SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Breaking News: 'Hogan Family' Removed from ABC Family Channel; TV One Acquires Tons of Sitcoms Including 'Cooper', 'Living Single'

Yesterday various online TV listings had switched back to the line-up that ABC Family had before Hogan Family joined (which joined on April 3). After just one week, ABC Family is going back to that line-up--10:30am Gilmore Girls; 11:30am Step by Step; and 12-1pm Full House. So, Hogan Family has been removed from the schedule. Bad ratings is the issue but I think it was more like poor planning. We only got to see 10 episodes (ironically the same amount that we see from shows on AOL's In2TV every month) from the middle of the third season. The show was placed at 12 noon and 12:30 p.m. They should have placed it at 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. or just 10:30 a.m. to start off with to see how it would do. By airing it at 12 and 12:30, they had to move one of their highest rated sitcoms back an hour and then ABC Family would probably have to compare Hogan Family to the previous timeslot rating and then kicking off their afternoon line-up. That was asking too much from a sitcom that has not been aired in years. I am so pissed off that they removed the show totally. I think they should have moved it to 10:30 a.m. They would have really nothing to lose there airing out of The 700 Club. This is the third sitcom this year that got an early boot from a cable channel. Family Ties on Hallmark Channel and Evening Shade on CMT both also got an early boot, but not as fast as The Hogan Family. Those got the boot after two weeks. Historically, those shows have never done well in the ratings, so again I blame poor scheduling. What moron would schedule Evening Shade at 11 PM? The show would work only in the mornings. And Family Ties was also poorly scheduled by Hallmark. It's like they do no research. The shows have never done well and yet they seem to expect a whole lot from these shows. They should start slowly by airing them in a morning slot. They were asking way too much from The Hogan Family. Sure the ratings prove it did bad but the scheduling was even worse.
I got an official statement from ABC Family today and they told me to let you all know that they WILL bring the show back at a later date, rest assured. They confirmed that the ratings were not too good and they will try to find a better timeslot that will best suit the show. Let's hope they read my blog today and air it at 10:30 a.m. because I think that might be the best shot.
I'm just happy that we can expect this sitcom to appear on AOL's In2TV sometime this year.

TV One has struck a HUGE multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Television. First off, they have renewed Martin and Roc. Both shows are performing well back-to-back at 11 p.m. TV One has acquired rights from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution to air popular movies and series, including All of Us, Eve, and Living Single. The acquisition of current UPN sitcoms All of Us and Eve marks the first time the new network for African American adults has acquired the off-network rights to sitcoms currently airing on a broadcast network. As part of the deal, TV One will also acquire the rights to air recent episodes of Showtime at the Apollo, including new episodes two weeks after their syndication debut.
The network will be able to air episodes of All of Us and Eve in primetime if the new UPN/WB merged network, The CW, does not pick up the two series as part of its new lineup. TV One will have weekend distribution rights if the shows are picked up by the new broadcast network.
Additional series to which TV One is acquiring rights under the deal include sitcoms For Your Love, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, The Parent 'Hood, Wanda at Large, All About the Andersons, Fastlane and the Spenser: For Hire spin-off series A Man Called Hawk.
Under the deal, TV One's rights to air All of Us and Eve begin in fall 2006, and the rights to air Living Single begin in fall 2008.
All of the other series can begin airing at anytime, so we will let you know when they decide to air them. The Parent 'Hood is currently on TBS and licensed to them through fall 2007, so that won't start on TV One probably until then. Though, the show will be leaving TBS come June (probably a hiatus). We will have more on TBS later this week.
I am calling this week "TV Schedules Week" as I have tons and tons of TV programming news for you (and some of it is just bizzare!). So you will want to check in everyday this week for the best coverage of TV scheduling. Isn't TV scheduling just so fascinating?