Friday, June 15, 2007
TV One July Highlights; Nick at Nite, The N Changes; Honda Sponsors Sony Minisodes
On Sunday, July 8 at 8pm, TV One premieres the legendary mini-series Roots: The Next Generations, the 14-hour, 7-part sequel to the original Roots miniseries that made television history. The story picks up in 1882 just after the original left off where Tom Harvey, the great grandson of Kunta Kinte has established a marginal existence as a blacksmith in Henning, Tennessee. The series continues the story of author Alex Haley’s family line from the Post American Civil War era to Alex’s search for his genealogical roots which led him to Africa. The mini-series stars Georg Stanford Brown, Lynne Moody, Debbi Morgan, Henry Fonda, Stan Shaw, Irene Cara, Marlon Brando, Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee, and James Earl Jones as Alex Haley. The first six parts air at 8pm all week through Friday, with encore showings at 10pm and in the weekday noon movie slots. They will also re-air on Saturday, July 14 from 12 noon to midnight. The final part will air Sunday night, July 15 also at 8pm and 10pm – and will be repeated on Monday, July 16 at 9pm.
Beginning Sunday, July 29 from 2am-6am, In the House replaces Amen in TV One’s Sunday weekly overnight comedy mini-marathons.
Nick at Nite has made a minor change for Saturday, June 23. From 10pm-2am, they have scheduled a mini-marathon for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What else is new, though?
The week of June 18, The N will air overnight marathons of the teen drama Summerland from 12-3am, but Monday it will be 12-6am.
Next week Sony will officially announce the full details for the Sony minisodes we mentioned a few weeks back. Today, Sony said Honda will be the sole sponsor for the short episodes. It is scheduled to begin next week. Visitors to the MySpace Web site will be able to watch episodes of 15 (initially...more will come soon) vintage Sony series like Charlie's Angels, Police Woman, The Partridge Family, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, What's Happening!!, Fantasy Island and Who's the Boss?, edited from their original lengths of approx. 30 or 60 minutes each to an Internet-friendly 4 to 6 minutes.
Honda and its longtime agency, RPA, have agreed to run only eight seconds of commercials with each episode, appearing before the shortened show starts. First, there will be an on-screen billboard lasting three seconds, declaring, "The Minisode Network, brought to you by Honda." The billboard will be followed by a five-second commercial for the Honda Fit, the mini-car that American Honda introduced last year, and its website.
The minisodes will appear exclusively on MySpace through the end of August. Initially, there will be three episodes of each series, with new episodes to be added each week. Sony Pictures Television announced the idea in April, describing it as a way to re-purpose for the new media programming that was originally produced for the traditional media.
The minisodes are not intended as pastiches or excerpts; they are edited carefully so the plots can be followed from beginning to end. (It helps that many of the series are formulaic sitcoms or police dramas.)
After the exclusivity with MySpace ends the goal is for the minisodes to come to other websites while remaining on MySpace. Sony Pictures Television is looking at sites like AOL.com, Yahoo! and YouTube, as well as posting them on a micro-site, a special site of their own.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Tuesday, February 25
St. Denis Medical - "Some Famous Internet Guy" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When a famous musician's performance at the hospital is delayed, Joyce throws an impromptu talent show with the St. Denis staff; Alex attempts to connect with her daughter, Ella.
Night Court - "Abracadabra Alaka-Dan" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Harry's old magician's assistant appears in the courthouse and puts Dan and Abby in a tough position; Gurgs, Flobert and Julianne are determined to fire up Wyatt's lukewarm life.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 24)
Tuesday, February 25
- Kate Hudson (Running Point) - Catch Kate on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also talks about Running Point on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am. Kate, Drew Tarver and Scott MacArthur will be on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Jennifer Coolidge (2 Broke Girls/Joey) - Jennifer appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Nick Kroll (Big Mouth/The League/Cavemen) - Nick is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Britt Lower (Ghosted/Man Seeking Woman/Big Lake) - Britt appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Kumail Nanjiani (Bless the Harts/Silicon Valley) - Kumail is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Wendi McLendon-Covey (St. Denis Medical/The Goldbergs/Rules of Engagement/Reno 911!) - Wendi appears on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Jennifer Tilly (Out of Practice) - Jennifer stops by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 3:30am on Bravo.
- Keanu Reeves (Swedish Dicks) and Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) - E! News has interviews with Keanu and Chris at 11pm on E!.
- Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) - NBC's Today catches up with Simu in the 9am hour.
- Jay Ellis (Running Point/Insecure/The Game) - Jay talks about Running Point on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea talks about I'll Have What She's Having on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Brenda Song (Running Point/Dollface/Dads/The Suite Life on Deck/The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) - Brenda discusses Running Point on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie and Drew are talking all things moisturizers and hydration with board certified dermatologist and TikTok sensation Dr. Shereene Idriss on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Phil Dunster (Surface) - Phil talks about the new season of Surface on Apple TV+ on Sherri, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
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