Tuesday, January 21, 2014

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

The Good Wife

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.

Posted by Pavan -- SitcomsOnline.com at 12:00 PM
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New on DVD/Blu-ray (April/May/June)

Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete Fifth Season Father Knows Best - Season Five The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Second Season ALF - The Complete DVD Collection The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete Series

04/04 - Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete Fifth Season
04/11 - Father Knows Best - Season Five
04/11 - Schitt's Creek - The Complete Third Season
04/11 - Silicon Valley - The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)
04/11 - Veep - The Complete Fifth Season
05/02 - Red, White and Blue Collar Sitcoms - Make TV Great Again
05/09 - ALF - The Complete DVD Collection
05/09 - Divorce - The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
05/09 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Second Season
05/16 - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete Series
06/13 - The Andy Griffith Show - Return to Mayberry
06/13 - That's My Mama - The Complete Series
06/20 - Workaholics - The Final (Seventh) Season
06/20 - Workaholics - The Complete Series
06/27 - The Jamie Foxx Show - The Complete Third Season
More TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, June 28

The Goldbergs - "Fonzie Scheme" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Murray is honored as one of Jenkintown’s top businessmen, his plaque is hung on a wall with all of the other honorees. And soon Beverly is dismayed to learn he has no discernable hobbies, and her attempts to help him find some backfire. Meanwhile, Barry creates a scheme stealing golf carts, but the situation goes awry and Erica comes to save the day.

Speechless - "D-A-T-E-- DATE?" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
JJ meets a new girl at school, an injured gymnast, who must learn to adapt to school life in a wheelchair. JJ shows her the ropes and soon forms a crush. Elsewhere, Ray saves face by claiming a picture of his own nipple on his phone to be a ”sext” from his ”girlfriend.” The plan makes him a hero among the boys at school, but backfires after Maya learns the whole story. Meanwhile, Jimmy teaches Dylan how to properly deal with stress.

Modern Family - "Blindsided" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The Dunphys and Pritchett’s are going head-to-head when Luke decides his best chance at getting into college is running for senior class president against Manny. The outcome of this election is even more important to Jay, Gloria and Claire, who prove to be dubious campaign managers. Now that Haley has started her own promotion business, Phil insists on introducing her to marketing guru Merv Schechter (played by Martin Short), who hasn’t seen a stress ball he can’t slap a logo on yet. Meanwhile, Cam finds out his star football player is moving away and makes a rash decision that is going to make home life a little cramped for Mitch and Cam.

American Housewife - "Surprise" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Oliver tells his parents that he’s so embarrassed by their modest house that he’d rather not have a birthday party at all. Katie decides to teach him a lesson by ambushing him with a surprise party at home with all his wealthy friends.

The Carmichael Show - "Shoot-Up-Able" (NBC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Jerrod is forced to tell a police officer what he witnessed during a tragic event.

The Carmichael Show - "Porn Addiction" (NBC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The family discusses porn addiction after Cynthia's reverend talks about the subject at a service.

Nightcap - "Always a Beard, Never a Bride" (Pop, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson arrives with his guru and inducts the staff into what seems like a cult; TV show host Michael Strahan disappoints Davis when he avoids talking about football. Staci and Penny fight over TV personality Ross Mathews.

Younger - "Post Truth" (TV Land, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Liza deals with the aftermath of coming clean with Kelsey, and Charles tests their synchronicity. Kelsey and Josh become unlikely allies.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 26)

Wednesday, June 28

  • Justin Bartha (The New Normal/Teachers ) - Watch Justin on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Hilary Duff (Younger/Lizzie McGuire) - Hilary visits Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. She also appears on a repeat of Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
  • Leighton Meester (Making History) - Leighton appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Eugene Mirman (Bob's Burgers) - Eugene is a guest on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
  • Carl Reiner (The Dick Van Dyke Show) - Carl appears on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
  • Lauren Lapkus (Are You There, Chelsea?/Clipped) - Lauren is a guest on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
  • Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) - Amy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. She also opens up about raising boys on People Now at 8:30am.
  • Busy Philipps (Vice Principals/Cougar Town) - Busy guest co-hosts LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
  • Carla Gugino (Spin City) - Carla appears on a repeat of Harry, so check your local listings.
  • Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly) - Billy is a guest on a repeat of Harry, so check your local listings.
  • Brandon T. Jackson (Deadbeat) - Brandon appears on a repeat of The Real, so check your local listings.
  • Debi Mazar (Younger/Entourage) and Molly Bernard (Younger) - Debi visits NBC's Today in the 9am hour. Debi and Molly are guests on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
  • Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) - Bronson talks about Battle of the Network Stars on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
  • Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) - Eric will be on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Steve Carell (The Office) - Steve is a guest on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am and in the 9am hour.
  • Molly Shannon (Kath & Kim/Cracking Up) - Molly talks about The Little Hours on Access Hollywood Live, so check your local listings.
  • Garcelle Beauvais (The Jamie Foxx Show) - Garcelle talks about Spider-man: Homecoming on Access Hollywood Live, so check your local listings.
  • Jane Lynch (Angel from Hell) - Jane is a guest on Access Hollywood Live, so check your local listings.