35th Annual People's Choice Awards Winners; ION Announces Original Series; WWE Coming to WGN America on Thursdays in April

Thursday, January 08, 2009

35th Annual People's Choice Awards Winners; ION Announces Original Series; WWE Coming to WGN America on Thursdays in April

The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards aired last night on CBS. Here are the television portion winners:

FAVORITE TV DRAMA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)
WINNER: House (Fox)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY
Samantha Who? (ABC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
WINNER: Two and a Half Men (CBS)

FAVORITE ANIMATED COMEDY
Family Guy (Fox)
The Simpsons (Fox)
South Park (Comedy Central)
WINNER: The Simpsons (Fox)

FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY SHOW
Heroes (NBC)
Supernatural (The CW)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox)
WINNER: Heroes (NBC)

FAVORITE COMPETITION / REALITY SHOW
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
WINNER: Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

FAVORITE GAME SHOW
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)
Deal Or No Deal (NBC/Syndicated)
JEOPARDY! (Syndicated, CBS Television Distribution)
WINNER: Deal Or No Deal (NBC/Syndicated)

FAVORITE MALE TV STAR
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)
WINNER: Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)

FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters, ABC)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)
WINNER: Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)

FAVORITE TALK SHOW HOST
Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)
David Letterman (CBS)
Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa (Syndicated, ABC Studios)
WINNER: Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)

FAVORITE SCENE-STEALING GUEST STAR (NEW CATEGORY)
Luke Perry on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother, CBS
Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
WINNER: Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC

FAVORITE TV DRAMA DIVA (NEW CATEGORY)
Holly Hunter as Grace Hanadarko on Saving Grace, TNT
Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin on Weeds, Showtime
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT
WINNER: Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT

FAVORITE NEW TV DRAMA
90210, The CW
Fringe, Fox
The Mentalist, CBS
WINNER: The Mentalist, CBS

FAVORITE NEW TV COMEDY
Gary Unmarried, CBS
Kath & Kim, NBC
Worst Week, CBS
WINNER: Gary Unmarried, CBS

View the full list of winners and also view video highlights from the event last night.

Meanwhile, ION Television will launch an original series this year. ION Television has acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the critically acclaimed and award-winning original TV series, Durham County. The network has secured all U.S. television, digital media rights, internet streaming and video-on-demand rights for the program. ION Television will debut the procedural crime one-hour series to its audience in 2009.
Durham County stars Hugh Dillon, star of the CBS police action series Flashpoint. In Durham County, Dillon plays Detective Mike Sweeney, a homicide detective who moves his family to suburban Durham County to start over after his partner is killed and his wife Audrey (Hélène Joy) is diagnosed with breast cancer. However, he soon discovers that his neighbor and childhood nemesis Ray Prager (Justin Louis) may be a serial killer, setting off an intense showdown between the two complex men and their families.
With eerie crime storylines, Durham County, along with the CBS hit show Criminal Minds (which joins ION in Fall 2009), will offer Positively Thrilling primetime appointment viewing on ION Television. Durham County comes from ITV Global Entertainment.

WGN America will adde WWE wrestling to its Thursday primetime line-up starting in April. WGN America and World Wrestling Entertainment enter the ring with a new television partnership. WWE Superstars, a first run, original program will air exclusively on WGN America, Tribune Broadcasting's national Superstation.
The action-packed WWE Superstars, part of a new multi-year agreement with WGN America, will be produced by WWE and will feature 'Superstars and Divas' from the entire WWE roster.
The hour-long weekly program, scheduled to debut in April 2009, will provide WGN America viewers the chance to see Superstars and Divas from all three WWE franchises in one program. WWE Superstars is scheduled to air on Thursday nights at 8 and 11pm ET with an additional run on the weekend (Saturday afternoons).
WWE Superstars will replace the Thursday night Movie Underground on WGN America in the 8pm hour and the 11pm encore will replace two episodes of Scrubs on the night. Saturday afternoon time encore has not yet been announced. We will have more details on the schedule, as we get it.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, November 21

Young Sheldon - "The Sin of Greed and a Chimichanga from Chi-Chi’s" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The University makes George Sr. a lucrative job offer in the hopes of recruiting Sheldon. Also, Georgie gets a job working for Meemaw’s new boyfriend, and Mary is determined to rid her home of greed.

The Unicorn - "Turkeys and Traditions" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Wade and the girls tackle hosting a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for friends and extended family. Also, Ben attempts to make a fried turkey for the very first time. Annie Mumolo guest stars as Aunt Allison, Wade’s opinionated and passive-aggressive sister-in-law who’s visiting for Thanksgiving.

Mom - "Hot Butter and Toxic Narcissism" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Christy regrets fleeing the scene after hitting a parked car. Also, Bonnie’s therapist, Trevor (Rainn Wilson), offers tools to help her better communicate with Adam.

Carol's Second Act - "Sick and Retired" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Carol’s dear friend Phyllis (guest star Jane Kaczmarek) is admitted to the hospital, and Carol jealously witnesses what retirement would have looked like for her. Also, Daniel takes credit for Caleb’s excellent diagnosis and is bothered when Caleb doesn’t seem to mind.

Superstore - "Curbside Pickup" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
As part of a new corporate initiative Dina is spearheading, Jonah, Cheyenne and other overworked employees have to rush items directly to shoppers’ cars. Amy’s brother, Eric (George Salazar), visits the store, and Amy thinks she sees a spark with Mateo. Garrett is impressed by a customer’s high-tech purchase.

Perfect Harmony - "Thanks-taking" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Jax convinces Arthur to join the choir's progressive Thanksgiving dinner and snoop in various choir members' homes to find a missing item. Meanwhile, Adams invites her handsome contractor to dinner as a set-up for Ginny, but he has something else in mind.

The Good Place - "The Answer" (NBC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
In an attempt to plan a better future, Chidi considers his past.

Will & Grace - "The Grief Panda" (NBC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
In the aftermath of Will (Eric McCormack) and McCoy breaking up, Grace (Debra Messing) and Jack (Sean Hayes) hire the Grief Panda to help Will process his pain. With Karen (Megan Mullally) completely occupied with her new baseball team, Grace believes that she has to fire Karen in order to set her free.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 18)

Thursday, November 21

Lena Waithe (Master of None) - Catch Lena on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at 11pm.
Tom Papa (Come to Papa) and Fortune Feimster (The Mindy Project) - Tom and Fortune are panelists on Lights Out with David Spade at 11:30pm on Comedy Central.
Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever) - Fred is a guest on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Jamie Lee Curtis (Scream Queens/Anything But Love) - Jamie Lee chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. She also talks about Knives Out on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat) - Randall visits The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) - Eric is a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls/Raising Dad) - Kat stops by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Jackée Harry (Tyler Perry's The Paynes/In the Cut/The First Family/Sister, Sister/227) - Jackée appears on The Real, so check your local listings. She also talks about OWN's Carole's Christmas on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Tisha Campbell (Dr. Ken/Rita Rocks/My Wife and Kids/Martin) - Tisha guest co-hosts The Real, so check your local listings.
Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Whitney drops by The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Lil Rel Howery (Rel/The Carmichael Show) - Lil Rel is a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Sean Hayes (Will & Grace/The Millers/Sean Saves the World) - Sean talks about Will & Grace on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Craig Bierko (Unhitched/Madman of the People/Sydney) - Craig wlll be on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster/Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) - Soleil talks about Lifetime's Staging Christmas on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Peter Porte (Baby Daddy) - Peter talks about Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2 on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
Niecy Nash (The Soul Man/Getting On/Reno 911!) - Niecy appears on a repeat of LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.