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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, October 19

The Simpsons - "Treehouse of Horror XXXVI" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The town is menaced by a mysterious murdering monster from out of the sewers; Krusty has a demonic special guest on his live Halloween special; Springfield's post-apocalyptic future.

Universal Basic Guys - "Golden Beans" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Mark and David start a coffee shop in the garage; Tammy and Hank struggle to keep Mernft Man from bothering customers.

Krapopolis - "Basket Baby" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
A baby arrives in a basket; Deliria encroaches on Apollo's turf; Tyrannis throws a potluck.

Bob's Burgers - "The Twinnening" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Teddy takes a handyman job next door to the restaurant and finds himself trapped inside a store full of spooky antiques.

DMV - "Pilot" (CBS, 10:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
East Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) driving examiner Colette pines for her coworker Noa while enduring teasing from colleagues Gregg, Vic and Ceci. Also, new manager Barb rallies the crew to save their branch from government shutdown.

Electric Bloom - "How We Handled an Unexpected Visitor" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Tulip's sister comes home from college and is jealous of Tulip's bond with Jade; Posey deals with a little incident of her own.

Electric Bloom - "How We Defeated a Jingle Bell Bully" (Disney Channel, 8:30PM ET/PT)
To help Tulip rediscover her love of Christmas, Electric Bloom is forced to team up with their sworn enemies, The Two Shellys, to try and win the Holiday Sing-Off.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 13)

Friday, October 17

Charlie Hunnam (Undeclared) - Watch Charlie on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Chelsea Frei (The Paper/The Moodys) - Chelsea appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Maz Jobrani (Superior Donuts/The Knights of Prosperity/Better Off Ted) - Maz is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
Kristin Chenoweth (Trial & Error/Kristin) - Kristin talks about Queen of Versailles on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Zachary Quinto (Big Mouth/So Notorious) - Zachary talks about Brilliant Minds on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Stark Raving Mad/Wings) - NBC's Today catches up with Tony in the 9am hour.
Aziz Ansari (Master of None/Parks and Recreation) - Aziz talks about Good Fortune on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Penn Badgley (Do Over) - Penn talks about Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Mira Sorvino (Shining Vale) - Mira joins Sherri to talk about starring in Chicago the Musical on Broadway on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Cristela Alonzo (Cristela) - Cristela stops by Sherri's Laugh Lounge on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Penn Badgley (Do Over) - Penn talks about podcast Podcrushed on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (FUBAR) - Real Time with Bill Maher features a one-on-one interview with Arnold on HBO at 10pm.