Comcast's TubeTime Brings Back Diff'rent Strokes, What's Happening; WGN Acquires American Gladiators Revivial Reruns

Comcast's onDemand service TubeTime is bringing back Diff'rent Strokes and What's Happening!! onDemand! The first 5 episodes of each are available again to view at your leisure! These two have been on Comcast's TubeTime previously and now they both return.
TubeTime still has Facts of Life, Three Stooges, Gidget, Larry Sanders Show and Sanford & Son on their service, too. So fans of those series, not to worry...they will remain. It looks like since we last reported, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Who's the Boss?, One Day at a Time, and Silver Spoons are off the service for now. For those wondering Facts of Life episodes are currently in the sixth season on TubeTime, while Three Stooges are in the fourth season, Gidget at the end of the first season, Larry Sanders Show is in the second season, and as is Sanford & Son. Let's hope they get to season three of Diff'rent Strokes quickly, since starting with that season it is not on DVD yet. What's Happening!! is already complete on DVD, so it would have been better if it was follow-up series What's Happening Now!! instead, since only one season of that is on DVD. In addition to that, I'm hoping the following pop-up on TubeTime in the future: Dennis the Menace, Sanford, Benson, 227, Archie Bunker's Place, Maude, and hoping some return like Silver Spoons. Maybe wishful thinking on some? TubeTime only provides Sony owned series to Comcast.

WGN America has acquired reruns of the revival of American Gladiators that aired on NBC last year. The series will air Thursday nights at 9pm ET starting Thursday, June 25. American Gladiators will follow WWE Superstars on Thursday nights and that should finally give WGN America a good companion to WWE Superstars.
In other schedule news, Around the World for Free will wrap up its season on Monday, June 22, then a series of specials will air in July on Mondays at 9pm ET titled Lance Burton, Master Magician. Once that wraps, a second rerun of AFV will return on Monday nights. The special ASA Action Sports World Tour will air at 9pm ET on Thursday, July 9 (that will shift American Gladiators to Wednesday at 9pm ET for that week only).
And as for classic TV, there will be plenty of it this fall and we will get to that soon! One hint is one show that airs on the network will be celebrating an anniversary, and WGN America will air an anniversary marathon! We will tell you that soon! So keep checking back!

Comcast onDemand's TubeTime Adds More Series, Removes Some; Comcast onDemand's TheWB Adds More; Scrubs Returns Tonight

Comcast onDemand's channel TubeTime, owned by Sony Pictures Television, has added four more series to its onDemand slate this past week. Gidget, The Larry Sanders Show, The Three Stooges, and Sanford & Son have been added with the first four episodes of each series. Now gone from the service are Silver Spoons and One Day at a Time. It is unfortunate because they didn't get to finish the run on either. They even had episodes beyond season one for those two, and both haven't had any DVD releases after season one. Still on the service will be The Facts of Life, Who's the Boss?, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Party of Five. It's nice Facts of Life and Who's the Boss? are still on it since they are on seasons 5 and 4 respectively, and they haven't been released on DVD after seasons 3 and 1 respectively. I don't understand a few of these additions to the slate like Sanford & Son, which is already complete on DVD and is on television on TV Land & TV One. It would have been better if they kept Silver Spoons or One Day at a Time. What would have been better was if they added Sanford Arms or Sanford instead of the heavily seen Sanford & Son. What I'd like to see return or come to TubeTime: Diff'rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, One Day at a Time, What's Happening Now!!, Benson, Maude, 227, Archie Bunker's Place, Sanford, Sanford Arms, Grady, Hello Larry, Checking In and more. All of those are from Sony Pictures, so they could come. We'll keep you up to date as always.

Sticking with more Comcast onDemand news...a few weeks ago we told you that Comcast has added TheWB onDemand channel to its onDemand service. They launched with Warner Bros. owned series Martin, All of Us, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Jack & Bobby. More episodes of those shows are added each week, and this week they added three more series to the onDemand channel! Three dramas from this decade have been added: One Tree Hill, The O.C., and Veronica Mars. The first 5 or 6 episodes of those were added, while the existing series are now up to the first 8 episodes. So far they seem to be skewing with the newer series, with Mr. Cooper and Martin as their oldest series. Hopefully they add more sitcoms, and more from the past. Some shows hat would be perfect for this service would be Alice, Perfect Strangers, Hogan Family, Head of the Class, Welcome Back Kotter Gilligan's Island, and Chico and the Man. Just my thoughts. All of those are not seen anywhere nationally. Hopefully some of those will come soon. We'll let you know if we get further updates.

Just a reminder that Scrubs returns for an all-new season, its eighth season, tonight at 9pm with two back-to-back episodes...on ABC! I saw both episodes last month, and they were pretty funny, especially the first one...check out my comments. I was never big on this show but did watch a handful of episodes in the past.
Also premiering tonight leading into Scrubs at 8pm ET will be Homeland Security USA, a look at how the Homeland Security Division does its job. It is pretty interesting. I also saw that premiere a few weeks back and I think many will like it also...check out my comments.
Finally, I have to mention this because I'm from the town, but Primetime: What Would You Do? returns tonight at 10pm on ABC and will feature my town of Linden, NJ! I am so actually excited. What Would You Do? explores how people react when they witness blatant racial discrimination. In this scenario, Latino men and women attempt to place an order in broken English at All Aboard Bagel and Deli in downtown Linden, NJ. But their requests are met by extreme prejudice from the cashier. Hidden cameras capture how customers respond to the scenario. Find out what happens tonight at 10pm.

Chicago's Me-TV and Me-Too Winter 2009 Schedules; BET January 2009

Classic Chicago stations Me-TV and Me-Too will be changing their line-up for the winter in January, but before that we have marathons to talk about! Celebrate the New Year with three marathons on Me-TV & Me-Too! Starting on December 31 at 9AM, let Me-Too (WMEU Channel 48) show you can "Fling in the New Year" with an all-day The Three Stooges Marathon. What better way to celebrate the New Year, than to cozy up on the couch on New Year's Eve! Watch Larry, Moe and Curly and their outrageous antics all day! See more than 50 episodes of what many consider to be one of the best comedy series ever! Close out 2008 and ring in 2009 with the Stooges from 9AM-3AM on New Year's Eve.
Then on New Year's Day, you've got your choice of the classics. See the best work of special effects pioneer filmmaker, Ray Harryhausen on Me-Too (Channel 48). Harryhausen is most famous for his stop-motion model animation, which won him an Academy Award! Featured movies include the classic titles 7th Voyage of Sinbad & Jason and the Argonauts from 8AM to 10PM.
Or instead take a day trip down to Mayberry with Me-TV (WWME Channel 23) for "The Andy Griffith-thon." Spend your day reliving all of your favorite moments from The Andy Griffith Show during Me-TV's "The Andy Griffith-thon." From Andy getting Opie out of trouble to keeping a watchful eye over Aunt Bee's romantic adventures, it's a blast from the past all-day long. See these classic episodes in the rarely seen full network versions, New Year's Day beginning at 9AM all the way to 11PM only on Me-TV!
As for the Winter schedules, Me-TV will be adding The Andy Griffith Show to its line-up after the marathon on New Year's Day. Other changes include In the Heat of the Night being replaced weekdays at 12 noon by Charlie's Angels; weekday afternoons gets a makeover with back-to-back Bewitched and The Cosby Show coming between 3-5pm replacing Cheers, Benson and 3rd Rock; early evenings will see some shuffling, but Andy Griffith joins at 6:30pm replacing Fresh Prince. Batman is gone at 7pm replaced by Dick Van Dyke. In primetime, we now have dramas instead of sitcoms, with Perry Mason and The Untouchables instead of Happy Days and Cosby Show. We get another Andy Griffith airing at 10:30pm, while The Odd Couple joins Me-TV at 11:30pm, and Cheers and 3rd Rock move from afternoons to late nights starting at 12:30am. In the overnights, we now get classic drama Route 66.
As for Saturdays, 11am-6pm gets a total makeover, going to more of a sci-fi route instead of crime. Black Sheep Squadron, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, and Star Trek will air from 11am-6pm replacing Dragnet, Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., TJ Hooker, Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch and SWAT. At 6pm, since Star Trek has moved to 5pm, we now get two Andy Griffith Show episodes.
On Sundays, the sitcom blocks get a makeover. In the 12 noon hour we now have Family Ties replacing Bewitched/I Dream of Jeannie, then in the 1pm hour it is back-to-back Leave it to Beaver, replacing an airing of One Day at a Time, which is now off the line-up. At 2:30 another I Love Lucy is added, giving it a full hour. Who's the Boss? and Mork & Mindy are now also gone, replaced by back-to-back Dick Van Dyke Show episodes in the 3pm hour. At 4pm, we now have two Beverly Hillbillies episodes instead of Gilligan's Island and Family Ties. Replacing The Nanny and Roseanne in the 6pm hour are Happy Days and Andy Griffith...it's a Ron Howard hour. Benson is now only Sundays at 9pm, replacing Good Times, while Andy Griffith airs at 10:30pm moving Barney Miller to 12 midnight, replacing one of the Get Smart airings.
View the FULL Me-TV Chicago Winter 2009 line-up.

As for the Me-Too winter lineup, they also will make many changes. Patty Duke Show comes to weekdays at 7am and the morning sitcom block starting at 9am has been altered with Webster, Beverly Hillbillies and I Love Lucy. Gone are Saved by the Bell, Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction. Dramas take over during the afternoon with Eight is Enough, Little House, Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., and Cagney & Lacey. In the Heat of the Night moves from Me-TV to Me-Too airing weekdays at 6pm. Other weekday changes include an All in the Family/The Jeffersons hour weekdays at 9pm.
As for Saturdays, from 1pm-8pm is now westerns with such classics such as Marshall Dillon, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wild Wild West, Have Gun Will Travel and The Rifleman. The overnight sitcom block has changed a bit too, with Dennis the Menace and Green Acres leaving, but Father Knows Best & Flying Nun, are among the shows airing now.
Sundays doesn't see many changes happening. Among the minor changes are Delvecchio at 6pm instead of Perry Mason.
View the FULL Me-Too Chicago Winter 2009 line-up.

Moving on to cable, BET has announced its January line-up. Recently ended talk show The Montel Williams Show joins the BET line-up on Monday, January 5 airing weekday mornings at 9am. The long-running talk show will start its run on BET with the episode "Mistaken Identity: It Could Happen to You." Also, as we mentioned, the animated comedy The Proud Family will join the regular schedule on BET in January as well. It will join the Saturday line-up this Saturday with a mini-marathon before settling into its 12 noon and 12:30pm slot starting Jan. 10 following back-to-back Romeo!, Just Jordan and Smart Guy. BUT...that's not all! The Proud Family will get a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marathon from 9am-2pm on Monday, January 19. The Proud Family will join the regular weekday schedule as well starting Monday, January 26 airing weekdays in the 5pm hour, following back-to-back Steve Harvey, One on One, and Smart Guy all starting at 2pm.
As we all know, BET likes to edit things from time to time, so if anything changes, we will let you all know!

ION Adds Mr. Cooper in July Now; Three Stooges Minisodes Added

A few weeks ago we gave you details on ION Television's July 2008 schedule and no changes were being made to the line-up...now ION has made a change. Effective Monday, July 7 at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT, ION will add Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, replacing The Wayans Bros. ION was going to start Mr. Cooper in the fall in that slot but decided to launch it two months earlier than planned.
Last time I mentioned The Drew Carey Show would air after a Thursday movie on July 3 at 10:30pm, now that has been moved to July 17 at 10:30pm. The Drew Carey Show is slated to return to the ION regular line-up this fall airing at 6pm, leading into M*A*S*H at 6:30pm.
Everything else we mentioned last time is the same...so no other changes to July.
Discuss ION July on our message boards. We still hope to have our interview with them soon...I promise it will come, but ION seems to be very busy.

Sony TV's newly revamped multi-platform network brings you the shows you love, only shorter! The Minisode Network offers 5-minute adaptations of favorite television shows that retain the full story arc of the episode. On June 17, today, the network will be launching minisodes of The Three Stooges.
Go to MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/minisodenetwork), Crackle (http://crackle.com/c/minisodenetwork), YouTube, AOL, Hulu, Joost, Verizon V CAST, and Sprint TV to check out minisodes of The Three Stooges and your other favorite shows including Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Married...with Children, Silver Spoons, Charlie's Angels, What's Happening!! and so many more! Now you can laugh at all the funniest moments in 5 minutes and still get the story of Larry, Moe, and Curly!

ABC Family July 2008: That '70s Show and Nanny 911 Join; WPIX Announces 60th Anniversary Bash

ABC Family Channel has announced its July 2008 schedule and it will see the launch of sitcom That '70s Show and reality series Nanny 911. That '70s Show will launch on Friday, July 4 with a 4th of July marathon from 11am-7:30pm, leading into a Harry Potter weekend marathon. The sitcom will then air weekdays starting Monday, July 7 from 7pm-8pm, replacing Grounded for Life. The sitcom will also air on a Friday primetime block from 8-10pm and 12-1am starting July 11. Grounded for Life will air Fridays 10-11pm starting then, too. Grounded for Life will also continue to air weekdays 10-11am, but the 11am Saturday airing will be That '70s Show starting July 12. So this means That '70s Show will be on three cable networks after it joins ABC Family. It will air in primetime on The N starting later this month (9-10pm and 12-1am weeknights) and will continue to air on FX in the daytime and late nights. Is there no time restrictions for this show on these channels? Seems odd since other shows with shared cable deals can only air at certain times. Anyway, Thursday nights in primetime starting July 17, ABC Family will air the canceled Fox reality series Nanny 911 from 8-11pm every Thursday.
New original series The Secret Life of the American Teenager will premiere July 1 and air Tuesdays at 8PM and new episodes continue of original series The Middleman Mondays at 8PM. ABC Family also has an original movie called Picture This! on Sunday, July 13 starring Ashley Tisdale and Kevin Pollack.
For more on ABC Family July 2008, I urge you to click HERE.

A few weeks ago we announced WPIX is doing a 60th anniversary marathon and special on Saturday, June 14. Now today they made the official announcement.
The year was 1948, the price of a stamp was 3 cents, a subway ride 10 cents, and a gallon of gas a whopping 16 cents when WPIX hit the air on June 15 as New York City's first independent television station.
For 60 years, the award-winning WPIX-TV has been New York's home for groundbreaking television, and to celebrate, WPIX will air WPIX at 60 Birthday Bash, a special marathon of classic programming on Saturday, June 14 (from 12 noon to 9pm) followed by a one hour retrospective hosted by News Anchors Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong. Beginning at noon, the PIX at 60 Birthday Bash will feature 9 hours of vintage programs: The Little Rascals, Abbott & Costello, The Three Stooges, The Adventures Of Superman, Get Smart, My Favorite Martian, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Odd Couple and The Honeymooners. 9 hours...19 episodes...and all the nostalgia you can cram into a day. Did you know Abbott and Costello were the first non-baseball players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (for Who's On First?) or that Jeannie's bottle in I Dream of Jeannie was actually a bottle of Jim Beam painted gold? Interstitials will run throughout the Birthday Bash and will feature PIX program trivia and fun facts.
At 9 pm, WPIX will air a 60th Anniversary Special hosted by Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong. The hour-long program will take a look back at WPIX from 1948 to 2008. Today, WPIX is the CW11, the home for great programs like The CW11 News, America's Next Top Model, New York Mets baseball and many first run and syndicated hits. In the last 60 years, WPIX has celebrated many milestones including the first instant replay (July 17, 1959 Yankees vs. White Sox) and The Rolling Stones' first New York TV appearance on WPIX's Clay Cole Show (1964). From the Giants to the Yankees to the Mets...from Cap'n Jack McCarthy to Officer Joe Bolton to Bozo the Clown...From Dawson to Buffy to Serena, the WPIX 60th Anniversary Special will track the stations' growth from a small independent station to the powerhouse it is today.
Remember playing the PIX PIX PIX game? Did you warm your hands over The Yule Log fire? Do you long for Peanut Butter and Jelly Time? WPIX is inviting viewers to share their favorite memories at cw11.com/60 which will also feature expanded online coverage of WPIX's rich history.
In addition, WPIX has created a commemorative insert which will run in Newsday and amNewYork on June 13 featuring a comprehensive timeline of PIX's greatest moments with vintage photographs.
For more details, including episode info for the vintage programming on June 14, click HERE.

Day 57: WGA's Strike; New Year's Eve/Day Marathons; According to Jim Returns Tuesday

Today is indeed day 57 of the strike. Late on Friday the WGA struck an independent deal with Worldwide Pants to bring writers back for CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson starting January 2. Here is the statement the WGA released:
"The Writers Guild has reached a binding independent agreement today with Worldwide Pants that will allow Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return to the air with their full writing staffs. This is a comprehensive agreement that addresses the issues important to writers, particularly New Media. Worldwide Pants has accepted the very same proposals that the Guild was prepared to present to the media conglomerates when they walked out of negotiations on December 7.
Today's agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work, and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly.
It's time for NBC-Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a company-wide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers."

New Year's Eve and Day gets a lot of marathons every year and this year is no different. We mentioned WPIX in New York will air a Honeymooners marathon tonight starting at midnight...in Boston WSBK will air a Three Stooges marathon. As for nationwide, we also mentioned The Drew Carey Show launches on ION Television tonight at 7/6 central with a marathon until 11pm ET. TV Land will re-launch The Beverly Hillbillies with a marathon starting tonight and lasting all day tomorrow.
As for other marathon, Sci-Fi Channel will do its annual The Twilight Zone marathon which has already started today at 8am and it will last until 10pm tomorrow, then again from 11pm-6am late on Tuesday. The entire first season of 10 Items or Less will air tonight on TBS and five episodes of South Park on Comedy Central to ring in the new year tonight. TNT has a Law & Order marathon which has started today at noon and will last until 10pm Tuesday. A Law & Order: Criminal Intent marathon has started today on USA Network and on New Year's Day a Monk marathon will start at 6am...a 21-episode run of the defective detective, including run-ins with a psychic and Dale the Whale, and trips to the circus, a ballgame and Mexico. Bravo has a Project Runway marathon today and a Biggest Loser marathon tomorrow with a 10-show block opens with the contestants facing the challenge of navigating up and down the aisle of a moving railroad car. Spike TV will have a 14 episode marathon today of CSI. On SOAPnet it is the Serial Bowl V: One Tree Hill Marathon...13 hours of the teen drama starting at 11am. VH1 will have an America's Next Top Model-thon starting tonight at 10pm. On GSN, we will have a marathon of the 100,000 Pyramid with host Dick Clark, and of course we will all ring in the new year with Dick Clark on ABC tonight at 11:35pm with Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

We have gotten a lot of searches on this, so I will indeed mention it. According to Jim will be back in 2008 on ABC with new episodes starting January 1, 2008. We got searches on "According to Jim's new season, "According to Jim 2008, "According to Jim winter 2008, "According to Jim mid-season 2008," etc. It will air Tuesdays at 9 on ABC. On January 1, two back-to-back new episodes will air starting at 9/8 central, including a spoof on Bruce Almighty, titled "Jim Almighty," with Lee Majors as God!

Day 31: WGA's Strike; I Love Lucy, Honeymooners, Three Stooges Video Games?

Well it is day 31 of the strike. Nothing new to report really. If the strike does not end before December 14, the Television Critics Association will cancel their winter press tour. Yes, we won't have a TCA Winner Press tour this year because of the strike. So this is another reason to hope the strike ends soon!
Meanwhile, if the strike lasts long, you can expect CBS to air some Showtime shows as scripted programming, such as Dexter. Series like Tudors or Weeds even can make it, but heavy editing will be needed. NBC could also go and get some scripted programming from one of its cable networks such as USA Network and air series like Burn Notice, Monk or even Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Beanbag Studios is developing some classic TV video games such I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, and The Three Stooges. It's an intriguing strategy to differentiate Beanbag Studios' games from the rest of the pack, but it's anyone's guess as to whether nostalgia will indeed attract casual gamers who are usually older than the average gaming demographic.
In the first Lucy game, scheduled for release this month, gamers are faced with a number of challenges, including answering trivia questions and rearranging video clips so they are in the correct order. Subsequent games -- including I Love Lucy Slots, The Three Stooges Pinball, and The Honeymooners Bowling -- will be available between year-end and April.
While Beanbag's first games will be based on classic TV licenses, Steve Bergenholtz (President) insists Beanbag isn't locked into that strategy. In fact, he is currently talking to a movie studio about a 10-title movie deal. But he is also seeking out other classic TV licenses, which he describes as a huge opportunity for the licensor's to "take their properties off the shelf, dust them off, and bring them into the video games arena ... which makes our licensing their titles a win-win for them and for us."
Sounds cool! I hope these sell well so we get more classic TV titles as video games!

Random thought: For those of you who watched October Road on Monday, have you heard of the sexual position the Pablo Picasso? Apparently Ikey and Owen's wife did that position a lot.