MTV Acquires Grounded for Life; CW Vampire Week, CBS Sunday Timeslot Changes

MTV has quietly acquired the sitcom Grounded for Life. The sitcom started on the cable network yesterday (Nov. 16) and they are airing it weeknights at 7:00pm & 7:30pm and also next day encores in the mornings at 9:00am & 9:30am. The sitcom is about a thirty-something Irish Catholic couple (Sean and Claudia) that deal with their three children as well as Sean's judgmental father and his carefree brother. Donal Logue and Megyn Price star in this 2001-2005 sitcom that aired on Fox and later The WB. On cable, ABC Family has been airing the series on and off since fall 2005, and they will continue to air it weekdays at 4:00pm & 4:30pm even with MTV acquiring the series.
Grounded for Life joins repeats of South Park (from sister network Comedy Central), which recently started airing on MTV at 8:00pm & 8:30pm. MTV also airs TeenNick's Degrassi: The Next Generation weekdays at 10:00am & 10:30am. It seems MTV is going with more scripted stuff rather than music now? Grounded for Life is the first sitcom airing on MTV that is not borrowed from another Viacom-owned network. Scrubs aired this past summer, but that was borrowed from Comedy Central/TV Land. They have been airing movies, too, such as Addams Family, Not Another Teen Movie, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Halloween: Resurrection, Scream 3, Phone Booth, and airing soon will be movies such as Bad Santa, Addams Family Values, Men in Black II & Dawn of the Dead.
Another scripted series is coming soon to MTV and we will let you know very soon! Hint: It is a classic '90s teen drama. And it is not on other Viacom-owned networks. Stay with us for more news!

The CW Network has announced plans for a special Vampire Diaries Marathon starting on Monday, December 14. This week-long event offers fans the opportunity to relive The Vampire Diaries saga from the very beginning and allows the uninitiated the chance to get into one of TV's breakout hits.
Airing two episodes each night from Monday, Dec. 14 through Friday, Dec. 18 (8:00-10:00p.m. ET/PT) beginning with the season premiere episode, The CW will rebroadcast every episode to date of its smash hit The Vampire Diaries in consecutive order across its entire primetime schedule that week. After just 10 episodes, The Vampire Diaries has become The CW's most-watched and highest-rated series among adults 18-34 this season.
And finally, CBS has swapped the timeslots for Sunday dramas Three Rivers and Cold Case. Three Rivers moves from 9pm to 10pm, while Cold Case goes from 10pm to 9pm. Both will be moved to their new timeslots for this coming Sunday (Nov. 22). As of now, it is only for one week, but the following week (Nov. 29), CBS has a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie airing. If the timeslots improve, I'm sure CBS will keep these new timeslots for both series. Both series have had sluggish ratings this season, especially first year drama Three Rivers.

ABC Cancels and Pulls Hank, CW Finalizes Mondays; TV Land Orders Season 3 of She's Got the Look

ABC has canceled the Kelsey Grammer sitcom Hank and will replace it immediately on the schedule as well. This is no surprise at all, especially since I announced on Tuesday that ABC has pulled all promos for Hank that were set to air during the CMA Awards last night. ABC will place repeats of Modern Family in Hank's Wednesdays at 8pm slot starting next week (Nov. 18). Repeats thus far scheduled in the 8pm slot for Modern Family are "The Bicycle Thief" on Nov. 18, "The Incident" on Nov. 25, and "Run for Your Wife" on Dec. 2. Of course Modern Family will be all-new still in its 9pm half-hour on Wednesdays.
As for Hank, the show aired only 5 episodes, and still has 5 more episodes to air. They had a 13 episode order, but ABC has stopped production. They finished taping an episode (#10) this week. Hank joins The Beautiful Life: TBL, Trauma, and Eastwick in freshman series cancelations. Still yet to hear its fates are Brothers and Three Rivers, everything else has been given additional episodes or full seasons. V just started and is doing great in the ratings, but it will only air for 13 weeks this season no matter what.
In other ABC schedule updates, as we mentioned the other day, Find My Family will launch on Monday, Nov. 23 at 9:30pm following the Dancing with the Stars performance finale. It will be a 30-minute preview, as one-hour episodes will air on Mondays at 9pm starting Nov. 30 through and including Dec. 21. Crime drama Castle wasn't originally scheduled to air on Nov. 23 in its 10pm slot, but it will now for the last Monday in November sweeps. Castle will be getting Saturday at 10pm repeats starting Dec. 12 through at least Jan. 9. And finally, Let's Dance will be scheduled on ABC in 2010, either mid-season or in the summer. It is just delayed due to the celebs other commitments during the holidays it couldn't launch Nov. 23.
Stay tuned for mid-season news very soon, as we find out when Lost airs!

Also, the other day we mentioned The CW's Monday plans, now we have actual dates. The CW Network announced it will air all-original episodes of three series - Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and the new drama Life UneXpected – on Monday nights from mid-January through May 2010. The three series will air in a revolving schedule as follows:
The network's new drama series, Life UneXpected, will premiere Monday, January 18 at 9:00 p.m. ET as we mentioned, following the return of original episodes of One Tree Hill that night in the 8:00 p.m. timeslot. OK, we announced this part already the other day, but we now have it confirmed.
Then as we mentioned, Life UneXpected will move to the 8:00 p.m. timeslot, but now we have a date on that, it will be on March 8. Original episodes of the pop-culture sensation Gossip Girl will return on March 8 in its 9:00 p.m. ET time slot.
And finally, on April 19, after Life UneXpected has completed its initial 13-episode run, the Monday-night schedule will finish the broadcast season with One Tree Hill at 8:00 p.m. and Gossip Girl at 9:00 p.m.

TV Land announced that it has picked up the hit original reality model competition She's Got The Look for a third season and is moving the series production to Los Angeles, CA. Premiering in 2010, this season of She's Got The Look sets out to discover a beautiful, sophisticated and confident woman over the age of 35 who has the potential to transform herself into a model representing some of the most high-profile brands and highly-coveted campaigns in the fashion and beauty industry. Emmy Award-Winner Allison Grodner (Big Brother) returns as executive producer and has teamed up with executive producer Rich Meehan (Big Brother) in their first project together under their new banner, Fly On The Wall Entertainment. The show has also renewed partnerships with SELF Magazine and world-renowned modeling agency, Wilhelmina Models, Inc.
If you want to join the show, open casting calls for She's Got The Look begin Sunday, December 6 in Los Angeles, CA. Additionally, there will also be open casting calls in New York, NY on December 12, in Memphis, TN on December 13 and in Columbus, OH on December 15. Thousands of applications have already been received for the third season. For the most current information on casting, log onto TVLandPrime.com.
Stay with us for the premiere date announcement soon!

The CW, ABC Make Pick-Ups, Cancelations, New Premieres; JustMyShow Interviews Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) on Her New Book

The CW has announced it will launch new midseason drama Life UneXpected on Monday, January 18 at 9pm, replacing Gossip Girl for a few weeks. Life UneXpected has a 12 episode order, so it will move to 8pm when Gossip Girl returns (probably in March). It will replace One Tree Hill most likely for a few weeks. Life UneXpected stars Britt Robertson, Kristoffer Polaha, Shiri Appleby, and Kerr Smith. The series was previously titled Parental Discretion Advised. We will have more on The CW's midseason plans soon, stay with us!
As for ABC, they have picked-up 5 additional episodes of the forgotten, bringing the total to 18 episodes for the Tuesday crime drama. That is excellent news for the Christian Slater crime drama. The show has been pretty consistent each week in the ratings, though it still needs to do better. Looks like the forgotten is safe until March at least. 10 episodes are likely to air by December's end. Episode 8 airs next week, as the show is preempted this week for a CMA special called In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts. Episodes 9 and 10 are likely to air the first two weeks of December (Dec. 1 and 8). The news wasn't as good though for ABC's Wednesday night 10pm drama, Eastwick. ABC will not produce any more than 13 episodes, but all 13 will air. 7 episodes have aired thus far and episode 8 isn't scheduled until Nov. 25 due to special programming airing the next two weeks. It is too bad, as the show was pretty good. The only other new series yet to hear its fate is sitcom Hank, but I think it will be pulled very soon and might not even get a chance to air all 13 episodes. It's scheduled to air next on Nov. 18 at 8pm.
And finally, ABC is not going to launch new Kathy Griffin hosted dance show Let's Dance on Nov. 23 at 9:30pm (following the final performance show of Dancing with the Stars) after all. Instead ABC will launch a feel-good reality series from the creator of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The series is Find My Family, as you saw the promo last night on ABC. ABC has a six episode order for the series, while Let's Dance had a five episode order. It is unclear if all six will air in Nov/Dec, but we will keep you posted.
ABC has said they will keep us posted on the rescheduled day and time period for Let's Dance, so it is not totally dead. It's just delayed due to a hard time finding quality celebrities. Personally, I think Find My Family is a better fit for the holidays, as that series follows the stories of people desperate to find a long-lost relative, friend, or lover. If you all remember ABC launched both Extreme Makeover and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as specials in December 2002 and 2003 respectively and got huge ratings before turning them into series. Tim Green and Lisa Joyner host. We will keep you posted on the message boards for complete airing schedule for this series and check back with us also for the rescheduled day and time period for Let's Dance. I'm guessing summer 2010? ABC mid-season 2010 should be announced soon (which includes the launch date for Lost), so stay with us for that!

Our friend Eric of JustMyShow.com is back with a new podcast, that is pretty groovy! It's been called one of the worst shows in the history of TV. Susan Olsen (AKA Cindy Brady) is here to talk to JustMyShow.com about the subject of her new book (Love to Love You Bradys), the short lived Brady Bunch Variety Hour as well as the original series The Brady Bunch you grew up watching. Plus Susan gives us bonus audio on the porn rumors and the radio incident. If you want to hear that "story," you'll have to head on over to JustMyShow.com's Susan Olsen podcast!

ABC, CW and Fox Updates; JustMyShow.com's Podcast with Billy Vera

ABC's sophomore drama Castle and The CW's freshman drama The Vampire Diaries are the latest series to have their initial 13-episode order extended to the full 22 full-season order. Both were not surprises and are doing well in the ratings. Castle is in its second season, but the show only received a 13-episode order for this season after launching with 10 episodes last March.
Also, the CW has ordered more episodes of Melrose Place, ordering five additional episodes instead of the full back nine. The series has really disappointed in the ratings, but they are obviously waiting to see how much of an impact Heather Locklear will have when she joins the show reprising her character Amanda Woodward starting Nov. 17.
Castle and Vampire Diaries join Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Middle, FLASHFORWARD, Glee, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, and The Cleveland Show getting full season orders. The only official cancelation has been The CW drama The Beautiful Life: TBL. Hank, Eastwick, Community, Mercy, Trauma, Brothers, and the forgotten still have not heard their fates yet beyond the original 13 episodes, as well as sophomore drama Dollhouse. I expect a few of those to get picked-up at least. ABC's Hank will be preempted next week (Oct. 28 at 8pm) for the classic special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Meanwhile, Fox has announced some schedule changes. After this Friday, the line-up of sitcom Brothers, 'Til Death, and drama Dollhouse will be pulled for November sweeps. So starting Friday, Oct. 30 repeats of House and Bones takes over the night. Freshman sitcom Brothers will air Sundays at 7pm now with new episodes, while 'Til Death has been benched completely...again. And after just four airings, Dollhouse will be benched, but it will return in December to Fridays airing back-to-back at 8pm & 9pm starting Dec. 4. It is not expected Dollhouse will get more than 13 episodes, so it should be finished for good in January.

Our good buddy Eric from JustMyShow.com is back with an all-new podcast! It shot up the charts after being featured in a few classic episodes of Family Ties, now Billy Vera is at JustMyShow.com to talk about the #1 hit "At This Moment" and much more. Billy Vera wrote and performed that #1 hit, which was featured in a few classic episodes of Family Ties. He talked about music and the song, but also about the show and how it helped it take off. In addition, Eric has a bonus chat with Family Ties producer Michael Weithorn (who went on to co-create The King of Queens) about both the song and the episodes. You can hear a comment or two from him in the show and the rest in the "bonus audio" section. Also in the "bonus audio" section are comments from Billy about The King of Queens and Empty Nest opening themes, both of which he performed.
So, head on over to JustMyShow.com for all of this!

BET Jazz Renames to Centric; The CW and TBS Cancelations

We all know about the name change Viacom is doing for The N turning into TeenNick starting today, but did you know Viacom's BET Jazz is turning into Centric today? BET is rebranding its nearly 32 million subscriber "BET J" network under the Centric title, which will target African-American viewers with music and lifestyle programming. The network for the short-term will rely on acquired reality and music programming fare from its sister networks, including such shows as MTV's Run's House and VH1's The Salt-N-Pepa Show and I Want To Work for Diddy. Centric will also feature new shows originally slated to premiere this fall on BET J, including Leading Men, Lyrical Café and Urban Living. The network will also air classic episodes from the long-running Soul Train syndicated music/dance series, including singer Michael Jackson's first appearance on the show as a member of The Jackson Five. The network will pay homage to the "King of Pop," who died this past June, with a Jackson-themed primetime programming block tonight at 9pm (and encoring Friday at 11am). Also, the network will air the original Fame series to launch the network today from 9am-9pm with an encore on Sunday from 6am-6pm. Episode titles from the 1982 series airing in the block are "The Strike," "A Musical Bridge," "Passing Grade," "Tomorrow's Farewell," "The Crazies," "Teachers," "Class Act," "Feelings," "Star Quality," "Solo Song," "Ending on a High Note," and "Not in Kansas Anymore." I believe this is in honor of the new Fame movie that opened this past weekend. As of now, Centric is not airing this series as a regular.
While the network is officially on the air today, BET and MTV are not planning any major marketing campaigns for Centric until 2010. For the immediate future, Centric will run cross-promotional spots through such MTV Networks properties as VH1, MTV and BET. Hopefully we see some sitcoms on Centric, but it doesn't seem like we will see any...I guess sitcom will be just for BET itself.

The CW has canceled new Wednesday drama The Beautiful Life: TBL after just two airings. TBL was the fall's first cancelation, after draw just over 1 million viewers for its second episode not holding much of anything of the America's Next Top Model lead-in. Starting this Wednesday at 9pm, repeats of Melrose Place, which is not doing much better, will take over the slot. Melrose Place airs original episodes Tuesdays at 9pm.
And finally TBS has canceled multi-camera sitcom The Bill Engvall Show after three seasons. The series moved to Saturdays for its third season and didn't generate much numbers. TBS opted to go with a fourth season of single camera sitcom My Boys instead I guess.

Network TV Fall Preview Specials for 2009; Scooby-Doo Turns 40!

Pretty soon it will be that time of year again...the start of the new TV season. So let's get ready for that with annual network preview specials to inform us on what is new and returning! See our Fall 2008 preview from last year.

First up we will look at ABC. ABC's Fall 2009 preview special has been titled ABC Fall Preview Open House. It will premiere this weekend on local ABC affiliates (NY: WABC Sun Sept. 6 at 2:30pm). It can be aired between September 5-20, 2009 (affiliate exclusive clearance window is September 5-6, then it will air on ABC cable networks after Sept. 6). The fall preview special is about ABC's new Wednesday night comedies and the most talked about new drama this season, Flash Forward. The special will also include material about the two new 10pm dramas: Eastwick and The Forgotten as well as the returning hit drama, Castle. This fall preview special will introduce viewers to character descriptions, storylines and recaps of last season and provide a sneak peek at the new season ahead! ABC: Start here! The special will be available on abc.com soon as well, if you miss it on your local ABC station or an ABC-owned cable network.
The CBS Fall 2009 preview special, simply titled CBS Fall Preview will be a primetime special previewing CBS's new fall lineup, to be hosted by the stars of the hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother, will be broadcast tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 2 from 8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. The special will feature sneak peeks of the five new additions to CBS's primetime schedule this fall: the drama series NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, Three Rivers, and Medium and the comedy series Accidentally on Purpose. Hosts Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders exchange humorous banter throughout the special, which was taped on their series' sets, in the midst of introducing various video previews. They also utilize comical means to drive home the point that How I Met Your Mother is moving to 8:00 PM on Mondays.
The NBC Fall 2009 preview special (titled The NBC Primetime Preview) has aired on their cable owned networks & local NBC affiliates (in NY on WNBC Sun Sept. 6 at 12:30pm) and is also available online on nbc.com, but as of now it will air on NBC itself. Joel McHale, star of the all-new NBC Thursday comedy Community, hosts a special preview of NBC's new upcoming season. The lively 30-minute cavalcade will feature exclusive, behind-the-scenes views to be delivered across a wide gamut of NBC Universal media platforms beginning August 8 through September 27. The program will run an estimated 306 times over broadcast and cable platforms. The annual Fall program will be offered to NBC's 232 television stations (check local listings) as well as other channel entities such as USA, Syfy, Bravo, UniHD, Chiller, mun2, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, Sleuth, NBC2Go, on-demand and broadband (search "NBC Fall Preview" on TVGuide.com). NBC stations can also run it on their websites while NBC.com is also running it as well. In addition, the program will be screened on selected American Airlines flights (estimated to be shown on approximately 11,000 flights). Watch now online.
The Fox Fall 2009 preview special has already started airing on local Fox affiliates (in NY WNYW Sat Sept. 5 at 3pm). It will only run on local Fox affiliates this year and not on Fox in primetime. Actress Jane Lynch hosts a comprehensive look at the upcoming shows on Fox's fall schedule, including returning favorites like House and American Idol, new shows like Brothers, and the highly acclaimed comedy series Glee.
The CW aired its Fall 2009 TV preview special called The CW Fall 2009 Preview Special this past Sunday (Aug. 30) at 6:30pm, but your local CW affiliates (in NY WPIX Sun Sept. 6 at 1pm) are still airing encores this week...so be on the look out (search "CW Fall Preview" on TVGuide.com)! From the set of The CW's new drama, Melrose Place, returning stars Laura Leighton and Thomas Calabro gives viewers a sneak peek into the world of vixens, vampires, models and more. New series featured include Melrose Place, The Vampire Diaries, The Beautiful Life and the midseason drama, Life UneXpected.
In addition, The TV Guide Network will run the Fox and CW primetime fall preview specials starting Sept. 14 at 7:30pm with Fox on Monday and The CW on Tuesday.

Looking quite remarkable for his age in dog-years (approx. 280!), Scooby-Doo will celebrate his 40th Birthday with a two-day Labor Day Weekend marathon on Boomerang. Saturday and Sunday will each feature seven hours of classic Scooby-Doo episodes from two of the earliest animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969) and The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972).
When Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? premiered on broadcast television (CBS) Saturday morning, Sept. 13, 1969, television audiences took their first journey on what would become literally hundreds of mystery-solving comedy capers featuring a teenage gang of amateur detectives and their cowardly, yet beloved great Dane. Today, having recruited generations of fans young and old across the globe, Scooby-Doo will celebrate his milestone 40th birthday over Labor Day Weekend on the commercial-free Boomerang network with two seven-hour marathons, 2-9 p.m. (ET), Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 6, as we mentioned on the Boomerang Fall 2009 schedule.
To commemorate the special event, Scooby and the gang--Freddy, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy--on Saturday will solve 17 classic supernatural mysteries, including their very first from the original premiere episode, "What a Night for a Knight." Then on Sunday, Boomerang will devote another seven-hour marathon, 2-9 p.m., to showcase The New Scooby-Doo Movies, the second series in the Scooby-Doo canon and the only series to feature hour-long episodes. The hallmark of this series is its animated celebrity guests, and during the special presentation, Scooby and the gang meet the casts of other great Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as Josie and the Pussycats and the Harlem Globetrotters.

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.

The CW Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; JustMyShow Interviews Barry Williams, Plus a Saved by the Bell Reunion?

We gave you ABC and Fox's premiere dates, now we have The CW's premiere dates for fall 2009! The CW has set its fall premiere schedule, featuring the debut of three new series, returning series that includes a timeslot flip for the Monday night team of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.
But first, The CW's new schedule begins Tuesday, September 8 with the season premiere of sophomore drama 90210 at 8:00 p.m., followed by the series premiere of the updated version of Melrose Place at 9:00 p.m. Then the next day on Wednesday, September 9, Tyra Banks returns with a two-hour premiere of the new season of America's Next Top Model from 8:00-10:00 p.m. The regular Wednesday night lineup begins the following week on September 16 with America's Next Top Model in the 8:00 p.m. hour, followed by the series premiere of the glamorous new drama The Beautiful Life: TBL in the 9:00 p.m. hour. On Thursday, September 10, the new lineup features the premiere of The Vampire Diaries at 8:00 p.m. and the return of fan favorite Supernatural in its normal 9:00 p.m. slot.
The following week, on Monday, September 14, the Monday destination for young women returns with a new twist: One Tree Hill will take over the 8:00 p.m. timeslot, while Gossip Girl moves to the 9:00 p.m. slot, in a switcharoo! To get ready for this, The CW will begin this change this summer starting Monday, July 6.
All of The CW's premieres are before the actual premiere week (Sept. 21-27) except for Smallville. Smallville relocates to its new home on Friday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m. Smallville will be followed by encore episodes of America's Next Top Model at 9:00 p.m. On Fridays, Sept. 11 and 18 will be encores of various dramas. And talk show The Tyra Banks Show will air weekdays on The CW Daytime airing weekdays from 3-5pm with a new episode and a classic episode (though by 2010-2011 season it will only air 3-4pm).
The midseason premiere date for the drama Life UneXpected, which was formerly titled Parental Discretion Advised, will be announced at a later date.
View the press release and discuss these premiere dates.

The one and only Greg Brady himself, Barry Williams is the next guest for the popular web podcast show JustMyShow.com. Yes, our friend Eric (who also writes for Barry on The Greg Brady Project!) is back with an all-new podcast! Barry Williams is known to TV fans of all ages as Greg Brady from the classic ABC series The Brady Bunch. His other TV credits include guest appearances on Mission: Impossible, General Hospital and Three's Company. Williams is the author of the best seller Growing Up Brady and continues to write in his blog, The Greg Brady Project. We also have bonus clips with Barry talking about Adam Brody, Allan Melvin, Brady Bunch Fan Michelle Obama, Brady Props, and The Greg Brady Project.
Plus, there is a full report on Zack Morris' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance and other headlines in this week's "New News About Old Stuff!" If you didn't know Mark-Paul Gosselaar was recently on Fallon's show all dressed up like and in character as his Saved by the Bell character Zach Morris. Fallon is trying to reunite the entire cast for a reunion, and he just about as booked everyone. Watch the other Saved by the Bell reunion updates Fallon did. It's all right, cause I'm Saved by the Bell!

The CW Upfront 2009-10: Fall 2009 Schedule; WGN, Hallmark Schedule Changes, Sci Fi's Land of the Lost Marathons

The CW 2009-10

Fall 2009

Mondays
8:00PM Gossip Girl
9:00PM One Tree Hill

Tuesdays
8:00PM 90210
9:00PM Melrose Place (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM The Beautiful Life (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Vampire Diaries (NEW!)
9:00PM Supernatural

Fridays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM America's Top Model Encore

Mid-Season:
New series Parental Discretion Advised (AKA Light Years) has been picked-up.

Discuss The CW's 2009-10 line-up and also you can view complete program information.


WGN America is going Newhart crazy! This coming Sunday they will air all Newhart during the weekly Outta Sight Retro Night! The Cubs and Padres baseball game is from 4-7pm ET, but immediately following the game, watch a Newhart marathon from 7pm-10pm ET and from 11pm-2am ET! Before the game there is also a Newhart episode at 3pm ET, leading into the game. And that's not all for Newhart! The series will now air for two-hours every Sunday night from 8-10pm ET, so it will replace The Honeymooners in the 9pm ET hour. But The Honeymooners will move to the 1am hour replacing Beverly Hillbillies (but that airs weekday mornings anyway).

And if that's not urgent enough for you, Hallmark Channel is making a last minute schedule change that starts TODAY! We told you that they made changes starting this past Monday (May 21), and now they are already changing that schedule change. I Love Lucy replaced back-to-back Matlock from 3-5pm, and now starting today, Lucy will be replaced from 3-5pm with Little House on the Prairie. But Lucy fans don't fret, because I Love Lucy will actually benefit and air an hour more now, airing 11am-2pm replacing an episode each of Little House, Touched by an Angel and 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven remains at 2pm though. Earlier in the morning, Golden Girls gets extended and adds the 10am hour, replacing Little House. It evens out because in the 7pm hour now will be an extension of M*A*S*H, replacing an hour of Golden Girls.
That's just weekdays, now we have weekend changes, too! Saturdays from 6-9am will now be three episodes of Little House on the Prairie replacing three-hours of Golden Girls. Also, we get more Lucy as I Love Lucy will air late nights from 1am-3am replacing back-to-back Murder, She Wrote. Sundays is basically the same changes, 8am-11am will be Little House replacing two-hours of Golden Girls and an episode of 7th Heaven. An finally like on Saturday nights, two-hours of Lucy closes the night from 1-3am replacing Murder, She Wrote.
So, Touched by an Angel is off the schedule it seems for now, joining Walker Texas Ranger and Matlock on the bench. Weekdays from 8am-8pm is now filled with three-hour blocks of different shows: Golden Girls, I Love Lucy, Family Dramas (7th Heaven/Little House), and M*A*S*H (which is actually 4 hours). View the full changes and the full schedule if you get confused. Remember this starts TODAY!

Finally, we close the day with some Sci Fi Channel news. The movie version of Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell is coming out Friday, June 5, but before that comes out...Sci Fi Channel will air a marathon of the classic '70s NBC series on Memorial Day and two other days! On Monday, May 25 from 8am-4am it's all Land of the Lost, all day! Get your Cha-Ka on! Then the following week as we get ready for movie version, watch more classic episodes on Thursday, June 4 and Friday, June 5 from 8am-6pm on both days.
I was hoping someone would also air the '90s ABC version since the big screen movie is coming out. Yes, it was cheesy, but still good. Good show for ABC Saturday mornings and very rare these days as it hasn't been on television in a while (last seen on Nickelodeon).

Upfront Rumblings; Blog DVD Review: Freakazoid! - Season 2

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Saturday blog DVD review for an update on the network upfronts. This is probably the busiest TV weekend of the year--the weekend before the network upfronts start. Latest buzz on scripted series:

ABC:
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: Flash Forward, Happy Town, The Associates (David Hemingson Project), Eastwick, The Forgotten, V. (all confirmed)
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Middle, Awesome Hank. (all confirmed)
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Inside the Box
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Romantically Challenged, The Law
No Shot: Canned, No Heroics, Limelight, See Kate Run
Bubble Current Series Renewals: Castle, Better Off Ted, Samantha Who, Scrubs (all pretty much confirmed)
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Surviving Suburbia, The Unusuals
Comments: ABC is going full frontal on comedy it seems. Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Samantha Who? are all returning, with just the latter not really official yet, but it has a great shot since repeats are going to air Fridays at 9pm starting June 5. Sam and Scrubs could be in a format change too, from single camera to a mix of single/multicamera. And ABC has already ordered new comedy Modern Family last week and Cougar Town was ordered last night. Unofficially it is also ordered The Middle & Awesome Hank last night and possibly Romantically Challenged & The Law will be ordered on the day of the upfront for midseason. My moles tell me it will happen. Lots of comedy!! That's what we like here at SitcomsOnline. Now of course all of these comedies are not for the fall. Some will be held for midseason for sure.
New drama wise, ABC is very high on Flash Forward, and on-air promos are already airing. ABC unofficially set series orders for Happy Town, Eastwick, The Forgotten, The Associates and V. V could be used for mid-season as a 6-hour event (good counter-programming vs. the Winter Olympics maybe?) and The Associates is also likely midseason. Inside the Box also still has a good shot of coming to ABC for fall or midseason, but has not been ordered just yet. Current drama wise, Castle was renewed for a second season. That was the only drama that had a real shot that was not renewed yet. Reality wise, ABC has ordered a season second of True Beauty, likely for midseason with The Bachelor.

CBS:
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: NCIS: Legend (wt), The Good Wife.
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: Accidentally on Purpose, Waiting to Die
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Three Rivers, Washington Field
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Happiness Isn't Everything
No Shot: A Marriage, Big D, The Karenskys
Possible On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: The Unit, Flashpoint, Old Christine, Cold Case, Rules of Engagement, Gary Unmarried, Without a Trace
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Eleventh Hour
Comments: CBS is tight-lipped. No official pick-ups at all. Just the buzz is that NCIS spin-of and The Good Wife are locks to being picked-up drama wise., with Three Rivers, Miami Trauma, and Washington Field also in the running. But usually with CBS something comes out of left field on the day of the upfront. Comedy wise, it's the same thing as dramas, no official pick-ups, but Accidentally on Purpose and Waiting to Die are heating up in buzz with Happiness Isn't Everything also on the radar. As for current series that were not renewed yet, only Ghost Whisperer got officially renewed, as there was word it could have been moved to ABC since CBS didn't want to pay full license fees. Cold Case, Gary Unmarried, Flashpoint, Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, The Unit, and Without a Trace are still not picked-up. What will make the cut? I don't think all of these will make it. Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, Survivor and Two and a Half Men have no worries along with Ghost Whisperer since they were officially renewed, and CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, The Mentalist, NCIS, NUMB3RS are locks for a pick-up of course. Everything else is gone including Eleventh Hour.

NBC:
Picked-Up Dramas: Trauma, Parenthood, Day One, Mercy. (all confirmed)
Picked-Up Sitcoms: Community, 100 Questions. (all confirmed)
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Off Duty
No Shot: Adler/Hurwitz Project, Legally Mad, Lost & Found
Bubble Current Series Renewals: Chuck, Law & Order, Medium
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: My Name is Earl
Comments: NBC's pick-ups came at infront on May 4, so we have nothing new to report really. It's just the on the bubble current series we still need to know. It is looking good for Chuck, Medium, and Law & Order but My Name is Earl looks like will be canceled. Medium is being reported it was renewed, but that is unofficial. Can we expect another new series or two to be picked-up on Tuesday when NBC announced the schedule? Yes, but the only other option really is off-beat comedy Off Duty, since NBC passed on the other pilots. The only thing we really need to see for NBC is a schedule and the one I predicted could very well be something similar.

FOX:
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: Human Target, Glee, Past Life. (all confirmed)
Picked-Up/Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: Brothers, Sons of Tucson, The Cleveland Show. (all confirmed)
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Maggie Hill
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: None
No Shot: Absolutely Fabulous, $2 Beer, Eva Adams
On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Dollhouse
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Comments: Fox is also pretty much set in terms of new series pick-ups. For dramas, they will launch Glee this Tuesday for a sneak peek, and have picked-up Human Target and Past Life.
Maggie Hill is probably the only other drama that could see a pick-up on the day of the upfront. Comedy wise, Fox is actually picking-up two live-action comedies, but they could be held for midseason. Brothers and Sons of Tucson are the comedies, they join animated comedy The Cleveland Show which will for sure be in the fall on Sunday nights. No other new comedies will be picked-up. Fox also has a few seasons of 'Til Death they could use at some point. In a surprise move, Fox renewed Dollhouse for 13 episodes and it will likely remain on Fridays this fall. The series has terrible ratings, so I don't understand this move. Dollhouse's pick-up means death for Sarah Connor Chronicles. And Fox has thrown us a wildcard. They have picked-up a fall version of So You Think You Can Dance. It will likely launch after the World Series, I would guess, as Hell's Kitchen's summer version will spill into the fall. It's just an actual schedule for Fox we need now. Fox also ordered reality series Someone's Gotta Go for next season, not sure if it is fall or midseason.

The CW:
Close to Being Picked-Up Dramas: Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries
Close to Being Picked-Up Sitcoms: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: The Beautiful Life, The Body Politic, Gossip Girl: Lily
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: None.
No Shot: Perhaps Light Years
Possible On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Privileged, The Game
Possible Current Series Canceled That Had a Chance: Everybody Hates Chris, Reaper
Comments: The CW is the last network to go at upfront, so they have not announced official pick-ups just yet. Melrose Place and Vampire Diaries are a lock it seems for fall. With Beautiful Life, Body Politic, and Lily battling for mid-season or a third slot in the fall. On the bubble current shows Privileged and The Game are also battling for a slot. What won't make the cut? I think The Game looks like the odd show out. Lily also could be out, but they should order 6 episodes only just in case they need it come midseason. Still too early for The CW, should know more during the week.

Check back periodically as we get more updates all-weekend long! I don't sleep during upfronts week!

Join us all next week (May 18-21) bright and early for the fall schedules. I assure you we will be among the first ones to post the fall line-ups for each network. Fox will be first on Monday, it'll be interesting how they schedule shows now that So You Think You Can Dance is coming in the fall as well.


And now back to our regularly scheduled blog programming:

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we have we take a look at Warner Home Video's animated series Freakazoid! - Season 2. Freakazoid! was an animated series on Kids' WB. See Seth Thrasher's Blog DVD review of Freakazoid! - Season 2:

Freakazoid! - Season 2 (Warner, $26.98) is on DVD for the first time, and you'd have to be crazy not to buy it! Contained in this amazing bundle of plastics and fibers and metals that makes up this DVD set are the final eleven episodes of one of the craziest, and funniest, and most overall enjoyable cartoons I've ever had the pleasure to view. And, as one of the twelve people known to have watched the show when it originally aired in The WB's Saturday morning cartoon block in the mid-90s, I can speak with great aplomb as to what a quality show you're getting with your money.
The season starts off with a bang, with Dexter actually managing to get a date with Steff, only to have the Lobe interfere and potentially blow it. The fun with Freakazoid & the Lobe continues into his next adventure on the next show, when it's Freakazoid's birthday -- which, per the Superhero Codebook, means *he* has to do favors for the others. This sets up a scenario in which every last other superhero is out of town, and Lobe has a plan. The crazy hits keep coming all season, with Freakazoid getting bogged down at a sci-fi convention, Steff getting turned to stone, and so much more madness. In the amazing series finale, Lobe figures out how to destroy Freakazoid once and for all -- but to do so he needs to build his evil device out of wood. Having no talent, he kidnaps master carpenter Norm Abram (This Old House), who voices himself in the strangest cartoon guest appearance ever. Knowing this is the end, the show goes out with a bang making for an enjoyable 22 minutes in one of the most enjoyable series ever. Really, though, how can you go wrong with a cartoon that had recurring voice actors like Ed Asner and Ricardo Montalban -- not to mention the best host in late night TV, Craig Ferguson. Also appearing this season in a guest spot is Leonard Maltin.
Since it's not yet possible to stream these episodes directly into your brain, there must well be packaging that the episodes arrive on. And oh, what wonderful packaging it is. Millions of carbon and hydrogen atoms bonded together just for the benefit of this amazing *HARD plastic!* case. Their sacrifice makes it possible for you to effectively store your DVD set on a shelf near you. The artwork features a giant picture of America's 7th favorite blue skinned superhero pointing to himself and smiling. I'd be happy too if *I* had superpowers so it'd be quite a disappointment to find him unhappy. Background of the artwork is green and features a computer chip-like design, heavily stylized for the purposes of cartoons. Rear cover features more green fun, only this time...Freakazoid has a jetpack! Disc art features more green, with Freakazoid doing a little flexing on disc 1, with Lobe doing some flexing of his own on disc 2. Interior package art features the disc one information, Freakazoid, and Fan Boy on the left panel, with all the villains hiding behind the 2nd disc (the one with Lobe on it).
With a cartoon from the mid-1990s, you're unfortunately not going to get 3D stereovision with 17.2 panaural sound...partially because I just made both things up. What you do get is an animated picture mostly free of defects. I did detect some compression artifacts around the lines on the picture, but I was sitting two feet from a 32" HDTV when doing so. For normal use you're probably not going to notice anything amiss. More importantly, you get 5.1 surround sound. Because of the wonderful musical accompaniment that comes with mid 1990s Warner cartoons, the 5.1 surround sound is wonderfully appreciated, and during a few scenes in the cartoon is enough to make you melt. The chapter stops stop chapters. More importantly than that, they're located after the episode's opening titles, as well as after each act -- where commercial breaks would normally be placed.
When we say special features, we're not implying these features should be riding the short bus, it means that they're a bonus, above and beyond the call of DVD duty. First up is "A Full Season's Worth of Commentaries (in Five Minutes or Less)"and features the creative minds behind the show talking about the season, what went into it, and all the other sorts of things you'd expect. Ideally it would have been nice to do actual commentaries, but pressed for time this is certainly better than a kick in the pants. There's also the demo version of the music to the Hello, Dolly parody Bonjour Lobey -- it's good stuff worth a listen. The true highlight is probably the final feature (say that 81,931 times fast) -- a look into the making of the show's final episode. The feature runs nearly the length of a full episode, and taking a similar tone as the series explores the workings of the last episode.
Let's be serious for a minute. For the basis of pure enjoyment, season one is honestly the better of the two in my opinion. The episodes are just...funnier. But season two is still better than the vast, vast majority of cartoons. Since this set is already out, hopefully you already own it. If you don't already own it, then hopefully you started the order process while reading this review -- I know you can multi-task, come on. If not, you should probably do so now. The review will still be here when you get back. There is probably even a link to buy it below. Needless to say, I recommend this set.

-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
(4.5/5 stars)

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

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Freakazoid! TV.com Page

SitcomsOnline.com 2009-10 Upfront Preview: The CW; ION and TV Land Start 'Whisperer' and 'Roseanne' Early

The CW is dropping Sundays this fall, so they will only program Mon-Fri. With only 10 hours a week of programming, space is limited. And to make things worse, they have 0 sitcom pilots in development, so all of their new series pick-ups will be dramas.
Here is the SitcomsOnline.com The CW 2009-10 preview:

New Series Already Picked-Up: None.
New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: Melrose Place (drama), The Beautiful Life (drama), and Vampire Diaries (drama).
New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: Body Politics (drama) and Gossip Girl: Lily (drama).

OUR FALL 2009 PREDICTION:

Mondays
8:00PM Gossip Girl
9:00PM Vampire Diaries (NEW!)

Tuesdays
8:00PM 90210
9:00PM Melrose Place (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM The Beautiful Life (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM Supernatural

Fridays
8:00PM The Game OR One Tree Hill
9:00PM One Tree Hill OR Privileged

Comments: The CW needs help and they need to improve ratings. With zero comedy, they are not a balanced network and have similar types of shows. For Mondays, Gossip Girl will likely continue to be leading off Mondays and they can try new drama Vampire Diaries at 9pm, as One Tree Hill can help another night. This block needs to do more than 3 million. Tuesdays should have the classic remake with 90210 and now Melrose Place. Melrose needs to do much better than 90210, which hasn't done too well, especially this spring. Wednesday will of course have America's Next Top Model followed possibly by a drama that is focused on models called The Beautiful Life, a new series from Ashton Kutcher. That could be the fit The CW was looking for, instead of wasting the timeslot with repeats of 90210. Thursday is The CW's best night I think...with Smallville and Supernatural, nothing needs to change here. Fridays will have to change, though. They need to be more aggressive. The CW could redevelop sitcom The Game into a one-hour comedy, as they have mulled the idea. I think they should go for that and it would be a nice way to start off the night. At 9pm instead of the Top Model repeats, how about being more aggressive and airing One Tree Hill? I'm not sure if that goes well with The Game, but nothing on the schedule with The Game goes with it but Top Model. The CW is not likely to bring back Everybody Hates Chris for a fifth season. Look for that in syndication next fall with repeats on Nick at Nite and BET. Reaper is the only other on the bubble show with a shot, but I don't see it returning. It is said ABC Studios is shopping the series for first-run syndication, and perhaps it would air on CW stations on Sundays with new episodes, since affiliates are now going to program Sundays this fall. A long shot of happening, though. People keep saying Privileged has a shot...why? With those terrible numbers it had, it has no shot I think unless Fridays is an option instead of The Game. Which come to think of it, that makes sense and could go well with One Tree Hill.
For midseason, they should for sure pick-up The Body Politic. It sounds actually good and has a nice cast including Gabrielle Union, Tim Matheson, Jay Hernandez, and Brian Austin Green. It is said the Gossip Girl spinoff called Lily starring the gorgeous Brittany Snow is being passed, but I think they will need it come midseason, so they should order 6 episodes. If not, they will order another drama like Light Years to fill the void.
You can say goodbye to the following shows Stylista, Reaper, Privileged, Everybody Hates Chris, 13: Fear is Real, 4Real, Easy Money, In Harm's Way, Valentine.
The CW needs help for sure, I think they should start each weeknight with a proven show (Gossip Girl, 90210, Top Model, Smallville, The Game/One Tree Hill). It baffles me why they had no sitcoms in development. Too many dramas that are centered for female teenagers is too much.
Discuss your thoughts on our prediction and feel free to make suggestions of your own.

Remember, next Thursday (May 21) is the actual date when we will find out The CW's plans for the 2000-10 season. So, come on back next Thursday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned on Saturday for our annual "weekend before upfronts rumbling."
And as a reminder, stay tuned next week for all the final schedules released by all the networks! We will put them up as soon as they are released by the networks, so this will be your home to see them first!


We have some schedule news! First, ION Television will launch Ghost Whisperer in June! It was slated to begin in the fall, but will start earlier than expected. The show will air Mondays at 8pm starting Monday, June 1, 2009. It will replace two Reba episodes. Reba will continue to air weeknights in the 7pm hour and at times in the 8pm hour Wed-Fri, depending on the movies. For fans of Ghost Whisperer, or if you want to watch the show for the first time, the first five episodes will air in June (June 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29). So this is an update to the ION Television June 2009 schedule we previously announced.
Ghost Whisperer will lead into two episodes of NCIS at 9 and 10pm on Monday nights.

Elsewhere, TV Land made a very last minute schedule change YESTERDAY that was in effect immediately! Some of you probably saw Roseanne airing from 9-10pm and 12-1am, airing between The Cougar. Roseanne was not set to launch on TV Land until June 5, so it started on May 13--three weeks earlier than planned. Roseanne will leave Nick at Nite effective immediately because of the change. It was only airing late nights on weekends anyway. Family Matters takes over the Roseanne slots on Nick at Nite. View the updated Nick at Nite May 2009 schedule.
Back to TV Land, we also told you before that a second Married...with Children marathon was set for Thursday, May 14 (tonight) from 10pm-1am, and now TV Land has made that a weekly thing. So look for The Bundys every Thursday night in TV Land PRIME. Also, starting tomorrow the 6pm weekday hour will now be The Beverly Hillbillies, replacing Hogan's Heroes and Green Acres, which are leaving a few weeks earlier than planned. In the 7pm hour will be The Andy Griffith Show, as that show will air 7-9pm now. Though on Mondays it will still air its 7pm-12am marathons. Roseanne will air Tues-Fri in the 9pm hour and 12-1:30am on most nights. On Fridays, Roseanne will air from 9pm-2:30am, which means the TV Land PRIME Movie is gone. Will it remain in June? That still remains to be seen.
On weekends, Roseanne is airing 1am-4am on Saturday nights and 1-3am on Sunday nights. Hogan's Heroes gets a half hour airing a week now, airing Sundays at 10am. The Cosby Show seems to be airing with Roseanne a lot, and gains the 11pm-1am slot on Saturday nights. And Three's Company moves from 1am-4am to 4am-6am on Saturday nights. Looks like 3rd Rock from the Sun is totally gone on this schedule!
View the FULL new schedule that is in place now! Couple of points, TV Land will be going "off the clock" starting tomorrow...so the timings of shows will be way off. Just giving you a heads up, if you're taping something. And we're not sure what this means for June, as we already announced a schedule for that. As of now, these new changes are through the end of May. We will update you on any updates to the TV Land June schedule as soon as we get it. Stay tuned!

Come on back tomorrow for news on a sitcom coming to Lifetime in June!

CW Sunday to Cease in the Fall; Spike/Comedy Central Acquires Entourage Reruns; Remembering Dom DeLuise

The CW network is reducing its programing to five nights a week starting this fall. It will return Sunday nights to its affiliated local stations to program as they choose, just like they do on Saturdays. The CW programmed Sundays from 5pm-10pm, and now they will go back to local affiliates to program starting this fall.
The CW will now focus on Monday through Fridays. The CW has not had any success on Sundays since its inception. This past fall, The CW attempted another solution, allowing Media Rights Capital (MRC) to provide Sunday's primetime lineup and help with ad sales, but the programming, which included Easy Money and Valentine, flopped. Currently, Sunday nights have been filled with reruns of CBS' canceled series Jericho and theatrical movies.

Spike TV has acquired all 78 produced episodes, the upcoming sixth season as well as rights to future seasons of the show for about $600,000 an episode. The Hollywood-centered comedy about young actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his posse will launch on Spike in January, after the show's sixth season wraps on HBO. Spike also has the right to carve a window for a second network, which likely will be sister cabler Comedy Central. This is Spike's second acquisition of an HBO program in the past month. The basic cable channel also picked up HBO's Emmy-winning miniseries Band of Brothers for a premiere in the third quarter.



Prolific actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author Dom DeLuise died peacefully surrounded by his wife and three sons on Monday evening at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. He was 75. The cause of death was not released by the family. He had been hospitalized and was suffering from kidney failure and respiratory problems following a long battle with cancer.

Deluise appeared in many movies and TV shows, Broadway plays and provided his voice to characters for numerous animated features in a career that spanned over 45 years. Mel Brooks cast him in many of his movies, including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World Part I, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Spaceballs as the voice of Pizza the Hutt. In the 1970s and 1980s, he frequently co-starred with Burt Reynolds in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He lent his voice to animated features such as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven and Oliver & Company. He was a frequent guest on game shows and hosted Candid Camera from 1991-1992.

His early sitcom appearances included The Munsters, Please Don't Eat the Daisies and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. In 1973, he starred in the short-lived Lotsa Luck as bachelor Stanley Belmont who was the custodian of a New York City bus company's lost-and-found department. The cast included Kathleen Freeman, Wynn Irwin, Beverly Sanders and Jack Knight. In 1987-1988, he starred in the first-run syndication sitcom The Dom DeLuise Show with George Wallace, Maureen Murphy, Angela Aames and Michael Chambers. He appeared with his sons--Peter, Michael and David DeLuise--in a 1997 episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun. They had previously appeared together in a 1994 episode of seaQuest DSV.

In later years he began a second career as a popular chef and cookbook author. He always had a love of food and authored 1988's Eat This — It Will Make You Feel Better! and 1997's Eat This Too! It'll Also Make You Feel Good. He also wrote seven books for children, including 1993's Charlie the Caterpillar. In recent years he was a regular contributor to a syndicated home improvement radio show, On The House with The Carey Brothers, giving listeners tips on culinary topics.

DeLuise is survived by his wife and actress Carol Arthur, actor sons Peter, Michael and David, his sister, Anne, and grandchildren Riley, Dylan and Jake. Donations can be made to his favorite charities: The Elixir Fund, The Lily Sanctuary, The Hydrocephalus Foundation, Inc. and The Pearl S. Buck Foundation. You can read more information on his official site. We will miss his warm smile and always remember the times he has made us laugh. Mr. DeLuise was 75. You can post your memories here.

CBS Schedules Wednesday Rules of Engagement Airing; The CW's Two Summer Series

Yesterday we gave you updates on ABC, NBC, and Fox, so we just have to give some updates for you on CBS and The CW, right? CBS has announced that it will air the sitcom Rules of Engagement on a special night and time on Wednesday, April 29 at 8:00pm ET/PT. That will bump the regularly scheduled episode of Old Christine to 8:30pm, preempting Gary Unmarried all together for the night. May sweeps starts on April 23, so these episodes will be all-new. In fact, Rules of Engagement will be all-new also on its regular night and time that week (Monday, April 27 at 9:30pm).
So why is CBS doing this? It could be a test to see if Rules of Engagement can anchor an hour on its own and to see if it works with Old Christine. Or it could be because they are just lining episodes up so all episodes of the sitcoms, all fit in. Old Christine has a 22 episode order, while Gary Unmarried has 20...so both will now be in sync to have their season finales on May 13, but we are not sure how many Rules of Engagement episodes they have ordered. 12 are scheduled from what we can see, so possibly only 12, with the season finale on May 18. OR if they have 13 episodes, they could schedule the season finale on the last night of the season on Wednesday, May 20 at 8pm (since the Wednesday comedies will finish the week before)? We shall see.

The CW announced today that it will launch two original series for the summer: the reality relationship series Hitched or Ditched and the docu-series set in Washington, D.C., Blonde Charity Mafia. Hitched or Ditched premieres Tuesday, May 26 from 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, following the season finale of Reaper from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET. Encore presentations will air Wednesdays from9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, beginning May 27. The six-episode run will continue until the season finale on Tuesday, June 30. The series is a one-hour reality show focusing on couples who are in long-term relationships but have not yet taken that big leap into marriage. The show is produced by RDF USA in association with Next Entertainment. The executive producers are Mike Fleiss, Chris Coelen, Greg Goldman, Mike Duffy and Jason Ehrlich. Mike Fleiss is having series left and right. The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, High School Reunion, and the upcoming The Cougar for TV Land and More to Love for Fox. So Fleiss this summer will have The Bachelorette on ABC Mondays from end of May to mid-July, Hitched or Ditched on The CW Tuesdays from end of May to end of June, More to Love on Fox Tuesdays starting at the end of July, and The Cougar on TV Land Wednesdays from mid-April to early June. Wow that is a lot of shows and The Bachelor's latest season just ended in early March and High School Reunion's latest season is about to end this week!
The half-hour episodes of Blonde Charity Mafia will premiere with two back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, July 7 from 9:00-9:30 and 9:30-10:00 p.m. ET. Beginning July 14, an encore of the previous week's episode will air at 9:00 p.m., followed by an original episode at 9:30 p.m. The six episodes will conclude with a season finale on Tuesday, August 4. The series is a docu-series about the lives of Washington, D.C.'s most influential 20-something Alpha Girls. The series is from Capital Hills Productions, Inc. with executive producers Patty Ivins and Julie Pizzi.

ION To Add Two Canadian Dramas; The CW Picks Up 6 Returning Series for 2009-2010 Season

ION Television announced the acquisition of two new one-hour original dramatic series, The Border and The Guard, each making their U.S. debuts on ION later this year.
ION Television has signed a deal with Fireworks International, the television and digital programming distribution arm of ContentFilm, to secure the exclusive U.S. original broadcast rights for The Border, the award-winning procedural crime drama series. The Border follows members of the elite Canadian Immigration and Customs Security Unit working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to secure the border on both sides of the line.
ION Television, in a separate deal with Lionsgate, also secured the exclusive U.S. original broadcast rights for The Guard, an original action-drama series focusing on the members of a Coastguard Search and Rescue team. ION also has all U.S. television, digital media rights, Internet streaming and video-on-demand rights for both shows.
The Border, which garnered two prestigious Gemini Awards with ten nominations, including Best Dramatic Series, is a hard-driving crime drama featuring strong, topical stories from terrorist threats and drug smuggling, to trafficking in illegal organs and underage brides, to corporate and international espionage -- and brings a cool lens to the grit of urban life. Stars include James McGowan, Sofia Milos, Grace Park, Graham Abbey, Mark Wilson, Jim Codrington, Jonas Chernick, Nazneen Contractor and Catherine Disher.
The Guard, produced by Halifax Film and Brightlight Pictures Inc., is shot in the scenic wilderness of Squamish, British Columbia. A character-driven ensemble series, it focuses on the lives of four imperfect, offbeat and sometimes difficult, but heroic Canadian Coast Guard Rescue specialists who face danger daily out on the Pacific Ocean, saving lives as they search for meaning in their own. This gripping, high-action drama series stars Steve Bacic as Duty Captain Miro Da Silva, Jeremy Guilbaut as Rescue Specialist Andrew Vanderlee and Sonya Salomaa as First Mate Laura Nelson. David James Elliot (JAG, Closer to Home) also guest stars in the recurring role of David Nelson.
ION Television also as previously announced will have the original series Durham County coming later this year. Not to mention reruns of the popular crime series Criminal Minds coming in the fall. Is ION going after the CBS audience with three original series and many off-network crime dramas?

The CW announced early pickups of six series, including five of the network's signature dramas and the reality hit America's Next Top Model, which will all return in Fall 2009. The series receiving early pickups for next season are The CW's Monday tandem of sophomore sensation Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, which combined to lift The CW to become the fall's #1 network on Monday with women 18-34. Both Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill have scored double-digit gains compared to their previous seasons. Freshman hit 90210 has improved the network's Tuesday night by double-digit increases in key demos. Wednesday anchor America's Next Top Model, which consistently wins its time period with young women, will also be back with superstar Tyra Banks and new groups of aspiring models for cycles 13 and 14.
Also renewed were the network's established Thursday team of Smallville, which will be going into its ninth season, and Supernatural, which after posting ratings growth this season, will enter its fifth season next year.
The jury is still out on series such as Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, Privileged, and Reaper. More pickups won't be announced most likely until the May upfront.

TV Land and ION Schedule Special Brady, M*A*S*H Marathons; CW, ABC Family Announcements

TV Land has scheduled a marathon of The Brady Bunch on President's Day (Monday, Feb. 16) from 10am-2pm ET/PT. Who needs George Washington and Abraham Lincoln when you have Marcia Brady! Watch episodes such as Greg and Marcia both running for student body president. The hiding of the school goat and a hair tonic turns Greg's hair orange. View the episodes airing in this special marathon.
ION Television has pulled the movie The Diplomat for this Sunday (Sunday, Feb. 8), and replaced it with a special M*A*S*H block from 7-11pm ET/PT instead. M*A*S*H will also air in its regular 6-7pm airings on this date as well, so it is an all M*A*S*H night on ION from 6-11pm. Among the episodes airing is the two-part episode "Our Finest Hour," when newscaster Clete Roberts, reprising an earlier interview appearance, returns to update Korean War conditions when he conducts a series of television interviews with the leading characters of the 4077th. View the full schedule for this date.

The CW is making a few changes to its midseason schedule. Beginning Tuesday, March 3, freshman drama 90210 moves to a new timeslot on Tuesday nights, with encore episodes through March 24. The series will move up an hour to 9:00pm ET/PT from 8pm ET/PT. Then eight consecutive original episodes will air from March 31 through the season finale on May 19. Since 90210 is moving to 9pm, the second-season premiere date of the devilish dramedy Reaper moves up to Tuesday, March 3 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET). All 13 original episodes will air consecutively through the season finale on May 26.
Finally, the season finale of the critically acclaimed freshman drama Privileged will air on Tuesday, February 24 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. Encore episodes of Privileged will continue to air on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT from January 28 through February 18. Then the new season of America's Next Top Model will premiere on Wednesday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

ABC Family announced the pick-up of three pilots: the one-hour scripted drama Perfect 10, the single camera half-hour 10 things I Hate About You, based on the 1999 hit film, and the multi-camera half-hour Ruby and The Rockits. Each has been given a 10-episode order.
In addition, original series Greek and Lincoln Heights will return in summer 2009 for a third and fourth season respectively. However, Kyle XY will NOT return for a fourth season and the show will end its run in March. The network also has two original movies, Au Pair 3 Adventure in Paradise, (as we mentioned in our March highlights) starring Gregory Harrison and Heidi Saban, and another as-yet-titled original movie starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence, both to debut in early 2009.
Perfect 10, is a one-hour scripted drama, created and written by Holly Sorensen, who also serves as executive producer. The pilot was directed by Steve Miner. Set in the world of competitive gymnastics, Perfect 10 follows a group of teen Olympic hopefuls as they train and prepare for their day in the spotlight. The cast includes Chelsea Hobbs as gymnastic newcomer 'Emily Kmetko,' Ayla Kell as top gymnast 'Payson Keeler,' Josie Loren as the beautiful gymnast 'Kaylie Cruz,' and Zachary Burr Abel as the gym's resident hottie, 'Carter Anderson.' Peri Gilpin returns to series television in the role of 'Kim Keeler,' the mother of one of the female gymnasts.
10 Things I Hate About You is a half-hour, single-cam series with director Gil Junger (who also directed the 1996 feature film) and executive producer and writer Carter Covington. Based on the hit movie, the Stratford sisters, Bianca (Meaghan Jette Martin) and Kat (Lindsey Shaw), are two very different people, which is evident as they start at their new high school with very contradictory goals. Kat is a strong-willed, in-your-face feminist who is looking to save the world and get out of high school as fast as she can. Bianca is a social butterfly whose only concern is that she is popular, at any cost. As they both start a bumpy year at Padua High, can each girl get what she wants in the end, as they navigate the popular crowd, boys and their over-protective Dad? The original series will also star Larry Miller, who reprises his film role as the girls' father, and Ethan Peck (grandson of Gregory Peck) has been cast in the role of 'Patrick" (portrayed by Heath Ledger in the film).
Ruby and The Rockits is an ABC Studios half-hour multi-cam comedy series executive-produced by Shaun Cassidy and Marsh McCall. Ruby and The Rockits follows Patrick Gallagher, a former teen idol who has chosen to lead a quiet life with his wife and two sons. But when his former Rockits band mate and brother, David, shows up unexpectedly with his new-found teenage daughter in tow, the Gallagher family's life becomes anything but normal. David, who refuses to give up his past glory days, comes to Patrick for help raising Ruby while he continues to perform. Patrick must now put the past with David behind them in order to help raise Ruby and keep order within the rest of the Gallagher clan. Ruby and The Rockits was written by Shaun Cassidy and Ed Yeager, with teleplay by Ed Yeager (the pilot was directed by Ted Wass). Alexa Vega, Austin Butler, Patrick Cassidy, and former teen idol David Cassidy star.
No time frames for these have been announced yet, but don't forget the first two original sitcoms launch on ABC Family this March!

ABC Family March 2009 Highlights; CBS and CW Schedule Changes

This March on ABC Family, there will be no schedule changes to the weekday line-up, but primetime will be changing. First on Monday, March 16, Kyle XY will have its third season finale at 9pm. A marathon of the previous nine episodes will air from 11am-8pm, with the 10th and final third season episode airing at 9pm. On Sunday, March 22, ABC Family presents a marathon of The Secret Life of the American Teenager from 2pm-11pm, because the next day, (Monday, March 23) the series will have its first season finale at 8pm. ABC Family will encore the previous two episodes that night as well from 6-8pm, leading into the finale. Leading out of the finale will be the ABC Family premiere of two original sitcoms at 9pm and 9:30pm! As we previously mentioned, ABC Family had two original sitcoms in the works: Roommates and Sophie. Roommates is a multi-camera sitcom about a group of friends trying to figure out love and life in their post-collegiate years. The ensemble cast includes, Tyler Francavilla, Dorian Brown, Tommy Dewey, David Weidoff and Tamera Mowry. 13 episodes will air.
Sophie is a single-camera sitcom and is a heartwarming and comedic tale of a lovely young woman having the worst year of her life. The cast includes Natalie Brown, Sebastian Spence, Jeff Geddis, Amy Lalonde, Mimi Kuzyk, Sara Botsford, Chantelle Chung and Catherine Brub. 13 episodes also will air. We willhave much more on these two sitcoms shortly, with hopefully pilot reviews as well.
ABC Family has two other sitcoms in development, but have not been ordered to series yet.
Replacing The Secret Life on Mondays starting March 30 at 8pm will be the second half of the second season of GREEK! 10 more episodes will air leading into the two original sitcoms. GREEK will also have a marathon of the first ten episodes of the season leading into the second half premiere, from 11am-8pm.
In other ABC Family March 2009 news, new original movie Au Pair 3 Adventure in Paradise will premiere on Sunday, March 15, 2009 from 8pm-10pm following the first two movies from 4-8pm. Among the acquired movies, they will have premieres of Notting Hill and Eight Below while replaying movies such as Dr. Dolittle, Home Alone 2, Jumanji, and Grease.

CBS will air a one-time special edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric in primetime on Wednesday, January 28 at 8:00pm ET/PT instead of a repeat of Old Christine. The repeat of Old Christine will slide down to 8:30pm instead, preempting a repeat of Gary Unmarried.
Meanwhile, The CW has moved 13: Fear is Real to Fridays at 9pm effective tonight! 13 was previously airing encores on Fridays, now they will be all-new. I wonder if it lasts, if it will make it to Friday the 13th on Feb. 13? The season finale is scheduled for Feb. 20. Replacing 13 in its original Wednesdays at 8pm slot will be encores of Privileged. I don't see how that will do any better?

Finally, we leave you today with some sad news. Veatrice Rice, the quiet but foul-mouthed on-air security guard on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, has died. Though she is not a sitcom star, she was great in comedy. I was heavily shocked last night when I saw the tribute they aired. I had no idea she was sick, but found out today she was battling cancer. I did notice she started wearing a wig this past fall, but didn't think much of it. Veatrice will be heavily missed. She was part of a trio of on-air security personalities (herself, Guillermo and Uncle Frank). She was great with Guillermo and Uncle Frank and her bits with them, especially the SNN: The Worst "___" Team on Television will be heavily missed. She also had great solo bits on the show such as her "make your own" instructions, her bits with the Land o Lakes Butter lady, her interview with John McCain, and her impression as Sarah Palin. And who can forget her "sex tape" with Ryan Phillipe? She will be deeply missed every night. Try to give someone a blank stare-down look today in honor of her. We leave you today with the on-air tribute they did last night. As Veatrice would say, shut up you a**hole! Dumba**! Miss V was 59 and leaves behind her husband John.

More ABC Midseason 2009 Updates; More Network Notes

We detailed most of the ABC midseason schedule for January, now we have some spring news. Three new dramas will be joining the ABC lineup this spring: Castle on Monday, March 9 at 10:00 p.m.; Cupid on Tuesday, March 24 at 10:00 p.m.; and The Unusuals on Wednesday, April 8 at 10:00 p.m. In addition, ABC News Primetime: What Would You Do? will return on Tuesday, January 6 at 10:00 p.m. replacing Eli Stone (all times ET/PT).
ABC will also return Dancing with the Stars for an all-new season starting Monday, March 9 with a two-hour premiere leading into the premiere of crime drama Castle. Castle will benefit for three weeks from Dancing because Dancing will be two-hours for the first three weeks before settling into its regular 90-minute slot from 8-9:30pm. ABC has not announced yet what will air at 9:30pm starting that night (March 30), one would think it would be either Samantha Who? or new sitcom In the Motherhood. Or even Scrubs? The Dancing with the Stars: The Results show will launch a week later on Tuesday, March 17 at 9:00pm. Looks like there will be no elimination the first week, as there is no results show on March 10. No idea yet what will air following the first results show (perhaps the finale of Primetime: What Would You Do?) on the 17th, but on the 24th ABC will launch new comedy-drama Cupid at 10pm. It is still not known what will happen to Scrubs, but most likely it will go back an hour to 8pm replacing According to Jim. ABC still has not announced dates for new comedies Better Off Ted and The Goode Family, although promos for The Goode Family indicate it is coming this spring. I don't think starting Jan. 20 one of those will premiere, so expect Scrubs double airings Tuesdays 9-10pm for awhile.
As for Wednesdays, ABC has not yet announced what will air before Lost. However, we think that Wednesday at 8pm slot starting Jan. 28 will likely be the new docudrama Border Security USA, but it is not official yet. My guess is that will be it and will run for 11 weeks before perhaps The Goode Family taking over in April. We do know that ABC will air last season's three-part season finale of Lost on Wednesday, January 14 from 8-11pm, a week before the new season starts on Jan. 21. This means Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money will not finish its runs on Wednesdays, as on January 7 ABC will air an ABC News Special called Earth 2100, a look at what the world will look like in 2100 where cities are abandoned and our population has dropped by 80 percent if we do not head the warning signs. Will those two and Eli Stone be used on Saturdays? We shall see. Life on Mars will finish its 17 episodes by April 1, so that is how The Unusuals is launching on April 8.
View complete details on these new three shows announced.

The CW will return Reaper on Tuesdays at 9pm starting March 17. 13 episodes have been ordered for its second year. Returning for its second season, Reaper blends suspense and humor as it follows Sam, a slacker whose world turned upside down on his 21st birthday when he learned that his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born. Reaper will follow 90210 on Tuesdays, so the series will be replacing Privileged. Privileged aired a new episode this past Monday at 9 on a special night, and will also air next Monday at 9 with an immediate repeat on its normal night at 9pm. However, it will return to Tuesdays at 9 on Jan. 6 to finish off its 18 episodes. 6 episodes will remain starting then.
Meanwhile, NBC is set to announce its post-Super Bowl plans for midseason (including what will air immediately following the Super Bowl) this week. NBC has announced its January midseason plans, but has not announced nothing more than that yet. One thing you will see is two-hour episodes of Celebrity Apprentice, according to creator Mark Burnett. Sundays 9-11pm is one option or even Wednesdays 8-10pm. So stay tuned, as we learn what NBC will do.

ION Adds New Movies to Christmas Slate; According to Jim Returns Tonight; CBS Midseason 2009 Schedule and More Network Notes

ION Television today announced that is has inked a deal with Aro Entertainment to acquire two originally produced holiday-themed films. Christmas Town, starring Nicole de Boer (The Dead Zone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Patrick Muldoon (Melrose Place), will air Thursday, December 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET and The Christmas Clause, starring Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City), will premiere on ION Television the following week on Thursday, December 18 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
The "Positively Entertaining" network also has plans to debut the classic Pinocchio, a four-hour adaptation of the beloved masterpiece, on Sunday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The original miniseries stars Golden Globe winner Bob Hoskins as Geppetto and Robbie Kay as Pinocchio.
View more on ION December 2008.

As we mentioned, don't forget tonight on ABC it is the eighth season premiere of sitcom According to Jim following the holiday classic Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. Yes, According to Jim is returning for one final season and the fun starts tonight at 9pm ET/PT on ABC with two all-new back-to-back episodes that are set during the holidays. The According to Jim holiday-themed fun continues next week at 9pm and on Dec. 16 at 9pm with guest star Steve Guttenberg! Then on Dec. 30 at 9:30pm, an all-new episode to coincide with the New Year's holiday. According to Jim will then have regular all-new episodes on Tuesdays starting Jan. 6 in its new time period of 8-9pm. So celebrate the holidays with Jim all this month and then join Jim starting in January for one final hurrah!

CBS today announced midseason schedule changes that include the return of the drama Flashpoint, the premiere of the mystery event Harper's Island, the debut of the new game show Game Show in My Head and the returns of reality hits Survivor and The Amazing Race.
Game Show in My Head launches first and it is a hidden camera game show from Ashton Kutcher, premiering Saturday, Jan. 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT). Ordinary people must perform extraordinary tasks on an unsuspecting public to win up to $50,000. Under the watchful eye of host Joe Rogan, each contestant performs five outrageous, embarrassing and hilarious tasks worth $5,000 each. In a no-holds-barred bonus round, each contestant has the chance to double their money up to $50,000. It will replace the first hour of CBS crime repeats. We're not sure yet how many episodes have been ordered.
Flashpoint, last summer's top original scripted series, returns Friday, Jan. 9 in the 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT time period replacing various CBS drama repeats.
Harper's Island, a 13-episode mystery event, premieres Thursday, April 9 from 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT and concludes Thursday, July 2 from 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT. The series is about a group of family and friends who travel to a secluded island for a destination wedding. They've come to laugh... to love... and, though they don't know it... to die. As the wedding festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed as a murderer claims victims, one by one, transforming the wedding week of fun and celebration into a terrifying struggle for survival. In every episode, someone is killed and every person is a suspect, from the wedding party to the island locals. By the end of the 13 episodes, all questions will be answered, the killer will be revealed and only a few will survive. It will replace Eleventh Hour, which would have wrapped its season by then. More on that below.
Finally, CBS will return Survivor with its 18th season on Thursday, Feb. 12 and The Amazing Race on Sunday, Feb. 15 for its 14th season. Survivor will replace various encores while Race replaces Million Dollar Password. No word yet on returning sitcom Rules of Engagement will return for its all-new season. Worst Week was ordered for three additional episodes, so I'm guessing it will be replaced by Rules of Enagement after that. Just a hunch, we'll let you know when we know.
View the full CBS midseason 2009 press release.

CBS has picked up five more episodes of Jerry Bruckheimer's Thursday crime drama Eleventh Hour. The episode order is now up to 18 episodes for the season. The show has done nearly 12 million following CSI, not great retention but 12 million is good. Could CBS be doing better in the slot? Yes. If they thought not, then we would have seen a full 22 episodes for Eleventh Hour. We will see Harper's Island take over in the slot starting April 9, as mentioned above.
The CW will launch new midseason scary reality series 13: Fear is Real on Wednesday, January 7, airing Wednesdays at 8pm with encores on Fridays at 9pm. 13: Fear is Real will keep the slot warm for America's Next Top Model when it returns in March. 13: Fear is Real is a spine-tingling new eight-episode series combining the horror genre with a reality show format. Contestants are energetic, competitive and are full of personality, as they try to be part of television's first scary competition reality show and win a grand prize of $66,666. Talk about bad luck!

ABC January 2009 Midseason Plans; The CW Cancels MRC Sundays, Tyra Banks Show Heads to CW Daytime Next Fall

ABC has announced its January 2009 plans. ABC made it official yesterday with the swapping of Private Practice and Life on Mars. Private Practice will move to Thursdays at 10PM following Grey's Anatomy, where Life on Mars was airing, while Life on Mars will move to Wednesdays at 10PM, where currently Dirty Sexy Money was airing. As mentioned already, Lost will take over Wednesdays at 9PM starting January 21, replacing Private Practice. Yes, Life on Mars will indeed follow Lost. Lost's season premiere is two-hours, so Life on Mars will debut on the night on January 28. 7 episodes have aired thus far, with six still remaining in the original order...but now ABC has ordered four more episodes, so a total of 17 will air this season at least. As for Private Practice, it will launch with new episodes on Thursdays on January 8, with repeats of the series in the slot on Dec. 11, 18 and 25 so fans are used to the change by the time is launches with new episodes on Jan. 8. The show will continue to air Wednesdays at 9 through and including Dec. 17. It is still not known what will air on Wednesdays in January prior to Lost coming (Jan. 21). It seems Private Practice will NOT air Wednesday at 9 on Jan. 7 and 14...could they double pump Pushing Daisies or Dirty Sexy Money? We'll let you know, when we know.
The news is not good for Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone, as ABC has announced they will not order more episodes than the 13 episodes from the original order. The word cancelation is not used, but all of them will likely not return next season, but...as of now, all 13 episodes of each will air.
Elsewhere, ABC has announced Scrubs will have its eighth season premiere on Tuesday, January 6 with two back-to-back episodes from at 9:00pm & 9:30pm ET/PT, replacing According to Jim. Jim will slide down into the 8:00pm & 8:30pm ET/PT slots, after airing in the 9pm hour starting in December. Scrubs will also air for the full-hour on Tuesday, January 13, opposite the same night of American Idol's two-hour season premiere. Then starting January 20, Scrubs will be followed by the new midseason animated comedy The Goode Family more than likely. ABC has not yet announced plans for Tuesdays at 10 following the comedies and Wednesdays at 8 leading into Lost. One option for either slot is Border Security USA, the new docudrama 11 episode series. My guess is Wednesdays at 8.
Keep checking back right here because the day is not over and we could have more announcements! Busy busy day!

The CW has canceled the MRC (Media Rights Capital group) programming block completely and will take over programming of the night effective Sunday, Nov. 30 due to very low ratings. So this coming Sunday (Nov. 23) is the last of MRC on The CW. MRC was programming The CW's Sunday night programming from 5-10pm, with an hour of 4Real at 5pm, Valentine encores at 6pm, In Harm's Way at 7pm, Valentine at 8pm, and Easy Money at 9pm.
Effective Sunday, Nov. 30, The CW will air encores of Everybody Hates Chris and The Game in the 5pm hour. Then in the 6pm hour they will go into the vaults of Warner Bros. and air back-to-back episodes of '90s sitcom The Drew Carey Show. At 7pm The CW will use its CBS Paramount library and air the short-lived drama Jericho, which aired on CBS for two seasons. And finally at 8pm, they will air Movies from MGM. So it looks like The CW is putting good use of their CBS-Warner libraries, hence the name The CW. Will this do any better than the MRC block? It remains to be seen, but if it does...expect more library programming on the night, as The CW plans to air this for the rest of the season before coming up with a new strategy next season.
So what will happen to the shows that were slated to come to the MRC block in midseason? One of them was the Bob Saget multicamera sitcom Surviving Suburbia. That sitcom has taped many episodes and still is scheduled to tape episodes in December and January. They last taped an episode last night before taking next week off for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am not sure what will happen to this sitcom. MRC could shop the sitcom for another network or perhaps The CW would pick it up for another night, possibly Fridays with the other comedies?

Meanwhile, first-run syndicated talk show The Tyra Banks Show from Warner Bros. Television is moving to The CW next fall (Sept. 2009) for its fifth season. How? Well, it will air daily on The CW Daytime back-to-back at 3PM (classic episode) and 4PM (all-new episode)! Which means the talk show will leave syndication and air exclusively on The CW! So this means both Tyra Banks' shows The Tyra Banks Show and America's Next Top Model will air on the same network starting in the fall...one in the daytime and one in primetime.
Currently airing on The CW Daytime is rookie Warner Bros. court show Judge Jeanine Pirro from 3-4pm, now that show will leave CW Daytime next fall and will be moving to first-run syndication! Let the bidding begin. From 4-5pm currently are sitcoms The Wayans Bros. and The Jamie Foxx Show, and they will be off the line-up, obviously. Who knows if the new CW Sunday is successful, maybe these will move to Sundays next fall somewhere between 5-7pm.

I know I promised the network holiday specials dates today, but because of this unusually busy Friday, I will give them to you on Monday...no matter what happens. So stay tuned for that!

Boomerang Schedules Flintstones Musical Marathon on Sunday; Network Notes

Boomerang will air a Flintstones marathon this Sunday, with a musical twist! In addition to making television history as the world's first prime-time animated series (ABC), The Flintstones also offered viewers many samplings of fun, culturally relevant music that delighted viewers throughout the show's six-year run. On Sunday, Oct. 26, these classic animated musical moments will return for a command performance as Boomerang presents a day-long marathon of the best of The Flintstones musical episodes. From 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., America's favorite Stone-Age families-Fred, Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone plus Barney, Betty and Bamm-Bamm Rubble-will "rock out" to prehistoric beats while they welcome a number of celebrity guests, including Ann-Margaret (Ann Margrock) and James Darren (Jimmy Darrock).
Once again showing the depth and breadth of its incredible classic cartoon library, Boomerang presents a rollicking good time with a commercial-free marathon of 15 jamming episodes guaranteed to get your toes tapping. The seven-and-a-half hour rock block will be followed by an encore presentation so that music aficionados coast-to-coast can join in the fun. Highlights in the "Bedrock 'N' Roll" Marathon include: Fred discovers that Barney is a compulsive poet, so he seeks songwriting assistance from famed composer Hoagy Carmichael! While working on the new Bedrock Bowl, Fred and Barney prepare an act for the dedication ceremony starring Ann-Margrock. Fred's quiet seaside weekend is interrupted by a national surfing contest. Fred gets caught up in the activities and must be saved by surf idol Jimmy Darrock. Fred and Barney check out the new TV show, "Shinrock," hosted by Jimmy O'Neilstone. When Fred drops a bowling ball on his foot, Jimmy takes it as a new dance and names it "The Frantic."

First it was picked up for four additional scripts, which was a good sign, now...NBC has picked up a full season worth of episodes for Knight Rider. NBC will pick up nine additional episodes of its the freshman drama series Knight Rider (Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m. ET) to provide the series with a full-season order for 2008-09.
Knight Rider premiered on Wednesday, September 24 (8-9 p.m. ET). The series is averaging a 2.4 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 7.4 million viewers overall so far this season in Live+Same Day DVR averages. Knight Rider is the #1 regular series in its competitive time period in all key adult-male demographics and won the slot in adults 18-49 with its most recent telecast on October 15.
Meanwhile, The CW has ordered two more scripts for new drama Privileged. The Warner Bros./CBS Paramount/Alloy Entertainment drama has been struggling in ratings on Tuesdays at 9PM ET/PT, yet has demonstrated some growth in recent weeks even as lead-in 90210 has gone down a bit. The last new Privileged episode was up 22% to 2.3 million viewers, 1.1 adults 18-49 rating and a 3 share on October 7 when other networks aired a Presidential Debate.
In other CW news, Valentine encores will replace encores of In Harm's Way at 6PM ET/PT. In Harm's Way will still air new episodes at 7PM ET/PT and Valentine will still be new at 8PM ET/PT. The 6PM encores start this Sunday and will start from the Pilot episode...so start up if you haven't started. I admit, I watch it and it is surprisingly good...I'm only watching because of the sexy Christine Lakin, though.

WGN Edits Schedule and Adds ALF, Legal; Schedule Updates for TV One, The N ; 90210 Gets Full Season; Nick at Nite's Fido Awards Gets Willard As Host

It's a very busy Tuesday here at SitcomsOnline!
WGN America has edited their fall schedule again. They will make a few changes to their weekend line-up this week (Sept. 27-28). On Saturday, September 27, at 6pm ET they will premiere Boston Legal leading into the White Sox game at 7pm ET. On Sunday, Sept. 28 from 11am-12pm ET will be two episodes of Funniest Pets & People for his week only. Now at 12 noon ET, WGN America will air Boston Legal every week. Following Legal, will be two episodes of Whacked Out Sports at a special time from 1-2pm leading into the regular season finale for the Chicago Cubs. Beverly Hillbillies Sunday airings will move to 1-2am ET, following the Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie hours.
So what will happen regularly? Originally starting Saturday, October 4, NewsRadio was slated to join the WGN America line-up airing Saturdays 6-7pm ET followed by two Becker episodes from 7-8pm ET on Saturdays. Now NewsRadio won't be airing at all. Becker will slide to that 6-7pm ET timeslot on Saturdays followed by Boston Legal airing Saturdays at 7pm ET. On Sundays, as mentioned earlier, Boston Legal will air at 12 noon ET. The Cosby Show will be replaced on Sundays from 6-7pm with ALF, as ALF joins the regular line-up! The '80s comedy will actually launch Wednesday, October 1 from 8-10pm ET with a four episode block, for that week only. However, ALF will air on Mondays from 9-10pm ET as well starting Monday, October 6! So, Sundays 6-7pm ET and Mondays 9-10pm ET starting Oct. 5 and 6 for ALF. Also, on Sundays, as mentioned earlier, Beverly Hillbillies will move from Sunday daytime to 1-2am ET Sunday night. What a sitcom block on WGN from 5pm-2am on Sundays (with a break for news at 10-11pm ET), with Coach, ALF, WKRP, Newhart, Honeymooners, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie & Beverly Hillbillies!
Finally, starting Monday, November 3, weekdays 1-2am ET has changed a bit. Reno 911 is now 5 days a week rather than just airing 5 times on Fri/Sat nights. Corner Gas will move to 1:30am ET, as Becker will leave late nights but will still air weekday afternoons at 4pm ET and Saturday evenings from 6-7pm ET. Reno/Corner will follow The Bob and Tom Show at midnight ET weekdays starting Nov. 3. And the Saturday night midnight ET airing of Reno 911 will be another episode of The Honeymooners instead starting November 8, since Reno 911 will be airing weekdays. So, The Honeymooners gains another slot (it already airs Sundays 9-10pm ET).
I suggest you view the FULL WGN America Fall schedule so you don't get confused. We're not done with WGN America, as in the coming days or weeks we will announce what is airing on Halloween for a marathon!

TV One has made a few schedule changes. Beginning on Monday, September 29, the TV One primetime schedule will make a few adjustments. In the 9:30pm weeknight timeslot, TV One will now air the sitcom For Your Love replacing All of Us which has moved now to 10pm. Also beginning that week, the Friday night 4am timeslot will now be an additional airing of the animated comedy series The PJs. However, from Monday, October 6 and continuing through Thursday, October 9, that late night 4am timeslot will also be The PJs preempting All of Us for this week only. Also, the previously announced "Living Single: Celebrity Edition" marathon on Saturday, October 11 beginning at 11am, will now include an encore airing of Living Single: The Reunion Show, which reunites the cast from the classic hit sitcom.
TV One has pulled the launch for short-lived sitcom South Central. The sitcom was slated for a launch marathon on Saturday, October 18, but now movies will air instead that day. It will definitely air at a later date. The TV One programming and marketing group decided that they had too many other things to promote this fall, and they wanted to be able to give it the attention they think it deserves. We will of course let you know when it is scheduled again. So, yes, it won't air regularly on Saturdays at 11am and Sundays at 6pm either. Instead we will get two back-to-back episodes of fellow short-lived sitcom Where I Live starting Sunday, Oct. 19 airing Sundays 6-7pm and Saturdays 11am-12pm. Where I Live was previously scheduled to air Saturdays 11:30am and Sundays 6:30pm following South Central.
Moving on to The N...we mentioned Saved by the Bell was pulled last week and now a week later, it's back! The show is now airing weekdays at 3:00pm & 3:30pm starting immediately. Also, from 4-5pm two episodes of H2O is replacing two episodes of Kenan & Kel, which goes off the schedule. And from 5-6pm two episodes of Unfabulous replaces to shots of All That, which also is off the line-up now. Degrassi is back on The N with a weekend marathon from Friday, October 3 to Sunday, October 5. The show will air all day on those three days from 6am-6am, except 12-2am when That '70s Show airs. Degrassi returns for an all-new season the week after on October 10 at 8pm with an one-hour season premiere as Mia's got a new friend, a new guy, and maybe even a job as a model -- if she's willing to do what it takes to beat the competition. The season premiere will be followed by the season premiere of South of Nowhere at 9pm. If that weekend marathon was not enough, the week of October 6 will see more Degrassi. Degrassi will air Monday, October through Thursday, October 9 from 6am-10am, 3-6pm, and 2-6am. And all day on Friday, October 10 leading up to the season premiere.

The CW's drama 90210, quickly becoming one of the most popular series among young women, has been picked up for a full season of episodes even before it aired an episode during the actual TV season which started Monday.
The two-hour debut of 90210 on Sept. 2 shattered ratings records for The CW Network, becoming the highest-rated series premiere in the network's history with women 18-34 (4.5/12), adults 18-34 (3.1/9) and adults 18-49 (2.6/7). The 90210 series opener on Sept. 2 led The CW to become Tuesday's #1 network in all key demographics. With a double airing of the 90210 premiere during the opening week (Tuesday and Thursday), 12.7 million viewers watched all or part of The CW's highly anticipated new series. Facing increased competition, the most recent telecast of 90210 scored week-to-week gains in target demos, including 6% in women 18-34 (3.3/10), 14% in adults 18-34 (2.4/7) and 3% in total viewers (3.3mil). In addition, the series debut of 90210 added over a third more viewers in target demographics with Live-Plus Seven Day DVR viewing included.
While it is off to a good start, I think The CW should have waited until at least after today to announce it has picked up the back nine. The first Tuesday of the season is tonight, so it would have been wise to see how it would do tonight in the actual season.

A blues-singing beagle, a bull dog who can skateboard and flush the toilet on command and a Jack Russell terrier who can jump rope and walk up steps backward are among the semifinalists as the final round of voting begins for the top six pups who will compete for the champion title on the First Annual Worldwide Fido Awards, airing in primetime, Sunday, Oct. 5, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nick at Nite.
The one-hour special event hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard (Best in Show) will showcase the six Fido finalists and best of WorldwideFido.com's user-generated videos, where one lucky dog will ultimately be crowned the 2008 Worldwide Fido winner. Fans can vote now on http://www.worldwidefido.com to determine the finalist in each of the six categories, including "Cutest Dog," "Best Dressed," "Best Voice," "Most Outrageous," "Best Trick" and "Dog/Owner Look-Alike." Popular dog trainer-to-the-stars Tamar Geller will serve as one of the judges, while one very special dog will be presented the "Hero" Award, to honor invaluable services provided to humans. The show will also feature pooch performances throughout the evening.

BET Schedule Notes; Network Notes

As I stated previously, BET is adding Smart Guy this weekend with marathon on Saturday from 11am-4pm before joining the line-up weekdays 5-6pm next week. Now BET has announced that the Saturday morning airings will start next Saturday (Sept. 13) from 11am-12pm leading into Steve Harvey from 12-1pm. It was originally slated to start on Saturdays on Sept. 27 and from 11am-1pm, we are not sure if it will be still that on the 27th, but at the very least it will be 11am-12pm on Saturday mornings. We'll keep you posted.
Other BET schedule notes include a Judge Hatchett launch marathon on Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21.

The CW has pushed back the premieres of its new Sunday Night MRC block by two weeks to Sunday, October 5. It is said that The CW/MRC want to avoid The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards on ABC on Sunday, Sept. 21. Also, 4Real and In Harm's Way have switched timeslots. 4Real will now air 5:00 & 5:30pm followed by two episodes (new/repeat) of In Harm's Way from 6-8pm. Dramas Valentine and Easy Money follow and will still air at 8 and 9pm. Bob Saget's new sitcom Surviving Suburbia, was set to premiere on November 2 but now has been pushed back to early 2009.
CBS will encore the premiere episode of new Tuesday drama The Mentalist (premiering Tues., Sept. 23 at 9) on Friday, Sepember 26 at 8pm leading into to the first Presidential Debate between Obama and McCain. ABC will air 20/20 in that slot leading into to the Debate. Fox and NBC have not said anything otherwise, so you can expect an episode of 5th Grader and America's Toughest Jobs in the slot, as of now. This is the first of four primetime debates. The next one will be Thursday, October 2 between VP nominees Biden and Palin, then Tuesday, October 7 will be the second one with Obama and McCain. The final one is Wednesday, October 15, also between Obama and McCain. Programming in the 8pm hour for these three have not been yet announced. All debates will air at 9pm ET followed by an analysis at 10:30pm ET.

Pretty slow day, but stay tuned tomorrow as the sitcom pilot season kicks off with our review of the upcoming Fox sitcom Do Not Disturb, premiering Wednesday at 9:30pm on Fox. Will it actually be good or like the other Fox sitcom duds of recent seasons (Happy Hour, Jezebel James, etc.)? Stay tuned tomorrow!

Network Fall 2008 Preview TV Specials; More New York Locals Fall 2008 Updates

Well the fall 2008 TV season is upon us and that means it is time to watch the network Fall 2008 preview specials! As we do every year, we will let you know when these fall preview specials will air. See our Fall 2007 one from last year.
First up is ABC. Last season ABC had three fall preview specials specially designed for their affiliates and abc.com. One of the three last year was for ABC's then new Wednesday line-up. This year ABC will be focusing on that night as they relaunch the night with the same shows but due to the strike, all three of those shows haven't aired since the end of 2007. This year's special, titled The ABC Wednesday Night Starter Kit, gives us a recap and preview of what is to come on Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money. This half-hour special has started airing already on local ABC affiliates since the weekend of August 15. Check local listings for time and day in your area. If you're in the NYC market, WABC will air it this Saturday (August 30) at 2:30PM. So what if your local ABC affiliate aired this special already and you missed it? Not to worry the ABC cable networks will air it, too. SOAPnet will air it a few times...on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30PM, Saturday, September 13 at 4:30PM and Friday, September 26 at 5:00AM. ABC Family Channel will also air it on Thursday, Sept. 4 (early Sept. 5) at 12:30AM ET/PT. So plenty of chances to watch this, but if you still somehow miss it, it is online on AOL Video. As of now, ABC will not air this special itself, though. They will also as of now not air a full preview special previewing new series, but that could change. We will let you know if it does happen. Finally, ABC.com has a Starter Kit of everything you need to know about your favorite ABC shows in order to catch up in time for the new season. Shows include Dirty Sexy Money, Samantha Who, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters.

Moving on to NBC, they also will do an affiliate special. Their affiliate special has not aired yet anywhere, so no one has seen it yet. Titled NBC Primetime Preview special, the special premieres this weekend, weekend of August 30. Zachary Levi of Chuck hosts this half-hour special that will preview NBC's new series and returning series. If you're in the NYC market, WNBC will air it twice: Saturday, Sept. 6 at 5:00AM and Sunday, Sept. 7 at 12:00PM. Like ABC's special, NBC will air this special on their cable networks as well. CNBC will air it on Monday, September 1 at 12:30PM and Sunday, September 7 at 8:00PM. USA Network will air it on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2:30PM and Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10:00AM. Sci Fi Channel will air it later in the month on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 11:00PM and Thursday, September 25 at 3:30PM. Like ABC, as of now, NBC does not plan to air this special on the network itself.

CBS will have a fall preview special this year! Last year they didn't have one at all. This year CBS will air one and in primetime on CBS, too. Titled, CBS Fall Preview, this special will give viewers an exciting preview of CBS's 2008-09 primetime programming. The special will air on Friday, September 5 at 9:00PM ET/PT following the Stand Up To Cancer special airing on ABC, NBC and CBS. Following the special CBS will an encore episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 9:30.

As of now, this year Fox is not scheduling a primetime preview special on Fox itself, but the affiliate special is still airing. Titled, Fox Fall Preview Special, this special takes a look at what is to come to Fox this season. It will begin airing this weekend, so be on the lookout. In the NYC market, WNYW will air it this Saturday night at 1:00AM and again on Sunday (Aug. 31) at 3:00PM, both in place of M*A*S*H airings. Now, Fox does have a slot open on Sunday, Sept. 14 at 9:35PM-10:00PM, so I wouldn't be surprised if this special actually airs on Fox in that slot. We'll let you know, but for now check your listings!

Finally, The CW is also doing an affiliate special and the special has started airing already. Titled, CW Fall 2008 Preview, this special is a preview of new series and returning favorites, including 90210, Gossip Girl, Privileged and Stylista. The special is hosted by Privileged stars Anne Archer and Joanna Garcia with Bob Saget introducing the MRC Sunday block that include series such as Valentine (with Christine Lakin, Autumn Reeser, etc) and his own sitcom Surviving Suburbia. The special will be airing quite a lot it seems. In NYC, WPIX will air it this Friday (Aug. 29) at 5:00PM, Saturday, August 30 at 7:30PM and Sunday, August 31 at 4:30PM. Check local listings in your area, as it doesn't seem The CW will air this on the network itself.

Last week we did a story on what is coming up on local stations in the New York market and we didn't have the full weekday schedule for WNBC and WPIX just yet...but now we do! First up is WNBC. Their 11am-5pm schedule will be revamped on weekdays. We already told you new talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show is coming to 2pm and back-to-back half-hours of Deal or No Deal will air at 4pm, but we guessed at other slots, and we were primarily right! NBC soap Day of Ours Lives is indeed on the move to its old 1pm slot again, while Martha Stewart Show moves to 11am. In the 12pm hour now since Crosswords is on production hiatus is Style by Jury and Inside the Box, from the same studio...Program Partners. Finally, WNBC will air Monk on Sunday nights at 12:35am replacing Showtime at the Apollo, which is gone. Take a look at the full WNBC Fall 2008 schedule.
As for WPIX, we told you Judge Karen starts Sept. 8 weekdays 1-2pm and how the CW Daytime line-up will change on Sept. 22, but we were not sure if the sitcom line-up from 5-8pm and 11pm-4am would change...and guess what? It will a bit! Starting Sept. 22, in the 5pm hour now will be My Wife & Kids at 5pm (coming from 5:30pm) and George Lopez moves from late nights at 1:30am to a much better 5:30pm slot! George is doing very well in syndication and on cable on Nick at Nite, so expect to see it in better time slots on local channels this fall if your local channel was airing it in a late night slot this season. So, According to Jim which was airing at 5pm, will be on the move to late nights at 1am. The 1am slot replaces Frasier which slides to 1:30am where George Lopez was. Now if you get WPIX's digital station LATV, you can watch George Lopez's secondary airings at 6:30pm! That started a few weeks ago, so tune in. Everything else on weekdays primarily remains intact. Weekend additions is Star Trek and Stargate Atlantis, as we mentioned previously, on Saturday nights from 12-2am...sliding Chappelle's Show to 2-3am. Then starting Nov. 1, new first-run syndicated series Legend of the Seeker joins WPIX on Saturday nights at 8 and 9pm. It'll be like Xena and Hercules all over again! anyway, view the full WPIX Fall 2008 schedule.
We have a lot of members on our message boards and they are posting various schedules for other markets like Boston, Fort Wayne, Sacramento, New Orleans and others, so if you want to help and post your market, head on to our message board!

ABC Orders 5 Additional Series for Mid-Season; TBS Orders House of Payne Spin-Off; Network Notes

ABC is adding five new series to its slate of programming for the 2008-09 season. The series include three new dramas, Castle, Cupid and The Unusuals, and two new comedies, Better Off Ted and Single With Parents. The President of ABC Entertainment Stephen McPherson says that these are the initial pick-ups, but there are a number of other pilots they feel will also get the go ahead in some form moving forward (either for mid-season like these five or for fall 2009). Still very much in the running are dramas Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, The Prince of Motor City, and possibly Good Behavior and In The Deep (David Hemingson project), with comedies like Never Better, Bad Mother's Handbook, and Significant Others (aka Fourplay) also in the mix. I personally hope The Prince of Motor City gets picked-up in some form.
Anyway, these 5 additional series will be added for mid-season and will join previously announced mid-season entries, like the animated comedy The Goode Family, The Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Reality Project and the ABC premiere of Scrubs, along with returning series According to Jim, The Bachelor, Lost and ABC News' Primetime: What Would You Do.
Castle is is a comedic crime procedural about a famous mystery novelist, Nick Castle, who has gotten bored with his success and stars Nathan Fillion as Castle, Stana Katic as Beckett, Molly Quinn as Alexis, Susan Sullivan as Martha, Monet Mazur as Gina and Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Capt. Montgomery.
Cupid is a romantic dramedy about Trevor, a larger than life character who may or may not be the Roman god of love Cupid, sent to earth to bring couples together and stars Bobby Cannavale as Trevor, Sarah Paulson as Claire, Rick Gomez as Felix and Camille Guaty as Lita.
The Unusuals is a unique comedic procedural set in a New York police precinct. As a cop it helps to have a twisted sense of humor, because every moment could be your last, and the series stars Amber Tamblyn as Det. Casey Schraeger, Jeremy Renner as Det. Joe Walsh, Terry Kinney as Sgt. Harvey Brown, Kai Lennox as Det. Ed Alvarez, Harold Perrineau as Det. Leo Banks, Adam Goldberg as Det. Eric Delahoy, Monique Gabriela Curnen as Det. Allison Beaumont and Joshua Close as Henry Cole.
Better Off Ted is a satirical office comedy featuring a successful but morally conscious man, Ted, who runs a research and development department at a morally questionable corporation, Veridian Technologies and stars Jay Harrington as Ted, Andrea Anders as Linda, Portia de Rossi as Veronica, Jonathan Slavin as Phil, and Malcolm Barrett as Lem.
Single with Parents is a comedy about Lou, a woman in her mid-30s who is determined to have her own life despite her crazy blended family getting in the way and stars an all-star cast of Alyssa Milano as Lou, Annie Potts as Elizabeth, Beau Bridges as Joe, Amanda Detmer as Sasha, Meagan Fay as Nancy and Eric Winter as Charlie.
Read the Press Release for more on these five pick-ups. For more on ABC's pilots in development read the full pilots in development and view photos of the casts of these potential series.

After bringing his unique style to TBS with the enormously popular sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne, Tyler Perry is preparing to add to his successful track record with a spin-off based on characters of his popular play and hit movie, Meet the Browns. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of the new sitcom, which comes to the network also from Debmar-Mercury and is slated to premiere in January 2009. As he does for House of Payne, Perry is once again serving as executive producer and director, as well as occasionally writing for the series.
Meet the Browns stars David Mann as Leroy Brown, a character who earlier this year was featured in Perry's hit film of the same name. He has also appeared in several episodes of House of Payne. Perry's new series begins after Brown inherits a dilapidated house from his deceased father.
House of Payne began in 2006 with a 10-episode experiment in select markets that produced strong ratings, leading TBS to order a full-fledged series with an unprecedented 100 episodes. House of Payne will be available for off-network syndication this fall as well airing on local stations such as WWOR in New York and WCIU in Chicago.
We will certainly have more in the future about Meet the Browns on TBS.

CBS is moving the season premiere of Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden to Thursday, Sept. 25 now with a two-hour premiere from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT, marking the first-ever two-hour premiere for any edition of the long-running hit series.
The premiere of Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden was originally announced for Thursday, Sept. 18 from 8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT.
The premiere of Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden, which will also be the first edition broadcast in high definition, will be followed by a rebroadcast of last season's CSI cliffhanger finale at 10:00 PM ET/PT.
CBS made this move because they decided to launch CSI and new drama The Eleventh Hour on Oct. 9 due to a Presidential Debate on Oct. 2. So a void was needed on the first Thursday of the season, which is Sept. 25.
Meanwhile, as CBS moves Survivor back a week, The CW is moving new reality series Stylista up a week! It will now launch Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 9:00 PM (rather than Oct. 29, as previously announced). The CW is airing 90210 repeats in the slot, behind America's Next Top Model, in the weeks beforehand.
Finally, ABC is scheduling new and expanded Wipeout episodes. On Tuesday, September 9, an all-new Wipeout will air in the special 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT slot. Wipeout will still also air and be all-new in its regular 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT slot as well on that date...so two new episodes on that date! As a result, the Tuesday, September 2 episode at 8PM will be a repeat now against the premiere of The CW's 90210, but tonight (August 26) is still all-new as the hilarious series returns from the Olympic break...tune in! Also, the Wipeout season finale (previously scheduled for Sept. 9, 8-9pm) is now scheduled to air as a 90-minute episode on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 now from 8:00-9:30 PM ET/PT followed by an interesting 90-minute special Primetime: UFO's...Seeing is Believing from 9:30-11:00 PM ET/PT. On Sept. 9, the two new Wipeout episodes will go face-to-face with Fox's launch of the 95-minute Fringe and 25-minute Hole in the Wall and on Sept. 16 the 90-minute Wipeout will face the season premiere of Fox's House and the first half-hour of Fringe and the season premiere of NBC's The Biggest Loser. It'll be tough but Wipeout will likely face the task well. As a result, the season finale of High School Musical: Get in the Picture is now on Monday, September 15, 2008 in its normal 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT time period and not two-hours on a special night (Sept. 16) like previously reported, so three more weeks to go for the ratings dud unless it gets pulled before then. ABC should move the next three episodes to Fridays. We will keep you up to date on our message board if it gets pulled or moved.

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)

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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.

ION Officially Announces ER Marathon; The CW Announces MRC Sunday Line-Up

We told you a few weeks ago that ER will launch on ION Television with a week-long marathon, the week of June 9, and now ION has confirmed it officially.
ION Television announced today that it will launch the highly-acclaimed, hit series, ER, on its primetime schedule Monday, June 9 with a four-day marathon of back-to-back episodes featuring guest stars who have either won or been nominated for Emmy Awards.
The network will showcase television's longest-running medical drama, which has earned more Primetime Emmy Award nominations than any other program in history, with three episodes from 8pm–11pm on June 9, 10 and 11, and two episodes from 8pm to 10pm on June 12.
ER will then air in its regular timeslot Monday through Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT, beginning Monday, June 16. Also joining ION Television's primetime schedule with a special sneak preview on Thursday, June 12 at 10pm will be The Dead Zone immediately following the conclusion of the ER marathon. It will air directly before ER in regular airing, Monday through Wednesday at 9pm ET/PT beginning Monday, June 16.

Media Rights Capital and The CW announced their Sunday night primetime programming block for the upcoming fall 2008-09 broadcast television season. The strategic alliance between the two companies will launch with a one-hour narrative reality show, one half-hour family comedy and two one-hour long dramas. The Sunday night block will begin at 6:30 p.m., taking advantage of the traditional family viewing night and expanding the reach of the evolving network.
The block begins in September and will be as follows every Sunday on The CW:
6:30PM In Harm's Way – A reality show that looks at lives of people doing dangerous jobs. Executive Producer is Craig Piligian (Dirty Jobs, American Chopper, Survivor).
7:30PM Surviving Suburbia – Half-hour comedy about a family and their new neighbors. Kevin Abbott is Executive Producer (Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, Reba, My Name is Earl).
8:00PM Valentine, Inc. – One-hour drama/comedy about an agency that finds lost loves, true loves and mends broken hearts. Kevin Murphy is Executive Producer (Reaper, Desperate Housewives).
9:00PM Easy Money – One-hour drama about a family that runs a high-interest loan business. Executive Producers are Andy Schneider and Diane Frolov (Northern Exposure, The Chris Isaak Show, The Sopranos).

MRC and the CW will announce Sunday programming for the 5-6:30 p.m. time slot in the near future. MRC has other shows in production as well, such as the sitcom Book of Murphy.

ABC and The CW 2008-09 Upfronts: Fall 2008 Schedules; Fans Create Save Back to You Campaign

Your FIRST look at ABC's official line-up!

ABC 2008-09

Fall 2008

Sundays
7:00PM America's Funniest Home Videos
8:00PM Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00PM Desperate Housewives
10:00PM Brothers & Sisters

Mondays
8:00PM Dancing with the Stars
9:30PM Samantha Who?
10:00PM Boston Legal

Tuesdays
8:00PM Opportunity Knocks (NEW!)
9:00PM Dancing with the Stars: The Results
10:00PM Eli Stone

Wednesdays
8:00PM Pushing Daisies
9:00PM Private Practice
10:00PM Dirty Sexy Money

Thursdays
8:00PM Ugly Betty
9:00PM Grey's Anatomy
10:00PM Life on Mars (NEW!)

Fridays
8:00PM Wife Swap
9:00PM Supernanny
10:00PM 20/20

Saturdays
8:00PM College Football


Mid-Season:

New series for midseason include Scrubs (Tuesdays at 9 in January), The Goode Family (Tuesdays at 9:30 in January) and Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Reality Project (Mondays at 8 in January).
More new mid-season series will be announced at a later date, likely in July during the TCA Tour.
Other returning series include According to Jim, The Bachelor, Lost and ABC News' Primetime: What Would You Do?
5:30PM UPDATE: So, I just watched the actual ABC Upfront Presentation. Good stuff. Clips of Opportunity Knocks, Life on Mars, The Goode Family, were shown. View my thoughts here, which includes an outline of what happened in the presentation that started at 4:08pm and lasted through 5:17pm ET.
Other Notes: This is Boston Legal's last season and the series will have 13 episodes. Series finale will be two-hours in early December. Oprah's Big Give would have been back, but Oprah decided one season was enough. Another Oprah project is in the works still. Here Come the Newlyweds and Dance War will likely return for second seasons either in mid-season or next summer. For those wondering, According to Jim joins Scrubs with 18 episode seasons, as mentioned Scrubs will air Tuesdays at 9 starting in January. During the upfront Steve McPherson stated that ABC has 17 shows in development for mid-season. So the mid-season will be like a fall season this year, as we could see a handful of those make it on air. The shows in development are: Sitcoms - Bad Mother's Handbook, Five Year Plan, Never Better, Roman's Empire, This Might Hurt, Fourplay, Single With Parents (previously My Brother's Hot (And Other Dilemmas), with Alyssa Milano) and In the Motherhood (based on an internet series). Clips of Fourplay and In the Motherhood were shown at upfront, though nothing from the actual pilots, since they are not shot yet. Dramas - Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, Castle, Cupid, Finnegan, Good Behavior, Prince of Motor City, Untitled David Hemingson Project, The Unusuals and Section 8.

Discuss ABC's 2008-09 line-up here and also you can view complete program information.



The CW 2008-09

Fall 2008

Sundays
7:00-11:00PM MRC Block (NEW!) (TBA at a later date)

Mondays
8:00PM Gossip Girl
9:00PM One Tree Hill

Tuesdays
8:00PM 90210 (NEW!)
9:00PM Surviving the Filthy Rich (NEW!)

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM Stylista (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM Supernatural

Fridays
8:00PM Everybody Hates Chris
8:30PM The Game
9:00PM America's Top Model Encore

Mid-Season:

Reaper will return air on Thursdays in mid-season replacing Smallville, which will end its run by then.

Discuss The CW's 2008-09 line-up here and also you can view complete program information.


Fox has canceled freshman sitcom Back to You, as we reported a few days ago, and now fans right here at SitcomsOnline.com have created a campaign to bring back the show! While I'm certainly not a fan of the show, I'm always willing to help to save a show needed to be saved, especially a sitcom. And the way fans think of how to save a show is the most important thing. Sure, an online petition is a good way to gather fans, but I know for a fact that they don't really help. Online petitions are usually ignored by networks. However, really creative ideas do work. We all know that because CBS executives last year canceled freshman drama Jericho after one season, and fans were outraged and they sent "nuts" to the CBS offices. To make a long story short, CBS was pleased how the fans reacted and brought the series back from the dead...but it didn't really help as the show is once again canceled after this season do to low ratings. I don't think nuts will work again.
Fans of Back to You on our message boards were outraged by the cancelation and created a petition. I told them that wouldn't really work...something more creative is needed. So I suggested they come up with one. We recently were all for a fan campaign to bring back October Road, a personal favorite of mine. Some fans from abc.com's message boards contacted me and I was very intrigued by their campaign that I even did a story on it right here on the blog. Basically that campaign was going to help local libraries, which is always a good cause. There was also another campaign to save MEN IN TREES, where fans helped to plant trees to save trees. Another good cause. They don't always work though, as both of those series have been canned, but it is better than not trying.
Well, anyway, the fans took my suggestion and brainstormed a few ideas and came up with a pretty funny (and good) one. Their idea is to send Fox (or even CBS) bottled water! Why bottled water? Because on the last episode that aired, fan TJL (who came up with this idea) says, "as part of the new station manager's cost cutting initiative, she eliminated some things, parking spaces, vacations, and free bottled water in the fridge." So what better way to save costs for Fox (since they canceled Back to You to save costs), then to give free bottled water to Fox.
A leader has emerged on this fan campaign and her name is Julie Somoski. She is big fan obviously and posts on our message boards daily. She has created a webpage for this campaign and you can find all the details there, such as where to send the bottled water and what note to put on it so they know what this is for. So check out her web campaign. She has an address for CBS but not Fox (she should add it on there I think)...I think fans should send bottled water to BOTH networks. CBS should get actual water filled bottles (since fans are trying to persaude them to buy the series), while Fox gets empty water bottles just for canceling the show...since they don't deserve free water! Don't forget to include the note, because I doubt CBS would know what this means, since the show is not on their network. A local Pittsburgh newspaper also published this campaign.

SitcomsOnline.com 2008-09 Upfront Preview: The CW; Family Matters Coming To Nick at Nite June 29, More Nickat Nite News; CW Daytime Adds Wayans, Jamie

The CW is dying for some shows that do well, with one of their best shows actually in WWE Smackdown! leaving, they will need to find something that does 4 million. Their development slate seems to be very weak this season...the strike could be to blame, as there are actually no sitcoms ordered to pilot. Will America's Next Top Model rebound in the fall after a slow spring?
Here is the SitcomsOnline.com The CW 2008-09 preview:

New Series Already Picked-Up: None.
New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: 90210 (drama), How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (drama), and Styledome (reality).
New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: Austin Golden Hour (drama) and Fashion Magazine Assistants (reality).

OUR FALL 2008 PREDICTION:

Sundays
5:00PM Various Repeats
6:00PM Various Repeats
7:00PM America's Next Top Model Encores
8:00PM Styledome (NEW!)
9:00PM The Game
9:30PM The Game Encores

Mondays
8:00PM 90210 (NEW!)
9:00PM Gossip Girl

Tuesdays
8:00PM One Tree Hill
9:00PM Reaper

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM Supernatural

Fridays
8:00PM Everybody Hates Chris
8:30PM Everybody Hates Chris Encores
9:00PM Reaper Encores

Comments: The CW has barely anything in production. Whatever they have ordered to pilot will be picked-up...that's how bad it is. The strike might be the reason, as they also have no sitcom pilots ordered to pilot. They have a script order for a Sherri Shephard sitcom, that would work well with The Game, so they should order it to pilot ASAP so it can be ready for mid-season. 90210 remake is their best shot at new success, and it would do well leading off Mondays and possibly can give Gossip Girl a bit of a bump...maybe over 3 million? Tuesdays should have One Tree Hill and Reaper, because they are both actually decent performers, as Reaper has proved itself this spring airing in multiple slots. Wednesday will of course have Next Top Model followed by How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls maybe. How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls would also fit with One Tree Hill, I think. Thursday with Smallville and Supernatural shouldn't be changed, as it does decent enough. Fridays will be changed and of course I don't think they can replace the 4 million that Smackdown! got. I would just double pump on Everybody Hates Chris and maybe encore Reaper on the night. Aliens in America would do terrible on this night, so I don't think The CW will bring it back. Repeats of Chris would do better...maybe for mid-season, they can develop another single camera comedy to pair with Chris. Or maybe by midseason Chris will be back to Sundays anyway. As for Sundays, maybe a reality show (Styledome) would be best to start at 8pm out of an encore of Top Model? This would lead into back-to-back episodes of sitcom The Game. Once Styledome wraps, they could always move Chris to 8-9pm if the Friday airings are bad. As for mid-season they could bring in a drama like Austin Golden Hour which is a medical drama, if anything fails... and the Fashion Magazine Assistants reality show maybe in between cycles of Top Model? Beauty & the Geek and Pussycat Dolls don't deserve to return.
You can say goodbye to the following shows Aliens in America, Beauty & the Geek, Girlfriends, Life is Wild, Pussycat Dolls, CW Now, Online Nation and Farmer Wants a Wife.
The CW needs help for sure, I think they should start each weeknight with a proven show (One Tree Hill, Top Model, Smallville, Chris) and 90210 would probably fall into those shows once it airs. Sophomore shows such as Gossip Girl and Reaper will be brought back to prove itself and grow. But without any new sitcoms, they are in a mess.
Discuss your thoughts on our prediction and feel free to make suggestions of your own by clicking HERE!

Remember, next Tuesday (May 13) is the actual date when we will find out The CW's plans for the 2008-09 season. So, come on back next Tuesday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned tomorrow for our preview of CBS' upfront.
And as a reminder, stay tuned next week for all the final schedules released by all the networks! We will put them up as soon as they are released by the networks, so this will be your home to see them first!

Finally Family Matters has been officially announced for Nick at Nite! A press release just came out! Nick at Nite will add Family Matters, a laugh-out-loud hit series for the whole family, to its sitcom line-up this summer, launching the show with a seven–hour marathon on Sunday, June 29 from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., before it lands in its regular time period, Sunday through Thursday at 8:30 p.m. & 11:00 p.m.; and Friday & Saturday at 12 a.m. (all times ET/PT). Family Matters ran for nine seasons (1989-98) and 215 episodes on broadcast networks ABC (first eight seasons) and CBS (for its last season), catapulted Jaleel White's archetypal nerd-next-door, Steve Urkel, into the pop culture, and the actor captured three Image Awards for his portrayal. In this long-running comedy – a spinoff of Perfect Strangers via wisecracking elevator operator Harriette Winslow – nosy, good-hearted Steve Urkel pesters and wreaks havoc on his neighbors, the Winslows of suburban Chicago. Starring Reginald VelJohnson, Jo Marie Payton, Darius McCrary, Kelly Shanygne Williams, Jaimee Foxworth, Rosetta LeNoire, Bryton McClure, with Telma Hopkins, and Jaleel White.
There will be no other changes to the June line-up. So, everything else will remain the same. Family Matters will replace a Nickelodeon airing at 8:30 on Sun-Thurs and a Fresh Prince airing at 11pm on Sun-Thurs...on Fri-Sat it will air at 12am replacing a Fresh Prince airing on Friday & a Home Improvement airing on Saturday. The only other change that will happen is at 6am, Full House will air Mon-Thurs replacing a Nickelodeon airing. Now this could be just a rough schedule...we shall know more soon when we announce Nick at Nite June in the coming weeks...so come on back!
In other Nick at Nite news, they will revive the classic Nickelodeon game show GUTS, with a family twist. GUTS, the groundbreaking, original hit game show from the '90s, is being recreated for a new generation of families as Nick at Nite greenlights My Family's Got GUTS, a new extreme sports competition series. Nick at Nite will commence production on two 10-episode tournaments, (20 new half-hour episodes and two hour-long specials), created and executive produced by the digital entertainment studio Worldwide Biggies. The series will be shot on location at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., beginning in August and is scheduled to premiere in prime time on Nick at Nite in fall 2008 with the finale on the Worldwide Day of Play. The original GUTS was hosted by Mike O'Malley (Yes, Dear, Get the Picture) and aired on Nickelodeon from September 28, 1992, until October 1995. A spin-off was created called Global GUTS.
Finally, Nick at Nite is going to the dogs...literally! For the first time ever, Nick at Nite will give dog owners everywhere the chance to showcase the unique charms of their canine companions by entering them online as contestants for The First Annual Worldwide Fido Awards premiering on Sunday, July 27, and Monday, July 28, 9-10 p.m. (ET/PT). The competition kicks off on May 19, when viewers can upload videos of their dogs to the popular online dog video community site www.WorldwideFido.com, created by digital entertainment studio Worldwide Biggies, to compete in six categories and vote online for their top picks. The contest culminates in a two-night television event that will reveal the winners in each category and ultimately the 2008 Worldwide Fido Award for best in show. The pooch fest will also feature canine friendly celebrities and their four-legged best friends. The categories include "Cutest Dog," "Best Dressed," "Best Voice," "Most Outrageous," "Best Trick" and "Dog/Owner Look-Alike."

The CW Television Network is teaming up with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution to create a daily two-hour afternoon programming block that will bring a new court television series from Telepictures Productions and two hit comedies from Warner Bros. Television to The CW from 3:00–5:00 p.m. each weekday.
Judge Jeanine Pirro, a new original one-hour court program featuring Jeanine Pirro – regular contributor to Fox News Channel, former Westchester County (N.Y.) District Attorney and County Judge, nationally known legal commentator and author – as the presiding jurist will air Monday–Friday back-to-back at 3:00 p.m., followed by a one-hour comedy block of classic urban 90s sitcoms The Wayans Bros. at 4:00 p.m. and The Jamie Foxx Show at 4:30 p.m. The new programming schedule will debut Monday, September 22, 2008.
These shows will replace the current CW Daytime block of All of Us, What I Like About You and back-to-back Reba episodes.
Eventually, The CW would like to have two full hours of first-run product, rather than one, in the block by next year. Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Television and The CW originally discussed doing that immediately, but decided to just start with one hour for now. So this block will be fully Warner Bros. owned shows, and not other studios. They have aired shows from other studios before such as ABC Studios' 8 Simple Rules, 20th Century Fox's Reba and CBS Paramount's All of Us, with Warner owned shows in the mix as well such as ER and What I Like About You.

CW Schedule Changes; Summer News for NBC and CBS

Yes, we gave you The CW's post-strike returns a few weeks ago, but some minor date changes and time changes have been announced. One of them is The Game will now be Sundays at 9pm rather than 9:30pm starting March 23.
I advise you to click HERE to view the full spring line-up. Compare the two links to see what changed.

NBC will celebrate America, its communities, athletes, songs, heroes, talent and Gladiators all summer long as part of "NBC's All-American Summer" - the network's run-up to its exclusive coverage of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. The network will ignite a late spring and summer of original programming paced by the premieres of series favorites American Gladiators (returns Monday, May 12, 8-10 p.m. ET), America's Got Talent (season premieres Tuesday, June 24, 9-11 p.m. ET), Last Comic Standing (season premieres Thursday, May 22, 9:30-11 p.m. ET) and the network debut of Nashville Star with new host Billy Ray Cyrus (Monday, June 9, 9:30-11 p.m. ET).
In addition, NBC will unveil the new suspense and horror anthology series Fear Itself on Thursday, May 29, 10-11 p.m. ET, as well as two new alternative series Celebrity Circus (premieres Wednesday, June 11, 9-11 p.m. ET) and The Baby Borrowers (Wednesday, June 25, 8-9 p.m. ET).
Wow, that's a ton of reality with one scripted anthology series.
Here is a recap:

Monday, May 12
American Gladiators - two-hour premiere 8-10 p.m.; series resumes on May 19 (8-9:30)
Thursday, May 22
Last Comic Standing - premiere 9:30-11 p.m.; series resumes on May 29 (8:30-10 p.m.)
Thursday, May 29
Fear Itself - premiere 10-11 p.m.
Monday, June 9
Nashville Star - (9:30-11 p.m.)
Wednesday, June 11
Celebrity Circus - two-hour premiere (9-11 p.m.); series resumes on June 18 (9-10 p.m.)
Tuesday June 24
America's Got Talent - (9-11 p.m.); another two-hour show follows on July 1. Series resumes with regular hour-long episodes on July 8 (9-10 p.m.). The show will be on hiatus during the Olympics, returning on August 26 (performance episodes) and "results shows" commencing on August 27 (8-9 p.m.)
Wednesday, June 25
The Baby Borrowers - premieres 8-9 p.m.

CBS also announced some summer news...surprisingly they will launch two scripted dramas in the summer. I think these are burn-offs because they couldn't fit them in this season, most likely because of the strike. The drama Swingtown will launch on Thursday, May 29 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT and drama Flashpoint in July. The premiere date and time period for Flashpoint will be announced at a later date.
Swingtown peeks into the shag-carpeted suburban homes of the culturally transformative '70s to find couples reveling in the sexual and social revolution that introduced women's liberation and challenged conventional wisdom. During this heady era of provocative change, Susan and Bruce Miller move their family to an affluent Chicago suburb where they're confronted with personal choices, experimentation and shifting attitudes, all against the backdrop of a changing social climate defined by its unforgettable music, fashion and style.
Flashpoint is an emotional journey into the tough, risk-filled lives of a group of cops in the SRU (inspired by Toronto's Emergency Task Force). It's a unit that rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, climbs the sides of buildings and talks down suicidal teens. As they race against the clock to determine what brought these people to their respective breaking points, members of this highly skilled team use their training in negotiating, profiling and getting inside the suspect's head to diffuse the situation to try to save lives.

If we have more news we will return later. Try to come back if you can.

Nick at Nite Acquires Everybody Hates Chris for Fall 2009; The CW Announces Early Pick-Ups for 2008-09 Season, Includes Chris

The award-winning family comedy series, Everybody Hates Chris from co-creator and narrator Chris Rock, will join the Nick at Nite line-up in fall 2009.
Beginning September 2009, Nick At Nite will become the exclusive basic cable home to the half-hour series which stars Tyler James Williams (Unaccompanied Minors) as Chris, Terry Crews (The Longest Yard) as Julius, Tichina Arnold (Martin) as Rochelle, Tequan Richmond (Ray) as Drew, Imani Hakim as Tonya and Vincent Martella (Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo) as Greg.
The deal with CBS Television Distribution includes a four-year license period for a minimum of four seasons (80 episodes)...the series was renewed today for a fourth season coming this fall. The hit series is currently already in production on season four, which is included as part of the overall deal.
The series features guest stars including Jimmie Walker (Good Times), Todd Bridges (Diff'rent Strokes), Ernest Thomas (What's Happening!!), Loretta Devine, Wayne Brady, Orlando Jones, Richard Lewis, Vincent Pastore, Robert Wuhl, Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) and Tommy Davidson.
The series is also cleared in off-network broadcast syndication for fall 2009, with 52% of the country covered thus far and deals signed with stations from the Fox, CBS, Cox Television and Weigel Broadcasting station groups. Chris will air on Fox-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington and Houston. The CBS-owned stations pacting for the show are in Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta and Miami. Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU has snagged Chris for Chicago, while indie KAZT has bought the show in Phoenix.
Other upcoming series on Nick at Nite include Family Matters (June 2008), Friends (Fall 2011) and possibly The Nanny in 2009, or that could be TV Land now.
Discuss the Chris news here.

The CW announced early pickups of six series today, including the network's signature reality hit, America's Next Top Model, four dramas and one comedy. All six series will return for the fall season.
The network's most popular series, America's Next Top Model will return with mega-star Tyra Banks for cycles 11 and 12. Returning dramas include the buzz-worthy freshman hit Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, returning for a sixth season. These three series are the top-ranked shows on television with a concentration of women 18-34 viewers.
Also renewed were the long-running Thursday night team of Smallville, which will begin its eighth season, and Supernatural, which will begin its fourth season. In addition, the critically acclaimed comedy Everybody Hates Chris will return for season four.

Launch Schedules for Me-TV Milwaukee and Me-Too Chicago; WWE SmackDown Moves to MyNetworkTV

As we mentioned previously, Me-TV, a local channel airing classic TV in Chicago, will now launch in Milwaukee starting March 1! And today we have the full launch line-up for, and you'll see it here first! Among the programs airing weekdays are Green Acres, Happy Days, Cheers, Bewitched, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Leave it to Beaver, The Honeymooners, Roseanne, I Love Lucy and Hawaii Five-0. Airing on weekends are programs like Petticoat Junction, Knight Rider, Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, Superman, Batman, Star Trek, and many more! The schedule is a bit similar in style to Me-TV in Chicago's schedule.
Remember Milwaukee digital television viewers will be able to receive Me-TV over the air on digital channel 58.3. Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications will also carry Me-TV on the digital tier of their cable systems serving Southeastern Wisconsin. So without further adieu, here is the FULL launch schedule for Me-TV Milwaukee! Certainly a classic TV paradise!
Moving on to Me-Too in Chicago. As we mentioned previously, Me-Too will be a spin-off station of Me-TV Chicago. Like Me-TV Chicago, Me-Too will air the original network versions of the timeless classics whenever possible. This means longer program segments and fewer commercial breaks. Many of the shows have not aired in these formats since the original network runs. Like Me-TV Chicago, Me-Too will showcase many dramas that have not been seen in decades including a "Noir at Night" Sunday night block, "Super Sonic Sunday" afternoon block, and "Saturday Night Pajama Party" block.
Beginning March 1, 2008, Chicago viewers will now have two choices for classic television programming: Me-TV on WWME-TV, Broadcast Channel 23 and Me-Too on the newly renamed WMEU-TV, Broadcast Channel 48.
Among the programs Me-Too will carry on weekdays are Webster, The Monkees, Partridge Family, The Facts of Life, I Love Lucy, Who's the Boss?, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Star Trek, The A-Team and more! And on weekends we will see even more programs such as What's Happening!!, That's My Mama, Gimme a Break!, The Munsters, Square Pegs, One Day at a Time, The Brady Bunch, Gidget, Flying Nun, Knight Rider, Batman and many more!
Chicago just got even better with yet another classic TV channel. Nearly every other city in the nation has none and they have two! So here is the launch schedule for Me-Too Chicago!

MyNetworkTV and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) have announced a new broadcast television home for WWE SmackDown, scheduled to debut in Fall 2008.
The two-hour television program will be presented weekly on MyNetworkTV. WWE SmackDown will feature a star-studded cast of WWE Superstars, including Edge(R), Rey Mysterio(R), Batista(R), MVP, Kane(R) and Undertaker(R), as well as present all the action, excitement, drama and great athleticism that have made it for nine years one of the most popular programs among males on broadcast television, and one of the top ten English language prime time programs among Hispanic households.
The program currently airs on The CW on Friday nights and does close to 5 million each week.

Oh and Happy Birthday to Todd (owner and founder of SitcomsOnline). Hope you have a good one! If we have more news, we will return...so try to check in later tonight.

ION March 2008 Highlights; CW Announces Post-Strike Returns; CBS Renews 11 Shows for 2008-09 Season

We told you before that Baywatch is coming to ION Television in March 2008, but we didn't have the full month's highlights yet. Now we do. There will be no other changes, so Baywatch will start March 3 at 10pm, airing Mon-Thurs. If anyone is wondering, they will be going in production order, but will be starting with Season 3...which is the first season with Nicole Eggert and Pamela Anderson. They will skip the two-part season premiere it seems, as they will start with the episode "Rookie of the Year." No other changes will be made to the line-up, as of now, so we can expect back-to-back Wayans Bros, Alice, Mama's Family and Drew Carey Show from 6-10pm Mon-Thurs leading into Baywatch at 10pm. RHI will continue to air Fri-Sun from 7-11pm with movies and mini-series such as Merlin, Arabian Nights, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
We will keep you up to date if anything changes, but for now click HERE for the March highlights where you can also discuss the programming.

The CW is now the third network (joining CBS and NBC) to officially announce plans of what series will return this season with new episodes following the end of the writers' strike. Everybody Hates Chris and Aliens in America already completed production before the strike started and still has episodes left over. So, they will launch first. Chris has 12 new episodes left (for a total of 22 this season), while Aliens has 8 left (for a total of 18 this season). Both will return Sunday, March 2. CW will return their highest rated sitcom The Game on March 23 with an expected 9 new episodes. Production will be underway soon. It is not good news however for long-running sitcom Girlfriends. The CW has announced it will not return, which the show will now end after 8 long seasons. CW could plan a series finale or a special for its final airing. One Tree Hill still has about 5 pre-strike episodes left still, but 6 new ones will be produced and will start on April 14, which is a Monday, so it seems the show will move to Mondays at 9. The current batch of new episodes, aka: the pre-strike episodes, will air Tuesdays at 9 still. Smallville will return Thursday, April 17 with 5 new episodes. I believe a few episodes before the strike also remain to air...the show will air a total of 20 episodes this season. Rookie drama Gossip Girl will return with 5 new episodes starting Monday, April 21. The show had been in repeats since early January because it ran out of episodes. Another rookie drama, Reaper will return to air on Tuesday, April 22 with 5 new episodes. The show has aired 9 so far and a few pre-strike episodes still remain and will air in its upcoming Thursday at 9 slot before moving to Tuesdays at 9 with post-strike episodes. Finally, Supernatural will return with 4 new episodes starting Thursday, April 24. This coming Thursday (Feb. 21) Supernatural will be all-new for its last pre-strike episode before goina on hiatus until April 24.
We will bring you ABC and Fox's plans as soon as they are "officially" announced.

Meanwhile, CBS has renewed 11 series for next season in a move that will return 10 hours of the network's primetime schedule and eight of the top twenty scripted series on television. Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Ghost Whisperer, NCIS, Numb3rs, Two and a Half Men, Without a Trace and the Freshman Comedy The Big Bang Theory join previously announced Survivor and The Amazing Race as series returning next season (2008-09).
The jury is still out on shows like How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, Old Christine, Shark, The Unit, Moonlight, and Jericho for next season, but we could expect a few of these to indeed return.

Day 96: WGA's Strike; ION Adds More Drew; Bewitched Fan Fare 2008

Today is day 96 of the wriers' strike. And it could be the last official day of the strike, as this thing could end tomorrow, and on Monday I will not be saying day 99 most likely. We will have full details if this ends.
Meanwhile, The CW has announced that it will not bring back WWE Smackdown! after this season. So the weekly series will be looking for a new home next season.

ION Television will be getting ready for Baywatch on March 2, but before that they will make a schedule change. On Feb. 18 - for two weeks - ION will give us two more Drew Carey Show episodes per night! It will air 10 and 10:30 p.m. those two weeks, holding the slot for Baywatch. This means Who's the Boss? will be off the line-up starting the 18th. Next Thursday will be its last airing for now.
Drew will of course still air in its 9 and 9:30 p.m. slot those two weeks and beyond.
We will have full March highlights next week. So come back for that.

This year's Bewitched Fan Fare will be held at the Victory Theater Center in Burbank, California from June 25-28.
Some of the special events include tributes to Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery (who recently was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) and producer William Asher, as well as a history of the Warner Brother's Ranch (where Bewitched's exterior scenes were filmed for its entire 8-year run), a "Cosmos Cotillion", presentation of the first annual Bewitched Fan Fare Appreciation Award, and appearances by some very special guests.
Seats are limited, and those interested in attending Bewitched Fan Fare 2008 can get more information at www.TheBewitchedCollector.com. Registration cost is $65 per person and provides admission to all Fan Fare events, except those which may require an additional outside admission fee. All airfare, lodging, meals, etc. are the sole responsibility of attendee, unless otherwise stated.
Bewitched Fan Fare is a worldwide organization with members from all over the Cosmos, providing an annual convention loaded with fun, games and magic to witches and mortals alike since 2000 (BC). The 2006 Bewitched in Salem (MA) Convention was the biggest yet, attracting worldwide media attention.
Bewitched Fan Fare 2008 is a Bewitched Collector Production, in association with Victory Theatre Center.
Contact Mark Simpson - 253.383.8331 or Email BewitchedFanFare@aol.com for more details.

Day 64: WGA's Strike; The CW Strike Schedule; RTN Comes to Birmingham

It is day 64 of the strike. We have a couple of scheduling news that are being taken place because of this strike. First up, Dexter, the critically acclaimed drama series about a serial killer, which recently completed its second season on premium cable network SHOWTIME, makes an unprecedented appearance on network television when it premieres Sunday, Feb. 17 at 10:00PM, ET/PT CBS.
Dexter's move to CBS marks the first time a full season of a premium cable drama series will make the transition to network television. Dexter's 12-episode first season will be edited for network television and will be broadcast on 12 consecutive Sundays.

The CW Network announced its new midseason schedule (AKA strike schedule), featuring the return of several reality hits and giving current shows exposure on new nights and in new time periods. Among the changes include moving the Monday night sitcom block to Sunday nights. New seasons of America's Next Top Model, Beauty & the Geek, and Pussycat Dolls Present. Here is their revised line-up:

Monday
8:00 p.m. Gossip Girl (Beginning January 28)
9:00 p.m. Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (Beginning February 18)

Tuesday
8:00 p.m. Reaper (Beginning January 15)
8:00 p.m. Beauty and the Geek (Beginning March 11)
9:00 p.m. One Tree Hill

Wednesday (Beginning February 20)
8:00 p.m. America's Next Top Model
9:00 p.m. Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious Encore

Thursday
8:00 p.m. Smallville
9:00 p.m. Reaper (Beginning February 28)

Sunday (Beginning February 10)
7:00 p.m. CW Now
7:30 p.m. Everybody Hates Chris Encores
8:00 p.m. Everybody Hates Chris
8:30 p.m. Aliens in America
9:00 p.m. Girlfriends
9:30 p.m. The Game

Retro Television Network announced today that it will partner with Media General to launch RTN programming in Birmingham, AL on a digital stream of WVTM NBC 13. The new affiliate, which is the 6th Media General station to sign with RTN, will launch in the first quarter of this year.
RTN's 'Primetime All The Time' line-up is going to be on the air soon in the Birmingham market with continuous hits throughout the day, including Love, American Style, Get Smart and Happy Days. Viewers in Birmingham can also watch iconic stars Michael Douglas in Streets of San Francisco, Telly Savalas in Kojak, Jack Lord in Hawaii 5-0 and Raymond Burr in both Perry Mason and Ironside.

Merry Christmas from SitcomsOnline; New Pre-Strike Episodes Left for All Series

It is Christmas Day and we would like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas from all of here at SitcomOnline! Thanks for taking the time out to visit us today. As usual, there are tons of marathons out there such as TV Land's Merrython, TBS' A Christmas Story marathon, ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas programming continues, and many more holiday movies on other networks such as Lifetime.

As we all know there is a writers' strike going on and it is affecting all scripted programming on television. We have compiled a list for you, so you know how many episodes are left for your favorite shows...our Christmas present to you! So in case anyone is asking, "how many Grey's Anatomy episodes are remaining," now you can tell them!

Here is a list of new episodes remaining before repeats fully take over (unless the strike ends soon). All of these episodes will air starting in 2008 (meaning, the earliest Jan. 1). In parenthesis I have the date when the first new one airs in 2008:

ABC
According to Jim - at least 7 episodes (Jan. 1)
Big Shots - 5 episodes (Jan. 10)
Boston Legal - 4 episodes (Jan. 1)
Brothers & Sisters - 3 episodes (Jan. 13)
Carpoolers - 7 episodes (Jan. 8)
Cashmere Mafia - 7 episodes (Jan. 6)
Cavemen - 7 episodes (not scheduled yet)
Desperate Housewives - 1 episode (Jan. 6)
Dirty Sexy Money - 3 episodes (not scheduled yet)
Eli Stone - 13 episodes (Jan. 31)
Grey's Anatomy - 1 episode (Jan. 10)
Lost - 8 episodes (Jan. 31)
MEN IN TREES - 11 episodes (Feb. 27)
Notes from the Underbelly - at least 6 episodes (Jan. 14)
October Road - 8 episodes (Jan. 7)
Private Practice - 0 or 1 episode (not scheduled yet)
Pushing Daisies - 0 episodes
Samantha Who? - 3 episodes (Feb. 4)
Ugly Betty - 3 episodes (Jan. 10)
Women's Murder Club - 1 episode (Jan. 4)
- Unscripted series such as America's Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Wife Swap, Supernanny, Dance War, Dancing with the Stars, Just for Laughs, Oprah's Big Give, 20/20 and The Bachelor will have full seasons.

CBS
The Big Bang Theory - 0 episodes
Cane - 0 episodes
Cold Case - 2 episodes (Jan. 6)
Criminal Minds - at least 1 episode (not scheduled yet)
CSI - 1 episode (Jan. 10)
CSI: Miami - at least 1 episode (not scheduled yet)
CSI: NY - 3 episodes (not scheduled yet)
Ghost Whisperer - at least 1 episode (Jan. 11)
How I Met Your Mother - 0 episodes
Jericho - 7 episodes (Feb. 12)
Moonlight - 1 episode (Jan. 11)
NCIS - at least 1 episode (not scheduled yet)
New Adventures of Old Christine - at least 8 episodes (Feb. 4)
NUMB3RS - 2 episodes (not scheduled yet)
Rules of Engagement - 0 episodes
Shark - 1 episode (not scheduled yet)
Two and a Half Men - 0 episodes
The Unit - 0 episodes
Welcome to the Captain - 6 episodes (Feb. 4)
Without a Trace - 2 episodes (Jan. 10)
- Unscripted series such as 48 Hours Mystery, 60 Minutes, Amazing Race, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Power of 10 will have full seasons.

NBC
30 Rock - 1 episode (Jan. 10)
Bionic Woman - 0 episodes
Chuck - 2 episodes (not scheduled yet)
ER - 3 episodes (Jan. 3)
Friday Night Lights - 6 episodes (Jan. 4)
Heroes - 0 episodes
Journeyman - 0 episodes
Las Vegas - 8 episodes (Jan. 4)
Law & Order - TBD episodes (Jan. 2)
Law & Order: SVU - 4 episodes (Jan. 1)
Life - 0 episodes
Lipstick Jungle - at least 7 episodes (Feb. 7)
Medium - 9 episodes (Jan. 7)
My Name is Earl - 1 episode (Jan. 10)
The Office - 0 episodes
Quarterlife - 6 episodes (Feb. 18)
Scrubs - 4 or 5 episodes (Jan. 24)
- Unscripted series such as 1 vs. 100, American Gladiators, Deal or No Deal, Celebrity Apprentice, The Biggest Loser, and Dateline will have full seasons.

Fox
24 - 8 episodes (not scheduled yet)
American Dad - likely a full season (Jan. 6)
Back to You - 2 episodes (March 12)
Bones - 3 episodes (Feb. 22)
Canterbury's Law - at least 6 episodes (April 11)
Family Guy - likely a full season (Jan. 13)
House - 3 episodes (Feb. 3)
King of the Hill - likely a full season (Jan. 6)
K-Ville - 1 episode (not scheduled yet, if ever)
New Amsterdam - 7 episodes (Feb. 22)
Prison Break - 5 episodes (Jan. 14)
Return of Jezebel James - 7 episodes (March 7)
The Simpsons - likely a full season (Jan. 6)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - at least 9 episodes (Jan. 13)
'Til Death - 3 episodes (March 7)
Unhitched - 7 episodes (March 2)
- Unscripted series such as American Idol, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, America's Most Wanted, Cops, Don't Forget the Lyrics!, Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, Moment of Truth, and When Women Rules the World will have full seasons.

The CW
Aliens in America - 3-7 episodes (not scheduled yet; only 13 were ordered, 10 have aired, but reports are 17 episodes will be produced)
Everybody Hates Chris - 12 episodes (not scheduled yet)
The Game - 0 episodes
Girlfriends - 0 episodes
Gossip Girl - 2 episodes (Jan. 2)
Life is Wild - 3 episodes (Jan. 6)
One Tree Hill - 12 episodes (Jan. 8)
Reaper - 2 episodes (not scheduled yet)
Smallville - 6 episodes (not scheduled yet)
Supernatural - 4 episodes (not scheduled yet)
- Unscripted series such as America's Next Top Model, Beauty and the Geek, Crowned, CW Now, Pussycat Dolls, and WWE Smackdown will have full seasons.

Day 25: WGA's Strike; ABC Family Acquires What I Like About You; TV Land Scores in November

We are in day 25 of the strike. Non-writing staffers of The Tonight Show are being laid off on Friday we hear, but Letterman's production company will pay its nono-writing staff from their own pockets. Conan O'Brien is also paying out of his own pocket for his non-writing staff.
Meanwhile NBC has made a schedule move that seems like it was done for the strike. NBC's new dramedy Lipstick Jungle, based on the best-selling novel by Candace Bushnell - and starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price - will premiere on Thursday, February 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET. ER will continue in the Thursdays 10:00 p.m. ET time slot through January when the Emmy Award-winning drama series completes its current run of original episodes.
Fox finally announced its holiday line-up. Nothing really except on Christmas Eve we get the movie Cheaper by the Dozen and on Wednesday, December 26 we get the broadcast premiere of Christmas with the Kranks starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. But why a day after Christmas?

I guess trying to bank on the success of Jennie Garth on Dancing with the Stars, cable network ABC Family will begin airing reruns of the sitcom What I Like About You in January. The sitcom starred Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth as sisters. The show had a decent four season run on The WB/CW from 2002-06. The show will air weekday afternoons at 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET/PT starting Monday, January 7, replacing 7th Heaven. We asked ABC Family if 7th Heaven would return and they said no, as the show will be moving to The Hallmark Channel. So that answers that. As for What I Like About You, The CW Daytime will still air it at 3:30pm in January from what we see in their listings. We'll keep you posted if that changes. So fans can watch it basically from 3:30-5pm on two channels!
Elsewhere on ABC Family January, the second half of season two of the hit original drama Kyle XY will return on January 14 airing Mondays at 8pm for 10 episodes! A marathon of 9 of the 13 episodes from the first half of the season will air before it from 11am-8pm. The fourth season of another original drama, Wildfire will start a week later, Monday, January 21, and air Mondays at 9pm. Other highlights include, the annual The 700 Club Special Programming will air from 9am-11am for two weeks, week of Jan. 14 and 21, thus Step by Step will be pre-empted for those two weeks at 9am. A marathon of the 700 Club will air on Sunday, January 27 from 12pm-12am. As for movies, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants will get a basic cable premiere on Jan. 6, and a lot of movies will be airing on the ABC Family for the first time, such as Mean Girls, Pleasantville, Bring It On Again, and the TV premiere of Bring It On: In It To Win It.

TV Land scored huge gains among its target demo of Adults 25-54 as well as its core audience of Adults 40-54 for the month of November (10/29/07-11/25/07). The success of the network's regularly scheduled Friday Night Movie Block, a M*A*S*H Mail Call Marathon, the original special Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons and the network's "Overstuffed Thanksgiving Weekend" led the network to score double-digit gains in rating and delivery among A25-54 and total viewers over last year. November was also the most-watched month among A25-54 for the year.
TV Land's November prime time line-up scored a 0.4 rating, 406,000 viewers, up +33% in rating and +24% in viewers among A25-54. Among total viewers in primetime, TV Land delivered nearly 944,000 total viewers, up +15% over last year. In total programming day, TV Land averaged a 0.3 rating and 295,000 viewers among A25-54 for the month, representing a +50% gain in rating and a +19% climb in viewers versus November 2006. It was also the most-watched month among A25-54 in total day this year. Additionally, the network attracted an average of 633,000 viewers for the total programming day, an increase of +13% over November 2006. Among its core audience, Adults 40-54, TV Land averaged a 0.6 rating, 317,000 viewers in prime time, up +50% in rating and +39% in viewers versus last year. In total programming day, the network posted a 0.4 rating, 227,000 viewers, up +33% in rating and +26% in viewers.
Click HERE for the full highlights.

Day 22: WGA's Strike; Nick at Nite December Highlights; Sitcom Reminders for Tonight

Well it is day 22 is the writers' strike and this could be the last day! Both sides went back into the bargaining table and let's hope they work things out. The buzz is they have worked out a deal! We will know soon I guess. For now, check out the rumor mill. And at TV Guide.

Nick at Nite this December will give us a lot of Christmas episodes. Spend the 11 p.m. hour each day the week of Dec. 3 with classic Christmas episodes! Home Improvement holiday episodes air all-week at 11pm. 11:30pm will be Fresh Prince on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday, another Fresh Prince on Wednesday, another Roseanne on Thursday and Cosby Show on Friday!
Then on Sunday, December 16, Nick at Nite gives a four hour event with holiday episodes of Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince, Cosby Show and Roseanne from 9pm-1am.
Then the week of Dec. 17 it is more 11pm hour time! Spend the 11 p.m. hour each day the week of Dec. 17 with classic Christmas episodes! Roseanne holiday episodes air all-week at 11pm. 11:30pm will be Home Improvement on Monday, Fresh Prince on Tuesday, Cosby Show on Wednesday, another Fresh Prince on Thursday and another Home Improvement on Friday!
And if that is not all, Nick at Nite will give us one last chance to watch holiday episodes on Christmas night from 9pm-12am of their best shows...Home Improvement, George Lopez, Fresh Prince and Cosby Show.
Finally, spend New Year's Eve with Nickelodeon, as Nick at Nite hands over the night to them. Tune in and catch some of your favorite Nick movies and specials as they count down the clock, all the way to midnight!
Click HERE for more details and to discuss this. Keep checking back there for constant updates.

Don't forget to catch the season premiere of sitcom Notes from the Underbelly at 9:30 ET/PT after an all-new Samantha Who at 9/8 central at a new time following part one of the season finale of Dancing with the Stars!
The CW and CBS will also have sitcoms tonight starting at 8/7 central, but CBS's Big Bang Theory and Rules of Engagement will be encores until the strike is resolved.

Happy Thanksgiving; Network Holiday Specials

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We thank you for visiting us on this special day. We also are very thankful that you all continue to visit every single day and making this blog a huge success. We get thousands of visitors everyday (even on weekends). We thank you for the growth each year!
Retro Television Network also thanks you and they have sent us a nice 10-second bumper wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving! Click HERE to view it!

Before we let you go back to your families...let's prepare for the Christmas holiday season! It is never too early to prepare. I have put together a holiday specials list that we all like to watch every year like Frosty the Snowman and A Charlie Brown Christmas and we even get some new specials this year like Shrek the Halls. These are just actual holiday related specials and movies, not movies or specials airing during the holiday season.

ABC
Tuesday, Nov. 27, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 8-9pm: Shrek the Halls (NEW!) and Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Friday, Nov. 30, 8-10pm: ABC Friday Movie of the Week: The Polar Express
Monday, Dec. 3 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 8-9pm: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Saturdays, Dec. 8, 8-10pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Monday, Dec. 10, 8-9pm: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
Tuesday, Dec. 11, 8-9pm: Shrek the Halls and Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too
Saturday, Dec. 15, 8-10pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Surviving Christmas
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 10-11pm: A Christmas Celebration at Ford's Theatre
Sunday, Dec. 23, 7-8pm: Elmo's Christmas Countdown (NEW!)
Sunday, Dec. 23, 9-11pm: ABC Sunday Movie of the Week: The Santa Clause 2
Monday, Dec. 24, 8-9pm: Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (expanded edition)

CBS:
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 8-9pm: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Friday, Dec. 7, 8-9pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty
Returns
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 8-9pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty
Returns
Friday, Dec. 21, 8-9pm: 9th Annual Home for the Holidays with Sheryl Crow
Saturday, Dec. 22, 8-10pm: CBS Saturday Movie: Elf

NBC:
Thursday, Nov. 22, 2-4pm: Miracle on 34th Street
Friday, Nov. 23, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: Family Man
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 8-9pm: Christmas in Rockefeller Center
Saturday, Dec. 1, 8-9pm: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Thursday, Dec. 13, 9:30-11pm: Saturday Night Live: Christmas Special
Friday, Dec. 14, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life
Monday, Dec. 24, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life

The CW:
Sunday, Dec. 2, 6-7pm: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Sunday, Dec. 23, 8-9pm: The Story of Santa Claus

Fox has not announced anything, if they even are planning any specials and movies. We'll let you know. And also if there are any additions to the other networks.

Day 15: WGA's Writers' Strike; Alice Returns to ION Television; Remembering Dick Wilson

We are now in day 15 (week 3) of the writers' strike. We have some potential good news, though! Late last week we got word that the writers plan to go back to the negotiations table with studios on Nov. 26. So, hopefully this is the last week of the strike and by next week we get a settlement. If we get a settlement sometime next week, maybe we can start production again on TV shows before the holidays even. If not, for sure in early January. We might get a lot of repeats in January, but Feb-May will be essentially all-new episodes with very little repeats. This all depends what happens next Monday! Let's pray and hope they settle it!
ABC has announced that they have picked-up the back nine episodes of the addictive new drama Dirty Sexy Money. This is the first show to be picked-up for a full season during the strike. As of now 11 of the original 13 episodes have been completed, so when the strike ends, they will start working on the 11 episodes they need to for the season.
ABC is moving the holiday classic Santa Claus is Comin' to Town to Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 8pm now. It was slated for Tues., Dec. 4 at 8, but CBS will now program Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer there. So as a result, Pushing Daisies is pre-empted on Wed., Dec. 5. And a holiday encore of AFV, which was scheduled Tues., Dec. 4 at 9pm will move to 8pm. AFV will also air an encore on Dec. 18 at 9pm. Airing at 9pm and 9:30pm on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 will be encores of According to Jim.
More network news: The CW's drama One Tree Hill returns for season five with a special two-hour premiere on Tuesday, January 8 from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET. Subsequent episodes will take over the 9:00 p.m. ET timeslot beginning Tuesday, January 15, following encore presentations of Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants. Reaper will return to the schedule with original episodes later in the season.
NBC and Donald Trump return to New York City with The Celebrity Apprentice, with an all-star celebrity lineup of candidates in its seventh season. The Celebrity Apprentice with host Donald Trump begins its latest edition on Thursday, January 3 (9:00PM ET). Participating are Tracy Adkins, Stephen Baldwin, Nadia Comaneci, Tiffany Fallon, Jennie Finch, Nely Galan, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Omarosa, Piers Morgan, Tito Oritz, Vincent Pastore and Gene Simmons. I wonder what will happen to this show if the strike ends? NBC for sure would want The Office to air instead...

First we announced Amen is returning to ION Television (which starts tonight at 6p!), now we got word late last week that '70s sitcom Alice is also returning! Alice will air Mon-Thurs at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT starting next week (Monday, Nov. 26), replacing one of the Designing Women episodes (that show will still air in the 7 p.m. half-hour). And the good news for fans who watched Alice from April-June is that they will start from where they left off! So, episode 62 "Sweet Charity" will air first. So we won't have to start all over again! For those who felt like telling ION "kiss my grits" at the end of June, let's take that back and watch the show starting next week!
I should post the full December highlights shortly, so come on back either today or tomorrow for that.

Long-time Charmin bath tissue pitchman Dick Wilson -- known to millions as Mr. Whipple -- died today at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. Wilson portrayed grocer Mr. Whipple and made "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" a household phrase. Wilson appeared as Mr. Whipple in more than 500 spots for Charmin from 1964 through 1985. After a 14-year hiatus, Wilson reprised the role in 1999 to introduce a new version of Charmin. In 2001, Procter & Gamble, maker of Charmin, presented Wilson with a lifetime achievement award to commemorate his contribution to the brand.
Wilson's television credits include Captain Gruber on Hogan's Heroes, Assistant Mayor Dino Boroni on McHale's Navy, a popular recurring character on Bewitched as a drunk, and other roles in Alice, The Bob Newhart Show, Adam-12, Love American Style, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, Gidget, My Favorite Martian, Perry Mason, The Hero, That Girl, Don Rickles Show, The Rifleman, Fantasy Island, Quincy M.E., The Rockford Files, Arrest & Trial, Petticoat Junction, Maude, The Partridge Family on the Bewitched spin-off Tabitha, and many more.
Wilson is survived by his wife Meg, three children (which includes Perfect Strangers co-star Melanie Wilson) and three grandchildren -- all located in the Los Angeles area. He will be missed. I always loved him as the drunk on Bewitched. Mr. Wilson was 91.
Share your thoughts and memories of Dick Wilson HERE.

Day 8: WGA's Writers' Strike; Amen Returns to ION; Yet 2 More RTN Affiliates

We are now on the eighth day of the writers' strike. I guess weekends count. The Office only has one episode left before it will go on hiatus. You will see that episode this Thursday, so after that we will not see any more new ones until the strike is resolved. This will be the first primetime series to run out of episodes. TV Guide has a partial list of shows telling us how many episodes are left. We have roughly between one to 13 episodes left. Everybody Hates Chris will be the only scripted show to have a full 22 episode season, as their episodes were already produced before the strike happened. Lucky for fans of that show! Anyway, here is the list that will be updated daily. Bookmark it! I can tell you a few that I know: Cavemen has 12 episodes produced so like 6 are left, new mid-season ABC shows Cashmere Mafia will have 7 of the 13 episodes produced, and Eli Stone will have all 13 episodes produced. I'll try to keep you up to date of anything else I hear...still nothing on the Fox animated comedies.
The CW announced a new reality show today. The CW Network's outrageous new one-hour mother/daughter competition, Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants, premieres Wednesday, December 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), following the season finale of the hit series America's Next Top Model. The remaining seven episodes of the beauty pageant/reality show will then take over the 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET slot beginning Wednesday, December 19, followed by new drama Gossip Girl, and continuing through the season finale on January 30. Encores of Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants will air on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET.
An encore of the penultimate episode of America's Next Top Model will air at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 11. The Beauty and the Geek finale will air at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 4.

ION Television will bring back Amen for a third time! The show will return Monday, November 19 airing weeknights at 6:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, which means Doc will be gone! We will have more on ION this week, including their December schedule. Come on back. In the words of Amen...Shine on me!

We got 2 more RTN affiliates since our last blog post! Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it plans to bring RTN programming to Tyler, TX. The new affiliate will launch early next year on a digital stream of KYTX-TV, the CBS affiliate that serves the Tyler / Longview market. Love, American Style and the show that was launched from it, Happy Days, will entertain RTN viewers in Tyler. In addition, audiences will love seeing Robert Conrad as Cannon, Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco and Robert Stack in The Untouchables, to name a few.
And they announced today that it will partner with Raycom Media to bring RTN programming to Montgomery, AL. The network will launch December 3 on a digital stream of WSFA-TV, Raycom's NBC affiliate that serves the Montgomery-Selma area.
Montgomery, AL and Tyler, TX just got better!

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

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

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) -- with help from the 197 affiliates in 99% of the country carrying the highly-rated Seinfeld sitcom in syndication -- will ask fans to vote for their favorite "Seinfeld Viewers Choice" episodes and have their selections subsequently air in national syndication during the November sweep.
Beginning Monday, October 15, through Monday, November 5, 2007, "Seinfeld Viewers Choice" clips from 35 of the most popular episodes will be showcased as streaming content on Yahoo! TV (or go to Yahoo! and search for "Seinfeld Top 10") where viewers will be asked to select their 10 favorite episodes. Votes will be tabulated on Monday, November 5, and the resulting 10 favorite episodes will air as part of two "Viewers Choice" theme weeks beginning November 12 and November 19.
Also, a random prize drawing from all of the online entrants will include a grand prize consisting of a $4,500 shopping spree from Overstock.com and a Seinfeld fan package that includes the soon-to-be-released Seinfeld: The Complete Ninth Season DVDs (on shelves 11/6/07), a Seinfeld hat, T-Shirt and mug. Throughout the entry period, voters will be eligible to enter daily for a chance to win the grand prize, or one of ten first prizes.
In its current season in syndication, Seinfeld consistently ranks as the #1 off-network comedy across all key men and adult demographics and still stands as one of the highest rated of any off-net sitcom on television with airings on both broadcast stations and TBS. Seinfeld has been renewed for a third cycle by its stations and second cycle in cable, keeping the show on the air through 2011.

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

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

TV Land Brings Back Wings, More Night Court; RTN Pittsburgh Launch Schedule; Gossip Girl Picked-Up for Full Season

TV Land has yet made more changes to its October 15 schedule. Originally we were getting Night Court back starting next Wednesday from 7-8am each Wednesday, but now TV Land has announced it will air each weekday at 7am starting Monday (Oct. 15)! They have also re-added Wings to the schedule starting Monday. It will air at 7:30am each weekday morning. M*A*S*H was airing weekday mornings in this hour and will now be moved to 8-9pm in primetime. That means the weekday primetime mini-marathons will be shifted from 8-10pm to 9-11pm. Sanford & Son was airing 10-11pm, now it won't be as the marathons will continue in that slot. M*A*S*H will follow still 11pm-12am. Also, the Wednesday and Friday marathons will be switched. So we will get Sanford & Son on Wednesdays now from 9-11pm and M*A*S*H from 8-10pm (because TV Land Movies air Fridays at 10).
See the full schedule if you are now totally confused on what is airing when by clicking HERE!

We announced previously that WPXI-DT in Pittsburgh, PA will be turning into a Retro Television Network (RTN) starting Monday, Oct. 15. Now we have your first look at the launch schedule! We are so proud that SitcomsOnline.com continues to be the exclusive home for classic TV schedules and news. The digital feed of WPXI will air RTN programming weekdays from 10am-2am, Saturdays 7am-1am, and Sundays 10am-2am. Among the classic programs will we see on weekdays include I Love Lucy, Gomer Pyle, Happy Days, My Three Sons, Laverne & Shirley, and Get Smart. On weekends we will see shows like Mork & Mindy, Brady Bunch, Family Affair, Petticoat Junction, Family Ties, Hogan's Heroes, The Honeymooners and The A-Team! Wow! So many classics! If you live in Pittsburgh and don't have digital cable, get it now!
To see the full schedule for WPXI-DT Pittsburgh, click HERE!
Also, we will have more on RTN in the next week or so, including an exclusive interview with them! So stay tuned for updates!

Acclaimed and much buzzed-about new drama Gossip Girl has become the first new series picked up for a full season of episodes.
With online buzz mounting and the show's success on other platforms like iTunes, the premiere of The CW’s new drama Gossip Girl also gained significant number of viewers in its target demos when DVR usage is factored in, according to Nielsen live-plus 7 day ratings.
Gossip Girl continues to also be a hit on different platforms like iTunes, where the two most recent episodes continue to rank among the top 5 downloaded shows on the site.
As far as live ratings, the show increased a bit in its previous episode over the previous week. The show is watched by just under 3 million viewers each week live. Not good, but not bad for The CW.

Tonight it is week four already for sitcoms Back to You and 'Til Death. Tune in starting at 8/7 central on Fox!
I have seen the third episode already for the new addictive ABC series Dirty Sexy Money, airing tonight at 10/9 central, so I'll comment a bit on it. The episode title is "The Italian Banker." That term has a few meanings one is a sexual position! Anyway, there seems to be a sex tape done by one of the Darlings. And a blackmailer has it and wants a million dollars for it. Darling family lawyer Nick George (Peter Krause) doesn't tell Tripp (Donald Sutherland) about it and gets the money to pay off the blackmailer another way (I won't spoil it). Nick also interviews each Darling children to see who the sex tape belongs to. I'm sure no one will ever guess who it belongs to. We also get a taste of Tripp's nemesis Simon Elder (who will be played by Blair Underwood). Did he kill Nick's father? We will find out. But anyway, tune in tonight for the sex tape episode of Dirty Sexy Money. You'll be saying "Oh My God" like Nick does when you watch this great episode!

AmericanLife Adds Batman, Trapper John, Lou Grant, Green Hornet and More; Nick at Nite Starts With Fresh

AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts lots of new shows including three new action and adventure programs this October on its primetime program schedule. Mission: Impossible premieres on Monday, October 1, and Batman and Green Hornet follow on Friday, October 5.
Mission: Impossible (Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET /PT) premiered in 1966 and aired for seven years. The series stars Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain and Bob Johnson, who was the voice on the tape that intoned, "Your mission, should you decide to accept it..." Mission: Impossible chronicles the adventures of a secret government agency tasked with conducting covert missions, including freeing hostages, releasing war weapons and solving international mysteries. The series won numerous awards, including three Golden Globe Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show.
Batman (Fridays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT), based on the comic book series, follows Batman and his sidekick Robin as they fight Gotham City’s villains. Starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, the series also attracted A-list Hollywood talent to play the roles of the villains: Frank Gorshin and John Astin as The Riddler, Burgess Meredith as The Penguin, Cesar Romero as The Joker, Victor Buono as King Tut, Vincent Price as Egghead and Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt as Catwoman. Batman premiered in 1966 on ABC and aired four years.
Green Hornet (Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET /PT) stars Van Williams as Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher who becomes the masked hero to fight criminals. He is assisted by his secretary, Lenore "Casey" Case (Wende Wagner), and Asian valet and martial arts expert Kato (Bruce Lee). Only airing for one season in 1966, this series marked Lee's debut on American television.
AmericanLife will be adding lots of other ner series this month as well. The other new shows are: Lou Grant, Trapper John M.D., Rat Patrol, 12 O'Clock High, Big Valley, and Burke's Law.
With all these new shows coming from the Fox and Paramount libraries, the Warner Bros. library will be leaving. The shows leaving are: 77 Sunset Strip, China Beach, Gallant Men, I Spy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The F.B.I., Our Gang, Adventures of Superman, My Favorite Martian, F Troop, Chico and the Man, Welcome Back Kotter and Lawman. The Warner Bros. deal has lasted quite a while on the network, so you all should have taped your shows while you had the chance.
For the full list of changes and to discuss these changes, I urge you to click HERE!

Other highlights for October include a Halloween-themed special (Nancy Kerrigan's Halloween on Ice) and classic television series featuring guest star appearances by several television and film celebrities.

Thursday, October 4
The Time Tunnel: Carroll O'Connor guests in "Last Patrol" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Sunday, October 7
St. Elsewhere: Judith Light guest stars in "Dog Day Hospital" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Thursday, October 11
Lost in Space: Warren Oates guest stars in "Welcome Stranger" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).
The Time Tunnel: Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn guests in "Crack of Doom" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Friday, October 12
Mission: Impossible: Lloyd Bridges guest stars in "Fakeout" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Sunday, October 14
Mission: Impossible: William Smithers guests in "The Ransom" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Wednesday, October 17
Combat!: James Coburn guests alongside ex-heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Marciano, making his television acting debut, in "Masquerade" (7:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Saturday, October 20
The Big Valley: Mary Astor guest stars in "Who Killed Cable Roberts?" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, October 22
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Vic Tayback guests in "Second Story Story" (9:00 p.m. ET /PT).

Wednesday, October 24
Trapper John, M.D.: Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress Shelley Long guest stars in "The Shattered Image" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Thursday, October 25
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Richard Carlson guest stars in "The Village of Guilt" (10:00 p.m. ET /PT).

Friday, October 26
Combat!: Actor and director Ron Howard guests in "What Are the Bugles Blown For? Part I" (7:00 p.m. ET /PT) (Part two airs Monday, October 29 at 7 p.m. ET /PT).

Nick at Nite will be kicking off each night this week with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, replacing one of the Home Improvement airings. No other changes will be made. Maybe Fresh is coming into boost the ratings a bit? We'll see, but as of now it is just for this week...but that could change.

Don't forget tonight to tune in to the series premiere of Aliens in America on The CW, along with the rest of the season premieres of The CW Monday comedies. And if that is not all, it is week two of the CBS Monday comedies! The fun starts 8/7 central on both CBS and The CW. Watch and TiVo!
8:30pm will be a busy slot as Perfect Strangers launches on ION tonight! Get out of the city!

The CW Fall Pilot Review: Aliens in America - Premieres October 1; TV Land Keeps The Brady Bunch

Aliens in America - Mondays at 8:30PM ET/PT on The CW
Premieres October 1 at 8:30PM ET/PT

Aliens in America is the story of Justin Tolchuk, a 16-year-old that is all alone in the world, that has a mother that gives him the perfect present to get out of his loner rut--an exchange student. The only problem is that his mother doesn't realize that the Nordic exchange student that they are getting is a Pakistani kid named Raja, who is going to be a true "alien in America." The series explores how this relationship will (and sometimes won't) work out for the Tolchuk family, with mother Franny fearing Muslims, father Gary just being happy because they get paid for having an exchange student living in the house, sister Claire who is just kind of there, and Justin and Raja, who may have a friendship to gain from this experience.

Cast Details:

Adhir Kalyan as Raja Musharaff, Dan Byrd as Justin Tolchuk, Amy Pietz as Franny Tolchuk, Lindsey Shaw as Claire Tolchuk, Scott Patterson as Gary Tolchuk

Essentially, the show has been cast with a bunch of unknowns--but then again, how many truly great sitcoms have had stars that were well-known BEFORE the series started? The series stars Dan Byrd as Justin and Adhir Kalyan as Raja, both of whom are relatively unknown. Amy Pietz, who had a role on Caroline in the City (does anybody even remember this series?) in the 90s plays mother Franny, while Scott Patterson, formerly of Gilmore Girls, plays father Gary. Lindsey Shaw plays the role of Claire; Shaw previously had a role on the Nickelodeon series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.


Pilot Plot:

I have received the first two episodes. The first episode introduces us to the series and what it is all about--which is basically the family getting Raja as their Nordic exchange student (Nordic because he came from Pakistan through a Nordic country before he got into the United States). The family is basically in shock about who their exchange student is, particularly since they live in a small Wisconsin town where people that are different are automatically assumed to be terrorists, but when Gary sees the dollars that he gets for having Raja in the house and Franny sees how Justin is making his first true friend, these stereotypes fly out the window.

In the second episode, "No Man is an Island," Raja tells the entire class that if he was stuck on a desert island with only one thing, it would be his best friend Justin--which of course leads the whole class to think that they are a homosexual couple. But things backfire when Justin turns to Claire for advice on how to make Raja stop embarassing him... but you'll have to watch the show to see how that turns out.


Analysis:

The show isn't laugh out loud funny, but it isn't intended to be that type of sitcom anyway. Actually, it reminds me a LOT of The Wonder Years in the style that it is done, with the show having Justin narrating just about everything that happens within the episode as if he was telling the story about what is happening. It is obvious that the producers here are trying to create a well-written series here that has funny moments along the way. But if the series wants to last, they need to create some good scripts, and I'm not sure how far they'll be able to go with that in a series with a premise like this. Many of the "fish out of water" sitcoms of the past (think of Perfect Strangers, ALF, and others) used quite a few funny moments, and even though they did have decent scripts, they may not have always (though sometimes could have) been scripts that could stand alone without many funny moments and a laugh track (something that this series does NOT have).

The show uses a lot of stereotypes about Muslims (as well as other groups) too, which makes it a bit politically incorrect, and honestly most people would not say actually say (and hopefully not believe, but certainly some will) a lot of the stuff that is said in the show. But of course, it is just a sitcom and you can't take it all that seriously. Besides, despite all of the stereotypes, it shows how incorrect a lot of the stereotypes are, and that is what many sitcoms about stereotypes often do. Plus, the point of the show is just to enjoy it and not make anything of the stereotypes, which makes me wonder why I just wasted away this paragraph talking about it.


Conclusion:

Really, this isn't a bad show, and it seems like the perfect fit for a younger audience, which is exactly what The CW is after. In fact, if it weren't for the political incorrectness that the show exhibits a LITTLE bit (which isn't too much), this show could almost fit in on a network such as Nickelodeon, as it reminds me of some of the early '90s sitcoms that the network aired (and the style that they appear to be trying to return to). I'd give this show about two weeks to last on any other network, not because it is a bad show (it is actually decent), but because it will be hard for the right audience to find it. But given that this will air on The CW and right after Everybody Hates Chris, I'd give this show a fighting chance.


Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 4/5
Funniness: 2.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

-- Reviewed by Skees53 on 09/28/07

Discuss the show after you watch it on Monday on our message board.

Related Links:

The CW Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Aliens in America Photo Gallery


The other day we mentioned we will let you know if The Brady Bunch will be staying past the two weeks it was slated for. And the answer is...YES. It will continue to air Tues-Fri at 11am the week of Oct. 16 and beyond. It starts airing of course starting Oct. 2 Also, the week of Oct. 15 will see an additional Brady airing, at 4:30am every night!
There are some other minor changes starting Oct. 15, including an Andy Griffith Tuesday block from 8-10pm, replacing Cosby Show and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will move from Tuesdays at 11 to Saturdays at 11! Good morning TV Land, indeed!
Full list of changes for that week can be found here.

Network Fall 2007 Preview TV Specials

The Fall 2007 season is right around the corner, as it officially opens up on Sept. 24 (in 22 days!), and the networks have begin to air their annual fall preview specials! Let's start with ABC. ABC has created three new half-hour affiliate specials highlighting new and returning programming. Affiliates have week-long windows to air the specials exclusively. After that time period, ABC will begin airing them on ABC.com, ABC Family and SOAPNet.
The first special is ABC Fall First Look: The New Wednesday! (local affiliate exclusive window was 8/11-17): Get a sneak peek at the incredible ABC dramas coming your way this fall on The New Wednesday, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money. The writers and editors of Entertainment Weekly share their insights on the all-new Wednesday lineup.
You can catch this anytime at abc.com right now if your local ABC channel already aired it. ABC Family will air it at 11:59pm on Monday, Sept. 24.
Next up is, ABC Fall First Look: Bigger Bolder Thursday! (local affiliate exclusive window was 8/18-24): Last season it was the biggest night on television, and this fall it's back, bigger and bolder! Get a sneak peek at ABC Thursdays with the editors of People Magazine. They'll share their thoughts on Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and the all-new Big Shots, plus a sneak peek at Friday's Women's Murder Club.
You can catch this anytime at abc.com right now if your local ABC channel already aired it. ABC Family will air it at 12:30am on Monday, Sept. 24 (early Sept. 25). WABC in NY will air it Sunday, Sept. 9 at 1:30pm.
The final one is called, ABC Fall First Look: The New Funny! (local affiliate exclusive window was 8/25-9/2): Get primed for a fall filled with new laughter. The editors of TV Guide provide a sneak preview of the comedies coming your way this fall on ABC -- Samantha Who?, Carpoolers and Cavemen -- plus a look at the award-winning Ugly Betty.
You can catch this anytime at abc.com after Sept. 2 if your local ABC channel already aired it. ABC Family will air it at 11:59pm on Monday, October 1. WABC in NY will air it Saturday, Sept. 15 at 2:30pm.

CBS has not issued any information yet if they are going to have an actual half-hour Fall Preview special, but you can go to CBS.com and view clips of their new programs.

NBC has aired its fall preview specials on its local affiliates, website and NBC owned cable channels. Greg Grunberg of the Emmy Award-nominated hit drama Heroes hosts The NBC Primetime Preview Show -- a 30-minute program showcasing an upfront look to be conveyed on a variety of media platforms beginning August 11 through September 23. The annual Fall program will be offered to NBC's 232 television stations (check local listings) as well as other channel entities such as USA, SCI FI, Bravo, UniHD, Chiller, mun2, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, NBC2Go, on-demand and broadband. NBC stations can also run it on their websites while NBC.com will also run it as well. In addition, the program will be screened on selected United Airlines flights. It will be broadcast nationally on NBC on Saturday, September 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Summer is nearly over, but Fox is hotter than ever with an inside look at the new fall lineup. Hosted by Wayne Brady of Don't Forget the Lyrics!, this half-hour features exclusive clips from new and returning shows, including powerhouse dramas House and Prison Break and never-before-seen footage from the hot new series K-Ville and Back to You. Catch an exciting glimpse of the new season on Fox Fall Preview 2007 airing Sunday, Sept. 2 at 7:00PM ET/PT on Fox. That's tonight. If you miss it then, check your local Fox affiliates to see if they will be airing it at any other day and time. In NY, you can catch it again on WNYW on Sept. 8 at 1am and Sept. 9 at 1pm, among other days. Just check your listings.

Moving on to The CW. It too has a half-hour special just for affiliates it seems. If you miss it on your local CW, you can catch it on your CW channel's website. Among the times it will air here in NY on WPIX are Sept. 4 at 2:30am and Sept. 9 at 10am. Titled, CW Fall Preview 2007, this half-hour special is hosted by Erica Durance of Smallville. So check your local listings!

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.

TV Land August Schedule Includes Month-Long Elvis Salute; Network Notes

As promised, today we will detail you the TV Land August schedule! First, they have altered the post-summer marathon schedule starting July 23. You know, the marathons that started June 4 will run through July 20, every weeknight from 10pm to 4am. Starting July 23 they were supposed to return the regular 10p-4a schedule that was in effect before June 4, but now they have changed that a bit. The Jeffersons will come to 9 & 9:30pm, shifting Sanford & Son up an hour to 10 & 10:30pm. M*A*S*H's 10p-12a block will just be 11 & 11:30pm now. Single episodes of Sanford & Son and Good Times will air approx. 12:05 and 12:35am. Three's Company will move to 1:10am, followed by back to back Cosby Show episodes at 1:45 and 2:20am. Another Good Times is at 2:55 followed by Three's Company at 3:30am. Yet another Sanford & Son will air at 4am followed by All in the Family at 4:30am. M*A*S*H will now air back to back at 5 & 5:30am.
Other changes that week are All in the Family at 7:30am replacing Sanford & Son.
The week of July 30 will see more changes. Keeping the schedule that started July 23, we get these additional changes: On Monday nights at 5am now will be an additional All in the Family followed by The Jeffersons at 5:30am. Fri-Sun starting at 8pm all month long will be Elvis movies. Friday and Saturday nights at 5 & 5:30am will now be I Love Lucy, with Andy Griffith taking that slot on Sunday nights. Talk about confusing! This week also sees changes to weekends, especially Saturdays. Both days from 6-8am have changed...I Love Lucy from 6-7am and Green Acres from 7-8am. I Love Lucy will continue to air weekends from 10am-12pm, but now on Saturdays it will also be 12-1pm, leading into a movie encore block from 1-5pm. Andy Griffith follows at 5 & 5:30pm, followed by Little House at 6 and more Andy from 7-8pm--the same as Mon-Fri. So TV Land Goes West is not on Saturdays anymore. It will still air Sundays.
The week of August 6 is the final changes for awhile. TV Land Goes West will now be Mondays! So, Sundays and Mondays in August. Bonanza will air 8am-12pm on Mondays and Gunsmoke will air 2pm-6pm on Mondays. Other changes starting this week are on Tues-Fri: The Jeffersons at 7:30am, All in the Family at 8:30am, Gunsmoke returns to weekdays at 10am & 4pm, Green Acres at 11am only, Elvis movies every weekday at 12 noon, followed by back to back Beaver from 2-3pm and one Munsters at 3pm.
Holy confusion Batman! I know, so confusing! Click HERE to view the list of changes.

Now that is just the schedule changes...let's move on to the highlights now! TV Land celebrates August with Elvis month, including an all-new TV Land original special: TV Land Myths & Legends: Elvis. This half-hour special coincides with TV Land's month-long salute to Elvis Presley. Thirty years after his death, TV Land takes an in-depth look at some of the most popularly held mysteries about the "King of Rock and Roll" and dissects them to separate fact from fiction. Tons of movies, specials, documentaries, concerts and more are airing. I suggest you view our highlights below for more details.
Millions watched the weekly heart-filled stories of families in need unfold. Now it can be seen on TV Land, reinforcing the gift of giving! Extreme Makeover: Home Edition starts on August 7th, and airs every Tuesday night at 11pm.
Friday movies this month include the premieres of Major League, Honeymoon in Vegas, and 1974's The Longest Yard.
And finally, two originals will wrap up this month with TV Land Confidential and Back to the Grind. Again, click HERE to view the list of changes and the highlights for this action packed month.

The CW is closing the door of new summer drama Hidden Palms a little earlier than thought. Currently airing Wednesdays at 8, with encores Sundays at 8, it will now be doubled-up Wednesdays at 8 & 9pm on June 20 and 27, so it can end its run after the July 4 airing. Ouch, last episode will air on the 4th of July. Who will watch?? The encores on Sundays will be replaced by 7th Heaven repeats, while Reba repeats will take the 7pm hour effective immediately (June 17).
Jericho, CBS's drama about how residents of a small, peaceful, Kansas town band together to survive in the wake of a nuclear explosion, will return to CBS beginning Friday, July 6 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT. Rebroadcasts of episodes from the first season will air in the Friday, 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT time period for the remainder of the summer.
Jericho, which last week received a seven episode mid-season order following an impassioned display of fan support, will return on July 6 with a rebroadcast of the pilot episode. Watch it now so CBS won't have to cancel it again!

The CW Picks Up New Sitcom, Fox Alters 'Loop' Schedule; Growing Pains Not on The N Next Week; GSN Honors Charles Nelson Reilly

The CW has picked up an additional sitcom for mid-season. The ensemble single-camera sitcom titled Eight Days a Week co-starring Christina Milian and Mario Lopez, centers on four twenty-somethings who work under the top movers and shakers in New York City.
Meanwhile Fox has altered the schedule for The Loop because new reality series On the Lot has been a big dud. On the Lot will now only air once a week from 8-9pm on Tuesdays, thus The Loop will now only air Sundays, but three times a night on June 24 and July 1 at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. ET. That is 6 episodes right there. The other four remaining episodes will be airing Sunday, June 10 and 17 at 8:30 and 9:30. Confusing! Replacing On the Lot's Monday slot will be animated encores. You will see The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad mixed in the 8pm hour.

Growing Pains will not be on The N after this week, as of now. The channel announced that Sabrina, the Teenage Witch will return to its regular 12-1am slot next week and also have a mini-marathon on Monday night from 12-6am and airing 12-3am and 4-5am the rest of the week.

Charles Nelson Reilly, the celebrated stage, screen and television star, will be honored by GSN on Saturday, June 2 for his work as one of the most beloved celebrity game show panelists ever to grace the small screen. In honor of Reilly's work, GSN is devoting its programming from 9AM to 7PM ET on Saturday, June 2 to the best Reilly starring episodes of Match Game.
Immediately following the Match Game marathon, GSN's original documentary The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank airs from 7PM to 8PM ET.
Additionally, on Sunday night (Monday morning) June 3, GSN will air two classic episodes of his early work on What's My Line? from 1964 at 3:00AM ET and I've Got A Secret from 1972 at 3:30 AM ET.

New Fall 2007 Sitcoms Preview

Today we take a look at the new sitcoms that made the networks' schedules. There will be a total of 10 new sitcoms this season, including 1 that will air in January and 3 that will air at mid-season. 6 will be single-camera. 4 will be multi-camera. Some familiar faces returning to sitcoms include Christina Applegate, Jennifer Esposito, Jean Smart, Fred Goss, Faith Ford, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton and Amy Pietz.

---

ABC



Sam I Am - Mondays at 9:30PM EST/PST (9:00PM EST/PST after Dancing with the Stars concludes) on ABC

When a terrible accident leaves Samantha “Sam” Newly in a coma for eight days, she wakes up with no recollection of any past experiences, memories or events. Faced with amnesia, Sam must start over. To her dismay she discovers that she wasn’t a particularly honest, good-hearted or loving person. In fact she was self-involved, narcissistic and devoid of real relationships - essentially a bitch. Sam must now struggle with her desire to be good and her temptation to be...not so good. Finding the line between good and evil is never easy.

Cast:
Christina Applegate (“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”): Sam
Jennifer Esposito (“Related”): Andrea
Kevin Dunn (“Prison Break”): Howard
Melissa McCarthy (“Gilmore Girls”): Dena
Tim Russ (“Without a Trace”): Frank
Jean Smart (“24”): Regina
Barry Watson (“What About Brian”): Todd

Credits:
Story By: Cecelia Ahern & Donald Todd
Teleplay: Donald Todd (“Ugly Betty”)
EP: Donald Todd (“Ugly Betty”)
EP: Peter Traugott (“Frangela”)
Director: Robert Duncan McNeill (“Crossing Jordan”)
Production Company: ABC Studios

Links:

ABC.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia



Cavemen - Tuesdays at 8:00PM EST/PST on ABC

Cavemen is a unique buddy comedy that offers a clever twist on stereotypes and turns race relations on their head. Inspired by the popular Geico Insurance commercials, the series looks at life through the eyes of the ultimate outsiders - three modern cavemen - as they struggle to find their place in the world. Joel, his cynical best friend, Nick, and easy-going little brother, Jamie, are contemporary cavemen who live in the suburban south and simply want to be treated like ordinary thirty-something guys. Despite their attempts at assimilation, Nick doesn’t believe mainstream society will ever completely accept them, Jamie seems to take it all in stride and Joel straddles the middle, torn between his friends, his more traditional values and his loving fiancée.

Cast:
Bill English (“The Pavement”): Joel
Nick Kroll (“Arranged”): Nick
Dash Mihok (“Hollywoodland”): Jamie
Kaitlin Doubleday (“Catch Me If You Can”): Kate
John Heard (“Prison Break”): Trip
Stephanie Lemelin (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”): Thorne

Credits:
EP: Daniel Rappaport (“Office Space”)
EP: Guymon Casady (“Hope & Faith”)
EP/Director: Will Speck & Josh Gordon (“Blades of Glory”)
EP: Bill Martin (“Grounded for Life”)
EP: Mike Schiff (“Grounded for Life”)
Co-EP/Writer: Joe Lawson
Production Company: ABC Studios

Links:

ABC.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia



Carpoolers - Tuesdays at 8:30PM EST/PST on ABC

Less about saving the environment than male bonding, four guys from very different backgrounds relish their daily commute as they commiserate about their lives, jobs and families in the carpool lane. There’s Laird, the recently divorced playboy; Aubrey, the timid homemaker and breadwinner; the conservative and traditional Gracen; and eager newlywed Dougie. Together, between the pressures of home and work, these men find time to be themselves while driving to and from the office.

Cast:
Fred Goss (“Sons & Daughters”): Gracen
Faith Ford (“Hope & Faith”): Leila
Jerry O’Connell (“Crossing Jordan”): Laird
Jerry Minor (“Arrested Development”): Aubrey
Allison Munn (“That ‘70s Show”): Cindy
Tim Peper (“The Guiding Light”): Dougie
T.J. Miller: Marmaduke

Credits:
EP/Writer: Bruce McCulloch (“Saturday Night Live”)
EP: Justin Falvey (“Las Vegas”)
EP: Darryl Frank (“Las Vegas”)
EP: David Miner (“30 Rock”)
EP/Director: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo (“You, Me and Dupree”)
Production Company: ABC Studios

Links:

ABC.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia



Miss/Guided - Mid-Season on ABC

Having navigated the awkward and sometimes traumatic world of high school, Rebecca Freely returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor, free of the insecurities and orthodontia of her school days. Amidst student behavioral problems and the persistent romantic advances of the male nurse, Gary, Rebecca is certain of one thing -- she is interested in the hot auto-shop-turned-Spanish-teacher, Tim. However, much as in high school days of unexpected teenage angst, Lisa, a former cheerleader and nemesis of Rebecca’s, returns as the new English teacher determined to make Rebecca relive her unpopular past, setting sights on Tim as well.

Cast:
Judy Greer (“Two and a Half Men”): Becky
Brooke Burns (“Pepper Dennis”): Lisa
Earl Billings (“How I Met Your Mother”): Principal Huffy
Kristoffer Polaha (“CSI: Miami”): Tim
Jonathan Sadowski (“American Dreams”): Gary

Credits:

EP: Ashton Kutcher (“That ‘70s Show”)
EP: Jason Goldburg (“Beauty and the Geek”)
EP: Karey Burke (“The Real Wedding Crashers”)
EP/Writer: Caroline Williams (“The Office”)
EP/Writer: Gaby Allan (“Scrubs”)
Director: Todd Holland (“Malcolm in the Middle”)
Production Company: 20th Century Fox TV & ABC Studios

Links:

ABC.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia

---

CBS



The Big Bang Theory - Mondays at 8:30PM EST/PST on CBS

THE BIG BANG THEORY is a comedy from the Emmy Award nominated Co-Creator and Executive Producer of "Two and a Half Men" Chuck Lorre, about brainy best friends Leonard (Johnny Galecki, "Roseanne") and Sheldon (Jim Parsons "Judging Amy"), who can tell you anything you want to know about quantum physics, but when it comes to dealing with everyday life here on earth they're lost in the cosmos. Neither fully understands that scientific principles don't always apply in matters of the heart - until they meet their sexy new neighbor Penny (Kaley Cuoco, "8 Simple Rules..."), a friendly screenwriter/waitress from the midwest who also happens to be newly single. She quickly makes an impression on the other members of Leonard and Sheldon's geek squad - Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"), who portrays himself as the Casanova of Cal Tech, and fellow whiz kid Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar, "NCIS"), who is rendered speechless around anyone unprepared to converse about the Theory of Relativity or other scientific jargon. The chemistry between this gaggle of geniuses and a delightful damsel is about to undergo a stimulating series of inter-personal experiments. Multiple Emmy Award winner James Burrows ("Will & Grace") directed the pilot. Lorre and Bill Prady ("Gilmore Girls," "Dharma & Greg") are executive producers for Warner Bros. Television.

Cast:
Johnny Galecki (“Roseanne”): Leonard
Jim Parsons (“Judging Amy”): Sheldon
Kaley Cuoco (“8 Simple Rules”): Penny
Simon Helberg (“Studio 60 at the Sunset Strip”): Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar (“NCIS”): Koothrappali

Links:

CBS.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia

---

Fox

Fall 2007



Back to You - Wednesdays at 8:00PM EST/PST on Fox

In the 90s, the local TV news scene in Pittsburgh was dominated by one team: CHUCK DARLING (Kelsey Grammer, "Frasier," "Cheers") and KELLY CARR (Patricia Heaton, "Everybody Loves Raymond"). They had that elusive quality all news teams need: chemistry ... at least on-screen. Off-screen, Chuck was a bit of a self-centered womanizer, Kelly a bit of an uptight know-it-all. So when Chuck got the call to move up to a larger market, no tears were shed. But after an embarrassing on-air tirade ended up on the Internet, Chuck found himself on the downswing career-wise. He even questioned whether his lifestyle of chasing women and living in hotels was as exciting as it used to be. So when he got the call to return to Pittsburgh, to reunite with Kelly and try to take the newscast back to No. 1, it was an offer he couldn't refuse. Back in Pittsburgh, Chuck has a new coworker in RYAN CHURCH (Josh Gad, "Mary and Joe"), the overstressed news director. There are also familiar faces like MARSH McGINLEY (Fred Willard, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "Best in Show"), the affable, endlessly inappropriate sports anchor, and GARY CREZYZEWSKI, pronounced Kre-shoov-ski (Ty Burrell, "In Good Company," "Out of Practice"), the perennially put-upon field reporter who always seems to get left out in the snow. But, mostly, there's Kelly, now a single mom to 10-year-old GRACIE (Laura Marano, "Without a Trace"). There was magic between them once. Can they find it again?

Cast:
Kelsey Grammer (“Frasier,” “Cheers”): Chuck
Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond”): Kelly
Fred Willard (“Best in Show”): Marsh
Josh Gad (“Mary and Joe”): Ryan
Ty Burrell (“Out of Practice”): Gary
Laura Marano (“Without a Trace”): Gracie

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, Levitan/Lloyd Productions
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS/CREATORS: Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd
DIRECTOR: James Burrows

Links:

FOX.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia

January 2008



The Return of Jezebel James - Wednesdays in January 2008 at 8:30PM EST/PST on Fox

Can two estranged sisters, polar opposites, live together when one agrees to carry the other's baby? SARAH THOMKINS (Parker Posey, "For Your Consideration," "Best in Show") is a bright, optimistic, determined woman who seems to have it all a great job as a children's book editor, an eager-to-please assistant, BUDDY (Michael Arden), who helps keep her life together, and a no-strings-attached personal relationship with successful businessman MARCUS SONTI (Scott Cohen, "Kissing Jessica Stein"). Nevertheless, as her father, RONALD (Ron McLarty, "Law & Order"), is constantly pointing out, something is missing from Sarah's life. Her hard work may garner accolades, but when she goes home at night, she is very much alone. All too aware that she isn't getting any younger, Sarah decides to have a baby on her own and gets the shock of her life when the doctor tells her she can't get pregnant. Having no concept of the term "can't," Sarah wills herself to execute a plan. With nowhere else to turn, Sarah sets up a meeting with her quirky younger sister, COCO (Lauren Ambrose, "Six Feet Under"), and proposes a plan for Coco to carry her baby. They haven't seen each other in a while, and Coco refuses to go along with such a huge favor. But something happens when Sarah mentions that she's turned Coco's imaginary childhood friend, Jezebel James, into a children's book. Even though she doesn't say so out loud, Coco is clearly touched, and, realizing that her current living situation sharing a couch with her friend's sick dog isn't working out, Coco decides that this just might be worth a try.

Cast:
Parker Posey (“For Your Consideration”): Sarah
Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”): Coco
Scott Cohen (“Kissing Jessica Stein”): Marcus
Michael Arden: Buddy
Ron McLarty (“Law & Order”): Ronald

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Regency Television
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino
DIRECTOR: Amy Sherman-Palladino

Links:

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Spring 2008



The Rules for Starting Over - TBD/Spring 2008 on Fox

From the creatively fruitful minds of the Farrelly Brothers comes a single camera comedy, set in Boston, about a group of newly single friends learning the painful lessons of starting over in their 30s. They'd all love to get remarried, if they could just find their true loves. JACK "GATOR" GATELY (Craig Bierko, "Cinderella Man," "Boston Legal") is a charismatic, optimistic leader who never expected to be single again. But now that he is, he's determined to make the best of it. He's going to sift through all the bruised, damaged, occasionally psychotic fruit until he finds "the one." Joining Gator in bachelorhood redux is his thrice-divorced best friend TOMMY (Johnny Sneed, "The Guardian," "Fever Pitch"). The founder and brewmaster of an upstart microbrewery, Tommy has a voracious appetite for food, beer and women. He falls in love easily and always disastrously, yet truly hopes his fourth starter marriage will be "the one." DR. FREDDY SAHGAL (Shaun Majumder, "24," "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") has seen some pretty strange stuff during his years as a successful surgeon, but he's never seen any of it through the eyes of a single man. Probably the least equipped of the group to handle this unexpected life change is Dr. Freddy, who can execute a triple bypass in his sleep, but is all thumbs when it comes to the opposite sex. Rounding out the group is KATE (Rashida Jones, "The Office"), a smart, successful attorney who handled all three of the boys' divorces. Having just turned 30, Kate finds herself dumped after a seven-year engagement. She reluctantly joins the guys in negotiating the treacherous waters of dating. Kate owns the brownstone next to Gator's. Over time, this pair may find that "the one" is just a brick wall away.

Cast:
Craig Bierko (“Cinderella Man”): Gator
Rashida Jones (“The Office”): Kate
Johnny Sneed (“Fever Pitch”): Tommy
Shaun Majumder (“Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”): Dr. Freddy Sahgal

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, Conundrum Entertainment, Watson Pond Productions
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, Bradley Thomas, Brad Johnson
WRITERS: Chris Pappas, Michael Bernier, Kevin Barnett
DIRECTORS: Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly

Links:

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

---

NBC



The IT Crowd - Mid-Season on NBC for 6 episodes

Ever wonder what's up with those quirky techies who come to fix the office computer when no one's around? "The IT Crowd" is an offbeat series, based on the critically acclaimed British comedy, that offers a humorous behind-the-scenes peek at the people who truly keep the office humming. Roy (Joel McHale, "The Soup") and Moss (Richard Ayoade, "The IT Crowd" -- U.K.) are the misunderstood masters of their high-tech domain, but they lack the people skills to befriend anyone but each other. Their company's head is Denholm (Rocky Carrol, "Chicago Hope"), who wants the IT department to stay segregated and forever banished to the basement. Executive producers are Moses Port ("Just Shoot Me"), David Guarascio ("Just Shoot Me"), Joe Port (NBC's "The Office"), Joe Wiseman ("The Office"), Graham Linehan ("The IT Crowd" -- UK) and Steve Tao ("Red Doors"). Gail Mancuso ("Scrubs," "30 Rock") directed the pilot. "The IT Crowd" is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio.

Cast:
Joel McHale (“The Soup”): Roy
Richard Ayoade (“The IT Crowd” -- U.K.): Andrea
Rocky Carroll (“Chicago Hope”): Denholm
Jessica St. Clair: Jen
Rob Reins: Barry
Shea Curry: Emily

Links:

NBC.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia

---

The CW



Aliens in America - Mondays at 8:30PM EST/PST on The CW

Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd, "The Hills Have Eyes") is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to make it through the social nightmare of high school in Medora, Wisconsin, with the help of his well-meaning mom Franny (Amy Pietz, "Caroline in the City"), aspiring-entrepreneur dad Gary (Patrick Breen, "Kevin Hill"), and his popular sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw, "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"), who is sweetly unaware of how good-looking she is. When Franny signs up for the school's international exchange student program, she pictures an athletic, brilliant Nordic teen who will bestow instant coolness on her outsider son. However, when the Tolchuk's exchange student arrives, he turns out to be Raja Musharaff (Adhir Kalyan, "Fair City"), a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim. Despite the cultural chasm between them, Justin and Raja quickly develop an unlikely friendship that just might allow them to navigate the minefield that is contemporary high school. It's going to be a very interesting year for Raja, Justin, his family and the entire population of Medora. ALIENS IN AMERICA is from CBS Paramount Network Television Inc. and Warner Bros. Television with executive producers Tim Doyle ("Jake in Progress"), Moses Port ("Just Shoot Me," "Mad About You") and David Guarascio ("Just Shoot Me," "Mad About You"). Luke Greenfield ("The Girl Next Door") directed the pilot.

Cast:
Dan Byrd (“The Hills Have Eyes”): Justin
Amy Pietz (“Caroline in the City”): Franny
Patrick Breen (“Kevin Hill”): Gary
Lindsay Shaw (“Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide”): Claire
Adhir Kalyan (“Fair City”): Raja

Links:

CWTV.com

Internet Movie Database

TV.com

Wikipedia

---

Discuss the fall schedules here: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, The CW.

What's Your Fall Viewing Schedule?

Which new sitcoms have the best chance at success? Vote in our poll.

Which sitcom actor are you happiest about returning in a new show? Vote in our poll.

Stay tuned for our reviews of the pilots for these new sitcoms in the upcoming months!

Fox and The CW Upfront 2007-08: Fall 2007 Schedule; ABC Family Adds 'Sister', '8 Simple Rules'

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

Fox 2007-08
Fall 2007

Sundays
7:00PM NFL Postgame
8:00PM The Simpsons
8:30PM King of the Hill
9:00PM Family Guy
9:30PM American Dad

Mondays
8:00PM Prison Break
9:00PM K-Ville (NEW!)

Tuesdays
8:00PM New Amsterdam (NEW!)
9:00PM House

Wednesdays
8:00PM Back to You (NEW!)
8:30PM 'Til Death
9:00PM Bones

Thursdays
8:00PM Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
9:00PM Kitchen Nightmares (NEW!)

Fridays
8:00PM The Search for the Next Greatest American Band (NEW!)
9:00PM Nashville (NEW!)

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


January 2008:

Sundays
7:00PM King of the Hill
7:30PM American Dad
8:00PM The Simpsons
8:30PM Family Guy
9:00PM The Sarah Connor Chronicles (NEW!)

Mondays
8:00PM K-Ville (January)/Prison Break (Spring)
9:00PM 24

Tuesdays
8:00PM American Idol
9:00PM House

Wednesdays
8:00PM Back to You
8:30PM The Return of Jezbel James (NEW!)
9:00PM American Idol Results Show
9:30PM 'Til Death

Thursdays
8:00PM Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
9:00PM Canterbury's Law (NEW!)

Fridays
8:00PM Bones
9:00PM New Amsterdam

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

Fox has not yet scheduled a slot for mid-season comedy The Rules for Starting Over.
To recap, Fox will launch two new dramas, one new comedy and three new reality series in the fall. Two new dramas and two new sitcoms will launch in mid-season.

Discuss Fox's 2007-08 line-up here.



Your first look at The CW's official line-up!

The CW 2007-08

Fall 2007

Sundays
7:00PM Online Nation (NEW!)
7:30PM The CW Now (NEW!)
8:00PM Life is Wild (NEW!)
9:00PM Top Model Encore

Mondays
8:00PM Everybody Hates Chris
8:30PM Aliens in America (NEW!)
9:00PM Girlfriends
9:30PM The Game

Tuesdays
8:00PM Beauty and the Geek
9:00PM Reaper (NEW)

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM Gossip Girl (NEW!)

Thursdays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM Supernatural

Fridays
8:00PM WWE Smackdown!


Mid-Season:

Coming off the bench in mid-season are returning drama series One Tree Hill and returning reality series Pussycat Dolls Present along with two new reality series Crowned and Farmer Wants a Wife.

Discuss The CW's 2007-08 line-up here.


ABC Family has made changes to its June line-up and will be adding two sitcoms to its afternoon and evening line-up! Joining the line-up at 2 & 2:30 p.m. weekdays starting June 11 will be the Tia & Tamara sitcom Sister, Sister! Also joining the line-up, airing weekdays at 6 & 6:30 p.m. starting June 12 (a movie will air here on June 11 for that night only) will be the John Ritter sitcom 8 Simple Rules! Now because of these changes, ABC Family will edit some other timeslots. Step by Step which was airing 2 & 2:30 p.m. will move to 8 & 8:30 a.m. weekdays. 8 & :30 a.m. was Boy Meets World, now that will move to afternoons at 3 & 3:30 p.m. Full House was 3 & 3:30 p.m., now that will move down to 4 & 4:30 p.m., replacing Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which is now going to be weekdays at 9:00 a.m, replacing America's Funniest Home Videos. Grounded for Life will return to the weekday line-up and air at 7 & 7:30 p.m. 8 Simple Rules and Grounded for Life will replace 7th Heaven and Smallville. Smallville is going to be moving to 12 midnight replacing America's Funniest Home Videos. It will only air Wed-Fri because original encores air in the slot on Monday and Tuesday nights. What about 7th Heaven? It will only air Sunday mornings now at 7 & 8 a.m...ouch.
To view the full schedule, click HERE.

Upfront Rumblings; Mini-DVD Review: The Chipmunks Go to the Movies (May 22)

We interrupt our regular scheduled Saturday blog for an update on the network upfronts. This is probably the busiest TV weekend of the year--the weekend before the network upfronts start. Latest buzz:

ABC:
Drama Pick-Ups: Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice, Cashmere Mafia, Big Shots (aka Perfect Gentlemen), Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and Women's Murder Club.
Sitcom Pick-Ups: Sam I Am, Cavemen, and Carpoolers.
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Football Wives
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: The Middle, The Hill, Miss/Guided
No Shot: Marlowe
Possible On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Notes from the Underbelly (13 episodes), Knights of Prosperity (9 episodes), October Road (TBD episodes)
Comments: There have been some expense issues for some series like Football Wives & Marlowe. Women's Murder Club will be very cheap to produce so ABC will pick that up over Marlowe. Football Wives could still get picked-up as it could be a key series for ABC next season. They can premiere it in January or even after the Dancing with the Stars season finale in mid-November. Sitcom wise, ABC's only sure thing was Sam I Am...rumor was The Middle and Miss/Guided were going to be picked-up for the fall, but now they decided to pick-up Cavemen and Carpoolers instead, but both most likely will be for mid-season. ABC can still pick up The Middle and a traditional sitcom like The Hill. As for the current series, look for Underbelly and October Road to be renewed and their is an outside chance that The Knights of Prosperity will return with 9 new episodes to go along with the few unaired episodes from this season. Mix reports so far for George Lopez...some sources say it is canceled and some say it will return mid-season. According to Jim has a less of a chance to return. And What About Brian looks like will not return for a third season.

CBS:
Drama Pick-Ups: Swingtown, Viva Laughlin, Cane (AKA: Los Duques), Babylon Fields.
Sitcom Pick-Ups: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: The Man
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: 1321 Clover
No Shot: I'm in Hell
Possible On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Jericho (13 episodes), Close to Home (13 episodes), The Unit
Comments: CBS might not pick up a sitcom for the fall as the slate has been weak and they might be forced to bring back New Adventures of Old Christine in the fall rather than mid-season. 1321 Clover is the only sitcom in contention now, with series like The Big Bang Theory far behind. There is word that Jericho will be back for 13 episodes and same goes for Close to Home. Both will probably not be part of fall though. The Unit might also not be, as The Man has gotten closer to a pick-up, CBS might try that on Tuesdays for the fall. The Jason Biggs comedy I'm in Hell is dead and has no shot really of a pick-up...and The Class has no shot of a second season really. The Amazing Race will likely return in January or March.

NBC:
Drama Pick-Ups: Chuck, Life, Journeyman, Bionic Woman, Lipstick Jungle.
Sitcom Pick-Ups: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: None.
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Business Crowd, I.T. Crowd, Lipshitz Saves the World
No Shot: Mastersons of Manhattan
On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: Friday Night Lights, Scrubs (18 episodes)
Comments: As for NBC, so far no sitcom pick-ups but word is Business Crowd or I.T. Crowd will be picked-up for the fall while the other is saved for mid-season. Lipshitz Saves the World is also in consideration. On the drama front, there is word that Lipstick Jungle has been picked-up, but for mid-season. So NBC could potentially have two series that starts with "Lip"...odd. NBC has announced that Scrubs will indeed return to the network for one final season for 18 episodes...maybe for the fall or another January start. Still no word on Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, but Crossing Jordan is about as good as dead right now it seems.

FOX:
Drama Pick-Ups: Sarah Connor Chronicles, New Amsterdam, K-Ville
Sitcom Pick-Ups: Back To You, The Return of Jezebel James, Rules for Starting Over
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Nurses, The Apostle, Them, Canterbury's Law, Company Man
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Animals
No Shot: Supreme Courtships
On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: 'Til Death
Comments: Fox has picked-up three sitcoms so far and three dramas. They are in contention to pick-up a few more dramas even and maybe an animated sitcom. It looks like Kirstie Allie's sitcom is dead and the drama Supreme Courtships was written off days ago. Fox will bring back 'Til Death for a second season to join the three new comedies on the new Wednesday comedy block with Bones either moving to Thursdays or Fridays.

The CW:
Drama Pick-Ups: Gossip Girls, Reaper
Sitcom Pick-Ups: None
Still Could Be Picked Up Dramas: Wild at Heart, World According to Barnes
Still Could Be Picked Up Sitcoms: Aliens in America, Hell on Earth, Eight Days a Week
No Shot: Spellbound
On the Bubble Current Series Renewals: One Tree Hill, Supernatural
Comments: No Veronica Mars has not been picked-up yet! I don't think it will be either. So far no sitcoms have been picked up but Aliens in America, Hell on Earth are close to...one will be for the fall, one will be for mid-season. It seems Girlfriends and The Game will return. Two new dramas so far have been officially picked-up, with two more possibly to follow. Look for Supernatural and One Tree Hill to return but with new nights. Everybody Hates Chris, America's Next Top Model and Smallville will be the only locks to stay in their current positions...and well WWE Smackdown!

Check back periodically as we get more updates all-weekend long! I don't sleep during upfronts week!

Join us all next week (May 14-17) bright and early for the fall schedules. I assure you we will be among the first ones to post the fall line-ups for each network.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog programming:

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at Paramount Home Entertainment's The Chipmunks Go to the Movies. The Chipmunks Go to the Movies is a continuation of Alvin and the Chipmunks from 1990 where the Chipmunks re-enact your favorite classic movies like Star Trek, Batman and Honey I Shrunk the Kids! See my mini-DVD review of The Chipmunks Go to the Movies:

Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Chipmunks Go to the Movies (Paramount, $14.99) brings three episodes from the short-lived 13 episode series. This is the fourth set from Paramount featuring the Chipmunks series. The last set was the Valentine's set set. Previously we had the Halloween and Christmas specials releases. Paramount has also released the Chipmunk feature film from 1987 on a separate set...so five sets really. This set has three episodes from the 1990 series featuring spoofs on Batman, Star Trek & Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The episode titles are "Star Wreck," "Batmunk," and "Funny...We Shrunk the Adults." Why not just bring all 13 on two discs or something? It doesn't make sense to me why just three episodes. Each episode runs 21:30 or so, but there are NO closing credits! Very strange! No chapter stops like previous Chipmunk sets. Packaging is simple and in the same line as the previous sets--a nice simple case with the disc inside with an insert for Chipmunks.com. The menu screen has Play All and Episode Selection. The video and audio are decent and very watchable.
I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set. New fans might also want to see this hilarious take on popular films, but I am hoping Paramount (or any other studio) releases the series on DVD in order with the classic episodes, and not just select episodes from The Chipmunks years. I like the old style animation the series had on NBC from 1983-87...why aren't they coming to DVD first?? I want to see The C-Team episode with Mr. T again! So, hopefully we get the series on DVD from the start next, but for now go out and buy this set and watch Alvin as The Joker and more!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Alvin & the Chipmunks TV.com Page
Chipmunks.com

SitcomsOnline.com 2007-08 Upfront Preview: The CW; TV Land July Highlights; ION Television June Highlights

With potentially 4 or 5 veteran series leaving, it will be up to The CW development slate to find some hits. Say goodbye to favorites 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Reba and possibly Veronica Mars. Smallville and America's Next Top Model will carry the network.
Here is the SitcomsOnline.com The CW 2007-08 preview:

New Series Already Picked-Up: None.
New Series We Think That Are Almost Good To Go: Aliens in America (sitcom), Gossip Girl (drama), Reaper (drama), Spellbound (drama) and Wild at Heart (drama).
New Series Perhaps Picked-Up for Mid-Season: The World According to Barnes (drama) and Hell on Earth (sitcom).

OUR FALL 2007 PREDICTION:

Sundays
5:00PM Various Repeats
6:00PM Various Repeats
7:00PM America's Next Top Model Encore
8:00PM Supernatural
9:00PM Spellbound (NEW)

Mondays
8:00PM Everybody Hates Chris
8:30PM Aliens in America (NEW)
9:00PM Girlfriends
9:30PM The Game

Tuesdays
8:00PM Wild at Heart (NEW)
9:00PM One Tree Hill / Pussycat Dolls

Wednesdays
8:00PM America's Next Top Model
9:00PM Gossip Girl (NEW)

Thursdays
8:00PM Smallville
9:00PM Reaper (NEW)

Fridays
8:00PM WWE Smackdown!

Comments: This is another tough prediction. Veronica Mars is probably dead and One Tree Hill & Supernatural will return I think. Mondays I think The CW will stick with the comedies, but add another single camera sitcom to go with Chris...possibly Aliens in America or the Kyla Pratt sitcom Hell on Earth. Girlfriends will probably have to come back to go with The Game, as both are traditional sitcoms, and CW has none in development. Tuesdays with Gilmore Girls out of the mix they could go with the Gossip Girl or Wild at Heart, I choose the latter and maybe One Tree Hill can move from Wednesday to Tuesday. Wednesday will of course have Next Top Model followed by Gossip Girl maybe. Thursday I put Reaper out of Smallville with Supernatural moving to Sundays leading into new drama Spellbound. You can say goodbye to favorites 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Reba, All of Us and Veronica Mars. And shows like Runaway. Reality hit Beauty and the Geek will probably be back for mid-season in between Top Model cycles. Pussycat Girls could start for the fall and delay One Tree Hill a bit.

Remember, next Thursday (May 17) is the actual date when we will find out The CW's plans for the 2006-07 season. So, come on back next Thursday and we will let you know the details and you can see how much we were right (or wrong). Stay tuned next week for all the final schedules released by all the networks! We will put them up as soon as they are released by the networks, so this will be your home to see them first!

TV Land announced its July highlights today. The summer marathons (we announced last week) which will air 10pm-4:30am starting June 4, will continue in July through July 22. Starting July 23 the regular scheduled shows from 10p-4:30a will return. The other July highlights include The Jeffersons Go to Hawaii 4-part episode airing on the 4th of July to-be-continued-free from 8-10pm. Friday movies include the premieres of The Negotiator, Dragnet, and the Elvis movie Speedway.
TV Land Confidential returns for a second season starting July 11 airing Wednesdays a 10! Just when you thought you heard it all. TV Land Confidential brings you the stories behind your favorite TV shows from the people who were there: the stars, producers, network executives and others in the know. Sure, you’ve seen the shows. You know all the characters. You know all the storylines, but here are the stories you haven’t heard. TV Land Confidential reveals all the behind-the-scenes secrets! Some of the topics that will be covered this season include: How did What's Happening!! get a second chance at life and why didn't Larry Hagman appear in the Jeannie reunion movies? And how did Balki come up with that crazy accent on Perfect Strangers?
And for you What's Happening Now!! fans, as of now no new episodes are scheduled for July. We will get the entire first season in June on TV Land. Let's hope we get more new episodes soon after.

ION Television has announced its June schedule. There are no changes to the regular line-up. Remember when we said they will air the series Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker the week of May 28 at 10pm? It is now confirmed that it is only a week-long series. The finale will air Saturday, June 2 from 8-11pm. Diagnosis Murder will return to the weekday line-up after a week off on June 4 in its regular 9pm slot, shifting The Wonder Years back to its 10pm slot after a week at 9pm.
ION weekend movies include Superman: The Movie and The Principal. Joining ION on June 29 every Friday through Sunday from 7-11PM will be programming from the RHI Entertainment library. Classic TV movies, mini-series and new original movies will be airing. The TV movies for this month include Broken Vows and Lonesome Dove.
You will want to come back next month when we announce the ION July line-up. There is expected to be changes to the line-up with some new additions, including possibly fan favorite Perfect Strangers! Don't be ridiculous! Great stuff! We will have more on July when announced, and of course more RHI programming will air with even original new movies.
But for now click HERE for the June highlights!

Finally, To celebrate Mother's Day - Princess Cruises is reuniting television's favorite mothers and daughters to christen its newest cruise ship, Emerald Princess: Florence Henderson & Susan Olsen of The Brady Bunch and Marion Ross & Erin Moran of Happy Days! The TV icons will crack the bottle of champagne to christen the ship in Athens, Greece -- the birthplace of Mother's Day -- on May 13. Gavin McLeod, former "Captain Stubing" of The Love Boat, will officiate.

ION Television's 1st Upfront Presentation, Perfect Strangers, A-Team Coming Soon?; The CW Ends 'Gilmore Girls'

ION Television had its first upfront presentation. They just released the press release to us and it is hot off the press! It doesn't go into detail on what shows and movies are coming actually, but the press release mentioned stars like Vicki Lawrence (Mama's Family), Tracey Gold (Growing Pains), and Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) were on hand at the presentation. While they didn't go ahead and mention any programming titles, it is safe to assume Perfect Strangers is coming to the network soon since Bronson was there! And maybe Growing Pains will return, since Tracey was there. The press release also mentioned The A-Team when touting its series, so maybe that is coming soon, too?
The press release states: The strength of classic programing series is demonstrated in strong audience growth – especially in adults ages 25-54, which experienced a 31 percent gain in Monday to Sunday primetime. And new programming deals are on the horizon. Stay tuned!
Hmmm new deals are on the horizon. Interesting. The press release didn't tell us whether the hours will expand from more than 6-11pm, but I think they will, they just haven't announced it yet.
The highlight of the upfront was of course the RHI deal, which will air Fri-Sun 7-11pm starting June 29. Explosive new programming partnership with RHI Entertainment, the award-winning producer and distributor of groundbreaking miniseries and movies for television. RHI's exciting lineup of programming for ION will include the creation of exclusive original programming as well as quality library titles & movies. The first of a promised 12 originals per year is Killer Wave, a political-thriller miniseries featuring a multi billion-dollar conspiracy that will have audiences at the edge of their seats.
Finally, the upfront included a sneak peek at ION’s partnership with Firebrand, a first-of-its-kind multi-platform experience that gives consumers interactive access to their favorite brands, products and promotions, set to launch in the fall airing weeknights from 11pm-12am. Firebrand programs only the best TV commercials as a reflection of pop culture in an environment rich with consumer touch points.
We will certainly have more news for you when we hear! Diagnosis Murder is also going to air Saturdays at 6PM, so an hour of expansion on Saturdays, as it was 7-11pm. This will start Saturday, May 26. For now, read the Upfront press release.

It looks like The CW's Gilmore Girls will end after its May 15 airing. The series will come to end with a proper series finale. The show started back in 2000 and was a high performer for The WB and still was one of the top shows on the new CW. The CW and Warner Bros. Television released this statement:
"Announcing the final season of Gilmore Girls is truly a sad moment for everyone at The CW and Warner Bros. Television," statement read. "This series helped define a network and created a fantastic, storybook world featuring some of television's most memorable, lovable characters."

NBC, Fox, ABC, CW Notes, Includes '30 Rock' Renewal for 07-08 Season; Interview with Maureen 'Marcia Brady' McCormick

We have more schedule notes to tell you, but before I start on that, NBC has renewed rookie sitcom 30 Rock for the 2007-08 season, despite not that good ratings. The show is a critical hit and stars Tina Fey. The show returns Thursday, April 5, with a special super-sized episode from 8:40 p.m. to 9:20 p.m. ET before moving to its new 9:00 p.m. Thursday slot the following week.
Sticking with NBC, we mentioned a few days ago that they would cut The Black Donnellys short and will remove starting on April 23, but after this week's bad ratings, NBC has pulled it effective immediately. A second hour of the new NBC improv series Thank God You're Here will air instead. April 16 is still TBD, but if Thank God does well, NBC is likely to air that again.
And Fox has also pulled a show they promised to air until after its April 20 airing. Friday drama The Wedding Bells will be pulled two weeks earlier than expected. The show will be replaced by encores of Bones starting April 20. A movie will air next Friday. This Friday will be the last for this short lived drama. Meanwhile, Fox will bring back Trading Spouses to Thursdays at 9 starting April 12. April 12 & 19 will be encores and the season finale will be a two-part episode on April 26 and May 3.
The CW is saying that 7th Heaven will have its series finale on Sunday, May 13 at 8 p.m. This looks like it actually will be the series finale as the ratings haven't been that good on Sundays. 7th Heaven aired Mondays at 8 for years prior to this season. Over 7 million tuned in to last year's finale, which was labeled a series finale until The CW made a last minute renewal.
The CW's mid-season drama Hidden Palms finally has a date, but it will launch in the summer. The CW has slotted it for Wednesday, May 30 at 8 p.m. One Tree Hill will follow at 9 p.m. and will be new for the first three weeks Palms airs. The CW is expected to air eight episodes of Palms. The show focuses on Johnny Miller, a teen who is struggling to come to terms with two tragedies in the strange and artificial atmosphere of Palm Springs. The show is produced by Kevin Williamson.
Finally, ABC has confirmed to us that the final two Thursdays of the season following all-new Grey's Anatomy episodes will be the return of Men in Trees. Trees has five episodes left, but ABC will only air two of them (May 10 and May 17 at 10), and hold the other three over for next season likely.

For those of you who are Three's Company fans like myself, know all about the great Chris Mann. Mann of course wrote the wonderful book Come and Knock on Our Door, and Mann continues to write. He just did an article/interview for TV Guide. He interviewed Marcia Brady herself--Maureen McCormick! Maureen will be featured in the new season of Celebrity Fit Club, premiering on VH-1 on Sunday, April 22. Maureen will also be reunited with her fellow Brady Bunch gang in the 5th TV Land Awards airing also on April 22 (tapes on April 14), accepting the Pop Culture Award. Mann talks to Maureen about all of that, turning 50, her overcome of bulimia and much more! Click HERE to view this great piece! The Brady Bunch Complete Series DVD is on sale, but before you buy it, don't forget to read our review.
Mann will have another interview with Maureen in the May issue of Get Active! magazine, available nationally at Bally Total Fitness and several other health and fitness clubs. That story, will probably also will be posted on GetActiveMagazine.com sometime next month, will have more details of her Celebrity Fit Club experience and her inspiring personal transformation, as well as her fond memories of her mother. Mann also asked her if people still say, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" to her and she said, "Oh, yeah! All the time!"