The Unit Joins BET, And Coming to Sleuth in January; 2010 Emmy's in August

Action drama The Unit, which aired on CBS from 2005-09, has began airing on cable in repeats on BET since Monday (Nov. 16). The series stars Dennis Haysbert and focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta (a.k.a. Delta Force). BET airs repeats of the series on Monday and Friday nights in primetime from 8pm-11pm ET and encores from 1-3am ET and they have rights through 2011. The Unit of course also airs in broadcast syndication on Wednesday nights in primetime from 8-10pm ET/PT on MyNetwork TV, as we all know. Sticking to BET, they will air an Everybody Hates Chris marathon on "Black Friday" (Friday, Nov. 27) from 10am-6pm. The Game will also get a marathon the following day (Saturday, Nov. 28) from 9am-8:30pm.
We have more news for The Unit! It will be joining Sleuth in January. The series launches on the network on Friday, Jan. 1, 2010 and will have a three-day all-day marathon from 6am-6am through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010. Then starting Monday, Jan. 4, the series will air Mondays from 8am-4pm ET & 8pm-2am ET; Saturdays from 9am-1pm ET & 5am ET; and Sundays at 11pm ET. The Unit will get a 24-hour marathon on Martin Luther King, Jr. day on Monday, Jan. 18 from 6am-6am.
In other Sleuth January 2010 news, starting Friday, Jan. 8 from 8pm-11pm ET/PT will be the "Sleuth Uncovered TV" block that features a stack of short-lived TV series that deserve to be seen. At 8pm we get Blind Justice starring Ron Eldard, at 9pm we get The Handler starring Joe Pantoliano, and at 10pm we get Twin Peaks starring Kyle MacLachlan.
Other series that air regularly on Sleuth are Monk, NCIS, The Dead Zone and Bury the Lead. Airing in blocks like The Unit are series like JAG, Walker Texas Ranger, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and MacGyver.
So, by January we'll have The Unit on MyNetwork TV, BET and Sleuth. Will there be more? Who knows, but stay with us as usual.

NBC will broadcast The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards live on Sunday, August 29 (8-11 p.m. ET; other time zones delayed) in 2010. The Emmy Awards are usually the last Sunday of the summer season, but due to NBC's commitments to NFL on Sunday nights, they cannot air the Emmy Awards on that night. This is the second time that NBC has done this, as last time they had the Emmy Awards was in 2006 and they aired it on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. The Emmy Awards rotate each year on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox.
Nominations for The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced Thursday, July 8 at 5:40 a.m. (PT) from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, Calif. Still a long way to go!

BET Jazz Renames to Centric; The CW and TBS Cancelations

We all know about the name change Viacom is doing for The N turning into TeenNick starting today, but did you know Viacom's BET Jazz is turning into Centric today? BET is rebranding its nearly 32 million subscriber "BET J" network under the Centric title, which will target African-American viewers with music and lifestyle programming. The network for the short-term will rely on acquired reality and music programming fare from its sister networks, including such shows as MTV's Run's House and VH1's The Salt-N-Pepa Show and I Want To Work for Diddy. Centric will also feature new shows originally slated to premiere this fall on BET J, including Leading Men, Lyrical Café and Urban Living. The network will also air classic episodes from the long-running Soul Train syndicated music/dance series, including singer Michael Jackson's first appearance on the show as a member of The Jackson Five. The network will pay homage to the "King of Pop," who died this past June, with a Jackson-themed primetime programming block tonight at 9pm (and encoring Friday at 11am). Also, the network will air the original Fame series to launch the network today from 9am-9pm with an encore on Sunday from 6am-6pm. Episode titles from the 1982 series airing in the block are "The Strike," "A Musical Bridge," "Passing Grade," "Tomorrow's Farewell," "The Crazies," "Teachers," "Class Act," "Feelings," "Star Quality," "Solo Song," "Ending on a High Note," and "Not in Kansas Anymore." I believe this is in honor of the new Fame movie that opened this past weekend. As of now, Centric is not airing this series as a regular.
While the network is officially on the air today, BET and MTV are not planning any major marketing campaigns for Centric until 2010. For the immediate future, Centric will run cross-promotional spots through such MTV Networks properties as VH1, MTV and BET. Hopefully we see some sitcoms on Centric, but it doesn't seem like we will see any...I guess sitcom will be just for BET itself.

The CW has canceled new Wednesday drama The Beautiful Life: TBL after just two airings. TBL was the fall's first cancelation, after draw just over 1 million viewers for its second episode not holding much of anything of the America's Next Top Model lead-in. Starting this Wednesday at 9pm, repeats of Melrose Place, which is not doing much better, will take over the slot. Melrose Place airs original episodes Tuesdays at 9pm.
And finally TBS has canceled multi-camera sitcom The Bill Engvall Show after three seasons. The series moved to Saturdays for its third season and didn't generate much numbers. TBS opted to go with a fourth season of single camera sitcom My Boys instead I guess.

Jamie Foxx Show Returns to BET; Premiere Ratings for ION's Durham County and Criminal Minds

The Jamie Foxx Show last aired on BET in March 2008...and now it will return! Effective Monday, September 28, 2009, Jamie Foxx Show returns to BET's daytime line-up. The sitcom will air 9-11am and 3-4pm starting Sept. 28. We are not sure yet if the morning airings will be every week or just that week, as we only have the schedule through this month. Also, finally joining the weekday schedule is Everybody Hates Chris. Currently it is only airing on weekends, but that will change starting Sept. 28 when Chris will air weekdays 12-1pm and 5-6pm. This means The Game will move to 11am-12pm and 4-5pm. Chris will still air on weekends as well (Saturdays 2-3pm and Sundays approx. 12-1pm).
The additions of Jamie Foxx and Everybody Hates Chris has removed Sister Sister, One on One and Smart Guy from the weekday line-up. However, Smart Guy will still air Saturdays 11am-12pm following a block of Proud Family from 9-11am. The Game airs Saturdays 12-2pm leading into Chris.
As of now it seems Sister Sister and One on One are off the line-up totally. Sister Sister launched on BET this summer in July, while One on One has been airing since last October. Stay with us for more on if these shows will return, as we haven't seen the October schedule yet. Maybe they are just benched like Steve Harvey Show?

ION Television launched their new series Durham County on Monday at 10pm and it did an OK 0.5/1 HH rating/share following the ION premiere of new acquisition Criminal Minds, which did a better 0.8/1 HH rating/share (we don't have total viewer numbers). However, Durham County's pilot did re-air at 11pm immediately following the premiere airing, and the pilot is encoring all this week at 11pm...so will that help next Monday? We'll have to see. Ratings for Tuesday and last night are not available yet for primetime, so we'll have to wait and see if Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer is helping ION every weekday. Tonight NCIS returns to the schedule after having like six weeks off.
And stay tuned for ION October 2009 schedule...there will be a few days with time expansions. We'll announce that soon!

Happy Labor Day; TV Rebels: Desi Arnaz - More Than Just a Bongo Player

Happy Labor Day everyone! Most of you are probably outdoors spending this last "unofficial" last day of summer with your family & friends, but for those of you who are in needs of some TV marathons...you've come to the right place as usual!
We have mentioned many of these already, but it's a good reminder if you have forgotten! The Golden Girls will get the most play this holiday! Hallmark Channel will air a marathon from 8am-12am, while WE tv will air a marathon also from 1pm-7pm. BET is airing a marathon of The Game all-day today, while TBS goes to The Office this Labor Day from 4pm-8pm.
Other notable marathons are for dramas...Criminal Minds on A&E, NCIS on USA Network, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. Both TNT and SOAPnet have short stunts of Law & Order and One Tree Hill from 11am-5pm, while The N has what else...Degrassi all-day. And on network TV, ABC has a three episode block of Castle from 8-11pm, as the season premiere is two weeks from tonight. TV Land has a movie marathon from 9am-6:30pm.
Reality wise we have Supernanny on style, 16 and Pregnant on MTV, Cops on G4, Catch 21 on GSN, and Dirty Jobs on Discovery. Hope you all find something!

It's time for the return 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 then last year we got rights to 6 additional essays (for a total of 12!), so including today's three essays are left. Upcoming TV Rebel columns will be about Rod Serling and TV Dinners. The book is in the works and will be released in 2010...so stay tuned for that and look for a review of the book right here before it comes out!

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

Desi Arnaz: More Than Just a Bongo Player
by Lou Orfanella

In 1950 when CBS was interested in bringing Lucille Ball's My Favorite Husband radio program to television Ball demanded that her real life husband Desi Arnaz play her husband. The network turned her down feeling that the viewing public would not accept Arnaz with his heavy accent as her husband. She held out, the network acquiesced and Mr. and Mrs. Desi Arnaz forever became Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in popular culture history.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had been married since 1940. By 1950 she was doing her radio show and periodic big screen projects in a mostly unnoticed film career. Arnaz was travelling the country with his band and their marriage was strained. By insisting they do what would become I Love Lucy together Ball hoped to solidify their domestic life. "Richard Denning, Lucy's radio hubby, comments: 'She said it would help her marriage. Also the show. And, of course, she was right'" (Andrews 22).

Ball was determined that Arnaz not be seen as playing second fiddle to her. The title, I Love Lucy, in fact was an effort to include Desi in the title and indeed since he is the "I" give him top billing. "The general impression seems to be that he was a lucky Cuban who was handsome, charming, played the bongo, and happened to be married to the funniest lady in the whole world. Well, this was all true, but there was a lot more to Desi than that. He may have only been that when he started, but he had an amazing ability for learning things and he was an astute businessman" (Davis 55).

It was Arnaz' business acumen that changed the traditional method of producing situation comedies. Traditionally shows were broadcast live and "preserved" on low quality kinescopes, which were essentially copies made by aiming a movie camera at a television monitor and which were used to broadcast programs outside of the eastern time zone where sponsors were less likely to view them and challenge the quality. When production was set to begin on I Love Lucy for its premier season, Lucy and Desi lived on the west coast and had no intention of moving to New York where the show could be done live for what was then the largest audience, and the sponsors as well. Desi's solution was to film the show like a motion picture resulting in high quality prints. It would be an expensive proposition requiring three or four cameras, special sound and lighting techniques, and potentially multiple sets which would increase the costs. The network only agreed after the Arnazs agreed to a pay cut to help defray the production costs. "The burden of planning this new method fell heavily on Desi's shoulders. No one had attempted a situation comedy on film, shot before a live studio audience: he was plowing virginal fields" (Andrews 32).

Arnaz was not only successful in changing the way sitcoms were filmed and preserved for the lucrative rerun syndication market, but was shrewd enough to acquire an ownership percentage in the series which he and Lucy parlayed into Desilu Production, at one time, the most successful in the business.

Works Cited
Andrews, Bart. "Lucy&Ricky&Fred&Ethel: The Story of I Love Lucy." New York: Dutton, 1976.
Davis, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. "Laughing with Lucy." Cincinnati Emmis, 2005.

BET Fall 2009 Schedule; Lucy Removed on Hallmark; Glenn Martin Doing Big for Nick at Nite

This September on BET they will add a new series and also have a stay in school initiative. All of the Viacom networks are having a "Stay in School" initiative and will air a special across the Viacom networks on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8pm ET/PT called Get Schooled. It is a 30-minute special that will describe the education crisis in the US and introduce solutions on how to turn things around. The President of the United States Barack Obama, pop superstar Kelly Clarkson and 2009 NBA MVP LeBron James will be featured in Get Schooled: You Have the Right.
The program will air simultaneously on BET, BET J, CMT, CMT Pure Country, COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV Jams, MTV Hits, MTV Tr3s, MTV2, mtvU, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, Nicktoons Network, Palladia, Spike TV, The N/TeenNick, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul.
Anyway, back to BET September. They will air back to school programming in honor of this initiative. The Game will kick it off on Labor Day weekend from Saturday, Sept. 5 through and including Monday, Sept. 7. The marathon will air 9am-12am on Saturday, 1pm-6pm on Sunday, and 9am-11pm on Monday. Season one episodes will air Saturday and Sunday and season two episodes on Monday.
Next up in this week-long initiative is the launch of Everybody Hates Chris to BET. It will air Tuesday, Sept. 8 from 9am-6pm. It technically launches Sunday, Sept. 6 in the 12-1pm hour, though. Airing Wednesday-Friday that week are One on One on Wednesday, Smart Guy on Thursday, and Sister Sister on Friday...all from 9am-6pm. And finally on Saturday (Sept. 12), the week-long event concludes with The Proud Family from 9am-10:30am and The Steve Harvey Show from 10:30am-4:30pm, as this series airs for the first time on BET in a while. BET will also have a special called Bring Your "A" Game premiering Saturday, Sept. 12 at 9pm ET and encores Sunday, Sept. 13 at 12:30pm ET.
As for the regular schedule, it will start Monday, Sept. 14, but the regular schedule (as of now) isn't changing. Morning hours of Smart Guy, One on One, Sister Sister and The Game will air from 9am-1pm. A movie follows at 1pm, then more sitcoms starting at 3pm with One on One, Sister Sister and The Game. The 12:30pm & 5:30pm episodes of The Game will be season three episodes for the first time on BET. The Game will air on some nights in the 10pm hour as well. As of now, Everybody Hates Chris will just air on weekends. We mentioned Sundays in the 12-1pm hour starting Sept. 6. Saturdays will be added starting Sept. 19 airing Saturdays 3-4pm. One on One and The Game will be its lead-in on Saturdays. Everybody Hates Chris will be also airing on sister network Nick at Nite every night at 10pm and 2am ET/PT starting Sept. 7, as we mentioned.
Stay tuned if we have any further updates on this schedule. Could Chris also come to weekday afternoons? Stay with us.

The Hallmark Channel continues with the little changes basically every week it seems. Starting next week (Monday, Aug. 31), Cheers replaces I Love Lucy in late nights at 2:30am ET/PT. So this means I Love Lucy is off the schedule totally now, while Cheers now gets a two-hour block from 1am-3am. It's been good news for Cheers, as it will also air weekday afternoons now on WGN America this fall, in addition to its Sunday airings. As for I Love Lucy, it will be no where to be found nationally now. Hopefully Hallmark Channel brings it back very soon.

Nick at Nite's new stop-motion animated original series Glenn Martin, DDS reached a total 11 million viewers (8/17/09-8/20/09) and averaged 2.6 million viewers per telecast in its premiere week (Monday-Thursday, Aug. 17-20, 8 p.m.–8:30 p.m. [all times ET/PT]), according to Nielsen. The first television series from Michael Eisner's Tornante Animation starring Kevin Nealon, Catherine O'Hara and Judy Greer, also ranked as ad-supported cable's number-one co-viewed entertainment series in prime time for the week with 40% of Adults 18-49 watching with at least one kid per household.
The premiere episodes that week held 89% of its lead-in ratings (new episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar) with kids 2-11 (3.9 K2-11 rating/1.4 million K2-11 viewers); 83% with Adults 18-49 (0.5 18-49 rating/581,000 viewers 18-49); and 91% with total viewers (2.6 million).
The week of premieres also propelled Nick at Nite's prime-time growth. Year to date, the network posted gains of 50% with total viewers during prime time and quarter to date, it grew 39%.
The series airs new episodes every Monday at 8pm after that premiere week...however a new episode of Glenn Martin was added for this past Tuesday (Aug. 25) at 8pm (with an encore at 1am). Encore episodes were also added for this Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm & 1am, along with Friday (Aug. 28) 9-10pm and Saturday and Sunday night at 1am for this week. Wow! More encores to come I'm sure. It looks like Nick at Nite has an original hit.

TNT Acquires NUMB3RS for Fall 2009; New Season of The Game on BET?

Two weeks ago we mentioned TNT won't be making any changes to its fall line-up, well now that is FALSE! They have acquired the cable rights to the series NUMB3RS to air in its weeknight "we know drama" line-up. NUMB3RS joins the TNT line-up on Monday, September 21 airing weeknights at 5:00pm ET/PT, Wed-Fri 6:00pm ET/PT, and also a primetime marathon on Wednesday nights from 7pm-10pm ET/PT. This will alter the timings for Bones, which was previously airing at 5:00pm & 6:00pm weeknights. Bones will now air Mondays and Tuesdays only from 6-9pm on Mondays and 6-10pm on Tuesdays. CSI: NY will remain in its Thursdays and Fridays 7:00pm & 8:00pm hours along with 1am on Monday and Thursday nights. Rounding out late nights are Cold Case at 2:00am & 3:00am and Without a Trace at 4:00am & 5:00am.
There will be a NUMB3RS marathon on Sunday, October 11 from 12pm-12am ET/PT. NUMB3RS will be exclusive to TNT until fall 2010 when local broadcast syndication will start airing it on weekends. Criminal Minds and NUMB3RS will join weekends in local syndication replacing CSI: NY and CSI: Miami. Criminal Minds will be on ION Television this fall as wel as A&E on cable.
Anyway, view the full TNT Fall 2009 schedule.

The sitcom The Game was just canceled by The CW after three seasons, but now cable network BET could pick it up for another season, the Hollywood Reporter is reporting! BET currently airs repeats of the sitcom in its weekday line-up. BET is in talks with CBS Television Studio for another season. BET is owned by Viacom, so it would make sense.
Series creator Mara Brock Akil in April pitched an hourlong version of the show as a way of to keep it on The CW, which was exiting the half-hour comedy business...but that didn't work. If it would come to BET, it would be a half-hour version, I'm sure. The options on the actors have expired, so if a deal is reached with BET, CBS TV Studios would have to make new deals with them. As they say, stay tuned...

Remembering Farrah Fawcett, Charlie's Angels Marathon on WGN America Among the Tributes; CBS and NBC Fall 2009 Premiere Dates

As everyone already knows, Farrah Fawcett passed away yesterday. We mentioned it on our blog yesterday that we would do a tribute for her today and we will keep our promise!
Farrah Fawcett, who soared to fame as a national sex symbol in the late 1970s on television's Charlie's Angels and in a swimsuit poster that showcased her feathery mane and made her a generation's favorite pinup, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) Fawcett, whose celebrity overshadowed her ability as a serious actress, was diagnosed with a rare anal cancer in 2006, died about 9:30 a.m. PT at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica.
Three months after she was declared cancer-free in 2007, doctors at UCLA Medical Center told her the cancer had returned, spreading to her liver, and she repeatedly sought experimental treatment in Germany.
As an actress, Fawcett was initially dismissed for her role as Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels, one of the "jiggle" series on ABC in the late 1970s. Fawcett quit the series that brought her initial fame in 1977 after a single season, saying producers were preventing her from growing as an actress. With Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, Fawcett played a private investigator. She returned for 6 episodes as a special guest star.
She transformed her career and some popular perceptions in 1984 with The Burning Bed, a NBC television movie about a battered wife that brought her the first of three Emmy nominations. She further established herself as an actress in the play and later feature film Extremities in 1986, about a rape victim who takes revenge on her attacker. In 1989 she starred in the ABC TV mini-series Small Sacrifices opposite Ryan O'Neal, giving her an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination. Her other Golden Globe nominated roles on TV-movies include ABC's Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and NBC's Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story.
Among Farrah's other cedits includes the short lived CBS sitcom in 1991 called Good Sports starring her and boyfriend Ryan O'Neal, and guest appearances on many other TV series over the years such as Mayberry RFD, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, The Partridge Family, Owen Marshall, The Girl with Something Extra, McCloud, Apple's Way, Marcus Welby, S.W.A.T., The Brady Bunch Hour, The Battle of the Network Stars, Larry Sanders Show, Ally McBeal, and So noTORIous. And recurring appearances on Harry-O, The Six Million Dollar Man, Spin City, and The Guardian. She had her own reality series in 2005 on TV Land called Chasing Farrah, where she made her last rounds on talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show with David Letterman, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Regis & Kelly. During the 2006 Emmy Awards, the same year she was diagnosed with cancer, she and her fellow Charlie's Angels paid tribute to the late Aaron Spelling on stage. Recently she documented Farrah's Story for NBC about her daily life with anal cancer.
Farrah will certainly be missed as there were two primetime specials on her last night on ABC and NBC at 10pm. Take some time this weekend to watch tributes and marathons dedicated to Farrah. Her death was overshadowed by the untimely death of Michael Jackson, but she is certainly not forgotten. She was 62.

As we mentioned yesterday, there will be a lot of tributes and marathons to Farrah this weekend, so let's go over them here. The biggest one is on WGN America where they will air Charlie's Angels on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we get the two most famous episodes she did probably, the first episode and "Angels in Chains." in primetime from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT). Then on Sunday, WGN America will air a Charlie's Angels marathon from 5-10pm ET and 11pm-2am ET during their Outta Sight Retro Night. Eight episodes will air on this day including "Lady Killer" and "Blue Angels." And if you're in Chicago, Me-TV will air Charlie's Angels all next week, Mon-Fri at 11am and 12pm CT featuring some of her best Charlie's Angels performances as Jill Munroe. All week long, Chicago viewers will see back-to-back episodes of Charlie's Angels, highlighting Fawcett's first and only full season - along with her guest appearances from the third and fourth seasons.
TV Land will also air Charlie's Angels on Saturday but from 7-9pm (first episode and "Angels in Chains") and also air the first two episodes of its 2005 original series Chasing Farrah in primetime on Saturday from 9-10pm ET/PT. The series chronicled her daily life as one of the most recognized stars in the history of celebrity. TVLand.com will feature a Memorial Spot, which will also run on-air, and an Obituary section.
Bio TV will salute Farrah by reairing her Biography episode this Monday at 10pm, retitled Biography Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. Before that, Bio TV will air Biography episodes of Aaron Spelling and Charlie's Angels at 8 and 9pm, as a lead-in. And Michael Jackson fans, Biography Remembers: Michael Jackson will follow at 11pm on Monday (in addition to its already scheduled airings on Saturday at 10 and 11pm).
Movie wise, BET will air her last movie The Cookout from 2004 on Saturday at 8:30pm and again on Sunday at 1:30pm. BET is currently airing Michael Jackson programming all-day today, as are most other music channels like VH-1 Classic. Other movies airing for Farrah are The Burning Bed on Tuesday, June 30 on ENCORE Drama and Dr. T and the Women on TMC later in the week. This TV will air two classic TV movies of her. Beginning this Saturday, THIS tv Network remembers the television and film career of Farrah Fawcett. She was a critically acclaimed movie actor. This week, THIStv Network pays tribute to her life and career with two of her finest ABC TV-movie performances in The Nazi Hunter: Beate Klarsfeld Story at 2pm on Saturday and Small Sacrifices at 4pm on Saturday, with encores during next week for both.
And if you missed the documentary Farrah's Story, NBC and Oxygen will re-air it. NBC will air it tonight from 8-10pm ET/PT and Oxygen on Saturday starting at 3:30pm.
We will keep you up to date if we hear anything else. View the full list.

We mentioned some Michael Jackson tributes above, and we would also like to pay tribute to Michael a bit. There were lots of tributes yesterday for him with ABC and NBC airing specials at 9pm and CBS at 10pm. ABC also devoted Nightline to Michael last night. ABC will have another special 20/20 on Jackson tonight at 9pm, while NBC will air yet another Dateline special tonight at 10. TV Land will reair the 1992 five-hour miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream on Sunday, June 28, 2009 from 2pm–7pm ET/PT with an immediate encore presentation from 7pm–12am ET/PT, breaking into its regularly scheduled Married...with Children marathon. Fox will reair a Michael Jackson themed episode of American Idol from this past season on Monday from 8-10pm ET/PT. We mentioned Bio TV will reair his Biography multiple times and nearly all the music channels are playing his videos or is doing special programming on him. Michael was only 50.

Back to some news--we have the CBS and NBC Fall premiere dates now, joining ABC, Fox, and The CW.
CBS's new season roll-out officially begins on Monday, Sept. 21 with How I Met Your Mother moving to 8:00 PM, ET/PT, the premiere of the new comedy Accidentally on Purpose at 8:30 PM, ET/PT, the seventh season premiere of television's number one comedy Two and a Half Men at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, the third season premiere of The Big Bang Theory in its new time period of 9:30 PM, ET/PT and the eighth season premiere of CSI: Miami at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
NCIS begins its seventh season on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by the new NCIS: LA spin-off at 9:00 PM, ET/PT and the freshman drama The Good Wife at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS returns its Wednesday comedy block on Sept. 23 with the fifth season of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8:00 PM, ET/PT and sophomore comedy Gary Unmarried at 8:30 PM, ET/PT, followed by the fifth season premiere of Criminal Minds at 9:00 PM, ET/PT and the sixth season premiere of CSI: NY at10:00 PM, ET/PT.
Survivor: Samoa, the 19th installment of the hit reality series, will debut a week prior to the formal start of the season, on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT). CSI returns for its 10th season on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT followed by the new night and time period premiere of last season's No. 1 new hit The Mentalist at 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT.
The Network's top-rated Friday lineup returns on Sept. 25 with the fifth season premiere of Ghost Whisperer at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, the CBS debut of the popular drama Medium at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by the sixth season premiere of NUMB3RS at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS's Saturday schedule premieres Sept. 26 with the return of 48 Hours Mystery at10:00 PM, ET/PT, preceded by two hours of crime repeats from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT.
60 Minutes returns for its 42nd season on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 7:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by a special two-hour debut of the 15th edition The Amazing Race from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT and the seventh season premiere of Cold Case in its new time period of 10:00 PM, ET/PT. Premiering a week later on Sunday, Oct. 4 is the new drama Three Rivers at 9:00 PM, ET/PT.

NBC kicks off the Fall 2009 season with NBC Sunday Night Football, beginning September 13 with a classic match-up: the Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers. Then on Monday, September 14 the primetime debut of The Jay Leno Show from 10-11 p.m. ET/PT kicks off its new weeknight hour. On Tuesday, September 15 from 8-10 p.m., The Biggest Loser returns with all new two-hour episodes, featuring more inspiration and real-life drama as this season's contestants challenge themselves to reach their weight-loss goals. Then the premiere of the network's night of comedy on Thursday, September 17, as Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday (8pm) and new series Community (9:30) join Parks and Recreation (8:30) and Emmy winner The Office (9pm). Emmy winner 30 Rock returns to the Thursday comedy line-up on October 15 at 9:30, as Community moves to 8pm on Oct. 8.
A two-hour Heroes will start the actual premiere week on Monday, September 21 from 8-10 p.m. and the new high-octane Trauma will premiere the following Monday, September 28 from 9-10 p.m. ET, as Heroes moves to 8pm. The compelling family drama Parenthood premieres on Wednesday, September 23 from 8-9 p.m. ET leading into Law & Order: SVU from 9-10 p.m. ET. On Fridays, beginning September 25, the venerable Law & Order returns for a record 20th season at 8 p.m., followed by the acclaimed drama Southland at 9 p.m. ET. Beginning September 26, Saturdays in primetime will be a showcase for Dateline NBC at 8 p.m. ET and encore presentations of Trauma at 9 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at 10 p.m. ET. In addition, Saturday Night Live returns for its 35th season on September 26 from 11:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m. ET/PT.

BET Acquires Sister, Sister; ABC Removes Scrubs Repeats Slated to Begin June 23

BET has acquired the rights to air the hit '90s sitcom Sister, Sister starting this July! The Tia and Tamara Mowry sitcom will launch on BET with an all-day 4th of July marathon from 9am-4am ET/PT on Saturday, July 4! There will also be a block on Sunday, July 5 from 12pm-5pm ET/PT as well. Then starting Monday, July 6, Sister, Sister will air weekdays in the 12 noon hour and also in the 4pm hour leading into The Game at 5pm, which also stars Tia Mowry. Talk about seeing double! We will have more updates on BET's sitcoms soon, but as of now the daytime schedule starting in July looks like this: 9-10am Proud Family, 10-11am Smart Guy, 11am-12pm One on One, 12-1pm Sister Sister, 1-3pm Movie, 3-4pm One on One, 4-5pm Sister Sister, and 5-6pm The Game.
Sister, Sister will still remain on ABC Family as well. They air it weekdays 7-8am and 1-2pm...so another double dose of the twins. BET is picking up the WGN America deal, as they lose rights to the series at the end of this month. So that's how BET is going to air Sister, Sister. WGN America recently only aired the series once a week in the very late nights, then they removed it from the schedule completely.

ABC has removed the Scrubs repeats slated to start on Tuesday, June 23 at 9:30pm. Instead, ABC will expand upcoming new reality-celeb competition series The Superstars to 90-minutes, airing 8pm-9:30pm ET/PT. Airing at 9:30pm now will be the return of Better off Ted with new episodes. That was slated to air at 9pm previously on Tuesdays. Officially ABC has only expanded the first two episodes of The Superstars to 90-minutes, but if it does well, expect all of them that way. The series will last through Tuesday, August 4. If the series is not expanded beyond the first two weeks, I would expect an hour of Better off Ted--new and repeat, instead of a Scrubs repeat mixed in. But like I said, expect Ted to only air at 9:30pm, as The Superstars will likely do very well and continue to air 90-minutes throughout its run. Some drama in the Bahamas!

Nick at Nite March 2009: Lopezadrine; BET Changes Its Mind, 'Fresh', 'Matters' Marathons Are Back

From the network that brought you "Luck 'o the Lopez" last St. Patrick's Day, brings you "Lopezadrine." It is an all-night marathon of George Lopez on Nick at Nite, clinically proven to reduce the risk of boredom by 800%. Used correctly, Lopezadrine is guaranteed to keep you laughing throughout the night. The seven hour marathons airs from 9pm-4am on Sunday, March 15, 2009.
In other Nick at Nite news, last week the schedule was changed for that week only, with George Lopez at 9 and another Family Matters at 10:30pm from Mon-Thurs. Now that schedule will be in effect until further notice, as you all probably noticed this week.
So we have George at 9, Home Improvement at 9:30, another George at 10, triple shot of Family Matters from 10:30pm-12am, followed by double shots of Home Improvement and George Lopez in the 12 and 1am hours. The Mon-Thurs nights conclude with a Fresh Prince block from 2-5am and an hour of Roseanne mornings at 5am. No changes will be made to the Fri-Sun blocks.
View and discuss more about Nick at Nite March.

On Friday, we mentioned BET removed the March Saturday marathons...guess what? Now they're back! Some things have changed from the original plan, but they are back. Originally this coming weekend was supposed to be Family Matters, but we will now get a mix of One on One (from 12pm-4pm) and The Game (4pm-6pm). Earlier the Proud Family Movie airs from 9-11a followed by two episodes of the series. So get ready to spring forward that night, as the clocks go ahead an hour. BET will air The Game encores before and after that from 2-3am EST and 4-5am EDT. So that will technically air back-to-back in a two-hour block.
The following Saturday (March 14) we have One on One again from 12pm-4pm followed by a 12-hour marathon of sister station Nick at Nite's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 4pm-4am!
The week after (Saturday, March 21) will be another series from sister station Nick at Nite, this time Family Matters. The marathon will also continue to the next day on Sunday, March 22. On Saturday Steve Urkel and company will air from 10am-11pm. That's thirteen "lucky" hours of Urkel. And if that's not all the following day (Sunday, March 22), the show will air from 1pm-6pm, for an additional five-hour block.
Finally, March madness ends with a marathon of Season 2 episodes of The Game on Saturday, March 28 from 2pm-2am...so a nice 12-hour marathon.
As always with BET, this is all subject to change...and we're the only ones on top of this, so stay with us! Check out episode info for the marathons, as we post it (we will only provide the full-fledged marathons such as Fresh Prince, Family Matters and The Game on March 28).

FamilyNet Adds Classic Sitcoms and Family Drama; BET Removes March Marathons

FamilyNet Television, a trusted leader in providing programming that is focused on the family, reached a three-year agreement with CBS Television Distribution Group to acquire sitcoms Happy Days, My Three Sons, Family Ties and sci-fi drama Early Edition. These titles represent a sampling of CBS-Paramount's Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning family sitcoms slated to jump start a new season of prime-time shows on FamilyNet.
Weeknights (this started on Jan. 26) from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (encores from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.), FamilyNet airs sitcoms from CBS-Paramount's vintage library featuring some of America's favorite TV families: the Cunningham's, the Douglas' and the Keaton's. During their long-running seasons, these must-see, classic series preserved "family time" and became standard programming on television sets in homes across America. To drive viewers to the prime-time block, FamilyNet rolled out its new promotional campaign, "Watch Families on FamilyNet." Note the airings of these show are on cable for FamilyNet only. Those who get the network as a broadcast station, they are not available for air.
FamilyNet used to only air public domain stuff, which is why we never covered them. They are still airing public domain episodes of I Spy in the afternoons, though. But now what with the acquisition of these series, this a channel to watch. Can they grow into a full-time channel for family shows? We can all hope! They have said they will continue to expand with entertainment programming as the network grows. I think they can grow and become a great channel for family television. I hope they get more family stuff from CBS Paramount like Webster mixing in with these family classics they have already before going to other studios for shows. There are plenty of shows out there that haven't gotten airplay in quite some time...Mr. Belvedere, Small Wonder are a few.
FamilyNet Television was launched in Atlanta, Georgia on October 25, 2007 and now is in 15.7 million television households. So check your local listings if you do have it, too! Or head on to their website to search by state! Unfortunately, I don't have it yet...but check if you do!

A few weeks ago we mentioned BET had scheduled two weekend marathons each of Family Matters and Fresh Prince in March. Now that isn't happening. The sister station Nick at Nite series won't be having marathons on those weekends, instead we get mini-blocks of One on One, The Game, and their original series. One on One is still getting that full day marathon tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 28), though, despite the other March marathons being removed.
A change on weekdays is happening starting next week. BET will add an afternoon movie from 1-3pm in between hours of The Game (12-1pm) and One on One (3-4pm). So, One on One is not two hours anymore, as it was airing 2-4pm. 1-2pm was Hell Date, now it will be replaced by a movie. It will still remain late nights at 3-4am. Rounding out the weekday afternoon schedule is 4-5pm Smart Guy and 5-6pm The Game.
We will keep you up to date if Family Matters and Fresh Prince pop-up on the BET marathon slate again. They did air at the end of December, so it is possible they could air again for another marathon. For now, you can still watch them on Nick at Nite.

BET Premieres The Game One Week Earlier, Adds Sitcom Marathons in March; TVLandPRIME.com Adds High School Reunion Content; Boomerang News

We were the first ones to announce that BET had acquired sitcom The Game to its lineup starting Feb. 23, now BET will move up the premiere up a week to Feb. 16...that is this Monday! They will launch the series now with a marathon, too. The President's Day The Game marathon will air from 9am-6pm on Monday (Feb. 16) featuring the first 18 episodes of the series. It will also start airing in the regular line-up the following day (Tuesday, Feb. 17) airing weekdays 12-1pm and Thursdays 10-11pm. The weekdays 12-1pm hour will replace The Steve Harvey Show, which now goes off the line-up. Originally The Game was going to air 1-2pm, but now that is not happening, and Hell Date will remain 1-2pm. The Game will also have a block on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 1pm-4pm. Then starting Monday, Feb. 23, The Game will also air weekdays 5-6pm in addition to its 12-1pm slot, so cutting Smart Guy's late afternoon block in half to just 4-5pm. The Game was originally going to air 11pm-12am, but Judge Hatchett will now remain in that slot.
Starting February 28, BET will have sitcom marathons all March long on weekends! On Saturday, Feb. 28 from 9am-8pm we will have an all-day One on One marathon! For the following weekend (March 7-8), we will have Family Matters! Sister station Nick at Nite's series returns to BET for another marathon airing. The marathon airs Saturday, March 7 from 12pm-8pm, following the Proud Family block and Proud Family Movie. Family Matters will also air Sunday, March 8 from 12pm-4pm. The weekend after that (March 14-15), we get more Urkel and company with Family Matters once again on Saturday, March 14 from 2pm-5pm and Sunday, March 15 from 12-2pm. So a shorter block that weekend, but still a whole lotta Urkel on BET. Next, the weekend of March 21-22, will feature another sitcom from sister station Nick at Nite! This time catch Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Saturday, March 21 from 4pm-10pm and again on Sunday, March 22 from 4pm-8pm. The final weekend in March (March 28-29), will have yet more Fresh Prince! This time just on that Saturday (March 28) from 6pm-10pm.
So that's BET's sitcom update for you! Of course, as usual, this is subject to change. We will keep you up to date on further developments and we will also provide episode info for those weekend sitcom marathons in March on our message board thread for this. So stay tuned!

TVLandPRIME.com kicks off the second season of TV Land's hit reality series High School Reunion, from Warner Horizon Television, with exclusive and exciting content for the program, which premieres on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The TV Land original eight-part reality series premieres on TV Land PRIME, TV Land's new primetime programming destination designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s.
The High School Reunion microsite is jam-packed with interesting features this season, such as a user-generated "Digital Yearbook," extended and deleted scenes from the show, behind-the-scenes video taken by the cast, personal photo galleries, video cast bios and weekly blogs from cast members revealing juicy gossip from the reunion. Additionally, visitors will be able to enjoy full streaming episodes online the day after they premiere on-air, as well as streaming '80s radio and '80s trivia.
View more information about this, the new cast, and more.

Boomerang will ring-in Valentine's Day with a network premiere of It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. (ET). The half-hour animated special follows a six-hour marathon of dating-themed episodes of Johnny Bravo, one of the first three original series created by Cartoon Network in 1997.
Johnny Bravo is a buff, girl-chasing-mama's-boy who can't seem to get a date in spite of his good looks and an even better hairdo. On Saturday, February 14, (Valentine's Day), Johnny Bravo's funniest dating disasters will be showcased in a six and a half-hour marathon beginning at 2 p.m. (ET) on the commercial-free Boomerang network. The marathon will culminate with the network premiere of the special, It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo at 8 p.m. (ET).
In this very special episode, we learn that Valentine's Day is in fact Johnny Bravo's birthday also, which might explain his penchant for amorous antics. He yet again strikes out with the ladies until his "mama," Bunny Bravo, sets him up on a blind date with a real "knock-out"-literally. Meeting the girl of his dreams turns out to be a true nightmare during what should be the most romantic night of the year. A plethora of guest stars appearing in It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo include former Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon, "New Kids on the Block" heartthrob Joey McIntyre, The Brady Bunch's Maureen McCormick and former teen idol Donny Osmond.

BET Acquires Sitcom 'The Game'; Nick at Nite Valentine's Stunt and More February 2009

BET has acquired reruns of current CW sitcom, The Game! The Game is a spin-off of Girlfriends, which also has its reruns on BET (and WE tv), and is in its third season on The CW. The show aired on UPN in its first season. The Game will launch on BET on Monday, Feb. 23 and air weekday afternoons at 1 & 1:30pm ET and weeknights at 11 & 11:30pm ET. So this is how BET's acquired series schedule looks starting Feb. 23 for weekdays: 9am Montel Williams Show, 10am-12pm Judge Hatchett, 12pm-1pm The Steve Harvey Show, 1-2pm The Game, 2-4pm One on One, 4-6pm Smart Guy, 11pm-12am The Game, and 3-4am Hell Date.
On Saturdays the schedule looks like: 9-10am Just Jordan, 10am-12pm The Proud Family, 12pm-2pm Smart Guy, and 2pm-4pm One on One. On Sundays usually from about 1-3pm we see a block on One on One.
So it seems since we last reported about BET, Judge Karen, Girlfriends, Romeo!,, and A Different World all seem to be off the schedule. Girlfriends will likely still air in special blocks/marathons again, but seems to have left the regular schedule. We'll continue to monitor the schedule on BET if anything changes.

Nick at Nite finally officially released their February 2009 information yesterday. Once again, there are no schedule changes to the regular schedule but we do have a special stunt on Valentine's Night. Love is in the air at Nick at Nite, so grab that special someone and settle in for an evening of Valentine's Day themed episodes from your favorite TV families. Back-to-back Valentine's/loved themed episodes of George Lopez, Home Improvement, and Family Matters will air on Saturday, Feb. 14 from 10pm-1am ET/PT.
Other than that, nothing special. However, the week of Feb. 23, for some reason Mon-Thurs that week, George Lopez is airing its two episodes at 9pm and 10pm, Home Improvement at 9:30pm, and Family Matters from 10:30pm-12am. The 12am-6am schedule is the same. I am told it is for that week only. Stay tuned for more details, if anything transpires.
View the full details on Nick at Nite February 2009, including a list of episodes for the Valentine's block.

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!

Comcast onDemand Adds Classic Warner Bros Channel; BET Adds Fresh Prince Marathon to Holiday Slate

Back in September we told you Warner Bros. has partnered with Comcast to have some of their shows stream online for free on Fancast.com and that they were going to develop an onDemand service by 4th quarter. Well it is now 4th quarter obviously, and they have added that onDemand service on Comcast cable systems! The onDemand channel is called "TheWB" under TV Entertainment on Comcast onDemand. As of now get the first 5 or 6 episodes of urban sitcoms Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Martin, All of Us, and short-lived drama Jack & Bobby. We don't have a list at press time of what other series they will be adding in the future, but given their vast library, you can expect about anything, especially what is on Fancast.com, which I will tell you in a bit. I'll keep you up to date on any happenings. Hopefully we get more classics on the onDemand service, though. Wouldn't it be nice to have series such as The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers, Gilligan's Island and the drama Life Goes On at our leisure anytime on TV?
Comcast's Fancast.com has added a lot of Warner Bros. owned series to their website since we last reported. Back in September they only had more current stuff like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and Friends, but now we also get the classics! It seems Warner/AOL's In2TV doesn't really work anymore, so Fancast.com is now the place to go for classic Warner Bros. TV. They have added about 17 series with many episodes of each to their Classic Warner Bros. TV slate. Among the series are Perfect Strangers, Gilligan's Island, Head of the Class, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Growing Pains, Mama's Family, Welcome Back Kotter, CHiPs, Eight is Enough, Lois & Clark, and Wonder Woman! All these have been on In2TV, so it is nothing really new, but still nice to have! These episodes on Fancast.com are not in any order and are random episodes...most of them have Christmas themed episodes among their listings, so catch Balki trying to give Mr. Gorpley the Christmas spirit on Perfect Strangers.
One more way to watch Warner Bros. TV is through TheWB.com, but that is mainly for more current series though they do have a few classics in there like In Living Color, as we have told you in the past. Original web series are also on TheWB.com.

Late last week we gave you details on BET's sitcom marathons this week (hope you're enjoying Family Matters today!), but now they have announced one more marathon! The marathon will be on Monday, December 29 and will be the sitcom ... The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! How is that possible? As with Family Matters, they have borrowed it from sister Viacom station Nick at Nite, and this the series is NOT joining the line-up. It is just for this marathon. The marathon airs from 4pm-10pm, since Viacom doesn't have access to air the series in daytime, due to TBS owning that period for the series. The marathon will encore from 11pm-4am. In other BET week of December 29 news, One on One will lead into the Fresh Prince marathon in the daytime from 1pm-4pm. One on One will also have a mini-block on Tuesday, December 30 from 1pm-6pm. Hell Date returns to the schedule airing in the late night from 3-4am on weekdays. Nickelodeon series Romeo! and Just Jordan return on Saturday, Jan. 3 with back-to-back episodes from 9-11am leading into a six-episode block of The Proud Family from 11am-2pm and then One on One from 2-5pm.
Stay tuned early next week when we give you BET's January schedule (starts 1/5) which will feature The Proud Family, as we mentioned, and also another series...this a long-running talk show that is no longer airing! Find out what that is next week!
For now, once again view the BET Classic Sitcom Holiday marathon episodes list, which now featured Fresh Prince.

Nick at Nite January 2009 Highlights; BET Adds Family Matters and Proud Family Marathons; 15th Annual SAG Awards Nominees

As we mentioned yesterday, today we will give you highlights of Nick at Nite January 2009! Once again, the regular schedule will remain the same, as we mentioned yesterday the line-up is doing very well in the ratings. Their #1 show George Lopez will get a five-day, all-night marathon from Monday, Jan. 5 through Friday, Jan. 9! It will be called "La Vida Lopez" George Lopez marathon! Can't get enough of George Lopez? Nick at Nite will air back-to-back George Lopez episodes for five nights straight all-nite long from 9pm-6am. Come early and be ready to laugh all-nite into the wee hours.
Also, Family Matters fans take note...Nick at Nite will break into the regularly scheduled episodes starting Monday, January 12, so it can show you season one episodes! Nick at Nite has never showed season one, just three episodes (#4, #17, #21) from stunts. All 22 season one episodes will air in a row before going back to where it last left off on Jan. 11. The last season one episode airs on January 21 at 11:30pm, then it goes back to where it left off on Jan. 11 with #105/106 on Jan. 22.
View more on Nick at Nite January 2009 and also discuss it.

We told you before that BET will be having Christmas marathons featuring their sitcoms. Now BET has revised its Christmas sitcom marathons. Kicking off the sitcom week of marathons now will be Family Matters! Yes, Family Matters! The show will be only airing for a one-time only marathon and is being borrowed from sister Viacom station Nick at Nite. Both BET and Nick at Nite are owned by Viacom. Top-rated Urkel episodes and all the Christmas episodes will air. Family Matters marathon kicks off marathon week on BET on Tuesday, December 23 from 9am-6pm with select episodes being repeated from 12am-4am. Then on Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24), it will now be a marathon of the sitcom One on One from 9am-6pm. On Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25) itself, as we mentioned before, Smart Guy will air from 9am-8pm. A Different World fans can see a Christmas episode of the series that night at 3am. On Kwanza (Friday, December 26) we now get a marathon of the animated sitcom The Proud Family. The series will join the BET line-up in January, and we will have more details on that soon! The marathon will air 9am-8pm leading into the BET premiere of the feature film The Proud Family Movie. The series originally aired on Disney Channel. Finally, the marathons end with Girlfriends on Saturday, December 27 from 9am-4am, as we mentioned.
View episode info for BET Sitcom Holiday Week.

The 15th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) nominees were announced today. Leading the pack were Boston Legal, Mad Men, The Closer and 30 Rock with 3 nominations each. Among the broadcast networks, NBC led with 8 nominations and ABC was right behind with 7. HBO led all networks with 9 nominations. The awards will air Sunday, Jan. 25, on TNT and TBS at 8 PM ET/PT.
Here are the main TV nominees:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane – Boston Legal (ABC)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – Dexter (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper – Mad Men (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore – Boston Legal (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko – Saving Grace (TNT)
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - Mad Men (AMC)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson – The Closer (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – The Office (NBC)
DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody – Californication (Showtime)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold – Entourage (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk – Monk (USA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly – Samantha Who? (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez – Ugly Betty (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin – Weeds (Showtime)
TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters – Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boston Legal, ABC
Dexter, Showtime
House, Fox
Mad Men, AMC
The Closer, TNT

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock, NBC
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Entourage, HBO
The Office, NBC
Weeds, Showtime

View the complete TV portion nominees and to discuss the nominees!

BET Changes and Upcoming Sitcom Marathons; TBS Holiday Stunts

With the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming up, BET will celebrate with sitcom marathons! But first they made some minor schedule changes. The weekday sitcom block has been shifted to 2-5pm effective this week, with Steve Harvey Show moving to 2-3pm, One on One from 3-4pm and Smart Guy from 4-5pm. Girlfriends will remain in the 3am hour, while the Saturday morning block is now 11am-4p, with two episodes of Smart Guy and four episodes each of The Parkers and Girlfriends. Steve Harvey and One on One are on Sundays from 11:30am-2pm.
As for holiday sitcom marathon, the first one will be the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 28 (Black Friday) from 9am-3:30pm. As of now, it has not been determined what will air. Hopefully something NOT airing regularly on BET? We'll let you know if that is indeed the case! Anyway, Thanksgiving weekend continues with more sitcom marathons on Saturday, November 29 from 9am-3am with the hit sitcom The Parkers. Thanksgiving sitcom marathon concludes with a marathon of The Steve Harvey Show from 11am-5pm on Sunday, November 30.
As for Christmas, more sitcom marathons will air! On Christmas Day itself, Thursday, December 25, we will get a marathon of Smart Guy from 9am-8pm. Then on the day after Christmas (Friday, December 26), which is Kwanza, celebrate the holiday with another marathon of One on One from 9am-8pm. Finally, on Saturday, December 27, it's all-day and all-night event of everyone's favorite girlfriends...Girlfriends from 9am-4am!

TBS will get into the holiday fever as well with a sitcom marathon! On Thanksgiving Day itself (Thursday, November 27), TBS will present a marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 9am-3pm. What better way for you to 'will' your way on this day? For Christmas of course, TBS will present the annual 24-hour marathon of the holiday movie classic A Christmas Story starting Christmas Eve at 8pm and running through Christmas Day at 8pm. Get into the holiday spirit with this classic Christmas comedy featuring your favorite oddball kid Ralphie. From disgruntled Santas to badgering bullies, nothing will stop Ralphie from getting his dream toy on Christmas morning.
New episodes of the hit sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne will air Wednesdays at 10pm in December starting Dec. 3. The new episodes will air in the weekly Wednesday six-episode block starting at 8pm. And finally, the season finale of sketch comedy Frank TV, starring comedian Frank Caliendo, will air December 23 at 11pm ET/PT. He does a great Bill Walton, doesn't he?

Stay tuned on Friday for our annual look at the holiday specials airing on the broadcast networks this holiday season! But come on back for more news the next two days as well!

One on One Joins BET Line-Up on Monday; Nick at Nite's Great Ratings Continues; Fox Picks-Up Fringe for Full Season

BET will be adding another sitcom! This time they will add the sitcom One on One to their weekday line-up beginning Monday (October 6). The show will air weekdays at 3:00pm & 3:30pm ET/PT, creating a sitcom block from 3-6pm on weekdays with Steve Harvey and Smart Guy still airing in the 4 and 5pm hours.
One on One will also get a weekend marathon on Saturday, October 11 from 2-5pm (following a Smart Guy marathon from 11am-2pm) and on Sunday, October 12 from 1-4pm. The show will regularly on Saturdays from 12-2pm and Sundays from 1-3pm. The new Saturday schedule is now 9-10am Just Jordan, 10-11am Romeo!, 11am-12pm Smart Guy, 12-2pm One on One, 2-3pm Steve Harvey, 3-4pm Girlfriends, and 4-5pm Judge Hatchett. The new Sunday schedule is now 12-1pm Steve Harvey, 1-3pm One on One, and 3-4pm Girlfriends.
One on One will also get a special block on Columbus Day (Monday, October 13) from 2-6pm.
About One on One: Intelligent and outspoken, the in-your-face 17-year-old Breanna Barnes (Kyla Pratt) loves attention. Anywhere there's a crowd, you can bet she's at the center of the action. Breanna's sportscaster dad, Flex (Flex Alexander), is a fun-loving ladies' man who not only wants to be a responsible parent, but also wants to be his daughter's best friend. Flex is happy giving Breanna the freedom to make her own choices, but only if she is willing to accept the consequences.

Nick at Nite, driven by hit family programming like George Lopez and newcomer Family Matters, scores its second consecutive quarter as total day's top cable network with Adults 18-49 (from 6/30/08-9/28/08). Nick at Nite soared in third quarter 2008 with high double-digit gains among its A18-49 and total viewer (P2+) audience, and has delivered 11 consecutive months of double-digit growth since last year.
Nick at Nite is ranked number one with A18-49, for third quarter 2008 (3Q08) in total day, averaging a 0.6 rating and 667,000 viewers 18-49 and up 20% over last year. With P2+, the network delivered 1.5 million total viewers, up 22%. Nick at Nite ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day this quarter (0.7 rating and 416,000 18-49 women viewers, up 17% over last year).
In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers (P2+), up 40% over last year. Family Matters, which joined the network's schedule in 3Q, is Nick at Nite's number-two program in total day, only behind George Lopez. Family Matters averaged a 0.7 rating and 775,000 viewers A18-49 at 11 p.m., up 40% over last year's time period. George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program and has experienced growth of 40% in rating since launching in September 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 rating and 768,000 viewers A18-49 at 10 p.m. for the quarter, up 75% over last year's like time period. Home Improvement remains a growth engine for Nick at Nite, and averages a 0.6 rating and 654,000 viewers A18-49 in total day for 3Q08. Its ratings have grown 20% since launching on Nick at Nite in September 2007.

Fox has announced that Fringe is the second new show this fall to be picked-up for a full season, joining The CW's 90210. Both shows launched a few weeks before the season. Fringe has benefited from airing behind House, which is down big from last fall, but still strong. Fox has ordered an additional nine episodes for Fringe, bringing the series to a full season order of 22 episodes.
New episodes return Tuesday, October 14 because next week is the second Presidential Debate.

Scorecard for New Series:
Picked-Up for Full Season: 90210, Fringe
Canceled: Do Not Disturb
On Verge of Being Picked-Up: The Mentalist
On the Fence: Hole in the Wall, Worst Week, Gary Unmarried, Knight Rider, Opportunity Knocks, Privileged
Still Yet to Premiere: The Ex-List, Life on Mars, Kath & Kim, 11th Hour, My Own Worst Enemy, Stylista and The CW's MRC Sunday Block

Fox Pulls Do Not Disturb for Next Week; Some BET Schedule Updates

Fox has pulled Do Not Disturb for next week. The sitcom about a hotel airing Wednesdays at 9:30pm on Fox has only aired three times to very low ratings. The show has not even gone past 5 million ever, and has gone down each airing: 4.65, 3.9, and 3.58 million. Fox will air a repeat of 'Til Death at 9:30pm this coming week (Oct. 1). 'Til Death has not done much better either in its three airings (6.06, 4.89, 3.72 million), but it will likely build at 9:30 at least following original episodes of itself.
Do Not Disturb is not "officially" canceled though. As of now, it is slated to air October 8 at 9:30pm with the actual pilot episode, which was not aired first. IF that airs, that might be the last airing in a while or ever because Oct. 15 is a Presidential Debate, Oct. 22 is a World Series game and on Oct. 29 another World Series game, if necessary. So did we see the last of this show or will we see it again on Oct. 8 for possibly the final time? We shall find out. Certainly not good news for this show in anyway. Stay tuned!
Other new shows in jeopardy right now are NBC's America's Toughest Jobs, Fox's Hole in the Wall and The CW's Privileged. Still too early to tell on other series after just one airing, like Gary Unmarried.

BET has made some more changes. Judge Karen and Judge Hatchett will move back to 10-11am after a short run from 11am-12pm. Smart Guy remains 9-10pm. 11am hour will now be another Judge Hatchett followed by an episode of Girlfriends. Steve Harvey and Smart Guy remain 4-5pm and 5-6pm weekdays. A Different World will air everyday next week in the 3am hour. On Saturdays, Smart Guy is extended from 11am-1pm, moving Steve Harvey to 1-2pm on Saturdays.

The debate is on tonight, as McCain said he will be there. So tune in tonight at 9pm ET on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox for the first debate between Obama and McCain. And don't forget the Sunday premieres of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters on ABC, as I have seen them already...view my thoughts on the premieres.

TV One Producing Living Single Reunion; BET Edits Fall Schedule; Fox Sunday Note

On Monday, September 22 at 7pm, it's a comedy reunion blow-out as TV One presents the premiere of Living Single: The Reunion Show that has the cast of the widely successful sitcom about a group of six African American friends living in (or near) a Brooklyn brownstone reuniting for an all-new evening of laughs, memories, and backstage tales that will have viewers wanting more. Join Kim Coles (Synclaire), Erika Alexander (Max), Kim Fields (Regine), John Henton (Overton), and T.C. Carson (Kyle) as TV One takes this trip down the Living Single memory lane. There will be an encore showing at 11pm as well later that night after the Living Single's first day marathon episodes as well as on Friday, September 26 at 12am.
Living Single will air weeknights at 8:30pm, 9pm and encore 3-4am after the marathon week, starting Sept. 29. The marathon week will be week Sept. 22-26, 7pm-12am each night.
Head on over to our TV One September/October thread for more details and for discussion.

BET has made some schedule changes to its fall schedule that starts Sept. 22. We originally announced the changes happening, but BET has now altered weekdays 9am-8pm just a bit. Airing 9-10am now will be more Smart Guy followed by a double dose of Girlfriends from 10-11am. Judge Karen and Judge Hatchett will now premiere in the 11am hour, rather than the 10pam hour. The shows will still air in the 11pm hour in late night. Then The Steve Harvey Show moves to 12 noon and 12:30pm, which means it will air there seven days a week since it was already airing in those slots on weekends. A Movie follows at 1pm with BET Now and Rap City moving to 3 and 4pm, in Harvey's old 4pm hour. Smart Guy episodes remain 5-6pm and 106 & Park is now two-hours from 6-8pm.
For more details, head on over to our BET September thread for details and to discuss.

Fox has finally announced what will air in the other 25 minutes this Sunday to go along with the 95-minute encore of last night's Fringe premiere. On Sunday, Sept. 14 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT Fox presents a Sunday night like no other. The evening kicks off with an exclusive first look at an extended scene from the highly anticipated film The Day The Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves, followed by a preview of 24: Redemption, the two-hour special event airing this November on Fox. Immediately after the exclusive previews, the series premiere of Fringe will encore, followed by an exclusive preview of the not-to-be-missed, heart-pounding first four minutes of Fringe's second episode. So three previews will air in those 25 minutes that are needed to be filled. Fringe encore will likely start at 8:15ish.

BET Schedule Notes; Network Notes

As I stated previously, BET is adding Smart Guy this weekend with marathon on Saturday from 11am-4pm before joining the line-up weekdays 5-6pm next week. Now BET has announced that the Saturday morning airings will start next Saturday (Sept. 13) from 11am-12pm leading into Steve Harvey from 12-1pm. It was originally slated to start on Saturdays on Sept. 27 and from 11am-1pm, we are not sure if it will be still that on the 27th, but at the very least it will be 11am-12pm on Saturday mornings. We'll keep you posted.
Other BET schedule notes include a Judge Hatchett launch marathon on Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21.

The CW has pushed back the premieres of its new Sunday Night MRC block by two weeks to Sunday, October 5. It is said that The CW/MRC want to avoid The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards on ABC on Sunday, Sept. 21. Also, 4Real and In Harm's Way have switched timeslots. 4Real will now air 5:00 & 5:30pm followed by two episodes (new/repeat) of In Harm's Way from 6-8pm. Dramas Valentine and Easy Money follow and will still air at 8 and 9pm. Bob Saget's new sitcom Surviving Suburbia, was set to premiere on November 2 but now has been pushed back to early 2009.
CBS will encore the premiere episode of new Tuesday drama The Mentalist (premiering Tues., Sept. 23 at 9) on Friday, Sepember 26 at 8pm leading into to the first Presidential Debate between Obama and McCain. ABC will air 20/20 in that slot leading into to the Debate. Fox and NBC have not said anything otherwise, so you can expect an episode of 5th Grader and America's Toughest Jobs in the slot, as of now. This is the first of four primetime debates. The next one will be Thursday, October 2 between VP nominees Biden and Palin, then Tuesday, October 7 will be the second one with Obama and McCain. The final one is Wednesday, October 15, also between Obama and McCain. Programming in the 8pm hour for these three have not been yet announced. All debates will air at 9pm ET followed by an analysis at 10:30pm ET.

Pretty slow day, but stay tuned tomorrow as the sitcom pilot season kicks off with our review of the upcoming Fox sitcom Do Not Disturb, premiering Wednesday at 9:30pm on Fox. Will it actually be good or like the other Fox sitcom duds of recent seasons (Happy Hour, Jezebel James, etc.)? Stay tuned tomorrow!

BET September Programming Includes Smart Guy; 5 More RTN Stations to Launch in Early 2009; Network Notes

This September BET will launch Judge Karen and Judge Hatchett, as we previously announced, but they will also launch a new sitcom! Since Diff'rent Strokes and a few others leave after this Friday (don't forget the Strokes farewell marathon this Friday from 9am-6pm!), a sitcom void was needed. BET has acquired the rights to air the '90s sitcom Smart Guy from Buena Vista! T.J. Henderson (Tahj Mowry) is a high school sophomore. He isn't just a regular one though. He is a ten-year old tenth grader! After being promoted to high school, T.J. deals with the usual problems of fitting in as a genius, while being a little kid in a big school. Also stars Jason Weaver, Omar Gooding and Essence Atkins. The sitcom was last seen in reruns on The Disney Channel from 1999-2003 with a marathon appearance in fall 2004 for back to school. The series originally ran from 1997-99 on The WB.
BET will launch Smart Guy on Saturday, September 6 with a marathon of the first 10 episodes from 11am-4pm before moving to its regular airing of weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT after The Steve Harvey Show starting Monday, September 8.
Other BET portions of the schedule will include Girlfriends airing from 9-10am weekdays starting September 1 and starting September 22 BET will launch Judge Karen at 10am and Judge Hatchett at 10:30am. Back-to-back Hell Date will air in the 11am hour, as the morning "Blackbuster" 10am-12pm movie will be gone. Steve Harvey and Smart Guy round out the daytime weekday series schedule from 4-6pm. Music and rap programming will primarily air elsewhere weekdays, however 11pm and 11:30pm will now will be Judge Karen and Judge Hatchett as well starting Sept. 22. The midnight "Blackbuster" movie follows, as A Different World will now only air sometimes in the 3am hour.
As for weekends, there will be no changes until the weekend of Sept. 27 when Romeo! shifts from the 11am hour to the 9am hour, while Just Jordan remains in the 10am hour, and two hours of Smart Guy airs from 11am-1pm starting Sept. 27 on Saturdays. On Sundays, starting Sept. 28, Judge Karen will air from 1-2pm, no other changes will be made.
Stunts for the month include a marathon of sister station TV Land's original series Family Foreman starring George Foreman on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 1-4pm featuring all six episodes.
Check out the generic BET September Fall 2008 schedule, if you want to see it in a list form.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it has entered into an agreement with New Age Media to launch RTN affiliates in five new markets.
The new affiliates will air on digital streams of WQMY in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania; WPXT in Portland, Maine; WTLH in Tallahassee, Florida; analog station WYPN-CA in Gainesville, Florida; and a new television station in Columbus/Tupelo, Mississippi. The RTN affiliations are anticipated to sign on in early 2009.
These are the first announcements of new RTN affiliates since RTN was sold to Luken Communications...but the first of many to come, so stay tuned!

It's time for another round of network notes! NBC has announced it has picked up nine additional episodes of its sophomore drama Chuck (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET) to provide the series with a full-season 22-episode order for 2008-09. The new season launches Monday, September 29.
Fox has announced that Hole in the Wall, the body-bending, global game show, will now air a special preview episode on Sunday, Sept. 7 from 8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT following Fox's first NFL doubleheader of the season and as previously announced on Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 9:35-10:00 PM ET/PT following the series premiere of Fringe on FOX. Hole in the Wall will have its one-hour series premiere Thursday, Sept. 11 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on Fox and will air in that slot thereafter. Fox has still not announced what will air Sunday, Sept. 14 from 9:35-10pm following the Fringe pilot encore.
And finally, like I predicted, the season finale of ABC's High School Musical: Get in the Picture will now air on Monday, September 8, 2008 from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and not September 15 as previously reported. The finale will lead-in to the previously announced CMA special from 9-11PM ET/PT. As a result of that change, The ABC Monday Movie of the Week Batman Begins will now air on Monday, September 15, 2008 from 8:00-11:00 PM ET/PT.

TV Land September 2008 Schedule...Again; BET Schedule Updates

OK so we gave you TV Land September details two other times already. The latest one was exactly a week ago and the first one was last month, with a few updates in between those. Now a third major update is done! Could three be the charm?
TV Land has not touched its weekday line-up starting Sept. 2. It will remain the same as it was previously, with Scrubs joining weeknights at 9 & 9:30pm. However, TV Land has touched the Saturday and Sunday line-up a bit starting Sept. 6. For Saturdays, the biggest changes are Andy Griffith in the 9am hour, Scrubs airing 9-10pm and 12-1am, The Cosby Show 10-11pm, with M*A*S*H 1-2am and various marathons from 2-6am. As for Sundays, they will have a two-hour block of M*A*S*H, Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Little House on the Prairie from 8pm-6am. So the regular overnight (1-6am) will now only be weeknights.
In that schedule we announced last month, we stated that there would be changes to the morning line-up starting Sept. 15 with Cheers removed, that will not be the case now. The Sept. 2 schedule will last through Sept. 19. Then on Saturday, Sept. 20, there will be a minor change as The Munsters and The Addams Family are expiring, as we knew already. Then on Monday, Sept. 22 more changes are happening to weekdays. The weekday morning block will be altered a bit. M*A*S*H comes into the weekday 7am hour replacing Night Court/Mad About You. Night Court will shift to 8am, replacing Designing Women followed by Cheers at 8:30am, which is still on (for now)! Now TV Land's October schedule starts the following week on Sept. 29, so Cheers will not be on that as the contract is expiring and the show is moving to The Hallmark Channel on Sundays as we stated yesterday. Back to Sept. 22, an extra Sanford & Son will replace All in the Family at 9am, so Designing Women, Mad About You and All in the Family are gone. They join the previously booted Just Shoot Me! and Murphy Brown, which will leave the line-up in late August.
I really urge you to view the entire line-up for the TV Land September 2008 schedule, so you do not get confused. So is this the Fall schedule? Not quite, as two more series will join the daily line-up in October...3rd Rock from the Sun (as we exclusively announced) and daily plays of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. So we will have the TV Land Fall 2008 line-up (October) in the coming days!
Come back tomorrow for our Canada cable networks fall 2008 line-ups--DejaView, TV Land Canada, CTS, and more!

Now let's move on to BET. We don't have their Fall line-up yet, but before the fall starts they will be doing some notable things. First, just to remind you that this Sunday (Sunday, August 17) from 3pm-7pm ET they will have a farewell marathon for the short-lived sitcom Sanford (1980, starring Redd Foxx). All the Sony Pictures sitcoms they have are all expiring at the end of August and they will not be renewing them, unfortunately. So you will not see Diff'rent Strokes, Thea, Sanford, and Malcolm & Eddie in September. Yes, The Steve Harvey Show is from Sony but that is not part of that package and thus Harvey is not expiring.
Diff'rent Strokes (weekdays 9-11am) will have a missing episode finally aired on BET. The episode "Bulimia" has never aired on BET because the tape they had was damaged...but now BET has gotten a new one and will air it on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 9:30am, so get those VCRs/DVRs ready! Speaking of Diff'rent Strokes, it will have a five-episode block in primetime on Saturday, August 23 from 8pm-10:30pm, followed by a five-episode block of A Different World from 10:30pm-1am. The episodes will be multiple-part storylines. View the episode info for this stunt.
That's not all for Diff'rent Strokes! On its last day of airing, BET will give it a proper send-off with an all-day marathon on Friday, August 29 from 9am-6pm. We don't have episode info yet for that stunt, but should by next week, so keep checking our Diff'rent Strokes message board.
Fans of A Different World will be pleased that all week of August 25, the show will air at 11pm and 11:30pm, as BET has a movie stunt all week at midnight.
As for early September, replacing Diff'rent Strokes starting Sept. 1 from 9-11am will be the sitcom Girlfriends, and Hell Date will air weekdays 3-4pm full time and not share it with any other original.
As for the fall, all we know is new syndicated series Judge Karen is coming to BET on Sept. 22 along with court favorite Judge Hatchett. Judge Karen will actually launch in syndication on Sept. 8, check local listings or JudgeKarenTV.com. Hopefully another sitcom or two come as well, we will let you know.

Lifetime Fall 2008 Schedule; Last Minute Updates for TV Land and BET

It's time for another fall 2008 schedule! Today we will give you Lifetime's Fall 2008 line-up, which begins Tuesday, September 2. They will be adding Desperate Housewives repeats to the weekday line-up! The series up until then was airing once a week on weekends. Desperate Housewives also will be coming to local syndication this fall starting weekend of Sept. 20 in a two-year deal for weekend play, look for it on Fox-owned MyNetwork TV stations. On Lifetime, the series will air weekdays at 8:00am & 12pm ET/PT. The 8am airing will replace two episodes of The Nanny, while the 12 noon airing will replace the start of the movie, which slides to 1-3pm. The Nanny will now only air at 2am. Starting in October, Lifetime will repurpose the latest episode aired of Desperate Housewives on ABC about a week or two later on Lifetime. We don't have information on October yet, so we will let you know if it is in a slot other than 8am or 12pm.
Also, coming to Lifetime this September is the ABC reality series Wife Swap. Wife Swap will air weekdays at 3:00pm & 4:00pm ET/PT. At 3pm it will replace a movie and the 4pm airing will replace an hour of The Golden Girls. Golden Girls will still remain in the 9am hour and 1am hour. It was originally announced for October, but it will air earlier. There will be an Army Wives marathon on Labor Day from 11am-9pm. There are no other real changes, but I adivse you to view the full Lifetime September 2008 line-up!
Stay tuned tomorrow for another Fall line-up!

TV Land has made some one-time changes for this week, for more promotion for the original series Family Foreman. They will wraparound the series with The Cosby Show tonight from 8-10pm and again from 2-4am. Then on the weekend, Family Foreman encores will get a boost from The Jeffersons on Saturday from 1pm-4:30pm, while The Cosby Show will air out of the encores from 6pm-8:30pm and again from 1am-6am. Finally, this Sunday Cosby Show will be used from 11pm-6am following encores of Family Foreman. Check our TV Land July thread, for details. We'll keep you up to date, if TV Land does something similar for next week.
We mentioned before that BET now has a rotating sitcom wheel from 9-11am each weekday morning beginning this week, with Thea, Diff'rent Strokes, The Parkers, Girlfriends, and Sanford airing each day. BET aired Thea on Monday and Diff'rent Strokes on Tuesday this week, but now they have made a change. Diff'rent Strokes will air Wed-Fri mornings this week instead of the other three shows. No reason was given for the change. So what about next week? As of now, Thea is slated for Monday and Friday and Diff'rent Strokes Tuesday through Thursday. So it seems they are not going to air Girlfriends, The Parkers and Sanford in this wheel afterall. Check out the episode information for the remainder of this week and next week, if you want to know the episodes.

Schedules Galore - TV Land September '08, WGN Golden Oldies Week, BET Schedule Changes; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: CBS, Day 1

It is a very big Friday today here at SitcomsOnline.com. We have many schedules and the CBS portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. So let's begin with the TV schedules ... TV Land, WGN America and BET.
First up, as promised the TV Land September 2008 schedule. It's a funny bone emergency as TV Land welcomes the Emmy winning sitcom Scrubs to its roster with an 7-hour Labor Day marathon from 4pm-11pm. Then the show will air Mon-Sat back-to-back at 9:00pm & 9:30pm ET/PT starting September 2. The other changes starting Sept. 2 include M*A*S*H moving to 10pm-12am and the late night marathons are now from 1am-6am.
Then starting September 15, TV Land celebrates the arrival of The Cosby Show to the network with a week-long marathon featuring the best of Cosby wit and wisdom each night starting at 8pm thru 11pm (with an encore from 1-3am). The marathon shifts into high gear that weekend when TV Land programs 20 hours of fan favorite episodes giving viewers even more quality time with the Cos from 8pm-3am both nights. Then starting Sept. 22, Cosby Show will air Mon-Sat from 8-9pm and 12-1am ET/PT. More changes will come as Cheers, The Addams Family and The Munsters are expiring and will leave starting the week of Sept. 15. Other changes include time shifting, such as Andy Griffith Show going from 7-9pm to 6-8pm, and Hogan's Heroes and Hillbillies move up an hour to 4-5pm and 5-6pm. Hogan's and Hillbillies will also still air in the late night 1-2am and 2-3am, which means the late night marathons will be now down to 3-6am.
I suggest you see our TV Land September 2008 thread for the complete schedule. There is a Three's Company sighting as well, three airings back-to-back-to-back from 3:30am-5am on late Thursday, Sept. 11. It was originally planned for every Thursday late night. Also, Just Shoot Me and Murphy Brown will now be just weekend late nights, and not weeknight late nights, like originally planned. The Brady Bunch is off the line-up completely.
Other TV Land September highlights include many movie premieres such as Back to School, Sister Act 2, Overboard, The Right Stuff, and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Again see our September 2008 thread for complete details and you can also ask questions and make comments there.

Next up is WGN America! For the past two months they have aired an Outta Sight Retro Nights marathon. In June they had a '70s week and earlier this month we had an '80s marathon. Now they will move to the Golden Oldies era! It's the Outta Sight Retro Nights Marathon: The Golden Oldies! The marathon will be a four night look at the '50s and '60s. The marathon will be from Monday, August 4 through Thursday, August 7, 2008 from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) on WGN America (not in Chicago, sorry!). Up first is the all-time '50s hit The Honeymooners on that Monday with four classic episodes. Then we move to the '60s as we strike it rich with The Beverly Hillbillies, ya here? Then the next two nights will be two shows that don't regular air on WGN America! On that Wednesday we twitch our way to Samantha and Darrin's house in Bewitched! Finally, on that Thursday we make a wish for I Dream of Jeannie with four wishful episodes. What a week that will be for fans of the golden oldies era. Four classics indeed! For episode info visit our WGN America Golden Oldies episode listing.

We end our schedules galore with BET. BET will be making some sitcom changes. Next week (week of July 21), BET will have Diff'rent Strokes for four episodes in a row in the mornings. Its current 9-10am slot and 10-11am, replacing Malcolm & Eddie. Diff'rent Strokes has been preempted in its afternoon 3-4pm slot for weeks now and it will not be returning there now. It seems this morning change will be for the week of July 21 only. Because starting July 28, BET will turn the 9-11am block into rotating sitcoms. Mondays starting July 28 will be the short lived '90s sitcom Thea! Then Tuesdays starting the 29th it will be Diff'rent Strokes Tuesdays. On Wednesdays BET will showcase the UPN hit The Parkers. Thursdays spend mornings with your girlfriends while watching Girlfriends from 9-11am. And finally on Friday, end the work week with the hardest working man Fred Sanford in Sanford! So Thea and Sanford will return (remember they have a marathon this Sunday, July 20, too from 3-8pm), while Malcolm & Eddie gets the boot for now. We will keep you up to date if any more changes occur!
Future Outlook: This September BET has acquired reruns of Judge Hatchett and also repurposing rights to the upcoming new court series Judge Karen. More info will come soon.

Today is day one for the CBS portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. All of the CBS shows that are planned for the panel are actually all going today on the panel, with CW/CBS syndication for tomorrow. After the Executive Session this morning (details on that below after the summary), up at the panel were the CBS News division, followed by rookie sitcom Worst Week and new drama Eleventh Hour. Then after lunch, the afternoon sessions had all rookies again, new drama The Mentalist, and new Friday drama The Ex-List. Weird that no returning show was at the panel for CBS. New sitcom Gary Unmarried (previously known as Project Gary) was supposed to be doing a panel today in the afternoon, but star Jay Mohr is out of the country. Following CBS shows, CBS had premium cable network Showtime go up next late in the afternoon. They had their Executive Session followed by their Sho Stoppers Showcase session. Finally, in the evening CBS, Showtime, The CW and CBS Television Distribution presented their Stars Party with executives, talent and executive producers from CBS, Showtime, The CW and CBS Television Distribution.
From the CBS executive session we learned that William Petersen is indeed leaving CSI but they have planned new additions such as a serial killer type. Nina Tassler says CBS doesn't regret canceling Moonlight (ouch!). She also said Britney didn't save How I Met Your Mother and Sarah Chalke will return for multiple episodes next season.
From the CBS News session, Katie Couric said she will stay on with CBS Evening News despite the low ratings. There were rumors that CBS would give her the boot after the Election.
Moving on to Showtime, Edie Falco will return to television with the series Nurse Jackie. It will follow Falco's day-to-day life as a nurse with a drug problem. The series will begin production in the fall for a spring/early summer 2009 debut. The network also said it is developing a spin-off of The L Word, which is entering its final season. Meanwhile, comedy Weeds will get two more seasons for a total of 26 episodes. They also ordered six episodes of documentary series Lock 'N Load and a seventh season of Penn & Teller: Bull****! for 6 episodes, the longest-running series on the channel.
It seems we learned more about Showtime, than CBS today. Coming up tomorrow its CBS Day 2, but it will feature The CW and CBS Television Distribution (that's their syndication series).

July 7 Reminders; Remembering Lilyan Chauvin

Some great programming is coming starting July 7 and we want to remind you all of all the new stuff.
First, WGN has an '80s week with ALF, Family Ties, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and The Cosby Show all this week from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT). Read our original story for more details.
Hangin' with Mr. Cooper joins the ION Television line-up this Monday, July 7 airing weeknights at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT. Read our original story for details.
The Steve Harvey Show launches this weekend from 4-5pm, but it will officially join the line-up on Monday airing weekdays 4-5pm and weekends 12-1pm. Read our original story for details.
Remember starting Monday, July 7, we get two Family Matters airing a night now and also an overnight encore from 4-5am on Nick at Nite. Read our original story for more details.
Popular sitcom That '70s Show is now also on ABC Family as it launched this 4th of July with a marathon but it will regularly start on Monday airing weeknights 7-8pm, in addition to other slots. Read our original story for the complete details on that.
Classic TV western Maverick also launched with a 4th of July marathon but it officially joins the regular line-up on Monday airing weeknights at 6pm and Saturdays at 8am. Read our original story for all the details.
Finally, well this isn't a July 7 premiere, but it is a week of July 7 premiere, as we mentioned yesterday that drama Joan of Arcadia is coming to the Sci Fi Channel airing Fridays at 8pm starting July 11.

That sure is a slot of shows launching on July 7! Lucky 7 indeed! I hope I didn't miss anything we covered already. I think this reminder was needed, in case anyone forgot something. Happy watching on lucky July 7!

We leave you today with another TV passing. Lilyan Chauvin passed away at her Studio City home on Thursday, June 26, 2008 after a 40 year battle with breast cancer complicated by recent onset of congestive heart disease. She was not just an actress, she was also a host, DGA director, WGA writer, former VP of Women in Film, author, teacher and private coach.
Nominated for the Emmy Award in The Young and the Restless her dedication to the arts won her recognition to for Excellence in moral quality media. She was also a series regular on Days of Our Lives.
She held recurring roles on Mission Impossible, General Hospital and Falcon Crest. She guest starred on many series as well such as Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, One Day at a Time, Magnum P.I., Baywatch, Hart to Hart, Fantasy Island, The Bob Newhart Show, Dragnet, Adventures of Superman, Perry Mason, Friends, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, ER, Malcolm in the Middle, Alias, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The X-Files, Murder She Wrote, Frasier, USA High, The Pretender, Shashta McNasty, and recently on Ugly Betty.
On the big screen, she is known for her roles in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can, the Coen brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There, Stephan Hopkins' Predator 2 and she is also widely recognized for her role as Mrs. Tremont in Private Benjamin.
She will certainly be missed. She was 82.

BET Picks-Up Steve Harvey Show, July Highlights; Bad TV Shows Block Coming in Houston

BET has picked-up the cable rights to air the 1996-2002 WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show starring Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer. The show will start this Friday, the 4th of July, airing 4-5pm ET/PT. It will air also that weekend 4-5pm (July 5 and 6) before airing regularly weekdays 4-5pm and weekends 12-1pm ET/PT. The weekdays 4-5pm airings will replace an hour of Malcolm & Eddie, but that show will still air weekdays 10-11am. The Saturday 12-1pm airings will replace Diff'rent Strokes encores, but Strokes will still air weekdays 9-10am & 3-4pm. While the Sundays 12-1pm Harvey airings will replace Sanford, which will now be off the regular line-up. There will be no other schedule changes, so everything else remains the same.
Now Steve Harvey Show will still air on TBS in early morning slots (6-7am and other slots before that sometimes), so it seems BET has the daytime/afternoon rights, while TBS has the very late and early morning rights. ION Television also airs the show, weekdays 6-7pm, but ION is a broadcast channel, not a cable network. So the show will air on two cable networks and a national broadcast channel...so lots of exposure for this show!
Other July 2008 BET highlights include: the A Different World marathon for Sunday, July 6 has been trimmed from 6-11pm to 8-11pm because of this Steve Harvey addition. The marathons continue Sundays in July with a Diff'rent Strokes marathon from 1pm-6pm on Sunday, July 13. Two shows off the regular line-up, Thea and Sanford will get a five episode each marathon on Sunday, July 20 from 3pm-8pm, with Thea from 3-5:30pm and Sanford from 5:30-8pm.
Now this week, people have been asking is Diff'rent Strokes leaving the weekdays 3-4pm slot since it is not scheduled this week (June 30-July 4)? I sort of answered that already earlier in this story. No, it is not leaving afternoons, it is just not on this week. As of now, it is slated to air each weekday in both the 9-10am and 3-4pm weekday slots for all of July, with no preemptions. Of course, BET has a history of making last minute changes, so please keep checking back on our blog and on our message boards for the latest information!


We were informed by reader Michael Dudas that a Houston TV station is looking to create a "Bad TV" Saturday evening block. The TV station is Channel 55 in Houston called Houston's 55, or better known as The Tube.
"We're going to call it a night of Bad TV, and we're going to run it for three hours, maybe four, on Saturdays starting in October," said Channel 55 president Matt Reiff to the Houston Chronicle. "Whether it's three or four hours depends on how successful we are getting the rights to these shows. We're in the process of buying shows now for the fall. We're looking for the worst shows, I'm talking sitcoms and movies, in the history of television."
This is indeed a wonderful idea! I love it. If I were them I would add Small Wonder, Out of this World, Webster, She's the Sheriff, Harry and the Hendersons, etc. for shows that actually lasted a while but were bashed big time...some of those I actually do like, though! And some of the shows that didn't last a season and were terrible such as Emily's Reasons Why Not, Michael Richards Show, Mary (1985), Joanie Loves Chachi, Who's Watching the Kids?, Emeril, Bagdad Cafe, etc.
Can you think of sitcoms that were just plain bad that lasted a while and sitcoms that were so bad they were canceled within a season? Head on www.houstons55.com and leave them a message under "viewer comments."
Regularly Houston's 55 airs "good" shows such as Northern Exposure, Fantasy Island, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, 21 Jump Street, Star Trek, Married with Children, Steve Harvey, and Renegade.
And how will they present this night of Bad TV? "Each night, we'll have three lousy hosts introducing the lousy shows, and we'll let viewers vote off one of the hosts," Reiff said. "We don't know if we're going to vote off the best host or the worst host. "Oh, and we're going to give away prizes to viewers throughout the show. Prizes will be trips to exotic places, like Paris." Paris, Texas, that is. "And we won't send them to Paris without spending money. How's $55 sound? "Bad TV, bad hosts and bad prizes ... this is going to be great." I agree! Head on over to their website and think of bad TV shows that are so bad that you would want to watch...they could be so bad that you like them (like Small Wonder)! Houston fans are very lucky to have this! We will bring you up to date news as soon as we hear something, such as what shows they have acquired.

Celebrity Family Feud Contestants Announced; BET Preemptions and Notes; TV Land Awards Now 2 Hours

NBC revealed the 24 celebrity family teams who will play the Feud when the classic game show hits primetime with an all new celebrity edition premiering Tuesday, July 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by Today show co-host, Al Roker, Celebrity Family Feud will be a star-studded version of the beloved and enduring game show. Each week, four celebrity families match wits to raise money for their respective charities. Two families compete against each other with the winner from each round going into the final round where one team will compete to win up to $50,000 for their charity. Six episodes have been ordered and the stars you'll see are:
The Kardashians, Deion & Pilar Sanders, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, Vivica A. Fox, Mo'Nique, Christopher Knight & Adrianne Curry, Ice T, Melissa & Joan Rivers, Raven-Symone, Wayne Newton, Tiki Barber, Ed McMahon, Vincent Pastore, Kathie Lee Gifford & Frank Gifford, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Cho, and cast members from the hit series American Gladiators, The Office, My Name is Earl, The Girls Next Door and American Chopper.
To see the full cast in each family/team, click HERE!

We have some BET preemptions and notes for you to share. Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen tomorrow (Friday, June 13) at all because of an original series (Hell Date, etc) marathon from 9am-5pm, thus the Saturday Strokes airings at 12 and 12:30pm this Saturday (June 14) will be new and not repeats of the previous day. The 3-4pm airings of Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen June 16-20 because of a BET Movie Week from 3-5pm. The 9-10am airings will be seen except on Friday, June 20 where a special BET Now will air. Also, Saturday, June 21 the 12-1pm Strokes airings will be preempted for an originals marathon from 11am-2pm. For A Different World fans, the show will only air Wednesday, June 18 3-4am and Thursday, June 19 from 11pm-1am that week because of various movies/stunts. Sanford is also preempted on Sunday, June 22. Diff'rent Strokes is preempted from both 9-10am and 3-4pm airings on Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24. Everything will be back to normal on Wednesday, June 25 since the BET Awards are over with...that is the main reason for these preemptions. The 2008 BET Awards air tuesday, June 24 in primetime.
In other BET news, A Different World will get a marathon on Sunday, July 6 from 6pm-11pm.

TV Land has announced that the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards airing this Sunday will be two-hours now instead of 90-minutes. The show was taped this past Sunday and it must have lasted longer for them to add another half-hour. People who went to the taping said it was fun and funny. The parody this year will be funny as usual with stars like Joyce DeWitt and Cindy Williams. Tune in this Sunday from 9-11pm ET/PT on TV Land for the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards hosted by Vanessa Williams.

ION Television July 2008 Highlights; BET Schedules A Different World Marathon for This Saturday

This July, ION Television won't be making any changes to the regular schedule. So the schedule that starts June 16, with the additions of ER and The Dead Zone to primetime, will still be in effect in July.
Highlights for the month include the Total Theatre Thursday for July which will include movies just as Superman: The Movie and The Neverending Story. Drew Carey Show fans take note, a filler airing will air 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 3 following a Thursday movie. The episode title is "The Salon."
RHI movies for the month include four-hour movies such as Youngest Godfather, Bonanno: A Godfather's Story and the 1999 Journey to the Center of the Earth. Two-hour movies include Ransom Of Red Chief, Johnny's Girl and the premiere of Deadly Shooter. ION will also air the six-hour mini-series The 10th Kingdom on three Fridays.
For complete ION July 2008 highlights, click HERE!
As for our ION interview, I have gotten a lot of questions about when it will be published. I have been sent in the questions already, but I'm waiting for ION to give some responses. As soon as they do, I will post it right here on the blog. So thanks all for your patience!

BET has scheduled a Different World marathon for this Saturday (June 7) from 11pm-3am ET/PT. The marathon will follow a block of Girlfriends from 9-11pm. A Different World airs regularly on BET weeknights 12-1am and 3-4am and Sunday evenings at various times (usually between 6-10pm). Last night after Obama's speech and special, the show aired from 11pm-1am instead of its normal times.
The marathon this Saturday will just be a continuation of the regular airings in order.

TV Land July 2008 Highlights; Mary Tyler Moore Reunion on Oprah; Different World Moves to Midnight on BET

This July on TV Land it's the season finale of She's Got The Look (which premieres in June by the way) and the premiere of Family Foreman, starring George Foreman! But first, let's talk about some schedule changes. TV Land will start some summer marathons on Monday, July 14 airing 9pm-1am Mon-Thurs. On Mondays from 9-11pm Mad About You will remain, but 11pm-1am will be Murphy Brown. Tuesdays from 9-11pm The Beverly Hillbillies remain but 11pm-1am will be The Jeffersons. Wednesdays, from 9-10pm Sanford & Son will lead into Family Foreman, then 11pm-1am it's a block of M*A*S*H. Thursdays is a bit odd, 9-10pm will be I Love Lucy, 10pm-12am is Andy Griffith and 12-1am is Leave it to Beaver.
As for the highlights, take a fresh look at TV Land's original modeling competition series for women ages 35 and older in a 5-hour marathon on Saturday, July 6 starting at 6pm and and catch exclusive bonus footage as TV Land countdowns to the finale on Wednesday, July 9.
4th of July weekend will see marathons of I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes, and She's Got The Look.
It's a Night of a Thousand Georges on TV Land. In anticipation of the launch of the newest TV Land original, Family Foreman, starring George Foreman, TV Land brings you a night full of Georges with a 5-hour marathon of everybody's favorite loudmouthed businessman George Jefferson on Sunday, July 13!
Then get an intimate look into the remarkable life of George Foreman - former heavyweight boxing champion, multi-million dollar pitchman, ordained minister, and family man in Family Foreman. Come along for the ride as this tough-love Dad and his wife try to manage their clan of 10 children. For six weeks starting Wednesday, July 16 at 10pm.
Finally, this summer, leave your cares behind and catch some R&R with four nights of M*A*S*H beginning Friday, July 25. Viewer leave begins every night at 8pm. Watch the 4077th combat stress and make the best of a bad situation as they find ways to have fun both on the job and off. Whether it's going away on leave, throwing cocktail parties, pulling pranks or just blowing off steam, it all adds up to 12 hours of inspired recreation that viewers won’t want to miss.
For complete details and episode info on the stunts and more, I advise you to check our TV Land July 2008 Highlights!

The cast of the iconic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show got together again at a taping of Oprah recently. And you'll get to see it on Oprah next week! Like always with reunions on Oprah, Oprah has recreated the set! The newsroom and Mary Richards' apartment has been recreated. Joining Mary Tyler Moore are fellow cast members, Ed Asner, Betty White, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel. A toast to the late Ted Knight is also made...very classy! Who knows we might see the crowd get free DVDs!
Tune in Monday, May 19 (check local listings for time and channel...in NY: WABC 4PM) for a historic television reunion! Oprah and the cast o...f The Mary Tyler Moore Show! It's a full circle dream come true. Oprah was a big fan of Mary and the show, so this is a dream come true for her.
Oprah's website has more info...tune in Monday! See the promo.

Starting next week A Different World is moving to midnight on BET. The show currently airs weeknights at 11 & 11:30pm, but now it will move to 12 midnight and 12:30am ET/PT starting Monday (May 19). The late night airing of 3 and 3:30am will remain the same. Encores of The Boot and Hell's Date will move down an hour to 11 and 11:30pm.
And another BET programming note: two episodes of Sanford are scheduled at a special time on Sunday, May 18. The Sanford episodes will air at 6:00pm & 6:30pm this Sunday. It will also air at its normal 12 noon and 12:30pm time as well...both hours will be different episodes. And speaking of Sanford, we mentioned before a Father's Day marathon is planned for the short lived sitcom and now it is indeed confirmed. Sunday, June 15 from 12 noon to 5pm, the same time slots as the Thea Mother's Day marathon this past week. And finally, don't forget to watch the "Strokes-World Memorial Day Marathon" on May 26. It's an all-day event of Diff'rent Strokes (9am-7pm) and A Different World (7pm-3am). Episode info will be available early next week, so check our message boards.

Sitcom Time Changes on WE tv; Programming Reminders for This Weekend

Starting this Monday (May 12), WE tv will switch the timeslots for sitcoms Kate & Allie and Hope & Faith. Kate & Allie was airing weekdays from 12-1pm (sometimes it would be extended a bit longer, too) and will now move to 10-11am weekdays where Hope & Faith was airing. And yes, Hope & Faith will move to 12-1pm (and sometimes it will be extended a bit beyond that, too). Dharma & Greg will remain in the middle from 11am-12pm.
Remember WE tv also has reruns of Girlfriends, Golden Girls and Ghost Whisperer coming in 2009.

Yes, MTV Networks (TV Land, Nick at Nite, etc) had their upfront yesterday, but as of now, still no press releases or anything from TV Land. I do know that Chris Rock was on hand at the upfront for Everybody Hates Chris, which comes to Nick at Nite in 2009.
At its 2008 upfront presentation, MTV Networks united its leadership, talent and marketing partners to showcase innovative partnerships, programming and platforms across its brands. The presentation highlighted "return on innovation" -- the value for marketers in MTVN's reinvention of how audiences experience content and advertising on every screen. The event was highlighted by special guest appearances by some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Justin Timberlake, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Ashanti, Taylor Swift, Lauren Conrad, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, George Foreman, Dr. Drew Pinsky, as well as exclusive musical performances by John Legend, Sarah Silverman, JabbaWockeeZ from MTV's Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew and the cast of hit Broadway musical Legally Blonde.
Yeah, nothing major at all. We will let you know if there is anything announced today or whenever.

This weekend has a lot of nice programming for everyone. We have mentioned all of these already, but we are going to remind you again. Tonight ABC will air the two-hour special TV's All-Time Funniest...sitcoms of the past and present are featured from Married with Children to I Love Lucy to The Office. Tune in from 8-10pm ET/PT on ABC! Must see for sitcoms fans.
Then we mentioned a few Mother's Day stunts. They will all of course air on Mother's Day, this Sunday (May 11). Airing on BET from 12pm-5pm is a sitcom marathon of Thea. The short-lived ABC sitcom starring Thea Vidale and Brandy Norwood. Watch Thea take care of her four kids and work two jobs...how does she do it? Tune in! On Boomerang this Sunday from 12pm-7pm, there will be Wilma themed episodes of animated sitcom The Flintstones. Finally, Nick at Nite has a nice primetime block featuring "Hot Moms." Tune in starting at 9pm for "Hot Moms" like Jill Taylor, Angie Lopez and Vivian Banks! The marathon will be hosted by one of the hot moms themselves, Constance Marie (Angie on George Lopez)!

ER Comes to ION Television in June 2008; BET Schedule Changes, Includes Diff'rent Strokes and Different World Memorial Day Marathon

Today is ION Television's upfront! ION Television today announced a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution to air seasons 11-14 of the long-running hit series ER on ION Television. The medical drama, which has earned more Primetime Emmy Award nominations than any other program in history, will debut in primetime on the network beginning this June. The show will enter its 15th and final season on NBC next season. We will have more on ER and ION June 2008 in the next week or so, so stay tuned! We also still have the interview with them planned, and hopefully we will know when next week.

BET has made some more schedule changes. And again it is better than before. First off, fans of Diff'rent Strokes and Malcolm & Eddie take note that the episodes will not encore later in the day anymore...but now we will get two new hours each! This started yesterday, so you need to watch or tape both hours immediately. So, Diff'rent Strokes airing 9-10am will not encore 3-4pm later in the day, but that 3-4pm will be new episodes! The same for Malcolm & Eddie...10-11am and 4-5pm are both new episodes. So we get four episodes a day rather than two! So, watch or tape/DVR both hours now. That is good news, I think.
Then, starting this Saturday (May 3), BET has added a sitcom block on Saturdays from 9am-1pm! From 9-10am it will be The Parkers, the Nickelodeon sitcoms Just Jordan and Romeo! will move up an hour to 10-11am and 11am-12pm, and finally closing out the block is two episodes of Diff'rent Strokes from 12-1pm...and yes, they will be new episodes, so you'll need to watch or tape/DVR these as well! Also on Saturday, May 3, we told you A Different World will get a mini marathon block from 8:30-10pm last week, but now it has been extended to 8-10pm...so an extra episode. The show will get weekly Sunday evening airings, but the times vary as I stated last week.
BET has also added Girlfriends for this Saturday only from 10-11pm and 2-3am, while A Different World will encore this Saturday from 3-4am for one time only, preempting Sanford.
Starting next Saturday night (May 10), In Living Color will return and air Saturday nights from 3-4am, replacing Sanford. Sanford fans don't worry because the show will return again to Sundays 12-1pm replacing The Parkers starting May 18, as The Parkers is now Saturdays 9-10am. Remember there is a Thea Mother's Day marathon on May 11 from 12pm-5pm. The marathon episodes of that will be episodes where they left off in the regular run, so we will get (in production order): #11 "Birthday Girl," #12 "Mama I'm Full," #13 "Good Stock," #14 "A Christmas Story," #15 "Danesha's Project," #16 "Who's Zooming Who?," #17 "Of Fish and Men," #18 "T.C.B.," #19 "Call Me Thea," and #20 "The Pie Queen and the Loan Duck," all from 12pm-5pm. So it seems they have aired about every episode of Thea after this...I think just 1 or 2 haven't been aired, so hopefully we get those soon.
Finally, this Memorial Day (Monday, May 26), BET will present a 'different' (or is it spelled Diff'rent?) kind of marathon for viewers! It is the Diff'rent Strokes and A Different World marathon! Diff'rent Strokes will air from 9am-7pm and A Different World from 7pm-3am. We will have episode info for both marathons in a few weeks, so stay tuned for that!

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

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

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

BET Schedule Change for Weekends; RTN Officially Announces Website; Under One Roof Premieres Tonight on MyNetworkTV

BET has made a slight schedule change for Saturday mornings starting Saturday, April 26. Thea was preempted last week (April 12) at the last minute for a Spring Bling special and this week (April 19) it was already slated to be preempted for the Malcolm & Eddie marathon from 9am-7pm...and now BET will remove Thea for now from the schedule. Back-to-back episodes of the Nickelodeon sitcom Romeo! will air on BET Saturday mornings from 9-10am starting Saturday, April 26 replacing Thea. Also, returning to BET on Saturday mornings is the Nickelodeon sitcom Just Jordan right after Romeo! on Saturdays from 10-11am, replacing Malcolm & Eddie on Saturdays only. Both former Nickelodeon shows are also currently re-airing on sister Viacom station The N as well.
All is not lost for Thea however. Thea's Mother's Day marathon is still slated for Sunday, May 11 from 12 noon to 5pm ET/PT. We will have episode info shortly. Let's hope Thea returns to the line-up shortly as well, so we can see all 22 episodes...I believe about 11 have aired so far.

We already told you about this, but RTN officially announced their website today. Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that it has launched a new network website, www.RTNville.com. The website features extensive content about the network, including detailed show descriptions (for shows like Cheers, Happy Days) and a complete list of RTN affiliates. A large picture of Robin Leach on the welcome page (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous) is also featured!
"We are thrilled to have a website that showcases RTN programming," said RTN's Neal Ardman. "I believe that RTNville.com is the perfect next step for our network."

Premiering tonight on MyNetwork TV is original sitcom Under One Roof starring Flavor Flav. We gave you the details back in February on what this show is about. The sitcom will air Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT on MyNetwork TV. Tune in tonight as this is the first sitcom in the history of MyNetwork TV! Airing at 8:30pm ET/PT following Under One Roof episodes will be repeats of the classic Fox sketch comedy series In Living Color! The show currently airs in repeats on cable on BET during late nights but it returns to broadcast television in primetime with repeats on MyNetwork TV. MyNetwork TV is calling it The Best of In Living Color...so you'll have to tune in to see which episode airs. Damon Wayans, David Alan Grier, Jim Carrey, and Jennifer Lopez are among the stars of the show.
Also airing tonight of note are the returns of Fox sitcoms Back to You and 'Til Death from 8-9pm. ABC has probably the last debate between Obama and Clinton tonight from 8-10pm ET/PT...should be interesting. And TV Land premiere's new original series The Big 4-0 tonight at 10pm ET/PT.

TV Land June 2008 Schedule and Highlights; BET Adds More Hours to Strokes Marathon on April 20

TV Land has released their June 2008 schedule and highlights! Joining the line-up will be Hogan's Heroes. The '60s sitcom has not aired on TV Land for quite some time and now it is back in an all-new deal! The show will air weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm and every night at 1:00am & 1:30am ET/PT starting Monday, June 2. Hogan's Heroes will also air Sunday afternoons from 12-2pm ET/PT. The show will get a weekend marathon on June 7 and 8, but not a 48-hour one. It will air late night on Saturday, June 7 (early Sunday) from 1:30am-6am and Sunday, June 8 from 12pm-6pm.
Mad About You and Murphy Brown will also join the TV Land June schedule, as both will move from sister station Nick at Nite to TV Land. Murphy Brown had already once moved over to TV Land and it didn't fair too well. This time TV Land will just air it every night at 3:00am. Mad About You will be its lead-in at 2:30am every night...but Mad About You will also air Monday nights 9-11pm, and have some filler slots after movies and encores of originals from time to time. The show will get a weekend marathon as well, Saturday June 21 (early Sunday) 12:30am-6am and Sunday, June 22 from 9pm-6am.
Other schedule notes include Wings leaving the line-up from weekdays at 7:30am replaced by another slot of Designing Women. And some good news for The Munsters and The Addams Family fans...both shows will continue to air in their weekend airings! They were set to expire after May, but TV Land has renewed them once again. Also, although they haven't aired on the regular schedule for awhile, the Universal library deal (Knight Rider, A-Team, Miami Vice, Simon & Simon) will expire as its contract is up, and TV Land will not renew it.
TV Land premieres new original series She's Got the Look on Wednesday, June 4 for 6 weeks at 10pm. For the first time, TV Land and acclaimed modeling powerhouse Wilhelmina team up to search the country to find the greatest undiscovered models age 35 and older. The aspirants will be flown to New York City to live in a house together where they will face various challenges such as photo shoots and tests on their fashion acumen. Eliminations will occur weekly until the ultimate winner is crowned. Fashion icon and supermodel Kim Alexis is the host. Celebrity stylist Robert Verdi, Wilhelmina president Sean Patterson, and supermodel Beverly Johnson are judges of this six-episode series.
It's awards week on TV Land, as TV Land gets ready for the 6th Annual TV Land Awards on June 15 Beginning Monday, June 9 through Friday, June 13, catch daytime marathons of westerns, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes and Beverly Hillbillies from 10am-5pm featuring Emmy award winning episodes and actors.
Then on Sunday, June 15 after a seven-hour Andy Griffith Show marathon from 2-9pm, The 6th Annual TV Land Awards show rolls out the red carpet for the biggest shows and the brightest stars of yesterday and today from 9pm-10:30pm, with an immediate encore from 10:30pm-12am. The host is still TBD. So we will announce it when we know. I heard Fran Drescher is in the running. May I suggest Tom Bergeron? Yes, he was never on a classic TV show, but he is a great TV host. Over the years the hosts have gotten worse and worse, although Kelly Ripa was good last year. No one beats John Ritter's hosting on the first awards.
As we mentioned earlier, TV Land is just "Mad About The Buchman's." On Sunday, June 22 TV Land is giving Mad About You the warm TV Land welcome it deserves by dedicating nine solid hours of programming to the lovable couple, their eccentric friends, neurotic family members and even Murray, their dog. Beginning at 9pm, fans of the show will go mad for their all-time favorite episodes as they watch Paul & Jamie tackle obstacles large and small (and usually of their own creation) in the city that never sleeps.
Get "Back in the Saddle" with TV Land on Sunday, June 29 and live your wildest Western dreams vicariously through crazy gunslingers, seasoned cowboys and even inept city slickers. For the fanatical Western-lover, TV Land presents double-headers of Bonanza and Gunsmoke immediately followed by Mel Brooks' infamous Western spoof, Blazing Saddles. Rounding out the afternoon is City Slickers, featuring grit-challenged Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) who endeavors to fulfill his cowboy fantasies but ends up being taught by veteran ranch hand Curly Washburn (Jack Palance) what it really takes to be one. It's an afternoon packed with eight fantastic hours of Western fun and one that is sure to please even the crustiest cowboy.
TV Land's MovieLand block this month features movies such as Caddyshack, City Slickers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Big Business.
For COMPLETE TV Land June 2008 highlights, including the full list of schedule changes, I really urge you all to click HERE! You can also discuss these changes and highlights there, too. Get in on the action!

Just a few days ago we mentioned to you all about BET's upcoming marathons. They are still on, but we have a time change for the upcoming Diff'rent Strokes marathon. We mentioned it would be from 8-11pm on Sunday, April 20...well they have added two more hours to it now! It will now start at 6pm and run until 11pm! So we get four extra episodes...such as Kimberly taking a photo of Arnold's behind in "A Case of Overexposure," will the Drummonds get evicted in "Push Comes to Shove?" Arnold is now hall monitor in "Hall Monitor" and former first lady Nancy Reagan guest stars in "The Reporter." For a full list of episodes and times, click HERE!

BET Adds More Marathons; RTN Comes to Pennsylvania Affiliate

Yesterday we gave you the good news that Diff'rent Strokes has been given another hour on weekdays (3-4pm) starting next week, but now have more good news! The Diff'rent Strokes marathon was such a success this past Sunday (April 6) that BET will give us another marathon! The marathon will be on Sunday, April 20...this time the marathon is just three-hours instead of eight, but we will get the three-hours in primetime! The marathon will air from 8-11pm ET/PT, with very special episodes. Willis battles a drinking problem in "A Growing Problem" at 8pm, at 8:30pm in "Indepenent Woman," Kimberly has a new job but her boss tries to go after her...but only so he can get good with Mr. Drummond, then we have the very special 2-part episode "The Bicycle Man" from 9-10pm where Arnold and Dudley are lured by a child molestor. Closing out the night from 10-11pm are "Romeo & Juliet" where Arnold and his nemesis Lisa are assigned the roles of Romeo & Juliet in a play and finally we have "My Fair Larry," where a high school thug is about to "make it" with Kimberly.
BET also will have a Malcolm & Eddie marathon this Saturday (April 19 from 9am-7pm), as we previously announced. Future marathons include a Thea marathon on Sunday, May 11 and another Sanford marathon on Sunday, June 15. Those are still tentative, so we will have full details closer to the airdates for those, such as timings and episode info. But for now enjoy the Malcolm & Eddie full-day marathon this Saturday and the primetime Diff'rent Strokes marathon this Sunday! BET is sure handling these sitcoms well and other networks should follow their strategy because it seems to be working for them.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that COX Television plans to add a 7th RTN affiliate on its Johnstown/Altoona/State College, PA station. The network's "Prime Time All the Time" lineup will launch early next year on a digital stream of WJAC-TV, COX's NBC affiliate in the market.
Also, for those of you wonderding RTN's official website is back online. I am not sure what happened before but it was asking for a username/password and many of you wrote to us about the problem. So, head on over to the RTN website now if you haven't checked it out.

Diff'rent Strokes Gets Additional Slot on BET; Fox Summer Schedule; Network Notes

BET has announced it will add an additional hour of Diff'rent Strokes to their weekday line-up beginning next week, Monday, April 14, 2008. They will repeat the 9-10am hour now from 3-4pm ET/PT. What a nice way to start your afternoons! Maybe kids will watch after school! The 3-4pm hour will replace repeats of Hell Date, which will still remain in its other time slots. No other BET changes will be made besides this...so we get an additional sitcom hour!

Fox has announced its summer plans. All-new episodes of reality shows The Moment of Truth, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Hell's Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance, Cops and America's Most Wanted will air throughout the summer on Fox. In addition, Don't Forget the Lyrics! will get encore airings starting Sunday, June 1 at 7:00pm. Among the scripted series, we will see repeats of House, Bones, and the Sunday animated comedies. Missing from the Fox summer line-up is sitcoms Back to You and 'Til Death...is this a sign they could be on the bubble for renewal for next season?
Here is the full summer schedule:
Mondays, beginning June 2:
8:00pm Bones repeats
9:00pm House repeats
Tuesdays, beginning May 27:
8:00pm The Moment of Truth (All-New Episodes)
9:00pm Hell's Kitchen (All-New Episodes started April 1 will run into mid-July) Wednesdays, beginning May 28 (As Previously Announced, No Changes):
8:00pm-10:00pm So You Think You Can Dance (All-New Episodes)
Thursdays beginning May 22 (As Previously Announced, No Changes):
8:00pm-10:00pm So You Think You Can Dance (All-New Episodes)
Beginning June 12 on Thursdays:
8:00pm Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (All-New Episodes)
9:00pm So You Think You Can Dance (All-New Episodes)
Fridays will have Movies, as previously announced.
Saturday line-up will remain the same, as previously announced.
Sundays will also remain the same, with animated repeats from 8-10pm, but encores od Don't Forget the Lyrics! will lead off the night in the 7pm hour.

Lifetime Networks and The Weinstein Company have entered into a groundbreaking partnership that will move cable's top reality series, Project Runway, from Bravo to the top network for women, Lifetime Television, beginning November 2008 with the premiere of season six. The deal is a 5-year deal. Bravo still has another season planned sometime this spring/summer.
Bravo is really upset by this and has issued this statement:
NBC Universal has continuing legal rights related to Project Runway, including a right of first refusal to future cycles of the series, which The Weinstein Company unfortunately has refused to honor. NBC Universal regrettably had no alternative but to bring legal action to enforce its rights to this program, including the right to decide whether it is in the best interest of the company to continue to air the show under the proposed financial terms.
Wonder what will happen?

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

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

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

BET Schedules Diff'rent Strokes and Malcolm and Eddie Marathons; CBS Brings Back Shark, More Price

Last Monday we gave you some BET schedule news as weekends changed a bit with more Sanford (Sundays 12-1pm now). We also gave you details that Jamie Foxx Show and Wayans Bros. are expiring from the channel and will leave after their farwell marathons this Saturday (March 29). Their last regular schedule appearances will be on Friday (March 28). Now we have more BET schedule updates! First off, Sanford will gain two more slots now starting Saturday, April 12...it will air Saturday nights at 3:00am & 3:30am (that's early Sunday mornings). It will continue to air Sundays at 12:00pm & 12:30pm, too. Also, a special 3:00pm & 3:30pm afternoon airing is scheduled on Saturday, April 5 ONLY.
Now to the major news. Diff'rent Strokes, which is airing weekday mornings from 9-10am, will get a marathon! The marathon will air Sunday, April 6 from 1pm-9pm. We don't have episode details yet, but as soon as we do we will post in our message boards. In other Strokes news, fans will be happy that starting tomorrow morning they will start airing season three episodes in the rotation ("The Magician" and "The Bank Job" will air...remember they are going in production order). That is great because seasons three and on are not on DVD yet. So if fans were waiting for that, tune in starting tomorrow (March 25) at 9am!
Malcolm & Eddie will also get a marathon, too! The marathon will air Saturday, April 19 from 9:00am-7:00pm, which means Thea will be preempted 9-10am on this Saturday (April 19) only. We will post episode info when available.
We will post episode info when available on our message boards, so check back. Also, please discuss this!

The Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular will return with four new Wednesday primetime specials starting Wednesday, April 30 at 8:00pm while Shark, the second-year on-the-fence drama starring James Woods, returns with four original broadcasts on a new day and time period--Tuesdays at 9:00pm starting Tuesday, April 29. Its second season finale will be broadcast on Tuesday, May 20 at a special time of 10:00pm. Following Shark on Tuesdays will be the new reality series Secret Talent of the Stars on Tuesdays at 10:00pm, starting April 8. That show will put 16 stars together to find secret talents. Among the stars are Clint Black, George Takei, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Marla Maples, Sasha Cohen, Ric Flair, Joe Frazier, Bridget Marquardt, Mya, Sheila E., Roy Jones, Jr., Cindy Margolis, Ben Stein and Danny Bonaduce.

Latest BET Schedule Notes, More Sanford; According to Jim Returns April 15, More ABC Notes

We have some more BET schedule notes today for you. Currently the weekend shows Sanford airs Saturday nights at 2:30am and Sundays at 11:30am and Thea airs Saturdays 9-10am, 3am late night and Sundays at 12 noon. Now we are getting some time changes, and it is better actually. Effective this weekend (March 22-23), Thea will now only air Saturdays 9-10am, but it will be two episodes a week still, and no more confusion of the encores (as sometimes BET messes up and airs a different episode then). Sanford will now only air Sundays 12-1pm, but that is also better because we get two episodes instead of an encore! Sanford for some reason didn't air this weekend in its 11:30am Sunday slot, and the 2:30am slot was already supposed to not air because of a special (same for Thea at 3am this past weekend). I think now it is easier to remember...Thea Saturdays 9-10am and Sanford Sundays 12-1pm.
Sanford at 12:30pm will be replacing In Living Color, which will return to weekdays starting March 31, though. In Living Color will air weeknights at 3am and 3:30am starting the week of March 31, replacing the Wayans Bros. Jamie Foxx Show will also be replaced starting March 31 by more Hell Date airings at 12am and 12:30am. Viewers can say goodbye to Jamie Foxx Show and Wayans Bros. with a marathon of both shows on Saturday, March 29 from 10am-8pm. Jamie from 10am-3pm and Wayans from 3pm-8pm. I'm not sure if their contracts expired or what, but both shows joined in October 2005 I believe, as did In Living Color, but that will still be on, so who knows. If I find out anything, I will for sure let you all know. Will any more sitcoms join since Jamie and Wayans are leaving? We will let you know if they do plan on more sitcoms!

According to Jim returns April 15 on ABC. You're probably thinking what do you mean "returns," since it has been airing Tuesdays at 9 since January. But last Tuesday was its last airing in that slot because Dancing with the Stars returns this week. When Jim returns, it will move to Tuesdays at 8:00pm and 8:30pm, replacing Just for Laughs. 7 new episodes remain for the season. If they air one new episode a week that will make it last through the end of May, but I'm sure once or twice, they will air two new episodes in the hour. This might not be the final 7 episodes, because ABC is mulling to bring it back next season for an eighth season. No official news yet, though.
In other ABC schedule news: Lost's pre-strike finale is this Thursday at 9, but ABC has announced Lost will remain in that slot for repeats on March 27, April 3 and April 17 (April 17 is 8-10pm). The show returns with 6 new episodes starting April 24 at 10pm following Grey's Anatomy's return. ABC will stop the Fridays at 8pm encores of Grey's Anatomy starting April 4. An AFV repeat is scheduled for April 4 leading into the return of game show Duel at 9pm (it will air for 10 episodes and won't be serialized like the tournament week was in December). Not sure yet what will air Friday, April 11 at 8pm, but April 18 will be a Desperate Housewives' encore from its first post-strike episode, which will debut Sunday, April 13 at 9pm. To catch up on Desperate Housewives' return, ABC will re-air the final pre-strike episodes on a special night of Thursday, April 10 from 8-10pm. As for Eli Stone, yes ABC will air all 13 episodes! Episode 12 will air on a special night though...Sunday, April 13 at 10pm. It will air right after that new Desperate Housewives return episode. Brothers & Sisters returns the following week with new episodes. The final Eli Stone of the season will air in its normal Thursday at 10pm slot on April 17.
So, ABC will let viewers catch up on Desperate Housewives and Lost with the last two pre-strike episodes, but what about Grey's Anatomy? Nothing announced yet, but it will return April 24 at 9pm with new episodes.

Speaking of returns, tonight is a big night! Scripted TV makes its first return with post-strike episodes tonight with CBS's sitcoms The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men. The bad news for that is Dancing with the Stars also returns tonight on ABC. I'm sure both will do well!

BET Adds More Thea to Weekends; ION Upfront To Be Held May 1, Minor Schedule Change

As you all know BET has added the short-lived 1993-94 season sitcom Thea to weekends along with short lived 1980 sitcom Sanford. Thea is airing Saturday nights at 3am and Sunday afternoons at 12pm...with Sanford as its lead-in both times (2:30am and 11:30am). Now BET has announced it will air more Thea! Effective this Saturday (March 8), BET will air Thea also Saturday mornings at 9am and 9:30am, replacing Diff'rent Strokes. This is not a big loss for Diff'rent Strokes because the Saturday airings were only repeats of Monday's airings, and Strokes will still air weekdays from 9-10am.
As for Thea, we will now get two episodes a week rather than just one. 9-10am episodes are two new episodes and they will repeat one each on Saturday night at 3am and Sunday at 12 noon. So, if you're DVRing, TiVoing, recording Thea, back-to-back 9-10am Saturday mornings is your best bet.
Don't forget also to tune in this Saturday from 10am-11pm for the Sanford marathon as we set our clocks San"forward" for the spring, as all 26 episodes of the short-lived revival series starring Redd Foxx will air, including the three-part pilot episode.

ION Media Networks, Inc. announced today that it will display its new programming and marketing initiatives for the 2008-2009 television season at its second annual Upfront sales presentation. The event, aimed at the advertising community, will be held on the evening of Thursday, May 1st at the New York Public Library.
ION Television recently announced it will be adding the hit series Boston Legal to its Fall 2008 primetime lineup. Also coming to the network will be the timeless comedic drama, M*A*S*H.
ION Television already has made some significant additions to its primetime schedule in 2008, launching the beloved sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, on New Year's Day, and debuting the multi-generational TV staple, Baywatch, earlier this week. Original movies from RHI Entertainment, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Aces 'N Eights, set to premiere March 15th, also have contributed to the increased excitement at the network in the first quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, due to low ratings, ION has canceled the infomercial program Firebrand TV. Firebrand took a curated approach to Madison Ave., selecting flashy spots from blue-chip advertisers ranging from Coca-Cola to 24 Hour Fitness. The show was airing weeknights at 11pm and it will be replaced with real infomercials now starting Monday (March 10). No joking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BET Adds Diff'rent Strokes, Malcolm and Eddie, Sanford, Thea; Remembering David Groh

Happy President's Day! We salute this holiday with some great sitcom news! I'm not sure if many of you know, but BET does air some sitcoms currently. They air Jamie Foxx Show, Wayans Bros., and In Living Color on weekdays and The Parkers and Girlfriends in blocks and marathons. Now more sitcoms are coming! BET will add the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to their line-up starting TOMORROW (Tuesday, Feb. 19). The show will air weekday mornings at 9:00am and 9:30am. Catch Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson from the beginning as BET will bring you the show in order starting with the first episode. This is not confirmed yet, but starting the week of Feb. 25 the show could also air at 3:00pm and 3:30pm, but we will let you know if that is the case. It won't air in that slot this week, we know that...so catch it in the mornings! Now the world don't move!

Also joining BET's weekday line-up tomorrow is the '90s sitcom Malcolm & Eddie. Don't miss the hilarious adventures of Malcolm McGee and his roommate Eddie Sherman...starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin. The show will air right after Diff'rent Strokes in the mornings at 10:00am and 10:30am. It will also air at 4:00pm and 4:30pm, with an encore of the morning airings at 11:00pm and 11:30pm. As with Diff'rent Strokes, you can catch this show in order starting from the very first episode.

So what will happen to BET's other sitcoms because of this? You can catch The Jamie Foxx Show weeknight at midnight-1am and The Wayans Bros. from 3-4am weeknights. While In Living Color will air on weekends in a weekend block with two other new additions (see below). Girlfriends and The Parkers can still be seen in marathons and special blocks. Upcoming marathons for them include: The Parkers will get a President's Day marathon today from 10am-7pm, as BET promises to keep you laughing 9 hours straight with The Parkers BET marathon. Tune in for laughs from funny lady, Mo'Nique. Girlfriends will get a 12-hour marathon this Saturday (February 23) from 9am-9pm.

I mentioned earlier that the sketch comedy In Living Color will move to weekends only now. This change will happen the weekend of March 1. I believe one episode will air with an encore each weekend. Kicking off the weekend block is the BET return of the short-lived 1980 sitcom, Sanford. BET aired reruns of this short-lived sitcom in the past and now it makes its return! Redd Foxx brought back the irascible Watts junkman, Fred Sanford three years after leaving Sanford and Son. With Lamont away in Alaska, Fred was still trading barbs with Aunt Esther, along with a new cast of characters, including his roly-poly business partner Cal and a wealthy widow named Evelyn. 26 episodes were created. You can catch Sanford on BET late nights on Saturdays at 2:30am starting March 1 with an encore on Sunday mornings at 11:30am. Following Sanford, it is another short-lived sitcom and another show from BET's past, Thea! The short-lived 1993 ABC sitcom makes its return on BET with its 22 episodes. The show is about a widow that keeps her four kids in line with discipline and lots of love while holding down two jobs. It was the first series for Brandy Norwood and stars Thea Vidale. Thea will air Saturday nights at 3:00am and Sunday afternoons at 12 noon.
Following Sanford and Thea on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons is the aforementioned In Living Color at 3:30am on Saturday nights and 12:30pm Sunday afternoons.

BET is certainly getting better and we will keep an eye on them. All of its newest acquisitions (Diff'rent Strokes, Malcolm & Eddie, Sanford, Thea) are from Sony Pictures Television, which is a sign maybe they have some sort of deal with them. Let's hope more sitcoms join. If we have any updates, we will bring them to you, but for now discuss this great news HERE!


We leave you today with some sad news. David Groh best known for his role on the 1970's TV sitcom Rhoda as Rhoda's husband, died of kidney cancer last Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Groh became an instant celebrity in 1974 when he starred as the easygoing Joe Gerard opposite Valerie Harper's neurotic Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-off. But by the third season of Rhoda the couple divorced and he was off the show. He has also guest starred on other series (mainly dramas) such as Police Story, Fantasy Island, Trapper John MD, Buck Rogers, Hotel, Simon & Simon, Kate & Allie, Hunter, LA Law, Spenser: Fore Hire, Room for Two, Sisters, Jake and the Fatman, Melrose Place, Baywatch, Law & Order, VIP, Walker Texas Ranger, and was a regular on Black Scorpion. On daytime TV he played D.L. Brock on General Hospital in the 80s. Groh appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Chapter Two and in Twilight of the Golds in 1993. He also had film roles in Two-Minute Warning (1976) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1978), among others. One of his last roles was a guest appearance on the sitcom Girlfriends.
David will certainly be missed by fans of Rhoda and other programs he appeared in. Mr. Groh was only 68.