MTV Acquires Grounded for Life; CW Vampire Week, CBS Sunday Timeslot Changes

MTV has quietly acquired the sitcom Grounded for Life. The sitcom started on the cable network yesterday (Nov. 16) and they are airing it weeknights at 7:00pm & 7:30pm and also next day encores in the mornings at 9:00am & 9:30am. The sitcom is about a thirty-something Irish Catholic couple (Sean and Claudia) that deal with their three children as well as Sean's judgmental father and his carefree brother. Donal Logue and Megyn Price star in this 2001-2005 sitcom that aired on Fox and later The WB. On cable, ABC Family has been airing the series on and off since fall 2005, and they will continue to air it weekdays at 4:00pm & 4:30pm even with MTV acquiring the series.
Grounded for Life joins repeats of South Park (from sister network Comedy Central), which recently started airing on MTV at 8:00pm & 8:30pm. MTV also airs TeenNick's Degrassi: The Next Generation weekdays at 10:00am & 10:30am. It seems MTV is going with more scripted stuff rather than music now? Grounded for Life is the first sitcom airing on MTV that is not borrowed from another Viacom-owned network. Scrubs aired this past summer, but that was borrowed from Comedy Central/TV Land. They have been airing movies, too, such as Addams Family, Not Another Teen Movie, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Halloween: Resurrection, Scream 3, Phone Booth, and airing soon will be movies such as Bad Santa, Addams Family Values, Men in Black II & Dawn of the Dead.
Another scripted series is coming soon to MTV and we will let you know very soon! Hint: It is a classic '90s teen drama. And it is not on other Viacom-owned networks. Stay with us for more news!

The CW Network has announced plans for a special Vampire Diaries Marathon starting on Monday, December 14. This week-long event offers fans the opportunity to relive The Vampire Diaries saga from the very beginning and allows the uninitiated the chance to get into one of TV's breakout hits.
Airing two episodes each night from Monday, Dec. 14 through Friday, Dec. 18 (8:00-10:00p.m. ET/PT) beginning with the season premiere episode, The CW will rebroadcast every episode to date of its smash hit The Vampire Diaries in consecutive order across its entire primetime schedule that week. After just 10 episodes, The Vampire Diaries has become The CW's most-watched and highest-rated series among adults 18-34 this season.
And finally, CBS has swapped the timeslots for Sunday dramas Three Rivers and Cold Case. Three Rivers moves from 9pm to 10pm, while Cold Case goes from 10pm to 9pm. Both will be moved to their new timeslots for this coming Sunday (Nov. 22). As of now, it is only for one week, but the following week (Nov. 29), CBS has a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie airing. If the timeslots improve, I'm sure CBS will keep these new timeslots for both series. Both series have had sluggish ratings this season, especially first year drama Three Rivers.

ABC Family Schedule Changes Has 8 Simple Rules, Return of Bynes Comedy, Less 'Fresh'; 36th Annual People's Choice Awards Nominees

ABC Family Channel is making some schedule changes effective next week. Starting Monday, Nov. 16, weekdays at 12 noon will now be back-to-back episodes of the Amanda Bynes sitcom What I Like About You, which returns back to the schedule, replacing Full House. Full House will still remain airing in its 3 & 3:30pm slots. Then starting next Wednesday (Nov. 18), 8 Simple Rules returns to weeknights airing weeknights at 6:00pm & 6:30pm replacing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Fresh Prince will still air weekends (usually Saturday nights after midnight) in the late night on most weekends and it will also remain on sister network Disney XD. As for 8 Simple Rules, it came back to the schedule last month on weekends but due to holiday movies it will not be airing on weekends in November and December...but who cares now since it will air weeknights again in its old 6:00pm & 6:3pm slot! Excellent news for the John Ritter, Katey Sagal, and David Spade-led sitcom.
Last month Grounded for Life returned to weekdays (4pm hour)...now more shows return. All in all a good chedule change as nothing is totally leaving the line-up, while two shows return to weekdays.

The nominees were for The 36th Annual People's Choice Awards are now in. We will only mention the TV categories. Winners will be revealed during the live broadcast of The 36th Annual People's Choice Awards which will be hosted by Queen Latifah from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2009 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) on CBS. The first awards show of 2010, The 36th Annual People's Choice Awards honors fan favorites in television, movies and music.
Voting begins today at http://www.peopleschoice.com/ and www.myspace.com/peopleschoiceawards for all 35 categories and will end on December 8, 2009, except for "Favorite New TV Drama" and "Favorite New TV Comedy," which will remain open for voting until night of show. The TV nominees are:

FAVORITE TV DRAMA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)
LOST (ABC)
NCIS (CBS)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
The Office (NBC)

FAVORITE TV DRAMA ACTOR
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
Kiefer Sutherland (24, Fox)
Mark Harmon (NCIS, CBS)
Matthew Fox (LOST, ABC)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY ACTOR
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, CBS)
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, CBS)
Steve Carell (The Office, NBC)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)

FAVORITE TV DRAMA ACTRESS
Anna Paquin (True Blood, HBO)
Blake Lively (Gossip Girl, The CW)
Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer, CBS)
Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY ACTRESS
Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother, CBS)
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, ABC)
Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation, NBC)
Eva Longoria Parker (Desperate Housewives, ABC)
Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)

FAVORITE TV OBSESSIONDexter
Gossip Girl, The CW
The Hills, MTV
The Secret Life of the American Teenager, ABC Family
True Blood, HBO

FAVORITE COMPETITION
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
Survivor: Samoa (CBS)

FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY SHOW (Mobile Voting Category)
Heroes (NBC)
LOST (ABC)
Supernatural (The CW)
Vampire Diaries (The CW)
True Blood (HBO)

FAVORITE TALK SHOW (Mobile Voting Category)
Chelsea Lately (E!)
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)
The Oprah Winfrey Show (Syndicated, CBS Television Distribution)
Live with Regis & Kelly (Syndicated, ABC Studios)

FAVORITE ANIMAL SHOW
Animal Cops
Dog Town
Dog Whisperer
It's Me or the Dog
Rescue Ink Unleashed

FAVORITE NEW TV DRAMA
Eastwick, ABC
FLASHFORWARD, ABC
Melrose Place, The CW
Mercy, NBC
the forgotten, ABC
The Good Wife, CBS
The Vampire Diaries, The CW
Three Rivers, CBS
NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS
V, ABC

FAVORITE NEW TV COMEDY
Accidentally on Purpose, CBS
Brothers, Fox
Community, NBC
Cougar Town, ABC
Glee, Fox
Hank, ABC
The Cleveland Show, Fox
The Middle, ABC
Modern Family, ABC

View the full press release.

TV One December 2009 Highlights; Accidentally on Purpose Gets More Episodes

This December on TV One, they have holiday stunts, special marathons, and more! We'll only cover the sitcom/TV series events, like usual. First up, on Saturday, December 12 beginning at 12 Noon through 8pm, TV One keeps with the Holiday Season Spirit as they air a Holiday Sitcom Marathon consisting of Christmas-themed episodes of favorite TV One comedies Good Times, The Jeffersons, The Hughleys, Amen, and Sanford & Son.
Beginning on Monday, December 14, TV One presents a Lincoln Heights - "Best Of Season 2" week-long event. The series is an original ABC Family series, but TV One is once again airing some repeats. The Sutton family is back for another stunt week on TV One...which starts out with a race riot at the high school that spills out into streets where violence catches up to Eddie, who shoots a boy who he thought shot at him. Join the Sutton Family as they must deal with life on the hard edge confronting such issues as racial violence, gangs, family issues, and an unexpected tragic event. Episodes in this special stunt week air Monday-Friday the week of Dec. 13 only at 9pm and 10pm with encore airings at 1am & 2am.
On Saturday, December 19 beginning at 2pm through 12am (encores until 6am), TV One keeps with the Holiday Season Spirit as they air another Holiday Sitcom Marathon consisting of Christmas-themed episodes of favorite TV One comedies Martin, All of Us, Eve, The PJs, For Your Love, Where I Live, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Half & Half, and Living Single.
Then beginning on Monday, December 21 and continuing through Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24), TV One presents a Christmas Comedy Countdown from 7pm to 11pm each night showcasing Yuletide episodes of your favorite TV One sitcoms leading up to Christmas. The Holiday countdown begins each night with Christmas episodes of Martin at 7pm followed by Good Times at 7:30pm. The 8pm to 11pm Christmas Comedies are in blocks. On Monday we get Martin & Living Single, on Tuesday we get Good Times & Amen, on Wednesday it is The Jeffersons & Cedric The Entertainer Presents and on Thursday we get All of Us & Eve on Christmas Eve.
And finally on Friday, January 1 (New Years Day) beginning at 9am through 8pm (encores until 6am), ring in your New Year in 2010 with Martin Payne as TV One presents the "Martin: It's All Love - New Years Day Marathon." Join Martin along with Gina, Tommy, Pam, and Cole as love is the theme of the day with the thin line between love and hate growing ever so closer in the world of Martin.

CBS has ordered an additional five episodes of its freshman comedy Accidentally on Purpose, bringing its season order to 18. Accidentally on Purpose is averaging 8.04 million viewers, 3.1/7 rating/share in adults 18-49 and 3.7/8 rating/share in adults 25-54 in its Monday (8:30PM) time period, according to Nielsen most current ratings (not counting the repeat on Oct. 26).
This Monday's episode did a decent 8.09 million, 3.1/8 rating/share in adults 18-49, and a 3.7/8 rating/share in adults 25-54, right on par with its season average. However, it was slightly off from its previous all-new episode on Oct. 19 of 8.26 million, 3.3/8 rating/share in adults 18-49, and a 3.7/9 rating/share in adults 25-54.

WGN America Long Term Pick-Ups, Munsters/Addams Family Halloween Marathon; CBS Orders Full Seasons of NCIS LA, Good Wife

We previously announced that 30 Rock and Entourage were coming to WGN America in Fall 2011 and Fall 2010 respectively, now they have announced other deals officially. They have announced that they have also acquired How I Met Your Mother, Old Christine and Curb Your Enthusiasm for Fall 2010. How I Met Your Mother and Old Christine will be shared with Lifetime, while 30 Rock will be shared with Comedy Central. Spike TV and Comedy Central will also air Entourage. All of these are first time in syndication and they have spent a lot of money for these off-network deals, but they will be shared with other networks so the price tag is down for both parties and that the other networks don't see WGN America as a strong competitor in the general entertainment realm. WGN America is focusing on contemporary sitcom fare with a little more edge.
But they still will have classic TV! In fact this Halloween, WGN America will have marathons of The Munsters and Addams Family! The Munsters marathon will air on Friday, October 30 from 4pm-12am ET (1pm-9pm PT). That's 16 classic episodes! And on Halloween itself (Saturday, October 31) spends the day with The Addams Family with a marathon from 3pm-12am ET (12pm-9pm PT). That's an hour more than The Munsters as we get 18 classic episodes!
View the episode info for each marathon.

CBS has given full season orders to NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife, the top two new series of the 2009-2010 season thus far in total viewers. NCIS: Los Angeles the number one new program of the season in total viewers and ranked second among all primetime programs, is averaging 17.47 million viewers, 4.1/11 in adults 18-49 and 5.6/13 in adults 25-54 over its three broadcasts so far. NCIS: Los Angeles has won its Tuesday (9:00-10:00 PM) time period in viewers and adults 25-54 every week this season and placed first in adults 18-49 twice.
The Good Wife, the number two new series of the season in total viewers, is averaging 13.70 million viewers, 3.0/8 in adults 18-49 and 4.2/11 in adults 25-54, winning its Tuesday (10:00-11:00 PM) time period in all key measures each telecast thus far.

CBS Fall Pilot Review - Accidentally on Purpose - Premieres September 21; Our Emmy Picks for 61st Annual Event

Accidentally on Purpose - Mondays 8:30PM ET/PT on CBS
Premieres Monday, September 21, 2009 at 8:30PM ET/PT

ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE, based on the bestselling memoir by Mary F. Pols, is a comedy about a single woman, Billie, who finds herself "accidentally" pregnant after a one-night stand with a much younger guy, and decides to keep the baby...and the guy. A newspaper film critic, Billie is barely surviving a humiliating breakup with her charming boss, James, who's still trying to resume their relationship. Pregnant, after a brief fling with her "boy toy" Zack, Billie and Zack make an arrangement to live together platonically. Billie's party girl best friend Olivia, and Abby, her conventional, younger married sister, eagerly look forward to the new addition and offer their own brands of advice and encouragement. But when Zack and his freeloading friends, including Davis, start to turn her place into a frat house, Billie isn't sure if she's living with a boyfriend, a roommate, or if she just has another child to raise.

Cast Details:

* Jenna Elfman as Billie
* Jon Foster as Zazk
* Ashley Jensen as Olivia
* Lennon Parham as Abby
* Grant Show as James
* Nicolas Wright as Davis

Jenna Elfman (Billie) is best known for her role as Dharma in the hit series Dharma & Greg for which she garnered a Golden Globe Award, three Emmy Award nominations and two TV Guide Awards. Elfman's other television credits include Courting Alex, and guest appearances in the series Two and a Half Men, both on CBS, and guest-starring roles on My Name is Earl and Brothers & Sisters. Elfman also has an impressive feature film resume, starring opposite Ben Stiller and Edward Norton in Keeping the Faith and Ron Howard's Edtv opposite Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Recently, she starred opposite Elisha Cuthbert and Tim Allen in The Six Wives of Henry LeFay, and in the independent comedy Love Hurts opposite Richard E. Grant and Carrie-Anne Moss. Elfman also starred in the half-animated feature film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Jon Foster's (Zack) 11 feature film credits include the leading role as Eddie in The Door in the Floor starring opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger, Tenderness opposite Russell Crowe and The Informers opposite Billy Bob Thornton, among others. Foster's television credits include series regular roles in Windfall and Life As We Know It, and guest-starring roles in Judging Amy, on CBS and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He also starred in the television movie Murder in Greenwich.

Ashley Jensen (Olivia) appeared on the first three seasons of Ugly Betty playing Christina, the seamstress for the fictional "Mode" magazine and Betty's one true ally in the office. Jensen also recently starred in the BBC America series Eleventh Hour, where she co-starred opposite Patrick Stewart. Jensen's other television credits include Rebus, Clocking Off, City Central, Sweet Medicine, Two Thousand Acres of Sky, Outside the Rules and films such as A Cock and Bull Story and Topsy-Turvy. For two seasons Jensen starred opposite Ricky Gervais on the Golden Globe winning-series Extras, which originally aired on BBC 2 in the United Kingdom. Jensen reprised her role in the special Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale, for which she was nominated for an Emmy (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie).

Lennon Parham (Abby) began her comedy career at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in N.Y. She graduated with a B.S. in Theatre from the University of Evansville in Indiana and taught French for two years with Teach for America at TL Weston High School in Greenville, Miss., before moving to N.Y. After graduating from the Second City New York program, she began attending classes at U.C.B. Eventually, she became involved in the comedy Improv shows Asssscat 3000 and Reuben Williams as well as becoming a member of the UCBT Touring Company. She has been teaching at the U.C.B. training center for two years, including a special class for improvising in character. Last year, she gained critical acclaim for her one-woman show based on a collection of comedic characters titled She Tried to be Normal.

Best known for his role as Jake Hanson on Melrose Place, Grant Show (James) recently starred in Swingtown on CBS. Show also had regular roles in Point Pleasant and the daytime drama Ryan's Hope, as well as recurring roles on Private Practice, Six Feet Under Dirt Strong Medicine and Beautiful People. Show has also starred in numerous television movies including The Natalee Holloway Story and Sex and the Single Mom. Among Show's theater credits are productions of On the Waterfront, The Glass Menagerie and the Off-Broadway hit Wit, with Judith Light.

Nicolas Wright (Davis) began his career on the stage as one of the founding members of the multi-award-winning theater company Gravy Bath Productions. In 2003, his portrayal of the title role in The Portrait of Dorian Gray at the Saidye Bronfman Centre earned him a nomination for Best Actor by the Montreal Critic's Circle. He continues his work on stage with the Montreal Based Improv/Sketch troupe Uncalled For, whose last show won several awards including 'Best of the Fest' at the Toronto Sketch Fest and the 'Just For Laughs Award' at the Montreal Fringe. Over the last few years, Wright has appeared in numerous feature films including The Greatest Game Ever Played and the thriller Whiteout. He has played leading roles in several award-winning Canadian productions including the animated series Delta State, Hatley High, which received the Best Director/Best Screenplay, Aspen Comedy Festival, Best Actor Nomination, ACTRA Awards (2006) and End of the Line (Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival).

Pilot Plot:

#1 "Pilot" (Airs September 21)
Billie, a newspaper film critic, just went through an ugly breakup with her boss, who still wishes to mend their relationship. After a fling with a much younger guy, Billie ends up pregnant and decides that she really wants to keep the baby -- and the guy she hooked up with.
Directed by Pamela Fryman
Written by Claudia Lonow
Guest Stars: Larry Wilmore as Dr. Roland, Pooch Hall as Ryan, Andrew Caldwell as Shane, Melinda Y. Cohen as Another Woman, Nadege Auguste as Beautiful Woman, Olympia Lettry as Cosmetic Counter Girl

Analysis:

Jenna Elfman returns for her second starring role on a CBS sitcom. Her short-lived Courting Alex aired from January-March 2006 for 8 episodes (12 produced). Despite some respectable ratings when it began on Monday nights, the show suffered when it was briefly moved to Wednesdays before it was pulled from the schedule with 4 episodes unaired. It was not picked up for a second season. CBS then inked her to a new development deal to create another comedy vehicle. She has spent the last four years making pilots trying to find the right show.

The pilot was pretty decent. It begins with Billie talking to Olivia at an office party. Then we see a flashback to a month earlier when she's at the Eiffel Tower with her boss and boyfriend, James. We later meet her sister Abby at a bar and Billie goes to talk to three younger guys. Billie decides to go home with Zack to his apartment and they have a one night stand. 5 weeks later, she takes a pregnancy test and discovers that she is pregnant. Zack takes her in his van to see the doctor. Billie later invites him to move in with her.

I think this show has the potential to be a slight upgrade over her previous show, Courting Alex. I've always been an Elfman fan. She's a gifted comedic actress who had some success on Dharma & Greg for 5 seasons. She recently announced that she is pregnant in real life with her second child. I guess she will start showing by the 3rd or 4th episode.

The rest of the supporting cast is pretty good but maybe lacks some sitcom experience. Jon Foster's only major sitcom experience was on the short-lived CBS sitcom Danny in 2001. He's pretty funny and likeable in the pilot, but we'll see how his chemistry with Elfman develops in future episodes. Ashley Jensen was excellent in Ugly Betty for 3 seasons. I would expect her role to expand a bit more from the pilot. I love her Scottish accent. Lennon Parham plays Billie's sister, Abby. We will probably be seeing her husband in future episodes. Zack's freeloading friends, led by Davis, have a few funny one-liners. Since the pilot mostly focused on Billie and Zack, I would expect their roles to expand.

San Francisco is the setting for the show. There are a couple of exterior shots of trolley cars. Billie plays a movie critic, so there are a number of movie references. She also has some movie posters, including one for An American Werewolf in London, in her apartment. The sets look a little cramped and cluttered, but I guess that was the look they were going for. The newspaper office set looks similar to the Winfred-Louder Department Store set used by The Drew Carey Show I remember they also used this stage for Courting Alex.
There were several songs in the pilot and the music score is composed by John Swihart. This is a multi-camera comedy that is filmed in front of a studio audience.

Conclusion:

This must be the year of the cougar with Accidentally on Purpose and Cougar Town. Will the second time be the charm for Jenna Elfman on CBS? They have been trying to find the right comedy vehicle for her for the last several years. Courting Alex had some decent ratings but was canceled after only 8 episodes aired. I think the pilot for Accidentally on Purpose is a slight upgrade over that. The pilot follows the basic premise of the movie Knocked Up but lacks the amount of funny scenes and lines. I just wonder which direction the show will take. Upcoming episode descriptions seem to indicate that Billie and Zack will be dating other people. What will they do once she has the baby at the end of the season and possibly marries Zack? This shows seems like it is set up to air for one season and then be done.

This show has a comfortable time slot between the established How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men. It will be important to find an audience early because Rules of Engagement is waiting in the wings. If you are a fan of the adorable and witty Jenna Elfman or any of the other actors, the show is definitely worth checking out. It's hard to judge a show just by the pilot, which sets up the whole premise of the show and gives the necessary background details on the characters. It probably would be best to give this show a try for at least 3-4 episodes to see how it develops.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 4/5
Funniness: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

-- Reviewed by Todd Fuller on 09/18/09

Discuss the show after you watch it on Monday, September 21 on our message board.

Related Links:

CBS.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Accidentally on Purpose Photo Gallery

Preview:



It's time for our annual Emmy picks!

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Weeds (Showtime)
The Office (NBC)
How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
Family Guy (Fox)
Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
OUR PICK: 30 Rock. It's the favorite, but I wish something else would win.

OUTSTANDING LEAD COMEDY ACTOR
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Jermaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
OUR PICK: Jim Parsons. He is very deserving and his character of Sheldon is funny with a straight face! Sheldon never smiles or laughs!

OUTSTANDING LEAD COMEDY ACTRESS
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Old Christine (CBS)
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Toni Collette, United States of Tara (Showtime)
OUR PICK: Tina Fey will win likely, but I would give it to Christina Applegate who was outstanding.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock (NBC)
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock (NBC)
OUR PICK: Neil Patrick Harris. He is hosting...so I bet he wins. If not maybe another 30 Rock winner.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock (NBC)
Amy Poehler, SNL (NBC)
Kristin Wiig, SNL (NBC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
OUR PICK: Vanessa Williams. She is hilarious as the evil character she plays.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
House (Fox)
Damages (FX)
Big Love (HBO)
Mad Men (AMC)
Dexter (Showtime)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
OUR PICK: Lost. An outstanding year for the fifth season! But I think Mad Men will take it.

OUTSTANDING LEAD DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
Simon Baker, The Mentalist (CBS)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Gabriel Bryne, In Treatment (HBO)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
OUR PICK: Bryan Cranston. Could he repeat?

OUTSTANDING LEAD DRAMA ACTRESS
Glenn Close, Damages (FX)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace (TNT)
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men (AMC)
OUR PICK: Sally Field. Nora Walker is funny, real and America's mom!

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
William Hurt, Damages (FX)
John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
OUR PICK: William Shatner. One last hurrah, maybe? If not Emerson, please!

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Cherry Jones, 24 (Fox)
Ross Byrne, Damages (FX)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Hope Davis, In Treatment (HBO)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Diane Wiest, In Treatment (HBO)
OUR PICK: Chandra Wilson. Please give it to her!!


View the full list of nominations. The 61st Annual Emmy Awards air this Sunday (September 20 at 8pm on CBS).

ABC Family October 2009 Has 8 Simple Rules Returning; Big Three To Air Obama Address on Wednesday

After a year off from the schedule, family comedy 8 Simple Rules is returning to the ABC Family line-up in October 2009! However, it will only air on weekend mornings starting Saturday, October 3. The series will air Saturdays 10-11am and Sundays 11am-12pm, both replacing Grounded for Life, which is now off the schedule totally. There will be times when one or even both of the airings will be preempted due to a movie, especially on Sundays. There are no other schedule changes on ABC Family October 2009, so the same schedule as September otherwise.
ABC Family last aired 8 Simple Rules for a month in the weekdays 3-4pm slot in September 2008 through early October 2008. Previously it was airing weekdays 6-7pm for well over a year. It's good to see the John Ritter/Katey Sagal comedy back on air, even if it is only weekends.
Elsewhere on ABC Family October 2009, the annual 13 Nights of Halloween begins Monday, October 19. Among the items we will see are hit movies such as The Goonies, The Addams Family, The Mask, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Haunted Mansion, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Batman, Batman Returns and Batman Forever. We will also see Halloween episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos on Mondays at 10pm.
Other ABC Family theatrical premiere for October are Coyote Ugly, Meet Joe Black, and Underdog.

President Obama will be having his sixth primetime address tomorrow at 8pm ET/5pm PT. It will be a joint session to Congress on Health Care and the Republican response will follow. This will once again effect the big three networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC in primetime. Fox will pass on the address for the third straight time.
ABC will air the Presidential Address to Congress live at 8pm ET/7pm CT, so for the east and central, an all-new Wipeout will shift to 9/8 central, preempting Crash Course. Primetime: Crime will remain at 10/9 central. For mountain time, the Presidential Address to Congress airs live at 6pm MT, so the all-new Wipeout remains in its normal time of 7pm MT, but they will air a repeat of Wipeout at 8pm MT since Crash Course is preempted in the east. For pacific time, it is essentially the same as mountain. The Presidential Address to Congress airs live at 5pm PT, so the all-new Wipeout remains in its normal time of 8pm PT, but like the mountain time zone they will air a repeat of Wipeout at 9pm PT since Crash Course is preempted in the east.
For CBS they will air the Presidential Address to Congress live at 8pm ET/7pm CT, so for the east and central, they will just simply preempt scheduled repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried in the 8/7 central hour. For mountain time, the Presidential Address to Congress airs live at 6pm MT, so nothing will be changed as repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried will air in the 7pm MT hour as planned. For pacific time, it is essentially the same as mountain. The Presidential Address to Congress airs live at 5pm PT, so nothing will be changed as repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried will air in the 8pm PT hour as planned. Repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY will air at its normal times in all time zones.
Finally, for NBC they will air the Presidential Address to Congress live at 8pm ET/7pm CT, so for the east and central, they will just simply preempt the scheduled repeat of America's Got Talent in the 8/7 central hour. The all-new episode will remain at 9/8 central. For mountain time, the Presidential Address to Congress airs live at 6pm MT, so nothing will be changed as the repeat of America's Got Talent will air in the 7pm MT hour as planned. For pacific time, it is essentially the same as mountain. The Presidential Address to Congress airs live at 5pm PT, so nothing will be changed as the repeat of America's Got Talent will air in the 8pm PT hour as planned. The all-new America's Got Talent airs still in its normal time in all time zones as well as a repeat of Law & Order: SVU.
Fox will air its primetime schedule as planned, which will have the season premiere of the new fall edition of So You Think You Can Dance and the regular series premiere of Glee. The CW will launch America's Next Top Model with a two-hour premiere.

Network TV Fall Preview Specials for 2009; Scooby-Doo Turns 40!

Pretty soon it will be that time of year again...the start of the new TV season. So let's get ready for that with annual network preview specials to inform us on what is new and returning! See our Fall 2008 preview from last year.

First up we will look at ABC. ABC's Fall 2009 preview special has been titled ABC Fall Preview Open House. It will premiere this weekend on local ABC affiliates (NY: WABC Sun Sept. 6 at 2:30pm). It can be aired between September 5-20, 2009 (affiliate exclusive clearance window is September 5-6, then it will air on ABC cable networks after Sept. 6). The fall preview special is about ABC's new Wednesday night comedies and the most talked about new drama this season, Flash Forward. The special will also include material about the two new 10pm dramas: Eastwick and The Forgotten as well as the returning hit drama, Castle. This fall preview special will introduce viewers to character descriptions, storylines and recaps of last season and provide a sneak peek at the new season ahead! ABC: Start here! The special will be available on abc.com soon as well, if you miss it on your local ABC station or an ABC-owned cable network.
The CBS Fall 2009 preview special, simply titled CBS Fall Preview will be a primetime special previewing CBS's new fall lineup, to be hosted by the stars of the hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother, will be broadcast tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 2 from 8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. The special will feature sneak peeks of the five new additions to CBS's primetime schedule this fall: the drama series NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, Three Rivers, and Medium and the comedy series Accidentally on Purpose. Hosts Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders exchange humorous banter throughout the special, which was taped on their series' sets, in the midst of introducing various video previews. They also utilize comical means to drive home the point that How I Met Your Mother is moving to 8:00 PM on Mondays.
The NBC Fall 2009 preview special (titled The NBC Primetime Preview) has aired on their cable owned networks & local NBC affiliates (in NY on WNBC Sun Sept. 6 at 12:30pm) and is also available online on nbc.com, but as of now it will air on NBC itself. Joel McHale, star of the all-new NBC Thursday comedy Community, hosts a special preview of NBC's new upcoming season. The lively 30-minute cavalcade will feature exclusive, behind-the-scenes views to be delivered across a wide gamut of NBC Universal media platforms beginning August 8 through September 27. The program will run an estimated 306 times over broadcast and cable platforms. The annual Fall program will be offered to NBC's 232 television stations (check local listings) as well as other channel entities such as USA, Syfy, Bravo, UniHD, Chiller, mun2, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, Sleuth, NBC2Go, on-demand and broadband (search "NBC Fall Preview" on TVGuide.com). NBC stations can also run it on their websites while NBC.com is also running it as well. In addition, the program will be screened on selected American Airlines flights (estimated to be shown on approximately 11,000 flights). Watch now online.
The Fox Fall 2009 preview special has already started airing on local Fox affiliates (in NY WNYW Sat Sept. 5 at 3pm). It will only run on local Fox affiliates this year and not on Fox in primetime. Actress Jane Lynch hosts a comprehensive look at the upcoming shows on Fox's fall schedule, including returning favorites like House and American Idol, new shows like Brothers, and the highly acclaimed comedy series Glee.
The CW aired its Fall 2009 TV preview special called The CW Fall 2009 Preview Special this past Sunday (Aug. 30) at 6:30pm, but your local CW affiliates (in NY WPIX Sun Sept. 6 at 1pm) are still airing encores this week...so be on the look out (search "CW Fall Preview" on TVGuide.com)! From the set of The CW's new drama, Melrose Place, returning stars Laura Leighton and Thomas Calabro gives viewers a sneak peek into the world of vixens, vampires, models and more. New series featured include Melrose Place, The Vampire Diaries, The Beautiful Life and the midseason drama, Life UneXpected.
In addition, The TV Guide Network will run the Fox and CW primetime fall preview specials starting Sept. 14 at 7:30pm with Fox on Monday and The CW on Tuesday.

Looking quite remarkable for his age in dog-years (approx. 280!), Scooby-Doo will celebrate his 40th Birthday with a two-day Labor Day Weekend marathon on Boomerang. Saturday and Sunday will each feature seven hours of classic Scooby-Doo episodes from two of the earliest animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969) and The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972).
When Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? premiered on broadcast television (CBS) Saturday morning, Sept. 13, 1969, television audiences took their first journey on what would become literally hundreds of mystery-solving comedy capers featuring a teenage gang of amateur detectives and their cowardly, yet beloved great Dane. Today, having recruited generations of fans young and old across the globe, Scooby-Doo will celebrate his milestone 40th birthday over Labor Day Weekend on the commercial-free Boomerang network with two seven-hour marathons, 2-9 p.m. (ET), Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 6, as we mentioned on the Boomerang Fall 2009 schedule.
To commemorate the special event, Scooby and the gang--Freddy, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy--on Saturday will solve 17 classic supernatural mysteries, including their very first from the original premiere episode, "What a Night for a Knight." Then on Sunday, Boomerang will devote another seven-hour marathon, 2-9 p.m., to showcase The New Scooby-Doo Movies, the second series in the Scooby-Doo canon and the only series to feature hour-long episodes. The hallmark of this series is its animated celebrity guests, and during the special presentation, Scooby and the gang meet the casts of other great Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as Josie and the Pussycats and the Harlem Globetrotters.

WGN America Fall 2009 Schedule; Notes from Around the TV Horn

There will be lots of changes this fall to WGN America, but it will take a few weeks each in September to finally get there. First up, effective September 8 Cheers will now also air on the weekday schedule! Cheers will air weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET (2 & 2:30pm PT) replacing one of the Scrubs hours (Scrubs remains at 11pm ET). During late nights, Corner Gas will now leave the line-up starting Sept. 7, replaced by Homicide: Life on the Street for this week only from Mon-Wed at 4am ET (1am PT). Funniest Pets & People will take the 5am half-hour Mon-Wed this week as well. Corner Gas was airing Mon-Tues from 4am-5:30am ET. Finally for this week, The Cosby Show moves to the 7pm ET (4pm PT) hour on the Outta Sight Retro Night on Sunday nights, as WKRP in Cincinnati leaves.
Moving on to the week of September 14, South Park will join the late night line-up airing weeknights at 12:00am & 12:30am ET (9 & 9:30pm PT), replacing Bob & Tom Show, which will move to 2am ET (11pm PT) replacing Steve Wilkos Show...which is now gone. And as I was saying, the late night 4am-5:30am block for week of Sept. 7 was temporary. Effective Sept. 14, Reno 911! will air Mon-Wed at 4am ET, South Park on Thursdays from 4-5am ET, and Chappelle's Show on Fridays from 4-5am ET. The Cosby Show will air Mondays and Tuesdays at 4:30am ET, while Reno 911! airs for the full 4am hour on Wednesdays. And Funniest Pets & People will expand to all five days at 5am ET (2am PT), but for this week only.
Next up is the week of September 21, we now get two hours of In the Heat of the Night, as Nash Bridges is off the schedule at 12pm ET. The Beverly Hillbillies will return to WGN America and at a better time now! It will air weekdays in the 2pm ET (11am PT) hour replacing Bewitched, which moves to the 4pm ET (1pm PT) hour replacing The Cosby Show. The Cosby Show will only air now Monday nights at 4:30am and in the Sunday night block in the 7pm hour. Joining the weeknight schedule now will also be Punk'd airing weekdays at 5am ET (2am PT) replacing Funniest Pets & People, which will leave the line-up. Punk'd will also air Tuesdays at 4:30am ET. Joining the Sunday schedule will be new first-run syndicated series Smash Cuts airing for a full-hour on Sundays at 4pm for its first week only & will regularly air at 4am ET on Sunday nights. South Park will air Sundays in the 3am ET hour, while Nash Bridges will air in the 2am ET. Boston Legal will air weekends at 1pm ET after baseball season is over (starting Oct. 10).
Finally by September 28, we are all set basically for the fall. Just a few more changes are happening. Punk'd will get a decent addition airing Thursdays at 9pm ET replacing American Gladiators, which is leaving. It will also air Sundays at 11am ET after baseball season. Joining the weekend schedule will be Bones on Saturdays at 6pm and 7pm ET and Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Saturday nights at 4:30am ET and Sunday nights at 2am ET for its first week ONLY before settling into Saturday afternoons at 2pm and 3pm ET after baseball season is over.
Boy that's a lot of new additions! Let's recap: South Park, Punk'd, Smash Cuts, Bones, Law & Order: Criminal Intent are all new. Beverly Hillbillies returns. Corner Gas, Funniest Pets & People, Homicide: Life on the Street, Steve Wilkos, American Gladiators, Bullwinkle, WKRP in Cincinnati, Coach are leaving. Coach is not scheduled, but they will likely air it at some point (enjoy the marathon on Sept. 6).
View the FULL WGN America Fall 2009 schedule, so you get the full taste of the line-up that will essentially happen by Sept. 28.
As for highlights, we already noted the marathons including the Cosby Show 25th anniversary marathon on Sunday, Sept. 20. We now get word the marathon is even longer now! 1pm-5:30pm ET has been added, in addition to the 5:30pm-7pm ET & 11pm-4am ET. The 25th anniversary half-hour special is airing at 1pm and 6:30pm ET. Classic NBC line-up on that date from 7pm-10pm ET is of course airing with The Cosby Show pilot at 7pm ET, Family Ties at 7:30pm ET, a full-hour of Cheers at 8pm ET and Hill Street Blues at 9pm ET. All episodes that exactly aired on NBC from that night. View more marathon info for Honeymooners and Coach.

Moving on to some TV tidbits...Senator Ted Kennedy has passed away at age 77 yesterday. In honor of his memory we have some specials. Bio TV will air Biography Remembers: Ted Kennedy on Thursdays at 9pm ET and Saturday at 12pm & 4am ET. Biography: John F. Kennedy and Biography: Barack Obama will air before and after Kennedy's episode on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. Biography: John F. Kennedy Jr. will air at 11pm Thursday and 10am Saturday.
On the broadcast networks, ABC will air ABC News Special: Remembering Ted Kennedy at 10pm ET, preempting Primetime: Crime. Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer will anchor this special. CBS will air Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother at 8pm ET preempting comedy repeats. Katie Couric will report. NBC will expand NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams to one-hour, but nothing will air in primetime. CNN will air the documentary Teddy: In His Own Words from 7-9pm ET.
Finally, NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has sold Bravo's unscripted series The Real Housewives as a one-hour syndicated strip for fall 2010 to NBC and Hearst television station groups, B&C reports. The series has taken place in Southern California's Orange County, New York City, New Jersey and Atlanta. It will reach 100 episodes this fall on Bravo.

ION Television Fall 2009 Schedule; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: CBS; 2009 TCA Awards Winners

ION Television has officially announced their full Fall 2009 schedule. We gave you a preview of what was to come a week or so ago, but now we have the full schedule! The changes will be all made in primetime. The 4pm-8pm schedule will remain the same, so we still have M*A*S*H, Boston Legal, Family Feud and Reba airing every weekday. As we mentioned, Ghost Whisperer goes from Mondays at 8pm to Mon-Thurs at 8pm starting Sept. 7. Criminal Minds joins the schedule and will air Mondays at 9pm, Tuesdays 9pm & 10pm, Wednesdays at 10pm, and Fridays at 10pm...that's five airings a week! New original series Durham County will air Mondays at 10pm and will have an instant encore at 11pm on Mondays as well. So, the 11pm hour on Mondays will not be paid programming anymore! Returning to the schedule after having August off is NCIS airing Thursdays at 9pm and 10pm, replacing Total Theatre Thursday. Boston Legal, which will still air in the daytime schedule, will now only be Wednesdays at 9pm in primetime. The ION Monday & Wednesday movie will be replaced, just like Thursday. ION Movies are now weekends only airing Fridays through Sundays. As far as weekends, the movies continue but instead of M*A*S*H leading into the movies at times, it will now be Reba.
ION Movie premieres for September 2009 are big hits! The Break-Up, Outbreak, A Bronx Tale, Inside Man, and Patriot Games are the premieres. Encores for the month are Matrix Reloaded, The Specialist, The Enforcer, The Gauntlet, and Magnum Force.
View the full ION Television September 2009 schedule and highlights.

CBS is the first broadcast network up at the summer 2009 TCA press tour. It gets underway at 9am PT with the Executive Session. Schedule after that has panels for The Goode Wife & The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, a research presentation on the latest findings about the relationship between TV and the Internet, then lunch time with gourmet lunch packages, a special press conference, panels for Accidentally on Purpose, The Doctors, Medium, and the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The Stars Party closes things out in the evening with stars of CBS, The CW, Showtime and CBS Television Distribution. Stay with us all day for news here as it happens!
Let's Make a Deal, a new take on the classic game show where audience members dress in outlandish costumes to win cash and prizes by making deals with the host, will premiere Monday, October 5, (check local listings) on the CBS Television Network. Emmy Award-winner Wayne Brady will host the new daytime series produced by FremantleMedia North America. When it joins the CBS Television Network daytime schedule, it will be replacing Guiding Light. Guiding Light will have its last telecast on Friday, September 18, 2009. Programming for this time period from September 21-October 2 will be announced shortly, but starting Oct. 5, it will be Let's Make a Deal.
The original series was a television game show staple during the 1960's and 70's when it was hosted by Monty Hall from 1963-1977. While later versions aired in syndication and primetime, the game show is best remembered for the years hosted by Hall, who will serve as a creative consultant on this latest version.
Up tomorrow at the press tour will be The CW and Showtime! NBC will be Wednesday, Fox on Thursday, FX on Friday, and ABC closes it out on Satuday.

The Television Critics Association marked the 25th anniversary of its awards on Saturday night (Aug. 1) with a ceremony looking back at the history of the organization and its tradition of honoring quality television programs.
HBO led all the networks with three trophies at the Television Critics Association Awards, winning for Outstanding New Program of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-Series & Specials and Outstanding Achievement in News & Information. Sitcom The Big Bang Theory won Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Its star, Jim Parsons, received the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Comedy award. Full winners:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Battlestar Galactica (Syfy)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: True Blood (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Mad Men (AMC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: The Alzheimer's Project (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING: Yo Gabba Gabba (Nickelodeon)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES & SPECIALS: Grey Gardens (HBO)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
HERITAGE AWARD: ER (NBC)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Betty White

Obama News Conference On Wednesday Alters Network Schedule; Cronkite Specials on Bio TV, AmericanLife; Update on Nick at Nite

President Obama is having another live news conference. It will be held tomorrow (Wednesday, July 22, 2009) at 8pm ET/5pm PT. This will affect the networks' schedules. ABC, CBS and NBC will cover the news conference on broadcast, with Fox passing for the second straight time. Fox will air the two-hour So You Think You Can Dance from 8-10pm ET/PT.
ABC will air the Obama News Conference live at 8pm ET/5pm PT, so this means an all-new Wipeout will be moved in Eastern and Central time zones to 9pm ET/8pm CT instead. I Survived a Japanese Game Show will also air an hour later, at 10pm ET/9pm CT. Charlie Gibson's Special Edition of 20/20 - Over A Barrel: The Truth About Oil will now be scheduled to air on Friday, July 24, 2009 at 10:00 PM ET/PT, because of this change. It had been scheduled to air 10pm ET/PT on Wednesday. In the Mountain and Pacific time zones, Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show will air in its normal time periods of 8pm PT/7pm MT and 9pm PT/8pm MT. A repeat of Primetime: Crime will air after them at 10pm PT/9pm MT. View our time zone schedule list for ABC on this date.
Next up is CBS. They will also air the Obama News Conference live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. This will preempt the repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried in the East and Central at 8pm ET/7pm CT. They will air as planned in the Mountain and Pacific time zones in their regular time periods of 8pm PT/7pm MT, as the news conference airs live at 6pm MT and 5pm PT. Repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY will not be affected, and air as planned in all time zones.
Finally, NBC will also air the Obama News Conference live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. In the East and Central, this will preempt the America's Got Talent encore from the previous day at 8pm ET/7pm CT. I haven't been able to 100% confirm, but it is likely that the encore will remain intact in the Mountain and Pacific time zones at 8pm PT/7pm MT, as the news conference airs live at 6pm MT and 5pm PT. An original America's Got Talent will air immediately following the news conference in the East and Central at 9/8 central and as planned in Mountain and Pacific time zones. The same goes true for The Philanthropist at 10pm ET/PT.
Really only ABC is the most affected here, so if you're DVRing or watching, be aware of the changes!

Bio TV will honor the late Walter Cronkite tonight with a repeat of his Biography episode. It will air from 8-10pm ET tonight (Tuesday, July 21, 2009). The special 2-hour portrait of the war correspondent, TV broadcast pioneer, and anchorman who was beloved by almost all Americans. With vintage clips of his most famous newscasts, including his announcement of the death of President Kennedy. Because of this schedule change, Bio TV has shifted some of its primetime programming tonight to next week. View those changes. Stay with us tomorrow for details on new Biography episodes on Bio TV for August!
AmericanLife TV will honor Walter Cronkite with the special Moments That Changed Us: Walter Cronkite. It will air today at 3pm, Wednesday at 3:30pm, and Thursday at 4pm. Throughout the 1960s, as the cost in American lives lost in the Vietnam War increased, Americans began to wonder what we were really accomplishing there. In the wake of the Tet Offensive in early 1968, Walter Cronkite, the venerable anchor of the CBS Evening News, went to Vietnam see for himself. His now-famous report from the front changed the face of journalism, changed the direction of the war and changed history. Veteran journalist Nick Clooney gets the story behind the story in a rare interview with Walter.

Yesterday we gave you a story on Nick at Nite's schedule changes. We mentioned weekends wouldn't change, but now they have. We updated the story to reflect the changes, so view the story again.
And you can also view the schedule effective July 20 in a list form. View both the story and list so you don't get confused!

Sci Fi Changes to Syfy Today; Jackson Memorial Special Tonight; Hallmark Primetime Changes

We told you back in March that Sci Fi Channel was renaming to Syfy starting July 7, and now that day has come. Syfy also has a tagline saying "Imaging Greater." They will launch original series Warehouse 13 tonight at 9 with a two-hour premiere.
As for the regular schedule, there are no changes. The rest of this week Syfy is airing more movies than usual though, as there is no daytime rotation marathons. The regular schedule will return July 13, that includes Lost at 4pm and 1am weeknights. And speaking of the daytime rotation marathon, in August we will see Early Edition finally air on this network. It was set to join the schedule in March, but it never happened, as we mentioned. Early Edition will air on Tuesday, August 4 from 8am-4pm and Friday, August 21 from 8am-4pm as well. Other daytime rotation notables in July and August include Joan of Arcadia, 7 Days, Friday the 13th: The Series, and The Sentinel.
Ghost Whisperer joins the Syfy schedule this fall. That show was acquired from part of their CBS-Paramount deal. I think everything from that deal has now aired at least one time (if Early Edition ends up airing this time!), except Charmed and I believe The Invaders. We are not sure when those will turn up. We are still hoping for another Mork & Mindy marathon! Anyway, stay tuned in the coming weeks for Syfy's Fall 2009 schedule.
Check out their new website www.syfy.com!

If you don't get a chance to watch the Michael Jackson Memorial live this afternoon (on ABC, CBS, NBC, and many other networks including Hulu on the Internet) from approx. 1pm-3pm ET (10am-12pm PT), then the broadcast networks will all have specials on Michael Jackson tonight. ABC will have s Special Edition of 20/20: Remembering Michael Jackson tonight at 9pm, preempting scheduled Better off Ted and Scrubs repeats. That's not all, ABC will air a special episode of Primetime: Family Secrets focusing on Michael Jackson's children at 10pm, instead of the regular story. So, it's two-hours of Jackson on ABC primetime tonight. CBS will have a special 48 Hours tonight titled 48 Hours - Michael Jackson: The Last Dance at 10pm, preempting regularly scheduled segments. And finally NBC will preempt an encore of Law & Order: SVU at 10pm for a Dateline special on Michael Jackson titled Dateline: A Farewell to Michael Jackson.

Finally, The Hallmark Channel has announced that they will preempt five primetime movies in favor of Touched by an Angel at 9pm and an hour of The Golden Girls at 10pm. The movies will be preempted on Thursday, July 9 and the week of Monday July 13 through Thursday, July 16 from 9-11pm. No reason why, but due to this, Cheers will air also in the 1am hour since Golden Girls is airing at 10pm.
This is not a permanent primetime change, it is just for these five dates...as of now. View this in a list form.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nick at Nite June 2009; CBS Summer 2009 Slate; MyNetwork TV Fall 2009

The Nick at Nite June schedule will begin this weekend with some changes to the weekend line-up. The changes begin this Friday (May 29), with now Friday looking exactly like Mon-Thurs, which will remain unchanged. That means, the 2am hour on Friday nights will be Fresh Prince replacing an hour of Family Matters, the 3am hour is now Home Improvement instead of Fresh Prince, 4am hour is The Nanny instead of Home Improvement, and the 5am hour is now Family Matters instead of The Nanny. So, now the schedule is the same 10pm-6:30am on Mon-Fri. Home Improvement remains 9-10pm from Mon-Thurs.
And they have also matched-up Saturdays and Sundays to look the same. On both nights now 1am Family Matters is added instead of Home Improvement. So Urkel and the gang are 12-2am now on weekends. The Nanny also gets a two-hour block from 2-4am, with the 2am hour on Saturdays replacing Home Improvement. Home Improvement is now 4am on both nights replacing The Nanny on Saturdays and Family Matters on Sundays. And once again the only difference between the two nights is that Home Improvement airs on Sundays in the 9pm hour, as that airs Sun-Thurs at 9.
George Lopez continues to dominate for the network every night at 10-11pm and weeknights at 1-2am. I know you want to see the full schedule, so view the full Nick at Nite June 2009 schedule. As of now, there are no special stunts, but that could change. The only thing to report is the new movie Mr. Troop Mom starring George Lopez is airing Friday, June 19 and Sunday, June 21 from 8-10pm for Father's Day. Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite partners with Warner Premiere and George Lopez Presents on Mr. Troop Mom, a film about single dad Eddie Serrano (Lopez), a workaholic lawyer/widower, who must climb mountains, ford streams and more as "Team Mom" in order to bond with his tween daughter in this camp-set comic adventure. The film also stars Jane Lynch (Another Cinderella Story, Role Models) as camp director Ms. Hulka, Daniela Bobadilla as Eddie's daughter Naomi and a special appearance by Nat and Alex Wolff of The Naked Brothers Band.
Looking in the future: Nick at Nite will launch original animated series Glenn Martin, DDS on Monday, August 17 with a week-long premiere at 8pm for a half-hour each night from Aug. 17-20, before settling into its Tuesdays at 9pm half-hour. The series has a 20 episode order. More info soon!

CBS has finally announced their summer 2009 plans. All we knew so far was burn-offs and repeats of Million Dollar Password on Sundays at 8pm, which started May 24. First, Tuesdays at 10pm starting June 2 will now be 48 Hours Mystery replacing the canceled Without a Trace. Trace will get two Sunday repeat airings at 10pm on June 14 and June 21, its last airings likely. The Mentalist will get a feel of its upcoming Thursdays at 10pm slot when it airs repeats following CSI starting June 4. The Mentalist will continue to also air Tuesdays at 9pm through and including July 7, when Big Brother comes, but more on that in a bit. The Big Bang Theory will also move to its upcoming slot of Mondays at 9:30pm for repeat play starting June 8. It will remain in its current 8pm slot as well until June 22, when How I Met Your Mother repeats moves to its new 8pm slot. Airing at 8:30pm on Mondays starting June 22 will be repeats of Rules of Engagement, which will return with new episodes in early 2010. Finally, CBS's only summer original returns on Thursday, July 9...that's reality staple Big Brother. The series will air Thursdays at 8pm starting July 9, Sundays at 8pm starting July 12 and Tuesdays at 9pm starting July 14. On Thursdays it will replace comedy/crime repeats, on Sundays it will replace Million Dollar Password, and on Tuesdays it will replace The Mentalist repeats. So that's basically CBS summer...repeats, 48 Hours Mystery and Big Brother.

Finally, we end with the fall line-up for MyNetwork TV. They will rely a lot on off-network programming more than ever. They will start their fall line-up on Monday, Sept. 28. Airing on Mondays will be off-network reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 8 and 9pm. On Tuesdays, they will air episodes of first-run syndicated series Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? at 8 & 8:30pm and the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal at 9 & 9:30pm. The syndicated version of 5th Grader will launch this fall on local stations and also on Tuesdays on MyNetwork TV. On Wednesdays we have two back-to-back episodes of The Unit, which makes its off-network syndication launch this fall on both local stations and MyNetwork TV. CBS has canceled the series, so this will be your only way to watch the series in primetime, but they are just reruns. Thursdays and Fridays remain unchanged with Movie Night on Thursday and WWE Smackdown! on Fridays. As mentioned before, MyNetwork TV has handed Saturdays back to local affiliates to program, so both The CW and MyNetwork TV will now only focus on Mon-Fri.
View and discuss the full Fall 2009 MyNetwork TV schedule.

New Fall 2009 Sitcoms Preview

Today we take a look at the new sitcoms that made the fall schedules. There will be a total of 10 new sitcoms this season, including 1 that will air at midseason and 1 animated comedy. 5 will be single-camera. 4 will be multi-camera. Some familiar faces returning to sitcoms include Kelsey Grammer, Melinda McGraw, Macey Cruthird, Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn, Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Courteney Cox, Christa Miller, Ian Gomez, Jenna Elfman, Ashley Jensen and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell. Comedy legend Chevy Chase will appear on an American sitcom as a regular for the first time. Former New York Giants great and current FOX NFL Sunday analyst Michael Strahan will appear in a new FOX sitcom.

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ABC



Hank - Wednesdays at 8:00PM EST/PST on ABC

Kelsey Grammer stars in this timely comedy as Hank Pryor, a titan of industry who suddenly finds himself out of work, almost out of money and around a wife and kids for whom he's never made much time. Despite his recent setbacks, however, Hank is confident he's on the road back to the top. He knows he is destined to return to greatness. And he is — just not the greatness he imagines.

The series is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with McMonkey Inc., Grammnet Productions, Werner Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. It is written by Tucker Cawley. Tom Werner, Tucker Cawley, Kelsey Grammer and Mike Clements serve as executive producers. The pilot was directed by James Burrows.

Cast:
Kelsey Grammer as Hank
Melinda McGraw as Tilly
David Koechner as Grady
Macey Cruthird as Maddie
Ryan Wynott as Henry

Preview:



Links:

TV.com

Wikipedia



The Middle - Wednesdays at 8:30PM EST/PST on ABC

The Hecks are a middle class family living in the middle of Indiana, just trying to keep their heads above water. Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton stars as a wife and mother of three in a comedy about raising a family and lowering your expectations.

The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television. Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline are executive producers/writers and Werner Walian is producer. The pilot was directed by Julie Anne Robinson.

Cast:
Patricia Heaton as Frankie
Neil Flynn as Mike
Eden Sher as Sue
Atticus Shaffer as Brick
Charlie McDermott as Axel

Preview:



Links:

TV.com



Modern Family - Wednesdays at 9:00PM EST/PST on ABC

Today’s American families come in all shapes and sizes. Shot from the perspective of an unseen documentary filmmaker, this comedy takes a modern look at the complications that come with being a family in 2009.

The series is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd are executive producers. The pilot was directed by Jason Winer.

Cast:
Ed O'Neill as Jay
Sofia Vergara as Gloria
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron
Ty Burrell as Phil
Julie Bowen as Claire
Sarah Hyland as Haley
Rico Rodriguez as Manny
Nolan Gould as Luke
Ariel Winter as Alex

Preview:



Links:

TV.com

Wikipedia



Cougar Town - Wednesdays at 9:30PM EST/PST on ABC

Courteney Cox stars as a recently divorced single mother exploring the honest truths about dating and aging in our beauty and youth obsessed culture.

The series is from ABC Studios. Bill Lawrence is executive producer/writer/director, Kevin Biegel is writer/co-executive producer, and Courteney Cox and David Arquette are executive producers.

Cast:
Courteney Cox as Jules
Christa Miller as Elle
Busy Phillips as Laurie
Dan Byrd as Travis
Brian Van Holt as Bobby
Josh Hopkins as Grayson
Ian Gomez as Andy

Preview:



Links:

TV.com

Wikipedia

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CBS



Accidentally on Purpose - Mondays at 8:30PM EST/PST on CBS

ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE is a comedy starring Golden Globe Award winner Jenna Elfman as Billie, a single woman who finds herself "accidentally" pregnant after a one-night stand with a much younger guy, and decides to keep the baby... and the guy. A newspaper film critic, Billie is barely surviving a humiliating breakup with her charming boss, James (Grant Show), who's still trying to resume their relationship. Suddenly expecting a child with her "boy toy," Zack (Jon Foster), Billie and Zack make an arrangement: to live together platonically. Billie's party girl best friend Olivia (Ashley Jensen), and Abby (Lennon Parham), her conventional, younger married sister, eagerly look forward to the new addition and offer their own brands of advice and encouragement. But when Zack and his freeloading friends, including Davis (Nicolas Wright), start to turn her place into a frat house, Billie isn't sure if she's living with a boyfriend, a roommate, or if she just has another child to raise. Lloyd Braun, Gail Berman, Gene Stein and Claudia Lonow are the executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Pamela Fryman directed the pilot.

Cast:
Jenna Elfman as Billie
Ashley Jensen as Olivia
Nicolas Wright as Davis
Grant Show as Daniel
Lennon Parham as Abby
Jon Foster as Zack

Preview:



Links:

CBS.com

TV.com

Wikipedia

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NBC



Community - Thursdays at 9:30PM EST/PST on NBC

From Emmy Award-winning directors Joe and Anthony Russo ("Arrested Development") comes "Community," a smart comedy series about higher education -- and lower expectations. The student body at Greendale Community College is made up of high-school losers, newly divorced housewives, and old people who want to keep their minds active. Within these not-so-hallowed halls, "Community" focuses on a band of misfits, at the center of which is a fast-talkin' lawyer whose degree has been revoked (Joel McHale, "The Soup"), who form a study group and end up learning a lot more about themselves than they do about their course work. In addition to McHale, the series also stars: Gillian Jacobs ("The Book of Daniel"); Yvette Nicole Brown ("Rules of Engagement"); Danny Pudi ("Greek"); Alison Brie ("Mad Men"); and comedy legend Chevy Chase ("Saturday Night Live"). "Community" is a Krasnoff Foster Entertainment, Harmonious Claptrap and Russo Brothers production in association with Sony Pictures Television and Universal Media Studios. Russ Krasnoff ("The Soloist"), Dan Harmon ("The Sarah Silverman Program"), Joe Russo ("Arrested Development"), Anthony Russo ("Arrested Development") and Gary Foster ("The Soloist") serve as executive producers. Joe and Anthony Russo directed the pilot that was written by Dan Harmon.

Cast:
Joel McHale as Jeff Crocker
Chevy Chase as Pierce
Danny Pudi as Abed
Gillian Jacobs as Britta
John Oliver as Duncan
Donald Glover as Troy
Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley
Alison Brie as Annie

Preview:



Links:

NBC.com

TV.com

Wikipedia



100 Questions - Mid-Season on NBC

Emmy winner James Burrows ("Will & Grace," "Friends") directs "100 Questions," a new comedy series written and executive-produced by Christopher Moynihan ("For Your Consideration") that provides hilarious answers to 100 questions about love. Charlotte Payne (Sophie Winkleman, "Peep Show") is looking for love and has rejected multiple marriage proposals -- but she has yet to meet Mr. Right. When she joins a popular online dating site, she gets a little help from her dating counselor Ravi (Amir Talai, "The Ex List") - who requires her to take a 100-question compatibility test. The questions aren't easy for Charlotte to answer, and each one requires her to recount a poignant and humorous time in her life with friends Leslie (Elizabeth Ho, "Women's Murder Club"), Jill (Joy Suprano, NBC's "Law & Order"), Mike (Christopher Moynihan "For Your Consideration") and Wayne (David Walton "Quarterlife"). The test becomes a journey of self-discovery for Charlotte who begins to realize what she truly wants in a relationship. Ron West ("Psych"), Kelly Kulchak ("Psych") and Michelle Nader ("King of Queens") join Moynihan as executive producers. The series is produced by Universal Media Studios and Tagline.

Cast:
Sophie Winkleman as Charlotte
Elizabeth Ho as Leslie
Joy Soprano as Jill
David Walton as Wayne
Christopher Moynihan as Mike
Amir Talai as Andrew

Preview:



Links:

NBC.com

TV.com

Wikipedia

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FOX



Brothers - Fridays at 8:00PM EST/PST on FOX

Starring Michael Strahan ("FOX NFL Sunday") and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell ("Ed," "Veronica's Closet"), BROTHERS is a new half-hour comedy about a former NFL hot shot who learns that even though you can always go home again, the trip back might be tougher than you think. MIKE TRAINOR (Strahan) seemingly has it all he's a good-looking, wealthy and recently retired NFL player living the high-life in New York City, but he's about to get sidelined. When Mike gets a phone call from his MOM (CCH Pounder, "The Shield") who orders him home to Houston, he quickly realizes the more his life has changed, the more his family has stayed the same. His brother CHILL (Daryl "Chill" Mitchell), whose life was altered drastically after a car accident left him in a wheelchair, is struggling to keep his restaurant afloat with the help of his loudmouth associate, ROSCOE (Colton Dunn, "MADtv"). The dynamics between Mike and Chill are the same as when they were kids, and their sibling rivalry hasn't lessened with age. If they can stop their bickering, put aside their differences and learn to be teammates, the brothers might just turn out to be each other's biggest asset. Wedged between Mike and Chill are their parents. Their father, whom everyone refers to as COACH (Carl Weathers, "Rocky"), is the local high school football coach and the conservative, opinionated alpha male of his clan. Coach thinks he runs the show, but really it's Mom who calls the shots. Saucy, stern and a schemer, she is the mastermind of the family. And when she learns that Mike's business manager took off with all his money, she orchestrates a plan to keep Mike in Houston, save Chill's restaurant and bring the family back together under one roof again all without anyone realizing what she's up to. Mom's plan helps Mike realize that his family however dysfunctional they may be is the only family he's got. And although he may not have a penny to his name, as long as he's surrounded by people who love him, he'll always be a rich man.

Cast:
Michael Strahan as Mike
Daryl "Chill" Michell as Chill
CCH Pounder as Mom
Carl Weathers as Coach
Colton Dunn as Roscoe

Preview:



Links:

FOX.com

TV.com

Wikipedia



The Cleveland Show - Sundays at 8:30PM EST/PST on FOX

THE CLEVELAND SHOW is a new animated series that follows everyone's favorite soft-spoken neighbor, CLEVELAND BROWN (Mike Henry), to his hometown in Virginia as he settles down with his high school sweetheart, her unruly kids and his own 14-year-old son, CLEVELAND JR. (Kevin Michael Richardson). Many years ago, Cleveland was a high school student madly in love with a beautiful girl named DONNA (Sanaa Lathan). Much to his dismay, his love went unrequited, and Donna wound up marrying another man. Cleveland once told Donna he would always love her, and if this man ever done her wrong, he'd be there when she called. Well, this man done her wrong. Donna's husband ran off, leaving Donna with a teenage daughter and a young son. Now she's open to Cleveland and has offered him another chance at love. Unattached after the Loretta-Quagmire debacle and true to his word, Cleveland joyously reunites with Donna, and he and Cleveland Jr. move to Virginia to join their new family. Once in Virginia, there are a few surprises in store for Cleveland, including ROBERTA (Reagan Gomez-Preston), a rebellious new stepdaughter; RALLO (Henry), his new 5-year-old stepson who loves the ladies; and a collection of neighbors that includes a loudmouth redneck, LESTER (Richardson); a hipster wanna-be, HOLT (guest voice Jason Sudeikis); and a religious pair of talking bears, TIM (Seth MacFarlane) and his wife ARIANNA (guest voice Arianna Huffington).

Voice Cast:
Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown, Rallo and others
Sanaa Lathan as Donna Tubbs
Reagan Gomez-Preston as Roberta Tubbs
Kevin Michael Richardson as Lester and Cleveland Jr.

Guest Voices:
Arianna Huffington as Arianna
Jason Sudeikis as Holt

Preview:



Links:

FOX.com

TV.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia



Sons of Tucson - Sundays at 8:30PM EST/PST in January 2010 on FOX

In the tradition of "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The Bernie Mac Show," SONS OF TUCSON is a family comedy about three brothers who hire a charming, wayward schemer to stand in as their father when their real one goes to prison. What begins as a business relationship evolves into something more complex and compelling: a family unlike any we've ever seen. The three brothers find their dad-for-hire, RON SNUFFKIN (Tyler Labine, "Reaper"), at the local sporting good store. Ron will be forced to draw on a wide array of skills and a vast bag of tricks as he steps into the patriarch role to take care of the boys of the Gunderson family. ROBBY GUNDERSON (Davis Cleveland, "How I Met Your Mother"), 8, is a loose cannon who doesn't respond well to authority; GARY GUNDERSON (Frank Dolce, "Doubt"), 11, is a bright and street-savvy leader who is every bit the con man his father is; and BRANDON GUNDERSON (Troy Gentile, "Entourage"), 13, is a gentle free spirit who simply goes along for the ride. MAGGIE MORALES (Natalie Martinez, "Saints & Sinners"), Robby's second-grade teacher and the object of Ron's affection, might just be the only stable figure in the lives of this quirky quartet. While SONS OF TUCSON is grounded in the day-to-day challenges of a single-parent home, nothing in the Gunderson household is quite what it seems. An ongoing chess match between Ron and the boys will keep both parties on their toes, as neither side can afford to give up too much power or independence.

Cast:
Tyler Labine as Ron Snuffkin
Davis Cleveland as Robby Gunderson
Frank Dolce as Gary Gunderson
Troy Gentile as Brandon Gunderson
Natalie Martinez as Maggie Morales

Preview:



Links:

FOX.com

TV.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

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Discuss the fall schedules here:

ABC
CBS
NBC
Fox
The CW

What's Your Fall 2009 Viewing Schedule?

Which new sitcoms have the best chance at success? Vote in our poll.

Stay tuned for our reviews of the pilots for these new sitcoms in the upcoming months!

CBS Upfront 2009-10: Fall 2009 Schedule; Lifetime Picks-Up Sherri Shepherd Sitcom

Your first look at CBS's official line-up!

CBS 2009-10

Fall 2009

Sundays
7:00PM 60 Minutes
8:00PM The Amazing Race
9:00PM Three Rivers (NEW!)
10:00PM Cold Case

Mondays
8:00PM How I Met Your Mother
8:30PM Accidentally on Purpose (NEW!)
9:00PM Two and a Half Men
9:30PM The Big Bang Theory
10:00PM CSI: Miami

Tuesdays
8:00PM Navy NCIS
9:00PM NCIS: Los Angeles (NEW!)
10:00PM The Good Wife (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM Old Christine
8:30PM Gary Unmarried
9:00PM Criminal Minds
10:00PM CSI: NY

Thursdays
8:00PM Survivor
9:00PM CSI
10:00PM The Mentalist

Fridays
8:00PM Ghost Whisperer
9:00PM Medium (CBS premiere)
10:00PM NUMB3RS

Saturdays
8:00PM-10:00PM Crime Repeats
10:00PM 48 Hours Mystery


Mid-Season:

Returning series: Rules of Engagement. New series: Miami Trauma, The Bridge, Arranged Marriage, Undercover Boss. Flashpoint returns summer 2010.

Canceled: The Unit and Without a Trace
Discuss CBS's 2009-10 line-up and view the full press release.


As I predicted, Lifetime has picked-up the Sherri Shepherd sitcom pilot to a series order. The series will be simply titled Sherri. I knew they would pick it up since they picked-up the off-network rerun rights to Less than Perfect, which starts June 1.
Lifetime Television has picked up 12 episodes of the all-new, multi-camera comedy series Sherri, starring comedienne and 2009 Daytime Emmy(R) Award-nominated co-host of The View, Sherri Shepherd (Less Than Perfect). The program, to be produced in New York by Lifetime Studios, marks the first comedy series ever to be wholly owned by Lifetime.
Sherri centers around a newly single mom, paralegal and part-time comedienne/actress who tries to get back into the dating scene and move on with her life after divorcing her cheating husband. Sherri finds solace and support among her girlfriends at the office while juggling her hectic life. Also starring in the series are Tammy Townsend (Lincoln Heights), Kali Rocha (Grey's Anatomy), Elizabeth Regen (The Black Donnellys) and Kate Reinders (Ugly Betty). Terri Minsky (Less Than Perfect, Lizzie McGuire) has been named writer/executive producer of Sherri. The program will also be executive produced by Nina Wass and Gene Stein (Less Than Perfect), while Dave Flebotte (Desperate Housewives), who executive produced the pilot, will be a consultant. Shepherd, who will continue to co-host the hit ABC daytime talk show The View, will serve as a co-executive producer of Sherri. The comedy reunites Shepherd, Minsky, Wass and Stein, who last worked together on the ABC sitcom Less Than Perfect, and reruns of that will now be on Lifetime in the 6pm ET hour starting June 1.
Sherri will join Lifetime's family comedy Rita Rocks. Set to return for its second season in the fall, the series stars Nicole Sullivan as Rita Clements, an overworked wife and mother trying to find time for herself. Other comedies that currently air on Lifetime include the off-net acquisitions How I Met Your Mother, Reba, Will & Grace, Cybill and Frasier.
Once we get a premiere date for Sherri, we will of course let you know!

Upfront Rumblings; Blog DVD Review: Freakazoid! - Season 2

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Saturday blog DVD review for an update on the network upfronts. This is probably the busiest TV weekend of the year--the weekend before the network upfronts start. Latest buzz on scripted series:

ABC:
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: Flash Forward, Happy Town, The Associates (David Hemingson Project), Eastwick, The Forgotten, V. (all confirmed)
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Middle, Awesome Hank. (all confirmed)
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Inside the Box
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Romantically Challenged, The Law
No Shot: Canned, No Heroics, Limelight, See Kate Run
Bubble Current Series Renewals: Castle, Better Off Ted, Samantha Who, Scrubs (all pretty much confirmed)
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Surviving Suburbia, The Unusuals
Comments: ABC is going full frontal on comedy it seems. Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Samantha Who? are all returning, with just the latter not really official yet, but it has a great shot since repeats are going to air Fridays at 9pm starting June 5. Sam and Scrubs could be in a format change too, from single camera to a mix of single/multicamera. And ABC has already ordered new comedy Modern Family last week and Cougar Town was ordered last night. Unofficially it is also ordered The Middle & Awesome Hank last night and possibly Romantically Challenged & The Law will be ordered on the day of the upfront for midseason. My moles tell me it will happen. Lots of comedy!! That's what we like here at SitcomsOnline. Now of course all of these comedies are not for the fall. Some will be held for midseason for sure.
New drama wise, ABC is very high on Flash Forward, and on-air promos are already airing. ABC unofficially set series orders for Happy Town, Eastwick, The Forgotten, The Associates and V. V could be used for mid-season as a 6-hour event (good counter-programming vs. the Winter Olympics maybe?) and The Associates is also likely midseason. Inside the Box also still has a good shot of coming to ABC for fall or midseason, but has not been ordered just yet. Current drama wise, Castle was renewed for a second season. That was the only drama that had a real shot that was not renewed yet. Reality wise, ABC has ordered a season second of True Beauty, likely for midseason with The Bachelor.

CBS:
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: NCIS: Legend (wt), The Good Wife.
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: Accidentally on Purpose, Waiting to Die
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Three Rivers, Washington Field
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Happiness Isn't Everything
No Shot: A Marriage, Big D, The Karenskys
Possible On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: The Unit, Flashpoint, Old Christine, Cold Case, Rules of Engagement, Gary Unmarried, Without a Trace
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Eleventh Hour
Comments: CBS is tight-lipped. No official pick-ups at all. Just the buzz is that NCIS spin-of and The Good Wife are locks to being picked-up drama wise., with Three Rivers, Miami Trauma, and Washington Field also in the running. But usually with CBS something comes out of left field on the day of the upfront. Comedy wise, it's the same thing as dramas, no official pick-ups, but Accidentally on Purpose and Waiting to Die are heating up in buzz with Happiness Isn't Everything also on the radar. As for current series that were not renewed yet, only Ghost Whisperer got officially renewed, as there was word it could have been moved to ABC since CBS didn't want to pay full license fees. Cold Case, Gary Unmarried, Flashpoint, Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, The Unit, and Without a Trace are still not picked-up. What will make the cut? I don't think all of these will make it. Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, Survivor and Two and a Half Men have no worries along with Ghost Whisperer since they were officially renewed, and CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, The Mentalist, NCIS, NUMB3RS are locks for a pick-up of course. Everything else is gone including Eleventh Hour.

NBC:
Picked-Up Dramas: Trauma, Parenthood, Day One, Mercy. (all confirmed)
Picked-Up Sitcoms: Community, 100 Questions. (all confirmed)
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Off Duty
No Shot: Adler/Hurwitz Project, Legally Mad, Lost & Found
Bubble Current Series Renewals: Chuck, Law & Order, Medium
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: My Name is Earl
Comments: NBC's pick-ups came at infront on May 4, so we have nothing new to report really. It's just the on the bubble current series we still need to know. It is looking good for Chuck, Medium, and Law & Order but My Name is Earl looks like will be canceled. Medium is being reported it was renewed, but that is unofficial. Can we expect another new series or two to be picked-up on Tuesday when NBC announced the schedule? Yes, but the only other option really is off-beat comedy Off Duty, since NBC passed on the other pilots. The only thing we really need to see for NBC is a schedule and the one I predicted could very well be something similar.

FOX:
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: Human Target, Glee, Past Life. (all confirmed)
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: Brothers, Sons of Tucson, The Cleveland Show. (all confirmed)
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Maggie Hill
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: None
No Shot: Absolutely Fabulous, $2 Beer, Eva Adams
On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Dollhouse
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Comments: Fox is also pretty much set in terms of new series pick-ups. For dramas, they will launch Glee this Tuesday for a sneak peek, and have picked-up Human Target and Past Life.
Maggie Hill is probably the only other drama that could see a pick-up on the day of the upfront. Comedy wise, Fox is actually picking-up two live-action comedies, but they could be held for midseason. Brothers and Sons of Tucson are the comedies, they join animated comedy The Cleveland Show which will for sure be in the fall on Sunday nights. No other new comedies will be picked-up. Fox also has a few seasons of 'Til Death they could use at some point. In a surprise move, Fox renewed Dollhouse for 13 episodes and it will likely remain on Fridays this fall. The series has terrible ratings, so I don't understand this move. Dollhouse's pick-up means death for Sarah Connor Chronicles. And Fox has thrown us a wildcard. They have picked-up a fall version of So You Think You Can Dance. It will likely launch after the World Series, I would guess, as Hell's Kitchen's summer version will spill into the fall. It's just an actual schedule for Fox we need now. Fox also ordered reality series Someone's Gotta Go for next season, not sure if it is fall or midseason.

The CW:
Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries
Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: The Beautiful Life, The Body Politic, Gossip Girl: Lily
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: None.
No Shot: Perhaps Light Years
Possible On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Privileged, The Game
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Everybody Hates Chris, Reaper
Comments: The CW is the last network to go at upfront, so they have not announced official pick-ups just yet. Melrose Place and Vampire Diaries are a lock it seems for fall. With Beautiful Life, Body Politic, and Lily battling for mid-season or a third slot in the fall. On the bubble current shows Privileged and The Game are also battling for a slot. What won't make the cut? I think The Game looks like the odd show out. Lily also could be out, but they should order 6 episodes only just in case they need it come midseason. Still too early for The CW, should know more during the week.

Check back periodically as we get more updates all-weekend long! I don't sleep during upfronts week!

Join us all next week (May 18-21) bright and early for the fall schedules. I assure you we will be among the first ones to post the fall line-ups for each network. Fox will be first on Monday, it'll be interesting how they schedule shows now that So You Think You Can Dance is coming in the fall as well.


And now back to our regularly scheduled blog programming:

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we have we take a look at Warner Home Video's animated series Freakazoid! - Season 2. Freakazoid! was an animated series on Kids' WB. See Seth Thrasher's Blog DVD review of Freakazoid! - Season 2:

Freakazoid! - Season 2 (Warner, $26.98) is on DVD for the first time, and you'd have to be crazy not to buy it! Contained in this amazing bundle of plastics and fibers and metals that makes up this DVD set are the final eleven episodes of one of the craziest, and funniest, and most overall enjoyable cartoons I've ever had the pleasure to view. And, as one of the twelve people known to have watched the show when it originally aired in The WB's Saturday morning cartoon block in the mid-90s, I can speak with great aplomb as to what a quality show you're getting with your money.
The season starts off with a bang, with Dexter actually managing to get a date with Steff, only to have the Lobe interfere and potentially blow it. The fun with Freakazoid & the Lobe continues into his next adventure on the next show, when it's Freakazoid's birthday -- which, per the Superhero Codebook, means *he* has to do favors for the others. This sets up a scenario in which every last other superhero is out of town, and Lobe has a plan. The crazy hits keep coming all season, with Freakazoid getting bogged down at a sci-fi convention, Steff getting turned to stone, and so much more madness. In the amazing series finale, Lobe figures out how to destroy Freakazoid once and for all -- but to do so he needs to build his evil device out of wood. Having no talent, he kidnaps master carpenter Norm Abram (This Old House), who voices himself in the strangest cartoon guest appearance ever. Knowing this is the end, the show goes out with a bang making for an enjoyable 22 minutes in one of the most enjoyable series ever. Really, though, how can you go wrong with a cartoon that had recurring voice actors like Ed Asner and Ricardo Montalban -- not to mention the best host in late night TV, Craig Ferguson. Also appearing this season in a guest spot is Leonard Maltin.
Since it's not yet possible to stream these episodes directly into your brain, there must well be packaging that the episodes arrive on. And oh, what wonderful packaging it is. Millions of carbon and hydrogen atoms bonded together just for the benefit of this amazing *HARD plastic!* case. Their sacrifice makes it possible for you to effectively store your DVD set on a shelf near you. The artwork features a giant picture of America's 7th favorite blue skinned superhero pointing to himself and smiling. I'd be happy too if *I* had superpowers so it'd be quite a disappointment to find him unhappy. Background of the artwork is green and features a computer chip-like design, heavily stylized for the purposes of cartoons. Rear cover features more green fun, only this time...Freakazoid has a jetpack! Disc art features more green, with Freakazoid doing a little flexing on disc 1, with Lobe doing some flexing of his own on disc 2. Interior package art features the disc one information, Freakazoid, and Fan Boy on the left panel, with all the villains hiding behind the 2nd disc (the one with Lobe on it).
With a cartoon from the mid-1990s, you're unfortunately not going to get 3D stereovision with 17.2 panaural sound...partially because I just made both things up. What you do get is an animated picture mostly free of defects. I did detect some compression artifacts around the lines on the picture, but I was sitting two feet from a 32" HDTV when doing so. For normal use you're probably not going to notice anything amiss. More importantly, you get 5.1 surround sound. Because of the wonderful musical accompaniment that comes with mid 1990s Warner cartoons, the 5.1 surround sound is wonderfully appreciated, and during a few scenes in the cartoon is enough to make you melt. The chapter stops stop chapters. More importantly than that, they're located after the episode's opening titles, as well as after each act -- where commercial breaks would normally be placed.
When we say special features, we're not implying these features should be riding the short bus, it means that they're a bonus, above and beyond the call of DVD duty. First up is "A Full Season's Worth of Commentaries (in Five Minutes or Less)"and features the creative minds behind the show talking about the season, what went into it, and all the other sorts of things you'd expect. Ideally it would have been nice to do actual commentaries, but pressed for time this is certainly better than a kick in the pants. There's also the demo version of the music to the Hello, Dolly parody Bonjour Lobey -- it's good stuff worth a listen. The true highlight is probably the final feature (say that 81,931 times fast) -- a look into the making of the show's final episode. The feature runs nearly the length of a full episode, and taking a similar tone as the series explores the workings of the last episode.
Let's be serious for a minute. For the basis of pure enjoyment, season one is honestly the better of the two in my opinion. The episodes are just...funnier. But season two is still better than the vast, vast majority of cartoons. Since this set is already out, hopefully you already own it. If you don't already own it, then hopefully you started the order process while reading this review -- I know you can multi-task, come on. If not, you should probably do so now. The review will still be here when you get back. There is probably even a link to buy it below. Needless to say, I recommend this set.

-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
(4.5/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Freakazoid! TV.com Page

SitcomsOnline.com 2009-10 Upfront Preview: CBS; RTN Now in Boston, Denver, Houston, Dallas, etc.

CBS hardly ever changes anything drastically, so I expect more of the same from them. However, I think the Wednesday comedies are on the way to Sundays.
Here is the SitcomsOnline.com CBS 2009-10 preview:

New Series Already Picked-Up: The Bridge (midseason drama)
New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: The Good Wife (drama), NCIS: Legend (wt, drama), Happiness Isn't Everything (sitcom), Waiting to Die (sitcom) and Washington Field (drama).
New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: Accidentally on Purpose (sitcom) and Three Rivers (drama)

OUR FALL 2009 PREDICTION:

Sundays
7:00PM 60 Minutes
8:00PM The Amazing Race
9:00PM Rules of Engagement
9:30PM Happiness Isn't Everything (NEW!)
10:00PM Cold Case

Mondays
8:00PM The Big Bang Theory
8:30PM How I Met Your Mother
9:00PM Two and a Half Men
9:30PM Waiting to Die (NEW!)
10:00PM CSI: Miami

Tuesdays
8:00PM Navy NCIS
9:00PM The Mentalist
10:00PM The Good Wife (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM NCIS: Legend (wt) (NEW!)
9:00PM Criminal Minds
10:00PM CSI: NY

Thursdays
8:00PM Survivor
9:00PM CSI
10:00PM Washington Field (NEW!)

Fridays
8:00PM Ghost Whisperer
9:00PM Flashpoint
10:00PM NUMB3RS

Saturdays
8:00PM Crime Repeats
9:00PM Crime Repeats
10:00PM 48 Hours Mystery

Comments: CBS is the number one network in total viewers. They rely heavily on crime dramas and we can expect that to continue. That makes them older skewing, and I think they are trying to go younger, especially with younger skewing comedies. I'll dissect night by night on what I think they will do. Their Monday sitcom block will likely have one new comedy, Waiting to Die is a contender for the post Two and a Half Men slot, as a single camera comedy didn't work at all this season in Worst Week.
As for Tuesday, the combo of NCIS and The Mentalist will likely remain and not be messed with, but they could try a new drama instead of Without a Trace, something like The Good Wife. I would have Trace return in midseason for its final season and be placed where needed.
For Wednesdays, instead of opening the night with two sitcoms the NCIS spinoff series would be lethal if it is anything like the original. I don't think CBS will move Criminal Minds or CSI: NY, as they are solid.
CBS Thursdays will have to change since nothing post CSI worked particularly well at 10pm this season. CBS could go with drama Washington Field following CSI. Survivor would likely remain at 8pm, but there is talk of it moving to Sunday or even Wednesday.
Fridays will likely remain the same with Ghost Whisperer and NUMB3RS opening and closing the night with Flashpoint in the middle. CBS could try the picked-up Canadian crime series The Bridge at some point after Whisperer.
Saturdays would still have crime repeats and 48 Hours Mystery at 10pm.
And as for Sundays, CBS always gets screwed with the sports run-over (especially in the fall with the NFL) and they usually are in 30-40 minute delays or even more for the entire country except the west coast. I keep suggesting they just shorten 60 Minutes, or it will kill a new show if they launch one on Sundays, which I think they will this year. I think Amazing Race will be back at 8pm...but maybe for just one cycle. CBS could try to open a second night of comedy on this night. Rules of Engagement and new Jason Biggs sitcom Happiness Isn't Everything would air in the 9pm hour (though there are reports this sitcom won't be until midseason), bumping Cold Case to 10pm to better close the night. Once Amazing Race ends, in January they can bring back Old Christine and try a new similar comedy as well, with the Jenna Elfman comedy Accidentally on Purpose the perfect fit. So come January, CBS could have sitcoms from 8-10pm. I think it is a better night to try comedy for CBS than Wednesdays.
Series canceled or I think will be canned include The Ex List, Worst Week, Harper's Island, Eleventh Hour, Million Dollar Password, The Unit. I think CBS will bring back Old Christine for mid-season, as mentioned...and they could slot Gary Unmarried in some slot that needs help (perhaps Sundays). Without a Trace also will be on call to replace anything that fails in midseason. It's time for CBS to cut its ties with The Unit. CBS also has two reality series that have been picked-up to series: Arranged Marriage and There Goes the Neighborhood. I would guess they air in midseason or even next summer. I already mentioned I think the Jenna Elfman sitcom Accidentally on Purpose would go to Sundays in midseason as it goes perfectly with Old Christine, and CBS will likely pick-up a medical drama, likely Three Rivers...perhaps replacing Cold Case in January?

Remember, next Wednesday (May 20) is the actual date when we will find out CBS's plans for the 2009-10 season. So, come on back next Wednesday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned tomorrow for a preview on The CW's upfront.
Discuss your thoughts on our prediction and feel free to make suggestions of your own!


We haven't given you Retro Television Network (RTN) news in awhile, so I'm going to try and catch you all up news on all new affiliates in the past few months. It's an RTN round-up, so saddle up! RTN announced that it has reached an agreement with WMFP in Boston to put RTN on both the digital and primary feed. The station which had been airing infomercials and other paid programming will become a full time RTN affiliate within the next two weeks. According to RTN's Neal Ardman "we could not have a better affiliate. RTN will transform WMFP from an all infomercial station to a station that families all over the Boston DMA can enjoy with great shows like Quincy and The Rockford Files." RTN will provide WMFP with a 24/7 custom network feed from its studios in Tennessee.
Retro Television Network has also announced its newest affiliate will be KCDO in Denver, CO. KCDO is a full power station serving the Denver DMA. RTN's Neal Ardman said "we are thrilled to add KCDO to the growing list of RTN affiliates using RTN as their primary channel."
Johnson Broadcasting's independent KNWS Houston, will offer Retro Television Network's programming lineup of classic TV shows on a digital subchannel very soon. Houston is the 10th largest DMA in the nation.
Also, Johnson Broadcasting's independent KLDT Dallas, will offer Retro Television Network's programming lineup of classic TV shows on a digital subchannel. Dallas is the 5th largest DMA in the nation.
Welcome Back, Buffalo! WGRZ-TV has confirmed that the Gannett-owned station has a deal with the Retro Television Network (RTN) to carry it on a third digital channel once the necessary equipment arrives in Buffalo, NY. The Buffalo market was the most interested in the return of RTN since it was dumped from WNGS-TV, the station that was recently purchased at an Equity auction by a religious station group based in Dallas.
And another welcome back is in story for Little Rock, AR. In Little Rock, RTN says it will return to the state capital by July 1 and as an affiliate of Allbritton Communications KATV. KATV is one of five Allbritton Communications stations that has chosen to air RTN and its classic TV lineup on a digital subchannel. KATV's primary network is ABC.
KSLM-TV (Salem, OR), the Salem area's newest television station, is pleased to announce it has also reached an affiliation agreement with Retro Television Network. KSLM-TV is free to over-the-air viewers, and can be seen on DTV channel 17-2. View their schedule.
Wow, I think that is it! If not, I'll let you know as soon as I do. RTN is growing everyday, so I urge you to view their full list of affiliates, so you don't miss it in your area. I'm still hoping it comes to the #1 market of NYC soon, so I can enjoy it as well.
RTN was founded in 2005 and has deals covering over 65% of the U.S. RTN provides custom feeds for most markets allowing the stations to be a part of programming process. With great shows like Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica and Quincy RTN has become a viewer favorite quickly.

TV One June 2009 Adds Two Sitcoms; Network Notes Includes Obama Address; Hogan Family Interview

The weather is getting warmer out there in most of the country, so we are going to look ahead all this week to the month of June! Yes, May is still on the horizon but we here at SitcomsOnline like to plan ahead, which I'm sure you all like! We start out our "June schedule week" with plans for TV One June 2009! And they will add two new sitcoms to its regular line-up! On Monday, June 8 at 7:30pm, a new comedy joins the TV One prime-time line-up. The Holly Robinson-Peete short-lived family sitcom Like Family takes over the weeknights at 7:30pm timeslot to add some fresh laughs in the comedy zone. Like Family (2003-04) is a sitcom about two families -- one black, one white -- who share the same house and work together to overcome their differences to create a home.
Also joining the line-up on Monday, June 8 will be the classic '70s sitcom That's My Mama! We told you previously the show will have a special Mother's Day marathon on May 10, but now it is ALSO joining the weekday line-up as well a few weeks later! Mama and her family will air weekdays at 5:00pm kicking off the early evening sitcom line-up.
Due to these two new additions, there are quite a few changes to the weekday line-up. In the weekdays at 6am hour we now get Divorce Court, replacing Amen. At 7am Living It Up with Patti LaBelle replaces an episode of All About the Andersons, but that slides to 7:30am replacing Comics Unleashed. In the 8am hour, we now get two episodes of Amen, replacing an episode each of Comics Unleashed and Sharp Talk with Al Sharpton. The 9am and 10am hours remain the same with original encores. Weekdays in the 11am hour will now be Half & Half replacing original encores. The daytime marathons continue from 12pm-3pm, while Divorce Court's afternoon airings are moved in the 3pm hour replacing Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes. The Tom Joyner Show will air in the 4pm hour replacing Divorce Court. Then the sitcom line-up starts at 5pm as we mentioned with That's My Mama replacing Good Times at 5pm, followed still by Sanford & Son at 5:30pm, and Good Times at 6pm. Not to worry, the 5pm Good Times is now at 6:30pm replacing Half & Half. All of Us replace Eve at 7pm, and the aforementioned Like Family launches at 7:30pm replacing another Half & Half. Then we still have Martin and Living Single in the 8pm hour, followed by another Living Single a 9pm, but now 9:30pm will be Half & Half instead of All of Us. Back-to-back episodes of The Jeffersons remain in the 10pm hour, while Martin and Sanford & Son still share the 11pm hour. The late night schedule also gets a bit of a change, at 12 midnight we now have Eve instead of another Jeffersons, while at 12:30am we have Living Single instead of Good Times. 1-3am will still feature a movie. Then the really late schedule also gets changed, in the 3am hour will be The Jeffersons and Martin instead of back-to-back Living Single. At 4am Half & Half remains, but the 4:30am Half & Half is replaced with Martin! And finally the 5am hour will still have Get the Hookup. So that's the entire schedule! We still have highlights to give though.
On Saturday, June 20 beginning at 12 Noon (following the Saturday morning sitcom block from 6am-12pm) through 8pm (with an encore from 12am-6am), Our Music Month is in full effect as TV One presents the "Half & Half: Must Be the Music" marathon consisting of episodes of the sitcom with guest appearances from some of the music industry greats including DMX, Tyrese Gibson, Musiq Soulchild, Faith Evans, MC Lyte, Ginuwine, Eric Benet, and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.
On Sunday, June 21 beginning at 3pm through 8pm (encores from 2am-6am), TV One airs a Fathers Day tribute in the form of an "All of Us: Fathers Day" marathon consisting of episodes of the family sitcom dealing with father/son episodes and situations of characters Robert and his son Bobby.
Finally, yes this is in July, but technically it part of June for TV One. On Friday, July 3 beginning at 8pm, the zany antics of Martin Payne will keep viewers in stitches as TV One presents the "Martin: Independence Day" mega-thon, a 24-hour laugh-a-thon consisting of some of the funniest and most talked about episodes of the sitcom Martin featuring comedian Martin Lawrence in some of his classic best moments and alter-ego character.
It is certainly going to be fun in the sun this June on TV One!

We have a lot of network notes for you. We announced them all on our message board yesterday, but we want to put it all in one space in case you missed it. President Obama is having a news conference live on Wednesday at 8pm ET for an hour. This means yet again the networks have to scramble and juggle programming. ABC and CBS had to change the most, especially CBS. We'll start with ABC, though. In the eastern and central time zones, Scrubs and Better Off Ted have to be preempted because of the Obama news conference. Everything else will air as normal, including the 100th episode of Lost at 9/8 central. In the mountain time zone, the news conference is at 6pm MT, so that won't affect primetime programming. Scrubs and Ted will follow at 7pm MT but will be repeats though since they are not airing in the east/central zones. Same goes for Pacific. Repeats of Scrubs and Ted will air at 8pm PT. Because of this change, ABC will move the planned new episodes of Scrubs and Ted to a special night of Tuesday, May 5 in the 8pm ET/PT hour replacing two episodes of According to Jim. Poor Jim has had so many preemptions already and won't get to air its finale in the season now. Four episodes got preempted so ABC will have to air those sometime in the summer. Jim is still airing tonight and as of now on May 12. I would just pull it on May 12 and bring it back in the summer for its final 6 episodes. We'll let you know what happens to Jim. View the changes in a list form.
Moving on to CBS, they will have more changes than anyone. They also will air the Presidential News Conference on Wednesday at 8pm ET. In the eastern and central time zones, special airing of Rules of Engagement and Old Christine at a special time, will have to be preempted because of the Obama news conference. Everything else will air as normal on this night. In the mountain time zone, the news conference is at 6pm MT, so that won't affect primetime programming. Old Christine and Gary Unmarried will follow at 7pm MT but will be repeats though since they are not airing in the east/central zones. Same goes for Pacific. Repeats of Old Christine and Gary will air at 8pm PT. In other changes, CBS has pulled Harper's Island out of the Thursdays at 10pm slot effective immediately. A repeat of Criminal Minds will air this Thursday (April 30), followed by a repeat of CSI on May 7. And on May 14, the final Thursday of the regular season, will see the season finale of CSI NY on a special night! Programming for the 10pm hour for the summer season, effective May 21, is to be announced right now. As for Harper's Island, it will be still on the air...it will be moved to Saturdays at 9pm replacing crime repeats. The series will air from May 2 through July 11, except on May 16 a special Mentalist repeat will air. And because of the Obama news conference on April 29, the sitcoms get affected. The Rules of Engagement special night and time is now on May 13 at 8pm, followed by a new Old Christine at a special time of 8:30pm. Because of that the season finales of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, which were slated for May 13, will now be May 20 against American Idol. And the two-part Criminal Minds season finale on May 20 moves from 8-10pm to 9-11pm, since the CSI NY finale at 10pm has been moved to Thursday, May 14. Besides the Harper's Island changes, all of these changes are because of the news conference! View the changes in a list form.
NBC is not really affected by this. NBC will air the Presidential News Conference at 8PM ET this Wednesday (April 29). A Law & Order repeat was scheduled in that slot. In the Mountain and Pacific time zones they will get Dateline at 7pm MT and 8pm PT instead of the Law & Order repeat. Why not just air the repeat there? No big loss for NBC.
Fox announced it is NOT airing the news conference! They will have a little scroll on the bottom saying you can watch it on Fox News Channel or Fox Business Channel. They will air an all-new episode of Lie to Me as scheduled. This is the first time Obama's conferences have been not aired by one of the big four. But they are making some changes to Sundays. Effective this Sunday (May 2), new animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up is being banished to 7pm replacing the American Dad! encore, which moves to 7:30pm. So this means King of the Hill moves from 7:30 back to its old 8:30pm slot for new episodes! This is not good news at all for Sit Down, Shut Up, which only after two airings has not done well in the ratings. 3 more episodes are left, as Fox is only airing 5 of the 13 for some reason. View these changes in a list form.

It went through three names, two leading ladies, and two networks, yet The Hogan Family managed to last six seasons and is well remembered as one of the great family sitcoms of the '80s. Our good friend Eric is back with another retro interview on his wonderful interview website, JustMyShow.com! Listen to on and off camera insight as Eric hangs out with Mark Hogan himself, Jeremy Licht! For six seasons, Jeremy Licht played the role of Mark Hogan on The Hogan Family. His other credits include the ABC TV movie The Comeback Kid starring John Ritter and appearances on TV hits such as St. Elsewhere and Hotel. These days, he spends his time working as a financial advisor with his company JL Capital Management. It is a very fun interview and Eric also has a bonus clip of him asking Jeremy on when on earth the Hogan Family is coming to DVD?! Life is such a sweet insanity, indeed! Head on over to Just My Show to listen to this new great interview!

CBS Season Finale Dates, Time Shifts; ABC Family Upfront, Sister Sister Reunion on Roommates April 13

CBS has announced its season finale dates for its regular season programming. But before that, they have scheduled a couple of special encores and special airings.
On Monday, April 20 at 10:00PM we get a special encore of The Mentalist at a special night & time. Then on Tuesday, April 21, at 8:00PM we get a special encore of The Big Bang Theory on a special night followed by a special encore of Two and a Half Men at 8:30PM on a special night & time. This means NCIS and The Mentalist will move to special times of 9PM and 10PM on this date only, but they will be encores as well, preempting a scheduled repeat of Without a Trace. Then the next night, on Wednesday, April 22 at 9:00PM will now be a repeat of Criminal Minds instead of a new one, but the scheduled new episode will now be at a special time of 10:00PM on the same night, preempting CSI: NY, which was scheduled to be all-new, too. Why are they trying all this? Not sure, could it be tests to see how they do in other timeslots?
That's not all! On Monday, May 18 at 8:00PM we get a special all-new episode of Rules of Engagement at a special time. The show will also air in its
its normal 9:30pm time on this date as well, which is the season finale. Earlier this week I was wondering where its 13th episode would be placed, now we got that answer with that special 8PM slot on May 18. And we also got our answer of what will air on Wednesday, May 20 at 8:00PM since Old Christine/Gary Unmarried would be finished by May 13. A special all-new Criminal Minds will air at a special time, which is part one of the season finale, leading into part two at its regular 9:00PM time.
OK, now lets move on to the CBS season finale dates. Cold Case has a two-part finale airing on two weeks, Sunday, May 3 and Sunday, May 10 at 9PM. Sunday, May 10 also as the season finales of The Amazing Race at 8PM and The Unit at 10PM. The next night, Monday, May 11, The Big Bang Theory wraps up its 24-episode season with a season finale at 8PM. On Wednesday, May 13, as we previously stated, Old Christine & Gary Unmarried have their season finales at 8:00PM & 8:30PM. The next night, Thursday, May 14, will be the season finale of CSI at 9PM. The next night, Friday, May 15, will have the season conclusions of all the Friday shows: Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint, and NUMB3RS. On Sunday, May 17, CBS hands the night over to the finale of Survivor: Tocantins from 8-10PM, followed by the Reunion Show. On Monday, May 18, we have the season finales of How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, and CSI: Miami from 8:30-11PM. On Tuesday, May 19
, the Tuesday crime dramas all have their finales: NCIS, The Mentalist, and Without a Trace from 8-11PM. On the final day of the season, Wednesday, May 20, we have a two-hour season finale of Criminal Minds from 8-10PM, followed by the season finale of CSI: NY at 10PM. There you have it, all the CBS finale dates in the regular season!

Earlier this week ABC Family announced their 2009 summer schedule and fall/winter premieres at its Upfront presentation in New York. The network's slate includes three new original series, returning hits, original movies and blockbuster theatrical acquisitions. The network finished 2008 as its best year on record, and the first quarter of 2009 just wrapped as the best quarter in its history.
Make It or Break It is a one-hour scripted drama, created and written by Holly Sorensen. Sorenson and Paul Stupin serve as executive producers. The pilot was directed by Steve Miner. Set in the world of competitive gymnastics, Make It or Break It follows a group of teen Olympic hopefuls as they train and prepare for their day in the spotlight. The cast includes Peri Gilpin and Candace Cameron Bure both make a return to series television in starring roles. Make It or Break It premieres Monday, June 22 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. ABC Family has ordered 10 episodes.
Then we have two new original comedies. 10 Things I Hate About You is a half-hour, single-cam comedy with director Gil Junger (who also directed the feature film of the same name) and executive producer and writer Carter Covington. Inspired by the hit movie, the Stratford sisters, Kat (Lindsey Shaw) and Bianca (Meaghan Jette Martin), are two very different people, which is evident as they start at their new high school with very contradictory goals. Kat is a strong-willed, in-your-face feminist looking to save the world and get out of high school as fast as she can. Bianca is a social butterfly carefully maneuvering the minefield of high school popularity. Can each sister find happiness after getting off to a very rocky start at new school Padua High? The original series will also star Larry Miller, who reprises his film role as the girls' over-protective father, and Ethan Peck (grandson of Gregory Peck) has been cast in the role of 'Patrick' (portrayed by Heath Ledger in the 1999 film). 10 Things I Hate About You premieres on Tuesday, July 7 at 8:00PM ET/PT. ABC Family has also ordered 10 episodes for this series.
Ruby & the Rockits is an ABC Studios half-hour multi-cam comedy executive-produced by Shaun Cassidy and Marsh McCall. Ruby & the Rockits follows Patrick Gallagher, a former teen idol who has chosen to lead a quiet life with his wife and two sons. But when his former Rockits band mate and brother, David, shows up unexpectedly with his new-found teenage daughter in tow, the Gallagher family's life becomes anything but normal. David, who refuses to give up his past glory days, comes to Patrick for help in raising Ruby while he continues to perform. Patrick must now put the past with David behind them in order to help raise Ruby and keep order within the rest of the Gallagher clan. The pilot was directed by Ted Wass. Alexa Vega, Katie Amanda Keane, Austin Butler, Kurt Doss , and former teen idol David Cassidy star. Ruby & the Rockits premieres on Tuesday, July 21 at 8:30PM ET/PT with a 10 episode order.
ABC Family thus far hasn't had much success with original sitcoms Roommates and Sophie, so we don't know if we will see more of those yet. Speaking of Roommates, Tim Reid guest stars this Monday, which marks a mini Sister, Sister reunion! Reid once again will play the father of Tamera Mowry, who plays Hope on the sitcom. Hope relies on more fabrications when her father shows up in "The Break-In," an all-new episode of Roommates, premiering on ABC Family on Monday, April 13 at 9:00PM ET/PT with guest star Tim Reid (Sister, Sister). Hope's father (Reid) comes to town for a surprise visit and quickly realizes that his daughter's life is in shambles and decides it is time for her to move home. In an effort to prove that her life isn't as big a mess as he thinks, she ropes Mark into pretending to be her boyfriend. She may not have a great job, but she is in "love." Can Mark use his acting skills to help Hope pull off yet another one of her lies or will Hope be on her way home with her father when all is said and done?
Additionally, three of the network's one-hour original series will mark their returns: The one number hit series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which finished the first quarter of 2009 as cable's No. 1 original series in Viewers 12-34 and Females 12-34, will launch its second season on Monday, June 22, at 8:00PM ET/PT. 12 of the 24 episodes for the season will air in 12 straight weeks, with the midseason finale on Sept. 7. The critically acclaimed and NAACP Image Award-winning Lincoln Heights will premiere its fourth season on Tuesday, August 4 at 9:00PM ET/PT for 10 more episodes. And the third season of Greek will premiere on Monday, September 14 at 8:00PM ET/PT. Currently Greek is finishing up its second season order, which concludes on June 1, before 10 more episodes come in September for season three.
As far as movies go, Warner Bros. Pictures' Academy Award-winning (Best Animated Feature Film) Happy Feet will make its basic cable premiere on ABC Family in June 2009 (after making its broadcast debut on Friday, May 8 on ABC). The film features the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving and Anthony LaPaglia.
The network will also present the original movie premiere of Labor Pains, starring Lindsay Lohan, on Sunday, July 19 at 8:00PM ET/PT. Chris Parnell, Cheryl Hines, Luke Kirby, Kevin Covais and Janeane Garofalo also star. Legally Blondes, will be premiering on Sunday, August 2 at 8:00PM. Actress Jenny McCarthy will star in the network's new original holiday movie, Santa Baby 2, with Paul Sorvino and Dean McDermott. The movie will premiere in December during ABC Family's 12th annual "25 Days of Christmas" programming event which will feature over 200 hours of holiday-themed entertainment for the whole family from December 1- 25. In addition to Santa Baby 2, the network will feature classic holiday favorites such as Rudolph's Shiny New Year, Frosty's Winter Wonderland and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. ABC Family will also present the basic cable premieres of DisneyPIXAR's Academy Award-winning (Best Animated Feature Film) RATATOUILLE and Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. And again this year, Christmas comes early with "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas," which adds 16 additional days of holiday programming.
There were no sitcom or off-network series acquisitions details, so looks like nothing major is coming...or it is not ready to be announced yet.

CBS Schedules Wednesday Rules of Engagement Airing; The CW's Two Summer Series

Yesterday we gave you updates on ABC, NBC, and Fox, so we just have to give some updates for you on CBS and The CW, right? CBS has announced that it will air the sitcom Rules of Engagement on a special night and time on Wednesday, April 29 at 8:00pm ET/PT. That will bump the regularly scheduled episode of Old Christine to 8:30pm, preempting Gary Unmarried all together for the night. May sweeps starts on April 23, so these episodes will be all-new. In fact, Rules of Engagement will be all-new also on its regular night and time that week (Monday, April 27 at 9:30pm).
So why is CBS doing this? It could be a test to see if Rules of Engagement can anchor an hour on its own and to see if it works with Old Christine. Or it could be because they are just lining episodes up so all episodes of the sitcoms, all fit in. Old Christine has a 22 episode order, while Gary Unmarried has 20...so both will now be in sync to have their season finales on May 13, but we are not sure how many Rules of Engagement episodes they have ordered. 12 are scheduled from what we can see, so possibly only 12, with the season finale on May 18. OR if they have 13 episodes, they could schedule the season finale on the last night of the season on Wednesday, May 20 at 8pm (since the Wednesday comedies will finish the week before)? We shall see.

The CW announced today that it will launch two original series for the summer: the reality relationship series Hitched or Ditched and the docu-series set in Washington, D.C., Blonde Charity Mafia. Hitched or Ditched premieres Tuesday, May 26 from 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, following the season finale of Reaper from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET. Encore presentations will air Wednesdays from9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, beginning May 27. The six-episode run will continue until the season finale on Tuesday, June 30. The series is a one-hour reality show focusing on couples who are in long-term relationships but have not yet taken that big leap into marriage. The show is produced by RDF USA in association with Next Entertainment. The executive producers are Mike Fleiss, Chris Coelen, Greg Goldman, Mike Duffy and Jason Ehrlich. Mike Fleiss is having series left and right. The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, High School Reunion, and the upcoming The Cougar for TV Land and More to Love for Fox. So Fleiss this summer will have The Bachelorette on ABC Mondays from end of May to mid-July, Hitched or Ditched on The CW Tuesdays from end of May to end of June, More to Love on Fox Tuesdays starting at the end of July, and The Cougar on TV Land Wednesdays from mid-April to early June. Wow that is a lot of shows and The Bachelor's latest season just ended in early March and High School Reunion's latest season is about to end this week!
The half-hour episodes of Blonde Charity Mafia will premiere with two back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, July 7 from 9:00-9:30 and 9:30-10:00 p.m. ET. Beginning July 14, an encore of the previous week's episode will air at 9:00 p.m., followed by an original episode at 9:30 p.m. The six episodes will conclude with a season finale on Tuesday, August 4. The series is a docu-series about the lives of Washington, D.C.'s most influential 20-something Alpha Girls. The series is from Capital Hills Productions, Inc. with executive producers Patty Ivins and Julie Pizzi.

Retroality.TV Interviews Joyce DeWitt and...Me; CBS/Warner Bros. Officially Renew Big Bang, Men for Multiple Seasons; Sci Fi Renames to Syfy

Our buddy Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has put up his March 2009 cover story and it is a great one, like usual. This time he goes one-on-one with Joyce DeWitt...yes, Janet Wood from Three's Company! Chris talks to Joyce about a lot of different things and they are all interesting. See what Joyce has to say about John Ritter, when she last saw him, her feud with Suzanne Somers, friendship with Priscilla Barnes & the late Don Knotts, her stage roots with Richard Kline, the NBC Three's Company tell-all movie, her spiritual journey, and her upcoming projects (which includes stage work and two upcoming movies). And she talks in detail about those topics and much more topics. It's a nice three-part interview and you will find yourself reading every word and the time will just breeze by. It is a great read, and I urge you all you to read it. It starts off on the cover page on Retroality.TV, and continues on part two and part three.
That is not all for March! Chris has a few other new features and interviews, including an interview with ME! He interviewed me for my Jack's Bistro Three's Company website. How odd does it feel going from Joyce to me? But I am honored to be in great company! I talk to Chris about how I started the website, what my inspiration was, my favorite Three's Company episodes, John Ritter, the Suzanne-Joyce feud, and more! Check out me being interviewed by the great Chris Mann! And if you missed it back in October, both Todd and I were interviewed by Chris for SitcomsOnlline, so check that out, too, if you missed it.
All this is just in time for Three's Company's 32nd anniversary, which was on Sunday (March 15). Has it really been 32 years? I remember the 25th anniversary in 2002 and that didn't feel like too long ago. Chris says "more coming soon" so we cannot wait for that! We'll let you know what that is when he posts it! So 'Come and Knock on Retroality.TV's Door' today!

CBS Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television have reached a multi-year broadcast agreement for the hit comedy series Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. The agreement renews television's Number One comedy, Two and a Half Men, through the 2011-2012 season, and one of television's fastest-growing series, The Big Bang Theory, through the 2010-2011 season.
The ratings success of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory has helped establish CBS's Monday night as the Number One comedy block on television. This season, CBS's Monday night comedy lineup is up 13% in viewers, 11% in 18-49 and 9% in adults 25-54, so far.
Two and a Half Men, currently in its sixth season, is the Number One comedy in both viewers and adults 18-49, averaging 15.09 million viewers (up 14%), 5.1/11 in adults 18-49 (up 13%) and 6.3/13 in adults 25-54 (up 11%), so far.
The Big Bang Theory, in its sophomore season, is averaging 10.05 million viewers (up 20%), 3.7/10 in adults 18-49 (up 12%) and 4.4/10 in adults 24-54 (up 10%), so far.

Building upon sixteen years of water cooler programming and soaring ratings growth following its most-watched year ever, SCI FI Channel is evolving into Syfy on air and online beginning Tuesday, July 7.
By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and non-linear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.
"Imagine Greater" will become the new brand message and tagline, inviting both consumers and advertisers into a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment. Syfy more clearly captures the mainstream appeal of the world's biggest entertainment category, and reflects the network's ongoing strategy to create programming that's more accessible and relatable to new audiences. Syfy will continue to celebrate the traditional roots of the genre, while opening the brand aperture to accommodate a broader range of imagination-based entertainment.
The premiere of the new scripted drama, Warehouse 13, and the return of breakout summer series Eureka, will be launched in tandem to this new evolution. An aggressive trade marketing campaign will kick off this spring. Scifi.com will assume the URL Syfy.com at that time. As long as we see some more Mork & Mindy, who cares, right?

Detroit's WADL New Classic TV Block; Obama Preempts Programming on March 24

WADL TV-38, Detroit's Urban TV station will be adding some exceptional new programming that will include legendary favorites to the station's spring line-up. The new additions to the classic TV programs will include: I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, The Honeymooners, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith Show.
WADL TV 38 features Detroit's only local dance show Dance Party, and nationally known programming such as Cribs, American Chopper, RENO 911, Dave Chappell's Show, and Cheaters. In addition, the station already specializes in classic programming such as Good Times, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Fat Albert, The A-Team, In The Heat of the Night and up and coming to the lineup, Steve Harvey, Brian McKnight, The Brady Bunch and many others.
Currently the classic TV line-up on weekdays starting at 4PM is The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, The A-Team, The Rockford Files, Fat Albert, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, A Different World, In the Heat of the Night, Good Times, M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, and What's Happening Now!!
So, the new programming will start Monday, March 30. Weekdays starting 4PM: Fat Albert, The Brady Bunch, Beverly Hillbillies, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Sanford & Son, Fresh Prince, A Different World, The Honeymooners, In The Heat of the Night, The Jeffersons, Good Times, M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, and What's Happening Now!!

President Obama is as it again...with preempting primetime programming. This time it will be on Tuesday, March 24 at 8PM ET. I'm all for Obama, but come on this is crazy. Eastern/Central time zones will be mostly affected by this. I'll detail it by network.
First up ABC will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. So in the eastern/central time zones, the return of According to Jim will be totally preempted. Dancing with the Stars: The Results and Primetime: What Would You Do? will air as scheduled following the news conference. Out in the mountain and pacific time zones, everything will air as normally scheduled, including According to Jim...but they will be repeats instead ("The Blankie" and "Cabin Boys"). So if you're in the east/central time zones and love According to Jim, you'll have to watch the repeats on abc.com the next day, or if you get ABC onDemand on your cable system. Not sure how this will affect ABC's finale date of May 5 for According to Jim. Will it be pushed back a week or will they air two episodes on a special night to catch up? I was looking forward to the return, because Constance Marie (George Lopez) was going to guest star and the second episode was directed by Penny Marshall.
CBS will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Following the address, they will air all-new episodes of NCIS and The Mentalist at special times of 9pm and 10pm ET/PT. Without a Trace will totally be preempted. Not sure yet what will air at 8pm PT/7pm MT, but that could go back to local affiliates or CBS could air a NCIS repeat there leading into a new NCIS.
NBC will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT, pushing The Biggest Loser an hour back from 8-10pm to 9-11pm ET/PT. So, Law & Order: SVU is totally preempted. For mountain/pacific time zones at 8pm PT/7pm MT you will see a special Dateline episode leading into The Biggest Loser at a special time.
Finally, most affected by Obama is Fox. Fox will have to totally scrap a two-hour American Idol Tuesday. They will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. A House repeat will follow at 9pm ET/8pm CT. House will also air at 9pm PT/8pm MT. King of the Hill repeats will fill the hour at 8pm PT/7pm MT. The regular Tuesday installment of Idol will be moved to Wednesday 8-10pm ET/PT, so that means an episode of Lie to Me will have to be preempted that week. And the regular results of Idol Wednesday will have to be moved to Thursday, March 26 from 8-9pm ET/PT preempting Bones. Instead of this mess, couldn't Fox just have aired Idol 9-11pm ET on Tuesday and air it in its normal time in the mountain/pacific time zones instead of causing mass confusion? I know Fox doesn't schedule at 10pm, but the local affiliates wouldn't mind, I'm sure.

I'm on my way to a quick trip to Houston in literally minutes, so I'll see you back live on Sunday when I return...but please do come on by tomorrow (great story!) and Saturday (blog DVD review) as I have already done those stories for those days set to post on their own. Ain't technology grand?

CBS Comedy Change for Next Monday; Fox Notes; Remembering Ron Silver

Next Monday (Monday, March 23), CBS will preempt The Big Bang Theory for an all-new episode of How I Met Your Mother at a special time of 8:00PM ET/PT. Big Bang was scheduled to be a repeat anyway. Mother will also still air in its normal 8:30PM ET/PT on this night, but that will be a repeat broadcast. It will be interesting if CBS is seeing how strong Mother is at 8PM in comparison to Big Bang. Both comedies have been down the last two weeks thanks to the return of Dancing with the Stars. Two and a Half Men will also be a repeat at 9PM, but Rules of Engagement is all-new at 9:30PM.

Fox has removed Hole in the Wall from the schedule yet again. Effective this Sunday, Fox will now air repeats of American Dad! and King of the Hill at 7PM & 7:30PM in place of the half-hour showings of Hole in the Wall which certainly was a hole in the Sunday night schedule, perhaps effecting the animated comedies to lower numbers from 8-10PM.
In other Fox programming news, the variety series of specials, The Osbournes: Reloaded, will now launch as a 40-minute airing instead of an hour on Tuesday, March 31 from 9:20-10PM, so yes American Idol will be from 8PM-9:20PM on that night, just what we needed, more Idol. Fox has ordered six Osbournes variety specials, so each are 30-minutes, so four will remain after these two half-hours air. Not sure if Fox is cutting anything from these or if they will run with limited commercials.

Award-winning actor and activist Ron Silver, who was Emmy-nominated for his recurring role on the hit television drama The West Wing, died on Sunday after a two-year ordeal of esophageal cancer. His portrayal of White House strategist Bruno Gianelli on The West Wing was perhaps his best known part in recent years, but he earned another Emmy nomination for the murder thriller Billionaire Boys Club, a TV miniseries from 1987.
He had a recurring role on the TV hospital drama Chicago Hope and a regular role on the sitcom Veronica's Closet, and he won acclaim for playing lawyer Alan Dershowitz in the film Reversal of Fortune. Among his other TV credits include guest-starring on sitcoms such as Rhoda, Big Eddie, Trying Times, and regular roles on short-lived sitcoms The Stockard Channing Show and Baker's Dozen. He guest starred on many TV dramas as well such as The Practice, Crossing Jordan, Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Wiseguy, Hill Street Blues, The Rockford Files, McMillan & Wife and a regular role on the short-lived Skin on Fox.
He was also known for his work on Broadway. Broadway theatre bosses will dim the lights of New York's theatreland on Wednesday as a mark of respect. He won a 1988 Tony Award for his performance in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow. Theatre marquees will be dimmed for one minute at 8pm on Wednesday, which is the traditional starting time for evening performances of Broadway shows. Ron will certainly be missed. He was only 62.

Neil Patrick Harris to Host 7th TV Land Awards; M*A*S*H All-Star Weekend on TV Land; Big Bang and Men Renewed for Multiple Seasons?

Acclaimed television, stage and movie actor Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser, M.D.) has been named the host of the 7th Annual TV Land Awards. As mentioned previously, the 90-minute TV Land Awards will be taped on Sunday, April 19 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City and air in TV Land PRIME on Sunday, April 26 at 9pm ET/PT.
This year, the ninety-minute show will honor legendary artists from the entertainment industry, feature exhilarating musical performances, reunite some of the most iconic celebrity TV casts and of course, the fan favorite -- the perennial TV Land Awards parody that always highlights the year's most-talked-about events. TV Land has not yet announced any honorees, but as soon they do...we will tell you.
Read more about this and more about Neil Patrick Harris.

We continue you our TV Land news with a reminder for this weekend. Long before "Johnny" took "Baby" out of the corner in Dirty Dancing and "Opie" and "Richie Cunningham" added director extraordinaire to his résumé, Patrick Swayze and Ron Howard both paid guest visits to M*A*S*H's 4077th. On Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8 from 8pm-4am ET/PT, catch both of these stars - along with a medley of your other favorite film and television icons - on TV Land when the network becomes a virtual celebrity central during the "M*A*S*H Weekend Marathon." This twenty-four episode showcase features guest appearances by John Ritter, Laurence Fishburne, Teri Garr, Blythe Danner, Leslie Nielsen and more. Throughout the marathon, there will be no shortage of antics, pranks and escapades that still captivate viewers, making M*A*S*H one of the most successful shows ever seen on television.
Check out the schedule of episodes for this weekend!

Finally rumor has it that CBS has ordered three more seasons of TV's top sitcom Two and a Half Men and two more seasons of the red-hot sitcom The Big Bang Theory! CBS has not made it official yet, but as soon as they do, we'll let you know the specifics. Both shows are owned by Warner Bros. and produced by Chuck Loree. Remember this is just a rumor right now, and this same source was quoted in saying that Evangeline Lilly of Lost was auditioning for pilots, meaning she would be leaving the show...which was NOT true. She confirmed that last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Seinfeld To Produce Comedy-Reality Series for NBC; Fox Orders Two More Seasons Simpsons, CBS Orders Two More Editions of Survivor

NBC is proud to announce a new comedy-reality series created by superstar comedian and producer Jerry Seinfeld's Columbus 81 Productions. Mr. Seinfeld has partnered with Ellen Rakieten, a 23-year veteran of The Oprah Winfrey Show on this project. This marks Jerry Seinfeld's first regular TV venture since starring in the sitcom Seinfeld.
This new series titled The Marriage Ref (working title) will feature opinionated celebrities, comedians and sports stars who will candidly comment, judge and offer different strategies for real-life couples in the midst of a classic marital dispute.
No word yet when it will air exactly, but look for it sometime in the 2009-2010 season. More info will come soon, such as how many episodes were ordered. As of now, Jerry will create and produce the series, and not appear on it...but don't be surprised if he appears on it once or twice.

Fox has ordered two additional seasons of The Simpsons, which will bring the longest-running series in primetime television history through its 22nd season. The 44-episode pickup ensures the series will reach an astounding 493 episodes.
Since its debut on January 14, 1990, The Simpsons immediately struck a chord with viewers across the country as it poked fun of itself and everything in its wake. With its subversive humor and delightful wit, the series has made an indelible imprint on American pop culture and has become one of television's most iconic families.
"Best. 20 Years. Ever.," a year-long global celebration honoring all things The Simpsons, launched in January 2009 and will culminate on January 14, 2010, the 20th anniversary of the series' debut.
CBS has ordered two more editions of Survivor to be broadcast during the 2009-2010 season. These will mark the 19th and 20th editions of broadcast television's longest-running reality competition series. Jeff Probst, who won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Series, will continue as host. The groundbreaking reality series, which premiered in May 2000, has aired Thursdays at 8pm since February 2001.

Hallmark Channel Reduces I Love Lucy in February; Obama Preempts Programming

Earlier this week we gave you Hallmark Channel's March line-up, now Hallmark has edited February a bit. We are not sure if this will affect March yet, but I think it will. As of now, we don't have details on if March will be altered, but we do have what will happen starting Monday.
They have made last minute changes to be started on Monday (Feb. 9). Weekdays 4-5pm ET/PT will now be another episode of Little House on the Prairie replacing I Love Lucy. Lucy will remain weekdays 8-9am, though. The rest of the changes are on weekends. Saturdays 6-9am ET/PT will now be three episodes of Little House on the Prairie replacing the three-hour block of I Love Lucy. And that's not all on Saturdays...Saturdays 1-3am will now be back-to-back episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger replacing more I Love Lucy. Get the pattern yet? If not, keep reading. Sundays from 9-10am will now be another extra episode of 7th Heaven, so that series will air from 9am-3pm now on Sundays. The 9am hour will replace two episodes of I Love Lucy. However, all is not lost for Lucy on Sunday mornings, it will remain at 8:30am. And finally Sunday nights from 1-3am will now be more Walker, Texas Ranger replacing... you guessed it, I Love Lucy. So if you're keeping score, I Love Lucy now will only air weekdays 8-9am and Sundays at 8:30am...ouch.
So what will this mean for the March schedule we announced earlier this week? Not sure yet. If I were to guess, some of these changes happening Monday will be carried over to March (I doubt Lucy will air 3pm in March), but we'll let you know as soon we know! So for now, the March schedule we announced is still happening...but expect I Love Lucy to be reduced from the original March plan. The Hallmark sitcom curse continues...can The Golden Girls break that in March?

President Obama is planning a Presidential News Conference on Monday (Feb. 9) at 8PM ET/5PM PT. So this will affect the Eastern/Central time zones programming on network TV. The press conference is expected to last between 40-60 minutes. So in the eastern and central time zones, the 8pm hour will be different. At 8PM ET on CBS, the all-new episode of The Big Bang Theory will be moved to 9:30PM ET/PT for the entire nation, replacing Worst Week's season finale. That season finale will now be on Feb. 16 at 9:30pm ET/PT. How I Met Your Mother was also slated to be all-new at 8:30pm, but since the press conference will be between 40-60 minutes, CBS will air a repeat of Mother instead, joined in progress if the press conference ends before 9pm. Out west at 8pm PT (7pm MT), a repeat of Old Christine will air on a special night, followed by a repeat of How I Met Your Mother at 8:30pm PT/7:30pm MT.
Over at NBC, they will also air the press conference. They will have to preempt an all-new episode of Chuck at 8pm ET. If the press conference ends before 9pm ET, then they will air a Heroes repeat joined in progress. Out west, a repeat of Heroes will air in its entirety at 8pm PT.
ABC will devote the full 8pm ET/5pm PT hour to the press conference. In east/central, The Bachelor will air an hour later from 9-11pm ET (8-10pm CT), as True Beauty will be preempted. Out west, The Bachelor will air in its normal time of 8-10pm PT (7-9pm MT), followed by a repeat of True Beauty at 10pm PT/9pm MT. The regularly scheduled new episode of True Beauty will air on a special night of Tuesday at 10pm ET/PT, preempting Primetime: What Would You Do? for the week. Fox will preempt an all-new episode of House on Monday and move it to the following Monday in its normal time (another Obama address pending), while a 24 repeat from the previous week will air at 8pm PT/7pm MT out west.
That is not all for Obama. He is also planning a Presidential Address to Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 9pm ET/6pm PT. All the networks have committed to that. ABC will preempt two Scrubs repeats on that night to air the Presidential Address to Congress from 9-10pm ET. That will air 6-7pm PT, so ABC will likely air those Scrubs repeats out west. NBC will cut The Biggest Loser in half that night and will air the second hour the following night at 8pm, no idea what NBC will air out west at 9pm PT/8pm MT yet. CBS will preempt a scheduled The Mentalist repeat at 9pm ET that night to accommodate the address but it will air out west. Fox will make the most drastic change for this night. A Bones repeat will air at 8pm ET leading into the Presidential Address to Congress at 9pm ET. Not sure what is airing out west at 9pm PT/8pm MT, but I would guess another Bones repeat. Since American Idol was scheduled to air two-hours that Tuesday night, Fox will move those two-hours to Wednesday from 8-10pm ET/PT. So Lie to Me is totally preempted that week (Wednesday Feb. 25). The second night of American Idol will be shifted to Thursday that week at 8pm ET/PT, preempting Bones. Idol will lead into an all-new Hell's Kitchen.
And believe it or not, Obama also plans a short address on Monday, Feb. 16 as well. So far no networks have committed to that one. We will keep you up to date of everything on this, so keep checking back.

ABC Family March 2009 Highlights; CBS and CW Schedule Changes

This March on ABC Family, there will be no schedule changes to the weekday line-up, but primetime will be changing. First on Monday, March 16, Kyle XY will have its third season finale at 9pm. A marathon of the previous nine episodes will air from 11am-8pm, with the 10th and final third season episode airing at 9pm. On Sunday, March 22, ABC Family presents a marathon of The Secret Life of the American Teenager from 2pm-11pm, because the next day, (Monday, March 23) the series will have its first season finale at 8pm. ABC Family will encore the previous two episodes that night as well from 6-8pm, leading into the finale. Leading out of the finale will be the ABC Family premiere of two original sitcoms at 9pm and 9:30pm! As we previously mentioned, ABC Family had two original sitcoms in the works: Roommates and Sophie. Roommates is a multi-camera sitcom about a group of friends trying to figure out love and life in their post-collegiate years. The ensemble cast includes, Tyler Francavilla, Dorian Brown, Tommy Dewey, David Weidoff and Tamera Mowry. 13 episodes will air.
Sophie is a single-camera sitcom and is a heartwarming and comedic tale of a lovely young woman having the worst year of her life. The cast includes Natalie Brown, Sebastian Spence, Jeff Geddis, Amy Lalonde, Mimi Kuzyk, Sara Botsford, Chantelle Chung and Catherine Brub. 13 episodes also will air. We willhave much more on these two sitcoms shortly, with hopefully pilot reviews as well.
ABC Family has two other sitcoms in development, but have not been ordered to series yet.
Replacing The Secret Life on Mondays starting March 30 at 8pm will be the second half of the second season of GREEK! 10 more episodes will air leading into the two original sitcoms. GREEK will also have a marathon of the first ten episodes of the season leading into the second half premiere, from 11am-8pm.
In other ABC Family March 2009 news, new original movie Au Pair 3 Adventure in Paradise will premiere on Sunday, March 15, 2009 from 8pm-10pm following the first two movies from 4-8pm. Among the acquired movies, they will have premieres of Notting Hill and Eight Below while replaying movies such as Dr. Dolittle, Home Alone 2, Jumanji, and Grease.

CBS will air a one-time special edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric in primetime on Wednesday, January 28 at 8:00pm ET/PT instead of a repeat of Old Christine. The repeat of Old Christine will slide down to 8:30pm instead, preempting a repeat of Gary Unmarried.
Meanwhile, The CW has moved 13: Fear is Real to Fridays at 9pm effective tonight! 13 was previously airing encores on Fridays, now they will be all-new. I wonder if it lasts, if it will make it to Friday the 13th on Feb. 13? The season finale is scheduled for Feb. 20. Replacing 13 in its original Wednesdays at 8pm slot will be encores of Privileged. I don't see how that will do any better?

Finally, we leave you today with some sad news. Veatrice Rice, the quiet but foul-mouthed on-air security guard on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, has died. Though she is not a sitcom star, she was great in comedy. I was heavily shocked last night when I saw the tribute they aired. I had no idea she was sick, but found out today she was battling cancer. I did notice she started wearing a wig this past fall, but didn't think much of it. Veatrice will be heavily missed. She was part of a trio of on-air security personalities (herself, Guillermo and Uncle Frank). She was great with Guillermo and Uncle Frank and her bits with them, especially the SNN: The Worst "___" Team on Television will be heavily missed. She also had great solo bits on the show such as her "make your own" instructions, her bits with the Land o Lakes Butter lady, her interview with John McCain, and her impression as Sarah Palin. And who can forget her "sex tape" with Ryan Phillipe? She will be deeply missed every night. Try to give someone a blank stare-down look today in honor of her. We leave you today with the on-air tribute they did last night. As Veatrice would say, shut up you a**hole! Dumba**! Miss V was 59 and leaves behind her husband John.

TCA Winter 2009 Press Tour: CBS; More Bush Speech Updates; DejaView in Canada Adds More Sitcoms

Today it is CBS's turn at the TCA Winter 2009 press tour. At the executive session, CBS chief Nina Tassler said an additional episode of The Mentalist could be ordered, and they are not going to move the show to Sundays at 10pm, despite it airing there this coming week after the AFC Championship Game. In other news, CBS has officially canceled last summer's Swingtown, which is not a surprise. CBS is moving forward with the NCIS spin-off and plans to do a backdoor pilot within NCIS this spring. CBS is also planning on a variety show or special starring musician John Mayer for this year. Fox is also developing a variety show hosted by the Osbourne family later this year.
After the executive session, panels for upcoming murder mystery drama Harper's Island and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson followed. CBS focused mainly on Showtime and other ventures after that. After the Showtime Executive Session, which we won't cover, Showtime's United States of Tara, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, The L Word, Tracy Ullman's State of the Union, The Tudors, and Nurse Jackie had panels. Wow, a lot...more than CBS itself.
There was also a presentation on TV.com, which is owned by CBS Interactive. CBS Interactive went you on a guided tour of the leading online destination for video and community, including a look at new and future developments for the site. Speaking of TV.com, be sure to check out their great videos! My personal favorite is their interview with CBS's Kaley Cuoco, who is quite frankly wearing something very stunning! They also have Full Episodes of TV series, so check it out!
Stay tuned tomorrow for NBC's portion of the TCA tour and ABC on Friday!

Yesterday we gave you updates on CBS and Fox's plan for Thursday, as President Bush will have his farewell address at 8pm ET for 15 minutes, messing up all the network's plans. ABC will have to preempt Ugly Betty as a result, just like Fox is doing with Bones. After the President's address, ABC will air a repeat of Scrubs at 8:15/7:15c, joined in progress, followed by another repeat of Scrubs at 8:30/7:30c. Both repeats will likely be repeats of last night's episodes. So, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice will still be all-new and air on time everywhere. I think ABC decided on this so they can have a 15 minute head start on CSI in the east and central, as CBS is delaying programming to those zones by 15 minutes. As for mountain and pacific time, ABC will air two repeats of Scrubs in their entirety. View the ABC schedule for Thursday in all time zones, if you're confused in what I'm saying. In other ABC schedule news, they will preempt Samantha Who? once again this coming Monday (Jan. 19). This is the second week in a row that will happen, as this past Monday (Jan. 12), the sitcom didn't air either. Why? Because The Bachelor is doing very well in its two-hours and is very compatible with new series True Beauty at 10pm. Honestly, I don't think Samantha Who? will return to 9:30pm on Mondays anytime son. I think either it will return when Dancing with the Stars returns in March OR it will be paired with Scrubs on Tuesdays starting next month. We'll keep you up to date. ABC is up at the TCA tour on Friday, and we should find out then maybe, along with ABC's other mid-season sitcom plans (In The Motherhood, The Goode Family, Better Off Ted).
As for NBC's Thursday plans, they will air a repeat of My Name is Earl after Bush's address at 8:15/7:15c, joined in progress. Then at 8:30pm, they will move the new My Name is Earl episode that was scheduled at 8pm ET/PT to 8:30pm, preempting Kath & Kim totally. As for mountain and pacific zones, you all will get the full repeat of Earl then the new one following it.

The Canada cable station DejaView, which features lots of classic TV, has changed their schedule a bit. Their last change was in the fall. They have added North of Sixty (Canadian series), One Day at a Time, Silver Spoons, Mad About You, but have also removed My Secret Identity, Maude, Charles in Charge, Facts of Life, Kate & Allie. The Canadian series North of Sixty airs weekdays at 7am, 10am, and 11pm, all replacing My Secret Identity. It also airs weekends at 6am and 11pm, replacing My Secret Identity. One Day at a Time airs now weekdays at 4pm, 9pm, and 3am, all replacing Good Times, which slides down a half-hour replacing Maude, so Maude is gone totally. The other new series have joined the weekend schedule with Silver Spoons airing back-to-back episodes at 10am and 4am, 10am hour replacing Charles in Charge and 4am hour replacing Facts of Life/Kate & Allie. Mad About You airs on weekends back-to-back at 1pm and 2am.
DejaView's key shows continues to be Three's Company, Cosby Show, All in the Family, Who's the Boss? and Roseanne.
View the full new DejaView winter 2009 schedule.

35th Annual People's Choice Awards Winners; ION Announces Original Series; WWE Coming to WGN America on Thursdays in April

The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards aired last night on CBS. Here are the television portion winners:

FAVORITE TV DRAMA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)
WINNER: House (Fox)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY
Samantha Who? (ABC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
WINNER: Two and a Half Men (CBS)

FAVORITE ANIMATED COMEDY
Family Guy (Fox)
The Simpsons (Fox)
South Park (Comedy Central)
WINNER: The Simpsons (Fox)

FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY SHOW
Heroes (NBC)
Supernatural (The CW)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox)
WINNER: Heroes (NBC)

FAVORITE COMPETITION / REALITY SHOW
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
WINNER: Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

FAVORITE GAME SHOW
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)
Deal Or No Deal (NBC/Syndicated)
JEOPARDY! (Syndicated, CBS Television Distribution)
WINNER: Deal Or No Deal (NBC/Syndicated)

FAVORITE MALE TV STAR
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)
WINNER: Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)

FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters, ABC)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)
WINNER: Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)

FAVORITE TALK SHOW HOST
Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)
David Letterman (CBS)
Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa (Syndicated, ABC Studios)
WINNER: Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)

FAVORITE SCENE-STEALING GUEST STAR (NEW CATEGORY)
Luke Perry on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother, CBS
Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
WINNER: Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC

FAVORITE TV DRAMA DIVA (NEW CATEGORY)
Holly Hunter as Grace Hanadarko on Saving Grace, TNT
Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin on Weeds, Showtime
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT
WINNER: Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT

FAVORITE NEW TV DRAMA
90210, The CW
Fringe, Fox
The Mentalist, CBS
WINNER: The Mentalist, CBS

FAVORITE NEW TV COMEDY
Gary Unmarried, CBS
Kath & Kim, NBC
Worst Week, CBS
WINNER: Gary Unmarried, CBS

View the full list of winners and also view video highlights from the event last night.


Meanwhile, ION Television will launch an original series this year. ION Television has acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the critically acclaimed and award-winning original TV series, Durham County. The network has secured all U.S. television, digital media rights, internet streaming and video-on-demand rights for the program. ION Television will debut the procedural crime one-hour series to its audience in 2009.
Durham County stars Hugh Dillon, star of the CBS police action series Flashpoint. In Durham County, Dillon plays Detective Mike Sweeney, a homicide detective who moves his family to suburban Durham County to start over after his partner is killed and his wife Audrey (Hélène Joy) is diagnosed with breast cancer. However, he soon discovers that his neighbor and childhood nemesis Ray Prager (Justin Louis) may be a serial killer, setting off an intense showdown between the two complex men and their families.
With eerie crime storylines, Durham County, along with the CBS hit show Criminal Minds (which joins ION in Fall 2009), will offer Positively Thrilling primetime appointment viewing on ION Television. Durham County comes from ITV Global Entertainment.

WGN America will adde WWE wrestling to its Thursday primetime line-up starting in April. WGN America and World Wrestling Entertainment enter the ring with a new television partnership. WWE Superstars, a first run, original program will air exclusively on WGN America, Tribune Broadcasting's national Superstation.
The action-packed WWE Superstars, part of a new multi-year agreement with WGN America, will be produced by WWE and will feature 'Superstars and Divas' from the entire WWE roster.
The hour-long weekly program, scheduled to debut in April 2009, will provide WGN America viewers the chance to see Superstars and Divas from all three WWE franchises in one program. WWE Superstars is scheduled to air on Thursday nights at 8 and 11pm ET with an additional run on the weekend (Saturday afternoons).
WWE Superstars will replace the Thursday night Movie Underground on WGN America in the 8pm hour and the 11pm encore will replace two episodes of Scrubs on the night. Saturday afternoon time encore has not yet been announced. We will have more details on the schedule, as we get it.

RTN Using National Feed; CBS Pulls Password on Sundays, Rules Back on Mondays in March

The other day we gave you an update on what is happening at RTN (Retro Television Network). On Sunday morning, many RTN affiliates had an on-screen message saying the contract with Equity has expired. Then shortly after RTN resumed programming or was replaced totally. On Equity-owned stations, like in Buffalo, RTN has been replaced totally with other programming. RTN was once owned by Equity, but was sold to Luken Communications in June. Equity's contract to distribute RTN had been extended a week past its Dec. 24 expiration date but Dec. 24 also was the deadline on Equity's option to buy back RTN from current owner Luken Communications. Equity is no longer allowed to air the RTN programs on its stations, including WNGS in Buffalo. However, an Equity spokesperson said it eventually might be able to bring the RTN programs back to the Equity stations.
For non-Equity stations, RTN is now using its national feed to program RTN. RTN stations had their own local feed, but due to this Equity fiasco, RTN made a sooner-than-expected flash cut to a new master control and uplink center in Chattanooga, Tenn. By 9 a.m. Sunday, it was able to restore service to most of their stations (not Equity-owned stations, of course) with national feeds.
So what is the schedule like for this national feed? I suggest you take a look at the national feed schedule we posted, so you know what is going to air. Now there are reports that RTN is way off time right now airing shows up to 20 minutes late, so be aware of that. This national feed might be good for some stations because they will get programs that weren't on their local feed. Until this is resolved, RTN will have this national feed to all of its stations. It could be up until today or last the rest of the month or longer, so no idea right now. But it will be nice to see Munsters Today and Harry and the Hendersons on Sunday morning for those stations who didn't get those! If this conflict is still going on Sunday, that is.
There were only four major Equity-owned RTN stations that RTN lost: Little Rock; Buffalo, N.Y.; Panama City, Fla.; and Spokane, Wash. They account for less than 1 percent of the nation's TV households, a small fraction of the network's total reach, which now hovers around 40 percent. In any event, the lost affiliates will be replaced quickly by new affiliates.
RTN won't be allowed to air original programming that Equity had produced such as the late night series Unreliable Sources and Closing Remarks, so total classic TV fans are happy about that, I'm sure.
Equity also refused to transfer RTN's website to RTN. So fans looking for RTNville.com, the website is now MyRetroTV.com. On some stations, RTN is calling themselves MyRetroTV, as well. Will this fiasco force them to change their name, too? We shall see. I'm trying to get in touch with RTN (Mark and Neal if you're reading, please contact me!), and we hope to reach them soon. Due to all of this, their contact info has changed. We hope to try and sit down with them to get you all the information you need. Maybe another Seven Questions interview? We'll try!

CBS has altered its Sunday schedule for the next three weeks. They have pulled Million Dollar Password. The show was originally scheduled for its final two new episodes on Jan. 11 and 25. The show has been doing decent in total viewers but lagging in the adult 18-49 demo. This Sunday (January 11) a special 60 Minutes will air at 8pm following an NFL playoff game from 4-8pm. On Sunday, January 18, CBS will air an all-new episode of The Mentalist on a special night & time at 10pm ET (7pm PT) following the NFL AFC Championship Game from 6-10pm ET. The Mentalist will air immediately following the game on ALL time zones. So 9pm CT, 8pm MT and 7pm PT. In Mountain and Pacific zones, a repeat of The Unit will follow 9pm MT and 8pm PT. Pacific time will have local programming after the repeat of The Unit. Finally, on Sunday, January 25, Million Dollar Password will be replaced with an all-new Cold Case at a special time of 8pm, leading into the Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie from 9-11pm.
So what does this mean for Million Dollar Password? The following week is the Super Bowl, so it is not likely a new episode will air against that. It can't air on Feb. 8 because of the Grammy Awards and then starting Feb. 15 The Amazing Race returns to the slot. So looks like it will not return to Sundays anytime soon. What about Thursdays at 8? They have repeats scheduled thru January 22, but nothing has been booked for January 29 and Feb. 5, so the two final episodes can air then maybe? Survivor returns Feb. 12. I do expect these two episodes to air but not sure exactly when yet. We'll let you know.
Meanwhile, CBS has announced it will return sitcom Rules of Engagement on Monday, March 2 following Two and a Half Men at 9:30pm ET/PT. Worst Week will finish its 16 episodes on Feb. 9 and we won't know probably if that show will return next season until upfront in May. It doesn't look too promising, though. CBS will air repeats on Feb. 16 and 23 of other CBS comedies likely until Rules launches.
View our full CBS schedule updates.

ION Adds New Movies to Christmas Slate; According to Jim Returns Tonight; CBS Midseason 2009 Schedule and More Network Notes

ION Television today announced that is has inked a deal with Aro Entertainment to acquire two originally produced holiday-themed films. Christmas Town, starring Nicole de Boer (The Dead Zone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Patrick Muldoon (Melrose Place), will air Thursday, December 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET and The Christmas Clause, starring Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City), will premiere on ION Television the following week on Thursday, December 18 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
The "Positively Entertaining" network also has plans to debut the classic Pinocchio, a four-hour adaptation of the beloved masterpiece, on Sunday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The original miniseries stars Golden Globe winner Bob Hoskins as Geppetto and Robbie Kay as Pinocchio.
View more on ION December 2008.

As we mentioned, don't forget tonight on ABC it is the eighth season premiere of sitcom According to Jim following the holiday classic Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. Yes, According to Jim is returning for one final season and the fun starts tonight at 9pm ET/PT on ABC with two all-new back-to-back episodes that are set during the holidays. The According to Jim holiday-themed fun continues next week at 9pm and on Dec. 16 at 9pm with guest star Steve Guttenberg! Then on Dec. 30 at 9:30pm, an all-new episode to coincide with the New Year's holiday. According to Jim will then have regular all-new episodes on Tuesdays starting Jan. 6 in its new time period of 8-9pm. So celebrate the holidays with Jim all this month and then join Jim starting in January for one final hurrah!

CBS today announced midseason schedule changes that include the return of the drama Flashpoint, the premiere of the mystery event Harper's Island, the debut of the new game show Game Show in My Head and the returns of reality hits Survivor and The Amazing Race.
Game Show in My Head launches first and it is a hidden camera game show from Ashton Kutcher, premiering Saturday, Jan. 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT). Ordinary people must perform extraordinary tasks on an unsuspecting public to win up to $50,000. Under the watchful eye of host Joe Rogan, each contestant performs five outrageous, embarrassing and hilarious tasks worth $5,000 each. In a no-holds-barred bonus round, each contestant has the chance to double their money up to $50,000. It will replace the first hour of CBS crime repeats. We're not sure yet how many episodes have been ordered.
Flashpoint, last summer's top original scripted series, returns Friday, Jan. 9 in the 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT time period replacing various CBS drama repeats.
Harper's Island, a 13-episode mystery event, premieres Thursday, April 9 from 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT and concludes Thursday, July 2 from 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT. The series is about a group of family and friends who travel to a secluded island for a destination wedding. They've come to laugh... to love... and, though they don't know it... to die. As the wedding festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed as a murderer claims victims, one by one, transforming the wedding week of fun and celebration into a terrifying struggle for survival. In every episode, someone is killed and every person is a suspect, from the wedding party to the island locals. By the end of the 13 episodes, all questions will be answered, the killer will be revealed and only a few will survive. It will replace Eleventh Hour, which would have wrapped its season by then. More on that below.
Finally, CBS will return Survivor with its 18th season on Thursday, Feb. 12 and The Amazing Race on Sunday, Feb. 15 for its 14th season. Survivor will replace various encores while Race replaces Million Dollar Password. No word yet on returning sitcom Rules of Engagement will return for its all-new season. Worst Week was ordered for three additional episodes, so I'm guessing it will be replaced by Rules of Enagement after that. Just a hunch, we'll let you know when we know.
View the full CBS midseason 2009 press release.

CBS has picked up five more episodes of Jerry Bruckheimer's Thursday crime drama Eleventh Hour. The episode order is now up to 18 episodes for the season. The show has done nearly 12 million following CSI, not great retention but 12 million is good. Could CBS be doing better in the slot? Yes. If they thought not, then we would have seen a full 22 episodes for Eleventh Hour. We will see Harper's Island take over in the slot starting April 9, as mentioned above.
The CW will launch new midseason scary reality series 13: Fear is Real on Wednesday, January 7, airing Wednesdays at 8pm with encores on Fridays at 9pm. 13: Fear is Real will keep the slot warm for America's Next Top Model when it returns in March. 13: Fear is Real is a spine-tingling new eight-episode series combining the horror genre with a reality show format. Contestants are energetic, competitive and are full of personality, as they try to be part of television's first scary competition reality show and win a grand prize of $66,666. Talk about bad luck!

ION Television December 2008 Highlights; CBS Picks-Up More Episodes for 'Gary', 'Worst', While NBC Adds More 'Medium'

ION Television has announced its December 2008 schedule and highlights, and there will be no regular changes to the line-up...but there will be plenty of holiday movies and holiday episodes! ION's holiday airings start on Friday, December 12 in the RHI block with the 2007 TV-Movie, A Grandpa for Christmas. Other RHI holiday movies in the weekend RHI block include Silent Night, Hogfather, Night They Saved Christmas, and more. ION will also have a holiday TV-movie week the week of December 22-25 from 4-6pm these four nights with more holiday fun such as the ION premieres of 2008 films My Santa My Dad and The Elf Who Didn't Believe. Four holiday episodes of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper will air Dec. 17-18 in its regular 6-7pm time slot and four M*A*S*H holiday episodes will air the weekend of Dec. 20-21 from 6-7pm. And during the week of December 22, you can catch two classic Boston Legal Christmas episodes, including "The Nutcracker." The Thursday Total Theatre Warner Bros. movies are not in yet, so we don't know what is airing there yet. We will update you on that and if any more things change on our message board as soon as we know. So view our ION Television December 2008 highlights.

CBS Wednesday comedy Gary Unmarried, starring Jay Mohr, will have an additional seven episodes at least this year, bringing the total from 13 to 20 episodes. Two additional scripts were also ordered, so if it does well, we could see up to 22 episodes this season. Meanwhile, CBS has ordered three more episodes of struggling Monday sitcom Worst Week from 13 episodes to 16 episodes. The untraditional sitcom is a critical darling but has not capitalized out of the #1 sitcom, Two and a Half Men. 4 scripts were ordered previously, so one more script has yet to turn into an episode order. CBS still has Rules of Engagement coming in midseason, so if Worst Week doesn't pick-up, you'll see Rules there by February or March. Remember February sweeps doesn't start until March 5 this year because of the transition to digital TV in mid-February.
NBC has ordered 6 additional episodes of Medium, its veteran supernatural drama starring Patricia Arquette. The order brings the total from 13 episodes to 19 episodes for its fifth season. NBC recently canceled Monday drama My Worst Own Enemy and Friday drama Lipstick Jungle, so both will be out of here in January, which is when Medium will more than likely launch. Originally the show was set to launch Sundays at 9PM after Sunday Night Football concludes, but now that will likely change. As soon as NBC announces its revised midseason schedule, we will let you know. I bet it will return to its original Monday at 10pm slot followed the sinking Heroes.

Lifetime's Rita Rocks Ordered for Full Season; 35th Annual People's Choice Awards Nominees

Rita Rocks, Lifetime Television's first original sitcom in 10 years, has been picked up for a full season. Lifetime ordered seven additional episodes, bringing the first season order total to 20 episodes. The family comedy starring Nicole Sullivan premiered on October 20 and, in a unique programming strategy, stripped original episodes for a full week before moving into its regular timeslot (Tuesdays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT).
In addition to Sullivan, the traditional sitcom Rita Rocks stars Richard Ruccolo as Rita's husband Jay and Tisha Campbell-Martin as her friend and band mate. Natalie Dreyfuss, Kelly Gould also star as Rita's daughters. Raviv Ullman plays her teenage daughter's ever-present boyfriend.
In Rita Rocks, Sullivan stars as Rita Clements, an overworked wife and mother trying to find time to find herself. Once the lead singer of a Bangles cover band, Rita traded in a life in rock clubs for carpools and the PTA. With the hope of getting a little bit of the old Rita back, she forms a garage band with postal carrier Patty (Tisha Campbell-Martin) and unemployed neighbor Owen (guest-star Ian Gomez).

The nominees were for The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards are now in. We will only mention the TV categories. Winners will be revealed during the live broadcast of The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards which will be hosted by Queen Latifah from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) on CBS. The first awards show of 2009, The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards honors fan favorites in television, movies and music.
PEOPLE Magazine, in celebration of its own 35th birthday, will team up with People's Choice to present the first ever People's Choice Award for Favorite Star Under 35, in recognition of this dual milestone. Beginning today www.pcaVOTE.com and www.people.com will exclusively feature this unique poll, giving fans the opportunity to choose their favorite star, under the age of 35, by narrowing down from a group of Hollywood's biggest celebrities, chosen by PEOPLE's editors. The TV nominees are:

FAVORITE TV DRAMA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY
Samantha Who? (ABC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ugly Betty (ABC)

FAVORITE ANIMATED COMEDY
Family Guy (Fox)
The Simpsons (Fox)
South Park (Comedy Central)

FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY SHOW
Heroes (NBC)
Supernatural (The CW)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox)

FAVORITE COMPETITION / REALITY SHOW
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)

FAVORITE GAME SHOW
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)
Deal Or No Deal (NBC)
JEOPARDY! (Syndicated, CBS Television Distribution)

FAVORITE MALE TV STAR
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)

FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters, ABC)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)

FAVORITE TALK SHOW HOST
Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)
David Letterman (CBS)
Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa (Syndicated, ABC Studios)

FAVORITE SCENE-STEALING GUEST STAR (NEW CATEGORY)
Luke Perry on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother, CBS
Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC

FAVORITE TV DRAMA DIVA (NEW CATEGORY)
Holly Hunter as Grace Hanadarko on Saving Grace, TNT
Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin on Weeds, Showtime
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT

FAVORITE NEW TV DRAMA (All new shows, vote on PCAVote.com)
90210, The CW
Crusoe, NBC
Easy Money, The CW
Eleventh Hour, CBS
Fringe, Fox
Knight Rider, NBC
Life on Mars, ABC
The Mentalist, CBS
My Own Worst Enemy, NBC
Privileged, The CW

FAVORITE NEW TV COMEDY (All new shows, vote on PCAVote.com)
Gary Unmarried, CBS
Kath & Kim, NBC
Valentine, The CW
Worst Week, CBS

View the full press release, including nominees for the movies and music categories.

Nick at Nite November 2008 Highlights; CBS Removes Ex-List, More Network Notes

Nick at Nite has released its November 2008 highlights and schedule, and once again there are no changes to the line-up. We do have a stunt for Thanksgiving though. They will air a marathon of Thanksgiving episodes on "Thanksgiving Nite" from 9pm-12am ET/PT. Viewers will get to see how Nick at Nite's favorite families celebrate Thanksgiving. They invite neighbors, they go to a NFL game, they go away on vacation, they help homeless shelters, and they go to a massage parlor...huh? You'll see all that on Thanksgiving night as Nick at Nite presents Thanksgiving episodes of Home Improvement, George Lopez and Fresh Prince!
That's it...nothing else is out of the ordinary in November, so expect to see the regular line-up on other days in November. See the Nick at Nite November 2008 Schedule and Highlights.

Effective immediately CBS has removed first year Friday drama The Ex-List off the Friday line-up. This Friday, the first Friday of November sweeps, CBS will air a repeat of NCIS in the Ex-List timeslot of Friday at 9pm. The timeslot is very weak and at times Ex-List wins its slot in total viewers, but this past Friday the show was very weak in 18-49 losing to first place Supernanny on ABC.
Last night Game 5 of the World Series on Fox was suspended after 5 1/2 innings because of rain in Philadelphia with the score tied at two. The game was supposed to resume tonight at 8pm, but due to still bad weather conditions, the game won't resume until Wednesday night at 8:30pm. Wednesday night was supposed to be game 6 in Tampa Bay, but that will be moved to Thursday night, if it is necessary. If Philly wins the continuation of the suspended game, the series is over and they are the champs, winning 4 games to 1. If Tampa Bay can win the next two games, game 7 will likely be on Friday now. Stay tuned...
Also, ABC will not air the Obama Ad on Wednesday at 8pm. ABC was in discussion to air the ad, but now they are not going to. CBS, Fox, and NBC will air the ad. So, ABC will be the only network airing scripted programming in the half-hour with the very creative series Pushing Daisies...tune in!

Lost '80s Week continues tonight at 8pm ET (5pm PT) on WGN America with another Three's Company spin-off, this time ... The Ropers! See how Jeffrey Tambor got his start. Tomorrow night WGN America will air the '80s sitcom Too Close for Comfort, and we will have an interview with Lydia Cornell (Sarah on Too Close for Comfort) tomorrow right here on the blog! It will be of course in our Seven Questions format and she gave us so much, that we have an additional segment where Lydia talks about things for the first time! How was her working relationship with star Ted Knight? That's just SOME of the things you'll read tomorrow! You'll want to read this!

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

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

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

SitcomsOnline.com Exclusive: Interview with Chris Mann; We're Interviewed As Well on Retroality.TV!; Network Notes

We have a very exciting interview for you today. We have an interview with Chris Mann...author of the Three's Company book and now pop-culture guru on Retroality.TV! As always with our interviews, it is in Seven Questions form!

We had the pleasure to interview Chris Mann, author, writer, and my friend. Chris Mann is a freelance entertainment and lifestyle writer and behind-the-scenes TV book author. He is best known for his marvelous work on the tell-all book Come and Knock on Our Door: A Hers and Hers and His Guide to Three's Company. He's also founder and editor of the pop culture webzine Retroality.TV. A former magazine art director, he sometimes produces and art directs cover and feature shoots for his celebrity health and fitness profiles. He also served as consulting producer on NBC's behind-the-scenes movie about Three's Company, and he's helped produce and write TV documentaries and DVD featurettes about the show and its late star, John Ritter. Chris is currently developing multiple media projects, including an in-depth biography about Ritter.

We thank Chris for taking the time to answer some of the most interesting questions we have for him...and his responses were so amazing. So it is time for another installment of SitcomsOnline's Seven Questions Series! We seriously STILL need a jingle. Any takers out there?

"Seven Questions with Chris Mann"

SitcomsOnline: Hello Chris! We thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with us! We sincerely appreciate it and are honored in talking to you. I've known you for years and I'm also a big Three's Company fan (as you of course know), but I don't think many people know how you got started on your Three's Company book, Come and Knock on Our Door - A Hers and Hers and His Guide to Three's Company. Can you share with us why you wanted to write the book and how it all got started?
Chris Mann: I'm honored to do this interview. The amazing energy and effort you and Todd put into Sitcoms Online and your other TV sites has truly encouraged me!
In the early to mid '90s, before the Internet exploded, I had only an inkling how many other people hungered for info about retro TV. Since age 5 or so, I'd had an unbounded love for Three's Company, along with deep admiration for John Ritter and a growing fascination with the show's emotional backstage break-ups. My behind-the-scenes curiosity grew in part out of my journalistic mind -- I guess I just couldn't take Three's Company at face value! While editing The University of Tulsa's student newspaper -- itself a huge undertaking, especially given my intensive class load -- I realized I needed a creative, escapist outlet beyond cracking jokes in class and at work and watching Company reruns in my dorm room.
I'd recently interviewed and met Suzanne Somers during her visit to Tulsa to share her uplifting story of surviving family alcoholism and abuse. After publishing the story in the student newspaper, I recrafted it and designed a Three's Company where-are-they-now fanzine around her Q&A. I sent "The Roomie Report" to all ten cast members, along with letters saying I hoped the fanzine would one day lead to a behind-the-scenes book about the show. Almost none of them responded -- except John Ritter.
Imagine at age 19 getting a call from John saying how "touched and flattered" he was by my efforts and my letter. I was elated and infinitely inspired. So I did three more "Roomie Reports" during my sophomore year at Tulsa University -- the second issue included an exclusive, extremely candid interview with John wherein he broke his silence about his bitter break-up with Suzanne. I retired the "Report" during my junior and senior years, but I kept in touch with John's office. The day after I finished college in '95, I moved to LA. A week later, I interviewed John in person for the book. Doors began opening, along with the casts' emotional floodgates. I knew I had a great story not only about the show but about the price of fame, fortune and ego.

SitcomsOnline: I got your book the second it came out back in 1998. You know I think your book really inspired me to do the Three's Company website (Jack's Bistro) back in 1998 and it is still going today. I wanted to thank you for the hard work on the book on behalf of all fans out there. Can you share with us some of your fondest memories shortly after the book was released to the world? Did fans come up to you and thank you? Did the entire cast embrace it?
Chris Mann: Thank you for your support! As you know, I've always loved your Three's Company site, so it's cool to know Come and Knock on Our Door in turn inspired you. 1998 was a whirlwind year. The book, along with Suzanne's accompanying biography After the Fall, led to heated interviews with Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne on Extra, Inside Edition, ET, The O'Reilly Factor, etc. Joyce promoted my book while disputing Suzanne's. What a hoot to get that kind of publicity -- and how weird to suddenly be in the middle of controversy. Suzanne formally thanked me for sending her the book -- and she told Inside Edition I was a "really nice" guy -- but the battle lines were again being drawn, and it was Suzanne vs. Three's Company Part II.
John also took the book onto a few shows, including Donny and Marie's talk show and a TV Guide Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals special. He and Joyce offered resounding public support, which was unexpected and thrilling. Joyce, Don Knotts, Richard Kline, Norman Fell and even Priscilla Barnes (the only cast member who didn't interview) did book signings with me -- and we all went out to dinner and celebrated with a bottle of champagne John sent me. Fans expressed love and appreciation at the book signings. Howard Stern's show harassed Joyce about Suzanne at a couple of these media-frenzied events. Suddenly, my book had become part of the story. Saying this entire experience was surreal and exciting is a understatement.

SitcomsOnline: Being involved with this book has made you the Three's Company king. All of the entertainment shows on Three's Company and its stars like the E! True Hollywood Story and A&E Biography have interviewed you. Your book was turned into a TV movie by NBC. You also got to produce special features for the Three's Company DVDs. How cool is that! How did you like all of that, though? What was your favorite out of all this?
Chris Mann: The Three's Company king...that's funny! Most of this six-year journey was a joy, and all of it was enlightening. The E! True Hollywood Story was my favorite project, though, by far. In summer 1998, I pitched the documentary to E! as their first THS exclusively about the backstage story of a TV show. They bit. Not to be immodest, but my book, interview and extensive production work were the documentary's basis and backbone. The entire surviving cast participated and were asked questions to elicit the same responses they'd given for the first time ever in the book. The end product was a two-hour video version of Come and Knock on Our Door. My book was everywhere in the show. It seemed like the perfect promotional tool. The THS reran enough times to keep Three's Company in the pop culture consciousness for the next few years. And it helped established the THS brand and lead to behind-the-scenes TV movies about TV shows.
The Three's Company TV movie eventually followed. Though Entertainment Weekly had reported NBC was adapting my book for this movie, things beyond my control (and, at the time, beyond my awareness) transpired and my book didn't get a "based on" credit. I did, however, end up getting a Consulting Producer main title credit, and the book was mentioned in the end titles instead of the main credits. Ultimately, this was a victory for me. This telefilm was one of the highest-rated TV movies of the season. I've since met with one of the movie's executive producers, Stan Brooks. We had a very nice and illuminating conversation. I'm glad he and NBC experienced more success with subsequent Behind the Camera movies.
The A&E shows had excellent producers. And the DVD featurettes offered a bittersweet ending, as I interviewed surviving cast members (minus Suzanne) about John's passing, which deeply saddened us all. I applaud DLT Entertainment and Anchor Bay for giving John his due on these DVDs. But with this project, I felt I'd said everything I could about the show -- and John's death really did devastate me -- so it was definitely time for me to separate from the Company drama.

SitcomsOnline: So we obviously know you love Three's Company and that is your all-time favorite show but what other sitcoms/shows did you love and grow up with and what about of today's shows? I know you are fan of the game show The Price is Right and you're also working on a book on that series as well. What can we expect there and any tentative date on release?
Chris Mann: I loved Ellen (I always saw her as the female Jack Tripper), Roseanne and The Golden Girls. I also grew up watching Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Alice, Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes and One Day at a Time.
I thought Nell Carter was hysterical in Gimme a Break! Recently, I've thoroughly enjoyed Lisa Kudrow's HBO dramedy The Comeback and I like 30 Rock (Tina Fey is a genius) and, because of Molly Shannon, Kath & Kim. If someone would give SNL's Cheri Oteri a sitcom, I'd simmer down now and watch in a heartbeat.
The Price is Right story is utterly fascinating. So much more happened backstage than the public knows. I've talked to the people who lived it and survived it -- producers, longtime Barker's Beauty models, production assistants who molded and shaped the show's formula (including its classic comedic moments) but who were erased from Price history in the recent "official" book about the show. Their stories are so compelling. Bob Barker's memoir will be published in April '09 -- under the banner of a publisher that salutes "traditional, wholesome entertainment" -- so his version of events will likely continue to reign for a while. He's an iconic host, so he deserves his accolades as a performer.
I think much of the audience still needs to believe that Bob, at almost 85, is the gift-bearing, grandfatherly/avuncular figure we grew up believing him to be for 35 years on Price. But he's so much more interesting than the one-dimensional showman his PR and legal machine has long portrayed him to be. In fact, his flaws and vulnerabilities, which probably won't emerge in his book, make his status as a legendary TV survivor even more remarkable. I may start to preview my book on Retroality.TV in 2009. I haven't really had time lately to do much with the book, so I look forward to telling that story when the time is right.

SitcomsOnline: Now your writing for quite a number of magazines and publications. You're such a good writer and you make me look tame compared to you. Can you share with us all some of the magazines and publications you write for and also what were you favorite stories for these?
Chris Mann: Thank you! I've had the good fortune to write stories for TV Guide, Emmy magazine, their web sites and Radar Online. Most of my freelance work this year has centered on celebrity health and fitness. I write and art direct/produce cover stories regularly for Muscle & Body, Get Active! and a newly-launched CVS magazine called Great Health. My favorite interviews have been Lynda Carter, Maureen McCormick, Dara Tores and Apolo Ohno. I'm looking forward to profiling Misty May-Treanor and Antonio Sabato Jr., too.

SitcomsOnline: As readers of our news blog know, you wrote the Three's Company book and you are now running the popular website Retroality.TV. We must ask how you came up with that idea and what made you think it would work? The stars you interview are astounding from Heather Thomas to Stacy Keibler to Olivia Newton-John. Do you have any favorites so far?
Chris Mann: I've wanted to do my own pop culture magazine for years. Retroality grew rather organically out of my passions for retro pop culture and celebreality TV, along with my recent focus on celeb health and fitness. I love survivor stories, and pop icons and retro stars who're still standing are certainly survivors. How have they survived? What have they overcome and learned? Why are they reinventing themselves at age 30, 40, 50, 60? What would they do differently now? Retroality is designed primarily to share these stories while promoting other pop culture enterprises -- such as Sitcoms Online -- that keep retro alive and well.
I want to do the stories that many lifestyle and entertainment magazines often overlook due to their obsession with teenagers, twigs and trainwrecks. Who over age 25 really cares if some 19-year-old CW star needs to eat a hamburger, or if Britney managed to fill her tank up with gas for the eighth time this week? I'd rather know how Lynda Carter found the inner strength and peace to conquer alcoholism, despite her image as Wonder Woman. Or why Heather Thomas uses her celebrity and money to influence politics, and how she's channeling her political fundraising experiences into a fun new novel. Or what breast cancer taught Olivia Newton-John, and how she's inspiring other women, including her daughter.
All of these celebs were once 19 years old, and some succumbed to addiction, eating disorders and other troubles. But they all made it to the other side and have fascinating stories to tell. Maureen McCormick is another example. Look how well her book's doing. I want Retroality to reflect the pop culture and sociopolitical interests of the vast majority of people who could care less about Miley Cyrus and (my nephew's gonna kill me) The O.C. or any of its derivatives.

SitcomsOnline: Finally, so what is coming up in the future for Chris Mann? We know Retroality.TV will be still going strong...any new stories or new features you'd like to tell everyone about the site? We also mentioned you're writing the Price is Right book and a book on the late legendary John Ritter. Can you share with us what you expect to do with the book on John?
Chris Mann: From your fingertips to God's ears! I'm excited about Retroality's future. I've got a few stories in the works for late '08 -- our current cover story interview is Jaclyn Smith, and we should have a very Brady tell-all soon -- and I plan to add multimedia in the months ahead. Our video interview with Joyce DeWitt really sets the stage for what's to come in '09. She opens up about her spirituality, her splintered relationship with Suzanne and her final, healing experiences with John Ritter.
I also expect my book on John to be on the front burner in 2009. To this day, he still inspires me (as I know he does you), and it means a great deal to me to get the chance to tell his story. He'd be 60 this year, and I have to wonder what great things he'd be doing if he were still with us. He lives on, though, through his kids, his wives, his brother, his friends and his work. Many would argue he lived far more in not quite 55 years than some live in 85. Sadly, he didn't live long enough to win Lifetime Achievement awards, receive Hall of Fame inductions, make a trillion dollars or write a self-congratulatory memoir. But I really think he left the world a better, more light-hearted, richer place, and in the end, those contributions are priceless.

Our thanks to to Chris Mann we wish him continued success! Now I must go and do Chris' "show" in return...kind of like how Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno appeared on each other's talk shows on the same night earlier this year! Yes, Chris interviewed Todd and I for his wonderful website as well! So head on over to his website to see that as well! I hope we are interesting like he is! More info on us being interviewed is below.
Our apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time. For more information on Chris Mann, continue to stay with us for info and don't forget to view his website http://www.retroality.tv. So, stay tuned right here on the blog for continued news on Chris!


Who would of thunk it, but can you believe we were interviewed?? Both Todd and I have been interviewed by Chris Mann for his website Retroality.TV, as I mentioned above! I would have never imagined I would be interviewed for anything, and I'm sure Todd feels the same way! Thanks to Chris for suggesting this and I thank him for doing our "show" in return! Chris asks both Todd and I some interesting stuff, so I hope you all enjoy the interview and do learn something you didn't know about SitcomsOnline and to a lesser extent, about us. I know we're not stars, but after this interview we sort of feel like stars...just a lil' bit! So, I hope you all get a chance to read our interview. It is a proud moment for SitcomsOnline celebrating the last 10 years and the years to come!

Lots of network notes lately, as it is common this time of year. We have a full season order news for ABC's Private Practice. ABC has picked up the back nine episodes of the show, giving it 22 episodes this season. It was only ordered for 13 episodes originally for its second season. All of the shows that came back from the strike that didn't come back last season have suffered a bit in the ratings, but this show has done modestly better. The show's season premiere on Oct. 1was only at 8.16 million but jumped to 9.22 million when the seven-day DVR numbers came in and jumped from a 3.3 18-49 rating to a 3.8 18-49 rating, on par with its live+same day numbers for its finale last December. Still 9.22 million is not as much as the over 11 million the show was averaging last fall, but even still, it is not as big of a drop when you see these DVR ratings. Numbers for its second episode of this year in seven-day DVR will be known next week. But it seems after seeing the jump, ABC is invested in bringing us a whole year of Private Practice!
In other news, CBS has given two extra scripts for new sitcom Worst Week. The show has began to stabilize a bit and has gone up in the ratings the past two weeks, but still it is losing quite a bit of its Two and a Half Men lead-in. It is quite a funny show, though, my only concern is what will happen when the week ends? It's like on day four already.

Many Universal Series Seasons Not on DVD on Netflix.com!; Network Notes

Tired of waiting for some of your favorite Universal series to continue on DVD? Now Netflix is giving you the entire run of many series that are not yet complete on DVD from Universal! Shows include Coach, Charles in Charge, Leave it to Beaver, Gimme a Break!, Kate & Allie, Dragnet '67, Adam-12, Emergency!, Kojak, Simon & Simon, McMillian & Wife, Quincy, seaQuest DSV, The Rockford Files, Airwolf, Murder She Wrote and Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Wow you can watch every episode of Leave it to Beaver! Even season 6! Now you don't have to wait for Universal to complete the series and all the rest of these! All you have to do is to be a Netflix subscriber and you can watch all these episodes instantly on your computer in a nice streaming quality! Don't like that? Get the Netflix Ready Device so you can download these episodes to a device and play them on your TV! I know many of you would like to own the episodes on DVD, but this is a start in watching them.

It's time for more wheelings and dealings...it's network notes! CBS has given a full season order to its new drama The Mentalist, the season's top new freshman series in viewers and adults 25-54 so far. No surprise.
The Mentalist is averaging 16.14 million viewers (No. 7 among all primetime programs), 5.3/12 in adults 25-54 and 3.8/9 in adults 18-49. The series stars Golden Globe Award nominee Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation. The series joins Fringe and 90210 for full season orders for rookie series.
Meanwhile, NBC's veteran drama Medium returns sometime this mid-season (or earlier I bet) and NBC has ordered three additional episodes. Last season the show had 16 episodes, so we are not sure what the original episode order was for this year. Could be 13 or 16 and you can tack on three more for Patricia Arquette's series.
ABC's Eli Stone will have 4 more episodes this season as well. The show was ordered for 13 episodes in its second season, so you can tack on four more to that at least, pending the ratings being decent enough. ABC has been pleased with the quality and direction so far, thus their decision in adding four more. And if you haven't seen the season premiere yet, you missed out on an excellent season premiere with guest Sigourney Weaver. Catch it on abc.com if you missed it and don't forget to tune in for the second episode this Tuesday at 10PM ET, with special guest star Katie Holmes! As I said before, I saw this episode already from a review screener and she is excellent. Gina Torres and Katey Sagal also guest star. Have faith in Eli!
Finally, it seems that Fox will also air the half-hour political ad from Presidential Candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday, October 29. CBS and NBC have already signed on to air it. However, Major League Baseball would have to push back the start of game six of the World Series, if necessary, so Fox can air the Obama. The game was scheduled to have first pitch at 8:20pm, but Fox and MLB could move it to 8:35pm if necessary. ABC is in discussions as well to air it, but maybe on a different night like Tuesday instead, since they air an hour-long sow (Pushing Daisies) in the time period. CBS has two half-hour sitcoms and will preempt Gary Unmarried on the night and shift Old Christine to 8:30 for this night. NBC will preempt Knight Rider altogether and air a TBD show at 8:30.

Hallmark Channel November 2008 Sees More Cheers; Network Notes

Hallmark Channel has announced its November 2008 schedule and Cheers will be getting more timeslots! Currently Cheers airs on weekends, Saturday and Sunday nights from 1-3am ET and Sunday mornings from 10am-12pm ET. However, starting Monday, October 27, Cheers will also air weekdays! Cheers will air back-to-back at 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET replacing an airing of Little House on the Prairie, which will still air weekdays 10am, 11am and 3pm. There will be no other schedule changes for November. Cheers will lead into another classic sitcom in M*A*S*H from 6-8pm. For fans wondering, the weekday rotation will start from episode one and will be different from the current weekend airings.
Among the other highlights in November are holiday movies starting Saturday, November 22 everyday. Movies include Angel in the Family, The Christmas Card, A Season for Miracles, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, and The Note. On Thanksgiving Day you can enjoy family movies with your family like Mighty Joe Young, The Rookie, and Iron Will. The day after Thanksgiving will see more holiday movies.

The premiere date for NBC's upcoming reality dating series Momma's Boys has been moved back two weeks to Wednesday, November 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. The previously announced premiere date was Wednesday, October 29 from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT. The show will air for 6 weeks through December 17. Deal or No Deal will air in the timeslot on October 22, 29 and November 5.
At ABC, on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, a special Dancing With The Stars: The Results will air from 8:00-9:02 PM ET/PT because it will be preempted on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 due to ABCNews' Presidential Election Coverage from 7PM-2AM ET on that night. So, Private Practice will air off the clock from 9:02-10:02 PM ET/PT and Dirty Sexy Money will also air off the clock from 10:02-11:00 PM ET/PT on this date (Nov. 5) only. Pushing Daisies will be preempted on that night.
Also, the back-door pilot episode for the Supernanny spin-off series, Super-manny will air in the Supernanny timeslot on Friday, November 14 at 9:00PM.
We are still waiting for CBS to pick up the new drama The Mentalist for a full season. CBS has ordered six additional scripts, though. So the back-nine should be next.

Three new shows launch tonight. Sitcom Kath & Kim at 8:30PM on NBC, and two new dramas battle at 10PM on ABC and CBS with Life On Mars and The Eleventh Hour. Both will get good sampling, but Life On Mars is getting the better reviews. I've also seen an advanced preview of the pilot and it is great. Check out abc.com for a 1973 look in honor of the premiere of Life On Mars tonight!

CBS Fall Pilot Review: Gary Unmarried - Premieres September 24; Our 2008 Emmy Awards Picks

Gary Unmarried - Wednesdays 8:30PM ET/PT on CBS
Premieres Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 8:30PM ET/PT

Gary Unmarried stars Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall in a comedy about Gary Barnes, a recently single painting contractor, and his controlling ex-wife, Allison, who face post-divorce mayhem after 15 years of marriage as they each embark on new relationships. He's the fun parent and she's the strict one. Together, they share custody of their two children - Louise, a politically correct and environmentally conscious 11-year-old, and Tom, their socially awkward 14-year-old son who is nervous around girls.

Charming and acerbic, Gary hasn't dated since the split, but finally connects with Vanessa, a single mother whose condo he was hired to paint. He dreads telling Allison about Vanessa because it doesn't adhere to her belief in their marriage counselor's book, "Rules for the Perfect Divorce." However, when Allison tells him that she's engaged to their shrink, all bets are off and Gary decides it's time to move forward. Now, in pursuit of post-marriage happiness, Gary must juggle his eclectic world of an ex-wife, their two kids, their shrink and his gorgeous new girlfriend.

Cast Details:

* Jay Mohr as Gary Brooks
* Paula Marshall as Allison Brooks
* Jaime King as Vanessa Flood
* Ryan Malgarini as Tom Brooks
* Ed Begley Jr. as Dr. Walter Crandall
* Al Madrigal as Dennis Lopez
* Kathryn Newton as Louise Brooks

The multi-talented Jay Mohr's career has spanned over a decade. He first received audience notice with his dead-on impressions of Christopher Walken, Dick Vitale and Sean Penn on "Saturday Night Live." Soon after that, he landed his breakthrough film role as a rival sports agent in the blockbuster hit "Jerry Maguire," and followed that up in a touching good-guy turn in "Picture Perfect." Other film credits include "Playing By Heart," "Suicide Kings," "Seeing Other People," "Even Money," "The Groomsmen," "Pay it Forward," "Street Kings" and "Go," as well as comedic leads in "King's Ransom" and "Are We There Yet?" On television, Mohr created, executive produced and hosted "Last Comic Standing," now in its sixth season. Other credits include "Action" and his most recent role as Professor Rick Payne on the CBS series "Ghost Whisperer."

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Paula Marshall's big break came when she landed a guest-starring role on "Seinfeld." Marshall is an extremely busy actress with a recurring role on the current television series "Californication." Her other television credits include co-starring roles in the CBS comedy "Out of Practice," "Snoops," "Cupid," "Spin City," "Nip/Tuck" and "Veronica Mars." Paula starred in the feature films "Cheaper by the Dozen," "That Old Feeling," "A Family Thing" and "The New Age," among others.

Jaime King broke into television when she was selected to host MTV's "House of Style." Following a guest-star appearance on "The O.C.," King landed a role on "Kitchen Confidential" and was later cast in a recurring role on the CBS comedy, "The Class." King's feature film roles include "Pearl Harbor," "Blow," "Slackers," "Two for the Money," "White Chicks," "Sin City," "Cheaper By the Dozen 2," as well as the independent features "Pretty Persuasion," "The Tripper," "They Wait," "A Fork in the Road" and "The Pardon." She will be seen next on the big screen in the upcoming films "The Spirit," "My Bloody Valentine" and "Fanboys."

Ryan Malgarini caught the acting bug observing his grandmother's involvement in show biz. Tagging along one day to be an extra in one of her commercials, he was pulled out of the crowd by the director and wound up featured in the ad. Other commercials followed, including spots for McDonald's and Washington Mutual Savings Bank. Malgarini made his feature film debut in "The United States of Leland" starring opposite Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey. Shortly after, other offers kept rolling in and he got to work with another Oscar recipient, Tom Hanks, in "The Polar Express." Other film credits include "Freaky Friday" and "How to Eat Fried Worms."

Ed Begley Jr. was inspired by his father to become an actor. His father won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the 1962 film "Sweet Bird of Youth." The big break for Ed Begly Jr. came when he was cast as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the long-running television series "St. Elsewhere," for which he received six Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination. Begley's feature film credits include "Pineapple Express," "A Mighty Wind," "Best In Show," "For Your Consideration," "Batman Forever," "The Accidental Tourist," "The In-Laws," and many others. On television, Begley had recurring roles on "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "CSI: Miami," for the Network. Additional television credits include "Six Feet Under," "Veronica Mars," "7th Heaven," "Arrested Development" and "Boston Legal."

Called "dynamic" by the New York Times, San Francisco native Al Madrigal's flair for storytelling has established him as one of the nation's premiere stand-up comedians. He won the "Jury Award for Best Stand-up Comedian" at the 2004 HBO Comedy Festival. He was a regular cast member on the CBS comedy "Welcome to the Captain," and can be seen regularly on television in his own half-hour "Comedy Central Presents" special, as well as frequent guest spots on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Kathryn Newton's entrance into show business began at the age of four when she was cast as Colby Chandler on the popular soap opera, "All My Children." It was a recurring role she would end up playing for five years. Newton's other acting credits include the independent films "Bun-Bun" and "Abbie Down East." In addition to television and movies, she has accumulated a long list of commercial and print jobs to add to her resume.

Pilot Plot:

#1 Pilot
Gary's ex-wife has got engaged and he finds himself trying to navigate fatherhood and his own new love interest. The series opens with a scene of Gary and Vanessa in bed. She shows him one of her tattoos. We learn that Gary owns his own painting business and has 2 kids. Allison comes to the house to talk to Gary and the kids. Gary goes to his son's room and has a few funny lines about computers. Gary talks to one of his employees, Dennis, and Vanessa at a job. Back at the house, he talks to Allison and his daughter, Louise. His son, Tommy, has a girl in his room. Dr. Walter Crandall, Gary's former marriage counselor and Allison's new fiancé, has a few words with Gary and Allison. Vanessa visits with her son, Parker. The episode closes with a scene with Gary and Vanessa where they discuss their future plans.

Written by Ed Yeager
Directed by James Burrows
Guest Stars: Ashley Farley as Danielle, Charles Henry Wyson (or Jackson Fox) as Parker

Analysis:

Gary Unmarried was originally titled Project Gary. The multi-camera sitcom is filmed in front of a studio audience. The pilot gives us a good introduction to all of the characters and has some funny lines. Jay Mohr returns to a sitcom. You may remember him from the critics' favorite, Action, on Fox about a decade ago. Here he plays your typical sitcom dad. He's in virtually every scene and has the funniest lines in the pilot. One of the best is when his son is talking about a computer game and he says that when he was a kid that they didn't have anything like that and they had outside. Paula Marshall plays his ex-wife, Allison, and appears frequently in the pilot. The chemistry between Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall is evident from the very beginning. Paula Marshall has often been referred to as the female version of Ted McGinley with the shows she has been on not lasting very long. Maybe this will be the right role for her. Jaime King plays Gary's new girlfriend named Vanessa. I enjoyed her on another CBS sitcom, The Class. Larry Miller was originally cast as Allison's new fiancé, but he was replaced by Ed Begley Jr. in the pilot. Larry would have been funny in the part, but maybe they were looking for somebody that looked older and Ed does have the look of a doctor. He's not given a lot in the pilot, but I expect his role to expand in future episodes. He was hilarious on Arrested Development. Ryan Malgarini does a good job as the son who is nervous around girls. Laura Marano was originally cast as the daughter, but she was replaced by Kathryn Newton and they re-taped the scenes. Poor girl was also replaced on Back to You last season. She just has had bad luck and hopefully can find the right role in the future. The pilot I was sent had Laura Marano in it, so I've not seen the reshot scenes with Kathryn Newton.

Conclusion:

This sitcom has a lot of promise. It was cast well and the pilot was funny. I also saw the pilot of Worst Week and would give a slight edge to that one because of the physical comedy and sheer wildness of it. Gary Unmarried is the more traditional, multi-camera sitcom. One of the producers also worked on Still Standing, and I can see the similarities between the two. The setup is also similar to the show that is airing right before it, The New Adventures of Old Christine. Will they be a good match? Old Christine has a large female audience, but it will be interesting to see how many stick around for it.

CBS has tried unsuccessfully to launch a second night of comedy on Wednesdays. The competition will be tough with ABC's Pushing Daisies, NBC's Knight Rider and Fox's Bones. The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried should greatly improve on the ratings of last season's Kid's Nation. The pilot is worth checking out. I wasn't sure how Jay Mohr would play a blue-collar guy with kids, but he manages to pull it off. It will be interesting to see how the character's relationships will play out in future episodes. Ed Begley Jr. was underutilized in the pilot, so I expect to see him more in upcoming episodes. Tune in for the pilot on September 24 and see if you crave "mohr" episodes on Wednesdays at 8:30 ET/PT on CBS.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

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

-- Reviewed by Todd on 09/19/08

Discuss the show after you watch it on Wednesday, September 24 on our message board.

Related Links:

CBS.com Official Site

Gary Unmarried Fan Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Gary Unmarried Photo Gallery

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Here are our Emmy Awards picks for The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air Sunday (Sept. 21) at 8/7 central on ABC. It will be a night to remember memorable TV moments as the Emmys turn the big 6-0!

COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
The Office (NBC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
OUR PICK: 30 Rock. I'm pissed no Pushing Daisies.

DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
House (Fox)
Damages (FX)
Boston Legal (ABC)
Mad Men (AMC)
Dexter (Showtime)
OUR PICK: Lost. It so deserves it (sorry Mad Men).

LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies (ABC)

OUR PICK: Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies. Really anyone can win here but Sheen...one of the toughest calls.

LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Old Christine (CBS)
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
OUR PICK: Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? I've got a hunch. It could be Fey or Ferrera though.

LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES
Hugh Laurie, House (FOX)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Gabriel Bryne, In Treatment (HBO)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
OUR PICK: James Spader, Boston Legal. He wins it every year, but maybe Hamm can win it.

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close, Damages (FX)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace (TNT)
OUR PICK: Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters. Going for the two-peat, but can Sedgwick win it?

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
OUR PICK: Jeremy Piven, Entourage.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Amy Poehler, SNL (NBC)
Jean Smart, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
OUR PICK: Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies. Olive is hysterical!

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES
Zeljko Ivanek, Damages (FX)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)
Ted Danson, Damages (FX)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
OUR PICK: Ted Danson, Damages. Wouldn't be surprised if Shatner won it.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal (ABC)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Diane Wiest, In Treatment (HBO
OUR PICK: Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy. She was fantastic this year and so deserves it.

CBS Fall Pilot Review: Worst Week - Premieres September 22; Five Year Anniversary for John Ritter's Passing

Worst Week - Mondays 9:30PM ET/PT on CBS
Premieres Monday, September 22, 2008 at 9:30PM ET/PT

Worst Week is a comedy about Sam Briggs, an entertainment magazine editor who will do anything to please his girlfriend's parents ... but instead becomes a one-man wrecking crew whenever he's around them. Sam and his girlfriend, Melanie Clayton, have only one hurdle left to clear as they start their life together: breaking the news to Mel's conservative parents that they have a wedding in the works and a baby on the way. Dick, a stern Judge, and his wife, Angela, are protective of their daughter, and are really trying to let go of the anger they feel toward Sam ... after all, disaster follows whenever he visits their house. But despite his best efforts, every time Sam takes one positive step forward in winning over his future in-laws, he inevitably takes two crushing steps back. But with support and love from Melanie who stands up for him despite his knack for making himself look bad, Sam will hopefully charm his way into her family. It's all a funny week but it is the worst week for Sam! From Universal Media Studios and CBS Paramount Network Television comes Worst Week, a single-camera sitcom based on the BBC series The Worst Week of My Life, airing Mondays at 9:30PM on CBS!

Cast Details:

* Kyle Bornheimer as Sam Briggs
* Erinn Hayes as Melanie Clayton
* Nancy Lenehan as Angela Clayton
* Kurtwood Smith as Dick Clayton

Kyle Bornheimer's (Sam) television credits include guest starring roles on How I Met Your Mother, The Unit and Jericho, all on CBS, as well as the series The Office, Will & Grace, Medium, Monk and Breaking Bad. Movie wise, he appeared on Blades of Glory.

Erinn Hayes' (Melanie) first series regular role was in On The Spot opposite comedy legend Tim Conway. More recently, Hayes appeared as the female lead in the short-lived sitcom The Winner. Her other television credits include Kitchen Confidential, Unhitched, Notes From the Underbelly, Will & Grace and Shark, which was on CBS In addition, Hayes starred as "Pam Dawber aka Mindy" in the television movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork and Mindy.

Nancy Lenehan's (Angela) television credits include My Name is Earl, Malcolm in the Middle, Grace Under Fire and Ellen. Recently, she appeared as a series regular on Married to the Kellys. Her feature film credits include Catch Me If You Can and Door To Door.

Kurtwood Smith (Dick) is most recognizable to television audiences for his eight seasons playing Red Forman on That '70s Show. His other television credits include appearances in Medium, House, Malcolm In The Middle, The X-Files, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Star Trek: Voyager and Picket Fences, which was on CBS. His television movie credits include A Bright Shining Lie, The Magnificent Seven, While Justice Sleeps, Doorways, The Christmas Gift and The Nightmare Years, for which he received a Cable Ace Award nomination for best supporting actor. Smith's feature film credits include the Academy Award winners Dead Poets Society and Girl, Interrupted, as well as Broken Arrow, Citizen Ruth, A Time to Kill, To Die For, The Crush, True Believer, and in the memorable role of Clarence Boddicker in Robocop. Smith also starred in a short film, 12:01 P.M., about a man caught in a time warp, which was nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Short Film" category.


Pilot Plot:

#1 Pilot
When Sam and Melanie decide to break their life-changing news to her conservative parents, Sam's disastrous antics delay their plans. A lot of very bad things (but funny!) happen! For instance, Sam misses the train when he decides to help a drunk woman go home and so many bad (and pretty wild and funny) things happen after that. Let's just say, at the end he ends up at Mel's house naked. Find out how when you watch the pilot yourself. To top it all off, Dick, who had a concussion earlier from slipping on Sam's urine, collapses on the sidewalk near a funeral home and the undertaker makes him rest inside the funeral home. Sam of course misunderstands the undertaker's phone call and thinks Dick died. All this and more wild and funny stuff on the pilot!


Analysis:

The pilot is for sure funny. I think just about everyone who saw it so far will tell you that. But will people like this type of comedy for the rest of the season? The pilot is very wild and outrageous things happen. Some of these things would never happen in real life, but this is a TV show and things are made for entertainment...and you'll certainly be entertained by this pilot. I laughed out loud a few times actually. When I finished watching the pilot, I thought to myself this is a crazy show. So many wild things happen that that is what this pilot is about. It's like Meet the Parents: The Sitcom. If you like that movie, then you might find some similarities here. It's a simple story: Sam is in love with Mel, but her parents don't know. They want to get married and they also have a child on the way already. And Sam has bad luck. It's as simple is that! So, the plot revolves around Sam's luck.

Will this series work for CBS? Originally Fox was developing this series in 2006 but it was passed on. The Fox pilot had a completely different cast (Zachary Levi, Jamie King, JoBeth Williams and David Odgen Stiers). This sitcom is based on the hilarious British sitcom The Worst Week of My Life, which aired on BBC for two seasons. This series is a single-camera sitcom, something CBS is not known for at all. They didn't have success this past season in Welcome to The Captain, but in all fairness that was fed to the writers' strike and aired after repeats of their multi-camera sitcoms.


Conclusion:

Honestly, I did enjoy the show despite the wildness. It might be too wild even. I just don't understand how this sitcom can last for a number of years with the title Worst Week? Will they still be on that week in season 4? I guess they'll worry about that when that happens. The BBC series lasted only two seasons and three specials. And their seasons are very short, while our sitcoms get 22 episodes a season usually. So if this show gets 22 episodes this season, it'll pass the BBC episodes already. Also, this sitcom will probably be a bit serialized, something CBS shows are not known for.

The series will air after the highest rated sitcom on television right now...Two and a Half Men. But that is a multi-camera sitcom. I think it will get sampled for sure, though...it's on opposite Dancing with the Stars/Samantha Who, Heroes, Prison Break, and One Tree Hill, so the competition is there but it should be able to beat everything in viewers if it can hold a good portion of the Men audience but Dancing and maybe Heroes. It won't face Samantha Who until the fourth week of the season (Oct. 13), so by then the show should be finding itself and start to have consistent numbers...either good or bad. Can CBS break the mold and find success with a single-camera sitcom and join the other networks in airing these type of sitcoms? We shall see. Give the pilot a try on Sept. 22...if you find yourself liking all this wild stuff, then stick around for more!


Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

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

-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 09/12/08

Discuss the show after you watch it on Monday, September 22 on our message board.

Related Links:

CBS.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Worst Week Photo Gallery

Yesterday was of course the fifth anniversary of John Ritter's passing and we will pay tribute to one of the best ever today. Actually, everyone heard about John's passing on this day (Friday, Sept. 12, 2003), so it makes more sense to pay tribute to him today. John passed away Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 10:30pm PT or so, so that would make it 1:30am ET on Friday, September 12 anyway. And even more, this is the first time that John's passing will be remembered the same day he passed away. That makes it more special this year.
John was my all-time favorite because he was not only a wonderful actor but a good human being. I admired his work of course but I even admired him more as a person. He genuinely was a real person and didn't have the typical celebrity written on him. He was a huge star and a legend but he thought about others first and made everyone feel special...whether it be a homeless guy or George Clooney.
I will never forget that morning when I found out. I was in utter shock and in denial, thinking how could this of happened? I never want to go through something like that again. Unfortunately, I never got to meet John in person but I have written to him (and of course he responded with a wonderful autographed personal photo) and spoke indirectly to him through his press assistant (the very nice Susan Wilcox). I had the chance to go to his Broadway show in 2000, but I never got around to it. Fortunately, many fans got to meet him and told me the stories and they were ALL positive and John made them feel like they knew him personally for over 20 years. An amazing man. An amazing actor. And the best. His wife actress Amy Yasbeck plans to write a book about John for Simon & Schuster. A month after he passed away, Amy started the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health (http://www.johnritterfoundation.org/). "Through the foundation, people are literally getting their lives saved," she told the Sept. 8-14 TV Guide. I urge you all to visit the website to learn more about aortic health and to view some moving stories about how John's story saved others. Chris Mann, author of the Three's Company book, Come and Knock on Our Door, is also planning on writing a book about John. So two books for John. We will keep you up to date on both projects.
So, today's blog is for John. We miss you and we wish you were still here making us laugh and cry. John would have been 60 next Wednesday (Sept. 17).
Share your memories and stories of John.

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!

Network Fall 2008 Preview TV Specials; More New York Locals Fall 2008 Updates

Well the fall 2008 TV season is upon us and that means it is time to watch the network Fall 2008 preview specials! As we do every year, we will let you know when these fall preview specials will air. See our Fall 2007 one from last year.
First up is ABC. Last season ABC had three fall preview specials specially designed for their affiliates and abc.com. One of the three last year was for ABC's then new Wednesday line-up. This year ABC will be focusing on that night as they relaunch the night with the same shows but due to the strike, all three of those shows haven't aired since the end of 2007. This year's special, titled The ABC Wednesday Night Starter Kit, gives us a recap and preview of what is to come on Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money. This half-hour special has started airing already on local ABC affiliates since the weekend of August 15. Check local listings for time and day in your area. If you're in the NYC market, WABC will air it this Saturday (August 30) at 2:30PM. So what if your local ABC affiliate aired this special already and you missed it? Not to worry the ABC cable networks will air it, too. SOAPnet will air it a few times...on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30PM, Saturday, September 13 at 4:30PM and Friday, September 26 at 5:00AM. ABC Family Channel will also air it on Thursday, Sept. 4 (early Sept. 5) at 12:30AM ET/PT. So plenty of chances to watch this, but if you still somehow miss it, it is online on AOL Video. As of now, ABC will not air this special itself, though. They will also as of now not air a full preview special previewing new series, but that could change. We will let you know if it does happen. Finally, ABC.com has a Starter Kit of everything you need to know about your favorite ABC shows in order to catch up in time for the new season. Shows include Dirty Sexy Money, Samantha Who, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters.

Moving on to NBC, they also will do an affiliate special. Their affiliate special has not aired yet anywhere, so no one has seen it yet. Titled NBC Primetime Preview special, the special premieres this weekend, weekend of August 30. Zachary Levi of Chuck hosts this half-hour special that will preview NBC's new series and returning series. If you're in the NYC market, WNBC will air it twice: Saturday, Sept. 6 at 5:00AM and Sunday, Sept. 7 at 12:00PM. Like ABC's special, NBC will air this special on their cable networks as well. CNBC will air it on Monday, September 1 at 12:30PM and Sunday, September 7 at 8:00PM. USA Network will air it on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2:30PM and Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10:00AM. Sci Fi Channel will air it later in the month on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 11:00PM and Thursday, September 25 at 3:30PM. Like ABC, as of now, NBC does not plan to air this special on the network itself.

CBS will have a fall preview special this year! Last year they didn't have one at all. This year CBS will air one and in primetime on CBS, too. Titled, CBS Fall Preview, this special will give viewers an exciting preview of CBS's 2008-09 primetime programming. The special will air on Friday, September 5 at 9:00PM ET/PT following the Stand Up To Cancer special airing on ABC, NBC and CBS. Following the special CBS will an encore episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 9:30.

As of now, this year Fox is not scheduling a primetime preview special on Fox itself, but the affiliate special is still airing. Titled, Fox Fall Preview Special, this special takes a look at what is to come to Fox this season. It will begin airing this weekend, so be on the lookout. In the NYC market, WNYW will air it this Saturday night at 1:00AM and again on Sunday (Aug. 31) at 3:00PM, both in place of M*A*S*H airings. Now, Fox does have a slot open on Sunday, Sept. 14 at 9:35PM-10:00PM, so I wouldn't be surprised if this special actually airs on Fox in that slot. We'll let you know, but for now check your listings!

Finally, The CW is also doing an affiliate special and the special has started airing already. Titled, CW Fall 2008 Preview, this special is a preview of new series and returning favorites, including 90210, Gossip Girl, Privileged and Stylista. The special is hosted by Privileged stars Anne Archer and Joanna Garcia with Bob Saget introducing the MRC Sunday block that include series such as Valentine (with Christine Lakin, Autumn Reeser, etc) and his own sitcom Surviving Suburbia. The special will be airing quite a lot it seems. In NYC, WPIX will air it this Friday (Aug. 29) at 5:00PM, Saturday, August 30 at 7:30PM and Sunday, August 31 at 4:30PM. Check local listings in your area, as it doesn't seem The CW will air this on the network itself.

Last week we did a story on what is coming up on local stations in the New York market and we didn't have the full weekday schedule for WNBC and WPIX just yet...but now we do! First up is WNBC. Their 11am-5pm schedule will be revamped on weekdays. We already told you new talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show is coming to 2pm and back-to-back half-hours of Deal or No Deal will air at 4pm, but we guessed at other slots, and we were primarily right! NBC soap Day of Ours Lives is indeed on the move to its old 1pm slot again, while Martha Stewart Show moves to 11am. In the 12pm hour now since Crosswords is on production hiatus is Style by Jury and Inside the Box, from the same studio...Program Partners. Finally, WNBC will air Monk on Sunday nights at 12:35am replacing Showtime at the Apollo, which is gone. Take a look at the full WNBC Fall 2008 schedule.
As for WPIX, we told you Judge Karen starts Sept. 8 weekdays 1-2pm and how the CW Daytime line-up will change on Sept. 22, but we were not sure if the sitcom line-up from 5-8pm and 11pm-4am would change...and guess what? It will a bit! Starting Sept. 22, in the 5pm hour now will be My Wife & Kids at 5pm (coming from 5:30pm) and George Lopez moves from late nights at 1:30am to a much better 5:30pm slot! George is doing very well in syndication and on cable on Nick at Nite, so expect to see it in better time slots on local channels this fall if your local channel was airing it in a late night slot this season. So, According to Jim which was airing at 5pm, will be on the move to late nights at 1am. The 1am slot replaces Frasier which slides to 1:30am where George Lopez was. Now if you get WPIX's digital station LATV, you can watch George Lopez's secondary airings at 6:30pm! That started a few weeks ago, so tune in. Everything else on weekdays primarily remains intact. Weekend additions is Star Trek and Stargate Atlantis, as we mentioned previously, on Saturday nights from 12-2am...sliding Chappelle's Show to 2-3am. Then starting Nov. 1, new first-run syndicated series Legend of the Seeker joins WPIX on Saturday nights at 8 and 9pm. It'll be like Xena and Hercules all over again! anyway, view the full WPIX Fall 2008 schedule.
We have a lot of members on our message boards and they are posting various schedules for other markets like Boston, Fort Wayne, Sacramento, New Orleans and others, so if you want to help and post your market, head on to our message board!

ABC Orders 5 Additional Series for Mid-Season; TBS Orders House of Payne Spin-Off; Network Notes

ABC is adding five new series to its slate of programming for the 2008-09 season. The series include three new dramas, Castle, Cupid and The Unusuals, and two new comedies, Better Off Ted and Single With Parents. The President of ABC Entertainment Stephen McPherson says that these are the initial pick-ups, but there are a number of other pilots they feel will also get the go ahead in some form moving forward (either for mid-season like these five or for fall 2009). Still very much in the running are dramas Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, The Prince of Motor City, and possibly Good Behavior and In The Deep (David Hemingson project), with comedies like Never Better, Bad Mother's Handbook, and Significant Others (aka Fourplay) also in the mix. I personally hope The Prince of Motor City gets picked-up in some form.
Anyway, these 5 additional series will be added for mid-season and will join previously announced mid-season entries, like the animated comedy The Goode Family, The Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Reality Project and the ABC premiere of Scrubs, along with returning series According to Jim, The Bachelor, Lost and ABC News' Primetime: What Would You Do.
Castle is is a comedic crime procedural about a famous mystery novelist, Nick Castle, who has gotten bored with his success and stars Nathan Fillion as Castle, Stana Katic as Beckett, Molly Quinn as Alexis, Susan Sullivan as Martha, Monet Mazur as Gina and Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Capt. Montgomery.
Cupid is a romantic dramedy about Trevor, a larger than life character who may or may not be the Roman god of love Cupid, sent to earth to bring couples together and stars Bobby Cannavale as Trevor, Sarah Paulson as Claire, Rick Gomez as Felix and Camille Guaty as Lita.
The Unusuals is a unique comedic procedural set in a New York police precinct. As a cop it helps to have a twisted sense of humor, because every moment could be your last, and the series stars Amber Tamblyn as Det. Casey Schraeger, Jeremy Renner as Det. Joe Walsh, Terry Kinney as Sgt. Harvey Brown, Kai Lennox as Det. Ed Alvarez, Harold Perrineau as Det. Leo Banks, Adam Goldberg as Det. Eric Delahoy, Monique Gabriela Curnen as Det. Allison Beaumont and Joshua Close as Henry Cole.
Better Off Ted is a satirical office comedy featuring a successful but morally conscious man, Ted, who runs a research and development department at a morally questionable corporation, Veridian Technologies and stars Jay Harrington as Ted, Andrea Anders as Linda, Portia de Rossi as Veronica, Jonathan Slavin as Phil, and Malcolm Barrett as Lem.
Single with Parents is a comedy about Lou, a woman in her mid-30s who is determined to have her own life despite her crazy blended family getting in the way and stars an all-star cast of Alyssa Milano as Lou, Annie Potts as Elizabeth, Beau Bridges as Joe, Amanda Detmer as Sasha, Meagan Fay as Nancy and Eric Winter as Charlie.
Read the Press Release for more on these five pick-ups. For more on ABC's pilots in development read the full pilots in development and view photos of the casts of these potential series.

After bringing his unique style to TBS with the enormously popular sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne, Tyler Perry is preparing to add to his successful track record with a spin-off based on characters of his popular play and hit movie, Meet the Browns. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of the new sitcom, which comes to the network also from Debmar-Mercury and is slated to premiere in January 2009. As he does for House of Payne, Perry is once again serving as executive producer and director, as well as occasionally writing for the series.
Meet the Browns stars David Mann as Leroy Brown, a character who earlier this year was featured in Perry's hit film of the same name. He has also appeared in several episodes of House of Payne. Perry's new series begins after Brown inherits a dilapidated house from his deceased father.
House of Payne began in 2006 with a 10-episode experiment in select markets that produced strong ratings, leading TBS to order a full-fledged series with an unprecedented 100 episodes. House of Payne will be available for off-network syndication this fall as well airing on local stations such as WWOR in New York and WCIU in Chicago.
We will certainly have more in the future about Meet the Browns on TBS.

CBS is moving the season premiere of Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden to Thursday, Sept. 25 now with a two-hour premiere from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT, marking the first-ever two-hour premiere for any edition of the long-running hit series.
The premiere of Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden was originally announced for Thursday, Sept. 18 from 8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT.
The premiere of Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden, which will also be the first edition broadcast in high definition, will be followed by a rebroadcast of last season's CSI cliffhanger finale at 10:00 PM ET/PT.
CBS made this move because they decided to launch CSI and new drama The Eleventh Hour on Oct. 9 due to a Presidential Debate on Oct. 2. So a void was needed on the first Thursday of the season, which is Sept. 25.
Meanwhile, as CBS moves Survivor back a week, The CW is moving new reality series Stylista up a week! It will now launch Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 9:00 PM (rather than Oct. 29, as previously announced). The CW is airing 90210 repeats in the slot, behind America's Next Top Model, in the weeks beforehand.
Finally, ABC is scheduling new and expanded Wipeout episodes. On Tuesday, September 9, an all-new Wipeout will air in the special 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT slot. Wipeout will still also air and be all-new in its regular 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT slot as well on that date...so two new episodes on that date! As a result, the Tuesday, September 2 episode at 8PM will be a repeat now against the premiere of The CW's 90210, but tonight (August 26) is still all-new as the hilarious series returns from the Olympic break...tune in! Also, the Wipeout season finale (previously scheduled for Sept. 9, 8-9pm) is now scheduled to air as a 90-minute episode on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 now from 8:00-9:30 PM ET/PT followed by an interesting 90-minute special Primetime: UFO's...Seeing is Believing from 9:30-11:00 PM ET/PT. On Sept. 9, the two new Wipeout episodes will go face-to-face with Fox's launch of the 95-minute Fringe and 25-minute Hole in the Wall and on Sept. 16 the 90-minute Wipeout will face the season premiere of Fox's House and the first half-hour of Fringe and the season premiere of NBC's The Biggest Loser. It'll be tough but Wipeout will likely face the task well. As a result, the season finale of High School Musical: Get in the Picture is now on Monday, September 15, 2008 in its normal 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT time period and not two-hours on a special night (Sept. 16) like previously reported, so three more weeks to go for the ratings dud unless it gets pulled before then. ABC should move the next three episodes to Fridays. We will keep you up to date on our message board if it gets pulled or moved.

More TV Classics Come to CBS.com; ION Switches Slots for Cooper and Harvey Starting in August

CBS Interactive announced it has released three more of its classic television programs and related clips, all available now across the CBS Audience Network, such as at CBS.com/Classics. The new shows that are available for viewing include Dynasty Seasons 1 and 2, Beauty and the Beast Season 1, and Have Gun, Will Travel Season 1. These newly added shows will join the other Television Classics that were made available online earlier this year, as we announced.
These new shows are in addition to the other Television Classics previously added to the CBS Audience Network and CBS.com including: The Love Boat, Beverly Hills 90210, Twin Peaks, Family Ties, Perry Mason, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0, and Melrose Place.

ION Television has announced a slight schedule change for August. We gave you their August highlights already and yesterday we confirmed the Friday slots for two new short series, but now they have announced a change to the regular line-up. Weekdays 5pm and 6pm will be switched now. So that means Hangin' with Mr. Cooper goes from the 5pm hour to the 6pm hour, while The Steve Harvey Show goes from the 6pm hour down to the 5pm hour. This will start Monday, August 4. Everything else will remain intact.
Now their September schedule they announced at their upfront might change a bit we think, but we will let you know when September is officially announced in a few weeks with the additions of Boston Legal and M*A*S*H, so stay tuned!

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).

ABC Family Picks-Up Weekend Rights to Fresh Prince; CBS Fall Premiere Dates

In a shocking move, ABC Family has picked-up rights to air The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air beginning in August. You might be thinking, uh isn't it already on TBS and Nick at Nite/The N? Yes, you're of course right. This will be a three-way shared deal (with a record breaking four cable networks involved). This is at least the second three-way deal I have heard of, with the first being That '70s Show (FX, The N, ABC Family), but the first involving four networks. That '70s Show's deal is very complicated that I can't figure out what times each of those networks can air the show.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air deal is pretty easy to figure out. ABC Family will be airing the series weekend evenings only starting Saturday, August 2. The show will air Saturday nights from 11pm-2am ET/PT and sometimes as well on Sundays back-to-back at 11 & 11:30pm ET/PT, if a movie doesn't go until midnight.
So, ABC Family will have weekend evening rights to the series. TBS has the daytime rights. Nick at Nite/The N (AKA Viacom portion of the deal) will now only have weekday evening rights (as they lose the seven days evening rights...what no more all-night seven nights Fresh marathons??), which means Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will not be airing on weekends anymore on both networks and that will be in effect starting next week (the deal starts in July actually). So the Nick at Nite schedule will change a bit. Family Matters, which launches this Sunday with a marathon from 9pm-4am, will get more timeslots because of this! Family Matters will take over the Saturday (early Sunday) slots at 12-2am and 2-3am and Sunday evenings 11pm-12am. Home Improvement will now air Saturdays 11pm-12am and 1-2am, while The Cosby Show will take over Sunday nights (early Monday) 1-2am. So Fresh Prince will only air weekdays...Mon-Thurs 11:30pm & 2-3am and Friday nights 12:30am & 3-4am. The N will air it weeknights at 8-9pm and 1-2am, as weekend airings for that network will also be removed. And TBS will continue to air it weekdays 9-10am.
For the full Nick at Nite schedule effective this Monday, head on over here. ABC Family won't be making any other changes in August when Fresh Prince comes.
If you're a Family Matters fan, then I have compiled an upcoming episodes list for Nick at Nite, that I thought might be handy. They are skipping season one because Urkel didn't become big until season two. Season one will air after this rotation finishes, which means we will have to wait until season nine ends. Tune in this Sunday for the launch marathon!

CBS announced premiere dates for the fall premieres of its new and returning series, which include a pre-season debut for Survivor: Gabon and the launch of its Thursday and Friday drama series in early October. CBS will introduce everything else from its schedule beginning Monday, Sept. 22, the official start of the 2008-2009 season. The only reason the premieres of the Thursday and Friday night dramas have been scheduled outside of premiere week is to accommodate the scheduled Presidential Debate on Sept. 26 and the Vice Presidential Debate on Oct. 2.
Here are the 2008-09 CBS premiere dates:

Thursday, Sept. 18
8-9 p.m.: Survivor (17th edition)

Monday, Sept. 22
8-8:30 p.m.: The Big Bang Theory (2nd season premiere)
8:30-9 p.m.: How I Met Your Mother (4th season premiere)
9-9:30 p.m.: Two and a Half Men (6th season premiere)
9:30-10 p.m.: Worst Week (series debut)
10-11 p.m.: CSI: Miami (7th season premiere)

Tuesday, Sept. 23
8-9 p.m.: NCIS (6th season premiere)
9-10 p.m.: The Mentalist (series debut)
10-11 p.m.: Without a Trace (7th season premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 24
8-8:30 p.m.: The New Adventures of Old Christine (4th season premiere)
8:30-9 p.m.: Project Gary (series debut)
9-10 p.m.: Criminal Minds (4th season premiere)
10-11 p.m.: CSI: NY (5th season premiere)

Saturday, Sept. 27
8-9 p.m.: Crimetime Saturday
9-10 p.m.: Crimetime Saturday
10-11 p.m.: 48 Hours Mystery (season premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 28
7:00-8 p.m.: 60 Minutes (41st season premiere)
8-9 p.m.: The Amazing Race (13th edition)
9-10 p.m.: Cold Case (6th season premiere)
10-11 p.m.: The Unit (4th season premiere)

Friday, Oct. 3
8-9 p.m.: Ghost Whisperer (4th season premiere)
9-10 p.m.: The Ex List (series premiere)
10-11 p.m.: Numb3rs (5th season premiere)

Thursday, Oct. 9
9-10 p.m.: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (9th season premiere)
10-11 p.m.: Eleventh Hour (series debut)

CBS Orders 6 More Password Episodes; NBC Salutes George Carlin with SNL Appearance

CBS has ordered six additional episodes of the Regis Philbin-hosted game show Million Dollar Password.Million Dollar Password airs Sundays, 8:00 PM, has placed first in its time period in viewers in each of its four broadcasts, including a special Thursday edition on June 12. It has also placed first in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in three of its four broadcasts despite skewing very old. Million Dollar Password is averaging 9.46 million viewers, 2.6/8 in adults 25-54 and 2.0/6 in adults 18-49.

NBC will pay tribute to the late George Carlin in a great way this Saturday. As hilarious and heartfelt tributes pour in marking the passing of groundbreaking comedian George Carlin, Saturday Night Live pays tribute on Saturday, June 28 from 11:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m. ET/PT, re-airing its premiere episode that featured Carlin as host.
The episode is from 1975. Carlin was brought in as the first host of the groundbreaking comedy show. Carlin performed three individual monologues on the program that also introduced audiences to the now legendary "Not Ready For Prime-Time Players" Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Larraine Newman and Gilda Radner. The 1975 episode also features musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston as well as a landmark performance from comedian Andy Kaufman.

Hallmark Licenses CBS Consumer Products; Network Notes

Hallmark has licensed CBS Consumer Products' Classic TV catalog for various products. The agreement opens the door to more than 150 properties -- among them The Beverly Hillbillies, The Love Boat, Taxi, Beverly Hills, 90210, Happy Days and Rawhide -- not only for greeting cards but also for party goods, collectibles and other gift categories. The CBS property will be labeled Television City, as most of the shows from the CBS-Paramount library did not air on CBS itself.
Several shows are also celebrating anniversaries next year: The Twilight Zone (50th), Rawhide (50th), The Brady Bunch (40th) and Happy Days (35th)...so expect some sort of tribute cards, collectibles or other products by Hallmark for them. Initial licensees include Hallmark, which will be producing cards featuring many classic TV titles.
A Television City logo will be included on Hallmark products and in marketing outreaches.
Television City shows are in the process of being licensed for use in other categories and already have been tapped by University Games for board games and Steve & Barry's and NTD Apparel for T-shirts and other clothing.
I know I will be asked this question, so I will just say it right now...no, these Paramount shows will not be available on television on The Hallmark Channel, this is just for Hallmark products, like cards and collectibles.

MyNetworkTV will launch The Tony Rock Project Wednesdays this fall following episodes of sitcom Under One Roof this fall. 8 episodes have been picked-up thus far. Tony Rock Project is a sketch comedy show starring Tony Rock, the brother of Chris Rock from Everybody Hates Chris, that will fuse reality (streeter interviews, hidden camera footage) with comic examination of race, class and power.
Other new MyNetworkTV shows for the fall are Magic Secrets (Mondays at 9), Funniest Moments (Wednesdays at 9), and WWE Smackdown! will move to the network in October. The network will also air Saturday movies now, in addition to their Thursday movies. Check out the MyNetworkTV Fall schedule.
Today they announced Arsenio Hall will host Funniest Moments.

Take back the first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles this August on Fox. Beginning Sunday, Aug. 10 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, encore episodes of the entire first season will air for two weeks Sunday through Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET/PT through Aug. 24. The action-packed season finale cliff-hanger that left Cameron's fate unknown will encore on Sunday, Aug. 24 at 9:00 PM ET/PT.
The Season One reboot kicks off the countdown to the Season Two premiere Monday, Sept. 8 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on Fox.

Fox Changes Fall Premiere Dates; CBS Encoring Engvall's Sitcom; John Ritter Portrait Added to Hollywood High Mural

Fox was slated to start the fall season the week of August 25, but now Fox has changed their minds and will start the fall season on September 1, still a full three weeks ahead of the actual start of the 2008-09 season.
Fox premiere week will kick off the 2008-09 season with special two-hour premieres of Prison Break Monday, Sept. 1 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; Bones Wednesday, Sept. 3 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; The Moment of Truth Thursday, Sept. 4 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Friday, Sept. 5 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Premiere week will also see the season premieres of Cops and America's Most Wanted on Saturday, September 6.
As for new series, Fringe, the highly anticipated new thriller from J.J. Abrams will debut with a two-hour premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. New sitcom, Do Not Disturb, the new workplace comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 9:30 PM ET/PT.
Other fall premieres include: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Monday, September 8 at 8:00PM, as Prison Break will slide over to 9:00PM. Returning sitcom 'Til Death will have its season premiere Wednesday, September 10 at 9:00PM in between Bones and Do Not Disturb. Kitchen Nightmares will have its season premiere on Thursday, September 11 at 9:00PM, as The Moment of Truth will air at 8:00PM. Don't Forget the Lyrics! will have its season premiere the next day, Friday, September 12 at 9:00PM following Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fox Saturday late night will have its season premieres on Saturday, September 13 with MADtv at 11:00pm and Talk Show with Spike Feresten at midnight. House will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 16 in its new slot of 8:00pm, leading into Fringe. And finally, the Fox Animation Domination comedies will have their season premieres in the actual traditional premiere week (Sept. 22-28) on Sunday, September 28 with The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad! from 8-10PM.

TBS's original sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show starring Bill Engvall launches its ten-episode second season on Thursday, June 12 at 9:00PM, but before that happens CBS has struck a deal with TBS to air an episode from season one on CBS this coming Monday (June 9). The season one encore (episode three How Bill Met Susan) will air on CBS at 8:00PM in place of the normally scheduled The Big Bang Theory.
Why is CBS doing this? They are not sister stations with TBS, so one wonders what the reason is? Variety reports that this is strictly a marketing swap. In exchange for CBS giving its show wider exposure, TBS will cede promo time to CBS to promote its fall 2008 schedule. So it is a win-win situation for both networks, as TBS gets more exposure for The Bill Engvall Show and CBS gets to showcase its fall promos on TBS. TBS got 4.1 million last season for the series premiere of The Bill Engvall Show. Can CBS's encore do better and can the season premiere on TBS do better as well (opposite the NBA Finals on ABC)? Only time will tell...

Finally, we leave you today with some good news. A 50-foot portrait of the legendary John Ritter (Three's Company, 8 Simple Rules) was dedicated as part of the existing Hollywood High School "Portrait of Hollywood" mural at 9 a.m. today in front of the mural at 1521 N. Highland Avenue, at the corner of Highland and Hawthorne. If you all recall or didn't know, when John was a guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live back in April 2003, Jimmy told John that he will not rest until John's photo was added to the Hollywood High mural. John of course went to Hollywood High for high school from 1962-1966 (then he later went to USC for college from 1966-1971). And now John has finally gotten his photo added to the mural at Hollywood High!
Attending the event was: Amy Yasbeck Ritter, Jimmy Kimmel, mural artist Eloy Torrez, Los Angeles City Council president Eric Garcetti, and Councilmember Tom La Bonge.
Also attended was representatives from the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Legacy Partners and Gatehouse Capital, which combined forces to fund the $74,000 mural.
The event also marks the creation of a $500,000 endowment fund for Hollywood High School's Performing Arts program, provided by a collaboration of Gatehouse Capital.
Great news! And we can't wait to see a picture of this! To discuss this news, and to see a photo of John's "pretend mural" on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003, click HERE!

CBS.com Adds More TV Classics, Includes Family Ties; ION Television and ION Life Acquire Two Series

We told you a few months back that CBS.com has added classic TV shows for free, programs such as Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Melrose Place, Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver are under the "TV Classics" section of cbs.com's Video section. But now more episodes of those are added and more new shows! Among the new series added at CBS.com's TV Classics section are Twin Peaks, Beverly Hills 90210, The Love Boat, Family Ties, and Perry Mason.
All of these shows are from Paramount Television, a division of CBS. So that is how shows like Family Ties (NBC), Beverly Hills 90210 (Fox), and The Love Boat (ABC) are on the CBS.com website.

ION announced that ION Life, its digital network dedicated to active living and personal growth, has reached agreements to add two compelling series to its program lineup. In the network's first commissioned production from NFL Films, ION Life will present the new series, Stories of the NFL, that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the inspirational stories and lives of NFL players on and off the field. The series will air daily on ION Life at 8 p.m., starting Monday, June 2. No, it will NOT air on the regular ION Television.
ION Media Networks has also secured the rights to The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden (MSG), an Emmy Award-winning documentary series from MSG Network presenting some of our most celebrated moments in the world's most famous arena. Episodes will air on ION Life, and ALSO simultaneously as part of ION Life's channel showcase presentation on the ION Television Network, on Sundays at 6 p.m., beginning June 15 for 10 straight weeks.
We still have an interview coming with ION Television, so we hope to bring that to you this week. Our questions were submitted, now we are just awaiting the responses. It will be part of our on-going "Seven Questions" series. You won't want to miss this!

CBS Upfront 2008-09: Fall 2008 Schedule; ION Television June 2008 Line-Up

Your first look at CBS's official line-up!

CBS 2008-09

Fall 2008

Sundays
7:00PM 60 Minutes
8:00PM The Amazing Race
9:00PM Cold Case
10:00PM The Unit

Mondays
8:00PM The Big Bang Theory
8:30PM How I Met Your Mother
9:00PM Two and a Half Men
9:30PM Worst Week (NEW!)
10:00PM