Hallmark Channel and WE TV Acquire The Golden Girls; George Lopez Marathon Scores for Nick at Nite

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Hallmark Channel and WE TV Acquire The Golden Girls; George Lopez Marathon Scores for Nick at Nite

The Hallmark Channel and WE tv have acquired the cable rights to The Golden Girls starting in March 2009 in a shared cable deal. This means the durable sitcom will leave its home of Lifetime Television of 12 years at the end of February 2009. The show has been on the Lifetime since March 1, 1997 (it was renewed a few times) and was one of its highest rated series in the history of the network.
We mentioned a few months back that The Hallmark Channel also has gotten rights to sitcoms Cheers (Fall 2008) and I Love Lucy (January 2009), so they are slowly building towards a sitcom line-up, after having just dramas for many years. It is not certain yet if Cheers and I Love Lucy will also air on TV Land still when Hallmark starts them, but both show's current contracts expire when Hallmark starts airing them.
As for Golden Girls, Lifetime said this in a statement regarding the sitcom moving to Hallmark Channel and WE tv :
"The 'classic' series will depart our schedule after a 12-year run to make room for our next generation of off-net comedies such as the very popular Reba, Still Standing and Will & Grace, as well as numerous original comedies in development, along with the return of the smash hit Army Wives. We wish Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia all the best of luck in their new homes."
We don't have full details yet on WE tv, but it will likely also start when The Golden Girls comes to Hallmark. WE tv currently airs sitcoms in the daytime. Sitcoms that air are Hope & Faith, Kate & Allie and Dharma & Greg. That's a lot of ampersands! They need to get Laverne & Shirley just for the ampersand! Anyway, we will let you know what WE tv says when we find out.
For now discuss the news of Golden Girls leaving Lifetime and coming to Hallmark/WE tv in March 2009 by clicking HERE! Thank you for bein' a friend!

Last week Nick at Nite had its seven night George Lopez "Luck o' the Lopez Marathon" and the marathon helped Nick at Nite all the way to 3rd in cable ratings for all of cable. The marathon aired March 17-23 from 9pm-6am on Sun-Thurs and 10pm-6am on Fri-Sat, so the marathon was all that Nick at Nite aired that week. Nick at Nite had its best week ever as it averaged 2.17 million viewers for the week (approx. 64% higher than the same week last year) and a 1.7 HH rating. The only cable networks that were higher that week were USA Network at a 2.2 HH rating and The Disney Channel at a 1.9 HH rating. Nick at Nite was #1 for the week on cable in the following demos: Teens 12 to 17 and adults 25 to 54; adults 18 to 34 and 18 to 49; and women 18 to 34, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. George Lopez was all that Nick at Nite aired last week, so it was all George that did this! "I Got This!" In fact, as many as five episodes in the marathon had well over 3 million viewers, which is unheard of for Nick at Nite. Woooopah, as George would say! The previous two weeks, Nick at Nite finished 6th in cable network ratings. The show regularly airs every night at 10:00pm & 10:30pm ET/PT with an encore later in the evening. People are watching, so if you haven't watched yet...check it out because it is actually very funny.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, January 29

The Goldbergs - "Geoff the Pleaser" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Adam questions his career path of filmmaking when “the other Adam” moves back from Los Angeles and warns him making it big in Hollywood isn’t easy. Meanwhile, the JTP house is in shambles, and Geoff becomes the home manager as they know how much he loves to please and can’t say no.

Schooled - "Titanic Love" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
The hit film has love on everyone’s brain, and Lainey has a realization about CB. Meanwhile, Principal Glascott uses the season’s bad football team to teach Coach Mellor how to be both a good winner and a good loser.

Modern Family - "Tree's a Crowd" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The Dunphy house is bursting at the seams when Dylan’s hippie mom moves in and Claire’s lonely stepdad, Jerry, wants to pay them a visit. Meanwhile, Jay and Gloria attempt to help Manny get over his big breakup with Sherry.

Single Parents - "Yarn and Pebbles" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
While Graham joins Derek at Ratso’s for a day of father-and-son bonding, a jealous Angie enlists Douglas to help her make sure they don’t bond too much. The twins and Rory eat all the food in Douglas’ house to save his life, and Poppy and Miggy try to help Will with a dating situation named “Kay,” only to have it backfire.

Last Man Standing - "Yours, Wine and Ours" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Kristin entrusts Mike with her gender reveal party.

Outmatched - "Pilot" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Kay and Mike cope with raising three high-IQ children.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 27)

Wednesday, January 29

Lakeith Stanfield (Atlanta) - Watch Lakeith on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Jameela Jamil (The Good Place) - Jameela visits The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Kristen Bell (The Good Place) - Kristen appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Kumail Nanjiani (Bless the Harts/Silicon Valley) - Kumail drops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Dan Levy (Schitt's Creek) - Dan is a guest on The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Tom Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!) - Tom appears on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Aisling Bea (Living with Yourself) - Aisling is a guest on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family/The Class) - Jesse stops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Billy Ray Cyrus (Still the King) - Billy Ray appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Tommy Davidson (Between Brothers) - Tommy talks about his new book Living in Color on NBC's Today in the 9am hour, on Tamron Hall (check your local listings), on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET and on the BUILD Series at 4pm.
David Alan Grier (The Cool Kids/The Carmichael Show/Bad Teacher/Life with Bonnie) - David is in the kitchen making brisket and dishing on his new Broadway show A Soldier’s Play on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Kelly Ripa (Hope & Faith) - Kelly is a guest on E!'s Pop of the Morning at 11am and on People Now at 12pm.
Tim Robbins (The Brink) - Tim talks about VHYes on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Busy Philipps (Vice Principals/Cougar Town) - Busy talks about the Hotel Tonight travel app on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Danielle Fishel (Girl Meets World/Boy Meets World) - Danielle is a guest on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.