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TV Land and Nick@Nite April Highlights; ABC Notes; Veteran 'Patty Duke Show' Star Passes Away

TV Land and Nick@Nite has announced their April 2006 line-ups. Nick@Nite will debut the sitcom Mad About You on April 10, with a four day event from April 10-13, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. each night. Then the show will air seven days a week at 11:30 p.m., right after The Cosby Show. Katey Sagal will host The Funniest Mom in America Search 2, like I stated yesterday. Spend April Fool's Day with Hi-Jinks for a marathon and then the season two finale on April 4. All the details for NAN April are here.
As for TV Land, they will not do much except air new episodes of the original series Living in TV Land and a Western Weekend 48-hour marathon of Gunsmoke and Bonanza the weekend of April 22-23. All the details for TVL April are here.

ABC has passed us along some more scheduling notes. Sitcom Crumbs again will be pre-empted this Thursday at 9:30 p.m. with an encore of part two of the Super Bowl episode of Grey's Anatomy. Last week part one was on par with recent Crumbs airings in total viewers and slightly better in adults 18-49. I think ABC is trying to build as much of an audience as they can for Grey's Anatomy. This week Grey's Anatomy built on Desperate Housewives for the first time ever. Hopefully Crumbs returns February 23 as planned, because that is the last time ABC has it scheduled for now. Hopefully we see the remaining episodes at some point and I think the show is good enough for a full season next season.
Other notes include some Friday news. ABC announced starting Friday, March 3, AFV will air from 8 to 9 p.m. and it will also air in its regular Sunday at 7 p.m. slot. This puts more of a question mark on when sitcom Hope & Faith will return. Also, Less Than Perfect as well. The March 2 Thursday slot will be a movie. March 9 will probably be a movie, too, then starting the 16th ABC's new Thursdays will start with American Inventor. So, Alias is still MIA.

Jean Byron, an actress who played Patty Duke's mother in the 1960s television series and appeared in dozens of TV shows over three decades, has died.

Byron, who was born Imogene Burkhart in Paducah, Ky., but was mostly known by her stage name through a long career that included movies, died Friday at a Mobile-area hospital from an infection following hip replacement surgery, family members said. She had moved to Mobile in the late 1980s to be closer to her family. Byron had more than 80 credits in film and television over a long career, but was likely best remembered for her role as the mother, Natalie Lane, on The Patty Duke Show.

She appeared on many TV series as a guest over the years including The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Dobie Gillis, Batman, Maude, and Mannix. Byron's final acting appearance was the "Patty Duke Show Reunion" movie in 1999. Ms. Byron was 80 years old.
Special thanks to "Frank" for telling us about this!