Thursday, July 31, 2008
WGN America Fall 2008 Schedule Sees Lots of New Shows; TV Land Changes for August
Now let's get to the schedule. The new weekday line-up primarily will start Monday, September 8. The first change will occur September 1 though, with Happy Days' contract expiring, so its slot of 4:30am and 5am ET will be replaced by Sister, Sister and Moesha, which returns after a year off on hiatus. Then starting Sept. 8, the bulk of the changes are happening on weekdays, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie join the WGN America line-up airing weekdays at 9 and 9:30am ET, as Matlock will slide to 10am ET. The 11am ET slot will be Nash Bridges, but it will change a week later on Sept. 15, as WGN America brings back In The Heat of the Night after a three year absence, as the show is reacquired. Nash Bridges will air at 12 noon starting Sept. 8, followed by the WGN News at Noon at 1pm ET. Homicide: Life on the Street will slide to 2pm ET starting Sept. 8, followed by back-to-back The Cosby Show episodes at 3pm and Funniest Pets & People from 4-5pm. America's Funniest Home Videos will move to 5pm ET replacing Sister, Sister which will now be airing in the overnight from 4-5am ET, as we mentioned (more on this a bit later). At 6pm and 7pm, WGN America brings back family drama 7th Heaven for two back-to-back hours a night as WGN America welcomes back the Camdens! Primetime will remain the same as it is now until later in the month when Tuesdays from 8-10pm will be Nash Bridges starting Sept. 30 instead of a block of Funniest Pets & People. In the late nights, we mentioned already the Sister, Sister and Moesha slots starting Sept. 1, but Even Stevens/Lizzie McGuire was sharing the 4am slot, and now it will be another Sister, Sister starting Sept. 15, as those series are expiring.
Weekends will not see any real changes until after baseball season is over. So, starting Saturday, October 4, weekends will get a major overhaul--for the good, too! Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie will also air on weekends now. Bewitched will air Saturdays 12-1pm and Sundays 11am-12pm, while I Dream of Jeannie will air from 1-2pm on Saturdays and 12-1pm on Sundays. Great to see classic TV! After two movies on Saturdays, we head to the new 6-8pm Saturday block, where you'll see two new sitcoms! Back-to-back episodes of NewsRadio from 6-7pm on Saturdays followed by the aforementioned Coach from 7-8pm on Saturdays, starting Oct. 4. The rest of Saturday is basically intact, but 24 will be leaving and will be replaced by a movie and Matlock will be added to late night. On Sundays after Bewitched and Jeannie, there aren't many changes. The Outta Sight Retro Night featuring WKRP, Newhart and The Honeymooners will remain intact from 7-10pm ET. In the late nights, some shows are expiring like American Idol Rewind and DaVinci's Inquest, so two Matlock episodes will replace them at 3am and 4am.
Then the week of October 6, WGN America will change their weeknight late night line-up a bit. Corner Gas and Becker will slide to 1-2am ET on Sun-Thurs starting Oct. 6. The Friday late night line-up will be back-to-back Reno 911 at 1am ET and back-to-back Chappelle's Show at 2am ET. Reno 911 will also air Saturdays from 11pm-12:30am ET.
Finally, the last change for the fall is the first-run new syndicated series from Disney/ABC Television Group called Legend of the Seeker. WGN America will air it Saturdays at 4 and 5pm starting November 1 and also Wednesdays at 9pm ET starting Nov. 5, replacing Corner Gas/Becker.
Wow, that is A LOT of changes! I think many will be happier than before with these changes. I advise you to see the full WGN America Fall 2008 line-up on our message boards, where you can also discuss the line-up. Remember this is the national WGN schedule, and not the Chicago local line-up.
Future Outlook: You can expect Classic TV marathons on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve/Day, and New Year's Eve/Day. We will tell you more about that in the coming months, as it is way too early to talk about that. It is not even August yet!
TV Land has made some last minute changes for August starting Monday, August 4. First off, the primetime marathons will now be 9-11pm rather than 9pm-12am. The Tuesday marathon of The Beverly Hillbillies will now be The Jeffersons from 9-11pm, leading into two encores of Family Foreman at midnight. And as we told you yesterday about The Cosby Show being used to be wrapped around Family Foreman, now TV Land has confirmed it will air The Cosby Show every Wednesday from 8-10pm and 11pm-1am ET/PT leading in and leading out of Family Formeman. Because the primetime marathons are now 9-11pm, M*A*S*H moves from 12-2am to 11pm-1am weeknights (well except Wednesdays and Fridays). TV Land has removed the 2-5am marathons, thus we get more variety in the late nights. From Sun-Fri, TV Land will now air back-to-back episodes of Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons and The Beverly Hillbillies from 1-4am, and at 4am Three's Company returns followed by another returnee in The Brady Bunch at 4:30am! So nice to see those two return!
Check out our TV Land August 2008 thread for updates and to discuss this.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Wednesday, October 23
Abbott Elementary - "Class Pet" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Janine gets a budget for class pets, but Melissa is resistant to taking on the added work and responsibility for her room’s guinea pig. An IT rep from the school district arrives to set up new computers.
Everybody Still Hates Chris - "Everybody Still Hates Bullies" (Comedy Central, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Chris gets a gig DJ-ing at a drag ball and develops drag queen eyes.
Everybody Still Hates Chris - "Everybody Still Hates Career Tests" (Comedy Central, 10:30PM ET/PT)
Chris and Greg tape over a porno rented from Caruso and must replace it.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 21)
Wednesday, October 23
- Billy Crystal (The Comedians/Soap) - Watch Billy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Anna Kendrick (Love Life) - Anna appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Matty Matheson (The Bear) - Matty stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Bernadette Peters (High Desert/Mozart in the Jungle/All's Fair) - Bernadette is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Olivia Munn (Perfect Couples) - NBC's Today catches up with Olivia some time between 7-9am.
- Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere) - Bridget talks about Somebody Somewhere on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- David Henrie (Wizards Beyond Waverly Place/Wizards of Waverly Place/How I Met Your Mother/The Pitts) - David discusses Wizards Beyond Waverly Place on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings. One or two Wizards Beyond Waverly Place cast members will be on New York Living at 10:05am.
- Judith Light (Who's the Boss?/Phenom/Transparent) - Judith talks about Before on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Billy Crystal (The Comedians/Soap) - Billy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Mariska Hargitay (Can't Hurry Love) - Mariska talks about the greatest thing sheĆ¢€™s learned since turning 60 on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Dexter Darden (Saved by the Bell) - Dexter talks about Peacock's Fight Night; The Million Dollar Heist on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Essence Atkins (Poppa's House/Marlon/Mr. Box Office/Are We There Yet?/Half & Half/Smart Guy/Under One Roof) - Essence talks about Poppa's House on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K Ultra HD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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