Day 75: WGA's Strike; Desperate Housewives Lifetime Marathon; Remembering Bob LeMond

Friday, January 18, 2008

Day 75: WGA's Strike; Desperate Housewives Lifetime Marathon; Remembering Bob LeMond

It is day 75 of the WGA strike. As we mentioned yesterday, the DGA (Directors Guild of America) reached a deal yesterday five months before its contract was set to expire, thus avoiding a strike. The WGA released this statement regarding that:
Now that the DGA has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP, the terms of the deal will be carefully analyzed and evaluated by the WGA, the WGA's Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board of Directors, and the WGAE Council. We will work with the full membership of both Guilds to discuss our strategies for our own negotiations and contract goals and how they may be affected by such a deal.
For over a month, we have been urging the conglomerates to return to the table and bargain in good faith. They have chosen to negotiate with the DGA instead. Now that those negotiations are completed, the AMPTP must return to the process of bargaining with the WGA. We hope that the DGA's tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers.

Desperate Housewives has quietly not been airing on Lifetime the past few weeks, but it will return next Saturday (Jan. 26) with a four episode marathon from 11am-3pm. The episodes are from season three. Starting Saturday, Feb. 2 the show will return to its normal timeslot of Saturday nights at midnight following Grey's Anatomy.
The show joined the network as a once a week play in August 2006. It will be airing five-days-a-week this coming fall (September 2008) and Lifetime also plans to repurpose new episodes that air on ABC a few days later on Lifetime beginning in September.

So who is Bob LeMond? He was the classic voice of shows like Leave it to Beaver and Ozzie & Harriet. Every week he introduced "America's Favorite Family, the Nelsons" on television. He died at his home in Bonsall, CA Sunday of complications from dementia. In addition to those two classic sitcoms, he was the voice of Our Miss Brooks, My Friend Irma, Life With Luigi, The Red Skelton Show and Bat Masterson. He even guest starred as an announcer on two episodes of The Addams Family.
From 1948 to 1951, Mr. LeMond was the announcer on Lucille Ball's radio sitcom My Favorite Husband. In 1951, he announced the pilot episode of the television show that would become I Love Lucy.
Mr. LeMond retired from show business in 1971, and in 1972 he moved to Bonsall, where he became involved in real estate.
He will certainly be missed. I love when he says "Leave it to Beaver" then reads the cast names. He was 94.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, July 3

The Dick Van Dyke Show - Now in Living Color! - (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
CBS will honor the memory of legendary actor, producer, director, writer, comedian and Emmy Award winner Carl Reiner with THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR! A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO CARL REINER, featuring two colorized back-to-back classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series, Friday, July 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. As series creator and co-star, Carl Reiner personally supervised the original colorization of the episodes.

The special features “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” which ranked #8 on TV Guide’s list of the “100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time,” and “October Eve,” which Mr. Reiner considered to be one of the series’ funniest episodes. Both were written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.

In “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” Laura Petrie blurts out a top secret on a national television quiz show, revealing that comedian Alan Brady wears a toupee. The episode, which was the show’s fifth and final season premiere, was originally broadcast on Sept. 15, 1965. “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1966.

In “October Eve,” a painting of Laura returns to haunt her when, despite her having posed fully clothed, the artist (played by Carl Reiner) takes the liberty of “undraping” her. The episode was first presented on April 8, 1964, during season three.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 29)

Friday, July 3

Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Watch Kevin on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12:35am on ABC.
Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Tina appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Laura Dern (Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Mark Duplass (Togetherness/The Mindy Project/The League) - Mark appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa guest hosts a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Brett Gelman (Camping/Fleabag/Love/Married/Go On) - Brett appears on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/The Game) - Tika talks about the season finale of mixed-ish and her latest project helping new moms on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie/The Secret Lives of Men) - Peter talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and Grace and Frankie on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.