A daily news blog by Pavan of SitcomsOnline.com with news scoops of sitcoms and more on TV and DVD. This blog is updated DAILY no matter what! Since August 2005 everyday--non-stop!
Nick at Nite this November will celebrate Thanksgiving with George...George Lopez, of course! But first the regular schedule remains pretty consistent with October, with Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris having the 8-10pm block Sun-Thurs, followed by George Lopez in the 10pm hour Sun-Fri, The Nanny from 11pm-1am every night, more George Lopez in the 1am hour Mon-Fri, Roseanne from 2-6am every night, and The Nanny in the 6am half-hour every weekday. Variations include Glenn Martin, DDS on Mondays at 8pm & Saturdays at 10:30pm, Malcolm in the Middle weekends in the 1am hour, Everybody Hates Chris gets the Nickelodeon hour on Fridays at 9, while George Lopez gets it Saturdays at 9, and finally Everybody Hates Chris airs in the 10pm half-hour on Saturdays. As for specials and stunts, we have an encore of Mr. Troop Mom starring George Lopez airing this Sunday (Nov. 1) from 9-11pm. And during Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 23-29), it's nothing but George Lopez, as Nick at Nite celebrates the holiday with their favorite family! So spend time with your family watching the Lopez family all-week long from 9pm-6am (Mon-Thurs), 10pm-6am (Fri, Sun), and 9:30pm-6am (Sat). View the full November 2009 schedule and highlights! Meanwhile on Nickelodeon, on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) we get Nick Jr. specials from 6:30am-11:30am which includes Barbie: 3 Musketeers, followed by iCarly, True Jackson, SpongeBob, and Mr. Troop Mom movies. SpongeBob and The Penguins of Madagascar get a marathon, including premieres at 8:00pm on Friday, November 27. On Saturday, November 28, all-new Nicktoons episodes from 9:00am-12:00pm & iCarly premiere from 8:00pm-9:30pm. And finally on Sunday, November 29, it's the all-new Merry Christmas Drake & Josh movie from 8:00pm-10:00pm.
Fox has ordered a sixth season of American Dad!, the animated series featuring security-obsessed CIA agent and devoted family man Stan Smith (Seth MacFarlane). Recently honored with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program, American Dad! airs Sundays (9:30PM ET/PT) on Fox. The series ranks in the Top 10 programs of the season among Teens, Male Teens, Men 18-34, Persons 12-34, Adults 18-34 and Men 18-49. The renewal means that all three series from Seth MacFarlane -- Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and now American Dad! -- have pickups through next season (2010-2011). Currently American Dad! is in its fifth season on TV, but is still airing episodes produced for season four.
Nick at Nite has made some schedule changes. First off, they removed Home Improvement weekdays at 6am this past Tuesday with more The Nanny, while Roseanne replaced Everybody Hates Chris' 2-3am hour, so Roseanne now airs 2am-6am every night. The rest of the changes are basically to Fridays and Saturdays, and they start this weekend. George Lopez now airs in the 9pm hour on Fridays, which is technically still Nickelodeon, replacing Everybody Hates Chris. George will also still air in the 10pm hour on Fridays. Then we have a block of The Nanny from 11pm-2am, as George's 1am hour is no more on Fridays. On Saturdays, Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris will air in new timeslots, with Malcolm in the 11pm hour and Chris in the 12am hour. George Lopez will be the lead-in and lead-out airing in the 10pm hour still and gaining the 1am hour. So The Nanny doesn't air at all on Saturdays now. Sundays is petty much the same as now, but The Nanny is 11pm-2am. And this Sunday (Oct. 25) there is a marathon of The Nanny all-night long from 8pm-2am and some encores from 2am-6am. As we mentioned, there is a Halloween stunt on Monday, Oct. 26 from 8-11pm, but now we have some time shifting. Glenn Martin and Malcolm in the Middle Halloween episodes are still in the 8pm hour, but now George Lopez's Halloween episodes are airing in the 9pm hour followed by an Everybody Hates Chris Halloween episode at 10pm and an encore of the Glenn Martin Halloween episode at 10:30pm. These three-hours will encore on Halloween night (Saturday, Oct. 31) from 10pm-1am. So that should catch everyone up. View the updated Nick at Nite schedule and highlights. We'll have November info soon, stay tuned.
Moving on to Lifetime, it seems original sitcoms Sherri and Rita Rocks are underperforming with new episodes in the Tuesday at 10pm hour. So, Lifetime will move Rita Rocks to Mondays with a block of episodes airing 9pm-11pm, as new episodes will air from 10pm-11pm. Sherri will air Tuesdays with a block of episodes airing 9pm-11pm, and new episodes at 10pm. Lifetime is trying to get better ratings and a block of the same show usually does the trick. Lifetime is also changing their daytime line-up starting Monday (Oct. 26). Reba's two-hour block goes from 10am-12pm to 8am-10am. Less than Perfect is now totally gone and off the schedule. Frasier moves up an hour from 9am-10am to 10am-11am and Will & Grace gets the 11am hour, as that was only airing at 8:30am in the mornings. In the afternoon, we now get three Wife Swap episodes, as 1-3pm remain but also 12pm is added replacing Medium. We also now get three episodes of Desperate Housewives from 3pm-6pm, shifting the three episodes of Grey's Anatomy to 6pm-9pm, as Medium is replaced at 8pm. Medium can now be seen weeknights at 12:30am & 1:30am. All is not lost for Medium, as it will get a Halloween marathon next Friday (Oct. 30) from 11am-8pm. View the full updated Lifetime schedule.
Finally, In addition to making television history as the world's first prime-time animated series (ABC), The Flintstones also offered viewers many samplings of fun, culturally relevant music that delighted viewers throughout the show's six-year run. On Sunday, Oct. 25, these classic animated musical moments will return for a command performance as Boomerang presents a day-long marathon of the best of The Flintstones musical episodes: Bedrock 'N' Roll. From 8am-11pm (ET), America's favorite Stone-Age families--Fred, Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone plus Barney, Betty and Bamm-Bamm Rubble--will "rock out" to prehistoric beats while they welcome a number of celebrity guests, including Ann-Margaret (Ann Margrock) and James Darren (Jimmy Darrock). Once again showing the depth and breadth of its incredible classic cartoon library, Boomerang presents a rollicking good time with a commercial-free marathon of 15 jamming episodes guaranteed to get your toes tapping. The seven-and-a-half hour rock block will be followed by an encore presentation so that music aficionados coast-to-coast can join in the fun. View the highlights of some of the episodes airing.
If you were watching Nick at Nite last night, they made a very last minute change. Every night in the midnight hour is now another hour of The Nanny instead of Malcolm in the Middle. So this means The Nanny is now 11pm-1am. Malcolm in the Middle will remain in the 8pm hour every Sun-Thurs and weekends 1-2am. In other changes, it seems Everybody Hates Chris has gained the Friday 9pm hour from Nickelodeon, so now it airs an extra night in primetime since it already was airing Sun-Thurs in the hour. For the week of October 19, which is next week, Nick at Nite has listed Glenn Martin, DDS in the 8pm half-hour from Mon-Thurs, so that means Malcolm in the Middle is only 8:30pm. We are not certain yet if this is only for that week or until further notice. So stay with us!
The lesson that "love hurts" is well learned by the characters who inhabit the eerie suburb of Durham County when the original scripted primetime series launches its second season on ION Television in January, 2010. The series, which debuted this fall, returns to the bleak and disturbing landscape of an alienated suburbia with a new star villain – Michelle Forbes, known for her intense portrayals on the hit HBO series True Blood and In Treatment this year. Produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Films, Durham County unfolds season two in the aftermath of the devastating impact of serial killer Ray Prager (Romano Orzari) on the lives of its characters, anchored by Homicide Detective Mike Sweeney (Hugh Dillon), his now estranged wife Audrey (Hélène Joy) and their traumatized teenage daughter Sadie (Laurence Leboeuf). While the true villain of the first season turned out to be Sweeney's former high school classmate and new neighbor, the evil threat in the second season comes from a woman who develops a close bond with Mike, the brilliant, but deeply troubled forensic psychiatrist Pen Verrity (Michelle Forbes). Rejected by her husband and grieving for a daughter we can't be certain she didn't kill, she sets her sights on having Mike Sweeney - at any cost. The series just completed its first season of six episodes on ION Television on Monday (Oct. 12), but the ratings for the series dropped a lot from first to the sixth episode, with the lowest episodes doing a 0.2/0 HH rating/share.
Back in July we told you that TV Guide Network has gotten the rerun rights to Ugly Betty starting this October with repurpose rights then daily strip rights starting in fall 2010...now we have details on the repurpose rights! Thursday nights are about to get a little bit 'Bettyer' as TV Guide Network prepares to telecast encore airings of the new season of Ugly Betty this fall. Longtime fans and curious newcomers that miss the Friday premiere of new Ugly Betty episodes on ABC can get caught up with TV Guide Network Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT, beginning October 22. The season premiere this year is a two-part episode, so part two will air on TV Guide Network on Friday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m. And if you forgot what happened on last season's season finale, then you can catch up on either Thursday or Friday of this week (Oct. 15 and 16) and watch it on TV Guide Network at 7pm both nights, just in time for the two-hour season premiere on ABC from 8-10pm on Friday. Leading up to the October 22 encore telecast, TV Guide Network will air special Ugly Betty themed programming including a behind-the-scenes look at the set of Ugly Betty, cast interviews, a series overview, scoop on the new season, and fashion tips on how to emulate the characters' signature styles on the show. Among the specials airing are inFANity: Ugly Betty (October 19 at 7 p.m.); The Fashion Team: Ugly Betty Style (October 20 at 7 p.m.); and Look-A-Like: America Ferrera (October 21 at 7 p.m.). Other specials that will air are Look-A-Like: Salma Hayek, Lindsay Lohan, and Lucy Liu...all who appeared on the show. TV Guide Network also wants to give Ugly Betty fans a chance to be on television. Fans are invited to share their comments and reactions to the new season by uploading video comments to a new YouTube channel created specifically for them. Fans who visit www.youtube.com/uglybettyfans will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on the show, talk about which characters they love and which they love to hate, give their reactions to the latest episodes, and send a hello to their favorite cast members. A selection of YouTube video posts will air on TV Guide Network leading up to each Thursday Ugly Betty encore telecast. On Saturday, October 17 between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m., Ugly Betty fans in the Los Angeles area are invited to meet in the second floor courtyard area of the Hollywood & Highland Center for a chance to be interviewed about the show. Fans are encouraged to dress as their favorite character and should come prepared to talk about their favorite Ugly Betty episodes and stars, and why they love the show. Fan interviews will air on TV Guide Network Thursdays before Ugly Betty encore airings. Read more about the special Ugly Betty programming TV Guide Network has planned the week of Oct. 19.
TeenNick's (Formerly The N) has a week-long Halloween marathon that will...well scae you! TeenNick's "Now THAT's Scary" programming will include marathons featuring the hair-raising chills and thrills of teendom from Monday, Oct. 26 to Thursday, Oct. 29, starting at 8:00 p.m. (ET) through 12:00 a.m. (ET) and continues Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31 with afternoon marathons starting at 3 p.m. (ET) of Degrassi: The Next Generation through 12:00 a.m. (ET). The "nightmare-athons" in primetime (Oct. 26-29) will feature episodes of Full House, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, One on One and What I Like About You with a block of each show each night. Other Nickelodeon family of networks Halloween programming includes a Glenn Martin Halloween episode on Nick at Nite. On Monday, Oct. 26, Nick at Nite will kick off a night of Halloween-themed programming with a brand-new Glenn Martin, DDS at 8:00 p.m. followed by Halloween-themed episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Hates Chris and George Lopez from 8:30-11pm. And Nickelodeon will have Halloween-themed episodes of its live action series The Troop and True Jackson VP on Oct. 23 and 24 at 8:30pm.
Don't forget ABC Comedy Wednesday starting tonight at 8/7 central! Today's blog is sponsored by Modern Family, airing 9/8 central tonight on ABC Comedy Wednesday. Funniest episode yet with special guest Shelley Long! The song at the end will have you in tears of laughter!
TV Land has landed the exclusive primetime broadcast rights for the Emmy® Award-winning comedy, Everybody Loves Raymond, from CBS Television Distribution beginning June 2010. The series ran in primetime for eight seasons, totaling 212 episodes and will premiere in TV Land PRIME, the network's primetime programming block designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s. Additionally, the network announced three other new series to hit the airwaves in 2010: Boston Legal, Home Improvement and The Nanny. Everybody Loves Raymond will be shared with cable network TBS, which airs the series in daytime and will still do so next June. Boston Legal will premiere on TV Land in the first quarter of 2010, while Home Improvement is being borrowed from sister network Nick at Nite and will be either on both networks or will move to TV Land by first quarter 2010. My guess is that it will totally move to TV Land. Home Improvement also airs in the daytime on TBS, so TV Land will only have evening rights. The Nanny will also be borrowed from sister network Nick at Nite and will be either on both networks or will move to TV Land, but this won't happen until third quarter 2010...next fall. Boston Legal is currently not on cable besides the weekend play on WGN America, though ION Television does have broadcast weekday rights. These four series represent a continued commitment to build TV Land PRIME, the network's primetime programming destination dedicated to 40-somethings - a vibrant group with unmatched purchasing power and living in the most dynamic stage of their lives with relationships at work, with family and with friends all thriving. All of the programming in TV Land PRIME is hand-picked to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of this important demo.
Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite has ordered a second season of 20 episodes of stop-motion animated series Glenn Martin, DDS, the first television series from Michael Eisner's Tornante Animation. The animated comedy series chronicles the offbeat adventures of the Martin family as they crisscross America in their tricked-out RV, encountering an array of bizarre situations and colorful locals. Ranked as the number-one program on Nick at Nite last quarter, the show features an all-star voice cast that includes Kevin Nealon as Glenn Martin, Catherine O'Hara as Jackie Martin and Judy Greer as Wendy Park. Glenn Martin, DDS ranks as Nick at Nite's number-one program among total viewers average with 2.1 million total viewers each week, in third quarter 2009. In its first week, Glenn Martin, DDS reached a total of 11.3 million viewers and averaged 2.6 million (P2+) total viewers per telecast (Monday-Thursday, Aug. 17-20, 8 p.m.-8:30 p.m. [all times ET/PT]), according to Nielsen. The series also ranked as ad-supported cable's number-one co-viewed entertainment series in prime time for the premiere week with 40% of Adults 18-49 watching with at least one kid per household. Forty percent of Adults 18-49 watched with at least one kid 2-11 per household. Season one has featured celebrity appearances, including Wendie Malick and Betty White, and will soon feature Bret Michaels, Chrissie Hynde, Gene Simmons, Sean Hayes, Jim Parsons, Estelle Harris and Don Johnson, among others. Recently, Nick at Nite added hit series Everybody Hates Chris and Malcolm in the Middle, strengthening its slate of popular hit family comedies including the Emmy Award-winning series George Lopez, Home Improvement, The Nanny and Roseanne.
Don't forget ABC Comedy Wednesday starting tonight at 8/7 central! Today's blog is sponsored by Cougar Town, airing 9:30/8:30 central on ABC Comedy Wednesday. Because 40 is the new 20!
Late last week we told you Roseanne was going to be cut by an hour on TV Land to 12-2am instead of 12-3am, and now we know why. Sister network Nick at Nite will bring back the show and also air it in late nights starting TONIGHT! Nick at Nite will air Roseanne every night from 3-6am, replacing the nightly marathons of The Nanny, Family Matters and Home Improvement. In fact, Family Matters will be gone totally now, while Home Improvement will only air weekdays at 6am. Big bummer. Of course The Nanny will continue to air in the 11pm hour every night. So if you're keeping track, Roseanne airs on TV Land every night from 12-2am, except it is longer on Thursdays (9pm-2am) and Fridays (11pm-2am) and now every night on Nick at Nite from 3-6am. Just last week it was looking like Roseanne would finally be reduced, but now here comes Nick at Nite re-adding the series. At least the TV Land reduction brought Three's Company (my personal favorite) another half-hour on weeknights (now 3:30am-5am) and on Saturdays we now get the series from 2-6am instead of 4-6am.
Exactly a week ago today we told you that BET J (spin-off network of BET) was renaming to Centric, now today they will launch their regular schedule after having stunts last week. And they have acquired two dramas! They have acquired the rights to the '90s drama Homicide: Life on the Street and '80s action drama Miami Vice. Both will start airing TONIGHT every weeknight! Homicide will air 9pm & 12am while Miami Vice will air 11pm & 4am. Miami Vice is also slated for Saturdays from 3-6pm. These new acquisitions join Centric's line-up of The Montel Williams Show, Judge Karen, and sitcom The Steve Harvey Show (daytime, 11am-2pm); Afternoon Movie, VH-1/MTV/BET Reality Series (late afternoons, 4pm-8pm), and original series at 8pm. Centric is also airing reruns of BET's American Gangster weeknights at 10pm and 1am, while the afternoon movie encores weeknights at 2am. Soul Train will air once a week on Fridays at 7pm and encores Saturdays at 12 noon & 6pm. We will keep you up to date on any further developments, but adding these two dramas is a nice start, especially Miami Vice!
October has just started and Nick at Nite has released their October 2009 schedule. There aren't any regular schedule changes, so the same changes from September will carry over into October. There will be a George Lopez marathon this Sunday (October 4) from 9pm-4am. Leading into the marathon will be George's movie Mr. Troop Mom from 7pm-9pm, so it's an all George night! Episodes airing for the marathon are "Love Bites," "Charity," "Team Leader," "Long Time No See," "Sabes Quake," "George Takes a Stroll Down Memory Pain," "George Buys a Vow," "George Watcha's Out For Jason," "George's Grand Slam," "George Needs Anchor Management," "George Vows to Make Some Matri-Money," "George Discovers How Mescal-ed Up His Life Would Have Been Without the Benny-Fits," "George's House Has Two Empty Wombs," and "George Nieces a New Media Room." Also in October you can catch new episodes of original animated comedy Glenn Martin, DDS every Monday at 8pm. View and discuss the Nick at Nite October 2009 highlights.
Encore Westerns has acquired the rights to air several classic Western series from CBS TV Distribution. They have acquired Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel and Rawhide. Black and white episodes of Gunsmoke will return to Encore Westerns in January (TV Land has the other package still), with Have Gun Will Travel and Rawhide airing sometime next year. Fans were devastated when Gunsmoke went off the channel four long years ago, so they decided to re-acquire it! Currently Encore Westerns airs Maverick, Cheyenne, The Gene Autry Show, Bret Maverick, Cimarron Strip, and The Magnificent Seven. Stay with us for more on this!
Modern Family - Wednesdays 9:00PM ET/PT on ABC Premieres Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 9:00PM ET/PT
Today's American families come in all shapes and sizes. The cookie cutter mold of man + wife + 2.5 kids is a thing of the past, as it becomes quickly apparent in the bird's eye view of ABC's new half-hour comedy, Modern Family, which takes an honest and often hilarious look at the composition and complexity of family life in 2009.
Take for example Phil and Claire, two parents who want to have that open, healthy, honest relationship with their three kids. It's not always easy, especially when you have a teenage daughter who's growing up a little fast, a too-smart-for-her-own-good middle daughter and a rambunctious boy. On top of that, Phil wants to be the "cool dad," while Claire is just trying her best to run a tight ship, determined not to let her kids have the rebellious childhood she had.
Then there's Jay, a true guys' guy who is having a bit of mid-life crisis. Jay has found a much younger wife, Gloria, who has become the center of his world. She's a passionate and sassy divorcee who comes with an 11-year-old son, Manny. Already taking notice of girls and a hopeless romantic, Manny is as passionate as his mom and spends his time daydreaming and writing poetry. His new step-father isn't altogether comfortable with the sensitive stuff and would like to toughen Manny up. But that's only one of Jay's challenges. The biggest is that people often mistake him for Gloria's father, not her husband.
And lastly there's Mitchell and his partner of five years, Cameron. They've just taken that amazing 'next step' by adopting a child together from Vietnam. Cameron has a wonderfully big personality and maybe a flare for the dramatic, whereas Mitchell is the more serious of the two. But they balance each other out and are already doting fathers.
Life, it seems, is neither tidy, politically correct or in any way predictable. For these three families, it turns out, are not three but one... one big, blended family, with Jay the patriarch and Claire & Mitchell his grown kids. Yet it's just such surprises that make things so interesting in this window into the sometimes warm, sometimes twisted embrace of the modern family.
Ed O'Neill (Jay) is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the long running sitcom, Married... with Children. Signed by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, he was cut in training camp and worked as a social studies teacher before becoming an actor. He has appeared in a number of movies, including The Bone Collector, Little Giants, Dutch and the Wayne's World series. Besides his role on Married...with Children, O'Neill's television credits include the reincarnation of Sgt. Joe Friday on Dick Wolf's ABC remake of Dragnet, the recurring role of Baker (D-PA), a potential Vice Presidential candidate on the NBC drama The West Wing, the role of Detective Michael Mooney on David Milch's CBS series, Big Apple, and most recently that of a retired cop on HBO's John from Cincinnati. His other TV credits include a guest shot on ABC's 8 Simple Rules, which reunited him with Katey Sagal of Married...with Children.
Sofía Vergara (Gloria) was already one of the hottest Hispanic TV stars and one of the most beloved personalities of the Latino world when she decided to pursue her career in the U.S., becoming one of the few Hispanic stars to find crossover success. Most recently Vergara has appeared in Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail films for Lionsgate, and recurring roles on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and MEN IN TREES. Before that she played the sexy Colombian actress who stirred things up on Entourage, starred in Amas de Casa Desesperadas, the Latin-tailored version of Desperate Housewives, and in the comedy feature Chasing Papi. She was also a regular on ABC sitcoms Hot Properties and The Knights of Prosperity, while guest starring on ABC's My Wife & Kids and Rodney.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell) received rave reviews and was honored by The Hollywood Reporter in 2006 as one of Ten to Watch for his role on the CBS ensemble sitcom, The Class. Additional television credits include Do Not Disturb and Ugly Betty. Ferguson's film credits include Untraceable, directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, and Griffin & Phoenix, with Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney. He will next appear opposite Matthew Broderick in Wonderful World, a 2009 Tribeca Film Festival selection that marks the feature directorial debut of Joshua Goldin.
Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) has an impressive resume of memorable characters on shows including Dharma & Greg, Malcolm in the Middle, Party of Five, Spin City, ER, The West Wing, American Dad, Providence, Close to Home, Crossing Jordan and Bones. His most notable character is from his recurring turn as Ronnie Litre, the questionable documents tech on the original CSI. Stonestreet was a series regular in the Fox pilot 13 Graves and has most recently guest starred in The Mentalist, N.C.I.S., Nip/Tuck and Pushing Daisies.
Ty Burrell (Phil) is quickly establishing himself as one of the most versatile actors of our time, taking on challenging roles and carving out a diverse career in movies, television and on stage. In film Burrell recently completed shooting Fair Game, opposite Sean Penn for Doug Liman. He is scheduled to start shooting Morning Glory, opposite Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. He played Dr. Samson in Universal's The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, and was in National Treasure 2, opposite Nicolas Cage. Burrell starred opposite Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. in Steven Shainberg's film Fur, about the life of Diane Arbus. On television Burrell starred in the Fox sitcom, Back to You, opposite Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. He also recently starred in the half-hour CBS sitcom Out of Practice, with Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler, and has been recurring on the FX series Damages.
Julie Bowen (Claire) spent two seasons on ABC's critically-acclaimed Boston Legal as attorney Denise Bauer. She plays the recurring role of Matthew Fox's wife on the hit ABC series Lost and, for three seasons, played Carol Vessey, the dream girl of former classmate-turned-lawyer Ed Stevens on the charming NBC series, Ed. Bowen was recently seen in a guest star arc on the darkly-comedic Showtime series Weeds as Lisa Ferris, a cheese shop owner who seduces a younger man, and she will soon be seen in Crazy on the Outside, a feature starring and directed by Tim Allen. Also on the big screen she starred as Adam Sandler's love interest in the comedy Happy Gilmore and appeared with Michael Keaton in Multiplicity. She also starred in An American Werewolf in Paris, performed with Lynn Redgrave in the independent romantic comedy Venus & Mars, and starred opposite Tim Allen in Joe Somebody. In the advertising world, Bowen has been both the face of Neutrogena and the voice of Pampers.
Sarah Hyland (Haley, oldest daughter of Phil & Claire) is a Native New Yorker, born to actors Edward James Hyland and Melissa Canaday. Trained in all areas of dance from the age of three and vocally trained since she was seven, Hyland is a true triple threat. She has been working in film, TV series, soaps and commercials since she was four years old. Hyland's first film was Howard Stern's Private Parts. At the age of eight she landed the role of Molly in ABC's Annie, and Young Audrey in The Audrey Hepburn Story. After filming Annie, she landed the role of Jess Pistone on Falcone. She's guest starred on episodes of Lipstick Jungle, Touched by an Angel, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU.
Rico Rodriguez (Manny, Gloria's son) booked his first role in the video How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Next came the role of Chanchito in the film Epic Movie, a super fun role as the kid janitor in the soon to be released Opposite Day, and another great part -- including flying cake -- in the upcoming The No-Sit List. His Television credits include co-starring as Young Guillermo in Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cory in the House, ER, 'Til Death, iCarly, Nip/Tuck, Surviving Suburbia and NCIS. He has also has been seen in commercials for Roundtable Pizza, Time Warner Cable, Dodge, Walmart, BlueCross, Chrysler and AT&T.
Nolan Gould (Luke, Phil & Claire's son) began his career at the tender age of three doing commercials and totally fell in love with acting. He has worked consistently since the day he first stepped on that commercial set. His most recent films include leads in the features Space Buddies and Montana. Current television credits include Eleventh Hour and the movie of the week, Sweet Nothing in My Ear.
Ariel Winter (Alex, Phil & Claire's younger daughter) had a recurring role on the final six episodes of ER as Lucy, a young girl whose mother is brought into the ER in need of a heart transplant. This year she will also appear in the thriller Duress, opposite Martin Donovan. Best known as Trixie in Warner Bros.' Speed Racer, Ariel's other recent credits include the film Opposite Day and Nic & Tristan Go Mega Dega. Ariel's past credits include guest-starring roles on the hit TV shows Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, Nip/Tuck and Bones. Feature credits include a lead role in the hit thriller One Missed Call, in which she plays the killer of the film. In addition, Ariel is the voice of Gretchen on Walt Disney's hit show Phineas and Ferb, voiced a supporting character in the hit animated film Horton Hears a Who and played Thumper's sister in Bambi II. She started her motion picture career at age seven in director Shane Black's hit cult film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Val Kilmer, Robert Downey Jr. and Michelle Monaghan.
Pilot Plot:
#1 "Pilot" (Airs September 23) Today's families come in all shapes and sizes, and that is very evident in Jay Pritchett's very full and very blended family. Jay and his new gorgeous and much younger wife, Gloria, are happily married and getting accustomed to their new life together. But when her pre-teen son develops a crush on a 16-year-old girl, it becomes apparent that Jay and Gloria may have some generational and cultural gaps to bridge. Jay's grown daughter, Claire, has a family of her own -- three kids and a husband, Phil, who is practically a giant kid himself. Things get a little tense when their teenage daughter, Haley, brings a boy home and Phil tries to adopt the cool, hip dad approach. Then son Luke misuses of his BB gun, which results in Phil and Claire turning it right back on to him. Jay's other grown son, Mitchell, is in a committed relationship and has just adopted a baby girl from Vietnam with his life partner, Cameron. They're going through the joys and anxieties of bringing a baby home for the first time, but Mitchell still has the daunting task of introducing their new addition to the whole family. Guest starring are Reid Ewing as Dylan, Hayley Erin as Brenda Feldman, Lillian Adams as passenger #1, Duane Shepard Sr. as passenger #2, Heather Lee as passenger #3, Jenica Bergere as soccer mom, Matt Corboy as Josh, aka soccer dad, and Marcus Brown as security guard. "It Takes a Village Idiot" was written by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, and directed by Jason Winer.
Analysis:
I first saw the pilot back in May and it was hilarious! I just watched the final cut a few days back and it is STILL hilarious! This is clearly the best new sitcom of the new season. It is a single camera sitcom with lots of smart lines and is laugh out loud! It is in mockumentary form like The Office. This show is basically about three families who are part of a big family...which is the reveal at the end of the episode, as the ABC promos gave away already. Even though if you know that, you'll still laugh and enjoy the episode. The first family is Jay and Gloria with Gloria's son Manny. Jay is an older man who married a much younger woman, who has a kid. The next family is the traditional family, husband and wife Phil & Claire and their three children. And finally the last family is Mitchell & Cameron, who are gay. These three families are all related. Jay is the father of Claire and Mitchell.
The pilot is very funny and so good. Basically each family have their own separate storylines in this episode until then end, which is the "reveal." Jay & Gloria are dealing with Manny's crush on an older girl. Phil & Claire are dealing with their kids, who each have a dilemma. And Mitchell & Cameron just adopted a baby, and they think Mitchell's family won't like it. There are hilarious scenes throughout this episode. I can't pick one scene in particular, since there are so many. Ty Burrell as Phil is a breakout star on this pilot. He is very good in the episode and has very funny lines and also even some physical comedy. He dances to High School Musical and also acts cool with teenage slang. And at the end of the episode I couldn't stop laughing when Gloria says, "Hi Phil" and what Phil does is brilliantly funny! You'll see! Even the children are funny. Phil & Claire's older daughter (who I think is 15) has a boy over for the first time and of course the parents, especially Claire, try to snoop in. This show is so real!
I liked everything about the pilot. I have no complaints whatsoever. I think the show will get even better now that the series is set-up and we know that these three families are all related. The Lion King song during the reveal of the adopted baby was classic and came out of nowhere, which is always a positive in comedy to be surprised rather than to expect something. No cliches here at all!
Conclusion:
Every critic out there is saying that this is the best comedy or best new show even of the fall. I agree and I'm not saying that just because they are. I saw the show back in May during ABC upfront before all the critics were raving about it and I mentioned back then that this was brilliant. The pilot will certainly be sampled as it will follow a special Dancing with the Stars: The Results on a special night and time. The question is will it continue after that? It better because the quality will be there and there will be great guest stars coming aboard such as Elizabeth Banks, Ed Norton, Shelley Long, and Krista Allen. If you like the pilot, which I'm sure everyone who watches will, stick around every week please! There are no family comedies currently on broadcast and we need a big hit in comedy that is a family comedy. This is not your average family comedy, so you'll see some new and unexpected stories. The pilot is so funny and real that it will make you look at your own family and wonder if you would do the same thing! Everything about this show is 5-star, which is very rare to find. Laugh with America on the new ABC Comedy Wednesday with Modern Family, the best new sitcom of the season! It's funny, seriously!
Stay tuned tomorrow for our pilot review of Cougar Town, which follows Modern Family on ABC Comedy Wednesday at 9:30pm ET/PT.
Yesterday Nick at Nite made a very last minute schedule change. They switched George Lopez and Everybody Hates Chris' timeslots. George Lopez is now back to its old 10pm hour every night, while Everybody Hates Chris is now in the 9pm hour from Sun-Thurs. So this means Chris on Fridays and Saturdays won't be seen until 2-3am, since Nick at Nite doesn't start until 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Chris will continue to air 2-3am every night, while George Lopez airs 1-2am Mon-Fri nights. Malcolm in the Middle will air 1-2am on weekends leading into Chris. Malcolm will also lead into Chris now in the Sun-Thurs 9pm hour. I think Malcolm and Chris will be a good combo and a good fit, while George is back to its powerhouse time of 10pm.
TV Land and Hallmark Channel have both made some last minute schedule changes to its schedule starting this Monday (Sept. 14). TV Land's change is very minor, as it will add a third Sanford & Son in the morning at 10:30am replacing a Good Times airing. Good Times will remain 9am-10:30am, as Sanford & Son is now 10:30am-12pm. The previous changes that were set to happen on Sept. 14 for TV Land that we announced, will still happen. Meanwhile, it wouldn't be a week without a Hallmark Channel schedule change. It seems like every week we have a schedule change now. This schedule change is a bit more drastic than the usual changes. The changes start this Monday (Sept. 14) with Paid Programming replacing The Golden Girls in the 8am hour. Not to worry is that The Golden Girls will retain that hour by airing at 12pm replacing the start of a movie. Golden Girls will now air between 9am-1pm every weekday morning. Murder, She Wrote returns to the line-up airing at 1pm (replacing the continuation of the afternoon movie) and 2pm (replacing a Little House airing). Little House has been cut to 3-5pm. The final change is in the late night, with another hour of The Golden Girls replacing an hour of Cheers. So, Golden Girls late night is now 11pm-2am, while Cheers is cut to 2-3am. Looks like Hallmark Channel thanks you for being a friend!
Nick at Nite's latest prime-time addition to its family-programming lineup, Everybody Hates Chris (Monday, Sept. 7, 10 p.m. ET/PT), scored 1.8 million total viewers in its Labor Day premiere. The series also drew double-digit gains with adults 18-49 (+25%) and women 18-49 (+20%) and ranked as the most-watched live action premiere for the net with adults 18-49 since the debut of Home Improvement (September 2007). The premiere scored 1.8 million total viewers (+8 %) and double-digit gains over last year's like time period with adults 18-49 (+25%) and women 18-49 (+20%), averaging a 0.5 A18-49 rating and 592,000 viewers A18-49 and a 0.6 W18-49 rating and 372,000 viewers W18-49. Chris has of course George Lopez as its lead-in, which is the #1 program on the network averaging well over 2 million viewers an airing.
And finally, today is September 11...we of course remember the lives of all the victims of the 9/11 attack in 2001, but we also remember the tragic passing of John Ritter on this date in 2003. I cannot believe it has been 6 years to this day that we lost such a great actor and more importantly a wonderful human being. The best way you can remember John today is by of course watching his great work on TV or DVD, or by saying something nice and funny to someone, but also by donating to the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. I've made my annual donation today, and I think we should all do the same. We miss you John!
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.
We continue our look at Fall 2009 schedules today with Nick at Nite's Fall 2009 line-up. Joining the schedule will be the comedy Everybody Hates Chris. The sitcom will launch with a marathon on Labor Day evening (Monday, Sept. 7) airing from 10pm-6:30am ET/PT. The series is inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock (who is also the narrator), while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in the early-mid 1980s. The series stars Tyler James Williams as the young Chris Rock. Tequan Richmond, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold, Imani Hakim, and Vincent Martella also star. With recurring guest appearances by Todd Bridges, Ernest Thomas, Jackee Harry, and Jason Alexander. The series is also expected to air on sister Viacom network BET this fall (more to come on that). All 88 episodes of Everybody Hates Chris will air on Nick at Nite as the show will air every night at 10 & 10:30PM ET/PT starting the next night as well as 2 & 2:30AM ET/PT. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be leaving the schedule, as the contract has indeed expired, as we guessed a few weeks back. The show will air on Disney-owned ABC Family and Disney XD (more on Disney XD soon) on weeknights in September, while continuing to air on TBS in the mornings. As we mentioned Chris will air in the 10pm hour, this is now shifting the second hour of George Lopez back to 1am. The Nanny's weeknight 11pm-3am block is now just the 11pm hour, as Malcolm in the Middle returns to 12 midnight. 3-6am every night will be a rotating wheel of three series: The Nanny (Mon, Thurs, Sun), Family Matters (Tues, Fri) and Home Improvement (Wed, Sat). Also, the 6am half-hour will now be a wheel of these three series as well. This means Family Matters and Home Improvement will not air before 3am, as the 8pm-3am schedule is consistent each night with a few exceptions (Glenn Martin Mondays at 8 and Malcolm in the Middle Sunday nights in the 1am hour). Other September highlights include a week-long marathon of George Lopez prior to Everybody Hates Chris joining. George week will be Aug. 31-Sept. 6, from 9pm-6am (10pm-6am on Fri-Sat). And of course original series Glenn Martin, DDS continues Mondays at 8pm. The original stop-motion animated series follows the life of Glenn Martin (Kevin Nealon), who yearns for a change of scenery and a deeper connection with his family. View the FULL Nick at Nite Fall 2009 schedule that begins Sept. 8. As always, especially with Viacom owned networks, this is subject to change. So stay with us for continued updates.
An all new cast of celebrities hits the dance floor on ABC's Dancing with the Stars with the highly anticipated two-hour season premiere on Monday, September 21, 2009 from 8:00-10:02 p.m., ET/PT on ABC. With its biggest season yet, Dancing with the Stars Season Nine introduces us to 16 new stars, including an Osmond and an Osbourne, two Grammy Award ® winning artists, a Cowboy, a model CEO and a former House Majority Leader. During the first week, eight teams will strut their stuff on Monday night (Sept. 21), while the other eight teams will show off their moves on Tuesday night (Sept. 22) at a special time of 8:00-10:00 p.m., ET/PT. On a special night and time, two couples will learn their fate and be sent home on Wednesday night (Sept. 23) from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT. The series will regularly air Mondays 8-10 p.m. ET/PT and the results show on Tuesdays from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT. A 90-minute performance finale is scheduled for Monday, November 23 with the two-hour season finale on Tuesday, November 24 from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT. Four new dance styles -- the Bolero, the Charleston, the Two Step and the Lambada -- are also going to be introduced. The middle stages of the competition feature the return of the "Dance Off" on Tuesday nights, where contestants will perform a dance style of their choosing to fight for their spot in the competition, and three consecutive double eliminations promise the most dramatic period of Dancing with the Stars. And the stars are: Aaron Carter (singer/actor), Natalie Coughlin (Olympic swimmer), Mark Dacascos (chef, Food Network), Tom DeLay (politician), Macy Gray (singer), Ashley Hamilton (actor, son of George Hamilton), Melissa Joan Hart (sitcom star/actress), Kathy Ireland (model, CEO), Michael Irvin (NFL legend), Joanna Krupa (model, The Superstars), Chuck Liddell (UFC mixed martial arts), Debie Mazar (actress), Mya (singer), Kelly Osbourne (singer/actress, personality), Donny Osmond (singer/actor/host, brother of Marie Osmond), and Louie Vito (professional snowboarder). View full details on all the cast members for Season Nine and more!
There will be no changes to the Nick at Nite August schedule that we posted on Monday. Here are the August Highlights:
George Lopez: Main Event Marathon airs on Sunday, August 2 from 9:00pm-4:00am ET/PT. See George battle everyone! George vs. Benny, George vs. Angie, George vs. Carmen and more! It's the battle royale!
First four episodes of Glenn Martin, DDS will air Aug. 17-20 at 8PM (after new episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar) before settling into its regular Mondays at 8pm timeslot starting Aug. 24. There will be a marathon of the first four episodes on Friday, August 21 from 8-10pm ET/PT. The first four episodes will also encore on sister network Comedy Central at 6pm Tues-Fri, the next night.
Glenn Martin, DDS is the first television production to come out of Michael Eisner’s Tornante Animation Company. The original stop-motion animated series follows the life of Glenn Martin (Kevin Nealon), who yearns for a change of scenery and a deeper connection with his family. Determined to bring the family closer together, Glenn takes the Martins on a road trip to protest the destruction of a beloved childhood park. As things unravel right from the get-go, the family is forced to make the dental-mobile – replete with a giant decorative toothbrush on the roof – their new home. Glenn, Jackie (Catherine O’Hara) and Courtney (Jackie Clarke) – an 11-year-old future corporate maven who brings along her personal assistant, Wendy (Judy Greer), a 14-year-old North Korean exile – and son, Conor (Peter Oldring), the 13-year-old hormone-addled tween who’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed--quickly learn when hitting the road that the road can sometimes hit back in unexpected ways. The Martins are accompanied on their journey by the family dog, Canine, who’s pronounced buttocks only add to the hilarity.
The hilarious Parenthood will air on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 8:00pm-10:00pm ET/PT. The 1989 classic was directed by Ron Howard and stars Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Jason Robards, Rick Moran, Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reaves and many others. Parenthood is the story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the "black sheep" of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.
Retro TV has added many new affiliates. With these new affiliates, Retro TV's U.S. coverage is now approaching 89 percent. That's up from 75 percent at the beginning of June. They also signed an agreement to return RTV to WPXS in St. Louis. And it added WSPA Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. along with a deal to renew the existing RTV affiliations at all the other Media General stations. Among the new stations are: WEYW Key West, FL; WAOH Cleveland; KCDO Denver; WCMH Columbus, Ohio; KCSG St. George, Utah; WITI Milwaukee; KGNG Las Vegas; KPVT Pahrump, NV; WMNM-WGMU Burlington, VT; WLCN Charleston, SC; WSEA Springfield, MA; KYUU Boise, ID; WJBF Augusta, GA; WLLZ Traverse City, MI; WWAY Wilmington, NC; WAOW-WYOW Wausau-Rhinelander, WI; WDIO-WIRT Duluth, MN; KJPX Joplin, MO; KPIF Idaho Falls; WKFK Biloxi, MI and WGBC Meridian, MS. Wow! We will keep you up to date of any more station signings or any programing updates. So stay with us!
Welcome to our annual look at the Fall 2009 schedules for cable networks! We launch our fall schedule barrage with Lifetime's Fall 2009 schedule! Their schedule will launch on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 with a totally different weekday line-up! In the 8am hour now will be Less than Perfect and Will & Grace, replacing an hour of Still Standing, which is now totally gone. In the 9am hour we now have Frasier replacing an hour of Less than Perfect. Reba moves to 10am-12pm replacing an hour each of Frasier and Will & Grace. Wife Swap block now moves to 12-3pm instead of 2-6pm, replacing Desperate Housewives. Housewives moves from 12-2pm to 3-5pm leading into the two new additions to weekdays--Grey's Anatomy and Medium! Grey's Anatomy will air weeknights at 5pm & 6pm and late nights at 1:30am. It will also have a weekly airing on Mondays at 11pm. Medium will air weeknights at 7pm & 8pm and will also air in primetime on Tuesdays at 9pm and 10pm. Late nights will still have Will & Grace at 11pm-12am & 1am on most nights and Frasier in the 12am hour on most nights. Original series wise, Lifetime will continue to air new episodes of Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives on Sundays starting at 9pm with many encores following and during the week and on Thursdays we have Project Runway and Models of the Runway starting at 10pm with also many encores following. The Sunday dramas will last into October, while the Thursday reality will last into November. Coming in October to Mondays will be original sitcoms Rita Rocks for a second season and the new original sitcom Sherri. They premiere Monday, Oct. 5 and we will have more on those soon. How I Met Your Mother is moving from Mondays 7-8pm to Saturdays 1-2am. Looks like it didn't do well in the ratings? Sitcoms Still Standing and Cybill will totally be off the line-up. View the full Lifetime Fall 2009 schedule. And stay with us for the next few weeks each weekday for more fall schedules! TCA tour is also on the horizon! Busy, busy time of year!
We have many schedule changes beginning today. First off, Nick at Nite will edit their schedule a bit. Starting tonight, Mon-Thurs, The Nanny will now air in a three-hour block from 11pm-2am. The 12am hour replaces Malcolm in the Middle and the 1am hour replaces Family Matters, which shifts over to 2am, replacing The Nanny. So now Mon-Thurs have three big marathon blocks of George Lopez from 9-11pm, The Nanny 11pm-2am, and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 3am-6am. The only non-marathon block is Malcolm in the Middle from 8-9pm and Family Matters 2-3am. Wouldn't it be better if Family Matters was 1-3am and The Nanny just 11p-1a? On Fridays, The Nanny will also take over the 12am hour replacing Malcolm in the Middle, so Malcolm will now not air on Friday nights at all. On Saturdays though, it will air in the 10pm hour and 12am hour, in between The Nanny at 11. On Sundays Malcolm will remain at 12am. View the full schedule starting tonight (Monday, July 27, 2009). And stay tuned for Nick at Nite's August 2009 highlights still. They still haven't fully announced it.
Next up we have minor changes for Spike TV and ION Television. Well Spike TV is not that minor, but we only care about Married...with Children. Spike is removing that from the weekday line-up, and replacing it with all day CSI and CSI NY marathons. This week it is all CSI from 9am-8pm from Mon-Thurs and Spike's Most Amazing Videos on Friday. CSI NY is mixed in next week from 9-11am Mon-Thurs. Married...with Children will still air Sundays 9am-10:30am and at times 1-2am. When will it return to weekdays? We are not sure yet. It could even move back to TV Land? We'll certainly let you know first, so stay with us! Finally, the last major change starting tonight is for ION Television. They are removing NCIS and replacing it with movies starting tonight. NCIS was airing Monday nights back-to-back from 9-11pm. It is unclear why they are removing NCIS because it was their highest rated program by far. Maybe they are saving it for September when they can air it more? We're not certain, but we'll let you know if it is returning when we announce their full fall line-up. We hinted at their fall line-up on Friday. For now, view the movies airing Monday nights and more in their updated August 2009 schedule. Monday movie premieres include Matrix Revolutions and Matrix Reloaded.
President Obama is having another live news conference. It will be held tomorrow (Wednesday, July 22, 2009) at 8pm ET/5pm PT. This will affect the networks' schedules. ABC, CBS and NBC will cover the news conference on broadcast, with Fox passing for the second straight time. Fox will air the two-hour So You Think You Can Dance from 8-10pm ET/PT. ABC will air the Obama News Conference live at 8pm ET/5pm PT, so this means an all-new Wipeout will be moved in Eastern and Central time zones to 9pm ET/8pm CT instead. I Survived a Japanese Game Show will also air an hour later, at 10pm ET/9pm CT. Charlie Gibson's Special Edition of 20/20 - Over A Barrel: The Truth About Oil will now be scheduled to air on Friday, July 24, 2009 at 10:00 PM ET/PT, because of this change. It had been scheduled to air 10pm ET/PT on Wednesday. In the Mountain and Pacific time zones, Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show will air in its normal time periods of 8pm PT/7pm MT and 9pm PT/8pm MT. A repeat of Primetime: Crime will air after them at 10pm PT/9pm MT. View our time zone schedule list for ABC on this date. Next up is CBS. They will also air the Obama News Conference live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. This will preempt the repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried in the East and Central at 8pm ET/7pm CT. They will air as planned in the Mountain and Pacific time zones in their regular time periods of 8pm PT/7pm MT, as the news conference airs live at 6pm MT and 5pm PT. Repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY will not be affected, and air as planned in all time zones. Finally, NBC will also air the Obama News Conference live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. In the East and Central, this will preempt the America's Got Talent encore from the previous day at 8pm ET/7pm CT. I haven't been able to 100% confirm, but it is likely that the encore will remain intact in the Mountain and Pacific time zones at 8pm PT/7pm MT, as the news conference airs live at 6pm MT and 5pm PT. An original America's Got Talent will air immediately following the news conference in the East and Central at 9/8 central and as planned in Mountain and Pacific time zones. The same goes true for The Philanthropist at 10pm ET/PT. Really only ABC is the most affected here, so if you're DVRing or watching, be aware of the changes!
Bio TV will honor the late Walter Cronkite tonight with a repeat of his Biography episode. It will air from 8-10pm ET tonight (Tuesday, July 21, 2009). The special 2-hour portrait of the war correspondent, TV broadcast pioneer, and anchorman who was beloved by almost all Americans. With vintage clips of his most famous newscasts, including his announcement of the death of President Kennedy. Because of this schedule change, Bio TV has shifted some of its primetime programming tonight to next week. View those changes. Stay with us tomorrow for details on new Biography episodes on Bio TV for August! AmericanLife TV will honor Walter Cronkite with the special Moments That Changed Us: Walter Cronkite. It will air today at 3pm, Wednesday at 3:30pm, and Thursday at 4pm. Throughout the 1960s, as the cost in American lives lost in the Vietnam War increased, Americans began to wonder what we were really accomplishing there. In the wake of the Tet Offensive in early 1968, Walter Cronkite, the venerable anchor of the CBS Evening News, went to Vietnam see for himself. His now-famous report from the front changed the face of journalism, changed the direction of the war and changed history. Veteran journalist Nick Clooney gets the story behind the story in a rare interview with Walter.
Nick at Nite has made a last minute schedule change that will be in effect for weekdays starting TONIGHT (Monday, July 20, 2009). George Lopez will now air 2-hours in primetime from 9-11pm now Sun-Thurs, as Family Matters gets replaced in the 10pm hour. George Lopez won't encore now at weeknights at 1-2am as a result of the change (except on Fridays), because the 10-11pm episodes repeat the next night at 9-10pm. Nick at Nite is not yet allowed to air the series for more than 2 episodes in 24-hours on a regular basis, since the series is still only in its second year in syndication. It enters its third season in syndication this fall. Maybe by then they can air more than 2 episodes a night? We'll see. Family Matters will move to 1-2am Mon-Thurs and weekend late night blocks of Fridays 3-5am, and Sat-Sun 1-3am, while The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air takes over the overnight on Mon-Thurs nights airing 3-6am. The Nanny will air 3-6am now on Sat-Sun nights. So, this means Home Improvement is off the weeknight line-up, as it was airing in the 5am hour. Not to worry, Home Improvement is still on Friday nights in the 5am hour. View the updated Nick at Nite schedule, and stay tuned soon for the August 2009 highlights!
WGN America has acquired another sitcom for its Outta Sight Retro Night on Sunday nights. Yesterday Barney Miller launched on the network, as we announced, airing Sundays at 9pm ET/6pm PT. Now they have acquired the '80s hit Cheers to air Sunday nights in the 11pm ET/8pm PT hour starting Sunday, August 2, 2009. Cheers will shift Bewitched to 12am ET/9pm PT and I Dream of Jeannie to 1am ET/10pm PT on Sunday nights, so this means The Honeymooners are off the line-up for now. Yes, Cheers will still remain on The Hallmark Channel as well. Hallmark airs it late nights on weeknights, while WGN America is airing it regularly on Sunday nights. This means the Outta Sight Retro Night looks like this starting at 5pm ET/2pm PT: The Cosby Show, ALF, WKRP, Newhart and Barney Miller. Then a one-hour break for the news and Cheers, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie close the night off, as mentioned above. At times Coach airs in the 4pm hour if there is no baseball game. Coach regularly airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET, and it does well for them. Stay with us in the coming weeks as we announce the WGN America fall schedule and see what more classics are in store! Stay with us!
Nick at Nite made a very last minute change late yesterday. They have replaced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the Mon-Thurs 10pm hour with Family Matters effective yesterday (July 13). If you all recall, Family Matters was in the original schedule to air in the 10pm hour, but Nick at Nite changed their mind. Family Matters will still air Sundays at 10pm as well, so the 10pm hour is Sun-Thurs for Steve Urkel and the gang. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is now only Mon-Thurs in the 4am hour. Nick at Nite has not updated their schedule for next week (week of July 20) and beyond, so it is still showing Fresh next week in the 10pm hour. It is unclear what will air Fridays at 11pm since Fresh Prince of Bel-Air airs there and this week the Friday schedule is preempted. I would guess Family Matters will get to replace that hour as well. This weekend Nickelodeon & Nick at Nite celebrate the SpongeBob 10th anniversary with a 50-hour marathon starting Friday at 8pm through Sunday at 10pm, preempting Nick at Nite on Friday, Saturday and for two hours on Sunday. Due to this marathon, George Lopez will air in the 1am hour this Sunday since it is preempted in the 9pm hour. Stay tuned for the latest on this change and to see what will happen beyond this week. Looks like Fresh Prince did bad last week when it started airing at 10pm? Looks like Malcolm in the Middle did decent for premiere week? We shall see soon if anything changes. View the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule thread to keep up with the up-to-the-minute details.
Last week's premiere of ABC Family's original comedy series 10 Things I Hate About You did solid in the ratings. ABC Family's newest original series launched as the net's No. 1 comedy series debut on record in Total Viewers (1.6 million), Adults 18-34 (509,000), Women 18-34 (396,000), Adults 18-49 (734,000) and Women 18-49 (574,000). The series stood as cable's No. 1 program in the time slot in Women 18-34 (396,000/1.2 rating), Women 18-49 (574,000/0.9 rating tied on rating), Viewers 12-34 (936,000/1.0 rating) and Females 12-34 (762,000/1.7 rating), and TV's No. 1 program in prime overall in Females Teens (367,000/3.0 rating) for Tuesday. The comedy out-delivered the ratings for the now canceled comedies Sophie and Roommates. Roommates launched to 1.5 million viewers but that was out of the season finale of Secret Life of the American Teenager which did 4.49 million that night. 10 Things I Hate About led off the night in primetime and did 1.6 million on its own, making this more impressive. 10 Things I Hate About airs its second episode tonight and needs to do similar to the premiere's ratings. Because by episode two Roommates was down to just 440,000 viewers, and this show doesn't want to drop that much. Sophie was dead on arrival. A second original sitcom Ruby & the Rockits will launch next Tuesday at 8:30pm following 10 Things I Hate About. Watch the second episode of 10 Things I Hate About tonight at 8PM ET/PT on ABC Family!
We were the first ones to mention yesterday (on our message board) that ABC has pulled In The Motherhood after just one episode since its return. The canceled sitcom has two more burn-off episodes left, and only aired once this summer. ABC will now double-pump Samantha Who? instead. Samantha Who? is now scheduled to air new episodes on Thursdays at 8:30 PM ET/PT on July 2 and 9 with the season finale airing on Thursday July 23, 2009 at 8:30. Just to be clear, Samantha Who? will also still be all-new in the 8:00 PM ET/PT time period on these three nights as well, as the series has 6 episodes left (on July 16, ABC has an ABC News special on J.K. Rowling scheduled). Don't forget Samantha Who? fans, to DVR or watch the entire 8pm hour tomorrow! No word if In The Motherhood will burn-off its final two episodes on another night, but we will certainly let you know. In other ABC updates, ABC has confirmed that the final two scheduled Sunday airings of Just for Laughs will also be at 7:30pm ET/PT on Sundays (July 5 and 12) like it was this past week. An abbreviated repeat of AFV will serve as its lead-in, before going back to its full-hour on July 19. Not sure how many episodes Just for Laughs has this third season, but only four were scheduled to air even before it started airing.
The daily classic TV summer marathons continue on Chicago's Me-Too this July. Continuing this July, Chicago's Me-Too will feature all-day marathons of classic shows! Me-Too, sister station of Chicago's Me-TV and WCIU-TV, showcases a different classic show every weekday from 10AM-10PM. One day you could be arrested by Kojak, the next you could be cruising in the Batmobile through Gotham City! The schedule for the month in order starting today is: The Greatest American Hero is today, followed by The Adventures of Superman, Black Sheep Squadron, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, In the Heat of the Night, The Untouchables, Kojak, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Batman, The Green Hornet, Get Smart, Eight is Enough, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, The Cosby Show, Little House on the Prairie, Wild Wild West, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide closes the month. As you can see, each week there is a theme. First week is super heroes, then dramas, crime solving, family, and westerns. View the schedule section on their website for episode info.
Nick at Nite closes second quarter as the number-one basic cable network with Women 18-49 in total day, averaging a 0.8 rating in this demo (448,000 viewers W18-49). Driven by hits like George Lopez, Nick at Nite also ranks as the number-two cable network with Adults 18-49 (behind only USA Network) for the quarter, averaging a 0.6 rating in this demo (668,000 viewers A18-49) and 1.5 million total viewers. George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program in second quarter, and has posted ratings growth since the show launched in September 2007. George Lopez averages a 0.6 rating in A18-49 (678,000 viewers A18-49) at 10 p.m. for the quarter and has posted gains of 20% with Adults 18-49 launch to date. George Lopez can be seen on Nick at Nite everynight at 10 p.m. and it will be moving to weeknights at 9 p.m. next week. In prime time (9-11 p.m. ET/PT), Nick at Nite averages a 0.6 A18-49 rating and 1.6 million total viewers for the quarter. Nickelodeon recently announced that it is extending the Nick at Nite programming block to encompass all three hours of prime time (8-11 p.m. ET/PT), providing viewers with a slate of family programming including the upcoming Nick at Nite premiere of Malcolm in the Middle on July 5. Year to date, Nick at Nite is averaging 1.5 million total viewers, a 0.6 A18-49 rating (679,000 viewers A18-49) and a 0.8 W18-49 rating (442,000 viewers W18-49).
Stay tuned tomorrow for TV Land August 2009! So come on back for that tomorrow!
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.
Tomorrow (Thursday, June 25) TV Land has added a Married...with Children block from 5:52pm-9pm ET/PT. Yes, it starts at 5:52pm replacing Little House on the Prairie, then an hour each of The Cosby Show and Roseanne. Married... with Children is doing well for TV Land and keeps getting extra airings. Don't forget the previously scheduled weekend marathon this week as well (Saturday 9:30am-8pm and Sunday 8am-2am). Episodes for this Thursday's block are from season four with episodes 73-77 and 79, after Marcy gets divorced from Steve. After the end of this week, the show is currently not scheduled for TV Land but don't be surprised if TV Land makes changes and adds it in again. We'll let you know if they do of course!
The premiere of the original TV movie Mr. Troop Mom on Nick at Nite on Friday, June 19, 8-10pm ET/PT, was basic cable's number-one original TV program for the night, drawing 4 million total viewers. With kids and tweens, the two-hour telecast was number-one on both broadcast and cable on Friday, and placed as cable's number-one original TV program with adults 18-49, with it being the third highest-rated telecast in 18-49, behind only USA's NCIS and Nick at Nite's George Lopez (both aired at 10pm). It averaged a 0.9 A18-49 rating (1.1 million A18-49). It was the number-two overall telecast with 4 million behind only USA's NCIS repeat at 10pm which did 4.42 million. The two-hour premiere set a new record as the Nick's highest-rated and most-watched original TV movie (not based on an existing series) with total viewers and Adults 18-49. Mr. Troop Mom — created in partnership with Warner Premiere and George Lopez Presents — stars George Lopez as ace attorney Eddie, who is M.I.A. for most events in his 13-year-old daughter Naomi's (Daniela Bobadilla) life. When Eddie volunteers for the Spring Action Classic — where Naomi goes up against mean-girl Skylar (Jianna Ballard) — treacherous rope courses, cutthroat canoe soccer and slippery slimeball wars are just the start of his introduction to the great outdoors and into his daughter's heart. George Lopez can be seen weekdays at 10 p.m. on Nick at Nite on his self titled show George Lopez, which is the number-one rated series on Nick at Nite.
Finally, Bio TV will salute Ed McMahon this Saturday with a Biography Remembers episode of his Biography episode. Bio TV will air the Biography at 10am and 4am this Saturday (June 27). The episode is titled Ed McMahon: America's Sidekick, first aired in 1998 it has interviews with Ed, Dick Clark, Jay Leno, Jack Klugman, Sinbad, and Jerry Lewis. Harry Smith hosts and narrates. Heeeere's Ed McMahon! Bio TV profiles his half-century in show business, which includes stints as dog-food pitchman, Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show, and host of Star Search, where he helped the careers of Sharon Stone, Rosie O'Donnell, Dennis Miller, and Sinbad.
We finally can release the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule! Malcolm in the Middle joins the Nick at Nite line-up with an all-night marathon on Sunday, July 5 from 8pm-1am and an encore from 1am-6am! Then the series will join the Nick at Nite line-up the next night airing Sun-Thurs in the 8pm hour and 12am hour (all times ET/PT). On Fridays it will also air in the 4am hour, in addition to 12am. Saturdays and Sundays it will air in the 2am hour as well. Yes, that means on Sundays it is on for three hours (8pm, 12am, 2am) So what does this mean for the rest of the schedule? George Lopez will still anchor primetime, but now since Nick at Nite starts at 8pm with Malcolm, the anchor will move to the 9pm hour on Sun-Thurs since primetime is now 8pm-11pm instead of 9-11pm! George Lopez will still lead-off Nick at Nite on Fridays & Saturdays in the 10pm hour, as Nick at Nite starts still at 10pm on those two nights. The 1am encore will remain Mon-Fri. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is back in primetime, Mon-Thurs in the 10pm hour and on Fridays in the 11pm hour. It will also air late nights Mon-Thurs in the 4am hour. Who knew this show would come back big? My guess is it is holding the hour for Everybody Hates Chris for the fall. The Nanny will remain in the 11pm hour every night but Friday (Fresh Prince). The late night hour moves to the 2am hour from Mon-Fri. And on Sat-Sun nights the late night airings are 3-5am. Family Matters moves to only the 3am hour now on Mon-Fri, with the Mon-Fri at 6am half-hour airings remaining. On Saturdays it is just in the 1am hour and on Sunday nights it will also air in the 1am hour but it will be in primetime as well in the 10pm hour. Home Improvement is now just every morning in the 5am hour, as it loses all of its slots, including primetime at 9pm. Anyway, on to the rest of the highlights. We have more than just the Malcolm in the Middle launch marathon. Sister network The N's new series The Assistants (launches Friday, July 10 at 8:30pm on The N) will have a special one-time encore on Nick at Nite on Friday, July 12 at 9pm, sandwiched in between Malcolm in the Middle and George Lopez. Nickelodeon will celebrate the 10th birthday of their megahit SpongeBob SquarePants with "The Ultimate SpongeBob Sponge Bash" from Friday, July 17 starting at 8PM through Sunday, July 19 at 9:30pm ET/PT. That's nearly 50 hours of non-stop SpongeBob! Finally, there will be a George Lopez marathon on Sunday, July 26 from 9pm-4am ET/PT, but we don't have details yet. Stay tuned. Once Nick at Nite officially announces these stunts and what is airing Sunday nights 1am-3am, we will let you know. For now view our Nick at Nite July 2009 thread and discuss the schedule with others.
We mentioned before that Scrubs was joining the regular schedule for Spike TV starting July 6, weekdays in the 11am hour, now that is not happening. The series had been airing on Thursday nights this month in the 1am hour and was set to join the regular schedule in July, but now instead Spike TV will air Spike's Most Amazing Videos in the 11am hour starting July 6. The other changes we mentioned starting July 6 will remain, including the return of Married...with Children from 9-11am on weekdays. At least Scrubs got to air Thursdays 1-2am on June 18 and will again this Thursday (June 25). It will also air Sunday morning this week. Scrubs will still be on sister network Comedy Central and also not to mention on WGN America and local broadcast syndication. Starting next week, Scrubs will only be 7-8pm on weekdays on Comedy Central as its 2:30-3:30pm slot will be taken over by MADtv, as Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist returns weekdays in the 8am hour. Just Shoot Me! will remain 3:30-4:30pm. Scrubs will still air in mini-blocks on weekend midday/early afternoons.
Nick at Nite is getting the 8pm ET/PT hour back! The last time they had the full 8pm hour was from 1985-1996. The 8pm half-hour was lost starting in Fall 1996. Then they eventually lost the 8:30pm half-hour as well a year or so later. They briefly got 8:30pm back in fall 2000, but eventually that was gone by summer 2001. But now the full 8pm hour is back! What show will Nick at Nite use? Malcolm in the Middle! Nick at Nite has acquired rerun rights to all 151 episodes of the family comedy from Twentieth Century Fox TV. Malcolm will become the anchor of Nick at Nite's primetime sitcom block, airing Sunday-Thursday in the reinstated 8pm hour starting Sunday, July 5. The single-camera comedy ran on Fox for seven seasons from 2000-06 and revolved around a budding teenager (Frankie Muniz), with a genius IQ in a family of misfits. Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston co-starred as parents Lois and Hal. The series will make a nice companion to fellow single-camera sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which will premiere in syndication this fall on Nick at Nite! Malcolm in the Middle will still remain on cable on FX, where it has been airing since fall 2007. FX has a 5-year deal, that runs though fall 2012. There has to be a time restriction for FX and Nick at Nite now. FX airs the show currently in the weekdays 7am hour and various times in the afternoons, mostly 3-4pm. So, if I were to guess, FX has rights from 7am-7pm, with Nick at Nite 7pm-7am? Just a guess, but it makes sense. The show is also on local broadcast syndication. It has been airing on local channels since fall 2004, but its term is up this fall (2009), so it seems it will leave locals this fall. View the press release and discuss this news! We will have more on Malcolm in the Middle soon, including how this will affect the full Nick at Nite schedule starting in July. Stay tuned! In other Nick at Nite news, they added a very last minute The Nanny marathon last night (Sunday, June 7), from 11pm-6am ET/PT and a special airing at 9:30pm as well. The show will also get a marathon next Sunday (June 14) from 9pm-4am, in case you didn't see it last night. It seems to me The Nanny is a surprise hit for the network.
Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has cleared reruns of sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine on local TV stations reaching more than 70 percent of the country, including the Tribune stations in New York and Los Angeles, for a Fall 2010 syndication launch. The New Adventures of Old Christine, which CBS just picked up for a fifth season, was picked up by Tribune-owned WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles and by Weigel-owned WCIU in Chicago. In addition, the show has been sold to other markets owned by the CBS, Sinclair, Fox, Local TV, Hearst, Raycom, Meredith, Acme, Titan, Roberts, Gannett, Capitol, Grant and Cox station groups. Old Christine will air as a double-run daily strip with two weekend broadcasts at the most on these stations. As previously mentioned, Warner Bros. has also sold reruns of Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm for a fall 2010 syndication launch as well. Entourage reruns will also air on cable on Viacom's Spike TV and Comedy Central before the syndication launch, in January 2010 as we mentioned. Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm have also added several more station groups to their clearances, including CBS, Sinclair, Fox, Local TV, Hearst, Raycom, Meredith, Acme, Titan, Roberts, Gannett, Capitol, Grant and Cox. Both shows already were cleared on the Tribune stations in 17 markets including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Both shows will air as daily strips with one weekend run at most on these stations. And now Entourage also "reportedly" has a run on Tribune's WGN America cable network starting in Fall 2010 as well, according to B&C. So by Fall 2010, Entourage will be in broadcast syndication, Spike TV/Comedy Central, and possibly WGN America. Curb is still looking for a cable home, as is Old Christine.
The Nick at Nite June schedule will begin this weekend with some changes to the weekend line-up. The changes begin this Friday (May 29), with now Friday looking exactly like Mon-Thurs, which will remain unchanged. That means, the 2am hour on Friday nights will be Fresh Prince replacing an hour of Family Matters, the 3am hour is now Home Improvement instead of Fresh Prince, 4am hour is The Nanny instead of Home Improvement, and the 5am hour is now Family Matters instead of The Nanny. So, now the schedule is the same 10pm-6:30am on Mon-Fri. Home Improvement remains 9-10pm from Mon-Thurs. And they have also matched-up Saturdays and Sundays to look the same. On both nights now 1am Family Matters is added instead of Home Improvement. So Urkel and the gang are 12-2am now on weekends. The Nanny also gets a two-hour block from 2-4am, with the 2am hour on Saturdays replacing Home Improvement. Home Improvement is now 4am on both nights replacing The Nanny on Saturdays and Family Matters on Sundays. And once again the only difference between the two nights is that Home Improvement airs on Sundays in the 9pm hour, as that airs Sun-Thurs at 9. George Lopez continues to dominate for the network every night at 10-11pm and weeknights at 1-2am. I know you want to see the full schedule, so view the full Nick at Nite June 2009 schedule. As of now, there are no special stunts, but that could change. The only thing to report is the new movie Mr. Troop Mom starring George Lopez is airing Friday, June 19 and Sunday, June 21 from 8-10pm for Father's Day. Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite partners with Warner Premiere and George Lopez Presents on Mr. Troop Mom, a film about single dad Eddie Serrano (Lopez), a workaholic lawyer/widower, who must climb mountains, ford streams and more as "Team Mom" in order to bond with his tween daughter in this camp-set comic adventure. The film also stars Jane Lynch (Another Cinderella Story, Role Models) as camp director Ms. Hulka, Daniela Bobadilla as Eddie's daughter Naomi and a special appearance by Nat and Alex Wolff of The Naked Brothers Band. Looking in the future: Nick at Nite will launch original animated series Glenn Martin, DDS on Monday, August 17 with a week-long premiere at 8pm for a half-hour each night from Aug. 17-20, before settling into its Tuesdays at 9pm half-hour. The series has a 20 episode order. More info soon!
CBS has finally announced their summer 2009 plans. All we knew so far was burn-offs and repeats of Million Dollar Password on Sundays at 8pm, which started May 24. First, Tuesdays at 10pm starting June 2 will now be 48 Hours Mystery replacing the canceled Without a Trace. Trace will get two Sunday repeat airings at 10pm on June 14 and June 21, its last airings likely. The Mentalist will get a feel of its upcoming Thursdays at 10pm slot when it airs repeats following CSI starting June 4. The Mentalist will continue to also air Tuesdays at 9pm through and including July 7, when Big Brother comes, but more on that in a bit. The Big Bang Theory will also move to its upcoming slot of Mondays at 9:30pm for repeat play starting June 8. It will remain in its current 8pm slot as well until June 22, when How I Met Your Mother repeats moves to its new 8pm slot. Airing at 8:30pm on Mondays starting June 22 will be repeats of Rules of Engagement, which will return with new episodes in early 2010. Finally, CBS's only summer original returns on Thursday, July 9...that's reality staple Big Brother. The series will air Thursdays at 8pm starting July 9, Sundays at 8pm starting July 12 and Tuesdays at 9pm starting July 14. On Thursdays it will replace comedy/crime repeats, on Sundays it will replace Million Dollar Password, and on Tuesdays it will replace The Mentalist repeats. So that's basically CBS summer...repeats, 48 Hours Mystery and Big Brother.
Finally, we end with the fall line-up for MyNetwork TV. They will rely a lot on off-network programming more than ever. They will start their fall line-up on Monday, Sept. 28. Airing on Mondays will be off-network reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 8 and 9pm. On Tuesdays, they will air episodes of first-run syndicated series Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? at 8 & 8:30pm and the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal at 9 & 9:30pm. The syndicated version of 5th Grader will launch this fall on local stations and also on Tuesdays on MyNetwork TV. On Wednesdays we have two back-to-back episodes of The Unit, which makes its off-network syndication launch this fall on both local stations and MyNetwork TV. CBS has canceled the series, so this will be your only way to watch the series in primetime, but they are just reruns. Thursdays and Fridays remain unchanged with Movie Night on Thursday and WWE Smackdown! on Fridays. As mentioned before, MyNetwork TV has handed Saturdays back to local affiliates to program, so both The CW and MyNetwork TV will now only focus on Mon-Fri. View and discuss the full Fall 2009 MyNetwork TV schedule.
Nick at Nite, which introduced The Nanny to its line-up on Mother's Day, is going to add more slots for the show. Last weekend, they expanded on the late night airings on weekends for The Nanny, expanding the one-hour slots to two-hours (Saturdays 3-5am and Sundays 2-4am). Now Nick at Nite is doing more. First, they will have an all-night marathon this Sunday (May 24) from 10am-2am (encores 2am-6am) ET/PT. Then The Nanny moves from midnight to 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays starting tonight (May 22), bumping Home Improvement. Family Matters takes over the 12 midnight slot on both nights. 1am-3am on Saturday nights will now be two-hours of Home Improvement. This may sound confusing, but the schedule is actually easier to follow a bit now with these changes, as now The Nanny airs every night in the 11pm hour and Family Matters in the 12am hour. View the full updated schedule for Nick at Nite. I don't have anything official yet, but it seems The Nanny is a surprise hit for the network.
The Cosby Show premiered on NBC on Sept. 20, 1984, nearly 25 years ago. This week some of the cast reunited on NBC's Today show. Bill Cosby (Cliff Huxtable), Phylicia Rashad (Clair Huxtable), Earle Hyman (Cliff's dad), Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo Huxtable), Geoffrey Owens (Elvin Tibideaux), Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy Huxtable), and Raven Symoné (Olivia Kendall) were together again. On Tuesday, they were heavily featured on the Today show. They spoke to both Matt Lauer and Al Roker. Roker was even in a Cosby sweater! If you missed it, not to worry, we have all the clips for you: It's the Huxtables! Behind the Scenes 25 Years Later Cast Answering Viewer Questions
RTN is coming to more Ohio stations! WAX Channel 35 in Cleveland and WAOH Channel 29in Akron, starting Monday, June 1 will carry RTN. Old favorites such as Magnum P.I., Kojak, Night Gallery and The Incredible Hulk will air between 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week. Speaking of RTN, it seems like they are changing their name to RTV, according to their website.
So we finished upfront this week, stay tuned tomorrow as we give a full preview to all the new sitcoms on the broadcast networks from Modern Family to The Middle to Accidentally on Purpose. We have about 10 new sitcoms coming in 09-10!
The CW is dropping Sundays this fall, so they will only program Mon-Fri. With only 10 hours a week of programming, space is limited. And to make things worse, they have 0 sitcom pilots in development, so all of their new series pick-ups will be dramas. Here is the SitcomsOnline.com The CW 2009-10 preview:
New Series Already Picked-Up: None. New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: Melrose Place (drama), The Beautiful Life (drama), and Vampire Diaries (drama). New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: Body Politics (drama) and Gossip Girl: Lily (drama).
Wednesdays 8:00PM America's Next Top Model 9:00PM The Beautiful Life(NEW!)
Thursdays 8:00PM Smallville 9:00PM Supernatural
Fridays 8:00PM The Game OR One Tree Hill 9:00PM One Tree Hill OR Privileged
Comments: The CW needs help and they need to improve ratings. With zero comedy, they are not a balanced network and have similar types of shows. For Mondays, Gossip Girl will likely continue to be leading off Mondays and they can try new drama Vampire Diaries at 9pm, as One Tree Hill can help another night. This block needs to do more than 3 million. Tuesdays should have the classic remake with 90210 and now Melrose Place. Melrose needs to do much better than 90210, which hasn't done too well, especially this spring. Wednesday will of course have America's Next Top Model followed possibly by a drama that is focused on models called The Beautiful Life, a new series from Ashton Kutcher. That could be the fit The CW was looking for, instead of wasting the timeslot with repeats of 90210. Thursday is The CW's best night I think...with Smallville and Supernatural, nothing needs to change here. Fridays will have to change, though. They need to be more aggressive. The CW could redevelop sitcom The Game into a one-hour comedy, as they have mulled the idea. I think they should go for that and it would be a nice way to start off the night. At 9pm instead of the Top Model repeats, how about being more aggressive and airing One Tree Hill? I'm not sure if that goes well with The Game, but nothing on the schedule with The Game goes with it but Top Model. The CW is not likely to bring back Everybody Hates Chris for a fifth season. Look for that in syndication next fall with repeats on Nick at Nite and BET. Reaper is the only other on the bubble show with a shot, but I don't see it returning. It is said ABC Studios is shopping the series for first-run syndication, and perhaps it would air on CW stations on Sundays with new episodes, since affiliates are now going to program Sundays this fall. A long shot of happening, though. People keep saying Privileged has a shot...why? With those terrible numbers it had, it has no shot I think unless Fridays is an option instead of The Game. Which come to think of it, that makes sense and could go well with One Tree Hill. For midseason, they should for sure pick-up The Body Politic. It sounds actually good and has a nice cast including Gabrielle Union, Tim Matheson, Jay Hernandez, and Brian Austin Green. It is said the Gossip Girl spinoff called Lily starring the gorgeous Brittany Snow is being passed, but I think they will need it come midseason, so they should order 6 episodes. If not, they will order another drama like Light Years to fill the void. You can say goodbye to the following shows Stylista, Reaper, Privileged, Everybody Hates Chris, 13: Fear is Real, 4Real, Easy Money, In Harm's Way, Valentine. The CW needs help for sure, I think they should start each weeknight with a proven show (Gossip Girl, 90210, Top Model, Smallville, The Game/One Tree Hill). It baffles me why they had no sitcoms in development. Too many dramas that are centered for female teenagers is too much. Discuss your thoughts on our prediction and feel free to make suggestions of your own.
Remember, next Thursday (May 21) is the actual date when we will find out The CW's plans for the 2000-10 season. So, come on back next Thursday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned on Saturday for our annual "weekend before upfronts rumbling." And as a reminder, stay tuned next week for all the final schedules released by all the networks! We will put them up as soon as they are released by the networks, so this will be your home to see them first!
We have some schedule news! First, ION Television will launch Ghost Whisperer in June! It was slated to begin in the fall, but will start earlier than expected. The show will air Mondays at 8pm starting Monday, June 1, 2009. It will replace two Reba episodes. Reba will continue to air weeknights in the 7pm hour and at times in the 8pm hour Wed-Fri, depending on the movies. For fans of Ghost Whisperer, or if you want to watch the show for the first time, the first five episodes will air in June (June 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29). So this is an update to the ION Television June 2009 schedule we previously announced. Ghost Whisperer will lead into two episodes of NCIS at 9 and 10pm on Monday nights.
Elsewhere, TV Land made a very last minute schedule change YESTERDAY that was in effect immediately! Some of you probably saw Roseanne airing from 9-10pm and 12-1am, airing between The Cougar. Roseanne was not set to launch on TV Land until June 5, so it started on May 13--three weeks earlier than planned. Roseanne will leave Nick at Nite effective immediately because of the change. It was only airing late nights on weekends anyway. Family Matters takes over the Roseanne slots on Nick at Nite. View the updated Nick at Nite May 2009 schedule. Back to TV Land, we also told you before that a second Married...with Children marathon was set for Thursday, May 14 (tonight) from 10pm-1am, and now TV Land has made that a weekly thing. So look for The Bundys every Thursday night in TV Land PRIME. Also, starting tomorrow the 6pm weekday hour will now be The Beverly Hillbillies, replacing Hogan's Heroes and Green Acres, which are leaving a few weeks earlier than planned. In the 7pm hour will be The Andy Griffith Show, as that show will air 7-9pm now. Though on Mondays it will still air its 7pm-12am marathons. Roseanne will air Tues-Fri in the 9pm hour and 12-1:30am on most nights. On Fridays, Roseanne will air from 9pm-2:30am, which means the TV Land PRIME Movie is gone. Will it remain in June? That still remains to be seen. On weekends, Roseanne is airing 1am-4am on Saturday nights and 1-3am on Sunday nights. Hogan's Heroes gets a half hour airing a week now, airing Sundays at 10am. The Cosby Show seems to be airing with Roseanne a lot, and gains the 11pm-1am slot on Saturday nights. And Three's Company moves from 1am-4am to 4am-6am on Saturday nights. Looks like 3rd Rock from the Sun is totally gone on this schedule! View the FULL new schedule that is in place now! Couple of points, TV Land will be going "off the clock" starting tomorrow...so the timings of shows will be way off. Just giving you a heads up, if you're taping something. And we're not sure what this means for June, as we already announced a schedule for that. As of now, these new changes are through the end of May. We will update you on any updates to the TV Land June schedule as soon as we get it. Stay tuned!
Come on back tomorrow for news on a sitcom coming to Lifetime in June!
Nick at Nite is total day's number-one basic cable network with Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49 for April, and ranking second only to sister-channel Nickelodeon among total viewers. April 2009 also marked Nick at Nite's most-watched April in its history with Adults 18-49, Women 18-49 and total viewers. And also, year to date, Nick at Nite is the number-one network with Women 18-49 and is number one with Adults 18-49 (tied in rating with USA Network). The April 2009 dates were from 3/30/09-4/26/09 and Nick at Nite averaged a 0.6 rating and 697,000 viewers A18-49 and 1.6 million total viewers for the month. With Women 18-49, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.8 rating and 464,000 viewers W18-49 (up 14% year-to-year). Among Men 18-49, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.4 rating and 233,000 viewers M18-49. And in prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers on average per night in April in primetime. Nick at Nite airs 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT in primetime. And that's not all! For the entire 2009 so far (12/29/08-4/26/09), Nick at Nite is averaging a 0.6 rating and 691,000 viewers A18-49 and 1.5 million total viewers for the year. With Women 18-49, Nick at Nite is averaging a 0.8 rating and 442,000 viewers W18-49 (up 14% year-to-year) for the year. Among Men 18-49, Nick at Nite is averaging a 0.4 rating and 249,000 viewers M18-49 for the year. And in prime time, Nick at Nite is averaging 1.7 million total viewers on average per night for the year in primetime. Nick at Nite's success are from shows like George Lopez and Family Matters, with The Nanny joining the line-up this Sunday!
As we alerted all of you on Sunday on our Twitter page, three classic TV moms were judges on a cook-off on The Rachel Ray Show yesterday. So if you missed that, then you missed our alert. Follow us from now on so you don't miss a beat! Anyway, we have a video clip from this cook-off for you to see. And oh the three classic TV moms are Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Partridge and Mrs. C! Classic '70s fever indeed! Brady Bunch, Partridge Family and Happy Days were three excellent classic family comedies. All three moms look very good still! Watch the video clip!
Meanwhile, the busy network month of pick-ups continues, with Fox. You won't have to wait until May 18 for the fate of one show at least because Fox has renewed creepy thriller Fringe from J.J. Abrams. Fringe has captivated audiences this season, winning its Tuesday time period weekly among key demographics and ranks as the No. 1 new series in primetime among Adults 18-49, as it has followed House in the fall and American Idol this winter/spring. One thing Fringe couldn't do well was hold a good percentage of those huge lead-ins much. The series has always had a huge lead-in, and that could change this fall with House expected to stay on Mondays. Could that break this series this fall? We shall see, but it get a chance to be tested! Fringe stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo, Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
We have mentioned many times that The Nanny is coming to Nick at Nite in spring 2009. Yesterday we gave you an actual date. That was for the all-night marathon launch on Sunday, May 10 from 9pm-6am ET/PT...now we have the regular airing schedule, along with the rest of Nick at Nite May 2009! Effective Monday, May 11, 2009 The Nanny will join the Nick at Nite line-up airing Sun-Thurs at 11:00pm & 11:30pm ET/PT. That will force Nick at Nite to move Family Matters, which is one of their big guns, to 12:00am & 12:30am ET/PT on Sun-Thurs nights. You might say why are they doing this? Now Nick at Nite will sandwich The Nanny in between big time ratings hits George Lopez (10-11pm) and Family Matters (12-1am). Now if The Nanny does falter, they can always switch it to midnight and move Urkel and company back to 11pm. Family Matters is replacing Home Improvement at 12 midnight. That hour of Home Improvement will move to Mon-Thurs 3-4am ET/PT, replacing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Fresh Prince will now only air Mon-Thurs from 2-3am, instead of the 2-5am block. The Nanny will also air 4-5am on Mon-Thurs nights, followed by Family Matters from 5-6am on Mon-Thurs nights, replacing Roseanne. Family Matters will also remain at 6am as well on weekdays. Now if you noticed the late night airings are Mon-Thurs (1am-6am) rather than Sun-Thurs like primetime (9pm-1am). On Sunday nights at 1am, we get back-to-back Home Improvement episodes replacing The Cosby Show, which is now gone from Nick at Nite. The Nanny airs 2-3am and Family Matters from 3-4am on Sunday nights, with Roseanne closing it out with a two-hour block from 4-6am. So now that Sun-Thurs is all done, we have Friday & Saturday left. Again it is broken up into two different pieces (10pm-1am and 1am-6am). On both nights we get a change at 12 midnight with The Nanny airing back-to-back episodes, replacing Family Matters. Family Matters moves to 2-3am on Friday nights and 1-2am on Saturday nights, both replacing Home Improvement. Home Improvement moves to 4-5am on Friday nights replacing Roseanne and 2-3am on Saturday nights replacing Family Matters. The Nanny airs 3-4am on Saturday nights replacing Family Matters. Family Matters late night airing on Saturday nights are now 4-5am, replacing an hour of Roseanne, which will only be 5-6am on Saturday nights now. 5-6am on Friday nights will be The Nanny, replacing Family Matters encore. In other May news, we get a George Lopez marathon on Tuesday, May 5 from 9pm-3am ET/PT called "Cinco de Lopez II." Celebrate Cinco de Mayo Lopez style! This is the first major schedule change in a while. It is hard to follow, but here is a recap: The Nanny joins, Cosby Show is gone, Fresh Prince & Roseanne are heavily reduced, and Family Matters and Home Improvement get some time shifting, while George Lopez's slots remain unchanged. Still confused? Don't worry, view the full Nick at Nite May 2009 schedule.
Adding a devilish touch to its line-up, TBS has greenlit the half-hour animated series Neighbors from Hell, which comes to the network from Fox TV Animation (same people who do Family Guy), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. and Jeffrey Katzenberg (Shrek). Pam Brady (South Park), who wrote the pilot episode, and Mireille Soria (Madagascar) will serve as executive producers. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of the series, marking the network's first foray into original primetime animation. The series should work well with reruns of Family Guy on TBS. Neighbors from Hell centers on the Hellmans, a typical, all-American suburban family, with Balthazor; his wife, Tina; their two children, Mandy and Josh; and their dog, Pazuzu. The only thing that distinguishes them from the rest of the folks in the neighborhood is that the Hellmans happen to be from Hell. They have been sent to Earth to pose as normal suburbanites with a mission to keep humans from finding their way to Hell. Their task is made all the more complicated by Balthazor's growing affection for humans and their odd but endearing qualities. TBS has not given a set launch period for this show as of yet.
Nick at Nite is making some late night changes starting this week. First, weekdays at 6am another Family Matters is replacing Full House, which is leaving the line-up. This started yesterday. The rest of the changes are to late nights on Friday nights and Sunday nights. Effective Friday, April 17 (which is technically early Saturdays) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air replaces Roseanne in the 3am hour with two episodes. Roseanne will still air 4-5am, though. Then Sunday nights starting Sunday, April 19 (which is technically early Mondays), Family Matters will replace Fresh Prince in the 3am hour, while Roseanne is added with a two-hour block from 4-6am replacing an hour each of Fresh Prince and Family Matters. View these changes in a list form, if you're confused. There are no other changes, so if a show is airing in a time we haven't mentioned, it is still airing in that slot. This is not all the news we have for Nick at Nite. We have a date for The Nanny launch! The Nanny launches on Sunday, May 10 at 9PM with an all-night Mother's Day marathon! The Nanny will then join the regular schedule the following night (Monday, May 11). When will it air regularly? I won't reveal that (along with the rest of the new Nick at Nite May 2009 schedule) until tomorrow! So come on back tomorrow! What will be dropped or reduced for the addition of The Nanny? You'll see tomorrow.
Also this Mother's Day, Spike TV is actually celebrating the day. Celebrate Mother's Day Spike-style with Spike TV's greatest mom of all time - Peg Bundy in a Married... with Children marathon on Sunday, May 10 from 1pm-5pm. The marathon is being called "MILF Day." Then on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25) catch a CSI NY marathon from 9am-7pm. Among the movie premieres in May include Any Given Sunday, The Color of Money, Gangs of New York, and two original movies - Kill Switch & Street Warrior. Spike will also have original episodes of its original series. As a preview to June, you'll see a CSI NY week-long marathon from 9am-7pm the week of June 22-26. The following week it will be CSI vs. CSI NY from 9am-3pm and a Star Wars movies marathon from 3pm-9pm the week of June 29-July 3.
As I hinted yesterday, ION Television has acquired a sitcom! They will start this sitcom on Monday, April 27! That date will mark the start of the ION Television May 2009 lineup! And the sitcom is...Reba! The WB/The CW 2001-2007 Reba McEntire sitcom joins the ION Television line-up on Monday, April 27 airing weeknights at 7:00pm & 7:30pm. It will also air Monday nights and Friday nights at 8:00pm & 8:30pm. And whenever a movie airs during weekdays in primetime (such as the weekly Thursday slot) and starts at 8:30pm or 9pm, Reba will air leading into it. The sitcom is distributed by 20th Century Fox. Reba also airs on cable on Lifetime TV as well, but ION Television is considered a broadcast station. Reba hasn't aired on broadcast stations since it aired on The CW Daytime. It will be weird because from Tues-Fri, Lifetime also airs Reba in the 7pm hour. That is very strange ION decided to air it at the same time! Did they not realize? Sound off on this on our Twitter page! The addition of Reba, will cause some shifting. The Drew Carey Show has been removed, as Quantum Leap, M*A*S*H, and Family Feud move back an hour each from 4pm-7pm to make room for Reba at 7:00pm & 7:30pm. ER has also been removed, as Reba will take over Mondays in the 8pm hour as well. Also, after the weekend of May 2-3, starting May 9, RHI Entertainment movies and miniseries will no longer air! We're not sure yet if this is the last of the RHI programming, since the deal expires soon, but the last scheduled programming is May 2-3 with the four-part, eight-hour miniseries Lonesome Dove. Big screen movies will replace RHI the following weekend, May 9-10. Among the big screen movie premieres this month are American President, Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 3, The Hunt for Red October, Presumed Innocent, The Mask, Angel Eyes, and The Fugitive! The big screen movie encores this month are Octopussy and Rocky IV. View the complete schedule and highlights for ION Television May 2009! Stay tuned tomorrow as we announce what sitcom is joining Lifetime in May. And I promise you, it isn't something airing elsewhere! We will also have our review of upcoming new sitcom for ABC starring Bob Saget called Surviving Suburbia tomorrow on the blog. Big Friday!
Nick at Nite scored its most-watched quarter ever in first quarter 2009 (Nielsen Media Research 12/29/08-3/29/09) with Adults 18-49 and Men 18-49. Driven by hit family programming like George Lopez, Nick at Nite produced double-digit gains among A18-49 and W18-49 this quarter, and has delivered 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth in delivery. Nick at Nite closes the first quarter of 2009 as the number-one cable network with W18-49 in total day, and the number-two network with A18-49. The first quarter for 2009 marked Nick at Nite's most-watched quarter ever with A18-49 and M18-49, averaging a 0.6 rating (690,000 viewers) among A18-49 (up 20%) and a 0.4 rating (254,000 viewers) among M18-49. Nick at Nite ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day for the first quarter of 2009, averaging a 0.8 rating (436,000 viewers) among W18-49, up 14% over last year. The network is number two in total day with A18-49 in the quarter as well. The network delivered 1.5 million total viewers on average, up 5% in viewers over the same time last year. In primetime, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 overall rating and 1.7 million total viewers for the quarter. George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program and has experienced growth of 40% in rating since its launch in September 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 A18-49 rating and 791,000 viewers among A18-49 in the first quarter of 2009. "Whappppah!" "I got this," indeed George!
For fans of Charles in Charge (and Scott Baio), the first season of the popular sitcom (with an amazing theme song) from 1984-85 is now available for enjoyment on NBC.com at any time! You can see the first season in its entirety featuring all 23 episodes. Charles in Charge has been added in the vintage section called "Video Rewind" joining other vintage series such as The A-Team, Simon & Simon, Alfred Hitchcok Hour, and Emergency! Charles in Charge is the first vintage sitcom to be added in the Video Rewind, though! Hopefully we get more Universal-owned sitcoms added to Video Rewind soon such as Amen, Out of this World, Still the Beaver, Harry and the Hendersons, and Bachelor Father. Those would be great because they are not on DVD, while Charles in Charge is. Even though they are on DVD, Gimme a Break and Kate & Allie would be good to have on here, too.
This April on Nick at Nite, there won't be any changes to the regular line-up...but they do have have "a whole lotta George Lopez." Yes, the week of April 6, is "Whole Lotta Lopez" week! From Mon-Thurs that week from 9:00pm-6:00am ET/PT and Friday of that week from 10:00pm-6:00am ET/PT it's non-stop George Lopez, all-night long! Nick at Nite is bringing you George Lopez for five full nights! Join Nick at Nite for the kind of laughter and excitement as only George can provide. Watch out! Catch the first 103 episodes of this hilarious show (but not counting holiday episodes, which means Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Super Bowl, and Valentine's Day.) So the following episodes are skipped: 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 35, 38, 40, 52, 61, 63, 64, 66, 85, 91 (#52 is actually not a holiday episode but the 3D Disneyland episode). So if you have never seen the show, now is your chance to get in on the action from the beginning! It is quite funny, too. I got this, as George would say. Sabes que, just watch and see yourself! And coming this May to Nick at Nite will be The Nanny joining the regular schedule. So stay tuned for news on that very soon! But for now view the Nick at Nite April 2009 schedule and highlights.
About ten days ago Chris Mann posted his interview with Three's Company's Joyce DeWitt and also an interview with me...and now Chris has more Three's Company updates! March 2009 is all about Three's Company at Chris' Retroality.TV as Three's Company celebrated 32 years on the air. Chris is labeling all this as the Three's Company 32nd Anniversary Retrospecial! First up, on his very creative Quit Yer Kitschin' blog section, Chris sums up all of the "Retrospecial" coverage while offering some "extras" about me, Andy Hermann and a person named Ryan Mooney, who wrote a new Internet sitcom pilot called Something About Ryan that's a bit of a contemporary take on Three's Company's comedy of misunderstandings and sexual innuendo, Chris says. Chris also use this blog entry to break news about a new, in-the-works Biography episode on Three's Company. Believe it or not, Biography has never done a full special on the show, but they have done Biography episodes on John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. We will keep you up to date on this breaking news. It'll likely air on the Biography Channel instead of A&E, as most of the Biography episodes do now. Chris also pays tribute to John on this blog entry and shares his journey with him where his book Come and Knock on Our Door is concerned (including all the publicity he did and the documentaries that resulted). It is a great story! I urge you to read this creative, informative and interesting blog story! And that is not all! Remember our good friends Nick Digilo and Andy Hermann of WGN Radio? Chris also interviews them for the Three's Company Retrospecial! If you don't know, Nick is a host of a popular radio show on WGN Radio on weekends and is a big pop-culture fan. Andy is the producer of that show and is a big Three's Company buff. He even does a semi-regular Three's Company Trivia Throwdowns on-air! He is good! I even sent him questions many times, and he has done good. They have interviewed Priscilla Barnes (Terri from Three's Company) and Richard Kline (Larry from Three's Company) on-air on separate occasions, so they were fun to hear! They also did interviews with Chris Mann on-air a few times. Good stuff! You can hear all that on their website, if you missed it. But first be sure to check out the interview Chris does with both Nick and Andy in the Retroality Radio Q&A! Wow, that's "a whole lotta Company!" We started the blog today with "a whole lotta Lopez" and end with "a whole lotta Company!"
NBC will serve up a sizzling menu of new and returning summer series -- accented by all-new original scripted programming with the series premieres of The Philanthropist, Merlin and The Listener - and paced by the new alternative series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Great American Road Trip plus the return of summer's top-rated America's Got Talent. I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, based on the international hit from Granada America, will debut as a two-hour television event on Monday, June 1 from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT and will be stripped over four weeks in June from Mon-Thurs in the 8pm hour. The series was briefly brought over to the U.S. in 2003 on ABC. In addition, NBC's season finales of Medium, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order and the premiere of The Listener will provide additional primetime momentum at 10 p.m. for the inaugural week of The Tonight Show Starring Conan O'Brien beginning Monday, June 1 from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET/PT. NBC's eventful summer will also include the action-packed original miniseries Meteor and The Storm. In addition, Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes from USA Network will join the NBC lineup for its 16 new episodes. Check out the full NBC summer schedule that starts June 1 basically.
Nickelodeon had their upfront yesterday, and of course Nick at Nite was there. They announced talent for their upcoming original animated comedy. Also, two Nickelodeon channels are renaming (more on that below), but first... A star-studded voice-over cast featuring Kevin Nealon (Weeds, Anger Management), Catherine O'Hara (For Your Consideration, Chicken Little) and Judy Greer (27 Dresses, Miss Guided) has been tapped for Nick at Nite's upcoming stop-motion animated comedy, Glenn Martin, DDS set to premiere this Summer. The first television production to come from Michael Eisner's Tornante Animation, Glenn Martin, DDS follows a beleaguered dentist and his family trading in the suburbs for life on the road. Crisscrossing the country, the Martins are beset by an array of colorful locals and crazy situations in locations ranging from Las Vegas to Amish Country. Many of the characters they encounter are voiced by enough instantly recognizable guest stars to fill a parking lot of RVs, including: Chrissie Hynde, Betty White, Gene Simmons, Wendie Malick and more. Each of season one's 20 episodes follows the life of Glenn Martin (Kevin Nealon), who yearns for a change of scenery and a deeper connection with his family. Determined to bring the family closer together, Glenn takes the Martins on a road trip to protest the destruction of a beloved childhood park. As things unravel right from the get-go, the family is forced to make the dental-mobile - replete with a giant decorative toothbrush on the roof - their new home. Glenn, Jackie and Courtney (Jackie Clarke) - an 11-year-old future corporate maven who brings along her personal assistant, Wendy (Judy Greer), a 14-year-old North Korean exile - and son, Conor (Peter Oldring), the 13-year-old hormone-addled tween who's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed--quickly learn when hitting the road that the road can sometimes hit back in unexpected ways. The Martins are accompanied on their journey by the family dog, Canine, who's pronounced buttocks only add to the hilarity. In other Nickelodeon upfront news, The N will be renamed to TEENick Network later this year, likely the fall. That is not all... Noggin will also be renamed. Noggin will be renamed to Nick Jr. Nickelodeon had programming blocks on their network for TEENick and Nick Jr. and they will now be dropped. The name changing for both networks is because Nickelodeon wants to show their Nickelodeon brand on all their channels so instantly they know what to expect such as Nick at Nite, TEENick, Nick Jr., and NickToons TV.
This April on ION will see a schedule change! The 6pm hour on weekdays is changing starting Monday, March 30. The Steve Harvey Show and Family Feud is being cut from the line-up and being replaced by M*A*S*H, which returns to weekdays after only airing weekends the last few months. M*A*S*H will also air sometimes in the 7pm hour on Thursdays, if the Thursday movie doesn't start earlier than 8pm. As for movies, ION is really showing us more big screen movies and seems to be preempting the RHI movies more in April. The big screen premieres for April are Jurassic Park III, Malice, Keeping the Faith, Deep Blue Sea, The American President, You've Got Mail, and The Negotiator. And the premieres of most of these are on Thursday, but there are a few that will be on a special Wednesday or Sunday airing as well. Some of these movies will run until 10:30pm only, so a filler episode of M*A*S*H will air...and in one case the movie ends at 10pm, so there is a 48 Hours Mystery sighting (April 23)! RHI movies include movies from the Jane Doe, Mystery Woman, and McBride movie franchises, and movies such as Shapeshifter, In the Beginning and Bloodknot. View the full ION Television April 2009 highlights with everything you need to know!
Nick at Nite has changed their mind! And it hasn't been even a week yet! The new schedule that was originally was supposed to be for a week (week of Feb. 23), was extended to March 2 and beyond...but now after just two weeks, the schedule prior to the Feb. 23 change returns! So, Home Improvement is back at 9pm and George Lopez's second airing is back at 10:30pm. This schedule returned last night and we only knew about it hours in advance, so we couldn't post it on the blog yesterday. So no more George Lopez at 9pm and a third Family Matters at 10:30pm. George is back to two episodes in the same hour, 10-11pm and Family Mattters is back to two episodes only from 11pm-12am, while Home Improvement gets it second airing back as it was only airing at 9:30pm, now it is 9-10pm again.
SOAPnet has also acquired all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. This acquisition is shared with sister network ABC Family, which has been airing the show for a few years now. Gilmore Girls will begin airing on Saturday, April 4, at 9PM and 10PM. The series will also air on Sundays from 6-8PM. Gilmore Girls revolves around single mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her daughter, and best friend in the world, "Rory" (Alexis Bledel). Set in a storybook Connecticut town populated with an eclectic mix of everyday folks and lovable lunatics, Gilmore Girls is a humorous multigenerational series about friendship, family and the ties that bind. The series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. There will be some changes to weekends as a result, The O.C. moves to 8am (Sat & Sun). One Tree Hill moves to 9 & 10am (Sat). Beverly Hills, 90210 moves to 11am-3pm (Sat) and 9am-1pm (Sun). And the General Hospital Marathon moves to 1-6pm (Sun). There will be no changes to weekdays. Meanwhile, SOAPnet has also acquired more movies and is producing original series. The theatrical titles the network has acquired from Twentieth Television are How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Brokedown Palace, Object of My Affection and The Fabulous Baker Boys. The titles from Disney ABC Domestic Television include While You Were Sleeping, Tuck Everlasting, Bounce, Three Men and a Baby, Three Men and a Little Lady, Miami Rhapsody and Adventures in Babysitting. The movies will begin airing in March. As for originals, Holidate is a reality special that takes two women who are looking for love but having no luck with the suitors in their individual cities and transports them into each other’s lives. The women will temporarily trade homes, spend time in each other's cities and date the men in each other's lives. They'll be able to communicate with each other throughout the journey. Holidate begins production in March and will premiere this Fall. In addition to Holidate, the other reality series in development from ABC Media Productions is Mother/Daughter Project (working title). In the series, celebrity mother-daughter pairs with huge relationship issues are brought together to work out their problems under the guidance of a renowned therapist. The format is from Outline Television and will be produced in association with ABC Media Productions. The scripted series in development are Julia's Tango and Santa Monica. Julia's Tango is a one hour scripted series set in Buenos Aires. Despite her great job and devoted boyfriend, Julia feels stifled by a life of endless routine. On an impromptu trip to her hometown of Buenos Aires, she abandons it all to turn her family home into a bed & breakfast. With the help of her girlfriends, Julia embarks on an unpredictable detour she didn't know she needed. The format of the series is from Endemol. SOAPnet will produce the series in conjunction with Endemol. Santa Monica is a one-hour dramedy about four twenty-something best friends living together and embarking on adulthood. The series follows their journeys as they cope with obstacles in love lives, family lives and careers. Whether they're dealing with a broken heart or a career setback, they take comfort in the fact that they always have each other.
From the network that brought you "Luck 'o the Lopez" last St. Patrick's Day, brings you "Lopezadrine." It is an all-night marathon of George Lopez on Nick at Nite, clinically proven to reduce the risk of boredom by 800%. Used correctly, Lopezadrine is guaranteed to keep you laughing throughout the night. The seven hour marathons airs from 9pm-4am on Sunday, March 15, 2009. In other Nick at Nite news, last week the schedule was changed for that week only, with George Lopez at 9 and another Family Matters at 10:30pm from Mon-Thurs. Now that schedule will be in effect until further notice, as you all probably noticed this week. So we have George at 9, Home Improvement at 9:30, another George at 10, triple shot of Family Matters from 10:30pm-12am, followed by double shots of Home Improvement and George Lopez in the 12 and 1am hours. The Mon-Thurs nights conclude with a Fresh Prince block from 2-5am and an hour of Roseanne mornings at 5am. No changes will be made to the Fri-Sun blocks. View and discuss more about Nick at Nite March.
On Friday, we mentioned BET removed the March Saturday marathons...guess what? Now they're back! Some things have changed from the original plan, but they are back. Originally this coming weekend was supposed to be Family Matters, but we will now get a mix of One on One (from 12pm-4pm) and The Game (4pm-6pm). Earlier the Proud Family Movie airs from 9-11a followed by two episodes of the series. So get ready to spring forward that night, as the clocks go ahead an hour. BET will air The Game encores before and after that from 2-3am EST and 4-5am EDT. So that will technically air back-to-back in a two-hour block. The following Saturday (March 14) we have One on One again from 12pm-4pm followed by a 12-hour marathon of sister station Nick at Nite's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 4pm-4am! The week after (Saturday, March 21) will be another series from sister station Nick at Nite, this time Family Matters. The marathon will also continue to the next day on Sunday, March 22. On Saturday Steve Urkel and company will air from 10am-11pm. That's thirteen "lucky" hours of Urkel. And if that's not all the following day (Sunday, March 22), the show will air from 1pm-6pm, for an additional five-hour block. Finally, March madness ends with a marathon of Season 2 episodes of The Game on Saturday, March 28 from 2pm-2am...so a nice 12-hour marathon. As always with BET, this is all subject to change...and we're the only ones on top of this, so stay with us! Check out episode info for the marathons, as we post it (we will only provide the full-fledged marathons such as Fresh Prince, Family Matters and The Game on March 28).
BET has acquired reruns of current CW sitcom, The Game! The Game is a spin-off of Girlfriends, which also has its reruns on BET (and WE tv), and is in its third season on The CW. The show aired on UPN in its first season. The Game will launch on BET on Monday, Feb. 23 and air weekday afternoons at 1 & 1:30pm ET and weeknights at 11 & 11:30pm ET. So this is how BET's acquired series schedule looks starting Feb. 23 for weekdays: 9am Montel Williams Show, 10am-12pm Judge Hatchett, 12pm-1pm The Steve Harvey Show, 1-2pm The Game, 2-4pm One on One, 4-6pm Smart Guy, 11pm-12am The Game, and 3-4am Hell Date. On Saturdays the schedule looks like: 9-10am Just Jordan, 10am-12pm The Proud Family, 12pm-2pm Smart Guy, and 2pm-4pm One on One. On Sundays usually from about 1-3pm we see a block on One on One. So it seems since we last reported about BET, Judge Karen, Girlfriends, Romeo!,, and A Different World all seem to be off the schedule. Girlfriends will likely still air in special blocks/marathons again, but seems to have left the regular schedule. We'll continue to monitor the schedule on BET if anything changes.
Nick at Nite finally officially released their February 2009 information yesterday. Once again, there are no schedule changes to the regular schedule but we do have a special stunt on Valentine's Night. Love is in the air at Nick at Nite, so grab that special someone and settle in for an evening of Valentine's Day themed episodes from your favorite TV families. Back-to-back Valentine's/loved themed episodes of George Lopez, Home Improvement, and Family Matters will air on Saturday, Feb. 14 from 10pm-1am ET/PT. Other than that, nothing special. However, the week of Feb. 23, for some reason Mon-Thurs that week, George Lopez is airing its two episodes at 9pm and 10pm, Home Improvement at 9:30pm, and Family Matters from 10:30pm-12am. The 12am-6am schedule is the same. I am told it is for that week only. Stay tuned for more details, if anything transpires. View the full details on Nick at Nite February 2009, including a list of episodes for the Valentine's block.
As we mentioned yesterday, today we will give you highlights of Nick at Nite January 2009! Once again, the regular schedule will remain the same, as we mentioned yesterday the line-up is doing very well in the ratings. Their #1 show George Lopez will get a five-day, all-night marathon from Monday, Jan. 5 through Friday, Jan. 9! It will be called "La Vida Lopez" George Lopez marathon! Can't get enough of George Lopez? Nick at Nite will air back-to-back George Lopez episodes for five nights straight all-nite long from 9pm-6am. Come early and be ready to laugh all-nite into the wee hours. Also, Family Matters fans take note...Nick at Nite will break into the regularly scheduled episodes starting Monday, January 12, so it can show you season one episodes! Nick at Nite has never showed season one, just three episodes (#4, #17, #21) from stunts. All 22 season one episodes will air in a row before going back to where it last left off on Jan. 11. The last season one episode airs on January 21 at 11:30pm, then it goes back to where it left off on Jan. 11 with #105/106 on Jan. 22. View more on Nick at Nite January 2009 and also discuss it.
We told you before that BET will be having Christmas marathons featuring their sitcoms. Now BET has revised its Christmas sitcom marathons. Kicking off the sitcom week of marathons now will be Family Matters! Yes, Family Matters! The show will be only airing for a one-time only marathon and is being borrowed from sister Viacom station Nick at Nite. Both BET and Nick at Nite are owned by Viacom. Top-rated Urkel episodes and all the Christmas episodes will air. Family Matters marathon kicks off marathon week on BET on Tuesday, December 23 from 9am-6pm with select episodes being repeated from 12am-4am. Then on Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24), it will now be a marathon of the sitcom One on One from 9am-6pm. On Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25) itself, as we mentioned before, Smart Guy will air from 9am-8pm. A Different World fans can see a Christmas episode of the series that night at 3am. On Kwanza (Friday, December 26) we now get a marathon of the animated sitcom The Proud Family. The series will join the BET line-up in January, and we will have more details on that soon! The marathon will air 9am-8pm leading into the BET premiere of the feature film The Proud Family Movie. The series originally aired on Disney Channel. Finally, the marathons end with Girlfriends on Saturday, December 27 from 9am-4am, as we mentioned. View episode info for BET Sitcom Holiday Week.
The 15th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) nominees were announced today. Leading the pack were Boston Legal, Mad Men, The Closer and 30 Rock with 3 nominations each. Among the broadcast networks, NBC led with 8 nominations and ABC was right behind with 7. HBO led all networks with 9 nominations. The awards will air Sunday, Jan. 25, on TNT and TBS at 8 PM ET/PT. Here are the main TV nominees:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane – Boston Legal (ABC) MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – Dexter (Showtime) JON HAMM / Don Draper – Mad Men (AMC) HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX) JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore – Boston Legal (ABC)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC) MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko – Saving Grace (TNT) ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - Mad Men (AMC) KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson – The Closer (TNT)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC) STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – The Office (NBC) DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody – Californication (Showtime) JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold – Entourage (HBO) TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk – Monk (USA)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly – Samantha Who? (ABC) AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez – Ugly Betty (ABC) TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC) MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin – Weeds (Showtime) TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters – Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Boston Legal, ABC Dexter, Showtime House, Fox Mad Men, AMC The Closer, TNT
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock, NBC Desperate Housewives, ABC Entourage, HBO The Office, NBC Weeds, Showtime
ION Television will returns a few series this January 2009, while dropping one and reducing another. But first the series that will be dropped will get more plays the first few weeks of January. For the weeks of December 29 and January 5, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper will air in the weekdays at 4-5pm hour replacing M*A*S*H. M*A*S*H will remain in the 6-7pm hour on Saturdays and Sundays. Cooper will also still air in its Mon-Thurs 6-7pm hour the week of December 29 but for the week of January 5, those airings will be moved to 5-6pm, as The Steve Harvey Show moves to the Mon-Thurs 6-7pm hour. Then effective the following week, January 12, both hours of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper will be replaced by the sitcom The Drew Carey Show (weekdays 4-5pm) and sci-fi drama Quantum Leap (Mon-Wed 5pm), as both series return to the line-up, while. Mr. Cooper is leaving the line-up totally for now. Also, on Thursdays starting Jan. 8 from 5-8pm will now be encores of theatrical movies leading into Total Theatre Thursday at 8pm. This is in addition to the encores on Fridays from 5-7pm. So, the regular series airing from 5-8pm will only be Mon-Wed, but 4-5pm (Drew Carey) gets five days a week. In primetime, NCIS and Boston Legal will still rule, but a few minor changes will occur. Effective week of Jan. 5, NCIS will now air for the full night on Mondays from 8-11pm, while Boston Legal will now air for the full nights on Tuesdays & Wednesdays from 8-11pm. This is a better way to remember when these shows are on, as previously NCIS was on Mondays 9-11pm and Tuesdays 9pm, while Boston Legal was on Mon-Wed 8pm, Tuesday at 10, Wednesdays 9-11pm...confusing, now it is much easier. Of course Thursdays will be the theatrical movie in primetime and Fri-Sun in primetime it is the RHI film. As for those movies, the theatrical ones will be James Bond themed for the most part in the month as we see classic '80s Bond flicks For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to Kill (1985) on Thursdays in primetime, with a Bond week of these three films airing in primetime from Jan. 27-29. On New Year's Day we get the theatrical movie Double Impact (1991) in primetime on Thursday. Thursday and Friday early evening airings (Thursdays 5-8pm, Fridays 5-7p) include those movies above encores, Matchstick Men, Major League: Back To The Minors, and Sphere. As for RHI Entertainment, some first time airings will air such as To Dance with Olivia, National Lampoon's Attack Of The 5'2" Women, Final Days of Planet Earth, and Human Trafficking. ION will also premiere the world premiere event for the miniseries The Diplomat on Saturday, January 24. View complete details on ION Television January 2009.
Nick at Nite is total day's number-one basic cable network in 2008 with Adult 18-49 delivery. Marking its most-watched year in four years with A18-49, Nick at Nite placed second overall only to sister-channel Nickelodeon for the year with total viewers. The network posted 11 consecutive months (January - November 2008) of double-digit growth this year with both A18-49 and total viewers. Nick at Nite is ranked number one with Adults 18-49 for 2008 in total day, according to Nielsen Media Research (12/31/07-12/14/08)--averaging a 0.6 rating (655,000 viewers 18-49) A18-49 (up 20% in rating over last year), and marking its most-watched year in four years with A18-49. BOTH men and women watch. Among Men 18-49, Nick at Nite is cable's fastest-growing cable entertainment network, averaging a 0.4 rating (245,000 viewers) M18-49 (up 33% in rating) -- its most-watched year ever. Nick at Nite was the number-one ranked network with Women 18-49 for the fifth straight year in total day, averaging a 0.7 rating (410,000 viewers) W18-49 (up 17%). In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers--up 40% over last year (Nick at Nite airs 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT in primetime with Home Improvement and George Lopez hours). Driven by family comedies and new original hits such as George Lopez, Family Matters, Home Improvement, and Gym Teacher: The Movie, Nick at Nite's programming highlights include: * George Lopez (airs regularly at 10 p.m. [all times ET/PT]) averaged a 0.6 rating (716,000 viewers 18-49) with A18-49 (10 p.m.) for the year, up 50% over last year's like time period. The series also encores at 1 a.m. and does even better. * Family Matters (airs regularly at 11 p.m.) averaged a 0.7 rating (753,000 viewers 18-49) with A18-49 in 2008, up 40%. * Home Improvement (airs regularly at 9 p.m.) averaged a 0.4 rating (450,000 viewers 18-49) A18-49, up 33% over last year. The series also airs at 12 a.m. and does even better. * Gym Teacher, a Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite original TV family movie (premiered Friday, Sept. 12, 8 p.m.) was the number-one telecast on broadcast and basic cable television for the night with kids 2-11, earning a 4.6 kids 2-11 rating and 1.6 million kids 2-11 viewers, up 59% over last year. Gym Teacher: The Movie drew 3.0 million total viewers (up 73%). Stay tuned tomorrow for highlights and insight for Nick at Nite January 2009!
Nick at Nite has released its November 2008 highlights and schedule, and once again there are no changes to the line-up. We do have a stunt for Thanksgiving though. They will air a marathon of Thanksgiving episodes on "Thanksgiving Nite" from 9pm-12am ET/PT. Viewers will get to see how Nick at Nite's favorite families celebrate Thanksgiving. They invite neighbors, they go to a NFL game, they go away on vacation, they help homeless shelters, and they go to a massage parlor...huh? You'll see all that on Thanksgiving night as Nick at Nite presents Thanksgiving episodes of Home Improvement, George Lopez and Fresh Prince! That's it...nothing else is out of the ordinary in November, so expect to see the regular line-up on other days in November. See the Nick at Nite November 2008 Schedule and Highlights.
Effective immediately CBS has removed first year Friday drama The Ex-List off the Friday line-up. This Friday, the first Friday of November sweeps, CBS will air a repeat of NCIS in the Ex-List timeslot of Friday at 9pm. The timeslot is very weak and at times Ex-List wins its slot in total viewers, but this past Friday the show was very weak in 18-49 losing to first place Supernanny on ABC. Last night Game 5 of the World Series on Fox was suspended after 5 1/2 innings because of rain in Philadelphia with the score tied at two. The game was supposed to resume tonight at 8pm, but due to still bad weather conditions, the game won't resume until Wednesday night at 8:30pm. Wednesday night was supposed to be game 6 in Tampa Bay, but that will be moved to Thursday night, if it is necessary. If Philly wins the continuation of the suspended game, the series is over and they are the champs, winning 4 games to 1. If Tampa Bay can win the next two games, game 7 will likely be on Friday now. Stay tuned... Also, ABC will not air the Obama Ad on Wednesday at 8pm. ABC was in discussion to air the ad, but now they are not going to. CBS, Fox, and NBC will air the ad. So, ABC will be the only network airing scripted programming in the half-hour with the very creative series Pushing Daisies...tune in!
Lost '80s Week continues tonight at 8pm ET (5pm PT) on WGN America with another Three's Company spin-off, this time ... The Ropers! See how Jeffrey Tambor got his start. Tomorrow night WGN America will air the '80s sitcom Too Close for Comfort, and we will have an interview with Lydia Cornell (Sarah on Too Close for Comfort) tomorrow right here on the blog! It will be of course in our Seven Questions format and she gave us so much, that we have an additional segment where Lydia talks about things for the first time! How was her working relationship with star Ted Knight? That's just SOME of the things you'll read tomorrow! You'll want to read this!
ABC Family will make a schedule change starting next week (Monday, October 13). From 3-4pm back-to-back episodes of Full House will air weekdays instead of 8 Simple Rules. Full House used to air in this time period before 8 Simple Rules moved from 6-7pm to 3-4pm last month. As of now, 8 Simple Rules will be off the line-up totally, while Full House also will still air in its other weekday slot of 12-1pm. ABC Family has listed the change as Oct. 13-31 only, but that doesn't mean it won't be in effect for November as well. ABC Family November will be announced soon and hopefully 8 Simple Rules is either back from 3-4pm or placed in another time period. We will certainly let you know! There are no other changes to the line-up starting October 13.
As a reminder, TV Land premieres its new TV Land PRIME block in primetime tonight. This is NOT your Father's TV Land. Beginning, tonight, October 6, 2008, the network launches TV Land PRIME, a new primetime programming destination designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s and 50s, catering specifically to people in their mid-40s. Equipped with a new logo, color scheme and on-air graphics, as well as the premieres of the original series Myths & Legends and the hit sitcom 3rd Rock From The Sun, TV Land PRIME will air Monday through Friday, 9PM to Midnight ET/PT with programming that is entertaining, engaging and escapist. Moving forward, all of TV Land's original programming, including the return of hit franchises High School Reunion, She's Got The Look, and the original series The Cougar, contemporary television series acquisitions and movies will premiere solely in this daypart. Scrubs, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the Friday MovieLand block round out the TV Land PRIME schedule.
Last night Nick at Nite aired the 1st Annual Worldwide Fido Awards! And the winner was...a toilet-flushing, skateboarding bulldog named Gabe from Bellingham, Washington (bow) wowed the celebrity judges of Nick at Nite's First Annual Worldwide Fido Awards -- telecast on Sunday, October 5 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT -- to fetch top dog honors. The champ triumphed over five other talented finalists, including a deep diving Labrador Retriever and a Schubert-humming Golden Retriever. All were revealed, showcased and saluted in the one-hour canine competition honoring the family dog, hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard and judged by Kevin Nealon, Vivica A. Fox and dog trainer to the stars Tamar Geller. View the full press release.
BET will be adding another sitcom! This time they will add the sitcom One on One to their weekday line-up beginning Monday (October 6). The show will air weekdays at 3:00pm & 3:30pm ET/PT, creating a sitcom block from 3-6pm on weekdays with Steve Harvey and Smart Guy still airing in the 4 and 5pm hours. One on One will also get a weekend marathon on Saturday, October 11 from 2-5pm (following a Smart Guy marathon from 11am-2pm) and on Sunday, October 12 from 1-4pm. The show will regularly on Saturdays from 12-2pm and Sundays from 1-3pm. The new Saturday schedule is now 9-10am Just Jordan, 10-11am Romeo!, 11am-12pm Smart Guy, 12-2pm One on One, 2-3pm Steve Harvey, 3-4pm Girlfriends, and 4-5pm Judge Hatchett. The new Sunday schedule is now 12-1pm Steve Harvey, 1-3pm One on One, and 3-4pm Girlfriends. One on One will also get a special block on Columbus Day (Monday, October 13) from 2-6pm. About One on One: Intelligent and outspoken, the in-your-face 17-year-old Breanna Barnes (Kyla Pratt) loves attention. Anywhere there's a crowd, you can bet she's at the center of the action. Breanna's sportscaster dad, Flex (Flex Alexander), is a fun-loving ladies' man who not only wants to be a responsible parent, but also wants to be his daughter's best friend. Flex is happy giving Breanna the freedom to make her own choices, but only if she is willing to accept the consequences.
Nick at Nite, driven by hit family programming like George Lopez and newcomer Family Matters, scores its second consecutive quarter as total day's top cable network with Adults 18-49 (from 6/30/08-9/28/08). Nick at Nite soared in third quarter 2008 with high double-digit gains among its A18-49 and total viewer (P2+) audience, and has delivered 11 consecutive months of double-digit growth since last year. Nick at Nite is ranked number one with A18-49, for third quarter 2008 (3Q08) in total day, averaging a 0.6 rating and 667,000 viewers 18-49 and up 20% over last year. With P2+, the network delivered 1.5 million total viewers, up 22%. Nick at Nite ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day this quarter (0.7 rating and 416,000 18-49 women viewers, up 17% over last year). In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.7 million total viewers (P2+), up 40% over last year. Family Matters, which joined the network's schedule in 3Q, is Nick at Nite's number-two program in total day, only behind George Lopez. Family Matters averaged a 0.7 rating and 775,000 viewers A18-49 at 11 p.m., up 40% over last year's time period. George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program and has experienced growth of 40% in rating since launching in September 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 rating and 768,000 viewers A18-49 at 10 p.m. for the quarter, up 75% over last year's like time period. Home Improvement remains a growth engine for Nick at Nite, and averages a 0.6 rating and 654,000 viewers A18-49 in total day for 3Q08. Its ratings have grown 20% since launching on Nick at Nite in September 2007.
Fox has announced that Fringe is the second new show this fall to be picked-up for a full season, joining The CW's 90210. Both shows launched a few weeks before the season. Fringe has benefited from airing behind House, which is down big from last fall, but still strong. Fox has ordered an additional nine episodes for Fringe, bringing the series to a full season order of 22 episodes. New episodes return Tuesday, October 14 because next week is the second Presidential Debate.
Scorecard for New Series: Picked-Up for Full Season: 90210, Fringe Canceled: Do Not Disturb On Verge of Being Picked-Up: The Mentalist On the Fence: Hole in the Wall, Worst Week, Gary Unmarried, Knight Rider, Opportunity Knocks, Privileged Still Yet to Premiere: The Ex-List, Life on Mars, Kath & Kim, 11th Hour, My Own Worst Enemy, Stylista and The CW's MRC Sunday Block
This October on Nick at Nite will have various stunts such as an Urkel week hosted by Jaleel White and the 1st Annual Worldwide Fido Awards. At last an award show for real dogs! Forget the pedigree, purebreds and professional judges! The dogs on this show are chosen by you the viewer! The one-hour special event hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard will showcase the six Fido finalists and best of WorldwideFido.com's user-generated videos, where one lucky dog will ultimately be crowned the 2008 Worldwide Fido winner. It will air Sunday, October 5 from 8-9PM. On Columbus Day (Monday, October 13), Nick at Nite will bring out the stars on George Lopez with a marathon from 9pm-4am. Got a favorite guest star? Check out the special line-up of hand picked celebrities all of whom have graced the George Lopez stage to see if your favorites made the cut! Eva Longoria, Mario Lopez, Jerry Springer, Adam West, Barbara Eden, Jim Belushi, Sandra Bullock, Lou Diamond Phillips, Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff, Richard Lewis, Kimberly Williams, Laila Ali, Andy Garcia, who made the cut? Find out on October 13! Get up close and personal with Steve Urkel himself (Jaleel White) as he reminisces with Nick and Nite on what it was like to play one of America's favorite nerds and his favorite episodes. Jaleel White hosts an hour a night from Oct. 20-26 featuring classic Steve Urkel-themed episodes of Family Matters. Classic episodes include his very first episode, Jaleel as Myrtle Urkel, the Urkel dance episode, Urkelbot, Urkel & Grandmama, and classic Stefan episodes. Finally, it's a spooktacular week for Nick at Nite the week of October 27-31. Tune in all-week long to catch Halloween themed episodes of your Nick at Nite favorites (Fresh Prince, George Lopez, and Home Improvement) in the 9pm hour and also in regular timeslots for more Halloween fun. It will be capped off with a Halloween marathon on Halloween night from 10pm-1am featuring George Lopez, Home Improvement and Family Matters. Be ready for the scary Stevil! View the full Nick at Nite October 2008 schedule and highlights.
Continuing the aggressive expansion of its comedy programming, Lifetime Television has acquired the exclusive basic cable rights to the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother from Twentieth Television, beginning in the fall of 2010. How I Met Your Mother joins Lifetime comedy mainstays such as Reba, Still Standing, Will & Grace and Frasier. So far in 2008, Reba ranks #1 in cable comedies among W18+ and W25-54 in the Monday-Friday, 8-9PM (ET/PT) time period. Both Lifetime and Twentieth Television declined comment on the financial terms of the deal, but sources said the sitcom fetched around $725,000 per episode in a highly competitive bidding situation that included at least six interested cable nets, including TBS, ABC Family and FX. The deal will be a four-year deal and could add on a year each time it gets renewed on CBS. The deal can reach as high as eight years. Lifetime's deal is the second biggest license fee ever by a cable network for a sitcom in the first cycle, beaten only by the near $800,000 an episode that FX did for Warner Bros. Domestic's Two and a Half Men. Lifetime can also reportedly air two episodes a week by early next year before it can be stripped for daily play in fall 2010. Last week, Twentieth TV scored deals with the Fox-owned TV stations in N.Y. (WNYW), L.A. (KTTV) and Chicago (WFLD) for reruns of How I Met Your Mother for local station play starting in fall 2010. Stations in five other major markets, including CBS-owned outlets in Philadelphia (WPSG) and Dallas (KXTA) bought the series. WLVI Boston, KQCA Sacramento, and Seattle's KCPQ/KMYQ round out the additional five. Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan, How I Met Your Mother debuted on CBS in 2005 and currently airs Mondays at 8:30PM (ET/PT) on CBS in its fourth season. In other Lifetime news, just a reminder that original sitcom Rita Rocks launches with five new episodes airing in a one week strip, beginning Monday, October 20, through Friday, October 24, at 8:30PM (ET/PT), following Reba repeats. Then starting Tuesday, October 28, Rita Rocks will air regularly Tuesdays at 8:30PM (ET/PT). Also, starting Monday, October 5, The Nanny will return to weekdays at 8-9am replacing a Desperate Housewives airing. The Nanny had been airing only weeknights at 2am and will still retain that slot. Both The Golden Girls and The Nanny will be expiring from Lifetime in early 2009, so Lifetime will have some slots to fill. We'll let you know what happens.
Tonight it is the season premieres of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy on ABC. I have watched both premieres already and both are very good, especially the two-hour Grey's Anatomy premiere. On Ugly Betty, a month has passed and Betty has made her choice. When she returns, she finds out what happened to Mode and Daniel. Meanwhile, Betty's dad is now working at a local hamburger place...where Betty's high school bully Kimberly (Lindsay Lohan) is the manager. Very fun scenes with Betty and Kimberly. And Hilda's romance with Coach Diaz continues, despite his marriage. Without giving anything away, the premiere is funny and it's a fresh start with lots of changes. The move to New York in production has paid off! As for Grey's Anatomy, the premiere is fantastic. It also has change. It seems many ABC shows this fall has changes, and it is for the good. A freak fall ice storm has hit Seattle and Seattle Grace Hospital has moved out of the top 5 in the rankings of best teaching skills. Chief Webber has to make changes and decisions to get the hospital back to its credibility. Making quite the entrance in this episode is the very talented Kevin McKidd, who plays General Hunt, a doctor in the military. He has excellent scenes with Cristina...and steamy ones. There are a few dream sequences, some shocking and some touching...not giving it away though. Also, I won't give it away, but the keyword for the episode is "icicle." It's a premiere you will want to watch for sure. I have seen many of the premieres for ABC, so check my thoughts on them if you want to read it. More is on the way, so keep checking back.
It's a very busy Tuesday here at SitcomsOnline! WGN America has edited their fall schedule again. They will make a few changes to their weekend line-up this week (Sept. 27-28). On Saturday, September 27, at 6pm ET they will premiere Boston Legal leading into the White Sox game at 7pm ET. On Sunday, Sept. 28 from 11am-12pm ET will be two episodes of Funniest Pets & People for his week only. Now at 12 noon ET, WGN America will air Boston Legal every week. Following Legal, will be two episodes of Whacked Out Sports at a special time from 1-2pm leading into the regular season finale for the Chicago Cubs. Beverly Hillbillies Sunday airings will move to 1-2am ET, following the Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie hours. So what will happen regularly? Originally starting Saturday, October 4, NewsRadio was slated to join the WGN America line-up airing Saturdays 6-7pm ET followed by two Becker episodes from 7-8pm ET on Saturdays. Now NewsRadio won't be airing at all. Becker will slide to that 6-7pm ET timeslot on Saturdays followed by Boston Legal airing Saturdays at 7pm ET. On Sundays, as mentioned earlier, Boston Legal will air at 12 noon ET. The Cosby Show will be replaced on Sundays from 6-7pm with ALF, as ALF joins the regular line-up! The '80s comedy will actually launch Wednesday, October 1 from 8-10pm ET with a four episode block, for that week only. However, ALF will air on Mondays from 9-10pm ET as well starting Monday, October 6! So, Sundays 6-7pm ET and Mondays 9-10pm ET starting Oct. 5 and 6 for ALF. Also, on Sundays, as mentioned earlier, Beverly Hillbillies will move from Sunday daytime to 1-2am ET Sunday night. What a sitcom block on WGN from 5pm-2am on Sundays (with a break for news at 10-11pm ET), with Coach, ALF, WKRP, Newhart, Honeymooners, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie & Beverly Hillbillies! Finally, starting Monday, November 3, weekdays 1-2am ET has changed a bit. Reno 911 is now 5 days a week rather than just airing 5 times on Fri/Sat nights. Corner Gas will move to 1:30am ET, as Becker will leave late nights but will still air weekday afternoons at 4pm ET and Saturday evenings from 6-7pm ET. Reno/Corner will follow The Bob and Tom Show at midnight ET weekdays starting Nov. 3. And the Saturday night midnight ET airing of Reno 911 will be another episode of The Honeymooners instead starting November 8, since Reno 911 will be airing weekdays. So, The Honeymooners gains another slot (it already airs Sundays 9-10pm ET). I suggest you view the FULL WGN America Fall schedule so you don't get confused. We're not done with WGN America, as in the coming days or weeks we will announce what is airing on Halloween for a marathon!
TV One has made a few schedule changes. Beginning on Monday, September 29, the TV One primetime schedule will make a few adjustments. In the 9:30pm weeknight timeslot, TV One will now air the sitcom For Your Love replacing All of Us which has moved now to 10pm. Also beginning that week, the Friday night 4am timeslot will now be an additional airing of the animated comedy series The PJs. However, from Monday, October 6 and continuing through Thursday, October 9, that late night 4am timeslot will also be The PJs preempting All of Us for this week only. Also, the previously announced "Living Single: Celebrity Edition" marathon on Saturday, October 11 beginning at 11am, will now include an encore airing of Living Single: The Reunion Show, which reunites the cast from the classic hit sitcom. TV One has pulled the launch for short-lived sitcom South Central. The sitcom was slated for a launch marathon on Saturday, October 18, but now movies will air instead that day. It will definitely air at a later date. The TV One programming and marketing group decided that they had too many other things to promote this fall, and they wanted to be able to give it the attention they think it deserves. We will of course let you know when it is scheduled again. So, yes, it won't air regularly on Saturdays at 11am and Sundays at 6pm either. Instead we will get two back-to-back episodes of fellow short-lived sitcom Where I Live starting Sunday, Oct. 19 airing Sundays 6-7pm and Saturdays 11am-12pm. Where I Live was previously scheduled to air Saturdays 11:30am and Sundays 6:30pm following South Central. Moving on to The N...we mentioned Saved by the Bell was pulled last week and now a week later, it's back! The show is now airing weekdays at 3:00pm & 3:30pm starting immediately. Also, from 4-5pm two episodes of H2O is replacing two episodes of Kenan & Kel, which goes off the schedule. And from 5-6pm two episodes of Unfabulous replaces to shots of All That, which also is off the line-up now. Degrassi is back on The N with a weekend marathon from Friday, October 3 to Sunday, October 5. The show will air all day on those three days from 6am-6am, except 12-2am when That '70s Show airs. Degrassi returns for an all-new season the week after on October 10 at 8pm with an one-hour season premiere as Mia's got a new friend, a new guy, and maybe even a job as a model -- if she's willing to do what it takes to beat the competition. The season premiere will be followed by the season premiere of South of Nowhere at 9pm. If that weekend marathon was not enough, the week of October 6 will see more Degrassi. Degrassi will air Monday, October through Thursday, October 9 from 6am-10am, 3-6pm, and 2-6am. And all day on Friday, October 10 leading up to the season premiere.
The CW's drama 90210, quickly becoming one of the most popular series among young women, has been picked up for a full season of episodes even before it aired an episode during the actual TV season which started Monday. The two-hour debut of 90210 on Sept. 2 shattered ratings records for The CW Network, becoming the highest-rated series premiere in the network's history with women 18-34 (4.5/12), adults 18-34 (3.1/9) and adults 18-49 (2.6/7). The 90210 series opener on Sept. 2 led The CW to become Tuesday's #1 network in all key demographics. With a double airing of the 90210 premiere during the opening week (Tuesday and Thursday), 12.7 million viewers watched all or part of The CW's highly anticipated new series. Facing increased competition, the most recent telecast of 90210 scored week-to-week gains in target demos, including 6% in women 18-34 (3.3/10), 14% in adults 18-34 (2.4/7) and 3% in total viewers (3.3mil). In addition, the series debut of 90210 added over a third more viewers in target demographics with Live-Plus Seven Day DVR viewing included. While it is off to a good start, I think The CW should have waited until at least after today to announce it has picked up the back nine. The first Tuesday of the season is tonight, so it would have been wise to see how it would do tonight in the actual season.
A blues-singing beagle, a bull dog who can skateboard and flush the toilet on command and a Jack Russell terrier who can jump rope and walk up steps backward are among the semifinalists as the final round of voting begins for the top six pups who will compete for the champion title on the First Annual Worldwide Fido Awards, airing in primetime, Sunday, Oct. 5, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nick at Nite. The one-hour special event hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard (Best in Show) will showcase the six Fido finalists and best of WorldwideFido.com's user-generated videos, where one lucky dog will ultimately be crowned the 2008 Worldwide Fido winner. Fans can vote now on http://www.worldwidefido.com to determine the finalist in each of the six categories, including "Cutest Dog," "Best Dressed," "Best Voice," "Most Outrageous," "Best Trick" and "Dog/Owner Look-Alike." Popular dog trainer-to-the-stars Tamar Geller will serve as one of the judges, while one very special dog will be presented the "Hero" Award, to honor invaluable services provided to humans. The show will also feature pooch performances throughout the evening.
We finally can release the Nick at Nite September 2008 highlights! We knew the details more than two weeks ago, but finally some of the details finally got confirmed. There will be changes to the regular schedule once again...but there are plenty of highlights, including "plenty" of Benny! Grandparent's Day may be less than a week away, but that doesn't mean you can't spend this Labor Day with the mother of all annoying grandmothers. Join Nick at Nite for a full night of George Lopez episodes featuring your favorite Benny episodes...it will be plenty of Benny indeed! The Plenty of Benny marathon airs from 9pm-4am on Labor Day (September 1). Then it's time to go back to the gym and get ready for the original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie, but first spend an hour of physical activity with your favorite Nick at Nite sitcoms leading up to the movie ... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement! Let's Get Physical Week airs Sunday, Sept. 7 through Thursday, Sept. 11 from 9-10pm each night. After that week-long stunt, Nick at Nite and Nickelodeon invite you for the world premiere of original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie on Friday, September 12 at 8pm. The movie stars Nathan Kress (Nick's iCarly), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), and Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy). Dave Stewie was America's hope for the Gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics until he ran face first into the vault. His failure made him a national joke, and he quickly faded into obscurity. Stewie rebuilt his life from the ashes of humiliation to become a gym teacher, but his Olympic competitiveness never left him. Let’s just say that NASA scientists take their job less seriously than Dave takes his job of molding the physical fitness of young people. So when the President announces a national gym class fitness competition, Dave knows that this is his opportunity to redeem himself by leading his class of athletes to triumph. Launching September 15 on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite is My Family's Got GUTS. They will air two 10-episode tournaments. My Family's Got GUTS is an extreme sports competition series that brings families together where every member of the team -- from the smallest to the strongest -- plays a vital role and works together to complete each challenge. Each episode will feature a host (Ben Lyons), and three teams of four players (two adults and two kids) who gather in the Extreme Arena to compete against each other in four rounds of events inspired by today's extreme sports. Coming Sunday, October 5 on Nick at Nite it is the The Worldwide Fido Awards. More on that soon. View the full Nick at Nite September 2008 highlights.
Well we gave you all not one but two updates on WGN America's fall schedule already...and now here comes update three. Just a few edits, but they are good ones. Starting September 8, weekdays at 4pm ET will now be Becker instead of a full-hour of Funniest Pets & People. Funniest Pets & People will still air at 4:30pm ET, though. Then on Sundays starting Sept. 14 from 5-6pm ET will now be Coach instead of the previously scheduled Funniest Pets & People. Coach will sitll air Saturdays 7-8pm ET later in the fall starting October 4...so good news for Coach fans. Don't forget the Coach marathon tonight and tomorrow! The other changes are minor and involves a few weekend shifting of Scrubs, Reno 911! and Corner Gas, not big deals. I really advise you all to see the full updated WGN America Fall 2008 line-up.
Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that Allbritton Communications will add a fourth RTN affiliate, now in Tulsa, OK. The new affiliate will launch this fall on a digital stream of KTUL-TV, the local ABC affiliate. I told you the new affiliate announcements will start to get rolling now!
Calling all Bob Newhart fans! You can find a "Behind the Scenes" of Bob's new show called The Challenge starring Bob Newhart now online at Vimeo! Also, check out Lloyd Garver's blog entry at Strike.TV. The Challenge will be featured when their first slate is released on September 8. So, sign up at Strike.TV to be kept in the loop!
This September on SOAPnet, two shows will be expiring while we get two marathons. First, the shows expiring are Dallas and Melrose Place. Dallas was airing weeknights at 4:00am, and it will be replaced by I Wanna Be A Soap Star effective September 1. Melrose Place was airing weekdays at 11am and 12 noon, and it will be leaving effective Sept. 15 being replaced by more Beverly Hills 90210. Melrose Place joined the SOAPnet line-up in September 2004, so its four-year term was up and SOAPnet did not renew. As for other schedule changes...there isn't much. An extra One Tree Hill will be added on Saturday mornings at 7am, so it will air back-to-back from 7-9am on Saturdays now. And on Sundays two more back-to-back episodes will air from 10am-12pm replacing a Movie. As for September stunts, on Labor Day, SOAPnet will have a 24-hour marathon of Beverly Hills 90210 titled "The BFF's of BH." The marathon starts Sunday, Aug. 31 at 11:59pm and runs until 11:59pm on Monday, Sept. 1! SOAPnet will air the ABC fall preview special a few times as well. The special focuses on ABC's Wednesday night dramas (Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money) and is titled ABC Wednesday Night Starter Kit. We will have more details on that special in our yearly Fall Previews Special post in the coming weeks. Airings on SOAPnet are Saturday, Sept. 13 at 4:30pm and Friday, September 26 at 5:00am. Finally, SOAPnet will air all 10 first season episodes of the ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money on Saturday, September 27 from 9am-7pm. The marathon is just in time for the second season premiere on ABC on Wednesday, October 1 at 10pm ET/PT. This is a must see series as The Darlings family is today's version of The Carringtons or the Ewings...so if you have not seen an episode yet, this is your chance to catch up since it is only 10 episodes and get ready to watch season two on ABC! View the full SOAPnet September 2008 fall line-up.
The "Original Kings of Comedy" remember the late Bernie Mac tonight on Larry King Live at 9pm ET on CNN. D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey come together to pay tribute to the comedian only on Larry King Live. It will encore at 12 midnight ET, if you miss it.
Late yesterday afternoon Nick at Nite announced the Mon-Thurs 8:30pm slot would go back to Nickelodeon effective immediately. As a result, Family Matters will not air in that slot anymore, and the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh will air instead. Sorry we couldn't give you notice yesterday, but we did post it on our message boards. Family Matters is doing very well on Nick at Nite and will continue in its other time slots.
Today Sony Pictures Television (SPT) will set out on a 26-city, 10,000 mile "Seinfeld Campus Tour" in a 60-foot long Seinfeld branded, bio-diesel fueled bus experience designed to integrate the show directly into the digital, on-the-move, multi-tasking lifestyle of college students and members of the 70 million plus millennial demographic. In addition to numerous tailored promotional events during the "The Seinfeld Campus Tour," participants coast-to-coast will have access the fully-equipped tour bus, wherein they can enjoy Seinfeld-inspired snacks and engage in a wide-variety of Seinfeld-themed experiences. In its current season in syndication, Seinfeld consistently ranks as the #1 off-network comedy across all key men and adult demographics, and still stands as one of the highest rated of any off-net sitcom on television with airings on both broadcast stations and TBS. It airs in 197 markets, covering 99% of the country. Seinfeld has been renewed for a third cycle by its stations and second cycle in cable, keeping the show on the air through 2011. View more information on this Seinfeld Campus tour!
It's that time of year again where we give you the fall line-ups for the cable networks. TV Land September 2008 is the only one we have given thus far...but now more will be posted. We start off our consecutive fall line-ups with ABC Family September 2008 today. As we mentioned a lot already, ABC Family will be adding reruns of the popular ABC 2001-2005 sitcom My Wife & Kids starring Damon Wayans. Now we have the full details. The show will launch on Monday, September 1 with a Labor Day marathon from 12pm-10pm. Then effective Tuesday, September 2 My Wife & Kids will join the regular ABC Family line-up airing weeknights at 6:00pm & 6:30pm ET/PT replacing 8 Simple Rules, which will move to 3:00pm & 3:30pm replacing the second Full House hour, which is now gone. Full House will remain at 12 noon and 12:30pm ET/PT. My Wife & Kids will also air Sunday mornings at 10:00am & 10:30am. There will be no other schedule changes to the line-up. To see how the full regular schedule looks, I advise to you view our ABC Family September 2008 thread. Other ABC Family September highlights include the six-hour mini-series Samurai Girl airing Friday, September 5 through Sunday, September 7 at 8pm-10pm each night, with the whole six-parter airing back-to-back 4-10pm on Sunday. The Secret Life of The American Teenager concludes its first half of the season on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8pm, but before that a marathon will air from 11am-8pm. Finally, Lincoln Heights returns for an all-new season the following week on Tuesday, September 15 at 8pm, but before that catch-up with memorable episodes from 11am-8pm earlier in the day. In the coming days you'll see the September line-ups for Lifetime, WGN America, TV One, FX, TBS, WE tv, ION Television, Nick at Nite, BET and The Hallmark Channel. Broadcast wise, we will do WPIX's fall line-up, and possibly WNYW and WWOR, since I'm in New York. We will also do a Canadian fall lineup on one day with all the notable Canadian Cable stations such as TV Land Canada and DejaView.
We recently gave you details on WGN America's Golden Oldies Week (Aug. 4-7), now WGN America has released that it will have a Mork & Mindy slot on Tuesday, August 19 from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT)! It is sort of strange that Mork & Mindy will be isolated on its own for this one-time-only marathon. Other shows usually aired during a theme week. There will be many new shows coming to WGN America this fall that I will reveal sometime this week in our ongoing fall 2008 series reports. One of the series that will air this fall is the '90s ABC sitcom Coach. We will have more on its regular slot later in the fall schedule, but in August Coach will get a block on Friday, August 29 from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT). It will also get a full-fledge marathon the following day, Saturday, August 30 from 12 noon to 7pm ET (that's 9am-4pm PT). Coach is coming just in time for the football season! We don't have episode info for the Coach marathons yet, but we do have the episodes for the Mork & Mindy block on Aug. 19...head on over to our message board to view that.
Nick at Nite will bring in another original animated series. They had one some years back called Fatherhood, from Bill Cosby, now they will have another come in summer 2009. As TV's home for the modern-day family comedy, top-rated Nick at Nite has green-lit Glenn Martin DDS., the first television series from Michael Eisner's Tornante Animation, cuing production on 20 episodes of the original, stop-motion primetime program. Giving the American family a whole new look, the 'trailblazing' series buckles up with the Martins in their toothbrush-topped dental mobile as they leave suburbia behind in the rear-view mirror and embark on a cross-country adventure. Eisner and the newly formed division of The Tornante Company -- Tornante Animation, have enlisted Eric Fogel -- the creative force behind MTV's hit Celebrity Deathmatch -- to help design the series. Nick at Nite will promote the series a lot leading up to the premiere in Summer 2009. This will also give them an extra promo push for the hit comedy Everybody Hates Chris, from co-creator and narrator Chris Rock and inspired by his real-life childhood experiences, which will launch in September 2009.
This August on Nick at Nite will see no schedules changes, as of now. However, they do have a week-long stunt in the 9pm hour for Aug. 3-7! It's "Wedding Unveiled Week" on Nick at Nite from Sunday, August 3 through Thursday, August 7 each night in the 9pm ET/PT hour! Nothing brings a family together like a wedding. Nick at Nite invites viewers to a week of matrimony madness with your favorite Nick at Nite families. So get ready to celebrate with singing preachers and bad wedding singers as Nick at Nite lets you tie the knot from the comfort of your own couch, without all the stress ... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement! See Mother Winslow get married to Fletcher on Family Matters and George Lopez renewing his vows with Angie...or is he? For episode details and more on Nick at Nite August 2008, head on over to our Nick at Nite August 2008 thread.
We have another death to report. Claudio Guzman, director and producer of the '60s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie passed away July 12 of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was the main director of the Barba Eden-Larry Hagman sitcom I Dream of Jeannie and also served as producer for that NBC series. He helped create Villa Alegre, a half-hour show in the tradition of Sesame Street. In a career that spanned four decades, Guzman directed almost 30 TV shows, including several episodes of The Patty Duke Show in the mid-1960s and Harper Valley P.T.A. in 1981, reuniting him with Barbara Eden. His other directorial work included an episode or two of The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Partridge Family, The Fugitive, Love on a Rooftop, The Flying Nun, The Good Life, California Fever and Here's Boomer. He was also an art director for many series such as The Lucy Show, Date with the Angels, The Real McCoys, Where's Raymond, December Bride, and Make Room for Daddy. He was nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy for Villa Alegre and once for a Primetime Emmy for art direction on Where's Raymond? Mr. Guzman will be missed. He was 80.
We have an action packed Friday today. So much stuff we couldn't fit everything we planned. So some of it will spill into next week. ION Television has announced its August 2008 higlights. There really are no changes to the regular line-up, but the RHI block is getting a bit of a twist. RHI programming airs Fri-Sun from 7-11pm, but now Fridays they will show Flash Gordon: The Series. That was a 2007 Sci-Fi Channel series produced by RHI and now ION will air the reruns to all 22 episodes airing in the 7pm hour on Fridays. ION will pair Flash Gordon: The Series with the 2000 mini-series The 10th Kingdom broken down into hour episodes airing in the 8pm hour on Fridays. I believe originally it was like 9 parts. As far as the regular schedule Mon-Thurs, there are no changes and the line-up will remain Hangin 'with Mr. Cooper, Steve Harvey Show, Family Feud, Quantum Leap, The Dead Zone and ER from 5-11pm. The Drew Carey Show will get two filler airings on Thursdays at 10:30pm on Aug. 21 and Aug. 28 following the Total Theatre Movie. The sitcom is still slated to return regularly this September. August Total Theatre Thursday movies are Clear and Present Danger, Elvis: That's The Way It Is, Superman II, and Point of No Return. And the RHI movies and mini-series for August include Rear Window, Noah's Ark, and more. Check our our ION August 2008 highlights for complete details!
Yet more changes are happening on Nick at Nite. Starting Monday (July 14), Mon-Thurs 11:30pm will now be Family Matters, replacing Fresh Prince. So Family Matters will air for a full hour at 11pm now! It will also still air at 8:30pm Mon-Thurs. However, the 4-5am Mon-Thurs encores of Family Matters will be replaced by a third late night hour of Fresh Prince. So Fresh Prince will air from 2-5am Mon-Thurs. Also, Fridays at 12:30am Family Matters will now air for the full hour at 12am, replacing a half-hour Fresh Prince. It is great that the Winslows and the Urkeman have done so well already on Nick at Nite! Check out the full schedule starting July 14.
Well it is the final day of the cable portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. The broadcast networks will start going next week and we will have updates from that, too, of course. Here is the schedule for the broadcast portion: July 12-13: PBS; July 14: Fox; July 15: Fox/TCA; July 16-17: ABC; July 18: CBS; July 19: CBS/CW/Showtime/TCA Awards; July 20: NBC/TCA (possible set visits); July 21: NBC; July 22: TCA Set Visits I don't think we will cover PBS, unless it is something very noteworthy. Remember cable stations that are owned by a broadcast channel (ABC: ABC Family, NBC: Sci-Fi, etc) will be also presenting during the broadcast portion of the press tour, so we will cover that as well. Anyway, here is what happened today on the last day of the cable portion:
Turner Broadcasting kicked off the day. CNN was up first and they discussed their coverage plans for the 2008 election. The Best Political Team on Television discusses the 2008 presidential election and CNN's unrivaled coverage, with a behind-the-scenes preview of the summer conventions and the fall election. CNN also has a special coming July 23-24 titled CNN Presents Black in America. Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., CNN's Black in America series continues with two groundbreaking documentaries, Black Men and Black Women & Family, as well as a topical special co-produced with Essence magazine. Cartoon Network was touting its original animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars. From creator George Lucas, Star Wars: The Clone Wars combines the scope of the legendary Star Wars saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. TNT has two new dramas coming. The first one premieres September 1 at 10pm, Raising the Bar. This series follows the lives and cases of young attorneys who have been friends since law school but are now on opposing sides as defense and prosecution. Raising The Bar comes to TNT from ABC Studios and Steven Bochco. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Jane Kaczmarek, and Gloria Reuben star. Then in December, they will launch Leverage. This series follows a team of thieves, hackers and grifters who act as modern-day Robin Hoods, taking revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize others. Leverage comes to TNT from Electric Entertainment. Among off-network programming, Cold Case will be available to air five-days-a-week this October. TBS will launch a second season of late night comedy Frank TV this October. This sketch comedy features Frank Caliendo, famous for his pitch-perfect takes on such personalitiesas John Madden, Dr. Phil, President Bush and Former President Clinton. When it debuted in November 2007, Frank TV delivered ad-supported cable's biggest young adult audience ever for a late-night series launch. Among off-network programming, Married...with Children joins the early morning line-up this September.
Then Fox Reality Channel stepped up and announced its August 2 premiere of Long Way Down, a ten-episode series. It features two close friends, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, on the ultimate motorcycle trip through distant lands, unique cultures and some of the most impressive natural wonders in the world, while raising over $1 million for charities including UNICEF, Riders for Health, and CHAS (Children's Hospice Association Scotland).
Starz was giving press about its new buzz filled drama Crash coming in October. Dennis Hopper stars. Set in Los Angeles, Crash explores the complexities of social tolerance in contemporary America by digging into the meaning of what it takes to reach the American dream. Characters will intertwine and crash into each other, coming face to face with the daily hurdles and obstacles that threaten to get in the way of achieving that dream. Based on the movie by the same name.
Then it was Lifetime's turn. They have announced a lot of original programming. How to Look Good Naked returns July 22 with its second season with Carson Kressley. As we mentioned before, Lifetime will have its own original sitcom to be paired with Reba reruns this Fall called Rita Rocks. Overworked wife and mother Rita is in the middle of a full-blown identity crisis. Trying to maintain romance with her husband Jay, juggling the demands of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon and disciplining her defiant, teenage daughter Hallie, Rita is at her wit's end. In search of "youthful" Rita, she dusts off her old guitar and forms a garage band with her nosy postal carrier Patty and unemployed neighbor Owen. Stars include Nicole Sullivan, Richard Ruccolo and Tisha Campbell—Martin. They will also have original movies, of course. The movie Coco Chanel premieres September 13. Coco Chanel follows the rags—to-riches story of influential and iconic French designer Coco Chanel from her humble beginnings in an orphanage outside Paris, through her meteoric rise to fame and success, revealing a fiery and ambitious woman and the significant relationships, both familial and romantic, that shaped and inspired her success. Stars Shirley MacLaine. Then they have Living Proof, Lifetime Television's Marquee Original Movie starring Harry Connick, Jr., Amanda Bynes, Angie Harmon, Swoosie Kurtz, Bernadette Peters, Jennifer Coolidge, Regina King, Tammy Blanchard, John Benjamin Hickey, Paula Cale and Trudie Styler. Living Proof will premiere in October 2008 on Lifetime Television, as part of the Network's Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is the moving true story of Dr. Dennis Slamon, the UCLA doctor who developed the revolutionary breast cancer drug, Herceptin, and his relentless battle to keep the drug trials afloat and save the lives of thousands of women. But before those two moves this Fall, they have a few movies coming in August as well! Ashley Benson and Jenna Dewan star in Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal, Valerie Bertinelli and Joanna Levesque star in True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet and Judy Reyes, A Martinez and Hector Bustamante star in Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story.
It is day two of the cable portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour and the news keeps coming! AMC is promoting the second season of the hit drama Mad Men, while WE tv is promoting its original series The Locator, premiering Sept. 6. Thousands of people are in desperate need to find someone from their past. For the past 18 years, Troy Dunn has assisted over 40,000 people in doing just that. WE tv's powerful original series follows Troy on intense and emotionally-charged journeys to reunite "half the world with the other half" and bring closure to those seeking it. Among off-network programming, WE tv has acquired: The Golden Girls (March 2009), Ghost Whisperer (Fall 2009) and the last three seasons of Girlfriends (TBD date).
Moving on to the MTV Networks, Comedy Central is launching a new version of The Gong Show starring Dave Attell and a new comedy starring David Alan Grier titled Chocolate News. Gone Country returns to CMT featuring more antics from an eclectic cast of mainstream celebrities who move to Nashville with the hopes of writing and recording a country hit, under the guidance of host John Rich. The series returns in August. Also in August, popular cast favorites from season one of Gone Country return for a new foray into country living in Outsiders' Inn. Maureen McCormick is among the celebs returning. TV Land is touting its original series Family Foreman, launching July 16. This six episode series gives viewers an intimate look at George Foreman, the former heavyweight boxing champ who reinvented himself as a successful businessman and pitchman. Viewers will get a rare glimpse into his home life as a minister and father of ten children, five of whom are also named George Edward Foreman. Off-network wise, TV Land will add Scrubs, sharing it with sister station Comedy Central, this September, while also returning The Cosby Show. VH-1 has two all-new series in the works starring celebs. Vivica A. Fox, actress, producer and fashion luminary, is bringing her celebrity style to a new competition show ripped from the pages of fashion magazines. This new series searches for the next great celebrity stylist who has what it takes to become the stylist to the stars through their ability to create a chic masterpiece using the three key elements of fashion - hair, make-up and wardrobe. The series is called Glam God and will be hosted by Fox herself. VH1 is also going to air a show called The Cho Show. This series follows the irrepressible Margaret Cho and her eccentric entourage as she fights to be herself in an industry that in the past wanted her to be something other than herself. Meanwhile, MTV is promoting its new series From Gs to Gents, which launches next Tuesday. From executive producer Jamie Foxx, this series showcases a group of guys competing to become gentlemen.
National Geographic Channel will have an "Expedition Week" in November. This first annual Expedition Week embarks on seven straight nights of daring missions, from the ancient pyramids to the ocean depths, and from lost cities to outer space with the latest generation of intrepid explorers. Premieres include: Unlocking the Great Pyramid, Live from the Moon, Shipwreck! Captain Kidd, The Real George Washington, Explorer: Lost City of the Amazon, Egypt Unwrapped, and Herod's Lost Tomb. But before that, in September Nat Geo will premiere two series, one is a returning series. Dogtown returns for another season, but this time they will be saving the Michael Vick dogs! Also, they will premiere World's Toughest Fixes. This new series takes viewers around the world and inside some of the most daunting repair jobs imaginable.
Moving on to the A&E Networks...first up is A&E itself. A&E is launching a new drama next Tuesday titled The Cleaner. Inspired by the true story of a real life "extreme interventionist," Benjamin Bratt stars as William "The Cleaner" Banks who, after hitting rock-bottom from his own addictions after the birth of his daughter, strikes a tentative deal with God. Biography Channel (aka Bio) announced the pickup of Shatner's Raw Nerve, an offbeat celebrity interview series hosted by Boston Legal and Star Trek star William Shatner. It will premiere August 19 at 10pm. Among his guests will be ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy, Valerie Bertinelli, Jon Voight, Judge Judy, Jenna Jameson and Kelsey Grammer. Also in development at Bio are The Chris Isaak Hour (Isaak talking to music celebs), Female Forces (a female version of Cops), Why I Ran (police chases). History will have two series coming in the fourth quarter. Sandhogs and Einstein. Working in extremely hazardous conditions, Sandhogs toil underneath the streets just as they have for the past 150 years. Having built nearly every underground project in New York City, they are an instrumental part of the development of the city. This new "American Original" series Sandhogs puts the spotlight on a world rarely seen, but one that is integral to the lifeblood of America's largest city. Einstein is the extraordinary history of Albert Einstein's quest, lasting two decades, to prove his universe-shattering Theory of General Relativity. Einstein asked the world's astronomers to chase a solar eclipse, and photograph the elusive ripple in space. Eventually, he became a global icon unlike any other before or since. Today, Einstein's ideas continue to push scientists farther, and deeper, into the Universe than even he could have imagined. Filmed in the U.S. and Europe, the special is enriched by interviews with leading physicists, astronomers, astrophysicists, science historians and Einstein scholars.
Nick at Nite has made more overnight changes to its line-up. The changes will occur on weekend late nights. Late Friday nights (early Saturday morning), from 4-5am will be more Fresh Prince replacing The Cosby Show and 5-6am will be more Family Matters replacing Roseanne on this night. On Saturday nights (early sunday morning) Nick at Nite gives us a third hour of Family Matters airing 3-4am replacing an hour of Roseanne. Finally, on Sunday nights (early Mondays) we get an hour of Family Matters airing 2-3am replacing yet another Roseanne hour. Confused? Then I suggest you head on to our message boards to see how the full line-up will be after these changes. Here is the Family Matters airing scorecard: Sun-Thurs 8:30 & 11pm (encores 4-5am), Fridays 12am & 5-6am, Saturdays 12-1am, 2-3am, & 3-4am, and Sundays 11pm-12am & 2-3am ET/PT. I am still updating the upcoming episodes list for you fans out there, since these changes are hard to follow. The Urkeman is certainly back in style in primetime!
Some great programming is coming starting July 7 and we want to remind you all of all the new stuff. First, WGN has an '80s week with ALF, Family Ties, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and The Cosby Show all this week from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT). Read our original story for more details. Hangin' with Mr. Cooper joins the ION Television line-up this Monday, July 7 airing weeknights at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT. Read our original story for details. The Steve Harvey Show launches this weekend from 4-5pm, but it will officially join the line-up on Monday airing weekdays 4-5pm and weekends 12-1pm. Read our original story for details. Remember starting Monday, July 7, we get two Family Matters airing a night now and also an overnight encore from 4-5am on Nick at Nite. Read our original story for more details. Popular sitcom That '70s Show is now also on ABC Family as it launched this 4th of July with a marathon but it will regularly start on Monday airing weeknights 7-8pm, in addition to other slots. Read our original story for the complete details on that. Classic TV western Maverick also launched with a 4th of July marathon but it officially joins the regular line-up on Monday airing weeknights at 6pm and Saturdays at 8am. Read our original story for all the details. Finally, well this isn't a July 7 premiere, but it is a week of July 7 premiere, as we mentioned yesterday that drama Joan of Arcadia is coming to the Sci Fi Channel airing Fridays at 8pm starting July 11.
That sure is a slot of shows launching on July 7! Lucky 7 indeed! I hope I didn't miss anything we covered already. I think this reminder was needed, in case anyone forgot something. Happy watching on lucky July 7!
We leave you today with another TV passing. Lilyan Chauvin passed away at her Studio City home on Thursday, June 26, 2008 after a 40 year battle with breast cancer complicated by recent onset of congestive heart disease. She was not just an actress, she was also a host, DGA director, WGA writer, former VP of Women in Film, author, teacher and private coach. Nominated for the Emmy Award in The Young and the Restless her dedication to the arts won her recognition to for Excellence in moral quality media. She was also a series regular on Days of Our Lives. She held recurring roles on Mission Impossible, General Hospital and Falcon Crest. She guest starred on many series as well such as Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, One Day at a Time, Magnum P.I., Baywatch, Hart to Hart, Fantasy Island, The Bob Newhart Show, Dragnet, Adventures of Superman, Perry Mason, Friends, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, ER, Malcolm in the Middle, Alias, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The X-Files, Murder She Wrote, Frasier, USA High, The Pretender, Shashta McNasty, and recently on Ugly Betty. On the big screen, she is known for her roles in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can, the Coen brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There, Stephan Hopkins' Predator 2 and she is also widely recognized for her role as Mrs. Tremont in Private Benjamin. She will certainly be missed. She was 82.
Starting Monday (July 7), Nick at Nite will change their overnight schedule a bit. Mon-Thurs nights at 3:00am & 3:30am will now be The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, replacing Cosby Show (Mon/Wed) and Roseanne (Tues/Thurs). Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was already airing at 3:00am & 3:30am on Friday nights, and will continue. Fresh will still also air 2-3am from Mon-Thurs. And Mon-Wed 4:00am & 4:30am will now be encores of the 8:30pm and 11pm Family Matters airings! So yes that means starting next week the 8:30pm and 11pm Family Matters airings will be two new episodes, so the 8:30pm episodes will not be an encore from the previous night's 11pm airing. Tape both now! To see upcoming episodes for Family Matters, I have made a list for you all. Great news! The 4-5am encores will replace Roseanne. Roseanne is still slated to air Thursdays 4-5am and its other slots still. To view the full schedule and to see where everything stands I advise you to view our Nick at Nite July 2008 thread.
Nick at Nite has issued their second quarter ratings. With its strongest showing in more than two years, Nick at Nite is total day's number-one basic cable network with Adults 18-49 (tied with TNT) and ranks second only to sister-channel Nickelodeon among total viewers in the just-completed second quarter 2008 (NMR: 3/31/08-6/29/08). Driven by George Lopez and Home Improvement, Nick at Nite has soared this quarter with high double-digit gains among its A18-49 and total viewer (P2+) audience. With A18-49 this quarter in total day, Nick at Nite is ranked number one, averaging a 0.6 rating (676,000 viewers) and up 50% over last year. Among total viewers, the network delivered 1.5 million total viewers, up 22%. Nick at Nite also ranks as the number-one basic cable network for W18-49 in total day this quarter. (0.8 rating (426,000 viewers), up 33% over last year). In prime time, Nick at Nite averaged a 0.7 rating (1.7 million viewers) in W18-49 -- up 40% over last year. - George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program, and the network has experienced ratings growth each month since the show launched in October 2007. George Lopez averaged a 0.7 rating (773,000 viewers) A18-49 at 10 p.m. this quarter, up 75% over last year's time period. Launch to date, the program has grown 34% in the demo. George Lopez ratings have grown significantly since joining the Nick at Nite schedule in September 2007, and launch to date the show has grown +40%. - Home Improvement also is a growth engine, averaging a 0.6 rating (683,000 viewers) A18-49 total day rating, and program ratings have grown 20% since it joined Nick at Nite in September 2007. In Prime, Home Improvement ratings are up 33% this quarter vs. last year. - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air continues to earn strong ratings for Nick at Nite. For the quarter, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air averaged a 0.6 rating (716,000 viewers) A18-49 total day rating, up 20% over last year. - Original programming coming to Nick at Nite this year include the original TV family movie Gym Teacher, premiering Friday, Sept. 12 and starring Christopher Meloni; My Family's Got Guts, a family game show airing Monday, Sept. 15; Worldwide Fido Awards, a canine competition in October. Also coming in 2009 is the hit comedy Everybody Hates Chris, from co-creator and narrator Chris Rock and inspired by his real-life childhood experiences.
Although they haven't released a press release yet, Family Matters has done very well on the network since launching on Sunday. The launch marathon on Sunday from 9pm-4am did pretty well, especially from 10pm-3am, with big growths from the 9pm hour. The marathon delivered a full family audience averaging 1.9 million total viewers. Then in the first two night in its regular timeslot of 11pm, it did a 0.7 rating in A18-49 on Monday and a 0.6 A18-49 on Tuesday, on par with its top guns George Lopez, Fresh Prince and Home Improvement. The Monday airing was one of the best for Nick at Nite for the night overall, if not the best, in households it did a 1.9 rating (which probably comes out to around 2.5 million viewers)! The 1.9 household rating for Monday's airing also beat the highest rating from the Sunday launch marathon which was a 1.7 household rating at 10:30pm. The Tuesday 11pm airing also did a solid 1.6 household rating. It looks like Urkel is here to stay!
Character actor Henry Beckman died Tuesday, June 17 in Barcelona, Spain. Beckman appeared in hundreds of TV shows, films and commercials in the U.S. and Canada, often playing heavies or roles requiring accents or foreign languages. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he served in the Canadian military during WWII and survived the Normandy invasion. He guest starred in just about every show during the 1960s including Dennis the Menace, Hennesey, Dr. Kildare, Father of the Bride, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, The Jack Benny Program, The Munsters, Perry Mason, Adam-12, Flying Nun, Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Twilight Zone. He had larger roles as George Anderson on Peyton Place and Colonel Harridan in McHale's Navy. He was also known for his recurring role as Captain Clancy in Here Come the Brides. Beckman later appeared in shows including The Rockford Files, Bonanza, Here's Lucy, Mannix, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, Ironside, Barney Miller, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, Fantasy Island, Quincy ME, Check It Out, MacGyver, The Commish, Columbo, and MANY more. More recently, he played Detective Briggs on The X-Files and on the syndicated series Cold Squad. You all have seen him in something probably. What a great resume! He will be missed. He was 86.
For Nick at Nite in July, they are launching Family Matters this week on the regular schedule, as you all know. I told you the changes being made to the schedule last week, as Fresh Prince won't be available to air on weekends anymore. Now we have the full stunt highlights for Nick at Nite July. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. Nick at Nite celebrates five nights of the battle of the sexes, family style in a "Gender Clash"... with episodes of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, George Lopez and Home Improvement the week of July 13-17, 9-10pm each night. As we mentioned previously, Nick at Nite will premiere The N's new series Queen Bees and The N's Student Body with two simulcast airings on Friday, July 11 at 9pm and 10pm. For the full regular schedule and details on the Nick at Nite July 2008 stunts, head on over to our Nick at Nite July 2008 thread.
Following impressive ratings gains and steady growth in popularity, TV Land has announced today that it has renewed its original reality series She's Got The Look for a second season. Emmy Award-Winner Allison Grodner will return as executive producer. Premiering in 2009, the second season of She's Got The Look will expand from six episodes to eight and will again set out to discover a sophisticated, beautiful and confident woman 35 or older destined for supermodel stardom. Season one of She's Got The Look has been averaging 633,000 total viewers, an increase of 17% versus channel total day average with a median age of 46. Among Adults 25-54, it has been posting a 0.4 rating (409,000 viewers), up 63% in both rating and viewers over channel total day average. Among Adults 40-54 it is posting a 0.5 rating (262,000 viewers), up 33% in rating and 34% in viewers. The first season finale airs Wednesday, July 9 at 10:00PM on TV Land.
AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, will air a special tribute to legendary comedian, George Carlin on Monday, July 7, 2008 at 8:00pm ET and 10:00pm PT. The special includes footage from George Carlins' early days on the hit show, Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour. For a few minutes each week George had the stage to himself, sharing with the audience the humor he found in every day words and situations. The special consists entirely of his segments from the series with only an introductory voice over. One of these segments, done over 30 years ago, now has a special meaning: "In reviewing the shows" said Mark Ringwald, VP of Programming for ALN, "one of the segments contained a five minutes routine of his on death and comedians (when comedians do well, they "kill," when they do poorly, they "die"). It was so funny and yet now so poignant that we felt it would be fitting conclusion to the special." "These were some of his funniest routines and since it was on Tony Orlando its all G rated and so it's a perfect way for the entire family to enjoy his unique sense of humor."
In a shocking move, ABC Family has picked-up rights to air The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air beginning in August. You might be thinking, uh isn't it already on TBS and Nick at Nite/The N? Yes, you're of course right. This will be a three-way shared deal (with a record breaking four cable networks involved). This is at least the second three-way deal I have heard of, with the first being That '70s Show (FX, The N, ABC Family), but the first involving four networks. That '70s Show's deal is very complicated that I can't figure out what times each of those networks can air the show. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air deal is pretty easy to figure out. ABC Family will be airing the series weekend evenings only starting Saturday, August 2. The show will air Saturday nights from 11pm-2am ET/PT and sometimes as well on Sundays back-to-back at 11 & 11:30pm ET/PT, if a movie doesn't go until midnight. So, ABC Family will have weekend evening rights to the series. TBS has the daytime rights. Nick at Nite/The N (AKA Viacom portion of the deal) will now only have weekday evening rights (as they lose the seven days evening rights...what no more all-night seven nights Fresh marathons??), which means Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will not be airing on weekends anymore on both networks and that will be in effect starting next week (the deal starts in July actually). So the Nick at Nite schedule will change a bit. Family Matters, which launches this Sunday with a marathon from 9pm-4am, will get more timeslots because of this! Family Matters will take over the Saturday (early Sunday) slots at 12-2am and 2-3am and Sunday evenings 11pm-12am. Home Improvement will now air Saturdays 11pm-12am and 1-2am, while The Cosby Show will take over Sunday nights (early Monday) 1-2am. So Fresh Prince will only air weekdays...Mon-Thurs 11:30pm & 2-3am and Friday nights 12:30am & 3-4am. The N will air it weeknights at 8-9pm and 1-2am, as weekend airings for that network will also be removed. And TBS will continue to air it weekdays 9-10am. For the full Nick at Nite schedule effective this Monday, head on over here. ABC Family won't be making any other changes in August when Fresh Prince comes. If you're a Family Matters fan, then I have compiled an upcoming episodes list for Nick at Nite, that I thought might be handy. They are skipping season one because Urkel didn't become big until season two. Season one will air after this rotation finishes, which means we will have to wait until season nine ends. Tune in this Sunday for the launch marathon!
CBS announced premiere dates for the fall premieres of its new and returning series, which include a pre-season debut for Survivor: Gabon and the launch of its Thursday and Friday drama series in early October. CBS will introduce everything else from its schedule beginning Monday, Sept. 22, the official start of the 2008-2009 season. The only reason the premieres of the Thursday and Friday night dramas have been scheduled outside of premiere week is to accommodate the scheduled Presidential Debate on Sept. 26 and the Vice Presidential Debate on Oct. 2. Here are the 2008-09 CBS premiere dates:
Monday, Sept. 22 8-8:30 p.m.: The Big Bang Theory (2nd season premiere) 8:30-9 p.m.: How I Met Your Mother (4th season premiere) 9-9:30 p.m.: Two and a Half Men (6th season premiere) 9:30-10 p.m.: Worst Week (series debut) 10-11 p.m.: CSI: Miami (7th season premiere)
Tuesday, Sept. 23 8-9 p.m.: NCIS (6th season premiere) 9-10 p.m.: The Mentalist (series debut) 10-11 p.m.: Without a Trace (7th season premiere)
Wednesday, Sept. 24 8-8:30 p.m.: The New Adventures of Old Christine (4th season premiere) 8:30-9 p.m.: Project Gary (series debut) 9-10 p.m.: Criminal Minds (4th season premiere) 10-11 p.m.: CSI: NY (5th season premiere)
Sunday, Sept. 28 7:00-8 p.m.: 60 Minutes (41st season premiere) 8-9 p.m.: The Amazing Race (13th edition) 9-10 p.m.: Cold Case (6th season premiere) 10-11 p.m.: The Unit (4th season premiere)
Friday, Oct. 3 8-9 p.m.: Ghost Whisperer (4th season premiere) 9-10 p.m.: The Ex List (series premiere) 10-11 p.m.: Numb3rs (5th season premiere)
Thursday, Oct. 9 9-10 p.m.: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (9th season premiere) 10-11 p.m.: Eleventh Hour (series debut)
This August on TV Land, we get the finale of Family Foreman and the season premiere of the TV Land hit Myths & Legends. We get the final three episodes of Family Foreman, as the finale airs August 20 at 10pm. We get an intimate look into the remarkable life of George Foreman - former heavyweight boxing champion, multi-million dollar pitchman, ordained minister, and family man. Come along for the ride as this tough-love Dad and his wife try to manage their clan of 10 children. Throughout the month of August, the TV Land Summer Games are on! TV Land will air "Gold Medal" weeknight and weekend marathon blocks of their high rated shows with "call-to-action" continuities and promos prompting viewers to go online and compete in the TV Land Summer Games. Viewers will be compelled to visit TVLand.com to join in the gaming action. At the completion of each online game, tune-in information reminding and re-driving viewers back to TV Land's on-air offerings will appear, thus creating a full 360 degree experience for the savvy TV Land gamer. Weekend marathon blocks include Sanford & Son, Hogan's Heroes and The Beverly Hillbillies! Yee-ha! On Saturday, August 16 at 8pm, get an insider's look at the myth and legend of Elvis Presley. Find out definitive answers to long-lived Elvis rumors when TV Land presents its highly-rated Myths & Legends: Elvis Presley which separates fact from fiction and finally sets the Elvis record straight. Then viewers will be treated to a behind the scenes confidential with Elvis by the Presleys, an intimate family portrait featuring rare home movies and photographs with commentary by no less than Presley authorities Priscilla and Lisa Marie. Don't miss these three hours of exclusive programming dedicated to one of the greatest icons in all of American pop culture airing on the anniversary of his death. And then get ready for the Myths & Legends Season 2 premiere on Wednesday, August 27! TV Land Myths & Legends promises to go behind the scenes to investigate the mysteries that have grown up around some of Hollywood's most memorable stars, TV shows, films and music. In a town called the Dream Factory, where reality collides with wild imagination, there's a blurred line between truth and fiction. Did heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne bite the head off of a live bat? Was Jayne Mansfield decapitated in her fatal automobile accident? Was a comic book based on the rock band KISS printed with the blood of the band members? Is J.Lo's butt really insured for $1 billion dollars? TV Land will explore these infamous mysteries and more on TV Land Myths & Legends Season 2 as we set the record straight about some of the most confused and confounding moments in entertainment history. Tune in August 27 at 10pm! There are no regular schedule changes in August, so the summer weeknight marathons from 9-11pm and 11pm-1am will continue in August. Friday movies for the month include My Cousin Vinny, Beverly Hills Cop, and National Lampoon's European Vacation. To view the full TV Land August highlights, head on over to our message boards, where you can also discuss this month's line-up.
The N, the network totally for and about teens, and the award-winning production company Reveille are about to have a full-body overhaul this summer as the network presents The N's Student Body, Friday, July 11, at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) with a simulcast premiere on one of its sister stations, Nick at Nite. The eight-episode, hour-long teen reality series will then air regularly every Sunday night beginning July 13 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. (ET) on The N. The N's Student Body brings together 12 students from rival high schools in Decatur, IL, for a life-changing mission to get into shape. Getting fit isn't the only incentive. The winning school and the winning student that makes a change for the better, both physically and mentally, will take home $25,000 that will be used for new school facilities and programs. As these teens push themselves and one another toward the ultimate prize, they will face their fears, confront their families and find out if they have what it takes to transform their lives. The series is hosted by motivational author, famed athlete and champion of health and fitness, Laila Ali (Dancing with the Stars, American Gladiators), and is executive produced by The N along with Reveille's Mark Koops, Dave Broome and Ben Silverman. The N's Student Body follows another network premiere... Queen Bees at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on The N. Nick at Nite will only air the series premiere on July 11 at 10pm. We will have more on the Nick at Nite July schedule and higlights in the coming days. Don't forget Family Matters launches on Nick at Nite on Sunday, June 29 with a marathon from 9pm-4am! The N will launch That '70s Show on June 30, so both networks have some sitcom goodies coming this summer!
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Family Matters is launching June 29 on Nick at Nite! The show will launch on Sunday, June 29 with a seven-hour marathon from 9pm-4am ET/PT with some famous episodes such as "Rachel's Place" (where Urkel by mistake causes a fire at Leroys, but because of that Rachel gets her own restaurant), "The Crash Course" (where Eddie crashes the station wagon into the living room), "Life of the Party" (where Urkel does his famous Do the Urkel dance on rooftop party). Those are just some of the memorable episodes you will see! The marathon seems to focus on seasons two and three. For the marathon episodes, click on the link below. Family Matters will then air regularly, Sunday through Thursday at 8:30 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. and Friday & Saturday at 12 a.m. (all times ET/PT) starting Monday, June 30 on Nick at Nite! But before that, sit dad down on the couch this Father's Day as George Lopez plays host to a nightlong marathon honoring our favorite Nick at Nite fathers...Tim, George and Philip. Tune in Father's Day evening (Sunday, June 15) starting at 9pm! To see the complete Nick at Nite June 2008 schedule and higlights, including the episodes for the Father's Day stunt and Family Matters marathon, click HERE! "As days go by, it's the bigger love of the family."
Earle H. Hagen, the Emmy Award-winning television composer who wrote the memorable theme music for The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy and other classic TV programs, has died. He died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA with wife, Laura at his side. He had been ill for several months. Mr. Hagen had been writing TV themes since 1953. He was a fixture of TV hits in the '60s writing TV themes for many popular series. In addition to the ones he was really famous for, he wrote the themes for Make Room for Daddy, Dobie Gillis, That Girl, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry RFD, The Mod Squad, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, The New Perry Mason, Eight is Enough and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He won an Emmy in 1968 for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Compositionfor I Spy. But it was The Andy Griffith Show theme song that people most remember him for. In fact, the famous whistling is done by Mr. Hagen himself! So you can hear him in each episodes before it starts. Mr. Hagen will certainly be missed as his TV theme songs will live on forever. He was 88.
Starting this Monday (May 12), WE tv will switch the timeslots for sitcoms Kate & Allie and Hope & Faith. Kate & Allie was airing weekdays from 12-1pm (sometimes it would be extended a bit longer, too) and will now move to 10-11am weekdays where Hope & Faith was airing. And yes, Hope & Faith will move to 12-1pm (and sometimes it will be extended a bit beyond that, too). Dharma & Greg will remain in the middle from 11am-12pm. Remember WE tv also has reruns of Girlfriends, Golden Girls and Ghost Whisperer coming in 2009.
Yes, MTV Networks (TV Land, Nick at Nite, etc) had their upfront yesterday, but as of now, still no press releases or anything from TV Land. I do know that Chris Rock was on hand at the upfront for Everybody Hates Chris, which comes to Nick at Nite in 2009. At its 2008 upfront presentation, MTV Networks united its leadership, talent and marketing partners to showcase innovative partnerships, programming and platforms across its brands. The presentation highlighted "return on innovation" -- the value for marketers in MTVN's reinvention of how audiences experience content and advertising on every screen. The event was highlighted by special guest appearances by some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Justin Timberlake, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Ashanti, Taylor Swift, Lauren Conrad, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, George Foreman, Dr. Drew Pinsky, as well as exclusive musical performances by John Legend, Sarah Silverman, JabbaWockeeZ from MTV's Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew and the cast of hit Broadway musical Legally Blonde. Yeah, nothing major at all. We will let you know if there is anything announced today or whenever.
This weekend has a lot of nice programming for everyone. We have mentioned all of these already, but we are going to remind you again. Tonight ABC will air the two-hour special TV's All-Time Funniest...sitcoms of the past and present are featured from Married with Children to I Love Lucy to The Office. Tune in from 8-10pm ET/PT on ABC! Must see for sitcoms fans. Then we mentioned a few Mother's Day stunts. They will all of course air on Mother's Day, this Sunday (May 11). Airing on BET from 12pm-5pm is a sitcom marathon of Thea. The short-lived ABC sitcom starring Thea Vidale and Brandy Norwood. Watch Thea take care of her four kids and work two jobs...how does she do it? Tune in! On Boomerang this Sunday from 12pm-7pm, there will be Wilma themed episodes of animated sitcom The Flintstones. Finally, Nick at Nite has a nice primetime block featuring "Hot Moms." Tune in starting at 9pm for "Hot Moms" like Jill Taylor, Angie Lopez and Vivian Banks! The marathon will be hosted by one of the hot moms themselves, Constance Marie (Angie on George Lopez)!
The CW is dying for some shows that do well, with one of their best shows actually in WWE Smackdown! leaving, they will need to find something that does 4 million. Their development slate seems to be very weak this season...the strike could be to blame, as there are actually no sitcoms ordered to pilot. Will America's Next Top Model rebound in the fall after a slow spring? Here is the SitcomsOnline.com The CW 2008-09 preview:
New Series Already Picked-Up: None. New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: 90210 (drama), How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (drama), and Styledome (reality). New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: Austin Golden Hour (drama) and Fashion Magazine Assistants (reality).
OUR FALL 2008 PREDICTION:
Sundays 5:00PM Various Repeats 6:00PM Various Repeats 7:00PM America's Next Top Model Encores 8:00PM Styledome (NEW!) 9:00PMThe Game 9:30PM The Game Encores
Mondays 8:00PM 90210(NEW!) 9:00PM Gossip Girl
Tuesdays 8:00PM One Tree Hill 9:00PM Reaper
Wednesdays 8:00PM America's Next Top Model 9:00PM How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (NEW!)
Thursdays 8:00PM Smallville 9:00PM Supernatural
Fridays 8:00PM Everybody Hates Chris 8:30PM Everybody Hates Chris Encores 9:00PM Reaper Encores
Comments: The CW has barely anything in production. Whatever they have ordered to pilot will be picked-up...that's how bad it is. The strike might be the reason, as they also have no sitcom pilots ordered to pilot. They have a script order for a Sherri Shephard sitcom, that would work well with The Game, so they should order it to pilot ASAP so it can be ready for mid-season. 90210 remake is their best shot at new success, and it would do well leading off Mondays and possibly can give Gossip Girl a bit of a bump...maybe over 3 million? Tuesdays should have One Tree Hill and Reaper, because they are both actually decent performers, as Reaper has proved itself this spring airing in multiple slots. Wednesday will of course have Next Top Model followed by How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls maybe. How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls would also fit with One Tree Hill, I think. Thursday with Smallville and Supernatural shouldn't be changed, as it does decent enough. Fridays will be changed and of course I don't think they can replace the 4 million that Smackdown! got. I would just double pump on Everybody Hates Chris and maybe encore Reaper on the night. Aliens in America would do terrible on this night, so I don't think The CW will bring it back. Repeats of Chris would do better...maybe for mid-season, they can develop another single camera comedy to pair with Chris. Or maybe by midseason Chris will be back to Sundays anyway. As for Sundays, maybe a reality show (Styledome) would be best to start at 8pm out of an encore of Top Model? This would lead into back-to-back episodes of sitcom The Game. Once Styledome wraps, they could always move Chris to 8-9pm if the Friday airings are bad. As for mid-season they could bring in a drama like Austin Golden Hour which is a medical drama, if anything fails... and the Fashion Magazine Assistants reality show maybe in between cycles of Top Model? Beauty & the Geek and Pussycat Dolls don't deserve to return. You can say goodbye to the following shows Aliens in America, Beauty & the Geek, Girlfriends, Life is Wild, Pussycat Dolls, CW Now, Online Nation and Farmer Wants a Wife. The CW needs help for sure, I think they should start each weeknight with a proven show (One Tree Hill, Top Model, Smallville, Chris) and 90210 would probably fall into those shows once it airs. Sophomore shows such as Gossip Girl and Reaper will be brought back to prove itself and grow. But without any new sitcoms, they are in a mess. Discuss your thoughts on our prediction and feel free to make suggestions of your own by clicking HERE!
Remember, next Tuesday (May 13) is the actual date when we will find out The CW's plans for the 2008-09 season. So, come on back next Tuesday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned tomorrow for our preview of CBS' upfront. And as a reminder, stay tuned next week for all the final schedules released by all the networks! We will put them up as soon as they are released by the networks, so this will be your home to see them first!
Finally Family Matters has been officially announced for Nick at Nite! A press release just came out! Nick at Nite will add Family Matters, a laugh-out-loud hit series for the whole family, to its sitcom line-up this summer, launching the show with a seven–hour marathon on Sunday, June 29 from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., before it lands in its regular time period, Sunday through Thursday at 8:30 p.m. & 11:00 p.m.; and Friday & Saturday at 12 a.m. (all times ET/PT). Family Matters ran for nine seasons (1989-98) and 215 episodes on broadcast networks ABC (first eight seasons) and CBS (for its last season), catapulted Jaleel White's archetypal nerd-next-door, Steve Urkel, into the pop culture, and the actor captured three Image Awards for his portrayal. In this long-running comedy – a spinoff of Perfect Strangers via wisecracking elevator operator Harriette Winslow – nosy, good-hearted Steve Urkel pesters and wreaks havoc on his neighbors, the Winslows of suburban Chicago. Starring Reginald VelJohnson, Jo Marie Payton, Darius McCrary, Kelly Shanygne Williams, Jaimee Foxworth, Rosetta LeNoire, Bryton McClure, with Telma Hopkins, and Jaleel White. There will be no other changes to the June line-up. So, everything else will remain the same. Family Matters will replace a Nickelodeon airing at 8:30 on Sun-Thurs and a Fresh Prince airing at 11pm on Sun-Thurs...on Fri-Sat it will air at 12am replacing a Fresh Prince airing on Friday & a Home Improvement airing on Saturday. The only other change that will happen is at 6am, Full House will air Mon-Thurs replacing a Nickelodeon airing. Now this could be just a rough schedule...we shall know more soon when we announce Nick at Nite June in the coming weeks...so come on back! In other Nick at Nite news, they will revive the classic Nickelodeon game show GUTS, with a family twist. GUTS, the groundbreaking, original hit game show from the '90s, is being recreated for a new generation of families as Nick at Nite greenlights My Family's Got GUTS, a new extreme sports competition series. Nick at Nite will commence production on two 10-episode tournaments, (20 new half-hour episodes and two hour-long specials), created and executive produced by the digital entertainment studio Worldwide Biggies. The series will be shot on location at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., beginning in August and is scheduled to premiere in prime time on Nick at Nite in fall 2008 with the finale on the Worldwide Day of Play. The original GUTS was hosted by Mike O'Malley (Yes, Dear, Get the Picture) and aired on Nickelodeon from September 28, 1992, until October 1995. A spin-off was created called Global GUTS. Finally, Nick at Nite is going to the dogs...literally! For the first time ever, Nick at Nite will give dog owners everywhere the chance to showcase the unique charms of their canine companions by entering them online as contestants for The First Annual Worldwide Fido Awards premiering on Sunday, July 27, and Monday, July 28, 9-10 p.m. (ET/PT). The competition kicks off on May 19, when viewers can upload videos of their dogs to the popular online dog video community site www.WorldwideFido.com, created by digital entertainment studio Worldwide Biggies, to compete in six categories and vote online for their top picks. The contest culminates in a two-night television event that will reveal the winners in each category and ultimately the 2008 Worldwide Fido Award for best in show. The pooch fest will also feature canine friendly celebrities and their four-legged best friends. The categories include "Cutest Dog," "Best Dressed," "Best Voice," "Most Outrageous," "Best Trick" and "Dog/Owner Look-Alike."
The CW Television Network is teaming up with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution to create a daily two-hour afternoon programming block that will bring a new court television series from Telepictures Productions and two hit comedies from Warner Bros. Television to The CW from 3:00–5:00 p.m. each weekday. Judge Jeanine Pirro, a new original one-hour court program featuring Jeanine Pirro – regular contributor to Fox News Channel, former Westchester County (N.Y.) District Attorney and County Judge, nationally known legal commentator and author – as the presiding jurist will air Monday–Friday back-to-back at 3:00 p.m., followed by a one-hour comedy block of classic urban 90s sitcoms The Wayans Bros. at 4:00 p.m. and The Jamie Foxx Show at 4:30 p.m. The new programming schedule will debut Monday, September 22, 2008. These shows will replace the current CW Daytime block of All of Us, What I Like About You and back-to-back Reba episodes. Eventually, The CW would like to have two full hours of first-run product, rather than one, in the block by next year. Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Television and The CW originally discussed doing that immediately, but decided to just start with one hour for now. So this block will be fully Warner Bros. owned shows, and not other studios. They have aired shows from other studios before such as ABC Studios' 8 Simple Rules, 20th Century Fox's Reba and CBS Paramount's All of Us, with Warner owned shows in the mix as well such as ER and What I Like About You.
This May Nick at Nite will give viewers a few special marathons and the premiere of the classic '80s movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial! Nick at Nite is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with a 7 hour George Lopez marathon from 9pm-4am on Monday, May 5, 2008. They are calling it Cinco De Lopez! This Mother's Day, Constance Marie from George Lopez will host Nick at Nite's "Hot Mother's Nite" honoring the hot sexy moms of television. Throughout the night, Constance will be treated to some poolside pampering and primping for all her hard work being a Mom on Nick at Nite. The block will be from 9pm-1am and feature episodes of Jill from Home Improvement, Angie & Benny from George Lopez and Vivian & Will's mom on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! Then on Friday, May 16 from 8pm-10:30pm, an extra-terrestrial is accidentally left behind on Earth and is befriended by a young boy and his brother and sister on the Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite premiere of the classic '80s movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial! As Elliot attempts to help his extra-terrestrial companion contact his home planet so that he might be rescued, the children must elude scientists and government agents determined to apprehend the alien for their own purposes...which results in an adventure greater than any of them could have imagined. Premieres on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite! The movie premieres on sister station TV Land this Friday (May 2). Finally, this Memorial Day and the days after, Nick at Nite serves up a seven day marathon chock full of tools and fools of Home Improvement! 10pm-6am each night from Monday, May 26 to Sunday, June 1! Still no word on Family Matters, but a good guess would be June or July. We'll let you know when we do. Anyway, to discuss Nick at Nite May 2008 and to view the full highlights with episode info for the stunts, click HERE!
Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. and New Video announced that top series from the vast Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. library of groundbreaking television drama programs are now available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store. Effective yesterday, iTunes customers are now able to purchase compelling character-driven series such as 21 Jump Street, Hunter, Silk Stalkings, The Greatest American Hero and Wiseguy, with other titles to be added in the coming weeks. Individual episodes are available for purchase at $1.99, and full season passes of each series are available at a discount. New Video and Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. look forward to expanding their partnership to make more quality Cannell programming available in digital format on iTunes. Two more popular series, The Commish and Renegade will also be available on iTunes in the coming months. To view the full press release and to discuss this news, click HERE!
We gave you the news the other day that ION Television has gotten broadcast rerun rights to Criminal Minds for Fall 2009 and also mentioned that Ghost Whisperer was also coming. Today ION made it official! ION Television officially today announced it has entered into a content agreement with CBS Television Distribution for the broadcast syndication rights to the hit television series, Ghost Whisperer. ION Television will debut this popular show in primetime, beginning in 2009. The deal continues the network's positioning momentum as a general entertainment destination. The full press release is available HERE. We will have more on ION's future on Thursday when they have their annual upfront presentation. I am told more programming will be announced and we hope to have an interview with them shortly after upfront. Come back tomorrow for full details on Criminal Minds coming to A&E for cable reruns next month. We also hinted on that the other day with the ION news, but now we have the official information!
Nick at Nite has announced it has edited their late night marathons for Wednesday nights and Saturday nights (that's early Thursday mornings and Sunday mornings). Currently it was Full House on both of those nights, 3-6am on Wednesday nights and Saturday nights, but now Nick at Nite is pulling that starting this week. Cosby Show will air 3-4am on Wednesday nights followed by Roseanne from 4-6am. On Saturday nights it will be Roseanne from 3-6am. So, now Full House will just be late Friday nights (early Saturday morning) from 5-6am. If you're confused on what air late nights on Nick at Nite, click HERE. Late nights are considered everything after the Home Improvement, George Lopez and Fresh Prince airings...which usually air two hours each before the late nights start. Roseanne is getting a lot of late night play now...every night but Friday nights. Also, for the million of you who are wondering, Family Matters is coming to Nick at Nite this summer...we will let you know when it is official, as we don't want to give more tentative dates, as you all know it changes a lot. I didn't mention this, but it was being planned for May even...and now that was decided it wasn't for the best. My bet is June or July...but it will air for sure, I assure you.
Fox has picked up 13 episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for the 2008-2009 season. Brian Austin Green will now also join the cast as a series regular. No idea yet if it will air in the fall or winter, but we will know for sure by next month when Fox has its annual upfront presentation. The explosive, season-ending cliffhanger left Cameron (Summer Glau) rocked by a car bomb and Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) close to locating an important Skynet component. Viewers were left with unanswered questions regarding Derek's (Brian Austin Green) true intentions and John's (Thomas Dekker) fate as the savior of mankind. These questions and more will be answered in season two.
You saw the commercials stating that 90s sitcom Family Matters was coming to Nick at Nite in April a few weeks ago, but now that is not happening. We reported this a few weeks back, but Nick at Nite has decided to delay the launch for a better launching pad. The current schedule that is airing currently will continue to air until further notice. They have not announced yet when Family Matters will join the line-up, but we first reported March, then we reported June and then it was reported for April...so it keeps changing. We will not say any other dates until it is official now...but if I were to guess when it is coming, June would be a good guess, since the summer would be an ideal time to launch Family Matters. I don't think any promos have been seen lately? So, I just wanted to let you all know since I have seen a ton of Google searches for Family Matters coming to Nick at Nite being redirected to our blog, so I owe it you all to let you know it has been delayed, BUT it IS coming, I can tell you that. We will report when Urkel and the gang are coming when it is official now, so we don't cause more confusion.
ION Television has officially announced their April programming expansion. We gave you all the details a week or two ago, but we haven't mentioned this on the blog, but the Thursday night slot from 8-10pm which was to be determined, will be a weekly block called "Total Theatre Thursday." Here is ION's announcement: ION Media Networks, Inc. today announced an expanded entertainment schedule on ION Television beginning April 7th. Three new series – The Steve Harvey Show, Family Feud and Quantum Leap – along with a selection of blockbuster films will join the lineup, extending the schedule by an additional hour of entertainment programming from 5 to 6 p.m. On Thursday nights, powered by deals with studios such as Warner Bros, ION Television will launch "Total Theatre Thursday" over the summer, an array of hit motion pictures like Blade Runner, Dirty Harry, Risky Business and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. These blockbuster Hollywood movies feature some of the biggest stars of the industry, including Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson. With the addition of these three new series and big screen favorites, beginning April 7th, ION Television’s lineup will be: The Wayans Brothers from 5 to 6 p.m. Mon-Fri, The Steve Harvey Show from 6 to 7 p.m. Mon-Fri, Family Feud from 7 to 8 p.m. Mon-Thurs, Mama's Family from 8 to 9 p.m. Mon-Wed, Quantum Leap from 9 to 10 p.m. Mon-Wed, The Drew Carey Show from 10 to 11 p.m. Mon-Wed and "Total Theatre Thursday" from 8 to 11 p.m. Thursdays. Baywatch will now be seen at 6 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays. View the entire press release.
ION's upfront is slated for May 1. We will try to do an interview with them (part of our ongoing 7 Questions feature) shortly after that. So keep your fringers crossed!
Beginning on Monday April 7, TV One has made a change to their line-up. The Sherman Hemsley sitcom Amen will air one hour of back-to-back episodes in the weekday 5pm & 5:30pm timeslot. For Your Love and Eve, previously airing in these time periods will no longer air. This change was set to happen on Monday, May 5, as we said late last week, but TV One has decided to do it a month earlier! As also stated late last week on the TV One May highlights, TV One will be airing 24-hour sitcom marathons during the month of May beginning on Friday nights. The first of these special marathons will actually begin now on Friday, May 2 at 8pm with a special Martin marathon continuing on the theme of TV One's election year slate of 'Martin for President' marathons that originated over President's Day weekend. This time, the "Martin 'HaterNation' Marathon" takes on the sniping that usually happens in election campaigns with a full 24 hours of Martin Payne & his host of wacky alter egos battling Pam, Sheneneh and all the other Martin-haters who would try to take Martin down.
Nick at Nite, fueled by the performance of George Lopez and Home Improvement, scored double digit increases during the 1Q08 (Jan-Mar) among total viewers (P2+) and Adults 18-49 in both primetime and total day. In primetime, Nick at Nite was up +32% over first quarter 2007 (1Q07), and was +37% higher among Adults 18-49. George Lopez has been the network's highest rated program in 2008, with ratings growing consistently since it joined the schedule, while Home Improvement ratings have also increased each month. The recent George Lopez marathon did huge as the ratings were the best week ever for Nick at Nite.
TNT has ordered a one-hour pilot of Men of a Certain Age, a new character-based drama from Everybody Loves Raymond Emmy winners Ray Romano and Mike Royce. Romano will star in the project that takes a wry look at what it means to be a guy approaching mid-life while also exploring the unique bonds of male friendship. Romano wrote the pilot script with Royce and will executive-produce with Royce (who will serve as show runner), Rory Rosegarten and Cary Hoffman. The show is about the highs and lows of being a guy in the modern era. It's about three best friends, each hoping to fulfill his dreams before the clock starts running out. This is the latest project to emerge as part of TNT's aggressive plan to change most of the network's weekday, primetime schedule to originals by 2010. The network currently has 15 projects in various stages of development, including both scripted dramas and unscripted programs.
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.
Nearly two months ago we got word that Family Matters coming to Nick at Nite got moved to June. Originally it was supposed to come in March, but they moved it to the summer, which made a bit more sense to me, since lots of teenagers and young adults would watch. But now it looks like they changed their minds! Last night during the first night of the George Lopez seven-night Luck o' the Lopez Marathon, a promo aired indicating Family Matters is "coming next month" (April). They showed Urkel, too. We don't have full details yet, but we are working on it. So if we have something more, come back to this spot and find out...if not we will bring it to you in the coming days. It's certainly time to "do the Urkel dance" in primetime!
Sorry for the late notice, but The Biography Channel has acquired the series of specials called TV Guide's Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals. If you all remember or didn't know, these specials aired in 1999 and 2000 on Fox. They had about 5 specials under this name and profiled a lot of sitcoms behind-the-scenes details (some very scandalously) such as Three's Company, The Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, The Jeffersons, M*A*S*H, Diff'rent Strokes, Gilligan's Island, Welcome Back Kotter, Facts of Life, Roseanne and more. Then they changed the name for three more specials called TV Guide's Truth Behind the Rumors and profiled series such as Growing Pains, Charlie's Angels, Cheers, Laverne & Shirley, and Dynasty. Well starting tonight (Tuesday, March 18) The Biography Channel will re-air most of these specials! It will air Tuesdays at 10:00PM and re-air 2:00AM later that night. Tonight they will air special #3 of Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals. First stop in this episode is a look back at The Love Boat, the series the critics claimed would "sink like the Titanic," but which sailed on for nine years with its Aaron Spelling formula of bikinis, blondes, celebrity guests, and lovable, yet troubled stars. Then we'll hear Loretta Swit as she recalls what it was like to be the only woman on the set with all men in the hugely popular medical comedy M*A*S*H. Up next week is special #4 of Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals. Stars from Happy Days, The Jeffersons and One Day at a Time reveal controversies. We don't have April episode info yet, but keep checking back on our message board's thread on this. To view that and to discuss these specials, click HERE! I remember watching all of these, and I taped a few even originally. If you haven't seen this or need to tape it, I would advise you watch/tape.
TV Land announced that it has greenlit four pilots as part of its ongoing original programming agenda. The channel, which recently rolled out new original series High School Reunion to double digit ratings increases, will continue to rev-up production on programming designed to appeal specifically to viewers in their 40's. The four pilots are all reality based and are: - First Love, Second Chance -- gives long-lost sweethearts an opportunity to rekindle their romance -- years later. - Now or Never -- Empty nesters are given the chance of a lifetime to open a new chapter in their lives by pursuing careers that they always dreamed of but never dared to pursue. In each installment, couples try out their dream jobs, a new place to live and a whole new social scene before making the gut-wrenching decision of which path to follow. - Make My Day -- provides a window into one day in the life of an unsuspecting participant. Hidden cameras capture the action as contestants are put through a series of weird coincidences, extraordinary situations and surprise appearances. - What's In The Box? -- TV Land's first game show in which individual contestants square off in the ultimate, fast-paced 20 question competition. For more info about these pilots, and to discuss this, click HERE! Upcoming TV Land originals after the conclusion of High School Reunion include: The Big 4-0 (launches April 16), She's Got the Look (launches June 4) and Family Foreman (launches July 16). In addition, the 6th Annual TV Land Awards will now air this summer instead of the spring (June 22 is the tentative date).
And don't forget the premiere of sitcom Miss Guided tonight after Dancing with the Stars at 10:30pm ET/PT on ABC. Hope you saw our review on Friday...because this is one of the top 3 sitcoms I think of the season behind Big Bang Theory and Samantha Who? So if you like those, you'll like this. Episode 2 is even funnier, so tune in to that on its regular night and time on Thursday at 8pm.
Nick at Nite in March 2008 won't have any schedule changes, but they will have one stunt. The stunt will be a big one, too. It will be a "Nothing But George Week" for the week of March 17. It's wall-to-wall George Lopez all-week and all-night long on Nick at Nite the week of March 17! Monday, March 17 through Sunday, March 23 ... Sun-Thur 9pm-6am and Fri-Sat 10pm-6am of that week. We will try to detail this more when more information comes, but this sounds like a, watch out, whoooooppppaaa week, as George would say! Discuss this month here.
TBS and TNT had its annual upfront yesterday and many original series are in the works for both cable networks. TBS, television's top-rated comedy network, is ramping up its production of original programming with a slate of primetime comedy series in development, two late-night pilots ordered and three late-night projects in the works. The network, which currently ranks as ad-supported cable's #1 network in primetime delivery of young adults, has enjoyed tremendous success with such original programming as My Boys, The Bill Engvall Show and Frank TV. All three of those series are set to return. Primetime projects in development include a sitcom adaptation of Jane Ganahl's bestselling memoir Naked on the Page: The Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife, along with half-hour comedies from Dave Caplan (The Drew Carey Show) and Brian Hargrove (Titus). For late night, TBS has ordered pilot presentations of the animated series Stay Tooned (working title) and a new edition of the classic game show Match Game. TBS is also working on late-night comedies with Robert Townsend, The Jim Henson Company and Mark Wolper. TNT is planning a significant boost in original programming, with 14 series in development and a plan to change most of the network's weekday, primetime schedule to originals by 2010. TNT's aggressive plan includes a mixture of scripted dramas, unscripted programs and the network's award-winning telecasts of the NBA. Under the new strategy, TNT will continue to showcase popular movies on Friday nights and weekends. TNT has several new series in development. They join two recently greenlit projects Raising the Bar (working title), from executive producer Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue), and Leverage, from executive producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day). Both projects are expected to premiere in TNT's lineup later this year. TNT is also considering Truth in Advertising, from Greer Shephard and Michael M. Robin, executive producers of The Closer. Scripted series in development include The Genie Chronicles, a fantasy-adventure from DreamWorks Television, producers of TNT's Into the West; Generations, a family drama from executive producer Robert Redford and writer/executive producer John Sacret Young (The West Wing, China Beach); Technophobia, from executive producer Mark Frost (Twin Peaks); an untitled project from the Hoosiers team of Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh; and an untitled drama based on characters created by crime novelist Tess Gerritsen. For the first time, TNT is also branching into unscripted series, with several projects in development from such talents as Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Mark Burnett, Mark Wolper, former NBA star Kenny Smith and Gay Rosenthal. TNT's current original programming successes include ad-supported cable's #1 series of all time, The Closer, starring Golden Globe winner Kyra Sedgwick. That series will return for its fourth season this summer. The network's highly successful Saving Grace, featuring Oscar winner Holly Hunter, also will return for a second season this summer. The show premiered in 2007, claiming ad-supported cable's largest audience of the year for a new series launch. For full details on each new project with synopsis, click HERE!
The award-winning family comedy series, Everybody Hates Chris from co-creator and narrator Chris Rock, will join the Nick at Nite line-up in fall 2009. Beginning September 2009, Nick At Nite will become the exclusive basic cable home to the half-hour series which stars Tyler James Williams (Unaccompanied Minors) as Chris, Terry Crews (The Longest Yard) as Julius, Tichina Arnold (Martin) as Rochelle, Tequan Richmond (Ray) as Drew, Imani Hakim as Tonya and Vincent Martella (Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo) as Greg. The deal with CBS Television Distribution includes a four-year license period for a minimum of four seasons (80 episodes)...the series was renewed today for a fourth season coming this fall. The hit series is currently already in production on season four, which is included as part of the overall deal. The series features guest stars including Jimmie Walker (Good Times), Todd Bridges (Diff'rent Strokes), Ernest Thomas (What's Happening!!), Loretta Devine, Wayne Brady, Orlando Jones, Richard Lewis, Vincent Pastore, Robert Wuhl, Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) and Tommy Davidson. The series is also cleared in off-network broadcast syndication for fall 2009, with 52% of the country covered thus far and deals signed with stations from the Fox, CBS, Cox Television and Weigel Broadcasting station groups. Chris will air on Fox-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington and Houston. The CBS-owned stations pacting for the show are in Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta and Miami. Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU has snagged Chris for Chicago, while indie KAZT has bought the show in Phoenix. Other upcoming series on Nick at Nite include Family Matters (June 2008), Friends (Fall 2011) and possibly The Nanny in 2009, or that could be TV Land now. Discuss the Chris news here.
The CW announced early pickups of six series today, including the network's signature reality hit, America's Next Top Model, four dramas and one comedy. All six series will return for the fall season. The network's most popular series, America's Next Top Model will return with mega-star Tyra Banks for cycles 11 and 12. Returning dramas include the buzz-worthy freshman hit Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, returning for a sixth season. These three series are the top-ranked shows on television with a concentration of women 18-34 viewers. Also renewed were the long-running Thursday night team of Smallville, which will begin its eighth season, and Supernatural, which will begin its fourth season. In addition, the critically acclaimed comedy Everybody Hates Chris will return for season four.
Well today is day 95 of the strike. Some shows are actually getting ready to go back into production, which a sure sign the strike will end soon for sure. The big hits like Grey's Anatomy, House, Desperate Housewives, CSI will all for sure return to the air, but some new shows like Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies, Moonlight could be held back until the fall for more promotional push. Traditional sitcoms like Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Back to You could be back on the air the earliest, as it doesn't take much time for them to get back to work...we could see them back on-air in mid-late March. As far as single camera sitcoms go, The Office has scripts ready already, so it can get on the air as fast as the traditional sitcoms. Samantha Who has three episodes left, it is a question mark though if ABC will hold on to those until the fall or get back into production right away and get in more episodes for this season. With Dancing with the Stars returning, it makes sense to get Samantha back in production ASAP for this season. We will certainly know much more when the strike officially ends, on what will return and what won't.
The cast of NBC's Family Ties all gathered for the first time in 18 years on Thursday on NBC's Today show to help promote a new memoir, titled "Sit, Ubu, Sit," by the creator of the iconic 1980's television sitcom, Gary David Goldberg. Joining Gary David Goldberg were Michael J. Fox, Michael Gross, Meredith Baxter, Justine Batemen and Tina Yothers. "Had it not been for this book, we would not have had this reunion. This is the first time in about 18 years that we have all been on the same piece of real estate at the same time," said Michael Gross. You can read more about this reunion that took place this morning, and watch the entire video of it by clicking HERE! And don't forget the third season is on DVD next week. See our review for details on it and how to order! Sha la la la!
Updating our story from yesterday on Nick at Nite's overnight changes, they will indeed make these changes for the rest of the month at least rather than just this week. So, we will see a pattern of Full House, Roseanne and Cosby Show in the overnights. So Fresh Prince will be just 11pm-12am, joining Home Improvement and George Lopez in primetime, while the other three shows are for late owls. For the schedule of the overnights, click HERE!
Yet more RTN news! Retro Television Network (RTN) announced today that it will launch an RTN affiliate in Salisbury, MD. The network will begin airing on WRDE in the 4th quarter of this year on the station's digital channel. The station is currently being acquired by XBC Broadcasting, LLC, pending FCC approval.
Today is the 94th day of the strike. No news to report, but there are some sitcom news to report. MyNetworkTV has ordered 13 episodes of C To The B Productions and Qtopia Entertainment's new half-hour comedy, Under One Roof. Starring Flavor Flav, the series is scheduled to debut in the Spring of 2008. Flav plays Calvster Hill, an ex-convict that moves in with his wealthy, conservative brother, Walter (Kelly Perine). Calvster subsequently turns the Hill family's life upside down, parading his old prison cronies through the house; teaching his nephew Walter Jr. to be a gangsta rapper; and butting heads with Walter's snooty wife, Ashley. The series is currently in production in Toronto, Canada and licensed by C To The B Productions and Qtopia Entertainment to MyNetworkTV. Since the series is written by Canadian writers, this show will have no effect from the strike. Meanwhile, NBC has announced a series pickup of the American adaptation of the Australian hit comedy series Kath & Kim, starring Molly Shannon (NBC's Saturday Night Live) and Selma Blair (Legally Blonde). 6 episodes have been picked-up, but not word when it could start airing. I would guess the fall. It is a series adapted from Australia's hit comedy of the same title, is a look into the minutiae of middle-class suburbia that digs deep into the daily lives of Kath, a cheerful, forty-something divorcee, and her self-absorbed daughter, Kim. It's the love and hate, push and pull, of the dysfunctional relationship only a mother and daughter could share.
It finally looks like the every night marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite in the late nights could be gone...at least for this week. Last night Full House aired from 2-6am, and it appears at least for this week, there will be no Fresh in the overnights. In addition to Full House on Tuesday night, we get Roseanne tonight from 2-5:30am, The Cosby Show on Thursday night from 2-6am, more Full House on Friday night from 3-6am, more Roseanne on Saturday night from 2-6am, and more The Cosby Show on Sunday night from 1:30am-6am. I will let you know as soon as I do what will happen next week...but my guess is it will be the same as this week, with Fresh Prince on Monday nights from 2-6am. No schedule changes will be made from 9pm-2am.
It is day 88 of the strike. Nothing new at all to report. Tomorrow is my birthday...the best present I could get is certainly announcement that the strike is ending. It could happen. If not tomorrow then certainly in the next week or two. ABC will launch the new season of Lost tonight! I have seen tonight's premiere and the second episode slated to air next week already...and I must say it is VERY good. I loved it and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I am not allowed to reveal any major story lines, but I will tell you someone we thought died in the season finale is alive and someone else who died will appear in the episode in some form. We will also get a nice flash forward in tonight's episode and an interesting flashback in next week's show. Are these people who are going to rescue them good or bad? You'll get bit more of a sense after these two episodes! Tune in!
Today is the last day of NATPE, but we will have a full wrap-up tomorrow if we missed anything. And we will try to give you a list of everything coming in Fall 2008 in syndication. Anyway, here are some latest NATPE updates:
- FremantleMedia North America is looking to revive the classic game show Match Game. They are in discussions with cable networks and is expected to lock up a deal soon. The company also is looking for an executive producer, with casting to follow. It was hinted at a "Coffee With" Q&A session at NATPE. - GSN has bought a game show set to launch soon. The series is called Bingo America, an original, 40-episode series, beginning Monday, March 31 at 7PM/6C. Developed by executive producer Andrew Glassman, the fast-paced, "free-to-play-along-and-win" new series blends all the classic elements of trivia-based game shows with traditional bingo game-play. Bingo America and host Patrick Duffy (Dallas, Step by Step) will be awarding cash and prizes to both on-air contestants and at-home viewers in every episode. More notes coming, if any. Check back with us.
This March on TV One we will get our normal sitcom stunts and also a launch of a new acquisition...the short lived action-packed drama Day Break starring Taye Diggs. On Saturday, March 8 from 12 Noon to 8pm, spend a day with TV One's legendary male comedians - Martin (Lawrence), Cedric (the entertainer), and Eddie (Murphy) in an all-day marathon of comedies Martin, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, and The PJs that will keep the funny coming from all different angles. Then, Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9, in primetime, TV One offers a Taye Diggs Weekend with a two-day TV One premiere of the blockbuster film How Stella Got Her Groove Back starring a then-unknown Taye Diggs in his first big role alongside Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg. Then, on Sunday, March 9, at 10pm, Taye Diggs Weekend continues with the TV One premiere of the recent ABC network action drama series Day Break. In the series, Diggs plays a detective framed for the murder of an assistant district attorney. 'Groundhog Day'-style, Diggs' character relives the same day over again each episode as he tries to investigate the murder, discover who framed him, and clear his name. TV One plans to air all 13 episodes of Day Break, which includes 7 episodes never seen before on American television, as ABC never aired those (they only aired them on abc.com). TV One premieres the season with two back-to-back action-packed episodes and will air subsequent episodes on Sundays at 10pm and 1am, with rebroadcasts Thursdays at 10pm and Fridays at 12pm. I suggest you all watch this series, as it is very good and actually has a conclusion after 13 episodes. And we will have more on this in the coming weeks, but joining the TV One line-up in April will be the sitcom The Hughleys! It will get an all-day April Fool's Day marathon from 10am-6am, before joining the network line-up weekdays at 6:30pm and 11:30pm...more details on April soon!
As I mentioned a few times this week, Family Matters is coming to Nick at Nite. The official announcement should be coming soon, but Nick at Nite has access to the show beginning in March, but it won't premiere then (see below). ABC Family Channel, which currently airs the show weekdays (7-8am and 1-2pm) will lose rights after the Feb. 29 airing. So it will be leaving ABC Family. However, the show will not be premiering on Nick at Nite in March after all. Family Matters is currently set to launch in June 2008. I think the reason they are holding it back by three months is to give it much more promotion because it will probably do very big for the network. It's going to be the Summer of Urkel this summer on Nick at Nite for sure! It really didn't make sense to launch it in March as planned because there is not much time to promote it. We will certainly have full details in the coming months on Family Matters' launch on Nick at Nite this June! Get ready for Urkel joining Tim the Toolman, George, and Will on Nick at Nite! "Did I do that?"
