Thursday, April 23, 2009
ABC Announces 12 Early Pick-Ups for 2009-2010, Returns Millionaire in Summer; GSN's Classic TV Airings
Meanwhile, Regis is back in ABC primetime! Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the smash hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? comes back to ABC this summer for a special two-week event. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? premieres Sunday, August 9, 2009 at 8:00PM ET/PT and will air for 11 nights from Sunday-Thursday at 8:00PM, with the finale on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 8:00PM.
Can you believe it has been 10 years? The show launched on Aug. 16, 1999 at 8:30pm as a half-hour series and aired all seven days for two weeks. We will see an hour of course in this run and Sun-Thurs instead of all seven days. A few weeks ago I said ABC would do a two-week run like this in August, and I turned up being right. Now if this is a success, I can see ABC doing a similar two-week run in December. ABC usually airs repeats then and when hey air new episodes, they are usually lower anyway. So Millionaire would be a great option for December, especially following holiday specials. One week they can even have ABC stars playing for charity for the holidays. I would also schedule Millionaire once or twice a week in January and February, as ABC usually needs help then. But before we think that far ahead, right now this is just a two-week anniversary event in August.
Speaking of Millionaire, GSN is airing the classic TV edition from 2001 starting this weekend! If you've never seen this or need to record and save this, now is your chance! GSN will air all four nights of this edition on Sunday, April 26; Saturday, May 2; Sunday, May 3; and Saturday, May 9 all from 5-6PM ET. The classic TV stars appearing and playing for a million dollars for charity are Adam West (Batman), Kim Fields (The Facts of Life), Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch), Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley), Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie), Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family), Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), Marion Ross (Happy Days), Sherman Hemsley (The Jeffersons, Amen), and Ted Lange (The Love Boat).
Elsewhere on GSN, we have some other noteworthy specials. On Saturday, May 9 from 9-10PM we have a special Mother's Day themed episode from 2002 of Weakest Link with Classic TV Moms! Pat Crowley (Please Don't Eat the Daisies), Karen Grassle (Little House on the Prairie), June Lockhart (Lassie), Jo Marie Payton (Family Matters), Janet Hubert (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Carol Potter (Beverly Hills 90210), Beverly Garland (Lois & Clark), and Alley Mills (The Wonder Years).
On Mother's Day (Sunday, May 10) itself, GSN has a marathon of the Donny Osmond revival of Pyramid from 9am-4pm, and we have one episode from a Classic TV week in this marathon at 9:30am featuring Marion Ross and Erin Moran of Happy Days.
Sticking to our game show theme today, Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has posted a story on his take on Bob Barker's new book, Priceless Memories. See the real scoop on Bob and see video interviews with former Barker's Beauties models Holly Hallstrom and Dian Parkinson. It is quite an interesting read, and Chris has a book coming out on the drama behind the camera of the popular game show as well. We'll let you know more on that when available.
But for now, read his take on Barker's new book.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Wednesday, June 4
Tyler Perry's House of Payne - "House of Bad Neighbors" (BET, 9:00PM ET/PT)
House of Payne is the hilarious comedy about Retired fire chief Curtis Payne and his lovely wife Ella.
Tyler Perry's Assisted Living - "Parental Progress" (BET, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After losing his job, Jeremy decides to move to the backwoods of Georgia to help his grandfather, who has purchased a rundown home for the elderly.
The Ms. Pat Show - "Blast from the Past" (BET, 10:30PM ET/PT)
Pat and Denise encounter a familiar face when they join Elizabeth at a motivational speaker's event; Junebug and Janelle suspect the bakery where they work is selling more than cupcakes.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 1)
Wednesday, June 4
- Don Johnson (Kenan) - Watch Don on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) - Miley is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Annie Murphy (Kevin Can F**k Himself/Schitt's Creek) - Annie appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Mark Hamill (The Texas Wheelers) - Mark is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Cristin Milioti (The Resort/Made for Love/A to Z/How I Met Your Mother) - Cristin stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Julianne Moore (Sirens) - Julianne talks about Echo Valley on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Keanu Reaves (Swedish Dicks) - Keanu discusses From the World of John Wick: Ballerina with ABC News correspondent Chris Connelly on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Nick Kroll (Big Mouth/The League/Cavemen) and Andrew Rannells (Girls/The New Normal) - Nick and Andrew chat with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. They also talk about I Don't Understand You on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
- Renée Elise Goldsberry (Girls5eva) - Renée talks about Who I Am Really Am on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm. She also performs on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Natasha Rothwell (How to Die Alone/Insecure) - Natasha talks about The White Lotus on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Halle guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Chloë Sevigny (Russian Doll) - Chloë chats about her new series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Phil Rosenthal (Creator of Everybody Loves Raymond - Phil talks about Netflix's Somebody Feed Phil on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Travis Van Winkle (FUBAR) - Travis is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
- Erika Henningsen (The Four Seasons) - Erika appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in York at 10:05am.
New on DVD and 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)
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