SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

USA Network Fall 2008 Schedule; Lionsgate To Release Many ABC Studios DVDs

Continuing our look at the fall 2008 cable schedules, we now take a look at USA Network's September 2008 fall schedule. They have been airing Navy NCIS and House once a week, but now they both will be available for daily play on the network. House will launch first with a marathon on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 9am-11pm and Sunday, Sept. 7 from 3pm-4am. House will air weeknights at 8pm, except on Tuesdays it will air9 and 10pm. Then NCIS will get a three day launch marathon the next three days, Sept. 8-10 from 6am-7pm ET/PT. USA Network will have a lot of marathons the first few weeks of September, as other ones are the countdown to the 100th episode of Monk continues, from Sept. 1-5, as the 100th episode airs on Sept. 5. A marathon of Burn Notice will air on Thursday, Sept. 11 from 6am-6pm, followed by a stack of House from 6pm-10pm leading into a new episode of Burn Notice. A Psych marathon will air on Friday, Sept. 12 from 6am-4pm leading into another House stack from 4-9pm which will lead into the season finales of Monk and Psych. The next day on Saturday, Sept. 13 a NCIS marathon will air from 4-11pm and a House stack again on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 7p-12a.
Then starting Monday, Sept. 15 the regular schedule finally begins. Changes include the 8am airing of JAG being replaced by Monk, as Walker Texas Ranger moves to 9am. Monk's afternoon airing is now 2pm, followed by back to back Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 3 and 4pm. Navy NCIS will air weeknights at 5 and 6pm, followed by Law & Order: SVU at 7pm. SVU will also air Tuesdays at 8pm, while House will air weeknights at 8pm except Tuesdays at 9pm, as we mentioned.
View the full USA Network September 2008 fall line-up and also discuss it.

Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, and Disney-ABC Domestic Television have entered into an agreement where Lionsgate obtains the home entertainment distribution rights (DVD rights) to select primetime series and library titles from ABC Studios.
The first programs to be released under the new agreement – popular current ABC sitcom According to Jim: Season One, starring Jim Belushi and Courtney Thorne-Smith and one-hour current The CW series Reaper: Season One – will be available on DVD on October 21 and November 4, respectively. The agreement also encompasses other popular sitcoms and dramas including Hope & Faith (Kelly Ripa, Faith Ford), 8 Simple Rules...for Dating My Teenage Daughter (John Ritter, Katey Sagal, David Spade), Boy Meets World (Ben Savage, Rider Strong), October Road (Tom Berenger, Bryan Greenberg), Kevin Hill (Taye Diggs), My Wife & Kids (Damon Wayans), Six Degrees (Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan, Erika Christensen), and more.
So what does this all mean? Well, first of all let me explain what ABC Studios is. ABC Studios is the studio that produces Touchstone Television/Buena Vista television shows, so it is not necessarily all ABC network shows. Reaper is produced by ABC Studios but airs on The CW. Kevin Hill was a drama on UPN but was produced by ABC Studios. Lionsgate has reached a deal for select ABC Studios series for DVD rights. No, that does not mean ABC Studios/Buena Vista Home Entertainment will not release any more DVDs, as they will still continue to release well over 40 ABC Studios series each year such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Samantha Who, Scrubs and many others. Lionsgate primarily will release the series that are not in production anymore, but of course a few are going to be released that are in production (like the aforementioned According to Jim & Reaper).
I don't have a full list of shows yet that Lionsgate acquired for DVD rights from ABC Studios other than those listed above like 8 Simple Rules, October Road and Boy Meets World. Speaking of those three, I am told Lionsgate will continue where Buena Vista Home Entertainment left off, so 8 Simple Rules & October Road will start with Season 2 and Boy Meets World with Season 4. I am hoping Lionsgate also acquired classic ABC Studios series not on DVD such as Empty Nest, Nurses, Blossom, and short lived stuff like The Golden Palace, Thunder Alley and The Sinbad Show. Notice most of those were not on ABC but they were produced by ABC Studios (Touchstone Television). Once I have a full list of what Lionsgate has acquired, I will let you all know, unless TVShowsonDVD.com posts it first. So stay tuned to us and/or TVShowsonDVD.com for details. Just to reiterate...if a show aired on ABC in the past like Family Matters or Step by Step, which were both produced by Warner Bros., that will not be available for Lionsgate because they were NOT produced by ABC Studios...only those series produced by ABC Studios/Touchstone Television could be available.