Criminal Minds Details For A&E Starting in May; According to Jim Season Finale Moved to May 27

As we mentioned last week, A&E will bring reruns of Criminal Minds to cable starting in May for once a week play then five-days-a-week starting September 2009, when broadcast network ION Television also starts airing reruns of the show. A&E Network will become the official cable home to the hit CBS drama series Criminal Minds. The acquisition from CBS Television Distribution gives A&E the exclusive cable rights to the critically acclaimed series beginning September 2009. Additionally, beginning in May 2008, A&E will be airing episodes from the first three seasons of the series once weekly before fully stripping the series in September 2009.
We are pleased to give you the exclusive full details on the weekly play starting in May! The show will air Fridays at 11PM ET/PT with an encore later at night at 3AM ET/PT. Both airings will follow mini-marathons of CSI: Miami. The weekly play starts Friday, May 30 on A&E! So you can catch the show from the very first episode.

Veteran sitcom According to Jim was scheduled for two all-new episodes next Tuesday (May 6), but ABC will preempt it for Dancing with the Stars: Judges' All-Time Top 10 special from 8-9pm on May 6 leading into the 100th episode of Dancing with the Stars on a very special Dancing with the Stars: The Results! Fan favorites and Season Four champions Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough reunite for a special performance, while Season Five standout Mel B. hits the dance floor with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Other stars joining the celebration include Sabrina Bryan, Joey Fatone, Master P., Jerry Rice, Jane Seymour, Jerry Springer, Wayne Newton and many more. Also, Season Two finalist Mario Lopez returns to the ballroom as "Macy's Stars of Dance" presents "A Chorus Line." Mario is currently starring in the Broadway production of the hugely successful musical.
Anyway, May 13 was supposed to be the season finale of According to Jim, but the two preempted May 6 episodes will air on May 13 now instead and ABC will move those two season finale episodes out of sweeps to Tuesday, May 27. ABC has not announced what will air May 20, but it will likely be a Dancing with the Stars recap leading into the two-hour grand finale.
For those of you wondering, Cheryl and Dana return to According to Jim on the next episode airing May 13! So it will be a good end to the final four episodes of the season. The show will return sometime in 2008-09 as According to Jim is taping new episodes in late May and June for next season. Possibly the final 6 episodes. We should know by upfront.

A Different World Joins BET Line-Up On April 28; ION and A&E Acquire Criminal Minds for Fall 2009

BET will add another sitcom to its line-up this Monday (April 28)! The sitcom is the late '80s/early '90s sitcom A Different World. The popular spin-off of the Cosby Show will air weeknights at 11:00pm & 11:30pm with an encore later that night at 3:00am & 3:30am ET/PT. The 11pm-12am airings will replace an hour of Malcolm & Eddie, but not to fear that show will still air weekdays 10-11am and 4-5pm. The 3-4am encore will replace In Living Color, which will now be off the schedule. A Different World spun-off Denise Huxtable into Hillman College, but that only lasted one season and the show changed by season two and became more popular even.
A Different World comes from the same deal that Nick at Nite/The N had, so it is all Viacom related, as BET is also part of Viacom. The show will get a mini-marathon as well on Saturday, May 3 from 8:30pm-11pm. In addition to the weeknight airings, the show will also get a weekly three episode evening block on Sundays. The times vary, but the first Sunday (May 4) it will be 8p-9:30p. Future Sunday times are tentative, but here are the times as of now for May: 7p-8:30pm on May 11, 6:30p-8pm on May 18 and 8:30p-10:00pm on May 25.
There is one slight other change to the schedule as well. BET will remove the Sundays 12-1pm Sanford airings starting Sunday, May 4. Instead two episodes of The Parkers will air Sundays 12-1pm. Not to fear, Sanford will still air late Saturday nights (early Sunday mornings), usually 3-4am.

ION Television today announced it has entered into a content agreement with CBS Television Distribution for the broadcast syndication rights to the hit television drama series, Criminal Minds starring Mandy Patinkin and Joe Mantegna. ION Television will debut this popular show in prime time beginning in Fall 2009. The deal continues the network's positioning momentum as a general entertainment destination.
Criminal Minds joins recent additions, including Boston Legal & M*A*S*H coming to ION off-network this Fall, as well as The Steve Harvey Show, Family Feud and Quantum Leap, currently airing in ION Television's expanded entertainment schedule.
ION will have their annual upfront presentation a week from today (Thursday, May 1). We will bring you the latest from that next week...and we hope to get an interview with them regarding their future. Also, B&C is reporting in addition to Criminal Minds, ION will also acquire off-network reruns of Ghost Whisperer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt from CBS Television Distribution also starting in Fall 2009. We will bring you the official announcement on that when available! It'll probably be at upfront.
In addition to coming to ION in Fall 2009, Criminal Minds will also get a cable home! A&E Television has bought the cable rights to the series beginning in Fall 2009, where it will air five-days a week. However, before that, A&E has rights to air the series once a week starting with season one and through season three. The once a week play starts next month (May) on A&E. We will bring you the exact times and dates as soon as A&E announces that. A&E will have their upfront presentation next week as well, so we should know very soon.