TV One July Highlights; Nick at Nite, The N Changes; Honda Sponsors Sony Minisodes

Friday, June 15, 2007

TV One July Highlights; Nick at Nite, The N Changes; Honda Sponsors Sony Minisodes

There are not many highlights related to actual TV series for TV One in July, but we do have some. Here are some:
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

Thursday, November 26

Young Sheldon - "Pasadena" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Sheldon visits CalTech for the very first time. Also, Georgie is furious when Mary listens in on a phone call with his girlfriend, and Meemaw tries to cheer up a jealous Missy.

B Positive - "Pilot" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Drew, a recently divorced father, discovers he needs a kidney and finds his donor in the last person he ever would’ve imagined.

Young Sheldon - "A Parasol and a Hell of an Arm" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
A church carnival leads Missy to try out for the baseball team. Also, Meemaw struggles after her breakup with Dr. Sturgis.

B Positive - "Die Alysis" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Drew’s condition worsens, he needs to make sure Gina is still serious about donating her kidney and winds up making her an offer she can’t refuse.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 23)

Thursday, November 26

Alison Brie (GLOW/Community) - Catch Alison on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) - Jerry appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Brenda Song (Dollface/Dads/The Suite Life on Deck/The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) and Esther Povitsky (Dollface/Alone Together) - Brenda and Esther are guests on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Sam Richardson (Champaign ILL/Detroiters/Veep) - Sam appears on a repeat of Conan Without Borders: Ghana at 11pm on TBS.
Billy Crystal (The Comedians/Soap) - Billy chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) - Kim appears on a repeat of LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Tig Notaro (One Mississippi) - Tig is a guest on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) - Cynthia appears on a repeat of The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Patti LaBelle (Out All Night) - Patti is a guest on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Jason George (Eve/Off Centre) - Jason chats at the kitchen table on a repeat of Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Holly Robinson Peete (American Housewife/Love, Inc./Like Family/For Your Love/Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) - Holly talks about The Christmas Doctor on ABC's GMA3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Ben Feldman (Superstore/A to Z/Living with Fran) - Ben appears on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Jenny McCarthy (Two and a Half Men/The Bad Girl's Guide/Jenny) - Jenny is a guest on a repeat of The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Tommy Davidson (Between Brothers) - Tommy appears on a repeat of The Doctors, so check your local listings.
Goldie Hawn (Good Morning World) - Goldie and Kurt Russell are guests on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Marlo Thomas (That Girl) - NBC's Today has Thanks + Giving: Meet 3 Patients Celebrating Off Chemo with Marlo sometime between 7-9am.