SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

'Raymond' Co-Star Peter Boyle Passes Away at 71; Nick@Nite January 2007 Schedule

We have some pretty shocking sad news to tell you. Legendary actor Peter Boyle has passed away. He passed away last night at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease. He is best remembered probably for his role as Ray Romano's father on the massive hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond that ran from 1996-2005. Most probably didn't know he had health problems over the years. In 1990, Boyle had a stroke and couldn't talk for six months. In 1999, he had a heart attack on the Raymond set. He soon regained his health, however, and returned to the series. Boyle was still working quite actively and just last month he co-starred in the holiday movie series The Santa Clause 3 starring Tim Allen (he has also appeared on the first two installments). Boyle also still a movie or two yet to be released. He was set to start filming on a new movie this February called Chatham.
Mr. Boyle has starred or co-starred in many movies and has appeared on many TV series as a guest such as The King of Queens & Cosby (portraying his role from Raymond), The Single Guy, Lois & Clark, The X-Files, NYPD Blue, Flying Blind, Midnight Caller, Cagney & Lacey, and Tripping the Rift. He was a regular on two very short lived shows called Philly Heat and Joe Bash. He also had an infamous failed pilot called Poochinski, where Boyle starred as a hard boiled cop who was killed in the line of duty and his soul goes into the body of a dog he had befriended.
Lately he had been co-starring in a number of big motion pictures, as we mentioned the Santa Clause movie series, Scooby Doo 2, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Monsters Ball, and Dr. Dolittle. He even hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1976, but it was Everybody Loves Raymond for who people will remember him for. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy series for 7 straight years (1999-2005). He never won an Emmy for the show but he did win an Emmy in 1996 for his guest spot on The X-Files and was also nominated in 1989 for his guest spot on Midnight Caller and his first nomination was in 1977 for the TV-movie Tail Gunner Joe.
While this is certainly shocking news for mostly everyone out there, let's look back and remember Mr. Boyle by watching his work. He will be deeply missed by not only the sitcom world, but everyone. He was 71.

Turning to Nick@Nite, they have released their January line-up and one thing stands out...no more off-the clock scheduling! Why? I think I know why. Nickelodeon is now running Nick@Nite. TV Land is not going to be overseeing Nick@Nite anymore, so Nickelodeon will be controlling the Nick@Nite block. Thus, we have no more off the clock scheduling. They have also removed shows that really don't fit the network. Designing Women, Murphy Brown and NewsRadio. All three will be removed after this week. We mentioned the latter two yesterday, but didn't mention Designing Women. That show was airing Thursday nights in the mini-marathon, but starting next week Fresh Prince minis will take over for the final two weeks in December. So, what will happen in January? Well, Nick@Nite will basically focus on four family-friendly shows that fit the Nickelodeon brand. They will have two back-to-back blocks of Full House, Roseanne, Fresh Prince and The Cosby Show. For example, Full House will air 9pm-10am and 1am-2am. The schedule after 11pm will be the same every night. Nick@Nite doesn't program 9-10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, so Full House will air 10-11pm, where Roseanne airs Sun-Thurs. So what happened to A Different World and Mad About You? They are around...sort of. They will share the 5am half-hour. Mad About You will air Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays; while A Different World will air Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Full House will remain at 5:30am, meaning Full House will now air the most with five airings a night. I guess with Nickelodeon now overseeing and programming the Nick@Nite block the amount of special programming and marathons will be limited, as in January there are none at all.
To see the full January 2007 line-up click HERE. I know we promised TV Land's January line-up today, but we are still working on a few details, so we hope to bring that to you tomorrow! So come back then to find out when M*A*S*H will air!