Monday, October 20, 2008
ION Television Goes HD; Steve Harvey Gets Exposure on TBS; Fox Surprisingly Picks-Up Sarah Connor For Full Season
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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Saturday, July 5
Mind Your Business - "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (Bounce TV, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Aaliyah and Mia try convincing Lucille that the owner of a new nearby lounge is up to no good; Alfonso and Kim deal with AJ's first relationship.
Mind Your Business - "The Boy Is Mine" (Bounce TV, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Alfonso tries to maintain his newfound bromance after Aaliyah breaks up with his new friend; Kim goes the extra mile to inject luxury into their lifestyle to impress the moms of a Black Excellence club.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 30)
Friday, July 4
- Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth/The Bear) - Watch Ayo on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Jay Pharoah (White Famous/Champaign ILL) - Jay is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Frankie Grande (Henry Danger/Danger Force) - Frankie appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Mark Hamill (The Texas Wheelers) - Mark is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Cristin Milioti (The Resort/Made for Love/A to Z/How I Met Your Mother) - Cristin appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger (FUBAR) - Arnold is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Rob Riggle (Rob Riggle's Ski Master Academy/Golan the Insatiable/Gary Unmarried) - Rob appears on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Marsai Martin (black-ish) - Marsai chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Mario Cantone (And Just Like That.../Sex and the City) - Mario talks about And Just Like That... on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Billy Bob Thornton (Hearts Afire) - Billy Bob opens up about being married six-times and is sharing all about his new show Landman on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Justine Lupe (Nobody Wants This/Cristela) - Justine is telling Drew about her viral wardrobe moment with Kathy Bates and shares behind the scenes moments of filming Succession, revealing the cast member she had a crush on, on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts