WPIX's Halloween Chiller Theatre and a November 13 Marathon of a Sitcom; Hallmark Cuts Lucy...Again

While WGN America airs a Munsters and Addams Family marathon for Halloween (Oct. 30 and 31), local New York station WPIX is going for some movie horror. WPIX is airing The Evil of Frankenstein on Halloween night (Saturday, October 31) at 8pm (as Chiller Theatre) and this year its hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and will feature the original Chiller Theatre opens: "The Six-Fingered Hand" and the "Monster Montage"
(wpix.com/chillertheatre).
Chiller Theatre originally aired on WPIX from 1961-1978 and again from 1980-1982. After WPIX resurrected Chiller Theatre in 2008 (with a broadcast of Tarantula hosted by Zacherley) the station received hundreds of requests from viewers demanding the return of Chiller Theatre to the air. So this year, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark will host WPIX's Chiller Theatre presentation.
The 1964 campy chiller The Evil of Frankenstein -- from Hammer Film Productions, one of the most famous names in horror -- Peter Cushing stars as Baron Frankenstein who resurrects his monster only to have him come under the spell of Zoltan, a svengali-like carnival hypnotist who mesmerizes the creature into doing his evil bidding.

And that's not all the WPIX news we have! Let's see if you can guess it before I reveal it. On what opening theme did we have a narration that mentioned November 13? Did you figure it out? Still stumped? Read this: "On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. (Unger's unseen wife slams door. She reopens it and angrily hands Felix his saucepan) That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"
Yes, the classic '70s ABC sitcom The Odd Couple! In a cool marathon stunt, WPIX will air a late night marathon of The Odd Couple on that very day when Felix leaves his wife and moves in with Oscar...and that's how they became The Odd Couple. WPIX in New York will air the marathon from 11pm-4:30am on Friday, November 13 with classic episodes. Episodes airing are "Password," "You Saved My Life," "Sleepwalkers," "The Flying Felix," "The Odd Monks," "Felix Calypso Singer," "Let's Make a Deal," "The Subway Show," "The New Car," "A Grave for Felix," and "I Gotta Be Me." We'll have more on this if anything new arises, and let's hope WPIX can do some more marathons of shows!

It was just on Tuesday when we announced that we would be getting more I Love Lucy on Hallmark, but guess what...now that will be cut. Like I said, Hallmark's love and hate relationship continues with Lucy. They quietly removed the weekdays 9-10am hour of I Love Lucy yesterday and returned Golden Girls in the hour, so now that airs 9am-1pm...for now (keep reading). Starting Monday (Oct. 19) Touched by an Angel returns to weekdays at 12 noon, replacing an hour of The Golden Girls, as that is now 9am-12pm every weekday morning. Then once again I Love Lucy is given a short leash and is getting cut completely from its current 5pm-11pm hours. M*A*S*H returns and will air in its old 5pm-8pm hours, while Touched by an Angel returns at 8pm, and the primetime movie from 9-11pm. So I Love Lucy goes from 7 hours a day this week to ZERO hours a day next week! What is with the love-hate relationship? Ratings must be key to the changes, but it seems Hallmark makes moves and changes those moves within days. Are you getting tired of it? Sound off on our message board! Ah, the on going soap opera of Hallmark Channel schedule changes!

More Lucy on Hallmark; ABC Picks Up FLASHFORWARD for Full Season

Last Friday we told you about some Hallmark Channel changes beginning Monday (yesterday), now they have made a change that starts tonight! We get even more I Love Lucy! They must have a love-hate relationship with Lucy! In addition to the changes listed on Friday's blog, now effective tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 13), I Love Lucy will air 9-11pm as well replacing Touched by an Angel, which is off the line-up for NOW. It's slated to return to 8pm starting Oct. 26, but that could change. As of now, I Love Lucy airs weekdays 5-11pm and also in the morning 9-10am. That's a whole lotta Lucy! Will it last? You'll just have to keep checking back with us to see!

Also last Friday we announced that ABC has picked-up Comedy Wednesday comedies The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town for full seasons, now no surprise they have picked up drama FLASHFORWARD for a full season.
From 8:00-9:00 p.m. on Thursday, ABC's FLASHFORWARD ranks No. 1 in Adults 18-49, leading CBS' time-period veteran Survivor: Samoa through its first three airings. On its series debut telecast, the new ABC drama became the first regular program since Friends in 2004 to beat Survivor in the key young adult sales demo. The ABC freshman is an exceptionally strong draw among Adults 18-34, dominating its time period and qualifying as TV's No. 1 new drama series this season. The new series is greatly improving its time period year-to-year for ABC, boosting the hour by 1.8 million viewers and by 32% in Adults 18-49 over the same nights last year. Based on DVR playback during season-premiere week (Sept. 21-27), FLASHFORWARD finished as TV's biggest freshman gainer, as its numbers jumped by 2.0 million viewers (12.5 million to 14.5 million) and 8-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (4.1 rating to 4.9 rating) from the initially reported next-day numbers to 7-day DVR finals.
ABC has said they have picked up 25 episodes of the series, so that is three more than usual. As of now the comedies are 22 each, but that could change to something more if necessary.
Building on its lead-in at 8:30 p.m. among viewers (+4%) and young adults (+26%), ABC's The Middle qualifies as the most-watched TV show in its time period and a ranks a strong No. 2 in the half-hour to Fox's time-period regular So You Think You Can Dance among Adults 18-49. The new ABC comedy also holds the No. 1 position in its half-hour with Adults 25-54 and Men 18-49. On average, The Middle is boosting ABC's numbers in half-hour year-to-year by 2.1 million viewers and by 20% in Adults 18-49, over the same nights last season.
Standing as TV's most-watched new comedy this season, ABC's Modern Family ranks No. 1 in its half-hour among Adults 18-49. Modern Family is also No. 1 in its slot among Women 18-49 and Men 18-34. On average, the freshman comedy is improving the time period year to year for ABC, growing its half-hour over the same nights last year by 3.0 million viewers and by 36% in Adults 18-49. The mockumentary style sitcom is out-delivering NBC's similar style The Office in total viewers this season averaging 10.47 million viewers through its first three airings.
And finally, exhibiting impressive compatibility, ABC's Cougar Town holds 100% retention of its Modern Family lead-in in Adults 18-49. Cougar Town ranks a strong No. 2 in its half-hour in Adults 18-49, just two-tenths of a ratings point behind and tied in audience share with first-place CBS's veteran drama, Criminal Minds. The new show leads its time period among Men 18-34. The freshman comedy is also improving the time period for ABC year-to-year, boosting ABC's results over the comparable year-ago nights in Total Viewers (+19%) and Adults 18-49 (+23%).

ABC Picks Up Full Seasons of 3 New Comedies; Hallmark Does More Changing; Bio TV's TV Related Specials

ABC has announced it has given early full season orders to three of the four new Comedy Wednesday sitcoms. The Middle starring Patricia Heaton, Modern Family starring Ed O'Neill and Cougar Town starring Courtney Cox were given at least 22 episodes for this season, adding on nine episodes at least in the original 13 episode order. The latter two especially has done well in the ratings, in particular in 18-49. They have set up for a good comedy foundation for the network. No news was given yet on Hank starring Kelsey Grammer, the next few airings will be key for its future.
The three comedies join CBS's NCIS: LA & The Good Wife, along with Fox's Glee and Cleveland Show in full season pick-ups, though the latter was given multiple season orders before it even aired. Look for more full season renewals officially soon such as for ABC drama FLASHFORWARD.

Well it must be Friday because The Hallmark Channel has made some changes to its schedule. Effective Monday (October 12), the weekday 9am hour will now be I Love Lucy instead of The Golden Girls. So Golden Girls in the mornings are now 10am-1pm instead of 9am-1pm. And it will still air weeknights 11pm-2am. Then starting next Saturday (Oct. 17), M*A*S*H returns and will air Saturdays from 9am-11am replacing The Golden Girls. Then on both Saturday and Sunday nights starting next weekend, Walker, Texas Ranger is back, replacing The Golden Girls from 1-3am on both nights. And finally Sundays starting next Sunday we have another hour of Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures on Sundays in the 10am hour, and yes it replaces The Golden Girls. The Golden Girls is now totally off the line-up on weekends but remain of course on weekdays. So if you're keeping track, Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures airs Saturdays 6am-9am and Sundays 8am-11am.
And for the November schedule, Touched by an Angel will replace I Love Lucy in the 8pm hour starting Oct. 26, but Lucy will remain 5-8pm. Touched by an Angel will not be airing 9pm and 10pm because of the previously announced movie airing weeknights 9-11pm starting Oct. 26.

Finally Bio TV has some new specials this month that are interesting. First on Tuesday (Oct. 13) at 10pm, they are airing Cast Confessions: The Facts of Life. This special takes you behind the scenes to reveal everything you never knew about one of our favorite sitcoms...The Facts of Life. Revisit this classic comedy as back-stage secrets and hidden drama are revealed through exclusive footage and interviews with original cast members, writers and network executives. Sounds interesting!
They have also premiered a new series called Celebrity Ghost Stories. It launched last Saturday and airs Saturdays at 10PM. In the premiere last week, celebs featured were Joan Rivers, David Carradine, Scott Baio, Teri Polo. Joan Rivers asks a voodoo priestess to help her with an angry ghost; Scott Baio's unresolved issues with his father haunt him when his dad dies; Teri Polo has a horrifying encounter one night when she's just 8 years old; and David Carradine has a strange encounter with his wife's dead husband. Airing tomorrow (Oct. 10) are about celebs Barry Williams, Debi Mazar, Greg Grunberg, Sammy Hagar. When Barry Williams holds a memorial service for his father, a few strange "happenings" make the day even more unforgettable; Debi Mazer gets a hostile welcome from a ghost when she moves into a friend's home; Greg Grunberg meets a ghost with a shocking past; and Sammy Hagar gets a visit from Van Halen's dead manager.
Upcoming celebs featured are: Carrie Fisher, Rue McClanahan, John Waters, Federico Castelluccio (10/17); Tom Arnold, Dee Snider, Carnie Wilson, Nia Long (10/24) Lisa Rinna, Jeffrey Ross, Vincent Curatola, Illeana Douglas (11/7); Carnie Wilson, Eric Roberts, Elisabeth Rohm, C. Thomas Howell (11/14); Justine Bateman, Traci Lords, Jay Thomas, James Kyson Lee (11/21). There will be a marathon on Halloween night starting at 8pm.

Schedule Changes for Next Week for TV Land, WGN America, Hallmark, TV One and ION

It's Friday and my oh my we have so many schedule changes taking place starting next week! So saddle up and get ready! First up, TV Land is removing Married...with Children again despite good ratings. Why? I think they are removing it because as I mentioned, sister network Spike TV will air it weekdays again starting Monday from 12-2pm. Who knew TV Land would remove it again? This Saturday is the last airing on TV Land (for now, knowing them) with the Saturday marathon. Starting next week, 3rd Rock from the Sun returns from the dead and will air Tuesdays 8pm-12am replacing the Married...with Children Tuesday block. The regular 8-9pm hour from Tues-Fri will also be replaced, with Hogan's Heroes on Wednesday and The Brady Bunch on Thursdays and Fridays. Actually those two shows will air 7-9PM, so they replace The Beverly Hillbillies in the 7pm hour...but that sitcom still airs in the afternoon at 1pm. The Saturday Married marathons will also be replaced starting Oct. 10 with various sitcoms. On October 10 we have Hogan's Heroes from 2:30-6pm, followed by a movie (Police Academy) until 8pm, then the M*A*S*H and Roseanne blocks have earlier start times, 8pm-11pm and 11pm-4am. Now TV Land has not announced yet if these changes are beyond next week, but I think they are.
View the updated TV Land October schedule.

Next up is WGN America. Starting Monday night, The Cosby Show will return to the WGN America regular line-up, as it was airing just Sundays. It will air Mon-Wed nights in the 4am hour replacing AFV, which only aired for a week there. And finally Toni On! New York will switch with Reno 911. Toni On! moves to Sundays at 5am, while Reno 911 moves to Mondays at 5am. That makes sense since now Reno 911 airs weeknights at 5am. Minor changes, but still changes!
Moving on to The Hallmark Channel, they get even more Lucy! Beginning Monday, October 5, I Love Lucy gets another hour. It will expand into 5-9pm, instead of 5-8pm. The 8pm hour addition replaces Touched by an Angel, which will still air from 9-11pm.

As for TV One, beginning on Tuesday October 6, TV One airs the sitcom For Your Love in the weekday morning 7am timeslot. The TV One original financial advice series Singletary Says previously announced for this time period will slide down a half hour and will now air weekdays at 7:30am. Finally, beginning on Thursday, October 8, TV One presents Thankful Thursdays with religious based sitcom Good News returning to the primetime mini-marathons airing Thursdays from 8pm to 10pm with encores from 3am to 5am until further notice, replacing the planned Sanford & Son marathons. Also of note, on Sunday, October 11 at 4pm, TV One encores the original special Living Single: The Reunion Show that reunites the cast of the popular TV One sitcom for a trip down memory lane.
The rest is the same as we previously announced for TV One October.
Finally, ION Television has announced the TBD slots on weekend afternoons will indeed be Reba starting this weekend. Reba will air in the 3pm ET half-hour this Sunday (Oct. 4).

Hallmark Channel Welcomes Back I Love Lucy; 61st Primetime Emmy Awards Winners

A few weeks back we mentioned that I Love Lucy would get a marathon on The Hallmark Channel on Sunday, Oct. 4 from 11am-3am...now we have more news for Lucy! It looks like they were planning that marathon for a comeback rather than Lucy's anniversary! Effective Monday, Oct. 5 (the very next day), I Love Lucy returns to the regular Hallmark Channel schedule and it isn't a late night/early morning slot! I Love Lucy will air weekdays from 5pm-8pm, yes that's six straight episodes, replacing M*A*S*H, which is now off the line-up. This is the second bit of bad news for M*A*S*H, as on Thursday we told you ION Television was removing it also. Not sure what is going on with M*A*S*H yet, but TV Land will still carry it.
As for I Love Lucy, you people need to watch if you want it to STAY on the schedule, especially 5pm-8pm. They are giving it yet another chance...but Hallmark seems to have a short leash, so watch it this time or you'll have some splaining to do! Luuuuuuuucy!

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Weeds (Showtime)
The Office (NBC)
How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
Family Guy (Fox)
Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
WINNER: 30 Rock.

OUTSTANDING LEAD COMEDY ACTOR
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Jermaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
WINNER: Alec Baldwin.

OUTSTANDING LEAD COMEDY ACTRESS
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Old Christine (CBS)
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Toni Collette, United States of Tara (Showtime)
WINNER: Toni Collette.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock (NBC)
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock (NBC)
WINNER: Jon Cryer.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock (NBC)
Amy Poehler, SNL (NBC)
Kristin Wiig, SNL (NBC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
WINNER: Kristin Chenoweth.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
House (Fox)
Damages (FX)
Big Love (HBO)
Mad Men (AMC)
Dexter (Showtime)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
WINNER: Mad Men.

OUTSTANDING LEAD DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
Simon Baker, The Mentalist (CBS)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Gabriel Bryne, In Treatment (HBO)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
WINNER: Bryan Cranston.

OUTSTANDING LEAD DRAMA ACTRESS
Glenn Close, Damages (FX)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace (TNT)
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men (AMC)
WINNER: Glenn Close.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
William Hurt, Damages (FX)
John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
WINNER: Michael Emerson.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Cherry Jones, 24 (Fox)
Ross Byrne, Damages (FX)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Hope Davis, In Treatment (HBO)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Diane Wiest, In Treatment (HBO)
WINNER: Cherry Jones

View the full list of winners at Emmys.tv

Stay tuned for pilot reviews of Modern Family, Cougar Town, Brothers, and The Cleveland Show from Tues-Fri this week...we have a sitcom pilot review each day for you! See what we think of all the sitcom pilots this season!

TV Land and Hallmark Make Changes Starting Sept. 14; Chris Does Well for Nick at Nite; John Ritter Anniversary

TV Land and Hallmark Channel have both made some last minute schedule changes to its schedule starting this Monday (Sept. 14). TV Land's change is very minor, as it will add a third Sanford & Son in the morning at 10:30am replacing a Good Times airing. Good Times will remain 9am-10:30am, as Sanford & Son is now 10:30am-12pm. The previous changes that were set to happen on Sept. 14 for TV Land that we announced, will still happen.
Meanwhile, it wouldn't be a week without a Hallmark Channel schedule change. It seems like every week we have a schedule change now. This schedule change is a bit more drastic than the usual changes. The changes start this Monday (Sept. 14) with Paid Programming replacing The Golden Girls in the 8am hour. Not to worry is that The Golden Girls will retain that hour by airing at 12pm replacing the start of a movie. Golden Girls will now air between 9am-1pm every weekday morning. Murder, She Wrote returns to the line-up airing at 1pm (replacing the continuation of the afternoon movie) and 2pm (replacing a Little House airing). Little House has been cut to 3-5pm. The final change is in the late night, with another hour of The Golden Girls replacing an hour of Cheers. So, Golden Girls late night is now 11pm-2am, while Cheers is cut to 2-3am. Looks like Hallmark Channel thanks you for being a friend!

Nick at Nite's latest prime-time addition to its family-programming lineup, Everybody Hates Chris (Monday, Sept. 7, 10 p.m. ET/PT), scored 1.8 million total viewers in its Labor Day premiere. The series also drew double-digit gains with adults 18-49 (+25%) and women 18-49 (+20%) and ranked as the most-watched live action premiere for the net with adults 18-49 since the debut of Home Improvement (September 2007).
The premiere scored 1.8 million total viewers (+8 %) and double-digit gains over last year's like time period with adults 18-49 (+25%) and women 18-49 (+20%), averaging a 0.5 A18-49 rating and 592,000 viewers A18-49 and a 0.6 W18-49 rating and 372,000 viewers W18-49.
Chris has of course George Lopez as its lead-in, which is the #1 program on the network averaging well over 2 million viewers an airing.

And finally, today is September 11...we of course remember the lives of all the victims of the 9/11 attack in 2001, but we also remember the tragic passing of John Ritter on this date in 2003. I cannot believe it has been 6 years to this day that we lost such a great actor and more importantly a wonderful human being. The best way you can remember John today is by of course watching his great work on TV or DVD, or by saying something nice and funny to someone, but also by donating to the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. I've made my annual donation today, and I think we should all do the same. We miss you John!

Happy Labor Day; TV Rebels: Desi Arnaz - More Than Just a Bongo Player

Happy Labor Day everyone! Most of you are probably outdoors spending this last "unofficial" last day of summer with your family & friends, but for those of you who are in needs of some TV marathons...you've come to the right place as usual!
We have mentioned many of these already, but it's a good reminder if you have forgotten! The Golden Girls will get the most play this holiday! Hallmark Channel will air a marathon from 8am-12am, while WE tv will air a marathon also from 1pm-7pm. BET is airing a marathon of The Game all-day today, while TBS goes to The Office this Labor Day from 4pm-8pm.
Other notable marathons are for dramas...Criminal Minds on A&E, NCIS on USA Network, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. Both TNT and SOAPnet have short stunts of Law & Order and One Tree Hill from 11am-5pm, while The N has what else...Degrassi all-day. And on network TV, ABC has a three episode block of Castle from 8-11pm, as the season premiere is two weeks from tonight. TV Land has a movie marathon from 9am-6:30pm.
Reality wise we have Supernanny on style, 16 and Pregnant on MTV, Cops on G4, Catch 21 on GSN, and Dirty Jobs on Discovery. Hope you all find something!

It's time for the return of TV Rebels. We originally had special permission to publish the first 6 essays on TV shows and actors that will be featured in the upcoming book TV Rebels: 100 People and Programs That Shaped the Medium by authors Lou Orfanella and Oscar De Los Santos...and then last year we got rights to 6 additional essays (for a total of 12!), so including today's three essays are left. Upcoming TV Rebel columns will be about Rod Serling and TV Dinners. The book is in the works and will be released in 2010...so stay tuned for that and look for a review of the book right here before it comes out!

So without further adieu, we bring you the tenth essay of TV Rebels:

Desi Arnaz: More Than Just a Bongo Player
by Lou Orfanella

In 1950 when CBS was interested in bringing Lucille Ball's My Favorite Husband radio program to television Ball demanded that her real life husband Desi Arnaz play her husband. The network turned her down feeling that the viewing public would not accept Arnaz with his heavy accent as her husband. She held out, the network acquiesced and Mr. and Mrs. Desi Arnaz forever became Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in popular culture history.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had been married since 1940. By 1950 she was doing her radio show and periodic big screen projects in a mostly unnoticed film career. Arnaz was travelling the country with his band and their marriage was strained. By insisting they do what would become I Love Lucy together Ball hoped to solidify their domestic life. "Richard Denning, Lucy's radio hubby, comments: 'She said it would help her marriage. Also the show. And, of course, she was right'" (Andrews 22).

Ball was determined that Arnaz not be seen as playing second fiddle to her. The title, I Love Lucy, in fact was an effort to include Desi in the title and indeed since he is the "I" give him top billing. "The general impression seems to be that he was a lucky Cuban who was handsome, charming, played the bongo, and happened to be married to the funniest lady in the whole world. Well, this was all true, but there was a lot more to Desi than that. He may have only been that when he started, but he had an amazing ability for learning things and he was an astute businessman" (Davis 55).

It was Arnaz' business acumen that changed the traditional method of producing situation comedies. Traditionally shows were broadcast live and "preserved" on low quality kinescopes, which were essentially copies made by aiming a movie camera at a television monitor and which were used to broadcast programs outside of the eastern time zone where sponsors were less likely to view them and challenge the quality. When production was set to begin on I Love Lucy for its premier season, Lucy and Desi lived on the west coast and had no intention of moving to New York where the show could be done live for what was then the largest audience, and the sponsors as well. Desi's solution was to film the show like a motion picture resulting in high quality prints. It would be an expensive proposition requiring three or four cameras, special sound and lighting techniques, and potentially multiple sets which would increase the costs. The network only agreed after the Arnazs agreed to a pay cut to help defray the production costs. "The burden of planning this new method fell heavily on Desi's shoulders. No one had attempted a situation comedy on film, shot before a live studio audience: he was plowing virginal fields" (Andrews 32).

Arnaz was not only successful in changing the way sitcoms were filmed and preserved for the lucrative rerun syndication market, but was shrewd enough to acquire an ownership percentage in the series which he and Lucy parlayed into Desilu Production, at one time, the most successful in the business.

Works Cited
Andrews, Bart. "Lucy&Ricky&Fred&Ethel: The Story of I Love Lucy." New York: Dutton, 1976.
Davis, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. "Laughing with Lucy." Cincinnati Emmis, 2005.

TV One October (Fall) 2009 Schedule; Yet More Hallmark Changes

As we predicted on the TV One September 2009 schedule, the fall schedule changes will happen on TV One in October 2009! Beginning on Monday October 5, 2009, as the seasons change, the TV One fall schedule settles into place! Divorce Court starts the weekday schedule off from 6-7am. Then we have original programming from 7am-12pm with programs like Sharp Talk, TV One on One, and Comics Unleashed. At 12pm the series programming starts with short-lived comedies in the 12pm hour with the '90s comedy Where I Live followed by '70s comedy That's My Mama at 12:30pm. Amen now moves to 1pm being paired with the short-lived comedy Life Family. At 2pm we get back-to-back episodes of Half & Half. NY Undercover returns to the line-up airing weekdays at 3pm, while Divorce Court's afternoon airings move to the 4pm hour. In the 5pm hour will now be TV One original TV One Access. Returning to the regular schedule are The Jeffersons airing back-to-back in the 6pm hour. TV One staples Martin and Good Times now are airing in the 7pm hour. In primetime, we get blocks and movies. Mondays from 8-11pm will be Martin, Tuesdays will be Good Times, Wednesdays will be a movie followed by an hour of The Jeffersons at 10, Thursdays it is Sanford & Son and Fridays are more movies. At 11pm, Martin and Sanford & Son remain, as will Living Single and Eve in the 12am hour. At 1am it is a movie and 3am-5am will be abbreviated encores of the primetime marathon. And finally at 5am we get more original programming encores.
Saturday morning sitcoms will change a bit. All About the Andersons, Parent'hood and South Central will leave, as Life Family, The Hughleys, and The Jeffersons are now in. Airing from 6am-12pm are back-to-back episodes of Like Family, The Hughleys, All of Us, Good Times, The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son.
Moving on to stunts and marathons, on Saturday, October 24 beginning at 12 Noon, the hunks just keep coming as TV One presents the "Hottest Hunks" Sitcom Marathon showcasing episodes of favorite TV One sitcoms including All of Us, Half & Half, Eve, and Living Single that feature guest appearances by some of the hottest hunks in Hollywood including Boris Kodjoe, Will Smith, DMX, Tyrese Gibson, Tyson Beckford, Shemar Moore, Ginuwine, Eric Benet, and Blair Underwood.
On Saturday, October 31 beginning at 12 Noon, the ghouls and goblins are upon us as Halloween comes to TV One in the form of the TV One "Hallo-Scream" Marathon. TV One showcases Halloween-themed episodes of TV One sitcoms The Jeffersons, Martin, Living Single, Sanford & Son, and The Hughleys.

Effective Tuesday, Little House on the Prairie returns to the Hallmark Channel line-up airing weekdays from 2-5pm, replacing 7th Heaven, which is now gone again. Can they make up their mind already? That's not all the changes. Weekends starting Oct. 3 will see the acquistion of Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures airing Saturdays 6-9am and Sundays 8am-10am replacing Golden Girls. Golden Girls morning airings on weekends will move to Saturdays 9am-11am and Sundays 10am-11am. It will still air weekends 1-3am as well. And effective Monday, October 26, the Mon-Thurs 9-11pm airings of Touched by an Angel will be replaced by a movie. Touched will remain at 8pm weekdays, though. That's still over 7 weeks away, so don't worry yet Touched fans! Finally, there will be an I Love Lucy marathon on Sunday, Oct. 4 from 11am-3am. Lucy is not on the regular schedule right now, but October is a special month for Lucy since it launced in 1951 in that month. So I guess you can say Hallmark is celebrating the 58th birthday for Lucy.
As Hallmark keeps changing the schedule, stay with us for updates!

BET Fall 2009 Schedule; Lucy Removed on Hallmark; Glenn Martin Doing Big for Nick at Nite

This September on BET they will add a new series and also have a stay in school initiative. All of the Viacom networks are having a "Stay in School" initiative and will air a special across the Viacom networks on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8pm ET/PT called Get Schooled. It is a 30-minute special that will describe the education crisis in the US and introduce solutions on how to turn things around. The President of the United States Barack Obama, pop superstar Kelly Clarkson and 2009 NBA MVP LeBron James will be featured in Get Schooled: You Have the Right.
The program will air simultaneously on BET, BET J, CMT, CMT Pure Country, COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV Jams, MTV Hits, MTV Tr3s, MTV2, mtvU, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, Nicktoons Network, Palladia, Spike TV, The N/TeenNick, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul.
Anyway, back to BET September. They will air back to school programming in honor of this initiative. The Game will kick it off on Labor Day weekend from Saturday, Sept. 5 through and including Monday, Sept. 7. The marathon will air 9am-12am on Saturday, 1pm-6pm on Sunday, and 9am-11pm on Monday. Season one episodes will air Saturday and Sunday and season two episodes on Monday.
Next up in this week-long initiative is the launch of Everybody Hates Chris to BET. It will air Tuesday, Sept. 8 from 9am-6pm. It technically launches Sunday, Sept. 6 in the 12-1pm hour, though. Airing Wednesday-Friday that week are One on One on Wednesday, Smart Guy on Thursday, and Sister Sister on Friday...all from 9am-6pm. And finally on Saturday (Sept. 12), the week-long event concludes with The Proud Family from 9am-10:30am and The Steve Harvey Show from 10:30am-4:30pm, as this series airs for the first time on BET in a while. BET will also have a special called Bring Your "A" Game premiering Saturday, Sept. 12 at 9pm ET and encores Sunday, Sept. 13 at 12:30pm ET.
As for the regular schedule, it will start Monday, Sept. 14, but the regular schedule (as of now) isn't changing. Morning hours of Smart Guy, One on One, Sister Sister and The Game will air from 9am-1pm. A movie follows at 1pm, then more sitcoms starting at 3pm with One on One, Sister Sister and The Game. The 12:30pm & 5:30pm episodes of The Game will be season three episodes for the first time on BET. The Game will air on some nights in the 10pm hour as well. As of now, Everybody Hates Chris will just air on weekends. We mentioned Sundays in the 12-1pm hour starting Sept. 6. Saturdays will be added starting Sept. 19 airing Saturdays 3-4pm. One on One and The Game will be its lead-in on Saturdays. Everybody Hates Chris will be also airing on sister network Nick at Nite every night at 10pm and 2am ET/PT starting Sept. 7, as we mentioned.
Stay tuned if we have any further updates on this schedule. Could Chris also come to weekday afternoons? Stay with us.

The Hallmark Channel continues with the little changes basically every week it seems. Starting next week (Monday, Aug. 31), Cheers replaces I Love Lucy in late nights at 2:30am ET/PT. So this means I Love Lucy is off the schedule totally now, while Cheers now gets a two-hour block from 1am-3am. It's been good news for Cheers, as it will also air weekday afternoons now on WGN America this fall, in addition to its Sunday airings. As for I Love Lucy, it will be no where to be found nationally now. Hopefully Hallmark Channel brings it back very soon.

Nick at Nite's new stop-motion animated original series Glenn Martin, DDS reached a total 11 million viewers (8/17/09-8/20/09) and averaged 2.6 million viewers per telecast in its premiere week (Monday-Thursday, Aug. 17-20, 8 p.m.–8:30 p.m. [all times ET/PT]), according to Nielsen. The first television series from Michael Eisner's Tornante Animation starring Kevin Nealon, Catherine O'Hara and Judy Greer, also ranked as ad-supported cable's number-one co-viewed entertainment series in prime time for the week with 40% of Adults 18-49 watching with at least one kid per household.
The premiere episodes that week held 89% of its lead-in ratings (new episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar) with kids 2-11 (3.9 K2-11 rating/1.4 million K2-11 viewers); 83% with Adults 18-49 (0.5 18-49 rating/581,000 viewers 18-49); and 91% with total viewers (2.6 million).
The week of premieres also propelled Nick at Nite's prime-time growth. Year to date, the network posted gains of 50% with total viewers during prime time and quarter to date, it grew 39%.
The series airs new episodes every Monday at 8pm after that premiere week...however a new episode of Glenn Martin was added for this past Tuesday (Aug. 25) at 8pm (with an encore at 1am). Encore episodes were also added for this Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm & 1am, along with Friday (Aug. 28) 9-10pm and Saturday and Sunday night at 1am for this week. Wow! More encores to come I'm sure. It looks like Nick at Nite has an original hit.

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

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

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

FX, USA, TNT, Hallmark, Comedy Central Fall 2009; Hallmark Weekend Change

Today's fall schedule barrage theme is "more of the same." There will be some cable networks who really aren't changing anything this September. They include FX, USA Network, TNT, Hallmark Channel and Comedy Central. USA Network will continue to have
Wings and Becker air on some weekdays in the 6am hour with various late night filler airings also. Drama blocks and movies still air on weekdays for shows such as Monk, NCIS, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Wednesday mornings has Walker, Texas Ranger and JAG.
As for Comedy Central, it's more of the same as well. Just Shoot Me! continues to air in the weekday 8am hour, but Scrubs will move from the 7pm hour to the 8pm hour starting Sept. 14, as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report take the 7pm hour. That's really the only change.
FX, TNT, and The Hallmark Channel have the exact same line-up for September as they do right now, with shows like Malcolm in the Middle and Bernie Mac on FX; Charmed, Law & Order, Bones and CSI NY on TNT; and Golden Girls, Touched by an Angel, and M*A*S*H on Hallmark...all in the same time slots!
We had to cover these because we would get the question if these networks are making any changes in September. But are these the fall line-ups? We're not sure. Changes could be made in October, so stay tuned. However, USA Network is more of the same in October, so don't expect anything from us for that.
Stay tuned for more fall schedules all this week. We still have WGN America, Nick at Nite, The N, BET, WE tv and more to go through.

We didn't get a chance to warn you on Friday but Hallmark Channel has made some weekend changes that started this past Saturday (Aug. 8). The Saturday morning 6-9am episodes of Little House on the Prairie have been replaced by The Golden Girls. The same goes true for the Sunday morning airing from 8-11am as more Golden Girls are added. And if you think that's it, you're wrong because Hallmark will be thanking you for being a friend late nights on weekends as well! Both Saturday and Sunday nights (that's early Sunday and Monday mornings) from 1-3am are now also Golden Girls instead of a late night movie. So they go from no airings on weekends to all of this!

AmericanLife TV September 2009; Hallmark Channel Cuts Heaven, Murder; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: Cable Day 3

We continue with our fall schedule barrage with AmericanLife TV Network! AmericanLife TV will make minor changes this September, so we are not 100% sure yet if this is their actual fall schedule. They could be waiting for October. But let's not go there until we know for sure. For September, they are returning Lost in Space to the schedule! Lost in Space will Fridays at 7pm and 10pm starting Friday, Sept. 4. Fridays will now be all sci-fi, as ALN will air the ALN Sci-Fi Movie from 8pm-10pm in between Lost in Space. Previously, these four hours were two movies of the ALN Classic Movie.
The other change is on Saturdays from 7-9pm as Combat! is replaced by another ALN Classic Movie. Everything else is pretty much the same as the schedule that started in June. ALN starts their weekday schedule at 5pm with a block of Bob Newhart Show and Newhart from 5-7pm, followed by L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues, and St. Elsewhere from 7pm-10pm and again from 10pm-1am, Mon-Thurs. Mission: Impossible and The Color Honeymoners round out the schedule from 1-3am. On Fridays, two extra episodes of Mission: Impossible airs at 11pm and 12am, just like on Saturdays and Sundays. Weekends starts off with Chicken Soup for the Soul at 6pm, ALN Classic Movies from 7-11pm, Mission: Impossible from 11pm-2am, and The Color Honeymooners 2-4am.
View the full AmericanLife TV Network September 2009 schedule. Let's hope more series return soon since Lost in Space is returning!
Stay tuned on Monday for the next fall schedule blog post, as I'm headed for a taping of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire! We will still have news as always, so do come back anyway!

The Hallmark Channel has made very last minute schedule changes that are in effect beginning today! Another hour of The Golden Girls is added to mornings in the 11am hour replacing Touched by an Angel. So Golden Girls now airs 8am-12pm weekday mornings. Touched by an Angel will now air 12-2pm, as the 1pm hour replaces 7th Heaven. Little House on the Prairie gets another hour added to its block, with it now starting at 2pm replacing 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven is now off the Hallmark Channel line-up for now it seems. It can still be seen on WGN America at least. Little House will now air weekdays 2pm-5pm. Remaining the same are M*A*S*H weekdays 5-8pm and Touched by an Angel Mon-Thurs 8-11pm, but The Golden Girls are cut an hour short in late night as they go from weeknights 11pm-2am to 11pm-1am with Cheers taking the 1am hour. So Ted Danson and gang will now air 1am-2:30am with three episodes a night! I Love Lucy remains at 2:30am.
For weekends, nothing will change except Murder, She Wrote is off the schedule again. A movie will replace it on both Saturday and Sunday nights from 1-3am. View these changes in list form if you're confused.

Today is day 3 of the summer 2009 TCA press tour. Up today are Lifetime, E!, style, G4, BET, Planet Green, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, HBO, and Food Network. Among the notable announcements that would interest you guys were from Lifetime. They announced Models of the Runway, which is Project Runway's exciting new companion series that will air Thursdays at 11pm starting Aug. 20. They also announced Rita Rocks' second season. Nicole Sullivan and Tisha Campbell-Martin, the stars of the hit comedy series, were present to discuss their new second season. The sitcom returns Oct. 5.
BET announced their original talk show The Mo'Nique Show, that launches Oct. 5. It is a new nightly talk/variety show featuring the incomparable actress/ comedienne. TLC is currently in production with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' New York-based production company Milojo on Masters of Reception, which follows the Frungillo family as they run their wedding empire in New Jersey. The series premieres Aug. 18 on TLC.
Larry David returns for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Sept. 20, continuing to feature verite-style footage of David (playing himself) at home and at work as he gets into predicaments with fictional and real-life personalities. New developments this season include appearances by the cast of Seinfeld - Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards. The new season will be a lead-in to Bored to Death, a new half-hour comedy that is the brainchild of the writer Jonathan Ames, who serves as executive producer and writer, and stars Jason Schwartzman as a Brooklyn writer with a drinking problem who pretends to be a private detective on craigslist and starts taking actual cases. The comedy also stars Ted Danson as his boss at a magazine and Zach Galifianakis as his best friend.
Finally, Robin Williams, who first appeared on the network more than 30 years ago, will return to HBO on December 6 for his first solo stand-up comedy special in seven years. Robin Williams: Weapons of Self-Destruction, will be taped in November at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, one of the stops on his current sold-out national tour.
Stay with us tomorrow as Rainbow Networks (We TV and Sundance) and TV One round out the cable portion of the summer 2009 TCA press tour!

New Biography Episodes on Bio TV in August 2009; Hallmark Primetime News

This August on Bio TV we get three all-new Biography episodes related to TV series! First up is Biography: Family Ties on Tuesday, August 4 at 10pm ET. Ronald Reagan's favorite TV show was none other than Family Ties, the 80's comedy about hippies Elyse and Steven Keaton and their Young Republican son, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox). They explore the show's genesis, the lives of its cast and crew, and the partisan politics of the Keaton's happy and hilarious home.
Next the following Tuesday on Tuesday, August 11 at 10pm ET, we get Biography: Three's Company! What do you get when a bubbly blond, a practical brunette, and a clumsy bachelor all live under one roof? Three's Company -- the sexy sitcom that had audiences laughing (and swooning) throughout the late '70s and early '80s. But for the loveable roommates, the eight-year run wasn't all fun and games. They'll explore Three's Company's ups and downs--from topping the ratings chart to fighting on-set battles over paychecks, and from breaking down cultural boundaries to facing boycott threats from moral watchdogs.
Finally the next Tuesday on Tuesday, August 18 at 10pm ET, we get Biography: Roseanne! She's racked up an Emmy, three ex-husbands (including Tom Arnold), and her own comedy, talk, cooking, reality, and radio shows. Bio TV chronicles the life and times of the loud-mouthed comedienne who can't keep her mouth shut (on or off the screen).
Bio TV also premieres The Andy Griffith Retrospective Special from 1993 on Tuesday, August 25 at 10pm ET. This one-hour special features cast members from The Andy Griffith Show gather to reminisce about the classic 1960s TV series.
Biography encores for August include Kim Fields, Alyssa Milano, Kristy McNichol, Michael J. Fox, Teen Heartthrobs on Aug. 4; Patrick Duffy, Suzanne Somers, John Ritter, Don Knotts on Aug. 11; Ed Asner, Patricia Heaton, Mr. T, Carroll O'Connor on Aug. 18; and Friends, Matthew Perry, Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, Happy Days on Aug. 25. Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals encores for the month are on The Love Boat & M*A*S*H (Aug. 11) and Welcome Back Kotter, The Facts of Life & Roseanne (Aug. 18).

Beginning next Monday (Monday, July 27), the two-week test run is over for Hallmark Channel in primetime...but there will be some reminisce of it! Right now Touched by an Angel is airing 8-10pm, followed by The Golden Girls from 10pm-1am and Cheers 1-2:30am. Now that two-week run will end. Touched by an Angel will be the only show continuing like this and will add an extra hour, airing Mon-Thurs from 8-11pm, while The Golden Girls goes back to 11pm-2am and Cheers sharing the 2am hour with I Love Lucy. Movies will air Fridays from 9-11pm.

Stay with us starting next week as we start our blog fall schedule barrage posts! We will have something different each weekday until we just about get them all! Don't you just love that time of year? The Summer TCA tour also begins next Tuesday, so it's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

TV One August 2009 Highlights; Hallmark Extends Primetime Schedules for 1 More Week; Calling All Runners!

In August 2009 on TV One we get some changes! Beginning on Monday, August 3, the TV One primetime landscape gets a makeover on weeknights starting at 8pm. Mini-marathons of TV One viewer favorites will be showcased and will air as follows: "Martin Mondays showcases episodes of the sitcom Martin on Mondays from 8pm to 11pm; "Good Time Tuesdays showcases episodes of the sitcom Good Times on Tuesdays from 8pm to 11pm; "Wisecrackin' Wednesdays" showcases episodes of the sitcom Living Single on Wednesdays from 8pm to 11pm; "Thrifty Thursdays" showcases episodes of the sitcom Sanford & Son on Thursdays from 8pm to 10pm; and "Family Fridays" showcases episodes of the sitcom The Hughleys on Fridays from 8pm to 10pm. These marathons will preempt the regular 8-11pm primetime of Martin, two Living Single episodes, Half & Half, and back-to-back The Jeffersons. Also, these marathons will have select episodes same night encores from 3-5am, preempting the regular schedules of The Jeffersons, Martin, Half & Half, and another Martin. So this means The Jeffersons is off the regular schedule for now and Half & Half airs Tues-Fri in the 11am hour. These primetime marathons are probably just for August, so The Jeffersons will likely return to the regular schedule in September. Stay tuned.
Elsewhere on TV One August we have some stunts! On Saturday, August 15 beginning at 12pm and lasting through 8pm, the lazy days of summer are in full swing as TV One presents the "Operation: Summer Vacation Sitcom Marathon" featuring storylines of your favorite TV One sitcom characters on extended vacations including episodes from Martin, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, The Hughleys, and Living Single. Select episodes will also encore late night that night from 2am-6am. At least The Jeffersons will air on this special marathon!
Finally, TV One will close out summer on Saturday, Sept. 5. On Saturday, September 5 beginning at 12pm and lasting through 8pm, summer is ending and it's that time again as TV One gets ready for fall with a "Back to School" marathon consisting of an all-day sitcom marathon featuring school-related storylines including episodes from Good Times, The Parent'hood, Like Family, and All of Us. Select episodes will also encore late night that night from 2am-6am.

The Hallmark Channel is keeping the primetime schedule that aired this week for next week as well. It was scheduled to end last night, but will air tonight as well. So Touched by an Angel will air from 8-10pm, followed by The Golden Girls from 10pm-1am, and Cheers from 1am-2:30am. As of now, this primetime schedule will air through and including Thursday, July 23.
The original primetime schedule was Touched by an Angel at 8pm, a Movie from 9-11pm, Golden Girls from 11pm-2am, and then Cheers/I Love Lucy in the 2am hour. Will that return next Friday? We'll have to wait and see, but for now the primetime schedule that started last week will air next week as well.

Finally, The Fresh Air Fund is still looking for runners and sponsors to join The Fresh Air Fund-Racers team for the NYC Half-Marathon on Sunday, August 16. This is a great way to participate in NYC's premier summer road race while helping Fresh Air Fund children. Last summer's NYC Half-Marathon was a huge success and the Fresh Air Fund-Racers raised more than $125,000. They are also still in need of Friendly Town hosts for next month. Host families open their hearts and home to a NYC child who would not otherwise have the opportunity to escape the hot, crowded city streets. WABC-7 in NYC will air a one-hour highlight show from 11:30pm through 12:30am on Sunday, Aug. 16 on television.
For more information, visit their website.

Sci Fi Changes to Syfy Today; Jackson Memorial Special Tonight; Hallmark Primetime Changes

We told you back in March that Sci Fi Channel was renaming to Syfy starting July 7, and now that day has come. Syfy also has a tagline saying "Imaging Greater." They will launch original series Warehouse 13 tonight at 9 with a two-hour premiere.
As for the regular schedule, there are no changes. The rest of this week Syfy is airing more movies than usual though, as there is no daytime rotation marathons. The regular schedule will return July 13, that includes Lost at 4pm and 1am weeknights. And speaking of the daytime rotation marathon, in August we will see Early Edition finally air on this network. It was set to join the schedule in March, but it never happened, as we mentioned. Early Edition will air on Tuesday, August 4 from 8am-4pm and Friday, August 21 from 8am-4pm as well. Other daytime rotation notables in July and August include Joan of Arcadia, 7 Days, Friday the 13th: The Series, and The Sentinel.
Ghost Whisperer joins the Syfy schedule this fall. That show was acquired from part of their CBS-Paramount deal. I think everything from that deal has now aired at least one time (if Early Edition ends up airing this time!), except Charmed and I believe The Invaders. We are not sure when those will turn up. We are still hoping for another Mork & Mindy marathon! Anyway, stay tuned in the coming weeks for Syfy's Fall 2009 schedule.
Check out their new website www.syfy.com!

If you don't get a chance to watch the Michael Jackson Memorial live this afternoon (on ABC, CBS, NBC, and many other networks including Hulu on the Internet) from approx. 1pm-3pm ET (10am-12pm PT), then the broadcast networks will all have specials on Michael Jackson tonight. ABC will have s Special Edition of 20/20: Remembering Michael Jackson tonight at 9pm, preempting scheduled Better off Ted and Scrubs repeats. That's not all, ABC will air a special episode of Primetime: Family Secrets focusing on Michael Jackson's children at 10pm, instead of the regular story. So, it's two-hours of Jackson on ABC primetime tonight. CBS will have a special 48 Hours tonight titled 48 Hours - Michael Jackson: The Last Dance at 10pm, preempting regularly scheduled segments. And finally NBC will preempt an encore of Law & Order: SVU at 10pm for a Dateline special on Michael Jackson titled Dateline: A Farewell to Michael Jackson.

Finally, The Hallmark Channel has announced that they will preempt five primetime movies in favor of Touched by an Angel at 9pm and an hour of The Golden Girls at 10pm. The movies will be preempted on Thursday, July 9 and the week of Monday July 13 through Thursday, July 16 from 9-11pm. No reason why, but due to this, Cheers will air also in the 1am hour since Golden Girls is airing at 10pm.
This is not a permanent primetime change, it is just for these five dates...as of now. View this in a list form.

Hallmark Channel Cuts Lucy From Daytime; Amen and Good News Come to Gospel Music Channel

Hallmark Channel has made a last minute schedule change that will be in effect starting Monday (July 6, 2009). I Love Lucy will be removed again from daytime. So it will lose its two-hour weekday block of 11am-1pm and will be replaced by two episodes of Touched by an Angel. Touched will remain in its weeknights at 8pm slot as well, while I Love Lucy will now only air weeknights at 2:30am. It's been a bumpy ride for I Love Lucy on Hallmark Channel, as they want it to work, but it doesn't seem like it is doing ratings gold for them. They have tried it over and over again, and sometimes they have pulled it very fast, but this time they gave it a longer period before pulling it. Stay up until 2:30am and watch the show!

A few weeks ago we mentioned that The Gospel Music Channel has picked-up three dramas for their weekday schedule, now they have picked-up two sitcoms! They have picked-up '80s sitcom Amen starring Sherman Hemsley and the short-lived late '90s sitcom Good News. Good News as a spin-off of Sparks on UPN and lasted only 22 episodes. The series starred David Ramsey as a young acting pastor designated to South Central's African American Church of Life. Roz Ryan was also in it, and she of course was in Amen as well. Amen was of course the popular NBC comedy of the late '80s set at the First Community Church of Philadelphia and focusing on the comical differences between Deacon Ernest Frye (Sherman Hemsley) and the Reverend Reuben Gregory (Clifton Davis).
Amen will air Monday nights at 8:00pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm with encores at 12:00am, 12:30am, and 1:30am, while Good News will also air Monday nights at 9:00pm with an encore at 1:00am.
Both of these shows can be found on TV One as well, so it isn't all that rare. Wow so the short-lived Good News is on two cable networks? That is pretty crazy, though TV One is now only airing the show from time to time, but Amen is airing every weekday morning.
Let's hope Gospel Music Channel brings in more sitcoms. If they want to focus on church comedies, then how about acquiring the short-lived late '80s sitcom Have Faith? The series was produced by John Ritter and starred Joel Higgins.

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 and Hallmark Last Minute June Changes; CBS To Air Unaired Worst Week Episode

TV Land June 2009 schedule - take three! And action! Yes, TV Land has changed its June schedule once again. As of now the changes are just for this week and next week (weeks of June 1 and 8) and are in effect starting TODAY, as we mentioned on our message boards this weekend. The new schedule will have TV Land Goes West on Mondays now from 11:30am-7pm with Gunsmoke and Bonanza and now Little House on the Prairie will air at approx. 5:30pm. I say approx. because TV Land is really off the clock now. From Tuesdays-Fridays, the western block will start at 1:30pm and run to 7pm with the same three shows. This means The Beverly Hillbillies will be only approx. 1pm now, as it loses 1:30pm and 6pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is totally gone for now it seems.
In primetime for the week of June 1, we have The Cosby Show in the approx. 8pm hour and Roseanne in the approx. 9pm hour. A different show will air from approx. 10pm-12am each night with Married...with Children returning on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday and Thursday, and The Cougar/She's Got the Look Preview on Wednesday. Then at approx. 12am we have Married...with Children (just once in the hour, so it won't likely start until late except on Wednesdays when we have two episodes in the hour). At approx. 1am we have another Married...with Children, followed by M*A*S*H at 1:30am, and hour each of Roseanne, Three's Company, The Cosby Show and M*A*S*H follows from 2am-6am. So this week is a major overhaul and Three's Company returns to weeknights, at least for a week.
The Roseanne "launch" marathon is still on from Friday, June 5 to Friday, June 12 from 8pm-6am. However, this weekend (Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7) we have an Andy Griffith Show marathon from 8am-8pm, leading into Roseanne. The week of June 8 has the same daytime line-up as June 1, but primetime and late night is all Roseanne, as mentioned as the marathon continues. The weekend of June 13-14 will have more all-day marathons. Married...with Children will air both days from 8am-10pm, so this show seems like it will stay on TV Land as it is doing well for them. The weekend schedule that was in effect before will remain from 10pm-6am on this weekend of June 13-14. Now starting Monday, June 15, we don't know yet what TV Land will do. Will they have the same daytime schedule as the previous two weeks and the same primetime/late night schedule as week of June 1? Will we see marathons every weekend all-day? We will let you know as soon as we do, but for now view the weeks of June 1 and June 8 schedules for TV Land and discuss this!

As for Hallmark Channel, the June changes are not as drastic. The changes are in primetime starting tonight. The 8pm weekday hour will now have the return of Touched by an Angel. The series was only off for a week or two and now it returns in a much better slot of 8pm replacing two episodes of The Golden Girls. Those two episodes of The Golden Girls will move to the 11pm hour, replacing Murder, She Wrote, which is now off the line-up for now. So if you're keeping track, The Golden Girls now airs from 8am-11am and 11pm-2am every weekday. Nothing else is changing, so expect the schedule as it was. Good news for Lucy fans as they are not messing with the I Love Lucy timeslots so far!

Finally, CBS has scheduled an unaired episode of the canceled comedy Worst Week for this Saturday at 8:30pm. CBS had one leftover episode still yet to air, that is titled "The Party." The episode will have a repeat of Old Christine as its lead-in at 8pm. So get those DVR's rolling Worst Week fans because you have one more episode left and surprisingly CBS is airing it!
In other CBS updates, 48 Hours will air at a special time of 8pm (instead of the usual 10pm slot) on Saturday, July 11, so the two-hour finale of Harper's Island can air from 9-11pm on that night. Harper's Island is not expected back, so that is a series finale.

The CW Upfront 2009-10: Fall 2009 Schedule; WGN, Hallmark Schedule Changes, Sci Fi's Land of the Lost Marathons

The CW 2009-10

Fall 2009

Mondays
8:00PM Gossip Girl
9:00PM One Tree Hill

Tuesdays
8:00PM 90210
9:00PM Melrose Place (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM The Beautiful Life (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Vampire Diaries (NEW!)
9:00PM Supernatural

Fridays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM America's Top Model Encore

Mid-Season:
New series Parental Discretion Advised (AKA Light Years) has been picked-up.

Discuss The CW's 2009-10 line-up and also you can view complete program information.


WGN America is going Newhart crazy! This coming Sunday they will air all Newhart during the weekly Outta Sight Retro Night! The Cubs and Padres baseball game is from 4-7pm ET, but immediately following the game, watch a Newhart marathon from 7pm-10pm ET and from 11pm-2am ET! Before the game there is also a Newhart episode at 3pm ET, leading into the game. And that's not all for Newhart! The series will now air for two-hours every Sunday night from 8-10pm ET, so it will replace The Honeymooners in the 9pm ET hour. But The Honeymooners will move to the 1am hour replacing Beverly Hillbillies (but that airs weekday mornings anyway).

And if that's not urgent enough for you, Hallmark Channel is making a last minute schedule change that starts TODAY! We told you that they made changes starting this past Monday (May 21), and now they are already changing that schedule change. I Love Lucy replaced back-to-back Matlock from 3-5pm, and now starting today, Lucy will be replaced from 3-5pm with Little House on the Prairie. But Lucy fans don't fret, because I Love Lucy will actually benefit and air an hour more now, airing 11am-2pm replacing an episode each of Little House, Touched by an Angel and 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven remains at 2pm though. Earlier in the morning, Golden Girls gets extended and adds the 10am hour, replacing Little House. It evens out because in the 7pm hour now will be an extension of M*A*S*H, replacing an hour of Golden Girls.
That's just weekdays, now we have weekend changes, too! Saturdays from 6-9am will now be three episodes of Little House on the Prairie replacing three-hours of Golden Girls. Also, we get more Lucy as I Love Lucy will air late nights from 1am-3am replacing back-to-back Murder, She Wrote. Sundays is basically the same changes, 8am-11am will be Little House replacing two-hours of Golden Girls and an episode of 7th Heaven. An finally like on Saturday nights, two-hours of Lucy closes the night from 1-3am replacing Murder, She Wrote.
So, Touched by an Angel is off the schedule it seems for now, joining Walker Texas Ranger and Matlock on the bench. Weekdays from 8am-8pm is now filled with three-hour blocks of different shows: Golden Girls, I Love Lucy, Family Dramas (7th Heaven/Little House), and M*A*S*H (which is actually 4 hours). View the full changes and the full schedule if you get confused. Remember this starts TODAY!

Finally, we close the day with some Sci Fi Channel news. The movie version of Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell is coming out Friday, June 5, but before that comes out...Sci Fi Channel will air a marathon of the classic '70s NBC series on Memorial Day and two other days! On Monday, May 25 from 8am-4am it's all Land of the Lost, all day! Get your Cha-Ka on! Then the following week as we get ready for movie version, watch more classic episodes on Thursday, June 4 and Friday, June 5 from 8am-6pm on both days.
I was hoping someone would also air the '90s ABC version since the big screen movie is coming out. Yes, it was cheesy, but still good. Good show for ABC Saturday mornings and very rare these days as it hasn't been on television in a while (last seen on Nickelodeon).

Less Than Perfect Joins Lifetime; Samantha Who and In the Motherhood Return to ABC in June; More Lucy on Hallmark

The 2002-2006 ABC sitcom Less than Perfect starring Sara Rue, Andy Dick, Zachary Levi, Andrea Parker, Patrick Warburton, Will Sasso, and Sherri Shepherd is coming to Lifetime with all of its 81 episodes, including the 8 unaired episodes! It seems they picked the show up since they could be ordering an original sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd. They also did that with Cybill, since they could order an original sitcom (Alligator Point) starring another Shepherd, Cybill Shepherd (no relation to Sherri). Right now both are just ordered to pilot, but this could be good news for both. Cybill airs weekdays in the 8am hour, 5pm hour and 2am.
Less than Perfect lasted four seasons and was about a young female office employee (played by Sara Rue) and her co-workers. The sitcom will join the Lifetime line-up on Monday, June 1, airing in the 9am hour and 6pm hour. In the 9am hour, it will replace Reba. In the 6pm hour it will replace Still Standing. The morning airing of Reba will move to the afternoon in the 4pm hour, replacing an episode of Wife Swap. And recently Reba returned in the 8pm hour, replacing Will & Grace. So Reba is back to 7-9pm week nights, while Will & Grace 8-9pm airings moves to the 1am hour and it still has the 11am and 11pm hours. Also, starting Monday, June 8 in primetime we will get an Army Wives encore at 9pm leading into repeats of Desperate Housewives at 10pm each Monday. Desperate Housewives will also still air weekdays at 12 and 1pm. Movies remain in the 9-11pm block every other weekday, but Fridays is still Wife Swap. Army Wives returns for its third season on Sunday, June 7 for 18 episodes airing Sundays at 10pm.
So, the addition of Less than Perfect means Still Standing is totally off the schedule. Last month it seems, Lifetime removed Medium from Fridays at 11pm, so that is off the schedule, too. Medium is eligible to air five days a week starting this fall, as will Grey's Anatomy (which currently airs Sundays at 11pm), so Medium will likely return then. But the schedule may be less than perfect, but Less than Perfect is a great addition to the schedule!
View the full Lifetime June 2009 schedule and highlights.

ABC sitcoms Samantha Who? and In the Motherhood will return to the schedule on Friday, June 5 in the 9pm hour. Both sitcoms were pulled from the Thursday night schedule two weeks earlier than planned in April. Samantha Who? has 7 episodes remaining to air, while In the Motherhood has 3 more. For Samantha, this could be a slot it can air next season, as it is expected to return for a third season. The sitcom could be in a change of format, though. It is rumored to be changing to a multicamera set-up or a hybrid setup (mix of both single and multicamera). Why? This will cut costs. ABC also might do the same for Scrubs, giving it new life for a ninth season. In the Motherhood is not expected back, so this is just a burn-off. We will find out what all this means on Tuesday, when ABC announces their 2009-2010 schedule and pick-ups. Could Samantha Who? be part of a Friday comedy block in the fall? We shall see. If a Friday block is not in their plans then they should move these Samantha Who episodes to Wednesdays at 9:30pm in the summer instead of Surviving Suburbia. That would work better on Fridays at 9. Just my two cents.

Finally, we end the day with some classic TV news. Hallmark Channel has made a last minute schedule change that goes in effect this Monday (May 18). Replacing two episodes of Matlock, weekdays at 3pm & 4pm will be two-full hours of I Love Lucy! It seems like Hallmark has a love-hate relationship with Lucy. They give it a good slot, pull it, and then give it another good slot. Currently, the series was airing at 2:30am weeknights, and will remain in that slot, too. Everything else will remain the same as it is now. So Matlock is off the schedule again. I Love Lucy 3-5pm will lead-into M*A*S*H.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our blog DVD review of course and a special upfront rumblings edition. Upfront week is next week, so join us all next week. We have some WGN America schedule news as well!

Remembering Bea Arthur, Kim Weiskopf; Hallmark Channel, WE tv, TV Land, Me-Too All To Air Tributes for Bea

Today we will cover everything Bea Arthur (with a tribute to Kim Weiskopf as well). As you all I'm sure know by now, Bea Arthur has died. Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows Maude and The Golden Girls and who won a Tony Award for the musical Mame, died Saturday (April 25). Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side. She had cancer but that is the only detail we know. Arthur first appeared in the landmark comedy series All in the Family as Edith Bunker's outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur's own series, known of course as Maude. Maude scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role in 1977. The show ended in 1978, as Bea thought it was time for the show to end after six seasons. Then came The Golden Girls from 1985-1992, and it was another groundbreaking comedy, finding surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a younger, product-buying audience. She played Dorothy Zbornak, one of four older friends living in Miami. The show moved to CBS in 1992-93 and was titled The Golden Palace, but Bea didn't sign on for it. Bea did guest star in a two-part episode. In 2003, Lifetime reunited the cast for the special The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Memories. And in 2008, the cast reunited again on the 2008 TV Land Awards accepting the Pop Culture Award.
Even before television, Bea had a major career in plays on Broadway. Arthur's biggest Broadway triumph came in 1966 as Vera Charles, Angela Lansbury's acerbic friend in the musical "Mame," directed by Tony-winning director Gene Saks, who was also her husband of 28 years. They divorced in 1978. During 2001 and 2002 she toured the country in a one-woman show of songs and stories, ... And Then There's Bea.
In between Maude and The Golden Girls, Bea had a failed sitcom. In 1983, she starred in the ABC sitcom Amanda's, an Americanized version of John Cleese's hilarious Fawlty Towers. She was cast as owner of a small seaside hotel with a staff of eccentrics. It lasted a mere 10 episodes, with three episodes unaired.
She was also in films. Among the movies she graced were That Kind of Woman (1959), Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), Mel Brooks' The History of the World: Part I (1981), For Better or Worse (1995). Her TV movies include the ABC TV movie My First Love in 1988 and the NBC TV movie P.O.P. in 1984.
Among her guest appearances on television are the The Golden Girls spin-off Empty Nest, Ellen, Beggars & Choosers, Dave's World, a.k.a. Pablo, Laugh-In, and she appeared on a rare special recap episode of Soap as an "angel." In recent years, Arthur made guest appearances on shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Futurama and Malcolm in the Middle. The latter was very popular.
Bea will certainly be missed by millions and millions fans around the world. TV Land has created a 30-second on-air and online promo remembering her. TV Land will air both of her appearances on All in the Family on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9am, the episodes "Cousin Maude's Visit" on Tuesday and the back-door "Maude" pilot that aired as an All in the Family episode on Wednesday. Too bad TV Land isn't airing regular Maude episodes as a tribute. Me-Too in Chicago will air Maude, though! All this week in the 9-10pm CT hour, Me-Too Chicago airs "Remembering Maude: A Tribute to Bea Arthur." View the episode schedule. Lucky fans in Chi-town.
Hallmark and WE tv air The Golden Girls regularly multiple times a day. Hallmark will pay tribute to Bea with a Memorial Day marathon and WE tv pays tribute to Bea tonight and Thursday, see below for more details on both. Watch a video celebration of her life and career. Bea lived a long life and was 86.

Hallmark Channel has announced it will pay tribute to legendary star Bea Arthur with an all-day Golden Girls "Memorial Day Marathon" on Monday, May 25 from 6:30am-2:30am, featuring episodes focusing on Arthur's character Dorothy Zbornak, a gruff, wise-cracking divorcée who shared her Miami home with her mother and two loopy friends. Golden Girls plays daily on Hallmark Channel: Monday-Friday, 8-10 a.m., 7-9 p.m., 12-2 a.m., Saturdays 6-9 a.m., and Sundays 8:30-10 a.m. View their press release. UPDATE: We get marathons SOONER now on Hallmark! At the Studio City, CA home of Hallmark Channel, fans of the classic comedy Golden Girls flooded the network's Viewer Services department today with parenthetical appreciation for the channel's announcement of a Memorial Day Tribute to Bea Arthur. The qualifier to the announcement included these sentiments: more, sooner, please. And now Hallmark has listened! Hallmark Channel responded by hand-selecting the "Best of the Dorothy Zbornak Episodes" which begin running Tuesday, April 28 (7-9pm) and continue, Wednesday, April 29 (7-9pm), and Thursday, April 30 (7-9pm) in the normal Golden Girls timeslots, but also on Sunday, May 3 (8:30am-3am) a full day event is planned! This is all in addition to the previously announced Memorial Day marathon on, Monday, May 25 (6:30am-2:30am.). We don't have episode info yet for the Memorial Day stunt, but Hallmark has released the 5 day stunt episodes for this week! Thank you for being a friend, Hallmark!
WE tv airs the show weeknights from 5-7pm ET, with primetime marathons from 6pm-12am on Monday nights, so that includes tonight. They also air the show sometimes on Thursday late nights. WE tv announced today two special nights of programming to honor Bea Arthur. "WE Remember Bea" will feature a marathon of favorite The Golden Girls episodes both Monday, April 27 from 5pm-12am ET and Thursday, April 30 from 9:30pm-1am ET. The acclaimed actress, known for her quick wit and willingness to embrace controversial issues was the centerpiece of the comedic series, which won more than 38 awards during its run. "WE Remember Bea" will be comprised of episodes which center on Bea Arthur's colorful character Dorothy Zbornak and key related storylines from the series. See the episode info for tonight's marathon.
WE tv already had a scheduled Golden Girls Memorial Day marathon from 10am-6am, so we have two networks airing a marathon on The Golden Girls on May 25.

We also have lost Kim Weiskopf, a TV comedy writer whose credits included Three's Company and Married...with Children, died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday (April 22) at his home in Encino. He launched his career in the early 1970s, with longtime writing partner Michael S. Baser, he wrote for series such as One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Melba, Carter Country, We Got It Made, and Good Times, the latter show leading to their first staff-writing position.
The writing duo went on to write and produce three seasons of ABC's Three's Company before being hired to create the TV series 9 to 5 for ABC, which was based on the movie. They then developed an updated, syndicated version of the '70s series What's Happening!! called What's Happening Now!!, though he had never worked with the original series.
Weiskopf's also wrote and produced for Rachel Gunn, R.N., Full House and Married...with Children, without Baser. Kim appeared in interviews for the E! True Hollywood Story episodes of both Three's Company and Married...with Children. He had an uncredited appearance on Married...with Children on an episode playing Lucky the Dog in a 1996 episode.
He is going to be missed, especially by fans of Three's Company and Married...with Children. Kim was 62.

Hallmark Brings Back Little House, Matlock; JustMyShow.com Interviews Charles in Charge's Michael Pearlman

Late Friday we got word of The Hallmark Channel making a very last minute change that would take in effect TODAY! We told you a bit about it this weekend on Twitter and our message board. That gives you even more incentive to follow us on Twitter in case breaking news happens. Well anyway, the schedule takes in effect today (Monday, April 13), as Hallmark is looking to stabilize their line-up. After a short two week hiatus, Little House on the Prairie is called on once again to help out. It will return and air weekdays at 10am and 11am, replacing an hour of I Love Lucy and an episode of Touched by an Angel. Touched will still air weekdays at noon, while Lucy is now back down to just weeknights at 2:30am. Also returning to the schedule is a show that has been gone from the regular line-up for a while now...Matlock! Ben and company will air weekdays at 3pm and 4pm, replacing M*A*S*H. Not to worry M*A*S*H fans, the block will now be moved to 5-7pm, but we do lose an hour. The Golden Girls will gain an hour in early evening and move from 6-7pm to 7-9pm, replacing 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven will remain in the afternoons at 1pm and 2pm. There you have it, the new changes. Will this work for them? We shall soon find out. It looks like a better schedule for ratings, though.
We will keep you up to date, and no sign of Walker, Texas Ranger returning... and Waltons fans, that show expired at the end of March so that doesn't have a chance of returning.

Our friend Eric at JustMyShow.com has a new podcast up featuring an interview with Michael Pearlman. Before Jamie, Sarah and Adam Powell on Charles in Charge, there was Lila, Douglas and Jason Pembroke. Don't be confused. Michael Pearlman is here to give you the inside word on Charles in Charge's first family--the Pembrokes. I liked the Pembrokes. They were fun and not as known as the Powells. I may have preferred the more popular Powell seasons, but the Pembrokes were also good and started this show off!
As an actor, Michael Pearlman is best know for the role of Jason Pembroke in the first season of Charles in Charge. He has since left Hollywood for Wyoming where he writes the outdoor adventure blog Generation Recreation.
Eric even gives us at SitcomsOnline a quick mention in the first question to Michael! So now this makes this interview a must listen! Thanks Eric! So head on over to JustMyShow.com to listen to the interview Eric does with Michael Pearlman! And after you listen to that, get more of Michael Pearlman over there by listening to bonus clips, which includes Michael talking about how he got the role and how it was to meet the second family. Good stuff!

Hallmark Channel April 2009, Two Shows Dropped; TV Land Makes Last Week's Schedule Change Until Further Notice

Originally Hallmark Channel had no changes set in store for April 2009, but now we have some changes. The two shows being removed from the line-up are not two shows you would think that would be removed either. And no it isn't I Love Lucy or Cheers! Effective Monday, March 30, Hallmark Channel will remove both Little House on the Prairie and Walker, Texas Ranger from the line-up. Now they can't expiring I think, since they were originally on the schedule, but I'll find out. The weekdays 10am airing of Little House will actually be replaced by back-to-back I Love Lucy! Lucy gets to keep its weeknights at 2:30am slot, too! The 11am episode of Little House will be replaced by another airing of Touched by an Angel, so that will now air back-to-back from 11am-1pm. The third and final airing of Little House at 3pm will be replaced by two episodes of M*A*S*H. M*A*S*H also will air now 4-5pm replacing The Golden Girls, but it seems Golden Girls is doing well as they will now air it weekdays 6-7pm replacing M*A*S*H. M*A*S*H. will air now 3-6pm, so it moves and also gains another hour. The Golden Girls doesn't gain any slots, but it gets a better evening slot of 6-7pm, in addition to its other weekday airings from 8-10am and 12am-2am. Finally, Walker, Texas Ranger will be replaced at 7p and 8pm with more episodes of 7th Heaven! 7th Heaven will also still air in the afternoon at 1pm and 2pm as well...and these won't be encores, so four episodes a day. There will be no changes to the weekend line-up this time, well except that NASCAR Angels is gone from Sundays at 8am, so Golden Girls will take that half-hour, and that show will now be 8am-10am on Sundays.
See the full Hallmark Channel April 2009 schedule.

TV Land has made it official this week. At the very least for the rest of March the changes we saw last week will be in effect for at least the end of this month. The big change was having CSI: NY on Thursday nights from 10pm-4am. Mainly the late night schedule is effected. Monday nights we see Cosby Show from 12-2am and encoring 3-5am. Tuesday nights will see more Cosby Show from 1-3am. All three of the nights will have an encore of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 5am. Wednesday nights will see two hours each of Jeffersons and M*A*S*H from 2-6am. Fridays will see more changes during the early evening portion. The Beverly Hillbillies is 6-7pm, Cosby Show will lead into the movie from 8-10pm and encore 2-4am, and M*A*S*H will air 1-2am and encore 5-6am. Yes, this is all very confusing. I suggest you keep checking the schedule adjustments on our TV Land March 2009 thread.

Hallmark Channel Reduces More Lucy; JustMyShow Interviews Dave Madden

We announced this first on our message board on Friday and didn't get a chance to tell you here on the blog, but Hallmark Channel made a last minute schedule change effective today (Monday, March 9). Weekdays 8-9am will be now another hour of The Golden Girls, which has done well in the ratings for them. The marathon on Sunday, March 1 did decent for them. The 8-9am hour will replace I Love Lucy, as that show has heavily been cut. This change is in addition to all the changes already for Lucy. That's not all though! Starting tonight in the 2am ET/PT hour, Cheers will move up a half-hour to 2am, while Lucy gets shifted back to 2:30am, ouch. That is more bad news for Lucy as Cheers did even worse in the ratings when it first aired. So yes, I Love Lucy is not doing well in the ratings, as you all must have assumed. I think they need more sitcoms in the same vein as Lucy, since Golden Girls and Cheers are '80s series. Hallmark has had no success with sitcoms in recent years besides M*A*S*H (which to me is really a half-hour drama), so looks like Golden Girls will break that curse...but shows like Facts of Life, Family Ties, Cheers, and I Love Lucy all didn't.
So Golden Girls will now air weekdays 8-10am, 4-5pm, and 12am-2am; Saturdays 6-9am; and Sundays 8:30am-10am. And I Love Lucy is just weeknights at 2:30am. Discuss this new change on our message board.

Our friend Eric of JustMyShow.com has released another interview! He digs into the archives to bring you a never before heard 2007 interview with Reuben Kincaid himself, The Partridge Family's Dave Madden. Dave Madden is known to TV fans everywhere as manager Reuben Kincaid on the '70s ABC series The Partridge Family. His other credits include Laugh-In and Alice as well as extensive theatre and voiceover work. He is the author of the memoir Reuben on Wry.
In bonus material, he talks about where the famous Partridge Family bus is now, where Simone went, on being recognized on the street, and his bowling shoes! But before you listen to the bonus audio, listen to the actual interview at JustMyShow.com!

And finally, tonight on ABC premieres the new drama Castle following the two-hour season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. I already saw the pilot and loved it. Nathan Fillion of Desperate Housewives is the lead and really does a great job here...and is funny! You Moonlighting fans out there will like this, as the sexual tension between the two leads is great. I really think this show will hit big tonight, but before you watch it...read my thoughts of the pilot (and view the first 13 minutes of the pilot)! Tune in tonight a 10pm ET/PT on ABC!

7th Annual TV Land Awards Date Confirmed; Hallmark Acquires Movies; TMZ Renewed Through 2011

We were the first ones to announce the date for the 7th Annual TV Land Awards, but now TV Land has made it official and also announced a new venue for the awards. TV Land announced today that the seventh annual TV Land Awards will be taped at a new venue, The Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios on Sunday, April 19. Last year's TV Land Awards was taped at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA. The telecast premieres in TV Land PRIME on Sunday, April 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Throughout the ninety-minute telecast, TV Land will honor legendary artists from both television and movies, feature exhilarating music as well as never-before-seen reunions of some of the most iconic celebrity casts from TV and movies, and of course, the fan favorite -- the perennial TV Land Awards parody that always highlights the year's pop culture moments.
We will have MUCH more on the TV Land Awards in the coming weeks, such as the honorees, the reunions, the parody, and of course the host!

Hallmark Channel saddles up for more "Rough 'n' Ready" weeks and more mystery movie marathons with the acquisition of the Emmy Award-nominated CBS mini-series Comanche Moon and two additional CBS Stone Cold movies starring Tom Selleck, all from Sony Pictures Television, for air on The Hallmark Channel.
In addition, the acquisition deal brings a roster of 18 classic musicals to Hallmark Movie Channel, the spinoff network. Titles in the deal for Hallmark Movie Channel the 24-hour sibling network to Hallmark Channel which airs "the very best" of family friendly theatrical feature films include Bye, Bye Birdie, starring Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret and Maureen Stapleton; Funny Lady, starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen; Oliver!, starring Oliver Reed and Jack Wild; Pal Joey, starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak; and, Pennies From Heaven, starring Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong. The musicals will become part of a franchised block on Hallmark Movie Channel.
As for The Hallmark Channel, it is known for its success in programming a uniquely appealing mix of original movies like the four original holiday premieres which each delivered over a 3.0 HH rating the very best of family-friendly theatrical feature films; and, a line-up of classic and beloved off-network series including 7th Heaven, Little House on the Prairie, M*A*S*H, and The Golden Girls which begins March 1.

Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (WBDTD) has renewed its entertainment news half-hour, TMZ through 2011 in nearly 100% of the country, reports B&C.
In November, Warner Bros. announced that the Fox station group had picked up TMZ for two more years. The Fox stations served as the show's launch pad in Sept. 2007. Over the past four months, the following station groups also have reupped: Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tribune Broadcasting, Barrington Broadcasting, ComCorp, ACME Television, Grant Communications, Gray Television, Raycom, Hoak Media, LIN TV, Lambert Broadcasting, Newport Television, Max Media, Media General, Meredith, New Age Media, New Vision Television, Newport Television, Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Northwest Broadcasting, Pappas Telecasting and Smith Media, among others.

Hallmark Channel March 2009 Schedule Revised; Pushing Daisies and Valentine's Themed Episodes Come to TheWB.com

Early last week we gave you the Hallmark Channel March 2009 schedule, but then later in the week we told you some changes were being made to February with I Love Lucy being reduced a lot. Now as a result, some of those February changes will be in effect or alter March.
So, we won't have I Love Lucy airing weekdays 3-4pm in March, Little House on the Prairie will remain in that slot, but it will still lose its 4pm hour to The Golden Girls starting March 2. Weeknights from 11pm-3am will be altered, too. Murder, She Wrote will remain weekdays at 11pm now and will not leave the schedule, so Golden Girls won't air 11pm-1am, but will air 12am-2am now. Originally I Love Lucy was airing in the 1am hour, but now it will air 2am, cutting the return of Cheers to just 2:30am, when it was originally slated for 2-3am.
Saturdays 6-9am will now be The Golden Girls, as the original plan was Lucy 6-7:30a and Golden Girls 7:30-9a. Then late night on Saturdays from 1-3am will remain Murder, She Wrote and won't be I Love Lucy. In February, the block was Walker, Texas Ranger.
As for Sundays, 8:30am-10am was originally supposed to be I Love Lucy, now it will be The Golden Girls. The Golden Girls was slated for 10am-12pm originally, but now 7th Heaven will air 10am-12pm. Then late night on Sundays from 1-3am will once again remain Murder, She Wrote and won't be I Love Lucy. In February, the block was Walker, Texas Ranger.
Confused? View the full edited Hallmark Channel March 2009 schedule. So originally Murder, She Wrote was leaving, now it will remain and air weeknights at 11pm and Saturday & Sunday nights from 1-3am. But The Waltons is still leaving. As for the sitcom recap, The Golden Girls will air weekdays 9-10am, 4-5pm, and 12-2am, Saturdays 6-9am, and Sundays 8:30am-10am. I Love Lucy is just weekdays now, airing weekdays 8-9am and 2am. Cheers will air weeknights a 2:30am. And of course, M*A*S*H remains weekdays 5-7pm. View the full schedule above link for more!

TheWB.com announced that the destination site will help fans get in the mood for love by featuring Valentine's Day and relationship-themed programming during the week of February 9–17, followed by a "Love Hangover" week from February 18–March 1. TheWB.com is also giving Pushing Daisies fans a reason to rejoice, as it will now feature full episodes of the critically acclaimed romantic comedy created by Bryan Fuller.
Re-live the ups and downs of the romance of Ross and Rachel (David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston) with 10 Friends episodes, including the two-part series finale. Valentine's Day episodes of hit series Smallville, Gilmore Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Everwood, Veronica Mars and The O.C. will be available from Feb. 9-17. TheWB.com will premiere the first five episodes of acclaimed series Pushing Daisies, starring Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, with Swoosie Kurtz and Kristin Chenoweth in that time frame as well.
Then Feb. 18-March 1, for those feeling a little ill from all of that saccharine Valentine's Day activity, TheWB.com offers Janice (Maggie Wheeler) from Friends to squash any leftover amorous feelings, with 10 Friends episodes featuring the shrill love interest of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry). Break-ups and other bumps in the romantic road on special episodes of One Tree Hill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Gilmore Girls will also be available in that time frame.
This seasonally themed programming and content adds to TheWB.com's already robust collection of new and classic programming available on the site. The month of February also features new episodes of TheWB.com's latest original series, Pushed, a thriller from Jeremy Littman and Morgan Gendel. Additionally, viewers can watch full episodes of acclaimed action/comedy series Chuck, from co-creator/executive producer Josh Schwartz. Schwartz fans can also log on to www.rockvilleca.com to see the trailer for Rockville, CA, his highly anticipated original digital series coming to TheWB.com March 17. The scripted romantic comedy will also feature performances by a number of acclaimed indie music artists, including Kaiser Chiefs, Phantom Planet, Travis, Lykke Li, Anya Marina, The Kooks and many more.
As for Pushing Daisies fans, word is the final three episodes will air on ABC in the summer as they are obligated to air it. The second season DVD should be coming out that time as well from Warner Home Video.

Hallmark Channel Reduces I Love Lucy in February; Obama Preempts Programming

Earlier this week we gave you Hallmark Channel's March line-up, now Hallmark has edited February a bit. We are not sure if this will affect March yet, but I think it will. As of now, we don't have details on if March will be altered, but we do have what will happen starting Monday.
They have made last minute changes to be started on Monday (Feb. 9). Weekdays 4-5pm ET/PT will now be another episode of Little House on the Prairie replacing I Love Lucy. Lucy will remain weekdays 8-9am, though. The rest of the changes are on weekends. Saturdays 6-9am ET/PT will now be three episodes of Little House on the Prairie replacing the three-hour block of I Love Lucy. And that's not all on Saturdays...Saturdays 1-3am will now be back-to-back episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger replacing more I Love Lucy. Get the pattern yet? If not, keep reading. Sundays from 9-10am will now be another extra episode of 7th Heaven, so that series will air from 9am-3pm now on Sundays. The 9am hour will replace two episodes of I Love Lucy. However, all is not lost for Lucy on Sunday mornings, it will remain at 8:30am. And finally Sunday nights from 1-3am will now be more Walker, Texas Ranger replacing... you guessed it, I Love Lucy. So if you're keeping score, I Love Lucy now will only air weekdays 8-9am and Sundays at 8:30am...ouch.
So what will this mean for the March schedule we announced earlier this week? Not sure yet. If I were to guess, some of these changes happening Monday will be carried over to March (I doubt Lucy will air 3pm in March), but we'll let you know as soon we know! So for now, the March schedule we announced is still happening...but expect I Love Lucy to be reduced from the original March plan. The Hallmark sitcom curse continues...can The Golden Girls break that in March?

President Obama is planning a Presidential News Conference on Monday (Feb. 9) at 8PM ET/5PM PT. So this will affect the Eastern/Central time zones programming on network TV. The press conference is expected to last between 40-60 minutes. So in the eastern and central time zones, the 8pm hour will be different. At 8PM ET on CBS, the all-new episode of The Big Bang Theory will be moved to 9:30PM ET/PT for the entire nation, replacing Worst Week's season finale. That season finale will now be on Feb. 16 at 9:30pm ET/PT. How I Met Your Mother was also slated to be all-new at 8:30pm, but since the press conference will be between 40-60 minutes, CBS will air a repeat of Mother instead, joined in progress if the press conference ends before 9pm. Out west at 8pm PT (7pm MT), a repeat of Old Christine will air on a special night, followed by a repeat of How I Met Your Mother at 8:30pm PT/7:30pm MT.
Over at NBC, they will also air the press conference. They will have to preempt an all-new episode of Chuck at 8pm ET. If the press conference ends before 9pm ET, then they will air a Heroes repeat joined in progress. Out west, a repeat of Heroes will air in its entirety at 8pm PT.
ABC will devote the full 8pm ET/5pm PT hour to the press conference. In east/central, The Bachelor will air an hour later from 9-11pm ET (8-10pm CT), as True Beauty will be preempted. Out west, The Bachelor will air in its normal time of 8-10pm PT (7-9pm MT), followed by a repeat of True Beauty at 10pm PT/9pm MT. The regularly scheduled new episode of True Beauty will air on a special night of Tuesday at 10pm ET/PT, preempting Primetime: What Would You Do? for the week. Fox will preempt an all-new episode of House on Monday and move it to the following Monday in its normal time (another Obama address pending), while a 24 repeat from the previous week will air at 8pm PT/7pm MT out west.
That is not all for Obama. He is also planning a Presidential Address to Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 9pm ET/6pm PT. All the networks have committed to that. ABC will preempt two Scrubs repeats on that night to air the Presidential Address to Congress from 9-10pm ET. That will air 6-7pm PT, so ABC will likely air those Scrubs repeats out west. NBC will cut The Biggest Loser in half that night and will air the second hour the following night at 8pm, no idea what NBC will air out west at 9pm PT/8pm MT yet. CBS will preempt a scheduled The Mentalist repeat at 9pm ET that night to accommodate the address but it will air out west. Fox will make the most drastic change for this night. A Bones repeat will air at 8pm ET leading into the Presidential Address to Congress at 9pm ET. Not sure what is airing out west at 9pm PT/8pm MT, but I would guess another Bones repeat. Since American Idol was scheduled to air two-hours that Tuesday night, Fox will move those two-hours to Wednesday from 8-10pm ET/PT. So Lie to Me is totally preempted that week (Wednesday Feb. 25). The second night of American Idol will be shifted to Thursday that week at 8pm ET/PT, preempting Bones. Idol will lead into an all-new Hell's Kitchen.
And believe it or not, Obama also plans a short address on Monday, Feb. 16 as well. So far no networks have committed to that one. We will keep you up to date of everything on this, so keep checking back.

Hallmark Channel March 2009, Timeslots for Golden Girls, Cheers Returns; ER Returns to ION

We were the first to let you know that The Golden Girls was acquired by The Hallmark Channel and WE tv for play starting in March 2009, now we will be the first to let you know the launch date and complete days and times for The Golden Girls on The Hallmark Channel!
Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty star as four South Florida seniors sharing a house, their dreams and a whole lot of cheesecake. Bright, provocative, clueless, and hilarious, these lovely mismatched ladies form the perfect circle of friends. Experience an entire day of laugh-packed episodes from this landmark television series as The Hallmark Channel launches with an all-day marathon on Sunday, March 1 from 8:30am-3:00am ET/PT! Then the show will air Monday-Friday starting March 2 from 9am-10am (replacing The Waltons), 4pm-5pm (moving I Love Lucy to 3-4pm) and 11pm-1am (replacing Murder, She Wrote). The show will air on weekends as well...Saturdays starting March 7 from 7:30am-9am (cutting I Love Lucy's block in half) and Sundays starting March 8 from 10am-12pm (cutting 7th Heaven's block in half). So The Waltons and Murder, She Wrote seem to have left the regular line-up totally. But since those two are leaving and The Golden Girls is coming, one other show will return as well! Cheers returns to the Hallmark Channel line-up airing weeknights 2am-3am replacing an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. Walker's 1am airing will be replaced by a double shot of I Love Lucy as well from 1am-2am weeknights. Don't worry Walker fans, the show will still air weeknights at 7pm and 8pm, but now from 11pm-3am weeknights on Hallmark are all sitcoms (Golden Girls, I Love Lucy, Cheers)! We still don't have WE tv's March schedule, as soon as we do we'll let you know when Golden Girls is airing over there and other changes they might have.
View the full Hallmark Channel March 2009 line-up!

Meanwhile over on ION Television, they also will have a returning series. ER returns to ION next week starting on Monday, Feb. 9 airing Monday nights at 8:00pm ET/PT replacing one airing of NCIS. NCIS will still air Mondays from 9-11pm. ER didn't do so well on ION and was replaced quickly last fall. Now the series is back for another try. NCIS and Boston Legal have done very well for ION and ION hopes ER can do similar numbers. ER will start with the season 12 episode "No Place to Hide" and go in order from there.
In other ION news, NBC's recent miniseries Last Templar (2009) will air on ION on Saturday, Feb. 7 and Sunday, Feb. 15 from 7-11pm on both nights. The two-part mini-series starring Mira Sorvino and Victor Garber did so-so for NBC doing average in viewers but not so good in 18-49.
If you forgot the rest of ION February 2009, head on over to our thread for more details.

Hallmark Channel Revises Sundays in January; Fox Announces Idol Dates, Orders New Midseason Series

We gave you Hallmark Channel's January 2009 highlights last month, now we have some changes in store for Sundays! Sundays from 10am-3am has been changed totally! Effective Sunday, January 4, we will now get a block of 7th Heaven from 10am-3pm, that's five straight episodes of the Camden family on family day...Sunday! This will basically replace a movie, Diagnosis Murder movie, a Perry Mason movie, and a Matlock movie. Regular movies will now air from 3pm-1am, yes, five straight movies will air. These movies will basically replace the four Murder, She Wrote episodes in the evening. Finally, we get more I Love Lucy! As I Love Lucy will also air Sunday nights from 1-3am now replacing the Matlock movie. So to recap the times for I Love Lucy now...Saturdays 6-9am & 1-3am, Sundays 8:30am-10am & 1-3am, weekdays 8-9am and weekdays 4-5pm. Whole lotta Lucyyyyyyyy!

Fox has announced the American Idol schedule through March 10 (3/11-5/20 dates and times will be announced at a later date). As we know, Idol launches Jan. 13 and 14 with a two-night premiere from 8-10pm both nights. Then it will regularly air 8-9pm on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but there are times when it will be expanded to 8-10pm and two special Thursday airings will air on Jan. 29 and March 5. March 5 is the first night of March sweeps, as this year there is no February sweeps due to the transition to DTV on Feb. 17.
Why is this Idol schedule important? Because it looks like Bones will be preempted on Thursday, Jan. 29 now, since Idol is airing that night leading into the season premiere of Hell's Kitchen. Bones will return the following week (Feb. 5), though. Bones moves to the Thursdays at 8pm slot on Jan. 15 leading into the final two episodes of Kitchen Nightmares on Jan. 15 and 22.
Also, only 4 episodes of Fringe will air after American Idol through March 10 it seems. Fringe is slated to air for four weeks in a row on 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, and 2/10, then Idol expands to two-hours the next four weeks AT LEAST, so Fringe will probably not return until the end of March sweep. The news is better for new drama Lie to Me out of Idol, Idol will only be two-hours on a Wednesday on Feb. 11, so Lie to Me will air for three straight weeks then be preempted then air again for another three weeks at least, maybe more.
Meanwhile, Fox has ordered 13 episodes of Glee, an inspiring musical comedy series from Ryan Murphy. The one-hour series follows an optimistic high school teacher as he tries to transform the school's Glee Club and inspire a group of ragtag performers to make it to the biggest competition of them all: Nationals. The show will debut in 2009 and features a soundtrack of hit songs from past to present. It could be the perfect fit out of American Idol, so Fringe and Lie to Me need to do very well, if not then Glee will fit like a glove likely out of Idol.
View our previous story on Fox's 2009 midseason schedule for the rest of the schedules besides Tues-Thurs.

Hallmark Channel January 2009 Highlights, I Love Lucy Joins; True Hollywood Story Gets Syndicated

As we have mentioned many times, I Love Lucy is coming to The Hallmark Channel in January, and now we have full details for The Hallmark Channel's January 2009 line-up! Everyone's favorite red-head is coming to The Hallmark Channel with an all-day marathon of I Love Lucy on Friday, January 2, 2009 from 8am-9pm ET/PT. Spend the day with Lucy as she finds herself in the most unlikely jams, scrapes, dilemmas and plain old hot water! But at the end of the day, Ricky is always there to forgive and forget. After all, who doesn't love Lucy? Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo does what he can to keep up with the zany schemes of his highly imaginative wife Lucy. The recurring storylines relate Lucy's continual efforts to become an entertainer, despite Ricky's endless attempts to discourage her, and their comically frantic life in the apartment building they share with landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz. This iconic sitcom set the standard for all that followed. I Love Lucy starred the legendary Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley.
I Love Lucy then immediately joins the regular schedule after the launch marathon on Jan. 2...airing Saturday mornings from 6am-9am (replacing Little House), Saturday late nights from 1am-3am (replacing movie), Sunday mornings from 8:30am-10am (replacing M*A*S*H), weekday mornings 8-9am (replacing Waltons), and weekday afternoons from 4-5pm (replacing Little House). Yes, the weekday 4-5pm airings will be encores of weekdays 8-9am from earlier in the day. There will be no other changes to the Hallmark schedule. As you all know, TV Land will not be airing I Love Lucy anymore after Dec. 31, so Hallmark is the way to watch now.
Other highlights for the month include two world premiere original movies on Saturday, Jan. 3 and Saturday, Jan. 10. On Jan. 3 from 9-11pm, Vanessa Marcil, Dean Stockwell, Natalie Dreyfuss and Uriah Shelton star in the original movie Nanny Express. On Jan. 10 from 9-11pm, Jason Priestley, Teri Polo, Cheech Marin and Kevin Hernandez star in the original movie Expecting a Miracle. And on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, it will be all-day movie marathons starting at 9am. Proving you can never have too much of a good thing, Hallmark Channel continues the holiday fun with two day-long holiday movie marathons on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And finally, the weekend of Jan. 24-25, will see a Rough 'N Ready Movie marathon. Tune into Hallmark Channel to see your favorite Western tough guys - John Wayne, Paul Newman, and Clint Eastwood - in three Hallmark Channel movie premieres during these two day-long movie marathons, such as the premieres of Unforgiven, Hombre, and Rio Bravo.

Debmar-Mercury has acquired the broadcast syndication rights to E! Entertainment Television's signature documentary series, True Hollywood Story, B&C reports.
For more than a decade, True Hollywood Story has followed the lives of Hollywood's hottest stars and, in 2009, the series will reach its 500th episode. Debmar-Mercury, a Lionsgate unit, will offer select library episodes of the show to TV.
Each episode features in-depth interviews, rare celebrity footage and behind-the-scenes scoops, giving viewers an exclusive look inside the lives of their favorite Hollywood stars. Ranging from JFK Jr., Dr. Phil and Lindsay Lohan to TV series such as The Sopranos, Bewitched, Brady Bunch, Three's Company, Diff'rent Strokes, Clueless and Friends, the series uncovers real-life celebrity tales of heartbreak, happiness and scandal from across the entertainment industry.
Among the series Debmar-Mercury syndicates include South Park, House of Payne, The Dead Zone, and first-run syndicated series such as Trivial Pursuit and Family Feud.
We will let you know more about the True Hollywood Story, such as the actual episodes in this package to be aired in syndication, as soon as we know!

Hallmark and TV Land Make Schedule Changes; ABC and Fox January News

Hallmark Channel has made a schedule change that will start this coming Monday (November 10). Cheers will leave the line-up from 4-5pm and be replaced with more Little House on the Prairie. So, this means Cheers only lasted two weeks in its weekday slot with a second Little House returning to the hour. As of now, Cheers is totally off the line-up, because if you all recall when Cheers started on weekdays, its weekend airings were removed.
We will keep you up to date if anything else comes out of this, but as of now, no more Cheers on Hallmark. If I were to guess, it could return in January when they launch I Love Lucy. This network has had trouble launching sitcoms besides M*A*S*H, which is a shame because they have two coming in 2009 (I Love Lucy, Golden Girls).

As for TV Land, we already told you about the late afternoon change that started this past Monday (Nov. 3) with Hogan's Heroes at 4pm and Leave it to Beaver at 5pm, now more changes are happening next week. Originally we stated, Scrubs was set to move Nov. 10 from 9-10pm to 10-11pm, but it seems that is not happening. Now on that week, we will get a week-long Cosby Show marathon! The Cosby Show Marathon airs Monday, November 10 through Thursday, November 13 form 8pm-2am and Friday, November 14 from 8pm-10pm and 12am-4am (it is preempted Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 10p-10:30p for Myths & Legends).
A few changes are also coming starting that week for at least the rest of November. In the 7am hour, back-to-back episodes of Scrubs will replace two episodes of M*A*S*H. So, Scrubs is out of primetime. In the weekdays at 1pm hour, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will replace Beverly Hillbillies for the rest of the month at least. And in late nights, for the week of November 10 from 2-3am will be Sanford & Son replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition encore (weeks of Nov. 17 and 24 it will be more Cosby Show in the hour). Finally, Three's Company is back regularly starting Nov. 10, at least for the rest of November, airing weeknights from 3-4am ET/PT!
So what will happen to TV Land PRIME after Cosby Show's marathon week? Cosby Show will now air 8-10pm from Mon-Sat for at least through the end of November, with 3rd Rock from the Sun now staying in its 10-11pm Mon-Thurs slot. Replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 11pm will be ... CSI, from sister station Spike TV (which airs it at 3pm and 8pm weekdays)! CSI will also air at 12 midnight, replacing M*A*S*H. This is for at least the rest of November (weeks of Nov. 17 and 24), we do not know yet if CSI will still be airing in December. For the final two weeks in November at least, this is how TV Land PRIME looks: 9PM Cosby Show, 10PM 3rd Rock from the Sun, 11PM CSI. With more Cosby Show leading in at 8PM and more CSI leading out at 12AM, as Scrubs and Home Edition are relegated to daytime...again for at least the end of the month.
So it seems M*A*S*H is not airing AT ALL the final two weeks of November and Beverly Hillbillies has been reduced to weekend blocks and in the Thanksgiving marathon. I don't expect CSI to air beyond these two weeks, but we'll see. Will these changes be in effect in December? We shall soon find out!
For now, view the full updated TV Land November 2008 schedule, so you don't get confused.

ABC has released part of their January plans. They have released Mondays. Originally it was supposed to be True Beauty (new Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks produced reality show) from 8pm-9:30pm followed by The Bachelor from 9:30-11pm. Now it will be The Bachelor from 8-9:30pm, followed by sitcom Samantha Who? staying put at 9:30pm despite no Dancing and True Beauty in the 10pm hour. This new night will launch Monday, January 5. On that date The Bachelor will have a two-hour premiere leading into the premiere of True Beauty. So, Samantha Who? will air in between those two starting Jan. 12. No other ABC January details are in yet, but we could expect Lost, as last night we saw promos saying "two-hour premiere in January." If I were to guess, Lost will air on Wednesdays. Also, last night promos for unscripted docudrama series Border Security USA started playing, and we could expect that in January as well, perhaps with Lost. ABC premiere of Scrubs and animated comedy The Goode Family are among the other items that could launch in January on ABC, with on the bubble shows like Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies perhaps benched. I want to clarify, that Scrubs is not coming Dec. 2 as I mentioned earlier in the week, the original plan of According to Jim remains starting Dec. 2.
As for Fox, they have announced they will launch 24 with its usual two-night/four-hour event on Sunday, January 11 and Monday, January 12 from 8-10pm. Then starting January 19, it will air in its 9-10pm slot. No word on what will air at 8pm, it could be new series Dollhouse though. American Idol obviously will return in January as well, perhaps Tuesday, Jan. 20. We will keep you up to date.

Ron Howard Reprises His Opie and Richie Roles for Obama; Minor Changes for Hallmark, ION and CBS Monday

Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham are both back! Ron Howard has reprised both of his classic TV roles for an ad supporting Barack Obama! It is a hilarious salute to those characters and shows, but also supports Obama and he urges Americans out there to vote and to change America. Ron is not the only one in the video either. Ron has reunited with Andy Griffith for his Opie/Andy segment and Henry Winkler for his Richie/Fonzie segment. These characters haven't been done in decades, so it is fun to see them reprise their roles! The Andy Griffith Show segment was even in black and white with Opie in his green/yellow striped t-shirt and fishing rod! The Happy Days segment had Henry Winkler's Fonzie in his trademark leather coat and Richie with his blue sweater outside of Arnold's. Ahyyyay!!! You even see Ron shave off his beard and trim his nose air for this video! He really does want Americans to vote and change this country. See the four-minute video for yourself! It's worth watching...whether you be a Democrat or Republican. Ron Howard has certainly found his "thrill on blueberry hill!"

Effective this weekend (Oct. 25-26), Cheers will not air on weekends anymore on The Hallmark Channel. It was airing Saturday nights 1-3am, Sunday mornings 10am-12pm, and Sunday nights from 1-3am. Cheers will only air weekdays from 4-5pm starting next week (Oct. 27).
Next week on ION Television, we will still not see any ER. ER's Mon-Wed at 10pm airings have been replaced for next week (Oct. 27-31) as well, on Monday we will see an extra NCIS and Tuesday & Wednesday we will see more Boston Legal. Did you know ER has not been seen since its Monday, Oct. 6 airing? ION's November schedule is still not out yet, and I'm sure they are trying to find a permanent replacement for the lower rated ER. As soon as their November schedule is in, I'll let you know. Right now only Nov. 1 and 2 is available, and that's a weekend. Speaking of ION, looks like the Warner Bros. movies are doing well, because they are having another movie marathon tonight from 4pm-11pm.
CBS has made a minor change for this coming Monday only. Wednesday sitcom Gary Unmarried (Pilot Repeat) will air Monday, October 27, 2008 at 9:30pm ET/PT replacing a repeat of Worst Week. The rest of the CBS comedies are also repeats the entire night on Oct. 27.

Hallmark Channel November 2008 Sees More Cheers; Network Notes

Hallmark Channel has announced its November 2008 schedule and Cheers will be getting more timeslots! Currently Cheers airs on weekends, Saturday and Sunday nights from 1-3am ET and Sunday mornings from 10am-12pm ET. However, starting Monday, October 27, Cheers will also air weekdays! Cheers will air back-to-back at 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET replacing an airing of Little House on the Prairie, which will still air weekdays 10am, 11am and 3pm. There will be no other schedule changes for November. Cheers will lead into another classic sitcom in M*A*S*H from 6-8pm. For fans wondering, the weekday rotation will start from episode one and will be different from the current weekend airings.
Among the other highlights in November are holiday movies starting Saturday, November 22 everyday. Movies include Angel in the Family, The Christmas Card, A Season for Miracles, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, and The Note. On Thanksgiving Day you can enjoy family movies with your family like Mighty Joe Young, The Rookie, and Iron Will. The day after Thanksgiving will see more holiday movies.

The premiere date for NBC's upcoming reality dating series Momma's Boys has been moved back two weeks to Wednesday, November 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. The previously announced premiere date was Wednesday, October 29 from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT. The show will air for 6 weeks through December 17. Deal or No Deal will air in the timeslot on October 22, 29 and November 5.
At ABC, on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, a special Dancing With The Stars: The Results will air from 8:00-9:02 PM ET/PT because it will be preempted on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 due to ABCNews' Presidential Election Coverage from 7PM-2AM ET on that night. So, Private Practice will air off the clock from 9:02-10:02 PM ET/PT and Dirty Sexy Money will also air off the clock from 10:02-11:00 PM ET/PT on this date (Nov. 5) only. Pushing Daisies will be preempted on that night.
Also, the back-door pilot episode for the Supernanny spin-off series, Super-manny will air in the Supernanny timeslot on Friday, November 14 at 9:00PM.
We are still waiting for CBS to pick up the new drama The Mentalist for a full season. CBS has ordered six additional scripts, though. So the back-nine should be next.

Three new shows launch tonight. Sitcom Kath & Kim at 8:30PM on NBC, and two new dramas battle at 10PM on ABC and CBS with Life On Mars and The Eleventh Hour. Both will get good sampling, but Life On Mars is getting the better reviews. I've also seen an advanced preview of the pilot and it is great. Check out abc.com for a 1973 look in honor of the premiere of Life On Mars tonight!

Hallmark Channel Adds More Cheers; ION Changes for This Week Only; More Cable Deals

We reported back over a month ago the timeslots for Cheers on The Hallmark Channel. Originally it was slated to air Sundays 10am-12pm starting Sunday, October 5. Now Hallmark will add more slots to that! Sunday nights from 1am-3am ET will also be added that night, replacing the Diagnosis Murder movie. It will also be added to Saturday nights as well the following week, starting October 11, from 1am-3am as well, replacing two hours of Walker Texas Ranger. So weekend nights from 1am-3am and Sunday mornings from 10am-12pm. More timeslots for Cheers is certainly good news. Now all it needs is to air on weekdays, so everybody does know its name and they're glad they came to Hallmark!

ION Television has made some changes for this Wednesday and Friday only. On Wednesday, October 1, they have scheduled an extra Boston Legal at 10PM, replacing ER on this night. This is the week Boston Legal expands on ION from just Mondays at 8 to Mon-Thurs at 8 and Wednesdays at 9. So, this Wednesday it will air for the full primetime from 8-11PM. So far the show has done decent and much better than ER. This Friday (October 3), ION will have a Warner Bros. movie marathon from 4PM-10:30PM preempting their regular schedule, including the RHI primetime movies on this night. Movies airing are Above the Law, Unbreakable, and City of Angels, with an episode of Warner Bros. sitcom Drew Carey Show at 10:30pm.
Warner Bros. Thursday movie titles for the month are now in and you'll see Unbreakable, Grumpier Old Men, Matchstick Men, City of Angels and Above the Law each Thursday night in October.
See our ION Television October 2008 blog story for the details we previously relayed.

Bravo has acquired the exclusive cable rights for the original thirteen-episode run of the critically-acclaimed but low rated drama series Swingtown, from CBS. The cable network premiere of the series is scheduled for later this fall. Bravo says it doesn't plan on making original episodes. CBS was said to have been shopping the show to cable for future seasons as they have no plans for additional seasons. So will Bravo be the choice? Swingtown traces two generations of friends and neighbors as they forge intimate connections and explore new freedoms during the culturally transformative decade of the 1970s. The series stars Jack Davenport, Grant Show, Josh Hopkins, Molly Parker, Lana Parrilla, Miriam Shor, Shanna Collins, Aaron Howles and Britt Robertson.
Meanwhile, Oxygen has acquired the exclusive cable rights to the groundbreaking reality competition series America's Next Top Model. The network will bring viewers all the Top Model fashion challenges, photo shoots and model mayhem as the full library of the hit series joins Oxygen in January, 2009. In an agreement with CBS Television Distribution, Oxygen will retain exclusive cable rights to all episodes including the 11th cycle currently airing on the CW, the show's 12th cycle now in production and repeat airings of any future cycles beyond. The Top Model genre of programming and the show's personalities have already proven successful on Oxygen, with The Tyra Banks Show encores airing daily on the network after its run in first-run syndication and former Top Model judge Janice Dickinson's series The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency now in its fourth season on Oxygen.

Hallmark Channel Fall 2008 Schedule With Cheers; Comcast Launches MGM's Impact Action onDemand

We continue the fall 2008 schedules for cable and today we take a look at The Hallmark Channel's Fall 2008 schedule. Now, their fall schedule schedule will start in October and they really have no changes at all! I believe their weekday line-up of dramas (Little House, Murder She Wrote, etc) and comedic drama M*A*S*H are doing well that they don't want to change anything yet. Now we already announced that Cheers is coming this fall previously, and now we have when it will air. Since we just said weekdays will have no changes at all, that will leave Cheers to just weekends, and they will air four episodes a week on Sundays from 10am-12pm starting Saturday, October 5. Hopefully it can do well there and then they can transition it to weekdays possibly?
Also joining the Hallmark schedule is the first-run syndicated series NASCAR Angels (it will also remain on your locals weekly as well) airing Sunday mornings at 8am, replacing one of the M*A*S*H airings, so M*A*S*H Sunday airings will now be 8:30am-10am.
Original movies for the month are Ladies of the House on Oct. 18 and Generation Gap on Oct. 25 both from 9-11pm.
We're sorry that there are not many changes or that Cheers is not on any other day, but we just report what we get and see! Anyway, view the Hallmark Channel Fall 2008 Schedule.
Stay tuned for Canada cable schedules, ION Television, WE tv, Nick at Nite, BET, and NYC local channels fall line-ups in the coming days.

Comcast Corporation and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) today announced a partnership to launch Impact, the first video-on-demand (VOD) channel dedicated exclusively to action programming. The new channel, available first to Comcast customers this week, features a host of exciting and popular action films and television shows, many available in high-definition (HD), that will captivate adventure seekers and fans of action, one of the fastest growing movie categories at the box office.
Within the first year, Impact will premiere many of the most successful films in action history, including movies from the James Bond series, Rocky, Terminator, Magnificent Seven and RoboCop. Impact will also kick-off its programming with some of its most popular action stars from the MGM library such as Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone and Charles Bronson. As an ongoing part of this VOD channel, there will be special programming themes created around the popular action genres including thrillers, crime, espionage, westerns, war films and martial arts.
It looks like this onDemand service will primarily be movies, though. We will try to get a list of MGM action TV series coming to Impact soon.

Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Cable Day 1

It is the first day of the summer 2008 TCA press tour and this week it is the cable portion (July 8-11).
TV One was the first network to present. Among the announcements they made were details on their original series Black Men Revealed which launches its second season on July 20. It is the series that brings together males from all walks of life to frankly discuss and often explode the myths and truths surrounding black men. TV One will offer live, nightly primetime coverage of the Democratic Convention in Denver, followed by TV One Live: DNC Afterparty, a smart, irreverent and engaging hour that includes a uniquely African American cultural perspective on the events of the day. The special will air August 25-28. TV One also has a documentary special titled Murder in Black and White airing October 5. Murder In Black and White is a series of four documentary specials that explore unsolved civil rights murders from which information uncovered will be shared with the FBI's Cold Case Unit in an effort to bring to justice murderers who may still be alive.
Among the acquired series TV One will launch this fall is the previously announced sitcom Living Single in September from the Warner Bros. Television deal.

The Hallmark Channel was up next and they announced they have 30 TV Movies in the works with many familiar stars. Among the stars are Jane Seymour in Dear Prudence, Mark Consuelos, Chandra West and Corbin Bernsen in For the Love of Grace, Florence Henderson and Donna Mills in Ladies of the House, Ed Asner and Alex Black in Generation Gap, Daphne Zuniga and Greg Evigan in Mail Order Bride, Tom Arnold, Candace Cameron and Barbara Niven in Moonlight & Mistletoe (November), Cicely Tyson, Eriq La Salle, Michael Michele and Michael Beach in Relative Stranger, Lesley Ann Warren and Meredith Baxter in Bound by a Secret, Chandra Wilson, Ben Vereen, Kathleen Munroe and LAPD Sgt. Tami Baumann in Accidental Friendship (Nov. 15), Jacqueline Bisset in An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving (Nov. 22), Jason Priestley, Teri Polo and Cheech Marin in Expecting a Miracle (Jan. 3), and Cloris Leachman and Haley Duff in Love Takes Wing (early 2009). A holiday movie titled The Christmas Choir will air Dec. 6.
Among the reruns they will add are Cheers this fall and I Love Lucy & The Golden Girls in 2009.

Other networks went like HDnet announced a Sneak Preview series. It is partnered with HDNet's "Ultra Video On Demand" offering, allows cable subscribers access to movies PRIOR to the movie's theatrical premiere.
BBC America announced BBC World News America news. It provides a unique, international perspective on matters at home and abroad. Ted Koppel is joining the series as a contributing analyst. Also, BBC America announced Primeval, new series launching August 8. The past and present collide when evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) discovers prehistoric creatures alive and well in the present day. Launching August 26, is Gavin & Stacey. This double BAFTA award-winning comedy from Steve Coogan's production company, Baby Cow, tells an endearing story of true love and human relationships. Gavin is an ordinary boy from England, Stacey is an ordinary girl from Wales. The two are obsessed with each other, yet they've only ever spoken on the phone. And Britz, coming in November, is a two-part thriller about a young brother and sister, Sohail and Nasima, and how they are pulled in radically different directions in the post 9/11 world.
style Network announced Ruby, a new unscripted series premiering November 9. It takes viewers inside the life of Ruby Gettinger, a 500-pound young woman living in Savannah, Georgia.
E! and G4 didn't announce anything really but further promoted E!'s The Soup and G4's Attack of the Show.

Stay tuned tomorrow for day two coverage of the summer TCA press tour as more networks go tomorrow, such as TV Land.

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.

Day 29: WGA's Strike; ION Holiday Highlights; Hallmark January Schedule

We are now on the 29th day of the strike. Negotiations resume tomorrow. Let's hope the WGA gets a deal they can't pass up this time. Jay Leno of NBC's Tonight Show will now pay the salaries of the non-writing staff for this week. Previously it was announced he would not and they would be laid off. Classic Leno episodes air again this week with guests like Michael Jordan from 1996.
In other news, ABC will place an encore episode of Grey's Anatomy this Tuesday at 9pm. This encore is the episode that aired on Thanksgiving night. It is part one of a two-part episode about an ambulance crash, titled "Crash into Me." Part 2 airs this Thursday at 9. Catch up this Tuesday if you missed it! It is very good! This change means repeat episodes of According to Jim will not air 9-10pm this Tuesday, but ABC will now air it on Dec. 18. It will still air Dec. 11 as planned.

As we promised we will give you the ION holiday highlights today. It is still not 100% complete, but we will share it anyway. If you browse our message boards, you've seen it already. Everyday is Christmas on ION, you can catch at least one holiday event each night. Among the items you will see this week are include a holiday episode of Alice, the movie Santa Trap, holiday episodes of Amen, and the movie The Night They Saved Christmas! In upcoming weeks you'll see more Alice and Amen holiday episodes, holiday episodes of Mama's Family and Who's the Boss? and special encores of the original movie Hogfather as well!
Click HERE to see the full holiday highlights and the rest of December's programming!

A few days back we gave you details on Hallmark's new acquisitions. Today we have the January schedule and it features one of those shows...7th Heaven and the renewed series Touched by an Angel. 7th Heaven will take the 1pm and 2pm slots on weekdays replacing Matlock. Matlock will air movie episodes on Sundays, but the regular series is on a break...not to worry because it has been renewed until 2011. 7th Heaven will also air Saturday mornings at 9am and 10am. Touched by an Angel gets the weekdays at noon slot, replacing one of the Murder, She Wrote airings.
For the full schedule and highlights, click HERE!

Day 25: WGA's Strike; ABC Family Acquires What I Like About You; TV Land Scores in November

We are in day 25 of the strike. Non-writing staffers of The Tonight Show are being laid off on Friday we hear, but Letterman's production company will pay its nono-writing staff from their own pockets. Conan O'Brien is also paying out of his own pocket for his non-writing staff.
Meanwhile NBC has made a schedule move that seems like it was done for the strike. NBC's new dramedy Lipstick Jungle, based on the best-selling novel by Candace Bushnell - and starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price - will premiere on Thursday, February 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET. ER will continue in the Thursdays 10:00 p.m. ET time slot through January when the Emmy Award-winning drama series completes its current run of original episodes.
Fox finally announced its holiday line-up. Nothing really except on Christmas Eve we get the movie Cheaper by the Dozen and on Wednesday, December 26 we get the broadcast premiere of Christmas with the Kranks starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. But why a day after Christmas?

I guess trying to bank on the success of Jennie Garth on Dancing with the Stars, cable network ABC Family will begin airing reruns of the sitcom What I Like About You in January. The sitcom starred Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth as sisters. The show had a decent four season run on The WB/CW from 2002-06. The show will air weekday afternoons at 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET/PT starting Monday, January 7, replacing 7th Heaven. We asked ABC Family if 7th Heaven would return and they said no, as the show will be moving to The Hallmark Channel. So that answers that. As for What I Like About You, The CW Daytime will still air it at 3:30pm in January from what we see in their listings. We'll keep you posted if that changes. So fans can watch it basically from 3:30-5pm on two channels!
Elsewhere on ABC Family January, the second half of season two of the hit original drama Kyle XY will return on January 14 airing Mondays at 8pm for 10 episodes! A marathon of 9 of the 13 episodes from the first half of the season will air before it from 11am-8pm. The fourth season of another original drama, Wildfire will start a week later, Monday, January 21, and air Mondays at 9pm. Other highlights include, the annual The 700 Club Special Programming will air from 9am-11am for two weeks, week of Jan. 14 and 21, thus Step by Step will be pre-empted for those two weeks at 9am. A marathon of the 700 Club will air on Sunday, January 27 from 12pm-12am. As for movies, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants will get a basic cable premiere on Jan. 6, and a lot of movies will be airing on the ABC Family for the first time, such as Mean Girls, Pleasantville, Bring It On Again, and the TV premiere of Bring It On: In It To Win It.

TV Land scored huge gains among its target demo of Adults 25-54 as well as its core audience of Adults 40-54 for the month of November (10/29/07-11/25/07). The success of the network's regularly scheduled Friday Night Movie Block, a M*A*S*H Mail Call Marathon, the original special Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons and the network's "Overstuffed Thanksgiving Weekend" led the network to score double-digit gains in rating and delivery among A25-54 and total viewers over last year. November was also the most-watched month among A25-54 for the year.
TV Land's November prime time line-up scored a 0.4 rating, 406,000 viewers, up +33% in rating and +24% in viewers among A25-54. Among total viewers in primetime, TV Land delivered nearly 944,000 total viewers, up +15% over last year. In total programming day, TV Land averaged a 0.3 rating and 295,000 viewers among A25-54 for the month, representing a +50% gain in rating and a +19% climb in viewers versus November 2006. It was also the most-watched month among A25-54 in total day this year. Additionally, the network attracted an average of 633,000 viewers for the total programming day, an increase of +13% over November 2006. Among its core audience, Adults 40-54, TV Land averaged a 0.6 rating, 317,000 viewers in prime time, up +50% in rating and +39% in viewers versus last year. In total programming day, the network posted a 0.4 rating, 227,000 viewers, up +33% in rating and +26% in viewers.
Click HERE for the full highlights.

Day 24: WGA's Strike; Hallmark Channel Acquires 7th Heaven, Cheers, I Love Lucy; Animated Dennis the Menace to DVD!

It is day 24 now of the writers' strike. It is still early in the day, but no news yet on an agreement. We do have some news. Talk show host Carson Daly has crossed the picket line. Which means his show, NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, will soon be back with new episodes. The half-hour talk show airs on NBC late nights at 1:35am. Unlike other talk show hosts like Kimmel, Letterman and Leno, Daly is not a member of the WGA, so it was easier for him to cross. The WGA is however disappointed. No word yet when we will see new episodes, but I'm betting starting next week.

Hallmark Channel has just completed a major deal to acquire several award- winning series, including the critically acclaimed 7th Heaven, the ever popular Cheers and classic baby boomer favorite, I Love Lucy, along with additional episodes of Matlock and Touched By An Angel from CBS Television Distribution. The deal also includes rights to 12 off-net holiday movies, including Finding John Christmas, Town Without a Christmas and When Angels Come to Town.
7th Heaven is the first show that will be ready to launch on Hallmark Channel as early as January of 2008 with Cheers having the next window later in 2008 and I Love Lucy in January of 2009. Matlock has been renewed through 2011, with a similar extension for Touched By an Angel.
Now what does this mean for ABC Family still airing 7th Heaven? That fate will be revealed on tomorrow's blog as we announce ABC Family January. Come on back for that...it will include a new show for ABC Family!
As for Cheers and I Love Lucy, Hallmark says it is not an exclusive cable deal, so TV Land could still run it, but Cheers is expiring from TV Land in September 2008 and I Love Lucy expires on TV Land in December 2008, which makes me think TV Land will not renew both series and Hallmark will just air it. That is still awhile away, so we will find out more details soon. I bet Cheers will launch next fall on Hallmark. Anyway, stay tuned for further details! We hope to have the January line-up soon. For now click HERE to view the press release and to discuss this big news!

Finally, a personal favorite of mine, the '80s animated series Dennis the Menace is finally coming to DVD this March! Dennis The Menace: Trouble, Trouble Everywhere debuts on DVD March 18, 2008 from Fox Home Entertainment.
In Dennis The Menace: Trouble, Trouble Everywhere entire nations can't run and hide. If they did, they surely would when lovable troublemaker Dennis Mitchell pays a visit! Like most families, the Mitchells love taking vacations, but wherever they go, young Dennis seems to wind up in the center of numerous hilarious catastrophes. Whether he’s chasing crooks in Venice or kangaroos in Sydney, outrunning Mayans in South America, or bulls in Spain – or even proving that erupting volcanoes in Hawaii wreak less havoc than he does, Dennis is always drawn to find trouble, wherever it is!
I wish it was a full set with full episodes and not just a best of set. I hope this sells well so we can get all of them on DVD in the full form. Episodes on this set are: "Dennis in Venice," "Mayan Mayhem," "The Big Candied Apple," "A Royal Pain," "Dennis and the Kangaroo Cavalry," "Dennis Plasters Pamplona," and "Black and Blue Hawaii."
To read more about this and to discuss this, click HERE!

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 2; Hallmark Channel Brings Back Waltons; Carey New Price Host

Today was Day 2 for Fox at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel today were Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nashville, Canterbury's Law, The Return of Jezbel James, and House. The themed meals were Cops for breakfast (donuts) and Family Guy lunch where they had a table read for the 100th episode.

The Hallmark Channel effective today brought back The Waltons to its old 8am & 9am weekday slot. Murder, She Wrote will be moved to 2 & 3pm. That series has done very well since joining the network. It will also remain in its 11pm and 12am slot. Due to The Waltons returning, some other series get minor time changes, like M*A*S*H goes from 4-6pm to 5-7pm. I urge you to click HERE to see what the rest are!

It is official! Drew Carey is the new host for The Price is Right. He announced it on tonight's taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.
"I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch," Carey told Letterman. "I couldn't tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for Power of 10, and they called me, I said, 'No.' Then they called me a month later, they said, 'What if we really' — they called my agent: 'What if we really go after Drew.'
"This is like a month later after I did the pilot for Power of 10 and I said, 'Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.' I go, 'What kind of schedule?' He said, 'I don't know,' so I met with them and stuff and we've been negotiating ever since. Couldn't say anything, but during your 'Harry Potter' bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It's a done deal. I'm the new host of The Price Is Right.
Carey said that he's not sure when he's going to start working on The Price Is Right, which is expected to start taping new episodes in August, but did say that already "my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf's."
"Well, history says that this will be a nice long career for you as the host of The Price is Right," Letterman commented.

Hallmark Channel June Change, Adds 'Murder, She Wrote', Drops 'Waltons'; Fox Burns off 'The Loop' Episodes in Summer

The Hallmark Channel has made a schedule change. They have acquired Murder, She Wrote and will add it to its line-up, airing it weekdays at 8 & 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. and 12 midnight starting June 4. The morning airings will replace The Waltons, which will now be off the line-up again. The late night airings will be replacing a movie. Hallmark will also air the two-hour editions of Murder on Sunday nights at 7 p.m.
Murder, She Wrote is of course the classic mystery drama starring Angela Lansbury. The show has aired in reruns on A&E and The Biography Channel in recent years. I think it still air on Biography from time to time.
To view these changes and to discuss this new acquisition, click HERE.

Fox will return the second year sitcom The Loop for its final 10 episodes on Tuesday, June 5 now. The show will air at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, June 5 and 12. It will also air Sundays at 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on June 10, June 17, June 24 and July 1. So all 10 will air by July 1. Talk about a burn-off! Only Fox's The Winner was burned off faster earlier this year.