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

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.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, February 19

The Goldbergs - "Dave Kim's Party" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
A big party is being thrown at Dave Kim’s house and Pops has a plan to make Adam cool for the big event. Meanwhile, Beverly’s cookbook has made her “famous,” leading her to become out of control and fame-hungry, but eventually she learns an important lesson.

Schooled - "Moving On" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Wilma steps in to help CB move on from Lainey with help from Coach Mellor, while Lainey learns she has unresolved issues from her past when mentoring a student.

Modern Family - "Spuds" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Phil and Claire take Haley and Dylan to dinner to reassure them they are not bad parents. While out to dinner, they run into Mitch and Cam who are chaperoning Lily’s first date, as well as Jay and Gloria after attending Joe’s school play.

Single Parents - "Hip$ for Dolores" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After rent on the Winebrary goes up, the gang all chip in in their own ways to help solve Poppy’s new financial problem, each learning a valuable lesson in the process.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 17)

Wednesday, February 19

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) - Watch Chris on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC. He will also be on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Lil Rel Howery (Rel/The Carmichael Show) - Lil Rel appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Laura Dern (F Is for Family/Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Tiffany Haddish (The Last O.G./The Carmichael Show) - Tiffany appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
James Marsden (30 Rock) - James stops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Lizzy Caplan (Party Down/The Class) - Lizzy is a guest on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Jane Levy (Suburgatory) - Jane visits The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Skylar Astin (Ground Floor) - Skylar appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
NeNe Leakes (The New Normal) - NeNe guest co-hosts The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Adam Pally (Indebted/Making History/The Mindy Project/Happy Endings) - Adam drops by The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken/Community) - Ken is a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Jurnee Smollett-Bell (On Our Own) - Jurnee appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine talks about High Fidelity on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Suzanne Somers (Step by Step/She's the Sheriff/Three's Company) - Suzanne is a guest on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Lauren Ash (Superstore/Super Fun Night) - Lauren appears on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Kelly Ripa (Hope & Faith) - Kelly is a guest on People Now at 12pm.
Lark Voorhies (Saved by the Bell/In the House) - The actress who portrayed Lisa Turtle on the iconic teen sitcom Saved by the Bell opens up about her mental health challenges and her reaction to being left out of the reboot of the show on The Dr. Oz Show, so check your local listings.