Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Barney Miller Coming to WGN America on Sundays' Outta Sight Retro Night; The N Schedule Changes for July 2009

As I promised, we will reveal what classic TV sitcom is joining WGN America in a few weeks! The '70s ABC sitcom Barney Miller is joining WGN America's Sunday night line-up, part of Outta Sight Retro Night. Barney Miller will air Sundays back-to-back from 9-10pm ET (6-7pm PT), replacing an hour of Newhart. Newhart will still remain in the 8-9pm ET (5-6pm PT) time slot, so fans of that have no need to worry.
We still have lots more to cover on WGN America in the coming months, and it is promising! They will add more series to the Outta Sight Retro Night block in September and they will also add a Wednesday '80s night with classic '80s movies and TV comedies from time to time. Radical! We also mentioned one show will be celebrating an anniversary this September, and WGN America will celebrate with a marathon on both the Wednesday '80s night and the Sunday Outta Sight Retro Night block. There's clue #2 for that one! We will have more on WGN America soon, so keep checking back as always!
View more on Barney Miller on our mini-page.

Last week we told you that Growing Pains was returning to The N schedule starting July 6, but now that isn't happening "actually." The N has altered that schedule quite a bit now and Growing Pains isn't returning to the schedule as a regular but it WILL be a part of a rotating wheel on Sunday nights at 5:30am. Airing first on Sunday, July 12 at 5:30am is Sabrina the Teenage Witch, then Clueless on July 19, and Growing Pains on July 26. Then the cycle starts over, for example Sabrina on August 2. This is a three-week cycle. It is too bad Growing Pains is being wasted like this. Why not try it on sister network TV Land? It wouldn't hurt them to try.
Also leaving the schedule totally for now is Saved by the Bell. It was airing weekdays in the 4pm hour, but after this coming Thursday it seems to be gone for now. It was removed once before but it eventually returned, so it could return. Also the return of Kenan & Kel will now be just the 8-9am hour every morning and it won't have an afternoon airing now, since Degrassi is taking over afternoons from 3-5pm. Degrassi is getting lots of airings it seems. Among the other changes are The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's 10pm hour being replaced by another hour of What I Like About You, since sister network Nick at Nite will be airing it in that hour starting July 6 from Mon-Thurs. Fresh Prince will remain in the 11pm hour on Mon-Thurs on The N and will also gain 2-4am on Mon-Thurs on The N. Nick at Nite will air it in the 4am hour on late nights Mon-Thurs, so that won't interfere with The N either.
View the full updated The N July 2009 schedule.

Monday, June 29, 2009

TV Land Classic Marathons on Weekends Continues; Remembering Gale Storm

We have some minor TV Land schedule changes to tell you about. First off, Married...with Children is indeed airing tonight from approx. 8-11pm ET/PT for its last "scheduled" airing on TV Land. We have said that many times before, too, though and it always returns. Starting next Monday (July 6), TV Land will air another night of PRIME movies from 8-10pm, with Roseanne getting the 10pm hour. PRIME Monday movies scheduled for July are the premiere of History of the World and encores of Doc Hollywood, National Lampoon's Vacation, and National Lampoon's European Vacation.
Now as we all have seen the last few weekends, TV Land is having marathons on weekends during the day and now they will continue in July as well now. This past weekend was Married...with Children, but it was abbreviated because of the Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson tributes. These marathons are called "Classic Marathons" and will consist of a classic show followed by an Andy Griffith Show marathon, so yes, Andy will still be on weekends only. The first show airs usually from 11am-5pm, with Andy from 5-10pm, but the times vary. The weekend of July 4-5 will be Leave it to Beaver and Andy (with the scheduled "Roseanne 4th of July Feuds & Fireworks" marathon from 8pm-6am both nights). July 11-12 it will be Hogan's Heroes and Andy. July 18-19 its The Brady Bunch and Andy on Saturday, while Bonanza gets the nod on Sunday with Andy. Finally on July 25-26 it will be The Jeffersons and Andy on Saturday, and Sanford & Son and Andy on Sunday. Those are classic shows indeed! We will have TV Land August 2009 soon, but it is expected these marathons on weekends will continue as well. Stay tuned for that.
For the full schedule and more, view our updated TV Land July 2009 schedule & highlights.

We keep losing famous people. We have lost Billy Mays, the infomercial guru yesterday at the age of 50, but we won't cover his life here. We will however cover the life of Gale Storm, who passed away as well. Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky-personality made her one of early television's biggest stars on the comedy My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show, died Saturday (June 27, 2009) at a convalescent hospital in Danville, CA. My Little Margie debuted on CBS as a summer replacement for I Love Lucy in 1952. It quickly became an audience favorite and moved to its own slot on NBC that fall. The premise was standard sitcom fare: Charles Farrell was a business executive and eligible widower, Storm was his busybody daughter who protected him from predatory women. After the series ended its 126-episode run in 1955, she moved on to The Gale Storm Show, which lasted until 1960 on CBS and later on ABC. This time she played Susanna Pomeroy, a trouble-making social director on a luxury liner.
After her comedies, she moved on to become a singer basically, but she did have some TV roles as well. She guest starred on Burke's Law, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.
She will certainly be missed and let's hope one day My Little Margie is on DVD! Gale was 87.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Summer Week 5 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

Summer has now started and everything is pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 15-21)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - 3.84 million for a repeat is again lower than the previous week's repeat...though a 1.8 18-49 rating is not bad for summer.
  • King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - A 7pm repeat did just 1.64 million and a 8:30 repeat did better with 3.3 million, but still both timeslots were down from previous week's repeats.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - 4.19 million for a repeat...lower than the previous week again, but a 2.2 18-49 rating was good enough to win its timeslot.
  • American Dad! (Fox) 2 episodes - Only 1.89 million for a repeat at 7:30, but the normal airing at 9:30pm did 3.61 million for a repeat, and up some from previous week. 1.8 18-49 rating is decent retention from lead-in.

Summer Week 5 (June 22-28)

Monday Sitcoms

  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 4.72 million for a repeat airing, much lower than what Big Bang Theory repeats do here in the 8pm slot. An OK 1.5 18-49 rating.
  • Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 4.66 million for a repeat airing, lower than previous week when it was Mother airing in the 8:30pm slot.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 8.69 million for a repeat down close to two million from previous week's repeat. I guess they were watching Jon & Kate Plus Eight on TLC as that did 10.6 million.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 7.23 million for a repeat is decent but down from previous week. 2.3 18-49 rating out of the 2.5 from the lead-in is great retention...everything else is similar to what Rules did in this slot so far.
Tuesday Sitcoms

  • Better Off Ted (ABC) - A new episode following The Superstars didn't do well, with only 1.83 million and a 0.8 18-49 rating. Not good. Maybe it only works with Scrubs? Even with the low ratings, this is an excellent comedy.
Wednesday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - Just 4.41 million for a repeat...but up a tad again from previous week.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 4.23 million for a repeat, but also up some from previous week.
Thursday Sitcoms

  • The Office (NBC) 2 episodes - Only 3.14 and 3.04 million for repeats in the 8pm hour...down some from previous week's repeat at 8:30 and 9.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - Preempted for Jackson/Fawcett specials.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC) - A new episode did OK for summer doing 3.44 million, but 18-49 rating of 1.0 should be better. Still a mistake not bringing this show back...it would work in a good comedy block.
  • In the Motherhood (ABC) - Only 2.46 million for a burn-off episode...all things considered, could have been worse. Well 0.7 18-49 is not good.

Friday Sitcoms

  • Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 983,000 viewers. That was down a bit from previous week's prelim... but who cares, this show is canceled anyway.
  • The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 971,000 prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well...but down from previous week's prelim.
  • Surviving Suburbia (ABC) - Prelim numbers show only 2.76 million for an all-new episode at 8pm, but up from previous week's prelim.
  • The Goode Family (ABC) - Prelim numbers were even worse for an all-new episode of this show with 1.81 million, but still up some from previous week's prelim numbers. Check out final numbers for Friday for these shows and all the Friday shows on our message board tomorrow.
Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.
Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere ABC will have the conclusion of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline in the 7pm hour, leading into a two-hour Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are TBS's Comedy Festival at 10pm, Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, BET Awards on BET, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike at 10, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Coming Week Preview (June 29-July 5):

For Monday, on ABC, it's an all-new night with new episodes of The Bachelorette from 8-10pm and Here Come the Newlyweds at 10pm. NBC has yet another Dateline at 10pm. On cable among the highlights we have a new episode of Secret Life of the American Teenager and Make It or Break It on ABC Family starting at 8pm, new episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar on TNT starting at 9, WWE Raw on USA Network, Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC, VH1's reality series Rock of Love Charm School & New York Goes to Work, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10pm on Bravo.
On Tuesday, ABC has a 90-minute episode of The Superstars at 8pm followed by a new episode of the hilarious comedy Better off Ted at 9:30pm and an all-new episode of Primetime: Family Secrets at 10pm. NBC has a one-hour America's Got Talent at 9, while The CW is airing Hitched or Ditched. On cable, among the highlights are Deadliest Catch and After the Catch on Discovery starting at 9pm, TNT has dramas Hawthorne, and Saving Grace starting at 9pm, MTV has Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10, TLC has new series 18 Kids and Counting & The Little Couple, BET has Tina & Toya at 10pm, Bravo has an all-new NYC Prep at 9pm, Oxygen has Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood at 10, The Cleaner at 10 on A&E, and FX has an all-new Rescue Me at 10pm.
On Wednesday, the best show of the summer is Wipeout and it airs at 8pm, followed by I Survived a Japanese Game Show at 9pm, and at 10pm the third season premiere of the interesting Primetime: Crime. NBC will have America's Got Talent at 9 and a new episode of The Philanthropist at 10. Fox has a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. On cable, among the highlights are new episodes of Meet the Browns on TBS starting at 10pm, Food has Bobby Flay at 9, Discovery has an all-new primetime including Pitchmen at 10pm, MTV has Real World Cancun at 10, The Fashion Show is on Bravo at 10, and also at 10pm is Tattoo Highway on A&E.
On Thursday, ABC will have new episodes of sitcoms Samantha Who & In the Motherhood at 8pm. NBC will have a new episode of drama The Listener at 10pm. Fox will have a new So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm. On cable, among the highlights are WWE Superstars on WGN America, new night for Wedding Day on TNT at 8pm, MTV has a new 16 and Pregnant at 10, TLC has a new American Chopper at 9, TV Land has She's Got the Look at 9pm and Southern Belles: Louisville at 10 on SOAPnet.
On Friday, ABC has new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Goode Family in the 8pm hour and later a new 20/20 at 10pm. NBC has a burn-off of Chopping Block followed by two-hours of Dateline. Fox will air a new Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader at 8 followed by the new night for Mental at 9. MNT is airing WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, among the highlights are The Soup at 10pm on E! and Degrassi on The N at 8.
On Saturday, it's slower than even usual with the 4th of July. NBC is airing a burn-off of Kings at 8 followed by Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular at 9. ABC has the a burn-off episode of Eli Stone at 10pm, while CBS has burn-off of Harper's Island 9pm and the Boson Pops Fireworks Spectacular at 10. Fox is new with Cops and AMW. Cable wise, CMT has Can You Duet & The Singing Bee at 8 and Nick has iCarly and True Jackson at 8.
And next Sunday, NBC will have a new Dateline at 7pm, leading into a an episode of Merlin at 8. Cable wise, among the highlights are TBS's Comedy Festival at 10pm, Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike at 10, Hannah Montana, Sonny With a Chance and JONAS on Disney starting at 8pm, and Bridezillas on WE tv.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Blog DVD Review: Entourage - The Complete Fifth Season (6/30)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for weekly Blog DVD Review. This week we take a look at HBO's Entourage - The Complete Fifth Season. Entourage of course is the popular HBO series that is about a guy named Vince (played by Adrian Grenier) that is about to make it big in showbiz and moves to Hollywood in hopes that he will make it to the top. See skees53's Blog DVD Review of Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season:

Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season (HBO, $39.98) brings us twelve more episodes of the hit HBO dramedy in a three-disc DVD collection. For those that have never seen Entourage, it starts out simple enough, with Vince Chase (Adrien Grenier) going from Queens, NY and heading to Hollywood to try to make it big as an actor, but he comes to Hollywood with a few friends, including Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), Eric (Kevin Connelly) and brother Drama (Kevin Dillon). Together, they form his "entourage" that helps him try to make it big in Hollywood, and he definitely needs that entourage because as he finds out, making it in Hollywood isn't as easy as it may look. The series is loosely based upon the life of Mark Wahlberg, and how he struggled to make it as an actor in Hollywood.
The fifth season begins with the episode "Fantasy Island," where reviews begin to come in for the film that Vince was working on at the end of season four--and they aren't pretty. So he decides to hide out in Mexico for a while. Vince develops some insecurity about himself when a former girlfriend gives him up to another girl in "Unlike a Virgin." Vince is desperate for money and will do anything to get it in "The All Out Fall Out." Fran Drescher makes a guest appearance. Ari sees Vince getting another break in "Fire Sale," but in the meantime, Drama is going to make a guest appearance on The View. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd, and Whoopi Goldberg all play their respective roles. Vince has to make a big decision about his career in "Tree Trippers," so why not head to a National Park to think about it? How low can Turtle go? Low enough to be an assistant to a C-list actor, Drama to be specific, in "Redemption."
Vince gets to do a fashion shoot with a supermodel in "Gotta Look Up to Get Down." Turtle is flying first-class, and on top of that, next to Jamie-Lynn Sigler, in "First Class Jerk." It is showtime for Vince, well at least showtime to start his new film, in "Pie." Seth Green appears as himself (and Eric's arch nemesis) in "Seth Green Day." There is a bit of disagreement on the set of Vince's newest film in "Play'n With Fire." Finally, season five ends with "Return to Queens Blvd.," where the guys return home to New York City, and get some advice and ideas before they head back to their new home in Hollywood.
The packaging is the fairly standard digipak that has been used for all previous Entourage releases, although just like season 4, it isn't as fancy of a digipak as what was used before. Still, it does the job and has very nice and professional artwork. Inside, we have the three discs, with the series logo on a plain black background. There are four episodes on each disc.
The menus on the set are very nicely done, but a little involve when it comes to navigating them. The main menu has music and videos from the episodes playing, and gives options of Episode Index, Languages, and Special Features. When you select Episode Index, you get a list of episodes, as well as a Play All option. When you select an episode, you get a screen that has an episode snapshot, a lengthy description, and options to show a recap of the previous episode, a preview of the episode you are about to watch, and an option to play the episode. There are no scene selection menus, but chapters are scattered throughout each episode at reasonable places (remember, as this is a premium cable series, there are no commercial break points).
The video and audio quality on this set is, to the say the least, superb. HBO never really sacrifices much on quality, and this set is a good example of that. The video and audio are very clear, with the video being presented in the original aspect ratio (16:9) and audio being presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. There are also French and Spanish audio tracks, as well as English, Spanish, and French subtitles on the set. And furthermore, the episodes are all closed-captioned. They have literally covered every corner! The episodes are most definitely unedited, with each episode running around 28 minutes (which, by the way, suggests that the edits for this series in syndication will be incredibly painful).
For those that have never seen the series before, you can get to know the series and find out what you have missed out on in the previous seasons by checking out the season recap on Disc 1. There is a recap for each season that tells all of the major events of each season of the series. Each season recap runs about a minute and 30 seconds, although there are actually two separate recaps for season 3 (season 3 was a longer than normal season). There are also previews for each individual episode on the set. There are three episodes on the set with audio commentaries, with all of them being from the four main cast members as well as producer Ally Musika. They are very fun and interesting to listen to, as they are very candid and obviously have a very fresh memory of these episodes. They really do seem to enjoy doing the series, which is a lot like the way that the guys are supposed to appear on the show--enjoying being in Hollywood with Vince. The commentaries can be found on "Tree Trippers," "Play'n With Fire," and "Return to Queens Blvd." Finally, on Disc 3, there is "The Celebrity Factor" (9:39), where the producers and actors talk about all of the guest stars that the series attracts. There are way too many to list all of them, but many of them make cameo appearances (or sometimes more prominent ones) as themselves on the series to give the series the real feeling of being in Hollywood rather than looking like some scripted series with fake famous celebrities. You never know who is going to show up on any given episode.
Honestly, I think that this is the best season yet of the series, and those that have never seen the series that believe that they may be interested in it may want to start here. By now, the characters and plots have been developed fairly well, and the series has hit a very strong point. Could it get stronger from here? Absolutely, but these are the best episodes that I have seen of the series so far. I remember watching the first season and having trouble figuring out what was so great about the series, but I can see how it has grown and developed now into what is one of the best series on television. Premium cable programming has gotten very impressive lately, and this is a great example of why that is.
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

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Friday, June 26, 2009

Remembering Farrah Fawcett, Charlie's Angels Marathon on WGN America Among the Tributes; CBS and NBC Fall 2009 Premiere Dates

As everyone already knows, Farrah Fawcett passed away yesterday. We mentioned it on our blog yesterday that we would do a tribute for her today and we will keep our promise!
Farrah Fawcett, who soared to fame as a national sex symbol in the late 1970s on television's Charlie's Angels and in a swimsuit poster that showcased her feathery mane and made her a generation's favorite pinup, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) Fawcett, whose celebrity overshadowed her ability as a serious actress, was diagnosed with a rare anal cancer in 2006, died about 9:30 a.m. PT at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica.
Three months after she was declared cancer-free in 2007, doctors at UCLA Medical Center told her the cancer had returned, spreading to her liver, and she repeatedly sought experimental treatment in Germany.
As an actress, Fawcett was initially dismissed for her role as Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels, one of the "jiggle" series on ABC in the late 1970s. Fawcett quit the series that brought her initial fame in 1977 after a single season, saying producers were preventing her from growing as an actress. With Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, Fawcett played a private investigator. She returned for 6 episodes as a special guest star.
She transformed her career and some popular perceptions in 1984 with The Burning Bed, a NBC television movie about a battered wife that brought her the first of three Emmy nominations. She further established herself as an actress in the play and later feature film Extremities in 1986, about a rape victim who takes revenge on her attacker. In 1989 she starred in the ABC TV mini-series Small Sacrifices opposite Ryan O'Neal, giving her an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination. Her other Golden Globe nominated roles on TV-movies include ABC's Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and NBC's Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story.
Among Farrah's other cedits includes the short lived CBS sitcom in 1991 called Good Sports starring her and boyfriend Ryan O'Neal, and guest appearances on many other TV series over the years such as Mayberry RFD, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, The Partridge Family, Owen Marshall, The Girl with Something Extra, McCloud, Apple's Way, Marcus Welby, S.W.A.T., The Brady Bunch Hour, The Battle of the Network Stars, Larry Sanders Show, Ally McBeal, and So noTORIous. And recurring appearances on Harry-O, The Six Million Dollar Man, Spin City, and The Guardian. She had her own reality series in 2005 on TV Land called Chasing Farrah, where she made her last rounds on talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show with David Letterman, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Regis & Kelly. During the 2006 Emmy Awards, the same year she was diagnosed with cancer, she and her fellow Charlie's Angels paid tribute to the late Aaron Spelling on stage. Recently she documented Farrah's Story for NBC about her daily life with anal cancer.
Farrah will certainly be missed as there were two primetime specials on her last night on ABC and NBC at 10pm. Take some time this weekend to watch tributes and marathons dedicated to Farrah. Her death was overshadowed by the untimely death of Michael Jackson, but she is certainly not forgotten. She was 62.

As we mentioned yesterday, there will be a lot of tributes and marathons to Farrah this weekend, so let's go over them here. The biggest one is on WGN America where they will air Charlie's Angels on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we get the two most famous episodes she did probably, the first episode and "Angels in Chains." in primetime from 8-10pm ET (5-7pm PT). Then on Sunday, WGN America will air a Charlie's Angels marathon from 5-10pm ET and 11pm-2am ET during their Outta Sight Retro Night. Eight episodes will air on this day including "Lady Killer" and "Blue Angels." And if you're in Chicago, Me-TV will air Charlie's Angels all next week, Mon-Fri at 11am and 12pm CT featuring some of her best Charlie's Angels performances as Jill Munroe. All week long, Chicago viewers will see back-to-back episodes of Charlie's Angels, highlighting Fawcett's first and only full season - along with her guest appearances from the third and fourth seasons.
TV Land will also air Charlie's Angels on Saturday but from 7-9pm (first episode and "Angels in Chains") and also air the first two episodes of its 2005 original series Chasing Farrah in primetime on Saturday from 9-10pm ET/PT. The series chronicled her daily life as one of the most recognized stars in the history of celebrity. TVLand.com will feature a Memorial Spot, which will also run on-air, and an Obituary section.
Bio TV will salute Farrah by reairing her Biography episode this Monday at 10pm, retitled Biography Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. Before that, Bio TV will air Biography episodes of Aaron Spelling and Charlie's Angels at 8 and 9pm, as a lead-in. And Michael Jackson fans, Biography Remembers: Michael Jackson will follow at 11pm on Monday (in addition to its already scheduled airings on Saturday at 10 and 11pm).
Movie wise, BET will air her last movie The Cookout from 2004 on Saturday at 8:30pm and again on Sunday at 1:30pm. BET is currently airing Michael Jackson programming all-day today, as are most other music channels like VH-1 Classic. Other movies airing for Farrah are The Burning Bed on Tuesday, June 30 on ENCORE Drama and Dr. T and the Women on TMC later in the week. This TV will air two classic TV movies of her. Beginning this Saturday, THIS tv Network remembers the television and film career of Farrah Fawcett. She was a critically acclaimed movie actor. This week, THIStv Network pays tribute to her life and career with two of her finest ABC TV-movie performances in The Nazi Hunter: Beate Klarsfeld Story at 2pm on Saturday and Small Sacrifices at 4pm on Saturday, with encores during next week for both.
And if you missed the documentary Farrah's Story, NBC and Oxygen will re-air it. NBC will air it tonight from 8-10pm ET/PT and Oxygen on Saturday starting at 3:30pm.
We will keep you up to date if we hear anything else. View the full list.

We mentioned some Michael Jackson tributes above, and we would also like to pay tribute to Michael a bit. There were lots of tributes yesterday for him with ABC and NBC airing specials at 9pm and CBS at 10pm. ABC also devoted Nightline to Michael last night. ABC will have another special 20/20 on Jackson tonight at 9pm, while NBC will air yet another Dateline special tonight at 10. TV Land will reair the 1992 five-hour miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream on Sunday, June 28, 2009 from 2pm–7pm ET/PT with an immediate encore presentation from 7pm–12am ET/PT, breaking into its regularly scheduled Married...with Children marathon. Fox will reair a Michael Jackson themed episode of American Idol from this past season on Monday from 8-10pm ET/PT. We mentioned Bio TV will reair his Biography multiple times and nearly all the music channels are playing his videos or is doing special programming on him. Michael was only 50.

Back to some news--we have the CBS and NBC Fall premiere dates now, joining ABC, Fox, and The CW.
CBS's new season roll-out officially begins on Monday, Sept. 21 with How I Met Your Mother moving to 8:00 PM, ET/PT, the premiere of the new comedy Accidentally on Purpose at 8:30 PM, ET/PT, the seventh season premiere of television's number one comedy Two and a Half Men at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, the third season premiere of The Big Bang Theory in its new time period of 9:30 PM, ET/PT and the eighth season premiere of CSI: Miami at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
NCIS begins its seventh season on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by the new NCIS: LA spin-off at 9:00 PM, ET/PT and the freshman drama The Good Wife at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS returns its Wednesday comedy block on Sept. 23 with the fifth season of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8:00 PM, ET/PT and sophomore comedy Gary Unmarried at 8:30 PM, ET/PT, followed by the fifth season premiere of Criminal Minds at 9:00 PM, ET/PT and the sixth season premiere of CSI: NY at10:00 PM, ET/PT.
Survivor: Samoa, the 19th installment of the hit reality series, will debut a week prior to the formal start of the season, on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT). CSI returns for its 10th season on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT followed by the new night and time period premiere of last season's No. 1 new hit The Mentalist at 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT.
The Network's top-rated Friday lineup returns on Sept. 25 with the fifth season premiere of Ghost Whisperer at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, the CBS debut of the popular drama Medium at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by the sixth season premiere of NUMB3RS at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS's Saturday schedule premieres Sept. 26 with the return of 48 Hours Mystery at10:00 PM, ET/PT, preceded by two hours of crime repeats from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT.
60 Minutes returns for its 42nd season on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 7:00 PM, ET/PT, followed by a special two-hour debut of the 15th edition The Amazing Race from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT and the seventh season premiere of Cold Case in its new time period of 10:00 PM, ET/PT. Premiering a week later on Sunday, Oct. 4 is the new drama Three Rivers at 9:00 PM, ET/PT.

NBC kicks off the Fall 2009 season with NBC Sunday Night Football, beginning September 13 with a classic match-up: the Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers. Then on Monday, September 14 the primetime debut of The Jay Leno Show from 10-11 p.m. ET/PT kicks off its new weeknight hour. On Tuesday, September 15 from 8-10 p.m., The Biggest Loser returns with all new two-hour episodes, featuring more inspiration and real-life drama as this season's contestants challenge themselves to reach their weight-loss goals. Then the premiere of the network's night of comedy on Thursday, September 17, as Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday (8pm) and new series Community (9:30) join Parks and Recreation (8:30) and Emmy winner The Office (9pm). Emmy winner 30 Rock returns to the Thursday comedy line-up on October 15 at 9:30, as Community moves to 8pm on Oct. 8.
A two-hour Heroes will start the actual premiere week on Monday, September 21 from 8-10 p.m. and the new high-octane Trauma will premiere the following Monday, September 28 from 9-10 p.m. ET, as Heroes moves to 8pm. The compelling family drama Parenthood premieres on Wednesday, September 23 from 8-9 p.m. ET leading into Law & Order: SVU from 9-10 p.m. ET. On Fridays, beginning September 25, the venerable Law & Order returns for a record 20th season at 8 p.m., followed by the acclaimed drama Southland at 9 p.m. ET. Beginning September 26, Saturdays in primetime will be a showcase for Dateline NBC at 8 p.m. ET and encore presentations of Trauma at 9 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at 10 p.m. ET. In addition, Saturday Night Live returns for its 35th season on September 26 from 11:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m. ET/PT.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Nick at Nite Revises July Schedule and Stunts; Hallmark Channel Cuts Some Lucy, Adds Murder, Heaven; RIP Farrah

The other day we gave you the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule, and now Nick at Nite has edited it. So no one gets confused, we edited our story to reflect these new changes, so please view that story again.
To recap the new changes, the biggest changes from the original July schedule to this schedule is that Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is now in primetime, Mon-Thurs at 10pm and Fridays at 11pm. So, Family Matters will not be 10pm now except on Sundays. George Lopez will still be on the move to 9pm to anchor primetime. The Nanny will be every night at 11pm still except on Fridays, as Malcolm in the Middle will be every night in the 12am hour now and will remain in the 8pm hour Sun-Thurs.
The highlights have changed a bit, too. We still have the same dates and times for the Malcolm in the Middle launch, The Assistants encore, SpongeBob Bash, but now the George Lopez marathon slated for July 26 has been moved to August 2. On Sunday, July 26 instead we get the classic summer movie National Lampoon's Vacation from 8-10pm ET/PT. Nick at Nite has also added an encore of VH-1's special Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants on Thursday, July 23 at 10pm.
View and discuss the updated Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule.

Starting this Monday (June 29), the Hallmark Channel will cut the I Love Lucy weekday block of 11am-2pm to 11am-1pm as they will add an extra 7th Heaven in the 1pm hour. This means 7th Heaven will air back-to-back now from 1-3pm. On weekends during late nights 1-3am on both Saturday and Sunday night we will get back-to-back episodes of Murder, She Wrote replacing a two-hour block of I Love Lucy. So Murder, She Wrote makes its way back on the schedule, while I Love Lucy's airings are now reduced to weekdays 11am-1pm and 2:30am.
In other highlights for July, on Sunday, July 5 it is a Little House on the Prairie day with episodes airing from 8am-3pm, including "The Last Farewell" TV-movie from 1-3pm. Then that's not all, as we get the three-part 2005 ABC mini-series from 3-9pm. That mini-series stars Cameron Bancroft and Erin Cottrell and is based on the book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and tells the story of the Ingalls family as they travel from Wisconsin to the Indian Territory of Kansas.

Finally, ABC has added A Special Edition of 20/20 for tonight at 10pm ET/PT titled "Farrah Fawcett: Her Life, Her Loves, Her Legacy." It is hosted by Barbara Walters will feature the story of Farrah Fawcett and interviews her long time companion Ryan O'Neal, former Charlie's Angels co-star Jaclyn Smith and her doctor. Farrah is battling anal cancer and is currently in the hospital and it is not looking good.
1PM UPDATE: Farrah has passed away. Read for more info. We will be back with a tribute tomorrow. Watch ABC tonight for more on Farrah and her life. Farrah was 62.
UPDATE #2: Farrah Tributes on TV. We will have more on this tomorrow right here on the blog.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

TV Land's Married Block This Thursday; Mr. Troop Mom Scores for Nick at Nite; Bio Remembers Ed McMahon

Tomorrow (Thursday, June 25) TV Land has added a Married...with Children block from 5:52pm-9pm ET/PT. Yes, it starts at 5:52pm replacing Little House on the Prairie, then an hour each of The Cosby Show and Roseanne. Married... with Children is doing well for TV Land and keeps getting extra airings. Don't forget the previously scheduled weekend marathon this week as well (Saturday 9:30am-8pm and Sunday 8am-2am).
Episodes for this Thursday's block are from season four with episodes 73-77 and 79, after Marcy gets divorced from Steve. After the end of this week, the show is currently not scheduled for TV Land but don't be surprised if TV Land makes changes and adds it in again. We'll let you know if they do of course!

The premiere of the original TV movie Mr. Troop Mom on Nick at Nite on Friday, June 19, 8-10pm ET/PT, was basic cable's number-one original TV program for the night, drawing 4 million total viewers. With kids and tweens, the two-hour telecast was number-one on both broadcast and cable on Friday, and placed as cable's number-one original TV program with adults 18-49, with it being the third highest-rated telecast in 18-49, behind only USA's NCIS and Nick at Nite's George Lopez (both aired at 10pm). It averaged a 0.9 A18-49 rating (1.1 million A18-49).
It was the number-two overall telecast with 4 million behind only USA's NCIS repeat at 10pm which did 4.42 million. The two-hour premiere set a new record as the Nick's highest-rated and most-watched original TV movie (not based on an existing series) with total viewers and Adults 18-49.
Mr. Troop Mom — created in partnership with Warner Premiere and George Lopez Presents — stars George Lopez as ace attorney Eddie, who is M.I.A. for most events in his 13-year-old daughter Naomi's (Daniela Bobadilla) life. When Eddie volunteers for the Spring Action Classic — where Naomi goes up against mean-girl Skylar (Jianna Ballard) — treacherous rope courses, cutthroat canoe soccer and slippery slimeball wars are just the start of his introduction to the great outdoors and into his daughter's heart.
George Lopez can be seen weekdays at 10 p.m. on Nick at Nite on his self titled show George Lopez, which is the number-one rated series on Nick at Nite.

Finally, Bio TV will salute Ed McMahon this Saturday with a Biography Remembers episode of his Biography episode. Bio TV will air the Biography at 10am and 4am this Saturday (June 27). The episode is titled Ed McMahon: America's Sidekick, first aired in 1998 it has interviews with Ed, Dick Clark, Jay Leno, Jack Klugman, Sinbad, and Jerry Lewis. Harry Smith hosts and narrates.
Heeeere's Ed McMahon! Bio TV profiles his half-century in show business, which includes stints as dog-food pitchman, Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show, and host of Star Search, where he helped the careers of Sharon Stone, Rosie O'Donnell, Dennis Miller, and Sinbad.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Remembering Ed McMahon; WGN Pulls Hillbillies; TNT Adds CSI NY

Ed McMahon, a fixture on U.S. late-night television for 30 years as the full-throated announcer and sidekick for the late Johnny Carson on NBC's The Tonight Show, has died this morning (Tuesday, June 23, 2009).
The veteran TV personality, best known for his nightly introduction of Carson in a deep, booming voice with the drawn-out line, "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" died at a Los Angeles-area hospital early this morning with his wife and loved ones by his side. McMahon had been battling pneumonia and other illnesses for about the past month. Ed and Johnny first worked together in 1957 as announcer and host on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? The duo moved to the Tonight Show in 1962 when Carson succeeded Jack Paar for three decades, stopping in 1992 when Carson retired as host. Ed was also famous for his "Hi-oooooh!" line.
Among his other roles, he was with Dick Clark on the TV series and specials TV Bloopers And Practical Jokes on NBC from 1982 until 1998. He was also host of the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search, which began in 1983 and ended in 1995.
He has appeared on many sitcoms as himself over the years such as Here's Lucy, ALF, Full House, Who's the Boss?, Roseanne, Living Single, Malcolm & Eddie, The Simpsons, Suddenly Susan, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Popular, That '80s Show, Family Guy, It's All Relative, and Scrubs.
He has also appeared on TV series as a character as well, such as an earlier episode of Here's Lucy, Ellen Queen, Newhart, Burke's Law, Nurses, and Baywatch. He had a regular role on the short-lived comedy called The Tom Show starring Tom Arnold on The WB in the 1997-98 season.
In recent years was co-host for TV Land's ALF Hit Talk Show and co-host in 2003 for a handful of episodes for Jimmy Kimmel Live!. And last summer he and his family appeared on Celebrity Family Feud battling the The Kardashians, Deion & Pilar Sanders, Tiki Barber's families.
Ed will certainly be missed by everyone. He was a familiar face and had a familiar voice that everyone knew. He is survived by his wife, Pamela, and five children. Ed was 86. Share your memories of Ed on our message board.

Back to our regular news, WGN America is pulling The Beverly Hillbillies from its line-up starting Monday (June 29). They will replace it with another airing of America's Funniest Videos in the 8am weekday hour. WGN America has not lost rights to air Hillbillies, so it WILL return soon to a better timeslot I'm told. I think it would have returned anyway since it doesn't expire until Fall 2011. Ya'll come back now ya here, indeed! And remember when we promised something for classic TV this summer on WGN America? Well we will soon announce what that is! So we won't have to wait until the fall to see more classic TV! Keep checking back for that and the return of Hillbillies (and maybe more)!

TNT has acquired the crime drama CSI: NY for its "we know drama" line-up starting Friday, July 3. They will share the series with Spike TV, which currently airs the reruns. TNT has the primetime rights starting in July, so Spike TV will be only airing it in the daytime (1-3pm) and early evening (5-7pm) starting in July as we mentioned. TNT will launch CSI: NY with a block on Friday, July 3 from 7pm-11pm. Then the series will air weeknights at 7pm and Wed-Fri at 8pm as well. The regular schedule will see some time changes due to this addition on TNT. Here is how the schedule will look: 6-8am Angel, 8am-11am Charmed, 11am ER, 12pm-2pm Las Vegas, 2pm Charmed, 3pm-5pm Law & Order, 5pm-7pm Bones, and 7pm CSI: NY. 8pm will have The Closer encore on Monday, Bones on Tuesday, and CSI: NY Wed-Fri. With original series the rest of the time on weeknights. 1am-6am late nights sees a mix of blocks of Cold Case, Without a Trace, and Law & Order. Movies air in late night on Fridays and sometimes on Thursdays. No signs of NYPD Blue, X-Files, and Alias, but they are airing LAPD: Life on the Street as a filler.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Nick at Nite July 2009 with Malcolm in the Middle; Spike has No Scrubs

We finally can release the Nick at Nite July 2009 schedule! Malcolm in the Middle joins the Nick at Nite line-up with an all-night marathon on Sunday, July 5 from 8pm-1am and an encore from 1am-6am! Then the series will join the Nick at Nite line-up the next night airing Sun-Thurs in the 8pm hour and 12am hour (all times ET/PT). On Fridays it will also air in the 4am hour, in addition to 12am. Saturdays and Sundays it will air in the 2am hour as well. Yes, that means on Sundays it is on for three hours (8pm, 12am, 2am) So what does this mean for the rest of the schedule?
George Lopez will still anchor primetime, but now since Nick at Nite starts at 8pm with Malcolm, the anchor will move to the 9pm hour on Sun-Thurs since primetime is now 8pm-11pm instead of 9-11pm! George Lopez will still lead-off Nick at Nite on Fridays & Saturdays in the 10pm hour, as Nick at Nite starts still at 10pm on those two nights. The 1am encore will remain Mon-Fri.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is back in primetime, Mon-Thurs in the 10pm hour and on Fridays in the 11pm hour. It will also air late nights Mon-Thurs in the 4am hour. Who knew this show would come back big? My guess is it is holding the hour for Everybody Hates Chris for the fall.
The Nanny will remain in the 11pm hour every night but Friday (Fresh Prince). The late night hour moves to the 2am hour from Mon-Fri. And on Sat-Sun nights the late night airings are 3-5am.
Family Matters moves to only the 3am hour now on Mon-Fri, with the Mon-Fri at 6am half-hour airings remaining. On Saturdays it is just in the 1am hour and on Sunday nights it will also air in the 1am hour but it will be in primetime as well in the 10pm hour.
Home Improvement is now just every morning in the 5am hour, as it loses all of its slots, including primetime at 9pm.
Anyway, on to the rest of the highlights. We have more than just the Malcolm in the Middle launch marathon. Sister network The N's new series The Assistants (launches Friday, July 10 at 8:30pm on The N) will have a special one-time encore on Nick at Nite on Friday, July 12 at 9pm, sandwiched in between Malcolm in the Middle and George Lopez. Nickelodeon will celebrate the 10th birthday of their megahit SpongeBob SquarePants with "The Ultimate SpongeBob Sponge Bash" from Friday, July 17 starting at 8PM through Sunday, July 19 at 9:30pm ET/PT. That's nearly 50 hours of non-stop SpongeBob! Finally, there will be a George Lopez marathon on Sunday, July 26 from 9pm-4am ET/PT, but we don't have details yet. Stay tuned. Once Nick at Nite officially announces these stunts and what is airing Sunday nights 1am-3am, we will let you know.
For now view our Nick at Nite July 2009 thread and discuss the schedule with others.

We mentioned before that Scrubs was joining the regular schedule for Spike TV starting July 6, weekdays in the 11am hour, now that is not happening. The series had been airing on Thursday nights this month in the 1am hour and was set to join the regular schedule in July, but now instead Spike TV will air Spike's Most Amazing Videos in the 11am hour starting July 6. The other changes we mentioned starting July 6 will remain, including the return of Married...with Children from 9-11am on weekdays. At least Scrubs got to air Thursdays 1-2am on June 18 and will again this Thursday (June 25). It will also air Sunday morning this week.
Scrubs will still be on sister network Comedy Central and also not to mention on WGN America and local broadcast syndication. Starting next week, Scrubs will only be 7-8pm on weekdays on Comedy Central as its 2:30-3:30pm slot will be taken over by MADtv, as Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist returns weekdays in the 8am hour. Just Shoot Me! will remain 3:30-4:30pm. Scrubs will still air in mini-blocks on weekend midday/early afternoons.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Summer Week 4 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

Summer has now started and everything is pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 8-14)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - 3.91 million for a repeat is again lower than the previous week's repeat.
  • King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - A 7pm repeat did just 2.07 million and a 8:30 repeat did better with 3.77 million, but both timeslots were up from previous week's repeats.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - 4.22 million for a repeat...lower than the previous week again.
  • American Dad! (Fox) 2 episodes - Only 2.45 million for a repeat at 7:30, but the normal airing at 9:30pm did 3.45 million for a repeat.

Summer Week 4 (June 15-21)

Monday Sitcoms

  • The Big Bang Theory 8PM (CBS) - 6.05 million for a repeat...down some from previous week, as this was its last airing in this slot and will now move to 9:30pm for good.
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.67 million for a repeat airing, lower than previous week...let's see how it does as self-starter tomorrow.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.19 million for a repeat is great and it went up from previous week's repeat.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 8.42 million for a repeat is decent but so far it is doing similar to Rules of Engagement repeats but is holding more in 18-49, which CBS should like.
Tuesday Sitcoms

  • According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - No NBA Finals so ABC was forced to air repeats of this and it did just 3.02 and 2.82 million. Look for repeats to air Fridays at 9 starting this week.
  • Scrubs (ABC) - Again ABC was forced to air a repeat of this due to no NBA Finals, and it only managed 1.97 million.
  • Better Off Ted (ABC) - A repeat only did 1.41 million. Good news is new episodes return this Tuesday and will follow the anticipated competition series The Superstars.
Wednesday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - Just 4.1 million for a repeat...but up a tad from previous week.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 4.17 million for a repeat, but also up some from previous week. No match for the Big Balls!
Thursday Sitcoms
  • The Office (NBC) - Only 3.29 million for a repeat in its normal 9pm slot...down some from previous week's repeat.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - Only 2.68 million for a repeat..worse than previous week.

Friday Sitcoms

  • Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 1.17 million. Up a bit from previous week's prelim again, but this show is canceled anyway.
  • The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 1.43 million prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well...up from previous week's prelim. This should have been brought back for another year I think.
  • Surviving Suburbia (ABC) - Prelim numbers show only 2.59 million for an all-new episode at 8pm, down from previous week's prelim. Finals for previous week were lower though due to DTV switch and Chicago and Philly ratings were not counted in the finals.
  • The Goode Family (ABC) - Prelim numbers were even worse for an all-new episode of this show with a series low of 1.59 million. As with the lead-in, the finals for previous week were lower due to the DTV switch.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC) 2 episodes - Two repeats did just a prelim 1.68 million average for the hour, down from previous week. Look for final Friday ratings for all of these sitcoms on our message board when available.
Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.
Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere ABC will have the first part of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have an overrun of the PGA U.S. Open Championship and a new Dateline in the 7pm hour, leading into the two-hour premiere of Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Ultimate Knockouts & Spike Guys Choice on Spike starting at 9, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Coming Week Preview (June 22-28):

For Monday, on ABC, it's an all-new night with new episodes of The Bachelorette from 8-10pm and Here Come the Newlyweds at 10pm. NBC will have a two-hour of the crazy I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm followed by yet another Dateline at 10pm. On cable among the highlights we have a new episode of Around the World for Free on WGN America at 9pm, season premiere of Secret Life of the American Teenager and the series premiere of Make It or Break It on ABC Family starting at 8pm, new episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar on TNT starting at 9, WWE Raw on USA Network, Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC, VH1's reality series Rock of Love Charm School, New York Goes to Work & Gotti's Way, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10pm on Bravo.
On Tuesday, ABC has the series premiere of The Superstars at 8pm followed by the return of Better off Ted at 9:30pm and the season premiere of Primetime: Family Secrets at 10pm. CBS will have an episode of 48 Hours at 10pm. NBC has another I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8 followed by the two-hour season premiere of America's Got Talent. Fox and The CW at 9pm will have Mental on Fox and The CW airing Hitched or Ditched. On cable, among the highlights are Deadliest Catch and After the Catch on Discovery starting at 9pm, TNT has dramas Hawthorne, and Saving Grace starting at 9pm, MTV has Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10, TLC has new series 18 Kids and Counting & The Little Couple, BET has College Hill at 10pm, Bravo has an all-new The Real Housewives of New Jersey at 9pm, Oxygen has Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood at 10, The Cleaner at 10 on A&E, and FX has an all-new Rescue Me at 10pm.
On Wednesday, the best show of the summer is Wipeout and it airs at 8pm, followed by I Survived a Japanese Game Show at 9pm, and at 10pm the special Primetime: Questions for the President. NBC will have the finale (finally!) of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, followed by America's Got Talent at 9 and the premiere of The Philanthropist at 10. Fox has a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. On cable, among the highlights are new episodes of Meet the Browns on TBS starting at 10pm, Food has Bobby Flay at 9, Discovery has an all-new primetime including Pitchmen at 10pm, Comedy Central has a new RENO 911 at 10:30pm, MTV has Real World Cancun at 10, MonsterQuest on History at 9, Top Chef Masters is on Bravo at 10, and also at 10pm is Tattoo Highway on A&E.
On Thursday, ABC will have the returns of sitcoms Samantha Who & In the Motherhood at 8pm, with all new episodes. NBC will have a new episode of drama The Listener at 10pm. Fox will have a new So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm. On cable, among the highlights are NBA Draft on ESPN starting at 7pm, WWE Superstars on WGN America, new night for Wedding Day on TNT at 8pm, Burn Notice on USA at 9 followed by Royal Pains at 10, Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10pm, MTV has a new 16 and Pregnant at 10, TLC has a new American Chopper at 9, TV Land has She's Got the Look at 9pm, The Real Housewives of Orange County at 9 & The Fashion Show at 10 on Bravo, and Southern Belles: Louisville at 10 on SOAPnet.
On Friday, ABC has new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Goode Family in the 8pm hour and later a new 20/20 at 10pm. NBC has a burn-off of Chopping Block followed by two-hours of Dateline. Fox will air an unsold pilot from 8-10pm called Virtuality, and MNT is airing WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, among the highlights are World's Funniest Commercials at 9pm on TBS, Whale Wars on Animal Planet at 9, What Not to Wear & Say Yes to the Dress on TLC and The Soup on E! at 10.
On Saturday, it's slow as usual with NBC airing a burn-off of Kings at 8. ABC has the a burn-off episode of Eli Stone at 10pm, while CBS has burn-off of Harper's Island 9pm. Fox is new with Cops and AMW. Cable wise, TBS has the Comedy Festival at 9, Nick has a new iCarly and True Jackson at 8, and GSN has a new 20Q at 8.
And next Sunday, ABC will have the final part of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline at 7pm, leading into a two-hour episode of Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are TBS's Comedy Festival at 10pm, Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, BET Awards on BET, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike at 10, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Blog DVD Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 7, Parts 1-4

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Review. Today we take a look at Lionsgate's Season 7 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The season is split up into 4 volumes, though. Ninja Turtles is of course the hit animated series that caused kids and teens to go crazy for in the late '80s and early '90s. See my Blog DVD Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 7, Parts 1-4:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 7, Parts 1-4 (Lionsgate, $14.98 for each part) brings all 27 episodes from the series' seventh season, including the 13-episode European Vacation, on this wonderful four-part 25th anniversary collectible set. Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April are all back to battle Shredder, Krang and other villains! Cowabunga! This is the Turtles' 25th anniversary, as they debuted in the comic world in 1984. This TV series didn't start until 1987, though. This season is split into four "slices" so you will have to buy them separately. Do you actually buy pizza by the slice these days?
Starting with season four we started getting season releases. Season 4 set had 39 episodes and season 5 had 18 episodes. Season six had a total of 16 episodes on its set. Prior to that we were getting volume releases. Here is a recap: Volume 6 had the last 11 episodes from season three, plus the first episode of season four. The third season had a total of 47 episodes, so they decided to split up that season into volumes, so volumes 3, 4, 5, and 6 covered season three. For season 2 there were just 13 episodes, so Lionsgate released that for volume two...so yes, technically the first two volumes were season sets. Season one had only 5 episodes, so that was on Volume 1, with four bonus episodes from season ten actually. So do you have all of these? Hope you do!
The packaging started getting very good starting with season four. The first six volumes the packaging was simple (as they were just one-disc sets). Season 6 also had a very simple set, but this season it is different and decent. We get four different boxes called "slices," as the season is split into 4 slices celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Turtles. The first slice is the Leonardo slice, then part two its the Michaelangelo slice, part three its the Donatello slice, and part four its the Raphael slice. This season has four discs in total, with one disc season on each "slice." Each box also has a small action figure of the Turtle on each slice! So we get action figures of Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael! Radical! Each box is similar. We have the show logo on top with coverart of the Turtles the box represents. Next to the Turtle, it says for example "The Leonardo Slice," and below that we see the actual action figure that is inside. On the bottom of each box it has the 25th anniversary logo, and says "Collect All 4" then it has the Season 7 and what part this is. The back of each box is also cool on each. On the top we get four images of each "slice." Then there is a 25th anniversary sentence in yellow and below that we have a paragraph on each "slice." We also have "Fun Facts" of each Turtle the slice represents with Nicknames, Weapons, and Personality. To the right of that we get another image of the Turtle from that slice with him holding an actual pizza slice that says "Collect All 4."And on the bottom of the back of the box we have an image of a pizza, with episode listing and special features from that slice!
That was just the box art, now we need to move on to the case that is inside each box! We open the box from the top and we see a layer for the case. The cases are very simple and thin, similar to the volumes releases from the past. It has the same cover as the box, except of course you can't see the action figure. The back of the case is also the same as the box. Inside the case we have an insert on the left and the disc itself on the right. The insert is two-sided with one side having a promo for the TMNT DVDs and on the other side we have the TMNT Smash Up game promo. As for the disc, is the same artwork as the box and case cover. The first "slice" has episodes 1-6 from the European Vacation. The second "slice" has episodes 7-13 from the European Vacation. A fun fact, these episodes were produced for season four actually but never aired until the time of season 7, but not on CBS or first-run syndication...on USA Network. The third "slice" has episodes 14-20 from the actual start of season seven. And the fourth "slice" has episodes 21-27. So this season actually had only 14 episodes, but it was great they included the 13 episode European Vacation!
The menu screen is not as creative as say season five was, but similar to season six. First, we get autotrailers before the main menu appears on each disc with trailers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men Wolverine, Fast Track movie, and more. Then after that is done, we come to the main menu screen. The theme song is playing in the background, and it does loop, and the photo is similar to the box art, but the bandanna of each turtle is moving a bit. The options are: Play All Episodes, Episode Selection, Special Features. When we go to each sub-menu, we see a pizza transition with the Turtles saying "Turtle Power!" Nicely done. Episode Selection takes us to a submenu with episode #, title, and a screenshot from the episode. The Special Features section lists the special feature for that disc and you can also view the auto-trailers again in the Trailers section.
The video is on par with the other volumes, with dust and debris here and there and on par with previous recent seasons. The audio is also on par with the previous releases, not bad...and listenable. The European Vacation episodes were produced for syndication during season four so they run about 22:10-22:15. The actual season seven episodes run around 23:35-23:40, though two only run at 23:05, but they have the shorter opening theme. We get 5 chapter stops per episode...nice.
Seasons four and five had extras (probably since the movie came out to theatres and DVD), but then season six had absolutely nothing! Since this is the 25th anniversary set, we get a featurette on each "slice!" So we do have extras here! On the first slice, we have a featurette called "A Shellabration with Points of Articulation." This runs 6:03 and is about the action figures and toys this franchise has given out, particularly from Playmates. Interviewed are Pat Linden (Playmates, Associate VP), Raymond Geinman (Playmates, VP Product Development-Boys), Rodolfo Gastelum (Playmates, Senior Director of Product Development-Boys), and Kevin Eastman (TMNT, Co-Creator). The second slice has a featurette called "A Shellabration of the Turtles Creation." This runs 11:08 and is about how this franchise got started in the comic book world. It has interviews with co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The third slice has a featurette called "A Shellabration of the TV Sensation." This runs 10:46 and this is about the creation of the hit animated series that began in 1987! See what the process was in creating this series and what differences there are from the comic books. Interviewed are Fred Wold (Executive Producer), David Wise (Story editor/writer), Townsend Coleman (voice of Michaelangelo), Kevin Eastman (co-creator), and Rob Paulson (voice of Raphael). This was my favorite featurette! Then finally on the fourth slice, we have a featurette called "A Shellabration of a Fan-Nomenon Sensation." This runs 11:54 and it is devoted to die-hard fans and they speak out here! Interviewed are co-creator Kevin Eastman and three big fans: Stephen Reese (South Pasadena, CA), Michelle Ivey (Ferndale, MI), and Joshua Christopher (Terre Haute, IN).
I urge fans to buy this set even though it is split into four separate parts. I don't like how they did that especially since he boxes are pretty big. That would waste space on people's DVD shelves for sure. I wish there was a way to have a huge box hold these four boxes. Or a better box holding just the four cases and I guess the action figures would be on a special "25th anniversary" set only? Seasons 8, 9, and 10 still remain to be released. Season 8 is coming out in September, so we are near the end of this series on DVD! Seasons eight through ten have 8 episodes each, so expect one-disc sets from here on out. Four of the eight episodes on season ten was released on the Volume 1 DVD, the very first DVD, though.
Anyway, let's buy pizza by the slice with four slices! Usually people can get 4 slices for a meal, so this is perfect! Order your four slices today and you'll be full with excitement! Katanas, nunchaku, bo staff, and sai are the weapons of the Turtles but you won't need those top open these slices! Cowabunga!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com Part 1
Amazon.com Part 2
Amazon.com Part 3
Amazon.com Part 4

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV.com Page
Official Website

Friday, June 19, 2009

The N Brings Back Kenan, Growing Pains; Retro Television Coming to Columbia, SC

As we patiently wait for Nick at Nite's official July schedule with the addition of Malcolm in the Middle, we will bring you the July schedule for sister Viacom network The N. The new The N schedule starts Monday, July 6. The N, like other Viacom networks, likes to double-dip their comedies. Kenan & Kel will return to The N schedule! Starting at 6am we get back-to-back Caitlin's Way, Radio Free Roscoe, Kenan & Kel, Amanda Show, Moesha, and a four-spot of Degrassi from 11am-1pm. Afternoons starting at 1pm its back-to-back Beyond the Break, H2O, Saved by the Bell, Kenan & Kel, Unfabulous, and a four-spot of Zoey 101 from 6-8pm. The four-spots continue from 8pm-6am as well with What I Like About You, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, That '70s Show, What I Like About You, and Moesha. On Fridays, 7pm-8:30pm its Degrassi, followed by the new original series The Assistants at 8:30pm & 9pm for its premiere (then will air 8:30pm only weekly) with encores at 10:30pm & 2am. More Degrassi on Fridays are 9-10:30pm and 11pm-12am. What I Like About You is extended on Fridays from 2-6am instead of just 2-4am.
Weekends is the same as weekdays from 6am-10am. Then we have the four-spots of series from 10am-6pm with Unfabulous, Zoey 101, Degrassi and iCarly. Zoey 101 will air in the 6pm hour on Sundays. Then it gets a bit complicated for the rest of the night on weekends, so I suggest you view that schedule. Growing Pains is returning to the schedule but just once a week on late Sunday nights (early Monday mornings) at 4am ET/PT. The first week it will air at 3:30am, though. It joins a block of Clueless (4:30am) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (5-6am), as both of those are on just once a week as well. Too bad Growing Pains isn't returning to weekdays in its old 11am hour timeslot.
View and discuss the entire The N July 2009 schedule.

WKTC-My63, Columbia's My Network TV affiliate, is proud to announce that it has signed an exclusive agreement with RTV (Retro Television) to begin broadcasting classic TV programming on its digital subchannel, WKTC-DT2 (63.2), starting tomorrow (Saturday June 20, 2009)!
Daytime programming will include classic comedy hits such as Leave it to Beaver, McHale's Navy, and drama Marcus Welby, while evenings will be filled with hits such as Knight Rider, The A Team, Magnum P.I. and The Rockford Files.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

TV Land Adds Married with Children Weekend Marathon and First 2 Weeks of July Change; Emmy Awards Changes Date Again

Previously on "TV Land Schedule Changes," Bree wanted Orson to stop stealing, oops wrong show...we told you the changes from June 15-28, now we have June 27 through July 12! This is like a soap opera, isn't it? The weekend of June 27-28 will now have a change now. It will have a Married...with Children marathon primarily. Al Bundy and family will air from 9:30am-8pm on Saturday, June 27 and from 8am-2am on Sunday, June 28. That's a whole lotta Bundy! Encores of movies Grease and Grease 2 will also air on Saturday, June 27, with Roseanne blocks as well. Then the regular schedule starting Monday, June 29 is pretty similar to the changes that started on June 15, but just a few things. For weekdays, the 12pm hour is now back to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, replacing Leave it to Beaver/Beverly Hillbillies. But Beverly Hillbillies will air in the 1pm hour, so that means TV Land Goes West (2 episodes of Gunsmoke & Bonanza each and one Little House) goes from approx. 1:30pm-7pm to now more on the clock from 2pm-7pm. This means Beaver is now weekends only again if they have a marathon. Mondays from 8pm-11pm will now be yet more Roseanne replacing Married...with Children, so Married is now off the regular schedule, but not to worry as it returns to Spike TV weekdays on July 6. So it looks like (for now I guess) Married (which is doing decent for them) will have its last TV Land airing during that weekend marathon (June 27-28). I expect we will see more soon as they keep bringing it back and changing the schedule, so stay tuned. Everything else on weekdays is the same as it is now, so yes, Andy Griffith is not on weekdays through July 12.
On weekends we get marathon blocks ("Andy & Friends" as I'd like to call it). But first, from 6-8am on both days we now see more Roseanne, so that replaces Star Trek, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and whatever else pops up weekend mornings usually. But remember, as of now this is through July 12 only. The weekend of July 4-5 will see Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith. On Saturday, July 4, we see Beaver from 11am-3pm and Andy Griffith from 3pm-8pm. On Sunday, July 5 we see Beaver from 12pm-3pm and more Andy from 3pm-8pm. As previously announced, Roseanne July 4th Feuds & Fireworks Marathon airs from 8pm-6am on both nights. The weekend of July 11-12 will see more marathons. A special SpongeBob SquarePants block will air on Saturday, July 11 from 10am-12pm, as SpongeBob is getting ready for his 10th birthday on Nickelodeon with "The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash." We will have more on that during our Nick at Nite July schedule & highlights very soon, as SpongeBob will have about a 50-hour non-stop marathon on Nick/Nick at Nite from July 17-19. Back to TV Land, it's more marathons as the weekend of July 11-12 it is Hogan's Heroes and Andy Griffith. Hogan's Heroes on both days will air from 12pm-5pm while Andy will air both days from 5pm-10pm. Regular weekend schedule will air elsewhere. So is TV Land trying to phase Andy out by airing it only on weekends? Sound off on our message board and also you can view these changes in a list form. Remember TV Land keeps releasing schedules two weeks at a time, so as of now this is through July 12 only. Stay tuned for more!

The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards has been re-scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 20 from approx. 8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on CBS. That was the original date and now CBS has gone back to that after moving it to Sunday, Sept. 13. But September 13 is the same day for the MTV Video Music Awards. So CBS had to move it back to the original Sept. 20. date. CBS moved it to Sept. 13 originally because of an NFL game from 4-7:30pm ET. To present The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards as close as possible to its scheduled 8:00 PM start, 60 Minutes is planning a flexible broadcast following CBS Sports late afternoon NFL game. So we will finally see a shortened 60 Minutes or possibly preempted totally in the East if the game goes over 7:30pm ET.
Remember nominations will be announced Thursday, July 16 at 5:40 AM PT from the Television Academy's Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood. You can watch it live on CBS's Early Show.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The CW Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; JustMyShow Interviews Barry Williams, Plus a Saved by the Bell Reunion?

We gave you ABC and Fox's premiere dates, now we have The CW's premiere dates for fall 2009! The CW has set its fall premiere schedule, featuring the debut of three new series, returning series that includes a timeslot flip for the Monday night team of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.
But first, The CW's new schedule begins Tuesday, September 8 with the season premiere of sophomore drama 90210 at 8:00 p.m., followed by the series premiere of the updated version of Melrose Place at 9:00 p.m. Then the next day on Wednesday, September 9, Tyra Banks returns with a two-hour premiere of the new season of America's Next Top Model from 8:00-10:00 p.m. The regular Wednesday night lineup begins the following week on September 16 with America's Next Top Model in the 8:00 p.m. hour, followed by the series premiere of the glamorous new drama The Beautiful Life: TBL in the 9:00 p.m. hour. On Thursday, September 10, the new lineup features the premiere of The Vampire Diaries at 8:00 p.m. and the return of fan favorite Supernatural in its normal 9:00 p.m. slot.
The following week, on Monday, September 14, the Monday destination for young women returns with a new twist: One Tree Hill will take over the 8:00 p.m. timeslot, while Gossip Girl moves to the 9:00 p.m. slot, in a switcharoo! To get ready for this, The CW will begin this change this summer starting Monday, July 6.
All of The CW's premieres are before the actual premiere week (Sept. 21-27) except for Smallville. Smallville relocates to its new home on Friday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m. Smallville will be followed by encore episodes of America's Next Top Model at 9:00 p.m. On Fridays, Sept. 11 and 18 will be encores of various dramas. And talk show The Tyra Banks Show will air weekdays on The CW Daytime airing weekdays from 3-5pm with a new episode and a classic episode (though by 2010-2011 season it will only air 3-4pm).
The midseason premiere date for the drama Life UneXpected, which was formerly titled Parental Discretion Advised, will be announced at a later date.
View the press release and discuss these premiere dates.

The one and only Greg Brady himself, Barry Williams is the next guest for the popular web podcast show JustMyShow.com. Yes, our friend Eric (who also writes for Barry on The Greg Brady Project!) is back with an all-new podcast! Barry Williams is known to TV fans of all ages as Greg Brady from the classic ABC series The Brady Bunch. His other TV credits include guest appearances on Mission: Impossible, General Hospital and Three's Company. Williams is the author of the best seller Growing Up Brady and continues to write in his blog, The Greg Brady Project. We also have bonus clips with Barry talking about Adam Brody, Allan Melvin, Brady Bunch Fan Michelle Obama, Brady Props, and The Greg Brady Project.
Plus, there is a full report on Zack Morris' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance and other headlines in this week's "New News About Old Stuff!" If you didn't know Mark-Paul Gosselaar was recently on Fallon's show all dressed up like and in character as his Saved by the Bell character Zach Morris. Fallon is trying to reunite the entire cast for a reunion, and he just about as booked everyone. Watch the other Saved by the Bell reunion updates Fallon did. It's all right, cause I'm Saved by the Bell!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Fox Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; ABC Family July 2009

Fox has set the fall premiere dates for its new and returning series. The 2009-2010 season will kick off Wednesday, Sept. 16 with the sixth season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance at 8:00PM ET/PT, followed by the series premiere of Glee at 9:00PM ET/PT, the biting new one-hour comedy for the underdog in all of us that features a soundtrack of hit songs from past and present. Then on Thursday, Sept. 17, fan favorite Bones returns at 8:00 PM ET/PT and the second season of Fringe at 9:00PM ET/PT return. Brothers, the new family comedy starring Michael Strahan, premieres Friday, Sept. 18 in the 8:00PM ET/PT half-hour, followed by the return of comedy 'Til Death at 8:30PM ET/PT, and the second season premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse wraps the night off at 9:00PM ET/PT.
The actual season begins on Monday, Sept. 21 with House jumpstarting its sixth season with a special two-hour premiere from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Tuesdays at 8:00PM ET/PT will continue to be Hell's Kitchen until that wraps up on Oct. 13. Sunday, Sept. 27 marks the return of "Animation Domination" with the amazing 20th season premiere of The Simpsons at 8:00PM ET/PT, the series premiere of The Cleveland Show at 8:30PM ET/PT and the season premieres of Family Guy at 9:00PM ET/PT and American Dad! at 9:30PM ET/PT.
The second week of the season will see the second season of hit drama Lie to Me will premiere Monday, Sept. 28 at 9:00PM ET/PT following House. So You Think You Can Dance will air two nights per week when the original dance competition has its time period premiere Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, and later expands to two-hour performance shows beginning Tuesday, Oct. 27 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, when Hell's Kitchen wraps. In addition, new Saturday late-night entry The Wanda Sykes Show (working title) debuts Saturday, Nov. 7 at11:00 PM ET/PT.
Fox will also have the MLB Playoffs with the ALCS this year and of course the World Series. ALCS is on Friday, Oct. 16; Saturday, Oct. 17; Monday, Oct. 19; Tuesday, Oct. 20; and if necessary on Thursday, Oct. 22; Saturday, Oct. 24; and Sunday, Oct. 25. The World Series airs Wednesday, Oct. 28; Thursday, Oct. 29; Saturday, Oct. 31; Sunday, Nov. 1; and if necessary on Monday, Nov. 2; Wednesday, Nov. 4; and Thursday, Nov. 5. So baseball will be preempting something at least once.
View the premiere dates in a list form.

This July on ABC Family will not see any regular schedule changes to the daytime line-up, but we have plenty to talk about. New single-camera comedy 10 Things I Hate About You launches on Tuesday, July 7 in the 8:00PM ET/PT half-hour. It will be followed by an episode of That '70s Show at 8:30PM ET/PT. 10 Things I Hate About You will have a special encore the same night at 9:00PM ET/PT if you missed it an hour earlier. Other regular encores every week are: Wednesdays at 12am, Thursdays at 4:30pm, and Saturdays at 10am.
Then on Tuesday, July 21 the multi-camera sitcom Ruby & the Rockits launches! It will air Tuesdays at 8:30PM ET/PT (replacing That '70s Show repeats) following 10 Things I Hate About You. Ruby & the Rockits will have a special encore the same night at 9:00PM ET/PT if you missed it a half-hour earlier...also 10 Things I Hate About You will have an encore at 9:30PM that night. Other regular encores every week for Ruby & the Rockits are: Wednesdays at 12:30am, Fridays at 4:30pm, and Saturdays at 10:30am.
View full details on these two original comedies, from our previous story. Can these two comedies do better than Roommates and Sophie?
Other original programming is the movie Labor Pains. Lindsay Lohan stars as an assistant at a publishing company who pretends to be pregnant in order to avoid being fired by her boss. It premieres Sunday, July 19 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Along with Lohan, the film includes an all-star cast with Cheryl Hines, Chris Parnell, Luke Kirby, Kevin Covais and Janeane Garofalo.

Monday, June 15, 2009

iTunes Free Summer of Laughs; Gospel Music Channel Acquires Three Dramas

Apple's iTunes Store is going for laughs this summer! They are doing a comedy promotion this summer making many comedies for free. And some others will be only 99 cents per episode. Among the freebies are: Arrested Development, Human Giant, Reno 911!, The State and The IT Crowd. Buy episodes for 99 cents for comedies likes The Office, 30 Rock, The Larry Sanders Show, Barney Miller, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Good Times. Even better is that you can watch the entire first season of SNL for 99 cents...that's 24 episodes for less than a dollar!

Gospel Music Channel has acquired the rights to air three dramas starting this afternoon! Starting today (Monday, June 15), they will air Christy, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Doc from 4-8PM every weekday. Dr. Quinn will air two episodes (5-7pm).
Christy was a short-lived CBS family drama from 1994-95 starring Kellie Martin. There will also about four TV-movies from 2000-2003 that PAX produced. Dr. Quinn was of course the popular family western drama starring Jane Seymour that aired from 1993-98 on CBS. In addition, the series also had two TV-movies in 1999 and 2001. And finally Doc was a family medical drama starring Billy Ray Cyrus that was on PAX from 2001-2004. These are the first scripted series to ever air on this network. They also air movies, though. Incidentally, all three have aired on the former PAX-TV at some point, whether it be reruns or originals (in Doc's case).
Gospel Music Channel recently also acquired the television rights to the off-net series Amy Grant's Three Wishes and Clash of The Choirs, which both shows air together on Wednesday nights since June 3. Three Wishes airs at 8:00 p.m., while Clash of the Choirs follows at 9:00 p.m. Both were short-lived reality series on NBC.
View their website to see if you receive this network.

Coming this week: Nick at Nite July - see how the addition of Malcolm in the Middle will affect the schedule.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Summer Week 3 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

Summer has now started and everything is pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 1-7)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - 4.1 million for a repeat is lower than the previous week's repeat.
  • King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - A 7pm repeat did just 1.76 million and a 8:30 repeat did better with 3.76 million, but both timeslots were down from previous week's repeats.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - 4.84 million for a repeat...lower than the previous week, just like the other Sunday animation.
  • American Dad! (Fox) 2 episodes - Only 2.27 million for a repeat at 7:30, but the normal airing at 9:30pm did 4.23 million for a repeat.

Summer Week 3 (June 8-14)

Monday Sitcoms

  • The Big Bang Theory 8PM (CBS) - 6.5 million for a repeat...down some from previous week.
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.8 million for a repeat airing, lower than previous week.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.52 million for a repeat is great, but down over a half million from previous week's repeat.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 7.81 million for its first regular scheduled 9:30pm airing but it was down from previous week's Rules of Engagement repeat, though it was the same really since the lead-in was down as well.
Tuesday Sitcoms

  • None.
Wednesday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - Just 3.91 million for a repeat...down from previous week.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 3.87 million for a repeat. I still don't think CBS needs this sitcom hour on Wednesdays...it would be better of use on Sundays.
Thursday Sitcoms
  • The Office (NBC) - Only 3.49 million for a repeat in its normal 9pm slot...but expected.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - Only 3.1 million for a repeat, at least retention wasn't that bad from the lead-in.
  • Old Christine (CBS) - Two special repeats in the 8pm hour did better than the regular Wednesday even! 4.59 and 4.84 million...go figure.

Friday Sitcoms

  • Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 930,000 viewers. Up a bit from previous week's prelim, but this show is canceled anyway.
  • The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 989,000 prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well...down a tad from previous week's prelim. This should have been brought back for another year I think.
  • Surviving Suburbia (ABC) - Prelim numbers show only 2.87 million for an all-new episode at 8pm.
  • The Goode Family (ABC) - Prelim numbers were even worse for an all-new episode of this show with a series low of 1.82 million. Look for this to be pulled this week.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC) 2 episodes - Two repeats did just a prelim 2.38 million average for the hour, up a tad from previous week. Look for final Friday ratings for all of these sitcoms on our message board when available.
Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.
Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere ABC will win big with the NBA Finals Game #5. CBS has 60 Minutes and the final Million Dollar Password at 7 & 8pm. NBC has a new Dateline from 7-8pm. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order: Criminal Intent & In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, UFC Unleashed & Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike starting at 9, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Coming Week Preview (June 15-21):

For Monday, on ABC, it's an all-new night with new episodes of The Bachelorette from 8-10pm and Here Come the Newylweds at 10pm. NBC will have a two-hour of the crazy I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm followed by yet another Dateline at 10pm. On cable among the highlights we have a new episode of Around the World for Free on WGN America at 9pm, Greek on ABC Family at 8pm, new episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar on TNT starting at 9, WWE Raw on USA Network, Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC, VH1's reality series Rock of Love Charm School, New York Goes to Work & Gotti's Way, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10pm on Bravo.
On Tuesday, ABC could have Jimmy Kimmel Live! Game Night at 8pm followed by game 6 of the NBA Finals, ONLY IF Orlando wins game 5 tonight. If they don't, look for comedy repeats and the final episode of Cupid. CBS will have an episode of 48 Hours at 10pm. NBC has another I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8. Fox and The CW at 9pm will have Mental on Fox and The CW airing Hitched or Ditched. On cable, among the highlights are Deadliest Catch and After the Catch on Discovery starting at 9pm, TNT has a full night of premieres of Wedding Day, Hawthorne, and Saving Grace starting at 8pm, MTV has Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10, TLC has new series 18 Kids and Counting & The Little Couple, BET has College Hill at 10pm, Bravo has an all-new The Real Housewives of New Jersey at 10pm, Oxygen has Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood at 10, and FX has an all-new Rescue Me at 10pm.
On Wednesday, the best show of the summer is Wipeout and it airs at 8pm, followed by the season premiere of I Survived a Japanese Game Show at 9pm, and at 10pm the final episode of The Unusuals. NBC will have yet another I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Fox has a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. On cable, among the highlights are new episodes of Meet the Browns on TBS starting at 10pm, Food has Bobby Flay at 9, Discovery has an all-new primetime including MythBusters at 9pm, Comedy Central has a new RENO 911 at 10:30pm, MTV has Real World Road Rules at 10, MonsterQuest on History at 9, Top Chef Masters is on Bravo at 10, and also at 10pm is Ultimate Fighter on Spike.
On Thursday, ABC will have Game 7 of the NBA Finals between Orlando and the L.A. Lakers starting at 8:30pm ET, with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night at 8pm, all if necessary. NBC will have another episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm, and later in the night a new episode of drama The Listener at 10pm. Fox will have a new So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm. On cable, among the highlights are WWE Superstars on WGN America, Burn Notice on USA at 9 followed by Royal Pains at 10, Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10pm, MTV has a new 16 and Pregnant at 10, TLC has a new American Chopper at 9, TV Land has She's Got the Look at 9pm, The Real Housewives of Orange County at 9 & The Fashion Show at 10 on Bravo, and Southern Belles: Louisville at 10 on SOAPnet.
On Friday, ABC has new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Goode Family in the 8pm hour and later a new 20/20 at 10pm. NBC has a burn-off of Chopping Block followed by two-hours of Dateline. Fox will air a new Don't Forget the Lyrics at 8, and MNT is airing WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, among the highlights are Whale Wars on Animal Planet at 9, What Not to Wear & Say Yes to the Dress on TLC and The Soup on E! at 10.
On Saturday, it's slow as usual with NBC airing a burn-off of Kings at 8. ABC has the a burn-off episode of Eli Stone at 10pm, while CBS has burn-off of Harper's Island 9pm. Fox is new with Cops and AMW. Cable wise, Spike has a new The Ultimate Fighter at 9.
And next Sunday, ABC will have the first part of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline at 7pm, leading into the two-hour premiere of Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Ultimate Knockouts & Spike Guys Choice on Spike starting at 9, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Tuesday, March 19

Night Court - "The Duke's a Hazard" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Gurgs' royal boyfriend pays a surprise visit, she questions their compatibility; Dan defends his family's honor after he discovers a feud that dates back centuries.

Extended Family - "The Consequences of Being Irish" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Jim learns of Trey's St. Patrick's Day fundraiser plans, he offers his expertise in an effort to save Trey and the Celtics from embarrassment.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 18)

Tuesday, March 19

  • Tracy Morgan (The Last O.G./30 Rock/The Tracy Morgan Show) - Catch Tracy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale/God's Favorite Idiot/American Housewife/The Odd Couple/About a Boy) - Leslie appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso), Marc Maron (GLOW/Maron) and Zainab Johnson (Upload) - Brendan, Marc and Zainab 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 Girls5eva) - Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Sara Bareilles are guests on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family/The Class) - Jesse talks about his podcast Dinner's On Me on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Annie Potts (Young Sheldon/Over the Top/Love & War/Designing Women/Goodtime Girls) - Annie talks about her legendary career and new film, Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire, on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Joe Manganiello (How I Met Your Mother) - Joe stops by Tamron hall to chat about hosting the new Deal or No Deal Island, so check your local listings.


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

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