Nick@Nite Renews Original Series 'Hi-Jinks' For Second Season; ABC Schedules Two Sitcoms for Monday Nights This Mid-Season

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Nick@Nite Renews Original Series 'Hi-Jinks' For Second Season; ABC Schedules Two Sitcoms for Monday Nights This Mid-Season

Nick@Nite has greenlit a second season of the hit hidden-camera series, Hi-Jinks. The next thirteen episodes of the series - in which parents play good-natured pranks on kids - will continue to be hosted by Leila Sbitani and will go into production immediately to air in 2006. The second season of Hi-Jinks will be produced by Stone & Company Entertainment.
In its first six weeks, it averaged a 0.5 among Nick@Nite's target audience of adults 18-49, up +25% from last year. The series delivered 532,000 A18-49 viewers, lifting +36% over last year, and it averaged over 2.2 million total viewers, up +36% versus year ago. The series has been watched by over 37 million people, including premiere and repeat telecasts. To read their full press release, click here.

Meanwhile, ABC has announced that their post-Monday Night Football schedule will be slightly different than what was planned back in May. Originally, it was The Bachelor at 8 p.m., then new sitcom Emily's Reasons Why Not at 9 p.m. and second season sitcom Jake in Progress at 9:30 p.m., followed by an all-new drama from mastermind J.J. Abrams titled What About Brian. Now instead, Wife Swap will remain at 8 p.m., the two sitcoms are unchanged, and The Bachelor will now be 10 p.m. instead. There is no word yet when the drama What About Brian will be scheduled. They did announce though that the new Monday line-up will begin Monday, January 9.
So why is Wife Swap sticking at 8 p.m.? Wife Swap has greatly improved the time period for ABC, boosting the its delivery by 2.8 million viewers (7.6 million vs. 4.8 million) and by 81% in Adults 18-49 (2.8/8 vs. 1.6/5). Wife Swap is ABC’s highest-rated program to be teamed with Monday Night Football in 4 years – since 2001.

I had a chance to watch the pilot of the 9 p.m. sitcom Emily's Reasons Why Not starring Heather Graham this past summer and it is pretty good. I'm not that big of a fan of one camera sitcoms, but this is good and will likely do well.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, January 29

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Dirty Hands and a Barbed-Wire Fence" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Georgie and Ruben are forced to get their hands dirty when Fred Fagenbacher (Matthew Letscher) tries to run them out of business. Meanwhile, Mandy grows suspicious of Georgie’s lies.

Ghosts - "Soul Custody" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Sam, Jay and the ghosts attempt to extricate Jay from his deal with Elias Woodstone (Matt Walsh), the devil. Also, Isaac helps Patience (Mary Holland) through a crisis of confidence and Pete and Alberta navigate the fallout from their kiss.

Animal Control - "Lost Dogs and Bar Flies" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Roman Park takes Frank's beloved dog away from him; in an effort to get his dog back, Frank and Shred find themselves on a late-night rescue mission; Patel's house sale spirals.

Going Dutch - "There's No PX Like Home" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
With the celebration of the U.S.'s 250th birthday coming up, the base's festivities are on the line when their supplies are held up by a petty and vengeful Davidson; Team Shiny must pull off a daring undercover mission.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 26)

Thursday, January 29

Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory/8 Simple Rules/Ladies Man) - Catch Kaley on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Kermit the Frog (The Muppets) - Kermit the Frog appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Patrick Dempsey (Fast Times) - Patrick is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. He also talks about Memory of a Killer on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Joel McHale (Animal Control/The Great Indoors/Community) - Joel stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He also talks about Animal Control on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
J.C. Currais (Just Roll with It) - J.C. is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
Kyle Richards (Down to Earth) - Andy Cohen interviews Kyle, Kathy Hilton and Paris Hilton on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10pm on Bravo.
Katherine LaNasa (Three Sisters) - Katherine appears on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm. She also talks about The Pitt on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners) - Michael talks about Shrinking on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Kevin James (The Crew/Kevin Can Wait/The King of Queens) - Kevin talks about Solo Mio on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Annie Potts (Young Sheldon/Over the Top/Love & War/Designing Women/Goodtime Girls) - Annie tells Sherri about her role in Fox's Best Medicine on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Will Forte (The Four Seasons/HouseBroken/MacGruber/The Last Man on Earth/The Cleveland Show) - Will tells Drew all about his awareness campaign for Huntington's disease on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.