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.

FX, USA, TNT, Hallmark, Comedy Central Fall 2009; Hallmark Weekend Change

Today's fall schedule barrage theme is "more of the same." There will be some cable networks who really aren't changing anything this September. They include FX, USA Network, TNT, Hallmark Channel and Comedy Central. USA Network will continue to have
Wings and Becker air on some weekdays in the 6am hour with various late night filler airings also. Drama blocks and movies still air on weekdays for shows such as Monk, NCIS, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Wednesday mornings has Walker, Texas Ranger and JAG.
As for Comedy Central, it's more of the same as well. Just Shoot Me! continues to air in the weekday 8am hour, but Scrubs will move from the 7pm hour to the 8pm hour starting Sept. 14, as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report take the 7pm hour. That's really the only change.
FX, TNT, and The Hallmark Channel have the exact same line-up for September as they do right now, with shows like Malcolm in the Middle and Bernie Mac on FX; Charmed, Law & Order, Bones and CSI NY on TNT; and Golden Girls, Touched by an Angel, and M*A*S*H on Hallmark...all in the same time slots!
We had to cover these because we would get the question if these networks are making any changes in September. But are these the fall line-ups? We're not sure. Changes could be made in October, so stay tuned. However, USA Network is more of the same in October, so don't expect anything from us for that.
Stay tuned for more fall schedules all this week. We still have WGN America, Nick at Nite, The N, BET, WE tv and more to go through.

We didn't get a chance to warn you on Friday but Hallmark Channel has made some weekend changes that started this past Saturday (Aug. 8). The Saturday morning 6-9am episodes of Little House on the Prairie have been replaced by The Golden Girls. The same goes true for the Sunday morning airing from 8-11am as more Golden Girls are added. And if you think that's it, you're wrong because Hallmark will be thanking you for being a friend late nights on weekends as well! Both Saturday and Sunday nights (that's early Sunday and Monday mornings) from 1-3am are now also Golden Girls instead of a late night movie. So they go from no airings on weekends to all of this!

Comedy Central, USA Network Sitcoms Reduction; RTV's Emergency King in Phoenix

Comedy Central has dropped Just Shoot Me! from its line-up already. It was airing weekdays at 3:30pm and 4pm and weekends during mid-morning since June 1. It looks like ratings must have been pretty low for it to be dropped totally. It was dropped last week. No word on when or if it will return to Comedy Central, or on any Viacom-owned network for that matter. It had bombed on TV Land already. Now Comedy Central only airs Scrubs, sitcom wise. And as we mentioned on Friday, they have an original sitcom coming soon with a 10-episode order.
Meanwhile, USA Network has quietly removed Becker and Wings from its weekday morning line-up. They were airing most weekdays in the 6am hour. Now they are starting marathon stacks at 6am of their dramas like Monk and Law & Order: SVU. Becker and Wings will next air together during late night on Friday, July 24 (early July 25) in the 3-4am hour. In August, they will also air in the 3-4am hour together on Saturday nights (early Sundays). Becker will get filler plays during the week sometimes in the late night as well in both July and August. Check your listings. Becker is also airing in marathon blocks on Universal-owned network Universal HD, airing in HD and weeknights on WGN America as well. Wings is only on USA Network.
We will have more on these two shows on USA Network very soon when we announce the fall line-up in our annual fall schedules barrage here on the blog!

Retro Television's KAZT (7.2) in Phoenix is killing the competition at 3PM. At 3PM RTV's KAZT airs Emergency! and they are doing very well with it in the A25-54 demo. Last Monday (July 6), Emergency! posted a 0.7 A25-54 rating beating Oprah's 0.6 on KTVK. It also beat many other Phoenix airings throughout the day in A25-54 such as The Doctors, Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray, Fox's (KSAZ) primetime House, and The CW (KASW) primetime.
That's not all! The very next day (Tuesday, July 7) it was #1 in Men 25-54 in its 3PM timeslot in Phoenix beating not just Oprah at 3pm, but everything at 3pm! Emergency! posted a 1.2 M25-54 rating, beating Oprah's 0.8, Yes Dear on TBS's 0.8, Ellen DeGeneres Show on KPNX's 0.6, and so many other shows such as Gunsmoke on TV Land's 0.2 in Phoenix.
Emergency! aired originally from 1972-79 and was produced by Universal. The series followed the early years of the Paramedic program in the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) with the focus on the personnel of Fire Station 51, in particular Firefighter/Paramedics. Robert Fuller stars.
View more on Retro Television on their official website.

WGN America January 2009 Changes, Includes Star Trek: TNG; Wipeout Encores To Air Weekend Afternoons on ABC In January

Effective Monday, January 19, 2009, WGN America will have many new changes to its line-up! But before that, a minor temporary change will happen. For the weeks of January 5 and January 12, weeknights at 4:00am ET will be another airing of Canadian comedy Corner Gas, replacing the 4am half-hour of Sister, Sister. Sister, Sister will remain at 4:30am ET these two weeks, while Corner Gas will also remain at 1:30am ET these two weeks.
Then the new winter schedule starts on Monday, January 19! Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie have been airing on weekdays in the 9am ET hour, with single episodes a day. Now they are on the move to afternoons and double airings! Bewitched will air weekdays at 2:00pm & 2:30pm ET, and I Dream of Jeannie will follow at 3:00pm & 3:30pm ET! The shows will still air on Sunday nights, too! On weekdays, the shows are replacing Homicide: Life on the Street at 2pm ET and two Cosby Show episodes in the 3:00pm hour. The Cosby Show will move into the 4:00pm hour as a result, followed by an hour of Scrubs at 5pm ET and Becker at 6pm ET, giving the network their strong sitcoms from 2pm-7pm ET. So, the entire daytime lineup has been altered. 7th Heaven moves from 6pm and 7pm ET to weekday mornings at 9am ET. Looks like it hasn't performed as well as they would have liked after returning this past fall. Airing at 7pm ET will now be America's Funniest Home Videos weeknights, except Tuesdays.
On Tuesdays, WGN America will add the '80s hit Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 7pm ET hour and also in primetime at 8 and 9pm ET for a nice three-hour block! The primetime block replaces a block of Nash Bridges, which will still remain weekdays at 12pm ET. Primetime will also change on Wednesday nights as now we get back-to-back episodes of sitcoms Coach at 8pm ET and Becker at 9pm ET replacing AFV and Legend of the Seeker encores. Coach will leave the Sunday night block, though, replaced by Cosby Show Sundays at 5pm et. Mondays in primetime will remain two AFV episodes and Thursdays & Fridays we have movies still.
In late night, after The Bob & Tom Show at midnight ET, we now have a rotating wheel in the 1am ET hour instead of a strip of Reno 911/Corner Gas. Mondays in the 1am ET hour will be another America's Funniest Home Videos, while on Tuesdays we get another helping of Star Trek: The Next Generation...makes sense as both air in primetime on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays it is a different story though! We get another hour of '80s sitcom ALF! ALF will still remain Sundays in the 6pm ET hour as well! Thursdays and Fridays in the 1am hour will be back-to-back episodes of Reno 911. The show has to air 5 times a week, so four episodes will air there. The fifth episode will air late night on Sundays at 5am, so technically Monday mornings. Reno 911 on Sunday nights will follow Homicide: Life on the Street at 3am and 4am ET, as Homicide is now relegated to just two airings a week and only on Sunday nights.
Back to weeknight late nights, Steve Wilkos Show still remains in the 2am ET hour (Chappelle's Show on Friday nights) and Paid Programming is in the 3am ET hour still. But then...4am-5:30am ET will now be a rotating block instead of just Corner Gas, Sister Sister and Moesha from 4am-5:30am ET. On Monday nights (Tuesday mornings), we get three episodes of Corner Gas, its only airings now on the line-up. WGN America says it has a loyal audience but unfortunately it's too small and they couldn't get the numbers they needed to sustain it...but at least it is still on, even though it will be just three airings a week. Tuesday nights (Wednesday mornings) will be three episodes of Moesha, while on on Wednesday nights (Thursday mornings) will be three episodes of Sister, Sister. We get more Moesha on Thursday nights (Friday mornings) from 4am-5:30am ET and finally on Friday nights (Saturday mornings) we get three episodes of Funniest Pets & People, which is off the weekday afternoon line-up now.
Finally, the only other changes we have not mentioned are on Saturdays. Saturdays at 12 noon ET will be another Star Trek: The Next Generation airing, replacing one of the two Bob & Tom Show encores, Bob & Tom will remain at 1pm ET. And finally, Becker primetime has been moved to Wednesdays 9pm ET, so replacing Becker on Saturdays at 6pm ET will be another AFV leading into Boston Legal.
All in all, not bad changes, unless you loved Corner Gas, 7th Heaven, Funniest Pets & People, Sister Sister and Homicide: Life on the Street...they were lessened, but not removed at least. In fact, they didn't remove anything totally! Good programming!
View the full WGN America January 2009 line-up, in case you missed anything.

Before "Wipeout Superball Sunday" airs on Sunday, February 1, 2009 on ABC during the same time as the 10-15 minute Super Bowl halftime show and following the game from approx. 10-11pm, ABC Sports will schedule repeats of Wipeout in select weekend afternoon sports slots in January on ABC and on Super Bowl Sunday leading up to the "Superball" event on ABC.

The scheduled repeats of Wipeout will air on the following dates during ABC Sports:
Saturday, January 10: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
Sunday, January 11: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
Sunday, January 18: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
Sunday, February 1: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
NOTE: Wipeout will be preempted on Sunday, Jan. 25 due to the launch of NBA on ABC Sunday telecasts--Dallas @ Boston 1:00 pm ET and San Antonio @ L.A. Lakers 3:30 pm ET. On Super Bowl Sunday, the NBA match-up between Cleveland @ Detroit at 2:30 pm ET will lead into Wipeout at 5:00 pm ET.
Don't forget, "Wipeout Superball Sunday" kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 1 at approx. 8pm ET (5pm PT) during the 10-15 min. halftime show followed by two one-hour repeats and a new one-hour episode at approx. 10pm ET (7pm pt).
Wipeout had a solid run this summer on ABC, proving to be a ratings winner with men, and it is important for ABC to keep this key hilarious show in the minds of viewers before it launches its second season this summer! Tune in for this hilarious show both for the repeats and the new specials on Super Bowl Sunday. This series is actually funnier than some of the sitcoms today! Goodnight and big balls!

Nick at Nite September 2008; WGN Changes; Tulsa Gets RTN This Fall; Calling Bob Newhart Fans!

We finally can release the Nick at Nite September 2008 highlights! We knew the details more than two weeks ago, but finally some of the details finally got confirmed. There will be changes to the regular schedule once again...but there are plenty of highlights, including "plenty" of Benny! Grandparent's Day may be less than a week away, but that doesn't mean you can't spend this Labor Day with the mother of all annoying grandmothers. Join Nick at Nite for a full night of George Lopez episodes featuring your favorite Benny episodes...it will be plenty of Benny indeed! The Plenty of Benny marathon airs from 9pm-4am on Labor Day (September 1).
Then it's time to go back to the gym and get ready for the original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie, but first spend an hour of physical activity with your favorite Nick at Nite sitcoms leading up to the movie ... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement! Let's Get Physical Week airs Sunday, Sept. 7 through Thursday, Sept. 11 from 9-10pm each night.
After that week-long stunt, Nick at Nite and Nickelodeon invite you for the world premiere of original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie on Friday, September 12 at 8pm. The movie stars Nathan Kress (Nick's iCarly), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), and Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy). Dave Stewie was America's hope for the Gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics until he ran face first into the vault. His failure made him a national joke, and he quickly faded into obscurity. Stewie rebuilt his life from the ashes of humiliation to become a gym teacher, but his Olympic competitiveness never left him. Let’s just say that NASA scientists take their job less seriously than Dave takes his job of molding the physical fitness of young people. So when the President announces a national gym class fitness competition, Dave knows that this is his opportunity to redeem himself by leading his class of athletes to triumph.
Launching September 15 on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite is My Family's Got GUTS. They will air two 10-episode tournaments. My Family's Got GUTS is an extreme sports competition series that brings families together where every member of the team -- from the smallest to the strongest -- plays a vital role and works together to complete each challenge. Each episode will feature a host (Ben Lyons), and three teams of four players (two adults and two kids) who gather in the Extreme Arena to compete against each other in four rounds of events inspired by today's extreme sports.
Coming Sunday, October 5 on Nick at Nite it is the The Worldwide Fido Awards. More on that soon.
View the full Nick at Nite September 2008 highlights.

Well we gave you all not one but two updates on WGN America's fall schedule already...and now here comes update three. Just a few edits, but they are good ones. Starting September 8, weekdays at 4pm ET will now be Becker instead of a full-hour of Funniest Pets & People. Funniest Pets & People will still air at 4:30pm ET, though. Then on Sundays starting Sept. 14 from 5-6pm ET will now be Coach instead of the previously scheduled Funniest Pets & People. Coach will sitll air Saturdays 7-8pm ET later in the fall starting October 4...so good news for Coach fans. Don't forget the Coach marathon tonight and tomorrow! The other changes are minor and involves a few weekend shifting of Scrubs, Reno 911! and Corner Gas, not big deals.
I really advise you all to see the full updated WGN America Fall 2008 line-up.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that Allbritton Communications will add a fourth RTN affiliate, now in Tulsa, OK. The new affiliate will launch this fall on a digital stream of KTUL-TV, the local ABC affiliate. I told you the new affiliate announcements will start to get rolling now!

Calling all Bob Newhart fans! You can find a "Behind the Scenes" of Bob's new show called The Challenge starring Bob Newhart now online at Vimeo! Also, check out Lloyd Garver's blog entry at Strike.TV. The Challenge will be featured when their first slate is released on September 8. So, sign up at Strike.TV to be kept in the loop!

WGN America Fall 2008 Schedule Sees Lots of New Shows; TV Land Changes for August

Today we will reveal WGN America's Fall 2008 schedule! They will be adding a lot of new and returning series, but there will be a few series expiring/leaving as well. The other day we mentioned Coach marathons on August 29 and August 30, and we hinted the series would also join the line-up this fall. We will get to Coach's slots in a bit, but first we want to tell you all the new or returning series! You'll see Moesha, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, In The Heat of The Night, 7th Heaven, Jury Duty, NewsRadio, Coach, The Bob and Tom Show, and the new syndicated weekend series Legend of the Seeker! Of course, since new stuff is coming or returning, there will be shows leaving and expiring as well. Those departing are Happy Days, Even Stevens, Lizzie McGuire, 24, American Idol Rewind, Soul Train, and DaVinci's InQuest.
Now let's get to the schedule. The new weekday line-up primarily will start Monday, September 8. The first change will occur September 1 though, with Happy Days' contract expiring, so its slot of 4:30am and 5am ET will be replaced by Sister, Sister and Moesha, which returns after a year off on hiatus. Then starting Sept. 8, the bulk of the changes are happening on weekdays, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie join the WGN America line-up airing weekdays at 9 and 9:30am ET, as Matlock will slide to 10am ET. The 11am ET slot will be Nash Bridges, but it will change a week later on Sept. 15, as WGN America brings back In The Heat of the Night after a three year absence, as the show is reacquired. Nash Bridges will air at 12 noon starting Sept. 8, followed by the WGN News at Noon at 1pm ET. Homicide: Life on the Street will slide to 2pm ET starting Sept. 8, followed by back-to-back The Cosby Show episodes at 3pm and Funniest Pets & People from 4-5pm. America's Funniest Home Videos will move to 5pm ET replacing Sister, Sister which will now be airing in the overnight from 4-5am ET, as we mentioned (more on this a bit later). At 6pm and 7pm, WGN America brings back family drama 7th Heaven for two back-to-back hours a night as WGN America welcomes back the Camdens! Primetime will remain the same as it is now until later in the month when Tuesdays from 8-10pm will be Nash Bridges starting Sept. 30 instead of a block of Funniest Pets & People. In the late nights, we mentioned already the Sister, Sister and Moesha slots starting Sept. 1, but Even Stevens/Lizzie McGuire was sharing the 4am slot, and now it will be another Sister, Sister starting Sept. 15, as those series are expiring.
Weekends will not see any real changes until after baseball season is over. So, starting Saturday, October 4, weekends will get a major overhaul--for the good, too! Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie will also air on weekends now. Bewitched will air Saturdays 12-1pm and Sundays 11am-12pm, while I Dream of Jeannie will air from 1-2pm on Saturdays and 12-1pm on Sundays. Great to see classic TV! After two movies on Saturdays, we head to the new 6-8pm Saturday block, where you'll see two new sitcoms! Back-to-back episodes of NewsRadio from 6-7pm on Saturdays followed by the aforementioned Coach from 7-8pm on Saturdays, starting Oct. 4. The rest of Saturday is basically intact, but 24 will be leaving and will be replaced by a movie and Matlock will be added to late night. On Sundays after Bewitched and Jeannie, there aren't many changes. The Outta Sight Retro Night featuring WKRP, Newhart and The Honeymooners will remain intact from 7-10pm ET. In the late nights, some shows are expiring like American Idol Rewind and DaVinci's Inquest, so two Matlock episodes will replace them at 3am and 4am.
Then the week of October 6, WGN America will change their weeknight late night line-up a bit. Corner Gas and Becker will slide to 1-2am ET on Sun-Thurs starting Oct. 6. The Friday late night line-up will be back-to-back Reno 911 at 1am ET and back-to-back Chappelle's Show at 2am ET. Reno 911 will also air Saturdays from 11pm-12:30am ET.
Finally, the last change for the fall is the first-run new syndicated series from Disney/ABC Television Group called Legend of the Seeker. WGN America will air it Saturdays at 4 and 5pm starting November 1 and also Wednesdays at 9pm ET starting Nov. 5, replacing Corner Gas/Becker.
Wow, that is A LOT of changes! I think many will be happier than before with these changes. I advise you to see the full WGN America Fall 2008 line-up on our message boards, where you can also discuss the line-up. Remember this is the national WGN schedule, and not the Chicago local line-up.
Future Outlook: You can expect Classic TV marathons on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve/Day, and New Year's Eve/Day. We will tell you more about that in the coming months, as it is way too early to talk about that. It is not even August yet!

TV Land has made some last minute changes for August starting Monday, August 4. First off, the primetime marathons will now be 9-11pm rather than 9pm-12am. The Tuesday marathon of The Beverly Hillbillies will now be The Jeffersons from 9-11pm, leading into two encores of Family Foreman at midnight. And as we told you yesterday about The Cosby Show being used to be wrapped around Family Foreman, now TV Land has confirmed it will air The Cosby Show every Wednesday from 8-10pm and 11pm-1am ET/PT leading in and leading out of Family Formeman. Because the primetime marathons are now 9-11pm, M*A*S*H moves from 12-2am to 11pm-1am weeknights (well except Wednesdays and Fridays). TV Land has removed the 2-5am marathons, thus we get more variety in the late nights. From Sun-Fri, TV Land will now air back-to-back episodes of Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons and The Beverly Hillbillies from 1-4am, and at 4am Three's Company returns followed by another returnee in The Brady Bunch at 4:30am! So nice to see those two return!
Check out our TV Land August 2008 thread for updates and to discuss this.

Wings Joins USA Network Again; Celebrity Family Feud Debuts July 1 on NBC

Wings is flying back to USA Network this June! The sitcom aired on USA Network from about 1995 to 2002, if I'm not mistaken. Then it moved to Nick at Nite in March 2003 and didn't do too well in primetime...then it eventually moved to sister station TV Land, which is where it is airing right now weekdays at 7:30am ET until the end of May. The other day we gave you TV Land's June schedule and Wings was not a part of it, because it will be moving to USA Network. So, starting June 2, Wings returns to USA Network! It will be paired with Becker in the 6am hour, with Becker remaining at 6am and Wings airing at 6:30am. That may not sound much but it is better than nothing since TV Land is losing the show at this end of this month. So get ready to watch it an hour earlier on another channel! Maybe Wings will fly to a better timeslot soon after, as the show did pretty well for them in the late 90s.

One hundred people surveyed, top ten answers on the board and celebrity 'families' behind the buzzers. Al Roker will host all the action when Celebrity Family Feud joins NBC's summer primetime line-up premiering Tuesday, July 1 from 8-9 p.m. ET/PT. It will be a star-studded version of the beloved and enduring game show, featuring four celebrity families matching wits each week to raise money for their respective charities. In some cases, competing families will each consist of one celebrity and their real-life relatives, while other episodes will feature nostalgic or current television clans. All celebrities will be announced at a later date...and when it is announced we shall let you know!

Day 23: WGA's Strike; USA Network Acquires Becker, Drops Coach; More on ION's Drew Carey Show Deal

It is now day 23 of the strike and still no announcements on whether the strike is over or not. Hopefully soon. But we have some network news. NBC has picked up the freshman dramas Chuck (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET) and Life (Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) for nine more episodes -- for a full 22 episode season, of course all depending on the strike. NBC will most likely cancel dramas Journeyman and Bionic Woman, so whatever has been shot, looks to be it so far.
In order to boost Fridays a bit, Fox will switch timeslots for reality shows The Next Great American Band and Don't Forget the Lyrics! starting December 7. Band has done terrible at 8pm and Lyrics! has done much better, so let's see if this will benedit both shows.

USA Network has acquired the Ted Danson sitcom Becker for morning play starting in January. To introduce the show to the USA Network line-up, Becker will have two mini morning marathons on Wednesday, January 2 from 6am-12pm and Thursday, January 3 from 6am-12pm. The show will be airing Monday-Friday at 8am and 8:30am thereafter starting January 7, so JAG will move from 7-9am to 6-8am. '90s sitcom Coach will be off the line-up as a result. The show could be back soon, but they haven't lost the rights it seems. As for Becker, it looks like Superstation WGN will also continue to run it late nights. Becker will also air as late night fillers or general fillers like Coach does.

ION Television formally announced today that it has obtained from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution the rights to air the beloved, long-running sitcom, The Drew Carey Show. ION Television will launch the Emmy-nominated series with a New Year's Eve marathon from 7:00-11:00 pm (ET), and then add it to the network's weeknight primetime lineup New Year's Day with airings Mondays through Thursdays at 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm (ET). That will mean Who's the Boss?, the current time slot holder at 9:00 and 9:30 will either be moved or off the line-up. We will know when the January schedule is released and will let you know. We still haven't forgotten our promise to deliver the ION December holiday highlights. We are just waiting word on a few days, but it doesn't look to be a big deal like last year when we got shows like holiday episodes of McHale's Navy, Kate & Allie, and others. Stay tuned for that and more on Drew!