Wednesday, February 01, 2006

ABC Spring Line-Up; Spears to Guest Star on NBC's 'Will & Grace'

Late last week ABC announced that mid-season sitcom Sons & Daughters will air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. for six weeks starting March 7. In addition to that, ABC announced some more changes for this spring. First up among the new shows is the unscripted series The Miracle Workers, which debuts at 10 p.m. ET Monday, March 6, a week after The Bachelor: Paris concludes its season. The series follows a team of doctors and nurses who will help people overcome overwhelming medical issues. 4 episodes will air, then starting Monday, April 3, a new drama from J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) titled What About Brian will take over that 10 p.m. slot. What About Brian will get a special preview premiere following an all-new Desperate Housewives on Sunday, April 2 at 10 p.m. Brian stars Barry Watson as a single guy in his 30s whose friends are all married or about to be. Complicating matters, he has a massive crush on his best friend's (Matthew Davis) fiancee (Sarah Lancaster). Sticking to Mondays, ABC announced that Supernanny will return from hiatus and air Mondays at 9 p.m. starting Monday, March 6 (the same night as the premiere of The Miracle Workers).
Moving on to Thursdays, Dancing with the Stars 2 concludes its season on Thursdays on February 23. ABC has not yet announced what will air on Thursday, March 2 and Thursday, March 9, but on March 16 they will premiere another show--the two-hour debut of American Inventor, a series executive produced by American Idol's Simon Cowell. The show will give would-be Edisons a chance to show off their ideas to viewers and a panel of judges, with the winner getting a chance to bring his or her invention to consumers. The show will then move to its regular time period of 9 p.m. starting March 23. So what will air at 8 p.m. then on Thursdays? Well, for four weeks I know what will air there. ABC has made 4 very special episodes of blockbuster hit Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The series of specials featuring the show's team helping disaster victims of Hurricane Katrina will debut in the 8 p.m. hour.
ABC's final midseason entry is The Evidence, a crime procedural from ER executive producer John Wells that debuts at 10 p.m. Wednesday, March 22 (Invasion will go on hiatus and return in late April to finish its season). The show follows two San Francisco detectives (Orlando Jones and Rob Estes) who reconstruct crimes based on the evidence collected at the scene.
Finally, ABC confirmed that Commander in Chief will return on Tuesday, April 18 after a six week hiatus. There are reports that only 18 episodes were made this season due to production issues. So about three episodes or so will air after it returns from hiatus.

So after all this, still there are some questions that need to be answered. The biggest one is Alias. I think we will see it either on Fridays or maybe Thursdays at 8 p.m. after the series of specials of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition finishes. Fridays is a big question mark right now. The high rated Dancing with the Stars: The Results will conclude in late February. Maybe after that they will have Hope & Faith and Less Than Perfect return, followed by Alias at 9 p.m. I am not sure how many episodes of In Justice would have aired by then, but it should be close to the end. Thursday's highest rated sitcom Crumbs is also missing, but I think they will finish the season by Thursday, March 16. After February, eight episodes would have aired. And on Thursday, March 2 and March 9 ABC has not announced what will air, but they can double up on Crumbs those two weeks at 9 p.m. and have like 12 episodes aired. A lot of questions and possibilities. I think Regis Philbin's This Is Your Life series of specials will probably be for May sweeps. And it doesn't look like Jake in Progress will return for the season. Maybe in the summer.

Pop star Britney Spears will join the long list of high-profile guest stars on NBC's Will & Grace this April. Spears will play a new, conservative Christian sidekick on Jack's (Sean Hayes) talk show in an episode scheduled for April. Spears and the cast are set to tape the episode later this month. This marks Britney's second sitcom guest appearance. She appeared as herself in 1999 on an episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, May 31

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 26)

Friday, May 30

  • Nathan Fielder (The Rehearsal/The Curse) - Watch Nathan on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Paula Poundstone (Home Movies) - Paula performs stand-up comedy on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Nathan Lane (Mid-Century Modern/Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) - Nathan appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Ralph Macchio (Eight Is Enough) - Ralph swings by for a chat about Karate Kid: Legends on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) - Justina chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. She also talks about Broadway's Real Women Have Curves: The Musical on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Yara Shahidi (grown-ish/black-ish) - Yara is telling Drew about the new venture she's taking on, where she's currently at with dating and more on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Don Darryl Rivera (Only Murders in the Building) - Don talks about Broadway's Aladdin on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

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