ABC Pulls Knights and The Nine; TV Legend Merv Griffin Passes Away

Sunday, August 12, 2007

ABC Pulls Knights and The Nine; TV Legend Merv Griffin Passes Away

Effective this Wednesday, ABC has pulled the burn-off episodes of the sitcom The Knights of Prosperity and drama The Nine. Knights returned last Wednesday with two all-new episodes. Two all-new episodes still remain in the vault. As for The Nine, it aired an episode each the last two Wednesdays, and four still remain in the can. ABC will replace The Knights with an extra repeat of According to Jim at 8:30, while The Nine essentially will get replaced by Primetime: Outsiders at 9pm, moving the new upcoming Primetime series NASCAR in Primetime from 9pm to 10pm, where The Nine was airing.
As for those remaining episodes of The Knights and The Nine, we can expect the remaining episodes to appear on abc.com. We are not sure how they will roll-out, but it will probably be every Wednesday until they finish, similar to what ABC did with Six Degrees and Day Break. We'll let you know...but it is too bad about The Knights, that was one good funny sitcom. It almost came back for a second season, but Ray Romano didn't sign on unfortunately.

We have some breaking news just in to SitcomsOnline, TV legend Merv Griffin just passed away this morning. Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his the family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment. Griffin was recently hospitalized for a recurrence of the disease, which had been treated successfully more than 10 years ago.
Merv of course is known for his talk show The Merv Griffin Show that ran from 1962-1986 and for creating the hit game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Let's watch both of those shows tomorrow and see if they do a little tribute...both shows are on summer hiatus though, and will return with new episodes in September. Merv has appeared as himself on several sitcoms like Sanford & Son, Golden Girls, Hope & Gloria, and Newhart. Merv also produced the new Lifetime series Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead. He was recently seen on TV Land Moguls as the host, appeared on TV Land's ALF's Hit Talk Show, and appeared on Fat Actress.
He will be deeply missed and you can catch his newly produced series Merv Griffin's Crosswords in first-run syndication this fall. Hopefully that will still be coming on air as a tribute to him. Mr. Griffin was 82.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, October 29

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "The Devil’s Interval and a British Stripper" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie and Mandy are caught in the crossfire between their moms over CeeCee’s Halloween costume, and Missy (Raegan Revord) and Mary (Zoe Perry) clash over her Halloween plans.

Eternally Yours - "Halloween" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Up for a promotion at her teaching job, Liz invites her boss and his wife over for drinks on Halloween, when they arrive dressed in stereotypical vampire costumes, much to Charles’ annoyance. Also, the coven fears Max has placed them in danger of a werewolf attack when he inadvertently uses an ancient protective relic as a candy bowl for trick-or-treaters and it goes missing.

Ghosts - "Halloween 6: The Mirror – Part One" / "Halloween 6: The Mirror - Part Two" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
A couple of months after Pete’s disappearance, while Sam is in Australia on the set of her new film, Polar Opposites, Kyle (new series regular Ben Feldman) steps up to help baby-sit the ghosts. Also, Hetty is unexpectedly reunited with her estranged sister, Margaret (guest star Maria Thayer), and Bela throws an unconventional Halloween bash at Woodstone.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 26)

Thursday, October 29

Christopher Lloyd (Taxi/Stacked) - Catch Christopher on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Veronika Slowikowska (Tires/Davey & Jonesie's Locker/What We Do in the Shadows) - Veronika appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Rose Byrne (Platonic/Physical) - Rose is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons), Sean Hayes (Will & Grace/The Millers/Sean Saves the World) and Will Arnett (Murderville/Arrested Development/Flaked/The Millers/Up All Night/Running Wilde) - Jason, Sean and Will talk about the "Smartless" podcast on NBC's today sometime between 7-9am.
David Alan Grier (St. Denis Medical/Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!/The Cool Kids/The Carmichael Show/Bad Teacher/Life with Bonnie/DAG) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
Meagan Good (Cousin Skeeter/Raising Dad) - Meagan talks about Reasonable Doubt on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Sophia Bush (Partners) - Sophia talks about And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes from a Life in Progress with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) - Zazie talks about Nocture on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Joe Manganiello (Mythic Quest/How I Met Your Mother) - Joe opens up about his seven-year health battle, his new memoir, Bloodlines, and the family secrets he uncovered while searching for answers on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - It's a special food news with Valerie Bertinelli on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Plus, Val is joining Drew in the kitchen to make zucchini chips.