A Whole Bunch of News Notes

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Today we have a whole bunch of little news notes for you. Wilmer Valderrama, one of the stars of the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, has signed on to play the role of Ponch on the big screen adaptation of CHiPs. CHiPs will be of course be based on the TV series from the '70s starring Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox. Estrada played the role of Ponch. Warner Bros. Pictures will be developing the movie being written by the writer from the ABC sitcom George Lopez. This now brings the question--will the original series be in the works for a DVD release the time the movie comes? I believe MGM distributed the show, so maybe they have the rights to release it? CHiPs is no longer on cable here in the U.S., but for many years it was on the Turner owned stations (TBS, TNT).
The Hogan Family and Family Ties were classic '80s sitcoms. Both had a Bateman family member in the cast. Jason Bateman in The Hogan Family and Justine Bateman in Family Ties. Now the siblings will get together on Jason Bateman's show Arrested Development. Justine Bateman will guest star on the January 9 episode of the acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development. It'll be the last episode to air for a while as Fox has not decided when to air the remaining episodes after January 9. The acclaimed sitcom is not likely to return to Fox after this season due to poor ratings.
Don't expect former Friends star David Schwimmer to appear on Joey anytime soon (if the show even comes back after December), as Schwimmer will be making his Broadway debut May 7, with previews beginning in April. The show is a revival of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

ABC has announced the latest batch of stars for Dancing with the Stars. Unfortunately we don't have a former sitcom star in the bunch but they do have George Hamilton and Lisa Rinna who are in the television business. Other stars include Academy Award winning actress Tatum O'Neal (who has guest starred on the sitcom 8 Simple Rules before), former NFL star Jerry Rice, rapper Romeo, and ESPN broadcaster Kenny Mayne. Stars premieres Thursday, January 5 with a two-hour premiere on ABC.
CBS has announced that it will move the premiere of its mid-season drama Love Monkey from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17 to avoid the second hour of the American Idol season premiere. Monkey will air at 9 p.m. in the following weeks to come.

Finally, you have asked, now I will answer--TV Land January and Nick@Nite January line-ups will be coming out soon. We should be releasing February by now, but TV Land has been delaying lately in schedules.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Monday, November 29

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Family Business" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Tina struggles to keep up with her job at Calvin’s auto shop, due to her burgeoning baking business, he faces a tough decision: should he fire his own wife? Also, Malcolm delays breaking up with a girlfriend when her son becomes an unexpected asset to his youth baseball team.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Light Duty" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Abishola and Kemi take a directionless Christina to see a Yoruba priest, where she learns that her toxic relationship with her mother may be stifling her growth. Also, Bob deals with the fallout of promoting Kofo over Goodwin when Goodwin has a panic attack at work.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 29)

Monday, November 29

Kathy Griffin (Suddenly Susan) - Watch Kathy on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Alan Ruck (Spin City/Muscle/Going Places) - Alan appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Tracy Morgan (The Last O.G./30 Rock/The Tracy Morgan Show) - Tracy is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Rami Malek (The War at Home) - Rami appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Vanessa Lachey (Truth Be Told/Dads) - Vanessa will be on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT. NBC's Today has Make Ahead Monday with Vanessa in the 9am hour.
Harry Hamlin (Movie Stars) - Harry is a guest on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Leah Remini (Kevin Can Wait/The Exes/Family Tools/The King of Queens/Fired Up) - Leah guest co-hosts The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Jennifer Tilly (Out of Practice) - Jennifer appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Kathryn Hahn (Central Park/Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents) - Kathryn is a guest on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Jane Levy (Suburgatory) - Jane will be on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
AnnaLynne McCord (Let's Get Physical) - Anan discusses her childhood sexual abuse, trauma and dissociative identity disorder diagnosis on a repeat of The Doctors, so check your local listings.
Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Kevin talks about True Story on CBS This Morning sometime between 7-9am.
Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time/Happily Divorced/9 to 5) - Rita talks about West Side Story on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Julie Bowen (Modern Family/Ed) - NBC's Today catches up with Julie in the 9am hour.
Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) - Tituss talks about NBC's Annie Live! in the 9am hour.
Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke talks about Castle for Christmas in the 10am hour.
Kim Fields (The Upshaws/Living Single/The Facts of Life/Baby, I'm Back) - Kim talks about VH1's Adventures in Christmasing on Access Live, so check your local listings.
Kyle Richards (Down to Earth) - Kyle is a guest on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.