SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

The Hub TV network, a destination for kids and their families, will add fan-favorite classic sitcoms Sabrina The Teenage Witch, The Facts of Life and Mork & Mindy, as we previously announced, to the network's lineup beginning Monday, April 2 from 9-10:30 p.m. ET, with encore presentations in late night and on weekends. The popular half-hour series will be presented back-to-back, Mondays through Thursdays. With strong and devoted fan bases for all three of the shows, the newly acquired series build on The Hub's successful strategy of presenting programming based on beloved properties in the kids and family entertainment space.

So what does the addition of these three sitcoms mean for the other sitcoms that they currently air? We can report that no sitcom will be leaving the line-up totally. A few will be reduced a bit, but everything will still air! Starting off with Mon-Thurs, following these three sitcoms will be Happy Days moving a half-hour later to 10:30pm. At 11pm, will now be Laverne & Shirley, also airing a half-hour later. Batman has been a big hit for the network and will remain at 11:30pm (and will also still air in the slot on Fridays, too). From 12-2am the animation break will continue with classic Transformers, classic G.I. Joe, the new Transformers Prime and then the live-action Goosebumps. From 2-3am will still be an encore of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? from 8-9pm. From 3am-6am, we have an encore of 9pm-12am with Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Facts of Life, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Batman. So with the addition of three new shows, this means The Wonder Years, Family Ties and Doogie Howser M.D. are off of the Mon-Thurs line-up. But not to fear, they will still air on weekends!

On Friday nights, as mentioned, Batman will continue to air at 11:30pm leading into classic Transformers and classic G.I. Joe. Then the Friday and Saturday night schedule will be the same in late night. From 1-2am, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids will now air on both nights. Then at 2am, an airing of Doogie Howser M.D. will air leading into Family Ties at 2:30am. From 3-4am will now be an airing each of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley. From 4-5am will now be back-to-back The Wonder Years leading into an hour of Batman from 5-6am.

And finally, moving on to Sunday nights. The primetime line-up from Mon-Thurs will also air on Sunday nights now! So that's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Facts of Life, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Batman from 9pm-12am. From 12-2am on Sunday nights will be back-to-back episodes of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Then at 2am, like on Friday and Saturday nights, an airing of Doogie Howser M.D. will air leading into Family Ties at 2:30am. From 3-4am, like on Friday and Saturday nights, will now be an airing each of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley. Unfortunately The Wonder Years will not air on Sunday nights in the 4am hour as Hub originals will air.

This is the first major schedule change for the sitcom line-up for The Hub since it started. While three new shows are joining, it is good that no sitcoms are leaving. We hope they continue to bring in sitcoms for years to come. The Hub is not a sitcom network, so it is nice that they give us some in primetime and late night. For fans of The Wonder Years, Family Ties and Doogie Howser M.D., maybe these will be back to primetime in the next change, but for now watch them on weekend late nights. Stay with us for further updates as we get them.


Moving on, TV Land has re-acquired its classic western Gunsmoke. The contract expired at the end of last August, as we mentioned, but now they will bring it back starting TODAY! The classic western will begin today Monday, March 19, 2012 airing weekdays at approx. 1pm and 2pm (time is approximate due to TV Land's off-the-clock schedule). The two-hours will replace an hour of Murder, She Wrote and Bonanza. But not to worry, Murder, She Wrote will remain airing weekdays at 8am, while Bonanza will air for three airings a day from approx. 3-6pm. The only other schedule change will be also in daytime. The second hour of The Andy Griffith Show will now be another hour of M*A*S*H from approx. 12-1pm. Andy will continue to air from approx. 11am-12pm, while M*A*S*H will still air in the evenings from approx. 6-8pm.
There are no other changes to the schedule, but the return of Gunsmoke is big news as it has been a staple on their schedule since the start of the network in 1996. It looks like it must have been missed on the afternoon line-up for the last six months.