Friday, November 07, 2008

Fox 2008-09 Midseason Schedule; ABC Episode Cuts for Midseason; Interviews with Leonard Stern and Lydia Cornell On The Web

Fox has announced the winter portion of its 2008-09 midseason schedule. The wait is almost over as Fox announces premiere dates of new and returning series as well as revisions to its 2008-2009 midseason schedule.
January starts with the not-to-be-missed blockbuster premieres of 24 and American Idol. We announced already 24 would launch with a two night premiere. American Idol returns for Season Eight with a two-night, four-hour premiere event as well, on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and Wednesday, Jan. 14 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.
All-new episodes of House, Bones, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Hole in the Wall will air on new nights in midseason. Get real on Mondays with all-new episodes of House leading into real-time drama 24, as Emmy-winning medical drama House moves to Mondays 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and has its time period premiere Jan. 19 followed by the time period premiere of 24 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. It looks to me Fox is afraid how 24 would do with a rookie or a declining series like Sarah Connor as its lead-in, so Fox is moving House yet again to help (or save?) 24.
Fringe will air in its regular time period Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) after American Idol starting Jan. 20 to try and become a "real" hit.
Lie To Me, the compelling new drama from the producers of 24, debuts Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT after American Idol and stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, the world's leading deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if someone is lying, but why. Fox obviously believes in this show over its other new drama...and that drama was much highly touted at upfront, so something must have went wrong creatively.
Bones moves to Thursdays from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT beginning Jan. 15 followed by the final two all-new episodes of the season of Kitchen Nightmares in its 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT time period. On Thursday, Jan. 29 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, Chef Gordon Ramsay steps into another kitchen to serve up a fifth course of Hell's Kitchen, the unscripted series that puts wannabe restaurateurs through a rigorous one-of-a-kind culinary boot camp. Fox is moving Bones once again...what has moved more--Bones or House?
On Friday, Feb. 13, Fox presents a thrilling new action-packed lineup featuring the return and time period premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and the highly anticipated series premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Dollhouse reunites Whedon with Eliza Dushku, who stars as a member of a highly illegal underground group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Current game shows Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Don't Forget the Lyrics! will air on the night until Feb. 13.
Saturday remains the same, as does Sundays except Hole in the Wall will return and air Sundays 7:00 and 7:30 PM ET/PT beginning Jan. 18. Current batch of Animation Domination will remain the same this winter.
Fox has not announced when Prison Break and 'Til Death will return, but it is likely they will return sometime in Spring 2009. My bet is Prison Break will take over one of the Friday slots when returning for its final episodes. Also, Fox has yet to announce premiere dates for their two new animated series (Sit Down, Shut Up & The Cleveland Show), but that will also likely be in the Spring.
Check out the full Fox Winter portion of its 2008-09 mid-season schedule, it includes all dates for the BCS games.

Meanwhile at ABC, due to so many series coming this midseason on ABC, they have cut the episode orders for upcoming new procedual dramas Castle and The Unusuals from 13 episodes to 10 episodes. Nothing is wrong creatively wise, but ABC has a lot of stuff coming. Scripted series wise this winter, ABC has Lost as well as six new scripted series launching in midseason, the aforementioned Castle & The Unusuals, hourlong Cupid and comedies In The Motherhood, Better Off Ted and The Goode Family. Not to mention the return of long-running sitcoms Scrubs and According to Jim. They could be joined by the Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) produced comedy starring Courteney Cox (Friends), called Cougar Town, which was fast-tracked last week with a pilot order targeted for midseason. Unscripted wise look for The Bachelor to return and new reality series True Beauty and docudrama Border Security USA. ABC also could return Here Come the Newlyweds, or maybe they will save it for summer.
ABC has however canceled upcoming single-camera sitcom starring Alyssa Milano called Single with Parents and it won't launch this midseason due to creative reasons. ABC released the following statement: "Unfortunately, we could not agree on the creative direction for this show and have decided not to move forward with this project." That is too bad because I thought the cast was great and the clips they released were funny. They need to put Alyssa Milano on one of their current series, preferably a drama like Lost or Grey's Anatomy.

Two websites have announced new interviews. Legendary TV producer Leonard Stern talks about the classic TV series Get Smart and his participation in the DVD release of Get Smart: The Complete Series Gift Set, in an interview on the Internet radio show TV Time Machine (http://www.tvtimemachine.com/), hosted by TV historian Jim Benson. From 1965-1970, Leonard Stern served as executive producer and frequent writer and director on Get Smart, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart Secret Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Mr. Stern talks extensively about providing commentary for the current DVD release of Get Smart: The Complete Series Gift Set, his views on last summer's Get Smart movie starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, and the amazing longevity of his classic TV spy spoof. So check out tvtimemachine.com for this interesting audio interview!
Last week if you all recall, we interviewed Lydia Cornell (Too Close for Comfort) on our Seven Questions feature, and now our buddy Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has also interviewed Lydia! The interview was posted in time for Election Day and covers lots of political questions for Lydia that we didn't go into. It is very interesting, and you can call it a "spin-off" of our interview! He also asks her lots of questions related to Too Close for Comfort. Chris does a great job, as usual! Go and check out his interview; it is the feature story on his website this month!


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Tuesday, March 19

Night Court - "The Duke's a Hazard" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Gurgs' royal boyfriend pays a surprise visit, she questions their compatibility; Dan defends his family's honor after he discovers a feud that dates back centuries.

Extended Family - "The Consequences of Being Irish" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Jim learns of Trey's St. Patrick's Day fundraiser plans, he offers his expertise in an effort to save Trey and the Celtics from embarrassment.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 18)

Tuesday, March 19

  • Tracy Morgan (The Last O.G./30 Rock/The Tracy Morgan Show) - Catch Tracy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale/God's Favorite Idiot/American Housewife/The Odd Couple/About a Boy) - Leslie appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso), Marc Maron (GLOW/Maron) and Zainab Johnson (Upload) - Brendan, Marc and Zainab are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Hilary Swank (Camp Wilder) - NBC's Today catches up with Hilary in the 10am hour.
  • The cast of Girls5eva) - Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Sara Bareilles are guests on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family/The Class) - Jesse talks about his podcast Dinner's On Me on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Annie Potts (Young Sheldon/Over the Top/Love & War/Designing Women/Goodtime Girls) - Annie talks about her legendary career and new film, Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire, on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Joe Manganiello (How I Met Your Mother) - Joe stops by Tamron hall to chat about hosting the new Deal or No Deal Island, so check your local listings.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (November-March)

Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Father Knows Best - The Complete Series The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Three's Company - The Official 40th Anniversary Collection Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/15 - Letterkenny - Season 11
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
12/22 - Three's Company - The Official 40th Anniversary Collection (includes The Ropers and Three's a Crowd)
01/09 - South Park - Seasons 11-15 (Blu-ray)
01/16 - Ghosts (UK) - Season Five
02/13 - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/27 - The Really Loud House - Season One
03/12 - Ghosts (UK) - The Complete Series
03/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
03/12 - Rick and Morty - Season 7 (Blu-ray Steelbook) (Blu-ray) (DVD)

That Girl - The Complete Series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


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