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
Friday, December 6
Happy's Place - "Ho-Ho Howey" (NBC, 9:15PM ET/PT)
When the tavern's health insurance is threatened to be canceled, Gabby has a plan; she'll persuade her friend Danny to host his company party at Happy's, but the catch is everyone must call Bobbie "Gabby" and Gabby "Bobbie."
Lopez vs Lopez - "Lopez vs Santa" (NBC, 9:45PM ET/PT)
While Mayan tries to track down the perfect Christmas gift for Chance, George has to settle a feud with Santa that stretches back to George's childhood; Quinten tries to shake Rosie out of her holiday blues.
Bob Hearts Abishola - "We Were Beggars, Now We Are Choosers" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Abishola gives her previous suitor a second chance, Uncle Tunde goes behind Auntie Olu's back to warn Bob about the other man who's courting his niece.
Bob Hearts Abishola - "Ice Cream for Breakfast" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Bob must gain the confidence to fight for Abishola when she goes on another date with Chukwuemeka; Uncle Tunde finds an unlikely friend in Dottie in the aftermath of his fight with Auntie Olu.
Children Ruin Everything - "Chores" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Astrid and James question the effectiveness of their own parenting when they meet one of Felix's friends with impeccable manners; Astrid and James worry about the types of adults their kids will become.
Children Ruin Everything - "Feelings" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT)
James, feeling left out when Ennis makes a new friend, inserts himself in Ennis' dodgeball tournament; Astrid struggles to get Viv to control her emotions, especially when frustrations at work make it hard to lead by example.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 2)
Friday, December 6
- Ralph Macchio (Eight Is Enough) - Watch Ralph on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Ben Stiller (Arrested Development) - Ben is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time/Happily Divorced/9 to 5) - Rita appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Emily Osment (Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage/Young Sheldon/Young & Hungry/Hannah Montana), Tien Tran (How I Met Your Father) and Vinny Thomas (Platonic) - Emily, Tien and Vinny are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Hilary Swank (Camp Wilder) - NBC's Today catches up with Hilary in the 10am hour.
- The Cast of Sex Lives of College Girls - The Sex Lives of College Girls creator Mindy Kaling is joining Drew on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Then, the case of the show, Pauline Chalamet, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Amrit Kaur, Mia Rodgers and Gracie Lawrence are all chatting about the latest season of the hit show.
- Ryan Destiny (grown-ish) and Brian Tyree Henry (HouseBroken/Atlanta) - Ryan and Brian talk about their new film The Fire Inside on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Steve Howey (Reba) - Steve talks about NBC's Happy Place on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - Krysten discusses her film Sonic 3 on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Melissa Joan Hart (Baby Daddy/Sabrina the Teenage Witch/Clarissa Explains It All) - Melissa is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (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)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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