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ABC Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; Futurama Returns in Mid-2010; TV Land Changes Night and Time for Originals

ABC has announced most of the premiere dates for the 2009-2010 season. Additional premieres will be announced at a later date. Most of the series will launch or return for premiere week (Sept. 21-27), but there are some before and after. Saturday Night Football returns on Saturday nights at 8pm ET starting Saturday, Sept. 5. 20/20 will launch its new season (it never has repeats though) on Friday, Sept. 11 at 10pm. Then we move on to premiere week. Dancing with the Stars kicks-off premiere week and the new season for ABC on Monday, Sept. 21 from 8-10pm followed by the season premiere of Castle at 10pm. Dancing with the Stars will also air on Tuesday, Sept. 22 from 8-10pm leading into the series premiere of The Forgotten. Airing at 8pm on Tuesdays will be Shark Tank starting Aug. 25 (with special airings after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on Sundays at 9 on Aug, 9, 16 & 23), but Shark Tank is preempted on Sept. 22, but will return Sept. 29 at 8. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, a special Dancing with the Stars: The Results on a special night & time of 8pm will lead-into the comedy premieres of Modern Family & Cougar Town. No word yet what will air at 10pm on this night, as ABC has not announced when new drama Eastwick will launch. Dancing with the Stars: The Results will move to its regular Tuesdays at 9pm slot the following week (Tues., Sept. 29). On Thursday, Sept. 24, ABC launches the premiere of Flash Forward at 8pm followed by the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. ABC has not announced yet when Private Practice will launch. On Sunday, Sept. 27, ABC will have a two-hour season premiere of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition from 7-9pm, followed by the season premiere of Desperate Housewives at 9pm. No date for Brothers & Sisters has been announced yet.
Premiering out of premiere week will be new comedies Hank and The Middle on Wednesday, Sept. 30 in the 8pm hour. Also, AFV will launch its new season on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 7pm, as Home Edition moves back to the regular 8pm hour. Premiering in week three will be the two-hour season premiere of Ugly Betty from 8-10pm on Friday, Oct. 9, before moving to its regular 9pm slot the following week. And Supernanny launches its new season in week four at 8pm on Oct. 16. That's good to launch the Friday series a bit later as Friday ratings tend to be very low until its gets cooler.
So, to recap so far no premiere dates for Brothers & Sisters, Private Practice and new drama Eastwick. Why? I think ABC might be mulling a special preview for Eastwick. If I were to guess, Eastwick would get a special premiere on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 10 following Desperate Housewives, with Brothers & Sisters launching its new season the following Sunday at 10 (Oct. 4). Eastwick would have its Wednesday premiere on Sept. 30 at 10. During premiere week they might have a special at 10pm on both Wednesday, Sept. 23 and Thursday, Sept. 24 to fill those vacant spots, so maybe Private Practice will not launch until week two (Thursday, Oct. 1). Just my guesses. We also don't know yet what is airing on Fridays the first two weeks from 8-10pm? Maybe special encores of something during the week?
View the premiere dates in list form. We'll inform you as soon as we know about the missing premiere dates.

20th Century Fox Television, the animation powerhouse that brought Family Guy back from the dead five years ago, has done it again: Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's brilliantly subversive animated sci-fi comedy Futurama will return to production on 26 new half-hour episodes more than six years after the series aired its last original episode. The move comes on the heels of the series' blockbuster performance on DVD and on Comedy Central.
The new episodes will be available in mid 2010 to be shown on Comedy Central. However, Twentieth Century Fox Television retains the option to license the original runs of the new episodes to a broadcast network as well.
Futurama was a staple of Fox's Sunday night animation block from 1999 to 2003 before ceasing production on original episodes. In June 2006, Comedy Central acquired the rights to the existing 72 episodes of the series, which the channel began airing in January 2008, and four recently-produced extended length Futurama adventures: "Bender's Big Score," "The Beast with a Billion Backs," "Bender's Game" and "Into the Wild Green Yonder," which enjoyed enormous success both on Comedy Central and in DVD release. This new deal marks the show's return to episodic series production on original episodes. Futurama becomes only the second series in the history of the medium to go back into production based on the strength of its DVD sales and repeat airings on cable.

TV Land announced today that it is making changes to its summer schedule as upcoming original series How'd You Get So Rich? starring Joan Rivers and the comedic hidden camera series Make My Day will now premiere on Thursday, August 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and 9:30 p.m. ET/PT respectively.
It was previously announced that they would premiere on Wednesday, August 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. The series' will premiere in TV Land PRIME, the network's new primetime programming block designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s.
Premiering on Thursday, August 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, How'd You Get So Rich? stars the notoriously uncensored gossip diva Joan Rivers as she explores the lifestyles of the fabulously rich and lucky in this 30-minute, six-episode series. Following How'd You Get So Rich? is the premiere of the six-episode show Make My Day at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. This comedic hidden-camera series provides a window into one day in the life of an unsuspecting participant. Tune in as cameras capture the action as they experience weird coincidences, extraordinary situations and surprise celebrity appearances for one whole day.
It seems Thursdays at 9PM is the new hour for TV Land originals, as TV Land also launches the second season of She's Got the Look tomorrow (June 11) on the night and time.