NY Station WPIX's Annual Honeymooners New Year's Marathon; Retroality Interview with Dick Van Patten About New Book 'Eighty Is Not Enough'

As usual, WPIX will ring in the new year with The Honeymooners! The classic '50s sitcom will have its annual marathon in New York on Dec. 31 when the clock strikes midnight to welcome in 2010! The marathon will air on the night of Thursday, Dec. 31 (which is technically the morning of Jan. 1) from 12am-6am, then a break for the PIX morning news from 6am-9am, and finally The Honeymooners marathon continues from 9am-5pm on New Year's Day!
Episodes airing in the marathon are: "The Safety Award," ""Young Man with a Horn," "Funny Money," "Trapped," "Oh My Achin' Back," ""Woman's Work is Never Done," "The Worry Wart," "Pal O' Mine," "Dial J for Janitor," "The Loudspeaker," "Opportunity Knocks But," and "A Man's Pride" for the late night/morning marathon. Then the New Year's Day marathon have the following episodes: "Hello Mom," "Alice and the Blonde," "The Baby Sitter," "Head of the House," "A Matter of Record," "Bensonhurst Bomber," "The Sleepwalker," "A Dog's Life," "Matter of Life & Death," "Man From Space," "The Golfer," "Young at Heart," "Mama Loves Mambo," "TV or Not TV," "Better Living Thru TV" and "The $99,000 Answer." 14 hours of The Honeymooners in total!
Elsewhere on WPIX in NY, they will have The Jeffersons multiple part episode marathons on Sunday nights (early Monday mornings). On Sunday, Dec. 27 from 2:30am-4:30am catch the four-part episode "The Jeffersons Go to Hawaii!"
View our previous story on WPIX's holiday stunts, which includes a sitcom marathon of holiday episodes on Sunday, Dec. 20!

Our good pal Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has posted his new cover story and it is an interview with Eight is Enough star Dick Van Patten! Dick has a book out now called Eighty is Not Enough and Chris interviews him about that and more!
Look up the word "wholesome" in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of Dick Van Patten. Whether helping a troubled Eight is Enough kid or encouraging hungry puppies by eating his line of Natural Balance dog food, the TV father figure's familiar image reassures us he's still serving up hearty goodness.
Van Patten, who turned 81 on Dec. 9, shares his eight decades as an actor, family man and TV octodad in his delightful new memoir Eighty is Not Enough: One Actor's Journey Through American Entertainment (Phoenix Books), co-authored by Robert Baer.
Read more about that book and check out Chris' interview with the legendary Dick Van Patten!

WGN America and WPIX's 2009 Holiday Stunts; Classic Power Rangers Coming to ABC Kids

We told you already about WGN America's Newhart Thanksgiving Day marathon, now we have the rest of the holiday specials for WGN America to close out 2009! Airing on Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24, 2009) will be Yogi's First Christmas (1980) from 2-4pm ET, followed by back-to-back holiday episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, Cheers, and Becker from 4pm-7pm ET. Then we have the special A Flintstone Christmas (1977) in the 7pm ET hour leading into WWE Superstars at 8pm ET followed by the primetime movie The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002) from 9pm-11pm ET. Then A Flintstone Christmas (1977) encores in the 11pm ET hour, followed by an encore of WWE Superstars at 12am ET. At 1am ET through 2:30am ET, Midnight Mass from Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago airs live. The Mass leads into holiday episodes of Barney Miller at 2:30am & 3am ET, followed by the Cosby Show Christmas episode at 3:30am ET, and then four holiday episodes of Coach from 4am-6am ET.
The following day, Christmas Day (Friday, December 25, 2009) starts off with the annual Yule Log from 8am-11am ET! Open your presents in the morning with this! Then from 11am-1pm ET the movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) airs. The Chicago local news airs at 1pm, followed by a local special called Dean's Holiday Movies & Memories, from WGN entertainment critic Dean Richards. Yogi's First Christmas (1980) encores from 2-4pm ET on this day, too. Finally, more holiday movies (Secret of Giving (1999) and The Wool Cap (2004)) cap off the day from 4pm-8pm ET.
Other holiday movies and episodes will air on their regular times such as Bewitched holiday episodes on weekdays, Outta Sight Retro Night (Sunday, Dec. 20) and movies such as Jingle All the Way (1996) and Home for the Holidays (1995).
And finally for WGN America, ring out 2009 and roll in 2010 with two special marathons! On New Year's Eve from 1am-6am ET close out 2009 and start your 2010 with South Park...with a night marathon! Then take a few hours of sleep and start 2010 fresh with the classic sitcom Barney Miller from 8am-10pm ET on Friday, January 1, 2010! That's 14 hours (28 episodes) of the classic '70s sitcom starring Hal Linden!

For you New York City readers, we have some WPIX (CW11) holiday specials to tell you! They usually do some nice specials as well. WPIX is owned by Tribune, the same company that owns cable network WGN America. On Saturday, Dec. 19 they will air the annual classic March of the Wooden Soldiers at 8pm ET. They will also encore it on Christmas Day as usual at 1pm ET. On Sunday, Dec. 20 from 1pm-5pm ET, WPIX will present a sitcom holiday episode stunt! Holiday episodes airings of Two and a Half Men, double shots of According to Jim, Frasier, and The Jeffersons, along with The Odd Couple will air!
On Christmas Eve, when the clock strikes midnight WPIX will present the Christmas Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for 90 minutes. And of course on Christmas morning from 4-6am and again from 9am-1pm it's the annual WPIX Yule Log! I had to relay the classic stunts for you New Yorkers on WPIX since I mentioned WGN America!

The classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is scheduled to air in the 12:00PM & 12:30 PM ET (11:00 & 11:30 AM CT/PT; 10:00 & 10:30AM MT) time periods effective Saturday, January 2, 2010 on ABC's Saturday morning block called ABC Kids.
The classic episodes replace the current Power Rangers: RPM, which will have its last telecast on Saturday, December 26, 2009. In addition to the return to television, a new toy line will accompany the series and will appear in stores by the end of 2009.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired from 1993 to 1995 on Fox Kids, the longest running Power Rangers series, spanning three seasons. The series was about normal teens Jason (Red Ranger), Kimberly (Pink Ranger), Zack (Black Ranger), Trini (Yellow Ranger), and Billy (Blue Ranger), given the ability to morph into Power Rangers, including an arsenal of weapons at their disposal as well as large robotic machines called Zords, which can combine into the mighty Megazord. Later a new teen was added Tommy (Green Ranger). Zordon and Alpha 5 recruited them. The villains were Rita Repulsa (one of the ugliest TV characters ever!) and Lord Zedd. Sounds wacky...but it was pretty good and clearly the best version of Power Rangers, I think.
View the episode schedule for the classic episodes on ABC Kids! Go Go Power Rangers, You Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!

WPIX's Halloween Chiller Theatre and a November 13 Marathon of a Sitcom; Hallmark Cuts Lucy...Again

While WGN America airs a Munsters and Addams Family marathon for Halloween (Oct. 30 and 31), local New York station WPIX is going for some movie horror. WPIX is airing The Evil of Frankenstein on Halloween night (Saturday, October 31) at 8pm (as Chiller Theatre) and this year its hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and will feature the original Chiller Theatre opens: "The Six-Fingered Hand" and the "Monster Montage"
(wpix.com/chillertheatre).
Chiller Theatre originally aired on WPIX from 1961-1978 and again from 1980-1982. After WPIX resurrected Chiller Theatre in 2008 (with a broadcast of Tarantula hosted by Zacherley) the station received hundreds of requests from viewers demanding the return of Chiller Theatre to the air. So this year, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark will host WPIX's Chiller Theatre presentation.
The 1964 campy chiller The Evil of Frankenstein -- from Hammer Film Productions, one of the most famous names in horror -- Peter Cushing stars as Baron Frankenstein who resurrects his monster only to have him come under the spell of Zoltan, a svengali-like carnival hypnotist who mesmerizes the creature into doing his evil bidding.

And that's not all the WPIX news we have! Let's see if you can guess it before I reveal it. On what opening theme did we have a narration that mentioned November 13? Did you figure it out? Still stumped? Read this: "On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. (Unger's unseen wife slams door. She reopens it and angrily hands Felix his saucepan) That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"
Yes, the classic '70s ABC sitcom The Odd Couple! In a cool marathon stunt, WPIX will air a late night marathon of The Odd Couple on that very day when Felix leaves his wife and moves in with Oscar...and that's how they became The Odd Couple. WPIX in New York will air the marathon from 11pm-4:30am on Friday, November 13 with classic episodes. Episodes airing are "Password," "You Saved My Life," "Sleepwalkers," "The Flying Felix," "The Odd Monks," "Felix Calypso Singer," "Let's Make a Deal," "The Subway Show," "The New Car," "A Grave for Felix," and "I Gotta Be Me." We'll have more on this if anything new arises, and let's hope WPIX can do some more marathons of shows!

It was just on Tuesday when we announced that we would be getting more I Love Lucy on Hallmark, but guess what...now that will be cut. Like I said, Hallmark's love and hate relationship continues with Lucy. They quietly removed the weekdays 9-10am hour of I Love Lucy yesterday and returned Golden Girls in the hour, so now that airs 9am-1pm...for now (keep reading). Starting Monday (Oct. 19) Touched by an Angel returns to weekdays at 12 noon, replacing an hour of The Golden Girls, as that is now 9am-12pm every weekday morning. Then once again I Love Lucy is given a short leash and is getting cut completely from its current 5pm-11pm hours. M*A*S*H returns and will air in its old 5pm-8pm hours, while Touched by an Angel returns at 8pm, and the primetime movie from 9-11pm. So I Love Lucy goes from 7 hours a day this week to ZERO hours a day next week! What is with the love-hate relationship? Ratings must be key to the changes, but it seems Hallmark makes moves and changes those moves within days. Are you getting tired of it? Sound off on our message board! Ah, the on going soap opera of Hallmark Channel schedule changes!

New York City Locals Fall 2009 Schedules; A&E Buys Lifetime; Series High for Joan Rivers' TV Land Show

It's that time of year again...fall 2009 schedules for New York City stations! I have for you the full schedules for WNYW, WWOR and WPIX. Unfortunately, I couldn't obtain the schedules for WABC, WCBS, and WNBC at press time, but they rarely make changes. Independent WLNY's schedule also is not known at this time. Cold Case Files is coming to WLNY (M-F 1pm) and WCBS (TBD late night), though.
We'll start with WNYW's Fall 2009 schedule. New series this fall are Dr. Mehmet Oz at 11am & 3pm, Judge Jeanine Pirro at 4pm, and The Office at 7:30pm & 11pm. The Office will also air weekends, Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 11pm. Summer launches will continue in the fall with Wendy Williams Show continuing to air weekdays at 10am and Wedlock or Deadlock will move to 12:30pm (from 11am). Among the series leaving are Inside Edition, Morning Show with Mike & Juliet, Bananas and Scrubs.
Sister network WWOR will be making more changes than WNYW in Fall 2009. New series this fall are Dragonfly Mondays at 7am, My Name is Earl at 7:30am & 8am, America's Funniest Home Videos at 2pm, Everybody Hates Chris at 4pm & 4:30pm, Law & Order: SVU at 11:30pm, Deadliest Catch Saturdays at 4pm & 11:30pm, Bones on Saturdays at 8pm & 9pm, and Swap TV on Sundays at 11:30am. Joining the schedule from WPIX will be My Wife & Kids, airing weekdays at 5:30pm. Everybody Hates Chris will also air Saturdays at 6pm & 6:30pm. Among the series leaving are Animal Atlas E/I, Scrubs, One on One, Trivial Pursuit, UFC Wired, The Dead Zone, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Finally, we have WPIX's Fall 2009 schedule. New series this fall are Street Court at 1pm & 1:30pm, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? at 5pm & 5:30pm, Star Trek: The Next Generation at 3am, The Hills Saturdays 1pm & 1:30pm, The Brian McKnight Show Saturdays at 11pm, and Smash Cuts Sundays at 7pm & 7:30pm. Joining the schedule from WNYW/WWOR will be Scrubs, airing weeknights at 2am and Saturdays at 1am. Also, joining from WNYW is Inside Edition, airing weeknights at 6pm leading into the new PIX News at 6:30pm. CW Daytime now adds Best of Tyra Banks and The Tyra Banks Show at 3pm & 4pm, replacing Judge Jeanine Pirro and sitcoms Wayans Bros. and Jamie Foxx. Among the other series leaving are Judge Karen, My Wife & Kids, Sex and the City, The Jeffersons, and the '60s Star Trek.
View the FULL Fall 2009 schedules for WNYW, WWOR, and WPIX in New York City! Stay tuned for updates, if any. From New York, goodnight!

The Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal announced an agreement for A&E Television Networks to acquire Lifetime Entertainment Services. The parent company will retain the name A&E Television Networks, LLC (AETN), and its subsidiary will retain the name Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.
AETN will now include: A&E Network, History, Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Bio, History International, Lifetime Real Women, History en Espanol, Military History and Crime & Investigation Network.
Before the reshuffling, Disney-ABC and Hearst each held a 37.5% stake in AETN, while NBC Universal controlled the remaining 25%. Once the dust settles, Disney and Hearst will each hold an estimated 42.5% stake in AETN, leaving NBC with about 15.5%. Lifetime was a 50-50 joint venture between Disney-ABC and Hearst before AETN acquired it.

Wednesday night's episode of TV Land PRIME's original reality series, How'd You Get So Rich? averaged nearly 800,000 total viewers, making it the most-watched episode of the season to date, according to Nielsen Media Research. The telecast posted huge, triple-digit increases in rating and delivery among Adults 25-54 and Adults 40-54 in addition to total viewers over recent levels. It also witnessed gains over its 9:30 p.m. lead-in among A25-54 and double-digit gains among women 25-54. The new series, starring the hilarious and often outrageous Joan Rivers, takes viewers on a journey to meet millionaires who worked hard and struck gold as she tours the most lavish and extravagant homes and introduces them to folks who made a lot of money in really interesting ways the way only Joan can.
The episodes posted a 0.4 A25-54 rating and 426,000 viewers among A25-54, up a whopping 150% in rating and 148% in viewers in that demo versus the prior 4 week primetime average. The network averaged 771,000 total viewers, up 117% over recent levels. Among the network's core A40-54 audience, the premiere earned a 0.4 A40-54 rating and 240,000 viewers among A40-54, an increase of 153% in rating and viewers in that demo over recent levels in primetime.
The telecast posted increases among men and women 25-54 over recent primetime levels as well. Among women, it scored a 0.5 W25-54 rating and 247,000 viewers among W25-54, up 109% in rating and 111% in viewers in that demo versus previous four week primetime average. Among men the installment scored a 0.4 M25-54 rating and 179,000 viewers among M25-54, a triple digit increase of 218% in rating and 225% in delivery. How'd You Get So Rich? experienced appointment viewing as it lifted 8% among A25-54 over its 9:30 p.m. lead-in.

Tribune Stations Land Entourage, Curb for Fall 2010 Local Syndication; ABC Picks-Up Modern Family, More Updates

HBO and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution have licensed the broadcast television syndication rights to the critically acclaimed and award-winning comedy series Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm to Tribune Broadcasting's stations in a three-year agreement for a fall 2010 airing.
Under terms of the three-year pact, Tribune has licensed all seven seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and all six seasons so far of Entourage for broadcast on all of Tribune's owned-and-operated stations in 17 markets, including New York (WPIX-TV), Los Angeles (KTLA-TV) and Chicago (WGN-TV), among others. Both series will be presented in strip form on the Tribune Broadcasting stations, with episodes airing Monday-Friday, along with one weekend telecast, beginning in fall 2010.
As mentioned earlier this week, Spike TV has bought the cable rerun rights for Entourage starting in January 2010, so it will have a nine-month head start on cable. Curb Your Enthusiasm is also being shopped around for cable repeats.

ABC has made its first pickup for the fall season, a sitcom. Modern Family, the single camera mocumentary about about three suburban couples -- a traditional one, a gay one and a multi-ethnic one. ABC has ordered 13 episodes from 20th Television and the show stars Ed O'Neill (Married with Children), Sofia Vergara (Knights of Prosperity), Julie Bowen (Lost) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The Class). The show has tested very well in focus groups and screenings. ABC also has unofficially picked-up drama Flash Forward, as teasers have aired during Lost the last two weeks to generate some buzz.
In other ABC updates, Surviving Suburbia will be preempted for a second week in a row for a two-hour Dancing with the Stars this coming Monday (May 11). That was scheduled to be its last Monday airing anyway, as the show will move to Wednesdays at 9:30pm starting May 27.
Meanwhile, the final episodes of According to Jim will run into the summer thanks to all the preemptions by President Obama. On Tuesday, May 26 and Tuesday, June 2, According to Jim will air its final four episodes (8-9pm both weeks), including the finale on June 2 at 8:30pm with a parade of guest stars. But before that there are two new episodes airing this Tuesday (May 12).

Stay tuned all next week for our predictions of the fall schedules for NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and The CW. First up will be NBC, which we will cover likely on Sunday and the rest will follow in that order every other day. And the following week of course is upfront week and we will get the actual schedules and you can compare to see what we got right and wrong! Big and fun time of year!

Honeymooners New Year's Bash Nationally on WGN America, Also Still On WPIX in NY; Other WPIX Holiday Programming Includes Yule Log

Last week we gave you WGN America's holiday programming line-up and hinted we have more to give. And today we will reveal that! We are announcing today what WGN America will air on New Year's Eve and Day. WGN America will close out 2008 and ring in 2009 with a marathon of the sitcom The Honeymooners! That's right, the entire nation will get to celebrate the new year with them this year...not just NY! On New Year's Eve (Wednesday, December 31, 2008) starting at 8pm ET (7pm CT/5pm PT) catch the first 15 episodes of the classic 39 episodes of The Honeymooners thru 3:30am ET...so the fun on the night begins at 8pm ET and ends at 3:30am ET with the first 15 episodes. Then that's not all! On New Year's Day (Thursday, January 1, 2009) itself, forget College Football, wake up and spend the first day of 2009 with more episodes of The Honeymooners! After the regular Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie airings, catch more Honeymooner fun starting at 10am ET (9am CT/7am PT) thru 10pm ET for 12 more hours of fun...yes, 24 more episodes concluding the classic 39. You'll see episodes 16-39 on this day, all in order!
Remember The Honeymooners airs regular on WGN America on Saturday nights at 12 midnight ET and Sunday in primetime at 9pm & 9:30pm ET.

That's not all for The Honeymooners! It wouldn't be a New Year's celebration in the Big Apple without Jackie Gleason and company as WPIX in New York brings you their annual tradition of The Honeymooners New Year's Blowout Bash! WPIX's marathon starts when the clock strikes midnight and we enter 2009! 16 hours, 32 episodes of classic Honeymooners episodes will air. From 12am-4:30am and 9am-8pm, WPIX brings you 32 classics from the original 39 and the lost episodes as well! Episodes airing on WPIX starting at 12 midnight: "The Sleepwalker," "Pal O' Mine," "Hello Mom," "Please Leave the Premises," "Deciding Vote," "Something Fishy," "A Matter of Record," "Ralph Kramden, Inc.," and "Pardon My Glove" then we have a morning news break thru 9am. Episodes starting at 9am are: "Woman's Work is Never Done," "Here Comes the Bride," "Matter of Life & Death," "Brother Ralph," "Oh My Achin' Back," "The Baby Sitter," "Head of the House," "The Worry Wart," "A Dog's Life," "Trapped," "Better Living Thru TV," "A Man's Pride," "The Golfer," "Funny Money," "Young at Heart," "Dial J for Janitor," "Bensonhurst Bomber," "Unconventional Behavior," "Man From Space," "TV or Not TV," "The $99,000 Answer," and "Mama Loves Mambo."
The Honeymooners regularly airs on WPIX Sunday nights at 1am and 1:30am, part of a Viewer's Choice Hour where fans choose episodes.

We haven't had a chance yet to give you WPIX's holiday programming, but we will today! It wouldn't be a holiday in New York without The WPIX Yule Log! The Yule Log, the famous film loop of a burning log in a hearth, has mesmerized viewers since it debuted on WPIX in 1966. To celebrate the Log's 42nd anniversary, WPIX-11 will air The Yule Log from 9am-1pm on Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25), expanding the coverage to four hours! At 1pm, immediately following The Yule Log, WPIX will air the beloved holiday classic, March of the Wooden Soldiers.
In recent years, The Yule Log has been digitally re-mastered and fully restored. In 2001, while searching the company's archives, the original 35mm Yule Log film was found where it was misfiled in a Honeymooners film can titled "A Dog's Life." At that time, the original film was color corrected and cleaned of scratches. In 2003, the Log was up-converted to High Definition (WPIX now airs a simultaneous HDTV Yule Log on WPIX-HD) and in 2005 WPIX made The Yule Log available to viewers as a downloadable podcast.
We menioned the Yule Log will be seen nationally on WGN America on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, but it can also be seen locally on many other Tribune stations: KTLA in LA 5-8am, WGN local in Chicago 1:30-6:30am, WPHL on Philly 9a-noon, KDAF in Dallas 8-11am (airing their own version of the Yule Log), WDCW in DC 8-10am, KCPQ in Seattle 5-9am, WSFL in Miami 7-10am, KWGN in Denver 5-9am, KTXL in Sacramento 4:30-9am, KPLR in St. Louis 8am-noon, KRCW in Portland 5-10am, WXIN in Indianapolis 5-9am, WTTV in Indianapolis 5-8:30am, WTIC in Hartford 8-10am, WXMI in Grand Rapids 5-7am, WPMT in Harrisburg 5-10am, and WGNO in New Orleans 5-7am. Times listed are for each city's respective time zone.
WPIX will also celebrate the holidays with movies and holiday episodes as well. Catch movies such as Jack Frost, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and Christmas at Water's Edge, and holiday episodes of The Jeffersons, Frasier, Friends, South Park, The Odd Couple, and more in the regular time periods on Christmas week!

Will & Grace Leaving Local Syndication?; Calling All Brady Bunch Fans

Will & Grace has been on local broadcast syndication since Fall 2002, but now could it be leaving? I have gotten word that in New York, WPIX(CW11) will lose the rights to the sitcom after December 14, 2008. I'm not sure if it is leaving all local channels completely then, though. If you know if your local channel is removing the show starting Dec. 15, please let us know!
WPIX will replace it starting Monday, Dec. 15, with an extra episode of Frasier at 1am. Will & Grace was airing weeknights at 12:30am, and now According to Jim will shift over from 1am to 12:30am, and Frasier was airing at 1:30am, will now get a full hour from 1-2am. The Saturday airings of Will & Grace will be replaced by an hour of George Lopez from 5-6pm, with Friends being shifted to 6-7pm.
Will & Grace might be leaving local syndication, but it will remain on cable on Lifetime, so all is not lost. We're just not 100% yet if Will & Grace is leaving every market locally, but we do know in New York it is gone (or will it be on the move to another station in NY?). We will follow this and do a follow-up as soon as we get some info.

We have gotten a special message calling out fans for The Brady Bunch: "Please sign this online petition for Rhino Video to release the complete nine episode series of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of The Brady Bunch in September 2009 and as a companion to Susan Olsen's upcoming coffee table book.
Tell your friends - we need at least 1,000 signatures by November 30, 2008! Many of these episodes have not seen the light of day in over three decades and should be made available to fans.
Fans are also welcome to contact Rhino Video via email, telephone, and
USPS:
QUESTIONS ABOUT PRODUCTS: drrhino@rhino.com
WEBMASTER: webmaster@rhino.com
You can also leave a voice message at the following phone number. 1-800-
546-3670.
Company address for writing a letter:
Rhino Video
3400 W. Olive
Burbank, CA 91505
Thanks for your support"

Rhino did release two episodes years back, so they obviously have the rights to it. Rhino has basically stopped TV on DVD, so I'm not expecting anything out of them, but fans must make their voices heard and do this!

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!

New York City Locals Fall 2008 Update; TV Land Airs Special CSI Promotion Stunt

Today we are giving you an update for New York City's local channels for Fall 2008. The number one market and the best market--New York! And I'm in that market! Anyway, we primarily are covering WNYW, WWOR and WPIX, though. Let's start with WNYW. WNYW is going to be adding just one new series on weekdays and that is a veteran court series coming over from WNBC. Judge Joe Brown will move from WNBC to WNYW and will air weekdays at 3pm. Other weekday changes for WNYW is the second run of Tyra Banks Show at 10am replacing Montel Williams, which has ended. WNYW or WWOR will not air the Best of Montel package being offered to stations this fall. At 12 noon TMZ's encore will air replacing Judge Hatchett's third-run. Now Judge Hatchett has also ended and will still be available in repeats this fall, and WNYW will air the repeats at 12:30pm. The next change is the aforementioned Judge Joe Brown at 3pm replacing two Judge Hatchett episodes. The next change is at 12 midnight, with Scrubs replacing the TMZ encore. Then at 12:30am That '70s Show slide up a half-hour as well, replacing Scrubs. Finally, two episodes of King of the Hill will air from 1-2am coming over from WWOR, replacing That '70s Show and Bernie Mac. As for weekends, WNYW will add a few series. E/I series Real Winning Edge and Whaddyado? will air in the Saturday 12pm hour replacing Beakman's World. American Idol Rewind is moving from WPIX to WNYW/WWOR this fall and WNYW will air it Saturdays at 4PM. Among off-network dramas, House will air on Saturdays at 5PM. Finally, family-friendly comedy series Bananas will join WNYW airing Saturday nights at 1am. Leaving the WNYW weekend line-up is the syndicated series Masterminds.

Moving on to WNYW's sister station, WWOR now. First off, they will add three new shows to the weekday line-up: Family Court with Judge Penny, Trivial Pursuit and the sitcom House of Payne. They will air a second episode of One on One now at 7:30am, so the sitcom will air 7:30am and 8am now. 7:30am airing replaces That '70s Show. That '70s Show will move to 8:30am, replacing Still Standing. While the 9am hour will now also have sitcoms, with Scrubs and Still Standing airing replacing People's Court, which slides to 10am replacing Divorce Court. And you guessed it, Divorce Court will move to the 11am hour replacing Judge David Young as he will go to 12 noon now replacing the secondary Tyra Banks Show run. As I mentioned, that secondary run is now on WNYW at 10am, but the first run of course is still 5pm on WWOR. Anyway, 1-2pm will see the new court series Family Court with Judge Penny replacing Montel Williams. At 2pm, back-to-back episodes of the new game show Trivial Pursuit will try to do better than the canceled Temptation. The next change doesn't happen until 6pm. King of Queens will move to 6pm and 6:30pm replacing Inside Edition & Everybody Loves Raymond. Airing in Queens' old slot of 7pm and 7:30pm will now be the sitcom House of Payne. Everybody Loves Raymond will now air back-to-back in the 12am hour, as the 12:30am airing will replace Malcolm in the Middle. Finally on weekdays, the 1-2am hour will be Bernie Mac and Malcolm in the Middle replacing King of the Hill, as we mentioned already that hour moves to WNYW now. As for weekends, they have quite a few series coming. American Idol Rewind will also air on WWOR airing Saturdays at 7pm. American Chopper will air Saturdays at 11pm. On Sundays, the weekend plays of House of Payne will air Sundays in the 5pm hour. Then airing at 6 and 7pm will be Boston Legal and House. Quite a few weekend series will leave WWOR: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek, and Girls Behaving Badly.

View the full WNYW and WWOR Fall 2008 Schedules to see the entire picture.

We now move on to WPIX. We don't have their full fall schedule just as of yet but we know what is coming and what is leaving. Their weekday line-up will not change much, but coming weekdays from 1-2pm will be new court series Judge Karen replacing the canceled Judge Maria Lopez. Then The CW Daytime line-up from 3-5pm has been altered starting Sept. 22 with All of Us, What I Like About You and Reba leaving in favor of new court series Judge Jeanine Pirro and veteran sitcoms The Jamie Foxx Show and The Wayans Bros.. These shows are not just WPIX, they will be on all CW affiliates under the CW Daytime brand from 3-5pm. Coming to WPIX on weekends are Star Trek (from WWOR) and Stargate Atlantis (also from WWOR). Later in the fall, starting Sept. 1, Saturdays at 8pm and 9pm will have the new first run syndicated series Legend of the Seeker from Disney-ABC Television. Leaving WPIX are Jury Duty, The Shield, Soul Train, and the old CW Daytime shows mentioned. We are not expecting any changes really to WPIX's weekday early evening sitcoms (5-8pm) or late night sitcoms (11pm-3am), but we will let you know as soon as we know on our message board.

As for other stations in New York, they don't usually make many changes. WNBC will probably make the most changes from the rest of the batch. This fall WNBC will be adding the new syndicated talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show airing at 2pm, which means Day of Our Lives could be on the move to another slot, perhaps 1pm. We don't have WNBC's full line-up yet. The syndicated version of Deal or No Deal will air at 4pm on WNBC. Judge Joe Brown is leaving the station as it moves to WNYW, so 3pm hour will be free and it is likely Ellen DeGeneres Show could move there. Martha Stewart's show currently airs at 1pm, so that could move to either 11am or 12pm. So maybe Paid Programming will finally leave WNBC at 11am? One would hope. Anyway, weekends on WNBC, Monk will be coming. As soon as we have the full WNBC fall line-up we will post it on our message board.
Moving on to WCBS, new syndicated talk show The Doctors, a spin-off of Dr. Phil, will air weekday mornings at 9am replacing encores of ET/The Insider. No other changes are likely to be made during weekdays. On weekends, CSI: NY is coming replacing CSI: Miami. WCBS also airs Maximum Exposure on weekends, and that will be leaving syndication, so WCBS can't air it this fall.
WABC, which has the number one line-up ratings wise in NYC and the nation, will not make any changes to its weekday line-up. However, on Saturdays they will add reruns of Lost on Saturday nights at 12:35am after Eyewitness News. ABC airs College Football in the fall from 8-12 or so, so that's why WABC's Eyewitness News usually starts at 12am rather than 11pm. Lost will replace the Saturday late movie. WABC also has gotten rights to NASCAR Angels and Storm Stories and will air them in various times on weekends.
Finally, WLNY-TV55, an independent station, will make a lot of changes to its weekend line-up. WLNY has a tendency to get secondary rights to shows already on other New York locals and that is the case here once again for everything I am about to mention. Their new weekend line-up, both Saturday and Sundays, will have Monk at 4pm, Boston Legal at 5pm, Law & Order: SVU at 6pm, CSI: NY at 7pm, Lost at 8pm and House at 9pm. That's a lot of great dramas there! We do not have their weekday line-up yet, but it'll likely see a change or two since The Nanny/Mad About You hour is leaving syndication this Fall. We will let you know as soon as we do on our message board.
Now I have mentioned the message board a lot already, and you can view our Fall 2008 Syndication thread where we post updates and you can also post updates. It's team effort as we have 9 pages so far and growing! So join in if you haven't already. And to see a list of all the shows coming to syndication this fall, view our Fall 2008 Shows post.


TV Land is going to have a special promotion one-time-only marathon of CSI on Saturday, September 13 from 10pm-1am. TV Land is a sister station of both CBS and Spike TV. CBS airs the show in first-run and Spike TV airs the show in reruns on cable. It'll be weird seeing CSI on TV Land that night, indeed. As of now it is only a one-time-only stunt, but perhaps they could air the series in reruns sharing it with Spike TV in the future? We shall see...but for now view the episode info for the stunt.

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.

WPIX's 60th Anniversary Marathon and Special, Sex and the City Movie Special/Stunt; KTLA Celebrates Graduation with Classic TV

New York City station WPIX (CW11) is turning 60 this June and WPIX will celebrate it with an on-air marathon featuring some of the most notable shows WPIX has ever aired along with a brand-new special showcasing WPIX's 60 year history! Official announcement will come soon, but I thought I'd give a heads up ahead of time for fans.
On Saturday, June 14, WPIX will showcase various TV shows/sitcoms that they have aired the last 60 years with a retro day marathon! The festivities start at 12 noon and end at 9pm. We will see back-to-back episodes each of 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 station's all-time favorite The Honeymooners.
We will confirm all that when the official announcement is made, so this is all tentative until then. We will bring you more details, such as episode info, when it is official.
Finally, a retro marathon is not all that will be done! WPIX will create a new one-hour special looking back at the history of WPIX. The WPIX 60th Anniversary Special will be hosted by Jim Watkins & Kaity Tong, of WPIX news. Among the items on the special are: WPIX's sign-on and early years, sports & children's programming, news & local events, movies & syndicated reruns, The Yule Log, promotions campaigns, the web, and The WB & The CW.
KTLA (CW5) in Los Angeles also celebrated their 60th anniversary last fall. They had a much bigger retro marathon, featuring 60 hours of classic TV that they have aired. I don't think they had an on-air special, though.

Continuing news on WPIX, they will have a Sex and the City special and the top three episodes voted by viewers stunt this coming Saturday (May 24) in anticipation of the new movie coming out May 30. Join CW11/WPIX for a special night of sizzle, sex, and the city that inspired it all. At 8pm, get an in-depth look at Sex and the City the Movie with the women (and men) who changed the way we look at fashion, relationships, sex and New York City.
Then watch the 3 most popular episodes of Sex and the City when WPIX counts them down starting at 8:30pm. Visit cw11.com to vote for your favorite episodes then watch the 3 with the most votes immediately after the 8pm airing of the special Bringing Sex Back.
Sex and the City episodes air regularly Monday-Saturday at Midnight on WPIX.

We mentioned KTLA earlier, now we have some current news on KTLA! KTLA (CW5) will celebrate graduations on Memorial Day with a classic TV marathon! On Monday, May 26, 2008, KTLA (CW5) is celebrating Graduation with a Commencement Marathon from 10am-3pm PT of classic TV stars such as The Beaver, Balki, Alex P. Keaton, Greg Brady, and Theo Huxtable!
You're invited to the Commencement Ceremonies of:
Jethro Bodine The Beverly Hillbillies at 10:00am PT
Theodore Cleaver Leave It To Beaver at 10:30am PT
Balki Bartokomous Perfect Strangers at 11:00am PT
Greg Brady The Brady Bunch at 11:30am PT
Betty Anderson Father Knows Best at 12:00pm PT
Mallory Keaton Family Ties at 12:30pm PT
Mike Seaver Growing Pains at 1:00pm PT
Alex P. Keaton Family Ties at 1:30pm PT
Theodore Huxtable The Cosby Show at 2:00-3:00pm PT

You all can get WPIX and KTLA via satellite if you're not in the New York or Los Angeles area.

Network Notes, Includes More According to Jim; WPIX Brings Back Honeymooners; Oprah Talks to Shatner and Winkler

We have some network notes for you today. ABC announced its post-strike schedule and series already, but now we could have two more series return this season with new episodes! ABC will have 6 more According to Jim episodes this season! 12 episodes were shot of the sitcom before the strike ended now 6 more will be shot following the strike (taping resumes March 7)! So, the show will fullfill its 18 episode order for the season. Currently, the show is airing Tuesdays at 9PM on ABC but after March 11, the show will be on the move to another timeslot, as Dancing with the Stars: The Results will take over in that slot. By March 11, 11 of the 12 episodes would have aired. We will let you know when ABC will air the remaining episodes of the season when they announce it. This will likely be the final episodes, so be sure to tune in to Jim and the gang. And as a heads-up, this week the show will announce a major storyline plot...so tune in!
The other ABC show that could return this season with new episodes following the strike is the new hit drama Women's Murder Club. The drama has been a decent hit on Friday nights and ABC has found a new showrunner and thus 3 new episodes will be produced and could be on the air by April. No word when they will launch yet, but I am assuming it will remain Fridays at 9, as ABC certainly needs help 8-10pm on Fridays as repeats of other series are doing nothing there. We will let you know as soon as ABC announces!
Moving on to NBC, they have all but confirmed that Las Vegas will not return this season with new episodes or next season. So, the finale that aired a few weeks ago, could be the series finale. NBC also will not return new series Bionic Woman and Journeyman, as we stated previously. However, we might have some good news for the struggling Lipstick Jungle. NBC has ordered 6 more scripts, so that is a good sign. Maybe NBC will order those scripts to episodes and have it air in the summer, as NBC is going for a 52-week season rather than Sept-May only.

Last week we announced what will happen to WPIX, WWOR and WNYW in New York when Everybody Loves Raymond moves from WPIX to WWOR. There was one TBA timeslot that I couldn't announce until today. The TBA slot was for Sunday nights from 1-2am on WPIX. So, the TBA slot will be...The Honeymooners!
For over 30 years, the WPIX-TV (CW11) has been New York's home for The Honeymooners. Now, the CW11 will begin a year-long Honeymooners Viewer's Choice Hour to run every Sunday night. See all 108 episodes of hamana-hamana-hamana hijinks with Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), Ed Norton (Art Carney), Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph) in a weekly viewer's choice hour commencing Sunday, March 16 from 1-2 am.
Beginning on March 7, Honeymooners fans can visit CW11.com to vote for their favorite episodes. Each week, the two episodes with the most votes will air in the Viewer's Choice Hour on the CW11 on Sunday nights.
Can't remember the title of your favorite episode? CW11.com will feature a short clip from all 108 Honeymooners episodes (with title, cast and summary information) on the voting page. Each week, viewers can log on and vote for the two episodes they want to see on air that weekend. On Sunday nights at 1am the CW11 will air back-to-back-episodes of the top two vote-getters. Once an episode has aired it will be removed from the polls and all episodes will air only once.
Great news and start voting on March 7! To discuss this news with other fans, click HERE!

Oprah gave us a Cosby Show kids reunion a few weeks ago, and she has talked to classic TV stars such as Phylicia Rashad and Valerie Bertinelli about their current projects in the past few days, but now she will have a legends episode with two classic TV legends and a music legend tomorrow (Tuesday, February 26, check local listings for time and channel in your area).
Here is what Oprah says: Our viewers have been asking for him, and now he's rocking out on our stage. It's rock legend Rick Springfield! Watch as Rick makes one unsuspecting fan's big dream come true! Then, Oprah chats with one of the most recognized people on planet Earth, beloved TV icon William Shatner (Star Trek)! He shares what it has meant to him to be loved by millions as Captain Kirk and how he has been able to reinvent himself again and again over his half-century career. Plus, Oprah talks to TV's "coolest" legend..."The Fonz!" Henry Winkler (Happy Days) talks about his place in TV history and how he has managed to use his celebrity to help children with learning disabilities.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some big news (everyday is a big day now it seems, Oprah must be proud of us)...the launch schedules for ME-Too in Chicago and ME-TV in Milwaukee! Lots of Classic TV!

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 54: WGA's Strike; Honeymooners 2008 New Year's Marathon on WPIX; RTN Comes to Providence, RI

Well today is day 54 of the strike. 54...wow...but this is not fun like Studio 54. Unfortunately there is no end in sight right now for this strike. Fox's late night talk show on Saturdays, Talk Show with Spike Feresten, will now also return on the air with new episodes without writers starting Saturday, Jan. 12. I know what you're all thinking...Fox has a late night talk show on Saturdays? Still no word yet if Letterman or Ferguson will return on the air next week. I doubt the independent deal to get writers for those shows will be done in time and they will be on the air next week I bet without writers. Leno, O'Brien and Kimmel return on-air this Wednesday without writers.


2008 starts next week and we all know what WPIX (CW11, formerly known as WB11) in New York will do to celebrate it! Yes, the annual Honeymooners New Year's Marathon!
Ring in the New Year with Ralphie Boy! A holiday tradition, the CW11/WPIX will air a marathon of 30 classic Honeymooners episodes (mix of the classic 39 and lost episodes!) beginning Monday, December 31 at midnight...just as we enter 2008. The CW11/WPIX will air 15-hours of hamana-hamana-hamana hijinks with Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), Ed Norton (Art Carney), Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph). The WPIX Honeymooners Marathon runs from midnight to 5am on New Year's Eve night (with a break for the CW11 Morning News from 5-9am) and returns at 9am on New Year's Day all the way until 7pm! For the complete schedule of episodes and to discuss this news, click HERE!
CW11/WPIX-TV is your home for The Honeymooners, with the marathon tradition beginning in 1976, and airing on New Year's Eve annually since 1996.

Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it will partner with Media General to bring RTN programming to Providence, RI. The new affiliate, which is the 5th Media General station to sign with RTN, will launch early next year on a digital stream of WJAR, the NBC affiliate in Providence.
Among the shows they will see are Ron Howard and Henry Winkler in Happy Days, James Garner in Rockford Files, Peter Graves in Mission: Impossible, Jack Lord in Hawaii 5-0, Clint Eastwood in Rawhide, David Janssen in The Fugitive, Lorne Greene and Michael Landon in Gunsmoke and Raymond Burr in Perry Mason and Ironside.

New York Update: WNYW and WWOR Fall 2007 Schedules; RTN Adds Stations in Pittsburgh and San Fran

We gave you the Fall schedule for WPIX (CW11) in New York a few weeks back, now we finally have WNYW (Fox5) and WWOR (My9)!
Let's start with WNYW. Their new schedule for weekdays will start on Monday, Sept. 10. Not many changes, but the second run of Montel Williams will return back to the station and air weekdays at 10am. The first run will continue to air on sister net WWOR. WNYW will add the new first-run news magazine TMZ TV weeknights at 6:30pm and a second run at 12 noon. Not many sitcom changes, but they have Still Standing at 4:30am. This will be the second run, while the first run will continue to air on WWOR. Since TMZ TV is coming, The Simpsons' second slot will now be at midnight. Weekends will see various changes from week to week until early October. Right now we only have the schedule through Sept. 23, so we don't have any new additions except Saved by the Bell airing Saturdays at 7am starting Sept. 22. Comics Unleashed, The Outer Limits and Alias will be leaving WNYW and in syndication nationwide.
I suggest you view the full line-up for WNYW by clicking HERE!
Let's move on to WWOR. They have made more changes than WNYW, but not as much as WPIX did. WWOR's new weekday schedule will take in effect on Sept. 17, but there are some additions on Sept. 10 such as new court show Judge David Young back-to-back from 11a-12p, new game show Temptation back-to-back 2-3p and Girlfriends leaving the network and in syndication. On weekends, we see Star Trek come on Sundays at 11PM. The show has aired on WNBC this season. Then on Sept. 17, their full new weekday line-up begins with The Cosby Show leaving at 7:30-8:30a replaced by One on One and Half & Half. Half & Half will air its primary run at 4pm. Law & Order: Criminal Intent joins the weekday line-up starting this week and will air weeknights at 11pm, shifting the sitcoms from 12-2a only. We get Bernie Mac, Malcolm in the Middle, Still Standing and King of the Hill. For the weekends, Half & Half will air Saturdays also from 6-7pm and Law & Order: SVU joins the network airing Sundays at 8 & 9pm. As the case with WNYW, we don't have details on anything past Sept. 23, so the weekend schedule is being edited for each week until everything premieres. We have yet to see Baywatch scheduled, and that is coming back to syndie this year, but not sure if a local in NY has picked it up. My guess is WWOR or WNYW will have it starting the weekend of Sept. 29/30. I'll let you know.
Anyway click HERE for the WWOR Sept. 10 changes and Sept. 17 line-up.

Last week we mentioned a RTN affiliate was added in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Now we have updates for Pittsburgh and San Francisco! Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that it has entered into an agreement with COX Broadcasting to bring RTN programming to Pittsburgh. The new affiliate will launch Oct. 15 on COX's WPXI-DT, a station that reaches more than 1.1 million households in one of the nation's top-25 markets. Starting Oct. 15, WPXI will celebrate its 50th anniversary by launching a new "classic" TV station, featuring programs from the 60's, 70's and 80's. This Retro Television Network (RTN) will include shows like I Love Lucy, The Rockford Files, Mission Impossible, Magnum PI, Little House on the Prairie, Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days and Family Ties. At least 19 other TV markets nationwide offer or soon will launch RTN channels.
The new WPXI channel would be RTN's Pittsburgh affiliate. The local station would have more programming flexibility than WPXI already does with its NBC affiliation. For instance, RTN normally might offer Little House on the Prairie at 9 p.m., but if you wanted to run Mission Impossible instead, they can get you Mission Impossible while still offering Little House on the Prairie to everyone else, so, it's a neat way of using new technology!
RTN also announced that it has entered into an agreement with Young Broadcasting to launch an RTN affiliate in San Francisco. The new affiliate will launch Oct. 1 on the digital stream of KRON, Young Broadcasting's flagship station that reaches more than 2 million households in one of the nation's top-5 markets.
"KRON-TV and RTN are set to bring Bay area viewers a new network on our digital channel featuring classic shows from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s (such as Hawaii 5-0, Matlock, Mission: Impossible and Streets of San Francisco)," said Mark Antonitis, President and General Manager of KRON. "We believe that Bay Area viewers will love seeing these hit shows, in addition to the local programming and news that will complement the network."
This is sounding so good! I hope one in NYC gets turned into a RTN affiliate soon! We will have continued RTN updates right here on the blog.

WPIX Fall 2007 Schedule; Fox Revamps Fall Schedule

WPIX, the CW affiliate in the #1 market (New York City), has announced its Fall schedule to us. They will be adding quite a lot of new shows this fall, compared to other New York local affiliates. They will add repeats of new syndicated entries Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, George Lopez, and Reno 911 to the weekday line-up. Also coming are new first-run series Steve Wilkos Show and Jury Duty to the weekday line-up. Joining the Daytime CW lineup will be repeats of sitcom All of Us at 3pm. On weekends, they will add repeats of Chappelle's Show on Saturday nights at 12-1am and Degrassi: The Next Generation on Sunday mornings from 10:30am-1pm.
Some changes include Judge Mathis at 9am and 2pm, while staples Maury and Jerry will air 10 & 11am, leading into new talk show Steve Wilkos Show, which means Judge Lopez will move to 1-2pm. Sitcoms My Wife & Kids and According to Jim will be moving to 5-6pm, Friends at 6pm and Everybody Loves Raymond moving to 6:30pm. New sitcoms Two and a Half Men and Family Guy takes over 7-8pm. The same duo returns for more episodes from 11p-12am, but the half-hours are switched. Moving to midnight, we get the secondary episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, followed by Sex and the City at its new time at 12:30am. The secondary Friends is now at 1am, followed by Will & Grace, Frasier, and George Lopez will debut at 2:30am. Back to back South Park at 3am, the debuts of Reno 911 and Jury Duty in the 4am hour round out the night.
So what happened to the late night classic TV sitcoms? You know The Jeffersons, Good Times, Cheers. They will lose rights to Cheers after August, but the others are still under contract and will return when needed. The Honeymooners and Green Acres are also under contract still.
To view the full seven day schedule, click HERE.

Fox has made some changes to its fall line-up. The biggest move is Bones moving from Wednesdays at 9 to Tuesdays at 8 as of Sept. 25. Now airing Wednesdays at 9 (effect. Sept 19) is the new reality series Kitchen Nightmares, which was slated for Thursdays at 9, which will now be Don't Forget the Lyrics as of Sept. 6. Fox will also air another night of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader episodes for four weeks on Fridays at 8, before new reality series The Search for the Next Great American Band premieres in early October on Fridays at 8. New drama New Amsterdam, which was slated for Tuesdays at 8 will now be held for mid-season.