New TV One Daytime Schedule Starting Monday; Retroality.TV Stories on Suzanne Somers, Rod Roddy, and More!

Starting Monday (Nov. 16) TV One will be making last minute schedule changes to its daytime line-up. Short-lived sitcom For Your Love will now air for the full hour at 7am, rather than just the 7am half-hour, as original series Singletary Says is no longer scheduled at 7:30am. Sitcom Half & Half moves to the 8am hour, replacing an hour of original series. Original series will continue to air from 9am-12pm. Then at 12 noon, we now have an hour of Eve replacing short-lived comedies Where I Live and That's My Mama, which are now gone from the schedule totally. In the 1pm hour we now have another hour of Martin, replacing Amen and Like Family. This means Amen is totally gone from the regular schedule, but Like Family remains Saturdays in the 6am hour. In the 2pm hour, we now have back-to-back Living Single instead of Half & Half, since that moved to 8am. New York Undercover and Divorce Court remain in the 3pm and 4pm hours. The final change is to the 5pm hour with two episodes of All of Us replacing original series. Everything else will remain the same such as The Jeffersons in the 6pm hour.

Chris Mann has some very interesting reads up on his wonderful website Retroality.TV that you won't want to miss reading! As you all probably know, Suzanne Somers is much in the headlines these days about cancer and how chemo is not the answer. She has a new book titled Knockout, which boldly slams chemotherapy while promoting controversial treatments. Suzanne has gone back and forth this week with Gerald Posners in dueling blogs on The Daily Beast this week. Chris takes a look at this entire debacle and even has some interesting comments from her Three's Company co-star John Ritter about Suzanne Somers' breast cancer revelation and related liposuction debacle in 2001. Did Suzanne lie again? You won't want to miss this interesting investigative blog story titled "RETROALITY.TV EXCLUSIVE! John Ritter initially questioned if Suzanne Somers really had breast cancer: 'She lies,' he told me ...!"
Chris says he will have even more about this story later this month, so stay tuned! In other updates for Retroality.TV, the cover story is about Price is Right announcer Johnny Olson. GSN's new The Newlywed Game announcer Randy West wrote a great new book about his old friend and mentor Johnny. Chris has an exclusive interview with Randy.
Staying on the topic of The Price is Right, announcer Rod Roddy mysteriously wasn't visible on camera much as used to be in his final years. Why? Chris has an exclusive and interesting story on why from a former Barker's Beauty. Was Bob Barker responsible for this instead of the generic response given by FremantleMedia? Read Chris' very interesting story on Rod Roddy.
All of this is part of cancer month on Retroality.TV.
Also, later this month, he'll have an interview with Dick Van Patten regarding his new book Eighty is Enough. Retroality.TV just gets better and better! I suggest you read all of this, it is good stuff (I was especially interested in the Somers and Roddy blog stories!)!

TV Land December 2009 Includes 10th Annual Merrython; TNT Picks-Up Southland

This December on TV Land there are not many changes to the regular schedule, but of course we have the 10th Annual Merrython coming up filled with holiday episodes of all your TV Land favorites! But first, TV Land original series Make My Day returns Wednesday, December 2. It was pulled from the schedule in August but now will be burned-off with three weeks of episodes in the 10pm & 10:30pm half-hours. Amazing dreams really do come true when TV Land returns its new original comedic hidden camera series Make My Day on Wednesday, December 2 at 10:00 P.M. ET/PT on TV Land PRIME. The 30-minute series executive produced by Michael Davies provides an exciting window into the eventful day of an unsuspecting and deserving participant as hidden cameras capture the weird coincidences, extraordinary situations and surprise celebrity appearances that occur for them over the course of a seemingly "normal" day.
Kick start the holiday season with TV Land's 10th Annual Merrython on Sunday, December 13! TV Land delivers holiday cheer to our viewers during this all day marathon featuring holiday-themed episodes from classic series like Andy Griffith, All in the Family, Brady Bunch, Three's Company, Sanford & Son and Beverly Hillbillies together with modern favorites from Roseanne, 3rd Rock and The Cosby Show. Grab the eggnog, tune in with loved ones, and celebrate the holiday season with TV Land! It's three days of holiday magic on Sunday, December 13, 2009 from 6am-6am,
Thursday, December 24 from 8pm-6am and continues Friday, December 25 from 9am-9pm!
Saturday classic marathons continue in December with big blocks of Sanford & Son, Good Times, and Beverly Hillbillies. And the Friday night PRIME movies for the month are The Pelican Brief, Top Gun, and Planes Trains & Automobiles. Encore showings on weekends are of Crocodile Dundee II and City Slickers.
View the FULL TV Land December 2009 highlights with full Merrython details!

TNT has picked up the critically acclaimed series Southland, closing a deal with Warner Bros. Television that will bring the drama from Emmy-winning producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing) to the network in January. TNT has obtained exclusive rights to air all six episodes that have been shot for the second season, as well as the seven episodes from the series' first season. Southland will air on TNT Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning with the very first episode of the series on Jan. 12. Southland aired on NBC in the first season and they picked up a second season but then decided to cancel it before it even launched its second season. It is unclear right now if TNT will make more than the 6 episodes produced for season two. It will depend on ratings of the first season and the new second season.
As of now TNT will air the series following repeats of Law & Order. TNT will give it a lot promos though on their Monday night original block of The Closer and Men of a Certain Age.

TBS and ABC Family Renew Original Sitcoms; Remembering Larry Gelbart

The beer will continue flowing at Crowley's Tavern as TBS orders up a fourth season of its critically acclaimed original sitcom from Sony Pictures Television, My Boys. The series stars Jordana Spiro as PJ Franklin, a 20-something sports columnist in Chicago. TBS has lined up nine episodes for the new season, which is slated to launch in 2010.
Co-starring in My Boys as PJ's mostly male group of close friends are Kyle Howard as boyfriend Bobby, Reid Scott as best friend Brendon, Michael Bunin as Kenny and Jamie Kaler as Mike. Kellee Stewart co-stars as Stephanie, a former schoolmate and the only female influence in PJ's life.
The single camera sitcom premiered to critical praise on TBS in November 2006. When the series returned in summer 2007, it scored 22% growth among adults 18-34. Earlier this year, the show's third season garnered 11% growth among adults 18-34. The comedy is particularly strong among DVR users, delivering 72% growth among adults 18-34 and 52% growth among viewers when comparing Live to Live + 7 viewing for the third season.

Meanwhile, ABC Family has ordered another season of ten episodes of original comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. The ensemble single camera sitcom based on the 1999 feature of the same name has performed well for ABC Family since its July 7 debut. The comedy is created and executive produced by Carter Covington and stars Lindsey Shaw, Meaghan Martin, Larry Miller and Ethan Peck. The series just finished its first season episode order (10 episodes) last Tuesday.
However, the news was not as good for another original ABC Family series that premiered this summer, Ruby and the Rockits. ABC Family will not renew the multicamera sitcom that revolved around a pair of aging pop stars and their families, which starred Patrick Cassidy, David Cassidy and Alexa Vega and was executive produced by Shaun Cassidy. The series still has two episodes left to air in its only season episode order, with the series finale airing next Tuesday at 8:30PM.

Larry Gelbart, the award-winning writer whose sly, sardonic wit helped create such hits as Broadway's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the film Tootsie, and of course television's M*A*S*H, died Friday. Gelbart died at his Beverly Hills home after a long battle with cancer. He is likely best remembered for the long-running TV show about Army doctors during the Korean War. Gelbart won an Emmy for M*A*S*H and was nominated for writing but quit during the show's fourth season, saying he was "totally worn out."
Gelbart's Broadway show, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, written with Burt Shevelove, was a runaway hit. It was based loosely on the Roman plays of Plautus with songs by Stephen Sondheim.
His films Oh, God! with George Burns as a philosophical deity, and Tootsie, with Dustin Hoffman as a cross-dressing actor, both brought him Academy Award nominations, and the HBO movie Barbarians at the Gate, about Wall Street chicanery, brought another Emmy.
Gelbart's other television work was creating the short-lived CBS sitcom Roll Out! in 1973. It starred Stu Gilliam and Hilly Hicks, and featuring Ed Begley, Jr. and Garrett Morris, the series was set in France during World War II and was loosely based on the 1952 film Red Ball Express. Instead of Army medics, Roll Out! highlighted the pratfalls of the supply drivers of the 5050th Quartermaster Trucking Company of the U.S. Third Army's Red Ball Express, whose staff was mainly African American.
Gelbart was also known for writing the first television pilot for Three's Company in 1976, which today is known as "The Larry Gelbart Pilot." The pilot never aired originally, but has been on DVD and aired on cable on TV Land. In 1980, Larry had another show that didn't last too long. The series was for NBC titled United States and starred Beau Bridges. It was a show about Richard and Libby Chapin and their two children Dylan and Nicky. The show differed from other sitcoms in that there might not be closure to problems after a frank discussion and the subjects discussed were not common to other sitcoms.
In 1983, Larry came back to M*A*S*H in the spin-off AfterMASH. It only lasted two seasons and had the Korean War ended with Colonel Potter, Sergeant Klinger, and Father Mulcahy finding themselves together once again, this time at a veteran's hospital.
In recent years Larry has been interviewed for TV Land Confidential, Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, Inside TV Land: The Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H: 30th Anniversary Reunion, and most recently Biography: Three's Company. He was also at the TV Land Awards earlier this year.
Larry will certainly be missed and his great writing will live on forever in M*A*S*H and his other work. He was 81.

TV Land October 2009 Highlights; Retroality.TV's Totally Awesome Features for September

October 2009 for TV Land will be the same regular schedule that will start in September, as of now. There are some minor weekend time adjustments, but it is not a big deal. This October, Married...with Children's Saturday block goes from 5pm-10pm to 2pm-10pm, while Andy Griffith Show's Sunday block goes from 5pm-10pm to 5pm-12am. As a result, M*A*S*H's Sunday primetime airing gets shifted to Saturdays 10pm-1am replacing Cosby Show. That's all but there are plenty of highlights! First off, leading into Married on Saturdays will continue to be various classic marathons each week, in October on Saturdays we have 3rd Rock from the Sun, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sanford & Son, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Three's Company...with time varying, but usually between 10am-2pm. Leading into Andy on Sundays will continue to be various classic marathons each week as well, in October on Sundays we get Hogan's Heroes, Bonanza, Good Times, and Gunsmoke.
TV Land invites you again for the annal event CASA Family Day. Spend the 6pm hour with your family around the family table during CASA's annual Family Day on Monday, September 28. This year an episode of Little House on the Prairie will air.
This Halloween be scared. Be very scared! Because it's Roseanne's Wicked Halloween Bash! Catch every single Halloween episode from Roseanne's run on Halloween night from 10pm-2am! What better way for a wicked Halloween bash? Michael Myers who?
Finally, the TV Land PRIME movies for October are Police Academy, Office & a Gentleman, The Mod Squad, The Bodyguard, and Private Benjamin.
View the TV Land October 2009 Highlights.

Chris Mann's Retroality.TV has many many new features coming this September that will something for everyone! The cover story for September will be about Susan Olsen's new book Love to Love You Bradys, a look at how the Bradys paved the way for reality TV! There will be another cover story as well! Chris Mann has part 1 of an explosive two-part, in-depth interview with Farrah's Story executive producer Craig J. Nevius. Two days before NBC premiered the special back in May, Nevius sued Ryan O'Neal and Alana Stewart, claiming they interfered in the project and barred him from carrying out the terms of his signed April 2008 contract with Farrah. Nevius also was barred from contacting Farrah during the last three months of her life. She died of course on June 25 after a three-year struggle with anal cancer. In part one of this exclusive interview, Nevius discusses his five-year friendship and business relationship with Fawcett--beginning with a failed Charlie's Angels reunion and then TV Land's Chasing Farrah--and his promise to help her win an Emmy (She and Nevius are nominated for their roles as executive producers in Farrah's Story). Part 2 of the story will post by Sept. 7, leading up to the Creative Arts Emmys on Sept. 12.
Also, coming this September to this wonderful and cool website is a story on why TV Land censors Sanford and Son from guest columnist John Wekluk. And Price is Right fans take note, part four of Holly Hallstrom's audio interview will be posted in mid-September. She discusses, among other things, Rod Roddy's tragic, lengthy battle with colon cancer and why Bob Barker's longtime on-screen sidekick was suddenly taken off camera--against Roddy's wishes--on The Price is Right in 2002. Was it "Come on Out" instead of "Come on Down" for Roddy? You'll want to hear this!
And finally, the home page of Retroality.TV will feature links to last month's exclusive Hollywood Show video interviews, including Chris' chat with Tanya Roberts (who discusses her husband's death after a long illness, as well as Farrah's passing), Three's Company's Jenilee Harrison (Cindy Snow), and his revealing four-part chat with Susan Olsen (who gives Chris Brady scoops on her book, the Jan and Marcia "feud" and a rumored Oprah reunion this fall). That Olsen video is perfect timing since one of the cover stories is on Susan Olsen!
So head on over to our pals at Retroality.TV! Chris Mann never disappoints!

WGN America Fall 2009 Marathons; Fox Schedules King of the Hill Finale; Three's Co Bio Tonight on Bio TV

Today on the fall schedules barrage on the blog we will dish out cool marathons on WGN America! Their full fall schedule will come at a later date, but we just couldn't wait to give you details on their fall marathons! First up on Sunday, Aug. 30 we have a marathon of The Honeymooners! Following baseball, the classic sitcom will air from 5:30pm-10pm ET (2:30pm-7pm PT) and continue after the news from 11pm-2am ET (8pm-11pm PT)! The marathon will preempt the regularly scheduled Outta Sight Retro Night programming. Marathon episodes for The Honeymooners are a mix of lost and classic 39 episodes: "Game Called on Account...," "Ralph's Sweet Tooth," "Principle of the Thing," "A Dog's Life," "Here Comes the Bride," "Loudspeaker," "On Stage," "Bensonhurst Bomber," "The Safety Award," "Mind Your Own Business," "Alice and the Blonde," "Love Letter," "The Adoption," "Norton Moves In/Dinner Guest," and "Catch a Star." No word yet if The Honeymooners will return to the regular WGN America line-up.
Next up on Sunday, Sept. 6 from 4-10pm ET (1pm-7pm PT), are you ready for some football? Celebrate the return of football with a marathon of the sitcom Coach! What better way to celebrate than to air Coach? The Jerry Lewis MDA telethon will air after the news starting at 11pm ET (8pm PT). We don't have episode info yet for Coach's marathon.
Then remember the series I kept saying that will be celebrating an anniversary this fall on WGN America? Well that series is The Cosby Show! WGN America will go all out for The Cosby Show's 25th anniversary with a marathon and more! First up on Wednesday, Sept. 16 from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) catch the 2002 reunion special The Cosby Show: A Look Back for the first time on WGN America. Then on Sunday, Sept. 20 we get a marathon and yet more! From 5:30pm-8pm ET (2:30pm-5pm PT) catch classic Cosby Show episodes with an all-new half-hour special at 7pm ET (4pm PT) titled The Cosby Show: 25th Anniversary Special. Thursday, Sept. 20, 1984 was the EXACT day The Cosby Show premiered on NBC, so WGN America will also air three other series that aired on NBC that night! From 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) catch an episode each of Family Ties, Cheers, and Hill Street Blues! What a nice and creative idea to celebrate this anniversary! We don't have episode info for this day yet, but wouldn't it be cool if the exact same episodes from that night aired? Now Cheers already airs regularly on Sunday nights, but will Family Ties and Hill Street Blues also join? You'll have to stay tuned! But wait, we're still not done with The Cosby Show! More classic episodes will air after the news from 11pm-2am ET (8pm-11pm PT). What a night!
We will certainly have the WGN America Fall 2009 schedule very soon, so stay with us! One hint: Wednesday nights in primetime will be '80s night with some nights having movies and some nights having TV series. Movies include Police Academy, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Octopussy!

After 13 seasons of beer, barbecue, bickering and bonding, the Hill family delivers a Southern-style send-off in a one-hour series finale episode of King of the Hill airing Sunday, Sept. 13 from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT on Fox. The King of the Hill finale will air after Fox NFL Sunday, so the lead-in will be big.
On the back-to-back series finale episodes, "The Boy Can't Help It"/"The Honeymooners," Bobby becomes quite the ladies' man when several girls in his class consider him a potential date for the Homecoming dance. When he realizes the girls are just playing with his emotions and are not really that interested, he asks his pal Connie to the dance. Also in the episode, Hank is shocked when his mother announces she is marrying a man she has only known for a few weeks. Soon after, the newlyweds celebrate by purchasing an RV and heading to Hank's. When Hank's mom and new stepfather have a heated argument, she takes off with the RV and Hank is left to rescue his mother once again.

Just a reminder tonight Bio TV premieres Biography: Three's Company tonight at 10pm ET with an encore at 2am ET. I just got an advanced copy and watched it. It is about the behind the scenes of the show--the sex, how it was developed, casting, history, and the cast after the show. I liked how they used clips of the unaired pilots, but that isn't anything new anymore. Interviewed were Matt Rousch (TV Guide), Robert Thompson (Professor, Syracuse University), Charlton McLivain (Professor, NYU), Fred Silverman, Larry Gelbart (Pilot #1 writer), Dom Taffner, Nancy Ritter, Richard Kline, George Burditt (producer), David Graham (casting director), George Sunga (producer), Carol Summers (script supervisor), and Priscilla Barnes.
It was nice to hear Larry Gelbart talk in detail on camera about this. I don't think he has done any of the other specials on the show. David Graham was also new to these specials and it was interesting on his casting take. This special said John Ritter wanted to stop the show after eight seasons. Everything else was pretty much the same from what we have known. Still worth watching and recording!

Canada Cable Networks Fall 2009 Schedules; Joan Rivers' Show on TV Land Premieres Well

Today we put our full focus on cable stations up north... Canada, that is. We will take a look at some of the fall 2009 schedules for Canada including TV Land Canada, DejaView, CTS, TVtropolis, and SUN TV.
First up, we'll start with TV Land Canada. They will be adding the Canadian series The Red Green Show. Set in the fictional town of Possum Lake, Canada, this sketch/sitcom comedy series features the feats and foibles of Possum Lodge leader and hapless handyman, Red Green (comedian Steve Smith). Recurring characters include Harold, Red's techno-geek nephew and Bill, the resident naturalist. It will air Mondays through Fridays at 7am & 7:30am; repeats at 11:30am & 12pm, 7pm & 7:30pm, and 4am & 4:30am starting August 31.
Leaving the TV Land Canada line-up for now are 21 Jump Street, Dallas, Adventures in Rainbow Country, Swiss Family Robinson, and Adderly.
Among the highlights are The Red Green Show marathon on Canada's Thanksgiving. If you haven't caught TV Land Canada's latest new series yet, come and get acquainted by celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving in the great outdoors with Red Green and his cronies from 6am-12pm with two encores each from 12pm-6pm and 6pm-6am! Next, tune in to TV Land Canada on Christmas Eve starting at 5pm to kick-start the night with a double-bill of Lassie movies, then follow up with special holiday-themed episodes of your favorite programs Lassie, Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, and Hart to Hart. Then finally the next day, Christmas Day is a happy day, so spend with Fonzie, Chachi and the gang with a Happy Days marathon from 6am-5pm with an encore from 5pm-4am!
View the full TV Land Canada Fall 2009 Schedule.

Next up we have DejaView's Fall 2009 schedule. DejaView is removing The Rifleman, The Wonder Years, Good Times, The Ropers, Magnum P.I.. But since shows leave, new shows will join! Joining the schedule are The Rockford Files, Coach, Saved By The Bell, Silver Spoons. The first two are weekdays (Coach is weekends as well), while the latter two will air on weekends only. DejaView staples Three's Company, All in the Family, Who's the Boss?, The Cosby Show, and a few others will remain.

Then we have the TVtropolis Fall 2009 Schedule.
TVtropolis of course was known as PRIME previously. Their line-up features a mix of sitcoms, game shows, reality series, and more. They are a sister station to DejaView. Coming to the network this fall are Three's Company and Dawson's Creek. Yes, Three's Company will air on BOTH DejaView and TVtropolis! Mainstays Seinfeld, Married with Children, King of Queens, That '70s Show, Frasier, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond remain.

Next we have SUN TV and CTS TV. SUN TV will have series such as My Secret Identity, Caroline in the City, Dear John, Taxi, Dave's World, George Lopez, Becker, Alfred Hitchcock, Fame and Jimmy Kimmel Live. View SUN TV's Fall 2009 schedule.
CTS's fall line-up will not have any sitcoms anymore except for Family Matters. Sitcoms of recent years like The Hogan Family, Facts of Life, Family Ties, Full House, Amen, Fresh Prince, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, are now gone! Replacing these comedies are now dramas Promised Land, Little House on the Prairie and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. View the CTS Fall 2009 line-up.

Finally, Teletoon will add The Yogi Bear Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Top Cat, Captain Caveman, Josie and the Pussycats, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Inspector Gadget and Beetlejuice to their schedule, but Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, The Tom and Jerry Show, Woody Woodpecker, Merrie Melodies, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and The Porky Pig Show are leaving. View the Teletoon Fall 2009 schedule.
And continue to monitor and discuss Canada's fall schedules on our message board with the help of members like Sal from Canada.

Wednesday night's premiere of TV Land PRIME's new reality series, How'd You Get So Rich? posted double-digit increases in rating and delivery among Adults 25-54 and Adults 40-54 a well total viewers over recent levels. It also witnessed double-digit gains over its 9:30 p.m. Roseanne lead-in as well as gains among women 25-54. The new series, starring the often outrageous and hilarious 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.
According to Nielsen Media Research, How'd You Get So Rich? posted double-digit gains with a 0.3 A25-54 rating and 333,000 viewers among A25-54, up 29% in rating and 33% in viewers 25-54 versus the prior 4 week primetime average. The network averaged 650,000 total viewers, up 16% over the previous four week average. Among the network's core A40-54 audience, the premiere earned a 0.4 A40-54 rating and 203,000 viewers A40-54, an increase of 24% in rating and 26% in viewers 40-54 over the previous 4 week average.
The premiere telecast posted increases among Women 25-54 over recent primetime levels, scoring a 0.4 W25-54 rating 197,000 viewers W25-54, up 37% in rating and 38% in viewers W25-54 versus previous four week primetime average. How'd You Get So Rich? experienced appointment viewing as it lifted 35% among A25-54 over its 9:30 p.m. Roseanne lead-in.

Other TV Land news, The Beverly Hillbillies will air this Sunday night (Aug. 9) from 4-6am instead of The Andy Griffith Show. Andy Griffith has been extended on Tuesday, August 11 from 6-8pm, so it gets an extra half-hour on this date as it was scheduled for 6pm-7:30pm.

New Biography Episodes on Bio TV in August 2009; Hallmark Primetime News

This August on Bio TV we get three all-new Biography episodes related to TV series! First up is Biography: Family Ties on Tuesday, August 4 at 10pm ET. Ronald Reagan's favorite TV show was none other than Family Ties, the 80's comedy about hippies Elyse and Steven Keaton and their Young Republican son, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox). They explore the show's genesis, the lives of its cast and crew, and the partisan politics of the Keaton's happy and hilarious home.
Next the following Tuesday on Tuesday, August 11 at 10pm ET, we get Biography: Three's Company! What do you get when a bubbly blond, a practical brunette, and a clumsy bachelor all live under one roof? Three's Company -- the sexy sitcom that had audiences laughing (and swooning) throughout the late '70s and early '80s. But for the loveable roommates, the eight-year run wasn't all fun and games. They'll explore Three's Company's ups and downs--from topping the ratings chart to fighting on-set battles over paychecks, and from breaking down cultural boundaries to facing boycott threats from moral watchdogs.
Finally the next Tuesday on Tuesday, August 18 at 10pm ET, we get Biography: Roseanne! She's racked up an Emmy, three ex-husbands (including Tom Arnold), and her own comedy, talk, cooking, reality, and radio shows. Bio TV chronicles the life and times of the loud-mouthed comedienne who can't keep her mouth shut (on or off the screen).
Bio TV also premieres The Andy Griffith Retrospective Special from 1993 on Tuesday, August 25 at 10pm ET. This one-hour special features cast members from The Andy Griffith Show gather to reminisce about the classic 1960s TV series.
Biography encores for August include Kim Fields, Alyssa Milano, Kristy McNichol, Michael J. Fox, Teen Heartthrobs on Aug. 4; Patrick Duffy, Suzanne Somers, John Ritter, Don Knotts on Aug. 11; Ed Asner, Patricia Heaton, Mr. T, Carroll O'Connor on Aug. 18; and Friends, Matthew Perry, Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, Happy Days on Aug. 25. Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals encores for the month are on The Love Boat & M*A*S*H (Aug. 11) and Welcome Back Kotter, The Facts of Life & Roseanne (Aug. 18).

Beginning next Monday (Monday, July 27), the two-week test run is over for Hallmark Channel in primetime...but there will be some reminisce of it! Right now Touched by an Angel is airing 8-10pm, followed by The Golden Girls from 10pm-1am and Cheers 1-2:30am. Now that two-week run will end. Touched by an Angel will be the only show continuing like this and will add an extra hour, airing Mon-Thurs from 8-11pm, while The Golden Girls goes back to 11pm-2am and Cheers sharing the 2am hour with I Love Lucy. Movies will air Fridays from 9-11pm.

Stay with us starting next week as we start our blog fall schedule barrage posts! We will have something different each weekday until we just about get them all! Don't you just love that time of year? The Summer TCA tour also begins next Tuesday, so it's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

TV Land and Hallmark Last Minute June Changes; CBS To Air Unaired Worst Week Episode

TV Land June 2009 schedule - take three! And action! Yes, TV Land has changed its June schedule once again. As of now the changes are just for this week and next week (weeks of June 1 and 8) and are in effect starting TODAY, as we mentioned on our message boards this weekend. The new schedule will have TV Land Goes West on Mondays now from 11:30am-7pm with Gunsmoke and Bonanza and now Little House on the Prairie will air at approx. 5:30pm. I say approx. because TV Land is really off the clock now. From Tuesdays-Fridays, the western block will start at 1:30pm and run to 7pm with the same three shows. This means The Beverly Hillbillies will be only approx. 1pm now, as it loses 1:30pm and 6pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is totally gone for now it seems.
In primetime for the week of June 1, we have The Cosby Show in the approx. 8pm hour and Roseanne in the approx. 9pm hour. A different show will air from approx. 10pm-12am each night with Married...with Children returning on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday and Thursday, and The Cougar/She's Got the Look Preview on Wednesday. Then at approx. 12am we have Married...with Children (just once in the hour, so it won't likely start until late except on Wednesdays when we have two episodes in the hour). At approx. 1am we have another Married...with Children, followed by M*A*S*H at 1:30am, and hour each of Roseanne, Three's Company, The Cosby Show and M*A*S*H follows from 2am-6am. So this week is a major overhaul and Three's Company returns to weeknights, at least for a week.
The Roseanne "launch" marathon is still on from Friday, June 5 to Friday, June 12 from 8pm-6am. However, this weekend (Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7) we have an Andy Griffith Show marathon from 8am-8pm, leading into Roseanne. The week of June 8 has the same daytime line-up as June 1, but primetime and late night is all Roseanne, as mentioned as the marathon continues. The weekend of June 13-14 will have more all-day marathons. Married...with Children will air both days from 8am-10pm, so this show seems like it will stay on TV Land as it is doing well for them. The weekend schedule that was in effect before will remain from 10pm-6am on this weekend of June 13-14. Now starting Monday, June 15, we don't know yet what TV Land will do. Will they have the same daytime schedule as the previous two weeks and the same primetime/late night schedule as week of June 1? Will we see marathons every weekend all-day? We will let you know as soon as we do, but for now view the weeks of June 1 and June 8 schedules for TV Land and discuss this!

As for Hallmark Channel, the June changes are not as drastic. The changes are in primetime starting tonight. The 8pm weekday hour will now have the return of Touched by an Angel. The series was only off for a week or two and now it returns in a much better slot of 8pm replacing two episodes of The Golden Girls. Those two episodes of The Golden Girls will move to the 11pm hour, replacing Murder, She Wrote, which is now off the line-up for now. So if you're keeping track, The Golden Girls now airs from 8am-11am and 11pm-2am every weekday. Nothing else is changing, so expect the schedule as it was. Good news for Lucy fans as they are not messing with the I Love Lucy timeslots so far!

Finally, CBS has scheduled an unaired episode of the canceled comedy Worst Week for this Saturday at 8:30pm. CBS had one leftover episode still yet to air, that is titled "The Party." The episode will have a repeat of Old Christine as its lead-in at 8pm. So get those DVR's rolling Worst Week fans because you have one more episode left and surprisingly CBS is airing it!
In other CBS updates, 48 Hours will air at a special time of 8pm (instead of the usual 10pm slot) on Saturday, July 11, so the two-hour finale of Harper's Island can air from 9-11pm on that night. Harper's Island is not expected back, so that is a series finale.

ION Switches Reba and Feud; ABC Summer Sitcom Changes; Remembering Michael Ross

We gave you details on ION Television's June 2009 line-up already with the addition of Ghost Whisperer to the Monday night line-up starting June 1, but now they have made a switcharoo on weekdays that will start June 8. Reba will now move to weeknights in the 6pm hour, as Family Feud now switches to the 7pm hour. The switch was made due to Reba's poor ratings and also because Lifetime airs the series at the same time. Now ION will air the sitcom in the 6pm hour, an hour before Lifetime starts their 7-9pm weeknight block of Reba. Family Feud will air on most nights in the 7pm hour on weeknights, especially Mondays and Tuesday, but the other nights on weeknights you can see a movie start earlier.
View the full updated ION Television June 2009 line-up. We will have more on ION next week with their July line-up. We mentioned before ER would return to weekdays starting June 29, but now we hear that is not happening. What will happen? Come on back next week and see!

We have lots of ABC sitcom news for the summer for you today. First off, we have some breaking news. Just premiered animated comedy The Goode Family will air an additional episode at 9:30pm this coming Wednesday (June 3) instead of a new episode of Surviving Suburbia. The Goode Family will also air in its regular 9:00pm Wednesday time slot on this date as well. Why? Ratings. Suburbia did terrible and was pulled right away, but The Goode Family didn't do that hot either losing a lot from the big lead-in from Wipeout, but ABC is giving it more of a chance. If this change does better, expect ABC to double-pump The Goode Family until further notice to perhaps complete more of its 13 episode-run. Originally only 6 were slated to air.
We previously reported that the three remaining episodes of In the Motherhood would air Fridays at 9:30pm starting June 5. Now that isn't happening. ABC will double-pump repeats of Samantha Who? for three weeks in the Friday 9pm hour on June 5, 12 and 19 now instead. Then Samantha Who? will move to Thursdays at 8pm starting June 25, with new episodes (it has 7 episodes left to air). In the Motherhood will air its three remaining episodes at 8:30pm on Thursdays on June 25, July 2 & 9. It is unclear what will air in the 8:30pm slot thereafter, but it will likely be more Samantha Who? ABC has not announced what will air Thursdays 9-11pm yet starting June 25, as I doubt we get both Grey's and Private Practice repeats...maybe just Grey's and something like new crime drama Castle repeats? Then on Fridays at 9 starting June 26, we get According to Jim repeats on a new night and time (Remember the series finale is this Tuesday in the 8pm hour). The following week, July 3, Surviving Suburbia moves to Fridays at 9:30pm with new episodes following repeats of According to Jim at 9. I bet we won't see Suburbia until July 3 now, as I don't expect it to return to Wednesdays following the June 3 Goode Family test.
Elsewhere, 7 new episodes of Better off Ted and repeats of Scrubs will air in the 9pm hour on Tuesdays starting Tuesday, June 23 following episodes of the upcoming competition series The Superstars. This is a good way for the brilliantly done Better off Ted to be sampled before it returns with more new episodes in January 2010.
I applaud ABC in airing all of these comedies this summer! View these changes in a list form, if you get confused. And if we have more updates, we will bring it to you first...so keep checking!


TV producer/writer/director Michael "Mickey" Ross, best known for his work on hit sitcoms All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Three's Company, died Tuesday (May 26) in Los Angeles from complications of a stroke and heart attack. Ross, along with business partners Don Nicholl & Bernie West, made his mark in the 1970's with the breakout CBS TV sitcom, All in the Family, for which he won a writing Emmy in 1973. They were nominated two other times, another one for All in the Family and one for Three's Company. The trio were known as "NRW" until the death of Don Nicholl in 1980. So now only Bernie West remains from this historical team.
Mickey also was part of the creation for ABC's Three's Company spin-offs The Ropers and Three's a Crowd. He also wrote for Maude, another All in the Family spin-off. In 1976 NRW also created and produced the short-lived sitcom The Dumplings for NBC starring James Coco. Mickey also directed many episodes of Three's Company. NRW also wrote the pilot episode for Chico and the Man.
Before all of his hit series were born, he was a part of many shows in the '50s and '60s such as The Garry Moore Show, The Perry Como Show, Sid Ceasar's Hour and The Martha Raye Show. The latter is how he developed a relationship with Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, later forming All in the Family. And decades later in 1998, Mickey appeared on screen for an interview on the E! True Hollywood Story for Three's Company.
Aside from his TV work, Ross and his wife founded the Michael and Irene Ross Program in Jewish Studies at The City College of New York -- Ross's (and Bernie West's) alma mater. Memorial service will be held this Sunday (May 31) at 11 a.m. Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills on 5950 Forest Lawn Dr. in Los Angeles, CA.
Mickey will certainly be missed and my good friend and author of the Three's Company book Chris Mann tells me he loved farce comedy and that's how he viewed Three's Company with John Ritter as the ultimate farceur. Mickey rejoins Don Nicholl now up in the heavens recreating TV comedy. Rest in Peace, Mickey and you'll be deeply missed. Mickey Ross was 89.

TV Land June 2009 Has Roseanne; ABC/Disney Now on Hulu

This June on TV Land they will launch sitcom Roseanne in TV Land PRIME, launch the second season of reality series She's Got The Look on a new night and time, and spend Father's Day with TV Land Rough n Rugged.
TV Land PRIME welcomes Roseanne to the network with a week long, primetime marathon beginning Friday, June 5. The marathon will air 8pm-1am each night and encore 1am-6am each night through Friday, June 12, before the series joins the regular schedule on Saturday, June 13. Roseanne is the quintessential sitcom about a working class family that put the "Real in TV" long before reality television became the norm. Travel back in time with the "Queen of Comedy" as TV Land PRIME chronicles the Conner family's ups and downs, laughs and love, and dreams - both real and imagined.
Roseanne will air Saturdays from 9pm-11pm & 2am-4am; Sundays from 12am-2am; Mon-Tues & Thurs 11pm-2am; Tues-Fri from 8pm-10pm (except 9-10pm on Thursdays); and Wednesdays & Fridays 1-2am. That's a whole lotta Roseanne! And good news for classic TV fans because Leave it to Beaver is renewed and on the June schedule airing Saturdays from 12-2pm. Three's Company is unfortunately off the line-up for now with the addition of Roseanne, as will be Hogan's Heroes & Green Acres. The other big change is late nights on weeknights. 2am-6am all get changed, with The Cosby Show airing in the 2am hour, 3rd Rock from the Sun will only air now at 3am, followed by the return of Scrubs at 3:30am, followed by M*A*S*H at 4am, Sanford & Son at 4:30am, The Jeffersons at 5am, and Good Times at 5:30am. So this does mean M*A*S*H is just once a night on weeknights, but it will still air on Sunday nights, but now 9pm-12am. We have the full schedule for you to click on below...so keep reading!
They're back again... and this time the stakes are bigger and better as 12 gorgeous women 35-and-over grace TV Land PRIME in season 2 of the modeling competition series that's like no other...She's Got the Look! For one very lucky winner, a second chance for a supermodel career, a life changing contract with the world famous Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, and a spread in Self magazine awaits. Watch the nationwide search, follow the drama as the number of contestants dwindles, and root for your favorite to win it all. Join in on the fun on a new night and time starting Thursday June 11, 2009 at 9pm for eight straight weeks through July 30. Encores of the show will air Thursdays at 10pm & 1am; Fridays at 12 midnight; Saturdays 10am & 1am; Sundays 3am; Mondays 11am; Tuesdays 2am; Wednesdays 10pm; and the next Thursday at 12 noon.
But before the premiere on June 11, catch a sneak peek at She's Got the Look season two on Wednesday, June 3 at 11pm following the finale of The Cougar.
It's Dad's Day and TV Land has 12 hours of rough rugged entertainment planned that will keep dad glued to his seat. Starting with a 7-hour block of movies featuring fights and sports, a classic Mel Brooks comedy and a 4 hour western block featuring popular episodes of Bonanza and Gunsmoke, Dad is sure to appreciate that you've kept him busy doing his most favorite thing: sitting on the couch and watching good manly TV! Catch the movies Slapshot 2, Slapshot, and History of the World Part 1.
Other TV Land PRIME movie premieres for the month are Another 48 Hours and Driving Miss Daisy.
View the full TV Land June 2009 schedule, with full highlights and one-time adjustments.

Hulu and The Walt Disney Company announced that Disney, through a subsidiary of ABC Enterprises Inc., has agreed to join NBC Universal, News Corporation and Providence Equity Partners as a joint venture partner and equity owner of Hulu, a leading online aggregator of video content. Upon closing, the agreement will enhance Hulu's programming lineup through the expanded online distribution of Disney's most popular current and library primetime series and library feature films. In particular, full-length episodes of hit current and library programs like Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, Scrubs, Greek, Hope & Faith, Less than Perfect, Wizards of Waverly Place, Phineas and Ferb, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, General Hospital, The View and The Secret Life of the American Teenager will soon be streamed on Hulu on an ad-supported basis.
· Full-length episodes of ABC primetime programs like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Samantha Who?, Scrubs, Private Practice and popular late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!
· Full-length episodes of hit ABC Family series like The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Greek
· Popular series from ABC Daytime and SOAPnet like General Hospital and The View
· Classic series from ABC's library like Hope & Faith, Less than Perfect, Commander in Chief, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and past seasons of the megahit Dancing with the Stars
· Select hit programs from Disney Channel like Wizards of Waverly Place and Phineas and Ferb which can be easily accessed from a new DISNEY location in the Channel section of Hulu.com
· Popular library titles from The Walt Disney Studios
· Short-form content including webisodes, sneak peeks and episode recaps from ABC Entertainment, ABC Family and SOAPnet
That is a lot and this is huge! ABC/Disney has bought 30% of Hulu. There is no date yet when all of this will appear, but we will let you know.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our regular blog DVD review and a look at what we think will be picked-up by NBC for both new and returning series. NBC has their "infront" on Monday and will announce what they will pick-up, but an actual schedule won't be announced until upfront week (week of May 18). NBC continues to be the oddball with this "infront" stuff.

Remembering Bea Arthur, Kim Weiskopf; Hallmark Channel, WE tv, TV Land, Me-Too All To Air Tributes for Bea

Today we will cover everything Bea Arthur (with a tribute to Kim Weiskopf as well). As you all I'm sure know by now, Bea Arthur has died. Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows Maude and The Golden Girls and who won a Tony Award for the musical Mame, died Saturday (April 25). Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side. She had cancer but that is the only detail we know. Arthur first appeared in the landmark comedy series All in the Family as Edith Bunker's outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur's own series, known of course as Maude. Maude scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role in 1977. The show ended in 1978, as Bea thought it was time for the show to end after six seasons. Then came The Golden Girls from 1985-1992, and it was another groundbreaking comedy, finding surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a younger, product-buying audience. She played Dorothy Zbornak, one of four older friends living in Miami. The show moved to CBS in 1992-93 and was titled The Golden Palace, but Bea didn't sign on for it. Bea did guest star in a two-part episode. In 2003, Lifetime reunited the cast for the special The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Memories. And in 2008, the cast reunited again on the 2008 TV Land Awards accepting the Pop Culture Award.
Even before television, Bea had a major career in plays on Broadway. Arthur's biggest Broadway triumph came in 1966 as Vera Charles, Angela Lansbury's acerbic friend in the musical "Mame," directed by Tony-winning director Gene Saks, who was also her husband of 28 years. They divorced in 1978. During 2001 and 2002 she toured the country in a one-woman show of songs and stories, ... And Then There's Bea.
In between Maude and The Golden Girls, Bea had a failed sitcom. In 1983, she starred in the ABC sitcom Amanda's, an Americanized version of John Cleese's hilarious Fawlty Towers. She was cast as owner of a small seaside hotel with a staff of eccentrics. It lasted a mere 10 episodes, with three episodes unaired.
She was also in films. Among the movies she graced were That Kind of Woman (1959), Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), Mel Brooks' The History of the World: Part I (1981), For Better or Worse (1995). Her TV movies include the ABC TV movie My First Love in 1988 and the NBC TV movie P.O.P. in 1984.
Among her guest appearances on television are the The Golden Girls spin-off Empty Nest, Ellen, Beggars & Choosers, Dave's World, a.k.a. Pablo, Laugh-In, and she appeared on a rare special recap episode of Soap as an "angel." In recent years, Arthur made guest appearances on shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Futurama and Malcolm in the Middle. The latter was very popular.
Bea will certainly be missed by millions and millions fans around the world. TV Land has created a 30-second on-air and online promo remembering her. TV Land will air both of her appearances on All in the Family on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9am, the episodes "Cousin Maude's Visit" on Tuesday and the back-door "Maude" pilot that aired as an All in the Family episode on Wednesday. Too bad TV Land isn't airing regular Maude episodes as a tribute. Me-Too in Chicago will air Maude, though! All this week in the 9-10pm CT hour, Me-Too Chicago airs "Remembering Maude: A Tribute to Bea Arthur." View the episode schedule. Lucky fans in Chi-town.
Hallmark and WE tv air The Golden Girls regularly multiple times a day. Hallmark will pay tribute to Bea with a Memorial Day marathon and WE tv pays tribute to Bea tonight and Thursday, see below for more details on both. Watch a video celebration of her life and career. Bea lived a long life and was 86.

Hallmark Channel has announced it will pay tribute to legendary star Bea Arthur with an all-day Golden Girls "Memorial Day Marathon" on Monday, May 25 from 6:30am-2:30am, featuring episodes focusing on Arthur's character Dorothy Zbornak, a gruff, wise-cracking divorcée who shared her Miami home with her mother and two loopy friends. Golden Girls plays daily on Hallmark Channel: Monday-Friday, 8-10 a.m., 7-9 p.m., 12-2 a.m., Saturdays 6-9 a.m., and Sundays 8:30-10 a.m. View their press release. UPDATE: We get marathons SOONER now on Hallmark! At the Studio City, CA home of Hallmark Channel, fans of the classic comedy Golden Girls flooded the network's Viewer Services department today with parenthetical appreciation for the channel's announcement of a Memorial Day Tribute to Bea Arthur. The qualifier to the announcement included these sentiments: more, sooner, please. And now Hallmark has listened! Hallmark Channel responded by hand-selecting the "Best of the Dorothy Zbornak Episodes" which begin running Tuesday, April 28 (7-9pm) and continue, Wednesday, April 29 (7-9pm), and Thursday, April 30 (7-9pm) in the normal Golden Girls timeslots, but also on Sunday, May 3 (8:30am-3am) a full day event is planned! This is all in addition to the previously announced Memorial Day marathon on, Monday, May 25 (6:30am-2:30am.). We don't have episode info yet for the Memorial Day stunt, but Hallmark has released the 5 day stunt episodes for this week! Thank you for being a friend, Hallmark!
WE tv airs the show weeknights from 5-7pm ET, with primetime marathons from 6pm-12am on Monday nights, so that includes tonight. They also air the show sometimes on Thursday late nights. WE tv announced today two special nights of programming to honor Bea Arthur. "WE Remember Bea" will feature a marathon of favorite The Golden Girls episodes both Monday, April 27 from 5pm-12am ET and Thursday, April 30 from 9:30pm-1am ET. The acclaimed actress, known for her quick wit and willingness to embrace controversial issues was the centerpiece of the comedic series, which won more than 38 awards during its run. "WE Remember Bea" will be comprised of episodes which center on Bea Arthur's colorful character Dorothy Zbornak and key related storylines from the series. See the episode info for tonight's marathon.
WE tv already had a scheduled Golden Girls Memorial Day marathon from 10am-6am, so we have two networks airing a marathon on The Golden Girls on May 25.

We also have lost Kim Weiskopf, a TV comedy writer whose credits included Three's Company and Married...with Children, died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday (April 22) at his home in Encino. He launched his career in the early 1970s, with longtime writing partner Michael S. Baser, he wrote for series such as One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Melba, Carter Country, We Got It Made, and Good Times, the latter show leading to their first staff-writing position.
The writing duo went on to write and produce three seasons of ABC's Three's Company before being hired to create the TV series 9 to 5 for ABC, which was based on the movie. They then developed an updated, syndicated version of the '70s series What's Happening!! called What's Happening Now!!, though he had never worked with the original series.
Weiskopf's also wrote and produced for Rachel Gunn, R.N., Full House and Married...with Children, without Baser. Kim appeared in interviews for the E! True Hollywood Story episodes of both Three's Company and Married...with Children. He had an uncredited appearance on Married...with Children on an episode playing Lucky the Dog in a 1996 episode.
He is going to be missed, especially by fans of Three's Company and Married...with Children. Kim was 62.

Lifetime Networks 2009 Upfront; Network Notes; Remembering Wendy Blair

Lifetime Networks unveiled its 2009-10 program slate that encompasses the most powerful line-up of original series and movies in Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network's history, headlined by the sixth season of cable's hottest unscripted competition series, Project Runway.
Project Runway, featuring host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, is set to make its long-awaited return to television on Thursday, August 20, at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) with 14 hour-long episodes. The series, the highest-rated unscripted competition show on all of cable, will seamlessly lead into Models of the Runway at 11:00PM (ET/PT), beginning August 20, an all-new, half-hour companion series will center around the drama, anxiety, tears and joys of Project Runway's models as they compete for money and a major magazine cover shoot. In other unscripted news, new shows Cook Yourself Thin debuts on May 4 at 5:00 PM (ET/PT), and DietTribe is scheduled to return for its second season later this year.
As we mentioned, Lifetime's hit drama series Army Wives returns for its third season at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) on Sunday, June 7. Joining Army Wives this summer will be Drop Dead Diva, the spirited new comedic drama, starring newcomer Brooke Elliott (Hairspray, Wicked) and Margaret Cho (17 Again). It will air at 9:00 PM (ET/PT) starting Sunday, July 12. Lifetime has many original dramas in development. However, they have not been picked-up as series just yet. In development are: Mona Lisa Smile, based on the feature film of the same name; Mystic Pizza: Another Slice, a two-hour, back-door pilot based on the hit film; Marry Me, a limited-run anthology series that starts with a couple who meets in the pilot and concludes with a wedding in Episode 13; Queens of the Rodeo, a comedic drama with the exciting and dangerous rodeo circuit as the backdrop; The Fallen (working title), based on T. Jefferson Parker's novel of the same name; and Murder in Suburbia, formatted from the popular British series.
Rita Rocks, its first original comedy in a decade, stars Nicole Sullivan as an overworked wife and mother trying to find time for herself, will return for its second season in the Fall. Lifetime has three other original comedies in the works, but have not been picked-up as a series yet. In production for pilots are Sherri, loosely based on Sherri Shepherd's (The View) personal family experiences; The Valerie Bertinelli Project (working title) is about a newly divorced mother (Bertinelli) who must maintain a balance between her family and running her ex-husband's struggling hardware business; Alligator Point, is from Kelsey Grammar and stars Cybill Shepherd following the life and times of an eccentric group of Floridians whose lives change when a "Yankee" becomes part of their disjointed family. We will let you know if any of these three gets picked-up as a series joining Rita Rocks.
As for daily strip schedule, this fall Lifetime will begin airing two high-profile, off-net properties nightly, the popular dramas Grey's Anatomy and Medium. Currently, they both air once a week. They join a strong schedule that already features such top acquired product as Wife Swap, Desperate Housewives, Reba, Will & Grace and Frasier. Cybill joins the daytime line-up on May 4. Finally, in September 2010, Lifetime will also begin stripping the hit off-net comedy How I Met Your Mother, which currently fills one hour of the network's schedule per week on Mondays.
View more on Lifetime and LMN's upfront, which includes all the original movies they have in the works for 2009 and 2010.

We have a lot of network notes for you today. First off, ABC will air a repeat of Grey's Anatomy this Thursday (April 23) at 8pm leading into the return of all-new episodes at 9pm. The repeat will be the last original episode that aired, so fans can remember what happened, if they need refreshing. This means In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? will not return to the slot now since yesterday we announced Ugly Betty was coming back a week earlier than planned (April 30). So updating my story from yesterday, Motherhood will now have three episodes still remaining to air, as it will have 4 of its 7 aired (though they had only planned to air 6 anyway). Samantha Who? looks like will only air 13 of its 20, with seven still left in the can, but ABC could certainly use those next season, which is more than likely to happen despite the ratings falter on Thursdays.
In other ABC notes, ABC has announced the celebs and athletes for the new summer series The Superstars! The eight athletes are Jennifer Capriati (tennis), Brandi Chastain (soccer), Robert Horry (basketball), Jeff Kent (baseball), Kristi Leskinen (X Games), Lisa Leslie (basketball), Bode Miller (skiing) and Terrell Owens (football). The eight celebrities are David Charvet (actor), Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Dancing with the Stars), Dan Cortese (host/actor), Paige Hemmis (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), Julio Iglesias, Jr. (singer), Joanna Krupa (model), Ali Landry (model/actress) and Estella Warren (actress). The series is based on ABC's classic Wide World of Sports, which pitted athletes from all different sports against each other to determine the best athlete in the world. The Superstars pairs the celebrities with the athletes to compete in varying sporting events. Participants found out who their selected partners were only when they met for the first time at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The six-episode series premieres Tuesday, June 23 at 8:00PM on ABC. The team pairings for The Superstars will be Terrell Owens & Joanna Krupa; Jeff Kent & Ali Landry; Robert Horry & Estella Warren: Bode Miller & Paige Hemmis; Kristi Leskinen & Maksim Chmerkovskiy; Lisa Leslie & Dan Cortese; Jennifer Capriati & David Charvet; and Brandi Chastain & Julio Iglesias, Jr. Every week a team will be eliminated until one team is ultimately crowned the winner. Competitors' athletic prowess and strategy will be put to the test to excel in events including swimming, biking, running and kayaking, in addition to other head-to-head athletic challenges everyone must try to conquer. Find out more on the celebs and athletes.

Moving on to NBC, they have pulled drama Kings from Saturdays even after just one airing. Repeats of Law & Order: SVU will air instead at 8pm (it was at 9pm), with Southland encores moving to 9pm (from 10pm), and now Law & Order repeats will close out the night at 10pm. Then after May sweeps ends, Law & Order: Criminal Intent repeats will air for a few weeks at 8pm before Kings returns. 7 episodes of Kings remain and NBC promises to return the series on Saturday, June 13 at 8pm to finish them off. That date was originally the plan to end the series, now that will be the return date. The series will last through July 25, bearing any more changes of course.
Finally Fox has changed its summer schedule a bit again. New series Mental will now air Tuesdays at 9PM starting May 26 following summer repeats of House. Mental was previously scheduled to launch on Friday, May 29 at 9PM. It will still air Fridays, but now they will be encores of the Tuesday episodes. However, the Tuesday airings will only last through June 23. The Friday encores will become the new night for new episodes for Mental starting July 3 through August 14. Fox has also announced that it will return reality show The Moment of Truth on Wednesday, July 29 airing Wednesdays at 9PM, following So You Think You Can Dance. Dance ends its season in early August (Aug. 5 & 6), though, so Truth will then have repeats of Bones as its lead-in starting Aug. 19. August 12 will see two episodes of Moment of Truth from 8-10pm. View the complete Fox summer schedule.

Finally, we leave you today with some sad news. Wendy Blair died of cancer on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 in North Hollywood. Blair enjoyed a long career in the entertainment industry, having served as the first female junior executive at CBS Television City in the mid-1950s. Known for being analytical and extremely organized, she worked as an associate producer and producer on a number of popular television series. Among the series she worked on as an associate producer are Three's Company, and both of its spin-off series The Ropers and Three's a Crowd, as well as several variety shows and specials for companies including Dick Clark Productions and Sid and Marty Krofft Enterprises, such as Dr. Shrinker.
Her other producer credits include pilots and series such as What a Country! in 1986, I Married Dora in 1987, Mutts in 1988, and Where's Rodney? in 1990. She later segued from working in production to serving as the manager of business operations for The Smothers Brothers and was active in this role until the beginning of 2009. Now, Joanne McCracken has taken over. Blair was a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America and was a founding member of the Association of Associate Producers (which later merged with the PGA). Blair was devoted to her family and family traditions. She will be deeply missed, especially by Three's Company fans and The Smothers Brothers followers. She was only 70.

Nick at Nite April 2009: Whole Lotta Lopez Week; New Three's Company Features on Retroality.TV Includes News on a Biography Episode

This April on Nick at Nite, there won't be any changes to the regular line-up...but they do have have "a whole lotta George Lopez." Yes, the week of April 6, is "Whole Lotta Lopez" week! From Mon-Thurs that week from 9:00pm-6:00am ET/PT and Friday of that week from 10:00pm-6:00am ET/PT it's non-stop George Lopez, all-night long!
Nick at Nite is bringing you George Lopez for five full nights! Join Nick at Nite for the kind of laughter and excitement as only George can provide. Watch out!
Catch the first 103 episodes of this hilarious show (but not counting holiday episodes, which means Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Super Bowl, and Valentine's Day.) So the following episodes are skipped: 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 35, 38, 40, 52, 61, 63, 64, 66, 85, 91 (#52 is actually not a holiday episode but the 3D Disneyland episode).
So if you have never seen the show, now is your chance to get in on the action from the beginning! It is quite funny, too. I got this, as George would say. Sabes que, just watch and see yourself!
And coming this May to Nick at Nite will be The Nanny joining the regular schedule. So stay tuned for news on that very soon! But for now view the Nick at Nite April 2009 schedule and highlights.

About ten days ago Chris Mann posted his interview with Three's Company's Joyce DeWitt and also an interview with me...and now Chris has more Three's Company updates! March 2009 is all about Three's Company at Chris' Retroality.TV as Three's Company celebrated 32 years on the air. Chris is labeling all this as the Three's Company 32nd Anniversary Retrospecial!
First up, on his very creative Quit Yer Kitschin' blog section, Chris sums up all of the "Retrospecial" coverage while offering some "extras" about me, Andy Hermann and a person named Ryan Mooney, who wrote a new Internet sitcom pilot called Something About Ryan that's a bit of a contemporary take on Three's Company's comedy of misunderstandings and sexual innuendo, Chris says.
Chris also use this blog entry to break news about a new, in-the-works Biography episode on Three's Company. Believe it or not, Biography has never done a full special on the show, but they have done Biography episodes on John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. We will keep you up to date on this breaking news. It'll likely air on the Biography Channel instead of A&E, as most of the Biography episodes do now.
Chris also pays tribute to John on this blog entry and shares his journey with him where his book Come and Knock on Our Door is concerned (including all the publicity he did and the documentaries that resulted). It is a great story! I urge you to read this creative, informative and interesting blog story!
And that is not all! Remember our good friends Nick Digilo and Andy Hermann of WGN Radio? Chris also interviews them for the Three's Company Retrospecial! If you don't know, Nick is a host of a popular radio show on WGN Radio on weekends and is a big pop-culture fan. Andy is the producer of that show and is a big Three's Company buff. He even does a semi-regular Three's Company Trivia Throwdowns on-air! He is good! I even sent him questions many times, and he has done good. They have interviewed Priscilla Barnes (Terri from Three's Company) and Richard Kline (Larry from Three's Company) on-air on separate occasions, so they were fun to hear! They also did interviews with Chris Mann on-air a few times. Good stuff! You can hear all that on their website, if you missed it. But first be sure to check out the interview Chris does with both Nick and Andy in the Retroality Radio Q&A!
Wow, that's "a whole lotta Company!" We started the blog today with "a whole lotta Lopez" and end with "a whole lotta Company!"

Retroality.TV Interviews Joyce DeWitt and...Me; CBS/Warner Bros. Officially Renew Big Bang, Men for Multiple Seasons; Sci Fi Renames to Syfy

Our buddy Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has put up his March 2009 cover story and it is a great one, like usual. This time he goes one-on-one with Joyce DeWitt...yes, Janet Wood from Three's Company! Chris talks to Joyce about a lot of different things and they are all interesting. See what Joyce has to say about John Ritter, when she last saw him, her feud with Suzanne Somers, friendship with Priscilla Barnes & the late Don Knotts, her stage roots with Richard Kline, the NBC Three's Company tell-all movie, her spiritual journey, and her upcoming projects (which includes stage work and two upcoming movies). And she talks in detail about those topics and much more topics. It's a nice three-part interview and you will find yourself reading every word and the time will just breeze by. It is a great read, and I urge you all you to read it. It starts off on the cover page on Retroality.TV, and continues on part two and part three.
That is not all for March! Chris has a few other new features and interviews, including an interview with ME! He interviewed me for my Jack's Bistro Three's Company website. How odd does it feel going from Joyce to me? But I am honored to be in great company! I talk to Chris about how I started the website, what my inspiration was, my favorite Three's Company episodes, John Ritter, the Suzanne-Joyce feud, and more! Check out me being interviewed by the great Chris Mann! And if you missed it back in October, both Todd and I were interviewed by Chris for SitcomsOnlline, so check that out, too, if you missed it.
All this is just in time for Three's Company's 32nd anniversary, which was on Sunday (March 15). Has it really been 32 years? I remember the 25th anniversary in 2002 and that didn't feel like too long ago. Chris says "more coming soon" so we cannot wait for that! We'll let you know what that is when he posts it! So 'Come and Knock on Retroality.TV's Door' today!

CBS Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television have reached a multi-year broadcast agreement for the hit comedy series Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. The agreement renews television's Number One comedy, Two and a Half Men, through the 2011-2012 season, and one of television's fastest-growing series, The Big Bang Theory, through the 2010-2011 season.
The ratings success of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory has helped establish CBS's Monday night as the Number One comedy block on television. This season, CBS's Monday night comedy lineup is up 13% in viewers, 11% in 18-49 and 9% in adults 25-54, so far.
Two and a Half Men, currently in its sixth season, is the Number One comedy in both viewers and adults 18-49, averaging 15.09 million viewers (up 14%), 5.1/11 in adults 18-49 (up 13%) and 6.3/13 in adults 25-54 (up 11%), so far.
The Big Bang Theory, in its sophomore season, is averaging 10.05 million viewers (up 20%), 3.7/10 in adults 18-49 (up 12%) and 4.4/10 in adults 24-54 (up 10%), so far.

Building upon sixteen years of water cooler programming and soaring ratings growth following its most-watched year ever, SCI FI Channel is evolving into Syfy on air and online beginning Tuesday, July 7.
By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and non-linear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.
"Imagine Greater" will become the new brand message and tagline, inviting both consumers and advertisers into a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment. Syfy more clearly captures the mainstream appeal of the world's biggest entertainment category, and reflects the network's ongoing strategy to create programming that's more accessible and relatable to new audiences. Syfy will continue to celebrate the traditional roots of the genre, while opening the brand aperture to accommodate a broader range of imagination-based entertainment.
The premiere of the new scripted drama, Warehouse 13, and the return of breakout summer series Eureka, will be launched in tandem to this new evolution. An aggressive trade marketing campaign will kick off this spring. Scifi.com will assume the URL Syfy.com at that time. As long as we see some more Mork & Mindy, who cares, right?

TV Land Changes Late Afternoons; TCA Winter 2009 Tour: Cable; 66th Annual Golden Globe Winners

TV Land will be making last minute schedule changes beginning today. We relayed you these changes on our message board, but would like to make it more widespread here. TV Land will alter its late afternoon schedule beginning today at 4pm. Weekdays in the 4pm hour will now be Green Acres, as the series returns to weekdays. The Beverly Hillbillies returns to early evenings, airing in the 5pm hour, causing Hogan's Heroes to move into the 6pm hour, shifting the Andy Griffith two-hour block to 7-9pm rather than 6-8pm. The 8pm Andy hour replaces Cosby Show, but Cosby Show is still heavily featured in PRIME. Rural sitcoms now air weekdays 4pm-9pm and 60s shows in general from 1-9pm with Hillbillies (1-2pm) and westerns still on from 1-4pm. TV Land will also change their late night schedule a bit. Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons will each take an hour from 2-4am, replacing Three's Company. Three's Company will remain on Saturday nights from 2-4am. So now on weekdays, we get Paid Programming in early mornings from 6-9am, '70s sitcoms from 9am-12pm, lunch hour at home at noon with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, '60s TV from 1-9pm with westerns and sitcoms, TV Land PRIME from 9pm-2am, and '70s sitcoms from 2-4am.
We still have more changes, though! Monday nights now starting tonight will be Andy Griffith Show from 7pm-1am, while Tuesdays from 11pm-2am will be M*A*S*H/M*A*S*H specials. The Cosby Show will air in the 9pm hour, but on Tuesdays it will also air in the 10pm hour, which means Scrubs is totally off primetime now because of these Monday and Tuesday night changes. It wasn't airing Wed-Fri anyway. The final batch of changes are for Sundays, with the Beverly Hillbillies block being extended to 2pm, so 10am-2pm now rather than 10am-12pm. The Brady Bunch will air late Sundays now from 2am-4am instead of Beaver, which will remain 5-7pm earlier in the day.
Head on over to our TV Land January 2009 thread to see these changes, the rest of January info we announced, and to discuss this!

The Television Critics Association's (TCA) winter 2009 press tour began last week. We haven't covered it yet because the cable portion (Jan. 8-10) has been very stale and nothing really noteworthy has come out of it. Coming up tomorrow the broadcast networks begin their portion, with Fox on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday, NBC on Thursday, and ABC on Friday. Here is a recap of cable:
Cable portion started midday on Thursday, Jan. 8, after PBS's 1 1/2 day tour. WE tv kicked off the cable portion with a lunch session. WE tv was followed by fellow Rainbow Networks AMC, IFC, and Sundance. Among the highlights were Breaking Bad launching its second season on AMC later this year. The National Geographic Channel closed out the day.
On day two (Friday), select MTV Networks are on hand: Nickelodeon, Spike TV, Comedy Central, LOGO and MTV. Among the highlights were Nickelodeon's upcoming CGI series Penguins of Madagascar, launching in March. A&E was next as it promoted The Beast, the new drama starring Patrick Swayze. He was not on hand, as you all know, as he was hospitalized for pneumonia. He is batling Pancreatic Cancer. His series launches this Thursday. Comcast's E! and style. followed, as E! announced Keeping Up with the Kardashians returns in March. HBO followed with many new series and movies announcements, along with returning series announcements such as for In Treatment. Discovery Networks closed out the day as Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet relayed their upcoming programming.
Finally on Saturday, we had BET, BBC America, Starz, Travel Channel, and Current. This was a total bore with nothing really noteworthy, and many cable networks were not here including TV Land, Nick at Nite, Lifetime, Hallmark, ABC Family, and more. No wonder it wasn't exciting!
Stay tuned this week for updates from the broadcast portion...which will be much better.

The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards were last night. For the television portion, cable ruled big time in drama as HBO won nearly everything. AMC won one award. 30 Rock was the only show that won for broadcast and swept comedy. Here are the television winners:

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
30 Rock (NBC)
Californication (Showtime)
Entourage (HBO)
The Office (NBC)
Weeds (Showtime)
WINNER: 30 Rock (NBC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who? (ABC)
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Debra Messing, The Starter Wife (USA Network)
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
WINNER: Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
David Duchovny, Californication (Showtime)
Kevin Connolly, Entourage (HBO)
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
WINNER: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Dexter (Showtime)
House (Fox)
In Treatment, (HBO)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
WINNER: Mad Men (AMC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
January Jones, Mad Men (AMC)
Anna Paquin, True Blood (HBO)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
WINNER: Anna Paquin, True Blood (HBO)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors (Showtime)
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment (HBO)
WINNER: Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment (HBO)

View the FULL list of television nominees and winners...and to discuss this.

TV Land February 2009 Highlights; The PJs and King of the Hill Come to Adult Swim

This February on TV Land will see the return of High School Reunion on TV Land, with its second season on TV Land! High School Reunion is back for an unforgettable second season airing Wednesdays at 10pm starting February 18. This year friends will be reunited, enemies will confront each other, and a secret will be revealed that could forever change the legacy of the Chandler High School Class of 1988. But first...counting down to that big February 18 second season premiere, TV Land PRIME will bring you all of the action from season one every Wednesday at 10p starting on January 7 through February 11. A marathon of the entire first season will also air in a President's Day event on Monday, February 16th.
The weekend of February 12-15, TV Land will celebrate Valentine's Day and President's Weekend with a marathon of The Cosby Show! Tough teachers, school projects, homework, getting your driver's license, dating, parties, Prom, graduation, etc... Going to class wasn't all bad and TV Land PRIME is taking viewers back to school during the "Cosby Show Old School Marathon" from Feb. 12-15, 8pm-2am each night. Walk down memory lane as Denise, Theo, Vanessa and Rudy experience the growing pains of approaching adulthood and give Cliff and Clair more than one reason to look forward to an empty nest. Your assignment is to tune in each night at 8pm all Presidents Day Weekend on TV Land, and then go online to test your Cosby family skills with the Cosby Show trivia game. Class dismissed!
Other TV Land February 2009 highlights include a couple of overnight marathons of Three's Company on a few Saturdays (Feb. 14, 2am-6am and Feb. 21, 12-5am). TV Land PRIME movies for Friday nights include the premieres of Broadcast News and Revenge of the Nerds, along with an encore of Jewel of the Nile.
There will be no regular schedule changes, as of now, so the schedule in effect for January will remain. View the complete TV Land February 2009 highlights.

The other day we told you Adult Swim (late night block on Cartoon Network) has picked up a live-action British comedy for Sunday nights, now we have more Adult Swim news. Adult Swim has picked-up the rights to two animated series...The PJs (short lived Fox/The WB series starring the voice of Eddie Murphy) and King of the Hill. The PJs will premiere tonight (Monday, December 29) and will air in the 10pm hour (encores in 2am hour) for the next three nights before the long-running series King of the Hill takes over the slot starting January 1 everynight. The PJs will then will move to Saturday nights at 12 midnight starting January 3. And I know I will get asked this, so I will say it...yes, The PJs will remain on TV One and King of the Hill will NOT remain on FX but will remain on local stations. Both deals for Adult Swim are not exclusive, but King of the Hill is exclusive for cable. King of the Hill's last airing on FX is Wednesday at 4:30pm.
King of the Hill will lead-into episodes of Family Guy five nights a week at 11pm. Now all Adult Swim needs to acquire is The Simpsons! It is amazing how that series has still not gotten a cable home. Even American Dad! (Fridays 11pm & 3am) is on Adult Swim for crying out loud. Other acquired series on Adult Swim are The Oblongs (1:30am) and Clerks: The Animated Series (Fridays 12am and 4am).

2008 Network TV Holiday Specials; TV Land Schedule Changes Includes Paid Programming?; NBC Kills Crusoe to Saturdays

Can you believe the holiday season is nearing? Thanksgiving is this week, which means Christmas is right around the corner! And then it will be 2009 a week after that. Time flies! Anyway as I mentioned, I have put together our annual network television (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, MyNetwork TV) holiday specials list that we all like to watch every year like Frosty the Snowman and A Charlie Brown Christmas, new classics like Shrek the Halls and we even get some new specials this year like A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa. Sure the network holiday line-ups are not as detailed as some cable networks like ABC Family, but the main holiday specials are still on network television! These are just actual holiday related specials and movies, not movies or specials airing during the holiday season on broadcast network television:

ABC
Tuesday, Nov. 25, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving/This is America Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers
Thursday, Nov. 27, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving/This is America Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers ENCORE
Friday, Nov. 28, 8-10pm: ABC Friday Movie of the Week: The Polar Express
Monday, Dec. 1, 8-9pm: Shrek the Halls and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated)
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 8-9pm: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Friday, Dec. 5, 8-10pm: ABC Friday Movie of the Week: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (live-action)
Monday, Dec. 8, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 8-9pm: America's Funniest Home Videos Christmas Special
Saturday, Dec. 13, 8-9pm: America's Funniest Home Videos Christmas Special ENCORE
Saturday, Dec. 13, 9-11pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Surviving Christmas
Sunday, Dec. 14, 8-10pm: ABC Sunday Movie of the Week: The Santa Clause 2
Monday, Dec. 15, 8-9pm: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas ENCORE
Saturday, Dec. 20, 8-9pm: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown ENCORE
Saturday, Dec. 20, 9-11pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
Monday, Dec. 22, 8-8:30pm: Shrek the Halls ENCORE
Tuesday, Dec. 23, 8-9pm: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated, expanded edition)
Tuesday, Dec. 30, 8-9:30pm: Happy New Year, Charlie Brown and Rudolph's Shiny New Year
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on ABC, view our schedule.

CBS:
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 8-9pm: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Friday, Dec. 12, 8-9pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns
Friday, Dec. 12, 9-10pm: The Flight Before Christmas (NEW!)
Saturday, Dec. 20, 8-10pm: CBS Saturday Movie: Elf
Tuesday, Dec. 23, 8-9pm: 10th Annual Home for the Holidays with Faith Hill
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on CBS, view our schedule.

NBC:
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 8-9pm: Christmas in Rockefeller Center
Friday, Dec. 5, 8-9pm: Greatest Holiday Moments: TV & Film Countdown
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 8-9pm: Little Spirit: A New York Christmas
Friday, Dec. 12, 8-9pm: Greatest Holiday Moments: Songs of the Season Countdown
Saturday, Dec. 13, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 8-9pm: A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (NEW!)
Friday, Dec. 19, 8-10pm: Greatest Holiday Moments: TV & Film Countdown and Greatest Holiday Moments: Songs of the Season Countdown
Monday, Dec. 22, 8-9pm: Greatest Holiday Moments: Hilarious Home Video Countdown
Tuesday, Dec. 24, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life
Wednesday, Dec. 25, 10-11pm: Greatest Holiday Moments: Hilarious Home Video Countdown
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on NBC, view our schedule.

Fox:
None
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on Fox, view our schedule.

The CW:
Friday, Dec. 5, 8-9pm: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Friday, Dec. 5, 9-10pm: The Story of Santa Claus
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on The CW, view our schedule.

MyNetwork TV:
Saturday, Dec. 6, 8-10pm: MySaturday Night Movie: Miracle on 34th Street
Monday, Dec. 8, 8-10pm: MyMonday Night Movie: Blizzard
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 8-10pm: Olive the Other Reindeer and Santa's Funniest Moments
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 8-10pm: MyWednesday Night Movie: Home Alone
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 8-10pm: Soul of Christmas
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 8-10pm: Christmas is Here Again and Santa's Funniest Moments
Thursday, Dec. 18, 8-9pm: Wrestlemania Holiday Special
Monday, Dec. 22, 8-10pm: The Spirit of Christmas
Tuesday, Dec. 23, 8-10pm: MyTuesday Night Movie: Babes in Toyland
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on MyNetwork TV, view our schedule.


TV Land has edited their line-up a bit effective immediately. I announced the changes on Saturday on our message board, but in case you didn't see that...they are adding Paid Programming from 5am-7am on weekday mornings. It started today. No reason was given and it will last at least until the end of December. So, this means Star Trek is off the regular schedule, but it will air sometimes on Thursdays at 7am. M*A*S*H will air every other weekday in the 7am hour, followed now by a full-hour of Night Court at 8am. Back-to-back sitcom episodes will last until 1pm with Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times and I Love Lucy from 9am-1pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will be indeed staying at 1pm on weekday afternoons. The other changes are in primetime. After The Cosby Show block from 8-10pm, we now will get Scrubs from 10-11pm as 3rd Rock from the Sun moves to 11pm-1am, with a four episode block now. M*A*S*H will assume the 1am hour now while Three's Company moves up an hour to 2-3am. The 4-6am block of Designing Women, Mad About You, Murphy Brown and Just Shoot Me will all move up an hour to 3-5am, as mentioned Paid Programming will assume the 5-7am hours now.
Weekends will not see many changes, but I advise you to view our one-time-only schedule dates for November and December. You can see the full list of changes starting Nov. 24 in the November highlights, too.
The Beverly Hillbillies only airs on weekends now, primarily on Sundays from 12-4am...view our highlights for details. And yes, there is NO paid programming on Saturdays and Sundays. Paid Programming is just weekdays. If you notice on the December highlights, the last three days of December, the paid programming will be 6-9am instead of 5-7am. Not sure if that will continue into January or not, but we'll let you know soon.
In the November schedule highlights, you'll notice the Thanksgiving marathon has been edited a bit, with CSI now included in the marathon this Saturday and Sunday night in primetime. CSI was originally supposed to air this week in the 11pm-1am hours, as it did last week, but TV Land has decided to air them in holiday weekend marathon block instead. After that, CSI will not be scheduled on TV Land in the near future, unless another schedule change happens.

Effective Saturday, December 6, struggling Friday drama Crusoe will move to Saturdays at 8:00pm ET/PT. It aired its last Friday airing this past Friday at 9pm and it continued to bomb for NBC. Six episodes still remain, so NBC will have to deal with more bad ratings until then, unless they pull it. It'll of course do worse on Saturdays, but NBC was airing low-rated Knight Rider repeats in the Saturday slot anyway, so expectations are lower.
Because of the change, Fridays will see newsmagazine Dateline added, but not in Crusoe's slot. Dateline will air Fridays at 10pm against ABC's 20/20, while current 10pm slot holder Lipstick Jungle moves to Fridays at 9pm. Don't understand that move. Dateline would be better at 9pm, as Lipstick Jungle is also doing terrible and is on its last four episodes, so that series will air its last episode on Jan. 9. NBC has not announced what will happen to Fridays after that. In fact, NBC will likely see many changes in January and the rest of midseason, and we'll let you know as soon as we do. The schedule NBC announced last April for this winter is of course going to change, so I don't understand why NBC announced it last April in the first place.