AmericanLife Launches OnDemand Service; TBS Renews Bill Engvall Sitcom for Season 2; TV Land Family Day Pledge Launches

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

AmericanLife Launches OnDemand Service; TBS Renews Bill Engvall Sitcom for Season 2; TV Land Family Day Pledge Launches

AmericanLife TV Network is joining the video OnDemand universe, offering up 20 hours of programming per month to any of TVN Entertainment's more than 100 cable affiliates free of charge. The service launched yesterday. The network will have four different channels for OnDemand:
Classic TV will feature such shows as Combat!, The Color Honeymooners and Mission: Impossible (in January).
Caring and Sharing TV features American Family, The Dr. Bob Show and specials such as A Journey to Darfur with George Clooney.
Cooking and Living TV features programming including This Food, That Wine, Embassy Chefs and Fixing Dinner.
Lifestyle TV features Alive and Well, Flea Market Mania and Save Our House, Save Our Family.
A quarter of the programming will be refreshed each week.

TBS has ordered a second season of 10 episodes of its hit sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. In addition, Engvall will host Blue Collar Comedy: The Next Generation, a special to be shot at HBO and AEG Live's The Comedy Festival (TCF) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for premiere on TBS Saturday, Nov. 17.
The sitcom launched in July with one of ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts of all time and currently ranks right behind Tyler Perry's House of Payne on TBS as ad-supported cable's #2 sitcom among adults 18-49 for the year-to-date, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The show casts Engvall as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family is unpredictable, somewhat absurd and a little mixed up themselves. Nancy Travis (Becker) 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 co-stars as Bill's best friend. The show, which is produced by TBS, was created by Engvall and Michael Leeson, who served as executive producers with J.P. Williams and director James Widdoes.

TV Land's Family Table: Share More Than Meals has teamed up with The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University to once again celebrate Family Day -- A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children(TM) on Monday, September 24, 2007. Beginning today, people committed to eating together on Family Day can go to FamilyTable.info to register participation for their family, friends and loved ones.
The Family Table have set a goal of registering millions of Americans to pledge to have dinner as a family on September 24th and, hopefully, use Family Day as a catalyst to make family dinners a regular part of their lives.
TV Land will go dark for an hour from 6-7pm on this day to urge families to go eat together. In addition, a special marathon of TV families eating together will air the night before.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, June 12

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Working for the Enemy" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Audrey’s past rears its head when Georgie leaves the tire store to work for Fred Fagenbacher (Matt Letscher), Jim’s longtime nemesis, and Mandy struggles to keep peace in the house.

Ghosts - "It’s the End of the World as We Know It and What Were We Talking About?" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Flower interferes with the opening of Jay’s restaurant based on a prophecy from her old cult leader.

Bob's Burgers - "The Place Beyond the Pinecones" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Tina and the Thundergirls spend the night in the woods, and Tina faces something even scarier than her nemesis, Troop 257.

Grimsburg - "Loosey Goosey" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Flute and Martinez butt heads as they're sent on a literal wild goose chase.

Family Guy - "Live, Laugh, Love" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Peter realizes Joe has never found him funny, he is determined to make Joe laugh; Lois chaperones Chris and Meg's school trip, where she strives to reunite the principal with his long-lost love.

The Great North - "MIB: Men in Belts Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Beef and Walt's best-friendship is put to the test; Wolf and Honeybee team up with the Tuntleys to catch some thieves.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 9)

Thursday, June 12

Sam Rockwell (F Is for Family) - Catch Sam on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Julianne Moore (Sirens) - Julianne appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Marc Maron (GLOW/Maron) - Marc is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Jurnee Smollett (Cosby/On Our Own/Full House) - Jurnee stops by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Steve Buscemi (Miracle Workers) - Steve makes a special appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Cynthia Nixon (And Just Like That.../Sex and the City) and Ricki Lake (The King of Queens) - Cynthia and Ricki are guests on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10:15pm on Bravo.
Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere/Nightcap) - Jeff is a guest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Henry guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
James Marsden (Jury Duty/Dead to Me/30 Rock) and Ben Schwartz (The Afterparty/Space Force/Parks and Recreation) - James and Ben are telling Drew all about Sonic 3 on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer is a guest on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.