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

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

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

Comcast onDemand's TubeTime Adds More Series, Removes Some; Comcast onDemand's TheWB Adds More; Scrubs Returns Tonight

Comcast onDemand's channel TubeTime, owned by Sony Pictures Television, has added four more series to its onDemand slate this past week. Gidget, The Larry Sanders Show, The Three Stooges, and Sanford & Son have been added with the first four episodes of each series. Now gone from the service are Silver Spoons and One Day at a Time. It is unfortunate because they didn't get to finish the run on either. They even had episodes beyond season one for those two, and both haven't had any DVD releases after season one. Still on the service will be The Facts of Life, Who's the Boss?, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Party of Five. It's nice Facts of Life and Who's the Boss? are still on it since they are on seasons 5 and 4 respectively, and they haven't been released on DVD after seasons 3 and 1 respectively. I don't understand a few of these additions to the slate like Sanford & Son, which is already complete on DVD and is on television on TV Land & TV One. It would have been better if they kept Silver Spoons or One Day at a Time. What would have been better was if they added Sanford Arms or Sanford instead of the heavily seen Sanford & Son. What I'd like to see return or come to TubeTime: Diff'rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, One Day at a Time, What's Happening Now!!, Benson, Maude, 227, Archie Bunker's Place, Sanford, Sanford Arms, Grady, Hello Larry, Checking In and more. All of those are from Sony Pictures, so they could come. We'll keep you up to date as always.

Sticking with more Comcast onDemand news...a few weeks ago we told you that Comcast has added TheWB onDemand channel to its onDemand service. They launched with Warner Bros. owned series Martin, All of Us, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Jack & Bobby. More episodes of those shows are added each week, and this week they added three more series to the onDemand channel! Three dramas from this decade have been added: One Tree Hill, The O.C., and Veronica Mars. The first 5 or 6 episodes of those were added, while the existing series are now up to the first 8 episodes. So far they seem to be skewing with the newer series, with Mr. Cooper and Martin as their oldest series. Hopefully they add more sitcoms, and more from the past. Some shows hat would be perfect for this service would be Alice, Perfect Strangers, Hogan Family, Head of the Class, Welcome Back Kotter Gilligan's Island, and Chico and the Man. Just my thoughts. All of those are not seen anywhere nationally. Hopefully some of those will come soon. We'll let you know if we get further updates.

Just a reminder that Scrubs returns for an all-new season, its eighth season, tonight at 9pm with two back-to-back episodes...on ABC! I saw both episodes last month, and they were pretty funny, especially the first one...check out my comments. I was never big on this show but did watch a handful of episodes in the past.
Also premiering tonight leading into Scrubs at 8pm ET will be Homeland Security USA, a look at how the Homeland Security Division does its job. It is pretty interesting. I also saw that premiere a few weeks back and I think many will like it also...check out my comments.
Finally, I have to mention this because I'm from the town, but Primetime: What Would You Do? returns tonight at 10pm on ABC and will feature my town of Linden, NJ! I am so actually excited. What Would You Do? explores how people react when they witness blatant racial discrimination. In this scenario, Latino men and women attempt to place an order in broken English at All Aboard Bagel and Deli in downtown Linden, NJ. But their requests are met by extreme prejudice from the cashier. Hidden cameras capture how customers respond to the scenario. Find out what happens tonight at 10pm.

Happy 4th of July...Marathon Time; Sci Fi Channel Schedule Updates

Happy 4th of July everyone! We hope you and your family have a nice safe holiday and see a lot of fireworks, whether it be on TV or outside. Enjoy it and be safe!
If you're staying indoors to beat the heat, then there are some marathons on TV for you!
Sci Fi will bring its Twilight Zone 4th of July marathon once again. It actually started Thursday and will run until early Saturday morning! TNT has what else, an all-day Law & Order marathon starting at 8am. USA has a JAG and the spin-off NCIS marathon starting at 10am until 11pm. TV Land has quite a few marathons, starting with original series She's Got The Look from 9am-2pm, followed by the classic sitcom I Love Lucy from 2pm-7pm and again from 1am-2pm the next day, followed by Hogan's Heroes on Saturday from 2pm-7pm and again Sunday from 1am-4pm. They will also run the movies National Lampoon's Vacation and National Lampoon's European Vacation this weekend. BET launches The Steve Harvey Show this weekend with hour slots from 4-5pm all weekend. FX will be king of the hill this 4th of July with a King of the Hill marathon from 9am-6pm. Encore Westerns will launch Maverick at high noon until midnight, pardners. ABC Family will launch That '70s Show with a marathon from 11am-7:30pm, leading into a Harry Potter weekend.
If you like more movies, TBS has some action movies starting at 10am while Lifetime brings Christmas to July with holiday movies starting at 9am. Fox Movie Channel will air an all day marathon of ID4, that's Independence Day starring Will Smith. Spike TV also has some movies on tap.
If you're in the Los Angeles, CA area, KTLA will air a cool sitcom marathon. Hang out and hang ten with the California surfer chick Gidget in The 4th of July Gidget Marathon on Friday, July 4 from 10am-3pm PT. Surfs up!
Other marathons include Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel, Predator related documentaries on MSNBC, Cheaters on G4, Comedy Central Presents on Comedy Central, America's Next Top Model on MTV, Chowder on Cartoon Network, Paranormal State on A&E, I Love New York on VH1, Family Reunion on TV One, Raw Nature on Animal Planet, What Not To Wear on TLC, The Next Food Network Star on Food Network, The Revolution on History, and more. Some weird stuff.

We mentioned like two months ago or so that Sci Fi Channel has struck a deal with CBS Paramount to air many shows. As you all know, Star Trek: The Next Generation has already started airing in a block on Mondays starting at 7pm. Slowly other shows will be incorporated. The should haven never been canceled drama Joan of Arcadia starring Amber Tamblyn, Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen, and Jason Ritter is coming to Sci Fi next Friday (July 11) airing Fridays at 8PM. That is a nice tribute to the series, as the show originally aired Fridays at 8PM on CBS for its two seasons. Then in August, the drama series The Sentinel will be airing in the daytime rotation marathon (10am-4pm) in many spots starting in August. And in September, the drama Seven Days will get the weekday treatment, airing weekdays at 4pm starting September 2. So far no other news on the Paramount shows like Mork & Mindy and Highlander, but stay tuned, as soon as we know, we will post!
In other Sci Fi news, Lost reruns will air Mondays 7-11pm starting September 15, which means Star Trek: The Next Generation will be on the move to Tuesdays at 7pm.

Enjoy the fireworks and don't forget to come on back tomorrow to see the blog!