INSP Acquires Happy Days, Little House; The Yule Log Celebrates 45 Years on WPIX, To Air On Many Stations

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

INSP Acquires Happy Days, Little House; The Yule Log Celebrates 45 Years on WPIX, To Air On Many Stations

INSP has acquired the rights to air the classic sitcom Happy Days and the family drama Little House on the Prairie. Both programs will start airing in January, 2012. The new programming kicks off with the Little House on the Prairie "Premiere Marathon" on New Year's Day (Sunday, Jan. 1) starting at 1pm. We'll have more on its regular timeslots at a later date. One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock...jukeboxes...sock hops....poodle skirts...rockin' and rollin' all week long, those Happy Days are here again – on INSP starting Monday, Jan. 2! Fonz and the gang will join the weekday line-up on Jan. 2, airing weeknights at 6pm. These two series will join the INSP schedule that already consists of classics like The Brady Bunch, Our House, The Big Valley, The Waltons, and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. All of those series are still expected to remain on the schedule, but we will bring you that full January 2012 schedule as soon as INSP is ready to announce it! So hang tight, but get ready for these two classics!

Elsewhere on INSP, this holiday season they will showcase many holiday episodes from their series. First, "The Young Whippersnapper Marathon" airs Friday, November 25, 2011 (Black Friday) from 2PM-2AM and will feature Regis Philbin, William Shatner, Richard Dreyfus, Adam West and MORE in The Big Valley: Young Whippersnappers Marathon. The Waltons: The Children's Carol will air on Saturday, December 17 at 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT and again on Friday, December 23 at 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT. You can also catch Christmas episodes from the other INSP series on Thursday, December 22 starting with The Waltons at 1:30pm, then The Brady Bunch, The Big Valley, Dr. Quinn, and Our House in their normal time periods. A Wind At My Back Christmas airs on Sunday, December 11 at 1:00pm ET/10:00am PT, Sunday, December 11 at 12 midnight ET/9:00pm PT, and Friday, December 23 at 2:00pm ET/11:00am PT. And finally, movies airing this holiday season are The Man Who Saved Christmas, The Christmas Box, The Christmas Secret, A Town Without Christmas, An Avonlea Christmas, and The Perfect Gift.
Stay with us for further updates on INSP, including more on the January 2012 schedule. Sit on it and stay with us!

It wouldn't be a holiday in New York without the PIX11 Yule Log! The Yule Log, the famous film loop of a burning log in a hearth, has warmed the hearts of viewers since it debuted on WPIX in 1966. To celebrate the fabled fire stick's 45th anniversary, WPIX-11 will air The Yule Log (available in HD) from 9am-1pm on Christmas morning, Sunday, December 25, 2011. Viewers can follow the Yule Log on Twitter @PIXYULELOG and become a fan of the Official Yule Log on Facebook (PIXYuleLog). Log merchandise (including "Nice Log!" and "That's HOT!" boxer shorts) can be found at CafePress.
In recent years, The Yule Log has been digitally re-mastered and fully restored. In 2001 the original film was color corrected and cleaned. In 2003, the Log was up-converted to High Definition and PIX11 now airs The Yule Log in HD. In 2006, to celebrate the Log's 40th anniversary, Lawrence F. "Chip" Arcuri and Joe Malzone, the creators of theyulelog.com, restored the audio of The Yule Log and in 2009, with the assistance of "Chip" Arcuri, PIX11 added a new fourth hour to the program, including 23 classic holiday songs. The fourth hour leads off with Mantovani's interpretation of Adeste Fideles, a classic that aired on the Yule Log in the late 1960's, now restored back to the program. The new hour adds 9 artists including Bert Kaempfert, Mitch Miller, Bing Crosby, Vic Damone and Johnny Mathis.

Not in NY? That's fine! In addition, the PIX11 Yule Log will be airing on the following Tribune Broadcasting Stations on December 25: WXIN/Indianapolis 6-10am, WGN/Chicago 2-5am, WPHL/Philadelphia 7a-11am, WDCW/DC 11:30a-1:30p, KZJO/Seattle 7a-11am, WSFL/Miami 9-11am, WPMT/Harrisburg 5-10am, and WXMI/Grand Rapids 11-11:30am. KRCW/Portland: Universal Sports/NRCW/32.3 will air the Yule Log for 24 hours straight, starting at midnight on Saturday, December 24 and ending at midnight at the end of the holiday on December 25. KTXL/Sacramento will air the Yule Log on their digital subchannel 40.2 beginning at 8pm on Saturday, December 24 through 8am on Sunday, December 25. And nationally you can watch it on Antenna TV from 3-7am ET.

Also of note WPIX, will air the classic film March of the Wooden Soldiers on Sunday, Dec. 25 from 1-3pm following The Yule Log. Before all that, on Christmas Eve, WPIX will air a Christmas episode of The Odd Couple at 11pm leading into a Christmas episode of The Honeymooners at 11:30pm. What better way to wait up for Santa! And finally, on Sunday, December 31 starting at 11pm, it will be PIX11's Annual Honeymooners Marathon with 19 hours (38 episodes) of non-stop fun! More info will be coming on this soon, so stay with us! To the moon!