A&E and CNN Tributes to Don Knotts; Nick@Nite Has a Record February; Warner Home Video 'TV Favorites' DVD Update

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

A&E and CNN Tributes to Don Knotts; Nick@Nite Has a Record February; Warner Home Video 'TV Favorites' DVD Update

A&E will be re-airing their Biography on Don Knotts today at 2 p.m. A profile of comic actor Don Knotts, whose roles have ranged from lovable sidekick Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show to swinging landlord Ralph Furley in Three's Company. Included are comments from John Ritter, Andy Griffith, Steve Allen and TV Guide critic Matt Roush.
Meanwhile, Ron Howard and Andy Griffith will be on CNN's Larry King Live tonight at 9 p.m. (repeats at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. if you miss it). It will be a CNN exclusive. Andy Griffith and Ron Howard say goodbye to Don Knotts in their first interview together since his death. The entire hour will be devoted to him, so you might want to keep this one for your archives.

For February 2006, Nick@Nite scored its highest-rated and most-watched February in the network's 20-year history among its target audience of Adults 18-49. Bolstered by the network's roster of modern hit sitcoms such as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Roseanne, the network finished the month with double-digit gains in rating and delivery over last year, and was the Number One network in all of basic cable among A18-49, W18-49, A18-34, W18-34 and
W25-54 in total programming day. For full details on this click here.

Today Warner Home Video officially announced the third wave of the "TV Favorites" DVD series. Wave 1 was back in September 2005, Wave 2 was released Tuesday and Wave 3 will be on June 27, as we have said many times before. Wave 3 will consist of sitcoms Step by Step and the episodes YOU helped choose for Alice. TVShowsonDVD.com officially announced the sets for June 27 today. For the Alice cover art and details (we already knew the episodes, since YOU helped choose them), click here. For Step by Step's episode info and details click here. David Lambert brings up a good question in that latter article. He wonders what happened to Perfect Strangers? If you all recall, YOU helped WHV pick the episodes for that set, too. I was told a few weeks back that the set will not be out for this Wave, unfortunately. Then later YOU helped them pick episodes for Full House. After Perfect Strangers was "pushed back," they decided to go with Full House on June 27. And now recently, they decided against that, too. So, for Wave 3 on June 27 we will only get Alice and Step by Step. So when can we expect the TV Favorites for Perfect Strangers, Full House and the already pushed back Family Matters? WHV tells me, "...research and analysis was done. Unfortunately, neither Full House nor Perfect Strangers will be released this year as a TV Favorites release due to financial constraints." I'm sure that also means no for Family Matters, too. I don't think we will see any more TV Favorites for the remainder of the year. But I hope we get those in early 2007, since we all helped choose the episodes.
Let's hope we get season sets soon then for Perfect Strangers and Family Matters. As for Full House, the fans should not worry because they told me some good news for fans of that show: "Please do remember, though, that we are continuing to release full season sets of Full House. Season 3 is set to release in early April of this year and Season 4 will follow in the 3rd quarter."
If we have any further updates on WHV, we will let you know ASAP. We just had to hold back the news on June 27 as there was a lot of "flux." But now it is all known.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, December 7

The Conners - "The Dog Days of Christmas" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The holidays are approaching and Dan meets his mother-in-law for the first time. Elsewhere, Darlene helps Becky with a parenting problem.

The Golbergs - "Worst Grinch Ever" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Sleigh bells are ringing! When Erica buys a festive baby toy, Beverly goes full on Grinch in an attempt to steal Christmas. Meanwhile, Adam discovers some surprising information about Brea, and the JTP host their first holiday party.

Abbott Elementary - "Holiday Hookah" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
On the last day of school before winter break, Janine is convinced by her friend to go to a popular Hookah Club where she runs into unexpected colleagues. Elsewhere, Jacob crashes Barbara and Melissa’s traditional holiday dinner and in the process begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas.

Home Economics - "Santa Suit Rental, $25 Per Day" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
The most wonderful time of the year brings some unforeseen financial troubles for one member of the Hayworth family. With the help of the entire brood and some holiday magic, the Hayworths are reminded that there’s nothing better than being home for the holidays.

Tyler Perry's House of Payne - "Mr. Bills" (BET, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Curtis throws a fit about all the money he and Ella are spending, he implements drastic cost-cutting measures; things backfire when Ella follows his direction and begins cutting back on the things he enjoys.

Tyler Perry's Assisted Living - "Fight the Power" (BET, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Phillip has been very responsible and begs to drive Jeremy's new car; Jeremy gives him the opportunity to drive, Philip wrecks Jeremy's new car after a night out with his friends.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 5)

Wednesday, December 7

Will Ferrell (The Office/The Oblongs) - Watch Will on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Lil Rel Howery (Rel/The Carmichael Show) - Lil Rel appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Kumail Nanjiani (Bless the Harts/Silicon Valley) - Kumail is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Lisa Ann Walter (Abbott Elementary/Emeril/Life's Work/My Wildest Dreams) - Lisa will be on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Zoey Deutch (The Suite Life on Deck) - Zoey gives details on the new movie Something from Tiffany's on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project/The Office) - Mindy dishes on how she's gearing up for the holidays with her two young children, her new book studio and more on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Don Cheadle (The Wonder Years/Black Monday/House of Lies/The Golden Palace) - Don will be on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
Whoopi Goldberg (Whoopi/Bagdad Cafe) - Whoopi sits down with Sherri to discuss her new holiday movie, A New Orleans Noel, book, Two Old Broads and her LEGENDARY Christmas sweater line on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Judy Greer (Reboot/Kidding/Married/Mad Love/Miss Guided) - Judy talks about Reboot on E! News on E! at 11:30pm.
Liza Lapira (9JKL/Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life/Super Fun Night/Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23/Traffic Light) - Liza is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.