Tuesday, January 13, 2009

TCA Winter 2009 Press Tour: Fox - Prison Break Canceled; Bush Farewell Speech in Primetime on Thursday; Remembering Cheryl Holdridge

Fox is up today at the TCA winter 2009 press tour. They started with a Simpsons 20th anniversary themed breakfast! Big pink donuts! Cool! The Executive Session followed and we found out some stuff. The biggest news is that Fox's Prison Break is being canceled after this season. The series will come to an end and will likely have stories wrapped-up with a true finale. However, the series will be moved to the graveyard...airing Fridays at 8:00PM starting Friday, April 17, replacing the likely also canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Six episodes are in the can to air for Prison, but Fox could shoot two more to wrap things up for good. Looks like no mention of a spin-off, too. Fox also has scheduled its Mitch Hurwitz animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up on Sunday, April 19 at 8:30PM, replacing King of the Hill. It seems we have seen the last of King of the Hill, as Fox is labeling its last airing on Sunday, April 12 a "series finale," which is odd because many episodes still remain in the can despite Fox canceling the series a few months back. Could the series be moved to ABC after all? We shall see. Fox also has game show The Moment of Truth ready to go, but hasn't scheduled it. Perhaps it could air in the summer. And it seems it is true that sitcom 'Til Death has been renewed for NEXT season (2009-10) for another 22 episodes. Sony gave Fox a cheap deal they couldn't resist. Fox only has aired four episodes from this season's 24 episode order. Fox did air three leftovers from last season as well, so seven episodes in all have aired this year before Fox pulled the series in early October due to low ratings. My guess is the 20 that remain for this season will be burned off in the summer, as it seems Fox wouldn't waste their in-season schedule for this series again. This is clearly a financial deal, as the series would have enough episodes for syndication. In other news, medical procedual House will celebrate its 100th episode on Feb. 2. That was fast.
Panels for Lie to Me and 24 followed. The upcoming Sunday animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up followed with a lunch presentation. After the lunch, panels for American Idol, Osbournes: Reloaded Variety Series, Dollhouse, FX's Rescue Me, House, and the upcoming musical drama Glee followed.
It is still early...we will have constant updates here, if anything major is announced. So keep checking back multiple times a day this whole week!

And in a scheduling note, President Bush is scheduled to have a 15 minute farewell speech in primetime on Thursday (Jan. 15) at 8PM ET. So because of this Fox will move the season premiere of Bones back a week to January 22 to 8PM and airing a second episode at 9PM. It is unclear still what will air following Bush's short speech this Thursday. However, Kitchen Nightmares will still air and be all-new this Thursday, but will be preempted next Thursday for Bones' two-hour stunt.
CBS will be on 15-minute delay for East/Central stations. So, a repeat of CSI will start at 8:15/7:15c, a new CSI won't start until 9:15/8:15c and Eleventh Hour won't start until 10:15/9:15c. In Mountain and Pacific time zones, the shows will air in their normal timeslots. As of this writing, the other networks have not announced what they will do yet. Keep checking back though.

Cheryl Holdridge, the beautiful blond actress who first gained fame as a Mouseketeer on TV's The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s, has died. Holdridge died Tuesday (January 6) at her home in Santa Monica after a two-year battle with lung cancer. After The Mickey Mouse Club, the actress played Julie Foster, Wally's girlfriend, on Leave it to Beaver and guest starred on series such as The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Donna Reed Show, Dr. Kildare, The Rifleman, Bachelor Father, My Three Sons, Bewitched, Dennis the Menace, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Wagon Train, and reprised her role as Julie Foster on the '80s revival of Leave it to Beaver called Still the Beaver.
Cheryl hasn't acted much since the '60s, but will be remembered for her work on these '50s and '60s TV series from classic TV fans. She will be missed. She was only 64.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, May 10

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 5)

Friday, May 9

  • Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Watch Paul on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Matt Bomer (Mid-Century Modern) - Matt appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Asif Ali (Deli Boys) and Saagar Shaikh (Deli Boys) - Asif and Saagar are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Busy Philipps (Girls5eva/Vice Principals/Cougar Town/Love, Inc.) - Busy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory/Happy Family/Welcome to New York/Cybill) - Christine talks about Nine Perfect Strangers on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - Holly swings by for a chat about her new film Hats Off to Love on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother/Free Spirit) - NBC's Today catches up with Sarah and Alyson in the 9am hour.
  • Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - In this a little bit extra episode Drew shares more of her conversation with Brooke at the news desk on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo, so check your local listings.
  • Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Julia Sweeney (Shrill/Work in Progress/Maybe It's Me/George and Leo) and Marsha Mason (Grace and Frankie/The Middle/Sibs) - Julia and Marsha talk about My First Ex-Husband on PIX11 Morinng 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)
07/08 - 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

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05/07 - Netflix's A Man on the Inside Bulks Up Cast for Season 2; The Studio Renewed by Apple TV+
05/06 - Netflix's Long Story Short Announces Cast; NBC Renews All Chicago Series for 2025-26
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04/19 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Clueless Reboot in the Works at Peacock; King of the Hill Cast Reunion and Revival Preview at ATX TV Festival Next Month
04/18 - 2025 TIME100 on ABC; Atsuko Okatsuka: Father Premieres June 13 on Hulu
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04/16 - And Just Like That... Season 3 on Max This May; MGM+ Comedy Series Adds Big Stars
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04/10 - David Spade's Prime Video Comedy Special; Brett Goldstein's HBO Comedy Special Filmed in New Jersey