ABC Schedule Notes; New Sitcom 'The Game' Gets Lawsuit?

Thursday, September 21, 2006

ABC Schedule Notes; New Sitcom 'The Game' Gets Lawsuit?

ABC has made some changes for its line-up next week. They will remove the encore of last season's Lost finale on Monday from 9-11pm with another Wife Swap and a Men in Trees encore. That was probably a better choice. Also, they will now air a special 20/20 next Wednesday at 10 p.m. replacing an encore of Men in Trees. The 20/20 Special will be with Barbara Walters as she interviews the widow of the late Steve Irwin.
ABC also will repurpose the pilot for the highly anticipated new series Ugly Betty on ABC Family and SOAPnet. Ugly Betty premieres next Thursday at 8 p.m. on ABC, and will encore next Friday at 7 p.m. on ABC Family and next Saturday at 12 noon and 11:59pm on SOAPnet. Betty has a chance of being the highest rated new shows this season.
ABC also announced that SOAPnet will encore the first season of What About Brian on Sundays from 12-2pm for the next three weeks, leading up to the second season premiere Mon. Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Author Staci Robinson is suing The CW, its owners and some producers for $40 million for allegedly stealing the concept of her unpublished novel to create the sitcom The Game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The writer claims that in 2001, she had interviewed for a job as a writers assistant at Kelsey Grammer's Gramnet Prods. when she gave a manuscript of her novel to The Game executive producer Mara Brock Akil. The suit, filed Sept. 14, alleges that the series copies her premise and the characters in the book. She names the CW and its owners, CBS and Warner Bros., Akil and Gramnet as defendants. Besides the hefty monetary damages, Robinson is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep the network from premiering the show on Sunday, Oct. 1. Yikes...

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, December 15

St. Denis Medical - "A Waste of Time and Marble" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
With the threat of a nurse walkout, Alex is caught between her colleagues and Joyce; Ron and Bruce go above and beyond to help an unexpected patient.

The Paper - "Churnalism" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Ned takes over Esmeralda's advertorials and assigns the staff to test products themselves, but Esmeralda retaliates and covers one of Ned's stories and finds a scandal; Ken turns Adam into a lab rat; Oscar and Adelola compare pain tolerances.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 15)

Monday, December 15

Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) - Watch Simu on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. He also talks about The Copenhagen Test on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am and in the 10am hour.
Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Paul appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) - Maria is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Andy Cohen interviews Kerry on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11pm on Bravo.
Odessa A'zion (I Love LA/Fam) - Odessa talks about Marty Supreme on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Patti LaBelle (Out All Night) - Patti treats us to an EXCLUSIVE festive performance of It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Kate Hudson (Running Point) - Kate talks about Song Sung Blue on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Rosie Perez (Human Resources/Search Party) - Rosie co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Hank Azaria (The Simpsons/Brockmire/Free Agents/Herman's Head) - Hank and The EZ Street Band stop by for a chat and performance on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Ana Gasteyer (American Auto/People of Earth/Lady Dynamite/Suburgatory) - NBC's Today catches up with Ana in the 10am hour.
Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie tells Sherri about starring in The Family McMullen, the sequel to The Brothers McMullen, on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
Ashley Park (Emily in Paris/Only Murders in the Building/Girls5eva/Nightcap) - Ashley talks about the highly-anticipated fifth season of Emily in Paris on Netflix on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
Glen Powell (Chad Powers/Scream Queens) - Glen talks about The Running Man on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
William H. Macy (Sports Night) - William talks about Netflix's Train Dreams on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Andy Richter (Andy Barker, P.I./Quintuplets/Andy Richter Controls the Universe) - Andy talks about ABC's Dancing with the Stars on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.