SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Fox Changes Fall Premiere Dates; CBS Encoring Engvall's Sitcom; John Ritter Portrait Added to Hollywood High Mural

Fox was slated to start the fall season the week of August 25, but now Fox has changed their minds and will start the fall season on September 1, still a full three weeks ahead of the actual start of the 2008-09 season.
Fox premiere week will kick off the 2008-09 season with special two-hour premieres of Prison Break Monday, Sept. 1 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; Bones Wednesday, Sept. 3 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; The Moment of Truth Thursday, Sept. 4 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Friday, Sept. 5 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Premiere week will also see the season premieres of Cops and America's Most Wanted on Saturday, September 6.
As for new series, Fringe, the highly anticipated new thriller from J.J. Abrams will debut with a two-hour premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. New sitcom, Do Not Disturb, the new workplace comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 9:30 PM ET/PT.
Other fall premieres include: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Monday, September 8 at 8:00PM, as Prison Break will slide over to 9:00PM. Returning sitcom 'Til Death will have its season premiere Wednesday, September 10 at 9:00PM in between Bones and Do Not Disturb. Kitchen Nightmares will have its season premiere on Thursday, September 11 at 9:00PM, as The Moment of Truth will air at 8:00PM. Don't Forget the Lyrics! will have its season premiere the next day, Friday, September 12 at 9:00PM following Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fox Saturday late night will have its season premieres on Saturday, September 13 with MADtv at 11:00pm and Talk Show with Spike Feresten at midnight. House will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 16 in its new slot of 8:00pm, leading into Fringe. And finally, the Fox Animation Domination comedies will have their season premieres in the actual traditional premiere week (Sept. 22-28) on Sunday, September 28 with The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad! from 8-10PM.

TBS's original sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show starring Bill Engvall launches its ten-episode second season on Thursday, June 12 at 9:00PM, but before that happens CBS has struck a deal with TBS to air an episode from season one on CBS this coming Monday (June 9). The season one encore (episode three How Bill Met Susan) will air on CBS at 8:00PM in place of the normally scheduled The Big Bang Theory.
Why is CBS doing this? They are not sister stations with TBS, so one wonders what the reason is? Variety reports that this is strictly a marketing swap. In exchange for CBS giving its show wider exposure, TBS will cede promo time to CBS to promote its fall 2008 schedule. So it is a win-win situation for both networks, as TBS gets more exposure for The Bill Engvall Show and CBS gets to showcase its fall promos on TBS. TBS got 4.1 million last season for the series premiere of The Bill Engvall Show. Can CBS's encore do better and can the season premiere on TBS do better as well (opposite the NBA Finals on ABC)? Only time will tell...

Finally, we leave you today with some good news. A 50-foot portrait of the legendary John Ritter (Three's Company, 8 Simple Rules) was dedicated as part of the existing Hollywood High School "Portrait of Hollywood" mural at 9 a.m. today in front of the mural at 1521 N. Highland Avenue, at the corner of Highland and Hawthorne. If you all recall or didn't know, when John was a guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live back in April 2003, Jimmy told John that he will not rest until John's photo was added to the Hollywood High mural. John of course went to Hollywood High for high school from 1962-1966 (then he later went to USC for college from 1966-1971). And now John has finally gotten his photo added to the mural at Hollywood High!
Attending the event was: Amy Yasbeck Ritter, Jimmy Kimmel, mural artist Eloy Torrez, Los Angeles City Council president Eric Garcetti, and Councilmember Tom La Bonge.
Also attended was representatives from the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Legacy Partners and Gatehouse Capital, which combined forces to fund the $74,000 mural.
The event also marks the creation of a $500,000 endowment fund for Hollywood High School's Performing Arts program, provided by a collaboration of Gatehouse Capital.
Great news! And we can't wait to see a picture of this! To discuss this news, and to see a photo of John's "pretend mural" on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003, click HERE!