ION Television Goes HD; Steve Harvey Gets Exposure on TBS; Fox Surprisingly Picks-Up Sarah Connor For Full Season

Monday, October 20, 2008

ION Television Goes HD; Steve Harvey Gets Exposure on TBS; Fox Surprisingly Picks-Up Sarah Connor For Full Season

ION Media Networks, Inc., owner and operator of the nation's largest television station group, today announced plans to launch its suite of networks – ION Television, qubo, and ION Life – in high definition in 2009. ION Television, the Company's flagship general entertainment network, will be available in high definition (HD) as ION Television HD beginning the first quarter of 2009. The HD simulcast of the newly branded "Positively Entertaining" network will serve to fully enhance consumers' overall viewing experience.
Viewers can look forward to a mix of compelling television series, theatrical and made-for-television movies and specials on ION Television HD. The newly rebranded ION Television network features hit programs from CBS Television, NBC Universal, RHI Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Television and Warner Bros., among others. The network's fall 2008 lineup is led by off-network hits including NCIS, Boston Legal, and ER. Critically acclaimed miniseries and original productions from RHI Entertainment will be made available in high quality HD, as will blockbuster theatrical movies such as Batman Returns, GoodFellas, Analyze This, and You've Got Mail.
ION Television in HD will be launched from its newly designed, state-of-the-art transmission platform via expanded satellite transponder capacity. That national distribution will then be delivered over-the-air via DTV broadcast, cable, telco-TV and satellite. The network will feature native and up-converted HD programming, and will be carried on all 60 of ION Media Network's television stations around the country.
Now you can watch Denny Crane and the gang in HD like it is supposed to be!

On Saturday night if you were expecting to watch Game 6 of the MLB ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays on TBS at 8PM ET, you missed the beginning because of an outage. TBS had technical difficulties that prevented it from showing the first 20 minutes of the game and also the end of the pregame show before it. In place of the game, TBS showed an episode of sitcom The Steve Harvey Show. A crawl on the screen ran repeatedly, saying: "We are experiencing technical difficulties." The game started at 8:08 p.m., but the broadcast didn't begin until 8:28 p.m., when Carlos Pena, the seventh batter of the game, walked in the bottom of the first inning. TBS then showed a replay of a home run by B.J. Upton, the previous batter, that put the Rays ahead 1-0.
So what happened: TBS had experienced router failure in Atlanta (their headquarters), which caused transmission problems. Steve Harvey Show wasn't the only filler TBS used while trying to restore its feed, lost toward the end of the pregame broadcast. At that time, TBS ran an abbreviated episode of Dick Clark's Bloopers special (with Elise Neal of The Hughleys) from 1999. I saw that and it was very funny and featured lots of flubs from newscasts and TV stations (how appropriate for TBS today!), but turned it off when Harvey came on. I personally didn't get back into the game until the third inning, thanks to this flub.
But at least sitcoms got more exposure! We'll let you know the ratings, if we get them for Harvey.

Second season action series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been picked-up for nine more episodes, giving it a full twenty-two episode order for the season. This was a surprise move by Fox, because the show has gone down in the ratings by a lot this season averaging just under 6 million viewers and in the low 2's in the 18-49 demo. The show does get a little boost in the seven-day DVR ratings, giving it just under 7 million viewers, but still a far cry what it did last year. The show launched out of huge Cowboys-Giants NFL playoff game that drew 40 million, for its series premiere last winter. The series did 18 million for its premiere. The show then obviously dropped after that to just above 8 million on average, but did much better than it is doing now.
The show could be used with American Idol or the return of 24 in January to help bring it back to life. But Fox would give a better slot to Fringe and the upcoming new series Dollhouse probably instead. No word on Prison Break, but this will likely be its last season.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, March 29

The Conners - "Stuck in the Middle and Stuck in the Past" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Darlene and Ben get into a fight and ignore Becky’s boundaries in the house. Elsewhere, Dan accuses Jackie of losing all of their home videos.

The Conners - "New Pipes and Old Secrets" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Darlene has issues with Dan’s plumbing work in her new house. Elsewhere, Jackie tries to find a caregiver for Bev.

Abbott Elementary - "Fundraiser" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Barbara organizes a candy-selling fundraiser to raise money for a school field trip to the science museum. When sales don’t go as planned, Ava steps in to teach the students new, unconventional selling tactics. Elsewhere, Mr. Johnson and Jacob butt heads about how to take care of a cat found in the janitor’s closet.

Not Dead Yet - "Not a Tiger Yet" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
As Nell tries to settle into her new job, she gets increasingly annoyed by her latest ghost. Meanwhile, Edward works on a project that sparks Nell’s journalistic curiosity.

Tyler Perry's House of Payne - "Just Payne Trippin" (BET, 9:00PM ET/PT)
The family has trouble adjusting to Jazmine's new found independence. Miranda gets an offer that Calvin would like for her to refuse.

Tyler Perry's Assisted Living - "Houston, We Have a Karen" (BET, 9:30PM ET/PT)
When an old white woman moves into Pleasant Days, her Karen behavior throws everyone for a loop; Reginald fears an escaped convict he put in prison has plans to take revenge.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 27)

Wednesday, March 29

Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Watch Jason on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Ali Wong (Big Mouth/American Housewife/Are You There, Chelsea?) - Ali appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Jay Pharoah (White Famous) - Jay is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. He talks about taking his impressions to the next level in the new film Spinning Gold on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Adam Scott (Party Down/Ghosted/Parks and Recreation) - Adam will be on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - Fred sits-in with the 8G Band on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
John Leguizamo (The Brothers Garcia) - John guest hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso) - Brendan is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Ali Wentworth (Nightcap) - Ali guest co-hosts LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Juliette Lewis (Camping/I Married Dora) - Juliette appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Dwayne Johnson (Young Rock) - Dwayne is a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Kim Fields (The Upshaws/Living Single/The Facts of Life/Baby, I'm Back) - Kim chats about the new season of the hit comedy The Upshaws on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Judy Gold (All-American Girl) and BD Wong (All-American Girl) - Judy and BD discuss their new play Yes, I Can Say That! on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Zach Braff (Scrubs/Alex, Inc.) - Zach Braff is telling Drew about the real-life inspiration behind his new film, working on it with Florence Pugh and why he got his pilot's license on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Jason Ritter (Another Period/The Class) - Jason will be on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Reba McEntire (Reba/Malibu Country) - Reba is a guest on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
Alex Borstein (Family Guy/Getting On/The Cleveland Show), Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Wings) and Marin Hinkle (Two and a Half Men/Speechless) - Alex, Tony and Marin talk about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Lena Waithe (Master on None) - Lena talks about A Thousand and One on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Paula Newsome (Barry/Conrad Bloom) - Paula chats about CSI: Vegas on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing/The Bill Engvall Show/Work with Me/Almost Perfect) - Nancy talks about Hallmark Channel's Ride on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Gabriel Basso (The Big C) - Gabriel talks about Netflix's The Night Agent on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Kyra Sedgwick (Call Your Mother) - Kyra talks about Space Oddity on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Andi Mack) - Peyton will be on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.