Hallmark Dumps The Good Wife; Remembering Ben Starr Co-Creator of The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Hallmark Dumps The Good Wife; Remembering Ben Starr Co-Creator of The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons

The Hallmark Channel has pulled The Good Wife completely from its line-up effective today (Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014). The series started a few weeks ago by airing weekdays from 6-10pm but after just a week it was reduced to 8-10pm and now it is gone completely. The Waltons will now air in primetime from 8-10pm, so its 2-4pm airings will be replaced by Home Improvement. Hallmark will replace the 6-8pm Home Improvement block with the return of Little House on the Prairie. Classic '70s and '80s family dramas from 6-10pm trump over The Good Wife in the ratings for Hallmark it seems. Hallmark has a quick axe usually on shows that do not deliver in ratings, but for a big acquisition like this, it might have been too quick to pull. We'll let you know if and when it returns to the line-up. The rest of the Hallmark Channel weekday schedule will remain as is, with I Love Lucy from 5-8am, The Golden Girls from 8-10am, a new and encore of Home & Family from 10am-2pm, the aforementioned Home Improvement from 2-4pm, The Brady Bunch from 4-6pm into the classic dramas from 6-10pm (Little House & The Waltons). Comedies will rule in late night still with Frasier from 10pm-12am, The Golden Girls from 12-2am, Cheers from 2-3am, and more Frasier from 3-5am.

Ben Starr

Television writer and producer Ben Starr, who helped create The Facts of Life and Silver Spoons, has died. He died on January 19 at his home in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. Mr. Starr was 92.

Starr's early sitcom writing credits included Duffy's Tavern, My Hero, I Married Joan, The Ray Milland, December Bride, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and Bachelor Father. He wrote 40 episodes of Mister Ed from 1961-1963. Other sitcoms he wrote multiple episodes of included My Favorite Martian, Petticoat Junction, The Brady Bunch, Chico and the Man and All in the Family.

He worked as a writer and producer for Diff'rent Strokes from 1978-1982. He was instrumental in inadvertently coining the famous "Whatchu talking 'bout Willis?" catchphrase by Gary Coleman. The line was originally written as "What are you talking about, Willis?" before Coleman gave his classic delivery. He was interviewed in the E! True Hollywood Story specials on Diff'rent Strokes and Dana Plato in 1998 and 1999. In 1979, he helped develop the spin-off series The Facts of Life with Howard Leeds and Jerry Mayer. The popular series aired on NBC for 9 seasons and 209 episodes. Starr later helped create Silver Spoons with Leeds and Martin Cohan in 1982. The series, starring Ricky Schroder, Joel Higgins and Erin Gray, aired for five seasons (four on NBC and one in first-run syndication).

The Archive of American Television conducted an extensive interview with him on November 9, 2009. Survivors include three children and three grandchildren and nephew Andy Kaplan, who heads international channels for Sony Pictures TV. We thank him for bringing us the classic 1980s sitcoms The Facts of Life and Silver Spoons. He will be greatly missed.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, January 16

The Goldbergs - "The Pina Colada Episode" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Murray and Geoff team up to pull Beverly, Barry and Erica out of their shared misery that Lainey has left town. Adam’s dread of gym class is amplified when Coach Mellor’s brother, Coach Nick (guest star Bill Goldberg), arrives and uses fear as a motivator. Meanwhile, Coach Mellor (guest star Bryan Callen) prepares for the next step of his life.

Schooled - "Lainey's All That" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Hoping to gain respect among her colleagues at school, Lainey comes up with a misguided plan to give an awkward and insecure student a full makeover. Meanwhile, Principal Glascott and Coach Mellor take friendly competition to a new level when they are both romantically interested in the math teacher.

Modern Family - "Blasts from the Past" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Phil and Claire decide to take a cycling tour through Italy before they become grandparents, and Dylan (guest star Reid Ewing) introduces them to his mom who has an interesting past. Meanwhile, Cameron and Mitchell discover some interesting reading material in Lily’s room and decide to confront her about it, while Gloria and Jay discover their respective great uncles may have fought on opposing sides of a war.

Single Parents - "All Aboard the Two-Parent Struggle Bus" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
When Will’s ex, Mia (Vanessa Bayer), shows up unexpectedly for Sophie’s birthday, Will gets frustrated that she undermines his rules with Sophie. Angie tries to help Will cope by having a fun girls’ night at her place and by giving some co-parenting advice, but Poppy reveals and Will quickly learns that Angie isn’t the best advice giver. Meanwhile, inspired by Mia’s humanitarian work, Miggy and Graham decide to give some items to charity but regret it immediately and seek out help from Douglas to get the items back.

The Big Bang Theory - "The Grant Allocation Derivation" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Leonard is caught between a rock and a hard place when he’s responsible for distributing extra grant money. Also, Bernadette turns the backyard playhouse into a hideaway from her husband and kids.

Young Sheldon - "A Mother, a Child, and a Blue Man’s Backside" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mary bans Sheldon from reading a mature comic book, and Sheldon decides it’s time to stop living under Mary’s thumb.

Schitt's Creek - "The Crowening" / "Love Letters" (Pop, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Moira films a movie in Bosnia, hoping to revive her career, while David tries to take his relationship to the next level; Moira loses sleep stressing over old love letters, while David and Stevie get held up at the store.

grown-ish - "In My Feelings" (Freeform, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The gang waits for the mysterious drop of a modern-day musical genius.

You're the Worst - "The Pin in My Grenade" (FXX, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Jimmy and Gretchen reveal that they're forgoing a traditional wedding, opting instead for a courthouse elopement.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 14)

Wednesday, January 16

Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie/Malibu Country) and Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie) - Watch Lily and Jane on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Don Cheadle (Black Monday/House of Lies/The Golden Palace) - Don appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC. He also talks about Black Monday on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Pete Holmes (Crashing) - Pete is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Jim Gaffigan (The Jim Gaffigan Show/My Boys/The Ellen Show/Welcome to New York) - Jim visits Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Frankie Shaw (SMILF/Blue Mountain State) - Frankie stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. Frankie and Rosie O'Donnell (Gimme a Break!) also talk about Showtime's SMILF on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Cobie Smulders (Friends from College/How I Met Your Mother) - Cobie appears on The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Keegan-Michael Key (Friends from College/Playing House/Gary Unmarried) - Keegan-Michael stops by Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at 11pm.
Lena Waithe (Master of None) - Lena is a guest on Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) - Andy drops by E!'s Busy Tonight at 11pm.
Jamie Lee Curtis (Scream Queens/Anything But Love/Operation Petticoat) - Jamie Lee chats on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Molly Ringwald (Townies/The Facts of Life) - Molly talks about All These Small Moments on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings. She will also be on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Allison Janney (Mom/Mr. Sunshine) - Allison is a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Sheryl Lee Ralph (Fam/Instant Mom/Moesha/It's a Living) - Sheryl visits The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
The Cast of Schitt's Creek - Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy and Annie Murphy will be on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Sam Richardson (Champaign ILL/Detroiters/Veep) - Sam talks about the YouTube original Champaign ILL on the BUILD Series at 5pm.