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!

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.

Blog DVD Review Special: The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/Three For Two

Our summer weekly report will not be posted today due to the holiday weekend. Instead we bring you a special Blog DVD Review on a special day with The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/Three For Two.

Today we take a look at MPI's The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/Three For Two. These were two hour-long CBS specials that aired in the '70s. See skees53's Blog DVD Review of The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/Three For Two:

The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/Three For Two (MPI, $19.98) features two hour long specials from CBS starring Lucille Ball. After nearly a quarter century of starring in three different top-rated CBS sitcoms, Lucille Ball was ready to leave the weekly grind of producing and starring in new episodes, so after the 1973-1974 season, her third series, Here's Lucy, left the CBS lineup. But she wasn't quite ready to leave CBS, which brings us the Lucille Ball specials. These specials were much like a movie-of-the-week featuring Lucille Ball, and she was given a creative license to do pretty much whatever she desired on them. They began in 1974 with Happy Anniversary and Goodbye, which is not featured on this disc, but will be on the next disc. On this disc, we have the second and third special, Lucy Gets Lucky featuring Dean Martin and Three for Two featuring Jackie Gleason. There were ultimately eight specials total, ending with the 1980 special, Lucy Moves to NBC, which will also be featured on a future release from MPI.

The first of the two features on this DVD is Lucy Gets Lucky, an hour-long special from 1975 featuring Dean Martin. In this special, we have Lucy taking a trip to the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas to see Dean Martin perform, a show that everybody in "sin city" wants to see, but is forced to make reservations for eight since they won't take her reservation for one. When she shows up to claim her reservations, however, she finds that her scheme to get just one seat has failed, and she loses all eight of her seats. Determined to do anything to see Dean Martin, she discovers that employees of the hotel will have an opportunity to see him perform in a special employee show, and decides to turn her little vacation into a career as a blackjack dealer! Will she make it big in this job, or will typical Lucy antics cause her to fail? Jackie Coogan is also featured in this special, and Gary Morton (Lucille Ball's husband) plays a minor role.

The second feature is Three for Two, another hour-long special from 1975, where Lucille Ball stars with comedic legend Jackie Gleason. Here, we see what we get when two comedic legends come together: a comedy-drama (which leans heavily on the drama side) reminiscent of the TV series Love, American Style. There are three stories presented here about three different couples (all played by Ball and Gleason), beginning with "Herb & Sally." In this story, the couple is on a vacation in Rome to escape their problems at home, but Herb isn't prepared to escape them. This causes more marital unhappiness with the couple. "Fred & Rita" presents a story that resembles a plot that would be found on a soap opera. Fred is married, and so is Rita, and they are in love with each other. But they aren't married to each other, and must go to great lengths to cheat on their respective spouses. In the third installment, "Mike & Pauline," Ball and Gleason play parents of adult children that want to spend New Years' Eve out celebrating, instead of the usual family tradition of spending it. Mike has a man-to-man talk with his son about his relationship, and Pauline has a woman-to-woman talk with her daughter about her relationship.

Lucy Gets Lucky is enjoyable and has some great moments that will remind Lucille Ball fans of the slapstick routines that made her the biggest name on television in the '50s and '60s. Three For Two, in all honesty, proves that Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason weren't quite made for the TV drama genre. There are many great moments in these, and the stories aren't bad, but one would tend to expect something hilarious with these two comic geniuses on one set. Instead, we have a sappy romantic drama that is reminiscent of an episode of Love, American Style, and a bad one at that. Still, die-hard fans of Lucille Ball will enjoy Three For Two, and it is also a rare opportunity to see these comedic legends on the same set.

The video and audio quality of the specials is not exactly spectacular, but that can somewhat be expected, as these have remained largely unseen since their original airings. Lucy Gets Lucky looks decent, but Three For Two does not look quite so good, with some significant grain and very dull colors. The audio is rather low on both specials (presented in mono, of course). There are English subtitles for both specials. Each special is unedited, running around 52 minutes each. In fact, Lucy Gets Lucky even has the original sponsor tags from Timex.

As we all know by now, of course, nothing related to Lucy can be released on DVD without a plethora of special features, and of course, we have that on this set! First, we have a short clip (10:51) from Art Linkletter's House Party dated February 24, 1965. On this, we get to see Lucy doing some special sound effects for a fake radio program. Next, we have two segments of a talk radio program that Lucy did in the mid-60s called Let's Talk to Lucy, both featuring Dean Martin as her guest. Basically, these were 10 minute shows where she would interview famous celebrities without playing any character actress herself, but instead simply being Lucille Ball. It is said that she wanted to do this as a change of pace from the ordinary and routine. In "Working With Lucy" (14:40), Gino Conforti (a frequent guest star on Lucille Ball's programs, particularly Here's Lucy) talks about his experiences of working with Lucille Ball. He talks about Here's Lucy, the specials on this set, and even talks about Bungle Abbey, a sitcom pilot about monks living in a monastery, which was directed by Lucille Ball. A series that never materialized from the pilot, of course, but perhaps this will be included as a bonus feature on one of the future Lucille Ball Specials DVDs. Finally, we see that nobody is perfect, as there are bloopers from Lucy Gets Lucky (5:43) featuring Dean Martin. Unfortunately, there are no bloopers featured from Three for Two.

This was a very interesting DVD to watch, and even though one of the specials was not as great as I expected, I still enjoyed watching it. It is interesting to see how much television evolved over a quarter century from the first episode of I Love Lucy on CBS (where Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds) to where Lucy plays a woman that is cheating on her own husband. Lucy Gets Lucky is very reminiscent of classic Lucy in a more modern era, and I really enjoyed that one. According to an insert that I found on CBS DVD's The Official First Season of The Lucy Show (a full review of that set is coming very soon, Lucy fans!) MPI will be releasing a total of six specials on four releases, with the first two containing two specials each and the last two containing one special each. The most loyal fans of Lucille Ball, of course, are going to love everything on this DVD, but other fans will enjoy this DVD as well.

-- Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

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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.

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!

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!

Detroit's WADL New Classic TV Block; Obama Preempts Programming on March 24

WADL TV-38, Detroit's Urban TV station will be adding some exceptional new programming that will include legendary favorites to the station's spring line-up. The new additions to the classic TV programs will include: I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, The Honeymooners, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith Show.
WADL TV 38 features Detroit's only local dance show Dance Party, and nationally known programming such as Cribs, American Chopper, RENO 911, Dave Chappell's Show, and Cheaters. In addition, the station already specializes in classic programming such as Good Times, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Fat Albert, The A-Team, In The Heat of the Night and up and coming to the lineup, Steve Harvey, Brian McKnight, The Brady Bunch and many others.
Currently the classic TV line-up on weekdays starting at 4PM is The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, The A-Team, The Rockford Files, Fat Albert, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, A Different World, In the Heat of the Night, Good Times, M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, and What's Happening Now!!
So, the new programming will start Monday, March 30. Weekdays starting 4PM: Fat Albert, The Brady Bunch, Beverly Hillbillies, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Sanford & Son, Fresh Prince, A Different World, The Honeymooners, In The Heat of the Night, The Jeffersons, Good Times, M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, and What's Happening Now!!

President Obama is as it again...with preempting primetime programming. This time it will be on Tuesday, March 24 at 8PM ET. I'm all for Obama, but come on this is crazy. Eastern/Central time zones will be mostly affected by this. I'll detail it by network.
First up ABC will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. So in the eastern/central time zones, the return of According to Jim will be totally preempted. Dancing with the Stars: The Results and Primetime: What Would You Do? will air as scheduled following the news conference. Out in the mountain and pacific time zones, everything will air as normally scheduled, including According to Jim...but they will be repeats instead ("The Blankie" and "Cabin Boys"). So if you're in the east/central time zones and love According to Jim, you'll have to watch the repeats on abc.com the next day, or if you get ABC onDemand on your cable system. Not sure how this will affect ABC's finale date of May 5 for According to Jim. Will it be pushed back a week or will they air two episodes on a special night to catch up? I was looking forward to the return, because Constance Marie (George Lopez) was going to guest star and the second episode was directed by Penny Marshall.
CBS will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Following the address, they will air all-new episodes of NCIS and The Mentalist at special times of 9pm and 10pm ET/PT. Without a Trace will totally be preempted. Not sure yet what will air at 8pm PT/7pm MT, but that could go back to local affiliates or CBS could air a NCIS repeat there leading into a new NCIS.
NBC will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT, pushing The Biggest Loser an hour back from 8-10pm to 9-11pm ET/PT. So, Law & Order: SVU is totally preempted. For mountain/pacific time zones at 8pm PT/7pm MT you will see a special Dateline episode leading into The Biggest Loser at a special time.
Finally, most affected by Obama is Fox. Fox will have to totally scrap a two-hour American Idol Tuesday. They will air the Presidential News Conference with Obama live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. A House repeat will follow at 9pm ET/8pm CT. House will also air at 9pm PT/8pm MT. King of the Hill repeats will fill the hour at 8pm PT/7pm MT. The regular Tuesday installment of Idol will be moved to Wednesday 8-10pm ET/PT, so that means an episode of Lie to Me will have to be preempted that week. And the regular results of Idol Wednesday will have to be moved to Thursday, March 26 from 8-9pm ET/PT preempting Bones. Instead of this mess, couldn't Fox just have aired Idol 9-11pm ET on Tuesday and air it in its normal time in the mountain/pacific time zones instead of causing mass confusion? I know Fox doesn't schedule at 10pm, but the local affiliates wouldn't mind, I'm sure.

I'm on my way to a quick trip to Houston in literally minutes, so I'll see you back live on Sunday when I return...but please do come on by tomorrow (great story!) and Saturday (blog DVD review) as I have already done those stories for those days set to post on their own. Ain't technology grand?

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!

Blog DVD Review: Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we take a look at MPI Home Video's Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie. Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie . See skees53's Blog DVD Review of Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie:

Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie (MPI, $19.98) gives fans of one of the most well-known couples in all of TV history a view of what things were like off-camera. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the stars of the classic TV series I Love Lucy, were married in 1940 and in their twenty years of marriage, they managed to build a TV legacy in a way that few (if any) others could successfully do.
Although the phrase "a home movie" appears in the title, it is a bit misleading. There are many clips from home movies from the private collection of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, although a lot of the documentary is interviews with family, friends, producers, and others that knew the couple most of all. There are also a few interspersed clips of interviews with Lucy and Desi from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The documentary starts nearly a century ago, with the childhood of Lucy and Desi. We find out here that both of them came from families that had certain difficulties. We hear quite a bit about Lucy's childhood, but not quite so much about Desi's.
The documentary quickly segues into the married life of Lucy and Desi, where we find out a lot about the movie careers that Lucy and Desi had in the 1940s, basically all of which were through the film studio RKO. And then, we get to the divorce--the first one in 1944, which never actually happened. Lucy decided that she wanted to divorce Desi because he was allegedly cheating on her (although Lucie Arnaz says that he always told her that he wasn't fooling around with other women in the way that other people though). The divorce never came to be, which opened the door to the big thing that was coming in a few years, a little TV series called I Love Lucy.
The year was 1951. Lucy and Desi had their first child, a daughter named Lucie Arnaz (one of the producers of this very documentary) and just a few months later, production of the series I Love Lucy began. But production costs for the series were a little expensive, and neither CBS nor Philip Morris were able to fully fund the series, so Desi Arnaz had an enterprising idea--he and Lucy would help to fund the series provided that he could have the film rights to the series. And so began the well-know TV studio of the 1950s and 1960s, Desilu. Not all went will for them in the 1950s, however. It was discovered that Lucy's hair was not the only red thing about her, and that she was also registered as a Communist in New York. It had the potential to destroy her entire career (as it had done to many other celebrities at the time), but luckily she came away mostly unscathed. As the 50s progress, we see the marriage of Lucy and Desi beginning to go into a slow decline, mostly due to Desi's use of drugs and alcohol, and the documentary takes us all the way to the 1960s, where Lucy takes control of Desilu away from Desi and the divorce proceedings begin. The documentary ends with a brief look into their lives after the divorce, and ends with a home movie from the 80s with Lucy and Desi in a swimming pool with their grandchild, with Desi singing (what else?) Babalu.
The DVD has very basic packaging (as it is only one disc) and very basic menus. They are simple, but functional for what it is worth. There is an option on the menus to turn on English subtitles for those that require them. The video and audio quality of the DVD and the special features is generally pretty impressive, except perhaps for the quality of the game show episodes from the 1950s. Of course, considering that these were never intended to be preserved in the first place, there isn't much to truly complain about with this.
The DVD is not without bonus features, either. We also have more interviews (31:07) on the disc from Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. (in addition to the interviews featured in the documentary) that reflect upon the lives of their parents in a more candid perspective. There are even outtakes (20:32) from the interviews featured in the documentary! One of my favorite special features happens to be the original commercials (12:50) that are included that came from episodes of The Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz Show (better known these days as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour). Basically, these are extended commercials for Westinghouse that feature the characters from the series in their roles. I love how these older series integrated the characters into the commercials! These are very fun to watch.
The next two special features are sure to please game show fans. The first is a segment from the game show What's My Line? (9:15) where the celebrity panelists are blindfolded and have to guess the mystery celebrity on stage--which happens to be Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz! Additionally, we have an entire episode of the game show I've Got a Secret (23:48) with a special celebrity panelist for the episode, Lucille Ball. Finally, we have a Photo Gallery which features many photos from the private collection of Lucy and Desi, and we have a promo from MPI (2:03) for an upcoming DVD release (in season form) which many fans may have already heard of: the TV series Here's Lucy!
All in all, it isn't a bad documentary, although it does seem to be drag on a bit too slowly at times. I personally would have found it to be more interesting if it had a greater focus on the TV careers of Lucy and Desi. It seems to focus more upon their film careers and family life. Of course, the most dedicated fans of Lucille Ball are certain to love this, but to the casual fan, a lot of it may seem to be extraneous information. I kind of expected to find more information about the more negative aspects of their lives in the documentary, but it seemed that they skimped on some of the details of these events. That isn't to say that they completely ignore them, though. Fans of the work of Lucy, as well as anybody that is interested in television's golden era will definitely appreciate this DVD.
Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

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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.

Happy Thanksgiving; Marathons on TV This Holiday Weekend

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

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

TV Land January 2009 Highlights; NBC Revises January 2009 Schedule

TV Land has announced their January 2009 schedule and highlights, and as expected, I Love Lucy is not on it, as its contract has expired. Also, Paid Programming is continuing, but it will move from 5-7am to 6-9am starting Monday, December 29. So, the 7-9am show will be knocked off, as M*A*S*H's morning slot and Night Court's slots are removed...which means Night Court is off the line-up for now. Late nights will be affected a bit too, as Three's Company will now air four in a row from 2-4am, as the modern sitcom block moves from 3-5am to 4-6am, with Designing Women, Mad About You, Murphy Brown and Just Shoot Me, since Paid Programming will move to 6-9am. Replacing I Love Lucy on weekday afternoons is essentially two Beverly Hillbillies episodes, so Hillbillies is back on weekdays. I Love Lucy aired a lot on weekends, and replacing it will be Green Acres and Brady Bunch on Saturdays, as both of those shows return. And on Sundays more Beverly Hillbillies will replace Lucy in the mornings, while Leave it to Beaver will replace it in the late night block. Also, Star Trek is back once a week on Sundays at 6am, though it sort of is airing in December, on some Thursdays at 7am.
As for stunts, New Year's Day is "Jan" 1st. Jan, Jan, Jan. It's a new year and this year it's all about Jan from The Brady Bunch. On January 1, beginning at 12pm through 6pm, TV Land celebrates everybody's favorite middle-child with a 6-hour marathon of Brady episodes featuring none other than the positively groovy Jan Brady! Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, indeed!
High School Reunion is coming back for an unforgettable second season in mid-February. But first...counting down to that big February 18 second season premiere, TV Land PRIME will bring you all of the action from season one every Wednesday at 10pm starting on January 7. A marathon of the entire first season will also air in a President's Day event on Monday, February 16.
He was handsome. He was dangerous. He was rock n' roll. He was 'The King.' He was Elvis! TV Land PRIME celebrates the life of a true American original on January 8, when Elvis would have celebrated his 74th birthday. Explore the enduring legacy of rumor and innuendo that still surrounds the epic entertainer with a special episode of TV Land's Myths & Legends, and take an intimate look at the life and times of Elvis as told by his family, during a special presentation of Elvis by the Presleys. Also, prior to the PRIME event, TV Land will host a PRIME preview presentation of the marathon on Saturday, January 3 from 2-6pm, featuring both the Myths & Legends episode and the Elvis by the Presleys program, as well as a special presentation of the iconic concert, Elvis's '68 Comeback Special!
This January, viewers will laugh out loud all month long on TV Land and TVLand.com during TVLand.Comedy Month. Each Saturday in January starting January 10, TV Land will feature marathons of popular comedies like 3rd Rock from the Sun, Sanford & Son, Beverly Hillbillies, Leave it to Beaver, The Jeffersons and The Andy Griffith Show, serving as a promotional platform for these titles and more online. In January, TVLand.com will stream more full episode content than ever before! This includes the launch of new series to TVLand.com, including The Jeffersons, Leave it to Beaver and Sanford and Son. And there's more! For all of their current online series favorites, all episodes available will be streaming for the first time on TVLand.com. And don't miss the limited one-month offering of full episodes of Just Shoot Me.
Finally, the TV Land PRIME Movies for January are all 80s classics such as Cocktail, Jewel of the Night, and The Color of Money. Tom Cruise is among the stars you'll see.
View the COMPLETE TV Land January 2009 schedule and highlights.

NBC has announced its January 2009 schedule and it will have the series premieres of Superstars of Dance (debuting January 4) and Howie Do It (January 9), the returns of The Biggest Loser: Couples (January 6) and Friday Night Lights (January 16). NBC will broadcast the original movie event The Last Templar Sunday and Monday, January 25-26, 9-11 p.m. ET both nights. Specials include Saturday Night Live Sports Extra on Sunday, January 4 (7-9 p.m. ET) and Saturday Night Live Film Festival on Sunday, January 18 (9-11 p.m. ET). Dateline NBC also will broadcast a Presidential Inauguration Day Special on Tuesday, January 20 (10-11 p.m. ET). Here is a look at how NBC will look in January (pre-Super Bowl):

NBC January 2009

MONDAYS (beginning January 5)
8-10 p.m. - Superstars of Dance (premieres Sunday, January 4 from 9-11 p.m. and the season finale airs Monday, January 26 from 8-9 p.m.)
10-11 p.m. - Momma's Boys
(Chuck and Heroes return in February, after the Super Bowl)

TUESDAYS (beginning January 6)
8-10 p.m. - The Biggest Loser: Couples
10-11 p.m. - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
(Special on Jan. 20: Dateline NBC: Presidential Inauguration Special from 10-11 p.m. ET)

WEDNESDAYS (beginning January 7)
8-9 p.m. - Knight Rider
9-10 p.m. - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Encores (Life returns in February after the Super Bowl)
10-11 p.m. - Law & Order

THURSDAYS (beginning January 8)
(No changes)
8-8:30 p.m. - My Name Is Earl
8:30-9 p.m. - Kath & Kim
9:00-9:31 p.m. - The Office
9:31-10 p.m. - 30 Rock
10-11 p.m. - ER

FRIDAYS
8-9 p.m. - Howdie Do It (series premiere January 9)
9-10 p.m. - Friday Night Lights (beginning January 16) (Lipstick Jungle has its finale on January 9)
10-11 p.m. - Dateline NBC (beginning December 5)

SATURDAYS (beginning January 10)
8-11 p.m. - Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit encores

SUNDAYS
January 4:
7-9 p.m. - Saturday Night Live Sports Extra
9-11 p.m. - Superstars of Dance (series premiere, special night)

Sunday -- January Event Specials
January 11: 7-8pm TBD and 8-11 p.m. - The Golden Globe Awards
January 18: 7-9pm TBD and 9-11 p.m. - Saturday Night Live Film Festival
January 25: 7-9pm TBD and 9-11 p.m. - Mini-Series: The Last Templar (also on Monday, January 26)
February 1: approx. 6:15-10 p.m. - Super Bowl XLIII and 10-11pm TBD (post-Super Bowl show)

NBC will announce their full midseason series and revised schedule at a later date. Many series will be premiering after the Super Bowl in February, such as the return of Medium, new series Kings, and the winter premiere of Heroes. NBC will also officially announce their post-Super Bowl timeslot series soon.

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!

TV Land December 2008 Includes 9th Annual Merrython and Lucy Farewell; Rita Rocks Solid in First Two Airings

I know it isn't even Halloween yet, and we are discussing TV Land December 2008 today! This December, TV Land will celebrate the holidays with three blocks of Christmas episodes labeled the 9th Annual Merrython and a holiday week of holiday episodes of feel good show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. But before that, take another spin down the catwalk with the lovely ladies from She's Got the Look -- TV Land's modeling competition series like no other. Relive the excitement as 10 finalists are chosen to compete against each other for a lucrative Wilhelmina modeling contract and a spread in Self magazine. The marathon airs Saturday, December 6 from 3pm-9pm ET/PT!
Then it is time to celebrate the holidays with classics and modern classic holiday episodes! This year's Merrython will be the best yet with many hours of holiday fun for all on December 7 (thirteen hours), December 21 (twelve hours) and December 25 (twenty hours)! TV Land is delivering the goods to the viewers with Christmas episodes from classics like Andy Griffith, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford & Son, Beverly Hillbillies, Brady Bunch, Three's Company and Little House on the Prairie and modern Christmas favorites from The Cosby Show, Just Shoot Me, Night Court, Murphy Brown, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Scrubs. Grab the eggnog, tune in with loved ones, and warm up your Christmas spirit with TV Land!
That's not all for the holidays! Get ready for an Extreme Home Makeover holiday! Extreme Makeover: Home Edition kicks off prime each night at 9pm beginning Monday, December 8, so don't miss this exciting week-long marathon showcasing five of the most popular families from the series. Concluding the stunt on Saturday night is a two-hour special that revisits each of these fortunate families during the holidays. Watch the Extreme Home Makeover crew give these special folks the opportunity to "pay it forward" and share their good fortune with other deserving families. There'll be a lot of joy and warmth this holiday season as we bring you all the best that Ty and his gang of hardworking homebuilders have to offer.
TV Land also celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Superman film starring the late Christopher Reeve by airing it at 12 noon on Sunday, December 14. TV Land Friday night movie premieres in the MovieLand block for December are Analyze This, Get Shorty, and Doc Hollywood! Encores include Sister Act II.
Finally, as we all know that I Love Lucy is headed for The Hallmark Channel this January, TV Land has to say goodbye. TV Land says "Bon Voyage" to 2008 and I Love Lucy as they countdown to the New Year with everybody's favorite classic sitcom, I Love Lucy, as the show leaves the network. Spend the day living vicariously through The Ricardos' and The Mertzes' antics, escapades and adventures as we countdown the all-time Top 25 I Love Lucy episodes--voted by you the fans. All throughout the month of December, TV Land gives fans the opportunity to vote which episodes they want to see during Lucy's New Year's Eve Countdown. Customized countdown flags and packaged I Love Lucy vignettes with color commentary will air throughout the stunt as it gains momentum and reaches its zenith with the I Love Lucy episode ranked #1 by the viewers. It was a year to remember and it'll be a TV Land send-off viewers will never forget. Goodbye Lucy! Obviously there will be a lot of changes to the January line-up since Lucy is leaving, but we don't know what yet...so we should know by next month and let you all know.
But for now View our complete TV Land December 2008 highlights for episode info for each stunt and more!

Lifetime TV's original sitcom Rita Rocks got off to a decent start on Monday when the show premiered to 1 million viewers. When comparing to Lifetime's last comedy series, Lovespring International, which launched in June 2006, Rita Rocks was up 38 percent among women 18-49 posting a 0.8 W18-49 rating. The show was also up 11 percent above the network's prior four-week time period average.
On Tuesday for episode two, the original sitcom did a 1.1 HH rating, up 37% from the premiere and 1.2 million viewers, up 200,000 viewers from the premiere. Rita Rocks also increased by 15 percent in key women 18-49 (0.83 rating) versus the prior four-week time period average. Wednesday numbers will be in later. Will it rise more?
Rita Rocks continues to air every night this week at 8:30 p.m. before assuming its regular weekly time slot on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. starting next week. Rita certainly rocks, and not bad after airing out of Reba repeats.

Memorial Day 2008 Marathons; Remembering Dick Martin

Happy Memorial Day! Let's take some time to remember the troops past and present. Let's celebrate their courage by relaxing and having fun. Whether it be indoors or outdoors. If you are indoors and want to catch some marathons, there is something for everyone today. BET has a huge "Different Laugh Attack" (as we mentioned previously) with Diff'rent Strokes from 9am-7pm then A Different World from 7pm-3am. Wow! That is my bet for the day.
Other marathons include TV Land's I Love Lucy marathon from 8am-7pm, USA Network will celebrate with a NCIS marathon from 6am-7pm, while MTV tries to bring some life back to NBC's new American Gladiators with a marathon from 9am-8pm.
It wouldn't be a holiday without a Law & Order or CSI marathon would it? Law & Order will get a marathon on TNT from 10am-11pm while CSI gets its holiday marathon on Spike TV from 9am-9pm. Spin-off CSI: Miami is airing on A&E from 8am-9pm. Sorry no marathon for CSI: NY on Spike, since CSI is getting one.
FX will head back to the '70s with a marathon of the sitcom That '70s Show from 9am-8pm. Sticking to the '70s, the classic game show Match Game will get a marathon on GSN from 9am-3pm. It will feature contestants from America's Armed Forces, including the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Star celebrity panelists Joyce Bulifant, Bill Cullen, Richard Dawson, Fred Grandy, Jack Klugman, Jimmy Walker, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers and the late Dick Martin (see our story below), among others.
And if you're in Los Angeles, KTLA will have a Graduation Marathon with lots of classic sitcoms, as I mentioned before...such as Balki graduating on Perfect Strangers and Alex on Family Ties. Sha-la-la-la!
Relive the same day over and over again on the addictive drama Day Break on TV One from 8am-6am.
Various movie marathons are on TBS, Lifetime, Hallmark Channel and other cable channels.
Other marathons include History's MonsterQuest from 8am-8pm and G4's 11am-1am Cops marathon.

Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team whose Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!" has died. Mr. Martin died Saturday night just after 6 p.m. of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica.
Laugh-In became an instant hit for NBC in 1968 with its anarchic energy, vaudevillian schtick and eccentric performances. Laugh-In forever changed the variety show format and heavily influenced later programs such as Saturday Night Live. The show lasted through 1973.
After Laugh-In, he went on to become one of television's busiest directors after splitting with Dan Rowan in the late 1970s. He still acted on series before and after Laugh-In though...he guest starred on series such as The Lucy Show, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Coach, Blossom, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. But directing was his big trademark after Laugh-In. He directed episodes of various series including The Bob Newhart Show, Archie Bunker's Place, Flo, Family Ties, Mama's Family, Newhart, The Bradys, Bob, and In The Heat of Night. So, he directed Bob Newhart in all of his series. He was also a staple of game shows such as Password Plus, Super Password, Tattletales, Celebrity Sweepstakes, and Match Game.
We hope TV Land or another network honors him with a tribute marathon of Laugh-In or his best directorial work on The Bob Newhart Show. I'm sure GSN will put together a game show tribute marathon for him. We will let you know if whatever happens.
He will certainly be missed. He was 86.

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.

Strike Update; ME-TV Coming to Milwaukee, Chicago to Launch ME-Too; RTN Coming to Illinois

Well we all know the strike is just about over. Yesterday I mentioned that they had a press conference. So what happened in it? They announced a vote will be held on Tuesday. A yes vote means they are voting to end the strike immediately; a no vote means they are voting to continue the strike during the ratification process.
So the strike has unofficially ended, but it won't be official until after this vote. It is widely expected that the WGA members will indeed vote yes on the new deal and the writers would return to work Wednesday.
So today is technically still day 99 of the strike. And tomorrow is day 100, the last day technically of the strike. How cool is it that this will all end officially on day 100. We will have more on the vote and more details this week.

You all know about ME-TV in Chicago. The local Chicago station (WWME-23) that airs classic TV, well now the same people will bring ME-TV in Milwaukee! ME-TV will launch in Milwaukee March 1 with a lineup that will include programs such as I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Lost in Space.
ME-TV in Milwaukee will be on a new digital subchannel on Channel 58.3 (WDJT). In addition to being available over the air at 58.3, it will have a spot on the Time Warner and Charter digital lineups. For the record, Channel 58's less-than-full power sister channel, WMLW-TV - Channel 41 over the air and Channel 7 on Time Warner Cable - airs at 58.2.
Stay tuned right here on the News Blog for the launch schedule for this new ME-TV station in Milwaukee! We will be the first to post it, I'm sure.

Sticking with ME-TV, ME-TV in Chicago is still going strong. It just launched its new Chill with Me winter line-up and added shows such as Gilligan's Island and My Favorite Martian. Now, WWME (ME-TV Chicago) has announced it intends to add classic reruns to WFBT-Ch. 48 and rename it WMEU-TV beginning March 1. WWME-23 has called itself ME-TV. WFBT-48 will call itself ME-Too.
Besides being broadcast and carried by some area cable providers, the channels also will be available on digital sub-channels belonging to sister station WCIU-Ch. 26, WCIU-DT 26.2 and 26.3 respectively.
Between ME-TV and ME-Too, more than 100 different series will be aired! Having ME-Too will allow development of targeted blocks of programming for different demographics. It also will create a classic program stream when sports preempts regularly scheduled shows.
Among the shows we will see will be a Saturday night "pajama party" lineup will feature sitcoms Square Pegs, Silver Spoons, Facts of Life, The Monkees, The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. Also we can expect a Sunday "Noir at Night" block of Route 66, Naked City, 77 Sunset Strip and Boris Karloff's Thriller.
Let's hope ME-TV and ME-Too expand to more cities. It would be nice to have at least a ME-TV in most markets...Chicago and Milwaukee are very lucky! I hope we get one in New York!
As we said about ME-TV Milwaukee's launch schedule, stay tuned right here on the News Blog for the launch schedule for Chicago's ME-Too! We will be the first to post it, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, something similar to ME-TV is of course Retro Television Network. RTN is now well over in 50 different markets and growing each day! Retro Television Network announced that it will partner with GOCOM Media of Illinois to bring RTN programming to Champaign/Springfield/Decatur, IL. The network will launch early next year on one of the digital streams of WRSP/WBUI.

Day 73: WGA's Strike; Details on TV Land's Big '80s Weekend; TV Land Picks-Up 2nd Season of Myths and Legends

It is day 73 of the strike and many development deals have been terminated because of the strike. Many producing deals have been canceled such as Taye Diggs' for ABC Studios. Sigh...let's hope this strike gets resolved soon, because it really doesn't look like we will have any shows developed for the fall now. Development season is usually now through April, and at this rate, nothing new (scripted wise) will premiere this fall.
Meanwhile, The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a comprehensive independent agreement with Spyglass Entertainment. The company finances, produces, and distributes theatrical motion pictures, including some of the most successful films of recent years, including The Sixth Sense, Shanghai Noon, Bruce Almighty, Seabiscuit, Memoirs of a Geisha, and the upcoming 27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl. The deal reached with Spyglass Entertainment is similar to the deals the WGA recently announced with United Artists, Worldwide Pants, and MRC and addresses the issues important to writers, including New Media.

As promised, we now have the full details on TV Land Big '80s Weekend slated for President's Day weekend (Feb. 16-18). However, TV Land has cut the hours big time. It was originally slated for 12pm-11pm on Feb. 16 & 17 and on the 18th we would get it from 11am-11pm. We could have seen classic '80s TV shows too in addition to the '80s movies, TV series such as A-Team or Knight Rider, but now all we will get is '80s movies. The hours are now 5pm-11pm on the 16th, 5pm-3am on the 17th and the best two movies will air from 5-9pm on President's Day itself. Among the classic '80s movies airing are National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Sixteen Candles, Flashdance, and The Breakfast Club.
Classic TV fans don't fret, because TV Land will also give us some sitcom marathons that weekend now! On the 16th and 17th we will get a two-hour block of Andy Griffith, followed by two episodes of Sanford & Son leading into the movies starting at 5pm. On President's Day itself, we will get a two-hour morning block of Leave it to Beaver from 8-10am, followed by I Love Lucy from 10am-1pm and The Beverly Hillbillies from 1-4pm. Two episodes of Three's Company will lead into the movies.
See the updated February schedule highlights by clicking HERE for the full details!

Sticking to TV Land news...TV Land has ordered a second season of the series TV Land Myths & Legends, which aims to unravel Hollywood-related mysteries, scandals, rumors and urban legends. The first of the seven new half-hour episodes will premiere on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Among the pressing issues to be covered are whether Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally cast as TV's Incredible Hulk and if Jennifer Lopez's derriere is really insured for $1 billion. Other investigations include whether Mars Inc., maker of M&M's, turned down product placement in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, allowing Reese's Pieces to step in and benefit immensely.

Day 31: WGA's Strike; I Love Lucy, Honeymooners, Three Stooges Video Games?

Well it is day 31 of the strike. Nothing new to report really. If the strike does not end before December 14, the Television Critics Association will cancel their winter press tour. Yes, we won't have a TCA Winner Press tour this year because of the strike. So this is another reason to hope the strike ends soon!
Meanwhile, if the strike lasts long, you can expect CBS to air some Showtime shows as scripted programming, such as Dexter. Series like Tudors or Weeds even can make it, but heavy editing will be needed. NBC could also go and get some scripted programming from one of its cable networks such as USA Network and air series like Burn Notice, Monk or even Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Beanbag Studios is developing some classic TV video games such I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, and The Three Stooges. It's an intriguing strategy to differentiate Beanbag Studios' games from the rest of the pack, but it's anyone's guess as to whether nostalgia will indeed attract casual gamers who are usually older than the average gaming demographic.
In the first Lucy game, scheduled for release this month, gamers are faced with a number of challenges, including answering trivia questions and rearranging video clips so they are in the correct order. Subsequent games -- including I Love Lucy Slots, The Three Stooges Pinball, and The Honeymooners Bowling -- will be available between year-end and April.
While Beanbag's first games will be based on classic TV licenses, Steve Bergenholtz (President) insists Beanbag isn't locked into that strategy. In fact, he is currently talking to a movie studio about a 10-title movie deal. But he is also seeking out other classic TV licenses, which he describes as a huge opportunity for the licensor's to "take their properties off the shelf, dust them off, and bring them into the video games arena ... which makes our licensing their titles a win-win for them and for us."
Sounds cool! I hope these sell well so we get more classic TV titles as video games!

Random thought: For those of you who watched October Road on Monday, have you heard of the sexual position the Pablo Picasso? Apparently Ikey and Owen's wife did that position a lot.

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!

TV Land Brings Back Wings, More Night Court; RTN Pittsburgh Launch Schedule; Gossip Girl Picked-Up for Full Season

TV Land has yet made more changes to its October 15 schedule. Originally we were getting Night Court back starting next Wednesday from 7-8am each Wednesday, but now TV Land has announced it will air each weekday at 7am starting Monday (Oct. 15)! They have also re-added Wings to the schedule starting Monday. It will air at 7:30am each weekday morning. M*A*S*H was airing weekday mornings in this hour and will now be moved to 8-9pm in primetime. That means the weekday primetime mini-marathons will be shifted from 8-10pm to 9-11pm. Sanford & Son was airing 10-11pm, now it won't be as the marathons will continue in that slot. M*A*S*H will follow still 11pm-12am. Also, the Wednesday and Friday marathons will be switched. So we will get Sanford & Son on Wednesdays now from 9-11pm and M*A*S*H from 8-10pm (because TV Land Movies air Fridays at 10).
See the full schedule if you are now totally confused on what is airing when by clicking HERE!

We announced previously that WPXI-DT in Pittsburgh, PA will be turning into a Retro Television Network (RTN) starting Monday, Oct. 15. Now we have your first look at the launch schedule! We are so proud that SitcomsOnline.com continues to be the exclusive home for classic TV schedules and news. The digital feed of WPXI will air RTN programming weekdays from 10am-2am, Saturdays 7am-1am, and Sundays 10am-2am. Among the classic programs will we see on weekdays include I Love Lucy, Gomer Pyle, Happy Days, My Three Sons, Laverne & Shirley, and Get Smart. On weekends we will see shows like Mork & Mindy, Brady Bunch, Family Affair, Petticoat Junction, Family Ties, Hogan's Heroes, The Honeymooners and The A-Team! Wow! So many classics! If you live in Pittsburgh and don't have digital cable, get it now!
To see the full schedule for WPXI-DT Pittsburgh, click HERE!
Also, we will have more on RTN in the next week or so, including an exclusive interview with them! So stay tuned for updates!

Acclaimed and much buzzed-about new drama Gossip Girl has become the first new series picked up for a full season of episodes.
With online buzz mounting and the show's success on other platforms like iTunes, the premiere of The CW’s new drama Gossip Girl also gained significant number of viewers in its target demos when DVR usage is factored in, according to Nielsen live-plus 7 day ratings.
Gossip Girl continues to also be a hit on different platforms like iTunes, where the two most recent episodes continue to rank among the top 5 downloaded shows on the site.
As far as live ratings, the show increased a bit in its previous episode over the previous week. The show is watched by just under 3 million viewers each week live. Not good, but not bad for The CW.

Tonight it is week four already for sitcoms Back to You and 'Til Death. Tune in starting at 8/7 central on Fox!
I have seen the third episode already for the new addictive ABC series Dirty Sexy Money, airing tonight at 10/9 central, so I'll comment a bit on it. The episode title is "The Italian Banker." That term has a few meanings one is a sexual position! Anyway, there seems to be a sex tape done by one of the Darlings. And a blackmailer has it and wants a million dollars for it. Darling family lawyer Nick George (Peter Krause) doesn't tell Tripp (Donald Sutherland) about it and gets the money to pay off the blackmailer another way (I won't spoil it). Nick also interviews each Darling children to see who the sex tape belongs to. I'm sure no one will ever guess who it belongs to. We also get a taste of Tripp's nemesis Simon Elder (who will be played by Blair Underwood). Did he kill Nick's father? We will find out. But anyway, tune in tonight for the sex tape episode of Dirty Sexy Money. You'll be saying "Oh My God" like Nick does when you watch this great episode!

TV Land Thanksgiving Stunt Change; Deal or No Deal Comes to First-Run Syndication

Hope you're enjoying your day off from Columbus Day, those of you who actually get the day off. Whatever happened to the Columbo marathons on this day? I always looked forward to those. Anyway, let's move on to the news.
About a month ago we gave you the highlights for TV Land November, and we mentioned a Little House on the Prairie marathon in primetime on Thanksgiving night. Now TV Land has scrapped that and added a whole holiday weekend of marathons. Thursday, November 22, 2007 through Sunday, November 25, 2007
This Thanksgiving weekend treat yourself to TV Land marathons to fill your stomach! On thanksgiving Day, I Love Lucy will be on all day from 10am-11pm...what better way to spend your Thanksgiving? On Friday, November 23 we have a mini-Sanford & Son marathon from 9am-12pm followed by more Lucy from 12-5pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition airs on this night at 7pm, too, as its usual night and time on Saturday will be another marathon. That will be of course The Andy Griffith Show. The marathon airs Saturday, November 24 from 10:30pm-6a. And we get more Andy to wrap up the holiday weekend from 6pm-2:30am on Sunday, November 25. To view the full schedule of changes this holiday weekend, click HERE.
We will be back with TV Land December sometime this week that will feature of course the annual Merry-thon and the launch of The Beverly Hillbillies. Ya'll come back now ya here?

A daytime version of Deal or No Deal is coming in Fall 2008. Howie Mandel, who will continue to host NBC's hit one-hour primetime run of the game show, is set to host the new half-hour version being sold to local stations for Monday-through-Friday broadcasts. This syndicated version will include all key elements that made NBC's primetime version a breakout hit, with Mandel as host, the Banker, models, contestants risking big money and the same award-winning production team.
Among the early buys include NBC Universal stations in the nation's top markets including WNBC-TV New York, KNBC-TV Los Angeles and WMAQ-TV in Chicago, WCAU-TV Philadelphia, KNTV-TV San Francisco and others, as well as to stations from CBS, Allbritton, Scripps, Sinclair and more in top markets.
Deal or No Deal was actually NBC's most watched program of the 2006-2007, but is off to a slow start this season thus far. The culprit is because it moved from Mondays to Wednesdays. The Friday edition is also down.

TV Land November 2007 Highlights; Internet's TV4U.com Adds Classic Sitcoms Like The Lucy Show

TV Land will have a new regular schedule this November that will take in effect on Monday, October 29! Among the highlights of the changes are the removal of Knight Rider and Little House on the Prairie from the regular lineup. Little House will get a Thanksgiving night stunt, though. Weeknights from 8-10pm will be marathons of sitcoms. Four episodes from series like Designing Women, Cosby Show, M*A*S*H, Good Times and Sanford & Son. We also have a big change to weekday late afternoons and early evenings! Sitcoms will rule from 4-8pm...and they include Cheers, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and I Love Lucy. Lucy will air for a full hour from 6-7pm. Designing Women highlights the midday changes, airing at 11am.
We also have sitcoms now from 5-8pm on Saturdays! Back-to-back episodes of Good Times, The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son.
To see the FULL line-up that is starting in November, please click HERE!!
Let's move on to the stunts for November. Friday Night Movies for the month include Young Frankenstein, Beaches and Saturday Night Fever.
The members of 4077 maintained contact with the outside world through letters. Characters would write letters to their loved ones, thereby becoming the narrators for those episodes. They were shown the love as well during "mail call," where they would receive letters – some good, some bad, but all funny! That's right another mail call marathon for M*A*S*H from Nov. 10-11, 9p-1:30a both nights.
Oprah. Heather Locklear. Homer Simpson. Regardless of age, TV genre or lifeform, there are select TV personalities whose work is timeless and whose popularity is endless due to the impact they have made through television. Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons, counts down the iconic personalities who have made their indelible mark via the small screen on November 16 from 8-10p.
And finally, as we mentioned earlier, celebrate Thanksgiving with your favorite frontier family! Join the Ingalls for this special 3-hour Thanksgiving feast, featuring a look back at the most memorable Little House on the Prairie moments in these heart-felt retrospective episodes. Along with the standard turkey and apple pie, you'll get a side of family love and great memories in Walnut Grove.
Again, for more November insight, click HERE!

TV4U, which presents free internet television on a 42 channel broadband network TV4U.Com, will provide seven channels of free internet TV programming to the new Classic TV service, which will be available in September exclusively on HP consumer notebook PCs and accessed through HP QuickPlay software. The service will allow HP viewers, thru their internet connection, to access all programming at no charge and offer the option to buy DVD or video download versions of the programs at popular prices. In all, more than 5,000 classic programs are being made available to HP consumer notebook PC users through this unique service.
TV4U is programming seven HP Classic TV channels - Action, Comedy, Classic Commercials, Drama, Sports, Variety, and Western.
Action programming includes Combat, Burke's Law, Peter Gunn, Sea Hunt, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Robin Hood, Long John Silver, Ramar of the Jungle, Sky King, Zorro, Lassie, Fury and a wide collection of Kung Fu Classics.
Comedy programming includes The Lucy Show, Dobie Gillis, Love That Bob, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Green Acres, Mothers in Law, Our Miss Brooks, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Topper, The Three Stooges, Petticoat Junction, Life of Riley and others.
Classic Commercials includes the campiest, funniest and most nostalgic commercial spots produced in the history of TV. From the Miller Lite 'Taste Great Less Filling' to Maypo, to Mikey, to future stars just getting their start, each is a treat in its own right.
Drama Channel includes Arrest and Trial, The Loretta Young Show, Four Star Theater, GE Theater with Ronald Reagan, Studio One, Dragnet, Mannix, Highway Patrol, Ellery Queen, Mike Hammer, Alfred Hitchcock, One Step Beyond and series from the Golden Age of Television as well as many early soap operas.
Sports includes complete game action from some of the greatest sports events of the past 60 years. Muhammad Ali, Floyd Patterson, Pele, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Lawrence Taylor, Richard Petty and Isaiah Thomas are just some of the stars who will appear.
Variety programming includes Hollywood Palace, Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Mike Douglas, Liberace, plus a wide variety of classic game shows such as The Price is Right, Truth or Consequences, Break the Bank, Beat the Clock, Concentration and many more.
Western Channel includes John Wayne movies, The Deputy with Henry Fonda, Sugarfoot, Stoney Burke, Shotgun Slade, The Rifleman, Jim Bowie, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and a wide variety of legendary spaghetti westerns with stars like Lee Van Cleef as well as Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rin Tin Tin, The Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid and Roy Rogers.

TV Land October 2007 Highlights; The N and Noggin To Turn To Two 24/7 Channels, Nick GAS Turning Broadband

As we mentioned on Friday, we have TV Land October for you today! The same schedule changes that will be in effect in September, the ones we announced Thursday and Friday, will remain in October except for one change. Effective Monday, October 15, 2007, Designing Women will join the TV Land line-up and air Mon-Thurs at 9pm and every night at approx. 1:45am ET/PT. As for the highlights for the month, Leave it to Beaver is turning 50 years old! Join TV Land as they celebrate a beloved television classic. Tune in for favorite episodes of Leave it to Beaver including a rarely seen unaired pilot as a bonus. Think that's all...no. Also available online will be streaming footage of the show as chosen by fans and other Beaver experts. The fun begins at 8pm on Saturday, October 6 running for 24 straight hours!
Week-long primetime marathons of I Love Lucy and Sanford & Son are scheduled the first two weeks of the month. Lucy on Oct. 1-5 and Sanford on Oct. 8-12. Mon-Thurs from 8-11pm and Friday from 8-10pm. No idea why, but fans will be happy. The regular primetime schedule returns Oct. 15. Join TV Land as they celebrate Halloween with a mini-marathon of its hit original series TV Land's Myths & Legends on Sunday, October 28 from 8-10pm. TV Land's Friday movies are all-new this October with The Blues Brothers which features Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood were raised. Other movies include Rainman and Throw Momma from the Train. Every Friday at 10pm only on TV Land!
To discuss and view the complete October highlights, click HERE!

Noggin/The N nework will both turn into two separate TV channels by the end of the year (Dec. 31, 2007)! Both networks will be 24/7 with Noggin taking over the current Noggin/The N channel full-time, while The N will take over Nick GAS full-time. Nick GAS will now only be an online broadband channel called TurboNick.
The N has acquired reruns of That '70s Show for June 2008, which ABC Family has also acquired for 2008. New original shows for The N include its first comedies, About a Girl, which follows a college sophomore living with four male roommates, and another with the working title Interns, from the creators of its series South of Nowhere. The half-hour Gigantic will take a fictional look at teenagers growing up in the shadow of Hollywood stars.
And because a cable network is nothing without its own reality show these days, The N plans its first one, with the working title Queen Bees. The Degrassi Spring Break Movie, the network's first Degrassi TV movie, scheduled to premiere in April 2008, will feature the cast from Degrassi Community High as they take their first college road trip.
Let's hope since The N will be turning 24/7 they bring back series like Growing Pains and A Different World. Who knows maybe they will even air The Brady Bunch, which aired on The N for a few weeks some years back. We will keep you up to date on The N and its full 24/7 schedule when it is announced. So stay tuned!
For complete details on this and to discuss this news, click HERE.

The Full Updated TV Land September Schedule; More Details on TV Land Canada This Fall

It was just yesterday when we released the updated TV Land weekend schedule for September, now we have the fully updated schedule for the rest of the week! So continuing where we left off yesterday, the late night schedule in September will be the same for every night. Which means the schedule we gave yesterday from 12:05am-6am on weekends will ALSO be on weeknights. So we won't go over that. Let's start with weekday mornings, we are started off with Star Trek at 6am, followed by back to back M*A*S*H at 7am, then we have a sitcom block of Cheers, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and All in the Family until 10am. Knight Rider joins the lineup and will air at 10am (it was previously slated for weekdays at 3pm in the original September schedule). Then on Mondays only, we have a TV Land Goes West Monday block with Bonanza from 11am-2pm and Gunsmoke from 2-6pm. Tues-Fri in this time period we get Gunsmoke at 11am, back-to-back I Love Lucy at noon, back-to-back Green Acres at 1pm, the horror hour with Munsters & Addams Family at 2, back-to-back Leave it to Beaver at 3, Bonanza at 4pm and Gunsmoke at 5pm. Weeknights at 6 will remain Little House on the Prairie followed by back-to-back Andy Griffith Show episodes at 7. In primetime on weeknights we get back-to-back The Cosby Show at 8, followed by back-to-back The Jeffersons at 9, back-to-back Sanford & Son at 10, and back-to-back M*A*S*H at 11. There are some days when things get pre-empted, so I suggest you view our seven day a week schedule for September by clicking HERE!
Hopefully TV Land doesn't edit the September line-up again. We will have the October highlights very soon, so come on back for that. What to expect that month is a 50th Anniversary Marathon of Leave it to Beaver and Designing Women joins the line-up.

Moving up north of the border, we have some additional details for TV Land Canada's Fall schedule. We gave you the shows and details last month, but now we have some more info!
Among the highlights: TV Land Canada has 24-hour marathons of Remington Steele and Happy Days, and spends the Christmas holidays with Lassie and Dallas. Several stand-up comedy series hosted by comedian Ben Guyatt are also coming to the Canadian network. For complete details, click HERE you Canadians!

TV Land September Weekends Update; Details on Upcoming I Love Lucy, Family Ties, and Bosom Buddies DVDs

TV Land has announced some changes to the September weekend line-up starting September 1. They have not announced the changes to the weekday line-up yet, but they have for weekends. New weekends will look like this: Gunsmoke starts it off with two back-to-back episodes from 6-8am, sitcom block of Green Acres, Addams Family and two Leave it to Beaver episodes follow until 10am. The I Love Lucy block will remain from 10am-1pm on Saturdays and 10am-12pm on Sundays. Movie encores will remain on Saturdays from 1-5pm, while Bonanza airs from 12-3pm and Gunsmoke from 3-6pm on Sundays. A Gunsmoke block airs from 5-8pm on Saturdays. while a Andy Griffith Show block airs 6-8pm on Sundays. In primetime from 8-10pm we get Andy Griffith on Saturdays and M*A*S*H on Sundays. After that, from 10pm-12:05am on Saturday nights we get more I Love Lucy! On Sundays we get back-to-back Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons until 12:05am. The rest of the late night is as follows: back-to-back The Andy Griffith Show starting at 12:05am, back-to-back Three's Company starting at 1:10am, an episode of The Jeffersons at 2:20am, back-to-back Good Times starting at 2:55am, single episodes of Sanford & Son, Three's Company, Leave it to Beaver, and I Love Lucy air from 4-6am.
That is just weekends in September. The revised weekday line-up will be in shortly and we will bring that to you when released! Come on back!

CBS/Paramount DVD will be releasing subsequent seasons of a few classic sitcoms this fall, including Bosom Buddies and Family Ties, along with a huge complete series set of I Love Lucy. We have some additional details of those sets not yet released anywhere else to share to you!
Bosom Buddies comes out with its second and final season on Sept. 4. We have a special feature even called "Sales Presentation." We also have that disclaimer on the back of the box saying "Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version. Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions." Bummer...hopefully it is nothing that huge.
Family Ties comes out with its second season on DVD on Oct. 9. For the first time, we will announce what the special features are! We get three featurettes: The Making of Family Ties, Michael J. Fox: The Best Gig in the World, and The Year of the Beard. That last one sounds hilarious, as this is the first season that Michael Gross had his trademark beard. We were supposed to get Episodic Promos, but no mention of that on the back of the box. Hopefully that is still there. Also on the back of the box we get the dreaded disclaimer: "Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version." Hopefully it is not as severe as the first season.
Finally, I Love Lucy's Complete Series release will come out Oct. 23. All 9 seasons with all 194 episodes! For the first time, we will announce the all-new special features! We get I Love Lucy: The Movie (1953), The First Colorized I Love Lucy episode ("Lucy Goes to Scotland"), I Love Lucy at the 6th Annual Emmy Awards (1954), Highlights of Lucy and Desi's First Joint TV Appearance (1949), and the lost pilot & all 35 first season episodes digitally restored! These extras are all in addition to the extras released in each individual season. So you will want to get this release!
As a bonus, to see the art of back of the box for all three sets click below:
Bosom Buddies: The Second Season
Family Ties: The Second Season
I Love Lucy: The Complete Series
As always with sitcoms on DVD, we will have reviews of those closer to the street dates.

TV Land August Schedule Changes; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: The CW; ABC August Change

Late on Friday, TV Land issued some schedule changes for August. The Summer Cocktail Party Marathons will continue now past August 3. It will likely go until the end of the month now. Some blocks of the marathons have changed along with some of the regular schedule. The changes start on August 4 with the weekends. Some minor changes here and there on weekends, such as double shot of Gunsmoke now from 6-8am rather than I Love Lucy and Green Acres, which were scheduled to start airing then. Green Acres will air 9am on weekends. Other changes on weekends include Gunsmoke from 5-8pm on Saturdays and Andy Griffith Show from 10pm-1:10am. TV Land Goes West on Sundays will be 12-6pm now, with more Andy Griffith from 6-8pm. Sundays will also have a M*A*S*H block from 10pm-12:05am. The late night block on both nights will also be altered a bit, with Three's Company (twice), The Jeffersons, Good Times (twice), Sanford & Son, All in the Family, and The Andy Griffith Show from 1:10am-6am.
That was just weekends, now let's go to weekdays. As we said before TV Land Goes West is also on Mondays, and that will not change. Bonanza from 8a-12p and Gunsmoke from 2-6p. Tues-Fri mornings and afternoons will get a bit of a makeover from the original August schedule. Cheers will return and air 8:30am. Sanford & Son will air 9-10am, Bonanza and Gunsmoke follow until noon leading into the Elvis movie, 2-5pm will see back-to-back episodes of Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver. Gunsmoke will air at 5pm. In primetime, Cosby Show replaces Good Times from 8-9pm and Sanford & Son will air 9-10pm instead of The Jeffersons. Then we have the marathons from 10p-4:30a. Changes to the marathons are: Mondays from 10p-12:05a is now The Jeffersons instead of Cosby Show. Andy Griffith Show marathon will air Tuesdays from 8-11p leading into Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so no M*A*S*H marathon. Wednesday nights from 2:20-4a is now Three's Company instead of All in the Family.
So these changes are last minute, so the September schedule we posted might change now. We will let you know when we do. Munsters, Addams Family, Green Acres are reduced to just weekends in August. For now, please click HERE to view the changes in a list form.

The CW was up today at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel were the cast & crew of various series and an Executive Session. The show that had a panel were: Aliens in America, Life is Wild, CW Now/Online Nation, Gossip Girl, Reaper. They announced the fall premiere dates for their series:

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS [October 1]
8:30-9:00 PM ALIENS IN AMERICA (New Series) [October 1]
9:00-9:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS [October 1]
9:30-10:00 PM THE GAME [October 1]

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BEAUTY AND THE GEEK [September 18]
9:00-10:00 PM REAPER (New Series) [September 25]

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL [September 19]
9:00-10:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Series) [September 26]

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE [September 27]
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL [October 4]

FRIDAY
8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN [September 21]

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM CW NOW (New Series) [September 23]
7:30-8:00 PM ONLINE NATION (New Series) [September 23]
8:00-9:00 PM LIFE IS WILD (New Series) [October 7]
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)

ABC will alter its Monday and Tuesday schedules for August. Mondays will now be Wife Swap, Fat March, and Supernanny. It was supposed to be Wife Swap, Supernanny, and i-Caught. Fat March was originally for Tuesdays at 9. Tuesdays will be back-to-back Just for Laughs, which ABC renewed for an additional 13 episodes (making it 19 in all now), followed by Primetime: Crime and i-Caught. Primetime: Crime was originally for 10pm.