TCA Cable Winter Press Tour: Day 4; FOX Books Arrested Development Finale, Moves 'Malcolm' to Sundays

Friday, January 13, 2006

TCA Cable Winter Press Tour: Day 4; FOX Books Arrested Development Finale, Moves 'Malcolm' to Sundays

Day 4 of the TCA Cable Winter Press Tour didn't really fit any of our sitcom needs. Networks like Discovery Channel, TLC were there today. FX and HBO were also there. They both are creating new series that just doesn't fit our news. HBO will bring back The Sopranos on March 12 for a sixth season with 12 new episodes.
Some late developments from yesterday included GSN. They will bring back a revived version of the classic game show I've Got a Secret starting April 17. Oxygen had its own version a few years back. On Feb. 12 they will celebrate Valentine's Day in style with a marathon of Love Connection and The Newlywed Game from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And Lingo returns for a fifth season on GSN on April 3, airing weekdays at 7:30 p.m. Who can get enough of Lingo? Chuck Woolery is classic.

Fox has set Friday, Feb. 10, for a two-hour season finale episode of critically acclaimed Arrested Development. The 8-10 p.m. edition could be the final airing of the comedy from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine TV on Fox. Both ABC and Showtime have reportedly expressed interest in picking it up. The final four episodes of the season will feature guest stars like Judge Reinhold and Jason Bateman's sister--Justine Bateman.
Meanwhile, Fox will move Malcolm in the Middle from Fridays at 8:30 p.m. to Sundays at 7 p.m. Right now Fox was airing a rotating wheel of shows on Sundays at 7 p.m. Bernie Mac encores will take the Friday 8:30 p.m. slot starting January 20. Malcolm makes its moves back to Sundays on January 29. Malcolm is currently Fox's lowest rated show for the season with less than 3.5 million viewers. The Sunday slot should help, but not by much I think.

Last night ABC's Crumbs premiered with over 12 million viewers, making the hilarious sitcom the third highest sitcom debut of the season (behind only NBC's My Name is Earl and CBS's Out of Practice). If the show can get 11-13 million viewers a week, ABC will be very pleased as Thursdays has been like hell to them in the past. Dancing with the Stars 2 has picked Thursdays up and has moved ABC ahead of NBC in total viewers and households for Thursdays. It should be interesting come March what ABC will do on Thursdays, since Stars 2 will conclude by then. Crumbs will still have a handful of episodes left so it will be interesting if it can generate its own audience if the lead-in will be weaker.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, May 22

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Diet Crap" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Tensions rise when Georgie intrudes on Mandy’s new sales gig. Meanwhile, Audrey’s conflicted when Jim makes it a point not to coddle Connor.

Ghosts - "Sad Farnsby" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Sam accidentally creates a rift between Sam and Jay’s neighbors, the Farnsbys, Henry Farnsby moves into Woodstone B&B. Also, Isaac and Nigel battle over a belated wedding present.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 19)

Thursday, May 22

Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) - Catch Miley on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Chloe Fineman (Big Mouth/Search Party) - Chloe appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm. Featured host Vlad Duthiers sits down with Ronny on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Elizabeth Banks (30 Rock/Scrubs) and Amanda Peet (Brockmire/Togetherness/Bent) - Elizabeth and Amanda are guests on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10:15pm on Bravo.
Cynthia Nixon (And Just Like That.../Sex and the City) - Cynthia talks about ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Hugh Jackman (Human Resources) - Hugh chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Bill Bellamy (Mr. Box Office/Men, Women & Dogs/Cousin Skeeter) - Bill brings the laughs to the third annual cookout on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Finola Hughes (Blossom) - Finola dishes on General Hospital on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Jason Schwartzman (Blunt Talk/Mozart in the Jungle/Bored to Death) - Jason talks about Mountainhead on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Sterling K. Brown (Starved) - Sterling is telling Drew all about playing a secret service agent in the thrilling new show Paradise on a repaet of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Midori Francis (The Sex Lives of College Girls) - Midori is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.