Martha Stewart Programming Takes Over Hallmark on March 29; Betty White Now a Regular on Hot in Cleveland

A few months back we mentioned that Martha Stewart programming would be coming to the Hallmark Channel, but it is now coming earlier than thought! The Martha Stewart Show will still be moving from first-run syndication to The Hallmark Channel in September on weekdays at 10am, but the other programming from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. will join the Hallmark Channel lineup on Monday, March 29, 2010!
Airing from 11am-12:30pm on weekdays will be three episodes of From Martha's Kitchen. From 12:30pm-1:3om will be back-to-back From Martha's Garden. Then finally we have two episodes of From Martha's Home from 1:30pm-2:30pm. Then all of this will encore again from 2:30pm-6pm, so Martha Stewart programming will air from 11am-6pm on weekdays.
So, this means The Golden Girls weekday mornings is now 9am-11am instead of 9am-12pm, while 7th Heaven and Little House on the Prairie are replaced in the afternoons from 12pm-6pm. 7th Heaven will remain airing from 6-9pm. Everything else on weekdays is the same with a movie at 9pm, The Golden Girls from 11pm-1am, and Cheers from 1am-4am. This means Little House is totally off the line-up and Touched by an Angel is still not back yet.
And wait, we still have more Martha Stewart programming! On Saturday and Sunday mornings from 6am-9am, Little House and Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures will be replaced by encores of Martha Stewart programming. An hour of each of Martha's Kitchen, Garden, and Home will air from 6am-9am on weekend mornings. The rest of the day on weekends is the same with movies all day and Cheers in the 3am hour. Jack Hanna is now gone totally, too.
Wow, what a big makeover to weekdays and this was NOT originally on the April schedule, so it was a last minute decision. Get ready for even more Martha Stewart on Hallmark in the fall when The Martha Stewart Show joins weekdays at 10am in September. Stay with us for updates.
Read the full press release.

Betty White is now a regular on TV Land's upcoming original sitcom Hot in Cleveland. Previously Betty was just slated to be recurring and she was only signed on for the pilot. But not anymore! Betty power has struck again and she will be on as a regular! Betty plays Elka Ostrovsky, the snarky but spy caretaker of the Cleveland home shared by three former L.A. residents played by Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick. The series launches this June on TV Land and has a ten-episode order. So at least ten more episodes in the belt for the legendary Betty White!
The 88-year-old will be seen before June, too, of course. As mentioned, she will co-host Saturday Night Live on May 8. And she will also guest star on the season finale of ABC's The Middle in May, which airs Wednesdays at 8:30pm. On that show, Betty will play a school librarian who confronts Brick (Atticus Shaffer) over his failure to return numerous overdue books. The Middle stars Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn.
Become a fan of TV Land's Hot in Cleveland on Facebook. And read the full press release on this news!

TV Land Changes April 2010 A Bit, Improvement, Legal Moved; Betty White to Co-Host SNL on May 8!

TV Land has made some changes for the rest of this month and then more in April. First, in March, First Love, Second Chance encores will now be airing at 11pm Mon-Thurs starting Monday, March 22 for the rest of the month. So this means Boston Legal will take a few weeks off. Its last airing in March is Tuesday, March 16 at 11pm. But will it return in April? Yes, but not at 11pm.
There will be a few other changes as well, so this is an update to our earlier story on TV Land April 2010. Effective Friday, April 2, the 9am hour will now be Gunsmoke on Friday mornings instead of Leave it to Beaver, but not to worry The Beav and family will still be on Mondays from 9am-1pm. Bewitched will officially replace Boston Legal on Sunday afternoons from 12pm-4pm. Bonanza was airing in that block as a last minute replacement since a few weeks ago as Legal hasn't performed in the ratings.
Then the major changes will happen on Monday, April 5, and they will all be in primetime and late night on weeknights. The 8pm hour (Mon, Tues, and Thurs) will now be The Cosby Show, replacing Home Improvement (Raymond will remain in the hour on Wed/Fri). Not good news for Tim Allen and the gang, as Improvement will be moving to the Mon-Thurs 1am hour, replacing an hour of Roseanne, but Roseanne will gain the 11pm hour, so its two-hour block will remain (but just an hour earlier from 11pm-1am instead of 12-2am). This means Boston Legal will not return to the 11pm hour, in fact Denny Crane and company will be moving to weekday mornings at 5am, ouch. Due to that change, Cosby Show, Three's Company, and M*A*S*H during the late nights will be reduced (and moved) a bit and air from 2am-5am instead of 2-6am (and Cosby Show/Three's Company won't get 3 episodes now).
View the UPDATED TV Land April 2010 schedule, and I urge you to view the full schedule and also the one-time-only adjustments so you're not confused...because it gets confusing with TV Land.

It looks like the campaign worked, because SNL has announced that Betty White will indeed co-host the SNL episode airing Saturday, May 8, 2010 on NBC late night. USA Today reports that the 88-year-old actress, beloved by generations of TV fans, will host the Mother's Day episode that also will feature a reunion of six former female cast members, most of them moms: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch. SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels says he has "always wanted" White to host. "Years ago, I turned it down three times," White says. "It's so New York, and I'm not New York at all. "But my agent said he'd divorce me if I didn't do it, and I love my agent."
So why are fans campaigning now for her to host SNL though? It's not because of her legendary sitcoms Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls, her memorable game show appearances, or the recent movie The Proposal, it's because of a Super Bowl commercial! It was her appearance in a Super Bowl Snickers commercial in which she's tackled in the mud by a football player (Abe Vigoda also appears). The commercial topped USA Today's Ad Meter poll and lit a fuse on a Facebook campaign, where a "Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!" group -- started in late December -- has attracted nearly half a million members (and still growing!).
Betty will be the oldest host ever on the show. She's flattered and flabbergasted by the attention: "It's lovely, and at my age it's certainly unexpected." And she's not worried about the workload: "I've got so much energy, it's ridiculous. I love working. My schedule is a feverish one, and I'm used to that."
White has no children of her own, though she counts her golden retriever, Pontiac, as one. But, Michaels says, "she's the mother of us all in comedy, so it will be a celebration of Betty White."

'Fresh Prince' Comes to TBS in May, 'Sister, Sister' to WGN in the Fall; TV Land Awards Preview, Includes Spoof 'Ugly Betty...White'

If you think airing on Viacom stations Nick at Nite and The N were not enough, now starting May 1 you can catch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on TBS in the daytime. TBS will bring back the show and share the show with Nick at Nite/The N. TBS will air it weekdays at 2 & 2:30 p.m. ET starting May 1.
This means nearly all of Nick at Nite's shows are shared with other cable networks (Full House - ABC Family, Cosby Show - TBS/WGN, Roseanne - Oxygen). Even the shows that are not airing much like A Different World and Mad About You are shared (both with Oxygen). Murphy Brown and Designing Women are the only Nick at Nite shows that are not shared with another cable network (well, Growing Pains was on ION, but ION is really a broadcast channel, so it technically isn't shared).

Beginning this fall, Sister, Sister will join Superstation WGN. All six seasons of the half-hour comedy have been acquired for a three-year run.
It will air back-to-back episodes this fall on weekdays beginning at 5pm ET. Sister, Sister will be paired with The Cosby Show, leading into a comedy block of Funniest Pets & People, and America's Funniest Videos. No word yet on what will become of Moesha, but it will most likely air before Cosby Show.
Additionally, an episode of Sister, Sister is scheduled to air on Saturdays along with Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire, which also appeal to young viewers.

The 5th TV Land Awards will premiere on April 22, but the awards show taped this past Saturday. It looks like it will be a fun-fest. Kelly Ripa was the host and I hear she did great. She might be the best host since the first awards host, which was the late John Ritter. It was an unforgettable evening as celebrities from television, music and film bestowed special tribute awards tonight to some of television's most iconic series and stars at the fifth annual TV Land Awards. The honorees included Lucille Ball (Legacy of Laughter Award), The Brady Bunch (Pop Culture Award), Roots (Anniversary Award), Hee Haw (Entertainer Award), Taxi (Medallion Award) and Heroes (Future Classic Award).
Some highlights:
Legendary actress and comedienne Carol Burnett and Emmy Award-winning actress Kirstie Alley presented Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. with the Legacy of Laughter Award in honor of their mother, Lucille Ball. Actresses Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips of One Day at a Time presented the cast of The Brady Bunch with the Pop Culture Award. Grammy Award-winning country superstar Willie Nelson performed hits "On The Road Again" and "City of New Orleans" in a tribute to Hee Haw. Academy Award-winning actors Forest Whitaker and Morgan Freeman presented the cast of Roots with the Anniversary Award celebrating the epic 30th Anniversary. The cast of Taxi -- Danny DeVito, Jeff Conaway, Tony Danza, Judd Hirsch, Carol Kane, Randall Carver and creator James L. Brooks -- were presented with The Medallion Award by actress Sharon Stone. Actor Luke Wilson presented Heroes creator and executive producer Tim Kring with this year's Future Classic Award along with executive producers Dennis Hammer and Allan Arkush and cast members Masi Oka, Leonard Roberts, Noah Gray-Cabey, Zachary Quinto, Santiago Cabrera and Jack Coleman.
Other memorable moments included:
A hilarious videotaped intro where host Kelly Ripa reenacted the show opens to several memorable sitcoms including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, That Girl, and Laverne & Shirley. The package ended with Kelly flying above the live audience and making her entrance as "Sister Bertrille" from The Flying Nun.
TV's most beloved TV stars spoofed one of television's most popular shows, Ugly Betty, in a parody entitled Ugly Betty - White. The parody starred Betty White with cameos by Erik Estrada, Joan Collins, George Hamilton, Charo and Peter Scolari.
And a performance at the end of the show by The Brady Bunch's "The Silver Platters," as Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams were joined by host Kelly Ripa -- singing the unforgettable songs "Keep On" and "It's A Sunshine Day."
For more highlights, click HERE. And don't forget to watch the awards on TV Land on Sunday, April 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT