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TBS September 2007 Schedule, The Office on Tuesdays, 'Sex' All Week-Long; My Boys Scores on TBS

TBS has released its September 2007 schedule and it will feature some changes. The week of September 3 has some minor changes, which are just filler until the new line-up that starts on September 10. Let's start with the filler stuff. Sept. 4, 5, 6 and 7 NewsRadio returns for 4 days in the noon slot followed by The Cosby Show at 12:30pm. The other filler stuff is very minor, and you can take a look at that in our link at the end of this story.
Let's move on to the September 10 line-up. The Steve Harvey Show is moving from its afternoon slots to 6 & 6:30am, replacing The Cosby Show which will now move to the dreaded approx. 5:30am slot, where it will not air everyday. Saved by the Bell continues to air its two-hour block from 7-9am. The morning movie will move from 10am-12pm to 9am-11am now. Dawson's Creek which was at 9am will move to the dreaded approx. 4:30am slot, which like Cosby Show, will not be everyday. Home Improvement will get a two-hour block from 11am-1pm. Yes, Dear moves from late afternoon to early afternoon at 1-2pm. Just Shoot Me, which premieres August 6, will move from 1-2pm to 2-3pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air moves to an hour later at 3-4pm. The King of Queens will take over the 4-5pm slot followed by an hour of Seinfeld at 5-6pm. Friends will air at 6pm followed by a triple shot of Everybody Loves Raymond from 6:30pm-8pm.
Primetime will also be changing. Friends will kick-off Mondays and Thursdays with back-to-back episodes from 8-9pm. On Mondays it will lead into Family Guy from 9-11pm and on Thursdays a movie from 9-11pm. Tuesdays will see a Family Guy block from 8-10pm and then starting September 18 The Office will air Tuesdays 10-11pm. Wednesdays will see a House of Payne marathon from 8-10pm followed by back-to-back Family Guy episodes 10-11pm. Finally, Fridays will have Everybody Loves Raymond kick-off the night leading into Dinner and a Movie.
Effective week of September 17, you can now catch Sex and the City five nights a week on TBS at 11 & 11:30PM! Seinfeld will get the late Tuesday slot of 11:59PM and 12:30AM, while movies will air the rest of the week. Other notes: Parent'hood is missing from the schedule because its contract has expired. Drew Carey Show has also expired, as we noted in the August changes.
No word yet if this is indeed the Fall schedule or not, as usually TBS launches its fall schedule in October. We shall find out and when we do, we will let you know. So for now click HERE to view a list of these changes!

Sticking with TBS, the season premiere of original sitcom My Boys scored well for TBS last night. Continuing to ride a wave of comedy success, TBS has triumphed once again on the original comedy series front. Last night's return of the critically acclaimed sitcom My Boys scored extremely well with young adults, garnering a median age of 29. The show also outdelivered the series' November 2006 series premiere among adults 18-34 and scored an extraordinary 43% growth in that demographic when compared to the show's 2006 13-episode average. Last night's episodes averaged more than 1.6 million viewers, nearly half of them among the key adults 18-34 demographic. My Boys airs Mondays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on TBS.
Other ratings highlights for the return of My Boys on TBS:
- Combined, last night’s back-to-back episodes averaged 801,000 adults 18-34, a 43% jump over last year's 559,000 premiere average for the first 13 episodes in that demographic. Last night's episodes also averaged 1,176,000 adults 18-49, up 12% vs. premiere telecasts of the show in 2006 (1,052,000).
- Demonstrating the successful strategy of stacking episodes to provide stronger flow, the 10:30 p.m. episode of My Boys last night showed growth over its lead-in 10 p.m. episode, with adults 18-34 up 4% and adults 18-49 up 6%.
- With My Boys joining the list, TBS now claims ad-supported cable's Top 8 sitcoms for the year to date among adults 18-49, with Tyler Perry's House of Payne ranking #1, The Bill Engvall Show ranking #2 and My Boys ranking #6. Rounding out the list are Friends (#3), Seinfeld (#4), Everybody Loves Raymond (#5), King of Queens (#7) and Sex and the City (#8).

TV One Schedule Change, September Highlights, Fall Preview

TV One has made a schedule change for August. Cedric the Entertainer Presents will rejoin the line-up on August 6, but first on Sunday, August 5 from 8-10pm, TV One kicks off Cedric with a special mini-marathon presentation of FOUR never before seen on television episodes of Cedric the Entertainer Presents, a sketch comedy variety show starring Cedric the Entertainer. This special premiere mini-marathon of 4 back-to-back episodes which were never shown on television during the show's initial network run has an encore play at 11pm. )Programming previously announced for this time period has been pre-empted.
Then the series comes to the TV One schedule full-time starting Monday, August 6 in the weeknights at 9pm time-slot. The sketch comedy series has an encore play in the overnight at 4:30am. Both slots will replace Wanda at Large.
But that's not all Cedric...turning to September now, laughter comes full force to close out the holiday weekend on Monday, September 3 from 12-9PM, as TV One presents a marathon of Cedric the Entertainer Presents. This all-day marathon, which includes two more episodes never before seen on television at 8pm, replays in late night beginning at 11pm.
Other September highlights:
On Friday, September 28; Saturday, September 29; and Sunday, September 30, TV One presents a ROOTS: The Next Generations marathon weekend as all seven parts are aired over the weekend with Parts 1-2 airing on Friday beginning at 8pm, Parts 3-4 airing on Saturday beginning at 6pm and parts 5-7 airing on Sunday beginning at 6pm. The seven part 14-hour mini-series stars Georg Stanford Brown, Lynn Moody, Irene Cara, Stan Shaw, Marlon Brando, Richard Thomas, Debbi Morgan, and James Earl Jones.
The TV One fall schedule beginning on Monday, October 1 and will be announced soon, but we can tell you All of Us will be headed to the weekday schedule, as now the series has been canceled by The CW, so repeats now can air 7 days a week on TV One.
Stay tuned this week for more September schedules, such as TBS, TNT and FX!

We will be back with more news in a bit.

TBS Original Sitcom My Boys Returns Tomorrow, Airing Mondays at 10PM

Viewers who may have missed out on TBS's critically acclaimed series My Boys when it premiered late last year have the chance to catch up before new episodes arrive Monday, July 30, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). TBS's online broadband destination, tbs.com, is offering a four-minute, rapid-fire recap of everything that's happened up to now. In addition, viewers who have a little more time on their hands can catch up with the show by watching complete previous episodes on tbs.com or by watching a marathon of all 13 episodes today (Sunday, July 29), beginning at 10 a.m. (ET/PT).
Last year, My Boys saw PJ and her boys through some humorous, yet realistic, times including on-the-job romance, a dating slump, the value of honesty in friendship and uncovering secrets kept from close friends. This summer promises more poker nights at PJs, beers at Crowley's Bar and amusing situations from the whole gang. Andy (Jim Gaffigan) will struggle with his move to the suburbs and another big bombshell from Meredith. Mike (Jamie Kaler), having exhausted every means to kill time while unemployed, strikes ups an interesting business alliance. Kenny (Michael Bunin) continues to search for love in all the wrong places. Bobby (Kyle Howard), who has comfortably settled in as one of the gang, reveals a shocking secret of his own. Brendan (Reid Scott) goes through a disturbing personality change that requires the entire group to get him back on track. Stephanie (Kellee Stewart) runs into some financial trouble this year but has better luck with dating.
Casting a big shadow over this summer is that PJ and Stephanie have purchased two two-for-one tickets to Italy. The entire summer sends them on a quest to find boyfriends to bring along as their dates. Or in PJ's case, on a journey to determine whether or not she even wants to bring a boyfriend at all.
My Boys premiered on TBS in November 2006, quickly scoring strong ratings and critical acclaim. It ended the year as ad-supported cable's #1 original sitcom among key adult demos, households and viewers. The show is being executive-produced by creator Betsy Thomas, Jamie Tarses, Gavin Polone and Eric Gilliland. It comes to TBS from Pariah and 2 Out Rally Productions, Inc., in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Mini-DVD Review: Tales from the Crypt - The Complete 6th Season (July 24); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Summer Sucks on TV Land and Nick at Nite

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at Warner Home Video's Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season. Tales From The Crypt of course is the popular '90s HBO series...that was spooky but cool. See skees53's mini-DVD review of Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season:

Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season (Warner, $39.98) brings the Cryptkeeper back to tell fifteen more spine-tingling stories that are guaranteed to give you nightmares (well, if that kind of stuff actually scares you, that is). The set contains the 15 episodes of the series that aired on HBO in the 1994-1995 season on a three disc set. Among these episodes include tales of a predatory lawyer learning a rough lesson, psychiatric patients that are being treated unfairly getting their justice, wives getting a little bit of revenge, harvesting the souls of the dead, and more. And the guest stars are pretty impressive, including Catherine O'Hara, Rita Rudner, Isaac Hayes, Hal Williams, Debbe Dunning, Wayne Newton, Corey Feldman, Hank Azaria, Ben Stein, and John Lithgow. And if that isn't enough, Alfred Hitchock and Humphrey Bogart mysteriously come back to life to do an episode... well thanks to computers... in the episode "You, Murderer." I also love this episode because of the introduction to the episode, where the Cryptkeeper becomes "Fearest Gump" and offers Alfred Hitchcock a "shockalet" while sitting next to him at a bench!
The set comes in double slimcases and the video and audio quality are perfectly fine, with English subtitles to go along with the episodes. The runtimes for the episodes are all over the place, going as low as 20 minutes to as high as 27 minutes, but this kind of fluctuation is somewhat normal for premium cable programs. The set doesn't exactly go all out when it comes to the special features, but there is one: a Virtual Comic Book special feature of "Whirlpool." Basically, this is a 15 minute story from the original comic book that the series was based upon, which could have potentially been boring, but isn't because the Cryptkeeper actually reads the story and gives an introduction, just like an episode of the television series. It is actually kind of fun to watch. I think all of you boils and ghouls will just scream about this set!
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, July 28, 2007
"Summer Sucks on TV Land and Nick at Nite"
By Solomon Davis

I recently watched the latest episode of TV Land's new original series Back to the Grind this past Wednesday night featuring actors Marla Gibbs and Sherman Hemsley doing the actual job they did on the sitcom The Jeffersons.
Before the show started, I asked myself, "Why is Sherman Hemsley being featured?" I wondered that because he was never really seen working at his job on The Jeffersons and not only that he was the owner of the chain of dry cleaners and never worked at the cleaners. TV Land didn't know this before putting this program
together? Even with the goof of having Hemsley featured on this show, I found it to be flat out boring because once again people at TV Land can't think out the box and entertain its viewers. Wouldn't it have been FUNNIER if they featured Sherman and Marla Gibbs not being able to do their fictional jobs? At least that would have created some water cooler talk like, "wow I thought Sherman would do well working at a dry cleaners." So the fact that we know Marla Gibbs can do housekeeping and Sherman can work in a dry cleaners now what? TV Land needs to go back to the DRAWING BOARD and come up with another original programming idea because this show just didn't make sense.
Nick at Nite's Wall to Wall Summer Marathons are really a REPEAT-THON since the last half of the marathon is a repeat of the first half which means that if you start watching at 9pm make sure you grab the remote at 1am because it will be nothing new to see. Why does Nick at Nite have to repeat a 4-hour marathon when the network can just have a 9pm to 1am marathon and air regularly scheduled programming? Nick at Nite's marathon style is like going out to dinner and a movie with friends from 9pm to 1am and then turn back around and go to the same restaurant for dinner after having going there earlier in the evening. Are they thinking about the people in this country who work the 3pm to 11pm shift and feel that they would be more interested in watching TV from 1am to 5am? So maybe the first half of the marathon is for the viewers who work 9am to 5pm because they figure it's no way we would be awake after 1am. So if that is the case then what about Friday nights when the day shift viewers are OFF the following day? That's something else they didn't think about when coming up with the idea of this wall to wall "pointlessthon."
So basically both Nick at Nite and TV Land is not doing a good job this summer in pleasing the viewers and we will just have to see what happens in the fall because both networks have given us nothing to smile about this summer season.
TV Land's original programming was just the worst and fell a couple of notches down on the entertainment scale since airing the Mr. T self-help series, I Pity the Fool. That series kept viewers tuned in for 30 minutes unlike the TV Land's Back to the Grind which keeps viewers tuned out. And the Nick at Nite repeat-thon is something we will have to deal with the rest of the summer by just tuning in at 9pm or 1am so we won't see a repeat schedule. They should change the title of the marathon weeks to "Back-to-Back Marathon Week: The Repeat Edition." And TV Land should rename its original shows "Waiting for the Fall
Programming."

Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.

DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.

AmericanLife TV August 2007 Highlights and Changes

AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts a new Saturday night Boomer Solutions lifestyle primetime programming line-up on August 4, 2007 featuring new shows This Food, That Wine (9pm) and Save Our House, Save Our Family (10pm), as well as recently relocated Fixing Dinner (9:30pm) and 'Til Debt Do Us Part (10:30pm). The block encores from 11pm-1am.
So what about the Saturday Comedy Block? It is before and after the new Boomer Solutions LifeStyle Block now. There is now only one episode of The Color Honeymooners (just at 7pm), followed by My Favorite Martian at 8pm and F Troop at 8:30pm. Chico and the Man is now at 1am (going into Sunday) and Welcome Back, Kotter is at 1:30am.

Other August highlights:
Thursday, August 2
* Combat!: Richardo Montalban, known for his role of Mr. Rourke in Fantasy Island, guests in "Gadjo" (7:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Saturday, August 4
* My Favorite Martian: Doris Packer guest stars in "We Love You, Miss Pringle" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Sunday, August 5
* I Spy: Carroll O'Connor guests in "It's All Done with Mirrors" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).
* L.A. Law: Sela Ward guest stars in the first of two episodes, "The Venus Butterfly" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "Fry Me To the Moon" (August 12).

Tuesday, August 7
* Combat!: Robert Duvall guests in two upcoming episodes, "Cry for Help" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "The Partisan" (August 21).

Thursday, August 9
* Kung Fu: Tim Matheson guest stars in "The Soldier" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Tuesday, August 14
* China Beach: Don Cheadle guests in "Promised Land" (12:00 a.m. ET/PT).

Wednesday, August 15
* The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.: Ed Asner guest stars in two upcoming episodes, "The Double-O-Nothing" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "The U.N.C.L.E. Samurai Affair" (August 22).

Sunday, August 19
* I Spy: Michael Conrad guests in "So Coldly Sweet" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Friday, August 24
* The FBI: Martin Sheen guest stars in "The Condemned" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Tuesday, August 28
* China Beach: Megan Mullally guests in "The World, Part Two" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

WGN Fall 2007 Schedule; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: ABC Day 2

Well, now fall schedules for cable will be on the horizon. The first one we will take a look at is WGN. WGN will be adding some new programs this fall, returning a classic, and dropping a few shows. The new series they are adding to the weekday line-up are Nash Bridges, Sister Sister, Corner Gas, and The Steve Wilkos Show. Airing weekends will be Reno 911, Chappelle's Show and Whacked-Out Sports. The series that will make its way back on WGN is...Happy Days! They will air it late nights/early mornings at 4:30am and 5am ET. With all the new shows and the returning Happy Days, some shows will be leaving. The contracts have expired for Home Improvement, Magnum P.I., and Sex and the City, thus they can't air them anymore. Taking a leave of absence is Moesha, which is still under contract through fall 2009, but will be benched this fall on WGN. The Greg Behrendt Show has been canceled so of course it will not be returning on WGN.
To see the FULL 7-day Fall 2007 schedule, I urge you to click HERE!

Moving on to the final day of the 2007 Summer TCA Tour, it is ABC's second day. Up at the panel today are the cast & crew of: Nightline, i-Caught, GRΣΣK, Kyle XY, Samantha Who?, MEN IN TREES, Private Practice, and Big Shots. Basically they gave us some hints on what to expect and answered questions. MEN IN TREES had 5 episodes leftover from last season, since it hasn't aired since like February, a new episodes will be created to air before these 5 to remind people of the show.
The Lost panel at Comic-Con is at 5pm PT today, so no news yet!

TCA Summer 2007 Tour: ABC Day 1; Off-Network Syndication Series Premiering this Fall

We are now at the last network at the TCA Tour. After a day off yesterday for on set visits, the TCA tour is back for one last network...ABC. ABC will be up today and tomorrow. They just announced their premiere dates, and here they are:
Fall premiere dates for the 2007-2008 season were announced today for the ABC Television Network by Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment, including a three-night Dancing with the Stars premiere event, with two nights of performance shows leading into a special Wednesday night results show, and a slight change in the Friday line-up.

Monday, September 24
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (special 90-minute premiere)
9:30-11:00 p.m. The Bachelor (special 90-minute premiere)

Tuesday, September 25
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (performance show)

Wednesday, September 26
8:00-9:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special (special day and time)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Private Practice
10:00-11:00 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money

Thursday, September 27
8:00-9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
9:00-10:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10:00-11:00 p.m. Big Shots

Sunday, September 30
7:00-9:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00-11:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

Tuesday, October 2
8:00-8:30 p.m. Cavemen
8:30-9:00 p.m. Carpoolers
9:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Result Show (regular day and time period premiere)

Wednesday, October 3
8:00-9:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies

Sunday, October 7
7:00-8:00 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos

Friday, October 12
8:00-9:00 p.m. 20/20 (new time period premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Women's Murder Club
10:00-11:00 p.m. MEN IN TREES

Monday, October 15
9:30-10:00 p.m. Samantha Who?

Tuesday, November 27
10:00-11:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (special preview following the finale of Dancing with the Stars)

Tuesday, December 4
9:00-10:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (regular time period premiere)

Boston Legal will have its season premiere on its normal night and time, but ABC has not decided when yet. Could be during week 2 or 3 of the season, I think.
Panels and sessions today: Executive Session, Break/Writing Time, Pushing Daisies,
Women's Murder Club, Cavemen, Cashmere Mafia, Carpoolers, Dirty Sexy Money.
Other ABC press tour notes:
- Harold Perrineau (Michael) will return to Lost next season! Details will be announced at Comic-Con tomorrow.
- ABC confirms Football Wives will not be picked-up now, while Traveler has been officially canceled.
- ABC is shooting a new pilot for Cavemen, and the current pilot will be used as a later episode later in the season.
- ABC is looking to develop a spin-off of Dancing with the Stars titled Dance X. The series is a bit hit in the U.K. The spin-off features teams of dancers coached by two Dancing With the Stars judges. The two teams compete against each other, and dancers get eliminated as the show goes on.
- Some fans were not happy of the direction Grey's Anatomy went to for the second half of last season. ABC will assure to fix that.
- Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion will join Desperate Housewives this fall! It's official!


The fall season is on the horizon. Here are a list of off-network series premiering in syndication this fall:
- All of Us (Daytime CW)
- Chappelle's Show (daily)
- Cold Case (weekends)
- Degrassi: The Next Generation (daily)
- Family Guy (daily)
- George Lopez (daily and on cable on Nick at Nite)
- Half & Half (daily)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (daily)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (weekends)
- Reno 911 (daily)
- The Dead Zone (weekends)
- The Surreal Life (daily)
- Two and a Half Men (daily)
Check your local listings to see what local channels will air these series in your market.
Classic series such as Baywatch (daily) and Saved by the Bell (weekends) return to local channels this fall as well.
For further updates and to discuss fall 2007 syndication, click HERE!

Nick at Nite August Highlights; CBS Schedule Change

Nick at Nite will continue the wall-to-wall summer marathons in August. Wall-to-Wall Marathons are marathons of one show all-night long (9:30pm-5am). Here are the marathons for August, always subject to change knowing Nick at Nite:
Week of August 6: Roseanne
Week of August 13: Full House (Mon-Fri), Fresh Prince (Sat-Sun)
Week of August 20: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
No word yet if August 27 will also have a marathon or not or if the marathons ends after August 26.
Home Improvement and George Lopez join the Nick at Nite family sitcom line-up this fall. More to come on those.

CBS has issued an urgent program advisory effective tonight. 48 Hours Mystery will replace Pirate Master, effective tonight (Tuesday, July 24) at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
The remaining five episodes of Pirate Master will be streamed on CBS.com every Tuesday starting tomorrow beginning at 3:00 AM ET/12:00 AM PT. Pirate Master will also be made available to partners of the CBS Audience Network.

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 2; Hallmark Channel Brings Back Waltons; Carey New Price Host

Today was Day 2 for Fox at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel today were Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nashville, Canterbury's Law, The Return of Jezbel James, and House. The themed meals were Cops for breakfast (donuts) and Family Guy lunch where they had a table read for the 100th episode.

The Hallmark Channel effective today brought back The Waltons to its old 8am & 9am weekday slot. Murder, She Wrote will be moved to 2 & 3pm. That series has done very well since joining the network. It will also remain in its 11pm and 12am slot. Due to The Waltons returning, some other series get minor time changes, like M*A*S*H goes from 4-6pm to 5-7pm. I urge you to click HERE to see what the rest are!

It is official! Drew Carey is the new host for The Price is Right. He announced it on tonight's taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.
"I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch," Carey told Letterman. "I couldn't tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for Power of 10, and they called me, I said, 'No.' Then they called me a month later, they said, 'What if we really' — they called my agent: 'What if we really go after Drew.'
"This is like a month later after I did the pilot for Power of 10 and I said, 'Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.' I go, 'What kind of schedule?' He said, 'I don't know,' so I met with them and stuff and we've been negotiating ever since. Couldn't say anything, but during your 'Harry Potter' bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It's a done deal. I'm the new host of The Price Is Right.
Carey said that he's not sure when he's going to start working on The Price Is Right, which is expected to start taping new episodes in August, but did say that already "my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf's."
"Well, history says that this will be a nice long career for you as the host of The Price is Right," Letterman commented.

2007 TCA Awards Winners; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 1

Last night at the TCA Summer Tour it was all about the 2007 TCA Awards, which were its 23rd annual awards. 2007 TCA Award recipients are as follows:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Heroes (NBC)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: Friday Night Lights (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: The Sopranos (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: The Office (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: Planet Earth (Discovery)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING: Kyle XY (ABC Family)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES & SPECIALS: Planet Earth (Discovery)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
HERITAGE AWARD: The Sopranos (HBO)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Mary Tyler Moore

Related:
2007 Nominees
2006 Winners

Fox is up at the TCA Summer Press Tour today and tomorrow. They announced fall premiere dates nearly two weeks ago, so the focus of their announcements will be other things.
Among the notes from Day 1: Hit summer series Hell's Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance will return next summer for fourth seasons. Fox also has ordered 13 additional episodes of this year's newest summer series Don't Forget the Lyrics, hosted by Wayne Brady. Fox will have some milestones for its Saturday primetime and late night programming this fall. Cops will be entering its 20th season and a 20th Anniversary Special will air September 18. Cops will also celebrate episode #700 on November 10. MAD TV will enter its 13th season and its 300th episode will air this season.
Up at the session panel today after the Executive Session were the cast & crew of Back to You, K-Ville Bones, New Amsterdam, So You Think You Can Dance. Lunch was Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader themed.

It is still early, we will be back with more Fox Day 1 news. Come on back on this unusually busy Sunday.

Mini-DVD Review: Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection; Solomon's Weekly Rant: TV Land Confidential

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. After a two week summer hiatus, we're back! This week we take a look at Universal Home Video's The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection. Woody Woodpecker is of course the classic TV woodpecker that made his mark in the 40s-70s in feature films! Not only do we get Woody cartoons, we also get classic theatrical cartoons of Oswald the Luck Rabbit, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, some Cartune Classics, and some Swing Symphonies. See my mini-DVD review of The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection:

The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection (Universal, $39.98) brings 45 classic unedited Woody Woodpecker cartoons and 30 other unedited classic cartoons from the legendary Walter Lantz to DVD on a classic 3-disc set for the first time ever! 8 of these shorts were nominated for Academy Awards. The set also goes to the vault for classic documentaries, including Walter, Woody, and the World of Animation documentary.
On this set we not only get Woody Woodpecker cartoons, but also Oswald the Luck Rabbit, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, some Cartune Classics, and some Swing Symphonies. Each shorts runs approx. 7 minutes. There are a few around 6 and a few just a bit over 8 minutes. There are no chapter stops, which is acceptable here because the episodes are very short. There are 75 total shorts, but 45 of them are Woody Woodpecker (15 on each disc), 10 Classic Cartunes, 5 Swing Symphonies, 5 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, 5 Andy Panda and 5 Chilly Willy shorts. The video is remastered and it looks great! You see some dust and debris here and there, but these are from the '40s, and some cases like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, from the '30s! The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. Packaging has a nice brown outer box (like a tree, so Woody can peck it) with Woody in the middle with Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, & Wally Wallrus on the front cover...the back cover has information on the set and has some screenshots of the shorts along with a big photo of Woody. A box titled Rare Vintage Bonus Features is also listed on the back of the box. Inside the box is a digipak. The front of the digipak has Woody in the middle surrounded by screenshots but they are just in the background. The phrase Woody is known for, "Guess Who?!!" is also mentioned on the front. The back of the digipak has a nice long story on the great Walter Lantz. There is a photo of him as well, with Woody on his arm. Opening the case once, we get a very nice disc by disc breakdown, which is very colorful and has lots of pictures. Opening the case one last time, we get to the discs. We have four panels. The first panel, all the way to the far left, has a history of the episodes found on each disc for Woody Woodpecker. The next three panels hold each disc. Woody is on the cover of each disc. He is along one disc one, joined by Andy Panda on disc two and Chilly Willy on disc three.
The menu screen has Play All, Cartoon Selection, Bonus, and Languages. The main menu has Woody pecking to start and then we hear Woody's famous laugh. Languages section has us in English only, but subtitles can be added for English, Espanol, and Francais. Bonus Features are on each disc, so they are spread out evenly. Cartoon Selection is where we can choose the classic shorts.
Moving on to the extras. As I mentioned, they are evenly placed on each disc. The extras are all from the vaults and are not new material. Since this is a classic collection, might as well dig stuff up from the archives. Disc one has two classic documentaries: Walter, Woody and the World of Animation (13:46) and Cartoonland Mysteries (10:49). Obviously, if you're buying this set, you're fascinated by classic cartoons, so you will love these. Disc two has behind the scenes bits from Walter Lantz. Six short segments running between 2-5 minutes or so. We have Origin of Woody Woodpecker (Episode 1), Drawing Woody & Andy (Episode 5), Creating the Stories (Episode 6), Animating Woody (Episode 8), Development of Woody (Episode 9), and Directing Animated Cartoons (Episode 10). On the last disc we have a full episode of The Woody Woodpecker Show. It runs 22:51 and is the Halloween episode. It is from 1957-58 I believe when it aired on ABC. It was later revived in 1970 by NBC with more episodes. And in the 80s it was packed together for syndication we saw different themes and stuff in syndication. I remember this one the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5zwBBFJ63c (I hope we get that on a future set as an extra). I always remember the episodes had a Woody episode, then a Chilly Willy episode, then another Woody episode. WNYW in my area aired the show weekday afternoons in the late 80s/early 90s. I loved it! Anyway, this Halloween episode has b&w bits with Walter Lantz and the episodes are in color of course. The episode sponsor is presented by Kellogs, is intact! The episode also has the only original episode created for this series, titled "Spook-a-Nanny."
I highly do recommend any fan of classic cartoons and Woody Woodpecker to pick-up this set. If you remember the show from local syndication in the late 80s/early 90s, you'll be fascinated by this because these shorts were made for theatrical cartoons and not television. This set covers Wood from 1940-1952. So we still have way more Woody cartoons to cover. Woody changed a bit in appearance from the 40s to the 70s, he looked smaller by the 60s and 70s (he seemed to have looked much younger). Those are the ones I remember the most. So we will see that change in appearance if we get another set. Let's hope we do and we get all of the Woody shorts released. I want all of the Chilly Willy shorts too. Anyway, heh-heh-heh-HEH-heh yourself to clicking and buying this set below, because you'll never 'guess who' will be pecking your way on to your TV screen!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(5/5 stars)

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Related links:
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The Woody Woodpecker Show TV.com Page


Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, July 21, 2007
"TV Land Confidential is Sloppy"
By Solomon Davis

TV Land still manages to entertain viewers in a sloppy way when introducing new original programming. TV Land's original programming has always been a good idea but the way it's organized takes the fun out of watching the show. TV Land Confidential which had its second season premiere on July 11 (I also watched the second episode of the season on July 18) looked to be a complete and total rush job. It was so obvious from watching the show that it was just thrown together very quickly. What was the big rush in putting the TV Land Confidential together? It would have been more entertaining if TV Land took the time out to focus on certain shows and not several shows at once.
The TV Land Confidential season premiere that featured Oddball TV Characters all of a sudden went from TV show to TV show in a span of 5 minutes. The show never gave viewers a chance to focus on one set of oddball characters because you knew another discussion was starting before you could go to the refrigerator. It reminded me of a 10 cent version of I Love the '70s from VH1 only TV Land's version was a bad imitation. At least VH1 focused on a certain topic, TV Land tried to discuss the history of television in 30 minutes. It would have made more sense to discuss just certain oddball characters like the Sweathogs, Lenny & Squiggy, and Mork from Ork. It would have been a better fit for the 30 minute time frame instead of a mention of every oddball character since a TV set was invented.
It was the same thing on July 18 when viewing TV Land Confidential that focused on TV Finales. Instead of choosing three finales that could have been discussed in full detail, TV Land discussed a TV Finale every 20 seconds. This unorganized mess made my eyes feel like they were on an express TV train speeding to its next destination called 10:30pm (which in this case was the premiere of Back to the Grind...which I have not viewed yet). It's a shame TV Land has the right ideas but just lack the ability to neatly present those us to viewers. Wouldn't it have made more sense for TV Land to EXPAND the length of TV Land Confidential to 60 minutes so that more shows could be mentioned in detail (like Balki) rather than a rush job? Or they could have split them into parts, like Oddball Characters Part 1 and Part 2. There is not one person in the TV Land programming department that can think outside the box. I wonder what year that's going to change? 2014??

Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.

DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.

TV Land August Schedule Changes; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: The CW; ABC August Change

Late on Friday, TV Land issued some schedule changes for August. The Summer Cocktail Party Marathons will continue now past August 3. It will likely go until the end of the month now. Some blocks of the marathons have changed along with some of the regular schedule. The changes start on August 4 with the weekends. Some minor changes here and there on weekends, such as double shot of Gunsmoke now from 6-8am rather than I Love Lucy and Green Acres, which were scheduled to start airing then. Green Acres will air 9am on weekends. Other changes on weekends include Gunsmoke from 5-8pm on Saturdays and Andy Griffith Show from 10pm-1:10am. TV Land Goes West on Sundays will be 12-6pm now, with more Andy Griffith from 6-8pm. Sundays will also have a M*A*S*H block from 10pm-12:05am. The late night block on both nights will also be altered a bit, with Three's Company (twice), The Jeffersons, Good Times (twice), Sanford & Son, All in the Family, and The Andy Griffith Show from 1:10am-6am.
That was just weekends, now let's go to weekdays. As we said before TV Land Goes West is also on Mondays, and that will not change. Bonanza from 8a-12p and Gunsmoke from 2-6p. Tues-Fri mornings and afternoons will get a bit of a makeover from the original August schedule. Cheers will return and air 8:30am. Sanford & Son will air 9-10am, Bonanza and Gunsmoke follow until noon leading into the Elvis movie, 2-5pm will see back-to-back episodes of Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver. Gunsmoke will air at 5pm. In primetime, Cosby Show replaces Good Times from 8-9pm and Sanford & Son will air 9-10pm instead of The Jeffersons. Then we have the marathons from 10p-4:30a. Changes to the marathons are: Mondays from 10p-12:05a is now The Jeffersons instead of Cosby Show. Andy Griffith Show marathon will air Tuesdays from 8-11p leading into Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so no M*A*S*H marathon. Wednesday nights from 2:20-4a is now Three's Company instead of All in the Family.
So these changes are last minute, so the September schedule we posted might change now. We will let you know when we do. Munsters, Addams Family, Green Acres are reduced to just weekends in August. For now, please click HERE to view the changes in a list form.

The CW was up today at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel were the cast & crew of various series and an Executive Session. The show that had a panel were: Aliens in America, Life is Wild, CW Now/Online Nation, Gossip Girl, Reaper. They announced the fall premiere dates for their series:

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS [October 1]
8:30-9:00 PM ALIENS IN AMERICA (New Series) [October 1]
9:00-9:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS [October 1]
9:30-10:00 PM THE GAME [October 1]

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BEAUTY AND THE GEEK [September 18]
9:00-10:00 PM REAPER (New Series) [September 25]

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL [September 19]
9:00-10:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Series) [September 26]

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE [September 27]
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL [October 4]

FRIDAY
8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN [September 21]

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM CW NOW (New Series) [September 23]
7:30-8:00 PM ONLINE NATION (New Series) [September 23]
8:00-9:00 PM LIFE IS WILD (New Series) [October 7]
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)

ABC will alter its Monday and Tuesday schedules for August. Mondays will now be Wife Swap, Fat March, and Supernanny. It was supposed to be Wife Swap, Supernanny, and i-Caught. Fat March was originally for Tuesdays at 9. Tuesdays will be back-to-back Just for Laughs, which ABC renewed for an additional 13 episodes (making it 19 in all now), followed by Primetime: Crime and i-Caught. Primetime: Crime was originally for 10pm.

59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: CBS Day 2

The 59th Annual Emmy Nominations were made just moments ago. Here are the nominees for the main categories:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Two and a Half Men (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: Desperate Housewives. I had this category all right except for that.

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ricky Gervais, Extras (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this category all right, except Gervais was in and not Zach Braff.

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Mary Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, though I had Teri Hatcher instead of Dreyfus.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. Again I had only one wrong, I had Michael Urie over Neil Patrick Harris..

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Conchata Ferrell, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: No Nicolette Sheridan again???

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Boston Legal (ABC)
House (Fox)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
Heroes (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: No Lost or Friday Night Lights?

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos (HBO)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FX)
Kiefer Sutherland, 24 (Fox)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, but Michael C. Hall is sort of.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Edie Falco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Patricia Arquette, Medium (NBC)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. Why Hargitay again?

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Terry O'Quinn, Lost (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Masi Oka, Heroes (NBC)
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this all right, but I chose only 5. Knight was the 6th pick.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Aida Turturro, The Sopranos (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, though Patricia Wettig over Turturro would be better.

View the full list of nominations by clicking HERE. The 59th Annual Emmy Awards air Sunday, September 16 at 8pm on Fox.

Today is also Day 2 for CBS at the TCA 2007 Summer Press Tour. Not much news to report, but CBS did release a few things. In a first for network television, CBS today announced a new viewer-centric marketing initiative to keep audiences informed if their favorite television show is delayed due to sports or news overrun. CBS Eye-lert, which launches this fall, will enable viewers to be notified via email and text message if the start time of a program will be delayed.
Through the coordination of CBS Interactive, broadcast operations, email and phone systems, viewers can subscribe to CBS Eye-lert by registering on CBS.com, CBSNews.com and Sportsline.com. This fall, when an NFL game runs beyond 7PM ET, thus causing a delay on the Network, viewers will be notified by email or text message prior to primetime and again once the specific start time of the primetime show has been determined. That way they can adjust their viewing or recording plans.
At the session panels today, cast & crews of Jericho, Power of 10, Viva Laughlin were up. There was a nice Survivor: China themed lunch for the media. And no Drew Carey said in the Power of 10 panel that no decision has been made yet for him to be the new host of The Price is Right.

More to come...come on back.

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: CBS Day 1; TBS Adds 'Just Shoot Me', Ratings News for New Sitcom; Our Emmy Picks

It is now CBS's turn at the TCA Summer Press Tour. The session panels for today were: Executive Session, Cane, Shark, How I Met Your Mother, Kid Nation, Moonlight, Big Bang Theory. They also have released their fall premiere dates. CBS today announced plans for the premieres of its new and returning series which includes the early debut of its freshman reality series Kid Nation, as well as Survivor: China and most of its Sunday lineup during the week of Sept. 17. The network will launch the remainder of its schedule beginning Monday, Sept. 24, the official start of the 2007-2008 season.
Viva Laughlin, the new mystery drama with music, will have a special preview on Thursday, Oct. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) following CSI before moving to its regular Sunday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) time period on Oct. 21 to take advantage of a two-week window in the schedule without football overruns.

CBS Fall Premiere Dates:

Wednesday, Sept. 19
8 p.m. Kid Nation

Thursday, Sept. 20
8 p.m. Survivor: China

Sunday, Sept. 23
7 p.m. 60 Minutes
9 p.m. Cold Case
10 p.m. Shark

Monday, Sept. 24
8 p.m. How I Met Your Mother
8:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory
9 p.m. Two and a Half Men
9:30 p.m. Rules of Engagement
10 p.m. CSI: Miami

Tuesday, Sept. 25
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. The Unit
10 p.m. Cane

Wednesday, Sept. 26
9 p.m. Criminal Minds
10 p.m. CSI: NY

Thursday, Sept. 27
9 p.m. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
10 p.m. Without a Trace

Friday, Sept. 28
8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer
9 p.m. Moonlight
10 p.m. NUMB3RS

Saturday, Sept. 29
8 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
9 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
10 p.m. 48 Hours Mystery

Thursday, Oct. 18
10 p.m. Viva Laughlin (special preview)

Sunday, Oct. 21
8 p.m. Viva Laughlin (time period premiere)

TBS will add the hit '90s sitcom Just Shoot Me to its afternoon line-up starting August 6. It will air weekdays at 1:00 & 1:30pm, shifting the Steve Harvey Show hour to 12 & 12:30pm. Thus, NewsRadio will be leaving the line-up. In addition, it looks like TBS will not renew the contract for The Drew Carey Show, because starting August 27, an extra Cosby Show episode will air at 6:30am weekday mornings. Anyway, I'm not sure how long TBS will run Just Shoot Me. It is coming to TV Land in January and then it will also come back to local channels next June. TBS could share it with TV Land, so who knows, Discuss these pre-fall schedule changes, by clicking HERE.
Sticking with TBS, last night's premiere of the new sitcom The Bill Engvall Show scored big. The series' debut telecast last night delivered 3.9 million viewers and 2.8 million households, securing a place among ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts (original or acquired) of all-time among households and Top 5 original sitcom telecasts of all-time among key adult demos and viewers. The premiere garnered a 3.0 coverage household rating/2.5 national rating. It ranked as ad-supported cable's top program for the entire day in delivery of adults 18-49, adults 25-54, viewers and households.
Set in a Denver suburb, The Bill Engvall Show casts the Blue Collar Comedy headliner as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family is unpredictable, somewhat absurd and a little mixed up themselves. Nancy Travis plays his wife, Susan, who is trying to make sure their three children turn out all right. Filling out the rest of the family, Jennifer Lawrence plays Bill and Susan’s teenage daughter, Lauren, while their sons are played by Graham Patrick Martin as Trent, a sports and video game enthusiast, and Skyler Gisondo as Bryan, a musically talented neat freak with a pet snake. Tim Meadows and Steve Hytner co-star as Bill's best friends.

Today we will give our preview of what we think the nominations for the Emmy's will look like. The real nominations are tomorrow (Thursday) morning, so we will give you those then. But for now...here are our predictions for the main acting categories for the 59th Annual Emmy Awards:

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Two and a Half Men, Weeds or Scrubs could sneak in. The winner will be Ugly Betty or The Office, I think.

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Zach Braff, Scrubs (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Braff could be left off again and maybe Jason Lee will be in. Eric Mabius is a long shot.

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Mary Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Marcia Cross could be in here. Look for this category to be almost totally different than last year. Ferrera will be the favorite.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Michael Urie, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Tough category. HBO and NBC stars will rule this list. Urie will be the huge underdog.

BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Nicollette Sheridan, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Nicollette better get nominated this year! She was great again. Other ladies who can get nods are Becki Newton, Conchata Ferrell and the great Kathryn Joosten.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
Heroes (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Tough category. House could get snubbed this year. Brothers & Sisters could be in here over FNL. 24 had a bad year.

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (FOX)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos (HBO)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FOX)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
MY THOUGHTS: Kyle Chandler and Kiefer Sutherland would not be surprises if they get nominated. Patrick Dempsey and Matthew Fox are long shots.

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Edie Falco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: I think Pompeo will make it this year. Connie Britton, Calista Flockhart or Patricia Arquette could also sneak in.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Terry O'Quinn, Lost (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Masi Oka, Heroes (NBC)
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: Please give the nomination and win to O'Quinn. He deserves it.

BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Patricia Wettig, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: ABC will rule this category. Chandra Wilson and Elizabeth Mitchell could also be here.

Nominations are announced tomorrow morning. Come on back here and we will give you the official nominations and you can compare those to our picks!

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: NBC Day 2; Watching TV Online Is Big

The second day usually has no real news from a broadcast TCA tour. The first day is where are all the real news happens. So, the sessions are the draw on the second day. Yesterday the sessions were: Executive Session, Life, Thursday Sitcoms (My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs), and Saturday Night Live. Cast and crew answered questions from the TV critics. Today we saw the cast and crew of All Law & Order Series, Bionic Woman, Chuck, The Singing Bee, Journeyman and Friday Night Lights.
The only bit of news that came was Linus Roache (Kidnapped, Batman Begins) will join the regular cast of NBCs Emmy Award-winning Law & Order, returning Sundays, 8-9 p.m. ET at mid-season) to portray an executive assistant district attorney the former office held by Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) after McCoy was elevated to district attorney for next season.

According to B&C, more consumers are accessing television and movies online. An estimated 81 million of the 129 million people who access the Internet via a broadband connection watched TV or movies online, according to a new study from Nielsen.
The data was collected via Nielsen’s NetViews and NetRatings services during the month of March. The findings represent a 16 % jump in broadband consumption in six months (from 70 million people in Sept. 2006).
ABC.com was the top site across all broadband viewer visits to television network Web sites, while Yahoo! Movies was the leader in the movies category.

I'm Back; TV Land September Highlights; TCA Summer Tour Cable Recap, NBC Day 1

I'm back! As Todd stated yesterday, I have returned from vacation. It was a nice 10 days off but when you love doing something, you tend to miss it. Anyway, Todd like usual did a wonderful job filling in when I was out relaxing in Jacksonville. He brought us nice bits of news and great features from skees53, Seth and of course Solomon's Weekly Rant.

TV Land released their September line-up to us early last week, but I was not home. I did check e-mail twice over there, but had way too much to go through, so I couldn't forward it to Todd in time. Anyway, to TV Land September, the schedule will indeed change a bit. There are no real new additions, but Knight Rider will return to the line-up and air Tues-Fri at 3 p.m. For those of you wondering, the contracts for mega TV Land hits Bonanza and Three's Company are expiring after August, but they have been renewed! So you will see both in September! I don't have full details on the contracts, but my Three's Company people tell me TV Land has rights "for years to come." There are minor changes here and there, some notable ones include Cosby Show off the regular line-up, but it will air in two weekly blocks (Fridays approx. 12-2am and Saturdays approx. 11pm-1am). Weekday mornings have changed a bit, M*A*S*H will also air in the mornings now from 7-8am, followed by What's Happening Now!! and The Jeffersons moving from 7-8am to 8-9am. All in the Family moves from 8-9am to 9-10am, Gunsmoke remains at 10am, followed by double shots of Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy and Green Acres from 11am-2pm. The Munsters/Addams Family hour is at 2-3pm.
Friday night movies this month include The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Crocodile Dundee II (1988), and The Longest Yard (1974).
Saturday, September 15 through Monday, September 17, starting at 8pm. 35 years and the 4077 gang is still going strong. Join us as TV Land celebrates the 35th anniversary of this groundbreaking landmark television series with 3 nights of quintessential and favorite M*A*S*H episodes as well as the highly successful reunion specials. Don't miss the pilot episode which will air 35 years to the day and time of the series premiere on September 17 at 8pm!
Having dinner with the family helps everyone reconnect at the end of the day. The family table is often a place where families catch up on their days, share stories and problems – and eat. Whether Andy Griffith ends up eating three dinners in one night or Hawkeye tries to fly in ribs from Chicago to Korea, our TV Land families are definitely sharing more than meals at their tables! CASA Family Night airs Sunday, September 23, 8pm-10pm.
For COMPLETE details of the schedule changes and details of the specials & marathons, click HERE.

Unfortunately I was on vacation when the TCA Summer Tour started on July 12. The cable portion was July 12-15. I'll do a little recap of each network's announcements today, that is notable for us at least, at the end of today's blog. But right now I will to cover the first day of NBC's summer press tour. NBC is up today and tomorrow. Then CBS the next 2 days (July 18-19), The CW follows on July 20, the 23rd Annual TCA Awards night is on July 21, Fox follows July 22-23 and ABC caps it off July 25-26.
OK, here is NBC Day 1's notes:
NBC launches its season premieres the week of September 24. The network will adjust its schedule by moving the new comedic spy thriller Chuck to Mondays at 8 p.m. ET followed by switching the popular Monday version of Deal or No Deal to Fridays 8 p.m. ET, and shifting Friday Night Lights to an earlier new time of 9 p.m. (ET) and Las Vegas to 10 p.m. (ET).
In addition, NBC will expand The Biggest Loser to 90 minutes on Tuesdays from 8-9:30 p.m. ET and will have a special two-hour premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Summer's newest hit, The Singing Bee (which premiered earlier this month), will have its Fall premiere on Tuesday, September 25 in the 9:30 p.m. ET half-hour.
NBC's premiere week will also feature one-hour season premieres each of sitcoms My Name Is Earl (8-9 p.m. ET) and The Office (9-10 p.m. ET) on Thursday, September 27 and a two-hour season premiere of Las Vegas on Friday, September 28 (9-11 p.m. ET).
So, it looks like game show 1 vs. 100 is off the fall schedule for now.
NBC Fall Premiere Dates:

Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 11
The Biggest Loser (8-10 p.m.)

Monday, SEPTEMBER 17
Deal or No Deal (8-9 p.m.)

Monday, SEPTEMBER 24
Chuck (8-9 p.m.)
Heroes (9-10 p.m.)
Journeyman (10-11 p.m.)

Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 25
The Singing Bee (9:30-10 p.m.)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (10-11 p.m.)

Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 26
Deal or No Deal Wednesday (8-9 p.m.)
Bionic Woman (9-10 p.m.)
Life (10-11 p.m.)

Thursday, SEPTEMBER 27
My Name Is Earl (8-9 p.m.)
The Office (9-10 p.m.)
ER (10-11 p.m.)

Friday, SEPTEMBER 28
Deal or No Deal Friday (8-9 p.m.)
Las Vegas (9-11 p.m.)

Thursday, OCTOBER 4
30 Rock (8-8:30 p.m.)

Friday, OCTOBER 5
Friday Night Lights (9-10 p.m.)

Thursday, OCTOBER 25
Scrubs (9:30-10 p.m.)

NBC press notes:
- Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy) will play a mysterious person who is brought into the enigmatic scientific organization that is responsible for creating the bionics that turn Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan, EastEnders) into the Bionic Woman for 5 episodes at least.
- NBC has signed a series deal with legendary, Emmy Award-winning television producer Norman Lear (All in the Family) to join Reveille, Act III Productions, and Universal Media Studios in producing a one-hour dramedy focused on a mother who reenters the work force and is pitted against her late husband's ruthless partner in a money-charged battle of the sexes on Wall Street.
- NBC has renewed The Apprentice for mid-season with a creative twist. In a new celebrity version of the popular series, celebrity contestants will vie for Donald Trump's attention in what will be the highest-profile competition in the groundbreaking series' run. Celebrities will be announced at a later date.
- Jerry Seinfeld returns to NBC in a rare guest-star cameo when he appears as himself in the second-season premiere of NBC's critically acclaimed comedy 30 Rock on October 4 (Thursday, 8:30-9 p.m. ET).

As mentioned, the TCA Cable Summer Press Tour was July 12-15. On July 12 we had Lifetime, FX, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic Channel, HBO among the channels that went. July 13 was TV Guide, the MTV Networks, Travel Channel, BBC America, Discovery Networks, E!, style. On July 14 we had Disney Channel, SOAPnet, ESPN, Sundance Channel, GSN, and Showtime. The final day saw Turner Broadcasting, BET, Rainbow Networks, History Channel, NBC Universal Networks.
Among the programming Lifetime touted were the new series Side Order of Life and State of Mind, both of them debuted last night. The second season premiere of Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead will lead into the series premiere of the new reality competition show America's Psychic Challenge on Friday, October 12. Finally, 18 episodes of Army Wives have been ordered for the new season, which will premiere in the spring of 2008.
FX talked about a highly anticipated episode of nip/tuck titled "Gala Gallardo." They also talked about the new series Damages starring Glenn Close and Ted Danson.
The Hallmark Channel will create tons of TV movies with classic TV stars including Valerie Bertinelli, Dick Van Dyke, Tom Bosley, Dean Cain, Lea Thompson, Ernest Borgnine and Ernie Hudson.
HBO talked about some original series, movies, and documentaries. New original movie As You Like It premieres in August. A new drama series called Tell Me You Love Me premieres September 9. Also on that date a new documentary will premiere titled Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq. The huge night will also have the sixth season premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Among the MTV Networks that went were TV Land and Spike TV. TV Land talked about its Elvis month this August as we have mentioned here many times. They also released details on a new special from EW. Oprah. Heather Locklear. Homer Simpson. Regardless of age, TV genre or life-form, there are select TV personalities whose work is timeless and whose popularity is endless due to the impact they have made through television. Entertainment Weekly and TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons, a two-hour special premiering on TV Land on Friday, November 16 from 8-10pm ET/PT, counts down the iconic personalities who have made their indelible mark via the small screen. The list will also be revealed in the issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands that same day. TV Land Confidential launched its season season last week and TV Land will premiere Back to the Grind this Wednesday. High School Reunion launches in January.
Spike TV mentioned their new series The Kill Point launching July 22 and their unscripted crime drama series Murder coming July 31.
Nickelodeon will launch a new web cast type show for kids called iCarly and a new Chinese animated series called Ni Hao, Kai-lan coming October 22.
Salt-n-Pepa return with The Salt-n-Pepa Show on VH1 coming October 15. See VH1 follow their lives.
E! talked about their new series, Chelsea Lately, which premiered tonight. style Network will launch the first reality sitcom series, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane takes viewers inside the compelling life of Kimora Lee Simmons.
Disney Channel announced that Wizards of Waverly Place will come in October. Mark down August 17 for the premiere of the new movie High School Musical 2. A High School Musical Documentary is also in the works for the fall. SOAPnet talked about General Hospital: Night Shift, which premiered Thursday and is SOAPnet's first one-hour original scripted drama.
A team of award-winning ESPN correspondents will serve as the reporters of a new series called ESPN Reporters coming October 16. Signed on are Tom Farrey, Rachel Nichols, Lisa Salters, Jeremy Schaap and Michael Smith.
GSN announced details of the new game show Without Prejudice? coming tomorrow. Also, the new game show Grand Slam, hosted by Ken Jennings! It launches August 4. That's The Question a half-hour series that combines word scrambles with a test of world history and pop culture trivia knowledge, returns for a second season on Sept. 10.
Showtime will launch the new season of Weeds in August. One of the most buzzed-about shows on television, Weeds will continue to grow and blossom with inspired new storylines and notable guest starts. The series follows a suburban mother (Mary-Louise Parker) who deals marijuana in order to make ends meet after her husband dies unexpectedly. Brotherhood and Dexter will return for new seasons this fall. A new sitcom called The United States of Tara has been greenlighted. The half-hour single camera comedy pilot revolves around a mother who has multiple personality syndrome.
Court TV announced details for The Star Jones Show coming Aug. 20. CourtTV will be rebranded truTV on January 1. TBS and TNT continued to talk about its upcoming originals The Bill Engvall Show (July 17 on TBS), Saving Grace (July 23 on TNT) and The Company (Aug. 5 on TNT).
BET has put together two of the funniest guys in the business to create an animated sketch comedy show for BET. Orlando Jones and Ali LeRoi have teamed up to create BUFU, in the tradition of Saturday Night Live and SCTV.
USA Network announced details about a new movie title In Plain Sight. Original episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent will air Thursdays at 10pm on USA starting Oct. 4. Sci-Fi Channel will create a new animated series called Flash Gordon coming Aug. 10. Bravo's TelevisionWithoutPity.com will create a Fantasy TV game. The game will allow players to create, name and program their own fantasy television networks using both new fall shows and returning series from the five broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and CW).

SitcomsOnline.com Special: TV-on-DVD Hall of Fame; Welcome Back, Pavan

SitcomsOnline.com Special
TV-on-DVD Hall of Fame
By Skees53

After seeing that list of DVDs that made the “DVD Wall of Shame” last week, you may be thinking to yourself that TV-on-DVD is all gloom and doom… but don’t get too far down yet! There are actually some DVD sets out there that are decent, but some just stand out above the rest. Today, we look at a few DVD releases of TV shows that make the list of the “impressive” DVDs. You’ll notice that many of these have already had a complete series release, which perhaps suggests that the DVD producers were truly dedicated to these series. This is the TV-on-DVD Hall of Fame.





Click here to view our DVD Reviews Archive.

Arrested Development – all releases: The series was never quite a big hit with the mass public as it was with the critics, but when it comes to the DVDs, boy did the critics ever win! We have commentaries, deleted scenes, blooper reels, and of course the episodes themselves presented in their perfect form. What can one complain about?

The Beverly Hillbillies – Volume 1 and Volume 2: For years, we’ve been seeing public domain releases of this great series on DVD, but not much more. But MPI gave us two authorized releases for a change that had the theme song intact, had original sponsorship elements contained within the set, included an unaired pilot, and even had some interviews with cast members on it. Unfortunately, MPI could only release the episodes that they had obtained the rights to release from the Paul Henning estate, which means that the remaining episodes of the series are in the hands of CBS DVD. So far, they seem to have no interest in releasing any more episodes, and if they do, while the video quality may likely be nicer than the MPI releases, we probably won’t see as many special features.

Bewitched – The Complete First Season: You know you are off to a good start when the producers of this DVD set offer an option of original black and white or a colorized version. I won’t even start on which one is better (that is your own decision, but hey, you actually can choose!), but the choice is nice to have. The episodes were all presented (basically) unedited and there were even some special features, including interviews with some of the cast members. The later releases are good too, although they are totally lacking in the special features area. The only bad thing about these sets is that they don’t include the original opening credits, but then again, as a show ages and we watch it in syndication, the syndicated opening credits in a sense become the original opening credits as far as we are concerned.

The Dick Van Dyke Show – all releases: Wow. Just wow. This show is, of course, one of the greatest classic television shows of all time, but it doesn’t always get the same level of appreciation as some other older television shows like I Love Lucy or The Andy Griffith Show. But still, that didn’t stop Image from releasing DVD sets with every single episode with nearly perfect video quality and loads of special features. The series finally got the level of respect that it deserves!

Doogie Howser, M.D. – all releases: Yes, I’m just as surprised as you are to see this series make a list like this… but you’d better bet it deserves to be here! Anchor Bay managed to release all four seasons unedited (and with original music—I never even realized the show had so much music until the DVDs) and include some nice special features as well. Although the sets all lacked commentaries, we had plenty of interviews, trivia, and even Doogie Howser’s personal journal booklet included on one set.

The Doris Day Show – all releases (so far): I’m not going to lie. Before this show came to DVD, although I had heard of the show (only when Louise Jefferson was asking Archie Bunker if he had watched it on an episode of All in the Family), I never knew what it was at all. And I think that can be said for a lot of people. Still, that hasn’t stopped MPI from releasing DVD sets with bonus features like interviews, commercials, unaired footage (including unaired footage from the making of the opening credits), movie trailers, bloopers, even a pilot episode for a spin-off that never came to be! There is only one season left to be released in the series, and supposedly Doris Day herself will be involved in it. This could possibly be the best release yet!

Family Guy – Volume 3 and Volume 4: When Fox released Volumes 1 and 2 of Family Guy on DVD, they were decent sets, but nothing all that impressive. Of course, Fox really didn’t care. Family Guy was just a show that Fox didn’t really care that much about, and was just getting it out on DVD to get fans to shut up about a show that they thought was done with forever. But when those volumes sold very well and the show was brought back, Fox decided that for the DVD releases of the new episodes, they weren’t going to be quite as unimpressive on the DVDs. In Volumes 3 and 4, we have many more commentaries, many more behind-the-scenes featurettes, and even get to see additional footage from episodes. In fact, some of the episodes on Volume 4 run a few minutes longer than they did when they aired on TV and have the original content intact.

Get Smart – The Complete Series: This is the ultimate definition of TV-on-DVD done right. Of course, maybe it just got lucky because it got into the hands of HBO (for those unfamiliar with HBO DVDs, they are always incredibly impressive) rather than a company that just mass produces DVD sets with just episodes, but in any event, we have complete episodes along with commentaries, interviews, audio introductions, documentaries, and a whole lot more.

Here’s Lucy – The Best Loved Episodes from the Hit TV Series: In all fairness, although this was a great show, it doesn’t exactly measure up to the standards set by I Love Lucy in the 50s. But it is still a pretty good show, and this set is a great set! It contains 24 episodes with commentaries, bloopers, unaired footage, original network promos, and much more. The only unfortunate thing about the set is the fact that it is a best-of set, and so far we haven’t seen any season sets (nor is there any indication that we ever will), but we can always hope for the best!

I Love Lucy – all releases: I love these DVD sets! They contain all of the episodes pretty much unedited (though some purists will point out there is a scene missing from one episode… but the justification for removing that scene seemed fair to me) and have original openings available on the set, deleted scenes, outtakes, commentaries, promotional spots, and a whole lot more! There is even more good news on the way: later this year, CBS DVD is releasing a Complete Series set as they have done with several other series. There is no word yet on what this set will contain as a bonus, but I’m sure that whatever it is, it’ll be good.

Miami Vice – all releases: Okay, so it isn’t a sitcom, and there aren’t really that many special features. In fact, only Season One had any special features at all, and even those were pretty lame. But in these sets, Universal took a series that had lots and lots of music and somehow managed to give us all five seasons with not a single song removed due to copyright reasons and (as far as we know) totally unedited… and at a reasonable price too. That alone allows Miami Vice to earn a place in the hall of fame.

The Odd Couple – The First Season: This show took quite a while to make it to DVD, but it was well worth the wait. With Paul Brownstein being involved in this set, it is no surprise that this set was done right. We have a set with complete episodes, commentaries, and plenty of bonus materials, including obscure interviews, promos, and more. The only bad thing about this set was the packaging, which was flimsy and perhaps not very professional looking… but even that was fixed when distribution of the set switched from Time-Life to CBS DVD (which also added a nice bonus disc to the set with some episodes from later seasons). Future seasons of the series to come look like they should be good too, but there is a little cloud hanging over us in the fact that the back of the case for the season two set says that some music has been changed. Hopefully this hasn’t gone the route that many other CBS DVD series have gone lately.

Seinfeld – all releases (so far): Sony usually doesn’t do DVD releases perfectly well. They seem to have at least perfected the situation of accidentally including syndicated versions of episodes, but they still generally lack on bonus features. But they didn’t do that on Seinfeld! They have given perfect releases on all of these so far (as the show deserves) with commentaries, interviews, bloopers, standup comedy footage, documentaries, and much much more! That means there is a whole lot of something about the show that is about nothing!

Sgt. Bilko (The Phil Silvers Show) – 50th Anniversary Edition: This show could have easily slipped by with a sub-par release, but it didn’t. Instead, we got a great set with 21 episodes complete with bonus features such as commentaries, promos, interviews, auditions, and footage from special events related to the show. It should come as no surprise that this was another Paul Brownstein set! Now, if only CBS DVD could release entire seasons of the series.

The Simpsons – all releases (so far): This has been an impressive series on DVD, with totally unedited episodes all the way through, interviews, animatics, artwork, and commentaries on every single episode—so far anyway. Unfortunately, I fear that these sets are going to be getting a little less impressive now that we are moving into the seasons where some so-called fans stopped watching the show. This slow trend can already be seen on the upcoming season 10 release which will reportedly have a few episodes that do not contain commentaries (we can hope this is only a mistake, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest that so far). Still, I can see future releases being totally unedited and still having some decent special features on them.

Three’s Company – all releases: This is a great series that could have been easily wrecked on DVD if it had gotten in the hands of the wrong company (specifically in regards to special features). But it didn’t. Anchor Bay released all eight seasons of the series, complete with unedited episodes, interviews, commentaries, promotional material, photo galleries, and more. And on top of that, the sets are all priced VERY reasonably, with list prices in the sub-$30 range (and you’ll easily find them under $20 if you look hard enough). Now if only we could get the spin-offs on DVD.

Those are all of the good DVD releases, so far anyway. Hopefully, as more and more DVDs are released, this list can grow infinitely long (though sadly, the Wall of Shame seems to be growing more than this list lately). Still, it is nice to know that in the fast-paced world of TV-on-DVD, there are some sets that are definitely worth owning.

Which sets make your TV-on-DVD Hall of Fame? Post your picks here.

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Pavan makes his return from vacation tomorrow. I hope that I was able to keep the blog interesting and informative while he was gone. Thanks to Seth and Skees for their articles and Solomon for his regular weekly rants. They made my job easier. The blog will be celebrating its second anniversary next month. Thanks to Pavan for all of his time and effort in bringing us daily updates!