Anyway, stay tuned for further details! We hope to have the January line-up soon. For now click HERE to view the press release and to discuss this big news!

Finally, a personal favorite of mine, the '80s animated series Dennis the Menace is finally coming to DVD this March! Dennis The Menace: Trouble, Trouble Everywhere debuts on DVD March 18, 2008 from Fox Home Entertainment.
In Dennis The Menace: Trouble, Trouble Everywhere entire nations can't run and hide. If they did, they surely would when lovable troublemaker Dennis Mitchell pays a visit! Like most families, the Mitchells love taking vacations, but wherever they go, young Dennis seems to wind up in the center of numerous hilarious catastrophes. Whether he’s chasing crooks in Venice or kangaroos in Sydney, outrunning Mayans in South America, or bulls in Spain – or even proving that erupting volcanoes in Hawaii wreak less havoc than he does, Dennis is always drawn to find trouble, wherever it is!
I wish it was a full set with full episodes and not just a best of set. I hope this sells well so we can get all of them on DVD in the full form. Episodes on this set are: "Dennis in Venice," "Mayan Mayhem," "The Big Candied Apple," "A Royal Pain," "Dennis and the Kangaroo Cavalry," "Dennis Plasters Pamplona," and "Black and Blue Hawaii."
To read more about this and to discuss this, click HERE!

Day 23: WGA's Strike; USA Network Acquires Becker, Drops Coach; More on ION's Drew Carey Show Deal

It is now day 23 of the strike and still no announcements on whether the strike is over or not. Hopefully soon. But we have some network news. NBC has picked up the freshman dramas Chuck (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET) and Life (Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) for nine more episodes -- for a full 22 episode season, of course all depending on the strike. NBC will most likely cancel dramas Journeyman and Bionic Woman, so whatever has been shot, looks to be it so far.
In order to boost Fridays a bit, Fox will switch timeslots for reality shows The Next Great American Band and Don't Forget the Lyrics! starting December 7. Band has done terrible at 8pm and Lyrics! has done much better, so let's see if this will benedit both shows.

USA Network has acquired the Ted Danson sitcom Becker for morning play starting in January. To introduce the show to the USA Network line-up, Becker will have two mini morning marathons on Wednesday, January 2 from 6am-12pm and Thursday, January 3 from 6am-12pm. The show will be airing Monday-Friday at 8am and 8:30am thereafter starting January 7, so JAG will move from 7-9am to 6-8am. '90s sitcom Coach will be off the line-up as a result. The show could be back soon, but they haven't lost the rights it seems. As for Becker, it looks like Superstation WGN will also continue to run it late nights. Becker will also air as late night fillers or general fillers like Coach does.

ION Television formally announced today that it has obtained from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution the rights to air the beloved, long-running sitcom, The Drew Carey Show. ION Television will launch the Emmy-nominated series with a New Year's Eve marathon from 7:00-11:00 pm (ET), and then add it to the network's weeknight primetime lineup New Year's Day with airings Mondays through Thursdays at 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm (ET). That will mean Who's the Boss?, the current time slot holder at 9:00 and 9:30 will either be moved or off the line-up. We will know when the January schedule is released and will let you know. We still haven't forgotten our promise to deliver the ION December holiday highlights. We are just waiting word on a few days, but it doesn't look to be a big deal like last year when we got shows like holiday episodes of McHale's Navy, Kate & Allie, and others. Stay tuned for that and more on Drew!

Day 22: WGA's Strike; Nick at Nite December Highlights; Sitcom Reminders for Tonight

Well it is day 22 is the writers' strike and this could be the last day! Both sides went back into the bargaining table and let's hope they work things out. The buzz is they have worked out a deal! We will know soon I guess. For now, check out the rumor mill. And at TV Guide.

Nick at Nite this December will give us a lot of Christmas episodes. Spend the 11 p.m. hour each day the week of Dec. 3 with classic Christmas episodes! Home Improvement holiday episodes air all-week at 11pm. 11:30pm will be Fresh Prince on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday, another Fresh Prince on Wednesday, another Roseanne on Thursday and Cosby Show on Friday!
Then on Sunday, December 16, Nick at Nite gives a four hour event with holiday episodes of Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince, Cosby Show and Roseanne from 9pm-1am.
Then the week of Dec. 17 it is more 11pm hour time! Spend the 11 p.m. hour each day the week of Dec. 17 with classic Christmas episodes! Roseanne holiday episodes air all-week at 11pm. 11:30pm will be Home Improvement on Monday, Fresh Prince on Tuesday, Cosby Show on Wednesday, another Fresh Prince on Thursday and another Home Improvement on Friday!
And if that is not all, Nick at Nite will give us one last chance to watch holiday episodes on Christmas night from 9pm-12am of their best shows...Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince and Cosby Show.
Finally, spend New Year's Eve with Nickelodeon, as Nick at Nite hands over the night to them. Tune in and catch some of your favorite Nick movies and specials as they count down the clock, all the way to midnight!
Click HERE for more details and to discuss this. Keep checking back there for constant updates.

Don't forget to catch the season premiere of sitcom Notes from the Underbelly at 9:30 ET/PT after an all-new Samantha Who at 9/8 central at a new time following part one of the season finale of Dancing with the Stars!
The CW and CBS will also have sitcoms tonight starting at 8/7 central, but CBS's Big Bang Theory and Rules of Engagement will be encores until the strike is resolved.

Week 9: How the Sitcoms Did

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday we don't have final numbers for you yet. So all we will do this week is How the Sitcoms Did. Everything will be back to normal next week.

Week 9 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

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

Analysis: N/A.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of November 12-18)

• Aliens in America (The CW) - A repeat did just 1.13 million, but up from the previous two weeks, which was under 1 million (850,00 viewers and 910k).
• The Simpsons (Fox) - 10.56 million and a 5.3 18-49 rating...up from previous week...NFL overrun always helps it.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - Beat previous week's 7.6 million by a lot and grew to 9.23 million this week! The old timer showing some life!
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 10.55 million tuned in, up from previous week and matched previous week's 5.4 18-49 rating!
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 8.12 million, up from previous two week's 7.77 million and 7.08 million.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 8.06 million tuned in, down from the previous week.
  
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 7.51 million tuned in for a repeat, as this sitcom will be in repeats now until the strike is over.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 13.91 million this week, down from previous week's 14.12 million.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 11.48 million, up from the previous week's 10.46 million....this week it will be its last episode until the strike is over
  
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - 14.38 million and a 4.6/10 18-49 for week six, up from previous week and a series high in 18-49...impressive!
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, Aliens in America, Girlfriends, The Game. Not doing that well at all. Aliens did a terrible 1.37 million, down from previous week, The Game did 2.35 million this week, down from previous week but still led the block.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Cavemen (ABC) - Preempted for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, will not be on the schedule until at the earliest in January now.
  
• Carpoolers (ABC) - Preempted for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, will not be on the schedule until at the earliest in January now.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Back to You (Fox) - Preliminary numbers for a repeat show 5.35 million and a 1.5/5 18-49 rating.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - Preliminary numbers show 4.67 million for a repeat...two new episodes air this coming week.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - Preempted for Thanksgiving.
• 30 Rock (NBC) - Preempted for Thanksgiving.
  
• The Office (NBC) - An encore episode aired at 10:30 following a movie, did just 3.36 million in preliminary numbers, a big drop from the last half-hour of the movie...but NBC should have made the movie 3 hours.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - Preempted for Thanksgiving.

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms

• 30 Rock (NBC) - A special Saturday encore episode aired at 10:30 following a movie, did just 4.6 million, a big drop from the last half-hour of the movie...but NBC should have made the movie 3 hours...and it was the same movie that aired Thursday...odd.

Airing tonight (Sunday) is a repeat of Aliens in America on The CW at 7:30, and Fox's animated comedies starting at 8:00!

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory Repeat) or just plain old terrible (Aliens in America, Everybody Hates Chris).

Mini-DVD Review: Christmas Time in South Park; Solomon's Weekly Rant: Cartoons on Thanksgiving on Nick at Nite; NFL Thanksgiving Games

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for mini-DVD reviews and Solomon's Weekly Rant! First up, are the mini-DVD reviews. Today we take a look at Comedy Central/Paramount's Christmas Time in South Park. South Park of course is the popular cable animated series that is full of laughs for all ages. Join Cartman and the gang for all the holiday fun. Get your hats & coats on! See skees53's mini-DVD review of Christmas Time in South Park:

Christmas Time in South Park (Comedy Central DVD, $19.99) lets us all celebrate the holidays with our favorite foul-mouthed children from South Park, Colorado. The single disc release brings seven Christmas themed episodes of the Comedy Central hit series together in one compilation. Some may be confused and think that this has already been released on DVD, but it hasn't--there was a 2000 release called Christmas in South Park which was released by Warner Brothers that contained only three episodes, only one of which carried over onto this DVD. Many great Christmas classics are included on this DVD. Kyle thinks he is going crazy when a piece of crap (literally) starts talking to him in "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo." The kids all decide to spend Christmas with Cartman's family when a family friend--Charles Manson--decides to break out of prison with Cartman's uncle in "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" Mr. Hankey returns in "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics." Mr. Hankey is too busy with his wife and three... nuggets... in "A Very Crappy Christmas," so it is up to the boys to return the Christmas spirit to South Park. Cartman has been naughty so he decides to help the citizens of Iraq, with the help of Jesus and Mr. Hankey, in "Red Sleigh Down." Kyle's brother Ike is going back to Canada after his birth parents come to take him back, but how will the boys react when they find out that the town is spending money to bring Ike back instead of buying Christmas gifts? Find out in "It's Christmas in Canada." Finally, Stan helps the Woodland Critters build a manger in "Woodland Critter Christmas," but it all backfires in the typical South Park fashion.
The DVD doesn't come in the standard type case that you would expect for a single disc release, but instead comes in packaging that looks like one of those Little Golden Books that we all used to read as a child. It almost makes the set appear to be a nice thing that you can watch with the whole family, but don't be fooled. After all, it IS South Park. The packaging includes a description and the original airdate of each and every episode and also includes a memorable quote from each episode. The video and audio quality of the episodes tends to vary from episode to episode, mostly because these episodes are taken from all of the first eight seasons, but in general there are no real issues to be concerned with. The episodes all appear to be unedited, running at their original 22 minutes each.
The DVD has nothing to offer as far as special features are concerned, and every single one of these episodes can be found in one of the previous season releases of South Park. So, this DVD may not be particularly impressive to the average South Park fan, but for those that must own everything related to South Park or those that simply love Christmas episodes are certain to enjoy the DVD. This isn't a bad DVD at all, but it would have been nice if they could have thrown in some holiday related special features to spice up the set a little bit. A release like this really shouldn't be a plain episodes only release, especially when every episode on it has already been released on DVD at least once. But if you can pick this set up at a reasonable price (under $10 or so), then you'd probably be happy with the set and be glad to have it. Head on up to South Park and look for the bargains!
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
South Park TV.com Page


Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, November 24, 2007
"Cartoons on Thanksgiving on Nick at Nite; NFL Thanksgiving Games Being Treated Like the Super Bowl"
By Solomon Davis

I came home around 11:10pm on Thanksgiving night to watch some sitcoms like George Lopez and Fresh Prince and found out that Nick at Nite decided to air Rugrats movies after 11pm?? How many children would be up watching cartoons after 11pm? And to make things worse, at midnight there was a filler airing of SpongeBob which made me think it was 9am in the morning. Do the people at Nick at Nite think parents let their kids stay up later at night because there is no school the day after Thanksgiving? There are no children up watching cartoons after midnight and Nick at Nite felt the need to remove all the regularly schedule sitcoms to entertain kids after 9pm to 12:30am which is the dumbest programming decision by Nick at Nite in 2007. Maybe Nick at Nite can air Christmas cartoon specials like Jimmy Neutron from 1am to 6am on Christmas Eve since there are no kids sleeping on Christmas Eve.

NFL games on Thanksgiving Day are still a regular season game so why do fans have to watch musical performances at halftime like it is Super Bowl Sunday? The guys in the studio can easily just talk about what happened during the first half of the game and preview the upcoming NFL games on Sunday. But to extend halftime just so someone can get on stage and sing is just plain stupid. It's bad enough we have to stomach these pointless musical performances like Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake during halftime of the Super Bowl, so can we at least have a regular halftime show on Thanksgiving day?


My Weird TV Moments of the Week:
Sunday, November 18, 2007: On Sunday Night Football, the Buffalo Bills kicked a field goal to cut the New England Patriots lead to 42-10 in the 4th quarter and the coach of the Bills started clapping? Think they were going to come back?
Monday, November 19, 2007: Good Morning America - On "Melody's Money Minute," her holiday shopping tips was, "use CASH instead of CREDIT." She gets paid to tell GMA viewers that OBVIOUS TIP? HA!

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.

Drew Carey Show Coming to ION Television, December Monthly Preview

Many of you have seen the promos already that The Drew Carey Show is coming to ION Television on New Year's Eve! They will start the sitcom with a New Year's Eve marathon on Monday, December 31. The show will then join the line-up thereafter. We don't have complete details yet, but we should very soon...so check back soon!
And yes, I know we have not posted the ION December highlights yet. There seems to be no schedule changes except Alice getting a full hour at 7-8pm (replacing Designing Women at 7) starting Dec. 3 and Kung Fu is returning and airing Saturdays at 6PM starting Dec. 15, replacing the NFL Game of the Week episodes. They also plan to give us one holiday airing at least each night basically all month long, from holiday movies to holiday episodes of Amen, Alice, Who's the Boss?, and Mama's Family. We'll post the line-up very soon...let's hope they alter it a bit to have shows not on the lineup as well, like holiday episodes of Perfect Strangers, Growing Pains, and others. Stay tuned!
In addition to Alice returning on Monday at 7:30, Firebrand TV is finally launching Mon-Thurs at 11pm starting Monday.

OK, go back to your Black Friday sales!

Happy Thanksgiving; Network Holiday Specials

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We thank you for visiting us on this special day. We also are very thankful that you all continue to visit every single day and making this blog a huge success. We get thousands of visitors everyday (even on weekends). We thank you for the growth each year!
Retro Television Network also thanks you and they have sent us a nice 10-second bumper wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving! Click HERE to view it!

Before we let you go back to your families...let's prepare for the Christmas holiday season! It is never too early to prepare. I have put together a holiday specials list that we all like to watch every year like Frosty the Snowman and A Charlie Brown Christmas and we even get some new specials this year like Shrek the Halls. These are just actual holiday related specials and movies, not movies or specials airing during the holiday season.

ABC
Tuesday, Nov. 27, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 8-9pm: Shrek the Halls (NEW!) and Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Friday, Nov. 30, 8-10pm: ABC Friday Movie of the Week: The Polar Express
Monday, Dec. 3 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 8-9pm: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Saturdays, Dec. 8, 8-10pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Monday, Dec. 10, 8-9pm: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
Tuesday, Dec. 11, 8-9pm: Shrek the Halls and Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too
Saturday, Dec. 15, 8-10pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Surviving Christmas
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 10-11pm: A Christmas Celebration at Ford's Theatre
Sunday, Dec. 23, 7-8pm: Elmo's Christmas Countdown (NEW!)
Sunday, Dec. 23, 9-11pm: ABC Sunday Movie of the Week: The Santa Clause 2
Monday, Dec. 24, 8-9pm: Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (expanded edition)

CBS:
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 8-9pm: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Friday, Dec. 7, 8-9pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty
Returns
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 8-9pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty
Returns
Friday, Dec. 21, 8-9pm: 9th Annual Home for the Holidays with Sheryl Crow
Saturday, Dec. 22, 8-10pm: CBS Saturday Movie: Elf

NBC:
Thursday, Nov. 22, 2-4pm: Miracle on 34th Street
Friday, Nov. 23, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: Family Man
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 8-9pm: Christmas in Rockefeller Center
Saturday, Dec. 1, 8-9pm: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Thursday, Dec. 13, 9:30-11pm: Saturday Night Live: Christmas Special
Friday, Dec. 14, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life
Monday, Dec. 24, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life

The CW:
Sunday, Dec. 2, 6-7pm: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Sunday, Dec. 23, 8-9pm: The Story of Santa Claus

Fox has not announced anything, if they even are planning any specials and movies. We'll let you know. And also if there are any additions to the other networks.

Day 17: WGA's Strike; RTN Coming to Seattle; TV Land's 50 Greatest Icons Scores; Thanksgiving Marathons

It is now day 17 of the writers' strike. Nothing really new to report. Come back tomorrow for some network schedule notes.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that it will partner with COX Television to bring RTN programming to Seattle, the nation's 14th largest television market. The new affiliate will launch in January on a digital stream of KIRO-TV, Seattle's CBS affiliate. Viewers will love seeing Don Adams and Barbara Feldon in Get Smart, prior to next summer's hit movie starring Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, and will enjoy escaping to Waikiki Beach each evening as they watch Hawaii 5-0 and Magnum P.I. In addition, the weekends are a cavalcade of hit shows, including It Takes a Thief, Gunsmoke, A-Team, Knight Rider, Emergency, Wild, Wild West and many more. Mission: Impossible and Happy Days are also slated to come.

The 50 Greatest TV Icons was a huge hit for TV Land with viewers for its premiere on Friday, November 16, scoring double-digit gains in rating and delivery among its target A25-54 audience and triple-digit ratings and delivery gains among its core audience A40-54. The two-hour special an editorial/on-air collaboration with Entertainment Weekly presented 50 timeless performers from the history of television like Johnny Carson, Lucille Ball and Jerry Seinfeld who have all made their indelible mark in TV history.
According to Nielsen Media Research, The 50 Greatest TV Icons posted a 0.5 rating (500,000 viewers) among A25-54, up +67% in rating and +67% in delivery over last year. Among its core audience, Adults 40-54, TV Land scored triple-digit gains in rating and delivery, averaging a 0.8 rating (432,000 viewers), up +100% in rating and +100% in delivery. The special scored triple digit gains among total viewers over last year, averaging nearly 1.1 million total viewers, a rise of +112% over from a year ago.

Finally, we leave you today with some Thanksgiving marathons for tomorrow and this weekend. Before and after you eat with your family tomorrow, you could spend some time watching some marathons together! We gave you details on TV Land's Overstuffed Thanksgiving marathon which has I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, among others. If you're in L.A. don't forget KTLA's 60th Anniversary celebration this weekend. ION will have its Thanksgiving marathon tonight with Mama's Family from 7p-11p!
TBS will share marathons of Saved by the Bell from 7a-10a, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 10a-4p and House of Payne from 4p-9p. On Fresh Prince, a holiday visit from Will's taskmaster mother puts the kibosh on conspicuous consumption and puts the kids to work preparing Thanksgiving dinner.
TNT goes Charmed this Thanksgiving with a marathon of the hit drama from 8am-6pm.
FX will give us movies on Thanksgiving, but the day after we get a marathon of Malcolm in the Middle! A 22-episode marathon begins with a 2000 episode in which Malcolm's cushy babysitting job provides relief from the trailer his family's using while their house is being fumigated. Meanwhile, the school's master key leads Francis to a corpse, for which he provides a proper send-off. Airs 7am-5:30pm.
Nickelodeon will have days worth of marathons, including some classics! I urge you to click HERE for the schedule.
GSN will give us two marathons. A Family Feud marathon on Turkey Day from 9am-7pm and a Viewer's Choice Marathon on Friday. The latter sounds VERY good and you all should click HERE to see what I mean!!
WGN will go with laughs on the day after Thanksgiving with America's Funniest Home Videos from 9am-8pm.
USA Network will have a marathon battle between Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU each airing after one another starting 6am Thursday and ending 9pm Friday!
Comedy Central will give us Drawn Together in the late night after our feast from 11pm-3am. Eight episodes of the animated comedy are featured.
G4 will showcase Jamie Kennedy Experiment from 9am-8pm. And on Friday Ninja Warrior from 10am-8pm.
Sci-Fi Channel will bring us episodes from the reality series Ghost Hunters investigating accounts of strange phenomena are featured. First up at 8am "Whispers and Voices" has the team probing two Massachusetts locales. Star Trek: Enterprise airs the day after.
Discovery Channel will have a Dirty Jobs marathon on Turkey Day from 9am-9pm.
Bravo will give a block of the delicious reality show Top Chef that features 10 Season 3 episodes from 8a-6p. It's a dessert storm in the first hour when the chefs are challenged to create a sublime pie crust, after which they must cook up tasty fare for personalities of the Telemundo television network.
TLC gives us two shows. Little People, Big World on Thursday from 9a-3a and What Not to Wear from 9p-3a on Friday.
News channel CNN will give us CNN: SIU episodes from 1p-6a with a break at 5p for a special on Larry King's 50 Years.
Cartoon Network will give us Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends all-day starting at 7am through 7pm, then we will have an all-new special Tom & Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale.
A&E will give us marathons of Cold Case Files and First 48 on Thanksgiving and a CSI: Miami marathon the day after from 8am-4am.
BET gives us a 10-episode block of the reality series following singer Keyshia Cole from 9a-2p on Turkey Day and Baldwin Hills on Friday from 1p-6p.
Regional sports network YES will have a Yankeeography marathon from 12pm-12am featuring profiles on stars such as Catfish Hunter, Tino Martinez, Billy Martin, and Reggie Jackson.
I think that covers the majority of them.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving and don't forget to check back with us each day this Thanksgiving weekend for some news. We don't take any days off!

Day 16: WGA's Writers' Strike; RTN Adds Atlanta Station, RTN Honors Dick Wilson; Remembering Sigrid Valdis

It is now day 16 of the writers' strike. We are getting anxious to Monday when they go back to the negotiations table. With episodes running out of the current scripted shows, fans are sad and upset. But remember we have two current shows returning for second seasons this week. October Road returns this Thursday after Grey's Anatomy for a special preview timeslot before airing Mondays at 10 starting next Monday. Now since scripted programming will be a bit scarce and if you have never watched the show, then SOAPnet will give us a marathon of all six episodes plus this season's season premiere on Saturday from 12-7pm. Try to watch...it is good entertainment. Also, as we mentioned before, ABC will return Notes from the Underbelly also next Monday at 9:30pm. So we do have some scripted programming life! Even so, let's hope the strike can end next week.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that it will partner with COX Television to bring RTN programming to Atlanta, the nation's 8th largest television market. The new affiliate will launch on a digital stream of WSB-TV in January. WSB-TV is COX Television's flagship station that serves as the ABC affiliate in Atlanta. The station, which is the oldest television station in Georgia, began broadcasting in 1948 and is one of the premier ABC affiliates in the nation.
Viewers in Atlanta will soon enjoy RTN's 'Primetime All The Time' line-up, including Matlock, Hawaii 5-0, Magnum P.I., Mission: Impossible, Love American Style, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Love, American Style.
Yesterday we gave you the sad news that Dick Wilson had passed away. Today, RTN honored the passing of "Mr. Whipple" in a retromercial. We have gotten the clip from RTN and will share it with you. So here is a taste of RTN, if you don't have a RTN station yet. Click HERE to see RTN's retromercial of Dick "Mr. Whipple" Wilson.

Sigrid Valdis, who played Col. Klink's sexy blond secretary on Hogan's Heroes and married the show's star, Bob Crane, has died. Valdis died of lung cancer Oct. 14 at her daughter Ana Sarmiento's home in Anaheim, but was just recently announced. Valdis played Hilda for five seasons on Hogan's Heroes, the 1965-71 CBS situation comedy about Allied prisoners in a World War II German POW camp. She and Crane were married on the TV show's set in 1970. Crane was found bludgeoned to death in a Scottsdale, Ariz., apartment in 1978. You can catch Hogan's Heroes on TV Land starting next June. She didn't have many other credits, but she did guest star on Wild Wild West and Kraft Suspense Theatre. Ms. Valdis will be missed by her fans. She was 72.

Day 15: WGA's Writers' Strike; Alice Returns to ION Television; Remembering Dick Wilson

We are now in day 15 (week 3) of the writers' strike. We have some potential good news, though! Late last week we got word that the writers plan to go back to the negotiations table with studios on Nov. 26. So, hopefully this is the last week of the strike and by next week we get a settlement. If we get a settlement sometime next week, maybe we can start production again on TV shows before the holidays even. If not, for sure in early January. We might get a lot of repeats in January, but Feb-May will be essentially all-new episodes with very little repeats. This all depends what happens next Monday! Let's pray and hope they settle it!
ABC has announced that they have picked-up the back nine episodes of the addictive new drama Dirty Sexy Money. This is the first show to be picked-up for a full season during the strike. As of now 11 of the original 13 episodes have been completed, so when the strike ends, they will start working on the 11 episodes they need to for the season.
ABC is moving the holiday classic Santa Claus is Comin' to Town to Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 8pm now. It was slated for Tues., Dec. 4 at 8, but CBS will now program Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer there. So as a result, Pushing Daisies is pre-empted on Wed., Dec. 5. And a holiday encore of AFV, which was scheduled Tues., Dec. 4 at 9pm will move to 8pm. AFV will also air an encore on Dec. 18 at 9pm. Airing at 9pm and 9:30pm on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 will be encores of According to Jim.
More network news: The CW's drama One Tree Hill returns for season five with a special two-hour premiere on Tuesday, January 8 from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET. Subsequent episodes will take over the 9:00 p.m. ET timeslot beginning Tuesday, January 15, following encore presentations of Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants. Reaper will return to the schedule with original episodes later in the season.
NBC and Donald Trump return to New York City with The Celebrity Apprentice, with an all-star celebrity lineup of candidates in its seventh season. The Celebrity Apprentice with host Donald Trump begins its latest edition on Thursday, January 3 (9:00PM ET). Participating are Tracy Adkins, Stephen Baldwin, Nadia Comaneci, Tiffany Fallon, Jennie Finch, Nely Galan, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Omarosa, Piers Morgan, Tito Oritz, Vincent Pastore and Gene Simmons. I wonder what will happen to this show if the strike ends? NBC for sure would want The Office to air instead...

First we announced Amen is returning to ION Television (which starts tonight at 6p!), now we got word late last week that '70s sitcom Alice is also returning! Alice will air Mon-Thurs at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT starting next week (Monday, Nov. 26), replacing one of the Designing Women episodes (that show will still air in the 7 p.m. half-hour). And the good news for fans who watched Alice from April-June is that they will start from where they left off! So, episode 62 "Sweet Charity" will air first. So we won't have to start all over again! For those who felt like telling ION "kiss my grits" at the end of June, let's take that back and watch the show starting next week!
I should post the full December highlights shortly, so come on back either today or tomorrow for that.

Long-time Charmin bath tissue pitchman Dick Wilson -- known to millions as Mr. Whipple -- died today at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. Wilson portrayed grocer Mr. Whipple and made "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" a household phrase. Wilson appeared as Mr. Whipple in more than 500 spots for Charmin from 1964 through 1985. After a 14-year hiatus, Wilson reprised the role in 1999 to introduce a new version of Charmin. In 2001, Procter & Gamble, maker of Charmin, presented Wilson with a lifetime achievement award to commemorate his contribution to the brand.
Wilson's television credits include Captain Gruber on Hogan's Heroes, Assistant Mayor Dino Boroni on McHale's Navy, a popular recurring character on Bewitched as a drunk, and other roles in Alice, The Bob Newhart Show, Adam-12, Love American Style, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, Gidget, My Favorite Martian, Perry Mason, The Hero, That Girl, Don Rickles Show, The Rifleman, Fantasy Island, Quincy M.E., The Rockford Files, Arrest & Trial, Petticoat Junction, Maude, The Partridge Family on the Bewitched spin-off Tabitha, and many more.
Wilson is survived by his wife Meg, three children (which includes Perfect Strangers co-star Melanie Wilson) and three grandchildren -- all located in the Los Angeles area. He will be missed. I always loved him as the drunk on Bewitched. Mr. Wilson was 91.
Share your thoughts and memories of Dick Wilson HERE.

Week 8 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 8 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 8.5/13.3; ABC: 8.3/13.0; Fox: 5.3/8.0; NBC: 5.1/7.9; The CW: 2.1/3.1; MNT: 0.8/1.2.
Total Viewers: CBS: 13.31 million; ABC: 12.52 million; Fox: 8.49 million; NBC: 8.1 million; The CW: 3.14 million; MNT: 1.23 million.
Adults 18-49: ABC: 3.9/10.0; CBS: 3.9/10.0; NBC: 3.3/8.5; Fox: 3.2/8.1; The CW: 1.4/3.6; MNT: 0.5/1.3.

Analysis: Week 8 is nearly done...and we might not know who will win the week once again until after tonight! Last week ABC won the top spot in every category, with CBS a close second in HH and viewers. In 18-49, Fox was second, nipping CBS, which was in 3rd. NBC was fourth in all categories and Fox was in 3rd in HH and viewers. Through the first four days of this week, CBS a slight lead in all categories in week 8 with ABC a close second, Fox and NBC are way back, with Fox with the slight edge.
Monday it was all ABC thanks to Dancing with the Stars. A 92 minute performance show did an impressive 21.81 million and a 5.2/13 in 18-49, up a bit from the previous week, that lead into new sitcom Samantha Who doing 13.7 million (up from previous week) and a 4.3/10 18-49 rating. The Bachelor followed with 8.96 million, down a bit from the previous week, but this was a Women Tell All special...finale is this coming week. Next up was CBS with its comedies and CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory did 9.32 million, on par with the previous week and yet again it built on How I Met Your Mother's ratings of 8.42 million, almost a million increase...impressive for Big Bang, but due to the strike that was its last episode that they made, so repeats now. Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement followed with decent numbers (14.12 and 11.46 million). Men was over 14 million for the first time in awhile, and over 11 million for Rules. CSI: Miami followed with 15.46 million, up well over a million from previous. NBC was in third, lead by Heroes at 11.16 million and a 5.2 18-49, below its usual average once again...but it was up from previous week by a lot. Chuck opened the night with 7.56 million, down just a bit from previous week. Journeyman closed the night with 6.09 million, actually was up a million from previous week. Fox kicked off with the fall finale of Prison Break at 7.18 million, down from previous week and K-Ville returned for some reason and did bad once again with 4.72 million...how about sticking with Hang Time, Anthony Anderson? The CW aired their Monday sitcoms, with Aliens in America doing just 1.99 million, up a bit from the previous week's series low, and The Game finally went up and did 2.55 million, the best of the block.
Tuesday, it was a three network race, with Fox on top. CBS and ABC were also right behind. Fox's huge hit House did 16.95 million and a 7.0 18-49 rating (both down from previous week) and Bones started the night off with a solid 9.12 million, down a bit from previous week. The always reliable NCIS opened the night off for CBS with 17.39 million, down from previous week which was aa series high. The Unit followed with 11.04 million, on par from previous week, and Cane did 7.29 million, down from previous week. ABC's sitcom hour of Cavemen/Carpoolers did poor numbers for the second week in a row, doing just 4.58 and 5.05 million, Dancing with the Stars: The Results followed with 17.59 million saying goodbye to Cameron Mathison...why not Marie Osmond? Boston Legal followed and did a solid 11.36 million, a season high? NBC was fourth with another two-hour The Biggest Loser from 8-10 doing 8.16 million, followed by Law & Order: SVU at 12.48 million, both up from previous week a bit. The CW had Beauty & the Geek and Reaper do 2.48 and 2.46 million.
Wednesday it was CBS on top. CBS saw Kid Nation go up a bit to 7.42 million, and veteran dramas Criminal Minds and CSI: NY did well and were consistent doing 15.73 (up from previous week...season high maybe) and 13.13 million (up from previous week). ABC's trio of dramas returned after a week off for the CMA Awards, with Pushing Daisies doing 8.83 million, followed by Private Practice doing 11.48 million, and Dirty Sexy Money doing 7.9 million...the week off might have hurt these, but still solid. NBC and Fox again were battling for third, as Fox saw Back to You, 'Til Death and Kitchen Nightmares, all go up from previous week and did 7.31, 7.34, and 6.95 million each. NBC opened the night with Phenomenon doing 6.1 million (same as previous week), Bionic Woman fell to 6.29 million, as the fall in every episode continues. At 10pm NBC's Life did 6.9 million, up a bit from previous week for the second straight week. The CW had Top Model at a dominant 5.34 million (and second in the 8pm hour in 18-49 with a 2.6 rating!), while Gossip Girl did 2.95 million.
Thursday saw CBS and ABC duke it out again. CBS opened with Survivor: China at 14.68 million, down a tad from the previous week. CSI followed with 21.37 million, down from previous week, and Without a Trace did 14.41 million, down from previous week obviously (cross-over episode was last week). ABC opened the night with Ugly Betty doing a solid 10.67 million, on par from previous week. Grey's Anatomy followed with 19.6 million, up a bit from previous week and was number one in 18-49 with a 8.2/19 18-49 rating...should be good for #1 for the week. A special Thursday Women's Murder Club followed with a last place finish of 8.38 million...better than Big Shots, but it should have done better. Again Fox and NBC battled for third with NBC's comedies, My Name is Earl opened the night with 8.01 million, up from previous week, 30 Rock did 6.45 million, down from previous week. The Office followed with 8.8 million, up from previous week and this was the last episode they have made, so no more new episodes because of the strike. Scrubs has dropped every week since it returned, and this week was no different doing just 5.93 million. ER closed the night with 9.6 million, up from previous week. Fox's 5th Grader did a solid at 9.63 million (up from previous week)and Don't Forget the Lyrics followed with 6.03 million, down from previous week. Smallville on The CW did 4.51 million, followed by Supernatural at 2.88 million.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but NBC, CBS and ABC battled on Friday. NBC had a solid outing for Deal or No Deal at 8pm for a first place finish. CBS was also solid at 8pm for Ghost Whisperer. 10pm's NUMB3RS on CBS was #1 for the hour and the night and ABC was #1 at 9pm with Women's Murder Club.
Saturday saw CBS's crime repeats win the night again and Fox's crime reality won again in 18-49. ABC Sunday is preempted tonight for the American Music Awards, so it should lower than the usual Sunday line-up. CBS will do decent while NBC will do solid business for the NFL game, possibly #1 for the night. Fox's animated comedies will do well in young adults.
As for the week, CBS will likely win in HH and viewers, ABC will be second, with a close finish for 18-49...it could be ABC, CBS, or even NBC if the game does very well. Fox and NBC will battle for the distant third spot in HH/viewers, with NBC probably winning thanks to the NFL. More sweeps action this week! Enjoy your favorite shows as long as you can, you never know how long the strike will last.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of November 5-11)

• Aliens in America (The CW) - A repeat did just 850,00 viewers, down from previous week's 910k.
• The Simpsons (Fox) - 10.53 million and a 5.1 18-49 rating...not bad at all, down from previous week's Halloween show, but that was expected.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - Lost 3 million from the lead-in and did 7.6 million...this show should be done soon.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 10.39 million tuned in for the second part of a two-part episode, on par with previous week's first part which did 10.46 million. 5.4 18-49 rating!
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 7.77 million...up from previous week's 7.08 million.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 8.42 million tuned in, down from the previous week. This coming week will be the last episode because of the strike.
  
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 9.32 million tuned in, on par from previous week and it still is building on the lead-in every single week...however this was the last episode because of the strike...repeats now.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 14.12 million this week, up from previous week.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 11.46 million, up from the previous week's 10.77 million.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - 13.7 million and a 4.3/10 18-49 for week five, up from previous week's 12.86 million.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, Aliens in America, Girlfriends, The Game. Not doing that well at all. Aliens did a terrible 1.99 million, but up from previous week's series low, The Game did 2.55 million this week, up from previous week and led the block.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Cavemen (ABC) - Just 4.58 million...now the show won't air for awhile because of Holiday specials. January here we come, probably!
  
• Carpoolers (ABC) - Just 5.05 million ... and also it won't be seen until January like the lead-in, see above.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Back to You (Fox) - 7.31 million tuned in for a new episode, up from previous week, now Fox will air a repeat next week...2 more episodes left, but Fox hasn't scheduled them yet (probably not until January). Blame it on the strike.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - Built on the lead-in in every category again, 7.35 million tuned in. Repeat next week, then the following two all-new episodes!
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 8.01 million tuned in, up from the previous week's 7.66 million.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - 6.45 million...down from previous week's 6.6 million.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 8.8 million tuned in, up from the previous week...and this one is the last episode because of the strike.
• Scrubs (NBC) - 5.93 million tuned in ... has dropped every week so far.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) is a repeat of Aliens in America on The CW at 7:30, and Fox's animated comedies starting at 8:00!

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, The Office, My Name is Earl, Big Bang Theory, and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock) or just plain old terrible (Cavemen, Carpoolers).

Mini-DVD Review: Captain N and the New Super Mario World; Solomon's Weekly Rant

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for mini-DVD reviews and Solomon's Weekly Rant! First up, are the mini-DVD reviews. Today week we take a look at Shout! Factory's Captain N and the New Super Mario World. Captain N and the New Super Mario World aired in 1991 where NBC amped up their Saturday mornings by combining two of their animated powerhouses into one half-hour time slot with Captain N & Super Mario World! See my mini-DVD review of Captain N and the New Super Mario World:

Captain N and the New Super Mario World (Shout!, $29.99) brings all 10 half-hours of two of the most popular animated powerhouses into one half-hour time slot with Captain N & Super Mario World!
Based on the hit video game of the same name, Super Mario World completes the animated adventures of Nintendo's iconic heroes, Super Mario Brothers, Princess Toadstool and their new dinosaur friend, Yoshi.
In this third and final season of Captain N: The Game Master, Mother Brain (Metroid) and her Forces of Chaos continue to threaten the freedom of Videoland. Only game master Kevin Keene and the N-Team-Princess Lana, Simon Belmont (Castlevania), Mega Man, Kid Icarus and Gameboy-can keep them from conquering the universe. Each episode runs approx. 22:30...combining both shows. There are 3 chapter stops, which is always handy...one chapter is the opening credits, then the Super Mario World segment, then the Captain N segment. There are 10 half-hours, but actually it is 20, since each half-hour has two mini-episodes. The video is decent but it looks dusty with debris...Super Mario Bros. 3 looked better. The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. Packaging has a nice outer box with Captain N and the gang on the top, followed by the logos of both shows, then Mario and the gang on the bottom. The back cover has information on the series and a cast picture of both shows together. Inside the box is two slim cases. Each disc has its own slim case. The slim cases are colorful and have a character each from both shows on the covers with nice episode listings on the back of each slim case. First disc is in blue and the second disc is in yellow, and both discs have the same artwork with the entire cast of both shows.
The menu screen has Play All, Captain N Only, Super Mario World Only, Episode Selection, and whatever the extra is on the disc. The main menu starts with the opening theme of the show..then it comes to the options. Episode Selections lists the episodes where you can choose the scenes (the same as the chapter stops). What is cool is that when you highlight one, a preview plays on a screen on the right, but it lags the menu.
Moving on to the extras. Both discs have one each. Disc one has a Storyboard-to-Screen: Opening title Sequence that lasts about a minute. See how it was made! Disc two has Original Concept Art for Yoshi of Super Mario World that runs like 54 seconds.
I highly do recommend any fan of Super Mario or Captain N to pick up the set. Now, I'm not a fan of Captain N (I never watched it really), so I'm not familiar with the show much, but it seems a complete series set already came out. I remember there was a Captain N and the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3...I wonder why the Super Mario Bros. 3 set didn't have Captain N, but this set does? I'm not an expert, so I can't really tell why they did it...but I think this marks the end of all the Mario series on DVD! I like the original better (Super Mario Bros. Super Show) of them all, but the last two were good, too! Pick it up!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(3/5 stars)

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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, November 17, 2007
"Still No Fresh Prince DVD; Strange Combination of Marathons on TV Land Thanksgiving"
By Solomon Davis

Why was the last season of Full House released this month and still no Fresh Prince DVD releases no where to be found? What is the big holdup with the final two seasons of Fresh Prince? I mean Full House has had three DVD releases in 2007 and you mean to tell me that Fresh Prince couldn't at least get a season 5 release in 2007? It has been 14 months since the last Fresh Prince DVD release and us fans have been waiting and waiting to get more releases to complete the series on DVD and to see no releases at all in 2007 from Warner Brothers really STINKS.

Why does the marathon schedule on TV Land for Thanksgiving have to be a mixture of all types of TV programming? Why not have either a marathon of a sitcom, marathon of movies, or a reality show? No need to mix everything up and have viewers watch Sanford and Son, I Love Lucy, a movie, and then a reality show all in the same day. And even if TV Land wanted to slice the day in half and have one part with sitcoms and the other with movies and reality shows that would be better. Looks more like a "whatever-thon" which is not surprising coming from the network we call "The Land of All Types of TV."


My Weird TV Moments of the Week:
Tuesday, November 13, 2007: Today Show Hour 4 - Segment on whether you should have sex with your ex since the weather is getting colder. What the?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007: Today Show Hour 4 - Kathie Lee Gifford took questions from the crowd and a woman asks her, "I heard you mention you were going through menopause so how are you dealing with aging?" Kathie Lee's look was like HUH?

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.

Day 12: WGA's Strike; KTLA in LA Celebrates 60 Years On-Air with Classic Marathon

We are now in day 12 of the writers' strike. Still nothing new to report at all. According to Jim continues to be the only sitcom still in production. They probably had the scripts done since they didn't start taping until like early October. So they probably will run out soon...it is believe the show has an 18 episode order, so maybe 10 episodes will be done.
Picketing today: elected officials will pick up picket signs and march with film and TV writers on Day Twelve of the Writers Guild of America strike fight for a fair and just contract at CBS Television City. Following his public statement of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America last week, U.S. Senator John Edwards will join striking writers on the picket line today to support the WGA in its ongoing fight to secure a fair and reasonable deal in front of the NBC sign in Burbank.

KTLA in Los Angeles is celebrating 60 years on air and they will celebrate with a 60-hour Retro Marathon to celebrate their 60th anniversary year. The shows they will air will be some of the greatest shows that they have aired in the last 60 years! The marathon begins on Friday, November 23 at 10pm and runs all-day Saturday, all-day Sunday, and lasts until Monday, November 26 at 10am. KTLA will have an awesome variety of shows representing what KTLA has aired in reruns over the past 60 years - The Jack Benny Program, The Honeymooners, Kung Fu, Rawhide, The Big Valley, Hopalong Cassidy, Bonanza, Little House On The Prairie, Lassie, Uncle Waldo's Cartoons, Underdog, Popeye & Friends, Little Rascals, Gidget, Charles In Charge, Doogie Howser, M.D., Dr. Kildare, Emergency!, Highway Patrol, C.H.i.P.s., Dragnet, 21 Jump Street, Wonder Woman, Peter Gunn, I Spy, Hunter, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, McHale's Navy, F Troop, Mayberry R.F.D., The Andy Griffith Show, The Munsters, The Three Stooges, The Monkees, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Family Matters, What's Happening!!, Cheers, Friends, Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, Please Don't Eat The Daisies, The Partridge Family, Father Knows Best, The Brady Bunch, Leave It To Beaver, The Twilight Zone, Lost In Space, Star Trek, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Tarzan, Gilligan's Island, and Time For Beany! Even KTLA's newscasts will participate by bringing you current and then retro news stories that they've covered during the past 60 years!
Wow! So many classics! Sounds like a great weekend! Lucky people in Los Angeles! To see the schedule grid, head on over to their website!

If we have more news, we will come back later today. Enjoy your weekend.

Day 11: WGA's Writers' Strike; In2TV to Re-Launch; M*A*S*H Marathon Score for TV Land

We are now on day 11 of the writers' strike. Reality/game shows will dominate the schedule soon when originals of scripted series run out. The Office runs out after tonight's airing. CBS's new sitcom The Big Bang Theory ran out of new episodes this past Monday. Rules of Engagement looks like will run out of episodes after its airing this Monday. Which means half of CBS's Monday sitcom line-up would have ended...the other two are expected to end after their Monday, Nov. 26 airings.
NBC has announced that its struggling new series Life, which airs Wednesdays at 10, will have a special two-part episode which will air following the finale of Heroes on December 3 at 10pm. Part two will air in its regular timeslot on Dec. 5. NBC will also have a special three night Deal or No Deal stunt a week later, on Dec. 10-12 starting at 8pm. Following that NBC will launch the new series Clash of the Choirs, which will air Dec. 17-21 at 8pm. Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle, Nick Lachey, Kelly Rowland and Blake Shelton will embark on a musical challenge as they return to their hometowns to assemble an amateur choir and prepare them to compete live in studio for the title of America's best choir. ABC will counteract with a new gameshow called Duel the same four nights, but with also an airing on Sunday, Dec. 23 at 8pm. Duel is a tournament style competition featuring head-to-head matches with nerve rattling game play rewarding contestants who embrace shrewdness and manipulation to win. If a contestant can react quickly under pressure and outsmart their opponent using strategy and deception, intellect and skill, they could walk away with up to $2 million.
We gave you ABC's holiday plans (with more coming probably), now we will give you CBS's. The classic holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will air Tuesday, December 4 from 8-9pm on CBS, head-to-head against ABC's Santa Claus is Coming to Town. CBS will also air the classic special Frosty the Snowman on Friday, December 7 at 8pm, followed by Frosty Returns at 8:30. CBS will also air the holiday movie Elf on Saturday, Dec. 22.

MediaPost is reporting that AOL/Warner Bros. plan to relaunch their In2TV co-venture sometime next year, as the broadband network with full episodes of old-time hits has failed to gain traction since debuting in early 2006. They said it would be "reinvented" by the second quarter next year. A redesign and the addition of some sort of social networking capabilities are expected. The service's section, with memorable show theme songs, might also be an untapped resource. The site's experience is "not immersive" enough.
The coming relaunch is an example of the commitment of the studio--which produces a run of current prime-time hits--to exploiting its library via new distribution channels.
Also next spring, the company has said it will launch TWorks.com--a site focusing on animation with shows such as Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera series. The company said the venture, which will have original content produced by Warner Bros., will also include games and virtual worlds.
So what does this mean? We are not 100% sure...but let's hope they don't remove all of the classic TV on In2TV. So this is the reason why there have not been many new episodes for series on In2TV. They started by giving us 4 new episodes a month, but that hasn't happened in many months now. We will keep you up to date on any further development.

TV Land's M*A*S*H Mail Call Marathon averaged big gains across several key categories during the programming event, which aired on Saturday, November 10 and Sunday, November 11, in honor of Veteran's Day. The eighteen episode programming salute scored double-digit gains in rating and delivery among its target A25-54 audience and total viewers over last year while doubling delivery among its core audience of A40-54. The M*A*S*H Mail Call featured episodes about members of the 4077th sending and receiving letters from loved ones. M*A*S*H averaged a 0.5/524,000 among A25-54, representing a +67% lift in ratings and +95% increase in delivery over the same period last year. TV Land averaged over 1 million total viewers, an increase of +79% over YAGO. Among its core audience, Adults 40-54, TV Land secured substantial gains in rating and delivery, averaging a 0.7/404,000, representing a rise of +75% in rating and +108% in delivery.
In other TV Land news, starting in December Mondays 4-5PM will now be Sanford & Son, thus it will be Mon-Fri instead of Tues-Fri. Gunsmoke will be 2-4pm on Mondays now, with Bonanza 11a-2p Mondays.
On Saturday, Dec. 8, the 12PM encore of the movie Beaches will be replaced by I Love Lucy from 12pm-2:30pm. I Love Lucy's morning airing that morning from 10a-12p will be Designing Women instead. On Saturday, December 15, encores of the movie Wall Street are canceled in the afternoon, so we will get a Three's Company marathon from 1-5pm. Wall Street encore will now air from 7-9:30pm, with Andy Griffith following at 9:30pm.

SitcomsOnline.com Exclusive: Interview with Retro Television Network and a RTN T-Shirt Contest; TV Land's The 50 Greatest TV Icons

It is now day 10 of the writers' strike. Nothing really new to report as of now, so I won't talk much about it today because we have a very exciting interview for you today. As always with our interviews, it is in Seven Questions form! In addition to today's interview, stay tuned in the coming days, as we might have a "Seven Questions" interview with Willie Aames (Buddy from Charles in Charge), just in time for the Charles in Charge second season DVD out next week. Look for our review of that set later this week and don't forget to enter our contest by clicking HERE. And now to today's interview...

We have had the pleasure to interview Neal Ardman and Mark Dvornik of Retro Television Network (RTN)! RTN is a new television network that provides each affiliate a customized feed with classic hit shows, in addition to local programming including news, weather and sports. RTN is specifically designed to go on a broadcast digital channel and provides local broadcasters with a way to get ratings and successfully monetize their digital spectrum.

Mark Dvornik has been very good and helpful to us, so we thank him in making this happen. Neal Ardman and Mark Dvornik sat down with me with their TV Dinners watching RTN (Retro Television Network) in another installment of SitcomsOnline's Seven Questions Series.

"Seven Questions with Retro Television Network's Neal Ardman and Mark Dvornik"

SitcomsOnline: Hi Neal and Mark, this is Pavan from SitcomsOnline.com. Thanks for this opportunity. We are loving what Retro Television Network (RTN) is doing. We know what the network is and have promoted the news and details to our readers, but maybe you can explain how you guys work a bit better. So, what is RTN and how can we get it? How did it start?
RTN: Mark turns to Neal and says, "Tell the folks that story of how RTN came to be." Neal says, Well Mark, I was out hunting near my cabin when I missed fired a shot, it hit the ground, and all of a sudden a crude format of a network came out of the ground! (They both laugh at the TV reference to an opening of a classic hit show.) That was 2005, and the first RTN was born on KKYK-TV in Little Rock, AR. Mark adds, Call your favorite local television station, ask for the program director, and tell them you would like for them to put RTN on their digital channel.

SitcomsOnline: So RTN has gone national, right? We read it was going to in July, but we didn't start to see any news until late August. We got lots of e-mails asking when RTN was going national and if their cities would get it.
RTN: Mark says, RTN is the first customized local network, and we are signing on markets one city at a time. Neal adds, RTN is one of the most cutting edge broadcaster out there. We are broadcasting now in MPEG4!

SitcomsOnline: What is the coverage goal for the network? I don't think there were any announcements for RTN stations in the top markets, like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Are we close to having RTN's in those markets? WPIX-DT would be good in NY I think, since the Tube Music Network is now gone. That would be a major step!
RTN: Mark says, The coverage goal is National. We will not comment on any discussions going on in any markets. However, as I stated earlier that if you would like to see RTN on your market, you should contact your local station and request that they pick up RTN on their local digital channel.

SitcomsOnline: Right now we see classics from the CBS/Paramount and Universal libraries. Can we expect shows from other studios soon? And for the CBS/Paramount and Universal libraries, are you able to choose any TV show or is there some sort of system? Personally, I've been missing shows like Webster, Dear John (both Paramount), and Out of this World (Universal) and would love to see those on RTNs. But I still like the shows you already air like Happy Days, Family Ties and The A-Team!
RTN: Neal says, We love all the shows that you listed, too. As they say, stay tuned...

SitcomsOnline: So does the local affiliate get full rights to choose what shows they want to air, or does RTN help as well?
RTN: Neal is chuckling as he says, We can not answer any questions of a legal nature, without consulting our attorney Perry Mason. We will have to get back to you...

SitcomsOnline: Where can fans call or e-mail the network? Does RTN have a website that is live? I know there used to be one, but that doesn't seem to be working right now.
RTN: Mark says, The fans of RTN in each local market should let the local station know via e-mail how much they like that they have RTN on the air. Neal adds, Our new wonderful website is under construction. We did a focus group and found that our Etch-A-Sketch was not refreshing the page quick enough!

SitcomsOnline: So, we heard that your network has a mascot?
RTN: Neal says, His name is Beau, and he is a chocolate lab. He can be seen in promos with SIT, STAY, WATCH, which we also have on t-shirts. Mark adds, Pavan has secured some t-shirts for a lucky few. He will unveil how you can win one later in this interview. Neal concludes with, Beau is everything you want in a network mascot. First he is loyal to RTN. He only wags his tail at our shows. He brings us the morning trades so we can stay up on the goings on. And he has not accidents like the other network mascots.

SitcomsOnline: Well, thanks once again for taking some time out for us in your busy schedules! And much success to RTN!
RTN: Mark says, We are honored that you asked for us to speak to your readers, we love television and bringing these great shows to you. Thanks for watching us, and contact your local station if we are not on in your market yet. RTN is adding markets each week, and Pavan is doing an excellent job keeping you all informed on the progress.

Our thanks to to Neal and Mark of RTN, and best wishes to them in making RTN a big success! Some great humor even in their responses! Our apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time. For more information on Retro Television Network, continue to stay with us for info and don't forget to log-on to their website when it goes up at http://www.retrotelevision.net. So, stay tuned right here on the blog for news updates for this wonderful network! We seem to be getting new affiliates each week! Fast growing indeed!

And as Mark mentioned in the interview we have a contest for you RTN fans! We have 10 RTN T-shirts to give away with Beau the mascot. The contest starts today (Nov. 14) and ends Dec. 13...so hopefully you'll get your RTN T-Shirt in time for Christmas! That is our gift to you! Before you enter, please make sure you read the rules and regulations. So, without further adieu click HERE to enter our RTN T-Shirt Contest!

Legendary Johnny Carson -- the "King of Late Night TV" -- is ranked the number one TV icon in Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons, premiering on Friday, November 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The two-hour TV Land special looks at individuals like Carson in addition to the great Lucille Ball and the hilarious Jerry Seinfeld, who have all made their indelible mark in TV history. The complete list will be revealed in the TV Land Original special and in Entertainment Weekly's annual DVD issue on stands that day. The magazine feature celebrates each icon's contribution to television along with DVD recommendations from each of the icons' work. The TV special is produced by Gay Rosenthal Productions.
For more info on this two-hour special and the complete top 50 list, click HERE (if you want to be spoiled).
The list they made is actually a top 100 list, but the TV special will only cover the top 50. 100-51 is listed on the TV Land website, if you want to take a look at that.

Day 9: WGA's Writers' Strike; TV Land January Schedule and Highlights; Charles in Charge - The Complete Second Season DVD Giveaway

It is day 9 of the writers' strike. Nothing really new to report as of now. In a demonstration of the Screen Actors Guild's solidarity with the Writers Guild of America, TV's top stars will turn out today to walk the picket line at the WGA West's "Picketing with the Stars" to support striking writers. It will be from 12-2pm today Universal Studios in Universal City, CA You'll see stars like Jim Belushi (According to Jim); Patricia Heaton, Fred Willard (Back to You); Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory); Vincent Martella, Tequan Richmond, Imani Hakim, Jacqueline Mazarella, Travis Flory, Todd Bridges (Everybody Hates Chris); and Christina Applegate, Kevin Dunn, Tim Russ (Samantha Who?). For more info, click HERE.
Let's hope negotiations start up again soon, so we can end all this. This better not last months because if it lasts through like March or April, not only we won't get any more new episodes of our favorite shows, but the pilot season could be lost and we won't get any new shows next fall.

TV Land is bringing in The Beverly Hillbillies this January! But before we get to that, they have announced three items before that. Starting Monday, November 26, the overnight hours will be back "on the clock." Which means you will see your shows actually on time, and we get 30 minutes less commercials, so an Three's Company will be added at 1:30am! No more shows starting at weird times like 1:17am. At the end of December, TV Land has added two stunts. A special week-long movie stunt and a Beverly Hillbillies preview! After Christmas, catch TV Land Movies all-week long at noon and 8pm! You'll see movies like Running Scared, Thelma & Louise, Wall Street and Beaches at noon and 8pm Dec. 25-28. On Saturday, Dec. 29 and Sunday, Dec. 30 we get a taste of some Texas Tea in The Beverly Hillbillies preview stunt! A mini-marathon both days from 10am-12pm. For episode info on these December stunts, click HERE.
NOW we will move to January! TV Land rings in the New Year with a bang: a marathon of the "Best Dang" episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. Stay up all night and on the couch all day with 27 hours of non-stop Beverly Hillbillies fun. Tune in for the most rip-roaring, possum stew making, happy go lucky chicanery you ever did see! Starts Dec. 31 at 6pm and lasts through Jan. 1 at 9pm. TV Land will air the show regulary weeknights at 6 & 6:30pm, everynight at 12 & 12:30am, Monday marathons from 9-11pm, and weekend afternoons from 12-2pm! Because of this, we will see some shows shifted over, like I Love Lucy will move from 6-7pm weekdays to 5-6pm weekdays. For more changes, click on the link at the end of this story.
Next, what do Ron Howard, Laurence Fishburne and Shelly Long have in common? They're all Hollywood celebrities visiting the 4077 for two days of drama, laughs and romance in TV Land's M*A*S*H Guest Stars and Stripes Weekend. Don't miss 24 episodes featuring your favorite stars in marathons on Saturday, Jan. 5 and Sunday, Jan. 6 starting each night at 8p and lasting through 2a.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, tune in to Gunsmoke on January 21 starting at 12p for a marathon of marauding outlaws and despicable bandits. These 8 episodes feature some of the most devious villains in the series' history. Log on to TVLand.com to watch additional full-length episodes of Gunsmoke, as well as streaming clips of some of the best fights in Gunsmoke history. While at TVLand.com, make sure to play the new "Get-Out-of-Dodgeball" game and enjoy the sounds of their new Western-themed streaming radio station.
TV Land will have an All-Star Movie Week, the week of Jan. 21! Showtime is every night at 8p, starting with Clint "make my day" Eastwood as the conflicted agent on In The Line of Fire. Then, it's National Lampoon's Class Reunion. Chevy Chase joins the schedule as the bumbling detective in Fletch and Fletch Lives and finally see Steve Martin in his most memorable movie role in The Jerk.
Finally, Just Shoot Me hits TV Land with a 16-hour weekend launch party you won't want to miss: a whopping 36 episodes over 2 nights from 9pm-6am on Saturday, Jan. 26 and Sunday, Jan. 27. TV Land has gathered some of the best episodes from the series along with fun guest appearances from stars like Megan Mullaly, Carmen Electra and Pamela Anderson that will make everyone at this launch party "blush." It will then join the line-up on Monday, January 28, but the timeslot is not confirmed yet, but we hear it could be 8-9pm weeknights. Jan. 28 is considered the start of the February schedule, so we will confirm that then.
For complete details on January's stunts and ALL the schedule changes for the month, I REALLY urge you to click HERE! Yall come back now, ya hear?



We have 5 Charles in Charge - The Complete Second Season DVD sets for giveaway, thanks to the fine folks at Arts Alliance America. It arrives on DVD on November 20, 2007.

One of the most entertaining family sitcoms of the 80's is back as all 26, Season Two episodes are available on DVD for the first time. Tag along with teen idol Scott Baio (Happy Days) as he takes on the role of live-in helper for a new family. Between his college friend, Buddy (Willie Aames) and the mischievous Powell kids, Charles has his hands full! Can he keep up with his social life while keeping the household going? Even when things spiral out of control, Charles still manages to be a positive role model for his three teenage charges. The high profile Season 2 cast members include Ellen Travolta, Willie Aames (Eight is Enough) and Baywatch beauty Nicole Eggert.

Enter the contest.

Order it online at Amazon.com .

Day 8: WGA's Writers' Strike; Amen Returns to ION; Yet 2 More RTN Affiliates

We are now on the eighth day of the writers' strike. I guess weekends count. The Office only has one episode left before it will go on hiatus. You will see that episode this Thursday, so after that we will not see any more new ones until the strike is resolved. This will be the first primetime series to run out of episodes. TV Guide has a partial list of shows telling us how many episodes are left. We have roughly between one to 13 episodes left. Everybody Hates Chris will be the only scripted show to have a full 22 episode season, as their episodes were already produced before the strike happened. Lucky for fans of that show! Anyway, here is the list that will be updated daily. Bookmark it! I can tell you a few that I know: Cavemen has 12 episodes produced so like 6 are left, new mid-season ABC shows Cashmere Mafia will have 7 of the 13 episodes produced, and Eli Stone will have all 13 episodes produced. I'll try to keep you up to date of anything else I hear...still nothing on the Fox animated comedies.
The CW announced a new reality show today. The CW Network's outrageous new one-hour mother/daughter competition, Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants, premieres Wednesday, December 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), following the season finale of the hit series America's Next Top Model. The remaining seven episodes of the beauty pageant/reality show will then take over the 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET slot beginning Wednesday, December 19, followed by new drama Gossip Girl, and continuing through the season finale on January 30. Encores of Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants will air on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET.
An encore of the penultimate episode of America's Next Top Model will air at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 11. The Beauty and the Geek finale will air at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 4.

ION Television will bring back Amen for a third time! The show will return Monday, November 19 airing weeknights at 6:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, which means Doc will be gone! We will have more on ION this week, including their December schedule. Come on back. In the words of Amen...Shine on me!

We got 2 more RTN affiliates since our last blog post! Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it plans to bring RTN programming to Tyler, TX. The new affiliate will launch early next year on a digital stream of KYTX-TV, the CBS affiliate that serves the Tyler / Longview market. Love, American Style and the show that was launched from it, Happy Days, will entertain RTN viewers in Tyler. In addition, audiences will love seeing Robert Conrad as Cannon, Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco and Robert Stack in The Untouchables, to name a few.
And they announced today that it will partner with Raycom Media to bring RTN programming to Montgomery, AL. The network will launch December 3 on a digital stream of WSFA-TV, Raycom's NBC affiliate that serves the Montgomery-Selma area.
Montgomery, AL and Tyler, TX just got better!

Week 7 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 7 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: ABC: 9.2/14.4; CBS: 8.7/13.6; Fox: 5.4/8.1; NBC: 4.8/7.6; The CW: 2.0/3.1; MNT: 0.7/1.1.
Total Viewers: ABC: 14.07 million; CBS: 13.79 million; Fox: 8.95 million; NBC: 7.67 million; The CW: 3.07 million; MNT: 1.04 million.
Adults 18-49: ABC: 4.4/11.2; CBS: 4.0/10.3; Fox: 3.5/8.7; NBC: 3.2/8.3; The CW: 1.4/3.4; MNT: 0.4/1.1.

Analysis: Week 7 is nearly done...and we might not know who will win the week until after tonight! Last week CBS won the top spot thanks a very high overrun of the NFL on Sunday between the Colts and Patriots, with ABC a close second in HH and viewers. In 18-49, ABC still hung on, nipping CBS. NBC was third in all categories and Fox was back in 4th without baseball. Through the first four days of this week, ABC has the lead in all categories in week 7 with CBS a close second, Fox and NBC are way back, with Fox with the slight edge.
Monday it was all ABC thanks to Dancing with the Stars. A 105 minute performance show did an impressive 20.47 million and a 4.9/12 in 18-49, down a bit from the previous week, that lead into new sitcom Samantha Who at a special time of 9:45pm doing 12.86 million (down a bit from previous week) and a 4.3/10 18-49 rating...first time it didn't get a 4.5, it did that all three weeks prior to that. The Bachelor followed at 10:15 with 9.23 million, down a bit from the previous week. Next up was CBS with its comedies and CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory did 9.37 million, up nearly a million from the previous week and yet again it built on How I Met Your Mother's ratings of 8.77 million, but that too was nearly up a million from previous week. Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement followed with decent numbers (13.8 and 10.77 million). Men was up just a bit from the previous week, as was Rules. CSI: Miami followed with 14.07 million, down from previous week once again. NBC and Fox were neck and neck for third, with NBC lead by the downward Heroes at 9.87 million and a 4.9 18-49, below its usual average once again...what has happened? Chuck opened the night with 7.65 million, up a bit from previous week. Journeyman closed the night with 5.13 million, down again from previous week. Fox kicked off with Prison Break at 7.69 million and K-Ville was pre-empted for another Prison Break that did 8.0 million. The CW aired their Monday sitcoms, with Aliens in America doing just 1.78 million, a series low, and The Game keeps dropping every week, this week it was down to 2.26 million.
Tuesday, it was a three network race, with Fox on top. CBS and ABC were also right behind. Fox's huge hit House did 18.17 million and a 7.7 18-49 rating (both up from previous week) and Bones started the night off with a solid 9.52 million, up from previous week. The always reliable NCIS opened the night off for CBS with 18.15 million, up nearly 2 million from previous week and maybe a series high! The Unit followed with 11.08 million, up from previous week, and Cane did 7.78 million, down a bit from previous week. ABC's sitcom hour of Cavemen/Carpoolers returned to poor numbers, doing just 4.88 and 5.49 million, Dancing with the Stars: The Results followed with 17.06 million saying goodbye to Jane Seymour. Boston Legal followed and did a solid 10.62 million, down from previous week. NBC was fourth with another two-hour The Biggest Loser from 8-10 doing 7.88 million, followed by Law & Order: SVU at 11.7 million, lower than normal. The CW had Beauty & the Geek and Reaper do 2.65 and 2.42 million.
Wednesday it was ABC on top thanks to the CMA Awards. The award show did a healthy 15.95 million. ABC will return Pushing Daisies at 8, followed by Private Practice at 9, and Dirty Sexy Money at 10 this week. CBS saw Kid Nation go up a bit to 7.01 million, and veteran dramas Criminal Minds and CSI: NY did well and were consistent doing 14.65 (down a tad from previous week) and 12.92 million (down a tad from previous week). NBC and Fox again were battling for third, as NBC opened the night with Phenomenon doing 6.1 million (down a bit from the previous week), Bionic Woman returned to just 6.48 million, as the fall in every episode continues. At 10pm NBC's Life did 6.39 million, up a bit from previous week. Fox saw Back to You, 'Til Death and Kitchen Nightmares, return with new episodes and they did 6.45, 6.51, and 6.36 million each. The CW had Top Model at a decent 5.1 million, while Gossip Girl did 2.52 million.
Thursday saw CBS and ABC duke it out again. CBS opened with Survivor: China at 14.86 million, up a tad from the previous week. CSI followed with 21.94 million for a cross-over episode that continued at 10 pm on Without a Trace which did 21.68 million, up from previous week obviously. ABC opened the night with Ugly Betty doing a solid 10.83 million, up almost a million from previous week. Grey's Anatomy followed with 19.5 million, up a bit from previous week and was number one in 18-49 with a 8.0/19 18-49 rating...should be good for #1 for the week. Big Shots followed at 10:07pm with a last place finish of 6.96 million...down a tad from previous week again...which is a series low. Again Fox and NBC battled for third with Fox's 5th Grader doing a solid at 8.85 and Don't Forget the Lyrics followed and returned with 6.52 million. NBC started off with their comedies, My Name is Earl opened the night with 7.66 million, up from previous week, 30 Rock returned with 6.6 million. The Office followed with 8.27 million, down a bit from previous week. Scrubs followed with a so-so 6.27 million. ER closed the night with 8.44 million, down from previous week. Smallville on The CW did 4.64 million, followed by Supernatural at 3.01 million.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but NBC, CBS and ABC battled on Friday. NBC had a solid outing for Deal or No Deal at 8pm for a second place finish. CBS was #1 for its dramas at 8 and 10 (Ghost Whisperer, NUMB3RS), and ABC was #1 at 9pm with Women's Murder Club. Fox bombed again for The Next Great American Band. This week it was a one-hour episode though, so 9pm almost doubled with another installment of Don't Forget the Lyrics.
Saturday saw CBS's crime repeats win the night and Fox's crime reality won in 18-49. ABC Sunday should do well tonight with its regular line-up. CBS will do decent as well and NBC will do solid business for the NFL game, possibly beating CBS. Fox's animated comedies might get a boost from the NFL overrun.
As for the week, ABC and CBS will battle for HH and viewers, with ABC a clear first place in 18-49. Fox and NBC will battle for the distant third spot, with NBC probably winning thanks to the NFL. More sweeps action this week! Enjoy your favorite shows as long as you can, you never know how long the strike will last.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of October 29-November 4)

• Aliens in America (The CW) - A repeat did just 910,00 viewers, but that was up from the 750,000 viewers the week before.
• The Simpsons (Fox) 3 episodes - Two repeats from 7-8pm did 4.74 and 7.93 million, before the Halloween show did 11.74 million and a 5.7 rating in 18-49 at 8pm...great.
• Family Guy (Fox) 2 episodes - Two all-new episodes, including episode #100, did great, 10.47 million and 10.46 million...consistent. 5.2 and 5.3 rating in 18-49 is great, too.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - Lost over 3 million from the lead-in to 7.08 million...not good.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 8.77 million tuned in, up from the previous two weeks. Will the return of standard time help?
  
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 9.37 million tuned in, up nearly a million from previous week and it still is building on the lead-in every single week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 13.8 million this week, up a bit from previous week's 13.73 million.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 10.77 million, up from the previous week's 10.57 million.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - 12.86 million and a 4.3/10 18-49 for week four, but it aired at a special time of 9:45, so maybe that is why is dropped a bit?
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, Aliens in America, Girlfriends, The Game. Not doing that well at all. Aliens did a terrible 1.78 million, a series low, The Game continues to drop each week now with 2.26 million this week, down from previous week's 2.42 million. Chris led the block with 2.45 million...but not good.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Cavemen (ABC) - After a week off, did viewers forget about the show? Just 4.88 million.
  
• Carpoolers (ABC) - Just 5.49 million for an episode with special guest Rebecca Romijn.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Back to You (Fox) - 6.45 million tuned in for a new episode, the first new one in a few weeks.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - Built on the lead-in in every category this week, 6.51 million tuned in.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 7.66 million tuned in, up a bit from the previous week's 7.33 million, which was a one-hour episode.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - After a week off, returned with 6.6 million...OK.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 8.27 million tuned in, down a bit from the previous.
• Scrubs (NBC) - 6.27 million tuned in .. has dropped every week so far. 18-49 was 3.7 the previous week, only a 3.1 this week.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) is a repeat of Aliens in America on The CW at 7:30, and Fox's animated comedies starting at 8:00!

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as My Name is Earl, 30 Rock) or just plain old terrible (Cavemen, Aliens in America).

Mini-DVD Reviews: DuckTales Vol. 3 and TaleSpin Vol. 2 (Nov.13); Solomon's Weekly Rant

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for mini-DVD reviews and Solomon's Weekly Rant! First up, are the mini-DVD reviews. Today we take a look at Walt Disney Home Entertainment's DuckTales: Volume 3 and TaleSpin: Volume 2. Both series were very popular in the early '90s on Disney's very popular syndicated block called The Disney Afternoon. DuckTales was about a wealthy duck who takes care of his nephews while TaleSpin was about a bear working for a cargo company. As with all of the shows in the Disney Afternoon, they were action and adventure filled! See my mini-DVD reviews of both sets:

DuckTales: Volume 3 (Walt Disney, $34.99) brings the next 24 half hours of the very fun and interesting animated series on DVD on 3-discs. We return to Duckburg with zillionaire Scrooge McDuck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. This season you'll see them go on a journey to an African jungle, stowed away on an secret aircraft carrier, and rocketing into space to search for a lost "Money Bin." Join Scrooge and the gang battle nemesis such as Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys, Flintheart Glumgold, and Magica DeSpell.
The episodes are again in production order and leave off from where we last left off. On this set we start off with the episode "Duck to the Future" and end with two 5-part episodes, one introducing Bubba ("Time is Money"), and another introducing Gizmoduck ("Super DuckTales"). Now, the Gizmoduck 5-parter wasn't produced until a bit later, but Disney is giving them us this way, because the very next episode after the 5-part Bubba episode was an episode produced with both Bubba and Gizmoduck in them. They should have went with airdate order in the first place, so this mess wouldn't have happened. The episodes all run close to 22:50, all unedited I'm sure. There are two episodes that run like 22:32 and 22:35...they are parts two and three of the Bubba 5-parter. For some reason it is missing the "next time on DuckTales" preview. The other 5-part episodes have that along with the "previously on DuckTales" teaser. Each episode has 5 chapter stops.
The packaging has an outer box with three slim cases, holding each disc...it is designed very well once again and consistent with the previous two sets. Great photos and colors. My only gripe is, there is no show logo with a Volume 3 mention on the bottom or top of the cover. The side has it, but not the top or bottom...the first two sets had it, and even Talespin Vol. 2, which is out the same day as this set, does.
The menu screen has Play All, Episode Selection, Set Up, Sneak Peeks (disc one only) with the closing theme song playing in the background. Each disc has a different main menu. The first disc has the gang in a futuristic Duckburg, the second disc has the gang in the jungle, and the third has the gang with Gizmoduck! The Set Up option has options of Subtitles where we can turn on English or French subtitles, Return to Episode and Register Your DVD. Disc one has auto previews when we put the disc in, where see sneak peeks at other Disney movies/DVDs. When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a screenshot from the episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate.
The video and audio were both very good for the first two sets. No problems whatsoever. However, this set's video is not too good. You see flashing white dots/debris a lot, especially in the non-5-part episodes. Those two 5-part episodes look decent, but the rest is very disappointing. What happened, Disney? The audio is not that bad, maybe a little worse than the first two sets, though.
Anyhow, I still highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set. We are now just one more set away from finishing this series on DVD. If the pattern continues, it will be next November, but we hope it is sooner than that, so we don't have to wait for more of Scrooge and the gang! If you never saw the show, pick it up! It is great fun and probably the most interesting animated series of all-time! So, check your Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to find out where the series is on DVD for you to buy, or you can just click on the link below. Just don't sit in a time machine, or you'll be back in the stone age and you'll be stuck with Bubba!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
DuckTales TV.com Page


TaleSpin: Volume 2 (Walt Disney, $34.99) brings the next 27 half hours of the high flying animated series to DVD. Everyones favorite furry cargo pilot Baloo returns with Kit Cloudkicker as they take the skies as couriers for their friend and boss, Rebecca Cunningham. Her daughter Molly and mechanic Wildcat are also in on the fun. Join the Hire for Hire gang as they face off against the evil Col. Spigot.
The episodes are in airdate order once again, unlike sets like DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale, both of those are in production order. The episodes all run just under 23 minutes, all unedited. Baloo's best friend King Louie would be so happy and corporate big shot Shere Khan would love a great business. Each episode has 5 chapter stops, so if you want to skip to your favorite scenes, anytime.
The packaging is very similar to the first set. We get an outer box with three slim cases holding three discs. As with the first set, the packaging is very colorful and has a lot of photos.
The menu screen has Play All, Episode Selection, Set Up, Sneak Peeks (disc one only) with the closing theme song playing in the background. Set Up option has where you can have subtitles in English or French. When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a screenshot from the episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate.
The video and audio are both very good once again. There are no problems whatsoever with it...very nice job!
I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set, even more if you have the first set. If you don't, then still pick this up! If you never saw the show, pick it up. It is great fun! Vol. 3 will for sure be the final volume, so we just have one more set to go after this! This means DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale and TaleSpin will be finishing soon on DVD! Wow! Darkwing Duck has probably another two sets still to go. As for this set, hurry today and order the DVD before Don Karnage and his evil Air Pirates pick it up before you! Spin it!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
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Related links:
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TaleSpin TV.com Page


Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, November 10, 2007
"This Writers' Strike is Ruining All Parts of My TV Life; Why is a Guest in the MNF Booth for an Entire Quarter?"
By Solomon Davis

Why can't there be some kind of agreement so that this writers' strike can be over and everyone can get their TV life back to normal? This strike is putting a HUGE DENT in my TV watching life and I just don't know how long I can take this. Due to the strike I can't see Letterman or Leno like I'm used to doing every night. I have no idea when I will see a new episode of new series such as The Big Bang Theory. And not only that but this strike has also affected my on-screen Comcast cable guide because the information has been inaccurate for Leno or Letterman. This TV season is turning out to be a NIGHTMARE that has no end in sight.

Why does there have to be a guest in the Monday Night Football booth for the entire 3rd quarter taking away the excitement of the actual game? That is just too long for fans to listen to someone in the booth that's not talking about something related to the game. Wouldn't a halftime guest be a lot better than interfering with the game while it's in progress? Listen to this ESPN: I'm not interested in listening to guests, just the game you advertised all week long for NFL fans to watch!

My Weird TV Moments of the Week:
Wednesday, November 7, 2007: On Regis & Kelly, this conversation happened:
Kelly: I will be modeling a white chocolate dress today.
Regis: Is it edible?
Kelly: Yes, it's edible.
Regis: Can Regis have some?
Kelly: Sure, if Regis is a good boy he can have some.
Wow! They are too far away in age to have this kind of conversation.

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.

Day 5: WGA's Writer's Strike; Kotter Podcast; More RTN Affiliates Announced

It is now day 5 of the writers' strike. If this goes as long as 1988, I'll be saying welcome to day 150 of the writers' strike. I hope it doesn't last that long. 1988 was from March 7 to August 7, so it was mostly during the hiatus season for production. So, if this strike lasts long, it will be much worse than 1988. We don't want to make TV history this way. Hope the writers enjoy the donuts from Leno, tacos from Kimmel, and pizza from Longoria.
B&C is reporting that NBC informed the nonwriting staff of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that it will be laid off at the end of next week in the wake of the show shutting down for the writers' strike. And with Leno still refusing to cross the picket line, the show is looking at coming back on the air Nov. 19 with guest hosts so that it can save the jobs of the nonwriters. In fact NBC is being very low to the head writer of The Tonight Show, by even turning off his NBC e-mail account. Will any of the late night hosts cross the picket line to save the jobs of the nonwriters? We shall see.
NBC, CBS and ABC could announce primetime strike schedules for January and beyond soon.

Our good friend Eric from JustMyShow.com is back with an all-new podcast episode! This time with episode 16. The guests are Bob Hegyes, who played Epstein on Welcome Back, Kotter and John Sebastian, who wrote and performed the Welcome Back, Kotter theme. Did you know, that he's also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with The Lovin' Spoonful? This episode was suggested by Epstein's mother! Catch up with show sixteen by clicking HERE! Welcome back!

Hello Santa Barbara, CA; Roanoke, VA; and Harrisburg-Lancaster- Lebanon-York, PA you three markets are the next contestants on the expansion of the Retro Television Network! RTN is a new television network that provides each affiliate a customized feed with classic hit shows, in addition to local programming including news, weather and sports. RTN is specifically designed to go on a broadcast digital channel and provides local broadcasters with a way to get ratings and successfully monetize their digital spectrum.
They will partner with Smith Broadcasting to add an RTN affiliate in Santa Barbara, CA. The network will launched October 30 on a digital stream of KEYT, the ABC affiliate that serves the Santa Barbara / Santa Maria / San Luis Obispo market. Viewers in Santa Barbara are treated to one the greatest comedic actors of our time with Robin Williams in Mork & Mindy, and many other favorites from RTN's 'Prime Time all the Time' lineup, including Perry Mason, Matlock and Michael Landon in Little House on the Prairie.
They have also partnered with Albritton Communications to bring RTN programming to Roanoke, VA. The network will launch in April 2008 on a digital stream of WSET-TV, Albritton's ABC affiliate that serves the Roanoke/Lynchburg area. They will see Raymond Burr as a wheelchair-bound detective in the critically-acclaimed Ironside and viewers can escape to Hawaii each weeknight while watching Jack Lord in Hawaii 5-0 and Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I.
Finally, they announced today that it will partner with Albritton Communications to bring RTN programming to the Harrisburg-Lancaster- Lebanon-York, PA market. The network will launch in April 2008 on a digital stream of WHTM-TV, Albritton's ABC affiliate that serves Harrisburg and the entire Susquehanna Valley. Local viewers are going to be treated to Raymond Burr in his two hit shows, Perry Mason and Ironside and viewers will laugh along with the antics of Jim Nabors in Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. and Don Adams in Get Smart.
Yes, I know, I promised an interview with RTN...and trust me it is coming. It is just that they have been very busy. My questions were submitted long ago though, so the responses should be coming any day. Thanks for your patience!

Day 4: WGA's Writers' Strike - Fox and ABC Updates; ION Goes HD

We are now in day four of the strike. Still no resolution. In light of the strike by The Writers Guild of America, Fox has revised its lineup for January and the remainder of the 2007-2008 season. The new schedule is subject to change, pending resolution of the strike. The seventh season premiere of 24 is being postponed to ensure that "Day 7" can air uninterrupted, in its entirety.
The highly anticipated drama Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will have a two-night premiere on Sunday, Jan. 13 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) and Monday, Jan. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), the show's regular time period. Prison Break, which has its last November airing on Monday, Nov. 12 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), returns to Mondays (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) beginning Jan. 14, ealier than planned.
Fox's new schedule is pretty confusing. So, I won't recap it anymore, so here's is a list of it:

Mondays, beginning Jan. 14:
8:00-9:00 PM PRISON BREAK
9:00-10:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (Time Period Premiere)
Monday, March 3:
8:00-9:00 PM WHEN WOMEN RULE THE WORLD (wt) (Series Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
Mondays, beginning March 10:
8:00-9:00 PM WHEN WOMEN RULE THE WORLD (wt)
9:00-10:00 PM HOUSE (Time Period Premiere)

Tuesday, Jan. 15:
8:00-10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part 1)
Tuesdays, beginning Jan. 22:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM HOUSE
Tuesdays, beginning April 1:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM HELL'S KITCHEN (Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Jan. 16:
8:00-10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part 2)
Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 23:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (Series Premiere)
Wednesdays, beginning March 12:
8:00-9:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:30-10:00 PM BACK TO YOU encores (Time Period Premiere)

Thursdays, beginning Jan. 10 (No changes to lineup):
8:00-9:00 PM ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00-10:00 PM DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS!

Fridays, beginning Jan. 4:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM HOUSE encores (Time Period Premiere)
Friday, Feb. 22:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM NEW AMSTERDAM (Series Premiere)
Fridays, beginning March 7:
8:00-8:30 PM TIL DEATH (Time Period Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES (Series Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM NEW AMSTERDAM
Fridays, beginning April 11:
8:00-8:30 PM TIL DEATH
8:30-9:00 PM THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES
9:00-10:00 PM CANTERBURY'S LAW (Series Premiere)

Saturdays, beginning Jan. 5: (No changes to lineup)
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv
Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

Sundays, beginning Jan. 6: (No changes to lineup)
7:00-7:30 PM VARIOUS COMEDY ENCORES
7:30-8:00 PM VARIOUS COMEDY ENCORES
8:00-9:00 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
Sunday, Jan. 13:
7:00-7:30 PM VARIOUS COMEDY ENCORES (West Coast only)
7:30-8:00 PM VARIOUS COMEDY ENCORES (West Coast only)
8:00-9:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (Series Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
Sunday, Feb. 3 (Super Bowl Sunday):
6:00 PM ET SUPER BOWL XLII (Approx. 4 hours, LIVE)
Approx. 10:00 PM ET HOUSE (Original episode; guest star Mira Sorvino)
Sundays, beginning March 2:
7:00-7:30 PM COMEDY ENCORES (West Coast only on 3/2 due to NASCAR)
7:30-8:00 PM COMEDY ENCORES (West Coast only on 3/2 due to NASCAR)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM UNHITCHED (Series Premiere)
Sundays, beginning April 13:
7:00-7:30 PM COMEDY ENCORES
7:30-8:00 PM COMEDY ENCORES
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

In other strike news, ABC still plans to air Lost come this February. 8 of the 16 episodes will be available, but ABC will still air those. The eighth episode does have a cliff-hanger, in case that will be the last episode of the season. Other news: The classic special Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town is scheduled to air on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 from 8:00- 9:00 PM ET/PT. ABC Saturday Movie Of The Week Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas is scheduled to air on Saturday, December 8, 2007 from 8:00 - 10:00 PM ET/PT. The only thing really left Christmas wise is The Santa Clause 2, which I'm betting will be on a Sunday (Dec. 16 likely). Cavemen is preempted on Nov. 20 for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, but now Carpoolers will be, too. He's a Bully, Charlie Brown, the last animated special created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, will air at 8:30 p.m. ET immediately following the classic A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. And finally, Big Shots will be pre-empted on Dec. 6. Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2007, an
hour-long ABC News special highlighting some of the year's most prominent names in entertainment, sports, politics and business, will air at 10pm on Thursday, Dec. 6. So, the next Big Shots episode will air Nov. 29 at 10pm as of now, unless ABC bumps that also...they should just save it for January.

ION Media Networks, Inc. today announced the launch of ION Television HD, the high definition television (HDTV) version of the company's flagship network, ION Television. ION Television HD will air ION Television's full lineup of programming in high definition beginning in the first quarter of next year.
ION Television HD will be transmitted in 720p HD, and will be delivered over-the-air via DTV broadcast, cable, telco-TV and satellite. The network will feature native and up-converted HD programming, and will be carried on all 60 of ION Media Network's television stations around the country.
ION Television HD will dramatically enhance viewers' experience with the breathtaking visual clarity and rich, lifelike color characteristic of high definition. Viewers will discover a new level of enjoyment with the flagship network's daily programming lineup, which includes popular family shows, like Mama's Family and Who's the Boss?, and sports and reality programs, such as NFL Game of the Week and 48 Hours. ION Television HD will also enable audiences to experience, as never before, the network's exciting RHI Entertainment award-winning movies and original miniseries, such as Lonesome Dove and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Day 3: WGA's Writers' Strike; People's Choice Nominees Being Announced Thursday

We are now into the third day of the WGA Writers' Strike. It feels like it has been 3 months already. No deal has been made yet. Writers are still picketing and trying work out a deal. Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives was seen at the picket line handing out pizza to the writers. Her show has stopped production after 9 episodes.
In other strike news, all the multi-camera sitcoms like we mentioned yesterday (and we missed Old Christine) are out of production. However, as of now, According to Jim is still taping next week (Nov. 16)...don't know how. Fox will be removing the Nov. 21 airings of Back to You & 'Til Death in favor of repeats. On Nov. 28, Fox will air two all-new episodes of 'Til Death. 'Til Death has about 12 total episodes completed, compared to only about 9 for Back to You. I don't think we will see new episodes of Back to You after its Nov. 14 airing until like January...they will have only 2-3 left by then.
We will try to give you a detailed list of shows with how many episodes left in the coming days...unless the strike finishes by then, which we ALL hope.
ABC will be airing holiday specials Mondays at 8:00PM starting Dec. 3 when Dancing with the Stars concludes. Dec. 3 will be A Charlie Brown Christmas (which will also air on Tues., Nov. 27) and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown on Dec. 10. Other specials are still TBA, such as the classic Santa Claus is Coming to Town ABC also announced that the popular holiday movie The Polar Express will air on Friday, Nov. 30 from 8-10pm. Shrek the Halls and How the Grinch Stole Christmas will air Wednesday, Nov. 28 from 8-9pm.

The nominations for THE 34th ANNUAL PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS will be announced at a star-studded event on Thursday, November 8 at a premier West Hollywood hot spot. This year, for the first time ever, the nominees will be celebrated with an official Crest + Scope People's Choice Nomination Announcement Party, benefiting Operation Smile. The event's host, Crest + Scope spokesperson Ryan Seacrest, will welcome guests and introduce Paula Abdul, A.J. Cook, Scott Foley and Masi Oka, who will announce the nominees and kick off the voting on
http://www.pcaVOTE.com.
Winners will be revealed during the live broadcast of THE 34TH ANNUAL PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 8 (9:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. As the first award show of 2008, THE 34TH ANNUAL PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS honors fan favorites in television, movies and music.
We'll be back tomorrow with those nominees!

Tonight on Fox the sitcoms Back to You & 'Til Death return with all-new episodes. The comedy starts at 8/7 central.

Day 2: WGA's Writers' Strike

Unfortunately once again the WGA Writers' Strike is the top story. Three sitcoms have just completely shut down...Fox's Back to You & 'Til Death, and CBS's Rules of Engagement. All three shows ceased production this week, meaning whatever the episodes they have already taped are the only ones available. Probably 4-5 each will remain to air. Multicamera sitcoms will be hit harder than the single camera ones, I think. So, expect How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Girlfriends, and The Game to cease too, if they haven't already.
It all depends on how long this strike will last to see if we will get any more episodes pass the 4-5 ones left for each. If it lasts only a week or two, we can expect probably minor episode cuts, if any. But if we're talking months, then we can forget about any new episodes, or very little episodes.
In other strike news, late night TV will once again be repeats tonight. So, no new Jimmy Kimmel Live with the latest Dancing with the Stars eliminated star. Bummer.

We'll be back with more news, if any.

Tonight sitcom wise we got Cavemen & Carpoolers on ABC starting at 8/7 central. On Carpoolers, Jerry O'Connell's real wife, Rebecca Romijn (Ugly Betty) will guest star! She will play Laird's sexy ex-wife, who is crazy. Sounds hilarious! Tune in!

Writers Strike Is On; Barney Miller Returns on DVD; ABC Schedule Update

It is now Monday and there has been no settlement for the Hollywood Writers. Which means the Writers Guild of America is on strike. Writers' demands for a bigger slice of DVD profits and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet has been a key issue. Let's hope we get a settlement very soon and this doesn't last long so we don't miss out on our favorite TV shows. The last strike was in 1988, but it wasn't in the middle of a TV season like this will be. This strike will affect sitcoms, dramas, late night talk shows, daytime soap operas and even movies. Reality shows, news-magazines and games shows will be the only genres really not affected. While we won't see sitcoms, dramas, movies and the soaps go off-air starting today (primetime shows probably have episodes lasting until January maybe, and the soaps probably another week or two), the late night talk shows will for sure have to stop immediately, as they air daily and are taped the same day. Look for reruns probably tonight for Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, etc. (although Kimmel might go on with him doing everything). The same thing for SNL and MADTV on Saturday nights.
We will keep you all up to date if there is any settlement or more bad news. Enjoy your favorite shows in the mean time.

Barney Miller - The Second Season DVD is due out on January 22, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It has been nearly four years now since the first season set came out, so looks like Sony is giving it a second chance after low sales. If you're a fan of Hal Linden and gang, then you better buy this set or we will have to wait many more years for a third season. All 22 episodes will be available on a 3-disc set lasting approx. 550 minutes. So get your hash brownies ready for that date in January...wait forget the hash brownies (that is a season three episode), but be ready on Jan. 22! This information should be official very soon, so don't take it as official news until then.

ABC is pulling Big Shots for November 15. That night ABC will try a two-night event for Friday's new #1 show, Women's Murder Club. Murder Club will air following Grey's Anatomy on Nov. 15. The episode will have special guest star Jason Sehorn, in a football-themed episode. The next night, in its regular night & time, the show will have another new episode, Friday at 9. The earliest Big Shots could return is November 29, because on Nov. 22 ABC will launch the second season of October Road on a special night. I don't think Big Shots will be pulled or canned because of the Writers' Strike. So I think you will see Big Shots return for sure after its airing this Thursday at 10:07. The show has been steady the past few weeks averaging a little under 7.5 million...not good, but still doing good enough for now.
In other schedule news, ABC will air The Bachelor: After the Final Rose special at 10pm on Tuesday, Nov. 20, following Dancing with the Stars: The Results. This means the Boston Legal episode for that night will move to December 4.

Tonight we have nine sitcoms on the air! Yes, 9! CBS and The CW will have four each, both two-hour blocks start at 8/7 central. You'll see sitcoms such as Everybody Hates Chris, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Two and a Half Men. ABC will have Samantha Who at a special time of 9:45/8:45 central. That episode looks to be the best yet for the show...The Virgin.

Week 6 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 6 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: ABC: 8.7/13.8; CBS: 8.2/13.0; Fox: 4.9/7.6; NBC: 4.5/7.2; The CW: 1.8/2.8; MNT: 0.8/1.2.
Total Viewers: ABC: 13.12 million; CBS: 12.78 million; Fox: 7.76 million; NBC: 7.19 million; The CW: 2.73 million; MNT: 1.16 million.
Adults 18-49: ABC: 4.1/10.8; CBS: 3.7/9.6; NBC: 3.0/7.8; Fox: 2.8/7.8; The CW: 1.2/3.1; MNT: 0.5/1.2.

Analysis: Week 6 is nearly done...and we are now into day four of November sweeps tonight. I know...already! Last week Fox won the top spot thanks to the World Series, with ABC second and CBS a close third in HH ,viewers, and 18-49. NBC was fourth in all categories and had a very rough week. Through the first four days of this week, ABC has the lead in all categories in week 6 with CBS a close second, Fox and NBC are way back, with Fox with the slight edge.
Monday it was all ABC thanks to Dancing with the Stars. A 92 minute performance show did an impressive 21.43 million and a 5.2/13 in 18-49, up from the previous week in viewers, that lead into week three of new sitcom Samantha Who at an impressive 14.18 million (up from week two!) and a 4.5/10 18-49 rating...that has been the same all three weeks. The Bachelor followed with 9.76 million, up from the previous week. Next up was CBS with its comedies and CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory did 8.41 million, down a bit from the previous week and yet again it built on How I Met Your Mother's ratings of 7.82 million. Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement followed with decent numbers (13.73 and 10.57 million). Men was down just a bit from the previous week, as was Rules. CSI: Miami followed with 14.85 million, down from previous week. NBC followed lead by the downward Heroes at 10.51 million and a 4.9 18-49, below its usual average once again...what has happened? Chuck opened the night with 7.14 million, down a bit from previous week. Journeyman closed the night with 5.75 million, down again from previous week, time to pull the show if there is no strike. Fox was fourth this week with a repeat of House at 5.97 million and an encore of K-Ville at just 3.86 million...will the latter show last into sweeps if there is no strike? The CW aired their Monday sitcoms, with Aliens in America doing just 2.01 million, a series low, and even The Game keeps dropping with 2.42 million.
Tuesday, it was a three network race, with again ABC on top. Fox and CBS were also right behind. ABC's sitcom hour of Cavemen/Carpoolers was pre-empted for the holiday classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, doing a wonderful 11.4 million, Dancing with the Stars: The Results followed with 18.86 million saying goodbye to Sabrina Bryan (WOW! Shocking!). Boston Legal followed and did a solid 11.4 million. Fox's huge hit House did 17.3 million and a 7.0 18-49 rating (both down from previous week) and Bones started the night off with a solid 8.98 million, up a bit from previous week. The always reliable NCIS opened the night off for CBS with 16.33 million, down from previous week. The Unit followed with 10.67 million, down a bit from previous week, and Cane did 8.05 million, up a bit from previous week. NBC was fourth with Singing Bee at just 5.6 million (now it is pulled from the sked), The Biggest Loser from 8:30-10 did 6.32 million, followed by an encore of Law & Order: SVU at 8.63 million, doesn't repeats of that show do better than that usually? The CW had Beauty & the Geek and Reaper do 2.3 and 2.6 million. The former was a clip show type so that is why only 2.3 million, in fact MyNetworkTV's Magic Special beat it with 2.6 million!
Wednesday it was CBS on top on Halloween. CBS saw Kid Nation go down to 6.7 million, but veteran dramas Criminal Minds and CSI: NY did well and were consistent doing 14.94 (down a tad from previous week) and 13.4 million (down a tad from previous week). ABC was a close second with Pushing Daisies doing 8.57 million, followed by Private Practice at 11.34 million, both down from previous week, Dirty Sexy Money followed with 8.2 million, down a tad from previous week. NBC opened the night with a two-hour Phenomenon doing 6.16 million (down like 2 million from the premiere the previous week), Bionic Woman was pre-empted this week. At 10pm NBC's Life did 5.71 million, down over a million from previous week. Fox was fourth with repeats of Back to You, 'Til Death and Kitchen Nightmares, doing 5.26, 5.01, and 3.71 million each. The CW had Top Model at a below normal 3.24 million, while a Gossip Girl repeat did 1.52 million.
Thursday saw CBS and ABC duke it out again. CBS opened with Survivor: China at 14.44 million, up a tad from the previous week. CSI followed with 19.06 million for second place, for the first time this season. Without a Trace followed with 14.58 million, up from previous week. ABC opened the night with Ugly Betty doing a solid 9.9 million, down just a tad from previous week. Grey's Anatomy followed with 19.31 million, up from previous week and was number one in viewers and in 18-49 with a 8.1/19 18-49 rating...should be good for #1 for the week. Big Shots followed at 10:07pm with a last place finish of 7.32 million...down a tad from previous week again...will it have a chance to survive even with a writers strike? Fox was next with two episodes of 5th Grader doing very solid at 8.5 and 8.61 million. NBC was fourth with its comedies, a one-hour My Name is Earl opened the night with 7.3 million, down from previous week, as 30 Rock was off-air this week. The Office followed with 8.36 million, down a bit from previous week. Scrubs followed with a so-so 6.58 million. ER closed the night with 9.15 million, on par from previous week. Smallville on The CW did 4.38 million, followed by Supernatural at 3.24 million, the latter was up from previous week.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but NBC, CBS and ABC battled on Friday. NBC had a solid outing for Deal or No Deal at 8pm. CBS saw nice numbers for its dramas at 8 and 10 (Ghost Whisperer, NUMB3RS), and ABC did solid business at 9pm with Women's Murder Club the #1 show of the night in HH. Fox bombed again for The Next Great American Band. Will they please pull it?.
Saturday numbers are not available yet. But College Football will probably draw on CBS and ABC. ABC Sunday should do well tonight with its all-star line-up. CBS will do decent as well, with the NFL game of the year doing huge overrun numbers, as a result NBC might suffer with its NFL game. Fox's animated comedies return, but will likely be down with the CBS NFL overrun.
As for the week, ABC and CBS will battle for HH and viewers, with ABC a clear first place in 18-49, unless CBS's NFL overrun does really massive numbers. Fox and NBC will battle for the distant third spot. More sweeps action this week, as the first full week of sweeps is this week! Hopefully the writer's strike doesn't make sweeps a side story.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of October 22-28)

• Aliens in America (The CW) - A repeat did just 750,000 viewers, down from the 1.29 million the week before...yuck.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 7.82 million tuned in, down from the 8.5 million the previous week.
  
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 8.41 million tuned in, down about 400k from previous week but it still is building on the lead-in every single week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 13.73 million this week, down a bit from previous week's 13.94 million.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 10.57 million, down from the previous week's 10.82 million.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - 14.18 million and a 4.5/10 18-49 for week three, up from the previous week's 13.68 million for episode two and each week so far the 18-49 rating is at a 4.5 rating.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, Aliens in America, Girlfriends, The Game. Not doing that well at all. Aliens did a terrible 2.01 million, a series low, The Game continues to be solid, but it has dropped each week now with 2.42 million this week, down from previous week's 2.61 million. Chris led the block with 2.44 million...not good.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Cavemen (ABC) - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! aired this week...it returns Tuesday!
  
• Carpoolers (ABC) - See above.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Back to You (Fox) - A repeat of the pilot lured in 5.26 million, not too bad.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - 5.01 million tuned in for an encore.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 7.3 million tuned in for an hour long episode, down from the 8.2 million the previous week, which was a half-hour only...wonder why a drop?
  
• The Office (NBC) - 8.36 million tuned in, down about 600k from the previous week's 8.96 million.
• Scrubs (NBC) - 6.59 million tuned in for the second showing of the season.

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) is a repeat of Aliens in America on The CW at 7:30, and Fox's animated comedies return!

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, The Office, Big Bang Theory, and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother) or just plain old terrible (Aliens in America).

TV Alert!; Mini-DVD Review: Perry Mason S2, Part 2 (Nov. 13); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Why No Jay in 2009?; Morning SportsCenter So Special?

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for mini-DVD reviews and Solomon's Weekly Rant! But first we have a TV alert for this weekend that is worth breaking in for from our regular Saturday blog programming!

Starting this weekend, Entertainment Tonight Weekend will count down its top 20 TV stars of all time, accompanied by material from 27 years of interviews and other footage.
The list includes Don Knotts, Andy Griffith, Johnny Carson, Michael J. Fox, Carol Burnett, Annette Funiccello, Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett and John Ritter. The No. 1 star will be revealed by Donny Osmond on Nov. 10.
Tune in the weekend of Nov 3 and Nov. 10 on ET Weekend! Check www.etonline.com for weekend show times in your area. In NYC? This weekend it will air Sunday at 3PM and Monday morning at 2:35am on WCBS and next weekend Saturday at 7pm and Monday morning at 2:35am. Check for your area's listings on their website or TV listings sites, such as TitanTV.com. Discuss the special with other fans HERE.
Now back to our regularly scheduled Saturday blog programming.
Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Perry Mason: The Second Season, Volume 2. Perry Mason of course is the very popular law series. The series stars the great Raymond Burr. See skees53's mini-DVD review of Perry Mason: The Second Season, Volume 2:

Perry Mason: The Second Season, Volume 2 (CBS DVD, $39.98) brings Perry Mason back to defend those that don't have a chance in court... yet they win anyway because Perry is just that amazing! Volume 2 brings the second half of the second season (15 episodes) together in a four-disc DVD set. This means Perry has 15 new cases that he has to do the impossible with--prove that his client that everybody thinks is guilty is actually innocent. Fortunately, he is pretty much always up against Hamilton Burger, a man that isn't quite as powerful as, say, Nancy Grace. We see Perry have to defend a woman that is accused of murdering the woman that was blackmailing her new husband in "The Case of the Romantic Rogue." It's all fun and games... until a comedian's friend is a accused of killing the advertising man that cut the comedian out of a lucrative deal in "The Case of the Jaded Joker." A woman is accused of killing her grandfather that she has never even met in "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop." In "The Case of the Dangerous Dowager," a woman makes promises to her kids in her will... which her granddaughter counts on when she gives IOUs to a poker parlor boss that suddenly turns up dead. We find out why kids and guns don't exactly mix in "The Case of the Deadly Toy." Bruises and an injured foot on a bird may help Perry solve a murder in "The Case of the Deadly Toy."
The four-disc set is presented in packaging that is very similar to all of the previous sets, and once again, CBS DVD has for some reason chosen to continue with the double slimcases on this set (a good choice in my opinion) as opposed to the regular cases that they have been using on many other sets lately. As has been the case with the previous sets, the video and audio quality of each episode is almost perfectly flawless, which is amazing for a series as old as this one. Of course, there is the occasional grain and such, but there is VERY little of that, and the quality is generally perfect. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital Mono (hopefully nobody seriously expected stereo) with closed-captioning available for those that require it for each episode. The episodes all appear to be unedited, running around 50 minutes each, and there isn't even a disclaimer stating that some episodes may be changed from their original versions as there is on some CBS DVD sets, although in all fairness, this show never used popular music in the first place. The set is very disappointing on the special features front (as in there are no special features at all), but then again, this isn't the first time this show has gone without special features. It doesn't help that many of the people that were involved with the show have passed on already (after all, the show is fifty years old), but certainly there are fans out there that can help. There has to be a reason that this show is a top seller on DVD! The verdict on this set: buy it now!
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, November 3, 2007
"Why No Jay in 2009?; Why Is The Morning SportsCenter So Special?"
By Solomon Davis

NBC president Jeff Zucker has confirmed this week that NBC is removing Jay Leno from The Tonight Show in 2009 to make room for unfunny man Conan O'Brien which will makes my blood boil because Jay has been the funniest man on late night TV since 1992. Also when Jay is making people laugh he is not jumping up and down like a fool, he is standing there in one spot delivering jokes which is how comedy is supposed to be done. But Conan O'Brien who is unable to make people laugh by standing in one spot has to jump up and down like a monkey and make crazy facial expressions every night for someone to laugh. I just want NBC to know that they are making the biggest mistake in the history of their network by getting rid of the "King of Late Night TV" from The Tonight Show just so everyone can watch Conan do his clown act an hour earlier. A new title of the show can be "Late Night Clown" since his act will still be the same when he takes over as the new host of The Tonight Show. I hope Jay is on late night TV in 2009, even if it is an hour later in Conan's slot?

ESPN's SportsCenter that comes on weekday mornings has a rundown of topics on the right side of the TV screen of all the sports stories that will be talked about during the entire show. But you don't see this rundown on the SportsCenter's that air at 6pm and 11pm. Why can't there be an outline of sports topics on all the SportsCenters since some people might not be interested in in the sports they are talking about on the main screen. Can't believe no one at ESPN has the thought process of making the rundown on all SportsCenter episodes. It doesn't make sense having it on just mornings and not the evenings and late night...what if I'm not a morning person or am at work in the mornings? If you have it one, you should have them on all of them, I say.

My Weird TV Moments of the Week:
Monday, October 29, 2007: On The View, at the start of the show the ladies noticed a fly on the table and all of them started running away from the table like it was a mouse or a rat. Ladies it wasn't that serious!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007: During the ESPN NBA telecast of Dallas Mavericks at Cleveland Cavaliers, for some reason play-by-play broadcaster Mike Tirico felt the need to bring up "Tony Kornheiser." Since Jimmy Kimmel got banned from the MNF booth for talking about him, should Tirico be banned now from NBA telecasts?

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.

Nick at Nite Gets Extra Half-Hour; TVShowsonDVD.com Sounds Off on Banned Material; Writer's Strike?

TGIF! Nick at Nite has gotten an extra half-hour for at least 5 nights a week. It started last night. 8:30pm Mon-Thurs will be returning to Nick at Nite and will be Full House leading into an hour of Home Improvement from 9-10pm. They have also gotten Fridays at 9:30PM now, and that will also be Full House, leading into an hour of George Lopez from 10-11pm. Hopefully this lasts.

Our friends at TVShowsonDVD.com have passed a story on to us for you all to read. Dave Lambert, the news director, has a new entry at his TVGuide.com blog, "DVD Guy," asking people to give their input about whether so-called "banned material" - such as smoking-related scenes or old cartoons that contain racial stereotypes - ought to be excluded from DVD release so as not to offend, or if it should be included all-the-way to truly represent the feature as it was originally produced and presented.
To view this latest blog and to leave some comments, click HERE!

Well as some of you may know, there could be a Hollywood Writer's Strike starting this Monday. It seems it will be taking place and hopefully it gets resolved very soon, so our favorite TV shows are not affected. Rumor has it that Heroes has already shut down production after 11 episodes. We will keep you up to date on this, and we shouldn't be affected really until January, as we have enough episodes so far to last us through November sweeps and the holidays.
Reality shows, game shows, and newsmagazines could fill our schedules by February if this is not resolved soon. Yes, sitcoms and dramas will be dead if the strike happens. So, let's pray we get quality television back soon!
On a side note, thankfully the writer's strike will not be affecting this website! Yes, we will continue to write on the blog if there is a strike! In addition, our DVD reviews will also still go on. That should make you all feel a little bit better at least! Our writers are workhorses!

DotComedy.com to Cease?; Network Notes; TV Land Announces M*A*S*H Mail Call Stunt

NBC Universal plans to shut down the website DotComedy.com in the near future, according to sources with knowledge of the company's plans, eventually folding the site's content and traffic into NBC.com, Mediaweek reports.
NBCU executives declined to comment, but sources indicated that DotComedy, which launched in mid-2006 as part of the company's enhanced focus on digital media, may or may not continue as a branded channel on NBC.com. Some of the site's original programming, which included original content produced by a team of video bloggers, will likely be redistributed to other sites within the NBCU family. So enjoy Leave it to Beaver while you can!

It's time for another game of...network notes! Yes, this is where we have so much network news, we will round it up all here for you! Let's start with NBC. After last night's terrible numbers, NBC has pulled the reality show The Singing Bee from November sweeps at least...so now we will get an extra half-hour of...you guessed it, The Biggest Loser. That means that series will air two-hours each Wednesday (8-10pm) for sweeps. In other NBC news, they have pulled production on the Heroes spin-off, Heroes: Origins. Two reasons I think...the potential writer's strike or maybe because Heroes is in a sophomore ratings slump? The spin-off was supposed to spell the original series for six weeks in mid-season. Finally, not surprisingly ABC has given a three extra scripts order for the Friday night thriller, Women's Murder Club. I expect a full season pick-up very soon. So, this means Cavemen and Big Shots are the only new ABC series without extra scripts or a full pick-up. Not bad...but I don't expect those two to get any additional orders, unless they pick up drastically in the ratings the next few weeks. November ratings sweeps starts TODAY and ends November 28. Let the games begin!

TV Land officially announced its M*A*S*H Mail Call Weekend today. It's two nights of madcap antics, pranks, love letters, homemade cookies and the latest gossip when TV Land presents a marathon of episodes from the hit series M*A*S*H during "M*A*S*H Mail Call". The marathon begins on Saturday, November 10, at 9:00pm (all times ET/PT) and Sunday, November 11, at 9:00pm (all times ET/PT) and chronicles the many personal letters and packages sent to and from loved ones of the gang at 4077th -- some good, some bad -- but all filled with side-splitting laughter. Fans will be treated to some of the most memorable episodes including "Dear Mildred", "The Winchester Tapes", "Dear Comrade" and the popular three-part series "Dear Dad", "Dear Dad, Again" and "Dear Dad, Three", featuring Hawkeye's comical and heartfelt letters sent to his father back in the United States.