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Hallmark Channel Adds More Cheers; ION Changes for This Week Only; More Cable Deals

We reported back over a month ago the timeslots for Cheers on The Hallmark Channel. Originally it was slated to air Sundays 10am-12pm starting Sunday, October 5. Now Hallmark will add more slots to that! Sunday nights from 1am-3am ET will also be added that night, replacing the Diagnosis Murder movie. It will also be added to Saturday nights as well the following week, starting October 11, from 1am-3am as well, replacing two hours of Walker Texas Ranger. So weekend nights from 1am-3am and Sunday mornings from 10am-12pm. More timeslots for Cheers is certainly good news. Now all it needs is to air on weekdays, so everybody does know its name and they're glad they came to Hallmark!

ION Television has made some changes for this Wednesday and Friday only. On Wednesday, October 1, they have scheduled an extra Boston Legal at 10PM, replacing ER on this night. This is the week Boston Legal expands on ION from just Mondays at 8 to Mon-Thurs at 8 and Wednesdays at 9. So, this Wednesday it will air for the full primetime from 8-11PM. So far the show has done decent and much better than ER. This Friday (October 3), ION will have a Warner Bros. movie marathon from 4PM-10:30PM preempting their regular schedule, including the RHI primetime movies on this night. Movies airing are Above the Law, Unbreakable, and City of Angels, with an episode of Warner Bros. sitcom Drew Carey Show at 10:30pm.
Warner Bros. Thursday movie titles for the month are now in and you'll see Unbreakable, Grumpier Old Men, Matchstick Men, City of Angels and Above the Law each Thursday night in October.
See our ION Television October 2008 blog story for the details we previously relayed.

Bravo has acquired the exclusive cable rights for the original thirteen-episode run of the critically-acclaimed but low rated drama series Swingtown, from CBS. The cable network premiere of the series is scheduled for later this fall. Bravo says it doesn't plan on making original episodes. CBS was said to have been shopping the show to cable for future seasons as they have no plans for additional seasons. So will Bravo be the choice? Swingtown traces two generations of friends and neighbors as they forge intimate connections and explore new freedoms during the culturally transformative decade of the 1970s. The series stars Jack Davenport, Grant Show, Josh Hopkins, Molly Parker, Lana Parrilla, Miriam Shor, Shanna Collins, Aaron Howles and Britt Robertson.
Meanwhile, Oxygen has acquired the exclusive cable rights to the groundbreaking reality competition series America's Next Top Model. The network will bring viewers all the Top Model fashion challenges, photo shoots and model mayhem as the full library of the hit series joins Oxygen in January, 2009. In an agreement with CBS Television Distribution, Oxygen will retain exclusive cable rights to all episodes including the 11th cycle currently airing on the CW, the show's 12th cycle now in production and repeat airings of any future cycles beyond. The Top Model genre of programming and the show's personalities have already proven successful on Oxygen, with The Tyra Banks Show encores airing daily on the network after its run in first-run syndication and former Top Model judge Janice Dickinson's series The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency now in its fourth season on Oxygen.