TV Land December 2009 Includes 10th Annual Merrython; TNT Picks-Up Southland

This December on TV Land there are not many changes to the regular schedule, but of course we have the 10th Annual Merrython coming up filled with holiday episodes of all your TV Land favorites! But first, TV Land original series Make My Day returns Wednesday, December 2. It was pulled from the schedule in August but now will be burned-off with three weeks of episodes in the 10pm & 10:30pm half-hours. Amazing dreams really do come true when TV Land returns its new original comedic hidden camera series Make My Day on Wednesday, December 2 at 10:00 P.M. ET/PT on TV Land PRIME. The 30-minute series executive produced by Michael Davies provides an exciting window into the eventful day of an unsuspecting and deserving participant as hidden cameras capture the weird coincidences, extraordinary situations and surprise celebrity appearances that occur for them over the course of a seemingly "normal" day.
Kick start the holiday season with TV Land's 10th Annual Merrython on Sunday, December 13! TV Land delivers holiday cheer to our viewers during this all day marathon featuring holiday-themed episodes from classic series like Andy Griffith, All in the Family, Brady Bunch, Three's Company, Sanford & Son and Beverly Hillbillies together with modern favorites from Roseanne, 3rd Rock and The Cosby Show. Grab the eggnog, tune in with loved ones, and celebrate the holiday season with TV Land! It's three days of holiday magic on Sunday, December 13, 2009 from 6am-6am,
Thursday, December 24 from 8pm-6am and continues Friday, December 25 from 9am-9pm!
Saturday classic marathons continue in December with big blocks of Sanford & Son, Good Times, and Beverly Hillbillies. And the Friday night PRIME movies for the month are The Pelican Brief, Top Gun, and Planes Trains & Automobiles. Encore showings on weekends are of Crocodile Dundee II and City Slickers.
View the FULL TV Land December 2009 highlights with full Merrython details!

TNT has picked up the critically acclaimed series Southland, closing a deal with Warner Bros. Television that will bring the drama from Emmy-winning producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing) to the network in January. TNT has obtained exclusive rights to air all six episodes that have been shot for the second season, as well as the seven episodes from the series' first season. Southland will air on TNT Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning with the very first episode of the series on Jan. 12. Southland aired on NBC in the first season and they picked up a second season but then decided to cancel it before it even launched its second season. It is unclear right now if TNT will make more than the 6 episodes produced for season two. It will depend on ratings of the first season and the new second season.
As of now TNT will air the series following repeats of Law & Order. TNT will give it a lot promos though on their Monday night original block of The Closer and Men of a Certain Age.

Cougar Town Special Marathon on SOAPnet, ION Television November 2009; TV Land Makes Changes to Yesterday's Changes

SOAPnet announced that it will air a four-episode marathon of ABC's hit comedy Cougar Town on Saturday, November 14 from 5:00PM to 7:00PM. The critically acclaimed series airs Wednesdays at 9:30PM ET/PT on ABC. They are doing this to attract even more new viewers to the program. The show has done very well in the ratings, especially in the 18-49 demo. The Cougar Town marathon will include four previous episodes ("Pilot," "Into the Great Wide Open," "Don't Do Me Like That," and "I Won't Back Down") previously broadcast on ABC earlier this season.
Courteney Cox stars as Jules, a recently divorced single mother exploring the honest truths about dating and aging in our beauty and youth obsessed culture. While most women in their twenties go through life experiencing the challenges and often humorous pitfalls of meeting men, Jules took on the responsibilities of marriage and raising a son. Now in her forties, she embarks on a journey to self-discovery whilst surrounded by fellow divorcees and singletons eager to live or re-live a time gone by.
Along for the journey are her friends and family: Laurie (Busy Philipps), the younger, feisty co-worker who encourages her to get out there and have some fun; Ellie (Christa Miller), the sarcastic, unapologetic confidante content with her life and marriage to her average, but loveable husband, Andy (Ian Gomez); ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt), a classic under-achiever who'll test her patience as they attempt to raise their teenage son, Travis (Dan Byrd); and newly divorced neighbor Grayson (Josh Hopkins), who proves to be a catalyst of sorts for Jules.

This November on ION Television, we don't have any schedules changes, as of now, but we have a lot of movie premieres. ION airs movies Fridays in primetime and all-day on Saturday & Sundays (3pm-11pm). Movie premieres for the month are On Deadly Ground, Breach, Heist, Miami Vice, Out for Justice, Waterworld, Demolition Man, and The Rookie. Encore airings include Hunt for Red October, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Last Boy Scout, Batman Forever, Sphere, Pale Rider, Magnum Force, and The Enforcer.
So the regular weekday schedule will remain the same as it is now, with Reba at 4, Family Feud from 5-7p, Ghost Whisperer at 7, and in primetime Ghost Whisperer at 8, followed by various nights and times of NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Durham County.
See the full ION Television November 2009 schedule.

Yesterday we announced some TV Land schedule changes that starts today...and now they have made changes to those changes. Bonanza will still replace Gunsmoke at 3pm, leaving Gunsmoke only at 2pm on weekdays, but now Bonanza will remain in its 4pm and 5pm hours. That means All in the Family (originally scheduled to air 4pm) will now air back-to-back in the 6pm hour replacing Little House on the Prairie, which leaves the weekday schedule now. It will remain Sunday nights (early Monday mornings) from 4-6am. Sanford & Son (originally scheduled to air 5pm) will now get the 7pm hour, replacing Andy Griffith, Hogan's Heroes and Brady Bunch hours. Andy Griffith Show will still be replacing series from 8-10pm weekdays (Fridays it is 8-9pm), as we announced yesterday. However, Cosby Show will replace Andy's Monday block from 10pm-12am. Other little changes include two-hour episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on weekends from 8-10am, Gunsmoke & Bonanza on Sundays are now 10am-3pm, and Andy Griffith is now 3pm-9pm on Sundays. M*A*S*H follows on Sundays from 9pm-11pm, as Roseanne gets an additional hour now on Sundays airing 11pm-2am. Also a personal bummer for me, the Three's Company marathon slated for this Saturday (Oct. 31) from 12:30pm-8pm, will be replaced by Sanford & Son and it gets two more hours, too, airing from 12:30pm-10pm.
See the full changes and the full TV Land schedule now.

TV Land Orders Sitcom Pilots, Schedule Changes This Week; NBC Orders Full Seasons of 3 Shows; Remembering Soupy Sales and More

TV Land has given cast-contingent pilot orders to the comedy series Hot in Cleveland and Retired at 35. This is TV Land's first foray into scripted comedy series and is being developed for TV Land PRIME, the network's primetime programming block designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s.
Hot in Cleveland is written by Emmy Award-winning Suzanne Martin (Frasier, Ellen) and produced by Emmy Award-winner Sean Hayes' (Will & Grace) Hazy Mills Production.
Chris Case (Reba, Spin City) is the writer for Retired at 35 and Michael Hanel and Mindy Schultheis (Rita Rocks, Reba, Titus) are executive producers.
Hot in Cleveland revolves around three fabulous, eccentric, LA women of a certain age, and best friends whose lives are changed forever when their plane unexpectedly lands in Cleveland and they soon rediscover themselves in this new "promised land." Retired at 35 follows a successful businessman who decides to leave the rat race of New York City behind and move into his parents’ Florida retirement home to reconnect with them, reevaluate his life and live the dream of retirement that so many are working towards.
These are just pilot orders, it doesn't mean they will air and have been picked-up. It all depends on the cast and if the pilots came out good. So stay with us and you'll find out if they actually make it on air!

Also at TV Land, some changes are happening this week...and they are pretty good if you like classic TV! Starting tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 27), weekdays in the 4pm hour will now be more All in the Family, replacing an episode of Bonanza. All in the Family will also still remain in the 12 noon half-hour as well! In the 5pm hour, we now have an hour of Sanford & Son, replacing Bonanza. And Sanford & Son will remain in the 11am hour as well. Bonanza is now airing 6pm om Tuesdays (Little House remains on the other weekdays), Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, and weekdays at 3pm now replacing an episode of Gunsmoke, which remains at 2pm. The other weekday changes in the 7pm hour is now The Andy Griffith Show, as Hogan's Heroes and Brady Bunch are not airing anymore on weekdays. Andy will also air from 8-10pm each weeknight (except Fridays it is 7-9pm). This means the primetime marathons from 9pm-12am are now cut to 10pm-12am, with Andy on Mondays, 3rd Rock on Tuesdays, M*A*S*H on Wednesdays, and Roseanne on Thursdays. Everything else is the same as it was before.

NBC has picked up the comedies Community (Thursdays, 8:00 p.m. ET) and Parks and Recreation (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m. ET) -- as well as the new drama Mercy (Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m. ET) -- for the rest of the season by adding nine additional episodes to each.
All three are doing so-so in the ratings, but NBC has picked them up anyway for full seasons. Parks and Recreation is in its first full season after launching mid-season last spring, while the other two are actually rookies. So far this season, Mercy has averaged a 2.1 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 7.8 million viewers overall. Community has averaged a 2.6 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers overall so far this season, that includes a stint at 9:30 p.m. after The Office. And Parks and Recreation has averaged a 2.1 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 4.8 million viewers overall this season.
The jury is still out for NBC's Trauma, which has not heard its fate yet.

Finally, we leave you today with a recap of many stars that have passed away in the past week or so.
Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died. Sales died at Thursday (Oct. 22, 2009) night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said. The comic's pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show. His greatest success came in New York with The Soupy Sales Show in 1976 -- an ostensible children's show that had little to do with Captain Kangaroo and other kiddie fare. Sales' manic, improvisational style also attracted an older audience that responded to his envelope-pushing antics. His sitcom credits included Hennessey, The Beverly Hillbillies, Love American Style, Love Boat, Wings and Boy Meets World. He appeared on many game shows as well such as What's My Line, I've Got a Secret, The Match Game, Hollywood Squares, Body Language, and more. Mr. Sales will certainly be missed. Let's throw a pie in someone's face or at least eat a pie in honor of him. Mr. Sales was 83.
Vic Mizzy, who composed the indelible theme music for The Addams Family and Green Acres died Saturday, October 17 in Los Angeles. For the The Addams Family theme, which became a long-remembered part of '60s pop culture, Mizzy played the harpsichord and sang the vocal parts (overdubbing his own voice three times) and coached the actors during the main-title sequence (including on-camera finger-snapping by the actors). The equally iconic Green Acres theme was performed by stars Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor. Mizzy also wrote all the underscore for both series. His theme for Addams was reprised in the 1990s feature films. Mizzy also had many other 1960s and '70s sitcom themes that also included The Pruitts of Southampton, The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, Captain Nice, The Don Rickles Show and Temperature's Rising. He also wrote underscores for TV's Richard Boone Show and Quincy along with several TV movies including Terror on the 40th Floor. His film scores included the William Castle films The Night Walker and The Busy Body; five Don Knotts films: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Shakiest Gun in the West, The Reluctant Astronaut, The Love God? and How to Frame a Figg; and other films including The Caper of the Golden Bulls, Don't Make Waves and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? His TV and film scores will certainly remain on TV/film, but he will certainly be missed. Mr. Mizzy was 93.
TV director Linda Day passed away on Friday, October 23, 2009. Linda was the first woman to receive steady employment as a TV director. To her credit are more than 50 different series and 350 episodes including Married... with Children (for which she did the pilot and continued for more than two years), Archie Bunker's Place, Dallas, Kate & Allie, Alice, WKRP, Benson, Newhart, Too Close for Comfort, Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, It's Your Move, Double Trouble, Small Wonder, Gimme a Break, Throb, Women in Prison, Major Dad, Top of the Heap, Teacher's Only, Mad About You, Who's the Boss?, Baby Talk, Almost Home, Thea, The Nanny, Unhappily Ever After, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Clueless. And that's just some of the shows! During the 1980's and part of the 1990's, Linda was one of the top 5 television directors currently then working. She will be certainly be missed and was a pioneer for women TV directors. Ms. Day was 71.

TV Land November 2009 Highlights; Lifetime Weekday Changes

This November on TV Land, there will be no schedule changes, as of now, but we have movie premieres and the annual Thanksgiving event! The regular schedule with changes that started in October will carry over into November. So Married...with Children is still not back on TV Land. Friday PRIME movie premieres for November are Crocodile Dundee II and Twelve Angry Men. Encores for the month are City Slickers and Footloose. TV Land will also premiere the big screen Dennis the Menace movie on Saturday, November 21 at 8am. Not sure why they didn't premiere it in primetime...could be a contract thing. Weekend marathon blocks continue in November, but Sundays are now the same every week with blocks of Hogan's Heroes, Beverly Hillbillies, TV Land Goes West and Andy Griffith Show. But on Saturdays they are different each week. We will see marathon blocks such as Brady Bunch, Sanford & Son, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Leave it to Beaver, and The Beverly Hillbillies.
As for stunts, all we have in November 2009 is the 3rd Annual Overstuffed Thanksgiving Weekend from Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) to Sunday, November 29. TV Land knows that once the holidays begin that you can always make room for one more - eating one more helping of food, giving one more gift or watching one more of your favorite classic TV shows! The 3rd Annual Overstuffed Thanksgiving Weekend will serving up four days filled with multi-packs of great TV. So gather the family around and feed your funny bone with multiple TV servings as well as a back-to-back double-features of some our viewers' favorite movies. With favorites The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford & Son, Little House on The Prairie, Beverly Hillbillies, Brady Bunch and Hogan's Heroes together with movies Crocodile Dundee II and Footloose, there will be something for everyone in the family!
It looks like a November to remember on TV Land! View the full TV Land November 2009 schedule and highlights!

Starting today Lifetime has made some minor schedule changes. The 12pm airing of Wife Swap will be replaced by Medium, but Wife Swap will still remain 1pm & 2pm. Then weeknights at 7pm starting tomorrow (because Project Runway marathon is today from 3pm-11pm) will be a third consecutive hour of Grey's Anatomy, replacing Medium. Grey's Anatomy's late night airing of 1:30am will be replaced by Medium starting tonight, though. So Medium gets a third airing, but it loses its evening slot. And finally on weekends, How I Met Your Mother was airing Saturday nights 1-2am, now that will be Sunday nights 1-2am instead.
As for original sitcoms Sherri and Rita Rocks, catch new episodes Tuesdays at 10pm & 10:30pm and then encores later that night at 1am & 1:30am. And for this week only, the comedies are encoring 10am-11am weekdays this week ONLY.

TV Land October 2009 Highlights; Retroality.TV's Totally Awesome Features for September

October 2009 for TV Land will be the same regular schedule that will start in September, as of now. There are some minor weekend time adjustments, but it is not a big deal. This October, Married...with Children's Saturday block goes from 5pm-10pm to 2pm-10pm, while Andy Griffith Show's Sunday block goes from 5pm-10pm to 5pm-12am. As a result, M*A*S*H's Sunday primetime airing gets shifted to Saturdays 10pm-1am replacing Cosby Show. That's all but there are plenty of highlights! First off, leading into Married on Saturdays will continue to be various classic marathons each week, in October on Saturdays we have 3rd Rock from the Sun, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sanford & Son, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Three's Company...with time varying, but usually between 10am-2pm. Leading into Andy on Sundays will continue to be various classic marathons each week as well, in October on Sundays we get Hogan's Heroes, Bonanza, Good Times, and Gunsmoke.
TV Land invites you again for the annal event CASA Family Day. Spend the 6pm hour with your family around the family table during CASA's annual Family Day on Monday, September 28. This year an episode of Little House on the Prairie will air.
This Halloween be scared. Be very scared! Because it's Roseanne's Wicked Halloween Bash! Catch every single Halloween episode from Roseanne's run on Halloween night from 10pm-2am! What better way for a wicked Halloween bash? Michael Myers who?
Finally, the TV Land PRIME movies for October are Police Academy, Office & a Gentleman, The Mod Squad, The Bodyguard, and Private Benjamin.
View the TV Land October 2009 Highlights.

Chris Mann's Retroality.TV has many many new features coming this September that will something for everyone! The cover story for September will be about Susan Olsen's new book Love to Love You Bradys, a look at how the Bradys paved the way for reality TV! There will be another cover story as well! Chris Mann has part 1 of an explosive two-part, in-depth interview with Farrah's Story executive producer Craig J. Nevius. Two days before NBC premiered the special back in May, Nevius sued Ryan O'Neal and Alana Stewart, claiming they interfered in the project and barred him from carrying out the terms of his signed April 2008 contract with Farrah. Nevius also was barred from contacting Farrah during the last three months of her life. She died of course on June 25 after a three-year struggle with anal cancer. In part one of this exclusive interview, Nevius discusses his five-year friendship and business relationship with Fawcett--beginning with a failed Charlie's Angels reunion and then TV Land's Chasing Farrah--and his promise to help her win an Emmy (She and Nevius are nominated for their roles as executive producers in Farrah's Story). Part 2 of the story will post by Sept. 7, leading up to the Creative Arts Emmys on Sept. 12.
Also, coming this September to this wonderful and cool website is a story on why TV Land censors Sanford and Son from guest columnist John Wekluk. And Price is Right fans take note, part four of Holly Hallstrom's audio interview will be posted in mid-September. She discusses, among other things, Rod Roddy's tragic, lengthy battle with colon cancer and why Bob Barker's longtime on-screen sidekick was suddenly taken off camera--against Roddy's wishes--on The Price is Right in 2002. Was it "Come on Out" instead of "Come on Down" for Roddy? You'll want to hear this!
And finally, the home page of Retroality.TV will feature links to last month's exclusive Hollywood Show video interviews, including Chris' chat with Tanya Roberts (who discusses her husband's death after a long illness, as well as Farrah's passing), Three's Company's Jenilee Harrison (Cindy Snow), and his revealing four-part chat with Susan Olsen (who gives Chris Brady scoops on her book, the Jan and Marcia "feud" and a rumored Oprah reunion this fall). That Olsen video is perfect timing since one of the cover stories is on Susan Olsen!
So head on over to our pals at Retroality.TV! Chris Mann never disappoints!

TV Land and Spike TV Fall 2009 Updates; Lifetime Original Sitcoms Update; A Personal Message

Today we have a couple of updates to fall schedules we already gave you. Viacom strikes again. Yesterday we mentioned Married...with Children is returning to TV Land effective immediately. So yes this will indeed affect TV Land's September line-up that we originally gave you. Married...with Children will remain on the TV Land schedule this September as well! Starting Sept. 14 it will air weeknights 8-9pm and will join the weeknight 9pm-12am block on Tuesday nights. So this means Andy Griffith Show will not air weeknights 7-9pm anymore, as originally planned. Beverly Hillbillies will still fill the 7pm hour, as that change starts next week. Originally the 9pm-12am block from Mon-Thurs had Andy on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday, M*A*S*H on Wednesday, and Cosby Show on Thursday. Now it will be Andy on Monday, Married...with Children on Tuesday, Cosby Show on Wednesday, and Roseanne on Thursday.
Also, Married...with Children will air on Saturdays as well in marathon blocks during the day instead of Andy Griffith, but that will remain on Sundays. Late Sunday nights from 4-6am will now be Brady Bunch airings. And since the Cosby Show primetime block goes from Thursdays to Wednesdays, the 25th anniversary marathon moves to Wednesday, Sept. 23.
View the fully updated TV Land September 2009 line-up.

And that's not all for changes! Spike TV's Fall 2009 line-up starts on Monday, Sept. 28, as we told you. There is one change now. Instead of Married...with Children from 9-11am on weekday mornings, we now get a morning movie. Why? You guessed it...sister network TV Land is now airing the show on weekdays and Saturdays as we mentioned above. But on Sundays, Spike TV will still air the show in the mornings and sometimes in the 1am hour on that night. Everything else for Spike TV Fall 2009 is the same as we previously relayed to you, so Unsolved Mysteries is still Mon-Wed nights at 2am.

Moving on to Lifetime, we first announced the premiere date for Lifetime's new original sitcom Sherri as October 5 on our Lifetime Fall 2009 schedule...now we have full details on that and the return of Rita Rocks.
The all-new, multi-camera comedy series Sherri, premieres Monday, October 5, at 7PM ET/PT on Lifetime Television. Sherri will bow as part of a one-hour comedy block paired with the returning Rita Rocks, starring Nicole Sullivan, at 7:30PM ET/PT. Both series will feature stripped original episodes for a full week in the 7PM hour. Sherri will then move into its regular timeslot Tuesdays at 10PM ET/PT, followed by Rita Rocks Tuesdays at 10:30PM ET/PT--both starting Oct. 13.
Sherri centers around a newly single mom, paralegal and part-time comedienne/actress who tries to get back into the dating scene and move on with her life after divorcing her cheating husband. Sherri finds solace and support among her girlfriends at the office while juggling her hectic life.
Sherri marks the first comedy series ever to be wholly owned by Lifetime. The Network has picked up 12 episodes of the program, to be produced in New York by Lifetime Television. Also starring in the series are Elizabeth Regen, Kate Reinders, Kali Rocha and Tammy Townsend. Classic TV stars Malcolm-Jamal Warner and James Avery will guest-star in multiple episodes.

Finally, I have a few personal news for you. Tonight's episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is the one I went to! Watch Night 5 tonight at 8pm ET/PT on ABC. Hint: I'm sitting close to where the contestant's spouse/family member sits, but in the third row instead of the first row. And finally, since 1997 I've been raising money for a Walkathon. This year I'm raising money online as well. So I'm asking you readers out there to help me out for my online portion and donate for a great cause that benefits so many causes, including the American Cancer Society. Any amount is good and you'll feel good for donating! So please donate today (I sound like Sally Struthers, don't I?)! You'll find all the info on that link...it is amazing. Please help us out!

TV Land Brings Back Married with Children; New RTV Station In Northwest Arkansas

We interrupt our fall schedule barrage blog posts for a special announcement! The Bundys are back! TV Land made a very last minute schedule change yesterday and aired a block of Married...with Children last night from 8:30pm-11pm. TV Land will also air the show again on Friday from 7-9pm and on Saturday a 12-hour marathon will air from 12pm-12am, replacing blocks of Green Acres and Andy Griffith. The final Green Acres block is on Aug. 22 from 6am-8:30am, as the contract for the series is expiring. So, after these special airings, Married...with Children will return to the TV Land line-up! Spike TV isn't airing it daily right now, but is scheduled to return it as of now starting Sept. 28...so it seems TV Land will air it daily until then at least. Effective next week, Married...with Children will air Tuesdays 8pm-12am, Wednesdays & Thursdays 8-10pm and Fridays 8-9pm. Essentially replacing Cosby Show and Roseanne slots. The Cosby Show's 7-8pm hour will now belong to The Beverly Hillbillies starting Monday (Aug. 17), while Cosby Show moves to 3-4am instead of another hour of Roseanne.
Also, there will be another 12-hour Married...with Children marathon on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 10am-10pm, replacing the scheduled Bonanza and Andy blocks. The series has done well for TV Land but had to be pulled because Spike TV (a sister network) was putting it back on the daily schedule. Right now Spike is only airing it Sunday mornings.
View the updated TV Land August 2009 changes. So how will this affect TV Land in September starting Sept. 14? We're not sure, but I expect changes to the original Sept. schedule. Looks like we'll have to update our TV Land fall schedule post. Will Married...with Children be a part of it? We shall see. Stay with us, as always!

KPBI-TV the full power MyNetwork TV affiliate in North West Arkansas will drop its MyNetwork TV affiliation this week and become a full-time Retro Television RTV affiliate! According to Greg Fess, President of KPBI, "I am very excited to be bringing the RTV Network to the NW Arkansas area. We love the family friendly programs that we have enjoyed over the years. We know that viewers will embrace this new programming on KPBI which has served the area for many years as a broadcasting leader."
RTV's Neal Ardman pointed to the success many full power primary stations are now having using RTV on the main channel as the primary and often only network. "We have enjoyed tremendous ratings success in several markets including Boston on WMFP, Knoxville on WMAK and WPXS in St. Louis. RTV offers what other networks can't. Along with fantastic shows like Magnum P.I. and Quincy, RTV provides most of its affiliates 24/7 centralized master control on a barter basis. The RTV model has to be the future of TV for the local station to survive," said Ardman. By providing the both the local and nation content on an individual stream the stations have little if any capitol cost in launching and the only ongoing cost is the actual cost of spot sales.

We hope to have a fall schedule for you tomorrow, pending approval. So bear with us, we are trying! We still have quite a few left to deliver.

TV Land September 2009 Schedule; ABC and Fox Schedule Changes

TV Land has announced its September 2009 line-up. Is it their fall line-up though? We're not sure yet. Because this only covers Aug. 31-Sept.27. So TV Land could have something in store starting Sept. 28. There aren't much changes to the schedule. But before we get to that, we have to tell you The Andy Griffith Show will air Mondays 6-10pm and Sunday nights 4-6am now for all of August and a few times on Tuesdays (Aug. 4 and 25) from 6pm-7:30pm. Now that that is out of the way, we can tell you about September. There are only a few changes, mainly in primetime. Weekdays from 7-9pm will now be The Andy Griffith Show starting Monday, Sept. 14. It will lead into marathons on Mon-Thurs from 9pm-12am with more Andy on Mondays, Roseanne on Tuesdays, M*A*S*H on Wednesdays, and The Cosby Show on Thursdays. M*A*S*H's regular 5-6am Wednesday airings will be preempted for more Three's Company as a result of this change. Everything else is the same as August, except Little House is back Sundays 4-6am instead of Andy...for now. I say for now because the August Andy Griffith changes happened after the September schedule was released.
TV Land PRIME original series How'd You Get So Rich and Make My Day will have their season finales on Wednesday, Sept. 9. Weekends will still have classic marathons that have a classic show and Andy Griffith paired up. Those shows include Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, and Brady Bunch. Speaking of Brady Bunch, that is their 40th anniversary marathon. It's unbelievable that it has been 40 years since that "one day when that lady met that fellow" but it's true and TV Land is celebrating in grand style for one whole week. Beginning Monday, September 21 to Friday, September 25 catch episodes from 7pm-9pm and then if that isn't enough of this bunch, catch even more episodes on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27 from 10am-6pm to round out the celebration. It's the best of the Bradys all week long and it will be positively groovy!!
That's not all for anniversaries! The Cosby Show is turning 25! Join TV Land PRIME Thursday, September 24 from 9pm-12am and say Happy 25th Birthday to The Huxtables as PRIME celebrate the years of laughter The Cosby Show brought to our TV screens. This quarter-century milestone marathon features extra-special episodes that highlight memorable moments from the series and pays special tribute to America's favorite sitcom family.
Finally, catch premieres of this month's movies on Labor Day (Monday, September 7 from 9am-6:30pm) if you can't wait for them every Fridays at 9pm! All-month long the network will air new movies and you can see them on Labor Day first...Private Benjamin, Airplane II, The Bodyguard and Field of Dreams.
So is this the fall schedule? Will something new be added on Sept. 28? We're not sure yet. But stay with us! And as usual, this schedule is subject to change, since TV Land always changes something. So again stay with us for that, if it happens. View the full TV Land September 2009 schedule and highlights.

ABC has altered its schedule a bit. Late yesterday just hours before The Bachelorette finale, they decided to air an instant special encore of The Bachelorette finale for Tuesday (July 28) from 8-10pm, preempting the season finale of The Superstars and an all-new episode of comedy Better off Ted. So if you missed the drama of the Bachelorette finale, you can watch it again leading into the special all-new After the Final Rose special. So with The Superstars season finale now on Tuesday, Aug. 4 from 8pm-9:30pm, the Scrubs repeats will no longer air...but it will air at 9:30pm on this date. The final two episodes of the season of Better off Ted were originally supposed to air July 28 and Aug. 4 at 9:30pm, will now air for an hour on Tuesday, Aug. 11 from 9-10pm following Night 3 of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. One other note, ABC will encore the pilot episode of summer hit Dating in the Dark on Monday at 9pm, shifting the all-new episode to 10pm. The show will air new episodes at 10pm starting the following week now. See the announcement we made on this last night in a list form.
Also at ABC, we announced on Friday on our message board that Shark Tank is scheduled to air additional airings on Sundays on August 30, September 6 and 13, 2009 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. Shark Tank is also still scheduled to air on Sundays on August 9, 16 and 23, 2009 at 9:00 PM ET/PT after Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, as planned. However, Shark Tank is no longer scheduled to air on Tuesdays, effective August 25, 2009 in the 8:00 PM ET/PT slot. Tuesdays at 8PM starting Aug. 25 is now TBD. Shark Tank will move to Tuesdays at 8PM this fall now, likely Sept. 22 or 29. 13 episodes have been ordered and six will air in the "summer" season.

Fox has made some changes to its fall line-up. They are moving the premieres of So You Think You Can Dance and Glee up a week to Wednesday, Sept. 9, while pushing comedies Brothers and 'Til Death back slightly. Brothers will now premiere with back-to-back episodes in the 8pm hour on Friday, Sept. 25, while 'Til Death will take over the 8:30pm Friday slot the following week on Friday, Oct. 2. Fox will air more Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader episodes Fridays at 8pm now on Sept. 11 and 18. If you missed the special pilot of Glee this past May, Fox will re-air it on Wednesday, Sept. 2 and again on Friday, Sept. 4 at 9pm. Glee will also encore its first two episodes on Friday, Sept. 11 and 18 at 9pm.

New Biography Episodes on Bio TV in August 2009; Hallmark Primetime News

This August on Bio TV we get three all-new Biography episodes related to TV series! First up is Biography: Family Ties on Tuesday, August 4 at 10pm ET. Ronald Reagan's favorite TV show was none other than Family Ties, the 80's comedy about hippies Elyse and Steven Keaton and their Young Republican son, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox). They explore the show's genesis, the lives of its cast and crew, and the partisan politics of the Keaton's happy and hilarious home.
Next the following Tuesday on Tuesday, August 11 at 10pm ET, we get Biography: Three's Company! What do you get when a bubbly blond, a practical brunette, and a clumsy bachelor all live under one roof? Three's Company -- the sexy sitcom that had audiences laughing (and swooning) throughout the late '70s and early '80s. But for the loveable roommates, the eight-year run wasn't all fun and games. They'll explore Three's Company's ups and downs--from topping the ratings chart to fighting on-set battles over paychecks, and from breaking down cultural boundaries to facing boycott threats from moral watchdogs.
Finally the next Tuesday on Tuesday, August 18 at 10pm ET, we get Biography: Roseanne! She's racked up an Emmy, three ex-husbands (including Tom Arnold), and her own comedy, talk, cooking, reality, and radio shows. Bio TV chronicles the life and times of the loud-mouthed comedienne who can't keep her mouth shut (on or off the screen).
Bio TV also premieres The Andy Griffith Retrospective Special from 1993 on Tuesday, August 25 at 10pm ET. This one-hour special features cast members from The Andy Griffith Show gather to reminisce about the classic 1960s TV series.
Biography encores for August include Kim Fields, Alyssa Milano, Kristy McNichol, Michael J. Fox, Teen Heartthrobs on Aug. 4; Patrick Duffy, Suzanne Somers, John Ritter, Don Knotts on Aug. 11; Ed Asner, Patricia Heaton, Mr. T, Carroll O'Connor on Aug. 18; and Friends, Matthew Perry, Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, Happy Days on Aug. 25. Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals encores for the month are on The Love Boat & M*A*S*H (Aug. 11) and Welcome Back Kotter, The Facts of Life & Roseanne (Aug. 18).

Beginning next Monday (Monday, July 27), the two-week test run is over for Hallmark Channel in primetime...but there will be some reminisce of it! Right now Touched by an Angel is airing 8-10pm, followed by The Golden Girls from 10pm-1am and Cheers 1-2:30am. Now that two-week run will end. Touched by an Angel will be the only show continuing like this and will add an extra hour, airing Mon-Thurs from 8-11pm, while The Golden Girls goes back to 11pm-2am and Cheers sharing the 2am hour with I Love Lucy. Movies will air Fridays from 9-11pm.

Stay with us starting next week as we start our blog fall schedule barrage posts! We will have something different each weekday until we just about get them all! Don't you just love that time of year? The Summer TCA tour also begins next Tuesday, so it's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

2009 4th of July TV Marathons; Blog DVD Review: Matlock - The Third Season

As America celebrates its 233rd birthday, you can celebrate by watching television marathons of course! If you are not doing anything outdoors, what better way to celebrate? Among the marathons of course is the launch of Sister, Sister on BET, as we previously mentioned. The fun starts at 9am and runs all the way to 4am! TV Land will spend the day with classic marathons of Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith Show before its feuds and fireworks event with Roseanne for the night capper from 8pm-6am. TV One celebrates the holiday with Martin until 8pm. The N has over a 70-hour Degrassi marathon then continues today and tomorrow. So far all of these we have already announced in the past in our news reports. Hallmark Channel will celebrate with the Love's movie franchise all day today and tomorrow they will have Little House on the Prairie. On Friday they had M*A*S*H.
Elsewhere, what 4th of July would it be without The Twilight Zone on Sci-Fi? It started yesterday and will air all-day today until 6am Sunday morning! Reality is the way to go otherwise with Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel and The Revolution on History. Movie lovers might like the James Bond movie marathon on USA Network, and the movies on ABC Family, Lifetime, FX, and TNT.
It's not as many marathons as usual since the holiday is on a Saturday this year it seems.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog programming:

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the blog DVD review! Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Matlock: The Third Season. Matlock of course is the very popular courtroom drama starring Andy Griffith that is often mentioned on The Simpsons as Grandpa Simpson's favorite show. See skees53's blog DVD review of Matlock: The Third Season:

Matlock: The Third Season (CBS DVD, $49.99) serves 20 episodes of justice to fans in a five disc DVD set. When you've been charged with a serious crime in Atlanta and you know you are innocent, you need the best. You need somebody that will play rough and dirty with the prosecutor. You need somebody that isn't afraid to go there. You need a man in a gray suit. You need Atlanta's finest, Ben Matlock (Andy Griffith).

The Third Season of Matlock is the season where we are introduced to a new neighbor and friend of Matlock, Les "Ace" Calhoun (Don Knotts). Knotts, of course, worked with Andy Griffith in the 1960s on the classic TV hit The Andy Griffith Show, and this reunion of Griffith and Knotts brings back a lot of the old chemistry that they had working together on that series. Knotts would make many appearances on the series in this recurring role for several seasons, until the series moved to ABC in the early 1990s. As for the rest of the cast, we still have Matlock's partner in his firm, Michelle Thomas (Nancy Stafford) and his private investigator, Tyler Hudson (Kene Holliday), who always seems to have to do the rough and dirty work on behalf of the law firm. Prosecutor Julie March (Julie Sommars) is there as Matlock's opponent, and although she simply can't win against the ruthless defense techniques of Ben Matlock, she isn't nearly as incompetent as the character of Hamilton Burger on the TV series Perry Mason. But Matlock is in it to win it, and you can't go wrong with him on your side.

We are introduced to Les Calhoun in the third season premiere, "The Lemon," when he buys a used car from a shady used car dealer (he buys a DeLorean, the same car used on the Back to the Future movies). But like every DeLorean, he ends up with a lemon and gets angry with the car dealer, and not long thereafter, the car dealer ends up murdered. It's Matlock to the rescue! Matlock must go to New York City to defend a British ambassador accused of murder in the two-part episode "The Ambassador." Matlock (reluctantly) agrees to take the case of a shock jock accused of murdering his competition in "The D.J." Matlock must take on a vigilante police captain in "The Captain." The entire office (sans Matlock) is being held hostage in "The Vendetta," but why are they being held hostage? And why isn't Matlock there to save the day?
Matlock has a client that is accused of a political assassination in Chicago in the two-part episode "The Mayor," but he simply can't find the evidence to acquit him. In "The Black Widow," a man is wrongly accused of murder after his wife fakes her own death, but after he serves his sentence and released she actually is murdered. Can Matlock exonerate him? The first runner-up in a beauty contest will never be called upon to fulfill her duties in "The Starlet" after she is murdered, but did the winner murder her? A psychic predicts a murder in "The Psychic," but was this truly an accurate prediction or did she have worldly knowledge?
Everything is complicated in the two-part episode "The Thief," where a coin shop owner is accused of killing one of his employees, and one of Matlock's suspects kidnaps the daughter of the female detective that he put on the case. A mentally challenged man is accused of murder in "The Thoroughbred," and Matlock has to do his best to defend him based upon his innocence. Matlock is determined to not give up on his client after being hit by a car in "The Model." In "The Cult," a man is accused of killing the cult-leader that brainwashed his son, and Tyler has to join the cult in order to do some undercover work to prove his innocence. The season ends with "The Priest," where a priest is murdered... or is he?

The set does not have any fancy packaging, which should be expected from a CBS DVD set. It is just the standard CBS DVD plastic case, containing five discs. The cover art has a very basic cast photo shot, and inside the case, we have a listing of all of the episodes, along with original airdates and brief descriptions. There are exactly four episodes on each disc. Of course, as this is a CBS DVD product, the menus are the same as every other CBS DVD set as well, with nothing more than a main menu that has a listing of all of the episodes on the disc, as well as a Play All option.

Once again, the episodes appear to be unedited, although it is important to note that the set DOES contain a disclaimer saying that some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. I did not notice anything significant. However, as was the case with the previous season, all of the episode previews have been removed from the episodes. This isn't significant, as these merely preview what is going to be on the upcoming episode, but if the producers saw it appropriate to include them on the TV broadcast, I can't understand why they should remove them on the DVD set. Still, they are not an integral part of the episode. Each episode runs around 48 minutes. Every episode is closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired. There are no special features at all on this set. It would have been nice to have seen something from the original cast, such as a cast reunion.

This set is a very basic set that isn't fancy or flashy, but then again, Matlock is a very basic series that isn't fancy or flashy. This is a great show to watch, even if it is unrealistic to think that there may actually be a defense attorney in the world that is as effective as Ben Matlock. My only hope is that future sets include something--anything really--along the lines of special features! The Second Season did include alternate endings to one episode, but other than that, we have seen nothing on these sets. This is a cult favorite (even if that cult consists of a lot of senior citizens, although the series is popular among younger people as well), and the fans want something extra on these sets! Still, it is nice to see that CBS DVD is releasing (what appears to be) unedited episodes with mostly decent video and audio quality. I will now rest my defense of this sufficient set of this excellent series and hope that you judge this DVD set the same way.

-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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

TV Land Classic Marathons on Weekends Continues; Remembering Gale Storm

We have some minor TV Land schedule changes to tell you about. First off, Married...with Children is indeed airing tonight from approx. 8-11pm ET/PT for its last "scheduled" airing on TV Land. We have said that many times before, too, though and it always returns. Starting next Monday (July 6), TV Land will air another night of PRIME movies from 8-10pm, with Roseanne getting the 10pm hour. PRIME Monday movies scheduled for July are the premiere of History of the World and encores of Doc Hollywood, National Lampoon's Vacation, and National Lampoon's European Vacation.
Now as we all have seen the last few weekends, TV Land is having marathons on weekends during the day and now they will continue in July as well now. This past weekend was Married...with Children, but it was abbreviated because of the Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson tributes. These marathons are called "Classic Marathons" and will consist of a classic show followed by an Andy Griffith Show marathon, so yes, Andy will still be on weekends only. The first show airs usually from 11am-5pm, with Andy from 5-10pm, but the times vary. The weekend of July 4-5 will be Leave it to Beaver and Andy (with the scheduled "Roseanne 4th of July Feuds & Fireworks" marathon from 8pm-6am both nights). July 11-12 it will be Hogan's Heroes and Andy. July 18-19 its The Brady Bunch and Andy on Saturday, while Bonanza gets the nod on Sunday with Andy. Finally on July 25-26 it will be The Jeffersons and Andy on Saturday, and Sanford & Son and Andy on Sunday. Those are classic shows indeed! We will have TV Land August 2009 soon, but it is expected these marathons on weekends will continue as well. Stay tuned for that.
For the full schedule and more, view our updated TV Land July 2009 schedule & highlights.

We keep losing famous people. We have lost Billy Mays, the infomercial guru yesterday at the age of 50, but we won't cover his life here. We will however cover the life of Gale Storm, who passed away as well. Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky-personality made her one of early television's biggest stars on the comedy My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show, died Saturday (June 27, 2009) at a convalescent hospital in Danville, CA. My Little Margie debuted on CBS as a summer replacement for I Love Lucy in 1952. It quickly became an audience favorite and moved to its own slot on NBC that fall. The premise was standard sitcom fare: Charles Farrell was a business executive and eligible widower, Storm was his busybody daughter who protected him from predatory women. After the series ended its 126-episode run in 1955, she moved on to The Gale Storm Show, which lasted until 1960 on CBS and later on ABC. This time she played Susanna Pomeroy, a trouble-making social director on a luxury liner.
After her comedies, she moved on to become a singer basically, but she did have some TV roles as well. She guest starred on Burke's Law, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.
She will certainly be missed and let's hope one day My Little Margie is on DVD! Gale was 87.

TV Land Adds Married with Children Weekend Marathon and First 2 Weeks of July Change; Emmy Awards Changes Date Again

Previously on "TV Land Schedule Changes," Bree wanted Orson to stop stealing, oops wrong show...we told you the changes from June 15-28, now we have June 27 through July 12! This is like a soap opera, isn't it? The weekend of June 27-28 will now have a change now. It will have a Married...with Children marathon primarily. Al Bundy and family will air from 9:30am-8pm on Saturday, June 27 and from 8am-2am on Sunday, June 28. That's a whole lotta Bundy! Encores of movies Grease and Grease 2 will also air on Saturday, June 27, with Roseanne blocks as well. Then the regular schedule starting Monday, June 29 is pretty similar to the changes that started on June 15, but just a few things. For weekdays, the 12pm hour is now back to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, replacing Leave it to Beaver/Beverly Hillbillies. But Beverly Hillbillies will air in the 1pm hour, so that means TV Land Goes West (2 episodes of Gunsmoke & Bonanza each and one Little House) goes from approx. 1:30pm-7pm to now more on the clock from 2pm-7pm. This means Beaver is now weekends only again if they have a marathon. Mondays from 8pm-11pm will now be yet more Roseanne replacing Married...with Children, so Married is now off the regular schedule, but not to worry as it returns to Spike TV weekdays on July 6. So it looks like (for now I guess) Married (which is doing decent for them) will have its last TV Land airing during that weekend marathon (June 27-28). I expect we will see more soon as they keep bringing it back and changing the schedule, so stay tuned. Everything else on weekdays is the same as it is now, so yes, Andy Griffith is not on weekdays through July 12.
On weekends we get marathon blocks ("Andy & Friends" as I'd like to call it). But first, from 6-8am on both days we now see more Roseanne, so that replaces Star Trek, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and whatever else pops up weekend mornings usually. But remember, as of now this is through July 12 only. The weekend of July 4-5 will see Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith. On Saturday, July 4, we see Beaver from 11am-3pm and Andy Griffith from 3pm-8pm. On Sunday, July 5 we see Beaver from 12pm-3pm and more Andy from 3pm-8pm. As previously announced, Roseanne July 4th Feuds & Fireworks Marathon airs from 8pm-6am on both nights. The weekend of July 11-12 will see more marathons. A special SpongeBob SquarePants block will air on Saturday, July 11 from 10am-12pm, as SpongeBob is getting ready for his 10th birthday on Nickelodeon with "The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash." We will have more on that during our Nick at Nite July schedule & highlights very soon, as SpongeBob will have about a 50-hour non-stop marathon on Nick/Nick at Nite from July 17-19. Back to TV Land, it's more marathons as the weekend of July 11-12 it is Hogan's Heroes and Andy Griffith. Hogan's Heroes on both days will air from 12pm-5pm while Andy will air both days from 5pm-10pm. Regular weekend schedule will air elsewhere. So is TV Land trying to phase Andy out by airing it only on weekends? Sound off on our message board and also you can view these changes in a list form. Remember TV Land keeps releasing schedules two weeks at a time, so as of now this is through July 12 only. Stay tuned for more!

The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards has been re-scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 20 from approx. 8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on CBS. That was the original date and now CBS has gone back to that after moving it to Sunday, Sept. 13. But September 13 is the same day for the MTV Video Music Awards. So CBS had to move it back to the original Sept. 20. date. CBS moved it to Sept. 13 originally because of an NFL game from 4-7:30pm ET. To present The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards as close as possible to its scheduled 8:00 PM start, 60 Minutes is planning a flexible broadcast following CBS Sports late afternoon NFL game. So we will finally see a shortened 60 Minutes or possibly preempted totally in the East if the game goes over 7:30pm ET.
Remember nominations will be announced Thursday, July 16 at 5:40 AM PT from the Television Academy's Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood. You can watch it live on CBS's Early Show.

TV Land Schedule Changes Starting June 15; RTN Coming to Los Angeles and Louisville

We gave you the schedule changes that started on TV Land on June 1, but we also told you that was only for weeks of June 1 and 8. Now TV Land has announced the schedule for at least the weeks of June 15 and 22. So let's go through it! Weekdays from 9am-12pm is the same as the previous two weeks with '70s sitcoms. The changes begin at 12 noon. First, TV Land Goes West is not extended anymore on Mondays. Airing weekdays at 12 noon is an episode of Leave it to Beaver, followed by Beverly Hillbillies, both replacing back-to-back Andy Griffith episodes. At 1pm, we have another Beverly Hillbillies remaining, followed by TV Land Goes West intact from 1:30pm-7pm. Then in the 7pm hour we get back-to-back Cosby Show episodes instead of Andy Griffith, as this means Andy Griffith is off the weekday line-up--wow! Then primetime from 8-11pm is heavily changed with Married...with Children on Mondays, Roseanne on Tuesdays, The Cosby Show/She's Got the Look encore on Wednesdays, Roseanne/She's Got the Look premiere & encore on Thursdays, and Cosby Show/PRIME Movie on Fridays. The PRIME movie is now at a new time of Fridays at 9PM. And airing from 11pm-4am now is all Roseanne every weeknight. There are a few She's Got the Look encores mixed in, though. Still that's a lot of Roseanne in late night! But off the clock is still remaining, so all these times are approximate. An hour of Three's Company and M*A*S*H airs at 4am and 5am respectively.
As for weekends, they have only announced what is airing the weekend of June 20-21, as they have not given an update on the weekend of June 27-28. On Saturday, June 20 we have: 6-8am PRIME Movie, 9am-12pm Beverly Hillbillies, 12pm-10pm Andy Griffith Show, 10pm-12am The Cosby Show, 1am-4am Roseanne, 4-6am Three's Company. And on Sunday, June 21 we have: 6am-8am Gunsmoke, 8am-12pm Bonanza, 12pm-10pm Andy Griffith, 10pm-12am M*A*S*H, 12am-2am Married...with Children, 2-3am Roseanne, 4-6am Little House on the Prairie. Whatever hours that are missing here will be encores of She's Got the Look. If I were to guess, we will see something similar to this weekend schedule the following weekend as well. So it looks like Andy Griffith is removed from weekdays (except for a sighting on Tuesday, June 23 from 8-9pm) but will dominate on weekends, or at least for the weekend of June 20-21.
Technically this schedule is through Friday, June 26...so stay tuned for any updates as usual! View the schedule starting Monday, June 15 in a list form, and also join in on our discussion! And don't forget to tune into the Married...with Children marathon this weekend on both days from 8am-10pm!

RTN (Retro Television Network, now called RTV) announced that it will retrofit KHIZ in Los Angeles beginning TODAY (Friday, June 12). KHIZ is actually located in Barstow, CA. The station, part of the Multicultural group, will begin airing the Retro TV lineup on its digital as well as several hours a day on its primary. Retro Television has secured major markets in recent weeks, as it went live three weeks ago on the Multicultural station WMFP in Boston and announced last week a deal to bring Retro TV to New York via WSAH TV on July 1.
Retro Television celebrates four years on the air on July 1 and now reports a national clearance of 80% of the US, with the Los Angeles market now included. Retro TV's Neal Ardman said "we are thrilled with our growth these last few months. What better market to launch concurrent with the digital switch then Los Angeles. Everyone at Multicultural has been a pleasure to work with and we look forward to a long prosperous relationship."
Also, Retro TV is coming to Louisville, KY! WBNA-DT in Louisville will now also join the Retro TV family. Originally supposed to go on-air on July 1, now WBNA-DT will go on the air as early as this coming Monday, sources say. WBNA, an ION affiliate, is owned by Evangel World Prayer Center (Word Broadcasting Network, Inc.). Retro TV is reportedly going to air on channel 21.2 or 21.4, so check it out on Monday.
If you still don't know by now, Retro TV airs great shows from the past like Adam 12, Leave it to Beaver, Night Gallery and rarely seen shows like Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew and Voyagers. Retro TV now provides both custom local feeds for its affiliates or a typical national network type feed at the stations choice.

And don't forget television makes the switch to digital today at 12:30pm ET! Hope you made the switch!

TV Land and Hallmark Last Minute June Changes; CBS To Air Unaired Worst Week Episode

TV Land June 2009 schedule - take three! And action! Yes, TV Land has changed its June schedule once again. As of now the changes are just for this week and next week (weeks of June 1 and 8) and are in effect starting TODAY, as we mentioned on our message boards this weekend. The new schedule will have TV Land Goes West on Mondays now from 11:30am-7pm with Gunsmoke and Bonanza and now Little House on the Prairie will air at approx. 5:30pm. I say approx. because TV Land is really off the clock now. From Tuesdays-Fridays, the western block will start at 1:30pm and run to 7pm with the same three shows. This means The Beverly Hillbillies will be only approx. 1pm now, as it loses 1:30pm and 6pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is totally gone for now it seems.
In primetime for the week of June 1, we have The Cosby Show in the approx. 8pm hour and Roseanne in the approx. 9pm hour. A different show will air from approx. 10pm-12am each night with Married...with Children returning on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday and Thursday, and The Cougar/She's Got the Look Preview on Wednesday. Then at approx. 12am we have Married...with Children (just once in the hour, so it won't likely start until late except on Wednesdays when we have two episodes in the hour). At approx. 1am we have another Married...with Children, followed by M*A*S*H at 1:30am, and hour each of Roseanne, Three's Company, The Cosby Show and M*A*S*H follows from 2am-6am. So this week is a major overhaul and Three's Company returns to weeknights, at least for a week.
The Roseanne "launch" marathon is still on from Friday, June 5 to Friday, June 12 from 8pm-6am. However, this weekend (Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7) we have an Andy Griffith Show marathon from 8am-8pm, leading into Roseanne. The week of June 8 has the same daytime line-up as June 1, but primetime and late night is all Roseanne, as mentioned as the marathon continues. The weekend of June 13-14 will have more all-day marathons. Married...with Children will air both days from 8am-10pm, so this show seems like it will stay on TV Land as it is doing well for them. The weekend schedule that was in effect before will remain from 10pm-6am on this weekend of June 13-14. Now starting Monday, June 15, we don't know yet what TV Land will do. Will they have the same daytime schedule as the previous two weeks and the same primetime/late night schedule as week of June 1? Will we see marathons every weekend all-day? We will let you know as soon as we do, but for now view the weeks of June 1 and June 8 schedules for TV Land and discuss this!

As for Hallmark Channel, the June changes are not as drastic. The changes are in primetime starting tonight. The 8pm weekday hour will now have the return of Touched by an Angel. The series was only off for a week or two and now it returns in a much better slot of 8pm replacing two episodes of The Golden Girls. Those two episodes of The Golden Girls will move to the 11pm hour, replacing Murder, She Wrote, which is now off the line-up for now. So if you're keeping track, The Golden Girls now airs from 8am-11am and 11pm-2am every weekday. Nothing else is changing, so expect the schedule as it was. Good news for Lucy fans as they are not messing with the I Love Lucy timeslots so far!

Finally, CBS has scheduled an unaired episode of the canceled comedy Worst Week for this Saturday at 8:30pm. CBS had one leftover episode still yet to air, that is titled "The Party." The episode will have a repeat of Old Christine as its lead-in at 8pm. So get those DVR's rolling Worst Week fans because you have one more episode left and surprisingly CBS is airing it!
In other CBS updates, 48 Hours will air at a special time of 8pm (instead of the usual 10pm slot) on Saturday, July 11, so the two-hour finale of Harper's Island can air from 9-11pm on that night. Harper's Island is not expected back, so that is a series finale.

TV Land Changes May Schedule; Adult Swim Acquires British The Office

Today we were supposed to give you TV Land June 2009, continuing our June week, but now TV Land has edited their May schedule. We will have to delay the June schedule until tomorrow or next week. So stay tuned for that. TV Land has changed their May schedule a bit starting May 4. Among the changes are more Gunsmoke & Bonanza on weekdays now extended from 2pm-6pm from Tues-Fri. This means the Monday block is now from 12pm-6pm. Evening sitcoms now start 6pm with Hogan's Heroes moving to the 6pm half-hour, followed by Green Acres at 6:30pm. The Beverly Hillbillies remains in the 7pm hour.
TV Land Goes West is added also on Saturdays from 1pm-7pm, just like how it airs on Sundays, with two Gunsmoke episodes followed by four episodes of Bonanza. This means the TV Land movie encores are now just Saturdays at 6am. The Brady Bunch on Saturday mornings is now 9am-11am, with Leave it to Beaver from 11am-1pm leading into the westerns block. Beaver also airs 7-8pm on Saturdays, followed by blocks of Andy Griffith from 8pm-11pm, M*A*S*H from 11pm-1am, and Three's Company from 1am-3am. Sundays has an extended Hillbillies from 10am-1pm leading into the westerns. Andy follows from 7-10pm, then M*A*S*H from 10pm-1am, Hillbillies from 1am-3am, and now only an hour of Brady Bunch (in the 3am hour).
It is not many changes, but this make schedule more of a regular schedule, especially on weekends with shows getting set time slots now. What does this mean for June? We will have to wait and see, but we know one thing, Roseanne is joining the TV Land PRIME line-up. But for now, view the full updated TV Land May 2009 schedule.

The Office, the BBC series that spawned the NBC comedy of the same name, is returning to American television on Adult Swim. The Turner-owned network, which shares channel space with Cartoon Network, has acquired both seasons of the British comedy, as well as The Office Christmas Special and will start airing them this summer.
Created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, The Office is about the day-to-day lives of employees in the Slough, Bershire branch of the fictitious Wernham Hogg Paper Company. The series' main character, David Brent, as portrayed by Gervais, is familiar to office workers everywhere. As regional manager of the company, Brent fancies himself as a great team leader using humor to win the loyalty of his staff. In reality, he is belittling, smug, sexist, insensitive, patronizing and unthinkingly offensive.
Adult Swim also airs the BBC hit The Mighty Boosh, since March 29. They recently secured the rights to Look Around You.
The U.S. version of the series airs in repeats on sister station TBS.

TV Land Changes Late Afternoons; TCA Winter 2009 Tour: Cable; 66th Annual Golden Globe Winners

TV Land will be making last minute schedule changes beginning today. We relayed you these changes on our message board, but would like to make it more widespread here. TV Land will alter its late afternoon schedule beginning today at 4pm. Weekdays in the 4pm hour will now be Green Acres, as the series returns to weekdays. The Beverly Hillbillies returns to early evenings, airing in the 5pm hour, causing Hogan's Heroes to move into the 6pm hour, shifting the Andy Griffith two-hour block to 7-9pm rather than 6-8pm. The 8pm Andy hour replaces Cosby Show, but Cosby Show is still heavily featured in PRIME. Rural sitcoms now air weekdays 4pm-9pm and 60s shows in general from 1-9pm with Hillbillies (1-2pm) and westerns still on from 1-4pm. TV Land will also change their late night schedule a bit. Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons will each take an hour from 2-4am, replacing Three's Company. Three's Company will remain on Saturday nights from 2-4am. So now on weekdays, we get Paid Programming in early mornings from 6-9am, '70s sitcoms from 9am-12pm, lunch hour at home at noon with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, '60s TV from 1-9pm with westerns and sitcoms, TV Land PRIME from 9pm-2am, and '70s sitcoms from 2-4am.
We still have more changes, though! Monday nights now starting tonight will be Andy Griffith Show from 7pm-1am, while Tuesdays from 11pm-2am will be M*A*S*H/M*A*S*H specials. The Cosby Show will air in the 9pm hour, but on Tuesdays it will also air in the 10pm hour, which means Scrubs is totally off primetime now because of these Monday and Tuesday night changes. It wasn't airing Wed-Fri anyway. The final batch of changes are for Sundays, with the Beverly Hillbillies block being extended to 2pm, so 10am-2pm now rather than 10am-12pm. The Brady Bunch will air late Sundays now from 2am-4am instead of Beaver, which will remain 5-7pm earlier in the day.
Head on over to our TV Land January 2009 thread to see these changes, the rest of January info we announced, and to discuss this!

The Television Critics Association's (TCA) winter 2009 press tour began last week. We haven't covered it yet because the cable portion (Jan. 8-10) has been very stale and nothing really noteworthy has come out of it. Coming up tomorrow the broadcast networks begin their portion, with Fox on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday, NBC on Thursday, and ABC on Friday. Here is a recap of cable:
Cable portion started midday on Thursday, Jan. 8, after PBS's 1 1/2 day tour. WE tv kicked off the cable portion with a lunch session. WE tv was followed by fellow Rainbow Networks AMC, IFC, and Sundance. Among the highlights were Breaking Bad launching its second season on AMC later this year. The National Geographic Channel closed out the day.
On day two (Friday), select MTV Networks are on hand: Nickelodeon, Spike TV, Comedy Central, LOGO and MTV. Among the highlights were Nickelodeon's upcoming CGI series Penguins of Madagascar, launching in March. A&E was next as it promoted The Beast, the new drama starring Patrick Swayze. He was not on hand, as you all know, as he was hospitalized for pneumonia. He is batling Pancreatic Cancer. His series launches this Thursday. Comcast's E! and style. followed, as E! announced Keeping Up with the Kardashians returns in March. HBO followed with many new series and movies announcements, along with returning series announcements such as for In Treatment. Discovery Networks closed out the day as Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet relayed their upcoming programming.
Finally on Saturday, we had BET, BBC America, Starz, Travel Channel, and Current. This was a total bore with nothing really noteworthy, and many cable networks were not here including TV Land, Nick at Nite, Lifetime, Hallmark, ABC Family, and more. No wonder it wasn't exciting!
Stay tuned this week for updates from the broadcast portion...which will be much better.

The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards were last night. For the television portion, cable ruled big time in drama as HBO won nearly everything. AMC won one award. 30 Rock was the only show that won for broadcast and swept comedy. Here are the television winners:

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
30 Rock (NBC)
Californication (Showtime)
Entourage (HBO)
The Office (NBC)
Weeds (Showtime)
WINNER: 30 Rock (NBC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Debra Messing, The Starter Wife (USA Network)
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
WINNER: Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
David Duchovny, Californication (Showtime)
Kevin Connolly, Entourage (HBO)
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
WINNER: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Dexter (Showtime)
House (Fox)
In Treatment, (HBO)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
WINNER: Mad Men (AMC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
January Jones, Mad Men (AMC)
Anna Paquin, True Blood (HBO)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
WINNER: Anna Paquin, True Blood (HBO)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors (Showtime)
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment (HBO)
WINNER: Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment (HBO)

View the FULL list of television nominees and winners...and to discuss this.

Chicago's Me-TV and Me-Too Winter 2009 Schedules; BET January 2009

Classic Chicago stations Me-TV and Me-Too will be changing their line-up for the winter in January, but before that we have marathons to talk about! Celebrate the New Year with three marathons on Me-TV & Me-Too! Starting on December 31 at 9AM, let Me-Too (WMEU Channel 48) show you can "Fling in the New Year" with an all-day The Three Stooges Marathon. What better way to celebrate the New Year, than to cozy up on the couch on New Year's Eve! Watch Larry, Moe and Curly and their outrageous antics all day! See more than 50 episodes of what many consider to be one of the best comedy series ever! Close out 2008 and ring in 2009 with the Stooges from 9AM-3AM on New Year's Eve.
Then on New Year's Day, you've got your choice of the classics. See the best work of special effects pioneer filmmaker, Ray Harryhausen on Me-Too (Channel 48). Harryhausen is most famous for his stop-motion model animation, which won him an Academy Award! Featured movies include the classic titles 7th Voyage of Sinbad & Jason and the Argonauts from 8AM to 10PM.
Or instead take a day trip down to Mayberry with Me-TV (WWME Channel 23) for "The Andy Griffith-thon." Spend your day reliving all of your favorite moments from The Andy Griffith Show during Me-TV's "The Andy Griffith-thon." From Andy getting Opie out of trouble to keeping a watchful eye over Aunt Bee's romantic adventures, it's a blast from the past all-day long. See these classic episodes in the rarely seen full network versions, New Year's Day beginning at 9AM all the way to 11PM only on Me-TV!
As for the Winter schedules, Me-TV will be adding The Andy Griffith Show to its line-up after the marathon on New Year's Day. Other changes include In the Heat of the Night being replaced weekdays at 12 noon by Charlie's Angels; weekday afternoons gets a makeover with back-to-back Bewitched and The Cosby Show coming between 3-5pm replacing Cheers, Benson and 3rd Rock; early evenings will see some shuffling, but Andy Griffith joins at 6:30pm replacing Fresh Prince. Batman is gone at 7pm replaced by Dick Van Dyke. In primetime, we now have dramas instead of sitcoms, with Perry Mason and The Untouchables instead of Happy Days and Cosby Show. We get another Andy Griffith airing at 10:30pm, while The Odd Couple joins Me-TV at 11:30pm, and Cheers and 3rd Rock move from afternoons to late nights starting at 12:30am. In the overnights, we now get classic drama Route 66.
As for Saturdays, 11am-6pm gets a total makeover, going to more of a sci-fi route instead of crime. Black Sheep Squadron, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, and Star Trek will air from 11am-6pm replacing Dragnet, Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., TJ Hooker, Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch and SWAT. At 6pm, since Star Trek has moved to 5pm, we now get two Andy Griffith Show episodes.
On Sundays, the sitcom blocks get a makeover. In the 12 noon hour we now have Family Ties replacing Bewitched/I Dream of Jeannie, then in the 1pm hour it is back-to-back Leave it to Beaver, replacing an airing of One Day at a Time, which is now off the line-up. At 2:30 another I Love Lucy is added, giving it a full hour. Who's the Boss? and Mork & Mindy are now also gone, replaced by back-to-back Dick Van Dyke Show episodes in the 3pm hour. At 4pm, we now have two Beverly Hillbillies episodes instead of Gilligan's Island and Family Ties. Replacing The Nanny and Roseanne in the 6pm hour are Happy Days and Andy Griffith...it's a Ron Howard hour. Benson is now only Sundays at 9pm, replacing Good Times, while Andy Griffith airs at 10:30pm moving Barney Miller to 12 midnight, replacing one of the Get Smart airings.
View the FULL Me-TV Chicago Winter 2009 line-up.

As for the Me-Too winter lineup, they also will make many changes. Patty Duke Show comes to weekdays at 7am and the morning sitcom block starting at 9am has been altered with Webster, Beverly Hillbillies and I Love Lucy. Gone are Saved by the Bell, Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction. Dramas take over during the afternoon with Eight is Enough, Little House, Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., and Cagney & Lacey. In the Heat of the Night moves from Me-TV to Me-Too airing weekdays at 6pm. Other weekday changes include an All in the Family/The Jeffersons hour weekdays at 9pm.
As for Saturdays, from 1pm-8pm is now westerns with such classics such as Marshall Dillon, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wild Wild West, Have Gun Will Travel and The Rifleman. The overnight sitcom block has changed a bit too, with Dennis the Menace and Green Acres leaving, but Father Knows Best & Flying Nun, are among the shows airing now.
Sundays doesn't see many changes happening. Among the minor changes are Delvecchio at 6pm instead of Perry Mason.
View the FULL Me-Too Chicago Winter 2009 line-up.

Moving on to cable, BET has announced its January line-up. Recently ended talk show The Montel Williams Show joins the BET line-up on Monday, January 5 airing weekday mornings at 9am. The long-running talk show will start its run on BET with the episode "Mistaken Identity: It Could Happen to You." Also, as we mentioned, the animated comedy The Proud Family will join the regular schedule on BET in January as well. It will join the Saturday line-up this Saturday with a mini-marathon before settling into its 12 noon and 12:30pm slot starting Jan. 10 following back-to-back Romeo!, Just Jordan and Smart Guy. BUT...that's not all! The Proud Family will get a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marathon from 9am-2pm on Monday, January 19. The Proud Family will join the regular weekday schedule as well starting Monday, January 26 airing weekdays in the 5pm hour, following back-to-back Steve Harvey, One on One, and Smart Guy all starting at 2pm.
As we all know, BET likes to edit things from time to time, so if anything changes, we will let you all know!

Ron Howard Reprises His Opie and Richie Roles for Obama; Minor Changes for Hallmark, ION and CBS Monday

Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham are both back! Ron Howard has reprised both of his classic TV roles for an ad supporting Barack Obama! It is a hilarious salute to those characters and shows, but also supports Obama and he urges Americans out there to vote and to change America. Ron is not the only one in the video either. Ron has reunited with Andy Griffith for his Opie/Andy segment and Henry Winkler for his Richie/Fonzie segment. These characters haven't been done in decades, so it is fun to see them reprise their roles! The Andy Griffith Show segment was even in black and white with Opie in his green/yellow striped t-shirt and fishing rod! The Happy Days segment had Henry Winkler's Fonzie in his trademark leather coat and Richie with his blue sweater outside of Arnold's. Ahyyyay!!! You even see Ron shave off his beard and trim his nose air for this video! He really does want Americans to vote and change this country. See the four-minute video for yourself! It's worth watching...whether you be a Democrat or Republican. Ron Howard has certainly found his "thrill on blueberry hill!"

Effective this weekend (Oct. 25-26), Cheers will not air on weekends anymore on The Hallmark Channel. It was airing Saturday nights 1-3am, Sunday mornings 10am-12pm, and Sunday nights from 1-3am. Cheers will only air weekdays from 4-5pm starting next week (Oct. 27).
Next week on ION Television, we will still not see any ER. ER's Mon-Wed at 10pm airings have been replaced for next week (Oct. 27-31) as well, on Monday we will see an extra NCIS and Tuesday & Wednesday we will see more Boston Legal. Did you know ER has not been seen since its Monday, Oct. 6 airing? ION's November schedule is still not out yet, and I'm sure they are trying to find a permanent replacement for the lower rated ER. As soon as their November schedule is in, I'll let you know. Right now only Nov. 1 and 2 is available, and that's a weekend. Speaking of ION, looks like the Warner Bros. movies are doing well, because they are having another movie marathon tonight from 4pm-11pm.
CBS has made a minor change for this coming Monday only. Wednesday sitcom Gary Unmarried (Pilot Repeat) will air Monday, October 27, 2008 at 9:30pm ET/PT replacing a repeat of Worst Week. The rest of the CBS comedies are also repeats the entire night on Oct. 27.

TV Land December 2008 Includes 9th Annual Merrython and Lucy Farewell; Rita Rocks Solid in First Two Airings

I know it isn't even Halloween yet, and we are discussing TV Land December 2008 today! This December, TV Land will celebrate the holidays with three blocks of Christmas episodes labeled the 9th Annual Merrython and a holiday week of holiday episodes of feel good show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. But before that, take another spin down the catwalk with the lovely ladies from She's Got the Look -- TV Land's modeling competition series like no other. Relive the excitement as 10 finalists are chosen to compete against each other for a lucrative Wilhelmina modeling contract and a spread in Self magazine. The marathon airs Saturday, December 6 from 3pm-9pm ET/PT!
Then it is time to celebrate the holidays with classics and modern classic holiday episodes! This year's Merrython will be the best yet with many hours of holiday fun for all on December 7 (thirteen hours), December 21 (twelve hours) and December 25 (twenty hours)! TV Land is delivering the goods to the viewers with Christmas episodes from classics like Andy Griffith, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford & Son, Beverly Hillbillies, Brady Bunch, Three's Company and Little House on the Prairie and modern Christmas favorites from The Cosby Show, Just Shoot Me, Night Court, Murphy Brown, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Scrubs. Grab the eggnog, tune in with loved ones, and warm up your Christmas spirit with TV Land!
That's not all for the holidays! Get ready for an Extreme Home Makeover holiday! Extreme Makeover: Home Edition kicks off prime each night at 9pm beginning Monday, December 8, so don't miss this exciting week-long marathon showcasing five of the most popular families from the series. Concluding the stunt on Saturday night is a two-hour special that revisits each of these fortunate families during the holidays. Watch the Extreme Home Makeover crew give these special folks the opportunity to "pay it forward" and share their good fortune with other deserving families. There'll be a lot of joy and warmth this holiday season as we bring you all the best that Ty and his gang of hardworking homebuilders have to offer.
TV Land also celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Superman film starring the late Christopher Reeve by airing it at 12 noon on Sunday, December 14. TV Land Friday night movie premieres in the MovieLand block for December are Analyze This, Get Shorty, and Doc Hollywood! Encores include Sister Act II.
Finally, as we all know that I Love Lucy is headed for The Hallmark Channel this January, TV Land has to say goodbye. TV Land says "Bon Voyage" to 2008 and I Love Lucy as they countdown to the New Year with everybody's favorite classic sitcom, I Love Lucy, as the show leaves the network. Spend the day living vicariously through The Ricardos' and The Mertzes' antics, escapades and adventures as we countdown the all-time Top 25 I Love Lucy episodes--voted by you the fans. All throughout the month of December, TV Land gives fans the opportunity to vote which episodes they want to see during Lucy's New Year's Eve Countdown. Customized countdown flags and packaged I Love Lucy vignettes with color commentary will air throughout the stunt as it gains momentum and reaches its zenith with the I Love Lucy episode ranked #1 by the viewers. It was a year to remember and it'll be a TV Land send-off viewers will never forget. Goodbye Lucy! Obviously there will be a lot of changes to the January line-up since Lucy is leaving, but we don't know what yet...so we should know by next month and let you all know.
But for now View our complete TV Land December 2008 highlights for episode info for each stunt and more!

Lifetime TV's original sitcom Rita Rocks got off to a decent start on Monday when the show premiered to 1 million viewers. When comparing to Lifetime's last comedy series, Lovespring International, which launched in June 2006, Rita Rocks was up 38 percent among women 18-49 posting a 0.8 W18-49 rating. The show was also up 11 percent above the network's prior four-week time period average.
On Tuesday for episode two, the original sitcom did a 1.1 HH rating, up 37% from the premiere and 1.2 million viewers, up 200,000 viewers from the premiere. Rita Rocks also increased by 15 percent in key women 18-49 (0.83 rating) versus the prior four-week time period average. Wednesday numbers will be in later. Will it rise more?
Rita Rocks continues to air every night this week at 8:30 p.m. before assuming its regular weekly time slot on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. starting next week. Rita certainly rocks, and not bad after airing out of Reba repeats.

Blog DVD Review: Knight Rider - The Complete Collection (Oct. 21); TV Land and ABC Schedule Notes

We have a special Friday edition of our Blog DVD Reviews for you today. Today we take a look at Universal Home Video's Knight Rider: The Complete Collection. Knight Rider of course is the hit 1980s action series starring David Hasselhoff. This is not to be confused with the current revival series. Universal already had released each season on DVD separately, but now we can own the series in one cool box set!
See my Blog DVD Review of Knight Rider: The Complete Collection:

Knight Rider: The Complete Collection (Universal, $139.98) brings all four seasons and 85 action-packed episodes of Knight Rider together for the first time in one amazing DVD collection! David Hasselhoff is back as charismatic crimefighter Michael Knight, the driver of the world's most dynamic, high-tech talking car, K.I.T.T. As this brave duo take on criminals, crooks and those eager to exploit K.I.T.T.'s impressive technology for their own evil purposes, you'll be blown away by their explosive adventures that set the standard for all TV action series to come. With 24 discs tricked out with an impressive array of bonus features, it's one complete DVD trip you can't afford to miss!
OK, so all four seasons were already released separately. See our season reviews: Season 1 / Season 2 / Season 3 / Season 4
The only difference on this set is the packaging. The packaging is pretty big, but VERY cool. It is like a portfolio type, but much heavier. The cover is all in black with the Knight Rider: The Complete Collection words in grey. Underneath that we see a red bar with a button. The red bar is supposed to be the flashing lights we see on K.I.T.T. Once we press that button the theme song plays for a little bit and he lights flash back and forth in that red bar. It is very cool! Good job by Universal and excellent planning. Batteries are of course used for this. There are instructions on the set if your batteries die on how to replace them. On the back of this nice packaging we have the same black color scheme (fitting) with a shot of Michael, K.I.T.T., and the box art/discs. There is also info on the set and DVD bonus features. Just make sure you don't pull out the back part because it is just an insert really glued on. When we open the box, we open how we do a portfolio...very easy. There is a pocket that holds six slim cases each on a side. So we have 12 slim cases! If you recall from our season one review, the packaging was a digipak case, so we get something different this time for season one. Each slim case holds two discs each. Each slim case has the same artwork that was used for each season box art, with episode info on the back of each slim case. Now on each of the season sets the discs were all double-sided, now this time they are all single-sided. So, I think many people will just buy this set because of that. The artwork for each disc is the same...all black background, with the show logo, season number, and disc number. Simple but effective. Beats the double-sided pain for sure!
Everything else is the same as what we saw on the season sets. The menus, video/audio quality, and special features. There is no new things content wise. See our season reviews again for details on these.
I think a die hard fan would want this set for sure. The packaging alone would do it. It is so cool to press a button and the theme plays and the flashing red lights. I have pressed it so many times already. One of the coolest sets ever. Maybe the best packaging ever. It is just hard to find a spot on your shelf for it because it is so big. It certainly isn't "compact" like the cheap Sony complete series sets which are a waste of money and time. If you haven't bought any season sets, then this would be the way to go. Same content, but the discs problem is fixed as they are all single-sided now. So buy this set before Garth chases you down and makes you watch the new Knight Rider, which doesn't compare at all with this classic series! Long live Michael Knight!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
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We still have news for ya! TV Land has made some changes for this weekend and some changes starting Monday. Some of the changes for this weekend are for only this weekend. Such as Leave it to Beaver Saturday morning from 8-10am and 3rd Rock from the Sun on Sunday from 4-8pm. Everything else is for every week. We will start with weekdays first. From 4-5pm weekdays, The Beverly Hillbillies will air replacing Hogan's Heroes, which moves back to 5-6pm. Two-hours of Andy Griffith moves from 5-7pm to 6-8pm, as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will be pulled from 7pm (it will still air 11pm). 12-1am and 1-2am hours will be switched, M*A*S*H will now air 12-1am and Cosby Show from 1-2am, with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's second airing now 2am instead of 7pm.
On weekends Saturdays will see an hour of Andy from 8-9am (sometimes 12-1pm) and Lucy from 9am to 1 or 2pm usually. The movies follow, with now 3rd Rock from the Sun airing 6-8pm instead of Cosby Show which will now air 8-10pm. So, two-hour editions of Home Edition have been pulled. Andy Griffith will air from 10pm-12am instead of Scrubs and Myths & Legends. Sundays will see Gunsmoke have another airing at 7am, while Bonanza gets two airings from 8-10am. TV Land Goes West gets extended from 12-4am usually to now 1-7pm (or 2-8pm sometimes). See the full list of changes.
It's official family game show Opportunity Knocks - from Ashton Kutcher - has been pulled from ABC, but it could return in December on a new night and time to finish out its remaining six episodes. Dancing with the Stars: Performance Recap Show will air this Tuesday ONLY (Tuesday, October 21, 2008) at 8:00PM ET/PT. It will be a condensed airing of Monday's performance.
Previously scheduled It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will air on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 in the time period and ABCNews Vote 2008: Election Night will air on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
Programming for Tuesday, November 11 and Tuesday, November 18 in the time period has not been announced yet (As of now, Tuesday, November 25 is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving). We will keep you up to date.

TV Land November 2008 Highlights; Bush Speech Hits Primetime Tonight Affecting Network Primetime

Before we get to the November 2008 TV Land highlights, we have some news for fans for this week. For this week only, from Wed-Fri (Sept. 24-26), two more Night Court airings will air per day from 7-8am instead of the usual M*A*S*H, in addition to its weekdays at 8am airing. Why is this happening? Because M*A*S*H will takeover the 11pm-12am slot this week instead of Scrubs, in addition to its 12-1am airings. The Cosby Show marathon is going on this week in primetime, so there have been time shifting, and possibly Scrubs didn't do well at 11pm this week.
This November on TV Land it's time to vote and then have a feast on Thanksgiving! Its election season and TV Land is offering viewers the chance to voice off on a homefront issue of grave importance: Who should be the first family of TV Land -- The Taylors (Andy, Aunt Bea and Opie of The Andy Griffith Show), the Sanfords (Fred, Lamont and Aunt Esther of Sanford & Son) or the Clampetts (Jed, Granny, Elie-Mae and Jethro of The Beverly Hillbillies)? For two weeks, beginning Saturday, October 18 and leading up to election weekend, viewers will have the opportunity to go to tvland.com to vote on their favorite TV Land clan after viewing clips featuring the contending families at their best...and their worst. So whether they are having each other's backs or sticking a knife in it, TV Land's contenders always come together in the end to cut through the red tape and bring the laughter. On Sunday, November 2, after the viewers have voted on their favorites, the winning family will be featured in an 8 hour block from 8p-4a. Exciting!
Every Wednesday at 10pm, TV Land continues with TV Land Myths & Legends in November. The season premiere is October 8 and runs through November 19.
Don't miss the movies that made you believe a man can fly with a 3-night primetime limited commercial interruption event...of Superman! Superman and Superman II will be presented at 10pm on Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22. Then on Sunday, November 23 at 8pm, TV Land encores both movies in a special double-feature presentation (both of which will be enhanced with additional content giving viewers the scoop on behind the scenes drama along with fun facts and trivia about the Superman myth and the stars themselves.) Superman will save the day once more on Sunday, December 14 when the movie will encore on the eve of the 30th Anniversary of the film featuring limited commercial interruption and movie facts! It's certainly not a bird or plane!
Finally, TV Land's 2nd Annual Overstuffed Thanksgiving Weekend is serving up four fun-filled days of great television from Thursday, November 27 through Sunday, November 30 beginning at 10am each day. Viewers will delight in having four fun-filled days of classic and modern shows, TV Land originals and dynamic movies. With shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Cosby Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Sanford & Son, I Love Lucy and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition together with movies like Superman and Police Academy, viewers will keep coming back for more like they do with turkey on Thanksgiving!
There will be no schedule changes to the regular line-up in November. Movie premieres for the month include Superman, Superman II, Dennis the Menace and Fatal Attraction with encore showings of City Slickers, Easy Money and Police Academy.
View the full TV Land November 2008 schedule and highlights.

President Bush plans to talk to Americans directly about the financial crisis in a primetime tonight at 9PM ET. This means primetime programming will be delayed after 9PM tonight. The speech will last 15 minutes and will delay all programming on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in Eastern, Central and Mountain time zones. Pacific time programming will not be affected by this, as they will get the speech at 6PM PT, so no delays out west. Out in the east and central, for ABC, David Blaine: Dive of Death will run from 9:15-11:15PM ET (that's 8:15-10:15PM CT). For CBS, the season premiere of Criminal Minds will run 9:15-10:15PM ET and CSI: NY's season premiere will run from 10:15-11:15PM ET. NBC's America's Got Talent will run 9:17-10:00PM ET and be abbreviated (it will air fully out west)the season premiere of Lipstick Jungle will run normally at 10-11PM ET. And finally, Fox's struggling sitcoms will be on a delay, with 'Til Death from 9:15-9:45PM ET and Do Not Disturb from 9:45-10:15PM ET. Set those DVRs or be on alert tonight!

TV Rebels: The Andy Griffith Show

It's time for another edition of TV Rebels. We originally had special permission to publish the first 6 essays on TV shows and actors that will be featured in the upcoming book TV Rebels: 100 People and Programs That Shaped the Medium by authors Lou Orfanella and Oscar De Los Santos...and as we mentioned in April, we have now gotten rights to 6 additional essays, so we will be bringing you one each month until at least November! Upcoming TV Rebel columns coming soon are about Rod Serling, Bill Cosby, and Desi Arnaz. The book is in the works and will be released in 2009.

So without further adieu, we bring you the seventh essay of TV Rebels:

The Andy Griffith Show: Mayberry's Sheriff without a Gun
by Oscar De Los Santos

In many respects, The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) was born out of the network womb of The Danny Thomas Show (1953-1964). A seventh season episode of Danny Thomas featured its star being stopped for speeding by Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith). Soon, the sheriff, his deputy cousin, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), and the town of Mayberry, North Carolina made their network TV series debut on October 3, 1960. Other regular characters included Andy's Aunt Bea (Frances Bavier), who lived with the widowed sheriff and his small son, Opie (Ron Howard); Ellie Walker (Eleanor Donahue), Andy's first girlfriend in the series; Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), the sheriff's later girlfriend; Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn), Barney’s girlfriend; Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors), who would eventually get his own spin-off show; Goober Pyle (George Lyndsey), who took his cousin's mechanic and gas-pumping job at Wally's Filling Station when Gomer enlisted in the Marines; Otis Campbell (Wallace Smith), the town drunk, Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear) the town barber, Clara Edwards (Hope Summers), Aunt Bea's closest friend and friendly rival, and a host of other charming Mayberry citizens.
The show was a sitcom that seemed to defy much of the sharper edged network offerings of its period. It showcased no murders and featured few sarcastic jabs, but rather good-natured humor and thoughtful moral lessons, many of them delivered by Sheriff Taylor via his folksy ruminations. For instance, one episode revolved around Andy teaching Opie to care for orphan birds after the boy kills their mother with a slingshot. Another focused on Andy teaching Opie to defend himself against a bully without stepping in and fighting his son's battles. Other shows featured the highs and lows of Barney buying his first car and Aunt Bea's competition with Clara to make the best pickles for the county fair.
In spite of the show's name and the fact that "Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas designed The Andy Griffith Show to fit the image of its star" (The Andy Griffith Show, The Museum of Broadcast Communications), this was much more than a comedy about a small-town sheriff. Each of the ensemble characters had his and her major episodes and/or significant roles in other stories. Indeed, it's arguable that the program was as much about Barney Fife as about Andy Taylor, since so many of the show's plots were either directly or indirectly focused on Andy's bombastic and braggart deputy.
Another way to view the success of The Andy Griffith Show is to consider the town of Mayberry as the main star of the show. Audiences were willing to tune in for eight years and 249 episodes of the series because they loved the region the characters populated as much as the characters themselves. Mayberry was quintessential small-town America: a gorgeous, clean, peaceful town where a citizen could count on two lawmen to keep the peace and diffuse any problems that arose -- and these were usually no more threatening than finding a way to tell Barney that he was singing out of key and ruining the church choir's performances or making sure that Otis got his breakfast and had sobered up enough to release him from jail and send him home the next morning. Do such ideal locales really exist? Maybe not on the level of TV's Mayberry, but according to Ken Beck and Jim Clark, "The fictional town of Mayberry was partially influenced by the town of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Andy Griffith's hometown. Much of the show's realism drws from Andy Griffith's use of Mt. Airy as a model for Mayberry. The names of many of Mayberry’s townspeople, businesses, and streets, and landmarks can be found in and around Mt. Airy" (xv).
The Andy Griffith Show can be compared to Gunsmoke (1955-1975), another immensely popular program with its own streak of TV rebellion (see Gunsmoke in this volume). Like The Andy Griffith Show, Gunsmoke was as much about its ensemble cast and setting as about its main star. Early episodes often centered on Marshall Matt Dillon but as the Western's tenure on the air stretched on, its stories focused on Chester, Miss Kitty, Doc, Festus, and other characters. Moreover, just as Andy Griffith Show audiences fixated on Sheriff Andy Taylor's Mayberry, they focused on Marshall Matt Dillon's Dodge City; but while many viewers would have loved to trade their own hometowns for Mayberry, few dreamed of jumping into the squared electronic box and actually taking up residence in Dodge. After all, crime in Mayberry was so low that the town sheriff didn't wear a gun and his deputy carried his six-shooter's only bullet in his shirt pocket, but Dodge City was all about crime -- a rough Old West location where life was tough, the bullets flew frequently, and shot bodies dropped to the gritty earth each week. Two shows spinning their own historical mythos? Perhaps, but The Andy Griffith Show provided a more gentle wishful thinking for an increasingly jaded American populace.

Works Cited
Andy Griffith Show, The. Museum of Broadcast Communications.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/andygriffith/andygriffith.htm. January 15, 2008.
Beck, Ken and Jim Clark. The Andy Griffith Show Book. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. (Revised 35th Anniversary Edition.)

Works Consulted
The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. http://www.mayberry.com/. January 15, 2008.

Many TV Classics Coming to Online Station; Remembering George Carlin and Dody Goodman

The TVS Television Network, the fourth oldest commercial TV network in the USA, has launched NTV Tele.Net, an advertising supported full time streaming video internet channel, short for the Nostalgia Television Network. NTVTele.Net is a streaming video channel that programs classic TV programs and movies 24 hours daily. While all of the classic programming is of a vintage nature, TVS plans an aggressive slate of new programs that capture the historic nature of NTVTele.Net programs.
NTVTele.Net features top classic TV shows from the past 60 years of television including Bonanza, Andy Griffith, Robin Hood, Jim Bowie, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Dobie Gillis, My Favorite Martian, Sea Hunt, Peter Gunn, Checkmate, Beverly Hillbillies, Ozzie and Harriet, Dick Van Dyke, and many other classics.
TVS is scheduled to roll out 16 more fulltime streaming channels in 2008, most under the legendary TVS banner. TVS began in 1961 telecasting to independent TV stations and has been a premiere occasional network for 47 years.
NTVTele.Net is currently running marathon classic TV programming in its Beta stage, and will convert to a classic schedule of programming in August.

We have lost two more sitcom stars. George Carlin, who was one of the best stand-up comics, and Dody Goodman, more known for her Broadway work.
Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday at about 6pm PT. Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live back in 1975...he hosted an episode again in 1984.
George Carlin got his own sitcom in 1994 on Fox called The George Carlin Show. The show only lasted 27 episodes and was about George playing New York City cab driver named George O'Grady.
His other sitcom credits include guest shots on Welcome Back Kotter, That Girl and The Simpsons. Children best know him for his work on Shining Time Station as the conductor, which he spoofed in 2000 on an episode of MADtv. He was also the narrator for many years on the children's series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
His film credits include Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (which he also appeared on the animated TV series), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Americathon, Prince of Tides, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Scary Movie 3 and Cars.
Stand-up comedy was of course what he was best known for. He hosted about 14 HBO comedy specials and is known as one of the best stand-up comics of all-time.
The Kennedy Center just said it will posthumously award the Mark Twain Prize to the late George Carlin at this year's annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He died a week after being named the 2008 recipient of the Twain Prize. He will be remembered at the Nov. 10 ceremony.
Mr. Carlin will certainly be missed. We are all probably saying the seven dirty words he was known to use today as we heard about his passing. Mr. Carlin was 71.

We have also lost Dody Goodman. Dody Goodman died Sunday (June 22) at Englewood (N.J.) Hospital and Medical Center. The actress had been ill for some time and had lived in the Actors Fund Home in Englewood since October. Goodman gained a measure of newspaper column space for her dancing solos in such '40s Broadway musicals as High Button Shoes and Wonderful Town. In 1955, she stopped the show in Off Broadway's Shoestring Revue with the novelty song "Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers."
She came to the attention of nighttime talkshow host Jack Paar, who after becoming enchanted by Goodman's ditzy persona and seemingly spontaneous malaprops, invited the lady to become a semi-regular on The Tonight Show. As Goodman's fame grew, she became difficult to handle on the show, and Paar was not happy with her upstaging habits. So she left show and appeared on other talk shows such as The Merv Griffin Show. She returned to Broadway in 1974 to appear in Lorelei with Carol Channing.
Then in 1975 she played Louise Lasser's mother on the comedy-soap Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Her high-pitched voice could be also heard announcing the show's title at the beginning of each episode. She appeared on the spin-off Forever Fernwood as well. She was also famous in the '80s for her recurring role as Aunt Sophia on the '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Goodman also provided the voice of Miss Miller on the animated series Alvin & the Chipmunks and various specials and movies such as The Chipmunk Adventure. She also had a role in the '80s daytime soap Texas. Her other TV credits include her first role as a waitress on The Phil Silvers Show, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Mary Tyler Moore Hour, CHiPs, Just Our Luck, St. Elsewhere, Punky Brewster, One Life to Live, Crazy Like a Fox, Bustin' Loose, Murder She Wrote, Here and Now, and Boston Common. She also appeared in the TV movie I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later. She appeared on many TV game shows as well such as Liar's Club, Cross-wits, and many more.
She appeared in such popular films as Grease, Grease 2, playing Blanche (the principal's assistant), and in the movie Splash and Splash, Too. Both movie franchises are very memorable and she was a big part of them.
She will certainly be missed by Broadway fans, TV fans, and movie fans as she had big roles in each. Dody lived a long life and was 93.

Nick at Nite June 2008: At Last Family Matters Is Coming; Remembering Earle H. Hagen

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Family Matters is launching June 29 on Nick at Nite! The show will launch on Sunday, June 29 with a seven-hour marathon from 9pm-4am ET/PT with some famous episodes such as "Rachel's Place" (where Urkel by mistake causes a fire at Leroys, but because of that Rachel gets her own restaurant), "The Crash Course" (where Eddie crashes the station wagon into the living room), "Life of the Party" (where Urkel does his famous Do the Urkel dance on rooftop party). Those are just some of the memorable episodes you will see! The marathon seems to focus on seasons two and three. For the marathon episodes, click on the link below.
Family Matters will then air regularly, Sunday through Thursday at 8:30 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. and Friday & Saturday at 12 a.m. (all times ET/PT) starting Monday, June 30 on Nick at Nite!
But before that, sit dad down on the couch this Father's Day as George Lopez plays host to a nightlong marathon honoring our favorite Nick at Nite fathers...Tim, George and Philip. Tune in Father's Day evening (Sunday, June 15) starting at 9pm!
To see the complete Nick at Nite June 2008 schedule and higlights, including the episodes for the Father's Day stunt and Family Matters marathon, click HERE! "As days go by, it's the bigger love of the family."

Earle H. Hagen, the Emmy Award-winning television composer who wrote the memorable theme music for The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy and other classic TV programs, has died. He died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA with wife, Laura at his side. He had been ill for several months.
Mr. Hagen had been writing TV themes since 1953. He was a fixture of TV hits in the '60s writing TV themes for many popular series. In addition to the ones he was really famous for, he wrote the themes for Make Room for Daddy, Dobie Gillis, That Girl, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry RFD, The Mod Squad, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, The New Perry Mason, Eight is Enough and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
He won an Emmy in 1968 for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Compositionfor I Spy. But it was The Andy Griffith Show theme song that people most remember him for. In fact, the famous whistling is done by Mr. Hagen himself! So you can hear him in each episodes before it starts.
Mr. Hagen will certainly be missed as his TV theme songs will live on forever. He was 88.

Day 73: WGA's Strike; Details on TV Land's Big '80s Weekend; TV Land Picks-Up 2nd Season of Myths and Legends

It is day 73 of the strike and many development deals have been terminated because of the strike. Many producing deals have been canceled such as Taye Diggs' for ABC Studios. Sigh...let's hope this strike gets resolved soon, because it really doesn't look like we will have any shows developed for the fall now. Development season is usually now through April, and at this rate, nothing new (scripted wise) will premiere this fall.
Meanwhile, The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a comprehensive independent agreement with Spyglass Entertainment. The company finances, produces, and distributes theatrical motion pictures, including some of the most successful films of recent years, including The Sixth Sense, Shanghai Noon, Bruce Almighty, Seabiscuit, Memoirs of a Geisha, and the upcoming 27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl. The deal reached with Spyglass Entertainment is similar to the deals the WGA recently announced with United Artists, Worldwide Pants, and MRC and addresses the issues important to writers, including New Media.

As promised, we now have the full details on TV Land Big '80s Weekend slated for President's Day weekend (Feb. 16-18). However, TV Land has cut the hours big time. It was originally slated for 12pm-11pm on Feb. 16 & 17 and on the 18th we would get it from 11am-11pm. We could have seen classic '80s TV shows too in addition to the '80s movies, TV series such as A-Team or Knight Rider, but now all we will get is '80s movies. The hours are now 5pm-11pm on the 16th, 5pm-3am on the 17th and the best two movies will air from 5-9pm on President's Day itself. Among the classic '80s movies airing are National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Sixteen Candles, Flashdance, and The Breakfast Club.
Classic TV fans don't fret, because TV Land will also give us some sitcom marathons that weekend now! On the 16th and 17th we will get a two-hour block of Andy Griffith, followed by two episodes of Sanford & Son leading into the movies starting at 5pm. On President's Day itself, we will get a two-hour morning block of Leave it to Beaver from 8-10am, followed by I Love Lucy from 10am-1pm and The Beverly Hillbillies from 1-4pm. Two episodes of Three's Company will lead into the movies.
See the updated February schedule highlights by clicking HERE for the full details!

Sticking to TV Land news...TV Land has ordered a second season of the series TV Land Myths & Legends, which aims to unravel Hollywood-related mysteries, scandals, rumors and urban legends. The first of the seven new half-hour episodes will premiere on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Among the pressing issues to be covered are whether Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally cast as TV's Incredible Hulk and if Jennifer Lopez's derriere is really insured for $1 billion. Other investigations include whether Mars Inc., maker of M&M's, turned down product placement in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, allowing Reese's Pieces to step in and benefit immensely.

Day 72: WGA's Strike; TV Land March 2008 Highlights

We are in day 72 of the writers' strike. The Writers Guild of America and the NAACP signed an interim agreement that will allow The 39th Annual NAACP Image Awards to be broadcast on Fox as scheduled Feb. 14. The agreement will allow the hiring of WGA writers to script the show and means that there will be no picketing of the event by striking writers. In addition, the Guild has granted a waiver permitting the use of clips from motion pictures and television programs. Is that good for The Grammys and The Oscars? Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone reiterated Tuesday that he does not anticipate granting the Academy Awards or The Grammy Awards a waiver unless the striking writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reach a deal. Ouch.
Finally, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and MRC, the independent film, television, and digital studio, have reached a comprehensive interim agreement that forges a new alliance between writers, producers, and financiers in the production of feature films, television shows, and digital programs. The terms of the agreement are similar to the Guild's recent deals with Worldwide Pants and United Artists
There have been a lot of reality signings and renewals thanks to the strike. NBC has picked up a second season of the hit competition series American Gladiators after just three airings. The season finale is expected to air on a Sunday leading into the premiere of the Knight Rider movie in February. No word when the second season will air and how many have been ordered, but NBC is leaning towards a summer launch date. In other news, NBC has ordered a pilot for the international hit series Top Gear from BBC Worldwide America.
CBS has ordered three new alternative/reality series for broadcast later this year - the biweekly celebrity talent contest Secret Talents of the Stars, the hidden camera game show Game Show in My Head and the search for America's Top Dog. I'm serious about the latter.

We have TV Land March 2008 for you! There are no regular schedule changes, but there are some minor adjustments on some dates (see link below for full schedule)...such as episodes of Just Shoot Me, mostly to accompany encores of High School Reunion. That series will launch on Wednesday, March 5 and will air at 10pm for 6 straight weeks, with MANY encores. TV Land reunites more than a dozen alumni from JJ Pierce high school in Richardson, Texas. The jock, the cheerleader, the partier, the bully, the nerd and several others reunite more than twenty years later in a two-week Hawaiian get-away to rekindle past relationships, rivalries and romances.
For two hours every Friday in March, catch super-sized episodes of M*A*S*H as TV Land features every two-part episode from the series back-to-back. So come say a tearful goodbye to Radar, catch a touring USO vaudeville show with the gang, or see the unforgettable kiss between rivals, Hawkeye and Hotlips. No need to wait until next week for any of these exciting conclusions; TV Land has got it here and now all month long. Talk about March err M*A*S*H Madness!
On weekends, catch some mini-marathons of your favorite shows such as Beverly Hillbillies, I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver! Also, a big weekend is planned for Andy the weekend of March 22! Investigate with the men of Mayberry in a two-day marathon of crime-solving episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Swindlers, crooks, confidence men and slick-talkers all converge on this small town of simple folk and even simpler living. See how Sherriff Taylor and Deputy Fife use small town wisdom and wit to crack the case, round up the outlaws and make the streets of Mayberry safe once again.
Finally, it's the monthly Movie Week on TV Land, the week of March 24! Showtime is every weeknight at 8p, starting Monday with Gary Busey as the music legend in The Buddy Holly Story. On Tuesday, Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice tries to spook Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis out of their home. Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenberg are thrust into fatherhood in Three Men and a Baby on Wednesday. Finishing out the week, Cher finds herself caught between her fiancé and his brother Nicolas Cage in the romantic-comedy Moonstruck.
The Friday night movies include Beetlejuice, The Buddy Holly Story, and Three Men and a Baby.
For the COMPLETE TV Land March 2008 highlights, including the schedule adjustments on some nights, High School Reunion encores, episodes for the marathons and stunts, and much more, click HERE! You can also discuss there, too! March on to the March highlights!

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 .

TVLand.com Redesigns Website, Adds Full Episodes; Another RTN Affiliate; Historic Brady Bunch Star Event

In its continued effort to superserve the entertainment needs of people in their 40s and 50s, TV Land announced a relaunch of the network's website TVLand.com.
The new TVLand.com features special areas devoted to all aspects of entertainment including television, music and movies. Each section delivers unique attractions such as full-length episodes of beloved classic television shows including The Andy Griffith Show, Leave it to Beaver and Gunsmoke.
Additionally, in the coming months, the site will feature The Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan's Heroes and Just Shoot Me. Television fans will be able to access these series online as select episodes are showcased on the site.
There are much more features added to the website, I urge you to click HERE to see what they are!

Retro Television Network (RTN), announced today to add an affiliate in El Paso, TX. The network will launch in 2008 on a digital stream of KFOX-TV, the local FOX affiliate that serves the El Paso, TX / Las Cruces, NM market.
Viewers will fall in love all over again with Love, American Style and will be on the edge of their seats as Dr. Richard Kimble, played by David Jansen, is The Fugitive on the run trying to prove his innocence. In the evening, audiences will enjoy seeing Robert Stack as Elliot Ness in The Untouchables.
If you don't know by now, RTN is a new television network that provides each affiliate a customized feed (on digital streams) 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.

On October 16, Christopher Knight (The Brady Bunch) will be the first celebrity in the world to interact with his fans online and sign Brady collectibles with the inscriptions they request. You could be a part of this historic event-- there are a limited number of online signing experiences available, so Brady fans need to act fast (Each signing event includes a FREE DVD recording of Chris signing your item and responding to your question!).
Go to LiveAutographs.com and check out the exclusive inventory of signing experiences featuring Chris Knight. Select your package (1 guaranteed authentic autographed item + you get to ask Chris a question and WATCH him respond!). Purchase it today to reserve your place at this Exclusive Online Fan Event. Grooovy!

TV Land December 2007 Highlights; Heroes Reruns to G4 and Mojo

I mentioned the other day that TV Land will start The Beverly Hillbillies in December. They will not now. It was slated for a marathon on Dec. 22 and regular play starting Dec. 25, but that will be moved to January now. We do however get a Christmas episode on Christmas Eve!
There are no schedule changes (yet...), but we have some notable events. Christmas comes early to TV Land this year and yule love Thursday when TV Land features Christmas episodes from your favorite shows! Dec 6, 13 and 20 from 8-10pm catch The Jeffersons, Andy Griffith, Good Times, All in the Family M*A*S*H, and Three's Company in holiday episodes.
And if that is not enough holiday episodes for you, TV Land will have not one but two 24-hour Merry-thons! Could the holidays be as merry without TV Land's annual Merry-thon? Christmas spirit, eggnog and your favorite TV friends means a jolly good time all around! Tune in to TV Land's 8th Annual Merrython featuring classic Christmas episodes of shows like Good Times, Three's Company, The Jeffersons, Andy Griffith, and so much more!
Weekends at 5PM, TV Land will encore originals that had countdowns, like 100 Most Unexpected Television Moments and Greatest TV Quotes & Catchphrases.
Finally, the Friday night movies include Thelma & Louise, Wallstreet, and Running Scared.
For complete episode details and more on December, click HERE! Ho ho ho!

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has sold hit NBC primetime series Heroes to cable networks G4 and MOJO for its debut in off-network syndication. The multi-season strip deals with G4 and MOJO debut in fall 2010, and include a repurpose window of current season episodes the week following NBC's initial airings starting later this month.
G4 will debut Heroes with all-day marathons of season one episodes on Saturday, October 27 and Sunday, October 28. The network will begin airing episodes from the current season with a mini-marathon of the first six episodes of Heroes season two on Saturday, November 3 from 5:00-11:00pm et/pt. G4 will then regularly air each week's current episode of Heroes on Saturdays at 10:00pm et/pt.
Heroes will premiere on MOJO Thursday, November 1, airing the first six episodes of season two from 3- 9:00 pm et. Going forward, Heroes will air on MOJO every week on Wed. at 8pm pt/11:00 pm et and Thurs. at 5pm pt/8pm et. MOJO will also air a marathon of season one episodes during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tonight sitcom wise we have NBC's Comedy Done Right block with My Name is Earl, 30 Rock and yet another hour-long The Office. All starts at 8/7 central on NBC!

TV Land Thanksgiving Stunt Change; Deal or No Deal Comes to First-Run Syndication

Hope you're enjoying your day off from Columbus Day, those of you who actually get the day off. Whatever happened to the Columbo marathons on this day? I always looked forward to those. Anyway, let's move on to the news.
About a month ago we gave you the highlights for TV Land November, and we mentioned a Little House on the Prairie marathon in primetime on Thanksgiving night. Now TV Land has scrapped that and added a whole holiday weekend of marathons. Thursday, November 22, 2007 through Sunday, November 25, 2007
This Thanksgiving weekend treat yourself to TV Land marathons to fill your stomach! On thanksgiving Day, I Love Lucy will be on all day from 10am-11pm...what better way to spend your Thanksgiving? On Friday, November 23 we have a mini-Sanford & Son marathon from 9am-12pm followed by more Lucy from 12-5pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition airs on this night at 7pm, too, as its usual night and time on Saturday will be another marathon. That will be of course The Andy Griffith Show. The marathon airs Saturday, November 24 from 10:30pm-6a. And we get more Andy to wrap up the holiday weekend from 6pm-2:30am on Sunday, November 25. To view the full schedule of changes this holiday weekend, click HERE.
We will be back with TV Land December sometime this week that will feature of course the annual Merry-thon and the launch of The Beverly Hillbillies. Ya'll come back now ya here?

A daytime version of Deal or No Deal is coming in Fall 2008. Howie Mandel, who will continue to host NBC's hit one-hour primetime run of the game show, is set to host the new half-hour version being sold to local stations for Monday-through-Friday broadcasts. This syndicated version will include all key elements that made NBC's primetime version a breakout hit, with Mandel as host, the Banker, models, contestants risking big money and the same award-winning production team.
Among the early buys include NBC Universal stations in the nation's top markets including WNBC-TV New York, KNBC-TV Los Angeles and WMAQ-TV in Chicago, WCAU-TV Philadelphia, KNTV-TV San Francisco and others, as well as to stations from CBS, Allbritton, Scripps, Sinclair and more in top markets.
Deal or No Deal was actually NBC's most watched program of the 2006-2007, but is off to a slow start this season thus far. The culprit is because it moved from Mondays to Wednesdays. The Friday edition is also down.

The CW Fall Pilot Review: Aliens in America - Premieres October 1; TV Land Keeps The Brady Bunch

Aliens in America - Mondays at 8:30PM ET/PT on The CW
Premieres October 1 at 8:30PM ET/PT

Aliens in America is the story of Justin Tolchuk, a 16-year-old that is all alone in the world, that has a mother that gives him the perfect present to get out of his loner rut--an exchange student. The only problem is that his mother doesn't realize that the Nordic exchange student that they are getting is a Pakistani kid named Raja, who is going to be a true "alien in America." The series explores how this relationship will (and sometimes won't) work out for the Tolchuk family, with mother Franny fearing Muslims, father Gary just being happy because they get paid for having an exchange student living in the house, sister Claire who is just kind of there, and Justin and Raja, who may have a friendship to gain from this experience.

Cast Details:

Adhir Kalyan as Raja Musharaff, Dan Byrd as Justin Tolchuk, Amy Pietz as Franny Tolchuk, Lindsey Shaw as Claire Tolchuk, Scott Patterson as Gary Tolchuk

Essentially, the show has been cast with a bunch of unknowns--but then again, how many truly great sitcoms have had stars that were well-known BEFORE the series started? The series stars Dan Byrd as Justin and Adhir Kalyan as Raja, both of whom are relatively unknown. Amy Pietz, who had a role on Caroline in the City (does anybody even remember this series?) in the 90s plays mother Franny, while Scott Patterson, formerly of Gilmore Girls, plays father Gary. Lindsey Shaw plays the role of Claire; Shaw previously had a role on the Nickelodeon series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.


Pilot Plot:

I have received the first two episodes. The first episode introduces us to the series and what it is all about--which is basically the family getting Raja as their Nordic exchange student (Nordic because he came from Pakistan through a Nordic country before he got into the United States). The family is basically in shock about who their exchange student is, particularly since they live in a small Wisconsin town where people that are different are automatically assumed to be terrorists, but when Gary sees the dollars that he gets for having Raja in the house and Franny sees how Justin is making his first true friend, these stereotypes fly out the window.

In the second episode, "No Man is an Island," Raja tells the entire class that if he was stuck on a desert island with only one thing, it would be his best friend Justin--which of course leads the whole class to think that they are a homosexual couple. But things backfire when Justin turns to Claire for advice on how to make Raja stop embarassing him... but you'll have to watch the show to see how that turns out.


Analysis:

The show isn't laugh out loud funny, but it isn't intended to be that type of sitcom anyway. Actually, it reminds me a LOT of The Wonder Years in the style that it is done, with the show having Justin narrating just about everything that happens within the episode as if he was telling the story about what is happening. It is obvious that the producers here are trying to create a well-written series here that has funny moments along the way. But if the series wants to last, they need to create some good scripts, and I'm not sure how far they'll be able to go with that in a series with a premise like this. Many of the "fish out of water" sitcoms of the past (think of Perfect Strangers, ALF, and others) used quite a few funny moments, and even though they did have decent scripts, they may not have always (though sometimes could have) been scripts that could stand alone without many funny moments and a laugh track (something that this series does NOT have).

The show uses a lot of stereotypes about Muslims (as well as other groups) too, which makes it a bit politically incorrect, and honestly most people would not say actually say (and hopefully not believe, but certainly some will) a lot of the stuff that is said in the show. But of course, it is just a sitcom and you can't take it all that seriously. Besides, despite all of the stereotypes, it shows how incorrect a lot of the stereotypes are, and that is what many sitcoms about stereotypes often do. Plus, the point of the show is just to enjoy it and not make anything of the stereotypes, which makes me wonder why I just wasted away this paragraph talking about it.


Conclusion:

Really, this isn't a bad show, and it seems like the perfect fit for a younger audience, which is exactly what The CW is after. In fact, if it weren't for the political incorrectness that the show exhibits a LITTLE bit (which isn't too much), this show could almost fit in on a network such as Nickelodeon, as it reminds me of some of the early '90s sitcoms that the network aired (and the style that they appear to be trying to return to). I'd give this show about two weeks to last on any other network, not because it is a bad show (it is actually decent), but because it will be hard for the right audience to find it. But given that this will air on The CW and right after Everybody Hates Chris, I'd give this show a fighting chance.


Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 4/5
Funniness: 2.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

-- Reviewed by Skees53 on 09/28/07

Discuss the show after you watch it on Monday on our message board.

Related Links:

The CW Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Aliens in America Photo Gallery


The other day we mentioned we will let you know if The Brady Bunch will be staying past the two weeks it was slated for. And the answer is...YES. It will continue to air Tues-Fri at 11am the week of Oct. 16 and beyond. It starts airing of course starting Oct. 2 Also, the week of Oct. 15 will see an additional Brady airing, at 4:30am every night!
There are some other minor changes starting Oct. 15, including an Andy Griffith Tuesday block from 8-10pm, replacing Cosby Show and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will move from Tuesdays at 11 to Saturdays at 11! Good morning TV Land, indeed!
Full list of changes for that week can be found here.

TV Land's CASA Stunt Full Details; Network Notes

We mentioned this a lot already, but TV Land has issued yet another press release on the CASA Family Day. As part of its commitment to Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children(TM), TV Land will pre-empt regularly- scheduled programming and "go dark" on September 24 from 6pm to 7pm (ET/PT) to encourage families to dine together. Viewers tuning in to The Family Day Dinner Hour will see photos submitted to TVLand.com of various families sharing meals and spending time together. Packaged like a scrapbook, the hour will display montages of the photos along with Family Day graphics, all set to easy-listening Americana and Jazz music.
To further promote Family Day, TV Land will air a two-hour block of classic family dinner-themed episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford & Son, and M*A*S*H on Sunday, September 23, from 8pm to 10pm (ET/PT).

Fox has announced the premiere date for season 7 of 24. The innovative, addictive, Emmy Award-winning television series 24 resets the clock for Season Seven with a special two-night premiere event Sunday, Jan. 13 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT and Monday, Jan. 14 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on Fox.
In keeping with Fox's commitment to airing original programming year-round, the intense season will unfold in 24's regular 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT time period beginning Monday, Jan. 14, and will continue to air all originals all season into June.
NBC.com today announced the launch of its new service, "NBC Direct," which will allow users to download and view NBC's popular primetime and late-night entertainment programming on their desktops for up to one week after broadcast. This new feature provides yet another platform on which fans will be able to enjoy NBC Entertainment content.
The first version of this new feature, which will begin beta testing in October, will allow users to download full length episodes for viewing on Windows based PCs. Each original episode will be licensed to users for viewing through "NBC Direct" for one week following broadcast and will then expire. The downloaded file will provide users with an improved overall viewing experience compared to traditional streaming video. The list of programs available at launch will include Heroes, The Office, Life, Bionic Woman, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Later in the beta launch, users will be provided the free subscription option that will allow them to pre-select their favorite NBC programs they want to watch. Those shows will be automatically delivered to their computers as soon as they are available after the original broadcast. The downloadable player will also have filtering technology, which will prevent it from playing any stolen copyrighted material.

And finally, as a reminder the first two original sitcom airings of the new season start tonight with the series premiere of Back to You and the season premiere of 'Til Death. The laughs start at 8/7 central on Fox.
Our final ratings for each night will return this week on our message boards (see General Sitcoms board)

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

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

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

Even More TV Land Updates; Network Notes

I don't know what is with all these TV Land updates lately, but we have more today. TV Land has announced the Sept. 24-28 week-long marathon and it isn't The Beverly Hillbillies as I guessed unfortunately, it will be The Andy Griffith Show. So I was wrong. Let's hope that show comes in the future. Don't lose hope because it is likely to come. Anyway, Andy will air 8-11pm that week, but also its regular airings of 7-8pm and 11pm-12am will be there (yes it actually airs 12-1am in regular play, but not this week, as M*A*S*H will air 12-1am that week), so essentially the marathon is 7pm-12am.
Moving on to TV Land original programming, TV Land and Wilhelmina Models, Inc. announced a partnership to discover the next new face of the fashion industry. Documented in a six-part series tentatively titled The Next Great Supermodel, TV Land and Wilhelmina Models, Inc. will scour the country -- and put the would-be models to the test -- to find their next star: a woman 35 or over who exudes sophistication, beauty and confidence.
The Next Great Supermodel will premiere on TV Land in the Spring of 2008 and is being executive produced by Emmy Award Winner Allison Grodner (Big Brother, Blowout). The winner of the reality series competition will receive a lucrative modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models, Inc.
For more details, including how to apply, click HERE.

Effective immediately, as of Tues., Aug. 21 and Wed., Aug. 22, the time slots of ABC News programs i-CAUGHT & Primetime: Crime (Tues.) and NASCAR IN PRIMETIME & Primetime: The Outsiders (Wed.) are being flipped. Meanwhile, ABC has announced that they will indeed burn-off The Nine on abc.com. 9 episodes aired on television, with 4 still in the can. Episodes 10 and 11 launched yesterday I believe, with episode 12 coming Aug. 23 and episode 13 on Aug. 30. Go to abc.com to watch this. They have removed their video section for The Knights of Prosperity completely, so it doesn't look like we will ever see the final two episodes...let's pray for a DVD!
NBC will preview the upcoming syndicated game show Merv Griffin's Crosswords in primetime on Saturday, September 8 at 8:30PM ET/PT following the NBC Fall Preview Show. The first-run syndicated series will launch on various NBC owned-and-operated stations on Monday, September 10, 2007...check local listings for time and channel (here in NY, WNBC will air it back-to-back from 4-5pm).

TV Land Elvis Month Cut By 1 Week; GSN Honors Merv Griffin

Elvis Month on TV Land will now end August 26 rather than August 31. The week of August 27 TV Land had slated noon movies of Elvis, but they have now scrapped that, so the last weekday noon movie will be August 24. The afternoon line-up slated to start week of Sept. 3 will now start a week earlier (12-1pm I Love Lucy, 1-2pm Green Acres, 2-3pm Munsters/Addams Family, 3-4pm Leave it to Beaver, 4pm Bonanza). Also, starting a few days earlier is the midnight back-to-back airings of The Andy Griffith Show every night.

GSN will honor the late Merv Griffin with some tribute marathons. The GSN marathons are in two five-hour blocks Saturday, August 18 and Sunday, August 19 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM ET. Saturday's Griffin tribute will feature an early Chuck Woolery Wheel of Fortune appearance, Vanna White's debut in 1982 and the show's first road trip to New York City. Sunday's Jeopardy marathon includes "The $1,000,000 Masters Tournament of Champions" episodes.
Additionally, during its black-and-white programming block Sunday night, the network is showcasing episodes of two classic series which Griffin himself hosted. At 3:00 AM, GSN will air the first nighttime episode of Play Your Hunch, (Griffin's first network hosting job) from 1960, in which Griffin sings. Following at 3:30 AM, is a 1961 To Tell The Truth episode featuring Griffin as its host filling in for a vacationing Bud Collyer.
Griffin had a very meaningful connection with GSN. When the network launched as Game Show Network on Dec. 1, 1994, he was one of the honored guests who flipped the switch launching the network.

The Full Updated TV Land September Schedule; More Details on TV Land Canada This Fall

It was just yesterday when we released the updated TV Land weekend schedule for September, now we have the fully updated schedule for the rest of the week! So continuing where we left off yesterday, the late night schedule in September will be the same for every night. Which means the schedule we gave yesterday from 12:05am-6am on weekends will ALSO be on weeknights. So we won't go over that. Let's start with weekday mornings, we are started off with Star Trek at 6am, followed by back to back M*A*S*H at 7am, then we have a sitcom block of Cheers, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and All in the Family until 10am. Knight Rider joins the lineup and will air at 10am (it was previously slated for weekdays at 3pm in the original September schedule). Then on Mondays only, we have a TV Land Goes West Monday block with Bonanza from 11am-2pm and Gunsmoke from 2-6pm. Tues-Fri in this time period we get Gunsmoke at 11am, back-to-back I Love Lucy at noon, back-to-back Green Acres at 1pm, the horror hour with Munsters & Addams Family at 2, back-to-back Leave it to Beaver at 3, Bonanza at 4pm and Gunsmoke at 5pm. Weeknights at 6 will remain Little House on the Prairie followed by back-to-back Andy Griffith Show episodes at 7. In primetime on weeknights we get back-to-back The Cosby Show at 8, followed by back-to-back The Jeffersons at 9, back-to-back Sanford & Son at 10, and back-to-back M*A*S*H at 11. There are some days when things get pre-empted, so I suggest you view our seven day a week schedule for September by clicking HERE!
Hopefully TV Land doesn't edit the September line-up again. We will have the October highlights very soon, so come on back for that. What to expect that month is a 50th Anniversary Marathon of Leave it to Beaver and Designing Women joins the line-up.

Moving up north of the border, we have some additional details for TV Land Canada's Fall schedule. We gave you the shows and details last month, but now we have some more info!
Among the highlights: TV Land Canada has 24-hour marathons of Remington Steele and Happy Days, and spends the Christmas holidays with Lassie and Dallas. Several stand-up comedy series hosted by comedian Ben Guyatt are also coming to the Canadian network. For complete details, click HERE you Canadians!

TV Land August Schedule Includes Month-Long Elvis Salute; Network Notes

As promised, today we will detail you the TV Land August schedule! First, they have altered the post-summer marathon schedule starting July 23. You know, the marathons that started June 4 will run through July 20, every weeknight from 10pm to 4am. Starting July 23 they were supposed to return the regular 10p-4a schedule that was in effect before June 4, but now they have changed that a bit. The Jeffersons will come to 9 & 9:30pm, shifting Sanford & Son up an hour to 10 & 10:30pm. M*A*S*H's 10p-12a block will just be 11 & 11:30pm now. Single episodes of Sanford & Son and Good Times will air approx. 12:05 and 12:35am. Three's Company will move to 1:10am, followed by back to back Cosby Show episodes at 1:45 and 2:20am. Another Good Times is at 2:55 followed by Three's Company at 3:30am. Yet another Sanford & Son will air at 4am followed by All in the Family at 4:30am. M*A*S*H will now air back to back at 5 & 5:30am.
Other changes that week are All in the Family at 7:30am replacing Sanford & Son.
The week of July 30 will see more changes. Keeping the schedule that started July 23, we get these additional changes: On Monday nights at 5am now will be an additional All in the Family followed by The Jeffersons at 5:30am. Fri-Sun starting at 8pm all month long will be Elvis movies. Friday and Saturday nights at 5 & 5:30am will now be I Love Lucy, with Andy Griffith taking that slot on Sunday nights. Talk about confusing! This week also sees changes to weekends, especially Saturdays. Both days from 6-8am have changed...I Love Lucy from 6-7am and Green Acres from 7-8am. I Love Lucy will continue to air weekends from 10am-12pm, but now on Saturdays it will also be 12-1pm, leading into a movie encore block from 1-5pm. Andy Griffith follows at 5 & 5:30pm, followed by Little House at 6 and more Andy from 7-8pm--the same as Mon-Fri. So TV Land Goes West is not on Saturdays anymore. It will still air Sundays.
The week of August 6 is the final changes for awhile. TV Land Goes West will now be Mondays! So, Sundays and Mondays in August. Bonanza will air 8am-12pm on Mondays and Gunsmoke will air 2pm-6pm on Mondays. Other changes starting this week are on Tues-Fri: The Jeffersons at 7:30am, All in the Family at 8:30am, Gunsmoke returns to weekdays at 10am & 4pm, Green Acres at 11am only, Elvis movies every weekday at 12 noon, followed by back to back Beaver from 2-3pm and one Munsters at 3pm.
Holy confusion Batman! I know, so confusing! Click HERE to view the list of changes.

Now that is just the schedule changes...let's move on to the highlights now! TV Land celebrates August with Elvis month, including an all-new TV Land original special: TV Land Myths & Legends: Elvis. This half-hour special coincides with TV Land's month-long salute to Elvis Presley. Thirty years after his death, TV Land takes an in-depth look at some of the most popularly held mysteries about the "King of Rock and Roll" and dissects them to separate fact from fiction. Tons of movies, specials, documentaries, concerts and more are airing. I suggest you view our highlights below for more details.
Millions watched the weekly heart-filled stories of families in need unfold. Now it can be seen on TV Land, reinforcing the gift of giving! Extreme Makeover: Home Edition starts on August 7th, and airs every Tuesday night at 11pm.
Friday movies this month include the premieres of Major League, Honeymoon in Vegas, and 1974's The Longest Yard.
And finally, two originals will wrap up this month with TV Land Confidential and Back to the Grind. Again, click HERE to view the list of changes and the highlights for this action packed month.

The CW is closing the door of new summer drama Hidden Palms a little earlier than thought. Currently airing Wednesdays at 8, with encores Sundays at 8, it will now be doubled-up Wednesdays at 8 & 9pm on June 20 and 27, so it can end its run after the July 4 airing. Ouch, last episode will air on the 4th of July. Who will watch?? The encores on Sundays will be replaced by 7th Heaven repeats, while Reba repeats will take the 7pm hour effective immediately (June 17).
Jericho, CBS's drama about how residents of a small, peaceful, Kansas town band together to survive in the wake of a nuclear explosion, will return to CBS beginning Friday, July 6 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT. Rebroadcasts of episodes from the first season will air in the Friday, 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT time period for the remainder of the summer.
Jericho, which last week received a seven episode mid-season order following an impassioned display of fan support, will return on July 6 with a rebroadcast of the pilot episode. Watch it now so CBS won't have to cancel it again!

SitcomsOnline.com 2007-08 Upfront Preview: NBC; TV Land June Change

For NBC it will be all about starting the night off with a reality/game show to set up the dramas. NBC's Thursday comedy block is not what it used to be, but it has a cult audience and maybe another one of those shows will be launched this fall. NBC is looking for a drama hit as some of the older series are running out of gas.
Here is the SitcomsOnline.com NBC 2007-08 preview:

New Series Already Picked-Up: None.
New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: Lipstick Jungle (drama), Journeyman (drama), Fort Pit (drama), and The I.T. Crowd (sitcom).
New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: The Mastersons of Manhattan (sitcom), Life (drama), and Bionic Woman (drama)

OUR FALL 2007 PREDICTION:

Sundays
7:00PM Football Night in America
8:00PM Sunday Night Football

Mondays
8:00PM Deal or No Deal
9:00PM Heroes
10:00PM Journeyman (NEW)

Tuesdays
8:00PM 1 vs. 100
9:00PM Fort Pit (NEW)
10:00PM Law & Order: SVU

Wednesdays
8:00PM Thank God You're Here
9:00PM Medium
10:00PM Lipstick Jungle (NEW)

Thursdays
8:00PM My Name is Earl
8:30PM The I.T. Crowd (NEW)
9:00PM The Office
9:30PM 30 Rock
10:00PM ER

Fridays
8:00PM Deal or No Deal
9:00PM Friday Night Lights
10:00PM Las Vegas

Saturdays
8:00PM Dateline NBC
9:00PM Drama Repeats
10:00PM Drama Repeats

Comments: So what about Crossing Jordan, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order? I say they will be benched until January after the NFL ends and they will bring them to Sundays for a repeat free season...but maybe one will be a goner. The Apprentice might not be back until next winter either...I wish that would just die already. The Black Donnellys, Studio 60, Kidnapped, Identity, Raines, 20 Good Years, Andy Barker, and Real Wedding Crashers are all (or will be) canceled or ended. I really think NBC will only go with one comedy night once again, as we saw what happened to Wednesdays 8-9pm last year. Scrubs is probably gone from NBC, and on the way to ABC for next winter. There is a good chance that The Office will be an anchor show on Thursdays at 9, but I don't think it will do as well as it did at 8:30, but they have to move it to 9pm to try and launch another similar sitcom, as 30 Rock is not a strong show to anchor an hour. So NBC will be multi-camera sitcom-less in the fall, but I have them picking up The Mastersons of Manhattan for mid-season. Life and Bionic Woman could get orders for mid-season. Maybe another drama called Chuck could get in. NBC only has a total of eight drama projects, so that means maybe 1/2 or more could get picked up. NBC had a dismal season once again, but Heroes was a bright spot, as the high power project Studio 60 was a bust. Friday Night Lights was not a good either, but I see them bringing it back to try again. They can use Deal or No Deal on Fridays again as Sundays will be Football, and have 1 vs. 100 on another night, say Tuesday. Will NBC revamp the schedule they released at upfront once again after releasing it, like it did last year? We shall see.

Remember, next Monday (May 14) is the actual date when we will find out NBC's plans for the 2007-08 season. So, come on back next Monday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned tomorrow for a preview on ABC's upfront.

TV Land has announced that it has changed its late night schedule starting for June. Starting June 4, each weeknight starting at 10pm will have three nightly mini-marathons lasting until 4:30am. Each marathon will consist of four episodes. Mondays will be The Cosby Show, Three's Company & Good Times; Tuesdays will be M*A*S*H, Sanford & Son, & The Jeffersons; Wednesdays will be Sanford & Son, M*A*S*H, & All in the Family; Thursdays will be The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy & Leave it to Beaver; and Fridays will be the Friday Movie, M*A*S*H & Star Trek. Other changes include all Andy Griffith Saturday from 9pm-1:10am with a reairing on Sundays from 7-10pm. So, this means the current 10pm-4:30am line-up will only be on Sundays. The only other change is at 4:30am everynight with The Jeffersons taking over for Sanford & Son. There are no other changes in the daytime and will remain the same as it is now.
What's Happening Now!!, which is airing weekdays at 7am, will get more new episodes starting May 29, but we will let you know when we learn more.
For now click HERE for the list of changes for this nightly marathon changes.

We shall be back with more news, if any.

TV Land Changes May 2007 Schedule; Nick at Nite Schedules AFV for May

TV Land has edited their May line-up and mostly everything is moving to new timeslots. The new schedule will start on April 30 and will bring back All in the Family and The Cosby Show to regular airings, and also What's Happening Now!! will finally air as a regular (weekdays at 7am). Among the changes include a sitcom block from 7-9am with What's Happening Now!!, Sanford & Son, All in the Family and The Jeffersons. A note on What's Happening Now!!, they seem to be airing the 12 episodes that they have already aired in a marathon. So once the 12 episodes finish, they start again with the same 12. I hope they decide to air every episode...maybe this is a test. Gunsmoke has been removed from the weekday line-up, but will still air on the weekends. Sunday's encores will however air Monday mornings. The other notable changes include: Andy Griffith Show's four airings are all in early evening now at 5-6pm and 7-8pm, rather than 8-9pm and 1-2am. Good Times coming back in prime-time (8-9pm Mon-Thurs, 9-10pm Fri-Sun). Instead of M*A*S*H from 9-10pm and 12-1am, TV Land has decided to air a M*A*S*H block from 10pm-12am, so there is no breaks. Thus, Sanford & Son which was at 10-11pm will slide to 9-10pm and Three's Company was 11p-12a will move to 12-1am. Late nights will have encores and also Cosby Show from 2-3am. Star Trek has been cut to just 4 times a week in its 5a and 6a slots. See the full schedule starting April 30 by clicking HERE.

As we reported already, the Bob Saget years of America's Funniest Home Videos is coming to Nick at Nite on April 30. The timeslot originally was weeknights at 8:30pm. That has been changed to Sun-Thurs at 9pm and Fri-Sat at 10pm, replacing one episode of Full House each day. Full House will still air immediately following AFV.
The first week though, April 30-May 6, you can catch the show back-to-back all week-long (Sun-Thurs 9-10pm and Fri-Sat 10-11pm) to celebrate the show joining the network.