AmericanLife Network Celebates Christmas with Classics like Mr. Belvedere; Animated Classics on Jaroo.com

This December every weekday in the 5pm hour on AmericanLife TV they will have classic Christmas episodes of many classics all month long! The holiday fun begins Monday, November 30 and lasts every weekday through Thursday, December 24 all in the 5pm hour. Classics in order of airing are Lou Grant, The Big Valley, WKRP In Cincinnat, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart, Remington Steele, Trapper John M.D., Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and Mr. Belvedere! Yes, Mr. Belvedere makes an appearance on TV for the first time in years! Mark your china...err calendars for Thursday, December 17 at 5pm & 5:30pm for all two Christmas Mr. Belvedere episodes! They originally didn't have Mr. Belvedere and Ghost and Mrs. Muir on the holiday schedule, as they just added it...but it is a good thing they did! They originally had a Phyllis Christmas episode on the schedule, but just removed it. Hopefully they change their mind and air it. Most of these series are from 20th Century Fox, so I wish they would air some holiday episodes of other series as well from their library. Hooperman starring John Ritter would be great to see! I know Small Wonder didn't have a Christmas episode, but anything to see that show again!
Elsewhere on ALN December 2009, there are no regular schedule changes...but we have many holiday specials other than the 5pm weekday hour. Among the specials are Christmas Music Specials, Skating Specials, and movies such as New Adventures Of Heidi, Christmas Without Snow, Christmas at Cadillac Jack's and Love's Pure Light.
View episode info for the ALN Holiday episodes for the month! If there are any changes, we'll let you know!

Jaroo.com has launched with one of the largest selections of full-length episodes of popular kids television programming and movies, both current and classic. The new free premium video destination for kids of all ages will initially offer over 50 popular TV series with more than 500 episodes available on-demand, any time, making entertaining your child or inner-child just a simple click away. Full episodes of such longtime favorites as Inspector Gadget, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Johnny Test, Super Mario Bros., Zelda and Madeline as well as the exclusive U.S. premiere of Mona the Vampire are available on Jaroo.com. Additional shows include Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Horseland, Liberty's Kids and live-action favorite, Cake, plus many more. New episodes and shows will be added daily, with over 2,000 episodes offered over the next three months to ensure Jaroo.com will always remain fresh.
All of the series are from Cookie Jar Entertainment. Cookie Jar Group is a global children's entertainment, consumer products and education company dedicated to excellence. Through Cookie Jar Entertainment, the company is a leader in the creation, production, marketing and licensing of evergreen character brands that appeal to kids and families worldwide. Cookie Jar Entertainment's library of nearly 6,000 half-hour episodes features some of the world's most recognizable brands, including Dennis the Menace, Heathcliff, Caillou, Inspector Gadget, The Doodlebops, Arthur and Johnny Test.
Let's hope Dennis the Menace (80s animated series) and Heathcliff end up on Jaroo.com very soon! Head on over to Jaroo.com right now to watch stuff like Inspector Gadget and the animated movie Inspector Gadget's Last Case!

iTunes Free Summer of Laughs; Gospel Music Channel Acquires Three Dramas

Apple's iTunes Store is going for laughs this summer! They are doing a comedy promotion this summer making many comedies for free. And some others will be only 99 cents per episode. Among the freebies are: Arrested Development, Human Giant, Reno 911!, The State and The IT Crowd. Buy episodes for 99 cents for comedies likes The Office, 30 Rock, The Larry Sanders Show, Barney Miller, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Good Times. Even better is that you can watch the entire first season of SNL for 99 cents...that's 24 episodes for less than a dollar!

Gospel Music Channel has acquired the rights to air three dramas starting this afternoon! Starting today (Monday, June 15), they will air Christy, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Doc from 4-8PM every weekday. Dr. Quinn will air two episodes (5-7pm).
Christy was a short-lived CBS family drama from 1994-95 starring Kellie Martin. There will also about four TV-movies from 2000-2003 that PAX produced. Dr. Quinn was of course the popular family western drama starring Jane Seymour that aired from 1993-98 on CBS. In addition, the series also had two TV-movies in 1999 and 2001. And finally Doc was a family medical drama starring Billy Ray Cyrus that was on PAX from 2001-2004. These are the first scripted series to ever air on this network. They also air movies, though. Incidentally, all three have aired on the former PAX-TV at some point, whether it be reruns or originals (in Doc's case).
Gospel Music Channel recently also acquired the television rights to the off-net series Amy Grant's Three Wishes and Clash of The Choirs, which both shows air together on Wednesday nights since June 3. Three Wishes airs at 8:00 p.m., while Clash of the Choirs follows at 9:00 p.m. Both were short-lived reality series on NBC.
View their website to see if you receive this network.

Coming this week: Nick at Nite July - see how the addition of Malcolm in the Middle will affect the schedule.

WGN Adds Weekly Retro TV Block, Renames to WGN America; TV Tonight

Late last week we told you all that WGN was planning a '70s TV week called "The Outta Sight Retro Nights Week: Flashback to the 1970s" from June 2-6 featuring The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Barney Miller, Taxi, Welcome Back Kotter and WKRP in Cincinnati from 8-10pm each day that week...now they have added a weekly "Outta Sight Retro Night" airing each Sunday starting June 8! The block will feature three classic TV shows airing from 7-10pm ET (4-7pm PT). Kicking it off from 7-8pm each Sunday will be WKRP in Cincinnati! Following WKRP, we get reruns of Bob Newhart's second series, the '80s sitcom Newhart from 8-9pm and closing the night is the all-time classic The Honeymooners from 9-10pm. These three shows will air every Sunday night starting June 8 and will go in order, so get those VCRs/DVRs ready.
Now WGN is also planning more theme weeks. The '70s week is the first of many to come. They tentatively have an '80s week planned for July and we could see ALF, Family Ties, and more shows. So stay tuned to that when it is announced! Casey Kasem will be announcing during promos and voice-overs for the theme weeks and the regular Sunday block...how cool!
We will certainly let you know if more of these shows join the actual line-up...so far WKRP is the only one joining the line-up that has aired during a theme week. I wouldn't be surprised though if Newhart is in the '80s week and IF they have a '50s week, The Honeymooners could air in that. And once again all this is not available for the local WGN in Chicago. This is for the national WGN only, the cable version.

Also, the national WGN was called Superstation WGN for many years, but this past Monday they changed their name to WGN America. So, from now on I'll refer WGN to WGN America. The new name and logo was introduced this past Monday and also with the slogan "TV You Can't Ignore." According to the Chicago Tribune, WGN America's new "eyes" logo, which resembles the one used for much of the '90s by cable's The Movie Channel, was the inspiration of Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams. The former radio consultant wanted the channel to look more like an album cover. It resembles the eyes of the woman on Duran Duran's "Rio" album, but Abrams said he was just trying to help the channel break from traditional TV.
Sean Compton, a former Clear Channel exec recruited to tend to Tribune TV programming, meanwhile is repackaging reruns (WKRP, etc) and old movies (Rocky movies, etc) and giving away prizes via WGNAmerica.com, the new website. By the end of the summer, the plan is to introduce an original program. And within 18 months or so, Compton hopes the nation will barely recognize the channel.

We leave you tonight with a reminder. Tonight is the last of the regular season show's, as Lost will ends its season with an all-night event. At 8pm an encore of the previous episodes will air with bonus footage followed by the game changing two-hour season finale from 9-11pm on ABC. It should do big. Only other new programming on the night is summer reality series: So You Think You Can Dance on Fox from 8-10 and Last Comic Standing on NBC from 8:30-10:30pm. Sitcom wise, NBC will wraparound The Office repeats around Comic at 8 and 10:30pm. CBS will encore Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother from 8-9pm. But you should be getting Lost tonight! After tonight, the summer season will really begin since the regular season scripted series will come to an end until the new season.

WGN Brings Back '70s Classics for Retro TV Week, Includes Kotter, WKRP, Taxi; NBC Fall Premiere Dates

WGN is going back to the '70s the week of June 2 in primetime! From Monday, June 2 through Friday, June 6, WGN will give us four episodes each of popular '70s sitcoms back in primetime! The Outta Sight Retro Nights: Flashback to the 1970s starts Monday, June 2 with four episodes of classic newsroom comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Tuesday will have four episodes of the police comedy Barney Miller, Wednesday it is the classic Taxi, Thursday is back to school with Welcome Back Kotter, and close the week with the radio show comedy WKRP in Cincinnati on Friday, June 6!
Each series will air from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) on WGN cable. These programs will NOT air on the local WGN (CW9) in Chicago...so sorry Chicago, but you guys get a lot of classic TV on other stations anyway.
We are told more classic TV is on the way to WGN...so please stay tuned to us! We will let you know when we know! But for now enjoy the first four episodes of these five classic '70s sitcoms!

NBC unveiled the Fall 2008 series premiere dates for new programs and returning favorites including a three hour launch (clip show and two-hour premiere) of the return of drama Heroes on Monday, September 22, the Thursday night debut of the new comedy Kath & Kim (9:30 p.m. ET) on October 9. America's Toughest Jobs, the new extreme competition series, will debut with a two-hour premiere this Fall on Friday, September 12 (8-10 p.m. ET). In addition, the new drama series premieres include Knight Rider on Wednesdays starting September 24 (8-9 p.m. ET), My Own Worst Enemy on Mondays starting September 29 (10-11 p.m. ET) and Crusoe on Fridays starting October 17 (8-10 p.m. ET).
Here are the full premiere dates for this Fall:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
America's Toughest Jobs -- Series premiere (8-10 p.m.) then 8-9pm starting Friday, September 19 for five weeks; then moves to 9-10 p.m. starting Friday, October 24
(Deal or No Deal will air Fridays at 9 starting Sept. 19 through Oct. 10.)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Heroes -- Clip show (8-9 p.m.) followed by the Season premiere (9-11 p.m.)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit -- 10 p.m.
(Summer series America's Got Talent airs 8-10pm and will conclude early in the fall, then The Biggest Loser: Families will return at a later date.)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Knight Rider -- 8 p.m.
Lipstick Jungle -- 10 p.m.
(Summer series America's Got Talent Results airs at 9pm and will conclude early in the fall, then Deal or No Deal will return at a later date.)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
My Name Is Earl -- one-hour premiere (8-9 p.m.)
The Office -- one-hour premiere (9-10 p.m.)
ER -- 10 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Chuck -- 8 p.m.
My Worst Own Enemy -- 10 p.m.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3
Life -- 10 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
Kath & Kim -- 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
Crusoe -- two-hour premiere (8-10 p.m.) then moves to 8:00 p.m. starting Friday, October 24

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
30 Rock -- 8:30 p.m.
(Preceding the premiere of 30 Rock will be three consecutive weekly Saturday Night Live special election editions of SNL Thursday Night Live at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 9, 16 and 23.)

TV Land July 2008 Highlights; Mary Tyler Moore Reunion on Oprah; Different World Moves to Midnight on BET

This July on TV Land it's the season finale of She's Got The Look (which premieres in June by the way) and the premiere of Family Foreman, starring George Foreman! But first, let's talk about some schedule changes. TV Land will start some summer marathons on Monday, July 14 airing 9pm-1am Mon-Thurs. On Mondays from 9-11pm Mad About You will remain, but 11pm-1am will be Murphy Brown. Tuesdays from 9-11pm The Beverly Hillbillies remain but 11pm-1am will be The Jeffersons. Wednesdays, from 9-10pm Sanford & Son will lead into Family Foreman, then 11pm-1am it's a block of M*A*S*H. Thursdays is a bit odd, 9-10pm will be I Love Lucy, 10pm-12am is Andy Griffith and 12-1am is Leave it to Beaver.
As for the highlights, take a fresh look at TV Land's original modeling competition series for women ages 35 and older in a 5-hour marathon on Saturday, July 6 starting at 6pm and and catch exclusive bonus footage as TV Land countdowns to the finale on Wednesday, July 9.
4th of July weekend will see marathons of I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes, and She's Got The Look.
It's a Night of a Thousand Georges on TV Land. In anticipation of the launch of the newest TV Land original, Family Foreman, starring George Foreman, TV Land brings you a night full of Georges with a 5-hour marathon of everybody's favorite loudmouthed businessman George Jefferson on Sunday, July 13!
Then get an intimate look into the remarkable life of George Foreman - former heavyweight boxing champion, multi-million dollar pitchman, ordained minister, and family man in Family Foreman. Come along for the ride as this tough-love Dad and his wife try to manage their clan of 10 children. For six weeks starting Wednesday, July 16 at 10pm.
Finally, this summer, leave your cares behind and catch some R&R with four nights of M*A*S*H beginning Friday, July 25. Viewer leave begins every night at 8pm. Watch the 4077th combat stress and make the best of a bad situation as they find ways to have fun both on the job and off. Whether it's going away on leave, throwing cocktail parties, pulling pranks or just blowing off steam, it all adds up to 12 hours of inspired recreation that viewers won’t want to miss.
For complete details and episode info on the stunts and more, I advise you to check our TV Land July 2008 Highlights!

The cast of the iconic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show got together again at a taping of Oprah recently. And you'll get to see it on Oprah next week! Like always with reunions on Oprah, Oprah has recreated the set! The newsroom and Mary Richards' apartment has been recreated. Joining Mary Tyler Moore are fellow cast members, Ed Asner, Betty White, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel. A toast to the late Ted Knight is also made...very classy! Who knows we might see the crowd get free DVDs!
Tune in Monday, May 19 (check local listings for time and channel...in NY: WABC 4PM) for a historic television reunion! Oprah and the cast o...f The Mary Tyler Moore Show! It's a full circle dream come true. Oprah was a big fan of Mary and the show, so this is a dream come true for her.
Oprah's website has more info...tune in Monday! See the promo.

Starting next week A Different World is moving to midnight on BET. The show currently airs weeknights at 11 & 11:30pm, but now it will move to 12 midnight and 12:30am ET/PT starting Monday (May 19). The late night airing of 3 and 3:30am will remain the same. Encores of The Boot and Hell's Date will move down an hour to 11 and 11:30pm.
And another BET programming note: two episodes of Sanford are scheduled at a special time on Sunday, May 18. The Sanford episodes will air at 6:00pm & 6:30pm this Sunday. It will also air at its normal 12 noon and 12:30pm time as well...both hours will be different episodes. And speaking of Sanford, we mentioned before a Father's Day marathon is planned for the short lived sitcom and now it is indeed confirmed. Sunday, June 15 from 12 noon to 5pm, the same time slots as the Thea Mother's Day marathon this past week. And finally, don't forget to watch the "Strokes-World Memorial Day Marathon" on May 26. It's an all-day event of Diff'rent Strokes (9am-7pm) and A Different World (7pm-3am). Episode info will be available early next week, so check our message boards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TV Land June 2007 Highlights; Remembering Two People in the Sitcom World

TV Land has released its June highlights and it has no regular schedule changes but there are plenty of marathons and specials. First off, for some reason they have one-time-only airings of What's Happening Now!! (4:30a on June 5) and Cheers (4a on June 7). They are not scheduled for any other slots. The Friday night movies continue in June with Pleasantville, Arthur and Parenthood.
Ain't we lucky we got them? Even if it's for a couple of hours.
Tune in for a weekend of laughter and love as the Evan's show how to take care of family. That's right a Good Times Special Episodes marathon on June 2 and 3 from 11p-2a.
Celebrate Father's Day frontier-style with Bonanza! Watch Ben Cartwright and his boys as they bond through various trials and tribulations with a 4 hour TV Land marathon from noon to 4pm. Then at 8pm, tune in for a special presentation of Parenthood, starring one of film's favorite dads, Steve Martin.
Finally, there will be another mini-marathon of The Cosby Show on June 23 from 11p-2a with an encore on June 24 from 8-11p.
For complete details, click HERE.

After awhile of no deaths in the sitcom world, we have come across two big ones. Character actor Roscoe Lee Browne passed away Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a long battle with cancer. Browne is an Emmy & Tony Award Winning Actor who is best probably known for his sitcom work. He has guest starred on series like Barney Miller and The Cosby Show, both of which he earned Emmy nominations (in fact he won for Cosby Show). Audiences probably remember him most for his regular role as Saunders (the butler who replaced Benson) on the last two seasons of Soap. He also guest starred on an episode of Benson, but not as Saunders. Or they might remember his role with Archie Bunker in the elevator on an episode of All in the Family. He also guest starred as the original teacher, the one who substitute Mr. Moore (Howard Hessemen) replaced on Head of the Class.
Roscoe was truly a great veteran actor and he certainly will be missed. Mr. Browne was 81.

We also mourn the loss of the co-creator of Taxi today. Stan Daniels, an Emmy-winning TV writer and producer who worked on two of the most acclaimed comedies of the 1970s, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, has died. Daniels died of heart failure April 6, according to Mount Sinai Memorial Park. Daniels won eight Emmys during his long television career, including three as co-creator and executive producer of Taxi and three as a writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He directed episodes of the 80s comedy Dear John as well. His great work behind the camera will be dearly missed. Mr. Daniels was 72.

Notes from the Underbelly, a new sitcom, debuts tonight at 10/9 central, only on ABC!