WGN America Makes Changes to Outta Sight Retro Night, Newhart Thanksgiving Marathon; TNT Picks-Up Mentalist, USA Picks-Up NCIS: LA

WGN America is making some changes starting the week of Nov. 23. On weekdays, the only change will be Nash Bridges returning to the weekday line-up, airing weekdays at 12 noon ET replacing one of the In the Heat of the Night episodes, which will remain weekdays at 11am ET.
Then starting Sunday, Nov. 29, the Sunday block Outta Sight Retro Night will get some schedule changes. The 6pm ET hour will now be Becker instead of ALF. Cosby Show, Newhart, Barney Miller remain in their 7pm-10pm ET hours, followed by a news break at 10pm ET. After the news, Cheers is still on during the 11pm ET hour, but then after that we have some changes. ALF moves to the 12 midnight hour, replacing Bewitched and more Barney Miller will air in the 1am hour replacing I Dream of Jeannie. It is not a big deal for Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie to be removed from Sundays, because they already air weekday afternoons. So with all of these schedule changes, nothing is being removed totally...which is good!
And finally, this Thanksgiving (Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009) spend the holiday once again with Newhart! WGN America will air a Newhart marathon from 2:30pm-8pm ET! For the second consecutive Thanksgiving WGN America is giving a nice Newhart marathon on Thanksgiving. Episodes airing this year in the marathon are (in order of airing): "Vermont Day," "Miss Stephanie," "A Hunting We Will Go," "Candidate Larry," "Will the Real Dick Loudon Please Shut Up," "Co-Hostess Twinkie," "Camp Stephanie," "The Gleeless Club," "The Nice Man Cometh," "Don't Rain on My Parade," and "Thanksgiving for the Memories."
Stay with us in the coming weeks as we tell you what WGN America has planned for Christmas and New Year's! I'll give you a hint, it's going to be good...as usual with them!

TNT has acquired exclusive syndication rights to The Mentalist from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, commencing in Fall 2012. Currently in its second season on CBS, The Mentalist has emerged as one of the hottest shows on broadcast television. The series will begin running weekly on the cable network in Fall 2011, before getting the full 5-days a week treatment in Fall 2012.
USA Network has acquired the exclusive off-network rights to the CBS Television Distribution's drama NCIS: Los Angeles, the newest addition to the NCIS franchise. Under the agreement, USA Network will have access to weekly early exhibitions from season one beginning September 2011 and the right to start stripping the series weekdays in September 2013. The original NCIS on USA Network is the #1 "off-network" series on cable for 2009 to date averaging nearly 3.5million total viewers in Primetime.

Barney Miller Coming to WGN America on Sundays' Outta Sight Retro Night; The N Schedule Changes for July 2009

As I promised, we will reveal what classic TV sitcom is joining WGN America in a few weeks! The '70s ABC sitcom Barney Miller is joining WGN America's Sunday night line-up, part of Outta Sight Retro Night. Barney Miller will air Sundays back-to-back from 9-10pm ET (6-7pm PT), replacing an hour of Newhart. Newhart will still remain in the 8-9pm ET (5-6pm PT) time slot, so fans of that have no need to worry.
We still have lots more to cover on WGN America in the coming months, and it is promising! They will add more series to the Outta Sight Retro Night block in September and they will also add a Wednesday '80s night with classic '80s movies and TV comedies from time to time. Radical! We also mentioned one show will be celebrating an anniversary this September, and WGN America will celebrate with a marathon on both the Wednesday '80s night and the Sunday Outta Sight Retro Night block. There's clue #2 for that one! We will have more on WGN America soon, so keep checking back as always!
View more on Barney Miller on our mini-page.

Last week we told you that Growing Pains was returning to The N schedule starting July 6, but now that isn't happening "actually." The N has altered that schedule quite a bit now and Growing Pains isn't returning to the schedule as a regular but it WILL be a part of a rotating wheel on Sunday nights at 5:30am. Airing first on Sunday, July 12 at 5:30am is Sabrina the Teenage Witch, then Clueless on July 19, and Growing Pains on July 26. Then the cycle starts over, for example Sabrina on August 2. This is a three-week cycle. It is too bad Growing Pains is being wasted like this. Why not try it on sister network TV Land? It wouldn't hurt them to try.
Also leaving the schedule totally for now is Saved by the Bell. It was airing weekdays in the 4pm hour, but after this coming Thursday it seems to be gone for now. It was removed once before but it eventually returned, so it could return. Also the return of Kenan & Kel will now be just the 8-9am hour every morning and it won't have an afternoon airing now, since Degrassi is taking over afternoons from 3-5pm. Degrassi is getting lots of airings it seems. Among the other changes are The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's 10pm hour being replaced by another hour of What I Like About You, since sister network Nick at Nite will be airing it in that hour starting July 6 from Mon-Thurs. Fresh Prince will remain in the 11pm hour on Mon-Thurs on The N and will also gain 2-4am on Mon-Thurs on The N. Nick at Nite will air it in the 4am hour on late nights Mon-Thurs, so that won't interfere with The N either.
View the full updated The N July 2009 schedule.

iTunes Free Summer of Laughs; Gospel Music Channel Acquires Three Dramas

Apple's iTunes Store is going for laughs this summer! They are doing a comedy promotion this summer making many comedies for free. And some others will be only 99 cents per episode. Among the freebies are: Arrested Development, Human Giant, Reno 911!, The State and The IT Crowd. Buy episodes for 99 cents for comedies likes The Office, 30 Rock, The Larry Sanders Show, Barney Miller, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Good Times. Even better is that you can watch the entire first season of SNL for 99 cents...that's 24 episodes for less than a dollar!

Gospel Music Channel has acquired the rights to air three dramas starting this afternoon! Starting today (Monday, June 15), they will air Christy, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Doc from 4-8PM every weekday. Dr. Quinn will air two episodes (5-7pm).
Christy was a short-lived CBS family drama from 1994-95 starring Kellie Martin. There will also about four TV-movies from 2000-2003 that PAX produced. Dr. Quinn was of course the popular family western drama starring Jane Seymour that aired from 1993-98 on CBS. In addition, the series also had two TV-movies in 1999 and 2001. And finally Doc was a family medical drama starring Billy Ray Cyrus that was on PAX from 2001-2004. These are the first scripted series to ever air on this network. They also air movies, though. Incidentally, all three have aired on the former PAX-TV at some point, whether it be reruns or originals (in Doc's case).
Gospel Music Channel recently also acquired the television rights to the off-net series Amy Grant's Three Wishes and Clash of The Choirs, which both shows air together on Wednesday nights since June 3. Three Wishes airs at 8:00 p.m., while Clash of the Choirs follows at 9:00 p.m. Both were short-lived reality series on NBC.
View their website to see if you receive this network.

Coming this week: Nick at Nite July - see how the addition of Malcolm in the Middle will affect the schedule.

ABC Returns Ugly Betty 1 Week Earlier; YouTube Adds Full Episodes of Shows

Ugly Betty is now scheduled to return to the ABC schedule starting Thursday, April 30, 2009 and will continue through and including Thursday, May 14, 2009 in its 8:00-9:00PM ET/PT slot. Ugly Betty was previously scheduled to return on May 7, but now it will be a week earlier than planned, as ABC will preempt In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? In the Motherhood was planning on airing 6 of its 7 episode order, but now it will be 5 of the 7, so 2 episodes will remain leftover. It is unlikely the show will return for another season, but ABC could air those two episodes at a later date. As for Samantha Who?, the second season has a 20 episode order, but only 14 will have aired, so 6 will remain. ABC will likely hold them over for next season, which it is likely to return. Not sure what this means for the second season DVD that is slated to come out Aug. 25...will they have all 20 on there or just the 14 aired?
The two-hour season finale of Ugly Betty is still scheduled to air in the 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT slot on Thursday, May 21, 2009. So Ugly Betty will air all 24 of its hours this season, as previously it didn't match-up with just 23 hours.

YouTube has just recently added a "Shows" section where you can watch full episodes of TV shows! There are many genres of television shows you can watch, with of course Classic TV, Comedy, and Drama. YouTube has partnered with the likes of Sony's Crackle, CBS, MGM, Lionsgate and Starz and many others have made thousands of television episodes and hundreds of movies available for you to watch, comment on, favorite and share. This addition is one of many efforts underway to ensure that YouTube is offering you all the different kinds of video you want to see of full-length films and TV shows.
Get ready here is a list of just some of the stuff you'll see: The Addams Family, ALF, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, American Gladiators, Barney Miller, Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Burns and Allen, Dana Carvey Show, Dick Van Dyke Show, Dragnet, Fantasy Island, He-Man, I Dream of Jeannie, Jack Benny, Lucy Show, MacGyver, Make Room for Daddy, Married with Children, My Mother the Car, NewsRadio, Party of Five, Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, Three Stooges, Trouble with Father, and What's Happening!!
Current stuff will also be available such as episodes of Harper's Island and clips of Jimmy Kimmel Live. So head on over to YouTube to start watching!

WGN Brings Back '70s Classics for Retro TV Week, Includes Kotter, WKRP, Taxi; NBC Fall Premiere Dates

WGN is going back to the '70s the week of June 2 in primetime! From Monday, June 2 through Friday, June 6, WGN will give us four episodes each of popular '70s sitcoms back in primetime! The Outta Sight Retro Nights: Flashback to the 1970s starts Monday, June 2 with four episodes of classic newsroom comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Tuesday will have four episodes of the police comedy Barney Miller, Wednesday it is the classic Taxi, Thursday is back to school with Welcome Back Kotter, and close the week with the radio show comedy WKRP in Cincinnati on Friday, June 6!
Each series will air from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) on WGN cable. These programs will NOT air on the local WGN (CW9) in Chicago...so sorry Chicago, but you guys get a lot of classic TV on other stations anyway.
We are told more classic TV is on the way to WGN...so please stay tuned to us! We will let you know when we know! But for now enjoy the first four episodes of these five classic '70s sitcoms!

NBC unveiled the Fall 2008 series premiere dates for new programs and returning favorites including a three hour launch (clip show and two-hour premiere) of the return of drama Heroes on Monday, September 22, the Thursday night debut of the new comedy Kath & Kim (9:30 p.m. ET) on October 9. America's Toughest Jobs, the new extreme competition series, will debut with a two-hour premiere this Fall on Friday, September 12 (8-10 p.m. ET). In addition, the new drama series premieres include Knight Rider on Wednesdays starting September 24 (8-9 p.m. ET), My Own Worst Enemy on Mondays starting September 29 (10-11 p.m. ET) and Crusoe on Fridays starting October 17 (8-10 p.m. ET).
Here are the full premiere dates for this Fall:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
America's Toughest Jobs -- Series premiere (8-10 p.m.) then 8-9pm starting Friday, September 19 for five weeks; then moves to 9-10 p.m. starting Friday, October 24
(Deal or No Deal will air Fridays at 9 starting Sept. 19 through Oct. 10.)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Heroes -- Clip show (8-9 p.m.) followed by the Season premiere (9-11 p.m.)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit -- 10 p.m.
(Summer series America's Got Talent airs 8-10pm and will conclude early in the fall, then The Biggest Loser: Families will return at a later date.)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Knight Rider -- 8 p.m.
Lipstick Jungle -- 10 p.m.
(Summer series America's Got Talent Results airs at 9pm and will conclude early in the fall, then Deal or No Deal will return at a later date.)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
My Name Is Earl -- one-hour premiere (8-9 p.m.)
The Office -- one-hour premiere (9-10 p.m.)
ER -- 10 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Chuck -- 8 p.m.
My Worst Own Enemy -- 10 p.m.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3
Life -- 10 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
Kath & Kim -- 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
Crusoe -- two-hour premiere (8-10 p.m.) then moves to 8:00 p.m. starting Friday, October 24

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
30 Rock -- 8:30 p.m.
(Preceding the premiere of 30 Rock will be three consecutive weekly Saturday Night Live special election editions of SNL Thursday Night Live at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 9, 16 and 23.)

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

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

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

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

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

TV Land June 2007 Highlights; Remembering Two People in the Sitcom World

TV Land has released its June highlights and it has no regular schedule changes but there are plenty of marathons and specials. First off, for some reason they have one-time-only airings of What's Happening Now!! (4:30a on June 5) and Cheers (4a on June 7). They are not scheduled for any other slots. The Friday night movies continue in June with Pleasantville, Arthur and Parenthood.
Ain't we lucky we got them? Even if it's for a couple of hours.
Tune in for a weekend of laughter and love as the Evan's show how to take care of family. That's right a Good Times Special Episodes marathon on June 2 and 3 from 11p-2a.
Celebrate Father's Day frontier-style with Bonanza! Watch Ben Cartwright and his boys as they bond through various trials and tribulations with a 4 hour TV Land marathon from noon to 4pm. Then at 8pm, tune in for a special presentation of Parenthood, starring one of film's favorite dads, Steve Martin.
Finally, there will be another mini-marathon of The Cosby Show on June 23 from 11p-2a with an encore on June 24 from 8-11p.
For complete details, click HERE.

After awhile of no deaths in the sitcom world, we have come across two big ones. Character actor Roscoe Lee Browne passed away Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a long battle with cancer. Browne is an Emmy & Tony Award Winning Actor who is best probably known for his sitcom work. He has guest starred on series like Barney Miller and The Cosby Show, both of which he earned Emmy nominations (in fact he won for Cosby Show). Audiences probably remember him most for his regular role as Saunders (the butler who replaced Benson) on the last two seasons of Soap. He also guest starred on an episode of Benson, but not as Saunders. Or they might remember his role with Archie Bunker in the elevator on an episode of All in the Family. He also guest starred as the original teacher, the one who substitute Mr. Moore (Howard Hessemen) replaced on Head of the Class.
Roscoe was truly a great veteran actor and he certainly will be missed. Mr. Browne was 81.

We also mourn the loss of the co-creator of Taxi today. Stan Daniels, an Emmy-winning TV writer and producer who worked on two of the most acclaimed comedies of the 1970s, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, has died. Daniels died of heart failure April 6, according to Mount Sinai Memorial Park. Daniels won eight Emmys during his long television career, including three as co-creator and executive producer of Taxi and three as a writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He directed episodes of the 80s comedy Dear John as well. His great work behind the camera will be dearly missed. Mr. Daniels was 72.

Notes from the Underbelly, a new sitcom, debuts tonight at 10/9 central, only on ABC!