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WGN America January 2009 Changes, Includes Star Trek: TNG; Wipeout Encores To Air Weekend Afternoons on ABC In January

Effective Monday, January 19, 2009, WGN America will have many new changes to its line-up! But before that, a minor temporary change will happen. For the weeks of January 5 and January 12, weeknights at 4:00am ET will be another airing of Canadian comedy Corner Gas, replacing the 4am half-hour of Sister, Sister. Sister, Sister will remain at 4:30am ET these two weeks, while Corner Gas will also remain at 1:30am ET these two weeks.
Then the new winter schedule starts on Monday, January 19! Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie have been airing on weekdays in the 9am ET hour, with single episodes a day. Now they are on the move to afternoons and double airings! Bewitched will air weekdays at 2:00pm & 2:30pm ET, and I Dream of Jeannie will follow at 3:00pm & 3:30pm ET! The shows will still air on Sunday nights, too! On weekdays, the shows are replacing Homicide: Life on the Street at 2pm ET and two Cosby Show episodes in the 3:00pm hour. The Cosby Show will move into the 4:00pm hour as a result, followed by an hour of Scrubs at 5pm ET and Becker at 6pm ET, giving the network their strong sitcoms from 2pm-7pm ET. So, the entire daytime lineup has been altered. 7th Heaven moves from 6pm and 7pm ET to weekday mornings at 9am ET. Looks like it hasn't performed as well as they would have liked after returning this past fall. Airing at 7pm ET will now be America's Funniest Home Videos weeknights, except Tuesdays.
On Tuesdays, WGN America will add the '80s hit Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 7pm ET hour and also in primetime at 8 and 9pm ET for a nice three-hour block! The primetime block replaces a block of Nash Bridges, which will still remain weekdays at 12pm ET. Primetime will also change on Wednesday nights as now we get back-to-back episodes of sitcoms Coach at 8pm ET and Becker at 9pm ET replacing AFV and Legend of the Seeker encores. Coach will leave the Sunday night block, though, replaced by Cosby Show Sundays at 5pm et. Mondays in primetime will remain two AFV episodes and Thursdays & Fridays we have movies still.
In late night, after The Bob & Tom Show at midnight ET, we now have a rotating wheel in the 1am ET hour instead of a strip of Reno 911/Corner Gas. Mondays in the 1am ET hour will be another America's Funniest Home Videos, while on Tuesdays we get another helping of Star Trek: The Next Generation...makes sense as both air in primetime on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays it is a different story though! We get another hour of '80s sitcom ALF! ALF will still remain Sundays in the 6pm ET hour as well! Thursdays and Fridays in the 1am hour will be back-to-back episodes of Reno 911. The show has to air 5 times a week, so four episodes will air there. The fifth episode will air late night on Sundays at 5am, so technically Monday mornings. Reno 911 on Sunday nights will follow Homicide: Life on the Street at 3am and 4am ET, as Homicide is now relegated to just two airings a week and only on Sunday nights.
Back to weeknight late nights, Steve Wilkos Show still remains in the 2am ET hour (Chappelle's Show on Friday nights) and Paid Programming is in the 3am ET hour still. But then...4am-5:30am ET will now be a rotating block instead of just Corner Gas, Sister Sister and Moesha from 4am-5:30am ET. On Monday nights (Tuesday mornings), we get three episodes of Corner Gas, its only airings now on the line-up. WGN America says it has a loyal audience but unfortunately it's too small and they couldn't get the numbers they needed to sustain it...but at least it is still on, even though it will be just three airings a week. Tuesday nights (Wednesday mornings) will be three episodes of Moesha, while on on Wednesday nights (Thursday mornings) will be three episodes of Sister, Sister. We get more Moesha on Thursday nights (Friday mornings) from 4am-5:30am ET and finally on Friday nights (Saturday mornings) we get three episodes of Funniest Pets & People, which is off the weekday afternoon line-up now.
Finally, the only other changes we have not mentioned are on Saturdays. Saturdays at 12 noon ET will be another Star Trek: The Next Generation airing, replacing one of the two Bob & Tom Show encores, Bob & Tom will remain at 1pm ET. And finally, Becker primetime has been moved to Wednesdays 9pm ET, so replacing Becker on Saturdays at 6pm ET will be another AFV leading into Boston Legal.
All in all, not bad changes, unless you loved Corner Gas, 7th Heaven, Funniest Pets & People, Sister Sister and Homicide: Life on the Street...they were lessened, but not removed at least. In fact, they didn't remove anything totally! Good programming!
View the full WGN America January 2009 line-up, in case you missed anything.

Before "Wipeout Superball Sunday" airs on Sunday, February 1, 2009 on ABC during the same time as the 10-15 minute Super Bowl halftime show and following the game from approx. 10-11pm, ABC Sports will schedule repeats of Wipeout in select weekend afternoon sports slots in January on ABC and on Super Bowl Sunday leading up to the "Superball" event on ABC.

The scheduled repeats of Wipeout will air on the following dates during ABC Sports:
Saturday, January 10: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
Sunday, January 11: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
Sunday, January 18: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
Sunday, February 1: 5:00PM ET (4:00PM CT/3:00PM MT/2:00PM PT)
NOTE: Wipeout will be preempted on Sunday, Jan. 25 due to the launch of NBA on ABC Sunday telecasts--Dallas @ Boston 1:00 pm ET and San Antonio @ L.A. Lakers 3:30 pm ET. On Super Bowl Sunday, the NBA match-up between Cleveland @ Detroit at 2:30 pm ET will lead into Wipeout at 5:00 pm ET.
Don't forget, "Wipeout Superball Sunday" kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 1 at approx. 8pm ET (5pm PT) during the 10-15 min. halftime show followed by two one-hour repeats and a new one-hour episode at approx. 10pm ET (7pm pt).
Wipeout had a solid run this summer on ABC, proving to be a ratings winner with men, and it is important for ABC to keep this key hilarious show in the minds of viewers before it launches its second season this summer! Tune in for this hilarious show both for the repeats and the new specials on Super Bowl Sunday. This series is actually funnier than some of the sitcoms today! Goodnight and big balls!