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

Thursday, August 31, 2006

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.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, July 3

The Dick Van Dyke Show - Now in Living Color! - (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
CBS will honor the memory of legendary actor, producer, director, writer, comedian and Emmy Award winner Carl Reiner with THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR! A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO CARL REINER, featuring two colorized back-to-back classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series, Friday, July 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. As series creator and co-star, Carl Reiner personally supervised the original colorization of the episodes.

The special features “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” which ranked #8 on TV Guide’s list of the “100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time,” and “October Eve,” which Mr. Reiner considered to be one of the series’ funniest episodes. Both were written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.

In “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” Laura Petrie blurts out a top secret on a national television quiz show, revealing that comedian Alan Brady wears a toupee. The episode, which was the show’s fifth and final season premiere, was originally broadcast on Sept. 15, 1965. “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1966.

In “October Eve,” a painting of Laura returns to haunt her when, despite her having posed fully clothed, the artist (played by Carl Reiner) takes the liberty of “undraping” her. The episode was first presented on April 8, 1964, during season three.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 29)

Friday, July 3

Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Watch Kevin on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12:35am on ABC.
Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Tina appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Laura Dern (Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Mark Duplass (Togetherness/The Mindy Project/The League) - Mark appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa guest hosts a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Brett Gelman (Camping/Fleabag/Love/Married/Go On) - Brett appears on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/The Game) - Tika talks about the season finale of mixed-ish and her latest project helping new moms on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie/The Secret Lives of Men) - Peter talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and Grace and Frankie on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.