TCA Winter Press Tour: Fox; CW to End 'Reba'; Remembering Barney Miller's Ron Carey

Saturday, January 20, 2007

TCA Winter Press Tour: Fox; CW to End 'Reba'; Remembering Barney Miller's Ron Carey

The final day of the TCA Winter Press Tour brings Fox up to the plate. They have announced their spring schedule and have a lot of new times and new shows. So, let's get it started right away...
Freshman sitcom 'Til Death is making a move to Wednesdays at 9:30, following American Idol. After special post-Idol airings on Tuesday, Feb. 27 and Wednesday, Feb. 28 (both at 9:30 PM), the time period premiere is Wednesday, March 14.
Sitcom The War at Home is moving back to Sundays, but this time at 7:30. The show premieres in its new time period Sunday, March 4 (7:30-8:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. New sitcom The Winner, from creator Seth MacFarlane, debuts with two episodes on Sunday, March 4 at 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM and it will air for three consecutive Sundays at 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM, finishing its 6-episode order in just three weeks. King of the Hill will return to 8:30 PM on March 25 after three weeks off, as will American Dad at 9:30 PM.
Fox will debut a mid-season drama from David E. Kelley called The Wedding Bells on Friday, March 9 at 9 PM, but first it will give it a sneak preview Wednesday, March 7, After American Idol at 9 PM.
Freshman drama Standoff will move to a new night and time on Friday, March 30 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).
Finally, the new action drama Drive, created by Tim Minear and Ben Queen, takes viewers for a wild ride when a diverse group of people, all with different motives and secrets, participate in an underground cross-country road race. Drive revs up the schedule with a two-hour series premiere Sunday, April 15 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and time period premiere Monday, April 16 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Prison Break's season would have ended a week before. Fox has confirmed at the tour that that show will return next season for a third season.
This is not all Fox will air in mid-season. Thursdays is still TBD, but rumor has it that Hell's Kitchen is coming to Thursdays at 9 PM, but Fox didn't announce that today. Also, on Fox's mid-season docket, but not announced yet are returning sitcom The Loop, new reality/game show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, reality show On the Lot (that could be moved to summer now), and reality show Woman Rule the World. Nanny 911 and Trading Spouses looks like will end early, with Nanny probably ending after its March 23 airing and Spouses ending after its March 2 airing, with the new Fox Friday by March 30 of Standoff & The Wedding Bells.
One final note, Fox will have two episodes of 24 on Monday, Feb. 12. Day Six: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM and Day Six: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM airing Monday, Feb. 12 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), the nation continues to reel from the terrorist attacks and Agent Bauer battles unthinkable circumstances.

The CW confirmed late yesterday that long running sitcom Reba will end with a two-part series finale this season. So, it looks like a wrap for that sitcom, unless it pulls a 7th Heaven and comes back.

We leave you today with some sad news, actor Ron Carey passed away this past Tuesday. Ron Carey, the short and puckish comedic actor is best known for his role as Officer Carl Levitt on the hit sitcom Barney Miller. He was also a member of Mel Brooks' troupe in films such as High Anxiety and Silent Movie. Carey died of a stroke Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The 5-foot-7 Carey became a semi-regular on ABC's Barney Miller in 1976, the second year of the sitcom that starred Hal Linden, and remained with the show until it ended in 1982. The Newark, NJ native also co-starred in the series Lucky Luke in 1993. He also had a role in the short-lived ABC sitcom produced by John Ritter called Have Faith in 1989. He also was on two short lived sitcoms in the '70s--The Montefuscos (1975) for NBC and The Corner Bar (1972-73) for ABC. He has guest starred on sitcoms such as Benson, Alice, New Love American Style.
Carey, probably not known by many by his name, certainly will be remembered by his role on Barney Miller by sitcom fans. He will be missed. He was 71.

We will have our Saturday mini-DVD review tomorrow on a special Sunday edition. We might not have our regular Sunday ratings blog tomorrow because we don't have access to final numbers for this week yet. So, I might not do it, or I'll just fast nationals. We'll see...but certainly come by tomorrow for the mini-review.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, February 24

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Getting Lucky" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Calvin and Dave join Lamar (Kevin Pollack) on a road trip to the casino. Also, Tina and Gemma babysit Daphne while Marty desperately tries to spend time with Courtney alone. Series star Tichina Arnold directs this episode.

Poppa's House - "Slumber Party" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Poppa dodges an invitation to a family slumber party, Junior attempts to change his mind by making him jealous of everyone attending. Charo guest stars as herself. Wendy Raquel Robinson returns as Catherine. Geoffrey Owens returns as J.J.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 24)

Monday, February 24

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) - Watch Chris on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Drew Carey (The Drew Carey Show/The Good Life) - Drew appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Woody Harrelson (Cheers) - Woody stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Wendell Pierce (The Odd Couple/The Michael J. Fox Show/The Weber/The Brian Benben Show/The Gregory Hines Show) - Wendell appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS. He talks about the latest season of Raising Kanan on Starz on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Sam Waterston (Grace and Frankie) - Sam makes a special appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Christian Slater (Breaking In) - Christian is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Zosia Mamet (Laid/Girls) - Zosia appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Tichina Arnold (The Neighborhood/Survivor's Remorse/Happily Divorced/Everybody Hates Chris/Martin) and Essence Atkins (Poppa's House/Marlon/Mr. Box Office/Are We There Yet?/Half & Half/Smart Guy/Under One Roof) - Tichina and Essence are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS. Tichina appers on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Jon Hamm (Grimsburg/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) - Jon appears on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11pm on Bravo.
Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris is a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9pm on Bravo.
Kate Hudson (Running Point) - E! News has an interview with Kate at 11pm on E!.
Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) - NBC's Today catches up with Eric in the 9am hour.
Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons and Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood/The Last O.G./The Soul Man/The Steve Harvey Show) - CBS Mornings has CBS deals with Anthony and Cedric sometime between 7-9am.
Clifton Davis (Amen/That's My Mama) - Nancy Giles goes behind the scenes of CBS' new series Beyond the Gates with actors Clifton Davis, Tamara Tunie, Daphnée Duplaix and Karla Mosley on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Hank Azaria (The Simpsons/Brockmire/Free Agents/Herman's Head) - Hank chats with the hosts and performs with the EZ Street Band on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso) - Phil talks about the new season of Ted Lasso on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Halle is hitting the headlines with Drew and Ross and opening up about finding love again on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Then, Halle is opening up about her experience with menopause and the new platform Respin she made to help women through it.
Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer and Freddy Rodriguez chat about their podcast Dos Amigos on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.