WPIX's Halloween Chiller Theatre and a November 13 Marathon of a Sitcom; Hallmark Cuts Lucy...Again

Friday, October 16, 2009

WPIX's Halloween Chiller Theatre and a November 13 Marathon of a Sitcom; Hallmark Cuts Lucy...Again

While WGN America airs a Munsters and Addams Family marathon for Halloween (Oct. 30 and 31), local New York station WPIX is going for some movie horror. WPIX is airing The Evil of Frankenstein on Halloween night (Saturday, October 31) at 8pm (as Chiller Theatre) and this year its hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and will feature the original Chiller Theatre opens: "The Six-Fingered Hand" and the "Monster Montage"
(wpix.com/chillertheatre).
Chiller Theatre originally aired on WPIX from 1961-1978 and again from 1980-1982. After WPIX resurrected Chiller Theatre in 2008 (with a broadcast of Tarantula hosted by Zacherley) the station received hundreds of requests from viewers demanding the return of Chiller Theatre to the air. So this year, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark will host WPIX's Chiller Theatre presentation.
The 1964 campy chiller The Evil of Frankenstein -- from Hammer Film Productions, one of the most famous names in horror -- Peter Cushing stars as Baron Frankenstein who resurrects his monster only to have him come under the spell of Zoltan, a svengali-like carnival hypnotist who mesmerizes the creature into doing his evil bidding.

And that's not all the WPIX news we have! Let's see if you can guess it before I reveal it. On what opening theme did we have a narration that mentioned November 13? Did you figure it out? Still stumped? Read this: "On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. (Unger's unseen wife slams door. She reopens it and angrily hands Felix his saucepan) That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"
Yes, the classic '70s ABC sitcom The Odd Couple! In a cool marathon stunt, WPIX will air a late night marathon of The Odd Couple on that very day when Felix leaves his wife and moves in with Oscar...and that's how they became The Odd Couple. WPIX in New York will air the marathon from 11pm-4:30am on Friday, November 13 with classic episodes. Episodes airing are "Password," "You Saved My Life," "Sleepwalkers," "The Flying Felix," "The Odd Monks," "Felix Calypso Singer," "Let's Make a Deal," "The Subway Show," "The New Car," "A Grave for Felix," and "I Gotta Be Me." We'll have more on this if anything new arises, and let's hope WPIX can do some more marathons of shows!

It was just on Tuesday when we announced that we would be getting more I Love Lucy on Hallmark, but guess what...now that will be cut. Like I said, Hallmark's love and hate relationship continues with Lucy. They quietly removed the weekdays 9-10am hour of I Love Lucy yesterday and returned Golden Girls in the hour, so now that airs 9am-1pm...for now (keep reading). Starting Monday (Oct. 19) Touched by an Angel returns to weekdays at 12 noon, replacing an hour of The Golden Girls, as that is now 9am-12pm every weekday morning. Then once again I Love Lucy is given a short leash and is getting cut completely from its current 5pm-11pm hours. M*A*S*H returns and will air in its old 5pm-8pm hours, while Touched by an Angel returns at 8pm, and the primetime movie from 9-11pm. So I Love Lucy goes from 7 hours a day this week to ZERO hours a day next week! What is with the love-hate relationship? Ratings must be key to the changes, but it seems Hallmark makes moves and changes those moves within days. Are you getting tired of it? Sound off on our message board! Ah, the on going soap opera of Hallmark Channel schedule changes!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, February 20

Young Sheldon - "Pasadena" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Sheldon visits CalTech for the very first time. Also, Georgie is furious when Mary listens in on a phone call with his girlfriend, and Meemaw tries to cheer up a jealous Missy.

The Unicorn - "The Client" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Wade lands a job for Denny (Donal Logue), a newly divorced, wealthy client, he realizes Denny is only interested in using Wade to meet women. Also, Meg (Nicole Byer) applies her expertise as an accountant to get Wade’s finances on track, and Forrest and Delia attempt to clear the tension between them by having an argument.

Mom - "Judy Garland and a Sexy Troll Doll" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Bonnie helps Christy gain perspective as she considers a life-changing decision. Also, Jill fears she’s running out of time to have a baby and consults a fertility doctor.

Carol's Second Act - "Carol's Crush" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After Carol’s patient’s transplant surgery is deemed a success, the interns tease her mercilessly about her obvious crush on the surgeon, Dr. Lewis (Patrick Fabian).

Last Man Standing - "Baked Sale" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Mike's offer to help Jen with her school's bake sale goes up in smoke; Kyle finds unlikely advice from Joe on where he should enroll in college.

Outmatched - "Dating" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Nicole invites a boy over who isn't ideal boyfriend material, Kay tries to make sure her daughter doesn't end up with a broken heart; Mike attempts to understand Marc's strange crush.

Superstore - "Employee App" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Cloud 9 employees experience unforeseen problems with the new Zephra app. Dina's texts lead to animosity, Glenn struggles to deal with a teen craze, and Jonah attempts to prank Garrett to teach him a lesson.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - "The Jimmy Jab Games II" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Competitive juices are flowing as Jake and the squad compete in the second Jimmy Jab Games.

Will & Grace - "Accidentally on Porpoise" (NBC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Despite her history of transgressions, Grace and her neighbor, James (guest star Matt Letscher), decide to give their relationship one more shot. But when James invites Grace to his job at the aquarium, she endangers his job and a species. In order to help Will deal with his anxiety about becoming a father, Jack takes him to an unexpected place to blow off steam – church. Karen finds herself in a confessional booth, and a visit from Smitty (guest star Charles C. Stevenson, Jr.) makes her reconsider their entire relationship.

Indebted - "Everybody's Talking About the Mental Load" (NBC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After Rebecca tells Dave she carries the emotional labor, aka the “mental load” of the family, he tries to prove otherwise by having her take care of just Deb and Stew for a few days. They both realize they’ve bit off more than they can chew, especially when Dave enlists his mom to help with Rebecca’s mental load.

grown-ish - "Real Life S**t" (Freeform, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Aaron's student loan troubles come to a head when he looks for a job at the Cal U job fair, prompting him to ask Zoey for help; Sky struggles to come to terms with her recent discovery about Rodney; Jillian tries to bond with Zoey.

Everything's Gonna Be Okay - "Blue Death-Feigning Beetles" (Freeform, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Matilda's whole life forks between success and obscurity on the most important night of her life; Nicholas juggles a house full of people and Penny on screen from her hospital bed in Australia.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 17)

Thursday, February 20

Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Catch Will on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Are We There Yet?/Everybody Hates Chris) - Terry appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Scott Bakula (Murphy Brown/Eisenhower and Lutz/Gung Ho) - Scott stops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana is a guest on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Jenny Slate (Big Mouth/Married/Bob's Burgers) - Jenny appears on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together/Rules of Engagement) - Oliver and his sister Kate are guests on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine visits The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Nick Kroll (The League/Cavemen) - Nick appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Jane Levy (Suburgatory) - Jane talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) - Edie talks about Tommy on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Emeril Lagasse (Emeril) - Emeril gives a cooking lesson to a culinary student who fought back after having a stroke on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine talks about High Fidelity on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.