ABC Family Changes Its Mind; George Segal to Star in TV Land Sitcom Pilot

Last Wednesday we mentioned a few ABC Family schedule changes happening this week, now one of them is not happening anymore. 8 Simple Rules is not coming back to the weekday 6pm hour starting Nov. 18 after all. Instead, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will remain in the hour until further notice. As of now, 8 Simple Rules is not airing at all, but in October it aired on weekends (Sat 10-11am & Sun 11am-12pm). It is not airing now because of holiday movies. Stay with us and we'll let you know if it remains on weekends in January or if it gets a weekday slot. The other change we mentioned last week, will happen starting today, with What I Like About You returning to the schedule and airing weekdays in the 12 noon hour replacing one of the Full House hours (it will remain in the 3pm hour).

TV Land announced that George Segal -- esteemed comedy and drama actor on TV, stage and film -- has been tapped to star in the network's sitcom pilot Retired at 35. The sitcom, which was previously announced in October along with comedy pilot Hot in Cleveland, is TV Land's first foray into scripted comedy series and is being developed for TV Land PRIME.
Retired at 35 follows a successful businessman who decides to leave the rat race of New York City behind and move into his parents' Florida retirement home to reconnect with them, reevaluate his life and live the dream of retirement that so many are working towards. Segal will play the role of the father, who bonds with his son while showing him the glories of his newfound and liberated lifestyle.
Retired at 35 and Hot in Cleveland are in development for 2010 for TV Land PRIME along with the premieres of Everybody Loves Raymond and the reality series High School Reunion; First Love, Second Chance and She's Got the Look. TV Land PRIME is the network's primetime programming block designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s.
Recently seen on the popular HBO series Entourage, and in ABC's Pushing Daisies, Segal starred for seven seasons as Jack Gallo in the NBC ensemble comedy Just Shoot Me! On the big screen, he was an Oscar-nominee for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and also starred in A Touch of Class, The Owl and The Pussycat with Barbra Streisand and Fun with Dick and Jane with Jane Fonda. He also starred on Broadway in Art, Rattle of a Simple Man and Gideon.
We'll let you know more casting for this sitcom (along with Hot in Cleveland) and if actually gets picked-up to series. If that happens, it will air for sure, but right now it is just a pilot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View the full press release.

Me-TV and Me-Too Chicago Fall 2009 Schedules; Fresh Prince on The N for Last Time

Chicago viewers get more luckier! This fall for Me-TV Chicago and Me-Too Chicago, it's all about comedy on Me-TV and drama on Me-Too! Now you can catch all of your favorite memorable comedies in one place on Me-TV. Joining Me-TV's classic lineup are Frasier, Scrubs, and Bernie Mac, along side returning favorites, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Munsters, The Honeymooners, Cosby Show, Leave it to Beaver, Bewitched, Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, and All in The Family. Me-TV has even more laughs in store for you on the rest of the schedule. On Saturdays, catch a new 7-hour Me-TV marathon featuring a different theme every week from 1pm-7pm CT. And on Sundays in primetime it is classic African American comedies in Diff'rent Strokes, Amen, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and That's My Mama starting at 9pm.
View the FULL Me-TV Fall 2009 schedule that begins Monday, Sept. 14.
This Fall, Me-Too (WMEU) is all drama! Classic favorites like Perry Mason, The Rockford Files, and Starsky & Hutch are moving to Me-Too, joining new arrival, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Returning to the Fall schedule are a long list of favorites, including Bonanza, The A-Team, The Adventures of Superman, and much more. If you enjoyed the summer Me-Too marathons, please tune in to sister station Me-TV's new Saturday marathons. Me-Too would like to thank all of the viewers that made their summer marathons a success! As for the new weekend schedule, you'll see Batman, Friday the 13th, T.J. Hooker and more.
View the FULL Me-Too Fall 2009 schedule that begins Monday, Sept. 14.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is replacing Full House on The N from 10pm-12am tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow night (Friday) only. This will likely be the last airings of Fresh Prince on the network, as by Sept. 14 it will be on ABC Family and Disney XD weekday evenings. Fresh Prince has already left Nick at Nite since last week.
Full House is still airing 8pm-10pm these nights that Fresh airs 10pm-12am and also 8pm-12am from Sept. 7-11. For that week, Full House was originally slated for 8pm-10pm only with Degrassi 10p-12am, so it has been extended a bit. The series airs regularly 6-7am starting Sept. 7.
In other The N news, Nick at Nite's original series Glenn Martin, DDS will air again on The N all next week (Sept. 7-11) at 2am. Stay with us for the schedule when The N turns into TeenNick on Sept. 28!

Fresh Prince Comes to Disney XD Fall 2009; Hallmark and TV Land Schedule Changes Starting Aug. 24

As we mentioned a few times, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is coming to Disney XD this September! We normally don't cover Disney XD, but since Fresh Prince is coming, we will this time. Similar to when Viacom had rights to Fresh Prince and Nick at Nite shared it with The N, now ABC Family will share it with sister network Disney XD. Both Nick at Nite and The N will lose rights to the show and will drop it at the end of this month...as Disney now gets full evening rights instead of just weekends.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will launch on Disney XD with a three-night marathon event starting Friday, September 18, 2009 and running through Sunday, September 20, 2009! On all three nights, the marathon will air from 7pm-6am, with only season one episodes. As a result, most of them will air three times each. Season one had 25 episodes and they will go in order in this marathon event. Then starting Monday, September 21, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will join the regular weeknight schedule and air weeknights at 7pm, 9:30pm & 10pm with encores at 12am & 2:30am. It will also air on weekends, both Saturday and Sundays in the 5pm hour and Sundays in the 7pm hour as well. Sister network ABC Family will air it weeknights in the 6pm hour and sometimes late nights on Saturday nights beginning at 11pm.
View the full Disney XD September 2009 schedule.

Hallmark Channel is making more changes. Beginning Monday (August 24) midday movies will replace Touched By An Angel at noon & 1pm, while a triple shot of episodes of 7th Heaven replace Little House on the Prairie from 2pm-5pm. Touched by an Angel will of course remain in primetime from 8-11pm, while 7th Heaven returns to the schedule but Little House on the Prairie leaves the schedule.
Meanwhile, TV Land will also make a schedule change starting Monday (Aug. 24). It's a very minor one, but still nevertheless a schedule change. Weekdays at 9am will now be another hour of Good Times, replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. That show will still be on sister network CMT, so not to worry. Good Times will air now for two full hours from 9-11am, when there are no encores of How'd You Get So Rich. This change is through at least week of Sept. 21. Not sure yet if this will run into October schedule (which starts Sept. 28). Stay with us for more on TV Land in October.

The N Adds Full House; ION Gets More Blockbuster Theatrical Films

The N is adding Full House to their schedule this fall! Starting Monday, August 31, The N will add Full House to its primetime line-up. Full House has been sitting in the Viacom vaults since April of this year, when it aired on sister network Nick at Nite. It was last seen at 6am. Full House will be replacing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air by airing weeknights from 8pm-12am ET/PT. Fresh Prince's contract is expiring from Viacom, so both Nick at Nite and The N will be removing it at the end of this month. Fresh Prince will now air on Disney-owned ABC Family (as we mentioned twice already) and Disney XD (I'll have more on XD soon) in the evening, while TBS still has the daytime rights. Full House will also still be shared, with The N having the evening rights and ABC Family continuing to have the daytime rights.
We can't release The N schedule for September just yet. They will be renaming to TeenNick starting Sept. 28. Will we see more schedule changes? Stay tuned. But for now the only change in early September is the addition of Full House. I doubt it will continue to air 8pm-12am weeknights, so stay with us for more on this.

ION Television has acquired over 40 new A-list feature film titles through multiple theatrical film deals with NBC Universal Domestic Distribution (NBCU) and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (WBDTD). The newly acquired titles will begin airing later this month and will continue to roll out on ION Television's schedule throughout the fall and into 2010.
The package from NBCU includes over one dozen hit movies including The Break Up, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn debuting on Sept. 1; Miami Vice, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Other titles in the package include the Back to the Future trilogy, Inside Man and The Hitcher.
The network has also expanded on its existing agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, bringing its current library to over 100 high profile Warner Bros. films in the ION library. The 30-plus additional films in the new package include the Academy Award® -winning documentary March of the Penguins, the award-winning Troy, starring Brad Pitt, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, also starring Brad Pitt, Oscar® nominee Casey Affleck and Mary-Louise Parker. Additional titles include The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded, GoodFellas, Ladder 49, City by the Sea and Taking Lives.

ABC Family Fall 2009; Me-Too August 2009 Daily Marathons; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: The CW

Our fall 2009 schedules barrage continues today with ABC Family September 2009! We are not 100% sure if it is their fall schedule but there will be a schedule change to the weekday line-up starting Monday, Sept. 14! The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will now also air on weekdays! The show will air weekdays in the 6pm hour replacing My Wife & Kids, which moves to 1pm replacing Sister, Sister. Sister, Sister will still air in the 7am hour (and on BET and Gospel Music Channel). So how on earth is Fresh Prince airing on weekdays when ABC Family only had weekend rights? It is very interesting. It looks to me as Viacom (Nick at Nite and The N) will lose the rights to the series and ABC Family is now picking up the rights for weekday evenings as well. ABC Family will continue to air the series on Saturday nights as well. So it looks like TBS will still have the daytime rights while ABC Family has the evening rights on both weekdays and on weekends now. I'm not 100% sure if Viacom is losing rights, so we will have to see when we announce both the Nick at Nite and The N's fall schedules. The N has already replaced Fresh Prince since last night, as Degrassi now airs Mon-Thurs 2-4am...so is that the reason for removal? There is still a Fresh Prince week-long marathon scheduled on The N for Aug. 17-21 from 7pm-12am. Is that the farewell? Nick at Nite airs the show still Mon-Thurs nights from 3-6am, so no signs yet of removal, but with Everybody Hates Chris coming in September, maybe that is a replacement?
Elsewhere on ABC Family, The Secret Life of the American Teenager has its mid-season finale on Monday, Sept. 7 at 8pm. An all-day marathon will lead into it from 11am-8pm. 10 Things I Hate About You has its season finale the next night on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8pm. Lincoln Heights will have its season four premiere on Monday, Sept. 14 at 8pm, as Greek continues to air new season three episodes at 9pm. Ruby & the Rockits will air repeats at 8pm leading into new episodes at 8:30pm on Sept. 15 and 22, with the season finale on Sept. 22 at 8:30pm. AFV will air Tuesdays in primetime from 8-11pm starting Sept. 29, shifting the movie to Wednesdays 8-10pm starting Sept. 30. There will be an AFV marathon on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 3-11pm to get ready for the all-new season on ABC.
Movie wise, the ABC Family original movie The Wedding Date starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney premieres Sunday, Sept. 13 at 9pm. Theatrical movies include the premiere of Shanghai Noon and a special edition of Dirty Dancing.
View the full regular schedule for ABC Family September 2009.

The daily classic TV summer marathons continue on Chicago's Me-Too in August! This time with a twist! Every weekday spend the whole day and evening with a different Me-Too Marathon theme! There's never too much TV for Me-Too. One day you may time warp back to 1973, another day you may be enlisting in the military or spending a day on another planet. 10AM-10PM each weekday on Me-Too in Chicago!
The schedule for the month (Aug. 3-Sept. 4) in order is: First Episodes, Detective Day, S.W.A.T., Evil Twins, A Tribute to Norman Lear, 1953, 1963, 1973, 1983, 1993, A Tribute to Brandon Tartikoff, A Tribute to Fred Silverman, Award Winners, Before They Were Stars, Me-Too Mystery, Suspense Day, Spy with Me, The Fugitive, Me-Too Wants You, Sci-Fi Friday, Classic Kids, The Single Dads of Me, A Tribute to Bill Bixby, Sea Hunt, and Christmas in September. SOME of the shows you will see in this classic must-see month on Me-Too are Dick Van Dyke Show, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, Who's the Boss?, Benson, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Star Trek, Lost in Space, Get Smart, Bewitched, Barney Miller, Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch, Hawaii Five-0, Hart to Hart, Police Woman, Kojak, S.W.A.T., I Dream of Jeannie, Mork & Mindy, Knight Rider, One Day at a Time, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Sanford & Son, I Love Lucy, Burns & Allen, Abbott & Costello, You Bet Your Life, Four Star Playhouse, Dragnet, Ozzie & Harriett, My Favorite Martian, McHale's Navy, Patty Duke Show, Combat, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Lucy Show, Rawhide, Jack Benny, Andy Griffith Show, Alfred Hitchcock, The Partridge Family, Love American Style, The Odd Couple, Streets of San Francisco, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Webster, Diff'rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, T.J. Hooker, A-Team, Family Ties, Happy Days, Magnum P.I., and more! And that's the shows only through the 1983 day! They haven't announced from Aug. 14 and on yet. Who needs TV Land or any other classic network when you have a roster of shows like that!
View the schedule section on their website for episode info.

The CW is up today at the summer 2009 TCA press tour. Expected are panels for The Vampire Diaries, The Beautiful Life, Melrose Place, and Life UneXpected. Stay with us for any key announcements.

Nick at Nite Changes Schedule Starting Tonight; WGN America Acquires Cheers

Nick at Nite has made a last minute schedule change that will be in effect for weekdays starting TONIGHT (Monday, July 20, 2009). George Lopez will now air 2-hours in primetime from 9-11pm now Sun-Thurs, as Family Matters gets replaced in the 10pm hour. George Lopez won't encore now at weeknights at 1-2am as a result of the change (except on Fridays), because the 10-11pm episodes repeat the next night at 9-10pm. Nick at Nite is not yet allowed to air the series for more than 2 episodes in 24-hours on a regular basis, since the series is still only in its second year in syndication. It enters its third season in syndication this fall. Maybe by then they can air more than 2 episodes a night? We'll see.
Family Matters will move to 1-2am Mon-Thurs and weekend late night blocks of Fridays 3-5am, and Sat-Sun 1-3am, while The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air takes over the overnight on Mon-Thurs nights airing 3-6am. The Nanny will air 3-6am now on Sat-Sun nights. So, this means Home Improvement is off the weeknight line-up, as it was airing in the 5am hour. Not to worry, Home Improvement is still on Friday nights in the 5am hour.
View the updated Nick at Nite schedule, and stay tuned soon for the August 2009 highlights!

WGN America has acquired another sitcom for its Outta Sight Retro Night on Sunday nights. Yesterday Barney Miller launched on the network, as we announced, airing Sundays at 9pm ET/6pm PT. Now they have acquired the '80s hit Cheers to air Sunday nights in the 11pm ET/8pm PT hour starting Sunday, August 2, 2009. Cheers will shift Bewitched to 12am ET/9pm PT and I Dream of Jeannie to 1am ET/10pm PT on Sunday nights, so this means The Honeymooners are off the line-up for now.
Yes, Cheers will still remain on The Hallmark Channel as well. Hallmark airs it late nights on weeknights, while WGN America is airing it regularly on Sunday nights. This means the Outta Sight Retro Night looks like this starting at 5pm ET/2pm PT: The Cosby Show, ALF, WKRP, Newhart and Barney Miller. Then a one-hour break for the news and Cheers, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie close the night off, as mentioned above. At times Coach airs in the 4pm hour if there is no baseball game. Coach regularly airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET, and it does well for them.
Stay with us in the coming weeks as we announce the WGN America fall schedule and see what more classics are in store! Stay with us!

Nick at Nite Replaces Fresh Prince in Primetime with Family Matters; 10 Things...Premiere Solid for ABC Family

Nick at Nite made a very last minute change late yesterday. They have replaced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the Mon-Thurs 10pm hour with Family Matters effective yesterday (July 13). If you all recall, Family Matters was in the original schedule to air in the 10pm hour, but Nick at Nite changed their mind. Family Matters will still air Sundays at 10pm as well, so the 10pm hour is Sun-Thurs for Steve Urkel and the gang. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is now only Mon-Thurs in the 4am hour. Nick at Nite has not updated their schedule for next week (week of July 20) and beyond, so it is still showing Fresh next week in the 10pm hour. It is unclear what will air Fridays at 11pm since Fresh Prince of Bel-Air airs there and this week the Friday schedule is preempted. I would guess Family Matters will get to replace that hour as well.
This weekend Nickelodeon & Nick at Nite celebrate the SpongeBob 10th anniversary with a 50-hour marathon starting Friday at 8pm through Sunday at 10pm, preempting Nick at Nite on Friday, Saturday and for two hours on Sunday. Due to this marathon, George Lopez will air in the 1am hour this Sunday since it is preempted in the 9pm hour.
Stay tuned for the latest on this change and to see what will happen beyond this week. Looks like Fresh Prince did bad last week when it started airing at 10pm? Looks like Malcolm in the Middle did decent for premiere week? We shall see soon if anything changes. View the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule thread to keep up with the up-to-the-minute details.

Last week's premiere of ABC Family's original comedy series 10 Things I Hate About You did solid in the ratings. ABC Family's newest original series launched as the net's No. 1 comedy series debut on record in Total Viewers (1.6 million), Adults 18-34 (509,000), Women 18-34 (396,000), Adults 18-49 (734,000) and Women 18-49 (574,000). The series stood as cable's No. 1 program in the time slot in Women 18-34 (396,000/1.2 rating), Women 18-49 (574,000/0.9 rating tied on rating), Viewers 12-34 (936,000/1.0 rating) and Females 12-34 (762,000/1.7 rating), and TV's No. 1 program in prime overall in Females Teens (367,000/3.0 rating) for Tuesday.
The comedy out-delivered the ratings for the now canceled comedies Sophie and Roommates. Roommates launched to 1.5 million viewers but that was out of the season finale of Secret Life of the American Teenager which did 4.49 million that night. 10 Things I Hate About led off the night in primetime and did 1.6 million on its own, making this more impressive.
10 Things I Hate About airs its second episode tonight and needs to do similar to the premiere's ratings. Because by episode two Roommates was down to just 440,000 viewers, and this show doesn't want to drop that much. Sophie was dead on arrival.
A second original sitcom Ruby & the Rockits will launch next Tuesday at 8:30pm following 10 Things I Hate About. Watch the second episode of 10 Things I Hate About tonight at 8PM ET/PT on ABC Family!

Barney Miller Coming to WGN America on Sundays' Outta Sight Retro Night; The N Schedule Changes for July 2009

As I promised, we will reveal what classic TV sitcom is joining WGN America in a few weeks! The '70s ABC sitcom Barney Miller is joining WGN America's Sunday night line-up, part of Outta Sight Retro Night. Barney Miller will air Sundays back-to-back from 9-10pm ET (6-7pm PT), replacing an hour of Newhart. Newhart will still remain in the 8-9pm ET (5-6pm PT) time slot, so fans of that have no need to worry.
We still have lots more to cover on WGN America in the coming months, and it is promising! They will add more series to the Outta Sight Retro Night block in September and they will also add a Wednesday '80s night with classic '80s movies and TV comedies from time to time. Radical! We also mentioned one show will be celebrating an anniversary this September, and WGN America will celebrate with a marathon on both the Wednesday '80s night and the Sunday Outta Sight Retro Night block. There's clue #2 for that one! We will have more on WGN America soon, so keep checking back as always!
View more on Barney Miller on our mini-page.

Last week we told you that Growing Pains was returning to The N schedule starting July 6, but now that isn't happening "actually." The N has altered that schedule quite a bit now and Growing Pains isn't returning to the schedule as a regular but it WILL be a part of a rotating wheel on Sunday nights at 5:30am. Airing first on Sunday, July 12 at 5:30am is Sabrina the Teenage Witch, then Clueless on July 19, and Growing Pains on July 26. Then the cycle starts over, for example Sabrina on August 2. This is a three-week cycle. It is too bad Growing Pains is being wasted like this. Why not try it on sister network TV Land? It wouldn't hurt them to try.
Also leaving the schedule totally for now is Saved by the Bell. It was airing weekdays in the 4pm hour, but after this coming Thursday it seems to be gone for now. It was removed once before but it eventually returned, so it could return. Also the return of Kenan & Kel will now be just the 8-9am hour every morning and it won't have an afternoon airing now, since Degrassi is taking over afternoons from 3-5pm. Degrassi is getting lots of airings it seems. Among the other changes are The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's 10pm hour being replaced by another hour of What I Like About You, since sister network Nick at Nite will be airing it in that hour starting July 6 from Mon-Thurs. Fresh Prince will remain in the 11pm hour on Mon-Thurs on The N and will also gain 2-4am on Mon-Thurs on The N. Nick at Nite will air it in the 4am hour on late nights Mon-Thurs, so that won't interfere with The N either.
View the full updated The N July 2009 schedule.

Nick at Nite Revises July Schedule and Stunts; Hallmark Channel Cuts Some Lucy, Adds Murder, Heaven; RIP Farrah

The other day we gave you the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule, and now Nick at Nite has edited it. So no one gets confused, we edited our story to reflect these new changes, so please view that story again.
To recap the new changes, the biggest changes from the original July schedule to this schedule is that Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is now in primetime, Mon-Thurs at 10pm and Fridays at 11pm. So, Family Matters will not be 10pm now except on Sundays. George Lopez will still be on the move to 9pm to anchor primetime. The Nanny will be every night at 11pm still except on Fridays, as Malcolm in the Middle will be every night in the 12am hour now and will remain in the 8pm hour Sun-Thurs.
The highlights have changed a bit, too. We still have the same dates and times for the Malcolm in the Middle launch, The Assistants encore, SpongeBob Bash, but now the George Lopez marathon slated for July 26 has been moved to August 2. On Sunday, July 26 instead we get the classic summer movie National Lampoon's Vacation from 8-10pm ET/PT. Nick at Nite has also added an encore of VH-1's special Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants on Thursday, July 23 at 10pm.
View and discuss the updated Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule.

Starting this Monday (June 29), the Hallmark Channel will cut the I Love Lucy weekday block of 11am-2pm to 11am-1pm as they will add an extra 7th Heaven in the 1pm hour. This means 7th Heaven will air back-to-back now from 1-3pm. On weekends during late nights 1-3am on both Saturday and Sunday night we will get back-to-back episodes of Murder, She Wrote replacing a two-hour block of I Love Lucy. So Murder, She Wrote makes its way back on the schedule, while I Love Lucy's airings are now reduced to weekdays 11am-1pm and 2:30am.
In other highlights for July, on Sunday, July 5 it is a Little House on the Prairie day with episodes airing from 8am-3pm, including "The Last Farewell" TV-movie from 1-3pm. Then that's not all, as we get the three-part 2005 ABC mini-series from 3-9pm. That mini-series stars Cameron Bancroft and Erin Cottrell and is based on the book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and tells the story of the Ingalls family as they travel from Wisconsin to the Indian Territory of Kansas.

Finally, ABC has added A Special Edition of 20/20 for tonight at 10pm ET/PT titled "Farrah Fawcett: Her Life, Her Loves, Her Legacy." It is hosted by Barbara Walters will feature the story of Farrah Fawcett and interviews her long time companion Ryan O'Neal, former Charlie's Angels co-star Jaclyn Smith and her doctor. Farrah is battling anal cancer and is currently in the hospital and it is not looking good.
1PM UPDATE: Farrah has passed away. Read for more info. We will be back with a tribute tomorrow. Watch ABC tonight for more on Farrah and her life. Farrah was 62.
UPDATE #2: Farrah Tributes on TV. We will have more on this tomorrow right here on the blog.

The Nanny Joins Nick at Nite in May 2009; TBS Orders Original Animated Comedy

We have mentioned many times that The Nanny is coming to Nick at Nite in spring 2009. Yesterday we gave you an actual date. That was for the all-night marathon launch on Sunday, May 10 from 9pm-6am ET/PT...now we have the regular airing schedule, along with the rest of Nick at Nite May 2009! Effective Monday, May 11, 2009 The Nanny will join the Nick at Nite line-up airing Sun-Thurs at 11:00pm & 11:30pm ET/PT. That will force Nick at Nite to move Family Matters, which is one of their big guns, to 12:00am & 12:30am ET/PT on Sun-Thurs nights. You might say why are they doing this? Now Nick at Nite will sandwich The Nanny in between big time ratings hits George Lopez (10-11pm) and Family Matters (12-1am). Now if The Nanny does falter, they can always switch it to midnight and move Urkel and company back to 11pm. Family Matters is replacing Home Improvement at 12 midnight. That hour of Home Improvement will move to Mon-Thurs 3-4am ET/PT, replacing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Fresh Prince will now only air Mon-Thurs from 2-3am, instead of the 2-5am block. The Nanny will also air 4-5am on Mon-Thurs nights, followed by Family Matters from 5-6am on Mon-Thurs nights, replacing Roseanne. Family Matters will also remain at 6am as well on weekdays. Now if you noticed the late night airings are Mon-Thurs (1am-6am) rather than Sun-Thurs like primetime (9pm-1am). On Sunday nights at 1am, we get back-to-back Home Improvement episodes replacing The Cosby Show, which is now gone from Nick at Nite. The Nanny airs 2-3am and Family Matters from 3-4am on Sunday nights, with Roseanne closing it out with a two-hour block from 4-6am.
So now that Sun-Thurs is all done, we have Friday & Saturday left. Again it is broken up into two different pieces (10pm-1am and 1am-6am). On both nights we get a change at 12 midnight with The Nanny airing back-to-back episodes, replacing Family Matters. Family Matters moves to 2-3am on Friday nights and 1-2am on Saturday nights, both replacing Home Improvement. Home Improvement moves to 4-5am on Friday nights replacing Roseanne and 2-3am on Saturday nights replacing Family Matters. The Nanny airs 3-4am on Saturday nights replacing Family Matters. Family Matters late night airing on Saturday nights are now 4-5am, replacing an hour of Roseanne, which will only be 5-6am on Saturday nights now. 5-6am on Friday nights will be The Nanny, replacing Family Matters encore.
In other May news, we get a George Lopez marathon on Tuesday, May 5 from 9pm-3am ET/PT called "Cinco de Lopez II." Celebrate Cinco de Mayo Lopez style!
This is the first major schedule change in a while. It is hard to follow, but here is a recap: The Nanny joins, Cosby Show is gone, Fresh Prince & Roseanne are heavily reduced, and Family Matters and Home Improvement get some time shifting, while George Lopez's slots remain unchanged.
Still confused? Don't worry, view the full Nick at Nite May 2009 schedule.

Adding a devilish touch to its line-up, TBS has greenlit the half-hour animated series Neighbors from Hell, which comes to the network from Fox TV Animation (same people who do Family Guy), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. and Jeffrey Katzenberg (Shrek). Pam Brady (South Park), who wrote the pilot episode, and Mireille Soria (Madagascar) will serve as executive producers. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of the series, marking the network's first foray into original primetime animation. The series should work well with reruns of Family Guy on TBS.
Neighbors from Hell centers on the Hellmans, a typical, all-American suburban family, with Balthazor; his wife, Tina; their two children, Mandy and Josh; and their dog, Pazuzu. The only thing that distinguishes them from the rest of the folks in the neighborhood is that the Hellmans happen to be from Hell. They have been sent to Earth to pose as normal suburbanites with a mission to keep humans from finding their way to Hell. Their task is made all the more complicated by Balthazor's growing affection for humans and their odd but endearing qualities.
TBS has not given a set launch period for this show as of yet.

Nick at Nite Late Night Changes; Spike TV's May 2009 Highlights

Nick at Nite is making some late night changes starting this week. First, weekdays at 6am another Family Matters is replacing Full House, which is leaving the line-up. This started yesterday. The rest of the changes are to late nights on Friday nights and Sunday nights. Effective Friday, April 17 (which is technically early Saturdays) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air replaces Roseanne in the 3am hour with two episodes. Roseanne will still air 4-5am, though. Then Sunday nights starting Sunday, April 19 (which is technically early Mondays), Family Matters will replace Fresh Prince in the 3am hour, while Roseanne is added with a two-hour block from 4-6am replacing an hour each of Fresh Prince and Family Matters.
View these changes in a list form, if you're confused. There are no other changes, so if a show is airing in a time we haven't mentioned, it is still airing in that slot.
This is not all the news we have for Nick at Nite. We have a date for The Nanny launch! The Nanny launches on Sunday, May 10 at 9PM with an all-night Mother's Day marathon! The Nanny will then join the regular schedule the following night (Monday, May 11). When will it air regularly? I won't reveal that (along with the rest of the new Nick at Nite May 2009 schedule) until tomorrow! So come on back tomorrow! What will be dropped or reduced for the addition of The Nanny? You'll see tomorrow.

Also this Mother's Day, Spike TV is actually celebrating the day. Celebrate Mother's Day Spike-style with Spike TV's greatest mom of all time - Peg Bundy in a Married... with Children marathon on Sunday, May 10 from 1pm-5pm. The marathon is being called "MILF Day." Then on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25) catch a CSI NY marathon from 9am-7pm. Among the movie premieres in May include Any Given Sunday, The Color of Money, Gangs of New York, and two original movies - Kill Switch & Street Warrior. Spike will also have original episodes of its original series.
As a preview to June, you'll see a CSI NY week-long marathon from 9am-7pm the week of June 22-26. The following week it will be CSI vs. CSI NY from 9am-3pm and a Star Wars movies marathon from 3pm-9pm the week of June 29-July 3.

Nick at Nite March 2009: Lopezadrine; BET Changes Its Mind, 'Fresh', 'Matters' Marathons Are Back

From the network that brought you "Luck 'o the Lopez" last St. Patrick's Day, brings you "Lopezadrine." It is an all-night marathon of George Lopez on Nick at Nite, clinically proven to reduce the risk of boredom by 800%. Used correctly, Lopezadrine is guaranteed to keep you laughing throughout the night. The seven hour marathons airs from 9pm-4am on Sunday, March 15, 2009.
In other Nick at Nite news, last week the schedule was changed for that week only, with George Lopez at 9 and another Family Matters at 10:30pm from Mon-Thurs. Now that schedule will be in effect until further notice, as you all probably noticed this week.
So we have George at 9, Home Improvement at 9:30, another George at 10, triple shot of Family Matters from 10:30pm-12am, followed by double shots of Home Improvement and George Lopez in the 12 and 1am hours. The Mon-Thurs nights conclude with a Fresh Prince block from 2-5am and an hour of Roseanne mornings at 5am. No changes will be made to the Fri-Sun blocks.
View and discuss more about Nick at Nite March.

On Friday, we mentioned BET removed the March Saturday marathons...guess what? Now they're back! Some things have changed from the original plan, but they are back. Originally this coming weekend was supposed to be Family Matters, but we will now get a mix of One on One (from 12pm-4pm) and The Game (4pm-6pm). Earlier the Proud Family Movie airs from 9-11a followed by two episodes of the series. So get ready to spring forward that night, as the clocks go ahead an hour. BET will air The Game encores before and after that from 2-3am EST and 4-5am EDT. So that will technically air back-to-back in a two-hour block.
The following Saturday (March 14) we have One on One again from 12pm-4pm followed by a 12-hour marathon of sister station Nick at Nite's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 4pm-4am!
The week after (Saturday, March 21) will be another series from sister station Nick at Nite, this time Family Matters. The marathon will also continue to the next day on Sunday, March 22. On Saturday Steve Urkel and company will air from 10am-11pm. That's thirteen "lucky" hours of Urkel. And if that's not all the following day (Sunday, March 22), the show will air from 1pm-6pm, for an additional five-hour block.
Finally, March madness ends with a marathon of Season 2 episodes of The Game on Saturday, March 28 from 2pm-2am...so a nice 12-hour marathon.
As always with BET, this is all subject to change...and we're the only ones on top of this, so stay with us! Check out episode info for the marathons, as we post it (we will only provide the full-fledged marathons such as Fresh Prince, Family Matters and The Game on March 28).

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.

BET Premieres The Game One Week Earlier, Adds Sitcom Marathons in March; TVLandPRIME.com Adds High School Reunion Content; Boomerang News

We were the first ones to announce that BET had acquired sitcom The Game to its lineup starting Feb. 23, now BET will move up the premiere up a week to Feb. 16...that is this Monday! They will launch the series now with a marathon, too. The President's Day The Game marathon will air from 9am-6pm on Monday (Feb. 16) featuring the first 18 episodes of the series. It will also start airing in the regular line-up the following day (Tuesday, Feb. 17) airing weekdays 12-1pm and Thursdays 10-11pm. The weekdays 12-1pm hour will replace The Steve Harvey Show, which now goes off the line-up. Originally The Game was going to air 1-2pm, but now that is not happening, and Hell Date will remain 1-2pm. The Game will also have a block on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 1pm-4pm. Then starting Monday, Feb. 23, The Game will also air weekdays 5-6pm in addition to its 12-1pm slot, so cutting Smart Guy's late afternoon block in half to just 4-5pm. The Game was originally going to air 11pm-12am, but Judge Hatchett will now remain in that slot.
Starting February 28, BET will have sitcom marathons all March long on weekends! On Saturday, Feb. 28 from 9am-8pm we will have an all-day One on One marathon! For the following weekend (March 7-8), we will have Family Matters! Sister station Nick at Nite's series returns to BET for another marathon airing. The marathon airs Saturday, March 7 from 12pm-8pm, following the Proud Family block and Proud Family Movie. Family Matters will also air Sunday, March 8 from 12pm-4pm. The weekend after that (March 14-15), we get more Urkel and company with Family Matters once again on Saturday, March 14 from 2pm-5pm and Sunday, March 15 from 12-2pm. So a shorter block that weekend, but still a whole lotta Urkel on BET. Next, the weekend of March 21-22, will feature another sitcom from sister station Nick at Nite! This time catch Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Saturday, March 21 from 4pm-10pm and again on Sunday, March 22 from 4pm-8pm. The final weekend in March (March 28-29), will have yet more Fresh Prince! This time just on that Saturday (March 28) from 6pm-10pm.
So that's BET's sitcom update for you! Of course, as usual, this is subject to change. We will keep you up to date on further developments and we will also provide episode info for those weekend sitcom marathons in March on our message board thread for this. So stay tuned!

TVLandPRIME.com kicks off the second season of TV Land's hit reality series High School Reunion, from Warner Horizon Television, with exclusive and exciting content for the program, which premieres on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The TV Land original eight-part reality series premieres on TV Land PRIME, TV Land's new primetime programming destination designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s.
The High School Reunion microsite is jam-packed with interesting features this season, such as a user-generated "Digital Yearbook," extended and deleted scenes from the show, behind-the-scenes video taken by the cast, personal photo galleries, video cast bios and weekly blogs from cast members revealing juicy gossip from the reunion. Additionally, visitors will be able to enjoy full streaming episodes online the day after they premiere on-air, as well as streaming '80s radio and '80s trivia.
View more information about this, the new cast, and more.

Boomerang will ring-in Valentine's Day with a network premiere of It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. (ET). The half-hour animated special follows a six-hour marathon of dating-themed episodes of Johnny Bravo, one of the first three original series created by Cartoon Network in 1997.
Johnny Bravo is a buff, girl-chasing-mama's-boy who can't seem to get a date in spite of his good looks and an even better hairdo. On Saturday, February 14, (Valentine's Day), Johnny Bravo's funniest dating disasters will be showcased in a six and a half-hour marathon beginning at 2 p.m. (ET) on the commercial-free Boomerang network. The marathon will culminate with the network premiere of the special, It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo at 8 p.m. (ET).
In this very special episode, we learn that Valentine's Day is in fact Johnny Bravo's birthday also, which might explain his penchant for amorous antics. He yet again strikes out with the ladies until his "mama," Bunny Bravo, sets him up on a blind date with a real "knock-out"-literally. Meeting the girl of his dreams turns out to be a true nightmare during what should be the most romantic night of the year. A plethora of guest stars appearing in It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo include former Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon, "New Kids on the Block" heartthrob Joey McIntyre, The Brady Bunch's Maureen McCormick and former teen idol Donny Osmond.

Comcast onDemand Adds Classic Warner Bros Channel; BET Adds Fresh Prince Marathon to Holiday Slate

Back in September we told you Warner Bros. has partnered with Comcast to have some of their shows stream online for free on Fancast.com and that they were going to develop an onDemand service by 4th quarter. Well it is now 4th quarter obviously, and they have added that onDemand service on Comcast cable systems! The onDemand channel is called "TheWB" under TV Entertainment on Comcast onDemand. As of now get the first 5 or 6 episodes of urban sitcoms Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Martin, All of Us, and short-lived drama Jack & Bobby. We don't have a list at press time of what other series they will be adding in the future, but given their vast library, you can expect about anything, especially what is on Fancast.com, which I will tell you in a bit. I'll keep you up to date on any happenings. Hopefully we get more classics on the onDemand service, though. Wouldn't it be nice to have series such as The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers, Gilligan's Island and the drama Life Goes On at our leisure anytime on TV?
Comcast's Fancast.com has added a lot of Warner Bros. owned series to their website since we last reported. Back in September they only had more current stuff like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and Friends, but now we also get the classics! It seems Warner/AOL's In2TV doesn't really work anymore, so Fancast.com is now the place to go for classic Warner Bros. TV. They have added about 17 series with many episodes of each to their Classic Warner Bros. TV slate. Among the series are Perfect Strangers, Gilligan's Island, Head of the Class, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Growing Pains, Mama's Family, Welcome Back Kotter, CHiPs, Eight is Enough, Lois & Clark, and Wonder Woman! All these have been on In2TV, so it is nothing really new, but still nice to have! These episodes on Fancast.com are not in any order and are random episodes...most of them have Christmas themed episodes among their listings, so catch Balki trying to give Mr. Gorpley the Christmas spirit on Perfect Strangers.
One more way to watch Warner Bros. TV is through TheWB.com, but that is mainly for more current series though they do have a few classics in there like In Living Color, as we have told you in the past. Original web series are also on TheWB.com.

Late last week we gave you details on BET's sitcom marathons this week (hope you're enjoying Family Matters today!), but now they have announced one more marathon! The marathon will be on Monday, December 29 and will be the sitcom ... The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! How is that possible? As with Family Matters, they have borrowed it from sister Viacom station Nick at Nite, and this the series is NOT joining the line-up. It is just for this marathon. The marathon airs from 4pm-10pm, since Viacom doesn't have access to air the series in daytime, due to TBS owning that period for the series. The marathon will encore from 11pm-4am. In other BET week of December 29 news, One on One will lead into the Fresh Prince marathon in the daytime from 1pm-4pm. One on One will also have a mini-block on Tuesday, December 30 from 1pm-6pm. Hell Date returns to the schedule airing in the late night from 3-4am on weekdays. Nickelodeon series Romeo! and Just Jordan return on Saturday, Jan. 3 with back-to-back episodes from 9-11am leading into a six-episode block of The Proud Family from 11am-2pm and then One on One from 2-5pm.
Stay tuned early next week when we give you BET's January schedule (starts 1/5) which will feature The Proud Family, as we mentioned, and also another series...this a long-running talk show that is no longer airing! Find out what that is next week!
For now, once again view the BET Classic Sitcom Holiday marathon episodes list, which now featured Fresh Prince.

Happy Thanksgiving; Marathons on TV This Holiday Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We thank you for visiting us on this special day and every other day. We also are very thankful that you all continue to visit every single day and making this blog a huge success. We get thousands of visitors every day (even on weekends). So, we thank you for the growth each year! It is simply amazing.

Before we let you all go back to your families, we want to let you know the marathons on TV you and your family might want to watch during the day and after Thanksgiving dinner.
We have told you about many of the sitcom related marathons already. We were the first ones to tell you about them, too. WGN America has a Newhart marathon on Thanksgiving Day from 2pm-3am. TV Land has its annual Overstuffed Weekend with I Love Lucy and The Cosby Show on Thanksgiving Day and Night, with many other sitcoms from Friday-Sunday. TBS has a marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 9am-3pm today, while tomorrow (Friday) Sci Fi offers up an all-day event of the classic Robin Williams sitcom Mork & Mindy from 8am-6am! BET has a holiday weekend filled with marathons of One on One, The Parkers and Steve Harvey Show starting on Friday. So yeah we told you about all these already many moons ago. But there are of course more!
Other sitcom related marathons include The N's all Drake & Josh weekend starting at 3pm, you can eat bananas while watching G4's Arrested Development marathon starting at 9am, FX will give us a marathon of the late Bernie Mac on his sitcom Bernie Mac on Friday, and Disney Channel will have marathon blocks of their sitcoms all this weekend of The Suite Life, Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place.
Non-sitcom wise, of course you will have CSI marathons all over the place. CSI: NY gets the full day treatment on Thanksgiving Day on Spike TV, A&E will have a CSI: Miami marathon on Friday, while Spike TV offers up a CSI vs. CSI: NY marathon. What no James Bond movie marathons on Spike this year? Not to fret, Sci Fi Channel will have some today, before they air Mork & Mindy on Friday. Other notable marathons on Thanksgiving Day include Goof Troop on Toon Disney, The Closer on TNT, House on USA Network and Rocky movies on Versus. Friday's notables include Beverly Hills 90210 on SOAPnet, The Starter Wife on USA Network, and Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC America. And it seems like Fox Reality is airing Hell's Kitchen all weekend and the same goes true for Fox Movie Channel with Planet of the Apes movies. Sorry no Law & Order series, except for Criminal Intent on Sunday.
And don't forget my pick of the night, tonight at 8pm on ABC the holiday classic A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I watched it Tuesday and will watch it again tonight. Can't get enough of old Chuck! If you haven't see it already, view our 2008 Network TV Holiday Specials and Movies Guide, so you don't miss anything on network TV. Also our ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas schedule, because that is the place to be this holiday season with classics like Mickey's Christmas Carol, A Garfield Christmas and Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too!
And for more marathons this weekend we did not list, head on over to the Interesting Pile blog.

BET Changes and Upcoming Sitcom Marathons; TBS Holiday Stunts

With the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming up, BET will celebrate with sitcom marathons! But first they made some minor schedule changes. The weekday sitcom block has been shifted to 2-5pm effective this week, with Steve Harvey Show moving to 2-3pm, One on One from 3-4pm and Smart Guy from 4-5pm. Girlfriends will remain in the 3am hour, while the Saturday morning block is now 11am-4p, with two episodes of Smart Guy and four episodes each of The Parkers and Girlfriends. Steve Harvey and One on One are on Sundays from 11:30am-2pm.
As for holiday sitcom marathon, the first one will be the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 28 (Black Friday) from 9am-3:30pm. As of now, it has not been determined what will air. Hopefully something NOT airing regularly on BET? We'll let you know if that is indeed the case! Anyway, Thanksgiving weekend continues with more sitcom marathons on Saturday, November 29 from 9am-3am with the hit sitcom The Parkers. Thanksgiving sitcom marathon concludes with a marathon of The Steve Harvey Show from 11am-5pm on Sunday, November 30.
As for Christmas, more sitcom marathons will air! On Christmas Day itself, Thursday, December 25, we will get a marathon of Smart Guy from 9am-8pm. Then on the day after Christmas (Friday, December 26), which is Kwanza, celebrate the holiday with another marathon of One on One from 9am-8pm. Finally, on Saturday, December 27, it's all-day and all-night event of everyone's favorite girlfriends...Girlfriends from 9am-4am!

TBS will get into the holiday fever as well with a sitcom marathon! On Thanksgiving Day itself (Thursday, November 27), TBS will present a marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 9am-3pm. What better way for you to 'will' your way on this day? For Christmas of course, TBS will present the annual 24-hour marathon of the holiday movie classic A Christmas Story starting Christmas Eve at 8pm and running through Christmas Day at 8pm. Get into the holiday spirit with this classic Christmas comedy featuring your favorite oddball kid Ralphie. From disgruntled Santas to badgering bullies, nothing will stop Ralphie from getting his dream toy on Christmas morning.
New episodes of the hit sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne will air Wednesdays at 10pm in December starting Dec. 3. The new episodes will air in the weekly Wednesday six-episode block starting at 8pm. And finally, the season finale of sketch comedy Frank TV, starring comedian Frank Caliendo, will air December 23 at 11pm ET/PT. He does a great Bill Walton, doesn't he?

Stay tuned on Friday for our annual look at the holiday specials airing on the broadcast networks this holiday season! But come on back for more news the next two days as well!

ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2008, Special Election Day Blog DVD Review: Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush

Last month we gave you the Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas schedule for 2008. The Countdown airs from Nov. 16-30, but now we have the actual 25 Days of Christmas schedule for 2008!
25 Days of Christmas starts off with a Dr. Suess night including the ABC Family premiere of the special Dr. Seuss' The Hoober-Bloob Highway. Also airing that night are double airings of the Jim Carrey holiday movie Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the holiday special Dr. Seuss on the Loose. Other movies airing the first week are The Polar Express, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter movies, and the basic cable premiere of Cars. Things get rolling the first weekend with all-day events with sitcom Christmas episodes of Step by Step and Sabrina the Teenage Witch in the mornings, followed by movies such as Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4, Eloise at Christmastime, and Richie Rich's Christmas Wish.
Other new highlights for the month include lots of America's Funniest Home Videos & Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Christmas episodes, the TV premiere of the special Cranberry Christmas, the basic cable premiere of the classic animated special A Garfield Christmas, the ABC Family premieres of classics Mickey's Christmas Carol & Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, the basic cable premiere of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the ABC Family original special A Miser Brothers' Christmas, the ABC Family Original Movie Snow 2 Brain Freeze starring Tom Cavanagh and Ashley Williams, and the ABC Family Original Movie Christmas in Wonderland starring Patrick Swayze and Carmen Electra.
We also get many items we have seen before such as Full House Christmas episodes, the holiday specials, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Jack Frost, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July, Pinocchio's Christmas, and more! Other movies include Santa Clause 2, Jingle All the Way, All I Want for Christmas, Holiday in Handcuffs, A Carol Christmas, White Christmas, and it wouldn't be Christmas without A Very Brady Christmas!
Check out the full night-by-night ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas schedule for 2008!

Well, today is Election Day and we urge you all to get out and vote. We also will celebrate Election Day with a blog DVD review that is very fitting, as we say goodbye to George W. Bush! We take a look at Comedy Central/Paramount's Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush: Thanks for the Memories!. The DVD includes one episode each of Bush from South Park, That's My Bush, Lil' Bush and Lewis Black's Root of All Evil. See skees53's Blog DVD Review of Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush: Thanks for the Memories!:

Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush: Thanks for the Memories! (Comedy Central DVD, $14.98) gives George W. Bush a sendoff from the White House in a way that only America's favorite TV network devoted to comedy can do. The DVD compiles some memories of the past eight years into a single disc for your enjoyment. The DVD includes one episode each from South Park, That's My Bush, Lil' Bush and Lewis Black's Root of All Evil.
The DVD begins with the South Park episode "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce," where Cartman decides to "prove" that Kyle was responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11... but Kyle finds a group of conspiracy theorists that say that they can prove that Kyle was NOT responsible, and that in fact, George W. Bush was responsible for the attacks. Unfortunately, finding out this knowledge (even if it is wrong) lands Kyle and Stan in a position where they have to run from Dick Cheney trying to kill them with a careful shot.
In the That's My Bush episode "An Aborted Dinner Date," we find George trying to have a romantic evening with Laura, but he also has a commitment to meet with people on both sides of the abortion issue... a very butch feminist that is pro-choice and an aborted fetus that is (of course) pro-life. It isn't going to be a romantic evening, that is for sure!
In the Lil' Bush episode "Iraq/First Kiss," George has to find the perfect gift for his father for Father's Day, so he goes to the first place we'd all think of to look for it—Iraq. In the second part of the episode, the gang is trying to see who will be the first to kiss a girl.
Besides the three sitcom episodes included, there are other Comedy Central programs (or clips) included, such as a full episode of Lewis Black's Root of All Evil (featuring a trial between Dick Cheney and Paris Hilton), clips from Last Laugh '06, Last Laugh '07, Mind of Mencia, and standup comedy from Comedy Central.
The DVD is presented in a pretty standard case with a drawing of Bush standing in front of the White House collecting his memories and preparing to move out... complete with his copy of "My Pet Goat," the missing 2000 Florida ballots, a bowl of pretzels, a picture of Karl Rove (affectionately autographed "Turd Blossom"), and a "Mission Accomplished" banner hanging on the White House. Oddly enough, when you watch the DVD, you'll notice that the main menu is exactly the same as the cover art. And if you like that cover art and menu art, you'll be even more pleased to know that they included a poster with the exact same artwork inside the case.
The audio and video quality are about what we would come to expect for series as recent as these--pretty good. In fact, there really aren't any problems to note in this area. The only unfortunate thing about the DVD is that there are no special features at all, although in a sense, a compilation such as this one can stand on its own without special features.
This isn't a bad DVD to pick up if you can find it cheap somewhere, but really, if you are a fan of the series included on here, you'd probably be better served to just pick up season sets of those series. The episodes presented aren't exactly episodes that stand out, but rather seem to just be random episodes about Bush. Still, this DVD can provide a few hours of laughter while Bush is outside having his "Heckuva Moving Sale."
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
That's My Bush TV.com Page
Lil' Bush TV.com Page
South Park TV.com Page
Lewis Black's Root of All Evil TV.com Page

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

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

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

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

The N's Halloween Stunt Includes Classic Nick Series Are You Afraid of the Dark; More Minor ION Changes

The week of October 25-31 is Halloween Week on The N! To celebrate this haunted holiday, The N will air Halloween-themed programming, including an encore presentation of the Degrassi Halloween specials, Curse of Degrassi and Degrassi of the Dead on Friday, October 31. Also, tune into the classic Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark? all-week long, along with special Halloween episodes of The N's hit sitcoms, including That '70s Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Moesha, Zoey 101, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The N will also premiere the movie Roxy Hunter and the Horrific Halloween on Sunday, October 26 at 8am and Friday, October 31 at 12pm. As for Are You Afraid of the Dark?, it will air Saturday, October 25-Sunday, October 26 from 4-6pm and Monday, October 27-Friday, October 31 from 3:00-4:30pm. The show aired on Nickelodeon from 1991-1996, and was revived in 1999-2000, but actually was a Canadian production from CTV. The series revolved around a group of teenagers who referred to themselves as "The Midnight Society". Every week, at a secret location in the woods, one member would tell a scary story to the group. No idea yet if the series will join The N's line-up come November, but as of now, I don't think so. We'll let you know if it does join, though!
View episode info for the Are You Afraid of the Dark? week and more on The N's October 2008 programming.

ION Television has announced it has replaced the filler airings of The Drew Carey Show with more M*A*S*H. These filler airings are only a few times a month at 10:30PM when the ION Movie runs 2 1/2 hours instead of two hours or three hours, such as this Friday at 10:30PM. So, fans of Drew Carey Show will not see any episodes anymore, unless it is brought back to the regular line-up.

Still early in the day, if any news breaks, we will post...check back!

Nick at Nite October 2008 Has Urkel Week and Halloween Week; Lifetime Acquires How I Met Your Mother for Fall 2010

This October on Nick at Nite will have various stunts such as an Urkel week hosted by Jaleel White and the 1st Annual Worldwide Fido Awards. At last an award show for real dogs! Forget the pedigree, purebreds and professional judges! The dogs on this show are chosen by you the viewer! The one-hour special event hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard will showcase the six Fido finalists and best of WorldwideFido.com's user-generated videos, where one lucky dog will ultimately be crowned the 2008 Worldwide Fido winner. It will air Sunday, October 5 from 8-9PM.
On Columbus Day (Monday, October 13), Nick at Nite will bring out the stars on George Lopez with a marathon from 9pm-4am. Got a favorite guest star? Check out the special line-up of hand picked celebrities all of whom have graced the George Lopez stage to see if your favorites made the cut! Eva Longoria, Mario Lopez, Jerry Springer, Adam West, Barbara Eden, Jim Belushi, Sandra Bullock, Lou Diamond Phillips, Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff, Richard Lewis, Kimberly Williams, Laila Ali, Andy Garcia, who made the cut? Find out on October 13!
Get up close and personal with Steve Urkel himself (Jaleel White) as he reminisces with Nick and Nite on what it was like to play one of America's favorite nerds and his favorite episodes. Jaleel White hosts an hour a night from Oct. 20-26 featuring classic Steve Urkel-themed episodes of Family Matters. Classic episodes include his very first episode, Jaleel as Myrtle Urkel, the Urkel dance episode, Urkelbot, Urkel & Grandmama, and classic Stefan episodes.
Finally, it's a spooktacular week for Nick at Nite the week of October 27-31. Tune in all-week long to catch Halloween themed episodes of your Nick at Nite favorites (Fresh Prince, George Lopez, and Home Improvement) in the 9pm hour and also in regular timeslots for more Halloween fun. It will be capped off with a Halloween marathon on Halloween night from 10pm-1am featuring George Lopez, Home Improvement and Family Matters. Be ready for the scary Stevil!
View the full Nick at Nite October 2008 schedule and highlights.

Continuing the aggressive expansion of its comedy programming, Lifetime Television has acquired the exclusive basic cable rights to the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother from Twentieth Television, beginning in the fall of 2010.
How I Met Your Mother joins Lifetime comedy mainstays such as Reba, Still Standing, Will & Grace and Frasier. So far in 2008, Reba ranks #1 in cable comedies among W18+ and W25-54 in the Monday-Friday, 8-9PM (ET/PT) time period.
Both Lifetime and Twentieth Television declined comment on the financial terms of the deal, but sources said the sitcom fetched around $725,000 per episode in a highly competitive bidding situation that included at least six interested cable nets, including TBS, ABC Family and FX. The deal will be a four-year deal and could add on a year each time it gets renewed on CBS. The deal can reach as high as eight years. Lifetime's deal is the second biggest license fee ever by a cable network for a sitcom in the first cycle, beaten only by the near $800,000 an episode that FX did for Warner Bros. Domestic's Two and a Half Men. Lifetime can also reportedly air two episodes a week by early next year before it can be stripped for daily play in fall 2010.
Last week, Twentieth TV scored deals with the Fox-owned TV stations in N.Y. (WNYW), L.A. (KTTV) and Chicago (WFLD) for reruns of How I Met Your Mother for local station play starting in fall 2010. Stations in five other major markets, including CBS-owned outlets in Philadelphia (WPSG) and Dallas (KXTA) bought the series. WLVI Boston, KQCA Sacramento, and Seattle's KCPQ/KMYQ round out the additional five.
Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan, How I Met Your Mother debuted on CBS in 2005 and currently airs Mondays at 8:30PM (ET/PT) on CBS in its fourth season.
In other Lifetime news, just a reminder that original sitcom Rita Rocks launches with five new episodes airing in a one week strip, beginning Monday, October 20, through Friday, October 24, at 8:30PM (ET/PT), following Reba repeats. Then starting Tuesday, October 28, Rita Rocks will air regularly Tuesdays at 8:30PM (ET/PT). Also, starting Monday, October 5, The Nanny will return to weekdays at 8-9am replacing a Desperate Housewives airing. The Nanny had been airing only weeknights at 2am and will still retain that slot. Both The Golden Girls and The Nanny will be expiring from Lifetime in early 2009, so Lifetime will have some slots to fill. We'll let you know what happens.

Tonight it is the season premieres of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy on ABC. I have watched both premieres already and both are very good, especially the two-hour Grey's Anatomy premiere. On Ugly Betty, a month has passed and Betty has made her choice. When she returns, she finds out what happened to Mode and Daniel. Meanwhile, Betty's dad is now working at a local hamburger place...where Betty's high school bully Kimberly (Lindsay Lohan) is the manager. Very fun scenes with Betty and Kimberly. And Hilda's romance with Coach Diaz continues, despite his marriage. Without giving anything away, the premiere is funny and it's a fresh start with lots of changes. The move to New York in production has paid off!
As for Grey's Anatomy, the premiere is fantastic. It also has change. It seems many ABC shows this fall has changes, and it is for the good. A freak fall ice storm has hit Seattle and Seattle Grace Hospital has moved out of the top 5 in the rankings of best teaching skills. Chief Webber has to make changes and decisions to get the hospital back to its credibility. Making quite the entrance in this episode is the very talented Kevin McKidd, who plays General Hunt, a doctor in the military. He has excellent scenes with Cristina...and steamy ones. There are a few dream sequences, some shocking and some touching...not giving it away though. Also, I won't give it away, but the keyword for the episode is "icicle." It's a premiere you will want to watch for sure.
I have seen many of the premieres for ABC, so check my thoughts on them if you want to read it. More is on the way, so keep checking back.

Nick at Nite September 2008; WGN Changes; Tulsa Gets RTN This Fall; Calling Bob Newhart Fans!

We finally can release the Nick at Nite September 2008 highlights! We knew the details more than two weeks ago, but finally some of the details finally got confirmed. There will be changes to the regular schedule once again...but there are plenty of highlights, including "plenty" of Benny! Grandparent's Day may be less than a week away, but that doesn't mean you can't spend this Labor Day with the mother of all annoying grandmothers. Join Nick at Nite for a full night of George Lopez episodes featuring your favorite Benny episodes...it will be plenty of Benny indeed! The Plenty of Benny marathon airs from 9pm-4am on Labor Day (September 1).
Then it's time to go back to the gym and get ready for the original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie, but first spend an hour of physical activity with your favorite Nick at Nite sitcoms leading up to the movie ... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement! Let's Get Physical Week airs Sunday, Sept. 7 through Thursday, Sept. 11 from 9-10pm each night.
After that week-long stunt, Nick at Nite and Nickelodeon invite you for the world premiere of original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie on Friday, September 12 at 8pm. The movie stars Nathan Kress (Nick's iCarly), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), and Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy). Dave Stewie was America's hope for the Gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics until he ran face first into the vault. His failure made him a national joke, and he quickly faded into obscurity. Stewie rebuilt his life from the ashes of humiliation to become a gym teacher, but his Olympic competitiveness never left him. Let’s just say that NASA scientists take their job less seriously than Dave takes his job of molding the physical fitness of young people. So when the President announces a national gym class fitness competition, Dave knows that this is his opportunity to redeem himself by leading his class of athletes to triumph.
Launching September 15 on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite is My Family's Got GUTS. They will air two 10-episode tournaments. My Family's Got GUTS is an extreme sports competition series that brings families together where every member of the team -- from the smallest to the strongest -- plays a vital role and works together to complete each challenge. Each episode will feature a host (Ben Lyons), and three teams of four players (two adults and two kids) who gather in the Extreme Arena to compete against each other in four rounds of events inspired by today's extreme sports.
Coming Sunday, October 5 on Nick at Nite it is the The Worldwide Fido Awards. More on that soon.
View the full Nick at Nite September 2008 highlights.

Well we gave you all not one but two updates on WGN America's fall schedule already...and now here comes update three. Just a few edits, but they are good ones. Starting September 8, weekdays at 4pm ET will now be Becker instead of a full-hour of Funniest Pets & People. Funniest Pets & People will still air at 4:30pm ET, though. Then on Sundays starting Sept. 14 from 5-6pm ET will now be Coach instead of the previously scheduled Funniest Pets & People. Coach will sitll air Saturdays 7-8pm ET later in the fall starting October 4...so good news for Coach fans. Don't forget the Coach marathon tonight and tomorrow! The other changes are minor and involves a few weekend shifting of Scrubs, Reno 911! and Corner Gas, not big deals.
I really advise you all to see the full updated WGN America Fall 2008 line-up.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that Allbritton Communications will add a fourth RTN affiliate, now in Tulsa, OK. The new affiliate will launch this fall on a digital stream of KTUL-TV, the local ABC affiliate. I told you the new affiliate announcements will start to get rolling now!

Calling all Bob Newhart fans! You can find a "Behind the Scenes" of Bob's new show called The Challenge starring Bob Newhart now online at Vimeo! Also, check out Lloyd Garver's blog entry at Strike.TV. The Challenge will be featured when their first slate is released on September 8. So, sign up at Strike.TV to be kept in the loop!

TBS Fall 2008 Line-Up; RTN's New Slogan

A little over a month ago we told you Married...with Children is coming to TBS this September airing weekdays from 6-7am and sometimes between 4-6am as well. TBS only has rights to air the show between 2-7am, so they cannot give it a better slot, unfortunately. However, we also stated Spike TV has gotten the rights from 7am-2am starting September as well. We gave you two updates on that, one for the original story and the other with the schedules times. We will have more on Spike TV's part tomorrow in our Spike TV Fall schedule. But sticking with TBS, they are not really making any changes this fall. For Labor Day weekend they will have two marathons...on Sunday, August 31 from 8am-1pm they will showcase the hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for a marathon leading into their Sunday MLB Baseball Game of the Week. Then on Labor Day itself, (Monday, Sept. 1), TBS will showcase the number one sitcom of all-time for basic cable Tyler Perry's House of Payne with a marathon from 10am-8pm, leading into the Family Guy Monday block. They will air the premiere episode of TNT's original drama Raising the Bar on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 11pm following two episodes of The Office. We will have more on TNT's fall line-up in the coming days. Then Tuesdays at 11pm, Frank TV is back with a second season as the late night comedy is back starting Sept. 9! Teen drama Dawson's Creek had been airing on some early morning slots on some days, and its last airing will be late Monday, Sept. 8 at 4:30am ET, as it is no longer scheduled in any other slot through the end of October, so I am not 100% sure, but it seems it might have expired.
Effective Monday, Sept. 15 Married...with Children joins the TBS morning line-up airing weekdays at 6:00am & 6:30am ET. The MLB Playoffs start on TBS on Wednesday, Oct. 1 airing in the afternoon and primetime, so the morning/early afternoon lineup will be a bit altered each day...so when the playoffs are on, you'll have to check your listings to see when the TBS sitcoms are airing. But starting Monday, Sept. 29, TBS will swap Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond's slot. So, Seinfeld will move from 5-6pm to 7-8pm, while Raymond goes from 6:30-8pm to 5-6:30pm, which means Friends is now 6:30pm starting Sept. 29. Also, the primetime blocks are altered a tad as well. Starting Monday, Oct. 20 everything will be back to normal as the MLB Playoffs are over and Fox will do the MLB World Series.
Check out the full TBS Fall 2008 line-up in a list form, and you can also discuss what you think.

Today RTN (Retro Television Network) announced its new slogan "Classic Television Hits All Day, Live Talk all Night." According to RTN spokesman Neal Ardman, RTN will begin to phase out paid programming over the next few months. The goal, said Ardman, is to provide the viewer with compelling programming 24 hours a day. RTN will begin inserting live news, general entertainment, and sports talk shows in the late night and overnight hours beginning in September. Not to worry, Classic TV will still air in the mornings, afternoons, evening and primetime!
Robin Leach has been tapped to produce and host one such, as yet unnamed, show to be produced LIVE in Las Vegas. Another show, Unreliable Sources, a news/talk show with viewer calls, already airs in over 30 markets and is produced at the RTN studios.
RTN is currently sold in 72 markets and last week went on the air in Washington, D.C. on WJLA-DT. RTN is the only network that is customized for each market.

Nick at Nite August 2008 Sees Wedding Themed Week; Remembering I Dream of Jeannie Director Claudio Guzman

This August on Nick at Nite will see no schedules changes, as of now. However, they do have a week-long stunt in the 9pm hour for Aug. 3-7! It's "Wedding Unveiled Week" on Nick at Nite from Sunday, August 3 through Thursday, August 7 each night in the 9pm ET/PT hour! Nothing brings a family together like a wedding. Nick at Nite invites viewers to a week of matrimony madness with your favorite Nick at Nite families. So get ready to celebrate with singing preachers and bad wedding singers as Nick at Nite lets you tie the knot from the comfort of your own couch, without all the stress ... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement! See Mother Winslow get married to Fletcher on Family Matters and George Lopez renewing his vows with Angie...or is he?
For episode details and more on Nick at Nite August 2008, head on over to our Nick at Nite August 2008 thread.

We have another death to report. Claudio Guzman, director and producer of the '60s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie passed away July 12 of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was the main director of the Barba Eden-Larry Hagman sitcom I Dream of Jeannie and also served as producer for that NBC series. He helped create Villa Alegre, a half-hour show in the tradition of Sesame Street.
In a career that spanned four decades, Guzman directed almost 30 TV shows, including several episodes of The Patty Duke Show in the mid-1960s and Harper Valley P.T.A. in 1981, reuniting him with Barbara Eden. His other directorial work included an episode or two of The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Partridge Family, The Fugitive, Love on a Rooftop, The Flying Nun, The Good Life, California Fever and Here's Boomer.
He was also an art director for many series such as The Lucy Show, Date with the Angels, The Real McCoys, Where's Raymond, December Bride, and Make Room for Daddy.
He was nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy for Villa Alegre and once for a Primetime Emmy for art direction on Where's Raymond?
Mr. Guzman will be missed. He was 80.

ION August 2008; Slight Nick at Nite Change; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Cable Day 4

We have an action packed Friday today. So much stuff we couldn't fit everything we planned. So some of it will spill into next week.
ION Television has announced its August 2008 higlights. There really are no changes to the regular line-up, but the RHI block is getting a bit of a twist. RHI programming airs Fri-Sun from 7-11pm, but now Fridays they will show Flash Gordon: The Series. That was a 2007 Sci-Fi Channel series produced by RHI and now ION will air the reruns to all 22 episodes airing in the 7pm hour on Fridays. ION will pair Flash Gordon: The Series with the 2000 mini-series The 10th Kingdom broken down into hour episodes airing in the 8pm hour on Fridays. I believe originally it was like 9 parts.
As far as the regular schedule Mon-Thurs, there are no changes and the line-up will remain Hangin 'with Mr. Cooper, Steve Harvey Show, Family Feud, Quantum Leap, The Dead Zone and ER from 5-11pm. The Drew Carey Show will get two filler airings on Thursdays at 10:30pm on Aug. 21 and Aug. 28 following the Total Theatre Movie. The sitcom is still slated to return regularly this September. August Total Theatre Thursday movies are Clear and Present Danger, Elvis: That's The Way It Is, Superman II, and Point of No Return.
And the RHI movies and mini-series for August include Rear Window, Noah's Ark, and more.
Check our our ION August 2008 highlights for complete details!

Yet more changes are happening on Nick at Nite. Starting Monday (July 14), Mon-Thurs 11:30pm will now be Family Matters, replacing Fresh Prince. So Family Matters will air for a full hour at 11pm now! It will also still air at 8:30pm Mon-Thurs. However, the 4-5am Mon-Thurs encores of Family Matters will be replaced by a third late night hour of Fresh Prince. So Fresh Prince will air from 2-5am Mon-Thurs. Also, Fridays at 12:30am Family Matters will now air for the full hour at 12am, replacing a half-hour Fresh Prince. It is great that the Winslows and the Urkeman have done so well already on Nick at Nite!
Check out the full schedule starting July 14.

Well it is the final day of the cable portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. The broadcast networks will start going next week and we will have updates from that, too, of course. Here is the schedule for the broadcast portion:
July 12-13: PBS; July 14: Fox; July 15: Fox/TCA; July 16-17: ABC; July 18: CBS; July 19: CBS/CW/Showtime/TCA Awards; July 20: NBC/TCA (possible set visits); July 21: NBC; July 22: TCA Set Visits
I don't think we will cover PBS, unless it is something very noteworthy. Remember cable stations that are owned by a broadcast channel (ABC: ABC Family, NBC: Sci-Fi, etc) will be also presenting during the broadcast portion of the press tour, so we will cover that as well.
Anyway, here is what happened today on the last day of the cable portion:

Turner Broadcasting kicked off the day. CNN was up first and they discussed their coverage plans for the 2008 election. The Best Political Team on Television discusses the 2008 presidential election and CNN's unrivaled coverage, with a behind-the-scenes preview of the summer conventions and the fall election. CNN also has a special coming July 23-24 titled CNN Presents Black in America. Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., CNN's Black in America series continues with two groundbreaking documentaries, Black Men and Black Women & Family, as well as a topical special co-produced with Essence magazine.
Cartoon Network was touting its original animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars. From creator George Lucas, Star Wars: The Clone Wars combines the scope of the legendary Star Wars saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation.
TNT has two new dramas coming. The first one premieres September 1 at 10pm, Raising the Bar. This series follows the lives and cases of young attorneys who have been friends since law school but are now on opposing sides as defense and prosecution. Raising The Bar comes to TNT from ABC Studios and Steven Bochco. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Jane Kaczmarek, and Gloria Reuben star. Then in December, they will launch Leverage. This series follows a team of thieves, hackers and grifters who act as modern-day Robin Hoods, taking revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize others. Leverage comes to TNT from Electric Entertainment. Among off-network programming, Cold Case will be available to air five-days-a-week this October.
TBS will launch a second season of late night comedy Frank TV this October. This sketch comedy features Frank Caliendo, famous for his pitch-perfect takes on such personalitiesas John Madden, Dr. Phil, President Bush and Former President Clinton. When it debuted in November 2007, Frank TV delivered ad-supported cable's biggest young adult audience ever for a late-night series launch. Among off-network programming, Married...with Children joins the early morning line-up this September.

Then Fox Reality Channel stepped up and announced its August 2 premiere of Long Way Down, a ten-episode series. It features two close friends, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, on the ultimate motorcycle trip through distant lands, unique cultures and some of the most impressive natural wonders in the world, while raising over $1 million for charities including UNICEF, Riders for Health, and CHAS (Children's Hospice Association Scotland).

Starz was giving press about its new buzz filled drama Crash coming in October. Dennis Hopper stars. Set in Los Angeles, Crash explores the complexities of social tolerance in contemporary America by digging into the meaning of what it takes to reach the American dream. Characters will intertwine and crash into each other, coming face to face with the daily hurdles and obstacles that threaten to get in the way of achieving that dream. Based on the movie by the same name.

Then it was Lifetime's turn. They have announced a lot of original programming. How to Look Good Naked returns July 22 with its second season with Carson Kressley. As we mentioned before, Lifetime will have its own original sitcom to be paired with Reba reruns this Fall called Rita Rocks. Overworked wife and mother Rita is in the middle of a full-blown identity crisis. Trying to maintain romance with her husband Jay, juggling the demands of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon and disciplining her defiant, teenage daughter Hallie, Rita is at her wit's end. In search of "youthful" Rita, she dusts off her old guitar and forms a garage band with her nosy postal carrier Patty and unemployed neighbor Owen. Stars include Nicole Sullivan, Richard Ruccolo and Tisha Campbell—Martin. They will also have original movies, of course. The movie Coco Chanel premieres September 13. Coco Chanel follows the rags—to-riches story of influential and iconic French designer Coco Chanel from her humble beginnings in an orphanage outside Paris, through her meteoric rise to fame and success, revealing a fiery and ambitious woman and the significant relationships, both familial and romantic, that shaped and inspired her success. Stars Shirley MacLaine. Then they have Living Proof, Lifetime Television's Marquee Original Movie starring Harry Connick, Jr., Amanda Bynes, Angie Harmon, Swoosie Kurtz, Bernadette Peters, Jennifer Coolidge, Regina King, Tammy Blanchard, John Benjamin Hickey, Paula Cale and Trudie Styler. Living Proof will premiere in October 2008 on Lifetime Television, as part of the Network's Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is the moving true story of Dr. Dennis Slamon, the UCLA doctor who developed the revolutionary breast cancer drug, Herceptin, and his relentless battle to keep the drug trials afloat and save the lives of thousands of women. But before those two moves this Fall, they have a few movies coming in August as well! Ashley Benson and Jenna Dewan star in Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal, Valerie Bertinelli and Joanna Levesque star in True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet and Judy Reyes, A Martinez and Hector Bustamante star in Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story.

Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Cable Day 2; More Family Matters on Nick at Nite

It is day two of the cable portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour and the news keeps coming! AMC is promoting the second season of the hit drama Mad Men, while WE tv is promoting its original series The Locator, premiering Sept. 6. Thousands of people are in desperate need to find someone from their past. For the past 18 years, Troy Dunn has assisted over 40,000 people in doing just that. WE tv's powerful original series follows Troy on intense and emotionally-charged journeys to reunite "half the world with the other half" and bring closure to those seeking it.
Among off-network programming, WE tv has acquired: The Golden Girls (March 2009), Ghost Whisperer (Fall 2009) and the last three seasons of Girlfriends (TBD date).

Moving on to the MTV Networks, Comedy Central is launching a new version of The Gong Show starring Dave Attell and a new comedy starring David Alan Grier titled Chocolate News.
Gone Country returns to CMT featuring more antics from an eclectic cast of mainstream celebrities who move to Nashville with the hopes of writing and recording a country hit, under the guidance of host John Rich. The series returns in August. Also in August, popular cast favorites from season one of Gone Country return for a new foray into country living in Outsiders' Inn. Maureen McCormick is among the celebs returning.
TV Land is touting its original series Family Foreman, launching July 16. This six episode series gives viewers an intimate look at George Foreman, the former heavyweight boxing champ who reinvented himself as a successful businessman and pitchman. Viewers will get a rare glimpse into his home life as a minister and father of ten children, five of whom are also named George Edward Foreman.
Off-network wise, TV Land will add Scrubs, sharing it with sister station Comedy Central, this September, while also returning The Cosby Show.
VH-1 has two all-new series in the works starring celebs. Vivica A. Fox, actress, producer and fashion luminary, is bringing her celebrity style to a new competition show ripped from the pages of fashion magazines. This new series searches for the next great celebrity stylist who has what it takes to become the stylist to the stars through their ability to create a chic masterpiece using the three key elements of fashion - hair, make-up and wardrobe. The series is called Glam God and will be hosted by Fox herself. VH1 is also going to air a show called The Cho Show. This series follows the irrepressible Margaret Cho and her eccentric entourage as she fights to be herself in an industry that in the past wanted her to be something other than herself.
Meanwhile, MTV is promoting its new series From Gs to Gents, which launches next Tuesday. From executive producer Jamie Foxx, this series showcases a group of guys competing to become gentlemen.

National Geographic Channel will have an "Expedition Week" in November. This first annual Expedition Week embarks on seven straight nights of daring missions, from the ancient pyramids to the ocean depths, and from lost cities to outer space with the latest generation of intrepid explorers. Premieres include: Unlocking the Great Pyramid, Live from the Moon, Shipwreck! Captain Kidd, The Real George Washington, Explorer: Lost City of the Amazon, Egypt Unwrapped, and Herod's Lost Tomb.
But before that, in September Nat Geo will premiere two series, one is a returning series. Dogtown returns for another season, but this time they will be saving the Michael Vick dogs! Also, they will premiere World's Toughest Fixes. This new series takes viewers around the world and inside some of the most daunting repair jobs imaginable.

Moving on to the A&E Networks...first up is A&E itself. A&E is launching a new drama next Tuesday titled The Cleaner. Inspired by the true story of a real life "extreme interventionist," Benjamin Bratt stars as William "The Cleaner" Banks who, after hitting rock-bottom from his own addictions after the birth of his daughter, strikes a tentative deal with God.
Biography Channel (aka Bio) announced the pickup of Shatner's Raw Nerve, an offbeat celebrity interview series hosted by Boston Legal and Star Trek star William Shatner. It will premiere August 19 at 10pm. Among his guests will be ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy, Valerie Bertinelli, Jon Voight, Judge Judy, Jenna Jameson and Kelsey Grammer. Also in development at Bio are The Chris Isaak Hour (Isaak talking to music celebs), Female Forces (a female version of Cops), Why I Ran (police chases).
History will have two series coming in the fourth quarter. Sandhogs and Einstein. Working in extremely hazardous conditions, Sandhogs toil underneath the streets just as they have for the past 150 years. Having built nearly every underground project in New York City, they are an instrumental part of the development of the city. This new "American Original" series Sandhogs puts the spotlight on a world rarely seen, but one that is integral to the lifeblood of America's largest city.
Einstein is the extraordinary history of Albert Einstein's quest, lasting two decades, to prove his universe-shattering Theory of General Relativity. Einstein asked the world's astronomers to chase a solar eclipse, and photograph the elusive ripple in space. Eventually, he became a global icon unlike any other before or since. Today, Einstein's ideas continue to push scientists farther, and deeper, into the Universe than even he could have imagined. Filmed in the U.S. and Europe, the special is enriched by interviews with leading physicists, astronomers, astrophysicists, science historians and Einstein scholars.

Nick at Nite has made more overnight changes to its line-up. The changes will occur on weekend late nights. Late Friday nights (early Saturday morning), from 4-5am will be more Fresh Prince replacing The Cosby Show and 5-6am will be more Family Matters replacing Roseanne on this night. On Saturday nights (early sunday morning) Nick at Nite gives us a third hour of Family Matters airing 3-4am replacing an hour of Roseanne. Finally, on Sunday nights (early Mondays) we get an hour of Family Matters airing 2-3am replacing yet another Roseanne hour.
Confused? Then I suggest you head on to our message boards to see how the full line-up will be after these changes. Here is the Family Matters airing scorecard: Sun-Thurs 8:30 & 11pm (encores 4-5am), Fridays 12am & 5-6am, Saturdays 12-1am, 2-3am, & 3-4am, and Sundays 11pm-12am & 2-3am ET/PT. I am still updating the upcoming episodes list for you fans out there, since these changes are hard to follow. The Urkeman is certainly back in style in primetime!

Nick at Nite Overnight Change, 2nd Quarter Ratings, Family Matters Doing Well; Remembering Henry Beckman

Starting Monday (July 7), Nick at Nite will change their overnight schedule a bit. Mon-Thurs nights at 3:00am & 3:30am will now be The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, replacing Cosby Show (Mon/Wed) and Roseanne (Tues/Thurs). Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was already airing at 3:00am & 3:30am on Friday nights, and will continue. Fresh will still also air 2-3am from Mon-Thurs. And Mon-Wed 4:00am & 4:30am will now be encores of the 8:30pm and 11pm Family Matters airings! So yes that means starting next week the 8:30pm and 11pm Family Matters airings will be two new episodes, so the 8:30pm episodes will not be an encore from the previous night's 11pm airing. Tape both now! To see upcoming episodes for Family Matters, I have made a list for you all. Great news! The 4-5am encores will replace Roseanne. Roseanne is still slated to air Thursdays 4-5am and its other slots still. To view the full schedule and to see where everything stands I advise you to view our Nick at Nite July 2008 thread.

Nick at Nite has issued their second quarter ratings. With its strongest showing in more than two years, Nick at Nite is total day's number-one basic cable network with Adults 18-49 (tied with TNT) and ranks second only to sister-channel Nickelodeon among total viewers in the just-completed second quarter 2008 (NMR: 3/31/08-6/29/08). Driven by George Lopez and Home Improvement, Nick at Nite has soared this quarter with high double-digit gains among its A18-49 and total viewer (P2+) audience.
With A18-49 this quarter in total day, Nick at Nite is ranked number one, averaging a 0.6 rating (676,000 viewers) and up 50% over last year. Among total viewers, the network delivered 1.5 million total viewers, up 22%.
Nick at Nite also ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day this quarter. (0.8 rating (426,000 viewers), up 33% over last year). In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating (1.7 million viewers) in W18-49 -- up 40% over last year.
- George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program, and the network has experienced ratings growth each month since the show launched in October 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 rating (773,000 viewers) A18-49 at 10 p.m. this quarter, up 75% over last year's time period. Launch to date, the program has grown 34% in the demo. George Lopez ratings have grown significantly since joining the Nick at Nite schedule in September 2007, and launch to date the show has grown +40%.
- Home Improvement also is a growth engine, averaging a 0.6 rating (683,000 viewers) A18-49 total day rating, and program ratings have grown 20% since it joined Nick at Nite in September 2007. In Prime, Home Improvement ratings are up 33% this quarter vs. last year.
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air continues to earn strong ratings for Nick at Nite. For the quarter, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air averaged a 0.6 rating (716,000 viewers) A18-49 total day rating, up 20% over last year.
- Original programming coming to Nick at Nite this year include the original TV family movie Gym Teacher, premiering Friday, Sept. 12 and starring Christopher Meloni; My Family's Got Guts, a family game show airing Monday, Sept. 15; Worldwide Fido Awards, a canine competition in October. Also coming in 2009 is the hit comedy Everybody Hates Chris, from co-creator and narrator Chris Rock and inspired by his real-life childhood experiences.

Although they haven't released a press release yet, Family Matters has done very well on the network since launching on Sunday. The launch marathon on Sunday from 9pm-4am did pretty well, especially from 10pm-3am, with big growths from the 9pm hour. The marathon delivered a full family audience averaging 1.9 million total viewers.
Then in the first two night in its regular timeslot of 11pm, it did a 0.7 rating in A18-49 on Monday and a 0.6 A18-49 on Tuesday, on par with its top guns George Lopez, Fresh Prince and Home Improvement. The Monday airing was one of the best for Nick at Nite for the night overall, if not the best, in households it did a 1.9 rating (which probably comes out to around 2.5 million viewers)! The 1.9 household rating for Monday's airing also beat the highest rating from the Sunday launch marathon which was a 1.7 household rating at 10:30pm. The Tuesday 11pm airing also did a solid 1.6 household rating. It looks like Urkel is here to stay!

Character actor Henry Beckman died Tuesday, June 17 in Barcelona, Spain. Beckman appeared in hundreds of TV shows, films and commercials in the U.S. and Canada, often playing heavies or roles requiring accents or foreign languages. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he served in the Canadian military during WWII and survived the Normandy invasion.
He guest starred in just about every show during the 1960s including Dennis the Menace, Hennesey, Dr. Kildare, Father of the Bride, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, The Jack Benny Program, The Munsters, Perry Mason, Adam-12, Flying Nun, Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Twilight Zone. He had larger roles as George Anderson on Peyton Place and Colonel Harridan in McHale's Navy. He was also known for his recurring role as Captain Clancy in Here Come the Brides.
Beckman later appeared in shows including The Rockford Files, Bonanza, Here's Lucy, Mannix, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, Ironside, Barney Miller, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, Fantasy Island, Quincy ME, Check It Out, MacGyver, The Commish, Columbo, and MANY more. More recently, he played Detective Briggs on The X-Files and on the syndicated series Cold Squad.
You all have seen him in something probably. What a great resume! He will be missed. He was 86.

Nick at Nite July 2008 Highlights; TV Land Orders 2nd Season for She's Got The Look; AmericanLife TV Honors George Carlin

For Nick at Nite in July, they are launching Family Matters this week on the regular schedule, as you all know. I told you the changes being made to the schedule last week, as Fresh Prince won't be available to air on weekends anymore. Now we have the full stunt highlights for Nick at Nite July. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. Nick at Nite celebrates five nights of the battle of the sexes, family style in a "Gender Clash"... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement the week of July 13-17, 9-10pm each night.
As we mentioned previously, Nick at Nite will premiere The N's new series Queen Bees and The N's Student Body with two simulcast airings on Friday, July 11 at 9pm and 10pm.
For the full regular schedule and details on the Nick at Nite July 2008 stunts, head on over to our Nick at Nite July 2008 thread.

Following impressive ratings gains and steady growth in popularity, TV Land has announced today that it has renewed its original reality series She's Got The Look for a second season. Emmy Award-Winner Allison Grodner will return as executive producer.
Premiering in 2009, the second season of She's Got The Look will expand from six episodes to eight and will again set out to discover a sophisticated, beautiful and confident woman 35 or older destined for supermodel stardom.
Season one of She's Got The Look has been averaging 633,000 total viewers, an increase of 17% versus channel total day average with a median age of 46. Among Adults 25-54, it has been posting a 0.4 rating (409,000 viewers), up 63% in both rating and viewers over channel total day average. Among Adults 40-54 it is posting a 0.5 rating (262,000 viewers), up 33% in rating and 34% in viewers.
The first season finale airs Wednesday, July 9 at 10:00PM on TV Land.

AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, will air a special tribute to legendary comedian, George Carlin on Monday, July 7, 2008 at 8:00pm ET and 10:00pm PT. The special includes footage from George Carlins' early days on the hit show, Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour.
For a few minutes each week George had the stage to himself, sharing with the audience the humor he found in every day words and situations.
The special consists entirely of his segments from the series with only an introductory voice over. One of these segments, done over 30 years ago, now has a special meaning:
"In reviewing the shows" said Mark Ringwald, VP of Programming for ALN, "one of the segments contained a five minutes routine of his on death and comedians (when comedians do well, they "kill," when they do poorly, they "die"). It was so funny and yet now so poignant that we felt it would be fitting conclusion to the special."
"These were some of his funniest routines and since it was on Tony Orlando its all G rated and so it's a perfect way for the entire family to enjoy his unique sense of humor."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maverick and Bret Maverick Reruns to Encore Westerns; Nick at Nite Latin America Adds New Shows and Look

The Encore Westerns channel will be adding the classic TV western Maverick to its line-up beginning July 4 with a 12-hour marathon beginning at noon – airs each hour, on the hour. The series ran from 1957-62 starring the legendary James Garner, Jack Kelly, and Roger Moore. Maverick will then join the Classic TV Westerns blocks on Encore Westerns beginning on Monday, July 7 that includes The Gene Autry Show, Bat Masterson, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Cimarron Strip, and the 1998 Magnificent Seven. Encore Westerns had aired other TV westerns in the past such as the early seasons of Gunsmoke (Marshal Dillon) and Alias Smith & Jones.
Maverick will air weeknights at 6:00 p.m. ET and Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. ET beginning July 7.
Then coming in August, Encore Westerns will add the short lived series Bret Maverick (1981-82) to Saturdays at 11:35am beginning August 2 replacing Cimarron Strip. We will have more on that when available, but Bret Maverick has the return of James Garner as Maverick. Returning to the role that made him famous, James Garner is once again Bret Maverick who has decided to settle down in the town of Sweetwater, AZ. Now Maverick must learn to get along as the Wild West is tamed by modern civilization.
Discuss the addition of Maverick and the revival series Bret Maverick on our westerns message board where you can also find all the airtimes of the TV westerns on Encore Westerns. Saddle up, pardners!

It's been a few years since the launch of Nick at Nite Latin America, and we brought that news to back then, now they have announced a new look with some new shows as well. They (Nickelodeon Latin America) are launching a refreshed image campaign for the family-programming block Nick at Nite Latin America, complete with new promos, IDs, fillers, bumpers and classic series.
The logo for Nick at Nite Latin America has been changed to orange to complement Nickelodeon's overall look and feel, just like how it is in the U.S. now. The block also features new on-air elements such as IDs, fillers, bumpers and menus, with a complete overhaul of all current promos and creative graphics. The changes are also reflected on Nick at Nite Latin America's section within the Nickelodeon Latin America website.
Along with the revamped image, Nick at Nite Latin America will feature new series, including Kenan and Kel, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Get Smart...just in time for the new movie. Get Smart will get a weekend marathon this weekend on Nick at Nite Latin America. Too bad no one in the United States is doing this! These join classic series already airing in the block such as Clarissa Explains It All, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Growing Pains, The Munsters, The Addams Family, and ALF.
These shows will only available to the Latin American countries and not in the U.S., I remind you.

Nick at Nite June 2008: At Last Family Matters Is Coming; Remembering Earle H. Hagen

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Family Matters is launching June 29 on Nick at Nite! The show will launch on Sunday, June 29 with a seven-hour marathon from 9pm-4am ET/PT with some famous episodes such as "Rachel's Place" (where Urkel by mistake causes a fire at Leroys, but because of that Rachel gets her own restaurant), "The Crash Course" (where Eddie crashes the station wagon into the living room), "Life of the Party" (where Urkel does his famous Do the Urkel dance on rooftop party). Those are just some of the memorable episodes you will see! The marathon seems to focus on seasons two and three. For the marathon episodes, click on the link below.
Family Matters will then air regularly, Sunday through Thursday at 8:30 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. and Friday & Saturday at 12 a.m. (all times ET/PT) starting Monday, June 30 on Nick at Nite!
But before that, sit dad down on the couch this Father's Day as George Lopez plays host to a nightlong marathon honoring our favorite Nick at Nite fathers...Tim, George and Philip. Tune in Father's Day evening (Sunday, June 15) starting at 9pm!
To see the complete Nick at Nite June 2008 schedule and higlights, including the episodes for the Father's Day stunt and Family Matters marathon, click HERE! "As days go by, it's the bigger love of the family."

Earle H. Hagen, the Emmy Award-winning television composer who wrote the memorable theme music for The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy and other classic TV programs, has died. He died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA with wife, Laura at his side. He had been ill for several months.
Mr. Hagen had been writing TV themes since 1953. He was a fixture of TV hits in the '60s writing TV themes for many popular series. In addition to the ones he was really famous for, he wrote the themes for Make Room for Daddy, Dobie Gillis, That Girl, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry RFD, The Mod Squad, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, The New Perry Mason, Eight is Enough and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
He won an Emmy in 1968 for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Compositionfor I Spy. But it was The Andy Griffith Show theme song that people most remember him for. In fact, the famous whistling is done by Mr. Hagen himself! So you can hear him in each episodes before it starts.
Mr. Hagen will certainly be missed as his TV theme songs will live on forever. He was 88.

Nick at Nite May 2008 Highlights; Classic Cannell Dramas Come to iTunes; Ghost Whisperer Officially Announced for ION in 2009

This May Nick at Nite will give viewers a few special marathons and the premiere of the classic '80s movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial! Nick at Nite is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with a 7 hour George Lopez marathon from 9pm-4am on Monday, May 5, 2008. They are calling it Cinco De Lopez!
This Mother's Day, Constance Marie from George Lopez will host Nick at Nite's "Hot Mother's Nite" honoring the hot sexy moms of television. Throughout the night, Constance will be treated to some poolside pampering and primping for all her hard work being a Mom on Nick at Nite. The block will be from 9pm-1am and feature episodes of Jill from Home Improvement, Angie & Benny from George Lopez and Vivian & Will's mom on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air!
Then on Friday, May 16 from 8pm-10:30pm, an extra-terrestrial is accidentally left behind on Earth and is befriended by a young boy and his brother and sister on the Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite premiere of the classic '80s movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial! As Elliot attempts to help his extra-terrestrial companion contact his home planet so that he might be rescued, the children must elude scientists and government agents determined to apprehend the alien for their own purposes...which results in an adventure greater than any of them could have imagined. Premieres on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite! The movie premieres on sister station TV Land this Friday (May 2).
Finally, this Memorial Day and the days after, Nick at Nite serves up a seven day marathon chock full of tools and fools of Home Improvement! 10pm-6am each night from Monday, May 26 to Sunday, June 1!
Still no word on Family Matters, but a good guess would be June or July. We'll let you know when we do. Anyway, to discuss Nick at Nite May 2008 and to view the full highlights with episode info for the stunts, click HERE!

Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. and New Video announced that top series from the vast Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. library of groundbreaking television drama programs are now available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store.
Effective yesterday, iTunes customers are now able to purchase compelling character-driven series such as 21 Jump Street, Hunter, Silk Stalkings, The Greatest American Hero and Wiseguy, with other titles to be added in the coming weeks.
Individual episodes are available for purchase at $1.99, and full season passes of each series are available at a discount. New Video and Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. look forward to expanding their partnership to make more quality Cannell programming available in digital format on iTunes.
Two more popular series, The Commish and Renegade will also be available on iTunes in the coming months.
To view the full press release and to discuss this news, click HERE!

We gave you the news the other day that ION Television has gotten broadcast rerun rights to Criminal Minds for Fall 2009 and also mentioned that Ghost Whisperer was also coming. Today ION made it official!
ION Television officially today announced it has entered into a content agreement with CBS Television Distribution for the broadcast syndication rights to the hit television series, Ghost Whisperer. ION Television will debut this popular show in primetime, beginning in 2009. The deal continues the network's positioning momentum as a general entertainment destination.
The full press release is available HERE.
We will have more on ION's future on Thursday when they have their annual upfront presentation. I am told more programming will be announced and we hope to have an interview with them shortly after upfront.
Come back tomorrow for full details on Criminal Minds coming to A&E for cable reruns next month. We also hinted on that the other day with the ION news, but now we have the official information!

All That Joins The N; ION Television Schedule Change for Late March

We have just gotten word from The N that they are making a schedule change and will add the Nickelodeon sketch comedy All That to its line-up starting Wednesday (March 12)! In addition, Saved by the Bell: The College Years is in Saved by the Bell's slots until its 18 episodes finish. The series started on March 3 and will conclude on March 13 and then Saved by the Bell episodes return to the rotation.
All That will air weekdays at 7:00am, 3:00pm, & 3:30pm and weekends at 9:00am, 9:30am, 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET/PT. They will start with the episodes #338 and #339, so season three episodes.
There are other minor schedule changes and time shifts, such as Saved by the Bell moving to 4-6pm rather than 6-7pm and 9-10pm. Kenan & Kel follows from 6-8pm and Fresh Prince is in primetime from 8-10pm. One on One follows from 10pm-12am. Then from 12am-2am we get a different show each day. Moesha follows from 2-4am. So a lot of 4 in a row of episodes now. Degrassi is now ruling Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but has disappeared Mon-Thurs. Growing Pains fans will be happy that the show will remain at 12 noon and 12:30pm, while A Different World is still missing.
To see the full schedule, click HERE...you can also discuss these changes and the addition of All That!

We don't have ION Television's April line-up yet, but we might get a preview of what is to come starting March 29. As you all know Baywatch is airing Mon-Thurs at 10pm since last Monday, but ION looks like will pull it from that slot in a few weeks. It is slated to move to Saturdays at 6PM starting Saturday, March 29, replacing 48 Hours (which will remain Sundays at 6PM). Starting Monday, March 31 at 10:00pm and 10:30pm The Drew Carey Show is slated to air for another hour replacing Baywatch. Now we don't know anything beyond that yet, since April is not released yet. I don't think ION will air Drew from 9-11pm for long, so maybe something else is coming? Stay tuned, as soon as we get the April schedule, we will bring it to you! And Baywatch fans watch the show the next few weeks at 10pm so maybe ION can reconsider this.

Day 94: WGA's Strike; New Sitcom Pick-Ups; Nick at Nite Overnight Changes

Today is the 94th day of the strike. No news to report, but there are some sitcom news to report.
MyNetworkTV has ordered 13 episodes of C To The B Productions and Qtopia Entertainment's new half-hour comedy, Under One Roof. Starring Flavor Flav, the series is scheduled to debut in the Spring of 2008.
Flav plays Calvster Hill, an ex-convict that moves in with his wealthy, conservative brother, Walter (Kelly Perine). Calvster subsequently turns the Hill family's life upside down, parading his old prison cronies through the house; teaching his nephew Walter Jr. to be a gangsta rapper; and butting heads with Walter's snooty wife, Ashley. The series is currently in production in Toronto, Canada and licensed by C To The B Productions and Qtopia Entertainment to MyNetworkTV.
Since the series is written by Canadian writers, this show will have no effect from the strike.
Meanwhile, NBC has announced a series pickup of the American adaptation of the Australian hit comedy series Kath & Kim, starring Molly Shannon (NBC's Saturday Night Live) and Selma Blair (Legally Blonde).
6 episodes have been picked-up, but not word when it could start airing. I would guess the fall. It is a series adapted from Australia's hit comedy of the same title, is a look into the minutiae of middle-class suburbia that digs deep into the daily lives of Kath, a cheerful, forty-something divorcee, and her self-absorbed daughter, Kim. It's the love and hate, push and pull, of the dysfunctional relationship only a mother and daughter could share.

It finally looks like the every night marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite in the late nights could be gone...at least for this week. Last night Full House aired from 2-6am, and it appears at least for this week, there will be no Fresh in the overnights. In addition to Full House on Tuesday night, we get Roseanne tonight from 2-5:30am, The Cosby Show on Thursday night from 2-6am, more Full House on Friday night from 3-6am, more Roseanne on Saturday night from 2-6am, and more The Cosby Show on Sunday night from 1:30am-6am.
I will let you know as soon as I do what will happen next week...but my guess is it will be the same as this week, with Fresh Prince on Monday nights from 2-6am. No schedule changes will be made from 9pm-2am.

Day 86: WGA's Strike; NATPE Notes; Nick at Nite February 2008 Highlights

It is day 86 of the strike. I wish we could 86 this strike for god's sake! Anyway, the WGA has granted permission for the Grammys to go on with its broadcast on CBS. The Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) has agreed to grant an interim agreement for this year's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. This will allow for written material for the show to be covered under a Guild contract.
Meanwhile, CBS has ordered two more editions of Survivor to be broadcast during the 2008-2009 season. These will mark the 17th and 18th editions of television's longest-running hit reality competition series.
Additionally, Jeff Probst has signed a new agreement to continue as host.

As we all know, NATPE is here. This of course is the National Association of Television Program Executives conference in Las Vegas where syndication deals are made. The conference is from Jan. 28-31, so it started yesterday. ION made the biggest news yesterday as they acquired Baywatch, but there were much more dealings. I'll recap the biggest news makers from yesterday and today right now:
- At a surprise NATPE press conference in Las Vegas today, one of America's most beloved stars, Marie Osmond, announced her latest venture as host of a new entertainment/lifestyle talk show, Marie. Program Partners will offer the hour-long television series in syndication beginning in fall 2009.
- Syndicated daytime game show Crosswords, from Merv Griffin Entertainment and distributor Program Partners, has been renewed for season two in 40 of the top 50US markets, despite not so strong ratings this season. Twentieth Television's The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet received a pickup for a sophomore season as well.
- On the heels of the ratings success of MGM and Reveille's hit reality series American Gladiators on NBC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.'s (MGM) domestic television distribution operation is bringing Gladiators 2000, the kids competition series starring a young Ryan Seacrest in off-network syndication.
Gladiators 2000 is a half-hour series, which was shot in the 90's as a companion to the original American Gladiators. In the series, teens compete in games that challenge their physical abilities as well as their knowledge of nutrition, fitness and the human body. MGM is offering 39 episodes of the show at NATPE.
- Court show queen Judge Judy Sheindlin has inked a new multi-year deal with CBS Television Distribution to continue with her strip, Judge Judy, and the CBS Television Stations group has renewed the top-rated court show for another two seasons, taking it through 2012.
- MGM said Monday that it picked up distribution rights to Ron Hazelton's HouseCalls from Tribune. The home-improvement series, currently in its ninth season, is cleared in more than 70% of the country and MGM is looking to line up clearance for the next two seasons during the National Association of Television Program Executives' show in Las Vegas this week. MGM will sell 22 new episodes for each of the next two seasons of the half-hour, as well as nine years' worth of library episodes.
- Disney/ABC Domestic Television will bring Wizard's First Rule to first-run syndication this fall as a one-hour weekly series. It is based on Terry Goodkind's best-selling epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth. 22 episodes will be for sale. 35% of the country has been cleared, with Tribune stations the high buyer. Tribune's stations include WPIX in New York; KTLA in Los Angeles; WGN in Chicago; WPHL in Philadelphia; KDAF in Dallas; WDCW in Washington, D.C.; KHCW in Houston; KCPQ/KMYQ in Seattle; WSFL in Miami–Ft. Lauderdale; KWGN in Denver; KTXL in Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif.; KPLR in St. Louis; KRCW in Portland, Ore.; WTTV/WXIN in Indianapolis; KSWB in San Diego; WTIC/WTXX in Hartford-New Haven, Conn.; WXMI in Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich.; WPMT in Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Pa.; and WGNO/WNOL in New Orleans.
- Twentieth Television has cleared Bones to 45% of the country. The off-net drama now is in more than 20 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia for a launch in fall 2009 and it will air on weekends. Station clearances include Fox Television Stations' WNYW/WWOR in New York, KTTV/KCOP in Los Angeles, WFLD/WPWR in Chicago, WTXF in Philadelphia, WFXT in Boston, KDFW/KDFI in Dallas, WTTG/WDCA in Washington, D.C., WAGA in Atlanta, KRIV/KTXH in Houston, WJBK in Detroit, KSAZ/KUTP in Phoenix, KMSP/WFTC in Minneapolis, WOFL/WRBW in Orlando, Fla., WUTB in Baltimore and KTBC in Austin, Texas; Tribune's KCPQ/KMYQ in Seattle, KTXL in Sacramento, Calif., KRCW in Portland, Ore., and KSWB in San Diego; the CBS Station Group's KPIX/KBCW in San Francisco; and Bahakel’s WCCB in Charlotte, N.C.

By the end of the week we will try to list everything that is coming to syndication this fall (2008). Sitcoms, weekly dramas, talk shows, court shows, game shows, first-run shows, and more! So come on back!

We have highlights of Nick at Nite February 2008 finally for you. There are no regular schedule changes, which means you'll still get your favorite shows at the same time. Tune into Nick at Nite for love-themed episodes of your favorite Nick at Nite shows...Home Improvement, George Lopez and Fresh Prince from 9p-12a the week of February 11-14 for I Heart Nick at Nite Week part of a Crush stunt on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite.
From Monday, February 25 through Sunday, March 2, 2008, it is Home Improvement Week! Tune in all-night long M-Th, 10-6am, F-Sat, 11-6 and Sun, 10-6 for a hearty dose of Home Improvement. Watch George Lopez each night leading into the Wall-to-Wall Home Improvement week! Whoppppah!! Click HERE to view and discuss the February Nick at Nite highlights!
Many of you have asked, so I will state it here. Family Matters IS coming to Nick at Nite in March! Yes, catch Urkel in primetime all over again. We will have details in the coming weeks. I can also confirm to you that ABC Family will lose the rights to the show at the end of this month, so Feb. 29 will be the last airing. More details on ABC Family March will come shortly.

Happy New Year; Nick at Nite January 2008 Highlights

Happy New Year everybody from all of us here at SitcomsOnline! Wow, 2008 has already come. It seems like just yesterday when 2007 started. 2007 went by so fast. Anyway, we wish all of our readers a Happy New Year and we look forward to yet another year in delivering news to you. We thank you in advance for visiting each day! Enjoy your favorite New Year's marathons on TV today!

This month (January 2008) on Nick at Nite, we have two stunts. The first stunt is next week, and it will be a week-long stunt. Nick at Nite presents another installment of..."Wall-to-Wall Fresh Prince Week." Yes, Fresh Prince will air all night long from Jan. 7-13, except 9-10pm Sun-Thurs and 10-11pm Fri-Sat of that week, which will be back-to-back episodes of George Lopez. So, Fresh Prince will air 10pm-6am Sun-Thurs and and 11pm-6am Fri-Sat for that week.
The second stunt will air on Sunday, Jan. 20 from 9pm-4am, as Nick at Nite presents a 7-hour repeat free marathon of the hit sitcom George Lopez! That's a whole lotta George, but that is a good thing!
As far as schedule changes go, as of now, there will be none. To see full details of the stunts and to discuss Nick at Nite January, click HERE!

Don't forget to watch the one-hour seventh season premiere of According to Jim tonight at 9/8c on ABC! It will follow the Rose Bowl Game and the season premiere of Just for Laughs. Ring in the new year with laughs!

Day 36: WGA's Strike; Minor TBS Schedule Change; ION Not Airing Kung Fu

It is now day 36 and there seems to be no end in sight for this strike. Late on Friday, we received this statement from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers: "We're disappointed to report that talks between the AMPTP and WGA have broken down yet again. Quite frankly, we're puzzled and disheartened by an ongoing WGA negotiating strategy that seems designed to delay or derail talks rather than facilitate an end to this strike. Union negotiators in our industry have successfully concluded 306 major agreements with the AMPTP since its inception in 1982. The WGA organizers sitting across the table from us have never concluded even one industry accord. Their Quixotic pursuit of radical demands led them to begin this strike, and now has caused this breakdown in negotiations. We hope that the WGA will come back to this table with a rational plan that can lead us to a fair and equitable resolution to a strike that is causing so much distress for so many people in our industry and community."
And the WGA told us this on Friday: "Today, after three days of discussions, the AMPTP came back to us with a proposal that included a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming of December 3. They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use. They still insist on the DVD rate for Internet downloads. They refuse to cover original material made for new media. We remain ready and willing to negotiate, no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are, because the stakes are simply too high. We were prepared to counter their proposal tonight, and when any of them are ready to return to the table, we're here, ready to make a fair deal."
I don't care who to believe. I just want this over NOW! ABC will be releasing their January strike schedule this week. We will let you know when that happens! So come on back!

TBS has made some minor schedule changes effective Monday, December 24. Many viewers have complained about the constant airings of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on many channels (Nick at Nite, The N, and TBS), well now you might be just a little bit relieved. TBS is moving the show out of 3-4pm weekdays into 9-10am weekdays. I guess that is a start. TBS is wishing us a Merry Christmas by doing this...their present to us. With this change, the morning movie will go from 9-11am to 10am-12pm, thus the Home Improvement block will be shifted from 11am-1pm to 12pm-2pm which will move Yes, Dear from 1-2pm to 3-4pm. Say that ten times fast. Click HERE to view the changes and to discuss them. These changes are only for the cable TBS...not Peachtree TV in Atlanta and Canada.

In other scheduling news, ION Television was slated to bring back Kung Fu to Saturday nights at 6pm starting Dec. 15, but that will not happen anymore. NFL Game of the Week highlights will continue to air the rest of the month until the NFL season is over. So maybe Kung Fu will return in January? We will let you know. We should have January this week, if all goes well. So you'll want to come on back for that! The only thing announced is The Drew Carey Show weeknights 9-10pm.

It is still early in the day...if we have more news, we will return for sure.

Day 22: WGA's Strike; Nick at Nite December Highlights; Sitcom Reminders for Tonight

Well it is day 22 is the writers' strike and this could be the last day! Both sides went back into the bargaining table and let's hope they work things out. The buzz is they have worked out a deal! We will know soon I guess. For now, check out the rumor mill. And at TV Guide.

Nick at Nite this December will give us a lot of Christmas episodes. Spend the 11 p.m. hour each day the week of Dec. 3 with classic Christmas episodes! Home Improvement holiday episodes air all-week at 11pm. 11:30pm will be Fresh Prince on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday, another Fresh Prince on Wednesday, another Roseanne on Thursday and Cosby Show on Friday!
Then on Sunday, December 16, Nick at Nite gives a four hour event with holiday episodes of Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince, Cosby Show and Roseanne from 9pm-1am.
Then the week of Dec. 17 it is more 11pm hour time! Spend the 11 p.m. hour each day the week of Dec. 17 with classic Christmas episodes! Roseanne holiday episodes air all-week at 11pm. 11:30pm will be Home Improvement on Monday, Fresh Prince on Tuesday, Cosby Show on Wednesday, another Fresh Prince on Thursday and another Home Improvement on Friday!
And if that is not all, Nick at Nite will give us one last chance to watch holiday episodes on Christmas night from 9pm-12am of their best shows...Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince and Cosby Show.
Finally, spend New Year's Eve with Nickelodeon, as Nick at Nite hands over the night to them. Tune in and catch some of your favorite Nick movies and specials as they count down the clock, all the way to midnight!
Click HERE for more details and to discuss this. Keep checking back there for constant updates.

Don't forget to catch the season premiere of sitcom Notes from the Underbelly at 9:30 ET/PT after an all-new Samantha Who at 9/8 central at a new time following part one of the season finale of Dancing with the Stars!
The CW and CBS will also have sitcoms tonight starting at 8/7 central, but CBS's Big Bang Theory and Rules of Engagement will be encores until the strike is resolved.

Day 12: WGA's Strike; KTLA in LA Celebrates 60 Years On-Air with Classic Marathon

We are now in day 12 of the writers' strike. Still nothing new to report at all. According to Jim continues to be the only sitcom still in production. They probably had the scripts done since they didn't start taping until like early October. So they probably will run out soon...it is believe the show has an 18 episode order, so maybe 10 episodes will be done.
Picketing today: elected officials will pick up picket signs and march with film and TV writers on Day Twelve of the Writers Guild of America strike fight for a fair and just contract at CBS Television City. Following his public statement of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America last week, U.S. Senator John Edwards will join striking writers on the picket line today to support the WGA in its ongoing fight to secure a fair and reasonable deal in front of the NBC sign in Burbank.

KTLA in Los Angeles is celebrating 60 years on air and they will celebrate with a 60-hour Retro Marathon to celebrate their 60th anniversary year. The shows they will air will be some of the greatest shows that they have aired in the last 60 years! The marathon begins on Friday, November 23 at 10pm and runs all-day Saturday, all-day Sunday, and lasts until Monday, November 26 at 10am. KTLA will have an awesome variety of shows representing what KTLA has aired in reruns over the past 60 years - The Jack Benny Program, The Honeymooners, Kung Fu, Rawhide, The Big Valley, Hopalong Cassidy, Bonanza, Little House On The Prairie, Lassie, Uncle Waldo's Cartoons, Underdog, Popeye & Friends, Little Rascals, Gidget, Charles In Charge, Doogie Howser, M.D., Dr. Kildare, Emergency!, Highway Patrol, C.H.i.P.s., Dragnet, 21 Jump Street, Wonder Woman, Peter Gunn, I Spy, Hunter, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, McHale's Navy, F Troop, Mayberry R.F.D., The Andy Griffith Show, The Munsters, The Three Stooges, The Monkees, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Family Matters, What's Happening!!, Cheers, Friends, Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, Please Don't Eat The Daisies, The Partridge Family, Father Knows Best, The Brady Bunch, Leave It To Beaver, The Twilight Zone, Lost In Space, Star Trek, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Tarzan, Gilligan's Island, and Time For Beany! Even KTLA's newscasts will participate by bringing you current and then retro news stories that they've covered during the past 60 years!
Wow! So many classics! Sounds like a great weekend! Lucky people in Los Angeles! To see the schedule grid, head on over to their website!

If we have more news, we will come back later today. Enjoy your weekend.

More Nick at Nite Halloween Stunts, November Highlights; ION Brings Back Murder; TV Land Goes Frankenstein

All last week Nick at Nite had Halloween stunts 9-10pm with Home Improvement and various shows in the 11pm hour. They had actually a night of Halloween episodes last night from 9pm-12am, with Full House, Fresh Prince, Home Improvement, The Cosby Show, and a full-hour of Roseanne. On Halloween night this Wednesday they will have another block of Halloween episodes from 9pm-12am with Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince, another Home Improvement, The Cosby Show & Roseanne.
That is a lot of Halloween episodes this year...very strange but good I guess. Spooky.
Anyway, moving on to November, we have a few stunts as well, as of now. On Sunday, November 18, it's a night of Family Secrets on Nick at Nite and all will be revealed eventually, even if that's not the plan! Did Theo get his ears pierced? Did Benny get a boob job? Find that all out on Nov. 18 from 9pm-12am. Shhhhhh!
Got nothing to be Thankful for? Now you do! Join Nick at Nite for a night of Thanksgiving themed episodes on Wednesday, November 21.
Finally, come join Nick at Nite for a night of family fun theatrical movies of all Rugrats from 9pm-1:30am!
For more on November and to discuss this, click HERE.

ION has made another minor change for November. Starting Tuesday, November 6, Diagnosis Murder will return at 10pm replacing Sue Thomas F.B.eye on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. 48 Hours will still air Monday and Thursdays at 10. Will Diagnosis Murder ever leave? It's been on and off forever on that channel, when it was PAX, i, and now ION.

TV Land is celebrating the Broadway opening of Mel Brooks' new musical Young Frankenstein with a series of events on-air, online and off-air. TVLand.com, the network's revamped website, is offering a trip to New York City to see the highly anticipated production and will feature original interviews with the Broadway cast including Megan Mullally, Andrea Martin and more. TV Land will also show the network premiere of the original 1974 comedic masterpiece, Young Frankenstein, as part of TV Land's Friday night programming block, Movieland, the network will air the classic Oscar-nominated movie Young Frankenstein on Friday, November 2 at 10PM ET/PT, with an encore on Saturday, November 3 at 1PM ET/PT.

Nick at Nite Adds Halloween Stunts; CBS Pulls Viva Laughlin

Nick at Nite is getting ready for Halloween this week! They have added Home Improvement Halloween episodes all this week from 9-10pm. The 11pm hour this week will be like a Halloween Candy Bag, you'll never know what you'll find. They will be all Halloween episodes, though. Catch episodes of Home Improvement, Roseanne, Full House, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Cosby Show.
Also, Nick at Nite doesn't want you to be watching horror movies late at night, so instead, all this week from 3-6am find yourself watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Many viewers are probably scared by the overplaying of that show, though.
They will have some more Halloween stunts, which we will detail later on. This is just for Mon-Thurs of this week. Come on back!

New CBS musical drama Viva Laughlin didn't live long. The network announced Monday that it was canceling the show after it garnered a most unimpressive 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demo with its premiere Thursday night and a 1.2 overnight rating in what was to be its regular time slot Sunday at 8 p.m.
In its place, CBS said The Amazing Race will start its engine Nov. 4. On Oct. 28, Laughlin will be replaced by a repeat episode of CSI.

Tonight is sitcoms galore on three networks--CBS, The CW and ABC. CBS and The CW have their four comedies each tonight starting at 8/7 central and on ABC it is the #1 comedy on television after one week, Christina Applegate in Samantha Who. The addictive new comedy airs at 9:30/8:30 central on ABC!

AmericanLife Adds Batman, Trapper John, Lou Grant, Green Hornet and More; Nick at Nite Starts With Fresh

AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts lots of new shows including three new action and adventure programs this October on its primetime program schedule. Mission: Impossible premieres on Monday, October 1, and Batman and Green Hornet follow on Friday, October 5.
Mission: Impossible (Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET /PT) premiered in 1966 and aired for seven years. The series stars Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain and Bob Johnson, who was the voice on the tape that intoned, "Your mission, should you decide to accept it..." Mission: Impossible chronicles the adventures of a secret government agency tasked with conducting covert missions, including freeing hostages, releasing war weapons and solving international mysteries. The series won numerous awards, including three Golden Globe Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show.
Batman (Fridays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT), based on the comic book series, follows Batman and his sidekick Robin as they fight Gotham City’s villains. Starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, the series also attracted A-list Hollywood talent to play the roles of the villains: Frank Gorshin and John Astin as The Riddler, Burgess Meredith as The Penguin, Cesar Romero as The Joker, Victor Buono as King Tut, Vincent Price as Egghead and Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt as Catwoman. Batman premiered in 1966 on ABC and aired four years.
Green Hornet (Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET /PT) stars Van Williams as Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher who becomes the masked hero to fight criminals. He is assisted by his secretary, Lenore "Casey" Case (Wende Wagner), and Asian valet and martial arts expert Kato (Bruce Lee). Only airing for one season in 1966, this series marked Lee's debut on American television.
AmericanLife will be adding lots of other ner series this month as well. The other new shows are: Lou Grant, Trapper John M.D., Rat Patrol, 12 O'Clock High, Big Valley, and Burke's Law.
With all these new shows coming from the Fox and Paramount libraries, the Warner Bros. library will be leaving. The shows leaving are: 77 Sunset Strip, China Beach, Gallant Men, I Spy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The F.B.I., Our Gang, Adventures of Superman, My Favorite Martian, F Troop, Chico and the Man, Welcome Back Kotter and Lawman. The Warner Bros. deal has lasted quite a while on the network, so you all should have taped your shows while you had the chance.
For the full list of changes and to discuss these changes, I urge you to click HERE!

Other highlights for October include a Halloween-themed special (Nancy Kerrigan's Halloween on Ice) and classic television series featuring guest star appearances by several television and film celebrities.

Thursday, October 4
The Time Tunnel: Carroll O'Connor guests in "Last Patrol" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Sunday, October 7
St. Elsewhere: Judith Light guest stars in "Dog Day Hospital" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Thursday, October 11
Lost in Space: Warren Oates guest stars in "Welcome Stranger" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).
The Time Tunnel: Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn guests in "Crack of Doom" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Friday, October 12
Mission: Impossible: Lloyd Bridges guest stars in "Fakeout" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Sunday, October 14
Mission: Impossible: William Smithers guests in "The Ransom" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Wednesday, October 17
Combat!: James Coburn guests alongside ex-heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Marciano, making his television acting debut, in "Masquerade" (7:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Saturday, October 20
The Big Valley: Mary Astor guest stars in "Who Killed Cable Roberts?" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, October 22
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Vic Tayback guests in "Second Story Story" (9:00 p.m. ET /PT).

Wednesday, October 24
Trapper John, M.D.: Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress Shelley Long guest stars in "The Shattered Image" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Thursday, October 25
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Richard Carlson guest stars in "The Village of Guilt" (10:00 p.m. ET /PT).

Friday, October 26
Combat!: Actor and director Ron Howard guests in "What Are the Bugles Blown For? Part I" (7:00 p.m. ET /PT) (Part two airs Monday, October 29 at 7 p.m. ET /PT).

Nick at Nite will be kicking off each night this week with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, replacing one of the Home Improvement airings. No other changes will be made. Maybe Fresh is coming into boost the ratings a bit? We'll see, but as of now it is just for this week...but that could change.

Don't forget tonight to tune in to the series premiere of Aliens in America on The CW, along with the rest of the season premieres of The CW Monday comedies. And if that is not all, it is week two of the CBS Monday comedies! The fun starts 8/7 central on both CBS and The CW. Watch and TiVo!
8:30pm will be a busy slot as Perfect Strangers launches on ION tonight! Get out of the city!

Some Nick at Nite Changes for the Week; Florence Henderson Back on the 'Brady' Set

Nick at Nite has extended the marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for another two nights. The marathon was slated to end after tonight, but now will continue on Friday and Saturday from 12am-5am ET/PT. Also, due to this change, tomorrow George Lopez will air 10-11pm then Home Improvement from 11-12. And finally, the Home Improvement marathon on Sunday is a bit longer how. Originally slated for 9pm-3:30am, now it will be 9pm-5am. An 8 hour event!

Agion, a global leader in naturally safe antimicrobial solutions for healthcare, has launched the That's Revolting! viral video site (www.ThatsRevolting.com) starring Florence Henderson, America s favorite TV mom. Shot on the original (but reconfigured) set of the classic '70s TV sitcom that made Henderson an American icon, That's Revolting! features Henderson as the mom in a whacked family that s inadvertently passing microbes to each other in a series of over-the-top comedic videos. Florence also plays the perennially cheerful host, who urges web viewers to Spot the Germs before family members get ill with everything from Flesh Eating Bacteria to Salmonella. It's fun for the whole family!

Tonight NBC will have one-hour season premieres of their two best sitcoms...My Name is Earl and The Office. The smart laughter starts at 8/7 central on NBC.
Also returning tonight at 8/7 central is the one-hour comedy Ugly Betty on ABC leading into the #1 scripted show Grey's Anatomy.
The only new show that will premiere tonight is Big Shots at 10/9 central on ABC. I have seen the pilot, so I'll give you my take. The series is like a male Desperate Housewives. We have four male leads, just like how we have 4 female leads on DH. Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus, Joshua Malina and Dylan McDermott star in this all-star cast. All four are high profile New York CEO's and have some women trouble. Vartan's character, James, learns a secret about his wife. Titus' character, Brody, is happily married...or is he? Malina's character, Karl, is having an affair. And McDermott's character, Duncan, is divorced but is about to be hit with a scandal involving a transvestite hooker. Can these four men balance between the boardroom and bedroom? This show is a dream come true for those upscale viewers!
The show has funny moments and some serious juice, but is not as good as Desperate Housewives yet. I think following Grey's Anatomy, this show will certainly be sampled, and I'm sure many (especially the women) will stick to see Vartan and McDermott. It is not bad of a pilot, but the series needs to get better for viewers to stick. Try it for at least 3 weeks, then make your decision...don't do the "one and done." Many did that for Brothers & Sisters, and now that show is among the best shows out there in quality.

TV Land Brings Back Brady Bunch...For Now, Nick at Nite Notes; TBS Gets Earl Window; More Notes

This might be just for two weeks, but The Brady Bunch is coming back to TV Land. The Brady Bunch has been added to the schedule airing Tues-Fri at 11am starting Tuesday, October 2. It might be just for weeks of Oct. 1 and 8 (replacing a second Green Acres), as Designing Women is slated to still launch Tues-Fri at 11am starting Oct. 15. We will keep you up to date. As the theme song starts, "here's a story," this certainly is a story to watch!
Meanwhile, if you haven't noticed, but since Saturday, Nick at Nite has added a last minute Fresh Prince of Bel-Air marathon. It is a 6 night marathon that will run through Thursday. 11pm-5am each night (Saturday it was 12-5am). Home Improvement and George Lopez are still kicking off each night. And speaking of Home Improvement, it will get a 9pm-3:30am marathon this Sunday (Sept. 30).

We've mentioned before that TBS has gotten the 5-days a week syndication rights to the NBC sitcom My Name is Earl starting Fall 2009, but now we have some more good news. Starting this April, they can air the series back-to-back one night a week, like they do with shows like House of Payne. So Earl will get a sneak peek a full 1 1/2 years before its syndication launch!

Emmy voters have spoken and now viewers have a chance to catch up on the NBC Emmy Award-winning comedy 30 Rock, when Bravo airs a six episode mini-marathon on Sunday, September 30th from 1:00 4:00 PM ET/ PT. Six sure-to-become classic episodes of the critically acclaimed comedy will include fan favorites featuring Paul Reubens as a bizarre foreign prince, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) getting set up on a blind date with a lesbian, and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) becoming an NBC page for a day. 30 Rock is told through the comedic voice of Fey playing Liz Lemon, who heads the variety show TGS while clashing with the ever-meddling head honcho Jack Donaghy.
30 Rock, with special guest star Jerry Seinfeld, premieres Thursday, October 4th at 8:30 PM ET/PT on NBC.
And finally, Firebrand TV is finally rescheduled on ION. It will start Monday, Oct. 22 airing weeknights at 11pm. Full details, click HERE.

TitanTV Acquires Jury Duty, New Series that Features Classic TV Jurors; WTBS Peachtree TV News; Alyssa Milano Goes Baseball!

TitanTV Network, the first of its kind digital media platform designed to connect local media affiliates and their advertisers to the digital world, has acquired the exclusive broadband rights to Radar Entertainment's new daily syndicated strip series, Jury Duty. The series, featuring famed defense attorney Bruce Cutler and premiering on stations around the country on September 17, will be given free to its affiliate stations' Web sites delivered through the TitanCast player, which provides territorial exclusivity through its patented technology. The broadband version of the series will also be available on TitanTV.com.
Jury Duty, which is presided over by high-profile attorney Bruce Cutler, features a jury of rotating celebrities and classic TV stars including Phyllis Diller, Ed Begley Jr., Bruce Vilanch, Paula Poundstone, Kevin Sorbo, Scott Hamilton, Dick Van Patten and Tiffany, among others. The series is cleared in over 85% of the U.S., including New York City (WPIX, weeknights at 4:30am).

As we mentioned previously, WTBS, TBS's local broadcast platform in Atlanta, is about to undergo an extensive re-branding initiative and line-up change that will result in an entirely new local, independent station, completely separate from the national cable network. The newly re-branded Peachtree TV will launch on Monday, Oct. 1.
Driven by an Atlanta-centric, hyper-local sensibility, Peachtree TV will feature nightly blockbuster prime-time movies and a daytime line-up packed with popular sitcoms targeted to Atlanta's local audience. In addition, Peachtree TV will bring local viewers 45 regular-season Atlanta Braves baseball games in 2008.
While Peachtree TV takes over the local broadcaster position currently held by WTBS, TBS's national cable feed will become available to Atlanta's local cable and satellite customers, offering the network's signature comedy programming. On Oct. 1, TBS will move to Comcast channel 39 and Direct TV channel 247. TBS will remain on Dish Network channel 139.
The channel's daytime line-up will feature a stable of sitcom hits, including the Atlanta syndication premieres of Family Guy and Still Standing, as well as such series as The King of Queens, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends and Frasier.
In Fall 2008, Peachtree TV's line-up will feature two shows that are currently attracting large audiences in the Atlanta market. The long-running and extremely popular talk show Montel, hosted by Montel Williams, will join the daytime line-up as a Peachtree TV exclusive in Atlanta. Also next year, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which premiered this past summer on TBS and set an ad-supported cable record for the #1 sitcom telecast of all time, will premiere in local syndication in Atlanta on Peachtree TV. In 2009, The Office and My Name is Earl will join the line-up as Atlanta syndication premieres.

Moving on to the national TBS, Alyssa Milano is coming to TBS...sort of. She will be covering baseball online for TBS Hot Corner on MLB.com
TBS Hot Corner is a new broadband channel from Turner Broadcasting's TBS, which will be broadcasting the major league division series and the National League Championship Series for the first time this season.
She will have a recurring role on the NBC sitcom My Name is Earl this fall and already has a popular blog on MLB.com and this year launched a baseball-themed clothing line.
Beginning Sept. 17, Milano will contribute regular reports and features from major league stadia as teams race to make the playoffs. The reports will range from interviews with players, coaches and fans, to features on calorie counting at the park and the best in baseball attire.
Baseball just got a bit hotter!

Important Nick at Nite and TV Land Schedule Changes; RTN in Reno in January

Well it's not that important. Nick at Nite's changes are a bit important though. We gave you the September fall schedule a few days back. Nick at Nite has since altered that just a bit. They will air America's Funniest Home Videos after all. Every night at 4:30am, replacing one of the Home Improvement encores. The other changes are really on Fri-Sat. Fridays will get a little bit of a change from 10pm-1am. Originally it was back-to-back Home Improvement, George Lopez, and Fresh Prince. Now it will be one Home Improvement, one George Lopez, back-to-back Home Improvement at 11, Fresh Prince at 12 and another George at 12:30am. Weird...because Saturdays 10pm-1am it is not like that. Fresh Prince encores were slated Fri-Sat nights 3-4am, now it will be the same as Sun-Thurs, which is Roseanne and Cosby Show.
So, let's go back to the September schedule to see the fully updated schedule that will start Sept. 10.
In other Nick at Nite news, the movie Grease will air again tonight pre-empting programming from 9pm-11:30pm.
Moving on to TV Land, not many changes really, it is just minor stuff. The Saturday line-up for this Saturday only, September 1, will be changed a bit. We get a Sanford & Son afternoon-thon from 1-4pm, followed by three movies until 10pm, then Andy Griffith mini-marathon will air until 1:10am. I guess this is for Labor Day weekend. Click here to view this change.
The week of Sept. 17, What's Happening Now!! will return for a week at 7am. I guess because M*A*S*H will be airing a lot that week, with the anniversary marathon.

RTN is now coming to Reno, NV! They announced that it has entered into an agreement with COX Broadcasting to bring RTN programming to Reno, NV. The new affiliate will launch Jan. 7, 2008, on a digital channel of COX's KRXI-TV, a FOX affiliate that reaches more than 260,000 households in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area.
"RTN-Reno viewers will delight in seeing a young Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco, one of the original procedurals that spawned many of today's hit shows," said Mark Dvornik, Executive Vice President of RTN, "and they will enjoy hearing Robin Leach say 'champagne wishes and caviar dreams' in Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on their very own 'Prime Time all the Time' schedule."

Nick at Nite's September Schedule; RTN in Albany Now

As promised, we will give you the Nick at Nite September schedule. The schedule is broken up into two periods, Sun-Thurs and Fri-Sat. Fri-Sat is really the same as Sun-Thurs but an hour later. Home Improvement, which will get a week-long marathon Sept. 3-9 (9p-5a each night), will kick-off the night by airing from 9-10pm starting Sept. 10. George Lopez will premiere after that airing 10-11pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air follows the two newcomers, which will both likely do very well, from 11pm-12am. From midnight to 3am, we get the same three shows again. Then at 3am we get Roseanne and at 3:30am The Cosby Show. Wow...both of those have been heavily reduced, especially Roseanne! At 4am we get Full House and 4:30am another slot of Home Improvement. 5am will be the wheel of shows again, with Mad About You being added to the wheel now. Finally, 5:30am will remain Full House. So, what about Fri-Sat? OK, Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince will kick-it off from 10pm-1am, and again from 1am-4am. Then 4-5am we get yet another Home Improvement hour (its third hour!). 5-6am will be the same as Sun-Thurs. America's Funniest Home Videos will be gone. Confused? See our September schedule and you can share your thoughts there as well.

RTN has been added to another city now! If you live in these area and don't have digital cable, there this a good reason for you to get digital cable so you can watch RTN on the DT feeds of these channels. They announced today that it plans to launch a new affiliate on the digital channel of Albany's ABC station, adding more than 550,000 households to RTN's rapidly expanding footprint.
The new network will launch Oct. 1 on WTEN-TV, a Young Broadcasting station that serves upstate New York, western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. Shows like Matlock, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii 5-0 and Streets of San Francisco are expected.

TBS September 2007 Schedule, The Office on Tuesdays, 'Sex' All Week-Long; My Boys Scores on TBS

TBS has released its September 2007 schedule and it will feature some changes. The week of September 3 has some minor changes, which are just filler until the new line-up that starts on September 10. Let's start with the filler stuff. Sept. 4, 5, 6 and 7 NewsRadio returns for 4 days in the noon slot followed by The Cosby Show at 12:30pm. The other filler stuff is very minor, and you can take a look at that in our link at the end of this story.
Let's move on to the September 10 line-up. The Steve Harvey Show is moving from its afternoon slots to 6 & 6:30am, replacing The Cosby Show which will now move to the dreaded approx. 5:30am slot, where it will not air everyday. Saved by the Bell continues to air its two-hour block from 7-9am. The morning movie will move from 10am-12pm to 9am-11am now. Dawson's Creek which was at 9am will move to the dreaded approx. 4:30am slot, which like Cosby Show, will not be everyday. Home Improvement will get a two-hour block from 11am-1pm. Yes, Dear moves from late afternoon to early afternoon at 1-2pm. Just Shoot Me, which premieres August 6, will move from 1-2pm to 2-3pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air moves to an hour later at 3-4pm. The King of Queens will take over the 4-5pm slot followed by an hour of Seinfeld at 5-6pm. Friends will air at 6pm followed by a triple shot of Everybody Loves Raymond from 6:30pm-8pm.
Primetime will also be changing. Friends will kick-off Mondays and Thursdays with back-to-back episodes from 8-9pm. On Mondays it will lead into Family Guy from 9-11pm and on Thursdays a movie from 9-11pm. Tuesdays will see a Family Guy block from 8-10pm and then starting September 18 The Office will air Tuesdays 10-11pm. Wednesdays will see a House of Payne marathon from 8-10pm followed by back-to-back Family Guy episodes 10-11pm. Finally, Fridays will have Everybody Loves Raymond kick-off the night leading into Dinner and a Movie.
Effective week of September 17, you can now catch Sex and the City five nights a week on TBS at 11 & 11:30PM! Seinfeld will get the late Tuesday slot of 11:59PM and 12:30AM, while movies will air the rest of the week. Other notes: Parent'hood is missing from the schedule because its contract has expired. Drew Carey Show has also expired, as we noted in the August changes.
No word yet if this is indeed the Fall schedule or not, as usually TBS launches its fall schedule in October. We shall find out and when we do, we will let you know. So for now click HERE to view a list of these changes!

Sticking with TBS, the season premiere of original sitcom My Boys scored well for TBS last night. Continuing to ride a wave of comedy success, TBS has triumphed once again on the original comedy series front. Last night's return of the critically acclaimed sitcom My Boys scored extremely well with young adults, garnering a median age of 29. The show also outdelivered the series' November 2006 series premiere among adults 18-34 and scored an extraordinary 43% growth in that demographic when compared to the show's 2006 13-episode average. Last night's episodes averaged more than 1.6 million viewers, nearly half of them among the key adults 18-34 demographic. My Boys airs Mondays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on TBS.
Other ratings highlights for the return of My Boys on TBS:
- Combined, last night’s back-to-back episodes averaged 801,000 adults 18-34, a 43% jump over last year's 559,000 premiere average for the first 13 episodes in that demographic. Last night's episodes also averaged 1,176,000 adults 18-49, up 12% vs. premiere telecasts of the show in 2006 (1,052,000).
- Demonstrating the successful strategy of stacking episodes to provide stronger flow, the 10:30 p.m. episode of My Boys last night showed growth over its lead-in 10 p.m. episode, with adults 18-34 up 4% and adults 18-49 up 6%.
- With My Boys joining the list, TBS now claims ad-supported cable's Top 8 sitcoms for the year to date among adults 18-49, with Tyler Perry's House of Payne ranking #1, The Bill Engvall Show ranking #2 and My Boys ranking #6. Rounding out the list are Friends (#3), Seinfeld (#4), Everybody Loves Raymond (#5), King of Queens (#7) and Sex and the City (#8).

Nick at Nite August Highlights; CBS Schedule Change

Nick at Nite will continue the wall-to-wall summer marathons in August. Wall-to-Wall Marathons are marathons of one show all-night long (9:30pm-5am). Here are the marathons for August, always subject to change knowing Nick at Nite:
Week of August 6: Roseanne
Week of August 13: Full House (Mon-Fri), Fresh Prince (Sat-Sun)
Week of August 20: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
No word yet if August 27 will also have a marathon or not or if the marathons ends after August 26.
Home Improvement and George Lopez join the Nick at Nite family sitcom line-up this fall. More to come on those.

CBS has issued an urgent program advisory effective tonight. 48 Hours Mystery will replace Pirate Master, effective tonight (Tuesday, July 24) at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
The remaining five episodes of Pirate Master will be streamed on CBS.com every Tuesday starting tomorrow beginning at 3:00 AM ET/12:00 AM PT. Pirate Master will also be made available to partners of the CBS Audience Network.

AmericanLife July 2007 Highlights, Includes New Monday Classic Sitcom Block; Nick at Nite Change for July 1; Jim Renewal Now Official

AmericanLife TV Network, the network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts a new Monday night primetime programming line-up on July 2, featuring classic television sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Newhart, WKRP in Cincinnati and The Bob Newhart Show from 8-10pm and immediately encoring after that each Monday.
Among the episode highlights for this new block in July include:
Monday, July 2
- WKRP in Cincinnati: The late film and stage legend Sylvia Sidney guests as Mama Carlson on "Pilot (Part 1)" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).
- The Bob Newhart Show: Comedian and actress Penny Marshall guest stars as a stewardess on "Fly the Unfriendly Skies" (9:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, July 9
- Newhart: William Sanderson, John Voldstad and Tony Papenfuss make their first appearance on the show as Larry, "my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl" on "Mrs. Newton's Body Lies A'Mould'ring in the Grave" (8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, July 30
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: NFL star turned actor Timothy Brown guests as himself on "Keep Your Guard Up" (8-8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Visit our highlights section for AmericanLife July 2007 for complete highlights for the entire month!

Nick at Nite will air the 1978 John Travolta and Olivia Newton John movie Grease on Sunday (July 1) from 9 to 11:30 p.m., pre-empting the regular line-up. A marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will follow from 11:30pm-5:00am...but what else is new? The movie will kick off the summer season for Nick at Nite, which will be wall-to-wall marathons (a week of one show from 9:30pm-5am each night), as we mentioned already.

Today ABC made it official, According to Jim will return next season for its 7th season! "When Brillstein-Grey approached me with the idea of doing a family show, I didn't realize the family would extend so wide," said Jim Belushi. "For six years, it's been a joy being part of the ABC and Touchstone families and part of each and every family who have been loyal viewers of our show every week. This season will top all the rest. I'm thrilled to continue this seventh season with these extended families."

TV One July Highlights; Nick at Nite, The N Changes; Honda Sponsors Sony Minisodes

There are not many highlights related to actual TV series for TV One in July, but we do have some. Here are some:
On Sunday, July 8 at 8pm, TV One premieres the legendary mini-series Roots: The Next Generations, the 14-hour, 7-part sequel to the original Roots miniseries that made television history. The story picks up in 1882 just after the original left off where Tom Harvey, the great grandson of Kunta Kinte has established a marginal existence as a blacksmith in Henning, Tennessee. The series continues the story of author Alex Haley’s family line from the Post American Civil War era to Alex’s search for his genealogical roots which led him to Africa. The mini-series stars Georg Stanford Brown, Lynne Moody, Debbi Morgan, Henry Fonda, Stan Shaw, Irene Cara, Marlon Brando, Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee, and James Earl Jones as Alex Haley. The first six parts air at 8pm all week through Friday, with encore showings at 10pm and in the weekday noon movie slots. They will also re-air on Saturday, July 14 from 12 noon to midnight. The final part will air Sunday night, July 15 also at 8pm and 10pm – and will be repeated on Monday, July 16 at 9pm.
Beginning Sunday, July 29 from 2am-6am, In the House replaces Amen in TV One’s Sunday weekly overnight comedy mini-marathons.

Nick at Nite has made a minor change for Saturday, June 23. From 10pm-2am, they have scheduled a mini-marathon for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What else is new, though?
The week of June 18, The N will air overnight marathons of the teen drama Summerland from 12-3am, but Monday it will be 12-6am.

Next week Sony will officially announce the full details for the Sony minisodes we mentioned a few weeks back. Today, Sony said Honda will be the sole sponsor for the short episodes. It is scheduled to begin next week. Visitors to the MySpace Web site will be able to watch episodes of 15 (initially...more will come soon) vintage Sony series like Charlie's Angels, Police Woman, The Partridge Family, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, What's Happening!!, Fantasy Island and Who's the Boss?, edited from their original lengths of approx. 30 or 60 minutes each to an Internet-friendly 4 to 6 minutes.
Honda and its longtime agency, RPA, have agreed to run only eight seconds of commercials with each episode, appearing before the shortened show starts. First, there will be an on-screen billboard lasting three seconds, declaring, "The Minisode Network, brought to you by Honda." The billboard will be followed by a five-second commercial for the Honda Fit, the mini-car that American Honda introduced last year, and its website.
The minisodes will appear exclusively on MySpace through the end of August. Initially, there will be three episodes of each series, with new episodes to be added each week. Sony Pictures Television announced the idea in April, describing it as a way to re-purpose for the new media programming that was originally produced for the traditional media.
The minisodes are not intended as pastiches or excerpts; they are edited carefully so the plots can be followed from beginning to end. (It helps that many of the series are formulaic sitcoms or police dramas.)
After the exclusivity with MySpace ends the goal is for the minisodes to come to other websites while remaining on MySpace. Sony Pictures Television is looking at sites like AOL.com, Yahoo! and YouTube, as well as posting them on a micro-site, a special site of their own.

Nick at Nite July Sees Summer Marathons; Larroquette Heads Back to Court

Nick at Nite has announced its July plans and looks like they will be airing marathons. Stick with Nick at Nite all week long this summer to catch over 100 episodes of your favorite shows: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Roseanne, The Cosby Show and Full House!
These "wall to wall marathons" start at 9:30pm Mon-Thurs & Sun and at 10:30pm on Fri & Sat. Marathons end every night at 5am with the rotating trio of Designing Women, Hi-Jinks and Murphy Brown at 5am followed by Full House at 5:30am. AFV will still kick-off each night, leading into the marathons.
These marathons are probably going to continue in August as well. The marathons start June 25 with Fresh Prince week, then the week of July 2 it is more Fresh Prince, Roseanne gets the week of July 9, Full House gets week of July 16, Cosby Show gets week of July 23, and more Fresh Prince week of July 30.
For more details and to discuss this piece of news, click HERE.

Emmy Award-winning actor and sitcom legend John Larroquette (Night Court) is set to join the cast of ABC's Boston Legal next season as a senior partner from the New York offices of Crane Poole & Schmidt who transfers to the Boston office. The show will return for a fourth season on ABC next season.

House of Payne Scores Big for TBS; CBS News; More TubeTime and Fresh Prince News

The unprecedented deal that brought Tyler Perry's House of Payne to TBS has now resulted in a record-breaking victory, as the series claims ad-supported cable's #1 sitcom telecast of all-time in delivery of adults 18-34, adults 18-49, adults 25-54, viewers and households, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. The show, which grew a strong 12% from the first episode to the second, also provided TBS with the network's top series telecast of all-time among all key adult demos, households and viewers, as well as ad-supported cable's top scripted telecast for the year to date among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.
The sitcom centers on the lives of three generations of an African-American family living under one roof, runs each Wednesday with back-to-back episodes at 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on TBS.
The 9:30 p.m. telecast this past Wednesday now ranks as ad-supported cable's top sitcom telecast of all-time among adults 18-34 (1,416,000); adults 18-49 (3,056,000); adults 25-54 (2,985,000); viewers (5,820,000); households (3,551,000). It also scored a strong 3.8 household coverage rating/3.2 national rating.
The 9 p.m. episode ranks second to the 9:30 p.m. episode on the list of ad-supported cable's top sitcom telecasts of all time among adults 18-49 (2,723,000); adults 25-54 (2,728,000); viewers (5,206,000); households (3,320,000). It also scored a very strong 1,174,000 delivery among adults 18-34, as well as a 3.5 household coverage rating/3.0 national rating.
Wow! 5.21 million and 5.82 million for even a network sitcom these days is decent!

CBS has picked-up an additional sitcom for mid-season! Last week The CW picked up an additional sitcom, now CBS will pick up the sitcom The Captain for mid-season. CBS has ordered six episodes of this single camera sitcom. The series stars Fran Kranz, Chris Klein and Jeffrey Tambor. The series centers on a young writer whose life changes when he moves into a legendary Hollywood apartment building.
Thanks to the fans, rookie drama series Jericho will return next season! After upfront last month, the network canceled the series, but thanks to fans, the show will return. CBS has ordered seven episodes of Jericho for mid-season next year.

We have some more Comcast TubeTime news. In addition to yesterday's story, two more series are also added to the OnDemand service. '90s sitcom Ned & Stacey and the classic drama Fantasy Island. It appears Diff'rent Strokes and What's Happening!! will leave since no new episodes are appearing, but Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie has new episodes. Soap will return will new episodes on June 18.

In Nick at Nite news, we will see yet more Fresh Prince this weekend, as the network will pre-empt their Fri-Sun programming this week and air Fresh Prince from 10:30pm-5am on Friday & Saturday and 9:30pm-5am on Sunday. Excited???

Diff'rent Strokes Reruns Come to Atlanta TBS; Fresh Week on The N; Preview of Our Exclusive Interview with AmericanLife TV!

Effective yesterday (Monday, June 4), WTBS-17 in Atlanta added the hit '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to its line-up from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Yes, three episodes in a row! It is unfortunate that only people in the Atlanta metro area can see this because the national feed of TBS airs Fresh Prince and Home Improvement in those slots.
WTBS-17 was airing Home Improvement up until the end of last week, but the local channel deal expired. So, even if you're not from Atlanta, check your local listings on when Home Improvement was airing, because now it is gone from all locals and will be exclusive to cable (airing on TBS and WGN, and Nick at Nite come this fall).
And why isn't Fresh Prince on WTBS-17 in Atlanta? Again that show is exclusive to cable now, too. It airs on Nick at Nite, The N and TBS.
Well, anyway, I just hope we get Diff'rent Strokes back nationwide. Let's hope the national TBS feed airs the show. Even if it is 4am or 5am, that would do! Lucky people in Atlanta...'the world don't move to the beat of just one drum' for them!

And if you have not gotten sick of Will Smith's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, then think again, because The N will have a nightly marathon all next week from 12-3am, which is of course all in addition to its regular slots on the network.
The N seems to be having a rotating 12-3am block each week. Last week it was Growing Pains. This week it is Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and now next week it will be Fresh Prince.

Calling all classic TV and AmericanLife TV Network fans! You will want to come to the blog tomorrow as we will have an exclusive interview with the network on their programming plans! See what they have to say, as we have asked some very good questions. All classic TV fans might want to read this! Come back tomorrow to see this wonderful piece!

Nick at Nite June Highlights; MyNetwork TV Upfront

Nick at Nite has finally released its plans for June. No regular changes will be made...at least not yet, of course. They will have a Father's Day marathon on Father's Day evening (June 18) from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. featuring TV dads such as Dr. Cliff Huxtable and Danny Tanner. Shows featured are The Cosby Show, Full House, Fresh Prince, Roseanne and even America's Funniest Home Videos.
And if you haven't had enough Fresh Prince yet, then think again because Nick at Nite will showcase another "wall to wall" marathon the week of June 25-July 1, featuring nothing but Fresh Prince from 9:30pm-5am. That is over 100 episodes! Nick at Nite will also premiere the classic movie Grease in early July. More details on that soon, but for now head on over to the June highlights thread to read more and to discuss your thoughts.

MyNetwork TV had their upfront (I'm serious), and they announced their fall schedule. They will be getting rid of their low rated dramas and replacing them with cheap reality series, which have faired much better for them. They will also bring back the specials they have produced along with more movies on Thursdays and Fridays, which also have done pretty well for them. IFL Battleground will return as well on Mondays. To see their line-up for the fall, click HERE. On that same link, on the second post in that thread, I have my opinions on what MyNetwork TV should do. I say ditch the reality (or at least make them once a week at most), and bring back classic programming that works. How about encores of The Simpsons, which is Fox owned or maybe one of the best shows on Fox ever in Married...with Children. They could even bring back classic 20th TV programming like The X-Files, Ally McBeal, 21 Jump Street, Doogie Howser, Mr. Belvedere, Small Wonder, the list goes on and on. They would do so much better. And why Fox shows, because MyNetwork TV is owned by Fox. corp. You can discuss your thoughts on what I think on that same thread. I would like to hear your thoughts!

AmericanLife TV Acquires Classic 20th TV Shows, WKRP, Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Batman, etc.; Nick at Nite Schedule Switcharoo

AmericanLife TV Network, the only independent network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, has reached a long-term agreement with Twentieth Television for a library of classic television series. Among the series that they have acquired are: Batman, Bob Newhart Show, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Lost in Space, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Newhart, St. Elsewhere, WKRP in Cincinnati.
Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and L.A. Law will debut June 3 in an all-new Sunday "The Greatest Drama" primetime schedule from 8-11pm (with an encore from 11pm-2am). The other programs acquired (such as Batman and Lost in Space) will be airing in varying time slots later this year. We will let you know when we know when they will launch! It seems the current Sunday night shows ("The Greatest Drama" block) The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Mayberry RFD, I'll Fly Away and Homefront will be off the line-up completely.
Click HERE to view the press release and to discuss this news!

A Nick at Nite change (yes, what else is new?)...Roseanne will return to Sun-Thurs 10-11PM now and Fresh Prince will move back to Sun-Thurs 11PM-12AM starting May 28. Fresh Prince will still air 11PM-12AM on Fri-Sat.

CMT Schedule News; Spike Schedule Note; Fresh Prince Week on Nick at Nite

It's back to the basics, schedules galore for us! Today we have schedule updates from CMT, Spike and Nick at Nite!

CMT will be ending its run of The Dukes of Hazzard later this summer. We don't exactly know when yet, but through the end of June it is on the schedule still. "After a fantastic two-year run, it's time to give the Dukes a proper CMT farewell with a summer primetime block," says Mary Beth Cunin, vice president of programming strategy, CMT. "We want fans to be able to watch the series from the beginning and relive their favorite Dukes moments before the General Lee rides off into the sunset."
The show will now air weeknights at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. starting May 28. CMT will also do a CMT's Top Twenty Countdown on the DukesFest which will air on June 7 from 4-7pm. CMT will also air the reunion movie at 10pm that night along with the Hollywood movie at midnight. On June 10, there will be a special block from 6pm-12am with two episodes and the two movies.
In other CMT news, they will create an afternoon block starting Monday, June 11 with four-year (2001-05 series) court show Texas Justice airing back-to-back from 1-2pm and two episodes of the sitcom Mama's Family weekdays from 2-3pm! We knew they couldn't just keep Mama as a special block! Now we get to see it regularly and it will still be a regular on ION Television in primetime!

Fans of The Three Stooges or Seven Days will be happy because they will return to Spike TV in July. The problem is you will never know when they are on. Spike TV has scheduled them for 3am or 3:30am slots a few times a week. So be on the look out! Spike also has relegated Star Trek: Deep Space 9 to sometimes in the overnights, usually 2am...ouch. They have released schedules through September, and you guessed it, the Labor Day marathon (Sept. 3) is CSI from 9am-9pm. No other changes.

Yes, Nick at Nite will have another Fresh Prince of Bel-Air week all this week from 9:30pm-5am Mon-Thurs, Sun and 10:30pm-5am on Fri-Sat. Aren't you all just so excited? This show, Roseanne, and Cosby Show are the only ones ever getting week-long marathons these days from Nick at Nite.

Schedule Change For ION and Yet More Changes for Nick at Nite; AmericanLife May Highlights

Yesterday we brought you the ION upfront presentation release. We still don't have any details if more new shows like Perfect Strangers and A-Team are coming but I think June or July look good for new shows. Yesterday we did mention a minor change for Saturdays at 6pm with Diagnosis Murder coming to that slot starting May 26, as Saturdays will add an extra hour now. Today ION released a last week of May change. For at least May 28-31, The Wonder Years will move from 10 & 10:30 to 9 & 9:30pm, replacing Diagnosis Murder. Replacing Wonder Years at 10 is Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker. Yes, weird...it might be just for that week. Or maybe Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker is just a special week stunt holding the slot for a new show in June? We'll find out soon when ION releases its June line-up! Stay tuned! For now view the changes and discuss them here.

As for Nick at Nite, yes more changes to the schedule! Now they have decided they will not encore AFV three-hours later. So, that means Sun-Thurs 12am and Fri-Sat 1am is no more. Cosby Show has been reinstated to Sun-Thurs 12am and now the nightly marathons will be from 1-5am, which means Growing Pains is totally gone! Let's hope ION bring it back soon! Another change is Roseanne and Fresh Prince switching hours. This all takes in effect on Monday (May 7). Click here to view these changes and to discuss this.

AmericanLife TV Network, the only independent network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, celebrates spring with a line-up of star-studded programming, including Jodi Foster on Kung Fu, John Travolta on Welcome Back, Kotter and Don Rickles on I Spy. It's going to be a star studded May! Highlights for the month of May include:

Special Kung Fu episodes:
Thursday, May 3
* Kung Fu (8-9 p.m. ET/PT): an 11-year-old Jodi Foster plays the title role of “Althea” in this tale of human integrity and healing.

Thursday. May 31
* Kung Fu (8-9 p.m. ET/PT): Barney Miller and Sanford & Son regular Gregory Sierra guests with Moses Gunn.

Special 77 Sunset Strip episodes:
Monday, May 7
* 77 Sunset Strip (9-10 p.m. ET/PT): Silent screen star Doris Kenyon made her last dramatic appearance playing an aging silent screen star, in this first-season episode, “All Our Yesterdays.” The show, also featuring fellow silent star Francis X. Bushman, captured a 1959 Directors Guild of America Award for Richard L. Bare, who later directed 168 consecutive episodes of Green Acres.

Monday, May 28
* 77 Sunset Strip (9-10 p.m. ET/PT): George Tobias, best known for playing neighbor Abner Kravitz on Bewitched, guests on tonight’s episode.

Comedies dominate Saturday and Sunday evenings on AmericanLife TV Network, featuring such classic sitcoms as The Color Honeymooners (Saturday 8 p.m. ET/PT), Welcome Back, Kotter (Saturday 10:30 p.m. ET/PT) and Mayberry RFD (Sunday 8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Saturday, May 12
* The Color Honeymooners (8 p.m. ET): In a wacky episode, Ralph Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason, meets Art Carney (playing himself), while Ed Norton, played by Art Carney, meets Jackie Gleason (playing himself).
* Welcome Back, Kotter (Saturday 10:30 p.m. ET/PT): John Travolta returned for the fourth and final two-part season premiere, playing his recurring role of Vinnie Barbarino. Part two airs on Saturday, May 19.

Sunday, May 20
* Mayberry RFD (8:30-9 p.m. ET/PT): See how Goober (George Lindsey) and other Mayberry folk deal with “Sensitivity Training” as an encounter group visits the Andy Griffith Show spinoff.

Saturday, May 26
* Our Gang Comedies (5-5:30 p.m. ET): In one of today’s two shorts, “Aladdin’s Lantern,” Buckwheat and Porky provide an off-key rendition of the song “Strolling Through the Park One Day.”

Sunday, May 27
* The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (8-8:30 p.m. ET/PT): Guest is Vic Tayback, later to achieve cult status as diner owner Mel on the Alice sitcom.

Secret Agents lurk Wednesdays on AmericanLife TV, with such series as I Spy (8-9 p.m. ET/PT) and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (9-10 p.m. ET/PT).

I Spy (8-9 p.m. ET/PT):
* May 9: More than a decade before Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban guest stars in this episode.
* May 16: Talk about typecasting! Don Rickles plays an obnoxious American comic on a “Night Train to Madrid .”
* May 23: Wally Cox (Mr. Peepers, The Hollywood Squares, Underdog) guests as a government file clerk wooed by a beautiful secret agent in “Casanova from Canarsie.”
* May 30: In his second acting role, former football star Jim Brown guests on “Cops and Robbers.”

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (10-11 p.m. ET/PT):
* May 16: Pernell Roberts, in his first role after leaving Bonanza, guests in “The Little John Doe Affair.”
* May 30: Future sitcom icon Tom Bosley (Happy Days) and former movie star Raymond Massey appear together in “The Faustus Affair.”

What's Happening!! Comes to Comcast's TubeTime; Nick at Nite Change; GSN Salutes Bob Barker

We have a busy day of news for you today. First off, the classic '70s sitcom What's Happening!! is now on Comcast On-Demand's TubeTime channel! Yes, you can watch Rerun and the gang anytime you want now! If you don't have the DVDs yet, then this is your chance to watch the show and if you like it, you can buy the DVDs! What's Happening!! will be broken up into two categories: Best of Rerun Episodes and Classic Episodes. I'm sure we will see the episode "Burger Queen" in there. The show joins Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Diff'rent Strokes, and Soap in the TubeTime service. Boy that is better than TV Land! Hopefully TubeTime adds the follow-up series What's Happening Now!! to its service in the future, as that show is not available on DVD yet, but the first season is coming June 12! You can also catch the follow-up series on TV Land weekdays at 7am ET/PT.

Nick at Nite has made a change for this weekend. Yes, they will have another Fresh Prince marathon. Oh boy, aren't you so happy? The marathon will air this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (May 4-6). Friday & Saturday from 11pm-5am (except 1-2am is America's Funniest Home Videos) and Sunday from 10pm-5am (except 12-1am is America's Funniest Home Videos). Nick at Nite is in the middle of launch week for AFV, as it is airing back-to-back episodes this week with an encore of those episodes three-hours later. It will settle into its Sun-Thurs 9pm & 12am and Fri-Sat 10pm and 1am slots starting next week.

GSN pays tribute to Bob Barker, legendary host of television's longest running game show The Price is Right, with rarely-seen episodes of Barker appearances on classic game shows. GSN SALUTES BOB BARKER includes special episodes of I'VE GOT A SECRET, FAMILY FEUD, MATCH GAME and TATTLETALES featuring Barker and airs Tuesday, May 15 through Saturday, May 19 on GSN.
Barker, the eighty-three year old host of The Price Is Right, recently announced plans to end his 35-year run as host of the iconic daytime game show in June.
To view the schedule of GSN's Bob Barker Salute marathon, click HERE.

And finally as a heads-up, you will want to come back here tomorrow as we will give full details on ION Television's upfront! Will they announce more shows or expansion of the schedule? We'll find out tomorrow. We know they will announce something and the major announcement is probably going to be the details of the RHI programming block (Fri-Sun 7-11pm, starting June 29).

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

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

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

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

ABC Mid-Season Pilot Review: Notes from the Underbelly - Premieres April 12; More 'Fresh' This Weekend on Nick at Nite

Notes from the Underbelly - Regular Airings Wednesdays at 8:30PM ET/PT on ABC
Premieres Thursday, April 12th at 10 and 10:30PM ET/PT

Director/producer Barry Sonnenfeld and producers Kim and Eric Tannenbaum ("Two and a Half Men") bring a comic take on life's greatest adventure -- parenthood. This ensemble comedy proves that surviving the politics of pregnancy and maintaining your relationships with family and friends can be just as demanding as raising a child.

Andrew (Peter Cambor) and Lauren (Jennifer Westfeldt, "Kissing Jessica Stein") have just found out they're going to have a baby, and they're having a difficult time following rule number one -- keeping it a secret. Suddenly switching to decaf, becoming a teetotaler at cocktail parties, and going to the OBGYN are all difficult to keep from family and close friends.

Surrounding Andrew and Lauren as they embark on their journey is a close-knit circle of friends -- all of whom have varying opinions, experience and advice on starting a family. Julie (Melanie Paxson) and Eric (Sunkrish Bala), also in the family way for the first time, are the overly excited, slightly obnoxious expectant parents that Andrew and Lauren never want to become. Lauren's best friend, Cooper (Rachael Harris), is a divorce attorney and career woman who is skeptical of marriage altogether, and will do her best to keep Lauren from becoming another member of the "mommy cult." Andrew's buddy, Danny (Michael Weaver), is an immature child in his own right, whose chief concern is meeting hot women. Can Andrew and Lauren juggle the freedom and spontaneity of their old lives and the responsibility of their new ones? Will they be able to straddle the worlds of their carefree single friends and the ever-changing world of their married ones?

Andrew will narrate each episode, giving his wry and often sarcastic interpretation of the events that are going on around him. Lauren may be getting the stretch marks, but Andrew has to pretend that he doesn't notice them. Through it all, Andrew and Lauren come to learn that what's best for the child could be the easiest part... maintaining your relationships with family and friends might be the real challenge.

Based on Risa Green's novel of the same name, "Notes from the Underbelly" was created by Stacy Traub ("Kitchen Confidential.") Traub, Barry Sonnenfeld, Kim Tannenbaum and Eric Tannenbaum serve as executive producers. The series is from The Tannenbaum Company, Hill Three Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Cast: Jennifer Westfeldt as Lauren, Peter Cambor as Andrew, Michael Weaver as
Danny, Rachael Harris as Cooper, Melanie Paxson as Julie, and Sunkrish Bala as Eric

Read our review of the pilot and two other episodes here.

Discuss the show after you watch it on Thursday on our message board.

Related Links:

ABC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Notes from the Underbelly Photo Gallery


Turning to the news, yes, it is that time of the week again where Nick at Nite announces that they have changed their regular weekend line-up for the coming weekend. This time it will be three days of Fresh Prince with very early morning airings of Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Full House and Murphy Brown. to see the schedule for these three days click HERE. Hope you all enjoy all this Fresh Prince they keep airing. No Roseanne at least this weekend.

Nick at Nite Sked Change; More TV Land Awards Details; WGN Adds 'Chappelle's', More for Fall 2007

Once again Nick at Nite will not air their regular schedule this Saturday and Sunday. The last few weeks they have aired nothing but Fresh Prince. This week it will be a mix of Roseanne and Fresh Prince all night long. Roseanne from 10p-1a & 4-6a on Saturday and 9p-1a & 4-6a on Sunday and Fresh Prince 1-4a on both nights. It is likely they will do this each weekend, but for now it is just for this weekend.
They have also schedule Designing Women to the late Thursday (early Friday) 5:30 a.m. slot starting April 12. Murphy Brown will air at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday nights (early Sundays), as well. Since Nick at Nite likes to change their weekend schedule to all Fresh/Roseanne, Murphy will probably never air. As always, this is subject to change, especially with this network. View it in list form if you prefer that.

TV Land announced today that it will salute Lucille Ball, Roots, The Brady Bunch, Taxi and Hee Haw among others at the Fifth Annual TV Land Awards hosted by Kelly Ripa (taping on Saturday, April 14). The gala premieres on TV Land on Sunday, April 22nd at 9 p.m. ET/PT and will be rebroadcast on TV Land's sister network, Nick at Nite that same night beginning at 11 p.m. ET/PT.
Legendary comedienne Carol Burnett will bestow the Legacy of Laughter Award on Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. on behalf of their mother, Lucille Ball for her groundbreaking career and body of work including her enduring sitcom I Love Lucy. The cast of The Brady Bunch will be reunited on stage to accept the Pop Culture Award. The landmark mini-series Roots, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, will be honored for its place in television history. The Entertainer Award will be given to Hee Haw, one of television's longest running country music series. Taxi, which launched and furthered the careers of several Hollywood notables, will be awarded the Medallion Award for keeping the meter running for all these years.
TV Land will also present awards in several other categories, including the 2006 Future Classic Award - which TV Land unveiled in 1998 and is presented annually to the one new show from the previous calendar year that best exemplifies the qualities of an emerging television classic.
To view the full release with more information, including a list of attendees thus far, click HERE.

Beginning this fall, Chapelle's Show, will join Superstation WGN. Chapelle's Show features comedian Dave Chappelle as the host of this cutting-edge sketch-comedy. The first three seasons of the half-hour show have been acquired for a two-year run.
It will begin airing nationally on Superstation in Late Fringe, where it will run as part of a late night comedy block that includes new addition Reno 911, successful comedies like Scrubs and Becker, and newcomer Corner Gas, Canada's #1 sitcom premiering on Superstation WGN this fall.

ABC Sitcom 'Notes' To Premiere After 'Anatomy'; JustMyShow.com Interviews; Nick at Nite Weekend Change for This Weekend

ABC will be revising its 'notes' after 'anatomy' class starting April 12. ABC will debut new sitcom Notes from the Underbelly on Thursday, April 12 at 10 p.m. with two back-to-back episodes following a Grey's Anatomy Clip Show. It is almost unheard of for a sitcom to air in the 10 p.m. hour so this will be interesting. ABC plans on airing Notes for three weeks (that's six half-hour episodes) in the slot. Previously Notes was supposed to replace In Case of Emergency on Wednesdays at 9:30 starting April 11, but that will not happen now, which means all 13 of In Case of Emergency's episodes will now air, instead of just 11. So that means Wednesdays at 9:30 will be vacant starting April 25...maybe Knights of Prosperity will return for its last four episodes of the season?
ABC was planning on returning Men in Trees to the Thursday at 10 slot starting April 12, but that is not happening. It is still unclear what ABC will do with the five remaining Trees episodes. It is possible that they could move the show to Fridays at 8 starting April 13 for 5 weeks or hold-off on the remaining five episodes for next season, where it could air for at least 27 new episodes next season, something Boston Legal & Grey's Anatomy did their first seasons.
Now, Notes from the Underbelly is just airing for three weeks on Thursdays, but what about after that? That is also sort of still unclear, but this is what will look like happen: April 12, 19, & 26 will be Notes from the Underbelly; May 3 will be the special two-part episode of Grey's Anatomy introducing the spin-off; and May 10 & 17 is unclear but it looks like ABC will bring back October Road for episodes five and six, rather than ending after episode four on April 5. That show has impressed thus far.
We will keep you up to date if anything is concrete later today or in the coming days. Keep checking back!

Our good friend Eric from JustMyShow.com has a new episode up on his website. This time he chats with Tom Wopat from The Dukes of Hazzard and Alan Spencer, creator of the cult sitcom Sledge Hammer. This episode is the series' 13th episode. Congrats Eric! That is more than many of the TV series these days! Anyway, click HERE to listen to this episode. As usual, Eric is on top of his game and knows his stuff. Great preparation.

Finally, Nick at Nite will edit this weekend's schedule. Like last weekend, it will be all Fresh Prince. Though last weekend the first three half-hours were Full House because of that Jesse marathon, but not this weekend. This Saturday and Sunday it is all Will Smith all the time. Saturday from 10-6am and Sunday from 9pm-6am only on Nick at Nite.
Will Fresh Prince weekend be a weekly thing? Who knows.