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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, January 22

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Will and a Dead Man’s Wife" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Georgie’s not ready for his mother to start dating again. Meanwhile, Jim and Audrey struggle to make their wills.

Ghosts - "Kyle" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Sam and Jay’s relationship is tested when Kyle (Ben Feldman), a handsome living who shares Sam’s ability to see ghosts, arrives at Woodstone B&B.

Animal Control - "Dragons and Dognappers" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Rob Gronkowski returns and asks the team for help rehoming a zebra; Emily and Shred's first date goes awry when they unexpectedly run into Daisy and Patel on their night out; Frank must defend Templeton when Templeton is accused of dognapping.

Going Dutch - "Farmer's Mark-tet Offensive" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After a messy breakup, the Colonel and Katja find themselves going to war between the town and the base; Capt. Maggie tries to de-escalate the tension between the two ex-lovers and negotiate a truce.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 19)

Thursday, January 22

Mike Epps (The Upshaws/Uncle Buck/Survivor's Remorse) - Catch Mike on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons) - Anthony appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. NBC's Today catches up with Anthony in the 10am hour.
Sean Hayes (Will & Grace/The Millers/Sean Saves the World) - Sean is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Jessica Williams (Shrinking/Love Life/Just for Kicks) - Jessica talks about Shrinking on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners) - Michael talks about Shrinking on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Craig Robinson (Killing It/Ghosted/Mr. Robinson/The Office/Lucky) - Craig talks about Broadway' All Out on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Deon Cole (grown-ish/Angie Tribeca/black-ish) - Deon joins Sherri to discuss hosting this year's NAACP Image Awards on BET on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Heidi Gardner (Shrinking) - Heidi tells Sherri about her star turn in the new Broadway comedy All Out: Comedy About Ambition on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Kyle MacLachlan (Carol's Second Act/Sex and the City) - Kyle tells Drew about the latest season of his thrilling hit show Fallout and plays a round of memory bank dishing on his biggest moments and roles revealing which Sex and the City character he identifies most with on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Jackson White (Mrs. Fletcher) - Jackson tells Drew about the newest season of the hit show Tell Me Lies, how he started dating co-star Grace Van Patten, growing up on set with his actress mom and more on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Howie Mandel (Good Grief) - Howie talks about Netflix's Best Guess Live on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.