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, December 8

DMV - "The Next Window" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
At the Big Sac holiday party, Colette tries to impress Noa before his single “window” closes. Meanwhile, Barb’s effort to save the East Hollywood DMV backfires when she accidentally tackles the director, but assistant Sally (Leslie Jones) steps in to help.

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Secrets and Santas" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
The Butlers’ anniversary plans take an unexpected turn when a blast from the past, Calvin’s ex-girlfriend, resurfaces. Meanwhile, Malcolm’s meeting gets hijacked, Marty makes a big move toward commitment and Gemma finds herself caught in a holiday misunderstanding.

St. Denis Medical - "No Wonder His Kidney Wants Out" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Ron and Alex react very differently to a seemingly selfless patient; Joyce runs into an old flame; Matt helps Bruce find a new best friend.

The Paper - "Scam Alert" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Ned chases a story about a local scammer operating through a dating app and realizes he may already have the scoop when he learns Esmeralda was one of his victims; Nicole is full of vengeful glee.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 8)

Monday, December 8

Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) - Watch Quinta on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Mila Kunis (Family Guy/That '70s Show) - Mila appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also talks about Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Zooey Deschanel (Physical/New Girl) - Zooey is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) - Sabrina appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Ashley Park (Emily in Paris/Only Murders in the Building/Girls5eva/Nightcap) - Ashley talks about Emily in Paris on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Ana Gasteyer (American Auto/People of Earth/Lady Dynamite/Suburgatory) - Ana chats about Sugar & Booze: A Holiday Spectacular with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - All Access with Linsey Davis sits down with Henry to talk about his life, career and new children's book Detective Duck: The Mystery at Emerald Pond on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Mark Hamill (The Texas Wheelers) - Mark talks about The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie tells Sherri about starring in The Family McMullen, the sequel to The Brothers McMullen, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Reba McEntire (Happy's Place/Malibu Country/Reba) - Reba talks about season two of her hit sitcom Happy's Place on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Justine Lupe (Nobody Wants This/Cristela) - Justine talks about Netflix's Nobody Wants This on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.