SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

TCA Cable Winter Press Tour Day 3; Remembering Yvonne De Carlo

Up today at the TCA tour are:
E! Networks (E!, style, G4), ESPN, Lifetime, Starz!, MTV Networks (MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Spike, Nickelodeon/Nick@Nite, TV Land).
We will have updates shortly.
First, we will start with VH1. That have started production on new scripted half-hour comedy I Hate My 30s. VH1's picked up eight episodes of the show, which uses the backdrop of a doctor's office to address issues faced by twenty-somethings reluctantly entering their 30s. Also, at VH1, for 16 years, America has been riveted by the outrageous guests and topics that make up The Jerry Springer Show. It showcases some of America's most colorful characters, wild relationships and truly amazing stories. Now, for the first time, backstage cameras capture life behind the curtain with VH1's new docu-soap, The Springer Hustle, an in-depth, insider's look at how America's most controversial television show is put together. Premiering Sunday, March 4 at 10 PM, the 8 half-hour episodes will
focus on the dedicated team of producers in the eye of the Springer
hurricane; a tight-knit family charged with filling the show with the wildest real American stories possible.
Sister network Spike TV has a new project coming up. Donnie Wahlberg has been signed to star opposite John Leguizamo in Spike TV's new fast-paced, thrilling original scripted eight-hour dramatic event The Kill Pit.
At Lifetime, Mark Gordon, a producer of ABC hit Grey's Anatomy will bring his expertise in large ensemble drama to Lifetime Television this summer with the debut of Army Wives. Army Wives, shot in HD, will begin production in February in South Carolina. Lifetime ordered 13 episodes of the show, which will star Kim Delany and Catherine Bell. So far, only the pilot has been shot. Kirstie Alley will star in and executive produce the upcoming Lifetime Original Movie And She Was, a satiric comedy about a middle-aged screenwriter who learns she is all washed up in Hollywood because she is considered too old. She enlists the help of her 20-something nephew who passes himself off as the writer of her scripts. But when he falls in love with a studio executive, her plan to reveal that she is, in fact, the talented wordsmith, is jeopardized. And She Was will premiere this summer on Lifetime Television.
G4 executives introduced a retro-video-game-inspired animated series, Code Monkeys. G4 will also launch Star Trek: The Next Generation 2.0 on January 15. The show features on-screen live chat and interactive features as a Star Trek episode airs. G4 has aired a similar format for original Star Trek episodes since April 2006.
As for style network, interior design pro Thom Filicia is hosting a new show for the style network. In the half-hour series Dress My Nest, Filicia will help redo a room in someone's house based on seeing one outfit of their clothing. The show debuts March 28. Also, style has renewed both Split Ends and Style Her Famous for second seasons.

An active day indeed. No news yet from TV Land or Nick at Nite yet, if anything will be released at all. If they do release something, check back here in this spot or in tomorrow's blog.

Coming up tomorrow (the last day for cable): TV Guide Channel, NBC Universal Cable Networks (Bravo, Sci-Fi, USA Network)), Sundance Channel, GSN, Rainbow Networks (AMC, WE-TV, Fuse), HBO.

Yvonne De Carlo who played wife Lily Munster on the hit '60s sitcom The Munsters has passed away. De Carlo is best known for that role on the horror spoof sitcom. She was also quite known for her role as Charlton Heston's wife in the movie epic The Ten Commandments. De Carlo died Monday in Los Angeles of natural causes. She also played Lily Munster in the 1966 movie Munster, Go Home; The Munsters' Revenge in 1981; and in a cameo appearance in the 1995 TV movie revival Here Come the Munsters. De Carlo was an actress who acted in the 1940s even in various movies. Her other TV credits include guest spots on Bonanza, Fantasy Island, Murder She Wrote, Dream On, and Death Valley Days. She even had a small role in the highest rated mini-series of all time, Roots, playing a slave owner's wife. Let's hope TV Land does a tribute by airing some Munsters episodes, though they don't have rights to the show anymore. The least they can do is air that Bonanza episode. If there is a tribute, we will let you know. Ms. De Carlo will certainly be missed by sitcom fans. She was 84.