Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Lifetime Picks-Up Original Sitcom; Three Original Bill Cosby Sweaters Up for Auction; Remembering Bill Dial

Marking a significant expansion of original programming, Lifetime Television has ordered 13 episodes of the half-hour comedy, Rita Rocks, from Media Rights Capital (MRC). Premiering this fall, the series stars all comedy veterans Nicole Sullivan (The King of Queens, MADtv), Richard Ruccolo (Joey, Two Guys and a Girl) and Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids, Martin).
In the series, Sullivan stars as Rita Clements, unfulfilled by her harried life as a married working mom, regains her identity by recreating her glory days as a musician in a garage band. The series will premiere this fall as part of a one-hour comedy block with the top-rated Reba repeats. Rita Rocks is Lifetime's first original sitcom in a decade.
Rita Rocks joins an array of original programming airing on Lifetime this fall, broadening its leadership in all genres, including Original Movies, Original Series and Reality Series. Lifetime Original Movies are the #1 rated among women. Beginning in September, the star-studded slate of original movies includes: Sex & Lies in Sin City starring Mena Suvari and Matthew Modine; Coco Chanel"starring Shirley MacLaine, Barbara Bobulova and Malcolm McDowell; Living Proof executive produced by Neil Meron, Craig Zadan and Renee Zellweger, and starring Harry Connick, Jr.; Killing Mr. Kissel starring John Stamos and Flirting with 40 starring Heather Locklear.
Lifetime's most-watched series in its history (which is airing originals currently), Army Wives, will return with more original episodes in November, including a special two-hour season finale. And premiering this November, the hit reality competition series Project Runway with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn moves to Lifetime.

You have a chance to own three popular sweaters Bill Cosby wore on The Cosby Show as Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable! Mr. Cosby is auctioning them on eBay for a good cause. These three sweaters were worn on The Cosby Show by Bill Cosby between seasons 3-8. It will come with a dated and hand signed letter from Mr. Cosby himself authenticating this. It will also come with a separate letter from the sweater designer, Koos Van Den Akker, indicating that he made this sweater for Bill Cosby for The Cosby Show.
Bill Cosby's sweaters have never before been made available to the public. The sweaters were custom made by Koos Van Den Akker, and only his designer label appears with no size marking indicated. They are approximately size large. The one-of-a-kind sweaters were specifically designed for Bill Cosby and are collages primarily composed of woolens and cottons.
All proceeds from the sale of these legendary Heathcliff Huxtable sweaters will benefit the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation. The non-profit educational organization was established in 1997 by the Cosby family to continue the legacy and life's work of Ennis Cosby, who was about to begin his doctoral studies in education at the time of his death.
Jimmy Kimmel is promoting the sweaters by wearing each of the three sweaters on three nights, last night, tonight and tomorrow night on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, late nights on ABC. He wore sweater #2 from the auction last night. Check Jimmy modeling them out, as he wears them for the entire show! To bid on these items, head on over to eBay:
Sweater #1
Sweater #2
Sweater #3
This is your chance to own a piece of Cosby Show history and help out a good cause at the same time! The Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation is dedicated to fulfilling the goals and dreams of Ennis Cosby. The Foundation equips teachers, parents and students with the practical information and educational tools needed to understand and address the needs of all learners before they experience the corrosive effects of frustration and failure. The Foundation was established in 1997 by Bill and Camille Cosby as a 501(c)(3) public charity.

Finally we leave you today with news that Bill Dial has passed away. He died of a heart attack on Monday, June 2 in South Carolina, where he moved to after retiring from the business in 2001. Bill was most known as a writer, producer, and actor on the hit sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. He wrote five episodes for this series during its first season (1978-79), the most famous of which was his first, entitled "Turkeys Away." He guest starred on the series even for a few episodes playing the station's beer-drinking engineer, Bucky Dornster.
After WKRP, he wrote and/or produced series such as Harper Valley P.T.A., Legmen, Simon & Simon, E.A.R.T.H. Force, Evening Shade, and some TV movies. In 1991, Dial returned to his claim to fame as an executive producer and writer on The New WKRP in Cincinnati, a follow-up series to the 1970s sitcom. The New WKRP aired in first-run syndication for two seasons. His later credits included writing and producing Time Trax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Team Knight Rider, Sliders, Legend, and Spike TV's 18 Wheels of Justice. He will be missed, especially by WKRP fans. WKRP in Cincinnati can be seen nationally on cable Sunday evenings on WGN America and Monday nights on AmericanLife TV. Mr. Dial was 66.

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

WGN Adds Weekly Retro TV Block, Renames to WGN America; TV Tonight

Late last week we told you all that WGN was planning a '70s TV week called "The Outta Sight Retro Nights Week: Flashback to the 1970s" from June 2-6 featuring The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Barney Miller, Taxi, Welcome Back Kotter and WKRP in Cincinnati from 8-10pm each day that week...now they have added a weekly "Outta Sight Retro Night" airing each Sunday starting June 8! The block will feature three classic TV shows airing from 7-10pm ET (4-7pm PT). Kicking it off from 7-8pm each Sunday will be WKRP in Cincinnati! Following WKRP, we get reruns of Bob Newhart's second series, the '80s sitcom Newhart from 8-9pm and closing the night is the all-time classic The Honeymooners from 9-10pm. These three shows will air every Sunday night starting June 8 and will go in order, so get those VCRs/DVRs ready.
Now WGN is also planning more theme weeks. The '70s week is the first of many to come. They tentatively have an '80s week planned for July and we could see ALF, Family Ties, and more shows. So stay tuned to that when it is announced! Casey Kasem will be announcing during promos and voice-overs for the theme weeks and the regular Sunday block...how cool!
We will certainly let you know if more of these shows join the actual line-up...so far WKRP is the only one joining the line-up that has aired during a theme week. I wouldn't be surprised though if Newhart is in the '80s week and IF they have a '50s week, The Honeymooners could air in that. And once again all this is not available for the local WGN in Chicago. This is for the national WGN only, the cable version.

Also, the national WGN was called Superstation WGN for many years, but this past Monday they changed their name to WGN America. So, from now on I'll refer WGN to WGN America. The new name and logo was introduced this past Monday and also with the slogan "TV You Can't Ignore." According to the Chicago Tribune, WGN America's new "eyes" logo, which resembles the one used for much of the '90s by cable's The Movie Channel, was the inspiration of Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams. The former radio consultant wanted the channel to look more like an album cover. It resembles the eyes of the woman on Duran Duran's "Rio" album, but Abrams said he was just trying to help the channel break from traditional TV.
Sean Compton, a former Clear Channel exec recruited to tend to Tribune TV programming, meanwhile is repackaging reruns (WKRP, etc) and old movies (Rocky movies, etc) and giving away prizes via WGNAmerica.com, the new website. By the end of the summer, the plan is to introduce an original program. And within 18 months or so, Compton hopes the nation will barely recognize the channel.

We leave you tonight with a reminder. Tonight is the last of the regular season show's, as Lost will ends its season with an all-night event. At 8pm an encore of the previous episodes will air with bonus footage followed by the game changing two-hour season finale from 9-11pm on ABC. It should do big. Only other new programming on the night is summer reality series: So You Think You Can Dance on Fox from 8-10 and Last Comic Standing on NBC from 8:30-10:30pm. Sitcom wise, NBC will wraparound The Office repeats around Comic at 8 and 10:30pm. CBS will encore Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother from 8-9pm. But you should be getting Lost tonight! After tonight, the summer season will really begin since the regular season scripted series will come to an end until the new season.

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Friday, May 23, 2008

WGN Brings Back '70s Classics for Retro TV Week, Includes Kotter, WKRP, Taxi; NBC Fall Premiere Dates

WGN is going back to the '70s the week of June 2 in primetime! From Monday, June 2 through Friday, June 6, WGN will give us four episodes each of popular '70s sitcoms back in primetime! The Outta Sight Retro Nights: Flashback to the 1970s starts Monday, June 2 with four episodes of classic newsroom comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Tuesday will have four episodes of the police comedy Barney Miller, Wednesday it is the classic Taxi, Thursday is back to school with Welcome Back Kotter, and close the week with the radio show comedy WKRP in Cincinnati on Friday, June 6!
Each series will air from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) on WGN cable. These programs will NOT air on the local WGN (CW9) in Chicago...so sorry Chicago, but you guys get a lot of classic TV on other stations anyway.
We are told more classic TV is on the way to WGN...so please stay tuned to us! We will let you know when we know! But for now enjoy the first four episodes of these five classic '70s sitcoms!

NBC unveiled the Fall 2008 series premiere dates for new programs and returning favorites including a three hour launch (clip show and two-hour premiere) of the return of drama Heroes on Monday, September 22, the Thursday night debut of the new comedy Kath & Kim (9:30 p.m. ET) on October 9. America's Toughest Jobs, the new extreme competition series, will debut with a two-hour premiere this Fall on Friday, September 12 (8-10 p.m. ET). In addition, the new drama series premieres include Knight Rider on Wednesdays starting September 24 (8-9 p.m. ET), My Own Worst Enemy on Mondays starting September 29 (10-11 p.m. ET) and Crusoe on Fridays starting October 17 (8-10 p.m. ET).
Here are the full premiere dates for this Fall:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
America's Toughest Jobs -- Series premiere (8-10 p.m.) then 8-9pm starting Friday, September 19 for five weeks; then moves to 9-10 p.m. starting Friday, October 24
(Deal or No Deal will air Fridays at 9 starting Sept. 19 through Oct. 10.)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Heroes -- Clip show (8-9 p.m.) followed by the Season premiere (9-11 p.m.)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit -- 10 p.m.
(Summer series America's Got Talent airs 8-10pm and will conclude early in the fall, then The Biggest Loser: Families will return at a later date.)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Knight Rider -- 8 p.m.
Lipstick Jungle -- 10 p.m.
(Summer series America's Got Talent Results airs at 9pm and will conclude early in the fall, then Deal or No Deal will return at a later date.)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
My Name Is Earl -- one-hour premiere (8-9 p.m.)
The Office -- one-hour premiere (9-10 p.m.)
ER -- 10 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Chuck -- 8 p.m.
My Worst Own Enemy -- 10 p.m.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3

Life -- 10 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
Kath & Kim -- 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
Crusoe -- two-hour premiere (8-10 p.m.) then moves to 8:00 p.m. starting Friday, October 24

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
30 Rock -- 8:30 p.m.
(Preceding the premiere of 30 Rock will be three consecutive weekly Saturday Night Live special election editions of SNL Thursday Night Live at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 9, 16 and 23.)

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

AmericanLife July 2007 Highlights, Includes New Monday Classic Sitcom Block; Nick at Nite Change for July 1; Jim Renewal Now Official

AmericanLife TV Network, the network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts a new Monday night primetime programming line-up on July 2, featuring classic television sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Newhart, WKRP in Cincinnati and The Bob Newhart Show from 8-10pm and immediately encoring after that each Monday.
Among the episode highlights for this new block in July include:
Monday, July 2
- WKRP in Cincinnati: The late film and stage legend Sylvia Sidney guests as Mama Carlson on "Pilot (Part 1)" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).
- The Bob Newhart Show: Comedian and actress Penny Marshall guest stars as a stewardess on "Fly the Unfriendly Skies" (9:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, July 9
- Newhart: William Sanderson, John Voldstad and Tony Papenfuss make their first appearance on the show as Larry, "my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl" on "Mrs. Newton's Body Lies A'Mould'ring in the Grave" (8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Monday, July 30
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: NFL star turned actor Timothy Brown guests as himself on "Keep Your Guard Up" (8-8:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Visit our highlights section for AmericanLife July 2007 for complete highlights for the entire month!

Nick at Nite will air the 1978 John Travolta and Olivia Newton John movie Grease on Sunday (July 1) from 9 to 11:30 p.m., pre-empting the regular line-up. A marathon of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will follow from 11:30pm-5:00am...but what else is new? The movie will kick off the summer season for Nick at Nite, which will be wall-to-wall marathons (a week of one show from 9:30pm-5am each night), as we mentioned already.

Today ABC made it official, According to Jim will return next season for its 7th season! "When Brillstein-Grey approached me with the idea of doing a family show, I didn't realize the family would extend so wide," said Jim Belushi. "For six years, it's been a joy being part of the ABC and Touchstone families and part of each and every family who have been loyal viewers of our show every week. This season will top all the rest. I'm thrilled to continue this seventh season with these extended families."

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

AmericanLife TV Acquires Classic 20th TV Shows, WKRP, Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Batman, etc.; Nick at Nite Schedule Switcharoo

AmericanLife TV Network, the only independent network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, has reached a long-term agreement with Twentieth Television for a library of classic television series. Among the series that they have acquired are: Batman, Bob Newhart Show, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Lost in Space, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Newhart, St. Elsewhere, WKRP in Cincinnati.
Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and L.A. Law will debut June 3 in an all-new Sunday "The Greatest Drama" primetime schedule from 8-11pm (with an encore from 11pm-2am). The other programs acquired (such as Batman and Lost in Space) will be airing in varying time slots later this year. We will let you know when we know when they will launch! It seems the current Sunday night shows ("The Greatest Drama" block) The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Mayberry RFD, I'll Fly Away and Homefront will be off the line-up completely.
Click HERE to view the press release and to discuss this news!

A Nick at Nite change (yes, what else is new?)...Roseanne will return to Sun-Thurs 10-11PM now and Fresh Prince will move back to Sun-Thurs 11PM-12AM starting May 28. Fresh Prince will still air 11PM-12AM on Fri-Sat.

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Friday, March 30, 2007

Fox Changes Sunday Schedule; Not Good News For 'WKRP' DVD

Fox has booked April 22 for The War at Home season finale (series finale I bet) at a special time of 7 p.m. Effective that date, King of the Hill will move back to 7:30 p.m. for the rest of the season with The Simpsons encores airing at 8:30 for the rest of the season. King of the Hill will also air a mix of new episodes and repeats at 7 p.m. starting April 29.
And when the season ends, the summer Sunday line-up will again be changed. Starting June 10, encores of The War at Home will air at 7:00 p.m., King of the Hill follows at 7:30 p.m., The Simpsons encores at 8:00 p.m., American Dad encores move to 8:30 p.m., Family Guy encores at 9:00 p.m. and the return of The Loop with all new episodes at 9:30 p.m.
Finally, Fox will just air the yet to air new drama Drive for 6 weeks now. The drama will air Mondays starting April 16 and will conclude May 7, but Fox says the remaining 7 episodes will return, probably in late summer, if it does well.

Jamie J. Weinman's "Something Old, Something New" blog has just posted a story on their thoughts on the WKRP Season 1 DVD. Jamie's blog, which are thoughts on popular culture and unpopular culture, lists the music replaced and even worse...the list of edits on the season one DVD. Jamie says, it's pretty similar to the list of music changes from the late '90s syndication package; some of the generic music and overdubbing is the same in both versions. Not good at all. You can read his great list HERE. And look for our detailed review from skees53 very soon! It will unfortunately not be a positive review...but hopefully fans still buy it but tell Fox they are not happy.

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