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

Monday, April 20

The Neighorhood - "Welcome to Purse Dog" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Calvin reluctantly agrees to dog-sit a glamorous little companion, only to face an awkward twist when someone else lays claim to it. Meanwhile, a joint celebration prompts Malcolm to question whether he and Mercedes are moving too fast. Amber Stevens West guest stars as Mercedes, Malcolm's Girlfriend.

DMV - "Drive-ory Tower" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Colette tries to bridge a growing divide at the office by bringing the driving examiners and counter clerks together. Meanwhile, Vic stubbornly avoids seeing a doctor after an unusual injury, forcing Barb to get creative to help him.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 20)

Monday, April 20

Kal Penn (The Santa Clauses/Sunnyside/We Are Men) - Watch Kal on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) - Quinta appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also talks about Abbott Elementary on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Don Cheadle (The Wonder Years/Black Monday/House of Lies/The Golden Palace) - Don is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Henry stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He also talks about Hazardous History with Henry Winkler on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Lea Michele (The Mayor) - Lea appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Aaron Tveit (Schmigadoon!) - Aaron is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
B.J. Novak (The Office) and Jim Parsons (Young Sheldon/The Big Bang Theory) - Andy Cohen interviews B.J. and Jim on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9pm on Bravo.
William Stanford Harris (Abbott Elementary) - William talks about Abbott Elementary on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Ramy Youssef (#1 Happy Family USA/Ramy/See Dad Run) - Ramy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Laurie Metcalf (Big Mistakes/The Conners/Roseanne/The McCarthys/The Norm Show) - Laurie talks about Big Mistakes on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie) - NBC's Today catches up with Jane in the 9am hour.
Christopher Briney (Hacks) - Christopher talks about Hacks on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Blair Underwood (Fatherhood/The New Adventures of Old Christine) - Blair tells Sherri about his new memoir A Soldier's Wife: My Mother, the Marvelous Mrs. Marilyn A. Underwood on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Phoebe Dynevor (Younger) - Phoebe is telling Drew about her new movie Thrash on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Dan Bucatinsky (The Comeback/Marry Me/Web Therapy) - Dan appears on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.