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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Tuesday, December 9

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 8)

Tuesday, December 9

Regina Hall (Black Monday/Grandfathered/Married/Second Generation Wayans) - Catch Regina on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Lily Collins (Emily in Paris) - Lily appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Laura Dern (F Is for Family/Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS. She also talks about Is This Thing On? on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Amy Sedaris (No Activity/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt/Strangers with Candy) - Amy appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Tony Rock (Living Biblically/Mann & Wife/All of Us) - Tony is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
Matt Rogers (No Good Deed/I Love That for You) - Andy Cohen interviews Matt on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10pm on Bravo. He also talks about Christmas in December on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Emily in Paris) - Philippine and Emily in Paris creator and executive producer Darren Star are guests on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Mila Kunis (Family Guy/That '70s Show) - Mila stops by for a chat about Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Taran Killam (Stumble/Single Parents) - Taran talks about ABC's High Potential on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Mark Hamill (The Texas Wheelers) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) - Mark and Tom talk about The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kery talks about Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Toni Collette (United States of Tara) - Toni talks about Goodbye June on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Zachary Levi (Less Than Perfect/Telenovela) - Zachary tells Sherri about his new film Not Without Hope on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Minnie Driver (Emily in Paris/Speechless/About a Boy) - Minnie plays behind-the-scenes and shares moments from her biggest projects like Good Will Hunting. Plus, she tells Drew about joining the cast of Emily in Paris on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/One Day at a Time) - Valerie, Amirah Kassem, Mikel Welch are facing off against Drew in the annual quirky Christmas tree competition on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Marlo Thomas (That Girl) - Marlo tells Drew about her amazing work with St. Jude's Children's Hospital on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.