Friday, April 24, 2009

ABC Family Pulls Sophie, Speeds Up Roommates; ABC Announces More Summer 2009 Series

After just five weeks on the air, ABC Family has pulled original single camera sitcom Sophie off the air completely. The show has failed to garner any ratings whatsoever on Mondays at 9:30pm. ABC Family still has 8 episodes left in the can, but no word yet if and when they will air at a later date. Sophie's lead-in is also an original sitcom. Roommates, a multi-camera sitcom, will still be on the air but it will be sped up. What do I mean? Well, now they will air four episodes a night so they can quickly finish the run. Roommates also hasn't gone well in the ratings, but is not worse than Sophie at least. This Monday (April 27) and the following Monday (May 4), Roommates will air from 9-11pm ET/PT, replacing a repeat of AFV in the 10pm hour for two weeks. 5 episodes have aired so far, and with this two four-episode block, all 13 will air. Then starting May 11, ABC Family will air movies in the Monday 9-11pm block through June 15 since June 22 ABC Family plans on launching new original drama Make It or Break It. Movies slated for May are Mean Girls, My Fake Fiance, and Legally Blonde.
We got the sense ABC Family was not happy with the performances publicly when they removed the Tuesday encores of both shows as we mentioned last week. These two were the first original sitcoms for ABC Family and they have two more coming this summer (10 Things I Hate About You on July 7 and Ruby & the Rockits on July 21). They are scheduled a bit better though. Those two will air in the 8pm hour on Tuesdays, which is better since they will have the sitcom block as its lead-in, such as My Wife & Kids (6-7pm) and That '70s Show (7-8pm) which both do very well. I think ABC Family should have had Roommates and Sophie in the 8pm hour and moved Greek to 9pm. That would have been better and made more sense. Sophie will for sure not be back for another season and Roommates is also likely not to return, unless it does a spike in the ratings in the next two weeks.
Roommates launched with 1.5 million viewers, but that was following the season finale of Secret Life of the American Teenager which did a strong 4.49 million. The premiere of Sophie only mustered 892,000 viewers. From there both shows saw even more declines. With Roommates dropping to 440,000 viewers by episode two and only 335,000 viewers for Sophie. They then hovered around those ratings for episodes 3-5, which is terrible numbers.

ABC has now announced more summer series news. Now we get more info on ABC News produced series for the summer along with some specials. We have completely new details on shows we haven't heard about yet. First, ABC will finally air the ABC News produced special Earth 2100 on Tuesday, June 2 from 9-11PM ET/PT. This special was previously set to air in early January. The special is hosted by Bob Woodruff, it takes viewers on a journey through what the next century could have in store and shows viewers what can be done to avoid disaster. Then on Sunday, June 21 and Sunday, June 28 from 9-11PM ET/PT on both nights we have the miniseries event Impact. We seem to have survived a catastrophic meteor storm...but something has changed and the moon is looming larger in the sky. What once was the most familiar object in the night now threatens to destroy all life on earth. A small band of international astronauts, scientists, and soldiers band together as our last best hope. David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp, and James Cromwell star in this highly anticipated miniseries.
Next up will be special Primetime series. Primetime: Family Secrets returns and will air Tuesdays at 10PM starting June 23 through and including July 21. Then starting July 28, Primetime: The Outsiders returns to air airing Tuesdays at 10PM through and including Sept. 8. Airing Wednesdays at 10PM starting June 24 will be Primetime: Crime and it will air through and including Sept. 9. ABC will also bring back the popular Primetime: What Would You Do? sometime in August, but no day and time has been set yet. Other ABC News specials are one-time specials on Wednesday, July 15 at 10PM for a special called Oil with Charles Gibson, preempting Primetime: Crime on this night. We also have an ABC News produced special called J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life airing the next night (Thursday, July 16) at 8PM.
So now we have most of the missing pieces for the ABC summer line-up. Still we need more schedules, but with the entertainment update we gave and now the ABC News update, we are almost set. ABC also announced it will air the CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock on Monday, August 30 from 8-11PM ET/PT. View more on all of this, including synopsis of all the Primetime series. And for a recap of all things ABC summer so far, please view that also.
CBS is just about the only network yet to announce any summer details, as ABC, NBC, Fox has already in different parts.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, March 18

The Neighborhood - (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Worth the Cooties" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
After Christina kicks Abishola and Dottie out for making light of her pre-pregnancy preparations, Christina bonds with Douglas and Abishola spends a fun day with Dottie. Also, when Bob, Goodwin and Kofo are stumped on a work issue, Bob insists they go out to lunch to loosen up.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 18)

Monday, March 18

  • Christina Applegate (Dead to Me/Up All Night/Samantha Who?/Jesse/Married with Children) - Watch Christina on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Carrie Preston (Crowded/Happyish/Emeril) - Carrie is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Rachel Dratch (Grimsburg/Imaginary Mary/30 Rock) - Rachel appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke/Robbie) and John Hodgman (Up Here/Married) - Sasheer and John are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg (Two and a Half Men/Jenny) - Jenny appears on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 3:30am on Bravo.
  • Lisa Ann Walter (Abbott Elementary/Emeril) - Lisa will be on ABC's Good Morning America some time between 7-9am.
  • Brett Gelman (Camping/Fleabag/Married/Go On) - Brett talks about The Terrifying Realm of the Possible: Nearly True Stories on CBS Mornings some time between 7-9am.
  • William Shatner ($h*! My Dad Says) - NBC's Today catches up with William in the 9am hour.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (November-March)

Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Father Knows Best - The Complete Series The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Three's Company - The Official 40th Anniversary Collection Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/15 - Letterkenny - Season 11
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
12/22 - Three's Company - The Official 40th Anniversary Collection (includes The Ropers and Three's a Crowd)
01/09 - South Park - Seasons 11-15 (Blu-ray)
01/16 - Ghosts (UK) - Season Five
02/13 - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/27 - The Really Loud House - Season One
03/12 - Ghosts (UK) - The Complete Series
03/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
03/12 - Rick and Morty - Season 7 (Blu-ray Steelbook) (Blu-ray) (DVD)

That Girl - The Complete Series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


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