TV One June 2008 Highlights Includes Return of Between Brothers; Law & Order SVU Heads to Weekday Syndication in Fall 2009

Starting Monday, June 2, the TV One weekday daytime lineup from 10am-4pm on weekdays will undergo a summer makeover. Each day, TV One will now air a mixture of daily marathons of their various sitcoms, dramas, movies, and original shows that will keep summertime viewing fun and easy while still offering the variety that will keep viewers coming back for more.
The 10am-4pm marathons include series marathons of All of Us, Fastlane, Wanda at Large, Eve, Good News, Good Times, Roc, Parent'hood, NY Undercover, The PJs, A Man Called Hawk, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, and Amen! Some of these are specially themed, such as Eve's Black Music Month Special featuring musical guests, Happy Birthday Bookman and Happy Birthday Jimmie Walker marathons of Good Times, Happy Birthday Ella Joyce Marathon of Roc, New York Undercover's Ice T & Tyra Banks marathon, Fastlane with Bill Bellamy, and Amen's Thelma's In The Army Marathon.
Another schedule chage will happen starting Monday, June 2 at 9:30pm. The '90s sitcom Between Brothers (1997-99 Fox sitcom) returns to the TV One lineup in place of The PJs at 9:30pm weeknights. Tommy Davidson, Dondre Whitfield, Kelly Perine, and Kadeem Hardison starred in this sitcom about four bachelor friends. No other changes will be made to the line-up.
Other highlights include: On Sunday, June 8 at 10pm, the mystery is finally revealed and all of your questions are answered as TV One airs the much-anticipated series finale of Day Break starring Taye Diggs airs for the first time on television.
On Saturday, June 28 beginning at 1pm, summertime romance is in full bloom on TV One as we present the "Will You Marry Me" Marathon, a day chock full of love, romance, engagements, and weddings in celebration of the June bride season. First up is the TV One and Essence Magazine original special "Will You Marry Me" that has suitors proposing marriage to their women in new and innovative fashions. Then from 3pm-9pm, watch three of your favorite TV One sitcom couples - Thelma and Ruben from Amen, Thelma and Keith from Good Times, and Martin and Gina from Martin - all get engaged and married in a romance filled day full of laughter, tears, and celebration.
As a preview to July, starting at 8pm on Friday, July 4, with the nation's best interests at heart, its megathon time again, and Martin is doing his patriotic duty to make everyone in America laugh through their fireworks and barbecue with a 24 hour marathon of favorite episodes through 8pm on Saturday, July 5!

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has sold Dick Wolf's hit procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to the Fox Television Stations in the nation's top markets, as well as other local stations from other leading broadcast groups for weekday runs starting in fall 2009. SVU has been sold to the Fox owned and operated stations in New York, Los Angeles Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., Houston, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando and Baltimore. The series has also been sold in 18 of the nation's top 20 markets, as well as to stations from CBS, Sinclair, Sunbeam, Belo, Hearst, Granite, Capitol, Local TV and more.
The announcement comes on the heel's of Law & Order: Special Victim Unit's successful debut this season in weekend broadcast syndication. SVU will follow in the footsteps of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as that series has done pretty well in weekday play this season on Fox-owned locals and other local stations. Criminal Intent has ushered the return of hour dramas to weekday strip syndication. When SVU airs weekdays on locals, I'm sure it will not air on weekends anymore on locals.

TV One Brings Amen to Evenings Starting in April Now; Nick at Nite Sees 1st Quarter Ratings Do Big; TNT Loves Romano

Beginning on Monday April 7, TV One has made a change to their line-up. The Sherman Hemsley sitcom Amen will air one hour of back-to-back episodes in the weekday 5pm & 5:30pm timeslot. For Your Love and Eve, previously airing in these time periods will no longer air. This change was set to happen on Monday, May 5, as we said late last week, but TV One has decided to do it a month earlier!
As also stated late last week on the TV One May highlights, TV One will be airing 24-hour sitcom marathons during the month of May beginning on Friday nights. The first of these special marathons will actually begin now on Friday, May 2 at 8pm with a special Martin marathon continuing on the theme of TV One's election year slate of 'Martin for President' marathons that originated over President's Day weekend. This time, the "Martin 'HaterNation' Marathon" takes on the sniping that usually happens in election campaigns with a full 24 hours of Martin Payne & his host of wacky alter egos battling Pam, Sheneneh and all the other Martin-haters who would try to take Martin down.

Nick at Nite, fueled by the performance of George Lopez and Home Improvement, scored double digit increases during the 1Q08 (Jan-Mar) among total viewers (P2+) and Adults 18-49 in both primetime and total day. In primetime, Nick at Nite was up +32% over first quarter 2007 (1Q07), and was +37% higher among Adults 18-49. George Lopez has been the network's highest rated program in 2008, with ratings growing consistently since it joined the schedule, while Home Improvement ratings have also increased each month. The recent George Lopez marathon did huge as the ratings were the best week ever for Nick at Nite.

TNT has ordered a one-hour pilot of Men of a Certain Age, a new character-based drama from Everybody Loves Raymond Emmy winners Ray Romano and Mike Royce. Romano will star in the project that takes a wry look at what it means to be a guy approaching mid-life while also exploring the unique bonds of male friendship. Romano wrote the pilot script with Royce and will executive-produce with Royce (who will serve as show runner), Rory Rosegarten and Cary Hoffman. The show is about the highs and lows of being a guy in the modern era. It's about three best friends, each hoping to fulfill his dreams before the clock starts running out.
This is the latest project to emerge as part of TNT's aggressive plan to change most of the network's weekday, primetime schedule to originals by 2010. The network currently has 15 projects in various stages of development, including both scripted dramas and unscripted programs.

Star-Studded Marathon for Diff'rent Strokes on BET; TV One May 2008 Highlights

We gave you highlights of BET's schedule changes and upcoming marathons in April a few days back, but now we have full details on one of the marathons! The Diff'rent Strokes marathon that is airing next Sunday (Sunday, April 6) will be a star-studded marathon! Join Arnold and Willis and the rest of the family as they welcome in special guests such as LaWanda Page and Whitman Mayo (Aunt Esther and Grady of Sanford & Son), Janet Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Forest Whitaker, Robin Givens, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Mr. T! The marathons starts at 1pm and will end at 9pm on that Sunday. Fans will be happy to see an assortment of episodes from all seasons (well none from season 7, but we do get a few season 8 ones). There will be 6 Janet Jackson episodes! Whatchya talkin' about Wills, indeed. To see the marathon episodes with the times, click HERE. And discuss this episode selection with other Diff'rent Strokes fans by clicking here.

TV One in May will see lots of marathons, including a Mother's Day stunt filled with motherly episodes. Throughout the month, TV One is going to get the weekends pumping with a series of true 'marathons' – 24 hour May Mega-Marathons, which will each start on Friday evening and run through Saturday evening.
On Friday, May 9 beginning at 7pm, TV One offers a "Mothers Day Weekend" 24-hour marathon saluting favorite sitcom moms from TV One sitcom favorites Martin, All of Us, The Parent'hood, Good Times, Amen, and The Hughleys.
On Friday, May 16 beginning at 9pm, TV One offers its annual birthday tribute to superstar Janet Jackson (she turns 42 on May 16) with a 24-hour marathon of Good Times: "The Janet Years," featuring episodes when a young Janet played the Evans' neighbor, Penny. Directly preceding the marathon at 8pm on Friday, a special TV One Access, hosted by former Cosby Show Kid Keshia Knight Pulliam, takes a look at "Our Favorite Child Stars: All Grown Up."
On Friday, May 23 beginning at 11pm, TV One kicks off the long Memorial Day weekend with a trip to the 'projects' of The PJs – featuring all the episodes of the series during the course of the 24 hour marathon.
Finally, on Memorial Day itself (Monday, May 26), TV One takes a "Memorial Day Break" beginning at 8am, TV One presents a full day marathon of the first 11 episodes of the action crime-drama series Day Break starring Taye Diggs. The show airs weekly every Sunday at 10pm.
Schedule changes include more Amen as it will also air 5 and 5:30pm weekdays starting May 5 replacing For Your Love and Eve, which will both be off the line-up totally. Amen will also air in the mornings as well still at 6am & 6:30am. Eve will be replaced in the early mornings as well, weekdays at 4am will be another Parent'hood instead. And the 1am airing of NY Undercover will be replaced by two more Divorce Court episodes. NY Undercover will still air in its other slots.

BET Schedule Updates, Sanford Marathon Planned; TV One Revises Programming in March; RTN Comes to D.C.; CBS Brings Classic TV to Online

TGIF! It is a busy (and snowy in NY) Friday here on the blog, as we have quite a lot of stories today!
First we still start with BET. As you recall, we announced on Monday that BET is now airing Diff'rent Strokes and Malcolm & Eddie weekdays and they will bring out short-lived series Sanford and Thea on weekends starting March 1. Now we have some updates for you. We have gotten word that Diff'rent Strokes will also air Saturdays 9-10am, in addition to its weekdays 9-10am slot. It will start airing on Saturdays next Saturday (March 1). However, the Saturday airings will be two repeats from earlier in the week, mostly from the previous Monday's airings earlier in the week. We mentioned the show could air 3-4pm starting next week, but that won't be the case, it will only air 9-10am. Malcolm & Eddie will also air on Saturdays, at 10-11am and 4-5pm. It won't air 11pm-12am, though, that will be only Mon-Fri, while its other slots will be Mon-Sat. A Girlfriends marathon is tomorrow, that is why we are not getting both of these shows tomorrow.
We mentioned that Sanford and Thea will join the weekend line-up late night on Saturday, March 1, which is technically early Sunday morning, airing 2:30am and 3:00am respectively. They will encore later in the day on Sunday at 11:30am and 12pm. Yeah, so we knew that already, but now we have learned that BET will have an all-day San"forward" Marathon on Saturday, March 8 from 10am-11pm just in time for Daylight Savings, as we move our clocks one-hour ahead later that night as we spring forward, or should I say San"forward." And get this, all 26 episodes of Sanford will air back-to-back all day! What a dream come true for Sanford fans! Get those TiVo's, DVR's and VCR's or whatever you use rolling because this is your chance to get every single episode in one shot! Now I have an idea for BET, when we move our clocks back in the fall, we should have a Diff'rent "back"Strokes marathon as we move our clocks one-hour back doing a backstroke. Just a thought! Anyway, BET is certainly looking bright now sitcom wise and we hope they continue this! Be sure you have some chips, nachos, and more snacks ready for this very rare marathon on March 8!

Moving on to another African American network, TV One, we have some changes in store for March. We announced March highlights already, but there are a lot of edits to it now. The TV One premiere of the action series Day Break has be postponed until Sunday, March 16. On Saturday, March 15, and Sunday, March 16, both at 8pm, Taye time is finally here as the weekend with Taye Diggs is now this weekend instead of March 8 and 9 as TV One premieres the Cool Factor and How Stella Got Her Groove Back starring Taye, Angela Bassett, and Whoopi Goldberg. An encore airing is scheduled for Sunday, March 16 at 12am following the premiere of Day Break from 10pm-12am. The weekend with Taye Diggs continues on TV One Sunday, March 16 at 10pm with the TV One premiere of the recent ABC action series Day Break starring Taye Diggs as a law enforcement officer framed for murder. The series will premiere with two back-to-back episodes to air at 10pm and 11pm and will premiere episodes on Sundays at 10pm.
On Saturday, March 22 beginning at 1pm and lasting to 10pm, it's time to get your praise on as the sitcom Amen returns to TV One back by popular demand with an all-day 'Best of Deacon Frye' marathon to give viewers a special treat before it returns to the regular schedule on weekdays at 6am & 6:30am beginning on Monday, March 24th replacing Roc on the TV One schedule, which will be off the line-up now.
Finally, The Hughleys: "All in the Family Launch Marathon" previously announced for Tuesday, April 1 will now air as a two-day weekend marathon on Saturday, April 5 & Sunday, April 6 starting at 1pm both days for this '90s sitcom. We will have more on The Hughleys' regular slots in the April highlights coming soon! Stay tuned for that!

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it will partner with Allbritton Communications to bring RTN programming to Washington, D.C. The new affiliate will launch late this year on a digital stream of Washington, D.C.'s ABC affiliate, WJLA-TV.
Allbritton began airing RTN's "Prime Time All the Time" lineup today on a digital stream of WSET-TV (Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA). RTN is scheduled to launch later this year on a digital stream of WHTM-TV (Harrisburg-Lancaster, PA).

CBS Interactive announced that it will begin offering Television Classics from the CBS (Paramount) Library, which is one of the largest television programming libraries in the entertainment business, online and across the CBS Audience Network. The initial lineup includes full-length episodes of Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0 and Melrose Place, with more programs and clips to be added in the coming months. The distribution of Television Classics across the CBS Audience Network follows the same open, non-exclusive strategy that CBS has been using for its content online for the last nine months. All content is ad-supported, free to the consumer, and available immediately.
The initial programming lineup for Television Classics on CBS.com and across the CBS Audience Network includes full episodes the following:
Star Trek (original series) - Seasons 1, 2 and 3
The Twilight Zone - Seasons 1 and 2
MacGyver - Season 1
Hawaii Five-0 - Season 1
Melrose Place - Season 1
Let's hope they add some sitcoms as well, and some sitcoms that lasted awhile and haven't been aired on TV lately, such as Dear John and Webster. Series such as Family Ties, Cheers, The Love Boat, would also be nice to have.

It's only noon ET and we already have a lot of stories, but if anything breaking happens, we will break in. So come on back!

Day 61: WGA's Strike; Wayans Bros. Coming to ION Television; Veoh.com Adds Full Episodes of TV Series

Today is the 61st day of the writers' strike. Jay Leno might be in a bit trouble for writing his own jokes this week. The WGA released this statement:
"A discussion took place today between Jay Leno and the Writers Guild to clarify to him that writing for The Tonight Show constitutes a violation of the Guilds' strike rules."

The hit '90s sitcom The Wayans Bros. starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans is coming to ION Television starting Monday, January 14, 2008. The sitcom will air back-to-back each weeknight at 6:00pm & 6:30pm ET/PT replacing Amen. The series also starred Anna Maria Horsford, who was also on Amen. So you'll still get your daily Anna Maria Horsford fix. No other changes will be made as of now. So we have back-to-back sitcoms each weeknight with The Wayans Bros, Alice, Mama's Family, Drew Carey Show, and Who's the Boss from 6-11pm.
To discuss this last minute change change, click on our ION Television January thread.

Video site Veoh.com will offer free full-length streamed videos today from NBC and Fox, including Heroes, The Office, The Simpsons and 24. Also new to the site: Battlestar Galactica and Monk from NBC Universal's Sci Fi and USA Networks. The site also plans to add to its CBS catalog which includes CSI: Miami and The Unit. A new "TV Shows" tab on the home page will reveal the hundreds of TV series available. Among the classic shows available are The A-Team, Kojak, Doogie Howser, Lou Grant, Mary Tyler Moore, Chicago Hope, WKRP, Remington Steele and more! Click HERE to watch!

Day 29: WGA's Strike; ION Holiday Highlights; Hallmark January Schedule

We are now on the 29th day of the strike. Negotiations resume tomorrow. Let's hope the WGA gets a deal they can't pass up this time. Jay Leno of NBC's Tonight Show will now pay the salaries of the non-writing staff for this week. Previously it was announced he would not and they would be laid off. Classic Leno episodes air again this week with guests like Michael Jordan from 1996.
In other news, ABC will place an encore episode of Grey's Anatomy this Tuesday at 9pm. This encore is the episode that aired on Thanksgiving night. It is part one of a two-part episode about an ambulance crash, titled "Crash into Me." Part 2 airs this Thursday at 9. Catch up this Tuesday if you missed it! It is very good! This change means repeat episodes of According to Jim will not air 9-10pm this Tuesday, but ABC will now air it on Dec. 18. It will still air Dec. 11 as planned.

As we promised we will give you the ION holiday highlights today. It is still not 100% complete, but we will share it anyway. If you browse our message boards, you've seen it already. Everyday is Christmas on ION, you can catch at least one holiday event each night. Among the items you will see this week are include a holiday episode of Alice, the movie Santa Trap, holiday episodes of Amen, and the movie The Night They Saved Christmas! In upcoming weeks you'll see more Alice and Amen holiday episodes, holiday episodes of Mama's Family and Who's the Boss? and special encores of the original movie Hogfather as well!
Click HERE to see the full holiday highlights and the rest of December's programming!

A few days back we gave you details on Hallmark's new acquisitions. Today we have the January schedule and it features one of those shows...7th Heaven and the renewed series Touched by an Angel. 7th Heaven will take the 1pm and 2pm slots on weekdays replacing Matlock. Matlock will air movie episodes on Sundays, but the regular series is on a break...not to worry because it has been renewed until 2011. 7th Heaven will also air Saturday mornings at 9am and 10am. Touched by an Angel gets the weekdays at noon slot, replacing one of the Murder, She Wrote airings.
For the full schedule and highlights, click HERE!

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!

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.

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!

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

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

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

Mini-DVD Review: Perry Mason - Season 2, Part 1 (June 19); Solomon's Weekly Rant: ION Television

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Perry Mason: Season 2, Part 1. 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: Season 2, Part 1:

Perry Mason: Season Two, Part 1 (CBS DVD, $39.98) brings the first 15 episodes of the second season of the show that featured America's all-time greatest defender (as well as Hamilton Burger, who HAS to be the worst DA EVER) in a four-disc DVD set. In this set, you'll find a case where a man is charged twice for killing the same man, a case where a woman is blackmailed by her ex-husband (who turns up dead), a case where a camera flash becomes part of a murder trial, a case where a parrot's testimony could incriminate one of Perry's clients, and many more. And if you have to ask who won the cases, then you just
don't know Perry Mason! Plus, there are guest roles featuring John Dehner, Joseph Kerns, Edgar Buchanan, and others there were bigger in their own time than they'll be remembered for in this set.
The set itself is presented in double slim cases (which is actually nice to see considering that CBS DVD seems to have abandoned these for other series) with artwork that is very similar to the two season one sets. And what is always amazing about these sets is the video and audio quality... sometimes we get shows that are ten years old that look lousy on DVD, yet somehow with these Perry Mason sets, with episodes that are FIFTY YEARS OLD, we get a beautiful picture on pretty much every episode along with audio that is generally pretty good too (it is improved in this season over the first season sets).
And there is never a need to worry about whether or not these are edited, as every single one runs over 51 minutes (this means that even if you are seeing reruns on a more generous station that airs 44 minute syndicated episodes, you are still missing out on up to 7 minutes per episode).
The only thing missing in this set is (once again) bonus features. Before the first volume was released, there was talk of the studio looking for special features to include in these sets, but so far, CBS DVD has been a disappointment in this area and we have yet to see any special features. Granted, many of the people involved with the show are no longer alive, but there has to be SOMETHING out there for this show... if nothing else, maybe some fans could contribute some special features for this set (there are plenty of Perry Mason fans out there). But in light of the evidence, such as the great episodes and the great quality of the set, I have to give a not guilty verdict to this wonderful DVD set!
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, June 16, 2007
"There's a New Girl in Town, With a Brand New BAD Style, And That is ION Television"
By Solomon Davis

I don't know where to start with the ION network because this channel has made my TV watching time very ODD so let's call this channel the "INCREDIBLY ODD NETWORK." One of the odd things about ION is the editing style which seems to be the Microsoft Word version of editing episodes. When watching episodes of Alice, it looks like they just cut and paste instead of cut and blend. It's the sloppiest form of editing I have ever seen in my rerun watching life. Not only that but ION goes to a commercial every 4 minutes during Alice making it impossible to follow a storyline. So why do they want to treat our eyes like a newborn baby and spoon feed us small doses of every episode?
This sloppy editing has made me stop recording Alice and wait for the DVD to be released because the ION episodes needs lots of improvement.
Not only is the editing crappy but the quality of the color of the episodes is very POOR. When watching Alice on ION it looks like the hours of operation for Mel's Diner is 12 midnight to 6am because the lighting is so dim. It makes me wonder if ION is being broadcast from someone's basement because everything presented to viewers just comes out as high school material.
Then the audio for the closing theme of Amen some nights is extra fast making it sound like it's being sung by Alvin & the Chipmunks. "Watch out cause here we come," is ION's motto, I guess.
I think ION should just go back to paid programming because they have shown they don't have the audio or editing skills to air TV sitcoms. Hey ION STOP DESTROYING OLD CLASSIC SITCOMS and get some real editors to work for your station instead of amateurs. People who tune in to see certain TV shows, especially rare to find series such as Alice, want well edited episodes, not SLICED and DICED episodes that are CRAZY GLUED to any scene making the storyline seem very ODD!! So until things change at this station, the new name for this channel is the ION: INCREDIBLY ODD NETWORK.

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.

TV One July Highlights; Nick at Nite, The N Changes; Honda Sponsors Sony Minisodes

There are not many highlights related to actual TV series for TV One in July, but we do have some. Here are some:
On Sunday, July 8 at 8pm, TV One premieres the legendary mini-series Roots: The Next Generations, the 14-hour, 7-part sequel to the original Roots miniseries that made television history. The story picks up in 1882 just after the original left off where Tom Harvey, the great grandson of Kunta Kinte has established a marginal existence as a blacksmith in Henning, Tennessee. The series continues the story of author Alex Haley’s family line from the Post American Civil War era to Alex’s search for his genealogical roots which led him to Africa. The mini-series stars Georg Stanford Brown, Lynne Moody, Debbi Morgan, Henry Fonda, Stan Shaw, Irene Cara, Marlon Brando, Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee, and James Earl Jones as Alex Haley. The first six parts air at 8pm all week through Friday, with encore showings at 10pm and in the weekday noon movie slots. They will also re-air on Saturday, July 14 from 12 noon to midnight. The final part will air Sunday night, July 15 also at 8pm and 10pm – and will be repeated on Monday, July 16 at 9pm.
Beginning Sunday, July 29 from 2am-6am, In the House replaces Amen in TV One’s Sunday weekly overnight comedy mini-marathons.

Nick at Nite has made a minor change for Saturday, June 23. From 10pm-2am, they have scheduled a mini-marathon for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What else is new, though?
The week of June 18, The N will air overnight marathons of the teen drama Summerland from 12-3am, but Monday it will be 12-6am.

Next week Sony will officially announce the full details for the Sony minisodes we mentioned a few weeks back. Today, Sony said Honda will be the sole sponsor for the short episodes. It is scheduled to begin next week. Visitors to the MySpace Web site will be able to watch episodes of 15 (initially...more will come soon) vintage Sony series like Charlie's Angels, Police Woman, The Partridge Family, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, What's Happening!!, Fantasy Island and Who's the Boss?, edited from their original lengths of approx. 30 or 60 minutes each to an Internet-friendly 4 to 6 minutes.
Honda and its longtime agency, RPA, have agreed to run only eight seconds of commercials with each episode, appearing before the shortened show starts. First, there will be an on-screen billboard lasting three seconds, declaring, "The Minisode Network, brought to you by Honda." The billboard will be followed by a five-second commercial for the Honda Fit, the mini-car that American Honda introduced last year, and its website.
The minisodes will appear exclusively on MySpace through the end of August. Initially, there will be three episodes of each series, with new episodes to be added each week. Sony Pictures Television announced the idea in April, describing it as a way to re-purpose for the new media programming that was originally produced for the traditional media.
The minisodes are not intended as pastiches or excerpts; they are edited carefully so the plots can be followed from beginning to end. (It helps that many of the series are formulaic sitcoms or police dramas.)
After the exclusivity with MySpace ends the goal is for the minisodes to come to other websites while remaining on MySpace. Sony Pictures Television is looking at sites like AOL.com, Yahoo! and YouTube, as well as posting them on a micro-site, a special site of their own.

TV Land Details TV Land Confidential Season 2 and New Series Back to the Grind; TV One Weddings with Amen and Good Times

Today TV Land announced the episode info and details for two new original series coming this July. The second season of the addictive TV Land Confidential and the series Back to the Grind, where classic TV stars actually go work in their classic TV character's profession!
Why was Ray Romano so reluctant to go to Italy to shoot Everybody Loves Raymond? What did Michael Jackson confess to Donny Osmond? What made the dance scenes in Saturday Night Fever so hot? TV Land, the network dedicated to building the ultimate Baby Boomer entertainment brand, answers these questions and reveals the untold stories behind viewers' favorite TV guest stars, finales, blockbuster movies and hit songs when the original series, TV Land Confidential, returns on Wednesday, July 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. This six-episode series, premiering with back-to-back episodes -- "Oddballs" and "Movies" -- airs every Wednesday at 10 p.m. through August 8.
For complete episode descriptions of the second season, click HERE.

What happens when Sherman Hemsley spends the day sweating it out at a real dry cleaning establishment? Can Loni Anderson really hack it as a receptionist at a top radio station? And does the courtroom listen when Harry Anderson starts hitting the gavel? Viewers will find out when TV Land airs Back to the Grind, a new original series premiering Wednesday, July 18 at 10:30 p.m. This half-hour series challenges iconic TV performers to actually work in the jobs their TV characters held on shows like The Jeffersons, Night Court and WKRP in Cincinnati. Other performers featured in the series include Erik Estrada (CHiPs), Marla Gibbs (The Jeffersons), Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Mark Curry (Hangin' With Mr. Cooper), Bea Arthur (The Golden Girls), Ed Begley Jr. (St. Elsewhere) and Jimmie Walker (Good Times).
This sounds good actually, and to learn more about the episodes, click HERE!

June is of course known for lots of things...Father's Day, First Day of Summer, among other things, but it is also a very popular month to get married! TV One celebrates with classic TV weddings from two very popular sitcoms...Amen & Good Times! See classic engagements, weddings, and more on Saturday from 2pm-10pm on TV One with happenings like Thelma finally marrying the Reverend on Amen! See eight episodes each of these two classic sitcoms!

We'll be back tomorrow with TV Land August details and later in the week details on TV One July.