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More on Golden Girls' 20th Anniversary Marathon on Lifetime; Extra Exposure for Hot Properties

We first brought you news back in early October that Lifetime was planning a Golden Girls marathon on Veteran's Day (Nov. 11). Now Lifetime has officially announced it! Twenty years -- and still laughing! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the The Golden Girls, one of television's most beloved and enduring sitcoms, Lifetime Television is throwing a gala on-air, on-line, wireless party beginning Friday, November 11 from 12noon-11PM (ET/PT) showcasing the series' 20 greatest episodes, followed by an encore presentation of The Golden Girls Reunion -- the network's highest-rated special ever. We posted the schedule back in early October, so see our archives. Lifetime's celebration of The Golden Girls, where more than 16 million people watch the series on Lifetime in any given week -- and which boasted Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry as a writer for three seasons --includes a trivia game at http://www.lifetimetv.com along with innovative wireless features that fans can download onto their cell phones, such as:

-- Ring tones -- The theme song, "Thank You For Being a Friend," available as a ring tone
-- Voice tones -- Funny lines from each of the Girls available as both ring tones and ring backs
-- Original voicemail greetings -- Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan have recorded special greetings fans can send as gifts, such as an Arthur 'Happy Birthday' message
-- Graphics -- The cast of The Golden Girls and series logo accessible as cell phone wallpaper

Additionally, during The Golden Girls Reunion, fans will have the opportunity to text in their "shout out" which will be scrolled on screen throughout the program. As well, comedians Mo Rocca and Judy Gold, along with Michael D. Craig, author of Thank You for Being a Friend: A Golden Girls Trivia Boo, host an on-air roundtable discussion aired as interstitials throughout the day. These interstitials feature the most 'obsessed' "Golden Girl" real life fans expressing their love for this classic sitcom by singing the theme song, showing off their
memorabilia and even doing a dance inspired by the Girls.

In other news, ABC will be trying the new sitcom Hot Properties on a special night and time to try to lure more of an audience to this well written sitcom. The special night and time will be on Tuesday, November 15 at 8:30 p.m. with an all-new episode, pre-empting the sitcom Rodney for the night. This will be a one week showing only, but it could be a test for how Hot Properties performs there (with the best new series Commander in Chief following it) . If it does well, I'm sure they'd move it there and bump Rodney to another night or completely. Hot Properties is coming off a series high in the ratings this past Friday, but with just a 4.4 rating. Hot Properties will still air on Friday at 9:30 p.m. (its regular night & time) the week it will have a special episode on a special night and time. In other sitcom news, NBC has ordered two more episodes of My Name is Earl, bringing the already renewed new sitcom to 24 episodes.