SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

TCA Tour Cable: Day 2; CBS Swaps Two Fall Monday Comedies Time-Slots

HDnet made its official announcement today for Dan Rather coming to the channel for his own news show. Read the official press release here.
In addition to ABC Family, sister network Disney Channel also went yesterday and they made some announcements. The channel filmed The Cheetah Girls 2, setting the tweener girl's film in Barcelona. Raven-Symone will executive produce. Disney Channel ordered a second season of its preschooler series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. A computer-generated animation series for preschoolers, Handpy Manny, will debut Sept. 16. Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show) will voice the title character in the multicultural series. Short-form series Johnny and the Sprites, featuring Tony Award-winning puppeteer John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), will be expanded to a half-hour series, debuting in the “Playhouse Disney” block early next year. A new action/adventure/comedy series, Yin Yang Yo!, will take over Toon Disney all through Labor Day before settling into its weeknight slot during the “Jetix” block on the channel. The stars are two "hyperkinetic tween rabbits" who battle evil. The series is available for preview now on the Jetix Web site. Production has begun on a new animated comedy series, Phineas and Ferb. The title characters are stepbrothers who entertain themselves by building things like a backyard roller coaster.
Women’s network WE tv has added two original shows to its roster. The half-hour series Unwrapping Macy’s, which will give viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the workings of Macy’s department store, premieres Sept. 30. And in November, the network will debut the one-hour documentary special Women at War: Coming Home, a look at four female soldiers who served in Iraq.
Starz announced two original documentaries: Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, interviewing filmmakers and fans of that controversial movie segment; and Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film.
GSN, the network for games, and Scott Sternberg Productions are bringing the highly-rated international show, That's The Question, to American audiences in the fall with 20 episodes of the specially-produced U.S. version of the fast-paced word game featuring host Bob Goen.
The N announced the launch date for its new acquisition Dawson's Creek. It launches with a night marathon from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Aug. 14 and then will air every night at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. starting the next night. Read the press release here.

CBS is flipping its previously announced Monday time periods for the freshman comedy The Class and sophomore comedy How I Met Your Mother.
The Class will now lead off CBS's Monday comedy block (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET/PT) while How I Met Your Mother will return for its second season in its current Monday (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) time period. More details, including when this will launch will most likely revealed when CBS is up at the TCA tour.