TV One March 2009 Highlights; ION Finally Airs RHI Mini-Series That Was Slated for November 23

This March, TV One springs forward with more great programming! On Sunday, March 1 beginning at 12pm, TV One presents a throwback afternoon with a six-episode marathon of the classic private eye series A Man Called Hawk starring Avery Brooks in the title role. Then we have some schedule changes to the regular line-up happening on weekdays starting Monday, March 2. Sitcom Eve returns to the TV One weeknight comedy line-up airing weekdays at 7pm. This addition has caused a shift in the sitcom line-up which will now air as follows: 5:00pm Good Times, 5:30pm Sanford and Son (replaces The Parent'hood), 6:00pm Good Times, 6:30pm Half & Half (replaces The Hughleys), 7:00pm Eve (replaces Half & Half), 7:30pm Half & Half. So Parent'hood and The Hughleys are now off the line-up.
Then beginning on Saturday, March 7, Sanford & Son will be added to the TV One Saturday morning comedies which will now air the following line-up: 6:00am All About the Andersons (two back-to-back episodes), 7:00am Where I Live (two back-to-back episodes), 8:00am All of Us (two back-to-back episodes replaces Cedric the Entertainer Presents), 9:00am Good Times (two back-to-back episodes), 10:00am The PJs (two back-to-back episodes), 11:00am Sanford & Son (two back-to-back episodes replaces All of Us). So Cedric the Entertainer Presents is now off the line-up.
On Saturday, March 21 beginning at 12 Noon to 8pm, TV One celebrates L.A. Fashion Week with the "Eve-Diva Style Marathon", an all-day sitcom marathon showcasing episodes of Eve that focuses on the Diva Style fashion business run by main character Shelley Williams played by rapper/actress Eve and her two business partners Janie (Natalie Desselle-Reid) and Rita (Ali Landry).
Finally, on Saturday, April 4 at midnight, the clues are in, the facts are adding up, and the players are exposed as TV One airs the one-hour shocking finale of the action series Day Break starring Taye Diggs.
So there you have it, TV One March 2009. No other changes will be made to schedule. Before March, don't forget about February and the Feb. 22 marathon of South Central!

ION Television, the "Positively Entertaining" general entertainment network available to over 94 million homes, and RHI Entertainment, the leader in the production and distribution of groundbreaking movies, miniseries and series for television, announced the U.S. television premiere of The Color of Magic, a four-hour production premiering on ION Television on Sunday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET. This movie was rescheduled from November 23.
Based on the first two books in best-selling author Terry Pratchett's hugely popular Discworld series, The Color of Magic stars Oscar nominee Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Toy Soldiers, Rudy), Emmy nominee Tim Curry (IT, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Kinsey) and David Jason (RHI's Hogfather). Additionally, Emmy Award-winning actor Brian Cox (Bourne trilogy, Running with Scissors) serves as the narrator and Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars Episodes II and III) takes on the vocal role of Death.

TV One January 2009 Highlights Sees Jeffersons, Sanford and Son Regular Slots; Remembering Beverly Garland and Nina Foch

Last month we gave you a sneak peek that The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son will join the regular TV One line-up on Monday, Jan. 5 after their marathons. Now we have details on when they will air starting Jan. 5! TV Land will continue to air the series, so not to worry, if you don't get TV One. Beginning on Monday, January 5, the TV One weeknight (Monday-Friday) comedy block has shifted with the addition of The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son and will look like this: Good Times remains at 5pm ET, but now Parent'Hood will shift to 5:30pm replacing The PJ's. Good Times remains anchoring the 6pm hour, but now at 6:30pm we will have The Hughleys replacing Parent'Hood. Half & Half will remain in the 7pm hour with two episodes, as we mentioned this starts Dec. 29. Martin and Living Single remain in the 8pm hour, while another Living Single remains at 9pm, but at 9:30pm All of Us replaces For Your Love. Then in the 10pm hour, back-to-back episodes of The Jeffersons replace All of Us and Eve. At 11:00pm Martin remains leading into the launch of Sanford & Son at 11:30pm replacing The Hughleys. At 12:00am we get another episode of The Jeffersons replacing Good Times, but Good Times will shift to 12:30am replacing The PJs. Everything else on weekdays is the same as December.
On Saturday mornings starting Jan. 10, the sitcom line-up has changed a bit. In the 7am hour will now be Where I Live, replacing Parent'hood. And in the 11am hour now will be All of Us instead of Where I Live. Where I Live will no longer air Sundays 6-7pm either, but at least it is still on...on Saturdays from 7-8am and all 21 episodes will air. Viewers will have another chance to unravel the mystery as the action drama series Day Break starring Taye Diggs returns to TV One airing Saturdays at 12 midnight beginning on Saturday, January 10. The series will have encore airings on Fridays at 11am and 2am starting Jan. 16. So, to recap, The Jeffersons (weeknights 10p, 10:30p, 12a) and Sanford & Son (weeknights 11:30p) are in, The PJs and For Your Love are out, Day Break is back and Eve is off the regular line-up but will remain Fridays from 12-4pm.
Other highlights include: On Saturday, January 17 beginning at 12 Noon thru 8pm (and again 2-6am), as the nation prepares for a new first couple to take residence in the White House, TV One salutes our own first couple of comedy Overton and Synclaire (John Henton and Kim Coles) from the sitcom Living Single with a marathon that showcases the couple's relationship, engagement, wedding, and honeymoon.
On Sunday, January 18 beginning at 1pm, TV One is solid as a Roc as they present a marathon to showcase characters from the urban sitcom Roc starring Charles S. Dutton as Roc Emerson, a city garbage collector who balances the pressures of work with the everyday crises of family life.
Finally, on Tuesday, January 20 beginning at 9am, TV One celebrates the election of the first African-American President of the United States with coverage of the Inauguration Barack Obama, the US' 44th President. Coverage of this historic Inauguration begins at 11am while post inaugural events and inaugural ball coverage begins at 8pm.

Beverly Garland, the actress who starred in 1950s movie cult hits like Swamp Women and Not of This Earth and who went on to play Fred MacMurray's TV wife on the family sitcom My Three Sons, has died. Garland died Friday at her Hollywood Hills home after a lengthy illness. She had a 50-year career that included 40 movies and dozens of television shows. She starred in the crime series Decoy in the late '50s as police woman Casey Jones. Garland showed her comedic chops as Bing Crosby's wife in the short-lived sitcom The Bing Crosby Show in the mid-'60s, which led her to be cast as the second wife of MacMurray's widower Steve Douglas during the last three seasons of the popular sitcom My Three Sons that aired from 1960 to 1972.
Her television credits also include playing her fair share of mothers in TV series. She was Stephanie Zimbalist's mom in the 80s series Remington Steele, Kate Jackson's mom in the 80's series Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Teri Hatcher's in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the '90s. She also had MANY other TV credits to her name such as appearing on episodes of Hawaiian Eye, The Millionaire, Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Fugitive, Here's Lucy, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Love American Stle, Ironside, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Marcus Welby MD, Charlie's Angels, Trapper John MD, Hart to Hart, Magnum P.I., Hotel, Friends, Ellen, Diagnosis Murder, Teen Angel, and The Simple Life. She recurred on Mary Hartman Mary Hartman as Cookie LaRue, on the ABC soap Port Charles as Estelle Reese, and as Ginger Jackson on 7th Heaven, with her last episode in 2004, as her last role.
Her name may not be recognizable to many, but her face probably is. She appeared in so many TV series and movies, everyone had to have seen her once. She will be deeply missed and remembered. She was 82.

We also remember Nina Foch today. Nina Foch, the Dutch-born actress who often played cool, calculating women in films, theater and television and was a respected coach of aspiring actors and directors has died. Foch died Friday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia. She became ill last week while teaching at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. Foch had taught at USC for 40 years.
What many people know about Nina is that she was the acting teacher for the late John Ritter when he attended USC from 1966-71. She taught John well and was one of her favorite students of all-time. She even worked with John on the big screen movie Blake Edwards' Skin Deep in 1989, in which John was the star. John had a supporting role in the movie Shadow of Doubt in 1998 and Nina also worked with John then. And you John Ritter fans know that Nina was interviewed in many John Ritter documentaries such as John Ritter's Biography episode.
Foch's career goes back all the way to the 40s. Her lengthy television credits include Prescription: Murder in 1968, which launched the popular Columbo detective series starring Peter Falk, the miniseries War and Remembrance in 1989 and episodes of Studio One, Rawhide, Route 66, I Spy, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Mod Squad, That Girl, Hawaii Five-0, Trapper John MD, Hunter, LA Law, Murder She Wrote, Just Shoot Me, Bull, Dharma & Greg, NCIS and most recently on The Closer. She earned an Emmy nomination for best supporting actress in a drama series in 1980 for her work on an episode of Lou Grant.
She was known for her film work as she earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in Executive Suite in 1954. But her dedication as an acting teacher at USC was her legacy and many actors and actresses have respect for Nina Foch. "Believe it or not, teaching is the most rewarding thing I do," Foch told United Press International in 1994. "It has been the most successful thing I've done in my life." She will be remembered for her work, her wonderful teachings, and for her support for the great John Ritter. Nina was 84 and never retired.

Mini-DVD Review: Day Break - The Complete Series (March 25)

Happy Easter everyone! We don't have final ratings for Thursday and also no averages for the first four nights because of the Good Friday/Easter holiday, thus I have decided not to do a ratings report this week. As always you can always get daily final ratings on our General Sitcoms Questions & Discussions message board. So today, I decided to give you all another mini-DVD review! It is an Easter mini-DVD review weekend it seems. I am stunned we got all our planned March 25 mini reviews (Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm, Dennis the Menace, Price is Right and now Day Break today)out of the way before March 25. Today week we take a look at BCI's Day Break: The Complete Series. Day Break was an excellent action-packed drama that was gone too soon. It was the show that was replacing Lost as it went on its hiatus last season in November (2006). Unfortunately, viewers didn't flock in and they missed a wonderful thriller starring Taye Diggs. The show's final episode, which never aired on ABC, even has a conclusion to this story, so fans who gave up or didn't watch, missed out (the show's final 7 episodes aired on abc.com). See my mini-DVD review of Day Break: The Complete Series:

Day Break: The Complete Series (BCI, $39.98) brings us all 13 episodes of the thrilling action-packed Taye Diggs series that relives the same day over and over again. Detective Brett Hopper (Diggs) wakes up in the morning at 6:17am with his girlfriend Rita (Moon Bloodgood) and is later accused of the murder of state attorney Alberto Garza. He will realize that he's been framed. He will run. Then he will wake up and start the day over again. Different things happen each day and Brett has to figure out clues on who killed Garza. It's not your ordinary crime drama, as this is heavily serialized, but very thrilling and exciting. This is one of the shows from 2006-07 season I wish was still around. Anyway, Hopper remember the different things he did on that same day over and over again, but of course no one else does. If someone dies, they are not dead when the day restarts...but if he gets hurt or dies, it will remain. So if he dies, it is all over. What will happen? You'll have to see yourself, if you haven't already.
Let's now move on to the packaging. BCI has done a very good job. The box holds three slim cases inside. The box's cover art features Taye Diggs followed by the Day Break logo, the Complete Series mention, followed by a cast photo on the bottom. Surrounding the big picture of Taye are nice little images in the background. The color sceheme is like yellowish, similar to a sunrise. The back of the box is also great. We get a quote from The Hollywood Reporter on top, followed by a nice synopsis of the series. Nice photos of Rita, Andrea (Victoria Pratt), Chad (Adam Baldwin), and Spivak (Mitch Pileggi) surround the synopsis. Below that we have more photos...Jennifer (Meta Golding), Choi (Ian Anthony Dale), Brett, Damien (Ramon Rodriguez), Fencik (Joe Nieves) and Buchalter (michael McGrady)...wow they got the entire cast on this on the back...very cool. I advise you to view this website to find out details on all the characters, because there is a lot! Below that is the list of the special features. And below that we are told that this set includes 7 episodes never aired on network television. Inside the box are the three slim cases and a nice episode booklet. The booklet is four pages, counting the cover and back. The front cover has the cast and is similar in style to the cover art. Pages 2 and 3 gives us a disc-by-disc breakdown of what episodes are on each disc. We also are given the audio commentaries list for each episode. Every episode has commentary...very good job by BCI. The back of the booklet has another cast photo and credits for the production of the commentaries. Moving on to the slim cases. Get it slim? As in Danny "Slim" Yan. Anyway, each slim case features a character on the front and back of the case. Case 1 has Brett/Rita. Case 2 has Andrea/Spivak. Case 3 has Chad/Jennifer. The episodes for each slim case are listed on the back below the character image. When we open the case, nice promotional images from the show are in the background Disc artwork is very nice as well. Slim case one has disc one and the artwork on the disc is Brett and Jennifer. Slim case two has disc two and the artwork on the disc is Rita and Brett. Slim case three holds discs three and four. Disc three's disc artwork has Chad and Brett. Disc four's artwork has Andrea and Chad.
The menu screen is also very nice. It starts off with the famous sunrise. Then we get a yellow background, similar to the box art. We have a picture of Brett Hopper with a video on the bottom left of the first 15 seconds or so of the first scene from the pilot. The audio of that is also playing. Excellent scene. The menu options are easy to navigate. The episodes are listed on the main menu, with the episode # and title. We also have an option for Audio Set-Up. When we choose that option we have the option for 5.1 Dolby Digital or 2.0 Stereo. When we choose an episode, we get to the episode menu. Options are Play, Chapters, or Play with Commentary. When we select chapters, we see the scene titles and a video screen grab from the episode. Theme music is playing in the background. You can also use your remote to skip chapters if you don't want to use this option. There are 7 chapter stops.
The video and audio is excellent, as it should be. The show is presented to us in widescreen and it looks great. The audio is also excellent, as you have the option for 5.1 or 2.0 stereo. Each episode runs about 42 minutes or so each. Highest is 43:06 and lowest is 41:08. Don't worry, I can assure nothing is edited.
We get a lot of special features! I was so surprised to hear we have audio commentaries for EACH episode and some have multiple tracks! We have other extras as well, but I'll start with the commentaries. Here is a break-down:
1. Pilot - #1: Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), Jeffrey Bell (Showrunner), Rob Bowman (Director), and Matthew Gross (Executive Producer); #2: Rob Bowman (Director) and Marta Evry (Film Editor)
2. What If they Run? - #1: Taye Diggs, Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), and Rob Bowman (Director); #2: Rob Bowman (Director) and Marta Evry (Film Editor)
3. What If He Lets Her Go? - Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), Rob Bowman (Director), and Steven Maeda (Writer)
4. What If He Can Change The Day? - Victoria Pratt and Henry Alonso Myers (Writer)
5. What If They're Stuck? - Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), Taye Diggs, and Adam Baldwin.
6. What If They Find Him? - Ramon Rodriguez and Rob Bowman (Director)
7. What If He's Not Alone? - Jeffrey Bell (Showrunner) and Steven Maeda (Writer)
8. What If She's Lying? - Victoria Pratt, Meta Golding, and Henry Alonso Myers (Writer); Single Scene Commentary (5:26) by Marta Evry (Film Editor)
9. What If They're Connected? - Rob Bowman (Director), Mitch Pileggi, and Ian Anthony Dale
10. What If He's Free? - Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), and Steven Maeda (Writer)
11. What If He Walks Away? - Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), Taye Diggs, and Moon Bloodgood
12. What If She's The Key? - Mitch Pileggi, Jeffrey Bell (Showrunner), and Paul Zbyszewski (Creator)
13. What If It's Him? - Paul Zbyszewski (Creator), Taye Diggs, Jeffrey Bell (Showrunner), Matthew Gross (Executive Producer), and Rob Bowman (Director).
Wow a lot of commentaries indeed! I urge you all to watch the episodes first, especially if you've never seen the show...then rewatch it with the commentaries and you'll learn a lot!
We also have Cast Interviews that runs 12:28...Taye Diggs, Moon Bloodgood, Meta Golding, Victoria Pratt, Ramon Rodriguez, Adam Baldwin and Mitch Pileggi are interviewed. These are from when the show was first coming on the air, so it is neat to see this. Then we have Producer Interviews, and this runs 5 minutes or so and has Paul Zbyszewski, Matthew Gross, Jeffrey Bell, and Rob Bowman...and like the cast one, this is also from when the show was set to premiere on ABC. Then we have a 3:44 segment on Behind the Scenes. We see how the set looks and how a scene is filmed...pretty cool. Finally we have a 2:30 video clip of promotional images. Nice to see.
I highly do recommend this set for any Day Break fan for sure. If you have never watched the series, then I urge you to watch this because it is thrilling and it DOES have a conclusion at the end. So you're not watching for nothing. We find out why this was happening to Brett. Maybe you can guess it before you see it. BCI has done a wonderful job for this set and fans will be extremely pleased. The show is now airing on cable network TV One in reruns Sunday nights at 10pm, so you might want to sample that if you are still cautious in buying this series on DVD. Remember, for every decision there is a consequence. Although the only consequence for buying this set is that you'll have a great time and you'll be glued!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(5/5 stars)

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Stay tuned tomorrow as we head back to our regular news. We have a great week ahead of us as we expect the following: BET April, ION April, Nick at Nite April and TV One May. Will ION expand to more hours? Will BET have another nice sitcom marathon for us? And what times will Urkel and the gang air on Nick at Nite? We hope to answer all that and more this week on the blog! You won't want to miss this!