New York City Locals Fall 2009 Schedules; A&E Buys Lifetime; Series High for Joan Rivers' TV Land Show

It's that time of year again...fall 2009 schedules for New York City stations! I have for you the full schedules for WNYW, WWOR and WPIX. Unfortunately, I couldn't obtain the schedules for WABC, WCBS, and WNBC at press time, but they rarely make changes. Independent WLNY's schedule also is not known at this time. Cold Case Files is coming to WLNY (M-F 1pm) and WCBS (TBD late night), though.
We'll start with WNYW's Fall 2009 schedule. New series this fall are Dr. Mehmet Oz at 11am & 3pm, Judge Jeanine Pirro at 4pm, and The Office at 7:30pm & 11pm. The Office will also air weekends, Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 11pm. Summer launches will continue in the fall with Wendy Williams Show continuing to air weekdays at 10am and Wedlock or Deadlock will move to 12:30pm (from 11am). Among the series leaving are Inside Edition, Morning Show with Mike & Juliet, Bananas and Scrubs.
Sister network WWOR will be making more changes than WNYW in Fall 2009. New series this fall are Dragonfly Mondays at 7am, My Name is Earl at 7:30am & 8am, America's Funniest Home Videos at 2pm, Everybody Hates Chris at 4pm & 4:30pm, Law & Order: SVU at 11:30pm, Deadliest Catch Saturdays at 4pm & 11:30pm, Bones on Saturdays at 8pm & 9pm, and Swap TV on Sundays at 11:30am. Joining the schedule from WPIX will be My Wife & Kids, airing weekdays at 5:30pm. Everybody Hates Chris will also air Saturdays at 6pm & 6:30pm. Among the series leaving are Animal Atlas E/I, Scrubs, One on One, Trivial Pursuit, UFC Wired, The Dead Zone, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Finally, we have WPIX's Fall 2009 schedule. New series this fall are Street Court at 1pm & 1:30pm, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? at 5pm & 5:30pm, Star Trek: The Next Generation at 3am, The Hills Saturdays 1pm & 1:30pm, The Brian McKnight Show Saturdays at 11pm, and Smash Cuts Sundays at 7pm & 7:30pm. Joining the schedule from WNYW/WWOR will be Scrubs, airing weeknights at 2am and Saturdays at 1am. Also, joining from WNYW is Inside Edition, airing weeknights at 6pm leading into the new PIX News at 6:30pm. CW Daytime now adds Best of Tyra Banks and The Tyra Banks Show at 3pm & 4pm, replacing Judge Jeanine Pirro and sitcoms Wayans Bros. and Jamie Foxx. Among the other series leaving are Judge Karen, My Wife & Kids, Sex and the City, The Jeffersons, and the '60s Star Trek.
View the FULL Fall 2009 schedules for WNYW, WWOR, and WPIX in New York City! Stay tuned for updates, if any. From New York, goodnight!

The Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal announced an agreement for A&E Television Networks to acquire Lifetime Entertainment Services. The parent company will retain the name A&E Television Networks, LLC (AETN), and its subsidiary will retain the name Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.
AETN will now include: A&E Network, History, Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Bio, History International, Lifetime Real Women, History en Espanol, Military History and Crime & Investigation Network.
Before the reshuffling, Disney-ABC and Hearst each held a 37.5% stake in AETN, while NBC Universal controlled the remaining 25%. Once the dust settles, Disney and Hearst will each hold an estimated 42.5% stake in AETN, leaving NBC with about 15.5%. Lifetime was a 50-50 joint venture between Disney-ABC and Hearst before AETN acquired it.

Wednesday night's episode of TV Land PRIME's original reality series, How'd You Get So Rich? averaged nearly 800,000 total viewers, making it the most-watched episode of the season to date, according to Nielsen Media Research. The telecast posted huge, triple-digit increases in rating and delivery among Adults 25-54 and Adults 40-54 in addition to total viewers over recent levels. It also witnessed gains over its 9:30 p.m. lead-in among A25-54 and double-digit gains among women 25-54. The new series, starring the hilarious and often outrageous Joan Rivers, takes viewers on a journey to meet millionaires who worked hard and struck gold as she tours the most lavish and extravagant homes and introduces them to folks who made a lot of money in really interesting ways the way only Joan can.
The episodes posted a 0.4 A25-54 rating and 426,000 viewers among A25-54, up a whopping 150% in rating and 148% in viewers in that demo versus the prior 4 week primetime average. The network averaged 771,000 total viewers, up 117% over recent levels. Among the network's core A40-54 audience, the premiere earned a 0.4 A40-54 rating and 240,000 viewers among A40-54, an increase of 153% in rating and viewers in that demo over recent levels in primetime.
The telecast posted increases among men and women 25-54 over recent primetime levels as well. Among women, it scored a 0.5 W25-54 rating and 247,000 viewers among W25-54, up 109% in rating and 111% in viewers in that demo versus previous four week primetime average. Among men the installment scored a 0.4 M25-54 rating and 179,000 viewers among M25-54, a triple digit increase of 218% in rating and 225% in delivery. How'd You Get So Rich? experienced appointment viewing as it lifted 8% among A25-54 over its 9:30 p.m. lead-in.

TBS Fall 2009 Schedule; Gospel Music Channel Acquires Sister Sister; Summer TCA Tour: Cable Days 1 and 2

Our fall schedule blog posts barrage continues today with another fall schedule! Today we take a look at TBS Fall 2009, as they will add four new sitcoms to its weekday line-up. Three of them have been airing once a week, so there is only one new sitcom really. The Office, My Name is Earl and House of Payne are now also going to air in the regular weekday line-up, while According to Jim joins the TBS schedule for the first time.
TBS will make its first batch of changes starting the week of Sept. 21. For this week only, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will slide to the 8am hour replacing the second hour of Saved by the Bell. In the 9am hour now for this week it will be an episode each of Just Shoot Me and Home Improvement. The TBS Movie continues to air at 10am, but this week will be its last week! Yes, Dear moves to 12pm, sharing the hour with Everybody Loves Raymond. Home Improvement still airs in the 1pm hour for now, more on that in a bit. Then we get more Everybody Loves Raymond in the 2pm hour, so this show goes from 5pm-6:30pm to 12:30pm & 2-3pm now. Then House of Payne will join the line-up airing in the 3pm hour replacing Yes, Dear. The King of Queens remains at 4pm for now, more on that in a bit as well. Friends now gets a full hour and moves to 5-6pm. Seinfeld is now only a half-hour and at 6pm, leading into The Office at 6:30pm. My Name is Earl will air back-to-back in the 7pm hour. Primetime has blocks of Family Guy on Mondays, The Office on Tuesdays, House of Payne/Meet the Browns on Wednesdays, with movies on Thursdays and Fridays. The late night line-up will have Seinfeld in the 11pm hour on most days, with My Name is Earl on Tuesdays. Sex and the City remains at midnight with a movie following until blocks of Steve Harvey Show and Married...with Children airing after that until dawn. Lots of sitcoms, less movies, good!
Then starting the following week on Monday, Sept. 28, we get some more changes. Fresh Prince is back in the 9am hour, with Saved by the Bell getting its second hour back at 8am. The TBS 10am movie is now gone and we get all sitcoms now in the daytime, as Just Shoot Me and Home Improvement slide up to the 10am hour now and we get an extra sitcom hour as Home Improvement and Yes, Dear air in the 11am hour. Everything else is the same as the week of Sept. 21. But a few days later on Thursday, October 1, According to Jim joins the TBS sitcom line-up! According to Jim will air in the 4pm hour replacing King of Queens. That show will slide to 1-2pm, replacing two episodes of Home Improvement. Home Improvement will still air at 10:30am & 11am, so not to worry. Nothing is being replaced at all (well...except the movie) despite four new series coming to the regular schedule!
View the full TBS Fall 2009 schedule. Now it is still early, so we might have some changes, as always. I'm still not 100% sure what will happen on weekends after According to Jim comes, but it'll likely be the same as it was prior to it coming. As always, stay with us for more!

Gospel Music Channel will be adding even more shows now to their schedule! First they added Christy, Doc, and Dr. Quinn to weekdays, then they went with some comedies in Amen and Good News on Mondays in primetime, now we get another comedy and another drama! Gospel Music Channel has acquired '90s sitcom Sister, Sister and '90s drama Promised Land. Yes, this means Sister, Sister will be on THREE cable networks in BET, ABC Family and now Gospel Music Channel. WGN America also recently aired the Tia and Tamera Mowry comedy. The series premieres on Gospel Music Channel next Monday (Aug. 3) and will join the Monday comedy block with Amen and Good News. Sister, Sister will air back-to-back in the 8pm hour (encores at 12am), replacing two Amen episodes. Good News will remain at 9pm (encore at 1am) and Amen is cut to just 9:30pm (encore at 1:30am).
Sister, Sister will also air Saturdays in the 6pm hour as well starting Aug. 8! Amen has gained some more slots airing Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays back-to-back in the 7pm hour. So losing some slots on Mondays wasn't a bad thing! Good News will also air Saturdays at 7pm leading into Amen.
Gospel Music Channel has also acquired the drama Promised Land. It lasted three seasons on CBS from 1996-1999 and was a spin-off of Touched by an Angel. They will air the series Wednesdays at 8pm with an encore at 11pm starting Aug. 5.
I like how they are adding actual series now. We will as always keep an eye on then and if we have any more news, we will certainly let you know!

The Summer 2009 TCA Tour started yesterday and will through August 8. First up from July 28 to July 31 is the cable portion. Day one was pretty slow with TBS and TNT the main players on that day. Networks that went yesterday were Travel Channel Fox Reality Channel, Turner Networks (TBS, TNT, HLN, CNN) and AMC closed the night off with cocktails. We'll give you the rundown of the notables. Househusbands of Hollywood will premiere Aug. 15 on Fox Reality Channel. Househusbands of Hollywood follows the lives of five men and their high-powered, successful wives. The couples include Darryl Bell and Tempestt Bledsoe and Grant and Jillian Reynolds. And TBS gave details on their original new talk show Lopez Tonight, that will premiere in November. Comedian and actor George Lopez headlines a new talk show with an outdoor street-party atmosphere and a high-energy crowd. The show will feature celebrity guests, live music and comedy acts, and Lopez flair and personality.
Up today were MTV Networks (MTV, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central), History, NatGeo, ESPN, Starz, and BBC America. TV Land promoted their new originals that premiere next Wednesday: Make My Day and How'd You Get Rich, which we have mentioned so many times already. Nick at Nite was promoting their new original animated comedy Glen Martin, DDS which will launch Aug. 17 at 8pm. We will have more on that very soon.

Celebrity Family Feud Contestants Announced; BET Preemptions and Notes; TV Land Awards Now 2 Hours

NBC revealed the 24 celebrity family teams who will play the Feud when the classic game show hits primetime with an all new celebrity edition premiering Tuesday, July 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by Today show co-host, Al Roker, Celebrity Family Feud will be a star-studded version of the beloved and enduring game show. Each week, four celebrity families match wits to raise money for their respective charities. Two families compete against each other with the winner from each round going into the final round where one team will compete to win up to $50,000 for their charity. Six episodes have been ordered and the stars you'll see are:
The Kardashians, Deion & Pilar Sanders, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, Vivica A. Fox, Mo'Nique, Christopher Knight & Adrianne Curry, Ice T, Melissa & Joan Rivers, Raven-Symone, Wayne Newton, Tiki Barber, Ed McMahon, Vincent Pastore, Kathie Lee Gifford & Frank Gifford, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Cho, and cast members from the hit series American Gladiators, The Office, My Name is Earl, The Girls Next Door and American Chopper.
To see the full cast in each family/team, click HERE!

We have some BET preemptions and notes for you to share. Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen tomorrow (Friday, June 13) at all because of an original series (Hell Date, etc) marathon from 9am-5pm, thus the Saturday Strokes airings at 12 and 12:30pm this Saturday (June 14) will be new and not repeats of the previous day. The 3-4pm airings of Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen June 16-20 because of a BET Movie Week from 3-5pm. The 9-10am airings will be seen except on Friday, June 20 where a special BET Now will air. Also, Saturday, June 21 the 12-1pm Strokes airings will be preempted for an originals marathon from 11am-2pm. For A Different World fans, the show will only air Wednesday, June 18 3-4am and Thursday, June 19 from 11pm-1am that week because of various movies/stunts. Sanford is also preempted on Sunday, June 22. Diff'rent Strokes is preempted from both 9-10am and 3-4pm airings on Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24. Everything will be back to normal on Wednesday, June 25 since the BET Awards are over with...that is the main reason for these preemptions. The 2008 BET Awards air tuesday, June 24 in primetime.
In other BET news, A Different World will get a marathon on Sunday, July 6 from 6pm-11pm.

TV Land has announced that the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards airing this Sunday will be two-hours now instead of 90-minutes. The show was taped this past Sunday and it must have lasted longer for them to add another half-hour. People who went to the taping said it was fun and funny. The parody this year will be funny as usual with stars like Joyce DeWitt and Cindy Williams. Tune in this Sunday from 9-11pm ET/PT on TV Land for the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards hosted by Vanessa Williams.

NBC Announces Post-Strike Returning Series, Next Season Renewals; Fox Summer 2008 Plans

Yesterday we gave you CBS' return dates for new post-strike episodes with the number of new episodes expected. Now NBC has released their returning series, but they didn't release how many new episdodes we can expect like CBS did.
NBC will resume the broadcast of many of its scripted series in April with new original episodes following the settlement of the Writers Guild of America strike, including The Office, 30 Rock, My Name Is Earl, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, among other programs.
For the Thursday sitcoms, My Name Is Earl will return with a one-hour episode on Thursday, April 3; the Emmy Award-winning 30 Rock will begin on Thursday, April 10; likewise, the Emmy-winning The Office also resumes with new episodes on Thursday, April 10; and Scrubs will come back with original episodes beginning Thursday, April 10 as well.
Thursday drama ER also will come back on Thursday, April 10 with new episodes following the complete run of Lipstick Jungle, which concludes on March 20. Celebrity Apprentice will conclude on March 27.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will return with fresh episodes on Tuesday, April 15. Law & Order resumes with more original episodes on Wednesday, April 23. Meanwhile, Medium (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET) continues in originals.
NBC has not announced what they will do with Las Vegas and Friday Night Lights yet. Journeyman and Bionic Woman seem like they won't return ever. While Chuck, Life, and Heroes were renewed for next season but will not return this season. I was surprised by the Life renewal.
We will keep you up to date of further developments for NBC. We still will have details on ABC, Fox, and The CW, when they announce their plans.

But in a strange move, Fox has already announced plans for its summer slate. So You Think You Can Dance will kick off the summer season on Thursday, May 22 and Wednesday, May 28 from 8-10pm on both nights. Then it will air Thursdays at 9 and Wednesdays 8-10pm. Then reality series When Women Rule the World(working title), will debut with a special two-hour premiere Monday, June 2 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT before the series will air in its regularly scheduled time period beginning Monday, June 9 at 9:00 ET/PT.
All-new episodes of Fox favorites The Moment of Truth, Hell's Kitchen, Cops and America's Most Wanted will continue through the summer. The Moment of Truth will continue with all-new episodes, but it will be airing Thursdays at 8:00PM ET/PT starting June 12. After premiering Tuesday, April 1 at 9:00 PM ET/PT Hell's Kitchen will continue to heat up, while counting down to the winner, with all-new episodes on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM ET/PT.
Fan favorite Bones continues airing encores on Mondays at 8:00 PM ET/PT all summer, and House moves to Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET/PT with encores starting May 27. Second runs of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? will join encores of Sunday night's animated comedies starting June 1 at 7PM.

Day 71: WGA's Strike; My Name is Earl on TBS March; Golden Globe Winners

Today is the 71st day of the strike. The strike infected Golden Globes news announcement aired last night and it did less than 6 million viewers in the preliminary numbers. Usually the awards show gets more than 20 million. The strike is sure affecting these awards. Let's hope the strike ends before the Oscars air on Feb. 24 or at least a side deal is made so that the show can go on as normal rather than a towed-down ceremony or just a news announcement of the winners.
The WGA made a side deal with a company on Friday. They stated:
The Weinstein Company (TWC) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced that they have signed a comprehensive independent agreement. While the details are not being disclosed, the deal addresses the issues important to writers, including New Media. As a result of this agreement, Writers Guild members will now be able to work with The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films, the genre division under the TWC banner.
So this is good news for that company and movie fans.

As we have mentioned before My Name is Earl is coming to TBS in reruns. It will start off as a once a week play in March before getting the five-days-a-week treatment in Fall 2009. The show will air Monday nights at 10:00pm & 10:30pm ET/PT starting March 3. My Name is Earl joins the TBS Monday night line-up of all-star comedies starting this March. Starring Jason Lee as the outrageous Earl Hickey, this smart and irreverent sitcom is sure to start your week off with laughs.
Monday nights at 10 pm ET, immediately following Family Guy.
For the complete primetime schedule for TBS starting in March and to discuss this piece of news, click HERE!

The Golden Globe winners were announced last night. Cable series and stars ruled the television portion, taking 10 of the 11 wins. The only network win was for Tina Fey of 30 Rock for best actress in a comedy or musical. The WGA strike could have been a factor for this. Thankfully there was no ceremomy because I would have been upset for all these cable wins...and I'm sure many others would agree. Mad Men won for best drama, Extras won for best comedy or musical and Longford won for best mini-series or TV movie.
To view the full list of winners for the television portion, click HERE!

Tonight is a big night that I have to mention what is on. Lots of new material...but just one sitcom....Notes from the Underbelly on ABC at 9:30. CBS and The CW's sitcom line-ups will be in repeat mode. Elsewhere...Kyle XY returns with new episodes on ABC Family at 8/7 central, followed by an encore at 9 and midnight. That is one very underrated show. Prison Break returns for Fox followed by the second episode of Sarah Connor Chronicles. Can the latter beat the Chronicles curse? It seems all shows that had that word in the title failed. And Dance War has its first live episode, so that should be entertaining, as last week was just the auditions.

Customizable Versions of Classic TV Music; Beaver Reunion Video

SmartSound Software, Inc., the leading provider of music and scoring technology for film and video professionals, today announced the launch of four new customizable music libraries featuring all original music from the film and television catalog of EMI Music Publishing, one of the world's largest music publishers. Each track is licensed for unlimited use in home movies and is encoded to work with SmartSound-enabled applications, including many leading video editing software products. This nostalgic music combined with SmartSound's patented technology allows users to set the music into any length scene and listen to all possible arrangements that have a musical beginning and ending fit exactly to the scene.
Each library includes ten tracks. They can be purchased directly from SmartSound at http://www.smartsound.com/moviemusic for $39.95 each or just $99 for all four discs as a set. Here are the TV Classics Library details:
EMI TV Classics -- Memorable music from favorite TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s. Includes music from such popular shows as Batman, Bewitched, The Avengers and Lost in Space.

In case anyone missed it this morning, ABCNews.com has put up the video of the Leave it to Beaver reunion segment. Tom Bergeron, host of Dancing with the Stars, conducted the interview. Can you believe Barbara Billingsley is 91?? Anyway, see for yourself by clicking HERE. There are two video links there on the right.

Yesterday we reported that tonight's Grey's Anatomy will encore on Friday at 9 on ABC, but now ABC has decided not to. Private Practice will now air on Friday, October 5, 2007 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. This episode will be a repeat telecast of the Wednesday, October 3, 2007 broadcast.

Tune in tonight on NBC for the Comedy Done Right sitcoms starting at 8/7 central with My Name is Earl followed by the season premiere of 30 Rock and an all-new one-hour episode of The Office.

Some Nick at Nite Changes for the Week; Florence Henderson Back on the 'Brady' Set

Nick at Nite has extended the marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for another two nights. The marathon was slated to end after tonight, but now will continue on Friday and Saturday from 12am-5am ET/PT. Also, due to this change, tomorrow George Lopez will air 10-11pm then Home Improvement from 11-12. And finally, the Home Improvement marathon on Sunday is a bit longer how. Originally slated for 9pm-3:30am, now it will be 9pm-5am. An 8 hour event!

Agion, a global leader in naturally safe antimicrobial solutions for healthcare, has launched the That's Revolting! viral video site (www.ThatsRevolting.com) starring Florence Henderson, America s favorite TV mom. Shot on the original (but reconfigured) set of the classic '70s TV sitcom that made Henderson an American icon, That's Revolting! features Henderson as the mom in a whacked family that s inadvertently passing microbes to each other in a series of over-the-top comedic videos. Florence also plays the perennially cheerful host, who urges web viewers to Spot the Germs before family members get ill with everything from Flesh Eating Bacteria to Salmonella. It's fun for the whole family!

Tonight NBC will have one-hour season premieres of their two best sitcoms...My Name is Earl and The Office. The smart laughter starts at 8/7 central on NBC.
Also returning tonight at 8/7 central is the one-hour comedy Ugly Betty on ABC leading into the #1 scripted show Grey's Anatomy.
The only new show that will premiere tonight is Big Shots at 10/9 central on ABC. I have seen the pilot, so I'll give you my take. The series is like a male Desperate Housewives. We have four male leads, just like how we have 4 female leads on DH. Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus, Joshua Malina and Dylan McDermott star in this all-star cast. All four are high profile New York CEO's and have some women trouble. Vartan's character, James, learns a secret about his wife. Titus' character, Brody, is happily married...or is he? Malina's character, Karl, is having an affair. And McDermott's character, Duncan, is divorced but is about to be hit with a scandal involving a transvestite hooker. Can these four men balance between the boardroom and bedroom? This show is a dream come true for those upscale viewers!
The show has funny moments and some serious juice, but is not as good as Desperate Housewives yet. I think following Grey's Anatomy, this show will certainly be sampled, and I'm sure many (especially the women) will stick to see Vartan and McDermott. It is not bad of a pilot, but the series needs to get better for viewers to stick. Try it for at least 3 weeks, then make your decision...don't do the "one and done." Many did that for Brothers & Sisters, and now that show is among the best shows out there in quality.

TV Land Brings Back Brady Bunch...For Now, Nick at Nite Notes; TBS Gets Earl Window; More Notes

This might be just for two weeks, but The Brady Bunch is coming back to TV Land. The Brady Bunch has been added to the schedule airing Tues-Fri at 11am starting Tuesday, October 2. It might be just for weeks of Oct. 1 and 8 (replacing a second Green Acres), as Designing Women is slated to still launch Tues-Fri at 11am starting Oct. 15. We will keep you up to date. As the theme song starts, "here's a story," this certainly is a story to watch!
Meanwhile, if you haven't noticed, but since Saturday, Nick at Nite has added a last minute Fresh Prince of Bel-Air marathon. It is a 6 night marathon that will run through Thursday. 11pm-5am each night (Saturday it was 12-5am). Home Improvement and George Lopez are still kicking off each night. And speaking of Home Improvement, it will get a 9pm-3:30am marathon this Sunday (Sept. 30).

We've mentioned before that TBS has gotten the 5-days a week syndication rights to the NBC sitcom My Name is Earl starting Fall 2009, but now we have some more good news. Starting this April, they can air the series back-to-back one night a week, like they do with shows like House of Payne. So Earl will get a sneak peek a full 1 1/2 years before its syndication launch!

Emmy voters have spoken and now viewers have a chance to catch up on the NBC Emmy Award-winning comedy 30 Rock, when Bravo airs a six episode mini-marathon on Sunday, September 30th from 1:00 4:00 PM ET/ PT. Six sure-to-become classic episodes of the critically acclaimed comedy will include fan favorites featuring Paul Reubens as a bizarre foreign prince, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) getting set up on a blind date with a lesbian, and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) becoming an NBC page for a day. 30 Rock is told through the comedic voice of Fey playing Liz Lemon, who heads the variety show TGS while clashing with the ever-meddling head honcho Jack Donaghy.
30 Rock, with special guest star Jerry Seinfeld, premieres Thursday, October 4th at 8:30 PM ET/PT on NBC.
And finally, Firebrand TV is finally rescheduled on ION. It will start Monday, Oct. 22 airing weeknights at 11pm. Full details, click HERE.

TitanTV Acquires Jury Duty, New Series that Features Classic TV Jurors; WTBS Peachtree TV News; Alyssa Milano Goes Baseball!

TitanTV Network, the first of its kind digital media platform designed to connect local media affiliates and their advertisers to the digital world, has acquired the exclusive broadband rights to Radar Entertainment's new daily syndicated strip series, Jury Duty. The series, featuring famed defense attorney Bruce Cutler and premiering on stations around the country on September 17, will be given free to its affiliate stations' Web sites delivered through the TitanCast player, which provides territorial exclusivity through its patented technology. The broadband version of the series will also be available on TitanTV.com.
Jury Duty, which is presided over by high-profile attorney Bruce Cutler, features a jury of rotating celebrities and classic TV stars including Phyllis Diller, Ed Begley Jr., Bruce Vilanch, Paula Poundstone, Kevin Sorbo, Scott Hamilton, Dick Van Patten and Tiffany, among others. The series is cleared in over 85% of the U.S., including New York City (WPIX, weeknights at 4:30am).

As we mentioned previously, WTBS, TBS's local broadcast platform in Atlanta, is about to undergo an extensive re-branding initiative and line-up change that will result in an entirely new local, independent station, completely separate from the national cable network. The newly re-branded Peachtree TV will launch on Monday, Oct. 1.
Driven by an Atlanta-centric, hyper-local sensibility, Peachtree TV will feature nightly blockbuster prime-time movies and a daytime line-up packed with popular sitcoms targeted to Atlanta's local audience. In addition, Peachtree TV will bring local viewers 45 regular-season Atlanta Braves baseball games in 2008.
While Peachtree TV takes over the local broadcaster position currently held by WTBS, TBS's national cable feed will become available to Atlanta's local cable and satellite customers, offering the network's signature comedy programming. On Oct. 1, TBS will move to Comcast channel 39 and Direct TV channel 247. TBS will remain on Dish Network channel 139.
The channel's daytime line-up will feature a stable of sitcom hits, including the Atlanta syndication premieres of Family Guy and Still Standing, as well as such series as The King of Queens, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends and Frasier.
In Fall 2008, Peachtree TV's line-up will feature two shows that are currently attracting large audiences in the Atlanta market. The long-running and extremely popular talk show Montel, hosted by Montel Williams, will join the daytime line-up as a Peachtree TV exclusive in Atlanta. Also next year, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which premiered this past summer on TBS and set an ad-supported cable record for the #1 sitcom telecast of all time, will premiere in local syndication in Atlanta on Peachtree TV. In 2009, The Office and My Name is Earl will join the line-up as Atlanta syndication premieres.

Moving on to the national TBS, Alyssa Milano is coming to TBS...sort of. She will be covering baseball online for TBS Hot Corner on MLB.com
TBS Hot Corner is a new broadband channel from Turner Broadcasting's TBS, which will be broadcasting the major league division series and the National League Championship Series for the first time this season.
She will have a recurring role on the NBC sitcom My Name is Earl this fall and already has a popular blog on MLB.com and this year launched a baseball-themed clothing line.
Beginning Sept. 17, Milano will contribute regular reports and features from major league stadia as teams race to make the playoffs. The reports will range from interviews with players, coaches and fans, to features on calorie counting at the park and the best in baseball attire.
Baseball just got a bit hotter!

TBS Acquires My Name is Earl for Fall 2009; ABC Family Removes Heaven; The N's New Show

Yesterday we mentioned TBS has acquired reruns of the sitcom The Office, hours later they issued a press release announcing that its NBC neighbor My Name is Earl is also coming to TBS! The show will not be repurposed this fall like The Office, but TBS will get five-days-a-week play for Earl starting in Fall 2009, just like The Office! Also included in the deal are digital rights for broadband streaming and on-demand.
What a day for TBS, announcing two acquisitions in one day. TBS has reportedly paid close to $1 million an episode.
Local channels will also get the show for daily play in fall 2009, but no buys as of yet.
To view the press release and to discuss this news, click HERE.

ABC Family will remove 7th Heaven from the line-up effective this weekend. The show was only airing weekend mornings at 7am & 8am. ABC Family will replace the show with the same thing that airs weekdays from 7-9am...an hour each of the sitcoms Family Matters and Step by Step. Heaven probably wasn't doing that well in the mornings.
No idea if 7th Heaven will return to another slot, but so far it is off the schedule completely after this change.

The N has issued an update for July. The 12-3am marathon for the week of July 2 is...Laguna Beach. Yes, the MTV show. It will launch July 2 from 6pm-6am and air in nightly marathons that week from 12-3am. That is not all, though...it will air weeknights at 8pm & 12am that week and until further notice. Weird. Maybe just for the summer. They should air Growing Pains. Anyway, click here for the highlights.

Mama's Family Week on CMT, Laugh 'n Sniff with 'Earl'

Mama's Family, which was airing on CMT at all different times, hasn't been airing recently on CMT, but the week of May 7 you can catch a week-long stunt. Watch Mama's Family Monday, May 7 through Thursday, May 10 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. each afternoon. This won't be a regular thing because after this week, it isn't on the schedule for a few weeks at least.
Of course you can catch Mama's Family weeknights at 8pm & 8:30pm on ION Television if you miss the CMT week.

NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl will air the first-ever original "Laugh 'n Sniff" interactive episode on NBC on Thursday, May 3, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. Viewers will have an interactive experience with the episode by using a special scent card available exclusively in TV Guide's April 30 issue, available on newsstands on today (April 26).
During the episode, NBC will prompt viewers via on-air graphics to rub one of six corresponding numbered boxes on TV Guide's "Laugh 'n Sniff" scent card, which will release aromas pertaining to the My Name Is Earl storyline. The special scent card, sponsored exclusively by Oreo, Milk's favorite cookie, is available only in TV Guide's April 30 issue. Oreo cookies will be one of the six scents featured in the episode’s storyline along with other scents, including "new car smell" and "obnoxious cologne."
Yes, weird...the episode will be super-sized too, airing for 35 minutes. Storyline: When Earl lands his first real job, at an appliance store, the unseemly truths about class differences bubble to the surface. Meanwhile, the stress of Joy's impending trial causes her to make an irrational decision.