ABC's According to Jim Returns For Season Eight; Fox Dumps 'Til Death; RTN Coming to Jacksonville and Memphis

Thursday, October 30, 2008

ABC's According to Jim Returns For Season Eight; Fox Dumps 'Til Death; RTN Coming to Jacksonville and Memphis

ABC is bringing back the Jim Belushi sitcom According to Jim for an eighth season this December. Starting Tuesday, December 2, 2008, According to Jim will air back-to-back new episodes for the entire month at 9:00pm & 9:30pm ET. On December 2, it will follow the holiday classic Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, but it is unclear as of now what its lead-in will be for the rest of the month (likely to be holiday specials though). We will have more on all the network holiday specials at a later date on our annual network Christmas/holiday specials post. As for According to Jim, it was renewed for an eighth season pretty late and ABC has ordered 18 new episodes, including a Christmas episode! ABC will likely air them all in December and January. As of now, Scrubs and new animated comedy The Goode Family are slated to launch in the hour in January, but that could change. Scrubs promos already have started airing, saying "coming soon to ABC.

As for 'Til Death, Fox has pulled the comedy effective immediately and there are no signs of a return in November or December. Effective next Wednesday (Nov. 5), repeats of House will air in the slot in November. In December, Fox will launch new six hour reality-game show Secret Millionaire on Wednesday, December 3 from 8-10pm, before airing Wednesday (Dec. 10 and 17) at 8pm the following week, so Bones will move from 8 to 9pm. Secret Millionaire will also air Thursdays at 8pm on Dec. 11 & 18 followed by special Thursday airings of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? at 9pm, as Kitchen Nightmares will have its season finale on Dec. 4.
So no sign of a return for the low rated Brad Garrrett sitcom 'Til Death. We'll keep you up to date.

Newport Television's Fox affiliate WAWS Jacksonville, Florida and The CW affiliate WLMT Memphis, TN will offer Retro Television Network's programming lineup of classic TV shows on digital subchannels soon. RTN is a television network that provides each affiliate a customized feed with classic hit shows, in addition to local programming including news, weather and sports. RTN is specifically designed to go on a broadcast digital channel.
Shows currently on RTN include 21 Jump Street, Adam 12, Airwolf, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The A-Team, Kojak, Knight Rider, Leave it to Beaver, Jack Benny, Kate & Allie, Bachelor Father, Harry and the Hendersons, That's Incredible, McHale's Navy, Dragnet, and more!