ALN and FamilyNet Acquire Flipper and The New Flipper; JustMyShow Podcast with William Katt

"The Home Of Family Networks" AmericanLife Network & FamilyNet TV have acquired the family adventure series Flipper and The New Flipper starting in May 2010! The classic half-hour series Flipper, which ran from 1964-67, will air weekday afternoons in the 4pm ET half-hour on ALN (AmericanLife Network) starting Monday, May 3, 2010. Merv Griffin's Crosswords follows now at 4:30pm and the rest of the line-up will remain the same, which includes Phyllis and Rhoda (weekdays 10-11am and 5-6pm). Flipper, a Bottlenose Dolphin, is the companion animal of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at fictional Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve in southern Florida, and his two young sons Sandy and Bud. The series starred Brian Kelly as Porter Ricks. The series aired on NBC for three seasons and lasted 88 episodes. As of now only the first season is on DVD, so this is a good pick-up by ALN!
Sister network FamilyNet TV will air The New Flipper! That series was a one-hour revival series that aired 30 years later. It aired from 1995-2000 and it is remembered mainly for featuring (in its first two seasons) the gorgeous Jessica Alba before she was a star! The series lasted four seasons and 88 episodes (like the original series), with the first two seasons airing in first-run syndication and the last two seasons airing on PAX TV (now known as ION Television). All episodes are available on Hulu but have not been released on DVD. This version of Flipper will air on FamilyNet TV weekdays at 4pm (so yes it is odd that it will go up against the original Flipper on sister net ALN), replacing an hour of Black Beauty (which will now only air Sunday nights from 2-4am ET). The New Flipper will be in between Merv Griffin's Crosswords (3-4pm) and Lou Grant (5-7pm). There are no other changes to the FamilyNet line-up.

Believe it or not, our good buddy Eric of JustMyShow.com has a new podcast up! At long last, one of his most wanted guests...William Katt, star of The Greatest American Hero, joins Just My Show to talk about the world's most reluctant superhero and his comic book company. And if that is not enough for you, there is a special surprise appearance by The Greatest American Hero's Faye Grant and also Stunt Coordinator Dennis "Danger" Madalone! Are you walking on air after reading that? Head on over there to listen to this podcast!

Finally, V returns next Tuesday on ABC, but tonight there is a recap of the first four episodes at 10:06pm ET on ABC. Hurry and catch up before they return next Tuesday!

FamilyNet March 2010 Schedule, Removes Sitcoms; NATPE Syndication 2010: Day 3

FamilyNet, which was bought by ComStar last month or so, is changing their schedule in March 2010. ComStar also owns AmericanLife TV, so FamilyNet and ALN are now sister networks. And because of that, FamilyNet will be airing some series that used to air or air now on ALN. Effective Monday, March 1, 2010, FamilyNet will air Lou Grant, Trapper John M.D., and Color Honeymooners. The Ed Asner drama Lou Grant will air Mon-Thurs at 5pm and 6pm ET. Trapper John, M.D. will follow that and air Mon-Thurs at 7pm and 8pm ET. Both series are spin-offs of popular series Mary Tyler Moore Show and M*A*S*H. FamilyNet Movie Flicks will follow the dramas at 9pm ET and another one at 12am ET. And the Color Honeymooners will air Fridays at 5pm ET. Also airing on Fridays will be FamilyNet Documentary, World Combat League, and ALN Live from 6-9pm. ALN Live also airs on ALN at 8pm on Fridays, so it will be simulcast on FamilyNet.
Merv Griffin's Crosswords and Black Beauty will remain on the schedule and air weekdays at 3pm and 4pm ET. With the addition of these new series, this means Happy Days, My Three Sons, Family Ties, and Early Edition will be off the line-up after their Friday, Feb. 26 airings. They haven't lost rights I believe, but they have been played for 3 cycles each or so and FamilyNet wanted to do something fresh. Since some ALN series have migrated to FamilyNet, you might wonder if these series could migrate to ALN? As of now, that is not happening because they can't. But if it ever happens, we'll let you know!

What about AmericanLife TV in March 2010? There is only one change, Fridays at 10am and 5pm will now be another airing of The Color Honeymooners. So Rhoda and Phyllis will be now cut to Mon-Thurs 10am & 5pm instead of Mon-Fri in March. Not a big deal. And Merv Griffin's Crosswords will air Saturdays at 4pm, as they will share it with sister net FamilyNet. Everything else will remain the same as it is now. Stay with us for updates as usual.

We didn't mention on day one the first-run weekend series up for sale for next fall. The following all-new series are trying to be sold for Fall 2010 on weekends:
The Crook and Chase Hour (one-hour, music talk show from All Media Partners); Curiosity Quest Goes Green (Half-hour kids series from Telco Productions); The Kids Block (Half-hour kids series from Showplace Television Syndication); My Parents, My Sister & Me (Half-hour sitcom starring Jasmine Guy from Showplace Television Syndication); Real Green (Half-hour lifestyle magazine from Telco Productions); Treasure Hunters Road Show (Half-hour reality from Entertainment Concepts International); Wild Limited (Half-hour wildlife series from Litton); Young Icons (Half-hour kids reality from Entertainment Studios, Inc.); Untitled Project With Magic Johnson (Half-hour from sports reality Showplace Television Syndication); World's Funniest Moments (One-hour reality from MGM).
As of now, I have no clearances for any of these. I'm sure a few of these will get cleared. It would be nice to have an first-run sitcom in syndication again like in the days of Charles in Charge and Out of this World! So here's hoping My Parents, My Sister & Me starring Jasmine Guy gets cleared! Debbie Allen is producing that sitcom. Stay with us for updates!

In other NATPE news, Trifecta Entertainment has acquired distribution rights for Hacienda Heights, an original soap opera featuring an all-Hispanic cast. Trifecta hopes to launch it this fall as a weekend block of two half-hours on both English and Spanish-language TV stations, as well as secure a cable run for it if possible. It will be produced for both English and Spanish, B&C reports. The show stars Resurrection Blvd.'s Mauricio Mendoza, and will be shot in San Francisco, where executive producer Desmond Gumbs owns a sound stage and production facility. Gumbs financed the production of the first 11 episodes himself. Those episodes were test-marketed in four Western markets with strong Hispanic demographics: San Francisco; Los Angeles; Yuma, Ariz.; and Santa Rosa, Calif. New York-based Sahara Media has agreed to finance the production's next 89 episodes, bringing the show to 100. Once the companies get enough episodes, they hope to turn the show into a daytime strip.
As of now, no clearances on this yet. If it gets picked-up, we'll let you know.

We shall return if anything else is known today, so come on back and check!

FamilyNet Now Available On TVUNetworks; TV Land Adds CSI: NY Marathon for Tomorrow

A few weeks back we mentioned FamilyNet had acquired a few CBS Paramount shows (Family Ties, Happy Days, My Three Sons, and Early Edition), now we have gotten word from them if you don't receive the channel on TV...you can watch it online! Yes, FamilyNet's "made-for-families", entertainment programming will now be available to all U.S. broadband users who have downloaded TVUPlayer on http://www.tvunetworks.com/. This is not to be mistaken with TV4U.com. FamilyNet airs this classic programming 6pm-10pm and 11pm-3am, so download that TVUPlayer and search FamilyNet's channel and watch it live! It is channel 735. Among the other channels are Nickelodeon (west feed), CBS and CW affiliates from San Francisco, KNBC from Los Angeles, Comedy Central (west feed), Sci Fi Channel and so much more including international channels! It was interesting to watch George Lopez on The CW San Fran last night at 9pm ET, which is 6pm PT. Now when you're not around a TV, you can watch some real TV channels online!

TV Land keeps changing their primetime schedule with marathons of various shows. Tomorrow (Thursday, March 12), they will try CSI: NY from sister station Spike TV from 10pm-4am. Three episodes will air with encores following. TV Land has aired some episodes of the original CSI previously as well. The TV Land schedule from about 10pm-6am on weekdays is a big mess. Andy Griffith Show has basically taken over from 7-10pm on weekdays (except Cosby Show is Fridays 8-10pm, but 10pm-4am is strange. For example this week: Monday 10pm-12am is Andy Griffith and 12-2am and 3-5am is Cosby Show. Tuesday 10pm-12am and 1am-3am is Cosby Show. High School Reunion is 10pm-12am on Wednesdays, followed by 3rd Rock in the 12am hour, Jeffersons from 2-4am and M*A*S*H from 4-6am. This Thursday it is CSI: NY from 10pm-4am, as originally it was Beverly Hillbillies. And on Friday from 10pm-12am is of course the TV Land Movie.
Check out the minor adjustments for the week of March 9-15 for TV Land. I'm sure changes are coming to the minor adjustments for the rest of the month, so stay tuned.

FamilyNet Adds Classic Sitcoms and Family Drama; BET Removes March Marathons

FamilyNet Television, a trusted leader in providing programming that is focused on the family, reached a three-year agreement with CBS Television Distribution Group to acquire sitcoms Happy Days, My Three Sons, Family Ties and sci-fi drama Early Edition. These titles represent a sampling of CBS-Paramount's Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning family sitcoms slated to jump start a new season of prime-time shows on FamilyNet.
Weeknights (this started on Jan. 26) from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (encores from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.), FamilyNet airs sitcoms from CBS-Paramount's vintage library featuring some of America's favorite TV families: the Cunningham's, the Douglas' and the Keaton's. During their long-running seasons, these must-see, classic series preserved "family time" and became standard programming on television sets in homes across America. To drive viewers to the prime-time block, FamilyNet rolled out its new promotional campaign, "Watch Families on FamilyNet." Note the airings of these show are on cable for FamilyNet only. Those who get the network as a broadcast station, they are not available for air.
FamilyNet used to only air public domain stuff, which is why we never covered them. They are still airing public domain episodes of I Spy in the afternoons, though. But now what with the acquisition of these series, this a channel to watch. Can they grow into a full-time channel for family shows? We can all hope! They have said they will continue to expand with entertainment programming as the network grows. I think they can grow and become a great channel for family television. I hope they get more family stuff from CBS Paramount like Webster mixing in with these family classics they have already before going to other studios for shows. There are plenty of shows out there that haven't gotten airplay in quite some time...Mr. Belvedere, Small Wonder are a few.
FamilyNet Television was launched in Atlanta, Georgia on October 25, 2007 and now is in 15.7 million television households. So check your local listings if you do have it, too! Or head on to their website to search by state! Unfortunately, I don't have it yet...but check if you do!

A few weeks ago we mentioned BET had scheduled two weekend marathons each of Family Matters and Fresh Prince in March. Now that isn't happening. The sister station Nick at Nite series won't be having marathons on those weekends, instead we get mini-blocks of One on One, The Game, and their original series. One on One is still getting that full day marathon tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 28), though, despite the other March marathons being removed.
A change on weekdays is happening starting next week. BET will add an afternoon movie from 1-3pm in between hours of The Game (12-1pm) and One on One (3-4pm). So, One on One is not two hours anymore, as it was airing 2-4pm. 1-2pm was Hell Date, now it will be replaced by a movie. It will still remain late nights at 3-4am. Rounding out the weekday afternoon schedule is 4-5pm Smart Guy and 5-6pm The Game.
We will keep you up to date if Family Matters and Fresh Prince pop-up on the BET marathon slate again. They did air at the end of December, so it is possible they could air again for another marathon. For now, you can still watch them on Nick at Nite.