SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

ABC Family Adds 'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch' and 'Everwood' in October; NBC Flip-Flops New Sitcom Slots; 3 CW Shows on MSN.com

We gave you ABC Family's September line-up and now ABC Family has released its October line-up to us. It starts October 2 and has two new shows joining the regular schedule line-up. The '90s sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch will join the line-up and air weekdays at 4:00 & 4:30 p.m. and weekends at 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. starting October 2. Also, joining the line-up is the recently canceled WB drama Everwood, airing weekdays at 6 p.m. also starting October 2. There are some other minor moves as well to the weekday line-up, with Boy Meets World shifting to the 1 p.m. hour replacing Family Matters, which will still air in the 7 a.m. hour, and Grounded for Life moving up to the 2 p.m. hour now that Sabrina has taken 4 p.m. 7th Heaven will move to 5 p.m. and Gilmore Girls will move to 7 p.m., in addition its 11 a.m. slot is still intact. Weekend mornings will also be changed a bit. With Family Matters & Step by Step airing from 7 to 9 a.m. replacing The Dukes of Hazzard, which is now totally gone. Boy Meets World moves up to the 11 a.m. hour replacing Grounded for Life, while Sabrina takes Boy's old 10 a.m. hour.
ABC Family will also still have its 13 Days of Halloween stunt with movies and specials. Movies like Stephen King's It, Scooby Doo 2 and The Sixth Sense will air and specials like a marathon of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. For the FULL details on the changes and Halloween stunts, click here.

NBC is swapping time periods on Wednesday nights for its two new Fall comedies - 30 Rock and Twenty Good Years - with 30 Rock now slotted to air one-half-hour earlier from 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) while Twenty Good Years will be telecast from 8:30-9 p.m. (ET). In addition, the series premieres of both Twenty Good Years and 30 Rock are now scheduled for Wednesday, October 11.
I guess NBC realized that Twenty Good Years isn't going to do too good, while 30 Rock might be a hit. Most critics have already bashed Twenty Good Years (saying Jeffrey Tambor went from the best comedy to the worst in one season) and praised 30 Rock. I think Knights of Prosperity on ABC and 30 Rock on NBC are the best new sitcoms of the season. Both critics and viewers will probably agree.

The CW has become the latest network to preview its fall shows online. The network will stream the premiere episodes of Everybody Hates Chris, Veronica Mars and Runaway on Microsoft's MSN for free the week before each show premieres.
The three CW shows that will stream on MSN are produced by three different studios - Everybody Hates Chris, which will stream on MSN beginning Sept. 24, is from CBS-Paramount, new drama Runaway, which will stream beginning Sept. 25, from Sony Pictures and Veronica Mars, which will stream beginning Sept. 26, from Warner Bros.

i Network Adds 'Growing Pains', 'The Monkees', & 'Partridge Family'; ABC Fillers

The i Network has made a change to their schedule for the end of September! We gave you the full details on their September line-up, and now they have made one change to the weekday line-up...and it is GREAT change. The Sept. 23 Mama's Family Mama-thon is now off the schedule (not a big deal since we already had a Mama-thon in August), but that is good because that night will be the launch marathon for the '80s sitcom Growing Pains! You get to catch six great episodes that night and that's not all...it will be joining the line-up, too! Starting Monday, September 25, you can catch Growing Pains Mon-Fri at 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, replacing Doc. Doc was scheduled to be replaced by a second Diagnosis Murder starting Sept. 4, but looks like they changed their minds. This is indeed wonderful news and they have certainly showed me (and a lot of other people) that smile! The Friday movie will be off the line-up starting Sept. 15. So, movies will just air Sundays now, as Saturdays marathons are airing.
And that is not all! They will be adding The Monkees and The Partridge Family on Friday evenings at 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. starting Friday, September 15! Bonanza will air Mon-Thurs at 6:00 p.m. now. And the Kung Fu launch marathon is still on for Sept. 30, but we still don't know when it will air regularly in October. I told you they would slowly be adding new shows! I can't wait until October to see what else they have in store! We will bring that to you as soon as we know.

With ABC premiering some of its season/series premieres after the official fall launch week, I got questions on what they will be airing in those slots the week(s) before. As of now, this is it:

Wednesday, September 13
9:00 p.m. ABC Sneak Peek: Dramas
9:30 p.m. ABC Sneak Peek: Comedy & Reality
10:00 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel Live's All-Star Salute to Jimmy Kimmel Live!
--We told you this already.

Monday, September 18
8:00 p.m. Wife Swap (2-hour premiere now)
10:00 p.m. Supernanny (special episode)
--Supernanny is slated for this week only and a new episode, too.

Wednesday, September 20
9:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy (two-hour season finale encore)
-- So viewers can catch the finale from last season a day before the big season premiere on Thursday.

Thursday, September 21
8:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy Recap Special
-- Leading up to the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and series premiere of Six Degrees; Ugly Betty takes this slot the following Thursday.

Friday, September 22
8:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy (season premiere encore)
-- Leading up to the third episode of Men in Trees. It seems Grey's will repeat next day in this slot until further notice, so no AFV afterall.

Monday, September 25
9:00 p.m. Lost (two-hour season finale encore)
--The Bachelor: Rome premiere will air the week after from 9-11pm. (What About Brian premieres the week after that at 10 p.m.)

Wednesday, September 27
9:00 p.m. Lost Recap Special
10:00 p.m. Men in Trees (encore from previous Friday)
-- Lost's recap is airing a week before its season premiere. Another sampling for Men in Trees.

Spike TV Fall; Mini-DVD Reviews: TaleSpin Vol. 1 and Darkwing Duck Vol. 1 (Aug. 29)

Spike TV is actually adding some series this fall. In a surprise move they will re-add The A-Team (and will still air on sister station TV Land too) and add the 80s drama The Equalizer. Both will air weekdays starting October 2. They will also air The Shield 5-days a week. All three will air back-to-back-to-back from 9a-12p. CSI: New York will get its first off-network play every Sunday nights at 11 p.m. starting October 1. And coming in December, reruns of Star Trek: Voyager. For complete details click here.

Welcome to a special Tuesday edition of the Saturday mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at Walt Disney Home Entertainment's TaleSpin: Volume 1 and Darkwing Duck: Volume 1. Both series were very popular in the early '90s on Disney's very popular syndicated block called The Disney Afternoon. TaleSpin was about a bear working for a cargo company while Darkwing Duck was a crime-fighting duck. As with all of the shows in the Disney Afternoon, they were action and adventure filled! See my mini-DVD reviews of both sets:

TaleSpin: Volume 1 (Walt Disney, $34.99) brings the first 27 half hours of the high flying animated series to DVD. The episodes are in airdate order, which is sort of a surprise since DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale last fall were in production order. That's why the 5-part pilots for both of those sets were not included, as the pilots were produced much later. The four-part pilot for this set is included, since it is in airdate order. There is one problem though. The pilot episode would have been better as the original TV-movie version, because the four-part pilot cuts about 30 seconds from each episode because of the "last time on TaleSpin" introduction. The episodes all run just under 23 minutes, all unedited except probably for the 4-part pilot. The episodes are all high class and we see Baloo and Kit work for Rebecca Cunningham. They also battle villains like Don Karnage. Other characters include Rebecca's daughter Molly, Baloo's best friend King Louie, Wildcat the fix-it-man, and coroporate big shot Shere Khan. The menu screen has Play All, Set Up, and Episode Selection, with the theme song in the background. Disc one also has a Previews option, where see sneak peeks at other Disney movies/DVDs. When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a screenshot from the episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate. The video and audio are both very good. I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set, even though the 4-part pilot situation is not good. If you never saw the show, pick it up! It is great fun! Hurry today and order the DVD before Don Karnage and his evil Air Pirates pick it up before you!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(3/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
TaleSpin TV.com Page


Darkwing Duck: Volume 1 (Walt Disney, $34.99) brings the first 27 half hours on DVD for the very first time. Like TaleSpin, the episodes are in airdate order, which is sort of a surprise since DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale last fall were in production order. That's why the 5-part pilots for both of those sets were not included, as the pilots were produced much later. This series had a two-part pilot that aired as a one-hour special originally. Unfortunately, we get the two-part version of that. I am not sure if anything is cut out though, because there is no recap on part two. TaleSpin's pilots had recaps. As for DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale, when volume two is released the five-part pilots will be on those sets and I hope they are in the 5-part pilot forms actually, because on those we get additional scenes, unlike TaleSpin and possibly Darkwing. The episodes all run just under 23 minutes. Join Drake Mallard turn into Darkwing Duck, along with help from Launchpad (from DuckTales), and Darkwing's adopted nine-year old daughter Gosalyn keep the city of St. Canard safe from villains like Bushroot and Negaduck. Gizmoduck from DuckTales even pops in from time to time to help out. The menu screen has Play All, Set Up, and Episode Selection, with the theme song in the background. Disc one also has a Previews option, where see sneak peeks at other Disney movies/DVDs. When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a screenshot from the episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate. The video and audio are both very good. I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set. If you never saw the show, pick it up because it is very fun! Hurry today and order the DVD before Megavolt electrically charges you and The Liquidator covers you in water!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Darkwing Duck TV.com Page

And the Winners of the 58th Annual Emmy Awards Are; TBS Repurposes New Syndicated Show

It is bright and early on Monday morning (12:30am ET) and here are the winners for the 58th Annual Emmy Awards:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Arrested Development (FOX)
The Office (NBC)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Scrubs (NBC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
WINNER: The Office

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Kevin James, The King of Queens (CBS)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
WINNER: Tony Shalhoub

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback (HBO)
Jane Kazcmarek, Malcolm in the Middle (FOX)
Julia-Louise Dryfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Stockard Channing, Out of Practice (CBS)
Debra Messing, Will & Grace (NBC)
WINNER: Julia-Louise Dryfus

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Will Arnett, Arrested Development (FOX)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle (FOX)
Sean Hayes, Will & Grace (NBC)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
WINNER: Jeremy Piven.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Cheryl Hines, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Alfre Woodard, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace (NBC)
WINNER: Megan Mullally

BEST DRAMA SERIES
House (FOX)
The West Wing (NBC)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
24 (FOX)
WINNER: 24

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FX)
Peter Krause, Six Feet Under (HBO)
Kiefer Sutherland, 24 (FOX)
Martin Sheen, The West Wing (NBC)
WINNER: Kiefer Sutherland.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
Geena Davis, Commander in Chief (ABC)
Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under (HBO)
Allison Janney, The West Wing (NBC)
WINNER: Mariska Hargitay.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Alan Alda, The West Wing (NBC)
Gregroy Itzin, 24 (FOX)
Oliver Platt, Huff (Showtime)
WINNER: Alan Alda.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Candace Bergen, Boston Legal (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Jean Smart, 24 (FOX)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Blythe Danner, Huff (Showtime)
WINNER: Blythe Danner.

Like the nominations itself, my picks for the winners were off. Hopefully the Emmys are back on track next year. This was terrible, if you ask me. Here is the full list of winners.

Besides the Emmy stuff, it has been a very slow Monday. I have been busy all day basically trying to get this full DVD review of Desperate Housewives in for you all, as well as two mini-reviews for tomorrow. But I do have some facts to share. TBS will be repurposing The Megan Mullally Show a day after it airs in syndication, starting Tuesday, September 19 at 8 a.m. So, if you miss a show you always have the next day on TBS as a back-up. Mullally of course won an Emmy last night for Will & Grace. Stay tuned in the coming days or so for more news on the TBS mystery sitcom(s) coming this October that I mentioned before. And no it is just not King of Queens...it is in addition to King of Queens!

Summer Week 13 Sitcom Ratings; My Emmy Picks For TONIGHT

The summer is near the end! 3 weeks left until the official start of the 2006-07 season! Week 13 Summer Ratings: Sitcom Edition:

Monday Sitcoms

• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 7.07 million for the 8 p.m. showing.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.19 million for a repeat.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - A second helping did 8.42 million, down from what it usually does for a repeat.
  
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - Big drop from lead-in, 6.78 million.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends, Half & Half (UPN) - UPN is winding down and repeats of these sitcoms did beween 1.37 and 1.68 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 4 episodes - Jim has been doing pretty well in these 4-episode marathons. This week it impressed as it built each half hour: 4.78, 5.22, 5.66, and 6.16 million. Nicely done.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• UPN Comedies: Special airings of All of Us and Half & Half...9-10pm did 1.39 and 1.28 million.
• George Lopez (ABC) 4 episodes - Not as good as Jim, but did respectable numbers and did build each half hour: 4.51, 4.6, 4.81 and 5.16 million.
• Scrubs (NBC) - Scrubs is back on the schedule and two repeats did OK: 4.58 and 4.2 million...drop at 9:30 is not good.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 5.27 million for a repeat. Can this show jump start this night opposite CBS and ABC's shows? Or can it beat Fox's new sitcom? The show will be put to test, that's for sure!
  
• The Office (NBC) - 4.14 million this week. Get ready for some Emmy's tonight, but viewers will be a problem I think this season.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris, Love Inc, Eve, Cuts (UPN) - Chris only did well with 2.36 million...the rest were anemic like usual.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• What I Like About You, Twins, Reba, Living with Fran (The WB) - All dead last place. Reba was the highest rated one obviously. The WB should air just Reba for the next few weeks.
  

No sitcoms tonight (Sunday). Watch the Emmys (even though most of the nominations are not good at all) or a movie on Fox or ABC.

Speaking of the Emmys, here are my picks for the main awards:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Arrested Development (FOX)
The Office (NBC)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Scrubs (NBC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
My Pick: The Office

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Kevin James, The King of Queens (CBS)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
My Pick: Steve Carell

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback (HBO)
Jane Kazcmarek, Malcolm in the Middle (FOX)
Julia-Louise Dryfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Stockard Channing, Out of Practice (CBS)
Debra Messing, Will & Grace (NBC)
My Pick: Jane Kazcmarek

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Will Arnett, Arrested Development (FOX)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle (FOX)
Sean Hayes, Will & Grace (NBC)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
My Pick: Jeremy Piven.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Cheryl Hines, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Alfre Woodard, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Megan Mullally, Will & Grace (NBC)
My Pick: Elizabeth Perkins.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
House (FOX)
The West Wing (NBC)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
24 (FOX)
My Pick: Grey's Anatomy

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FX)
Peter Krause, Six Feet Under (HBO)
Kiefer Sutherland, 24 (FOX)
Martin Sheen, The West Wing (NBC)
My Pick: Denis Leary.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
Geena Davis, Commander in Chief (ABC)
Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under (HBO)
Allison Janney, The West Wing (NBC)
My Pick: Geena Davis.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Alan Alda, The West Wing (NBC)
Gregroy Itzin, 24 (FOX)
Oliver Platt, Huff (Showtime)
My Pick: William Shatner.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Candace Bergen, Boston Legal (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Jean Smart, 24 (FOX)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Blythe Danner, Huff (Showtime)
My Pick: Sandra Oh.

Mini-DVD Review: Alvin & the Chipmunks: Trick or Treason (Aug. 22)

This week we take a look at Paramount Home Entertainment's Alvin & the Chipmunks: Trick or Treason. Alvin & the Chipmunks is of course the hit animated series that ran from 1983-1991. It was most popular in the early-mid 80s and this set has a 1994 Halloween special and four mini episodes from 1988 and 1989. Cartoonist Dave Seville takes care of three chipmunks: Alvin, Simon and Theodore! See my mini-DVD review of Alvin & the Chipmunks: Trick or Treason:

Alvin & the Chipmunks: Trick or Treason (Paramount, $14.99) brings a classic Halloween special and four spooky animated episodes. This is the second set from Paramount featuring the Chipmunks. The last set was the Christmas special release along with a few holiday-themed episodes. Both releases have episodes only when the show was renamed to The Chipmunks in 1988 and 1989. DiC designed the show then and they don't look the same as from 1983-87, but they still look great! Paramount has also released the Chipmunk feature film from 1987 on a separate set. This set has a 1994 half-hour Halloween special that aired on cable, titled "Trick or Treason," hence the title of this DVD. Alvin wants to join the Monster Club this Halloween and you will get to see them perform a great rendition of the hit tune "Monster Mash." The set also has spooky episodes, like I mentioned. On this volume are all mini episodes, meaning each half hour had two episodes when they originally aired, and we get one of them here. The episodes on this set are: "Babysitter Fright Night," "Theodore's Life as a Dog," "Nightmare on Seville Street," and "No Chipmunk is an Island." Two of the four episodes do not have closing credits, as they probably were the first episodes of the half-hour; runtimes range from about 10-12 minutes each. The menu screen has Play All and Episode Selection, with a song from the Chipmunks in the background. When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a screenshot from the episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate. The video and audio are decent and very watchable. I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set. New fans might also want to, but I am hoping Paramount (or any other studio) releases the series on DVD in order, and not just select episodes from The Chipmunks years. So, hopefully that happens, but for now go out and buy this set to make that happen before Dave says "Alvinnnnn!"
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Alvin & the Chipmunks TV.com Page

We might have two special mini-DVD reviews during the week this week. So stay tuned for that. And if all goes well, next Saturday we will have a special mini-review of not a DVD, but a TV-movie, about Diff'rent Strokes, which will premiere on Labor Day on NBC. We also will have a review of Barry Williams' (Greg Brady on The Brady Bunch) new CD. Should be fun!

AOLVideo.com Launches Sony and Fox Channels; James Noble Interview on JustMyShow.com

AOLVideo.com yesterday announced some wonderful and big news yesterday. They have made deals with Sony and Fox to put TV shows on demand on AOLVideo.com! They also have made movie deals, but I won't get into that (you can read the full press release below). The Sony shows are divided into two channels: AXN (for Action shows) and FunnyBone (for classic sitcoms). The shows on these two channels will be free for streaming play but $1.99 per episode if you want to view it in AOL Hi-Q. The AXN channel has episodes of '70s action shows Charlie's Angels, SWAT and Starsky & Hutch. They have made available the first half-dozen or so episodes from each series. On the FunnyBone channel, we have three sitcoms: Who's the Boss?, Action, and NewsRadio! As with the dramas, the episodes are going in order. All of these shows are on DVD, so let's hope Sony puts shows that are not on DVD like Silver Spoons and One Day at a Time!
As for the Fox channels, they will create five channels, but will be for pay only. Among the channels include a Fox Classic channel with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Hill Street Blues.
To read the COMPLETE press release, click HERE.

And our friend Eric from JustMyShow.com has put together his eighth episode and it features two classic TV stars. The new podcast features interviews with Robert Pine (Sgt. Getraer on CHiPs) and James Noble (Governor Gatling on Benson). Noble talks about who he thought won the election on the finale of the show and his new movie company. It is a good interview and I suggest all fans to watch! You even hear his thoughts on where Benson could have taken place! There is a bonus clip as well as Noble talks about his guest shot on Perfect Strangers. Click here to listen.

'House of Payne' Coming to TBS And Locals With New Episodes; TV Land October Highlights; More Notes

After a tremendously successful test run in ten major markets earlier this summer, Debmar-Mercury, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lionsgate, has announced plans for the national launch of first-run sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Beginning June 2007, TBS will have access to an unprecedented 100 fully produced episodes provided upfront. Broadcast syndication will follow in September of 2008, led by FOX-owned stations on WWOR-My9 New York, KTXH CH 20 Houston, KDFI-TV CH 27 Dallas, and WDCA-TV CH 20 Washington, D.C. And Weigel's WCIU-TV Chicago has also picked it up. The terms of the four-year deals with FOX and Weigel are cash plus barter, and will begin airing in September of 2008, concurrent with the TBS run, which will continue throughout the term.
According to TBS's deal with Debmar-Mercury, TBS will begin airing episodes in primetime beginning in June of 2007, with the network having exclusive rights to the episodes before they become available to local stations through syndication in September 2008.
Another test of a Perry series, expected to be based on his theatrical play Meet the Browns, could take place in 2007 or ’08, according to Debmar-Mercury President Mort Marcus. While the plans haven’t been finalized, Marcus said if they wait to fall 2008, it would likely be a 10-day replacement test on some stations similar to the one for House of Payne.

TV Land has announced their October schedule. There is no change to the regular schedule except I Love Lucy replaces Addams Family, which expires after September. Among the higlights for the month include a 48-hour A-Team marathon to help promote Mr. T's new show I Pity the Fool which will air Wednesdays at 10 starting October 11. and finally spend Halloween and the end of Daylight Savings with The Munsters in a 25-hour marathon on Oct. 28. The Munsters is expiring at the end of the month, so if they don't renew this could be sort of like a farewell marathon. We will have more on its future status at a later date. Click HERE to view all the October highlights for TV Land.

We mentioned that CBS was adding about six series to its innertube website, now they have announced six more, and a few sitcoms included, too! To gain additional exposure for some key freshman and sophomore series during the important fall launch period, CBS announced plans to stream episodes of several of the Network's primetime shows produced by Warner Bros. Television and Twentieth Century Fox Television free of charge on CBS's broadband channel innertube.
Starting in September, the series being offered on innertube include: from Twentieth Century Fox Television, the freshman series Shark, as well as the sophomore sitcom How I Met Your Mother and drama The Unit; and from Warner Bros. Television, the freshman series The Class and new drama Smith, as well as the sophomore sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, starring Emmy nominated Julia Louis-Dreyfus. With all six shows, each of the first four original episodes of the season will be available for viewers to watch for free on innertube for a week following its Network broadcast.

Finally, ABC has announced plans for the post Dancing with the Stars Wednesday slot for Sept. 13 and 20. ABC will air two fall preview specials on Sept. 13 at 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. The 9 p.m. airing will showcase the dramas titled, ABC Sneak Peeks: The Dramas. At 9:30 p.m. will be ABC Sneak Peeks: Comedy & Reality. Make sure you watch these and the half-hour affiliate specials of Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Lost premiering this weekend on your local ABC affiliates. Check local listings for time and day for those. After the two half-hour specials on Sept. 13 will be Jimmy Kimmel Live’s All-Star Salute to Jimmy Kimmel Live at 10 p.m.
On September 20, ABC will re-air part two of the second season finale for Grey's Anatomy from 9 to 11 p.m. Part one of the finale is re-airing Thursday, September 14 at 9 p.m. It is a good move reairing the finale a day before the season premiere (Thursday, September 21). So what is airing in these slots on September 27? They haven't announced that yet, but I would assume the two-hour Lost season finale? Lost returns to its slot on October 4 with all-new episodes.

New Fox Special Comes to Fans of SitcomsOnline for Help; Rest of i Network September Schedule

Fox has come knocking on our door for some help. Fox is putting together a new special that will showcase the top funniest moments in television history and you can help out by choosing some! Request funny moments such as Lucy at the Chocolate Factory, Jack Tripper's crazy dance, and all the hilarious moments from Jackie Gleason and the gang on The Honeymooners. I'm sure there are many many more, and now you can help out as many fans have started doing already. Click HERE to help Fox out! We will let you know when this special of course airs, but for now you the fans can make a difference and choose the top funniest moments in TV history!

Last week we gave you basically all the details on i Network's September line-up. Now, we have the schedule for the second half of the month. There will be no regular schedule changes, so the same changes in effect starting Sept. 4 will be for the rest of the month. However, Bonanza will be expanded from just a few times a week to five days a week at 6 p.m. starting Sept. 11. We gave you details last week on the Saturday marathons from Sept. 2-16, now we have the details for Sept. 23 and 30! Sept. 23 will have another Mama's Family Mama-thon! And on Sept. 30 we get a tase of the October schedule, as Kung Fu will get a launch marathon. The classic early '70s drama Kung Fu will join the line-up in October. The i network is slowly phasing out its old shows and bringing in new ones, so they are getting better and I think we might see some more shows in October, too. Let's hope this Saturday marathon continues! I will have details on the i Network's October schedule soon. So come on back!

TitanTV To Stream Fox Shows Online; Champion Named Weather Anchor for 'GMA'

The other day we mentioned select Fox shows would also be airing on select local Fox affiliates' websites, now TitanTV.com has also struck a deal. Decisionmark Corp. announced today that Fox Broadcasting Company is making episodes of its programs Prison Break and Vanished available for TitanTV members to stream in their entirety the day after each episode airs on television. TitanTV.com is an interactive program guide providing nearly 800,000 members with the most accurate TV listings available in the U.S. market. The network plans to make the first three episodes of each program available online in an effort to establish strong audiences for these series.
The first opportunity for TitanTV members to stream these programs will be today, Tuesday, August 22 with episodes of Prison Break and Vanished. The episodes will mark the beginning of season two for Prison Break and will kick- off the first season of Vanished. As a part of its free TV listings guide, TitanTV has been promoting FOX programs via video previews on its home page for a year. This is the first time members will be able to watch entire episodes of original network content. TitanTV members have been able to point, click, and record for many years, but now for the first time they can point, click and watch.
And TitanTV is not just all! They will be on more sites as well, including the network's own FOX.com as well as AOL.com, Google Video, Yahoo!, TVGuide.com and IGN.com, among others.
More than 50 portals and websites will stream the first three episodes of Prison Break and the first three episodes of Vanished, which will be available online as early as the morning following their initial broadcasts on FOX. The episodes will be available for approximately one week - through 3:00 p.m. ET the afternoon of the next week's broadcast. Prison Break and Vanished premiered last night on FOX.
This could help Vanished maybe as the show declined in its second half hour last night.

While this is not sitcom news, ABC has announced that WABC weatherman Sam Champion will fill the position of "weather anchor" on Good Morning America Sept. 5 left in December by Tony Perkins, who moved on to D.C. to do weather for the local news he used to do for. Champion has regularly pinch-hit as GMA's weatherman. He has also pinch-hit for Regis on Regis & Kelly and Larry King on Larry King Live. Champion has spent the past 18 years at New York City's ABC flagship station, WABC-TV, having joined in 1988. Before that, he held weather and news reporting positions at WJKS-TV in Jacksonville, FL and WPSD-TV in Paducah, KY. As weather anchor, Sam Champion will be based at Good Morning America's Times Square Studios in the heart of Manhattan. Champion will report the latest national weather throughout the program and will travel to weather-related stories around the country and globe. In addition, he will also contribute feature reports on the environment and weather-related issues. In addition to his duties at GMA, Champion has also been named weather editor of ABC News.
It is expected that Champion will do double duty next month (at GMA and WABC News)at least, until WABC fills his position. WABC already has two great meterologists on its staff Bill Evans (morning/noon news) and Lee Goldberg (weekend evening news). They also have Heidi Jones who does the weekend morning news.
Yesterday, GMA named Chris Cuomo as its new news anchor, joining anchors Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts.
Sam is a great guy and I wish him best of luck at GMA. He will be missed on WABC's Eyewitness News, as he has been my fixture for weather the last 18 years. That is why I'm posting this. He is very popular here in NY.

TV One Makes Some Changes to September Line-Up

This September TV One will be making a few changes. The September line-up kicks-off on Labor Day with a marathon of the Spenser: For Hire spin-off series A Man Called Hawk. Hawk only lasted 13 episodes, so this will be a treat to watch. The marathon runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with an encore from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. The series will join the weekend line-up, airing Saturdays at 12 noon starting September 9. Other September changes include Boston Public returning and airing weekdays at 11 a.m. replacing Fastlane. Fastlane is now gone starting September 11. Replacing Fastlane at 10 p.m. is another episode of NY Undercover, which will also still remain in its 5 p.m. time-slot. Finally, Starting Over is also gone from the schedule and being replaces by more For Your Love and Wanda at Large in the 5 a.m. hour. Special stunts for the month include a back-to-school sitcom marathon on Sept. 2, an Under One Roof marathon on Sept. 3 and a Martin marathon on Sept. 23. We will have info on the marathons at a later date.
Now, these changes in September are NOT their fall line-up schedule. The fall line-up will be in effect probably week of September 25 or early October, and we will give it to you as soon as they announce it. But we do know that sitcoms All of Us and Eve will be airing! Let's also hope we get some older sitcoms on the line-up, such as Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.

Fox To Offer Shows For Free Online

Today would normally be our weekly ratings report day, but the final numbers have been delayed, so we do not have them. Sorry, but we do have news for you.
Fox Entertainment Group is offering free prime-time programming on the web sites of nine of its 24 biggest owned and operated stations, marking the first time ever that local stations will stream network programming on their web sites, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Fox Digital Media has teamed with Toyota to be the exclusive ad sponsor for select episodes of Fox entertainment series from Fox's 20th Century Fox Studios, including returning shows Prison Break and Bones, and comedies such American Dad, The Loop and Stacked. They are available for free through the new "Fox on Demand" on the station web sites in New York (WNYW), Los Angeles (KTTV), Boston (WFXT), Dallas (KDFW), Washington, DC (WTTG), Tampa Bay (WTVT), Orlando (WOFL), Birmingham (WBRC) and Greensboro (WGHP). Fox is also in talks with its affiliates to offer them a similar streaming video player.

New episodes of Prison Break and Bones will be available the day after they air on TV. Additionally, the stations' sites will feature several episodes from each of those series' first seasons, as well the entire first season of The Loop and a handful of episodes from Stacked and American Dad.

I find it very strange that Stacked will be on it, since the show is canceled. The Loop returns mid-season I believe. Also, I'm in NJ, clearly my local Fox is WNYW, yet the streaming player says I'm not in the NY market? Very strange. Fox needs to fix this.

Our First Anniversary; Mini-DVD Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 5 (August 29)

Believe it or not it has been exactly one year since we launched this blog! My the time has gone by fast and it sure has been a fun year. We have seen growth in nearly every month with this month being the highest viewed month ever. We thank you all for coming here every day to make that possible. You all have made comments, suggestions, opinions and we really appreciate it. I just can't believe how much growth we have had from one year ago to today.
We thank you again for visiting and please continue to visit and we will try to bring the best sitcom news and more exclusives, too!

Let's celebrate by giving quotes from you the readers! RBryanA says: "I most like your summaries and opinions on topics. I like to see what you think and have to say (it is really good). The blog does a good job of summing up the news of the day, plus it gives some news that might not be as big to post about on the boards and it goes to the blog. I would like to see ratings from the previous Sunday on the Sunday ratings part of the blog. So far, the only sitcoms on Sundays have been on FOX, but this fall the CW will have a block of them, so it would be nice to see how they are doing every week." -- That is a great suggestion and we will certainly do that this fall! Thanks for the input RBryanA!
Sean Snow says, "I lobsterlurve it (the blog)." -- Wow! I've never even heard of that word!
Matt Troop says, "I like the fact that there is a ratings post every week along with news that other people don't post..." -- Thanks Matt!
Finally, Raisingdad2004 says, "The extensive news coverage and the 'insider' feel (is what I like the most), a lot of the news posted on the blog can not be found elsewhere."
We thank all those people and the many others who have commented! Here is to another year and many more!

So you thought since this is our anniversary, we wouldn't be working today? Wrong! We have a mini-DVD review today for you!
This week we take a look at Lionsgate's Volume 5 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ninja Turtles is of course the hit animated series that caused kids and teens to go crazy for in the late '80s and early '90s. If you were growing up in that era, you were certainly a fan of this cult favorite. See my mini-DVD review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Volume 5:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Volume 5 (Lionsgate, $14.98) brings 12 more episodes from the series' third season. The third season had a total of 47 episodes, so there was no way to do this show in season format. Season one had 5 episodes, so that was on Volume 1. For season 2 there were just 13 episodes, so Lionsgate released that for volume two. But starting in Volume 3 they I guess decided they would release 12 episodes for a set. Volumes 3, 4 and 5 have 12 episodes each from season three. So, 11 remain from that season and will probably be released on volume 6. Then they have season four to go through which has 39 episodes. Seasons 5-10 do not have as many episodes as seasons three and four, so it will get better if we get that far. The episodes on this volume are: "Corporate Raiders from Dimension X," "Pizza by the Shred," "Super Bebop and Mighty Rocksteady," Beware the Lotus," "Blast from the Past," "Leatherhead," "Michaelangelo's Birthday," "Usagi Yojimbo," "Case of the Hot Kimono," "Usagi Come Home," "The Making of the Metalhead," "Leatherhead Meets the Rat King." Each episode runs approx. 22:15. The menu screen has Play All Episodes and Episode Selection, with the theme playing (loops) in the background. When we go to episode selection, there is a cool fade with music. If you have the first four volumes, there is no stopping you in buying this volume. The video is on par with the other volumes, with little dust and debris here and there, but the audio is decent. Hopefully Lionsgate releases the episodes a bit faster since we are only getting one-disc sets. So, head on over to New York City and see the Turtles, Splinter and April battle Shredder, Krang, Rocksteady, Bebop, Leatherhead and even The Rat King in 12-must see episodes from season three! Time to "Cowabunga Dude" on August 29!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
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Nick@Nite, Boomerang, i Network September Changes; Friday Notes

Nick@Nite, Boomerang and the i Network have made changes to its September line-ups. Nick@Nite will now air marathons 12-4am starting Sept. 4. The summer marathons end Sept. 3. 12-4AM Marathons are: Fresh Prince (Sun, Mon), Roseanne (Tues, Sat), A Different World (Wed), The Cosby Show (Thurs), and Full House (Fri). The Jeffersons and Three's Company on Nick@Nite were just for the last two weeks of the summer marathons. Murphy Brown will return to Nick@Nite airing Saturday nights (early Sundays) at 5 a.m. It will continue to air on TV Land every night at 10 p.m. Other changes include Mad About You every night at 4:30 a.m. and NewsRadio just Sunday nights (early Mondays) at 5:30 a.m. For the complete changes on September, click here.
Last week we mentioned Boomerang will return Heathcliff & Marmaduke on Sept. 4, looks like that is not happening anymore. Garfield & Friends is still slated to come every night at 8 p.m. starting Sept. 18. They have also announced the returns of Jonny Quest, The Fantastic Four, and Wait Til Your Father Gets Home. All three will be airing in a late night block. They will also air the '60s animated cartoon Batfink on weekends at 12 noon. Due to popular demand, here is the full schedule.
The i Network will be making some changes in early September. Starting September 4, Family Feud and Doc will leave the weekday line-up. Another episode of Green Acres will replace Family Feud at 7:30 p.m. weekdays, while Mon-Thurs at 9 p.m. another episode of Diagnosis Murder will replace Doc. Doc will still air Fridays at 10 p.m. The new NBC kids block premieres Saturday, Sept. 9 on NBC. The i network will re-air that block on Friday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. starting Friday, September 15. Shows like Veggie Tales, Dragon, and Babar are airing. There are no other changes yet, but hopefully we will get some more later in September. I do know that Saturday marathons are being planned. So far we know Green Acres is having one on Aug. 26 and Sue Thomas F.B.Eye is having one on Sept. 2. Bonanza is being planned for Sept. 9 and Doc on Sept. 16. Hopefully they air some marathons from shows from the Sony/Warner library after that. And let's hope we get some changes later in September with more new shows.
Speaking of the i Network, last week's Mama's Family launch marathon did very well for i. The six episodes averaged 830,000 viewers, peaking at over 1 million for 10 p.m. In comparison the rest of the week averaged just 650,000 viewers. Hopefully they will realize now that these reruns will do well for them. I will keep you posted if there are any other changes on the i Network.

Well, today is Friday and I want to wrap the work-week in style. So, let's get to "the chase" (think Carmen Sandiego's fast 'chase' round) in the Friday notes! Former Ally McBeal co-star Jane Krakowski (or as Regis would call her "Krackow"), is joining NBC's new sitcom 30 Rock this fall. Krakowski will be playing the star of The Girlie Show, a network variety show that serves as the backdrop for the workplace comedy. 30 Rock debuts on October 11 and will air on Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
Scrubs stars are now playing golf while they wait for their series to come back for new episodes in mid-season! Five of the show's stars will take part in the The Big Break All Star Challenge, a one-hour special airing Tuesday, Aug. 22 on The Golf Channel. The show will feature actors Ken Jenkins (Doctor Kelso), Robert Maschio (The Todd), Neil Flynn (Janitor), Judy Reyes (Nurse Carla) and Johnny Kastl (Doug) participating in a golf event to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The network’s Stephanie Sparks will serve as host. The event features the actors taking part in golf challenges, including breaking glass with golf balls and a long-drive competition, competitions that are a regular part of the network’s Big Break reality series, which launches its sixth season September 26.
Actor Bruno Kirby passed away on Monday. He was battling leukemia. Kirby was best remembered for his movie roles in City Slickers, Harry Met Sally, and The Godfather: Part II, but he was also on TV. He guest starred on sitcoms such as M*A*S*H, Room 222, Detective School, Frasier, Mad About You, and It's Garry Shandling's Show. He was last seen this past season on an episode of HBO's Entourage. Mr. Kirby was only 57.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our first anniversary special!

'Punky Brewster' E! True Hollywood Story; ABC's 'MEN IN TREES' To Premiere After 'Dancing'

E! True Hollywood Story is gearing up for an all-new episode (episode 414) this Sunday (August 20) at 8 p.m. ET/PT. This time they will profile the '80s sitcom Punky Brewster. The 60-minute episode focuses on the sweet little orphan with an awesome wardrobe, who touched the lives of children of the '80s. See what happened to the girl with the magical name after the Punky era... Details here.

ABC has tweaked their fall schedule just a little bit and moved the series premiere of MEN IN TREES to Tuesday, September 12 at 10 p.m. following the two-hour season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. MEN IN TREES was slated to premiere on Friday, September 22 at 9 p.m. The series' second episode will air on Friday, September 15 at 9 p.m., following an encore of the pilot episode at 8 p.m. I think this is an excellent move. This will get MEN IN TREES some heavy exposure that it deserves. I've seen the pilot and it is very fun and light. It reminds me of Northern Exposure. Anne Heche is very good in it. And also, the premiere and the second episode will both air a week before the fall season officially starts, so that is another plus. Sitcom fans might want to tune in as Good Times star John Amos has a supporting role. To view more info and to discuss this news, click here.

Nick@Nite Trims 'A Different World' Week-Long Marathon; CBS Adds Full Episodes to innertube

Nick@Nite today announced that they have trimmed the week-long A Different World Marathon, titled "Hillman College Reunion Week" from 10pm-2am for five nights to 10pm-12am for five nights. The five night event starts Monday, August 28 and ends Friday, September 1. No reason for the change, but it might have to do with the summer marathons now continuing that week. The summer marathons are slated to run until Sunday, September 3. A new schedule will start September 4, with 12-4am marathons each night. We will reveal that to you shortly. For all the details on the marathon trimming and the summer marathons for that week, click here.

CBS now will use its online broadband channel innertube to air shows a day after they premiere on CBS. 7 shows will be offered this way starting this fall! All three CSI series, NCIS, NUMB3RS, Survivor and Jericho. The latter two will have archived episodes for the entire season (if Jericho lasts that long, that is). The other five series will be available for four weeks after they broadcast on TV. Launched in May, innertube features a mix of short original programming, content related to the network's shows and full episodes of the reality show Big Brother: All-Stars. innertube is looking for the the same success as ABC's full episode streaming program that was a success this past May and June. It would be nice if a sitcom or two would pop-up, though. NBC is going to release information on its broadband channel DotComedy very soon. DotComedy.com is going to have episodes of classicNBC/Universal-owned sitcoms for free. I'd guess Leave it to Beaver, The Munsters, among others would be on it, but we shall see. I don't think NBC has plans as of yet to put some of its current shows online like CBS and ABC.

Minor Lifetime Schedule Change; Network Fall Preview Specials

Effective yesterday Lifetime made a few minor changes to its line-up. Most notably it removed Unsolved Mysteries off the line-up. It was airing at 2 p.m. now the afternoon movie will start then. The movie was airing 3 to 5 p.m., so now it will be 2-4 p.m. They have now added an extra hour of The Golden Girls in the 4 p.m. hour. Everything else is the same as the schedule that started August 7.

We are almost a month away from the official start of the fall season. The networks are or have been airing half-hour fall preview specials. Fox aired its fall primetime preview special on Sunday at 7 p.m., but if you missed it, your local Fox affiliates are airing it again this weekend. Check your local Fox listings for exact times. Tonight, My NetworkTV will have two half-hour specials on Desire and Fashion House--check your local listings for the times in your area. They also will have a launch special on Sept. 4 from 8 to 10 p.m. The CW Premiere Special premieres this weekend on your local CW affiliate. Keep checking your CW affiliate's weekends listings for the next few weekends, so you can see it. NBC has been airing its fall preview specials on local NBC affiliates already, but they will have one to the full NBC network on Saturday, September 2 at 8 p.m. You can also catch it on USA Network, Sci-Fi Channel, Bravo, and your local NBC affiliates at various other times, again check your local listings. CBS will have its fall preview special on Saturday, September 2 at 9:30 p.m. following a special 90-minute Museum of Television & Radio special. Finally, ABC will have two half-hour specials on Desperate Housewives & Grey's Anatomy. Both will also have previews of other shows, so make sure to tune in. They will air on your local ABC affiliates in the coming weeks, so check your listings for the time and day. If you can't find it, it will air on the ABC Family Channel on Friday, Sept. 15 in the 4 p.m. hour. I hope you are all ready for the fall! Watch all these primetime preview specials and I'm sure you will be even more ready!

Former Sitcom Stars to Compete on ABC's Dancing with the Stars Season 3; Fall 2006 Syndication

ABC announced this morning on Good Morning America the celebrities for the next installment of the mega-hit Dancing with the Stars. We are proud to mention that a few former sitcom stars will compete, too! Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell fame will be competing. Mario played Slater on the teen sitcom. Former child star Joe Lawrence (AKA Joey Lawrence) will also be in it. Joe starred in sitcoms such as Gimme a Break! and Blossom. He was also on Half & Half recently. other stars include L.A. Law's Harry Hamlin, TV/movie star Vivica A. Fox, reality TV star Shanna Moakler, TV talk show host Jerry Springer and NFL great Emmitt Smith. To view the full list of 11 celebs, click here. Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. starting Set. 12 on ABC.

Pretty soon the fall will start and that means we will all be browsing TVGuide or TitanTV to see what our local channels are doing. Some locals will start changing on Sept. 5, but many will make their changes the weeks of Sept. 11 and 18. Sitcom wise, premiering Sept. 11 on locals are reruns of Still Standing; premiering September 18 on locals are reruns of According to Jim, Scrubs, One on One and Reba. Then there are the weekly drama/reality shows, like CSI: Miami, American Idol, The Shield and Without a Trace. They all will air once or twice a week on weekends. Then there are the new talk shows and court shows. Premiering the week of Sept. 11 are Dr. Keith Ablow, The Greg Behrendt Show, Judge Maria Lopez and Cristina's Court. Week of Sept. 18 will see Rachel Ray and Megan Mullally. I have posted most of the NYC info on all these shows. Click here to view this. You too can post info on your locals on that thread. I have posted WPIX's full fall line-up, and soon will have WWOR and WNYW. So keep checking!

Summer Week 11 Sitcom Ratings

Dog days of summer continue...but we are almost finished! I think 5 weeks left until the season starts! Week 11 Summer Ratings: Sitcom Edition:

Monday Sitcoms

• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - Men has replaced Queens to start the night, and a big jump happened this week with 8.25 million, compared to Queens' 6.76 million last week.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 7.25 million, way up from previous week thanks to the new lead-in.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - A second helping did 10.4 million...up from last week.
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - It is back and did 7.95 million, down a bit from Mother's 8.01 million last week.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends, Half & Half (UPN) - Repeats of these sitcoms were up on par from last week ranging from 1.64-2.22 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 4 episodes - Did decent...5.11, 5.37, 4.9, and 5.1 million each. The second hour was a bit down from last week, but first hour was on par from last week.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• UPN Comedies: Special airings of All of Us and Half & Half...9-10pm did 1.37 and 1.36 million--up from last week.
• George Lopez (ABC) 2 episodes - ABC scheduled 2 episodes this week--4.23 and 4.09 million. 5 million would have been more respectable.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - I don't have final numbers in millions for this night, but I think it didn't do as good as last week. It did a 4.0/7 houdehold rating good for third place behind CBS and ABC.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 3.2/6 rating, probably lower than last week in total viewers.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris, Love Inc, Eve, Cuts (UPN) - Chris only did well...the rest were anemic.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• What I Like About You, Twins, Reba, Living with Fran (The WB) - All dead last place. Reba was the highest rated one obviously. The WB should air just Reba for the next few weeks.
  

Sitcoms tonight (Sunday) is Fox just animated comedies from 7:30-9:30 and The War at Home at 9:30. Fox Fall Preview special airs tonight at 7.

Mini-DVD Review: The Best of Mr. Bean (August 29)

Last week's mini-DVD review was Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's The Boondocks. This week we take a look at A&E Home Video's The Best of Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean is of course the classic British comedy starring Rowan Atkinson. See my mini-DVD review of The Best of Mr. Bean:

The Best of Mr. Bean (A&E, $14.95) brings the best episodes from the classic British comedy series to DVD. This best-of collection is available on a single disc that contains five classic half hours (which each half hour containing three or four mini episodes). The episodes on this set are: Pilot: "Mr. Bean" (24:37), "The Return of Mr. Bean" (25:06), "The Curse of Mr. Bean" (24:44), "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean" (25:46), and "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean" (25:26). The set even has special features. "The Story of Bean" runs 49 minutes and is produced by Universal and has clips and interviews. A&E has also included two text special features with information on Rowan Atkinson's Biography and Filmography. The menu screen has the episodes listed with Mr. Bean's theme playing (doesn't loop) and little Mr. Beans in the background. Now, the complete series came out on DVD three years ago, but this set is also a good buy because it has five of the best episodes and I think fans who don't own that set, should buy this set to see the best episodes for a cheap price. Long live the hilarious Mr. Bean!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
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Next week is our first anniversary! We will be celebrating it next Saturday and you can be a part of it! To find out how, click here. Also, next Saturday we will still most likely have a mini-DVD review or two, so don't worry! Expect the following sets to get mini-DVD reviews in the coming weeks: Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, Alvin & the Chipmunks Halloween, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man, Dick Tracy, and Pee-Wee. We also could bring you a special mini-review of a TV movie on the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes which will premiere on NBC on Sept. 4, but we might bring you a review of it before that, if all goes well.

Remembering TV Talk Show Legend Mike Douglas; Boomerang Fall; 'My Name is Earl' MySpace

Today we lost another TV legend. This time legendary TV talk show Mike Douglas. He died today on his birthday of all days in Palm Beach, Florida. He of course hosted the popular talk show The Mike Douglas Show from 1961-1982. It was probably the most popular daytime talk show in the '70s. Thousands and thousands of celebrities and guests appeared on the show, like Barbra Streisand, and sitcom greats such as Lucille Ball, John Ritter, Richard Mulligan, Danny Thomas and so many more. He even appeared as himself on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Greatest American Hero, and Ringo. Douglas started his career as a teen singer at supper clubs and on radio programs, joined the Navy during World War II, had two hit singles during the 1950s, then ultimately hosted The Mike Douglas Show, which he always maintained was more about music than talk.
He will be missed and I'm sure current talk show hosts such as David Letterman and Regis Philbin will honor him. Mr. Douglas turned 81 today.

Boomerang, the classic Cartoon Network animation spin-off channel, will be adding Garfield & Friends this September! Starting September 18, Sun-Fri at 8 p.m. They also will return Heathcliff & Marmaduke on Sept. 4 and air it weekdays at 11:30 a.m. No real other changes to their line-up besides these two additions. Boomerang airs classic series such as The Jetsons, The Flintstones, The Smurfs, Yogi Bear, Pink Panther and Tom & Jerry. They also air newer stuff like Pokemon and Duck Dodgers, but mainly it is classic stuff.

In a first-of-its-kind promotion, NBC and 20th Century Fox Television will partner with MySpace.com -- the leading online social community --to offer users an opportunity to submit a photo and have a chance to see their mug featured as a "Friend of Earl" in one of the first three episodes of My Name Is Earl (Thursdays, 8-8:30 p.m. ET). At the end of each episode, the series' production credits normally conclude with the "Amigos de Garcia" ("Friends of Garcia") logo the executive producer Greg Garcia's production company slate that normally features friends of the show's creator. Winners will now have a chance to be featured as one of the "Amigos." The first "Friend of Earl" winner will appear in the season premiere of My Name Is Earl on Thursday, September 21 (8-8:30 p.m. ET) and two other winners in two subsequent episodes. In addition, the MySpace community will offer user-generated content, sneak previews of Earl's first season DVD and soundtrack, "Earl" content for cell phones and other 'Earl'-Licensed merchandise.
For more details click here.

Lifetime Real Women Network Fall Schedule; Sue Thomas F.B.Eye Labor Day Weekend

The Lifetime Real Women network airs sitcoms seven days a week from 2 to 5 p.m. currently. Back-to-back episodes of Caroline in the City, Laverne & Shirley, and Suddenly Susan. Real Women is one of two spinoff channels from Lifetime, with the other being the Lifetime Movie Network. Fans of Caroline in the City take note that Sunday, August 27 is the last day for the show on the network. I believe the show is expiring. They will replace it with original series Who Knows Best? As for Suddenly Susan, that is also expiring. Sunday, September 3 will be its last day. Another hour of Laverne & Shirley will replace that. So L&S will air every afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. starting Sept. 4. There are no other changes which means dramas like Providence will still air.

The i Network will be giving a three-hour marathon to original series Sue Thomas F.B.Eye on Saturday, September 2. Fans will get a chance to vote on what episodes they can air. You can vote by clicking here. Voting ends August 27. I think this might be a farewell marathon? I doubt it will be around in September when more shows from Warner/Sony hopefully join the line-up. Don't forget the Mama's Family marathon this Saturday from 8 to 11 p.m. That and Green Acres will join the line-up, as we mentioned a ton, on Monday.
We will let you know their September line-up as soon as we find out!

Come on back later today if we have anything else to share.

Nick@Nite Schedule Change Starting Saturday, Includes 'Jeffersons', 'Three's Company; ABC and NBC Notes

Yesterday we gave you the latest TV Land schedule change. Today Nick@Nite has officially announced its schedule changes. It was quite obvious looking at yesterday's TV Land changes that Nick@Nite would most likely change their schedule a bit, too, since Cosby Show & Murphy Brown are going to air every night on TV Land. So, my guess and hunch was correct (though I thought they would announce it yesterday with TV Land, but I was wrong about that)! The Nick@Nite official website is even reporting this change, so it is official (much how like TV Land's official website reported yesterday's changes). So, Nick@Nite will be replacing Full House Sun-Thurs with A Different World at 9 p.m., which seems to be doing very well for them. Full House will now only air weekday mornings at 5:30 a.m. because its Friday marathons from 10pm-2am will now be The Jeffersons! Other changes include Mad About You only on Saturday nights (Sunday morning) at 5:30 a.m. and NewsRadio only on Sunday nights (Monday morning) at 5:30 a.m. They both have lost their summer marathon spots. Roseanne has taken NewsRadio's Monday night marathon spot (2-5:30am) and Three's Company is back on Nick@Nite and will take Mad About You's 2-5:30am slot on Thursday nights. Finally, the weekend schedule has all been replaced by Roseanne (10p-5a) and Fresh Prince (10:30p-5:30a) on Sundays.
So, let's recap what shows are both on TV Land and Nick@Nite now. The Jeffersons, Three's Company and The Cosby Show are now airing on both channels. While Murphy Brown has made the move to TV Land (it is not on the Nick@Nite line-up anymore). NewsRadio and Mad About You are just once a week now and Full House is just on five times a week at 5:30a.m. The Nick@Nite new schedule, like TV Land's, is at least through the end of the month. No idea just yet what will happen in September. Nick@Nite will have A Different World marathon the week of August 28, so my hunch is that the Nick@Nite schedule is through at least August 27.
To view ALL these changes and to discuss this click here.

ABC has announced it will air George Lopez in the 9 p.m. hour next Wednesday. So, that will be four straight episodes that night. They haven't announced what will air in that hour for the rest of the summer thus yet, but I would bet on more George or maybe Primetime: Medical Mysteries, which is on tonight from 9 to 11 p.m. The season finale of that show will be on Sept. 6. Meanwhile, ABC has removed repeats of Boston Legal on Tuesday nights for another interesting Primetime series of specials. The specials will be titled Primetime: The Outsiders and will air through September 12. Boston Legal will return Sept. 19 with an all-new season. I have to admit Medical Mysteries is quite interesting. Repeats of Supernanny will replace that summer reality crap One Ocean View or whatever Mondays at 10 p.m., with Wife Swap now airing 8 to 10 p.m.
Elsewhere, NBC is looking to burn off episodes of the canceled sitcom Joey according to their official website. So when will they? They haven't said, but frankly I don't think they will actually air it. It is not listed yet at all in the next two weeks.

TV Land and Nick@Nite Changes Schedule Starting On Saturday, Cosby Show, Jeffersons, Murphy Brown to TV Land; ABC Moves 'Ugly Betty' to Thursdays

TV Land has just almost totally revamped its schedule. Starting August 12 (this Saturday), TV Land will air The Cosby Show from sister station Nick@Nite, add The Jeffersons earlier than expected, and expand Murphy Brown to everynight. But that's not all! The weekday morning mini-marathons will now be split into two blocks, 10a-12p and 12p-2p. The 10a-12p will be focused on '50s and '60s (with the likes of Beaver, Addams Family, & Munsters), while the 12p-2p is focused on the '70s and '80s (with the likes of Benson, Jeffersons, & Good Times). The weekday 12a-4a marathons have changed a bit, too (Jeffersons replaced All in the Family; Good Times and Sanford & Son switched nights). On weekends, the Saturday morning original block and the Sunday Better Living Through Television block have both been cut from 9a-12p to 10a-12p--9am hour on both days will feature '80s sitcoms (Cheers, Wings on Sat; 227, Night Court on Sun). Andy Griffith will get the Sunay 12a-4a marathon, replacing Beaver.
So, new acquisition The Jeffersons will start earlier than expected, it will air every night at 9:30pm, weekdays 7-8pm, Thursday nights 12a-4a, and Fridays 12p-2p.
There are A LOT of changes, and I suggest you click here to view them all so you won't forget when your favorite shows are on. These changes will be at least in effect until end of August, but I expect these to be in September, too, with minor edits here and there.

ABC will move highly anticipated comedy-drama Ugly Betty to Thursdays this fall, instead of Fridays. The show will have its series premiere on Thursday, September 28 and will air at 8 p.m. ABC has said the two new sitcoms (Big Day, Notes from the Underbelly) slated for that slot originally, will now debut later in the fall, after Dancing with the Stars completes its run. Betty was slated for Fridays at 8, and now ABC will air reruns (and sometimes original episodes) of AFV instead. Men in Trees is still slated for Fridays at 9 p.m. I hope that show doesn't get lost, because the pilot was very good. But ABC Thursday has become even stronger now. Discuss and view these changes here.

'Ellen' Season 4 DVD Now Sept. 26; Comedy Central Fall Details, 'Diff'rent Strokes' Movie

We just got word that the Ellen Season 4 DVD will now be released on Sept. 26, rather than Aug. 29. No idea on the change, but A&E Home Video will also release Benny Hill - Set 5 that day.

We told you before Scrubs is coming to Comedy Central (along with WGN and local channels) this fall and will be airing weeknights 7 and 7:30 p.m. ET/PT, now we have the rest of their fall line-up. Scrubs debuts Sept. 18. Scrubs will also air Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., but on Sept. 23 there will be a special Scrubs-athon from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. As if twenty-hour shifts at the hospital weren’t enough, on Saturday, Sept. 23, Comedy Central is making the staff of Sacred Heart work the weekend. In celebration of Scrubs coming to Comedy Central, tune in for fifteen episodes from the critically acclaimed first season. Relive JD’s fruitless attempt to become Dr. Cox’s protégé, Turk’s conquest of Carla, and Elliot’s first battle with the sexist Dr. Kelso.
There are no other real changes to the line-up, which means we still have MADTV, South Park and the rest. South Park will debut its 10th season on Oct. 4.

NBC has finally announced it will air that behind-the-scenes Diff'rent Strokes movie. It is slated to air this Labor Day, Monday, September 4, from 8 to 10 p.m. ET/PT. NBC will re-visit one of television's most popular comedy series -- Diff'rent Strokes -- with a movie that serves as a powerful cautionary tale about the tragedies and challenges facing the child stars of the sitcom as well as all child stars in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Diff'rent Strokes.' Original cast members Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges participated in the movie and will also appear in on-camera interviews. The movie not only takes viewers behind the scenes of the popular sitcom, but also follows the lives of Coleman, Bridges and fellow star Dana Plato in the years after the series went off the air as their personal lives spiraled downward. In addition, it also examines the pitfalls of child stardom. Bobb'e J Thompson (The Tracy Morgan Show) plays the young Coleman while Verda Bridges, Todd Bridges' real-life sister, portrays Bridges' mother.

Summer Week 10 Sitcom Ratings

Dog days of summer continue...but we are almost finished! I think 6 weeks left until the season starts! Week 10 Summer Ratings: Sitcom Edition:

Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - 6.76 million...down a bit from last week.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.5 million...also down from previous week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.08 million...up well over a million from last week.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 8.01 million, up from last week, but a big drop from its lead-in.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends, Half & Half (UPN) - Repeats of these sitcoms were up from last week ranging from 1.94-2.10 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 4 episodes - 4 episode marathon for the next 6 weeks! Did decent...5.17, 5.32, 5.44, and 5.2 million each.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• UPN Comedies: Special airings of All of Us and Half & Half...9-10pm did 1.2 and 1.28 million--up from last week's Eve and Cuts.
• George Lopez (ABC) 4 episodes - ABC scheduled 4 episodes this week--didn't do as good as Jim from day before, but decent enough for repeats. 4.3, 4.17, 4.28 and 4.4 million from 8 to 10. Starting this week, ABC will only air George from 8 to 9 and have another Primetime Medical Mysteries at 9.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - Up from last week to 5.52 million, good for third behind CBS and ABC.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 4.42 million tuned in for a repeat.
  
• That '70s Show (Fox) 2 eps - 3.25 million at 8 p.m. and 4.33 million at 8:30.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris, Love Inc, Eve, Cuts (UPN) - Chris only did well with 2.42 million and the others ranged from 1.07-1.48 million--why not air 4 Chris' instead of canceled stuff?
  

Friday Sitcoms

• What I Like About You, Twins, Reba, Living with Fran (The WB) - All dead last place. Reba was the highest rated one obviously. The WB should air just Reba for the next few weeks.
  

Sitcoms tonight (Sunday) is Fox with Malcolm at 7, animated comedies from 7:30-9:30 and The War at Home at 9:30.