Married with Children Comes to TBS This Fall, In Addition to Spike TV; Spike TV Fall 2008 Update

A few months ago it was announced that hit '90s sitcom Married with Children is coming to Spike TV this September. It was said to have been an exclusive deal, but it doesn't look like it will be. We have gotten word that cable network TBS has gotten the rights to the sitcom for this September as well! It will obviously be a shared deal for the five-year contract term between Spike and TBS. Spike TV will get majority of the hours, as they can air the show anytime between 7am-2am, while TBS can only air it between 2am-7am. TBS will start airing the show around September 15 (we will confirm this date in the coming weeks or so). The show will air regularly weekday mornings 6-7am, and sometimes anytime between 4-6am as well, depending on the late movies. The Steve Harvey Show will lead into Married each time usually, so Harvey won't have a set timeslot anymore, as it can air anywhere between 3:30am-5:30am.
We will have more on TBS fall in the coming weeks or in a month or so, so stay tuned. There could be some minor time changes here and there, however Married with Children is the only new show they are adding, I believe. Fall 2009 will be a different story when According to Jim comes and My Name is Earl and The Office can also be stripped rather than just once a week.

Moving on to Spike TV, as we mentioned, they have acquired Married with Children for September and Unsolved Mysteries for October. CSI: NY will also be available for five days a week play this fall, rather than just once a week. CSI: NY will have a week-long marathon Monday, September 22 to Friday, September 26 from 9am-9pm, before joining the weeknight evening line-up the following week.
Married with Children will launch on Spike TV with a weekend block on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28 from 9am-11am. Then it will get a week-long marathon from Monday, September 29 to Friday, October 3 from 9am-3pm. Then Married with Children will regularly air after that week weekdays from 11am-1pm, a two-hour block. There will be times Married will also air in the late night around 1-2am. Go Bundy, indeed!
Unsolved Mysteries will launch on Monday, October 13 airing weeknights at 5pm and 6pm! The weeks leading up to the launch they will have stunts to promote the show coming to Spike TV. More details on that at a later date.
Once Unsolved settles into its timeslot, Spike TV will look like this weekdays in the fall:
9am Star Trek: Voyager, 10am Whacked Out Sports, 10:30am Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, 11am-1pm Married with Children, 1-3pm Disorderly Conduct: Video on Patrol, 3-5pm Spike's Most Amazing Videos, 5-7pm Unsolved Mysteries, with CSI and CSI: NY rounding out the evening from 7-9pm. CSI: NY will also air at midnight, followed by CSI. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 & Seven Days will remain at 2 & 3am. We will have more details on Spike Fall when available. But for now, great news for Married with Children fans as two networks will air the show, and Unsolved Mysteries gets a nice two-hour block in the evenings on Spike TV!

Fox Changes Fall Premiere Dates; CBS Encoring Engvall's Sitcom; John Ritter Portrait Added to Hollywood High Mural

Fox was slated to start the fall season the week of August 25, but now Fox has changed their minds and will start the fall season on September 1, still a full three weeks ahead of the actual start of the 2008-09 season.
Fox premiere week will kick off the 2008-09 season with special two-hour premieres of Prison Break Monday, Sept. 1 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; Bones Wednesday, Sept. 3 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; The Moment of Truth Thursday, Sept. 4 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Friday, Sept. 5 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Premiere week will also see the season premieres of Cops and America's Most Wanted on Saturday, September 6.
As for new series, Fringe, the highly anticipated new thriller from J.J. Abrams will debut with a two-hour premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. New sitcom, Do Not Disturb, the new workplace comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 9:30 PM ET/PT.
Other fall premieres include: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Monday, September 8 at 8:00PM, as Prison Break will slide over to 9:00PM. Returning sitcom 'Til Death will have its season premiere Wednesday, September 10 at 9:00PM in between Bones and Do Not Disturb. Kitchen Nightmares will have its season premiere on Thursday, September 11 at 9:00PM, as The Moment of Truth will air at 8:00PM. Don't Forget the Lyrics! will have its season premiere the next day, Friday, September 12 at 9:00PM following Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fox Saturday late night will have its season premieres on Saturday, September 13 with MADtv at 11:00pm and Talk Show with Spike Feresten at midnight. House will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 16 in its new slot of 8:00pm, leading into Fringe. And finally, the Fox Animation Domination comedies will have their season premieres in the actual traditional premiere week (Sept. 22-28) on Sunday, September 28 with The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad! from 8-10PM.

TBS's original sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show starring Bill Engvall launches its ten-episode second season on Thursday, June 12 at 9:00PM, but before that happens CBS has struck a deal with TBS to air an episode from season one on CBS this coming Monday (June 9). The season one encore (episode three How Bill Met Susan) will air on CBS at 8:00PM in place of the normally scheduled The Big Bang Theory.
Why is CBS doing this? They are not sister stations with TBS, so one wonders what the reason is? Variety reports that this is strictly a marketing swap. In exchange for CBS giving its show wider exposure, TBS will cede promo time to CBS to promote its fall 2008 schedule. So it is a win-win situation for both networks, as TBS gets more exposure for The Bill Engvall Show and CBS gets to showcase its fall promos on TBS. TBS got 4.1 million last season for the series premiere of The Bill Engvall Show. Can CBS's encore do better and can the season premiere on TBS do better as well (opposite the NBA Finals on ABC)? Only time will tell...

Finally, we leave you today with some good news. A 50-foot portrait of the legendary John Ritter (Three's Company, 8 Simple Rules) was dedicated as part of the existing Hollywood High School "Portrait of Hollywood" mural at 9 a.m. today in front of the mural at 1521 N. Highland Avenue, at the corner of Highland and Hawthorne. If you all recall or didn't know, when John was a guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live back in April 2003, Jimmy told John that he will not rest until John's photo was added to the Hollywood High mural. John of course went to Hollywood High for high school from 1962-1966 (then he later went to USC for college from 1966-1971). And now John has finally gotten his photo added to the mural at Hollywood High!
Attending the event was: Amy Yasbeck Ritter, Jimmy Kimmel, mural artist Eloy Torrez, Los Angeles City Council president Eric Garcetti, and Councilmember Tom La Bonge.
Also attended was representatives from the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Legacy Partners and Gatehouse Capital, which combined forces to fund the $74,000 mural.
The event also marks the creation of a $500,000 endowment fund for Hollywood High School's Performing Arts program, provided by a collaboration of Gatehouse Capital.
Great news! And we can't wait to see a picture of this! To discuss this news, and to see a photo of John's "pretend mural" on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003, click HERE!

Nick at Nite March 2008 - George Lopez Week; TBS and TNT Upfront 2008- New Sitcoms, Dramas...and Match Game!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

Day 36: WGA's Strike; Minor TBS Schedule Change; ION Not Airing Kung Fu

It is now day 36 and there seems to be no end in sight for this strike. Late on Friday, we received this statement from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers: "We're disappointed to report that talks between the AMPTP and WGA have broken down yet again. Quite frankly, we're puzzled and disheartened by an ongoing WGA negotiating strategy that seems designed to delay or derail talks rather than facilitate an end to this strike. Union negotiators in our industry have successfully concluded 306 major agreements with the AMPTP since its inception in 1982. The WGA organizers sitting across the table from us have never concluded even one industry accord. Their Quixotic pursuit of radical demands led them to begin this strike, and now has caused this breakdown in negotiations. We hope that the WGA will come back to this table with a rational plan that can lead us to a fair and equitable resolution to a strike that is causing so much distress for so many people in our industry and community."
And the WGA told us this on Friday: "Today, after three days of discussions, the AMPTP came back to us with a proposal that included a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming of December 3. They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use. They still insist on the DVD rate for Internet downloads. They refuse to cover original material made for new media. We remain ready and willing to negotiate, no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are, because the stakes are simply too high. We were prepared to counter their proposal tonight, and when any of them are ready to return to the table, we're here, ready to make a fair deal."
I don't care who to believe. I just want this over NOW! ABC will be releasing their January strike schedule this week. We will let you know when that happens! So come on back!

TBS has made some minor schedule changes effective Monday, December 24. Many viewers have complained about the constant airings of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on many channels (Nick at Nite, The N, and TBS), well now you might be just a little bit relieved. TBS is moving the show out of 3-4pm weekdays into 9-10am weekdays. I guess that is a start. TBS is wishing us a Merry Christmas by doing this...their present to us. With this change, the morning movie will go from 9-11am to 10am-12pm, thus the Home Improvement block will be shifted from 11am-1pm to 12pm-2pm which will move Yes, Dear from 1-2pm to 3-4pm. Say that ten times fast. Click HERE to view the changes and to discuss them. These changes are only for the cable TBS...not Peachtree TV in Atlanta and Canada.

In other scheduling news, ION Television was slated to bring back Kung Fu to Saturday nights at 6pm starting Dec. 15, but that will not happen anymore. NFL Game of the Week highlights will continue to air the rest of the month until the NFL season is over. So maybe Kung Fu will return in January? We will let you know. We should have January this week, if all goes well. So you'll want to come on back for that! The only thing announced is The Drew Carey Show weeknights 9-10pm.

It is still early in the day...if we have more news, we will return for sure.

ION Adds Perfect Strangers Halloween Stunt; Seinfeld Viewers Choice; Network Notes

Yesterday many Perfect Strangers fans did the "dance of joy" when finding out that the series is finally coming to DVD in February, now we have some more news on the show. ION Television, which is airing the show Mon-Thurs at 8:30 p.m., has added a two-night Halloween stunt! The stunt will air Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30 with back-to-back episodes each night starting at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. Join Larry and Balki as they battle The Grim Reaper, the touch of death, a ghost, and some Halloween late night horror movies! For the episode details, click HERE.
We will have ION Television's November schedule highlights shortly. As of now, they have only announced through November 11 and there are no changes. Could we see some changes week of November 12? Will we see a Thanksgiving stunt? We shall find out soon! Come on back!

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) -- with help from the 197 affiliates in 99% of the country carrying the highly-rated Seinfeld sitcom in syndication -- will ask fans to vote for their favorite "Seinfeld Viewers Choice" episodes and have their selections subsequently air in national syndication during the November sweep.
Beginning Monday, October 15, through Monday, November 5, 2007, "Seinfeld Viewers Choice" clips from 35 of the most popular episodes will be showcased as streaming content on Yahoo! TV (or go to Yahoo! and search for "Seinfeld Top 10") where viewers will be asked to select their 10 favorite episodes. Votes will be tabulated on Monday, November 5, and the resulting 10 favorite episodes will air as part of two "Viewers Choice" theme weeks beginning November 12 and November 19.
Also, a random prize drawing from all of the online entrants will include a grand prize consisting of a $4,500 shopping spree from Overstock.com and a Seinfeld fan package that includes the soon-to-be-released Seinfeld: The Complete Ninth Season DVDs (on shelves 11/6/07), a Seinfeld hat, T-Shirt and mug. Throughout the entry period, voters will be eligible to enter daily for a chance to win the grand prize, or one of ten first prizes.
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. Seinfeld has been renewed for a third cycle by its stations and second cycle in cable, keeping the show on the air through 2011.

Some network notes time. Fox serves up another order of Kitchen Nightmares and picks up the show for a second season. The show is airing Wednesdays at 9 on Fox.
The CW has canceled Online Nation. The show has been doing anemic ratings in its Sundays at 7:30 p.m. slot. Replacing the series will be encores of The CW's new sitcom Aliens in America. I wonder if that will do any better? The CW is keeping the equally bad CW Now for now at least. That series airs at 7 p.m. on Sundays.

Tonight in sitcom land it is NBC's Comedy Done Right block starting with an all-new My Name is Earl, followed by an all-new 30 Rock and another new one-hour The Office. The smart laughs start at 8/7 central on NBC.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bush Speech Thursday at 9 to Delay Programming; TBS Reportedly Renews My Boys for Season 3

The major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) plan to air President Bush's Address on Iraq including the democratic response Thursday at 9PM ET/PT. This will last about 25 minutes or so in total.
ABC will just delay the encores of Grey's Anatomy and MEN IN TREEES by 25 minutes or so and air them immediately following the speech in the Eastern and Central time zones. Mountain and Pacific will air the entire primetime from 8-11pm, following the speech.
CBS has not announced what they will do yet, but it will likely be similar to ABC and air CSI and Without a Trace on a delay in Eastern and Central time zones.
FOX will not air an all-new episode of Don't Forget the Lyrics at 9:00pm now. Instead, a repeat of the show's premiere will air. The Eastern and Central time zones will join that in progress when Bush's speech ends. The Mountain and Pacific time zones, the speech will lead into a new Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (which will air at 8pm ET) and the repeat of Lyrics.
NBC plans to move the 9:00pm repeat of The Office to 9:30, following the speech, instead of Scrubs, in the Eastern and Central time zones while Mountain and Pacific viewers will see both shows.

TBS has reportedly renewed original sitcom My Boys for a third season. No official announcement has been made yet, but we will certainly let you know when they do. The reports are saying that 8 episodes have been ordered thus far. The second season finale aired on Monday night on TBS.

We will have ION's October schedule probably tomorrow or Friday. So just a heads up. Check back with us!

AmericanLife Launches OnDemand Service; TBS Renews Bill Engvall Sitcom for Season 2; TV Land Family Day Pledge Launches

AmericanLife TV Network is joining the video OnDemand universe, offering up 20 hours of programming per month to any of TVN Entertainment's more than 100 cable affiliates free of charge. The service launched yesterday. The network will have four different channels for OnDemand:
Classic TV will feature such shows as Combat!, The Color Honeymooners and Mission: Impossible (in January).
Caring and Sharing TV features American Family, The Dr. Bob Show and specials such as A Journey to Darfur with George Clooney.
Cooking and Living TV features programming including This Food, That Wine, Embassy Chefs and Fixing Dinner.
Lifestyle TV features Alive and Well, Flea Market Mania and Save Our House, Save Our Family.
A quarter of the programming will be refreshed each week.

TBS has ordered a second season of 10 episodes of its hit sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. In addition, Engvall will host Blue Collar Comedy: The Next Generation, a special to be shot at HBO and AEG Live's The Comedy Festival (TCF) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for premiere on TBS Saturday, Nov. 17.
The sitcom launched in July with one of ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts of all time and currently ranks right behind Tyler Perry's House of Payne on TBS as ad-supported cable's #2 sitcom among adults 18-49 for the year-to-date, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The show casts Engvall as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family is unpredictable, somewhat absurd and a little mixed up themselves. Nancy Travis (Becker) plays his wife, Susan, who is trying to make sure their three children turn out all right. Filling out the rest of the family, Jennifer Lawrence plays Bill and Susan's teenage daughter, Lauren, while their sons are played by Graham Patrick Martin as Trent, a sports and video game enthusiast, and Skyler Gisondo as Bryan, a musically talented neat freak with a pet snake. Tim Meadows co-stars as Bill's best friend. The show, which is produced by TBS, was created by Engvall and Michael Leeson, who served as executive producers with J.P. Williams and director James Widdoes.

TV Land's Family Table: Share More Than Meals has teamed up with The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University to once again celebrate Family Day -- A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children(TM) on Monday, September 24, 2007. Beginning today, people committed to eating together on Family Day can go to FamilyTable.info to register participation for their family, friends and loved ones.
The Family Table have set a goal of registering millions of Americans to pledge to have dinner as a family on September 24th and, hopefully, use Family Day as a catalyst to make family dinners a regular part of their lives.
TV Land will go dark for an hour from 6-7pm on this day to urge families to go eat together. In addition, a special marathon of TV families eating together will air the night before.

TBS September 2007 Schedule, The Office on Tuesdays, 'Sex' All Week-Long; My Boys Scores on TBS

TBS has released its September 2007 schedule and it will feature some changes. The week of September 3 has some minor changes, which are just filler until the new line-up that starts on September 10. Let's start with the filler stuff. Sept. 4, 5, 6 and 7 NewsRadio returns for 4 days in the noon slot followed by The Cosby Show at 12:30pm. The other filler stuff is very minor, and you can take a look at that in our link at the end of this story.
Let's move on to the September 10 line-up. The Steve Harvey Show is moving from its afternoon slots to 6 & 6:30am, replacing The Cosby Show which will now move to the dreaded approx. 5:30am slot, where it will not air everyday. Saved by the Bell continues to air its two-hour block from 7-9am. The morning movie will move from 10am-12pm to 9am-11am now. Dawson's Creek which was at 9am will move to the dreaded approx. 4:30am slot, which like Cosby Show, will not be everyday. Home Improvement will get a two-hour block from 11am-1pm. Yes, Dear moves from late afternoon to early afternoon at 1-2pm. Just Shoot Me, which premieres August 6, will move from 1-2pm to 2-3pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air moves to an hour later at 3-4pm. The King of Queens will take over the 4-5pm slot followed by an hour of Seinfeld at 5-6pm. Friends will air at 6pm followed by a triple shot of Everybody Loves Raymond from 6:30pm-8pm.
Primetime will also be changing. Friends will kick-off Mondays and Thursdays with back-to-back episodes from 8-9pm. On Mondays it will lead into Family Guy from 9-11pm and on Thursdays a movie from 9-11pm. Tuesdays will see a Family Guy block from 8-10pm and then starting September 18 The Office will air Tuesdays 10-11pm. Wednesdays will see a House of Payne marathon from 8-10pm followed by back-to-back Family Guy episodes 10-11pm. Finally, Fridays will have Everybody Loves Raymond kick-off the night leading into Dinner and a Movie.
Effective week of September 17, you can now catch Sex and the City five nights a week on TBS at 11 & 11:30PM! Seinfeld will get the late Tuesday slot of 11:59PM and 12:30AM, while movies will air the rest of the week. Other notes: Parent'hood is missing from the schedule because its contract has expired. Drew Carey Show has also expired, as we noted in the August changes.
No word yet if this is indeed the Fall schedule or not, as usually TBS launches its fall schedule in October. We shall find out and when we do, we will let you know. So for now click HERE to view a list of these changes!

Sticking with TBS, the season premiere of original sitcom My Boys scored well for TBS last night. Continuing to ride a wave of comedy success, TBS has triumphed once again on the original comedy series front. Last night's return of the critically acclaimed sitcom My Boys scored extremely well with young adults, garnering a median age of 29. The show also outdelivered the series' November 2006 series premiere among adults 18-34 and scored an extraordinary 43% growth in that demographic when compared to the show's 2006 13-episode average. Last night's episodes averaged more than 1.6 million viewers, nearly half of them among the key adults 18-34 demographic. My Boys airs Mondays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on TBS.
Other ratings highlights for the return of My Boys on TBS:
- Combined, last night’s back-to-back episodes averaged 801,000 adults 18-34, a 43% jump over last year's 559,000 premiere average for the first 13 episodes in that demographic. Last night's episodes also averaged 1,176,000 adults 18-49, up 12% vs. premiere telecasts of the show in 2006 (1,052,000).
- Demonstrating the successful strategy of stacking episodes to provide stronger flow, the 10:30 p.m. episode of My Boys last night showed growth over its lead-in 10 p.m. episode, with adults 18-34 up 4% and adults 18-49 up 6%.
- With My Boys joining the list, TBS now claims ad-supported cable's Top 8 sitcoms for the year to date among adults 18-49, with Tyler Perry's House of Payne ranking #1, The Bill Engvall Show ranking #2 and My Boys ranking #6. Rounding out the list are Friends (#3), Seinfeld (#4), Everybody Loves Raymond (#5), King of Queens (#7) and Sex and the City (#8).

TBS Original Sitcom My Boys Returns Tomorrow, Airing Mondays at 10PM

Viewers who may have missed out on TBS's critically acclaimed series My Boys when it premiered late last year have the chance to catch up before new episodes arrive Monday, July 30, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). TBS's online broadband destination, tbs.com, is offering a four-minute, rapid-fire recap of everything that's happened up to now. In addition, viewers who have a little more time on their hands can catch up with the show by watching complete previous episodes on tbs.com or by watching a marathon of all 13 episodes today (Sunday, July 29), beginning at 10 a.m. (ET/PT).
Last year, My Boys saw PJ and her boys through some humorous, yet realistic, times including on-the-job romance, a dating slump, the value of honesty in friendship and uncovering secrets kept from close friends. This summer promises more poker nights at PJs, beers at Crowley's Bar and amusing situations from the whole gang. Andy (Jim Gaffigan) will struggle with his move to the suburbs and another big bombshell from Meredith. Mike (Jamie Kaler), having exhausted every means to kill time while unemployed, strikes ups an interesting business alliance. Kenny (Michael Bunin) continues to search for love in all the wrong places. Bobby (Kyle Howard), who has comfortably settled in as one of the gang, reveals a shocking secret of his own. Brendan (Reid Scott) goes through a disturbing personality change that requires the entire group to get him back on track. Stephanie (Kellee Stewart) runs into some financial trouble this year but has better luck with dating.
Casting a big shadow over this summer is that PJ and Stephanie have purchased two two-for-one tickets to Italy. The entire summer sends them on a quest to find boyfriends to bring along as their dates. Or in PJ's case, on a journey to determine whether or not she even wants to bring a boyfriend at all.
My Boys premiered on TBS in November 2006, quickly scoring strong ratings and critical acclaim. It ended the year as ad-supported cable's #1 original sitcom among key adult demos, households and viewers. The show is being executive-produced by creator Betsy Thomas, Jamie Tarses, Gavin Polone and Eric Gilliland. It comes to TBS from Pariah and 2 Out Rally Productions, Inc., in association with Sony Pictures Television.

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: CBS Day 1; TBS Adds 'Just Shoot Me', Ratings News for New Sitcom; Our Emmy Picks

It is now CBS's turn at the TCA Summer Press Tour. The session panels for today were: Executive Session, Cane, Shark, How I Met Your Mother, Kid Nation, Moonlight, Big Bang Theory. They also have released their fall premiere dates. CBS today announced plans for the premieres of its new and returning series which includes the early debut of its freshman reality series Kid Nation, as well as Survivor: China and most of its Sunday lineup during the week of Sept. 17. The network will launch the remainder of its schedule beginning Monday, Sept. 24, the official start of the 2007-2008 season.
Viva Laughlin, the new mystery drama with music, will have a special preview on Thursday, Oct. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) following CSI before moving to its regular Sunday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) time period on Oct. 21 to take advantage of a two-week window in the schedule without football overruns.

CBS Fall Premiere Dates:

Wednesday, Sept. 19
8 p.m. Kid Nation

Thursday, Sept. 20
8 p.m. Survivor: China

Sunday, Sept. 23
7 p.m. 60 Minutes
9 p.m. Cold Case
10 p.m. Shark

Monday, Sept. 24
8 p.m. How I Met Your Mother
8:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory
9 p.m. Two and a Half Men
9:30 p.m. Rules of Engagement
10 p.m. CSI: Miami

Tuesday, Sept. 25
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. The Unit
10 p.m. Cane

Wednesday, Sept. 26
9 p.m. Criminal Minds
10 p.m. CSI: NY

Thursday, Sept. 27
9 p.m. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
10 p.m. Without a Trace

Friday, Sept. 28
8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer
9 p.m. Moonlight
10 p.m. NUMB3RS

Saturday, Sept. 29
8 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
9 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
10 p.m. 48 Hours Mystery

Thursday, Oct. 18
10 p.m. Viva Laughlin (special preview)

Sunday, Oct. 21
8 p.m. Viva Laughlin (time period premiere)

TBS will add the hit '90s sitcom Just Shoot Me to its afternoon line-up starting August 6. It will air weekdays at 1:00 & 1:30pm, shifting the Steve Harvey Show hour to 12 & 12:30pm. Thus, NewsRadio will be leaving the line-up. In addition, it looks like TBS will not renew the contract for The Drew Carey Show, because starting August 27, an extra Cosby Show episode will air at 6:30am weekday mornings. Anyway, I'm not sure how long TBS will run Just Shoot Me. It is coming to TV Land in January and then it will also come back to local channels next June. TBS could share it with TV Land, so who knows, Discuss these pre-fall schedule changes, by clicking HERE.
Sticking with TBS, last night's premiere of the new sitcom The Bill Engvall Show scored big. The series' debut telecast last night delivered 3.9 million viewers and 2.8 million households, securing a place among ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts (original or acquired) of all-time among households and Top 5 original sitcom telecasts of all-time among key adult demos and viewers. The premiere garnered a 3.0 coverage household rating/2.5 national rating. It ranked as ad-supported cable's top program for the entire day in delivery of adults 18-49, adults 25-54, viewers and households.
Set in a Denver suburb, The Bill Engvall Show casts the Blue Collar Comedy headliner as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family is unpredictable, somewhat absurd and a little mixed up themselves. Nancy Travis plays his wife, Susan, who is trying to make sure their three children turn out all right. Filling out the rest of the family, Jennifer Lawrence plays Bill and Susan’s teenage daughter, Lauren, while their sons are played by Graham Patrick Martin as Trent, a sports and video game enthusiast, and Skyler Gisondo as Bryan, a musically talented neat freak with a pet snake. Tim Meadows and Steve Hytner co-star as Bill's best friends.

Today we will give our preview of what we think the nominations for the Emmy's will look like. The real nominations are tomorrow (Thursday) morning, so we will give you those then. But for now...here are our predictions for the main acting categories for the 59th Annual Emmy Awards:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Two and a Half Men, Weeds or Scrubs could sneak in. The winner will be Ugly Betty or The Office, I think.

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Zach Braff, Scrubs (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Braff could be left off again and maybe Jason Lee will be in. Eric Mabius is a long shot.

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Mary Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Marcia Cross could be in here. Look for this category to be almost totally different than last year. Ferrera will be the favorite.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Michael Urie, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Tough category. HBO and NBC stars will rule this list. Urie will be the huge underdog.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Nicollette Sheridan, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Nicollette better get nominated this year! She was great again. Other ladies who can get nods are Becki Newton, Conchata Ferrell and the great Kathryn Joosten.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
Heroes (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Tough category. House could get snubbed this year. Brothers & Sisters could be in here over FNL. 24 had a bad year.

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (FOX)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos (HBO)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FOX)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
MY THOUGHTS: Kyle Chandler and Kiefer Sutherland would not be surprises if they get nominated. Patrick Dempsey and Matthew Fox are long shots.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Edie Falco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: I think Pompeo will make it this year. Connie Britton, Calista Flockhart or Patricia Arquette could also sneak in.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Terry O'Quinn, Lost (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Masi Oka, Heroes (NBC)
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: Please give the nomination and win to O'Quinn. He deserves it.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Patricia Wettig, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: ABC will rule this category. Chandra Wilson and Elizabeth Mitchell could also be here.

Nominations are announced tomorrow morning. Come on back here and we will give you the official nominations and you can compare those to our picks!