Retroality Interviews Little House's Alison Arngrim; TV Land Announces New Host for She's Got the Look Is... Brooke Burke

Chris Mann's Retroality.TV has a new cover story on Little House on the Prairie's "nasty Nellie Oleson," Alison Arngrim. In the two-part interview titled "Little Bitch on the Prairie" (oh how Chris has good titles!), Alison spills on Walnut Grove's real wench while prepping her wicked-fun one-woman show Confessions of a Prairie Bitch. In part two, she talks about Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time) and the Diff'rent Strokes kids, as well as some hot-button issues. About Diff'rent Strokes, among the items she talks about is that Todd Bridges has a book out coming this March called Killing Willis. In that book, Todd Bridges shares the shocking but ultimately triumphant story of his struggle to find his identity after Diff'rent Strokes. Todd appeared as a guest with Alison on Little House on the Prairie in 1977.
View the full interview on the cover page.
Also linked on the site, Kim Kardashian shares her health and beauty secrets in an interview with Retroality editor Chris Mann! Check that out.

We mentioned a couple months back that TV Land has ordered a third season of reality series She's Got the Look. Now TV Land has announced a new host. TV Land announced that television personality, entrepreneur and former winner of Dancing with the Stars Brooke Burke will host the third season of TV Land's original hit reality modeling competition She's Got The Look. This season of She's Got The Look, which begins production this week in Los Angeles, CA, sets out to discover a beautiful, sophisticated and confident woman over the age of 35 who has the potential to transform herself into a model, representing some of the most high-profile brands and highly-coveted campaigns in the fashion and beauty industries.
In other casting news, the network announced that model and TV reporter Roshumba Williams is joining the series as a judge along with celebrity stylist Robert Verdi and Wilhelmina president Sean Patterson. Emmy Award-winner Allison Grodner (Big Brother) returns as executive producer and has teamed up with executive producer Rich Meehan (Big Brother) in their first project together under their new banner, Fly On The Wall Entertainment. The show has also renewed partnerships with SELF Magazine and world-renowned modeling agency, Wilhelmina Models, Inc.
No premiere date has been announced yet. It is likely to premiere in summer, but stay with us for the actual updates. TV Land PRIME just started a new season of High School Reunion last week and after that is over in March, TV Land PRIME will air the new reality series First Love, Second Chance.

ABC Pulls Motherhood, Doubles Up On Samantha Who; Me-Too July Marathons; Nick at Nite's 2nd Quarter Ratings

We were the first ones to mention yesterday (on our message board) that ABC has pulled In The Motherhood after just one episode since its return. The canceled sitcom has two more burn-off episodes left, and only aired once this summer. ABC will now double-pump Samantha Who? instead. Samantha Who? is now scheduled to air new episodes on Thursdays at 8:30 PM ET/PT on July 2 and 9 with the season finale airing on Thursday July 23, 2009 at 8:30. Just to be clear, Samantha Who? will also still be all-new in the 8:00 PM ET/PT time period on these three nights as well, as the series has 6 episodes left (on July 16, ABC has an ABC News special on J.K. Rowling scheduled). Don't forget Samantha Who? fans, to DVR or watch the entire 8pm hour tomorrow!
No word if In The Motherhood will burn-off its final two episodes on another night, but we will certainly let you know. In other ABC updates, ABC has confirmed that the final two scheduled Sunday airings of Just for Laughs will also be at 7:30pm ET/PT on Sundays (July 5 and 12) like it was this past week. An abbreviated repeat of AFV will serve as its lead-in, before going back to its full-hour on July 19. Not sure how many episodes Just for Laughs has this third season, but only four were scheduled to air even before it started airing.

The daily classic TV summer marathons continue on Chicago's Me-Too this July. Continuing this July, Chicago's Me-Too will feature all-day marathons of classic shows! Me-Too, sister station of Chicago's Me-TV and WCIU-TV, showcases a different classic show every weekday from 10AM-10PM. One day you could be arrested by Kojak, the next you could be cruising in the Batmobile through Gotham City!
The schedule for the month in order starting today is: The Greatest American Hero is today, followed by The Adventures of Superman, Black Sheep Squadron, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, In the Heat of the Night, The Untouchables, Kojak, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Batman, The Green Hornet, Get Smart, Eight is Enough, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, The Cosby Show, Little House on the Prairie, Wild Wild West, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide closes the month.
As you can see, each week there is a theme. First week is super heroes, then dramas, crime solving, family, and westerns.
View the schedule section on their website for episode info.

Nick at Nite closes second quarter as the number-one basic cable network with Women 18-49 in total day, averaging a 0.8 rating in this demo (448,000 viewers W18-49). Driven by hits like George Lopez, Nick at Nite also ranks as the number-two cable network with Adults 18-49 (behind only USA Network) for the quarter, averaging a 0.6 rating in this demo (668,000 viewers A18-49) and 1.5 million total viewers.
George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program in second quarter, and has posted ratings growth since the show launched in September 2007. George Lopez averages a 0.6 rating in A18-49 (678,000 viewers A18-49) at 10 p.m. for the quarter and has posted gains of 20% with Adults 18-49 launch to date. George Lopez can be seen on Nick at Nite everynight at 10 p.m. and it will be moving to weeknights at 9 p.m. next week.
In prime time (9-11 p.m. ET/PT), Nick at Nite averages a 0.6 A18-49 rating and 1.6 million total viewers for the quarter. Nickelodeon recently announced that it is extending the Nick at Nite programming block to encompass all three hours of prime time (8-11 p.m. ET/PT), providing viewers with a slate of family programming including the upcoming Nick at Nite premiere of Malcolm in the Middle on July 5.
Year to date, Nick at Nite is averaging 1.5 million total viewers, a 0.6 A18-49 rating (679,000 viewers A18-49) and a 0.8 W18-49 rating (442,000 viewers W18-49).

Stay tuned tomorrow for TV Land August 2009! So come on back for that tomorrow!

Comcast's TubeTime Brings Back Diff'rent Strokes, What's Happening; WGN Acquires American Gladiators Revivial Reruns

Comcast's onDemand service TubeTime is bringing back Diff'rent Strokes and What's Happening!! onDemand! The first 5 episodes of each are available again to view at your leisure! These two have been on Comcast's TubeTime previously and now they both return.
TubeTime still has Facts of Life, Three Stooges, Gidget, Larry Sanders Show and Sanford & Son on their service, too. So fans of those series, not to worry...they will remain. It looks like since we last reported, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Who's the Boss?, One Day at a Time, and Silver Spoons are off the service for now. For those wondering Facts of Life episodes are currently in the sixth season on TubeTime, while Three Stooges are in the fourth season, Gidget at the end of the first season, Larry Sanders Show is in the second season, and as is Sanford & Son. Let's hope they get to season three of Diff'rent Strokes quickly, since starting with that season it is not on DVD yet. What's Happening!! is already complete on DVD, so it would have been better if it was follow-up series What's Happening Now!! instead, since only one season of that is on DVD. In addition to that, I'm hoping the following pop-up on TubeTime in the future: Dennis the Menace, Sanford, Benson, 227, Archie Bunker's Place, Maude, and hoping some return like Silver Spoons. Maybe wishful thinking on some? TubeTime only provides Sony owned series to Comcast.

WGN America has acquired reruns of the revival of American Gladiators that aired on NBC last year. The series will air Thursday nights at 9pm ET starting Thursday, June 25. American Gladiators will follow WWE Superstars on Thursday nights and that should finally give WGN America a good companion to WWE Superstars.
In other schedule news, Around the World for Free will wrap up its season on Monday, June 22, then a series of specials will air in July on Mondays at 9pm ET titled Lance Burton, Master Magician. Once that wraps, a second rerun of AFV will return on Monday nights. The special ASA Action Sports World Tour will air at 9pm ET on Thursday, July 9 (that will shift American Gladiators to Wednesday at 9pm ET for that week only).
And as for classic TV, there will be plenty of it this fall and we will get to that soon! One hint is one show that airs on the network will be celebrating an anniversary, and WGN America will air an anniversary marathon! We will tell you that soon! So keep checking back!

BET September Programming Includes Smart Guy; 5 More RTN Stations to Launch in Early 2009; Network Notes

This September BET will launch Judge Karen and Judge Hatchett, as we previously announced, but they will also launch a new sitcom! Since Diff'rent Strokes and a few others leave after this Friday (don't forget the Strokes farewell marathon this Friday from 9am-6pm!), a sitcom void was needed. BET has acquired the rights to air the '90s sitcom Smart Guy from Buena Vista! T.J. Henderson (Tahj Mowry) is a high school sophomore. He isn't just a regular one though. He is a ten-year old tenth grader! After being promoted to high school, T.J. deals with the usual problems of fitting in as a genius, while being a little kid in a big school. Also stars Jason Weaver, Omar Gooding and Essence Atkins. The sitcom was last seen in reruns on The Disney Channel from 1999-2003 with a marathon appearance in fall 2004 for back to school. The series originally ran from 1997-99 on The WB.
BET will launch Smart Guy on Saturday, September 6 with a marathon of the first 10 episodes from 11am-4pm before moving to its regular airing of weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT after The Steve Harvey Show starting Monday, September 8.
Other BET portions of the schedule will include Girlfriends airing from 9-10am weekdays starting September 1 and starting September 22 BET will launch Judge Karen at 10am and Judge Hatchett at 10:30am. Back-to-back Hell Date will air in the 11am hour, as the morning "Blackbuster" 10am-12pm movie will be gone. Steve Harvey and Smart Guy round out the daytime weekday series schedule from 4-6pm. Music and rap programming will primarily air elsewhere weekdays, however 11pm and 11:30pm will now will be Judge Karen and Judge Hatchett as well starting Sept. 22. The midnight "Blackbuster" movie follows, as A Different World will now only air sometimes in the 3am hour.
As for weekends, there will be no changes until the weekend of Sept. 27 when Romeo! shifts from the 11am hour to the 9am hour, while Just Jordan remains in the 10am hour, and two hours of Smart Guy airs from 11am-1pm starting Sept. 27 on Saturdays. On Sundays, starting Sept. 28, Judge Karen will air from 1-2pm, no other changes will be made.
Stunts for the month include a marathon of sister station TV Land's original series Family Foreman starring George Foreman on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 1-4pm featuring all six episodes.
Check out the generic BET September Fall 2008 schedule, if you want to see it in a list form.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it has entered into an agreement with New Age Media to launch RTN affiliates in five new markets.
The new affiliates will air on digital streams of WQMY in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania; WPXT in Portland, Maine; WTLH in Tallahassee, Florida; analog station WYPN-CA in Gainesville, Florida; and a new television station in Columbus/Tupelo, Mississippi. The RTN affiliations are anticipated to sign on in early 2009.
These are the first announcements of new RTN affiliates since RTN was sold to Luken Communications...but the first of many to come, so stay tuned!

It's time for another round of network notes! NBC has announced it has picked up nine additional episodes of its sophomore drama Chuck (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET) to provide the series with a full-season 22-episode order for 2008-09. The new season launches Monday, September 29.
Fox has announced that Hole in the Wall, the body-bending, global game show, will now air a special preview episode on Sunday, Sept. 7 from 8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT following Fox's first NFL doubleheader of the season and as previously announced on Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 9:35-10:00 PM ET/PT following the series premiere of Fringe on FOX. Hole in the Wall will have its one-hour series premiere Thursday, Sept. 11 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on Fox and will air in that slot thereafter. Fox has still not announced what will air Sunday, Sept. 14 from 9:35-10pm following the Fringe pilot encore.
And finally, like I predicted, the season finale of ABC's High School Musical: Get in the Picture will now air on Monday, September 8, 2008 from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and not September 15 as previously reported. The finale will lead-in to the previously announced CMA special from 9-11PM ET/PT. As a result of that change, The ABC Monday Movie of the Week Batman Begins will now air on Monday, September 15, 2008 from 8:00-11:00 PM ET/PT.

TV Land September 2008 Schedule...Again; BET Schedule Updates

OK so we gave you TV Land September details two other times already. The latest one was exactly a week ago and the first one was last month, with a few updates in between those. Now a third major update is done! Could three be the charm?
TV Land has not touched its weekday line-up starting Sept. 2. It will remain the same as it was previously, with Scrubs joining weeknights at 9 & 9:30pm. However, TV Land has touched the Saturday and Sunday line-up a bit starting Sept. 6. For Saturdays, the biggest changes are Andy Griffith in the 9am hour, Scrubs airing 9-10pm and 12-1am, The Cosby Show 10-11pm, with M*A*S*H 1-2am and various marathons from 2-6am. As for Sundays, they will have a two-hour block of M*A*S*H, Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Little House on the Prairie from 8pm-6am. So the regular overnight (1-6am) will now only be weeknights.
In that schedule we announced last month, we stated that there would be changes to the morning line-up starting Sept. 15 with Cheers removed, that will not be the case now. The Sept. 2 schedule will last through Sept. 19. Then on Saturday, Sept. 20, there will be a minor change as The Munsters and The Addams Family are expiring, as we knew already. Then on Monday, Sept. 22 more changes are happening to weekdays. The weekday morning block will be altered a bit. M*A*S*H comes into the weekday 7am hour replacing Night Court/Mad About You. Night Court will shift to 8am, replacing Designing Women followed by Cheers at 8:30am, which is still on (for now)! Now TV Land's October schedule starts the following week on Sept. 29, so Cheers will not be on that as the contract is expiring and the show is moving to The Hallmark Channel on Sundays as we stated yesterday. Back to Sept. 22, an extra Sanford & Son will replace All in the Family at 9am, so Designing Women, Mad About You and All in the Family are gone. They join the previously booted Just Shoot Me! and Murphy Brown, which will leave the line-up in late August.
I really urge you to view the entire line-up for the TV Land September 2008 schedule, so you do not get confused. So is this the Fall schedule? Not quite, as two more series will join the daily line-up in October...3rd Rock from the Sun (as we exclusively announced) and daily plays of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. So we will have the TV Land Fall 2008 line-up (October) in the coming days!
Come back tomorrow for our Canada cable networks fall 2008 line-ups--DejaView, TV Land Canada, CTS, and more!

Now let's move on to BET. We don't have their Fall line-up yet, but before the fall starts they will be doing some notable things. First, just to remind you that this Sunday (Sunday, August 17) from 3pm-7pm ET they will have a farewell marathon for the short-lived sitcom Sanford (1980, starring Redd Foxx). All the Sony Pictures sitcoms they have are all expiring at the end of August and they will not be renewing them, unfortunately. So you will not see Diff'rent Strokes, Thea, Sanford, and Malcolm & Eddie in September. Yes, The Steve Harvey Show is from Sony but that is not part of that package and thus Harvey is not expiring.
Diff'rent Strokes (weekdays 9-11am) will have a missing episode finally aired on BET. The episode "Bulimia" has never aired on BET because the tape they had was damaged...but now BET has gotten a new one and will air it on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 9:30am, so get those VCRs/DVRs ready! Speaking of Diff'rent Strokes, it will have a five-episode block in primetime on Saturday, August 23 from 8pm-10:30pm, followed by a five-episode block of A Different World from 10:30pm-1am. The episodes will be multiple-part storylines. View the episode info for this stunt.
That's not all for Diff'rent Strokes! On its last day of airing, BET will give it a proper send-off with an all-day marathon on Friday, August 29 from 9am-6pm. We don't have episode info yet for that stunt, but should by next week, so keep checking our Diff'rent Strokes message board.
Fans of A Different World will be pleased that all week of August 25, the show will air at 11pm and 11:30pm, as BET has a movie stunt all week at midnight.
As for early September, replacing Diff'rent Strokes starting Sept. 1 from 9-11am will be the sitcom Girlfriends, and Hell Date will air weekdays 3-4pm full time and not share it with any other original.
As for the fall, all we know is new syndicated series Judge Karen is coming to BET on Sept. 22 along with court favorite Judge Hatchett. Judge Karen will actually launch in syndication on Sept. 8, check local listings or JudgeKarenTV.com. Hopefully another sitcom or two come as well, we will let you know.

Lifetime Fall 2008 Schedule; Last Minute Updates for TV Land and BET

It's time for another fall 2008 schedule! Today we will give you Lifetime's Fall 2008 line-up, which begins Tuesday, September 2. They will be adding Desperate Housewives repeats to the weekday line-up! The series up until then was airing once a week on weekends. Desperate Housewives also will be coming to local syndication this fall starting weekend of Sept. 20 in a two-year deal for weekend play, look for it on Fox-owned MyNetwork TV stations. On Lifetime, the series will air weekdays at 8:00am & 12pm ET/PT. The 8am airing will replace two episodes of The Nanny, while the 12 noon airing will replace the start of the movie, which slides to 1-3pm. The Nanny will now only air at 2am. Starting in October, Lifetime will repurpose the latest episode aired of Desperate Housewives on ABC about a week or two later on Lifetime. We don't have information on October yet, so we will let you know if it is in a slot other than 8am or 12pm.
Also, coming to Lifetime this September is the ABC reality series Wife Swap. Wife Swap will air weekdays at 3:00pm & 4:00pm ET/PT. At 3pm it will replace a movie and the 4pm airing will replace an hour of The Golden Girls. Golden Girls will still remain in the 9am hour and 1am hour. It was originally announced for October, but it will air earlier. There will be an Army Wives marathon on Labor Day from 11am-9pm. There are no other real changes, but I adivse you to view the full Lifetime September 2008 line-up!
Stay tuned tomorrow for another Fall line-up!

TV Land has made some one-time changes for this week, for more promotion for the original series Family Foreman. They will wraparound the series with The Cosby Show tonight from 8-10pm and again from 2-4am. Then on the weekend, Family Foreman encores will get a boost from The Jeffersons on Saturday from 1pm-4:30pm, while The Cosby Show will air out of the encores from 6pm-8:30pm and again from 1am-6am. Finally, this Sunday Cosby Show will be used from 11pm-6am following encores of Family Foreman. Check our TV Land July thread, for details. We'll keep you up to date, if TV Land does something similar for next week.
We mentioned before that BET now has a rotating sitcom wheel from 9-11am each weekday morning beginning this week, with Thea, Diff'rent Strokes, The Parkers, Girlfriends, and Sanford airing each day. BET aired Thea on Monday and Diff'rent Strokes on Tuesday this week, but now they have made a change. Diff'rent Strokes will air Wed-Fri mornings this week instead of the other three shows. No reason was given for the change. So what about next week? As of now, Thea is slated for Monday and Friday and Diff'rent Strokes Tuesday through Thursday. So it seems they are not going to air Girlfriends, The Parkers and Sanford in this wheel afterall. Check out the episode information for the remainder of this week and next week, if you want to know the episodes.

TidalTV.com Adds Classic Sony TV Series Episodes; ION Confirms RHI Series on Fridays

TidalTV, Inc. (www.tidaltv.com), a new online service which offers free access to programming from television and the web, announced today the addition of Sony Pictures Television's popular television series to the TidalTV channel lineup.
Over 500 full-length episodes from the series that defined American television, including Married... with Children, Party of Five, Bewitched, The Facts of Life and more, are now playing on TidalTV. See George Clooney on The Facts of Life, Alyssa Milano on Who's the Boss?, Christina Applegate on Married... with Children all over again!
TidalTV also features "The Minisode Network," which offers the Sony shows you love -- only shorter! These pint-sized programming portions are the perfect snack during your lunch hour at the office or while relaxing at home.
Coming up in July, viewers can catch TidalTV's famous guest stars programming block with appearances from Mr. T, Ben Stiller, Jason Bateman, Milla Jovovich and more on shows including Who's the Boss?, Diff'rent Strokes and Silver Spoons. In addition, TidalTV will air its "Battle of the Blondes" programming special featuring action-packed episodes of Charlie's Angels, V.I.P. and T.J. Hooker.
Currently you can see full episodes of Battledome, Dilbert, Jack Chan Adventures, One Day at a Time, Party of Five, T.J. Hooker, The Facts of Life, plus the Minisode Network featuring more Sony classics!
That's www.tidaltv.com, please check it out and visit it everyday for your favorite classic Sony TV shows!

About two weeks ago we gave you ION Television's August 2008 highlights & line-up and we mentioned Flash Gordon and The 10th Kingdom coming to Fridays. Now ION has confirmed that. Two of RHI Entertainment's most popular productions will be seen on the ION Television Network's RHI Movie Weekend beginning Friday, August 1 (7/6c). Flash Gordon, a 22-hour adventure series, and The 10th Kingdom, a 10-hour fantasy saga, will be featured weekly in a two-hour Friday evening programming block. The special broadcasts begin August 1 with Episodes 1 and 2 of Flash Gordon. Starting August 8, ION Television will pair one hour of Flash Gordon with one hour of The 10th Kingdom each week from 7-9pm ET/PT.
Flash Gordon scored with viewers when it originally aired on Sci Fi Channel in the summer of 2007, delivering the network's best series premiere telecast for 2007. Flash Gordon is produced by Reunion Pictures. The producers are Matthew O’Connor and Tom Rowe.
John Larroquette, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Ann Margret, Rutger Hauer, Camryn Manheim, Ed O'Neil, and Dianne Wiest are among the Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning talent headlining an all-star cast in The 10th Kingdom, a 10-hour miniseries that premiered on NBC in February 2000. The upcoming broadcast on ION Television marks the first time the series has ever been seen in one-hour segments in the U.S.

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).

BET Picks-Up Steve Harvey Show, July Highlights; Bad TV Shows Block Coming in Houston

BET has picked-up the cable rights to air the 1996-2002 WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show starring Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer. The show will start this Friday, the 4th of July, airing 4-5pm ET/PT. It will air also that weekend 4-5pm (July 5 and 6) before airing regularly weekdays 4-5pm and weekends 12-1pm ET/PT. The weekdays 4-5pm airings will replace an hour of Malcolm & Eddie, but that show will still air weekdays 10-11am. The Saturday 12-1pm airings will replace Diff'rent Strokes encores, but Strokes will still air weekdays 9-10am & 3-4pm. While the Sundays 12-1pm Harvey airings will replace Sanford, which will now be off the regular line-up. There will be no other schedule changes, so everything else remains the same.
Now Steve Harvey Show will still air on TBS in early morning slots (6-7am and other slots before that sometimes), so it seems BET has the daytime/afternoon rights, while TBS has the very late and early morning rights. ION Television also airs the show, weekdays 6-7pm, but ION is a broadcast channel, not a cable network. So the show will air on two cable networks and a national broadcast channel...so lots of exposure for this show!
Other July 2008 BET highlights include: the A Different World marathon for Sunday, July 6 has been trimmed from 6-11pm to 8-11pm because of this Steve Harvey addition. The marathons continue Sundays in July with a Diff'rent Strokes marathon from 1pm-6pm on Sunday, July 13. Two shows off the regular line-up, Thea and Sanford will get a five episode each marathon on Sunday, July 20 from 3pm-8pm, with Thea from 3-5:30pm and Sanford from 5:30-8pm.
Now this week, people have been asking is Diff'rent Strokes leaving the weekdays 3-4pm slot since it is not scheduled this week (June 30-July 4)? I sort of answered that already earlier in this story. No, it is not leaving afternoons, it is just not on this week. As of now, it is slated to air each weekday in both the 9-10am and 3-4pm weekday slots for all of July, with no preemptions. Of course, BET has a history of making last minute changes, so please keep checking back on our blog and on our message boards for the latest information!


We were informed by reader Michael Dudas that a Houston TV station is looking to create a "Bad TV" Saturday evening block. The TV station is Channel 55 in Houston called Houston's 55, or better known as The Tube.
"We're going to call it a night of Bad TV, and we're going to run it for three hours, maybe four, on Saturdays starting in October," said Channel 55 president Matt Reiff to the Houston Chronicle. "Whether it's three or four hours depends on how successful we are getting the rights to these shows. We're in the process of buying shows now for the fall. We're looking for the worst shows, I'm talking sitcoms and movies, in the history of television."
This is indeed a wonderful idea! I love it. If I were them I would add Small Wonder, Out of this World, Webster, She's the Sheriff, Harry and the Hendersons, etc. for shows that actually lasted a while but were bashed big time...some of those I actually do like, though! And some of the shows that didn't last a season and were terrible such as Emily's Reasons Why Not, Michael Richards Show, Mary (1985), Joanie Loves Chachi, Who's Watching the Kids?, Emeril, Bagdad Cafe, etc.
Can you think of sitcoms that were just plain bad that lasted a while and sitcoms that were so bad they were canceled within a season? Head on www.houstons55.com and leave them a message under "viewer comments."
Regularly Houston's 55 airs "good" shows such as Northern Exposure, Fantasy Island, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, 21 Jump Street, Star Trek, Married with Children, Steve Harvey, and Renegade.
And how will they present this night of Bad TV? "Each night, we'll have three lousy hosts introducing the lousy shows, and we'll let viewers vote off one of the hosts," Reiff said. "We don't know if we're going to vote off the best host or the worst host. "Oh, and we're going to give away prizes to viewers throughout the show. Prizes will be trips to exotic places, like Paris." Paris, Texas, that is. "And we won't send them to Paris without spending money. How's $55 sound? "Bad TV, bad hosts and bad prizes ... this is going to be great." I agree! Head on over to their website and think of bad TV shows that are so bad that you would want to watch...they could be so bad that you like them (like Small Wonder)! Houston fans are very lucky to have this! We will bring you up to date news as soon as we hear something, such as what shows they have acquired.

Many TV Classics Coming to Online Station; Remembering George Carlin and Dody Goodman

The TVS Television Network, the fourth oldest commercial TV network in the USA, has launched NTV Tele.Net, an advertising supported full time streaming video internet channel, short for the Nostalgia Television Network. NTVTele.Net is a streaming video channel that programs classic TV programs and movies 24 hours daily. While all of the classic programming is of a vintage nature, TVS plans an aggressive slate of new programs that capture the historic nature of NTVTele.Net programs.
NTVTele.Net features top classic TV shows from the past 60 years of television including Bonanza, Andy Griffith, Robin Hood, Jim Bowie, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Dobie Gillis, My Favorite Martian, Sea Hunt, Peter Gunn, Checkmate, Beverly Hillbillies, Ozzie and Harriet, Dick Van Dyke, and many other classics.
TVS is scheduled to roll out 16 more fulltime streaming channels in 2008, most under the legendary TVS banner. TVS began in 1961 telecasting to independent TV stations and has been a premiere occasional network for 47 years.
NTVTele.Net is currently running marathon classic TV programming in its Beta stage, and will convert to a classic schedule of programming in August.

We have lost two more sitcom stars. George Carlin, who was one of the best stand-up comics, and Dody Goodman, more known for her Broadway work.
Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday at about 6pm PT. Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live back in 1975...he hosted an episode again in 1984.
George Carlin got his own sitcom in 1994 on Fox called The George Carlin Show. The show only lasted 27 episodes and was about George playing New York City cab driver named George O'Grady.
His other sitcom credits include guest shots on Welcome Back Kotter, That Girl and The Simpsons. Children best know him for his work on Shining Time Station as the conductor, which he spoofed in 2000 on an episode of MADtv. He was also the narrator for many years on the children's series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
His film credits include Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (which he also appeared on the animated TV series), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Americathon, Prince of Tides, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Scary Movie 3 and Cars.
Stand-up comedy was of course what he was best known for. He hosted about 14 HBO comedy specials and is known as one of the best stand-up comics of all-time.
The Kennedy Center just said it will posthumously award the Mark Twain Prize to the late George Carlin at this year's annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He died a week after being named the 2008 recipient of the Twain Prize. He will be remembered at the Nov. 10 ceremony.
Mr. Carlin will certainly be missed. We are all probably saying the seven dirty words he was known to use today as we heard about his passing. Mr. Carlin was 71.

We have also lost Dody Goodman. Dody Goodman died Sunday (June 22) at Englewood (N.J.) Hospital and Medical Center. The actress had been ill for some time and had lived in the Actors Fund Home in Englewood since October. Goodman gained a measure of newspaper column space for her dancing solos in such '40s Broadway musicals as High Button Shoes and Wonderful Town. In 1955, she stopped the show in Off Broadway's Shoestring Revue with the novelty song "Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers."
She came to the attention of nighttime talkshow host Jack Paar, who after becoming enchanted by Goodman's ditzy persona and seemingly spontaneous malaprops, invited the lady to become a semi-regular on The Tonight Show. As Goodman's fame grew, she became difficult to handle on the show, and Paar was not happy with her upstaging habits. So she left show and appeared on other talk shows such as The Merv Griffin Show. She returned to Broadway in 1974 to appear in Lorelei with Carol Channing.
Then in 1975 she played Louise Lasser's mother on the comedy-soap Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Her high-pitched voice could be also heard announcing the show's title at the beginning of each episode. She appeared on the spin-off Forever Fernwood as well. She was also famous in the '80s for her recurring role as Aunt Sophia on the '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Goodman also provided the voice of Miss Miller on the animated series Alvin & the Chipmunks and various specials and movies such as The Chipmunk Adventure. She also had a role in the '80s daytime soap Texas. Her other TV credits include her first role as a waitress on The Phil Silvers Show, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Mary Tyler Moore Hour, CHiPs, Just Our Luck, St. Elsewhere, Punky Brewster, One Life to Live, Crazy Like a Fox, Bustin' Loose, Murder She Wrote, Here and Now, and Boston Common. She also appeared in the TV movie I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later. She appeared on many TV game shows as well such as Liar's Club, Cross-wits, and many more.
She appeared in such popular films as Grease, Grease 2, playing Blanche (the principal's assistant), and in the movie Splash and Splash, Too. Both movie franchises are very memorable and she was a big part of them.
She will certainly be missed by Broadway fans, TV fans, and movie fans as she had big roles in each. Dody lived a long life and was 93.

Celebrity Family Feud Contestants Announced; BET Preemptions and Notes; TV Land Awards Now 2 Hours

NBC revealed the 24 celebrity family teams who will play the Feud when the classic game show hits primetime with an all new celebrity edition premiering Tuesday, July 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by Today show co-host, Al Roker, Celebrity Family Feud will be a star-studded version of the beloved and enduring game show. Each week, four celebrity families match wits to raise money for their respective charities. Two families compete against each other with the winner from each round going into the final round where one team will compete to win up to $50,000 for their charity. Six episodes have been ordered and the stars you'll see are:
The Kardashians, Deion & Pilar Sanders, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, Vivica A. Fox, Mo'Nique, Christopher Knight & Adrianne Curry, Ice T, Melissa & Joan Rivers, Raven-Symone, Wayne Newton, Tiki Barber, Ed McMahon, Vincent Pastore, Kathie Lee Gifford & Frank Gifford, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Cho, and cast members from the hit series American Gladiators, The Office, My Name is Earl, The Girls Next Door and American Chopper.
To see the full cast in each family/team, click HERE!

We have some BET preemptions and notes for you to share. Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen tomorrow (Friday, June 13) at all because of an original series (Hell Date, etc) marathon from 9am-5pm, thus the Saturday Strokes airings at 12 and 12:30pm this Saturday (June 14) will be new and not repeats of the previous day. The 3-4pm airings of Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen June 16-20 because of a BET Movie Week from 3-5pm. The 9-10am airings will be seen except on Friday, June 20 where a special BET Now will air. Also, Saturday, June 21 the 12-1pm Strokes airings will be preempted for an originals marathon from 11am-2pm. For A Different World fans, the show will only air Wednesday, June 18 3-4am and Thursday, June 19 from 11pm-1am that week because of various movies/stunts. Sanford is also preempted on Sunday, June 22. Diff'rent Strokes is preempted from both 9-10am and 3-4pm airings on Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24. Everything will be back to normal on Wednesday, June 25 since the BET Awards are over with...that is the main reason for these preemptions. The 2008 BET Awards air tuesday, June 24 in primetime.
In other BET news, A Different World will get a marathon on Sunday, July 6 from 6pm-11pm.

TV Land has announced that the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards airing this Sunday will be two-hours now instead of 90-minutes. The show was taped this past Sunday and it must have lasted longer for them to add another half-hour. People who went to the taping said it was fun and funny. The parody this year will be funny as usual with stars like Joyce DeWitt and Cindy Williams. Tune in this Sunday from 9-11pm ET/PT on TV Land for the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards hosted by Vanessa Williams.

Memorial Day 2008 Marathons; Remembering Dick Martin

Happy Memorial Day! Let's take some time to remember the troops past and present. Let's celebrate their courage by relaxing and having fun. Whether it be indoors or outdoors. If you are indoors and want to catch some marathons, there is something for everyone today. BET has a huge "Different Laugh Attack" (as we mentioned previously) with Diff'rent Strokes from 9am-7pm then A Different World from 7pm-3am. Wow! That is my bet for the day.
Other marathons include TV Land's I Love Lucy marathon from 8am-7pm, USA Network will celebrate with a NCIS marathon from 6am-7pm, while MTV tries to bring some life back to NBC's new American Gladiators with a marathon from 9am-8pm.
It wouldn't be a holiday without a Law & Order or CSI marathon would it? Law & Order will get a marathon on TNT from 10am-11pm while CSI gets its holiday marathon on Spike TV from 9am-9pm. Spin-off CSI: Miami is airing on A&E from 8am-9pm. Sorry no marathon for CSI: NY on Spike, since CSI is getting one.
FX will head back to the '70s with a marathon of the sitcom That '70s Show from 9am-8pm. Sticking to the '70s, the classic game show Match Game will get a marathon on GSN from 9am-3pm. It will feature contestants from America's Armed Forces, including the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Star celebrity panelists Joyce Bulifant, Bill Cullen, Richard Dawson, Fred Grandy, Jack Klugman, Jimmy Walker, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers and the late Dick Martin (see our story below), among others.
And if you're in Los Angeles, KTLA will have a Graduation Marathon with lots of classic sitcoms, as I mentioned before...such as Balki graduating on Perfect Strangers and Alex on Family Ties. Sha-la-la-la!
Relive the same day over and over again on the addictive drama Day Break on TV One from 8am-6am.
Various movie marathons are on TBS, Lifetime, Hallmark Channel and other cable channels.
Other marathons include History's MonsterQuest from 8am-8pm and G4's 11am-1am Cops marathon.

Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team whose Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!" has died. Mr. Martin died Saturday night just after 6 p.m. of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica.
Laugh-In became an instant hit for NBC in 1968 with its anarchic energy, vaudevillian schtick and eccentric performances. Laugh-In forever changed the variety show format and heavily influenced later programs such as Saturday Night Live. The show lasted through 1973.
After Laugh-In, he went on to become one of television's busiest directors after splitting with Dan Rowan in the late 1970s. He still acted on series before and after Laugh-In though...he guest starred on series such as The Lucy Show, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Coach, Blossom, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. But directing was his big trademark after Laugh-In. He directed episodes of various series including The Bob Newhart Show, Archie Bunker's Place, Flo, Family Ties, Mama's Family, Newhart, The Bradys, Bob, and In The Heat of Night. So, he directed Bob Newhart in all of his series. He was also a staple of game shows such as Password Plus, Super Password, Tattletales, Celebrity Sweepstakes, and Match Game.
We hope TV Land or another network honors him with a tribute marathon of Laugh-In or his best directorial work on The Bob Newhart Show. I'm sure GSN will put together a game show tribute marathon for him. We will let you know if whatever happens.
He will certainly be missed. He was 86.

TV Land July 2008 Highlights; Mary Tyler Moore Reunion on Oprah; Different World Moves to Midnight on BET

This July on TV Land it's the season finale of She's Got The Look (which premieres in June by the way) and the premiere of Family Foreman, starring George Foreman! But first, let's talk about some schedule changes. TV Land will start some summer marathons on Monday, July 14 airing 9pm-1am Mon-Thurs. On Mondays from 9-11pm Mad About You will remain, but 11pm-1am will be Murphy Brown. Tuesdays from 9-11pm The Beverly Hillbillies remain but 11pm-1am will be The Jeffersons. Wednesdays, from 9-10pm Sanford & Son will lead into Family Foreman, then 11pm-1am it's a block of M*A*S*H. Thursdays is a bit odd, 9-10pm will be I Love Lucy, 10pm-12am is Andy Griffith and 12-1am is Leave it to Beaver.
As for the highlights, take a fresh look at TV Land's original modeling competition series for women ages 35 and older in a 5-hour marathon on Saturday, July 6 starting at 6pm and and catch exclusive bonus footage as TV Land countdowns to the finale on Wednesday, July 9.
4th of July weekend will see marathons of I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes, and She's Got The Look.
It's a Night of a Thousand Georges on TV Land. In anticipation of the launch of the newest TV Land original, Family Foreman, starring George Foreman, TV Land brings you a night full of Georges with a 5-hour marathon of everybody's favorite loudmouthed businessman George Jefferson on Sunday, July 13!
Then get an intimate look into the remarkable life of George Foreman - former heavyweight boxing champion, multi-million dollar pitchman, ordained minister, and family man in Family Foreman. Come along for the ride as this tough-love Dad and his wife try to manage their clan of 10 children. For six weeks starting Wednesday, July 16 at 10pm.
Finally, this summer, leave your cares behind and catch some R&R with four nights of M*A*S*H beginning Friday, July 25. Viewer leave begins every night at 8pm. Watch the 4077th combat stress and make the best of a bad situation as they find ways to have fun both on the job and off. Whether it's going away on leave, throwing cocktail parties, pulling pranks or just blowing off steam, it all adds up to 12 hours of inspired recreation that viewers won’t want to miss.
For complete details and episode info on the stunts and more, I advise you to check our TV Land July 2008 Highlights!

The cast of the iconic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show got together again at a taping of Oprah recently. And you'll get to see it on Oprah next week! Like always with reunions on Oprah, Oprah has recreated the set! The newsroom and Mary Richards' apartment has been recreated. Joining Mary Tyler Moore are fellow cast members, Ed Asner, Betty White, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel. A toast to the late Ted Knight is also made...very classy! Who knows we might see the crowd get free DVDs!
Tune in Monday, May 19 (check local listings for time and channel...in NY: WABC 4PM) for a historic television reunion! Oprah and the cast o...f The Mary Tyler Moore Show! It's a full circle dream come true. Oprah was a big fan of Mary and the show, so this is a dream come true for her.
Oprah's website has more info...tune in Monday! See the promo.

Starting next week A Different World is moving to midnight on BET. The show currently airs weeknights at 11 & 11:30pm, but now it will move to 12 midnight and 12:30am ET/PT starting Monday (May 19). The late night airing of 3 and 3:30am will remain the same. Encores of The Boot and Hell's Date will move down an hour to 11 and 11:30pm.
And another BET programming note: two episodes of Sanford are scheduled at a special time on Sunday, May 18. The Sanford episodes will air at 6:00pm & 6:30pm this Sunday. It will also air at its normal 12 noon and 12:30pm time as well...both hours will be different episodes. And speaking of Sanford, we mentioned before a Father's Day marathon is planned for the short lived sitcom and now it is indeed confirmed. Sunday, June 15 from 12 noon to 5pm, the same time slots as the Thea Mother's Day marathon this past week. And finally, don't forget to watch the "Strokes-World Memorial Day Marathon" on May 26. It's an all-day event of Diff'rent Strokes (9am-7pm) and A Different World (7pm-3am). Episode info will be available early next week, so check our message boards.

ER Comes to ION Television in June 2008; BET Schedule Changes, Includes Diff'rent Strokes and Different World Memorial Day Marathon

Today is ION Television's upfront! ION Television today announced a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution to air seasons 11-14 of the long-running hit series ER on ION Television. The medical drama, which has earned more Primetime Emmy Award nominations than any other program in history, will debut in primetime on the network beginning this June. The show will enter its 15th and final season on NBC next season. We will have more on ER and ION June 2008 in the next week or so, so stay tuned! We also still have the interview with them planned, and hopefully we will know when next week.

BET has made some more schedule changes. And again it is better than before. First off, fans of Diff'rent Strokes and Malcolm & Eddie take note that the episodes will not encore later in the day anymore...but now we will get two new hours each! This started yesterday, so you need to watch or tape both hours immediately. So, Diff'rent Strokes airing 9-10am will not encore 3-4pm later in the day, but that 3-4pm will be new episodes! The same for Malcolm & Eddie...10-11am and 4-5pm are both new episodes. So we get four episodes a day rather than two! So, watch or tape/DVR both hours now. That is good news, I think.
Then, starting this Saturday (May 3), BET has added a sitcom block on Saturdays from 9am-1pm! From 9-10am it will be The Parkers, the Nickelodeon sitcoms Just Jordan and Romeo! will move up an hour to 10-11am and 11am-12pm, and finally closing out the block is two episodes of Diff'rent Strokes from 12-1pm...and yes, they will be new episodes, so you'll need to watch or tape/DVR these as well! Also on Saturday, May 3, we told you A Different World will get a mini marathon block from 8:30-10pm last week, but now it has been extended to 8-10pm...so an extra episode. The show will get weekly Sunday evening airings, but the times vary as I stated last week.
BET has also added Girlfriends for this Saturday only from 10-11pm and 2-3am, while A Different World will encore this Saturday from 3-4am for one time only, preempting Sanford.
Starting next Saturday night (May 10), In Living Color will return and air Saturday nights from 3-4am, replacing Sanford. Sanford fans don't worry because the show will return again to Sundays 12-1pm replacing The Parkers starting May 18, as The Parkers is now Saturdays 9-10am. Remember there is a Thea Mother's Day marathon on May 11 from 12pm-5pm. The marathon episodes of that will be episodes where they left off in the regular run, so we will get (in production order): #11 "Birthday Girl," #12 "Mama I'm Full," #13 "Good Stock," #14 "A Christmas Story," #15 "Danesha's Project," #16 "Who's Zooming Who?," #17 "Of Fish and Men," #18 "T.C.B.," #19 "Call Me Thea," and #20 "The Pie Queen and the Loan Duck," all from 12pm-5pm. So it seems they have aired about every episode of Thea after this...I think just 1 or 2 haven't been aired, so hopefully we get those soon.
Finally, this Memorial Day (Monday, May 26), BET will present a 'different' (or is it spelled Diff'rent?) kind of marathon for viewers! It is the Diff'rent Strokes and A Different World marathon! Diff'rent Strokes will air from 9am-7pm and A Different World from 7pm-3am. We will have episode info for both marathons in a few weeks, so stay tuned for that!

TV Land June 2008 Schedule and Highlights; BET Adds More Hours to Strokes Marathon on April 20

TV Land has released their June 2008 schedule and highlights! Joining the line-up will be Hogan's Heroes. The '60s sitcom has not aired on TV Land for quite some time and now it is back in an all-new deal! The show will air weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm and every night at 1:00am & 1:30am ET/PT starting Monday, June 2. Hogan's Heroes will also air Sunday afternoons from 12-2pm ET/PT. The show will get a weekend marathon on June 7 and 8, but not a 48-hour one. It will air late night on Saturday, June 7 (early Sunday) from 1:30am-6am and Sunday, June 8 from 12pm-6pm.
Mad About You and Murphy Brown will also join the TV Land June schedule, as both will move from sister station Nick at Nite to TV Land. Murphy Brown had already once moved over to TV Land and it didn't fair too well. This time TV Land will just air it every night at 3:00am. Mad About You will be its lead-in at 2:30am every night...but Mad About You will also air Monday nights 9-11pm, and have some filler slots after movies and encores of originals from time to time. The show will get a weekend marathon as well, Saturday June 21 (early Sunday) 12:30am-6am and Sunday, June 22 from 9pm-6am.
Other schedule notes include Wings leaving the line-up from weekdays at 7:30am replaced by another slot of Designing Women. And some good news for The Munsters and The Addams Family fans...both shows will continue to air in their weekend airings! They were set to expire after May, but TV Land has renewed them once again. Also, although they haven't aired on the regular schedule for awhile, the Universal library deal (Knight Rider, A-Team, Miami Vice, Simon & Simon) will expire as its contract is up, and TV Land will not renew it.
TV Land premieres new original series She's Got the Look on Wednesday, June 4 for 6 weeks at 10pm. For the first time, TV Land and acclaimed modeling powerhouse Wilhelmina team up to search the country to find the greatest undiscovered models age 35 and older. The aspirants will be flown to New York City to live in a house together where they will face various challenges such as photo shoots and tests on their fashion acumen. Eliminations will occur weekly until the ultimate winner is crowned. Fashion icon and supermodel Kim Alexis is the host. Celebrity stylist Robert Verdi, Wilhelmina president Sean Patterson, and supermodel Beverly Johnson are judges of this six-episode series.
It's awards week on TV Land, as TV Land gets ready for the 6th Annual TV Land Awards on June 15 Beginning Monday, June 9 through Friday, June 13, catch daytime marathons of westerns, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes and Beverly Hillbillies from 10am-5pm featuring Emmy award winning episodes and actors.
Then on Sunday, June 15 after a seven-hour Andy Griffith Show marathon from 2-9pm, The 6th Annual TV Land Awards show rolls out the red carpet for the biggest shows and the brightest stars of yesterday and today from 9pm-10:30pm, with an immediate encore from 10:30pm-12am. The host is still TBD. So we will announce it when we know. I heard Fran Drescher is in the running. May I suggest Tom Bergeron? Yes, he was never on a classic TV show, but he is a great TV host. Over the years the hosts have gotten worse and worse, although Kelly Ripa was good last year. No one beats John Ritter's hosting on the first awards.
As we mentioned earlier, TV Land is just "Mad About The Buchman's." On Sunday, June 22 TV Land is giving Mad About You the warm TV Land welcome it deserves by dedicating nine solid hours of programming to the lovable couple, their eccentric friends, neurotic family members and even Murray, their dog. Beginning at 9pm, fans of the show will go mad for their all-time favorite episodes as they watch Paul & Jamie tackle obstacles large and small (and usually of their own creation) in the city that never sleeps.
Get "Back in the Saddle" with TV Land on Sunday, June 29 and live your wildest Western dreams vicariously through crazy gunslingers, seasoned cowboys and even inept city slickers. For the fanatical Western-lover, TV Land presents double-headers of Bonanza and Gunsmoke immediately followed by Mel Brooks' infamous Western spoof, Blazing Saddles. Rounding out the afternoon is City Slickers, featuring grit-challenged Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) who endeavors to fulfill his cowboy fantasies but ends up being taught by veteran ranch hand Curly Washburn (Jack Palance) what it really takes to be one. It's an afternoon packed with eight fantastic hours of Western fun and one that is sure to please even the crustiest cowboy.
TV Land's MovieLand block this month features movies such as Caddyshack, City Slickers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Big Business.
For COMPLETE TV Land June 2008 highlights, including the full list of schedule changes, I really urge you all to click HERE! You can also discuss these changes and highlights there, too. Get in on the action!

Just a few days ago we mentioned to you all about BET's upcoming marathons. They are still on, but we have a time change for the upcoming Diff'rent Strokes marathon. We mentioned it would be from 8-11pm on Sunday, April 20...well they have added two more hours to it now! It will now start at 6pm and run until 11pm! So we get four extra episodes...such as Kimberly taking a photo of Arnold's behind in "A Case of Overexposure," will the Drummonds get evicted in "Push Comes to Shove?" Arnold is now hall monitor in "Hall Monitor" and former first lady Nancy Reagan guest stars in "The Reporter." For a full list of episodes and times, click HERE!

BET Adds More Marathons; RTN Comes to Pennsylvania Affiliate

Yesterday we gave you the good news that Diff'rent Strokes has been given another hour on weekdays (3-4pm) starting next week, but now have more good news! The Diff'rent Strokes marathon was such a success this past Sunday (April 6) that BET will give us another marathon! The marathon will be on Sunday, April 20...this time the marathon is just three-hours instead of eight, but we will get the three-hours in primetime! The marathon will air from 8-11pm ET/PT, with very special episodes. Willis battles a drinking problem in "A Growing Problem" at 8pm, at 8:30pm in "Indepenent Woman," Kimberly has a new job but her boss tries to go after her...but only so he can get good with Mr. Drummond, then we have the very special 2-part episode "The Bicycle Man" from 9-10pm where Arnold and Dudley are lured by a child molestor. Closing out the night from 10-11pm are "Romeo & Juliet" where Arnold and his nemesis Lisa are assigned the roles of Romeo & Juliet in a play and finally we have "My Fair Larry," where a high school thug is about to "make it" with Kimberly.
BET also will have a Malcolm & Eddie marathon this Saturday (April 19 from 9am-7pm), as we previously announced. Future marathons include a Thea marathon on Sunday, May 11 and another Sanford marathon on Sunday, June 15. Those are still tentative, so we will have full details closer to the airdates for those, such as timings and episode info. But for now enjoy the Malcolm & Eddie full-day marathon this Saturday and the primetime Diff'rent Strokes marathon this Sunday! BET is sure handling these sitcoms well and other networks should follow their strategy because it seems to be working for them.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that COX Television plans to add a 7th RTN affiliate on its Johnstown/Altoona/State College, PA station. The network's "Prime Time All the Time" lineup will launch early next year on a digital stream of WJAC-TV, COX's NBC affiliate in the market.
Also, for those of you wonderding RTN's official website is back online. I am not sure what happened before but it was asking for a username/password and many of you wrote to us about the problem. So, head on over to the RTN website now if you haven't checked it out.

Diff'rent Strokes Gets Additional Slot on BET; Fox Summer Schedule; Network Notes

BET has announced it will add an additional hour of Diff'rent Strokes to their weekday line-up beginning next week, Monday, April 14, 2008. They will repeat the 9-10am hour now from 3-4pm ET/PT. What a nice way to start your afternoons! Maybe kids will watch after school! The 3-4pm hour will replace repeats of Hell Date, which will still remain in its other time slots. No other BET changes will be made besides this...so we get an additional sitcom hour!

Fox has announced its summer plans. All-new episodes of reality shows The Moment of Truth, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Hell's Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance, Cops and America's Most Wanted will air throughout the summer on Fox. In addition, Don't Forget the Lyrics! will get encore airings starting Sunday, June 1 at 7:00pm. Among the scripted series, we will see repeats of House, Bones, and the Sunday animated comedies. Missing from the Fox summer line-up is sitcoms Back to You and 'Til Death...is this a sign they could be on the bubble for renewal for next season?
Here is the full summer schedule:
Mondays, beginning June 2:
8:00pm Bones repeats
9:00pm House repeats
Tuesdays, beginning May 27:
8:00pm The Moment of Truth (All-New Episodes)
9:00pm Hell's Kitchen (All-New Episodes started April 1 will run into mid-July) Wednesdays, beginning May 28 (As Previously Announced, No Changes):
8:00pm-10:00pm So You Think You Can Dance (All-New Episodes)
Thursdays beginning May 22 (As Previously Announced, No Changes):
8:00pm-10:00pm So You Think You Can Dance (All-New Episodes)
Beginning June 12 on Thursdays:
8:00pm Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (All-New Episodes)
9:00pm So You Think You Can Dance (All-New Episodes)
Fridays will have Movies, as previously announced.
Saturday line-up will remain the same, as previously announced.
Sundays will also remain the same, with animated repeats from 8-10pm, but encores od Don't Forget the Lyrics! will lead off the night in the 7pm hour.

Lifetime Networks and The Weinstein Company have entered into a groundbreaking partnership that will move cable's top reality series, Project Runway, from Bravo to the top network for women, Lifetime Television, beginning November 2008 with the premiere of season six. The deal is a 5-year deal. Bravo still has another season planned sometime this spring/summer.
Bravo is really upset by this and has issued this statement:
NBC Universal has continuing legal rights related to Project Runway, including a right of first refusal to future cycles of the series, which The Weinstein Company unfortunately has refused to honor. NBC Universal regrettably had no alternative but to bring legal action to enforce its rights to this program, including the right to decide whether it is in the best interest of the company to continue to air the show under the proposed financial terms.
Wonder what will happen?

Star-Studded Marathon for Diff'rent Strokes on BET; TV One May 2008 Highlights

We gave you highlights of BET's schedule changes and upcoming marathons in April a few days back, but now we have full details on one of the marathons! The Diff'rent Strokes marathon that is airing next Sunday (Sunday, April 6) will be a star-studded marathon! Join Arnold and Willis and the rest of the family as they welcome in special guests such as LaWanda Page and Whitman Mayo (Aunt Esther and Grady of Sanford & Son), Janet Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Forest Whitaker, Robin Givens, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Mr. T! The marathons starts at 1pm and will end at 9pm on that Sunday. Fans will be happy to see an assortment of episodes from all seasons (well none from season 7, but we do get a few season 8 ones). There will be 6 Janet Jackson episodes! Whatchya talkin' about Wills, indeed. To see the marathon episodes with the times, click HERE. And discuss this episode selection with other Diff'rent Strokes fans by clicking here.

TV One in May will see lots of marathons, including a Mother's Day stunt filled with motherly episodes. Throughout the month, TV One is going to get the weekends pumping with a series of true 'marathons' – 24 hour May Mega-Marathons, which will each start on Friday evening and run through Saturday evening.
On Friday, May 9 beginning at 7pm, TV One offers a "Mothers Day Weekend" 24-hour marathon saluting favorite sitcom moms from TV One sitcom favorites Martin, All of Us, The Parent'hood, Good Times, Amen, and The Hughleys.
On Friday, May 16 beginning at 9pm, TV One offers its annual birthday tribute to superstar Janet Jackson (she turns 42 on May 16) with a 24-hour marathon of Good Times: "The Janet Years," featuring episodes when a young Janet played the Evans' neighbor, Penny. Directly preceding the marathon at 8pm on Friday, a special TV One Access, hosted by former Cosby Show Kid Keshia Knight Pulliam, takes a look at "Our Favorite Child Stars: All Grown Up."
On Friday, May 23 beginning at 11pm, TV One kicks off the long Memorial Day weekend with a trip to the 'projects' of The PJs – featuring all the episodes of the series during the course of the 24 hour marathon.
Finally, on Memorial Day itself (Monday, May 26), TV One takes a "Memorial Day Break" beginning at 8am, TV One presents a full day marathon of the first 11 episodes of the action crime-drama series Day Break starring Taye Diggs. The show airs weekly every Sunday at 10pm.
Schedule changes include more Amen as it will also air 5 and 5:30pm weekdays starting May 5 replacing For Your Love and Eve, which will both be off the line-up totally. Amen will also air in the mornings as well still at 6am & 6:30am. Eve will be replaced in the early mornings as well, weekdays at 4am will be another Parent'hood instead. And the 1am airing of NY Undercover will be replaced by two more Divorce Court episodes. NY Undercover will still air in its other slots.

BET Schedules Diff'rent Strokes and Malcolm and Eddie Marathons; CBS Brings Back Shark, More Price

Last Monday we gave you some BET schedule news as weekends changed a bit with more Sanford (Sundays 12-1pm now). We also gave you details that Jamie Foxx Show and Wayans Bros. are expiring from the channel and will leave after their farwell marathons this Saturday (March 29). Their last regular schedule appearances will be on Friday (March 28). Now we have more BET schedule updates! First off, Sanford will gain two more slots now starting Saturday, April 12...it will air Saturday nights at 3:00am & 3:30am (that's early Sunday mornings). It will continue to air Sundays at 12:00pm & 12:30pm, too. Also, a special 3:00pm & 3:30pm afternoon airing is scheduled on Saturday, April 5 ONLY.
Now to the major news. Diff'rent Strokes, which is airing weekday mornings from 9-10am, will get a marathon! The marathon will air Sunday, April 6 from 1pm-9pm. We don't have episode details yet, but as soon as we do we will post in our message boards. In other Strokes news, fans will be happy that starting tomorrow morning they will start airing season three episodes in the rotation ("The Magician" and "The Bank Job" will air...remember they are going in production order). That is great because seasons three and on are not on DVD yet. So if fans were waiting for that, tune in starting tomorrow (March 25) at 9am!
Malcolm & Eddie will also get a marathon, too! The marathon will air Saturday, April 19 from 9:00am-7:00pm, which means Thea will be preempted 9-10am on this Saturday (April 19) only. We will post episode info when available.
We will post episode info when available on our message boards, so check back. Also, please discuss this!

The Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular will return with four new Wednesday primetime specials starting Wednesday, April 30 at 8:00pm while Shark, the second-year on-the-fence drama starring James Woods, returns with four original broadcasts on a new day and time period--Tuesdays at 9:00pm starting Tuesday, April 29. Its second season finale will be broadcast on Tuesday, May 20 at a special time of 10:00pm. Following Shark on Tuesdays will be the new reality series Secret Talent of the Stars on Tuesdays at 10:00pm, starting April 8. That show will put 16 stars together to find secret talents. Among the stars are Clint Black, George Takei, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Marla Maples, Sasha Cohen, Ric Flair, Joe Frazier, Bridget Marquardt, Mya, Sheila E., Roy Jones, Jr., Cindy Margolis, Ben Stein and Danny Bonaduce.

BET Adds More Thea to Weekends; ION Upfront To Be Held May 1, Minor Schedule Change

As you all know BET has added the short-lived 1993-94 season sitcom Thea to weekends along with short lived 1980 sitcom Sanford. Thea is airing Saturday nights at 3am and Sunday afternoons at 12pm...with Sanford as its lead-in both times (2:30am and 11:30am). Now BET has announced it will air more Thea! Effective this Saturday (March 8), BET will air Thea also Saturday mornings at 9am and 9:30am, replacing Diff'rent Strokes. This is not a big loss for Diff'rent Strokes because the Saturday airings were only repeats of Monday's airings, and Strokes will still air weekdays from 9-10am.
As for Thea, we will now get two episodes a week rather than just one. 9-10am episodes are two new episodes and they will repeat one each on Saturday night at 3am and Sunday at 12 noon. So, if you're DVRing, TiVoing, recording Thea, back-to-back 9-10am Saturday mornings is your best bet.
Don't forget also to tune in this Saturday from 10am-11pm for the Sanford marathon as we set our clocks San"forward" for the spring, as all 26 episodes of the short-lived revival series starring Redd Foxx will air, including the three-part pilot episode.

ION Media Networks, Inc. announced today that it will display its new programming and marketing initiatives for the 2008-2009 television season at its second annual Upfront sales presentation. The event, aimed at the advertising community, will be held on the evening of Thursday, May 1st at the New York Public Library.
ION Television recently announced it will be adding the hit series Boston Legal to its Fall 2008 primetime lineup. Also coming to the network will be the timeless comedic drama, M*A*S*H.
ION Television already has made some significant additions to its primetime schedule in 2008, launching the beloved sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, on New Year's Day, and debuting the multi-generational TV staple, Baywatch, earlier this week. Original movies from RHI Entertainment, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Aces 'N Eights, set to premiere March 15th, also have contributed to the increased excitement at the network in the first quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, due to low ratings, ION has canceled the infomercial program Firebrand TV. Firebrand took a curated approach to Madison Ave., selecting flashy spots from blue-chip advertisers ranging from Coca-Cola to 24 Hour Fitness. The show was airing weeknights at 11pm and it will be replaced with real infomercials now starting Monday (March 10). No joking.

BET Schedule Updates, Sanford Marathon Planned; TV One Revises Programming in March; RTN Comes to D.C.; CBS Brings Classic TV to Online

TGIF! It is a busy (and snowy in NY) Friday here on the blog, as we have quite a lot of stories today!
First we still start with BET. As you recall, we announced on Monday that BET is now airing Diff'rent Strokes and Malcolm & Eddie weekdays and they will bring out short-lived series Sanford and Thea on weekends starting March 1. Now we have some updates for you. We have gotten word that Diff'rent Strokes will also air Saturdays 9-10am, in addition to its weekdays 9-10am slot. It will start airing on Saturdays next Saturday (March 1). However, the Saturday airings will be two repeats from earlier in the week, mostly from the previous Monday's airings earlier in the week. We mentioned the show could air 3-4pm starting next week, but that won't be the case, it will only air 9-10am. Malcolm & Eddie will also air on Saturdays, at 10-11am and 4-5pm. It won't air 11pm-12am, though, that will be only Mon-Fri, while its other slots will be Mon-Sat. A Girlfriends marathon is tomorrow, that is why we are not getting both of these shows tomorrow.
We mentioned that Sanford and Thea will join the weekend line-up late night on Saturday, March 1, which is technically early Sunday morning, airing 2:30am and 3:00am respectively. They will encore later in the day on Sunday at 11:30am and 12pm. Yeah, so we knew that already, but now we have learned that BET will have an all-day San"forward" Marathon on Saturday, March 8 from 10am-11pm just in time for Daylight Savings, as we move our clocks one-hour ahead later that night as we spring forward, or should I say San"forward." And get this, all 26 episodes of Sanford will air back-to-back all day! What a dream come true for Sanford fans! Get those TiVo's, DVR's and VCR's or whatever you use rolling because this is your chance to get every single episode in one shot! Now I have an idea for BET, when we move our clocks back in the fall, we should have a Diff'rent "back"Strokes marathon as we move our clocks one-hour back doing a backstroke. Just a thought! Anyway, BET is certainly looking bright now sitcom wise and we hope they continue this! Be sure you have some chips, nachos, and more snacks ready for this very rare marathon on March 8!

Moving on to another African American network, TV One, we have some changes in store for March. We announced March highlights already, but there are a lot of edits to it now. The TV One premiere of the action series Day Break has be postponed until Sunday, March 16. On Saturday, March 15, and Sunday, March 16, both at 8pm, Taye time is finally here as the weekend with Taye Diggs is now this weekend instead of March 8 and 9 as TV One premieres the Cool Factor and How Stella Got Her Groove Back starring Taye, Angela Bassett, and Whoopi Goldberg. An encore airing is scheduled for Sunday, March 16 at 12am following the premiere of Day Break from 10pm-12am. The weekend with Taye Diggs continues on TV One Sunday, March 16 at 10pm with the TV One premiere of the recent ABC action series Day Break starring Taye Diggs as a law enforcement officer framed for murder. The series will premiere with two back-to-back episodes to air at 10pm and 11pm and will premiere episodes on Sundays at 10pm.
On Saturday, March 22 beginning at 1pm and lasting to 10pm, it's time to get your praise on as the sitcom Amen returns to TV One back by popular demand with an all-day 'Best of Deacon Frye' marathon to give viewers a special treat before it returns to the regular schedule on weekdays at 6am & 6:30am beginning on Monday, March 24th replacing Roc on the TV One schedule, which will be off the line-up now.
Finally, The Hughleys: "All in the Family Launch Marathon" previously announced for Tuesday, April 1 will now air as a two-day weekend marathon on Saturday, April 5 & Sunday, April 6 starting at 1pm both days for this '90s sitcom. We will have more on The Hughleys' regular slots in the April highlights coming soon! Stay tuned for that!

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it will partner with Allbritton Communications to bring RTN programming to Washington, D.C. The new affiliate will launch late this year on a digital stream of Washington, D.C.'s ABC affiliate, WJLA-TV.
Allbritton began airing RTN's "Prime Time All the Time" lineup today on a digital stream of WSET-TV (Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA). RTN is scheduled to launch later this year on a digital stream of WHTM-TV (Harrisburg-Lancaster, PA).

CBS Interactive announced that it will begin offering Television Classics from the CBS (Paramount) Library, which is one of the largest television programming libraries in the entertainment business, online and across the CBS Audience Network. The initial lineup includes full-length episodes of Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0 and Melrose Place, with more programs and clips to be added in the coming months. The distribution of Television Classics across the CBS Audience Network follows the same open, non-exclusive strategy that CBS has been using for its content online for the last nine months. All content is ad-supported, free to the consumer, and available immediately.
The initial programming lineup for Television Classics on CBS.com and across the CBS Audience Network includes full episodes the following:
Star Trek (original series) - Seasons 1, 2 and 3
The Twilight Zone - Seasons 1 and 2
MacGyver - Season 1
Hawaii Five-0 - Season 1
Melrose Place - Season 1
Let's hope they add some sitcoms as well, and some sitcoms that lasted awhile and haven't been aired on TV lately, such as Dear John and Webster. Series such as Family Ties, Cheers, The Love Boat, would also be nice to have.

It's only noon ET and we already have a lot of stories, but if anything breaking happens, we will break in. So come on back!

BET Adds Diff'rent Strokes, Malcolm and Eddie, Sanford, Thea; Remembering David Groh

Happy President's Day! We salute this holiday with some great sitcom news! I'm not sure if many of you know, but BET does air some sitcoms currently. They air Jamie Foxx Show, Wayans Bros., and In Living Color on weekdays and The Parkers and Girlfriends in blocks and marathons. Now more sitcoms are coming! BET will add the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to their line-up starting TOMORROW (Tuesday, Feb. 19). The show will air weekday mornings at 9:00am and 9:30am. Catch Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson from the beginning as BET will bring you the show in order starting with the first episode. This is not confirmed yet, but starting the week of Feb. 25 the show could also air at 3:00pm and 3:30pm, but we will let you know if that is the case. It won't air in that slot this week, we know that...so catch it in the mornings! Now the world don't move!

Also joining BET's weekday line-up tomorrow is the '90s sitcom Malcolm & Eddie. Don't miss the hilarious adventures of Malcolm McGee and his roommate Eddie Sherman...starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin. The show will air right after Diff'rent Strokes in the mornings at 10:00am and 10:30am. It will also air at 4:00pm and 4:30pm, with an encore of the morning airings at 11:00pm and 11:30pm. As with Diff'rent Strokes, you can catch this show in order starting from the very first episode.

So what will happen to BET's other sitcoms because of this? You can catch The Jamie Foxx Show weeknight at midnight-1am and The Wayans Bros. from 3-4am weeknights. While In Living Color will air on weekends in a weekend block with two other new additions (see below). Girlfriends and The Parkers can still be seen in marathons and special blocks. Upcoming marathons for them include: The Parkers will get a President's Day marathon today from 10am-7pm, as BET promises to keep you laughing 9 hours straight with The Parkers BET marathon. Tune in for laughs from funny lady, Mo'Nique. Girlfriends will get a 12-hour marathon this Saturday (February 23) from 9am-9pm.

I mentioned earlier that the sketch comedy In Living Color will move to weekends only now. This change will happen the weekend of March 1. I believe one episode will air with an encore each weekend. Kicking off the weekend block is the BET return of the short-lived 1980 sitcom, Sanford. BET aired reruns of this short-lived sitcom in the past and now it makes its return! Redd Foxx brought back the irascible Watts junkman, Fred Sanford three years after leaving Sanford and Son. With Lamont away in Alaska, Fred was still trading barbs with Aunt Esther, along with a new cast of characters, including his roly-poly business partner Cal and a wealthy widow named Evelyn. 26 episodes were created. You can catch Sanford on BET late nights on Saturdays at 2:30am starting March 1 with an encore on Sunday mornings at 11:30am. Following Sanford, it is another short-lived sitcom and another show from BET's past, Thea! The short-lived 1993 ABC sitcom makes its return on BET with its 22 episodes. The show is about a widow that keeps her four kids in line with discipline and lots of love while holding down two jobs. It was the first series for Brandy Norwood and stars Thea Vidale. Thea will air Saturday nights at 3:00am and Sunday afternoons at 12 noon.
Following Sanford and Thea on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons is the aforementioned In Living Color at 3:30am on Saturday nights and 12:30pm Sunday afternoons.

BET is certainly getting better and we will keep an eye on them. All of its newest acquisitions (Diff'rent Strokes, Malcolm & Eddie, Sanford, Thea) are from Sony Pictures Television, which is a sign maybe they have some sort of deal with them. Let's hope more sitcoms join. If we have any updates, we will bring them to you, but for now discuss this great news HERE!


We leave you today with some sad news. David Groh best known for his role on the 1970's TV sitcom Rhoda as Rhoda's husband, died of kidney cancer last Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Groh became an instant celebrity in 1974 when he starred as the easygoing Joe Gerard opposite Valerie Harper's neurotic Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-off. But by the third season of Rhoda the couple divorced and he was off the show. He has also guest starred on other series (mainly dramas) such as Police Story, Fantasy Island, Trapper John MD, Buck Rogers, Hotel, Simon & Simon, Kate & Allie, Hunter, LA Law, Spenser: Fore Hire, Room for Two, Sisters, Jake and the Fatman, Melrose Place, Baywatch, Law & Order, VIP, Walker Texas Ranger, and was a regular on Black Scorpion. On daytime TV he played D.L. Brock on General Hospital in the 80s. Groh appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Chapter Two and in Twilight of the Golds in 1993. He also had film roles in Two-Minute Warning (1976) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1978), among others. One of his last roles was a guest appearance on the sitcom Girlfriends.
David will certainly be missed by fans of Rhoda and other programs he appeared in. Mr. Groh was only 68.