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

Thursday, November 13

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Pregnancy Test and an Old Man’s Gallbladder" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie’s jealousy rears its head when Mandy gets sent on an overnight work trip with her ex and current boss, Scott (Christopher Gorham). Meanwhile, Jim and Audrey panic when they find a pregnancy test in Connor’s trash.

Ghosts - "T-Daddy" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Trevor’s relationship with his daughter is strained when he pushes her to follow a career in finance over poetry. Meanwhile, Jay confronts labor unrest at the restaurant.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 10)

Thursday, November 13

The Jonas Brothers (Jonas/Jonas LA) - The Jonas Brothers are guests on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Billy Bob Thornton (Hearts Afire) - Billy Bob swings by the studio on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Olivia Holt (I Didn't Do It/Shake It Up) - Olivia appears on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Alicia Silverstone (American Woman) - Alicia talks about A Merry Little Ex-Mas on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Glen Powell (Chad Powers/Scream Queens) - Glen talks about The Running Man on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Jake Lacy (High Fidelity/The Office/Better with You) - NBC's Today catches up with Jake in the 9am hour.
Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale/God's Favorite Idiot/American Housewife/The Odd Couple/About a Boy) - Leslie co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together/Rules of Engagement/My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star) - Oliver talks about Gingerbread Land: The Biggest Little Holiday Competition on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Karen Pittman (And Just Like That...) - Karen talks about The Morning Show on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Carrie Preston (Crowded/Happyish/Emeril) - Carrie joins the Tam Fam in a daytime exclusive to celebrate the new season of her hit show Elsbeth on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine talks about her new film Eternity on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Woody Harrelson (Cheers), Dave Franco (The Afterparty/Scrubs/Do Not Disturb), Isla Fisher (Wolf Like Me) and Ariana Greenblatt (Stuck in the Middle) - The Now You See Me: Now You Don't cast including Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher Jesse Eisenberg, Ariana Greenblatt, Justice Smith and Dominic Sessa join Drew to dish all about the third installment of the hit franchise on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Lake Bell (Bless This Mess/How to Make it in America/Childrens Hospital) - Lake talks about HBO Max's The Chair Company on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.