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
Wednesday, October 23
Abbott Elementary - "Class Pet" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Janine gets a budget for class pets, but Melissa is resistant to taking on the added work and responsibility for her room’s guinea pig. An IT rep from the school district arrives to set up new computers.
Everybody Still Hates Chris - "Everybody Still Hates Bullies" (Comedy Central, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Chris gets a gig DJ-ing at a drag ball and develops drag queen eyes.
Everybody Still Hates Chris - "Everybody Still Hates Career Tests" (Comedy Central, 10:30PM ET/PT)
Chris and Greg tape over a porno rented from Caruso and must replace it.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 21)
Wednesday, October 23
- Billy Crystal (The Comedians/Soap) - Watch Billy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Anna Kendrick (Love Life) - Anna appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Matty Matheson (The Bear) - Matty stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Bernadette Peters (High Desert/Mozart in the Jungle/All's Fair) - Bernadette is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Olivia Munn (Perfect Couples) - NBC's Today catches up with Olivia some time between 7-9am.
- Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere) - Bridget talks about Somebody Somewhere on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- David Henrie (Wizards Beyond Waverly Place/Wizards of Waverly Place/How I Met Your Mother/The Pitts) - David discusses Wizards Beyond Waverly Place on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings. One or two Wizards Beyond Waverly Place cast members will be on New York Living at 10:05am.
- Judith Light (Who's the Boss?/Phenom/Transparent) - Judith talks about Before on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Billy Crystal (The Comedians/Soap) - Billy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Mariska Hargitay (Can't Hurry Love) - Mariska talks about the greatest thing sheĆ¢€™s learned since turning 60 on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Dexter Darden (Saved by the Bell) - Dexter talks about Peacock's Fight Night; The Million Dollar Heist on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Essence Atkins (Poppa's House/Marlon/Mr. Box Office/Are We There Yet?/Half & Half/Smart Guy/Under One Roof) - Essence talks about Poppa's House on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K Ultra HD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (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)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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