SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

BET Picks-Up Steve Harvey Show, July Highlights; Bad TV Shows Block Coming in Houston

BET has picked-up the cable rights to air the 1996-2002 WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show starring Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer. The show will start this Friday, the 4th of July, airing 4-5pm ET/PT. It will air also that weekend 4-5pm (July 5 and 6) before airing regularly weekdays 4-5pm and weekends 12-1pm ET/PT. The weekdays 4-5pm airings will replace an hour of Malcolm & Eddie, but that show will still air weekdays 10-11am. The Saturday 12-1pm airings will replace Diff'rent Strokes encores, but Strokes will still air weekdays 9-10am & 3-4pm. While the Sundays 12-1pm Harvey airings will replace Sanford, which will now be off the regular line-up. There will be no other schedule changes, so everything else remains the same.
Now Steve Harvey Show will still air on TBS in early morning slots (6-7am and other slots before that sometimes), so it seems BET has the daytime/afternoon rights, while TBS has the very late and early morning rights. ION Television also airs the show, weekdays 6-7pm, but ION is a broadcast channel, not a cable network. So the show will air on two cable networks and a national broadcast channel...so lots of exposure for this show!
Other July 2008 BET highlights include: the A Different World marathon for Sunday, July 6 has been trimmed from 6-11pm to 8-11pm because of this Steve Harvey addition. The marathons continue Sundays in July with a Diff'rent Strokes marathon from 1pm-6pm on Sunday, July 13. Two shows off the regular line-up, Thea and Sanford will get a five episode each marathon on Sunday, July 20 from 3pm-8pm, with Thea from 3-5:30pm and Sanford from 5:30-8pm.
Now this week, people have been asking is Diff'rent Strokes leaving the weekdays 3-4pm slot since it is not scheduled this week (June 30-July 4)? I sort of answered that already earlier in this story. No, it is not leaving afternoons, it is just not on this week. As of now, it is slated to air each weekday in both the 9-10am and 3-4pm weekday slots for all of July, with no preemptions. Of course, BET has a history of making last minute changes, so please keep checking back on our blog and on our message boards for the latest information!


We were informed by reader Michael Dudas that a Houston TV station is looking to create a "Bad TV" Saturday evening block. The TV station is Channel 55 in Houston called Houston's 55, or better known as The Tube.
"We're going to call it a night of Bad TV, and we're going to run it for three hours, maybe four, on Saturdays starting in October," said Channel 55 president Matt Reiff to the Houston Chronicle. "Whether it's three or four hours depends on how successful we are getting the rights to these shows. We're in the process of buying shows now for the fall. We're looking for the worst shows, I'm talking sitcoms and movies, in the history of television."
This is indeed a wonderful idea! I love it. If I were them I would add Small Wonder, Out of this World, Webster, She's the Sheriff, Harry and the Hendersons, etc. for shows that actually lasted a while but were bashed big time...some of those I actually do like, though! And some of the shows that didn't last a season and were terrible such as Emily's Reasons Why Not, Michael Richards Show, Mary (1985), Joanie Loves Chachi, Who's Watching the Kids?, Emeril, Bagdad Cafe, etc.
Can you think of sitcoms that were just plain bad that lasted a while and sitcoms that were so bad they were canceled within a season? Head on www.houstons55.com and leave them a message under "viewer comments."
Regularly Houston's 55 airs "good" shows such as Northern Exposure, Fantasy Island, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, 21 Jump Street, Star Trek, Married with Children, Steve Harvey, and Renegade.
And how will they present this night of Bad TV? "Each night, we'll have three lousy hosts introducing the lousy shows, and we'll let viewers vote off one of the hosts," Reiff said. "We don't know if we're going to vote off the best host or the worst host. "Oh, and we're going to give away prizes to viewers throughout the show. Prizes will be trips to exotic places, like Paris." Paris, Texas, that is. "And we won't send them to Paris without spending money. How's $55 sound? "Bad TV, bad hosts and bad prizes ... this is going to be great." I agree! Head on over to their website and think of bad TV shows that are so bad that you would want to watch...they could be so bad that you like them (like Small Wonder)! Houston fans are very lucky to have this! We will bring you up to date news as soon as we hear something, such as what shows they have acquired.

Summer Week 5 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

It is summer time! Which means repeats and reality series, but there will be some scripted originals for the summer as well. Like we do every summer, we will just look at the sitcom ratings, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here is week 5 for the summer for sitcoms:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 16-22)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - A repeat airing did 4.33 million viewers...but finally up previous week.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - 4.23 million for a repeat airing, up from previous week...great retention from the lead-in again.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 5.5 million for a repeat up from previous two week's 5.15 million.
• American Dad! (Fox) - 4.47 million for a repeat is OK, but down from previous. Still the second highest rated animated comedy this week.
• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - Back down below a million after going over the previous week...710,000 viewers this week for a repeat.
  
• Aliens in America (The CW) - 700,000 viewers for a repeat, down from previous week.
• The Game (The CW) - 940,000 viewers for a repeat...built from lead-in but down a tad from previous week.
• Girlfriends (The CW) - 890,000 viewers for a repeat...not better than previous week.

Summer Week 5 (June 23-29)

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 5.21 million for a repeat is lower than the previous week.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.42 million for a repeat airing, down from previous week, but it did build on the lead-in.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.22 million for a repeat,up a bit week to week.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 7.05 million for a repeat ... up a bit as well from previous week.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None...watch Wipeout on ABC, very funny show that is not a sitcom.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Under One Roof (MyNetworkTV) - The first repeat airing did 1.0 million, down a bit from the previous week's 1.19 million, which was new.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• None

Saturday Sitcoms

• None

Tonight you can catch encores of The CW sitcoms from 8-10pm but Fox's animated comedies are preempted for a movie.

Coming Week Preview (Summer Week 6) for Broadcast (With Some Cable Notes):
So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight CBS will air a new 60 Minutes I believe at 7pm followed by Million Dollar Password at 8pm with guests Sarah Evans and Steve Schirripa and NBC's U.S. Olympic Trials will air from 7-9pm, followed by a new Dateline from 9-11pm. A pretty quite night...watch the Family Matters marathon on Nick at Nite from 9pm-4am for the best time of the night.
On Monday, ABC will be all-new with a two-hour The Bachelorette followed by The Mole at 10. NBC has American Gladiators at 8pm, followed by a two-hour Nashville Star at 9pm. Quiet night.
On Tuesday Fox will be all-new with The Moment of Truth at 8pm and Hell's Kitchen at 9pm. ABC has the hilarious new hit Wipeout, I Survived a Japanese Game Show & Primetime: The Outsiders from 8-11pm. NBC has Celebrity Family Feud at 8pm leading into the summer hit America's Got Talent from 9-11pm. CBS has a new 48 Hours at 9pm in between repeats. This is the best night of the summer!
On Wednesday Fox will air a new two-hour episode of So You Think You Can Dance. NBC will have an all-new Baby Borrowers at 9pm following a repeat at 8pm and an all-new episode of the low-rated Celebrity Circus at 10. ABC will be new at 10pm with Primetime: Crime. MyNetwork TV has a new episode of the sitcom Under One Roof at 8pm.
On Thursday ABC will air episode two of the well liked ABCNews' Hopkins series at 10pm. Fox will also be new all-night with Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? followed by So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday. CBS will air the summer scripted series Swingtown at 10pm, which has gone down each week. And NBC will air a new episode of the low-rated Last Comic Standing from 8-10, leading into horror series Fear Itself at 10 which is getting horrific ratings. On cable, TBS will air new episodes of sitcoms The Bill Engvall Show and My Boys from 9-10pm...both saw season lows this past Thursday opposite the NBA Draft on ESPN.
On Friday it's the 4th of July and there is stuff to watch actually! ABC will be all-new, all-night on Friday with Dance Machine at 8 followed by the addictive game show Duel and the news magazine 20/20 closes the night at 10pm. NBC will also be all-new for the night with more U.S. Olympic Trials at 8pm, followed by the annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular and Dateline at 10pm. CBS will air fireworks at 10pm with Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. ABC should air some fireworks at 8pm, like from Disneyland or something. The CW of course will have WWE Smackdown.
Saturday will Cops and AMW on Fox, 48 Hours on CBS and more U.S. Summer Olympic Trials on NBC from 8-9pm.

TV Rebels: The Andy Griffith Show

It's time for another edition of TV Rebels. We originally had special permission to publish the first 6 essays on TV shows and actors that will be featured in the upcoming book TV Rebels: 100 People and Programs That Shaped the Medium by authors Lou Orfanella and Oscar De Los Santos...and as we mentioned in April, we have now gotten rights to 6 additional essays, so we will be bringing you one each month until at least November! Upcoming TV Rebel columns coming soon are about Rod Serling, Bill Cosby, and Desi Arnaz. The book is in the works and will be released in 2009.

So without further adieu, we bring you the seventh essay of TV Rebels:

The Andy Griffith Show: Mayberry's Sheriff without a Gun
by Oscar De Los Santos

In many respects, The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) was born out of the network womb of The Danny Thomas Show (1953-1964). A seventh season episode of Danny Thomas featured its star being stopped for speeding by Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith). Soon, the sheriff, his deputy cousin, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), and the town of Mayberry, North Carolina made their network TV series debut on October 3, 1960. Other regular characters included Andy's Aunt Bea (Frances Bavier), who lived with the widowed sheriff and his small son, Opie (Ron Howard); Ellie Walker (Eleanor Donahue), Andy's first girlfriend in the series; Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), the sheriff's later girlfriend; Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn), Barney’s girlfriend; Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors), who would eventually get his own spin-off show; Goober Pyle (George Lyndsey), who took his cousin's mechanic and gas-pumping job at Wally's Filling Station when Gomer enlisted in the Marines; Otis Campbell (Wallace Smith), the town drunk, Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear) the town barber, Clara Edwards (Hope Summers), Aunt Bea's closest friend and friendly rival, and a host of other charming Mayberry citizens.
The show was a sitcom that seemed to defy much of the sharper edged network offerings of its period. It showcased no murders and featured few sarcastic jabs, but rather good-natured humor and thoughtful moral lessons, many of them delivered by Sheriff Taylor via his folksy ruminations. For instance, one episode revolved around Andy teaching Opie to care for orphan birds after the boy kills their mother with a slingshot. Another focused on Andy teaching Opie to defend himself against a bully without stepping in and fighting his son's battles. Other shows featured the highs and lows of Barney buying his first car and Aunt Bea's competition with Clara to make the best pickles for the county fair.
In spite of the show's name and the fact that "Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas designed The Andy Griffith Show to fit the image of its star" (The Andy Griffith Show, The Museum of Broadcast Communications), this was much more than a comedy about a small-town sheriff. Each of the ensemble characters had his and her major episodes and/or significant roles in other stories. Indeed, it's arguable that the program was as much about Barney Fife as about Andy Taylor, since so many of the show's plots were either directly or indirectly focused on Andy's bombastic and braggart deputy.
Another way to view the success of The Andy Griffith Show is to consider the town of Mayberry as the main star of the show. Audiences were willing to tune in for eight years and 249 episodes of the series because they loved the region the characters populated as much as the characters themselves. Mayberry was quintessential small-town America: a gorgeous, clean, peaceful town where a citizen could count on two lawmen to keep the peace and diffuse any problems that arose -- and these were usually no more threatening than finding a way to tell Barney that he was singing out of key and ruining the church choir's performances or making sure that Otis got his breakfast and had sobered up enough to release him from jail and send him home the next morning. Do such ideal locales really exist? Maybe not on the level of TV's Mayberry, but according to Ken Beck and Jim Clark, "The fictional town of Mayberry was partially influenced by the town of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Andy Griffith's hometown. Much of the show's realism drws from Andy Griffith's use of Mt. Airy as a model for Mayberry. The names of many of Mayberry’s townspeople, businesses, and streets, and landmarks can be found in and around Mt. Airy" (xv).
The Andy Griffith Show can be compared to Gunsmoke (1955-1975), another immensely popular program with its own streak of TV rebellion (see Gunsmoke in this volume). Like The Andy Griffith Show, Gunsmoke was as much about its ensemble cast and setting as about its main star. Early episodes often centered on Marshall Matt Dillon but as the Western's tenure on the air stretched on, its stories focused on Chester, Miss Kitty, Doc, Festus, and other characters. Moreover, just as Andy Griffith Show audiences fixated on Sheriff Andy Taylor's Mayberry, they focused on Marshall Matt Dillon's Dodge City; but while many viewers would have loved to trade their own hometowns for Mayberry, few dreamed of jumping into the squared electronic box and actually taking up residence in Dodge. After all, crime in Mayberry was so low that the town sheriff didn't wear a gun and his deputy carried his six-shooter's only bullet in his shirt pocket, but Dodge City was all about crime -- a rough Old West location where life was tough, the bullets flew frequently, and shot bodies dropped to the gritty earth each week. Two shows spinning their own historical mythos? Perhaps, but The Andy Griffith Show provided a more gentle wishful thinking for an increasingly jaded American populace.

Works Cited
Andy Griffith Show, The. Museum of Broadcast Communications.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/andygriffith/andygriffith.htm. January 15, 2008.
Beck, Ken and Jim Clark. The Andy Griffith Show Book. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. (Revised 35th Anniversary Edition.)

Works Consulted
The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. http://www.mayberry.com/. January 15, 2008.

ABC Family Picks-Up Weekend Rights to Fresh Prince; CBS Fall Premiere Dates

In a shocking move, ABC Family has picked-up rights to air The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air beginning in August. You might be thinking, uh isn't it already on TBS and Nick at Nite/The N? Yes, you're of course right. This will be a three-way shared deal (with a record breaking four cable networks involved). This is at least the second three-way deal I have heard of, with the first being That '70s Show (FX, The N, ABC Family), but the first involving four networks. That '70s Show's deal is very complicated that I can't figure out what times each of those networks can air the show.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air deal is pretty easy to figure out. ABC Family will be airing the series weekend evenings only starting Saturday, August 2. The show will air Saturday nights from 11pm-2am ET/PT and sometimes as well on Sundays back-to-back at 11 & 11:30pm ET/PT, if a movie doesn't go until midnight.
So, ABC Family will have weekend evening rights to the series. TBS has the daytime rights. Nick at Nite/The N (AKA Viacom portion of the deal) will now only have weekday evening rights (as they lose the seven days evening rights...what no more all-night seven nights Fresh marathons??), which means Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will not be airing on weekends anymore on both networks and that will be in effect starting next week (the deal starts in July actually). So the Nick at Nite schedule will change a bit. Family Matters, which launches this Sunday with a marathon from 9pm-4am, will get more timeslots because of this! Family Matters will take over the Saturday (early Sunday) slots at 12-2am and 2-3am and Sunday evenings 11pm-12am. Home Improvement will now air Saturdays 11pm-12am and 1-2am, while The Cosby Show will take over Sunday nights (early Monday) 1-2am. So Fresh Prince will only air weekdays...Mon-Thurs 11:30pm & 2-3am and Friday nights 12:30am & 3-4am. The N will air it weeknights at 8-9pm and 1-2am, as weekend airings for that network will also be removed. And TBS will continue to air it weekdays 9-10am.
For the full Nick at Nite schedule effective this Monday, head on over here. ABC Family won't be making any other changes in August when Fresh Prince comes.
If you're a Family Matters fan, then I have compiled an upcoming episodes list for Nick at Nite, that I thought might be handy. They are skipping season one because Urkel didn't become big until season two. Season one will air after this rotation finishes, which means we will have to wait until season nine ends. Tune in this Sunday for the launch marathon!

CBS announced premiere dates for the fall premieres of its new and returning series, which include a pre-season debut for Survivor: Gabon and the launch of its Thursday and Friday drama series in early October. CBS will introduce everything else from its schedule beginning Monday, Sept. 22, the official start of the 2008-2009 season. The only reason the premieres of the Thursday and Friday night dramas have been scheduled outside of premiere week is to accommodate the scheduled Presidential Debate on Sept. 26 and the Vice Presidential Debate on Oct. 2.
Here are the 2008-09 CBS premiere dates:

Thursday, Sept. 18
8-9 p.m.: Survivor (17th edition)

Monday, Sept. 22
8-8:30 p.m.: The Big Bang Theory (2nd season premiere)
8:30-9 p.m.: How I Met Your Mother (4th season premiere)
9-9:30 p.m.: Two and a Half Men (6th season premiere)
9:30-10 p.m.: Worst Week (series debut)
10-11 p.m.: CSI: Miami (7th season premiere)

Tuesday, Sept. 23
8-9 p.m.: NCIS (6th season premiere)
9-10 p.m.: The Mentalist (series debut)
10-11 p.m.: Without a Trace (7th season premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 24
8-8:30 p.m.: The New Adventures of Old Christine (4th season premiere)
8:30-9 p.m.: Project Gary (series debut)
9-10 p.m.: Criminal Minds (4th season premiere)
10-11 p.m.: CSI: NY (5th season premiere)

Saturday, Sept. 27
8-9 p.m.: Crimetime Saturday
9-10 p.m.: Crimetime Saturday
10-11 p.m.: 48 Hours Mystery (season premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 28
7:00-8 p.m.: 60 Minutes (41st season premiere)
8-9 p.m.: The Amazing Race (13th edition)
9-10 p.m.: Cold Case (6th season premiere)
10-11 p.m.: The Unit (4th season premiere)

Friday, Oct. 3
8-9 p.m.: Ghost Whisperer (4th season premiere)
9-10 p.m.: The Ex List (series premiere)
10-11 p.m.: Numb3rs (5th season premiere)

Thursday, Oct. 9
9-10 p.m.: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (9th season premiere)
10-11 p.m.: Eleventh Hour (series debut)

Equity's RTN Sold to Luken Communications; Me-Too in Chicago Airing Classic Movies Now, Too, More TV Shows Added

Equity Media Holdings Corporation announced it has closed an asset sales transaction with Luken Communications, LLC, a group led by Equity Media's largest shareholder Henry Luken III (the "Investors"). The Investors purchased Equity Media's Retro Television Network (RTN) subsidiary for $18.50 million. Equity Media has the option to repurchase RTN at any time during the next six months. Concurrently with the closing of the RTN sale, the Investors purchased for $1.50 million warrants to purchase up to 8,050,000 shares of Equity Media for $1.10 per share. Equity Media also has entered into asset purchase agreements with the Investors for the sale by Equity Media of certain television stations. Equity Media has received a $5 million prepayment on the stations sale from the Investors. The stations sale will be consummated, and Equity Media will receive the remaining payment of $12.5 million, upon receipt of FCC and certain other approvals. Following consummation of the station sales, Equity Media will continue to own and operate 100 stations in 35 markets representing 24.8% of U.S. television households based on Equity Media's current stations roster.
View the full press release for more details. So what does this mean? It is hard to tell. I have asked RTN to see what is up, so I'll let you all know what they say. I think it won't affect current RTN affiliates. It doesn't mean the network is on its way out or that it won't add more stations since it was sold to another group, but I don't know if this is good or bad. We'll have to see in the coming weeks.

Beginning Monday June 30 at 7:00pm, Me-Too (WMEU-TV) in Chicago rolls out the red carpet for "Me-Too Movie Classics," a showcase for a wide variety of Hollywood's greatest movies, stars and directors. From the classic to kitsch to cult, "Me-Too's Movie Classics" brings back classic films to free, over the air television with minimal content editing and only five minutes of internal commercial break time.
Theme weeks include a look at significant movies of the 1970s featuring Easy Rider, Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice and Butterflies Are Free. A week of screwball/classic comedies includes The Twentieth Century, Born Yesterday and the original Brewster's Millions. A week of Joan Crawford classics include the truly classic as well as campy Crawford performances from the 1950s and 1960s.
Adding classic movies to the schedule of Me-Too serves to further distinguish Me-Too as the snappy sibling of Me-TV, Chicago's beloved home of Classic TV, and provide a unique and uncluttered environment for advertisers seeking an engaged, loyal and receptive audience.
The movies will air weeknights at 7:00pm and Saturdays at 1:00pm with many other stars like Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson, Jackie Gleason, Jane Fonda, Carl Reiner, Peter Falk, Dick Van Dyke, Burt Reynolds and John Ritter. The movies for the summer are available in a list form on our message boards. You may also discuss the movie list and stars there, which also has a lot of classic TV stars in feature films.

Adding movies is not the only thing happening on June 30. Me-Too will change their classic TV line-up a bit too. Me-Too launched back in March with this launch schedule, that has continued until today, but now some changes are coming. Gilligan's Island, Ozzie and Harriet, Rawhide, are among the new series coming to Me-Too. View the new Me-Too schedule.

CBS Orders 6 More Password Episodes; NBC Salutes George Carlin with SNL Appearance

CBS has ordered six additional episodes of the Regis Philbin-hosted game show Million Dollar Password.Million Dollar Password airs Sundays, 8:00 PM, has placed first in its time period in viewers in each of its four broadcasts, including a special Thursday edition on June 12. It has also placed first in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in three of its four broadcasts despite skewing very old. Million Dollar Password is averaging 9.46 million viewers, 2.6/8 in adults 25-54 and 2.0/6 in adults 18-49.

NBC will pay tribute to the late George Carlin in a great way this Saturday. As hilarious and heartfelt tributes pour in marking the passing of groundbreaking comedian George Carlin, Saturday Night Live pays tribute on Saturday, June 28 from 11:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m. ET/PT, re-airing its premiere episode that featured Carlin as host.
The episode is from 1975. Carlin was brought in as the first host of the groundbreaking comedy show. Carlin performed three individual monologues on the program that also introduced audiences to the now legendary "Not Ready For Prime-Time Players" Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Larraine Newman and Gilda Radner. The 1975 episode also features musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston as well as a landmark performance from comedian Andy Kaufman.

Married with Children Comes to TBS This Fall, In Addition to Spike TV; Spike TV Fall 2008 Update

A few months ago it was announced that hit '90s sitcom Married with Children is coming to Spike TV this September. It was said to have been an exclusive deal, but it doesn't look like it will be. We have gotten word that cable network TBS has gotten the rights to the sitcom for this September as well! It will obviously be a shared deal for the five-year contract term between Spike and TBS. Spike TV will get majority of the hours, as they can air the show anytime between 7am-2am, while TBS can only air it between 2am-7am. TBS will start airing the show around September 15 (we will confirm this date in the coming weeks or so). The show will air regularly weekday mornings 6-7am, and sometimes anytime between 4-6am as well, depending on the late movies. The Steve Harvey Show will lead into Married each time usually, so Harvey won't have a set timeslot anymore, as it can air anywhere between 3:30am-5:30am.
We will have more on TBS fall in the coming weeks or in a month or so, so stay tuned. There could be some minor time changes here and there, however Married with Children is the only new show they are adding, I believe. Fall 2009 will be a different story when According to Jim comes and My Name is Earl and The Office can also be stripped rather than just once a week.

Moving on to Spike TV, as we mentioned, they have acquired Married with Children for September and Unsolved Mysteries for October. CSI: NY will also be available for five days a week play this fall, rather than just once a week. CSI: NY will have a week-long marathon Monday, September 22 to Friday, September 26 from 9am-9pm, before joining the weeknight evening line-up the following week.
Married with Children will launch on Spike TV with a weekend block on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28 from 9am-11am. Then it will get a week-long marathon from Monday, September 29 to Friday, October 3 from 9am-3pm. Then Married with Children will regularly air after that week weekdays from 11am-1pm, a two-hour block. There will be times Married will also air in the late night around 1-2am. Go Bundy, indeed!
Unsolved Mysteries will launch on Monday, October 13 airing weeknights at 5pm and 6pm! The weeks leading up to the launch they will have stunts to promote the show coming to Spike TV. More details on that at a later date.
Once Unsolved settles into its timeslot, Spike TV will look like this weekdays in the fall:
9am Star Trek: Voyager, 10am Whacked Out Sports, 10:30am Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, 11am-1pm Married with Children, 1-3pm Disorderly Conduct: Video on Patrol, 3-5pm Spike's Most Amazing Videos, 5-7pm Unsolved Mysteries, with CSI and CSI: NY rounding out the evening from 7-9pm. CSI: NY will also air at midnight, followed by CSI. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 & Seven Days will remain at 2 & 3am. We will have more details on Spike Fall when available. But for now, great news for Married with Children fans as two networks will air the show, and Unsolved Mysteries gets a nice two-hour block in the evenings on Spike TV!

Many TV Classics Coming to Online Station; Remembering George Carlin and Dody Goodman

The TVS Television Network, the fourth oldest commercial TV network in the USA, has launched NTV Tele.Net, an advertising supported full time streaming video internet channel, short for the Nostalgia Television Network. NTVTele.Net is a streaming video channel that programs classic TV programs and movies 24 hours daily. While all of the classic programming is of a vintage nature, TVS plans an aggressive slate of new programs that capture the historic nature of NTVTele.Net programs.
NTVTele.Net features top classic TV shows from the past 60 years of television including Bonanza, Andy Griffith, Robin Hood, Jim Bowie, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Dobie Gillis, My Favorite Martian, Sea Hunt, Peter Gunn, Checkmate, Beverly Hillbillies, Ozzie and Harriet, Dick Van Dyke, and many other classics.
TVS is scheduled to roll out 16 more fulltime streaming channels in 2008, most under the legendary TVS banner. TVS began in 1961 telecasting to independent TV stations and has been a premiere occasional network for 47 years.
NTVTele.Net is currently running marathon classic TV programming in its Beta stage, and will convert to a classic schedule of programming in August.

We have lost two more sitcom stars. George Carlin, who was one of the best stand-up comics, and Dody Goodman, more known for her Broadway work.
Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday at about 6pm PT. Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live back in 1975...he hosted an episode again in 1984.
George Carlin got his own sitcom in 1994 on Fox called The George Carlin Show. The show only lasted 27 episodes and was about George playing New York City cab driver named George O'Grady.
His other sitcom credits include guest shots on Welcome Back Kotter, That Girl and The Simpsons. Children best know him for his work on Shining Time Station as the conductor, which he spoofed in 2000 on an episode of MADtv. He was also the narrator for many years on the children's series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
His film credits include Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (which he also appeared on the animated TV series), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Americathon, Prince of Tides, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Scary Movie 3 and Cars.
Stand-up comedy was of course what he was best known for. He hosted about 14 HBO comedy specials and is known as one of the best stand-up comics of all-time.
The Kennedy Center just said it will posthumously award the Mark Twain Prize to the late George Carlin at this year's annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He died a week after being named the 2008 recipient of the Twain Prize. He will be remembered at the Nov. 10 ceremony.
Mr. Carlin will certainly be missed. We are all probably saying the seven dirty words he was known to use today as we heard about his passing. Mr. Carlin was 71.

We have also lost Dody Goodman. Dody Goodman died Sunday (June 22) at Englewood (N.J.) Hospital and Medical Center. The actress had been ill for some time and had lived in the Actors Fund Home in Englewood since October. Goodman gained a measure of newspaper column space for her dancing solos in such '40s Broadway musicals as High Button Shoes and Wonderful Town. In 1955, she stopped the show in Off Broadway's Shoestring Revue with the novelty song "Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers."
She came to the attention of nighttime talkshow host Jack Paar, who after becoming enchanted by Goodman's ditzy persona and seemingly spontaneous malaprops, invited the lady to become a semi-regular on The Tonight Show. As Goodman's fame grew, she became difficult to handle on the show, and Paar was not happy with her upstaging habits. So she left show and appeared on other talk shows such as The Merv Griffin Show. She returned to Broadway in 1974 to appear in Lorelei with Carol Channing.
Then in 1975 she played Louise Lasser's mother on the comedy-soap Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Her high-pitched voice could be also heard announcing the show's title at the beginning of each episode. She appeared on the spin-off Forever Fernwood as well. She was also famous in the '80s for her recurring role as Aunt Sophia on the '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Goodman also provided the voice of Miss Miller on the animated series Alvin & the Chipmunks and various specials and movies such as The Chipmunk Adventure. She also had a role in the '80s daytime soap Texas. Her other TV credits include her first role as a waitress on The Phil Silvers Show, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Mary Tyler Moore Hour, CHiPs, Just Our Luck, St. Elsewhere, Punky Brewster, One Life to Live, Crazy Like a Fox, Bustin' Loose, Murder She Wrote, Here and Now, and Boston Common. She also appeared in the TV movie I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later. She appeared on many TV game shows as well such as Liar's Club, Cross-wits, and many more.
She appeared in such popular films as Grease, Grease 2, playing Blanche (the principal's assistant), and in the movie Splash and Splash, Too. Both movie franchises are very memorable and she was a big part of them.
She will certainly be missed by Broadway fans, TV fans, and movie fans as she had big roles in each. Dody lived a long life and was 93.

Summer Week 4 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

It is summer time! Which means repeats and reality series, but there will be some scripted originals for the summer as well. Like we do every summer, we will just look at the sitcom ratings, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here is week 4 for the summer for sitcoms:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 9-15)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - A repeat airing did only 3.78 million viewers...down from previous week once again...
• King of the Hill (Fox) - Just 3.74 million for a repeat airing, exactly the same though from previous week...great retention at least.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 5.15 million for a repeat again exactly the same from previous week.
• American Dad! (Fox) - 4.71 million for a repeat is OK, but can you believe this is the second highest rated animated comedy this week?
• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - 1.11 million for a repeat airing...up from previous week....over a million finally.
• Aliens in America (The CW) - 1.09 million a repeat, down a tad from previous week.
• The Game (The CW) - 1.11 million for a repeat...built from lead-in and up from previous week.
• Girlfriends (The CW) - 1.09 million for a repeat...better than previous week by a hair.

Summer Week 4

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 5.63 million for a repeat is OK, but that is lower than the 6.41 million special Bill Engvall CBS repeat the previous week.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.66 million for a repeat airing, down from previous week, but it did build on the lead-in, as the previous week it didn't for the first time in ages...maybe Engvall drew some extra eyeballs on the eye.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 8.95 million for a repeat, down nearly two million week to week...odd.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 6.66 million for a repeat ... like the lead-in down nearly two million week to week...I wouldn't expect that big of a drop until like mid-July when the summer effect really heats up.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Under One Roof (MyNetworkTV) - A new episode did 1.19 million, on par really from the previous week's 1.2 million.

Thursday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Special Thursday encore at 8pm only mustered 4.05 million...CBS is better off encoring a crime drama in this slot.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 4.33 million for a Thursday repeat ... built on the lead-in at least.
• The Office (NBC) - Repeat at 8pm only mustered 3.38 million, a bit better than previous week's My Name is Earl encore which did 3.28 million.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• None

Saturday Sitcoms

• None

Tonight you can catch encores of The CW sitcoms and Fox's animated comedies from 8-10pm.

Coming Week Preview for Broadcast (With Some Cable Notes):
So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight CBS will air a new 60 Minutes I believe at 7pm followed by Million Dollar Password at 8pm with guests Steven Weber and Shanna Moakler and NBC's U.S. Olympic Trials will air from 7-9pm, followed by a new Dateline from 9-11pm.
On Monday, ABC will be all-new with a two-hour The Bachelorette followed by The Mole at 10 NBC has American Gladiators at 8pm, followed by a two-hour Nashville Star at 9pm.
On Tuesday Fox will be all-new at 9pm only as The Moment of Truth will be preempted at 8pm for a Hell's Kitchen repeat followed by a new episode at 9pm. ABC launches the much anticipated new Tuesday line-up of the looks to be funny Wipeout, I Survived a Japanese Game Show & Primetime: The Outsiders from 8-11pm. NBC will launch Celebrity Family Feud a week earlier than planned at 8pm leading into the summer hit America's Got Talent from 9-11pm.
On Wednesday Fox will air a new two-hour episode of So You Think You Can Dance. NBC will have an all-new Deal or No Deal at 8pm leading into the premiere of Baby Borrowers at 9pm and the low-rated Celebrity Circus at 10. ABC will be all new all night as well, with new episodes of Wife Swap, Supernanny and Primetime: Crime. And yes, Farmer Wants a Wife is still new on The CW at 9pm....when is this ending?
On Thursday ABC will launch the "real" Grey's Anatomy as ABC looks in at the drama at a real hospital in ABCNews' Hopkins at 10pm. Fox will also be new all-night with Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? followed by So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday. CBS will air the summer scripted series Swingtown at 10pm, which has gone down each week. And NBC will air a new episode of the low-rated Last Comic Standing from 8-10, leading into horror series Fear Itself at 10 which is getting horrific ratings. On cable, TBS will air new episodes of sitcoms The Bill Engvall Show and My Boys from 9-10pm...both have been less than spectacular so far. ESPN has the NBA Draft starting at 7:30pm ET.
On Friday ABC will launch a new Friday reality series actually with the launch of new dance show Dance Machine at 8 followed by the return of addictive game show Duel and the news magazine 20/20 closes the night at 10pm, which means all-new ABCNews specials will air Tues-Fri at 10pm this summer. NBC will have a two-hour Dateline from 9-11pm. The CW of course will have WWE Smackdown.
Saturday will Cops and AMW on Fox and more U.S. Summer Olympic Trials on NBC from 8-9pm.

Mini-DVD Review: Futurama - Beast With a Billon Backs (June 24)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the mini-DVD review. Today we take a look at 20th Century Fox's Futurama - Beast With a Billion Backs. Futurama - Beast With a Billion Backs is the second movie featuring the hit animated series. See skees53's mini-DVD review of Futurama - Beast With a Billion Backs:

Futurama - Beast With a Billion Backs (20th Century Fox, $29.98) is the second installment in Fox's series of movies based upon the Sunday night animated sitcom from the past. The feature film picks up where the previous feature, Bender's Big Score, leaves off, when they try to find a way to keep peace and joy in the galaxy. But all doesn't go so well when a beast... a beast with a billion backs... takes over the society and makes Fry the Pope! How will they get out of this mess? Or will we have to wait until one of the next two installments to find out?
The movie looks and sounds great on DVD, with Dolby Digital Surround Sound audio. Of course, you can't compare this to how it looks on TV, as this has yet to be shown on TV, but to put it simply, it looks great.
Of course, the DVD also contains a plethora of special features, which honestly are much better than the movie itself. For starters, there is a commentary track that includes commentary from all of the important people involved with the movie. The "Futurama: The Lost Adventure" featurette is actually a lost full-length episode of the original series—kind of. This was produced for a Futurama video game that never quite made it, but now we get that "episode" on this DVD... with commentary, of course! "Meet Yiyo!" gives you a look at Yiyo, the title character of the movie. "Blooperama: The Futurama Cast at Work" lets you get a behind the scenes look at the screw ups made along the way in the production of this movie. And of course, there are animatics and deleted scenes--what would a Fox animated series be without those on DVD? Finally, there is a short preview of the next movie in the Futurama movie series, Bender's Game.
Any true fan of Futurama is going to want to see this simply because it is another chapter in a series that they are a fan of, but even these true fans should prepare themselves to be disappointed. It seems that the idea of the series has changed quite a bit with these movies, and it has become less of a good animated sitcom and has gotten more into the realm of science fiction, which would be fine except it is still being written by comedy writers. I can't really think of any time where my real disappointment with a DVD has been about the content of what is on it as opposed to a bad DVD compilation. The compilation in this case is excellent, and fans will certainly appreciate that, and it is worth watching the movie anyway if you are a fan.
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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RTN Salutes Get Smart As New Movie Opens; Classic TV Stars Honored at EMA's Home Entertainment Awards

Retro Television Network in Detroit, Michigan will honor Get Smart this Sunday with two classic episodes. The episodes are airing of course because the new Get Smart movie starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway opens in theaters today. RTN in Detroit will run two episodes of Get Smart in primetime at 7:00pm & 7:30pm on Sunday (June 22). It will also be simulcasted on WXYZ, the ABC affiliate in Detroit, preempting ABC network programming for that hour (a repeat of AFV).
RTN in Detroit regularly airs Get Smart weeknights at 11:00pm, but this is huge when two episodes are airing in primetime on ABC Detroit!
We will let you know if any other RTN affiliates are honoring Get Smart with something similar as soon as we know. So you might want to keep checking back here in this spot.

On Tuesday, June 24 in Las Vegas, the EMA Home Media Expo 2008/EMA Home Entertainment Awards will be held. From 9am-5:30pm Exhibits and Conference will be going on and following that will be the Awards Show from 7:30-9pm.
There will be a salute to classic TV stars at the awards. Among the honorees:
Josie Davis - Favorite Television Child Star for Charles in Charge (Arts Alliance America will release the fourth season of Charles in Charge, which starred Scott Baio as a babysitter for the Powell family, on DVD Nov. 18.)
Don Most & Anson Williams - Legendary Television Duo for Happy Days
Paul Petersen - Legendary Television Son for The Donna Reed Show
Charlene Tilton - Legendary Television Bad Girl for Dallas
Jamie Kennedy - Award Show Host
Plus Classic TV Stars Peter Brown (Laredo), Robert Fuller (Laramie), and Denny Miller (Wagon Train).
Visit homemediaexpo.com for more info.

Maverick and Bret Maverick Reruns to Encore Westerns; Nick at Nite Latin America Adds New Shows and Look

The Encore Westerns channel will be adding the classic TV western Maverick to its line-up beginning July 4 with a 12-hour marathon beginning at noon – airs each hour, on the hour. The series ran from 1957-62 starring the legendary James Garner, Jack Kelly, and Roger Moore. Maverick will then join the Classic TV Westerns blocks on Encore Westerns beginning on Monday, July 7 that includes The Gene Autry Show, Bat Masterson, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Cimarron Strip, and the 1998 Magnificent Seven. Encore Westerns had aired other TV westerns in the past such as the early seasons of Gunsmoke (Marshal Dillon) and Alias Smith & Jones.
Maverick will air weeknights at 6:00 p.m. ET and Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. ET beginning July 7.
Then coming in August, Encore Westerns will add the short lived series Bret Maverick (1981-82) to Saturdays at 11:35am beginning August 2 replacing Cimarron Strip. We will have more on that when available, but Bret Maverick has the return of James Garner as Maverick. Returning to the role that made him famous, James Garner is once again Bret Maverick who has decided to settle down in the town of Sweetwater, AZ. Now Maverick must learn to get along as the Wild West is tamed by modern civilization.
Discuss the addition of Maverick and the revival series Bret Maverick on our westerns message board where you can also find all the airtimes of the TV westerns on Encore Westerns. Saddle up, pardners!

It's been a few years since the launch of Nick at Nite Latin America, and we brought that news to back then, now they have announced a new look with some new shows as well. They (Nickelodeon Latin America) are launching a refreshed image campaign for the family-programming block Nick at Nite Latin America, complete with new promos, IDs, fillers, bumpers and classic series.
The logo for Nick at Nite Latin America has been changed to orange to complement Nickelodeon's overall look and feel, just like how it is in the U.S. now. The block also features new on-air elements such as IDs, fillers, bumpers and menus, with a complete overhaul of all current promos and creative graphics. The changes are also reflected on Nick at Nite Latin America's section within the Nickelodeon Latin America website.
Along with the revamped image, Nick at Nite Latin America will feature new series, including Kenan and Kel, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Get Smart...just in time for the new movie. Get Smart will get a weekend marathon this weekend on Nick at Nite Latin America. Too bad no one in the United States is doing this! These join classic series already airing in the block such as Clarissa Explains It All, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Growing Pains, The Munsters, The Addams Family, and ALF.
These shows will only available to the Latin American countries and not in the U.S., I remind you.

TV Land August 2008 Highlights; The N/Nick at Nite To Simulcast Premiere of Student Body

This August on TV Land, we get the finale of Family Foreman and the season premiere of the TV Land hit Myths & Legends. We get the final three episodes of Family Foreman, as the finale airs August 20 at 10pm. We get an intimate look into the remarkable life of George Foreman - former heavyweight boxing champion, multi-million dollar pitchman, ordained minister, and family man. Come along for the ride as this tough-love Dad and his wife try to manage their clan of 10 children.
Throughout the month of August, the TV Land Summer Games are on! TV Land will air "Gold Medal" weeknight and weekend marathon blocks of their high rated shows with "call-to-action" continuities and promos prompting viewers to go online and compete in the TV Land Summer Games. Viewers will be compelled to visit TVLand.com to join in the gaming action. At the completion of each online game, tune-in information reminding and re-driving viewers back to TV Land's on-air offerings will appear, thus creating a full 360 degree experience for the savvy TV Land gamer. Weekend marathon blocks include Sanford & Son, Hogan's Heroes and The Beverly Hillbillies! Yee-ha!
On Saturday, August 16 at 8pm, get an insider's look at the myth and legend of Elvis Presley. Find out definitive answers to long-lived Elvis rumors when TV Land presents its highly-rated Myths & Legends: Elvis Presley which separates fact from fiction and finally sets the Elvis record straight. Then viewers will be treated to a behind the scenes confidential with Elvis by the Presleys, an intimate family portrait featuring rare home movies and photographs with commentary by no less than Presley authorities Priscilla and Lisa Marie. Don't miss these three hours of exclusive programming dedicated to one of the greatest icons in all of American pop culture airing on the anniversary of his death. And then get ready for the Myths & Legends Season 2 premiere on Wednesday, August 27!
TV Land Myths & Legends promises to go behind the scenes to investigate the mysteries that have grown up around some of Hollywood's most memorable stars, TV shows, films and music. In a town called the Dream Factory, where reality collides with wild imagination, there's a blurred line between truth and fiction. Did heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne bite the head off of a live bat? Was Jayne Mansfield decapitated in her fatal automobile accident? Was a comic book based on the rock band KISS printed with the blood of the band members? Is J.Lo's butt really insured for $1 billion dollars? TV Land will explore these infamous mysteries and more on TV Land Myths & Legends Season 2 as we set the record straight about some of the most confused and confounding moments in entertainment history. Tune in August 27 at 10pm!
There are no regular schedule changes in August, so the summer weeknight marathons from 9-11pm and 11pm-1am will continue in August. Friday movies for the month include My Cousin Vinny, Beverly Hills Cop, and National Lampoon's European Vacation.
To view the full TV Land August highlights, head on over to our message boards, where you can also discuss this month's line-up.

The N, the network totally for and about teens, and the award-winning production company Reveille are about to have a full-body overhaul this summer as the network presents The N's Student Body, Friday, July 11, at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) with a simulcast premiere on one of its sister stations, Nick at Nite. The eight-episode, hour-long teen reality series will then air regularly every Sunday night beginning July 13 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. (ET) on The N.
The N's Student Body brings together 12 students from rival high schools in Decatur, IL, for a life-changing mission to get into shape. Getting fit isn't the only incentive. The winning school and the winning student that makes a change for the better, both physically and mentally, will take home $25,000 that will be used for new school facilities and programs. As these teens push themselves and one another toward the ultimate prize, they will face their fears, confront their families and find out if they have what it takes to transform their lives.
The series is hosted by motivational author, famed athlete and champion of health and fitness, Laila Ali (Dancing with the Stars, American Gladiators), and is executive produced by The N along with Reveille's Mark Koops, Dave Broome and Ben Silverman. The N's Student Body follows another network premiere... Queen Bees at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on The N.
Nick at Nite will only air the series premiere on July 11 at 10pm. We will have more on the Nick at Nite July schedule and higlights in the coming days. Don't forget Family Matters launches on Nick at Nite on Sunday, June 29 with a marathon from 9pm-4am! The N will launch That '70s Show on June 30, so both networks have some sitcom goodies coming this summer!

ION Adds Mr. Cooper in July Now; Three Stooges Minisodes Added

A few weeks ago we gave you details on ION Television's July 2008 schedule and no changes were being made to the line-up...now ION has made a change. Effective Monday, July 7 at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT, ION will add Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, replacing The Wayans Bros. ION was going to start Mr. Cooper in the fall in that slot but decided to launch it two months earlier than planned.
Last time I mentioned The Drew Carey Show would air after a Thursday movie on July 3 at 10:30pm, now that has been moved to July 17 at 10:30pm. The Drew Carey Show is slated to return to the ION regular line-up this fall airing at 6pm, leading into M*A*S*H at 6:30pm.
Everything else we mentioned last time is the same...so no other changes to July.
Discuss ION July on our message boards. We still hope to have our interview with them soon...I promise it will come, but ION seems to be very busy.

Sony TV's newly revamped multi-platform network brings you the shows you love, only shorter! The Minisode Network offers 5-minute adaptations of favorite television shows that retain the full story arc of the episode. On June 17, today, the network will be launching minisodes of The Three Stooges.
Go to MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/minisodenetwork), Crackle (http://crackle.com/c/minisodenetwork), YouTube, AOL, Hulu, Joost, Verizon V CAST, and Sprint TV to check out minisodes of The Three Stooges and your other favorite shows including Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Married...with Children, Silver Spoons, Charlie's Angels, What's Happening!! and so many more! Now you can laugh at all the funniest moments in 5 minutes and still get the story of Larry, Moe, and Curly!

WGN America Schedules '80s Week; Remembering Mark Tuttle

As we previously posted about WGN America doing a '70s week a few weeks ago and adding a weekly Sunday night block, we also hinted at a planned '80s week in July. Now we have full details on WGN America's Outta Sight Retro Nights Week: A Flashback to the '80s. The week-long event airs Monday, July 7 through Friday, July 11, 2008 from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT) each night that week.
Kicking it off on Monday that week is the '80s hit ALF featuring the loveable alien. On Tuesday of that week, Michael J. Fox brings his classic '80s sitcom Family Ties to WGN that week...sha la la la! On Wednesday of that week, WGN America goes to the movies with two showings of the '80s blockbuster hit E.T. The Extra Terrestrial from 8-10:30pm ET and again from 10:30pm-1am ET. On Thursday the 10th, WGN America will show off one of its own regular shows, the all-time classic The Cosby Show starring the legendary Bill Cosby. Finally, the Friday airing that week will be more four episodes of the Tanner family and ALF. These shows are not going to air in the regular line-up on WGN America, except for of course The Cosby Show, which has been airing for some years now.
For episode info for this week and to discuss this '80s week (July 7-11), head on over to our message boards!

Mark Tuttle passed away near his greater Los Angeles-area home on June 2, 2008. He will be missed by all who knew him. Mark's active and successful career as a screenwriter, producer and actor spanned more than 50 years after his start at Filmways in 1957. He wrote and co-produced during six years with The Beverly Hillbillies, and also was on the staff for shows such as the Three's Company, The Facts of Life, Private Benjamin, and Three's a Crowd. Tuttle also wrote an episode or two of series such as 227, What's Happening Now!!, The Practice (NBC), Oh Madeline, What a Country, The Harvey Korman Show, Petticoat Junction and The Tim Conway Show. He wrote over 200 episodes of series television.
He will be certainly missed by fans of The Beverly Hillbillies and his other writing work such the fourth season of Three's Company. A tribute website was created by his family, check it out at marktuttle.info. Mark was 73.

Summer Week 3 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

It is summer time! Which means repeats and reality series, but there will be some scripted originals for the summer as well. Like we do every summer, we will just look at the sitcom ratings, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here is week 3 for the summer:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 2-8)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - A repeat airing did only 4.21 million viewers...down from previous week.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - Just 3.74 million for a repeat airing, down a tad week-to-week.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 5.15 million for a repeat is not that bad at all, but down a tad from the week before.
• American Dad! (Fox) - 5.08 million for a repeat is OK, but it great retention from the lead-in...the best ever probably, even though it was a repeat.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - 940,000 viewers for a repeat airing...down a bit from previous week.
  
• Aliens in America (The CW) - 1.04 million a repeat, up from previous week and built on the lead-in!
  
• The Game (The CW) - 1.11 million for a repeat...built from lead-in and up from previous week.
• Girlfriends (The CW) - 1.08 million for a repeat...better than previous week, as 3 of the 4 sitcoms went over 1 million, as previous week none did.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• The Bill Engvall Show (CBS) - Special CBS airing did 6.41 million, better than Big Bang Theory the previous week.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.3 million for a repeat airing, up week to week, but did not build on the lead-in for the first time in ages...maybe Engvall could do well on CBS if aired here.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.72 million for a repeat, up nearly a million week to week.
• Rules of Enagement (CBS) - 8.51 million for a repeat ... up week to week.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Under One Roof (MyNetworkTV) - A new episode did 1.2 million, up from the below 1 million the previous week.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - Repeat at 8pm only mustered 3.28 million.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes -Special Friday at 9 and 9:30pm encores averaged a preliminary 3.28 million...up a tad week to week.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• None

Tonight you can catch encores of The CW sitcoms and Fox's animated comedies from 8-10pm.

Coming Week Preview for Broadcast (With Some Cable Notes):
So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight CBS will air The Tony Awards at 8pm and NBC's U.S. Open Golf coverage will spill into primetime in the east/central zones to 9pm ET, followed by a new SNL Primetime Special on Mike Myers until 11pm. Game 5 of the NBA Finals on ABC between the Lakers and Celtics will air at 8:30pm ET following an all-new Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (with guests Barack Obama and David Cook) before the game (after the game out west). Celtics could wrap it up tonight, but Kobe and the Lakers will live on for a game 6 I think (and hoping for a game 7).
On Monday, ABC will be all-new with a two-hour The Bachelorette followed by The Mole at 10 NBC has American Gladiators at 8pm, followed by a two-hour Nashville Star at 9pm.
On Tuesday Fox will be all-new with the reality line-up of The Moment of Truth and Hell's Kitchen. Game 6 of the NBA Finals on ABC between the Lakers and Celtics will air at 8:30pm ET following an all-new Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night before the game (after the game out west)..if necessary for both, if not repeats of Jim/Samantha/Boston Legal will air. NBC has a a new Deal or No Deal on a special night 8pm leading into the season premiere of the summer series America's Got Talent from 9-11pm, while CBS has the special AFI's 10 Top 10 Movies from 8-11pm.
On Wednesday Fox will air a new two-hour episode of So You Think You Can Dance. NBC will have an all-new 90-minute Deal or No Deal leading into a 90-minute Celebrity Circus. MyNetworkTV will have a new episode of Flavor Flav's Under One Roof at 8pm. And yes, Farmer Wants a Wife is still new on The CW at 9pm.
On Thursday the NBA and ABC will be praying that the NBA Finals goes to a game 7. If so, ABC will be all-new with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night, followed by Game 7 of The NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics...if not repeats of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy will air. Fox will also be new all-night with Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? followed by So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday. CBS will air the summer scripted series Swingtown at 10pm. And NBC will air a new episode of the low-rated Last Comic Standing from 8:30-10, leading into horror series Fear Itself at 10. On cable, TBS will air new episodes of sitcoms The Bill Engvall Show and My Boys from 9-10pm.
On Friday ABC will have the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards from 8-10 followed by the SOAPnet series MVP airing at 10 for one time only and NBC will have a two-hour Dateline from 9-11pm. The CW of course will have WWE Smackdown.
Saturday will see ABC premiere the new movie Camp Rock starring the Jonas Brothers from 8-11pm, and Cops and AMW are of course new on Fox.

Mini-DVD Review: Dynasty - The Third Season, Volume One (June 17)

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at CBS DVD's Dynasty - The Third Season, Volume One. Dynasty is of course the primetime soap that was a bit hit for many years and it was so addictive! The tale of the Carrington family is so rich and interesting. We previously did full reviews of the first two seasons of Dynasty and are now moving further Dynasty reviews to our blog reviews on Saturdays...so it won't be as detailed, but we'll still cover everything Dynasty fans. See my mini-DVD review of Dynasty - The Third Season, Volume One:

Dynasty - The Third Season, Volume One (CBS DVD, $39.99) brings us the first 12 episodes of the third season of the mega-hit series Dynasty on a 3-disc set! John Forsythe, Linda Evans and Joan Collins continue to heat up the show as Jack Coleman (replacing Al Corley) and Gordon Thomson join the cast for season three. This is the season where it moved from the top 20 to the top 5 in the ratings. Seasons 3-6 all were in the time of the height of the popularity. The series lasted 9 seasons on ABC, from 1981-89. In this third season, CBS DVD is only giving us half the episodes on this set. The second half of the season will be released at a later date on the volume two set of the third season. I don't understand why they are doing this. The show only had 24 episodes for season three...it's not like it was over 30 or 35. I think they should split up a season if it is over like 34 or 35 episodes. Now we have to wait more just to finish a season. Shame on you CBS DVD! The second season was a nice 6-disc set for 22 episodes, so they are splitting them up into two volumes just because this season has two extra episodes? Seasons 4-7 have a lot of episodes though: 27, 29, 31, 28...I guess that is the reason they started this? But why not wait until season 4 or 5? The last two seasons have 22 each.
Each episode on this set is between 47-48 minutes (no higher or lower), with most in the 47:30 range. Nearly every CBS DVD has a disclaimer on the back of the box saying, "Some episodes maybe be edited from their original network versions." So there is a chance something could be edited, but I didn't see anything, as the runtimes were fairly consistent. There are 6 chapter stops each for every episode, counting the opening and closing credits stops. The video is on par with the previous season and it looks great. Just some debris here and there on the opening credits, like flashing black dots, but it is still good quality. The audio is decent, a nice sounding mono...that is crisp and clear.
Packaging is a snap case holding three discs inside, sort of similar to the second season DVD. No, the discs don't overlap each other. Each disc has its own little holder. The cover art of the case has a nice shot of Krystle, Blake and Alexis. The back of the case has synopsis of the show, the set, and technical information. A nice shot of the supporting cast and some screen shots are also present. Back inside, there is a disc by disc breakdown on the left and right panel. We get episode title, original airdate, and a long synopsis of each episode. Don't be reading it before watching the episode! Artwork on the discs is not that good. It is plain silver for each one. Dynasty logo and whatever disc number it is, is on the disc, similar to the second season DVD again. Each disc holds four episodes.
CBS DVD is terrible in menus, as you all know. Each menu has different artwork but it is so plain. The episodes are listed right on the main menu once again, as with the second season DVD. Set Up option is also available. In Set Up, we can have English or Espanol languages and subtitles. Main menu artwork has three shots of the same image. Disc 1 has the same photo from the cover art; disc 2 has another photo of Krystle, Blake and Alexis; and disc 3 has Krystle and Blake only. No theme music or anything in the background.
We get no special features at all! Even the second season had a little family tree thing. Nothing here. First season was done by 20th Century Fox, and they did a decent job with some featurettes and commentaries. CBS DVD is doing nothing.
Despite just the first 12 episodes of the third season and no extras, I still highly do recommend any fan of the show to pick-up this set. If you have the first two seasons, then you have to get this to continue your collection. If you haven't gotten those yet, what are you waiting for? One thing is that CBS DVD works pretty fast with most of their releases, so you better hurry. I'm just mad we have to wait a few more months or so probably to just see the next half of the season. It is even worse that this show is very serialized so it makes people not want to wait. I've made it obvious I don't like the change in splitting up the seasons into volumes, but CBS DVD seems to do that with a lot of their hour shows like The Love Boat, Perry Mason and so on. It is too bad, because it should only really be done if it is like over 35 episodes. I think they are just trying to get more money, come on $39.99 for 12 episodes and NO extras? Still, I urge fans to buy it so we keep getting more sets. But complain to CBS DVD for the lack of extras and splitting the seasons in half. Anyway, betrayal and revenge are some of the things you'll see in this first half of season three!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
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See our Full DVD Reviews of Seasons 1 and 2:
Season 1
Season 2

TV Rebels: Jack Webb; TV Land's She's Got The Look Scores Again for Episode 2

We were very busy in May (upfronts!) so we couldn't bring you the May installment of TV Rebels, but we will bring it to you today! We will bring you the June edition later this month, I promise. We originally had special permission to publish the first 6 essays on TV shows and actors that will be featured in the upcoming book TV Rebels: 100 People and Programs That Shaped the Medium by authors Lou Orfanella and Oscar De Los Santos...and as we mentioned in April, we have now gotten rights to 6 additional essays, so we will be bringing you one each month until at least November! Upcoming TV Rebel columns coming soon are about Andy Griffith, Bill Cosby, and Desi Arnaz. The book is in the works and will be released in 2009.

So without further adieu, we bring you the sixth essay of TV Rebels:

Jack Webb: Just The Facts Ma'am
by Lou Orfanella

Dum de dum dum. Dum de dum dum dum. "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." Nine musical notes, eighteen words, and the most famous police drama to ever hit the airwaves. From 1952 to 1959 and again from 1967 to 1970 on NBC Sgt. Joe Friday of the Los Angeles police department kept the streets safe from crime solving cases drawn from the actual LAPD files. Stone-faced actor Jack Webb played Friday in both incarnations of Dragnet, a part he originally played on a radio version of the series. With catch phrases like "My name's Friday, I'm a cop." and "Just the facts, ma'am," Webb's Joe Friday became an iconic figure among television cops. Besides starring, Webb created, directed, and produced Dragnet as well as overseeing the hits Adam-12 and Emergency! through his MarkVII Limited company.
With a keen eye for detail and a desire for realism in his series, Webb the producer, and Dragnet the series, created what may well have been the prototype for all police shows that followed. "Jack Webb's contributions to the film industry were his use and improvement of the teleprompter, automobile tow shots, and close camera angles. He is credited as the person who pioneered the television police drama, which remains popular to present times. Further, with his demand for accuracy and realism, Jack desired an economy of dialogue with no excessive verbiage, insisting on a 'clean script.' He would have strongly objected to today's excessive violence offered on television" (Moyer 220).
Dragnet was in fact relatively devoid of violence. Few gunshots were fired and the show was considered unqualified family fare that was praised for its overarching theme that crime does not pay. A letter received by Webb and quoted in an early article about Dragnet underscores the appreciation he received. "Not only do you provide wholesome entertainment, but you are doing more for law enforcement than anyone else in the entertainment field. As a former FBI agent, deputy city attorney and prosecuting attorney, I'm particularly grateful for the public service you are rendering" (Harris 21).
After Webb's death in 1982 there were several attempts to revive Dragnet. Dan Aykroyd starred in a comedic big screen version in 1987. A syndicated version ran for 52 episodes starting in 1989. Producer Dick Wolf whose own Law & Order franchise drew from actual case in the Dragnet tradition attempted a revival in 2003. In this Dragnet a post-Married with Children Ed O'Neill played Joe Friday. Only 22 episodes were produced for ABC. Joe Friday was apparently too closely associated with Jack Webb for anyone else to wear badge 714.
Webb was a pioneer, a TV rebel whose contributions to the medium were long lasting. "Jack Webb achieved fame as a film and television actor, producer, and director who created the most popular crime drama it its time. His fast-paced and long-running Dragnet set standards and formats that influence television and motion-picture films today. Most police and detective stories prior to Dragnet concerned commercial and glamorized characters that real-life officers frequently laughed about. But Jack's contribution to police work was that his stories addressed the daily trials and tribulations of an actual large city department, from whose records he drew true-to-life accounts" (Moyer xi).

Works Cited
Harris, Jay S. TV Guide: The First 25 Years. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978.
Moyer, Daniel and Eugene Alvarez. Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Authorized Biography of Jack Webb. Santa Ana: Seven Locks Press, 2001.

TV Land's newest original reality series, She's Got The Look, continues to build momentum, as the second episode aired this past Wednesday and scored double digit gains among the network's target demo, Adults 25-54, and the network's core audience, Adults 40-54 over last week's series premiere.
The six-episode series, a collaboration with Wilhelmina Models, Inc., sets out to discover a sophisticated, beautiful and confident woman 35 or older destined to become the next great supermodel. The winner will receive a lucrative modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models, Inc. and a photo spread for SELF Magazine.
Wednesday's episode, in which the ten finalists dare to bare it all in their first elimination challenge, posted a 0.5 rating (488,000 viewers) among A25-54, up 15% in rating from last week's episode and 14% in viewers. Among the network's core A40-54 audience, the episode earned a 0.6 rating (313,000 viewers), a rise of 12% in rating and 13% in viewers over last week's premiere episode. The median age was 45...which is inside the network's 40-54 core audience. Compared to a year ago, the telecast witnessed a 74% increase in rating and 79% increase in viewers among A25-54 and a 39% rise in rating and 44% in viewers among A40-54.
TV Land did not release how many total viewers there were as they did for the series premiere...my guess is it went down a bit in total viewers.

Celebrity Family Feud Contestants Announced; BET Preemptions and Notes; TV Land Awards Now 2 Hours

NBC revealed the 24 celebrity family teams who will play the Feud when the classic game show hits primetime with an all new celebrity edition premiering Tuesday, July 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by Today show co-host, Al Roker, Celebrity Family Feud will be a star-studded version of the beloved and enduring game show. Each week, four celebrity families match wits to raise money for their respective charities. Two families compete against each other with the winner from each round going into the final round where one team will compete to win up to $50,000 for their charity. Six episodes have been ordered and the stars you'll see are:
The Kardashians, Deion & Pilar Sanders, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, Vivica A. Fox, Mo'Nique, Christopher Knight & Adrianne Curry, Ice T, Melissa & Joan Rivers, Raven-Symone, Wayne Newton, Tiki Barber, Ed McMahon, Vincent Pastore, Kathie Lee Gifford & Frank Gifford, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Cho, and cast members from the hit series American Gladiators, The Office, My Name is Earl, The Girls Next Door and American Chopper.
To see the full cast in each family/team, click HERE!

We have some BET preemptions and notes for you to share. Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen tomorrow (Friday, June 13) at all because of an original series (Hell Date, etc) marathon from 9am-5pm, thus the Saturday Strokes airings at 12 and 12:30pm this Saturday (June 14) will be new and not repeats of the previous day. The 3-4pm airings of Diff'rent Strokes will not be seen June 16-20 because of a BET Movie Week from 3-5pm. The 9-10am airings will be seen except on Friday, June 20 where a special BET Now will air. Also, Saturday, June 21 the 12-1pm Strokes airings will be preempted for an originals marathon from 11am-2pm. For A Different World fans, the show will only air Wednesday, June 18 3-4am and Thursday, June 19 from 11pm-1am that week because of various movies/stunts. Sanford is also preempted on Sunday, June 22. Diff'rent Strokes is preempted from both 9-10am and 3-4pm airings on Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24. Everything will be back to normal on Wednesday, June 25 since the BET Awards are over with...that is the main reason for these preemptions. The 2008 BET Awards air tuesday, June 24 in primetime.
In other BET news, A Different World will get a marathon on Sunday, July 6 from 6pm-11pm.

TV Land has announced that the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards airing this Sunday will be two-hours now instead of 90-minutes. The show was taped this past Sunday and it must have lasted longer for them to add another half-hour. People who went to the taping said it was fun and funny. The parody this year will be funny as usual with stars like Joyce DeWitt and Cindy Williams. Tune in this Sunday from 9-11pm ET/PT on TV Land for the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards hosted by Vanessa Williams.

Lifetime Picks-Up Original Sitcom; Three Original Bill Cosby Sweaters Up for Auction; Remembering Bill Dial

Marking a significant expansion of original programming, Lifetime Television has ordered 13 episodes of the half-hour comedy, Rita Rocks, from Media Rights Capital (MRC). Premiering this fall, the series stars all comedy veterans Nicole Sullivan (The King of Queens, MADtv), Richard Ruccolo (Joey, Two Guys and a Girl) and Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids, Martin).
In the series, Sullivan stars as Rita Clements, unfulfilled by her harried life as a married working mom, regains her identity by recreating her glory days as a musician in a garage band. The series will premiere this fall as part of a one-hour comedy block with the top-rated Reba repeats. Rita Rocks is Lifetime's first original sitcom in a decade.
Rita Rocks joins an array of original programming airing on Lifetime this fall, broadening its leadership in all genres, including Original Movies, Original Series and Reality Series. Lifetime Original Movies are the #1 rated among women. Beginning in September, the star-studded slate of original movies includes: Sex & Lies in Sin City starring Mena Suvari and Matthew Modine; Coco Chanel"starring Shirley MacLaine, Barbara Bobulova and Malcolm McDowell; Living Proof executive produced by Neil Meron, Craig Zadan and Renee Zellweger, and starring Harry Connick, Jr.; Killing Mr. Kissel starring John Stamos and Flirting with 40 starring Heather Locklear.
Lifetime's most-watched series in its history (which is airing originals currently), Army Wives, will return with more original episodes in November, including a special two-hour season finale. And premiering this November, the hit reality competition series Project Runway with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn moves to Lifetime.

You have a chance to own three popular sweaters Bill Cosby wore on The Cosby Show as Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable! Mr. Cosby is auctioning them on eBay for a good cause. These three sweaters were worn on The Cosby Show by Bill Cosby between seasons 3-8. It will come with a dated and hand signed letter from Mr. Cosby himself authenticating this. It will also come with a separate letter from the sweater designer, Koos Van Den Akker, indicating that he made this sweater for Bill Cosby for The Cosby Show.
Bill Cosby's sweaters have never before been made available to the public. The sweaters were custom made by Koos Van Den Akker, and only his designer label appears with no size marking indicated. They are approximately size large. The one-of-a-kind sweaters were specifically designed for Bill Cosby and are collages primarily composed of woolens and cottons.
All proceeds from the sale of these legendary Heathcliff Huxtable sweaters will benefit the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation. The non-profit educational organization was established in 1997 by the Cosby family to continue the legacy and life's work of Ennis Cosby, who was about to begin his doctoral studies in education at the time of his death.
Jimmy Kimmel is promoting the sweaters by wearing each of the three sweaters on three nights, last night, tonight and tomorrow night on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, late nights on ABC. He wore sweater #2 from the auction last night. Check Jimmy modeling them out, as he wears them for the entire show! To bid on these items, head on over to eBay:
Sweater #1
Sweater #2
Sweater #3
This is your chance to own a piece of Cosby Show history and help out a good cause at the same time! The Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation is dedicated to fulfilling the goals and dreams of Ennis Cosby. The Foundation equips teachers, parents and students with the practical information and educational tools needed to understand and address the needs of all learners before they experience the corrosive effects of frustration and failure. The Foundation was established in 1997 by Bill and Camille Cosby as a 501(c)(3) public charity.

Finally we leave you today with news that Bill Dial has passed away. He died of a heart attack on Monday, June 2 in South Carolina, where he moved to after retiring from the business in 2001. Bill was most known as a writer, producer, and actor on the hit sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. He wrote five episodes for this series during its first season (1978-79), the most famous of which was his first, entitled "Turkeys Away." He guest starred on the series even for a few episodes playing the station's beer-drinking engineer, Bucky Dornster.
After WKRP, he wrote and/or produced series such as Harper Valley P.T.A., Legmen, Simon & Simon, E.A.R.T.H. Force, Evening Shade, and some TV movies. In 1991, Dial returned to his claim to fame as an executive producer and writer on The New WKRP in Cincinnati, a follow-up series to the 1970s sitcom. The New WKRP aired in first-run syndication for two seasons. His later credits included writing and producing Time Trax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Team Knight Rider, Sliders, Legend, and Spike TV's 18 Wheels of Justice. He will be missed, especially by WKRP fans. WKRP in Cincinnati can be seen nationally on cable Sunday evenings on WGN America and Monday nights on AmericanLife TV. Mr. Dial was 66.