Friday, November 07, 2008

Fox 2008-09 Midseason Schedule; ABC Episode Cuts for Midseason; Interviews with Leonard Stern and Lydia Cornell On The Web

Fox has announced the winter portion of its 2008-09 midseason schedule. The wait is almost over as Fox announces premiere dates of new and returning series as well as revisions to its 2008-2009 midseason schedule.
January starts with the not-to-be-missed blockbuster premieres of 24 and American Idol. We announced already 24 would launch with a two night premiere. American Idol returns for Season Eight with a two-night, four-hour premiere event as well, on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and Wednesday, Jan. 14 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.
All-new episodes of House, Bones, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Hole in the Wall will air on new nights in midseason. Get real on Mondays with all-new episodes of House leading into real-time drama 24, as Emmy-winning medical drama House moves to Mondays 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and has its time period premiere Jan. 19 followed by the time period premiere of 24 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. It looks to me Fox is afraid how 24 would do with a rookie or a declining series like Sarah Connor as its lead-in, so Fox is moving House yet again to help (or save?) 24.
Fringe will air in its regular time period Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) after American Idol starting Jan. 20 to try and become a "real" hit.
Lie To Me, the compelling new drama from the producers of 24, debuts Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT after American Idol and stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, the world's leading deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if someone is lying, but why. Fox obviously believes in this show over its other new drama...and that drama was much highly touted at upfront, so something must have went wrong creatively.
Bones moves to Thursdays from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT beginning Jan. 15 followed by the final two all-new episodes of the season of Kitchen Nightmares in its 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT time period. On Thursday, Jan. 29 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, Chef Gordon Ramsay steps into another kitchen to serve up a fifth course of Hell's Kitchen, the unscripted series that puts wannabe restaurateurs through a rigorous one-of-a-kind culinary boot camp. Fox is moving Bones once again...what has moved more--Bones or House?
On Friday, Feb. 13, Fox presents a thrilling new action-packed lineup featuring the return and time period premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and the highly anticipated series premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Dollhouse reunites Whedon with Eliza Dushku, who stars as a member of a highly illegal underground group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Current game shows Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Don't Forget the Lyrics! will air on the night until Feb. 13.
Saturday remains the same, as does Sundays except Hole in the Wall will return and air Sundays 7:00 and 7:30 PM ET/PT beginning Jan. 18. Current batch of Animation Domination will remain the same this winter.
Fox has not announced when Prison Break and 'Til Death will return, but it is likely they will return sometime in Spring 2009. My bet is Prison Break will take over one of the Friday slots when returning for its final episodes. Also, Fox has yet to announce premiere dates for their two new animated series (Sit Down, Shut Up & The Cleveland Show), but that will also likely be in the Spring.
Check out the full Fox Winter portion of its 2008-09 mid-season schedule, it includes all dates for the BCS games.

Meanwhile at ABC, due to so many series coming this midseason on ABC, they have cut the episode orders for upcoming new procedual dramas Castle and The Unusuals from 13 episodes to 10 episodes. Nothing is wrong creatively wise, but ABC has a lot of stuff coming. Scripted series wise this winter, ABC has Lost as well as six new scripted series launching in midseason, the aforementioned Castle & The Unusuals, hourlong Cupid and comedies In The Motherhood, Better Off Ted and The Goode Family. Not to mention the return of long-running sitcoms Scrubs and According to Jim. They could be joined by the Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) produced comedy starring Courteney Cox (Friends), called Cougar Town, which was fast-tracked last week with a pilot order targeted for midseason. Unscripted wise look for The Bachelor to return and new reality series True Beauty and docudrama Border Security USA. ABC also could return Here Come the Newlyweds, or maybe they will save it for summer.
ABC has however canceled upcoming single-camera sitcom starring Alyssa Milano called Single with Parents and it won't launch this midseason due to creative reasons. ABC released the following statement: "Unfortunately, we could not agree on the creative direction for this show and have decided not to move forward with this project." That is too bad because I thought the cast was great and the clips they released were funny. They need to put Alyssa Milano on one of their current series, preferably a drama like Lost or Grey's Anatomy.

Two websites have announced new interviews. Legendary TV producer Leonard Stern talks about the classic TV series Get Smart and his participation in the DVD release of Get Smart: The Complete Series Gift Set, in an interview on the Internet radio show TV Time Machine (http://www.tvtimemachine.com/), hosted by TV historian Jim Benson. From 1965-1970, Leonard Stern served as executive producer and frequent writer and director on Get Smart, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart Secret Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Mr. Stern talks extensively about providing commentary for the current DVD release of Get Smart: The Complete Series Gift Set, his views on last summer's Get Smart movie starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, and the amazing longevity of his classic TV spy spoof. So check out tvtimemachine.com for this interesting audio interview!
Last week if you all recall, we interviewed Lydia Cornell (Too Close for Comfort) on our Seven Questions feature, and now our buddy Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has also interviewed Lydia! The interview was posted in time for Election Day and covers lots of political questions for Lydia that we didn't go into. It is very interesting, and you can call it a "spin-off" of our interview! He also asks her lots of questions related to Too Close for Comfort. Chris does a great job, as usual! Go and check out his interview; it is the feature story on his website this month!


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Tuesday, August 26

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 25)

Tuesday, August 26

  • Tiffany Haddish (The Last O.G./The Carmichael Show) - Tiffany guest hosts a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Andy Samberg (Digman!/Brooklyn Nine-Nine) - Catch Andy on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Harvey GuillĂ©n (What We Do in the Shadows/The Thundermans) - Harvey appears on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Matt Rogers (No Good Deed/I Love That for You) and Bowen Yang (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) - Matt and Bowen are guests on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Sandra Oh (Arli$$) - Sandra appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Nicole Byer (Grand Crew/Loosely Exactly Nicole) and Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke/Robbie) - Nicole and Sasheer are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Amanda Peet (Brockmire/Togetherness/Bent) and Olivia Munn (Perfect Couples) - Amanda and Olivia chat with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Erika Alexander (Run the World/Living Single/The Cosby Show) - Erika talks about Invasion on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Austin Butler (Ruby & the Rockits/Zoey 101/Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide) - Austin talks about Caught Stealing on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City) - Lea is a guest on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Henry appears on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Shakira Ja'nai Paye (Demascus) - Shakira is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (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)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (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

08/26 - English Teacher Returns on FX for Season 2; Jesse Williams Prime Video Series Trailer
08/25 - Doc Season 2 Trailer for Fox; Remembering David Ketchum and Jerry Adler
08/24 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 25, 2025)
08/23 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Home Improvement Cast Members to Reunite on Shifting Gears; The Paper to Have Binge Drop
08/22 - Hulu's Futurama Season 13 Trailer; A Man on the Inside Returns November 20 on Netflix
08/21 - George Lopez Coming to COZI TV; The Morning Show Season 4 Trailer
08/20 - Welcome Back, Kotter 50th Anniversary Marathon on Rewind TV; Apple TV+ Palm Royale Season 2 Premieres November 12
08/19 - Antenna TV's Archie Bunker's Place Labor Day Marathon; Larry the Cable Guy Prime Video Special
08/18 - Nobody Wants This Season 2 Premieres October 23; HGTV and Retta Continue Partnership
08/17 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 18, 2025)
08/16 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Paramount Plans Retool of Cable Networks; King of the Hill Revival Scores Big Ratings
08/15 - Catchy Comedy Acquires Hot in Cleveland; Netflix's Animated Comedy Strip Law Premieres in 2026
08/14 - Dan Levy's Netflix Comedy Series Cast; Betty la Fea: La Historia ContinĂșa Season 2 Premieres Friday
08/13 - Remembering Danielle Spencer of What's Happening!!; Trailer for Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building
08/12 - Netflix's Comedy Kiss or Die Premieres September 9; Lori Harvey Joins Reasonable Doubt
08/11 - Roku Originals Books a Return Trip with Season 2 Renewal of Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross; Netflix's Fixed Trailer
08/10 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 11, 2025)
08/09 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Trailer Released for The Paper; ABC Gives Pilot Order to Do You Want Kids?
08/08 - Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Season 2 Premieres September 12; The Paper Trailer for Peacock
08/07 - Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Season 4 Celebs; Sweetpea Season 2 Stars
08/06 - Molly Shannon Joins Will Ferrell Golf Comedy Series; Netflix's Season 2 of My Life with the Walter Boys
08/05 - Disney+ Musical Comedy Electric Bloom Premieres; NBC Renews American Ninja Warrior for Season 18
08/04 - Remembering Loni Anderson of WKRP in Cincinnati; And Just Like That... to End After 3 Seasons
08/03 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 4, 2025)
08/02 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Family Guy Specials Coming to Hulu; Jimmy Kimmel Rooting for Emmy for Stephen Colbert
08/01 - Long Story Short Gets Season 2 Ahead of Premiere; Netflix's Wayward Premieres September 25
07/31 - Solar Opposites Final Season on Hulu; Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
07/30 - FETV Acquires The Jeffersons, Uncut; BET+ Comedy Churchy Returns August 21, BET Greenlights Sketch Comedy Series
07/29 - NBC Fall 2025 Premiere Dates; Fox Fall 2025 Premiere Dates
07/28 - Events Planned for The Golden Girls 40th Anniversary; Family Guy Holiday Specials Return to Hulu
07/27 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of July 28, 2025)
07/26 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Paramount/Skydance Merger Approved; CBS Orders New Comedy From Producers of Ghosts