TV Land Brings Back Married with Children...Again; TV Guide/TV Land Acquire Curb Your Enthusiasm; Lopez Tonight Launches Tonight

TV Land is bringing back Married...with Children once again! Al Bundy and the rest of the Bundy family just love TV Land and will return this Saturday (Nov. 14) with weekly Saturday marathons along with airing Mon-Thurs in the 9pm hour and Mondays from 10pm-12am starting next Monday (Nov. 16). The sitcom has always done well on TV Land, but there are some issues with sister network Spike TV. They were the ones who acquired the series but ever since TV Land has tested the show, it has done well on TV Land. But something prevents it from airing on both networks at the same time...so Spike TV will remove the series again after this week. Spike will air it this week in the mornings (10am-12pm), then effective Saturday, it goes back to TV Land. The TV Land weekday airings will replace Andy Griffith in the 9pm hour and Cosby Show in the Monday 10pm-12a block.
Other changes starting Monday, Nov. 16 are also to weekdays. Leave it to Beaver and The Beverly Hillbillies replace Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in the 9am hour. Home Edition will still weekend mornings at 8am. In the 10am hour we get another The Beverly Hillbillies and All in the Family, replacing an hour of Good Times, which is now off the regular line-up. Sanford & Son remains at 11am, but at 12pm we now have Hogan's Heroes returning to the schedule and airing in the 12pm hour replacing All in the Family and Leave it to Beaver, which move to earlier slots as I mentioned. At 1pm, Gunsmoke takes over the hour replacing Beverly Hillbillies, which also move to earlier slots as I mentioned. Bonanza will air at 2pm instead of Gunsmoke, so Bonanza airs 2pm-5pm. And in the 5pm hour now will be Andy Griffith Show instead of Bonanza. Andy will lead into All in the Family and Sanford & Son hours from 6-8pm, as they are not removing those hours. Andy remains n the 8pm hour leading into Married...with Children at 9.
So, there you have it...the updated TV Land November schedule! View the full updated TV Land November 2009 schedule, if you're confused.

We have even more TV Land news! But this one is shared with the TV Guide Network. TV Land and TV Guide Network announced that they will jointly acquire basic cable rights to Curb Your Enthusiasm, the award-winning HBO comedy series produced by and starring Seinfeld co-creator Larry David. One of the most ground-breaking shows on television, Curb Your Enthusiasm has never before been seen on basic cable television and for the first time ever, this irreverent comedy series will be delivered to millions of new viewers by TV Guide Network and TV Land. In addition, both networks will acquire certain broadband, wireless and video-on-demand rights, bringing Curb Your Enthusiasm to multiple screens for fans to enjoy.
Curb Your Enthusiasm will air on TV Guide Network for a multi-year run starting February 2010. TV Land will begin airing the series in TV Land PRIME immediately following TV Guide Network's term in February 2013 (it could be a year later if HBO renews Curb for an eighth season).
We previously announced that Curb Your Enthusiasm launches in broadcast syndication on Tribune stations in Fall 2010, so TV Guide Network will have a seven month head start. WGN America will also air the series starting in Fall 2010, when locals start it, as we previously announced.

And finally, the wait is over. The time is now. The party starts tonight at 11:00pm, only on TBS, as they launch Lopez Tonight starring George Lopez! George's guests tonight are Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker, talk show host and new American Idol judge Ellen DeGeneres, NBA all-star Kobe Bryant and rock legend Carlos Santana. And you won't want to miss the audience game that everyone will be talking about tomorrow, "Bullet Wound... Not a Bullet Wound?" Other guests for premiere week include Jamie Foxx, Marc Anthony, Queen Latifah, Oscar De La Hoya, Lisa Lampanelli, Kelly Osbourne and Larry David. In the coming weeks you'll see Charlie Sheen, Andy Garcia, Bill Engvall, Ted Danson, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and many more!
Lopez Tonight airs Mon-Thurs from 11pm-12:05am ET (with an encore at 2am ET) starting tonight, as George is bringing the party back to late night! Orale!
Tonight's premiere at 11pm will be simulcast on TNT and truTV as well.

Nick at Nite November 2009 Highlights - George Lopez Thanksgiving Week; American Dad Renewed Through 2011

Nick at Nite this November will celebrate Thanksgiving with George...George Lopez, of course! But first the regular schedule remains pretty consistent with October, with Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris having the 8-10pm block Sun-Thurs, followed by George Lopez in the 10pm hour Sun-Fri, The Nanny from 11pm-1am every night, more George Lopez in the 1am hour Mon-Fri, Roseanne from 2-6am every night, and The Nanny in the 6am half-hour every weekday. Variations include Glenn Martin, DDS on Mondays at 8pm & Saturdays at 10:30pm, Malcolm in the Middle weekends in the 1am hour, Everybody Hates Chris gets the Nickelodeon hour on Fridays at 9, while George Lopez gets it Saturdays at 9, and finally Everybody Hates Chris airs in the 10pm half-hour on Saturdays.
As for specials and stunts, we have an encore of Mr. Troop Mom starring George Lopez airing this Sunday (Nov. 1) from 9-11pm. And during Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 23-29), it's nothing but George Lopez, as Nick at Nite celebrates the holiday with their favorite family! So spend time with your family watching the Lopez family all-week long from 9pm-6am (Mon-Thurs), 10pm-6am (Fri, Sun), and 9:30pm-6am (Sat).
View the full November 2009 schedule and highlights!
Meanwhile on Nickelodeon, on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) we get Nick Jr. specials from 6:30am-11:30am which includes Barbie: 3 Musketeers, followed by iCarly, True Jackson, SpongeBob, and Mr. Troop Mom movies. SpongeBob and The Penguins of Madagascar get a marathon, including premieres at 8:00pm on Friday, November 27. On Saturday, November 28, all-new Nicktoons episodes from 9:00am-12:00pm & iCarly premiere from 8:00pm-9:30pm. And finally on Sunday, November 29, it's the all-new Merry Christmas Drake & Josh movie from 8:00pm-10:00pm.

Fox has ordered a sixth season of American Dad!, the animated series featuring security-obsessed CIA agent and devoted family man Stan Smith (Seth MacFarlane). Recently honored with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program, American Dad! airs Sundays (9:30PM ET/PT) on Fox. The series ranks in the Top 10 programs of the season among Teens, Male Teens, Men 18-34, Persons 12-34, Adults 18-34 and Men 18-49.
The renewal means that all three series from Seth MacFarlane -- Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and now American Dad! -- have pickups through next season (2010-2011).
Currently American Dad! is in its fifth season on TV, but is still airing episodes produced for season four.

Nick at Nite, Lifetime Schedule Updates; Flintstones Musical Episodes Marathon on Boomerang

Nick at Nite has made some schedule changes. First off, they removed Home Improvement weekdays at 6am this past Tuesday with more The Nanny, while Roseanne replaced Everybody Hates Chris' 2-3am hour, so Roseanne now airs 2am-6am every night. The rest of the changes are basically to Fridays and Saturdays, and they start this weekend. George Lopez now airs in the 9pm hour on Fridays, which is technically still Nickelodeon, replacing Everybody Hates Chris. George will also still air in the 10pm hour on Fridays. Then we have a block of The Nanny from 11pm-2am, as George's 1am hour is no more on Fridays. On Saturdays, Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris will air in new timeslots, with Malcolm in the 11pm hour and Chris in the 12am hour. George Lopez will be the lead-in and lead-out airing in the 10pm hour still and gaining the 1am hour. So The Nanny doesn't air at all on Saturdays now. Sundays is petty much the same as now, but The Nanny is 11pm-2am. And this Sunday (Oct. 25) there is a marathon of The Nanny all-night long from 8pm-2am and some encores from 2am-6am. As we mentioned, there is a Halloween stunt on Monday, Oct. 26 from 8-11pm, but now we have some time shifting. Glenn Martin and Malcolm in the Middle Halloween episodes are still in the 8pm hour, but now George Lopez's Halloween episodes are airing in the 9pm hour followed by an Everybody Hates Chris Halloween episode at 10pm and an encore of the Glenn Martin Halloween episode at 10:30pm. These three-hours will encore on Halloween night (Saturday, Oct. 31) from 10pm-1am.
So that should catch everyone up. View the updated Nick at Nite schedule and highlights. We'll have November info soon, stay tuned.

Moving on to Lifetime, it seems original sitcoms Sherri and Rita Rocks are underperforming with new episodes in the Tuesday at 10pm hour. So, Lifetime will move Rita Rocks to Mondays with a block of episodes airing 9pm-11pm, as new episodes will air from 10pm-11pm. Sherri will air Tuesdays with a block of episodes airing 9pm-11pm, and new episodes at 10pm. Lifetime is trying to get better ratings and a block of the same show usually does the trick.
Lifetime is also changing their daytime line-up starting Monday (Oct. 26). Reba's two-hour block goes from 10am-12pm to 8am-10am. Less than Perfect is now totally gone and off the schedule. Frasier moves up an hour from 9am-10am to 10am-11am and Will & Grace gets the 11am hour, as that was only airing at 8:30am in the mornings. In the afternoon, we now get three Wife Swap episodes, as 1-3pm remain but also 12pm is added replacing Medium. We also now get three episodes of Desperate Housewives from 3pm-6pm, shifting the three episodes of Grey's Anatomy to 6pm-9pm, as Medium is replaced at 8pm. Medium can now be seen weeknights at 12:30am & 1:30am. All is not lost for Medium, as it will get a Halloween marathon next Friday (Oct. 30) from 11am-8pm.
View the full updated Lifetime schedule.

Finally, In addition to making television history as the world's first prime-time animated series (ABC), The Flintstones also offered viewers many samplings of fun, culturally relevant music that delighted viewers throughout the show's six-year run. On Sunday, Oct. 25, these classic animated musical moments will return for a command performance as Boomerang presents a day-long marathon of the best of The Flintstones musical episodes: Bedrock 'N' Roll. From 8am-11pm (ET), America's favorite Stone-Age families--Fred, Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone plus Barney, Betty and Bamm-Bamm Rubble--will "rock out" to prehistoric beats while they welcome a number of celebrity guests, including Ann-Margaret (Ann Margrock) and James Darren (Jimmy Darrock).
Once again showing the depth and breadth of its incredible classic cartoon library, Boomerang presents a rollicking good time with a commercial-free marathon of 15 jamming episodes guaranteed to get your toes tapping. The seven-and-a-half hour rock block will be followed by an encore presentation so that music aficionados coast-to-coast can join in the fun.
View the highlights of some of the episodes airing.

Ugly Betty Reruns on TV Guide Network Details; TeenNick, Nick at Nite Halloween Programs

Back in July we told you that TV Guide Network has gotten the rerun rights to Ugly Betty starting this October with repurpose rights then daily strip rights starting in fall 2010...now we have details on the repurpose rights!
Thursday nights are about to get a little bit 'Bettyer' as TV Guide Network prepares to telecast encore airings of the new season of Ugly Betty this fall. Longtime fans and curious newcomers that miss the Friday premiere of new Ugly Betty episodes on ABC can get caught up with TV Guide Network Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT, beginning October 22.
The season premiere this year is a two-part episode, so part two will air on TV Guide Network on Friday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m. And if you forgot what happened on last season's season finale, then you can catch up on either Thursday or Friday of this week (Oct. 15 and 16) and watch it on TV Guide Network at 7pm both nights, just in time for the two-hour season premiere on ABC from 8-10pm on Friday.
Leading up to the October 22 encore telecast, TV Guide Network will air special Ugly Betty themed programming including a behind-the-scenes look at the set of Ugly Betty, cast interviews, a series overview, scoop on the new season, and fashion tips on how to emulate the characters' signature styles on the show.
Among the specials airing are inFANity: Ugly Betty (October 19 at 7 p.m.); The Fashion Team: Ugly Betty Style (October 20 at 7 p.m.); and Look-A-Like: America Ferrera (October 21 at 7 p.m.). Other specials that will air are Look-A-Like: Salma Hayek, Lindsay Lohan, and Lucy Liu...all who appeared on the show.
TV Guide Network also wants to give Ugly Betty fans a chance to be on television. Fans are invited to share their comments and reactions to the new season by uploading video comments to a new YouTube channel created specifically for them. Fans who visit www.youtube.com/uglybettyfans will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on the show, talk about which characters they love and which they love to hate, give their reactions to the latest episodes, and send a hello to their favorite cast members. A selection of YouTube video posts will air on TV Guide Network leading up to each Thursday Ugly Betty encore telecast.
On Saturday, October 17 between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m., Ugly Betty fans in the Los Angeles area are invited to meet in the second floor courtyard area of the Hollywood & Highland Center for a chance to be interviewed about the show. Fans are encouraged to dress as their favorite character and should come prepared to talk about their favorite Ugly Betty episodes and stars, and why they love the show. Fan interviews will air on TV Guide Network Thursdays before Ugly Betty encore airings.
Read more about the special Ugly Betty programming TV Guide Network has planned the week of Oct. 19.

TeenNick's (Formerly The N) has a week-long Halloween marathon that will...well scae you! TeenNick's "Now THAT's Scary" programming will include marathons featuring the hair-raising chills and thrills of teendom from Monday, Oct. 26 to Thursday, Oct. 29, starting at 8:00 p.m. (ET) through 12:00 a.m. (ET) and continues Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31 with afternoon marathons starting at 3 p.m. (ET) of Degrassi: The Next Generation through 12:00 a.m. (ET). The "nightmare-athons" in primetime (Oct. 26-29) will feature episodes of Full House, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, One on One and What I Like About You with a block of each show each night.
Other Nickelodeon family of networks Halloween programming includes a Glenn Martin Halloween episode on Nick at Nite. On Monday, Oct. 26, Nick at Nite will kick off a night of Halloween-themed programming with a brand-new Glenn Martin, DDS at 8:00 p.m. followed by Halloween-themed episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Hates Chris and George Lopez from 8:30-11pm.
And Nickelodeon will have Halloween-themed episodes of its live action series The Troop and True Jackson VP on Oct. 23 and 24 at 8:30pm.


Don't forget ABC Comedy Wednesday starting tonight at 8/7 central! Today's blog is sponsored by Modern Family, airing 9/8 central tonight on ABC Comedy Wednesday. Funniest episode yet with special guest Shelley Long! The song at the end will have you in tears of laughter!

Nick at Nite October 2009; Encore Westerns Re-Acquires Gunsmoke, Travel, Rawhide

October has just started and Nick at Nite has released their October 2009 schedule. There aren't any regular schedule changes, so the same changes from September will carry over into October. There will be a George Lopez marathon this Sunday (October 4) from 9pm-4am. Leading into the marathon will be George's movie Mr. Troop Mom from 7pm-9pm, so it's an all George night! Episodes airing for the marathon are "Love Bites," "Charity," "Team Leader," "Long Time No See," "Sabes Quake," "George Takes a Stroll Down Memory Pain," "George Buys a Vow," "George Watcha's Out For Jason," "George's Grand Slam," "George Needs Anchor Management," "George Vows to Make Some Matri-Money," "George Discovers How Mescal-ed Up His Life Would Have Been Without the Benny-Fits," "George's House Has Two Empty Wombs," and "George Nieces a New Media Room."
Also in October you can catch new episodes of original animated comedy Glenn Martin, DDS every Monday at 8pm.
View and discuss the Nick at Nite October 2009 highlights.

Encore Westerns has acquired the rights to air several classic Western series from CBS TV Distribution. They have acquired Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel and Rawhide. Black and white episodes of Gunsmoke will return to Encore Westerns in January (TV Land has the other package still), with Have Gun Will Travel and Rawhide airing sometime next year.
Fans were devastated when Gunsmoke went off the channel four long years ago, so they decided to re-acquire it! Currently Encore Westerns airs Maverick, Cheyenne, The Gene Autry Show, Bret Maverick, Cimarron Strip, and The Magnificent Seven. Stay with us for more on this!

ABC Fall Pilot Review: Modern Family - Premieres September 23; Nick at Nite Moves Chris to 9PM

Modern Family - Wednesdays 9:00PM ET/PT on ABC
Premieres Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 9:00PM ET/PT

Today's American families come in all shapes and sizes. The cookie cutter mold of man + wife + 2.5 kids is a thing of the past, as it becomes quickly apparent in the bird's eye view of ABC's new half-hour comedy, Modern Family, which takes an honest and often hilarious look at the composition and complexity of family life in 2009.

Take for example Phil and Claire, two parents who want to have that open, healthy, honest relationship with their three kids. It's not always easy, especially when you have a teenage daughter who's growing up a little fast, a too-smart-for-her-own-good middle daughter and a rambunctious boy. On top of that, Phil wants to be the "cool dad," while Claire is just trying her best to run a tight ship, determined not to let her kids have the rebellious childhood she had.

Then there's Jay, a true guys' guy who is having a bit of mid-life crisis. Jay has found a much younger wife, Gloria, who has become the center of his world. She's a passionate and sassy divorcee who comes with an 11-year-old son, Manny. Already taking notice of girls and a hopeless romantic, Manny is as passionate as his mom and spends his time daydreaming and writing poetry. His new step-father isn't altogether comfortable with the sensitive stuff and would like to toughen Manny up. But that's only one of Jay's challenges. The biggest is that people often mistake him for Gloria's father, not her husband.

And lastly there's Mitchell and his partner of five years, Cameron. They've just taken that amazing 'next step' by adopting a child together from Vietnam. Cameron has a wonderfully big personality and maybe a flare for the dramatic, whereas Mitchell is the more serious of the two. But they balance each other out and are already doting fathers.

Life, it seems, is neither tidy, politically correct or in any way predictable. For these three families, it turns out, are not three but one... one big, blended family, with Jay the patriarch and Claire & Mitchell his grown kids. Yet it's just such surprises that make things so interesting in this window into the sometimes warm, sometimes twisted embrace of the modern family.


Cast Details:

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

Ed O'Neill (Jay) is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the long running sitcom, Married... with Children. Signed by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, he was cut in training camp and worked as a social studies teacher before becoming an actor. He has appeared in a number of movies, including The Bone Collector, Little Giants, Dutch and the Wayne's World series. Besides his role on Married...with Children, O'Neill's television credits include the reincarnation of Sgt. Joe Friday on Dick Wolf's ABC remake of Dragnet, the recurring role of Baker (D-PA), a potential Vice Presidential candidate on the NBC drama The West Wing, the role of Detective Michael Mooney on David Milch's CBS series, Big Apple, and most recently that of a retired cop on HBO's John from Cincinnati. His other TV credits include a guest shot on ABC's 8 Simple Rules, which reunited him with Katey Sagal of Married...with Children.

Sofía Vergara (Gloria) was already one of the hottest Hispanic TV stars and one of the most beloved personalities of the Latino world when she decided to pursue her career in the U.S., becoming one of the few Hispanic stars to find crossover success. Most recently Vergara has appeared in Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail films for Lionsgate, and recurring roles on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and MEN IN TREES. Before that she played the sexy Colombian actress who stirred things up on Entourage, starred in Amas de Casa Desesperadas, the Latin-tailored version of Desperate Housewives, and in the comedy feature Chasing Papi. She was also a regular on ABC sitcoms Hot Properties and The Knights of Prosperity, while guest starring on ABC's My Wife & Kids and Rodney.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell) received rave reviews and was honored by The Hollywood Reporter in 2006 as one of Ten to Watch for his role on the CBS ensemble sitcom, The Class. Additional television credits include Do Not Disturb and Ugly Betty. Ferguson's film credits include Untraceable, directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, and Griffin & Phoenix, with Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney. He will next appear opposite Matthew Broderick in Wonderful World, a 2009 Tribeca Film Festival selection that marks the feature directorial debut of Joshua Goldin.

Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) has an impressive resume of memorable characters on shows including Dharma & Greg, Malcolm in the Middle, Party of Five, Spin City, ER, The West Wing, American Dad, Providence, Close to Home, Crossing Jordan and Bones. His most notable character is from his recurring turn as Ronnie Litre, the questionable documents tech on the original CSI. Stonestreet was a series regular in the Fox pilot 13 Graves and has most recently guest starred in The Mentalist, N.C.I.S., Nip/Tuck and Pushing Daisies.

Ty Burrell (Phil) is quickly establishing himself as one of the most versatile actors of our time, taking on challenging roles and carving out a diverse career in movies, television and on stage. In film Burrell recently completed shooting Fair Game, opposite Sean Penn for Doug Liman. He is scheduled to start shooting Morning Glory, opposite Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. He played Dr. Samson in Universal's The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, and was in National Treasure 2, opposite Nicolas Cage. Burrell starred opposite Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. in Steven Shainberg's film Fur, about the life of Diane Arbus. On television Burrell starred in the Fox sitcom, Back to You, opposite Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. He also recently starred in the half-hour CBS sitcom Out of Practice, with Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler, and has been recurring on the FX series Damages.

Julie Bowen (Claire) spent two seasons on ABC's critically-acclaimed Boston Legal as attorney Denise Bauer. She plays the recurring role of Matthew Fox's wife on the hit ABC series Lost and, for three seasons, played Carol Vessey, the dream girl of former classmate-turned-lawyer Ed Stevens on the charming NBC series, Ed. Bowen was recently seen in a guest star arc on the darkly-comedic Showtime series Weeds as Lisa Ferris, a cheese shop owner who seduces a younger man, and she will soon be seen in Crazy on the Outside, a feature starring and directed by Tim Allen. Also on the big screen she starred as Adam Sandler's love interest in the comedy Happy Gilmore and appeared with Michael Keaton in Multiplicity. She also starred in An American Werewolf in Paris, performed with Lynn Redgrave in the independent romantic comedy Venus & Mars, and starred opposite Tim Allen in Joe Somebody. In the advertising world, Bowen has been both the face of Neutrogena and the voice of Pampers.

Sarah Hyland (Haley, oldest daughter of Phil & Claire) is a Native New Yorker, born to actors Edward James Hyland and Melissa Canaday. Trained in all areas of dance from the age of three and vocally trained since she was seven, Hyland is a true triple threat. She has been working in film, TV series, soaps and commercials since she was four years old. Hyland's first film was Howard Stern's Private Parts. At the age of eight she landed the role of Molly in ABC's Annie, and Young Audrey in The Audrey Hepburn Story. After filming Annie, she landed the role of Jess Pistone on Falcone. She's guest starred on episodes of Lipstick Jungle, Touched by an Angel, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU.

Rico Rodriguez (Manny, Gloria's son) booked his first role in the video How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Next came the role of Chanchito in the film Epic Movie, a super fun role as the kid janitor in the soon to be released Opposite Day, and another great part -- including flying cake -- in the upcoming The No-Sit List. His Television credits include co-starring as Young Guillermo in Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cory in the House, ER, 'Til Death, iCarly, Nip/Tuck, Surviving Suburbia and NCIS. He has also has been seen in commercials for Roundtable Pizza, Time Warner Cable, Dodge, Walmart, BlueCross, Chrysler and AT&T.

Nolan Gould (Luke, Phil & Claire's son) began his career at the tender age of three doing commercials and totally fell in love with acting. He has worked consistently since the day he first stepped on that commercial set. His most recent films include leads in the features Space Buddies and Montana. Current television credits include Eleventh Hour and the movie of the week, Sweet Nothing in My Ear.

Ariel Winter (Alex, Phil & Claire's younger daughter) had a recurring role on the final six episodes of ER as Lucy, a young girl whose mother is brought into the ER in need of a heart transplant. This year she will also appear in the thriller Duress, opposite Martin Donovan. Best known as Trixie in Warner Bros.' Speed Racer, Ariel's other recent credits include the film Opposite Day and Nic & Tristan Go Mega Dega. Ariel's past credits include guest-starring roles on the hit TV shows Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, Nip/Tuck and Bones. Feature credits include a lead role in the hit thriller One Missed Call, in which she plays the killer of the film. In addition, Ariel is the voice of Gretchen on Walt Disney's hit show Phineas and Ferb, voiced a supporting character in the hit animated film Horton Hears a Who and played Thumper's sister in Bambi II. She started her motion picture career at age seven in director Shane Black's hit cult film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Val Kilmer, Robert Downey Jr. and Michelle Monaghan.


Pilot Plot:

#1 "Pilot" (Airs September 23)
Today's families come in all shapes and sizes, and that is very evident in Jay Pritchett's very full and very blended family. Jay and his new gorgeous and much younger wife, Gloria, are happily married and getting accustomed to their new life together. But when her pre-teen son develops a crush on a 16-year-old girl, it becomes apparent that Jay and Gloria may have some generational and cultural gaps to bridge. Jay's grown daughter, Claire, has a family of her own -- three kids and a husband, Phil, who is practically a giant kid himself. Things get a little tense when their teenage daughter, Haley, brings a boy home and Phil tries to adopt the cool, hip dad approach. Then son Luke misuses of his BB gun, which results in Phil and Claire turning it right back on to him. Jay's other grown son, Mitchell, is in a committed relationship and has just adopted a baby girl from Vietnam with his life partner, Cameron. They're going through the joys and anxieties of bringing a baby home for the first time, but Mitchell still has the daunting task of introducing their new addition to the whole family.
Guest starring are Reid Ewing as Dylan, Hayley Erin as Brenda Feldman, Lillian Adams as passenger #1, Duane Shepard Sr. as passenger #2, Heather Lee as passenger #3, Jenica Bergere as soccer mom, Matt Corboy as Josh, aka soccer dad, and Marcus Brown as security guard.
"It Takes a Village Idiot" was written by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, and directed by Jason Winer.


Analysis:

I first saw the pilot back in May and it was hilarious! I just watched the final cut a few days back and it is STILL hilarious! This is clearly the best new sitcom of the new season. It is a single camera sitcom with lots of smart lines and is laugh out loud! It is in mockumentary form like The Office. This show is basically about three families who are part of a big family...which is the reveal at the end of the episode, as the ABC promos gave away already. Even though if you know that, you'll still laugh and enjoy the episode. The first family is Jay and Gloria with Gloria's son Manny. Jay is an older man who married a much younger woman, who has a kid. The next family is the traditional family, husband and wife Phil & Claire and their three children. And finally the last family is Mitchell & Cameron, who are gay. These three families are all related. Jay is the father of Claire and Mitchell.

The pilot is very funny and so good. Basically each family have their own separate storylines in this episode until then end, which is the "reveal." Jay & Gloria are dealing with Manny's crush on an older girl. Phil & Claire are dealing with their kids, who each have a dilemma. And Mitchell & Cameron just adopted a baby, and they think Mitchell's family won't like it. There are hilarious scenes throughout this episode. I can't pick one scene in particular, since there are so many. Ty Burrell as Phil is a breakout star on this pilot. He is very good in the episode and has very funny lines and also even some physical comedy. He dances to High School Musical and also acts cool with teenage slang. And at the end of the episode I couldn't stop laughing when Gloria says, "Hi Phil" and what Phil does is brilliantly funny! You'll see! Even the children are funny. Phil & Claire's older daughter (who I think is 15) has a boy over for the first time and of course the parents, especially Claire, try to snoop in. This show is so real!

I liked everything about the pilot. I have no complaints whatsoever. I think the show will get even better now that the series is set-up and we know that these three families are all related. The Lion King song during the reveal of the adopted baby was classic and came out of nowhere, which is always a positive in comedy to be surprised rather than to expect something. No cliches here at all!


Conclusion:

Every critic out there is saying that this is the best comedy or best new show even of the fall. I agree and I'm not saying that just because they are. I saw the show back in May during ABC upfront before all the critics were raving about it and I mentioned back then that this was brilliant. The pilot will certainly be sampled as it will follow a special Dancing with the Stars: The Results on a special night and time. The question is will it continue after that? It better because the quality will be there and there will be great guest stars coming aboard such as Elizabeth Banks, Ed Norton, Shelley Long, and Krista Allen. If you like the pilot, which I'm sure everyone who watches will, stick around every week please! There are no family comedies currently on broadcast and we need a big hit in comedy that is a family comedy. This is not your average family comedy, so you'll see some new and unexpected stories. The pilot is so funny and real that it will make you look at your own family and wonder if you would do the same thing! Everything about this show is 5-star, which is very rare to find. Laugh with America on the new ABC Comedy Wednesday with Modern Family, the best new sitcom of the season! It's funny, seriously!


Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

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

-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 09/22/09

Discuss the show after you watch it on Wednesday, September 23 on our message board.

Related Links:

ABC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Modern Family Photo Gallery

Preview:





Stay tuned tomorrow for our pilot review of Cougar Town, which follows Modern Family on ABC Comedy Wednesday at 9:30pm ET/PT.

Yesterday Nick at Nite made a very last minute schedule change. They switched George Lopez and Everybody Hates Chris' timeslots. George Lopez is now back to its old 10pm hour every night, while Everybody Hates Chris is now in the 9pm hour from Sun-Thurs. So this means Chris on Fridays and Saturdays won't be seen until 2-3am, since Nick at Nite doesn't start until 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Chris will continue to air 2-3am every night, while George Lopez airs 1-2am Mon-Fri nights. Malcolm in the Middle will air 1-2am on weekends leading into Chris. Malcolm will also lead into Chris now in the Sun-Thurs 9pm hour. I think Malcolm and Chris will be a good combo and a good fit, while George is back to its powerhouse time of 10pm.

Nick at Nite Fall 2009 Schedule; Dancing with the Stars Season 9 Cast

We continue our look at Fall 2009 schedules today with Nick at Nite's Fall 2009 line-up. Joining the schedule will be the comedy Everybody Hates Chris. The sitcom will launch with a marathon on Labor Day evening (Monday, Sept. 7) airing from 10pm-6:30am ET/PT. The series is inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock (who is also the narrator), while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in the early-mid 1980s. The series stars Tyler James Williams as the young Chris Rock. Tequan Richmond, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold, Imani Hakim, and Vincent Martella also star. With recurring guest appearances by Todd Bridges, Ernest Thomas, Jackee Harry, and Jason Alexander. The series is also expected to air on sister Viacom network BET this fall (more to come on that).
All 88 episodes of Everybody Hates Chris will air on Nick at Nite as the show will air every night at 10 & 10:30PM ET/PT starting the next night as well as 2 & 2:30AM ET/PT. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be leaving the schedule, as the contract has indeed expired, as we guessed a few weeks back. The show will air on Disney-owned ABC Family and Disney XD (more on Disney XD soon) on weeknights in September, while continuing to air on TBS in the mornings. As we mentioned Chris will air in the 10pm hour, this is now shifting the second hour of George Lopez back to 1am. The Nanny's weeknight 11pm-3am block is now just the 11pm hour, as Malcolm in the Middle returns to 12 midnight. 3-6am every night will be a rotating wheel of three series: The Nanny (Mon, Thurs, Sun), Family Matters (Tues, Fri) and Home Improvement (Wed, Sat). Also, the 6am half-hour will now be a wheel of these three series as well. This means Family Matters and Home Improvement will not air before 3am, as the 8pm-3am schedule is consistent each night with a few exceptions (Glenn Martin Mondays at 8 and Malcolm in the Middle Sunday nights in the 1am hour).
Other September highlights include a week-long marathon of George Lopez prior to Everybody Hates Chris joining. George week will be Aug. 31-Sept. 6, from 9pm-6am (10pm-6am on Fri-Sat). And of course original series Glenn Martin, DDS continues Mondays at 8pm. The original stop-motion animated series follows the life of Glenn Martin (Kevin Nealon), who yearns for a change of scenery and a deeper connection with his family.
View the FULL Nick at Nite Fall 2009 schedule that begins Sept. 8. As always, especially with Viacom owned networks, this is subject to change. So stay with us for continued updates.

An all new cast of celebrities hits the dance floor on ABC's Dancing with the Stars with the highly anticipated two-hour season premiere on Monday, September 21, 2009 from 8:00-10:02 p.m., ET/PT on ABC. With its biggest season yet, Dancing with the Stars Season Nine introduces us to 16 new stars, including an Osmond and an Osbourne, two Grammy Award ® winning artists, a Cowboy, a model CEO and a former House Majority Leader.
During the first week, eight teams will strut their stuff on Monday night (Sept. 21), while the other eight teams will show off their moves on Tuesday night (Sept. 22) at a special time of 8:00-10:00 p.m., ET/PT. On a special night and time, two couples will learn their fate and be sent home on Wednesday night (Sept. 23) from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT.
The series will regularly air Mondays 8-10 p.m. ET/PT and the results show on Tuesdays from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT. A 90-minute performance finale is scheduled for Monday, November 23 with the two-hour season finale on Tuesday, November 24 from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT. Four new dance styles -- the Bolero, the Charleston, the Two Step and the Lambada -- are also going to be introduced. The middle stages of the competition feature the return of the "Dance Off" on Tuesday nights, where contestants will perform a dance style of their choosing to fight for their spot in the competition, and three consecutive double eliminations promise the most dramatic period of Dancing with the Stars.
And the stars are: Aaron Carter (singer/actor), Natalie Coughlin (Olympic swimmer), Mark Dacascos (chef, Food Network), Tom DeLay (politician), Macy Gray (singer), Ashley Hamilton (actor, son of George Hamilton), Melissa Joan Hart (sitcom star/actress), Kathy Ireland (model, CEO), Michael Irvin (NFL legend), Joanna Krupa (model, The Superstars), Chuck Liddell (UFC mixed martial arts), Debie Mazar (actress), Mya (singer), Kelly Osbourne (singer/actress, personality), Donny Osmond (singer/actor/host, brother of Marie Osmond), and Louie Vito (professional snowboarder).
View full details on all the cast members for Season Nine and more!

Nick at Nite August 2009 Highlights; Retro TV Now in 89% of the U.S.

There will be no changes to the Nick at Nite August schedule that we posted on Monday. Here are the August Highlights:

George Lopez: Main Event Marathon airs on Sunday, August 2 from 9:00pm-4:00am ET/PT.
See George battle everyone! George vs. Benny, George vs. Angie, George vs. Carmen and more! It's the battle royale!

First four episodes of Glenn Martin, DDS will air Aug. 17-20 at 8PM (after new episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar) before settling into its regular Mondays at 8pm timeslot starting Aug. 24. There will be a marathon of the first four episodes on Friday, August 21 from 8-10pm ET/PT. The first four episodes will also encore on sister network Comedy Central at 6pm Tues-Fri, the next night.

Glenn Martin, DDS is the first television production to come out of Michael Eisner’s Tornante Animation Company. The original stop-motion animated series follows the life of Glenn Martin (Kevin Nealon), who yearns for a change of scenery and a deeper connection with his family. Determined to bring the family closer together, Glenn takes the Martins on a road trip to protest the destruction of a beloved childhood park. As things unravel right from the get-go, the family is forced to make the dental-mobile – replete with a giant decorative toothbrush on the roof – their new home. Glenn, Jackie (Catherine O’Hara) and Courtney (Jackie Clarke) – an 11-year-old future corporate maven who brings along her personal assistant, Wendy (Judy Greer), a 14-year-old North Korean exile – and son, Conor (Peter Oldring), the 13-year-old hormone-addled tween who’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed--quickly learn when hitting the road that the road can sometimes hit back in unexpected ways. The Martins are accompanied on their journey by the family dog, Canine, who’s pronounced buttocks only add to the hilarity.

The hilarious Parenthood will air on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 8:00pm-10:00pm ET/PT. The 1989 classic was directed by Ron Howard and stars Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Jason Robards, Rick Moran, Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reaves and many others. Parenthood is the story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the "black sheep" of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.

View our Nick at Nite August 2009 thread and discuss the schedule with others.

Retro TV has added many new affiliates. With these new affiliates, Retro TV's U.S. coverage is now approaching 89 percent. That's up from 75 percent at the beginning of June. They also signed an agreement to return RTV to WPXS in St. Louis. And it added WSPA Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. along with a deal to renew the existing RTV affiliations at all the other Media General stations.
Among the new stations are: WEYW Key West, FL; WAOH Cleveland; KCDO Denver; WCMH Columbus, Ohio; KCSG St. George, Utah; WITI Milwaukee; KGNG Las Vegas; KPVT Pahrump, NV; WMNM-WGMU Burlington, VT; WLCN Charleston, SC; WSEA Springfield, MA; KYUU Boise, ID; WJBF Augusta, GA; WLLZ Traverse City, MI; WWAY Wilmington, NC; WAOW-WYOW Wausau-Rhinelander, WI; WDIO-WIRT Duluth, MN; KJPX Joplin, MO; KPIF Idaho Falls; WKFK Biloxi, MI and WGBC Meridian, MS. Wow!
We will keep you up to date of any more station signings or any programing updates. So stay with us!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

TV Land's Married Block This Thursday; Mr. Troop Mom Scores for Nick at Nite; Bio Remembers Ed McMahon

Tomorrow (Thursday, June 25) TV Land has added a Married...with Children block from 5:52pm-9pm ET/PT. Yes, it starts at 5:52pm replacing Little House on the Prairie, then an hour each of The Cosby Show and Roseanne. Married... with Children is doing well for TV Land and keeps getting extra airings. Don't forget the previously scheduled weekend marathon this week as well (Saturday 9:30am-8pm and Sunday 8am-2am).
Episodes for this Thursday's block are from season four with episodes 73-77 and 79, after Marcy gets divorced from Steve. After the end of this week, the show is currently not scheduled for TV Land but don't be surprised if TV Land makes changes and adds it in again. We'll let you know if they do of course!

The premiere of the original TV movie Mr. Troop Mom on Nick at Nite on Friday, June 19, 8-10pm ET/PT, was basic cable's number-one original TV program for the night, drawing 4 million total viewers. With kids and tweens, the two-hour telecast was number-one on both broadcast and cable on Friday, and placed as cable's number-one original TV program with adults 18-49, with it being the third highest-rated telecast in 18-49, behind only USA's NCIS and Nick at Nite's George Lopez (both aired at 10pm). It averaged a 0.9 A18-49 rating (1.1 million A18-49).
It was the number-two overall telecast with 4 million behind only USA's NCIS repeat at 10pm which did 4.42 million. The two-hour premiere set a new record as the Nick's highest-rated and most-watched original TV movie (not based on an existing series) with total viewers and Adults 18-49.
Mr. Troop Mom — created in partnership with Warner Premiere and George Lopez Presents — stars George Lopez as ace attorney Eddie, who is M.I.A. for most events in his 13-year-old daughter Naomi's (Daniela Bobadilla) life. When Eddie volunteers for the Spring Action Classic — where Naomi goes up against mean-girl Skylar (Jianna Ballard) — treacherous rope courses, cutthroat canoe soccer and slippery slimeball wars are just the start of his introduction to the great outdoors and into his daughter's heart.
George Lopez can be seen weekdays at 10 p.m. on Nick at Nite on his self titled show George Lopez, which is the number-one rated series on Nick at Nite.

Finally, Bio TV will salute Ed McMahon this Saturday with a Biography Remembers episode of his Biography episode. Bio TV will air the Biography at 10am and 4am this Saturday (June 27). The episode is titled Ed McMahon: America's Sidekick, first aired in 1998 it has interviews with Ed, Dick Clark, Jay Leno, Jack Klugman, Sinbad, and Jerry Lewis. Harry Smith hosts and narrates.
Heeeere's Ed McMahon! Bio TV profiles his half-century in show business, which includes stints as dog-food pitchman, Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show, and host of Star Search, where he helped the careers of Sharon Stone, Rosie O'Donnell, Dennis Miller, and Sinbad.

Nick at Nite July 2009 with Malcolm in the Middle; Spike has No Scrubs

We finally can release the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule! Malcolm in the Middle joins the Nick at Nite line-up with an all-night marathon on Sunday, July 5 from 8pm-1am and an encore from 1am-6am! Then the series will join the Nick at Nite line-up the next night airing Sun-Thurs in the 8pm hour and 12am hour (all times ET/PT). On Fridays it will also air in the 4am hour, in addition to 12am. Saturdays and Sundays it will air in the 2am hour as well. Yes, that means on Sundays it is on for three hours (8pm, 12am, 2am) So what does this mean for the rest of the schedule?
George Lopez will still anchor primetime, but now since Nick at Nite starts at 8pm with Malcolm, the anchor will move to the 9pm hour on Sun-Thurs since primetime is now 8pm-11pm instead of 9-11pm! George Lopez will still lead-off Nick at Nite on Fridays & Saturdays in the 10pm hour, as Nick at Nite starts still at 10pm on those two nights. The 1am encore will remain Mon-Fri.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is back in primetime, Mon-Thurs in the 10pm hour and on Fridays in the 11pm hour. It will also air late nights Mon-Thurs in the 4am hour. Who knew this show would come back big? My guess is it is holding the hour for Everybody Hates Chris for the fall.
The Nanny will remain in the 11pm hour every night but Friday (Fresh Prince). The late night hour moves to the 2am hour from Mon-Fri. And on Sat-Sun nights the late night airings are 3-5am.
Family Matters moves to only the 3am hour now on Mon-Fri, with the Mon-Fri at 6am half-hour airings remaining. On Saturdays it is just in the 1am hour and on Sunday nights it will also air in the 1am hour but it will be in primetime as well in the 10pm hour.
Home Improvement is now just every morning in the 5am hour, as it loses all of its slots, including primetime at 9pm.
Anyway, on to the rest of the highlights. We have more than just the Malcolm in the Middle launch marathon. Sister network The N's new series The Assistants (launches Friday, July 10 at 8:30pm on The N) will have a special one-time encore on Nick at Nite on Friday, July 12 at 9pm, sandwiched in between Malcolm in the Middle and George Lopez. Nickelodeon will celebrate the 10th birthday of their megahit SpongeBob SquarePants with "The Ultimate SpongeBob Sponge Bash" from Friday, July 17 starting at 8PM through Sunday, July 19 at 9:30pm ET/PT. That's nearly 50 hours of non-stop SpongeBob! Finally, there will be a George Lopez marathon on Sunday, July 26 from 9pm-4am ET/PT, but we don't have details yet. Stay tuned. Once Nick at Nite officially announces these stunts and what is airing Sunday nights 1am-3am, we will let you know.
For now view our Nick at Nite July 2009 thread and discuss the schedule with others.

We mentioned before that Scrubs was joining the regular schedule for Spike TV starting July 6, weekdays in the 11am hour, now that is not happening. The series had been airing on Thursday nights this month in the 1am hour and was set to join the regular schedule in July, but now instead Spike TV will air Spike's Most Amazing Videos in the 11am hour starting July 6. The other changes we mentioned starting July 6 will remain, including the return of Married...with Children from 9-11am on weekdays. At least Scrubs got to air Thursdays 1-2am on June 18 and will again this Thursday (June 25). It will also air Sunday morning this week.
Scrubs will still be on sister network Comedy Central and also not to mention on WGN America and local broadcast syndication. Starting next week, Scrubs will only be 7-8pm on weekdays on Comedy Central as its 2:30-3:30pm slot will be taken over by MADtv, as Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist returns weekdays in the 8am hour. Just Shoot Me! will remain 3:30-4:30pm. Scrubs will still air in mini-blocks on weekend midday/early afternoons.

Nick at Nite Has Best April Ever; Classic TV Moms on Rachel Ray; Fringe Returns for Second Season

Nick at Nite is total day's number-one basic cable network with Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49 for April, and ranking second only to sister-channel Nickelodeon among total viewers.
April 2009 also marked Nick at Nite's most-watched April in its history with Adults 18-49, Women 18-49 and total viewers. And also, year to date, Nick at Nite is the number-one network with Women 18-49 and is number one with Adults 18-49 (tied in rating with USA Network).
The April 2009 dates were from 3/30/09-4/26/09 and Nick at Nite averaged a 0.6 rating and 697,000 viewers A18-49 and 1.6 million total viewers for the month. With Women 18-49, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.8 rating and 464,000 viewers W18-49 (up 14% year-to-year). Among Men 18-49, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.4 rating and 233,000 viewers M18-49. And in prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers on average per night in April in primetime. Nick at Nite airs 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT in primetime.
And that's not all! For the entire 2009 so far (12/29/08-4/26/09), Nick at Nite is averaging a 0.6 rating and 691,000 viewers A18-49 and 1.5 million total viewers for the year. With Women 18-49, Nick at Nite is averaging a 0.8 rating and 442,000 viewers W18-49 (up 14% year-to-year) for the year. Among Men 18-49, Nick at Nite is averaging a 0.4 rating and 249,000 viewers M18-49 for the year. And in prime time, Nick at Nite is averaging 1.7 million total viewers on average per night for the year in primetime. Nick at Nite's success are from shows like George Lopez and Family Matters, with The Nanny joining the line-up this Sunday!

As we alerted all of you on Sunday on our Twitter page, three classic TV moms were judges on a cook-off on The Rachel Ray Show yesterday. So if you missed that, then you missed our alert. Follow us from now on so you don't miss a beat! Anyway, we have a video clip from this cook-off for you to see. And oh the three classic TV moms are Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Partridge and Mrs. C! Classic '70s fever indeed! Brady Bunch, Partridge Family and Happy Days were three excellent classic family comedies. All three moms look very good still! Watch the video clip!

Meanwhile, the busy network month of pick-ups continues, with Fox. You won't have to wait until May 18 for the fate of one show at least because Fox has renewed creepy thriller Fringe from J.J. Abrams. Fringe has captivated audiences this season, winning its Tuesday time period weekly among key demographics and ranks as the No. 1 new series in primetime among Adults 18-49, as it has followed House in the fall and American Idol this winter/spring.
One thing Fringe couldn't do well was hold a good percentage of those huge lead-ins much. The series has always had a huge lead-in, and that could change this fall with House expected to stay on Mondays. Could that break this series this fall? We shall see, but it get a chance to be tested! Fringe stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo, Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

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.

ION Television May 2009 Adds Reba; Nick at Nite Ratings Climb; Charles in Charge on NBC.com

As I hinted yesterday, ION Television has acquired a sitcom! They will start this sitcom on Monday, April 27! That date will mark the start of the ION Television May 2009 lineup! And the sitcom is...Reba! The WB/The CW 2001-2007 Reba McEntire sitcom joins the ION Television line-up on Monday, April 27 airing weeknights at 7:00pm & 7:30pm. It will also air Monday nights and Friday nights at 8:00pm & 8:30pm. And whenever a movie airs during weekdays in primetime (such as the weekly Thursday slot) and starts at 8:30pm or 9pm, Reba will air leading into it. The sitcom is distributed by 20th Century Fox. Reba also airs on cable on Lifetime TV as well, but ION Television is considered a broadcast station. Reba hasn't aired on broadcast stations since it aired on The CW Daytime. It will be weird because from Tues-Fri, Lifetime also airs Reba in the 7pm hour. That is very strange ION decided to air it at the same time! Did they not realize? Sound off on this on our Twitter page!
The addition of Reba, will cause some shifting. The Drew Carey Show has been removed, as Quantum Leap, M*A*S*H, and Family Feud move back an hour each from 4pm-7pm to make room for Reba at 7:00pm & 7:30pm. ER has also been removed, as Reba will take over Mondays in the 8pm hour as well. Also, after the weekend of May 2-3, starting May 9, RHI Entertainment movies and miniseries will no longer air! We're not sure yet if this is the last of the RHI programming, since the deal expires soon, but the last scheduled programming is May 2-3 with the four-part, eight-hour miniseries Lonesome Dove. Big screen movies will replace RHI the following weekend, May 9-10.
Among the big screen movie premieres this month are American President, Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 3, The Hunt for Red October, Presumed Innocent, The Mask, Angel Eyes, and The Fugitive! The big screen movie encores this month are Octopussy and Rocky IV.
View the complete schedule and highlights for ION Television May 2009!
Stay tuned tomorrow as we announce what sitcom is joining Lifetime in May. And I promise you, it isn't something airing elsewhere! We will also have our review of upcoming new sitcom for ABC starring Bob Saget called Surviving Suburbia tomorrow on the blog. Big Friday!

Nick at Nite scored its most-watched quarter ever in first quarter 2009 (Nielsen Media Research 12/29/08-3/29/09) with Adults 18-49 and Men 18-49. Driven by hit family programming like George Lopez, Nick at Nite produced double-digit gains among A18-49 and W18-49 this quarter, and has delivered 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth in delivery. Nick at Nite closes the first quarter of 2009 as the number-one cable network with W18-49 in total day, and the number-two network with A18-49.
The first quarter for 2009 marked Nick at Nite's most-watched quarter ever with A18-49 and M18-49, averaging a 0.6 rating (690,000 viewers) among A18-49 (up 20%) and a 0.4 rating (254,000 viewers) among M18-49. Nick at Nite ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day for the first quarter of 2009, averaging a 0.8 rating (436,000 viewers) among W18-49, up 14% over last year. The network is number two in total day with A18-49 in the quarter as well. The network delivered 1.5 million total viewers on average, up 5% in viewers over the same time last year. In primetime, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 overall rating and 1.7 million total viewers for the quarter. George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program and has experienced growth of 40% in rating since its launch in September 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 A18-49 rating and 791,000 viewers among A18-49 in the first quarter of 2009. "Whappppah!" "I got this," indeed George!

For fans of Charles in Charge (and Scott Baio), the first season of the popular sitcom (with an amazing theme song) from 1984-85 is now available for enjoyment on NBC.com at any time! You can see the first season in its entirety featuring all 23 episodes. Charles in Charge has been added in the vintage section called "Video Rewind" joining other vintage series such as The A-Team, Simon & Simon, Alfred Hitchcok Hour, and Emergency! Charles in Charge is the first vintage sitcom to be added in the Video Rewind, though! Hopefully we get more Universal-owned sitcoms added to Video Rewind soon such as Amen, Out of this World, Still the Beaver, Harry and the Hendersons, and Bachelor Father. Those would be great because they are not on DVD, while Charles in Charge is. Even though they are on DVD, Gimme a Break and Kate & Allie would be good to have on here, too.

Nick at Nite April 2009: Whole Lotta Lopez Week; New Three's Company Features on Retroality.TV Includes News on a Biography Episode

This April on Nick at Nite, there won't be any changes to the regular line-up...but they do have have "a whole lotta George Lopez." Yes, the week of April 6, is "Whole Lotta Lopez" week! From Mon-Thurs that week from 9:00pm-6:00am ET/PT and Friday of that week from 10:00pm-6:00am ET/PT it's non-stop George Lopez, all-night long!
Nick at Nite is bringing you George Lopez for five full nights! Join Nick at Nite for the kind of laughter and excitement as only George can provide. Watch out!
Catch the first 103 episodes of this hilarious show (but not counting holiday episodes, which means Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Super Bowl, and Valentine's Day.) So the following episodes are skipped: 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 35, 38, 40, 52, 61, 63, 64, 66, 85, 91 (#52 is actually not a holiday episode but the 3D Disneyland episode).
So if you have never seen the show, now is your chance to get in on the action from the beginning! It is quite funny, too. I got this, as George would say. Sabes que, just watch and see yourself!
And coming this May to Nick at Nite will be The Nanny joining the regular schedule. So stay tuned for news on that very soon! But for now view the Nick at Nite April 2009 schedule and highlights.

About ten days ago Chris Mann posted his interview with Three's Company's Joyce DeWitt and also an interview with me...and now Chris has more Three's Company updates! March 2009 is all about Three's Company at Chris' Retroality.TV as Three's Company celebrated 32 years on the air. Chris is labeling all this as the Three's Company 32nd Anniversary Retrospecial!
First up, on his very creative Quit Yer Kitschin' blog section, Chris sums up all of the "Retrospecial" coverage while offering some "extras" about me, Andy Hermann and a person named Ryan Mooney, who wrote a new Internet sitcom pilot called Something About Ryan that's a bit of a contemporary take on Three's Company's comedy of misunderstandings and sexual innuendo, Chris says.
Chris also use this blog entry to break news about a new, in-the-works Biography episode on Three's Company. Believe it or not, Biography has never done a full special on the show, but they have done Biography episodes on John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. We will keep you up to date on this breaking news. It'll likely air on the Biography Channel instead of A&E, as most of the Biography episodes do now.
Chris also pays tribute to John on this blog entry and shares his journey with him where his book Come and Knock on Our Door is concerned (including all the publicity he did and the documentaries that resulted). It is a great story! I urge you to read this creative, informative and interesting blog story!
And that is not all! Remember our good friends Nick Digilo and Andy Hermann of WGN Radio? Chris also interviews them for the Three's Company Retrospecial! If you don't know, Nick is a host of a popular radio show on WGN Radio on weekends and is a big pop-culture fan. Andy is the producer of that show and is a big Three's Company buff. He even does a semi-regular Three's Company Trivia Throwdowns on-air! He is good! I even sent him questions many times, and he has done good. They have interviewed Priscilla Barnes (Terri from Three's Company) and Richard Kline (Larry from Three's Company) on-air on separate occasions, so they were fun to hear! They also did interviews with Chris Mann on-air a few times. Good stuff! You can hear all that on their website, if you missed it. But first be sure to check out the interview Chris does with both Nick and Andy in the Retroality Radio Q&A!
Wow, that's "a whole lotta Company!" We started the blog today with "a whole lotta Lopez" and end with "a whole lotta Company!"

TV Land May 2009 Highlights, TV Land Awards Honorees; George Lopez Talk Show Coming to TBS in November

For May 2009 on TV Land we really don't get any schedule changes, but the schedule seems more consistent, especially from 10pm-6am now. Airing from 10pm-12am will be The Andy Griffith Show (Mon); The Cosby Show (Tues); The Cougar (Wed); The Jeffersons (Thurs) and TV Land PRIME Movie (Fri). Usually from 12-6am we will get back-to-back episodes of sitcoms 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Cosby Show, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and M*A*S*H. Nothing else really is different.
As for stunts, viewers get to spend some time with Mom and "The Cos" just in time for Mother's Day when TV Land PRIME gives moms everywhere the nite off on Thursday, May 7 from 9pm-1am! PRIME presents a special Cosby Show marathon salute to Mom with episodes that feature Cliff struggling to entertain the kids and keep the household in order as he indulges his wife Clair with some well deserved time away from Huxtable family mayhem.
The eight-episode original series The Cougar starring Stacey Anderson, a stunning 40-year-old successful realtor from Scottsdale, Arizona, continues Wednesdays at 10pm on TV Land PRIME.
On Memorial Day (Monday, May 25), it's been six weeks since single sophisticated cougar Stacey embarked on her prowl to find her perfect cub. Prior to the season finale and Stacey's final pick on Wednesday, June 3, come relive all of the romance, laughs, tears and heartbreaks with a marathon of the first six episodes of The Cougar. Tune in to see additional footage and dramatic deleted scenes as well as get an inside scoop on what everyone from Stacey to Vivica to the guys were really thinking.
TV Land PRIME movies for the month are Witches of Eastwick, Patriot Games, The Fugitive, and The Twilight Zone. Risky Business gets some weekend place and on Memorial Day.
View the full TV Land May 2009 schedule (with a generic schedule and also adjustments).
As for the honorees for this year's TV Land Awards, TV Land announced today that it will pay tribute to M*A*S*H, Married with Children, Home Improvement, Magnum P.I., Knots Landing and Two and a Half Men at the 7th Annual TV Land Awards. Hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, the two-hour show will tape on Sunday, April 19, at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City and will air on TV Land during a special presentation of TV Land PRIME on Sunday, April 26th at 8PM ET/PT.
All of this year's honorees are cultural icons representing a cross-section of classic and modern television that viewers love. The Legacy of Laughter Award will be presented to television actress and Seinfeld alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus. M*A*S*H will be honored with the Impact Award. The Innovator Award will be given to the unconventional Fox sitcom Married with Children, as we mentioned yesterday TV Land will showcase six classic episodes in honor of this on Thursday, April 23 from 9pm-12am. The classic CBS primetime soap opera Knots Landing celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and will be recognized for its place in television history. The Fan Favorite Award will be presented to Home Improvement, and the action drama Magnum P.I., which launched the career of Tom Selleck as a leading actor, will be bestowed with the Hero Award. Finally, the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men will be awarded the Future Classic Award.
View more details on this year's honorees!

The late-night landscape is about to shift when comedian and actor George Lopez headlines a new talk show for TBS. The program, from 2.2 Productions, paraMedia Inc. and Telepictures Productions, in association with Warner Horizon Television, will bring the excitement back to late night with an outdoor street-party atmosphere and a high-energy crowd. The fun will include visits from celebrity guests, live music and comedy acts and the benefit of George's own flair and personality. Lopez and Jim Paratore (Warner's The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show) serve as the executive producers for the not-yet-titled series, which will air on TBS Mondays-Thursdays at 11 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning in November 2009.
While high-energy, Lopez's new series will feature a casual environment that invites guests to engage fully with the crowd, giving audience members the chance to interact with the guests, ask questions and walk away feeling as though they've experienced something new. The new talk show represents Lopez's return to series television after co-creating, writing, producing and starring in Warner Bros. Television's groundbreaking hit sitcom George Lopez, which ran for six seasons on ABC. George Lopez remains a hit with viewers in syndication on both broadcast stations and cable's Nick at Nite, ranking as one of the top-rated shows on the network and among the top five comedies and top 20 weekly programs in syndication. George Lopez is one of only four off-net comedies to post weekly ratings gains among households from the 2007–08 to 2008–09 season.
Lopez continues to work steadily and his most recent film credits include the box-office hit Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Swing Vote, Henry Poole Is Here and Balls of Fury. He will next be seen starring opposite Jackie Chan in The Spy Next Door and Mr. Troop Mom, with Jane Lynch. In August, Lopez will film his second HBO Comedy Special, Tall, Dark and Chicano.

ION Television April 2009; Nick at Nite Changes Mind; SOAPnet Gets Gilmore Girls

This April on ION will see a schedule change! The 6pm hour on weekdays is changing starting Monday, March 30. The Steve Harvey Show and Family Feud is being cut from the line-up and being replaced by M*A*S*H, which returns to weekdays after only airing weekends the last few months. M*A*S*H will also air sometimes in the 7pm hour on Thursdays, if the Thursday movie doesn't start earlier than 8pm. As for movies, ION is really showing us more big screen movies and seems to be preempting the RHI movies more in April. The big screen premieres for April are Jurassic Park III, Malice, Keeping the Faith, Deep Blue Sea, The American President, You've Got Mail, and The Negotiator. And the premieres of most of these are on Thursday, but there are a few that will be on a special Wednesday or Sunday airing as well. Some of these movies will run until 10:30pm only, so a filler episode of M*A*S*H will air...and in one case the movie ends at 10pm, so there is a 48 Hours Mystery sighting (April 23)!
RHI movies include movies from the Jane Doe, Mystery Woman, and McBride movie franchises, and movies such as Shapeshifter, In the Beginning and Bloodknot.
View the full ION Television April 2009 highlights with everything you need to know!

Nick at Nite has changed their mind! And it hasn't been even a week yet! The new schedule that was originally was supposed to be for a week (week of Feb. 23), was extended to March 2 and beyond...but now after just two weeks, the schedule prior to the Feb. 23 change returns! So, Home Improvement is back at 9pm and George Lopez's second airing is back at 10:30pm. This schedule returned last night and we only knew about it hours in advance, so we couldn't post it on the blog yesterday. So no more George Lopez at 9pm and a third Family Matters at 10:30pm. George is back to two episodes in the same hour, 10-11pm and Family Mattters is back to two episodes only from 11pm-12am, while Home Improvement gets it second airing back as it was only airing at 9:30pm, now it is 9-10pm again.

SOAPnet has also acquired all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. This acquisition is shared with sister network ABC Family, which has been airing the show for a few years now. Gilmore Girls will begin airing on Saturday, April 4, at 9PM and 10PM. The series will also air on Sundays from 6-8PM. Gilmore Girls revolves around single mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her daughter, and best friend in the world, "Rory" (Alexis Bledel). Set in a storybook Connecticut town populated with an eclectic mix of everyday folks and lovable lunatics, Gilmore Girls is a humorous multigenerational series about friendship, family and the ties that bind. The series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. There will be some changes to weekends as a result, The O.C. moves to 8am (Sat & Sun). One Tree Hill moves to 9 & 10am (Sat). Beverly Hills, 90210 moves to 11am-3pm (Sat) and 9am-1pm (Sun). And the General Hospital Marathon moves to 1-6pm (Sun). There will be no changes to weekdays.
Meanwhile, SOAPnet has also acquired more movies and is producing original series. The theatrical titles the network has acquired from Twentieth Television are How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Brokedown Palace, Object of My Affection and The Fabulous Baker Boys. The titles from Disney ABC Domestic Television include While You Were Sleeping, Tuck Everlasting, Bounce, Three Men and a Baby, Three Men and a Little Lady, Miami Rhapsody and Adventures in Babysitting. The movies will begin airing in March.
As for originals, Holidate is a reality special that takes two women who are looking for love but having no luck with the suitors in their individual cities and transports them into each other’s lives. The women will temporarily trade homes, spend time in each other's cities and date the men in each other's lives. They'll be able to communicate with each other throughout the journey. Holidate begins production in March and will premiere this Fall. In addition to Holidate, the other reality series in development from ABC Media Productions is Mother/Daughter Project (working title). In the series, celebrity mother-daughter pairs with huge relationship issues are brought together to work out their problems under the guidance of a renowned therapist. The format is from Outline Television and will be produced in association with ABC Media Productions.
The scripted series in development are Julia's Tango and Santa Monica. Julia's Tango is a one hour scripted series set in Buenos Aires. Despite her great job and devoted boyfriend, Julia feels stifled by a life of endless routine. On an impromptu trip to her hometown of Buenos Aires, she abandons it all to turn her family home into a bed & breakfast. With the help of her girlfriends, Julia embarks on an unpredictable detour she didn't know she needed. The format of the series is from Endemol. SOAPnet will produce the series in conjunction with Endemol. Santa Monica is a one-hour dramedy about four twenty-something best friends living together and embarking on adulthood. The series follows their journeys as they cope with obstacles in love lives, family lives and careers. Whether they're dealing with a broken heart or a career setback, they take comfort in the fact that they always have each other.

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).

BET Acquires Sitcom 'The Game'; Nick at Nite Valentine's Stunt and More February 2009

BET has acquired reruns of current CW sitcom, The Game! The Game is a spin-off of Girlfriends, which also has its reruns on BET (and WE tv), and is in its third season on The CW. The show aired on UPN in its first season. The Game will launch on BET on Monday, Feb. 23 and air weekday afternoons at 1 & 1:30pm ET and weeknights at 11 & 11:30pm ET. So this is how BET's acquired series schedule looks starting Feb. 23 for weekdays: 9am Montel Williams Show, 10am-12pm Judge Hatchett, 12pm-1pm The Steve Harvey Show, 1-2pm The Game, 2-4pm One on One, 4-6pm Smart Guy, 11pm-12am The Game, and 3-4am Hell Date.
On Saturdays the schedule looks like: 9-10am Just Jordan, 10am-12pm The Proud Family, 12pm-2pm Smart Guy, and 2pm-4pm One on One. On Sundays usually from about 1-3pm we see a block on One on One.
So it seems since we last reported about BET, Judge Karen, Girlfriends, Romeo!,, and A Different World all seem to be off the schedule. Girlfriends will likely still air in special blocks/marathons again, but seems to have left the regular schedule. We'll continue to monitor the schedule on BET if anything changes.

Nick at Nite finally officially released their February 2009 information yesterday. Once again, there are no schedule changes to the regular schedule but we do have a special stunt on Valentine's Night. Love is in the air at Nick at Nite, so grab that special someone and settle in for an evening of Valentine's Day themed episodes from your favorite TV families. Back-to-back Valentine's/loved themed episodes of George Lopez, Home Improvement, and Family Matters will air on Saturday, Feb. 14 from 10pm-1am ET/PT.
Other than that, nothing special. However, the week of Feb. 23, for some reason Mon-Thurs that week, George Lopez is airing its two episodes at 9pm and 10pm, Home Improvement at 9:30pm, and Family Matters from 10:30pm-12am. The 12am-6am schedule is the same. I am told it is for that week only. Stay tuned for more details, if anything transpires.
View the full details on Nick at Nite February 2009, including a list of episodes for the Valentine's block.

Nick at Nite January 2009 Highlights; BET Adds Family Matters and Proud Family Marathons; 15th Annual SAG Awards Nominees

As we mentioned yesterday, today we will give you highlights of Nick at Nite January 2009! Once again, the regular schedule will remain the same, as we mentioned yesterday the line-up is doing very well in the ratings. Their #1 show George Lopez will get a five-day, all-night marathon from Monday, Jan. 5 through Friday, Jan. 9! It will be called "La Vida Lopez" George Lopez marathon! Can't get enough of George Lopez? Nick at Nite will air back-to-back George Lopez episodes for five nights straight all-nite long from 9pm-6am. Come early and be ready to laugh all-nite into the wee hours.
Also, Family Matters fans take note...Nick at Nite will break into the regularly scheduled episodes starting Monday, January 12, so it can show you season one episodes! Nick at Nite has never showed season one, just three episodes (#4, #17, #21) from stunts. All 22 season one episodes will air in a row before going back to where it last left off on Jan. 11. The last season one episode airs on January 21 at 11:30pm, then it goes back to where it left off on Jan. 11 with #105/106 on Jan. 22.
View more on Nick at Nite January 2009 and also discuss it.

We told you before that BET will be having Christmas marathons featuring their sitcoms. Now BET has revised its Christmas sitcom marathons. Kicking off the sitcom week of marathons now will be Family Matters! Yes, Family Matters! The show will be only airing for a one-time only marathon and is being borrowed from sister Viacom station Nick at Nite. Both BET and Nick at Nite are owned by Viacom. Top-rated Urkel episodes and all the Christmas episodes will air. Family Matters marathon kicks off marathon week on BET on Tuesday, December 23 from 9am-6pm with select episodes being repeated from 12am-4am. Then on Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24), it will now be a marathon of the sitcom One on One from 9am-6pm. On Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25) itself, as we mentioned before, Smart Guy will air from 9am-8pm. A Different World fans can see a Christmas episode of the series that night at 3am. On Kwanza (Friday, December 26) we now get a marathon of the animated sitcom The Proud Family. The series will join the BET line-up in January, and we will have more details on that soon! The marathon will air 9am-8pm leading into the BET premiere of the feature film The Proud Family Movie. The series originally aired on Disney Channel. Finally, the marathons end with Girlfriends on Saturday, December 27 from 9am-4am, as we mentioned.
View episode info for BET Sitcom Holiday Week.

The 15th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) nominees were announced today. Leading the pack were Boston Legal, Mad Men, The Closer and 30 Rock with 3 nominations each. Among the broadcast networks, NBC led with 8 nominations and ABC was right behind with 7. HBO led all networks with 9 nominations. The awards will air Sunday, Jan. 25, on TNT and TBS at 8 PM ET/PT.
Here are the main TV nominees:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane – Boston Legal (ABC)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – Dexter (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper – Mad Men (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore – Boston Legal (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko – Saving Grace (TNT)
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - Mad Men (AMC)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson – The Closer (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – The Office (NBC)
DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody – Californication (Showtime)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold – Entourage (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk – Monk (USA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly – Samantha Who? (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez – Ugly Betty (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin – Weeds (Showtime)
TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters – Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boston Legal, ABC
Dexter, Showtime
House, Fox
Mad Men, AMC
The Closer, TNT

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock, NBC
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Entourage, HBO
The Office, NBC
Weeds, Showtime

View the complete TV portion nominees and to discuss the nominees!

ION Television January 2009 Sees Returns of Drew Carey and Quantum Leap; Nick at Nite Scores in 2008

ION Television will returns a few series this January 2009, while dropping one and reducing another. But first the series that will be dropped will get more plays the first few weeks of January. For the weeks of December 29 and January 5, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper will air in the weekdays at 4-5pm hour replacing M*A*S*H. M*A*S*H will remain in the 6-7pm hour on Saturdays and Sundays. Cooper will also still air in its Mon-Thurs 6-7pm hour the week of December 29 but for the week of January 5, those airings will be moved to 5-6pm, as The Steve Harvey Show moves to the Mon-Thurs 6-7pm hour. Then effective the following week, January 12, both hours of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper will be replaced by the sitcom The Drew Carey Show (weekdays 4-5pm) and sci-fi drama Quantum Leap (Mon-Wed 5pm), as both series return to the line-up, while. Mr. Cooper is leaving the line-up totally for now. Also, on Thursdays starting Jan. 8 from 5-8pm will now be encores of theatrical movies leading into Total Theatre Thursday at 8pm. This is in addition to the encores on Fridays from 5-7pm. So, the regular series airing from 5-8pm will only be Mon-Wed, but 4-5pm (Drew Carey) gets five days a week.
In primetime, NCIS and Boston Legal will still rule, but a few minor changes will occur. Effective week of Jan. 5, NCIS will now air for the full night on Mondays from 8-11pm, while Boston Legal will now air for the full nights on Tuesdays & Wednesdays from 8-11pm. This is a better way to remember when these shows are on, as previously NCIS was on Mondays 9-11pm and Tuesdays 9pm, while Boston Legal was on Mon-Wed 8pm, Tuesday at 10, Wednesdays 9-11pm...confusing, now it is much easier. Of course Thursdays will be the theatrical movie in primetime and Fri-Sun in primetime it is the RHI film.
As for those movies, the theatrical ones will be James Bond themed for the most part in the month as we see classic '80s Bond flicks For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to Kill (1985) on Thursdays in primetime, with a Bond week of these three films airing in primetime from Jan. 27-29. On New Year's Day we get the theatrical movie Double Impact (1991) in primetime on Thursday. Thursday and Friday early evening airings (Thursdays 5-8pm, Fridays 5-7p) include those movies above encores, Matchstick Men, Major League: Back To The Minors, and Sphere.
As for RHI Entertainment, some first time airings will air such as To Dance with Olivia, National Lampoon's Attack Of The 5'2" Women, Final Days of Planet Earth, and Human Trafficking. ION will also premiere the world premiere event for the miniseries The Diplomat on Saturday, January 24.
View complete details on ION Television January 2009.

Nick at Nite is total day's number-one basic cable network in 2008 with Adult 18-49 delivery. Marking its most-watched year in four years with A18-49, Nick at Nite placed second overall only to sister-channel Nickelodeon for the year with total viewers. The network posted 11 consecutive months (January - November 2008) of double-digit growth this year with both A18-49 and total viewers.
Nick at Nite is ranked number one with Adults 18-49 for 2008 in total day, according to Nielsen Media Research (12/31/07-12/14/08)--averaging a 0.6 rating (655,000 viewers 18-49) A18-49 (up 20% in rating over last year), and marking its most-watched year in four years with A18-49.
BOTH men and women watch. Among Men 18-49, Nick at Nite is cable's fastest-growing cable entertainment network, averaging a 0.4 rating (245,000 viewers) M18-49 (up 33% in rating) -- its most-watched year ever. Nick at Nite was the number-one ranked network with Women 18-49 for the fifth straight year in total day, averaging a 0.7 rating (410,000 viewers) W18-49 (up 17%).
In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers--up 40% over last year (Nick at Nite airs 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT in primetime with Home Improvement and George Lopez hours).
Driven by family comedies and new original hits such as George Lopez, Family Matters, Home Improvement, and Gym Teacher: The Movie, Nick at Nite's programming highlights include:
* George Lopez (airs regularly at 10 p.m. [all times ET/PT]) averaged a 0.6 rating (716,000 viewers 18-49) with A18-49 (10 p.m.) for the year, up 50% over last year's like time period. The series also encores at 1 a.m. and does even better.
* Family Matters (airs regularly at 11 p.m.) averaged a 0.7 rating (753,000 viewers 18-49) with A18-49 in 2008, up 40%.
* Home Improvement (airs regularly at 9 p.m.) averaged a 0.4 rating (450,000 viewers 18-49) A18-49, up 33% over last year. The series also airs at 12 a.m. and does even better.
* Gym Teacher, a Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite original TV family movie (premiered Friday, Sept. 12, 8 p.m.) was the number-one telecast on broadcast and basic cable television for the night with kids 2-11, earning a 4.6 kids 2-11 rating and 1.6 million kids 2-11 viewers, up 59% over last year. Gym Teacher: The Movie drew 3.0 million total viewers (up 73%).
Stay tuned tomorrow for highlights and insight for Nick at Nite January 2009!

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!

One on One Joins BET Line-Up on Monday; Nick at Nite's Great Ratings Continues; Fox Picks-Up Fringe for Full Season

BET will be adding another sitcom! This time they will add the sitcom One on One to their weekday line-up beginning Monday (October 6). The show will air weekdays at 3:00pm & 3:30pm ET/PT, creating a sitcom block from 3-6pm on weekdays with Steve Harvey and Smart Guy still airing in the 4 and 5pm hours.
One on One will also get a weekend marathon on Saturday, October 11 from 2-5pm (following a Smart Guy marathon from 11am-2pm) and on Sunday, October 12 from 1-4pm. The show will regularly on Saturdays from 12-2pm and Sundays from 1-3pm. The new Saturday schedule is now 9-10am Just Jordan, 10-11am Romeo!, 11am-12pm Smart Guy, 12-2pm One on One, 2-3pm Steve Harvey, 3-4pm Girlfriends, and 4-5pm Judge Hatchett. The new Sunday schedule is now 12-1pm Steve Harvey, 1-3pm One on One, and 3-4pm Girlfriends.
One on One will also get a special block on Columbus Day (Monday, October 13) from 2-6pm.
About One on One: Intelligent and outspoken, the in-your-face 17-year-old Breanna Barnes (Kyla Pratt) loves attention. Anywhere there's a crowd, you can bet she's at the center of the action. Breanna's sportscaster dad, Flex (Flex Alexander), is a fun-loving ladies' man who not only wants to be a responsible parent, but also wants to be his daughter's best friend. Flex is happy giving Breanna the freedom to make her own choices, but only if she is willing to accept the consequences.

Nick at Nite, driven by hit family programming like George Lopez and newcomer Family Matters, scores its second consecutive quarter as total day's top cable network with Adults 18-49 (from 6/30/08-9/28/08). Nick at Nite soared in third quarter 2008 with high double-digit gains among its A18-49 and total viewer (P2+) audience, and has delivered 11 consecutive months of double-digit growth since last year.
Nick at Nite is ranked number one with A18-49, for third quarter 2008 (3Q08) in total day, averaging a 0.6 rating and 667,000 viewers 18-49 and up 20% over last year. With P2+, the network delivered 1.5 million total viewers, up 22%. Nick at Nite ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day this quarter (0.7 rating and 416,000 18-49 women viewers, up 17% over last year).
In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers (P2+), up 40% over last year. Family Matters, which joined the network's schedule in 3Q, is Nick at Nite's number-two program in total day, only behind George Lopez. Family Matters averaged a 0.7 rating and 775,000 viewers A18-49 at 11 p.m., up 40% over last year's time period. George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program and has experienced growth of 40% in rating since launching in September 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 rating and 768,000 viewers A18-49 at 10 p.m. for the quarter, up 75% over last year's like time period. Home Improvement remains a growth engine for Nick at Nite, and averages a 0.6 rating and 654,000 viewers A18-49 in total day for 3Q08. Its ratings have grown 20% since launching on Nick at Nite in September 2007.

Fox has announced that Fringe is the second new show this fall to be picked-up for a full season, joining The CW's 90210. Both shows launched a few weeks before the season. Fringe has benefited from airing behind House, which is down big from last fall, but still strong. Fox has ordered an additional nine episodes for Fringe, bringing the series to a full season order of 22 episodes.
New episodes return Tuesday, October 14 because next week is the second Presidential Debate.

Scorecard for New Series:
Picked-Up for Full Season: 90210, Fringe
Canceled: Do Not Disturb
On Verge of Being Picked-Up: The Mentalist
On the Fence: Hole in the Wall, Worst Week, Gary Unmarried, Knight Rider, Opportunity Knocks, Privileged
Still Yet to Premiere: The Ex-List, Life on Mars, Kath & Kim, 11th Hour, My Own Worst Enemy, Stylista and The CW's MRC Sunday Block

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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."

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.

Sitcom Time Changes on WE tv; Programming Reminders for This Weekend

Starting this Monday (May 12), WE tv will switch the timeslots for sitcoms Kate & Allie and Hope & Faith. Kate & Allie was airing weekdays from 12-1pm (sometimes it would be extended a bit longer, too) and will now move to 10-11am weekdays where Hope & Faith was airing. And yes, Hope & Faith will move to 12-1pm (and sometimes it will be extended a bit beyond that, too). Dharma & Greg will remain in the middle from 11am-12pm.
Remember WE tv also has reruns of Girlfriends, Golden Girls and Ghost Whisperer coming in 2009.

Yes, MTV Networks (TV Land, Nick at Nite, etc) had their upfront yesterday, but as of now, still no press releases or anything from TV Land. I do know that Chris Rock was on hand at the upfront for Everybody Hates Chris, which comes to Nick at Nite in 2009.
At its 2008 upfront presentation, MTV Networks united its leadership, talent and marketing partners to showcase innovative partnerships, programming and platforms across its brands. The presentation highlighted "return on innovation" -- the value for marketers in MTVN's reinvention of how audiences experience content and advertising on every screen. The event was highlighted by special guest appearances by some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Justin Timberlake, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Ashanti, Taylor Swift, Lauren Conrad, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, George Foreman, Dr. Drew Pinsky, as well as exclusive musical performances by John Legend, Sarah Silverman, JabbaWockeeZ from MTV's Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew and the cast of hit Broadway musical Legally Blonde.
Yeah, nothing major at all. We will let you know if there is anything announced today or whenever.

This weekend has a lot of nice programming for everyone. We have mentioned all of these already, but we are going to remind you again. Tonight ABC will air the two-hour special TV's All-Time Funniest...sitcoms of the past and present are featured from Married with Children to I Love Lucy to The Office. Tune in from 8-10pm ET/PT on ABC! Must see for sitcoms fans.
Then we mentioned a few Mother's Day stunts. They will all of course air on Mother's Day, this Sunday (May 11). Airing on BET from 12pm-5pm is a sitcom marathon of Thea. The short-lived ABC sitcom starring Thea Vidale and Brandy Norwood. Watch Thea take care of her four kids and work two jobs...how does she do it? Tune in! On Boomerang this Sunday from 12pm-7pm, there will be Wilma themed episodes of animated sitcom The Flintstones. Finally, Nick at Nite has a nice primetime block featuring "Hot Moms." Tune in starting at 9pm for "Hot Moms" like Jill Taylor, Angie Lopez and Vivian Banks! The marathon will be hosted by one of the hot moms themselves, Constance Marie (Angie on George Lopez)!

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!

New Pay TV Channel from Viacom Coming Fall 2009; Lopez Stand-Up Special Encoring on Comedy Central

Viacom Inc., its Paramount Pictures unit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) and Lionsgate have formed a joint venture that creates a next-generation premium television channel and video-on-demand service that combines new and classic feature film output and original television series of five leading studios. The new premium channel will launch in the fall of 2009.
The new venture will have access to Paramount and Paramount Vantage titles released theatrically on or after January 1, 2008 and MGM, United Artists and Lionsgate titles released theatrically on or after January 1, 2009. The venture's programming slate will have exclusive access during the pay television window to such recent and highly anticipated films as Iron Man, Star Trek, Pink Panther 2, Cloverfield, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Shutter Island, GI Joe, Love Guru, and Valkyrie, along with many others currently in production including planned new installments of Robocop and Outer Limits.
In addition, the new venture will have access to motion picture titles spanning the vast libraries of the five studios, which libraries include Braveheart, Forrest Gump and the Mission: Impossible, The Godfather and Star Trek franchises from Paramount; the James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky franchises from MGM; and Dirty Dancing, Reservoir Dogs, Crash, Monster's Ball, the Saw franchise, the Tyler Perry catalogue and The Blair Witch Project from Lionsgate. The new venture will also feature new original television series created by the five studios.
The pay TV channel is not expected to air any older television series from the archives...so this channel will likely be similar to HBO and Showtime.

Hola, comedy fans! George Lopez stars in the basic cable premiere of stand-up special, America's Mexican, premiering Sunday, May 4 at 9:00 p.m. (The encore presentation of America's Mexican airs Sunday, May 4 at 10:30 p.m.) He may have his hands full as the mayor of Reno in this season of Reno! 911, but George Lopez will always find time for stand-up comedy! In his second televised comedy special, Lopez performs with all-new material before a live audience at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix. Creating new slang for critics of immigration and effeminate dog walkers, while tackling topics such as race, family and modern beauty, America's Mexican proves Lopez is about as American as apple pie. Tune in and get ready to laugh!
The stand-up special originally aired on HBO in February 2007 to critical acclaim and good ratings. If you discovered repeats of his sitcom on Nick at Nite and like what you saw...then you'll want to tune-in to his stand-up comedy special!

TV One Brings Amen to Evenings Starting in April Now; Nick at Nite Sees 1st Quarter Ratings Do Big; TNT Loves Romano

Beginning on Monday April 7, TV One has made a change to their line-up. The Sherman Hemsley sitcom Amen will air one hour of back-to-back episodes in the weekday 5pm & 5:30pm timeslot. For Your Love and Eve, previously airing in these time periods will no longer air. This change was set to happen on Monday, May 5, as we said late last week, but TV One has decided to do it a month earlier!
As also stated late last week on the TV One May highlights, TV One will be airing 24-hour sitcom marathons during the month of May beginning on Friday nights. The first of these special marathons will actually begin now on Friday, May 2 at 8pm with a special Martin marathon continuing on the theme of TV One's election year slate of 'Martin for President' marathons that originated over President's Day weekend. This time, the "Martin 'HaterNation' Marathon" takes on the sniping that usually happens in election campaigns with a full 24 hours of Martin Payne & his host of wacky alter egos battling Pam, Sheneneh and all the other Martin-haters who would try to take Martin down.

Nick at Nite, fueled by the performance of George Lopez and Home Improvement, scored double digit increases during the 1Q08 (Jan-Mar) among total viewers (P2+) and Adults 18-49 in both primetime and total day. In primetime, Nick at Nite was up +32% over first quarter 2007 (1Q07), and was +37% higher among Adults 18-49. George Lopez has been the network's highest rated program in 2008, with ratings growing consistently since it joined the schedule, while Home Improvement ratings have also increased each month. The recent George Lopez marathon did huge as the ratings were the best week ever for Nick at Nite.

TNT has ordered a one-hour pilot of Men of a Certain Age, a new character-based drama from Everybody Loves Raymond Emmy winners Ray Romano and Mike Royce. Romano will star in the project that takes a wry look at what it means to be a guy approaching mid-life while also exploring the unique bonds of male friendship. Romano wrote the pilot script with Royce and will executive-produce with Royce (who will serve as show runner), Rory Rosegarten and Cary Hoffman. The show is about the highs and lows of being a guy in the modern era. It's about three best friends, each hoping to fulfill his dreams before the clock starts running out.
This is the latest project to emerge as part of TNT's aggressive plan to change most of the network's weekday, primetime schedule to originals by 2010. The network currently has 15 projects in various stages of development, including both scripted dramas and unscripted programs.

Hallmark Channel and WE TV Acquire The Golden Girls; George Lopez Marathon Scores for Nick at Nite

The Hallmark Channel and WE tv have acquired the cable rights to The Golden Girls starting in March 2009 in a shared cable deal. This means the durable sitcom will leave its home of Lifetime Television of 12 years at the end of February 2009. The show has been on the Lifetime since March 1, 1997 (it was renewed a few times) and was one of its highest rated series in the history of the network.
We mentioned a few months back that The Hallmark Channel also has gotten rights to sitcoms Cheers (Fall 2008) and I Love Lucy (January 2009), so they are slowly building towards a sitcom line-up, after having just dramas for many years. It is not certain yet if Cheers and I Love Lucy will also air on TV Land still when Hallmark starts them, but both show's current contracts expire when Hallmark starts airing them.
As for Golden Girls, Lifetime said this in a statement regarding the sitcom moving to Hallmark Channel and WE tv :
"The 'classic' series will depart our schedule after a 12-year run to make room for our next generation of off-net comedies such as the very popular Reba, Still Standing and Will & Grace, as well as numerous original comedies in development, along with the return of the smash hit Army Wives. We wish Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia all the best of luck in their new homes."
We don't have full details yet on WE tv, but it will likely also start when The Golden Girls comes to Hallmark. WE tv currently airs sitcoms in the daytime. Sitcoms that air are Hope & Faith, Kate & Allie and Dharma & Greg. That's a lot of ampersands! They need to get Laverne & Shirley just for the ampersand! Anyway, we will let you know what WE tv says when we find out.
For now discuss the news of Golden Girls leaving Lifetime and coming to Hallmark/WE tv in March 2009 by clicking HERE! Thank you for bein' a friend!

Last week Nick at Nite had its seven night George Lopez "Luck o' the Lopez Marathon" and the marathon helped Nick at Nite all the way to 3rd in cable ratings for all of cable. The marathon aired March 17-23 from 9pm-6am on Sun-Thurs and 10pm-6am on Fri-Sat, so the marathon was all that Nick at Nite aired that week. Nick at Nite had its best week ever as it averaged 2.17 million viewers for the week (approx. 64% higher than the same week last year) and a 1.7 HH rating. The only cable networks that were higher that week were USA Network at a 2.2 HH rating and The Disney Channel at a 1.9 HH rating. Nick at Nite was #1 for the week on cable in the following demos: Teens 12 to 17 and adults 25 to 54; adults 18 to 34 and 18 to 49; and women 18 to 34, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. George Lopez was all that Nick at Nite aired last week, so it was all George that did this! "I Got This!" In fact, as many as five episodes in the marathon had well over 3 million viewers, which is unheard of for Nick at Nite. Woooopah, as George would say! The previous two weeks, Nick at Nite finished 6th in cable network ratings. The show regularly airs every night at 10:00pm & 10:30pm ET/PT with an encore later in the evening. People are watching, so if you haven't watched yet...check it out because it is actually very funny.

Family Matters Now Coming to Nick at Nite in April; Biography Acquires Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals; TV Land Greenlights 4 Pilots

Nearly two months ago we got word that Family Matters coming to Nick at Nite got moved to June. Originally it was supposed to come in March, but they moved it to the summer, which made a bit more sense to me, since lots of teenagers and young adults would watch. But now it looks like they changed their minds! Last night during the first night of the George Lopez seven-night Luck o' the Lopez Marathon, a promo aired indicating Family Matters is "coming next month" (April). They showed Urkel, too. We don't have full details yet, but we are working on it. So if we have something more, come back to this spot and find out...if not we will bring it to you in the coming days. It's certainly time to "do the Urkel dance" in primetime!

Sorry for the late notice, but The Biography Channel has acquired the series of specials called TV Guide's Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals. If you all remember or didn't know, these specials aired in 1999 and 2000 on Fox. They had about 5 specials under this name and profiled a lot of sitcoms behind-the-scenes details (some very scandalously) such as Three's Company, The Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, The Jeffersons, M*A*S*H, Diff'rent Strokes, Gilligan's Island, Welcome Back Kotter, Facts of Life, Roseanne and more. Then they changed the name for three more specials called TV Guide's Truth Behind the Rumors and profiled series such as Growing Pains, Charlie's Angels, Cheers, Laverne & Shirley, and Dynasty. Well starting tonight (Tuesday, March 18) The Biography Channel will re-air most of these specials! It will air Tuesdays at 10:00PM and re-air 2:00AM later that night.
Tonight they will air special #3 of Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals. First stop in this episode is a look back at The Love Boat, the series the critics claimed would "sink like the Titanic," but which sailed on for nine years with its Aaron Spelling formula of bikinis, blondes, celebrity guests, and lovable, yet troubled stars. Then we'll hear Loretta Swit as she recalls what it was like to be the only woman on the set with all men in the hugely popular medical comedy M*A*S*H.
Up next week is special #4 of Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals. Stars from Happy Days, The Jeffersons and One Day at a Time reveal controversies. We don't have April episode info yet, but keep checking back on our message board's thread on this. To view that and to discuss these specials, click HERE! I remember watching all of these, and I taped a few even originally. If you haven't seen this or need to tape it, I would advise you watch/tape.

TV Land announced that it has greenlit four pilots as part of its ongoing original programming agenda. The channel, which recently rolled out new original series High School Reunion to double digit ratings increases, will continue to rev-up production on programming designed to appeal specifically to viewers in their 40's. The four pilots are all reality based and are:
- First Love, Second Chance -- gives long-lost sweethearts an opportunity to rekindle their romance -- years later.
- Now or Never -- Empty nesters are given the chance of a lifetime to open a new chapter in their lives by pursuing careers that they always dreamed of but never dared to pursue. In each installment, couples try out their dream jobs, a new place to live and a whole new social scene before making the gut-wrenching decision of which path to follow.
- Make My Day -- provides a window into one day in the life of an unsuspecting participant. Hidden cameras capture the action as contestants are put through a series of weird coincidences, extraordinary situations and surprise appearances.
- What's In The Box? -- TV Land's first game show in which individual contestants square off in the ultimate, fast-paced 20 question competition.
For more info about these pilots, and to discuss this, click HERE!
Upcoming TV Land originals after the conclusion of High School Reunion include: The Big 4-0 (launches April 16), She's Got the Look (launches June 4) and Family Foreman (launches July 16). In addition, the 6th Annual TV Land Awards will now air this summer instead of the spring (June 22 is the tentative date).

And don't forget the premiere of sitcom Miss Guided tonight after Dancing with the Stars at 10:30pm ET/PT on ABC. Hope you saw our review on Friday...because this is one of the top 3 sitcoms I think of the season behind Big Bang Theory and Samantha Who? So if you like those, you'll like this. Episode 2 is even funnier, so tune in to that on its regular night and time on Thursday at 8pm.

Nick at Nite March 2008 - George Lopez Week; TBS and TNT Upfront 2008- New Sitcoms, Dramas...and Match Game!

Nick at Nite in March 2008 won't have any schedule changes, but they will have one stunt. The stunt will be a big one, too. It will be a "Nothing But George Week" for the week of March 17. It's wall-to-wall George Lopez all-week and all-night long on Nick at Nite the week of March 17! Monday, March 17 through Sunday, March 23 ... Sun-Thur 9pm-6am and Fri-Sat 10pm-6am of that week.
We will try to detail this more when more information comes, but this sounds like a, watch out, whoooooppppaaa week, as George would say! Discuss this month here.

TBS and TNT had its annual upfront yesterday and many original series are in the works for both cable networks.
TBS, television's top-rated comedy network, is ramping up its production of original programming with a slate of primetime comedy series in development, two late-night pilots ordered and three late-night projects in the works. The network, which currently ranks as ad-supported cable's #1 network in primetime delivery of young adults, has enjoyed tremendous success with such original programming as My Boys, The Bill Engvall Show and Frank TV. All three of those series are set to return.
Primetime projects in development include a sitcom adaptation of Jane Ganahl's bestselling memoir Naked on the Page: The Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife, along with half-hour comedies from Dave Caplan (The Drew Carey Show) and Brian Hargrove (Titus). For late night, TBS has ordered pilot presentations of the animated series Stay Tooned (working title) and a new edition of the classic game show Match Game. TBS is also working on late-night comedies with Robert Townsend, The Jim Henson Company and Mark Wolper.
TNT is planning a significant boost in original programming, with 14 series in development and a plan to change most of the network's weekday, primetime schedule to originals by 2010. TNT's aggressive plan includes a mixture of scripted dramas, unscripted programs and the network's award-winning telecasts of the NBA. Under the new strategy, TNT will continue to showcase popular movies on Friday nights and weekends.
TNT has several new series in development. They join two recently greenlit projects Raising the Bar (working title), from executive producer Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue), and Leverage, from executive producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day). Both projects are expected to premiere in TNT's lineup later this year. TNT is also considering Truth in Advertising, from Greer Shephard and Michael M. Robin, executive producers of The Closer.
Scripted series in development include The Genie Chronicles, a fantasy-adventure from DreamWorks Television, producers of TNT's Into the West; Generations, a family drama from executive producer Robert Redford and writer/executive producer John Sacret Young (The West Wing, China Beach); Technophobia, from executive producer Mark Frost (Twin Peaks); an untitled project from the Hoosiers team of Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh; and an untitled drama based on characters created by crime novelist Tess Gerritsen.
For the first time, TNT is also branching into unscripted series, with several projects in development from such talents as Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Mark Burnett, Mark Wolper, former NBA star Kenny Smith and Gay Rosenthal.
TNT's current original programming successes include ad-supported cable's #1 series of all time, The Closer, starring Golden Globe winner Kyra Sedgwick. That series will return for its fourth season this summer. The network's highly successful Saving Grace, featuring Oscar winner Holly Hunter, also will return for a second season this summer. The show premiered in 2007, claiming ad-supported cable's largest audience of the year for a new series launch.
For full details on each new project with synopsis, click HERE!

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.

Day 67: WGA's Strike; RTN Coming to Orlando; Details on George Lopez Marathon

It is day 67 of the strike. Nothing really new to report, but don't forget tonight we have Kimmel on Leno and Leno on Kimmel in late night on NBC and ABC. Very historic night. Also, don't forget to tune in tonight in primetime for the pre-strike final episodes of Grey's Anatomy, My Name is Earl, and 30 Rock. Ugly Betty, CSI, Without a Trace, Big Shots, and ER are also new.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that COX Television plans to add a sixth RTN affiliate on its Orlando station. The network will launch in the first quarter of this year on WRDQ-DT in Orlando, the nation's 19th largest television market.
No mention of what shows will air, but it will be on the same selection as other RTN stations! RTN keeps growing! Congrats to them and to our buddies Mark and Neal!

Remember about ten days or so ago we gave you Nick at Nite's January highlights and among the highlights was a George Lopez marathon on Jan. 20? Well, we have learned the marathon will be called "The Legend of Lopez" and it will be hosted by George Lopez! Not only will he host, but he will answer your questions! Head on to the official website by clicking HERE to submit questions for George and your question might make it on-air. The 14 episode marathon starts at 9pm on that night!

Coming in the next few days or so ION Television February highlights, TV Land March highlights and full details on that '80s weekend in February on TV Land!

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 53: WGA's Strike; TV Land February Highlights; George Lopez Marathon on Nick at Nite Friday

Today is day 53 of the writers' strike. Nothing new to report at all, as of now. The days after Christmas are always so slow. News will probably pick-up starting Jan. 2.

Well we wanted to give you TV Land February 2008 highlights last week, but we decided to hold it because one stunt still has a lot of TBD (to be determined) slots. I'll get to that in a bit. As we know Just Shoot Me launches on TV Land with a weekend marathon on Jan. 26-27 from 9pm-6am on both nights. The TV Land February schedule will start Jan. 28 with the addition of Just Shoot Me. The show will air weekday mornings at 8:30am, every night at 12 & 12:30am, and in the Thursday four in a row marathons from 9-11pm. Other changes include All in the Family being removed, an additional Three's Company being added to weekdays at 11am, The Munsters, Green Acres, and Addams Family are off of weekdays and only on weekends now. Brady Bunch will only be 4:30am now every morning.
Friday movies for the month include The Breakfast Club, Flashdance and Moonstruck.
TV Land is celebrating Valentine's Day with a "Ricky Loves Lucy Valentine's Day Event." Watch four episodes of I Love Lucy on Feb. 10 and again on Feb. 14 as Lucy and Ricky as they experience their happiest times together. Witness their vow renewal, celebrate the announcement and birth of their baby and toast them as they celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Now the stunt I have a lot of TBD slots is the "Big '80s Weekend." We still have a lot of TBD slots, but I decided to post this today anyway. This will air the weekend of President's Day--Saturday, Feb. 16, Sunday, Feb. 17 and Monday, Feb. 18. Right now only movies have been slated, but there could be some '80s series in there as well, along with some '80s retrospectives maybe. As soon as we know, we'll let you know! As of now slated are '80s movies such as National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Flashdance, The Breakfast Club, The Jerk, and Sixteen Candles. Three's Company and Designing Women are also slated for Monday, Feb. 18 to start off that day's block. Don't be surprised if we see series such as Knight Rider, The A-Team, and Miami Vice pop-up in here or '80s retrospectives. It is going to be a totally radical '80s weekend! We will confirm as soon as we know the TBD slots...check out the link below for the schedule SO FAR.
TV Land will have another Movie Week, the week of Feb. 25! Showtime is every night at 8p, starting with Monday's showing of Steve Martin as the lovably naive Navin Johnson in The Jerk. Tuesday, Gary Busey stars as the rock pioneer in The Buddy Holly Story. Wednesday, Molly, Emilio, Ally, and the rest of the Brat Pack star as a diverse group of teens stuck in Saturday morning detention in The Breakfast Club. Thursday, Clint Eastwood stars as a conflicted secret service agent in In the Line of Fire. Rounding out the week is Sixteen Candles starring Molly Ringwald as she deals with forgotten birthdays and secret crushes.
For COMPLETE February details, click HERE!

Nick at Nite will preempt its regular programming on Friday (December 28) to bring a marathon of one of its newest and highest rated sitcoms...George Lopez! This will be the first marathon for the show. The series launched in September and has been airing every night from 10-11pm. The series is doing excellent for the network and is doing much better in its slot against what aired last year. The show is also one of cable's top performers in 18-49 in primetime, not to mention total viewers. George Lopez marathon starts 10pm on Friday and will run until 5am (Fresh Prince will close the night from 5-6am). The marathon will have no repeats, so you can stay up all-night to watch new episodes all-night long!
Marathon episodes are:
10:00PM #73 "George Buys a Vow"
10:30PM #4 "Max's Big Adventure"
11:00PM #104 "George's House Has Two Empty Wombs" (Stacy Keibler guest-stars)
11:30PM #105 "George Nieces Needs a Media Room"
12:00AM #107 "Sabes Gay, It's George's Fantasy Episode"
12:30AM #108 "George Thinks Vic's Fiance Is Lion About Being A Cheetah" (Stacy Keibler guest-stars)
1:00AM #109 "George Helps Angie's Wha-Positive Self Image"
1:30AM #110 "George's Grave Mistake Sends Him To a Funeral, Holmes"
2:00AM #111 "George Joins the Neighborhood Wha-tcha and Raises the Vigilante"
2:30AM #112 "George Is Maid To Be Ruth-Less" (Barbara Eden guest-stars)
3:00AM #113 "George Is Lie-able for Benny's Unhappiness" (Jerry Springer guest-stars)
3:30AM #29 "Dubya, Dad, and Dating, Part 1" (Jimmie Walker guest-stars)
4:00AM #30 "Dubya, Dad, and Dating, Part 2" (Jimmie Walker guest-stars)
4:30AM #33 "Carmen's Dating"

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.

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.

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.

TV Land Acquires Hillbillies and Hogan's Heroes; ION Acquires NFL Highlights Show; Reminder for George Lopez on Nick at Nite

TV Land has announced today on their message boards the two shows that people have asked about that are supposed to be coming. Finally, I can talk about them. The Beverly Hillbillies joins the network this January, with an anniversary marathon tentatively planned for December. The show joins the already announced Just Shoot Me, which also is coming in January 2008.
Then the other show people were wanting to know is Hogan's Heroes. The '60s sitcom will join the network in June 2008. As previously mentioned, Mad About You and Murphy Brown will come to the network in summer marathon form in July 2008, while Scrubs comes in Fall 2008.
But before all that, Designing Women is coming to TV Land this October...weeknights at 9pm starting Oct. 15.
We will have more on Hillbillies and Hogan's Heroes when available.

ION Television announced today that it has secured the rights to air the NFL Films production, NFL Game of the Week, for the 2007 season. The highly-acclaimed highlights series will premiere on ION Television's nationwide broadcast network from 6:00-7:00 PM ET on Saturday, September 15, with the Giants-Cowboys game from Kickoff Weekend, which Dallas won 45-35. A new episode will air each week of the 17-week NFL regular season.
Each week of the NFL season, NFL Game of the Week showcases that week's best game in a one-hour program, and tells the story of the game that viewers didn't see on the original broadcast. Presenting the action from a wide variety of angles, including specially-shot game footage, pre-game and post-game commentary and previously unheard sideline sound from players and coaches, Game of the Week brings fans closer to the action than ever before.
NFL Films President Steve Sabol, a 36-time Emmy Award-winner, will continue to host the series, which premiered in syndication in 1965. It has aired on the NFL Network since 2003.
In addition, ION Media Networks also has secured the rights to air a brand-new half-hour series from NFL Films, entitled Stories of the NFL, which will take a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of NFL players when they’re not on the field. Using NFL Films' original music, candid interviews, voluminous archives and award-winning cinematographers, these half-hour episodes will "reveal the hidden gems of the NFL." The season of 21 original half-hour programs will begin airing on ION Television in February 2008.


Just a reminder that George Lopez premieres tonight at 10pm ET/PT on Nick at Nite for a full hour and will air Sun-Thurs 10-11pm and 1-2am, on Fridays at 10:30pm, 12:30am and 2-3am and Saturdays 11pm-12am and 2-3am.
The network will start with season 5 episodes and go in order from there. Also, on Saturdays and Sundays, the second episode of each night will start with season 3 and go in order from there. Weird.
And finally, the show also launches in local syndication today. Check your local listings, because they have two rotations...the first run, which will go in order starting with the very first episode. And a second run which will start with season four and go in order from there. Again check your local listings.

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.

Nick at Nite Details Home Improvement and George Lopez Launches; Disney Channel Fall and Some Lifetime Changes

This September, Nick at Nite brings two of America's favorite family comedies to living rooms across the country when award-winning series, Home Improvement and George Lopez join the networks' Fall line-up.
Home Improvement, starring America's #1 family movie star Tim Allen, premieres with a seven-day marathon on Monday, September 3 running through Sunday, September 9 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (ET/PT). Tim Allen will host the week-long marathon for one-hour every evening from 9-10 p.m. offering viewers a look at his favorite episodes with anecdotes from behind-the-scenes of the celebrated series.
George Lopez, starring famed comedian George Lopez, promptly follows the week after, premiering Monday, September 10, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). The executive producers of The Drew Carey Show -- Bruce Helford, Academy Award(R) winner Deborah Oppenheimer and Robert Borden -- team up with superstar actress/producer Sandra Bullock for this comedy loosely based on Lopez's own experiences as a Mexican-American native of Los Angeles.
We will have more on Nick at Nite September very soon!

Disney Channel has released their fall line-up, which starts on Sept. 4, and it looks like there will be no Boy Meets World! The sitcom will be leaving the line-up after its August 31 airing. The sitcom also airs on ABC Family currently, and they also will remove it after that day. So, it seems to me that maybe the contract expired? We will try to find out. In case anyone is wondering the full schedule, I won't detail it here, but you can view the complete schedule HERE! Yes, it still has your favorite Disney tween sitcoms like Hannah Montana, That's So Raven, The Suite Life, Cory in the House, etc.
Disney is coming off a historical weekend when the TV movie sequel High School Musical 2 poured in a basic cable record of 17.2 million on Friday! I suggest you read about that here because this is TV history.

Lifetime has moved around their once a week repeats of current dramas once again. Grey's Anatomy now airs Saturdays at 11PM ET/PT and Desperate Housewives follows at 12AM ET/PT. Medium now airs Sundays at 11PM ET/PT.

Schedule Updates for TV Land and Nick at Nite; Who's the Boss? Scores for ION!

Late on Friday both TV Land and Nick at Nite issued schedule changes. TV Land will make some changes effective Monday, August 20. The Summer Cocktail Party marathons will be ending. Changes include, M*A*S*H coming to mornings also now from 7-8am on weekdays but Wednesdays will be What's Happening Now!!, Cheers moves up a half-hour to 8am Tues-Fri, All in the Family at 8:30am Tues-Fri, The Jeffersons & Leave it to Beaver round out the morning schedule from 9-10am Tues-Fri. Mon-Thurs primetime will also change a bit: The Jeffersons from 9-10pm, Sanford & Son from 10-11pm, and M*A*S*H from 11p-12a (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition remains on Tues). Mon-Fri late night will now be Sanford & Son at 12:05am, back to back Three's Company, The Jeffersons, and Good Times from 12:35am-4am. On Tuesday nights, the times are on time, so the extra half-hour at 1:30am is The Munsters, its only slot now. Another Sanford & Son at 4am, All in the Family at 4:30am, and back to back I Love Lucy (Mon-Thurs, The Andy Griffith Show is on Fridays) from 5-6am. Weekend changes include Green Acres at 8am and back to back Leave it to Beaver episodes from 9-10am.
These changes are likely to spill over to September, but afternoons will be altered a bit as the Elvis movie will not be there in September. For now view these August 20 changes by clicking HERE!

Nick at Nite's change is for the week of Aug. 13. The wall to wall summer marathon that week is now The Cosby Show instead of Full House. We will have their September line-up shortly with new shows Home Improvement and George Lopez.

Tony Micelli and the gang have made their mark on ION Television...big time! ION Television scored a homerun for its launch of the 80s sitcom Who's the Boss? starring Tony Danza, Judith Light, and Alyssa Milano. Who cares about the Barry Bonds record, as Tony Micelli has been doing it longer than Barry.
Primetime airings of Who's the Boss? have delivered significant ratings increases among key adult demographics on ION Television. In the first two weeks following the popular program's July 9 debut, viewership in its 9-10 PM timeslot season-to-date increased 41 percent in women 25-54, and 33 percent in adults 25-54.
During the weeks of July 9 and 16, Who's the Boss? delivered 175,000 household impressions for women 25-54, and 259,000 impressions for adults 25-54, the highest weekly impressions performance in the 9-10 PM hour season-to-date.
Benefiting from a solid Who's the Boss? lead-in, Wonder Years enjoyed a six percent ratings increase in households and women 25-54 in its 10-11 PM timeslot during the weeks of July 9 and 16, representing a season-to-date increase of 22 percent.
We hope to have ION Television's September lineup this week...maybe by tomorrow. So come on back!

WPIX Fall 2007 Schedule; Fox Revamps Fall Schedule

WPIX, the CW affiliate in the #1 market (New York City), has announced its Fall schedule to us. They will be adding quite a lot of new shows this fall, compared to other New York local affiliates. They will add repeats of new syndicated entries Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, George Lopez, and Reno 911 to the weekday line-up. Also coming are new first-run series Steve Wilkos Show and Jury Duty to the weekday line-up. Joining the Daytime CW lineup will be repeats of sitcom All of Us at 3pm. On weekends, they will add repeats of Chappelle's Show on Saturday nights at 12-1am and Degrassi: The Next Generation on Sunday mornings from 10:30am-1pm.
Some changes include Judge Mathis at 9am and 2pm, while staples Maury and Jerry will air 10 & 11am, leading into new talk show Steve Wilkos Show, which means Judge Lopez will move to 1-2pm. Sitcoms My Wife & Kids and According to Jim will be moving to 5-6pm, Friends at 6pm and Everybody Loves Raymond moving to 6:30pm. New sitcoms Two and a Half Men and Family Guy takes over 7-8pm. The same duo returns for more episodes from 11p-12am, but the half-hours are switched. Moving to midnight, we get the secondary episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, followed by Sex and the City at its new time at 12:30am. The secondary Friends is now at 1am, followed by Will & Grace, Frasier, and George Lopez will debut at 2:30am. Back to back South Park at 3am, the debuts of Reno 911 and Jury Duty in the 4am hour round out the night.
So what happened to the late night classic TV sitcoms? You know The Jeffersons, Good Times, Cheers. They will lose rights to Cheers after August, but the others are still under contract and will return when needed. The Honeymooners and Green Acres are also under contract still.
To view the full seven day schedule, click HERE.

Fox has made some changes to its fall line-up. The biggest move is Bones moving from Wednesdays at 9 to Tuesdays at 8 as of Sept. 25. Now airing Wednesdays at 9 (effect. Sept 19) is the new reality series Kitchen Nightmares, which was slated for Thursdays at 9, which will now be Don't Forget the Lyrics as of Sept. 6. Fox will also air another night of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader episodes for four weeks on Fridays at 8, before new reality series The Search for the Next Great American Band premieres in early October on Fridays at 8. New drama New Amsterdam, which was slated for Tuesdays at 8 will now be held for mid-season.

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.

ABC Scheduling Notes; The Simpsons Movie; Random TV Bits

According to Jim will move back to Wednesdays starting August 1. On that date it will air back-to-back from 8-9pm. Starting August 8 it will air Wednesdays at 8, followed by all-new episodes of The Knights of Prosperity at 8:30, as mentioned on the blog. Also on August 8, Jim and Knights will air from 9-10pm on this date only. The Nine will return for its 6 remaining episodes Wednesdays at 10 starting August 1. George Lopez will return to Fridays 9-10pm starting August 3.



20th Century Fox presents the much anticipated summer movie of the year, The Simpons Movie, out in theatres July, 27th!! The groundbreaking television series and global phenomenon comes to the big screen. In true Simpsons fashion, Homer must save the world from a catastrophe he himself created.

Visit the extremely interactive official website at http://www.simpsonsmovie.com . Try your hand at various games. Play cards with Moe in Three Card Moe, make Homer go full throttle in Ball of Death, and help Homer save his family in Wrecking Ball. Download wallpaper, buddy icons, screensavers, and ring tones as well as take a virtual tour of Springfield itself. You can create your own Simpsons character avatar, and then go visit Moe’s Tavern, where your character is hanging out with Homer. Go and check out the trailers and teaser clips for a glimpse into the movie.

Also, check out the newly relaunched official The Simpsons online store. Visit http://www.thesimpsonsshop.com for exclusive, limited-edition merchandise. There is a 10% off discount code! Just enter “HOMER” at checkout.

Springfield, Vermont Wins Right to Host 'The Simpsons Movie' Premiere / Simpsons Family Values

Charlie Sheen Engaged to Girlfriend

CourtTV to Change to truTV

Valerie Bertinelli Working on a Memoir

'Apprentice' May Rise from Ashes

Businesses competing for 'office' space

"National Bingo Night" Returns For Five Consecutive Nights with a Huge Cash Jackpot, Airing This December on the ABC Television Network

Joost snags sneak peek of VH1's I Hate My 30s

Game over for Cronin as winning GSN chief

Happy 4th of July; TV One August Highlights; ABC Summer Tuesday Change

Happy 4th of July to everyone from all of us here at SitcomsOnline.com! We hope you enjoy America's holiday and thank you for taking time to visit us today! Enjoy the fireworks.

TV One August 2007 is out and there are no regular schedule changes, but there are a few noteworthy specials & marathons! Is summer vacation over already? On Saturday, August 18, 2007 beginning at 12 Noon, TV One gets into a 'back to school' groove with an all-day "Back to Cool" marathon. First, beginning at 12pm is an all-day marathon of Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, the '90s sitcom starring comedian Mark Curry as a former basketball star who heads back to his own former high school to work as a coach and teacher. Marathon episodes will spotlight school-themed stories. Then at 8pm, join host Kim Coles as the Saturday night "Cool Factor" movie is the TV One premiere of Spike Lee's college classic, School Daze, starring Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Ossie Davis, and Kadeem Hardison.
On Sunday, August 19, 2007 at 9pm, TV One presents the latest hour to appear under its Famous People banner of specials. In the Company of Friends with Vanessa Bell Calloway offers the viewer an intimate peek inside a 'dinner party' for the rich and famous. Popular actress Vanessa Bell Calloway tastes and talks with friends such as Sinbad, Lela Rochon, Chante Moore, Kenny Lattimore, James Pickens Jr. and Kym Whitley. The special replays later that night at 2am, with additional plays on Wednesday 8/22 at 12noon, and Saturday 9/1 at 11am.

Finally, as we mentioned before, ABC will launch the new hidden camera comedy series Just for Laughs on July 17 with two back-to-back episodes from 8-9pm. The show will then air every Tuesday at 8:30 through August 14. So what will air at 8pm? We mentioned before George Lopez encores were tentatively scheduled, now ABC has announced that half-hour encores of America's Funniest Home Videos will air instead. That makes more sense, and it should be a great lead-in. Just for Laughs can be a hit like maybe AFV is, and air for many years to come. Sinbad will host the program.

Another Change of Title for Applegate's Sitcom; ABC Family Schedule Change

We mentioned last week that ABC was changing the name of the new Christine Applegate sitcom coming this fall from Sam I Am to Samantha Be Good because of Dr. Seuss' estate, but it seems Samantha Be Good was just a working title Now ABC has changed it to Samantha Who? according to TVGuide. That is a bit better, but will Seuss' estate come knocking on the door again as "who" is pretty big in Seuss' books, but I doubt they can make them change this.
The sitcom premieres this fall on ABC airing Mondays at 9:30pm right after Dancing with the Stars' performance shows.
In other ABC news, for the next two weeks on Fridays, George Lopez repeats will air from 8-9pm and Kyle XY will air at 9pm, instead of 8pm. Ratings is the reason for the change, as it would make sense for a family sitcom to lead-off the night.

ABC Family has made some minor changes to its line-up that will take in effect on Monday (July 2). New addition Sister, Sister is not doing too well in its 2-3pm slot, so ABC Family will bring back its veteran sitcom Step by Step from 8-9am to 2-3pm. Sister, Sister will be moved to just the weekdays at 8am half-hour and 7th Heaven makes its return to the line-up, airing weekday mornings at 8:30am. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was airing weekdays at 9am, now they will move it to 4-5pm, its old slot, replacing Full House, which will just be 12-1pm now!
It looks like everything else is doing decent, including the new weekday evening line-up from 6-8pm of 8 Simple Rules and Grounded for Life.

TV Land Acquires 'Extreme Home Makeover', And Detail Summer Plans; Additional ABC Summer News

TV Land has acquired rights to air the hit ABC reality series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for once a week repeats starting August 7. The series will air Tuesdays at 11PM ET/PT. The deal gives TV Land access to prior seasons of the series. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which has won two consecutive Emmy Awards and is one of primetime's most popular shows, is a welcome addition to the line-up.
The hit series will begin its fifth season on ABC this fall. Like Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, & Medium on Lifetime, the show will air just once a week, but it is likely the deal will allow for 5-days-a-week play in a few years, like those series will on Lifetime.
Click HERE to discuss this news and also for more information.

And TV Land announced its full summer slate today. TV Land kicks off the summer armed with a slate of new original programming, a month-long tribute to Elvis Presley in August, the addition of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Tuesdays at 11PM starting Aug. 7) to its line-up, blockbuster movies and a programming marathon featuring the network's roster of hit shows -- all of which cater to Baby Boomers, America's "TV generation." New original programming premiering throughout the summer includes brand new episodes of the series TV Land Confidential (Wednesday at 10PM starting July 11), the premiere of the new series Back to the Grind (Wednesdays at 10:30PM starting July 18) and an original special airing as part of "Elvis Month" entitled Myths and Legends: Elvis (Thursday, Aug. 16 at 10PM).
TV Land also continues to air pop culture movie favorites viewers know and love like Parenthood, Arthur, Dragnet, Top Gun, Honeymoon in Vegas and more during its Friday night movie block.
Finally, "TV Land's Cocktail Party" -- airing weeknights starting June 4 -- showcases some of the network's most beloved shows such as The Andy Griffith Show, M*A*S*H, Three's Company, Good Times and more.
To read the full press release click HERE.

We have some ABC summer news for you. Repeats of According to Jim replaces George Lopez Tuesdays at 8PM for June 26, July 3, and July 10. According to Jim will still remain at 8:30PM.
Men in Trees encores return to the schedule Thursdays at 10PM until further notice.
George Lopez will air Fridays at 9 & 9:30PM for two weeks: June 29 and July 6. National Bingo Night's season finale is June 22.
Replacing George Lopez on Fridays at 9 starting July 13 will be repurposed episodes of ABC Family's new original series Greek on Fridays, July 13, 20, 27 and August 3.
Extreme Makeover returns with all-new episodes Mondays at 9PM for weeks of July 2, 9 and 16. The Ex-Wives Club season finale is June 25.
New game show Set for Life will air Fridays at 8PM starting July 20, replacing Kyle XY ABC Family repurposing until further notice. Kyle XY will be repurposed only on June 15, 22, 29, July 6 and July 13.
Finally, new drama Masters of Science Fiction will air Saturdays at 10PM for four weeks (Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25).

SitcomsOnline.com 2007-08 Upfront Preview: CBS; Notes on ABC, TV Land, AmericanLife and TV One

CBS continues to be the network that will have the least amount of changes to its fall schedule. I think we will see a few moves and some cancellations though.
Here is the SitcomsOnline.com CBS 2007-08 preview:

New Series Already Picked-Up: None
New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: The Man (drama), Los Duques (drama), Big Bang Theory (sitcom) and Babylon Fields (drama).
New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: Swingtown (drama), Viva Laughlin (drama), and Kohan & Mutchnick Project (sitcom)

OUR FALL 2007 PREDICTION:

Sundays
7:00PM 60 Minutes
8:00PM Cold Case
9:00PM The Man (NEW)
10:00PM Without a Trace

Mondays
8:00PM How I Met Your Mother
8:30PM The Big Bang Theory (NEW)
9:00PM Two and a Half Men
9:30PM Rules of Engagement
10:00PM CSI: Miami

Tuesdays
8:00PM Navy NCIS
9:00PM The Unit
10:00PM CSI: NY

Wednesdays
8:00PM The Amazing Race
9:00PM Criminal Minds
10:00PM Shark

Thursdays
8:00PM Survivor
9:00PM CSI
10:00PM Los Duques (NEW)

Fridays
8:00PM Ghost Whisperer
9:00PM Babylon Fields (NEW)
10:00PM NUMB3RS

Saturdays
8:00PM Crime Repeats
9:00PM Crime Repeats or Close to Home
10:00PM 48 Hours Mystery

Comments: CBS will probably only pick up one sitcom for the fall. Their sitcom development has been terrible quite frankly so we might see on the bubble sitcoms return. This is what I said last year about Close to Home: "Close to Home is on the bubble for CBS, yet it wins its slot regularly on Friday nights, so I think it will return. Maybe CBS can try it on Saturdays to spice up that night." And I was right on the money...and I think this time it might move to Saturdays or just be gone outright as CBS wants to get a bit younger on Fridays.
Series canceled or will be include The Class, Jericho, Smith, 3 LBS, & The King of Queens. I think CBS will have to bring back Old Christine for mid-season as its sitcom development was bad...maybe they pick up one newbie for mid-season. The Class and Jericho are most likely done, but Jericho has a slight chance, but CBS's drama pilots have come out better than expected. Their best drama is probably Swingtown, but it is nothing like a CBS show, so I had no idea where to slot it in the fall. Maybe they can find a fit for mid-season, to say Wednesdays at 8? Wednesdays at 8 is very hard to schedule for CBS. Maybe they will have Amazing Race to that slot in the fall. I really think CSI: NY will move to the cursed CBS Tuesday at 10 slot. That will help that slot and CSI: NY has battled the original Law & Order well in the past, so I think it can tackle a declining Law & Order: SVU. Maybe they will try Shark out of Criminal Minds so CBS can try something else post-CSI, like Los Duques.

Remember, next Wednesday (May 16) is the actual date when we will find out CBS's plans for the 2007-08 season. So, come on back next Wednesday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned tomorrow for a preview on Fox's upfront.

ABC has pulled the 9:30pm airing of Notes from the Underbelly for tonight for a repeat of George Lopez. Notes from the Underbelly will still air in its regular 8:30pm slot.
On TV Land, they will be finally airing new episodes of What's Happening Now!! and not the same 12 episodes over and over. Starting Tuesday, May 29 you can catch episodes never seen on TV Land before of the hit follow-up series. The series lasted 66 episodes, so let's hope we see them all. The series airs weekdays at 7am ET/PT on TV Land. Program those DVRs, TiVos, VCRs, or whatever. For more information on the new episodes click HERE.
AmericanLife TV has acquired the classic '60s drama Mission: Impossible to its primetime classic TV line-up! The series will debut October 2007! For full details click HERE.
In addition to the TV One Mother's Day marathon we mentioned in the May highlights, TV One is asking us to vote for the top TV One mom...Mary Jenkins of 227 or Florida Evans of Good Times? Vote for your fav TV mom, plus enter for a chance to win $25,000 by clicking HERE.

ABC Pulls 'Emergency's' Last Airing; Other Updates; NBC Summer Update

ABC has pulled the last airing of In Case of Emergency for April 18. ABC has aired 12 episodes so far and a 13th will not air. The last episode they aired on April 11 was the actual season finale, so we did see how it ends, they just decided not to air one episode. Repeats of Lost will air in the 9pm hour a week earlier than planned now. The repeats of Lost will lead-in to all-new episode of Lost 10. If you missed this week's Lost, you must watch it this Wednesday at 9...it was GREAT! According to Jim will settle into its new timeslot of Wednesdays at 8pm starting this Wednesday followed by Notes from the Underbelly which premiered to decent numbers last night on a special premiere night and time. George Lopez will move to Tuesdays from 8 to 9 p.m. It was scheduled to move on Tuesday, April 17, but ABC has decided to air another Dancing with the Stars Recap Show leading into the Live Results Show of Dancing with the Stars. So, George will move on April 24 for three weeks (April 24, May 1 and May 8) of new episodes airing back-to-back. Look for guest stars galore with Mario Lopez, Oscar de la Hoya, and Jerry Springer returns.

Meanwhile, Disney-ABC Television Group announced that it will add the remaining unaired episodes of new drama Six Degrees to ABC.com's broadband player.
The first unaired episode of Six Degrees will be added to ABC.com on Friday, April 27, with a new episode added every Friday for four consecutive weeks (five episodes total). Look for sitcom star Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) to appear in an episode.

NBC announced the premieres for its original alternative programs in Summer 2007 that feature the return of last summer's hit America's Got Talent (with new host Jerry Springer) on May 29 (9-11pm, regular airings Tuesdays 8-9pm) as well as an updated edition of the hit series Last Comic Standing (with new host Bill Bellamy) on June 13 (9-11pm, regular airings 9-10pm) and the launch of Age of Love reality dating series (with host Mark Consuelos) on June 18 (10-11pm). In addition, NBC will reprise the popular weight-loss series The Biggest Loser (with new host Alison Sweeney from NBC's Days of our Lives) in late summer.

ABC Changes 'Underbelly' Regular Slot Again, Pulls 'Degrees'; Fox Halts 'Wedding'; CBS Salutes Bob Barker in Primetime

ABC has once again altered the timeslot for yet to premiere new sitcom Notes from the Underbelly. Notes will still premiere with back-to-back episodes on Thursday, April 12 following a Grey's Anatomy special, but after that the show will move to Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. starting April 18. It will follow According to Jim. Jim is expected to air at 8 and 9 (new and a repeat) on April 18, with the season finale of In Case of Emergency wrapping up at 9:30 on April 18. Jim will be moving to 8pm because starting April 25, Lost encores from the previous week will air at 9 p.m. leading into an all-new episode. George Lopez will be airing new episodes in back-to-back slots on Wednesday, April 4 & 11 and also on Tuesday, April 17 (its new night). Guest stars all over the place with Barbara Eden, Jerry Springer, and Mario Lopez. Andy Garcia also directed one of the episodes. George will move and stay in the Tuesday 8-9pm slot for the rest of the season. For more on the Wednesday sitcom schedule and this Tuesday note, click HERE.
October Road was slated to only air four episodes this season, but since it has done very well, ABC will air the last two episodes of its season order April 19 and April 26 following all-new episodes of Grey's Anatomy! No idea yet what will air after Grey's on May 10 and 17, but May 3 will be the backdoor spin-off pilot for Grey's Anatomy starring Kate Walsh, Taye Diggs, and Tim Daly.
Finally, ABC is pulling Six Degrees from the Friday line-up effective this Friday after a series low last week. The show has just aired two episodes since returning from hiatus. The show heated up in the episode this past Friday, but unfortunately the temperature didn't rise in 'degrees' in the ratings. No word yet if and when the remaining episodes will air or if it will air on abc.com. Repeats of Wife Swap will temporary air at 9 on Fridays. And no word yet if Men in Trees will return. All bets are that the remaining five episodes for Trees will be held over until next season.

David E. Kelly Drama The Wedding Bells is halting production after just seven episodes produced. Which means the show will at most air for another three weeks. The show has been going down in the ratings each Friday at 9 for Fox. The last episode will air (if it actually airs) April 20 (the last Friday before May sweeps starts).

Emmy Award winner Bob Barker will be honored with two final primetime specials this May on CBS, paying tribute to his 50 years in show business and his upcoming retirement after 35 years of hosting The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in television history. The specials will be broadcast Wednesday, May 16 and Thursday, May 17 from 8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT on CBS.
On Wednesday, May 16, CBS will present The Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular, Barker's final appearance in prime time hosting the show he has led since 1972. In this special primetime edition, contestants will have the opportunity to win bigger prizes and the chance to spin the wheel for $1 million.
On Thursday, May 17, Bob Barker: A Celebration of 50 Years on Television will include Barker's reminiscences about his 50 year career on television and his 35 years on The Price Is Right, in addition to highlighting some classic games from the long-running show.
CBS will air 15-second viewer tributes to retiring host Bob Barker. Viewer tributes will air during the Bob Barker: A Celebration of 50 Years on Television" special.
The user-generated video tributes are a continuation of CBS Interactive's "15 Seconds" campaign, where viewers post their 15-second messages on YouTube, and CBS Interactive then chooses the best viewer-videos to be broadcast on the Network.
Viewers can submit their 15-second taped message now on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/group/15seconds. The videos need to be a 15-second tribute to Bob Barker. Every two weeks, CBS Interactive will select five videos from the "15 Seconds on CBS" YouTube Group and post them on CBS.com. From those "favorites," CBS Interactive will select the videos for broadcast. Viewers submitting videos must be 16 years of age or older and must abide by YouTube's Community Guidelines at http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines. No profanity or nudity will be accepted. Rules and details regarding CBS Interactive's "15 Seconds" community campaign can be found on CBS.com at http://www.cbs.com/originals/15_seconds.
Bob Barker's last The Price is Right regular episode will air in June only on CBS daytime!

Jeannie and Springer on 'George Lopez' This Week; CBS Announces Season Finale Dates; NBC Pull 'Donnellys' Early

ABC will now air two new episodes of George Lopez this Wednesday rather than repeats. Both episodes will feature a special guest star. The first episode has Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie at 8:00 followed by Jerry Springer at 8:30. These two episodes were scheduled for April 25 but ABC has decided to air them this week instead leading into a baseball themed episode of According to Jim and a new In Case of Emergency.
Eden's episode plot line: Much to Benny's dismay, George and Angie hire a maid (guest starring Barbara Eden as Ruth) who quickly cooks and cleans her way into George's heart.
Springer's episode plot line: When the love of Benny's life (guest starring Jerry Springer as Wayne Hill) returns to town, George builds a web of lies to keep them from reuniting.

CBS has announced season finale dates for most of its series. CBS in May will feature the unpredictable finales of the network's hit series along with a royal farewell to long-running sitcom The King of Queens when the comedy ends its nine-year, 200-plus episode run with a special one-hour finale.
Also in May, the winner of Survivor: Fiji will be crowned in a special two-hour broadcast on a special night (Sunday), and the final three teams dash to the finish line and the $1 million prize in The Amazing Race: All Stars.
Also of note, hit drama Without a Trace will air its season finale in its old home Thursday at 10 on May 10!
For the CBS season finale dates, click HERE.

NBC has announced it has scheduled new reality series The Real Wedding Crashers, from Ashton Kutcher and inspired by the movie Wedding Crashers, Monday nights at 10 p.m. starting April 23 for 6 weeks. The show will air following the return of Heroes on April 23.
In the six outrageous, one-hour episodes, wedding couples team up with five "crashers" to create the most memorable wedding weekend their guests will never forget! The crash team consists of five quick-thinking, hilarious improv performers who've made it their mission to infiltrate a wedding, going undercover as wedding staff and guests to save them from run-of-the-mill boredom. The bride and groom are in on the fun as they assist the "crashers" to take on outrageous characters and personalities to pull off some fun and outlandish pranks.
Because of this move The Black Donnellys will be either homeless or moved to another night and time. Personally, I think it will be homeless. So far only five have aired and 3 more expected to air including tonight. I think about 5 will be left unaired unless NBC reschedules.

ION Television Soars in Ratings, Upfront Planned May 3; ABC Drops 'Dream Vote'

ION Television continues to deliver significant ratings gains in weekday primetime versus last year. According to the latest Nielsen Media Research data, ION Television’s weekday primetime average is up 30 percent for the season compared to the first two quarters of 2006.
The network will host an Upfront sales presentation for advertisers on Thursday, May 3, 2007 in New York City to unveil its programming strategy for the 2007-2008 season. RHI Entertainment, which will serve as ION Television’s exclusive programming supplier on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights beginning June 29, will provide a sneak preview of some of the original titles debuting on ION later this year.
For the week ending March 25, ION Television delivered its best performance for a single program this season with its broadcast of The Cowboys, starring John Wayne, on Sunday, March 25 at 8 p.m. The movie posted a 0.9 HH rating (1,044,000), boosting the night’s primetime average to a 0.8 HH rating (932,000), the network’s highest single weekend night performance for the season.
Overall, ION Television’s weekend movies, currently featuring popular titles from the libraries of Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and NBC Universal, have improved their time period by over 50 percent in households compared to the first two quarters of 2006.
In addition, during the recently concluded February Sweep period, ION Television’s viewers proved they love their Mama, with Mama’s Family posting a 0.9 HH rating (1,008,000) on Thursday, February 15. The night, anchored by Diagnosis Murder at 9 p.m. and Charlie’s Angels at 10 p.m., delivered the network’s highest single weeknight performance for the season at a 0.7 HH rating (752,000).
Don't forget the new spring line-up starts April 2 with the additions of Moral Court, Alice, The Wonder Years and the return of Amen. Also, the classic Battlestar Galactica will air on Sundays.

Also in the news today, after just two airings (with just one in its regular time period of Wednesdays at 8), ABC will pull The Great American Dream Vote off the schedule starting next Wednesday, April 4. Reruns of George Lopez will fill the hour that week. April 11 and 18 will probably be reruns of George as well, because new episodes were slated to return April 25 when Dream Vote concluded. This is much better news, as many of us would much rather watch George!