Fox Upfront 2009-10: Fall 2009 Schedule; ER Returns to ION June 29

Your first look at Fox's official line-up!

Fox 2009-10

Fall 2009

Sundays
7:00PM NFL Overrun/Animated Repeats
8:00PM The Simpsons
8:30PM The Cleveland Show (NEW!)
9:00PM Family Guy
9:30PM American Dad!

Mondays
8:00PM House
9:00PM Lie to Me

Tuesdays
8:00PM So You Think You Can Dance

Wednesdays
8:00PM So You Think You Can Dance Results
9:00PM Glee (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Bones
9:00PM Fringe

Fridays
8:00PM Brothers (NEW!)
8:30PM 'Til Death
9:00PM Dollhouse

Saturdays
8:00PM Cops
9:00PM America's Most Wanted


January / Spring 2010:

Sundays
7:00PM Repeats
7:30PM American Dad
8:00PM The Simpsons
8:30PM Sons of Tucson (NEW!)
9:00PM Family Guy
9:30PM The Cleveland Show

Mondays
8:00PM House
9:00PM 24

Tuesdays
8:00PM American Idol
9:00PM Past Life (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM American Idol Results Show
9:00PM Human Target (NEW!) / Glee (spring)

Thursdays
8:00PM Bones
9:00PM Fringe

Fridays
8:00PM Brothers (NEW!)
8:30PM 'Til Death
9:00PM Dollhouse

Saturdays
8:00PM Cops
9:00PM America's Most Wanted

NOTES: For fall, Fox has ordered one new drama, one new comedy, and one new animated comedy, with a fall version of summer hit So You Think You Can Dance. For midseason, Fox has ordered two new dramas and one new comedy.
The new event drama, Human Target (Wednesdays at 9 in January), will premiere with a special preview Sunday, Jan. 17 at approx. 8:00 PM ET/PT following the NFC Divisional Playoff game. 24 will also launch its season that night from approx. 9-11PM ET/PT.
On Saturday, Nov. 7 from 11:00 PM-Midnight ET/PT, Wanda Sykes returns to Fox to host The Wanda Sykes Show (working title). And at 12 midnight ET, for a half-hour each Saturday night will see an animated comedy encore from "Animation Domination."
On the shelf but not scheduled yet is a second year of Kitchen Nightmares.
More coming...

Discuss Fox's 2009-10 line-up. You'll find the official press release there, too...with more detailed information.


Back to some other news of the day, ION Television will bring back reruns of ER starting Monday, June 29. The series has been on and off the schedule because of low ratings. Now ION will give it another shot, airing it weekdays at 5PM replacing an hour of M*A*S*H, which moves to the 4pm hour now replacing drama Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap will now be off the schedule. No other changes will be made, as of now, starting June 29...so this is a preview of their July schedule. We are not sure if any other changes are being made in July, but we will let you know in our official July write-up very soon. ER last aired in March and April on Monday nights at 8pm.
We won't have as many news stories this week due to the upfronts, but we'll try to have something different as a secondary story each day. Tomorrow could be hard since we have two announcements (ABC and CBS). We have some WGN America and Sci Fi schedule news we want to share with you later this week...so come on back for that and of course network fall schedules! Fun week!!

ION Television May 2009 Adds Reba; Nick at Nite Ratings Climb; Charles in Charge on NBC.com

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.

ION Television January 2009 Sees Returns of Drew Carey and Quantum Leap; Nick at Nite Scores in 2008

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!

ION Fall 2008 Schedule, Dead Zone and Mr. Cooper Also Join; ABC Family Upfront

Yesterday we gave you some details on ION Television's upfront, with the announcement of ER coming in June. Later in the evening ION sent us the full details of their acquisitions and plans for Fall 2008.
ION Television solidified its evolution into a popular, general entertainment network aimed at the 25-54 demographic. At its 2008 sales presentation to the advertising community, held at the New York Public Library in New York City, the Upfront highlighted ION Television's exciting, contemporary programming initiatives for the 2008-2009 television season and promised strong partnerships for advertisers in an ever-changing and competitive marketplace.
ION Television's new campaign is called the "Positively Entertaining" network branding, showcasing a powerful new primetime lineup and the expansion of the network's programming block to 4 p.m.
This Fall, viewers will see a great new lineup of top shows during the week and on weekends. RHI Entertainment, ION Television's exclusive partner in weekend primetime programming, will deliver 12 original movies, including three Westerns, during the 2008-2009 season. RHI's high-caliber content has brought impressive ratings returns, demonstrating how well the ION platform does with quality programming. The award-winning producer and distributor of groundbreaking miniseries and movies for television will continue to provide original programming, as well as quality library titles.
We mentioned in the past and recent days, that ION has acquired Boston Legal & M*A*S*H for this fall, ER starts next month and Criminal Minds & Ghost Whisperer for Fall 2009, but now ION has given more announcements for more series!
USA Network's original series, The Dead Zone, a science fiction/suspense series from Debmar-Mercury, will appear on ION Television's Fall primetime schedule airing Thursday nights. The hit drama stars Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, a man who awakens from a six-year coma to discover that he has psychic abilities.
Through a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, the hit sitcom, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, will be on the ION Television Fall lineup airing weekdays. Mark Curry plays Mr. Mark Cooper, a single teacher and basketball coach at a high school in Oakland, California. The cast also includes Raven-Symoné, Holly Robinson Peete, Nell Carter, Omar Gooding and more.
ION clearly said at their upfront, that they are not "the Mama's Family channel" anymore and thus the show will be off the line-up by the fall, as of now. That is not to say it won't ever return, but as of now, they are trying to move forward. Recently introduced shows such as The Drew Carey Show, Quantum Leap, Family Feud and The Steve Harvey Show will remain on the network in the Fall.

The following is an outline of ION's Fall 2008 schedule, but could change, so it is not set in stone:

Mondays-Fridays
4:00PM The Steve Harvey Show
4:30PM The Steve Harvey Show
5:00PM Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
5:30PM Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
6:00PM The Drew Carey Show
6:30PM M*A*S*H

Mondays-Thursdays
7:00PM Family Feud
7:30PM Family Feud
8:00PM Quantum Leap

Mondays-Wednesdays
9:00PM Boston Legal
10:00PM ER

Thursdays
9:00PM The Dead Zone
10:00PM The Dead Zone

Fridays-Sundays
7:00PM-11:00PM RHI Entertainment on ION

6:00PM (and if any other slots on weekends are added) weekends will be known closer to the Fall.
We will have an interview with ION very soon (if all goes well), and will try to answer everything in our on going "Seven Questions With..." series. So stay tuned!

Moving on to another upfront, ABC Family also had their upfront yesterday! They outlined ABC Family's plans for Summer and Fall of 2008. Scheduled to debut this summer are new original drama series including The Middleman (Monday, June 16) and The Secret Life of the American Teenager (Tuesday, July 1). In addition to the summer series, ABC Family will premiere Samurai Girl, a special event premiering with six hours over three nights this Fall (September 5, 6, 7) and has ordered a third season of Lincoln Heights (Fall 2008), a second season of Greek (Fall 2008), and a third season of Kyle XY (January 2009). The 11th annual 25 Days of Christmas event will feature an original movie and special as well as the basic cable premieres of The Chronicles of Narnia and Cars.
Rerun wise, joining the successful line-up of acquired series, including America's Funniest Home Videos, What I Like About You, 8 Simple Rules and Gilmore Girls will be the newly acquired sitcoms That '70s Show premiering this June and My Wife and Kids premiering this September. We gave you news on both of these already, though.
New ABC Family original movies include The Circuit starring Michelle Trachtenberg on Sunday, June 8 and Picture This starring Ashley Tisdale on Sunday, July 13. In addition, ABC Family presents the new original movie Snow 2: Brain Freeze starring Tom Cavanaugh and Ashley Williams, the sequel to the highly successful Snow during the 25 Days of Christmas.
In the works for 2009 are an original sitcom and a half-hour dramedy. Roommates, the network's first foray into a half-hour sitcom, will premiere with thirteen episodes in 2009. Roommates is about a group of friends trying to figure out love and life in their post-collegiate years. The ensemble cast includes, Tyler Francavilla, Dorian Brown, Tommy Dewey, David Weidoff and Tamera Mowry (Sister, Sister).
Sophie, an all new original half-hour series will also premiere in 2009 with thirteen episodes also. Sophie is a heartwarming and comedic tale of a lovely young woman having the worst year of her life. The cast includes Natalie Brown, Sebastian Spence, Jeff Geddis, Amy Lalonde, Mimi Kuzyk, Sara Botsford, Chantelle Chung and Catherine Bérubé.
For more details on ABC Family's Upfront highlights, I suggest you click HERE! You can also discuss the new there. We should have ABC Family's June schedule in the coming days so you will know when That '70s Show will be airing!

Stay tuned next week as we preview the broadcast network upfronts, in our annual preview. We will let you know what we think ABC, The CW, CBS and Fox will do (NBC has already announced their fall schedule, so we can't preview them) for the fall.
Upfront week is week of May 12, starting with NBC, but they already announced their 2008-09 schedules.

Family Matters Nick at Nite Launch Delayed; ION Officially Announces April Expansion

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!

Fox Cancels Jezebel James; ION Picks-Up Family Feud, Quantum Leap, and More in April 2008

Fox has pulled new sitcom The Return of Jezebel James after just two weeks and three episodes airing. The sitcom was just averaging a bit over 3 million on Friday nights. Fox will replace the 8pm hour on Fridays with repeats of Bones, which will lead into new episodes of Canterbury's Law starting this Friday. If Jezebel James was still airing this Friday, Fox would probably have had historic lows on that night as James leading into Canterbury would have been a disaster. Unhitched could be next on the cancelation block as that sitcom also did terrible this week in two airings on Sunday with just 3 million someodd viewers.
Meanwhile, Fox has picked up a fourth season of Prison Break, the action-packed series starring Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller as on-the-lam brothers Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield.
After spending the first season filming on location in Chicago, followed by two seasons on location in Dallas, production on the upcoming fourth season of Prison Break will move to Los Angeles.

ION Television has picked up rights to Family Feud starting April 7. It will be the current version hosted by John O'Hurley. On your marks... let's start The Family Feud! The long- running, popular family-oriented game show is back with a new host and a new look. Hosted by television personality John O'Hurley, Family Feud is a fast-paced game show that pits two families against one another in a contest to name the most popular responses to survey-type questions posed to a 100 people. O'Hurley's quick wit and sophisticated style resonates with viewers who remember the Richard Dawson era. Although the set is now in a theatre in the round setting, it is somewhat of a throwback to the Dawson era when the families posed inside a living room setting.
ION will air Family Feud Mon-Thurs at 7:00pm & 7:30pm, replacing Alice, which will leave the line-up. ION has also picked up the drama Quantum Leap. After theorizing that man or woman could time travel within his or her lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into his Quantum Leap accelerator and was launched into an unknown abyss. It was upon awaking he realized he was trapped in the past, seeing a mirror image that wasn’t his and feeling driven by an unknown force to change the course of history for the better. Guided on this journey by Admiral Al Calavicci, an onlooker from his own time who only appears in the form of a hologram, Dr. Beckett leaps from one life to another, hoping that ultimately his next one will be the leap that takes him home.
Quantum Leap will also start on April 7 and air Mon-Wed at 9:00pm, leading into The Drew Carey Show's new timeslot 10 & 10:30pm Mon-Wed. ION will expand a bit, too! Instead of starting 6:00pm, they will start 5:00pm now...at least Mon-Fri (Saturday and Sundays it will still start at 6:00pm). The Wayans Bros. will move to 5:00pm & 5:30pm Mon-Fri. 6:00pm hour is still to be determined, which was Wayans' old slot. The aforementioned Family Feud follows at 7 Mon-Thurs, followed by Mama's Family for an hour at 8, but only Mon-Wed now. ION has something planned on Thursday nights from 8-10pm, which is still to be determined. Following that on Thursday nights at 10:00pm will be 48 Hours (it will still air Sundays at 6:00pm, too). The qubo kids block on Fridays will move up an hour now from 2:30-6pm to 1:30-5pm now. Baywatch will remain Saturdays at 6:00pm, which it moves to starting this coming Saturday. RHI programming will still air Fri-Sun from 7-11pm, and among the titles we will see in April are all four parts of Return to Lonesome Dove, new movie Praire Fever and Lone Rider, and classics such as Gullilver's Travels.
We will have more on those "to be determined" slots when we find out. Will it be a sitcom or a game show maybe to lead-into Family Feud? Or what is going to on Thursday nights from 8-10pm? We don't know yet, but as soon as we do, we will let you know!
For the entire April schedule in a list form and more highlights, click HERE! Please discuss as well!