Thursday, March 12, 2009
WGN America Spring Changes Includes Bullwinkle, WWE Superstars; ION Schedule Change
Then the week of April 13 is when the majority of the changes start! The weeknight 1am ET rotating hour will now have Funniest Pets & People on both Monday and Tuesday nights replacing AFV and Star Trek: TNG respectively. Reno 911's Thursday 1am airings migrate to Wednesday nights replacing ALF. ALF will still remain on Sundays on Outta Sight Retro Night, though. ALF has suffered a bit of a ratings let-down, but they are still keeping it on Sundays at least. The big change on WGN America will be the WWE Superstars series airing every Thursday on WGN America at 8pm ET and encoring at 11pm ET starting April 16. Thursdays in primetime will also see the series Around the World For Free at 9pm ET and 12am ET right after WWE Superstars. So what is Around the World for Free? Alex Boylan (winner of The Amazing Race, Season 2) attempts the impossible: he strips himself of all monetary funds, and with only a backpack and the help of an online community, sets off on a mission to circumnavigate the globe. So on Thursdays at 1am ET we will see Scrubs because its Thursday 11pm ET airings are preempted and at 4am ET Bob & Tom Show will air since its 12 am ET slot is preempted on Thursdays. This is bad news for Moesha fans because now the show will only air once a week at 5am ET on late Thursday nights (early Friday mornings). And for more bad news, Moesha will be gone after the end of June and will be replaced by more Funniest Pets & People. At least Moesha will still be on The N.
Moving to weekends, on Saturdays... Hollywood and Dine is going national. The local Cleveland produced food show on WJW, hosted by David "Mossman" Moss, will be syndicated on WGN America starting Saturday, April 18 at 12 noon ET and airing every Saturday at noon ET. Following Hollywood and Dine at 12:30pm ET will be Cultivating Life with Sean Conway. Both will replace an airing of Star Trek: TNG, so that series will only be in primetime on Tuesday nights by then. An episode of Boston Legal will follow at 1pm ET replacing a Bob & Tom Show airing, but that Bob & Tom airing will be moved to a Sunday slot of 11am ET. More on Sunday in a bit, but back to Saturday. The Saturday evening Boston Legal still remains in its slot. And the biggest news for us is that the classic '60s animated comedy The Bullwinkle Show is coming to WGN America on Saturday nights starting April 18! It will air Saturdays at 12 midnight ET (9pm PT) replacing an airing of The Honeymooners. Bullwinkle will follow two Scrubs episodes at 11 & 11:30pm ET. I'm still trying to find out what package of Bullwinkle this is, but I'm guessing it is the 98 episode package from The Program Exchange. It would be cool if it were all 130 episodes, though, including the Rocky episodes. And of course The Honeymooners will still air on the Outta Sight Retro Night on Sunday evenings, so the half-hour removal on Saturday nights is not a problem. So back to Sundays, we said Bob & Tom Show is in a Sunday slot of 11am ET, replacing Whacked Out Videos, which moves to Sunday nights at 3am ET replacing one of the Homicide: Life on the Street episodes, but that will still remain at 4am ET. The other Sunday change is at 12 noon ET with an encore of WWE Superstars replacing that Boston Legal airing, so both of its airings are on Saturdays starting April 18.
That's all for now, but Sean Compton of WGN America promises us that we will see more sitcom themed weeks this summer as we did last summer! Also, they will change up the Outta Sight Retro Night on Sundays in September a bit...so that will be cool to see what they add. So just because not much is added this spring, doesn't mean anything. WGN America is working on lots of classic TV stuff, and Bullwinkle is not a bad idea! Yes, ALF did well for them but it has weakened, but they are still airing it on Sundays at least. Stay tuned and keep it with us for all WGN America news!
Just a few days ago we gave you ION's April 2009 schedule saying that M*A*S*H would return to weekdays starting March 30. Well that is still happening...but two weeks earlier now! M*A*S*H will take over the 6pm hour on weekdays starting this Monday now (March 16). And in a twist, Family Feud will move to the 7pm hour from Mon-Thurs! Feud was supposed to be totally off the line-up by March 30, but ION is indeed keeping it! Feud will replace an airing of ER on Mondays and an airing of Boston Legal on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and a scheduled M*A*S*H hour or movie on Thursdays. So the only thing leaving is Steve Harvey Show...and two weeks earlier than planned. So tonight is the last night actually. This is tough news because BET removed it as well a few weeks back. Everything else we reported for April is intact, including the movies.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Sunday, March 16
Family Guy - "The Chicken or the Meg" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Meg starts dating a chicken she meets on a reality dating show, Peter disapproves of their love, prompting her to move out; saddened by Meg's absence, Peter decides to get her back from the chicken's house.
Grimsburg - "Daddy Daddy Bang Bang" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When his dad returns to town, Flute will do anything he can to keep his idol around, even if that means getting rid of his sibling rivalry -- his dad's talking car; the detectives must teach Stan about the birds and the bees.
The Great North - "Bust a Moon Adventure" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Moon makes a big decision after clashing with Beef; Judy and Ham hatch a plot to make some extra cash.
Krapopolis - "Love Trap, Baby!" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
A mysterious princess hosts a dating competition to find her new partner; Shlub and Deliria do the worst thing possible while Ty's away -- accidentally improving the city.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 10)
Friday, March 14
- Ben Stiller (Arrested Development) - Watch Ben on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Regina Hall (Black Monday/Grandfathered/Married/Second Generation Wayans) - Regina is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Tom Hanks (Bosom Buddies) - Tom appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Drew Tarver (Running Point/Bless the Harts/The Other Two), Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men/Togetherness), Mary Holland (The Big Door Prize/Hoops/Robbie/Blunt Talk), and Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Drew, Melanie, Mary, and Morris are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Randall Park (Young Rock/Blockbuster/Fresh Off the Boat/Veep/Supah Ninjas) - Randall talks about The Residence on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Scott Foley (The Goodwin Games/A.U.S.A./Scrubs) - Scott talks about Will Trent on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Ben Falcone (God's Favorite Idiot/Nobodies/Joey) - Ben chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Cristo Fernández (Ted Lasso) - Cristo talks about the film Las Tres Sisters on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
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