Thursday, September 25, 2008

Nick at Nite October 2008 Has Urkel Week and Halloween Week; Lifetime Acquires How I Met Your Mother for Fall 2010

This October on Nick at Nite will have various stunts such as an Urkel week hosted by Jaleel White and the 1st Annual Worldwide Fido Awards. At last an award show for real dogs! Forget the pedigree, purebreds and professional judges! The dogs on this show are chosen by you the viewer! The one-hour special event hosted by actor/comedian Fred Willard will showcase the six Fido finalists and best of WorldwideFido.com's user-generated videos, where one lucky dog will ultimately be crowned the 2008 Worldwide Fido winner. It will air Sunday, October 5 from 8-9PM.
On Columbus Day (Monday, October 13), Nick at Nite will bring out the stars on George Lopez with a marathon from 9pm-4am. Got a favorite guest star? Check out the special line-up of hand picked celebrities all of whom have graced the George Lopez stage to see if your favorites made the cut! Eva Longoria, Mario Lopez, Jerry Springer, Adam West, Barbara Eden, Jim Belushi, Sandra Bullock, Lou Diamond Phillips, Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff, Richard Lewis, Kimberly Williams, Laila Ali, Andy Garcia, who made the cut? Find out on October 13!
Get up close and personal with Steve Urkel himself (Jaleel White) as he reminisces with Nick and Nite on what it was like to play one of America's favorite nerds and his favorite episodes. Jaleel White hosts an hour a night from Oct. 20-26 featuring classic Steve Urkel-themed episodes of Family Matters. Classic episodes include his very first episode, Jaleel as Myrtle Urkel, the Urkel dance episode, Urkelbot, Urkel & Grandmama, and classic Stefan episodes.
Finally, it's a spooktacular week for Nick at Nite the week of October 27-31. Tune in all-week long to catch Halloween themed episodes of your Nick at Nite favorites (Fresh Prince, George Lopez, and Home Improvement) in the 9pm hour and also in regular timeslots for more Halloween fun. It will be capped off with a Halloween marathon on Halloween night from 10pm-1am featuring George Lopez, Home Improvement and Family Matters. Be ready for the scary Stevil!
View the full Nick at Nite October 2008 schedule and highlights.

Continuing the aggressive expansion of its comedy programming, Lifetime Television has acquired the exclusive basic cable rights to the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother from Twentieth Television, beginning in the fall of 2010.
How I Met Your Mother joins Lifetime comedy mainstays such as Reba, Still Standing, Will & Grace and Frasier. So far in 2008, Reba ranks #1 in cable comedies among W18+ and W25-54 in the Monday-Friday, 8-9PM (ET/PT) time period.
Both Lifetime and Twentieth Television declined comment on the financial terms of the deal, but sources said the sitcom fetched around $725,000 per episode in a highly competitive bidding situation that included at least six interested cable nets, including TBS, ABC Family and FX. The deal will be a four-year deal and could add on a year each time it gets renewed on CBS. The deal can reach as high as eight years. Lifetime's deal is the second biggest license fee ever by a cable network for a sitcom in the first cycle, beaten only by the near $800,000 an episode that FX did for Warner Bros. Domestic's Two and a Half Men. Lifetime can also reportedly air two episodes a week by early next year before it can be stripped for daily play in fall 2010.
Last week, Twentieth TV scored deals with the Fox-owned TV stations in N.Y. (WNYW), L.A. (KTTV) and Chicago (WFLD) for reruns of How I Met Your Mother for local station play starting in fall 2010. Stations in five other major markets, including CBS-owned outlets in Philadelphia (WPSG) and Dallas (KXTA) bought the series. WLVI Boston, KQCA Sacramento, and Seattle's KCPQ/KMYQ round out the additional five.
Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan, How I Met Your Mother debuted on CBS in 2005 and currently airs Mondays at 8:30PM (ET/PT) on CBS in its fourth season.
In other Lifetime news, just a reminder that original sitcom Rita Rocks launches with five new episodes airing in a one week strip, beginning Monday, October 20, through Friday, October 24, at 8:30PM (ET/PT), following Reba repeats. Then starting Tuesday, October 28, Rita Rocks will air regularly Tuesdays at 8:30PM (ET/PT). Also, starting Monday, October 5, The Nanny will return to weekdays at 8-9am replacing a Desperate Housewives airing. The Nanny had been airing only weeknights at 2am and will still retain that slot. Both The Golden Girls and The Nanny will be expiring from Lifetime in early 2009, so Lifetime will have some slots to fill. We'll let you know what happens.

Tonight it is the season premieres of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy on ABC. I have watched both premieres already and both are very good, especially the two-hour Grey's Anatomy premiere. On Ugly Betty, a month has passed and Betty has made her choice. When she returns, she finds out what happened to Mode and Daniel. Meanwhile, Betty's dad is now working at a local hamburger place...where Betty's high school bully Kimberly (Lindsay Lohan) is the manager. Very fun scenes with Betty and Kimberly. And Hilda's romance with Coach Diaz continues, despite his marriage. Without giving anything away, the premiere is funny and it's a fresh start with lots of changes. The move to New York in production has paid off!
As for Grey's Anatomy, the premiere is fantastic. It also has change. It seems many ABC shows this fall has changes, and it is for the good. A freak fall ice storm has hit Seattle and Seattle Grace Hospital has moved out of the top 5 in the rankings of best teaching skills. Chief Webber has to make changes and decisions to get the hospital back to its credibility. Making quite the entrance in this episode is the very talented Kevin McKidd, who plays General Hunt, a doctor in the military. He has excellent scenes with Cristina...and steamy ones. There are a few dream sequences, some shocking and some touching...not giving it away though. Also, I won't give it away, but the keyword for the episode is "icicle." It's a premiere you will want to watch for sure.
I have seen many of the premieres for ABC, so check my thoughts on them if you want to read it. More is on the way, so keep checking back.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Sunday, June 4

The Simpsons - "My Life as a Vlog" (Fox, 7:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Through a series of YouTube recommended videos, the story of the rise and fall of the Simpson family vlog is revealed.

Family Guy - "Oscars Guy" (Fox, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The Griffins perform a retelling of three Oscar-winning stories: "Silence of the Lambs," "American Beauty" and "Forrest Gump."

HouseBroken - "Who's Nocturnal?" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
After Honey loses a clutch of baby possums she is supposed to be caring for, she and The Gray One set out to find them; Shel and Nibbles try to apprehend a critter that has been pooping on Shel's shell at night; Diablo gets abducted by an owl.

HouseBroken - "Who's Married?" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
A new playmate upends Honey and Chief's relationship; Tabitha helps Chico find the perfect anniversary gift for Kevin; Nibbles goes searching for her special someone.

Raven's Home - "Lizard Let Lie" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
On the eve of Raven's big reality show debut, Alice lies to get out of a class speech, and Victor tries to get out of a surprise health inspection.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 29)

Saturday, June 3

  • Ronald Gladden (Jury Duty) - Ronald can be heard on SiriusXM's Ben +1 at 9am.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (January-June)

Cheers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Gimme a Break! - The Complete Series (VEI) Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (VEI) Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series

01/03 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series (2023 Release)
01/27 - Master of None - Season Three / The Complete Series
02/21 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Nine / The Complete Season Ten
02/28 - Growing Pains - The Complete Series
03/28 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/04 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Fifth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/18 - Blondie - The Complete 1957 Television Series (Blu-ray)
04/25 - Cheers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
05/23 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Eleven / The Complete Season Twelve
05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
05/23 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (Universal)
05/29 - Gimme a Break! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/29 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/30 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
06/13 - Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


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06/01 - MeTV's Marry Me Block on June 4; TBS Sets Miracle Workers: End Times Premiere Date for July 10
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05/19 - Futurama Triumphantly Returns July 24; Final Season of Physical Drops August 2; Primo Premieres May 19 on Amazon Freevee
05/18 - The CW Upfront 2023-24: Fall 2023 Schedule; Netflix Upfront 2023
05/17 - Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2023; Sarah Silverman HBO Special Premieres May 27
05/16 - ABC Upfront 2023-24: Fall 2023 Schedule; FX's Summer 2023 Slate
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05/12 - NBC Upfront 2023-24: Fall 2023 Schedule; Hulu Orders Deli Boys from Onyx Collective
05/11 - CBS Upfront 2023-24: Fall 2023 Schedule; The CW Summer Lineup Has Comedies
05/10 - Minx Returns in July on STARZ; Never Have I Ever Final Episodes Premieres June 8, Trailer Drops
05/09 - The CW Acquires Son of a Critch; FX's The Bear Returns June 22
05/08 - NBC's Hot Wheels Gets Celeb Judges; Zooey Deschanel's Max Series Premieres May 23
05/07 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of May 8, 2023)
05/06 - SitcomsOnline Digest: First Week of Writers' Strike Already Sees Early Casualties; Fox Cancels Call Me Kat
05/05 - BUZZR's Classic TV Moms Week; Fox's Stars on Mars Celebs Announced
05/04 - Dancing with the Stars Returning to ABC in Fall; Conan O'Brien Producing New Podcast Miniseries