Summer 2009 TCA Tour: ABC

We are preempting our Saturday blog DVD review this week so we can cover the last day of the summer 2009 TCA press tour. Today ABC will be up, and it is a full docket! Kicking it off will be panels starting at 9am PT for Modern Family, Shark Tank, The Middle, Hank, and FlashForward. FlashForward's pilot will be screened during lunch. Then we have the executive session, where we should learn a whole lot. After that, we have more panels for new series, The Forgotten, Cougar Town, Eastwick, and V. ABC is set to announce that V will launch in November. Finally, the night concludes with the Disney-ABC Cocktail Reception!
ABC is promoting their new Wednesday comedy block as "ABC Comedy Wednesday," and starting today promos for Comedy Wednesday will crank up as stars of those comedies join the ABC House! Check out two of those new ABC House promos, featuring Comedy Wednesday casts. As of this writing, the first spot will air today during the ABC Afternoon Movie at 4pm. The Middle and Hank promos begin tonight during the ABC Saturday Night Movie at 8pm!

V will launch on Tuesday, November 3 at 8pm! In other confirmations, ABC has confirmed they have picked-up the sitcom Romantically Challenged for midseason. The show stars Alyssa Milano and Kyle Borneheimer.

Spike TV Fall 2009 Schedule; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: Fox

We continue our look at Fall 2009 schedules and today it is Spike TV's turn. Spike TV will continue to air nothing but CSI and CSI NY on the regular schedule until Sept. 28. Starting Sept. 28, as of now, Married...with Children will return to the schedule airing weekdays 9-11am. Currently it was only airing Sunday mornings because of the CSI daily marathons. A double shot of Spike's Most Amazing Videos will air at 11am and 12pm. CSI NY follows at 1pm and 2pm, with CSI at 3pm and 4pm. We get yet more CSI NY at 5pm and 6pm and yet more CSI at 7pm and 8pm. From 9pm-1am we get originals, movies and other various programming.
Late nights will have the returns of Star Trek: Voyager and Unsolved Mysteries airing at 1am and 2am respectively. However, these will be only Mon-Wed nights as movies and originals air Thursday and Friday nights. Also airing Mon-Wed nights is Spike's Most Amazing Videos at 3am.
View the full Spike TV Fall 2009 schedule. As always with schedules, especially from Viacom, it could change...so stay with us.

Fox is up today at the summer 2009 TCA press tour. Among the key announcements so far are:
Superstar chef Gordon Ramsay is bringing his culinary expertise to homes across the U.S. as he invites viewers to cookalong with him from the comfort of their own kitchens during Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live. Based on the U.K. smash hit, Ramsay will star in a live one-hour special airing Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 9:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed where he'll be giving America a one-on-one cooking lesson, providing viewers with a real-time demonstration and step-by-step instructions on how to cook a delicious three-course meal in just 60 minutes and he's going to do it all LIVE.
In addition to the previously announced seventh season order, Fox has picked up an eighth installment of Hell's Kitchen, the sizzling series that puts aspiring chefs through a rigorous culinary boot camp as Ramsay searches for the one worthy of a life-changing grand prize.
Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Anne Hathaway, Jackie Mason, Neve Campbell, Chris Martin, Sarah Silverman, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Bob Costas, Chuck Liddell, Angela Bassett and the late Eartha Kitt are among the guest voices on the upcoming 21st season of The Simpsons. Also, beginning Monday, Nov. 9 and continuing through Sunday, Nov. 15, fans can watch Fox shows to find Simpsons 20-year tributes and clues featured in primetime programming and in on-air promos. Viewers who spot the clues can log on to fox.com for an opportunity to win daily prizes and to enter to win an ultimate grand prize. Additional details to be announced.

TV One September 2009 Highlights; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: NBC; Donna Reed Show Season 2 DVD Giveaway!

TV One has announced their September 2009 schedule and highlights. There are no changes to the regular schedule, so we are not certain if this is the fall line-up or not. My guess is we will see changes in October and that will be the fall line-up. But anyway, TV One has many stunts in September!
On Labor Day (Monday, September 7) beginning at 10am through 8pm (encores 8pm-6am), TV One proudly introduces the African American drama series Lincoln Heights, to its series roster with an all-day marathon event of all 10 episodes from the first season of this groundbreaking ABC Family original drama series. In the show, when police officer Eddie Sutton packs up his family and moves back to the inner-city neighborhood where he grew up, he faces the struggle to balance the safety and happiness of this family with his desire to change the neighborhood. The series stars Russell Hornsby, Nikki Micheaux, Erica Hubbard, Mishon Ratliff, Robert Adamson, and Rhyon Nicole Brown. We are not sure yet if repeats are joining the regular schedule anytime soon, but it will not be joining the September schedule, that's for sure. The series is entering its fourth season on ABC Family, but not sure why TV One is airing a marathon. Maybe they will pick up the off-net rights when eligible?
On Saturday, September 19 beginning at 1pm through 9pm (select encores from 2am-6am), TV One celebrates September brides with a 'Battle of the Brides' marathon of two classic sitcom viewer favorites Amen and Good Times in the "Battle of the Thelmas" marathon. Which Thelma has the best romance and wedding - Thelma Evans from Good Times or Thelma Frye from Amen? Episodes in this marathon feature the romance and wedding of Thelma and Keith from the classic sitcom Good Times in addition to the romance and wedding(s) of Thelma and Ruben from the classic sitcom Amen.
On the next day on Sunday, September 20 beginning at 12 Noon though 8pm (select encores from 2:30am-6am), it's a "Movin' On Up" Marathon as TV One presents a marathon of the classic sitcom The Jeffersons. Viewers can join George, Weezie, and the rest of the crazy characters in this special marathon of the longest running African American sitcom in the history of television. The series is still not returning to the regular schedule, but maybe a return in October is likely? But for now enjoy this marathon!
Stay tuned for October, because I think we'll see changes and perhaps new additions then!

NBC and its cable networks are up today at the summer 2009 TCA press tour. First up at the panel is Wake Up with Al, the new Weather Channel series with Al Roker. Then we have the executive sesson, followed by panels on new NBC series Community and Trauma. Lunch follows with Bravo's Top Chef Las Vegas. More panels follow of White Collar (USA Network), Syfy's Stargate Universe & Alice, and NBC's Mercy and Jay Leno Show. NBC Universal's All-Star Party follows sponsored by Oxygen's The Naughty Kitchen with Blythe Beck.
Stay tuned for any key announcements.

We have 3 copies of The Donna Reed Show - Season Two DVD for giveaway thanks to the fine folks at Virgil Films and Entertainment. It's now available in stores and from online retailers.
When you hear that ringing of the telephone, you know it is time for more of The Donna Reed Show on DVD! Season Two of The Donna Reed Show brings the 38 episodes from the 1959-1960 season of the series to DVD on a four disc set.
Donna Reed, the title star, plays Donna Stone, a woman that is proud to be a housewife based upon her perception of what a housewife is. Carl Betz plays Alex, her husband, who has a successful career as a physician. She has two children, Jeff (Paul Petersen) and Mary (Shelley Fabares). The series is much like most other sitcoms from the era in a sense, but at the same time, it is different. While it certainly wasn't the first family sitcom or the first sitcom with a female lead, it was among the first successful family sitcoms WITH a female leading character. The episodes mostly centered around Donna and her life, although that doesn't mean that the other characters never got story lines. She always liked to think of herself as more than just a housewife, somewhat of a domestic engineer so to speak, but that doesn't mean that the series was a new wave in feminism or anything like that. It was still a light-hearted late '50s/early '60s family sitcom. But a great family sitcom, for sure.
You can read our review of the DVD, purchase the DVD now, and enter the DVD contest if you're eligible! Make sure you read the contest rules first before entering. Good luck!

ABC Family Fall 2009; Me-Too August 2009 Daily Marathons; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: The CW

Our fall 2009 schedules barrage continues today with ABC Family September 2009! We are not 100% sure if it is their fall schedule but there will be a schedule change to the weekday line-up starting Monday, Sept. 14! The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will now also air on weekdays! The show will air weekdays in the 6pm hour replacing My Wife & Kids, which moves to 1pm replacing Sister, Sister. Sister, Sister will still air in the 7am hour (and on BET and Gospel Music Channel). So how on earth is Fresh Prince airing on weekdays when ABC Family only had weekend rights? It is very interesting. It looks to me as Viacom (Nick at Nite and The N) will lose the rights to the series and ABC Family is now picking up the rights for weekday evenings as well. ABC Family will continue to air the series on Saturday nights as well. So it looks like TBS will still have the daytime rights while ABC Family has the evening rights on both weekdays and on weekends now. I'm not 100% sure if Viacom is losing rights, so we will have to see when we announce both the Nick at Nite and The N's fall schedules. The N has already replaced Fresh Prince since last night, as Degrassi now airs Mon-Thurs 2-4am...so is that the reason for removal? There is still a Fresh Prince week-long marathon scheduled on The N for Aug. 17-21 from 7pm-12am. Is that the farewell? Nick at Nite airs the show still Mon-Thurs nights from 3-6am, so no signs yet of removal, but with Everybody Hates Chris coming in September, maybe that is a replacement?
Elsewhere on ABC Family, The Secret Life of the American Teenager has its mid-season finale on Monday, Sept. 7 at 8pm. An all-day marathon will lead into it from 11am-8pm. 10 Things I Hate About You has its season finale the next night on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8pm. Lincoln Heights will have its season four premiere on Monday, Sept. 14 at 8pm, as Greek continues to air new season three episodes at 9pm. Ruby & the Rockits will air repeats at 8pm leading into new episodes at 8:30pm on Sept. 15 and 22, with the season finale on Sept. 22 at 8:30pm. AFV will air Tuesdays in primetime from 8-11pm starting Sept. 29, shifting the movie to Wednesdays 8-10pm starting Sept. 30. There will be an AFV marathon on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 3-11pm to get ready for the all-new season on ABC.
Movie wise, the ABC Family original movie The Wedding Date starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney premieres Sunday, Sept. 13 at 9pm. Theatrical movies include the premiere of Shanghai Noon and a special edition of Dirty Dancing.
View the full regular schedule for ABC Family September 2009.

The daily classic TV summer marathons continue on Chicago's Me-Too in August! This time with a twist! Every weekday spend the whole day and evening with a different Me-Too Marathon theme! There's never too much TV for Me-Too. One day you may time warp back to 1973, another day you may be enlisting in the military or spending a day on another planet. 10AM-10PM each weekday on Me-Too in Chicago!
The schedule for the month (Aug. 3-Sept. 4) in order is: First Episodes, Detective Day, S.W.A.T., Evil Twins, A Tribute to Norman Lear, 1953, 1963, 1973, 1983, 1993, A Tribute to Brandon Tartikoff, A Tribute to Fred Silverman, Award Winners, Before They Were Stars, Me-Too Mystery, Suspense Day, Spy with Me, The Fugitive, Me-Too Wants You, Sci-Fi Friday, Classic Kids, The Single Dads of Me, A Tribute to Bill Bixby, Sea Hunt, and Christmas in September. SOME of the shows you will see in this classic must-see month on Me-Too are Dick Van Dyke Show, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, Who's the Boss?, Benson, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Star Trek, Lost in Space, Get Smart, Bewitched, Barney Miller, Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch, Hawaii Five-0, Hart to Hart, Police Woman, Kojak, S.W.A.T., I Dream of Jeannie, Mork & Mindy, Knight Rider, One Day at a Time, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Sanford & Son, I Love Lucy, Burns & Allen, Abbott & Costello, You Bet Your Life, Four Star Playhouse, Dragnet, Ozzie & Harriett, My Favorite Martian, McHale's Navy, Patty Duke Show, Combat, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Lucy Show, Rawhide, Jack Benny, Andy Griffith Show, Alfred Hitchcock, The Partridge Family, Love American Style, The Odd Couple, Streets of San Francisco, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Webster, Diff'rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, T.J. Hooker, A-Team, Family Ties, Happy Days, Magnum P.I., and more! And that's the shows only through the 1983 day! They haven't announced from Aug. 14 and on yet. Who needs TV Land or any other classic network when you have a roster of shows like that!
View the schedule section on their website for episode info.

The CW is up today at the summer 2009 TCA press tour. Expected are panels for The Vampire Diaries, The Beautiful Life, Melrose Place, and Life UneXpected. Stay with us for any key announcements.

ION Television Fall 2009 Schedule; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: CBS; 2009 TCA Awards Winners

ION Television has officially announced their full Fall 2009 schedule. We gave you a preview of what was to come a week or so ago, but now we have the full schedule! The changes will be all made in primetime. The 4pm-8pm schedule will remain the same, so we still have M*A*S*H, Boston Legal, Family Feud and Reba airing every weekday. As we mentioned, Ghost Whisperer goes from Mondays at 8pm to Mon-Thurs at 8pm starting Sept. 7. Criminal Minds joins the schedule and will air Mondays at 9pm, Tuesdays 9pm & 10pm, Wednesdays at 10pm, and Fridays at 10pm...that's five airings a week! New original series Durham County will air Mondays at 10pm and will have an instant encore at 11pm on Mondays as well. So, the 11pm hour on Mondays will not be paid programming anymore! Returning to the schedule after having August off is NCIS airing Thursdays at 9pm and 10pm, replacing Total Theatre Thursday. Boston Legal, which will still air in the daytime schedule, will now only be Wednesdays at 9pm in primetime. The ION Monday & Wednesday movie will be replaced, just like Thursday. ION Movies are now weekends only airing Fridays through Sundays. As far as weekends, the movies continue but instead of M*A*S*H leading into the movies at times, it will now be Reba.
ION Movie premieres for September 2009 are big hits! The Break-Up, Outbreak, A Bronx Tale, Inside Man, and Patriot Games are the premieres. Encores for the month are Matrix Reloaded, The Specialist, The Enforcer, The Gauntlet, and Magnum Force.
View the full ION Television September 2009 schedule and highlights.

CBS is the first broadcast network up at the summer 2009 TCA press tour. It gets underway at 9am PT with the Executive Session. Schedule after that has panels for The Goode Wife & The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, a research presentation on the latest findings about the relationship between TV and the Internet, then lunch time with gourmet lunch packages, a special press conference, panels for Accidentally on Purpose, The Doctors, Medium, and the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The Stars Party closes things out in the evening with stars of CBS, The CW, Showtime and CBS Television Distribution. Stay with us all day for news here as it happens!
Let's Make a Deal, a new take on the classic game show where audience members dress in outlandish costumes to win cash and prizes by making deals with the host, will premiere Monday, October 5, (check local listings) on the CBS Television Network. Emmy Award-winner Wayne Brady will host the new daytime series produced by FremantleMedia North America. When it joins the CBS Television Network daytime schedule, it will be replacing Guiding Light. Guiding Light will have its last telecast on Friday, September 18, 2009. Programming for this time period from September 21-October 2 will be announced shortly, but starting Oct. 5, it will be Let's Make a Deal.
The original series was a television game show staple during the 1960's and 70's when it was hosted by Monty Hall from 1963-1977. While later versions aired in syndication and primetime, the game show is best remembered for the years hosted by Hall, who will serve as a creative consultant on this latest version.
Up tomorrow at the press tour will be The CW and Showtime! NBC will be Wednesday, Fox on Thursday, FX on Friday, and ABC closes it out on Satuday.

The Television Critics Association marked the 25th anniversary of its awards on Saturday night (Aug. 1) with a ceremony looking back at the history of the organization and its tradition of honoring quality television programs.
HBO led all the networks with three trophies at the Television Critics Association Awards, winning for Outstanding New Program of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-Series & Specials and Outstanding Achievement in News & Information. Sitcom The Big Bang Theory won Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Its star, Jim Parsons, received the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Comedy award. Full winners:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Battlestar Galactica (Syfy)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: True Blood (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Mad Men (AMC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: The Alzheimer's Project (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING: Yo Gabba Gabba (Nickelodeon)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES & SPECIALS: Grey Gardens (HBO)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
HERITAGE AWARD: ER (NBC)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Betty White

AmericanLife TV September 2009; Hallmark Channel Cuts Heaven, Murder; Summer 2009 TCA Tour: Cable Day 3

We continue with our fall schedule barrage with AmericanLife TV Network! AmericanLife TV will make minor changes this September, so we are not 100% sure yet if this is their actual fall schedule. They could be waiting for October. But let's not go there until we know for sure. For September, they are returning Lost in Space to the schedule! Lost in Space will Fridays at 7pm and 10pm starting Friday, Sept. 4. Fridays will now be all sci-fi, as ALN will air the ALN Sci-Fi Movie from 8pm-10pm in between Lost in Space. Previously, these four hours were two movies of the ALN Classic Movie.
The other change is on Saturdays from 7-9pm as Combat! is replaced by another ALN Classic Movie. Everything else is pretty much the same as the schedule that started in June. ALN starts their weekday schedule at 5pm with a block of Bob Newhart Show and Newhart from 5-7pm, followed by L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues, and St. Elsewhere from 7pm-10pm and again from 10pm-1am, Mon-Thurs. Mission: Impossible and The Color Honeymoners round out the schedule from 1-3am. On Fridays, two extra episodes of Mission: Impossible airs at 11pm and 12am, just like on Saturdays and Sundays. Weekends starts off with Chicken Soup for the Soul at 6pm, ALN Classic Movies from 7-11pm, Mission: Impossible from 11pm-2am, and The Color Honeymooners 2-4am.
View the full AmericanLife TV Network September 2009 schedule. Let's hope more series return soon since Lost in Space is returning!
Stay tuned on Monday for the next fall schedule blog post, as I'm headed for a taping of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire! We will still have news as always, so do come back anyway!

The Hallmark Channel has made very last minute schedule changes that are in effect beginning today! Another hour of The Golden Girls is added to mornings in the 11am hour replacing Touched by an Angel. So Golden Girls now airs 8am-12pm weekday mornings. Touched by an Angel will now air 12-2pm, as the 1pm hour replaces 7th Heaven. Little House on the Prairie gets another hour added to its block, with it now starting at 2pm replacing 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven is now off the Hallmark Channel line-up for now it seems. It can still be seen on WGN America at least. Little House will now air weekdays 2pm-5pm. Remaining the same are M*A*S*H weekdays 5-8pm and Touched by an Angel Mon-Thurs 8-11pm, but The Golden Girls are cut an hour short in late night as they go from weeknights 11pm-2am to 11pm-1am with Cheers taking the 1am hour. So Ted Danson and gang will now air 1am-2:30am with three episodes a night! I Love Lucy remains at 2:30am.
For weekends, nothing will change except Murder, She Wrote is off the schedule again. A movie will replace it on both Saturday and Sunday nights from 1-3am. View these changes in list form if you're confused.

Today is day 3 of the summer 2009 TCA press tour. Up today are Lifetime, E!, style, G4, BET, Planet Green, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, HBO, and Food Network. Among the notable announcements that would interest you guys were from Lifetime. They announced Models of the Runway, which is Project Runway's exciting new companion series that will air Thursdays at 11pm starting Aug. 20. They also announced Rita Rocks' second season. Nicole Sullivan and Tisha Campbell-Martin, the stars of the hit comedy series, were present to discuss their new second season. The sitcom returns Oct. 5.
BET announced their original talk show The Mo'Nique Show, that launches Oct. 5. It is a new nightly talk/variety show featuring the incomparable actress/ comedienne. TLC is currently in production with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' New York-based production company Milojo on Masters of Reception, which follows the Frungillo family as they run their wedding empire in New Jersey. The series premieres Aug. 18 on TLC.
Larry David returns for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Sept. 20, continuing to feature verite-style footage of David (playing himself) at home and at work as he gets into predicaments with fictional and real-life personalities. New developments this season include appearances by the cast of Seinfeld - Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards. The new season will be a lead-in to Bored to Death, a new half-hour comedy that is the brainchild of the writer Jonathan Ames, who serves as executive producer and writer, and stars Jason Schwartzman as a Brooklyn writer with a drinking problem who pretends to be a private detective on craigslist and starts taking actual cases. The comedy also stars Ted Danson as his boss at a magazine and Zach Galifianakis as his best friend.
Finally, Robin Williams, who first appeared on the network more than 30 years ago, will return to HBO on December 6 for his first solo stand-up comedy special in seven years. Robin Williams: Weapons of Self-Destruction, will be taped in November at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, one of the stops on his current sold-out national tour.
Stay with us tomorrow as Rainbow Networks (We TV and Sundance) and TV One round out the cable portion of the summer 2009 TCA press tour!

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

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

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

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

Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: NBC, Day 2; Remembering Dave Powers; Retroality.TV Officially Launches!

Today is the last day of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. NBC is up for the second and final day of its portion. Tomorrow the TCA tour concludes with a set visit where critics will visit the sets of series such as Pushing Daisies and ER.
Today's docket has a session on the summer Olympics, Election 2008 with NBC News and MSNBC, NBC Executive Session (more on that below), on the panel with sophomore dramas Chuck, Life, & Lipstick Jungle, followed by panels of Deal or No Deal, Kath & Kim, Knight Rider, The Office, My Own Worst Enemy, Kings, and NBC Sunday Night Football/Super Bowl.
NBC has adjusted its primetime premiere schedule for Fall 2008.
Returning drama Life will follow Heroes on two special Monday broadcasts (10-11 pm. ET) in addition to its regularly scheduled timeslot on Fridays (10-11 pm. ET) giving Life four hours of originals in two weeks on September 29, October 3, October 6 and October 10.
After Life's two-week Monday trial, new drama My Own Worst Enemy will make its series debut on Monday, October 13 (10-11 p.m. ET) and remain in all originals in its regular timeslot (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET) through December.
In other scheduling changes, new comedy Kath & Kim and 30 Rock will switch time periods on Thursday nights. Kath & Kim moves to 8:30 p.m. (ET) starting October 9 after My Name is Earl (8-8:30 p.m. ET), which will allow for a strong audience flow for these two compatible shows. 30 Rock will settle into the 9:30 p.m. (ET) starting with its season premiere after The Office on October 30. Remember SNL Thursday will air October 9, 16, and 23 at 9:30 p.m.
The Biggest Loser: Families premieres on Tuesday, September 16 (8-10 p.m. ET). Likewise, summer hit America's Got Talent returns after the Olympics on August 26 (8-10 p.m. ET) and runs through to its season finale on Wednesday, October 1 (9-10 p.m. ET).
Other series' premieres remain unchanged from NBC's original premiere announcement.
At the executive session, NBC did a copy cat of ABC by having Jay Leno impersonate a reporter asking a question about his future, just like Jimmy Kimmel did last week when Kimmel asked is ABC interested in Leno? Leno impersonated a bald reporter and asked: When is Leno's final show? Will he be paid for the rest of the year? Is it true you've offered Jay Leno a fifth hour of the Today show? Will Manimal come back? What about Brett Favre's retirement/unretirement? What if Jay changes his mind? Silveman answers, "Everyone's entitled to change their mind, but I imagine that puts management in an impossible situation."
If NBC is getting rid of Leno, why make him do that? So maybe they do have plans for him in some shape or form. NBC announced Leno's last night on the Tonight Show will be Friday, May 29, while Conan O'Brien takes over on Monday, June 1. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will launch first as online series before moving to 12:35am in March or April, so Conan's last night on Late Night will be before May 29.
Amy Poehler has officially signed on to star in a possible a new Thursday-night comedy series from Office exec producer Greg Daniels. Ben Silverman says however this will NOT be a spin-off of The Office. The spin-off is pretty much dead right now, but if it goes forward it will have "existing Office characters."
We'll be back with more...so keep coming back and refreshing!

We have some sad news to report. One of the best TV directors of all-time has passed away. Dave Powers passed away on July 3, 2008, in Rancho Mirage, CA, after a hard fought battle with skin cancer. He began his career in television in 1951, when he was employed by CBS as an usher at KNXT, working on the Dinah Shore Show. In 1956, while working in the cue card department on The Bob Crosby Show at CBS Television City, he was promoted to Stage Manager and joined the Director's Guild of America, where he would be a Guild member for the next fifty-seven years.
Dave got his biggest break when he became the director of The Carol Burnett Show in 1968. During that time, he was nominated eleven times by the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences and won four primetime Emmy Awards for "Best Director" in 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978. In addition to directing The Carol Burnett Show for ten years he was also the director on Three's Company for six seasons starting in 1978 and Mama's Family for four years, reuniting himself with Vicki Lawrence (and Carol Burnett a few times).

We got word on July 9 of Dave's passing from my friend and author of Come and Knock on Our Door: A Hers and Hers and His Guide to Three's Company (and now of Retroality.TV) Chris Mann, that Dave had passed away on July 3. It wasn't officially released until last Wednesday. Chris heard from Joyce DeWitt (Janet on Three's Company) who heard from Priscilla Barnes (Terri on Three's Company). Chris had some very nice things to say about Dave that I must share with you all, "He was a good man, very beloved and enormously talented. Not only is he responsible for so much of Three's Company's under-appreciated signature slapstick style, he was rightly hailed in the industry for his work with Carol Burnett and company. He was always a gentleman during his Three's Company book and DVD interviews, and he clearly loved the Three's Company "kids" -- John Ritter especially -- as much as they loved him."
Chris also said, "In his home office he displayed autographed photos of Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence and Suzanne Somers in a classic Chrissy pose. "Those are my three ladies," he told me proudly. Also, John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, Richard Kline, Don Knotts, Norman Fell, Audra Lindley et al always sang his praises. He will be deeply missed."

Dave also directed many episodes of both of the Three's Company spin-off shows, The Ropers and Three's a Crowd. After Mama's Family and a Carol Burnett Reunion Show, Dave retired from the business in the late '80s/early '90s. After retirement Dave and his wife Georgette made a fun and rewarding hobby of owning and restoring antique and classic wooden boats which they housed and used at their Big Bear Lake home.
A "Celebration of Life" will be held for Dave on August 2, 2008 at the Four Seasons Resort, Aviara, in Carlsbad, CA. He will be deeply missed as he directed the best comedic stars ever in Carol Burnett, John Ritter, Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, and Vicki Lawrence. Dave was 75.


If you all recall in late May we made the announcement that Chris Mann had launched Retroality.TV. Now it has officially fully launched! Chris has interviewed '80s bombshell Heather Thomas (The Fall Guy, Zapped!) to lead off his site's official launch this month! Heather is the author of the hot new novel Trophies. Chris has an in-depth, provocative interview with Heather, who expresses her views on everything from being an '80s sex symbol-turned-writer to becoming a socio-political activist. Her controversial comments on the Bush administration, oil and 9/11 will surprise many. She'll be on NBC's Today show today, but Retroality and Chris Mann had her first!
Chris says, "So far we've featured retro stars about to make a very current media splash. Soon after we posted our May/June cover story on Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), CNN reported she found a dead body floating in a river. And after we posted our Q&A with the fun-loving Susan Olsen (Cindy of Brady Bunch), every media outlet in America reported that she almost threw up on live radio. Coincidence? Methinks not!"

And that's not all! Chris has much more than that on the website! The Heather Thomas interview is just the "cover story." Chris also has items such as an interview with the sexy Stacy Keibler that was published in this month's Muscle & Body. Chris also has a Muscle & Body cover-story on several Olympic hopefuls coming in August, along with an interview with gold medalist swimmer-turned-Celebrity Circus performer Janet Evans. Wow! What a busy guy Chris is! I'm so glad he is doing well because he is a good person and truly deserves it!
And he even gets busier! This week he'll be off interviewing Olivia Newton-John and Fran Drescher, both cancer awareness advocates, for future health magazine cover stories! What a lucky guy! Again head on over to Retroality.TV because it is one website that you should bookmark and visit because it will get bigger and bigger everyday and soon it will be a website everyone knows by name! It'll be like the Cheers of the internet!

2008 TCA Awards Winners; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: NBC, Day 1

Our normal ratings report and coming week preview will return next week, as we are focused on the TCA tour. Last night at the summer 2008 TCA press tour was the annual TCA Awards. The 24th annual event saw Mad Men dominate the night. 2008 TCA Award recipients are as follows:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Mad Men (AMC)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: Mad Men (AMC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: 30 Rock (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Mad Men (AMC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: The War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick (PBS)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING: WordGirl (PBS)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES & SPECIALS: John Adams (HBO)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Paul Giamatti, John Adams (HBO)
HERITAGE AWARD: The Wire (HBO)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Lorne Michaels

Related:
2008 Nominees
2007 Winners
2006 Winners

We are nearing the end of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. NBC has the final two days including today. Today NBC will mainly showcase its cable networks while NBC itself will go tomorrow. NBC did have a few announcements to make today, however. Tuesday is a TCA set day visit, so nothing really will be covered then.
Up at the panel today were after lunch were Friday Night Lights (NBC/DirecTV), Tabatha's Salon Takeover (Bravo, The Real Housewives of Atlanta (Bravo), Coolio's Rules (Bravo), qubo TV shows, then The Starter Wife (USA Network), Sanctuary (Sci Fi), Caprica (Sci Fi), and then closing it out were SNL (NBC) and America's Toughest Jobs (NBC).

NBC's popular game show Deal or No Deal and the all-new extreme reality competition series America's Toughest Jobs will premiere with four special Monday night episodes beginning August 25. Deal or No Deal will return with the exciting Million Dollar Mission from 8-9 p.m. (ET), and America's Toughest Jobs will air from 9-10 p.m. (ET) before moving to Fridays at 8 p.m. ET beginning September 19. Deal will debut its Wednesday and Friday night episodes in October.
Saturday Night Live will make an early return this fall to capitalize on the hotly contested Presidential race, extending its traditional 20-episode season to 22, in its 34th season to premiere on Saturday, September 13. In addition, after making a splash this spring during the Democratic primaries, Saturday Night Live will return to the air with 10 new live broadcasts this fall with a Presidential Bash special prior to Election Day, Monday, November 3 (9:30-11 p.m. ET). And as we announced already, SNL is ready for primetime with Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday. Three live primetime half-hours will air October 9, 16 and 23 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

In Plain Sight, USA Network's newest original scripted series, will return for a second season with series star Mary McCormack (The West Wing, Private Parts) returning. The series, created/written/executive produced by David Maples and executive produced by Paul Stupin, has been given a 16-episode order and will start production in October.
USA Network will advance the 'Characters Welcome' brand by inviting a CIA linguist, an inner city trauma surgeon and a salesman turned morgue investigator among others to join the ambitious development slate for the 2008-09 season. A slate of three new pilot scripts, Covert Affairs, Operating Instructions and Stiffs, were announced today.
USA's previously announced project Royal Pains (working title) is being produced as a pilot starring Mark Feuerstein and directed by Jace Alexander and White Collar (working title) is a cast-contingent pilot.
USA Network's award-winning hit series, Monk, will air its 100th episode this summer during its seventh season on the network. The special episode will feature an all-star guest-cast, including many who have previously appeared in some of the show's most memorable episodes. Guest-stars include Eric McCormack, John Turturro, Howie Mandel, Sarah Silverman, Andy Richter, Brooke Adams, Sharon Lawrence, Ricardo Chavira, Kathryn Joosten, Jarrad Paul, Tim Bagley, David Koechner and Angela Kinsey. The landmark episode will air on Friday, September 5 at 9/8c on USA Network.
The Emmy Award-winning hit original series, The Starter Wife, starring Debra Messing will return on Friday, October 10 at 10/9c for 10 episodes on USA Network as a series after premiering as a mini-series in 2007.

Moving on to Sci Fi Channel, this fall, Sci Fi Channel is the ultimate destination for all things Halloween, featuring all-new episodes of Ghost Hunters, the 3rd annual Ghost Hunters Live Halloween event and the all-new 31 Days of Halloween programming extravaganza! Beginning October 1, this marathon will serve up the spookiest fare that Halloween has to offer, concluding with Ghost Hunters Live on Halloween night. Speaking of Ghost Hunters, the series was renewed for a fifth season. 25 episodes of spine-tingling investigations will air when the show returns in 2009.
Sci Fi's original movie franchise promises more action, thrills, cataclysmic disasters and mythological adventures in 2009 with an unprecedented 36 original action movies - up from 2008's slate of 24. The Channel's high-octane, entertaining original movies have made Sci Fi Saturday: The Most Dangerous Night of Television a destination for viewers, bringing in an average of 1.8 million viewers so far in 2008. In addition to the Saturday offerings, Sci Fi will also present its original movie fare on Sunday evenings beginning next year. Movies include Hellhounds (directed by Rick Schroeder), Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon starring Shannen Doherty, and Lake Placid 3, sequel to Sci Fi's original movie Lake Placid 2. Also, Sci Fi Channel has greenlit Mirabilis, (working title) a 4-hour fantasy adventure miniseries where heroes battle the forces of darkness set against a backdrop of knights, sorcerers and dragons. Set to star in the movie are David James Elliott as protagonist John Serrogoth and Natassia Malthe as Perfidia.
Sci Fi Channel is also developing new series and mini-series. Projects include an original miniseries in development with Bryan Singer, a documentary drama called What If? as well as a slew of exciting alternative reality projects.
Sci Fi Channel has picked-up three original reality series for this fall. Six one hour episodes each that will premiere in November for Cash or Capture and Estate of Panic. Outer Space Astronauts will be a half-hour series and five episodes have been ordered, but no launch date as of yet.

Bravo announced a number of new and returning programs in the food, fashion, beauty, design and pop culture affinity groups, as well as various projects in development. From producer Sarah Jessica Parker, her production company Pretty Matches, comes American Artist (wt), an hour-long creative competition series in development between aspiring contemporary artists who will create and compete in a range of disciplines including sculpture, painting, photography and industrial design. Based on the British format and show of the same name comes Fashion House (wt), a creative competition series in development where teams of designers replicate the workings of the fashion business through a fashion house by designing an entire, cohesive line with the opportunity of having their line mass marketed. And Top Chef: Masters, a spin-off of the Emmy-nominated Top Chef produced by Magical Elves also in development, featuring world-renowned chefs competing against each other in a series of weekly challenges.
The network also unveiled a number of pick-ups for its returning series, and premiere dates for upcoming fall series and specials. Pick-ups include second season orders for Make Me A Supermodel and The Real Housewives of New York City, which boasts a new housewife for season two designer, model, author and fashion editor Kelly Bensimon. Additionally, the network announced that the upcoming fifth season of the No. 1 food show on cable, Top Chef, will be set in the culinary mecca of New York City.
The Rachel Zoe Project will premiere on September 8 at 11 p.m. ET/PT following the finale of Date My Ex: Jo & Slade (which launches Monday, July 21 at 10 p.m.), before moving to its regular time period on September 15 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The Real Housewives of Atlanta will premiere on Tuesday, September 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, and the special Tommy Hilfiger Presents: Ironic Iconic America will premiere on October 3 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Newly owned NBC Universal cable network Oxygen also announced programming. Oxygen brings dance, diet and divas together with the pick-up of the new reality competition series Dance Your Ass Off. In this unique show, talented, full-figured contestants who struggle with their weight will dance to unleash their inner thin. Scheduled to premiere on Oxygen in 2009.
Oxygen's hit series The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency will return for a dramatic and sizzling new season on Tuesday, August 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Oxygen has ordered a third season of The Bad Girls Club, the network's highest-rated original series ever to date. For the first time, the show's format has been expanded from half-hour to one-hour, giving new episodes even more drama, more conflict and more outrageous laughs.

Today felt like the TCA cable portion yet again with all of this cable stuff...tomorrow it will feel more like broadcast again when NBC has many panels tomorrow with their own shows and not their cable networks. So come on back tomorrow!

Mini-DVD Review: The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: CBS/The CW, Day 2

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the mini-DVD review. We also have The CW's portion of the TCA press tour below, so don't miss that either. But first it is the mini-DVD review. It's Christmas in July, as we take a look today at Universal Home Video's The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas. The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas is the 1996 TV-movie featuring the scary family during the holiday season. See skees53's mini-DVD review of The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas:

The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas (Universal Home Video, $14.98) tells the classic story of a child living in a new environment feeling homesick at Christmastime. The 1996 made-for-TV movie, based upon the classic TV series, begins with Eddie being bullied and picked on, because he is different. After all, he is a werewolf living among mortal children in Los Angeles. But the pain that Eddie feels becomes a bigger deal when it happens during the "most wonderful time of the year," so it is up to his family to do whatever it takes to cheer him up and get him in to the Christmas spirit. Everybody has their own ideas, from Lily's idea of getting Eddie involved in a Christmas decorating contest to Grandpa Munster's crazy experiments to Marilyn's plan to have a huge Munster family reunion just in time for Christmas. And to support it all, Herman is doing whatever he can do to make a buck, including nude modeling! In the end, it all comes together to create an old-fashioned Christmas that only a family from Transylvania could envision.
The video quality of the movie is fine for the most part, but the audio is very problematic. It is presented in full-screen, which is how it was presented when it originally aired. For some reason, the audio is out of sync with the video, so you see lips moving out of sync with the video. I don't know why this problem occurred on this DVD, as it is not a common problem wit h DVDs in my experience. It is somewhat obnoxious to see. The disc is lacking any special features, which isn't surprising, as this wasn't a big budget cinematic film or anything along those lines.
All in all, I think most observers wouldn't think of this is a great movie or anything like that, but rather just a mediocre movie based upon a great TV classic. It won't take too much of watching this movie to realize why it was a made-for-TV movie for Fox, as opposed to being a theatrical release or even one of the larger networks. There are some moments in the film that will SOMEWHAT remind fans of the hilarity of the original sitcom, but the overall plot of the movie is one of those plots that fans will find difficult to drag themselves into and fully enjoy. Still, if the DVD can be found cheap, fans may want to pick it up, just to check it out.
-- Reviewed by skees53
(3/5 stars)

To purchase this DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
The Munsters TV.com Page


The CW is up at the summer 2008 TCA press tour today as well as CBS's syndication division, CBS Television Distribution. Up at the panel for The CW this morning will be 90210, Privileged and Stylista, followed by the executive session. In the afternoon, we have the CBS Television Distribution series, starting off Inside Edition which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and new series The Doctors, and Judge Jeanine Pirro. Then tonight there is a WGA reception followed by the TCA Awards! We will give you the winners either tonight or tomorrow.
From The CW side, we learned that Shannen Doherty will return to the zip code that made her famous when she guest stars in multiple episodes of The CW's spin-off, 90210, premiering Tuesday, September 2. Doherty will reprise her role as Brenda Walsh, who was last seen headed to London to study acting. As previously announced, Jennie Garth returns as Kelly Taylor, now a West Beverly guidance counselor; Tori Spelling returns as Donna Martin, now owner of an upscale boutique, and Joe E. Tata returns as Nat, owner of The Peach Pit.
The CW announced premiere dates for their Mon-Fri schedule (and MRC Sunday block, below):

Monday, September 1
8:00-9:00 p.m. Gossip Girl
9:00-10:00 p.m. One Tree Hill

Tuesday, September 2
8:00-10:00 p.m. 90210 (Two-Hour Premiere)

Wednesday, September 3
8:00-10:00 p.m. America's Next Top Model (Two-Hour Premiere)

Tuesday, September 9
9:00-10:00 p.m. Privileged

Thursday, September 18
8:00-9:00 p.m. Smallville
9:00-10:00 p.m. Supernatural

Friday, October 3
8:00-8:30 p.m. Everybody Hates Chris
8:30-9:00 p.m. The Game
9:00-10:00 p.m. America's Next Top Model (Encore Presentation)

Wednesday, October 29
9:00-10:00 p.m. Stylista

Couple of notes on these premiere dates: Wednesdays at 9pm until Stylista premieres on Oct. 29 will be encores of 90210. Mid-season premiere dates and times for The CW's returning drama Reaper and new reality series 13 - Fear Is Real will be announced at a later time.

As for Sundays, the MRC (Media Rights Capital) programming block will launch on September 21. The block will begin at 7pm and end at 10pm. Then starting November 2, the block will start at 6:30pm.
Laurie Metcalf (Easy Money), Judge Reinhold (Easy Money), Bob Saget (Surviving Suburbia), Jaime Murray (Valentine), Autumn Reeser (Valentine), Kristopher Polaha (Valentine) and Jeff Hephner (Easy Money) will star in this Sunday Night Block.
In the sitcom Surviving Suburbia, MRC is proud to announce the casting of Bob Saget. It follows Keith (Saget) and Anne Stevers, a seemingly normal couple who has been married for 20 years, have two children and a cookie cutter house in the idyllic suburbs. Full casting will be announced in the next several weeks.
Here are the premiere dates for this MRC (Media Rights Capital) block on The CW Sundays:

Effective Sunday, September 21
7:00-8:00 p.m. In Harm's Way (reality)
8:00-9:00 p.m. Valentine (romantic comedy/drama)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Easy Money (family crime drama)

Effective Sunday, November 2
(changes listed only)
6:30-7:30 p.m. In Harm's Way (New Timeslot)
7:30-8:00 p.m. Surviving Suburbia (sitcom)

Programming for the 5:00-6:30 p.m. time slots will be announced soon.

More coming ...check back keep and refreshing.

Schedules Galore - TV Land September '08, WGN Golden Oldies Week, BET Schedule Changes; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: CBS, Day 1

It is a very big Friday today here at SitcomsOnline.com. We have many schedules and the CBS portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. So let's begin with the TV schedules ... TV Land, WGN America and BET.
First up, as promised the TV Land September 2008 schedule. It's a funny bone emergency as TV Land welcomes the Emmy winning sitcom Scrubs to its roster with an 7-hour Labor Day marathon from 4pm-11pm. Then the show will air Mon-Sat back-to-back at 9:00pm & 9:30pm ET/PT starting September 2. The other changes starting Sept. 2 include M*A*S*H moving to 10pm-12am and the late night marathons are now from 1am-6am.
Then starting September 15, TV Land celebrates the arrival of The Cosby Show to the network with a week-long marathon featuring the best of Cosby wit and wisdom each night starting at 8pm thru 11pm (with an encore from 1-3am). The marathon shifts into high gear that weekend when TV Land programs 20 hours of fan favorite episodes giving viewers even more quality time with the Cos from 8pm-3am both nights. Then starting Sept. 22, Cosby Show will air Mon-Sat from 8-9pm and 12-1am ET/PT. More changes will come as Cheers, The Addams Family and The Munsters are expiring and will leave starting the week of Sept. 15. Other changes include time shifting, such as Andy Griffith Show going from 7-9pm to 6-8pm, and Hogan's Heroes and Hillbillies move up an hour to 4-5pm and 5-6pm. Hogan's and Hillbillies will also still air in the late night 1-2am and 2-3am, which means the late night marathons will be now down to 3-6am.
I suggest you see our TV Land September 2008 thread for the complete schedule. There is a Three's Company sighting as well, three airings back-to-back-to-back from 3:30am-5am on late Thursday, Sept. 11. It was originally planned for every Thursday late night. Also, Just Shoot Me and Murphy Brown will now be just weekend late nights, and not weeknight late nights, like originally planned. The Brady Bunch is off the line-up completely.
Other TV Land September highlights include many movie premieres such as Back to School, Sister Act 2, Overboard, The Right Stuff, and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Again see our September 2008 thread for complete details and you can also ask questions and make comments there.

Next up is WGN America! For the past two months they have aired an Outta Sight Retro Nights marathon. In June they had a '70s week and earlier this month we had an '80s marathon. Now they will move to the Golden Oldies era! It's the Outta Sight Retro Nights Marathon: The Golden Oldies! The marathon will be a four night look at the '50s and '60s. The marathon will be from Monday, August 4 through Thursday, August 7, 2008 from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) on WGN America (not in Chicago, sorry!). Up first is the all-time '50s hit The Honeymooners on that Monday with four classic episodes. Then we move to the '60s as we strike it rich with The Beverly Hillbillies, ya here? Then the next two nights will be two shows that don't regular air on WGN America! On that Wednesday we twitch our way to Samantha and Darrin's house in Bewitched! Finally, on that Thursday we make a wish for I Dream of Jeannie with four wishful episodes. What a week that will be for fans of the golden oldies era. Four classics indeed! For episode info visit our WGN America Golden Oldies episode listing.

We end our schedules galore with BET. BET will be making some sitcom changes. Next week (week of July 21), BET will have Diff'rent Strokes for four episodes in a row in the mornings. Its current 9-10am slot and 10-11am, replacing Malcolm & Eddie. Diff'rent Strokes has been preempted in its afternoon 3-4pm slot for weeks now and it will not be returning there now. It seems this morning change will be for the week of July 21 only. Because starting July 28, BET will turn the 9-11am block into rotating sitcoms. Mondays starting July 28 will be the short lived '90s sitcom Thea! Then Tuesdays starting the 29th it will be Diff'rent Strokes Tuesdays. On Wednesdays BET will showcase the UPN hit The Parkers. Thursdays spend mornings with your girlfriends while watching Girlfriends from 9-11am. And finally on Friday, end the work week with the hardest working man Fred Sanford in Sanford! So Thea and Sanford will return (remember they have a marathon this Sunday, July 20, too from 3-8pm), while Malcolm & Eddie gets the boot for now. We will keep you up to date if any more changes occur!
Future Outlook: This September BET has acquired reruns of Judge Hatchett and also repurposing rights to the upcoming new court series Judge Karen. More info will come soon.

Today is day one for the CBS portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. All of the CBS shows that are planned for the panel are actually all going today on the panel, with CW/CBS syndication for tomorrow. After the Executive Session this morning (details on that below after the summary), up at the panel were the CBS News division, followed by rookie sitcom Worst Week and new drama Eleventh Hour. Then after lunch, the afternoon sessions had all rookies again, new drama The Mentalist, and new Friday drama The Ex-List. Weird that no returning show was at the panel for CBS. New sitcom Gary Unmarried (previously known as Project Gary) was supposed to be doing a panel today in the afternoon, but star Jay Mohr is out of the country. Following CBS shows, CBS had premium cable network Showtime go up next late in the afternoon. They had their Executive Session followed by their Sho Stoppers Showcase session. Finally, in the evening CBS, Showtime, The CW and CBS Television Distribution presented their Stars Party with executives, talent and executive producers from CBS, Showtime, The CW and CBS Television Distribution.
From the CBS executive session we learned that William Petersen is indeed leaving CSI but they have planned new additions such as a serial killer type. Nina Tassler says CBS doesn't regret canceling Moonlight (ouch!). She also said Britney didn't save How I Met Your Mother and Sarah Chalke will return for multiple episodes next season.
From the CBS News session, Katie Couric said she will stay on with CBS Evening News despite the low ratings. There were rumors that CBS would give her the boot after the Election.
Moving on to Showtime, Edie Falco will return to television with the series Nurse Jackie. It will follow Falco's day-to-day life as a nurse with a drug problem. The series will begin production in the fall for a spring/early summer 2009 debut. The network also said it is developing a spin-off of The L Word, which is entering its final season. Meanwhile, comedy Weeds will get two more seasons for a total of 26 episodes. They also ordered six episodes of documentary series Lock 'N Load and a seventh season of Penn & Teller: Bull****! for 6 episodes, the longest-running series on the channel.
It seems we learned more about Showtime, than CBS today. Coming up tomorrow its CBS Day 2, but it will feature The CW and CBS Television Distribution (that's their syndication series).

60th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: ABC, Day 2

The 60th Annual Emmy Nominations were made just moments ago. Here are the nominees for the main categories:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
The Office (NBC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: Pushing Daisies & Ugly Betty. I had them in my predictions, but Curb and Men made it instead.

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)
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this category all right!

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Old Christine (CBS)
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: Ana Friel. I had her instead of Dreyfus.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I was all right again.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Amy Poehler, SNL (NBC)
Jean Smart, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
SURPRISE OMISSION: Surprising Poehler is in this category and no Jenna Fischer this year.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
House (Fox)
Damages (FX)
Boston Legal (ABC)
Mad Men (AMC)
Dexter (Showtime)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None really...no Grey's Anatomy though, I had that over Damages.

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (FOX)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Gabriel Bryne, In Treatment (HBO)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, maybe Denis Leary. 6 made it instead of 5.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Glenn Close, Damages (FX)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace (TNT)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, maybe no Elizabeth Moss of Mad Men. Why Hargitay again?

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Zeljko Ivanek, Damages (FX)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)
Ted Danson, Damages (FX)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this all right, but I had T.R. Knight instead of Ivanek.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal (ABC)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Diane Wiest, In Treatment (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: I had this all right except for two...Oh and Wiest were in instead, but that is not a surprise.

View the full list of nominations by clicking HERE. The 60th Annual Emmy Awards air Sunday, September 21 at 8pm on ABC.


Today is day two of the ABC portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. More ABC shows will be on the panel today along with ABC Cable Networks such as ABC Family and Disney Channel. But first, I want to say a few things I missed yesterday on day one. Lost will still fulfill its final 48 episode order. Due to the strike this past season, only 14 aired, so ABC is likely to tack on an extra episode for the next two seasons so 48 episodes will be there. Also, this is Zach Braff's final season on Scrubs, no matter if ABC continues it in 2009-10. Braff did say if ABC were to bring it back for a second season on ABC, then he would guest star or direct some episodes.
Anyway, today up at the panel were the cast and producers of Disney Channel's movie The Cheetah Girls One World, ABC Family's mini-series Samurai Girl, and ABC Daytime's soap opera One Life to Live, celebrating its 40th anniversary. Then after lunch it was all ABC at the panel with a great session with ABC Showrunners Greg Berlanti (Dirty Sexy Money, Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof (Lost), Silvio Horta (Ugly Betty), and Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice). Then after that it was back to shows itself with the stars and producers of Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice, and Desperate Housewives. Finally, ABC's portion of the TCA tour concludes with the All-Star party with the stars of ABC, Disney Channel, ABC Family and SOAPnet.
As for some details, ABC Family has ordered 13 more episodes of the hit drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager making its season order to 23. The current batch of episodes will conclude on Sept. 9 and the new batch will air starting in January, possibly with the return of its other hit show Kyle XY for its third season. Samurai Girl is a mini-series for now, but it could be a series in the future...Sept. 5-7 is when this three-part event will air. ABC Family will launch the second season of Greek on Tuesday, Aug. 26 and the third season of Lincoln Heights on Tuesday, Sept. 16. The Disney-ABC first run syndicated series Wizard's First Rule will appear on local stations on weekends starting the weekend of November 1.
On the Showrunners panel, the big questions were for Shonda Rhimes about Katherine Heigl. No Heigl is not leaving the show. No Heigl is not going to get killed off. And no Shonda didn't think Heigl withdrawing her name out of Emmy contention was a slap to the face to the writers! End of story on that! The media needs to MOVE ON! In Desperate Housewives news from this panel, Marc Cherry said he thought of the idea of the jumping ahead 5 years during a baseball game he attended with Steve McPherson. Lost wise we learned that Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) will indeed appear this season "in some form" without revealing any details. Ugly Betty wise, it is all but confirmed that there will no Henry in the picture for Betty.
Following that there were panels I mentioned for Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives. I can't believe some reporter asked Lucy Liu how will it feel turning 40 in January.
I think that is about all that was noteworthy from today. Stay tuned for CBS tomorrow!

Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: ABC, Day 1; Our Emmy Picks

ABC is up today and tomorrow at the summer 2008 TCA press tour. Before the panels began, they announced their premiere dates for the Fall:

Friday, September 19
10:00-11:00 p.m. 20/20

Monday, September 22
8:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (special two-hour performance show premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. Boston Legal

Tuesday, September 23
8:00-9:00 p.m. Opportunity Knocks (new series debut)
9:00-11:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (special performance show)

Wednesday, September 24
8:00-9:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special (special day and time)
9:00-11:00 p.m. David Blaine Special

Thursday, September 25
8:00-9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
9:00-11:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy (special two-hour season premiere)

Sunday, September 28
7:00-9:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00-11:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

Tuesday, September 30
9:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Result Show (regular day and time period premiere)

Wednesday, October 1
8:00-9:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies
9:00-10:00 p.m. Private Practice
10:00-11:00 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money

Friday, October 3
8:00-9:00 p.m. Wife Swap
9:00-10:00 p.m. Supernanny

Sunday, October 5
7:00-8:00 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos
8:00-9:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (regular time period premiere)

Monday, October 6
9:30-10:00 p.m. Samantha Who?

Thursday, October 9
9:00-10:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy (regular time period premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. Life on Mars (new series debut)

Tuesday, October 14
10:00-11:00 p.m. Eli Stone

Couple of notes on the premiere dates...there will be a Presidential Debate on Friday, Sept. 26 (that is why Wife Swap and Supernanny launch Oct. 3) and a Vice Presidential Debate on Thursday, October 2 (so Ugly Betty/Grey's Anatomy will premiere on Sept. 25 then take a week off on Oct. 2 before returning Oct. 9 to help launch Life on Mars). It is unclear still what will air Tuesday at 10pm on Sept. 30 and Oct. 7, as Eli Stone won't premiere until October 14.
Now let's move on to the panels for today. The casts and crews of returning hits and upcoming series will be on hand to talk about their series. After the executive session (we will discuss that below), up at the panel were Eli Stone in the morning, followed by a CMA sponsored lunch (where Julianne Hough (Dancing with the Stars) sang and promoted the special CMA Music Festival: Country's Night To Rock she is hosting Sept. 8 on ABC), then after lunch up on the panel were Life on Mars, Scrubs, Opportunity Knocks, and dinner sponsored by Dancing with the Stars where they got to eat and dance with the likes of Kristi Yamaguchi and Drew Lachey.
At that executive session we found out that Katie Holmes will guest star on Eli Stone this season playing an attorney. She is slated for the second episode of the season (Oct. 21). And ABC President Stephen McPherson denied the stupid rumors about Katherine Heigl leaving Grey's Anatomy, "...she's absolutely staying with the show. There's an outstanding story for her this season." Earlier, "a reporter from Sarasota, FL" asked McPherson if ABC was 'actively courting' Jay Leno? The reporter was Jimmy Kimmel disguised in a t-shirt and baseball cap! Hilarious! McPherson said, "to me it's a question for NBC. I can't believe they're going to let this guy go at the top of his game." He added that any discussions with Leno would take place with Kimmel's knowledge and involvement, "I can't say enough about Jimmy. His show has just exploded this year."
Finally in regards to the mid-season in consideration pilots. Due to the strike, most of the shows in consideration if they had gotten picked-up would have launched in the fall, but now all of them are in consideration for mid-season. The pilots have began filming last month and some still have yet to be shot or shooting now. So, if picked-up, ABC will launch them in November, January or March. We will let you know when any gets picked-up.

Coming up tomorrow is Day 2 for ABC, where more ABC shows go on the panel along with ABC Cable Networks, like ABC Family.

Today we will give our preview of what we think the nominations for the Emmy's will look like. The real nominations will be announced tomorrow (Thursday) morning on Good Morning America at 8:30am ET, so we will give you those then. But for now...here are our predictions for the main acting categories for the 60th Annual Emmy Awards airing Sept. 22 on ABC:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Pushing Daisies (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: 30 Rock won last year, but Pushing Daisies might win this year. Two and a Half Men, Weeds or Curb Your Enthusiasm could sneak in. It's a shame Desperate Housewives won't get in after a great season.

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)
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: Ricky Gervais won it last year, but who will win it this year? Will the love for Pushing Daisies continue and Lee Pace can win it? Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory could sneak in over Sheen maybe.

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Ferrera won last year. Mary-Louise Parker or Julia Louis-Dreyfus could sneak in over Cross. Personally I'd have Eva Longoria instead, as she was a riot this season....one of the F's will win, Ferrera, Fey or Friel.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Jeremy Piven won it last year. This list will be relatively the same as last year, but I'm surprised Chi McBride of Pushing Daisies will be snubbed...he had the funniest lines.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jean Smart, Samantha Who? (ABC)
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Jamie Pressly won last year but will not be nominated this year. Chenoweth should win this, as her character is hysterical.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
House (Fox)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Boston Legal (ABC)
Mad Men (AMC)
MY THOUGHTS: With The Sopranos out of the picture, a new winner will emerge this year. Damages could get in this list. Lost deserves to win it.

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (FOX)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FX)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
MY THOUGHTS: James Spader won it last year and will be the favorite once again, but personally I'd want Dempsey. Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights or Jon Hamm of Mad Men could make this cut, too. Matthew Fox deserves to be on this, but won't.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Glenn Close, Damages (FX)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men (AMC)
MY THOUGHTS: Sally Field won it last year and will win it again I bet. Past nominees like Patricia Arquette and Mariska Hargitay could make the cut, but sadly Evangeline Lilly and Ellen Pompeo won't. Why do they keep going for cable stars instead of broadcast?

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)
Ted Danson, Damages (FX)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: Terry O'Quinn won it last year but it looks like he won't even make it this year, which is crazy. Naveen Andrews can sneak in this list I think, but I don't have him in the top 5. Danson, Shatner or Emerson are my bets for the win.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men (AMC)
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal (ABC)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Rose Byrne, Damages (FX)
MY THOUGHTS: Katherine Heigl won it last year, but she removed herself from the running this season. I would have had Yunjin Kim in this race as she was excellent in the Lost season finale. Sandra Oh could sneak in. It's anyone's game as far as a winner is concerned, but give it to Chandra!

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!

TV Land Acquires 3rd Rock From the Sun; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Fox, Day 2

TV Land has acquired the hit '90s sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun for this Fall. All 139 episodes of the 1996-2001 NBC series will be coming to TV Land starting Saturday, October 25. We don't have any other details than that yet. The series stars John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Wayne Knight, and Jane Curtin. The series was last seen on ABC Family Channel. It didn't air much on there, mainly airing weekends on and off in 2004 and 2005, before briefly returning for a bit in 2006. ABC Family's contract has now expired. The show really hasn't been seen much since Sept. 2004, that is when the local channel contract expired.
3rd Rock From the Sun is about a group of aliens that have come to Earth to learn about its population, customs, etc. To avoid detection, they have taken on human form which gives them human emotions, physical needs etc. WITHOUT the understanding of what they mean or the inhibitions normally present in humans. Their leader takes the position of a college professor, their military expert as his sister, their intelligence expert, supposedly oldest of group takes form of his teenage son. The uninhibited reactions turn everyday events into unusual situations.
We will let you know more on 3rd Rock From the Sun coming to TV Land in the coming months. Speaking of TV Land, we will have their September line-up for you shortly...hopefully by the end of the week. As you all know, Scrubs is coming Sept. 1 and The Cosby Show fully moves to TV Land on Sept. 15. In other TV Land news, the second season of the original series TV Land Myths & Legends has been pushed back to October 8. It was originally slated to start August 27, as we mentioned in the TV Land August highlights. So after Family Foreman concludes after its August 20 finale, there is no original series on Wednesdays on TV Land until October 8.

It is the second and final day for the Fox portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour. We have some tidbits from yesterday that we need to mention today. Fox will have two development seasons this year at least. The first one will happen in December. Kevin Reilly said about eight shows are in development for that period. Expect some announcements for pick-ups then. The regular development season in the spring will still happen also. As for the rumored Prison Break spin-off, Fox is still planning one. However, it doesn't seem it will be introduced within the show but rather as its own series. The plan is to call it Cherry Hill and it'll be about a women's prison. Fox also discussed a bit about the 24 prequel and upcoming season along with the planned Osbournes variety series. Finally, there is still no end in sight for The Simpsons, so it'll likely extend beyond next season, which will be its 20th season. Oh and Fox is going to move its upfront date next year from Thursday to Monday it seems. Today at the tour will be all FX really. FX only has the morning half. On the panel will be casts and crews of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Damages, Sons of Anarchy, and The Shield. Some FX notes...FX has placed a 13 episode order for the new half-hour comedy series Testees (working title) and will air Thursdays at 10:30pm following It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia starting October 9. Speaking of Sunny, FX intends to produce 39 more episodes in addition to the 13 currently in production. The series' fourth season premieres on Thursday, September 18 at 10 p.m. FX will order 19 additional episodes of Nip/Tuck and the series will end its historic run in early 2011. FX and Sony Pictures Television closed a deal with Michael J. Fox for a four-episode arc for the fifth season of Rescue Me. The 22-episode fifth season begins in the spring of 2009 and he will appear in the season five opener. Finally, Damages' second season starts in January 2009 with new cast members Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Timothy Olyphant. Ted Danson will return in season two for several episodes.
The rest of the day is a TCA day with lunch being sponsored by the new upcoming syndicated talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show followed by a set visit for AMC's Mad Men. After that it is the evening program with dinner and cocktails. The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) World Championship Kickoff Event for media will be held Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. The CGS is the first global professional video gaming league where head-to-head competition is televised live and in HD on DIRECTV's 101 Network. They are sponsoring the evening program.
Coming up tomorrow is ABC Day 1!

Also coming up tomorrow on the blog is our annual Emmy Awards Preview with our predictions of the nominees. The actual Emmy nominees will be announced the following day, Thursday.
We will also have more news, so make sure you come back tomorrow! This is a big week!

ION August 2008; Slight Nick at Nite Change; Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Cable Day 4

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.

Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Cable Day 2; More Family Matters on Nick at Nite

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!

Summer 2008 TCA Press Tour: Cable Day 1

It is the first day of the summer 2008 TCA press tour and this week it is the cable portion (July 8-11).
TV One was the first network to present. Among the announcements they made were details on their original series Black Men Revealed which launches its second season on July 20. It is the series that brings together males from all walks of life to frankly discuss and often explode the myths and truths surrounding black men. TV One will offer live, nightly primetime coverage of the Democratic Convention in Denver, followed by TV One Live: DNC Afterparty, a smart, irreverent and engaging hour that includes a uniquely African American cultural perspective on the events of the day. The special will air August 25-28. TV One also has a documentary special titled Murder in Black and White airing October 5. Murder In Black and White is a series of four documentary specials that explore unsolved civil rights murders from which information uncovered will be shared with the FBI's Cold Case Unit in an effort to bring to justice murderers who may still be alive.
Among the acquired series TV One will launch this fall is the previously announced sitcom Living Single in September from the Warner Bros. Television deal.

The Hallmark Channel was up next and they announced they have 30 TV Movies in the works with many familiar stars. Among the stars are Jane Seymour in Dear Prudence, Mark Consuelos, Chandra West and Corbin Bernsen in For the Love of Grace, Florence Henderson and Donna Mills in Ladies of the House, Ed Asner and Alex Black in Generation Gap, Daphne Zuniga and Greg Evigan in Mail Order Bride, Tom Arnold, Candace Cameron and Barbara Niven in Moonlight & Mistletoe (November), Cicely Tyson, Eriq La Salle, Michael Michele and Michael Beach in Relative Stranger, Lesley Ann Warren and Meredith Baxter in Bound by a Secret, Chandra Wilson, Ben Vereen, Kathleen Munroe and LAPD Sgt. Tami Baumann in Accidental Friendship (Nov. 15), Jacqueline Bisset in An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving (Nov. 22), Jason Priestley, Teri Polo and Cheech Marin in Expecting a Miracle (Jan. 3), and Cloris Leachman and Haley Duff in Love Takes Wing (early 2009). A holiday movie titled The Christmas Choir will air Dec. 6.
Among the reruns they will add are Cheers this fall and I Love Lucy & The Golden Girls in 2009.

Other networks went like HDnet announced a Sneak Preview series. It is partnered with HDNet's "Ultra Video On Demand" offering, allows cable subscribers access to movies PRIOR to the movie's theatrical premiere.
BBC America announced BBC World News America news. It provides a unique, international perspective on matters at home and abroad. Ted Koppel is joining the series as a contributing analyst. Also, BBC America announced Primeval, new series launching August 8. The past and present collide when evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) discovers prehistoric creatures alive and well in the present day. Launching August 26, is Gavin & Stacey. This double BAFTA award-winning comedy from Steve Coogan's production company, Baby Cow, tells an endearing story of true love and human relationships. Gavin is an ordinary boy from England, Stacey is an ordinary girl from Wales. The two are obsessed with each other, yet they've only ever spoken on the phone. And Britz, coming in November, is a two-part thriller about a young brother and sister, Sohail and Nasima, and how they are pulled in radically different directions in the post 9/11 world.
style Network announced Ruby, a new unscripted series premiering November 9. It takes viewers inside the life of Ruby Gettinger, a 500-pound young woman living in Savannah, Georgia.
E! and G4 didn't announce anything really but further promoted E!'s The Soup and G4's Attack of the Show.

Stay tuned tomorrow for day two coverage of the summer TCA press tour as more networks go tomorrow, such as TV Land.

Summer 2008 TCA Cable Tour - July 8-11; NBC Universal Buys The Weather Channel; ION Reminds Us of Cooper

The cable portion of the summer 2008 TCA press tour starts tomorrow and runs until Friday. We will have a detailed look on every cable network that goes...of course if it is only interesting we will report it. But cable networks owned by media companies that also run broadcast networks, such as Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal, CBS Corp. and News Corp, will present their programming during the broadcast portion of the tour.
Up on Tuesday is: TV One, The Hallmark Channel, HDnet, BBC America, and Comcast's E!, style, & G4. Wednesday we have AMC, WE tv, MTV Networks (such as CMT, MTV, TV Land, VH1), National Geographic Channel, and A&E Networks (such as History and A&E). Thursday up at the panel are Discovery Networks (such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC), ESPN, Sundance Channel, HBO, and GSN. Finally on Friday up are Turner Broadcasting (CNN, Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS), Fox Reality Channel, Starz, Lifetime, and IFC.

NBC Universal, Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire The Weather Channel properties from Landmark Communications. The Weather Channel will be operated as a separate entity, based in Atlanta, with management services to be provided by NBC Universal.
The transaction includes The Weather Channel Networks, the third-most-distributed cable network, seen in more than 97% of cable television homes in the U.S.; The Weather Channel Interactive, which includes weather.com, the nation's leading weather website, with nearly 40 million unique visitors per month, and a leading mobile business; and Weather Services International, a global leader in weather forecasting, with more than 5,500 clients worldwide. The transaction is expected to be completed by year-end, and is subject to receipt of customary regulatory approvals. NBC Universal, Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group announced on June 13, 2008, that they had entered into exclusive negotiations to purchase The Weather Channel properties.
NBC Universal will probably have much more details when they are up at the 2008 summer TCA press tour in a few weeks.
Of course there is still no new deal for the SAG (the actors). So there could be a chance the broadcast portion of ther TCA tour could be scratched. The last statement SAG released was on July 2:
The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee met with AMPTP negotiators today to present a series of substantive questions on the employers' proposed package. Guild negotiators and staff will further analyze and review the AMPTP's responses over the next several days in order to prepare a response to management's proposal.
Let's hope they can settle this because I sure don't want to cover another strike. The recent WGA strike is still fresh in my mind.

Finally, ION issued a reminder press release today on something we have known for a long time. ION Television announced today that, through a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, it will launch the sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper on its weeknight schedule beginning with two back-to-back episodes, airing July 7th (tonight) from 5 p.m.–6 p.m. (ET/PT). The popular series, in a branded "Laugh Attack" hour, will then continue in this timeslot Mondays through Fridays.
More info.

WGN Fall 2007 Schedule; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: ABC Day 2

Well, now fall schedules for cable will be on the horizon. The first one we will take a look at is WGN. WGN will be adding some new programs this fall, returning a classic, and dropping a few shows. The new series they are adding to the weekday line-up are Nash Bridges, Sister Sister, Corner Gas, and The Steve Wilkos Show. Airing weekends will be Reno 911, Chappelle's Show and Whacked-Out Sports. The series that will make its way back on WGN is...Happy Days! They will air it late nights/early mornings at 4:30am and 5am ET. With all the new shows and the returning Happy Days, some shows will be leaving. The contracts have expired for Home Improvement, Magnum P.I., and Sex and the City, thus they can't air them anymore. Taking a leave of absence is Moesha, which is still under contract through fall 2009, but will be benched this fall on WGN. The Greg Behrendt Show has been canceled so of course it will not be returning on WGN.
To see the FULL 7-day Fall 2007 schedule, I urge you to click HERE!

Moving on to the final day of the 2007 Summer TCA Tour, it is ABC's second day. Up at the panel today are the cast & crew of: Nightline, i-Caught, GRΣΣK, Kyle XY, Samantha Who?, MEN IN TREES, Private Practice, and Big Shots. Basically they gave us some hints on what to expect and answered questions. MEN IN TREES had 5 episodes leftover from last season, since it hasn't aired since like February, a new episodes will be created to air before these 5 to remind people of the show.
The Lost panel at Comic-Con is at 5pm PT today, so no news yet!

TCA Summer 2007 Tour: ABC Day 1; Off-Network Syndication Series Premiering this Fall

We are now at the last network at the TCA Tour. After a day off yesterday for on set visits, the TCA tour is back for one last network...ABC. ABC will be up today and tomorrow. They just announced their premiere dates, and here they are:
Fall premiere dates for the 2007-2008 season were announced today for the ABC Television Network by Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment, including a three-night Dancing with the Stars premiere event, with two nights of performance shows leading into a special Wednesday night results show, and a slight change in the Friday line-up.

Monday, September 24
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (special 90-minute premiere)
9:30-11:00 p.m. The Bachelor (special 90-minute premiere)

Tuesday, September 25
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (performance show)

Wednesday, September 26
8:00-9:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special (special day and time)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Private Practice
10:00-11:00 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money

Thursday, September 27
8:00-9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
9:00-10:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10:00-11:00 p.m. Big Shots

Sunday, September 30
7:00-9:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00-11:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

Tuesday, October 2
8:00-8:30 p.m. Cavemen
8:30-9:00 p.m. Carpoolers
9:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Result Show (regular day and time period premiere)

Wednesday, October 3
8:00-9:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies

Sunday, October 7
7:00-8:00 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos

Friday, October 12
8:00-9:00 p.m. 20/20 (new time period premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Women's Murder Club
10:00-11:00 p.m. MEN IN TREES

Monday, October 15
9:30-10:00 p.m. Samantha Who?

Tuesday, November 27
10:00-11:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (special preview following the finale of Dancing with the Stars)

Tuesday, December 4
9:00-10:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (regular time period premiere)

Boston Legal will have its season premiere on its normal night and time, but ABC has not decided when yet. Could be during week 2 or 3 of the season, I think.
Panels and sessions today: Executive Session, Break/Writing Time, Pushing Daisies,
Women's Murder Club, Cavemen, Cashmere Mafia, Carpoolers, Dirty Sexy Money.
Other ABC press tour notes:
- Harold Perrineau (Michael) will return to Lost next season! Details will be announced at Comic-Con tomorrow.
- ABC confirms Football Wives will not be picked-up now, while Traveler has been officially canceled.
- ABC is shooting a new pilot for Cavemen, and the current pilot will be used as a later episode later in the season.
- ABC is looking to develop a spin-off of Dancing with the Stars titled Dance X. The series is a bit hit in the U.K. The spin-off features teams of dancers coached by two Dancing With the Stars judges. The two teams compete against each other, and dancers get eliminated as the show goes on.
- Some fans were not happy of the direction Grey's Anatomy went to for the second half of last season. ABC will assure to fix that.
- Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion will join Desperate Housewives this fall! It's official!


The fall season is on the horizon. Here are a list of off-network series premiering in syndication this fall:
- All of Us (Daytime CW)
- Chappelle's Show (daily)
- Cold Case (weekends)
- Degrassi: The Next Generation (daily)
- Family Guy (daily)
- George Lopez (daily and on cable on Nick at Nite)
- Half & Half (daily)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (daily)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (weekends)
- Reno 911 (daily)
- The Dead Zone (weekends)
- The Surreal Life (daily)
- Two and a Half Men (daily)
Check your local listings to see what local channels will air these series in your market.
Classic series such as Baywatch (daily) and Saved by the Bell (weekends) return to local channels this fall as well.
For further updates and to discuss fall 2007 syndication, click HERE!

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 2; Hallmark Channel Brings Back Waltons; Carey New Price Host

Today was Day 2 for Fox at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel today were Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nashville, Canterbury's Law, The Return of Jezbel James, and House. The themed meals were Cops for breakfast (donuts) and Family Guy lunch where they had a table read for the 100th episode.

The Hallmark Channel effective today brought back The Waltons to its old 8am & 9am weekday slot. Murder, She Wrote will be moved to 2 & 3pm. That series has done very well since joining the network. It will also remain in its 11pm and 12am slot. Due to The Waltons returning, some other series get minor time changes, like M*A*S*H goes from 4-6pm to 5-7pm. I urge you to click HERE to see what the rest are!

It is official! Drew Carey is the new host for The Price is Right. He announced it on tonight's taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.
"I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch," Carey told Letterman. "I couldn't tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for Power of 10, and they called me, I said, 'No.' Then they called me a month later, they said, 'What if we really' — they called my agent: 'What if we really go after Drew.'
"This is like a month later after I did the pilot for Power of 10 and I said, 'Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.' I go, 'What kind of schedule?' He said, 'I don't know,' so I met with them and stuff and we've been negotiating ever since. Couldn't say anything, but during your 'Harry Potter' bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It's a done deal. I'm the new host of The Price Is Right.
Carey said that he's not sure when he's going to start working on The Price Is Right, which is expected to start taping new episodes in August, but did say that already "my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf's."
"Well, history says that this will be a nice long career for you as the host of The Price is Right," Letterman commented.

2007 TCA Awards Winners; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 1

Last night at the TCA Summer Tour it was all about the 2007 TCA Awards, which were its 23rd annual awards. 2007 TCA Award recipients are as follows:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Heroes (NBC)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: Friday Night Lights (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: The Sopranos (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: The Office (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: Planet Earth (Discovery)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING: Kyle XY (ABC Family)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES & SPECIALS: Planet Earth (Discovery)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
HERITAGE AWARD: The Sopranos (HBO)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Mary Tyler Moore

Related:
2007 Nominees
2006 Winners

Fox is up at the TCA Summer Press Tour today and tomorrow. They announced fall premiere dates nearly two weeks ago, so the focus of their announcements will be other things.
Among the notes from Day 1: Hit summer series Hell's Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance will return next summer for fourth seasons. Fox also has ordered 13 additional episodes of this year's newest summer series Don't Forget the Lyrics, hosted by Wayne Brady. Fox will have some milestones for its Saturday primetime and late night programming this fall. Cops will be entering its 20th season and a 20th Anniversary Special will air September 18. Cops will also celebrate episode #700 on November 10. MAD TV will enter its 13th season and its 300th episode will air this season.
Up at the session panel today after the Executive Session were the cast & crew of Back to You, K-Ville Bones, New Amsterdam, So You Think You Can Dance. Lunch was Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader themed.

It is still early, we will be back with more Fox Day 1 news. Come on back on this unusually busy Sunday.

TV Land August Schedule Changes; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: The CW; ABC August Change

Late on Friday, TV Land issued some schedule changes for August. The Summer Cocktail Party Marathons will continue now past August 3. It will likely go until the end of the month now. Some blocks of the marathons have changed along with some of the regular schedule. The changes start on August 4 with the weekends. Some minor changes here and there on weekends, such as double shot of Gunsmoke now from 6-8am rather than I Love Lucy and Green Acres, which were scheduled to start airing then. Green Acres will air 9am on weekends. Other changes on weekends include Gunsmoke from 5-8pm on Saturdays and Andy Griffith Show from 10pm-1:10am. TV Land Goes West on Sundays will be 12-6pm now, with more Andy Griffith from 6-8pm. Sundays will also have a M*A*S*H block from 10pm-12:05am. The late night block on both nights will also be altered a bit, with Three's Company (twice), The Jeffersons, Good Times (twice), Sanford & Son, All in the Family, and The Andy Griffith Show from 1:10am-6am.
That was just weekends, now let's go to weekdays. As we said before TV Land Goes West is also on Mondays, and that will not change. Bonanza from 8a-12p and Gunsmoke from 2-6p. Tues-Fri mornings and afternoons will get a bit of a makeover from the original August schedule. Cheers will return and air 8:30am. Sanford & Son will air 9-10am, Bonanza and Gunsmoke follow until noon leading into the Elvis movie, 2-5pm will see back-to-back episodes of Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver. Gunsmoke will air at 5pm. In primetime, Cosby Show replaces Good Times from 8-9pm and Sanford & Son will air 9-10pm instead of The Jeffersons. Then we have the marathons from 10p-4:30a. Changes to the marathons are: Mondays from 10p-12:05a is now The Jeffersons instead of Cosby Show. Andy Griffith Show marathon will air Tuesdays from 8-11p leading into Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so no M*A*S*H marathon. Wednesday nights from 2:20-4a is now Three's Company instead of All in the Family.
So these changes are last minute, so the September schedule we posted might change now. We will let you know when we do. Munsters, Addams Family, Green Acres are reduced to just weekends in August. For now, please click HERE to view the changes in a list form.

The CW was up today at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel were the cast & crew of various series and an Executive Session. The show that had a panel were: Aliens in America, Life is Wild, CW Now/Online Nation, Gossip Girl, Reaper. They announced the fall premiere dates for their series:

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS [October 1]
8:30-9:00 PM ALIENS IN AMERICA (New Series) [October 1]
9:00-9:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS [October 1]
9:30-10:00 PM THE GAME [October 1]

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BEAUTY AND THE GEEK [September 18]
9:00-10:00 PM REAPER (New Series) [September 25]

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL [September 19]
9:00-10:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Series) [September 26]

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE [September 27]
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL [October 4]

FRIDAY
8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN [September 21]

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM CW NOW (New Series) [September 23]
7:30-8:00 PM ONLINE NATION (New Series) [September 23]
8:00-9:00 PM LIFE IS WILD (New Series) [October 7]
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)

ABC will alter its Monday and Tuesday schedules for August. Mondays will now be Wife Swap, Fat March, and Supernanny. It was supposed to be Wife Swap, Supernanny, and i-Caught. Fat March was originally for Tuesdays at 9. Tuesdays will be back-to-back Just for Laughs, which ABC renewed for an additional 13 episodes (making it 19 in all now), followed by Primetime: Crime and i-Caught. Primetime: Crime was originally for 10pm.

59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: CBS Day 2

The 59th Annual Emmy Nominations were made just moments ago. Here are the nominees for the main categories:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Two and a Half Men (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: Desperate Housewives. I had this category all right except for that.

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)
Ricky Gervais, Extras (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this category all right, except Gervais was in and not Zach Braff.

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Mary Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, though I had Teri Hatcher instead of Dreyfus.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. Again I had only one wrong, I had Michael Urie over Neil Patrick Harris..

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Conchata Ferrell, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: No Nicolette Sheridan again???

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Boston Legal (ABC)
House (Fox)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
Heroes (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: No Lost or Friday Night Lights?

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos (HBO)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FX)
Kiefer Sutherland, 24 (Fox)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, but Michael C. Hall is sort of.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Edie Falco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Patricia Arquette, Medium (NBC)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. Why Hargitay again?

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)
T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this all right, but I chose only 5. Knight was the 6th pick.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Aida Turturro, The Sopranos (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, though Patricia Wettig over Turturro would be better.

View the full list of nominations by clicking HERE. The 59th Annual Emmy Awards air Sunday, September 16 at 8pm on Fox.

Today is also Day 2 for CBS at the TCA 2007 Summer Press Tour. Not much news to report, but CBS did release a few things. In a first for network television, CBS today announced a new viewer-centric marketing initiative to keep audiences informed if their favorite television show is delayed due to sports or news overrun. CBS Eye-lert, which launches this fall, will enable viewers to be notified via email and text message if the start time of a program will be delayed.
Through the coordination of CBS Interactive, broadcast operations, email and phone systems, viewers can subscribe to CBS Eye-lert by registering on CBS.com, CBSNews.com and Sportsline.com. This fall, when an NFL game runs beyond 7PM ET, thus causing a delay on the Network, viewers will be notified by email or text message prior to primetime and again once the specific start time of the primetime show has been determined. That way they can adjust their viewing or recording plans.
At the session panels today, cast & crews of Jericho, Power of 10, Viva Laughlin were up. There was a nice Survivor: China themed lunch for the media. And no Drew Carey said in the Power of 10 panel that no decision has been made yet for him to be the new host of The Price is Right.

More to come...come on back.

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!

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: NBC Day 2; Watching TV Online Is Big

The second day usually has no real news from a broadcast TCA tour. The first day is where are all the real news happens. So, the sessions are the draw on the second day. Yesterday the sessions were: Executive Session, Life, Thursday Sitcoms (My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs), and Saturday Night Live. Cast and crew answered questions from the TV critics. Today we saw the cast and crew of All Law & Order Series, Bionic Woman, Chuck, The Singing Bee, Journeyman and Friday Night Lights.
The only bit of news that came was Linus Roache (Kidnapped, Batman Begins) will join the regular cast of NBCs Emmy Award-winning Law & Order, returning Sundays, 8-9 p.m. ET at mid-season) to portray an executive assistant district attorney the former office held by Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) after McCoy was elevated to district attorney for next season.

According to B&C, more consumers are accessing television and movies online. An estimated 81 million of the 129 million people who access the Internet via a broadband connection watched TV or movies online, according to a new study from Nielsen.
The data was collected via Nielsen’s NetViews and NetRatings services during the month of March. The findings represent a 16 % jump in broadband consumption in six months (from 70 million people in Sept. 2006).
ABC.com was the top site across all broadband viewer visits to television network Web sites, while Yahoo! Movies was the leader in the movies category.

I'm Back; TV Land September Highlights; TCA Summer Tour Cable Recap, NBC Day 1

I'm back! As Todd stated yesterday, I have returned from vacation. It was a nice 10 days off but when you love doing something, you tend to miss it. Anyway, Todd like usual did a wonderful job filling in when I was out relaxing in Jacksonville. He brought us nice bits of news and great features from skees53, Seth and of course Solomon's Weekly Rant.

TV Land released their September line-up to us early last week, but I was not home. I did check e-mail twice over there, but had way too much to go through, so I couldn't forward it to Todd in time. Anyway, to TV Land September, the schedule will indeed change a bit. There are no real new additions, but Knight Rider will return to the line-up and air Tues-Fri at 3 p.m. For those of you wondering, the contracts for mega TV Land hits Bonanza and Three's Company are expiring after August, but they have been renewed! So you will see both in September! I don't have full details on the contracts, but my Three's Company people tell me TV Land has rights "for years to come." There are minor changes here and there, some notable ones include Cosby Show off the regular line-up, but it will air in two weekly blocks (Fridays approx. 12-2am and Saturdays approx. 11pm-1am). Weekday mornings have changed a bit, M*A*S*H will also air in the mornings now from 7-8am, followed by What's Happening Now!! and The Jeffersons moving from 7-8am to 8-9am. All in the Family moves from 8-9am to 9-10am, Gunsmoke remains at 10am, followed by double shots of Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy and Green Acres from 11am-2pm. The Munsters/Addams Family hour is at 2-3pm.
Friday night movies this month include The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Crocodile Dundee II (1988), and The Longest Yard (1974).
Saturday, September 15 through Monday, September 17, starting at 8pm. 35 years and the 4077 gang is still going strong. Join us as TV Land celebrates the 35th anniversary of this groundbreaking landmark television series with 3 nights of quintessential and favorite M*A*S*H episodes as well as the highly successful reunion specials. Don't miss the pilot episode which will air 35 years to the day and time of the series premiere on September 17 at 8pm!
Having dinner with the family helps everyone reconnect at the end of the day. The family table is often a place where families catch up on their days, share stories and problems – and eat. Whether Andy Griffith ends up eating three dinners in one night or Hawkeye tries to fly in ribs from Chicago to Korea, our TV Land families are definitely sharing more than meals at their tables! CASA Family Night airs Sunday, September 23, 8pm-10pm.
For COMPLETE details of the schedule changes and details of the specials & marathons, click HERE.

Unfortunately I was on vacation when the TCA Summer Tour started on July 12. The cable portion was July 12-15. I'll do a little recap of each network's announcements today, that is notable for us at least, at the end of today's blog. But right now I will to cover the first day of NBC's summer press tour. NBC is up today and tomorrow. Then CBS the next 2 days (July 18-19), The CW follows on July 20, the 23rd Annual TCA Awards night is on July 21, Fox follows July 22-23 and ABC caps it off July 25-26.
OK, here is NBC Day 1's notes:
NBC launches its season premieres the week of September 24. The network will adjust its schedule by moving the new comedic spy thriller Chuck to Mondays at 8 p.m. ET followed by switching the popular Monday version of Deal or No Deal to Fridays 8 p.m. ET, and shifting Friday Night Lights to an earlier new time of 9 p.m. (ET) and Las Vegas to 10 p.m. (ET).
In addition, NBC will expand The Biggest Loser to 90 minutes on Tuesdays from 8-9:30 p.m. ET and will have a special two-hour premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Summer's newest hit, The Singing Bee (which premiered earlier this month), will have its Fall premiere on Tuesday, September 25 in the 9:30 p.m. ET half-hour.
NBC's premiere week will also feature one-hour season premieres each of sitcoms My Name Is Earl (8-9 p.m. ET) and The Office (9-10 p.m. ET) on Thursday, September 27 and a two-hour season premiere of Las Vegas on Friday, September 28 (9-11 p.m. ET).
So, it looks like game show 1 vs. 100 is off the fall schedule for now.
NBC Fall Premiere Dates:

Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 11
The Biggest Loser (8-10 p.m.)

Monday, SEPTEMBER 17
Deal or No Deal (8-9 p.m.)

Monday, SEPTEMBER 24
Chuck (8-9 p.m.)
Heroes (9-10 p.m.)
Journeyman (10-11 p.m.)

Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 25
The Singing Bee (9:30-10 p.m.)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (10-11 p.m.)

Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 26
Deal or No Deal Wednesday (8-9 p.m.)
Bionic Woman (9-10 p.m.)
Life (10-11 p.m.)

Thursday, SEPTEMBER 27
My Name Is Earl (8-9 p.m.)
The Office (9-10 p.m.)
ER (10-11 p.m.)

Friday, SEPTEMBER 28
Deal or No Deal Friday (8-9 p.m.)
Las Vegas (9-11 p.m.)

Thursday, OCTOBER 4
30 Rock (8-8:30 p.m.)

Friday, OCTOBER 5
Friday Night Lights (9-10 p.m.)

Thursday, OCTOBER 25
Scrubs (9:30-10 p.m.)

NBC press notes:
- Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy) will play a mysterious person who is brought into the enigmatic scientific organization that is responsible for creating the bionics that turn Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan, EastEnders) into the Bionic Woman for 5 episodes at least.
- NBC has signed a series deal with legendary, Emmy Award-winning television producer Norman Lear (All in the Family) to join Reveille, Act III Productions, and Universal Media Studios in producing a one-hour dramedy focused on a mother who reenters the work force and is pitted against her late husband's ruthless partner in a money-charged battle of the sexes on Wall Street.
- NBC has renewed The Apprentice for mid-season with a creative twist. In a new celebrity version of the popular series, celebrity contestants will vie for Donald Trump's attention in what will be the highest-profile competition in the groundbreaking series' run. Celebrities will be announced at a later date.
- Jerry Seinfeld returns to NBC in a rare guest-star cameo when he appears as himself in the second-season premiere of NBC's critically acclaimed comedy 30 Rock on October 4 (Thursday, 8:30-9 p.m. ET).

As mentioned, the TCA Cable Summer Press Tour was July 12-15. On July 12 we had Lifetime, FX, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic Channel, HBO among the channels that went. July 13 was TV Guide, the MTV Networks, Travel Channel, BBC America, Discovery Networks, E!, style. On July 14 we had Disney Channel, SOAPnet, ESPN, Sundance Channel, GSN, and Showtime. The final day saw Turner Broadcasting, BET, Rainbow Networks, History Channel, NBC Universal Networks.
Among the programming Lifetime touted were the new series Side Order of Life and State of Mind, both of them debuted last night. The second season premiere of Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead will lead into the series premiere of the new reality competition show America's Psychic Challenge on Friday, October 12. Finally, 18 episodes of Army Wives have been ordered for the new season, which will premiere in the spring of 2008.
FX talked about a highly anticipated episode of nip/tuck titled "Gala Gallardo." They also talked about the new series Damages starring Glenn Close and Ted Danson.
The Hallmark Channel will create tons of TV movies with classic TV stars including Valerie Bertinelli, Dick Van Dyke, Tom Bosley, Dean Cain, Lea Thompson, Ernest Borgnine and Ernie Hudson.
HBO talked about some original series, movies, and documentaries. New original movie As You Like It premieres in August. A new drama series called Tell Me You Love Me premieres September 9. Also on that date a new documentary will premiere titled Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq. The huge night will also have the sixth season premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Among the MTV Networks that went were TV Land and Spike TV. TV Land talked about its Elvis month this August as we have mentioned here many times. They also released details on a new special from EW. Oprah. Heather Locklear. Homer Simpson. Regardless of age, TV genre or life-form, there are select TV personalities whose work is timeless and whose popularity is endless due to the impact they have made through television. Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons, a two-hour special premiering on TV Land on Friday, November 16 from 8-10pm ET/PT, counts down the iconic personalities who have made their indelible mark via the small screen. The list will also be revealed in the issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands that same day. TV Land Confidential launched its season season last week and TV Land will premiere Back to the Grind this Wednesday. High School Reunion launches in January.
Spike TV mentioned their new series The Kill Point launching July 22 and their unscripted crime drama series Murder coming July 31.
Nickelodeon will launch a new web cast type show for kids called iCarly and a new Chinese animated series called Ni Hao, Kai-lan coming October 22.
Salt-n-Pepa return with The Salt-n-Pepa Show on VH1 coming October 15. See VH1 follow their lives.
E! talked about their new series, Chelsea Lately, which premiered tonight. style Network will launch the first reality sitcom series, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane takes viewers inside the compelling life of Kimora Lee Simmons.
Disney Channel announced that Wizards of Waverly Place will come in October. Mark down August 17 for the premiere of the new movie High School Musical 2. A High School Musical Documentary is also in the works for the fall. SOAPnet talked about General Hospital: Night Shift, which premiered Thursday and is SOAPnet's first one-hour original scripted drama.
A team of award-winning ESPN correspondents will serve as the reporters of a new series called ESPN Reporters coming October 16. Signed on are Tom Farrey, Rachel Nichols, Lisa Salters, Jeremy Schaap and Michael Smith.
GSN announced details of the new game show Without Prejudice? coming tomorrow. Also, the new game show Grand Slam, hosted by Ken Jennings! It launches August 4. That's The Question a half-hour series that combines word scrambles with a test of world history and pop culture trivia knowledge, returns for a second season on Sept. 10.
Showtime will launch the new season of Weeds in August. One of the most buzzed-about shows on television, Weeds will continue to grow and blossom with inspired new storylines and notable guest starts. The series follows a suburban mother (Mary-Louise Parker) who deals marijuana in order to make ends meet after her husband dies unexpectedly. Brotherhood and Dexter will return for new seasons this fall. A new sitcom called The United States of Tara has been greenlighted. The half-hour single camera comedy pilot revolves around a mother who has multiple personality syndrome.
Court TV announced details for The Star Jones Show coming Aug. 20. CourtTV will be rebranded truTV on January 1. TBS and TNT continued to talk about its upcoming originals The Bill Engvall Show (July 17 on TBS), Saving Grace (July 23 on TNT) and The Company (Aug. 5 on TNT).
BET has put together two of the funniest guys in the business to create an animated sketch comedy show for BET. Orlando Jones and Ali LeRoi have teamed up to create BUFU, in the tradition of Saturday Night Live and SCTV.
USA Network announced details about a new movie title In Plain Sight. Original episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent will air Thursdays at 10pm on USA starting Oct. 4. Sci-Fi Channel will create a new animated series called Flash Gordon coming Aug. 10. Bravo's TelevisionWithoutPity.com will create a Fantasy TV game. The game will allow players to create, name and program their own fantasy television networks using both new fall shows and returning series from the five broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and CW).