Wednesday, July 08, 2009

30 Rock Reruns Coming to Comedy Central, WGN America in Fall 2011; NY's WWOR Makes Historic Change

30 Rock is heading to off-network syndication in fall 2011 and has already sealed a cable deal. Both Comedy Central and WGN America have acquired the off-network cable rights to the critically acclaimed but ratings challenged comedy. They both will share the cable rights to the sitcom airing weekdays starting fall 2011 and have paid a combined $800,000 an episode, approximately speaking. That is similar in price to FX's buy of Two and a Half Men, but that was only FX buying it and not a shared deal. FX starts Two and a Half Men in fall 2010.
30 Rock will be coming to cable the same time it starts local broadcast syndication as well. That usually doesn't happen, as usually it takes 3 years or more for a show to hit cable after it hits local broadcast syndication, as is the case with Two and a Half Men. So far 30 Rock has not had any local station clearances for fall 2011, but that is still a while away. If the series gets canceled after next season, that might not even happen anyway.
Comedy Central currently airs only two actual sitcoms--Scrubs and Just Shoot Me. 30 Rock would make a nice pair with Scrubs, but Scrubs' deal would be over by fall 2011, unless they renew it. As for WGN America, they are trying to be an all-around network, as they have also acquired Entourage for fall 2010 and South Park for this fall, both as we previously announced. This type of programming is geared for their late night line-up. Classic TV will still be a big part of WGN America's line-up as well, so don't fret!
30 Rock is entering its fourth season on NBC this fall, airing Thursdays at 9:30pm ET/PT. We will certainly have more on the syndication deal as we get more information.

WWOR (My9) in New York is making some drastic and historic changes starting next week. Historic because they are moving the long time 10pm newscast to 11pm and removing the weekend newscast totally! We first reported this on our message boards on Monday, but we wanted to do a story on this as well. WWOR will air The Wendy Williams Show now weeknights at 10pm following MyNetwork TV programming, replacing the hour-long 10pm newscast with Brenda Blackman and Harry Martin. The Wendy Williams Show is a encore from earlier in the day from sister station WNYW (Fox5), which will air it at 10am. So the WWOR news moves to 11pm, and will now only be 30-minutes but will be continued to be anchored by Blackman and Martin. Law & Order: Criminal Intent shifts from 11pm to 11:30pm weeknights as a result of this change. On weekends, the news hour is completely gone--so on Saturdays we now get The King of Queens at 10pm and on Sundays the second run of House at 10pm.
There are tons of other changes during the day on weekdays starting July 13 as well, most notably are sitcoms now from 1pm-2:30pm with One on One, Scrubs, and That '70s Show. WWOR is preparing for the fall as they are cutting the double-runs of canceled shows to just one airing like Family Court with Judge Penny and Trivial Pursuit. WWOR will also have a big hole to fill in the fall when Tyra Banks Show moves from syndication to The CW Daytime.
Sister station WNYW is also making changes. This week they added a test-run of Beyond Twisted, which is an eight-week trial run on Fox owned stations (WNYW New York, KTTV Los Angeles, KDFW Dallas, WJVK Detroit, KSAZ Phoenix and KMSP Minneapolis) at 12am. Then starting next week, Good Day NY expands into the 9am hour as well, bumping the canceled Morning Show with Mike & Juliet to 12 noon for now. As we mentioned, The Wendy Williams Show will air weekdays at 10am on WNYW. And the second run of Everybody Loves Raymond moves from WWOR to WNYW, airing weeknights at 12:30am. WWOR will air the first run but will move it to weekdays at 6:30pm. Finally, starting July 20, another test run show will air on WNYW. Weekdays at 11am Deadlock or Wedlock (a sort of a Divorce Court spin-off) will get a six-week trial run on Fox owned stations in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix, Orlando and Memphis.
View the full changes for WWOR and WNYW in a list form. We will have more on WWOR and WNYW later this month (along with cable networks and other NYC market stations) in our annual fall schedules barrage blog posts! So stay tuned!


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, April 24

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "TV Money" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Mandy tries to prove she’s financially responsible after Jim and Georgie call out her poor spending habits, and Connor’s new girlfriend needs a place to stay.

Ghosts - "I Know What You Did Thirty-Seven Summers Ago" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Sam and Jay host a fundraiser for the mayor to earn a favor for Jay’s restaurant, they learn of his bizarre connection to one of Woodstone’s ghosts. Odessa Adlon returns as Stephanie, the ghost who died on her prom night.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 21)

Thursday, April 24

  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Catch Da'Vine on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Michael B. Jordan (The Assistants) - Michael appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Olivia Munn (Perfect Couples) - Olivia is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Walton Goggins (The Righteous Gemstones/The Unicorn/Vice Principals) - Walton appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke/Robbie) and Greta Titelman (Fantasmas/Search Party/Los Espookys) - Sasheer and Greta are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Will Forte (The Four Seasons/HouseBroken/MacGruber/The Last Man on Earth/The Cleveland Show) - E! News has an interview with Will at 11pm on E!.
  • Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/Final Space/The Game) - Tika sits down with the Tam Fam to talk about her new children's book I Got It From My Mama on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners) - Michael swings by the studio on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones/Vice Principals/Partners) - Edi chats about The Righteous Gemstones on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Ernest Lee Thomas (Everybody Hates Chris/What's Happening!!/What's Happening Now!!) and Haywood Nelson (What's Happening!!/What's Happening Now!!) - Ernest and Haywood talk about the 49th Anniversary of What's Happening!! on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
  • Cheech Marin (Rob/The Golden Palace) and Tommy Chong (That '90s Show/That '70s Show) - Cheech and Tommy talk about Cheech & Chong's Last Movie on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
  • Tiffany Haddish (The Last O.G./The Carmichael Show) - Tiffany co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Casey Wilson (The Righteous Gemstones/Black Monday/The Hotwives/Marry Me/Happy Endings) - Casey talks about The Great American Baking Show on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - Michelle is telling Drew about her show Survival of the Thickest on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Dating expert Damona Hoffman is joining Drew and Valerie for a Q & A about first dates on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris tells Sherri about the new season of Watson on CBS, so check your local listings.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray) The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two

11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

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04/04 - ABC 2025-26 Season Renewals for Scripted Series; New Season of Phineas and Ferb Returns June 5
04/03 - Fox Renews Animated Hits for 4 Additional Seasons and American Dad! Returns; South Park Season 27 Premieres July 9
04/02 - Rick and Morty Season 8 Premieres May 25; Netflix's Tires Returns June 5
04/01 - Disney Renews Wizards Beyond Waverly Place for Season 2; Prime Video Details Final Season of The Summer I Turned Pretty
03/31 - Prime Video's Dance-World Comedy Étoile; Netflix's Tom Segura Dark Comedy Bad Thoughts
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03/28 - Pat Sajak's Final Spin on Wheel and Return of Jeopardy! Masters; Remembering George Foreman and Wings Hauser
03/27 - IFC Renews SisterS for Season 2; Netflix Orders Live-Action Scooby-Doo Series
03/26 - Hulu Spring 2025 Slate; The Making of The Americas Special Narrated by Tom Hanks on NBC
03/25 - Deli Boys Now Streaming All Episodes on Hulu; Heartland Season 18 on UP Faith & Family
03/24 - Peacock April Highlights Include Three's Company; Antenna TV's 50 Years on the Beat Barney Miller Anniversary Marathon
03/23 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of March 24, 2025)