ABC Upfront 2006-07; Nick@Nite Summer Marathons, TV Land Schedule Change

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

ABC Upfront 2006-07; Nick@Nite Summer Marathons, TV Land Schedule Change

Your first look at ABC's official line-up!

ABC 2006-07

Sundays
7:00PM America's Funniest Home Videos
8:00PM Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00PM Desperate Housewives
10:00PM Brothers & Sisters (NEW)

Mondays
8:00PM Wife Swap
9:00PM The Bachelor / Supernanny (midseason)
10:00PM What About Brian

Tuesdays
8:00PM Dancing with the Stars / Set for the Rest of Your Life
9:00PM Let's Rob... (NEW)
9:30PM Help Me Help You (NEW)
10:00PM Boston Legal

Wednesdays
8:00PM Dancing with the Stars: The Results / George Lopez & According to Jim
9:00PM Lost
10:00PM The Nine (NEW)

Thursdays
8:00PM Big Day (NEW)
8:30PM Notes from the Underbelly (NEW)
9:00PM Grey's Anatomy
10:00PM Six Degrees (NEW)

Fridays
8:00PM Betty The Ugly (NEW)
9:00PM Men in Trees (NEW)
10:00PM 20/20

Saturdays
8:00PM ABC Saturday Night College Football

Mid-Season:

Additionally to Supernanny & Set for Your Life, ABC will add the following to mid-season: new sitcom In Case of Emergency; new dramas Day Break, Traveler; and new reality entries Just For Laughs, Greg Behrendt's Wake-Up Call. ABC will air returning sitcoms George Lopez & According to Jim after the first installment of Dancing with the Stars' season is over in December or January.
Lost is expected to air in two big chunks without repeats. So, maybe one new drama for January will air for 6 weeks or so in its time-slot until it returns (as of now, Day Break is scheduled).
Discuss the ABC line-up here.

For the third year in a row, I had a pleasure to watch ABC's upfront presentation live today from 4-6pm ET. It was interesting and the clips for most of the shows look promising. The sitcoms all look smart and well written (all single camera). The dramas look like they can become big hits, especially Six Degrees, Brothers & Sisters and The Nine. William Shatner was on hand mocking last year's Marc Cherry dance at the upfront. Then all the men stars of ABC from Matthew Fox, Tom Bergeron, Jim Belushi and more came by. Shatner introduced the comedies portion of ABC's roster. Then Jimmy Kimmel came by and was hilarious. He introduced the alternative series ABC has. There was a bet between Kimmel and ABC head Steve McPherson on which Dancing with the Star would be booted first--Kenny Mayne or Master P? McPherson lost, so he had to do a dance with Edyta (professional dancer) live on stage. Then the cast of Grey's Anatomy introduced the dramas portion of ABC's roster. And finally the six ladies of Desperate Housewives closed the presentation.
Some answers to some questions: Yes, Commander in Chief is canceled, but ABC could bring back the show in two-hour movie format with the entire cast. Invasion is canceled, and ABC said they loved the show so much and it is too bad it never caught on in the ratings. The CW could still pick it up, so fans of the show still have some life. And mid-season drama What About Brian will return next fall. The show is from J.J. Abrams, who will have three shows on the fall lineup for ABC, but the series didn't do too well in the ratings (it did grow in each outing its last three airings). Though, a right lead-in was not provided. In the fall The Bachelor will be the lead-in, so that will help a bit. Reality show American Inventor will be back sometime next season.

Nick@Nite is adding NewsRadio and A Different World to its line-up in July. Both will not get Nick@Nite-type launch marathons, because they will be incorporated right into their annual summer marathons. NewsRadio will air Monday nights from 2-6am and A Different World will air Wednesdays from 10pm-2am. They also will get regular airings on weekends, Different at 10 p.m. and NewsRadio at 4am (ouch). The rest of the summer marathon line-up can be found here and details of reality original series Hi-Jinks' second season is there, too.
Meanwhile, sister station TV Land has not yet announced its July line-up (only change expected is 227 joining the line-up), but they made some huge schedule changes that will start this coming Monday (May 22)! The weekday line-up from 8am-2pm is completely different, as is the evening 5-8pm line-up, and some other slots later in the night. The Munsters & Green Acres get the best out of these changes, as both will have three airings. This schedule will be in effect in June too, but Benson will be the only change on June 5 as it joins the line-up at 11 p.m. You can view ALL the May 22 schedule changes by clicking here.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Friday, December 6

Happy's Place - "Ho-Ho Howey" (NBC, 9:15PM ET/PT)
When the tavern's health insurance is threatened to be canceled, Gabby has a plan; she'll persuade her friend Danny to host his company party at Happy's, but the catch is everyone must call Bobbie "Gabby" and Gabby "Bobbie."

Lopez vs Lopez - "Lopez vs Santa" (NBC, 9:45PM ET/PT)
While Mayan tries to track down the perfect Christmas gift for Chance, George has to settle a feud with Santa that stretches back to George's childhood; Quinten tries to shake Rosie out of her holiday blues.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "We Were Beggars, Now We Are Choosers" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Abishola gives her previous suitor a second chance, Uncle Tunde goes behind Auntie Olu's back to warn Bob about the other man who's courting his niece.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Ice Cream for Breakfast" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Bob must gain the confidence to fight for Abishola when she goes on another date with Chukwuemeka; Uncle Tunde finds an unlikely friend in Dottie in the aftermath of his fight with Auntie Olu.

Children Ruin Everything - "Chores" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Astrid and James question the effectiveness of their own parenting when they meet one of Felix's friends with impeccable manners; Astrid and James worry about the types of adults their kids will become.

Children Ruin Everything - "Feelings" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT)
James, feeling left out when Ennis makes a new friend, inserts himself in Ennis' dodgeball tournament; Astrid struggles to get Viv to control her emotions, especially when frustrations at work make it hard to lead by example.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 2)

Friday, December 6

Ralph Macchio (Eight Is Enough) - Watch Ralph on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Ben Stiller (Arrested Development) - Ben is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time/Happily Divorced/9 to 5) - Rita appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Emily Osment (Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage/Young Sheldon/Young & Hungry/Hannah Montana), Tien Tran (How I Met Your Father) and Vinny Thomas (Platonic) - Emily, Tien and Vinny are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Hilary Swank (Camp Wilder) - NBC's Today catches up with Hilary in the 10am hour.
The Cast of Sex Lives of College Girls - The Sex Lives of College Girls creator Mindy Kaling is joining Drew on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Then, the case of the show, Pauline Chalamet, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Amrit Kaur, Mia Rodgers and Gracie Lawrence are all chatting about the latest season of the hit show.
Ryan Destiny (grown-ish) and Brian Tyree Henry (HouseBroken/Atlanta) - Ryan and Brian talk about their new film The Fire Inside on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Steve Howey (Reba) - Steve talks about NBC's Happy Place on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - Krysten discusses her film Sonic 3 on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Melissa Joan Hart (Baby Daddy/Sabrina the Teenage Witch/Clarissa Explains It All) - Melissa is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.