Sunday, February 28, 2010

Week 23 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 23 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):
(We don't have the final network averages through Thursday AGAIN (sorry), but we do have final program averages through Thursday in the analysis below)

Households: N/A
Total Viewers: N/A
Adults 18-49: N/A

Week 23 (Feb. 15-21) Analysis: For week 23, thus far through the first four nights it is NBC for the second straight week thanks to the Winter Olympics. So far through the first four days of the week I can project, NBC is first across the board, with Fox in second. CBS is third in HH/viewers, but fourth in 18-49, as ABC is the opposite of that, third in 18-49 but fourth in HH/viewers. Last week, week 22, NBC took home first place in every category obviously thanks to the Olympics. Fox was second across the board, while CBS was third in HH/viewers, but fourth in 18-49. ABC was in fourth in HH/viewers, but was however third in 18-49.
On Monday it was all Olympics as most programming was in repeats. NBC's coverage of the primetime portion of the Olympics did 21.09 million from 8-11pm and 20.93 million overall from 8pm-11:13pm, down about 5 million from the previous week. CBS was in repeats with its comedies and CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 6.06 million and a 2.2 18-49 rating for a repeat, up some from previous week, while a repeat of Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 5.29 million and a 1.9 18-49 rating, on par really from previous week. Two and a Half Men followed with a repeat as well doing 10.29 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, also on par really from previous week and The Big Bang Theory followed with a repeat of its own doing 9.16 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, down from previous week. A repeat of CSI: Miami at 10pm did 7.95 million and a 2.2 18-49 rating, down from previous week. ABC started it off with The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love - The Women Tell All special doing a solid 11.27 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating, down from a regular episode the previous week but still great. Finale is tomorrow! A repeat of Castle was next and did 5.16 million, down some from previous week and could be better. Castle returns with new episodes on March 8. Fox started off with a repeat of House doing 6.14 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, down some from previous week. A new episode of 24 was next doing 8.83 million and a 2.8 18-49 rating, viewers were up a bit from previous week. NBC will return Chuck tomorrow, and the new night premiere of Law & Order also. The CW aired an all-new One Tree Hill doing 2.23 million, up from previous week, followed by an all-new episode of Life UneXpected at 1.94 million, up a bit from previous week.
On Tuesday, Fox won and beat the Olympics on NBC for the second straight Tuesday. Fox of course started with an all-new two-hour American Idol with 24.21 million, up some from previous week. It did a mammoth 9.0 18-49 rating, but that was down a bit from previous week. The Winter Olympics on NBC were next doing 21.23 million in primetime and 21.28 million from 8-11:10pm, up a tad from previous Tuesday. 5.5 18-49 rating is good, but it got clobbered by Idol. CBS started with a repeat of NCIS doing 11.59 million, down just a bit from previous week. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a repeat of its own doing 8.61 million, down from previous week. And finally CBS aired a repeat of The Good Wife doing 7.07 million and only a 1.4 8-49 rating, down some from previous week in viewers. ABC started off with a LOST enhanced encore doing 4.36 million and a 1.5 18-49 rating, up some from previous week in viewers. Then an all-new episode of the final season of LOST was next with 9.95 million, up a bit from the previous week and also did a 4.6 18-49 rating, up a tenth from previous week. Stay tuned for the showdown this week as the battle will begin! ABC aired a new episode of the forgotten at 10pm and did a so-so 5.02 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating...on par really from previous week. NBC will return two-hour The Biggest Loser episodes this Tuesday and the premiere of Parenthood will follow it. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 760,000 and 460,000 viewers...the latter was down some from previous week's repeats.
On Wednesday this time Idol beat the Olympics. Why? Because it was two-hours. Fox started preempted Human Target and aired a two-hour American Idol doing 22.96 million, up about 4 million from previous week when it just aired at 9pm. 18-49 rating was up from 7.0 to 8.7 as well. The Winter Olympics did 20.26 million in primetime and 19.81 million overall from 8pm-11:15pm, that's down like 10 million from previous Wednesday. CBS started at 8pm with repeats of its comedies Old Christine and Gary Unmarried doing 4.41 million and 3.34 million, both down from previous week, especially the latter one. Next CBS aired a repeat of Criminal Minds at 7.23 million and a repeat of CSI: NY at 10pm did 7.94 million, both down some from previous week. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing 3.75 million and a 1.2 18-49 rating, but that was down a lot from previous week, a repeat episode of The Middle was next doing 3.78 million and a 1.4 18-49 rating, also down from previous week but it did build from the lead-in. Modern Family was a repeat in its normal 9pm slot and did 4.37 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating, on par with previous week. A special repeat of The Middle was next doing 3.5 million and a 1.4 18-49 rating, up some from previous week. Next Cougar Town was in repeats in the 10pm hour doing only 3.29 and 2.67 million, both on par or a bit better from previous week. Ugly Betty was preempted, but a repeat of that would have done worse at 10pm. NBC will return Mercy and Law & Order: SVU on this coming Wednesday. The CW aired more repeats as Life UneXpected did 1.03 million, down some from previous week, and then a repeat of Gossip Girl followed and only did 570,000 viewers, same as previous week.
Moving on to Thursday it was the Olympics with the win. NBC's coverage of the Olympics did 22.92 million and a 6.1 18-49 rating, down from previous Thursday. CBS started with a new Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains doing 11.6 million and 3.7 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. CBS aired The Mentalist at a special time of 9pm for a repeat doing 9.65 million, which was up from previous week, and a CSI repeat aired at 10pm doing 7.62 million, but that was down some from previous week. ABC started off with the season finale of The Deep End at only 3.87 million, down some from previous week but the 18-49 rating stayed the same though at a 1.1 rating. I thought that was the best episode of the series. A repeat of Grey's Anatomy was next and did 4.53 million. A repeat of Private Practice was next doing only 3.58 million. Both shows return with new episodes this Thursday! Fox preempted Bones but they had the first results show for American Idol instead! It did 18.0 million and a 6.5 18-49 rating and both were season lows. A new Kitchen Nightmares on a special night did 7.43 million. NBC will return Community , Parks & Recreation and The Office this Thursday, while 30 Rock returns the week after. At 10pm NBC will launch reality series The Marriage Ref this Thursday. The CW aired a repeat of Vampire Diaries doing 1.63 million and Supernatural was a repeat and did 1.54 million, both on par from previous week.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but NBC won Friday with the Winter Olympics, as the other networks aired repeats again.
Saturday numbers saw NBC win the night of course with more Winter Olympics coverage opposite repeats, though Fox did pretty close to normal numbers with its crime reality series once again.
Tonight it the closing ceremonies for the Winter Olympics on NBC that will make them win the night. ABC's regular line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are all-new (except Home Edition). Julie Benz is quite stunning on Desperate, tune in for her! CBS has a new The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss. And the struggling Cold Case closes the night off at 10. Fox has repeats of their animated comedies and new episodes of 'Til Death. NBC will win the week in all categories because of the Winter Olympics no matter what. Fox will be second across the board, with CBS in third likely in HH/viewers, but fourth in 18-49 I think. ABC will likely have to settle for 4th in HH/viewers, but third in 18-49. As for this coming week, NBC is back at 10pm, while all the other networks are also back with new episodes as the Olympics are done. Our pick of the week: the hilarious ABC Comedy Wednesday has all-new episodes!

Week 23 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 22-- Feb. 15-21)

  • 'Til Death (Fox) - Two all-new episodes were barely on the map in the 7pm hour doing only 3.36 and 2.92 million...not good that the second episode dropped.
  • The Simpsons (Fox) - A new episode did 5.98 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating...up some from previous week.
  • The Cleveland Show (Fox) - 5.58 million for a new episode and also a 2.9 18-49 rating, both up from previous week.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - A repeat did 6.32 million, just barely below the previous week when it was all-new. Even the 18-49 rating of 3.2 was only a tenth off from previous week's new episode.
  • American Dad (Fox) - 5.66 million for a new episode and a 2.8 18-49 rating...both up from previous week and its lead-in was a repeat this week!

Monday Sitcoms

  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.06 million and a 2.2 18-49 rating for a repeat opposite the Olympics, is better than previous week by some.
  • Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 5.29 million and a 1.9 18-49 rating for a repeat. Down some from previous week in viewers, but the same 18-49 rating. This was its last Monday airing. Show moves to Wednesdays at 8:30pm now, but not until March 31.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.29 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating for a repeat. Viewers was down some from previous week, but 18-49 was the same.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 9.16 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating for a repeat. Down a million from previous week's repeat and the 18-49 was down also. A bit disappointing, but it was a repeat.

Tuesday Sitcoms

  • None.

Wednesday Sitcoms
  • Old Christine (CBS) - 4.41 million for a repeat and only a 1.1 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week's repeat.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - 3.34 million for a repeat and just a 0.9 18-49 rating. Just three more weeks left before its season is over. Will it return for a third season?
  • The Middle (ABC) 2 airings - A repeat at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did 3.78 million and a 1.4 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. A special 9:30pm repeat did not do as well doing only 3.5 million and a 1.4 18-49 rating, but both were up from previous week.
  • Modern Family (ABC) 2 airings - A repeat at 8pm did 3.75 million and a 1.2 14-49 rating, both down from previous week. The regular 9pm airing was also a repeat this time and did 4.37 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating...on par with previous week.
  • Cougar Town (ABC) 2 airings - Two repeats aired at a special time of 10pm & 10:30pm did 3.29 and 2.67 million. Up some from previous week.

Thursday Sitcoms

  • Community (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.
  • Parks & Recreation (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.
  • The Office (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.

Friday Sitcoms

  • None.

Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are new episodes of 'Til Death at 7 on Fox followed by repeats of the Fox animated comedies starting at 8.

Summing it up. All repeats. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Accidentally on Purpose repeats were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Modern Family 9pm, Old Christine) or just plain old terrible (such as 'Til Death, Gary Unmarried).

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Blog DVD Review: Matlock - The Fourth Season (3/2); Special Preview: Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 1, 2010)

We have a special new feature to the blog that will appear every Friday, but we are previewing it today! But before that we of course have our normal blog DVD review! It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the blog DVD review! Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Matlock - The Fourth Season. Matlock of course is the very popular courtroom drama starring Andy Griffith that is often mentioned on The Simpsons as Grandpa Simpson's favorite show. See skees53's blog DVD review of Matlock - The Four Season:

Matlock - The Fourth Season (CBS DVD, $49.99) brings order to the courtroom with 23 more episodes of the man in the gray suit that proves that the elderly really can fight to defend criminal defendants accused of the most heinous crimes. Andy Griffith is, of course, Ben Matlock, who appears to be a kind older gentleman, but is in fact a powerful defense attorney who can defend virtually anybody. Michelle Thomas (Nancy Stafford) is his partner in his law firm, and joining Ben for this season is his newest private investigator, Conrad McMasters (Clarence Gilyard, Jr.). The Fourth Season contains all 23 unedited episodes of the 1989-1990 season on six discs.

In the two hour season premiere, "The Hunting Party," Ben has to travel to Roanoke Island to defend a man guilty of murdering a wealthy duck hunter, but while there, he meets Conrad, who would become his private investigator. In "The Good Boy," a woman is accused of murdering her husband, but could the real murderer be the stepson whom he threatened to send to military school? Murder is no laughing matter when a circus clown is dead (and his partner is accused of the murder) in "The Clown." A prison guard is suspected of killing a snitch in the two-part episode "The Prisoner," and Ben and Conrad do some undercover work to get to the bottom of it. One of Ben's clients decides to escape from his own murder trial in "The Fugitive."
Ben thinks one of his friends may be behind a 35 year old murder in "The Buddies." Murder doesn't take a holiday, as is proven in "The Scrooge." An obnoxious talk show host is murdered in "The Talk Show." Ben has been kidnapped in "The Kidnapper." In "The Informer," one of Ben's own colleagues is accused of murdering a client. Ben and Conrad step up to help the district attorney, Julie, in "The D.A." Who would kill the cookie lady? Find out in the appropriately titled episode, "The Cookie Monster."

There isn't much to say about the packaging for this set, as it is just a standard CBS DVD release with a standard DVD case. The cover art has Ben, Julie, and Michelle on it (why did they exclude Conrad?) and the back of the case has all of the season information as well as snapshots of all four main cast members. Inside, there are descriptions for each of the episodes, along with original airdates. Each disc is gray, with no artwork, and each disc contains four episodes, except for Disc 1, which contains the two-hour season premiere and two regular episodes.

The menus on the set are pretty standard as well, with nothing particularly special about them. They each have snapshots from the episodes on the discs and different pictures of Ben and Julie, with one of them containing the exact same photo on the cover art (except flipped). The main menu has no audio, and has basic options of Play All, then a listing of all of the episodes. Chapters are placed throughout each episode.

The video quality is mostly fine, but it does leave something to be desired. The episodes look like they could have been cleaned up a little bit better than they were. The audio, presented in stereo, is pretty loud and clear. The episodes are all closed-captioned. The set has the standard CBS DVD disclaimers about edited episodes, but there really doesn't appear to be an issue, aside from the missing opening teasers for each episode. The only slight area of concern that I have is the final episode of the season, "The Cookie Monster," which runs at just under 46 minutes, but I don't know for certain that anything is missing there. Runtimes for each episode are as follows:

Disc 1:
1. The Hunting Party (1:33:25)
2. The Good Boy (47:55)
3. The Best Seller (47:56)

Disc 2:
4. The Ex (47:56)
5. The Clown (47:58)
6. The Star (47:28)
7. The Con Man (47:54)

Disc 3:
8. The Prisoner, Part 1 (47:55)
9. The Prisoner, Part 2 (46:24)
10. The Fugitive (47:55)
11. The Witness (47:54)

Disc 4:
12. The Buddies (47:55)
13. The Scrooge (47:55)
14. The Student (46:56)
15. The Talk Show (46:55)

Disc 5:
16. The Victim (46:54)
17. The Kidnapper (46:58)
18. The Pro (46:57)
19. The Informer, Part 1 (46:56)

Disc 6:
20. The Informer, Part 2 (46:26)
21. The D.A. (46:57)
22. The Blackmailer (46:53)
23. The Cookie Monster (45:56)

Once again, there is a void of special features. It would be nice to see Andy Griffith himself participating on these sets somehow, even if it is just a brief interview.

This set certainly isn’t going to impress anybody, but it is definitely adequate and the episodes on the set are always fun to watch. Matlock is a series that everybody can enjoy, and it did make a mark in pop culture when it originally aired. Hopefully, the remaining seasons will all be released in a timely manner, and it would be nice if they could improve the video quality JUST a little bit and throw in some special features. This set may not have a rock solid defense, but I think it is clear that this set is not guilty, and Matlock himself would prove it to you.

-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
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Today, in addition to the blog review, we are doing a special preview of a new blog feature here at SitcomsOnline called "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows." We always have had this request because I'm sure some of you may miss a blog story or something (hopefully not!), but now every Friday we will bring you the listings of Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows for the coming week. The stars are both current and past sitcom stars (but we won't cover movie stars like Tom Hanks or John Travolta, since they won't be talking about their past sitcoms likely), so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
We are launching it today on a Saturday, but its normal day and time will be on Fridays right after our normal news. So without further adieu, here is our first blog story on this new feature!

For the week of March 1-5, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for this week!

  • First up, on Monday, March 1, Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) will be on the Tavis Smiley Show to talk about his hit CBS sitcom. Check your local PBS listings for the time in your area for this talk show. Also from The Big Bang Theory, Simon Helberg (Howard) will appear on CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:35am ET/PT. 30 Rock's Judah Friedlander will be on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35am ET/PT. Former sitcom star (and Baywatch babe) Nicole Eggert (Charles in Charge) will be on TBS's Lopez Tonight at 11pm ET, but she will be primarily talking about her stint on Celebrity Fit Club. Also, David Spade (Rules of Engagement) will be on syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about the return of his sitcom. Check local listings for time and channel in your area. And finally Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) will be on Oprah to talk about his upcoming series he is producing, but I'm covering him because he is likely to bring up Seinfeld because he is returning to NBC. Check your local listings and time for Oprah. Oh just one more thing for Monday, Jimmy Kimmel Live will have an interview with one of the Dancing with the Stars contestants on his show. Will it be a sitcom star? We will have to watch and see, as the new batch of contestants will be announced on Monday night in primetime. The show airs on ABC at 12:05am ET.
  • Moving on to Tuesday, March 2. Once again I would normally not cover George Clooney, but this is a 20/20 Before They Were Stars special in time for the Oscars and Clooney will be interviewed about his past, which includes a stint on the '80s sitcom The Facts of Life. Lisa Whelchel (Blair from Facts of Life) is also interviewed! The special airs on ABC on Tuesday, March 2 at 10pm ET/PT. And as we mentioned already there is a Partridge Family reunion on Tuesday on NBC's Today show with Suzanne Crough, Danny Bonaduce, David Cassidy, and Brian Forster. We are not sure of the exact time, but are told it would be either in the 8am ET or 9am ET hour. Bryan Greenberg from the new HBO sitcom How To Make It In America will be on The Bonnie Hunt Show. Check your local listings for time and channel. And if you get Retirement Living TV (RLTV), Robert Guillaume (SOAP, Benson) stops by The Florence Henderson Show at 2pm ET.
  • For Wednesday, March 3, we have to break some sad news as NBC has canceled the Brady Bunch reunion that was set for this date on the Today show. All of the Brady kids were set to appear, but it is likely that Eve Plumb and/or Maureen McCormick both backed out because of their little feud. Originally McCormick was not set to appear, but was penciled in late this past week (and probably pissing Plumb off?) when Florence Henderson couldn't make it because she had to go to Michigan to film a movie. Just speculating the reason. Jerry Seinfeld will once again be promoting his upcoming series for NBC, this time on The Late Show with David Letterman, but I wouldn't doubt a Seinfeld mention. Letterman airs on CBS at 11:35pm ET/PT. Former child sitcom star-turned big star Regina King (227) will be on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35am ET/PT to promote her TNT series. Cougar Town star Courtney Cox will appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, check your local listings for time and channel. Cox's former Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow will be on ABC's The View on this day as well at 11:00am ET/10:00am PT to promote her new series that she is producing. And finally TV/sitcom legend Tim Conway stops by The Florence Henderson Show at 2pm ET on Retirement Living Television.
  • On Thursday, March 4, all eyes are set on the 227 reunion on NBC's Today show. Scheduled to appear are Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams, Jackee Harry, Curtis Baldwin and even Regina King (she has become a major star on film and television)! As of now, we only have word that the reunion will take place sometime in the 8am ET or 9am ET hour. Jerry Seinfeld will also appear on the Today show to promote his new series he is producing. Former sitcom child star Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time) will be a guest co-host on ABC's The View on this day, so she will be on the entire show! 11am ET/10am PT on ABC. Also, RLTV will be airing a repeat of The Florence Henderson Show at 10pm ET & 1am ET featuring best-of interviews with TV/sitcom legends including Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett!
  • On Friday, March 5, Lisa Kudrow appears on NBC's Today show to promote her new series she is producing for NBC that launches later that night.
And if you want some talk show repeats TODAY (Saturday, Feb. 27), the Retirement Living TV Network has The Florence Henderson Show repeats! Up today at 2pm ET Florence chats with legendary director Garry Marshall (Happy Days, etc). Then at 3pm ET Florence chats with John O'Hurley (Seinfeld) and one of her TV daughters herself, Susan Olsen (Cindy from Brady Bunch). And finally Carol Burnett's appearance encores tonight at 2am ET.

Liked it? This was just a test run and we will slowly improve it based on your comments and such. But for now something like this will appear on the blog every Friday right after our regular news! Hope you find this useful! Leave us comments on our message board or Tweet/Facebook us!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Nick at Nite March 2010 Has Luck 'o the Lopez; Many New Retroality.TV Updates

This March 2010 on Nick at Nite, there will be no changes to the regular schedule as of now, but we do have a big stunt! The stunt will be a week-long George Lopez marathon from Mach 15-21 from 10pm-6am ET/PT each night! It's the annual George Lopez Luck 'O the Lopez Marathon in honor of St. Patrick's Day! Tune in for a week-long marathon of nothing but George Lopez all-night long!
Glenn Martin DDS, the first television production to come out of Michael Eisner's Tornante Animation Company, continues to air on Nick at Nite on Monday nights at 8pm. An all-new episode will air Monday, March 8 at 8pm titled "Vegas Strip."
Finally, the annual Kids' Choice Awards will air on Nickelodeon on Saturday, Mach 27, 2010 from 8pm-9:30pm followed by the premiere of the new comedy Victorious. Kevin James hosts the annual awards shows and it will also encore on Nick at Nite from 10pm-11:30pm. As for Victorious, it is a comedy series starring Victoria Justice as Tori Vega, a girl who has grown up in the shadow of her older sister, Trina, a singer/performer who's always been the "star" of the family. Although Tori is an amazing singer, dancer, and actress, she doesn't know it yet. As she tries to navigate the rough waters of her new performing arts high school, Hollywood Arts, she finds new friends, new enemies, and learns that fitting in may be much harder than getting in.
View more and discuss Nick at Nite March 2010.

Chris Mann has many new cool updates on his Retroality.TV website for us all! He covered The Hollywood Show celebrity autograph convention the weekend of Feb. 13-14 and also did a story about it from the Los Angeles Times (his first L.A. Times feature!). It was back to the cul-de-sac as the Knots Landing cast reunited at the Hollywood Show autograph festival on Feb. 13-14 at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center. In off-camera interviews, Joan Van Ark and Donna Mills talk to Retroality's Chris Mann about the convention and their appearance in the Feb. 17 episode of Nip/Tuck. In this short video preview, Van Ark and Mills interact with fans and pose with co-stars Michelle Lee, Ted Shackelford and Kevin Dobson. Chris' interview with Joan Van Ark and Donna Mills also includes Joan also spilling on the Tiger Woods scandal and her brief turn on The Young and the Restless in 2004. View the interview with Joan Van Ark and Donna Mills. Retroality.TV is so popular that Daytime Confidential already picked up on Van Ark's comments on The Young and the Restless.
Chris also just posted video interviews with Blue Lagoon and Dallas star Christopher Atkins (who talks about his stint on VH1's Confessions of a Teen Idol last year) and Baywatch babe and Barker's Beauty Gena Lee Nolin (who also talks about her upcoming projects). Check out the Retroality.TV YouTube page for these goodies!
For March 2010, Chris has an exclusive Retroality.TV cover story with Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman)! She sat down with Chris for an hour after a long day signing photos, Bionic Woman lunchboxes and dolls, etc. at the Hollywood Show. Chris says she is delightful! You won't want to miss the cover story with Lindsay Wagner only at Retroality.TV!

And if that weren't enough, Chris is working hard with other stories for other publications! Chris has a new story for Muscle & Body with a round-up of Winter Olympian interviews (includes Eric Heiden) as well as a feature for WellBella with 24 co-star Annie Wersching. Next week, his March 2010 WellBella interview with Dexter star Julie Benz, who's now appearing on Desperate Housewives as a stunning ex-stripper, will go up. What a lucky guy! You won't want to miss that one! Check out all of these external stories on Retroality.TV! It is all linked there!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

NBC's Today Show Adds 227 Reunion Next Week on Great TV Families Reunited, Plus More On Other Reunions; Syfy Acquires Merlin for April 2010

On Monday we broke the story of three classic TV family reunions happening next week on NBC's Today show's "Great TV Families Reunited," now they have added one more! The cast of '80s NBC sitcom 227 will be live in studio on Thursday, March 4, featuring Marla Gibbs, Jackee Harry, Regina King, Hal Williams, and Curtis Baldwin!
Eight is Enough, The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch reunions are still happening March 1-3 on NBC's Today show. But a few changes are occuring on who will be appearing. On Monday, March 1, The Bradfords from Eight is Enough are reunited with Dick Van Patten, Laurie Walters, Connie Needham, Grant Goodeye, Dianne Kay, Willie Aames, and Betty Buckley all live in studio.
C'mon get happy with The Partridge Family reunion on Tuesday, March 2 featuring cast members Suzanne Crough, Danny Bonaduce, David Cassidy, and Brian Forster live on set. Originally Shirley Jones was set to appear, but now Suzanne Crough will instead.
The Brady Bunch gang will be featured on Wednesday, March 3 with Barry Williams, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, and Maureen McCormick live from studio 1A. Originally Florence Henderson was set to appear, but now Maureen McCormick will instead.
So, 227 is joining these three classic TV family reunions! Child, that is great! But strange that both the Partridge and Brady mothers are now not appearing. Looks like it is a kids reunion of both of those families now. One other change, all of the reunions will take place sometime during the 8am and 9am hours of the Today show, instead of the 7am and 8am hours as reported earlier. So be prepared and there is nothing like watching TV reunions, child!

Syfy has acquired the basic cable rights from FremantleMedia Enterprises for all 26 episodes (2 seasons of 13 episodes) of the critically acclaimed series Merlin, including the United States television premiere of Season Two, which has never aired on American television. Merlin joins the Syfy primetime lineup in April 2010. There will be a marathon of the first season on Sunday, March 28 from 10am-11pm and again on Thursday, April 1 from 8am-8pm. The series starts with season two episodes in primetime on Friday, April 2 at 10pm airing Fridays at 10pm (with many encores during the week).
Season One of Merlin aired on NBC (Summer 2009), but it will not air there again due to low ratings. Both seasons 1 and 2 aired on BBC One in the UK (2008-09). BBC has commissioned a third season which will air in September 2010. FremantleMedia also handles brand licensing and home entertainment for Merlin.
An imaginative new twist on a timeless legend, Merlin is set in the mythical city of Camelot, before history began. It's a fantastical realm of legendary beasts and mysterious peoples, and a dangerous world where magic has been banned by the ruthless tyrant, Uther Pendragon. The series stars Colin Morgan as Merlin, Bradley James as Prince Arthur, Anthony Head as King Uther, Richard Wilson as Gaius, Katie McGrath as Morgana and Angel Coulby as Gwen.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Centric Acquires The A-Team; Two and a Half Men Production Temporarily Shut

Centric, formerly known as BET J (for Jazz), has quietly acquired the '80s action series The A-Team! The series started airing on Monday (Feb. 22) airing weekdays at 7am and 9pm. The A-Team joins fellow '80s action series Miami Vice on the network. Miami Vice will continue to air in its Mon-Sat 11pm hour, as it has since October. However its late night airing of 3am has been moved to weekdays at 5am and it will also gain the weekdays at 6am hour leading into The A-Team at 7am for an action filled block from 5am-8am.
Other TV series still airing on Centric are Soul Train on weekdays at 12 noon, 5pm & 12 midnight; The Steve Harvey Show on weekdays from 1-2pm; American Gangster weekdays at 10pm & 1am; and Homicide: Life on the Street has been relegated to just weekdays at 4am. There are also reality series from other Viacom networks encoring.
The A-Team will get a launch marathon this weekend - Saturday, Feb. 27 and Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. The marathon on Saturday will air from 12pm-6pm and encore on Sunday from 9am-3pm with the same episodes. The series didn't start off with the two-part pilot "Mexican Slayride" when it joined the network on Monday, instead it started off with the episode after the pilot "Pros and Cons." The series is going in production order, rather than airdate order.
Remember, if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire The A-Team!

Joint statement from Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment; Peter Roth, President, Warner Bros. Television; and Chuck Lorre, Creator/Executive Producer of Two and a Half Men:
"CBS, Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre support Charlie Sheen in his decision today to begin voluntary in-patient care at a treatment center. We wish him nothing but the best as he deals with this personal matter. Production on Two and a Half Men will be temporarily suspended."
So just for how long? Reports are that he will take a two week break. As of now only one taping has been canceled and that is for this Friday's taping. It is likely the following Friday's (March 5) taping will be canceled as well. The series is in its 7th season and has a 24 episode order, but not sure how this temporary suspension will effect the 24 episode order. Episodes 16 and 17 of the 7th season are scheduled to air on Monday, March 1 and 8. A repeat is scheduled to air on March 15, but that was planned. Reports are 18 episodes have been taped so far, but this is unconfirmed. Stay with us for any further updates!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

TV Land April 2010 Has 8th Annual TV Land Awards; FX Renews Archer for Second Season

Before we get into TV Land April 2010, we have to say that the weekday TV Land morning marathons that started yesterday will continue until further notice. Originally they announced it would be just for two weeks, but it will continue beyond that. Airing weekdays from 9am-1pm, it is Leave it to Beaver on Mondays, The Beverly Hillbillies on Tuesdays, Sanford & Son on Wednesdays, Hogan's Heroes on Thursdays, and Fridays it is a mix of Beaver/Gunsmoke/Bonanza.
Now we can move on to TV Land April 2010! As of now, there are no regular schedule changes. TV Land will continue to air original series First Love, Second Chance on Wednesdays at 10pm through April 14, when it will have its season finale. So the Wednesday schedule for April 21 and April 28 will change a bit, with Everybody Loves Raymond taking the 10pm hour and Home Improvement taking the 8pm hour. On Wednesdays only it was Raymond in the 8pm hour, so it could still have its two-hour block (8-10pm instead of 9-11pm). That is likely just for a few weeks, as in May, TV Land will start the second season of How'd You Get So Rich. Stay with us for that.
On Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 9pm, TV Land presents the 8th Annual TV Land Awards! Get a good seat as the stars arrive! The 8th Annual TV Land Awards roll out the red carpet to honor the best of TV, movies and music. All your favorite classic and contemporary stars come together one night to celebrate and honor the wonder of TV. This year's show is going to be another unforgettable evening of laughter, tribute, remembrance and celebration, honoring the best shows and brightest stars. Stay with us for details in the coming weeks, including who will be hosting!
Friday Night PRIME movies for April 2010 are premieres of Footloose and Pretty in Pink, and with encores of St. Elmo's Fire and The Fugitive.
I suggest you view the full TV Land April 2010 schedule, so you see what is on and what one-time adjustments are made. Adjustments include a Three's Company morning marathon on Sunday, April 18 from 8am-12pm and sitcom marathons on Sunday, April 25 leading into the TV Land Awards.

FX has given the go ahead for a second season of its critically acclaimed animated comedy series Archer. The network increased the episode order to 13 for season two, which is scheduled to debut in 2011. FX ordered 10 episodes for its first season.
Archer (TV-MA) has still three new episodes slated for air this season. Through seven episodes the series is averaging 1.2 million total viewers, 853,000 adults 18-49 and 573,000 adults 18-34. This Thursday, February 25, FX will air the "Four-Play Marathon," four episodes of Archer from 10 PM to midnight ET. Archer will return with new episodes on Thursday, March 4 at 10 PM and the season-one finale airs on March 18 at 10 PM.
Archer was one of three comedy pilots shot by FX in 2009 to receive a series order, along with The League and Louie (premieres in June). The League recently received a second-season order and it returns this summer for 13 episodes. FX's acclaimed hit series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns for a sixth season this summer with 14 episodes.
Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy set at the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a spy agency where espionage and global crises are merely opportunities for its highly trained employees to confuse, undermine, betray and royally screw each other. The series features the voices of H. Jon Benjamin as suave master spy "Sterling Archer"; Jessica Walter as his domineering mother and boss, "Malory Archer"; Aisha Tyler as his ex-girlfriend and current co-worker, "Agent Lana Kane"; George Coe as his aging-but-loyal butler, "Woodhouse"; Chris Parnell as ISIS comptroller and Lana's new love interest, "Cyril Figgis"; Judy Greer as Malory's lovesick secretary, "Cheryl"; and Amber Nash as "Pam," the director of human resources for ISIS.

Monday, February 22, 2010

NBC's Today Show Reunites Greatest TV Families of All-Time Next Week (March 1-3); 2010 WGA Awards Winner

NBC's Today show will reunite three of the "Greatest TV Families of All-Time" next week from Monday, March 1 through Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The casts of '70s hits Eight is Enough, The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch will be reuniting to discuss their times on these shows. Oddly enough, all three shows aired on ABC in the '70s and not on NBC. Tune in during the 7-9am portion of Today to see these LIVE reunions! If I were to guess, we will see these reunions sometime in the 8am hour, but record 7-9am just in case if you're not home or want to keep these in your archives. Here are the stars attending:
Monday, March 1 - Eight Is Enough: Dick Van Patten, Willie Aames, Grant Goodeve, Betty Buckley, Laurie Walters, Connie Needham, and Dianne Kay.
Tuesday, March 2 - The Partridge Family: Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, Danny Bonaduce, and Brian Forster.
Wednesday, March 3 - The Brady Bunch: Barry Williams, Susan Olsen, Eve Plumb, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, and Florence Henderson.

If there is any more new information, we will bring it to you right away, so stay with us!


The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have announced the winners of the 2010 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, and videogame writing at simultaneous ceremonies at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.
We will of course only cover the television portion. The winners are in BOLD.

DRAMA SERIES
* Breaking Bad, Written by Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, George Mastras, J. Roberts, John Shiban, Moira Walley-Beckett; AMC
* Dexter, Written by Scott Buck, Charles H. Eglee, Lauren Gussis, Clyde Phillips, Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, Tim Schlattmann, Wendy West; Showtime
* Friday Night Lights, Written by Bridget Carpenter, Kerry Ehrin, Ron Fitzgerald, Brent Fletcher, Etan Frankel, Jason Gavin, Elizabeth Heldens, David Hudgins, Rolin Jones, Jason Katims, Patrick Massett, Derek Santos Olson, John Zinman; NBC
* LOST, Written by Carlton Cuse, Adam Horowitz, Melinda Hsu Taylor, Edward Kitsis, Damon Lindelof, Greggory Nations, Kyle Pennington, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Brian K. Vaughan, Paul Zbyszewski; ABC
* Mad Men, Written by Lisa Albert, Andrew Colville, Kater Gordon, Cathryn Humphris, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Brett Johnson, Erin Levy, Marti Noxon, Frank Pierson, Robin Veith, Dahvi Waller, Matthew Weiner; AMC

COMEDY SERIES
* 30 Rock, Written by Jack Burditt, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Tom Ceraulo, Vali Chandrasekaran, Tina Fey, Donald Glover, Steve Hely, Matt Hubbard, Dylan Morgan, Paula Pell, Jon Pollack, John Riggi, Tami Sagher, Josh Siegal, Ron Weiner, Tracey Wigfield; NBC
* Curb Your Enthusiasm, Written by Larry David; HBO
* Glee, Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy; Fox
* Modern Family, Written by Paul Corrigan, Sameer Gardezi, Joe Lawson, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker; ABC
* The Office, Written by Jennifer Celotta, Danny Chun, Greg Daniels, Lee Eisenberg, Anthony Q. Farrell, Brent Forrester, Daniel J. Goor, Charlie Grandy, Mindy Kaling, Ryan Koh, Lester Lewis, Paul Lieberstein, Warren Lieberstein, BJ Novak, Michael Schur, Aaron Shure, Justin Spitzer, Gene Stupnitsky, Halsted Sullivan; NBC

NEW SERIES
* Glee, Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy; Fox
* The Good Wife, Written by Angela Amato Velez, Corinne Brinkerhoff, Ted Humphrey, Dee Johnson, Todd E. Kessler, Michelle King, Robert King; CBS
* Hung, Written by Colette Burson, Ellie Herman, Emily Kapnek, Brett C. Leonard, Dmitry Lipkin, Angela Robinson; HBO
* Modern Family, Written by Paul Corrigan, Sameer Gardezi, Joe Lawson, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker; ABC
* Nurse Jackie, Written by Taii K. Austin, Liz Brixius, Rick Cleveland, Evan Dunsky, Nancy Fichman, Liz Flahive, Jennifer Hoppe, Mark Hudis, John Hilary Shepherd, Linda Wallem, Christine Zander; Showtime

EPISODIC DRAMA – any length – one airing time
* "Broken, Part 1 and Part 2" (House), Written by Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner & David Foster & David Shore; Fox
* "Come, Ye Saints" (Big Love), Written by Melanie Marnich; HBO
* "The Grown Ups" (Mad Men), Written by Brett Johnson and Matthew Weiner; AMC
* "Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency" (Mad Men), Written by Robin Veith and Matthew Weiner; AMC
* "I Will Rise Up" (True Blood), Written by Nancy Oliver; HBO
* "Phoenix" (Breaking Bad), Written by John Shiban; AMC

EPISODIC COMEDY – any length – one airing time (**TIE**)
* "Apollo, Apollo" (30 Rock), Written by Robert Carlock; NBC
* "Broke" (The Office), Written by Charles Grandy; NBC
* "Chapter 1" (Eastbound & Down), Written by Ben T. Best & Jody L. Hill & Danny McBride; HBO
* "Gossip" (The Office), Written by Paul Lieberstein; NBC
* "Pilot" (Modern Family), Written by Steven Levitan & Christopher Lloyd; ABC
* "Reunion" (30 Rock), Written by Matt Hubbard; NBC

View the rest of the winners for the television portion.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Week 22 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 22 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):
(We don't have the final network averages through Thursday AGAIN (sorry), but we do have final program averages through Thursday in the analysis below)

Households: N/A
Total Viewers: N/A
Adults 18-49: N/A

Week 22 (Feb. 15-21) Analysis: For week 22, thus far through the first four nights it is atypical week because NBC is dominating all thanks to the Winter Olympics. So far through the first four days of the week I can project, NBC is first across the board, with Fox in second. CBS is third in HH/viewers, but fourth in 18-49, as ABC is the opposite of that, third in 18-49 but fourth in HH/viewers. Last week, week 21, NBC took home first place in every category obviously thanks to three nights of the Olympics (prior to those three nights they were 4th). CBS was second in HH/viewers, but third in 18-49. Fox was third in HH/viewers, but second in 18-49. ABC was in fourth across the board.
On Monday it was all Olympics as most programming was in repeats. NBC's coverage of the primetime portion of the Olympics did 25.54 million from 8-11pm and 25.22 million overall from 8pm-11:16pm. CBS was in repeats with its comedies and CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 5.75 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating for a repeat, while a repeat of Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 5.47 million and a 1.9 18-49 rating. Two and a Half Men followed with a repeat as well doing 10.61 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating and The Big Bang Theory followed with a repeat of its own doing 10.09 million and it built from the lead-in in 18-49 from a 3.3 to a 3.6. A 3.6 for a repeat is outstanding these days. A repeat of CSI: Miami at 10pm did 8.38 million and a 2.3 18-49 rating, not too good. ABC started it off with an all-new The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love doing a solid 11.53 million, but it didn't go up from previous week for the first time this season in viewers, though it did do the same 4.1 18-49 rating for the third straight week--impressive since the Olympics were on! A repeat of Castle was next and did a 5.69 million, could be better but it was a third-run of an episode already. Castle returns with new episodes on March 8. Fox started off with a repeat of House doing 6.8 million and a 2.2 18-49 rating. A new episode of 24 was next doing 8.58 million and a 2.8 18-49 rating, both down a lot from previous week due to no new House and the Olympics on opposite it. NBC will return Chuck on March 1, and the new night premiere of Law & Order also launches that night. The CW aired an all-new One Tree Hill doing a could be better 1.86 million, down from previous week, followed by an all-new episode of Life UneXpected at 1.8 million, down a bit from previous week again.
On Tuesday, Fox won and beat the Olympics on NBC. Fox of course started with an all-new American Idol with 23.92 million, down four million or so from previous week when it was an hour long episode, as this was a two-hour episode. It did a mammoth 9.2 18-49 rating, down a whole point from previous week. The Winter Olympics on NBC were next doing 20.46 million in primetime and 20.33 million from 8-11:24pm. 5.5 18-49 rating is good, but it got clobbered by Idol. CBS started with a repeat of NCIS doing 11.66 million, seems a bit below its usual repeat numbers. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a repeat of its own doing 9.13 million, but only a 1.8 18-49 rating...the lead-in was 2.4 And finally CBS aired a repeat of The Good Wife doing 7.74 million and only a 1.4 8-49 rating. ABC started off with a LOST enhanced encore doing 4.2 million and a 1.5 18-49 rating, down some from previous week. Then an all-new episode of the final season of LOST was next with 9.82 million, down a bit over a million from the previous week (as expected against Idol and the Olympics) but it still did an excellent 4.5 18-49 rating, off from previous week's 5.0. We found out about the numbers! What will we find out this week? ABC aired a new episode of the forgotten at 10pm and did a so-so 4.97 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating...down a million from previous week, like its lead-in. NBC will return two-hour The Biggest Loser episodes on March 2 and the premiere of Parenthood will follow it. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 760,000 and 620,000 viewers...down some from previous week's repeats. Did you know they are re-airing all the new episodes in order since its last new episode before they returns with new episodes in March?
Wednesday this time the Olympics took revenge and beat Idol. The Winter Olympics did a mammoth 29.29 million in primetime and 29.42 million overall from 8pm-11:17pm. 8.9 rating in 18-49 was number one for the night. Fox started with Human Target at 8pm at just 7.21 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, down over a million from previous week. American Idol was next at 9pm and it did its lowest ratings in quite a while doing 18.63 million, that's down nearly 7 million from previous week, ouch! But still good. 18-49 rating was down from 9.5 to 7.0 as well. Taking a hit to a 7.0 is hilarious, any other show would kill for that now. CBS started at 8pm with repeats of its comedies Old Christine and Gary Unmarried doing 4.74 million and 4.29 million, losing to the ABC comedies which were also repeats. Next CBS aired a repeat of Criminal Minds at 7.91 million and a repeat of CSI: NY at 10pm did 7.97 million. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing 5.03 million and a 1.8 18-49 rating, followed by a repeat episode of The Middle doing 4.59 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating. Modern Family was a repeat in its normal 9pm slot and did an 4.36 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating. A special repeat of The Middle was next doing 3.19 million and only a 1.2 18-49 rating. Next Cougar Town was in repeats in the 10pm hour doing only 3.1 and 2.68 million. Ugly Betty was preempted, but a repeat of that would have done worse at 10pm. NBC will return Mercy and Law & Order: SVU on March 3. The CW aired more repeats as Life UneXpected did 1.25 million, down some from previous week, and then a repeat of Gossip Girl followed and only did 570,000 viewers, bad and down some from previous week.
Thursday it was the Olympics with the win again. NBC's coverage of the Olympics were down from the previous night, but still did 24.78 million and a 7.0 18-49 rating through 11:31pm ET. CBS started with a new Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains doing 11.97 million and 3.9 18-49 rating, down about 3 million from previous week. CBS aired The Mentalist at a special time of 9pm for a repeat doing 8.81 million, as a CSI repeat aired at 10pm doing 7.96 million. Why the switcharoo? Maybe CBS is mulling a change or they just didn't want the ratings to count in the season average, thus switching the timeslots. ABC started off with a new The Deep End at only 4.26 million, down from previous week and the 18-49 rating went from a 1.5 to 1.1...series lows. A new episode of Grey's Anatomy was next and perked up to 10.27 million, down two million from previous week, as it looks like the Olympics hurt it some, even the 18-49 rating went fro ma 4.4 to a 3.7. Thankfully it was pretty much a standalone episode. A new Private Practice was next doing 7.59 million and a 2.8 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. Fox had a repeat of Bones doing 5.77 million and a 1.6 18-49 rating, down a lot from previous week's repeat. A new Past Life did only 3.5 million, down nearly two million from previous week. Only a 1.1 18-49 rating, too. Fox has pulled the show after this airing, look for Kitchen Nightmares now starting this week. NBC will return Community , Parks & Recreation and The Office on March 4, while 30 Rock returns the week after. At 10pm NBC will launch reality series The Marriage Ref on March 4. The CW aired a repeat of Vampire Diaries doing 1.66 million and Supernatural was a repeat and did 1.55 million.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but NBC won Friday with the Winter Olympics, as the other networks aired repeats again.
Saturday numbers saw NBC win the night of course with more Winter Olympics coverage opposite repeats, though Fox did pretty close to normal numbers with its crime reality series.
Tonight it is more Winter Olympics coverage for NBC that will make them win the night. ABC's regular line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are all-new, but might take a bit of a hit thanks to the Olympics. Watch these shows! CBS has a new The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss. I hope the latter loses to Desperate Housewives. Fox has a mix of new and repeats of their animated comedies and new episodes of 'Til Death. NBC will win the week in all categories because of the Winter Olympics. Fox will be second across the board, with CBS in third but there will be a battle for third in 18-49 between CBS and ABC. ABC will likely have to settle for 4th in HH/viewers. As for this coming week, look for the last week of Winter Olympics on NBC causing more repeats on other nets, but there will be plenty of new airings of series such as LOST, Desperate Housewives, and American Idol opposite it!

Week 22 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 21-- Feb. 8-14)

  • 'Til Death (Fox) - preempted because of NASCAR overrun.
  • The Simpsons (Fox) - A new episode did 5.85 million and a 2.6 18-49 rating opposite the Olympics.
  • The Cleveland Show (Fox) - Just 4.87 million for a new episode but the competition was high thanks to the Olympics. 2.4 18-49 rating is OK.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - Jumped to 6.44 million for a new episode, but below normal of course. Even the 18-49 rating of 3.3 is below normal, but still the best of the block.
  • American Dad (Fox) - 5.25 million for a new episode, retention is still the same as usual. 2.5 18-49 rating could be better out of a 3.3.

Monday Sitcoms

  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.75 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating for a repeat opposite the Olympics. Good.
  • Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 5.47 million and a 1.9 18-49 rating for a repeat. Good retention from the lead-in.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.61 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating for a repeat. That is good for a new episode even.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 10.09 million and a 3.6 18-49 rating for a repeat. I wonder if it could build on the viewers for tomorrow's repeat? 18-49 building is a given now.

Tuesday Sitcoms

  • None.

Wednesday Sitcoms
  • Old Christine (CBS) - 4.74 million for a repeat and only a 1.3 18-49 rating, both losing to the competing ABC comedy repeat.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - 4.29 million for a repeat and a 1.4 18-49 rating, both losing to the competing ABC comedy repeat.
  • The Middle (ABC) 2 airings - A repeat at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did 4.59 million and a decent (for a repeat) 1.7 18-49 rating. A special 9:30pm repeat did not do as well doing only 3.19 million and a 1.2 18-49 rating.
  • Modern Family (ABC) 2 airings - A repeat at 8pm did 5.03 million and a 1.8 14-49 rating, not bad at all. The regular 9pm airing was also a repeat this time and did 4.36 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating...not bad.
  • Cougar Town (ABC) 2 airings - Two repeats aired at a special time of 10pm & 10:30pm doing 3.1 and 2.68 million. Not good, but it is only repeats.

Thursday Sitcoms

  • Community (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.
  • Parks & Recreation (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.
  • The Office (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - preempted for Olympics.

Friday Sitcoms

  • None.

Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are new episodes of 'Til Death at 7 on Fox followed by a mix of new and repeats of the Fox animated comedies starting at 8.

Summing it up. All repeats. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family 8pm, How I Met Your Mother, Accidentally on Purpose repeats were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Modern Family 9pm, The Middle 8:30 repeats) or just plain old terrible (such as The Middle 9:30, Cougar Town 10pm hour repeats).

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Blog DVD Review: FLASHFORWARD - Season One, Part One (2/23)

Welcome to another edition of blog DVD reviews. This week we take a look at ABC Studios' FLASHFORWARD - Season One, Part One. ABC launched FLASHFORWARD last fall and thus far 10 episodes have aired and we get these first 10 episodes here on this DVD. The series is about when the whole world blacked out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds on October 6, 2009. See my blog DVD review of FLASHFORWARD - Season One, Part One:

FLASHFORWARD - Season One, Part One (ABC Studios, $29.99) brings the first 10 episodes from the first season of the riveting new ABC drama! The series premiered on ABC on September 24, 2009. It is loosely based on the 1999 novel Flashforward by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer. In the series, a mysterious event causes nearly everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which people see what appear to be visions of their lives approximately six months in the future (on April 29, 2010) --a global "flashforward." A team of Los Angeles FBI agents begin the process of determining what happened, why, and whether it will happen again.
The series stars Joseph Fiennes as FBI Special Agent Mark Benford, John Cho as FBI Special Agent Demetri Noh, Jack Davenport as Dr. Lloyd Simcoe, Zachary Knighton as Dr. Bryce Varley, Peyton List as Nicole Kirby, Dominic Monaghan as Dr. Simon Campos, Brían F. O'Byrne as Aaron Stark, Courtney B. Vance as FBI Assistant Director Stanford Wedeck, Sonya Walger as Dr. Olivia Benford, and Christine Woods as FBI Special Agent Janis Hawk. Recurring are Gabrielle Union as Zoey Andata, Lee Thompson Young as FBI Special Agent Al Gough, Barry Shabaka Henley as FBI Special Agent Vreede, Ryan Wynott as Dylan Simcoe, Lennon Wynn as Charlie Benford, and Genevieve Cortese as Tracy Stark.

We get the first 10 episodes of the series on this 2-disc set. We are waiting for the return on ABC on March 18 for the second half (12 episodes) of the season. I cannot wait for the return! But before the return, I'll let you know the memorable episodes of the first 10 episodes. You need to watch them all in order of course, but of course some episodes are better than others. In the premiere episode "No More Good Days," the series opens on a seemingly ordinary day, which soon becomes extraordinary as everyone in Los Angeles blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds--in one of the best pilots on television since the premiere of LOST in 2004. In "137 Sekunden," Mark and Janis travel to Munich, Germany to speak with an imprisoned Nazi who claims to have knowledge about why the blackout lasted exactly 137 seconds, and an anonymous tip leads Demetri to believe his deepest fears about his future. In "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps," Mark, Demetri, and Wedeck try to find a connection between Janis' attack and a separate attack made on them, meanwhile as Halloween approaches, Olivia confronts Mark about his alleged drinking in his flashforward. In a character-driven episode "Believe," Bryce travels to Japan to search for the woman he saw in his flashforward, meanwhile Aaron becomes concerned over Tracy's odd behavior and excessive drinking since her return from Afghanistan, while his friendship with Mark hits a snag when Mark attempts to track down the person responsible for texting Olivia about how he was drunk in his flashforward. And in the fall finale, "A561984," against Wedeck's orders, Mark and Demetri travel to Hong Kong in search of the woman claiming to know details of Demetri's fate and he learns that his killer-to-be is a lot closer to home than he could ever have imagined, while Demetri's fiancee discovers the true meaning of her flashforward; meanwhile Lloyd tries to come clean about his and Simon's involvement in the global blackout -- against Simon's better judgment and Olivia is involved in a shocking incident as Lloyd's son is discharged from the hospital.
Guest starring are Gina Torres, Peter Coyote, and Shohreh Aghdashloo as the mysterious woman.

Packaging has an outer box holding a case inside. The cover art for both the box and case are the same -- we have eleven headshots of the stars surrounding a globe where we see a vision of everyone in the world's flashforward. The globe looks like a disco ball, though. The packaging also states "The First 10 Episodes," along with Season One Part One." There is also four stars on the top from the NY Daily News. The color scheme is purple I guess. The back cover for both the box and case has tons of information on the series & set and a list of bonus features, along with a few episodic photos. Inside the case we go, disc one is on a black plastic holder that we can turn like a page on a book. Disc two is placed on the right panel itself. There is no artwork on the inside of the case, so it is plain black. We also have an insert saying how we can save $15 on the complete first season DVD coming to DVD/Blu-ray in August 2010. Download your coupon at FlashForward-DVD.com. It is unfortunate we do not get a nice disc-by-disc breakdown of episodes on the packaging or a booklet. I hope we do get that when the full first season DVD comes out in August. Disc one holds episodes 1-5 and disc two holds episodes 6-10 and the the special features. The artwork for both discs is the same -- the show logo, season 1, disc number, and episode numbers with a shot of the sea in a sunset.

The menu screen is very cool. It is LOST-like. We can hear lines from the show, while the clips play on the left side. On the right side, we see the show logo and the menu options in a slanted form. The menu options are Setup, Episode Selection, Bonus Features, Play All. Bonus Features option is on disc two only. Everything else is on each disc. Setup gives us the option to register your DVD and to turn on subtitles in English, French or Espanol. Episode Selection menu has a list of episodes with episode number and title. Each of these submenus have background music from the series playing in the background of these menus. Auto previews are playing before the menu comes on disc one such as for the Prince of Persia, LOST S5 and Everybody's Fine.

The video and audio is superb, as it should be since it is a series that is airing this season. The video is in widescreen and for those DVD players that upconvert it to 1080i, it is just like watching it on ABC HD! It looks so clear and crisp! The audio is perfect as well. Honestly, any current series should have no problem in video and audio. It is expected to be like this. Each episode runs approx. 43 minutes, of course unedited. The second episode has about 4 minutes of more material. See the runtimes below. There are about 7-9 chapter stops per episode, but in weird spots and different positions each time. The second episode has the "Previously on ABC's FLASHFORWARD" recap and every episode after that has the more familiar "On October 6, the whole world blacked-out..."

Disc One
1. No More Good Days (42:57)
2. White to Play (47:04)
3. 137 Sekunden (43:00)
4. Black Swan (43:40)
5. Gimme Some Truth (42:55)

Disc Two
6. Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (43:03)
7. The Gift (42:55)
8. Playing Cards with Coyote (42:45)
9. Believe (43:06)
10. A561984 (42:06)

Moving on to the bonus features, I'm surprised we have some. The bonus features are all on disc two. Since this is really just a half-season set, I was not expecting any at all, but the quantity is low compared to other ABC sets, which is understandable. I bet they will unload so many extras on the complete first season set in August. Anyway, for the first bonus we get "Creating Catastrophe: The Effects of a Global Blackout" (7:05). This is a nice featurette from the crew showing us how the opening action scene were done in the first episode. It is really cool to see! The magic of Hollywood! Commenting here are David Goyer (co-creator/executive producer/writer/director), Danny Weselis (stunt coordinator), Brannon Braga (co-creator/executive producer/writer), Jessika Borsiczky (executive producer), Allen Hale (special effects supervisor), Michelle Lathan (location manager), Kevin Blank (visual effects supervisor), Ken Niederbaumer (special makeup effects) and Todd Masters (special makeup effects).
The next bonus material is "FLASHFORWARD: A Look Ahead," and it looks at the next episode with a few scenes from episode 11. We get 4:47 worth of scenes from the next episode. I cannot wait to see the episode! It airs March 18 at 8/7 central on ABC! Be there!
And finally the last bonus feature is a promo titled "Could." It is narrated by Dominic Monaghan and you've seen this promo on ABC for the return on March 18, but this is longer as it runs 90 seconds.

I of course highly do recommend everyone to pick up this set. And if you never have watched the show, now is your chance to get started because we have less than a month remaining before the series returns for the second half of its season. And if you missed an episode or two, get this set and catch up and watch the show LIVE on Thursday, March 18. If you love the show, then please support it by watching it on TV...or you are not helping the show at all. I was hooked from the start after watching the pilot episode and I am anxiously waiting for the return. This and the series V were clearly the best two new dramas of the season, and both return to ABC in March. The complete first season DVD is out in August, so if you've seen every episode and will watch on TV starting March 18, then you really don't need this DVD unless you want a refresher. If not, then wait for the first season DVD in August. If you've never seen this show...get this DVD NOW! And catch up in time for the return on March 18 and watch it on TV. Because six months from now, I can see the entire world watching this show instead of blacking out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds! My flashforward says this show will get better and better! So keep watching!

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4.5/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
FLASHFORWARD TV.com Page
Official Website

Friday, February 19, 2010

The Ellen Show Sitcom on WealthTV; Remembering Caroline McWilliams of Benson

WealthTV, the premier luxury lifestyle and entertainment network in digital and high definition, has announced that it will be airing several never been seen before episodes of Ellen DeGeneres' short-lived comedy series The Ellen Show. WealthTV concluded an agreement with Sony Pictures Television to air all eighteen episodes of The Ellen Show throughout 2010, including five final episodes that have never been aired on television. Beginning Tuesday, February 23, WealthTV will air the first unseen episode. WealthTV airs The Ellen Show on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 9:00 pm ET, in brilliantly clear high definition. Among the unaired episodes has a guest appearance by the late John Ritter in the episode "Gathering Moss."
The final episode, entitled "One for the Roadshow," has Ellen pondering her riches as she takes an old, unopened and mint condition Monopoly game to the Collectibles Roadshow. Ellen is offered $10,000 for the unopened game. Yet later that evening, Ellen is stunned when she finds that her mom has a Monopoly board all set up for them to play! The episode will be making its television premiere on WealthTV Wednesday, March 3.
Don't remember this show? Don't be confused with Ellen's hit sitcom Ellen which aired on ABC and her current daytime talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. This show aired on CBS in 2001-2002 before getting canceled to low ratings. Before her daytime talk show made her the darling of critics and the public alike, Emmy Award winner Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen) starred in The Ellen Show, as Ellen Richmond, a dot-com exec who trades the stresses of big-city life for the slower pace of her old hometown. Yet it remains to be seen whether returning to the fishbowl of Clark is really such a good idea, especially for someone who's grown accustomed to the pace of big-city life. Warmly welcomed by her eccentric mother, Dot (Oscar winner Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show), and her scatterbrained sister, Catherine (Emily Rutherfurd), Ellen is persuaded by her high school teacher (Martin Mull) to take a job as the school's guidance counselor. In trading her dreams of being a successful entrepreneur for a return to her roots, she faces starting over at home in a quintessential American small town.
Check out the WealthTV website to see if your area has this network.

Caroline McWilliams, accomplished actress and director best known for her role on the ABC '80s sitcom Benson, passed away peacefully at her home in LA last Thursday (February 11, 2010).
Her career included numerous feature television roles, starting with her breakthrough role as Janet Mason on Guiding Light and followed by regular roles on Benson, Nearly Departed, and Beverly Hills 90210. On Benson she played Marcy Hill, the Governor's sectary, during the series' first few seasons (1979-81). She also recurred on Benson's parent show SOAP but as a different character - as Sally - the secretary for Richard Mulligan's character Burt. Her other TV credits include guest stints on Another World, Barney Miller, Kojak, Quincy ME, The Incredible Hulk, Hill Street Blues, Night Court, St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey, The Cavanaughs, Sisters, Home Improvement, Suddenly Susan, Lois & Clark, Murphy Brown, and Judging Amy (her last role). During her time on Benson, she appeared on the primetime version of Family Feud with the cast of Benson going up against the cast of One Day at a Time and she also appeared on The Battle of the Network Stars in 1980 on the ABC Team.
She will be deeply missed, especially by fans of Guiding Light in the '70s, Benson and SOAP. Caroline was only 64 years old.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

TV Land Adds Morning Marathons; ION Delays Emeril Lagasse Show

TV Land is adding morning marathons to weekdays beginning next week (Feb. 22). As of now, the marathons are only set for the next two weeks -- week of Feb. 22 and March 1. But I'm sure they will be extended into March as well, but it isn't official. The next two Mondays (Feb. 22/March 1) will have a marathon of Leave it to Beaver from 9am-1pm. Then on Tuesday, there will be a Beverly Hillbillies marathon on Feb. 23 and Sanford & Son on March 2, both from 9am-1pm. On Wednesday, there will be a Sanford & Son marathon on Feb. 24 from 9am-12pm, but on March 3 the previously scheduled marathon of High School Reunion will remain as the season finale is later that night. On Thursday, Hogan's Heroes takes the morning from 9am-1pm on both Feb. 25 and March 4. And finally on Friday, we have a mixed bag on both Feb. 26 and March 5. Leave it to Beaver kicks it off in the 9am half-hour, followed by Gunsmoke at 9:30am and then it is Bonanza until 5pm.
This means the current weekday 9am-1pm block of Leave it to Beaver, back-to-back Beverly Hillbillies, single All in the Family, back-to-back Sanford & Son and Hogan's Heroes are not airing in their normal slots for these two weeks (and beyond I bet). Stay with us for details.
And also of note, the Bewitched launch on Sunday (Feb. 28) has a time change now, it will be 11am-2pm instead. The series still joins the weekday schedule the next day (March 1) in the 5pm hour.
View the updated TV Land February 2010 schedule with these changes. And also view the updated TV Land March 2010 schedule with these changes. Look under the one-time-only adjustments section.

ION Television was set to launch The Emeril Lagasse Show on Sunday, March 28 airing Sundays at 8pm, but they just announced it has been delayed. We are not sure if the delay is only a week or a bit longer. Of course as soon as know, we will let you know. Whenever it launches, it will feature one of America's most popular chefs as he has never been seen before. Each week, Emeril will welcome celebrity guests, musicians and entertainers to break news and break bread as Emeril shares his world, his friends and his passions with the studio audience and viewers at home.
Instead on Sunday, March 28, ION will air back-to-back airings of the big screen movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) from 4pm-6:30pm and 6:30pm-9pm. The TV series Shark follows in its normal Sunday slots of 9pm and 10pm. An hour of M*A*S*H will kick off the block from 3-4pm. In other ION Television changes, they have added the premiere of the big screen movie Daredevil (2003) starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner for Saturday, March 27 at 7pm. The movie replaces an immediate encore of spin-off movie Elektra (2005) starring Jennifer Garner, which will remain airing at 5pm that night.
View the updated ION Television March 2010 schedule. Stay with us for updates on Emeril's new series. Bam!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Final Two [scrubs] Episodes to Air in March, CW Renews 5 Series; Nick at Nite Overnight Change Has More Urkel, Less Cosby

ABC has announced that the final two episodes of the season of [scrubs] [Med School] edition will air on a special night and time on Wednesday, March 10 and 17 at 8:00pm ET/PT on ABC Comedy Wednesday! As J.D. and Turk would say, "awe-some!" [scrubs] is airing instead of Modern Family encores, but of course Modern Family will be airing in its regular 9pm slot. [scrubs] hasn't aired since end of January (Jan. 26).
There is still no official word yet if and when the final two episodes of the season of Better off Ted will air or not. Maybe on Wednesday, March 24 and 31 at 8pm? We shall see. Stay with us! Will both series make it back next season? Or at least [scrubs]? We don't know yet, but stay tuned!

The CW has ordered five of their hits back for 2010-11! Freshman Hit The Vampire Diaries, dramas Gossip Girl, 90210, Supernatural and reality staple America’s Next Top Model will all return next season.
The CW Network has given early pickups to these five series for next season, which includes four signature dramas and the reality staple. All five shows will return in Fall 2010.
I'm quite surprised 90210 got an early pick-up since its ratings are lacking and it hasn't even returned yet from its long hiatus (3 months!). Veteran dramas Smallville and One Tree Hill are still on the bubble, while freshman Melrose Place is also on the bubble. It is too early for a pick-up of mid-season drama Life UneXpected, so the jury is still out on that. There has to be something not coming back next season. Could it be Melrose Place? Stay with us in the coming months for an answer to that. We will for sure know by May at the upfronts.

Nick at Nite made a minor schedule change on Monday night. They removed one of the hours for The Cosby Show. The series was airing every morning from 4-6am. Now it has been cut to just the 5am hour. Taking over the 4am hour will now more Family Matters. That series will still remain airing Sun-Thurs in the 3am hour and every morning in the 6am hour as well. Friday and Saturday nights in the 3am hour is an extra hour of Everybody Hates Chris.
View the updated Nick at Nite schedule. Stay with us for March highlights in the coming days!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

ION Adds M*A*S*H To Weekdays; ION Announces New Deals With Studios

ION Television was scheduled to re-add M*A*S*H as a regular next month on Saturday afternoons (3-4pm), that is still going to happen, but starting next week (Monday, Feb. 22) it will also return to the weekday schedule! M*A*S*H will air weekdays at 4:00pm & 4:30pm replacing court show Texas Justice, which will be off the line-up aleady. Texas Justice didn't do too well in the ratings and will be leaving after just three full weeks on the air. It launched on Feb. 1. No word yet if and when it will return, but stay with us for any info on that.

ION also recently announced deals with various studios. Reflecting its continued commitment to the acquisition of high profile, 'positively entertaining' programming for its primetime schedule, ION Television has inked multiple deals to acquire close to 35 major feature films and television series. The deals are with leading Hollywood studios, including Paramount Pictures Worldwide Television Distribution, Twentieth Television and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (WBDTD).
The television series acquired from Twentieth Television include the critically acclaimed crime drama Shark (Seasons 1-2; 38 episodes), starring James Woods that we first announced would be coming, and Texas Justice (Seasons 1-4; 572 half-hour episodes) is also part of the deal.
ION Television acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the award-winning original TV series, The Guard from Lionsgate. In addition, the network secured all U.S. television, digital media rights, internet streaming and video-on-demand rights. The series premieres for the first time to the U.S. audience with a two-hour block of back-to-back episodes on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, ET. Following its debut, The Guard will continue to air on ION Television in the same time two-hour period with back-to-back episodes each Saturday night, as we mentioned.
The Paramount Pictures Worldwide Television Distribution package includes 15 film titles and features all three titles in The Godfather trilogy, starring Al Pacino, Death Wish and Death Wish IV: The Crackdown starring Charles Bronson and Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise.
ION has also acquired over a dozen releases from Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution, including top films such as The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones; GoodFellas, starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci; and The Outlaw Josey Wales and Space Cowboys, both directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.

View the updated ION Television February 2010 schedule, with the addition of M*A*S*H to weekdays. And also check out the updated March 2010 schedule.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Blog DVD Review: Dynasty - The Fourth Season, Volume Two; Smurfs Marathon on Boomerang Today

Welcome to a special President's Day edition of Blog DVD Reviews. Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Dynasty - The Fourth Season, Volume Two. Dynasty is of course the primetime soap that was a bit hit for many years and it was so addictive! The tale of the Carrington family is so rich and interesting. See my blog DVD review of Dynasty - The Fourth Season, Volume One:

Dynasty - The Fourth Season, Volume Two (CBS DVD, $35.98) brings us the final 13 episodes of the fourth season of the mega-hit ABC '80s series Dynasty on a 3-disc set! John Forsythe, Linda Evans and Joan Collins continue to heat up the show as we continue the fourth season and get to the "nightmare" finale! This is the season where it reached its highest state thus far...it was #3 in the ratings for the entire fourth season. Seasons 3-6 all were in the time of the height of the popularity, with season five hitting number one. The series lasted 9 seasons on ABC, from 1981-89. We get the second half of the fourth season (1983-84) on this volume two set of the fourth season. Again, I don't understand why they are splitting the seasons in half. The show only had 27 episodes for season four...it's not like it was over 30 or 35. Anyway, the drama in Denver continues whether it is at the mansion or the LaMirage hotel.

Diahann Carroll joins the cast in the final two episodes of the season as the very mysterious Dominique Deveraux. Just who is she? We'll have to wait for more in season five to find out, but we get a little taste of her in the final two episodes here. Heather Locklear also returns in this second half of season four as Sammy Jo Carrington. She returns to Denver from New York to get custody of Danny in the final two episodes of the season. Michael Nader plays Farnsworth 'Dex' Dexter, Alexis' new suitor in this season. The final 13 episodes of the season begins with "Seizure," as Kirby is in poor health (that's all I will give away). We also get the three-part episode "The Voice," where so much happens that I won't give it away. And the final two episodes of the season are a must watch with Carroll joining the cast in "New Lady in Town," and the season finale "The Nightmare." Pamela Sue Martin (who plays Fallon Carrington-Colby) leaves the series after this episode. Just what will happen to Fallon as a result? We will have to wait and see in season five!

Packaging once again is a snap case holding three discs inside, similar to previous sets. Again the discs don't overlap each other, which is great. Discs one and two are in the white plastic little holder, while disc three is on the right panel of the case. That little holder is cheap, but I guess it works. The cover art of the case has a nice shot of Krystle, Blake and Alexis on the top, with the Dynasty logo below them along with the supporting cast which includes Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin). We have a nice purple style color scheme again for this volume, just like the first volume of season four. The back of the case has synopsis of the show, the set, and technical information. A nice shot of the cast and some episodic photos are also present. Back inside, there is a disc-by-disc breakdown on the left and right panel for every episode on this set. We get episode title, original airdate, and a long synopsis of each episode. Don't be reading it before watching the episode now! Artwork on the discs is just plain again. It is plain silver for each one. Dynasty logo and whatever disc number it is on the disc, and episode titles are listed. Disc one holds five episodes, while discs two & three hold four episodes each -- for a total of 13. There is nothing different about the packaging here. It is always consistent.

And the consistency continues for the menus. CBS DVD is terrible in menus, as you all know. Each menu has different artwork but it is so plain again. The episodes are listed right on the main menu once again. Set Up option is also available below the list of episodes. In Set Up, we can have English or Espanol languages and subtitles. Main menu artwork has three shots of the same image. Disc 1's main menu has three shots of Blake, disc two has three shots of Krystle, and disc three has three shots of Alexis. It is very similar to the first volume of season four. No theme music or any music in the background once again. Before the main menu on disc one, there is an option for previews...we get previews such as 90210 S1 DVD, CBS Home Entertainment series and Melrose Place S3 DVD. But you can skip to the main menu if you wish.
Each episode on this set is just around 47 minutes on average, with most of the episodes around 46:55. Nearly every CBS DVD has a disclaimer on the back of the box saying, "Some episodes maybe be edited from their original network versions." So there is a chance something could be edited, but I didn't see anything, as the runtimes were fairly consistent, lowest was 46:37 and highest was 46:58. There are 6 chapter stops each for every episode, counting the opening and closing credits stops. The video is on par with the previous season and it looks good. Just some debris here and there on the opening credits, like flashing black dots, but it is still good quality. The audio is decent, a nice sounding mono...that is crisp and clear. No problems here at all. In the episode where Sammy Jo returns from New York, she has a boom-box and it is playing an instrumental version of Michael Jackson's Thriller...nice to see that was kept intact!

We get no special features at all, just like the two season three volumes and the first volume of season four. The second season had a little family tree thing, which was something at least. We get nothing here. The first season was done by 20th Century Fox, and they did a decent job with some featurettes and commentaries, but CBS DVD is doing nothing...which is typical. How about promos like they do with The Love Boat (which is also Aaron Spelling)? I'm sure Heather Locklear (or the rest of the cast) would love to do interviews or commentaries for this set. If anything, give us archival stuff at least!

Season four is a wrap! Despite the splitting of the season again and no extras, I still highly do recommend any fan of the show to pick-up this set, because the episodes are so good and addictive. I cannot stop watching whenever I put the DVD in. This is the mother of all primetime soaps (sorry never was big into Dallas)! If you have the first three seasons (and volume one of season four), then you have to get this to continue your collection of course. If you haven't gotten those yet, what are you waiting for? It won't make sense buying this set for your first buy of this series, as the episodes are heavily serialized and you'll be so lost. One thing CBS DVD does well is that they work pretty fast with most of their releases, so you better hurry before the first half of season five comes out. I hope CBS reconsiders and gives us the ENTIRE fifth season instead of splitting it up into two volumes, but they won't. I've made it obvious already I don't like the splitting up the seasons into volumes, but CBS DVD seems to do that with a lot of their hour shows like The Love Boat, Perry Mason and so on. It is too bad, because it should only really be done if it is like over 35 episodes. I think they are just trying to get more money, come on $35.98 for 13 episodes and NO extras? Still, I urge fans to buy it so we keep getting more sets. CBS DVD is at least consistent with their sets. They are very predictable as the sets are nearly identical to each other (it makes the reviews boring). But like I said last time (and the time before that), complain to CBS DVD for the lack of extras and splitting the seasons in half. I'd buy all 27 season four episodes for say, $59.99. By splitting them, they are just tricking us in paying like $70 MSRP for a season. Then with two volumes for one season, we are wasting shelf space on our shelves. Sorry to keep complaining about it, but there isn't really anything new to say here as these sets are so boring. New episodes are about the only new thing here and I'm going to give away storylines to you all, especially if you are watching the show for the first time on these DVDs. But new episodes is what counts the most, right? Anyway, you're going to get it all in the fourth season finale as you might be as stunned as Alexis is. That's all I'll give away from the finale!

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Dynasty TV.com Page



In 1981, a decidedly new cartoon debuted on NBC's Saturday morning lineup. Based on a 1957 Belgian comic strip, The Smurfs made television history following its premiere by becoming the highest-rated Saturday morning show in eight years, and the NBC's highest-rated animated series since 1970. Nearly 30 years later, the commercial-free Boomerang Network will celebrate this ground-breaking series with a 12-hour marathon on TODAY (Monday, Feb. 15), beginning at 8 a.m. (ET).
Kids enjoying a day off from school today will enjoy a special 12-hour presentation of one of the 1980's most popular cartoons ever to appear on broadcast television.
Highlights of the 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. marathon include the following episodes:
* "Sir Hefty" - 8 a.m. (ET) - A giant fire-breathing dragon roams the forest, torching the trees as it passes. Hefty must fight the fires and defend Smurf Village. He leads the dragon away and is knighted "Sir Hefty Knight of the Smurf Table" by Papa Smurf.
* "Three Smurfketeers" - 1 p.m. (ET) - The Smurfs put on a play where Hefty, Jokey, and Greedy play the three musketeers, helping Clumsy Smurfingham win Smurfette Smurfington's hand in marriage.
* "The Haunted Castle" - 3:30 p.m. (ET) - Johan and Peewit, a young squire and his sidekick, join the Smurfs to help a ghost of a haunted castle find his rightful heir.
* "The Littlest Giant" - 6 p.m. (ET) - Papa Smurf helps a young runaway giant reunite with his own family.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, March 18

The Neighborhood - (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Worth the Cooties" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
After Christina kicks Abishola and Dottie out for making light of her pre-pregnancy preparations, Christina bonds with Douglas and Abishola spends a fun day with Dottie. Also, when Bob, Goodwin and Kofo are stumped on a work issue, Bob insists they go out to lunch to loosen up.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 18)

Monday, March 18

  • Christina Applegate (Dead to Me/Up All Night/Samantha Who?/Jesse/Married with Children) - Watch Christina on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Carrie Preston (Crowded/Happyish/Emeril) - Carrie is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Rachel Dratch (Grimsburg/Imaginary Mary/30 Rock) - Rachel appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke/Robbie) and John Hodgman (Up Here/Married) - Sasheer and John are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg (Two and a Half Men/Jenny) - Jenny appears on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 3:30am on Bravo.
  • Lisa Ann Walter (Abbott Elementary/Emeril) - Lisa will be on ABC's Good Morning America some time between 7-9am.
  • Brett Gelman (Camping/Fleabag/Married/Go On) - Brett talks about The Terrifying Realm of the Possible: Nearly True Stories on CBS Mornings some time between 7-9am.
  • William Shatner ($h*! My Dad Says) - NBC's Today catches up with William in the 9am hour.


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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